ICC207 A Non-traditional Valentine

 Happy Wednesday, peeps! The Inspire.Create.Challenge this week wants to see something new!  

I recently got this beautiful embossing folder called Stone & Vine--it's a bit of a sleeper in the catalog, easy to overlook!  I chose it to make a non-traditional Valentine!  It's a square card, 4 1/4", and it's also blue!  Here we go:

I embossed a piece of Misty Moonlight with the embossing folder, then swiped my Craft White ink pad across the raised areas.  I added a sentiment from Encircled With Love, making sure the hummingbird's tail didn't get cut off, then mounted it all on a Cloud Cover card base:

Another new product is this pretty Cloud Cover Textured Ribbon---oh so soft!  

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Encircled With Love
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Cloud Cover, Misty Moonlight
Ink	Misty Moonlight, Craft White
Accessories	Cloud Cover Textured Ribbon, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stone & Vine Embossing Folder, Layering Circles Dies (ret)

Five-Minute Christmas Card

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  There are a couple of Christmas card challenges out there this week; 52 Christmas Card Throwdown wants a "quick" Christmas card, and Inspire.Create also wants a Christmas card:

I got these beautiful papers from Divinity Designs at the end of last year, and they make for a very quick, beautiful card....I just trimmed them down, mounted them on a card front and stamped a sentiment:

This sentiment, stamped in Mossy Meadow, is from the retired Shine Bright:

The inside sentiment is from the retired Greatest Part of Christmas:

I did add a couple of snowflake sequins for fun, but the whole thing took about five minutes.  It took me longer to unjam my bottle of glue than it did to make the card!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Greatest Part of Christmas (ret), Shine Bright (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Soft Stone (Papertrey), Vintage Winter Card Fronts (Divinity Designs)
Ink	Mossy Meadow
Accessories	Snowflake Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)
Tools

AHSC646 Christmas Patchwork

Hello, stamping friends! We have a fun Atlantic Hearts sketch for you this week:

I recently got these stitched strip dies from Taylored Expressions, and they were perfect for this sketch!  I had lots of scraps left from my Echo Park Christmas papers, so I just cut a bunch of them in coordinating colors.  Here's the end result:

To make adhering the strips easier, I put a piece of adhesive sheet on a piece of 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" scrap paper, then placed them down on the adhesive, butting each edge up against the others.  Piece of cake!  I added a tag with a sentiment from the new set Pine Tree Trimmings, and a glimmer "bow" that will make it easy to mail!

I added a sentiment from Words for the Season, along with another stitched strip:

This may look like a challenging sketch, but once you get started, it's not hard at all!  Great to use up all those scrappy strips we all have hanging around!  I hope you'll play with us at Atlantic Hearts this week! And I am going to pop this in over at Inspire.Create as well, as they're looking for Christmas! 

Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Words for the Season, Pine Tree Trimmings
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Mossy Meadow, Ruby Glimmer Paper (CTMH), Christmas Salutations & Santa Claus Lane (Echo Park)
Ink	Mossy Meadow
Accessories
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Pierced Blooms Dies (ret), Easy Strips Dies (Taylored Expressions), Rounded Rectangle Layers Dies (Impression Obsession)

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

Happy Summertime

Happy Friday, everyone! I had some time yesterday to make a fun little stenciled card using some Greetery products! It works for the Inspire.Create Challenge this week (Summer Vibes), and the stencil challenge from Just Us Girls: 

I used the Destination: Summer stamp and stencil set to create my card:

I basically copied the "map" that came with the sest, stenciling and stamping these little images to create my scene.  I did add a couple of sequins and some Wink of Stella:

The panel was adhered to a Summer Splash card, and I added a sentiment from the new The Right Words, along with a hibiscus image, on the inside:

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	The Right Words, Destination: Summer (The Greetery)
Card stock & Papers	Thick Basic White, Summer Splash
Ink	Summer Splash, Crumb Cake, Versafine Black, lots of others!
Accessories	Sequins (from my stash)
Tools	Destination:Summer Stencils (The Greetery)

Inspire.Create #189 Easter Wishes

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  Happy April!  Glad to turn a new page on my calendar!  I have a fun Easter card today; it uses some old and new stuff!  Here we go:

The new stuff (sentiment dies) comes from Simon Says Stamp's Happy Eggs, and it was stamped in Fresh Freesia!  The old stuff is the eggs, diecut with the retired Excellent Eggs Dies, as well as the Altenew cover plate background:

I diecut the eggs from Pretty in Pink, Lemon Lolly, Soft Sea Foam and Soft Sky cardstocks, then re-assembled them and added some My Favorite Things stitched flowers---another oldie!  Everything went on a Purple Posy card base, and another oldie was stamped on the inside; it's from CTMH's Easter Animals!

