Christmas Chickadee

I've had a stressful week and really needed a moment to just go to my craft room and make a card. I had this image colored during the 30 Day Daily Marker Challenge and had set it aside, so when I saw the current challenge at Jingle Belles about making projects with birds on them I went "wooohooo"!

This chickadee is a digital stamp from Power Poppy. I just love chickadees, they are such adorable little birds! I watch them at my feeder all the time, as they are the main bird that sticks around for the winter (along with nuthatches and redpolls). 

Thanks for stopping by!

Waiter, There's a Parakeet in my Teacup

If you didn't see, Power Poppy just had a HUGE digital blitz on Monday, adding 11 new digital images, plus another one was added today! I was like a kid at Christmas, I kept checking my computer all day on Monday to see what new images were being added. As a flower and nature lover Power Poppy stamps, both clear and digital, speak to my soul, I adore them!

I'm behind on the Hues to Use challenges by 2 weeks so I used one of the new digital images to play along with the colors released this week.....except there weren't any actual colors given to us. That's right, a photo was posted and this time WE get to choose the 3 colors from the photo that we want to use on our project. I decided to go with my top 3 favorite colors....blue, green and yellow.

The image I used is Waiter, There's a Parakeet in my Teacup and I just love it! I don't have the clear set it's from so I love that it was made into a digital stamp! I decided to go with a blue parakeet, as we had one when I was just a little kid. My parents named it Sam because they didn't know if it was a boy or girl and that name can go either way LOL I then used the 3 colors in the teacups and the plates. The patterned paper is some retired SU DSP that I've had forever. The yellow on my image is a tad brighter than the DSP but that's ok.

Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Tweetings for Sunday Stamps

This week at Sunday Stamps we have a sketch to play along with. I decided to use a set from MFT that I recently got but had not inked up yet.

I used some retired SU DSP and colors for my card. The cage was die cut and then I popped up the birds along the cage and adhered my sentiment banner. The sentiment banner takes the place of the chevrons that are in the sketch. I'm not a fan of chevrons and that's the great thing about sketches, you can adjust them to fit your likes and dislikes!

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

Stamps: Tweet Friends (MFT)

Paper: Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe, Neenah Solar White, Lullaby DSP (all SU retired)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Hello Honey, Pistachio Pudding

Copics: G21,G24

YR21, YR31

YR16

Accessories: Cuttlebug, MFT Cheerful Cages Die-namics, MFT Blueprints Die-namics 23, SU sequins (retired), dimensionals

Colorful Thank You for Sunday Stamps

Happy Sunday! I've missed the last 2 Sunday Stamps challenges due to a busy schedule but I'm back and wow, I love the colors we have this week, they are totally up my alley!

My nephew graduated from high school on May 9th and one of my friends sent him a lovely card and gift so he needed a thank you card to send to her. She's got a fun and vibrant personality so I thought these colors would be perfect for her card!

I used MFT's Blueprints 27 to cut out my scalloped frame and the stitched window panel. The birds are from the MFT set Tweet Friends and I colored them in with the colors from the challenge (I chose to use the shades of green along with the turquoise). I used dimensionals to pop them up along the frame.

The sentiment is from MFT's Kind Thanks and I heat embossed it with white embossing powder. In person it really pops and looks great against the green and turquoise colors!

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

Stamps: Tweet Friends, Kind Thanks (Both MFT)
Paper: Old Olive (SU), Tempting Turquoise DSP (retired SU), Neenah Solar White

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Copics: B04

BG96, YG99

YG03

Y35

Accessories: Cuttlebug, MFT Blueprints 27, White Embossing Power, Heat Gun, Dimensionals

Mother's Day Hello

I'm not stamping much right now, I have a ton of stuff going on taking up my time, but I did sit down today and create this card for my stepmom for Mother's Day. She loves the color red and enjoys birds so I combined that for this card. I kept it nice and simple, stamping the images and creating a little backyard scene. The images are from the MFT set I'm Tweet on You.

Halloween Crazy for Friday Mashup

This week at The Friday Mashup we've got Halloween and ribbon for you to play along with!

Heidi recently gave us a watercolor mashup so I had played around and created a few extra backgrounds that I tucked away. As I was looking at them I thought they would go great for a Halloween card. I pulled out some of the Tim Holtz Bird Crazy images that I had colored and it was a perfect match! I love it when things come together like that!

We've also got a special guest this challenge....Two Paper Divas is joining the Halloween fun and they will be  giving away their Happy Halloween set Valued at $24.95.. They will pick a random entry from the challenge participants. Make sure to check out their blog at Two Paper Divas and you can see their Happy Halloween set HERE.

Head on over to The Friday Mashup blog to see what the rest of the DT came up with, meet our new Friday Mashup team members and play along!

This week's Mashup Challenge:

• Create a project for Halloween.
• Create a project featuring some Ribbon.
• or Mash it Up! and create a project for Halloween with some Ribbon.

