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

A Really Big Card!

Happy Thursday, peeps! My day is all mixed up today and I got a late start!  I did get in some stamping time this morning and my card fulfills three challenges:  JUGS (stencils); JAI (stencils & diecut) and Krafty Chicks (masculine):  

My friend Martha recently gave me a stencil called Listen to the Sea, from Hero Arts.  It is a BIG stencil!!!  I didn't want to lose any part of it, so this is a big card!!  It's 5 1/4 x 6 1/2"!!!  So here we go:

I stenciled in the different "waves" with variou blue inks, then added a little sailboat that I heat embossed on vellum with black embossing powder and diecut with a Stylish Shapes dies.  It was colored in with Blends:

Since the card base was Secret Sea, I added a white panel on the inside and stamped my birthday sentiment from Sweet Ice Cream:

I just love this stencil---it's big but really has a lovely message!  Perfect for a guy card! And I had to make a special envelope for it because it was so big!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Choose Happy, Sweet Ice Cream (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Vellum (ret), Secret Sea
Ink	Night of Navy, Misty Moonlight, Azure Afternoon, Balmy Blue, Versamark, Versafine Black
Accessories	Mini Dimensionals, Black Embossing Powder
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, Heat Tool, Blends, Blending Brush, Listen to the Sea Stencil (Hero Arts), White Gel Pen (Posca)

Latte Love for My Friend

Happy Friday, peeps! This will be short and sweet, as I'll be stamping with my friends at the retirement community today! They'll be small in number but we'll still have fun!

I needed a birthday card for my college roommate, and the color palette at the Color Throwdown looked like fun, but I am pretty sure it's just those cookies talking to me, though!  They look delish! :

I pulled out a few scraps of DSP and a couple stamp sets and here's what I came up with:

First, I stamped some scripty words from the new Elements of Text on a Crumb Cake card base, then added some tan gingham paper as well as the Pretty in Pink DSP.  I embellished the edge with a couple of stitched border dies and added pink gingham ribbon.  I used one of the coffee images from Latte Love, and a sentiment from the retired Wood Words:

I am regretting putting that pink dot in the middle of the coffee, but it's done now, LOL!  A sentiment from Sketched Butterflies went on the inside:

I am going to enter this at Krafty Chicks also, where they're looking for birthdays!

My friend Mary and I go back to 1972 when we were in college together in East Orange, NJ.  How things have changed, but when we get together, we just pick up where we left off from our last visit! 

Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Elements of Text, Sketched Butterflies, Latte Love, Wood Words (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Basic White, Pecan Pie, Pretty in Pink DSP, Chicken Scratch (Papertrey)
Ink	Pecan Pie, Crumb Cake
Accessories	Party Dots, Dimensionals, Pink Gingham Ribbon (ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Latte Love Dies, Stylized Shapes Dies, Banner Dies (Pretty Pink Posh), Be Mine Stitched Dies (ret), Stitching Lines Dies (Ellen Hutson), Sponge Dauber

Mini Gift Card Holder

Happy Thursday, everyone!  I had an idea for a gift card holder and although this was just a "prototype", I thought I would share it anyway!  I am also entering it at Retro Rubber, where they have a color palette, and Krafty Chicks, where they're looking for Clean and Simple! 

The stamps I am using are from Picture Perfect Birthday, which came out in 2018.  Here we go:

I started out by making a note-card sized card with Lemon Lime Twist cardstock....this was a challenge to me, because this is definitely not a color I use very often, LOL!  I made a little 3D "box", stamped some "ribbon" in Lemon Lolly and Lemon Lime Twist (they're actually candles) on the front, and stamped the bow in Balmy Blue and Lost Lagoon to attach at the intersection of the ribbons.  The top of the box is 2" x 3".  I also added a little tag with a sentiment from Our Daily Bread Designs:

For some added texture, I added a panel of the same color, embossed with one of the Fun Patterns embossing folders.  Here's a side view of the box; you would need a special envelope, or maybe just an A4 envelope to accomodate the thickness.

On the inside, I added another sentiment from the same set and added an embossed pocket at the bottom in which to tuck a gift card or cash!

Again, this was just a prototype, so I'll be adjusting some dimensions and trying it again in the future!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Picture Perfect Birthday (ret, 2018), Mini Tag Sentiments (Our Daily Bread Designs, 2016)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Lemon Lime Twist
Ink	Lemon Lime Twist, Lemon Lolly, Balmy Blue, Lost Lagoon
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Fun Patterns Embossing Folder, Mini Tag Punch (ret)

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

Complimentary Peanuts

Happy Friday, peeps!  I have a silly little birthday card today for my brother; every time I look at this stamp set, it cracks me up, hopefully he'll get the humor too.  It uses the sketch from Try Stampin' On Tuesday as well as the Stamp Act challenge from Krafty Chicks and Felicita's  Tic Tac Toe challenge!  

I used the bottom row across of free, embellishment and diecut.  So here we go:

I used some papers from my stash; stamped the peanuts and loosely colored them with Blends, then stamped the "compliments" separately and popped them up after cutting them out:

Being the only boy in the family, this is probably pretty much how my brother sees himself anyway, so I'm sure he'll get it! LOL!  Just kidding!  But he does know he's pretty special! 

We got a nice little snowfall yesterday, it was fun to watch the flakes while I made cookies and decorated our tree!  This little bird didn't let the snow deter him:

And even Mr Fox was out and about:

 Thanks for popping in today; enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	That's Funny (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Misc DSP from my stash
Ink	Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow, Misty Moonlight
Accessories	Dimensionals, Enamel Dots (W+9)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Nested Essentials Dies, Large Banner Dies (Pink & Main), Crumb Cake Blend

CAS Berry Christmas

Happy Friday, peeps!  Hope you have some fun plans for the weekend!  In an effort to replenish my Christmas card supply, here's my weekly holiday creation!  This is a CAS card--one layer---to fulfill the Christmas Craft Creations challenge, and I am also entering it at the Krafty Chicks monthly Christmas challenge and the Jingle Belles challenge, which wants only cardstock! 

So here we go:

This is uber-CAS!  Sentiment and images are from Papertrey; the speckle is from Friends are Like Seashells!  I used Shaded Spruce for the greenery and Sweet Sorbet and Cherry Cobbler for the berries.  Speckles were stamped in Soft Succulent; easy peasy!

While watching old episodes of Inspector Lynley yesterday, I made a little felt doodad to display with my St Patrick's Day decor:

Sadly, I had NO kelly green in my felt stash...I guess I need to remedy that!  So I had to pick this sort of bluish green as an alternative!  Still looks cute!  I diecut everything with my Big Shot and various dies, then did a blanket stitched with embroidery floss.  I love felt!  Thanks for visiting today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Friends are Like Seashells, Beautiful Berries: Winter (Papertrey)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White
Ink	Shaded Spruce, Soft Succulent, Sweet Sorbet, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories
Tools	Corner Rounder Punch, Stamparatus, White Gel Pen

Vintage Country Bouquet

Happy Monday, peeps!  Just a quick post today as I have stamp club gals coming soon! I resisted getting the Country Bouquet set at first but finally caved, and I have been having lots of fun using it.  I sometimes get stuck in a rut, using the same colors (usually the ones that coordinate with the DSP) over and again, so I thought I'd try a more rustic, vintage color palette using the two-step heart-shaped image.  So here we go:

I stamped the image with Real Red and Crumb Cake inks, then fussy-cut it out!  The Stamparatus really helped me get a good intense image.  I embossed a panel of Crumb Cake with the Timeworn Type embossing folder, then used a Blending Brush to add some Crumb Cake ink to it and mounted it on a Real Red mat.  The stamped image went on top with some dimensionals; the burlap and red ribbons are so nice and soft; they made a great accent behind the it. I finally added a little Tailor Made tag that I shortened a little bit, and brushed the edges with ink as well.  A retired gold Metallic Pearl finished it off.

