Friday's Featured Craft Artist Is .. KAREN LETCHWORTH!

This week we had an entry with a little extra work put into it and we thought we should showcase this!! So, surprise Karen!!! You're being Featured this week at LM!

Here's a little about Karen .. 

I have been married to my wonderful husband, Darren, for over 26 years. I have been blessed with the three most awesome children, and we have a wonderful life. I love to scrapbook and make cards along with other paper crafts.

Now that you know a little about her, check out this creation! It's gorgeous!

 Please be sure to visit Karen and leave her some lovely comments! She did an amazing job on this little mini album!

You still have time to get in on this weeks challenge which is BINGO! Here's your card: 

And here's what's up for grabs this month!!

Come on out and join us, we'll see you there!!!

Friday's Featured Artist Is ...

Wow, I cannot believe it is Friday already. This week has flown by and we fell behind at Lasting Memories. So sorry about that!

Today's featured artist is Tammylee from "Tammylee's Stamp Corner"!

"Just a little about me. I am a 49 year old that loves life. I have two grown sons and have been married  29 years to my best friend. We live in Northern Wisconsin so I have a lot of time to work on my projects in the Winter. The rest of the year I buy out my time. I have loved crafts all my life. I started my first scrapbook when I was in 7th grade. I was the Historian for my OEA club in High school. I design for Mygrafico, Chalk-Ah-Lot, Craft Us Crazy, A Crafting Start, Mark's Finest Papers A Heinrich Company and Ready, Set, Create. I have been on many teams as a design team member or guest designer, and  I loved them all.  I am also the design team coordinator for MyGrafico and Chalk-Ah-Lot Cafe.  If you have never seen powdered chalk then you have to stop by the cafe. Gotta love stamping, I love what I do!"

It is definitely the best of both worlds when we can love something that we do, isn't it?? Tammylee is currently Guest DT for April/May at Digi Darla's, which is a new challenge blog that I have taken on as well and we're happy to have her join us! Today Tammylee is sharing with our readers how she made the flowers on this card!!! She's put together a great photo tutorial, so sit back, relax and read on!! Enjoy!! And if you have some spare time this wknd and you would like to join our current challenge, we would love to see your creations. You have till tmw night at 9pm EST!! Happy Scrappin!

I wanted to share how to make these flowers!

YES USING CHALK SPRAY I MADE!

Supplies  scissors, flower punch, paper bags,

Elmer's glue (or any school glue) buttons, or pearls, walnut ink,

chalk with water in spray bottle.

I have used metallic colors blitzy and ritzy. 

I first cut my bags so they are easy to punch

I find that if my punch starts to stick a few punches of tin foil sharpens the punch.

Punched flowers

Now time to crinkle the flowers. I have found the longer they stay crinkled the better.

 

Next I spray them with Walnut Ink and then with

the chalk spray. The chalk spray gives a great shine.

Next I take 6 petals and glue a dot in the middle of each and stack.

See how glue is here, this is done for each layer.

 

Now for making the flower have more texture. I squeeze down in the middle and twist to layer the petals.

Here you can see I have added buttons in the center  

A ton of colors can be made using walnut inks and chalks.

The chalk spray is what gives the wonderful shimmer and shine.

Today's Featured Artist is our very own Michelle!

Hello and good morning friends!! It's Friday which means it is time to feature a very special artist!! Michelle doesn't know it, but she's being featured today (surprise!!) We are very lucky to have Michelle on our DT. She is super talented, always around to comment and she's also came up with something to make this young lady grin from ear to ear. Lasting Memories was honored to take part in this Cards for Emily blog hop. Please meet Emily.

Emily Ziemathis is a 6 year old little girl that I just recently got to call my niece. I never knew my brother Sean until this past May of 2011 when my family was reconnected and we all met for the first time. :) He and his wife Jennifer have 4 beautiful children. Unfortunately, a couple of months ago little Emily took a turn for the worst.

Here is her backstory:

"At the adventurous age of six, Emily is the oldest daughter of four children to Sean and Jennifer Ziemathis. Although small, petite and quiet, she holds her own with her brothers and sister and has a heart the size her mommy and daddy admire. Arts and crafts, pink and purple, horses and kittens are items that will keep her content and comfortable for hours. Unfortunately, that comfort has been disrupted with the recent diagnosis of Leukemia."

