From Lorie's Noggin Blog

Studio Lorie's Annual End of the Year Sale

2011-12-27T21:41:00.002-07:00

From Thursday December 29 at 11:30 p.m.(MST) until January 1 (Happy New Year!) I will have everything in my store on sale for 35% off. ~~See you there!~~ See you next year! Thank you all soooooo much for a wonderful sale. oxox

Maybell Littleberry's Christmas Stocking

2011-12-22T13:09:00.014-07:00

I just put Maybell Littleberry's Christmas Stocking in Studio Lorie. Maybell has carefully packed it with all of the items she is enthralled with this winter. It's on sale through Christmas Eve if you think you might want it hanging over your digital fireplace Christmas morning.

Here are some of the marvelous artworks my Merry CT members have created with Maybell's Christmas Stocking.

Olga Unger

Shhhhhh
MissBehaving

Note: Some customers have wondered where this paper is in my kit. It is actually the same paper used by Olga (above). MissBehaving however, being a CGI sorceress, has amazingly altered this paper to do her bidding. If you need further proof of MissB’s ability to do absolutely anything digital visit her free tutorial school at SBG.

Angel Jet

Are you ready for the Christmas story my dear?
MummyD

Still Waiting
Scrappie Irene

Priss

Dianet

Vladi believes in Santa
Damayanti

Hollie H

Ikscrap

Juliegoodgirl

MummyD

Following the trail
Scrappie Irene

Dear Santa
Serena

Happy Christmas
Shayenne27

Believe
LivyBug

Monicca

Vero

Falling in a Christmas Story
Wendy85

Welcome to Lorie's Freebie Station along the SBG Blogtrain

2011-12-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

Here's my Christmas freebie:

Sherrie

Thaty

Get yourself a steamy hot chocolate, preferably with peppermint sprinkles and heavy cream, and stay toasty for the rest of your ride. Happy Holiday hugs everyone!!!

I've been gone but not forgotten I hope......

2011-12-09T17:08:00.001-07:00

I have not been online much (sorry) but I have not been snoozing.

Here’s what’s happening.

The first and soonest event at Lorie’s Noggin Blog will be the SBG Christmas Blog Train. It’s the freebiest express. It begins midnight Saturday night Eastern Standard Time - tomorrow night for me. I’d better look up when that is here exactly. You can start at Flerg’s and work your way through all 20 of our blogs picking up free Christmas goodies at every stop.

Hopefully after this you will have at least a little room left on your harddrives because I am working on 3 new kits that should be out sort of soon.

The first kit to come out will be my Christmas kit. Tentatively named: Kittens and Mistletoe. (I hope the mouse doesn't mind.) Here's a preview:

This will be out very soon. Next week I think.

I have also finished an SBG Studio Mix collab with Miki Ferkul and SussieM. It will be gorgeous. The theme is Winter Carneval in Venice. I love that theme. It made me dig out my Van Helsing dvd and watch (a couple times at least) the scene of the Vampire Ball. Brrrrrrr, that always gives me the shivers on several levels. That will be for sale December 20 at SBG. Here’s a tiny preview by way of a beautiful layout that SussieM did. I might be breaking some rules here - if I get yelled at I'll take it down.

Then there’s a fairy tale kit I’ve been working on since October. It’s about a family that used to live in a tiny village in Dragonsend - until they got stuck in the woods by a backfired magic spell. This is another one of those storybook kits that keeps building on itself, dragging me happily along - not sure exactly where I'll end up.

Glorious holiday wishes and hugs to everyone!!!

See you tomorrow night at the Blog Train.

Under Dappled Shadows on sale now...... ta da!

2011-10-03T22:57:00.002-06:00

Hope you like it.

Winged Alpha

Under Dappled Shadows from my Creative Team

2011-10-02T23:37:00.003-06:00

OlgaUnger

Joelle - Birds in my Hair

Hollie H

Priss - Daphne's Dress

Joannknnrd

Irishgull

LivyBug

Monicca

Wendy85 - The Escape

Damayanti

Joelle - Share the Magic With Me

Paola

Priss

Scrappy Irene

Shayenne27

Szrjudit

twinsmomflor

Vero

Ikscrap

Irishgull

AngelJet

Annja

Carinspixels

Under Dappled Shadows will be in my store soon

2011-09-30T18:36:00.001-06:00

I put the finishing touches on my kit in the wee hours this morning and sent it off to my Creative Team. This weekend I will work on my ads, take feedback from my CT, finish my wordart, and it should be in my store sometime Monday or Tuesday.

Thank you for your patience. oxoxxo Lorie

Racoon Wars

2011-09-27T15:11:00.000-06:00

We woke up last week to find, to our horrifying chagrin, that all of the grapes in our garden arbor were gone. In one night the local raccoon family (Growler, Gerdie, Gilbert, and their Mom) had eaten every last grape. We were hoppin mad (cursing them with tummy aches) and immediately instituted the Racoon Relocation Program.

