Sunny Days Ahead

It's time for a new challenge over at the Sunday Stamps blog and this week we have a fun color challenge for everyone!

When I started my project for these colors I actually started with a flower image and I was going to use the yellow, orange and green. Well, have you ever had an idea in your head and then when you try and put it to paper it fails miserably? That's what happened to me. I tried and tried but I just was not happy with what was going on with my idea so I ended up throwing it all away and starting fresh. I looked around my craft desk and spotted a new MFT Pure Innocence set that I hadn't inked up yet and I thought the image would be perfect with these bright colors.

I used the pink, orange, yellow and blue for my card. I was stuck on the layout so the current Freshly Made Sketches sketch was the perfect thing to use. I used some retired SU DSP to create a pool going up and down and some sunshine going back and forth. 

Head on over to the Sunday Stamps blog to see what the rest of the DT created and then play along with us! There is also still time to play along with the gals over at Freshly Made Sketches!

Summer Vibes for LMMS

It's Inspiration Week over at Little Miss Muffet Stamps and this week I'm going with a summer themed card. I used the one of the newer images, Pick-Me-Up Truck with the summer option. It's got the watermelons in the bed of the truck with a blanket going across the tailgate, perfect for a summer greeting!

The watermelon paper is from a paper pad I got at Michaels, it was perfect for this stamp! The striped paper is from SU and the color went beautifully with the paper from Michaels. I love it when things work out like that.

Don't forget, the Anything Goes challenge is still open over at the Little Miss Muffet Stamps blog so go check it out and play along with us!

Life Is Meant To Be Enjoyed

It's time for a new challenge over at the Sunday Stamps blog and this week we have a color challenge for everyone. Once again it was the dang pink in the challenge that stumped me and I spent days just sitting at my craft desk, trying to figure out what I wanted to do.

I took down my MFT PI stamps and started going through them and when I saw the Fun in the Sun one I decided to use that. Next in line was figuring out a layout and thankfully Freshly Made Sketches has one this week that worked perfectly for the idea in my head.

I recently spent a week in South Carolina for my nephews boot camp graduation and for this Alaska girl it was HOT down there, with temps in the 90's. I was looking forward to cooling off in the hotel pool but BOO, the pools apparently don't open down there until Memorial Weekend. So not fair to us out-of-towners who are dying in the heat LOL With this card I decided to go with my thoughts of floating in a nice cool pool on a hot day....the patterned paper I used mimics the water in a pool and the pink patterned paper is the deck area around the pool.

Make sure you head on over to the Sunday Stamps blog to see what the rest of the DT created and then play along with us! We'd love to see how you interpret these colors!

A Summer Hello

It's Inspiration Week over at Little Miss Muffet Stamps and there are some new images being released this week! On my card I'm using 3 of them....Polka Dot Pals Tazanna, Backyard Picnic Table and Backyard Flower Pot.

To create my card I imported the picnic table image into Word and then I added Polka Dot Pals Tazanna. I resized her and moved her around until I was happy with the way she looked against the picnic table. I thought it all looked a little plain so I decided to add the flower pot, resizing that until I was happy with it. Then I colored the image with my copics. A nice and easy scene that is perfect for a summer hello!

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!

Summer Love for FMS

After being here a week my nephew had to return back to CO and we took him to the airport late Saturday night. Today has just been a bit of a bummer day, missing him and just puttering around the house. When hubby and our youngest sat down to watch Godzilla I figured that was a good time to head to my craft room.

I had seen the sketch at FMS when it first came out and immediately went, wow, that's a bit intimidating. I don't really make a whole lot of square cards and I didn't know what to do for the 3 squares in the sketch. I was going through my blogroll today and the sketch popped up and I happened to look at my acrylic blocks and the idea for the card popped right into my head. Funny how stuff like that happens!

My daughter was definitely on my mind for this card. I am not a summer person at all, I prefer the cold and snow. Thankfully here in southcentral Alaska the summers aren't usually too warm and we stay a comfortable 70 or 75 degrees. My daughter LOVES the summer sun and she also loves flip flops. She wears them year round, even in the dead of winter. With her in mind I inked up my acrylic block in Bermuda Bay, spritzed it with water and then stamped it on the card. I repeated the process with Daffodil Delight and Melon Mambo. I used a stamp from Simon Says Stamp to stamp the flip flops and sentiment in StazOn. As you can see I didn't go with a square card, but kept the layout the same.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Flip Flop Season (SSS)

Paper: Whisper White Thick (SU)

