Designer Craft Connection

Blog Hop

Welcome back to the Designer Craft Connection blog hop! Each month a very talented group of professional designers get together, pick a theme, and create a project around that theme.  The result is over 50 different projects that we get to share with you, our readers! So, with a click of your mouse on the Designer Craft Connection button that you can find on the right side of my blog, you can “hop” from one blog to another to view these wonderful projects and maybe re-create a few of them for your family and friends.

Don’t forget while you’re hopping around to each site, about this month’s giveaway! 

Julie McGuffe is hosting another great giveaway. This month, Julie is giving away a set of DVD’s from Scrapbook Memories. To enter to win, you must leave a comment on the blog where you find the Scrapbook Memories logo. When you find the logo, leave a comment on the blog about your favorite craft show’s name and the reason why you like that show. Next, hop on over to Julie’s blog at www.juliemcguffee.blogspot.com and leave a comment telling Julie what you’d like to see on her new show. She would like to know about your favorite scrapbooking product, craft or technique.  While you’re there, be sure to check out the Scrapbook Memories logo so you know what to look for as you hop.

Be sure you check back to see what we’re up to with the blog hop. We will have a new theme and post our projects on the first Monday of every month. We will also have a new giveaway, so you won’t want to miss that. Great projects and free giveaways every month! How much fun is that!!! Have fun at the hop and good luck on winning that great prize!

Crafty Hugs,

Lisa

Stampin’ Queen Creations

Happy Easter Card

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations 2011

The theme for this month’s hop is Spring/Easter and I wanted to create an easy but elegant Easter card. I hope you enjoy it!

Happy Easter Card

SUPPLIES

Blue card stock- 4 ¾” x 6 ½” (after fold)

Pink card stock- 4 ½” x 6 ¼”

Green card stock- 4 ¼” x 6”

Pattern paper- 4” x 5 ¾”

Cream card stock- (2 pieces) 3 ¼” x 4 ½” and 3” x 1 1/8” for sign

Chalks

Zip DryÔ Paper Glue by Beacon AdhesivesÒ

Black permanent inkpad

4 Gold eyelets

4 Gold jump rings

3D foam tape

Preserve It!Ô by KrylonÒ

Hole punch ¼”

Eyelet setter

Rubber Stamps:

Cross & Lilies

Happy Easter

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1.  Fold blue card stock 8 ½” x 11” in half. Cut to size 4 ¾” x 6 ½”. Cut the remainder papers as follows: Pink 4 ½” x 6 ¼”, Green 4 ¼” x 6”, Pattern paper 4” x 5 ¾”, Cream 3 ¼” x 4 ½” and 3” x 1 1/8” for sign.

Step 2. Stamp Cross & Lilies on cream card stock twice with black inkpad. Color images with chalks. Cut flowers out (on one image only). Apply 3D foam tape to backs of flowers and adhere to stamped image, giving the image a 3D effect. Spray image with Preserve It! Sealer.

Step 3. Stamp “Happy Easter” on smaller piece of cream card stock. Punch holes in both pieces of cream card stock. Add eyelets and jump rings. Layer and adhere all papers together with glue except “Happy Easter”. Leave “Happy Easter” image free to move on jump rings.

A Beautiful Wedding

Wedding Collection

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

Is there anything better than attending a beautiful wedding? For me, the answer to that question is easy. Yes! Although I really do enjoy attending a wedding, what I enjoy more is creating for a wedding. I love creating the invitations, table decorations, and all the things that makes a wedding the most special day in a couples life.

Memory Candle

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

Wedding Chair Keepsake

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

I can still remember when my daughter and I were preparing for her wedding in early 2007. For those of you who follow my blog know, I have been dealing with Crohn’s Disease all of my adult life. The year 2006 was no different. I had multiple surgeries that year, and six months before my daughter’s wedding, I was laying in my recliner in my studio, recovering from yet another surgery. I only have one daughter and I was determined to make her wedding day as special for her as she is to me. I didn’t want anyone else to do it and so as I laid in my recliner I sewed and hand beaded beautiful hand muffs for all of the bridesmaids. As my recovery progressed, I continued to work on her wedding. I also made all of the invitations, table decorations, flower girl baskets, centerpieces for the head table, a memory candles for her late grandparents and much more. Was it difficult for me? You bet! But I wouldn’t have traded the time I spent for anything. When we walked into the reception hall and I saw my daughter’s face as she took everything in…that moment speaks volumes for me and I will never forget it as long as I live! It was worth every single minute I spent working on the wedding from my recliner. I was the one who gave my daughter her dream wedding, and it fills my heart with joy even to this day.

