{Letters from Lizzie}

thankful

2009-11-24T12:20:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about my Dad this week. His favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. We always make bets on whether or not my Dad is going to eat too much and then whine about being too full. It's always safe to take the over-eating / whining bet. :)

One year on Thanksgiving Day, my brother was complaining about a stomach ache. I think my Dad and everyone thought it was typical Thanksgiving dinner / overeating stuff...so we kind of igorned it and went on with our Thanksgiving dinner plans. It turned out he had appendicitis and it burst...and we ended up rushing him to the hospital to have it removed. My poor Dad felt horrible (who would ever have guessed it was appendicitis on Thanksgiving?!)

My Dad retired this year and he says he wants to make it up to Washington every year for my kids birthdays now that he has more free time. I told him he didn't have to do that....he lives in St. George, Utah and we are in Seattle so it's quite the drive. But sure enough he was here on my son Ethan's birthday.

Family means a lot to my Dad and that has been a good example for me now that I'm taking care of my own family. He always put family first. This Thanksgiving, I am especially thankful for my family....my husband, kids, Grandmas and Grandpa, sister and brother, cousins, aunts and uncles, and extended family.

Hope you enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend!

I finally know how to use my camera....

2009-11-14T14:59:00.000-08:00

I have a group of wonderful friends who I scrapbook with every once in awhile...we try to do it monthly but sometimes it turns out every-other month. And whenever we can do it is great, because it sets aside a night to catch up on my scrapbooking. If we can stop chatting long enough to actually get something done, ha ha.

Here's a page I did of Samantha choosing a pumpkin at Fall City Farms (see photos from that day a few posts down.) I've had this little scarecrow embellishment for a long time so I finally was able to use it!

This was my favorite page but I actually got 5 pages done last night, I'm feeling productive. I didn't go to bed until 2am so I'm also feeling tired. But it was worth it!

I'm still figuring out the best way to take pictures of my scrapbook pages...they can be tough because of the size. I am getting better at photographing my cards though...I recently took a digital photography class and I learned so much about my camera! My husband bought me an amazing DSLR camera two years ago for photographing my cards and my kids and I'm ashamed to say it's been mostly on the auto setting until now. I've made it a goal to learn how to use my camera and I'm having a lot of fun! I can already tell my photos are turning out a lot better. The only problem now is I want more lenses. I didn't know what I was missing before and now I want a wide-angle lense and a 50mm lense. Santa are you reading this?? :)

busy

2009-11-11T13:12:00.000-08:00

This is a crazy busy time of year for me. I have several birthdays and holidays and anniversaries all within 8 weeks..... Phillips birthday, Halloween, Ethan's Birthday, Nephew Carsons Birthday, Sisters birthday, Thanksgiving, Anniversary, Christmas. Oh and then my birthday is in early January a few days after New Years. By then I'm too pooped to celebrate anymore so I usually just treat myself to a nice spa pedicure and a dinner out with my husband. ;)

Here are a few picts of the kiddies in their Halloween costumes and Ethan at his 7th Birthday Party...that's me in the corner sticking out my tongue, not sure why I'm doing that! ha ha. And that's my Mom in the middle...my parents drove all the way to Washington from Utah to come to my son's birthday. What an awesome Grandma and Grandpa my kids have!

Thanksgiving is around the corner and I always reflect on my blessings this time of year. We all have struggles...I'm no exception, but I know that overall I'm very lucky. I have an awesome family and a very supportive group of friends...and that makes all the difference! The economy has been tough on a lot of people we know this year and my husband went through his own unemployment phase for a few months this summer. Luckily he is employed again and is enjoying his new job. My thoughts go out to you who are dealing with similar struggles! This has been a trying year for many but we will all get through it. Happy early Thanksgiving!

orange

2009-10-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today I'm showing cards with a lot of ORANGE. I love orange, and naturally this is a great time of year to make orange cards! I picked up some new Halloween papers from my LSS yesterday and immediately had to play...here are a few....

Supplies used: Fright Night stamp and Basic Grey Scary Cat / Eerie patterned paper.

Supplies used: Hallow's Eve stamp set and Basic Grey Jack-o-Lantern / Eerie patterned paper.

I have another Halloween/Orange card on the Lizzie Anne company blog today! I am definitely on an orange-kick (notice my husbands birthday card below was mostly orange too.) Orange orange orange.

Happy Halloween!

happy birthday phillip

2009-10-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

Today is my husband Phillip's birthday and it's a big one....it's his 40th Birthday!!! Whoo hoo! This is the card I made for him. It has girlie stuff on it like buttons and ribbon and a flourish but it's done in a masculine way...don't you think? (Plus he'd expect me to give him something girlie anyways.)

I used a bunch of different stamps on this one....a flourish from Fanciful Flourishes, the star from Something to Crow About, and the celebrate sentiment is from Everyday Sayings. I think he'll like it. I had a giant cookie sent to him at work today too with "Happy 40th Birthday!" on it...I'm a little worried that he's going to be embarrassed that I gave away his age, ha ha. 40 is the new 30 anyways. :)

I haven't talked a ton about my hubby on my blog so it's time to introduce him. I was lucky enough to marry a computer geek. Phillip is the powerhouse behind our online shopping cart and web presence...it's safe to say that without Phillip there would be no Lizzie Anne. Phillip has always been such an awesome support to me in both my personal life and my business life. He watches the kids so I can go to tradeshows. He'll make dinner if he gets home in time. He does his own laundry. He updates my software. He is a fan of Lizzie Anne Designs on Facebook. That means a lot! :) He's always been an awesome guy but he's grown better with age. Those of you who have been married at least 10 years know what I'm talking about. I'm lucky to have a guy like him. And he's cute too.

Happy 40th Birthday Phillip!!!

pie season

2009-10-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

I officially declare Fall "pie season." It is the only time of year I bake pies. And I have to say, I make a good apple pie (ask my husband!) It's fun...I have all the pie making stuff. The flour sifter, the butter-chopper thingie, the pampered chef pie mat (for measuring and rolling out the crust,) a great pie dish my husband bought me for Christmas one year (no hints from him there!) and even a special pie-making rolling pin...one side is concave so you can roll the piecrust into the sides of the pie dish. It's an absolute shame that I don't make pies more often with all the pie gear I have. But that's because I refuse to use store-bought crusts so it takes forever. It takes me half-an-hour just to clean the flour that seems to get everywhere out of the cracks in the table and on the floor. Therefore my family looks forward to pie season every year, and it makes it all that more special.

Here's a little Fall pie card I made with images from the November Monthly Mix set...A Harvest of Memories. What kind of pie is that you ask? It's an apple pie. Though I really like pumpkin and pecan pie too. :)

pumpkin patch

2009-10-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

I've been waiting for the perfect day to take my daughter to the pumpkin patch and today was it...the sun was out, it was warm-ish, and we're not sick. ;) I had my good camera with me and there is nothing like driving around in the country/farmland in Autumn.

We stopped at the Fall City Farms pumpkin patch. The pumpkin house was adorable! Look at these gorgeous photos...

downtime

2009-10-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

I have been sick with the flu the past few days (along with my kids) and if there is anything good you can say about having the flu is that it makes you put your normal day-to-day tasks aside and take a break. I spent some time in my craft room organizing papers and going through embellishments and playing with the new December Mix set...Christmas Wishes. Here are two cards I made...

I love this little Partridge in a Pear tree card...and I "paired" it (ha ha) with the pear image that is in the November / Something to Crow About set. I just stamped a little row of pears in the background. The patterned paper is Basic Grey.

This little Holiday Cheer card features the little hanging row of ornaments and the Holiday Cheer sentiment. These stamps are good for smaller cards....this card is 4.25x4.25 square. We always put a good assortment of stamp sizes in our sets...and I've noticed that I tend to go small while Meridith goes kind of medium and Joslyn goes big. Ha ha! We're a good combination. I think my love of small images started back when I used to own my scrapbooking store and we carried a lot of A Muse stamps (still love A Muse!) Little cards are fun.

Here's a closeup of the hanging ornaments...I put a little glitter on there too...

