Monday, April 29, 2013

For Him and Her

Another week, another challenge... or two... or ten...


I water-colored this Wee "Love Me Do" stamp to look like my brother and sister-in-law.    My s-i-l is into the modern look so creating this card using black and white papers ended up working out really well!   I also used a Martha Stewart punch for the edges.
I also needed to incorporate something inspirational as well as a movie quote... so for the movie quote I turned to "Princess Bride" as my brother is oft quoting lines from the movie, including the quote I included on the card.

I am entering the card in the following challenges:
Eureka Stamps - Black and White
Stampin' for the Weekend Die-cuts and/or punches
Diva's by Design - movies
Sister Act Challenge - anything goes
Word Art Wednesday - Anything Goes

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Challenges, Challenges, Challenges

Oh dear, I love challenges.    This may become too addicting!

First off, I absolutely adore this stamp. I was the typical girl growing up who longed for her own horse but never received one so when I saw this Crissy Armstrong stamp from Whimsy Stamps I had to purchase it.

I stamped the image onto watercolor paper and colored it using watercolor pencils. The sentiment is also available at Whimsy Stamps. I think my favorite thing about coloring the images is that I can color the same images so many ways! I decided to try my hand at creating a buckskin horse and I must say I was surprised with how well I accomplished it!
I am entering this card in Eureka Stamps - Animal Catwalk,
The Squirrel and the Fox - Furry Friends,
Satmpin' for the Weekend - Friends.

This card I created for my niece's tenth birthday. She loves the Fairy book series and this stamp was perfect as her birthday gift from me were ten fairy books.

I've entered this card in the following contests:
Everybody Art Challenge - Fairy
Divas by Design Birds and Butterflies
Stampotique Designers Challenge -Birthday #96

I began designing this type of card due to Whimsy's Try it Out Tuesdays. It really is quite simple to do and I find that it takes less time for me to make this card than it does doing a regular fold card... weird, eh? I think it's because this style card, in my opinion, doesn't need a lot of embellishing. It has a lot of class on its own. Entering in the following: Word Art Wednesday - Anything Goes, uplifting sentiment
V's Sweet Ideas - Anything Goes

Isn't this gift box adorable?
I'm entering this at Crafts 4 Eternity - Flowers and Through the Craftroom Door - Anything Goes.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Beginnings

Cards by Lazzie began in 2007 as a way for me to use my photographs as something more than wall adornments.    I began doing a matte photo, but that was fairly costly and within a few months I began doing a glossy photo card which was much cheaper.
A local hardware store was willing to let me sell my cards on their counter top and do an honor system.  I sold some cards that way, but not many.    Later in the fall I went to a local consignment/antique store and mooched off of my mother's shelf and displayed my cards in a small basket.

The sales weren't too bad, not many, but enough to keep me going.    It wasn't until 2010 that a lady gave me an extra card rack to use and once I moved my cards to that the cards began to move much more quickly.
Around that time I also began crafting a new card known as a stitchery card.   A friend let me borrow a few of her patterns to see if I enjoyed making the cards and I quickly became hooked and purchased patterns from Stitching Cards.
These cards sold incredulously well and there are still some patterns I have a hard time keeping in stock!
At the beginning of this year my friend Vanja got me hooked on watercolored cards and I must say it's even more fun than the other two types of cards that I'd previously tried.   There are just so many more possibilities with this type of card!

Doing watercolored cards is really quite simple.  All one needs is either rubber stamps or digital stamps, watercolor pencils, and watercolor paper and one is set for many hours of happy coloring.
Some wonderful places to find stamps on-line are Whimsy Stamps, Wee Stamps, and Elisabeth Bell. Be sure to do a google search as there are many wonderful stamp sites on the web. These three happen to be my favorite. :)

One Sunny Day

One sunny day I sat down and began to create a blog.   I asked myself why I was doing this now when the sun was finally showing itself and the temperature was actually in the sixties, but then remembered that I spent some time this morning creating a card for a contest whose deadline is tonight and that I need to have a blog in order to enter.
So perhaps I should lower the blinds so that I can forget that it is a sunny day and I should be working in the garden.

This morning as the sun rose and the temperature slowly escalated out of the forties I began to color my newest digital stamp purchase "One Sunny Day" with the intent of entering the card on Elisabeth Bell's World Challenge. I've been wanting to enter my cards in contests but the stopping point has always been the fact that I don't have a blog. Honestly, I don't want a blog but hey, I'll give it a shot and perchance I'll find myself enjoying it. So without further ado, the images of the finished creation. I colored the image using watercolors and created the card by using a Martha Stewart paper punch, scrapbook paper, and distress ink.
And with this I will finish my post, enter the card, and go outside and work in the the garden... and then come back and play around more with the blog... web design, I like that.
I'm also entering this card in the Challenges 4 Everybody contest and Sister Act Challenge and Loves Rubber Stamps - The Great Outdoors, and Cards for Men - Anything Goes.