Bridesmaid Hand Muff

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

Ring Bearer Pillow

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

  

When people asked me if I had lost my mind I always said “probably!”, but I also say that if you can do it for your children, then do it! It does take a lot of your time, but let’s face it. With weddings costing on an average of $30,000 you can save a lot of money creating some of the wedding items yourself. I know that for my daughter’s wedding, I saved almost $400.00 on the invitations alone. With a computer, a few rubber stamps and some scrapbook supplies, you can create some beautiful invitations that you can customize to what your loved ones really want. They don’t have to settle for the designs in the invitation books. Now, don’t get me wrong, those designs are beautiful, but in my daughter’s case, she wanted something with snowflakes and she also wanted a picture of a little boy and girl in wedding attire. Before I decided to design her invitations myself, we poured over dozens of invitation books, and we couldn’t find anything remotely close to what she really wanted. It broke my heart to see her so sad. When I showed her the invitation I had designed, she looked at it and cried. I knew at that point I made the right decision to design her invitations myself.



Invitation- Outside

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations



Invitation- Inside

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

The techniques that I used were, stamping on velvet, beading, rubber stamping, scrapbooking, and general crafting. I hope by seeing the items I created for my daughter’s wedding will inspire you to create a beautiful wedding for your son or daughter. It really is worth all the hard work when you see the look of appreciation in your loved ones eyes. There are no words to describe that feeling. I hope that you have the opportunity to experience it for yourself.

Crafty Hugs,

Lisa

Stampin’ Queen Creations



Table Centerpiece

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations





Flower Girl Basket

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

Bride's Purse

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

Exciting News to Announce

I am so excited about this new announcement that I’m about to bust! Have you noticed the new blue and pink button on the right side of my blog that says “Designer Crafts Connection”? Well, that button is what the entire buzz is about.

Last November a group of professional craft designers got together to do the Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop. Every week for 7 weeks these designers would create one-of-a-kind projects using different Sizzix die cuts that were designed by Sizzix Licensed Designers, Eileen Hull, Brenda Pinnick and Karen Burniston. There were over 60 designers who participated in the blog hop and the results were fabulous! When our readers hopped from website to website, they were thrilled to find over 60 different ideas for each die cut. When our blog hop ended in mid-December it left each of us feeling a little sad. We had such a blast designing new projects each week and hanging out with each other, that we didn’t want the fun to stop, and that brings me to my exciting news.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE…. I am so pleased to announce that this wonderful, talented group of designers that I am blessed to be a part of has created the “Designer Craft Connection”. The Designer Craft Connection is an on-going blog hop. Every month (and sometimes more often) the DCC designers will be posting different projects based on a theme, offer tips and techniques, host a treasure hunt where you can win cool prizes, and basically offer information and advice about all things crafty from the very best talent in the craft industry.

Since we begin today our fearless leader, Julie McGuffee, at www.juliemcguffee.blogspot.com  will have all the information on her website about how you can win a Cricut Expression machine of your very own! How cool is that?!!! So, join me and the other DCC designers as we begin our new adventure by clicking on the “hop forward” and “hop backwards” buttons to visit each designer’s website. Be sure to check back on March 13^th, as we start our new challenge based on wedding ideas. I can’t wait. It’s gonna be a blast!!!

Crafty Hugs,

Lisa

Stampin’ Queen Creations

Doggy Treat Box

Ruby Renee- 7 Months

©Lisa Rojas Stampin’ Queen Creations 2011

I have shared stories in my past blog posts about my love of my four-legged fur kids. My dogs are the loves of my life. I shared the loss of my beloved cocker spaniel, Tawnee Renee, and I even shared the new arrival of my miniature dachshund puppy, Ruby Renee. Since I haven’t written an update on my new puppy, I thought it was time to do so.

