Stampin' In Alaska

The last challenge of 2011 for the Sassy Cheryl Digi Blog is to use a snowman and a die cut. I must say that I've had a lot of fun playing with this Sassy Sally image called " Sassy Sally Plays A Trick ". You can find tons of fun Sally images over on Cheryl's digital shop! The digital image of Sally and the snowman were colored with Copic markers. I used Spellbinders Lacey Circles nestibilities to cut out the image. I also used a Sizzix snowflake die cut and a Martha Stewart snowflake punch. I'm not sure who will receive this little snowy card. Most of my family are in areas that haven't gotten any snow. Or if they did, it's melted and long gone! This snowy pair of characters is so cute that it will be sure to put a smile on anyone's face this winter!! Thanks for stopping by today! I really enjoy reading your comments.

Check out the Paper Smooches December Blog Hop Here! Lots of fun samples and 3 new clear sets designed by Kim Hughes.

It's another week (or two) of sharing with Sassy Cheryl and all of us who like to take a peek at what you have going on! Cheryl is taking a much needed vacation and so this week's Show Me challenge has been extended for two weeks! If you haven't joined the fun this year, you can check out the details HERE . I am ashamed to say it, but it's been a long time since I've actually made a pie. Mostly because it's just my husband and I to eat desserts at our house. He was tested with high cholesterol a few years ago and so a lot of these goodies don't get made anymore. However, last week I had a craving for a family favorite of mine -- raisin cream pie. I come from a long line of excellent country cooks and bakers. I don't know why the cooking "gene" skipped me, but it did! I really don't enjoy cooking BUT I enjoy eating! Since my Mom is over 2000 miles away I decided it was up to me to make the pie. I really don't remember when I was ...

Kim has found another very fun inspiration photo on Pinterest for the Sparks Challenge. I chose to take inspiration from the colors - red, brown, tan, white and green. This little snowman and tree are from the Kim Hughes Collection for Cornish Heritage Farms called "Winter Trees". There are so many fun images in this set! Everything has been paper pieced and Stickles were added to the "snow". Thanks for stopping by and taking a look! I really enjoy reading your comments.

A very quick post today for Cheryl's Show Me challenge ! Time has gotten away from me this week and I realized this morning that I need to post BEFORE it's too late. This is my craft desk thismorning! I thought I would share a few cards I have finished over the past few days. Of course, the Sassy Cheryl challenge card is in the beginning stages. Maybe you can check back later in the week to see the finished card. Hope you all have a great week! Thanks for stopping by to take a look.

It's a "White on White" blizzard over on the Sassy Cheryl Challenge blog this week! Sassy Judy is our hostess and she's given us a really fun challenge. I really like the effect of white on white, but rarely think to use this easy and effective technique. I couldn't resist using this sweet Sally image called "Sassy Sally Plays A Trick". The image is perfect for this snowy time of year. I also get a chuckle out of their expressions every time I color this image. I used the Cuttlebug snowflake emboss folder with a layer of Stampin' Up! Shimmer white card stock. It may be hard to see in the photo, but it does add a nice subtle shimmer. I added a few rhinestones to the snowflakes and used a Martha Stewart snowflake punch with white and silver card stock then adding a Memory Box snowflake jewel sticker to finish it off. Another fun challenge this week! Thanks for stopping by.

It's another week for sharing what's going on in my part of the world with the Sassy Cheryl ladies! Cheryl randomly gives away a free image (and there are many cuties to chose from) each week. She only asks that we share a post of what we've been up to this week! How easy is that?! You can check out the details HERE . Well, I am sharing a couple of photos that my husband has scanned and started restoring. Fortunately, I snagged several original photos of my parents wedding after my grandmother's passing. I know my mom would cringe to know that I'm posting this on my blog, but they are precious to me! My DH decided a couple of years ago that all of our older photos should be scanned and saved to CD's. It's a big job and I'm glad that he's patient! My Parents 1965 The next photo was taken a couple of years after the wedding photo above! Can you guess who this little person might be?! Yes, this is my hospital photo. Ahh, so sweet! LOL! Thank...