She now lives in the Ronald McDonald house in Seattle, Washington where she feels like she belongs, with other children that are sick and going through the same things. Although other children may have other illnesses, she doesn't feel different or awkward due to the effects the chemo has on her little body because all the other children are going through it too.

Here are a few updates throughout her time there and her most recent update on how she is doing:

It all started when Emily began complaining about her legs and joints hurting, among other trips to the pediatrician. This is when her parents decided to take her to the children's hospital, where they found out the bad news about the Leukemia.

To find out more about this beautiful little girl and to read her current updates, please visit Michelle's Cards For Emily post to see how you can make her smile too!! Also, stay tuned because a VERY talented artist in the paper crafting world has got wind of this through one of our DT member's blogs and is currently creating "Stamps for Emily" but you'll have to wait to see who it is!!

Now, lets get to one of Michelle's tutorials!! I love this!! I've included a few photos, but to see this Halloween Wreath creation from start to finish, you have to pop over and visit Michelle as it's photo heavy and VERY detailed! I love it!!!! Again, I just grabbed a few photos, there's so many more to explain how she created it!! You'll want to make one too!! Best thing is, you could take these "rosettes" and add them to a layout!!!

Here we go and have a happy Friday!!!

Friday's Featured Artist - Our Very Own Amy!!!

Good morning friends!! Well, another week gone for the month of Feb. Crazy how time is flying right on by! Today I'd like to feature one of my DT members, Amy from Love To Crop. Amy's super talented in her creations, not to mention her blog buttons and badges to name a few. In the last month she's supplied a few new buttons/badges and link codes to the LM DT alone!!! This is a "Wiggle Wire" tutorial that really caught my eye and one I would like to try so I wanted to pass it on to our reader's as well. Amy, congrats on being our Featured Artist today, you deserve it!!!!

See this card?? Super cute, right?? She wiggles!!!

Wanna know how??? I bet you do!!!

Here's the beginning of the "Wiggle Wires" photo tutorial... 

Now that we have your undivided attention .. check out the rest of this "Wiggle It Just A Little Bit" tutorial!!! Be sure to give Amy some love and let her know you stopped by!!

Friday's Featured Artist - Misty from "Shabby Beautiful Scrapbooking"

Hello everyone!! We have a very talented friend to share with you today!! I just found her blog a couple days ago and was very intrigued. This weeks featured artist is:

Misty! You have got to check out her blog "Shabby Beautiful Scrapbooking". I was so inspired by her work that I asked her to be our featured artist this week! 

Here's what Misty had to say about herself - "I am married to a wonderful man (we celebrate 18 yrs married this year!) who supports me in everything I do, and I have 2 awesome teenage sons. Some days they're more awesome than others! I am very blessed to still be a Stay-At-Home-Mom, even though my babies are pretty grown up (13 and 16) I get to spend time up in my studio scrapbooking and creating kits that I sell on my blog and on Etsy. I love the shabby chic/vintage look and am completely obsessed with old vintage postcard images....something about those little pieces of art just makes me happy! I'm brand new to blogging and Youtube and am waaaay out of my comfort zone with it, but I am giving it a whirl! ....my girlfriend said "You have a blog? Who wants to read about your life?!" lol...you gotta love an honest friend, and I've thought the same thing on more than one occasion! That's about it! Thank you for choosing me to be the Featured artist. I am honored and humbled! Warmly, Misty"  

Bet you're intrigued by this photo aren't you?! This is stunning and you'll find the whole album AND video tutorial at Shabby Beautiful Scrapbooking. Please take a moment and visit Misty and be sure to let her know what you think of her work. You will absolutely LOVE the rest of this album!!!

Friday's Featured Artist: Our Very Own Suzanne!!