When I first brought Ruby home at the end of August, she was 8 weeks old and weighed a whopping 3 lbs. She was so cute and tiny we had to put bells on her collar so we wouldn’t step on her! The very first night, I placed her in a doggy stroller that fit right next to my bed. I knew because she was a puppy that I would be up with her a few times that first night. Now mind you, I haven’t had a puppy for 13 years. Our other miniature dachshund, Coca Cola, who is 6 years old now, actually belongs to my 24 year old son. When we got her, he took care of her most of the time. I really didn’t have to deal with the puppy stage all that much. So when I brought Ruby home, I thought to myself, I’m a grown up, I can handle this. What I forgot to tell myself was that I am an OLDER grown up who now knows that having a puppy is just like having a newborn in the house. What the heck was I thinking? I would never in a million years have a newborn at this stage in my life, what am I doing with a puppy?

Well, to be honest, after surviving the first few months of puppydom from things like waking up a few times a night, pooping on my carpet, and an unending amount of puppy energy and attitude… I have made it! I have come out on the other side, and the best part is, I still like her. I still love the fact that she is in my life. There is just nothing better in the whole wide world then waking up to wet-nosed puppy kisses!

My little sweetie pie is now almost 7 months old and she hits the scales at 12 lbs. She still has tons of puppy energy and attitude, and she still poops on my carpet every once in a while, but she is calming down a little more each day. Thank Goodness! I often wondered if I would survive this little stinker or if she’d get the best of me.

So, this week’s project is for all of you fellow dog lovers out there. This project is not just for the fur kids in your life, but also the fur kid lovers. I don’t know about you, but I got so tired of seeing dog treat boxes all over my countertops that I decided to create a fun and easy storage container to hold all of those treats for my fur kids. Of course since my fur kids are girls, I created my box with lavenders and pinks. The box that I used is a great wooded box from Walnut Hollow. Don’t freak out if you have never stamped on wood before. If this is the first time you have stamped on wood, then this is the perfect project for you to get your feet wet. With this project, I actually stamped my design out on paper first, then decoupage it onto the wood box. That way if you messed up your stamped image, simply disregard your paper, re-stamp it and then you can decoupage it on your wood box. How easy is that?

Crafty Hugs,

Lisa

Stampin’ Queen Creations

Doggy Treat Box

©Lisa Rojas Stampin’ Queen Creations 2011

 SUPPLIES

Wood box by Walnut Hollow
Delta Ceramcoat Acrylic Paint- White, Pale Lilac, Lavender
Aleene’s Instant Decoupage Glue Sealer & Finish- Matte
Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Glue
Paintbrush ½” Wash by Loew-Cornell
Sea sponge
Sandpaper
White copy paper
Ancient Page Dye inkpad- Black & Lavender by Clearsnap Inc.
Chalk Pastels by Loew-Cornell
Preserve It! by Krylon Products
Krylon Crystal Clear Sealer
Lavender and Purple ribbon
Dog bones
Rubber Stamps-
Dog by Rubber Stampede
Doggy Border by All Night Media
Dog Bone & Lettering by Close To My Heart

 INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Paint box with white acrylic paint. Let dry. Paint box again with Pale Lilac. Let dry. Paint edges with Lavender paint. Sponge Lavender and White paint on box. Paint one dog bone with Lavender paint. Let dry. Lightly sand box. Spray box with Krylon Crystal Clear Sealer.

  2. Trim white copy paper to the size of the front of the box. Stamp images with black inkpad. Color with chalks. Spray with Preserve It! paper protectant. Decoupage stamped paper to box front. Let dry.

  3. Coat three dog bones with decoupage medium. Let dry. Glue bones and ribbon bows to the box. Use picture for placement if needed.

  Source Information

 All Night Media                      (678) 291-8100              www.plaidonline.com

 Close To My Heart                     (888) 655-6552              www.closetomyheart.com

 Duncan Enterprises                   (559) 291-4444              www.duncancrafts.com

 Krylon Products                       (216) 566-2000              www.krylon.com

 Loew-Cornell                          (201) 836-7070              www.loew-cornell.com

 Rubber Stampede                      (800) 423-4135               www.deltacreative.com

 Walnut Hollow                         (800) 944-2331              http://www.walnuthollow.com/

Ruby Renee & Coca Cola

©Lisa Rojas Stampin’ Queen Creations 2011

Team Edward or Team Jacob- Which are You?

