Sunday, June 30, 2013

Going Digital with Jingle Belles

Whew, what a day! I had planned on getting this post up about 8 hrs ago but we lost power! We have no clue why, but its about the 3rd or 4th time in the last 2 months. Its not unusual for us to lose power in the winter but in the summer? It's cloudy and in the 50's but no rain, no wind so who knows what the cause was.

The challenge over at Jingle Belles right now is to use digital elements on your Christmas card.  Now I'll be completely honest and admit that I am not a fan of digital cardmaking/scrapping, whatever you call it. I prefer to have my hands on the materials and work like that. I do own Stampin' Up's digital program MDS, so I decided to try it out (I never use it, again, being honest) and see what I could come up with.

I used the past challenge at Sunday Stamps as my guide, as it was a nice and simple sketch. I didn't want to get too involved since I don't know what the heck I'm doing!

I also didn't print out my card, one step at a time for me please LOL Hopefully this will still count for the challenge. I love the Jingle Belles blog and hate not being able to play with them!




Friday, June 28, 2013

Scenic Season Greetings

For this card I played along with Merry Monday and I used one of my all time favorite Christmas stamps, Scenic Season. I just love the simplicity of this stamp and how it still manges to have such a powerful appeal.

Its hard to tell in the pictures but I stamped the image in Metallic Blue ink. Normally I color the bird red, to make it look like a cardinal flying through, but on this card I also used the blue ink on it. Here in my neck of the woods we end up with 5 hrs of daylight for a good portion of the winter and the trees often take on a dark, shimmery look so thats what I was picturing when inking this stamp up. I also did my usual trick of using the Swiss Dots EF to make it look like snow falling. I pretty much do that every time I use this stamp, just because I like the effect so much!




Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Scenic Season
Paper: Not Quite Navy (retired), Naturals White, Silver Glimmer Paper, Not Quite Navy DSP (retired)
Ink: Metallic Blue, Not Quite Navy (retired)
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots EF

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Beachy Masking for Friday Mashup

Mother Nature has been pretty crazy this spring and summer. Here in Alaska we had snow in mid May, and now in June we're seeing record heat, which has made a lot of Alaskans flock to the local rivers, lakes, ocean, etc.

If you go to the right beach in Alaska you might be lucky enough to see whales. There is a great spot just outside Wasilla where my family goes to watch belugas come up Cook Inlet and in May my daughter and I were in Kenai Alaska, where we happened to find a beach and then spotted beluga whales playing not too far off shore, it was pretty awesome. This was the inspiration for my Friday Mashup project.

So what is the challenge? It's brought to us by Liliana and she wants us to try the masking and use beach elements on your project also!

For my masking I masked the whale and then stamped the waves around him, then I punched out a circle for a mask and sponged around that to make my sky. I've never sponged a sky before and I think for my first attempt it came out all right! I embossed the top portion with the Cloudy Day EF and used the wave looking DSP to carry on the water theme on the bottom of the card. I finished it off with the sentiment in the bottom right corner.

Make sure you head over to The Friday Mashup and check out all the great projects from the rest of the design team, then play along with us!

  1. Create a project using the "Masking Technique".
  2. Create a project with some "Beach elements".
  3. Or Mash it Up and create a "Beach'y project using Masking".

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Oh, Whale! (retired)
Paper: Crumb Cake, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Sunshine and Sprinkles DSP(retired)
Ink: Basic Gray, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Pacific Point
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, Bitty Banner Framelits, Cloudy Day EF, Marina Mist Ribbon, sponge, dimensionals

 

Seeing the Sun for Paper Players

I've been looking at the sketch over at The Paper Players all week an I'm not going to lie, it's been intimidating me. I had some stamping time today so I decided to just dive in and tackle it despite my fears!

I got some SU goodies in the mail today and the set Bootiful Occasions was part of it. I grabbed that set, some Sunshine and Sprinkles DSP(retired) and just went from there.

I stamped the boot by itself and then stamped the sentiment on the panel that goes under the ribbon. I thought about coloring in the clouds on the boot as well but when I tried it out on a scrap piece of paper I didn't like it,I thought the yellow and white looked better against the bold DSP. The clouds were made using the Cupcake Builder punch, popped up with dimensionals and attached to a circle of Whisper White.

On this card I pretty much let the DSP do the talking and kept everything else simple!


Supplies used (all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Bootiful Occasions
Paper: Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Sunshine and Sprinkles DSP(retired)
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist, Pacific Point
Accessories: Big Shot, Framelits Labels Collection, Cupcake Builder Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, 2 1/2" Circle Punch, Festive Paper Piercing Pack, Daffodil Delight Ribbon, sponge, dimensionals

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Sketchy Red, White and Blue

Yesterday I was looking for a challenge to play along with and thought I'd go check out the latest sketch over at SCS, as I hadn't played along with that in quite some time. The sketch is pretty interesting so I decided to give it a shot.

I've been in a patriotic state of mind lately and so I made another card with a red, white and blue theme. The hearts and star on the top and bottom layers are popped up with dimensionals and each layer goes in order....red, white and blue.

Thanks for stopping by!


Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Independence Day(retired), Land of the Free(retired)
Paper: Real Red, Pacific Point, Naturals White, Real Red DSP, Pacific Point DSP
Ink: Real Red, Pacific Point
Accessories: Cuttlebug, CB Stars EF, sponge, dimensionals

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Simple Happy Birthday

I was happy that a post from Freshly Made Sketches popped up in my reader, I realized I hadnt played along with their latest sketch. It's a great one this week and can be interpreted in many ways!

I kept it simple and used colors I've been going too a lot lately, Island Indigo and Daffodil Delight. They are just so pretty together, I love it. I used Gingham Garden DSP and let that be the main focal point behind the sentiment. For a little contrast I embossed a panel of Daffodil Delight and affixed the Gingham Garden DSP panel to it.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 
 

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Triple Time Colors for Friday Mashup

It's Friday, and I am SO happy about that, more than usual. We've been in the midst of a nasty heat wave here in southcentral Alaska  and we're finally getting normal temperatures back this weekend and this girl is ecstatic about that!

Thankfully I had stamping to help keep my mind off the fact that I was melting :) This weeks Friday Mashup is brought to us by Amanda and she has a color challenge for us, as well as a technique!

The technique is called Triple Time Stamping and I had never heard of it before. After googling it I thought it was going to be a bit tricky but it was actually a very easy technique to do. The hardest part for me was picking out a stamp set to use for it!

To go along with this Amanda also wants us to use at least 3 of the following colors: Crumb Cake, Summer Starfruit, Pacific Point and Daffodil Delight. The only one I didn't use is Summer Starfruit. I know a lot of people like that color but I am just not a fan and avoid it at all costs. The third layer(the smallest layer on top with the sentiment) is popped up with dimensionals.

Make sure you head over to The Friday Mashup to see what the rest of the design team created for this challenge and then play along with us, we'd love to see your creations!



Supplies used (all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Oh, Hello
Paper: Pacific Point, Crumb Cake, Naturals White
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point
Accessories: Daffodil Delight Ribbon, sponge, dimensionals

Liberty and Love

A friend of my daughters left for boot camp shortly after they graduated from high school in May and today she received a letter from him. We were going to send him a big package of goodies but apparently he isn't allowed to receive packages, boo! I wonder if that's a change of policy due to 9/11....I went through boot camp in 1992 and we were allowed to get packages(or maybe it's an Army thing? I was Navy). I loved the treats from home, they helped boost morale, that's for sure. Anyway, since we cant do a package I made this card for her to send instead, to let him know we're thinking of him and proud of him for stepping up to serve this country!

I used the sketch over at Clean & Simple for inspiration! For a little more visual punch I added some paper piercing and faux stitching around the edges of the card.


Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Independence Day (retired), The Free and the Brave (retired)
Paper: Marina Mist, Naturals White, Polka Dot Parade
Ink: Real Red, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Paper Piercer, White Gel Pen

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Angel Rejoice for Merry Monday

We're still experiencing unusual extreme heat in southcentral Alaska (its 90 degrees at my house right now!) so I did some reverse psychology to try and get in a cool frame of mind. I went into my craft area, put on some Christmas music, set my fan on high and brought up the current Merry Monday challenge :)

When I saw the 'Rejoicing with You' set was retiring I snatched it up right away. I've always looked at it but could never make up my mind on whether or not I really wanted it. Seeing it retiring sealed the deal, as I know a ton of people who would appreciate a card made with this set.

