[DYSU] Challenge #104 - Final Challenge: Turquoise

Hello DYSUers. I'm writing my greeting with a heavy heart, because this is the last time I get to make that little shout out. If you have been following us, you know this is our last challenge. I have had an amazing time here on the DYSU team and I have a few things I wanted to say "thank you" on this little blog-o:

• To my team mates (current & past members) - you have been super wonderful in every way: the inspirations that you deliver, the camaraderie, the new friendships, and the wonderful support from this group is one of a kind. I really will be staying in touch!
• To the many supporters & fans: you have made this challenge fun, kept returning every week for more, and given it your creative all. Thank you to you guys for also making this an place full of inspiration & beautiful creations
• To the amazing sponsors: without your generosity, we would not have been able to make all these great projects and been able to reward our fantastic players. I also had a chance to work with many of you, who have been absolutely fabulous.
• Last to Alison: the brave, creative woman who started this all and given me a chance of a lifetime when she picked me to be on the team. I wish you much luck, success and happiness with your stamp company TAWS and TAWS Challenge.

Before I start tearing up, I better get to my card for this last challenge. We like to go out on a bang, so I decided to make a card that celebrates the DYSU journey. This particular digi is actually from the talented Elizabeta Kushner. If she sounds familiar, it's because she makes her own Craotian Stamps, designs for The Craft Meow, and runs an Etsy store for non-profit. If you are interested in reading more about Elizabeta's non-profit initiate, please read here. I really learned a lot about Elizabeta's initiative and am really inspired by her.


Stamps: (Doodled Leaves) Elizabeta Kushner; (Say It Loud) Waltzingmouse Stamps
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Kraft, White; Stamper's Select Vellum) Papertrey Ink
Ink: (Versamark) Tsukineko
Embellishments: (Soft-core Color Pencils) Prismacolor; (Gelly Roll - White) Sakura; (Stamp 'n Stuff Embossing Powder - White) Stampendous!

First I printed off the design on kraft card stock and colored in all the leaves in an array of greens, blues, aquas and turquoise. Then ran a white gel pen over each contour. The whole coloring session was quite therapeutic, since I got to listen to Christmas music in the background (Pandora set to "Transiberian Orchestra" station).

The kraft panel is mounted on a bit of white card stock, and the vellum strip is heat embossed with a bold sentiment. I think the vellum gives it a nice way to re-introduce the white in levels of intensity (e.g. vellum for transparent white, followed by a heat embossed strong white). I like this look, since the details of the leaves (and the sweat & effort in the detailing) are not hidden behind a strip of solid card stock. But that's just my two cents ;)



Remember that is our last challenge, so link up and help us go out on a bang. Let's make this a celebration and come leave a sweet comment to our two special Guest Designers: Please welcome Jessi Fogan and Deborah Frings - two of our most faithful players since I have joined the team. Last, I'd like to invite you to hop on over to see the amazing creations by the rest of the DYSU team. It's your last time to leave the Design Team some love :)

This week's sponsor:

Rhoda Design Studio

* $15 gift certificate to spend on Cutting Files or Digis

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

* $10 Gift Certificate

The Stamping Boutique

* Winner's Choice of 3 Digis

Elizabeta Kushner 

* Winner's Choice of 3 Digis

[Little Tangles] Challenge #3 - Red, White & Aqua

Note: If you are looking for DYSU Challenge or Paperplay Challenge - please keep scrolling :)

Hi there! I'm so excited to share with you a fun card on our Little Tangles challenge blog. We're doing a color challenge, and it's one of my favorite all-time colors (in my opinion used all year around ;) But since we're going through the winter months, I thought a holiday card would be appropriate. Hope you like it!

This week I'm using Sweet Home - a very cute set! Who can say no to those candy canes and those gum drops? They are just so adorable...


Stamps: (Sweet Home) Neat & Tangled
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - White) Papertrey Ink
Ink: (Memento - Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko; (Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Sugar Spun) Ranger
Embellishments: (Soft-core Color Pencils) Prismacolor; (Inkessential - Glossy Accents) Ranger; (Mister Huey - Mint Julep; Hexagon Mask) Studio Calico

I decided to bust out my Studio Calico hexagon mask. I sprayed Mint Julep down, and decided to cut the panel out. Then stamped off three candy canes, colored them with red & pink pencils, and gave them some glossy accents treatments - because candy cane in real life is some, glossy, shiny, delicious candy. 

And as I found out today, a very American thing. I was wondering why I wasn't seeing any in Germany...



Easy, peasy CAS card ... :) Hope it brought some holiday cheer. And we hope that you will play along.

So what are you waiting? :) A free stamp set is at stake...

In the meantime, go hop on over to my other teammates creation. It will get anyone's mojo flowing for the Christmas holidays... ;)

A few helpful things to remember:

• Challenge ends Dec 30, 2012, 11:59p EST; Check back on Jan 1 for the winners
• Prize is ONE Neat & Tangled Stamp set of your choice to a random player
• Neat & Tangled stamps are not required on your entry, but we would love to see you use them. If you would like to use some Neat & Tangled products but haven't had a chance to buy any, we have a couple of freebies on the Little Tangles site. Enjoy!

[Paperplay Challenges] Week No. 51 & No. 52 - Out with the old, In with the new...

Note: If you are looking for DYSU Challenge - please keep scrolling :)

Hi there! At Paperplay, the theme is Out with the Old, and In with the New. 

We are sponsored by a lovely company, but unfortunately I left town before those stamps arrived and I ran out of time to make a card :(

But before you leave completely disappointed, did you know that Paperplay Challenges is having a DT call? This is a very fabulous, laid back group. And very international. Come try out! We would love to have you...

That's all I have for you...Now head over to see how the rest of the PPC girls girls are welcoming in the season...They will absolutely knock your stockings off...! Hope you will be playing along with us this week...!

Our sponsor this week:

• Kraftin Kimmie Stamps

[DYSU] Challenge #103 - Anything Goes

Hello DYSUers. Wow - can you believe we are at Challenge #103? This is our second to last challenge. And this one should be fun since it's an Anything Goes challenge. It's that last minute dash towards Christmas, and we wanted you guys to be able to link up and enjoy the creations of each other, but we didn't want to burden anyone with a specific project....so go ahead, link up anything you want. Your christmas gift wrapping, your hand-made ornaments, your knitted projects...it's really anything goes. And that's how we roll ;)

This week I am showcasing a Robyn's Fetish, who had a cute pair of mitten. Perfect for the cold winter weather here. When I left the US it was 12°C and in Germany when we got off the plane, it was a whopping 0°C. Glad that I packed all my warm items: scarf, cowl, winter coat, hat, ear muffs, and gloves. Yep - that's me, a winter whim.


Stamps: (My Mittens) Robyn's Fetish
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Rustic Cream) Papertrey Ink; (Basic Card Stock - Cream) Recollections 
Ink: N/A
Embellishments: (Soft-core Color Pencils) Prismacolor; (All Is Bright Decorative Tape) My Mind's Eye; (Baker's Twine - Pure Poppy) Papertrey Ink; (Essential Glitters - Garnet) Martha Stewart; (Point 88) Stabilo

I colored and fuzzy cut these mittens out, gave them some glitter treatment, and popped them on some dimensional adhesive. I took a little bit of creative license and added the baker's twine since cutting out a doodled line is a little hard ;) But I thought it was a nice little embellishment and fit to the fun aqua, red, and cream color combo. The rest is grounded on some fun washi tape. 

And since we're all short on time, a fun tip is to use washi tape that has a sentiment already printed on it ;) Yep, yours truly, is always looking for short-cuts, especially during the (crazy) month of December.



Remember that we will be closing this little challenge group, but we have still a few more challenges lined up, great sponsors that have been generous up to the last bit, and we want to go out with a bang. So let's see those creations coming!

I'd like to invite you to hop on over to see the amazing creations by the rest of the DYSU team. Please leave them a loving comment, because they do appreciate some blog love :)

This week's sponsor:

Robyn's Fetish

* Winner’s Choice of  5 digital stamps

My Heart Pieces

* Winner's Choice of 3 Digis

Gecko Galz

* Winner's choice of 1 of Digital Stamp Sets

[DYSU] Challenge #102 - Christmas

Good morning! Wow - it is already December 13th! I can't believe it, less than a week and I will be on a plane. I'm not ready for this... i'm still trying to scour all the addresses together. A good deal of people I will see in person, for which I am so looking forward to! A bunch of others, I will be sending Christmas cards to that are perhaps late... but it will get done! (or so i hope...)

Tomorrow night we're hosting our Glühwein (mulled spice wine) and Cookies evening. I'm trying to make this a tradition to ring in the Christmas cheer among close friends and family. Florian and I made a bunch of Linzer Cookies this year, and I went to a cookie swap this past weekend. What a fun event. So isn't it appropriate that we're celebrating Christmas Time here are DYSU? So bring our your best Christmas spirits...

This week I am showcasing The Paper Shelter. What I dig the most about these images is that they come pre-colored. Great for when time is short.


Stamps: (Christmas Gift) The Paper Shelter; (Say It Loud - Holiday) Waltzingmouse Stamps
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Pure Poppy) Papertrey Ink; (Botanical Christmas & Winter Fairy Tale) Webster's Pages; (Dots & Stripes) Echo Park
Ink: (Versamark) Tsukineko
Embellishments: (Nestabilities - Labels Eighteen) Spellbinders; (Corrugated Cardstock) Recycled Stash; (Stamp 'n Stuff Embossing Powder - White Opaque) Stampendous!

This card aside from the fussy cutting went really fast. I really like how the text background was just the right shade of red - Not too bright and saturated, yet not too dull. This is an upclose look of the wonderful image...



Remember that we will be closing this little challenge group, but we have still a few more challenges lined up, great sponsors that have been generous up to the last bit, and we want to go out with a bang. So let's see those creations coming!

I'd like to invite you to hop on over to see the amazing creations by the rest of the DYSU team. Please leave them a loving comment, because they do appreciate some blog love :)

This week's sponsor:

Stamp & Create

Digi Darla

* Winner’s Choice of 5 Digis

The Paper Shelter

* $20 Gift Certificate

[Little Tangles] Challenge #2 - Holiday

Note: If you are looking for DYSU Challenge or Paperplay Challenge - please keep scrolling :)

Hi there! Third post of today. Are you sick of me yet? ;) Well our first challenge went off without a hitch, and we had a bunch of enthusiastic new players! I'm so glad to see we have a few friends for our Little Tangles challenge blog. 

This week's theme is to make a Holiday card. As you know there are a ton of fun stamps in the store to make Holiday cards! They are also fabulous stocking stuffers, like this little "Do Not Open" one...


Stamps: (Little Tangles, Do Not Open) Neat & Tangled
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Kraft) Papertrey Ink
Ink: (Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Vintage Photo) Ranger; (Versamark) Tsukineko
Embellishments: (Soft-core Color Pencils) Prismacolor; (Stamp 'n Stuff Embossing Powder - Opaque White) Stampendous!

I can't get enough of the Little Tangles set. You'll see me whipping this out for any old season...As we were putting up all these fun colors of Christmas lights, they reminded me of these fun tangles. So I reworked them into a fun bunch of curtain of various lengths. Here an up close picture of the fun little stamp that reads "Do No Open until December 25th." I think I need a personally commissioned one for the 24th, because our tradition is to open our gifts on the night of Christmas Eve. Heh...



Easy, peasy card, that gave me lots to color... :) Hope you like it. And we hope that you will play along.

So what are you waiting? :) A free stamp set is at stake...

In the meantime, go hop on over to my other teammates creation. It will get anyone's mojo flowing for the Christmas holidays... ;)

A few helpful things to remember:

• Challenge ends Dec 16, 2012, 11:59p EST
• Prize is ONE Neat & Tangled Stamp set of your choice to a random player
• Neat & Tangled stamps are not required on your entry, but we would love to see you use them. If you would like to use some Neat & Tangled products but haven't had a chance to buy any, we have a couple of freebies on the Little Tangles site. Enjoy!

[Paperplay Challenges] Week No. 49 - Christmas is Coming

Note: If you are looking for DYSU Challenge - please keep scrolling :)

Hi there! At Paperplay, the theme says it all Christmas Is Coming. Oh yes, it is! With Week 49, it's all just too real. I haven't started my christmas mailing, not everyone on my list for presents have been accounted for, and we're dashing off extremely early for Germany and the UK this year. 

Thank goodness I don't have a picture of my face panicking. Let's instead share some things we did get done. We have bought our christmas tree, and put it up. And here is a picture of our first wreath that we made ourselves. I'm not sure if you guys have this tradition, but in Germany we celebrate advents. And every Sunday starting with the first on in December, we light a new candle. Since we haven't hit the second Sunday yet, the first one keeps going...



See that awesome ribbon? All those bow-tying for cards has finally paid off...All accessories on the wreath we found at Michael's. I only had a color scheme in mind. Everything just kind of fell into the basket...Don't you love those kinds of shopping trips?

Anyways, for this challenge I decided to use my Neat & Tangled Stamps. I really love this Naughty, Nice, Undecided checklist...


Stamps: (Santa's Notes) Neat & Tangled Stamps
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Vintage Cream) Papertrey Ink; (Snow Day Collection) Crate Paper
Ink: (Jenni Bowlin - No. 11 Brown Sugar, No. 3 Chili Powder) Ranger
Embellishments: (Nestabilities Labels Eighteen) Spellbinders; (Point 88) Stabilo

No coloring...just lots of stamping and cutting of paper. The tree is actually from a pattern paper. I actually cut up good 6x6 pattern paper to get to this tree. Still have to shake off that guilty feeling for cutting into it. Does anyone else suffer from this? i know...#notreallycraftingproblems ;)

The best of this stamp set, is this cute little "stamp of approval" stamp. Signed with the intials "NP" for North Pole...no, it doesn't stand for Non-polynomial, such as NP-complete, NP-incomplete. Move on, you nerd! ;)



That's all I have for you...Now head over to see how the rest of the PPC girls girls are welcoming in the season...They will absolutely knock your stockings off...! Hope you will be playing along with us this week...!

Our sponsor this week:

• Simon Says Stamps

[DYSU] Challenge #101 - Silver & Gold

Good morning, DYSU-ers! It's December, and that's when everything hits a little bit of overdrive. But I don't mind, because it's a fun time of year to put forth a little bit of extra to let those people around you know, they are special.

Florian came back last weekend from his business trip, and brought home a huge advents calendar. And since this household loves, loves, loves good chocolate, this is the one he brought back...

Source: amazon.de via Ren-Yi on Pinterest

Yep, yep, that's how we roll... and gain a few extra pounds here or there. My doctor is going to give me that good, old talk again ... ;)

So while I go mull over the conundrum of how not to gain weight during the holidays and staring at this calendar full of goodies, I'll let you get to the challenge. This week's theme is Gold & Silver.

This week I got to play with a Bugaboo digi, and here is what I whipped up...


Stamps: (Winter Sock Monkey - Ski2) Bugaboo Digi Stamps
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Kraft; Stamper's Select Vellum) Papertrey Ink; (Basic Card Stock - White) Recollections
Ink: (Versamark) Tsukineko
Embellishments: (Soft-core Color Pencils) Prismacolor; (Versapen) Tsukineko; (Stickles - Silver; Superfine Embossing Powder - Silver; Embossing Powder - Gold; Perfect Pearls - Perfect Pearl) Ranger; (Stamp 'n Stuff Embossing Powder - White Opaque) Stampendous!

I embossed the stripes on the monkey, the hat, and the skis with some embossing powder. I really love how I can emboss any area I want using the Versapen. It's really my favorite magic tool right now... The scarf has some silver Stickles, and some snow flakes lightly dusted with some Perfect Pearls. All around Ranger goodness! Here is a brighter picture to show off these little snowflakes.



I created a fun little hill with dimension using vellum. I like how the first layer is just a little opaque, and adding the second layer I get a nice denser opaque layer. The perfect place to put a fun white embossed sentiment. I have no idea why I was scared of heat embossing on vellum. I always had the fear of the vellum browning, curling or behaving unpredictably. But instead it was very obedient - nothing to fear.

Remember that we will be closing this little challenge group, but we have still a few more challenges lined up, great sponsors that have been generous up to the last bit, and we want to go out with a bang. So let's see those creations coming!

I'd like to invite you to hop on over to see the amazing creations by the rest of the DYSU team. Please leave them a loving comment, because they do appreciate some blog love :)

This week's sponsor:

Rhoda Design Studio

* $15 gift certificate to spend on Cutting Files or Digis

Bugaboo Stamps

* Winner's Choice of 7 Images

Stampendous!

* Frantage Aged Gold Embossing Enamel and Frantage Aged Silver Embossing Enamel