Dollar Store Inspired TGIF398

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  I feel like shopping and cookie-baking has taken over my life and my stamping time has been put on the back burner! I did have a few minutes last night to finish a card I started earlier in the week!!  I got this cute little jar last year at the Dollar Store and filled it with a bottlebrush tree, some greenery and a couple of red bells sitting on some cotton batting:

I thought it would be fun to recreate it (except I didn't realize until after I did all my diecutting that the blades were GOLD!) on a card!  So here we go:

I think it would have looked fabulous with gold blades, too...maybe I'll do another!  Here's the sketch from TGIF that I used:

I used an Avery Elle skate stamp and die and a Papertrey gingham stamp.  The AE stamp set also has the greenery and berries, and I used the Wintry embossing folder for the background panel:

I used a Tim Holtz die for the holly in the corners and a Lil'Inker bell, along with a Lawn Fawn sentiment:

Finally, a Kaiser sentiment on the inside! I gave a lot of different products lots of love! (And truthfully, my background paper looks a lot more orange in the photo!)

Thanks for visiting today!

After we made our sea glass Christmas trees, Dana brought her friend Lisa to our house; she had never stamped before, so I set up the Stamparatus (in my very messy craft room), cut some paper and cardstock and they each made a card:

They did a great job!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Peace Joy Love (Lawn Fawn), Holiday Skates (Avery Elle)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Evening Evergreen, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, Home for Christmas (Violet Studio), Brushed Silver (ret)
Ink	Versafine Black, Evening Evergreen, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories	Dimensionals, Floss
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Wintry EF, Bell Die (Lil'Inker), Holiday Greens Dies (Tim Holtz), Holiday Skate Dies (Avery Elle)

RRCB174 Pastel Angels

Hello, peeps!  It's the first Retro Rubber challenge of 2022, where we give our older stamps some love, and Jane has some really cute prompts for us!  Here's our first one...dig it!

I feel like a ninny because these would be perfect colors for a Valentine's card, but I pulled out a Christmas stamp from 2011 by Stampendous; I had seen my creative friend Lisa use this and I just had to have it for myself!  And here is my pastel card:

Aren't those little angels adorable?  I stamped them on Shimmery White paper with Stazon ink and watercolored them with reinkers of Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz, So Saffron, Balmy Blue and Blushing Bride:

I added some pastel snowflakes and mounted it on some retired snowy DSP from SU; the sentiment is from Itty Bitty Christmas (2019).  I am also entering this at the Krafty Chicks Christmas challenge #594 for this week!  

SO....what will you stamp with these pretty pastel colors?  Just make sure you use a stamp that's at least one year old, tell us the date of the stamp in your post and then share it with us at Retro Rubber!  Can't wait to see what you create!  Thanks for popping in today!

I made sure my bird feeders were full this past weekend, as it was very cold!  Plus John gave me a bird bath heater for Christmas and I was hoping to see some birds finally taking advantage of it!  Success!! This male bluebird came back several times:

And this Northern mockingbird gave me a look as if to say "Mind your own business!"  I apologize for the fuzzy pictures, I was taking these from inside, through a screen!  But you can still see them pretty clearly!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."  Hebrews 12:2-3

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Itty Bitty Christmas (2019, ret), Little Angels (2011, Stampendous), Holiday Skates (2019, Avery Elle)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Shimmery White, All is Calm DSP (ret)
Ink	Stazon Black, Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz, So Saffron, Blushing Bride, Balmy Blue, Calypso Coral
Accessories	Mini Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Circle Dies (Lil'Inker), Aquapainter

MTCC41 Tis The Season

Happy Monday, peeps!  Hope you had a good weekend! Brrr, it was a chilly, wet one!  While I was playing with my Soft Succulent papers and ink last week, I came across a scrap piece of Painted Christmas DSP that had the same hues, so I went to work, using some new stamps I had gotten a while ago and never got inky!  Here we go:

I began with the sketch from Make The Cards challenge:

After adding a white mat to the DSP, I scalloped the bottom front of the card, then added the circular element and the ice skate image, which I filled with greenery and candy canes.  The stamps and dies are from Avery Elle.  The sentiment is from Christmas to Remember.  I added a strip of Real Red to the bottom inside so the scallop would stand out a bit better:

I found this sentiment in a set my friend gave me after she de-stashed her stamp collection, and it fit perfectly in an Ornate Frame die!  Love it!