I wont lie, this sketch scared me a bit and I had to do some extra cutting after I originally thought I had it all figured out but all in all I think it came out pretty good.

Now its back to listening to the Christmas music and trying to stay cool in this awful heat! Thanks for stopping by!




Supplies Used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Rejoicing with You(retired), More Merry Messages(inside sentiment)
Paper: Lucky Limeade(retired), Real Red, Very Vanilla, Candlelight Christmas DSP (retired)
Ink: Early Espresso, Real Red, Lucky Limeade
Accessories: Big Shot, Lacy Brocade EF, Nestabilities Standard and Lacey Circles, sponge, dimensionals

Monday, June 17, 2013

Sketchy Birthday with Bling

Today was an absolutely miserable day in southcentral Alaska. We're having VERY unusual weather and the temp at my house hit 95 degrees (our normal temp this time of year is 65-70 degrees)....yes, outside temp for Alaska. So I did what any good Alaskan who hates the heat does, I sat in my dark  craft area with the fans going and stamped! :)

Today's card was inspired by the sketch challenge over at Sunday Stamps and the bling challenge from The Paper Players. Adding bling is really hard for me, I'm not really a "bling" person, so I hope adding the pearls counts! If not I'll try again :)

The sentiment was cut out and popped up with dimensionals and the main image panel is also popped up with dimensionals. I tried to leave the left hand side of the card blank like in the sketch but I just needed a little something over that way, hence the addition of the butterfly(with more pearls for bling).



Supplies used (all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Apothecary Art
Paper: Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Sunshine and Sprinkles(retired)
Ink: Black StazOn, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, Melon Mambo
Accessories: Watercolor Crayons, butterfly already cut and in my stash, Big Shot, Framelits Labels Collection, Basic Pearls, Blender Pen, sponge, dimensionals


Thursday, June 13, 2013

Bricks and a Sketch for Friday Mashup

** Before I get to the Friday Mashup post I'd just like to say that my heart is with Colorado right now. I spent my teen years growing up in Colorado Springs and for the 2nd time in a year the region is being devastated by a wildfire. The Black Forest Fire, which started on Tuesday, has now become the most destructive fire in Colorado's history. I have friends and family that have been evacuated or are waiting to see if the fire is going to turn in their direction and it's very scary. My thoughts go out to everyone affected by the current fires in the state and if you can donate something to help, please visit http://careandshare.org/ . Care and Share have been doing an amazing job helping the firefighters, first responders and people affected by the fires, all from donations from the amazing people choosing to help. Stay strong Colorado.**

Todays Friday Mashup challenge is brought to us by Tara. She wants us to give the brick wall technique a try, and to also use the sketch she provided!

I had never done or heard of this technique, so I looked it up on Splitcoaststampers. You can find it HERE. It definitely gives a neat effect but I cant lie, I found the work a bit tedious and since I have some fine motor skill issues, handling the small sections you cut out was a bit of a problem for me. BUT at least I can say I tried the technique and conquered it, so thank you Tara for the challenge!

I used the sketch also and kept it very simple, only adding some Gingham Garden DSP across the bottom and some Daffodil Delight ribbon across the middle. The bright colors are perfect for a summer birthday, so I added a birthday sentiment at the bottom!

Make sure you head over to The Friday Mashup to see what the rest of the design came up with for this technique and sketch!

  1. Create a project using the "Sketch".
  2. Create a project using the "Brick Wall Technique".
  3. Or Mash it Up and create a project using the "Sketch with the Brick Wall Technique".


Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Upsy Daisy (retired), Itty Bitty Banners
Paper: Daffodil Delight, Island Indigo, Whisper White, Gingham Garden DSP
Ink: Island Indigo, Pear Pizzazz, Soft Suede
Accessories: Big Shot, Framelits Bitty Banners, Daffodil Delight Ribbon, sponge, dimensionals
 
 
 

Polar Pals for Jingle Belles

I sat down and got a card made for the Jingle Belles challenge and I used one of my favorite SU sets, Polar Pals. It's an older (retired) set but its perfect for Alaska!

When some people see this image the first thing they probably think is the word "Eskimo". A lot of people think the term 'Eskimo' refers to the people of Alaska and that's incorrect. It technically only refers to 2 groups of Native Alaskans, the Inupiat and the Yupiks. Just a little trivia for your day today!

Here is my card made with the sketch...and this sketch was so versatile that I also used it for a Fathers Day card, as you can see HERE.

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Polar Pals (retired), sentiment from More Merry Messages
Paper: Old Olive, Confetti Cream (retired), Merry Moments DSP (retired)
Ink: Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Garden Green, Versamark
Accessories: Big Shot, Nestabilities Standard Circle, Chunky Glitter, sponge, dimensionals

Bear for Father's Day

This card goes with this previous card, for an order I got for Fathers Day. As I stated before the dad receiving these cards grew up here in Alaska and so I wanted to stick with an outdoor theme and the retired SU set "Yukon" was perfect for this use. I grabbed the bear image and used retired DSP called Well Worn. My daughter liked it so much that now she has me making another one, to give to her boyfriends dad!

My layout was actually inspired by the sketch over at the Christmas blog Jingle Belles! I haven't made a Christmas card for the challenge yet but that's next on my list :) Great versatile sketch!


Supplies used(all supplies used SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Yukon, sentiment from Best Dad Ever, Timber Wheel
Paper: River Rock(retired), Confetti Cream (retired), Well Worn DSP (retired)
Ink: Early Espresso, Soft Suede
Accessories: Big Shot, Nestabilities Standard Circles, dimensionals, sponge

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Ties for Fathers Day

I received an order for 2 Fathers Day cards and the gal told me to just surprise her, so here is the first one I came up with.

Her significant other grew up here in Alaska so the outdoors has been a big part of his life. I used the retired DSP Woodland Walk for the outdoor colors of green and brown. The ties are perfect for a masculine theme and I stayed with the colors of the paper when coloring in the ties. The brown banner behind the image panel is embossed with a stripes pattern that looks like something you'd find on a tree, I found the strip already in my stash so I just cut it into a banner to fit the card. A simple sentiment finishes the card.

For the card layout I used the sketch from Retro Sketches as inspiration.


Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Best Dad Ever (retired), Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Woodland Walk DSP (retired)
Ink: Garden Green, Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Early Espresso Bakers Twine, Large Oval Punch, non-SU brads, sponge, dimensionals


Saturday, June 8, 2013

A Wild Christmas for Merry Monday

For the challenge over at Merry Monday this week I knew instantly which image I wanted to use on my card. Because the image is a longer one I turned the card but other than that all the elements for the sketch are exactly the same.

This is the perfect Alaska Christmas card, moose and bear! While the bears are quiet around Christmas they are still one of the most famous things about the state so of course I have to include them! However, moose and bear are VERY active right now. Moose are being spotted with their twin babies(and in one case already, triplets!) all over the area and bears are also being seen all over Anchorage. Yesterday, on the military base in Anchorage, a black bear climbed the fence surrounding the flight line and just sat up there for a while. The Army posted a picture of it on their Facebook page and it was quite the sight! My family and I are headed into Anchorage later today for some king salmon fishing and I wont lie, I'm hoping we see a bear. A wild bear is the one thing I haven't gotten a picture of since we moved here 5 yrs ago.

Anyway, I really like how this card came out and I made another 5 of it last night, I just need to finish the small details on them (the glitter on the wreath and the glitter on the bells around one of the bears neck).


Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Moose/Bear stamp from Great Impressions, sentiment from The Stamp Pad Co
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso,Naturals White, Frostwood Lodge DSP(retired)
Ink: Early Espresso, Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details, Gold Stickles, Early Espresso Ribbon. Dimensionals, blender pen, sponge

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Shapely Girls for Friday Mashup

Hahaha, did that title have you scratching your head? I was trying to be creative when introducing this weeks Friday Mashup challenge, which is brought to us by Erica this week. She wants us to use hexagons on our project and also make it girly...she is mom to 3 girls so she knows all about girly things!

