Challenge # 249 When the Cat's Away the Mice Will Play

Happy Monday everyone!

Today we have a fun challenge for you....let loose your inner animal!  For this week's challenge we would like your project to have an animal theme...it could be a layout of your pet, or a zoo trip, maybe a card with an animal stamp or if you like mixed media maybe you have a stencil or some paper that has animal print....any way you can incorporate animal into your project will work...

To get you started this is what the DT has for you!

Tina

A fun day roadtrip my husband and I took to Ithaca, NY. We crammed as much as we could of the town in 5 hours. Definitely will be going back up in the spring to see more. It was really cool to see the birds at the waterfront.

Amy

Thought this would make the perfect "Late" Birthday card for someone.

Gail

A friend of mine loves owls so I made her this birthday card.

Julia

I'm still working on Christmas layouts, so what better animal than a reindeer?! This is the left page of a 2 page layout, if you would like to see the entire layout and the close ups please head over to my blog. I even added a bit of red bling to my reindeers nose to make him Rudolph.

Amanda

These eyes get me every time!

Khristina

This photo was just too cute not to scrap for this challenge. I have a process video up on my You Tube channel showing how it came together as well. You can find that video by clicking here. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Highlights #248 - Watercolors and hot embossing

Thanks so much to María Rodríguez and Jane Willis, who participated in this challenge. Both jobs are really pretty. Great creations. I love them so much.

María Rodríguez

The coloring of the flowers with the hot embossing are really beautiful with that beautiful orange color

Jane Willis

The dondelions and the dragonlfies in wihte made a gorgeous countryside scene

I hope you have enjoyed using the watercolor with heat embossing.

We are waiting for you in the next challenge.

Waving Good-bye to some DT members

We at Use Your Stuff are sad to say goodbye to Janis, Martha and Shirley. 

 Our lovely DT members are leaving us to spend more time with their families, have more time to concentrate on themselves, and also to pursue some new creative avenues...we will miss them but we wish them all the best.

It has been a pleasure to work alongside these amazingly talented ladies and we all wish them the very best as they continue on in their creative journey.  We hope that from time to time, they will stop by to say hi and to play along with the challenges and that they continue to inspire in whatever they do.

Challenge #248 - Hot embossing and watercolors

Hello crafty friends. Maria Pilar here, hosting the blog this week.

My project is a job with watercolors resist when we apply hot embossing. It is one of the many things I learned last year in the group with which I am learning mixed media techniques.

The result is fantastic!

Here is my card

María Pilar

You can see more details HERE.

Majo

After stamping and heat embossing my card panel I applied water colours in different shades. I didn't use too much water since I wanted my colours strong.

I used a Visible Image stamp for my image.

Julia

This weeks project actually turned into 3, you can see all 3 Christmas Cards over on my blog. I did stamp the angle with gold metallic ink and covered it with clear embossing powder. I then used some shimmered water color paint to splash across the bottom of the card, Once it was completely dry I stamped the sentiment over it.

Gail

I was inspired by an idea I saw in the Scrapbooks and Cards Today.  I made two cards - one feminine and one masculine.  

Amanda

I don't think to use either of these techniques as often as I should so this was a great challenge! I used watercolours for my background and then heat embossed the sentiment.

Renee

An InLinkz Link-up

Highlights #247 - 3+ 6x6 papers

Thank you to all that participated in this challenge :) I have lots of 6X6 paper pads and always looking for ways to use them. So now I got lots of inspiration to use up a few of mine in some fun ways.. I hope you all enjoyed the challenge too.
Tina
All were my favorites in no particular order:

From Barbara I love how she used the papers to create her background to this fun memory that she scrapped:

From Jane I love how she created her card background with the papers and used part of a paper for her butterfly stamp too.

Liselot created a fun birthday card and just loved the layers of her card

Stop back tomorrow for the new week's challenge

Challenge #247 - 3+ 6x6 papers

Hi! Tina here hosting this week's challenge :) I am challenging you to get out those 6X6 paper pads and use at least 3 papers from the 6X6 paper pad and create with it!  Lots of inspiration out there on using it :) My layout was inspired by a Shimelle sketch. Here is what I created:

I used 3 coordinating papers for Die Cut With a View's The Juniper Berry Stack for my design background on my layout. I love to use 6X6 papers for layering on layouts and for card fronts too.You can see more of the layout and the sketch I used over at my blog.

Lets see what my DT sisters came up with to inspire you

Karrie

I took 4 coordinating ones from a My Mind's Eye 6x6 pad
and made a 12x12 background page. 

I love the little  6x6 pads,  because I can buy them online more
economically than locally,and being up in Canada they ship  for much less
than the bulkier 12x12 size.

Haven

I used 4 plus 6X6 sheets. 

 I used the sun twice to piece together the rays and the scraps for the journal strips

Julia

So...I took a little creative license with this, only because I had a 4x6 and a 6x6 paper pad in the kit I used to create the layout. So, in the end, I used 2 of the 4x6 sheets and 1 of the 6x6 sheets to layer under the photo. Love that I was able to use a few more sheets of paper from my stash!

Gail

I used 6x6 papers from two different paper pads - Amy Tan's "Yes Please" and Basic Grey's "B-side". My layout was inspired by a Kristine Davidson sketch.  For full details, please see my BLOG.

Amanda

I used three sheets of paper from a paper pad by My Minds Eye to create so dimension in this layout. This was part of a tour of a distillery in Nova Scotia.

Beth

I used four different papers from the Stampin' Up Urban Underground Specialty Designer Series Paper to make this Iowa Hawkeye A2 card calendar for my sweet daughter Abby!  I have directions  on my blog.

Khristina

I love using 6x6 paper pads to fill in the pieces of a cut file. Rough cutting each piece and then gluing to the back creates a fun background design with ease. Add some mixed media and a few simple embellishments and I just love the final product! 

We look forward to seeing what you create with this fun challenge :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Highlights #246 - OH CANADA

Some BEAUTIFUL work and great interpretations for this challenge.  Thank you so much for playing along. 

I hope you get a chance to visit Canada this year and partake in our many 150th anniversary celebrations across the country.

Here are my favourites in no particular order.

Gail

Challenge #246 - Oh Canada

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope 2017 is your best year ever.

Hello, Gail here. In 2017, Canada turns 150 years old and we're going to be partying all year long!  So I'm asking everyone to do something that reminds them of Canada.

For example:
If you live here or have ever visited, a layout with photos of Canada.
Use our flag like a sketch for a card.

Use the colours RED and WHITE

Use any of the symbols of Canada on your project, like:

• The beaver
• Moose
• Hockey
• Maple Leaf
• Poutine (LOL)
• Winter (although, contrary to popular belief, that is only ONE of our four seasons)
• Politeness
• etc. etc.

The sky's the limit.

Here are my projects.

First a card showing leaves and a beaver.

And next a two page layout with some views of Niagara Falls from the Skylon Tower.

To see more close-ups and a list of products, go to my blog.

Janis

Karrie

Love this!  There are so many beautiful places to visit in Canada,
and  one of my favourites was the gorgeous area in Alberta, Banff and Lake Louise.
Pictures don't do it justice.

If you have never, I highly recommend you come visit us!

Maria Pilar

Apart from the red and white colors of the Canadian flag, I have used its characteristic maple leaf.

Majo

I decided to go for the Canadian Wilderness on my card.

Martha Lucia

For me Canada is beauty and adventure at the same time. I decided to create a card to invite you to take a ride in motorcycle for the amazing routes of Canada. You can visit the entire country and enjoy the ride!

Julia

So with this prompt, I thought of red and winter....oh Christmas....So I kind of used the flag a little to inspire the background. I even used a wood veneer Christmas tree, pine tree...Canada...woods....LoL!!

Amanda

I live in Canada but definitely have not seen all of it yet. One of my favourite places to visit is the Maritimes. It is so calm, quiet and peaceful! This layout is of one of the distilleries we visited in Nova Scotia a few years ago.

Renee

For this weeks challenge, I chose to use the colors Red and White as the basis of my planner spread.  I also used a quote by Wayne Gretsky as an inspirational block on my spread since Saturday is a 5K race day for me.

Happy Scrapping!!

An InLinkz Link-up