Friday Mashup Bossy and Sketchy

Before I dive into this weeks Friday Mashup challenge I want to remind everyone that we currently have the Friday Mashup Fan Favorite contest going on right now! Think you have a great idea for the Mashup blog? Write up a post on your blog and then go submit it at the Friday Mashup!Fans will vote on their favorites and the winner gets to host their idea for the Friday Mashup blog! Lets see those creative minds at work!

Speaking of creative minds, this week our challenge comes from a VERY creative mind, Lesley(check out her blog and see what I mean!). She's providing us with a CAS sketch this week, and also wants to see some dry embossing.

So here is how we are MASHING IT UP this week:


Create a project using the provided "Sketch"
or Create a project that has a "Dry Embossing on it"
or "Mash it Up!" and create a card using the "Sketch with Dry Embossing"

I cant help it, I've totally moved into fall mode! My friends that live just a bit north of me in Fairbanks say signs of fall are really taking hold that way, the sandhill cranes are starting their southern migration and the various Alaska National Parks are posting about the fall colors that are starting to pop. I love it!! Pretty soon my woodstove will be going 24/7(thats how we heat our home in the winter) and I'll be watching the snow fall, yeahhhhhhhhh!! Naturally I decided to do a card that echoed the way I'm feeling right now :)

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Seasonal Whimsy, Petite Pairs

Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White

Ink: Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive

Accessories: CB Swiss Dots Folder, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, Old Olive ribbon, sponge, dimensionals

Its your turn...head over to the Friday Mashup blog and play along with us! Dont forget to go check out the cards the design team made for inspiration!

In CASE You Forgot

My schedule has been so crazy that I havent played along with the Splitcoast challenges in a while, and definitely not the Try a New Technique for a really long time! I checked over there this morning and thought it was a fantastic challenge and really wanted to play along!

The challenge is to go into your favorites gallery and CASE the first card you ever added to your favorites gallery! How neat is that? I know I am really guilty of adding cards/projects to my gallery and then forgetting all about them.

The first card I ever added as a favorite was this Christmas one by Colleen Kidder. I instantly knew why I added it...I love the colors she used, the stamps she used to make her background and the main image. Simply adorable!

Colleens Card at Splitcoast

Now go look at her card, and then check out my CASE of it. I used red and green instead of blues but kept the same layout, a winter/Christmas theme, tearing of the cardstock and a ribbon element.

Supplies(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Home for Christmas, Sleigh Bells Ring
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Watercolor Paper
Ink: Black StazOn, Versamark, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Basic Gray, Old Olive, Garden Green, River Rock
Accessories: SU Markers and Watercolor Pencils, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds

Clean and Simple Joins with Jingle Belles

Today was a perfect day to work on a Christmas card. Its been raining here in southcentral Alaska and I feel like the most wonderful time of the year is just around the corner! Autumn arrives quickly in Alaska and winter isnt far behind...I've already got leaves falling from the trees and the Talkeetna and Chugach Mtns that surround us have already had some snow. I cant wait until we get our first snowfall here in the Valley!

This week Jingle Belles is joining up with the Clean and Simple Stamping blog for the challenge, which is a sketch. I love CAS cards but I have to admit when I saw the circles on the sketch I groaned. Just not my style! I sat and thought about it for a bit and decided to use my Polar Party set(LOVE the images!) and some of my favorite DSP(which I also noticed a designer for FTL used...oops. Great minds think alike eh?). The DSP background makes the card seem a little busier than it really is but overall I think I did pretty good with the CAS part. I have to say I really like this card and how it came out...I might make a few more of it!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Polar Party
Paper: Taken With Teal, Ruby Red, Whisper White, Holiday Lounge DSP
Ink: Black StazOn, Taken With Teal, Ruby Red, Sahara Sand, Pear Pizzazz, Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake
Accessories: 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Round Corner Punch, Coluzzle, Scallop Edge Border Punch, sponge, dimensionals

Sweet As A Button for Friday Mashup!

Wooohoooo, its Friday! My kids started back to school on Weds and so now I can get back into a normal crafting routine during the day. Holly made it easy for me this week with the challenge she is bringing us...Buttons and Cupcakes!

Create a project using Buttons .
Create a project featuring "Cupcakes".
or "Mash it Up!" and create a project with Cupcakes & Buttons!


Check out the great projects from the Design Team , you may notice that we added in some extra touches... Paper Piercing & Paper Piecing so if your really up for a challenge add one of those techniques into your project as well.

And don't forget about our next "Fan Favorite" Challenge. We can't wait to see what your ideas are!



If you go to the Friday Mashup blog you can see I went in a different direction than the other designers, going with a masculine birthday card. My cousin, who lives in the Worcester MA area, is turning 17 over Labor Day weekend and its really important to me that I send him a card and recognize his birthday. Our family has been through a lot the last 3 yrs with the loss of my/our grandparents in 2008 and 2009 and my dad in 2010(his uncle) and my aunt, uncle(my dads youngest brother) and cousin are the only blood family I truly have left. My grandparents always sent cards and such for birthdays and other special occasions and I want my cousin to know that we're still here for him and that we're thinking of him.

