Saying Goodbye for Friday Mashup

No, I'm not saying goodbye but our hostess this week at The Friday Mashup is Heidi and she'd like us to show some love to your favorite stamps that are retiring or already retired. 

Is anyone shocked that I'm sad about Walk in the Wild? I love this set and I can't believe SU is retiring it already. It's a good thing that I really only buy sets I love and will use forever on down the line because this moose will still get a lot of use from me!

Heidi also has a great sketch for us this week so I grabbed my card stock and went to work. The base is Coastal Cabana and I very lightly pressed some Versamark on the Hardwoods background stamp and then pressed my card base on the stamp. I didn't want to the Hardwood background to be too dark so just pressed very softly. I then took some paper from the Lullaby DSP, backed it with Baked Brown Sugar and adhered that to my card base. The moose was stamped with Baked Brown Sugar and Pistachio Pudding on Whisper White. The fathers day sentiment is from the retired set Best Dad Ever.

I'm headed to Denali National Park this weekend and I'm hoping to see some moose out and about! Friends have reported caribou along the park road and also a bear so fingers crossed!

Make sure you head over to The Friday Mashup to see what the rest of the team is saying goodbye too and then play along with us!

• Create a project using "the sketch".
• Create a project using "your favorite Retired/Retiring/Forgotten Stamp". 
• or Mash it Up! and create a project using your Favorite Retired Stamp set and the Sketch". 

Stamps: Walk in the Wild, Hardwood, Best Dad Ever(retired)

Paper: Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar, Whisper White, Lullaby DSP

Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Pistachio Pudding, Hello Honey, Versamark

Accessories: Misc sequins

Snowflakes for Tis The Season

This week at 'Tis The Season we have an inspiration photo. It was a hard one for me, I think all the white threw me off. I sat there looking at the photo for days and had no clue what I was going to do and then I saw the sketch from Jingle Belles and what a perfect combo! I immediately started grabbing DSP and snowflake dies and boom, card is done :)

Make sure you head over to the 'Tis The Season blog and see what the rest of the DT came up with, and check out Jingle Belles too!

Sweet Tweets for Jingle Belles

Wow, playing along with challenges 2 day in a row? Someone write this down on the calendar LOL

I haven't played along with Jingle Belles in a bit so today I played along with the fun sketch they have up right now.

I recently bought my first order from Taylored Expressions and had colored this sweet image last week and set it aside. It works perfectly for the sketch, don't you just love it when things work out like that? :) I love birds and when you combine birds with Christmas....well that just makes me smile!

My paper is from Stampin Up Season of Style DSP. I tried to pull out the red and green from the image. I used a Wink of Stella pen to add some sparkle to the birdhouse roofs and also to the ground. A few sequins helped finish off the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Wishes on a Wire-Christmas (Taylored Expressions)

Paper: Cherry Cobbler (SU), 

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, various Copics

Accessories: Wink of Stella, Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh, dimensionals

Patriotic for Paper Players

I had some time to play along with a challenge today so I decided to join the The Paper Players and their sketch. As soon as I saw the sketch I knew I wanted to use the For Your Country set. I had to redo the card a few times because I didn't like the way I had originally done the banners, and I also decided to emboss the white background, it looked better against the polka dot papers.

Since it is a patriotic card I decided to go with the colors of the US flag.....red, white and blue. The white banner across the middle is embossed with the Lucky Stars TIEF and I used the Arrows TIEF for the white background.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: For Your Country

Paper: Real Red, Polka Dot Parade, Pacific Point DSP, Whisper White

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories: Big Shot, Arrows TIEF, Lucky Stars TIEF, Oval Framelits, dimensionals

Bear Love for Sunday Stamps

It's Sunday already! Why of why does the weekend go by so fast! Thankfully we've got Sunday Stamps to make us smile and give another reason to stamp :)

Today we've got a fun sketch. I used a set I just got from Mama Elephant, it was my first time inking it up. The images in this set are so sweet, if you haven't seen the set definitely check it out!

I knew I wanted to use this retired Real Red ribbon at the top of the card so I chose my colors to go along with that. I chose DSP that was pretty muted as the image is very simple and I didn't want the paper to be overwhelming.

Head over to the Sunday Stamps blog to see what the rest of the DT came up with and then play along with us!

Stamps: Bear Hugs (Mama Elephant)

Paper: Crumb Cake, Crumb Cake DSP, Basic Black DSP, Real Red DSP, Neenah Solar White

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black,  Real Red, Various Copics

Accessories: SU Real Red Ribbon (retired)

Umbrellas and Polka Dots!

