FF0162 God Bless the USA

Happy Tuesday, peeps! I have a fun card that I made with some new goodies, as well as some old ones! I recently got this patriotic background stamp and couldn't wait to ink it up!  Here we go:

I stamped it in Early Espresso on a Basic Beige card, then did some blending with Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, Misty Moonlight, Night of Navy, Crumb Cake and Pecan Pie inks to give it a vintage look.  I diecut two stars and layered them together, then created the "USA" with Cherry Cobbler, Basic Beige and Misty Moonlight cardstock and the Mini Alphabet dies:

On the inside, I stamped two sentiments from a really old Waltzingmouse set called USA 1776 in Real Red and Misty Moonlight, then added the fireworks in Sahara Sand:

In hindsight, I wish I had shabbied up the "USA" a little bit!  But it will have to do for now!  And I think this fits the bill at Festive Friday; I've got red, white, blue, and fireworks!

Thanks so much for visiting today!

Eden is doing a little birdwatching.....can you see the bird out in the yard?

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Land of the Free (Honey Bee), USA 1776 (Waltzingmouse)
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Basic Beige, Misty Moonlight, Cherry Cobbler, Basic White
Ink	Early Espresso, Misty Moonlight, Night of Navy, Crumb Cake, Pecan Pie, Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, Sahara Sand (ret)
Accessories	Mini Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Mini Alphabet Dies, Blending Brushes, Stitched Star Die (Paper Rose), Star Punch (ret), Sponge Daubers

AHSC583 Joy & Peace

Happy Monday, everyone! Time for a new Atlantic Hearts sketch!  Here we go:

 

What a lovely sketch! On Saturday, two demos in my downline gathered together for a SU event where we got to play with the new Winterly Tree Tops bundle!  It's not available yet, except to demonstrators! Before we met, I decided to play with it myself and I used these pretty swags to make a Christmas card:

I stamped them in Old Olive and used a blender pen and Old Olive and Mossy Meadow inks to fill in the greenery, and Real Red for the berries.  I used a sentiment from the retired Night Divine on a Very Vanilla Oval, and matted it with a Real Red scalloped oval. The background paper is from Traditions of St Nick DSP:

I mounted everything on a Basic Beige card, added a little satin ribbon and stamped this sentiment from the retired Peaceful Pines on the inside:

This is going to be a fun bundle to play with!  Thanks for visiting today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Winterly Tree Tops, Peaceful Pines (ret), Night Divine (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic Beige, Real Red, Very Vanilla, Traditions of St Nick DSP
Ink	Real Red, Old Olive, Mossy Meadow
Accessories	Satin Ribbon (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Winterly Tree Tops Dies, Layering Ovals Dies (ret), Subtle Embossing Folder (ret), Scalloped Oval Dies (Nestabilities)

PP695 Sketch from Ann

Happy Sunday, everyone!  We are still in a sweltering heat wave, hopefully next week we will get some relief! Personally, I plan to spend some time in Dana & Wayne's pool, LOL!  Ann is our hostess today at the Paper Players with an awesome sketch challenge...sketches may just be my favorites!  Here we go:

As I said before, my friend lent me her Layers of Beauty bundle, so I thought I would try to recreate the vintage look of the papers from Country Woods...they are so pretty and lend themselves to the frame that Ann has in her sketch!  Here's my take on it:

 

I didn't want to lose any of those pretty florals, so this card is a little larger than a standard card size.  I attempted to make a frame with mitered corners (I now have a new-found appreciation for carpenters who can make the corners match perfectly!!) but I was failing miserably, so I just used one piece of DSP and used markers to create the corners...in other words, I cheated, LOL!  I stamped the flowers in Pecan Pie and used Crumb Cake and Pecan Pie inks to do the stenciling.  I left the smaller daisies unstenciled, and added some Pool Party and Bashful Blue inks to them with a Blender Pen:

My horizontal piece is Basic Beige, embossed with the Eyelet embossing folder, and I sponged on a wee bit of Crumb Cake ink to give it a vintage look.  The sentiment and dies are from Unbounded Love, and I did add a couple of Neutral sequins for embellishment.  Another Unbounded Love sentiment went on the inside:

I was pretty happy with the results of this attempt at vintage!  I hope you'll play along with the Players this week too!  Check out what the other designers did at the PP blog....you'll definitely get some inspiration!  Thanks for popping in today!

Cassidy's final day of basketball camp was Friday, and Dana & I had some free time before her last game, so we walked around the college town of West Chester, PA.  The main street had been blocked off for a couple of blocks as they were having a music event later in the dday, so we got some cold drinks and sat out on the street in the shade of an umbrella!