I also went ahead and added paper piercing, going for a full  MASHUP on my card!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: sentiment from Create A Cupcake

Paper: Early Espresso, Night of Navy, Cajun Craze, River Rock, Soft Suede, Well Worn DSP

Ink: Early Espresso

Accessories: Cupcake Builder Punch, CB Swiss Dots folder, buttons, twine, Night of Navy ribbon, paper piercing tool

Christmas Bling

I didnt think I was going to get this weeks challenge done for Jingle Belles, as its completely out of my comfort zone...bling, bling and more bling. I'm just not a bling type of person and so anytime I'm asked to add some I really struggle with it.

My card is really simple and the bling is pretty subtle, so I hope it still counts. I used glittery snowflake paper from My Minds Eye and a chipboard tree from K&Company that had some gold glitter on it. I used some of my gold stickles to make the spots a little bigger. It was hard to get a shot to show all the glitter on the card but it is there, I promise!

Paper: Riding Hood Red(SU), My Minds Eye

Chipboard and Scallop border from K&Company

Gold Stickles, dimensionals

Friday Mashup Wings and Bling

This week at the Friday Mashup blog Kasey is bringing us the challenge and she is all about the wings and the bling, PLUS she has a color challenge in there also. What does all of this mean?

1. Create a project with "Butterflies and Bling".

2. Create a project using "Marina Mist, Perfect Plum and your Choice of ONE other color and ONE Neutral".
3. Or "Mash it Up!" and create a project that using "Butterflies, Bling and the Color Combo"!

I tell ya, Kasey comes up with challenges that definitely make me think! Thats what challenges are all about though right, to get people to think outside their comfort zone?

I MASHED it up this week, including both wings and bling and also doing the color challenge.  I went right off the color coach and added Rose Red as my 3rd color and I went with Whisper White as my neutral.

Make sure you head over to the Friday Mashup blog to check out all the great inspiration from the design team, leave some love, and play along with us! Make sure you also check out the other cards that are submitted and leave some love for your fellow stampers!

 I used a Perfect Plum marker to outline and color the branches, and then used stickles on the flowers colored in Marina Mist to help them really stand out.

 My bling...pearls plus the glitter on the flowers....

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Easter Blossoms, Small Script

Paper: Marina Mist, Rose Red, Whisper White, Thoroughly Modern DSP

Ink: Perfect Plum, Marina Mist

Accessories: Basic Pearls, Waterfall Stickles, Modern Label Punch, Embosslit Beautiful Wings

Shaped Christmas

This week over at the Jingle Belles Blog the challenge is to create a shaped Christmas card, and to not use the standard square or rectangle card.

I went into the challenge with a pretty positive attitude and lots of ideas going through my head. I was going to make a house using one of my Cricut cartridges, but I didnt like how that was turning out. Then I was going to make a snowglobe with a template I had but that wasnt going my way either. Finally I settled on this ornament shape but by this point I was SO frustrated and was wondering where the heck my Christmas mojo went.  The shape and the 'Merry Christmas' were both cut using the Joys of the Season cartridge and I used stickles on the top to make it look like a silver hanger. I then sponged the edge of the ornament with Real Red, just to give the edge a more defined look. I tried different embellishments on the card but it just didnt look right, so I figured what the heck, its a clean and simple look.

Glittery Anniversary Friday Mashup

I cant tell you how HAPPY I am that today is Friday! As of yesterday(Thursday) I am done with working days and go back to nights on Monday, as our school year starts Aug.17. I am ecstatic! I am NOT a morning person and so getting up at 6am all summer does not make me happy! I much prefer the school yr when the husband is up with the kids in the morning and I am snoozing away, happy to see my kids when they get home from school and I am wide awake and in a good mood!

Speaking of kids, my 15 year old daughter helped inspire part of this Friday Mashup, as its my turn to bring you the challenge! The girl loves glitter, and she is constantly telling me to add glitter to my cards. I am SOOO not a glitter/bling type of crafter so it drives me crazy when she starts in with the glitter comments. The last few cards that I actually used glitter on I did it so she would shut up! LOL So as I was sitting around trying to think up a challenge for this week I happened to glance at Courtney and thought, bingo, I'll make using glitter part of the mashup! Needless to say she was quite pleased :P

I also discovered that I am seriously lacking when it comes to anniversary cards, and I know I cant be the only one out there with this problem, so hence the 2nd part of the mashup!

So this is what we've got going on for the Friday Mashup this week. You can:
1. Create a project using glitter anywhere on it
2. Create an anniversary card
3. MASH IT UP and create an anniversary card that has glitter on it somewhere!

Head over to the Friday Mashup blog and check out all the wonderful inspiration from the design team and then play along with us! Dont forget to check out the other cards submitted and leave some love for your fellow crafters!

 Its a bit hard to see but the leaves the birds are perched on were painted with Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, giving them a very nice subtle gold glittery effect.

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Crumb Cake, Night of Navy, Rose Red, Always Artichoke, Springtime Vintage DSP
Ink: Night of Navy, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Modern Label Punch, Bird Builder Punch, Top Note Die, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Always Artichoke ribbon, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint