LIM489 A Little Hi From Me

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope you had a good weekend!  I have an uber-easy, CAS note card today for the Less Is More one-layer photo challenge:

Isn't that a sweet inspiration photo?  It made me instantly think of one of my favorite SU stamps called Garden Pleasures....it has a sweet little straw hat and some wee little birdies!  So here we go:

I warned you it was uber-easy and CAS!  I stamped each image in Saddle Brown Stazon, then watercolored them with ink and an aquapainter.  I added a wee little bit of shading using an oval stencil and a blending brush.  I added some speckles too, very lightly stamped in Lemon Lolly ink:

Finally, I stamped a sentiment from Special Moments next to a little bird at the bottom of the card:

Cutie patootie!  Thanks for popping in today!

Saturday night ice cream night---even for the pups!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Garden Pleasures (ret), Special Moments (ret), Itty Bitty Backgrounds (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Thick Very Vanilla
Ink	Saddle Brown Stazon, Crushed Curry, Crumb Cake, Pecan Pie, Lemon Lolly, Hello Honey (ret)
Accessories
Tools	Aquapainter, Blending Brush

Casology Straw Hat Anniversary

Happy Monday, peeps!  Weird weather this weekend....very warm for March.  It makes me nervous, like we're going to get "rewarded" with a snowstorm next week or something, LOL!  Anyway, can't do a thing about it so I just go to my stamp room and stamp!  A couple in our church are celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary!  Casology had a fun challenge of "hat" and I had been wanting to use this straw hat image from one of my absolute favorite retired sets, Garden Pleasures.  

So here we go:

I needed my card to be really clean and simple, so I just placed my stamp (it's an old wood one but I took it off the block) in my Stamparatus and stamped it in Memento Black, cleaned it and then stamped again in Versamark without moving it.  Then I heat-embossed it with clear embossing powder and simply colored it with an aquapainter and reinkers.  Normally I don't like to watercolor on regular cardstock because it pills, but with the embossing and it being a smaller image, it worked great! 

I added a sentiment from the SAB set Special Moments and a few speckles from Color and Contour, then stamped my sentiments from the retired Number of Years on the inside:

70 years is amazing.....a real testimony to their commitment to each other and to the Lord!  Thanks for popping in today!

The saga of Eden and the dog bed continues:

No caption needed, LOL!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Color and Contour, Special Moments (ret), Garden Pleasures (ret), Number of Years (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla
Ink	Versamark, Memento Black, Crushed Curry, Bumblebee, Cinnamon Cider, Misty Moonlight, Flirty Flamingo
Accessories	Clear Embossing Powder
Tools	Aquapainter, Corner Rounder Punch (ret), Heat Tool, Stamparatus

TCC155 Garden Pleasures

Hello stampers!  Wednesday brings us a new Card Concept challenge...look at this lovely spring inspiration:

 

I was inspired by the bee skeps and the birdhouses to pull out one of my all-time favorites, Garden Pleasures!  I wanted to incorporate several of the images into my card, so I stamped some of them on watercolor paper, colored them in with ink and an aquapainter, and diecut them out for my card today:

I love the details in these images, always have, and I always enjoy coloring them in!

I added a little bee from a different stamp set and mounted everything on a Crushed Curry DSP mat and a Very Vanilla card base.

I would describe this style as clean and layered (my usual!!).  I hope you'll play along too...check out the styles at the Card Concept blog, then let us know what inspired you and your style as well!  Thanks for popping in today!

Yesterday the weather FINALLY turned a bit more seasonal (it has been a wee bit chilly the last few days) and I was able to put out the flowers that Dana bought me for Mother's Day.  I found this sweet little bumblebee warming herself on my hanging begonia:

That made me smile!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

"Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." Proverbs 16:24

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Garden Pleasures (ret), Bee Happy (Darcie's)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Watercolor, Crushed Curry DSP (ret)
Ink	Stazon Black, Bumblebee, Cinnamon Cider, Cajun Craze, Sahara Sand, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies (ret), Stitched Rectangle Dies, Aquapainter

RRCB141 Anything Goes

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  I took a little break yesterday but I am back today with a new Retro Rubber challenge, where we ask you to give some love to your older stamps!  This week we have an Anything Goes challenge:

 

I pulled out one of my favorite SU stamps ever ever ever, Garden Pleasures from 2001.  I just love the detailed artwork on these stamps!  I stamped the birdhouse in Stazon Black on some watercolor paper and watercolored it in with ink and an aquapainter:

After coloring it, I fussy-cut it out, then stamped it again on a stitched circle and popped it up on some dimensionals.  Before doing that, I colored in the sky with some Soft Sky ink and sponged the edges to give it an vintage look:

The sketch that I used is from Inkspire Me, and I used papers from Graphic 45's Botanical Tea 6x6 pad, diecut with a stitched rectangle die:

After embellishing the front with some seam binding and a couple of candy dots, I stamped two more images at the bottom of the inside, along with a sentiment from the same set and a sentiment from Woven Heirlooms, stamped over a straw hat:

So happy that you stopped in today, and I hope that you'll play along with our Retro Rubber challenge over at the RR blog!  Just make sure your stamp is at least a year old, and be sure to tell us the age in your post!  Can't wait to see what you create!