We bought a big live trap.

The first thing we learned: Don’t bait a live trap with anything your cat likes. The first night using cat food for bait we caught (duh) Marla Mayhem the cat. We tried marshmallows next. (Racoon Kryptonite we were told.) These raccoons obviously are immune to regular marshmallows – until we pushed peanut butter inside the marshmallows and threw in a fish head for a bonus. (Marla hates fish) That caught Growler.

Growler did not take well to captivity. When we moved him to the truck he growled, hissed, and chomped his teeth like an angry alligator. We dropped him off about 20 miles from here in the wilderness.

Growler

We baited the trap again with a peanut butter marshmallows and a fish head. We caught Gerdie and Gilbert in the same trap. This is a door-at-each-end trap that closes as soon as somebody touches the bait. So they must have run in from both sides at exactly the same time – probably yelling in raccoon language: “Dibs on the fish head!” When we found them this morning they were just sitting there calmly like “Hey what’s up dudes?” They acted like they enjoyed the drive in the truck. We dropped them off at the same place in the mountains as their brother and they immediately climbed up the same tree Growler did. Hopefully tonight we’ll catch Mom and they will have a family reunion in a much more raccoon-friendly neck-of-the-woods.

Gilbert & Gerdie

By the way, sorry again about telling everyone my kit was going to come out last week. Obviously I can never accurately predict when a kit is going to be done. I am not going to predict when it will be ready but, er, it feels like really soon. I really love this one and want it to be perfect. I guess that’s why it’s taking so long. …….

I love hydrangeas

2011-09-03T00:00:00.004-06:00

I plucked these from my yard yesterday.

Wild Watermelony Art from the Wild Geniuses on my CT

2011-07-29T12:55:00.031-06:00

I would like to say when I’m composing a kit I get lost in fields of striped lollypops and sit against trees sprouting sweet smelling muffins with lots of berries and lemon frosting. But the sweet reality of my creative effort is my CT and their art. They motivate my brain and heart. I am always provoked into action by their images. They are inspiration machines. Here are some of my favorite masterpieces they created with Wild Watermelon.

Ikscrap
Priss
Twinsmomflor
Annja

Carinspixels
Damayanti
Dianat
Empolan

Hollie H

Joannknnrd
Juliegoodgirl
Lana
Livybug

Monicca
Olga Unger

Paola
Priss
ScrappieIrene
She_
szrjudit

Twinsmomflor

Vero
Wendy85

The Wild Watermelon Party is in my store

2011-07-28T20:38:00.018-06:00

Hey, my steamy summer kit The Wild Watermelon Party is in my store now. TaDa!! It's soo splashy. And - it's on sale 20% off for the next two days too. Yay - slip n' sliding towards my lemonade.

A wild watermelony summer

2011-07-21T22:02:00.006-06:00

Eeeeeeek I have shamelessly abandoned my blog for far too long. Summer has been keeping me pretty busy – mostly with my new kit The Wild Watermelon Party. It is a very summery collection and should be in my store next week. Here’s a sneak peek.

I haven’t done a lot of fun stuff yet this summer but I did perform in an air band last week, I have free tickets to a Soundgarden concert later this summer (jumping for joy), and I did enter an arm wrestling contest on the 4th of July. Here is me a few seconds before Cynthia cranked my arm down. (sigh) I’m usually a formidable opponent but ……… Pride goeth before the fall.

I hope everyone is having the best summer ever. I’ll be back soon.

And the winners are.......

2011-06-05T22:04:00.007-06:00

Ohhhhhhhhhh thank you, thank you, thank you everyone for all the hard work and creativity that went into these wonderful layouts for the Fabulous Fantasy Layout Contest. It was the brightest spot of every day this past week peeking into the gallery and seeing the new entries.

It was really really hard picking one favorite fantastic masterpiece out of sooooooooo many. But today I did.

So, without further preamble, the prize for my favorite fantasy layout goes to Holstarr for Violet, Don’t be Late! This was a truly fantastic illustration that set my brain spinning into so many different story directions.

http://www.scrapbookgraphics.com/photopost/studio-lorie/p120470-violet-don-27t-be-late-21.html

My Creative Team was all over the map with their favorites. There were several ties so I cast the breaking vote. The CT pick for most fabulous layout is awarded to Mandihy for this magical layout of her daughter as a fairy butterfly catcher.

http://www.scrapbookgraphics.com/photopost/studio-lorie/p120367-fabulous-fantasy-layout-contest.html

For the random pick I collected all the entries and my DH pointed to this winner blindolded (there probably could have been an easier way to do this but I couldn’t think of it). The winner is: Rzoe for Álomvilág 4

http://www.scrapbookgraphics.com/photopost/studio-lorie/p120971--c1lomvil-e1g-4.html

Congratulations everyone. And thank you all so much for your beautiful inspired artworks.

If the winners will please send me their emails (reddoodler@gmail.com) I will send you your coupons.