©2010 Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

One of my favorite things to do besides my love of crafting is to read. I am an avid reader. I read every night before I go to bed. It’s the only thing that relaxes me enough to be able to go to sleep.
 I love to read books that belong to a series. You can get so much more involved with the characters if you have three or four books to read with the characters in them. About a year and a half ago I was cruising through Barnes and Noble looking for a new book series to read when I came across the Twilight books. Now, I realize that these books are advertised to appeal to the younger set, but my favorite types of books are in the horror/suspense category. I just love a good scary book! When I read the book’s description and I saw that it had vampires and werewolves in it, I knew these books were for me. Boy was I right! I read all four of these books in a little over a week. I was so hooked I couldn’t put them down. My husband came into my studio one day and asked, “Are you ever going to put those books down and get back to work?” I just laughed and told him to get out of my studio, I was busy reading!
 Once I completed all four books, I called my friends and my daughter to tell them they had to read these books. Needless to say, the books got passed around until everyone read them and it was unanimous, they were hooked too!
 Naturally when we found out the books were going to be made into movies, we couldn’t wait to see them. When the first movie came out I was very sick and didn’t get a chance to see it. Then when the movie became available on DVD, I was so excited! Finally I would get a chance to see it. Unfortunately I ended up in the hospital again. I had become very depressed because I was there for five weeks and I just wanted to go home. My sister-in-law called me one day and told me she would plan a party with our girlfriends as soon as I got home and we would watch the movies together. It gave me something to look forward to and I couldn’t wait to get home.
 That was how this crazy idea got started. Each time the movies came out on DVD, we would plan a party around them. We would decorate the house, make and eat way too much food, play games, and at the last party we decided to do a little crafting too. I wanted my girlfriends to have a special memento of out “Twilight Movie Nights” so I created these two picture frames, one for the girls that love Edward and one for the girls that loved Jacob. They are fun to make and easy enough for my “non-crafting” friends to be able to make them too.
 So, even if you’re not Twilight fans, why not find a movie that all of your girlfriends enjoy and make a party out of watching it together. It really is great fun and a wonderful way to bond with your girlfriends. What could be better than that?

  Until next time…

 Lisa

Stampin’ Queen Creations

©2010 Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

©2010 Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

New Moon Party Picture Frame

 Supplies

• White card stock- 6”W x 6”H
• Black card stock- 6”W x 6”H
• Red and Brown card stock- 5 ½”W x 3 ½”H
• White and Ivory card stock- 5 ¼”W x 3 ¼”H
• New Moon pattern paper- 5 ¾”W x 5 ¾”H
• New Moon title
• Cricut Personal Cutting Machine by Provo Craft
• Doodletype Cartridge by Provo Craft
• New Moon stickers
• Red and Clear gems
• Crocodile Eyelet Setter by We are Memory Keepers
• Silver eyelets
• Silver heart paper clips

• Red ribbon
• Jute string
• Zip Dry Paper Glue by Beacon Adhesives

 Note from Designer- The instructions given are for the Team Edward project. For Team Jacob, simply change the colors of the card stock, gems and stickers. All of the instructions are the same for both projects.

 Instructions


1. Cover the black card stock with pattern paper using glue. Using Cricut machine cut out the word “Party” from white card stock. Adhere red and white card stock. Add picture.
2. Adhere “New Moon” title and “party” and red gems with glue to frame. Add stickers.
3. Using the Crocodile, punch out two holes in the top of the frame. Add eyelets. Tie red ribbon through eyelets to make the hanger.





Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop Week 7 Birthday Bag Toppers

 

  

 



Hi Everyone, Happy Holidays! Welcome back to the Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop. This is week 7 of the hop and I’m sad to say, the last week. For the last 7 weeks I have had the privilege of working with 3 of Sizzix most talented designers, Eileen Hull, Karen Burniston and Brenda Pinnick, and the fabulous dies that they designed for the Sizzix Company.

I have enjoyed our weekly challenges and it never ceased to amaze me the multitude of talent among all of the designers that participated each week. I am honored to be a member of this very special group, and I want you to stay posted after today because we will be working on some great new things in the future.

For my final project, I used the Treat Bag Toppers die by Eileen Hull. This die is an easy way to add fun to any bag top. The possibilities are endless! This project would be great for a child’s birthday party and as I was creating it, I could visualize a room full of smiling, giggling children just waiting to find out what’s inside their bags. How much fun is that?! So, I say to you one last time (or until our ext blog hop!) make that trip to your local craft or scrapbook store and purchase this die. There are lots of smiley, giggly little people who will be happy you did!

