Gratitude Changes Everything

Happy Friday, peeps! Yay, the weekend is here!  My card today is for the Shopping Our Stash challenge,  which features some gorgeous regal shades, and I used the sketch from Inspired By; the theme was adorable but I had been thinking about these images for a couple of days and the sketch fit, so I went with it!  Here are the prompts:

So my images aren't quite to scale like the sketch, but hopefully it will be okay! Here we go:

I stamped these Fall: Take Three Papertrey images in Old Olive, Crushed Curry and Pumpkin Pie, then used a W+9 die to cut them out.  The sentiment is from a Right at Home set called Grateful Heart:

To give some interest to the Pretty Peacock background, I first stamped it with the retired Linen background stamp, then embosssed it with the Cane Weave embossing folder.  If you look closely, you can see the "weave".  I added a little Linen braid trim because in the photo, the rug and lamp are natural colored and I liked the contrast.  On the inside, a sentiment from the PTI set:

I think these rich jewel tones are just beautiful!  And I am going to pop this in over at the Time Out challenge  as well, as their theme is gratitude:

Thanks for visiting today!

A few more pictures from Longwood:

These are certainly jewel-toned as well!  Nature is beautiful!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

 

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Linen (ret), Grateful Heart (Right at Home) Fall:Take Three (Papertrey Ink)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Pretty Peacock
Ink	Versamark, Old Olive, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Pretty Peacock
Accessories	Dimensionals, Linen Braid (ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Cane Weave Embossing Folder, ZigZag Dies (W+9)

FMS558 You Are A Blessing

Happy Thursday, everyone!  October is Pastor Appreciation month so I used the FMS sketch to make a simple card for my pastor and his wife; they both prefer clean designs, so this is what I came up with:

Here's the sketch (love things in THREES!):

I stamped the three wheat images from Papertrey in Crumb Cake, Bumblebee and Cinnamon Cider, and the sentiment in Soft Suede:

 After stamping the images, I diecut them with a zigzag-edged die from W+9.  The little swirl is from a retired Paper Pumpkin kit.  Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Take Three: Fall (Papertrey Ink), Grateful Heart (Right at Home), Paper Pumpkin (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla
Ink	Soft Suede, Cinnamon Cider, Crumb Cake, Bumblebee
Accessories
Tools	Big Shot, Zigzag Die (W+9), Stamparatus

RRCB176 Sketchy Christmas Wishes

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  Time for a new Retro Rubber Challenge, where we give our older stamps some love!  This week Jane has a fun sketch for us: 

I love things in threes, so I was excited to get started!  I haven't made any Christmas cards lately, so I thought I'd remedy that; I found three fun prints from the retired Let It Snow DSP and went to work:

I used the Rectangle Stitched dies to cut them out evenly and layered them on a Basic White panel that was embossed with the retired Polka Dot embossing folder:

The sentiment is from CC Designs; I have no idea how old it is as it was given to me by another stamping friend and it's no longer on their website, so it's definitely a few years old!  The hat image is from Right At Home's Winter Elements set, and it's at least three or four years old as well. I used Real Red, Pool Party, Flirty Flamingo and Emerald Envy to stamp it:

I added another sentiment on the inside from the same set, and I used an Ornate Frames die to cut them out!  I love the fonts, don't you?

And since it's Christmas week at Krafty Chicks, I'm going to enter this one there as well!

This sketch is so versatile, it can be used for any occasion and it's great to use up some scraps--we all have those, right?!  I hope you'll play along with us at Retro Rubber this week...just make sure to use stamps that are at least a year old, and tell us their approximate age!  Hope to see you there!  Thanks for much for popping in!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Winter Elements (Right at Home), Jolly Christmas (CC Designs)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Pool Party, Let It Snow Specialty DSP (ret)
Ink	Pool Party, Real Red, Flirty Flamingo, Emerald Envy (ret)
Accessories	Snowflake Sequins (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Ornate Frames Dies, Perfect Polka Dot Embossing Folder (ret)

CAS on Friday Raking up the Leaves

Hello again! I am excited to be chosen as a guest designer this week for CAS on Friday!  Our theme is Halloween or Fall, so I pulled out an oldie called Fall For All, because I felt like doing some coloring!  Here we go: 

So....this is probably NOT as clean and simple as I usually make, but I got carried away with this image and hues!  I used the colors from Sunday Stamps (not sure if I'll make the cutoff or not!) because they are so bright and fun::

I stamped my image on watercolor paper with Stazon ink and used reinkers and an aquapainter to color it in:

I added some diecut leaves, then mounted everything on a striped and diecut turquoise piece of paper from Simple Stories' I Am line, on which I stamped a sentiment from Right at Home:

Although, I am pushing the limit as far as this card being clean and simple, I just love this little image and it looks so great in these colors!  I hope that you'll play along with CAS on Friday!  Thanks so much for visiting today!

