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)

FMS736 Hydrangea Hello

Happy Thursday, peeps!  I pulled out some old and new products for today's card!  It's for the FMS sketch challenge from Verena :

I love SU's new Hydrangea Hue---I am a big blue fan, and this is a lovely shade!  I also used the new Lazy Daisy embossing folder, some new Bloom Boutique papers and some old Pierced Blooms dies:

It's hard to see, but there are gold accents on the printed paper, so I added a gold foil strip, diecut with a stitched strip die, along with some gold leaves and little gold pearls.  I heat-embossed a sentiment from Prayers & Promises in gold as well:

Love all the flowers--what a cheerful card!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Prayers and Promises
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Gold Foil, Hydrangea Hue, Bloom Boutique DSP
Ink	Gold Encore (ret)
Accessories	Gold Pearls (ret), Dimensionals, Gold Embossing Powder
Tools	Big Shot, Lazy Daisy Embossing Folder, Pierced Blooms Dies (ret), Stitched Strips Dies 1/4" & 1/2" (Taylored Expressions), Heat Tool

FMS734 Make a Splash

Happy Thursday, everyone! Happy last day of April!  I just got the upcoming Online Exclusive Splash and Relax bundle and I just had to play with it for the FMS challenge this week!  Here's their sketch:

I was intrigued by this, especially with those rounded corners.  It's such an easy thing to do if you have a corner rounder punch and yet, I forget to do it!  So here we go with my little 4 1/4" square card:

Crisp Cantaloupe was one of my favorite colors, so I was thrilled to see it return!  I did a variety of diecuts in it, plus white and black, to create my card. I added some black and white gingham and a couple of black rhinestones and iridescent sequins as embellishments!

I mounted everything on a panel of Basic White, embossed with the Seaside embossing folder.  The inside sentiments were from the same set and the Rolling Waves set.

This will go to a friend from TOPS who loves going to the beach!  And I must confess (and I would love to hear opinions of other demonstrators) that I am struggling with these new ink pads.  As you can see, the sentiment is a bit blurry.  After I stamped this, I literally took a paper towel and wiped off some of the ink from the top of pad.  I remember some of the foam pads being exceptionally juicy, but this is not quite the same.  Anyone have any tips to get better, crisp images?  

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Splash & Relax, Rolling Waves
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Basic Black, Crisp Cantaloupe, Painted Patterns DSP
Ink	Barely Blush, Crisp Cantaloupe, Versafine Black
Accessories	Rhinestones, Iridescent Sequins (ret), Black & White Gingham (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Splash & Relax Dies, Seaside Embossing Folder (ret), Banner Dies (Pink & Main), Corner Rounder Punch (ret), Black Blend

FMS733 Spotlight on Geraniums

 Happy Monday again! I am squeaking in another card today for the FMS sketch:

I have to admit that I haven't made a spotlight card for a long time and almost just tossed this one in the trash after several attempts, but I finally managed to eke one out that I felt was good enough to share!  It uses a pretty image from Unity's March 2026 Kit of the Month called Good Vibes:

Still not sure about the mixing of the greens!  Anyway, I stamped one image in black and another in mint green, then diecut a circle from the blackone and watercolored it in:

I embossed a Soft Sea Foam panel with the Eyelet embossing folder, trimmed everything down, added a stitched scalloped border and a sweet sentiment from the same set, then popped up the spotlit image.  Fresh and springy!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Good Vibes (Unity)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Soft Sea Foam
Ink	Versafine Black, Poppy Parade, Pumpkin Pie, Pecan Pie, Seafoam (Catherine Pooler)
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies (ret), Be Mine Stitched Dies (ret),  Eyelet Embossing Folder, Banner Dies (Pink & Main), Aquapainter

FMS732 Feel Better Dragonfly

Happy Friday, peeps! Yay, the weekend is here!  I was playing with the Scalloped Wishes set and realized I hadn't used that pretty little dragonfly die yet, so I remedied that with the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

I still had some Pool Party Shimmer cardstock on my desk from yesterday's card, so I thought it would be fun to use it for my dragonfly BUT I added a little something extra to it; I colored it with some Azure Afternoon reinker ink to give it a deeper hue!  Here we go:

After coloring it with the ink, I mounted it on several diecut circles of cardstock and added two more circles from Not 2 Shabby's Rustic Blooms paper.  I embossed the left from of the card with the Greenery embossing folder, then added some sequins and a get well sentiment:

I love blue but I haven't used any of these hues for a while!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Unbounded Love (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Thick Basic White, Azure Afternoon, Pool Party Shimmer, Rustic Blooms (Not 2 Shabby)
Ink	Azure Afternoon
Accessories	Sequins from my Stash, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Greenery Embossing Folder (ret), Scalloped Wishes Dies, Spotlight on Nature Dies, Stylish Shapes Dies, Postage Collage Dies (Waffle Flower), Aquapainter, Word Window Punch (ret)

FMS731 To A Sweet Friend

 Happy Saturday, peeps! Hope you're having a good weekend so far! It is finally sunny here in SE PA, but the wind still thinks it's boss!  I have a fun little card today using Donna's sketch from FMS:

I kept thinking of all the little puppies in the Cutest Crew set, so I pulled out some retired Playful Pets DSP and went to work:

I stamped, colored and diecut the puppies, then mounted them on pieces of the DSP that were diecut with the retired Stitched Rectangle dies and matted with Real Red.  The sentiment is from Poppy Stamps Whittle Sayings:

The inside sentiment is from Cutest Crew:

Enjoy the rest of your day and be blessed!  Thanks for visiting!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Cutest Crew, Whittle Sayings (Poppy Stamps)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Real Red, Playful Pets DSP (ret)
Ink	Real Red, Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies (ret), Banner Dies (Pink & Main)

FMS730 Twas the Night Before Christmas

Happy Thursday, everyone!  I haven't made a Christmas card in ages, so I thought I'd better remedy that! I like to make them all year long so I'm not caught short come December!  I used the FMS sketch from Judy:

and a little diecut from a die that I got at Christmas time that had been sitting on my desk, unused!  I pulled out some holiday papers and stamps and went to work:

My papers are from Violet Studio Designs, and the diecut is from Paper Rose, diecut in Real Red cardstock.  The panel behind the stocking is stamped with a stamp from Concord & 9th called Joyful Noel, stamped in Soft Sea Foam, and the sentiment is from another Concord & 9th set called Merry Mantle.  I did add some polka dot embossing to go with the packages on the printed paper!

Another sentiment from the Merry Mantle set went inside, stamped in Evening Evergreen!

It was 80 degrees when I was making this card---not very spring-like, so I was hoping that thinking Christmas would cool me off!  Thanks for popping in today!   Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Merry Mantle, Joyful Noel (both Concord & 9th)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Real Red, Home for Christmas (Violet Studio Designs)
Ink	Real Red, Evening Evergreen, Soft Sea Foam
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stylish Shapes Dies, Banner Dies (Pink & Main), Stocking Die (Paper Rose), Perfect Polka Dots EF (ret)

FMS729 Rolling Waves

Happy Saturday, peeps!  I recently got the Rolling Waves bundle and I am struggling with it! I have seen beautiful things online using it, but haven't quite mastered how those diecut pieces line up properly, LOL!  I had a couple pieces already diecut, floating around on my desk, so I decided to use them with the FMS sketch this week:

So here we go:

This is way busier than I normally create, but I admit it was pretty fun to add all those little beachy embellishmeents!  I started with an oval and matching scallop of Basic Beige, then added a little piece of Everyday Happiness DSP for the "ocean".  I layered some of the surf diecuts on top after stamping some "sand" at the top of the oval.  Finally, I cut out the starfish and shells from some Shimmery White cardstock, then loosely watercolored them:

I struggled to figure out what my background should be, then remembered all the dreamy patterns in the Thoughtful Journey line, so I chose one of them.  My horizontal panel is a couple of layers of Metallic Mesh ribbon....it doesn't cover up the pattern of the paper, but adds some sparkle.  And speaking of sparkle, I added a few sequins!  I left the inside unstamped, so I can use this for any number of occasions!

Thursday night, Dana, my niece Kelly and I attended a craft class where we decorated concrete turtles in mandala style.  It was fun!  The turtle was already painted black and had a design lightly penciled in in chalk, so we just had to add our dots of color. Here is a sample from the teacher:

We got to choose our colors; originally, Cassidy was going to attend but had basketball practice, so Dana did hers in Cassidy's colors, which were predominately red:

We used styli and acrylic wands to dab on the paint.  Here's Kelly's---she really did an awesome job--check out the "bow" on her turtle's head and the eyelashes on her eyes:

It was a full house, too!

And here is my friend Beth's - she comes to my stamp classes too!  Very talented!

After all the painting is done, they're sprayed with acrylic sealer, so they're waterproof and nice and shiny!  Dana's, Kelly's and mine are in the back row from the left!  It was fun and everyone's looked amazing!

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Rolling Waves
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Basic Beige, Thoughtful Journey DSP, Everyday Happiness DSP, Shimmery White (ret)
Ink	Crumb Cake, Pecan Pie, Daffodil Delight, Petal Pink, Pool Party, Highland Heather
Accessories	Sequins (ret), Dimensionals, Metallic Mesh Ribbon (ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Rolling Waves Dies, Blending Brushes, Aquapainters

FMS727 Pink Butterflies

Happy Friday, peeps! What a crazy day we had yesterday; we lost our electricity yesterday morning after several hours of flickering lights---crazy flickering, like strobe lights!  It triggered our GFI outlets, so we thought our refrigerator died, but blessedly John remembered the GFI.  Same thing happened when we went to make coffee....again, the GFI!!!  It took several hours for the electric company to come to make the repair (a transformer) but they had it fixed in minutes!  We went from 80 degree temps one day to snow and 30 degree temps the next!  Then the sun came out and melted it all!  March has been crazy!  I did finally get a few minutes to make a card for my college roommate, who fell and broke her ankle!  I already had the pieces on my desk for another project, so it came together fairly quickly.  I used the FMS sketch:

and here we go:

I embossed the Bubble Bath panel with an embossing folder called Butterfly Burst, then added a stitched frame, a stitched and embossed arch, and some pretty diecut butterflies.  The Bubble Bath shimmer cardstock is pretty in real life, but it's a challenge to see the shimmer here! Plus I wish it matched a little better. Oh well.