Over the weekend, John, his sister and her husband and I all went tubing down the Tulpehocken Creek west of Reading, PA.   Of course, we just had a hurricane on Wednesday, and Friday evening it rained again, so we were concerned about the water...would it be fast, high, muddy, etc?  It was perfect and we spent three lazy hours just drifting down the little stream!  I only took photos at the beginning, as we couldn't take our phones with us:

It was a blast!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Woven Heirlooms, Garden Pleasures (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Watercolor, Naturals White (ret), Botanical Tea DSP (Graphic 45)
Ink	Stazon Black, Balmy Blue, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Soft Sky (ret)
Accessories	Candy Dots, Soft Sky Seam Binding (both ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies, Layering Circles Dies, Sponge Dauber, Aquapainter

RRCB109 Anything Goes in a Garden

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  It's time again for the latest Retro Rubber Challenge, where we challenge you to use stamps at least one year old!  This week, it's "Anything Goes"!  Yay!  That's always fun!

My SIL has a birthday coming up, and she loves to garden, which gave me a chance to use one of my all-time favorite older SU stamps. Garden Pleasures, from 2001--wow, that's 18 years ago! So here we go:

I used the Global Design Project's sketch for this week, flipping it so my little birds would be looking at each other:

I stamped my image on Shimmery White cardstock, watercoloring it with an aquapainter and inks:

I added a sweet little Be Mine diecut Kraft element at the bottom, after cutting the image out with the Stitched Rectangle die (shortening it a wee bit).  The little sentiment banner is from a set called Small Sayings, from 2006; the inside birthday sentiment is from Better Together (2016); the rest of the images are from the same Garden Pleasures set:

I hope she likes it!  And I hope you'll play along with us as well!  Remember, stamps have to be at least a year old, and you must tell us the age in your post!  Check out all the DT samples at the Retro Rubber blog!  Hope to see you there!

Speaking of gardening, Cassidy is getting into her own little gardening groove:

Dana said she did this planter all by herself!  I think I need to put her to work on my patio!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Better Together, Garden Pleasures (ret), Small Sayings (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Naturals White, Shimmery White, Crumb Cake, Kraft (ret), Precious Memories DSP (Graphic 45)
Ink	Stazon, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, So Saffron, Balmy Blue, Flirty Flamingo
Accessories	Linen Thread, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Be Mine Dies, Radiant Sunflower Die (for circle) (Simon Says Stamp), Aquapainter

Curtain Call Birdhouse

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  It's the middle of the week, yay!  The Curtain Call challenge this week is so sweet, I just had to play along!  Check out this sweet inspiration photo:

I pulled out my favorite birdhouse image from Garden Pleasures and stamped it on some watercolor paper, then colored it with an aquapainter and reinkers in Watermelon Wonder, Soft Suede, Crushed Curry and Crumb Cake:

I had some digital gingham paper already printed up, found it in my stash and I thought it worked perfectly with this country image!  I did use a mat of a new In Color called Flirty Flamingo, and I also used a new scalloped square die....both will be in the upcoming catalog!  I added a little linen bow to the birdhouse:

and finally, a little sentiment from Stamplorations (Trendy Feathers), stamped on the banner from the Large Numbers Framelit, accented with a little flower:

I know the trend nowadays is to make cards that are more eclectic and free-style, but I do love this more structured, layered look....it just makes me smile!  Now....to whom should I send this little note??  Maybe it will be in YOUR mailbox!

Cassidy had been bugging me for days to make "slime"...we called it flubber...so we went to work with some glue, dye and borax:

It worked!  It's really weird-feeling, but it kept her entertained for quite a while!

Thanks for popping in today!

ColourQ 238

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  How about this fresh, springy inspiration for everyone today:

Almost makes me want to be a hat-wearer!  Are you a hat-wearer?  I guess it’s because of the hairstyle that I have, I’ve never been able to wear hats.  (Except in the winter when I don’t care what my hair looks like!!!)  But they flatten my hair, give me static and I just feel silly when I have one on!  But there are many people who don’t feel self-conscious and look great!  I remember my mom wearing a hat in church, and John’s mother was known as the “hat lady” in her church; she wore a hat and gloves to church, right up until she passed away!

But here’s a hat that I will always love; it’s the straw hat from the retired Garden Pleasures, and I have enjoyed it many times:

Just a really simple card; I’ve used the Retrosketches sketch from this week:

did a little watercoloring with my aquapainter and inks, added a ribbon, button and a little krafty rickrack at the bottom, and it was done:

Sentiment is from retired Sweet Little Sentiments.  Hope you have a splendid day….and come play with us at the ColourQ and use these sweet colors Arielle chose for us this week!

Our church participated in a baby bottle campaign; the bottles, filled with change, go to a local pregnancy center.  Cassidy was thrilled to put all that change in the bottle!

PDC190

Happy Friday, peeps! Phew, what a long week this was!  I am happy to see the end of it and meet with my club girls tonight!  When I saw the Play Date Café challenge this week, I knew immediately what to submit!  Here’s the challenge:

I actually made this last month but never posted it.  My sister has bee hives and was giving a gift of honey to friends for their anniversary.  Since I love bees too (but not to the extent of having hives!!!!), I had plenty of bee-themed stamps and happily made her a sweet little tag for her honey:

I used a plethora of images here; the main beehive is from an old SU stamp set called Garden Pleasures; the bee is from Nature Walk; the sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes; the honey comb is from MFT and the frame is from Waltzingmouse.  I sponged the edges and shabbied up some Daffodil Delight ribbon to give it a more vintage look:

I loved it so much, I hated to give it away, so maybe I’ll make another!  If you have any questions about specifics on the project, just shoot me an email!  Remember, if you leave a question in the comment box, I can’t always access your email to answer you personally!   Thanks for visiting today!