Here's a Halloween scrapbook page I made the other day while scrapbooking at my friend Rebecca's house...it's of the little trip to Disneyland my son and I took at the beginning of October. Disneyland at Halloweentime is really fun...I loved the decorations! Unfortunately I think this where we got the flu too...my son was the first family member to go down with it a few days after we got home. I still love Fall but yeah, not so much loving flu season.

more new release stamps....

2009-10-08T00:01:00.000-07:00

I'm really having fun playing with all our new release stamps. I've successfully avoided cleaning the house to make all the cards and tags above...completely worth a dirty house, I must say!

Here's the second tag I mentioned yesterday...featuring the igloo from Way Up North. When I designed this set, I really wanted it to be different from other "North Pole" stamp sets out there...and I thought an igloo dressed up in Holiday lights and garb would be just the thing to make it stand out! I love this image...I am planning on using it when I start my Christmas card mass-producing. (I usually choose a few favorite images and make about 5 cards per image.)

...see how cute that big tag looks on a gift bag?! As an afterthought, I stamped some of our new flourishes on the bag and that looks cute too (you can see it in the top group photo.)

This next card makes me smile because I've been wanting a sleigh bell stamp for a long time. When I talked to Katie (this set is part of the Katie Jane Collection) about designing the Christmas Magic stamp set, I specifically asked for a sleigh bell. It reminds me of The Polar Express...my favorite Christmas movie! I paired it with some Fanciful Flourishes.

All these new stamps will be available tomorrow...and you will find them right here in the New Release section!

Now that I've done so many Holiday cards I will probably go back to Halloween for a bit (don't you love this time of year?! ha ha.) I just returned from a trip to Disneyland with my son and it was decorated up Halloween-style...I have so many great photos! I feel a scrapbooking session coming on soon!

stamp release time....yippee!

2009-10-07T00:11:00.000-07:00

We just revealed our first two stamp sets over on our company blog...go see it here! And make sure to leave a comment there because we're giving away those two sets to one lucky winner. We'll be showing two more sets tomorrow, and then the sets are officially available on Friday.

Stamp release time is always such a reward for our efforts...we just love seeing what our design team is doing with the images that we worked so hard to design. And we love reading the comments from our customers too!

Here's a tag I made with our new Fanciful Flourishes set. I'm loving these new flourishes...I can tell this will be a WELL USED stamp set. I paired it with the bird image from Love and Joy Labels. I've really been into making tags lately...I have another one to show tomorrow. I love the idea of putting a big beautiful tag on top of a present. It really dresses it up. You almost don't need fancy wrapping paper if you have a beautiful tag. I also love to put big tags on homemade gifts...cookies wrapped up in cellophane with a big tag looks adorable.

I'll be back tomorrow with more sneak peek samples!

halloween tree part 2

2009-09-30T10:19:00.000-07:00

Last year, I made this really cute Halloween Tree for my table. I pulled it out this year and have been adding to it...we've had a lot of really cute new Halloween stamps so my tree needed an update!

Here are some of the new ornaments...

This one features our Mummy single.

These three images are from the Hallow's Eve stamp set...

This crow image is from the September Monthly Mix set...Something to Crow About.

I love Halloween decorations!

mummified

2009-09-26T08:02:00.001-07:00

I played with our little Mummy stamp yesterday and can I just say that I think he's one of my favorite Little People to date? We are debating weather he is technically a "Little People" or not because you can't see his face. I think he is. He's just been mummified! Poor guy. I also used the tree/graveyard image from Hallow's Eve and I stamped it right on top of my patterned paper.

Another thing I discovered is that it looks cool when you put clear buttons over patterned paper. See how the words show through? It's a cool effect.

Supplies:
Stamps: Mummy and Hallow's Eve (tree/graveyard image)
Patterned Paper: Making Memories Halloween Large Dot
Buttons...orange and clear

My family keeps asking me to post photos of my newly decorated living room...so here they are. I told you I love Fall colors! It's so nice to have a fireplace again too. I feel like a fireplace really warms up a room....in more ways than one. :) This is one of those cool electric fireplaces...it has a remote control!

See that adorable daisy chair in the corner? That is MY chair. Mommy's chair, Tricia's chair, Lizzie's chair, and all the ways I am called. NOT the kiddies chair. I LOVE my chair...it's so me. I bought it at Pier 1. Pier 1 has so many fall-colored things in the store right now I could spend all day in there. Dangerous I tell you (the other chair is from Pier 1 too!) But look how cute my room turned out! Things left to do...1) paint crown moulding, 2) paint the leaves on the tree that is sitting on my fireplace gold. That is a metal tree that we bought for CHA one year when we were exhibiting...we hung little stamped samples all over it!

it's the most wonderful time of the year

2009-09-23T17:18:00.000-07:00

...typically when you hear these words, a song plays in your head and you think of Christmas. But for me, Fall is the most wonderful time of the year! Especially this Fall...we are having an Indian Summer here in Seattle and it's been just lovely. The leaves are turning colors and there is that Fall smell in the air but it's still warm enough to BBQ and eat dinner ouside on the patio. Brilliant!

The other thing I love about Fall is Halloween. I just love Halloween decorations, they are so fun...I got stuck in the Halloween aisle in the grocery store today for about 30 minutes. I picked up a copy of Martha Stewarts Halloween magazine and bought ingredients for pumpkin spice cookies. Mmmmm. And -- even better -- I stamped a Halloween card today with one of my favorite images from the October Monthly Mix! I drew this image awhile ago but didn't really have a place for it to live, until we created our eclectic Monthly Mix and now my cute little pumpkin guy is in rubber where he belongs! I used a glitter pen on the spider web to make it spider-webby (that's a word, isn't it?!)

I finally have a bit of breather...we've been getting ready for our Fall stamp release! Plus my son started school and I've been helping design the PTSA website, I've been helping a friend launch a purse biz (there is a little blog banner for her store, Purseonality, over there on the right if you want to check it out) AND I just finished decorating my living room, something I've been wanting to do for the past year. It looks so awesome, I'll take photos soon and post them...I still need to paint the crown mouldings and then it's done.

I decorated my new living room in Fall colors, of course. :)

a scrapbooking i will go...

2009-08-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

Last night was scrapbooking night with my friends...something we haven't done for awhile due to the hectic summer vacation schedule. It was so good to organize photos, play with my new August scrapbooking kit from Hip 2B Square, chat with friends, and eat chocolate! Here are a few pages I made last night. Quite a few of them are dedicated to my baby girl and all the funny things she is doing these days. And I also did my son's Kindergarten spread finally...thought I should probably get that done before he starts first grade next week!

just another day...

2009-08-18T17:58:00.000-07:00

This happened while I was designing stamps today. Sammy found my chocolate stash, and to make it worse, it's 80 degrees today (no air conditioning) and it's all melty. Apparently my daughter likes chocolate as much as I do.

playtime again...

2009-08-15T00:27:00.000-07:00

We just revealed the September Monthly Mix set and I am just in love with these new images, they are so much fun. I've been wanting to do a grouping of apples for quite some time....and one of the things I love about the Mix sets is that it gives me the perfect canvas to do one-of stamps like this. (With our sets, we try to keep the images in themes so we often will take images out of the set if we don't feel like they fit the theme well enough.) Isn't this card so "September?"

I also am in love with the tree from this set that Meridith drew. This is a little monochromatic card that I think turned out lovely.

The rooster that Joslyn drew for this set will be next on my list to play with. My mother collects roosters so I have a card for her in mind...

I have a friend in town right now and we had a blast going around to some iconic places in Seattle today...including the Ballard Locks, the Freemont Bridge "troll" (look it up) and Cupcake Royale (of course!) We found this awesome frame sculpture down by Lake Union, I'd never seen it before! It frames the lake perfectly and then you can add yourself into the picture. Aren't these adorable? The first pict is of me with my kids and the second is of Katie, who also happens to be Katie Jane of our Katie Jane stamp collection.

Tomorrow we have a fun day planned in downtown Seattle....we will go shopping at Pike's Place Market and then head over to the Seattle Art Museum to see the Andrew Wyeth exhibit. I love having friends in town to take sight-seeing because it's a good way for me to visit all the places I love as well!

