Vintage Sympathy

Happy Saturday, everyone! Praise the Lord, the sun is shining here in Pennsylvania, and it's a Saturday!  Amazing! Unfortunately, I needed another sympathy card recently, and I used the sketch from As You See It and a few of the Earth Day prompts from Festive Friday for my (vintage again) card:

I pulled out some older nature-themed stamps and went to work:

The elements from the FF challenge that I chose were neutrals, woodgrain, twine and thinking of you.  I stamped the bird's nest in Pecan Pie on some Very Vanilla and colored in the eggs very lightly:

The sentiment from Hero Arts was stamped on a little banner and I added another wee little bird's egg.  The elements behind the nest were some retired stitched ribbon and Wavy Trim.

My woodgrain paper was originally white, so I used a blending brush to color it with Crumb Cake ink, then I stamped several images on it in Gray Granite to create my own collage-style background paper:

I added a Gray Granite mat as well as a Pecan Pie mat, on which I stamped a dictionary-style page around the edges.  I used a Stamp Simply sentiment on the inside, and added a few more feathers from Soft as a Feather, an older retired SU set:

The card is for John's brother-in-law who lost his father recently.  John's sister and BIL are great birders and we often swap bird sighting stories with them, so I hope they will find comfort in this card!  Thanks for popping in today!  

We made a little visit to my nephew's house yesterday to see this little peanut:

Cute as a button and good as gold!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Soft as a Feather (ret), Birds of a Feather (Artistic Outpost), Farmhouse All Occasion Greetings (Stamp Simply), Sentiment CL342 (Hero Arts)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Pecan Pie, Gray Granite, Heart & Home DSP (ret)
Ink	Crumb Cake, Gray Granite, Pecan Pie, Soft Sky (ret), Balmy Blue
Accessories	Wavy Trim, Soft Sky Stitched Ribbon (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Oval Dies (Nestabilities), Banner Dies (Pink & Main), Blending Brush

TCC152 Restful Nest

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  Time for a new Card Concept challenge where we challenge you to share your stamping style with us!  Here's today's inspiration:

I just loved that little bird's nest and this challenge gave me a chance to use one of my all-time favorite SU sets, Soft as a Feather, along with a bunch of other stamps!!!  So here we go:

I have already sent out my Easter cards, but I needed a sympathy card, so I thought the colors and country items in the photo would make a nice shabby and vintage-style card.  I stamped the nest on a panel of Naturals White cardstock with Soft Suede ink and daubered some ink over it to fill it in.  The eggs were stamped with Crumb Cake and colored with Petal Pink ink and a blender pen, then fussy-cut and sponged along the edges:

The Petal Pink and Crumb Cake panels were stamped with background stamps and sponged for more vintage shabbiness; the main panel was stamped with another background stamp before adding the sympathy sentiment and a little feather beneath it.  I sponged and distressed the edges and added some baker's twine:

All of this went on a Soft Seafoam mat that was also stamped along the edges with Gorgeous Grunge and sponged some more!  On the inside, I added a second sentiment and feather.  

I also used the Inspire.Create sketch:

Be sure to fly on over to the Card Concept blog to see what the other designers created, and share yours with us as well!  Thanks for popping in today!

I wanted to share a little fun tip about using SU's Blends or Copics for your Easter crafting!  When Cassidy and I were dying eggs on the weekend, I decided to try adding a bunny to one of the eggs before dying it.  Please bear with me, as my artistic skills are lacking (that's why I stamp---someone else does the artwork, LOL!), but here is my Highland Heather bunny:

And after dying...the alcohol ink stayed in place!  He does look a little sad, though!  I am sure you could probably dye first, then draw...or stamp!  Anyway, I thought he was kind of cute!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

"I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted.  The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.  The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.  he is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him." Exodus 15:1-2

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Soft as a Feather (ret), Birch, Burlap (ret), Gorgeous Grunge (ret), Leaves #3 (Cornish Heritage Farms), Sentiments CL342 (Hero Arts)
Card stock & Papers	Naturals White, Petal Pink, Crumb Cake, Soft Seafoam
Ink	Crumb Cake, Petal Pink, Soft Seafoam, Sahara Sand, Early Espresso
Accessories	Baker's Twine (Dollar Tree), Dimensionals
Tools	Sponge Daubers

RRCB131 Eggs Eggs Eggs

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  Time for another Retro Rubber challenge, and we have a fun tic-tac-toe grid this week!  Check it out:

I chose to do the left diagonal down:  eggs, diecut and patterned paper!  So here we go!  I used a set from 2000 called Soft as a Feather!  It was one of my favorite sets long ago, but I sold it!  Luckily, I found it online and bought it again!  I paired it with Nature Walk from 2011:

I stamped the nest and eggs from Soft as a Feather on Very Vanilla cardstock with Early Espresso ink and colored them with Blends and Copics, then fussy cut the eggs and popped them up on mini dimensionals:

I used the Stitched Shapes circle die to cut it out.  I then stamped two rows of eggs from Nature walk and colored them as well, did a row of double stitched embossing on them and mounted the panel on a piece of retired DSP (can't remember the name!!!) and ran the whole panel through the Big Shot with the largest Stitched Rectangle die:

I used my Stamparatus to stamp the sentiment, mounted everything on a Soft Sky card base and added a linen thread bow. Finally I popped up the nest image and added a birthday sentiment on the inside.  I love the soft look of these eggs....and it's not an Easter card, LOL!

