AYSI247 Speedy Blossoms

Happy Good Friday, everyone!  It's time for a new As You See It challenge, and it's the exhilarating SPEED STAMPING!  Woohoo!  We'd like to see your stamped creations be completed in ten minutes or less!  And here's your inspiration: 

Well, I'll tell you....despite having all my supplies lined up and ready, I just barely squeaked this one in at 9 minutes and 45 seconds!  My initial design didn't quite work so I was scrambling to correct it.  In the end, this is what I came up with:

I used the sketch from Try Stampin On Tuesday:

and I chose one of my favorite go-to (but soon retiring) floral stamps, Bloom and Grow!  I stamped the largest floral spray in Rococo Rose and diecut it with the matching die.  Before adhering it to my white mat, I used a Blender Brush to smooth on some Balmy Blue ink and added some speckles:

I popped it up with dimensionals, added a white ribbon for the banner and stamped the thank you sentiment at the bottom.  It all went on a Balmy Blue card base.  I always need thank you cards, so this will go in my stash!

You really need to be prepared for this challenge---so gather up your supplies, plan your design and GO!  See what you can create in ten minutes or less, then share it with us at the As You See It blog!  Be sure to tell us how long it to you to create your masterpiece, too!  Can't wait to see it!  Thanks for popping in today!

We'll be headed to my other nephew's for Easter on Sunday and we will be seeing this little guy with his new pet:

I am sure she has been laying some Easter eggs too!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Bloom and Grow, Itty Bitty Backgrounds (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Balmy Blue
Ink	Balmy Blue, Rococo Rose
Accessories	Flowers for Every Season Ribbon, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Budding Blooms Dies, Blending Tool

GDP262 Bloom and Grow Birthday

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  I have a pretty little slim-line birthday card for you today!  It uses (loosely) the sketch from Global Design Project:

I wanted to make something in non-fall colors, so I pulled out Bloom and Grow and stamped it and heat-embossed it in white, then watercolored it before diecutting out the pieces:

I used Marina Mist, Mint Macaron and So Saffron inks to color it and and I realized I used Pool Party DSP as the background....but I still think it coordinates nicely!  To create the sentiment piece, I stamped the birthday greeting on the white organdy ribbon from Flowers for Every Season pack and adhered it with some glue dots:

I also made a little envelope for it since it's a non-standard size!  This will be going out in the mail tomorrow!

Cassidy had off school yesterday and sent me this picture; it's a little faint, but I think you can read it!💗 (I love her too!)  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Itty Bitty Birthdays, Bloom and Grow
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Pool Party DSP
Ink	White Craft, Marina Mist, Mint Macaron, So Saffron
Accessories	Flowers for All Seasons White Ribbon, Dimensionals, White Embossing Powder
Tools	Big Shot, Budding Blooms Dies, Heat Tool, Aquapainter

IB143 More Fun Leaves

 Well, our challenges have definitely taken a turn for fall and I find myself stamping and diecutting a lot of leaves these days!  Thursday means Inspired By and even when our colors are a little whimsical, we can still find a way to use them for leaves!  Here we go:

and here's our optional sketch for the week as well:

My initial thought was to go in a totally different direction with some paint swooshes, but I have been working with the Stitched Leaves dies for my club projects, so I thought I would try them out in the challenge colors:

I used shades of Garden Green, Soft Seafoam, Rococo Rose and Blushing Bride in which to cut out my leaves, and mounted them on a panel embossed with Pinewood Planks:

My sentiment is from Bloom and Grow, stamped in Shaded Spruce, and I also added a mat of Shaded Spruce around my main panel.  I added some faceted gems in Soft Seafoam for a little additiona interest.

Finally, on the inside I added some pale leaves from Beautiful Day as well as a sentiment from the same set:

You could go in any direction with these colors---how do they inspire you?! Come on over to Inspired By and show us!  

Somehow, this just doesn't look comfortable, LOL!  A dog, an owl and a video game!

Thanks for popping in today--enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Beautiful Day, Bloom and Grow
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Garden Green, Shaded Spruce, Blushing Bride, Rococo Rose, Soft Seafoam
Ink	Garden Green, Shaded Spruce, Blushing Bride, Rococo Rose, Soft Seafoam
Accessories	Faceted Gems (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Leaves Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Pinewood Planks EF, Stitched So Sweetly Dies, Autumn Punch Pack

FMS44 and JAI514 Bloom and Grow

Happy Saturday, peeps! I have a fun little card I made for two challenges, the FMS sketch  by Jen, and the Just Add Ink color challenge:

I pulled out some papers to match the challenge and I thought that Bloom and Grow would be a pretty set to highlight. Here we go:

I started by stamping one of the floral images in Pretty Peacock directly on to some Pool Party DSP, then colored it with Blends:

I filled in the berries with a Blender Pen and Pretty Peacock ink, then stamped and dicut a few more images on vellum to tuck behind.  For my background, I stamped some leaves from Forever Fern on a piece of retired Smoky Slate gingham and added a Pretty Peacock mat:

It all went on another Pool Party DSP mat with a sentiment from Here's a Card and a few sequins:

This is such a pretty color combo, I am sure I'll use it again!  Thanks for popping in today...be sure to come back tomorrow for our Paper Players challenge!

Another fishing pic to share...silly girl!  Thankfully they threw all the fish back in the river! 

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Bloom and Grow, Here's A Card, Forever Fern
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Pretty Peacock, Smoky Slate, Vellum, Pool Party DSP, Smoky Slate DSP (ret)
Ink	Pretty Peacock, Smoky Slate
Accessories	Sequins, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Ornate Borders Dies, Budding Blooms Dies, Tasteful Labels Dies, Pool Party Blends, Blender Pen

Two Cards Just for Fun

Hi peeps!  Today's cards are just for fun...no challenges, nothing specific, just playing around with some new and not-as-new goodies!  This first one is a CASE from the latest Sale-a-bration little catalog, on page 7.  I used different colors for my florals from Bloom and Grow and used a different sentiment, but I mostly wanted to highlight this pretty SAB vellum!  A lot of my club girls ordered this as their SAB reward on Monday!!  I stamped stamped the image in Highland Heather and used ink and an aquapainter to color it in:

I just love Highland Heather and Mint Macaron together!  The next one uses Free as a Bird with some Bird Ballad DSP; I watercolored this little guy as well, fussy-cut him out and put him on a Crumb Cake card with a mat of Early Espresso; the sentiment is from the same set!

I just love this DSP...I don't think I've used this particular pattern too much, but it just makes me happy...all those little birdie foot prints!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!  Be sure to come back tomorrow for a new Inspired By challenge!

TTTC52 CAS Celebrate You

Happy Thursday, peeps!  It's time for another Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge!  Here's the grid we have to choose from today:

The row I chose (which seemed to be quite popular with the DT this week, LOL!) was the top one across:  Die cut, Clean and Simple, and Purple!  Dana's favorite color is purple, and her birthday was Sunday, so I created this one for her:

I gave a lot of different sets and products some love with this card!  I used a Purple Posy card base and some matching DSP from Best Dressed, diecut with a Stitched Rectangle die.  I added an Adirondack chair from the Seasonal Layers die set, in Highland Heather, along with a little "drink" from the Colorful Seasons set, and a little glimmer paper heart from the Trio of Tags dies:

I used the other part of the heart, along with a Highland Heather heart, to complement the sentiment from Bloom and Grow:

and a sentiment from Bonanza Buddies on the inside:

She really liked it, and she liked the gift card I put inside even more, LOL!  I hope you'll play along with our Tic Tac Toe board this week as well!  Can't wait to see what you create!

Speaking of Sunday, John, Dana and Wayne and I all went to Sandy Cove, which is a Christian retreat center in Northeast, Maryland, for a couples conference over the weekend. We had a lot of fun, a lot of food, and a relaxing time!  Here we are in front of the fireplace:

And here's a shot of the sunset over the cove, the night we arrived.  It was taken through a window, so it's not the best, but it was beautiful!  The picture doesn't really do it justice!

Thank you so much for popping in today!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Bloom and Grow, Colorful Seasons, Bonanza Buddies
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Highland Heather, Purple Posy, Best Dressed DSP, Sparkle Glimmer Paper
Ink	Purple Posy, Highland Heather
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Seasonal Layers Dies, Trio of Tags Dies

Congrats Card

Happy Monday, peeps!  I hope you all had a great weekend!  I am squeaking this card in for the Color Throwdown challenge just in the nick of time, because I just HAD to play with these colors:

I needed a card for a new recruit, and I thought it would be fun to play with the Bloom and Grow stamp set, and try for a watercolor-y effect.  So here we go:

I placed the stamp in my Stamparatus and cut a piece of Thick Whisper White cardstock to fit, then inked up the image with some Night of Navy ink.  Once I stamped it, I inked it again and spritzed it lightly with some water, then stamped again.  Quickly, before it dried, I used an aquapainter to push some of the water around, then added a little more shading with some Night of Navy ink.  I will need to experiment a little bit more, but for the first go, I thought it worked out pretty well.  I added some Itty Bitty Background speckles as well:

I diecut some layers from Blushing Bride cardstock and gingham with the Stitched Rectangle dies, then added a few more florals, stamped in Blushing Bride, and a sentiment from Label Me Bold:

I added a sentiment from the Bloom and Grow set on the inside as well:

My sketch came from CAS(E) This Sketch, although it probably has too many layers to really be considered CAS,  I loved the sketch anyway, so I'm giving it a go!

 Thanks for popping in today--enjoy your day and be blessed!

CTD574 Thanks From the Heart

Happy Saturday, peeps!  I had a wee bit of stamping time today...it is dreary and gray, so I just stayed inside and relaxed!  I loved the colors at CTD, and I haven't played with them for a while so I thought I would give them a go!

The Be Mine dies haven't seen much action in my craft room lately, so I ran the multiple-hearts one through Whisper White, Poppy Parade and Early Espresso cardstocks, then adhered the white frame to a card base and adhered some hearts randomly in each little heart opening:

I realize in this photo, the hearts look black...but really, they're Early Espresso!  I embellished some of the white ones with pearls, then added a sentiment from Bloom and Grown, diecut with the Stitched So Sweetly die.  To add a little more interest, I diecut two Poppy Parade strips with another little Be Mine die and placed them vertically along the edges.

Thanks for popping in today!

Cassidy got a cool Christmas gift:

STAMPS!  Wahoo!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Bloom and Grow
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Early Espresso, Poppy Parade
Ink	Poppy Parade
Accessories	Pearls, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Be Mine Dies, Stitched So Sweetly Dies

IB86 Nautical Hello

Hi crafters!  It's time for another Inspired By challenge this week....Laurel has another seasonal one for us in shades of blue, yellow and white!  Here's my take on it:

And here's the pretty photo prompt:

I put together a few DSPs, nautical images and die cuts for my friendship/hello card!  I started with the lighthouse from Sailing Home, stamped in Night of Navy and diecut with the Smooth Sailing die.  I put it on top of some nautical DSP from a few years back; a Daffodil Delight anchor (My Favorite Things dies) was mounted on top of a striped piece of DSP from Come Sail Away.  Finally, a Night of Navy wheel (Smooth Sailing) was mounted on top of a piece of Daffodil Delight polka-dotted DSP from a few years back as well!!  (Love using up some of that older DSP!)  

I finished it off with a sentiment from Bloom and Grow, diecut with the cute banner die from Smooth Sailing:

Oops, I almost forgot; I lightly stamped the seagulls from Sailing Home at the top and bottom of the card, just for a little additional interest!  I left the inside blank, until I am ready to use it for whatever occasion might arise!!  

Thanks for popping in today!  I hope that this photo inspired you to play along with us at Inspired By...come on over and share your creation with us too!

Cassidy, Wayne and Dana went to a Skillet concert recently; Cass is lucky that Wayne doesn't mind holding her up so she could see better!!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!