Time Out Guest Designer

Hello, stamping friends! I recently won a Time Out challenge and was asked to be a guest designer!  Yippee!  

Their theme this week is Friendship/Encouragement/Support:

and the challenge is sponsored by Claire from Waltzingmouse Stamps; here is the prize she is offering:

For my card today, I pulled out an oldie but goodie called Friendships Grow, and it happened to be given to me by a sweet friend, Teri!  I stamped this image in Stazon black ink and did my favorite technique, watercoloring, to color it in:

I chose some pink gingham and Bubble Bath cardstock for the background, as well as a scalloped mat, and some retired gingham ribbon added a bit of fun.  I stamped a sentiment from the Year of Flowers, which seemed appropriate for the image!

I hope you'll play along with our Friendship challenge at Time Out this week!  We all need some encouragement, and stampers give the best!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Year of Flowers, Friendships Grow (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Thick White, Basic White, Gingham (Scrapbook.com)
Ink	Stazon Black, Misty Moonlight, Real Red, Pretty in Pink, Calpyso Coral, Soft Sea Foam, Garden Green, Crushed Curry, Pecan Pie, Soft Sky (ret)
Accessories	Dimensionals, Pink Gingham Ribbon (ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Scalloped  Contours Dies (ret), Stitched Rectangle Dies (Lil'Inker), Aquapainter, Sponge Dauber

HSS469 Freesia Birthday

Happy Wednesday, all! I saw a cute fold technique on FB recently but unfortunately, didn't write down the creative person who posted it, so if you know who it was, let me know! I have a couple of birthdays coming up that need cards, so I took the unusual color palette at Hand Stamped Sentiments and went to work!  Here's the palette:

My Sunflower EF has been neglected, so I thought I'd use it; I know there aren't freesia-colored sunflowers in real life (or maybe there are), but in my world, I can make a sunflower any color I want! So here we go:

I cut a panel of Fresh Freesia to 5" x 3 3/4", then ran it through the embossing machine with the embossing folder.  I sponged on Fresh Freesia ink, then diecut the panel with a Textured Notes dies.  I added a mat of Pool Party, then re-attached it to the Fresh Freesia panel.  That all went on a Blackberry Bliss mat and a white card base.

I stamped a birthday sentiment from Year of Flowers and die cut it, again with the Textured Notes dies, and added a wish of Fresh Freesiz ribbon:

And here's the fun fold inside:

It's really easy--cut cardstock or DSP to 10 1/2" x 4".  Score at 4 1/4", 5 1/4" and 6 1/4".  Fold along the score lines to make the little box, then adhere ONLY the larger pieces to the inside of the card.  You can make the pop-up embellishment anything you want!  I have lots of ideas!.  For this card, I pieced together two pieces of Fresh Freesia DSP, using Sticky Strip to make sure the edges were secure, then stamped my sentiment directly on it.  It folds nicely and fits into a regular size envelope!

I promised to show off some of the gorgeous cards I received for my birthday--it will take a while!  Here are the first few!  This stunner is from my Paper Players teammate, Stef!  The image is debossed...and it's gorgeous!

I love orange, so this card really made me smile!  It's from my sweet friend Beth; she always has an encouraging word!

This beauty is from another teammate, Ann! Unfortunately, the mail person was not careful and it sustained some damage (and came in one of those lame apologetic envelopes) but I guess I should just be glad I got it at all!  So pretty!

Thanks, ladies! I have more to share!  Thanks for visiting today! Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Year of Flowers
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Blackberry Bliss, Fresh Freesia, Pool Party, Fresh Freesia DSP (ret)
Ink	Fresh Freesia, Blackberry Bliss
Accessories	Dimensionals, Fresh Freesia Seam Binding
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Sunflower 3D Embossing Folder, Textured Notes Dies, Blending Brush

AHSC633 A Floral Hug

Happy Monday, peeps! Gray and icky out today, a good day to stay in my stamp room and create!  The Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge is a great one this week:

I got a new embossing folder recently and I couldn't wait to put it to use! I already had this little rose image stamped, colored and cut, and it worked perfectly with the sketch! Here we go:

I embossed a Pretty in Pink panel with a Spellbinders Floral and Vine embossing folder, then blended just a wee bit of ink on the top.  The flower is from Year of Flowers, and it was stamped in Smoky Slate, then colored with blends.  I dyed some white ribbon with a Dark Soft Sea Foam blend to match the mat.

I stamped a sentiment from the same floral set and used a couple of leftover pieces from the ribbon to accent it.  The pink ink is pretty pale but hopefully the recipient can read it, LOL!

While I had my supplies on my desk, I made another one...considerably brighter! (You may need sunglasses!) This one uses a panel of Petunia Pop and a floral image from Crafty Individuals called Tall Flowers:

Different sentiment, some really old ribbon from my stash, but almost the same!

I am so glad you popped in today and I hope you'll play along with our Atlantic Hearts sketch this week! Our submissions have been really fabulous, so I know you'll want to get your creation in there as well!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

First Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Year of Flowers
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Soft Sea Foam, Pretty in Pink
Ink	Smoky Slate, Pretty in Pink
Accessories	Crinkled White Ribbon (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Everyday Details Dies (ret), Banner Dies (Pink & Main), Dark Soft Sea Foam Blend, Floral & Vine Embossing Folder (Spellbinders), Blending Brush

Second Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Year of Flowers, Tall Flowers (Crafty Individuals)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Soft Sea Foam, Petunia Pop
Ink	Petunia Pop
Accessories	Dimensionals, Woven Ribbon (from my stash)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Banner Dies (Pink & Main), Floral & Vine Embossing Folder (Spellbinders), Blending Brush

IB335 Happy Spring

 Happy Friday, peeps! It is quite damp and dreary today in SE PA, but we always need the rain! My card today is one I almost didn't share....it isn't quite up to my standards but I decided to show it anyway to prove that no matter how experienced a stamper you are, sometimes things just don't come out the way you expect!  

I have been playing with the Notes & Totes bundle and as much as I love it, I am struggling with it...I think it's bigger than I envisioned!  Anyway, the Inspired By challenge this week inspired me to try to use the tote die; here's the photo:

So off I went to create:

I won't go into all the details about what I don't like about this card, but I will say that the pretty flowers  from You Are Remarkable, stamped in Soft Seafoam ink,  just got lost.  I should have stamped them in something darker....so maybe I'll try them again!  

I tried an old technique for the tote itself; I stamped the retired Knit Together stamp using Versamark ink and dabbed on some pastels with a cotton ball....remember them?  It turned out darker than I wanted, sadly.  I couldn't even stamp the inside correctly...it was crooked and had a halo, so I had to trim my stamp, restamp and diecut a piece to cover it up:

 

At least I managed the background okay, using a piece of Country Woods DSP!  Well, you can't win them all!  Thanks so much for bearing with me here today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Year of Flowers, Choose Happy, Knit Together (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic Beige, Crumb Cake, Soft Seafom DSP (ret), Country Woods DSP
Ink	Versamark, Soft Seafoam, Daffodil Delight, Pretty in Pink, Pecan Pie
Accessories	Dimensionals, Pastels (ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Notes & Totes Dies, Textured Notes Dies

SSC359 Happy 90th Birthday

Hello, all my stamping friends! I have a fun, quick card today that was really easy to put together using the Sunday Stamps sketch:

The Wildflower Birthday has such fun papers and ephemera included with it, it makes created a special card really easy! I did pull out some older dies and Gold Foil paper to jazz it up, since this is a birthday card for my aunt Janice who is turning 90, and she has always been a wonderful aunt to me!

I layered some of the coordinating papers and used the cake image as one of the circles.  The other circle was another pattern, diecut with the Stylish Shapes dies and I added the "90" on top.  I used another Stylish Shapes dies to stamp and heat-emboss a birthday greeting from Year of Flowers in gold too:

I am getting a lot of use from that stamp set; here's the inside using the same set, stamped in Pretty in Pink:

This will be wending its way to her in the next day or so!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Year of Flowers
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Wildflower Birthday Specialty DSP, Gold Foil
Ink	Pretty in Pink, Gold Encore (ret)
Accessories	Dimensionals, Gold Embossing Powder
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, Heat Tool, Large Numbers Dies (ret)

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)

FMS683 Blooming Birthday

Happy Thursday, everyone! I have a quick card that I whipped up using the FMS sketch:

 

 

along with some of the new papers that will be in the upcoming catalog called Florals in Bloom!  So pretty!  I simply cut two pieces, added a border of Poppy Parade, and a sentiment from Year of Flowers:

I used the Nested Essentials dies to cut out the sentiment and added a wee little Lemon Lolly Baker's Twine bow:

I added a birthday sentiment on the inside and it was done! These watercolor-y prints are so pretty!  And speaking of pretty, John spotted a bird yesterday at our feeder that I thought I would never see!  They are not known for being in our area, and the funny thing is, he always calls red-bellied woodpeckers by the wrong name.  He calls them red-headed woodpeckers.  So when he said, "What is that bird on the feeder?", I said "THAT IS a red-headed woodpecker!!!!"  Wow!  The photos are not very good as I took them with my phone through the patio door, but I was so excited to see it, I didn't really care!

I know this is the time of year that different birds migrate through, so it might be on its way further south.  They've been seen in Delaware, which is only a few miles away, so I was thrilled this one stopped for a snack!  Thanks for visiting today (and putting up with my bird-nerdiness); enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Year of Flowers
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Poppy Parade, Florals in Bloom DSP
Ink	Garden Green
Accessories	Dimensionals, Lemon Lolly Baker's Twine
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Nested Essentials Dies

FMS682 Simple Daisy

Happy Saturday! Today our church is having an Easter Egg hunt, so this will be quick and short! The FMS sketch is one of my favorites:

Normally when doing these type of paneled cards, I take three different DSPS, stack them together and cut them apart all at the same time.  Then I piece together the various panels and I have three different cards, I just have to add the embellishment! This time, I just took one piece of paper and cut it three different ways; I messed up a wee bit on my spacing, but hopefully the recipient won't mind:

I recently got the Online Exclusive set called Year of Flowers and had already stamped and colored the little daisy for April.  Then I saw this color inspiration challenge from Just Add Ink:

so I decided to add some Smoky Slate accents to my Daffodil Delight background!  I used the Every Day Arches dies to create my focal point, added some sequins and gray gingham:

and then stamped a sentiment from the same set on the inside:

I am looking forward to using this sweet little set all year long!  Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Year of Flowers
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Smoky Slate, Daffodil Delight DSP
Ink	Versafine Black
Accessories	Sequins from my stash, Gingham (Penny Supplies), Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Every Day Arches Dies, Year of Flowers Dies, Daffodil Delight & Granny Apple Green Markers. 1/8" Hole Punch (ret)