Thanks for the Challenge - CHALLENGE WINNER AND GUEST DESIGNER SPOT!

Even though the blog is under construction, I'm still posting! I think it will be completed while I'm resting after gallbladder surgery next Thursday.   Future posts will have more project details, until then here is a creation for this week's Altenew's March Inspiration Challenge.

The majority of my stamps come from Altenew, I just LOVE the floral images!  The layered die cuts and layered stamping is to swoon over!  I was participating in the Altenew Educator Certification Program before Covid, but after giving up my studio for my daughter, I was not able to complete it.  BUT, I'm here now and will engage them soon to try and complete it.  For now, I'm just enjoying being back here being inspired and creating!

This was a difficult challenge for me, as I do NOT gravitate to these colors at all.  The beautiful florals just didn't seem to fit for me, but I will challenge myself to try again with them.  Instead I chose the classic Leaf Cluster stamp and die set as well as the Script Words die and Sentiment Strips.

The colors of the photos here are much darker than in person or on my camera....hopefully it's just my computer?

Have a colorful day!

Easter Skirt Inspiration

 Even though the blog is under construction, I'm still going to post! I have returned to my art studio after a hiatus since November 2019.   Future posts will have more details, until then here is a creation for this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Easter/Spring.

This card is inspired by my Easter Sunday church skirt this year:

I love the simple classic look of blue and white.  Its crisp and fresh and reminds me of spring!  I used Spellbinders Four Petal Bloom Reflection etched die set...I HAD to have this...Its so beautiful....

 

Thanks for coming by, please come back soon to see the changes!

MFT Sketch Challenge 638

 Even though the blog is under construction, I'm still going to post! I have returned to my art studio after a hiatus since November 2019.   Future posts will have more details, but these cards are for the MFT Sketch Challenge 638.  I LOVE MFT Stamps, I have quite a few.  This stamp set and coordinating dies are retired...I will invest in new ones once I revisit the sets I have...until then, enjoy this great set and my creations!

I made 3 cards, as both our daughters will have a tough week at school, and a friend is completing her training test as well.  They are all strong women and definitely 'got this'!

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!

 Please be patient with the appearance and loss of links.  We are currently changing LilyBeth Boutique/Lilypad Designs to

JUGS #516 Guest Designer

Good morning!  Did you have a wonderful Thanksgiving?  Lots of good grub and family moments?  Ours was busy and fun filled with love, hard work and wonderful food!  I'm on my last busy week of the year, 2 parties, 1 country club and 1 house to decorate.  I'm excited for this week to be finished!

This week is my final post as the November Guest Designer for the JUGS Challenge Blog.  This week the challenge is Anything Goes, so I've decided to share with you what I've been working on in my studio to prepare for my personal party on Saturday.  We have an annual cookie party and my art studio will be cookie decorating central for the kiddos that visit that day.  I'm creating new decorations for my space and decided to decorate my tree with my most recent creations!

I love how it turned out!

Here it is live action!

Thank you so much to all the ladies on the design team at JUGS!  It's been an honor and a great month!

JUGS Challenge #515

Good morning!  Grab a cup o' joe and get some inspiration today!

I am once again guest designing for the Just Us Girls Challenge blog today.  This week we are using a lovely winter scene as our inspiration for creating!

Makes me want to build a snowman....

Seeing as I don't have any snowman stamp sets, I decided to use my Altenew Wanderlust stamp set to make this card.  I love the graphic image of this set, it's not a style I normally gravitate toward, but while doing the AECP program, I have been going outside my normal comfort zone....which is a good thing....

Using the MISTI, the back ground was stamped repeatedly in an ombre style using the ROck Collection die inks from Altenew.  The MISTI is WONDERFUL and I highly recommend picking one up if you don't have one.  Its super handy.

The sentiment was created using'Merry' from the Holiday Script Dies from Altenew die cut from black paper.  The 'Christmas' is part of an old set of ornaments from all places, Walmart!  They are great to add every once and a while to my creations.  The tress were then highlighted with Stickles glitter glue in Star Dust for some extra shimmer.

Hope you are inspired!  See you over at JUGS!

Guest Designer JUGS #514

Good morning!  Boy has life been CRAZY this week!  I have been creating the holiday decorations for our Country Club as well as for my house.  My garage and art studio are covered with pine, bulbs and poinsettias!  I'll post photos of it all installed soon....

