Friday Mashup Turns 100!!

Hello Stamping Friends!!

Today is a special day for my friends at the Friday Mashup!!  It's their 100th challenge!  WooHoo!!  To celebrate, everyone has  chance to play...picking their favorite FM challenge!  Pick a challenge from 1-99, AND tell us why you picked the challenge...and YOU could WIN a $25 Stampin' Up gift certificate!!

Holly contacted me, as a past design team member.  I knew I wanted to participate...but picking just one challenge proved to be hard for me.  A color challenge?  A sketch?    Masculine?  Girlie??  I changed my mind at LEAST 10 times!  Finally, I chose FM62...a great sketch and a bird theme.  You see, we just have had about 5 inches of snow...but it is melting quickly, and sunny days are predicted for the weekend.  I am READY for spring!  I look forward to seeing cute little birds in our back yard. Plus, one of my nieces has a birthday this weekend.  Perfect reason to choose this challenge!

The color scheme came from this week's color challenge on splitcoaststampers:  bashful blue, primrose petals, raspberry ripple.  Frankly, I couldn't help but add touches of yellow and green.  The main layer is embossed with SU's Cloudy Days impressions folder.  The image and sentiment are from "For the Birds"...colored with markers and a bit of sponging.  I used framelits for that little banner.  Love this stitched ribbon!  The flowers were made with a sizzlit in my big shot, and the leaves are from the 3-step bird punch (lucky limeade.)  The argyle pattern is from Patio Party (current), the blue dsp is from a retired SU hostess pack.  Brads are from Hobby Lobby.

I hope you join this week's challenge!  Come to the birthday party...a=where you might get the $25 present!!

Inky {{{HUGS}}}
Kim

Friday Mash-Up-Catch-Up!

Hello Stamping Friends!

Today I have not one, but 2 cards for The Friday Mashup!  You see, I did this week's challenge last night...but I never uploaded last week's challenge.  So I decided to just post it today any way for fun.  My first card Mashes-up the color palette of so saffron, pool party, and real red (and a neutral) with a baby theme.  I had been eyeing this adorable stamp set from My Favorite Things for MONTHS, but held off since I was focused on SU demo work.  But last fall, MFT had a major clearance sale...I spent a big chunk of moolah...and finally bought this set, called "Baby Bump" from the "Who's That Girl?" series.  (Ironically, this set was NOT on sale...but since I saved money elsewhere, I bought it!)

Since my ministry focuses on pregnant teens and women, it's perfect!  We have a program where needy moms can earn points by doing healthy things (finish a semester of school, keep pre-natal appointments, complete a budget plan, attend church, etc.) and then she "buys" baby items with her points.  Sadly, we have a waiting list (but points are earned during that time too)...but when a spot becomes available, she goes through an orientation process where she sets goals.  Basically I want to make cards to welcome women to the program!  I doubt they will all be this involved though!

The colors were set by the FM challenge...the sketch by MFT Stamps.  Each month, they give stampers a chance to complete a challenge for a chance to become  Guest DT member for a month.  Oh Joy!  The sketch called for a circle, but this image has a rectangular outline, so this is a variation.  My card base is pool party, and I added a pattern in pool party found in Comfort Cafe dsp.  The real red and so saffron are long retired SU patterns.  I stamped this shoppin' mama in basic black craft ink, and heat embossed with black powder.  I also stamped the image on each of the colored patterned papers for paper piecing.  VERY tricky!  The rest of the image is colored with SU markers or sponged (creamy caramel on the skin, going gray on the boots, sahara sand on the sidewalk).  The sentiment is from the same set (our clients can actually shop long after the "drop"...until baby turns 1 year old!)  SU ribbon and button add needed details, and dimensionals add a pregnant-worthy bumpy card!

What I love about the Who's That Girl stamps is that there is no ethnicity seen...you can color skin to personalize the card...which is perfect for our ministry needs!  Plus the open images are fun to color in so many ways.  Face it...no one really out grows their love for coloring!  I may not paper-piece as much as the MFT team, but I am having fun expanding my options!  Each of the MFT images come with a variety of sentiments with matching fonts...so mixing and matching is fun and easy to do!  If I had the blessing of joining them, I would be so excited to show that mix and match feature!

