Hello Sweet Friend

Happy Thursday, peeps! I have a fun little card today for three challenges; the FMS sketch, the friend of mine challenge at Little Red Wagon, and the envelope challenge from CAS on Sunday:

So here we go:

I started with a little scrap of Pool Party DSP and created an envelope with it using the Love Notes dies, then added a little note stamped with the "hello" to tuck inside. I stamped some hearts from the retired Wood Words in Blushing Bride ink and mounted both on a panel of Pool Party diecut with the Perennial Postage dies and stamped with Elements of Text.  I had one last little piece of this twine that I wrapped around the envelope, then mounted it on a piece of DSP. The DSP is actually Petal Pink; I always get those two colors mixed up, but it'll have to do, LOL!

My final addition was the "sweet friend" from Poppy Stamps, stamped on a little banner.  You'll see some of these papers again tomorrow--spoiler alert!  Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Scalloped Wishes, Elements of Text (ret), Wood Words (ret), Whittle Sayings (Poppy Stamps)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Pool Party, Petal Pink DSP (ret), Pool Party DSP (ret)
Ink	Lost Lagoon, Blushing Bride, Pool Party
Accessories	Blushing Bride Twine (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Love Notes Dies (ret), Perennial Postage Dies, Banner Dies (Pink & Main), Stitched Rectangle Dies (ret)

CAS on Sunday 329 Aspen Birthday

Happy Tuesday, all!  Have you gotten any recent SU sets in the new packaging?  Although I like the slim design, I find that while they're stored sideways on my shelf, I can't see the names of the sets, so I forget that I have them!  That's what happened with the new set called Aspen Grove!!  As I was going through them anew, I thought the images would be great for the sketch at CAS on Sunday:

I needed a quick masculine birthday card, so here's what I came up with:

The trees were stamped in Gray Granite and Garden Green; the sentiment from the retired Suite Sayings, also stamped in Garden Green.  I used two circle dies to cut it out:

This whipped up quickly! I love this sketch as it's quite versatile, too!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world."  John 16:33

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Aspen Grove, Suite Sayings (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Garden Green
Ink	Garden Green, Gray Granite
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, ZigZag Edge Dies (unknown maker)

CAS On Sunday 325 Let It Snow

Happy Saturday, peeps!  I have a quick, CAS card for the CAS on Sunday challenge, which is "snowman"!  I have lots of snowman images, but this Tim Holtz one is a wee bit more "vintage", and I haven't used it yet this season!  So here we go:

I stamped the snowman in Secret Sea ink, and added some snowflakes in Cloud Cover.  I made a smudge, so I added a couple of snowflake sequins.  The "Let it Snow" sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp, and the stitching around the edge is the retired Stitched With Whimsy die.

On the inside, a sentiment from the retired Christmas Pines, as are the snowflakes.

Fun, simple and easy! Thanks, CAS on Sunday, for a great challenge!  And thank you for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Christmas Pines (ret), Tiny Words Christmas (Simon Says Stamp), Winterscape (Tim Holtz)
Card stock & Papers	Thick Basic White
Ink	Secret Sea, Cloud Cover
Accessories	Snowflake Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stitched With Whimsy Dies (ret)

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