I did squeeze in a little time to create this weeks JUGS Guest Designer creation for this weeks theme, Shades of Teal.  Teal is one of my all time favorite colors so this was right up my alley!

I started by heat embossing using Altenew's Hexagon Play background stamp.  It's a great stamp, and I love how it looks heat embossed!  I then took a teal watercolor paint with a large paint brush and painted up the paper adding more water as I progressed so it would create an ombre effect.  I then set the paper aside to dry.

I like how the paint puddled in the heat embossed areas.  I then used the Fine Frames Circle die to cut out white and black circles and fit them inside each other in a random pattern.

Finally, I added the sentiment with an offset piece of black paper and some black sequins to add some sparkle!  Be sure to visit all the designers sites to spread some love to them and all the hard work they do each and every week for us!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a colorful day!

JUGS #513 Guest Designer

Welcome!  I'm so excited you're here...  I'm very honored to have been chosen to be the November guest designer for the Just Us Girls Challenge.  It's been fun so far, and this weeks theme was extra fun!


It's always fun to create outside of your comfort zone.  This was an idea I've had in my head for a while now.  I'm glad I had an excuse to get it out.

I started with an embroidery hoop, which has been all the rage lately in decor.  The greenery was created using Altenew's Leaf Clusters stamp and die set.  Stamping it on SU! paper using Evergreen and Forest Glades inks, the leaves were layered on each other around the lower half of the hoop.

The flowers were created using the Virgina Rose 3D die set.  My daughter and I love to create mixed media papers, and she created the paper used for the second layer of the flowers.  The papers and layers were mixed up together, so the flowers match without being exactly the same.  The leaves from the set were added in a darker olive color to add some depth to the leaves.

I decided to hang this in my studio over the coffee station so I can see it every day.

Have a colorful day!

Stash die cut find

Thank you so much for stopping by!  It's starting to get cold here in Ohio and I have the holidays on my mind.  I am hosting Thanksgiving, a Christmas cookie party, coordinating our company's party, decorating our home, our country club and all this has to be done by December 6th.  Cookie baking is in full force and I will be completing the decor this weekend.  Load of things on my plate!

Today I am continuing my SIC Die Cuts week.  I adore die cuts, and use them frequently in my creations.  I love when they coordinate with stamps, but also stand alone dies.  Yup, I just love them all!

I was checking out my stash today and came across this fabulous background I created when I made this card here.  It's the opposite of that background.  This one had tons more sparkle and needed just the right theme to work with it.  Christmas with all the sparkle was the perfect theme!

The die cut background was created by running the cover die with each card stocks through the die cutting machine a piece of Press and Seal wrap behind it.  Then on each piece, peel the positive part of the die off the wrap and swap them!  It's really that easy!

Leaf Canopy is a versatile stamp and die set.  It is a perfect set for any theme, from sympathy, to birthdays to Christmas; this set can be used for them all!  I recently used it on a set of cards for a business.  Today, its being used with vellum and white embossing powder to give the feel of an icy branch of silver dollar eucalyptus.....which is one of my favorite greens for the holidays.....  The sentiment was created by using the Merry Christmas die set from Altenew.  Its a great set and has several options for creating the sentiment you want.  AND, I of course had to add even ore sparkle with sequins!....I have an addiction really.....

I'm adding this creation to this weeks Addicted to Stamps challenge, Anything Goes.

It was great to see you!

Another reject

Hi ya'll!

A super quick post.  I have another card with a fabulous layered die today.  Again, I've been working on my AECP program and this is another creation I made, I wasn't thrilled with so I'm not using it for my submission.  I thought this had great potential, until I messed up the sentiment!  I tried to fix it, but didn't like how it looks.

The Altenew Peony Dream 3D die cut is fantastic!  A large piece of watercolor paper was painted in various colors of red.  Then the flower pieces were die cut from the different values.  It's a great way to create these layered flowers, the large paper allows you to create many different flowers that complement each other.  I whipped out a few to keep in my stash for future projects.

The background was stenciled and stamped which helps to ground the image so it doesn't look like it's floating there.

I'm bummed the sentiment stamping went awry, this had great potential.  Oh well!

Have a colorful day!

Halloween and health

Hi y'all!

