Designs by Latisha Yoast

So today my baby girl turned 12 years old. I really can't believe that twelve years have gone by this fast. You know the album I have been working on for her, well this is the card that is going to be inside the album. In the card I am telling her to always follow her dreams, reach for the stars & your bound to land close. Just a little background info...when my husband and I were 22 years old, he joined the US Navy, he went in as a e3 and within 2 1/2 years he was an e6 {not heard of, very hard to do}. When my husband joined he told everyone that he wanted to be a pilot, and no-one believed in his dream except me, not even his parents. Long story short, he got picked up for an officer package, he went to the Citadel & got a degree in Civil Engineering & now flies helicopters in the Navy. So whatever anybody puts their mind to achieve, it will happen. Nothing is impossible and that is what I am telling my daughter is to DREAM BIG. On to the card {isn't it yum...

I have about 8 pages left to finish in just two short days, but I can do it. This page is sort of ecletic, meaning I used 3 different stamp company's and a vellum sticker, so its a mix of stuff. Lets start with the paper, its from BasicGrey, Scarlett's letter line. If you like a bold classic style with a touch of modern feel, that is the only way I can describe this line. In one word its classy. {the cut out circle is also from the same line} All of the flourishes {in the corners} are from the stamp company Flourishes, if you have not been to their site, go check them out, www.flourishes.org Next, the "LOVE & YOU" sentiments are from Heidi Grace. The "you make me smile", "you brighten my day" & "you inspire me" are sentiments from Verve Visual {another cool company www.vervevisual.com } The vellum sticker, I bought ages ago, I don't remember where I bought it but its made by EK Success {stickersaurus line} Before I...

You must now type as fast as you can over to www.splitcoaststampers.com go to the Flourishes forum. Jan Marie's birthday is tomorrow and she is giving away some awesome prizes! A zyron 900 and two sets of nestabilities and other things!!! All you have to do is upload a card using one of their stamp sets using the keyword f llcjanmariesbirthday Run ladies run!!!

Another page is done for Kendall's "secret album". The picture on this page was from her 10th birthday. Instead of a birthday party {which are very expensive these days!} we gave her a $225 visa gift card & I took her and a few friends to Myrtle Beach South Carolina. At the time we were living in Charleston so it was only a 90 minute drive. We stayed in a suite at one of the resorts on the beach. We had such a great time. Not all of my children's birthdays are this ellaborate, however she turned 10 and she was now in double digits. We were sitting on the couch in the suite & my son who was 4 or 5 at the time, took this picture. The page is whisper white, the dp is from Afternoon Tea {SU occasions catalog avail. Mar 1st} I used Baroque Motifs, Always & Live your Dream {mini occasions} stamps sets. Here is a huge tip, If you order anything from the mini occasions catalog, save the piece of paper that you pull off when you are about to set the stamp on the wo...

Here are the invitations I made for my daughters Birthday. She is a true girly girl, so these invitations are soooo Kendall. She will be a great papercrafter one day so she appreciates all the work I put into these. The envelopes are small open-end envelopes by SU, the dimensions are 6 3/4 in x 3 1/2 in & are Whisper White. I punched out Kraft paper using the small tag punch {SU}, then punched a hole at the top & ran Certainly Celery ribbon through it and attached it with a brad. The stamp sets used are Eat Cake and Polka Dots and Petals, all stamped in Regal Rose. For the insert I cut kraft down until it would fit. I ran whisper white cardstock through the printer to put all of the birthday info on it {I always do this with invitations} then I cut that down to fit on top of the kraft paper. Before attaching the whisper white paper, I stamped more images from Polka Dots & Petals in Regal Rose. The Regal Rose tab was punched using a SU Round Tab {love this punch}. Using my ...

So last night as I was getting ready for bed I realized I have only sent 1 card this month to my secret sister {sshh don't tell}. I really like to take pictures in natural light, no natural light at 11:30 pm, so this will have to do. It really does look better irl {really it does}. Lately I go to my acrylic stamps when I need a card in a rush. Clear stamps are so much easier to use, placement wise, I don't mess up as much. However I find myself going to my SU sets the last few days {so proud of myself...I'm a SU demo, don't tell them I love papertreyink >" On a different note, I have recieve a few emails on how I take my pictures & what I use. I don't have anything fancy, I used a Kodak easyshare Z650, its a few years old. Its a digital camera {my SLR is not digital} so I can keep taking a picture until I like it. Most of the time I take my pictures outside. Natural light will give you the best looking picture. When taking a picture inside I ju...

I finally inked up my Birthday Whimsy stamp set {sale-a-bration free set}. This is a set where you just ink and go, meaning no image to color in! Just pick your colors & stamp away. I just got Regal Rose 5/8 inch grosgrain ribbon yesterday, so that was the influence with this card. I only have one sheet of regal rose left, now 3/4, so until I buy more I am hoarding it >" This stamp set is awesome there are so many different possibilities with it and it was...FREE!! This is a great add on set if you have any of the other whimsy sets out of the catalog.{Garden Whimsy & Seasonal Whimsy} WaaaaHooooo I got something done today and its only 11am. I really wanted to go back to bed this morning but I have a million things to get done today. Maybe tomorrow I will have a chance to take a nap and catch up on some much needed sleep. Materials Used: Birthday Whimsy SU stamp set, whisper white & regal rose cardstock, regal rose, basic black & so saffron ink pads, regal r...

I just posted & all of my info got deleted....so mad! Anyhow, I finally finished up my swaps. I used Nicola's sketch #4 for the layout {mypaperworld.blogspot.com} All of the images are from papertreyink...little lady, mixed messages & borders n corners. I liked the tent topper it made making a swap fun and different, than the traditional card. I was itching to use my new kraft cardstock {SU} it went really well with this color combination. Kraft is the new white LOL just kidding for some reason I thought that was really funny. Seriously kraft paper goes with anything. The ribbon is from my may arts stash. Sorry for the quick post but I'm off to the grocery store. I hope everyone had a nice day off >"

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!! This morning after the kids were off to school, I decided I to take a much needed nap. My husband came in & said "goodbye & to have a good day" When I woke up this card was taped to our tv. He went through my stuff, cut, taped & stamped this all my himself. He did leave his mess up pile, so I know he put a lot of effort into it. I don't care what it looks like, its the thought that matters most. My husband is a manly man, so it means even more that he tried to be creative for me. I get to spend money on Papertreyink stamps tonight for my present. Stamps last longer than flowers. Do you ever feel that after you tell your husband/boyfriend not to get you flowers you secretly wish they can read your mind & get them for you anyways? I kind of feel that way today, but I am soooo happy with the card he made & new stamps!! Have a fantastic Valentine's Day!

Here is a gift set I made for my son's teacher {Mrs. B} for Valentines Day. I first made the tags with each childs name on it. This was a project that was not supposed to take very long, but it did >" This was my first card using acetate, it was pretty easy, you just have to be very careful, its hard to cover a blemish on something that is see through. I kind of just guessed on what to do but if you go to http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ there is an area that will give you a tutorial on stamping on acetate. I used Real Red & Whisper White cardstock from SU. The polka dot ribbon is from May Arts. I found this stamp set at Hobby Lobby yesterday. Its from Stampabilities {and was 50% off}, its called the Teacher Survival Kit. Its too cute and Mrs. B. has to have it >" Now I need to start on my daughter Kendall's Valentine's & figure out what I am making for Jacob's class party tomorrow.

Picture of Jacob and I Pinewood Derby winner 2008 Over the weekend my son Jacob got to compete in the Florida/Alabama Pensacola Bay Pinewood Derby Regional Championship {only the top 3 Tiger cubs in his den got to go} held at the Naval Aviation Museum. There was about 150 or so Tiger cubs with their cars ready to race {Tiger cubs go first since they are the youngest} For those of you who do not know what the Pinewood Derby is, first you get a piece of wood and wheels and you have to carve/paint/decorate the wood to make it into a car. Then is gets weighed {has to be under 5 ounces}, they then put this box thing over it to make sure its not too long. After all of this the races begin. Three at a time the cars go down the track, its double elimination, so if you get third twice you are out {this takes forever}. Jacob got first about 11 times and second 4 times. This put him in the finals. Here is a few pictures of his car starting the race & finishing in first place >" At th...

I finally made something worth showing last night. It was a struggle everytime I sat down to make a card. However I did end redeeming myself with this card. I'm not sure what the fold is called. I scored it at the top & punched a tab in the white cardstock to keep it secure. The cardbase is real red, layered with whisper white. I used my sale-a-bration stamp set So Many Scallops for the flower image {stamped in real red ink}. I put two ribbon slide holes in the flower to run the 5/8 in grosgrain ribbon {real red} through it. The thank so much sentiment is from Papertreyink, stamped with stazon black. The top red part look bare, so I added some polka dot sheer May Arts ribbon, to perk it up a little. Well this has to be a quick post I'm off to the Chevrolet dealership to get my Suburban tuned up. I will have to bring my new SU catalog to keep me occupied. Have a great day!

