LESS is not my usual style...

"less is more" is not my mantra, exactly (not sure if you could tell), but in this case, the Less is More challenge dictated that i could only place my stuff in one of five squares... it's my first time playing along over there, and i thought i'd try something new. how's THIS for minimalistic?!

so they called for only ONE square being used... can you tell which square i chose? hee hee. i faux-stitched around the edge, and hopefully that's acceptable given how little of the square i actually filled. ???

here's a close up of MINTY, from SomeOddGirl (my first time using Minty, who is actually now RETIRED):

isn't he cute?! that's a happy little candeh! i love the die-cut cards (they have packs for a buck at A.C. Moore!), and i have a growing collection of these, as it saves me trying to figure out what SHAPE i want my cards to be. :)

i'm totally getting my craft on today, so i may be back a little later after i get my homework done. i have a couple more cards to share, one in the works, and lots of colouring underway! YAY!

Pile it On! guest designing again - SPRINKLE IT!

afternoon, folks! hope you're enjoying a fantastic Sunday wherever you may be! some of us are basking in the glory of a LONG WEEKEND, and i even took a vacation day on Tuesday, so i have a four day weekend - woot!

i had a little fun this morning whipping up a super cute little project for another guest stint at Pile It On!

our challenge this week....

"You're the SPRINKLE to my life!"

lots of ways you can interpret this one, right? a food thingy with sprinkles, a sprinkle of rain, sprinkle some microbeads or embossing powder or glitter or what have you... either way, HAVE FUN and play along with us! :)

our awesome sponsor this week is Squigglefly, and i had the pleasure of choosing an image to play with - check out this sweet kitteh!

LOVE HIM! you might be able to win him (or his adorable friends) from Squigglefly by playing along with our Pile It On! challenge this week! check out what the rest of the Pile it On! team did with their sprinkly creations by clickety-clickin' HERE!

i had a little fun blingin' this one up & playing with some stuff i don't use NEARLY often enough!

see what i mean? RUBONS! flower punch! edge distresser! stick pins and beads! it's amazing what a little challenge action can bring about, isn't it? you see a challenge you like and you think "ooohhh, i have a Cuttlebug! i'll use that!" - which is ridiculous, because my Cuttlebug is in a totally visible spot and it's not like i FORGET i have it! ;)

a close-up:

my hubbin gutted a pillow whose case was badly fraying, and now i have lots of yummy brown material sitting in among my scraps, so i tore a strip for the flower and mounted it on a punched piece of BasicGrey's Origins (one of my all-time fave lines from BG). first time trying one of these twisty flowers and i LOVE the result! good thing i have lots of that brown material left. :D

so here's my list of challenges, in true Pile It On! fashion... (though not as long as my list from last week's challenge!):

colour Q - real red, daffodil delight, so saffron, early espresso & white
BasicGrey Challenges - Shabby Chic (the Origins paper flower, the little blingy flower and the papers backing the sentiment are Urban Prairie and Life of the Party)
Sweet Sketch Wednesday - sketch

Pollycraft Monday Challenges - Embellie Bingo (gems, buttons, pin)
Digital Tuesday Challenge - add some texture
Crafty Cardmakers - Embossing
Craft Us Crazy - Remembrance or Love
Clearly I Stamp - Critters

there you have it, folks! a big thank you to Dalis and the rest of the Pile It On! gals for having me as their guest! it's truly been a pleasure! :D

happy Charisma day to yoooouuuuu, mister! :)

hiya! what's up?
hope the week's going well for everyone - mine is FLYING by, and i am looking forward to a nice long weekend! the next couple of days, however, are going to be extremely busy at work, so i may need that extra day just to recover... whatever shall i do on my day off? should i tell my darling hubbin that i even HAVE the day off? ;)

well... given that it's late late on a Wednesday night, early early on a Thursday morning, that can only mean one thing! it's time for a new CHARISMA CHALLENGE!

this theme, one with which i find myself struggling more often than not, was actually fun for me this week, because i have some nifty new papers that seem to work brilliantly!

this week, it's FOR THE BOYS!

