IB66 Speckled Eggs

Happy Thursday, peeps!  Hope your week is going well....I haven't felt very crafty lately, my craft room has been a disaster so hopefully in cleaning it up I might find my mojo!  Today is Inspired By day, and I have to admit that this is one of my favorite challenge photos ever.  I nudged my mojo along enough to make this:

And here is Laurel's prompt:

Aren't they pretty?  And when I saw this photo, I knew just what I wanted to use!  I had this SU stamp Soft as a Feather many years ago and sold it....and then regretted it!  I found it again on ebay a while back and this is the first time I have "re-used" it!  I began by painting a page from an old book with some white craft paint, then stamping the nest on it with Early Espresso ink.  I stamped the eggs from the same set, along with some others from Nature's Walk and colored them with Pool Party Blends, then cut them out and popped them up:

I diecut the book paper with a Spellbinder's die (thanks, Claire) and mounted it on a Pool Party card that I ran through the Woodgrain embossing folder, then sponged with Crumb Cake ink.  (Since this folder really weakens the fibers of the paper, I adhered a piece of cardstock to the inside left side of the card to stabilize it.)  Finally, I added a linen thread bow, some tiny punched hearts, and stamped a sentiment and some "stitch" lines, both from Close to My Heart sets:

I left the inside blank; it might be an encouragement card, a sympathy card or an Easter card....I haven't decided yet!  I hope you'll play along with our pretty challenge this week at Inspired By too!

I saw directions to make a little Easter basket in the latest BH&G, so I thought I would try it out with Cassidy....and it was a bust!  It was a little too fussy for her, although she really gave it a good try! 

She was relieved when I told her she didn't have to finish it, LOL! (Grammy even thought it was a challenge, LOL!)

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Soft as a Feather (ret), Nature Walk (ret), Stitched Borders, Inspired Words (both Close to My Heart)
Card stock & Papers	Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Soft Sky (ret), page from an old book, Naturals White
Ink	Early Espresso, Crumb Cake
Accessories	Linen Thread
Tools	Big Shot, Woodgrain EF, Curved Matting Dies (Spellbinders), Triple Heart Punch (ret), White Craft Paint, SU Blends, Sponges

PP416 Birthday Sketch

Hi everyone!  I hope everyone on the east coast weathered the storm okay!  We got rain, rain, rain!  It was a good time to stamp!  Anne Marie is our Paper Players hostess with an awesome sketch for us this week!  Check it out:

I really need some birthday cards, so that's what I went for today!  So here we go:

I had a few other challenges in mind while creating this card; Little Red Wagon wants distressing; the Color Throwdown has a rust, teal and cream challenge; and TGIF is featuring washi tape and baker's twine:

So I went through my huge stash of 6x6" pads and found some papers to match the colors; after sponging and distressing them a bit, I adhered them to a Very Vanilla card that had been stamped in Sahara Sand with the Linen background stamp, and I sponged the edges of that too!  I used a tag punch to create a little tag on which I stamped a bird's nest, then added a little watercolored bird diecut from the Birds & Bloooms die:

I mounted some retired washi tape on a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock and added some linen braid for the horizontal piece; I know it's not baker's twine so if I get "disqualified", I understand!  Finally, on the inside I added a feather stamp and a sentiment from Perennial Birthday:

And just for fun, I created another card, this one is a thank-you for a friend of mine, using Share What You Love DSP and a sentiment from A Big Thank You:

I fussy-cut a flower from the floral DSP and tucked it under my ribbon, then colored some pearls with a Mint Macaron Blend to add a little oomph:

I hope you'll find some inspiration from Anne Marie's sketch...I already have several more ideas in my head, it's a great one for using up pretty DSPs!!!  Check out what the other designers created:

·        Claire

·        Jaydee

·        Joanne

·        Laurie

·        Nance

·        Anne Marie

·        Sandy

·        Elizabeth

·        Annie - off this week

·        Jan

·        Ann

Cassidy earned her orange belt this week:

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Perennial Birthday, A Big Thank You, Soft as a Feather (ret), Linen Background (ret),  Mini Tag Sentiments (Our Daily Bread Designs)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Watercolor, Petal Pink, Basic Black, Share What You Love DSP, Fall Break DSP (Carta Bella), Fall is in the Air DSP (Echo Park), Botanical Tea DSP (Graphic 45)
Ink	Sahara Sand, Early Espresso, Lost Lagoon, Cajun Craze, Basic Black
Accessories	Washi Tape (ret), Linen Braid, Dimensionals, Pearls, Soft Sky Ribbon (ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Birds and Blooms Thinlets, Tag Punch, Sponge Daubers, Aquapainter, Stitched Shapes Framelits