Lilies of the Valley

Happy Thursday, peeps! I was so excited to see a lily of the valley stamp in the upcoming SU catalog! I remember a row of them growing along my grandmother's house in the spring and they smelled SO good. I even wore a lily of the valley perfume in high school called Muguet de Bois - I just looked it up online and it goes for $50 on ebay! YIKES!  You can be sure I didn't spend that back in 1970!!!  Anyway, I'll just imagine the smell as I share a couple of cards I created with this new set along with a new In Color called Peaceful Pine, which is a lovely green, and Fresh Freesia.  Here we go:

My first one uses the smaller floral image, stamped in the Peaceful Pine, and lightly watercolored with Fresh Freesia ink.  I then die cut it and mounted on an Everyday Arches diecut with a Peaceful Pine mat.  The background was embossed with the Eyelet embossing folder; I added some pearls and white ribbon trim.  The sentiment is from the same set.

The second one uses the larger lily of the valley image, stamped, diecut and colored the same way; the sentiment is from Lasting Beauty.  I did color a piece of white ribbon with a Fresh Freesia blend for a little accent.  The background paper is called Bloom Boutique:

I also used some retired Fresh Freesia DSP.  The layout is from Try a Sketch on Tuesday:

I look forward to playing with this some more!  

On a different note, John & I went to see the movie A Great Awakening yesterday; it's a historical movie about the great preacher George Whitefield and his friendship with Benjamin Franklin.  It was extra-special to us, as it was filmed in our area by Sight & Sound Productions, which is noted for it's amazing Biblical theatrical productions.  They feature LIVE animals in some of them!  (I read where they sell more tickets than most Broadway shows and it is in a rural area of Lancaster County!)  Another reason it was extra-special is that George Whitfield preached AT MY CHURCH in 1740 to a crowd of 12000 people!  It gave me goosebumps to think about it! And lastly, a family friend who works at Sight & Sound was an extra in the movie and we actually saw him in the film!  Wow! I know a movie star, LOL!  I recommend it highly!

Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Lily of the Valley (upcoming), Layers of Beauty
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Fresh Freesia, Peaceful Pine, Bloom Boutique DSP (upcoming), Fresh Freesia DSP (ret)
Ink	Fresh Freesia, Peaceful Pine
Accessories	White Ribbon (ret), Pearls, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Lily of the Valley Dies, Everyday Arches Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies (ret), Textured Notes Dies, Eyelet Embossing Folder, Stylish Shapes Dies, Fresh Freesia Blend, Aquapainter

Two Cards Just for Fun

 Happy Wednesday, all!  I have two cards to post today, no challenges, just cards I made for fun!  The first one is a CASE of something I saw recently; unfortunately, I did not save the crafter's name, but I will give them all the credit.  I am calling it a picture frame card because the image is stamped, then a rectangle is cut from the center and the outside portion is popped up!  Here we go: I used Layers of Beauty for mine:

After stenciling and diecutting, I adhered the frame to a Pink Pirouette card with dimensionals, then dropped in the center portion:

I added a birthday sentiment to the inside.  The next one is a wee little card, 4" x 3", made with a scrap I found in my scrap folder.  I embossed a mat with the All In a Row embossing folder, then created a frame with a Scrapbook.com postage stamp die. I backed it with some pretty floral paper, then diecut a bunny with some velveteen paper; I wish you could feel the fuzziness!  A sentiment from Our Daily Bread went on the frame.

A fun sentiment from And Many More went on the inside!

Thanks so much for hopping by today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

First Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Layers of Beauty, Whittle Sayings (Poppy Stamps)
Card stock & Papers	Thick White, Pink Pirouette (ret)
Ink	Versafine Black, Pretty in Pink, Flirty Flamingo, Calypso Coral, Soft Sea Foam
Accessories	Dimensional Strips
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Rectangle Stitched Dies (Ret)

Second Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	And Many More (ret), Mini Tag Sentiments (Our Daily Bread Designs)
Card stock & Papers	Balmy Blue, Basic White, Velveteen (ret), Basic Black, Pretty in Pink, Rustic Blooms (Not2Shabby)
Ink	Balmy Blue
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, All In A Row Embossing Folder, Bunny Buddies Dies (Impression Obsession), Mini Stamp Polaroid Die,  (Scrapbook.com), Banner Punch (ret)

FMS720 Smiley Bugs

Happy Thursday, peeps! Busy day today, so this will be short! I didn't get to play with the FMS sketch last week so I made sure I played with it this week!  Here's their sketch:

I wanted to play with some of the cute images from the Cute as a Bug DSP, so I simply diecut a couple of the images and mounted it on a panel of Pumpkin Pie DSP to make another CAS card.  Here we go:

Sentiment is from Layers of Beauty!