right. so. something you could give to a fella, right? RIGHT! like this:

yeah - have you seen the BasicGrey Life of the Party line? it's utterly PERFECT for boy cards - girl cards too, but wonderful primary, bold colours, stars (fave!), stripes and plaids and woodgrains. it's seriously fabulous, and i may be in love. AGAIN. 'cuz i think i may also be head over heels for Hello, Luscious, and i'm itching to get my hands on the Sweet Threads yummies, too. needless to say, i adore me some BasicGrey.

so anyway, yeah. i used BG papers, alphas, and PETALS (fabric - how HOT is that?!), a little gel pen action on the Petal, some cheapie foam glittery stars and some Bazzill cardstock to make everything POP. and now i have the itch to make MORE boy cards, which is totally strange for me.

BUT! you wanna get in on the challenge action at Charisma, dontcha? well, you definitely should! CLICK HERE to get to the challenge blog, and please feel free to drool all over the place at our Charisma Galz' amazing creations. the ideas just seem to flow endlessly from these ladies, and i'm absolutely honoured to be on the team with them!

wanna know what you could WIN?!
welllllll, one winner's gonna get six - yes, SIX - single digis from Digi Stamp Boutique! and ANOTHER winner's gonna get five - seriously, FIVE! - digis from The Stamping Boutique! our sponsors are so good to us! so play along, and upload your NEWLY-CREATED projects by next Wednesday and you might be one of the lucky ones! :)

and now, back to your regularly scheduled programming. go make something, or something. 'kay? :)

Pile it On! guest designer - BEARY fun challenge! (photo heavy post)

good evening, fellow craft enthusiasts! :)

i have something a little special to share today - a couple of months ago i won a challenge at Pile it On!, and i was invited to be a guest designer, so TODAY, i make my Pile it On! debut!

so you know the way the Pile it On! challenges work, right? the idea is to combine current challenges (no backlinking) - using the Pile it On! challenge and at least one other... well some of their designers have it down to a fine art, and they are able to combine DOZENS of challenges to make one fantastic project! for this one, i actually combined NINE! that may be a record for me!

the challenge?

we want to see a BEAR in your creations. RAWR! :)

my bear is Koala digi from SomeOddGirl.com

lots and lots of options for this one, so here's what i did....

what the heck is it? it's a photo booth flip album. each page has a pocket, in which a couple of photo booth pics can fit, so i've left space on the fronts of the pockets to document the dates and places. :) the top flap folds up to reveal the full pages and to allow me to add pages or switch 'em out just by untying the ribbon:

here are the rest of the pages...

and the back cover:

and check out the challenge list! i'm shocked!

BasicGrey Challenges - Mix and Match - mix and match (used papers from Life of the Party, Green at Heart, Sugar Rush, Marrakech, Origins, Sugared, Urban Prairie. embellies from Hello Luscious, Life of The Party, Green at Heart. alphas from Eerie and Kioshi.) everything was from BasicGrey except the image (Some Odd Girl), the cardstock and border trim (Bazzill) and the ribbon (stash)

CES Challenge - embellish it! with 3 or more different types of embellies - i have a border strip, BG Pops, BG Woolies and ribbon, plus alphas)

Craft Us Crazy - something new and/or favorite embellishment (BG's Hello Luscious and Life of The Party collections, BG's Woolies)

Crafts and Me Challenges - anything goes, optional kraft (used kraft border strip)

Crafty Calendar Challenges - teddy bears

ABC Challenge - U for Unusual Folds (top flap folds up, papers are scored to flip)

Crafty Creations - May flowers

Paper Pretties - flowers

Polka Doodles - anything but a card (flip photo booth album)


i wasn't sure how much dimension i'd have on each page, but my intention was to make it full enough that the album would stand up by itself, and act as a little desktop decoration for my work station. :)

so there you have it! a little something different! hope you've all had a fantastic weekend, and come and play along at Pile it On!

new Charisma challenge... happy pinkday to you!

morning, friends! what's cookin'?

it's a CRAZY week here, so unfortunately i have to make this short and sweet. Saturday was our grand opening party for the bank, and last night (Tuesday) was the chamber of commerce awards banquet, where our bank (and our partner insurance company) received prestigious awards, so i have put in some seriously LONG hours, and have worked loads of overtime! this weekend is the heart walk in Ocean City, NJ, and we have a booth there, so i'll be there at 7:30 am to do my thing again for a bunch of extra hours! can't wait to see the next paycheck, but i am absolutely exhausted!

