Thursday, July 25, 2013

Christmas for Friday Mashup

It's my turn to host the challenge at Friday Mashup and of course I had to choose a Christmas in July theme to end out the month! We all know I love Christmas cards and this was also the perfect excuse to play with a new Christmas set coming out from SU called 'Wishing You'. I'm also hoping that by making Christmas cards the temperature drops, as we are in the midst of ANOTHER heat wave in southcentral Alaska. Seriously, someone take these 80 degree temps away because I am NOT liking them.

Ok, enough of my whining, and back to the challenge....for the mashup I want to see stripes on your Christmas project! For my stripes I used DSP that had a nice striped design, and I also used the Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes EF for a background. A nice and simple card!


I'd love to see you all come by The Friday Mashup to check out all the great inspiration from the design team, and also play along with us!

  1. Create a project for "Christmas / Hanukkah".
  2. Create a project with "Stripes".
  3. Or Mash it Up and create a "Christmas / Hanukkah project with Stripes".
 

 

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Peace on Earth Banners

Somewhere in my blog reader I saw someone playing along with Pals Paper Arts but I cant remember who it was :( It did bring my attention to this challenge blog though, and today I made a card to play along with their sketch challenge that ends tomorrow(Mon). I do believe this is my first time ever playing along with this blog!

I kept the card pretty basic, keeping the design to the banners, let those stand out. This is such a pretty card in person, I just dont think the pic does it justice. Oh well! The Wild Wasabi piece that the sentiment is mounted on is popped up with dimensionals and to give the space up top a little something I added some Very Vanilla ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by!




Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Greetings of the Season, Many Merry Messages
Paper: Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Very Vanilla, Holly Berry Bouquet DSP (retired)
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Real Red
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots EF, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, 2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch, Very Vanilla Ribbon, sponge, dimensionals

Birthday Bull....Moose that is

I managed to get a card done today for Freshly Made Sketches, not too long before the challenge closes, whew! I grabbed the new set I'm in love with, Walk in the Wild, the perfect set for me. The moose we saw yesterday in town also helped inspire this card.

I used Crumb Cake for the base, and Pear Pizzazz and Whisper White for my other colors. The Pear Pizzazz DSP is from the Gingham Garden DSP pack, and I embossed a strip of Whisper White for one of the panels, just to get a little contrast. Usually I color the bull moose in but today I just left the image as is.

I hope everyone is having a great Sunday. Here in southcentral Alaska its 70 degrees with bright blue sky, a beautiful day.

 This moose walked across the Parks Highway in Wasilla yesterday(an incredibly busy section, its a wonder no one hit the moose), and into the parking lot of the restaurant my daughter works at. Me, my husband and our youngest were already on our way to eat dinner there and visit with the daughter, and we made it in time to see the young moose munching on bushes as it tried to make its way around the fence and back into the woods!
 


Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Walk in the Wild, Petite Pairs
Paper: Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Gingham Garden DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories: Big Shot, Square Lattice EF, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, White Gel Pen, dimensionals

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Showing Favorite Love for Friday Mashup

It's my last Friday of freedom, I start back to work on Monday, gahhhhhhhhh! Time to start getting busy and prepare the school for opening on Aug.15. Thankfully this week at The Friday Mashup Heidi is giving me a reason to break out my favorite stamp set from the new SU catalog and have some fun before its back to the grind. She also has a great sketch for us in order to mash it up!

If you've ever been to my blog before it should be no surprise what my favorite new set is. Yep, that's right. Pg.72 of the new SU catalog, Walk in the Wild. The minute I spotted that beautiful bull moose(because only male moose have antlers) I knew I had to have that set! I mixed new with old by using retired Woodland Walk DSP on this card. The papers go great with this image!

Make sure you head over to The Friday Mashup blog to see all the great projects from the rest of the design team! I love seeing how everyone interprets the challenge!

  1. Create a project using the "Sketch".
  2. Create a project with a "Favorite New Stamp Set".
  3. Or Mash it Up and create a project "using the Sketch with your Favorite NEW Stamp Set".
This Mama Moose and her twins ran in front of my car the other day. I just love the babies!


Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Walk in the Wild, Oh, Hello
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Woodland Walk DSP (retired)
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Garden Green
Accessories: Paper Piercing Tool, Chocolate Chip Marker, sponge, dimensionals
 

Flowers for MDS Monday

I sat down Weds evening and brought out My Digital Studio so I could play along with MDS Monday again. I think I am slowly getting used to the software and figuring out how to do things with it, woot woot!

For my layout I used photos from a little jaunt my daughter and I took the other day. Her boyfriend is working for Alaska Dept of Fish and Game at a fish weir and since he is isolated and bored at the location we decided to go visit him. The wildflowers were a plenty out there so I decided to make them the focus of this layout.

Thanks again to the MDS Monday DT members for the encouraging comments you have left, I really appreciate them!


Thursday, July 11, 2013

Autumn Thank You for Friday Mashup

This weeks Friday Mashup comes to us from Holly, and she has a color challenge for us, along with a theme. The colors she wants us to use are Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pool Party and either Smoky Slate OR Soft Suede. Pair these colors with a "nature" theme to mash up the challenge!

I mashed it up and went with an autumn card, as these colors made me think of fall. They also made me think of the retired DSP, Everyday Enchantment, which is perfect for incorporating the Pool Party and Calypso Coral. I just love this paper and got lucky because I found a SU demo going out of business last month and she was selling 3 brand new packs of this DSP for dirt cheap, score!!

The leaf is stamped in Crisp Cantaloupe and then cut out and mounted on a leaf cut out in Soft Suede with the Bigz Autumn Accents die. I took my color spritzing tool and used that to apply some Soft Suede and Calypso Coral in the background. The edges of the DSP were sponged in Soft Suede.

Make sure you head over to The Friday Mashup blog to see what the rest of the DT created, they did an awesome job as usual!


  1. Create a project using the colors "Pool Party, Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral & (Smoky Slate or Soft Suede ".
  2. Create a project with a "Nature Theme".
  3. Or Mash it Up and create a "Nature Themed project using the Challenge Colors".




Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Wonderfall, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Crisp Cantaloupe, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Everyday Enchantment DSP(retired)
Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe, Soft Suede
Accessories: Big Shot, Bigz Autumn Accens Die, Color Spritzer Tool, dimensionals, sponge

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Hello Hello

A friend of mine ordered some cards for me, and 2 of the cards she needed were a thinking of you type of card, for friends of hers battling cancer. I used the sketch from this weeks SCS sketch challenge to come up with this card. On this card I also used Washi tape for the very first time. Still not sure if its something I'll use often but at least now I can say I have tried it.



Tuesday, July 9, 2013

MDS Card Sketch

I'm working on my digital skills again by playing along with this weeks MDS Monday challenge, which is a card sketch with the added option of using papers and stamps from one digital kit. I did pretty good with that option...my papers and other elements are from the Day in the Life kit, while I grabbed the sentiment from the Delight in the Day kit.

Thanks to the MDS DT members that left such encouraging comments on my photo group MDS project, I really appreciated it!


Monday, July 8, 2013

Christmas Window Surprises

I love making Christmas cards more than anything so I always love a good excuse to make yet another one, and for this card I had 3 great excuses :)
Over at the Jingle Belles Blog, a blog dedicated solely to Christmas cards, Stef and Lauren want us to create a card WITHOUT any DSP/pattern paper. No problem! The Paper Players are having a Christmas in July challenge this week, awesome! And last but not least, Merry Monday is doing things a bit differently this month and instead of weekly sketches its an "Anything Goes" challenge, link up any Christmas card you make for the month of July.

One of my very favorite things to see on windows at Christmas are wreaths. Growing up in New England it was very popular  but the farther west I came it didn't seem as prevalent and here in Alaska I don't see it very often either. As I put my card together I just pictured the old colonial homes back east, draped with beautiful live wreaths for the season.

The wreath is popped up with dimensionals, and I added Xmas Red Stickles to the wreath. The background was embossed to look like wood and I sponged it to get darker spots, like aged wood might have on the side of a house. I also sponged the wreath, bow and window. I wanted the wreath to be the main focus but didn't want the "inside" of the window to look blank, so I stamped a scene that one might see if walking by a house, a wreath partially blocking the view.

I'm really happy with the way this turned out and I think tomorrow I'm going to crank out several more of these cards!





Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Welcome Christmas(retired), Seasons Greetings(inside sentiment, not pictured, retired)
Paper: Not Quite Navy(retired), Soft Suede, Old Olive, Riding Hood Red(retired), Naturals White
Ink: Not Quite Navy(retired), Old Olive, Riding Hood Red(retired), Soft Suede
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Distressed Stripes EF, Grand Madison Window Die, Xmas Red Stickles, sponge, dimensionals


Sunday, July 7, 2013

Walk in the Wild

A friend of mine ordered a birthday card for her godfather, and she told me to use a moose image and whatever else I wanted. It gave me the perfect excuse to ink up the new set Walk In the Wild. This set is SO perfect for me! Obviously the moose is my favorite stamp in the set :) My inspiration for the layout came from this weeks sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches.

The card was a pain to get a pic of, I'm not quite sure why, but I apologize for the poor quality!


