Thinking of You for Paper Players

A friend of the family lost her mother to cancer over the weekend so I wanted to let her know that we are thinking of her. This week marks 17 months since I lost my dad to cancer so I know the pain she is feeling and I know how much notes from my friends meant to me after he passed.

I played along with The Paper Players, as they have a great sketch this week from LeAnne. I didnt want my card to be too busy, and since our friend loves cats I decided to use the kitty from the Touch of Kindness set. I did move the sentiment to the middle of the card, as it just worked better with what I had going on.

Make sure you head over to The Paper Players blog to check out the great cards from the design team and all the great projects that have been submitted by folks!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Touch of Kindness, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight DSP

Ink: Black StazOn, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight

Accessories: Small Oval Punch, Cherry Cobbler Ribbon, sponge, dimensionals

Merry Monday Snowmen

I didnt get a chance to play along with last weeks Merry Monday challenge so I made sure to make time for it today. A very special birthday wish to Torico, who has been the featured  designer at Merry Monday this past month, and who is also offering up a prize for this challenge!

Since we got 5" of new snow yesterday and its snowing again today I decided to use one of my favorite sets, Flaky Friends. I love snowmen, they are just so happy and fun! Because the snow here in Alaska tends to be very dry  we dont get a chance to make snowmen very often so I buy snowmen stamps and snowmen decorations for the house to make up for it :0)

I went into my retired DSP stash for this paper. The Blushing Bride(current In Color) isnt a color I normally use, I cant stand the color pink, but I wanted to use some of this paper up and went a bit outside of my comfort zone to do it. I compensated for it by using the Real red as an accent color---Real Red is much more my style and what I tend to gravitate too when it comes to Christmas. When my daughter came home from school I showed her the card and the first thing she said was "you used pink?" LOL

I hope that wherever you are you had a good Monday!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Flaky Friends, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Baja Breeze, Real Red, Blushing Bride, Whisper White, Candy Cane Christmas DSP

Ink: Black StazOn, Real Red, Blushing Bride, Garden Green, Summer Sun, Bashful Blue, Basic Black, Early Espresso

Accessories: Snow Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Cuttlebug, Cricut 'Winter Woodland' cartridge, Paper Piercing Tool, Modern Label Punch, Small Oval Punch, Dazzling Details, Real Red Ribbon, sponge

Get Your Friday Mashup On.....

Goodness, its the last Friday in February! Where the heck is time going? Seems like we were just welcoming in the New Year and now March is right around the corner. Time needs to slow down!

Of course being Friday that means its time for another Friday Mashup and this week our challenge comes from our fearless leader Holly. Her challenge definitely made me think a bit because its really not things I do a whole lot. So whats the challenge you ask?

1. Make a project using the "Kissing Technique".
2. Or Make a "Round" project.
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Round project featuring the Kissing Technique".

Seems pretty easy right? Ha! Maybe its just me but I had a hard time with the round portion of the project. I ended up using my Cricut cartridge "Joys of the Season" to cut a round ornament card, and I just cut the top portion of the card off to get a circle. The circle made me think of the sky for some reason(dont ask, I have no idea, LOL) and so I went with the set Up, Up & Away for hot air balloons floating through the sky. I used some So Saffron ribbon tied in a bow at the top so the card could be hung as a decoration if desired. The kissing technique was done on the hot air ballons with So Saffron and Wild Wasabi.

Head over to The Friday Mashup blog to check out all the great inspiration from the rest of the design team and dont forget to play along with us! Also, if you go to The Friday Mashup blog you'll see that voting is now in progress for the Fan Favorite challenge. Vote vote vote for your favorite!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Up, Up & Away

Paper: Naturals White, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Cutie Pie DSP

Ink: So Saffron, Marina Mist, Wild Wasabi

Accessories: Cricut 'Joys of the Season' cartridge, Scallop Circle Punh, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, Coluzzle, So Saffron ribbon

Bear-ly Squeezing in Paper Players and a Fresh Sketch

Geez, I don't know where the time went but I checked The Paper Players current challenge and realized it would be closing soon. I love masculine cards and so I made sure to set some time aside this afternoon to get a card made for both The Paper Players and the new challenge from Freshly Made Sketches. 

