Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Snowy Sketch

Today's card combines 2 challenges....Merry Monday and The Paper Players.

For Merry Monday its a Tic Tac Toe challenge and I chose "white snow ribbon". I added just a touch of Always Artichoke but the majority of the card is Confetti White, so hopefully that counts! The sweet house image is from an older SU set called Winter Wonderland, its one of my all time favorites! I used 2 embossing folder for the snow....SU's Snow Burst and CB's Swiss Dots. There are also snowflakes on the image and I added Dazzling Details to those, as well as the roof line and yard. We got 4 inches of new snow last night so lots of inspiration just looking out my window. I love the snow!

The sketch is the current one at The Paper Players.



Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Winter Wonderland, More Merry Messages
Paper: Confetti White, Always Artichoke
Ink: Always Artichoke
Accessories: Big Shot, Nestabilities Circles and Lacey Circles, SU Snow Burst EF, CB Swiss Dots EF, Modern Label Punch, Always Artichoke Ribbon, Dazzling Details

Monday, January 28, 2013

Sunday Colors and Players Sketch

With no football on Sunday(ok, the Pro Bowl but its not the same) I had some time to stamp and so I played along with the color challenge from Sunday Stamps and the sketch from The Paper Players.

When I saw the colors for Sunday Stamps I thought it would make a cute Valentines Day card using the sweet little girl from the Greeting Card Kids set. I don't like purple but I worked it into my card and didn't even pitch a fit, wooohooo! LOL Even though it looks darker in the photos and more red I did use Raspberry Ripple for my embossed main panel, and also to color in the girls dress.

Head over to both these blogs and check them out!



Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Greeting Card Kids
Paper: Crumb Cake, Raspberry Ripple,Naturals White,  Perfect Plum DSP
Ink: Black StazOn, Crumb Cake, Raspberry Ripple, Perfect Plum
Accessories: Blender Pen, Big Shot, Nestabilities Standard Circles and Lacey Circles, Square Lattice EF, Crumb Cake Ribbon, Rhinestones

Friday, January 25, 2013

Northern Flurry Snowflakes

Over at the Jingle Belles blog they have an inspiration photo for us and its all about a Scandinavian Christmas. I went with the red and white color scheme, as well as snowflakes, and kept my card pretty CAS. My Northern Flurry EF did crease my white panel a bit so when I make more of these I am going to have to see about correcting that.....

Here is the inspiration photo.....

And here is my card inspired by the photo:
Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red
 Accessories: Big Shot, Northern Flurry EF, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots EF, Itty Bitty Banners Framelits, Bigz Snow Flurry Die, Glue Dots

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Chinese New Year for Friday Mashup

Pssstttt....it's Friday and you know what that means! Another Friday Mashup challenge is here! This week Heidi has an excellent challenge for us, one that will make you think and get creative. Heidi gives us this background:

Feb.10 the Chinese New Year begins and its the Year of the Snake. In China, it is known as the Spring Festival, runs three days, and ends with the Lantern Festival. As part of the celebration, it is traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of "good fortune" or "happiness", "wealth", and "longevity". On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. Food will include such items as pigs, ducks, chicken and sweet delicacies. The family will end the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes. The Chinese New Year tradition is to reconcile, forget all grudges and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone1.

For this challenge, you could incorporate Chinese symbols, an image of a dragon or lion representing the traditional parade dance, a snake or two to symbolize the Year of the Snake, or a red envelope. To mash it up, use the faux paper lantern technique on your project.


I wont lie, this challenge was very hard for me. Oriental design isn't a style I particularly care for and I didn't know how to translate it all to a card. I decided to use the snake from the Zoofari set (retired) and then the red, black and gold that is associated with oriental decor. I used the paper lantern technique on my snake panels.

This is a really unique challenge, so head over to The Friday Mashup to see what the rest of the design team has come up with and then be brave and try it out yourself!