Smile

2009-08-12T21:02:00.000-07:00

I had time to play today...finally! Well, actually I've been playing all summer...I can't really call my business "work" as it is too much fun. We went to CHA in Orlando and had such a great time, if you haven't seen the photos yet go to the company blog and take look here! We've had a lot of house guests lately too....my husband has been calling our home "Hotel Ulberg" because of all the visitors we've had this summer....and it's true. I have another friend coming tomorrow! I love having company and I'm glad I live in a place that people like to visit...Seattle is just gorgeous in Summer...there is nowhere else I'd rather be...

I've been wanting to play with this camera image in the Hey Sunshine Monthly Mix set for quite some time, it's one of my favorites. I used a little SU Crystal Effects to make the "lens"...and the patterned paper in the background is from our Bloomin' Doodles digital paper pack. Isn't it cute?

I love this little purse and I had this big, fabulous sparkly letter T (for "thanks") that I wanted to use on something. The paper is from Bloomin' Doodles again, and the Thanks sentiment is from Everyday Sayings. Just a cute little Thank You card...I always need those.

I've been playing with next month's Monthly Mix set too and have samples of that to post on Friday when we reveal the new images!

s'more fun...

2009-07-21T21:29:00.000-07:00

This has been one of the busiest months of my life! It's Lizzie Anne Designs third anniversary and we've had a lot of fun stuff going on to celebrate, including the creation of a new product, our Monthly Mix club, and of course our Summer Stamp Release. The sneak peeks start tomorrow on the LAD blog so make sure to check it out! I love sneak peek time...I get so giddy knowing we get to share our new designs with all you stamp lovers out there.

Speaking of sneak peeks...these photos were taken from a camping trip I took with my family a few days ago, and it is a *hint* too...one of our new products (two, actually) coordinates perfectly with these photos. I see an awesome scrapbook page in my future...

DT Blog Hop - Everyday Sayings

2009-07-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

It's my turn to host the DT Blog Hop today...and naturally I needed to do something with stars and stripes as it is the 4th of July!

It would be really difficult for me to choose a favorite stamp set...especially since I designed so many of them because it makes me a little opinionated, ha ha. So I chose a set that I like to use with lots of different images...Everyday Sayings. When we designed this set, we asked our Design Team what their favorite sentiments were and about what size they prefer most sentiments to be. And thus Everyday Sayings was born. This is a staple in my stamp collection because I can always find the right sentiment. And it's 40% off for today only!

Also used on this card is our Stars and Stripes digital paper. It's one of the Products of the Week so it is 20% off right now, but today is the last day!

Happy Independence Day!!! Enjoy those fireworks. I am quite excited because we have PERFECT weather...85 degrees and not a sign of a raincloud in sight. It's a well-known curse that it usually rains on the 4th of July in Seattle (even if it's perfectly sunny the week before.) Not this year. There will be no umbrellas at the fireworks and no soggy grass to sit on. Yippee!

the design frenzy continues...

2009-07-03T02:10:00.001-07:00

Well my design frenzy lasted all month (and it's still going!) It's true. What have I been designing you may ask? Well our Summer Stamp Release that is scheduled for July 25th, for starters! Not to mention a brand new product we are releasing on July 15th. I am so excited about this product, I can't wait to show it off! This product was co-designed by buddies Meridith and Joslyn...the trio of us make a good team. I can't wait to play with this product. You will feel the same!

Another thing I've been designing is paper paper paper....in the digital form! I have to say, once I jumped on the digital bandwagon I became quickly addicted! I love being able to print the paper I want at anytime, and with the quality of the printers available these days, they look amazing. I print my papers on my Cannon MP600...a printer I bought for printing scrapbooking photos. It works great!

I've been wanting to do a beach/summer-themed digital paper kit for quite some time. Thus Surf and Sand was born! Here are a few "sheets" from this paper pack...

This paper is called Surf and Sand Stripe and has all kinds of fun little beachy images. Another cool thing about this paper is that it matches a lot of the images in our Shore Thoughts and By the Sea stamp sets...so they can coordinate! I love that.

