Hello Love

 Happy Thursday, everyone!  I have a cute little Valentine card today; it uses the FMS sketch as well as the color palette from CAS Colours & Sketches:

What fun colors together!  So here we go:

My little hearts are from the retired Give It a Whirl, and they were "hung" on a little banner from Scrapbook.com:

I embossed the bottom portion of my white panel with the Dotty Hearts embosing folder, then added a sentiment from Good Greetings, punched out with an oval punch:

I am also going to enter this at the JUGS challenge for this week, which is to use a heart!

Thanks for visiting today!  

One of Cassidy's Christmas presents last year was to go to a University of Connecticut basketball game to watch her favorite player, Paige Bueckers.  She really enjoyed it!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Good Greetings (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Melon Mambo, Summer Splash, Real Red, Basic Black
Ink	Memento Black
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Banner Dies (Scrapbook.com), Give It a Whirl Dies (ret), Dotty Hearts Embossing Folder (ret), Small Oval Punch (ret)

PP723 Love Theme from Ann

Happy Sunday, peeps!  Time for a new Paper Players challenge with Ann as our hostess.  She's got a perfectly-timed theme for us this week:

 

At my recent hostess appreciation party, one of my stampers gave ALL the members bags of extra ribbons she had from her stash.....I am talking TONS of ribbons!  And they were all tied up in neat little bundles, too, nothing haphazard!  I immediately thought about using some of those beautiful ribbons to make a card, and here's what I came up with:

My first step was to cut a heart from a panel of Pretty In Pink cardstock and emboss it with a retired embossing folder called Falling Petals.  I then covered a piece of scrap white cardstock with an Adhesive Sheet and began laying on my ribbons.  The stickiness of the adhesive allows you to get your ribbons nice and flat and butted up against each other.  The only thing I wish I had done differently is to use a different-colored ribbon for the last strip on the right; it sort of blends in with the pink cardstock!

I added a pink glimmer bow and a little sentiment from a fun retired set called Pictograms:

And after seeing my friend Linda's card here, I remembered that I had this Valentine sentiment too, so I stamped it on the inside:

Love definitely is in the air! I hope you'll play along with our seasonal theme challenge this week!  Check out what all the designers created at the Paper Players blog, then play along!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Pictograms (ret), Delightful Dozen (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Pretty in Pink, Pink Glimmer (ret), Adhesive Sheets
Ink	Berry Burst
Accessories	Assorted Ribbons from my stash, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Pierced Blooms Dies (ret), Heart Framelits Dies (ret), Falling Petals Embossing Folder (ret), Banner Dies (Pretty Pink Posh), Pink Wink of Stella

Vintage Valentine

Happy Thursday, peeps!  I have a little Valentine card for you today; it fulfills two challenges:  the As You See It challenge wants to know what our "crafting resolution" is for the 2025, and the Freshly Made Sketches has a lovely, as usual, sketch:

My crafting resolution is to use more embossing folders this year!  They really add such a nice touch and I don't use them enough!  So here we go:

I haven't done any "vintage" in a long time, so I decided to remedy that with my Valentine.  The printed hearts are all cut out from some papers from a book I picked up at a yard sale; it's from 1887 and called Spelling and Language book.  I used some different heart dies to cut some from Cherry Cobbler cardstock as well, and used some gold glimmer paper for the arrow. 

I used the Distressed Tile, Eyelet and Tin Tile embossing folders to create the layers, then added some Pecan Pie shading.  The scallops are Crumb Cake, and I added a Cherry Cobbler baker's twine bow.  The sentiment is from the retired Six Sayings; I stamped it on a plain piece from the book.  Here's the inside, using a sentiment from the retired Holiday Best.

It was fun adding all the layers and elements!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Six Sayings (ret), Holiday Best (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Cherry Cobbler, Basic Beige, Crumb Cake, book papers, Glimmer Paper (Recollections)
Ink	Cherry Cobbler, Pecan Pie
Accessories	Thick Baker's Twine (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Love Notes Dies (ret), Give It A Whirl Dies (ret), Radiating Stitches Dies, Banner Dies (Pretty Pink Posh), Be Mine Stitched Dies (ret), Distressed Tile EF, Eyelet EF, Tin Tile EF (ret), Sponge Daubers

Tiny Valentine Friends

Happy Thursday, peeps! No challenge today, just a cute little Valentine card whose idea had been incubating in my head for a while, LOL!  Here we go:

I have seen amazing cards in blogland using these Waffleflower stencils and dies, and my friend Michele inspired me to get a set to try for myself! So far, I've only used Christmas images, but when I was looking through my Valentine stamps, I came across this little Papertrey set and thought the images would work well with with them.  I used some pastel colors to sponge in the stamps, then stamped the images in Versafine black ink and colored them with markers and ink, then added the postage images on top.  I am still getting the hang of sponging, but all in all, I thought it turned out pretty cute!

