#tgifc13 Convention Edition!

HELLO!!!  I'm writing this from Salt Lake City, Utah and the Stampin' Up Inspire Create Share 2015 Convention!  For those of you whom I have had a chance to meet, thanks for finding me!  It's been a lot of fun to see you all :-)   If you are here and haven't ran into me, please keep looking!

This week I have played along with TGIFChallenges for the first time in a few weeks. 

This week, we have a Clean and Simple challenge, so I figured "Why Not?"  I actually made this card as I was writing the TGIF post in the hotel room with some of the supplies that we had laying around. Lol!  It was actually easier for me to be limited with my materials and the theme of the challenge - usually Clean and Simple is NOT my style...I really like to over complicate things.  Luckily, we got a new Christmas themed stamp set at the convention today, so I was able to misuse/repurpose the stamp set to a non-Christmas card and I ended up a happy camper (FYI, I'm definitely NOT anti-Christmas, as you know I just prefer to craft "outside of the box" and play with the versatility of my supplies).

Disclaimer: Since I made this card tonight in the hotel room, the lighting wasn't the greatest and the picture turned out "meh."  I plan on retaking it once we get home, but we'll see what happens.

This is a note card sized project (3 1/2" x 5"), and the "Arrows" that I used were supposed to be trees from the brand new Your Presents Christmas themed stamp set.  Curious?  Excited?  Here's a sneak peak:

 

And here's a peek at our pop-up craft room:

 

 

Good thing they accidentally gave us a room with 2 beds! Now we have an extra crafting station!  Lol!

 

Ok, that's it for now.  Hope you visit TGIFChallenges.com and play along with the Clean and Simple challenge, or at least stop by and see what the Designers have created.  It's the first week that we have had ALL of our designers join in, so its definitely worth seeing.  For my fellow convention attendees, look forward to meeting you tomorrow! Good night!

CYCI #79 Bunny Dreams

The annual Stampin' Up! convention is this week!  So much to do to get ready.  I hope to see you there!  If you're planning on going, please visit our TGIFChallenges.com  site to get some info on a give-away that we're doing while we're there... Hope you come and find me; I'd love to meet you :-)

In the meantime, and for those of you who sadly cannot make it to Salt Lake City, here is the latest CanYouCaseIt.com challenge!  In honour of the convention, this week is a free-fo-all Designers' Choice!

 

I was playing around with the new products and had a lot of fun with the new Farmer's Market DSP:

 

I know it was a little predictable...I mean who doesn't see veggies falling from the sky and think of a dreaming bunny when they see this paper?  I know I usually try to design "outside the box" but this time I had to just follow my instinct and go with the flow.  I think it turned out super cute; definitely one of my favorite cards so far!

 

Well I still have a lot to do to get ready for our pilgrimage, so I'll be cutting my post short this week.  Hope to meet you soon, or if not I'll be back on the blog in a week or so, most likely with a few stories and goodies to share about the trip. See you then!

#TGIFCTD02 I Was Ready for a Throwdown!!

Hi there!  So I have realized that there are 2 groups of people reading this...there are those of you who know about TGIF Challenges and those of you who don't.  If you are one of the ones that don't, DON'T WORRY!  There's still hope for you!  Just visit TGIFChallenges.com to catch up, then come back and keep on reading to tie it all together.  I'll be waiting....

Ok, now that y'all know about the Challenges, are you excited about the Throwdown?

 

We're super happy about how it's working out.  And this week I actually had a chance to try it out and play along!  I now know that it is right up my alley; I think that having a limited pool to pick from actually stretched my creativity and made it a lot of fun to figure something out.  If you haven't tried it out yet, I sincerely encourage you to just give it a shot!  So now onto my card: 

Just kidding!  First, remember that I had a very limited list of supplies to choose from.  As a reminder, these were my options:

 

And now, onto my card:

 

 

As I am writing this, I realize that I used all of the basket ingredients!!  Yay, Me!!  You can find the Typeset DSP, Delightful Dijon, Pool Party, Balloon Framelits, Black cardstock, and the Bravo stamp set!  Woop Woop!!  Lol :-D

 

On the TGIF Blog I am paired up with the Colourful Shannon Lane, so head on over to check out her project, check out the other entries, check out our first finalist, and check out your own entry after you play along, too!  Just click HERE and a door to a land of wonders will open......

CYCI #78 Ju{Halloween}ly (<---Yep, I did it again)

It's Sunday!  You know what that means... CanYouCaseIt has a new challenge for us!  This week is a unique twist on a color challenge:

 

That's right!  You pick the color, but only ONE!  Oh yeah, make sure it goes good with black and white.  Sounds fun, right?  Well then please be sure to visit CYCI and enter your own creation!  Here's mine....

 

 

So my ONE color was actually the Blackberry Bliss (purple)...the orange tissue doesn't count because it was just part of the stuffing of the bag, ok? And the silver doesn't count as a color because it's silver, right?  Ok good, just so we're clear. 