Thanks for checking out the Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop. Please visit http://www.tripleplay.typepad.com/ for more fun ideas from Brenda Pinnick, Karen Burniston, Eileen Hull and friends. If you have enjoyed seeing all of the inspiring ideas on the blog hop, please “like” Triple Play on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Triple-Play/125068950891362. And don’t forget to click on my blinkie on the right side of my blog so you can hop on over to the 60 plus designers to see what they created with this Treat Bag Topper die. Where else can you go to get 60 different ideas for one die? Nowhere but here. Check it out. You’ll be happy you did!

Until next time…

Lisa

Stampin’ Queen Creations









Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop Week 6 "All About Me" Photo Book

Hi Everyone, Happy Holidays! Welcome back to the Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop. This week we got to work with Brenda Pinnick’s Mini Album die. This album die was so much fun to work with! And since creating scrapbook albums, especially mini albums, is one of my most favorite items to create, this was a perfect fit for me.

For this project I did something a little different. Every time I create a new album, I always create one around one of my family members, a friend, or my fur kids, but this time I decided to do one about me. Yep, I said it. This project is all about me! I have always hated having my picture taken because I really don’t have any desire to see all of my chins! Let’s face it. No one wants to see that! but this past March after my 50^th birthday I decided, who cares?! I have spent all of my adult life battling a chronic disease and I’m just happy to see my next birthday and all of my chins! So, I say to all of you, go to your local craft or scrapbook store and purchase this die. Then go home, snap some great pictures of yourself (and your chins) and create a fabulous album that’s All About You! It really is loads of fun!

©2010 Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

Don’t forget to click on my blinkie on the right side of my blog so you can hop on over to the other 60 plus designers to see what they created with this Mini Album die. Where else can you go to get 60 different ideas for one die? Nowhere but here. Check it out. You’ll be glad you did!



©2010 Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

Until next time…

Lisa

Stampin’ Queen Creations

Here’s what I used to make this fabulous project!

Supplies

Mini Album die by Brenda Pinnick

Big Shot Die Cutting Machine by Sizzix

Swirl 1 & 2 and Crown die cuts by Sizzix

Various Pattern papers

Card stock- Pink, Magenta, Lime Green, Black & Purple

Glitter papers- Lavender, Purple, Pink & Lime Green

Various Ribbons

All about me stickers by EK Success

Flower stickers by K & Company

Silver name plates

Various Gems

Vivid! Dye inkpad- Black by Clearsnap

Smooch Spray- Vanilla Shimmer by Clearsnap

Chipboard book

Chipboard frame

Zip Dry Paper Glue by Beacon Adhesives

Scissors

2 Crown brads

Silver eyelets

Croc-o-dile Eyelet setter by We R Memory Keepers

Stamps- Wedding Corners by Stampendous

©2010 Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

©2010 Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

©2010 Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

©2010 Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop Week 5 "A Royal Thank You" Card

Hi Everyone! Welcome back to the Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop. We are now on week 5 of our fabulous blog hop. This week we got to work with Karen Burniston’s wonderful Pop-Up Gift Card Holder die.

2010 Lisa Rojas, Stampin' Queen Creations

This pop-up die was a huge surprise for me. I thought when I saw it, it would be a little difficult to work with. Wrong! This die was so easy I had it put together within five minutes! I felt that because I’m the Stampin’ Queen (hee hee) the card that I would create to go with this pop-up die should be a “royal” one and so I created “A Royal Thank You.” But, with the holidays being right around the corner, this die would be great to create gift card holders for all the people on your gift list. Wouldn’t it be great to place a gift card to a local restaurant for your kid’s teacher? Or what about a gift card to a cd store for your babysitter? There are so many great things you can do with this pop-up gift card holder die.

2010 Lisa Rojas, Stampin' Queen Creations

Why not visit your local scrapbook or craft store and purchase this terrific die as an early holiday gift for yourself! I know that’s what I’m going to do. Woo Hoo! There’s nothing like a present to put a smile on my face. I love presents! What about you?

2010 Lisa Rojas, Stampin' Queen Creations

Don’t forget to click on my blinkie on the right side of my blog so you can hop on over to the other 60 plus designers to see what they created with this pop-up gift card holder die. Where else can you get 60 different ideas for one die? Nowhere but here. Check it out. You’ll be happy you did!

Until next time…

Lisa

Stampin’ Queen Creations