Under the Dogwood Blossoms with my fav CT layouts

2011-05-29T23:11:00.021-06:00

This is a tiny kit but that has not hindered my Amazing Inspirational Creative Team from conjuring up these magical artworks with Under the Dogwood Blossoms. oxoxoxo

Vero

TwinsMomFlor

Szotyi08

Szrjudit

Szrjudit

Priss

Monicca

Lucie

LivyBug

Juliegoodgirl

Irishgull

Ikscrap

Dianet

Damayanti

Carinspixels

Annja

Under the Dogwood Blossoms

2011-05-26T00:14:00.008-06:00

Hey hey Monday May 30 starts my royal rule as Designer of the Week at SBG. Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta Da- Da!! I will release my new mini kit Under the Dogwood Blossoms that day and it will be on sale all week for 40% off. (You may recognize Iskristall my ginger fairy from the Frost Forest. She simply could not wait until next winter.)

Win Fame and Fortune

Also, I am having a Fabulous Fantasy Layout Contest. If you want to play: create a new (fabulous) fantasy layout using any of my kits and place it (or them) in my gallery at SBG. You can start now. The contest ends June 4 Saturday midnight (MST) I will announce the 3 winners here (fame) Sunday and award each winner a $35 Studio Lorie coupon (fortune.) I will pick the most fantastical layout for the first prize. Another prize winner will be selected by the Lorie’s Lounge Creative Team, and the third prize will be randomly selected from all the entries.

Chit chat Tuesday

I will be the Royal Chat Sponsor Girl Tuesday. So come by Tuesday night (9PM EST) and we can chat about anything. Am I the only person who loves chats but thinks they are completely scary because you have to read and type sooooooooooo fast while at the same time making noises and trying to get those little banana people to dance and stuff? Warning: There will be prizes.

A few of my favorite things

2011-04-19T21:52:00.019-06:00

Here in no particular order, and from wherever I could find them, are some of my favorite layouts from The Artists' Faeries.

MissBehaving
Princess

Angel Jet
Fairy Trip

Serena
I saw you! Let me in!!

Priss
Sometimes it's hard being a Liliputian

Juliegoodgirl
Framed

Suemo77
Spell for catching snails

Irenchen
Imagination

Ellen
A treasure to hide

Lucie
Faerie Studio

Jennyore
Lily-Wow

shayenne27
Protected

Odon
Small master of a magic brush

Dianat
Girl in boat

Wendyzine
Beware the Reheaded Fairies

The Artists' Faeries is in Studio Lorie

2011-04-13T21:57:00.044-06:00

Pshew! The Artists' Faeries is now in my store. Yipee! I love this one. I learned a bunch from it so the next one probably won't take as long. Joelle made my fabulous new banner. Thank you so much Joelle. She also made the fandigulously amazing blinkie that will appear right below the banner as soon as I figure out again how to put it there.

My fabulous CT has put together some glorious layouts with The Artists' Faeries which I am so proud to show off here.

Ikscrap
It's Magic

Wendy85

Wendy85

Vero

Twinsmomflor
Leyenda's Magic

Szrjudit

Szrjudit

Szotyi08

Scrappie Irene

Pepeetje2104

Paola

Olga Unger

Monicca

MissBehaving
The Voyager

Lucie
The Artist

Livybug
In Her Imagination

Livybug
The Reality

Lana

Joelle

Joelle
Morgan

Joannknnrd
The No-More-Wings Promise

Joannknnrd
Seaside

Irishgull

Hollie
the Great Escape

Carinspixels
Gabriella and Sanyelina

Annja

Angel Jet
Home Sweet Home

Oberon Jr.

2011-04-12T22:44:00.003-06:00

I finally finished Oberon Jr. and the fishies he paints into the river. (Somebody has to do it.) I'm bundling him and his buddies up right now and sending them all off to my lovely artist CT's.

Nuther preview

2011-04-11T22:40:00.003-06:00

Putting the finishing touches on Oberon Jr. and a few other little additions - The Artists' Faeries should be in my store Wednesday night Mountain Standard Time. Here is Sienna and Crimson meeting for the first time. (It was not love at first sight.)

Special Delivery

2011-04-01T22:09:00.003-06:00

This is Amerie. She was busy painting mushrooms when her best friend flew over to deliver a very important message and, of course, to visit.

Working away at The Artists' Faeries

2011-03-17T21:06:00.005-06:00

Hellooooooo. I've been working on several kits this past month but it looks like the next one out the door will be The Artists' Faeries. Here's a sneak preview. This fairy's name is Crimson and the flying snails (that have no names) are the exact ones that have acted as my muses lately. :)

Window To My Heart

2011-02-11T23:16:00.036-07:00

Here it is, a labor of love and romance too.....

http://shop.scrapbookgraphics.com/Lorie-Davison/

Here are some galorgeously yummy layouts using Window To My Heart from the most fabulously romantic Creative Team in all the known universe. (BTW while trying to learn some finer bloggy points I accidentally deleted my CT links off to the right. I'm studying how to get them back. Some day I will become really good at this and my blog will be beautiful.) Speaking of beautiful blogging, Joelle made the screechatacular Window To My Heart blinkie at the top of this page.