  1. Make a project with a "Chinese New Year (Year of the Snake) Theme".
  2. Or Make a project using the "Paper Lantern Technique".
  3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project for the "Chinese New Year featuring the Paper Lantern Technique".

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Zoofari, Loving Thoughts, Baroque Motif
Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, Basic Black DSP
Ink: StazOn Black, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Versamark
Accessories: Modern Label Punch, Basic Black Brads, Gold Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Paper Crimper, sponge

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

CAS Cardinal Christmas

I smiled when I saw this weeks Merry Monday challenge, which is to create a Christmas card with a bird on it. I adore birds and spend enormous amounts of time in my backyard and other local spots to photograph them. Right now my backyard is full of little redpolls and even though they are little bullies I do enjoy watching them at my feeder!

I was so happy when SU came out with this set, A Cardinal Christmas. My grandma loved cardinals and I couldnt wait to make her a card with it. Unfortunately she passed before I could do that, so the Christmas following her passing I made a cardinal Christmas card for everyone in the family in honor of Grandma.

The sketch might look familiar, as I am once again playing along with the current Paper Players challenge. 

I pierced around the main image panel and also around the seniment panel. I was going to do some piercing and stitching around the outer edges but since I am going to make several of these cards I decided I was too lazy to do all that :) I used Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details for the berries.

A common male redpoll grabbing a bite to eat from the feeding shelf below my dining room window:





Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: A Cardinal Christmas
Paper: Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Watercolor Paper, Deck the Halls DSP(retired)
Ink: Black StazOn, Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, Basic Gray
Accessories: Paper Piercer, Paper Piercing Pack Essentials, Aquapainter, Blender Pen, Ticket Corner Punch, Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details, sponge



Monday, January 21, 2013

Heart Full of Thanks

I wont have any stamping time until Thursday so I used my time today to make a card for 2 challenges, Dynamic Duos and The Paper Players.

For Dynamic Duos the 2 colors to use are Real Red and Basic Black with a dessert option of Valentine theme, and the sketch is this weeks Paper Players challenge. I used retired sets for my card and even though it says "heart full of thanks" I think it could still work for a Valentines Day card, don't you?



Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Valentine Defined, Lighthearted
Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red, Basic Black
Accessories: Big Shot, Square Lattice EF

Masculine Birthday Deer

I played along with a new challenge blog today, it is called Seize the Birthday. This is their 2nd challenge and you had to make a masculine birthday card with the sketch provided.

 I pulled out a great set for masculine cards, Nature Silhouettes(retired). I colored in the stamp with Early Espresso and Old Olive and stamped it on some Confetti Cream(retired) card stock. I used Well Worn DSP(retired) for the background, perfect masculine colors. The sentiment is popped up with dimensionals.
 
Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Nature Silhouettes, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Old Olive, River Rock, Confetti Cream, Well Worn DSP
Ink: Old Olive, Early Espresso
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Argyle EF, Modern Label Punch, sponge, dimensionals

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Snow Falling Landscape

I got some stamping time in today in order to get the Merry Monday challenge done before it closes! I've been thinking about this sketch all week and what I wanted to do. I bought this die from Memory Box right before Christmas and this is my first time using it. I've seen it on quite a few blogs and just love the simplicity of it.

This card was so hard to photograph.Being an (almost) all white card didn't help, and then add to the fact that its cloudy and the sun sets at 4:30pm and well, the lighting sucked. Its a very pretty and striking card in person. I used Cherry Cobbler as an accent color and the only other color on the card is some Daffodil Delight in the house window. The sentiment was stamped in Cherry Cobbler and that piece was also backed with Cherry Cobbler card stock.  I used the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder to create my background. Its my favorite folder to use to create a falling snow effect. I originally added Dazzling Details to the landscape scene but the glitter actually detracted from the serenity of the card so I cut another piece, removed the glitter covered one and put a clean one back on.

Thanks for stopping by!

