FM245 Need to Believe to See

This is our last closing challenge for the Friday Mashup.  How incredibly sad I am to say goodbye.  My absolute favorite challenge!  I have been with the Mashup almost since the beginning, and I am feeling a little lost right now.  But, before we cry off into the sunset, let's play along with this week's challenge, a sketch and Easter.

Of course Easter is the highlight of the Christian calendar, with birth and renewal.  Spring is coming up blossoms and warmer weather and fresh smells.  And Vitamin D!  We can peel away some of the layers and get some!

I was thinking of sunrise Easter service.  Or the Thomas Kinkade image, The Sunrise.

I watercolored with Crushed Curry and Pumpkin Pie inks before die-cutting with the Sunburst die.  The sun punch-out was watercolored with Tangelo Twist, and to make it really vibrant, I also ink-smashed the circle into Tangelo Twist ink on a craft mat.

Does my card look like this week's sketch, maybe a little bit? 

The Mashup Challenge this week is:

• Create a project with the Sketch. 
• Create an Easter-Themed project. 
• or Mash it Up!! and create an Easter-Themed project with the Sketch.

Stamps: Just Believe; Paper: Crushed Curry, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Watercolor Paper; Ink: Crushed Curry, Tangelo Twist, Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake, Memento Tuxedo Black; Accessories: Gold Metallic Thread, 1-3/4" Circle punch, Watercolor Brush, Sponge, Sunburst die, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Have a great Easter season, Everyone!

The Stamp Review Crew: Number of Years

Welcome to another Stamp Crew Review Blog Hop!  We share our take on a selected stamp set every first and third Monday.  This week we are using a fun and popular new set in the Occasions catalog, Number of Years, which coordinates with the Large Numbers framelits.  If you are following the blog hop order, you have just come from the hugely talented Linda Callahan's blog.  I just love her style!

When I first saw this bundle, I thought I didn't need more numbers.  And then the cute, adorable, fabulous samples from fellow demonstrators started coming out.  They wore me down!  So here's my take on this stamp set and bundle.

This week's Friday Mashup is a color combination plus some sparkly powder technique (Chalk Pastels, Pearl Ex, Shimmer Paints, Shimmer watercolors, etc.).  For the sparkly part, I embossed the numbers with iridescent ice embossing powder.

Do you recognize the layout?  It is just one from the catalog in a bit different color combination.  Easy peasy!

I figure I should give you the little story behind this card.  We are suppose to get together with the in-laws on vacation to celebrate my father-in-law's 70th birthday.  Well we are about a year late in getting it all arranged, so we'll celebrate his "70th again".  He's a gardener, so it's ok to give him flowers.  ;)

Stamps: Number of Years; Paper: Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Cherry on Top DSP; Ink: Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz; Accessories: White baker's twine, Blushing Bride sequin trim, Iridescent Ice EP, Large Numbers framelits, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

And I put together a birthday card for my niece with a world-is-your-oyster-type theme.  She is away at college, and her bright future will be opening up very soon.

Stamps: Number of Years, Going Global; Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Going Places DSP; Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Lost Lagoon, Versamark; Accessories: Gold sequin trim, Gold EP, 2" Circle punch, Triple Banner punch, Large Numbers framelits, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Now make sure you check out the next stop to see what one of our resident artisans, Jessica Williams, has put together with this week's stamp set. 

 

Control Freaks Sale-a-Bration Blog Tour

Welcome... It's time to hop along with the fabulous Control Freaks!  This month we will take a more in-depth look at the Sale-a-Bration offerings.  Remember, each of the Sale-a-Bration items are FREE with a $50 purchase, and they are irresistible!  If you are following the tour, you've probably arrived here from Mary Brown's blog.  I love her clean style!

Have you seen the three new Sale-a-Bration offerings, which just arrived on Tuesday?  One set is called Party Pants, and you're gonna need this one.  Why?  Because it is full of sentiments that fit perfectly in the Balloon Bouquet punch image (which also coordinates with Balloon Celebration & Balloon Builders sets).

