PP787 I'm Here For You

Happy Sunday, all!  It's wet, rainy, and chilly this weekend, so no marching in the Memorial Day parade sadly!  But it is time for the latest Paper Players challenge, and I am the hostess this week with an easy sketch for you:

I am trying to use up some of my retired DSPs---a never-ending job, really---and thought one of the scenes from Beautiful Gallery would fit the bill, so here we go:

I used a Rectangle Stitched die to cut out a portion of the design, then a Stitched Shapes to highlight another portion of it.  My background paper is from a couple of years ago, it's a corduroy print from All About Autumn; I liked how it coordinated with the darker blues in the main panel.  A simple sentiment from the retired set Occasional Quotes was stamped on a banner.  My only other embellishments were some little dots placed in the corners.  I did add a sympathy sentiment to the inside, because I like to have some on hand.

I hope you'll find some inspiration from my sketch this week and play along with us at the Players!  While you're there, check out what the DT created and give them some love too!  Thanks for visiting today! Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Occasional Quotes (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Boho Blue (ret), All About Autumn DSP (ret), Beautiful Gallery
Ink	Secret Sea
Accessories	Matte Dots (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies (ret), Stitched Shapes Dies (ret), Banner DIes (Pink & Main)

FMS689 Sepia Sympathy

Happy Friday, all! I'm a little behind schedule today!  Since John told me I needed to make more sympathy cards, I decided to use the FMS sketch from Cecile to remedy that.  Here it is:

I made my central portion of the card, then realized it was too big to fit on the size card I wanted!  So I opted to make a larger 5" square card!  Here we go:

The scripty portion is from Elements of Text, stamped in Crumb Cake, and the greenery is from the retired Nature's Prints, stamped in Crumb Cake and a wee bit of Pecan Pie:

I added a Crumb Cake mat and a scalloped Pecan Pie mat, as well as a bit of twine and pearls from embellishments.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts.  I did add a few speckles around the edges as well, they're also from Elements of Text.  It feels good to use some of my older retired sets!  

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

 

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Elements of Text, Nature's Prints (ret), CL342 Sentiments (Hero Arts)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Pecan Pie
Ink	Crumb Cake, Pecan Pie
Accessories	Dimensionals, Twine, Brown Pearls from my stash
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Natural Prints Dies (ret), Stitched Shapes Dies (ret), Layering Squares Dies (ret), Banner Dies (Pink & Main), Sponge Dauber

Butterfly Sympathy

Happy Wednesday, peeps! Yay, we are mid-week!  My friend asked me if I had any sympathy cards she could buy, and my supply was pretty low so I spent a day stocking up! (John told me at our age, I should have a large supply on hand, LOL!  Cheeky guy!)  Anyway, this is one that she didn't take and I was my favorite one, so I thought I'd share it:

This butterfly paper is from Kaiser Craft, and the butterflies have a nice sheen to them.  I just love the vintage look of this particular pattern from the Pen & Ink pad!  I mounted the paper on a mat of Basic Beige on which I had embossed a line of stitching, then adhered it to a Crumb Cake card base.  The little black scallop had been floating around on my craft table, unused from another project, so I added a sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes and popped it up on top:

On the inside, a simple sympathy sentiment from the retired Special Moments:

And speaking of a special moment, on the way home from church on Sunday, this little baby ran out in front of us (John had to beep his horn to get her on her way back to momma, who had been right in front of her):

It was certainly the tiniest fawn I have ever seen!  Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

"Praise the Lord, who carries our burdens day after day; he is the God who saves us.  Our God is a God who saves; he is the Lord, our Lord, who rescues us from death." Psalm 68:19-20

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Teeny Tiny Wishes (ret), Special Moments (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic Black, Basic Beige, Crumb Cake, Pen & Ink (Kaiser Craft)
Ink	Versafine Black
Accessories	Black Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Unbounded Love Dies, Scalloped Contours Dies (ret), Stitching Lines Dies (Ellen Hutson)

AHSC625 Daisy Sympathy

Happy Wednesday to everyone!  Time for a new Atlantic Hearts sketch:

 

I finally got to play with ONE thing from the new upcoming SU catalog, and it's this pretty cardstock in Cloud Cover...isn't that a lovely color?!  I do love my blues!  I paired it with some non-SU papers in my stash; here we go:

I stamped the daisy from the Online Exclusive You Are Remarkable set in Memento Black ink directly on to the yellow print paper, and stamped the leaves in Mint Macaron.  I wanted to make the daisy white, so I used some White Craft ink with a very damp paintbrush and filled in the petals:

If I were to do this again, I would leave the paper in my Misti, ink, color and then ink again because I did go over the lines a wee bit on the narrower petals!  It's a learning curve, right?!  I added a layer of Cloud Cover and then some daisy print and my sympathy sentiment.  Here's the inside:

It's hard to make these sympathy cards sometimes, but unfortunately, they're necessary!  I hope you'll play along with our AHSC sketch this week, it's a great one!!  Check out what the Design Team did over at the AHSC blog!  Thanks for visiting today! Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	You Are Remarkable (online exclusive), CL342 Sentiments (Hero Arts)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Cloud Cover, Bee Happy (Echo Park)
Ink	Memento Black, White Craft, Mint Macaron (ret)
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Perennial Postage Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies (ret), Aquapainter, Banner Dies (Pink & Main)

