Fancy Friday - "Other than a card" challenge

Welcome back to the Fancy Friday Blog Hop!

My fancy friends and I are back with some NEW fancy friends too! We loved working with each other so much that we decided to continue on with an all new blog hop to inspire you in fun new ways! Then a few of us had to take a break so we invited some new FANCY friends to join us and make the blog hop a little longer for your enjoyment! These are a group of past and current Artisans that have become fast friends thru the Artisan journey.

 Each month on the last Friday, we will bring to you new challenges of all kinds (color,sketch, stamp focus, etc)! This month the amazing Cathy Caines picked our theme "Other than a card". I have been wanting to play with the Friends and Flowers Stamp set from the Occasions Catalog (which by the way, it NOT carrying over to the New Stampin' UP Catalog so get it while you can) and I was happy to make something other than a card with it! Well I made a card too! LOL

Friends and Flowers Stamp Set 

Such a versatile set to have! Come see what I made with it.....

This first project was made with the Shine On Specialty Designer Paper and the Gift Bag Punch Board. I so loved this DSP for the thickness and shine of the silver metallic images. You must get a pack of it before it leave us forever! I used the flower petal images in the stamp set with the Festive Flower Punch to create the large Daffodil Delight bloom. The middle of the flower is from the Botancial Builder Framelits Dies. The greeting is from Circle of Spring Stamp set. That ribbon is the Bermuda Bay 1/8" Stitched Ribbon and it is fantastic!

I took the fish and fins from the same stamp set with Bermuda Bay ink to make my cute fish. Polka Dot Cone Cellophane Bags are perfect for a little treat for a special little boy. I added the clear sequins from the Metallic Sequins Assortment for the fish bubbles. The mini 3x3 card is easy to make with another fish and the leaves and flower centers from the Botanical Builder Framelits Dies. Looks like coral or seaweed to me! The greetings are also from the Circle of Spring Stamp set.

For this last project with this stamp set, I created this special card for my dear friend from across the other side of the world, Susan Wong. She recently welcomed her 4th child in the world and I sent this card to her. I know that it gave her a good chuckle! ;) 

Thanks for stopping by my post for the Fancy Friday blog hop!

Inspire. Create. Share. That's what I love to do.

Cindy
You saw Cathy Caines's project before me and now move on to 

Mercedes Weber's project by clicking on the next button below! 

Leadership Artisan Samples 2015 - Little Sunshine Stamp Set

Here we are on our last week! Some of the 2014-2015 Stampin' UP Global Artisan Design Team will be sharing their samples that we were asked to make for the Challenge Boards at Leadership in Orlando. Here is just one of the boards that displays mine and Krista Frattin's work for this category of the Challenge. The other North American Artisans did other categories so be sure to check them out as well. See below for the links.

I was to create 3 projects showcasing the Little Sunshine Stamp Set. The first one above is probably my favorite of all my Leadership samples. I just got the Fry Box Bigz L Die Cut and I was excited to play with it. I have seen out there how to turn the Fry Box into a "basket" so I wanted to try it. The Sweet Dreams Designer Series Paper made this easy with the ikat pattern on one side and the other side is sunshine image. I stamped the heart in Hello Honey and punched out with the Sweetheart Punch. Then sandwich some thick white baker's twine between two hearts and let in hang as a tag. I need to make a few more of these maybe for Easter!

This card is such a trendy style with the tag showcasing all the Sweet Dreams product line.  The Sweet Dreams Designer Series Paper of the clouds pattern, the Sweet Dreams Designer Buttons, the Sweet Dreams Designer Washi Tape and that sweet stamp set called Little Sunshine. Those buttons are adorable!

And well because this is a "baby" themed stamp set, I had to create something for the baby's room! Those patterns in the Sweet Dreams Designer Series Paper work so well together for a mini banner. The stamp set provides the little layer embellishment for the banner. I used Metro Type Alphabet Photopolymer Stamp Set for my letters. I had to make one for each gender so that bumped up my projects to 4! 

I hope that you like my projects and can use them to inspire you! 
Thanks for stopping by!
Cindy

Here is a list of the other North American Stampin' UP Artisan Design Team  blogs! Come see who made what!

Allison Okamitsu - http://nicepeoplestamp.blogspot.com/

Becky Cowley - http://scrapjunkie-becky.blogspot.com/

Cindy Schuster - http://nutmegcreations.blogspot.com/

Kaitlyn Zumbach - http://createwithkaitlyn.blogspot.com/

Krista Frattin - http://www.stampindolce.com/

Mercedes Weber - http://mercedesweber.blogspot.com/

Sarah Sagert - http://www.sarahsagert.stampinup.net/blog

Leadership Artisan Samples 2015 - Irresistibly Yours

The North American team members of the 2014-2015 Stampin' UP Global Artisan Design Team will be sharing some samples that we were asked to make for the Challenge Boards at Leadership in Orlando. Here is just one of the boards that displays mine and Kaitlyn Zumbach's work for this category of the Challenge. The other 7 members did other categories so be sure to check them out as well. See below for the links.

For this challenge section, I was to showcase the Sale-a-bration Designer Series Paper called Irresistibly Yours. Did you know it is FREE?...with a 50$ purchase! This clear embossed white paper is so versatile and they wanted us to share different coloring techniques with it. 

I created this page first. I found the flower pattern so soft when you color with just a sponge dauber and classic ink. I used Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive Blendabilities with Blackberry Bliss ribbon and cardstock. All of these images are from the photopolymer stamp set called You're Wonderful. I thought it fit very well as the photo title. 

This next project uses the diagonal striped version of the designer series paper. This time I colored directly onto paper with Blendabilities - Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie and Coastal Cabana. I cut strips of them and add to my Kraft cardstock card base. I love how the vellum paper breaks up the stripes just enough to then focus on the tags. This stamp set with the cute duck is called One Tag Fits All. I colored him in with Daffodil Delight Blendabilities too.

This last project is quite cute yet I took an awful picture of it as it is has much more color then this. It is a "pop out of the box" gift. I took the stars pattern of the designer series paper and colored with Pool Party Classic Ink and a sponge dauber for a soft, sky like effect. I used the Gold Sequin to add a streamer of gold and then used them to cover the Tiny Treat Box. This 2" by 12" strip folds into the box perfectly and you even have room for a piece of chocolate. I would add a piece of Pool Party Cotton Ribbon with a bow on the outside.

I hope that you like my projects and can use them to inspire you! Check back soon for more Leadership display samples! Much more to share!
Thanks for stopping by!
Cindy

Here is a list of the other North American Stampin' UP Artisan Design Team  blogs! Come see who made what!

Allison Okamitsu - http://nicepeoplestamp.blogspot.com/

Becky Cowley - http://scrapjunkie-becky.blogspot.com/

Cindy Schuster - http://nutmegcreations.blogspot.com/

Kaitlyn Zumbach - http://createwithkaitlyn.blogspot.com/

Krista Frattin - http://www.stampindolce.com/

Mercedes Weber - http://mercedesweber.blogspot.com/

Sarah Sagert - http://www.sarahsagert.stampinup.net/blog

Fancy Friday Blog Hop - Tags Tags Tags

Welcome to the FANCY FRIDAY BLOG HOP for a

"Tags" Challenge!

My fancy friends and I are BACK! We loved working with each other so much that we decided to continue on with an all new blog hop to inspire you in fun new ways! Each month on the last Friday, we will bring to you new challenges of all kinds (color,sketch, stamp focus, etc) that you can even participate in!  This month we are doing TAGS! You may see a variety of themes on the blog hop with our tags - some Christmas or some birthday or some general themes...I went with a baby theme after seeing those cute ducks!

I am sharing a little sneak peak at a stamp set from the Stampin' UP Occasions Catalog that begins January 6th! This stamp set is called One Tag Fits All and includes 6 images with a variety of themes. It also coordinates with the Note Tag Punch. These are super easy to make! I stamped in Black Memento Ink on Whisper White cardstock both images together. Doing this, you could stamp a ton of these all at once! However, you do have to hand cut them all out! I thought these would be great for a baby shower whether a boy or a girl! I colored the images with Stampin' Blendabilities Markers in Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Coastal Cabana and Calypso Coral. 

I used the Curvy Keepsakes Die Cut with the Kraft Cardstock for my little "box". I textured them with the Large Dots Textured Embossing Folder and sponged the dots in Versamark to make them stand out a little bit. The rest is the Clothspins to attach to box, a little Strawberry Slush and Pistachio Pudding Baker's Twine and matching sequins in the same colors. I am still in love with the colors from the 2013-2014 In Colors Collection!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspire you!

Cindy

Now move on to the FABULOUS and FANCY 

Connie Collins by clicking on the next button below! 

Together - MDS Blog Hop

WELCOME TO THE MDS BLOG HOP!

