Friday, January 31, 2014

Going to the Horses for Friday Mashup

I'm late but at least I'm getting my Friday Mashup post up ON Friday, that's a good thing :) Sara is our hostess this week and she has a great sketch for us, plus she'd also like us to do some sponging on our project. As my daughter will tell you, I am addicted to sponging. There is something about seeing bare edges that just freaks me out. She'll tell me to leave an image alone but I sit there and stare at it and cant do it, I grab the sponge and get those edges taken care of. It's a sickness LOL

For today's card I used the set Horse Frontier. I don't like horses myself but I have a ton of family and friends that do so I got this set back in October, and it hasn't seen ink until today! I stayed monochromatic, using Baked Brown Sugar and Soft Suede (ok, I also used a touch of Old Olive for the grass but that's just a small detail right). I sponged the image panel in Baked Brown Sugar. Nice and simple card!

Head over to the Friday Mashup to check out the rest of the great projects from the DT, and play along with us!


  1. Create a project with "Sketch."
  2. Create a project using some "Sponging"
  3. Or Mash it Up and create a project with "Sponging using the Sketch


Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Peace for 'Tis The Season

It's time for another challenge over at 'Tis The Season! I am loving this...I have over 20 cards made for Christmas 2014 so far, such a great start for the month of January!

This weeks challenge is a color challenge...we'd like you to use Marina Mist, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White. I decided to join in the
monthly Christmas card challenge at SCS and the January theme is "peace", so I grabbed the dove from Calm Christmas and stamped that in Marina Mist, with just a touch of Old Olive used for the greenery.

My sketch is from the current challenge over at Sunday Stamps and so instead of the oval shape I just substituted the dove and I did end up leaving a front sentiment off. I embossed the Whisper White with the Snow Burst EF, and the Chocolate Chip was used for the scallop border and also the brads in the bottom corner, as brads are our optional trimming with the color for this challenge!

I hope you'll come by
the 'Tis The Season blog and check out the cards from the rest of the DT, and then we'd love to have you play along with us!



Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Calm Christmas
Paper: Marina Mist, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Ink: Marine Mist, Old Olive
Accessories: Big Shot, Snow Burst EF (retired), Scallop Edge Border Punch, Chocolate Chip Brads, dimensionals

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

"Twinchies" for Jingle Belles

I'm getting my card in at the last minute for the latest Jingle Belles challenge, whew! While the Lower 48 deals with record cold we're having record warmth here in Alaska and I do believe it has fried my crafting mojo (send my cold back Lower 48, you don't appreciate it like I do :P )! I spent all day yesterday pulling out stamp sets and paper to try and get a card going for this challenge and I didn't like a darn thing I was coming up with. I had to leave for work and since I work nights and by myself I have a lot of time to think, so I gave this challenge more thought over night.

What's the challenge you ask? Well, Stef and Lauren would like to see either "inchies" or "twinchies" on our cards. I had never heard these terms before but they are pretty easy to figure out. I pulled out my 1" inch square stamp and tried a few things with that but again, disliked all that I came up with so I put that punch away. Then I cut some 2" squares out of Very Vanilla, sat there looking at them for a while and kept drawing a blank.

This afternoon I grabbed the stamp set Festive Flurry and tried that with the 2 inch square....finally, something I was happy with! I cut some small snowflakes in Cherry Cobbler and then stamped the same snowflake again in Bashful Blue(retired). I then layered the blue snowflake on top of the red one, with the snowflakes sitting on the 2 inch squares. For my middle snowflake I stamped a larger snowflake in Cherry Cobbler and then another small one in Bashful blue, layered them and popped the snowflake up between the 2 on the squares. For a little extra "oomph" I added some small pearls in the middle of each top snowflake.

 Glad I got this challenge done!


Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Festive Flurry, Christmas Messages
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Festival of Prints DSP(retired)
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Bashful Blue(retired)
Accessories: Bashful Blue ribbon(retired), Basic Pearls, Big Shot, Festive Flurry Framelits,  sponge, dimensionals

Friday, January 24, 2014

Stars and Thank You's for Friday Mashup

It's my turn to host The Friday Mashup and this week I'm all about stars and thank you cards. I went easy with my card and totally CASE'd an example from the SU catty, from page 19. I changed up the sentiment and colors a bit, added the stars in the background and instead of stitching I did faux stitching with paper piercing and a white gel pen. It's a nice easy way to bust out a set of cards, especially when you're short on time, like I happen to be the last 2 weeks!

