Monday Stamps- 'R' Challenge

This week on Inka Dinka Doodle the Monday stamp challege is the letter 'R'. I saw that and thought, excellent, I know I must have a ton of sets that begin with the letter 'r'. WRONG! When I checked out my spreadsheet I was surprised to see that I only had 3 'R' sets, and 2 of them are alphabets. That left me with the set called 'Riveting'. I also ended up using a level 3 hostess set from the new StampinUp! catalog and a background stamp.Supplies used(all StampinUp supplies unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Riveting, The More The Merrier, Fresh Fillers
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Cool Caribbean, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Ink: StazOn Black, Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: Ticket Corner punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, Pink Pirouette 5/8" striped ribbon, SU markers

Winter White

It is now Challenge #23 on the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog and this week the challenge comes from Sankari, of Sankari's Sunshine Corner. She says to make a 'white on white' Christmas card. I thought that sounded like a pretty easy challenge...until I sat down to make my card! This was a great challenge to use my Cuttlebug on, so I brought that out and this is the card I came up with:It's a warm day of almost 71* here in southcentral Alaska, and that snowman sure looks good to me! I'm not a heat person, so anything over 70* is too hot for me! Snow in June/July sounds good to me right now! :)

Supplies:

Paper-Bazzill, StampinUp Basic Black and Close To Cocoa

Cuttlebug- Swiss Dots folder, Snow Fun die and folder

Ink- StampinUp Bordering Blue

Accessories- Buttons, StampinUp blender pen and watercolor crayon

Only 6 months....

Thats right, as of today Christmas is only 6 months away! It's my absolute favorite time of year and I love everything about it...the food, the joy in peoples faces, the lights and beautiful Christmas trees, the weather and of course....the Christmas cards!! I've been in the Christmas mood this week, which is nothing new for me. It doesnt take much to get me into that spirit! This week it was the dusting of snow on the mountains that got me longing for December and all that comes with that month. We had rain here in the Valley but coming home the other day the Talkeetna Moutains had a fresh dusting of snow. Winter will arrive in Alaska before we know it!

Back to Christmas cards..... this week the Monday Challenge posted on the CSAYL blog was....a free challenge! Thats right, it was up to us to design any type of Christmas card we wanted too. At the beginning of the month StampinUp!© announced the sets that were going to be retired and the set I used for todays card was among them,'Heritage Holiday'. Seeing as I collect Christmas stamps I knew I had to get this set before it was gone forever! Here is the card I made today for the CSAYL challenge, using the above-mentioned stamp set:



Supplies used(all supplies StampinUp! unless otherwised noted):
Stamps: Heritage Holiday
Paper: Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Real Red, Close to Cocoa, Bravo Burgundy
Ink: StazOn Black, Close To Cocoa
Accessories: SU markers, Scallop Edge punch, Cuttlebug and the Swiss Dots folder

I've still got some challenges to catch up on, such as my friend Holly's Monday Stamps challenge (she has a great blog so check out her blog and the CSAYL blog if you havent already!).I had good intentions to spend the entire day working on my cards but the news of Farrah Faucetts death and then Michael Jacksons has kept me glued to the TV and computer instead, oooops! I swear, I'll get back to the stamps as soon as I'm off the computer :0)

Monday Stamps, just on Tuesday!

Even though its Tuesday I worked on Holly's Monday Stamps challenge, which can be found on her website . The letter this week is 'P' and I had quite a few sets to choose from. I ultimately went with the 'Perennial Favorites' set. I dont have a lot of cards that could be used for any occasion, so thats what I was trying to aim for with this card. I left the inside blank so down the road I can add whatever sentiment I need.

Supplies used(all supplies StampinUp unless otherwise noted):
Stamps-Perennial Favorites and Flannel Plaid
Paper-Mellow Moss, Basic Black, Very Vanilla
Ink-Versamark, Ruby Red, Summer Sun, More Mustard, Not Quite Navy
Accessories: Ribbon-Basic Black, Old Olive, Very Vanilla; 1 1/4" square punch, 1 3/8" square punch

CSAYL #21

It's Monday, the final Monday of my vacation. Back to work next week, booo! I took advantage of my last free afternoon to work on todays challenge for the CSAYL blog. I cant believe we're up to challenge 21 already. The weeks are flying by! Its a good thing I'm getting my Christmas cards done...we're almost to the 6 month countdown mark for Christmas!

Debbie from The Paper Garden hosted this weeks challenge and she said to " find a creative way to use eyelets on your card". I decided to use one of my favorite stamps for this challenge. I picked it up shortly at 9/11 and I've made a Christmas card with it every year since. I just love these snowman with the US flag behind them! I wasnt sure what I wanted to do with the eyelets so with some help from my daughter I decided to place them around the sentiment. As always, thanks for looking!

All supplies SU unless other wise noted:
Stamps-A Patriotic Winter by Brother and Sister Design Studio, Merry Messages
Paper- Watercolor paper, Riding Hood Red, Brilliant Blue
Ink- StazOn Black, Real Red, Brilliant Blue, Summer Sun, Forest Foilage
Accessories- Aquapainter, Sponge,Eyelets, CB Snow Dots embossing folder, dimensionals, SU markers

Monday Stamps

My friend Holly, of Inka Dinka Doodle , listed 'O' as the letter for Monday Stamps(formerly Sunday Stamps) this week. I had a few 'O' sets to choose from but went with 'Older And Wiser'. I cant believe I've never used this set before.It is so darn cute!
Supplies used(All StampinUp unless otherwise noted): Stamps: Older And Wiser; Paper-Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, So Saffron,Delicate Dots DSP;Ink-StazOn Black, Certainly Celery, Bliss Blue; Acessories- SU Markers, Certainly Celery Ribbon, Soft Subtles eyelets

Its Monday...you know what that means!