I've been remiss in my posts.  We had Halloween trick or treating last Thursday.  Then last Friday, I spent the day in the ER with weird numbness across the left side of my face and down my left arm.  After a round of tests and scans....it's apparently nothing scary.  It however did lead to migraines on Saturday and Sunday.  I didn't get to finish my watercolor week, but I'm not worried.  I know I will be using that technique many more times!

My SIC....Self Inflicted Challenge.... this week will be die cuts.  I love die cuts!  I think they're versatile and you can use them in so many different ways.  I've also been working on my current class for the AECP Level 2 program.  This card is a reject for that class, but I do like it.

The 'You Are' sentiment should have been a shade darker.  Using a MISTI to repeat the stamping down the left side of the card is incredibly helpful. It keeps the sentiment in line and perfectly spaced.  Sparkle was added down that part of the sentiment with clear sequins and iridescent gems....love those!....

The sentiment was created from watercolor painted paper and die cut with Script Words from Altenew.   To add more interest and to make it pop, it was layered with a die cut from More Mustard from SU!  I have ton of their paper, which I love.

The background was finished off with some ink splatters in various shades of yellow.  It's so bright and cheery with LOTS of sparkle!  I'll be sharing this with one of my girls, they are FABULOUS!!

JUGS Easy Watercolor

The weather is changing, tomorrow the time changes, my daughters are getting older....which means I'm getting older!....  Change is everywhere!

I'm beyond HONORED to have been asked to be the guest designer for the Just Us Girls Challenge Blog this month!  How much fun is that?!?  I love that they switch up their challenges every week, keeps me on my toes and those brain cells firing.  These ladies have fabulous creations for us each week, please be sure to visit each and everyone of them and give them some love and thanks for inspiring us each week!  For this week, the theme is 'Thanks'.  The timing was perfect, as I had an order for some thank you and sympathy cards for a family member this week.
 
They needed it for the business, so I kept the design simple and without any embellishments....UGH, that was hard!.....  Sticking with my SIC this week, I decided to do some watercoloring.

I think I may be addicted to watercoloring now.  The flowers are coming along nicely, but I love using them for specialty papers.  I created a piece of paper using Altenew's 36 Pan Watercolors.  I chose Mountain Mist, Volcano Lake and Lagoon for this as teal is the color of their business logo.  When the paper was dry, the open leaf images from Altenew's Leaf Canopy was stamped with Emerald ink and die cut.  It gives a nice variegated image for interest while keeping the design simple.

The background was die cut from the Layered Snowflakes Cover die from Vellum paper.  It adds a texture element without making it fussy....aka, not business like.....  Using spray adhesive, it was mounted onto a piece of white card stock and run through my die cutter so it would adhere well.

That's it!  Thanks so much for joining me on my journey this month with JUGS!  I'm really excited and honored to be a part of what they are doing!

Super quick!

It's a quick post tonight.  I was subbing today at school and had a busy afternoon.  I completed my creation and wanted to post it before I head to watch Expedition Unknown....my guilty pleasure!...

Watercolored peony!  Practice is definitely making it better!  The colors were inspired by this weeks Global Design Project challenge.

Thanks everyone, have a colorful night!

Its getting better?

Put your feet up and relax, I'm sure it's been a busy day.

I took a step back from the complex image from yesterday and decided to tackle the Beautiful Peony stamp set.  It is a fussy image, but I thought if I embossed the image, it would be easier to watercolor?

I was right!  I decided to emboss it with copper bling embossing powder, just to make it a little 'extra'.  I used my Japanese watercolors for these....and since I don't know Japanese, I can't tell you the name of the colors....it has a large variety of reds and oranges to use.  Painting with the embossing powder is so much easier!  The raised embossed areas keep the water where it needs to stay and you can just tap the color into the place.  Easy peezey!  I didn't emboss the leaves so they were harder to create, and the ink moved a bit when I painted them.

I decided the card needed a minty green paper background with ink blended with Volcano Lake on the lower left corner of the paper and added splatters when I was done.  A piece from the Fine Frames Cover Die cut from white card stock was added to bring the eyes to the focal point.

To bring in more copper, the sentiment is die cut from a shimmer yardstick left over from my wedding 5 years ago....I never throw anything away.....  It added the perfect amount of shimmer!

I'll be teaching all day tomorrow, so I'm hopeful I can get my creating in.

Have a colorful day!!