Two Easy Cards

Happy Saturday, peeps!  I have two easy cards for you today...I spent some time in my stamp room today (instead of doing chores, I am such a procraftinator!), and the first one is for Dana and Wayne's first anniversary, which is tomorrow:

Blessedly, the weather last year was very cooperative; if they had gotten married this year, they would have needed umbrellas just like Kelly!  I used the FMS sketch for this one by Jen, it's really clean and simple, which was perfect for what I wanted:

Dana likes purple, so I used some Highland Heather as my card base and layered it with some pretty heart-embellished SU vellum from several years ago.  I heat-embossed a sentiment from Beautiful Bouquet and added some gold diecuts:

Sadly, my second card is for a close family/church friend who has been battling health issues for several years; he came home from the hospital last night and passed away early this morning.  We know it is a blessing, as he was in a lot of pain, but we still miss him!  The sketch from Sketch Saturday gave me a chance to use some pretty papers from Share What You Love:

And here's the sketch:

I already had a Mint Macaron card base cut and scored, so I layered my DSP on a Petal Pink mat and adhered them.  The beautiful velvet ribbon from the Holiday Mini matched nicely, and I colored a pearl with a Light Pumpkin Pie Blend marker and adhered it for just a little extra something:

My sentiments, inside and out, are from Flourishing Phrases, stamped in Soft Suede, and I added some leaves from Perennial Birthday, stamped in Soft Sea Foam:

Hope you have a blessed day, thanks for popping in!  Be sure to come back tomorrow for a new Paper Players challenge too!

AYSi184 Back to Basics Birthday

Hey there, peeps!  It's Friday and that means a new As You See It challenge!  I love this one, it fit right in with what I needed to create this week....Back to Basics!

In stamping, "basics" to me means three things:  stamps, ink and paper!  At my very first workshop, we stamped a card very similar to this!  We only used one image and one sentiment from a fall set called Grand Cornucopia, stamped in Really Rust on Very Vanilla, and then we "decorated" it with  the speckles from Itty Bitty Backgrounds!  I was in LOVE!  And it was so very simple!  So today, I am sharing a card for my nephew Will (the one who is at West Point, you can see him here), and I know he basically just cares about the cookies that I am sending him, so I made his card very simple as well:

I used two images from Rooted in Nature, stamping the background trees in Crumb Cake and the foreground tree in Mossy Meadow and Early Espresso.  The sentiment is from Perennial Birthday.  And just for old times' sake, I stamped some Itty Bitty Background sprinkles in Old Olive:

While Will was visiting us, we asked him to tell us about his latest drill, which was parachuting out of a plane!  I remembered this little army guy from Boys Will Be Boys, so I just couldn't resist adding him on the inside, stamped in Old Olive and colored in with some Blends!  (Okay, when I first was learning the basics of stamping, we didn't have Blends, but humor me, LOL!)  He will get a kick out of it, I'm sure!

What does Back to Basics mean to you?  Perhaps the photo will inspire you, or like me, you'll just do some basic stamping...the interpretation is totally up to you!  Share it with us at the AYSI blog, can't wait to see what you create! 

A few weeks ago, Cassidy's friend Lee had a birthday party, complete with swimming, pizza and four-wheelers!  Well, only one four-wheeler, and Lee's dad has it rigged so it can't go very fast!  But he took Cassidy for a ride.  Since she didn't have a helmet, she used Lee's:

(It still cracks me up when I see it!); and off they went:

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Rooted in Nature, Perennial Birthday, Itty Bitty Backgrounds (ret), Boys Will Be Boys (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Confetti White (ret)
Ink	Mossy Meadow, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Early Espresso
Accessories
Tools	Blends in Light and Dark Old Olive

IB36 Fall Picnic

Happy Thursday, all!  It's time for another Inspired By challenge, and we have a sponsor this week! (And there might just be a prize involved too!)  Reverse Confetti has some gorgeous fall sets coming out and I was fortunate enough to receive Fall Foliage to play with!  I do have some of their dies, but this is the first stamp set I think I've gotten from them!  I paired it with some beautiful papers from Amber Moon by Prima:

And here is our prompt!  I chose the colors, particularly the golden sweater as well as the mug (which has cables on it, but is hard to see) as my inspiration:

The images in the set are bold outline images, but I thought I would try my hand at doing a no-line coloring technique, so I stamped them in Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress ink, then watercolored them with various fall shades and fussy-cut them out!  To make them stand out even more, I highlighted the leaves with a Wink of Stella pen...they are gorgeous, and it's a shame the photo doesn't capture how pretty they are!  I also stamped some smaller images directly on the top of the Amber Moon paper, lightly coloring them as well with some ink!

