the creative closet by cindy lawrence

OCL April Release Day!

Hello Stampers~

It's gonna be a great weekend for some lucky blog hoppers!  OCL is giving away a BIG pile of new stamp sets and Sparkly Fluff!  If you leave a comment here between now & Sunday (May 2nd) at 3pm EST, you'll have a fabulous chance to win SIX jars of yummalicous Sparkly Fluff!  Yup, I said SIX!  Here are the colors I'm giving away to one lucky winner:

Appletini Green

Cotton Candy

Rockin' Pink

24K Gold

Coffee Bean Brown

Bay Boy Blue

I used Eyeliner Black & Cotton Candy on my sample.  I complimented it with some fuzzy, flocked patterned paper from My Mind's Eye's Lush Collection.  The flower is from the Fabulous Florals set, and the sentiment is from the coordinating Say It With Flowers set.  Here's a close-up of the flower:

It sure does take that flower to a new level, don't you think? 

I also used this week's OCL Sketch Challenge on my card.  Stop by The Lounge to check out the sketch.  Finally, you'll want to hop on over to the rest of the design team blogs for your chance to win lots of OCL goodies.

Amber Hillman
Broni Holcombe
Cambria Turnbow
Charmaine Ikach
Chelle Fowler
Cindy Lawrence
Deb Felts
Deborah Anton
Denise Marzec
Heather McNally
Holly McMillen
Jeanne Streiff
Kendra Wietstock
Kisa Peters
Pam Hooten
Terri Thill
Vicki Garrett

Once again, here are the details for the blog candy:

1) You MUST leave contact information in order to be entered.
2) You can enter on each blog once each day.
3) You will only be eligible to win one new set.   Blog candy will be drawn on each blog Sunday, May 2nd at 12 noon PST, (3pm eastern time).  Winners will be notified by the designer & a full list of winners will be posted on the OCL Blog.  Good luck to YOU! :)

Have a fabulous Friday, friends!  I am feeling much better today, and looking forward to a terrific weekend.  After getting snow on Tuesday, the weather is going to be in the 80's this weekend...gotta love New England! ;)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hugs,

~Cindy

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Stamps:  Fabulous Florals, Say It With Flowers
Papers:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Basic Black (SU), Blessings Textured Pink (Couture Cardstock), Lush Black Patterned Papers
Inks:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Spun Sugar Distress Ink
Accessories:  Petite Circle Nestabilities, Label Punch (SU), Corner Rounder, Lush Velvet & Looped Satin Ribbons (My Mind's Eye), Pink Rhinestones, Black & Cotton Candy Sparkly Fluff, Quickie Glue Pen, Martha Stewart Border Punch, Martha Stewart Leaf Punch, Ivory Button, Black Button Thread, Dimensionals, Sponge Dauber

Our Craft Lounge Sneak Peeks Day Two

Hello Stampers~

Goodness gracious, I have had an interesting week so far.  Have you noticed that my cards are a bit more simple than usual the last few days?  Well, there's a reason...I have been fighting with a stomach bug since Monday afternoon.  It's been going around at work, and I get it after one day back from vacation...go figure!  I've still been going in to work and keeping my design/blogging commitments in spite of it all...don't know if you would call that tenacity or stupidity!  It finally got the better of me yesterday afternoon, and I went home and took a four hour nap.  Let's hope I can kick this thing to the curb once and for all...seeeeeee ya! ;)

Today's sample is a sneak peek of Our Craft Lounge's new Fishing With Dad stamp set.  I LOVE this set!  Yes, I know...there's no coloring on this; but what beautiful cards this will make!  Don't you think?  I can't wait to play more with it.

I used several Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads and sponge daubers to achieve the shaded look of the sky and water.  Then I went over the image with a Sakura Black Glaze Pen.  I honestly do not recommend doing this...very tricky and a little scary!   If you emboss the image in black, you can get a very similar effect.

Here's a close-up of the image:

I really would have loved to add some black machine stitching around the edges of the plaid layer; but I just didn't have it in me to change the thread in my machine.  You can just imagine it's there...how about that?! {grin}

Stop by The Lounge to see the full images of the new sets.  Check out today's awesome sneak peeks from the rest of the design team:

Amber HIllman
Beth Silaika
Broni Holcombe
Cambria Turnbow
Charmaine Ikach
Chelle Fowler
Cindy Lawrence
Deb Felts
Deborah Anton
Denise Marzec
Heather McNally
Holly McMillen
Kendra Wietstock
Kisa Peters
Pam Hooten
Terri Thill
Vicki Garrett

So you wanna win some blog candy???  Just leave a comment here between yesterday (Tuesday) and Sunday (May 2nd) at 3pm EST, & you'll be entered. 

Here are a few things that you should know about our blog candy ~

1) You MUST leave contact information in order to be entered.
2) You can enter on each blog once each day.
3) You will only be eligible to win one new set.   Blog candy will be drawn on each blog Sunday, May 2nd at 12 noon PST, (3pm eastern time).  Winners will be notified by the designer & a full list of winners will be posted on the OCL Blog.  Good luck to YOU! :)

Thanks for visiting with me today, friends!

Hugs,

~Cindy

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Stamps:  Fishing With Dad
Papers:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Black Textured (SU), Abbey Road Patterned Paper (My Mind's Eye)
Inks:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass, Tim Holtz Broken China, Tim Holtz Stormy Sky
Accessories:  Black Pearls, Black Twill Ribbon (PTI), Ocean Tides Button (PTI), Black Button Thread, Labels One Nestabilities, Sponge Daubers, Black Sakura Glaze Pen, Dimensionals

Come Celebrate With Us!

Hello Stampers~

I don't know about you; but I love everything about summer.  Here in America, we have the best kick-off party around...Independence Day!  AND it will be here before we know it...just two more months!  (I know...ACK!)

Our Craft Lounge is kicking things off in style with 13 brand-new stamp sets to be released this Friday.  The design team will be sharing sneak peeks of the sets today and tomorrow, and there will be a big, FABULOUS blog hop on Friday with lots of give-aways!  You won't want to miss it!

My sample uses the adorable new Patriotic Parade stamp set.  I colored my image with Copic markers, added some Brown Sugar Sparkly Fluff to the bear, and lots of sparkle and bling!  The layout is this week's OCL Sketch Challenge.

Here's a close-up of the bear, so you can really see the how fuzzy-wuzzy he is with his Sparkly Fluff fur:

Isn't that stuff awesome?!  :)

Now here's a shot of the Copic colors I used on my card:

Okay, friends, now that you've had a little taste of what's to come, stop by the rest of the design team blogs for some serious eye candy!

The Lounge
Amber Hillman
Beth Silaika
Cambria Turnbow
Charmaine Ikach
Chelle Fowler
Cindy Lawrence
Deb Felts
Deborah Anton
Denise Marzec
Heather McNally
Holly McMillen
Kendra Wietstock
Kisa Peters
Pam Hooten
Terri Thill

Have a fabulous day, everyone!

Hugs,

~Cindy

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Stamps:  Patriotic Parade
Papers:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Spitfire Red Textured (Couture Cardstock), Wild Things Patterned Paper (Imaginesce)
Inks:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers (see photo above)
Accessories:  Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust Pen, Copic Air Brush System, Star Buttons, White Button Thread, Red Rhinestones, Labels Eight Nestabilities, Quickie Glue Pen, Brown Sugar Sparkly Fluff, Dimensionals

Bearing Gifts

Hello Stampers~

Today's sample is made with Penny Black's adorable Bearing Gifts image.  I picked it up at Stampers Dream, along with the fabulous Sentiments set from Stampavie.  The rich papers are from Pink Paislee's 365 Degrees pad.

Thanks to this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch, my card was super-easy to pull together!  I kept my embellishments to a minimum, allowing the image to really take center stage.

Here's a close-up view for you:

Now, before I forget... Here's a shot of the Copic colors I used:

Hope your day is SPECTACULAR, my friends!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hugs,

~Cindy

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Stamps:  Bearing Gifts, Sentiments
Papers:  Prismatics Light Suede, Prismatics Dark Nautical Blue, 365 DEGREES Patterned Papers, Classic Crest Solar White
Inks:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Walnut Stain, Copic Markers (see photo above)
Accessories:  Labels Twelve Nestabilities, Large Oval Punch, Scalloped Oval Punch, Chocolate Pearls, Dimensionals, White Opaque Pen (centers of flowers)

An Apple for You and an Amish View

Hello Stampers~

Well, it's Monday morning again.  How does that happen so quickly anyway?!  I enjoyed my family's vacation immensely, and am going into this week with a spring in my step and a song in my heart.  It really is a beautiful life that we have been given! :)

My sample today uses one of the sweet Pure Innocence sets from My Favorite Things.  Did you see that Stampers Dream just got in a bunch of the newest PI sets?  I just cannot get enough of them!  I used An Apple for You and some pretty patterned papers from October Afternoon.  I combined the papers from the Fly a Kit & Thrift Shop packs, since they coordinate so beautifully together.