Friday, July 5, 2013

Simple Winter Memories

The challenge over at Jingle Belles this week is a great one....don't use any DSP. That's right, keep the specialty papers off your card and just get creative with plain cardstock! For my card I used the SU embossing folder Snow Burst to create texture and dimension against the simple image of a sled leaning against a house. After I took the picture I added some Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details to the wreath.

I'm also linking this up at Merry Monday, as they have an anything goes challenge for the month of July, so you can link up any Christmas card you make.

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Winter Memories, More Merry Messages(inside of card, which I forgot to take a picture of!)
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla
Ink: Black StazOn, Garden Green, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Riding Hood Red(retired)
Accessories: Big Shot, SU Snow Burst EF(retired), Nestabilities Ovals, SU Alpine Ribbon, non-SU brads

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Tic Tac Toe for Friday Mashup

Happy Friday! I hope everyone in the States had a great Independence Day. It rained here in southcentral Alaska but that's ok, we don't get dark enough this time of year to enjoy fireworks anyway!

Amy has a fun challenge this week for us over at The Friday Mashup....a tic tac toe challenge! Choose a line to play along with, and then mash it up by using your favorite stamps or colors on your project!

I used the pearls/ribbon/flowers line, but my card could also fit in the red/butterflies/ribbon line also! For my favorites I used the Pleasant Poppies set. I never gave it a second glance in the catalog last year but seeing projects my fellow DT members have made with the set made me buy it recently and I love it! I also used some favorite colors of mine...Island Indigo, Pear Pizzazz and Poppy Red.

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

  1. Create a project using a "line from the grid".
  2. Create a project with a "few of your Favorite things ( Stamps & Colors)".
  3. Or Mash it Up and create a project using the "Tic Tac Toe grid with a few of your Favorite Things".

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Pleasant Poppies, Label Love
Paper: Island Indigo, Pear Pizzazz, Poppy Red(retired), Whisper White
Ink: Black StazOn, Pear Pizzazz, Island Indigo, Poppy Red(retired)
Accessories: Artisan Label Punch, Pear Pizzazz Ribbon, Basic Pearls, Big Shot, Embosslits Beautiful Wings, dimensionals
 

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Trying Something New---MDS Monday

I'm going totally out of my comfort zone with this latest project....a layout from the blog MDS Monday. Not familiar with MDS Monday? It's a blog dedicated to making projects using the My Digital Studio software from Stampin'Up!

I'll be the first person to admit that I'm not into the digital stuff. I like to have my hands right on my projects and when using the computer I usually get frustrated and ticked off when trying to digitally create something. I bought MDS when it came out a few years ago, used it maybe once or twice and then forgot about it. Fast forward to this year?last year?...I cant remember....and SU was offering the program for $19.95. Since my laptop didn't have the program and I had no clue where my original disk was I figured what the heck, I'll buy it. It's been sitting on computer since then with nary a glance from me.

A Christmas challenge I play with wanted digital elements for this weeks challenge so I broke out MDS and made a card. Then I thought about my friend Holly and the MDS blog and thought what the heck, I'll give it a shot!

I am proud to say that I got the layout made without my computer being thrown out the window, and with no naughty words being flung about! I kept it nice and simple, followed the tutorial that MDS linked to for the photo technique and I was good to go! Maybe I'll learn enough of the program so I can create my families Christmas card this year....maybe.... ;)

The photo I used is of a cow moose that visited us for several days in February. The moose love to come nibble on the willow trees that separate my place from the property next door!


Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Better Get Better

For this card I played along with 2 challenges....Dynamic Duos and The Paper Players.

Over at The Paper Players they have a Tic Tac Toe challenge and I went with the middle row...get well, bling and yellow. For the Dynamic Duos we were able to choose a color to pair Basic Gray with and I chose Daffodil Delight, I just love putting yellow with gray, I think its a great combo!

I used retired stamps for this but current paper. Ever have a card envisioned in your mind but when you go to put it together its a complete fail? That's what happened to me today. I had originally planned to use the retired set Oh, Whale but it wasnt coming together so I put that set back on the shelf. I perused all my current sets and nothing was jumping out at me. Upsy Daisy is such a great set, I refuse to let it collect dust, so I decided to use that one. Then the sentiment drove me crazy because again, none of my current stuff was making me happy. I ended up using an older retired set called Quick Thinking and finally, I was happy with my completed card! The banner with the sentiment is popped up with dimensionals.



Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Upsy Daisy (retired), Quick Thinking(retired)
Paper: Basic Gray, Whisper White, Gingham Garden DSP
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray
Accessories: Big Shot, Framelits Bitty Banners, Nestabilities Circles, Rhinestones, dimensionals