Going to the Zoo

If you've been played along with The Friday Mashup for a while you'll know that Heidi always gives us a Chinese New Year challenge. This year Feb.8 is the Chinese New Year and its the year of the Monkey. Heidi wants us to use monkeys or any other zoo animal on our project, plus create a project with a fancy fold.

I'm running behind so I didn't do the fancy fold part, I just did the zoo animals. I used a set from MFT called Sweet Safari to create my scene. Both the lion and the monkey were colored with copics and then fussy cut out. I used MFTs Tall Grassy Edge for my border and a square from the Zig Zag Stitched set for the background. The sentiment reads "Roar! Wild About You".

I'm also entering this card into the MFT Sketch challenge, I was finally able to play along over there!

Head on over to The Friday Mashup to see what the rest of the DT came up with, and play along with us!

This week's Mashup Challenge is:  

• Create a project featuring a Monkey or Zoo Animals. 
• or Create a project with a Fancy Folds. 
• or Mash it up! and create a Fancy Folded Project with a Monkey. 

Stamps: Sweet Safari (MFT)

Paper: Bermuda Bay (SU), Cucumber Crush (SU), Neenah Solar White, Cherry on Top DSP (SU)

Ink: Mememto Tuxedo Black, Bermuda Bay, Garden Green

Copics: Y23, YR21, YR24, E99

E23, E25, E27, E33

C3, C5

B0000, B000, B00

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Zig Zag Stiched Squares, Die-Namics Tall Grassy Edge, Die-Namics Blueprints 20, Doodlebug Sprinkles

Party Animals for Friday Mashup

This week at The Friday Mashup  Heidi is our hostess and she would like us to create a project with a farm animal in honor of the Chinese New Year and to also include some party bling on it. She says "bonus points to anyone who has a goat on their project as it is the Year of the Goat".

Heidi's Chinese New Year challenges always scare me because I never have anything that I think represents it well. Thankfully this year SU had the perfect stamp in their Occasions catalog, the From the Herd set. It even has a goat so I had all bases of the challenge covered, woot woot! I added sequins as my bling but didn't add any other party themed stuff like hats or balloons because the looks on the animals faces just crack me up and seemed to go perfectly with the sentiment I used on the front of the card.

I wasn't sure how to place my image but thankfully Sunday Stamps had the perfect sketch for this image and once I had their sketch in front of me everything about the card came together pretty quickly!

Head over to The Friday Mashup to play along with us and don't forget to also stop by Sunday Stamps and check out their challenges!

***Friday Mashup 200th Challenge Celebration Coming Up on March 6***

• Create a project with a "Farm Animal". 
• Create a project with "Bling".
• or Mash it Up! and create a project "using a Farm Animal with some Bling".

Stamps: From the Herd

Paper: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Sweet Taffy DSP

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Blendabilities: Old Olive, Marina Mist, Crumb Cake, various skin tones, Daffodil Delight,  Blushing Bride, Pink Pirouette, Sahara Sand

Accessories: Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh

Chinese New Year for Friday Mashup

Pssstttt....it's Friday and you know what that means! Another Friday Mashup challenge is here! This week Heidi has an excellent challenge for us, one that will make you think and get creative. Heidi gives us this background:

Feb.10 the Chinese New Year begins and its the Year of the Snake. In China, it is known as the Spring Festival, runs three days, and ends with the Lantern Festival. As part of the celebration, it is traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of "good fortune" or "happiness", "wealth", and "longevity". On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. Food will include such items as pigs, ducks, chicken and sweet delicacies. The family will end the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes. The Chinese New Year tradition is to reconcile, forget all grudges and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone¹.

For this challenge, you could incorporate Chinese symbols, an image of a dragon or lion representing the traditional parade dance, a snake or two to symbolize the Year of the Snake, or a red envelope. To mash it up, use the faux paper lantern technique on your project.

I wont lie, this challenge was very hard for me. Oriental design isn't a style I particularly care for and I didn't know how to translate it all to a card. I decided to use the snake from the Zoofari set (retired) and then the red, black and gold that is associated with oriental decor. I used the paper lantern technique on my snake panels.

This is a really unique challenge, so head over to The Friday Mashup to see what the rest of the design team has come up with and then be brave and try it out yourself!

1. Make a project with a "Chinese New Year (Year of the Snake) Theme".
2. Or Make a project using the "Paper Lantern Technique".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project for the "Chinese New Year featuring the Paper Lantern Technique".

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Zoofari, Loving Thoughts, Baroque Motif

Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, Basic Black DSP

Ink: StazOn Black, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Versamark

Accessories: Modern Label Punch, Basic Black Brads, Gold Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Paper Crimper, sponge