Take Flight

Good Morning!
I hope everyone got their fill of Black Friday, or better yet, just stayed in and avoided it all!  I managed to unbury my craft area, which had gotten WAY out of hand.  Either my space is shrinking or my supplies are multiplying...Hmmmm.
 I worked on a card last night in my 'new again', organized craft space.  I worked a few challenges into one card.  I really had a tough time with this one; I guess challenges are called challenges for a reason.  The sketch is from Seize the Sketch; I wanted to make a fairly traditional Christmas card, but my mind kept telling me that this was more of a CAS/contemporary layout.  The colors are from Color Throwdown.  I love the combo this week, and the colors themselves were not a problem, but once I got my sketch idea in my head, I had a hard time making the colors fit the idea. 
So, this is what I came up with~

The sketch~

The Colors~

 

My inspiration came from today's Splitcoaststamper Inspiration site, Horchow's. This is also for Shopping Our Stash's challenge, which is Holiday or Winter theme. 

I took a few liberties with the sketch, adding a sentiment banner, ribbon and an image on the background panel, but I do think the basic sketch is still there.  

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a glorious weekend!  

Lee Ann  :) 

Supplies used-

Stamps-Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Mod Ornaments and Christmas Silhouettes

Paper-SU Whisper White, Crumb Cake, retired dsp, Silver Glimmer Paper, Neenah Solar White

Ink-Crumb Cake, Memento Tuxedo Black

Other-SNSS Christmas Silhouette Dies, MFT Circle Stax Die-Namics, MFT Fishtail Flag Stax Die-Namics, dimensionals, SU white ribbon, embossing folder, sequins

Officially the Christmas Season!

Hello Everyone! 

I am still pleasantly stuffed from my Thanksgiving meal! I hope all of my U.S. friends had a wonderful and filling Thanksgiving as well!  It is easy to forget in the busyness of life to stop and be thankful for all of the little blessings we experience each and every day; God has blessed us with so much and I love that we have a day set aside specifically to thank Him for the blessings he has bestowed upon us. 

So now that we have entered the Official Christmas Season, it is time to think about gift giving!  Have you planned your Christmas gift list yet?  Maybe you are braving the stores and the lines on Black Friday;  I am all ready for Christmas shopping with my Z Becky Brown purse and original purse insert.

I love that I can personalize my purses for each season, celebration, holiday, even wardrobe outfit!
This purse liner went together very quickly.  I used multiple images to create my collage Christmas scene and my inspiration came from Pinterest.
 

  Once I saw this image on Pinterest, I knew exactly what I was going to do!  I love when that happens!  I used a woodgrain image (Stampin' Up) on the panel background and then masked off a line along the bottom of the purse liner.  I stamped images from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps (deer, reindeer, single tree, star, and postmark), Impression Obsession (grouping of trees), Stampin' Up (flourish) and Heartfelt Creations (round sentiments, holly flourish), using Cherry Cobbler ink for all of them.  Using a Cherry Cobbler marker, I drew a line along the edge of the masked off area.  Lastly, I used my color spritzer to spritz Cherry Cobbler and Sahara Sand ink.  This was sooo simple!
Not interested in making your own liner?  Z Becky Brown carries an extensive line of inserts; all you have to do is pop them in your purse! 
A Z Becky Brown purse would make a fabulous Christmas gift for any purse-loving woman on your Christmas list (and what woman doesn't love purses?)!  You can check them out here.

I will leave you with a few photos of my afternoon at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.  I am so very grateful to live so close to such a beautiful place~

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a blessed week!  Happy shopping! 

Lee Ann  :)

A Heartfelt Alumni Hop

Hello Everyone!
  I am pleased to be participating in this month's Heartfelt Creations Alumni Blog Hop. You can win a $25 gift certificate-just hop along today through November 29th and leave a comment on each HC Alum's blog.  Winner will be announced on December 30th.  Check back on the 30th to see if you have won!
 I have an elegant Christmas card  to share with you.  This card is going to my Mom and Dad.  No, they do not read my blog, so the card will remain a surprise!

I used the Petite Poinsettia Precut Set and Beautiful You Precut Set for my floral bouquet. The flower was embossed in pewter.   In addition, some little leaves, from the Sweet Juliet Die and a few sprigs from my Martha Stewart punch were used.  The sentiment is from the Inspire Me Sentiments Precut Set.  I added a couple of banners and a center band and a doily as my base for the bouquet.  I cannot take credit for this great design; it is from Simon Says....Sketch Challenge~

I am also entering the card in the Shopping Our Stash Challenge, which has the theme of 'Holiday or Winter'.
I have also added it to 613 Avenue Create Challenge Blog-Anything goes and a Create Your Own Twist Challenge.
See below for the complete list of supplies.

Alumni Blog Hop- your complete list of Alum bloggers!
Caroline Duncan
 Amarilys Doria
Deneen Treble
Vicki Dutcher 
Cibele Glazer
Emilia van den Heuvel
Giovana Smith
Selma Stevenson
Alissa Wells
Linda M. Loew
Lee Ann Barrett You are here!
Mary Faus
Candy Slabaugh
Glenda Brooks
Linda Payne
Lisa Allen

Enjoy the hop!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you here in the states!

Lee Ann  :)

Supplies Used
Stamps- Heartfelt Creations Petite Poinsettia Precut Set, Beautiful You Precut Set, Inspire Me Precut Set
Paper- SU Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Gumball Green, Soft Suede; Heartfelt Creations dp
Ink- Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Gumball Green, Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz
Other- Spellbinders Poinsettia Die and Classic Petal Edgeabilities Die, Heartfelt Creations Decorative Flower Pot Die, Ornamental Add On Die, and Sweet Juliet Die, Martha Stewart Branch punch, SU paper doily, paper piercer, MFT Fish Tail Flag Stax Die-Namics, SU Vintage Wallpaper ef, pearls, dimensionals, pewter embossing powder, Viva 3D Stamp Paint in Silver

A Sweet 'n Sassy Ribbon Carousel Blog Hop

Hello Everyone! Ribbon Carousel is ushering in the Holiday Season with a Blop Hop and a wonderful opportunity to win a Ribbon Carousel this weekend!  To celebrate all of those beautiful Ribbon Carousels being used around the world (yes, we've shipped Carousels to 27 countries now!) to keep ribbon, twine, washi tapes and spooled items tidy, we'll be hopping around our amazing Crewmates blogs for the next 4 days showing you all of the beautiful and creative ways that our designers use THEIR Ribbon Carousels!

I have a small crafting space and a lot of ribbon, and the two do not go well together!  My solution is to store my Christmas ribbon on a Ribbon Carousel; that way, I can store it out of the way when I am not making Christmas cards, but this time of year it is sitting right next to me on my desk top, ready to be used!
Today's card uses Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' Tender Thoughts Stamp Set, my current favorite set  :).

The deer and the frame were stamped in Archival Black ink and die cut out.  I then stamped a white piece of cs with the lower half of the frame, hand cut the mound of 'snow' and fussy cut just inside the bottom frame border.  The snow was adhered to the frame and I tucked the deer behind the snow, then spritzed the whole thing with Mister Huey's Calico White Mist. I used a torn piece of muslin and linen thread to embellish my card. 

This fabulous sketch from Chupa as my starting point-

So, would you like to win your very own Ribbon Carousel? Here is what you need to do: Visit the Designer’s blogs that are participating in each day of the blog hop and comment on their posts as you go. One of the Crewmate’s Holiday blogs (from each hop day) will be randomly chosen as the ‘it’ blog and a winner will be picked using a random number generator from the comments left on that Crewmate’s Holiday Blog Hop post.

You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more Crewmate Blogs you comment on, the better your chances are of winning your very own Ribbon Carousel! The Blog Hop will be open until 11:59 PM Eastern Time Monday, November 25th with the winners being announced Tuesday morning on the Ribbon Carousel Blog.

Already have a Ribbon Carousel? Share a photo of YOUR Ribbon Carousel on our FaceBook page OR email it to info@ribboncarousel.com, and we'll share it for you! You'll be in special drawing for your choice of a Ribbon Carousel or 4 packages of spools!

For those that want a Ribbon Carousel NOW! Mark your calendar! We'll be having our LOWEST SALE PRICE of the YEAR sale on the Ribbon Carousels and Spools beginning Wednesday, November 27 - Cyber-Monday, December 2! No coupon code needed! Just go to our store and enjoy some happy shopping!

Here are the participants for Day 3 of the Ribbon Carousel Holiday Blog Hop. Enjoy!

Verve Elegance

Hello Everyone!  Just a quick post on a sunny but cold Saturday; I completed Verve's Week 4 Sketch Challenge over on SCS. I used the same stamp for 3 of my 4 challenge cards this month,  just did them in different styles.  The first was whimsical, second was vintage, and this last one is elegant.

I love the traditional red and green (with a not so Christmasy green) and the Very Vanilla cs instead of white.  A little stamping on dp and fussy cutting, a red tag and a sprig in brushed gold completes the central image.
Thanks so much for stopping by and have a blessed week!

Lee Ann  :)

Country Blue Christmas

Hello Friends! 

I am happy to say I have another Christmas card for the stash.  It has a wonderful vintage/country feel to it and lots of texture from the burlap, as well as very light sponging using drywall tape as the stencil.  I have contrasted that texture with Crystal Effects on most of the ornament and silver Stickles on the star of the ornament-unfortunately, these products are not visible in the photo. 

This card is for several challenges including Simon Says Stamp's sketch challenge-

Curtain Call's great inspiration challenge-

And The Shabby Tea Room's Gingham Country Christmas Challenge-

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a blessed week!

Lee Ann  :)

Supplies Used-
Stamps- Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps  Vintage Ornaments, SU Peaceful Wishes
Paper-SU Brown Sugar, Naturals White, Whisper White, SU dsp
Ink-Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Memento Tuxedo Black
Other- Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Ornament Dies, Silver Stickles, pearls,  gingham ribbon, Aqua painter, MFT Fish Tail Flag Stax Die-Namics, burlap, dimensionals

Giving Thanks

Hello Everyone!

It is hard to believe we are well into the month of November and Thanksgiving is next week!  Need a crafty break from the hecticness of the season?  There is still time to play at Ribbon Carousel's Challenge 87- Holidays and Celebrations!  This is wide open for interpretation- it could be Christmas or Hanukkah, or a birthday or even TGIF!!
Regardless of how you interpret it, you have a chance to win a Ribbon Carousel if you play!

Here is my Thanksgiving card~

I stamped my Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Decorative Frame and cut it out with the matching die.  I layered lots of little leaves and branches on the frame and then added a circular sentiment from snss's Vintage Postcard set.  A button and some yummy linen thread finish of the frame.  For the large mat, I distressed the edges, sponged on some brown color over a piece of drywall tape for texture, sponged with distress ink and spritzed on some color using a color spritzed and marker.  My next panel was embossed with a wood grain embossing folder and sponged with distress ink.  I added a piece of burlap ribbon and the decorated frame to this panel. 
Now it is your turn to play!
 There are only three (3) rules you must follow to be eligible for the prize:

1. You MUST use ribbon, twine, thread, washi tape or anything that comes on a spool on your creation 
2. Your project must be based on the theme of the month. 
3. You must add a NEW project to the inlinkz here and link directly back to your project on your blog or online gallery. (Unfortunately, we've had participants who would have won the challenge, but they didn't do a direct link to their blog and I couldn't find their creation!)

Why not check out the rest of the fabulous Design Team's inspiration here, and then link up your entry!
Thanks so much for stopping by and have a blessed week!

Lee Ann  :)

I have entered this card in the Simon Says...Thanks/Thanksgiving Challenge and Great Impressions November Challenge, Holiday card or tag. 
Supplies used
Stamps- Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Decorative Frames, Seasonal Wreaths, Vintage Postcard
Paper-SU Naturals Ivory, Early Espresso, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, Razzleberry, Lucky Limeade, Soft Suede
Ink- Early Espresso, Van Dyke Brown
Other- Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Decorative Frames Dies, Memory Box branch die, MFT Circle Stax Die-Namics, Tim Holtz wood grain embossing folder, button, SU linen thread, burlap ribbon,  SU color Spritzer, SU Chocolate Chip marker