i'll spill more deets later, but for now, it's time for another Charisma challenge!

i had fun with this one - been hanging onto the sentiment for AGES,
and I was finally got to put it to good use.

our theme this week is BIRTHDAYS IN PINK!

and the illustrious Charisma Galz have done a wonderful job with this one - i loved seeing everyone's use of the colour pink, and each project is so different and unique! CLICK HERE to check 'em out, and to play along!

here's my little creation, using an image from our sponsor, Robyn's Fetish:

can't wait to see what you'll come up with! play along with us by next Wednesday, May 25th, sometime in the evening EST (hee hee!), and i hope you're having a fantastic week so far!

feel the ENVY? new collage inspiration at NVS!

the Nerdy Victorious Scrappers are BACK, and we're badder than ever! :)

we have a bit of catching up to do, so we thought we'd share our April collage inspiration with you...

HOT, right? love those colours, and the dots! and nerdy glasses with bows and jeweled skulls - what's not to love?!

it was time i created another art journal page, and this one came together quite nicely...

definitely a little pep-talk to myself, and definitely long overdue.

let's see... what's in this page? some gesso, spritzed with Shimmerz... paper from MME, tape from 7 Gypsies, border strips from Bazzill, brads from Sass, altered tag and chipboard from K & Co., ribbon from Maya Road, alphas from BasicGrey, black bling from Queen & Company. think that covers it! (you can tell i'm not one to stick with a particular company or line, right?)

and with that, i am very pleased to say that

i have been a Nerdy Girl for ONE YEAR!

happy anniversary to me! :D

since we're a bit behind, we're hoping you'll share your projects inspired by this collage, and we're gonna be throwing a May challenge at you very soon!

in the meantime, i'm playing at Really Reasonable Ribbon - they have an Anything Goes thing goin' on this week (perfect, as my page is neither a card nor a scrapbook page, nor an altered item...)
and at Papertake Weekly, their theme is "Fancy a Punch?" - and i do, indeed, fancy a punch!

Charisma and Some Odd Girl candy winnah! oh, and some news.

HI THERE!

as promised, i have a yummy little Cosmo Cricket mini deck

and Some Odd Girl digis or stamps to give away!

last week, our Charisma challenge was NO CARDS ALLOWED.

Some Odd Girl happened to be one of the sponsors, and to celebrate the fabulous

new release of CLEAR STAMPS,

i decided to invite everyone to celebrate!

well i had only FOUR people stop by to visit and let me know they'd played along, which made the job REALLY easy when reviewing the entries and plugging 'em into the randomizer! ;)

congrats to TASHA, who is my candy winner! please drop me a line at quiteorange@yahoo.com with your mailing address, and let me know if you'd prefer digis or clear stamps, and we'll go from there!

BUT... (and i just love doing stuff like this)

to thank those who dropped by and played along using a Some Odd Girl image on their projects, i want to offer Denise, KarenB and Corry EACH one digi from SomeOddGirl.com! email me, ladies (quiteorange@yahoo.com), and i'll hook you up with the digi ($3 value) of your choice. :D

in other news, my wholesaler opportunity is HERE! i am getting a selection of cards together for a festival this weekend, and will be going over all the terms with my vendor on Friday night. ANNNND, she has asked me if i'd like to be her go-to gal for custom invitations, and i'd be included in a merchants "Wedding book", to be handed out to all inquiring brides who swing through the town. this could be HUGE! my gal is also talking about opening her shop for tea parties, and asked if i'd like to do the invitations, should her customers be interested. HECK YES! i'm thinking i may do up a few samples, and they can choose which one they like, and i'll make sure all the supplies are on hand so i can whip some up in a jiffy. how cool is that?!

hey, out of curiosity, who, of the peeps reading this, will be attending CHA in Chicago this July?

it's Charisma challenge time, and i'm feeling under the weather...

actually that's a big fat lie! i'm not! it's CHALLENGE TIME at Charisma today - that part is true. and i - yes ME, Leah - am hosting! i love mixin' it up and going for something a little different, so today, my theme is....

