Hand Stamped By Lacey

Wild Things - Magical Monday Challenge: Textures

Hello Stamping friends!!

Happy Monday to you. Did you do anything special this weekend? My family met up with 2 other families at Wild Adventures in Valdosta, Georgia on Saturday. There were conflicting weather reports between weather.com and the weather app on my iphone (both are supposed to be from the Weather Channel). One said it would be on ok morning with rain in the afternoon and the other one said rain all day. So we took the change and drove an hour and a half to Valdosta and when we arrived, the skies were clear...for about an hour! 

Unfortunately, we wasted about a half hour in line on a ride that broke just as we were getting on. We saw some clouds heading our way so we decided to head to the water park to get some water fun in while we can. Well, after 1 lap in the lazy river, the skies opened up and it started raining. And that started the on again-off again, but mostly on, spell of rain, thunder, and lightning all day!

We did manage to get about 45 in at the water park and ride 2 rides. But that was about it! We were able to get rain checks since it rained most of the day. At least the kids had a blast playing in the rain!! After the thunder stopped, they still hadn't opened the rides so we let the kids play and burn off some energy...

My kids are the two on the left. The other two boys are friends of ours and we had 3 younger girls with us as well. 

Ok, it's time for a new Magical Monday Challenge.

This week's challenge is: Two Textures

Remember you MUST use a Magical Character on your project (Angel, Mermaid, Fairy, or Dragon).

We are being sponsored this challenge by me and Stamp and Create...

Here is my card...

This little cutie is "King of The Wild Things" by Stamping Bella. I fell in love with him as soon as I saw him!! What little boy doesn't like to dress up like a Dragon?!

The papers are Campfire by October Afternoon. I also used a Magical Mini Letter Seals sentiment, and net fibers

The sketch is from the new Pink Ink Sketches.

For my textures, I used a cuttlebug dry embossing folder on one of the layers, net fibers, embroidery thread, and heat embossing on the image...

Now it's your turn! Let's see you Magical creations.

This card is also for the following challenges:

The Crafty Pad: Lots of texture

Pile it on: Favorite Technique (sewing)

A Spoon Full of Sugar: Sewing

Thanks for stopping by! Happy stamping!

~Lacey

 

Magical Monday Challenge: A Sketch

Hello stamping friends!!

I hope you had a lovely weekend. I sure did. Thursday was my 10th wedding anniversary. My husband was out of town for a few days and didn't get home until later that night. Therefore, we decided that we would celebrate our anniversary on Saturday instead. Well, Friday night the kids had a party so that gave my husband and I 4 kid-free hours to spend together. We had a nice dinner at the house then watched our wedding video, our Honeymoon video (we went to Aruba), and a random video of Ansley (my husband just grabbed one from when she was a baby). It was really nice to watch these videos and remember the "old days"! LOL Actually, I cried a few times during the wedding video because of seeing my father :-( In a month, it will be 4 years since my father passed away so it was sad to see him giving me away and our father-daughter dance. Also, my Aunt (my dad's sister), my Grandfather, and my step-grandmother were also on the video and are now no longer with us. But besides missing them, it was fun to watch the wedding again. 

On Saturday, we went to see the Cars 2 movie as a family. Ryan was a HUGE Lightning McQueen fan for years (Lightning has now been replaced with Mario from the Mario Brother's video games). It was a cute movie and we enjoyed it. Of course, the first one was the best, but rarely are sequels better than the original. In the evening, the kids went to a friend's house for a sleep over so that Scott and I could have a nice date night for our anniversary. 

On Sunday we basically did church stuff between our Life Group/Bible Study and church. 

Now today, I am taking the kids to the Jacksonville for a church beach day. It should be fun.

So...

It's time for a new Magical Monday Challenge!

The challenge is a sketch by Heidi...

We are sponsored this week by Crafty Ribbons (please see the challenge post for prize details).

Here is my take on the sketch...

I used the adorable Ketto stamp Agnes by Stamping Bella. The sentiment is Magical Mini Letter Seals from Whimsy Stamps. The paper is October Afternoon Modern Homemaker.

Now it's your turn!! Let's see your take on the sketch. Just remember you MUST use a Magical character on your card.

I'll be back tomorrow with the new High Hopes Challenge.

