Paper Players 421 Theme Challenge

Hello stampers!  Sunday means another Paper Players challenge, and Jaydee has a beautiful theme challenge for us all:

True to form, I have two projects to show you; my first one turned into something totally different than I had anticipated, so I started over with another one, LOL!  I haven't used my Gift Bag Punch Board in ages and I thought it would be fun to make a gift bag with some DSP, glimmer paper and some diecuts:

I used some sturdy Graphic 45 paper to create the bag, then added my last piece of black glimmer paper on the front.  I cut images from Very Vanilla thick cardstock using the Hometown Greetings and retired Sleigh Ride Thinlits, layering them on top of the glimmer paper:

I heat-embossed a sentiment in gold on a stitched tag, and added a gold foil star and some gold ribbon:

And here's the back view of the bag; the gold ribbon and bells complement the front image nicely, I think!

The challenge at TGIF this week is Anything But a Card, so I am entering this there as well!

My second project is a card, sort of a silly one, and I rarely do silly ones, so I feel a little silly sharing it but someone might like it!  Here we go:

I used SU's Cat and Santa Hat punches to create my sassy feline, who seems to be waiting for Santa to arrive...or maybe Santa's leaving, and she kept his hat behind just for orneryness!  She is looking out a wreath-embellished Small Madison Arched Window onto a snowy sky and a glittery tree

And here's Santa's hat, being twirled on her tail!!

And finally, a tongue-in-cheek sentiment:

Silly as it is, I have just the friend who will appreciate this card!!  So thanks for bearing with me!  And since the Stamp Ink Paper challenge this week is to use punches, I am going to enter this there as well!

SO......I hope you'll find some inspiration in Jaydee's pretty photo and will share your creation with us at the Paper Players!  Meanwhile, check out what all the DT created:

·        Claire

·        Jaydee

·        Joanne

·        Laurie

·        Nance

·        Anne Marie

·        Sandy

·        Elizabeth

·        Annie - on break

·        Jan

·        Ann

And here's some more holiday fun; the family went out to get their tree over the weekend:

Such a pretty tree! No snow in sight...but maybe next weekend! Thanks for popping in today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Gift Bag Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Signature Christmas (Papertrey Ink)
Card stock & Papers	Thick Very Vanilla, Black Glimmer (ret), Gold Foil, Carol of the Bells DSP (Graphic 45)
Ink	Gold Encore (ret)
Accessories	Gold Ribbon (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Hometown Greetings Framelits, Sleigh Ride Edgelits (ret), Star Punch (ret), Stitched Label Dies (Reverse Confetti), Gift Box Punch Board

Cat Card Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Alpine Adventure, Joyful Christmas, Signature Christmas (both Papertrey Ink)
Card stock & Papers	Thick Whisper White, Basic Gray, Real Red, Dazzling Diamond Glimmer, Misc Glimmer Papers (ret), Winterberry DSP (My Mind's Eye)
Ink	Real Red, Craft White, Mint Macaron
Accessories	White Embossing Powder, Dimensionals
Tools	Cat Punch, Santa Hat Punch (ret), Big Shot, Alpine Sports Thinlets, Small Madison Arched Window Die (Memory Box), 1/8" Circle Punch, Red Marker

FMS364 Vintage Santas

Happy Black Friday, peeps!  Are you a BF shopper?!  Not I!  Maybe online but I will stay in the cozy warmth of my craft room today, too cold out there!!  The FMS sketch today fit (sorta) with a vintage Santa image I have had in my scrap bin since last year when my friend Peggy lent him to me!  So here's the sketch:

And although my Santa is a rectangle, hopefully they won't toss him out:

He's stamped in Garden Green and I did some brayering with Hello Honey ink to give him a vintage feel to complement these pretty Graphic 45 papers.  I added a gold glimmer paper snowflake and a little "ho ho ho" sentiment:

I went ahead and made another one with a different vintage Santa; this one is from a retired Crafty Secrets set:

I stamped a silhouette image at the bottom and added some more sponging to the image and sentiment:

And since the TGIF challenge this week is sponging, I am entering this card!  

That's it for today, two easy peasy cards!

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving!  Armed with apples and carrots, we took a walk on Wednesday in the brisk temps to feed the horses down the road:

This poor guy had only one eye...it freaked out the kids a little bit, but eventually they were less afraid.  I think he might have been a rescue horse...the next time I see the owner, we'll ask him!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Santa Face (unknown), Vintage Christmas (Crafty Secrets ret), Night Before Christmas (Cornish Heritage Farms ret), Santa (Katy Sue Designs), Stitched Stockings (My Favorite Things ret)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Garden Green, Gold Glimmer, St Nicholas DSP (Graphic 45)
Ink	Garden Green, Shaded Spruce, Hello Honey (ret)
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Layering Circles Framelits, Itty Bitty Banners Framelits (ret), Snowflake Die (Taylored Expressions), Stitched Banner Die (My Favorite Things), Scalloped Rectangle Dies (Nestabilities)

PP417 Gather Together

Hi everyone!  Happy Sunday!  Hope your weekend has been wonderful so far!  Claire is our hostess at the Paper Players this week and she has a lovely theme challenge for us:

I am afraid my mojo has gone into hiding lately and my other activities are sucking the life out of it!  I just didn't do this lovely photo justice with my little card, but hopefully Claire will forgive me!  And really, this card looks better in real life than it does here!! So here we are:

My Thanksgiving stamp selection is a little sparse, so I went with the wheat spray from Wishing You Well and a sentiment from Painted Harvest!  I used the color challenge from TGIF:

I first embossed my base with the Quilt Top embossing folder; the image was stamped in Crumb Cake and Cajun Craze, and I added the sentiment and bow in Merry Merlot.  I distressed the Merry Merlot mat as well, and also sent the stamped panel through the Subtle embossing folder for a little interest.  I colored some pearls with a Bronze Blend and added them to the spray:

I pulled out some vintage goodies; the striped Cajun Craze is from many years ago, as is this sweet little sentiment from Falling Leaves:

I know I have more Thanksgiving stamps around, I just need to root around to find them, LOL!  Meanwhile, I hope you will get a head start on your Thanksgiving cards and play with us at the Players!  Can't wait to see you there.  Check out the DT to get more inspiration:

·        Claire

·        Jaydee

·        Joanne

·        Laurie

·        Nance

·        Anne Marie - on break

·        Sandy

·        Elizabeth

·        Annie - on break

·        Jan

·        Ann

Yesterday our church had its annual Operation Christmas Child shoebox packing party!  The kids LOVE this!  We have a small church, but we collect items all year long and we were able to pack 118 boxes!  

We are blessed to have a Dansko shoe outlet right in my little town and they very graciously donate empty shoeboxes that would normally be bound for recycling:

After setting out all the school supplies, hygiene items, toys, shoes and whatever else collected, each person gets a shoebox and packs it up according to age and gender!  Sometimes the wee ones need a little help, but most of them are old pros at it!

Cassidy is one of the old pros, LOL!

Luke is one of our new pastor's children, and he was quite serious about his selections:

And when they're all done and stacked up, the boxes make a great place to take a picture, LOL!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Two Rustic Birthdays

Happy Monday, everyone!  I've got a couple rustic-themed birthday cards for you today!  My birthday card stash is pretty slim, and these are actually going out in the mail today, so I need to get busy!  My first card uses the CAS Colours and Sketches sketch:

and it is for a horse-loving friend of mine!  The papers come from a line from Authentique called Frontier; I stamped a horse from PTI's On The Farm and embellished it with some punched stars:

I added some Candy Dot "brads":

I used the same paper as the stars for my sentiment, and die-cut it with a stitched tag from Pretty Pink Posh:

And on the inside, I stamped sentiments from Country Road, along with a border from the PTI set:

The next one uses the sketch from TGIF:

Same line of papers, but this time I used an image from SU's Countryside, stamped in Early Espresso  on Crumb Cake and colored with blends; I stamped the Crumb Cake card base with the woodgrain image from Gallery Grunge:

I just love that little bird!  

The sentiment is from a past Paper Pumpkin kit:

And again, I stamped the inside with Country Road:

It was fun to stamp with warm country colors and images...I am getting itchy to stamp some pumpkins, so be on the watch for them!!

Speaking of itching, at church yesterday, Cassidy sat with our new preacher's family; they have a three-year-old little girl and Cassidy was just beside herself trying to be a babysitter to her:

Blessedly, the preacher's wife was very gracious and gently "helped" Cassidy be a little less motherly!  All was well!  Thanks for popping in today...enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Gallery Grunge, Country Road, On the Farm (Papertrey), Countryside (ret), Paper Pumpkin
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze, Vry Vanilla, Early Espresso, Frontier DSP (Authentique)
Ink	Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand
Accessories	Candy Dots (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Stitched Labels Dies (Pretty Pink Posh), Banner Dies (Nestabilities), SU Blends, Star Punch (ret)

TGIF172 One in a Dozen

Happy Monday peeps!  Hope you had a fabulous weekend!  It's hot, hot, hot here in PA, but it is August, so it's to be expected.  I don't think I have ever mowed so much grass in a summer before, especially in August.  With the rain we've been having, our yard is like a jungle!  Anyway, I managed to get in some stamping time over the weekend; I sold a couple of items on ebay lately and I always like to send a little card with the item.  I usually just make a little 3x3" card but I wanted to do something a little special for this customer, as she purchased a vintage Pyrex bowl in a pretty turquoise blue.  So she got this in her package:

I used the sketch from TGIF Challenges:

And my poor old eyes totally missed that swirly element at the top, so hopefully my embossing will be sufficient!  I stamped the images from Perfect Mix and used my blends to color them in.  The DSP is some retired Coastal Cabana from a few years ago, and I recycled a little piece of dark gray paper from something I received in the mail to make my scalloped edge!  The little silver embellishments are the new Frosted Epoxy Droplets from the Holiday Mini....very cool!

And here's another little notecard I made, just using some scraps from my scrap bin, for another ebay customer who bought a needlework kit:

I am pretty sure the designer paper is from an old Cosmo Cricket pad, and the stamps I used are from Paper Smooches, a set called Needle Little Love!  I stamped them on various scraps of DSP and colored them with Blends:

These were so much fun to make!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

These are my last birthday cards to share!

This fun little card is from my creative friend Michele....that little bunny is on a bobble spring, so Cassidy really enjoyed making it wiggle!

And this little country gem is from my sweet friend Wendy...she knows my country-lovin' heart!  Thanks, ladies!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Perfect Mix (ret), Needle Little Love (Paper Smooches)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Very Vanilla, DSP scraps
Ink	Memento Black, Basic Gray
Accessories	Frosted Epoxy Drops, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Quilted EF, Stitched Scalloped Borders (Lawn Fawn), Blends