This week's challenge over on Mo's Digital Challenge blog is to use banners or tags with our Mo digi. I couldn't wait to create with Mo's recent freebie called "Snow Days". I decided to add a tag with the sentiment "celebrate" which will probably become a birthday card for my cousin next month. The image was colored with Copic Markers and liquid applique was added to the furry trim of her parka. The red, white and blue colors evolved from using papers from the Echo Park Winter Park paper stack. I am really having fun with these papers! Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

This is the inspiration photo that Kim has posted for the Paper Smooches Sparks challenge this time around. I had to really think about this one and decide how I wanted to use the inspiration. There were so many options! Finally, the card evolved out of a need for a Birthday card for my brother-in-law. Below is the result: I took inspiration from the frames by using a few critters from Paper Smooches " Birthday Buddies" set. I tried to keep with the colors I found in the photo as well. The birthday sentiment is from Paper Smooches " Sentiment Sampler ". I think Kim's handwritten sentiments are so much fun! Thanks for stopping by!

Sassy Pat is our hostess this week over on the Sassy Cheryl Digi Stamp Challenge Blog . Pat chose to use "Winter" as our theme this week. How could I resist using this new Sassy Sally image called "Sassy Sally Plays A Trick". The expressions on both faces are hilarious! The image was colored (and watercolored) with Tim Holtz distress ink and Copic markers. I am still experimenting with the distress inks and having so much fun. I added liquid applique to Sally's hat and coat hem. I layered the image on Echo Park Winter Park dp and a white card stock base. The snowflake was made using a Martha Stewart punch. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look! I really had so much fun putting this together.

Well, it's Thursday again and that means another week to share over on the Sassy Cheryl blog. It's easy to play along. Just take a photo of what's going on this week and post it to your blog. Then share the link HERE . As you can see from my post, it doesn't even have to be craft related! As you can see, things are pretty snowy here in my part of the World! Anchorage has received over 30 inches of snow during the month of November. Our first snowfall was on October 30th this year. My husband and I took the pups out to the park cross-country skiing two weekends ago. The snow was great and we had so much fun. It was actually snowing while we were skiing and that's even more fun! The first photo is from Thanksgiving day at the local dog park. Anchorage (well all of Alaska) is so pet friendly that we have several designated dog parks in Anchorage. This one is only a couple of miles from our house. Unfortunately, we live in town and our yard isn't very lar...

For this month's Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge I was inspired by the color combo. I incorporated teal, lime and grey into my card below. You can check out the challenge and the inspiration photo HERE . I have used a Cornish Heritage Farms set by Kim Hughes called "Winter Trees" for this card. I think the snowman is SO cute and the ice cycles make a perfect border. It's pretty icy and snowy in my part of the U.S. so this was perfect! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!!

The ladies over on the Sassy Cheryl Digi Challenge Blog has given us free reign again this week. I'm glad since I needed a Birthday card and the "Sneaky Cupcake Bear" was on my desk ready to finish and put together. This fun digi was colored with Copic markers and Stampin' Up Dazzling Diamonds glitter added to the frosting. The sentiment is also digital. I bought it from Pauline over on the TLC blog . It compliments the image perfectly, don't you think? Thanks for stopping by and taking a look! I always enjoy reading all of your comments.

Happy Thanksgiving! Welcome to another week of sharing over on the Sassy Cheryl blog. If you're new the "Show Me" game, you can check out the details HERE . Well, this week I thought I would show my ongoing project of organizing my Spellbinder Nestibilities. A few months ago I bought about 40 clear-mount stamp cases from Stampin' Up! As you can see, I can fit two full sets in the case (and labels). Would you believe that the hardest part of the project has been finding magnet sheets?! Who-da-thought? The blue box in the photo above shows how I have been storing all of my Spellbinders. The photo below shows them labeled, in the clear storage cases and neatly (visibly) on my desk shelf. Whew! This has been a project! I'm so glad that you stopped by! I really enjoy reading your comments. Let me know how you store your Spellbinders. Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving day with family and friends!

This week the Sassy Cheryl DT is trying to stump the "boss". So, the challenge this week is anything goes. I'm still working on Thanksgiving cards for family and friends so I colored "Polly and her Pumpkin" for this sweet Thanksgiving card. Polly has been colored with Copic markers. Spellbinder Labels 17 was used to cut out the cute image. Stampin' Up Pear Pizazz and Haiku dp was used with for the base. The sentiment is from a retired SU set called "Season of Thanks". Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

Wow, can you believe that it's Thursday and time for another Sassy Cheryl Show Me ?! The time sure seems to fly! LOL! Well, this is my workspace tonight. The stack of envelopes are Thanksgiving cards that are ready to be mailed to family and friends. I had address labels for 27 families! Whew! I have 18 ready to go so a few more to make and address. Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks and reflect on what we have to be thankful for this year. I am so thankful that my family is healthy and I have another niece on the way! Below is the finished card that you see started on my work desk. The is a digital images from a vintage book called Tic Tock Tales for Children from 1922. I picked this up from Cora over on the Digital Two for Tuesday blog . If you enjoy vintage images you should check her blog! She is amazing at restoring these images that she finds at flea markets, etc. The sentiment is from a Crafty Secrets clear stamp set. Thanks for stopping by to take a look! ...

Sassy Peggy gets to hostess this week over on the Sassy Cheryl Digi Challenge Blog and her challenge theme is 'embossing'... any type of embossing that you would like. I recently treated myself to a little shopping spree over at Cheryl's shop and bought this cute Sally image called "Autumn Bench Sitter" Below is a close up of the finished image. Isn't she adorable? I have been working on my Thanksgiving cards this week to mail out to family and friends. "Sally" sitting on the bench has been lovingly colored and assembled as a Thanksgiving card to my grandparents. I am so blessed to have both of my grandparents still in my life. They recently celebrated their 69th Wedding Anniversary! Below is a picture of them together at my brother's wedding last month. Aren't they the cutest couple?? Here is my completed card with "Sally". The Spellbinder leaves die cut worked perfectly for this week's challe...

It's another week of sharing with the Sassy Gals over on the Sassy Cheryl Blog . Each week we get to peek at what everyone else is up to and get a chance to win a FREE digi from Cheryl I remember when I was young and a box of Crayola Crayons was the best thing ever! Of course, I had the large 64 count box with the built in sharpener and SO MANY shades of colors. I colored on everything it seems. When coloring books weren't available, newspapers or scrap paper was fine with me. And remember the smell of a newly opened box of crayons? It brings back a lot of childhood memories. Why the childhood memories this week? Well, last night I had such a childhood coloring experience with one of Cheryl's new "Sally" images. I pulled out my Prismacolor pencils, KOH-I-Noor pencils and baby oil. I printed the image of Sally a little larger than I normally would and I felt like a kid again coloring in a coloring book! It was so much fun! The "Sally" image tha...

This week's DP2 challenge is " Give Thanks ". We could interpret this as a Thank You or Thanksgiving project. I chose the second option since I'm still creating my Thanksgiving cards for friends and family. I bought this digital image by Mo Manning a few months ago called "Imperfection". It's a perfect representation of myself since I am cooking challenged!! Okay, I CAN cook but only when I'm hungry and not for enjoyment. Sad but true! Anyway, I colored the digi with Copic markers and layered it on an Autumn paper stack from Recollections. I kept it pretty simple since it will be going in the mail. Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

Another week of sharing with the Sassy ladies over on Sassy Cheryl's blog. Each week we get to check out what others are doing AND get entered for a FREE Sassy Cheryl digital image. This week I tried something new. Sandy Redburn, owner of Crafty Secrets , challenged us to make a gift bag from an envelope. It's a great way to recycle and create a unique size of bag to fit your individual needs. Here's the short video from incrediblethings.com showing how to make these quick and easy bags. I've layered lace, a felt die cut tag, and images from the Crafty Secrets Girlfriend vintage scrap sheet onto my bag. I added a ribbon trim and some pins to finish off! Easy Peasy!! Hope you can be creative this week! Maybe you'll get a chance to recycle and envelope and make your own gift bag.

Sassy Pat has selected the theme of "Thanks" this week over on the Sassy Cheryl's Digi Stamps Challenge Blog . Below is a close up of one of Cheryl's newer images called "Polly and her Pumpkin". Cheryl has been a busy bee lately and the store is full of cute new images. You can check it out HERE . I colored this sweet digital image with Copic markers and cut it out. The dp layers are from a Cosmo Cricket mini deck called "Nutmeg". The panels have been machine stitched for a little extra texture and interest. I added baker's twine and a leaf button to the long panel and finally the sentiment is from Hero Arts. Thanksgiving is just around the corner and this will be going into my stash for mailing to friends and family later this month. Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

This month's Sparks Challenge was to create something inspired by the photo above. Cool Photo! I focused on the colors, woodgrain and texture of the photo. Below is what I came up with using Paper Smooches "Boob Tube" and "Sentiment Sampler". The quirky face was made with various small images included with the "Boob Tube" set. This was really fun! Thanks for stopping by to take a look! Be sure to check out all of the challenges and products on the Sparks Challenge blog .

This week Sassy Dawn asked us to use the inspiration photo above and a bit of pink. Below is what I came up with using Cheryl's "Sneaky Birthday Bear" image. Sorry, the photo makes the card base look reddish, but it's really a deep pink (SU Melon Mambo) with a layer of Crushed Curry. The sentiment came in a birthday greeting word art set from TLC . By sheer luck, I managed to layer them together in Microsoft Word. I made myself notes, but I'll probably never be able to do it again!! Thanks for stopping by to take a look! This is also for this month's Hope You Can Cling To Challenge over on Splitcoast Stampers. All of the cards we make this month are being sent to the MD Anderson cancer center in Houston, Texas for patients and their visitors.

It's another week of sharing with all of the gals over on the Sassy Cheryl Blog! It's fun AND it's easy to play along. Check out the details HERE and you might win a free Sassy Cheryl digital image. This is my messy desk tonight! I have several challenges that I am trying to get caught up on tonight. Of course, you can see that I've begun coloring my image for this week's Sassy Cheryl challenge. Hope you all are having a productive and creative week! Thanks for stopping by!

This is my submission for this week's Mo's Digital Challenge for a Celebration. I've used Mo's "Bethy's Wagon" image for my wedding card.

Welcome to my workspace this week! Each week, Cheryl asks us to share what project we're working on OR just what's going on. It's fun to see what other folks are up to. If you have time why don't you join in on the fun? You can find all of the details HERE. I have been working on a card drive for the past two weeks which is being sponsored by Splitcoast Stampers. The Hope You Can Cling To card drive is in conjunction with Breast Cancer awareness month and the MD Anderson cancer center is the recipient of all of the cards this month. They are being made available to breast cancer patients and visitors. So, the stack of cards you see on my desk has been packaged and will be my second mailing to MD Anderson. Whew!! It's for a great cause and I'm really enjoying the creative push that it's given me! Of course, you can also see that I treated myself to a little shopping spree over on the Sassy Cheryl digi website. I bought a couple of the new "Sal...

This week's Sassy Cheryl challenge is Think Pink with a Die Cut. I recently purchased this sweet digital image by Cheryl called "Share The Love". I think this little girl is so sweet hugging her teddy bear! I pulled out the October Afternoon "Ducks in a Row" paper stack to coordinate with my pink image. I decided to add the Stampin' Up! sentiment from "Warm Regards" since she seems to be deep in thought. I have used a couple of Spellbinder dies, some ribbon and machine stitching to complete this sweet card. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look! I so enjoy reading your comments!

I thought I would share what's on my desk with you all this week. I'm trying to get back into the creative swing of things after my short vacation. The completed card is for a StampTV challenge this week to use Fall colored leaves. I have started a couple of other challenge cards including Sassy Cheryl's (Pink & a die) and My Favorite Things. I also splurged recently on a trip to my LSS and bought some of the Tim Holtz distress inks. I've been seeing so many beautifully colored images with the distress inks lately. I decided to take the plunge and give it a try! (More to come on that project!) That's about it for me today! Hope you get a chance to play along with all of us nosy ladies on the Sassy Cheryl blog.

It's time again to share what's going on with the Sassy Cheryl ladies! I haven't had a chance to be creative this week as I'm visiting family. I thought I'd share a couple of photos from our visit. I got to go with my Mom & Dad on a fishing trip and caught a 12 inch crappie. Woo-Hoo! It was fun and the weather was beautiful! I've also gotten a chance to spend lots of time with my niece. She's 16 months old (going on 20). She just started walking and is a real talker! We've had lots of fun with her ... she parrots everything that we say. (Mom & Dad will have to be careful with that!) Thanks for stopping by! I hope you get a chance to do something creative this week!

This week Iulia has challenged us to focus on our Furry Friends over on Mo's Challenge Blog . I fell in love with this sweet image immediately and knew it would be perfect for this week's challenge. Since we have a black and brown lab, this sweet image by Mo was a must have! This image is called "Buds (girl)" and you can pick it up HERE in Mo's Shop. The image was colored with Prismacolor pencils and baby oil. Some Copic markers were also used. Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek!