Thursday, June 30, 2011

Patriotic Friday Mashup

Its time for another Friday Mashup and this weeks challenge is brought to us from our head honcho, Holly! I have to say, this challenge is one of my absolute favorites that we've had so far. I LOVE patriotic themes, they just make me smile.

This week for the Mashup Challenge, you are welcome to:

1. Create a project featuring the colors Red, White & Blue.
2. Create a Patriotic themed Project for (any Country).
3. Or "Mash it Up!" and create a Red, White & Blue, Patriotic Project.

Head over to The Friday Mashup blog to check out all the inspiration from the design team this week. I just LOVE the images used this week!

I went with a clean and simple card using the Land of the Free stamp from SU. I love this stamp! I used Night of Navy and Real Red ink on the stamp, and also used those colors for cardstock to do some layering. My main base is Whisper White that has been embossed with the CB folder Distressed Stripes. Real Red ribbon goes across the card.



Supplies Used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Land of the Free
Paper: Whisper White, Night of Navy, Real Red
Ink: Night of Navy, Real Red
Accessories: CB Distressed Stripes Folder, Real Red Ribbon
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Sunday, June 26, 2011

Lonely Jingle Belles

This week over at the Jingle Belles blog they are letting us make any type of Christmas card we want BUT we have to make something that goes with the card, such as gift tags, card case, gift bag, etc. Anything to ensure that your card isnt lonely! They are also teaming up with the team from The Order of the Opus Gluei for a crossover event.

I decided to use one of my favorite images, the Christmas stamp from the SU set Greeting Card Kids. I just love this little scene! I made 2 tags to go along with the card...I had grand visions of doing something a little bigger and fancier but I'm pressed for time, I'm having surgery on Monday and have a million things to get done before I'm laid up for a bit. Therefore just the tags got done. I tried to keep the elements found in my card on my tags also, such as the embossed dots and the colors. I also wanted to try and keep an "old" feel to the designs.




Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Greeting Card Kids, Tags For All, A Cute Christmas
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Soft Suede, Brushed Silver, Watercolor Paper
Ink: Soft Suede, Black StazOn, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: SU Watercolor Crayons, Blender Pen, sponge, ribbon from S.E.I., Scallop Edge Border Punch, CB Swiss Dots Folder
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Thursday, June 23, 2011

Friday Mashup Sketch and Colors

Its time again for Friday Mashup! Our challenge this week comes from Kasey and I love it because it got me thinking about fall with the great colors she chose. Now for many of us summer just started on the 21st but Kasey lives in Queensland Australia so therefore its winter for her :) I immediately thought of this stamp set, Autumn Days, and the spectacular fall and winter sunsets we have here in Alaska. The colors More Mustard and Cherry Cobbler were just perfect for that. I'd never attempted to do a sunset sky before and while it didnt turn out perfect I think it came out ok!

So the challenge is this:
This week for the Mashup Challenge, you are welcome to:

1. Create a project using More Mustard, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla.
2. Create a project using the Sketch.
3. Or "Mash it Up!" and create a project using the Sketch & Color Combo.

Head over to The Friday Mashup blog to link up your creation and go check out the great inspiration provided by the design team and leave them some love!


Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Autumn Days, sentiment from Small Script
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, More Mustard, Very Vanilla
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, More Mustard
Accessories: Sponge, Corner Rounder Punch, Blender Pen, Modern Label Punch

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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Bundling Up With the Jingle Belles

So how many people were like me when they first saw the Jingle Belles prompt for this week and thought we would have to use images that dealt with clothes and bundling up for winter? Am I the only one? LOL

The challenge this week comes from Candy. I discovered her through the Jingles Belles blog a month or so ago and you must go check out her blog, Stampin' With Candy. So creative and lots of great inspiration! So what did Candy want with a "bundled up" prompt? Layers! Yep, thats right...bundle your card up with at least 3 layers!