  1. Create a project with "Stars."
  2. Create a set of "Thank you Cards with Matching Envelopes"
  3. Or Mash it Up and create a set of "Thank you Cards & Envelopes using Stars."




Thursday, January 16, 2014

Love Note for Friday Mashup and Freshly Made Sketches

Another week has come and gone and this time I'm happy to see the weekend because it's a 3 day weekend, wooohooo! Time to catch up on my DVR'd TV shows and stamp.

This week at the Friday Mashup Heidi is bringing us the challenge and it's all about colors and hearts. She wants to see Coastal Cabana, Real Red and Crumb Cake on our projects, plus throw some hearts in there too! Lucky for me the SU order I placed on Monday came Thursday so I used some new goodies for my card!

My inspiration for the layout came from this weeks Freshly Made Sketches. It definitely had me thinking and I grabbed my new pad of Fresh Prints DSP along with some Coastal Cabana cardstock. I embossed the Coastal Cabana with the Arrows Textured EF and then grabbed the Fresh Prints DSP and put the DSP on top of that.


I then  took some Real Red, embossed it with the Arrows Textured EF and cut a small strip out to put across the card. The love note image is from the Love You to the Moon set and was stamped in Real Red and cut out with a circle punch. I then layered that on a Crumb Cake circle and popped the whole thin up with dimensionals. The 'just for you' is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and I stamped that on the arrow from the Peachy Keen set. I was going to put it down on the bottom, like the sketch, but it didn't look right to me so I placed it up by the other image and used Whisper White candy dots in the lower corner.

I hope you'll come by the Friday Mashup and check out the rest of the great projects from the DT, and then play along with us!

  1. Create a project using the Colors "Coastal Cabana, Real Red & Crumb Cake."
  2. Create a project using "Hearts & Arrows. "
  3. Or Mash it Up and create a project using "the above colors along with Hearts & Arrows."
 
 
 
 
Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Peachy Keen, Love You to the Moon, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Real Red, Coastal Cabana, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Fresh Prints DSP
Ink: Real Red, Coastal Cabana
Accessories: Big Shot, Arrows Textured EF, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, On Film Framelit Dies, Whisper White Candy Dots, sponge, dimensionals
 
 
 

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Going to the deer for 'Tis The Season!

It's time again for a 'Tis The Season challenge. I love that its Jan.15 and I already have 15 Christmas cards ready for this year! This week at TTS we have our first photo inspiration challenge and I just love this photo. It is so rustic and pretty!

As soon as I saw the picture I knew I was going to pull out the Wonderful Wreath stamp and the Remembering Christmas set. The deer in that set works perfectly with this wreath to mimic the picture!

I took some Naturals White cardstock and embossed it with a Cuttlebug folder called Distressed Stripes. I then used some Crumb Cake to sponge the card and get that whitewashed look. I stamped the wreath in Old Olive and used Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details on it, and the deer was stamped in Early Espresso. I made a set of 5 cards!

I hope you'll come
play along with us at 'Tis The Season, we'd love to have you! Our challenges are open for 2 weeks, giving you plenty of time to play along!



Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Wonderful Wreath, Remembering Christmas, sentiment from A Christmas Carol
Paper: Crumb Cake, Naturals White
Ink: Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Distressed Stripes EF, Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details, sponge, dimensionals





Thursday, January 9, 2014

Birthday Twine for Friday Mashup

The first full week of 2014 is ending, and can I just say THANK YOU! :) A nasty virus moved through my house over Christmas break, hitting my husband and 2 boys, but it so kindly held off until this week for me. Wasn't that nice of it? NOT Thank goodness for Dayquil, it has been my best friend the last few days!

Stamping makes me feel better also, and this Friday Mashup challenge from Holly is a nice one. She wants use to create a birthday project, and to also use twine on it. Observant folks may notice that my layout looks pretty familiar....if you look on page 15 of the SU catalog you'll see where my layout come from! I changed up the color of the cardstock and DSP and used twine along the sides instead of stitching. Nice and easy card!


I hope you'll come by The Friday Mashup and play along with us!

Here's your Mashup Challenge:
  1. Create a project with "Twine."
  2. Create a "Birthday Themed" project. 
  3. Or Mash it Up and create a "Birthday Project with some Twine."


Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Bring on the Cake, Gorgeous Grunge
Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Gingham Garden DSP
Ink: Island Indigo, Melon Mambo, Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Big Shot, Nestabilities Lacey Circles, Island Indigo Bakers Twine, sponge

Butterflies for Sunday Stamps

I've been wanting to play along with the Sunday Stamps challenge all week but got knocked down by a nasty cold. I happened to see that the link was going to close in a little over a day so I grabbed the tissues and cough meds and sat down to do some stamping!

I decided to go ahead and use butterflies on my card, mimicking the sketch, and then I used my 1 3/8" square punch to cut out some squares from the Gingham Garden DSP to make a quilted card. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.


Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Gingham Garden DSP
Ink: Island Indigo
Accessories: Big Shot, Square Lattice EF, Embosslits Beautiful Wings, Island Indigo Ribbon, White Gel Pen

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Wedding Time for Friday Mashup

I got really busy in Nov and Dec and unfortunately fell behind in my DT duties at Friday Mashup. Thankfully my oldest, who does not drive, is no longer required to be at work at 4am and that means I can come home at 2:30am and get some sleep instead staying up and bringing him to work. It also means I have crafting time back in the afternoon, woooohooo!

Our first Friday Mashup challenge of 2014 comes to us from Cindy, and she wants us to incorporate a 'time' theme and to also use this great sketch. For the time theme I really stretched it and chose to make a card for an important time in ones life...marriage! My husband and I will celebrate 20 yrs of marriage in Feb, it's crazy to look back at the 20 and 24 y/o young military kids we were when we got married!(eta...this card wont be going to my hubby for our anniversary, it's way too girly, I just made it just because).

I used the Love and Laughter set with the Modern Medley DSP to try and get an elegant look to the card. The dress from the stamp set was heat embossed in black.


  1. Create a project with the "Sketch."
  2. Create a project using "the theme of Time. "
  3. Or Mash it Up and create a project "a theme of Time & the Sketch."



Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Love and Laughter
Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Modern Medley DSP
Ink: Black StazOn, Versamark
Accessories: Black Embossing Power, Dimensionals
 

Santa and Treetops for Jingle Belles

The first prompt of the year was posted over at Jingle Belles and I'm so happy to be playing along with them. I missed quite a few of their challenges towards the end of 2013 and I don't want that to happen again this year!

Stef and Lauren want us to mix old and new on our projects so on mine the new item is the Santa sleigh and reindeer die, and the old is the SU set I used called Scenic Season. I just love this set, its one of my all time favorites. I cant remember where I first saw this die but I knew that I had to have it and that I could use it with this set. I added just a touch of shimmer by using SU's Silver Dazzle pen on the sleigh and also on the guides between the reindeer.


As I usually do when stamping these trees I embossed the paper with the CB Swiss Dots embossing folder to get the look of falling snow. I chose to use Night of Navy as my ink because here in Alaska we have short winter days and our spruce trees tend to take on a blue cast in the waning daylight, especially when surrounded by a blanket of snow. Its even more pronounced on nights when the sky is crystal clear, stars are shining, its below zero out and the moonlight is reflecting off the snow. It casts an amazing color across the landscape that seems metallic in some ways and is just breathtaking. Sometimes on nights like that I just sit outside and enjoy the absolute stillness and beauty that surrounds me.

Anyway, here is my card that is inspired by our short Alaskan winter days! Santa can be found a few hours north of me you know, in North Pole AK :)

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Scenic Season
Paper: Night of Navy, Naturals White
Ink: Night of Navy, SU Silver Dazzle Marker
Accessories: Cuttlebug, CB Swiss Dots EF, Santa Sleigh and Reindeer Die by Cheery Lynn Designs, dimensionals, sponge, blender pen

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Going in Circles for TTS7

Happy 2014! I hope everyone had a fun but safe time ringing in the New Year. My family snacked on food all night and tried to watch movies between the numerous power outages we had as high winds and rising temps caused trees and wet snow to take down power lines around the area. We lose power quite often so we're used to it and we just grab the flashlights and carry on.

Thankfully the winds died down and the power has stayed on so I am able to post the first challenge of 2014 for 'Tis The Season. In case anyone missed it I started this blog with my good friend Holly and it's all about Christmas. I love to make Christmas cards and what better way to get ahead for your 2014 Christmas cards!

We've got a sketch challenge this time around and we're going crazy for circles, along with the optional trimming of snowflakes. Our challenges are open for 2 weeks so you have plenty of time to play along with us! I hope you'll come play along.


Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Snowflakes(retired), Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Island Indigo, Whisper White, Winter Frost DSP
Ink: Pool Party, Island Indigo
Accessories: Various circle punches, Modern Label Punch, sponge, dimensionals