I left the inside blank because I think this card could be used for any number of occasions!  Thanks so much for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Layers of Beauty
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Basic Gray, Cute as a Bug DSP, Pumpkin Pie DSP (ret)
Ink	Versafine Black
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes DIes

AHSC661 Thinking of You

 Happy Monday, peeps! How are your holiday plans going?  I still have wrapping to do!  I did carve out some time for the Atlantic Hearts Sketch this week:

Still working on some last-minute birthday cards, so I pulled out the Layers of Beauty bundle; it never disappoints!  Here we go:

I am not a huge fan of Bubble Bath, but I admit that it does look sweet here! I diecut a panel of it with the retired Scalloped Contours dies and embossed it with a new embossing folder called All In a Row.  I used the stencil and colored the flowers with Bubble Bath, Pretty in Pink and Strawberry Slush inks; the leaves were Soft Sea Foam and Soft Succulent.  Sentiment is from The Right Words on a Stitched So Sweetly panel.  I did trim down the flowers to make it fit the card!

This will cheer up someone who's having another birthday, LOL!  I hope you'll play with our sketch this week...maybe you still have some Christmas cards you want to hand-deliver, and this might be a great sketch for you!  We can't wait to see what you do with it at the Atlantic Hearts Sketch blog!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Layers of Beauty, The Right Words
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Bubble Bath
Ink	Versafine Black, Bubble Bath, Pretty in Pink, Strawberry Slush, Daffodil Delights, Soft Sea Foam, Soft Succulent (ret)
Accessories	Dimensionals, Sequins (ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Layers of Beauty Dies, All In A Row Embossing Folder, Scalloped Contours Dies (ret), Stitched So Sweetly Dies (ret), Blending Brushes, Layers of Beauty Stencils

FMS711 You Make My Heart Smile

 Happy Thursday, peeps! A busy day today, so this will be short and sweet! Kim's sketch at FMS is an interesting one:

That is a big circle! My mind immediately went to my Dotted Circles embossing folder, so I combined it with a little wreath from the retired Cottage Wreaths set:

My wreath is stamped in Crumb Cake, and I added some additional leaves in Pecan Pie and some "blueberries" because I had already stamped and embossed my sentiment on some Misty Moonlight cardstock:

After running a piece of Basic White through the embossing folder, I trimmed it out, then mounted it on another embossed piece, this time using Gathering Leaves.  My final addition was a wee bit of twine, tied into a bow, and a few silver pearls.  I left the inside blank, because there are several occasions for which I could use this card, so I'll stamp something when I need it!  Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

"In his disciples' presence Jesus performed many other miracles which are not written down in this book.  But these have been written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through your faith in him you may have life."  John 20:30-31

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Layers of Beauty, Cottage Wreaths (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Misty Moonlight
Ink	Craft White, Crumb Cake, Misty Moonlight, Pecan Pie
Accessories	Silver pearls (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Country Wreaths Dies (ret), Dotted Circles Embossing Folder, Gathering Leaves Embossing Folder, Banner Dies (Pink & Main)

PP755 Lovely Lemon Thank You

Hi, stamping friends! I am the hostess at the Paper Players this week, and it's color challenge week: 

I know most of us are thinking fall hues but I wanted to challenge you to use a more spring-like palette!  I needed a thank you card for my SIL since she took care of my flowers while we were on vacation, so what better stamp to use than Layers of Beauty?!  Here we go:

I stamped my florals in Soft Sea Foam, then stenciled in Lemon Lolly, Soft Sea Foam and Lost Lagoon on the petals and leaves.  I found a piece of Lost Lagoon bokeh print from some Christmas DSP we had a few years back and mounted it behind a Penny Black double scalloped fram.  The floral diecut extended beyond the edge of the card, so I just trimmed them off.  

A sentiment from Everyday Greetings was heat-embossed in white on a banner of Soft Sea Foam, distressed a wee bit, and then I added a little Lemon Lolly baker's twine behind it as well as a couple of pearls:

Edited to add:  I am also going to enter this over at the Flower Challenge, where their sketch this week is very similar to mine:

I hope you'll play along with our colors this week, too!  The design team came up with some very interesting designs as well!  Be sure to check them out over at the Paper Players blog! Can't wait to see what you come up with!  Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

TSOT676 Rustic Centerpiece

Happy Thursday, peeps! My card today uses a partial image from the Online Exclusive Rustic Centerpiece along with the sketch from Try a Sketch On Tuesday:

So here we go:

I stamped a partial image on watercolor paper in Stazon ink, then did some creative diecutting with an Everyday Arches die. I colored the image with some reinkers and an aquapainter, and added a wee bit of Linen Thread for an embellishment.  I snagged a piece of plaid DSP that matched my fall colors and ran it through the upcoming Gathering Leaves embossing folder and sanded it with a sanding block:

I added a little sentiment with an enamel dot from Layers of Beauty, and put everything on a Cajun Craze card base:

I know my image is a wee bit larger than the one in the sketch but hopefully it's okay!  I really love this centerpiece set and hope to use it some more!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Layers of Beauty, Rustic Centerpiece, Itty Bitty Backgrounds (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Watercolor, Cajun Craze, Timeless Plaid DSP
Ink	Stazon Black, Cajun Craze, Poppy Parade, Crushed Curry, Old Olive, Gray Granite, Basic Beige
Accessories	Linen Thread, Dimensionals, Enamel Dot (ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Textured Notes Dies, Everyday Arches Dies, Aquapainter, Sanding Block (ret)

In(k)spire Me 564 Floral Hello

Happy Friday, peeps! Happy weekend! The sketch challenge at In(k)spire Me is a lovely one:

This is my favorite pattern from the Beautiful Gallery DSP, made even better because the flip side is that pretty Cloud Cover!  I used another favorite, the Layers of Beauty bundle!  Here we go:

The rose was stamped in Smoky Slate, then sponged with the stencil in Timid Tiger and Cloud Cover.  I added some Cloud Cover ribbon and a few stitched lines, then a sentiment from Simply Said:

To give the rose a distressed look, I overstamped it with the retired Sanded background stamp  in Basic Beige.  The inside was left blank until I need it for a certain occasion!  

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Layers of Beauty, Simply Said, Sanded (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Cloud Cover, Beautiful Gallery DSP
Ink	Smoky Slate, Cloud Cover, Timid Tiger, Basic Beige
Accessories	Cloud Cover Ribbon, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, Layers of Beauty Dies, Layers of Beauty Masks, Blending Brushes, Finishing Touches Dies (Spellbinders)

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)

You Make My Heart Smile

Happy Tuesday, peeps! No challenge today, but I have been playing with some of the new papers from the catalog that went live today!  Beautiful Gallery has some stunning artwork images as well as some vintage-style backgrounds.  This one uses my favorite blue and orange tones and I had to use it first!

The sentiment panel is the opposite side of the printed paper, and the sentiment is from  Layers of Beauty, stamped in the new In Color Secret Sea.  The little flower stamped on the arched panel is from Spring Corners:

The card base is another new color called Cloud Cover---LOVE it!  I love how this particular design looks like vintage fabric!  Now I need to make some samples with some of the other prints as well!  Thanks for visiting today!

Speaking of orange, I glanced out my craft room window last week and saw this orange fellow on my hummingbird feeder!  I knew they were around, as I had been hearing them, but it was a treat to see him so close!

We have had orioles at our hummingbird feeders before, but I never get tired of having them visit! Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Layers of Beauty, Spring Corners
Card stock & Papers	Cloud Cover, Secret Sea, Beautiful Gallery DSP
Ink	Secret Sea
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Everyday Arches Dies

JUGS772 God Bless

Happy FRIDAY, everyone! Woohoo, the weekend is here.  I had a wee bit of time to spend in my craft room yesterday and I was excited to see that the JUGS challenge for this week is to use stencils! Since I was playing with my Layers of Beauty bundle, along with the new Painted Stripes stamp, it fit right in!

So here we go....have you ever seen a flower this color?!

The whole inspiration for the card came about because I stamped the Painted Stripes stamp on a scrap of  Basic White cardstock with Coastal Cabana ink!  And since it looked pretty good, I just went from there....I stamped and stenciled the single flower in Coastal Cabana, Lost Lagoon, Soft Sea Foam and Granny Apple Green inks, then added a few of the greenery pieces around the edge.  The postage stamp piece was also stenciled with a rectangular stencil I created with a die and a piece of acetate, and the background was stenciled with the retired Basic Pattern Decorative Masks:

On the inside, I added a sentiment from Year of Flowers along with another little leafy diecut.  I did add a couple of white sequins on the front too!

Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed! And have a great weekend, too!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Year of Flowers, Layers of Beauty
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Coastal Cabana, Soft Sea Foam, Acetate Sheet
Ink	Smoky Slate, Coastal Cabana, Lost Lagoon, Soft Sea Foam, Granny Apple Green
Accessories	Sequins from my stash, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Layers of Beauty Dies and Masks, Perennial Postage Dies, Textured Notes Dies, Blending Brushes, Basic Pattern Decorative Masks (ret)

AHSC623 Welcome Spring

Happy Monday, fellow stampers! Time for a fun new sketch from Atlantic Hearts:

My friend Sheilah lent me (again....but my own is on its way!) her Layers of Beauty Bundle and it seemed perfect for this sketch:

I created a gate-fold card with some Petal Pink cardstock, adding Soft Sea Foam layers to the front panels as well as some Cane Weave-embossed Basic White layerss.  I stamped and stenciled the florals in Petal Pink, Pretty in Pink, Flirty Flamingo, Soft Sea Foam and Granny Apple Green inks.  This bundle just creates the most beautiful flowers! I fussy-cut the image apart and laid the pieces in the corners of the card, overlapping them on top of an oval panel, stamped with a sentiment from Close to My Heart:

Here's a view of it, slightly open:

And a view of the inside:

It's so fun to make a card with a different fold--I tend to get in a rut!  I hope you'll play along with our pretty sketch this week--it doesn't even have to be a gate-fold card! Can't wait to see what you create, and please share it with us at the Atlantic Hearts blog!  Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed! 

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Layers of Beauty, Just Chicken In (Close to My Heart)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Soft Sea Foam, Petal Pink
Ink	Memento Black, Petal Pink, Pretty in Pink, Flirty Flamingo, Soft Sea Foam, Granny Apple Green
Accessories	Dimensionals, Matte Dots (ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Layers of Beauty Dies, Layers of Beauty Masks, Blending Brushes, Cane Weave Embossing Folders, Stitched Shapes Dies (ret), Layering Ovals Dies (ret)

Copper Stenciled Roses

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  Still playing with the Layers of Beauty bundle and since the JUGS challenge this week is stenciling, I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring!

Inkspirational is also looking for stencils:

And I am also playing along with my old friends as Tic-Tac-Toe; I chose to use the elements from the left column:

I haven't done any heat embossing for a long time, so I pulled out my copper embossing powder, my Versamark ink pad and went to work:

It's fun to experiment with different colors on these roses; to go with the copper embossing, I chose Peach Pie, Copper Clay, Cajun Craze, Soft Sea Foam and Old Olive.  Even though we're in the midst of summer, I still enjoy these fall hues!  

I also heat-embossed a couple of sentiments from Unbounded Love and diecut them with the matching die, then everything got mounted on a panel of Basic White that was embossed with the Distressed Tile embossing folder and diecut with the Perennial Postage dies.  Around the edges of my Basic Beige card, since I already had my Versamark pad out, I stamped the smaller floral image from the same set; it gives a lovely tone-on-tone effect that doesn't detract from the main design.  I also added a Neutral sequin in copper as well!  You just cannot go wrong with this stamp, stencil and die bundle!    

Cassidy had a friend over last weekend and although our weather has been HOT, that particular evening it was quite chilly.  Wayne had set up a TV to watch on the patio, and the girls wanted to watch a spooky movie:

Sweatshirts, blankets, two bowls of popcorn and two DOGS to keep them warm!  Looks like fun! Thanks for popping in today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Layers Of Beauty, Unbounded Love
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Thick Basic White, Basic Beige
Ink	Versamark, Peach Pie, Copper Clay, Cajun Craze, Soft Sea Foam, Old Olive
Accessories	Dimensionals, Neutral Sequins, Copper Embossing Powder
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Layers of Beauty Dies & Masks, Unbounded Love Dies,, Heat Tool, Blending Brushes, Distress Tile Embossing Folder, Perennial Postage Dies