I used one of the previous sketches from Splitcoast(# 304) to give me a little help, and this is the card I came up with...I love cardinals and am sad to see this SU set retiring. I'll still use it though, 'cause I use all my stuff whether its retired or not. Yep, thats how I roll! The cardinal is a special favorite of mine because it reminds me of my Grandma. She adored cardinals and had them all throughout the house. She would have loved to get a card made with this set.




Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: A Cardinal Christmas
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Deck The Halls DSP, Whisper White
Ink: Black StaOn, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Basic Black, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: CB Swiss Dots folder, SU Alpine ribbon, Xmas Red Stickles, sponge, dimensionals
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Thursday, June 16, 2011

Show Me Some Summer Lovin'!

Its my turn again to host the challenge over at The Friday Mashup and I want to see your summer projects!!

Its June 17 and the first day of summer is just a few days away! Summer in Alaska doesnt last long so folks here take advantage of our 20+ hours of daylight to get out there and squeeze in all the summer activities they can.  For my family that includes fishing, relaxing in the yard, hiking and lots of BBQ'ing. What does summer mean to you? Create a project and show us! Even better, throw in some polka dots....I dont know why but I always think of polka dots when I think of summer! Soo....

This week for the Mashup Challenge, you are welcome to:


1. Create a Summer Theme Project
2. Create a project using Polka Dots.
3. Or "Mash it Up!" and create a Summer Themed Project using Polka Dots!

Check out all the great inspiration from the design team and please, go leave them some love on their blogs! They love to hear what you think of all the projects!

Also, dont forget that we still have the Fan Favorite Contest going on over at the Friday Mashup blog. You have until June 29th to submit your idea, so head over and link up!

For my project I used an image that conveys one of my favorite things to do during the summer...relaxing in the yard! I love to sit in my backyard and watch the birds, or read a book, or watch my kids play on the trampoline. I also love the cat in this image, as I have 2 fat gray cats myself, although they arent allowed to go outside and play.  ((whoa, just had an earthquake as I was typing this out!! Never a dull moment in Alaska! Jut a little trivia...did you know Alaska has more earthquakes than any other US state? Yep, we sure do!))





Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Peace Within, sentiment from Happy Moments
Paper: Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze, Springtime Vintage DSP, Watercolor Paper
Ink: Black StazOn, Crumb Cake, Going Gray, Basic Gray, Old Olive, So Saffron, Poppy Parade, Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: CB Seeing Spots folder, AquaPainter, ribbon, brads, Pewter Hodgepodge
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Wednesday, June 15, 2011

S.O.S. Challenge

I'm playing along again with the Shopping Our Stash blog and this weeks challenge is a neat one.

Use any combination of one or more items/themes from one or more of the following categories:


S- products from companies that start with S - Stampin' Up, Stampavie, SEI, etc.
O-ocean or nautical, seashore, underwater creatures, etc.
S-things that start with an S like seashells, silver, seam binding ribbon, scoring, silly, stripes, seagulls stitching, etc.

I was going to do a ocean/sea/nautical theme but then I decided to go with these snowmen instead. I'm just in a winter/Christmas kind of mood I guess(and if you really know me, that wont surprise you one bit!).

This fits the SOS challenge in the following ways: Snowflakes(embossing folder), Snowmen, Stampin'Up, Silver Elastic Cord, Square Punch, Silver Stickles. I also used this weeks sketch from Splitcoaststampers.





Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Flaky Friends
Paper: Taken With Teal, Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Holiday Lounge DSP
Ink: Black StazOn, Taken With Teal, Cherry Cobbler, Summer Sun, Bermuda Bay, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black, Garden Green, Only Orange
Accessories: SU Markers, Silver Elastic Cord, CB Folder Snowflakes, 1 3/8" square punch, Silver Stickles





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Saturday, June 11, 2011

Friday Mashup Fan Favorite Contest!



We love our Fans here at the Mashup and we want you to be a part of the fun creating a Mashup Challenge! Help us pick our first "Fan Favorite" Challenge!



Here's what ya gotta do...it is really easy!!!


Write up a post on your blog with YOUR challenge idea with a link back to the Mashup Blog!


