A Really Big Card!

Happy Thursday, peeps! My day is all mixed up today and I got a late start!  I did get in some stamping time this morning and my card fulfills three challenges:  JUGS (stencils); JAI (stencils & diecut) and Krafty Chicks (masculine):  

My friend Martha recently gave me a stencil called Listen to the Sea, from Hero Arts.  It is a BIG stencil!!!  I didn't want to lose any part of it, so this is a big card!!  It's 5 1/4 x 6 1/2"!!!  So here we go:

I stenciled in the different "waves" with variou blue inks, then added a little sailboat that I heat embossed on vellum with black embossing powder and diecut with a Stylish Shapes dies.  It was colored in with Blends:

Since the card base was Secret Sea, I added a white panel on the inside and stamped my birthday sentiment from Sweet Ice Cream:

I just love this stencil---it's big but really has a lovely message!  Perfect for a guy card! And I had to make a special envelope for it because it was so big!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Choose Happy, Sweet Ice Cream (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Vellum (ret), Secret Sea
Ink	Night of Navy, Misty Moonlight, Azure Afternoon, Balmy Blue, Versamark, Versafine Black
Accessories	Mini Dimensionals, Black Embossing Powder
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, Heat Tool, Blends, Blending Brush, Listen to the Sea Stencil (Hero Arts), White Gel Pen (Posca)

Autumn Toile Trio

Happy Tuesday, peeps! I confess that when crafting or sewing, I tend to gravitate towards tiny prints and wee little designs! However, SU has some lovely larger designs in a fall DSP package called Autumn Toile, and I just love the prints they have designed!  I made some samples for my stamp clubs last week and thought I'd share three of my favorites!  Here we go:

I love pumpkins, so this may be my favorite pattern in the whole bunch! I created a tag using some CTMH Kraft paper and the Nested Essentials dies, adhering a Metallic Rub-on and some sequins, then stamping a sentiment using words from the new Seasonal Tags and Choose Happy:

This pattern is great for a masculine card:

I used a sentiment from Simply Said along with a diecut from the new Words for the Season;  Very Vanilla cardstock was adhered to a piece of Adhesive foam and diecut...it really pops against the tattersall pattern:

And finally, this little foxy print is just so fun as well:

I distressed the Early Espresso mat with the edge of an acrylic ruler, then cut a Crumb Cake partial arch with the Everyday Arches die, added a pine bough from Seasonal Tags, the Thanksgiving from Choose Happy, and the diecut greeting is from Words for the Season:

I hope you love all of these patterns as much as I do! Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

AYSI356 Last Hurrah for Summer

Happy Friday, stampers! It's time for a new challenge from As You See It, and this is a lovely sketch--you know I love things in "threes", so this is right up my alley!  Here's the sketch:

I have been very neglectful of the pretty In Color Summer Splash, so I decided to give it a last summer hurrah, using some summery, beachy elements!  Here we go:

I diecut three banners from the Summer Splash DSP and added a wee bit of ribbon behind each one.  Then I embellished each one with some elements from the Notes & Totes dies, and put everything on a piece of Basic White cardstock embossed with the Seashells embossing folder:

I added a little sentiment from Choose Happy, and some more ribbon:

 We've had an exceptionally cool August and I feel like mother nature is going to come back with a warmer-than-normal September!  We'll see if my prediction comes true, LOL!  Meanwhile, I hope you'll play with our triple-banner sketch!  Share it over at As You See It and take a peek at what the other design team members created!  Thanks for visiting today!  And here are a couple more pictures from vacation:

Cassidy is burying her friend in the sand--she asked to be buried, crazy!

Dana, Wayne and Cassidy revisited the cute little gazebo where they got married---it will be eight years go next week!! Time flies!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Choose Happy
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Summer Splash, Summer Splash DSP
Ink	Summer Splash
Accessories	Summer Splash Stitched Ribbon, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Notes & Totes Dies, Stylish Shapes Dies, Seaside Embossing Folder (ret)

FMS700 A Wee Bit of Joy

Happy Thursday, peeps! The team over at Freshly Made Sketches is celebrating their 700th sketch! Wowza! That's 14 years of sketches!  I've had such a fun time playing along with them over the years!  Their sketch this week is a super fun one, and it gave me a chance to use some new products from the upcoming Holiday catalog!  Here's the sketch:

The papers I used are called Peaceful Garden, and my card is 4 1/4" square, and truthfully, this picture doesn't do the card justice:

After diecutting my squares and mounting them on my card, I used the new Metallic Textures rub-ons to create a pretty silver wreath; these are so  beautiful and EASY  to use---they just rub on with your fingernail!  I added a Night of Navy scalloped border along with a bow created with the new Silver-Edged Ribbon and a piece of wired tinsel I found in my stash:

The center sentiment, stamped in Cloud Cover, is from Choose Happy, and the inside sentiment is from another new set called Words of the Season, stamped in Misty Moonlight:

Can't wait to play with these products some more! And I just happened to find one of my first FMS creations, FMS14, which is the same sketch--what luck!

This card was considerably larger than my card today, but it was just as fun to create!!

Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Choose Happy, Words of the Season
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Night of Navy, Peaceful Garden DSP
Ink	Cloud Cover, Misty Moonlight
Accessories	Metallic Textures Rub-ons, Silver-Edged Ribbon, Dimensionals, Tinsel from my stash
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, Layering Circles Dies (ret)

AHSC630 Hello

Happy Monday, everyone! We have a nice easy sketch for you at Atlantic Hearts this week: 

I've been playing with Layers of Beauty and I wanted to try to create a blue/gray pottery-styled floral. So here we go:

I stamped my flower in Night of Navy on Smoky Slate cardstock and used various shades of blue to stencil in the colors.  I added an embossed circle for the background, then layered it all on some Country Woods DSP.  Sentiment is from Choose Happy!

Hope you have fun with our sketch! Share your creations with us at the Atlantic Heart Sketch Challenge blog and give some love to the other designers there as well!  Thanks for visiting today! Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Layers of Beauty, Choose Happy
Card stock & Papers	Smoky Slate, Basic White, Country Woods DSP
Ink	Night of Navy, Balmy Blue, Azure Afternoon, Misty Moonlight, Pecan Pie
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, Layers of Beauty Dies, Layers of Beauty Masks, Blending Brushes, Distressed Tile Embossing Folder (ret)

IB335 Happy Spring

 Happy Friday, peeps! It is quite damp and dreary today in SE PA, but we always need the rain! My card today is one I almost didn't share....it isn't quite up to my standards but I decided to show it anyway to prove that no matter how experienced a stamper you are, sometimes things just don't come out the way you expect!  

I have been playing with the Notes & Totes bundle and as much as I love it, I am struggling with it...I think it's bigger than I envisioned!  Anyway, the Inspired By challenge this week inspired me to try to use the tote die; here's the photo:

So off I went to create:

I won't go into all the details about what I don't like about this card, but I will say that the pretty flowers  from You Are Remarkable, stamped in Soft Seafoam ink,  just got lost.  I should have stamped them in something darker....so maybe I'll try them again!  

I tried an old technique for the tote itself; I stamped the retired Knit Together stamp using Versamark ink and dabbed on some pastels with a cotton ball....remember them?  It turned out darker than I wanted, sadly.  I couldn't even stamp the inside correctly...it was crooked and had a halo, so I had to trim my stamp, restamp and diecut a piece to cover it up:

 

At least I managed the background okay, using a piece of Country Woods DSP!  Well, you can't win them all!  Thanks so much for bearing with me here today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Year of Flowers, Choose Happy, Knit Together (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic Beige, Crumb Cake, Soft Seafom DSP (ret), Country Woods DSP
Ink	Versamark, Soft Seafoam, Daffodil Delight, Pretty in Pink, Pecan Pie
Accessories	Dimensionals, Pastels (ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Notes & Totes Dies, Textured Notes Dies

TSOT669 Quick Thank You

Happy Thursday, all! I have a quick thank you card today using the beautiful papers from Florals in Bloom as well as the sketch from Try A Sketch on Tuesday:

So here we go:

My sentiment from Everyday Arches was stamped in Berry Burst, and the little flower from Choose Happy was stamped and watercolored in Petunia Pop and Garden Green and accented with a little pearl:

Simple, quick and oh so pretty!

Yesterday morning I received an email from our neighborhood watch group; I use the term "neighborhood" loosely, because I live on a rural road and our neighborhood consists of about three small roads and a couple developments, neither of which are really near me.  But sometimes someone's dog gets loose, or an elderly neighbor wanders off, so an email goes out.  Nothing prepared me for this, however, only half a mile from my home:

Yikes!  I have never known bears to be in my area---EVER! Someone saw this one on his way to work and snapped a couple of pictures from the safety of his car!   And off it goes, into the woods! 

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Choose Happy, Everyday Arches
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Petunia Pop, Florals in Bloom DSP
Ink	Petunia Pop, Garden Green, Berry Burst
Accessories	Pearl, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, Textured Notes Dies, 1 3/8" Circle Punch (ret)

On Your Big Day

Happy Thursday, everyone! I have a friend at church who will be celebrating a big birthday soon! I decided to use the sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches as well as the color palette from Hand Stamped Sentiments for her card:

She loves dogs and I always give her a dog-themed card, but I thought this year, I'd change it up!  Here we go:

I diecut the sand dollars from Seaside Wishes from Lemon Lolly (and I just realized that is NOT a color in the challenge, so sorry!) cardstock and colored them with Calypso Coral ink using a Blending Brush.  I am sure there are NO sand dollars in real life that look like this, but I am using my artistic license, LOL!  I added a sentiment from Choose Happy in Craft White and Summer Splash, as well as a cute little Summer Splash Glimmer starfish:

For extra fun, I stamped some sprinkles around the sand dollars and also embossed the outside edges with the retired Stitched With Whimsy dies.  On the inside, I combined a few sentiments from the Everyday Greetings set:

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Everyday Greetings, Choose Happy
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Lemon Lolly, Summer Splash, Summer Splash Gimmer
Ink	Calypso Coral, Craft White, Summer Splash
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, Seaside Wishes Dies, Blending Brushes, Stitched With Whimsy Dies (ret)

Spotlight on Storybook Moments

Happy Monday, all!  I am a wee bit worn out from my weekend activities, but all went well! I don't have any challenge cards today, but I thought I would spotlight a few cards that I made last week to highlight the cute patterns and cut-outs from the Storybook Moments Specialty Papers.  They're really sweet if you have children or grandchildren, or if you're a scrapper, but even if you're not, they make beautiful cards!  Here we go:

This is probably my favorite card from the bunch (and I have lots more!); I just think this little mama and her ducklings are the cutest, and I love the background paper! I added a sentiment from Country Birdhouse and some Lemon Lolly Baker's Twine:

On this one, I let the paper do most of the work; another sentiment from Country Birdhouse:

plus a little fussy-cut embellishment:

This card uses one of the little pop-out images, and I added a sentiment from Simply Said:

I diecut the cottage and popped it up along with this little critter:

And finally, a couple more pop-outs on that same delightful paper; 

this time I added a white Nested Essential diecut:

and an Easter sentiment from Choose Happy:

Stay tuned for more samples from this pack!  Thanks for visiting on this Monday, and enjoy your day and be blessed!  (If you need any details, just shoot me a line!)