This is my card for this week's Friday Mashup challenge, Birthdays & Stencils.  I used the circle (happy) stencil from Happy Patterns stencil pack and scribbled through the stencil with the fine tip of the Stampin' Write markers.

Check out the silver glittery balloon!  I taped down the new Sale-a-Bration Metallic Glitter Tape (another new offering) onto card stock and punched it out with the Balloon Bouquet punch.

Stamps: Party Pants; Paper: Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Cherry on Top DSP; Ink: Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Watermelon Wonder markers, Crushed Curry, Tip Top Taupe; Accessories: Metallic Glitter Tape, White baker's twine, Silver Metallic Thread, Mini Stapler, Balloon Bouquet punch, Banner punch, Happy Patterns stencil pack, Watercolor brush, Dimensionals.

After playing with the Flowering Fields stamp set earlier this week, I've been wanting to focus on the coordinating patterned paper offered in the Sale-a-Bration brochure, Wildflower Fields DSP, and on a project that would really let this paper shine.

This is a fun piece of paper art on a 2 x 4" plank that can be hung on the wall, important for one like me who is running out of table and shelf space.  I was able to squeeze 8 of the 12 patterns from the paper pack into this collage.

The background has a layer of gesso, to help it fade into the background, and I had fun with various shapes and embellishments to create the scene.  This project was inspired by Diane at My Art Journal.

Stamps: Papillon Potpourri, Silhouette & Script, Ray of Sunshine; Paper: Wildflower Fields DSP; Ink: Hello Honey, Old Olive, Blackberry Bliss, Chocolate Chip, Smoky Slate, Basic Black Archival; Accessories: Itty Bitty Accents Epoxy Stickers, White Perfect Accents, 2014-16 In Color Washi Tape, Basic Metal Button, White baker's twine, Venetian Crochet Trim, Silver mini brad, Dazzling Diamonds, 1-3/4" Circle punch, Elegant Butterfly punch, Tree Builder punch, Aquapainter, Sponges, Flower Fair framelits, Big Shot, Gesso, Acrylic paint, Wood block, Dimensionals.

Jump over to one of our newly-arrived Control Freaks, Melissa Stout. I'm so excited she has joined our group!

FM242 Valentine Hearts Treats

This week's Friday Mashup comes just at the right time!  I can play with the new Paper Pumpkin kit and also design some treats for my daughter to hand out to her friends.

Mostly following the kit instructions, I quickly zipped the hearts through the sewing machine, creating the pouches, and made a couple tweaks to the embellishing.  I found I could fit two flat mini chocolate bars in the pouch.

This month's My Pumpkin Challenge is Share Your Story.  My story of the moment is, due to sickness, travel, post-travel catching up, and then more sickness, I'm feeling terribly short on time.  This fatigue has just stunted my creativity.  Paper Pumpkin to the rescue to help me combine efforts to get tasks done, and my daughter won't be empty-handed when she chooses her favorite Valentines.

The Mashup Challenge this week is:

Photo Source 

• Create a project for your Valentine. 
• Create a project featuring a Candy image. 
• or Mash it Up!! and create a V-day Candy themed project.

Wouldn't you want an easy, quick, and cute project to show up at your house every month?  Now is the perfect time to give Paper Pumpkin a try when the 3-month prepaid subscription is on sale!

3-Month Prepaid Subscription (137859) $59.85 $55 USD
Save on a 3-month prepaid subscription and instantly qualify for a FREE* Sale-A-Bration item!

This offer will end on March 31, 2016 at 11:50 PM (MT).

*Sale-A-Bration items ship for free with a qualifying product purchase of $50 USD or more. Paper Pumpkin subscriptions alone do not qualify for free shipping on Sale-a-Bration items. A shipping charge of $6.95 USD will be charged to orders with only Prepaid Subscriptions.

FM241 Year of the Monkey

It's been a challenging week here.  My daughter and I got stuck down south due to Winter Storm Jonas, and I had to drive straight through from Georgia to New York on Monday, so she wouldn't miss yet another day of school.  And I'm suffering through a terrible head cold.  I just haven't been able to make a card for my own challenge over at the Friday Mashup.

