[DYSU] Challenge #89 - Use a Flag or Tab

Good morning, DYSU fans! Are you ready for another challenge? I'm still swamped at work and have not had much time to really get going on anything else. I hope you're enjoying the start of fall...I see the leaves falling already, when I commute to work and I'm looking forward to getting my first Pumpkin Spice Latte.

This week we have a fun little challenge: Use a Flag or Tab. It's a fun trend popping up everywhere...


Stamps: (Party Penguin) Meljen's Designs
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Fresh Linen) Papertrey Ink; (Basic Card Stock - White) Recollections; (Lost & Found - Breeze) My Mind's Eye
Ink: (Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Antique Linen) Ranger
Embellishments: (5/8" Saddle Stitch Ribbon - Hawaiian Shore, Aqua Mist) Papertrey Ink; (Lost & Found - Breeze); (Soft-core Color Pencils) Prismacolor; (Essential Glitters - Turqoise) Martha Stewart; (Stickles - Gold) Ranger

I had this beautiful paper from My Mind's Eye sitting around and I picked my color scheme from there. I thought a brown/tan penguin would be a fun little non-tradtional color, and went from there. The ribbons are some scrap that I had lying around, which I converted into tabs. And of course Party Penguin is carrying his own "Hooray" flag. Here an up-close picture of this happy little guy...



That's all I have for you! 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 :)

On a last note, if you're a regular reader, don't forget to answer the survey in the top right panel and if you want to play along with in the current open QuAC challenge feel free to :)

This week's sponsor:

Meljen's Designs

* Winner's Choice of 4 Images

My Heart Pieces

* Winner's Choice of 3 Digis

The Stamping Boutique 

* Winner's Choice of 3 Digis

[DYSU] Challenge #89 - Kraft & Twine

Good morning, DYSU fans! Are you ready for another challenge? This week snuck up on me so fast. At work we're all trying to complete our projects by the end of fiscal year (which is end of this month), so we're all ramping up (or down) depending how you look at it. So my posts are super short & sweet...

So, who loves kraft? If you answered yes, that you will want to enter this week's challenge: Kraft & Twine. Easy peasy - it's something that anyone needs to put a package together.


Stamps: (Little Heart Gingerbread) Meljen's Designs; (Offbeat Backgrounds, Candy Jar Christmas Fillers) Waltzingmouse Stamps
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Kraft) Papertrey Ink
Ink: (Perfect Pigment Match - Fresh Snow) Papertrey Ink
Embellishments: (Color Pencils) Prismacolor; (Liquid Pearl - Opal) Ranger; (Essential Glitter - Crystal Fine) Martha Stewart; (Indie Chic "Pictures" Tapes) My Mind's Eye; (Border Punch - Scalloped Sentiments) Fiskar; (Signo White Gel Pen) Uniball; (Pink Twine) gift from Danielle Walls

I love stamping white or embossing white on kraft. Absolutely love this combination! I started coloring this Gingerbread of a cutie pie from Meljen's Designs, outline the original black lines with white gel pen and white color pencils. I also used my liquid pearls to give him some beautiful icing decoration. The heart is actually a layer of liquid pearls and a nice generous dusting of glitter. It looks quite nice & shimmery in person, but I had a tough time capturing it on camera. Isn't he a happy little dude?



The rest is just a quick stamp of white chevron border on kraft to help anchor the gingerbread man, and a little bit of gray washi and cute pink twine (to match the cute gingerbread man's cheeks). I tried my hand at adding some pearls to the scalloped border. The white pigment ink was sponged around the border panel to give it some dimension and contrast from the main card stock. 

That's all I have for you! 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 :)

On a last note, if you're a regular reader, don't forget to answer the survey in the top right panel. The second QuAC poll is up :)

This week's sponsor:

Inspired Stamps

* $15 Store Credit

Meljen's Designs

* Winner's Choice of 4 Images

Hope Jacare

* Winner's Choice of 3 Images

[DYSU] Challenge #81 - Food

Good morning, everyone! So we brought our house guests to the airport yesterday and saying farewell was difficult. One of our house guests was a 11-year old girl who was literally attached to my hip, unless she was sleeping, or I was at work ;) We toured out guests around including an intense weekend in Washington, DC. We saw the monuments by day, had dinner and frozen yogurt in Georgetown. The guests were so pooped that they wanted to head back to the hotel. Florian and I went out again to see the monuments by night to test out his nifty new camera...I'll try to upload some pictures later!

We're bringing you a DYSU color challenge: Food. One of my favorite passions aside from crafting! I love to eat, I love to cook, I love to read about eating and cooking, I love to take pictures of food, as well as watch cooking shows (anyone else hooked on Master Chef?!) and read through articles about the supply chain and origin of food... So this challenge fit right into the center of all my hobbies!

I'm working with Meljen's Designs this week. A fun little movie popcorn image...


Stamps: (Movie Time Popcorn) Meljen's Designs
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Pure Poppy) Papertrey Ink; (Curtain Call) Graphic 45
Ink: N/A
Embellishments: (Burlap) Stash; (Soft-core Color Pencils) Prismacolor; (Mini Tickets - Kraft) Maya Road; (Red Twine) The Twinery; (Signo - White Gel) Uniball

I thought the movie image would work well with the Curtain Call pattern paper. I love the whole black and kraft theme, with a little red color for pop.



I love how these mini kraft tickets from Maya Road are the perfect embellishment. To add a little bit of whimsy I decided to outline the mini tickets and the card with white gel.


Hope you like it! Check out the other girls's creations and remember to leave them some love :)...And don't forget to enter our challenge!


Our sponsors this week:


Meljen's Designs
* Winner's Choice of 4 Images


Wonderstrange Arts
* 5 Digital Stamps (not from sets)


Rhoda Design Studio
*$15 Gift Certificate

[DYSU] Challenge #62 - Go Green

Hello everyone! It's been a crazy week in this household. Maybe this weekend when I have time to breathe and laugh about I can brief you on this :)

In the meantime, this week at DYSU we have a great spring challenge: Go Green. Bring on your St. Patty's Day pride, your creative recycling/up-cycling ideas, or just your love for the color green...

Here is a card using some fun Meljen's Designs...


Stamps: (Artist Mug) Meljen's Designs
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Kraft) Papertrey Ink; (Stella & Rose Hazel) My Minds Eye
Ink: -
Embellishments: (Soft-core color pencils) Prismacolor; (Reverse Black Stickers) Jenni Bowlin Studio; (Border Punch - Notebook Border) Fiskars; (Decorative Washi Tape Set #2: Floral) Hambly Screen Prints

I'm totally on an alpha-high. My crafty friend Elke has totally gotten me addicted to all kinds of alpha. (Oh she even openly admits it that she is responsible ;) I'm starting to find them super interesting because I am starting to like book binding, mini albums, and I am thinking ahead for my Project 30 Album...



Anyways, I am to catching up, so I'm leaving you in the hands of the very create DT. And I look forward to seeing your Green creations!

Our sponsors this week:

Winner's Choice of 4 Images

Winner's Choice of 10 Digis

Winner's Choice of 5 Digis

[DYSU] Challenge #53 - Let It Snow

Good morning DYSU fans! If you're new, let me tell you we have an exciting year ahead of us at DYSU, because I got to peek at the challenge list for 2012 and the sponsors. Oooo la la!  Now that the rush is over with Christmas and New Years and I am back from my travels, I can hit the reset button. Just kidding ;) I am full blast underway with my Project 30, and am already planning my Project 30 Kick-off Party for January 14. For those of you afar, I still invite you heartily to participate. If you haven't heard about it this, you can read all about it here.

In the meanwhile, you're dying to start the year off with some creativity right? This week we're al about Let it Snow. It's perfect, because the temperatures has been unbearably frigid in New Jersey. The kind that stings the face when there is a hint of a little wind. I keep asking myself "Where is the snow?"

Here's a card made with a Meljen's Design. One of my first projects for a DT that I had applied to, actually was with a Meljen's Designs. So I am quite familiar with Melissa's work and products. I love how easy they are to print off and use!


Stamps: (Cozy Star) Meljen's Designs; (Join Us) Waltzingmouse Stamps
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Spring Rain) Papertrey Ink; (Boxer) Basic Grey; (Red card stock) Scraps
Ink: (Versamark) Tsukineko; (Perfect Match Pigment Ink - Fresh Snow) Papertrey Ink
Embellishments: (Border Punch - Upper Crust) Fiskars; (Artists' Color Acrylic Series - Brilliant White) Utrecht; (Soft-core Color Pencils) Prismacolor; (Sharpie Pen - Fine Point) Sharpie; (Stella Rose Gertie Collection - "Little One" Label Stickers) My Mind's Eye; (Stickers - rund, schwarz, tr, gelb) Artoz

The card base has snowflakes stamped on with Versamark, then a thin layer of acrylic paint over it. I find that acrylic paint adds dimension without adding physical layers to the card. A neat trick that I am starting to grow more fond. The beautiful Cozy Star is colored with my good old Primacolors and traced over with a black Sharpie to make it look crisper.



I find it quite adorable like this. I tried to find a "Twinkle Twinkle" sentiment, but no luck. Instead I stumbled into this fun little Stella Rose label, which I thought fit the card's overall look. It's a fun, round yellow hue with a lovely cheery sentiment. And who doesn't like some bling, right?



Well, there you go. I hope you liked this little fella. Check out the rest of the DTs samples. They will knock your winter woolly socks right off! You have until next Wednesday to enter, and I hope a card by you :) In the meantime, happy new year and lots of creative mojo wishes to you ...

And our sponsors this week:

Meljen's Designs Winner Choice of 4 Images

Robyn's Fetish Winner's Choice of either 5 digital stamps or 4 digital stamps and 1 paper pack

The Crafter's Companion The Boxer and Envelobox Creator Bundle with Advanced Techniques DVD

Longing for Summer Fun...

It's time for a PaperPlay Challenge and this week's theme I'm super excited about this week's theme made my heart skip a beat: Celebrating Summer of course! Summer makes me long to dip my feet into the cool, cool water, or bury my fingers and toes into the sand. Summers also mean I can whip up a batch of home-made ice cream :)

This week we're sponsored by the talented Melissa Jenkins of Meljens Designs. Winner gets to choose *four* digital images, and if you haven't had a chance to spy at her blog, they are super cute! Whimsy & fun for any occasion.

My card spotlights "Cutie Crabbie" and I tried something out of my comfort zone - more layers and scrappy.


Stamps: (Cutie Crabbie) Meljen Designs
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - White) Papertrey Ink; (Basic Card Stock - White) Recollections; (Heat Wave) American Crafts
Embellishments: (Stickles - Diamond) Ranger; (Soft-core Color Pencils) Prismacolor

Does this card not make you smile? I knew right away when I saw this darling image that I would want to make a dent into my Heat Wave pattern paper that I picked up for a great price (80% off) from a TJ Maxx (I'm a paper addict and I can't resist a good bargain). One of the sheets was a collage of sentiments, so I went to town and cut out the ones I wanted to bring onto my card.



I outlined Mr. Crabbie with a brilliant red and colored him with some softer orange. I love how he just pops off the card - nice and cheery against the blue, green, sandy and darker shades of brown. I couldn't help but salvage the card after I fussy cut him out - added some Stickles to match the bling of the paper. 

So I hope you're inspired to come play along with us at PaperPlay challenges. Go check out the amazing creations from the DT and leave them some Summer Lovin' (two points to the person that gets that music song's reference).

I can't wait to get some kayak trips and hikes in. Are you excited about the summer? Do you have any plans that you can't wait for?

Come 'n Play, Pardner!

It's time for another fun round of PaperPlay Challenge and I'm super excited about this week's theme. It is near & dear to me, because it's one of the first stamping techniques I tried at a friend's house and immediately fell in love with this technique. Super easy, not messy, and a great effect - it's like magic! I speak of Embossing of course!

This week we're sponsored by the talented Melissa Jenkins of Meljens Designs. Winner gets to choose *four* digital images, and if you haven't had a chance to spy at her blog, they are super cute! Whimsy & fun for any occasion.

My card spotlights "Ride Em Cowgirl" which I was instantly drawn to by it's fun cheerful expression. This stamp immediately reminded me of Jessie from Toy Story 2. May Meljen's version is a distant cousin...


Stamps: (Ride Em Cowgirl) Meljen Designs; (Half-pint Heroes) Waltzingmouse Stamps
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Dark Chocolate) Papertrey Ink; (Basic Card Stock - Cream) Recollections; (Lemonade) Basic Grey
Ink: (Distress Ink - Antique Linen, Jenni Bowlin - No. 11 Brown Sugar) Ranger
Embellishments: (Stickles - Gold) Ranger; (Soft-core Color Pencils) Prismacolor; (Nestabilities - Label Two) Spellbinders; (Cuttlebug A2 Embossing Folders - D'Vine Swirls) Provocraft

This would make a fun invite, right? If I invited you with this card to spend an afternoon stamping & crafting with me, would you come? I promise not to make you wear a cowgal hat :)

Anyways, I wanted to repeat the swirly pattern outside the Label area and added my own "stitched" swirls and gold flecks on. A little pattern paper with a gingham pattern for good measure, and final embossing with my favorite (and first acquired) embossing folder. The sentiment was sort of a last minute addition and I thought that it looked best running along the right edge.



I must say that Digis are starting to grow on me. After landing my gig with PaperPlay challenges I am getting more exposure to various company sponsors that do offer up digis. So far none of the digis have really given me any grief (aside from my printer setting - Ah, my lil HP printer, how my love yet hate thee!), and the resolution and lines width are perfect!

Anyways, hope ya'll feeling a lil inspired and cheery to play along. How can you not, when looking at this darlin' lil cowgirl, right? See ya soon, Pardner!