I am also entering this at the Krafty Chicks, because it's Christmas week!  Thanks for popping in today!

Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Christmas to Remember, Holiday Skates (Avery Elle)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Real Red, Soft Succulent, Painted Christmas DSP
Ink	Real Red, Gray Granite, Soft Succulent
Accessories	Dimensionals, White Gems from my Stash
Tools	Big Shot, Ornate Frames Dies, Scalloped So Sweetly Dies, Stitched Shapes Dies (ret), Holiday Skates Dies (Avery Elle), Smoky Slate Blends, Real Red Blends, Zig Painty Pen (ret)

Farmhouse Christmas

Hi peeps!  I am squeezing in this Christmas card just before the TGIF deadline!  Here's their challenge:

And I am using the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

And here we go:

My Cherry Cobbler card base is 4 1/4" square.  I added panels from the Winterberry line by My Mind's Eye, along with some snowflakes from Avery Elle (Holiday Skatches), mounted on a Cherry Cobbler glimmer paper circle:

The sentiment is from The Stamp Market's Candy Cane Christmas, diecut with the Stitched Rectangle dies:

I am also entering this in the Merry Little Christmas Challenge, which is "Anything Goes"!

Now we're off to take a bike ride and feed the horses down the road!  Thanks for visiting today--enjoy your day and be blessed!  And be sure to stop back later for a new Tic-Tac-Toe challenge!

RRCT133 Martha Stewart Inspired Anything Goes

Hey peeps!  It's Tuesday, and that means a new Retro Rubber Challenge!  This week is "Anything Goes"!  We just need to make sure our stamps are at least a year old!

In my latest issue of Martha Stewart, I saw this pretty purse, and of course, like any good stamper, I immediately began thinking about how I could interpret this into a card!!  So I perused my stamps and went to work!

I found some Altenew and Avery Elle two-step stamps that had similar features to the florals.  I did have to stamp the background "blobs" multiple times to get the shape I wanted, and I didn't do so well with the white embossing (forgot to use my embossing buddy), but all in all, I was happy with the final effort:

The Altenew Painted Flower set is one I purchased at a stamp show about four years ago, and the Avery Elle Peonies set was gifted to me about the same time.  I stamped the background flowers in Blushing Bride, Flirty Flamingo and Night of Navy repeatedly on a Very Vanilla background, then added Night of Navy and Craft White (embossed with White embossing powder) outlines on top:

I added a square stitched scalloped mat, and mounted it on a panel of Very Vanilla embossed with the new Ornate Floral embossing folder, which is very sweet!  My one concession was to use a current set for my sentiment, also embossed in White.  My final addition were some sequins that matched the flowers nicely!  It all went on a Flirty Flamingo card base.  I had a lot of fun creating this from my own inspiration photo!  I hope you'll play along with our "Anything Goes" challenge this week too!  See you in the Retro Rubber gallery!  Thanks for popping in today!

Most of you who normally attend church are watching services online, as our church family does.  Our praise team, of which Dana is a part, still provides music during the service, so she still goes on to our physical church on Sunday mornings.  We have one couple who do a lot for our church, and are a lot of fun to be around; they thought it would cheer up our pastor to provide a "Flat Stanley" type of set up for him when he arrived on Sunday morning:

Everyone got a good chuckle out of it!  If you'd like to listen to our pastor's sermons, you can find them at our church's website, Manor Presbyterian.  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Painted Flowers (Altenew), Peonies (Avery Elle), Honey Bee
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Flirty Flamingo, Night of Navy
Ink	Night of Navy, Blushing Bride, Flirty Flamingo, Craft White
Accessories	Dimensionals, White Embossing Powder, Sequins from my stash
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Heat Tool,  Ornate Floral EF

