FF029 Life is Good

Hi everyone!  Hope your Monday is going well so far!  I had a great stamp club meeting this morning and looking forward to another one tonight!  I made a quick card this afternoon for the Festive Friday challenge of spring and/or green, both of which I used on my card:

And here is my simple creation:

I used some Technique Tuesday stamps on SU's Gingham Gala DSP in Lemon Lime Twist, added a scalloped mat, then adhered a "stitched" sticker and a little faceted gem.  The inside features another sticker...now if I could just figure out how to NOT get my inky fingerprints on the sticky side, LOL!

Thanks for visiting today!

Speaking of green, Dana is trying some Weight Watchers recipes...here are some tacos she made:

It looks like Cassidy is giving them her seal of approval!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Life is Good, Beauty of Spring (both Technique Tuesday)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Lemon Lime Twist, Gingham Gala DSP
Ink	Memento Black
Accessories	Stickers (from my stash), Faceted Gem
Tools	Big Shot, Scalloped Rectangle Die (Nestabilties)

AYSI189 Happy Thanksgiving

Hi everyone!  Yay, it's Friday and the weekend is upon us!  Looking forward to it!  The As You See It challenge for this week is a fabby sketch:

What a great layout...terrific for using up little bits of DSP, right?!  I still need a few Thanksgiving cards, so I pulled out some DSP with fall colors and images, along with a new Spellbinders die I got recently:

I made my card 3 1/4" by 5 1/2"; it still fits in a standard envelope, but I could have my little acorn cap pop up above the fold!  All the papers are from Echo Park's Fall Is In The Air 6x6 pad, from which I chose four coordinating patterns for the background.  Then the acorn was diecut from two more different pieces, and I backed the cap with some So Saffron for better definition.  I added a stamped "happy" and the Thanksgiving was diecut from Old Olive cardstock:

I added a piece of Mossy Meadow twine on the stem, a little diecut leaf in Cajun Craze, then stamped a sentiment from Technique Tuesday on the inside, and added a little stamped leaf and a big diecut ampersand:

This sketch just makes me happy and I know I'll be using it again soon!  I hope you'll check out what the DT created, and be sure to share your creation with us as well!  Thanks for popping in today!

We got our first snowfall yesterday and I had filled the feeders a couple days before, so we got lots of finches and sparrows!  With taking the tree down in our backyard over the summer, my birds had no cover and didn't come around at all!  I put the feeder in a different spot and they are returning!  I think this is a house finch and some sort of sparrow:

Another sparrow, taking cover under the patio chair; maybe a white-throated:

and this duo, perched in the gutter, surveying it all:

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Merry Christmas to All ("happy"),So Blessed (Technique Tuesday)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Cajun Craze, Fall is in the Air DSP (Echo Park), Adhesive Sheets, Early Espresso, So Saffron
Ink	Early Espresso
Accessories	Mossy Meadow Twine, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, October and November Small Dies of the Month (Spellbinders), Blends, Stitched Leaf Die (Lil'Inker)

PP394 CAS Blooms and a Tutorial

Hi peeps!  Sunday brings us another Paper Players challenge with Laurie as our sweet hostess!  It's a Clean and Simple challenge...be sure to check out the PP blog to make sure you follow all the guidelines for "clean and simple"!!

For my card today, I chose a simple outline floral from Tim Holtz and stamped it in Stazon Black on some Papertrey Rustic White cardstock:

I loosely colored it with an aquapainter and some inks, then added a sentiment from Technique Tuesday and a little line of washi tape:

I also wanted to show you how I rounded the lower right hand corner of my card with a circle punch!  It's really easy to do!  On this card, I used a 1 3/8" SU circle punch; turn it to the back:

See the dark "groove" under the big silver outer portion of the punch?  That's where the paper slides into when you are punching:

Take the corner of your card and slide it into that groove as far as you can; see how it fits in there?

Very carefully punch!  Your corner will not be perfectly round, as you can see below, but it is easy to just trim it a wee bit to take off the edges at the top and bottom:

so it looks like this:

The less bulky your paper, the less trimming you'll have to do because you can get the corner into the punch more easily!  Practice on some scrap and you'll have it down pat in no time!  And you can use any size circle punch!  I did not come up with this idea, it was shown at convention several years ago!

I made another card with the same flower set, while I had it on my desk!  This time I spritzed some SU watercolor paper with water and Tangerine Tango ink, heat set it to dry it quickly and stamped a different floral on top.  I used some Simple Stories DSP for the background, mounted it on a Very Vanilla card, distressed the edges of my panel and added the same sentiment:

 

On the inside, I stamped the sentiment again in Smoky Slate, added another sentiment to it and stamped the flower again in Sahara Sand:

I used the Freshly Made Sketches sketch by my sweet friend Linda, and am also entering it in the Time Out Challenge, which is Inspired by Words:

I hope you'll play along with our CAS "Bloom" challenge this week!  Check out what the DT did as well:

·        Claire

·        Jaydee

·        Joanne

·        Laurie

·        Nance

·        Sandy

·        Elizabeth

·        Annie

·        Jan

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Flower Garden (Tim Holtz), So Blessed (Technique Tuesday), Itty Bitty Backgrounds (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Watercolor, Rustic White (Papertrey Ink),  Reset Girl (Simple Stories)
Ink	Stazon Black, Tangerine Tango, Crushed Curry, Really Rust (ret), Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Old Olive
Accessories	Pick a Pattern Washi Tape
Tools	Aquapainter, 1 3/8" Circle Punch

IB12 Fresh Spring

Happy Thursday, peeps!  We have a two-hour delay today because of the snow..it's pretty, but it sure throws a monkey wrench in plans we make, LOL!  Anyway, it's time for another Inspired By challenge and this week there is a prize up for grabs!  Woohoo!  You can go to the IB blog to check it out!!!  And here's my bright, cheerful, springy creation for your perusal:

And here is the challenge photo that Laurel chose for us:

SO pretty!  I couldn't resist using this cute little Penny Black chick with his daffodil "shade"...I stamped him in Stazon Black and used Daffodil Delight and Hello Honey inks to watercolor him in!  My papers are from My Mind's Eye and some retired SU in Pacific Point.  I added a few little speckles, some sequins from my stash and a pretty yellow grosgrain ribbon:

My sentiment is from Technique Tuesday...and I sure could use some "fresh sights of spring"!!!

Finally, I added a little bee on the honeycomb paper, just for fun...it's from Jar of Love, which I fussy-cut, although I realized after the fact that I have a die for it!!  Duh!

If you've been thinking about joining our challenge, this would be a great week to do so!  Check out what the others created at the Inspired By blog...you'll be wowed!  

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Awesomely Artistic, Jar of Love, Beauty of Spring (Technique Tuesday), Spring Joy (Penny Black)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Pacific Point Patterns (ret), Honey-The Sweetest Thing DSP (My Mind's Eye)
Ink	Stazon Black, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Hello Honey (ret)
Accessories	Sequins (Sylvia's Etsy Shop), Crushed Curry Ribbon (ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies (Lil' Inker), Aquapainter, 1/8" Hole Punch

Inspired By #9 In the Meadow

Happy Thursday, peeps! And Happy March!  Is it coming in like a lion or a lamb where you live?  Hope you've been having a good week so far....I am feeling better, just in time for Laurel's Inspired By challenge!  I was lying in bed one night, thinking about the prompt and I remembered this beautiful background stamp SU had called Floral, so I pulled it out and went to work:

I love the richness of Tranquil Tide on Garden Green....reminds me of the green swaths of grass at Longwood Gardens!  I added some yellow roses from Altenew, a sentiment from Technique Tuesday, and after seeing this card by Laurel, I pulled out a PTI hexagon die and added a little vellum panel...I hope she doesn't mind that I CASEd her, LOL!

On the Crumb Cake base, I also stamped some Burlap, and you can see how I stamped "so very" so very crookedly....sigh, even with a Misti, sometimes I still go awry!

Anyhoo, here's Laurel's inspiration prompt:

Perfect for spring...how will you interpret this lovely little work of art?  Can't wait to see yours, and be sure to pop by the Inspired By blog to see the DT's take on it!  And Laurel has set up a Facebook page too....go over and "like" us!!

Santa-inspired Emoji nightwear....she cracks me up!

 Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Burlap Background, Floral Background (ret), Painted Flowers (Altenew), So Blessed (Technique Tuesday)
Card stock & Papers	Garden Green, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Vellum
Ink	Tranquil Tide, Garden Green, So Saffron, Crushed Curry, Hello Honey (ret)
Accessories	Pearls, White Sequin (from my stash)
Tools	Big Shot, Bouquet Bunch Framelits, Seasonal Layers Framelits, Painted Flowers Dies (Altenew), Hexagon Die (Papertrey), Dimensionals

CASEing the Shower Invite with FF131

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  I have two sweet little cards to share today; they use the sweet little sketch from Fab Friday:

I needed a bridal shower card for my soon-to-be-niece and I loved the invitation that came for it; it had beautiful roses in deep burgundy and pink shades.  (You can see the top of it under my card).  So I pulled out my Altenew Painted Flowers and a few rosy colors of ink and went to work:

Both the background DSP as well as the tag were from CTMH's Chelsea Gardens; I backed the banner in Smoky Slate just to bring it out a little.  I originally stamped three large flowers in dark, medium and light shades of pink, but ended up not using the large pink one and created a smaller pink one.  I stamped some florals directly to the DSP, the added some greenery in Pear Pizzazz and Always Artichoke and finally added a sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes.  I happened to have a little scrap of already-dyed green shabby seam binding, so I added that to the top of the banner.  It's hard to see, but there is also silver thread looped under the flowers.

The inside is a combination of two sentiments stamped in Berry Burst and Smoky Slate; the "blessed" is from Technique Tuesday and the "wishing" is from Altenew as well.  I love that layered look!

Since I already had the Altenew pink rose and greenery cut, I went ahead and created another card with the same sketch, using a scrap of Pear Pizzazz DSP and some retired baker's twine, all attached to a Blushing Bride card.  The sentiment and greenery are from a recent Paper Pumpkin kit:

 

A couple more pictures from before the dance: 

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

First Card Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Teeny Tiny Wishes, Painted Flowers (Altenew), You Are (Altenew), So Blessed (Technique Tuesday)
Card stock & Papers	Fresh Fig, Smoky Slate, Thick White, Chelsea Gardens DSP (CTMH)
Ink	Fresh Fig, Rose Red, Berry Burst, Blushing Bride, Powder Pink, Sweet Sugar Plum, Pear Pizzazz, Always Artichoke
Accessories	Hand-dyed Seam Binding, Silver Thread
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Altenew Painted Flowers Dies, Dimensionals

Second Card Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Painted Flowers (Altenew), Paper Pumpkin
Card stock & Papers	Blushing Bride, Thick White, Pear Pizzazz Prints DSP (ret)
Ink	Blushing Bride, Powder Pink, Sweet Sugarplum, Pear Pizzazz, Always Artichoke
Accessories	Crisp Cantaloupe Thick Baker's Twine (ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Altenew Painted Flowers Dies, Dimensionals