I put the whole shebang on a piece of Pink Pirouette, then on a Basic White card and added a Valentine sentiment on the inside!  This will be going out in the mail real soon!

I haven't had any photos of Cassidy lately; she's been a busy lady, playing on two basketball teams, one for school and one for rec.  She is honing her skills and learning how to be a team player, but I will admit, she doesn't like to lose and you can tell it by her face, LOL!  But she is only in 8th grade, so I look forward to how she'll improve over the next few years!  She chose her high school classes this week, so that's a big scary step, but I'm praying that her first year in high school will go well!

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Postage Collage (Waffleflower), Tiny Treats Valentine (Papertrey)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Pink Pirouette (ret)
Ink	Versafine Black, Coastal Cabana, Balmy Blue, Daffodil Delight, Lemon Lime Twist, Blushing Bride (ret), Flirty Flamingo, Smoky Slate, Sahara Sand (ret0
Accessories	Blending Brushes
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Postage Collage Die (Waffleflower), Postage Coloring Stencil

PP674 You & Me

Happy Sunday, everyone!  Time for a new Paper Players challenge, and Jaydee has chosen an interesting slimline sketch for us today:

 

I admit that slimline cards intimidate me a wee bit, isn't that silly?  So I put on my big girl panties and went to work! It did help that I used the Inspired By photo as a starting point:

AND the fact that I just got these dies gifted to me...that helped too! Here we go:

I diecut some stitched squares from Smoky Slate heart-printed DSP, then added the "you & me", diecut from Polished Pink, Poppy Parade, Smoky Slate and Basic White.  I added some Tim Holtz diecut alphabet Xs and Os.

The retired Great Greetings provided the sentiments, and those cute little red hearts are from the current mini catalog:

I had just re-inked my Poppy Parade ink pad.....so my inside sentiment was a little wonky!  I'll give this to John, he won't notice, LOL!

I hope you'll play along with us this week! The design team samples will knock your socks off!  Be sure to check them out at the Paper Players blog....then show us yours too!  Thanks for popping in today!

And speaking of hugs and kisses.....I snagged these from my niece's FB page. I think Jameson will be an awesome big brother:

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Great Greetings (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Smoky Slate, Poppy Parade, Polished Pink (ret), Smoky Slate DSP
Ink	Poppy Parade
Accessories	Dimensionals, Adhesive Hearts & Flowers
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, You & Me Dies (Scrapbook.com), Alphanumeric Classic Upper Dies (Tim Holtz)

CAS Valentine Love Note

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  I have a CAS Valentine card (almost the last one, LOL!) today and it uses the sketch from Hand-Stamped Sentiments along with the colors from CAS Colours & Sketches:

I had several ideas in mind for a card but since the color challenge is a CAS challenge, I decided to go mostly white with a few accents in the challenge colors.  So here we go:

I used several retired products on top of my Stitched Greenery panels: the circular "wreath" and flowers are from a set called Perfectly Wrapped. The Mint Macaron leaves are from the Pierced Blooms dies.  The little envelope and love notes are from a set called Sealed With Love, along with the matching Love Note dies:

I added some rhinestones, colored with Blends, to the centers of the flowers.  And the inside sentiment and hearts are also from Sealed With Love:

It took a while for Sweet Sorbet to grow on me, but now I really love it! It's a pretty shade of red! 

And speaking of red, this little lady flashed outside my window yesterday but she flew away when she heard my camera...and I was inside!!!  The picture is a little blurry because I was taking it through the screen:

The male pileateds have a red moustache, so I knew this one was a female.  She's come to visit several times this winter!  Look at those claws!

