FMS429 for Easter

Happy Monday peeps!  Wow, the sun is actually shining brightly here in SE PA today!  What a welcome change!  I had a marathon stamping session yesterday, made a slew of Easter cards for friends and family, and finished them off this morning.  I was intrigued by the FMS sketch for this week, and I am squeaking these in by the skin of my teeth:

The plethora of DSP I have made it easy to create some cards with this sketch...I could go on and on!  Here's the three I am sharing today:

The first one uses Bird Ballad DSP, along with some retired Woodgrain and In Color DSP in Terracotta Tile, and a little "sprig" of frayed burlap:

The sentiment is from Itty Bitty Greetings.  Here's a similar one, using a beautiful floral from Best Dressed, another In Color DSP and a sentiment from the retired Delightful Dozen:

I also snuck in a little swirl from Ornate Style, which I haven't really played with yet!  Can you see it there?

And finally, I went with squares for this one; I stamped my little bunny in Smoky Slate and added some Soft Seafoam embossed squares and gingham; he's one of my favorites from 100 Proof Press!

Now to get these out in the mail!  Thanks for popping in today!

Our minister recently moved from our manse into his own home, and his children were bugging him to put up a tree house!  Not being handy in that manner, he asked "Mr John" if he thought he would be able to help him put up a simple platform in one of their trees in their backyard.  John said he would, so our minister sent the kids out to peruse the tree and figure out what they thought they would want the treehouse to look like:

The looks on their faces are PRECIOUS!  I can't wait to see what their imaginations come up with...maybe Mr John will be in big trouble, trying to live up to their expectations!  We'll have to see! 

FMS428 Easter Bunny

Happy Monday, peeps!  Are we still putting on a brave face?  It's getting a little more challenging for us, but we are persevering!  I had a fun hour and a half this weekend doing a video chat with my Retro Rubber teammates!  They dragged me into 21st century technology and I didn't do too badly, LOL!  But I am having a little trouble getting motivated to stamp, I think we all feel that way!  I did manage to eke out another Easter card using the FMS sketch, squeaking it in in the nick of time:

I have lots of Pleased as Punch DSP so I thought I'd better use some of it up with my little bunny from Fable Friends:

Since I did a pink card yesterday, I thought I'd choose a color I don't use much, Mango Melody.  It's a little strong, and I am not 100% sure I like it here, but after you've put time into a card, you don't have the heart to let it go, so I persevered on this one too!  I stamped my little cutie in Smoky Slate and used a Blender Pen and some ink to color in her jacket, then used Blends to shade her fur.  I had cut out a little bunch of flowers to accent my sentiment, but couldn't quite figure out where to put it, and then I decided to give her a little crown:

Doesn't she look sweet?  It fit her little noggin perfectly!  My sentiment is from a retired set called Delightful Dozen, and I have always loved the font in this sentiment.  It was stamped in Mango Melody as well and diecut with a Stitched Rectangle die.

She'll get added to my pile of Easter cards to be sent out!

On a happier note, I was thrilled that my PBS station started a new season of Call The Midwife!  Are there any other CTM fans out there?!  LOVE that show!  And just a gentle reminder, I have had a few questions lately about items I use in making my cards, but my readers have not given me an email address.  If you leave a comment and your name is not associated with an email address, sadly, I cannot answer your question!  I usually do put a little recipe at the bottom of my post that lists my ingredients, so hopefully that will help!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Fable Friends, Delightful Dozen (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Mango Melody, Pleased as Punch DSP
Ink	Smoky Slate, Mango Melody, Blushing Bride
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shape Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Blender Pen, Smoky Slate Blends

MM465 and SIP65 Get Well

Hi everyone!  I had created this card earlier in the week for the Mojo Monday sketch:

and was thrilled when I saw the Stamp Ink Paper challenge was monochromatic!  Check!

I love monochromatic!  I used some pretty papers from Graphic 45's Botanical Tea line in a pretty Wisteria Wonder shade:

It's a bit hard to see, but the back panel was stamped with a floral image from Tim Holtz's Flower Garden set., then sponged and decorated with some SU enamel dots.  The sentiment is from Delightful Dozen (ret SU), and I stamped the scallop behind it with a Leafy backgrounder stamp (ret Cornish Heritage Farms):

I added a piece of doily (SU) and some twine from my stash, then stamped a sentiment from Papertrey on the inside and lightly stamped the same floral image on top:

And speaking of florals, since I don't have any new pix of Cassidy, now that she's in school all day, I thought I would share some things that are in my flower garden:

A monarch on a spider zinnia:

A closeup of  another zinnia:

Butterfly bush:

And yes, a mama and three teen-age turkeys, behind the garden:

We knew the turkeys were around, as my SIL and a neighbor had told us they had seen a mother turkey with babies, but this was the first time they had ventured all the way down to our yard.  They were actually IN our yard but as soon as I went out with my camera, they scuttled away!

Enjoy your day!

CYCI78 Get Well

Happy Thursday, everyone!  I have a cute little get well card today using the Can You Case It challenge of black, white and one color!

I have always loved red, black and white together, and I was itching to use this cute little Scottie image from Hey, Girl, so now’s the time!  Here we go:

I cut a card from my Circle Card Thinlits in Real Red, embossed the front panel and added some chevron paper that my friend gave me after doing her daughter’s graduation cards.  I stamped Mr Scottie on some Shimmery White paper in Memento ink and colored him with black reinker ink….I must say, I think this is the first time I’ve ever used black ink to watercolor!  His bow and nose were Real Red marker…..and the sentiment from the retired Delightful Dozen was stamped in Real Red as well.  I added a gingham ribbon, and it’s ready to roll!  I did add another white circle to the inside on which to write my wishes!

Isn’t he the cutest? 

Our little garden is producing cucumbers like crazy, so John wanted me to try to make dill pickles like “the ones that come in a barrel”!!!  I’ve made bread and butter pickles, but never ones that need fermenting!  Should be interesting!  Cassidy helped by putting the cukes in the bucket with the brine and seasonings:

She was quite a speedy helper!  She mixed everything up, but by her expression, she wasn’t too impressed with the smell!

Vinegar, salt, dill and garlic…..I’ll keep you posted on how they’re progressing!  It takes 4-6 weeks!

Enjoy your day!

AYSI81 and FF 61 for Easter

Happy Saturday, everyone!  We have a busy day—we are headed to the circus in Baltimore!  So I made a few last-minute Easter cards yesterday for my small group members using the As You See It sketch for this week:

as well as the colors from the Fab Friday challenge:

I recently found a lovely blog called The Paper Caper, and Jess had a tutorial for making a little diecut cross using the Little Letters dies.  You can see it here.  I used her idea, but I used the smaller Chalk Talk die and backed the cross with SU’s Gold Foil:

I made five of these, using pastel shades for the die and flowers; I used images from Kinda Eclectic, Summer Silhouettes, Bordering Blooms and some of them had Gorgeous Grunge as well.

I did some heat embossing in gold, using the Easter sentiment from the retired set, Delightful Dozen:

I used the sunburst from Kinda Eclectic on the inside as well, along with a sentiment from God Bless II:

We did some egg-dying on Thursday, but first she had to peel one of the cracked ones:

and of course, she had to try to dye her peeled egg as well, LOL!

Be sure to come back tomorrow for our next Paper Players challenge!

LIM 215 and AAAC35

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  Thanks for all the get-well wishes!  I do feel a bit more like myself today!  I forced myself to stamp something yesterday—and I finally finished a card that I actually liked!  This is my third attempt to do the Less Is More challenge this week, which is a one-layer card featuring an animal!  I just got this cute Penny Black stamp from my girlfriend, and it seemed appropriate for the season as well as the challenge:

This is a notecard-sized card, and it’s not even SU paper…I had some cheapie Georgia Pacific cardstock on my desk, so I cut it to size and stamped my image in Stazon and watercolored it, which is always a risk, as sometimes the paper will pill, but it did pretty well:

I used Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie and Wild Wasabi inks, then stamped the sentiment from Delightful Dozen, rounded the corners and called it a day!  It actually was clean and simple!   Hope you like it!  Edited to add:  Thanks to Sarah, who called my attention to the AAA Cards challenge, which is "bare naked"!!!  So I am submitting this card there as well!  Thanks, Sarah!

Speaking of Easter, we did some decorating on Monday:

She did a great job putting all those little Easter ornaments on my curly-cue tree!  Enjoy your day!