Keep Your Goals in Mind

It's time for Inspiration Week at LMMS and this week I used a new image on my card. The image is called Swings N Slides Skills and I just love it! We're not a soccer family, my daughter played one year of it in high school, but we have a ton of family friends that play the sport and love it. I think this card would be great for maybe a junior or senior in high school that plays soccer but is looking towards their future.

My sons school colors are red and black so that's what I went with for my card. I colored the grass but right now our fields are still covered in snow LOL The sun and 50 degree temps are making quick work of the snow but it's still not clear. Gotta love spring sports season in Alaska :)

Head on over to the LMMS FB group for more inspiration from the rest of the DT and don't forget, there is still time to play along with the Anything Goes challenge!

Stamps: Swings N Slides Skills (LMMS), I Get A Kick Out of You (MFT)

Paper: Basic Black (SU), Neenah Solar White, Polka Dot Parade DSP (SU retired)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Copics: R27

E50, E51, E53

E33, E37

N2, N3, N7

G09

\Accessories: Cuttlebug, MFT Blueprints 20, Paper Piercing Tool and Grid, Dimensionals

Earth Laughs in Flowers

Today's card wasn't made for any challenge, it's actually a "just because I liked it" card. Seems like I don't do too many of those lately!

I recently discovered a stamp company called Power Poppy. They offer clear stamps as well as digital images and she creates the most stunning flower designs. The images are so stunning and realistic, I just love them. Gardening keep me busy during our short Alaska summers and I just love watching flowers flourish in our 20+ hours of daylight.

Geraniums are one of my favorite flowers and so when I saw this digital stamp I had to have it. Bright red geraniums are usually what I always buy, I love how they stand out. I didn't go super bright red with my coloring on this image but I really like how it turned out! I wanted the image to be the star of this card so kept everything very clean and simple.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Geraniums (Power Poppy)

Paper: Riding Hood Red (SU retired), Neenah Solar White

Ink: Printer Ink

Copics: G21, YG63, YG97

R05, R27

C1

Accessories: Cuttlebug, MFT Blueprints 15

Moose Greetings for SPD

While hubby and our youngest watched Godzilla Sunday afternoon I headed into my craft room to get some cards made. I played along with a challenge I haven't joined in a while, the SugarPea Designs Mix It Up. You can play with the sketch, the inspiration photo or both. I chose to go with the sketch.

I used one of my favorite stamps from them, the moose from the Merry ChristMoose set. He can be used for any occasion, I just color his scarf to match whatever colors I am using on his card. For this card I went with yellow and gray with a hint of teal color. I used some retired SU DSP for the base layer and strips. I left a sentiment off so the card can be used for any occasion.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Merry ChristMoose (SPD)

Paper: Lost Lagoon (SU retired), Basic Gray (SU), Moonlight DSP (SU retired)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Copics: E23, E25, E27

E50, E51, E53

E47, E49

N2, N3

Y08, Y18

Accessories: Cuttlebug, MFT Blueprints 15, MFT Zig Zag Stitch Circles, dimenionals

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

In The Direction of Your Dreams

It's time for a new challenge at Sunday Stamps and this week it's a sketch challenge. My youngest graduates high school on May 8th so this sketch was perfect for me to create some quick and easy graduation cards to give to all of his friends. We moved to Alaska when he was in 3rd grade and has had the same core group of friends through the years. It's hard to believe that they are all getting ready to graduate and then spread out across the country this fall!

Their school colors are black and red so I started with a card base of black and then used a layer of red DSP. The banner is Basic Black DSP and the sentiment is from a retired SU set.

Make sure you head over to the Sunday Stamps blog to see what the rest of the DT created and then play along with us!

Stamps: Word Play (SU retired)

Paper: Neenah Solar White, Fresh Prints DSP (SU retired), Basic Black DSP (SU)

Ink: Real Red (SU)

Accessories: Cuttlebug, MFT Zig Zag Stitch Circles, SU Banner Framelits, dimensionals

Ewe Are the Best for LMMS

It's time for another great release over at Little Miss Muffet Stamps and for my card today I am showcasing a new image called Claribella. Isn't she sweet?

For my layout I used last weeks Freshly Made Sketches sketch. I like the 3 strips of paper behind the image. Just enough to give the card front a  bit of pop but not enough to take away from the image! My sentiment came from an MFT set.

To see all the images in the new release visit the LMMS store HERE. It's also the start of a brand new Anything Goes Challenge and you can play along with us HERE.

Stamps: Claribella (LMMS digital image), Ewe Are The Best (MFT)

Paper: Coastal Cabana (SU retired), Neenah Solar White, Fresh Prints DSP (SU retired)

Ink: Real Red (SU), Coastal Cabana (SU retired)

Copics: R29, BG34

E44, E47

N1, N2, N3

T0, T1, T3

Accessories: Cuttlebug, MFT Blueprints 15, dimensionals

Camo Chef

In August of last year my nephew left Alaska to begin culinary school in Boulder CO. He called us last week to tell us he had joined the Army! We were definitely shocked, but not surprised. My husband and I are both Navy veterans and my dad (his grandpa) was a Marine during Vietnam, so military service and pride runs deep in our house. We were just shocked he chose the Army LOL Needless to say he won't be living that down anytime soon :)

He flew home to Alaska on Saturday for 9 days and his 20th birthday was on April 2nd. I was at work one night last week after he had told us about the Army when the idea for his birthday card popped into my head....I was going to combine the 2 big chapters of his life right now, culinary and military. As soon as I got home from work I pulled out the Recipe for Happiness set from MFT and got to work.

I've never colored a camo pattern before so I looked at my husbands camo uniforms from when he was in, and then I had a friend send me a close up picture of his Army uniform, since he is serving right now and the uniforms have been updated over the years. I colored the entire chef uniform with a base color of E31 and then with 3 different greens I just did short, quick strokes across the uniform to create my camo pattern.

My layout is from last weeks sketch at The Paper Players. The camo paper was on clearance at my local JoAnn's and the embossing folder is a Cuttlebug one.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Recipe for Happiness (MFT), It's Your Birthday (SSS-sentiment)

Paper: Always Artichoke (SU), Early Espresso (SU), Crumb Cake (SU), PP from JoAnn's, Neenah Solar White

Ink: Always Artichoke

Copic: E31

BG93, YG63, G99

BG96

E50, E51, E53

E37

Accessories: Cuttlebug, CB Stars EF, MFT Zig Zag Stitch Circles, MFT Blueprints 20, dimensionals