Paper Players Challenge 14

Well, I am back from vacation AND I MISSED EVERYBODY!!!   It is a good thing that Jaydee’s theme challenge for the Paper Players this week is a Clean & Simple one!  (My mojo is still on vacation; it took me way too long to do this card!)  A few hours after our return, we got news that a family member had passed away, so I took the opportunity to make a CAS sympathy card:

I always think that this tree from Lovely as a Tree is a perfect image for a masculine card.  I used sponge daubers to apply some fall colors to the tree and watercolored the trunk and grass.  A sentiment from Thoughts & Prayers was stamped in Old Olive to tie in with the Old Olive brads I used on the Twill ribbon. 

I hope you’ll take the opportunity to play with the Paper Players in this challenge!  Be sure to check out their blog and share your creation with us as well; you can use the keyword PP14 if you post using an online gallery. 

It’s good to be home, but I always feel a bit rusty after taking so much time off!  I hope you’ll bear with me as I get back in the stampin’ saddle!  And of course, I can’t go without posting a cute picture of my new granddaughter:

I know, I know….this is a stamping blog, right?  You’re probably tired of seeing pictures of her, but just indulge me for a bit longer! :D

• Stamps:  Lovely as a Tree, Thoughts & Prayers
• Paper:  Naturals White
• Ink:  Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Old Olive, Cajun Craze, Riding Hood Red
• Acc:  Sponge Daubers, Aquapainter, Twill, Brads

Peeking in to say Hi!

Hi everyone! I am still on blogging vacation but I did have a few minutes this evening to steal a couple pictures from my daughter’s FB page to share with you. We have had a couple of rough days in the nursing department….as my DD says, “Why is something that is supposed to be NATURAL so darn difficult?” Good question! But she is persevering….we’ll see what this week brings.

Here are a couple of baby pictures to give you a smile:

All dressed up to come home from the hospital:

Check out the SHOES:

And we OBVIOUSLY do NOT like the car seat (this is the funniest picture I have ever seen!)":

A much more calm baby after her bath:

Thanks for indulging me….I am enjoying my first week being a grandmother! Even though my stamp table is gathering dust, I will be there this week getting ready for my Christmas card stamp camp, but I’ll save posting until after I come back! MISS EVERYONE!

Taking a Vacation

Good morning all!  In light of all that is going on in our family, plus the fact that we’re going on vacation soon, I am taking a little blogging vacation as well!  I will be lurking around, but not posting anything for a couple weeks, but I’ll be back the second week of September!  And I leave you with this:

and this:

I am ready for some snuggle time!!  Thanks again for all your wonderful prayers, well-wishes and mom-mom comments!!  Be back soon!

Baby News

FINALLY!  Little Cassidy has finally made her appearance and my DD and SIL are overjoyed, as we are!  She has a shock of dark hair and dark blue eyes, so considering my DD is a blondie, I’d say she is gonna look like her daddy!

She was awake, alert and making the cutest noises until I took this photo….hopefully I will have one of us together soon!  7 lb, 13 ounces of joy!  Thanks so much for all the prayers, well-wishes and blessings you have sent out!♥♥

Color Throwdown 106

Oh, I am just loving the colors that our hostess, Danielle, chose today! They are right up my alley! What do you think?

I pulled out some beachy stamp sets that I haven’t used all summer….gotta use ‘em quick, as summer will be gone before we know it!!! I used Impression Obsession’s Nautical and Crafty Secret’s Seaside sets for my collage-style card today:

I also used the Fall to Layout #103, shown here:

I stamped random images on the Soft Sky panel with Soft Sky ink, then did the starfish and sentiment with Memento Cocoa Brown. The cheesecloth background is from CHF, stamped in Crumb Cake. I just LOVE that effect!

And how do you like this snazzy knot? My CTD teammate Barbara has done these several times on her cards, and I actually remembered to look up her tutorial HERE so that I could do one too. It was very easy; her directions are perfect! I thought it added a nice nautical touch to my card. The knot is layered on a piece of Certainly Celery wide grosgrain ribbon; that’s where I snuck in that challenge color!!! I have left the inside blank so I can add my sentiment when I need a special card!

So now let’s see what you can create with these soft, subtle colors! Splash on over to the CTD blog to get all the details and to link your card so we can all see it. Remember, you don’t need to use these exact colors, but we do want something close and we appreciate a shout out on your blog! Now here are links to all our designers:

• Broni - Splashes of Watercolor
• Tammy - Stamp Happy
• Barbara - Paper Pursuits
• Danielle – Wild Dragonfly Designs
• Laura --Lil’Inker
• Kristen – Mindless Creativity
• and our Guest Designer for this month, Chupa Palamountain – Random Acts of Creativity

• Stamps: Cheesecloth, CHF; Nautical, Impression Obsession; Seaside, Crafty Secrets
• Paper: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky
• Ink: Soft Sky, Crumb Cake, Cocoa Brown, Memento
• Acc: Twine, Ticket Corner Punch, Pearls, Daubers, Cert Celey Grosgrain, Dimensionals

CQC46

I just love today’s challenge---not only are these colors gorgeous, so is this little apron Arielle chose to inspire us today! I plucked some October Afternoon Thrift Shop papers out of my stash to make this little number:

I used this sketch from Get Sketchy:

and pulled out some neglected PTI sets, Vintage Picnic Sentiments and Mixed Messages. I totally cased my stampin’ idol Arielle with those little heart tags on my ribbon:

Those little doodads require patience!!! (Something that is hard to come by in my stamp room!!!) Well, I’m telling tales on myself….the central portion of the card are hearts punched out with SU’s small heart punch, but the polka dot image itself is a heart stamp from SU’s I {Heart} Hearts. I did substitute Real Red ink for Cherry Cobbler, only because it matched my DP better!!!

So hurry on over to the CQC blog so that you can play along and see what the other designers did with these sweet colors! Click on the sidebar to be whisked to the court!

• Stamps: I {Heart} Hearts; Vintage Picnic Sentiments & Mixed Messages, PTI
• Paper: Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight, Baja Breeze, Thrift Shop, October Afternoon
• Ink: Palette Noir, Real Red
• Acc: Small Heart Punch, 3/4” Circle Punch, Ribbon from my stash, string, dimensionals, sewing machine, Nestie

CAS80

This little thank you card is for today’s SCS CAS challenge, which is a sketch; unfortunately, this morphed into something a little more than clean and simple!  I just wanted ONE sheet of my cute Cosmo Cricket paper and I kept seeing more & more cute designs….that was it.  I had to add more.  Oh well!  This also fulfils the OCC Challenge, Back to School.  So here we go:

Short & sweet today….still no baby, please pray that DD goes into labor TODAY.  Otherwise they will induce her tomorrow and I hate the thought of that!!!  Thanks for visiting!

• Stamps:  Every Little Bit, Star PRints, PTI
• Paper:  Confetti Cream, Tangerine Tango, Joy Ride & Nutmeg, Cosmo Cricket
• Ink: Stazon, Tangerine Tango
• Acc:  Ret Polka Dot Ribbon, 1 3/4” Circle Punch, Markers