UNDER THE WEATHER!

so. a get well soon project will work, or anything to do with illness, recovery, etc. ALSO, weather-related stuff is great for this one! allow me to demonstrate...

yep. weather! apologies for the horribly dark photo - i seem to have a love/hate relationship with my camera these days, and i definitely need a new light. hubbin and i have been checking out the options, but we can't find something we both agree on, so i'm stuck with MEDIOCRITY for now. paradise by the refrigerator light, if you will. (seriously)

we're being sponsored this week by Pink Cat Studio and Stamp Shoppe Creations, so you will DEFINITELY want to get in on this action!

i finally busted out a newer image from Some Odd Girl - little miss Puddle Hopping Tia! coloured her up with my Prismacolor pencils, added some Sassafras papers (did you see they have their BOX SALE going on right now? MMMMMM.) and stickers, some Cosmo Cricket and K & Company alphas (the chipboard ones are Sass), a Fiskars punch for the edge, some yummy trims, and PRESTO!

wanna play? need some ideas? heck, even if you HAVE ideas, you need to CLICK HERE to see what the rest of the Charisma Gals have been up to! play along by next WEDNESDAY (at 7:30 somewhere in the UK, so i think that's 2:30 EST), and you could be one of the lucky winners!

and the Some Odd Girl challenge this week....

goes right along with the Charisma challenge this week, so i've double dipped, BUT i have candy up for grabs!

at Some Odd Girl, we want to see your projects (cards or ANYTHING) that are NOT shaped like squares or rectangles.... show us those funky shapes!

again, here's Tiny Baby (times two!) for the occasion:

it's a taggy, but it's made of chipboard (Spritzboard, actually, if ya wanna get technical!), so it would hang from a gift and then can be hung anywhere else. i LURRRVE the Tiny Baby!

CLICK HERE to see what the rest of the Odd Girls have done, and find out what you have to do to win some stamperoonies of your choice! and if you're chosen as a SOGgy fave, you could get some loyalty points to be spent at SomeOddGirl.com!

Charisma sponsored by Some Odd Girl... and BLOG CANDY!

wanna know what you have to do to win this,

plus some free stamps from Some Odd Girl?

okay folks... there's been a TON of excitement going on at Some Odd Girl lately, and today, our Charisma challenge HAPPENS to come with a few fabulous sponsors, including - yep, you gottit! SOME ODD GIRL!

i'm gonna make this short and sweet, 'cuz i'm nursing a NASTY migraine here and it's kicked my butt pretty hard, so here we go...

our Charisma challenge this week

NO CARDS ALLOWED!

that opens up a whole TON of options for you, so be creative and have fun!

i made a chip taggy featuring one of my FAVE digis from the newest release at SomeOddGirl.com, TINY BABY:

aren't they CUTE?! i took one, flipped it and copied it and merged it in
behind the other so i could do a little ode to twinnies!

so, first of all, if you wanna win prizes for playing along, the Charisma challenge can be found HERE....

but i'm upping the ante just a little!

if you use a Some Odd Girl image on your project for this week's Charisma challenge, all you have to do is leave me a comment on this post (the one you're reading!) letting me know you did, and you could be entered to win a Cosmo Cricket Material Girl 6x6 pad and your choice of FOUR digis, or TWO of the new clear stamps from Some Odd Girl!

this challenge, and my candy, will end next WEDNESDAY, May 11th at 6 pm EST, giving you a little extra time after you complete your Charisma project to come by and comment... have fun, and GOOD LUCK!

BIG DAY for Some Odd Girl! the CLEAR STAMPS are available!

the CLEAR STAMPS ARE HERE!
get 'em all at SomeOddGirl.com NOW! :)

it's here! she's done it! i can't tell you how EXCITED i am that this day has arrived, and how PROUD i am of my Kristy-Holmes-Dollie! she has worked SO hard on this project since its inception, and today, Some Odd Girl wears another new hat! :D this is our very first physical stamp release, and i don't imagine quantities will last long, so grab them NOW, before it's too late!

oh, and check out the Some Odd Girl blog this morning, too, 'cuz if you commented on any of the sneaks last week, you might be one of the lucky WINNERS of these cute clear stamps! :) happy monday, kids!