Getting Blocked

Happy Sunday! It's time for a new challenge over at the Sunday Stamps blog and this week we have a sketch challenge for you with a bonus choice! You get 2 sketches to choose from plus Heidi has also give the option of color blocking so there are SO many possibilities with this challenge.

I haven't had any time to really sit and color so I decided to print out a digital stamp from Power Poppy called Pansies. I absolutely adore this set, it is so fun to color and always relaxes me.

After I colored the image I cut it into 3 panels and then did paper piercing along the open white edges to provide a bit of contrast. The sentiment is also from the digital set and so I made it a golden yellow color, printed it and then mounted it on the same purple cardstock that I used for the card base, popping it up with dimensionals. While I did use colors opposite each other on the color wheel I didn't do the true definition of color blocking but that's ok, close enough right? LOL

Make sure you head over to the Sunday Stamps blog to see what the rest of the DT came up with and then play along with us, we'd love to see how you interpret the sketch(es)!

Thank You for Everything

For the current Creative Confetti Challenge Julie has a fabulous sketch! I always struggle with layouts so I get so excited when I see a good sketch posted!

I had this pansy image (only $2.49 in the shop right now!) partially colored and sitting on my desk so I grabbed my copics and finished coloring it so I could use it for this challenge. Purple and yellow pansies are my favorite, I think they are so pretty!

I grabbed some purple and yellow paper from my stash and put those on a dark purple card base and then I embossed a strip of white paper with an argyle pattern, stamping the sentiment in purple before embossing. I added the purple ribbon across the bottom of the panel and then popped up the pansy image over the panel.

There is still time to play along with all of April’s Creative Confetti Challenges so head on over to the blog and check them out! Every time you play along that’s a chance to win a $25.00 gift card to the Power Poppy shop!

Christmas Thank You

I wanted to make some thank you cards to have ready for after Christmas but between work, family and holiday activities I just haven't had the time to sit and color. I was thumbing through my Power Poppy sets when I spotted Big Scripts and this perfect thank you sentiment. After picking out some paper from my stash and choosing green as my main color the card came together super quick and I made 5 total! I love all of the detailed stamps Power Poppy has but it's also awesome to have a sentiment set for quick and easy cards!

Pansies and Thank You

I played along with a color challenge today, which is not something I normally do because color challenges scare me LOL However I saw the colors for this weeks Color Throwdown and knew that some pansy images I had on my desk would be perfect for this!

I used a digital stamp from Power Poppy called Pansies. I have had it printed out and on my desk for a few weeks now so these colors were the perfect thing to get me kicked into gear and coloring. It's funny, I absolutely cannot stand the color purple....except when it comes to pansies. I just adore my purple and yellow pansies, especially the little Johnny Jump-Up's. They make me smile when I see them in my flower beds!

To incorporate the gray I outlined the image with my C1 copic and then I used gray card stock as my card base.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Pansies (Power Poppy digital stamp)

Paper: Smoky Slate (SU), Neenah Solar White

Ink: Printer Ink

Copics: V05, V06, V09

Y02, Y15, Y19

YG03, YG63, YG67

C1

Accessories: Avery Elle Wonky Stitches Die

Heartfelt Thank You

Oooops, I had a lot going on this weekend and forgot to do my post for Sunday Stamps, my bad! I swear if I don't write it on my "to do" list it doesn't happen. The joys of getting older LOL (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

Amy has a fun sketch this week for us, with a heart as the focal point. The Forget-Me-Not Heart Digital Stamp from Power Poppy was perfect for this sketch and is one of my favorite digi's from PP.

I colored in the image with my copics after printing it out and then used some dies from MFT to create my borders under the heart. I kept it all pretty simple, using the same colors I had used on my flowers.

Make sure to 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, we'd love to see how you interpret the sketch!

Stamps: Forget-Me-Not-Heart Digital Stamp (Power Poppy)

Paper: Pear Pizzazz (SU), Neenah Solar White, Core'dinations Plaid Paper in various colors

Ink: Printer Ink

Copics: B32, B34

Y15

G07, G14

Accessories: MFT Blueprints 20 and 23, SU Hearts Framelits (SU retired), Dimensionals

Thanks

Freshly Made Sketches has a nice and simple sketch this week that is perfect for showing off sentiments so I grabbed a stamp set from MFT that features thank you sentiments and created a quick card.