Angel Jet

Annja
Carinspixels
Dianet
twinsmomflor
Hollie H
ikscrap
irishgull
irishgull
joannknnrd
Joelle
juliegoodgirl

Lana
lucie
Monicca
Olga Unger
Paola
Scrappie Irene
she_
twinsmomflor
Vero
wendy85
szrjudit

Ingeborg

On sale tomorrow

2011-02-11T14:02:00.003-07:00

Update

2011-02-04T14:35:00.004-07:00

There have been faeries in my noggin the last couple months. I have been working on Faeries of Frost Forest which, in my mind, is the story of the boundary between the magical creatures of winter and the magical creatures of spring. Here’s a preview.

Frost Faeries got tucked away a couple weeks ago though while I started working on Window to My Heart, a Valentine kit. Here’s a preview of it. It will be out before Valentine’s Day.(Of course) Maybe Thursday, if it stops growing.

Brownie Bakeoff

2011-01-19T23:58:00.003-07:00

Last month Deb King sent me a glorious Christmas present full of the most tantalizing delicacies from her internationally renowned King Bakery in Meridian, Mississippi. Her brownies were so delicious even my DH (who is locally famous for his) has been experimenting with his recipe to see if he could match Deb’s. This resulted in yesterday’s brownie bake off at our house.

The people’s choice yummiest brownie award went to Deviant Scrap’s Clementine. Her award winning brownies were from a batch that she was going to throw out because she left them in the oven too long. We begged her to bring the bad ones along with her new batch of good ones - and the bad ones won. Besides being the choclatiest they were also the chewiest. (My favorites are usually the chewy corner brownies.) And, like Deb’s brownies, these had a thin dark chocolate frosting. We sampled all the brownies with espresso to “cleanse our palettes” between bites. Closing our eyes, we inhaled the chocolate bouquets, delicately munched bits of each (giving extra points for tactile mouth friendliness) and then (after discreetly sampling each) scarfed them down like The Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Deb’s brownies are still widely considered the world’s best but my DH’s last batch is still killer and he is willing to share his new improved recipe here:

Tim’s Totally Acceptable and Reliably Delicious Brownies
7 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
1.5 sticks butter
1.25 cups unbleached flour
.5 tsp salt
.75 tsp baking powder
.5 cup raisins
2.25 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup walnuts or pecans

Get the oven going at 325 Fahrenheit.
Fold foil around the inside of a 13 x19 inch baking pan.
If you want nuts roast them in the stove while its warming up for about 10 minutes and set aside.
Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together and set aside.
Chop the chocolate into little bits, throw into a bowl with the chopped-up butter and cook in the micro until it is creamy (about 1 minute).
Stir eggs and vanilla into chocolate/butter.
Fold the flour mixture into the chocolate mix.
Add raisins (unless you hate them).
Pour into the pan.
Sprinkle nuts on top wacking them lightly into the batter with a spatula.
Place in oven for about 35 - 40 minutes (until a toothpick comes out with just a couple tiny crumbs).
Let cool for at least 2 hours (whatever....)
Pulling them out by the tin foil keeps them from sticking to the sides of the pan.
Bon Apetit!

The storm is over

2011-01-02T17:07:00.004-07:00

A big beautiful snow storm hit us earlier this week. Three feet of heavy snow came cannon balling out of the sky squashing our peach trees and pulling down power lines all around us.

We have wood heat so we stayed toasty warm but after the third night of candlelight dinners I was missing electricity. Many hours were luxuriously spent reading in front of the wood stove. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch is a rip roaring fantasy novel that I am loving, loving, loving. It’s kind of an Oceans Eleven caper set in a kind of Renaissance Venice but on a beautifully dangerous planet with a charming gang of bad boys. At this point in the story they are sooooooo deep in trouble and obviously doomed I can’t believe they will survive - but they must, since there is a sequel already. And a movie. By Warner Brothers. Yes! If you like fantasy and don’t mind some violence and occasional cussing I highly recommend it.

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you are wintering well. The kit I am working on now is tentatively called Faeries of Frost Forest. It is being heavily influenced by the weather in my back yard. Hugs, Lorie

Here it is

2010-12-23T19:58:00.002-07:00

Season's Greeting Hugs to You

2010-12-22T15:17:00.003-07:00

It's my day for the Christmas Blog Train!

2010-12-19T23:02:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody - the Blog Train stops at Lorie's Noggin Blog today! Here's an imaginary steaming mug of Godiva Hot Dark Chocolate with marshmallows for you and here's my for-reals Happy Holiday Freebie. Hope you like it.

AND it is my pleasure to announce that tomorrow the Blog Train stops at (drum rolllllllllllllll) Veronica Spriggs' bountifully beautious Eye on Design Blog!

Don't you love the holidays?

Holiday Masterpieces
Also, here are some layouts done by my fabulous CT with my Santa Brings Goodies freebie.

Dianet

Ikscrap

Irishgull

Joelle

Juliegoodgirl

LivyBug

Lucie

Monicca

Szrjudit

Tami

TinkerBetty
Twinsmomflor

Vero

Falling Leaves Autumn Tea Quick Page Collection

2010-12-14T15:26:00.009-07:00

Artist Ellen Krause has designed 6 scrumptious quick pages with my Falling Leaves, Autumn Tea. These should be in my store today.

Here is a quick love letter I wrote to my totally DH using one of Ellen's pages.
Tim you tickle me in so many wonderful ways. Your "spot on" impersonations, your
keep-the-squeaky-toy-away-from-the-dog, always going for charm with bits of pure
annoying thrown in. Fixer of everything with an artful air, precise and well made.
Searching out new chocolate chip cookie flavors, considering the "presentation" of things, the beauty in nature.
I couldn't believe you swiped two years of cobweb apartments out of the rafters last week. Making sure the delivery people get a tasty treat... it's your kind and loyal perspective of your friends and understanding of people. Your love for me, I love you more and more...
and more as time goes..

Falling Leaves, Autumn Tea is now in Studio Lorie

2010-12-06T16:38:00.032-07:00

Tada, Falling Leaves, Autumn Tea is finally off my computer and in my store.

Scene papers 1

Scene papers 2

Frames

Natural elements

Fruit plate papers

Texture papers

Alpha

Here are some scrumptiously beautiful layouts the artists on my Creative Team have created with Falling Leaves, Autumn Tea:

Angel Jet

Carinspixels

Chichenilla

Dianet

Fabella

Gonewiththewind

Hollie H

Ikscrap

Irishgull

Joannknnrd

Joelle

LivyBug

Lucie

MissBehaving

Monicca

OlgaUnger

Scrappie Irene

Scrappie Irene

Shayenne27

She_

Szotyi08

Szrjudit

Tami

TwinsMomFlor

Vero

Wendy85

Irishgull

Oh what a beautiful morning

2010-12-03T23:03:00.009-07:00

I caught the sun doing some lovely things to the snow and ice this morning.

Today I am working on word art and the previews for Falling Leaves, Autumn Tea. I should have it in Studio Lorie Monday.

Darcy and Lizzy

2010-12-01T13:41:00.003-07:00

Phsew. OK now I really mean it when I say I'm almost done. New characters kept popping by, insisting on cozier cottages, fancier tea services, etc. Nevertheless, I will surely be wrapping things up here in the next couple days.

The SBG 25-Day Blog Freebie Train

2010-12-01T00:45:00.008-07:00

Ever heard of a blog train before? Me neither - but I think you'll really like this!

Here's the way our blog train is going to work. Monday December 1st one of SBG's designers will have a Christmas gift freebie available for everyone on her blog. It will be available for one day and on her blog she will tell you who has the freebie the next day. And it will work that way every day until Christmas. Some days (every other I think) there will be two blogs with freebies.

We are all sworn to absolute "cross our hearts hope to spit" secrecy, with horrible dire consequences if we tell anyone who has what days. But, since it just turned December 1 here, I think I can safely say the first blog train freebie stop is Flergs at http://www.flergalicious.com/blog/. Ooooooh I hope I don't get in trouble. (Biting fingernails)

I have already finished my freebie but, of course, I can't tell when the blog train stops here or what's in my blog train freebie. I love secret stuff.

Falling Leaves, Autumn Tea

2010-11-14T23:08:00.002-07:00

Almost done.

This is Colin and Heather Heathflowers relaxing on a lazy November afternoon in their tea room, sipping Heather's special blend and preparing to speak boldly about what a sweet day it has been.

Little pretty bits

2010-11-03T22:02:00.006-06:00

Autumn is my deep passion. If I were to let myself float on the air of an Autumn day like today I would never return.
These twigs, rose hips, elderberries and seeds are some of the little ripening, season-changing, natural things I saw today in the Fall light.

Happy Halloween

2010-11-01T16:19:00.003-06:00

Rianne Pieterse's 16th birthday was yesterday so I made her into a vampire girl for her birthday album. Twilight producers take note: Rianne would be perfect for your next movie.

Now here is scary. This is my sister Rebecca getting ready to go to work as a fire fighting, bobble-head, kayaker vampire.

Be afraid.......

Road tripping and putting the garden to bed....

2010-10-24T21:56:00.008-06:00

It could snow tonight so Tim and I were out in the garden with flashlights an hour ago picking the last of the tomatoes. Yay, fried green tomatoes for breakfast. Here is a picture of our summmer grape arbor bedroom which is also the entrance to the garden. Sigh - we probably won't be sleeping out there again any time soon.