Ink: Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo (all SU), Black StazOn

Accessories: Acrylic Block

Summer Picnic for Friday Mashup

Another week over but that just means it's time for another Friday Mashup challenge! This week Breelin wants us to make a project using "sunshine" and also "summer picnic". I'm an oddball out because I'm not a fan of sunshine and I get REALLY grumpy if we have too many days of sun. I prefer clouds and rain in the summer and lots of snow and clouds in the winter. My friends like to tell me I have the opposite version of SAD :)

Do you do any monthly kit programs, like Paper Pumpkin or Simon Says Stamp? I did the PP for a while and am now getting SSS monthly kits and let me tell you, I am HORRIBLE at using my stuff. Every single PP I have, over a years worth? I think I've only opened one, they are all sitting in a box in my craft area. Same goes for the SSS kits, I've been getting those since November 2014 and guess what I haven't touched? I know, bad bad bad. I decided to break out of this ignoring the kit pattern and used the SSS June 2015 kit, which was full of bright colors and plenty of sun and picnic themed items!

My card base is SSS White and I used Doodlebug Sunkissed papers from the kit to cover the entire card base. To make my squares I took 2 images that were on one of the papers and cut them to represent my picnic portion, ice cream! Who doesn't love a nice ice cream when out on a picnic? For the other 2 squares I used papers that represented sunshine to me....bright green with a grass pattern and a fun yellow dotted paper. I added a smiling sun to the green pattern paper and the smile die cut on the yellow pattern paper. To finish it off I stamped the sentiment and adhered it below the squares. 

Make sure you head over to the Friday Mashup blog to see what the rest of the DT came up with and then link up your own sunny summer picnic project!

This weeks Mashup Challenge is:

• Create a project with "a Summer Picnic theme".
• Create a project with "Sunshine".
• or Mash it Up! and create a project with " a Summer Picnic and Sunshine theme".

Stamps: Happy and Smile (SSS)

Paper: SSS White, Doodlebug Sunkissed, SU Basic Black

Ink: SU Old Olive

Accessories: Doodlebug Summer Shapes Epoxy Sticker, Cuttlebug, SSS Wafer Thin Smile Circle Die, SU Modern Label Punch (retired)

Summer Colors for Friday Mashup

It's my turn to host the challenge over at The Friday Mashup and I've got a color challenge along with a theme of "summer fun". Stampin' Up! released the 2014-2016 In Colors last month and I chose to work with 3 colors from the group.....Hello Honey, Blue Lagoon and Mossy Meadow. Looking at the ink pads next to each other I could just picture summer fun with those colors.

Now, I'm not a summer fan. It's my least favorite season and if I could skip right over it I would. Thankfully this summer has been a good one, lots of rain and clouds with only a few days of warm temps. As long as the temp stays around 70 degrees I'm a happy camper. The one thing I love about summer (ok, all seasons) is the wildlife and that's why I chose to use the moose from the set Walk in the Wild. Bull moose start to grow their antlers back in the spring and the summer is spent eating as much food as possibly to help fuel the growth of the antlers. Cow moose actually pick their mates based on antler size! For summer in Alaska moose are the perfect image to use :) I sneaked in a neutral by using Baked Brown Sugar for my moose.

Also, keen observers will notice that this card was inspired by a card in the Stampin' Up! catalog, page 119.

I hope you'll play along with us at The Friday Mashup, I'd love to see what summer means to you!

1.Use the colors Hello Honey, Lost Lagoon and Mossy Meadow

2. Create a "summer fun" themed project

3. or mash it up and created a "summer fun" themed project with the colors Hello Honey, Lost Lagoon and Mossy Meadow

 

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Walk in the Wild

Paper: Lost Lagoon, Hello Honey, Watercolor Paper

Ink: Lost Lagoon, Hello Honey, Mossy Meadow

Accessories: Big Shot. On Film Framelits, Baked Brown Sugar Ribbon (retired), dimensionals

 

Summer Fun with Friday Mashup

It's time for another Friday Mashup challenge and since its still Friday in my neck of the woods I am getting it in on time :)

This week Heidi is our hostess and its all about summer fun mixed with a sketch! Here in Alaska we're well into our summer, with school registration already happening and school getting ready to resume Aug.16. Right now the wildflowers are in full bloom and my yard is covered with fireweed, a beautiful flowering plant that is also used to signal the onset of winter here. Legend says that when the top flower blooms(it flowers from bottom to top) there are only 6 weeks until winter. Needless to say I am always on the lookout for that last flower, as I am a winter loving gal! However, I do enjoy sitting in my yard, watching the birds and just enjoying the peace of my yard during the summer so that's why I used this image from the new SU hostess set 'Summer Afternoon'. I just love this set and had to have it the minute the minute I laid eyes on it.

In light of the tragic events in Aurora CO today I also think the sentiment from this set speaks volumes: "Nothing is worth more than this day- Goethe". My thoughts are with the community of Aurora and all of those touched by the horrific tragedy in CO.

1. Make a project with "the Sketch."
2. Or Make a project w/ a "Lazy Summer Day theme (under the shade of a tree/ biking / Swimming / Sitting in an Adirondack chair)."
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project w/ the "Sketch & the Lazy Summer Day Theme."

 The pink flowers are fireweed:

 

Summer Colors for Sunday Stamps

Happy Sunday! I hope everyone is enjoying the last day of the weekend! I had a very busy weekend an I'm not ready for 5:30am Monday to get here, but I know its going to arrive way too soon!

I've been playing along with the new challenge blog Sunday Stamps and good news, I've been accepted as a member of the design team for the blog, woohooo! I'm really excited about it and I hope all of my friends out there in blog land come and play along with us.

This week its a color challenge and Holly says she pictures lots of daisies and dandelions with the colors she gives us this week.....Daffodil Delight, Basic Black and Old Olive. I love all 3 of these colors!

I used a newly retired set, Upsy Daisy. I kept saying I was going to buy this set, and when I saw it was being retired I finally went ahead and got it. Should have done it sooner but oh well! I like it and I'll use it, retired or not.

Remember, head on over to Sunday Stamps and play along with us!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Watercolor Paper, Very Vanilla(inside card)

Ink: Old Olive

Accessories: Daffodil Delight, Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots EF, dimensionals

Summer Sketch

Wow, a 3rd card for today? Yep, I was on a roll! I wanted to knock out some cards and challenges before I start my 10 hr workdays tomorrow.


This card uses the sketch from Sunday Stamps over at Holly's blog, and the theme 'summer' is this weeks challenge over at The Paper Players. I'm not a fan of summer, its my least favorite season, so I don't have a lot of stamps that I could consider representative of that time of year. I finally decided on using the set Peace Within(which just retired). Although my kitties are strictly indoor they do love to watch the activity outside and are always happy to curl up on a chair!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Peace Within

Paper: Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Cottage Wall DSP(retired)

Ink: Black StazOn, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Chocolate Chip, River Rock, Dusty Durango, Only Orange, Basic Black

Accessories: Scallop Edge Border Punch, Blender Pens, dimensionals

Show Me Some Summer Lovin'!

Its my turn again to host the challenge over at The Friday Mashup and I want to see your summer projects!!

Its June 17 and the first day of summer is just a few days away! Summer in Alaska doesnt last long so folks here take advantage of our 20+ hours of daylight to get out there and squeeze in all the summer activities they can.  For my family that includes fishing, relaxing in the yard, hiking and lots of BBQ'ing. What does summer mean to you? Create a project and show us! Even better, throw in some polka dots....I dont know why but I always think of polka dots when I think of summer! Soo....

This week for the Mashup Challenge, you are welcome to:


1. Create a Summer Theme Project
2. Create a project using Polka Dots.
3. Or "Mash it Up!" and create a Summer Themed Project using Polka Dots!

Check out all the great inspiration from the design team and please, go leave them some love on their blogs! They love to hear what you think of all the projects!

Also, dont forget that we still have the Fan Favorite Contest going on over at the Friday Mashup blog. You have until June 29th to submit your idea, so head over and link up!

For my project I used an image that conveys one of my favorite things to do during the summer...relaxing in the yard! I love to sit in my backyard and watch the birds, or read a book, or watch my kids play on the trampoline. I also love the cat in this image, as I have 2 fat gray cats myself, although they arent allowed to go outside and play.  ((whoa, just had an earthquake as I was typing this out!! Never a dull moment in Alaska! Jut a little trivia...did you know Alaska has more earthquakes than any other US state? Yep, we sure do!))

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Peace Within, sentiment from Happy Moments
Paper: Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze, Springtime Vintage DSP, Watercolor Paper
Ink: Black StazOn, Crumb Cake, Going Gray, Basic Gray, Old Olive, So Saffron, Poppy Parade, Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: CB Seeing Spots folder, AquaPainter, ribbon, brads, Pewter Hodgepodge