Now I have a daughter, and she is the complete opposite of me because yes, she is girly and I am not! I am a huge tomboy and I admit it, I have a hard time coming up with projects that are supposed to be feminine. I usually make something with pink but with this card I promised myself I would stay away from that color (mainly because I hate the color pink LOL)

For the layout my inspiration came from this weeks Freshly Made Sketches. I haven't played along in a while and really like the sketch Rita has for us so I thought now would be the perfect time.

I included hexagons by using the DSP, which has them, and also by embossing the panel behind the main image. In the picture the Very Vanilla panel really stands out but in person it looks really nice against the DSP. Both the image and the panel with the embossed hexagons are popped up with dimensionals.

Some people may not agree with me but I thought this card was pretty girly, with the colors used and then the ribbon along the side. Girly for me anyway I guess LOL

Make sure you head over to The Friday Mashup to check out what the rest of the design team came up with, and then play along with us.

  1. Create a project using "Hexagons".
  2. Create a "Girly project".
  3. Or Mash it Up and create a "Girly project using Hexagons".
 



 
 
 
 

Monday, June 3, 2013

Christmas Ribbon for Jingle Belles

I'm cutting it close again on the challenge but I did it, I got my card for the Jingle Belles challenge done in time!

The challenge this week over at the Jingle Belles blog is all about ribbon. I had an idea about how I wanted to execute it but I wasn't sure it was going to work until I actually finished it!

First I used a plaid background stamp on my Chocolate Chip card stock, I didn't want to leave it blank. Then I took 5 different Christmas ribbons from Stampin'Up! (retired) and layered them to create a background. I colored my sentiment stamp with markers and cut that out with the oval dies from SU. It's hard to tell in the picture but the sentiment panel is popped up with dimensionals. I thought the panel looked a little bare so I added the pearls for a little extra visual punch.

I'm really pleased with how it came out and I hope you like it too (sorry for the crappy picture, I was in a hurry)!

 
Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Christmas Lodge, More Merry Messages(inside sentiment, not pictured cause I forgot to take a pic!)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Ink: Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Big Shot, Framelits Ovals Collection, Basic Pearls, SU Alpine Ribbon, SU Cherry Cobbler Quilted Ribbon, Early Espresso Quilted Ribbon, sponge, dimensionals

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Single Tree for Merry Monday

Whew, talk about getting something done in the nick of time! I wanted to make sure I played along with Merry Monday and tonight(Sat) was the only chance I've had all week to sit and stamp. I manged to get this card made for this weeks sketch and I was so happy because the minute I asked hubby if he knew what inspired it, something from our area, he knew right away! Points scored for the husband LOL

In the area I live in the road system is very limited. There is the main highway that goes between Fairbanks, Wasilla, and Anchorage. As you leave Wasilla and head towards Anchorage the highway is known as the Glenn Hwy, and as you pass the road known as  the Old Glenn there is a solitary spruce tree. Every Christmas this tree is decorated with battery powered lights and since most people are leaving for work in the dark and coming home in the dark(our shortest day in the winter we have 5 hrs of daylight) seeing a tree lit up along an otherwise dark highway is a welcome sight. For quite some time it wasn't known who was decorating the tree but a year or two ago the local paper asked the elfs behind the Christmas tree to come forward. They did and it was one of the most talked about articles, we are all excited to learn the story behind the Glenn Hwy Christmas tree and you can read about it HERE.

Since our winters are dark I knew I wanted the sky dark but I didn't want to use black so I stuck with brown. I embossed the snow with the CB Swiss Dots folder, but used a white gel pen to draw in falling snow. I colored the tree stamp with markers, cut it out and then popped it up with dimensionals. It's so pretty in person, the picture doesn't do it justice!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 The tree that inspired this card(photo © Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News)


Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Star Tree(retired)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Whisper White, unknown SU DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Cherry Cobbler, Baja Breeze
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots EF, White Gel Pen, sponge, dimensionals