Earlier this week we went on a road trip to Halfway, Oregon. Halfway is a tiny town on the sunny side of the Wallowa Mountains, a short scenic jaunt from Idaho's Snake River boundary. While snooping around town we bumped into Mimi and Eric who invited us into their little restaurant, Mimi's MidTown Cafe. Their restaurant closed this summer but they still use it for a party kitchen/playhouse. They made us some espresso and we sat around and chit-chatted for hours munching on some of Tim's homemade brownies and some of their cherry tomatoes. Ahh the perfect road trip experience.

On the way home we passed through Bear, Idaho where I took this picture of the old Huntley barn. It was built in 1880 but I'm pretty sure this will be its last winter standing.

The Battle of the CT's

2010-10-16T14:01:00.006-06:00

The battle has begun!!! Five of my very brave CT members (Angel Jet, Ikscrap, Joannknrd, Shayenne27, and Topsi) are Team Lorie’s Wild Imagination Girls in Digiscrapaddicts Battle of the CT’s. Hooo Hoooooo!!!!! It is a really fun layout contest. There are about 40 designer teams enrolled - but Holy Moley it’s tricky. Each layout has to follow a precise formula like: 10 hearts, 9 flowers, 8 stitches, etc. If one of your team goofs up and only has 7 stitches, or 10 flowers, your team gets the boot. You can only use your designers goodies. And, unfortunately, it’s a popular vote contest. (I thought after DST’s hairdo fire no one would do popular vote contests anymore.) Ah well.
You can vote for your favorite team once a day.
Here’s where you can see all the layouts.
It would be lovely if you voted for them. (Polls are open Saturdays & Sundays)
Here’s where you vote.

Feathers & Mittens Pics

2010-10-05T21:02:00.010-06:00

Feathers & Mittens went into Studio Lorie tonight right after the SBG chat. That was good stinky fun. Trying to type while the chats went speeding by was giving me the whirleys.
Here are some layouts using F&M from my fantastic CT.

Olga Unger
Veronique

Monicca
Lana

Twinsmomflor

Tami

Lucie

Ikscrap

Dianet

AlohaMomma

Feathers and Mittens

2010-10-04T21:00:00.007-06:00

This week I am the featured designer at SBG (Yay!) so I made this little kit for the occasion. Last winter after the first snow I ran out and took pictures of the Fall foliage weighed down from the first sprinklings of snow. I used some of those pictures in this kit. Those little birds always show up with the first snow.

It's supposed to be a surprise, so don't tell Kate I am leaking this information out, but Feathers and Mittens will be free the first three days it's in my store. Oh and I'm also holding a Fall-themed layout contest (deadline midnight Sunday MST) you can read all about it here. (I lovelovelove this kind of stuff.) hugs and more hugs, Lorie

The Poet's Keepsakes

2010-09-25T15:40:00.027-06:00

The Poet’s Keepsakes will be in my store around midnight Monday morning MST. This is a collection I have wanted to do for a long time - it is a portrait kit. In it you will find elegant frames and curious treasures designed for the portrait artist inside every scrapbooker. It will be on sale discounted 20% the first 48 hours. (The Painter’s Faeries will be finished in a few weeks.)

The Poet's Keepsakes layouts from my fabulous CT

Angel Jet
Angel Jet
Angel Jet
Dianat
Gonewiththewind
Hollie H
Hollie H
Hollie H
Ikscrap
Ikscrap
Joannknnrd

Joannknnrd
Jootje
Juliegoodgirl
Lucie

Lucie

Monicca

Scrappie Irene

Scrappie Irene

Shayenne27

Wendy 85
Here btw is the official haiku for The Poet’s Keepsakes:

The poet's keepsakes
will remind her quietly
when it's time to write.

If you are the first to make a comment here with a haiku I will happily send you a coupon for a free kit. (Even if you aren't the first please let me read your haikus.) Hugs, Lorie

Ooook ooook!

2010-09-13T13:56:00.012-06:00

The Painter's Faeries is warping and woofing its way into an altogether different place and it is dragging me into some new realms I really like but are taking a while to learn.

I'm still working on it all day every day, except I did backpack into the Seven Devils wilderness area last week for two days. We camped in the trees on the shore of a nameless lake that might have been part of a volcano crater a million years ago. My friend Amy baby-backpacked her little booper Ben in with us. Amy did not pack a tent but when it started looking like a mountain storm was sneaking up on us we decided to build her a cozy mini-cabin using Tim's rubber poncho and a bunch of tree pieces the winds had blown over. There was no blizzard that night but the smaller lakes were iced over that morning. Amy and her husband Nick and baby Ben snuggled through the chilly starry night toasty and warm.

BTW Ooook Ooooook is a quote from one of my favorite fantasy characters (hint: he has red hair.) If you are the first to name him (trick question) I'll send you a coupon for Painter when its done. Hugs.

Random blognots

2010-08-31T21:05:00.007-06:00

Hellllllllooooooooo! I have to pay more attention to the noggin blog. Suddenly strange things are happening like the little links that appeared today above my banner. I must search the blog instruction manual to learn how to obliterate them.

