Hand Stamped By Lacey

The Love Monkey

Hello stamping friends!!

Happy Valentine's Day!! 

Well I ended up being quite busy yesterday and forgot to post about the Stamp and Create Product Spotlight Sale. 

This week, all stamps in the Baby Category are on sale 25% or more.

The sale runs through midnight EST on Sunday. 

There is also a new Weekly Candy...

This is Cupido mini stamp from Magnolia.
You can enter the candy here. 

It's Tutorial Tuesday Time over at the High Hopes Challenge blog. Kristine has created a tutorial for Shadow Box Cards. Go check it out.

Ok, so today is Valentine's Day. Yep, it's not a huge favorite of mine. Why? I don't know. I guess I don't need a holiday to tell my husband that I love him and vice versa! Although it's nice when my husband does something nice for me, I would rather he want to do it because he loves me, not because it's Valentine's Day. 

Anyway, he went to Peterbrooke Chocolate store and brought home a HUGE basket of chocolate dipped stuff (like chocolate popcorn, chocolate dipped pretzels, chocolate dipped graham crackers, chocolate dipped strawberries)! I was actually going to tell him not to spend the money on flowers this year since we are going out this weekend and I would rather spend the money then. But he DONE GOOD with the basket of Peterbrooke stuff! YUMMY!!

But, darn, it ruined what I was going to do for him and the kids...set up a chocolate fondue after dinner tonight! I can still do it, but we now have a MESS LOAD of chocolate in the house!! I'm not sure I can stomach even MORE chocolate!! I guess I shouldn't be selfish...although "I" may not be able to stomach that much chocolate, I think my husband and kids can!! :-)

Of course, I did make him a card...

This is the adorable Heartstrings Monkey from High Hopes Rubber Stamps. You know...because my husband is my "Love Monkey"!! LOL

While searching for a sketch to use, I found a great sketch at Sketch n Stash and was inspired by this card from their DT Michelle. I loved the simplicity of the white card. So I thought I would case her card. Of course, her's is better than mine! :-)

I ran out of heavy white cardstock so I actually used Watercolor paper for the card base. It's kind of an off-white but it has a fun texture.

The paper is MME Fly a Kite along with some black rhinestones and twine.

The image was embossed in black onto watercolor paper and watercolored with Twinkling H2Os...

The current "Seeing Stars" challenge is still going on over at the High Hopes challenge blog. Come join in on the fun!

This card is also for the following challenges:

Cards for Men: Valentine's Day/Love

Cupcake Craft Challenge: Entwined (use twine)

Stamp and Create: Valentine's Day/Love

Thanks for stopping by! Happy stamping!!

~Lacey

High Hopes Challenge: Pink, Pink, and more Pink

Hello stamping friends!!

Well today is a special day for me....

I'm going to the Jimmy Buffet Concert tonight!!! You got fins to the left, fins to the right...

I'm going with 4 other ladies and it's going to be an all-day thing. The concert doesn't start until 7:30pm but they are coming by at 12:30 to pick me up!! Yikes, that's going to be a long day!! But I can't wait!! I have to remember to bring my camera!! :-)

Ok, so it's time for a new High Hopes Challenge.

Anna is our host this week and her challenge is: Pink, Pink, and more Pink!!

That's right, let's see some pink on your card or project!

Just remember that you MUST use a High Hopes Stamp on your card to enter the challenge. 

Here is my take on the challenge...

The kids school limits the amount of treats we can hand out on Holidays - absolutely NO homemade food/treats because of food allergies. So pencils are a fun treat instead. 

The image is the adorable Kitty's Heart Frame. I embossed the image onto watercolor paper, watercolored it, and paperpieced the heart....

The paper is Fancy Pants Beach Babe.

I created a wrap out of some scrap cardstock and paper and attached the image to the front.

I added a strip of adhesive on the inside of the cardstock before wrapping it around the pencils so that the pencils won't slip out of the wrap.

Here is the back...

This was so simple to make. Now it's your turn!! Let's see your take on the Pink challenge. 

The challenge runs through Feb 6th.

The image can be found here at Stamp and Create and here at High Hopes.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy stamping!

~Lacey

 

High Hopes Challenge: Valentine's Day/Love

Hello stamping friends!!

Thank you all for your prayers for my Father-in-Law. His surgery went well as expected. He now has a long recovery and we pray that he will heal quickly quickly with no complications or infections. Thank you for the prayers. 

Now it's time for a new High Hopes Challenge:

Valentine's Day/Love

Just remember that you MUST use a High Hopes Stamp on your card or project to be entered into the challenge. 

Since I have a few little sweet monkeys (aka kids) on my street, I have a few special Valentine's Day treats I need to make. So I thought it would be a good idea to make another Treat Topper like I made for the tutorial last week.

 This time I use the adorable Kitty's Flutter Friend illustrated by Laurie Furnell. The papers are Fancy Pants Love Story.  

They really are super easy to make. Here are the two of them together - well two so far! I still to make a few more. Not to mention the ones for Ansley and Ryan's class - however, I make them help by coloring their own images! :-)

The images were embossed in black onto watercolor paper and watercolored with Twinkling H2Os...

 The challenge is only open for 1 week this time so make sure to come and play along!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

~Lacey

 

Ryan's Valentine for his teacher - WnW Sketch

Hello stamping friends. I hope you are having a lovely weekend so far. 

Well, it is 4 weeks and counting until our move back to Orange Park, FL (just outside Jacksonville). We had the inspection on our South Florida home yesterday and I got to meet the buyers. They sound like a great family so I hope I am leaving my friends with a wonderful new neighbor.

Over the next 4 weekends, we have some travel and some "fun" planned (in between 3 more soccer weekends). I have started packing my store stamps into small boxes. Since we live in Florida, it's hot...too hot to allow rubber stamps to sit on a moving truck for a few days. Therefore, when I move, I will be taking my store (and personal) stamp supplies with me. I will pack up my stamps and the kids and head out on the first day. Scott will stay behind with the movers to make sure everything is packed up. Then he will follow them up to the new house. Therefore, I have started putting my store stamps into small boxes so I can still access them until the move, but when the time comes, I close up the boxes and pack them in my van. The boxes will be small enough that I can unload the van myself. 

So it's starting to get exciting that we are moving "home"!!

But before we go, we still have lots to do and the kids still have school. Since Monday is Valentine's Day, I needed to make a Valentine's Day for Ryan's teacher.

I decided to use Wags 'n Whiskers Just for You (designed after Ryan) and use the sketch for the current Wags 'n Whiskers Challenge... 

 

I pulled out some retired October Afternoon DP and the Ruler stamp from a SU "Elementary Essentials" that I've had for years. I thought they made the perfect card for a teacher. And since it's from a boy, it's not too "love" looking!!

Well, I have to run. Time to head to the soccer field for Ansley's soccer game. It's wet and chilly today so hopefully it's not too miserable at the soccer field.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy stamping!

~Lacey

High Hopes 100th Challenge and blog hop!!!

It's time for the High Hopes' 100th Challenge!! I'm so honored to be part of this team!!

To celebrate, we have a blog hop complete with lots of prizes!

You should have arrived from Kristine's blog. If not, you will want to start at the top at the High Hopes blog.

As you stop along the hop, make sure to leave comments because there is candy along the way!!

The 1st prize is $100 retail value of unmounted or cling mounted High Hopes stamps!! WOW!!

The 2nd prize is $50 retail value of unmounted or cling mounted High Hopes stamps!!

And the 3rd and 4th prize is each

$25 retail value of unmounted or cling mounted High Hopes stamps!!

That's a lot of stamps!!

In order to have a chance to win, you must leave a comment on each blog along the hop.

The hop will remain open until 12:00pmEST/5:00pmGMT Monday, Jan 17th.

And the winners will be announced next tuesday.

Oh, you may notice that we have a few special guests joining us for this challenge!! We have 7 former Divas joining us!! Whoo Hoo!! Make sure to say hi to them when you stop by!

Before we get to the Hop and Challenge, we wanted to announce that

we are changing the challenges to every-other-week.

Therefore this challenge (not the hop, but the challenge), will remain open until Monday, Jan 24th.We will have a special post on the weeks in between the challenges.

Speaking of challenge...

This week's challenge is: Anything Goes!!

You may use any High Hopes card or image.

Yes, we will still have our normal prize for those who enter a card in the challenge

 

For my card, I used the new Purr-ty Tweet Kitty Valentine from their recent release.

The sketch is from Friday Sketchers this week.

High Hopes has so many cute Valentine images that I thought it would be great to let my kids create their own valentine's for their classes.

I stamped some out and they will color them (a little at a time)...

Aren't they sweet?

Here's what I will probably do with them once they color all of the images...

These are simple to make. Just diecut the image, add a mat, and add it to some patterned paper folded over a treat bag.

Now it's time to hop on over to the super talented Michelle (so happy she was able to come back for our special challenge)!!

Wags 'n Whiskers Pin Up Release and Blog Hop!!

It's time!!!

Today is the blog hop and release for the new Wags 'n Whiskers Pin-Ups!!

Oh my are they sexy!! 

You should have arrived to my blog from Mag (which means you have been blown away - her designs are amazing). If not, you will want to start at the top at the Wags 'n Whiskers blog so that you don't miss any stops. 

There is candy along the way, but you won't know where!! In order to win the candies, you need to leave a comment on the correct blogs - so why not comment on them all?! Besides, we love to hear what you think of our designs. 

The stamps will be available for sale at 7am EST today.

Now, since you came from Mag's blog, you got see the name-sake of this stamp!! Yes, Magali was named after Mag :-) And this image may be my favorite of this release. So I used it on my card as well.

When we came up with the idea of a Pin-Up release, I thought these would be great for vintage cards. So that's what I went for with my card design...

I hope I hit the vintage look! This is a "bumpy" card with LOTS of embellishments!!  Which means it's a "Hand-deliver" card.  

 I used some Gingham ribbon, bow easy, Webster's Sparkler (on the bow) pearls, lace, word stick, pins, flowers Circle Postmark stamps by Whimsy and Tis the Season Paper by Kaisercraft...

The image was stamped in black then watercolored with Sepia tones of Twinkling H2Os... 

It's a little scary coloring a body in sepia at first, but then it gets easier with the more layers you use. Anyway I went with a "rough" color to make it look faded and aged.

Now it's time to hop on over to Sharon!!

This card is being entered into the Paper Sundaes Challenge: Circles (Lots of circles on the background paper).

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!!

~Lacey

Wags 'n Whiskers Challenge and Sneak Peek

Just a quick post because I am totally exhausted and sick as can be!! I have a nasty head and chest cold that came on quickly and knocked me on my feet. I can usually handle a cold pretty well - Mom's don't get 'sick days'. But when it affects my asthma, that's another story. I can barely breath! And every time I cough, my head feels like it's going to explode AND my lower stomach hurts (not good for 9 weeks after a hysterectomy)!! I will be going to the doctor today - just not sure if I should go to my primary care doctor for the cold or to my allergist for my asthma. 

Before I get today's challenge, please continue to pay for Luke (see original post here). Here's what his mom said on Facebook late last night:

"God is ever present and we give Him complete glory! Luke had a rough day with set backs that puts us back to day 1; more tests planned - EKG tonight, MRI and EEG tomorrow...prayers going up and blessings coming down...."

Anyway, I am here today with a new Wags 'n Whiskers Challenge and since we have a new release on Monday, today we are peeking some of the images.

And they are HOT!! Pin ups!! 

So to welcome our sexy girls, this week's challenge is: Valentines

Isn't she hot?!! This is Sophia and she will be available as a rubber stamp on Monday. I am so excited that our artist Cris de Lara created such classic style pin-ups!! For those of you who like "vintage" cards, these would be perfect for that style. 