Link up your idea post to the Friday Mashup Blog by June 22nd at noon (EST)


**Your Challenge idea should be written like this:


My Mashup Challenge, would be to:


1. Create a " FILL IN WITH YOUR IDEA" project.


2. Create a project using "FILL IN WITH YOUR IDEA ".


3. Or "Mash it Up!" and create a " FILL IN WITH YOUR IDEA" project that uses " FILL IN WITH YOUR IDEA"!


We will pick our top three favorites on June 23rd ( Don't have a blog? You can email us your suggestion using the link on the sidebar).


You the fans get to pick the winner, we will post the top three on the 24th and voting will be open for a week. The winner will be asked to be a Designer for their challenge and receive a Special Badge for their blog.


We can't wait to see your Mashup ideas!


Happy Creating!!!


The Mashup Team





















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Friday, June 10, 2011

Sketchy Christmas with Jingle Belles

This week the Jingle Belles have a sketch, courtesy of  Kirsty Vittetoe. Not only is Kirsty the guest star and sketch artist but she is also sponsoring a prize for the challenge this week, a $15.00 gift certificate to the Pixie Shoppe.

For this challenge I grabbed one of my favorite sets, Sweet Holidays. I just love this gingerbread house, it is too cute! To give the image a little sparkle I added some stickles to the roof.


 Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Sweet Holidays
Paper: Pretty In Pink, Pear Pizazz, Marina Mist, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, My Minds Eye DSP
Ink: Black StazOn, Pretty In Pink, Pear Pizazz, Bashul Blue, Real Red, Crumb Cake, Close To Cocoa
Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Pink Pirouette Ribbon, CB Swiss Dots Folder, Stickles-Waterfall color


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Thursday, June 9, 2011

Friday Mashup Get Well with Fabric!

Its the 2nd Friday in June, only 2 more to go!! Are you all ready for another Friday Mashup challenge? We've got another great one for you this week and this time its from Kim, who came up with a great idea! Here is what she says:

Hey there Stampin' Friends! Kim here. I hope you are ready to create today!

Summer vacations are upon us, and everyone wants to get out and have fun. Nothin' puts a damper on vacation plans like poorly-timed allergy colds or a bad case of sun-burn! Sometimes we need to spread a little cheer to our friends with the ick-ies, and I never have enough get well cards.


Time to change that! Plus, adding fabric to paper crafting is a fun trend...see what you can do with it! Play along, and be sure to use keyword FM10 in your online gallery.

This week for the Mashup Challenge, you are welcome to:
1. Create a project with soft texture...fabric, felt, even cotton balls (ribbon doesn't count).
2. Create a get well card OR
3. MASHUP the challenge and create a get well card that has a soft texture!
I love my fellow design team members because they really get me thinking out of the box every week and I need that!

Now, I did MASHUP the challenge but I used a very small piece of fabric as more of an accent piece than anything else. I have to admit that I dont keep fabric on hand because I dont sew or anything like that, and I was too lazy to drive into town just to buy a small piece of fabric for the challenge. I dug through my stash and I did end up finding this fabric, and I have NO idea where it came from or why I had it, LOL.

I used the stamp set Pendant Park. I absolutely adore this set, it can be used for anything and its so nice and simple!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Pendant Park, Quick Thinking
Paper: So Saffron, Soft Suede, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla
Ink: Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede
Accessories: Fabric, Pinking Shears, Soft Suede Ribbon, Modern Label Punch, sponge, dimensionals

Head over to the The Friday Mashup site and play along with us! The design team offers some FANTASTIC inspiration, so visit them and leave some love, and also check out your fellow crafters and leave them some love too!

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Monday, June 6, 2011

In Stitches

So its week 2 of me working days for the summer, and trying to find stamping time has been hard! I dont know how some of you crafters do it--full-time job, spouse/kids in the evenings, crafting, other activities. I'm exhausted by the time I get home at 4!

Anyway, since we had some rain this weekend I managed to squeeze in some time to work on the latest Jingle Belles challenge and I finished up the card tonight. This week the challenge is to:
incorporate sewing into our holiday cards; whether that be in the form of hand-stitching, via sewing machine, or even by using a pen, a stamp, or some rub-ons to add some faux stitching. anything goes!




I'm not going to lie. I hate to sew. I used to cross-stitch a long time ago but thats the closest I've come to sewing. When I was growing up if I needed something sewn I'd ask my grandma or my mother. When I was in the military I paid my roommate to do any sewing I needed. I've been married almost 18 yrs and my husband sews anything that needs it! Yes, thats how much I despise it, so you can imagine my thoughts when I read the challenge. However, I sucked it up and said, well, the whole point of a challenge is to overcome and do something you normally wouldnt do, so I did! Nothing fancy, but it was all by hand and no object or person was harmed in the process! :)

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps:  Holiday Lineup, sentiment from Best Yet
Paper: Certainly Celery, Sage Shadow, Whisper White, Wintergreen DSP
Ink: Black StazOn, Old Olive
Accessories: SU markers, brads, Curly Label Punch, Sage Shadow Ribbon, sponge, DC Floss # 503 and 368

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Thursday, June 2, 2011

Friday Mashup--Kids and Bright Colors

Happy Friday! Its another great challenge from The Friday Mashup blog and this week our challenge is issued by Lesley, and it was a bit of a toughie for me! You can make a card for a child, make a card using the colors Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise and Pacific Point, or you can MASHUP the challenges and make a childs card incorporating those colors.

I really dont make cards for kids that often, and while I do love 3 of the 4 colors given I dont combine them that often, so I had to think about this challenge a bit. Finally I pulled out the Sock Monkey set(which is on the newly released SU retiring list, so if you want it you have until June 30 to get it!) and started on a simple card. I wanted to stick with simple because kids dont like overwhelming things, but they do like bright colors, shapes and usually a monkey is a safe bet for smiles :) I didnt realize it but I didnt have any Tempting Turquoise paper(oops!) so I incorporated that color by coloring an outfit on the monkey!



Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Sock Money, Print Pattern
Paper: Pacific Point, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White
Ink: Black StazOn, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Sizzix Circles Diecuts, Dazzling Diamonds, sponge, dimensionals, black twine


Head over to the Friday Mashup blog and check out the other great cards from the design team, and leave everyone some love. Folks love comments and like to hear that others are enjoying their work!

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Jingle Belles and SOS

I apologize for the lack of posting lately, but with Memorial Weekend and switching to day shift at work for the summer(and I am sooooo not a morning person!) I havent had much time to get any stamping done. I made time today and sat down to make a card for 2 challenges...the Jingle Belles challenge from May 27 and this weeks Shopping Our Stash (SOS) challenge.

The Jingle Belles challenge was to use 3 different types of designer paper, and over at SOS they want us to dig into our stash and use our oldest stamp or digistamp. I went and grabbed a stamp that I've had since I first started stamping back in 1994. I have no idea who made the stamp...I *think* I got it when living in northern CA but dont remember for certain. All it says on the stamp is "©1988 PSX Petaluma CA K-347". I love Christmas and I love stamps of houses that remind me of where I live, or have lived. I think I probably got this stamp because it reminded me of Christmas in the woods in New England but now that I live in Alaska it totally reminds me of the cabins that surround us here!  I used 3 different types of DSP mounted on Crumb Cake and then Cherry Cobbler cardstock, while the main image is layered on some Early Espresso cardstock.

**Just to get off track for a moment...mentioning New England...my hometown, Springfield MA, was hit with 2 tornadoes yesterday. If you could please keep the people of Springfield and the surrounding towns of western MA in your thoughts I'd appreciate it.**



Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Main image unknown, inside sentiment from SU
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Watercolor Paper, Deck The Halls DSP
Ink: Black StazOn, Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Going Gray, Garden Green, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip, Night of Navy, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: AquaPainter, Dazzling Diamonds, Liquid Applique, Xmas Red Stickles, sponge

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