TGIF479 Hooray for Surprises Birthday Card

Happy Saturday, peeps! Hope you have some fun weekend plans!  John is taking eleven people fishing on a charter boat today, so my day is free!  I spent some time yesterday working on a birthday card for a young man in our church...I hope he doesn't think it's too childish, LOL!  I have wanted to use the Hooray for Surprises set to make a window card that you open, using the special dies, and I saw a great video by my friend Amanda. She highlights a wonderful technique to get the images lined up perfectly!  You can see it here.  I used the birthday cake and candles image along with some bright inks, paper and cardstock.  So here we go:

So if you can see the little pull tab on the right side of the diecut, that gets pulled open by the recipient, and there is another image under the circle.  Of course, I forgot to take a picture of THAT, but it said "Make a Wish"!  The cake was stamped in Azure Afternoon, the candles in Lemon Lime Twist and the flames in Daffodil Delight, along with some stars from the retired Wood Words:

Sentiments are from the Light the Candles kit:

And even though it doesn't look like it, the cardstock, sentiment and stars on the inside are also Azure Afternoon....the camera really doesn't capture the shade correctly!

I am going to enter this at TGIF Challenges, where they are looking for sweet treats!  Can't get much sweeter than a birthday cake, right?!  

Anyway, this family always includes jokes in their birthday cards to us, so I am enclosing one as to him:  "How do bees celebrate moving to a new hive?  They have a house swarming party!"  I hope he likes it!  Corny but cute!

Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Hooray for Surprises, Light the Candles Kit, Wood Words (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Azure Afternoon, Azure Afternoon DSP (ret)
Ink	Azure Afternoon, Lemon Lime Twist, Daffodil Delight
Accessories
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Hooray for Surprises Dies

IB68 Monochromatic Earth Day

Happy Thursday, peeps!  It's time for another Inspired By challenge!  Since the retired list came out, I thought it would be nice to highlight one of my favorite retiring In Colors, Tranquil Tide.  I will be sad to see it go!  So here we go:

And here is Laurel's prompt:

Usually I stick to the prompt photograph when creating my card. Bit since the name of the prompt is "Earth Day", I went more with a nature theme than the photo!  I stamped the trees from Winter Woods on a small panel of Very Vanilla, stamping off a few times (without reinking) to give a lighter look in the background.  I also stamped a partial sentiment from a retiring set, Wood Words, and diecut it with a Stitched Rectangle die:

I mounted it on a Thick Very Vanilla card base that I embossed with the Woodland embossing folder, and added some Tranquil Tide ribbon for the vertical elements.  This also fulfills a couple more challenges, the Global Design Project's monochromatic, and the Freshly Made Sketches sketch:

Earth Day is always a good day to remember our natural resources....so what will you create this week?  Share it at Inspired By....can't wait to see what you make!  

A few pix from our church's Easter Egg hunt:

Blessedly, our Lord doesn't "hide" his treasures...they are open and free for all who seek him!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

SSC198 Lots of Hearts

Hello, everyone!  I found a pretty sketch at Sunday Stamps, and it featured a heart, which I did use, but I made it into a thank-you card, because I always seem to need them for my sweet customers!  So here's the sketch:

and here's the card:

I already had the heart frame cut from another project, so I used a piece of Garden Impressions (confession:  it's a pattern I don't really like very much) to create the inner heart, then added some other hearts cut from the Be Mine framelits:

I added a horizontal panel of Mango Melody, cut with a Rectangle Stitched die (it's actually two panels put together), then added some twine from my stash and a sentiment from Wood Words!  Done!  Easy and fun!

So I promised some pictures from Cassidy's father/daughter banquet!  First, Mommy did her hair:

Then, her pretty dress:

Wayne brought her flowers (I LOVE this picture!):

And they're ready to go!  They had a good time, too!

Thanks for popping in today...enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Wood Words
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Petal Pink, Soft Seafoam, Mango Melody, Melon Mambo, Rose Glimmer, Garden Impressions DSP
Ink	Mango Melody
Accessories	Twine, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Be Mine Framelits, Rectangle Stitched Framelits

FF153 Thanks in Purple

Happy Monday, peeps, and Happy New Year's Eve!  I had this card created a week ago and totally forgot to post it in all the holiday excitement!  I usually shy away from purple hues, but a special friend really likes it, so I created this card for her!  It uses a Gorgeous Grape card base and inks, along with accents of Old Olive and So Saffron:

My background is, of course, Buffalo Check, and the florals are from Painted Harvest and Rooted in Nature.  I covered a narrow piece of Gorgeous Grape with the Polka Dot Tulle ribbon, because I love plaid and polka dots together...in small amounts!

Finally, the sentiment is from Wood Words, and it is all mounted on a circle diecut with the Stitched Shapes framelits.  My sweet little sketch is from Fab Friday:

Easy and cute!

A few photos from our Christmas day....my niece in her "Ralphie" bunny pajamas!  This cracked us all up, especially since first of all, this is very much unlike her, and second of all,  her brother, who outweighs her by about 100 pounds, put it on after she did!  (I didn't want to embarrass him by showing you that photo!!):

My great-nephew with his new "digger":

And a silly picture of Cassidy from breakfast:

And of course, Eden, in her Eagles outfit:

 Just look at that face!