Thats right! Monday's mean another challenge over at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long, and today marks challenge #20 . This week Vicki of Summerthyme Studio hosted the challenge and she said to "creatively use buttons and ribbons to embellish your card". Challenges like this really get me thinking outside of the box. As I've said before, I'm really not one to use a lot of things on my cards. Maybe some ribbon here or there but I just have a hard time adding embellishments. It's a mental block I seem to have :)

One of my favorite SU sets is an older one called Penguin Pals. I absolutely ADORE penguins and these little guys are just too cute. I knew I wanted to use them as soon as I read the challenge. I did have a hard time breaking down that barrier and using buttons but I did manage to incorporate some, plus used some ribbon. Here is the card I came up with. Sorry the pictures arent that great. Trying to photograph this was a bit tricky! Its very sparkly and pretty IRL!

Supplies(all supplies StampinUp unless otherwise noted: Stamp set-Penguin Pals;Paper-Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red, Cool Caribbean;Ink-Black StazOn,White StazOn,Real Red;Various non-SU buttons, non -SU ribbon,Versamark, Heat and Stick Powder,Dazzling Diamonds

Sunday Stamps at Inka Dinka Doodle

We all have one of those friends that is super creative and whips things up in no time,leaving us gawking and wondering how the heck they do it! For me that would definitely be my friend Holly. We met when our families were both stationed in Silverdale WA and she got me back into stamping,something I hadnt done for yrs at the time we met. She has a great website called Inka Dinka Doodle and I highly recommend it. She makes the most beautiful cards and I wish we still lived one street apart! I miss going over to her place for inspiration, which it seems I am always in need of. My mind isnt as creative as hers,LOL :)

On her website she holds a weekly challenge called "Sunday Stamps". Each Sunday she posts a letter from the alphabet and you have to make a card with a stamp set by that name. I'm severely behind on her challenges, so even though this week its the letter 'N' I went back a few letters and did the 'L' challenge. I used the SU set 'Lovely As A Tree'. I absolutely adore this set and just got it a few months ago. I wanted to create a nice simple card(lol, my favorite kind to make), where the picture and a small sentiment said all that needed to be said. This is the card I came up with:

Supplies used(all StampinUp products unless otherwise noted:Stamps- Lovely As A Tree and Small Script; Paper-Watercolor paper,Old Olive, Chocolate Chip,More Mustard; Ink-Old Olive, Close to Cocoa, Garden Green;Old Olive ribbon,Pewter Hodgepodge,Aquapainter

CSAYL Challenge #19

My daughter had spine surgery and was in the hospital for about a week, so I got a bit behind on the CSAYL challenges. Challenge #19 was posted Mon. June 1st and its called 'Fun With Numbers'. We were to create a card where numbers were the main feature. After going through all my stamps, papers, embellishments, etc I discovered I was seriously lacking in the numbers dept! The card I came up with incorporated numbers but I dont know if I'd say they were the focal point. I tried though! :0) Here is my card(all pics posted can be seen in larger form just by clicking on them):

Supplies used(all SU products unless otherwise noted):Stamp sets-Jolly Holiday,Doodle Numbers and Rough Edges Alphabet;Paper-Whisper White, Cool Caribbean,Ruby Red, PP by DreamStreetPapers;Ink-StazOn Black,Cool Caribbean;Accessories-1 1/4" circle punch, Fun Flock, SU markers and watercolor pencils, round corner punch

With this card done I am all caught up on the CSAYL challenges, wooohooo! I really enjoy that blog and look forward to Mondays now, just to see what they are going to have us doing! If you havent checked out their blog I highly recommend it!

As always, thanks for looking at my little corner of the net!

CSAYL-Challenge 18

A great new blog started up this yr. Its called Christmas Stampin All Year Long and I love it! Those who know me know that I absolutely adore Christmas and have things related to Christmas going on all year. I especially love making Christmas cards, which is actually kind of funny because most people that I know dont even bother sending Christmas cards! Oh well, I stil adore Christmas cards! For this card I ended up with 2 versions. The first version I made specifically for CSAYL and we were to follow this sketch:

This is the card I came up with:

I also play along with a challenge at Splitcoaststampers called Christmas Card Challenge(CCC-09), where you are supposed to make a certain amount of Christmas cards every month. I have set my limit at 10 cards per month. The only thing I changed was the stitching along the side. I used 2 strands on the above card and while I like the look, I think it also looks a bit heavy. I switched it up by using just 1 strand of floss and making the holes less straight. That gave it more of a carefree look:

Supplies used(all supplies StampinUp unless otherwise noted):Paper:Whisper White,Real Red,Chocolate Chip,Kiwi Kiss and Holiday Treasures DSP; Stamps:'Yule Bits and Borders' and 'Perfect Presentation'; Ink: Riding Hood Red,Real Red and Glorious Green; Circle punch 1 3/8" and circle punch 1 1/4"; Cuttlebug and 'Distressed' folder, DMC floss #989

I've been asked why I didnt have a stamping blog and I really didnt have a good reason. Not enough time? A bit clueless to the whole blog thing? Not a fancy type of card/crafting gal? In the end I realized I really had no excuse and so I figured what the heck, I'll give it a shot! I prefer cardmaking(I'm a StampinUp demo) but I also enjoy other crafts, such as plastic canvas, cross-stitch(although my eyes arent what they used to be and I dont do this as often as I used too ) and wood crafts. I have a feeling this blog will mainly be about my stamping, but ya never know! I live in beautiful Alaska and love the beauty I'm surrounded with everyday, so occasional pictures of moose or other local things may be posted. I will keep that to a minimum, as I have a separate photo blog for that purpose :)