a fun week ahead...

This is going to be a fun week at Lizzie Anne Designs, I'm getting excited! Not only is it time for our Fall product release, it's World Card Making Day on Saturday too! Here is a schedule of events so you won't miss any of the fun!

Wednesday (Oct. 1st): First day of our Fall release sneak peeks. Samples can be seen throughout the week on Lizzie and Anne's blogs, our Design Team's blogs, and in our October newsletter which will go out first thing in the morning. We will be introducing a *brand new* product today!

Thursday (Oct. 2nd): We will be revealing two new stamp sets today during our sneak peeks!

Friday (Oct. 3rd): We will be revealing two more stamp sets today for a total of four new sets!

Saturday (Oct. 4th): Fall products are officially available for purchase, and World Card Making Day is here! We will have a special WCMD page on our website with a special surprise. More details about what will be on that page will go out in our newsletter tomorrow!

There are also four LAD projects on the World Card Making Day website designed by Joslyn, Kendra, Jeanne, and Lauren. Go check them out and join the fun by uploading some of your own cards to the WCMD website!

Happy Stamping and we'll see you tomorrow...

heaven at home

I want to share a little project I've been working on the past few days. My husband and I decided to turn our dining room into our new craft/office space! Because who really needs a formal dining room these days anyways?? (Maybe if I actually cooked once in awhile it would make more sense...) I'm pretty sure that if I died and went to heaven it would look like this. Well the room might be even bigger in heaven but I've got a piece of it right here at home.



This is the "craft" side of the room...the computer table is on the other side. My husband was a little worried that it would be all craft room and no office when he saw all my craft supplies. I promised him I'd get everything on to the bookcase, so that means I had to really go through my craft stuff and organize, and yes, throw some stuff out. I can just see my friend Katie gasping for air right now as she reads this...she hates seeing me throw craft supplies out. But I bet she'd agree she's never seen the likes of my craft room before. I had WAY too much stuff. Really.



I painted the room in a color called Pumpkin Butter...isn't it yummy? And then I decided to build the Ikea Expedit bookcase we bought by myself one night because I was tired of waiting for my husband to get home in time from work to help me with it. I love the directions that come with Ikea furniture, they crack me up. I paid no attention this picture in my instruction book, but laughed at it instead.



After I tried to build that $%@#! bookcase by myself, this is a more accurate picture of how I looked (note I added hair and a shirt so it would look more like me.)


I guess that Ingmar from Ikea knows what he's doing when he draws two happy little guys building a bookcase together in his instruction manuals. This was definitely a 2-person job, and I just hope that it holds together and doesn't fall on top of my kids.

Anyways...it looks good though eh? :)

paper crafting 3 ways

If you are a frequent visitor of my blog, you may remember the card above. I had this card on my blog for about a week and I had to take it down because it was accepted into the Cards, Gifts, and More: Paper Crafting 3 Ways magazine from Paper Crafts!

What you *didn't* see however are the two other cards I made! Each sample in this magazine shows three different ways of using the same product. I used our Ooh La La! set along with Making Memories Noteworthy patterned paper and embellishments on all three cards. One of them is a very simple version, and one features a photo of my husband...he was paranoid about how that would look in the magazine, ha ha! I think it turned out cute! Here are the other two...




Other products used: Martha Stewart border punch, swirl stamp from So Swirly, Just Words, Adriondack distress ink, Bazzill polka-dot ribbon, Typewriter font, stapler, brown marker.

one more week

It's one week until October. Why is this important?? Because it means that our Fall stamp release is almost here, yippee! We will kick off our sneak peeks with our newsletter on October 1st, and our new stamps will be released on October 4th! Some more exciting news...in addition to four new stamp sets we will be releasing a *new product!* I can hardly wait, you're going to love it!

Also noteworthy, our Design Team gals have been coming up with some amazing fall and holiday-themed projects. You will start seeing these in our newsletter, on our Project of the Month (POTM) page, *and* on a special World Card Making Day page that will launch on October 4th! Stay tuned...

remember these little men?

...I'm talking about our ever-popular Snowmen single stamp! These little men are a favorite, and they are about to be joined by a "friend" this Fall. "What do you mean," you ask? Well you'll find out when we do our Fall Release on October 4th and unveil a new product! That's all I'm going to say for now. I'm getting excited though, you will be too!

This is a very simple card and it's because it's one I mass-produced to send out to our stores. I put a little Crystal Effects over the snowmen and that turned out really cute. I tried to take a close-up of how that looks here...



Don't they just melt your heart? :)

holiday houses in two colors

From Halloween cards to Christmas. Why not?! That's the beauty of cardmaking...there really isn't ever a theme that is out of season, you can just stockpile your cards to use when you need them down the road (and who doesn't need a stockpile of Holiday Cards?)

I thought I'd try doing a Holiday Lane card that featured the houses as an outline only...not colored in. I hadn't tried this before and I like how it turned out! I chose a red and a greenish-blue colors to alternate the houses in. The only thing I colored in is Santa's sleigh on top of the roof and the snow (a white gel pen.) If you are not big into coloring, this is a really good way to use those little houses.

...and a boo to you!

Another Halloween creation...I love the haunted house from Spooked! and wanted to highlight it on this card. The background paper is a little busy but overall I think it works. I incorporated one of the cardstock stickers from the Cosmo Cricket "Haunted" paper pack into the card...kinda fun! More doodlebug buttons too.

I'm trying to think of something cool for my kids to be for Halloween. My son doesn't have any strong opinions on what he wants to be this year so that means I get to "push him in the right direction." Mwhaa ha ha. Last year it was a Jedi and Tinkerbell. We'll see...

bring out the "boo!"

I'm in the mood for Halloween cards right now...most likely because I just bought Cosmo Crickets "Haunted" paper pack and I couldn't wait to pair it with our stamps. This features our very popular single "Happy Haunted" and the hanging ghost is from "Spooked." I even have Halloween buttons...they are from Doodlebug and the color combination is called "Halloween." I am so happy to see more and more buttons coming out lately, I have always been a button fan and it seems like they went away for awhile but now they are back.

This would be a fun card to give with a plate of Halloween treats.

a day of firsts

It was a day of "firsts" yesterday.

It was my son Ethan's first day of Kindergarten, and this is him in front of his school with his new Lightening McQueen backpack. I couldn't remember what room he was in and he reminded me it was "Room 9 Mom." Isn't he cute? He has a fun year ahead of him.


Sammy also had a "first" yesterday. She figured out how to climb up a chair so she could sit on top of the table. Oy. I think she and I also have a "fun year" ahead of us.

;)

which witch?

I've been doing a lot of experimenting lately. This is a card I mass-produced to send out to our stores with orders, and I couldn't decide if I liked the sentiment at the bottom on the right or the left. Then I made a mistake...I was inking the sides of the witch panel by dragging it through my black ink (I do this a lot) and too much ink smeared across the panel. To fix it I decided I should ink up all four sides, and I actually really like how it turned out! The "distressed" look is perfect for a witch card!

So my question for you is, which witch is your fav? I would have liked to try a third option...the distressed witch with the sentiment on the left. There is something I like about having the ribbon on the witch panel though. Decisions, decisions!

Card ingredients:
Witch and Witch Saying
Spooked! (bat)
Cosmo Cricket Haunted patterned paper
Bazzill cardstock
Black ink
SU Pumpkin Pie ribbon, and black/white striped ribbon from May Arts
Copic Markers

fall color

Okay this card is REALLY colorful. It didn't turn out the way I had planned, but it certainly reminds me of Fall leaves which was my intention, ha ha! I heat-embossed some leaves falling from the top of the card and then sponged different shades of ink onto the card. All the images are from our Happy Harvest set. The nice thing about this card is it inspired me to a second card that turned out awesome...I'm going to save it either to submit for publication or as one of our POTM's...not sure yet. Sometimes you have to do that...experiment with stamping until you get it just right.

Things I would have done differently with this card: (see, you get to learn from my mistakes and get your card just right!)
1) Just had falling leaves all over the card and no leaf swirl/pumpkin at the bottom. That would have been pretty as is.
2) Just had stamped a single line of swirling leaves and embossed them at the top of the card.
3) Just had the swirling leaves and pumpkins at the bottom of the card, no falling leaves.

There you go...ideas for you. Cause it really is a pretty card if it's not overdone. (This card is a tad overdone.)

My son starts kindergarten on Monday, I can't believe it! I can't believe I have a kid in school! I have to admit, until now I think I've been in denial that I'm actually a "mother." Ha. Really though...I know I've been a mom for 5 years now but I just don't see me as a "Mom"...I see myself as Tricia with kids. My mother is a Mother, not me. Ha ha. But now that I have a kid in school...geez I guess I'm really a Mom. I'm going to be doing things like baking cookies for the school fundraisers and joining the PTSA. Good grief! I'm excited to have kids in school though...I loved kindergarten and I'm excited for Ethan to be a "big kid." We took a tour of his school and it was so cute, he was so excited. I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head when he saw the computer lab, I think his every dream was coming true right there (loooooovvveees computers.)

The only thing I'm worried about is putting him on the bus. What if he gets on the wrong bus?!! He's only five, isn't that too young to ride the bus?! Wow I guess I really am a Mom now if I'm being paranoid about my kid riding the bus. Ha ha ha!

enchanted forest sweepstakes

If you have seen the new October edition of Paper Crafts magazine, you may have noticed that our In the Treetop stamp set is being featured as a product pick for their Enchanted Forest sweepstakes! Make sure to enter the contest so you can win the set plus a lot of other cool "enchanted forest" papercrafting and stamping goodies. You'll see our set featured on page 78 & 79 of the magazine along with directions on how to enter...or you can enter on the Paper Crafts website here. Good luck...I hope you win! Tell me if you do! :)

cannon beach - photography

Some shots from Cannon Beach...




These are shots of Haystack Rock, a landmark for Cannon Beach. At low tide you can walk up to the base of the rock and you can see orange starfish clinging to the sides. Beautiful!

Edited to add (because some of you have asked) I did take the b/w photo of Haystack Rock. I am going to frame that photo for my home...I was really happy with how that one turned out! :)