I've been all about moose lately thanks to a frequent visitor to my yard but since I read an article in a local paper this morning about the bears at a local conservation center waking up I thought I would use one of my favorite stamp sets today...however instead of using the moose like I normally do I grabbed the bear for today's card. Now that is one thing I have never seen in my yard, a bear. I have found evidence of their visits, bear scat(poop) and scratches on trees, but they have managed to elude my camera, the sneaky buggers!

Head on over to both challenge blogs to check out all the wonderful inspiration from the design teams!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Definitively Decorative Pines

Paper: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Watercolor Paper, Woodland Walk DSP

Ink: Garden Green, Early Espresso

Accessories: 1" square punch, twine, Aqua Painter, sponge, dimensionls

Moose-tastic Sketch for Scrapbook Essentials

For todays card I played along with the current challenge over at Scrapbook Essentials BC. I love simple, clean sketches and this is a wonderful one. I did turn the sketch around to go vertical instead of horizontal but other than that I didnt change anything.

I've had a young bull moose visiting my yard for over a week now and Bobby the Bull Moose is out there again today, so he is my inspiration for this card. Moose are such beautiful, graceful creatures and I cant help but smile when I see them!

Make sure you head over to Scrapbook Essentials BC to play along, there are still a few days left to link up!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Definitely Decorative Pines, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Crumb Cake, Garden Green, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Woodland Walk DSP

Ink: Early Espresso, Garden Green

Accessories: Scallop Edge Border Punch, Round Corner Punch, sponge,

Bobby the Bull Moose, my visitor and inspiration :)

Sketchy Vintage with Friday Mashup

Happy Friday to everyone! I hope you have had a great week. Mine has been wonderful, lots to smile about and be thankful for!

Todays Friday Mashup is brought to us by Kasey and she is giving us a sketch to work with, plus she also wants us to make give our projects a shabby chic or vintage feel. Thats really not my type of thing so I had a tough time with that portion of the Mashup and I dont know if I really captured it or not, but at least I tried right :)

Now make sure you head on over to The Friday Mashup and play along with us and dont forget, you can still submit your ideas for the Fan Favorite Challenge! The link is open until Feb.22nd!

1. Make a project using the "Sketch".
2. Or Make a "Shabby Chic / Vintage" project.
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Shabby Chic/Vintage project using the Sketch".

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: On The Grow

Paper: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla

Ink: Soft Suede, Black StazOn, Marina Mist, Basic Gray, Real Red, Lovely Lilac, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Photo Corners Punch, Color Spritzer Tool, sponge, dimensionals

Colorful Sketch for 2 Challenges

I started working on this card yesterday but I've had a young bull moose in my yard the past several days and what can I say, he has had my attention more than the stamping, LOL. My husband says I need a moose-intervention, hehehehhe :)

I did put the camera down for a bit this morning to finish this card. I played along with the The Paper Players, which was a color challenge(Poppy Parade, Soft Suede, Pool Party and Very Vanilla) and with Freshly Made Sketches, which is a sketch (duh LOL).

As soon as I saw the colors for the challenge I thought about the Spice Cake DSP and I used the Poppy Parade as an accent color. To give it a little extra pop I embossed it with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. I also added paper piercing around the sketch for a little more emphasis.

Lots of great cards at both sites, go check them out!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Precious Butterflies

Paper: Soft Suede, Poppy Parade, Very Vanilla, Pool Party, Spice Cake DSP

Ink: Poppy Parade, Soft Suede

Accessories: Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Cuttlebug, Embosslits Beautiful Wings, Pearls, Paper Piercing Tool, dimensionals, sponge

The young bull moose that has been hanging around our yard since the weekend. I've nicknamed him Bobby the Bull Moose.

