Polar Wishes

Today is going to be a long day, y'all.  Ryan wasn't feeling good after school yesterday and on into the night (nothing serious, just tummy trouble) and I didn't get much sleep last night.  I did send him to school this morning but we'll see if I get a call to come get him early.

In the meantime, I did make a card to share today:

So let's check out this week's Global Design Project challenge:

Which I paired with the Paper Players color challenge:

And this really was a challenge for me.  Do you ever have two colors that you just do NOT like together?  My mom hates navy blue and black together (my dad likes to put on a navy blue shirt and black shorts just to mess with her and she always comments) and I have a couple of combinations that I just don't like.  Brown and gray.  Hot pink and red.  Now, Flirty Flamingo and Real Red?  Okay, sometimes, but still not my favorite.  I just like more contrast between the colors so Melon Mambo + Real Red = NO for me.  But I tried!  The card base and the scarf stamped images are Melon Mambo, while the big Merry and smaller snowflakes are Real Red.

I think I need a nap.  Cheers, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beary Cute, More Wishes
Ink:  Melon Mabo, Tahitian Tide, Real Red, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  White Glitter Sequins, Dimensionals

Festive Bears (and Friends)

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!  I've got a house full of people all playing games : )  I've got a few minutes before I get started doing the last of the cooking for our Thanksgiving feast so I thought I'd sneak on the computer for a minute and post the other two cards I made when I was working on this week's SUO Challenge card.

I cut out a bunch of pieces from the edge of a piece of DSP, and I had the front part of a polar bear and part of another one's back, here's what I started with:

So I used the seal to cover up the join between the two pieces of the polar bear.  Waste not!

For this one, I had stamped the sentiment and die cut it for another project weeks ago and then decided not to use it, so when I had this last bit of DSP characters cut out I thought they'd work together well for a card.  Two quick cards done!

Okay, time for me to start on mashed potatoes and gravy.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beary Cute
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Real Red
Paper:  Real Red, Mossy meadow, Balmy Blue, Beary Christmas DSP, Beary Christmas Memories & More Cards
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, red rhinestones

SUO Challenges: Pick Your Favorite

Hey y'all, what's up?  Today is when Thanksgiving prep really goes into afterburner...got a lot to do today!  I already went to the store and I have a list of things I'll be making today, starting with my favorite sweet potato casserole.  Speaking of favorites, the SUO Challenges team wants to know what your favorite thing is in the holiday catalog!

There's lots of good stuff in there to choose from and I decided to cheat just a little bit by choosing the entire Beary Christmas suite collection : )  That counts as one thing, right?  Ha!  Here's my card:

I used the Beary Cute stamp set, Beary Christmas DSP, Beary Christmas Memories & More Card Pack, and the adhesive-backed glitter sequins which are all part of the suite.  What can I say, I love bears!  I cut out three cute polar bears from the Beary Christmas DSP, two parents and a super cute baby bear (he's up on Dimensionals because he's the most important, just ask my kid).  I actually made a couple of other cards the same day I made this one, which is most likely what I'll be sharing over the next couple of days since I'm going to be making All The Things for Thanksgiving.  And my hubs is coming in tomorrow!!  We're very excited about that.

Okay, I'm off to work on sweet potato casserole and praline pumpkin pie.  If you've got a minute in the next two weeks, make a quick card with your favorite mini catalog product and share at the SUO Challenges blog.  I love that everyone on the design team had a different favorite!  And if you're in America, I hope that you have a most excellent holiday week!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beary Cute
Ink:  Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Balmy Blue, Beary Christmas DSP, Beary Christmas Memories & More Card Pack
Accessories:  adhesive sequins, Dimensionals

SUO Challenges: Going In Circles

Hey hey hey, get ready for another challenge from SUO Challenges!  We have a brand new theme starting now....

We're going in circles this time around!  So you can use circle dies, circle punches, polka dot patterned paper, anything you've got that features circles as long as it's Stampin' Up! only.  I had so much fun with this, I made two cards!

I saw a card on page 57 of the annual catalog that inspired both of my cards for today.  For the first card, I wanted to feature some of the super cute forest friends on the Beary Christmas DSP.  I adhered a stripey paper to my card base, and then used the Stylish Shapes dies to cut three circles out of a panel of Balmy Blue cardstock (note to self:  find a way to use those three circles on another project!).  Then I fussy-cut three animals and a Christmas tree from another sheet of the Beary Christmas paper.  One simple stamped greeting and I have a cute Christmas card to send out!

I liked that one so much I had to make a Halloween version too:

For this one, I used the Deckled Circles dies and cut the Basic Black panel with a Deckled Rectangle die, and then stamped and die cut my three skelly pals, some spooky bats, and the sentiment.  Same basic idea for both cards, but they look pretty different, don't they?

And now it's your turn!  Find some circles and have fun making something, then share it on the SUO Challenges blog.  Cheers!

Supplies, Christmas card:
Stamps:  Beary Cute
Ink:  Misty Moonlight
Paper:  Balmy Blue, Beary Christmas DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies

Supplies, Halloween card:
Stamps:  Bag of Bones
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, Orchid Oasis, Versamark
Paper:  Thick Basic White, Basic Black, Orchid Oasis, Them Bones DSP
Accessories:  Deckled Rectangles dies, Deckled Circles dies, Bag of Bones dies, white EP, Dimensionals

A Pair of Bear Cards

Mornin' folks!  I have a pair of cards to share today and as advertised, there are BEARS in these woods!

The hubs and I are both Baylor Bears, so that might possibly influence me to buy alllll the bear things but why not when they're this cute!  I cut three bears out of the A Walk in the Forest DSP, stamped a tree from the coordinating Beary Cute stamp set, and then a sentiment from Easter Bunny to finish this card off.  I already know it's going to my fellow Baylor Bear, Missy : )

I had so much fun with that card, I decided to make a second one.  After all, there are TWO packs of DSP to coordinate with the bear stamps!

This time it's super cute polar bears!  And my friend Sarah loooooooves polar bears so I already know who gets this card, too!  This paper is called Beary Christmas but Sarah is Jewish, so I went with "warm wishes" for the sentiment instead of one of the Christmas ones.

Toldja I'd have to revisit the Paper Players theme challenge this week:

I could probably play along with this challenge for a solid month and never use the same stamp set twice.  Thanks to the Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch challenge for being the inspiration behind both my cards today:

Once I started playing around with cutting bits out of the patterned papers to use for the three rectangles in the sketch, both of my cards came together super fast.  Love it when that happens.  Every time we move, I feel like it takes some time to "break in" the new craft room space and kinda get comfortable in there, get my stamping groove back.  Especially when we move overseas since then I don't get to stamp for a couple of months while our stuff is shipped from one side of the globe to the other.  But now I'm getting my groove going and soon it'll be time to start a big surprise project...

Almost forgot the Cupcake Inspiration challenge!

This is the challenge that convinced me to pause Halloween cards and break out my new bear goodies : ) So thanks, Cupcake Inspiration team!

Cheers, y'all!  And sic 'em Bears! ; )

Supplies, all SU!, brown bear card:
Stamps:  Beary Cute, Easter Bunny
Ink:  Balmy Blue, Pretty Peacock, Garden Green
Paper:  Balmy Blue, Garden Green, Thick Basic White, A Walk in the Forest DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Glitter Sequins, Dimensionals

Supplies, all SU!, polar bear card:
Stamps:  Beary Cute
Ink:  Real Red, Old Olive, Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Balmy Blue, Misty Moonlight, Thick Basic White, Beary Christmas DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Glitter Sequins, Dimensionals