I am entering this at the Krafty Chicks blog because they're looking for something stamped for their challenge 645! 

And here's another little card using the same image, this time using Calypso Coral and Mint Macaron inks to match the Country Gingham DSPs:

I used the Scalloped Contour die to partially cut a folded piece of Basic White, then simply added the image, DSP and a Stylish Shapes-diecut sentiment:

Such sweet colors!  Thanks so much for stopping in today--enjoy it and be blessed!

First Card Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Country Bouquet
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Real Red, Crumb Cake
Ink	Real Red, Crumb Cake
Accessories	Real Red & Burlap Ribbon Combo, Dimensionals, Metallic Pearl (ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Timeworn Type EF, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Tailor Made Tags Dies, Blending Brush, Stamparatus

Second Card Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Country Bouquet
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Country Gingham DSP
Ink	Mint Macaron, Calypso Coral
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, Scalloped Contour Dies, Stamparatus

Vintage Season's Greetings

Happy Thursday, peeps!  My card today is for a couple of challenges; Little Red Wagon wants "Yesterday"--anything vintage, and Try Stampin on Tuesday is a sketch:

I turned the sketch on its side in order to accomodate this Tim Holtz image of a horse-drawn sleigh, stamped on some music paper:

The image was stamped in Merry Merlot, then the papers were sponged with Soft Suede to give them a more vintage appearance!  I added a little panel of Baja Breeze to coordinate with this little scrap of DSP I found in my stash:

I colored a silver Glimmer brad with a couple of Blends to try to match the blue hue!  I stamped some greenery on the Merry Merlot base with Versamark ink and added a sentiment from the retired More Merry Messages in Early Espresso:

And on the inside, another sentiment from More Merry Messages, along with a vintage-style Merry Christmas from Kaiser, both sponged for vintage-ness!

I am also going to pop this in a Krafty Chicks, as their challenge is anything stamped!

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	More Merry Messages (ret), Winter Wishes (ret), Deco Christmas (Tim Holtz), Frosted (Kaiser)
Card stock & Papers	Merry Merlot, Baja Breeze (ret), Scraps from my stash
Ink	Merry Merlot, Soft Suede
Accessories	Glimmer Brad (ret), Large Glue Dots (ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies (ret), Blends in Night of Navy and Old Olive, Blending Brush

RRCB176 Sketchy Christmas Wishes

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  Time for a new Retro Rubber Challenge, where we give our older stamps some love!  This week Jane has a fun sketch for us: 

I love things in threes, so I was excited to get started!  I haven't made any Christmas cards lately, so I thought I'd remedy that; I found three fun prints from the retired Let It Snow DSP and went to work:

I used the Rectangle Stitched dies to cut them out evenly and layered them on a Basic White panel that was embossed with the retired Polka Dot embossing folder:

The sentiment is from CC Designs; I have no idea how old it is as it was given to me by another stamping friend and it's no longer on their website, so it's definitely a few years old!  The hat image is from Right At Home's Winter Elements set, and it's at least three or four years old as well. I used Real Red, Pool Party, Flirty Flamingo and Emerald Envy to stamp it:

I added another sentiment on the inside from the same set, and I used an Ornate Frames die to cut them out!  I love the fonts, don't you?

And since it's Christmas week at Krafty Chicks, I'm going to enter this one there as well!

This sketch is so versatile, it can be used for any occasion and it's great to use up some scraps--we all have those, right?!  I hope you'll play along with us at Retro Rubber this week...just make sure to use stamps that are at least a year old, and tell us their approximate age!  Hope to see you there!  Thanks for much for popping in!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Winter Elements (Right at Home), Jolly Christmas (CC Designs)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Pool Party, Let It Snow Specialty DSP (ret)
Ink	Pool Party, Real Red, Flirty Flamingo, Emerald Envy (ret)
Accessories	Snowflake Sequins (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Ornate Frames Dies, Perfect Polka Dot Embossing Folder (ret)