Stampin' Fun with Diana: SSINKspiration Blog Hop: Mystery Bog Hop

Good morning! With the end of summer vacation we’re settling into the school/work routine that includes lots of activities, scouts, baseball, TKD, etc. that keep up on the go and enjoying every moment. This also means I’m getting a little more regular crafting time in the studio that is oh so welcome and needed (for my sanity!!) Today over on the Stylin’ Stampin’ INKspiration blog it’s time for our monthly blog hop and this month’s theme is mystery supply challenge. We’ve done these in the past and boy are they fun. We each send another team member three items (stamped images, designer series paper, ribbon, accessories, etc.) and then we have use those three items to make a project. I have to say this month I was stumped when I got my goodies from Darcy. She sent me some accessories from the holiday catalog and then stamped images from the Sitting There stamp set, including a little cat and dog, that really made me think (and I had to be careful since I don’t have this stamp set I couldn’t retry if I messed up, which I did my poor dog just not workout).
As you hop along, please be sure to comment and show some love on every blog! We are always excited to hear from our followers! You should have just left stop number #1 on the Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration Blog Hop - Darcy at Dj's Stampin' Place. If so, you are in the right spot. If a link doesn't work or you get off track, you will find the full blog hop lineup below.

I started with Crumb Cake cardstock for the cardbase and then added a Basic Black mat behind the piece of Designer Series Paper from the Warmth and Cheer Designer Series Paper Stack (I like how there are lots of patterns in the pack that aren’t strictly holiday prints and can be used year round). I also added the small strip along the middle (this happens to be the print on the reverse of the star pattern piece) and tied a couple pieces of Gold Twine from the Baker’s Twine Trio Pack (also in the holiday catalog) and then tied a bow.

For the stamped images (which were already provided I colored them in using Stampin’ Write Markers. Full strength markers were too strong for my cat (learned that on the dog image) so I used a Blender Pen to color her in to make it lighter and then added several different layers of slightly darker colors to add some texture. I cut out both the basket and cat and attached them to a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock that I cut out with the Big Shot and 2” Circle Punch. The cat was attached with a dimensional so she looks like she’s sitting in the basket. I cut a mat for the image using Basic Black cardstock, the Big Shot and Layering Circles Framelits and embossed it with the Elegant Dots Embossing Folder for some texture.

Here’s a close up of my coloring of the cat

The greeting is from the Jar of Love stamp set and stamped the greeting with Real Red ink on Very Vanilla cardstock before cutting it out with the Layering Ovals Framelits. I did sponge around the edge with both Crumb Cake and Basic Black ink for a fun effect before attaching it with dimensionals.

Here are the supplies Darcy provided

So what do you think? I enjoyed using a mixture of Holiday and Annual catalog items to show the versatility of the products and thinking outside of the box and I had fun with the coloring, but I definitely need to work more at that. I still think this would be well received by a friend when I want to let them know I’m thinking of them, don’t you?

Below are easy ordering links for the products used on today’s project:

Make sure to check out the rest of the blog hop for lots of other great ideas. If you click the “Next” button, you’ll go to Carrie's’s site but you can also access any of the hopper’s site from the full blog list below.