Merry Snowglobe

I took a break from playing in the snow and photographing the young bull moose thats been in my yard to play along with this weeks Merry Monday challenge. I honestly tried to work with the oval shape but everything I tried looked horrible, I just could not seem to get the idea in my mind onto paper, so I went with a square instead and used the Sweet Snowglobe stamp for a nice wintry scene.

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Sweet Snowglobe, sentiments from Bright Hopes
Paper: Early Espresso, Riding Hood Red, Naturals White, S.E.I. Cocoa Cluster

Ink: Early Espresso, Real Red, Garden Green, Metallic Silver

Accessories: Cuttlebug Snowflakes embossing folder, Cuttlebug, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, Small Oval Punch, Round Corner Punch, Paper Piercing Tool, Dazzling Details, Glitter, Sweet Treat Cup, sponge, dimensionals

Simple Sympathy for Freshly Made

I went with this very simple sympathy card when playing along with this weeks sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. I don't like busy cards to begin with and when someone experiences a loss I like to keep the card pretty plain..... I guess a muted, right to the point kind of thing.

Check out the challenge and all the great cards by the design team, they are simply stunning!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Thanks For Caring

Paper: Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy, Naturals White, Bella Bleu DSP

Ink: Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy

Accessories: Decorative Label Punch, Not Quite Navy Ribbon, dimensionals, sponge

Spotlighting Penguins for Friday Mashup!

Hello and welcome to another Friday Mashup challenge, and it's time for me to host again!

If you've been by my blog before its easy to see that I love and adore moose. Well, I also happen to simply adore penguins! How cute are they? My house is filled with moose and penguin items, these 2 animals just always bring a big smile to my face. Today I'd love to see every ones projects that use a penguin image--it's winter(well, at least in this hemisphere!) and what better animal to create a project with when it's cold out? While you are at it spotlight the penguin or anything else in your project! I love the spotlight technique, I think its a great way to get an image to stand out.

For my card I went with some Christmas penguins. I love Christmas cards and make them all year long so I don't see a problem with jolly penguins in February :) I chose to spotlight the middle penguin and his letter "O".

Make sure you head over to The Friday Mashup blog to see all the great projects from the rest of the design team and play along with us! Also, our Fan Favorite Challenge is coming up so submit your idea for a Friday Mashup Challenge!!

-Make a project using the "Spotlighting Technique".

-Or Make a project featuring "Penguins".
-Or "Mash it Up" and create a project featuring "Penguins using the Spotlighting Technique".

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Penguin Pals

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Whisper White, Holiday Treasures DSP

Ink: Black StazOn, Ruby Red, Old Olive, Baja Breeze

Accessories: Dazzling Details, Simply Scored, dimensionals, brads

Jolly Santa for Merry Monday

This week brings another new sketch over at Merry Monday! I had this all ready to post yesterday afternoon but ended up delayed until today.....some jerk HIT the bus that my special needs son rides...as it was turning into our DRIVEWAY!! Can you believe it? Thankfully my son and his driver and aide were all ok (and so was the guy who hit them, although I sure did want to hurt him!) but needless to say I didn't get near the computer the rest of the night since I was out with the Alaska State Troopers and such for an hour and a half, then had to make dinner and go to work. So here is a little public service announcement for people...when you come across a school bus the flashing lights and stop sign mean STOP, not "lets try and pass this bus because I want to be somewhere a minute sooner".

So here is my happy little Santa that brought a smile to my face yesterday! I used Dazzling Details and Frost White Shimmer Paint to give his outfit a little more sparkle but I kept everything else pretty simple!

Make sure you head over to Merry Monday and play along! Christmas cards are awesome to make no matter what time of year it is, at least I think so :)

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Jolly Holiday

Paper: Real Red, Baja Breeze, Naturals White, Candy Cane Christmas DSP

Ink: Real Red, Black StazOn

Accessories: Dazzling Details, Frost White Shimmer Paint, Paper Piercing Tool

Flowers and a Sketch for 2 Challenges

Today's card combines 2 challenges.....


