Joy to the World

 Happy Friday, peeps! A quick post today--it's hot and I'm headed to the pool for the first time this summer!  My card today fulfills three challenges:  Jingle Belles' Tic Tac Toe challenge; CAS on Sunday wants an animal; and Just Add Ink wants Christmas in July!

I pulled out an oldie but goodie image of these snowy rabbits and went to work:

I used the left column of animal, diecut and red; after stamping my bunnies, I cut them out with a Perennial Postage die and added a narrow mat of Real Red.  The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp. It all went on a Smoky Slate card that was embossed with the Stitched With Whimsy die:

A pretty sentiment in Real Red went on the inside.  This is an inexpensive stamp from Scrapbook.com and I sometimes have trouble with their stamps performing well, but I found if I use Versamark first, then ink directly onto the stamp again with colored ink, they work much better! Just be sure to clean your stamp before doing the double process, you don't want to get colored ink on your Versamark pad!

My Christmas stash is growing! Thanks so much for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Bunnies in Snow (unknown maker), Tiny Words Christmas (Simon Says Stamp),Christmas Wishes (Scrapbook.com)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Real Red, Smoky Slate
Ink	London Fog (Memento)
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Perennial Postage Dies, Stitched With Whimsy Dies (ret)

CAS on Sunday 313 Have a Merry Little Christmas

 Happy Wednesday, peeps!  Phew! I got a new computer and have spent the last two days trying to recreate all my files, re-load programs, and get used to a laptop.  It's not been a pretty sight here in my craft room!  I am on my way though and actually stamped something for a challenge, LOL!  The CAS on Sunday challenge wants Christmas in July and since I have been making holiday cards like crazy, I jumped on the bandwagon!  Here we go:

I started with a Very Vanilla card base, rounding the corners with a punch, then added three little strips across the bottom.  The Mossy Meadow strip was diecut with the Best Borders die; the holly-printed strip was accented with some twine; and the Cherry Cobbler strip was diecut with a fun die from Gummiapan, called Starry Border.  The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp, and it was diecut with a Stitched Shape die and tucked under the Mossy Meadow border:

I forgot to take a picture of the inside!  But thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed--and stay cool!  

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Tiny Words Christmas (Simon Says Stamp)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Mossy Meadow, Cherry Cobbler, Unknown Holly paper
Ink	Cherry Cobbler
Accessories	Twine from my stash
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Best Borders Die (ret), Starry Border Die (Gummiapan), 1/8" Hole Punch (ret)

Set Sail

Happy Tuesday, peeps! My card today is a little out of my comfort zone; I still struggle with brayering and blending, so bear with me!  The Inspire.Create challenge wanted "water" this week, and the Color Hues challenge is looking for us to use peach and cobalt:

I thought of a sunset over the ocean, so I got some blending/masking supplies and went to work:

I brayered and sponged Blueberry Bushel and Peach Pie inks to create my scene; the sun was Calypso Coral.  I stamped and diecut the sailboat from Sailing Home with craft white ink on black cardstock.  I experiemented with different colors of ink and cardstock but this one seemed to matched the setting sun the best. I added a sentiment and seagulls from the same set.

I wanted to add some texture to the sea, but since I wanted to keep it CAS, I resisted!  The CAS on Sunday challenge is for "summer" so I kept it simple!

I can't wait for our skies to look like this sunset....so far for the last few days, the sun has been MIA. I am a bit tired of gray, gloomy weather!  Thanks for popping in today, enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Sailing Home (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Basic Black
Ink	Versafine Black, Blueberry Bushel, Peach Pie, Calypso Coral, Craft White
Accessories	Black Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Smooth Sailing Dies (ret), Sponge Brayer, Blending Brushes, Masking Paper

Christmas Chickadee

Happy Thursday, peeps! I am slowly working on my Christmas card stash; my card today fulfills three challenges!  The As You See It theme challenge wants birds; the CAS on Sunday challenge is a sketch, and the Retro Rubber challenge is a tic-tac-toe grid!

