Playing along with Freshly Made Sketches and Can You Case It

Hello and welcome back! Today's card was inspired by the challenges at Freshly Made Sketches and Can You Case It. FMS#271 is a sketch challenge and CYCI#144 is a color challenge. 

I'm trying to get caught up on my birthday cards, since I'm planning to do #imbringingbirthdaysback for a second year. Last year I mailed 230 cards, 112 of which were birthday cards. I don't think I'm going to beat that this year, but I want to make an effort. Here's today's card:

I've got several sets from the new Occasions catalog and most of them have not been inked yet, so I thought I'd start with this one. It's a pretty simple card, but those Balloon framelits really make it pop.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

--Cindi



Supplies used:

Stamp set: Balloon Adventures
Paper: Whisper White Thick Cardstock; Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, and Watermelon Wonder cardstock
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Watermelon Wonder, Smoky Slate
Tools: Balloon Pop-up Thinlits, Big Shot, Magnetic Platform, Fine-Tip Glue Pen, Tombow Multi Liquid Glue, SNAIL, Stampin' Dimensionals 

Crocheting a temperature blanket

Hello and welcome back! Today's post is not stamping related, but I've been talking to some friends about it recently and thought this was an easy way to explain my latest craft project, as if I needed another one! :)

Social media, particularly Facebook and Pinterest, are great for providing lots of ideas for new projects. This one, for a temperature blanket, came from a bullet journaling group on Facebook. When I searched it on Pinterest, lots of ideas came up, but there were a couple that I decided to use when creating my blanket.

Before I show you my project, let me explain a little about what a temperature blanket is. It's not an electric blanket. :) It's an afghan that you create in rows or squares and the color of the elements is determined by the air temperature (high, low or average) on the days of the period you are making the blanket for. I originally planned to make a blanket for myself for 2017, but then decided to make one as a first anniversary gift for my son and daughter-in-law. They married on June 5, 2016 and live in Washington, just outside of Seattle. I used the Weather Underground website to look up historical weather data, and I'm using the high temperature for each day. 

Here are a couple of photographs of the blanket so far. Notice the photobombing cat! :)

I'm using a pattern from the Red Heart website for a Corner to Corner Throw.  The Crochet Crowd has a great video tutorial on YouTube that shows how to create this blanket. This pattern is crocheted in "squares" so the tricky part is calculating how many "squares" to crochet for each day. I used an Excel spreadsheet to help me with the math (geeky, I know!) and calculated that I need about 25 squares for each day. Sadly, the numbers don't come out even, so somewhere along the line I'll have to figure out what to do about the extra squares I need. Maybe I'll add additional squares for a couple of holidays with some sparkly or unusual yarn. I only need about 3 days worth, so it shouldn't be too bad. 

The actual temperatures are just recorded on a piece of graph paper so that I can cross off each day as I finish it.

My color chart is written on there too, to help me remember, but just in case you can't read it, I'll add it here. All yarn is Red Heart Super Saver and all temps are Fahrenheit.

91 and above     Cherry Red
86 - 90                Light Raspberry
81 - 85                 Pumpkin
76 - 80                 Carrot
71 - 75                  Gold
66 - 70                 Bright Yellow
61 - 65                 Cornmeal
56 - 60                Tea Leaf
51 - 55                 Paddy Green
46 - 50                Real Teal
41 - 45                 Pale Plum
36 - 40                Medium Purple
35 and below     Royal

As you can see in the photos above, the blanket starts in the summer. A lot of temps were in the Gold range, so I've already had to purchase another skein of that color. I'll probably be needing another Bright Yellow and Cornmeal as well. I wish I had thought about my colors a bit more before I started because the yellows and golds are not my favorites. I would have rather had more greens and blues. Oh well, there's always next year! I'm waiting until it's finished to decide whether to do the edging in white or off white.  

I've only been working on it for a few days and I've already gotten through the first three months. I'm hoping to get it caught up to the current day; then I'll only need to crochet each day as it comes. 