I called this paper Catch a Wave. I am always on the lookout for good "ocean" paper. So naturally I designed one myself! ;)

This one is called Faded Beach Blanket. Aaaah. It makes me want to snuggle up on a beach blanket on the warm sand and take a nap listening to the sound of the ocean waves. Unfortunately I live in Seattle and our ocean waves here are more like a drip rather than a soothing crash. ha ha. I'll take what I can get though.

No paper set is complete without a good polka. This one is called Beach Bag Polka.

...and a matching Beach Bag Stripe.

This paper is called Fishy Frolic! Here fishy fishy fishy....

Last but not least, I wanted a sandy, textury, sea-shell paper. This paper is called Sunwashed Seashells. It's a little different from the rest because of the texture. I love how it prints!

Joslyn just designed her first-ever digital paper pack...Grungy Dots. It's really cool. It prints even better than it looks on screen. We will be coming out with more matching digital paper with our Summer Stamp Release!

I'll be back tomorrow (the 4th of July!) with a card because it will be my turn to host the DT Blog Hop we are having for our Anniversary Celebration! See you tomorrow...

design frenzy

2009-06-10T22:30:00.000-07:00

I have been in a stamp design frenzy this month, and so alas I have no new papercrafting projects to share with you (however I will be making my son's teacher a gift very soon...his last week of school is next week!) I did want to share this photo of a recent trip I took to Bryce Canyon, Utah. It was so gorgeous...I hadn't been to Bryce Canyon since I was a kid. I went on an amazing hike with my parents (who live in Southern Utah, I was visiting for a cousin's wedding.) The red rock pillars ---called hoodoos---are amazing against the brilliant blue sky. Nature's complimentary colors!

stars and stripes

2009-06-02T09:17:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited about the new stamp singles and digital paper we are releasing today! And I have to tell you, I have been having a blast designing the digital paper to go with our stamps. I was so into the Stars and Stripes paper that I immediately made a few digital layouts to share with you....

The photos for these two layouts were taken on the 4th of July last year. We were visiting my parents in Utah and my mom dressed up a little red wagon for my kids to be in the neighborhood kiddie parade. My kids enjoyed dressing themselves up too! It cracks me up to see my son in these star sunglasses.

This layout is for my Dad (I have this up on the LAD blog today too cause I love how this one turned out!) My daughter is known for having a bit of an attitude, even at an early age! I think this makes my Dad love her even more. Look at this expression on her face, is that not hilarious?!

little sprouts

2009-06-01T13:13:00.001-07:00

Okay, I have to say that I'm amazed that we already have little sprouts emerging from our veggie garden! We're so proud!

I've been very busy designing a new digital paper pack that matches the two new stamp singles we are releasing. And I've made some cute samples. So make sure to visit the Lizzie Anne Blog tomorrow to see!

the veggie garden

2009-05-23T09:42:00.000-07:00

Today my kids woke up and told me they wanted to "go check the plants." It's a beautiful weekend and we thought it would be fun to make a veggie garden for the kids. My husband built the box and my kids helped plant the seeds...it was very cute. Ethan said he thought he could see little sprouts from the seeds already. :) (I'll just let him think that.)

Have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

let your light shine

2009-05-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a trip to St. George, Utah / Bryce Canyon and would love to post a photo of my trip...only I forgot my camera and my Mom doesn't know how to get the photos off her camera. Ha ha! I need to just store my camera in my suitcase because this is the third time I've forgotten to take my camera on a trip in the past two months (Disneyland, scrapbooking retreat, St. George.) Anyways, I was there for a wedding and it was GORGEOUS. A little on the hot side, but I'm always happy to take in a little heat before heading back to Seattle.

This is a card featuring In the Parlor and I wish I had a lamp this cute in my house. I could decorate my whole sitting room with furniture from In the Parlor....I could really use some new furniture! (The IKEA lamp in that set actually is a lamp I own...) I gave my mom a bunch of my handmade cards for Mother's Day including this one. The polka-dot paper is from the Perfect Polkas digital paper pack...gotta love polkas! I've been getting some requests to do some stripes in similar colors so that may be coming soon... ;)