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Perfectly Wrapped (ret), Sealed with Love (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Mint Macaron, Balmy Blue DSP
Ink	Baslmy Blue, Sweet Sorbet, Mint Macaron
Accessories	Rhinestones, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stitched Greenery Die, Circle Framelits Dies (ret), Pierced Blooms Dies (ret), Love Note Dies (ret)

Altered Valentine Tin

Happy Thursday, everyone!  I have very few Valentine's decorations...I wonder why?  For some reason, it's just not a holiday that warrants many decor items in my house, LOL!  Anyway, I thought I'd take a little Altoids tin and alter it with some retro Valentines to at least add a little heart-felt spirit to my home!  I found a red one and went to work, perusing all my vintage Valentine images I had saved.  Here we go:

I started by covering the front center of my tin with some Bo Bunny Kiss the Cook paper.  I printed out a few vintage/retro images on cardstock and fussy-cut them, adding some sponging to give them an older appearance. The front also uses images and words from a retired SU set called Sealed With Love, along with some Tim Holtz sentiment stickers.  I get a lot of my vintage images from the Graphics Fairy, but there are other sites around that share them as well.  Here's the back; it used DSP from Country Floral Lane:

I used some scraps for the inside, adding some diecut hearts here and there.  Each image was printed out twice, fussy-cut, then the second image was popped up with strips of adhesive foam:

Anybody remember getting little Valentines in school with these types of images on them?

Finally, to cover up the words on the side, I used some retired SU ribbon, adhering it with Tear N Tape:

These are so fun to make, but I really need to amp up my Valentine decor as it looks rather lost all by itself!

So here's a funny tale about the card I made yesterday for the 80 year-old birthday boy (and I am sure none of you have ever had an episode like this); blessedly, before I stuck the card in the mail, I found out he's turning EIGHTY-FIVE, not 80!  I had to remove the card from the already-sealed envelope, remove the center of the card, and re-stamp everything with an "85" instead of an "80".  I am sure he would have gotten a kick out of the fact that I had him five years younger than he really was!  Thanks for popping in today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Retro Valentine Altoid Tin

Happy Tuesday, peeps! For a while, I have been wanting to make one of these little altered Altoid tins with a Valentine theme and I finally got some time to do it!  All the images were digital, mostly from the Graphics Fairy and the Old Design Shop websites.  They were printed out in multiples on white cardstock, then trimmed, fussy-cut and layered.  I added some older printed papers from my stash as backgrounds, along with a few other embellishments!  Here we go:

I know I have a red tin in my stash but I was too lazy to dig it out, so I went with a blue one since this little pair seemed to go very nicely with it!  If you're of a "certain age", these Valentine figures will bring back fond memories!  The back of the tin was embellished with some gems and a couple of Tim Holtz stickers:

The inside; again, images were trimmed, fussy-cut and popped up:

I ran a strip of Sticky Strip around the outer edge and added some Classic Weave ribbon and adhered the bow with some more Sticky Strip:

Hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane!   Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

PP577 Be My Valentine

Happy Sunday, peeps!  Time for a new Paper Players challenge with Laurie as our hostess!  I am sure we're all gearing up for Valentine's day, and if you don't celebrate that, we can always use a card for a friend!

 

I wasn't going to do it, but I broke down and bought some Sweet Talk DSP...it's really quite cute and has fun colors in it!  I paired with a retired SU set called PS: I Love You:

I used the sketch from Atlantic Hearts so I could play with several different patterns of the DSP!

After adhering the strips to my Basic White card front, I made a little envelope with some Pool Party DSP, then fussy-cut some of the hearts and candy from one of the DSP sheets and tucked them into the envelope, adding some bling for fun:

I stamped and punched out the sentiment, then added another little piece of candy.  I whooshed some Wink of Stella on it to match the sparkle in the Organdy ribbon!  

And of course, I stamped a Valentine sentiment on the inside as well!  Hmmm, I wonder who will receive this Valentine?!  And I hope you'll be inspired to create a Valentine or friendship card of your own with us this week!  Be sure to share it at the Paper Players and while you're there, check out the amazing samples the DT created as well!  Thanks for popping in today!

Despite the cold temps we've been having, my little orchid is blooming!  And there are more blooms to come, I hope!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	PS: I Love You (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Sweet Talk DSP, Pool Party DSP
Ink	Real Red, Highland Heather
Accessories	Dimensionals, Glittered Organdy Ribbon, Gems (from my stash)
Tools	Big Shot, Wink of Stella, Love Note Dies (ret), Modern Label Punch (ret)