Here's my recycled card with a cascade fold.

All the details for this card can be found on this post.

This week's Mashup Challenge is:  

Photo Source

• Create a project featuring a Monkey or Zoo Animals. 
• or Create a project with a Fancy Folds. 
• or Mash it up! and create a Fancy Folded Project with a Monkey.

Stamps: Zoo Babies, Ray of Sunshine, And Many More; Paper: Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar, Whisper White, Lullaby DSP; Ink: Mossy Meadow, Hello Honey, Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar, Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Pumpkin Pie & Daffodil Delight markers, Black Stazon; Accessories: Layers of Gratitude Paper Pumpkin kit, In Color thick baker's twine, Circle punches, Cupcake Builder punch, Confetti Heart border punch, Sponges, Bitty Banners framelits, Big Shot.

FM239 Sending Good Wishes...

This week's Friday Mashup is a color challenge with snowflakes.

I was taken by the inspiration photo, which reminded me of the little whimsy stamps in the new Balloon Celebration set from the Occasions catalog.  They are really a bottom shadow image from a balloon, but they sure do look like dandelion fluff, don't they?

After sponging and stamping, I wanted to use a little bit of bokeh and splatter to really make it look like the photographic effect of focusing on the fluff floating in the air.  It adds a lot of fun dimension, don't 'cha think?

Using My Digital Studio, I found Night of Navy, Bordering Blue, and Almost Amethyst to be the closest Stampin' Up colors to the challenge color palette.

This week's Mashup Challenge is:  

Photo Source 

• Create a project featuring at least 3 of the colors above and Neutral of your choice. 
• or Create a project featuring Snow/Snowflakes. 
• or Mash it up! and create a Snow themed project using the colors above.

Stamps: Balloon Celebration, Lovely Amazing You; Paper: Night of Navy, Whisper White; Ink: Almost Amethyst, Bordering Blue, Night of Navy, Night of Navy marker, Whisper White Craft; Accessories: Rhinestone jewels, Sponges, Watercolor brush.

FM238 Happy Birthday, Human!

We have an interesting challenge for this week's Friday Mashup, Superheroes & Storybook Layout, and this one with run for two weeks.

I thought for a long time on this one.  I found it hard to convey a story across a card front with limited stamp images.  I tossed out the superhero idea, since I have almost no superhero images, and focused on my cartoon image stash.

I decided to build the card around the Make a Monster stamp set and pulled in a few other sets to tell a story of sorts.  This is kind of a coast-to-coast birthday wish from the monsters.  I got a chance to use my new Derwent Inktense blocks for coloring, and I really, really wanted to use a typewriter for the sentiment.  Mine broke long ago.  I'm debating whether I should buy another, should I get a used one, would it work, and what ribbon ink refills...  sigh.

This week's Mashup Challenge is:  

Photo Source 

• Create a project featuring Super Heroes. 
• or Create a project with Storybook layout. 
• or Mash it up! and create a Super Hero card using a Storybook Layout.

Stamps: Make a Monster, Yee-Haw, Calling All Heroes, From the Herd, Beary Best Friends; Paper: Whisper White; Ink: So Saffron, Black Stazon, Fine Sharpie, Derwent Inktense Blocks; Accessories: Wink of Stella clear glitter brush, Confetti Star border punch, Aquapainter, Dimensionals; Font: Traveling_Typewriter.

FM237 New Year's Shake & Sparkle

For this week's Friday Mashup, we are going silver, gold & black for New Year's.  This challenge will run for two weeks.  Good luck on the photography, Everyone - haha!

Ever since August's Paper Pumpkin kit came out, I had a New Year's card in mind for it.  This challenge was perfect to give it a try.  The card is modeled from a shaker card made by Jennifer McGuire about a year ago.  Boy did I have some trouble putting this together though!  Calm down... don't flip out.  After a little fixing here and there, this is what I ended up with.

This week's Mashup Challenge:

• Create a project using the colors Black, Silver and Gold.
• Create a project with a New Year theme.
• or Mash it Up! and create a project using the colors above and a New Year theme.