FMS333 and HOC April Wedding Love

Happy Saturday, peeps!  It's wedding day for John's nephew Philip, so my card today is a wedding card using the FMS sketch by Narelle and (again) the House of Cards challenge, this time the colors:

I remembered that her shower invite was florals in wine and pinks, so I found some papers from Authentique called Grateful, and went to work with my Altenew Painted Flowers set:

I stamped the flowers on some Rustic White (Papertrey) cardstock in Sweet Sugarplum, Berry Burst, Wild Wasabi and Basic Black nks; the sentiment is from an Avery Elle stamp called Peonies.  I added some scalloped mats and a few sequins:

On the inside, I stamped a sentiment from God's Blessings (ret) and added just the outline stamp of the flower in Sweet Sugarplum...I really like that effect!

Thanks for popping in today!  Be sure to stop back tomorrow for a new Paper Players challenge too!

A little origami activity:

A penguin and a giraffe...not a good photo but you get the idea!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

SIP 93 Coming Up Flowers

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  It's time for another Stamp Ink Paper challenge, and this one is perfect for your spring creations:

My friend Bonnie also has a watercolor challenge for this month, so I thought I'd give that a shot as well!

So here we go!  I pulled out an Avery Elle stamp set called Peonies, embossed it in white embossing powder on watercolor paper, and used my reinkers to color it in:

I also embossed the sentiment on black cardstock, added a few speckles and gold wire, then mounted it on a Flirty Flamingo card base:

I used shades of Blushing Bride, Flirty Flamingo and Calypso Coral for the flowers, and Wild Wasabi and Garden Green for the leaves.  I did add a wee little bit of Soft Sky as a shadow.  I like this effect and although I might need a little more practice, I think all in all it turned out nicely!

I hope you'll play along with our floral challenge this week and bring a breath of spring to someone's mailbox with your card!  And be sure to stop by the SIP blog....the DT's projects will take your breath away as well!

Speaking of spring, this is a view I had on my walk from yesterday morning:

A neighbor's field, finally greening up!

Some daffodils along the road:

And after Cassidy got off the bus, we went to visit my brother and SIL and she gave Remy the dog a good workout, throwing a stick!  Good springtime fun!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details--All Products SU Unless Otherwise Noted
Stamps	Avery Elle Peonies, Itty Bitty Backgrounds
Card stock & Papers	Flirty Flamingo, Basic Black, Watercolor
Ink	White Craft, Blushing Bride, Flirty Flamingo, Calypso Coral, Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, Soft Sky
Accessories	Gold wire
Tools	Heat Tool, White Embossing Powder, Dimensionals, Aquapainter

FMS160 x Two

I have two very clean, simple and quick cards today, both using the Freshly Made Sketches sketch from this week:

I had this leaf image from Lovely as a Tree stamped, colored and sitting on my desk, discarded from another project, so I put it to use on this fall-themed card:

I used some scraps of DSP for the background; the sentiment is from Project Life Holiday Cheer, and the circle was stamped with the striped banner from Amazing Birthday, once going in one direction, and then stamped again going in the other direction, to make a gingham look.  I then punched it out with a 1” circle punch.

My next card is more whimsical; I used an Avery Elle stamp set called Thankful, and I am thankful, because I won it from my sweet friend Lisa! 

My card base is Pumpkin Pie; I stamped the acorn in Early Espresso (although it looks green here!) on a piece of gingham paper from Simple Stories’ Harvest Lane DSP and fussy-cut it out.  The other papers are from the same line.  I turned the sketch on its side so that the little bird would be facing the right way!!  The sentiment is from Good Greetings.  Thanks for visiting!

I tried hard to get a good photo of Cassidy’s cute outfit, but she was like the Energizer bunny yesterday….you’ll have to take my word for how cute this little skirt was!!