Trying to enjoy these flowers before the frost comes!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

"I know, O Lord, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps." Jeremiah 10:23

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Fall for All (ret), Grateful Heart (Right at Home)
Card stock & Papers	Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Watercolor, Confetti White (ret), I Am DSP (Simple Stories)
Ink	Stazon Black, Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Bumblebee, Soft Suede, Petal Pink, Calypso Coral
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Scallop & Contour Dies, Oval Dies (Nestabilities), Stitched Leaves Dies (Lawn Fawn), Aquapainter, Stamparatus

IB191 Beary Hello

Hi stampers!  Time for a fun, new Inspired By Challenge!  Check out these cute prompts:

 

SO fun!  And here's our optional sketch to use with the prompts, or alone:

Since my posts the last couple days have been Christmas-themed, I decided I'd better do a fall one....this would be good for a birthday or just a "thinking of you" card!  Here we go:

I only have one little bear in all my stamp repertoire...or at least that I can remember!  I didn't have any polar bears either, so I pulled out Thankful Forest Friends, some leafy papers and the wreath from Seasonal Swirls dies and went to work!  I diecut three wreaths:  Crumb Cake, Cinnamon Cider and Bumblebee, then colored some of the leaves on each one and layered them together:

I stamped and fussy-cut Mr Bear on Crumb Cake with Cinnamon Cider ink and layered him on top with a fussy-cut sentiment from Right at Home, a Pumpkin Pie grosgrain bow and some sequins from my stash.  I also sponged the edges of my leafy paper to give it some warmth!  I think Mr Bear is pretty happy being part of this fall decor!!!  I am going to enter this at the Inspiration Station challenge as well...here's their prompt, and I was inspired by all the leaves!

And also by Little Red Wagon's "Wreath for All Seasons" Challenge!

I hope you'll find some inspiration from our photos and are ready to play along! Check out what the DT created at the Inspired By blog as well!  Thanks for visiting today!

Cassidy's first try at chopsticks!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."  Isaiah 40:8

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Thankful Forest Friends, Grateful Heart (Right at Home)
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Bumblebee, Cinnamon Cider, Confetti White (ret), Fall Break DSP (Carta Bella)
Ink	Cinnamon Cider, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories	Dimensionals, Mini Dimensionals, Sequins from my stash, Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon (ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Seasonal Swirls Dies, Blends to color leaves, Blending Brush

IB184 Holiday Penguin

Hi there, stamping friends!  It's time for a fun new Inspired By challenge...and we're still doing our optional Christmas inspiration!  Check these out:

 

I had just the right stamp set in mind for my little penguin card, and although I didn't use the colors in either challenge photo, I still went with a Christmas theme:

I used the sketch from Global Design Project:

along with some papers from Authentique, a snowflake from SU, a sentiment from Verve, and my penguin is from Clearly Besotted.  His hat is from Right at Home, stamped in Just Jade, and I added little dots with a white gel pen:

My snowflake uses the new Stitched Snowflake dies, and it was cut from some retired SU glimmer paper.  The inside featured a sentiment from My Favorite Things (I gave lots of stamps lot of love on this one!)

We also had an optional sketch (which you can see on the IB blog), but I chose not to use that!  Thanks so much for popping in today!  And be sure to check out what the DT created...seriously, there is some major talent over there and they'd love to have you play along!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	In Stitches: Christmas (Clearly Besotted), Seasonal Sentiments (My Favorite Things), Joyous Noel (Verve), Winter Mittens (Right at Home)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Just Jade, Alpine DSP (Authentique), Mint Macaron Glimmer Paper (ret)
Ink	Just Jade, Pool Party, Memento Black, Mango Melody
Accessories	Dimensionals, Glimmer Brad (ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Snowflake Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Scalloped Contour Dies, White Gel Pen

RRCB155 Rainbow Crayons

Hi peeps!  Happy Tuesday!  We've got a new Retro Rubber challenge for you: 

I needed a birthday card for a sweet little girl in our church, so I pulled out some really old (2008) Cornish Heritage Farms stamps and a rainbow palette of inks and went to work:

Each crayon was stamped and fussy-cut, then I went searching among all my glimmer papers to find shades that matched and gave each one a star!  They sort of remind me of rockets, LOL!

The Whisper White mat was embossed with the Jumbo Polka Dots EF; I diecut a Stitched Shape circle and cut it in half, stamping a portion of the sentiment on it before adhering it and the crayons to the embossed piece.  The remainder of the sentiment (Right at Home, approx 2016) was colored with matching inks and a blender pen, then also fussy cut and popped up:

The sentiment from Altenew (approx 2016) was stamped in Memento Black and embellished with a few more glimmer stars:

This was a lot of fun to make and I hope she enjoys it!  I am entering this at the Always Fun Challenges this week, which is also rainbows!

I hope you'll play along with our rainbow challenge as well!  Check out what everyone else created at the Retro Rubber blog!  Remember to use stamps that are at least a year old, and give us the age of them as well!  See you there!

Speaking of rainbows, Cassidy and I dyed some Easter eggs on Saturday before we met the baby coyote:

Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

"And God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:  I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.'" Genesis 9:12-13

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Making the Grade (Cornish Heritage Farms 2008), Color In Sentiments (Right At Home, 2016), Label Love (Altenew, 2016)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Basic Black, Glimmer Papers in rainbow colors from various sources
Ink	Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Just Jade, Misty Moonlight, Rich Razzleberry, Gorgeous Group, Memento Black
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Star Punch (ret), Jumbo Polka Dots EF (ret), Blender Pens, Stitched Shapes Dies

IB156 Beary Warm Wishes

Happy Thursday, everyone!  We're back at Inspired By with this uber-sweet little bear...doesn't he look stylish?  

 

I began by pulling out an old SU set called Thankful Forest Friends and stamping the little bear in Smoky Slate ink; here's how he ended up:

I added some little "fur" lines with a marker and fussy-cut him out. The background is some retired DSP on which I stamped a sprinkling of little Smoky Slate and Memento Black winter hats, hand-drawing the ribbing; I even stuck one on top of Mr. Bear's head:

I added an old Whippersnapper sentiment atop a Basic Gray panel that was embossed with a retired Sweater Knit embossing folder:

And added a sentiment from Rustic Retreat on the inside:

I think this is such a sweet, fun inspiration photo, I hope you'll play along!  I have several birthday cards to make, and this one is at the top of my list!  Can't wait to see how you interpret our prompt this week!  Be sure to check out what the other DT members created as well!  Hop on over to the Inspired Blog to see! Thanks for popping in today!

I wanted to share a picture of some cookies my niece Kelly made for Christmas....they were gorgeous and tasted delicious to boot!  Lots of detail and PAINTING with edible paint!! She is the Martha Stewart of the family, hands down!  They definitely contributed to my holiday weight gain, LOL!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Rustic Retreat, Thankful Forest Friends (ret), Winter Schminter (Whippersnapper), Christmas Cheer Turnabout (hat, Concord & 9th), Bits & Pieces: Winter (hat topper, Right at Home)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Basic Gray, A Little Foxy DSP (ret)
Ink	Smoky Slate, Memento Black
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Sweater Knit EF (ret), Stitched Rectangle Dies, Basic Black Marker, Gray Marker

TTTC84 Fall Blessings

 Happy Thursday (again), peeps!  It's time for a new Tic Tac Toe challenge for Team X!!  Here is our fun board for this week:

While on vacation I saw a rustic barnboard sign and I thought it would be fun to re-create it!  I went searching for a sentiment that would work for my "barnwood" and here's what I came up with!  My tic-tac-toe is the top row across of plaid, pumpkin and thankful:

I inked up my Pinewood Planks embossing folder with some Cajun Craze ink and ran it through a piece of Terracotta Tile DSP to create my "board".  Actually, since it's a slimline card, I had to run it through twice; the plaid ribbon that I have been hoarding for years is covering up the line that it made when I ran it through the second time!!

My pumpkin is from CTMH's Hello Pumpkin, stamped in Pumpkin Pie and Cajun Craze; the leaves and sentiments are from Right At Home's Grateful Heart, stamped in Early Espresso and colored with Blends:

I used Early Espresso as my card base and added a Very Vanilla panel on the inside, stamping a lovely sentiment and some berries and acorns from the same set:

As my card measures 6 1/4" x 3", I created a custom envelope for it as well using my Envelope Punch Board, sadly retired.  The only thing I would have done differently if I made this again is to use a different color cardstock, as I think the Terracotta Tile is a little too "pink" for the effect I was going for!  But all in all, I was happy with the outcome!  And since this is a slimline card, I am entering it at Shopping Our Stash!

So...will you play Tic-Tac-Toe with us this week?  I am sure there is a favorite combination on our board that will tickle your fancy!  Share it with us!  And thanks for popping by!

And here are some more fall pix to tickle your fancy as well:

And here is my little collection of yard-sale-find owls...I'll add more Halloween decor once October hits!

That little one just cracks me up!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Hello Pumpkin Cardmaking (Close to My Heart), Grateful Heart (Right at Home)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Terracotta Tile
Ink	Early Espresso, Terracotta Tile, Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake
Accessories	Plaid Ribbon (from my stash), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Pinewood Planks EF, Hello Pumpkin Dies, Blends