A bunch of us have joined together to share our passion for digital designing with Stampin' UP's My Digital Studio.  These ladies are SERIOUSLY talented in MDS and I am thrilled to be on this Blog Hop with them! You will find us blog hopping on the 2nd and 4th THURSDAYS of each month! We will have a "theme" selected on the first hop and then a "What we are doing in MDS" on the second hop. This week we are catching you up with what we have been working on in MDS lately.

I have been working on two MAJOR projects lately in MDS. One is our recent Disney trip and the other is a baby book for some close friends. I love using MDS Monday challenges and these bi-weekly blog hop to get some pages done for them. I am hoping that I get them done in time to print thru the new printing company thru SU. 

Some MDS techniques I used on this page:

Freeform line stitching with Night of Navy

Freeform Text on a line with "together" on a curve line

Recoloring the washi tape to Calypso Coral

Rounded corners on the photo

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you!

 Cindy 

Click on the button to move on to see what Cori made!

MDS Monday Sketch Challenge #71

I am continuing to work on a little project for my friends. It is a first year baby book of their adorable son. She has been sending me one sweet picture per month and I have been making a 12x12 page with it. I took the challenge of the ombre look with the dots background.

You can give the challenge a try and submit your own page if you click on the MDS Monday button on the right side! Follow the directions on the site to upload your page and link it from your blog or MDS.net. Winners and honorable mentions are announced every week.

 Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you today to get into 

MDS Mondays and our challenges!

Cindy 

MDS Blog Hop - My Sunshine Baby Boy

WELCOME TO THE MDS BLOG HOP!

A bunch of us have joined together to share our passion for digital designing with Stampin' UP's My Digital Studio.  These ladies are SERIOUSLY talented in MDS and I am thrilled to be on this Blog Hop with them! You will find us blog hopping on the 2nd and 4th THURSDAYS of each month! We will have a "theme" selected on the first hop and then a "What we are doing in MDS" on the second hop. I have been working on pages from my latest Disney trip but I made time to make a page of this sweet baby boy.

One day while watching my godson, I took some pictures of him cause he was just so stinkin cute and I wanted to remember him at this age too. I remember taking pictures of both of my girls at his age on the belly playing with toys. They grow up so fast! Snuff snuff.

I used a combination of elements from all over my library of downloads. My friend Amber does lovely work with this style and I was challenged to give it a try here. So here is my very long supply list:

Background

     Designer Series Paper\_Designer Kits\For The Home #3

Embellishments

    _Designer Kits\See Ya Next Year - embellishments\See Ya Next Year - washi tape #3

    Embellishments\Natural Chevron Ribbon - point

    _Designer Kits\Fan Fair - embellishments\Fan Fair - stitching black 8b (re-colored)SMOKY SLATE

    _Designer Kits\This And That Retro Fresh Washi Tape - washi tape #2

    _Designer Kits\This And That Retro Fresh Washi Tape - washi tape #3

    Essential Wooden Elements - embellishments\Essential Wooden Elements - heart

        Brads\Basic Gray - brad

    Shaped Clips\Shaped Clips - black airplane (re-colored) White     

Stamps

    Splatters\Ink Splatters\Ink Splatter 4, Calypso Coral

    Splatters\Ink Splatters\Ink Splatter 4, Calypso Coral

    Epic Overlays\Epic Overlays - cloud 1, COASTAL CABANA

    _Designer Kits\Hello World\Hello World - boy, Calypso Coral

   _ Moments Ago\Moments Ago - sunshine, Color = BASIC GRAY

    _Designer Kits\Sweet Little One\Sweet Little One - 5 months, Calypso Coral    

Punches

    Extras\Starburst Punches - 1, Daffodil Delight

    1.25 Square Punch,  Filled with: Designer Series Paper\_Designer Kits\For The Home #4

    1.25 Square Punch,  Filled with: Designer Series Paper\_Designer Kits\For The Home #1

    Extras\My Way\My Way - my way, Fill Color = BASIC GRAY

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you to try a little of everything 
on your next MDS scrapbook page!

 Cindy 

Click on the button to move on to see what Cori made!

High Tide GIVEAWAY= Artisan WOW

Welcome back to Artisan Wednesday WOW! We have an extra special GIVEAWAY for you this week! This High Tide Product Suite in the 2014 Occasions Catalog had me at AHOY!  I was able to make a whole set of baby boy nautical projects with the High Tide Designer Series Paper and the Hello, Sailor Stamp Set. You can do the same! Do not miss the boat, you can win these great products right here!

On this card: I just ran lines with my Calypso Coral Stampin' Up Write Marker across the card base. I used the Circle Collection Framelits to cut my life preserver shape. To get the stamp images to line up, use your Stamp-a-ma-jig!

This is the Mini Muslin Bag! I took out the drawstring and hot glued the ribbons onto the bag. Now it is a mini tote gift bag! 

I took the Burlap Ribbon and wreath base from the Burlap and Blooms Simply Created Wreath Kit to use here. The flowers were used on other project to share soon! I used the Banner Framelits Dies to make the banner across my wreath. 

 This boat was actually free standing but then I decided to add it to the wreath. See the sail mast? That is a rolled piece of the High Tide DSP!  I used the Circle Collection Framelits Dies to make the bottom of the boat. Cut a simple triangle with the DSP and Whisper White cardstock and cut a slit for the mast to go thru. The Bitty Banners Framelits Dies helped finish off the top and name plate.

More Banner Framelits Dies with this great High Tide DSP make a great layered thank you card!  I used two of the Hello Sailor Stamp Set images all together with the Lots of Thanks Stamp Set.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you to try the High Tide Suite before time runs out!

Cindy

Move on to Connie by clicking on the next button!
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MDS Monday Sketch #44 Challenge

 The idea was to use a flourish on the background of the card. I went right into the Global Search and did a search for the key word "Flourish" and this chalk stamp image from Snowy Soiree download grabbed my attention. The rest of the card built from there. The Sentitment is from Baby's First Christmas download. I did some coloring to remove the ornament 2013 image from this stamp image to just get the words. The background dots is from Hello World download, another baby themed download. Do not let those themed downloads get by you! Very versatile!

You can give the challenge a try and submit your own page if you click on the MDS Monday button on the right side! Follow the directions on the site to upload your page and link it from your blog or MDS.net. Winners and honorable mentions are announced every two weeks.

 Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you today to get into MDS Mondays and our challenges!

 Cindy 

MDS Blog Hop - Greatest Gift of All Postcard

Here is how it looks when created in My Digital Studio. You just need to go to View, then Bleed Area. Select Artisan Shaped Postcard. Now you can see the shape. When you go to print, be sure to select in the print preview (where you put in the quantity) the shape box.

  WELCOME TO THE MDS BLOG HOP!

A bunch of us have joined together to share our passion for digital designing with Stampin' UP's My Digital Studio.  These ladies are SERIOUSLY talented in MDS and I am thrilled to be on this Blog Hop with them! You will find us blog hopping on the 2nd and 4th THURSDAYS of each month! We will have a "theme" selected on the first hop and then a "What we are doing in MDS" on the second hop.

I am still working feverishly on designs for our Christmas card. I have to get them done asap because the 30% off Print sale ends on November 30th! But today I am sharing a Christmas/Announcement card that I did for our wonderful friends of our godson. As soon as I saw the Baby's First Christmas Shaped Postcard on November 5th, I had to tell them about it. It is sooooo perfect for them. He IS the greatest gift of all! They wanted to change the colors for a traditional Christmas colors. The father has a great camera so they did their own photo session at home. They came over last night and we finished the back of the card and sent them off to print.  They got 48 postcards for 1.58 each and it comes with an envelope! Wahoo!

Just click on the NEXT button and it will take you to the next person on the hop. We hope this inspires you to get into My Digital Studio and start creating for Christmas! 

Click on the button to move on to see what Cori made!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you!

 Cindy 

Artisan Friday Wow - Facebook Project

Welcome to our Artisan Friday Wow Blog Hop!  You just came from Cathy Caines and next is Connie Collins, but before you come check out how I made my scrapbook page! 

The vision of snow falling was in my head as soon as I saw those Festive Flurry Stamp set and Framelits. I stamped Whisper White Craft ink on White Vellum Cardstock. Let it dry completely. Now cut out with the Festive Flurry Framelit dies. Then this page really came together when I found this photo and paired it with the Love & Joy stamp. Just the feelings you have when having a baby! I stamped the largest Festive Flurry stamp with Pistachio Pudding and stamped off once to get a softer color behind the Love & Joy stamped in Basic Gray. I love the details like the sewing around the photo on the Smoky Slate Cordination Cardstock, the Basic Gray washi tape from Epic Day This & That set and the use of the Large and Basic Rhinestones on the page.

This was fun to add the silver 1/8" ribbon to the White Baker's Twine bow. Those Frosted Finishes Embellishments really add to anything you make.

I used the Naughty & Nice Rotary Stamp to mark the date on my page. I added the 12/ with the Smoky Slate Stampin; Marker. To get the space, just move the numbers on the rotary stamp over a bit before inking up.  Just a little journaling helps capture the moment.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you today!

Cindy 

Move on to Connie by clicking on the next button!