The first is from The Paper Players and Nance wants us to use a floral image on our card. That was hard for me, as I totally have winter on my mind and there is snow everywhere. I also discovered that I own more snowman stamps than flower ones, ROFL. I guess I love flowers in my yard but in my stamp collection, not so much! I ended up using an image from the "Easter Blossoms" set. I don't celebrate Easter so this flower image(and the little girl silhouette) were the only reason I bought the set.

Looking at my front yard this afternoon:

The second challenge is a sketch challenge from Scrapbook Essentials BC and it's from Lesley. Very nice and easy sketch, and although I am usually not too fond of circles I went ahead and used that shape. For some reasons circles just  frustrate me, LOL.

Make sure you head over to both sites to play along with their great challenges!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Easter Blossoms

Paper: Crumb Cake, Rose Red, Always Artichoke, Watercolor Paper, Springtime Vintage

Ink: Rose Red, Crumb Cake, Regal Rose, Pretty In Pink

Accessories: Nestabilities, CB Swiss Dots folder, small oval punch, Dazzling Details, sponge, dimensionals

A Banner Holiday with Jingle Belles

Yeahhh, I finally found some time to play with the current Jingle Belles challenge! I'm still riding on the high of the NY Giants Super Bowl win(I'm a lifelong fan of the G-Men!) and so I thought I'd better take advantage of this energy while I had it :0)

For this new year of challenges the ladies of JB, Lauren and Stef, made some challenges to the blog. One of these changes included a new banner with new graphics and colors. This is where this weeks challenge comes from---we are to use the new banner as inspiration for our project!

I love the bells going across the banner and the red that is used for the name and accenting on the bells, so I went with that for my inspiration. My favorite Christmas song is "Silver Bells" so I went with silver shimmer paper for my bells and red glimmer paper was used in the background as an accent. The bells were cut using my Cricut and the Joys of the Season cartridge.

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: sentiment from Jolliest Time of Year

Paper: Soft Sky, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Red Glimmer Paper, Silver Glimmer Paper, S.E.I. WinterSong/Flurry Kisses paper

Ink: Cherry Cobbler

Accessories: Cricut, Joys of the Season cartridge, Silver Elastic Cord, dimensionals

Inspiring Hearts and Colors with Friday Mashup!

Dang, its Friday again! Time is just flying by and since its the Friday before the Super Bowl I just have to say this....GO BIG BLUE!! I'm a huge football fan and have been a diehard Giants fan since I was a little kid so I am so excited for Sunday! Sunday also happens to be my 18th wedding anniversary so I told my husband he better make sure the Giants win as my gift or I want a divorce, LOL!

There is nothing sports related about this weeks Friday Mashup but it does involve a lot of heart and some great colors. Heidi is bringing a great photo inspiration and color challenge to us! The colors are Cherry Cobbler, Regal Rose and Whisper White and the photo is all about hearts.

I picked up on the snacks in the photo because I love sweet treats and that was my inspiration for making these little treat baskets. The tutorial I used showed Peppermint Patty's being used but I couldnt find any small ones to fit the baskets so I think I'm going to throw some Hershey Kisses in these bad boys and call it good :)

Make sure you pop over to The Friday Mashup and see all the other great projects the rest of the design team has come up with and play along with us! See where these colors and the photo can take your imagination!

-Make a project using the "Inspiration Photo".

-Or Make a project using the colors "Cherry Cobbler, Regal Rose & Whisper White".
-Or "Mash it Up" and create a project "Inspired by the photo using the colors Cherry Cobbler, Regal Rose and Whisper White

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise stated)
Stamps: Filled With Love, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Regal Rose, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler DSP, Regal Rose DSP
Ink: Regal Rose, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Simply Scored Scoring Tool, Modern Label Punch, Slot Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Heart to Heart Punch, Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer Punch, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Big Shot, various brads, Cherry Cobbler ribbon, non-SU pink ribbon, paper piercing tool, Dazzling Details