I hope this encourages you to give this type of project a try. There are lots of ideas out there, especially on Pinterest, so have fun with it!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day! 

--Cindi

Playing Along with the Paper Craft Crew, Paper Players, and SUO

Hello and welcome back! It's been ages since I posted, but I have been busy recently. Three weeks ago, I got a new knee! Rehab has been grueling, so I'm glad to have an outlet for relaxation, but it's been hard to get motivated. This week's challenges at Paper Craft Crew,  Paper Players, and SUO Challenges inspired me to create this evening.

With Thanksgiving over and Christmas right around the corner, it was time for a holiday card. Here's what I came up with:

The color palette was inspired by the Paper Craft Crew. I created a background paper using that cute moose from Jolly Friends stamped in Crumb Cake. I added a piece of the Candy Cane Lane DSP and a Garden Green banner tied with the red and white Candy Cane Lane bakers twine. The greeting is from Tin of Tags set stamped in Garden Green and cut out with the Stitched Shapes framelits. Pretty quick and easy!

I'm hoping to get working on my Christmas cards this week, if I survive my physical therapy! :)

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

--Cindi



Supplies used:
Stamp sets: Jolly Friends, Tin of Tags
Paper: Crumb Cake, Garden Green, Candy Cane Lane DSP
Ink: Crumb Cake, Garden Green
Accessories: Candy Cane Lane Bakers Twine
Tools: Stitched Shapes Framelits, Big Shot, Magnetic Platform, Stampin' Dimensionals

Playing Along With the Paper Craft Crew and Freshly Made Sketches

Hello and welcome back! Today's card is another combo for the sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and the color challenge at Paper Craft Crew.

I'm a little behind on birthday cards this month, but these are going out today.

I used Crushed Curry for the card base and made my own "DSP" with stamps from the Sunshine Sayings stamp set stamped in Crushed Curry and Tangerine Tango. The sentiment is stamped with Emerald Envy on Whisper White and layered with an Emerald Envy cardstock strip. The word "congrats" is also cut from Emerald Envy using the Sunshine Wishes Framelits and is adhered using the Fine Tip Glue Pen. I added a little bling with some rhinestones and Clear Wink of Stella. You can see it a little better in the photo below.

I hope my friends like these cards, even if they are a little late!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

--Cindi



Supplies used:

Stamps: Sunshine Sayings, Endless Birthday Wishes (inside sentiment)

Paper: Crushed Curry, Emerald Envy, Whisper White Cardstock

Ink: Crushed Curry, Emerald Envy, Tangerine Tango

Accessories: Basic Rhinestone Jewels, Clear Wink of Stella

Tools: Sunshine Wishes Framelits, Project Life Corner Rounder Punch, Tombow Liquid Glue, Fine Tip Glue Pen, Big Shot, Magnetic Platform

Playing Along with What Will You Stamp? #80

Hello and welcome back! Today's card is for the Swirly Bird challenge at What Will You Stamp?

This bundle was one of the first things I ordered from the new catalog, and though I've used the thinlits several times, I hadn't yet inked up the stamps. Well, that changed today! Here's today's card:

As you may have noticed from several of my posts recently, it has been wedding season in our family. In the past year, two cousins, two nephews, and my son have gotten married, and tomorrow, it will be my niece's turn! Add in a couple of family friends, and we've been busy.

We're hoping for beautiful weather tomorrow, but no matter what, this is a sunny card! 

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

--Cindi



Supplies used:
Stamp sets: Swirly Bird, Floral Phrases
Paper: Whisper White Thick cardstock; Whisper White, Watermelon Wonder, Mint Macaron, Flirty Flamingo cardstocks; Affectionately Yours Specialty DSP
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Cucumber Crush, Flirty Flamingo
Accessories: Delicate White Doilies, Watermelon Wonder dotted lace trim (retired)
Tools: Swirly Scribbles thinlits, 1-3/8" circle punch, 1-3/4" scallop circle punch (retired), Paper Piercing Tool, SNAIL adhesive, Stampin' Dimensionals, Fine Tip Glue Pen, Mini Glue Dots