I used one of my favorite color combos, yellow and blue. This is such a cheery color combo, I really should use it more often! To keep the card simple I just did the polka dot paper across the bottom of the card and then left the rest of the card base plain.

Thanks for stopping by!

Souper Cool

I made this card for one of the teachers at the school I work at. She teaches Home Ec and last week she left me a plate of goodies and a bowl of pea soup that her class had made. I wanted to let her know that I appreciated her thinking of me so I whipped up this card for her.

ASL Thanks for LMMS

Little Miss Muffet Stamps has new images being released today and I am SO excited to showcase  one of them today. As the mom of a deaf son I love that LMMS has images that show ASL signs and today's new image is a MALE image doing the ASL sign for "thank you" (hand at the mouth moving out and away from the face). How cool is that?

The image is called Polka Dot Pals Ian and can be found HERE. I especially love the shark shirt because my boys, both deaf and hearing, love sharks, so this image gets a double like from my crew :) To find any of the images that use ASL signs just go to the LMMS webpage, type ASL in the search bar and boom! all the images will show for you, it's super easy!

I did my usual and stuck with more earthy colors for this card, with browns and blues this time. I just love the background paper, it's from a paper stack I got on sale at JoAnn's!

Make sure you head on over to the LMMS Challenge Blog to see what the rest of the team created and then play along with us in our Anything Goes Challenge!

Stamps: PDP Ian (LMMS), All Year Cheer 1 (SU retired)

Paper: Soft Suede (SU), Crumb Cake (SU), Neenah Solar White, DCWV The Guy Stack

Ink: Soft Suede, Printer Ink

Copics: B91, B93, B95, B97

E23, E33, E35

E50, E51, E53

E27, E29, E49

N1, N2, N3

Accessories: Cuttlebug, CB Argyle EF

Thank You

When I was at work the other night it popped into my head that I had forgotten to send my FIL a thank you card for the gifts he sent for Christmas. Not good! Thankfully the Cupcake Inspirations blog has a challenge this week that was perfect for what I needed and so I got to work this afternoon on a quick card.

The colors for the challenge are red, white and black. I have this retired DSP from SU that is black and white and while it is flowers/foliage I think it's still ok to send to a male, as it is not overly feminine. Plus my FIL likes flowers so it's all good LOL

This card was super easy, I used a die to cut the DSP panel and then used some strips I have left over from another die to stamp the sentiment on and boom, card done! I love it when cards come together so quickly!

There are still a few days left to play along with the challenge so go check them out!

Stamps: Kind Thanks (MFT)

Paper: Real Red (SU), Neenah Solar White, Back to Black DSP (SU retired)

Ink: Real Red (SU)

Accessories: Cuttlebug, MFT Blueprints 15

 

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

I'm Alive!

Yes, it is true. I'm still alive and today I even managed to make a card, wooohooo! Life is starting to slow down a little bit so hopefully I'll be back to crafting everyday.

My nephew lives with us and he graduated from high school on May 9th. When my dad was alive he and my stepmom were my nephews main caregivers and when my dad passed my stepmom moved to FL to take care of her mother, and a few years later my nephew joined us here in Alaska. The miles has never torn apart the love we all have for each other and my stepmom sent a very nice card to my nephew for his graduation. He needed a thank you card to send to her so before he left to visit CO for 2 weeks he wrote up the note for the inside, and today I got the card itself done.

My stepmom loves giraffes so that was the inspiration behind the card. She has also been a huge supporter of my nephews through everything he has been through so this sentiment was perfect to send to her.

I used last weeks Freshly Made Sketch as the inspiration for the card layout.

Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks a Ton for SPD

It's time for a new sketch over at the SugarPea Designs blog and I grabbed a set that hadn't seen any ink yet, Tons of Fun. How cute is this elephant? I colored him in with copics and then used some retired DSP from SU to put my card together.

Have a great Saturday! 