This card is also for the following challenges:

Creative Inspirations: Stitches

Crafty Calander: Things with wings

2 Sisters: Fairies

Sweet Stampin: Something Old and Something New (old: Ketto stamp - was a gift from a friend a few years ago; new: Designer Paper)

Thanks for stopping by! Happy stamping!

~Lacey

Other teacher gift

Here is the gift I made for Ryan's preschool teacher. I didn't have any other composition notebooks to alter, so I decided to make her a set of cards instead. I know teachers can never have enough thank you cards!

I left them blank with no sentiment so she can use them just for notes and birthday cards as well.

I used scrap strips of DP (retired SU) and randomly placed them...yes, some of them are supposed to be crooked. I added some ric rac ribbon and a scalloped border (SU punch) and called it a day!

I placed the set in one of the PTI clear boxes and added some ribbon (from Taylored Expressions).

Here's another view...

I made her a similar card like Ansley's teacher but with a red base...

She was very happy to receive them!

So far they are doing well in school. Although we are having bus issues with Ansley!! This is her first time riding the bus. So everything is new to her...new school...new neighborhood...new friends....new procedure to get picked up from school, etc!! Therefore, she forgot her bus number today so she missed the afterschool bus!!!

Imagine how freaked out I was when she didn't get off the bus!!!

I walked to the bus stop with Ryan and our dog Princess. So when she wasn't there, I knew I had to get to the school asap. A neighbor drove us home so we didn't have to walk. We hopped right in our car and headed to school. On the way, I managed to get in touch with the school to confirm that she was still there. We get to school, hop out (with the dog...who is freaking out by now because I was freaking out) when...someone yelled at me for having the dog!!! Are you kidding?! It's 100 degrees....I am NOT leaving my dog in the car....AND "YOU" (the school) failed to send my daughter home!!! Who cares about the freakin' dog!!!

Anyway, I picked her up...I mean she's only 5 pounds (smaller than your normal sized cat)!!

We got Ansley safely home...but I was still a wreck! THEN she accidentally broke a glass vase!! So I started cleaning it up and ended up sweeping the whole house! Afterward, my back was killing me!!! I must have pulled my back from fantically running around trying to get Ansley (I remember twisting a little when I tried to get Ryan out of the car...with the adrenaline rushing...I may not have noticed it until later).

Needless to say, a few advils, a glass of wine (or two)...I was pooped and glad when the day was over!!!

I did manage to make a card in the morning before the bus incident! I will post that later!

In the mean time....thanks for stoping by! Happy Stamping!

~Lacey

Teacher gifts

I wanted to do something special for each of the kids' teachers.

For Ansley's teacher, I decided to alter a composition notebook...

I used Stamping Bella's Teachabella. I embossed the image in black and quickly colored her with a mixture of Twinkling H2Os and SU markers. The DP is retired SU from last year...thought it fit the theme perfectly. I used the SU scalloped edge punch and Spiral Punch.

I die cut the initial of her last name with the Sizzix Serif Essentials alphabet dies along with 2 EKsuccess flower punches....

I covered the inside as well...

Here's a view of the back of the notebook...

For her card, I used the SCS SC242 sketch this week using the same materials.

 I added some stickles and an apple charm.

I will post Ryan's teacher's gift later.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

~Lacey

Another Just Rite Monogram set

Wow! This week has been a hectic one. I think I keep saying that! But, seriously, we have been so busy. I will write another post in a few minutes about my hectic weekend. But I wanted to share something creative today.

Real quick before I get that to that... my email has been on the fritz lately and I have spent way too much time with AT&T trying to get it fixed. I thought it was just slow to load, having to refresh constantly, and not being able to delete emails...but apparently I have lost a few emails as well. So, if you emailed me lately and I haven't responded...I probably didn't get the email! I looks like it was just fixed (*cross my finders*)!

I noticed that my Top Note Basket that I posted here was listed first on the Tutorials at Card of the Week.com this week. I've gotten triple the amount of daily hits to my blog each day and have gotten quite a few new subscribers! So I want to say a quick Hello *waving* at my new subscribers! I hope you find inspirataion!!

Anyway, on the card...This is something I made awhile ago. Nothing new today because I am actually not feeling well!

This is the other set of Just Rite Stamper monogrammed cards that I made for my friend (here and here are the other two sets)...

The card base is SU Chocolate Chip. The white layer is PTI Stampers Select White stamped with SU Polka Dot background stamp in Pink Pirouette ink. The chocolate layer was punched with my Fiscars Threading Water border punch and the ribbon is SU Pink Pirouette Stripped Ribbon. The monogram was done with the Just Rite Stamper kit. The scalloped circles were diecut with my scalloped circle Nestability.

I made a box to go with it...

I made the box with my tutorial here.

And here is the box opened...

To go along with this gift set, I made her a birthday card as well to give to her friend...

Simple layout. I love Bellas because they are so easy to color so they are perfect for quick cards.

Well, thanks for stopping by today!

~Lacey

Just Right Monogram..."W"

A friend of mine asked me to make a set of monogrammed cards for her friend. She needed it pretty quickly (along with 2 other sets), so I went with a quick design. And the JustRite monogram stamp is just perfect for this type of card.

Since her friend's birthday was yesterday, I think it's safe to share. Her friend's favorite colors are pink and green...

I used SU Gable Green for the card base. I stamped SU Polka Dot background stamped in Pink Pirouette onto white then I distressed the edges with my sissors. I added a strip of green that was punched with my Fiscars Threading Water border punch. I added some SU Pink Pirouette Stripped Ribbon. I stamped the the monogram in black and cut out the layers using my scalloped Nestabilities which is attached with dimensionals.

To hold the cards, I created a box using my tutorial...

I had to adjust my dimensions on the Large box since the ribbon added to 10 cards made it too fat to fit in a regular Large Box. So I increased the dimensions by 1" on two sides, and scored it 1/2" larger on all sides which added 1/2" total to the height of the box.

Here is the set together...

 Since this was a birthday gift for her friend, I created a birthday card for her to give with the set...

I pulled out my Emmabella stamp for a quick card. The Bellas are sooo easy to color so they make really great cards in a short amount of time. I followed the rest of the card to match the monogrammed cards.

I hope her friend likes it! I made another set, too...but I will save that until after that friend's birthday (just in case she visits this blog before then)!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Year!!

I love Bellas! They are so easy to color. I made this card from begining to end in less than 20 mintues!!

I used SCS Stetch Challenge 209...

This was so easy to put together and I needed a really quick card.

Have a wonderful new year!! See you in 2009!

~Lacey 

Baby Scrapbook: 6 Months

Here is another layout for the Baby Scrapbook I made (and, yes, finally finished).

The left side...

On the right side, I used some Polka Dot Ribbon (I LOVE polka dot ribbon) from Michaels and cute Eloise Greengrass from Stamping Bella. "Spunky Spots" SU Wheel was stamped across the top picture mat a few times with Certainly celery ink. The month title was printed on the computer and attached with Pewter Hodge Podge Hardware. A few banana eyelets were used in the bottom mat.

Here is a closer view of Eloise...

Eloise was first embossed in black, then colored using So Saffron, Certainly Celery and Blush Blossom ink and aquapainter. Then I used the corresponding markers to highlight around the edges. I used some 2-way glue and Dazzling Diamonds to add a little bling. She is the cutest little fairy!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Lacey

Happy Anniversary

Finally, a card!! My mojo went on vacation this week! I have had NO desire to stamp which isn't great since I have a few orders that are due at the end of next week. But, I was finally able to get one card done today.

My anniversary is Sunday. Scott and I have been married 7 years. We've had a busy life after we got married since we got pregnant only 6 months after getting married. Since we were older when married, I wanted to start a family right away. Needless to say, life is busy with two young children!

For Scott's card, I wanted to use "Summer by the Sea" since our engagement pictures were taken on the beach. I wanted a "vintage" style card, but I wanted it to be "simple" as well since Scott is definitely more "simple".

I used River Rock CS for the card base (I'm gonna miss this color when it retires :-(. I stamped Weathered (something else I will miss when it retires in August) stamped in Mellow Moss. I inked up the edges with Chocolate Chip and used the Spritzer Tool to spray on some Mellow Moss splatter. For the image, I embossed the image in black onto Very Vanilla CS, sponged Barely Banana in the sky followed by More Mustard around the edges to give the appearance of a sunset. I colored the image with ink and an aqua painter and highlighted each area with markers. The sentiment is from Stamping Bella.