I am not a "city" girl, but without all the college kids, and early in the morning, it wasn't a bad place to be!  It was nice to get some mommy/daughter time too!  Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Layers of Beauty, Unbounded Love
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Country Woods DSP
Ink	Pecan Pie, Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Bashful Blue
Accessories	Neutral Sequins, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Eyelet Embossing Folder, Layers of Beauty Dies, Layers of Beauty Masks, Unbounded Love Dies, Blending Brushes, Blender Pens, Crumb Cake Blend, Early Espresso Marker

FMS641 Christmas Joy & Peace

Happy Thursday, peeps! This hot week is winding down!  My sweet friend Sheilah very kindly lent me her Layers of Beauty bundle while she is on vacation, so you'll be seeing a few creations made with it in the future!  Today, I created a Christmas card with it using the sketch from FMS as well as the inspiration photo from Peace on Earth Christmas blog:

I chose the image from the lower right-hand corner, using green and silver as my main colors:

I stamped the outline of the florals in Old Olive and used Soft Seafoam, Lemon Lime Twist, Old Olive and Granny Apple Green for the stenciling, which I admit, I did better on the first couple of cards I made!!  I diecut and fussy-cut the images out, then placed them on a panel that was embossed with the Simon Says Stamp Pepperberry embossing folder. 

I also stamped a SSS sentiment in Old Olive on Soft Seafoam cardstock, diecut it out, then layered it on another Seafoam panel on top of some silver glimmer paper:

It seemed appropriate to add some pretty silver sequins too!  And since I messed up the inside sentiment, I stamped it again on a piece of white cardstock and diecut it out to cover up my booboo:

I know none of my stamping friends ever do that, right?!  LOL!  I can add this to my Christmas card stash!

We have been watching the antics of at least two (maybe three) chipmunks that live under our shed.  So far they've not caused any damage but they sure are fun to watch.  They have several hiding spots, one of which is our downspout.  As I was sitting on my porch yesterday, I heard a noise and got my camera ready; they're not too clear, but he's a quick one!  First, you can just see his nose as he scopes out the landscape.  Honestly, he spent two minutes stock still like this:

The coast looked clear, so he began to venture out:

Not sure if he saw me up on the porch or not:

But he thought he should probably run and hide somewhere else:

And off he went!

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

The Lord's unfailing love and mercy still continue, fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise.  The Lord is all I have, and so in him I put my hope.  Lamentations 3:22-24

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Layers of Beauty, Christmas Blessings (Simon Says Stamp)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Soft Seafoam, Silver Glimmer
Ink	Old Olive, Soft Seafoam, Granny Apple Green, Lemon Lime Twist
Accessories	Dimensionals, Sequins (ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Layers of Beauty Dies, Layers of Beauty Masks, Blending Bruses, Pepperberry Embossing Folder (Simon Says Stamp), Stylish Shapes Dies

TGIF477 Happy Father's Day

Happy Tuesday, peeps! This will be quick...Cassidy has a Nike basketball camp she's attending at a local college and my job is to get her there on time and pick her up!  No problem!  I wanted to share the Father's Day card I made for Wayne this year; it used the sketch from TGIF:

Wayne loves watching any Philly sports, so I made him a baseball-themed card with a retired set called Have a Ball:

I stamped the mitt, bat and ball and fussy-cut them out and mounted them on two stitched star diecuts.  The sentiment is from the retired Best Year, embellished with a Basic Border diecut:

And on the inside, some stars from the Have a Ball set and a sentiment from Unbounded Love:

I think he liked it!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Unbounded Love, Have a Ball (ret), Best Year (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Night of Navy, Basketball (Echo Park)
Ink	Night of Navy, Real Red, Crumb Cake, Pecan Pie
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Basic Border Dies (ret), Stitched Star Dies (Paper Rose)

AHSC582 Sand Between Your Toes

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope everyone had a fun weekend! It's time for a new Atlantic Hearts sketch challenge and I had a chance to play with some new goodies!  Here's the sketch:

I found a new (to me) company called Not 2 Shabby and they had some fun summery, seashell-themed papers and embellishments, so I pulled them out to use on my card today:

In fact, there's no stamping on this card at all, except for a wee bit inside, which I forgot to photograph!  I used their papers for the background and the vertical panel, then I embossed a piece of Basic Beige with the retired Seaside embossing folder.  I sponged on some white ink before running it through the big shot which gave it a lighter look.  I added some pink ribbon and some fun little embellishments, along with a pre-printed sentiment!  I couldn't resist adding a pearl to the oyster as well:

What a fun sketch to use! I can see me using this one lots more!  I hope you will play along with it this week as well!  Be sure to hop over to the AHSC blog to enter your own!  You'll be able to see ALL the designers' creations on Wednesday! 

The kids went to a concert on Friday night, looks like they had a good time!

 Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps
Card stock & Papers	Basic Beige, Basic Black, Basic White, By The Shore Paper & Ephemera Diecut Pieces (Not 2 Shabby),
Ink	Craft White
Accessories	Pearl, Narrow Grosgrain Pink Ribbon (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Deckled Edge Rectangle Dies, Seaside Embossing Folder (ret)

PP694 Clean & Simple Sympathy

Happy Sunday, everyone! It's Paper Players time and I am the hostess this week!  It's Clean-and-Simple week, and that means we keep our layers and embellishments to a MINIMUM!  That's a challenge sometimes, isn't it?  My theme is Sympathy or Encouragement.  It's always good to have some sympathy cards on hand, so that's what I chose for my card.

I had this pretty seashell set on my desk for another project and I thought how nice a card would look with just one shell, so here we go:

I stamped the shell in Versafine black ink and colored it loosely with Summer Splash ink.  The sentiment is very old, it's from Crafty Secrets and it was stamped in the same color.  The "sand" is from Country Birdhouse, stamped in Crumb Cake and I added some shading under the shell along with some Wink of Stella,  A Basic Beige ribbon was my only embellishment; I did round the corners for a little more interest.

I added a sympathy sentiment on the inside along with some more "sand".  I think the sentiment on the front is a nice one for a sympathy card.

While I had the set out, I made another card, coloring and fussy-cutting the shells, then mounting it on a Basic Beige panel that was embossed with a SSS embossing folder called Cast Away.  It is an amazing folder, perfect for any nautical or beachy-themed card!

It's not quite as clean-and-simple as my first one, but would make a great encouragment card for a special friend!

I hope you'll play along with our challenge this week!  Don't be intimidated by the CAS part...just use the basics of stamps, ink and paper and you'll be good to go! Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Country Birdhouse, Peaceful Moments (ret), Swirly Seashells (Close to My Heart), Seaside (Craft Secrets)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Basic Beige
Ink	Versafine Black, Summer Splash, Crushed Curry, Petal Pink, Crumb Cake
Accessories	Basic Beige Stitched Ribbon, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Cast Away Embossing Folder (Simon Says Stamp), Wink of Stella, Aquapainter

52CCTD24-24 Winter Wonderland

Happy Saturday, peeps! I was honored to be chosen as a guest designer at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown and this week's challenge is Winter Wonderland!

I was thrilled to see this challenge because I had these glimmer paper diecuts sitting on my desk for MONTHS!  You never do that, right?!

My friend Sandy lent me the dies in January and the diecuts have been languishing on my desk ever since!  So I made quick work with them for the challenge, mounting them on some Misty Moonlight cardstock that was stamped with some silver stars, added a few more glimmer paper snowy hills, and a sentiment from Sparkle of the Season:

And since I had MORE diecuts left, I decorated the inside too!

I hope you'll play along with our Winter Wonderland challenge this week! So many possibilities to think of! Be sure to share them over at the 52CCTD blog! Can't wait to see what you create!  Thanks so much for visiting today! Enjoy it and be blessed!

 

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Sparkle of the Season (ret), Swirly Stars (Close to My Heart)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Misty Moonlight, White Glimmer
Ink	Misty Moonlight, Silver Encore (ret)
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Rectangle Stitched Dies (ret), Banner Die (Pink & Main), Snowy Village Dies (unknown), Stitched Hillside Dies (Lawn Fawn)

Tis The Season

Happy Friday, peeps, happy weekend! I have a Christmas card today; it uses the sketch from Try A Sketch on Tuesday; here's the sketch:

There were a lot of summery-themed cards in the gallery, but I went a different route:

I lined up some papers from Unity for the bottom portion, then added a diecut tree from the Tree Lot dies, a few rhinestones and a sweet sentiment from Simon Says Stamp:

Another sentiment from the same set on the inside, and I have another card for my holiday stash!

This also qualifies for the Jingle Belles' challenge of using three designer papers, so I'm popping it in there. And since the Krafty Chick's challenge this week is Christmas, I am entering it there as well!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Christmas Blessings (Simon Says Stamp)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Soft Succulent (ret), Sweet Sorbet (ret), Just Jade (ret),  Watercolor Winter (Unity)
Ink	Just Jade (ret)
Accessories	Red Rhinestones from my stash, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Spotlight on Nature Dies, Layering Circle Dies (ret), Tree Lot Dies (ret), Scalloped Contours Dies (ret)

FMS640 Ouch!

Happy Thursday, everyone!  Our congregation at church has had a rash of mishaps.....one young man was hit head-on by another car and broke both arms and legs; one older lady was on a treadmill at the local Y and fell off, dislocating both shoulders and breaking her nose and chin, and another older lady fell and broke her hip!  I had used up almost all my get-well cards, so when I saw the sketch at FMS, I thought it would be fun to use for my next card.  Here's the sketch:

I pulled out my trusty Back On Your Feet set, found some fun papers to use and went to work:

This card is really uber-simple! I diecut the plaid with the Radiating Stitches die and then found a scrap of Granny Apple Green polka-dotted paper that matched, so I stamped my turtle directly on to the DSP and fussy-cut him out.  A stamped the sentiments from the same set, diecutting them with an Ornate Frames die, and added a slightly larger one under Mr Turtle to make him stand out a bit better.

The sentiment was stamped in Old Olive on the inside.  

I hope all my friends are back on their feet soon!  We miss them!  Thanks for popping in today! Enjoy it and be blessed!

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the duty of all mankind.  For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.  Escclesiastes 12:13-14

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Back On Your Feet (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Granny Apple Green DSP (ret), Sending Love (Gina K)
Ink	Versafine Black, Old Olive
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Radiating Stitches Dies, Tasteful Labels Dies (ret)