Now, I made this card for my hubby for Valentine's Day. I think I'm going to put a sentiment on the inside that reads "stop dreaming...now take the garbage out"!! LOL He's got a good sense of humor!

I'm entering this in the Paper Sundaes Challenge: something new (new release stamp) and ironically I'm also entering this into the Cute Card Thursday: Out with the Old (Basic Grey Bittersweet DP and chipboard heart that I've had for over a year).

The chipboard heart has a few layers (couldn't get the color I wanted). It has some Aged Mahogany crackle paint, real red ink sponged, then crystal effects.

Make sure to check out the rest of the DT samples as well.  There will be more samples linked on the challenge blog tomorrow and Sunday, with a Blog Hop on 12:01am EST Monday and release at 7:00am EST.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

~Lacey

I'm back and stamping!! :-)

I'm back from vacation!! We had a great time, but I was so tired and ready for it to be over. Now I'm back to work (got more than half of the vacation orders shipped out today-the rest will ship tomorrow), and got my first stamped project in 3 weeks completed!! I almost forgot how to do it!!

Anyway, today I have a High Hopes project using one of the awesome Valentine's images from the last release.

These images are perfect for simple treats for friends! This one is No Bones Doggy.

I cut the image out with Nestabilities, then cut a piece of Basic Grey Max and Whiskers DP using the Top Note die. Then attached it to a baggie filled with sour gummy worms. 

These would be very easy to mass product. 

Make sure to check out all of the new images (I have a restock order on the way).

I hope you aren't totally sick of Christmas...because tomorrow is the new ABC Christmas Challenge!! Yep, my first Christmas card for 2011!! You really should play along - it's great to get them out of the way so you aren't rushed at the end of the year.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!!

~Lacey

High Hopes Blog Hop and Release!!

 We're so excited that it's time for the High Hopes Blog Hop and release!!

The team has been so busy to make this a wonderful release.

As you will see, this release is filled with images filled with snow, spring, cute animals and lots of LOVE!!

As you hop along the blogs, you might want to leave a comment at each stop...

because there is candy along the way!!

You won't know where, but you can only enter if you leave a comment on the right blog!!

You can start at the beginning of the hop at the High Hopes Challenge Blog.

After your done hopping, make sure to check out the High Hopes website, Diva stores, or other retails because the stamps are now available!!

 Of course, I have all of the stamps available at Stamp and Create!! ;-)

**At the time I wrote this post, I was less than half way through loading the stamps. With 136 stamps, this is very time consuming. So when this posts, I may have gone to bed and will finish loading the images in the morning**

For my project today, I create a few more little treat bags that would make a great Valentine's Day gift!!

I used card stock stamped with Open Heart, a few images, and ribbon - easy peasy (I really need to create a tutorial for these since they are so simple to make).

This one uses Love Letter Monkey by Dustin Pike...

And this one uses Kitty's Heart Frame by Laurie Furnell...

I also have another card using one of the new stamps here.

I'm the last stop on the hop!! You have made it through...now go shopping!! LOL

 Lacey Stephens (me) - Stamp and Create based out of the US

Nikki Fairbairn - Bunny Zoe's Crafts based out of the UK/Europe

Amy Leggate - Paper Romance based out of Canada

Amy Wegener - Stampin' Stuff based out of Australia

High Hopes Website

 

I love You - a few challenges

So, the other day I mentioned how many Valentine's Day cards I needed. I mentioned my husband, my kids, the kids teachers, etc... Well, guess what?! Ryan's teacher sends home a note saying that the theme for February for his Pre-K class is "Love" and to bring in a card EACH WEEK for our child and they will read them on fridays. Now, this is not so bad if you are a "normal" person..."normal" people can just go buy 4 cards!! But for a handmade card maker, this means I have to hand make 4 cards for my son!! Because it would be a sin to actually buy him 4 cards!! LOL

Therefore, I am so glad that so many challenge blogs are having a "Love" theme this week!!

First challenge is actually being sponsored by my store: Delightful Sketches - Love

Penny Black challenge - Someone Special

Cute Card Thursday - Spots and Dots

And throw in a sketch challenge - this is SC266

So this is card #1 for my son...

This cute dog and bee are 2 separate stamps, but I thought they would look great together. They are from the Penny Black Every Which Way set. What a cute set for Valentine's Day...and it happens to be on sale right now!!

I used some Basic Grey Origins 12x12 paper (also on sale) and a Basic Grey button.

The image was embossed in black and watercolored with Twinkling H2Os...

The sentiment is also from the stamp set.

I carried the papers to the inside...

This inside sentiment is from the set as well.

I think Ryan will like this. The sketch was really great for the simple layout needed for a boy'ish card.

As I mentioned, my store Stamp and Create is sponsoring the Delightful Sketches challenge this week. If you would like the chance to win a $15 Gift Certificate to Stamp and Create, come play along!!

Make sure to come back tomorrow for the Scrap and Stamp Blog Hop and the Wags 'n Whiskers Challenge!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

~Lacey

High Hopes Challege 61 - Valentine's Day Card

Happy Sunday to you! I hope you all are doing well. Unfortunately, I think I have the start of a cold coming on! I've been feeling a little "off" the past few days, but thought it was just my asthma. But now it's a little in my throat and I feel poor. Strange cold went to my chest first! So I hope to take it easy today. I have a little house cleaning to do and grocery shopping. But otherwise, I think I may just do a little crafting.

This week we have a fun challenge at the High Hopes Challenge Blog! Well, they all are all fun, but today it's an appropriate challenge...Michelle is hosting this week and she has challenged us to make a Valentine's Day card!  I know we all probably need a few more of these, right?!

I wonder, how many Valentine's Day cards do you make? I have 3 teachers, my son, my daughter, and my husband (or course) that needs a "real" card. I may send one to a friend or two. Then my kids bring in cards for their classmates and a few neighborhood friends, too. Ansley's old enough to help make her cards. So we are actually planning on getting those started today.

Therefore, I was glad with this week's challenge! Here's my card...

 
This will either go to one of my friends or one of the teachers. I used Lenny's Love me Nots. I really love this cute dragon from last year! I added some Silver Round Spacers and Basic Grey Flat Back Pearls.

The layout is from Midnight Madness Challenge this week. I love how they now offer a basic sketch and a "dressed" up sketch.

Lenny is embossed in black and watercolored with Twinkling H2Os...

I carried the layout on the inside and used 2 sentiment stamps that I had in my stash from High Hopes last year.

Now it's your turn to participate with the challenge! Grab your High Hopes Stamps and come play along. One participant will be entered into the drawing to receive Dustin Pike's Troubled Travis (I lost this dragon, too)!

Make sure to enter your card in Mr. Linky to be entered into the drawing. And if you upload your card to SCS, use keyword HHC61.

Don't forget about my blog candy on the Stamp and Create.com Blog!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

~Lacey

High Hopes Challenge #58 DT- Put a bow on it!

This is my 2nd post of the day. So make sure to scroll down for my other post...

Once again I am so excited to be able to get back into my DT challenges! This time it is for High Hopes Rubber Stamps.

By the way...did you hear? There is news coming to High Hopes...make sure to check back often to see what's going on!!

This week's challenge is brought to us by Karen! She wants us to use bows on our cards!! Yippie!!

So it's time to grab a High Hopes stamp, some ribbon, and come play along! One participant will win these stamps...

  

Here's my card..

This is The Love Bandit. Isn't he adorable?! I used some Basic Grey Porcelain paper. On the pink background, I randomly stamped the Solid Heart and Open Heart in red ink. On the yellow paper, I spritz it with my SU So Saffron marker and spritzer tool.

The glitter heart brads and heart paper doily were an awesome find at the $1 section of target!!