A sentiment from the retired Teeny Tiny Wishes was stamped in Pretty in Pink, and I stamped an encouraging get well message on the inside:

Getting ready for a card class tomorrow, so I'm outta here! Thanks for popping in; enjoy your day and be blessed! 

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Teeny Tiny Wishes (ret), Get Well Soon (Close to My Heart)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Bubble Bath, Bubble Bath Shimmer
Ink	Pretty in Pink, Versafine Black
Accessories	Mini Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machione, Stitched Rectangle Dies (ret), Sketched Butterfly Dies (ret), Perfect Polka Dots EF (ret), Butterfly Burst EF (Simon Says Stamp), Banner Dies (Pink & Main)

FMS726 Spring is Here

Happy Thursday, all!  My friend Colleen (you can visit her blog HERE) makes the BEST vintage-style cards and I've been so inspired by her creations I just had to create one myself!  I used the sketch from FMS:

and pulled out an old stamp from Artistic Outpost called Birds of a Feather:

I stamped my bird once on a Basic Beige tag, then again on a scrap, and fussy-cut just the bird, popping it back up on the tag.  I added some scripty words and speckles, some shading, a wee bit of Old Olive coloring and a hand-dyed shabby seam binding ribbon:

My papers are from  Prima's Farm Sweet Farm pad.  On the inside, I used a couple of older Crafty Secrets stamps for some birthday wishes.  I miss Crafty Secrets AND Artistic Outpost; they made great vintage images!

And since this is a birthday card, I am entering this at Krafty Chicks as well:

Speaking of birthdays, we were finally able to celebrate the first birthday of my great-niece Ava.  Every time the party was scheduled, it snowed!  Her aunt Kelly, who is the "Martha Stewart" of our family, created these cakes for the big day; one for Ava (and her brothers) to smash, and one for the adults!  They were beautiful!  Isn't she a cutie:

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Elements of Text (ret), Birds of a Feather (Artistic Outpost), Home Sweet Home (Crafty Secrets), Garden Notes (Crafty Secrets)
Card stock & Papers	Basic Beige, Farm Sweet Farm (Prima)
Ink	Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Old Olive
Accessories	Pearls, Dimensionals, Seam Binding (from my stash), Old Olive ink
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Sponge Daubers, Tailor Made Tags dies (ret), Blender Pen

FMS724 Happy Easter

Happy gray, cloudy, foggy Thursday!  I have a cheerful little Easter card for you today, although I may have "overdone" the gingham part!  It uses the FMS sketch:

and some cute little Easter images from Pretty Pink Posh!  Here we go:

My images were stamped in Versafine black ink and colored with Blends and Copics, then diecut and mounted on some papers from Honey Bee and backed with a scalloped mat of Timid Tiger:

My sentiment is an oldie from Teeny Tiny Wishes, stamped on a Nestabilities banner die and threaded with some orange gingham ribbon!  I think these little images are so cute!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Teeny Tiny Wishes (ret), Easter Circles (Pretty Pink Posh)
Card stock & Papers	Thick Basic White, Timid Tiger, Bee Happy (Honey Bee)
Ink	Versafine Black, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories	Dimensionals, Gingham Ribbon
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stitched Labels Dies (ret), Stitched Scalloped Dies (unknown maker), Label Dies (Nestabilities), Blends, Copics

FMS723 Hippity Hoppity

 Happy Thursday, peeps!  A quick little card today--moving on to Easter!  FMS has a sweet sketch this week:

I just broke open my Easter Joy specialty paper and there are so many cute patterns in there! One that really caught my eye was a monochromatic pattern in Shy Shamrock, which is a color I haven't used very much!  I paired it with an old Easter set called Basket Bunch! So here we go:

Mr Bunny was stamped in Shy Shamrock, as well as the sentiment from Simon Says Stamp.  He his hopping against a cloud-embossed sky with his little Easter eggs:

Another sentiment from the same set went on the inside--love that simple font!

Thanks for "hopping" in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Baskset Bunch (ret), Happy Eggs (Simon Says Stamp)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Shy Shamrock, Easter Joy DSP
Ink	Shy Shamrock
Accessories	Pearl, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Nested Essentials Dies, Triple Flower Punch (ret), Basket Builder Dies (ret), Cloudy Day Embossing Folder (ret), Shaded Spruce Blend (to color pearl), Blender Pen