Color + 1 Week at Dynamic Duos

This is my second post of the day.

It's a short scroll down for Less Is More!!

When there is a fifth weekend of the month, Dynamic Duos has a really fun challenge - we pick one color and YOU get to pick the second color!  For this month, our pick is Crumb Cake.  ANYTHING goes with Crumb Cake so I hope you all play along.

I have paired it with the new Stampin' Up color Primrose Petals for this very clean and simple card...



I am not the most trendy person...but I am loving the hexagon trend!
The other design team members, as usual, have put together some amazing cards for your viewing pleasure.  You will see Crumb Cake paired with greens, and blues, and oranges, and pinks, and even black.

The Dynamic Duos Challenge Blog

Allisa Chilton

Anne Marie Hile

Anika Lerche

Bronwyn Eastley

Kim Singdahlsen

Lesley Croghan

Lisa Elton

Melissa Chipperfield

Paige Grabau

Sue Joyce

Check them out for inspiration and then play along.  REMEMBER: Just TWO colors plus neutrals.  We have this handy-dandy little graphic to "define" the neutrals!

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Happy Hexagons (a $5 set!) and Quilter's Sampler
• Paper: white
• Ink: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake and Primrose Petals
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Neutral buttons, Cuttlebug Pinking Stitch embossing folder (new release)

Less Is More: Never Give Up!

I have reached a high point in my crafting career!

Chrissie and Mandi from Less Is More asked me to be a guest designer!!

When they asked me a few weeks ago, I wanted so badly to tell someone.  Since it was a secret, I could only tell my husband and two boys...they looked up from their manly pursuits, said "good job" and went on with their lives.  Not quite the reaction I had hoped for.  How could I explain to them how wonderful Less Is More is??

I missed the first two weeks of LIM challenges - but I was there on week three!!  It was fairly early in the life of my blog.  I would like to say that we "grew up together" - but the reality is that they came out with a bang.  From the first, they were getting hundreds of participants in their challenges.  Does everybody remember Week 33 - with 782 entrants??  It's all due to Chrissie and Mandi - they think of fun challenges, create fantastic inspiration cards and motivate us each week with their comments!  Thank you so much!

This week's challenge is to be inspired by their logo.

Happily, the light bulb came on right away - this was literally a five minute card!  The die cut floral was inspired by the flourished frame (with a hint of flower and leaves).  Then the main sentiment box edged in brown, followed by a small tan item to the right.  I had originally envisioned very lightly embossed music (because that is my favorite part of the logo), but just didn't have the right tools to do it!



The recipe is simple...a lovely Memory Box die (Honeyblossom), a graphic butterfly (Stampin' Up Papillon Potpourri and punch) and a bold sentiment (Verve Believe).
Thank you again to Chrissie and Mandi for featuring my card and for bringing us their challenges each week!

Bless Your Heart with scraps

I haven't done much cardmaking this week as my entire family has been volunteering at Vacation Bible School.  (I do have two posts ready to go for tomorrow about which I am VERY excited!)

Today, I decided that I was crafting NO MATTER WHAT!  I saw the Friday Free For All at Splitcoaststampers - "what a load of scraps"!  And I remembered a sketch that I had wanted to use from cardabilities - the challenge closed, but it's still a great sketch...

I used scraps of Stampin' Up So Saffron, Pool Party, Tangerine Tango and Basic Gray.  The stamp is from Sweet 'n Sassy's Blessings and Thanks set and the heart is from their Heart Die set.

On an entirely different note...a Colorado fire update...(see my posts from the last few days for details)

The positive news is that the weather is cooperating and the town of Colorado Springs is not in any imminent danger.  However, there are small towns on the other side of this fire.  And you should also know that large forest fires like this can rage on for weeks/months.  So, if the weather changes...who knows what can happen?  (The biggest current fire in our state, at 90,000 acres, is not going to be officially out until it snows - and we've just started summer.)

On the negative side, 346 homes destroyed (on top of 200 destroyed in the other big fire), 1 death and 1 missing.  Here's one neighborhood. You probably have to click to make it big to see the true horror.  Those are piles of ashes that you are seeing...

Other bad news - two new fires.  One is on the western side of the state, near the town of Grand Junction.  There's a major oil field in its path.

Forest fires aren't uncommon in Colorado.  After all, fire is what nature does to renew a forest.  But typically we see fires in August, when we have had a whole summer to heat up and dry out.  Seeing all of this in June is deeply alarming.  

People's stories are heart-breaking.  They just interviewed one lady who, when evacuated, only took the ashes of her deceased daughter and son-in-law.  Her house has burned - and she is raising her five grandchildren.  How does a person continue to survive such tragedy?  Another elderly gentlemen was already sifting the ashes of his home (strange concept - there are actually sifting tools for this) and was happy to simply find the melted metal of his wedding ring.

In the midst of all of this - there are so many stories full of grace and giving...and I will be sharing some of these stories in the next week.

Colorado Fire Update

The winds are starting to howl again for another long night of fires (see yesterday's post for details.)  Here are a few unimaginable photos from yesterday in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

A thousand firefighters are fighting this fire.  And this is only one of 10 in our state.

The news station are providing regularly updated lists of all the fires so we can keep track...in Boulder, Colorado there are 1500 people ready to evacuate.  Another huge fire is at 90,000 acres, 257 homes gone and 1 death - and it is only 65% contained - but luckily it is not in a heavily populated area as above.

Keep praying...

Edited: Not long after I posted, the winds calmed down and changed directions, so for tonight, at least, it's staying away from the city.  This is good news for tonight, but understand that in the best case scenario, this won't be out for a month, so it will be a daily waiting game for all of the home owners.

Colorado Springs in better days...

Prayers for Colorado

This is not a card-related post, but I need to ask for all of your thoughts and prayers for the state of Colorado.  There isn't a day that goes by during which there isn't news of a new fire.  We currenly have 10 fires going on.  One has been burning for 2-3 weeks, it has burned almost 90,000 acres and is the most destructive fire in Colorado's history with around 200 homes burned.

Our church youth camp is near that fire.  In fact, the middle schoolers from our church were there and had to be evacuated.  Not in danger mode - but the firefighters needed the road into the camp as an emergency road.  Our campers were given less than an hour to pack and go.  The wonderful camp counselors made sure the campers were ready to go - but they, themselves, had to leave with nothing.  They still haven't been allowed to go back.

The fire that is prompting my plea is approaching a major city in Colorado - Colorado Springs with about a half million people.  The news is broadcasting 24/7 so we are watching it live as it gets nearer and nearer. They just showed a scene of a neighborhood on fire - you can literally see a wall of fire with faint outlines of homes in the middle of it all.  What we are seeing is almost unimaginable - but people are living it.  Right now, 32,000 people have been evacuated.  The major highway through the state is shut down in the town of Colorado Springs to give these people a way to get out.

I'm not near any of these fires - Colorado Springs is about 60 miles to the south of me.  I sit on a hill to the east of the Denver metro area and these particular fires are to the west.  I can see the smoke - I can regularly smell the smoke - my eyes are constantly burning.  I cannot imagine living closer. It's sad that I have learned how to "read" what I am seeing - white smoke is grass, small puffs of black smoke are trees, major boiling clouds of black are structures.

I pray for those living in the area.  I pray for those who have lost homes.  I pray for those sitting in evacuation centers wondering whether they still have homes.  I pray for the firefighters.  They are fighting these fires in the midst of the longest streak of temperatures over 100 degrees in Colorado history.  It must be close to hell.

Vacation Bible School

Just wanted to tell you that it's gong to be quiet on my blog during the week (but fun stuff on Saturday!!) and I won't be doing much to any commenting on your blogs.

My entire family is involved in Vacation Bible School at church.  My husband and youngest are the science guys.  I'm the photographer and A/V gal.  And my teen is controlling a group of elementary kids plus playing the part of Flash SkyRunner in the daily skits...

I'm quite proud of my teenager who is willing to look totally foolish!!

See you soon!

Sweet Baby

I have a third card with the same sketch from the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge...I blame it on the flag/pennant dies that I just got and the fact that this sketch uses TWO of them.  I really hadn't intended to make a third card, but yesterday I was adding cards to our church card sales racks and realized we needed baby cards.  Plus...CAS-ual Fridays has a color challenge - to use pink on a CAS card.  What was I to do but make a baby card...

This time I flipped the sketch.  I like it the way it is, but I didn't want that giraffe staring off of the page.

I also have a huge thank you and shout out to Doris at The Stamping Tower.  The cards that I was putting in the church card racks yesterday - they arrived in the mail this week from Doris!!!  She sent me her extra cards!!  I love the world of cardmaking.  Doris is in New Jersey, I'm in Colorado.  We've never met, but we have a bond.  Thank you so much, Doris, you made my day, week, month!!

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Sweet Baby, Stampin' Up Petite Pairs
• Ink: Stampin' Up Blushing Bride, Going Gray
• Paper: white
• Accessories: Stampin' Up heart border embossing folder, Spellbinders rectangle die, American Crafts ribbon, Papertrey Sweet Baby dies and pink button

Less Is More: Paper Piecing

This is my second post today.  It's just a short scroll

down for Dynamic Duos.  (But keep your eyes closed if you are hungry!)

I had no intentions of posting this morning.  I already had a post pre-scheduled and it's up - so my morning was going to be devoted to cleaning.  But a number of completely random circumstances came together and caused me to make a card.

Here's the card...it's for the Less is More challenge which for this week is paper piecing...



You might be wondering - why a hamburger?  Until last night, it would have been one of my bottom choices of an image for a card.  Then my family had an amazingly fun and utterly decadent dining experience. Nothing fancy - my youngest picked it as a special treat because we hadn't seen him two weeks due to lacrosse and church camps.  After a huge meal, we have decided that it's going to be our celebration place - birthdays, etc. - so I am going to tuck this card away until the next birthday.  Let me show you why.  If you are hungry, you are going to want to look away.  If you live in the Colordo area (and particularly if you have hungry teen boys), put this on your MUST-DO list! It's Crave Real Burgers in Castle Rock and Colorado Springs.

The Luther:  bacon, cheddar, egg and onion with 2 glazed donuts as the bun

My 6'4", 200 pound, 16-year old TRYING to eat The Luther.

My husband staring in awe at The Slopper:
a green chili smothered cheeseburger
OVER a grilled cheese sandwich, topped with
onion, poblanos, pico, sour cream,
avocado, lettuce and tomato.

Erik doing battle with New Mexico Relleno:
fried queso fresco, roasted poblano chiles, avocado and green chile

My children chose this one for me.  It's the Drunken Onion.
(Wonder what they meant by that?)  It's cabernet caramelized onions,
Gruyere, Swiss, and French onion soup for dipping.

I don't even have pictures of the most amazing things.  We started with green chili fries.  My husband - who despises the expense of eating out and rarely finds anything positive to say, commented that the green chili could make cardboard taste good!  And the strangest thing we had was the Strawbanero shake - a strawberry shake with Habanero Caramel.  Strange but oddly wonderful!!

Hmmm...it is lunchtime yet....because I brought home leftovers of my burger!

• Stamps: picnic digi set at the Graphics Shoppe (never shopped there before, I just needed a burger image), Stampin' Up Crazy for Cupcakes (the candle), Close To My Heart Card Chatter-Birthday.
• Paper: Stampin' Up dsp in Pacific, Mustard, Poppy, Pumpkin, Expresso and Celery
• Ink: black, copics for border

Monochromatic Week at Dynamic Duos

It's the fourth week of the month which makes it monochromatic week at Dynamic Duos.  This month, we are in the green family - with the combination of River Rock and Always Artichoke.  I thought this soft color scheme would work well for a sympathy card...



Here's the detail of the dimension that gets lost in the above photo...

Be sure to check out all the other design team creations (as I have been watching them added during the week, I already have a die and a stamp set that I am ordering to CASE these cards!!)  Then pull out your River Rock and Artichoke, create a card and link it up!

To be considered for the Diva Dynamo and the Dynamic Darlings remember that (1) only neutrals such as black, white, vanilla, skin and kraft can be added and (2) don't link to other color challenges.  

Here's the rest of the team!  Have fun!

The Dynamic Duos Challenge Blog

Allisa Chilton

Anne Marie Hile

Anika Lerche

Bronwyn Eastley

Kim Singdahlsen

Lesley Croghan

Lisa Elton

Melissa Chipperfield

Paige Grabau

Sue Joyce

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Papillon Potpourri, Petite Pairs
• Paper: Stampin' Up River Rock, Always Artichoke, Paisley Petals dsp
• Ink: Stampin' Up River Rock, Always Artichoke
• Accessories: Memory Box Meadow Leaf die, My Favorite Things Fishtail Flag dies, Papertrey Ink Woodgrain Impression Plate, Stampin' Up Elegant Butterfly punch and Sweet Buttons sizzlit, miscellaneous crocheted ribbon, twill and crochet thread
• Challenges: Dynamic Duos and the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge

Hey Buddy!

I have three fun things today!

First...a fun card for a fun challenge on an amazingly creative blog.  Susan, at Rainy Day Creations, has started putting up sketch challenges.  She has created an amazing card for the challenge - and the prize is the stamp on her card (plus another!).  Her card is sweet and gentle but I went in a totally different direction...

The second fun thing is fun for you and me...a stamp set on sale at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps.  It's fun for you because...it's on sale!  It's fun for me because I was thrilled to see MY card on the ad.  (Details on the card are here.)

The third fun thing is actually just fun for me...I won a free stamp set from The Alley Way Stamps (TAWS) for my ladybug card from two days ago!  I didn't actually win the main prize - check out the TAWS link to see the amazing winning creation.  Of course, I had to get the stamp set that got me all excited for this company.  Check out my ladybug card link to see what inspired me.

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Fly Away
• Paper: Stampin' Up Pacific Point, Poppy Parade, DCWV Grade School dp
• Ink: Memento black, copics, Stampin' Up Pacific Point
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Fly Away die, Fiskars cloud punches, Cuttlebug dot embossing, Ranger Glossy Accents (the windows), Making Memories Giggle Kids Puffy Stickers

Ladybug Parade with TAWS

This is my second post today!

One of my favorite, fun stampers -  Snappy Stampin' with Arielle - designs for The Alley Way Stamps (TAWS).  Check out this charmer and then get a chuckle from this card.  I commented on the eye glass card by saying that she finally wore me down and I was ready to get some TAWS stamps for myself!!  She emailed right back saying that I should check out their current challenge.  It requires TAWS stamps - but they have FREE digis!!  I was all over that!!



There are three digis - the ladybug, the cupcake and the sentiment.  I copied the ladybug across the card and then got the wild idea to add a baby bug - oooh, so sweet!!  The challenge was an inspiration piece...

I'm looking at my picture and seeing some sloppy coloring.  You'll have to excuse me but I was in a mad rush to get ready for this wild group...

We fed them...they did a quick Bible study, then it was out to do some football.  I had five pounds of shredded beef that had slow cooked with chili sauce and dill pickles (it's actually quite good) - FIVE pounds - and they loaded their sandwiches so full, there was no meat leftover for seconds!  Now they have headed to a swimming pool and I'm quickly posting before attacking the mountains of dirty dishes!!

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps free digital stamps
• Paper: white
• Ink: Memento black and copics
• Accessories: Misc twine, a touch of glitter glue on the candle, Cuttlebug border folder (if you haven't seen Cuttlebug's newest release they have regular folders paired with coordinating borders - all really nice!)

Happy Day with the Sweetest Sketch

I love this week's sketch from the sweetest thing probably because it has little flags and I have finally invested in a variety of flag dies.  (I probably jumped on board this trend about the time that it will be ending!!  But it does really add a festive look!)

The various items on this card come from a real mish-mash of products.  The combination of colors is WAY out of my comfort zone - it comes from a pad of paper I picked up from Hobby Lobby at 50% off strictly to challenge myself - and I LOVE it!  There are also three stamp companies represented and two die companies!  Even with all of that, this card came together so easily. I love crafting days like this!!

• Stamps: Doodlebug/Hampton Arts cake holder (I can't find a name on the set), Studio G (Michaels $1 stamps) cupcake and Stampin' Up Friendly Phases.  (The Doodlebug set also includes a really cute cupcake, but it is a solid image and I wanted to add more color.)
• Paper: It's the Little Things pad by Fancy Pants, Stampin' Up Tangerine Tango, Basic Black, Orchid Opulence (a blast from the past!) and Pool Party
• Ink: Memento black and copics
• Accessories: The Crafts Meow Easy Rosette die, Spellbinders Pennants (flag die), Doodlebug black gems

Treasure Life

There's a big celebration going on over at The Paper Players - it's their 100th challenge!  Their challenge to us is to use our favorite of their past challenges.  I couldn't possibly pick a favorite challenge so I went for a challenge that I had wanted to play and didn't find the time.  It's a color challenge using a wonderful soft and gentle color scheme.

I had the card stamped yesterday morning - with the sentiment on one side and the flowers on the other - but something wasn't quite right - they seemed too separate.  This morning, it hit me.  I also had my folder of vellum on my desk to play along with the CAS-ual Fridays challenge.  I thought that a piece of vellum in the corner would give it a misty look - as if the flowers were rising out of it...this would go along with the sentiment of hope. And if the vellum went over to the sentiment side, they would be more connected.  (OK - maybe I'm overthinking it - but thanks to CAS-ual Fridays for giving me my inspiration!)

• Stamps: Close To My Heart Treasure Life
• Ink: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Wisteria Wonder, Pear Pizzazz (the pear does get a little lost under the vellum)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Wisteria Wonder, white, Making Memories vellum
• Accessories: misc twine, Recollections (Michaels brand) butterfly punch, Close To My Heart Bitty Sparkles

A Life Full of God's Blessings

Today's Clean & Simple challenge at Splitcoaststampers is an inspiration photo of a black and white swimsuit with white ruffles around the bust line.  Sometimes I really struggle with inspiration photos, but this card came together VERY quickly.  I used the photo quite literally by creating an edge of "ruffles".

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Wedding Cake
• Paper: black and white
• Ink: Memento black
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Scalloped Border and gems, Recollections (Michael's brand) butterfly punch

Something Shiny for Less Is More

I'm having a fabulous day with lots of cardmaking!

This is my third post - if you are here for Dynamic

Duos, it's just a couple of posts down!!

When I first got this set from Sweet 'n Sassy, I saw copper.  I have no idea why.  But it sure made it easy when today's challenge at Less Is More is Something Shiny!

Just copper and white.  I embossed onto vellum hoping to give it a misty look.  The white is embossed with a Papertrey Impression Plate to give it a little texture.

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Make a Wish and the sentiment is from Joyful Heart
• Paper: misc copper, white and vellum
• Ink: Versamark
• Accessories: Papertrey Canvas Impression Plate, Zing Copper Embossing Power, Stampin' Up copper cord (retired)

Merry Monday with Holiday Magic

This is my second post today, it's a short scroll

down if you are here for Dynamic Duos!

I have an amazing morning in front of me - Scott and Erik are in Utah at a lacrosse tournament and Andrew is spending the day doing intake at our local food bank as it is the biggest food drive weekend of the year.  I'm alone!!!  And I don't have any urgent or big projects that I have to do - so I am crafting!  Yeah!!!

For my first card of this morning, I decided to do something just for fun.  Yesterday, I got a fun new Christmas set.  (Hey, Allisa - my stamps got here...thanks for the catalogs!!).  So I decided to play the Merry Monday challenge...

This is a retired Close To My Heart set.  I saw this card by Allisa and then saw that she had a set for sale and I was all over that.  It's nice to play with Close To My Heart again.  My mom was a demo (check out this post about half way down for a remembrance of my mother) so I have TONS of older CTMH sets - but it's nice to play with newer stuff - I have an order coming too!

• Stamps: Close to My Heart Holiday Magic, Papertrey Trey Backgrounds: Text Style (just on the scallops)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake and Tempting Turquoise
• Ink: Versamark, Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Distress Inks in Broken China and Tumbled Glass
• Accessories: Zing white embossing powder, Papertrey Ink Classic Kraft ribbon and Rustic Jute button twine, miscellaneous "puff balls"

Dynamic Duos #7: Melon Mambo and Black

This week's Dynamic Duo is Black Tie: one color plus black and a dessert option.  For this month, the color is Melon Mambo and the dessert is ribbon!




The ribbon is laced through a scalloped circle with cut outs such as the Lacey Circle by Spellbinders or the Perfect Pennants Sizzix die by Stampin' Up.  After I laced, I taped the ribbon to the back.  The ribbon is tied separately and adhered.
The border is the Piestra Tile die by Memory Box.  Then I used strips of Melon Mambo to add the striped effect.
I hope you check out all the design team goodness and then play!  Then head back to the Dynamic Duos blog to link up your creation.  You have until next Thursday at noon PDT to link up.  Please be sure to stick with these TWO colors and any neutrals and don't link up to any other color challenges.  (That's the fine print!!)

The Dynamic Duos Challenge Blog

Allisa Chilton

Anne Marie Hile

Anika Lerche

Bronwyn Eastley

Kim Singdahlsen

Lesley Croghan

Lisa Elton

Melissa Chipperfield

Paige Grabau

Sue Joyce

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Itty Bitty Banners, Bright Blossoms
• Paper: Stampin' Up Melon Mambo, Basic Black, white
• Ink: Stampin' Up Melon Mambo, Basic Black
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Perfect Pennants die, Stampin' Up Bitty Banners Framelits, Stampin' Up black gingham ribbon, black pearls, misc gems colored with Copics
• Challenges: Freshly Made Sketches

Hump Day: Lots of Ribbons

It's my week to host the hump day challenge over in the Sweet 'n Sassy forum on Splitcoast.  After last week's challenge, which was lots of dies, I stayed on the same theme and this week's challenge is : Lots of Ribbon!  You must use 2 or more ribbons/twine in your card or other creations.

Here's my sample...



For my card,  I wanted to keep the full focus on that wonderful sentiment, but I still wanted the card to be special and cheerful...a perfect use for ribbons!  A few sparkly butterflies keep it sweet!

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Let Go, Let God and the butterflies are from Serene Silhouettes
• Paper: Stampin' Up Pretty in Pink, white
• Ink: Stampin' Up Daffodil and black
• Accessories: ribbon from an old ribbon card from Making Memories, misc charm

Vintage Postcard

I have wanted to use the Vintage Postcard set from Sweet'n Sassy Stamps, but I am SO not a vintage/collage expert.  To make it work, I had to find a couple of challenges that I thought would work - the color challenge at Splitcoaststampers and the sketch at iSpy Sketches...

I love the Bible verse intertwined into this set - such a perfect greeting!!

The Vintage Postcard set includes everything except the stamped flowers.  There are lots of little elements so it's easy to put together in a collage fashion!

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Vintage Postcard, Flowers in Bloom
• Paper: black, Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze, Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler, Lucky Limeade
• Ink: black, Stampin' Up Cherry Cobbler
• Accessories: Stampin' Up flower punch, bird punch (for leaves), circle punch