FM21 Bossy & Sketchy

My post is late, I know. Actually, I am without internet at the moment, in the back woods. So with technical complications of prescheduling my post, along with a conflict of the previous blog hop post last Friday, I couldn't move posts around. And the crickets may be chirping on my blog for the next week or so while we have some family time. Bear with me... promise I'll be back! :)

On to Friday's challenge -

So here is how we are MASHING IT UP this week

1. Create a project using the provided "Sketch"
2. or Create a project that has a "Dry Embossing on it"
3. or "Mash it Up!" and create a card using the "Sketch with Dry Embossing"

I broke down and bought the Field Flowers set. I couldn't handle seeing all the beautious projects being posting out there in blogland. Well, now that it's in my hot little hands, I've got to play with it, right?

I was looking for a good color combo, and I used Ilina Crouse's version as inspiration. Wow, this set looks good with so many different layouts and color combos!

I just used a little strip of embossed cardstock to satisfy the second part of the challenge. To grunge up the card, I used the Log Cabin Smooch Spritz on the background.

Stamps: Field Flowers; Paper: Peach Parfait, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, First Edition DSP; Ink: More Mustard, Peach Parfait, Old Olive, Early Espresso; Accessories: Early Espresso Baker's twine, Log Cabin Smooch Spritz, 1-3/4" Circle punch, Coluzzle, Square Lattice embossing folder, Big Shot, Sewing machine, Thread, Dimensionals.

Don't forget there's one more week to submit your fan favorite challenge. We could be playing along with your challenge next month! Go to the Mashup post for all the details. Thanks for stopping by!

Stampin' Addicts Holiday Mini Blog Hop

**Please note the blog hop officially starts Friday, August 26 at noon EST. Some links may not be up and running before then.

Welcome to the Stampin' Addicts Holiday Mini Blog Hop! Grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and enjoy a sneak peek of the Holiday mini catalog, releasing on September 1.

If you have been following the blog hop in order, you have just come from Rhonda's blog featuring the stamp set Warmest of Wishes. Didn't she do an amazing job?

If you know me, you know I totally love Halloween. The fact is I had been away from it for many years, and I am just starting to buy supplies and celebrate the holiday again (by crafting, of course!). I go for the whole Halloween suite, hook, line, and sinker! My set for this hop is Out on a Limb. This set allows me to create scenes, which is another passion of mine. The witch, the broom, the branch, the clouds, the moon.... how cute is this set? So without further ado, let's start with some cards.

I stamped the images and lightly brayered the background to get a sky color. I did some marker and blender pen coloring and paper piecing to get the images colored. I love the little Halloween-style black and Razzleberry flower in the corner of the image, created with punches, edge sponging, and shaping. This card served double-duty, as it was also my card for Janice's Holiday mini card swap over at Stampin' Addicts.

Stamps: Out on a Limb; Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Lucky Limeade, More Mustard, So Saffron, Whisper White, Basic Black, Pocketful of Posies DSP; Ink: Early Espresso, Rich Razzleberry, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight marker, So Saffron marker, Blush Blossom marker; Accessories: Brayer, Sponge, Blender pen, 1" Circle punch, Boho Blossoms punch, Itty Bitty punch pack, Rhinestone jewel, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, 3" Circle die, Tasteful Trim die, Big Shot, Sewing machine, Thread.

I thought the branch images (rotated to be trees) and cute little witch would make a good window scene as well. I can definitely see myself using the branch and cloud images well beyond Halloween.

The background was again brayered, this time with Marina Mist and Night of Navy ink. I created a window sill with the Woodgrain background stamp, and decorated it with some jack-o-lanterns. I kept the rest of the card simple to reflect a wall around the window scene.

Stamps: Out on a Limb, Wicked Cool, Woodgrain BG; Paper: Night of Navy, Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede, Whisper White; Ink: Marina Mist, Night of Navy, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron marker, Blush Blossom marker; Accessories: Brayer, Sponge dauber, Blender pen, 1-3/8" Circle punch, Curly Label punch.

How about approaching this spooky door on Halloween night?

Can you see how I created the door panel lines with the Simply Scored scoring tool?

Stamps: Out on a Limb, Piece of Poison, Woodgrain BG; Paper: Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Whisper White; Ink: Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Cajun Craze; Accessories: Aquapainter, Sponges, Silver mini brad, 5/16" brad, Early Espresso taffeta ribbon, Early Espresso Baker's twine, Simply Scored scoring tool.

Staying with the Halloween theme, I had fun decorating a milk carton house.

Here I used the limb stamp for bushes. Check out the bats hiding under the roof overhang.

Stamps: Out on a Limb; Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Early Espresso, Whisper White; Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Peach Parfait, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Blush Blossom marker, So Saffron marker; Accessories: Brayer, Aquapainter, Blender pen, Silver mini brad, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Milk Carton die, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

If you aren't yet a member of Stampin' Addicts, you can sign up here. Make sure you check out the next stop to see what Sara at Lily's Ink Pad put together using Gently Falling. She's made some amazing projects.











The complete blog hop listing:

1. Rhonda (rhondag): Warmest Wishes
2. Heidi (hlw966): Out on a Limb
3. Sara M-B (lilyinkpad): Gently Falling
4. Adriana (escape2stamp): Spice Cake fabric
5. Holly K (catrules): Always Thankful
6. Cindy (CindyE): Pines & Poinsettias
7. Shelley (Packer Fan): The Sounding Joy
8. Carmen: stocking die
9. Sarah W (willsygirl): Christmas Lane Simply Scrappin
10. Kim (s1itcher46): Frostwood Lodge DSP
11. Tanya (tanya27): Christmas Lodge
12. Jennifer (jentimko): Bright Hopes
13. Lisa (genesis): Stitched Stockings
14. Holly P (Hollylogic): Stocking Builder Punch
15. Betty (kittstamp): Peek-a-boo frame die
16. Paula (scrapshappen): 25 & Counting
17. Trina (pepesmom): Festive and Fun
18. Yapha: Digital Downloads
19. Debra (WebDeb): Leaves of a Tree

Thanks for stopping by!

SUOC26 Party Invitations

Today's challenge at Stampin' Up Only challenges is to create a party invite. What says party more than a string of colorful pennants? Yes, I'm pennant punch crazy! Couple that with a pinwheel or two, to imply the forthcoming whimsical fun each attendee is guaranteed to have, and you've got a party ready to go!

These pinwheel images also create the most perfectly delightful cupcake pick.

Stamps: Sweets for the Sweet, Something to Celebrate; Paper: Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Very Vanilla, Just Add Cake DSP; Ink: Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Petite Pennant punch, Itty Bitty punch pack, Silver mini brads, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Petal Cone die, Big Shot, Sewing machine, Thread, Dimensionals, Toothpicks.

Thanks for stopping by!

Scrappy Monday: Progressive Page Swap

Hi there, I will be joining the girls over at the Mashup on Fridays starting in September, so I won't have post space for scrappiness on Fridays. Change it to Scrappy Monday? Hmmmm, we'll see if it sticks. Today I'm going to share with you a progressive scrapbook page I created for our sideline swap, a 6 x 6" page on a 8-1/2 x 11" layout.

I just love the warm feel of yellow and orange together, so I started with Beyond the Garden DSP, which has those colors. I'm wondering to myself if I need to grab the Playful Polka Dots Simply Scrappin' Kit in the Summer mini before August 31. I just love those colors... Anywho, some close-ups of the cute features on this page.

I have a heck of a time photographing scrapbook pages. My light box isn't quite big enough. If you have suggestions, I'm all ears (or eyes). Project 52 totals: Week 34, page 39. Still ahead of the game!

At our sideline meeting, we make shoebox projects, swap a completed project, and discuss business items and catch up... plus some general gabbing and snacking. It is a great evening out! And I got some great swaps back in return from these talented bunch of ladies! If you think you would like to join our group, just shoot me an email.

Paper: Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi, Tangerine Tango, Melon Mambo, Chocolate Chip, Beyond the Garden DSP, Brights Collection DSP; Accessories: Silver mini brad, Petite Pennant punch, 1-3/4" Circle punch, Itty Bitty punch pack, Eyelet Border punch, Scallop Trim Border punch, Go-Go Boots alphabet die, Big Shot, Sewing machine, Thread.

Thanks for stopping by!

FM20 Sweet as a Button

Although I don't officially join the Friday Mashup design team until September, I did create a card for this week's challenge, dual-purposing it as a shoebox project for our sideline meeting as well.

Isn't this cupcake the yummiest? I couldn't resist trying to duplicate it when I saw it. Here's what I've got -

For the Mashup, the challenge was to create a project with cupcakes and buttons. I did add some paper piecing, which was "extra credit" at the Mashup. And the object of the shoebox swap was to use supplies from the new catalog. The stamp set here is Sweets for the Sweet. I wanted to use the umbrella image, and I couldn't figure out a way to use it with the other stamps in the set, so I paired it with the cupcake punch. I'm going to have to get more of these mini brads, 'cause I'm loving them! I also used sketch #120 from Stamping 411.

Here you can see that I punched the cupcake top three times and trimmed to try to duplicate the frosting in the picture. What'cha think?

Don't forget to submit your challenge idea for "fan favorite". We could be doing your challenge in the near future!

Stamps: Sweets for the Sweet; Paper: Pink Pirouette, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Just Add Cake DSP; Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Crimper, Button Latte, White Baker's twine, Build a Cupcake punch, Silver mini brads, Perfect Polka Dot embossing folder, Tasteful Trim die, Big Shot, Sewing machine, Thread, Dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Mini Sneak Peek: Christmas Lodge

I'm busy creating cards for a Holiday mini swap, so I thought I would give you a sneak peek to some items from the mini. This one uses a beautiful winter lodge image from the set Christmas Lodge.

You can also see the lovely plaid pattern from the Frostwood Lodge DSP. I'm certainly not ready for winter yet, but this gives me such a warm, cozy feeling! More fun supplies includes quilted satin ribbon and Dazzling Details iridescent glitter glue.

A small disclaimer - I only sewed on the prototype card. Unfortunately sewing through so many layers totally stressed out the machine.

Excited to see the mini catalog yet? Well, we will be having a Stampin' Addicts blog hop starting Friday, August 26. Mark your calendars to check it out!

Stamps: Christmas Lodge, Woodgrain BG; Paper: Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Frostwood Lodge DSP; Ink: Soft Suede, Always Artichoke; Accessories: Blender pen, Dazzling Details, Cherry Cobbler quilted satin ribbon, Silver brads, 3" Circle die, Petal Cone die, Big Shot, Sewing machine, Thread.

Thanks for stopping by!

Gellin' at Club

One of our stamp club cards this month was an oldie technique but a goodie, a gel card using Summer Splash from the Summer mini catalog.

Everyone loves to touch and play with the gel window; it is such tactile fun! I used the simple front, similar to Kirsteen Gill's as inspiration, so all the focus was on the gel window. We sponged the bottom part of the window scene with Pool Party to make it look darker, similar to an underwater scene. The brad window frame is reminiscent of a porthole. And the handtorn sandy bottom was spritzed with the Color Spritzer Tool to make realistic speckles.

Don't forget the Summer mini is only available until August 31. Grab your favorite stamps and supplies, before they are gone.

Stamps: Summer Splash, Sincere Salutation; Paper: Pool Party, Island Indigo, Pear Pizzazz, Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Whisper White; Ink: Pool Party, Island Indigo, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, Always Artichoke, Soft Suede marker; Accessories: Gold brads, Sponges, Color Spritzer Tool, Circle Scissors Plus, 3" Circle die, Little Leaves die, Tasteful Trim die, Big Shot, Dimensionals, Ziploc jewelry bag, Hair gel.

Thanks for stopping by!

A La Card Monkey Guest Designer

Hello Everyone, Today I'm a guest designer on the challenge site A La Card Monkey. Fun! This week's theme is sympathy & a sketch.

I love "thinking of you" cards, so I knew I'd go in that direction. The Summer Mini catalog is ending August 31, so time to squeeze a little more play time with those stamps.

This is the a la carte stamp Sail Away. While on my design team duties over at Stampin' Up Only challenges, Margaret submitted a card with this stamp, colored with Stampin' Pastels. This really is the perfect image for pastels with the soft colors, so this also became a stamp club project.

Typically I sew on many of my cards, but I wanted to show the club girls a different way to create the stitched look with faux stitching.

Stamps: Sail Away, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper: Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Well Worn DSP; Ink: Early Espresso, Black Stazon; Accessories: Stampin' Pastels, Paper Piercer, Signo white gel pen, Word Window punch, Modern Label punch, Early Espresso Baker's twine, Square Lattice embossing folder, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by!