 

I'm not sure if you caught my last post about Christmas in July (if not, you can catch up HERE), but I actually got my inspiration for this bag from making that card.  As I was looking through the current Christmas sets for a sentiment, I found the Merry Everything set and this Dracula stamp caught my eye.  I was looking for an excuse to use it, and this color challenge was perfect!  I used the Striped Scallop Framelit to create the spider webs and the gift Bag Punchboard to create the bag. 

 

Hope you come and check out canyoucaseit.com to see what the rest of the team made.  They are some truly talented folks!  While you're there, come and play along!  What color will YOU pick? 

OSAT Ju{Christmas}ly: (<---Christmas in July; get it??)

Hello, and welcome to another month of hoppiness with our wonderful group of stampers!  You may have been directed here by the lovely Lori @ StampinDreams.com or another one of our OSAT hoppees, in which case you already know what this is all about and may proceed directly to my Christmas in July card! 

If you are starting the hop here, then welcome!  You are in for a special treat today; you have landed in the middle of a blog hop!  That's right, there are about 20 stampers that have gotten together just to make projects to share with YOU!  Our theme this week is Christmas in July and here is my offering:

 

So I consider myself to be fairly festive, but I was a little confused by the whole Christmas in July Theme.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm definitely no Scrooge McDuck, but I just was unsure if there is a difference between "Christmas in December" and "Christmas in July"...and from what I have gathered there really isn't. Correct me if I'm wrong, but is "Christmas in July" kinda just "Christmas isn't here yet but I want to celebrate anyway?"  I guess I'm still confused... but I must admit that I have become a fan of Christmas in July, whatever the meaning may be!  It was fun to make a Christmas card in the summertime, and it would be even FUNNER to get some presents next (hint, hint), Lol!

True to my style, I needed to over-complicate and use mostly non-Christmas products to make this card.  I grabbed the Build a Birthday set and the Farmer's Market DSP.  I made a strand of Christmas lights with the Build a Birthday candle and hung it on my Farmer's Market fence.  Finished it off with a  sentiment from the Merry Everything stamp set which I coloured with markers to add some festive lighting  to the border.  It ended up being a pretty simple card overall, but it certainly satisfied my vision of how I hoped it would turn out :-)

 

Christmas in July ended up being contagious.  As I was making my card, my protégé ;-) also joined the fun and created a set to share with you!  You'll have to visit {her blog} in a few days to hear more about it:

 

 

 

 

So thanks for joining us!  Up next is the very talented Justin Krieger!  Just click on the button below to visit him, or if you've lost your way through this hop, there is a map below!

 

Here's the itinerary:

 

You may have come from --->Lori

But now you are here ---> James

Next is ----> Justin

And then ----> Maggie
And so on...

Kim

Elizabeth

Tina

Andrea

Andrea

Debra

Wynne

AJ

Megan

Holly

Martie

Ginger

Diane

Marisa
And then do it all over again!

Cheers!!
 

Merry Everything Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$17.00

Farmers Market Designer Series Paper

$11.00

Build A Birthday Photopolymer Stamp Set

$16.00

Lots Of Labels Framelits Dies

$27.00

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

CYCI #77 Sketching Out a Party with a Cherry On Top

Howdy!  Thanks for joining me for another CanYouCaseIt sketch challenge, brought to you by CanYouCaseIt.com:

 

This week's card was a pleasure for me to make...reminded me of some classic Stampin' Stud fun!  See what you think:

 

Ever since I started stampin', one of my favorite things to do was to create "outside of the box" just by trying to alter stamps or papers or even repurpose images or sentiments for something other than their original design.  I think that I succeeded this week with the Simply Sports stamp set.  I saw the sketch and knew that I wanted to use the Cherry On Top paper, and I also knew that I wanted to celebrate the idea of a party.  My first thought was actually to try my hand at a scrapbook page, with two panels leading up to a party and the last panel being a picture of one of my daughters having a blast at a party.   I started looking through a stash of pics and couldn't find any that would work with my vision, so I started looking for stamp sets that showed people "having a good time."  Seriously, just ask my wife and she could tell you that I was driving her crazy that day, saying "do you have any stamps of people having a good time?'  until I saw Simply Sports.  Now, I know that "party" doesn't jump out at you when you first see the stamp set, but that's what I love about it!  If stick figures aren't versatile, then I don't know what is, right?  Oh yeah, just in case you're wondering...  the music notes and piñata were just drawn and cut free hand style. I also drove my wife crazy that day asking for a tiny horse or piñata stamp, Lol!

 

Well I hope that you enjoyed my card as much as I had fun making it!  If I can offer any inspiration from it, hopefully it is just to empower you to not limit your creativity to any comfort zone or preconceived ideas; creativity has no limits or "boxes" and often times it's the "crazy idea" that ends up being the most successful. 

 

Hope you have a chance to try out the sketch challenge this week, and along with that, why not try something "outside of the box?"  Take it as another challenge...be creative, be original, try something new!  Trust me, it's fun!  Visit canyoucaseit.com to share your projects, and best of luck to ya!!

Simply Sports Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$22.00

Cherry On Top Designer Series Paper Stack

$8.00

Stake Your Claim Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$19.00

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.