I stamped the sentiment directly on the paper as well, in Cajun Craze ink, then mounted it on a piece of PTI's Rustic White cardstock that was embossed with the Cable Knit EF:

I mounted everything on a Cajun Craze card and added some burlap ribbon and linen thread to finish it off!  Both the leaves and the papers are beautiful!  

I hope you'll check out what the other designers did at the IB blog....and then gear up for some fall stamping!  You might be a winner!

Mommy did up Cassidy's hair so pretty!  Occasionally, she lets down her tomboy guard and allows some femininity in! 

She was also excited to show off her new earrings!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

GDP154 Sunflower Gratitude

Hi peeps!  Happy Wednesday!  I have still been playing with the Many Blessings set that is available today in the new Holiday catalog!  Yesterday I colored my image with Blends; today, I stamped my image with Stazon ink so I could do some loose watercoloring!  Check it out:

I used the Global Design Project sketch for my layout:

I knew I wanted to use the sunflowers from the Many Blessings set, but I was struggling to find DSP that would fit the colors I wanted; I checked the new Festive Farmhouse papers and there was a lovely Mossy Meadow stripe that worked perfectly!  I stamped and watercolored my flower image on watercolor paper, then diecut it:

Next, I stamped a sentiment from Itty Bitty Greetings on a panel of Crushed Curry.  I ran it through the Subtles EF, and added a little strip of Mossy Meadow for the horizontal panel.  Can you see the little sunflowers I stamped on there as well?  So cute!

My final touch was a little banner of retired Mossy Meadow ribbon and some of the new Festive Farmhouse Cotton Twine...you get three colors and one of them just happens to be Mossy Meadow!  It's nice and soft and made a great little bow:

It is so stinkin' hot here, it's nice to stamp something fall-ish, even if the weather outside doesn't feel that way!  

Here's another cute photo from the wedding; this is my nephew Timmy (he's the brother of the bride as well as the contractor who did our addition) and his wife, Allyson; Timmy withstood the rain for a little while but rather than get an unmanly umbrella, opted for camouflage raingear!  Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do!

Thanks for popping in--enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Many Blessings, Itty Bitty Greetings
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Mossy Meadow, Watercolor, Crushed Curry, Festive Farmhouse DSP
Ink	Stazon, Crushed Curry, Soft Suede, Cajun Craze, Mossy Meadow, Sahara Sand
Accessories	Festive Farmhouse Cotton Twine, Mossy Meadow Ribbon (ret)
Tools	Aquapainter, Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Subtle EF

Fab Friday 145 Many Blessings

Happy day after Labor Day!  Doesn't it feel like Monday?  My card today uses a new set from the Holiday Mini Catalog that will go live tomorrow, and it's called Many Blessings!  Here we go:

And I used the sketch from Fab Friday to get me started:

I love this little set; it has some seasonal images that are small enough to be colored in quickly, whether it be with Blends, which I used here, regular markers, or watercolor pencils!  For my card, I stamped the image in Early Espresso:

My banner is also Early Espresso, which I embossed with the Subtle EF; I used the Stitched Shapes Framelits to cut out the main image as well as my sentiment, then added some layers and embellishments.  The background is from the Share What You Love DSP pack; I like the country feel to this particular print:

And I really don't have any current Thanksgiving stamps, but I remembered this sentiment from Painted Harvest, so I stamped it on the inside and stamped the focal image again, this time in Sahara Sand:

I am thankful for you!  

It's a bitterweet day for our family; my dad finally agreed to move out of his home and to move in with my sister.  I know he is sad to leave his neighborhood and friends, but he really needs more care and shouldn't be alone.  So it's a new reality for all of us.  I SO appreciate and thank you for your prayers, as this will be a challenging transition for all of us!  But at least he won't be two and a half hours away! 

My other sister and her family were up over the weekend for my niece's wedding, and my nephew, who is at West Point, was able to visit as well.  Cassidy roped him into playing some games with her; he's a good sport!

Thanks for visiting today and have a blessed day! 

Mint and Black

Happy Labor Day, everyone...at least those in the US!  I tried to stay away from my stamp room this weekend, but it was dreary and dank and I just had to perk myself up a bit!  I made one card for three challenges:  CAS-ual Fridays had mint and a neutral:, Less is More had black, white and one color, and the CAS(E) this Sketch had, of course, a sketch!

 

I used a Unity stamp called Humble and Gentle, stamped it on some mint plaid paper, colored it with SU Blends in Mint Macaron, and added a black and white printed strip from my stash:

I embossed the Rustic White (Papertrey) card front with the Subtle embossing folder before attaching all my elements.  The flower has the Bible verse Ephesians 4:2 wrapped around the image:

I put a birthday sentiment on the inside and it's ready to go!

Another wedding photo:

Since Winston couldn't be at the "pawty", Kelly made little doggy-shaped cookies as favors (for the adults!!):

He's sweet but feisty!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Humble and Gentle (Unity)
Card stock & Papers	Basic Black, Rustic White (Papertrey), Misc Black & White print, Fall Break (Carta Bella)
Ink	Memento Black
Accessories	Black Glimmer Brad (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	SU Blends in Dark and Light Mint Macaron, Big Shot, Subtle EF

PP408 Little Love Notes

Happy Sunday, peeps!  Joanne is our hostess this week at the Paper Players and she has a really fun, cute challenge for us this week!  Here ya go:

This one was a great one for me as I was strapped for time and these little lunchbox notes just flew together!  I found some little envelopes in my envelope box that fit a 2 x 3 1/4" card perfectly, so I just chose some scraps from my stash and went to work!  The main images are from a set called In Print by Clearly Besotted....they all use the same "fingerprint" image and are topped with various animal outlines:

They have coordinating sentiments and I added some little stamped embellishments as well:

I will give these to Dana to tuck in Cassidy's lunchbox!  The DT also has some fun creations as well, not all as tiny as these, LOL!  Be sure to check them out and share your little lunchbox notes with us as well:

·        Claire

·        Jaydee

·        Joanne

·        Laurie

·        Nance

·        Anne Marie

·        Sandy

·        Elizabeth

·        Annie

·        Jan

So Friday afternoon was my niece's wedding...she has been planning this since she was a little girl and she wanted an outside wedding.  It POURED all day long, but she persevered with her plan and it was a most memorable event:

The venue was an old mill with a (very loudly) rushing stream right next to the building.  The bride ditched her umbrella before walking up the "aisle" but you can see my sister on the left with hers!  By this point, it wasn't raining hard, just a little sprinkle here and there!

How many times have you sat in a wedding and thought to yourself, "I wish they would speed this up a bit?" Well, this minister spoke at warp speed, deleting many parts of the ceremony in anticipation of the heavens opening up and drenching us all!  It was the funniest thing ever.  And their vows included always cherishing each other and WINSTON (their Scottie dog!!), which brought giggles from everyone:

Quickly, they were pronounced husband and wife and made their way to shelter and the party!

My niece is just beautiful and as sweet and kind and loving as can be...she waited a long time for this and it's definitely one for the books!  I'll share some more pix in a couple of days!  Thanks for popping in today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	In Print, Good Times (both Clearly Besotted), Needle Little Love (Paper Smooches), Stitched Shapes (Simon Says Stamp), Paper Pumpkin, Water Droplets Background (Deep Red)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, Blushing Bride
Ink	Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, Basic Black, Real Red, Early Espresso, Blushing Bride
Accessories	Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Glue Pen
Tools	Blender Pen