Good morning friends!! Today we're happy to feature our very pwn DT member, Suzanne (surprise!!) Suzanne is celebrating her one yr blogaversary today with a blog hop, so hop on over when you're done here and have a hop around! You won't be sorry! You'll find all the details at Suzanne's!!! HAPPY BLOGAVERSARY!!! So what a special day to feature her!! Here's a little about Suzanne: 

"I have been crafting since in my teens ( a long time ago) and bought my first Cricut almost 1 1/2 years ago. I have become totally addicted to using my Cricut to make cards, decor and especially scrapbook pages. I belong to the Cricut Circle and love to learn from all the ladies on the Messageboards and other blogs. I have started this blog as a record of the projects I make. Besides paper crafts I love to work on weddings, holiday decor and in the past few months I have taken cake decorating classes and am learning to use my Cricut Cake Machine. I have been blessed this past year with two beautiful precious granddaughters who are the joy of my life. I recently retired after teaching 33 years to enjoy being a grammy and to give me time for my crafting obsession." 

Recently, Suzanne was a Guest DT at Passionately Artistic and as soon as we saw this, I knew we had to feature this creation. This is STUNNING!! She has created a tutorial and if anyone tries this, you have got to leave us a comment to your link so we can check it out!! I would love to see if I can do this, what a gorgeous gift!!! To see more, visit Passionately Artistic and see Suzanne's tutorial. Once you're done there, be sure to visit Suzanne's blog and get all the details on her blog hop!! You won't want to miss it!! See you Sunday with a brand new challenge and a new inspirational sketch!!!

Today's Featured Artist - Our Very Own Michele!

From The Great Pacific Northwest!

I am a Wife, Daughter, Sister, Friend and a Stay at Home Mom of 2 very inspiring "Keeps me going" children. I also work as a part time Security Auditor. Scrapbooking and Cardmaking are my creative outlet after the dishes have been washed, the kiddos put to bed and my catch up time with Hubbs! I wanted a place to keep most of my creations to share and find connections with other crafty bloggers for tips and tidbits.

Good morning friends!! I thought it would be fun to feature one of my DT members today!! (surprise Michele!!) Michele started on my DT last term and since then, we have become very good "net" friends and she's been a HUGE help at Lasting Memories and now has a permanent position as my VP. I tell ya, if we were close we'd be in trouble! But it would be GOOD CRAFTY trouble! With a little wine here and there!! Michele inspires me every day with her work. One project she did that really caught my eye was her gift that she made her dad - "Dad, You Make Time Stand Still" Have you ever seen a 16x16 layout? I know I haven't!! Well, that's the first thing I noticed about this layout!! It's huge! Here's a little sneak peak! You really have to see the whole thing, it's beautiful and a wonderful tribute gift to her dad!

Be sure to visit Michele and see all her inspiring projects!! Stay tuned next Friday as you never know who will be featured next!!

Don't forget about our GIVEAWAY and current challenge!! Hurry, time's running out! Challenge ends tmw night at 9pm EST!

Happy scrappin!!

Friday's Featured Artist - Kelli Thibeau

Good morning!! Another new addition to Lasting Memories is "Friday's Featured Artist"!! This week we're featuring a wonderful friend of mine for many years now, Kelli Thibeau. 

Kelli

Ontario, Canada

I am an avid Scrapbooker who dabbles in cards and I ADORE Close To My Heart Products! I run a small business with my friend Karen that consists of selling CTMH, running a scrapbooking club and hosting 3 day retreats 3 times per year. My family and I love to Camp (the comfy way in a big travel trailer), Cottage and 4-wheel. This is what my scrapbooking centers around...

Kelli has been scrapbooking for 8-10 years and when I asked what prompted her to start scrapbooking, she said "I love art and photo's. My family friend did these great books and once I saw them, I was hooked!" Here's Kelli's 1st page ever and when asked if she had a favorite layout, she said "Its too hard to choose a favorite but this is one I am very proud of "My First Scrapbook Layout" and "Sick Kid's Layout #1". Kelli's most favorite embellishment (and I can speak for her here!) is "Without a doubt .. BLING!" Kelli's scrapbook goals for 2012: "I generally try to do at least 50 layouts per year...traditional and then add in some digital as well and of course cards". Kelli also has some great tutorials on her site and if you're looking for some idea's for chipboard, check out her Chipboard Tutorial!! Very informative! Last, but certainly not least, here's a couple of Kelli's layouts .. be sure to pop on over to visit her and say hi!! Have a look through her blog and I'm sure you'll be inspired by her layouts, cards and projects!!

You still have time to join our current challenge which ends tmw at 9pm EST! Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day!!