Here is a closer look of the spritzed background...

  In honor of our wedding anniversary, I wanted to show you a few pictures we had taken of our celebrations. Of course, I am much fatter now!! LOL

This is a photo of one of the pictures from our engagement pictures. Note that this is a picture of a picture; we did not have digital pictures taken. So, you see a little of the reflection from the flash towards the top of the picture.

This is one of our wedding shots. Again, this is a picture of a picture. We got married at a Country Club in Deerfield Beach, Florida. It had this beautiful water fall. The wedding was originally supposed to be outside, but as soon as June came around, it occured to me that I was going to sweat my you-know-what off in that dress in the South Florida heat!! So, we moved it to one of the banquet halls that over looked the waterfall.

Going back to the cards, after pulling out these pictures for this post, it occured to me that we live on the EAST coast of Florida (we currently live outside of Jacksonville, FL which is North Florida, but still on the East Coast), NOT on the West coast of Florida. Therefore, we wouldn't be watching a sunset on the beach, but a sunrise...or a beautiful clear blue sky like in our engagement photo. So, I went back to the stamping desk and re-did the card...

The design is exactly the same, but made with different colors. I used Bordering Blue for the card base with the weathered background stamped in Bashful Blue and Brocade Blue for the spritzed area. I heavily inked up the edges with Bashful Blue around the edges. This time "we" are sitting on the sand instead of a grassy meadow. It's amazing how different colors can totally change the look of a card.

Here are the two cards next to each other...

Thanks for stopping by!

~Lacey

National Scrapbook Day

Today, May 3rd is National Scrapbook Day!! So I thought I would share a few scrapbook designs with you (well...half designs with you...both of these are the left side of a two-page layout...I'll explain more soon...). This is also the first time that I have participated with a "sketch"! Yeah, me!!

I found this scrapbook layout challenge on Alli Miles' blog so I decided to play along.

I posted here that I was making a scrapbook for my kids' school. I needed to make a layout for their "Pumpkin Patch" and I thought this sketch would work well so here it is (changed slightly)...

I used Creamy Caramel for the scrapbook base with a layer of Barely Banana. I stamped the Baroque Motifs swirl along the edge and bottom in Mellow Moss. I had seen a Thanksgiving card on the SU! Demonstrator website which used the pumpkin in the center with the swirl in the back like a true pumkin patch (however, if you own a little girl, this also highly resembles Cinderella's Carriage)!

I also stamped a few other pumpkins along the bottom making them off behind each other.

For the main image, I stamped "Dotted" background stamp multiple times in Barely Banana ink by using my Crop-a-Dile...I was not going to attempt to line up the dots 3 times across, and two times down...no way would I have gotten it straight!. I inked up the edges and added pictures instead of flowers (like the sketch).

For the "flowers", I actually used lightweight coasters! I had them lying around and thought they would work well die-cut and embossed with Nestabilities. The ribbon is from Michael's. I have not had a chance to finish the second page, but it will read "Patch" to complete "Pumpkin Patch". Since it's a school layout, I am not including any journaling. It is more for the Parent/Teacher Fellowship and school to use for recruiting members and new students.

The next layout is also for the school scrapbook. This is for the "Thanksgiving Food Drive". The right page of the layout is actually at the school right now. I forgot to take a picture. I originally had this one on display at school until someone told me I spelled "Thanksgiving" wrong....how embarassing!! I left the "s" out of Thanks!! I have since fixed it, but haven't brought it back to school yet.

Anyway, I  used "Voila" and "Voila to go" stamp sets. It's hard to see in the first picture, but the hogdog, spaghetti, and turkey stamps are randomly stamped in the background in Real Red ink onto Real Red CS. The ribbon is SU! black gingham ribbon weaved through the CS using the double rectangle punch.

I used "Print Pattern" background stamp since I thought it looked like diner floor tiles. I embossed it with black for added texture.

I also embossed the chef in black as well. Since this was a Thanksgiving food drive, I had the chef holding the turkey. The angle of the flash is reflecting off the chef making him look blurry...

Lastly, I wanted to include some scripture (since it's a Christian school). I used Matthew 25:40.

Happy National Scrapbook Day!! Thanks for stopping by!

~Lacey