Merry Wishes

Hi everyone! Happy Thursday!  The weekend is almost here!  I have another Christmas card for you; this one uses the color palette from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, as well as the sketch from FMS:

I remembered some fun black and white papers from a couple of years ago, so I pulled them out and went to work along with some other retired goodies:

These fun little trees from the Celebrate Everything DSP were just itching to be colored in with some pink and green shades of Blends!  I heat-embossed a sentiment from Oh, What Fun and backed it with some black and white gingham.  The zig-zag Granny Apple Green border was attached at the bottom, and I added a little line of embossing on the Magenta Madness card:

I added a sentiment from More Merry Messages on the inside:

It's fun to use these retro colors for Christmas occasionally!  Thanks so much for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Oh, What Fun (ret), More Merry Messages (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Granny Apple Green, Magenta Madness (ret), Celebrate Everything DSP (ret)
Ink	Versafine Black, Craft White
Accessories	Black & White Gingham, White Embossing Powder, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Basic Borders Dies (ret), Stitched Lines Dies (Ellen Hutson), Heat Tool, Banner Dies (Pink & Main), Blends

TGIF498 Fragrant Forest

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  I am squeaking in a card for the TGIF498 sketch challenge:

At our club meeting on Monday, we used the Fragrant Forest background stamp.  I think background stamps can be a bit intimidating, but with a little practice, a stamp positioner and maybe a sticky mat, you can create some pretty awesome backgrounds!  Here's the card we made:

We used Lost Lagoon ink and the Peaceful Season stamp set.  I had another blank panel stamped, but not adhered to a card, so I decided to cut out part of it with a circle die and use it for the TGIF sketch:

I used some retired Soft Glimmer papers in Lost Lagoon and Pretty Peacock for the horizontal pieces and the scalloped mat, then added another sentiment from Peaceful Season.  I also added an embossed panel (Snowflake Sky).  

Here's the inside:

These trees are so pretty!  Thanks for popping in today!  

My brother sent me this photo from my dad's field:

Pretty awesome!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details for Both Cards—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Fragrant Forest, Peaceful Season
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Lost Lagoon, Soft Shimmer in Lost Lagoon & Pretty Peacock (ret), Brushed Gold Foil
Ink	Lost Lagoon
Accessories	Neutral Sequins, Pretty Peacock & Gold Ribbon, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Snowflake Sky Embossing Folder, Peaceful Season Dies, Stylish Shapes Dies, Iconic Imagery Dies,  Layering Circle Dies (ret)

CASC&S548 x Two

Happy Monday, peeps!  Today is stamp club but I just had to share a couple of cards I made over the weekend!  First, let me say that the stamping community is so wonderful; if you give other stampers their due credit, you usually can "borrow" their ideas and make them your own!  Amanda Mertz at Did You Stamp Today? is one of my favorite stampers and she had a card recently that I thought I would CASE (Copy And Share Everything) with a current color challenge from CAS Colours & Sketches:

You can see her card HERE. I wanted to re-create that card using the above colors, and here's my take on it:

I used the Iconic Imagery set, punches and dies, and the challenge colors.  I love it, but it wasn't quite clean and simple enough for me to enter, in my opinion!

And here's the inside:

SO, I went back to the drawing board to make a new card!  This time I used Golden Greenery and Peaceful Season in the challenge colors, along with the Birch Wood embossing folder:

I finally mastered a trick to get these double die-cuts to line up easily (maybe I'll share that in a later post):

And here's the inside:

But that's not the end of the story!  Yesterday, Amanda posted THIS card on her blog; a little bit different than my card, but we were on the same wave length for sure.  And honestly, I made this card before seeing hers!  Anyway, I think my second card is sufficiently CAS for the challenge, so in it goes!

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

Project Details for Both Cards—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Peaceful Season, Iconic Imagery, Golden Greenery, Choose Happy
Card stock & Papers	Real Red, Shy Shamrock, Shaded Spruce, Basic White
Ink	Real Red, Shy Shamrock, Shaded Spruce
Accessories	Dimensional, Festive Pearls, Red Satin Ribbon
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Birch Wood Embossing Folder, Golden Greenery Dies, Peaceful Season Dies, Various Circle Punches (ret), White Gel Pen (Posca)

PP715 Celebrate!

Happy Sunday, stamping friends! Claire, whose love for color matches her vibrant personality, is our Paper Players hostess today with a bright, vivid color challenge:

I thought these colors would be good for a birthday card, so that's what I did!  Here we go:

I pulled out a retired set called Holiday Haul because I knew there was a little present in there! I stamped each one in Tahitian Tide, Gorgeous Grape, Peach Pie and Melon Mambo, then diecut each one out with a retired Stitched Shapes die.  The Tranquil Tide background was embossed with Dotted Circles embossing folder and I added a wee stitched scalloped border of Melon Mambo as well:

I used an old Verve stamp for the sentiments, and the Hooray for Surprises set for the candles....hopefully Claire won't kick me out for the Daffodil Delight flames!!!

My final addition was some glimmer paper hearts; each gift was embellished with one in a matching shade (although the Mambo one looks really purple in my photo!) and a little white heart in the center just to jazz it up a bit!

SO....what will you create with these colors? The Design Team really stepped up to the plate on this one; the cards they created are really spectacular!  Be sure to hope over to the Paper Players to check them out, then come along and play with us!

So yesterday was the yearly cleaning of the chandelier globes at our church.  A group of us do the washing and drying (very carefully) after the guys take the globes off, take the bulbs out, then put new bulbs in and put the clean globes back on.  It's a painstaking process, and not for someone who has acrophobia!

Blessedly, John does not have acrophobia, but he does have a good routine and good assistants!! 

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Hooray for Surprises, Holiday Haul (ret), Birthday Bash (Verve)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Tahatian Tide (ret), Glimmer Paper in Assorted Colors
Ink	Peach Pie, Gorgeous Grape, Melon Mambo, Tahitian Tide, Daffodil Delight
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Dotted Circles Embossing Folder, Stitched Be Mine Dies (ret), Stitched Shapes Dies (ret), Triple Heart Punch (ret)

TTTC260 Soft Sky Christmas

Happy Friday, peeps! I am off this morning to stamp with my retirement community friends, so this will be short and sweet! The Tic-Tac-Toe challenge from Vicky this week is a fun one:

I've been working on some Christmas cards for my next stamp camp and one of them fit the bill; actually, it could be for two tic-tac-toes!  I originally chose the top row across but it could also be the left column down.  Here we go:

I still have a few pieces of Soft Sky cardstock left in my stash, and I thought it would be pretty with this Cottage Cut Winter Wonderland Border die.  I stamped a large sentiment from the retired Greatest Part of Christmas in Baja Breeze, then added a few snowflakes.  The snowflakes sort of blended into the background, so I sponged some white craft ink along with some white Shimmer Paint around the edges.  It's hard to see but it gives the card a nice subtle sparkle!

I added some sparkle to the snow as well....too bad you can't really see it here!  I just love this cute little die!

The inside featured another sentiment from the same set, diecut with the Unbounded Love dies:

I am still on the fence as to whether or not this card will make the cut for the class.  Also, I'd love to get some more cardstock that is close to this pretty shade of blue!  Anyone have any suggestions as to where and what color they would recommend?  I was so sad when SU retired this!  Anyway, thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Greatest Part of Christmas, Paper Pumpkin (snowflakes)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Soft Sky (ret)
Ink	Craft White, Baja Breeze (ret)
Accessories	White Shimmer Paint (ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Winter Wonderland Border Die (Cottage Cutz), Unbounded Love Dies

Fun Fold Christmas Card

Happy Thursday, peeps! I was scrolling through my favorite bloggers' posts and came across a really sweet fun fold card from Michelle Last.  (You can see her video HERE or her blog post HERE.) I decided to use the Nests of Winter DSP and the Peaceful Season bundle.  So here we go:

There is a bit of an accordian-style fold on the inside and the front is scored and trimmed to the three panels.  I fussy-cut the birds and added the diecut and stamped sentiments outside and in:

I finished it off with some red ribbon and another little bird on the inside.  This was actually the second card I made; here's the first one I made; I haven't added the sentiment yet:

This time I used the dies to cut out the birds, and used a different sentiment and Cherry Cobbler ribbon.  It's not hard to figure out the panels once you do it a couple of times!  I am not quite sure why I used Moody Mauve for my card base, I must have thought the berries would match or something...I'll try it again with another shade, LOL!

Since this is a fun fold, I am going to enter this at Debbie's Creative Creases #94 Challenge!

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

Project Details for Both Cards—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Peaceful Season
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Cherry Cobbler, Real Red, Crumb Cake, Moody Mauve, Garden Green, Nests of Winter DSP
Ink	Cherry Cobbler, Real Red
Accessories	Dimensionals, Cherry Cobbler & Gold Ribbon, Red Ribbon
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Peaceful Season Dies, Corner Rounder Punch (ret)

AHSC602 Season's Greetings

Happy Wednesday, stampers!  It's time for a new Atlantic Hearts sketch; here we go: 

I recently got the kit of the month from Unity and this pretty image was part of it:

I wish there was a die for it, because my fussy-cutting skills on something this large and detailed are not that good, LOL!  Anyway, I stamped and cut it out twice using Crumb Cake ink on Basic Beige cardstock, only using a portion the flower for the lower area.  I created a frame from Champagne foil using the Stitched Rectangle dies, and mounted it on another panel of Basic Beige that had been embossed with the Subtle embossing folder.  I created a banner using a sentiment from the same set, this time stamped in Pecan Pie and diecut with the Nested Essentials dies.  A few gold gems were scattered around for sparkle.

And this pretty sentiment went inside:

This sketch has loads of potential and I hope you'll play along with us as well!  You can see all the designs by the team on the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog!  Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Sweet Bliss of Christmas (Unity Kit of the Month 10-24)
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Basic Beige, Very Vanilla, Champagne Foil (ret)
Ink	Pecan Pie, Crumb Cake
Accessories	Gold Gems (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Nested Essentials Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies (ret), Subtle Embossing Folder (ret)

Flower Challenge 97 Fall Roses

Happy Tuesday, peeps! I haven't played with the Stippled Rose bundle for a long time, and when I saw that The Flower Challenge's theme was "thanks" this month, I jumped right in!  Here we go:

I began by stamping the roses in Copper Clay on Basic Beige cardstock, then used the die to get them out, along with some of those detailed leaves in Mossy Meadow.  Instead of watercoloring the roses as I would normally do, I used a small Tim Holtz blender to blend in Peach Pie, Pumpkin Pie and Cajun Craze inks on the flowers and Mossy Meadow on the leaves.  It's definitely a learning curve, and I did get some green ink where I might not have wanted, but I went back in with a blender pen to add some detail to the smaller areas!

I used a vintage woodgrain paper from Countryside Woods and distressed the edges a bit, then added the flowers.  I stamped the sentiment directly on the paper as well.  My final embellishments were some Natural Sequins and a bow using the Natural Tones Linen Thread in green!  I think you could color these roses in any shade and they'd be beautiful!  Thanks so much for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Rid yourselves, then, of all evil; no more lying or hypocrisy or jealousy or insulting language.  Be like newborn babies, always thirsty for the pure spiritual milk, so that by drinking it you may grow up and be saved.  As the scripture says, "You have found out for yourselves how kind the Lord is." 

1 Peter 2: 1-3   E100 Military Edition

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Stippled Roses
Card stock & Papers	Basic Beige, Mossy Meadow, Country Woods DSP
Ink	Copper Clay, Mossy Meadow, Peach Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze
Accessories	Natural Sequins, Natural Tones Linen Thread, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stippled Roses Dies, Blending Tools (Tim Holtz)

Uber-CAS Snowflake Christmas

Happy Monday, peeps! This is probably one of the clean-and-simplest cards I have ever made, LOL! The challenge at CAS On Sunday is to use a corner of your card, and the Hand Stamped Sentiments has a pretty mood board:

All three of the pictures are pretty, but I just happened to have a snowflake stamp already out on my desk, so I went with that:

I used thick Basic White cardstock and embossed the snowflake in white embossing powder, then blended Pretty in Pink ink on top.  A simple sentiment and a few more snowflakes were stamped in Memento's London Fog ink and I added a pearl in the center:

An older Paper Pumpkin sentiment was stamped on the inside; not sure if it was the ink or my poor old stamp, but this was the best impression I could get!

Another Christmas card added to my stash!

This weekend we attended a "sprinkle" (instead of a shower) for my niece Paige, who is expecting her third child in January and it's a girl! After two boys, we're so excited!  She will have three under the age of three though....that's why God gives us children when we're YOUNG!  My other niece, her sister Kelly, did all the food and decorating.  She is our family's Martha Stewart for sure.  Check out these lemon cupcakes (and they were DELICIOUS):

The whole table was lined with arrangements like this:

Cassidy was in her glory, because Maven was there too!

Here we are with the happy momma-to-be!

Thanks for indulging me with pix of the family!  And thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Merry Snowflakes, Christmas Words (Impression Obsession), Paper Pumpkin Snowflakes
Card stock & Papers	Thick Basic White
Ink	Craft White, Pretty in Pink, London Fog (Memento)
Accessories	Festive Pearls, White Embossing Powder
Tools	Heat Tool, Blending Brush

PP714 Give Thanks

Happy Sunday, everyone! Elizabeth is our Paper Players hostess this week with a timely theme challenge:

 

I pulled out a sweet W+9 stamp and die set that I've had for a while and here's what I came up with:

I started with a Mossy Meadow card base and some plaid paper from the Perennial Lavender suite; then I stamped and diecut my pumpkin, added the sentiment and the center heart on a diecut oval, embellished with a scallop border of Mossy Meadow:

I diecut a few fall-colored leaves and some "twigs" from the retired In the Woods, using Crumb Cake cardstock and arranged it all at the bottom with a twine bow:

On the inside, I added another sentiment from the same set, plus an extra little heart that I had stamped and cut:

I used Judy's sketch from  Freshly Made Sketches for my layout:

I love the country feel of this image and papers! I hope you'll find a reason to create a card to give thanks and you'll share it with us at the Paper Players!  Can't wait to see what you create!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Pretty Patches-Pumpkin (W+9)
Card stock & Papers	Mossy Meadow, Basic White, Crumb Cake, Perennial Lavender DSP
Ink	Mossy Meadow, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories	Twine, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Layering Ovals Dies (ret), Scallop Oval Dies (Nestabilities), Pretty Patches-Pumpkin Dies (W+9)