Exaggerated contrast to show the detail a little more:
 
Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: More Merry Messages
Paper: Naturals White, Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Cuttlebug, CB Swiss Dots EF,  Nestabilities Circles and Lacey Circles, Memory Box Country Landscape Die, dimensionals

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Brads and Birthday Wishes

This week our Friday Mashup comes from Holly and its all about birthdays and brads. That's right, create a birthday card, a project that uses brads or mash it up and make a birthday card that has brads on it!

I mashed it up and made a masculine birthday card using  The Open Sea set. I just love this set, its one of my favorites. I added my brads down in the bottom right.

Head on over to The Friday Mashup blog to see what the rest of the design team has for you and then play along with us, we'd love to have you!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: The Open Sea, Word Play, Bring On the Cake(inside sentiment)
Paper: Not Quite Navy, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Nautical Expedition DSP
Ink: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Circles, 1 3/4" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, Early Espresso Brads, sponge, dimensionals

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Colors and Patterns for Friday Mashup

This week at The Friday Mashup Amy is bringing us a mashup that's all about color and patterns! She wants us to use different patterns on our project plus at least 3 of the challenge colors. The only color I didn't use was Summer Starfruit. I cannot lie...I do not like that color at all, it just does not work for me. But I included all the other colors! I didn't go crazy though with the patterns...does the embossing on my Island Indigo strip count?

Make sure you head over to The Friday Mashup and play along with us, we'd love to have you!

  1. Make a project using "Different Patterns".
  2. Or Make a project with the three or more colors from "Summer Starfruit, Tangerine Tango, Island Indigo, Early Espresso and Sahara Sand".
  3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Patterned Project with the Challenge Colors".

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Friendship Preserves
Paper: Sahara Sand, Early Espresso, Island Indigo, Whisper White, International Bazaar DSP
Ink: Tangerine Tango, Sahara Sand, Early Espresso
Accessories: Big Shot, Square Lattice EF, Framelits Window Frames, Festive Paper Piercing Pack, Early Espresso brads, sponge, dimensionals

Sending Love for The Paper Players

I've been trying to squeeze in the current Paper Players challenge all week and finally got a moment this afternoon, just squeaking in! It's a theme this week, "Love is in the Air".

I decided to pull out this image from the retired set Wandering Words. I have used the Christmas image from the set but not this Valentine themed one and I thought of it the minute I saw the challenge. The hearts floating out of the mailbox are a perfect way to represent love in the air.

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Wandering Words(retired)
Paper: Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Whisper White, Orchard Harvest DSP
Ink: Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green
Accessories: Big Shot, Square Lattice EF, Cuttlebug Seeing Spots EF, blender pen, sponge, dimensionals

Monday, January 7, 2013

A Sunday Sketch for a Merry Monday

Happy Monday to everyone! Today my youngest headed back to school, I start back to work tonight on my regular schedule and 2013 takes off. I don't believe in resolutions but one of my goals this year is to stay on track with all the challenges I like to play along with. It's not always easy to find stamping time with all that I have going on but I am going to work harder at trying to make time!

This card combines 2 challenges....Sunday Stamps has a great sketch and Merry Monday is back, this time with a color challenge for us.

I decided to ink up the hostess set Christmas Wishes, which was offered in the holiday mini. I loved it the minute I saw it and ordered back in Oct.2012 but it hasn't seen ink until today, isn't that sad? That's another goal of mine...I have well over 100 Christmas stamp sets of SU alone and I want to make sure that each and every set gets used this yr!

For the strip of paper that comes out from the banner, I kept it the same as the main embossed background. I had tried some DSP in that spot and didn't like it, so I went simple and just added another snowflake layer with some brads on the end. In person the embossed layer looks really nice against the main panel. The balloon is popped up with dimensionals.

My 14 yr old son saw the card and he asked why they had Santa in a hot air balloon and not a sleigh with reindeer. I told him because they were just being creative and he looked at the image again and went "oh". LOL Guess he is like his mom and is a bit more literal when it comes to things!

Make sure you head over to both challenges and check them out, they are great fun to play along with!
 


Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Christmas Wishes(retired hostess), More Merry Messages(inside sentiment)
Paper: Pool Party, Confetti White, Candlelight Christmas DSP, Festival of Prints DSP
Ink: Pool Party, Real Red, Island Indigo
Accessories: Big Shot, Snow Burst EF, Real Red Brads, sponge, dimensionals
 

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Happiness Sketch with Mambo and Indigo

I combined 2 challenges for this card....the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and the colors from Dynamic Duos. Thanks to the color challenge I now have the song "Mambo No 5" stuck in my head....anyone else remember that song? I used to play it over an over and drive my husband insane with it.....

"A little bit of Monica in my life,
A little bit of Erica by my side.
A little bit of Rita's all I need,
A little bit of Tina's what I see.
A little bit of Sandra in the sun,
A little bit of Mary all night long.
A little bit of Jessica here I am,
A little bit of you makes me your man!
Mambo number five. "


Ok, I digress LOL I decided to go for a Valentine themed card and used a retired set, Take It to Heart. I just love this set and knew I would use it for many years to come. This is my favorite image in the set. The sketch has 3 images on the right side so I used the main heart panel and then the pearl accents for the other 2 spots. A nice simple sentiment completes it. Both the sentiment and the main image panel are popped up with dimensionals.

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Take It to Heart, Loving Thoughts
Paper: Melon Mambo, Island Indigo, Melon Mambo DSP, Whisper White
Ink: Island Indigo, Melon Mambo
Accessories: Big Shot, Square Lattice EF, Framelits Hearts Collection, Framelits Bitty Banners, Basic Pearls, Scallop Edge Border Punch, sponge, dimensionals



Thursday, January 3, 2013

Sketchy Hearts for Friday Mashup

Happy Friday to everyone! Did you recover nicely from your New Years celebrations? We had a nice time here, shooting off fireworks and eating lots of good food! Unfortunately Weds was my last day of vacation so Thurs night its back to the grind of work!

Liliana is bringing us the challenge this week over at The Friday Mashup and she is providing us with a sketch and also wants us to use hearts on our project. I am not going to lie, I got 90% through this card before I went "crud, I forgot the hearts"! I did manage to sneak a trio of hearts in though so I mashed it up, woohoo!

Make sure you head over to the Friday Mashup blog to see all the great inspiration from the rest of the design team and then play along with us, we'd love to see what you come up with!

  1. Make a project using the "Sketch".
  2. Or Make a project featuring "Hearts".
  3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project using the "Sketch and Hearts".
All supplies SU unless otherwise noted:
Stamps: Summer Afternoon
Paper: Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade,Island Indigo, Watercolor Paper, Polka Dot Parade, International Bazaar
Ink: Black StazOn, Island Indigo, Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade, Crumb Cake, Basic Black
Accessories: Big Shot, Framelits Labels, Embosslits Fashionable Hearts, sponge, dimensionals
 
 

Patriotic Snowman Love

My favorite Christmas challenge blog is back with new challenges, wooohooo! Jingle Belles, how I have missed you these last few weeks and they have started things off with a great challenge.....use new craft goodies on your Christmas card, anything that Santa, or anyone else, gave you for Christmas.

I used a new stamp that I bought myself right before Christmas. I went to a stamp store in a town nearby and being a military vet I cant resist anything patriotic, and if its winter or Christmas themed I'm in even more trouble! It's from Whipper Snapper stamps and is called "Americana Snowman".

My inspiration for the layout came from Try Stampin' On Tuesday. I've never played along with this blog before but I saw a few friends post about it and thought I'd give it a try!







Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Woodland and Green

I posted how a friend ordered a set of cards from me and I posted 2 of the cards the other day, here and here. This post shows 2 of the other cards I made.

My friend lives here in Alaska also, a few hours north of me in Interior Alaska and like most Alaskans she is very much into the outdoors. She is a photographer and gets some of the most amazing shots of Alaska you'll ever see! That was the inspiration for these 2 cards.