My New Blog Look... and Two Cards!

Hey y'all! That's what my kinfolk say in the south. I love it! I'm actually a little bit southern since my mother was born and raised in Mississippi and I was born in Alabama. But I digress (as usual). If you are reading this in Google Reader or similar, please click on over and check out my new blog design. This wonderfulness is by none other than Veronica McCollum of VK Design Co. I mean it when I say she is the easiest, most wonderful person to work with... not to mention, incredibly talented. She's actually pretty good at reading minds, too! I guess you'd have to be when trying to bring to life something that is a notion in someone else's mind. Anyway, we hope that it doesn't look too much like a pet store (ha ha). I absolutely love it, and am deeply grateful to Veronica for bringing my blog to life.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to say that I'm not really a cat lady, so to speak. I mean, I do have two cats... litter mates from a rescued mama... and had one other cat about 25 years ago. But that's it. One of my cats, a gray shorthaired tabby named Jazzy, is MY cat, though. She chose me as her Alpha and follows me around and "protects" me from the other marauding animals around here (that's her opinion... ha!). When I started getting into Splitcoast a little more than a year ago, I was trying to think of a clever handle. I suppose Jazzy must have been around at the time when The Cat's Meow popped into my head. (If you know me at all, you know I'm the queen of cliches.) So, I changed Cat to Craft, and viola! Not very exciting, but there you have it.

Onto a card! With all the activity of late, I've barely had time to do any stamping... in fact, almost none. It felt strange to finally sit down to stamp because I felt literally overwhelmed... I didn't know where to start or what to do first... and my mojo had completely left the building. So I turned to the best basic inspiration one can get, and that is a sketch challenge. I looked at several, actually, and so far have played with two.

The first is Viva la VERVE! March Week 3. Since I needed a masculine birthday card, I used the black rhinestone swirl from Prima rather than a ribbon. I didn't have room for the three "brads" to the left of the image, so I put them on the image instead in the form of more black rhinestones. This was because of the way I had to line things up to match the stamped image strip at the very top.

All paper, ink and stamps are from Papertrey Ink. The stamp set is Beyond Basic Borders by Pinefeather Press for Papertrey Ink (Heather Nichols).

The next card is loosely based on the current CCEE Stampers Sketch Challenge.


I had colored this digi stamp from Little Paper Shop awhile back and hunted around for some DP to match when I fell upon this scrap from K&Company's Berry Sweet Collection. I couldn't bear to cover up the design, so just skipped one of the sketch layers to make it work. It's hard to tell, but I sparkled up the scalloped mat with some glitter and used my atyou Spica gel pen on her shoes, belt, flower and butterfly. Although it doesn't photograph well, the other bit of bling I added in the corner... I believe that's also by Prima... really added the right touch. Something was just plain missing in that corner!

Please don't forget to support the SCS Cares Non-Raffle for the Victorian Bushfires Appeal. If you haven't looked lately, more wonderful prizes have been added to the gallery. And we really need to spread the word so that people will donate to this very worthy cause... and get a chance to win some wonderful prizes. I'm still offering a blog candy opportunity for those who post the logo and link on their blog.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Splitcoast Cares - Non Raffle for Victorian Bushfire Appeal and Blog Candy Opportunity

I am so excited!!! The Non-Raffle for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal is finally live on Splitcoast! Debbie and I want to thank Jenn Balcer and Splitcoaststampers for helping us gather donations for the fire victims. It means sooo much! And, of course, we couldn't do this without all of the wonderfully talented and generous people who donated the prizes!!! You'll see what I mean when you check out the non-raffle prize gallery. The outpouring of support and generosity has been amazing.

Please feel free to put this logo on your blog with the link and spread the word. I'm going to put together some Blog Candy for all those who do, so please post a link to your blog as a comment to this post and your name will go into the drawing. I will post a picture of the Blog Candy later this evening.

Edited to Add: Here is the Blog Candy I'm offering! Included are: (1) Motivational Centers Stamp Set by Mona Lisa Moments for Cornish Heritage Farm, (2) Rain or Shine Stamp Set by My Favorite Things, (3) Lily & Milo Rainy Days Stamp by Rachelle Anne Miller for Stampavie, (4) Stampin Up Prints Sampler (you can barely see it, but it's underneath the ribbon), and (5) the ribbon bundle from the current Sell-A-Bration offer by Stampin Up!

All you have to do is put the Splitcoaststampers Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009 logo (above and on my side bar) on your blog with a link to the SCS Non-Raffle page, and then leave a comment on this post with your blog address and you're in! I'll draw the winner on March 25th, the same day that the non-raffle ends.

If you would like to donate a prize to the prize gallery, please email me. The more, the better! But we especially need to spread the word about the non-raffle so that we can collect monetary donations. After all, that's what it's all about... helping the victims of those terrible fires.

Here's a video I found on You Tube that is particularly touching and helps tell the story of the devastation these people have suffered. I encourage you to take a few minutes to watch.



Thank you again for your support!

Verve March Release Challenge!

Happy Day, everyone! I hope you're having a wonderful weekend. Mine has been full of unexpected, but pleasant, surprises. Life sure can change with one single phone call. But more about that later.

Life, in general, has been up and down for me over the past few weeks. Unfortunately, more down than up. But I trust in the Lord that he puts obstacles in our way to teach us something or to take us in a different (and better) direction.

Of course, in times of conflict, especially with other people, it is easy to fall prey to hurtful and unhelpful thoughts and deeds. In fact, we had a sermon on this very thing at church today... about what "deliver us from evil" in the Lord's Prayer means. I wish you could have been there. But, I digress. The point is that this particular verse from the Bible, which is part of the Verve set called Meditations, has been much on my mind lately. Through the recent trials I've faced, I've tried to keep this verse first and foremost in my mind. Sometimes it's hard to do! But, like anything else, if you "fall off the wagon," you just get back up and go forward.

So, when I saw the Verve Release Sketch Challenge, I decided that I must use a Verve stamp set, and this one practically jumped into my hand!

The cardstock is Pumpkin Pie and Regal Rose from Stampin Up! The main paisley DP is Making Memories from the Simply Fabulous collection. The DP on the top and on which I stamped my flower images in Pumpkin Pie is SU's Sweet Always. I stamped the verse in Papertrey Ink's Dark Chocolate, and those are PTI's Melon buttons. It's hard to tell from the picture, but I did some random stitching around the edges of the layers.

I've gotta run and get some errands done... last minute shopping and packing for my youngest boy Avery, who is going to 6th Science Camp tomorrow for a whole week! I'm going to miss my little buddy. sniff sniff But, before I go, a quick update on the Non-Raffle for the Victorian Bushfires Appeal... we are ready to go live as soon as SCS is able to solve some technical glitches on the website, so it should be very soon.

Take care, and thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

A Belated Birthday Card

I hate being late sending birthday cards. I have to confess that I've often run to Hallmark at the last minute, purchased a card, scribbled a quick note, addressed, stamped and mailed it all in one fell swoop... and then sworn I would never do it again. Has that ever happened to you?

The Rat Race is still crowding out my creativity and crafting time (waaah), but I did manage to put this card together last night fairly quickly. It's a pretty simple card, using all Papertrey Ink products. I figured the turtle from the Pond Life stamp set was perfect for a belated birthday card since turtles move slowly but do eventually get where they meant to go.

I'm not sure you can tell by the picture, but I used Crystal Effects on the spots on the turtle's shell, plus his head, tail and feet, for a bit of pop.

This card is for Jen's Sketch For You To Try for the week of February 28th.
As you can see, I stayed pretty true to the sketch. Another consequence of the Rat Race is that my creative juices aren't flowing as well as I'd like. But "I'll be back," as Arnold would say. Ha!

In the meantime, stay tuned... the SCS Non-Raffle for the Victorian Bushfires Appeal is scheduled to go live on the SCS front page on Saturday. Wait until you see all the wonderful prizes up for grabs!!!

Thanks for stopping by. It really means a lot to me that you visit and leave comments. Sometimes I worry I'm talking to myself! LOL

Birthday Wishes and Update on SCS Victorian Bushfire Appeal Non-Raffle

I finally found a bit of time to make a card...thank goodness, as I'm in dire need of stamping therapy to balance the stresses of late (file those under the category of "Rat Race.") Unfortunately, it's taking my mojo a bit of time to rev up. These little trees (from the SU set Trendy Trees) didn't turn out quite as I had envisioned, but I finally left well enough alone. I think it's the paper... I used Naturals Ivory and it doesn't take ink very well for some solid images.

But I am loving this DSP -- Sweet Slumber Specialty. It has a wonderful texture to it, and such great patterns and colors.

Everything here is Stampin Up except for the greeting, which I took from a Gina K set because I needed a birthday card, and the little brad, which is from a set of the cutest brads called Forest Friends by Colorbok (I got mine at Michaels).

This card is for the current CPS Sketch 105. I really like this sketch and plan to use it again.









In other news, I believe the SCS Non-Raffle for the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Appeal will go live on SCS's front page this Saturday. Yay!!! In the meantime, if you or anyone you know is willing to donate a prize, please let me know ASAP.

Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit!

SCS Non-Raffle for Victorian Bushfire Appeal... and a Card!

Thanks to the super talented, wonderfully generous Beth Silaika aka Freckled and Fun, we now have our very own logo to promote this worthy cause!!! Please feel free to use it on your blog to spread the word. We have received many wonderful prize offerings, but we could always use more. If you're interested, please contact me or Debbie. We hope to go live on SCS very soon.

If you need more info about what we're up to, please read this post and this post.

We truly are a global community, and it's a wonderful thing.

Obviously, I haven't had much time to stamp lately. I hate it when life's demands get in the way of stamping time, don't you? I'm starting to have withdrawal symptoms, and the only cure is for me to get in my stamp room and start inking up! But, first, duty calls. I'm determined to get all my chores done today so that I can relax tomorrow.

I did manage to squeeze in one card about a week ago, and finally have a moment to post it.

This was in response to the CPS #104 sketch
sponsored by Papertrey Ink. So, of course, I had to use my new Friends 'til the End stamp set! I love it! It also gave me an excuse to use some of the new SEI paper I picked up at the Scrapbook Expo. This piece is from the Bridgeport collection. It's perfect for this stamp set, don't you think? I took a close-up pixture so that you can see the shimmer in the paper. Lovely!

The little felt butterfly is from Heidi Swapp. I'm sorry to say I've forgotten who makes the little pearls. The cardstock and satin ribbon is PTI's Spring Moss, but I'm afraid my photography skills don't do it justice.

Okay, off to do my chores. Thank you all for stopping by and most especially for supporting the Victorian Bushfire Appeal. I think in this time of almost constant bad news, it's nice to be reminded that there truly is a lot of good to be thankful for.

We Need Your Help!!!

No doubt you have heard about the devastating Victorian Bushfires that have claimed many lives and homes, including entire towns. We in California have experienced similar devastation because of our extremely dry, hot weather and never-ending drought conditions. Like every natural disaster, our hearts and prayers go out to people affected, and many of us wish there were something we could do to help. Well, there is!

Through this wonderful world of blogging, I've made friends with Debbie Pamment. Debbie lives in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, and has donated food, money, and blood to help the fire victims. Yet she still laments not being able to do more, especially since she knows people who have been directly affected by the fires. This got me to thinking about the Splitcoast Non-Raffle for Midwest Flood Relief held last August. So I got in touch with Jenn Balcer (who, by the way, is every bit as sweet as I've heard she is on various blogs and postings) to find out how we could get something similar started for the Victorian Bushfire victims. She offered to help get it all set up on SCS for us once we pull it together, and suggested that I contact Peggysue, who spearheaded the Midwest Flood Relief non-raffle.

Peggysue got right back to me when I PM'd her, and gave me a wealth of advice and encouragement. I can't thank her enough! So, with the advice and encouragement we needed, Debbie and I are teaming up to get the ball rolling.

The first order of business is to solicit donations of prizes, which can be either products or handcrafted items. All of these will be displayed in a special gallery set up on the SCS website. The donors will mail the prizes directly to those who win (which could be anywhere in the world... the shipping cost will be part of your donation to this very worthy cause), and there will be a winner for EACH prize, so hopefully lots of chances to win! But, most importantly, we will be helping our Aussie friends. All money raised will go to the Australian Red Cross Victorian Bushfires Appeal.

If you are interested in donating an item, be it a stamp set, crafting materials, a handcrafted item, or anything else, please contact me (lhjulberg@charter.net) or Debbie as soon as possible. If you know someone who might also be interested in contributing, please forward this blog post to them. Any way we can get the word out is most appreciated. We'd like to have commitments and photos of all the donations by next Saturday, February 28th, if possible so that we can kick off the non-raffle in March.

The most wonderful thing about stampers and scrappers... in fact, all crafters... is the amazing amount of generosity, the spirit of giving and sharing, and all the kindness and fun. These are the reasons I cannot let a single day go by without checking in, even if only for a few moments. It's always refreshing to my soul. Oh, and the eye candy is pretty darn wonderful too! *smile*

Thank you so very kindly for considering this request for donations. And remember, if you can't donate, then stay tuned for the non-raffle because we'll really need your help then!

God bless,

Lisa

Time Flies When You're Having Fun...

... and even when you're not!

Hello my blogging friends. Have you missed me? I'm starting to miss myself. I just realized that it's been more than a week since my last post. I wish I could say that I've been on an exotic cruise, or that I won the lottery and I've been on a spending frenzy, or that I've been so busy stamping that I haven't had time to blog. But, alas, no. I've just been preoccupied with a few things... some good, some not so good. But I'm never really very far away because not a day goes by that I don't blog surf. It's such a lovely way to spend a few stolen moments here and there... like a little vacation!

One fun thing that I did this past week was attend the Scrapbook Expo in Costa Mesa on Saturday with my BFF Lisa. Talk about excellent Retail Therapy! Yowser! I wondered if there would be fewer people this year because of the dismal economy. I think there probably were a few less, but not remarkably so. What really was a sign of the times were the sales. I paid full price on very few items. Nearly everyone was running massive sales, and I don't mean maybe. Of course, I had to buy because, as my husband likes to say, "the more you spend, the more you save!" (I think he was being sarcastic, but how am I supposed to know? *wink*) Let's just say this, I did my part to stimulate the economy!!!

Of course, between the Expo and the recent Papertrey Ink release, I'm all set for the next several years. But that won't stop me. Have you been to see my life story yet, "Confessions of a Shopaholic"? The gal who plays me could pass for my twin, don't you think? ROTFL!

Seriously, though, I can't wait to get back into my craft room and play with some of my new goodies. For one thing, I bought Shimmerz... and tons of Melissa Frances papers and embellishments, and some new SEI paper, and, and, and... you'll just have to wait and see!

Okay, back to reality. The card I've posted today is sort of a twin of the one I last posted. It's something I already had made up. I'll say it again... I love this Stampin Up stamp set Cheep Talk and the DSP Good Morning Sunshine, and the coudurouy buttons. That's a chipboard flower that I painted from So Tweet. I know this was based on a sketch challenge, but I'm drawing a blank on which one, and a quick look around isn't revealing the source to me. When I find it, I'll edit this post.

In the meantime, have a great evening. I have a special something I'm planning to share with you soon, plus something else I've got up my sleeve, so stay tuned!