AAA280 Butterfly Sympathy

Happy Tuesday, happy New Year's Eve!  Sadly, I needed sympathy card #3.....I notice that these things often happen in threes, so I was kind of waiting for it. While shopping yesterday, I saw one of my customers from several years ago and she shared her dad passed away, so this card is for her!  It uses the sketch from AAA Cards:

I pulled out a retired stencil and the Sketched Butterfly stamp set and this is what I came up with:

The stencil was blended with Fresh Freesia ink and the butterflies were stamped in Fresh Freesia, Highland Heather and Gorgeous Grape.  I added a sentiment from Unbounded Love and those pretty Purple sequins available through SAB when it starts:

And the inside:

Have a happy and safe New Year's Eve and thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Unbounded Love, Sketched Butterflies
Card stock & Papers	Basic White
Ink	Fresh Freesia, Gorgeous Grape, Highland Heather
Accessories	Purple Adhesive Sequins, Butterflies & Flowers Masks (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Blending Brush, Sketched Butterflies Dies

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)

SSC350 Sympathy

Happy Thursday, peeps! Sadly, I needed a sympathy card this week.  They're never easy, but even more challenging around the holidays.  I used the sketch from Sunday Stamps:

along with some warm plaid papers I recently got from Unity.  Here we go:

I stamped one of the trees from the long-retired Happy Scenes set, along with a sentiment from Special Moments, both on Crumb Cake cardstock, and diecut them with circle dies:

I added a single leaf from an older Paper Pumpkin set, and since there's a wee bit of red in the plaids that I used, I colored in the bird with a blender pen and some Real Red ink.  The inside verse is from Stamp Simply:

Thanks for visiting today!  

I had my visitor again yesterday:

You can really see his moustache here!  He's so BIG!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Happy Scenes (ret), Paper Pumpkin (ret), Special Moments (ret), Farmhouse Scriptural Quotes (Stamp Simply)
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Yuletide Plaid (Unity)
Ink	Real Red, Versafine Black, Versamark
Accessories	Rustic Metallic Dots, Dimensionals, Blender Pen
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Layering Circles Dies (ret)

AHSC580 Deepest Sympathy

Happy Monday, peeps! Hope you all had a great weekend! It's time for another sketch from Atlantic Hearts:

And I chose this sketch for the second sympathy card I needed to make:

This flower from Unity's March stamp of the month club was stamped in Stazon ink on some watercolor paper, and watercolored with various shades of ink. I know it's probably not the usual theme for a sympathy card but I don't think they always need to be in somber shades.  And I love that little lady bug!  After stamping it, I stamped it again on masking paper and fussy-cut it out to create a mask for my circular image.  I created that by creating a stencil with a piece of acetate and a circle die, then lightly blending some yellow ink inside:

I added some white sequins, then mounted it all on a mat of Basic Black and a card of Old Olive.  A sentiment from Close to My Heart went on the inside:

I think this sketch is super-versatile and I can't wait to see what you come up with!  Be sure to share it with everyone at Atlantic Hearts!  Thanks for visiting today!

Cassidy's soccer team won their championship this weekend!  Now it will on to basketball camp and lots of other summer activities!!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

So remember today and never forget: the Lord is God in heaven and on earth.  There is no other god.  Obey all his laws that I have given you today and all will go well with you and your descendants.  You will continue to live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to be yours forever.  

Deuteronomy 4:39-40

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	God is Good (Close to My Heart), Hero Arts Sentiments (CL342), March Kit of the Month (Unity)
Card stock & Papers	Old Olive, Basic Black, Watercolor, Masking Paper, Acetate Sheet
Ink	Stazon Black, Old Olive, Real Red, Lemon Lolly, Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry
Accessories	Sequins from my stash
Tools	Aquapainter, Blending Brush

FMS638 Perennial Sympathy

Happy Thursday, peeps! It's an unappealing day...I have a dentist appointment AND I needed not one, but two sympathy cards! I will save one for later, though.  This one happens to use the FMS sketch for this week:

I delved into my Perennial Lavender DSP and came up with a couple beautiful prints to make my card:

I matted my shapes with some diecuts in Pretty Peacock, Highland Heather and Basic White, then added a sentiment, stamped in Gorgeous Grape, and added a second banner of Fresh Freesia:

I mounted everything on a Crumb Cake card and stamped a sentiment from the retired Here's A Card on the inside:

I just think these papers are stunning!

On a happier note, Cassidy decided she wanted to go back to her natural hair color, so Dana took her to the salon for the whole works!

It may take me a while to get used to this look!!!

Before and after!

Thanks for indulging me!  And thanks for popping in today! Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Here's a Card (ret), Sentiments CL342 (Hero Arts)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Crumb Cake, Pretty Peacock, Highland Heather, Fresh Freesia. Perennial Lavender DSP
Ink	Gorgeous Grape
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Spotlight on Nature Dies, Layering Squares Dies (ret), Circle Dies (Nestabilities), Shape Dies SD203 (Nellie's Choice)

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