Does anyone else feel like Valentines Day is really sneaking up on you? I can't believe its on Thursday, where has the first 10 days of this month gone?!? I really cannot produce anything that looks good today, not even a picture {sorry} Today I cleaned my house early in the day so I could make a few cards, I think the bleach wiped away my mojo lol. This is a 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 in. card base {papertrey stampers select cardstock}. The designer paper is from BasicGrey's Two Scoops line. I think this is flowerbella? The image is watercolored by using prisma pencils. I used Martha Stewart's two way glue, and then sprinkled dazzling diamonds on it while it was still wet. To give it a faux stitched look, I paper pierced along the edges, then took my sakura black pen & connected the holes. The pink & gold ribbon is May Arts ribbon {that I bought forever ago}. The friends sentiment is by Papertrey ink. Maybe I will post later to redeem myself, I need to dig deep and pull my moj...

I got happy mail from Chris {bff}. You know how you are having a bad day, and you call a girlfriend & then all of a sudden you are in a good mood. Chris can make me laugh when I am mid-cry. So today I got this beauty of a card...isn't it perfect! She also made my daughter Kendall a page for her *secret album* Isn't it gorgeous...look at all of those flowers, and the tag that pulls out on the side. It has a hidden happy birthday message, I love that detail. Go check out her blog she is super talented! www.chris-corner23.blogspot.com OH I got my Cosmo Cricket kit from QVC...Its AWESOME, I hope maybe I can make something tonight and post tomorrow waaahhooo, this was such a great mail day!!

I just got home from the Naval Hospital ER and my son has strep throat...again. If I wasn't sick before I am now or I am having a severe allergy attack from Cocoa. I am allergic to my daughters dog, {so sad because Cocoa is a really good dog} giving her up is not an option so I have learned to deal with it. So I will take a day off from blogging to take care of my son & disinfect my house top to bottom. Maybe I will get my Cosmo Cricket paper from QVC or my Stampin Up order. I hope everyone has a great day.

Yay, I finished another page for Kendall's {secret} album, for her birthday later this month. I really can't believe she is almost twelve. I only have one daughter & one son, that is all my body would allow me to have. On top of having Crohn's Disease I had very difficult pregnancies {more with my son} I am very grateful and blessed to have 2 healthy wonderful children. In my head I know that is all I will ever have, but its very hard for my heart to accept. Making this album for Kendall is bringing back so many memories of her growing up. Its amazing what an amazing human I am raising, she really is the nicest, sweetest person I know. I think raising her has been the easy part, the hard part will be learning how to let her go and fly... I used Verve Visual's guest designer sketch for this layout. In the picture my daughter was wearing red and was on a red pillow case. Picking out the paper was easy, all I need to do was match it to the photo. I finally d...

Here is my second card for the Verve Visual guest designer contest. This card I made it a gate fold card, its where the card opens in the center {like a gate} intead of the side or bottom. My friend Chris recently used the grass hopper {Papertreyink} on a swap she made, which inspired me to make this card. I knew I wanted to use BasicGrey's Two Scoops dp, it has a lot of greens in the line, so the grasshopper went perfect with the paper. I generation stamped the grasshopper, which made the card flow so much better. The peachy/groovy guava looking paper is by Bazzill & I have know idea what the "real" color name is. The images are from Papertrey Ink stamp sets Green Thumb and Borders & Corners. I am really happy with how this card turned out, it has clean lines...which probably is my favorite style of card to make. Materials used: Basic Grey Two Scoops designer paper, Whisper white cardstock {SU} Bazzil textured paper, Wild Wasabi stamp pad, Cameo Coral stam...

If you go over to www.vervevisual.blogspot.com they are having a Guest Designer contest. There is a sketch posted & you need to make a card using the sketch. So here is my first card {I plan on submitting a few cards} you can enter as many times as you want. This card is for a little boy named Gabe who just turned 8 yrs old. I have the hardest time making masuline cards without it being to froo froo {girly} I am glad this card is going to an eight year old who will not notice I really messed up on the gromets. I am still new at using my new big bite and I didn't place the gromet on the right, in the *right* place...it should be a little more to the left. Since I was using a dark background paper I needed to fix it somehow to not seem blah. So I cuttelbug-ed the layers with the textile embossing folder, then lightly went over the raised part with Tim Holtz distress ink in walnut stain. I had originally stamped faux stitches using all in a row by SU, but I didn't li...