PP536 Thoughts and Prayers

 Happy Sunday, everyone!  I am the hostess this week at the Paper Players and I have a color challenge for you:

I think this is a nice color combo for masculine cards, or vintage patriotic cards, or anything else that appeals to you!  Unfortunately, I needed another sympathy card, my third for the week, (why do they always come in threes?) for a gentleman who used to attend our church:

I have been wanting to use these Stitched Leaves dies for a while; once autumn turned to winter, I kind of forgot all about them!  I cut one from Merry Merlot and used various DSPs for the rest of the card:

My neutral is Very Vanilla, and the sentiment is from the retired Wishing You Well.  The inside sentiment is from Woven Heirlooms:

And the sketch is from a new-to-me challenge, Stamping Pals:

The design team has come up with some fun samples using these colors!  Be sure to stop by the Paper Players blog to check them all out.  Then put on your creative thinking cap and show us your artistry as well!  Can't wait to see you there!

A couple more Easter cards, this one is from Danni:

and from Teri:

These girls make me feel so special!  Thanks!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Woven Heirlooms, Wishing You Well (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Merry Merlot, Misty Moonlight DSP, Plaid Tidings DSP (ret)
Ink	Merry Merlot
Accessories	Linen Thread, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies, Stitched Rectangles Dies, Stitched Leaves Dies

TMS594 Sympathy

 Happy Friday, peeps!  The weekend is upon us...albeit a wet one, but I can't complain since we've had some lovely sunshine the last couple of days!  Sadly, I needed another sympathy card, and I really liked the sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches this week:

Woven Heirlooms is a lovely set that doesn't see enough ink in my craft room, and it has a perfect sympathy sentiment, so I paired it with some almost-retired SAB papers from Flower & Field:

I stamped the sentiment in Memento Black, then added a Basic Black mat as well as some Rococo Rose diecut flowers; they looked a little plain, so I colored some retired Candy Dots with my Basic Black Blend, and added a few black leaves to complement the pattern in the DSP:

I am a big proponent of color in my sympathy cards....they don't have to be garish, but I think some muted colors like these are appreciated!  Thanks so much for popping in today---enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Woven Heirlooms
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Rococo Rose, Basic Boack, Flower and Field DSP
Ink	Memento Black
Accessories	Dimensionals, Candy Dots (ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Layering Circles Dies, Pierced Blooms Dies, Basic Black Blend

The Spot 143 Sympathy

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  Unfortunately, the holidays are no respecter of persons and sadly, I find I still need sympathy cards.  I used the sketch from The Spot along with some pretty Peony Garden papers for my card today; first, the sketch:

And here we go:

The color in my photo doesn't quite match the colors in real life, so you'll just have to imagine that the peony, colored with Blushing Bride ink and an aquapainter matches the DSP nicely!  I added a diecut sentiment, stamped in Smoky Slate, along with a strip of the gorgeous new Blushing Bride Metallic Ribbon (satin on one side, metallic on the other--so pretty!), and a few sequins:

The inside is stamped with a sentiment from Woven Heirlooms:

I hope it brings comfort to the family! 

From Christmas evening, my niece gave Jameson and Sawyer personalized chef aprons and hats:

Cooking and baking are VERY important to these boys' family, and all the grandparents, aunts and uncles are passing down their culinary love and talents to them and their cousins!  Here's a picture of the boys making cookies at the Christmas cookie baking session their maternal grandmom has every year:

They do a better job decorating than I do!  Enjoy your day and thanks for popping in...be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Itty Bitty Greetings, Woven Heirlooms
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Smoky Slate, Peony Garden DSP
Ink	Smoky Slate, Blushing Bride
Accessories	Sequins, Blushing Bride Metallic Ribbon
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies, Layering Circle Dies, Aquapainter, Tasteful Label Dies

RRCB141 Anything Goes

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  I took a little break yesterday but I am back today with a new Retro Rubber challenge, where we ask you to give some love to your older stamps!  This week we have an Anything Goes challenge:

 

I pulled out one of my favorite SU stamps ever ever ever, Garden Pleasures from 2001.  I just love the detailed artwork on these stamps!  I stamped the birdhouse in Stazon Black on some watercolor paper and watercolored it in with ink and an aquapainter:

After coloring it, I fussy-cut it out, then stamped it again on a stitched circle and popped it up on some dimensionals.  Before doing that, I colored in the sky with some Soft Sky ink and sponged the edges to give it an vintage look:

The sketch that I used is from Inkspire Me, and I used papers from Graphic 45's Botanical Tea 6x6 pad, diecut with a stitched rectangle die:

After embellishing the front with some seam binding and a couple of candy dots, I stamped two more images at the bottom of the inside, along with a sentiment from the same set and a sentiment from Woven Heirlooms, stamped over a straw hat:

So happy that you stopped in today, and I hope that you'll play along with our Retro Rubber challenge over at the RR blog!  Just make sure your stamp is at least a year old, and be sure to tell us the age in your post!  Can't wait to see what you create!

Over the weekend, John, his sister and her husband and I all went tubing down the Tulpehocken Creek west of Reading, PA.   Of course, we just had a hurricane on Wednesday, and Friday evening it rained again, so we were concerned about the water...would it be fast, high, muddy, etc?  It was perfect and we spent three lazy hours just drifting down the little stream!  I only took photos at the beginning, as we couldn't take our phones with us:

It was a blast!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Woven Heirlooms, Garden Pleasures (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Watercolor, Naturals White (ret), Botanical Tea DSP (Graphic 45)
Ink	Stazon Black, Balmy Blue, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Soft Sky (ret)
Accessories	Candy Dots, Soft Sky Seam Binding (both ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies, Layering Circles Dies, Sponge Dauber, Aquapainter

3D Cube Card with Flowers for all Seasons

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  And happy July!  I went out of my comfort zone and created a fancy fold card today!  It's not that I am "afraid" of fancy folds, I am mostly just lazy, LOL! But I found an intriguing card on this blog a couple days ago and I was determined to make one for myself!  So here we go:

Isn't that something?  There are two cubes that open up, and it collapses to look like this:

And I created it while watching Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and Antiques Roadshow, so if I had been more focused, it would have taken less time!  But even still, it was not difficult at all!  Here are closeups of the stamped panels:

Of course, when I first started the card, I was just attempting a trial run...I have to admit that these brightly colored flowers are not my favorites, so I figured if I messed it up, it was no big loss!!  I also don't like how I did the sentiment panel, but again, it was a trial, and I do like the final effect of the card itself!  It is a BIG card....5 1/2" square, so you'll need to make your own envelope or find a larger one for it.  There is also a smaller version on their blog, so I will probably attempt to make that in the future.  The directions on the video are very clear, and they have measurements for both inches and centimeters! Anyway, this larger one requires 12"x12" paper, and the smaller one doesn't, so I am anxious to try it with some other color and stamp combinations!  

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Tasteful Touches, Happiest of Birthdays, Woven Heirlooms
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Just Jade, Melon Mambo, Flowers For All Seasons DSP
Ink	Just Jade, Mint Macaron, Melon Mambo, Calypso Coral
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Nested Labels Dies, Forever Flourishing Dies, Blends

CASC&S358 Positive Thoughts

Happy Friday, everyone!  My card today features some spring-like colors from the Clean and Simple Colours and Sketches challenge:

Aren't they pretty?  I wanted to practice some blending skills, so I heat embossed the greenery image from Positive Thoughts on some Shimmery White cardstock with Craft White ink and White embossing powder, then blended on some Pear Pizzazz ink.  This is what I came up with:

I added some Grapefruit Grove faceted gems to my greenery, as well as a diecut butterfly:

And I added a sentiment from Woven Heirlooms before tying on some crinkly seam binding that I had dyed with some Daffodil Delight ink:

I used the Stitched Rectangle die to cut out my panel beforehand, layering it on two panels of Whisper White cardstock that had been diecut with the largest scallop die from Stitched So Sweetly dies; I trimmed one end off one of the diecuts and carefully layered them together to create a larger mat.  It all went on a Grapefruit Grove card base!  I left the inside blank; I'll fill in a sentiment when I need to!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Positive Thoughts, Woven Heirlooms
Card stock & Papers	Grapefruit Grove, Whisper White, Shimmery White
Ink	Memento Black, Pear Pizzazz, Craft White
Accessories	White Embossing Powder, Dimensionals, Blender Brush, Grapefruit Grove Faceted Gems, Seam Binding
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Stitched So Sweetly Dies, Nature's Thoughts Dies, Daffodil Delight Blends, Heat Tool, Embossing Buddy

Fall Flowers

Happy Tuesday, all!  I had a few minutes to stamp yesterday between camps, and I was really just kind of fooling around with some watercolored images...wasn't really planning to use them, just practicing, but in the end, when I saw these two challenges, I thought I might go ahead and create a card with it!  The challenges are The Flower Challenge--anything goes, and the Always Fun Challenge, which is asking for fall colors:

My flowers are from Tim Holtz, stamped in Stazon on SU's watercolor paper and colored with Real Red, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Suede and Old Olive inks:

I diecut it with a Stitched Rectangle die, added a distressed Old Olive mat and mounted it on my card:

The card base is Crumb Cake, and I stamped the "distressed" image from Woven Heirlooms randomly on it before adding a piece of woodgrain paper and a sentiment from Altnew.  I love line-drawn images, they're fun to color!  Thanks for popping in today!

Mommy-daughter lunch date....or I guess maybe it's dessert date!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Woven Heirlooms, Flower Garden (Tim Holtz), Label Love (Altenew)
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Old Olive, Woodgrain DSP, Watercolor Paper
Ink	Stazon Black, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Crushed Curry, Old Olive, Soft Suede
Accessories	Black Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Aquapainter

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

CTS324 and JAI459

Happy Friday, peeps!  Can you believe tomorrow is June already! If you haven't put in a last order from the catalog, you should do it soon!  Lots of stuff is on sale, too!  

My card today was a wee bit of a challenge for me!  The sketch I chose was quite different,  but it's good to challenge oneself, don't you think?  It was from CAS(E) this Sketch and the colors from Just Add Ink:

I had NO idea how to interpret this sketch....I thought maybe stitched rectangles would be good, but I couldn't get the sizes to work.  I finally ended up with some hearts from the Be Mine dies, cut in the challenge colors and laid out like this:

The little striped stamp is from A Big Thank You, and the sentiment is from the new set Woven Heirlooms.  Each set of hearts had a little embellishment of some sort:

My little Take Your Pick tool got a big workout with these little diecuts!  Thanks for popping in today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Dana got an email that Cassidy had won an award (Cassidy never bothered to mention it, LOL!); it was only for her class, but knowing how much she likes to draw, we were thrilled:

We don't even know what the artwork looked like!!!  Maybe she'll bring it home at the end of the year!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	A Big Thank You, Woven Heirlooms
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Poppy Parade, Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, Blushing Bride
Ink	Blushing Bride
Accessories	Sequins (ret), Rhinestones, Candy Dots (ret), In Color Faceted Gems
Tools	Big Shot, Be Mine Dies, Bermuda Bay Blend