Gobble Gobble for LMMS

It's Inspiration Week over at Little Miss Muffet Stamps and this week I'm all about Thanksgiving. A lot of people say to me, what about Thanksgiving, there is another holiday between Halloween and Christmas ya know, especially since I am in full on Christmas mode all the time. Trust me, I know there is Thanksgiving and I love it...I love the yummy food, being with my family and just hanging out with good friends. Just because I'm focusing on Christmas doesn't mean I've forgotten everything else, I'm just more subdued about other holidays :)

I wanted something nice and easy for my Thanksgiving card. I started going through my stash of Little Miss Muffet Stamps images and came across this turkey. It's a digital stamp called Hazel's Turkey and I think it is so cute! I decided to put it on a white card base and then used a stamp to create some dirt below him with a sentiment that reads "Gobble Gobble" on the outside of the card and inside the sentiment reads "It's Turkey Time".

Don't forget, the Anything Goes challenge is still open over at the Little Miss Muffet Stamps blog so head on over there and play along with us!

Love You to the Core

The current challenge over at The Paper Players blog is all about apples and it's perfect because I've had this Pure Innocence image sitting on my craft desk for a few weeks now. I had colored it and then just kind of pushed it to the side, so the apple challenge was the perfect motivation I needed to get it made into a card!

I used yellow and green for the colors of the girls clothing so I grabbed some of my favorite retired SU DSP that I've been hoarding. I love polka dots and I love these colors together so I created a very simple background with this DSP on my red card base. I added the sentiment to the inside of the card and pulled it all together by putting a strip of the Old Olive polka dot paper across the inside of the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Good Things for The Paper Players

I had colored this image the other day for the Daily Marker 30 Day challenge and set it aside until I decided what I wanted to do with it. I was scrolling through my blogger feed Saturday night and saw The Paper Players new challenge, which is a CAS Harvest theme. My newly colored image was perfect for this!

The fall colors here in southcentral Alaska will be peaking soon and my mind is completely on autumn and all the fun things to come.....decorating for Halloween, trick or treaters coming by (hopefully, we usually don't get many in my area), prepping for Thanksgiving and then of course my favorite, Christmas! For the next 2 months pumpkins will play a big part in my decor so this fun digital image from Power Poppy really speaks to me right now! I used my copics to color in the main image and then I used my computer to change the sentiment color to orange from black. I used a die to cut out the image panel and then adhered the panel to a card base of Tangerine Tango. I didn't want to take away from the image so left the rest of the panel very clean and simple, no embellishments of any kind!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Fall Haul (Power Poppy Digital Stamp)

Paper: Tangerine Tango (SU), Neenah Solar White

Ink: Printer Ink

Copics: YR04, YR07, YR09, YR14, YR15, YR16, YR18, YR20, YR21

R37, R38

E30, E31, E55, E57

YG03, YG21, YG63

G94

Accessories: Cuttlebug, MFT Blueprints 20

Happy Spring for The Paper Players

This week at The Paper Players the challenge is to create CAS projects inspired by spring. Here in Alaska we welcomed in spring with a snowstorm that brought 7 inches of wonderful snow to my place. It's the most snow we've had since November and I spent all day Saturday outside playing in it!

For my card I used a fun stamp from MFT, the PI I'm All Ears. The girl in her sundress, holding the carrot and wearing bunny ears definitely speaks spring! I don't celebrate Easter but if you do, this image would also be great for an Easter card!

I colored in the image with my copic markers and then adhered it my card base. My daughter wanted some bling on it so I added some sequins to it to make her happy. Otherwise I kept it nice and simple!

Thanks for stopping by!

Looking down my street on Saturday.....

Stamps: MFT I'm All Ears

Paper: Wild Wasabi, Neenah Solar White, MFT Tranquil Textures

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tangerine Tango

Copics: YR04, YR16

YR07, YR18, YG09

RV52, N1, C00

E33, E25, E29

E77, E79

E00, E21, R02

Accessories: Cuttlebug, MFT, Die-Namics Stitched Cover-Up Companion-Horizontal, PPP Sequins, Dimensionals

Have Your Elf a Merry Christmas

I'm squeaking in with a card for the The Paper Players challenge, which is to create a CAS Christmas card. I just stocked up on some Pure Innocence stamps that were on clearance at MFT so perfect opportunity to break one of the sets in!

This die from MFT is a new favorite of mine as it allows you to quickly put a card together. I grabbed some paper I've had for a few years from SEI and used that behind the frame. I colored the image with copics, fussy cut it and then popped it up with dimensionals. The sentiment was stamped in Garden Green.

I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Weds challenge, they'd like to see Christmas cards featuring MFT products!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Pure Innocence Elf Girl (MFT)

Paper: Garden Green (SU), Neenah Solar White, pattern paper from SEI

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Garden Green

Copics: G09, G17, G28

R27, R29, R46

R000, E21, E11

YR15, YR24

E35, E99, E25

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Die-namics Stitched Cover-Up Companion-Horizontal, Dimensionals

A Simple Fall Scene

I didn't have to drive into town today so I had some time to craft. I saw the current challenge for CAS(E) this Sketch come across my feed and decided to play along.

When I originally set out to make a card for this challenge I had Christmas in mind. However, when I executed the vision I had in my head it just didn't appeal to me and I started all over. I glanced out the window and decided to go with a fall theme. Here in Alaska signs of autumn are appearing everywhere...fireweed has gone to seed, the air has a certain crispness to it and leaves are starting to change.

I used a new set from SU called Happy Scenes that I recently got in my preorder. I stamped the image twice across the front and then colored it with copics. The sentiment is also from a new set coming out, that one is called Sparkly Seasons. 

I really love how it came out, it's a nice and simple card that can easily be reproduced if need be.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Happy Scenes, Sparkly Seasons

Paper: Whisper White CS(Thick)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tangelo Twist

Copics:YG03, YG25, G07, E13, Y13, Y18, R05, R08, R46, YR09, YR07

Season's Tweetings

When I woke up today I took a look through my blogger feed and saw this great sketch at Less is More. It really intrigued me and I had to play along!

I grabbed the Lawn Fawn set Winter Sparrows. This is such an adorable set and I haven't inked it up since I got it months ago, so it was definitely time to play with it!

On a panel of Neenah Solar White I stamped the branch in the middle of panel in SU Early Espresso and then used my Early Espresso marker to extend it to the edge, I didn't like how it was just floating there. I colored my birds with Copics and then cut them out with their matching dies.Before adhering the birds to the panel with dimensionals I embossed it with the CB Swiss Dots folder. On a smaller panel I stamped the sentiment in SU Real Red, added some music notes and then also embossed that with the Swiss Dots folder. Both panels were then popped up with dimensionals on the card base,

I changed the sizes of the panel just slightly from the sketch in order to accommodate the images and sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Winter Sparrows (Lawm Fawn)

Paper: Neenah Solar White

Ink: Early Espresso (SU), Real Red (SU), Memento Tuxedo Black

Copics: B00, BG01, G07, G28, YR31, YR14, YR15, R27, R46, R24, R29, YG25, C1, C3

Accessories: Cuttlebug. Swiss Dots EF, dimensionals

 

A Campy Christmas for Tis The Season

This week at 'Tis The Season we have a fun inspiration photo. I decided to use the camper and car as the inspiration behind my card as I have the perfect set from Lawn Fawn to use!

I grabbed the Happy Trails set and matching dies to stamp the trailer, car and tree. The colors I used on the camper and car were also inspired by the photo, the wire brush trees in the background.

To create my scene I used the Forest Border die to create the treeline and then the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug EF to create a look of falling snow. I used a snippet of paper from the Snow Day collection to make it look like a snow covered dirt road that the vehicles are traveling on, bringing their Christmas tree home.

To finish it all off I popped up the panel with dimensionals on a base of Whisper White card stock and then scored a border around it. I stamped the sentiment underneath the image panel in Real Red, and called it good!

This card is also for the Lawnscaping Challenge. White space isn't something that I do often so it was fun to go outside my comfort zone and try something new!

I hope you'll come by the 'Tis The Season blog and play along with us!

Stamps: Happy Trails (Lawn Fawn), Winter in the Park (Lawn Fawn)

Paper: Whisper White, Snow Day collection (Lawn Fawn)

Ink: Real Red, Garden Green, Smoky Slate, Sahara Sand, Coastal Cabana Blendabilities

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots EF, Forest Border Die (Lawn Fawn), dimensionals

Simple Watercolor for Friday Mashup

Happy 4th of July to everyone in the US! I hope you have a great holiday weekend and that you are safe out there!

To kick off our Independence weekend Heidi is our hostess at The Friday Mashup and she wants us to use the watercolor wash technique and to create a CAS project, or one with very minimal layers.

Watercolor wash seems to be pretty popular right now doesn't it? Stampin' Up! has several sets that would be great to use with this technique or you can do what I did and just grab the aquapainter, ink and be totally random and abstract about it!

I took some watercolor paper and used the colors Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana and Crisp Cantaloupe to create my watercolor wash background. I then took a stamp from Serene Silhouettes and stamped that in Coastal Cabana across the top of the other colors. The sentiment is from the hostess set Hello Love and I stamped that in Lost Lagoon. I also did some ink splatter on the panel using Lost Lagoon. To finish it off I grabbed the paper piercer and just randomly went around the edge making holes. I didn't want to the lines to be perfect so yes, they are crooked and random :) If the general layout looks familiar to those with keen eyes I was inspired by the card on page 108 in the Stampin' Up! catalog.

We hope you'll stop by The Friday Mashup blog to see what the rest of the DT came up with and then play along with us, we love to see your projects!

Create a Project with a "Watercolor Wash".

Create a "CAS project or one with Minimal Layers".

or Mash it Up! and create a "CAS project with a Watercolor Wash".

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, Hello Love

Paper: Strawberry Slush, Watercolor Paper

Ink: Strawberry Slush, Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana, Lost Lagoon

Accessories: Aquapainter, Paper Piercer

Patriotic Grunge

When I saw the current sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch I knew immediately that I wanted to use the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set and do something patriotic. I pulled out the retired SU stamp Land of the Free to complete my card. Nice and simple!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge, Land of the Free (retired)

Paper: Pacific Point, Naturals White

Ink: Pacific Point, Real Red

Accessories: Dimensionals

Going Red for Jingle Belles

 

Since today's prompt falls on Valentines Day the Jingle Belle ladies are all about the color red. They want to see that color take center stage on our Christmas cards!

I had to pick my oldest up from work this morning so instead of going back to bed like I normally do(I work nights and don't get to bed until 4am, I'm not a bum, LOL) I sucked it up and just stayed up, which gave me time today for some crafting (although I'm sure I'll be paying for it tonight at work, lol).

I started with an Early Espresso card base and layered some Very Vanilla and Real Red on top of that. I embossed the Real Red with the SU Snow Burst EF. The banners were created with Candlelight Christmas(retired) DSP, I love this paper and bought a few packs from the clearance rack, it is so pretty! I sponged the edges of the banners with Real Red for a more cohesive look.

The sentiment is from the set Welcome Home and was stamped in Real Red and then I fussy cut it and popped it up with dimensionals. I'll be making a total of 5 of these cards, I'll get them finished tomorrow.

My inspiration for the layout came from the latest sketch at the Clean and Simple Stamping blog.

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Welcome Christmas, More Merry Messages(inside sentiment, not shown)

Paper: Early Espresso, Real Red, Very Vanilla, Candlelight Christmas DSP

Ink: Real Red

Accessories: Big Shot, Snow Burst EF(retired), sponge, dimensionals

Clean Sports for Friday Mashup

It's my turn to host the challenge at The Friday Mashup and I'm all about the sports this week. I'm a HUGE sports fan and follow several sports(NY Giants football, Boston Celtics basketball, Boston Bruins hockey and Boston Red Sox baseball) but football is definitely the one that brings out the psycho in me! During football season you'll find me and the husband in front of the TV every Sunday watching all the games as well as our respective teams(he's a 49'ers fan, after almost 22 yrs together I've learned to overlook that, ha!). I'm really missing football right now and that's where this challenge came from. I want everyone to use the colors of your favorite sports team to make a CAS project. If you don't have a favorite team that's OK, use the colors of a team from your area or maybe your significant other has a team whose colors you can use. No matter how you do it just make sure your project is clean and simple!

As I said above the NY Giants are my favorite football team. I'll be 40 yrs old in October and I've been rooting for them since I could sit up and watch football with my dad and grandpa! Their colors are red, white and blue so I decided to go with a patriotic thank you card and the inspiration for the layout came from this weeks Sunday Stamps challenge!

Make sure you head over to The Friday Mashup to check out the projects from the rest of the design team!

GO GIANTS!! :)

1. Create a project using "the colors of your favorite sports team"
2. Create a "clean and simple project".
3. Or Mash it Up and create a "clean and simple project using the colors of your favorite sports team".

 

Me getting ready for Super Bowl XLVI, in which the Giants beat the Patriots....AGAIN :) They won the Super Bowl on my 18th wedding anniversary,what a great gift hehehe

 

 

Simple Fathers Day

This week the challenge over at The Paper Players is to create a one layer card. Considering I don't like a lot of embellishments you'd think that this would be an easy challenge for me but nope, it sure wasn't! I finally decided on a nice, simple Fathers Day card.

I used the truck image from the set Countryside. This set is going to be retiring but that's ok, I'll still use it(if you come by my blog regularly you'll see I use a lot of retired stamps. As a hobby demo I buy sets because I like them and want to use them, for many yrs to come)! To help highlight the truck I scored some lines above and below the image, to create a frame of sorts.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise stated):

Stamps: Countryside, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Naturals White

Ink: Black StazOn, Not Quite Navy, Cajun Craze, Garden Green, Soft Suede, Riding Hood Red, Basic Black

Accessories: Simply Scored Tool, Aquapainter, Blender Pen

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

A Birdy Birthday

My step mom's birthday is coming up on Oct.28th so I needed to get a card done and in the mail, so I used the current challenges at Freshly Made Sketches and The Paper Players for inspiration.

Freshly Made Sketches has a great sketch from LeAnne and it is a great way to showcase any image! My step mom loves birds and the color red so I decided to use Poppy Parade(retired) for the birds as well as for the DSP(I love this DSP and wish it had made it into the current catalog!).

The challenge at The Paper Players is to incorporate frames and I sure hope what I did counts! I used the Framed Tulips embossing folder to create a frame along the top of the card in Very Vanilla and inked the edges with Soft Suede. The owl and the bird cages sit inside the frame and they are all popped up with dimensionals.

Hope everyone is having a great Sunday, and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Aviary, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Everyday Enchantment DSP (retired)

Ink: Poppy Parade(retired), Soft Suede

Accessories: Big Shot, Framed Tulips EF, Very Vanilla Ribbon,  Bitty Banner Framelit Dies, sponge, dimensionals

Freshly Made with a Color Combo

For this card I used the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and this weeks color challenge over at Splitcoast, which is Basic Black, Poppy Parade and Lucky Limeade. I thought it was a pretty interesting color combo, definitely not one I would have thought to use, and I love how simple the sketch is.

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Up, Up & Away, Aint Love Grand

Paper: Basic Black, Poppy Parade, Lucky Limeade, Naturals White

Ink: Black StazOn, Poppy Parade, Lucky Limeade, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Basic Black ribbon and brads, Scallop Edge Border Punch, Paper Piercing tool

CAS with Paper Players

I love this weeks challenge on The Paper Players blog. Its a CAS challenge with a color twist...you are to only use the colors Night of Navy, Whisper White and Silver. If you've been to my blog recently you'll see this is a color combo I have used before, I love it!

I also used a stamp set that I used recently, Wandering Words. I love this image of Santa and his reindeer, I think its one of the best that SU has ever put out. And speaking of Santa, did you know that on Christmas Eve you can track him thanks to the USAF and NORAD? It's true, they even have a Facebook page! I spent my teen yrs in the town that NORAD is in and loved tracking Santa as a kid(you know, the old fashioned way, calling NORAD by phone since there was no Net then!) and now I do the same thing with my kids. So anyway, just thought I'd share!

Back to the card...for my silver I used Silver Metallic ink for both the Santa images and the snowflakes on the larger Night of Navy layer. It sparkles and looks so pretty in the light! The white makes up the card base and the layer underneath the Santa image and of course, you can see how I used Night of Navy. I also used the Swiss Dots embossing folder to give the look of Santa's sleigh flying through snow.

Hmmm, after making this card I think I need to go play some "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" by Michael Buble :)

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Wandering Words, Snow Burst

Paper: Whisper White, Night of Navy

Ink: Metallic Silver

Accessories: Swiss Dots embossing folder, dimensionals

Friday Mashup Bossy and Sketchy

Before I dive into this weeks Friday Mashup challenge I want to remind everyone that we currently have the Friday Mashup Fan Favorite contest going on right now! Think you have a great idea for the Mashup blog? Write up a post on your blog and then go submit it at the Friday Mashup!Fans will vote on their favorites and the winner gets to host their idea for the Friday Mashup blog! Lets see those creative minds at work!

Speaking of creative minds, this week our challenge comes from a VERY creative mind, Lesley(check out her blog and see what I mean!). She's providing us with a CAS sketch this week, and also wants to see some dry embossing.

So here is how we are MASHING IT UP this week:


Create a project using the provided "Sketch"
or Create a project that has a "Dry Embossing on it"
or "Mash it Up!" and create a card using the "Sketch with Dry Embossing"

I cant help it, I've totally moved into fall mode! My friends that live just a bit north of me in Fairbanks say signs of fall are really taking hold that way, the sandhill cranes are starting their southern migration and the various Alaska National Parks are posting about the fall colors that are starting to pop. I love it!! Pretty soon my woodstove will be going 24/7(thats how we heat our home in the winter) and I'll be watching the snow fall, yeahhhhhhhhh!! Naturally I decided to do a card that echoed the way I'm feeling right now :)

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Seasonal Whimsy, Petite Pairs

Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White

Ink: Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive

Accessories: CB Swiss Dots Folder, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, Old Olive ribbon, sponge, dimensionals

Its your turn...head over to the Friday Mashup blog and play along with us! Dont forget to go check out the cards the design team made for inspiration!