Bold Poinsettia

Happy Monday, peeps!  I have my last two stamp camps today, so I am squeaking this in quickly!  When I saw a gorgeous poinsettia card made by my Paper Players teammate Su Mohr, I knew I wanted to give it a try.  You can see hers HERE.  She used the smaller leaf from Rooted in Nature,but I wanted to try it with the larger leaf...and it makes a BIG poinsettia!  So here we go:

I ended up using both the large and small leaves, all stamped in Lovely Lipstick ink, along with some Old Olive leaves to create my Christmas poinsettia!  I backed it with a panel of Old Olive gingham, and instead of using sequins for the center (which is a fabulous idea), I simply punched a circle of Gold glimmer paper:

I stamped a sentiment from Itty Bitty Christmas in Gold Glitz ink, and to intensify the goldness as well as make it dry faster, I brushed on some gold Pearl-ex!  My final addition was a trio of Gold Pearls in the upper right hand side.  Thanks, Su, for a great inspiration!

Dana and Wayne treated us to dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse, where the servers come around to your table with huge skewers of different meats and slice off pieces for you!  It was amazing!  And yummy!

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

TGIF237 Thanksgiving

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  I have a quick card today, using a great easy sketch from TGIF:

I gave myself a break from Christmas cards and used some Magnolia Lane DSP to create a Thanksgiving card:

I accented the striped piece with a torn piece of Mossy Meadow, then stamped three leaves from Rooted in Nature and layered them under some soft Mossy Meadow baker's twine.  I stamped one leaf in Mossy Meadow, but I really like the Old Olive ones better...what do you think?

I diecut a sentiment from Day of Thanks with a Stitched Rectangle die:

and added the sentiment inside, along with the obligatory turkey, stamped very lightly in Sahara Sand!

Thanks for popping in today!

Cassidy likes to send me pictures of the sunrise from her deck; I think she does a good job!  Look at that sun!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

PP464 Say It Loud

Happy Sunday, all!  Hope your weekend is going well so far!  Today, I am the hostess at the Paper Players, and my clean-and-simple challenge is this:

I was trying to use some stamps and colors I hadn't used for a while, so I pulled out Rooted in Nature and Blackberry Bliss---a color I rarely use!  It's a beautiful color, but I just am not drawn to shades of purple!  So I challenged myself and here we go:

Since Naturals White is a bit of a porous cardstock, I knew I would probably have to ink up the wood stamp a few times to get good coverage, so I positioned it in my Stamparatus and inked it with Crumb Cake, then sponged Soft Suede on the outer edges to get the two-toned effect.  It took about three tries to get it to where I liked it.  Then I made a mask so that when I stamped my leaves it would look like they were behind the wood....I stamped once on a scrap piece of paper first to get the lighter effect:

My sentiment is three layers of Blackberry Bliss, diecut with a CTMH die and glued together.  I really love that effect; it makes for a stand-out sentiment for sure!  Finally, on the inside, I stamped a few more leaves and a sentiment from a retired set, Falling Leaves....perfect for a Thanksgiving card:

My interpretation of clean-and-simple is minimal layers, stamps and embellishments!  I hope you'll follow along and create something with my challenge this week!  Be sure to share it with us at the Players, and while you're there, check out what the other designers created too!  Thanks for popping in today!

I love this photo of Cassidy, looking out the window of the plane on their trip to Disney.  I can remember the first time I flew, what an experience!  I will see her today for the first time since they got back, I can't wait to hear about her trip!  

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Rooted in Nature, Falling Leaves (ret), Itty Bitty Backgrounds (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Naturals White (ret), Blackberry Bliss
Ink	Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Blackberry Bliss
Accessories
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangles Dies, Thankful For You Dies (Close to My Heart), Stamparatus, Sponge Daubers

A Pink Christmas Card

Happy Monday, peeps!  What a lazy day I am having!  I guess the two hours that I couldn't sleep last night caught up with me!  I made one little Christmas card today and the mojo just wasn't there..but I had already invested time in it, so here it goes!  It fulfills three challenges:  Christmas Kickstart (to use a woodland creature); Jingle Belles (to use pink), and CAS Christmas Card challenge (to create a winter scene). 

        

I had just received the Nature's Beauty set with that cute little rabbit, so I did a very simple card, masking the trees from Winter Woods and Rooted in Nature, to create my little scene.  I sponge-brayered my sunset sky in Blushing Bride (another technique I need practice on!), embossed it with Softly Falling, then added a sentiment from Itty Bitty Christmas:

Something that I never remember, is that when you run your cardstock through an embossing folder like this, it gets very flimsy, so it is a good idea to use SU's Thick White cardstock....which I didn't do, of course!  It just gives your card some extra body.  NEXT time!  Anyway, the trees as well as my little bun-bun were stamped in Gray Granite and I just watercolored a little pink shadow beneath him:

The sentiment was diecut with a Stitched Rectangle die, and after I sprinkled on some Dazzling Diamonds glitter for "snow", I adhered it with a dimensional:

And here's the inside:

So it was a bit of a trial and error; I might do it again with a separate layer for the snow...we'll see! Thanks for popping in today! 

We had a Harvest Party at church on Saturday evening; the kids weren't there but there was still a lot going on:

Apple cider fresh from the press:

Roasted hot dogs and (burnt) marshmallows:

Pumpkin decorating:

And a sunset hayride:

with a gorgeous sky:

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

AYSI211 Fall Foliage

Hi stampers!  Friday is here and that means another As You See It challenge...and it's a theme week:

Here in Pennsylvania, the leaves haven't turned like the ones in the photo, but hopefully we'll have some beautiful colors soon!  I wanted to capture those gorgeous autumn hues on my card, so here we go:

This is sort of like that "no-line" watercoloring...I stamped the tree from Rooted in Nature with Antique Linen Distress Ink, then simply filled in the leafy area in fall colors with my aquapainter.  I went a little further and created a grassy area with some piles of raked leaves:

I used the sketch from Inspire.Create:

After creating my image, I stamped a sentiment from For the Love of Felt on the top right, and added some stitching by using the stitch die from the Stitched Labels dies.  I finished it off with some retired DSP and stamped a Thanksgiving sentiment on the inside:

And I think I'll toss in the Color Throwdown challenge, with those pretty fall colors, as well this week:

I hope you'll play along with our challenge this week!  Be sure to check the As You See It blog to see all the DT creations and add yours there too!  Thanks for popping in today!

The new karate studio is HUGE!!!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Rooted in Nature, For the Love of Felt, A Wish for Everything
Card stock & Papers	Watercolor, Very Vanilla, Orchard Harvest DSP (ret)
Ink	Soft Suede, Old Olive, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Mango Melody, Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Labels Dies, Aquapainter, Stamparatus

Colour Inkspiration You Are Wonderful

Happy Friday, peeps!  I have been busy in my craft room this week, getting ready for an upcoming Christmas card camp and I barely have stamped anything else, but I did want to participate in Colour Inkspiration's latest color challenge, even though it REALLY was a challenge for me:

I think it was the Blueberry Bushel that threw me for a loop....but here we go:

I used a thick white cardstock base and embossed it with the Basketweave embossing folder, then added a layer of Pretty Peacock.  On top was a stitched panel on which I stamped some florals from Painted Harvest in Terracotta Tile and Petal Pink; I added some Blueberry Bushel speckles (just to get that color in there, LOL!), then I stamped some leaves with Pretty Peacock and tucked them between the mat and the stamped layer: 

I stamped a sentiment from Rooted in Nature, also in Blueberry Bushel, and added a few speckles around it too; the final embellishments are some Iridescent Sequins and Polka Dot Tulle ribbon!

Definitely out of my comfort zone, but that's what challenges are for, right?!  So happy you stopped by today!  Now I am off to the pool for some R&R!

Here are a couple more birthday cards!

These are from Doris and Billie, I just love the colors in these:

And these beauties are from Linda and Wendy!  So clever and creative!

Thanks ladies!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

FF169 Celebrate You

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  I have a decidedly masculine card for you today, but first I must whine a little....I made this card last night in my craft room which is like a cave sometimes, despite all my attempts at lighting!  This Magnolia Lane DSP is Early Espresso, which is a nice, dark brown, but when I stamped the wood image from Rooted in Nature in Early Espresso ink, it looked almost black, and I didn't like it, so I stamped it in Soft Suede.  In my nighttime-cave-craftroom lighting, they looked pretty good together, so on I continued, adding my sentiment and little leaf and went on my merry way.  This morning, when I photographed it in natural light, I was aghast...it looks terrible.  The two browns just don't work together very well...and yet, I am not going to toss it, since men don't really look at that kind of stuff anyway.  BUT....my whining is that I wish SU would come back with Chocolate Chip or some sort of other brown that is not so greenish (Soft Suede) or not so dark (Early Espresso).  Is that so much to ask?  Okay, done with my rant and you can judge for yourself:

My sentiment is from Itty Bitty Birthdays, which has some great little ones that fit nicely in the Stitched Rectangle dies.  I stamped the leaf image in Pear Pizzazz and diecut it with the matching die.

I contined with Pear Pizzazz on the inside, stamping my leaves again, this time second and third-generation so they were very light.

My lovely sketch is from Fab Friday:

And so there it is, in all its "unattractiveness"!!  What can I say?  And since I have no Cassidy pix this week, I thought I'd share some of the beautiful birthday cards that I received a few weeks ago:

These two are from Kathy and Laurie, my PP teammate:

And these two Magnolia Lane beauties are from Teri and Sandy:

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Rooted in Nature, Itty Bitty Birthdays
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Early Espresso, Magnolia Lane DSP
Ink	Soft Suede, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories	Mini Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Nature's Roots Die