IB25 Unique Denim

Howdy, folks!  I have a country-inspired card today for Laurel's Inspired By challenge!  I was able to use a couple of my (hoarded) favorite background papers along with a new stamp set...what do you think?:

And here's the inspiration photo Laurel gave us:

I've had these papers from Authentique (Original) and Cosmo Cricket (Material Girl) stashed away for a long time and I thought they would be fun for the prompt!  The pocket is already printed and "stitched", so I mounted it on a piece of Blueberry Bushel, slit the pocket and added the little sayings that I cut out of the Material Girl paper.  Before tucking them in the pocket, I mounted them on a 1/4" strip of Poppy Parade:

(LOL, they kind of look like a container of McD's french fries to me!!!)  I added a star from the new Country Road stamp set, also stamped in Blueberry Bushel and fussy-cut,  a piece of Night of Navy thick baker's twine, then stamped a sentiment from Crafting Forever on the inside, adding another little snippet from the background paper:

The Inspired By team has come up with some fun creations using this challenge prompt, be sure to pop by to see what they create and share yours with us as well!

Now that school is out, we are scrambling to find things for Cassidy to do....some artwork was at the top of the list:

This was a brand-new paint-by-number kit I got at a yard sale....so far she's only painted a part of it, but hopefully we'll get the rest of it done soon!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

CAS Colour and Sketches 277 Serene Dove

Hi again, everyone!  It's my third week as a guest designer at the Clean and Simple Colours & Sketches challenge!  It's time for another color challenge, and here is your palette:

I had a few different ideas for these colors, and I actually made two cards, I'll share this one first!  I used some of the new Graceful Glass vellum to create a "stained glass window" using a Basic Black frame and Blend markers in the challenge colors:

I normally color just the back of the vellum, but to intensify the colors, I colored both the front and the back!  It was easy to do as the alcohol inks dry very quickly!  I stamped the dove from Serene Garden and diecut it out:

then stamped a sentiment from Rooted in Nature below the panel:

I felt this would be a lovely sympathy card; although they're never fun to make, it's always good to have some on hand.  And here's another card I created using these colors; this one is very clean and simple, almost a little too clean for me!  I felt like these colors were beachy, so I created an ocean by watercoloring a line of Pool Party ink and filling in below it; I stamped the sentiment from Sitting Here in Bermuda Bay, then stamped the deck chair from Colorful Seasons in Calypso Coral and fussy-cut it out:

I also hand-painted a couple of seagulls to make the sky look a little less bleak!  My dilemma, besides the fact that it is so bare, is that when using SU's watercolor paper, I never know which neutral to use....Whisper White is too white and Very Vanilla is not white enough!  At any rate, I chose Very Vanilla for my card base and called it a day!

I hope you'll play with our pretty challenge colors this week...be sure to check out the CAS Colours & Sketches blog to see what the other designers created, and add your creation too!

My niece came over one afternoon last week with her daughters who are two and three years old; they were enamored with John and didn't really care that our swing set and sand box are rather old and rickety!!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

RRCB89 Tic Tac Toe Baby

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  It's time for another Retro Rubber Challenge, and we have a tic-tac-toe board for you today!  Check out these ideas:

I chose the middle row---embossing, patterned paper, and baby, because John's nephew and his wife are expecting another little boy next month!  I used the Inkspire Me sketch:

And here we go:

My image is from a Cornish Heritage Farm set from 2011 called Shoe Boutique, and it was stamped in Night of Navy, diecut and matted with a stitched circle of Crushed Curry:

My patterned paper is from Simple Stories called "Take Time", and I rounded the edges with my 1 1/4" circle punch (you can see how I did that HERE), then I did some dry embossing on my Granny Apple Green panel, and some heat embossing on my Night of Navy panel.  It was stamped with the A to Z stamp (2010) in Versamark ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder:

Finally, I stamped some stars from the Itty Bitties set (2013) and punched them out for my upper embellishments!  Lots of fun goodies on this little card!

I hope you'll play with our Tic-Tac-Toe challenge this week...so many possibilities!  Share yours with us at the Retro Rubber Challenge blog!

Cassidy's teacher sent home some photos she had taken over the course of the year!  I really liked this picture from their Halloween celebration:

She has really changed from a girly-girl (sniff, sniff) and I am hoping her current phase is just that...a phase!  Otherwise, we're going to have a very long summer, LOL!  Be blessed and enjoy your day!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Shoe Boutique (Cornish Heritage Farms), A to Z, Itty Bitties (both ret)
Card stock & Papers	Gray Granite, Very Vanilla, Crushed Curry, Granny Apple Green, Night of Navy, Cajun Craze
Ink	Night of Navy, White Craft, Versamark
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Bundle of Stitched Shapes Dies (stitched star-Simon Says Stamps), Zig Zag EF (ret), Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1/2" Circle Punch

Fabulous Darling

Hello, peeps!  No challenges today; I spent the weekend with my dad and two other siblings; he's 88 years old, and you never know how much more time you'll have with a loved one!  I wish we had gotten a picture of us all but we totally forgot! Anyway, not much stamping time, so I am sharing a card I made a couple weeks ago highlighting the Garden Expressions DSP, Stitched All Around stamp set and the Stitched Labels dies:

Although this sentiment is fun, I am not quite sure to whom I would send it!!  But I loved this bold rose print in Melon Mambo and it seemed to fit!!!  I diecut the sentiment with the Stitched Shapes oval framelit, added a scalloped border from Seasonal Layers Framelits and tacked on a little stitched heart:

You can also see that amazing embossed "stitching" behind the sentiment, which is also from a die in the Stitched Labels set!  I love that thing!

My sister and I were hanging out on our porch and she snapped a picture of Sunday evening's sunset:

As usual, the picture doesn't do it justice!  It was a picture-perfect weekend, weather-wise, and today is gearing up to be hot and humid, so I am glad we were able to enjoy some nice temps before the heat hits!  John is always sad because he says the days are getting longer, but as soon as the first day of summer hits, they start to get shorter!!  I say, enjoy every hour we can!!  Be blessed!

PP398 Clean and Simple Bird

Happy Sunday, peeps!  It's Jaydee's turn to be the hostess today at the Paper Players, and she's chosen a Clean-and-Simple "Birds" challenge:

Jaydee and I both love birds, so I was excited about this challenge....I have lots of bird stamps, too, but today I only have one bird on my card, and it's a pink wren, to boot!  I just felt like making something pink, LOL!  I guess my color palette matches the challenge prompt a wee bit!

Anyway, I used the Fab Friday sketch:

and I did use a doily, as Mindy suggested, along with the Birds and Blooms die, Wood Textures DSP and a few other elements!  I stamped some pink speckles with the Timeless Textures stamp; I added a torn and sponged layer of Crumb Cake along with some Powder Pink ribbon and a little faceted embellishment, and I diecut my bird from Powder Pink cardstock and did a wee bit of sponging on her....cuz she is definitely a girly bird!

The sentiment is from Itty Bitty Greetings...what a great set, beautiful sentiments and wonderful fonts!  I highly recommend it!  Be sure to check out what the other Paper Players designers came up with at the PP blog, too!  And share your creation with us...remember, it has to be clean and simple!

I haven't shared any Eden pictures lately; she is getting big and is quite a handful!  Wayne and Dana took her for her first ride in the Jeep with the top down!!

They made sure she was buckled up before they took off, LOL!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Itty Bitty Greetings, Timeless Textures
Card stock & Papers	Thick White, Powder Pink, Crumb Cake, Wood Textures DSP
Ink	Powder Pink, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede
Accessories	Doily, Powder Pink Ribbon, Faceted Embellishment, Candy Dot (under the eye)
Tools	Big Shot, Birds & Blooms Thinlets

FMS341 and MM294 Christmas Barn

Happy Saturday, everyone!  I've been falling behind on my Christmas cards, and I thought the Merry Monday challenge was a nice one, but I realized I only have ONE barn stamp...I have cabins, but no barns!  I paired it with the Freshly Made Sketches sketch as well:

So here we go!  My card is notecard-sized because my stamped elements are rather small; I think if I did this again, I might change the colors, but for now, it is what it is!

I embossed my notecard front with the Softly Falling embossing folder, and then added my stamped elements:  the barn from Papertrey's On the Farm in Night of Navy, along with some trees from Hearts Come Home in Shaded Spruce; and the "snow", also from Papertrey, stamped in Balmy Blue.  I added a few little stamped"snowflakes" and a sentiment from the new Itty Bitty Greetings.  The final touch was a little diecut snowflake, embellished with a rhinestone, also in Balmy Blue:

Another one to add to the stash!

Yesterday was the last day of school and a couple photos were in order!  Cassidy and our neighbor Lee posed together:

And we couldn't leave out Lee's sister Jackie!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Itty Bitty Greetings, Hearts Come Home, On the Farm (Papertrey Ink)
Card stock & Papers	White Notecard, Whisper White, Balmy Blue
Ink	Night of Navy, Shaded Spruce, Balmy Blue
Accessories	Rhinestone, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Softly Falling EF, Snowflakes Die (Taylored Expressions)

AYSI178 Fresh Berries

Happy Friday, peeps!  It's Cassidy's last day of school, it's a beautiful day and the As You See It challenge today is "Fresh"!!!

I thought about the challenge photo for a while and I remembered one of the very first Papertrey sets I got had a couple of strawberries in it, and they just happened to match the Lovely Lipstick In Color DSP I just got!  So here we go:

My sketch is from the Global Design Project:

and the whole card is pretty simple!  I stamped the berries in Lovely Lipstick and Granny Apple Green, then fussy-cut them out and mounted them on a circle that had been embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots EF, then added some layers, as well as a layer of Granny Apple Green that was embossed with the little stitched die from Stitched Labels:

I added a sentiment from the same set and some baker's twine from my stash!  And, this card is already in the mail!!!  I hope you'll play along with our "fresh" challenge....how will you interpret it?  Share your creation at the AYSI blog, can't wait to see what you come up with!

Dana sent me this picture of Cassidy after her shower, just chillin' on the couch, reading her tablet, eating her ice cream....and listening with headphones over the towel!  She cracks me up!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Green Thumb (Papertrey Ink)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Granny Apple Green, Lovely Lipstick DSP
Ink	Lovely Lipstick, Granny Apple Green
Accessories	Baker's Twine, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Circle Framelits, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Stitched Labels Framelits