Sending Thanks for Sunday Stamps

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US the Sunday Stamps deadline is extended until Dec.4th. I created another card for the sketch using an image from SugarPea Designs. My youngest turned 17 on Nov.20 and his grandpa sent him a card and iTunes gift card so I needed to whip up a thank you card for him!

This sweet image is from SugarPea Designs Happy Mail set and I paired him with the colors that make me think of the postal service, red and blue! I used the strip of red DSP to divide the card front into 2 sections like the sketch, and of course the penguin takes the place of the circle shape.

Head on over to the Sunday Stamps blog to play along with us, we'd love to see what you create!

Stamps: Happy Mail (SugarPea Designs)

Paper: Night of Navy, Whisper White, X-Press It, Night of Navy DSP (SU retired), Real Red DSP (SU retired)

Ink: Night of Navy, Real Red

Copics

Accessories: Dimensionals

To the Moon for Sunday Stamps

It's Sunday already? Why must the weekends go by so fast! One good thing about Sunday is a new challenge over at Sunday Stamps though! This week we have a fun color challenge.

I used the Mama Elephant set Bear Hugs on my card. Here in my neck of the woods we have close to 24 hours of daylight during the summer and our sky stays a nice light blue so I tried to create a little scene that one might find on an Alaska hillside during the middle of the summer.  It's hard to see but I added some Wink of Stella to the moon for a little extra sparkle.

Make sure you 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: Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla, Soft Suede DSP(retired)--all SU

Ink: Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Early Espresso

Copics: E13, E15, E25, W2, W4, N1

Accessories: Paper Piercer, Wink of Stella, Soft Suede Candy Dots

Orange and Blue for You

I needed to come up with a thank you card for a friend of the family and the sketch at Sunday Stamps was the perfect starting point.

Like myself, our friend is from Colorado (well, I lived in MA until I was 12, and spent my teen years in CO) and she is a huge Broncos fan. I HATE the Donkeys, as I call them, but I like to tailor my cards to fit the personality of the people receiving them so Donkey colors it is on this card, especially since her team is in the playoffs (and my Giants are not, grrrrr).

I just love the Pleasant Poppies stamp. Such pretty flowers and so easy to use! I colored in the poppies with Pumpkin Pie Blendabilities, and in doing so discovered my medium and dark are dry. Not too happy about that as the caps all seemed to be on tight but whatever, I'll order a new set.

Anyway, I colored the flowers in and used Old Olive for the stems. To do the Broncos theme I made the scallop border Pacific Point and also stamped the sentiment in the blue. Nice and easy card!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Pleasant Poppies, sentiment from Trendy Trees(retired)

Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Pacific Point, Whisper White

Ink: Memento Black, Blendabilities: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie

Accessories: Sponge, Pumpkin Pie ribbon (retired), Scallop Edge Border Punch

Preserving Thank You's

A friend of mine asked me to make 2 thank you cards for her, and she wanted me to use a bell jar if possible. I texted her a picture of the Perfectly Preserved (retired) set and she was very happy to see the jar in it! With her happy about the image I sat down to get to work on the cards.

I love sketches because the layout is always the hardest part for me when making a card, so I love going to a challenge site and seeing a great sketch. This is what happened the other day when I checked over at Stampin' Celebration....I knew it was a sketch that I'd like to try and today's thank you cards were the perfect opportunity.

My friend loves blue and green bell jars so I stuck with those 2 colors for my cards and just chose matching colors.....Daffodil Delight on one and Island Indigo on the other. Bright and summery, which is also something she asked for.

These were super easy to put together and when I texted her photos of the finished cards she was super happy, which makes me happy!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Perfectly Preserved(retired), Starburst Sayings, Gorgeous Grunge

Paper: Island Indigo, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Gingham Garden DSP(retired)

Ink: Island Indigo, Pear Pizzazz, White Craft Ink

Accessories: Big Shot, Starburst Framelits, Cannery Set Framelits(retired), Island Indigo Ribbon(retired), Pear Pizzazz Ribbon(retired),Whisper White Candy Dots,  dimensionals

Butterfly Thanks

I recently learned about the Stampin' Celebration Challenge blog from my friend Holly and I'm glad I checked in on it tonight because their sketch challenge closes in a day. For some reason I thought I had more time, ooops! The husband and 2 of our boys went out fishing for king salmon tonight so I put on some music and sat down to craft.

The circle in the sketch was throwing me off and so I grabbed some scratch paper and just started playing around with various sketch sets. I wanted to do something patriotic but wasn't having much luck with the sets I was grabbing. Finally I grabbed Gorgeous Grunge, stamped  the lined stamp in Real Red and then the smaller splatter stamp in Night of Navy. I used the Embosslits Beautiful Wings to cut out butterflies in Real Red, Night of Navy and Whisper White and placed them randomly on the circle. The sentiment is from Happy Watercolor and I added one Whisper White butterfly above it to finish the card off. The background was scored with the Simply Scored Tool to get some texture, the plain card stock just wasn't working for me.

I'm glad I was able to get a card done in time! Head over to the Stampin' Celebration blog and check them out!

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge, Happy Watercolor(sentiment)

Paper: Real Red, Night of Navy, Whisper White

Ink: Real Red, Night of Navy

Accessories: Big Shot, Circles Collection, Embosslits Beautiful Wings, Paper Piercer, Simply Scored Tool

Stenciled Retirement for Friday Mashup

I am so glad its Friday! It's a 3 day weekend for me and boy do I need the extra day to unwind. What better way to start my vacation day than with a Friday Mashup challenge!

Heidi is our hostess this week and she would like us to use stencils on our projects, plus use a SU set that is going to be retiring soon. If you don't use SU that's ok too, just pull out a stamp you haven't used in a while!

The stencil part threw me for a bit. I went hunting through my craft stash to see if I had any and I found one with dots that I had won in a giveaway last year. I looked through Pinterest, watched some videos on YouTube and just tried to get an idea of how to use the stencil.

Since I didn't have any of the mediums that a lot of people used  I just grabbed some sponges, taped down the stencil over my paper and started inking away. I originally did it on watercolor paper but I just didn't like the way it came out so I started over on Whisper White. I used Daffodil Delight and Old Olive for the circles stenciled in the background.

The retired set I used is Friendship Preserves. I really like this set and am sad to see it retiring but I use retired sets all the time so it will still get some love!

I seemed to be sharing brain waves with a fellow DT member, Lynda, this week. Make sure you check out her card, as well as the other DT members at The Friday Mashup!

1. Create a project using "Stencils".
2. Create a project with a "Retiring Stamp".
3. Or Mash it up and create a project with " a Stencil and a Retiring Stamp".

 

 

Rainbow Sketch for Friday Mashup

This week at The Friday Mashup Heidi is our host and she would like to see the colors of the rainbow to go along with the great sketch she has provided us!

I kept it pretty simple, letting the rainbow colored paper from the Watercolor Wonder DSP speak for itself. I made a banner out of Whisper White, backed with Island Indigo, and stamped an image from the set For The Birds. I added some Island Indigo ribbon and retired rhinestones to complete it.

I hope you'll head over to The Friday Mashup blog to check out the challenge and play along with us!

1. Create a project using the "Sketch".
2. Create a project with "Rainbows or Rainbow Colors".
3. Or Mash it up and create a project with the "Sketch and Rainbows or Rainbow Colors".

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: For the Birds

Paper: Gumball Green, Island Indigo, Whisper White, Watercolor Wonder DSP
Ink: Black StazOn, Tangerine Tango, Crushed Curry, Island Indigo

Accessories: Retired Rhinestones, Island Indigo Ribbon

Stars and Thank You's for Friday Mashup

It's my turn to host The Friday Mashup and this week I'm all about stars and thank you cards. I went easy with my card and totally CASE'd an example from the SU catty, from page 19. I changed up the sentiment and colors a bit, added the stars in the background and instead of stitching I did faux stitching with paper piercing and a white gel pen. It's a nice easy way to bust out a set of cards, especially when you're short on time, like I happen to be the last 2 weeks!

1. Create a project with "Stars."
2. Create a set of "Thank you Cards with Matching Envelopes". 
3. Or Mash it Up and create a set of "Thank you Cards & Envelopes using Stars."