Just a Couple of Cards

Happy Saturday, peeps! Oh, and Happy May Day!!  In between watching my birds and puttering around the house, I was able to make a couple of cards for a few challenges yesterday!  The first card uses the FMS sketch challenge along with the colors from Just Add Ink: 

I used the upcoming Hand Penned Petals set along with a sentiment from Lots of Heart:

The florals were stamped in Memento Black, then filled in with So Saffron and Garden Green:

I added some "sprinkles" from Sweet Ice Cream and a couple little In Color Jewels for sparkle!

The second one is for the Fusion challenge and the Krafty Chicks challenge, which is Anything Goes:

I don't make Mother's Day cards as a rule, as both our moms have passed away, but I loved the idea of using a mother and baby image on just a simple "hello" card, especially this sweet little elephant pair from Wildly Happy, which is retiring soon:

I stamped them in Stazon Black ink and watercolored them with Smoky Slate and Blushing Bride, then created a tag, matted in Blushing Bride:

I stamped a sentiment from Here's a Card, creating a couple of banners, and as an afterthought, made a bow with the Pierced Blooms die and added another In Color jewel! The background is some retired Gingham, also in Smoky Slate. I love this combo of gray and pink!

At Jameson's birthday party, the craft activity was painting flower pots!  We have NO lefties in our family, these boys must have gotten their left-handedness from their momma's side of the family, LOL!

Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

"I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.  Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live."  Psalm 116:1-2

First Card Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Sweet Ice Cream, Hand Penned Petals, Lots of Heart
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Basic Black
Ink	Memento Black, So Saffron, Garden Green, Craft White
Accessories	Dimensionals, In Color Jewels, White Embossing Powder
Tools	Big Shot, Heat Tool, Stitched Shapes Dies, Tasteful Labels Dies, Penned Flowers Dies

Second Card Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Wildly Happy, Here's a Card
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Shimmery White, Smoky Slate, Blushing Bride, Blushing Bride DSP, Smoky Slate Gingham DSP (ret)
Ink	Stazon Black, Smoky Slate, Blushing Bride, Gray Granite
Accessories	Dimensionals, In Color Jewels
Tools	Big Shot, Pierced Blooms Dies, Aquapainter

FMS 480

 Hi everyone, happy Saturday!  The FMS sketch this week was so cool:

I have a Penny Black die that I haven't used much but I knew it would work well with this sketch!  I also hadn't used my Forever Greenery DSP too much, so I combined the two:

I cut a Whisper White panel with the die, then embossed each side with one of the Greenery EFs.  I added a panel of the DSP, but I didn't like how it was showing through the little diecut holes, so before adhering it, I traced the curve on a piece of Shaded Spruce cardstock and backed the edge with it.  I adhered the pieces together and put them on a Shaded Spruce card base.  My final addition was a sentiment from Lots of Heart, diecut with a Tasteful Labels die and backed with another piece cut from the same die:

I left the inside blank, so I could use it for whatever occasion arises!

A few more Easter cards; this one is from Sally:

and Doris:

and from Robyn:

All so pretty and thoughtful!  Thanks for popping in today!  Be sure to come back tomorrow as I am the hostess at the Paper Players!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Lots of Heart
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Shaded Spruce, Forever Greenery DSP
Ink	Shaded Spruce
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Tasteful Labels Dies, Curved Stitch Die (Penny Black)

Last Minute Valentine

Happy Saturday, peeps! Hope you have something fun planned this weekend!  I have one last Valentine card to show you; it uses some scraps of True Love left over from another project.  I hated to toss them so I arranged them in a neat little pattern, backed them with a couple of layers and here's what I came up with:

My card base is Blushing Bride, and I embossed it with the Pinewood Planks embossing folder, then "whitewashed" it with some watered-down white craft ink and an aquapainter.  I embossed the sentiment from Lots of Heart on a Basic Black banner, then layered it over my main image.  If you look very closely at the Blushing Bride DSP layer, you can see a boo-boo that I made:

Yep, I adhered it so the little words are upside down....duh!  Oh well, they're so small, maybe the recipient won't even notice!!!  Anyway, I added a little diecut heart and some twine, and it's ready to go for the big day tomorrow!  Be sure to come back tomorrow for the newest Paper Players challenge too!  Thanks for visiting -- enjoy your day and be blessed!

"We love because he first loved us."  1 John 4:19

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Lots of Heart
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Blushing Bride, Lots of Heart DSP, Blushing Bridge DSP
Ink	Craft White
Accessories	Playful Pets Twine. Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched So Sweetly Dies, Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder, Aquapainter, Stitched Be Mine Dies

PP527 Stars and Hearts

Happy Sunday, peeps!  It's the fabulous Anne Marie's turn to play hostess at the Paper Players this week, and she's got a fun theme challenge for us:

I couldn't make up my mind, so I actually made one for each---stars AND hearts!  I knew lots of people would choose hearts, so let me share my Uber-CAS "star" Christmas card first!  

I recently bought a package of inexpensive glimmer paper at our discount grocery chain and this beautiful deep blue shade caught my eye.  The paper is really thin...a bit too thin for the starry wreath die that I chose...so I backed it with an adhesive sheet, cut it out and mounted it to a square Whisper White card on which I scored a border.  I found this tiny word die in my stash...it actually spells out "YOU" but I trimmed off part of the "U" to create a "J" and adhered it within the wreath.  I also added a larger star as an accent!

The paper may be inexpensive, but it really sparkles!  I added a sentiment from For Unto Us, stamped in Pacific Point, on the inside:

For my "hearts" card, I got my inspiration from the Fusion Card Challenge photo:

I went for the gingham hearts and wood accents, embossing a sentiment on a piece of Woodgrain paper:

I added some twine, a few more diecut hearts and a couple of little arrows diecut from the In Good Taste DSP series:

So....you can choose stars, hearts, or both!  I hope you'll pop over to the Paper Players blog to see what the DT created, then get your creative juices flowing and share your creation with us as well!  Thanks for popping in today!

During our recent snowstorm, I saw these two mourning doves on our patio, huddled along the edge of the house for warmth:

At first I couldn't figure out what kind of birds they were....they had their feathers so puffed up, they were barely recognizable!  But I finally figured it out, and eventually they warmed up enough to fly away.  But it was fun to see them up this close.  Since their feathers are rather non-descript, it's easy to ignore them in favor of "prettier" birds, but they are fun to watch under our feeders...they are quite territorial and one will chase another away if he (or she!) thinks he will have to share his food!

We're due for some more snow today, so we'll see how they weather this storm!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

First Card Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	For Unto Us
Card stock & Papers	Thick Whisper White, Blue Glimmer Paper (Artskills), Adhesive Sheets
Ink	Pacific Point
Accessories
Tools	Big Shot, Star and Star Wreath Dies (Avery Elle), Tulip Frame Die (Concord & 9th)

Second Card Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	So Sentimental, Lots of Heart
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, In Good Taste DSP
Ink	Memento Black, Craft White
Accessories	Playful Pets Twine, Dimensionals, White Embossing Powder
Tools	Big Shot, Heat Tool, Stitched Be Mine Dies, Love Notes Framelits (ret)

Just One of Those Days

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  Yesterday, I had "one of those days".....you know, where nothing that you stamp turns out right; ideas don't flow; colors and papers don't work together; the layout fails...you get the picture.  I wanted to make a card for the sketch from CAS Colours and Sketches, as well as for The Spot's heart challenge:

I don't have the current curvy die set, but I do have another one, but the curve was not going in the right direction, so I decided to flip the sketch.  After MUCH deliberation, I finally chose a Flirty Flamingo DSP along with the gingham heart from Lots of Heart and the Stitched Be Mine dies.  So here we go:

I was grumbling about how the colors of the heart outline were not matching my DSP very well (grumble, grumble) when I realized (after it was completed) that I used Calypso Coral cardstock instead of Flirty Flamingo!  DUH!  Well, I wasn't going to redo it, so it's just going to stand the way it is!  I curved the sentiment to align with the diecut edge, then added a pearl embellishment and another little diecut from the die set to make the flourish at the top of the heart:

And then, because I made a SMUDGE on the inside of the card (can you see it?), I stamped the row of hearts along each edge. 

For fun, I took the inside of the cutout heart and heat embossed the little flower image on it, then added another little white diecut heart:

And since I had a wee little bit of the curvy portion left, I made a 3x3" note card with the remaining DSP, diecut the little rosette and sponged behind before adhering it:

That sentiment is from Here's a Card.

I am going to blame all these booboos (because I didn't even share my other failures from the day with you!) on a rainy day with poor lighting and a sinus headache!! Hopefully today will be better!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

PP525 Seashell Thanks for Joanne's Sketch

Happy Sunday, all!  It's time for a new Paper Players challenge, and the fabulous Joanne has a terrific sketch for us this week:

 

I had a lot of ideas swirling around in my head for this sketch, it's so versatile, and in the end I opted to use some of the new Sand & Sea DSP, along with some diecuts from Smooth Sailing!  Here we go:

Once I got the basic idea in my head, this went together pretty quickly!  I diecut a piece of this pretty pink patterned paper with a Stitched Rectangle die, then filled in the remaining white area with several of the "seaweedy" diecuts from Smooth Sailing.  I adhered them randomly around the edges, then "painted" them with some water and a little bit of Frost White Shimmer paint.  It gives the seaweeds a beautiful shimmery effect!

For the focal point, I stamped a shell from Seaside Notions in white craft ink on Blushing Bride cardstock, heat embossed it with white embossing powder, then tinted some of the same Frost White Shimmer paint with a tiny bit of Rococo Rose ink and painted the inside of the shell, then fussy-cut it out:

It's really pretty IRL!  The final step was to add a sentiment banner stamped in Rococo Rose with a sentiment from Lots of Heart!  I admit I had a little trouble with the pink color in this DSP; SU says the colors of the papers are Blushing Bride, Flirty Flamingo and Melon Mango, none of which really match this paper very well.....I think it's a cross between Blushing Bride and Rococo Rose.  I would be interested in knowing what other demonstrators think!

Thank you so much for popping in today!  I hope you'll play along with Joanne's sketch...it's a great one and the design team has made some amazing samples!  Please hop over to the Paper Players to see what they made, and to share yours with us as well!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Lots of Heart, Seaside Notions
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Blushing Bride, Sand & Sea DSP
Ink	Rococo Rose, Craft White
Accessories	Frost White Shimmer Paint, White Embossing Powder, Dimensions
Tools	Big Shot, Smooth Sailing Dies, Heat Tool, Aquapainter, Stitched Rectangle Dies

IB158 Lots of Hearts

 Happy Thursday, peeps!  Danni has an awesome Inspired By challenge for us this week...love it!

And I even used the optional sketch as well:

So here we go!  I went pretty literal with the colors and hearts....used lots of fun stuff too!  But I totally spaced on the "thanks" part of the challenge....please forgive me, LOL!

I started with a Naturals card base and embossed it with the Pine Planks EF, then distressed it with some Gray Granite ink.  From there, I just added hearts....lots and lots of hearts!  The two top ones are both from Lots of Heart set; the plaid one was stamped with Rococo Rose ink, then diecut with the Stitched Be Mine dies.  This particular die also cuts out a scalloped border, so I cut another one from Crumb Cake to "frame" it and added a Linen Thread bow.  A little row of hearts from the retired Sending Love set added some interest:

The silver one was stamped with an Encore silver ink pad on Brushed Silver card stock, then embossed with silver embossing powder...I added some flowers from Ornate Garden DSP:

The third heart was also cut with a die from the Be Mine dies, this time from Woodgrain paper, then embellished with silver Metallic Pearls and another flower:

The sentiment and swish is also from Sending Love, stamped in Memento Black and Rococo Rose, then fussy cut:

Finally, the last heart cut from Ornate Garden DSP and backed with some Crumb Cake that was sponged to give it a wee bit more depth:

And since I had cut out my Brushed Silver heart from a circle that was already in my stash, I used it for the inside, stamping a sentiment inside!  I know it looks blue here, but it really is silver!

Phew, that was a lot...hope you're still with me! AND I hope you'll play along with our fun collage-style challenge this week!  You can choose to use the colors, shapes, sketch...whatever you want!  Just have fun and share it with us at Inspired By!  Thanks for popping in today!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Lots of Heart, Sending Love (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Ornate Garden DSP, Brushed Silver (ret), Woodgrain DSP (ret), Naturals White (ret)
Ink	Memento Black, Rococo Rose, Soft Suede, Gray Granite, Silver Encore (ret)
Accessories	Linen Thread, Silver Metallic Pearls, Dimensionals, Silver Embossing Powder
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Be Mine Dies, :Pinewood Planks EF, Love Notes Dies (ret), Heat Tool, Sponge Dauber

IC082 You're All Heart

Happy Monday, peeps!  Hope you had a good weekend!  When we went to church yesterday, we found this in our pew! Our minister's children (actually I think it was his 4-year-old daughter mostly) wrote notes and put them on all the seats along with a life saver candy.  SO SWEET!  

His children are adorable and he and his wife are doing a fabulous job raising them to love the Lord and think of others! Knowing how everyone, including kids, love to get mail, I thought I would send them a thank you card! I used the sketch from Inspire.Create:

and stamps from Hot Dog and Lots of Heart to create my card for them:

I used some retired SAB paper for the background, and diecut four heart "balloons" (one for each child) from Poppy Parade cardstock and drew strings to my little pup's collar:

I added a sentiment at the bottom, plus stamped some hearts from both sets:

I hope they enjoy it and know how much we love and appreciate them!  Thanks for popping in today!

Cassidy got some tips from Grampy about yoyo-ing over the weekend....she learned that the more she practiced, the better she got!

We also thought we'd better get Grampy his own yoyo, as he seemed to have as much fun playing with it as Cassidy did!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Lots of Heart, Hot Dog
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Poppy Parade, Painted Seasons DSP (ret)
Ink	Memento Black, Early Espresso, Poppy Parade
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies, Stitched Be Mine Dies, Blends, Sahara Sand Marker, White Gel Pen