SUOC25 Favorite New Set: Up, Up & Away

Today's challenge at Stampin' Up Only Challenges is to use your new favorite set. You've had some time to scour the catalog and order some things. So what's the first thing you are grabbing for these days?

I absolutely love the whimsical feel of the Big Top Suite. I love it all! But the air balloon set is my fav.

If you know me, I use clouds a lot, and now that I have equivalent-sized birds too, I'll be grabbing for those even if I'm not using the balloons.

Stamps: Up, Up & Away; Paper: Bashful Blue, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Beyond the Garden DSP, Pocketful of Posies DSP; Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Wild Wasabi, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie; Accessories: Silver mini brads, Sponges, Scallop Circles #2 die, 3" Circle die, Big Shot, Sewing machine, Thread, Dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by!

Presents for Dad

You may recall I bought some presents for Dad when I was in Salt Lake City, which they confiscated at security. I did rebuy some of them, and finally I am dressing them up to deliver them.

Here's his birthday card. Dang it if those Stampin' Addicts girls didn't force me to buy the Countryside set!

I totally wasn't happy with the coloring, but it seemed to be easily fixed by running it through the embossing folder. The inside is decorated a la Tanya Boser style. Love decorating the inside so I don't have to write so much!

And here's the whole ensemble.

I've been wanting to make the jam jar tag ever since I saw it on Cindy Elam's blog (and for which I bought the Clearly for You stamp also).

Stamps: Countryside, Clearly for You; Paper: Old Olive, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Newsprint DSP, Concord Crush DSP; Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Riding Hood Red, Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Pear Pizzazz, Soft Suede, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Sahara Sand, Bashful Blue, Early Espresso maker, Concord Crush marker, Black Stazon; Accessories: Sponges, Aquapainter, Tag punches, Old Olive ribbon, White Baker's twine, Square Lattice embossing folder, Big Shot, Sewing machine, Thread, Dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by!

PCS Sneak Peek: Make A Wish

Now is the time to sign up for this month's issue of Paper Crafter's Sample, an inspirational birthday party, card, and accessories issue called Make a Wish. There are some great ideas for the next birthday occasion you need to prepare for!

And here is the sneak peek of my project.

Can I tell you my ensemble was created with my daughter in mind? She was so happy to get her hands on the projects when I was done photographing. I can't wait to share these with you!!

Please go to Paper Crafter's Sampler to sign up for exclusive access to the online database. Remember to use code PCSHB, so Melanie knows I sent you.

Thanks for stopping by!

Playing Along with Challenges...

I have a few cards to whip together, so I thought I would play along with challenges. First, I meant to play along with A La Card Monkey, and I forgot the key part, the pennant flags. Doh! I blame the little motor mouth who was helping me.

So this one is the ColourQ challenge. Little Missy colored the straw and umbrella.

Stamps: Tropical Party; Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Basic Gray, Whisper White; Ink: Lucky Limeade, Basic Gray, Tempting Turquoise, Bashful Blue; Accessories: Signo white gel pen, Sponges, Brayer, Hemp twine, Square Lattice embossing folder, Top Note die, Big Shot.

Try again, here's my A La Card Monkey card.

Love, love, love the sewing on the pennants. Little Missy got to color the drink, which she also chose. Can you tell where my inspiration came from?

Stamps: Tropical Party, Cheers to You, Up, Up & Away, Calendar Alphabet & Numbers; Paper: Bashful Blue, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Island Oasis DSP; Ink: Bashful Blue, Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron, Basic Gray, Sahara Sand, Garden Green, Crumb Cake marker; Accessories: Build a Cupcake punch, Petite Pennant punch, Circle punch, Itty Bitty punch pack, Color Spritzer Tool, Brayer, Signo white gel pen, Sponges, Square Lattice embossing folder, 3-1/2" Circle punch, Big Shot, Sewing machine, Thread.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Strong Man Has Arrived...

As per my daughter's request, the strong man got his own train car. I tried to get a photo shot of this train that I like, but nothing doing. So I'll go with the photos I've got.

The whole train -

Some close-ups -

You can look closely to see the 1/4" cardstock boxes I made for the 3-D effect and the acetate strips to stand them up more reliably.

And my little helper - NOT! She laid on it and smushed the lion car. Luckily these things pop back again.

