back in the saddle

Monday I started designing the next Dear Lizzy craft line with the talented designers at American Crafts. We had our first meeting. Calling it a meeting is funny because it sounds so stuffy and boring when actually our meetings are quite fun and creative.

Two hours was long enough for Lola to be elated when momma got home.

Adore this look. Classic Lola.

Chewing on her fingers is a dead giveaway for the reason of her fussiness lately---teething. Poor thing. One thing about Lola is that no matter what she still tries to be a happy girl. You wouldn't even have known she was sick a few weeks ago because she didn't show it in her temperament. She just kept smiling through it all.

PS Check out the Something Splendid classes like the Boy/Girl Envelope book or I still have some fabric dolls available.

Charming

enchanted [ɪnˈtʃɑːntɪd] adj

1. under a spell; bewitched; magical

2. utterly delighted or captivated; fascinated; charmed

photo by Jefra Starr Linn

Enchanted was such a fun line to design with American Crafts. Now it's waiting time until it arrives and into our finger tips... I said 'our' because I'm sure you are excited too! Until then, here's a screen shot of the catalog.

Take a close look at the name of the paper on the right... Collin said it was one of the proudest moments in his life & then a lone tear fell down his cheek. haha. kidding. But what a cute coincidence to be side by side, even if it is just paper.

more cha chicago pics

Enchanted flowers and booth. (The Dear Lizzy Christmas line was displayed too.)

Dear Lizzy buttons.

Canadian sandwich with Vicki and Leica.

Going to dinner and hanging out with April Foster of Studio Calico was a highlight of my trip. We are both preggo with little girls so it was fun to relate with someone about swollen ankles and cravings. heeeeee.

I flew out a few hours after taking this pic. Landed at the airport around 11 pm and went straight to the store to get stuff for Collin's birthday party the next day. The big 3-0. Thanks for all the birthday wishes to him. The party was fun!! By the time Friday came I was a zombie. Pretty scary one too. ;)

day one details

some quick pics of cha in Chicago

bottles and flowers

half doors on each side with pages and banners

shoes
cutest ladies

Yamille mi amiguita

hanging decor inspired by April Meeker

cute Michelle

quirks

Blogging again from 10,000 feet in the air on my way to Craft & Hobby show in Chicago. I've never been to Chicago and don't know how much of it I will get to see, but I'm excited.

Me and My Quirks is a layout using some of the new Dear Lizzy goodies debuting at the show.

The center square of paper has this cool, green design on it and is called "Charming Collin." ha! He is charming and the reason I made this flight since I had to make a quick detour to the DMV on my way here... but that's another story. I figured out that Collin has super hero powers for all that he does for me & as a daddy.

So back to my quirks. Here's the hidden journaling for the page:

I'm too lazy to dry my hair so it's usually messy curly.

Since I was a little girl I insist on lifting my feet up while driving over rail road tracks. Once I missed one and made Collin reverse over them while raising my feet.

I despise TV but wouldn't miss 30 Rock.

I chew on the ends of pens.

I have issues with folding and putting away laundry. I need to take this domestic duty more seriously... Collin picks up the slack on this one.

I do love being organized but right now my studio is a disaster.

I change my outfit at least 3 times a day. Collin refers to this as Cher's wardrobe changes.

I like to eat healthy but like peach o's and cinnamon rolls more.

I don't like when people can hear me sing at church etc but while driving with the radio turned way up-all inhibitions go out the window.

Every time I fly I ask for Ginger Ale. Wondering why it's the only time I ever drink it because it's quite refreshing. (Sipping it right now.)

Share something quirky about you... because I think I've revealed too much. ;)

Christmas in July

The Dear Lizzy Christmas line turned out very merry. Featuring a vintage and nostalgic feel, this line focuses on the hand-made Christmas traditions of home. Which resembles how we celebrate Christmas in our family. It has a classic color palette with a few cool touches added for good measure. Designs include popcorn garlands, wintry wonderlands and poinsettias.

This is just a peek. I love one of the stickers that includes an old car with a tree tied to the top. My dad loved our family tradition of picking out the perfect fresh cut Christmas tree every year. Collin and I still continue that tradition today.

The Dear Lizzy Christmas collection features unique products such as Mementos metal embellishments, Delights paper flowers, metal rose brads, mini pearl brads, Mixtape decorative tape and Bits tags, and favorites like patterned paper, foam and glitter Thickers, assorted brads, glitter buttons, specialty ribbon, clear stamps, Details, Minimarks rub-ons and Remarks stickers.

There's even a complete Christmas Card Kit that includes 40 cards and envelopes and coordinating card embellishments.

Hope you're humming Jingle Bells by the end of this post... and feeling Christmas-ey in July.

just a peek at... Enchanted

We couldn't quite contain ourselves and wait until the craft and hobby show to show you the two new Dear Lizzy + American Crafts lines. This first one was such a fun project to work on, with designers Richard & Clarice... Enchanted!

It's beautifully sophisticated with whimsical florals, lace cut papers, and eclectic key & teacup embellishments. I love some of the new products including plastic rose brads, pretty decorative tape, metal embellishments, fabric brads, ticket journaling cards & of course rub-ons and thickers.

Here's a sneak peek at some of the charming elements from Enchanted.

One of my favorite parts while designing the line was reworking old adages and giving them a twist. Like the stamp above says, "The best thing in life is love" or "Stop and frolic in the roses." I'll show more of that tomorrow.

It's been a thrill designing projects and pages with it for cha. Let me know what you think... I hope you like it!

blissful day

Hope you had a great weekend!

Here's some pages using my Dear Lizzy goodies.

It's kinda funny to design pages with rub ons of my handwriting.

Can I let you in on a little secret... I'm not a huge fan of my own handwriting. (gasp) I honestly have always had to stretch myself to use it. Which just goes to show that it's quite natural to not appreciate our own chicken scratch. Let go of those insecurities and embrace it. That doesn't mean all of our journaling needs to be handwritten but just enough to leave a piece of us on our pages.

I've grown to love adding the unique touch of my handwriting and have learned to see past the worries of it ruining my pages to the sentimental factor it adds.

Love the phrase rub on, "follow you bliss" on pages of my girls. Incredible things can happen if we live by those simple words.

love the chipboard dresses... fab selection of Dear Lizzy at Blue Moon.

Happy Monday!

all things grow with love

A quick page share of my silly sunshine.

Kept it simple and structured. While using a couple of my staple punches.

You know those scrapbooking tools that you can't scrap with out. The scalloped square punch and scalloped circle punch. Love them.

This page also follows #20 of the challenges in my book... to scrapbook "in a grid."

What I enjoy about this design is layering all sorts of embellishments and photos while keeping it neat and tidy. :)

Everything on the page is Dear Lizzy yumminess. The top flower is my favorite combination... punched circle from the lace paper, paper flowers, tulle, and fabric brads. Crate Paper is one of my favorite paper companies and this scalloped background paper was perfect.

The yellow sticker at the bottom of my page says, "all things grow with love." Don't you love that? That's a fun part while designing Dear Lizzy products-choosing the right words and phrases to translate the feel of the line.

happy monday

follow your bliss

So, the house is very quiet at the moment. I'm uploading recent layouts and was skimming through my google reader. I have an overwhelming feeling at the moment. elated. humbling. grateful. Is it possible to feel all these emotions at once? :)

Let me try to explain... the emails and comments about my dad really touched me. I know I've said this before but I have the raddest blog readers!! Thank you so so much. For your support, your comments and for being you.

I also am completely thrilled seeing beautiful creations with Dear Lizzy products. And how humbling it is to have such talented people excited about it... even if it's a simple rub on of my handwriting. Seeing what others' are creating is an absolute treat.

Here's some recent pages:

Loving the new Jenni Bowlin products & how cool it looks mixed with American Crafts.

Dear Lizzy: "Follow Your Bliss" & bee rubons, green dot paper, banner paper, dresses paper,crochet flowers, Accent thickers "dreams." Pretty AC Floral paper. Bingo Card, Buttons, Pin, Rhinestone Button, Tickets

Back in November we were just about finished with the Spring line when I wanted to do a photo shoot to recreate the feeling of the line. The only difficult part was that it was mid November and not quite springtime. But cute Jefra and I found the only patch of green and pulled it off. It was literally freezing... like our fingers were numb and noses frozen by the end, but it was still fun!

A page about my cutie pie!

The cool swirl at the bottom of the page is this paper, floral paper, Typewriter font thickers, Journaling spot, "Thinking of you makes me smile" badge, "sweet" dimensional sticker, Woodgrain paper

Remember when I mentioned there would be some cool additions on my blog? Well, I started another blog over here=> www.dearlizzy.typepad.com

It's where I will be posting more in-depth about products, behind the scenes of the process and my favorite aspect-your projects! Check it out.