I hope you'll play with our Retro Rubber challenge this week...remember that your stamps have to be at least a year old, and you must tell us their approximate age!  Can't wait to see what you create!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Soft as a Feather, Nature Walk (both ret), Stitched All Around
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Soft Sky (ret), DSP ???
Ink	Early Espresso
Accessories	Linen Thread, Dimensionals
Tools	BIg Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Stitching Lines Dies (Ellen Hutson), Blends

IB66 Speckled Eggs

Happy Thursday, peeps!  Hope your week is going well....I haven't felt very crafty lately, my craft room has been a disaster so hopefully in cleaning it up I might find my mojo!  Today is Inspired By day, and I have to admit that this is one of my favorite challenge photos ever.  I nudged my mojo along enough to make this:

And here is Laurel's prompt:

Aren't they pretty?  And when I saw this photo, I knew just what I wanted to use!  I had this SU stamp Soft as a Feather many years ago and sold it....and then regretted it!  I found it again on ebay a while back and this is the first time I have "re-used" it!  I began by painting a page from an old book with some white craft paint, then stamping the nest on it with Early Espresso ink.  I stamped the eggs from the same set, along with some others from Nature's Walk and colored them with Pool Party Blends, then cut them out and popped them up:

I diecut the book paper with a Spellbinder's die (thanks, Claire) and mounted it on a Pool Party card that I ran through the Woodgrain embossing folder, then sponged with Crumb Cake ink.  (Since this folder really weakens the fibers of the paper, I adhered a piece of cardstock to the inside left side of the card to stabilize it.)  Finally, I added a linen thread bow, some tiny punched hearts, and stamped a sentiment and some "stitch" lines, both from Close to My Heart sets:

I left the inside blank; it might be an encouragement card, a sympathy card or an Easter card....I haven't decided yet!  I hope you'll play along with our pretty challenge this week at Inspired By too!

I saw directions to make a little Easter basket in the latest BH&G, so I thought I would try it out with Cassidy....and it was a bust!  It was a little too fussy for her, although she really gave it a good try! 

She was relieved when I told her she didn't have to finish it, LOL! (Grammy even thought it was a challenge, LOL!)

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Soft as a Feather (ret), Nature Walk (ret), Stitched Borders, Inspired Words (both Close to My Heart)
Card stock & Papers	Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Soft Sky (ret), page from an old book, Naturals White
Ink	Early Espresso, Crumb Cake
Accessories	Linen Thread
Tools	Big Shot, Woodgrain EF, Curved Matting Dies (Spellbinders), Triple Heart Punch (ret), White Craft Paint, SU Blends, Sponges

PP416 Birthday Sketch

Hi everyone!  I hope everyone on the east coast weathered the storm okay!  We got rain, rain, rain!  It was a good time to stamp!  Anne Marie is our Paper Players hostess with an awesome sketch for us this week!  Check it out:

I really need some birthday cards, so that's what I went for today!  So here we go:

I had a few other challenges in mind while creating this card; Little Red Wagon wants distressing; the Color Throwdown has a rust, teal and cream challenge; and TGIF is featuring washi tape and baker's twine:

So I went through my huge stash of 6x6" pads and found some papers to match the colors; after sponging and distressing them a bit, I adhered them to a Very Vanilla card that had been stamped in Sahara Sand with the Linen background stamp, and I sponged the edges of that too!  I used a tag punch to create a little tag on which I stamped a bird's nest, then added a little watercolored bird diecut from the Birds & Bloooms die:

I mounted some retired washi tape on a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock and added some linen braid for the horizontal piece; I know it's not baker's twine so if I get "disqualified", I understand!  Finally, on the inside I added a feather stamp and a sentiment from Perennial Birthday:

And just for fun, I created another card, this one is a thank-you for a friend of mine, using Share What You Love DSP and a sentiment from A Big Thank You:

I fussy-cut a flower from the floral DSP and tucked it under my ribbon, then colored some pearls with a Mint Macaron Blend to add a little oomph:

I hope you'll find some inspiration from Anne Marie's sketch...I already have several more ideas in my head, it's a great one for using up pretty DSPs!!!  Check out what the other designers created:

·        Claire

·        Jaydee

·        Joanne

·        Laurie

·        Nance

·        Anne Marie

·        Sandy

·        Elizabeth

·        Annie - off this week

·        Jan

·        Ann

Cassidy earned her orange belt this week:

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Perennial Birthday, A Big Thank You, Soft as a Feather (ret), Linen Background (ret),  Mini Tag Sentiments (Our Daily Bread Designs)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Watercolor, Petal Pink, Basic Black, Share What You Love DSP, Fall Break DSP (Carta Bella), Fall is in the Air DSP (Echo Park), Botanical Tea DSP (Graphic 45)
Ink	Sahara Sand, Early Espresso, Lost Lagoon, Cajun Craze, Basic Black
Accessories	Washi Tape (ret), Linen Braid, Dimensionals, Pearls, Soft Sky Ribbon (ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Birds and Blooms Thinlets, Tag Punch, Sponge Daubers, Aquapainter, Stitched Shapes Framelits