I added a bow made the bow easy (which should be back in stock this week), a button, and one of my new charms.

The image was embossed in black onto watercolor paper and watercolored with Twinkling H2Os. It was cut out the the Nestability Label Four die and added some Star Dust Stickles around the image and on the heart.

Now it's your turn. Grab a High Hopes stamp, a bow, and come play along!! Make sure to add your card to Mr. Linky on the challenge post to be entered into the drawing! Just remember, you must use a High Hopes stamp to be entered into the drawing.

Don't forget to check back later this week for some awesome High Hopes news!!

And don't forget about my Weekly Wednesday Blog Candy here!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy stamping!

~Lacey

Froggy Valentine

Ok, I know...Valentine's Day is over...why am I showing another one?! That's because these were late gifts :-( boo! Ryan got sick last wednesday so he couldn't go to school on thursday. He missed his Valentine's Day party at school. And since he only goes to preschool Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays, I didn't worry about rushing to finish them up.

Of course, the weekend got away from me, so I didn't get started on these until late monday night and finished up last night. Therefore the card design is very simple and also because I didn't want to take away from the image...

How cute is he!!! This image is called Froggy Gift and he's from High Hopes Rubber Stamps. It's an older image, but I just got him last week. When I saw him, I immediately thought of Ryan!!! He hasn't brought home any frogs yet, but I am sure it will happen one day!! LOL I thought this image would be perfect to use for his teacher's cards! They know Ryan almost better than me!

When coloring this image, I new I wanted the overalls to be blue jeans. Of course, the frog has to be green. And I made his hat and accents red because Ryan's favorite cap is a Lighting McQueen cap which is red. I had this paper from My Mind's Eye in mind (or "in my mind's eye"...sorry, that was horrible) to use for the card. But when I realized that I created a blue/green/red color combo...I wasn't too sure about it. But I think it actually worked out! Not a color combo I would have set out to make. I think it really works because of the shade of green is kind of yellowish...which makes it lean toward a combo of Primary colors...of course that would work, right?! Anyway, I am glad I stumbled on this mistake.

To go along with the card, I made another gable box like here and here...

I used Real Red CS to create the box and added some of the DP to the panels. These were willed with Chocolates.

I wanted to point out that a lot of the High Hopes images are large. And this one is no exception. This card is a standard A2 size (5 1/2" x 4 1/4").

I think Ryan's teachers got a kick out of the card. Oh, I also wanted to point out the look on this boy's face....so much like my Ryan...how can you get mad a face like that?!

Thanks for stopping by!

 ~Lacey

Lightning McQueen Valentine

If you here for the High Hopes Hullabaloo...check down to the previous post...and check back again later for another sneak peak.

In the mean time, my son is ALL about Lightning MQueen. So for his Valentine's day cards for his classmates, I created a Lolli-pop holder/card. And a friend of mine, who had me make these Monster Truck party invitations I made last year, asked me if I could make a few for her son's class as well.

Click on the picture for a larger view.

 This actually is a fairly simple design. I embossed a ton of McQueens on a few pieces of Whisper White at the same time. Then I colored them all at the same time. Then I punched them out with a Marvy Circle punch, inked around the edges, then matted on scalloped nestabilites.

The background was created with a retired SU "wheel" wheel (that sounds funny)...I guess it's a "tire-track" wheel. I inked up the edges, then attached it to a Real Red card base.

I stamped the Valentine's tag and punched it out with both SU tag punches and attached it to the card with extra puffy foam so that the lollipop would fit under. Lightning is attached with regular dimensionals.

If you just switch out the sentiment (and remove the lollipop) this would be a cute party information.

Oh, before you ask, I bought this at either Michaels or Joanns, but I've seen it here.

Unfortunately, Ryan was home sick from school today so he missed his party. We will still hand them out next week when he goes back.

Make sure to check back later for another High Hopes Hullabaloo! And make sure to check out all of the Diva's blogs too (links in my sidebar)!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Lacey