The sketch for my card is this week's Sketch For You To Try from I{heart}2stamp.  It's a super-sweet and easy sketch.

I added sparkle to her hair clip, shoes, and the heart embellishment on her dress with Spica Glitter Pens...not so easy to see in the photo.  

I colored my image with Copic markers. Here's a close-up for you:

I know I haven't been as good about sharing the Copic colors I've been using lately; so here's a shot of what I used on this card:

I do promise to share the colors with you whenever possible; but if it's an older sample, I usually can't remember what I used.  This past week I skipped color lists because I was on vacation, and didn't want to take any more time from that than absolutely necessary. 

Now, I'd love to share some of the photos I took while we were in Amish country (Lancaster, PA) on our way home Saturday.  I have a bunch of photos from our vacation; but I thought you'd really enjoy these.  :)

I hope you've enjoyed my mini-tour of this beautiful area.  I could have taken a million pictures, it is just soooo beautiful.  We will definitely be back to visit again soon!

Have a wonderful Monday, friends!  Thanks, as always, for visiting with me today!

Hugs,

~Cindy

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Stamps:  An Apple for You (Pure Innocence from MFT)
Papers:  Prismatics Kraft, Classic Ivory, Thrift Shop & Fly A Kite Patterned Papers from October Afternoon
Inks:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Barn Door, Copic Markers (see photo above), Spica Glitter Pens (hair clip, shoes, and heart embellishment)
Accessories:  Twill Ribbon, Classic Rectangle Nestabilities, Button (PTI), Burlap String, Word Window Punch (SU), Martha Stewart Floral Border Punch, Dimensionals, Copic Air Brush System

Blessed Because of You

Hello Stampers~

Happy weekend to you!  We are on our final leg home today.  It's been such a fun week; but we always look forward to being home in our own beds again as well. :)

I made this sample at my mom & dad's house.  It's fun to work with limited supplies sometimes, don't you think?  It stretches us a bit.  I lucked out, though, because my mom had a circle cutter.  I used the gorgeous Spring Bouquet stamp set from Flourishes, and colored it in with Copic markers. 

That's all from me today, folks!  I need to keep it short and sweet, as it's nearly my bedtime.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!  See y'all on Monday!

Hugs,

~Cindy

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Stamps:  Spring Bouquet
Papers:  Classic White, Frankincense Yellow (Couture Cardstock), Kioshi Patterned Paper
Inks:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers
Accessories:  Circle Cutter, Bone Folder (to distress edges of circle), Sheer Apple Green Polka Dot Ribbon, Sheer Maize Polka Dot Ribbon, Yellow Button, Pearls (dyed with YG06 Copic Marker), Dimensionals, EK Success Border Punch

Flourishes Friday

Hello Stampers~

It's time for another Flourishes Friday Focus, and the design team is focusing on Christmas cards.  Okay, now you're thinking...hmmm, that doesn't look like a Christmas card, Cindy.  Well, I stamped a bunch of images before I left for vacation; so I was limited for this challenge.  At least I managed to use red & green! :)

I love this Around the Arbor stamp set...so unique and beautiful!  The pretty patterned papers are from the Mirabelle pack from The Paper Studio.  I colored my image with Copic markers, and added some ivory satin ribbon and pretty cream crocheted trim.  I sponged the edges of my main panel with Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink (yup, my fave).  The finishing touches were to add some pretty yellow pearls, a bow with button, and a sweet oval sentiment.

Check out what the rest of the design team did this week.  Most of these ladies have wonderful Christmas samples to share with you!  Laura & Dawn have some beautiful samples made with new release stamps as well.  Enjoy!

• Christine Okken
• Danielle Kennedy
• Dawn Burnworth
• Julie Koerber
  
• Laura Fredrickson
• Leslie Miller
• Stacy Morgan

Check out the Flourishes blog for all the deets on a brand-new Christmas card challenge!

Have a wonderful Friday, friends!  We'll be traveling to Lancaster, PA today.  Tonight we have a fun evening planned at the Sight & Sound Theater to see their new production of Joseph...can't wait!  Then it's on the road again in the a.m.....home, home on the range. :)

Thanks for visiting today!

Hugs,

~Cindy

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Stamps:  Around the Arbor
Papers:  Classic Ivory, Mirabelle Patterned Papers (The Paper Studio), Mugwart Textured Cardstock (Couture Cardstock)
Inks:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Antique Linen Distress Ink, Copic Markers
Accessories:  Large Oval Punch, Scalloped Oval Punch, Sponge Dauber, Ivory Satin Ribbon, Cream Crocheted Trim, Pearls, Piercing Tools, Corner Rounder, Yellow Button, Dimensionals

A Perfect Fit

Hello Stampers~

For today's sample, I used Gina K's Hand-in-Hand set by Melanie Muenchinger. I added a glow around the hands with some Gold Glimmer Shimmerz paint, and gave her a diamond ring with a clear rhinestone.  The card size is 4-1/4" square.

I made this one for the SCS Fan Club gallery in December '08.  I am so glad I have all these samples I haven't shared with you from my Dirty Dozen days.  It sure does help when you're on vacation! :)

We are enjoying the warm temperatures and time spent with my parents here in Virginia sooo very much.  Tomorrow morning, when we head out to Pennsylvania again, is going to be a sad day...don't know when we'll have a chance to see them again. :(  K....gonna stop talking about it now...getting all weepy.

Have a very blessed day, friends!  Thanks a million for visiting with me today!

Hugs,

~Cindy

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Stamps: Hand-In-Hand
Paper: Pure Luxury 120 lb White, Basic Grey Urban Prairie Designer Papers
Ink: Palette Hybrid Noir Black, Copic Markers
Accessories: Bling from MAMBI, Piercing Tools, White Gel Pen, White Satin Ribbon (Gina K), Teal Velvet Ribbon (retired SU), Nestabilities Label Dies, Gold Glimmer Shimmerz Paint, Martha Stewart Lace Border Punch, Dimensionals

An Apple A Day...

Hello Stampers~

How are you on this lovely Wednesday?  I am doing just fabulous! :)

Today's sample is made with one of my sweet new Sarah Kay images, Adele Enjoying Fresh Apples.  There are few images I enjoy coloring as much as Sarah Kays...so full of detail and wonderful shading possibilities.  You have to check out the awesome selection of these images at Stampers Dream!  If you want it, Michelle has GOT it! :)

Here's a closer shot of the coloring detail.  Remember, if you click on the photos, you can always get a really close-up view!

Have a lovely day, my sweet friends!

Hugs,

~Cindy

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Stamps:  Adele Enjoying Fresh Apples
Papers:  Chocolate Kiss (PTI), Neenah Classic Crest Natural White, Jillibean Soup Old World Cabbage Stew Patterned Papers
Inks:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers (lots of them), Antique Linen Distress Ink
Accessories:  Twill Ribbon, Chocolate Button (PTI), Burlap String, Sponge Dauber, Chocolate Pearls, Dimensionals, Border Punch (EK Success)

Oh that Precious Bear!

Hello Stampers~

Today's sample is made with another sweet Popcorn Bear image from Stampers Dream.  I love the little ducky peaking out from behind his leg.  So much adorable in one image! :)

I colored the image with Copic markers, and added some Diamond Glaze to the bears nose and eyes, as well as the duck's beak.  The card size is 6" square.

We are enjoying our vacation to Virginia very much so far!  So many beautiful flowers in bloom down here...and it's WARM! :)

I hope you are having a fabulous wee as well, my friends!  Thanks so much for stopping by!
Hugs,

~Cindy

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Stamps:  Thanks a Bunch Popcorn Bear
Papers:  Orange Prismatics, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Green At Heart Patterned Papers
Inks:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers, Orange Zest ink (PTI)
Accessories:  Orange Zest Satin Ribbon (PTI), Orange Zest Button (PTI), Pearls (dyed with YR09 Copic marker), Double Loops Border Punch (Martha Stewart), White Button Thread, Ticket Corner Punch (SU), Diamond Glaze, Dimensionals