Last week's Mash-up had a sketch and bunny option...so here comes Flopsey!! (also from My Favorite Things)  I also combined this with a color challenge on splitcoaststampers that I had skipped (chocolate chip, crumb cake, certainly celery).  I have a friend with a March 17 birthday.  This cutey is actually holding hearts, but I used my heart punch and created a shamrock.  This sentiment from SU's On Your Birthday.  Details include SU's fancy fan embossing folder, framelits, punches, and ribbon.  The brads are from a mixed pack from HL.

It has been fun playing with my buddies at the Friday Mashup again!!  And it has been fun stretching my creativity with new stamps.  Too bad the clean-up isn't any fun!  LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!

Inky {{{HUGS}}}
Kim

Black, Bright,& Beautiful!!

'Hello stamping friends!

Here are my cards for the other VSN challenge I hosted.  The overall theme was "Birds, Bees, and Creepy Crawlies."  My inspiration came from creepy crawlies that  are actually quite beautiful, like dragonflies and butterflies.  I called the challenge "Black, Bright, and Beautiful."  The idea was to use primarily one dark neutral and one bright color as focal points.  The "dessert" option was to add shimmer/shine.  Using bug images was optional.

My first card has a basic black card base, and uses basic black patterned paper and retired SAB paper in melon mambo.  The butterflies were made  from Presto specialty paper, cut out with my butterfly sizzix die, and brayered with melon mambo ink.  I took my shimmer smooch, and sponged over the wings.  Rhinestones add more bling.  The sentiment is from Polka Dot Party...I literally got rid of the est of the set 'cuz I didn't like it!  LOL  White organza ribbon brightens up the whole card.




My other card features basic black, basic gray,  and green galore.  I embossed the background with a music cuttlebug embossing folder.  The main image is Extreme Guitar, heat embossed in black.  The sentiment is from Perfect Words, paired with oval punches.  Silver cord and brads wrap it up.

I had so much fun hosting these challenges!  I hope to do it again in the future!  Thanks for visiting again!

Inky {{{HUGS}}}
Kim

Poor Flopsey

Hello Stamping Friends!

This weekend, I am focusing on Virtual Stamp Night over at Splitcoaststampers.  Not only did I join the team of hostesses for the first time...I got to host two challenges!!

The overall theme was "Birds and Bees and Creepy Crawlies".  I was thinking of the Itsy Bitsy Spider, and decided to use a "Rain or Shine" theme for my second challenge.  I have this adorable Flopsey stamp set from My Favorite Things...and he needed to get inked up!  There's still time to play!!

I used this month's sketch challenge from My Favorite Things for their Guest DT search.  I have followed some regular DT members for a while...so to join this talented crew would be AMAZING!  I love to color, even at the age of 47!  Like many of you, I am learning more about this option...so I look forward to growing in my skills.  I love that the fonts of many of their stamp sets match...so it is easy to mix and match sentiments on the front and inside!  I am a bit bummed that Flopset retired...but I snatched up many images during a great sale.  My other favorite stamp series are Clearly Sentimental and Who's that Girl.?  I hope to collect more of them, and other goodies soon!

For my VSN card, I wanted colors for a rainy day, and these patterns from long-retired Urban Oasis dp (SU) fit the bill.  Great chance to use up my stash, right?  I used the Cloudy Day embossing folder on the baja breeze and basic gray card stock.  I stamped Flopsey in basic black craft ink, added black embossing powder, then embossed so my coloring wouldn't smudge the little guy.  I used my blender pen with basic gray, baja breeze, kiwi kiss, and creamy caramel inks.  Not exactly "water coloring"...but close.  My spider?  Well that was the "dessert" option for my challenge!  Silly, I know!

  I also used my versamarker and clear embossing powder for the raindrops before sponging baja breeze around the image.  I wanted to use one of the sentiments from the same set, but I just could not get it to fit into the sketch, so I added one from Teeny Tiny Wishes, with a corduroy brad.

I had so much fun hosting two VSN challenges!  I'll post my other card tomorrow (if I can get Blogger to upload pics!)...and hopefully more cards will show up throughout the week.

Inky {{{HUGS}}}
Kim