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

CASual Thinking of You

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  I have a fun, clean and simple card today for a friend who's a bit under the weather!  It uses the CAS-ual Fridays sketch:

This card is for a guy, and in trying to come up with some SU images for a masculine card made me realize I need more GUY stamps!  I finally decided on the star from Wood Words, and did a monochromatic color scheme using Blueberry Bushel:

I also have no "get-well" stamps...how can that be?  I will need to remedy that for sure!  I stamped and die-cut the star six times and layered them on my card after stamping the sentiment and using the Subtle embossing folder on a Whisper White panel:

I think the rustic look of the stars works well with that embossing folder...although it's hard to see, I am sure you can imagine it!

That's it for today...still sniffling with allergies, so I am laying low this week!!  Enjoy your day, be blessed and thanks for popping in!

Diva:

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Wood Words, Colorful Seasons
Card stock & Papers	Blueberry Bushel, Whisper White, In Color DSP
Ink	Blueberry Bushel
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Wood Crate Framelits, Subtle EF

CTS293 Country Celebrate

Howdy, peeps!  Just a quick, fun little card today using the fun Case This Sketch sketch!  So here's the card:

and here's the sketch:

I used the rooster from Wood Words....it's been getting dusty on my shelf, so I gave it some love, plus today is National Farmer's Day!!:

The horizontal piece is from the Share What You Love DSP line; the sentiment is from Itty Bitty Greetings, and I stamped the woodgrain from Gallery Grunge on top of a Stitched Labels Framelit.  It also topped the sentiment with a little cross stitch panel from the same set of Framelits.  The circular element was stamped with Buffalo Check in Cherry Cobbler, and I added some Linen Thread for a little country accent.  On the inside, I used sentiments from Merry Christmas to All and Happy Birthday, Gorgeous to make a birthday greeting:

My card base is PTI's Rustic White!  That's it for today....enjoy your day and be blessed!

No Cassidy picture, but I snapped this a few days ago on the way into the library....of course, it had been raining:

What amazes me is that, except for the rain, we would never even know these webs were there...as I am sure they are!!!  Kind of spooky!!

IB31 Back to School

Howdy, folks!  Hope your week is going okay!  Laurel has a sweet little Inspired By challenge for us today, but I really am not ready to think about going back to school!!!  But here we go:

We have a sponsor today, A Flair for Buttons!  So be sure to check out the IB blog to find out the details!  This is wee bit busier than I usually do, but it was SO much fun!  I used some Bo Bunny  and older SUpapers; the pencil is from an old Cornish Heritage Farms set called Make the Grade; it was stamped in Memento Black and colored with SU Blends.  The "A Note for You" is from Wood Words, and the alphabet letters are from Papertrey.  And finally, aren't those little buttons COOL!?  

And here's our prompt:

And here are a couple close-ups, just for fun:

The buttons don't have holes in them, they're solid, so I used some Tear 'n Tape to adhere them to the card!  My card was inspired by one I got for my birthday, made by the uber-talented Shawn:

I just love this sketch...I guarantee you will be seeing more of it in the future!  And I'll be sharing more birthday cards from my uber-talented friends in the days to come!  Thanks for popping in today---be sure to share your creation with us at Inspired By....we can't wait to see it!

Cassidy wanted me to make a little pillow for one of the dolls from her doll house; I've been WAITING for a moment like this, to encourage her to learn to sew!  She's still a little young but once she figured out how to use the pedal (training for driver's ed maybe?) she had a little better control!  First we practiced on some scrap fabric:

And then we tackled the little pillow...it's tiny for sure!  She stitched the side seams, turned it inside out, put a couple of cotton balls inside and sewed it shut!  And she picked out the fabric herself!  Hopefully I planted the seed for more sewing projects in the future!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Wood Words, Make the Grade (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Kiss the Cook (BoBunny), Newsprint (ret SU), Basic Black
Ink	Memento Black
Accessories	Buttons (A Flair for Buttons), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Scalloped Circle Dies (Nestabilities), File Folder Thinlets (ret SU), Blends in Light & Dark Daffodil Delight, Light & Dark Pumpkin Pie, Lower Case Alphabet Dies (Papertrey), Tear 'n Tape

Wood Words Tag

Happy Wednesday, all!  I have a sweet little CAS card today for two challenges!  The first one is CAS on Sunday, which is "Tag It", and the TGIF Challenges is "Repeat After Me"; they are looking for using your stamps repeatedly:

I was totally inspired by Jeanna's card here; I knew I wanted to use Wood Words and I loved that little polka-dotted ribbon!  I went in a bit of a different direction; I created a tag with the floral image, stamping it several times in Lovely Lipstick ink and punching it with the Tag Topper punch:

I added another tag, also from Wood Words; a stamped heart, a DSP heart and a stitched heart from Stitched Labels:

Oh, and it's hard to see, but I tucked a wee little piece of the polka-dotted ribbon behind it all, as well as embossing the mat with the Subtle EF!  Thanks for popping in today!

Mad Libs always brings a chuckle!!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Wood Words
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Lovely Lipstick, Lovely Lipstick In Color DSP
Ink	Lovely Lipstick
Accessories	Polka Dot Ribbon, Embroidery Thread
Tools	Big Shot, Wood Crate Thinlets, Stitched Labels Framelits, Tag Topper Punch, Subtle EF