I am entering this in the Inspire.Create spring/Easter challenge:

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

"This is a true saying, to be completely accepted and believed: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I am the worst of them, but God was merciful to me in order that Christ Jesus might show his full patience in dealing with me, the worst of sinners, as an example for all those would later believe in him and receive eternal life.  To the eternal King, immortal and invisible, the only God--to him be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen." 1 Timothy 1:15-17

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Happy Eggs (Simon Says Stamp), Easter Animals (Close to My Heart)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Purple Posy, Pretty in Pink, Lemon Lolly, Soft Sky (ret), Soft Sea Foam, Fresh Freesia
Ink	Fresh Freesia
Accessories	Silver Pearls, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Excellent Eggs Dies (ret), Happy Eggs Dies (Simon Says Stamp), Dotted Swirls Cover Plate Die (Altenew), Stitched Flowers Dies (My Favorite Things)

Another Sympathy Card

Happy day-after-Christmas, everyone! I have been MIA with all my holiday preparations, but sadly, I needed another sympathy card this week! I snuck into my craft room a couple days ago and made this simple card.  It uses the sketch from Inspire.Create, and the colors from Creative Colour Challenges:

I pulled out an old wooden stamp from Stampscapes, along with some DSPs and this is what I came up with:

I used Basic Beige for the stamped panel and card, and Country Woods and Countryside Inn DSPs.  The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.  I was surprised how nice the Blueberry Bushel ink looked on the Basic Beige cardstock:

I used an older Our Daily Bread Designs verse for the inside, along with a Hero Arts sentiment as well:

My only embellishment was some Basic Beige ribbon.  The family who lost their mom used to have a bed and breakfast called the Log House, so I thought this image was appropriate.  So glad you popped in today!

So on Christmas, I had most of my immediate family, their children and grandchildren, for dinner and dessert.  That included four boys, ranging in ages from one to nine! And Maven was in the mix too with her almost-one-year-old voice!  The noise was deafening, but it was fun.  I recently saw a clip on FB where parents gave babies a choice of two things to play with; one was a toy and the other was something like a box, a spoon, or just something that you wouldn't think would capture their eye, but every time, the child went for the non-toy item!  Maven's mom sent me this video, which totally reinforces that idea (along with the dads who were involved as well!); be sure to turn up the audio, because listening to this little Cole laugh just made me laugh too:

And here's that little Maven herself with Aunt Dana! (And she was playing with a spoon!)

They just grow up so fast!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Teeny Tiny Wishes (ret), Scripture Collection 1 (Our Daily Bread Designs), Sentiments CL342 (Hero Arts), Lakeside Cabin (Stampscapes)
Card stock & Papers	Basic Beige, Countryside Inn DSP, Country Woods DSP
Ink	Night of Navy, Blueberry Bushel
Accessories	Basic Beige Ribbon, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stitched Rectangle Dies (ret), Banner Dies (Pretty Pink Posh)

Sweet Little Altoid Box

Happy Tuesday, peeps! Yesterday I resurrected an Altoids box that had been floating around my craft room after seeing this sweet card by my friend Lisa. I remembered that I had some of those Mintay papers, and like so many of the 6x6 pads I get, there are scrapbooking elements on some of the pages, which I never use. I thought it would be fun to incorporate them into a little vignette within my Altoids box.  The designs are both whimsical and elegant, and you'll see what I mean.  Here's the front:

All the papers and elements are from the Merry Little Christmas line by Mintay.  I used the Iconic Imagery die to cut out the snowflake paper for the front of the tin, then fussy cut the deer and that fierce-looking cardinal from the scrapbooking elements of the pad.  I did add a couple of diecut snowflakes as well.  Sentiment is from Our Daily Bread Designs, Mini Tag Sentiments.  Here's the back:

This time, I stamped a sentiment from Jolly Christmas by CC Designs and used the Nested Essential dies to cut it out.  And here's the inside; these papers are from the same pad but definitely have a more elegant feel:

I simply trimmed the papers to fit the inside, popping up the one on the right.  The left design is all one paper, the only addition is the sentiment (Tiny Words Christmas, from Simon Says Stamp), stamped on a scrap of the paper in Soft Succulent.  The right design has the flowers fussy-cut and popped up; same set for the sentiment.  Here are some closeups:

I did add a few glimmer paper leaves using the Timeless Arrangements dies and some retired glimmer paper, as well as a big silver wire bow.  A piece of retired Blushing Bride ribbon went around the outside, adhered with some Tear n' Tape:

This was loads of fun to make! I am going to enter this is the Inspire.Create challenge this week, which is "Anything But a Card" as well as the Peace on Earth challenge:

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

IC179 Golden Greenery for Fall

Happy Thursday, peeps! I really like the sketch from Inspire.Create this week, and I had the idea to use the Golden Greenery stamp set in fall colors!  Here's the sketch:

I stamped and diecut several pieces from the bundle and arranged them like so:

The plaid strip is from some retired DSP, and the grosgrain is retired also.  I tucked in a few little stamped and punched leaves from the retired Beautiful Autumn, and the sentiment is from the same set.  A few gold embellishments gave it a little pizzazz:

Finally, a birthday sentiment from Simply Said combined with another sentiment from Beautiful Autumn went on the inside:

I struggled a bit with this set when I first received it, but I can see the versatility of it now!  I am also going to add this to the Krafty Chicks challenge of All Occasions this week!  Thanks for popping in today!

Yesterday I showed a picture of Maven; today, Sawyer gets top billing:

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

With all my heart I call to you; answer me, Lord and I will obey your commands!  Psalm 119:145

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Golden Greenery, Beautiful Autumn (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Orchard Harvest DSP (ret)
Ink	Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Peach Pie, Pecan Pie, Crushed Curry, Wild Wheat, Copper Clay, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Merry Merlot (ret)
Accessories	Dimensionals, Gold Dots (ret), More Mustard Grosgrain (ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Golden Greenery Dies, Timeless Arrangements Dies (ret), Leaf Punch Pack (ret)

IC177 Boo!

Happy gray Monday, peeps! Tonight is Christmas card stamp camp, so this will be quick, as was my card!  The Inspire.Create challenge is to CASE the designer with this card:

What a fun sketch! I have several Halloween stamps that I like to use at least once during the season, and this little vintage cat on a broom is one of them:

The papers were a gift from one of my stamping girls; I looked through several catalogs and I honestly cannot remember these papers from SU but I am sure they are!  My eyes must be really getting bad because I thought for sure there was some gray in them, hence the Basic Gray base, but obviously, the dots are Old Olive.....but hopefully it still looks okay!  I stamped the cat on Basic Beige and partially cut out the broom, then used a Stitched Shape circle die to cut it out:

I lightly stamped the grunge image from the retired Label Me Bold to give him a spooky background!  The sentiment is an old stamp from Recollections, diecut with a banner die and matted with another Basic Gray banner and some old enamel dots:

On the inside, some more grunge and a sentiment from the retired Little Delights:

Such a fun and easy card to make!  And speaking of fun cards, my friend Beth sent me this one; the front is a bookmark that can be removed!  So cute:

Thanks, Beth!  And here are a couple more pictures from the fair; I didn't get many but I always like to see the giant pumpkins! I wonder how they transported them?

Charlie Brown would be proud of both of these "great pumpkins"!!  Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Label Me Bold (ret), Halloween (Recollections), Vintage Cat on Broom (Victorian Greetings)
Card stock & Papers	Basic Beige, Basic Gray, Halloween DSP (ret)
Ink	Versafine Black, Smoky Slate
Accessories	Dimensionals, Enamel Dots (ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Basic Borders Dies (ret), Stitched Shapes Dies (ret)