Friday, October 31, 2014

So Grateful for You

Can you believe it?!  I'm not posting a card.  I think I've done that twice this month.  I guess it is that time of year though when we start to think about gifts for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. So for today's Friday Mashup challenge we needed to make a box project.  I was thinking about using the 2"x 2" box that Stampin Up! is selling right now, but decided to quickly make up my own instead because I wanted to put leaves on it and the other box would have been way too small.  So here's our fun challenge from Lisa this week...

Create a "Box Project". 
Create a project with a "Thanksgiving or Thankful Theme".
or Mash it Up! and create a "Thanksgiving- or Thankful-Themed Box".


To make the box I cut two 5" x 5" pieces of Naturals Ivory card stock, ran it through the big shot using the woodgrain embossing folder, scored it at 1" on every side, snipped in a few spots and taped the sides together...bam you have a box.  Ok, so there's just a little more to it than that, but once you've done it a time or two it's pretty easy.  I sponged the 2014-2016 In Colors on my leaves and used the Gorgeous Grunge set for the spots on the leaves.


Make sure you head over to the Friday Mashup HERE to see the other great projects and to play along too.  We'd love to see what you create. :)






Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies used on this project:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Holiday Home Halloween

Today's card is made using the set Holiday Home.  Believe it or not this is the first time I've used it!  Both my colors and sketch are from this week's Try Stampin' on Tuesday challenge #191.  I did fudge just a little on the sketch since I don't have all five of the "spots" on my card positioned exactly like on the sketch, but I tried to make them close and still make sense of the scene I wanted.  I had a lot of fun making this card.  :)  I love how these colors look together too!


Make sure you head over to Try Stampin' on Tuesday HERE to check out all the other fun cards made by the designers, and to play along too. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies used on this card:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Friday, October 24, 2014

It's a Sunflower Kind of Day

Today's card is all about sunflowers.  Sunflowers and the Friday Mashup that is.  This week we have a color challenge and a technique challenge for our mashup.  Love the fall colors of the color challenge, and I enjoyed the technique too. :)  I had never heard of it before, but it went pretty smoothly for me....whew!   Anyway this week's fun mashup from Heidi is...

Create a project with "Hello Honey, Tangelo Twist & Baked Brown Sugar". 
Create a project with the "Iron-Off Embossing Technique".  Link to technique HERE.
or Mash it Up! and create a "Project using the colors above & the Iron-Off Embossing Technique". 


I have to admit I cheated a little with the colors.  I used Blendabilities to color in my flowers and stems, so I didn't actually use the colors listed.  They came out pretty close though since Blendabilities have three variations of each color.  I ended up using Soft Suede too instead of baked brown sugar because I wanted to use ribbon and have the bow kind of look like the leaves of one of the flowers and the only ribbon I had was in Soft Suede.  Make sure you head over to the Friday Mashup HERE to check out the cards from all the other designers and play along too.  We'd love to see what you create! :)


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies used on this card:

Soft Suede Ribbon (retired)

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Festival of Trees

So how do these non-traditional colors look on my Christmas cards?  This week at 'Tis the Season we have some pastel colors for you to work with.  At first I wasn't sure what to do with them at all!  I checked out all my Christmas stamps and pulled out Festival of Trees and went from there.  Since I wasn't using the traditional colors I decided to change up the way I made my cards too.  They are definitely not my norm, but I think they're pretty fun! :)


Head on over to 'Tis the Season HERE to see the other fun cards made using these colors, and show us what you can make too...remember Christmas is right around the corner!


This close up shows one of the cards a little better...


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies used on these cards:

Pretty Prints embossing folder (retired)

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Good to the Last Bite

Well, I have to say I'm a bit behind this week!  This was supposed to post Tuesday morning and it's not even close to that.  I don't know how so many ladies can work 30+ hours a week and keep plugging away with all of their card making/scrap booking, etc.  I've been busy trying to get ready for a craft show with all my other responsibilities too, and I sure would like some sleep!  Guess that's the way it goes when I procrastinate too much. :(  

Anyway I came up with these goody bags for this week's Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch challenge and I'm also selling them at the craft show.  They are pretty quick and easy to make, especially the tags.  One of my daughters is a nanny and she asked if she could have a couple for her kids if there were any left over.  That's when I told her I was making last month's paper pumpkin kit for them.  She was happy with that. :) 


Make sure you head over to Try Stampin' on Tuesday to see all the other fun things the designers have created for you.  Make sure you play along too. :)


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies used - 

Clothespins from past Stampin' Up! kits

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog


Friday, October 17, 2014

Galaxy Greetings...

Today I have another fun card for you!  It's totally different than my last post, but I think it's pretty cool.  Since it's Friday you know it's a part of the Friday Mashup.  This week Holly has challenged us with a new to me technique called the Galaxy Technique.  Boy did I have fun playing around with it!  So here's the challenge...


Create a project with the "Galaxy Technique".   Links to technique HERE &HERE.
Create a project for "A Friend". 
or Mash it Up! and create a "Project for a friend using the Galaxy Technique".


I did create this card for a friend, actually a coworker.  It ended up being a "thinking of you" because he lost his beloved little doggy Honey Bunny.  It was not a good day last Friday!  Let's hope today is much better. :)  He really liked his card too and that's a compliment from someone who is very artistic!


Make sure you head over to the Friday Mashup HERE to see all the other cards by the designers...yup, love them!  If you have the time, try and play along with us, but watch the videos Holly has linked for you and use your imagination.  I had to use the supplies that I had on hand, so I used reinkers on very wet naturals white paper, dried it with my heat tool, then ran it through my Big Shot between two cutting pads and under an embossing folder.  Straightened that warped thing like you wouldn't believe! lol


I put in a couple more pics so you can see how a card's looks can be affected by different lighting.  I was trying to get the dark of the galaxy to really stand out and not the trees.  I did stamp the trees in white, but the white absorbed the colors from the galaxy so they were actually darker like in the first picture.  The last two pics were definitely brighter than the card, especially the trees.  Plus I embossed the sentiment in white so it stood out a little more.




Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies use on this card:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog



Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Delightful Dahlia

Today I have a lovey card to share with you.  The sketch is from this week's Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch challenge #189.  It was a fun sketch to work with, but I have to admit I twisted the "Autumn Splendor" just a bit.  I'll explain how I came up with this flower.  There's a young girl at our church the spends a lot of her summer growing, picking and putting flower arrangements together to sell.  She then uses the money to go out and buy Christmas gifts for those who can't afford them.  She grows a lot of Dahlias and gave me a couple last week, and shared quite a few of them with a lot of other people that work in AWANA at our church...that's where the flower card comes in.  I wanted to thank her with a flower like she gave me.  Plus this is the last week she's going to be able to sell since they need to dig everything up so they can replant next spring.   Anyway I think all the flowers she walked in were showing some of the fall splendor, it's not just in the leaves of trees. :)


We're also playing another game at Try Stampin' on Tuesday this week.  Since it's October and Halloween is at the end of the month we thought it would be fun to have a word scramble for everyone to join in.  All you need to do is unscramble the two words on my blog SMKA  RSYAC  and the other designers' blogs and you'll be entered in a drawing.  If you need more info head over to Try Stampin' on Tuesday HERE to see what it's all about.  Make sure you play along with our sketch too.  We'd love to see what you create!





Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Friday, October 10, 2014

Happy Wonderful Christmas

Wow, I can't believe it's Friday already!  Where did this week go?  I don't know, but I won't complain either. :)  Since it's Friday I have another project for you. Yup, a project, not a card.  That's pretty unusual for me, but that's what this week's Friday Mashup is all about.  This week our challenge is from Cindy, and here's the fun challenge she has for us...


Create a "Tag for a Bottle, Box or Bag". 
Create a project with "Bling". 
or Mash it Up! and create a "Tag with Bling".

For once I got a little bit ahead with all my challenges because I was up north last weekend...yea!  Since I had a bottle of sparkling red grape juice I decided to make a tag for a bottle.



It calls for bling so I went with a little bit of gold embossed leaves and pearls on the ribbon and wreath.  Not what I'd normally use for bling, but since I didn't have my whole stamping stash with me I used what I did have...and I'm happy with how it turned out. :)  Make sure you head over to the Friday Mashup HERE to see the other great projects from the design team.  If you get a chance play along too.  We'd love to see what you create!


I had to add a little something else to the back and decided to use a few snowflakes and the "to" and "from" stamps.  Hey they have to know who the gift is from right? lol


Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Supplies used for my tag:


Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog


Thursday, October 9, 2014

Christmas Blessings

How are your Christmas cards coming?  Hopefully you all have a good stash going.  Here are four more that I've made with 'Tis the Season's sketch challenge #27.  Not sure how many cards I have yet, but I know I'm close...whew! :)  I have to admit I've really enjoyed making different ones throughout the year instead of coming up with one design and working like crazy in October and November to get them done.  I also like the fact that I can buy more than one or two Christmas sets too.  So many Christmas or winter cards that I can make now!


Make sure you stop by 'Tis the Season HERE to check out the other great Christmas cards and to play along too.




Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies used on this card:

Retired Christmas sentiment set and embossing folder

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog




Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Thank You with An Open Heart

Today I have a pretty thank you card to show you.  This card is inspired by this week's Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch challenge #27.  I've had this set for a month and finally had a chance to ink it up a bit because I went away for the weekend to see a bit of fall colors (and that's all it was...a bit!).  I also brought a bunch of my stamping supplies too. :)  Yup, I get to see the fall colors and stamp all weekend.


Because there was a turkey on the sketch I thought I'd stick with the bird theme.  I stamped the branches and bird with black Memento ink, then colors them in with Blendabilities.  


Make sure you stop by Try Stampin' on Tuesday HERE to see the other fun cards using this sketch and play along too!  We'd love to see what you create. :)




Here are a few pics I was able to get this past weekend.  The first picture is one I take every year because of the location.  I have no idea where the rest are taken.  We just drove around until I found some color that I liked and took a few pics. :)







Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Supplies used on this card:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog




Friday, October 3, 2014

Marbled Sea

It's Friday and I'm excited because I'm enjoying a weekend away for a bit of a fall color tour.  Could be why my post for the Friday Mashup is late!  I totally forgot to get it ready since I was so focused on packing and leaving! lol  This week's mashup from Lynda is a fun one!  I love the sketch and this technique is new to me too.  Well, kind of new...I've seen it before, just never tried it.  It's a good thing we have these challenges because it pushes me to do techniques that I normally wouldn't bother to try.  Here's the mashup for challenge #180...

Create a project with "the Sketch". 
Create a project with the "Marble Rolling Technique".  Link to technique HERE.
or Mash it Up! and create a "Project using the Marble Rolling Technique & Sketch". 

I decided I was going to use The Open Sea set with this sketch, and have white card stock for my background.  I thought the blue marbling on the white kind of looked like a map.  However when I tried to put all of my white circles on the white card stock it just didn't look very good.  So I decided to do blue and white marbling on blue card stock.  I love how it turned out too!


Make sure you head over to the Friday Mashup HERE to see all the other great cards made using this technique and sketch, and play along too if you have time.  We'd love to see what you create!






Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies used: 
 Marbles (in my case beads since I don't have any marbles! lol)
small plastic container 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog