RRCB252 HB Sketch

 Happy Thursday, peeps!  You know how sometimes an idea is in your head but in reality, it just doesn't quite come out the way you planned?  This is one of those cards, LOL!  But I am just going to go with it!  It uses the sketch from Retro Rubber and some older stamps from Artistic Outpost; I have probably had them since 2016.  Here's the sketch:

I already had a Mint Macaron card base sitting on my desk and I found some papers to match and here's what I came up with:

I stamped the scene in Garden Green, but the diagonal panel at the top is what had me stumped.  I didn't want to really cover up any part of the stamped image, so I embossed a piece of vellum with the Timber EF and added the "HB" for happy birthday in the corner:

Since this is for my brother-in-law, I am not adding any embellishments!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Lord, who may enter your Temple?  Who may worship on Zion, your sacred hill? Those who obey God in everything and always do what is right, whose words are true and sincere, and do not slander others.  They do no wrong to their friends nor spread rumors about their neighbors.  Psalm 15:1-3

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	The Outpost (Artistic Outpost, 2016)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Garden Green, Mint Macaron (ret), Vellum (ret), Trail Mix (Simple Stories)
Ink	Garden Green
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Timber EF, Radiating Stitches Dies, Oliver's Stitched Alphabet Dies (Lawn Fawn)

Vintage Sympathy

Happy Saturday, everyone! Praise the Lord, the sun is shining here in Pennsylvania, and it's a Saturday!  Amazing! Unfortunately, I needed another sympathy card recently, and I used the sketch from As You See It and a few of the Earth Day prompts from Festive Friday for my (vintage again) card:

I pulled out some older nature-themed stamps and went to work:

The elements from the FF challenge that I chose were neutrals, woodgrain, twine and thinking of you.  I stamped the bird's nest in Pecan Pie on some Very Vanilla and colored in the eggs very lightly:

The sentiment from Hero Arts was stamped on a little banner and I added another wee little bird's egg.  The elements behind the nest were some retired stitched ribbon and Wavy Trim.

My woodgrain paper was originally white, so I used a blending brush to color it with Crumb Cake ink, then I stamped several images on it in Gray Granite to create my own collage-style background paper:

I added a Gray Granite mat as well as a Pecan Pie mat, on which I stamped a dictionary-style page around the edges.  I used a Stamp Simply sentiment on the inside, and added a few more feathers from Soft as a Feather, an older retired SU set:

The card is for John's brother-in-law who lost his father recently.  John's sister and BIL are great birders and we often swap bird sighting stories with them, so I hope they will find comfort in this card!  Thanks for popping in today!  

We made a little visit to my nephew's house yesterday to see this little peanut:

Cute as a button and good as gold!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Soft as a Feather (ret), Birds of a Feather (Artistic Outpost), Farmhouse All Occasion Greetings (Stamp Simply), Sentiment CL342 (Hero Arts)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Pecan Pie, Gray Granite, Heart & Home DSP (ret)
Ink	Crumb Cake, Gray Granite, Pecan Pie, Soft Sky (ret), Balmy Blue
Accessories	Wavy Trim, Soft Sky Stitched Ribbon (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Oval Dies (Nestabilities), Banner Dies (Pink & Main), Blending Brush

RRCB207 Road Trip

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  I had a stamp camp recently where we made men's cards, and the Retro Rubber Challenge this week of Anything Goes fit in perfectly with one of my cards:

 

This motorcycle and all the accompanying images are from Artistic Outpost's Route 66, which is from 2012!  I stamped the cycle in Merry Merlot ink on Crumb Cake cardstock, and then stamped the other images on the Merry Merlot card.  After I diecut the motorcycle panel, I stamped the map image directly on top of the motorcycle in Crumb Cake ink. I added a couple of metallic adhesive dots for a masculine look:

  

Since we were making the cards generic in occasion, we stamped a badge from Badges & Banners on the inside:

I am so sorry that SU retired Merry Merlot; it's such a great color!  

Cassidy was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society yesterday.  She's looking forward to helping plan some service projects as well as a school dance!  The dance is a fundraiser so it's not just for fun!  So proud of her!  On an interesting note, two other sets of parents of inductees grew up with Dana and were all in church and youth group together.  It was fun to reminisce with their parents, which are in my generation, and we all look forward to seeing how our grandchildren will grow to impact their futures!

Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Route 66 (Artistic Outpost, 2012), Badges & Banners (2016)
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Merry Merlot (ret)
Ink	Crumb Cake, Merry Merlot (ret)
Accessories	Metallic Adhesive Brads (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Countryside Corners Dies, Sponge Daubers

RRCB163

Hi stampers!  Tuesday brings us a new Retro Rubber challenge, where we give some love to our older stamps!  This week we have a tic-tac-toe for you:

Unfortunately, I needed another sympathy card for my daughter's cousins who lost their dad recently.  I chose the top row across of masculine, square and mechanical, using an older Artistic Outpost stamp set called The Outpost, which is probably ten years old:

I stamped the image in Soft Suede on some Naturals White cardstock and sponged in some color to give it a bit more depth.  The mat is stamped with a script stamp from the same set and it was distressed by dabbing a Sahara Sand ink pad directly on the paper, then fraying the edges with the edge of my acrylic ruler.  I mounted it on a piece of woodgrain DSP and added a sympathy sentiment from Hero Arts (I've had it for years) stamped on Crumb Cake and diecut with a banner die:

I hope you come play with our tic-tac-toe board this week...it's got a bit of a masculine vibe to it and we all know those are the most challenging cards to create, so take advantage of the ideas on the board!  Just be sure to use stamps that are at least a year old and tell us how old they are!  See you at Retro Rubber!

Shark alert!

Thanks for visiting!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

 "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."  Proverbs 16:9

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	The Outpost (Artistic Outpost), Sentiments (Hero Arts CL342)
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Naturals White, Nestled DSP (Authentique)
Ink	Sahara Sand, Bordering Blue (ret)
Accessories	Candy Dot (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Banners Dies (Nestabilities)

Dutch Birthday

 Hi peeps, happy Friday!  I have a card similar to my Inspired By card from yesterday (you can see it here).  I don't know about you, but often my cardmaking process is full of stops, starts, detours and crashes!  Sometimes I am able to take the casualties from the "accidents" and make a new card, which is what I did today!  I had originally stamped the scalloped border of my card in Just Jade, but it seemed too strong of a color for the florals, so I opted for a softer Mint Macaron.  But I saved that Just Jade piece, and when I turned the DSP over, this pretty floral appeared!  I had an older Artistic Outpost set on my desk, which featured a windmill I had never gotten inky, so I inked it up in Just Jade and here's what turned out:

I took advantage of a little scrap of polka dot paper that coordinated, and layered it under the scallop, then added some Bumblebee gingham ribbon:

I still had Little Cuties on my desk, so I used the birthday sentiment from it and diecut it with a Tasteful Labels die:

And I happened to see this Library challenge on my friend Michele's blog, so I am entering it there as well:

It's funny...when I was a little girl, I was obsessed with Holland!  I wanted to visit there; not sure what the appeal was, maybe windmills, wooden sabots or tulips!  Might have been a children's book I read too!  Anyway, this brought back some fond memories!  Thanks for visiting today!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Buffalo Check, Little Cuties (ret), A Lovely Day (Artistic Outpost)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Just Jade, Flowers for All Seasons DSP, Crushed Curry DSP
Ink	Just Jade
Accessories	Bumblebee Gingham Ribbon, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangles Dies, Tasteful Labels Dies

TCC137 Bottle Cap Hello

Hey there, stampers!  It's time for another Card Concept challenge, and our photo prompt is an awesome one, perfect for a masculine card!  Check it out:

I love the vintage, retro look of this hunting/fishing lakeside scene!  And although I didn't have any stamps that fit that particular fishing or hunting theme, I knew I had a retro-style stamp that would!  So here we go:

This Artistic Outpost Bottle Cap stamp is a full sheet stamp, and I stamped it in Soft Suede on some fabric-y looking DSP from SU that we had a few years back.  After cleaning my stamp, I stamped it again in Poppy Parade, Garden Green, Old Olive and Crushed Curry, then fussy cut some of the caps out and adhered them to the main layer.  I punched out another circle from the same DSP and stamped "Hello" from the retired Jar of Love in one of the spaces, then mounted it all on a Crumb Cake base.  And THEN it got lots of distressing and sponging to give it a real vintage look!  Here are closeups of the caps...aren't they cool? They almost look real!

Of course, at The Card Concept, we always like you to tell us what inspired you, as well as the style of card you've created (you can see the styles on the blog). For my card, I was inspired by the colors, the retro vibe, and the advertising signs in the photo, and my style is definitely Shabby Chic and Vintage!  I've left the inside blank, too, so I can add a sentiment later.  I just love these cool images!  They're so much more interesting than the soda logos out there now!

I hope you'll play along with The Card Concept this week, and be sure to stop over to see what the designers created as well!  

Cassidy saw somewhere on the computer how to make freeze pops with Capri Sun and Airheads candy (gross, but I gave her credit for wanting to try!). We searched for popsicle molds while shopping on Monday to no avail, so we decided to just freeze them in some plastic baby food containers we had saved:

We were going to put skewers in them when they were partially frozen but we FORGOT!  Cassidy took them to the neighbors when she went swimming yesterday and they just ate them with a spoon....or licked them, as you can see:

They ate them all so I guess they were good!  Thanks for popping in today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Jar of Love (ret), Bottle Caps (Artistic Outpost)
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Sahara Sand, Serene Scenery DSP (ret)
Ink	Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Crushed Curry, Garden Green, Poppy Parade, Old Olive
Accessories
Tools	1 3/8" Circle Punch, Sponge Daubers, Acrylic Ruler (for distressing edges)

As You See It 227 My Favorite Movie.....

Helloooo, everybody!  Thank heavens it's Friday!  What a week!  The As You See It challenge is a really fun one, I don't think we've ever had one like this!  Heather is asking us to make something that reminds us of one of our favorite movies!

One of my favorite movies (and book) is To Kill A Mockingbird.  I know the movie is NOT about a mockingbird, but as I love birds and it's been real fun this spring to watch them outside my windows, I decided to make a bird card!  (And it's not even a mockingbird, sorry!) So here we go:

I found this pretty Lost and Found Blush paper in my stash; it only had the tiny birds and the garland up in the corner already on it; the rest has been stamped in Early Espresso, Sahara Sand, Blushing Bride and Rococo Rose with various stamps from my stash; I just love this little bird:

He is from an Artistic Outpost set called Birds of a Feather, as is the print and egg background.  After stamping him in Early Espresso, I watercolored him in a bit, then added the Sahara Sand print background, some fern fronds in Blushing Bride and a wee little smattering of honeycomb in Sahara Sand  (both from Butterfly Basics):

I found a little scrap of pink gingham, so I scalloped the edge of it, adhered it to the side and fastened a little burlap trim to it.  I added a Papertrey sentiment, and my final addition was a smattering of sequins.  For the inside, I stamped a sentiment from Watercolor Wonder on top of another fern frond:

Did you know my mother's name was Fern?  My siblings and I always laughed and said it was because her father was a florist, although we thought her sister's name should have been Rose or Lily instead of Grace! Anyway, I always think of her when I use this stamp!  I just love this card, the colors are so pretty and I think that bird is as sweet as can be!  And since I used patterned paper AND stamped on it as well, I am entering this at Little Red Wagon, where they want patterned paper or make your own!

How will you be inspired?  I hope your favorite movie isn't a zombie one or something, LOL!  Share your creation with us at  As You See It...I can't WAIT to see what you make, and be sure to stop by the blog to see what inspired our designers...you might get a giggle!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Birds of a Feather (Artistic Outpost, Butterfly Basics (ret) Watercolor Wonder (ret), Take Three Fall (Papertrey)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Blush DSP (Lost & Found)
Ink	Sahara Sand, Blushing Bride, Rococo Rose, Early Espresso
Accessories	Linen Braid, Sequins from my stash
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Be Mine dies, Sponge Daubers

RRCB136 Summer Fun

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  It's time for another Retro Rubber Challenge, where we give some love to our stamps that are a year old--or older!  This week we have an appropriate theme challenge:

I challenged myself this week by using a sketch and an unusual color palette with my fun, vintage summertime image from Technique Junkie, which I got at least three or four years ago:

Here's the sketch I used from Try Stampin' on Tuesday:

and the color palette from Inspire. Create:

I started by stamping the besties image in Night of Navy, then trimmed out around their heads and did some partial diecutting with a Stitched Shapes die.  I added a back panel of Rich Razzleberry, diecut with a Stitched So Sweetly die (and cut apart) which had been embossed with a Perfect Polka Dots EF:

I added a sentiment and shell from another old set from Artistic Outpost called Boardwalk (approx 2015), and mounted it all on this terrific printed paper that looked just like ocean water!  On the inside of my Coastal Cabana card, I added a few more oldies but goodies:  a sentiment from Friends 24-7 (2009) and Birthday Centers (Cornish Heritage Farms, probably 10 years old!):

I finished it off with a striped Bermuda Bay bow and some pretty turquoise sequins from my stash!  I have so many summer stamps, it was hard to choose, but I was happy with how this turned out, and it's already in the mail to someone special!

I hope you'll kick off summer by stamping a summer-themed card with us!  Just be sure to use stamps that are at least one year old, and tell us how old they are!  Can't wait to see what you share! 