Stamps: Holidays & Wishes; Paper: Basic Black, Acetate sheet; Ink: Whisper White craft; Accessories: Aug 2015 Chalk It Up to Love Paper Pumpkin kit, Clear EP, Silver glass glitter, Metallics sequin assortment, Fun foam or Foam tape or Shaker frame, Circles Collection framelits, Big Shot.

FM236 Oh Gingerbread, My Favorite Cookie

For this week's Mashup, running for two weeks, we are playing with Christmas cookies.  I don't have a ton of cookie images.  Almost none, in fact, but I do have my favorite cookie image... a gingerbread man!  Every year we make my great-grandmother's cookie recipe.  Real molasses and super-fattening frosting... oh, they are soooo good!

I again turned to Sunday Stamps sketch #114 for this card.  Fairly clean background with a bit of texture, most of the business is happening up front in the focal element.  Lots of fun little cluster embellishments.

I left this card generic so it could act as a Christmas card, winter card, or even birthday card.  Who doesn't like a sweet treat and hot drink when it is snowing?!

This week's Mashup Challenge:

• Create a project inspired by Christmas Cookies.
• Create a project with Dies.
• or Mash it Up! and create a project using Christmas Cookies and Dies.

Stamps: Scentsational Season; Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Season of Cheer DSP, Fresh Prints DSP; Ink: Wild Wasabi, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip, Red Sharpie; Accessories: Linen thread, Pearl jewels, Rhinestone jewel, 2-1/2" Circle punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch, Softly Falling EF, Holiday Collection framelits, Circles Collection framelits, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

FM235 Thankful Acorns

It's my turn to host the Friday Mashup, and this week we have a sketch and "thankful" theme.  The challenge will run two weeks.

The Into the Woods suite along with Acorny Thank You and coordinating punch allow for easy layering! Again, I used a layer of gesso to lighten up the patterned paper (circle), in order for the acorn focal point to pop.

This week's Mashup Challenge:

• Use the Sketch.
• Create a project with a Thankful theme.
• or Mash it Up! and create a project using the Sketch and a Thankful theme.

Stamps: Acorny Thank You; Paper: Soft Suede, Whisper White, Into the Woods DSP; Ink: Delightful Dijon, Soft Suede; Accessories: Linen Thread, Into the Woods wood elements, Acorn builder punch, 2-1/2" Circle punch, Bitty Banners framelits, Circles Collection framelits, Big Shot, Gesso.

The retiring list from the Holiday Catalog has been announced.  Grab your favorites before they are gone.  I suggest you go through the list and mark your catalogs.  Need a catalog?  I've got some left; let me know!

• PDF
• Sortable Excel File

Click HERE to check out this week's Weekly Deals! 

The Stamp Review Crew: Wonderland

Welcome to another Stamp Crew Review Blog Hop!  We share our take on a selected stamp set every first and third Monday.  This week we are using a wonderful stamp set from the holiday catalog, Wonderland.  If you are following the blog hop order, you have just come from the super fabulous blog of Linda Callahan.  Love her!

The trees in this set, having the same versatile elegance as Lovely as a Tree, really attracted me.  To get the Wonderland party started, I grabbed this set for this week's Friday Mashup.  The color combination was a little bit of a challenge, but I wouldn't be deterred!

My background treatment included brayering with Pool Party and splattering with Smoky Slate and white acrylic paint.

This week's Mashup Challenge:

• Create a project using the colors Mint, Pool, White and Slate 
• Create a project with a Winter theme. 
• or Mash it Up! and create a project using the a Winter theme and the Colors above.

Stamps: Wonderland; Paper: Whisper White, Neutrals Collection DSP; Ink: Pool Party, Mint Macaron, Smoky Slate, Memento Tuxedo Black; Accessories: Metallics Sequin Assortment, Brayer, Watercolor brush, White acrylic paint.

Now make sure you check out the next stop to see what lovelies Rochelle Blok has put together for us with this week's stamp set.