Welcome back to another Friday Mashup challenge! It's my turn to host the challenge so as we close out April I wanted to focus on April showers and umbrellas. So many parts of the US are dry and looking for rain...I know here in southcentral Alaska we need moisture! Our lack of snow over the winter has everyone very concerned about an early start to the fire season. We had snow showers the other day but it wasn't enough to make a difference. Maybe this challenge with help Mother Nature along :) 

I'm also playing along with SugarPea Designs Anything Goes challenge. How fun is this image of a little girl with her umbrella? I colored in the scene with Copics and then paper pieced her umbrella, using a marker to add a few highlights.

I also love polka dots so let's add those to our projects also and have some fun! We can't wait to see what you come up with. Head over to The Friday Mashup blog to see what the rest of the DT came up with and play along with us and also be sure to check out SugarPea Designs!

*I'm playing along with the Let's Get The Party Started linky party at Paper Issues * (celebrating friendship)

• Create a project using " Umbrellas".
• Create a project using "Polka Dots".
• Or Create a project using "Umbrellas & Polka Dots". 

 The April showers we had on Monday.....

Stamps: Hello, Sunshine (SugarPea Designs)
Paper: Strawberry Slush, Strawberry Slush DSP, Polka Dot Parade, Neenah Solar White
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Old Olive
Copics: 
Grass: YG03, YG25
Sidewalk: C1, C3, C5
Stones: W2, W3, W4
Jacket: Y02, Y04, Y13, Y18
Hair: E13, E15, E17
Pants: BV02, BV04
Accessories: Modern Label Punch (SU), dimesionals

Brayers and Circles for Friday Mashup

This week at The Friday Mashup Tara is our hostess and she has a great sketch for us, plus she'd also like us to try the Bouncing Brayer Technique. I do not own a brayer (it's true, I have never bought one!) so I didn't mash it up this time, sorry Tara!

For the sketch I used the set Starburst Sayings, as I thought that would be perfect for the circles. As you can see I had to adjust the sketch a bit to fit the sizes I used but you can still see the sketch on my card. I chose to use nice bright colors as I think they are perfect for the "oh happy day" sentiment!

Make sure you head over to The Friday Mashup to see what the rest of the DT came up with and then play along with us!

• Create a project using "the sketch".
• Create a project using the "Bouncing Brayer Technique (tutorial)". 
• or Mash it Up! and create a project using the Bouncing Brayer Technique and the Sketch". 

Stamps: Starburst Sayings

Paper: Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, Sweet Taffy DSP

Ink: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise

Accessories: Big Shot, Arrows TIEF, Starburst Framelits, Daffodil Delight ribbon, dimensionals, ribbon

Christmas Carolers for 'Tis The Season

It's time for a new challenge at 'Tis The Season and this week we have a sketch. It's a nice simple one which can be used to highlight an image, a sentiment, paper...whatever you want!

I decided to use the carolers from the Mama Elephant set Alpine Carolers. I saw this set last year and loved it and I finally bought it last month. 

I decided to keep my card pretty clean. I cut a rectangle and embossed it with the CB folder Swiss Dots and then adhered my little family of carolers to the panel. I stamped some music notes around them so it would be clear what the family is doing. I popped the panel up with dimensionals on a white card base with a strip of Polka Dot going behind the image. The sentiment was stamped in Real Red. I'll definitely be making quite a few of this card to send out at Christmas, I really like it!

I hope you'll come by 'Tis The Season and play along with us! Only 252 days until Christmas!

Stamps: Alpine Carolers (Mama Elephant)

Paper: Neenah Solar White, Polka Dot Parade (SU)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Various Copics

Accessories: Cuttlebug, CB Swiss Dots EF, dimensionals

Use Your Stuff Monday

We all have crafty friends that enable us, and who we enable in return, right? My enablers are Holly of Hollybeary Creations and Rita of Rita's Creations. Recently Rita and Holly were talking about the crafty items we were all accumulating but not using and what better way to get our stuff out and used but to encourage each other and work together! That is how Use Your Stuff Monday came to life and here we go!

Today we are using Lawn Fawn products and playing along with the Lawnscaping Challenge, which is to use some type of dimension. I decided to pull out the set Critters in the Arctic. I spent Saturday afternoon photographing a beautiful young bull moose so I have moose on the brain, but what else is new :)

I used papers from Lawn Fawn's Snow Day collection to create the photo frame and the background. I love how versatile these papers are! I used the Lawn Fawn  Forest Border to create the little scene behind the moose and then used a white gel pen to create a stitched border.

For dimension my moose is popped up as is the sentiment banner.

It sure felt good to get these items out and used! If you'd like to play along with me, Holly and Rita feel free to grab your forgotten Lawn Fawn products and link up below! Make sure you head over to their blogs to see what they created!

The young bull moose I photographed Saturday at Potters Marsh, in the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge. You can tell it's a bull moose by the nubs above his eyes, where the antlers are just starting to come in. Only the males get antlers, female moose do not.

Stamps: Critters in the Arctic (Lawn Fawn)

Paper: Neenah Solar White, Garden Green(SU), Soft Sky (SU), Lawn Fawn Snow Day Collection

Ink: Early Espresso, Real Red, Garden Green (SU), Various Copics

Accessories: On Film Framelits (SU). Big Shot, White Gel Pen, dimensionals

Wanna join in the fun....Link Up!

An InLinkz Link-up

Sheltering Tree for Sunday Stamps

Happy Sunday! I'm excited to say that I am back on the Sunday Stamps design team! It's been a while and I so happy to be working with Holly and the rest of the DT!

This week we have a color challenge for you and I can't lie, it was tough for me as these colors are totally not my style so I had to think about this for a bit. I decided to use the SU set Sheltering Tree and I'll admit it, this is the 2nd card I came up with as I thought my first one sucked LOL

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches as my starting point. The tree was stamped in Crumb Cake and the leaves were stamped in Blushing Bride and Pink Pirouette. I used Wild Wasabi as my card base and as a layer under my sentiment panel. I incorporated the purple by stamping my sentiment in that color. To finish the card off I paper pierced around all the edges and I used some Wink of Stella on the leaves for some shine. In person this card is really soft and pretty!

Make sure you head over to the Sunday Stamps blog to see what the rest of the design team came up with and then play along with us! Don't forget to also go by and play along with Freshly Made Sketches!

Stamps: Sheltering Tree

Paper: Wild Wasabi, Very Vanilla, Pink Pirouette DSP(retired)

Ink: Crumb Cake, Blushing Bride, Pink Pirouette, Wisteria Wonder

Accessories: Paper Piercer, Wink of Stella Pen

Shake Your Congrats for Friday Mashup

This week at The Friday Mashup Holly is our hostess and she wants use to create shaker cards with a congratulations theme!

I decided to use the set Celebrate today. I used the balloon die to cut a shape out of the DSP and then created my shaker portion of the card. I used 2014-16 In Color sequins for the shaker. Even though I stamped 'celebrate' this card can be used for any occasion. I think I'm actually going to use it as a congratulations card for a new baby!

Make sure you head over to The Friday Mashup blog to see what the rest of the DT came up with and then play along with us!

Stamps: Celebrate Today

Paper: Coastal Cabana, Whisper White, Best Year Ever DSP

Ink: Coastal Cabana

Accessories: Big Shot, Balloon Framelits, Scallop Edge Border Punch, In Color Sequins

Coloring Critters for Friday Mashup

It's Friday, woohooo! I took last night and tonight off from work so I have a 4 day weekend. Sometimes you just need to take time to yourself to regroup, and that's what I'm doing!

Cynthia is our host this week at The Friday Mashup and she would like us to use the colors So Saffron, Pool Party and Calypso Coral, plus she she would like to see Easter critters on our projects!

I don't celebrate Easter so looking through all of my stamps I didn't have much in way of Easter critters. Thankfully the Cheerful Critters set from the Occasions catalog had 2 images that worked and I went with the one that looks like a little chick. I colored him in with So Saffron and used Pool Party for his little shirt (?). I used the stamp set Kinda Eclectic to stamp the sun and border across the card and then I popped up the little chick in front of them. To finish off the card I paper pierced the edges.

Head over to The Friday Mashup blog to see what the rest of the DT did and then play along with us!

• Create a project using " So Saffron, Calypso Coral & Pool Party*". 
• Create a project using "Easter Critters".
• or Mash it Up! and create a project with "Easter critters and the colors above".

Stamps: Cheerful Critters, Kinda Eclectic

Paper: Pool Party, Whisper White

Ink: Pool Party, So Saffron, Calypso Coral

Accessories: Paper Piercer, dimensionals

A Bluesy Christmas for TTS

This week at 'Tis The Season it's all about the color blue! We've got 3 different shades to use on a Christmas card, plus a little silver to add some pizzazz!

For my card I used a set from SugarPea Designs called Frosty Friends. My husband is a huge Frozen freak (yes, you read that right, my husband!) and one of the sentiments from this set was perfect for a Christmas card made with him in mind. I used Winter Frost Specialty DSP from Stampin Up as it had all 3 shades on it as well as some silver. I love it when things work out like that!

The image was colored in with copics. I'm new to copics and am still learning so be gentle with me :) To finish the card I added a small bow made from silver stretch cord.

Make sure you head over to the 'Tis The Season blog to see what the rest of the design team did and then play along with us!

Stamps: Frosty Friends (SugarPea Designs)

Paper: Island Indigo, Whisper White, Winter Frost DSP(retired)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, various Copics, Island Indigo

Accessories: Silver Stretch Cord