FMS280and SR365 Birthday Bluebird

Happy Friday, peeps!  It's the end of the week and hopefully, the beginning of some warmer weather! My birthday card stash is very low, so I worked on a couple of cards to fill in, but I still need more!  This one uses the FMS sketch:

and the Stampin' Royalty challenge of "spring":

You really can't get much more springy than a bluebird!  I stamped him on thick white cardstock and watercolored him, then did the same with the branch and added a simple sentiment.  Before I adhered Mr Bluebird with dimensionals, I stamped the background stamp from Touches of Textures with Soft Sky ink to give the impression of sky:

I really like the effect it gives!  And it's quite clean and simple!

Happy to be coloring....not happy to be photographed!  Enjoy your day!

Project Details--All Products SU Unless Otherwise Noted
Stamps	Best Birds, Touches of Texture
Card stock & Papers	Thick White
Ink	Basic Black, Marina Mist, Flirty Flamingo, Tip Top Taupe, Old Olive, Soft Sky
Accessories
Tools	Dimensionals, Big Shot, Birds & Blooms Dies

SR346 and MM213

Happy Saturday, peeps!  A couple cards today!  The first one was a happy coincidence; I'd had this cardinal image already cut out and assembled a few weeks ago after I received the stamp from my friend Martha, but I never finished into a card!  When I saw the inspiration photo at Merry Monday:

I thought I would complete the card, using the red and white colors as my inspiration!  So here we go:

The cardinal image was stamped in Real Red ink on white cardstock, then stamped again so the cardinal could be fussy-cut and popped up:

I had a red card base already cut and scored in my stash; I pulled out a piece of white cardstock that I had embossed a looooong time ago when my friend Carol lent me her embossing folder; I put it all together and added a little sentiment from Good Greetings, just masking off the "& joy" portion of the "peace & joy" and punching it out with a small oval punch.   Piece of cake!  

My next one is really simple...one layer, and I used the August Paper Pumpkin stamp called Bold Botanicals!  I have had this for a month and hadn't even opened it up yet, but when I saw this image, I squealed with delight!  I don't know why, just being able to stamp something in all four corners to create this delightful design just made me happy!

I was only sort of experimenting on this card, and it came out so nicely, I just went ahead and finished it!  It didn't hang around on my desk for long at all!  The design was stamped in Early Espresso ink on Naturals White cardstock, then I used my blender pen and some fall colors of Calypso Coral, Cajun Craze, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Delightful Dijon, Old Olive and Pear Pizazz inks to loosely color it in:

A simple thank you from Endless Thanks, stamped in Cajun Craze, fit the inside perfectly! Such a pretty design!  And nary an embellishment in sight!    And there are a couple of other similar images in the set; I used one to stamp on the back of my envelope, because this little sweetie is already in the mail!

I am entering this one in the Stampin Royalty challenge this week, which is a fall theme!

A vision in blue...an old Bilco door and my color-coordinated DGD!

Enjoy your day!

SR338 and JAI320 Birthday

Happy Saturday, peeps!  Hope you have something fun planned!  I've got a masculine birthday card to share with you; it's for my nephew, and it uses the colors from Stampin' Royalty and the sketch from Just Add Ink:

I never quite know in which direction to go when created a card for a young man!  This is a mix of eclectic vintage images with some silver accents thrown in:

My base was stamped with a Simon Says Stamp grid background, and added a lot of elements from Timeless Textures randomly along the edges.  A scripty image (Artistic Outpost's The Outpost) was stamped horizontally as well.  I stamped the watch image (also Artistic Outpost's The Outpost) in Night of Navy and fussy-cut it out and mounted it on a circle of Mint Macaron.  I added a banner and a sentiment from last month's Paper Pumpkin and popped everything up with some dimensionals.  I just couldn't figure out what to use for the embellishment, and in the end, to follow through with the tree image, diecut some silver leaves with the Flourishes die.  I added some Silver Encore speckles on the card base as well!

Thanks for popping in today!  Be sure to come back tomorrow for a new Paper Players challenge!

A week of Vacation Bible School just wore her out!

CTD358, SR293 and LRW305

Happy Friday, all!  A quick card today incorporating three challenges  Color Throwdown:

Little Red Wagon wants clean and simple, and Stampin’ Royalty wants us to use circles!  I need a birthday card for my nephew who is a senior in high school this year (how did THAT happen?) and he was a lifeguard this summer, so this retired SU Surfer image seemed appropriate!  I used some circle dies, the spatter from Gorgeous Grunge, and the circles were inked with various bottles on my desk…I just dipped them into the Daffodil Delight ink pad!  Fun, huh?!  The sentiment is from the retired Hi There:

And my inside sentiment is courtesy of a Paper Pumpkin kit from a couple months ago!

Thanks for popping by!

Cassidy went “mining” while she was camping (the gems are placed on little outcroppings of rock, so they’re easy to find)….this is her stash!  She’s looking a little tired….I think it was the end of a long, fun-filled day!

FMS 169 and SR262

Happy Thursday, peeps!  I just loved the sunshiny, happy, delicious colors at the Stampin’ Royalty challenge this week:

and so I paired it with the Freshly Made Sketches sketch to make an encouraging card for a friend:

And here it is:

I had a wee bit of trouble photographing this card for some reason; the Soft Sky panel just doesn’t seem to be true here, but hopefully you can imagine how pretty it is with Daffodil Delight and Basic Black!  I used the new Happy Hearts embossing folder with the big flower from Flower Patch.  The sentiment is one from the new Project Life set, So You, embellished with the heart from Kind and Cozy:

I added a couple of sequins for fun!  Thanks for visiting today!

Reading Snow White to her dolls:

Paper Players 220

Happy Sunday, peeps!  Brrrr, winter has come upon us….hopefully this chilly weather won’t last too long here in PA!  I am the hostess today for the Paper Players, and I chose one of my favorite styles of stamping:  vintage!

I just love the vintage, antique look you can achieve with some of the beautiful papers and stamps on the market these days!  I have tons of vintage digital images, too, but this week I decided to focus on some beautiful papers I got recently from Graphic 45 called Botanical Tea:

Not a lot of stamping here, just a few layered embellishments and a pretty row of organdy roses, retired from SU.  I made a multi-layered flower with the Boho Blossom punch, and added some leaves from My Favorite Things, who also made the sentiment.  I did a little sponging and added a few glittery elements as well!  The sketch is a lovely one from Stampin’ Royalty:

I sure hope you will play along with my challenge this week and shabby something up, or stamp something with an antique image!  Check out what the other designers created:

• Andrea
• Ann
• Anne Marie
• Claire
• Jaydee
• Joanne
• Laurie
• Nance
• Sandy
• Yapha

Cassidy told me she was going to draw me a leaf!  First, she drew the outline, then began to color it in:

Not too bad!  Of course, using Grammy’s (retired) SU markers makes drawing and coloring even better!

Enjoy your day!

SRC249 and TSSC335

Happy Thursday, peeps!  I had a little bit of free time to stamp yesterday!   The Stampin’ Royalty has a beautiful color challenge this week:

and Mary Jo’s Technostamper’s challenge is a fun sketch:

So here we go!

I combined several sets here, along with some embossing, punching and bows!!  Here’s a closeup:

I’ll list the ingredients at the end.  And here’s a laugh:  I assembled the entire thing and realized I had it upside down!!  You’ve never done that, right?!   A little snip and remount, and it’s all better!  Thanks for visiting today!

It’s off!  The cast got a little buzz with the saw:

Ooops!  A little slip by the nurse; she was more frightened than anything, as the saw doesn’t cut the skin:

Prying it off:

She said “My arm is cold!!”  (Plus this is a fake pout, LOL)

A little cajoling by the surgeon and out popped a smile!

Now, she needs a good, long, hot BATH!  Thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts, prayers and well-wishes while her arm healed!!!

Project Details
Stamps	Work of Art, Yippee Skippee, Something to Say, Amazing Birthday
Card stock & Papers	Sahara Sand, Blackberry Bliss, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla
Ink	Blackberry Bliss, Soft Sky
Accessories	Soft Sky Seam Binding, String
Tools	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack, Lucky Stars EF, Big Shot, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Nesties Small Scallop Die