Stamps: SU alphabet stamps (retired), Tim Holtz Bird Crazy, Tim Holtz Crazy Things

Paper: Perfect Plum (SU), Watercolor paper

Ink: Black StazOn

Accessories: Big Shot, Crazy Things Thinlits, Bird Crazy Thinlits, Ken Oliver Earth Tone Colorburst, Perfect Plum ribbon (SU retired), dimensionals

Crazy Bird Thoughts for Friday Mashup

This week at the Friday Mashup Cynthia has a sketch for us and would also like us to throw in some pets on our projects....this could be a cat, dog, bird, any animal you might have as a pet!

I pulled out the Tim Holtz Bird Crazy stamp set. I just love these funky birds but hadn't inked up the set since getting it. This challenge gave me the perfect excuse to pull them out. The Bird Crazy set is terrific for the pet theme because my in-laws used to raise exotic birds and the first time he ever brought me home to meet his family I thought I had entered a crazy place. The sound from all the birds was insane. I always joke with my husband that right then and there I should have just turned and ran ;)

Since the sketch has a word bubble at the top I grabbed the bird that is glancing up and colored him with Copics on a panel of Neenah Solar White cardstock. Using a die from SU's Adorning Accents I cut across the top of the panel to give it some sort of word bubble look. I took this panel and popped it up on a card base of Neenah Solar White and above the cut panel I stamped the sentiment, which came from a set I had won a few years ago. To finish off the card I added some sequins to help tie in the word bubble concept and then called it good. The card is a little different from what I normally do but I really like how it turned out!

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

This weeks Mashup Challenge:

• Create a project with the "Sketch"
• Create a project with a "Pet Theme"
• or Mash it Up and create a project using "the Sketch and a Pet Theme"

Stamps: Bird Crazy (Stampers Anonymous), sentiment from Serendipity Stamps

Paper: Neenah Solar White

Ink: Mememto Tuxedo Black

Copics: B02, B04, B06, Y04, Y13, Y21

Accessories: Big Shot, SU Adorning Accents (retired), Pretty Pink Posh Charcoal Sequins

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

 

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

Bird Love

To start off the week I'm playing along with The Paper Players (and I had also intended to play along with Freshly Made Sketches but due to a reaction from pain meds I spent all day yesterday sleeping and missed the FMS deadline this morning, oh well, what can ya do!) and the theme from Joanne, which is birds. I love birds and am always watching the ones at my feeders.

I grabbed the set For the Birds and chose the fun image of the wagon with flowers and a sweet little bird chirping away. My papers are from the Fresh Prints DSP paper stack.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: For the Birds

Paper: Crumb Cake, Real Red, Whisper White, Fresh Prints DSP

Ink: Various Copics and Blendabilities, Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories: dimensionals

Christmas has gone to the birds....

At least over at Merry Monday anyway :) If you haven't guessed, the prompt over at Merry Monday is to create a Christmas card with a bird on it. This gave me the perfect opportunity to use this sweet little Christmas bird from the For the Bids set.

I used the Winter Frost DSP from the holiday catalog and kept my colors from this DSP. I used Island Indigo with a splash of Pool Party (see what I did there...splash..pool party..LOL) and when I colored in the bird I also brought in some Bermuda Bay and Coastal Cabana with just a touch of Cherry Cobbler and Daffodil Delight.

The circle image panel is popped up with dimensionals and the edges were lightly sponged with Island Indigo. I used a blender pen to widen the "merry" in the sentiment a bit.

My sketch was inspired by an older Friday Mashup challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: For the Birds, More Merry Messages

Paper: Island Indigo, Pool Party, Whisper White, Winter Frost DSP

Ink: Island Indigo, Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight

Accessories: Scalloped Edge Border Punch, Rounded Corner Punch, 2 1/2" Circle Punch,  Island Indigo Ribbon, Blender Pen, sponge, dimensionals

Aviary Thanks for Paper Players

I had a little bit of free time this afternoon and was able to play along with the challenge that's about to end over at The Paper Players. It's a great sketch and after staring at my stamp sets for a bit I finally decided to use the set Aviary for this card. Since today is the first day of spring (yuck, I'm not happy...I'm a winter girl...Antarctica is really where I should live! We are supposed to get snow this weekend, so at least I have that) that means more birds will be heading up to Alaska over the coming months and I'll be busy with my camera, watching and enjoying them!

I seem to be gravitating towards Island Indigo, Rich Razzleberry and Lucky Limeade. These colors have seen a lot of use from me lately. I think they are so pretty together! The squares were created by using the set Beyond Plaid and stamping the pattern in different colors, then using the 1 3/8" square punch to cut them out. The squares, bird cages and sentiment are all popped up with dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope that wherever you are, you're enjoying your first day of spring(or fall, depending on where you live!).

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Aviary, Itty Bitty Banners, Beyond Plaid

Paper: Island Indigo, Whisper White

Ink: Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Rich Razzleberry

Accessories: Cuttlebug, CB Argyle EF, Bitty Banner Framelits, Lucky Limeade Ribbon, dimensionals

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 for Sunday Stamps

It's time for Sunday Stamps and ((gasp)) ys, I have my act together and am able to get my card in this week! Getting my schedule switched back to nights from days took me a bit longer than I thought but I am good to go and ready to be a good DT member :)

This week Tara has a color challenge for us, using the colors Sahara Sand, Lucky Limeade and Wisteria Wonder.