I have been working through most of August on a kit called Under the Watermelon Tree but I had to lovingly tuck it away yesterday because it was taking waaaay too long to finish. I pulled another kit out of the musty hard drive that I have been working on since last winter that might be called something like The Painter’s Keepsakes. I’ll try to put the finishing flurries on it this week. It’s a collection of forgotten treasures, toadstools, and painterly portraity botanical still life papers and elements.

Clementine over at Deviant Scrap has been working her wacom to the bone this summer and has come out with another one of the most fun scrapping kits I have ever seen. It’s called Eleanor’s Avenue and it’s hilarious. She is such a deviant.

Home again, home again jigitty jog

2010-08-09T22:15:00.003-06:00

Somewhere over Wyoming (I think)

I’m back from big bouncy beautiful Chicago. We danced beside Lake Michigan at a free concert in Grant Park, played Perudo with Tim’s relatives, rode commuter trains, and ate yummy stuff. Plus the flights were so beautiful. There and back again we were flying in between layers of ginormous lumpy fluffy clouds. Sigh. I hope I never get used to that.

These are a few of my favorite Things

2010-08-09T15:50:00.023-06:00

From Monsters

Szotyi08

Wendy85

tempisfugit

Szoti08

she
ScrappieIrene

OlgaUnger

Livybug

Lana

juliegoodgirl

juliegoodgirl

joannknnrd

Ikscrap

Empolan

Dani3
Olga Unger
Annja

Monsters in the Store Today

2010-07-27T13:21:00.002-06:00

I'm finally letting them loose.

A Hazardous Journey

2010-07-20T01:11:00.002-06:00

Escaped last Thursday to hike to Hazard Lake. There’s no cure for the computer chair sore bottom syndrome better than trekking to some place in the mountains. I hope I can do this every week. Hazard Lake was not any more hazardous than any of the other lakes we saw - the chief hazard being they were turn-you-blue-instantly freezing cold.

This itsy bitsy lake was the perfect fit for Clementine’s Golden Retrievers. They look like Golden Alligators.

Now I’m back making more monsters. I am working on a Red Cheetah-bellied Bookskeezer tonight.

Coming soon, to a bedroom near you

2010-07-13T14:11:00.003-06:00

There are no monsters under my bed .... how about yours?

2010-07-09T22:15:00.001-06:00

Prince in the City now On Sale

2010-06-24T21:32:00.015-06:00

Prince in the City is now on sale at Studio Lorie. Ta-Da!
Here are some more Prince layouts from my marvelous CT.

Gonewiththewind
KimberlyRae
LivyBug
Me
Shayenne27
she_
Tami

Once Upon a Time ......

2010-06-22T14:27:00.000-06:00

SBG's Fusion Project this month is Once Upon a Time. It was a wonderful fairytale collab we all got twitterpated over. Here's the link for the free Fusion catalog. Everything about the Fusion projects are always top secret and we aren't supposed to tell anyone anything about them until they are released. That adds to the excitement. They went on sale last night so I can now unveil these Creative Team layouts from Studio Lorie's Story Book Castle and At the Castle:

Angel Jet

Dianet
5Angels
Hollie

Ikscrap
Joannknnrd
Joelle
Jootje
LivyBug
Miranda Buijs
MissBehaving
Monicca
OlgaUnger
OlgaUnger
ScrappieIrene
Soraya
Szotyi08
Szrjudit
Szrjudit
TwinsMomFlor

Prince is finished

2010-06-21T15:39:00.032-06:00

Prince in the City should be for sale in Studio Lorie Thursday or Friday. The first two days, as always, it will be discounted 20%. Prince is a royal leap from my other kits. I was raised in the boonies but I love the city. It was great fun exploring urban themes to create Prince.

Here are some of my favorite CT layouts:

Angel Jet

Carinspixels

Dianet
5Angels
Hollie H
Ikscrap

Joannknnrd
Joelle
Jootje

Katrin

Lana
LivyBug
Miranda Buijs

Monicca
ScrappieIrene

Shayenne27
Soraya
Szotyi08
Szrjudit
Twinsmomflor
My CT rocks!!!!

.... and so does Karen Bowers
Here's me and my DH at a local bar beach party. I was shooting daggers from my eyes at the girl with the camera.

Nearly there

2010-06-06T14:14:00.004-06:00

Here is the gateway to Prince in the City. Your pony awaits. I’m still working on the back alley play places, but the stage lights, speakers, royal guitars, princely trappings, chibs, and cheap transportation are done.

I had a self-imposed deadline for Prince last week but it whizzed right by and disappeared. The closer I get to finishing the more things keep popping up wanting to get in.

Stage One

2010-05-14T17:42:00.004-06:00

This is a paper for my next kit which might be called Prince of the City. It is a stage set up in a factory with a blank window in the back where you can put whatever you like. I put another one of my city papers in the background. I'm a sucker for arches and windows, can't get away from them.

Poking around alleys and sniffing lilacs

2010-05-14T16:40:00.009-06:00

The days have been gorgeous. Even the willows (always the last awake in the Spring) are slowly starting to sprout little leaf buds. The bluejay nest under the eave of my office is very quiet but I know soon the baby jays will be poking their little mohawk heads up and squeeking at me.

So yesterday I decided to head South out of the mountains and into the city (where the lilacs are already blooming) and take pictures for my next kit which I’m pretty sure will be urban and boy. I have been grandly influenced by Clementine’s new kit Tommy Town which she should be debuting next week at DeviantScrap. It’s a wild boys dreamscape she put together with the help of her 8 year old grandson.

This 1906 movie from San Francisco has also been running around in my noggin. Those people walking that wide boulevard didn't have much time left to enjoy their beautiful city as it was destroyed only a few days later.

Thinking about cities... their modern and old structures. Thinking of the warehouse places, of ornate moulding, of the things abandoned in alleys, thinking about the beautiful way structures age, like cracks, splits, and fading in wood and stone. I am in awe of buildings that have settled gracefully and stood strong for many years.

Sooooo I spent yesterday poking around the back streets of Weiser, Idaho where I took this self portrait in an alley:

Lulu's Egg Garden

2010-05-01T19:21:00.029-06:00

Ta-da! Sometime tonight I am releasing my Lulu’s Egg Garden kit. I designed this for the the March/April issue of Laura Ghiradelli’s Scrappons Digi - le magazine du scrapbooking digital. Working on Lulu was a sure cure for cabin fever. I had to get in the spirit of Spring and Easter in early February. The nights were long and winter winds were hammering chunks of ice from the trees onto my windows but I was thinking of grass, bunnies, and spring flowers.

Laura published some beautiful layouts in that issue done by CT members: Szotyi08 (covergirl!), Chichenilla, Olga Unger, Ikscrap, and Angel Jet.

Szotyi08

Chichenilla

Olga Unger

Ikscrap

Angel Jet

My Creative Team did many beautiful layouts with Lulu but Laura could only print a handful of them. Laura Ghiradelli is wonderful. I know from working on a newspaper how stressful meeting deadlines can be but she was always sweet and calm even when I got a little behind.

Lulu will sell for $6.00 in Studio Lorie - 20% off for the first 48 hours. It was a fun kit to create and I hope you like it.

A cure for ants in the pants

2010-04-28T21:03:00.002-06:00

Sometimes I get "ants-in-my-pants" and after having my seat planted in front of the computer photoshopping for too long yesterday... I got a little stir crazy in the rump and the head. I grabbed Tim, Annie (our dog), some beat-up towels, and the car keys and headed for our favorite hidden forest hot springs. It was the relaxing magic we needed. Tim read “The Name of the Wind” to me as a warm wind dropped pine needles into the pool. We sank in and let the little warm waterfall and the slick, soft moss against our skin pull us into a blissful trance while Annie stood guard for squirrels.

We hiked back to the car and decided to drive further up the mountain and explore a bit, happily plowing through piles of snow until we met one that was too deep ...we really should have seen that coming. We were high-centered. The weather had been toasty so Tim had taken the tire chains and snow shovel out of the car last week. We had a camping shovel the size of a spatula and a windshield brush to clear all the snow out from under the car. Nearly two hours later, and surprisingly invigorated, we plowed ourselves out. Today the ants are gone and the snow chains are back in the car.

Starting on a new kit

2010-04-26T15:08:00.005-06:00

Since Baby Bee Garden came out last week I am working on 3 different kits. I’m not sure which one will work its way out next. I just watched Spirited Away again and it has been stirring up beautiful, cloud-filled ideas in me so I’m going to have to do something in that direction.

Here’s a couple new pages I photographed, photoshopped, and painted this week.

I like skies. My DH moved out West from Chicago. He likes looking at mountains. I have always lived in the mountains but skies are so huge back in the flat Midwest. They make my insides feels eager and tingly watching the wind push the sky around. Big blue mountains dragging tattered clouds behind them are definitely pretty. But a storm sneaking up on you from a distant horizon is really thrilling. Those voluminous storm clouds are kind of the Great Plain’s version of mountains in my mind.

These papers are skies whispering at me to look out. The sky with the circle forming is how I felt yesterday. Something is happening or has to happen, it could be something big or it could just blow over, it could be refreshing and exhilarating or it could be scary. Could.

It looks like IE8 is not treating this blog as it should, while IE7 and Firefox are being just peachy. If the page keeps blinking out (and you can read this) you might want to switch browsers. I’m trying to fix this.

My first Blog

2010-04-26T07:44:00.005-06:00

Hi, this is my first ever blog.

I mentioned to my friend and CT member Dani3 that I would like to have a blog someday and blinkety blink she sent me this. It's beautiful and a little scary. Once I get it all figured out I will be basically writing out what's going on in my noggin as I'm putting together my next kit. This should be fun. Thanks for visiting.