The farmer cut our field on Saturday, and raked and baled it today....such a pretty sight, at least to a farm girl like me:

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Besties (Technique Junkies), Friends 24-7 (ret), Boardwalk (Artistic Outpost), Birthday Centers (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry, Coastal Cabana, The Bee's Knees DSP (Honey Bee Stamps)
Ink	Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry, Coastal Cabana
Accessories	Bermuda Bay Striped Ribbon, Dimensionals, Sequins from my stash
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies, Stitched So Sweetly Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Perfect Polka Dot EF (ret)

Patriotic Congrats

Happy Memorial Day to all my American friends!  No parades this year, no John marching in his uniform, but as I said yesterday, my nephew is due to graduate from West Point, so I decided to make him a congrats card to celebrate the day.  He was commissioned on Friday and will graduate in June, so I'll save it to send to him at that time!  I used an old favorite Artistic Outpost stamp called Hero to make my vintage-inspired card:

My card base is the new In Color, Misty Moonlight....I love it, of course, I love almost any blue!!  It's a bit softer than Night of Navy, but coordinates nicely with it.  I stamped my image twice, once in Night of Navy and again in Merry Merlot.  I fussy-cut the striped portion out and adhered it to the Navy image.  I found some star-patterned paper in my stash, and added a border of diecut stars backed with Merry Merlot:

The sentiment is from Label Me Bold, stamped in Merry Merlot, cut closely and mounted on a Stitched Rectangle diecut.  On the inside, I really didn't have any sentiments to convey how proud we are of him, so I diecut some Merry Merlot letters and applied them to a stitched star diecut, then added some of the stars from the front:

We are proud of him!  I am entering this in the Double D Challenge this week, which is the letter "M"...my "M" is for military!

Thanks for popping by today!  We are going to have a little cookout with Dana, Wayne and Cassidy, so I am very much looking forward to that!  John got all the patio furniture and grill out, so we're all set!  I hope you have a wonderfully blessed holiday.  We pray today for the families of all the ones who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country! God bless America!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Label Me Bold, Hero (Artistic Outpost)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Merry Merlot, Misty Moonlight, Misc DSP
Ink	Night of Navy, Merry Merlot
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Mini Treat Bag Die (ret), Alphabet Dies (Papertrey), Star Die (Paper Rose)

Florals for Fun

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  It's the last day of March, and the last day of Sale-a-bration!  Did you take advantage of it?  You've got a little time left!  

I have a couple of floral creations today, and they each have a very different feel to them!  This one uses an older Artistic Outpost image that has never seen ink!  As I was suffering from insomnia the other night, I thought of it--surely I'm not the only one who does that, right?  Anyway, I was perusing my 6x6 stash and found this Night of Navy gingham (yes, more gingham, Michele!) and thought how pretty the tulips would look with it...kind of like Delft!  So here we go with my very CAS blue tulips:

This uses the sketch from the Global Design Project:

I stamped my image in Night of Navy, and I did something I rarely do:  I watercolored!  It's not that I don't watercolor often, but when you watercolor with water-based ink outlines, you run the risk of making your image bleed!  I was very, very careful and used an almost dry brush to add Blueberry Bushel and Seaside Spray inks to fill in my design:

I used the Stitched Shapes die to cut it out, and I used the Stitched Nested Labels die to create a banner; I used the "negative" portion for the fishtail, and used the straight die on the edges!  A sentiment from Honey Bee finished it off.  Simple!

My next card is for the SUO Challenge to CASE something from page 42 of the catalog, as well as the Time Out Challenge to use purple!   

Purples are not usual my go-to colors, so I sort of forgot about poor Purple Posy...and it's such a pretty pastel shade!  I chose to copy the bottom sketch of the SUO challenge, using a Purple Posy card base and some pretty floral paper from Best Dressed:

On another Stitched Nested Label diecut, I added a butterfly from Positive Thoughts in Pineapple Punch, a sentiment from Fable Friends in Mint Macaron, and I stamped the flower from Positive Thoughts in Highland Heather (stamped off twice) right on top of the sentiment.  Some Iridescent sequins (that reflect in really weird colors, LOL) added a little sparkly touch.  Some Nature's Twine, tied in a bow, coordinated with the greenery in the DSP:

I forgot to photograph the inside...I stamped the friendship sentiment from So Sentimental, so this definitely qualifies for the "friendship" part of the challenge as well!  

Dana told me that Cassidy cooked herself a cheese steak!  Yum!  I think Ginger is thinking she should be able to have a sample, too! But I don't see anything green on that plate!! Tsk, tsk!   

Dana, Cassidy and I actually got to video chat yesterday!  Technology is pretty great...we had a couple little hiccups at first, but I think we've got it now!

Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy your social distancing and be blessed!

Card 1 Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Honey Bee, A Lovely Day (Artistic Outpost)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Night of Navy, Night of Navy Gingham DSP
Ink	Night of Navy, Blueberry Bushel, Seaside Spray
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies, Stitched Nested Labels Dies

Card 2 Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Fable Friends, Positive Thoughts, So Sentimental (inside)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Purple Posy, Best Dressed DSP
Ink	Mint Macaron, Pineapple Punch, Highland Heather
Accessories	Nature's Twine, Iridescent Sequins
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Nested Labels Dies, Nature's Thoughts Dies