Verve Sketch #4 {With Sympathy}

Today I am sharing a card I made last weekend for the Verve Sketch Challenge over at Splitcoast Stamper. I loved the pretty sketch and couldn't wait to play!! I dug out some pretty paper from My Mind's Eye. 

The paper did all the work and I used a lacy ribbon I had in my stash, I have wanted to use it for a long time but could never find the correct card for it. I am so happy with how it turned out. I hope you like it!

Seize the Birthday {Sharing another Bugaboo Birthday card!}

We are having so much fun this week, using Bugaboo Stamps to create birthday cards!! I went with some bright, bold colours for my 2nd card using this week's sketch! You have until May 28th at Noon (EST) to join us!!

Here is the sketch!

I decided to flip the sketch on its side and used a flagged sentiment in the top left hand corner. We hope you will join us! There is a wonderful prize from Bugaboo Stamps up for grabs!! 

{Supplies Used}

Stamps: Bugaboo Stamps (Poppi Watertoy), Sentiment AMUSE (Retired)

Inks: Copics

Papers: MME It's a Boy Thing, White, Black, Poppy Parade

Extras: Button

To JOIN OUR CURRENT CHALLENGE,

CLICK HERE.

Seize the Birthday #3 {Make a Wish}

There is a brand new sketch up this week at Seize the Birthday!!! I loved playing with the sweet little birthday girl that Lori sent to me!!! 

For the rest of January, we are being sponsored by the lovely Lori Boyd over at By LORi Designs! This week she provided the team with some awesome masculine images for our BOY BIRTHDAY CARDS!!!

I inked up my image with Copics and used some fun paper called Lucky Love from My Mind's Eye. We hope you get the chance to get inky and join us this week!

Whimsy and Stars Design Team Blog Hop {With a Prize!!}

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! To get ready for the season, we are having a blog hop to show off all the Christmas and winter themed images available from Whimsy and Stars Studio and to introduce the new Winter 2013 design team! I am so excited to share that I am on the team! Yippee!

If you just arrived from Lesa's blog, you are on the right track!  If not, please start at the beginning of the hop at the Whimsy and Stars Studio blog to make sure you don't miss out on anything. Hop along and leave a comment for each member of the design team.  

The hop will end on Friday, December 7th at midnight EST.  One random winner, to be announced on the Whimsy and Stars Studio blog on December 8th, will be picked from all the comments received to win the Grand Prize of THREE Digi Stamps.

For my first official design team creation, I decided to make a card using the sweet  Felicity Angel Stamp. You all know that I LOVE to colour and so I went to work, using a soft and subtle colour palette for my card, based on the My Mind's Eye Paper Pack called "Portabello Road". I loved the Blue, Kraft and Gray tones of the paper and tried to highlight them with my colouring. I added some Stickles on her dress and wings...to make them pop. I think my friend Ann would be proud of my shabby card!! I did lots of sponging!

{Supplies Used}

Stamps: Whimsy and Stars- Felicity Angel Stamp

Inks: Copics 

Papers: My Mind's Eye-Potabello Road, Flourishes White CS, 

Extras: Big Shot, MFT Dienamics Snowflakes, Rhinestone

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Retro Sketches #40

Come and Get it Challenges-Blue Christmas

Simon says Stamp - anything goes

Wags N Whiskers - Christmas

Young Crafters Unite-Happy Holidays

PIO - Pile on The Embellishments

For the duration of the hop,  Mabelle is offering a special gift with purchase. With any order from the Whimsy and Stars Studio Etsy store, you can select one of two special images, Stocking Ted or Xmas Tag. 

Thank you for hopping with us today!  Your next stop on the hop is the talented Marsha's blog. 

Don't forget to leave a comment at each stop on the hop to increase your chance of winning the Grand Prize!

Here is the entire blog hop list in case you get lost along the way:   

Whimsy & Stars Studio  http://whimsyandstarsstudio.typepad.com/

Cheryl   http://shestamps.blogspot.com/

Christine  http://christinescreativetherapy.wordpress.com/

Debra http://creamcityangels.blogspot.com/

Kathy  http://willstampforwine.blogspot.com/

Lesa  http://punkydoodlepapers.typepad.com/

Lesley  http://www.alwaysplayingwithpaper.blogspot.com/  <<<<<<<< That's Me!

Marsha  http://www.stampingdownsouth.blogspot.com/

Melissa  http://8ers.blogspot.com/

Suzanne  http://sparklingscrapper.blogspot.com/

Tracy  http://iwannabuildamemory.blogspot.com/

Getting my Craft On {Merry and Bright}

Tonight I was in a crafty mood! I went in search of a few fun challenges and decided to get inky! I love the sweet stamps at Totally Stampalicious, they are a Canadian Company which is cool! I am a Canadian too! So there I was looking through some different challenges and I knew I really wanted to challenge myself to make something with lots of layers and embellishments! So I tried my best! Totally Stampalicious has a "Let it Snow" Theme Challenge on this week, so I got out their WINTER BIRD SNOWMAN set and went to work!

{Supplies Used}

Stamps: WINTER BIRD SNOWMAN, Poinsettia and Pine from Flourishes

Inks: Copics, Basic Gray, Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Papers: My Mind's Eye, Flourishes Vanilla CS, October Afternoon

Extras: Pearls, Striped Ribbon, Scallop Punch, Sponge, Nestabilities, Stickles

One sketch challenge I always want to try but have not had the chance to play along with yet is the Deconstructed Sketch. I flipped the sketch and used my ribbon as a flag on the side, not down the side of the front panel. I also added pearls right along the bottom of the card. I really loved this sketch and found that it gave me great inspiration! 

I am also playing along with the following challenges

Creative Card Crew - 2W - #24 Anything Goes

Tuesday Throwdown - #125 Lots Of Layers

Crafty Ann's - 2W, SIO - Week 1, Birds & or Animals (no people or insects)

Freshly Made Sketches #16-A Sketch by Tui Nathan

We are back to sketches at Freshly Made Sketches. This week, the lovely Tui has created a wonderful sketch that holds many possibilities!!!  I am so happy to use my new Christmas goodies! For the base of my card I used My Mind's Eye {Lost and Found} pre-folded cards. I am in LOVE with these cards and have been using them quite a bit! There are 50 in the pack with envelopes! So fun!

One of my resolutions this year is to try some more challenges...so that means I am playing along with Flourishes Bring Back Beautiful this week, they are asking for bling.  I went for it and played along! I added some bling in the form of rhinetsones on my butterflies. I also decided to play along with There She Goes and show them my new stamping supplies and also my resolution to play along with other challenges!





My good friend Jen also pointed out that the Colour Throwdown is holding the perfect colour challenge for this card! I saw that last night and decided to add my card to their linky!!

I hope you get the chance to join in with all of these challenges this week. Thank you so much for stopping by and please be sure to check out all the design team samples of these teams. Also I would like to welcome Nina and Jen to our team for January, we are excited to have you onboard!

Freshly Made Sketches Design Team

Lesley Croghan 
Linda Callahan 
Cindy Hall 
Tui Nathan 
Jennifer Timko 
Rita Wright
Nina Forsythe
Jen Sannes

Thanks for stopping by!!!
Lesley 

Colour Q 117 and Just Us Girls 117 {Just for You}

The last day of the year is here and with it comes the need to make at least a couple of resolutions. I hope to keep my craft room better organized! That is a BIG one for me. I spent about 5 hours tonight, cleaning and purging my room of creativity!  It feels much more zen and clean!!!  I just love having a tidy desk to work on!!! LOL!

The Colour Q has a wonderful colour combo of Black, White and another colour. My favourite colour from Stampin' Up is "Poppy Parade" and I was excited to use some of my new goodies that I received over the holidays!!!  I took inspiration from the photo Arielle provided. The damask really caught my eye!

Just Us Girls, has a challenge to use felt on your project. Cool huh!!! So I went into my newly organized crafty drawer and found some red felt. Using the Big Shot and my Prima Donna Petals die from MFT, I cut out the flower base. Then I cut the other parts of the flower in regular Poppy paper. The centre of the flower has a pearl.  The sentiment and the French Script background I used on the rectangle, are from two different Inspired by Stamping sets Ahoy Matey and All Year Wishes II. 

Thank you for stopping by!!! Happy New Year to all of my blogging friends!

Smiles,
Lesley