I am using an old Impression Obsession chickadee stamp; I know I have had this at least ten years, along with a sentiment from SU called Shine Bright (2019),  In order to fit the bird and the rest of the sketch, my card is a little larger at 5" square.  So here we go:

I stamped the chickadee on watercolor paper and inked it in with reinkers, then used aStylish Shapes circle die to cut it out, cutting out the tail before using the die:  

For my tic-tac-toe, I chose the top row across of enamel dots, stripes or dots and diecuts.  I stamped a Shaded Spruce tag with SU's Distressed Dots background stamp (2011) and added some banners using some retired Christmas DSPs that featured dots and stripes.  The sentiment was stamped in Cherry Cobbler.  My enamel dots are from W+9.  I know I will need a special envelope to fit this card, but that's okay, it's fun to do something a little different!

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Shine Bright (2019), Distressed Dots (2011), both retired, Chickadee (Impression Obsession, 2015?)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Watercolor, Shaded Spruce, Classic Christmas DSP (ret)
Ink	Stazon Black, Real Red, Garden Green, Shaded Spruce, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories	Enamel Dots (W+9), Real Red Ribbon (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, Tailor Made Tags Dies (ret), Aquapainter

Uber-CAS Snowflake Christmas

Happy Monday, peeps! This is probably one of the clean-and-simplest cards I have ever made, LOL! The challenge at CAS On Sunday is to use a corner of your card, and the Hand Stamped Sentiments has a pretty mood board:

All three of the pictures are pretty, but I just happened to have a snowflake stamp already out on my desk, so I went with that:

I used thick Basic White cardstock and embossed the snowflake in white embossing powder, then blended Pretty in Pink ink on top.  A simple sentiment and a few more snowflakes were stamped in Memento's London Fog ink and I added a pearl in the center:

An older Paper Pumpkin sentiment was stamped on the inside; not sure if it was the ink or my poor old stamp, but this was the best impression I could get!

Another Christmas card added to my stash!

This weekend we attended a "sprinkle" (instead of a shower) for my niece Paige, who is expecting her third child in January and it's a girl! After two boys, we're so excited!  She will have three under the age of three though....that's why God gives us children when we're YOUNG!  My other niece, her sister Kelly, did all the food and decorating.  She is our family's Martha Stewart for sure.  Check out these lemon cupcakes (and they were DELICIOUS):

The whole table was lined with arrangements like this:

Cassidy was in her glory, because Maven was there too!

Here we are with the happy momma-to-be!

Thanks for indulging me with pix of the family!  And thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Merry Snowflakes, Christmas Words (Impression Obsession), Paper Pumpkin Snowflakes
Card stock & Papers	Thick Basic White
Ink	Craft White, Pretty in Pink, London Fog (Memento)
Accessories	Festive Pearls, White Embossing Powder
Tools	Heat Tool, Blending Brush

CAS on Sunday 294-Jack & Cat

Happy Wednesday, peeps! The CAS on Sunday challenge this week is Halloween!  I got this howling cat stamp several years ago and always ensure he makes at least one appearance in October!  My card is uber-CAS; just one layer, no embellishments or frou-frou!  Here we go: 

I stamped my cat in Versafine Black ink, then stamped it again on a piece of masking paper and fussy-cut him out.  I laid the masking paper on top of the stamped image, then stenciled a big yellow/orange moon behind him, and finally, colored in his pumpkin:

I added some stamped black stars, some orange "twinkle" and a little "boo" as my sentiment!  I wish I had stamped the image a little lower because it looked top-heavy, so I trimmed off the bottom a bit to even it up, LOL!   Easy peasy and this little kitty is already in the mail!  

 I am also going to add this over at the Double D Challenges where there are looking for a pumpkin!

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Seaside Wishes (twinkle), Jack & Cat (100 Proof Press), Halloween (Recollections), Paper Pumpkin (for the star)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Acetate for Stencil, Masking Paper
Ink	Versafine Black, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories
Tools	Blending Brush, Pumpkin Pie Marker

Sketched Butterfly Birthday

Happy Friday, peeps! BOY is it hot!  I wonder how I ever survived living in my house without A/C!!!  What a wimp I am!  Anyway, I stayed inside this morning, stamping and coloring and diecutting!  Here we go:

As You See It has a wonderful color challenge this week, and Tuesday Morning Sketches has an equally wonderful sketch:

When I first saw the colors, I had a totally different project in mind, but I also knew I wanted to play with my new Sketched Butterflies sets, so I decided to use the large butterfly as a focal point.  Now, I know there are probably NO butterflies that look like this, but that's the beauty of art--you can make anything any color you want! After watercoloring the different panels on the butterfly, I found some scraps of DSP to match the challenge colors and they formed my banners:

I didn't space my banners correctly, so my butterfly is hanging over the edge of my card, so I made a custom envelope with some retired DSP and the retired Envelope Punch Board to make sure it fit!  A pretty sentiment and some more butterflies went on the inside!

And since CAS on Sunday is looking for watercoloring, I'm entering it there as well!

Thanks so much for popping in today!  Stay cool, enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Sketched Butterflies
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Watercolor Paper, DSP in Daffodil Delight, Blueberry Bushel and Granny Apple Green (all ret)
Ink	Stazon Black, Daffodil Delight, Blueberry Bushed, Granny Apple Green
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Sketched Butterflies Dies, Aquapainter

You Are My Sunshine

Happy Saturday, peeps! I have a quick card to post before my stampers get here this morning!  It fulfills three challenges: TGIF is looking for a pocket full of posies; As You See It wants to know what  color I use the least is; and CAS on Sunday wants sunshine!

So here we go:

I knew right away I would choose yellow as my least-used color! It's not that I dislike it, I just don't gravitate towards it very often.  And that fit in perfectly with a sunshine theme!  And I admit that when I looked at the TGIF challenge, I missed the "posies" part of it, but perhaps my little image on my tag could be a sunflower?!  The sentiment is from the retired Ridiculously Awesome set, stamped in Daffodil Delight on Lemon Lolly cardstock:

I created a pocket with one of the Timeless Tag dies, stamped a sentiment from a past Paper Pumpkin on the front and added some yellow embellishments:

I then added a tag to tuck into the pocket, using the same Paper Pumpkin set to stamp the sunshine-shaped flower and added a gingham center.  The sentiment is from a Paper Studio set.

I also embossed the front with the Stitched With Whimsy die for fun.  My friend just went through some surgery, so this is going to her to cheer her up!

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Ridiculously Awesome (ret), Paper Pumpkin (ret), Everyday Expressions (Paper Studio)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Lemon Lolly, Yellow Gingham (ret)
Ink	Daffodil Delight, Lemon Lolly
Accessories	Lemon Lolly Twine, Matte Dots (ret), Dimensional Sheets
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stitched With Whimsy Die, Tailored Tags Dies

PP677 Friends

Happy Sunday, peeps! Hope your weekend is going along okay! Ann is our hostess at the Paper Players this week and her CAS theme is a fun one:

 

I pulled out a stamp from a set that I got a few years back from Rare Image Stamps, not even sure if they're still in business, but I love these detailed vintage images for clean-and-simple cards!  Here we go:

I stamped these friends on thick Very Vanilla cardstock using Stazon ink, then just watercolored them in!  Easy peasy!  No ruffles or frills at all for my clean-and-simple card!  The sentiment is from the retired Storybook Friends; I cut all the sentiments apart from their images, so I could get double use from them!  I added a simple birthday sentiment on the inside to finish it off! 

I am also entering this at the CAS on Sunday challenge, which is to make a card for a boy, as well as the Krafty Chicks challenge, which is also looking for CAS!

I hope you'll play along with our Paper Players challenge this week.  Sometimes clean-and-simple cards can be a challenge to make; we all love to add layers and embellishments, don't we?  But we hope you'll give it a try and share it with us at the PP blog!  Thanks for visiting today! Enjoy it and be blessed!

A sweet friendship refreshes the soul. Proverbs 27:9

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Storybook Friends (ret), Friends (Rare Image Stamps), Itty Bitty Backgrounds
Card stock & Papers	Thick Very Vanilla
Ink	Stazon, Azure Afternoon, Real Red, Pecan Pie, Mint Macaron (ret), Garden Green, Blushing Bride (ret)< Soft Sky (ret)
Accessories
Tools	Aquapainter

CAS On Sunday Just For You

Happy Tuesday, peeps! My card today is for CAS On Sunday's Just for You challenge! I needed a simple birthday card for an elderly lady in our church, so this fit the bill!  Not sure if this is CAS enough for this challenge...it does have several layers, so it may not qualify!  But here we go::

A while back, I stamped and colored several of these cupcakes from Circle Saying, and as I needed a birthday card, I just fussy-cut one out and plopped it on a card! This is my last one; I put it on a Bubble Bath polka-dotted DSP, added a little pink gem and put it on a panel that was embossed with the Stitched With Whimsy die.  The sentiment is from an old Verve set.

A birthday sentiment from Throughout The Year went on the inside of the Bubble Bath card:

I also added some Wink of Stella...I wish it would show up in photos...such a pretty layer of shine!  Thanks for popping in today---enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Throughout the Year, Circle Sayings, Cup of Tea (Verve)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Bubble Bath, Bubble Bath DSP
Ink	Memento Black
Accessories	Gem, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stitched With Whimsy Dies, Stylish Shapes Dies, Blends, Wink of Stella

Very Merry Scotties

Happy Saturday, peeps! Hope you have a good weekend planned!  I am squeaking in one more Christmas card for the year; I always send my niece a Scottie card, as she has three of them!  I don't remember if I sent her one with this little lineup before...if I did, I am sure she'll forgive me!

The challenge from CAS on Sunday is to use black, white and one other color, so I chose to use some Poppy Parade gingham that I printed digitally as a background for my Scottie lineup:

The die is from Cottage Cutz; I added a little scallop border and embossed the front of my card with a Darice Snowflake embossing folder.  My sentiment, from CC Designs, was stamped in Versafine Black and I added a glitter scallop behind it...a little redder than the Poppy Parade, but hopefully she'll not notice!

Except for a few stragglers, I think I've got almost all my cards mailed!!!  Thanks for visiting today! Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Jolly Christmas (CC Designs)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Basic Black, Poppy Parade, Real Red Glimmer (ret), Gingham (digitally printed)
Ink	Versafine Black
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, Scottie Lineup Die (Cottage Cutz), Stitched Borders Dies (Lawn Fawn), Layering Circles Dies (ret), Snowflake Embossing Folder (Darice)

Vintage Halloween Cat

Happy Monday, peeps! Hope you had a good weekend!  We had a gorgous warm day on Saturday, then cool and rainy on Sunday! From one end of the spectrum to the other!  I have one last Halloween card for you, since I hadn't used one of my favorite images this year, and the JUGS challenge of CAS using just the center of your card, as well as the CAS on Sunday challenge to use an animal, reinforced my idea! 

So here we go:

I had a piece of Crumb Cake that was a wee bit smaller than a standard-sized card, so I used that and stenciled a "moon" of Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie and Cajun Craze.  I stamped my little vintage cat on a broom in Versafine Black and added an old Crafty Secrets sentiment:

I also embossed the outer edges wtith the Stitched with Whimsy dies....not sure if I should have done it or let it alone...but it is what it is!  I added a Rubbernecker sentiment on the inside:

This was quick and easy and still just one layer! Woohoo!  Thanks for popping in today!  And how about a couple more vintage Halloween postcards?

This one is from my great-uncle Hutch to his brother Bob...apparently he had a cold!  It strikes me funny that first he asked how his cold was, then he hoped everyone was well, LOL!  It's dated October 30, 1913!

This is one of my favorites, with those big pumpkin and moon faces!  I think the little boy's hair is standing straight up on end!

This is to my great-uncle Bruce from his Uncle John.  He tells Bruce he hopes he has all his pumpkins in by this time!  I remember Uncle Bruce and Uncle Bob, but Uncle Hutch and Uncle John were gone by the time I was born!  It's fun to have these remembrances though!

Thanks for visiting today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Vintage Halloween (Crafty Secrets), Cat on a Broom (Victorian Greetings), Halloween Set 1 (Rubbernecker)
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake
Ink	Pumpkin Pie, Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze, Versafine Black
Accessories
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stitched With Whimsy Dies, Blending Brushes, Circle Stencil