I cant lie...I am not a fan of the color purple at all, so fitting Wisteria Wonder in was a bit of a struggle for me. I finally decided to use it as an accent and I think I managed to make myself happy with this minimal use of the color :)

I didnt get the card done in time to link up but I did want to acknowledge that I used the sketch from last weeks Retro Sketch challenge!

Head on over to the Sunday Stamps blog and check out the rest of the projects from the DT team. This is a new blog and we'd love to see more people participating!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Aviary, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Sahara Sand, Lucky Limeade, Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, Sahara Sand DSP

Ink: Baic Black, Lucky Limeade, Wisteria Wonder

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots EF, Lucky Limeade Ribbon, Modern Label Punch, sponge, dimensionals

Friday Mashup Sketchy Bird

Whew, I was so happy to see Friday approaching on the calendar! I was called in for jury duty earlier this week, and then I also started a special summer position at work, supervising a work crew of 4 teenage boys for 10 hrs a day, 4 days a week. If that doesn't make a person desperately want Friday to arrive then nothing will, LOL.

Its my turn again to host the Friday Mashup challenge and unlike my patriotic challenge, which sent everyone into hiding, I think this weeks is very simple and straightforward. All you have to do is use the sketch I provided, create a project that has a bird or  birds on it, or mash it up and create a project with the sketch that also incorporates birds. I just adore birds and I can spend hours in my backyard and around the area with my camera, stalking some birds and waiting for THE picture! Right now I've got a pair of tree swallows nesting in my yard and I just adore their beautiful colors!

Make sure you head over to The Friday Mashup blog, the rest of the design team came up with some awesome projects this week, I just love them all! Play along with us and show us what you've got this week!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Language of Friendship, sentiment from Perfect Words

Paper: Island Indigo, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Twitterpated DSP

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Island Indigo, Riding Hood Red

Accessories: Bird Builder Punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Dazzling Details, Paper Piercer, dimensionals

CAS-ual Friday Christmas

I've been following the CAS-ual Fridays blog for a bit now, but I dont think I've ever played along. This morning when I saw that they were asking for a CAS no bigger than 4x4 I knew I wanted to go ahead and jump in and play.

I always need some smaller gift sized Christmas cards so I went with a card that is 4x4 and used one of my favorite new sets, Beautiful Season. To give a little pop to the image I used Xmas Red Stickles on the berries.

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Beautiful Season
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Naturals White
Ink: Black StazOn, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Soft Suede
Accessories: Xmas Red Stickles, CB Swiss Dots Folder, SU Alpine Ribbon, Aquapainter

Trying Something New

This morning I saw this amazing card that Jayme posted. Seriously, go check it out. Talk about GORGEOUS!! I've never really seen a shadow box card before and since she raved about how easy it was I figured I'd give it a go. Those that know me well(Holly,lol) know that I like to stay safe with my cards and dont really venture out of my comfort zone very often, and when I do the results can often be, well, interesting, LOL.

I messed up on the scoring a bit, and since I dont have a Circle Cutter I used my Coluzzle and my circle ended up a *tad* closer to the left, but overall I think I managed my first shadow box card all right. I'll have to try it a few more times to get the feel for it!

I used the latest color challenge over at Splitcoaststampers but I had to get a bit creative when I realized I didnt have the ink for Baja Breeze or Marina Mist. How the heck did that happen? I could have sworn I had those ink colors but I guess now I need to order them! Anyway, the colors for the challenge are Baja Breeze, Certainly Celery and Marina Mist. I added the flowers stamped in Daffodil Delight and Cherry Cobbler for a little extra something and put some Dazzling Diamonds on them also.

Supplies Used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Cheep Talk
Paper: Marina Mist, Whisper White
Ink: Soft Sky, Buckaroo Blue, Certainly Celery, Daffodil Delight, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Oval Punch, Coluzzle, white gel pen, dimensionals

Hello Birdie

With this card I am combining 2 challenges....the first one is from Friday Mashup and the theme is "birds". I love birds!! I have feeders all over my yard and love to watch the birds eat and interact. Here at my place I get a lot of black capped chickadees, nuthatches and hairy and downy woodpeckers. I could spend the entire day outside just watching the birds and taking photos of them, and I have, 'cause thats how I roll :P

The second challenge is a sketch challenge from the Stamping 411 blog. I love this sketch...simple, classic and easy to work with!

My stepmom loves birds and since my dad died I try and send her cards as often as I can. Shortly after my dads funeral she left to spend some time with her mom in FL and I just like to let her know that I love her and miss her, and that I appreciate everything she did for my dad. Taking care of a person with cancer day in and day out is a hard, tiring job but she was there for my dad everyday, and she needs to know how much that means to me, and how much she means to me! Therefore this card was made specifically with her in mind and will be in the mail for FL tomorrow!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps- Cheep Talk
Paper- Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Ink- Early Espresso, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight
Accessories- Scallop border punch, Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon, CB Birds and Swirls Embossing Folder, dimensionals,sponge