IB135 Lemony Best Friend

Happy Thursday, peeps!  We have a fresh, fun challenge for you today at Inspired By!  Check this out:

I am embarrassed to admit that I have NO citrusy stamps in my plethora of sets!  There is a really cute set in the current catalog, and I may have to break down and order it next month!  So I had to do some creative thinking to come up with my "lemon"....here we go:

The last time I had a fruity dilemma, I went to the retired Country Road set where there is a wagon wheel that, with a little imagination and some embossing and coloring, can look amazingly like a slice of lemon!  I had a wee bit of Pineapple Punch cardstock left, so I embossed my image in white and added a little shading toward the center with some So Saffron ink, and I think it looks pretty close:

I added some crimped Granny Apple Green leaves, a sentiment from Badges and Banners, and mounted it on a pretty piece of floral DSP from Honey Bee:

The black plaid background is actually washi tape, given to me for my birthday by my friend Martha!  I also added some ribbon and sequins to amp up the citrus colors.  I used another piece of Pineapple Punch as a mat.  I didn't use the optional sketch this week, instead, my sketch comes from Sunday Stamps:

And just to give you a wee bit of a chuckle, here is my card again; I took this picture while it was still on my stamp desk:

BECAUSE THIS IS HOW I ASSEMBLED IT THE FIRST TIME:

Yep!  Upside down!  A whack with the cutter, another card base and it was good to go....a bit top-heavy, but at least it was salvageable!  Thanks for popping in today!  I hope this fresh inspiration photo gives you some incentive to make a card to share with us at Inspired By this week! Can't wait to see it!

Here are a few cards that I received for my birthday!

From Joan:

From Doris:

From Sally:

From Linda:

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Badges and Banners, Country Road (both ret)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Basic Black, Granny Apple Green, Pineapple Punch (ret), Brights DSP, The Bee's Knees DSP (Honey Bee)
Ink	Memento Black, White Craft, So Saffron
Accessories	Sequins (Sylvia's Etsy Shop), Tuxedo Washi Tape (Altenew), Grosgrain Ribbon (ret), White Embossing Powder, Dimensionals
Tools	Heat Tool, Crimper (ret)

TCC135 Patriotic Birthday

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  It's time for a new Card Concept challenge:

I was so excited to see this challenge because it fit perfectly with a card I wanted to create with my club girls!  I only had three participants this month, but even with "social distancing", we still had a good time, and I was able to use the retiring Country Road to create a Shabby and Vintage masculine card!  I was inspired mostly by the colors, but a wee bit by the patriotic theme as well, as I do have some stars on my card:

We used every single stamp in this set on our card, along with some stamps from Label Me Bold, too!  We stamped the foliage on a piece of Merry Merlot, then ran it through upside down in the Pinewood Planks embossing folder so that the raised side was on the front.  That made it easy to sponge it with some Soft Suede ink to give it a vintage look.  The edges of the Very Vanilla piece were stamped with the "fuzzy" image from Label Me Love to give it an antique quality, and the edges of the Night of Navy piece were also stamped with the other Label Me Love swooshy image, then distressed with the edge of an acrylic ruler.  

We added some stars from Label Me Bold and some more fuzzy vintage stamping to the sentiment, and we colored a brad with a Night of Navy Blend to give it some complementary color!  The inside used the sentiment and wagon wheel image:

I am sad to see this set go; it's got such great country images, I am keeping on my shelf!!  I hope that you'll find some inspiration from our photo challenge and share your creation with us this week as well!  Thanks for popping in today!

Cassidy gets a monthly kit that features some sort of STEM project; last month it was the spin art kit, this month it was a little robot:

We were all pretty proud of her!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Country Road, Label Me Bold
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Night of Navy, Merry Merlot, Very Vanilla
Ink	Night of Navy, Merry Merlot, Sahara Sand, Soft Suede
Accessories	Mini Dimensionals, Metallic Brads
Tools	Big Shot, Pinewood Plank EF, Stitched Shapes Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Sponge

SSC207 Red White and Blue Celebrate

Happy Monday, peeps!  It's a laid-back day today, Cass is still with her daddy, so I had a little time this morning to stamp!  I used the top three colors from the Sunday Stamps challenge, and the 4th of July challenge from Festive Friday:

I don't normally send out July 4th cards, but I thought I could use this as a birthday card with a patriotic feel!  Here we go:

I used the colors of Night of Navy, Real Red and Seaside Spray, stamping the stripes from Woven Heirlooms and the stars from Country Road.  I backed each one with a 1" circle of matching cardstock, popped up the stars, and fussy-cut a sentiment from Picture Perfect Birthday:

I added a layer of Seaside Spray In Color DSP, and it was done!  All in all, a pretty easy and simple card!  Thanks for popping in today!

Cassidy wanted to make a card for her daddy for Father's Day (which she never finished, so we'll work on it this week...better late than never!).  The stamp image was a little larger than what she usually uses, so I showed her how to use the Misti!  First, she set up the stamp and got her ink pad ready:

Inked it up:

Carefully closed the panel:

And gave it some hefty pressure!!!  This kid!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Woven Heirlooms, Country Road, Picture Perfect Birthday
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Real Red, Night of Navy, Seaside Spray, In Colors DSP
Ink	Real Red, Night of Navy, Seaside Spray
Accessories	Mini Dimensionals
Tools	1" Circle Punch

FF161 Country Birthday

Happy Saturday, peeps!  Late today---it's been a lazy kind of day, tons of rain this morning and now it's cleared up so I think I might go out for a walk!  But first, a birthday card for my BIL, using the sketch from Fab Friday:

That frame is so cool, and perfect for the Stitched Rectangle dies!  I haven't used Country Road too often, so I did some random stamping to make my own background, framed by Early Espresso and Crumb Cake:

I used Sahara Sand for my images, stamping off for lighter images, and I also added a few rustic images from Timeless Textures.  Country Road has a lovely birthday sentiment, so I stamped that on the front in Early Espresso too:

Finally, I added a little ribbon embellishment and a Corrugated Element that I punched out with a retired star punch and sponged with some EE ink:

And speaking of country, John has had a critter making itself comfy under one of his sheds, more than likely a groundhog, but he set up a Have-a-Heart trap, and this morning came out to find this:

John was a little confused because he never saw an opossum quite this color; they're usually darker and this one was pretty light-colored.  He pretended to be asleep:

John took him back to the woods, opened the cage and "encouraged" him to come out, where he sleepily scampered through the brush!

We've caught groundhogs, squirrels, raccoons, opossums and skunks in our traps....can't wait to see what we get next, LOL!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Country Road, Timeless Textures
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Ink	Sahara Sand, Early Espresso
Accessories	Crumb Cake Classic Weave Ribbon, Corrugated Elements
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Small Star Punch (ret)

Two Rustic Birthdays

Happy Monday, everyone!  I've got a couple rustic-themed birthday cards for you today!  My birthday card stash is pretty slim, and these are actually going out in the mail today, so I need to get busy!  My first card uses the CAS Colours and Sketches sketch:

and it is for a horse-loving friend of mine!  The papers come from a line from Authentique called Frontier; I stamped a horse from PTI's On The Farm and embellished it with some punched stars:

I added some Candy Dot "brads":

I used the same paper as the stars for my sentiment, and die-cut it with a stitched tag from Pretty Pink Posh:

And on the inside, I stamped sentiments from Country Road, along with a border from the PTI set:

The next one uses the sketch from TGIF:

Same line of papers, but this time I used an image from SU's Countryside, stamped in Early Espresso  on Crumb Cake and colored with blends; I stamped the Crumb Cake card base with the woodgrain image from Gallery Grunge:

I just love that little bird!  

The sentiment is from a past Paper Pumpkin kit:

And again, I stamped the inside with Country Road:

It was fun to stamp with warm country colors and images...I am getting itchy to stamp some pumpkins, so be on the watch for them!!

Speaking of itching, at church yesterday, Cassidy sat with our new preacher's family; they have a three-year-old little girl and Cassidy was just beside herself trying to be a babysitter to her:

Blessedly, the preacher's wife was very gracious and gently "helped" Cassidy be a little less motherly!  All was well!  Thanks for popping in today...enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Gallery Grunge, Country Road, On the Farm (Papertrey), Countryside (ret), Paper Pumpkin
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze, Vry Vanilla, Early Espresso, Frontier DSP (Authentique)
Ink	Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand
Accessories	Candy Dots (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Stitched Labels Dies (Pretty Pink Posh), Banner Dies (Nestabilities), SU Blends, Star Punch (ret)

FMS346 and Addicted to CAS141 Hello Summer

Hello, friends!  It's good to be back; we went to the Delaware shore for a little vacation!  The weather was incredible, and we came home in the rain and so far it hasn't stopped!  We have flooding of the little streams in the back and front of our property!  And they're calling for a week more!  GAH!  Anyway, I'm trying to get back into the stamping swing of things, as I feel pretty rusty!  My card today is a just a little simple one using the Freshly Made Sketches sketch and the Addicted to CAS code word of "Summertime":

When I got the Country Road stamp set, I thought that the wagon wheel looked a little bit like a citrus fruit, so I put it to work on this creation, using Grapefruit Grove, Pineapple Punch and Lemon Lime Twist for my colors:

I added a couple of sentiments from various sets, a layer of In Color DSP and finally, a sprinkle of sequins from my stash:

A good way to get back into my stamping groove!!  Thanks for popping in today!

Dana and family went on vacation the same time we did; they went to Virginia Beach and had a wonderful time:

Wayne is quite a magician!  He turned Cassidy into a mermaid!

Then he created a sea horse:

Clever guy!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Country Road, What The Doodle Feather (Papertrey), All Smiles (Unity)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, In Color DSP
Ink	Grapefruit Grove, Pineapple Punch, Lemon Lime Twist
Accessories	Sequins by Sylvia, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Circle Dies (Nestabilities)