You can get supplies details, more projects, and a link to the blog hop that started this here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Creative Crew Challenges for August Cont'd

This month's holiday-focus over at Splitcoaststampers' Creative Crew challenges is Friendship, Family, or Sister Day. The challenge is to create a project for one of these days using paper piercing, Pocketful of Posies DSP color palette (choose 3), and a sketch.

I have three sisters with birthdays this month, so this is for one of them.

I also used this week's Friday Mashup to help guide my color choices (closest colors to turquoise, red, and black + handmade flowers). ETA: This card also works for this week's Our Creative Corner challenge. What's the chances of that?

Here's the inside of the little pull-out pocket.

Stamps: Best Friends Forever, Under the Big Top; Paper: Poppy Parade, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Pocketful of Posies DSP; Ink: Baja Breeze, Early Espresso; Accessories: White Baker's Twine, Silver brads, Neutrals Collection button, Pearl jewels, Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch, Circle punches, Word Window punch, Paper piercer, Dimensionals.

The scrapbook-focus challenge is one of the easiest subject matters, in my opinion, friendship. Sensing a friendship theme here? How easy is it to find a photo of friends, new or old, and scrap it?

I wanted to use some elements that comes with the starter My Digital Studio CD, since this is a picture from my first Convention in 2009, and it was at that Convention that they unveiled MDS. This picture depicts the lovely and lasting friendships I made that first year. Project 52: Week 31, page 38.

MDS Elements: Stamps: Enjoy Every Moment, Thoughtful Overlays; Other: Summer Home template, Summer Home DSP, Summer Home embellishments.

Hope you'll stop in this month and play with us! Thanks for stopping by!

Under the Big Top Projects

So, if you were here this weekend, you had a chance to click through the Stampin' Addicts Retiring Sets Blog Hop. Thanks for coming back today for a little more info.

Fun Interactive Card - The first thing I thought of when I saw the Big Top Suite was, well, a big top tent. So much fun to create this scene.

I free-hand sketched the tent top, and I added flag details to the top and Baker's twine and mini brads to "secure" the tent.

For the inside, Cindy E. got me thinking about the pop-up stage card with her fun Dinoraur card about a week ago. I used this tutorial to create.

See the three-ring circus? I colored the images with markers to retain bright primary colors. And I used acetate sheet strips for the pop-up tabs, so they don't show. Can you believe I forgot the birthday sentiment? Oh well.

Stamps: Under the Big Top, Up, Up & Away; Paper: Bashful Blue, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, More Mustard, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Big Top Birthday DSP; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Black Stazon, Real Red marker, Old Olive marker, Daffodil Delight marker, Tempting Turquoise marker, Pumpkin Pie marker, Crumb Cake marker, Sahara Sand marker; Accessories: White Baker's Twine, Silver mini brads, Acetate sheet, Petite Pennant punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch, 1-3/4" Circle punch, Top Note die, Circles #2 die, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Birthday Circus Train - I created train cars by creating thin boxes out of Crumb Cake cardstock, and the circus characters were make three-dimensional by stamping twice and gluing a 1/4" square box between the images.

There are a lot of options you could take with embellishing the train cars and animals. Here's some close-ups.

Stamps: Under the Big Top, Calendar Alphabet & Numbers; Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Big Top Birthday DSP; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Black Stazon, Real Red marker, Old Olive marker, Daffodil Delight marker, Tempting Turquoise marker, Pumpkin Pie marker, Crumb Cake marker, Sahara Sand marker; Accessories: White Baker's Twine, Acetate sheet, 1" Circle punch, Word Window punch, Petite Pennant punch, Crop-o-dile, Petal Cone die, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Scrapbook Page - And here are some additional shots of the scrapbook page. This is really one of the easiest pages I put together.

You think I could get the title on straight during some late night stamping the night before the hop? Heck no!

Oh, I just realized I can add a page to my Project 52 count: This is week 31, and I have made 37 pages. Ha, I'm still ahead of the game! :)

Stamps: Under the Big Top; Paper: Bashful Blue, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Big Top Birthday DSP, Brights Collection DSP; Ink: Black Stazon, Sahara Sand marker, Real Red marker, Daffodil Delight marker, Tempting Turquoise marker, Pumpkin Pie marker, Old Olive marker; Accessories: White Baker's Twine, Silver mini brad, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch, Petite Pennants punch, 3/4" Circle punch, Itty Bitty punch pack, Circle Scissors Plus, Naturally Serif die, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by!