Paper Players 433 One Layer Bluebird

Happy Sunday, everyone!  Hope you're having a great weekend!  I had a fun workshop yesterday as well as an "Everybody Birthday Party" last night at church!  Busy weekend!  It's a good thing that Jaydee's Paper Players challenge was a One-Layer Clean and Simple one!

One-layer cards can be a challenge for sure...we all love to put layers, embellishments and froufrou things on our cards, don't we?  For my one-layer card, I chose to use some Shimmery White cardstock; it's sturdier than regular white, has a lovely little sheen to it, and accepts watercoloring better than regular white.  So here we go:

I stamped my little bluebird from Best Birds in Stazon black ink, then watercolored him with an aquapainter and some Balmy Blue, Blueberry Bushel, Grapefruit Grove, Calypso Coral and Daffodil Delight inks:

I added a little ground with Soft Suede and some very, very pale speckles (Itty Bitty Backgrounds-retired, unfortunately) in Sahara Sand.  For the sentiment, I used a cool heat-embossing technique!  Using the Stamparatus, ink and stamp your sentiment in your color of choice; for this one, I used a birthday sentiment from Perennial Birthday and Early Espresso ink.  Leave your stamp on the Stamparatus plate and very carefully clean off all the ink, then re-ink and stamp again with Versamark.  I always like to ink and stamp a couple of times to make sure I get good coverage!  Then simply sprinkle it with Clear Embossing Powder and heat set, and you have a lovely embossed image in any color!!

Once I had done the embossing, I added some "sky" watercoloring with Balmy Blue, along with a few more speckles!  Simple and easy!

I hope you'll step up to the challenge and create a one-layer wonder card this week and share it with us at the Players!  Check out what the others did at the Paper Players blog!  

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Best Birds, Perennial Birthday, Itty Bitty Backgrounds (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Shimmery White
Ink	Versamark, Stazon Black, Early Espresso, Balmy Blue, Blueberry Bushel, Calypso Coral, Grapefruit Grove, Daffodil Delight, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake
Accessories
Tools	Aquapainter, Heat Tool, Clear Embossing Powder, Embossing Buddy, Stamparatus

AYSI196 Easter Greetings

Happy Friday, peeps!  Yikes, it's the end of the week and I had to scurry to make this card for our latest As You See It challenge!  I almost missed it!  This week, we have an interesting color combo for you:

My mind drifted to several different ideas....but in the end, I chose to make an Easter card with this cute little bunny I got last year from Close to My Heart; he looks sweet watercolored in Soft Suede ink:

Little bunny was inked in Stazon on watercolor paper from SU, then watercolored with Soft Suede; I added some grass in Shaded Spruce and Granny Apple Green, then attached a piece of gingham paper to a Granny Apple Green card that was embossed with the Vine Street EF.  

I used the FMS sketch, turning on its side as well as orienting it to the right instead of the left:

Originally I had planned to do something with leaves, twigs and greenery, but I ended up using them as embellishments behind the main image:

To soften the look of the leaves, I brushed them lightly with a wet aquapainter.  Finally, I stamped a sentiment from Fable Friends to finish it off!

Now, be sure to visit the AYSI blog to see the fun creations all the designers made, and add yours to our gallery too.  We have had some awesome submissions lately...it's been hard to choose the winners!  Maybe yours will be one of them!  Thanks for popping in today!

Yesterday was some sort of special day at school...maybe career day or something?  Anyway, Cassidy had to dress as a businesswoman and she was going to visit other third grade classes.  I was so enamored of her outfit (especially those shoes), I think I missed most of her explanation!  Check her out:

 She's growing up!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Rooted in Nature, Fable Friends, Easter Animals (CTMH)
Card stock & Papers	Granny Apple Green, Whisper White, Soft Suede, Watercolor, Gingham Gala DSP
Ink	Stazon, Soft Suede, Granny Apple Green, Shaded Spruce, Blushing Bride
Accessories
Tools	Big Shot, Nature's Roots Framelits, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Seasonal Layers Framelits, Aquapainter

IB63 Dish It Up

Hello peeps!  What a pretty day we had yesterday...it almost gave me hope that spring is on its way!  And a new Inspired By challenge is on its way too....and it really challenged me!  Phew!!  Let's say that this literal-inspired gal really had to put on her thinking cap for this one...so here we go:

And here's Laurel's prompt:

Truthfully, I had a lot of fun with this...although I wish I had used Night of Navy for my blue hue instead of Blueberry Bushel, but it still makes for a fun card!  And the photo really doesn't do it justice!  

I started with a sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch, but I wanted to put more circles that what they had, so I just went off in my own direction!  I used several circle punches to cut circles from Lost Lagoon, Whisper White and Crumb Cake cardstock, then I sponged, daubered and stamped in a random fashion! Once I had them adhered to my Crumb Cake card, I ran it through my Big Shot with my Subtle embossing folder...I love how it gave it all such great texture!  I added a Spellbinders diecut and some Candy Dots to add some dimension!

It's always a challenge to come up with masculine birthday cards, so this will go right in that stack!  I hope you'll play along with our challenge this week...you don't have to go literal like I did; check out what the DT did to see how they interpreted the photo!  Thanks for popping in today!

Cassidy got a little toy called a Kanoodle:

She had it assembled in about two minutes!! I am sure the mint chocolate chip ice cream helped!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Gorgeous Grunge (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Blueberry Bushel, Lost Lagoon (ret)
Ink	Craft White, Crumb Cake,Blueberry Bushel,  Lost Lagoon (ret)
Accessories	Candy Dots (ret)
Tools	Various Circle Punches, Big Shot, Subtle Embossing Folder, Sponge Daubers, December Small Die of the Month (Spellbinders)

Two Easy Cards

Hi everyone!  Wednesday already, this week is flying by!  I have two really simple cards for two challenges that happen to be fairly similar!  This birthday card for my niece is from  the Inspire.Create Challenge; here's their sketch:

And here's my simple card; I used some My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Heirloom papers and a couple of older Paper Pumpkin stamps:

 I did some paper piecing for this big funky flower:

And here is another one using the same sketch and the Painted Season bundle:

I just love this color!!!

My next card uses the sketch from Sunday Stamps:

My friend MaryAnne lent me her Best Bunny stamp and bundle, and when I saw this pretty pattern on the Painted Seasons DSP, I knew I had to use it to make an easy baby card:

I colored him with some Blends, stamped some stars directly onto the paper and diecut the sentiment with a die from Stitched Labels!  Another easy fun sketch!!  And here's another card I made with the same sketch....can you tell I was making samples with the Painted Seasons DSPs!?, LOL:

I love these papers!!  Thanks for popping in today!  If you need any info on supplies, give me a shout...I am too lazy today to list them all!!

So you notice Eden has a coat.....but Cassidy does not!  She's never cold!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Retro Rubber 106

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  It's time for another Retro Rubber Challenge....check it out:

I had a lot of ideas floating in my head, but while looking through my stash of DSP, I found this striped Christmas paper and went from there!  I am using a Freshly Made Sketches sketch, although it is too late to submit it, I still liked it!  So here we go:

I am really behind on my Christmas cards this year, so I pulled out a set from 1999 called Holiday Sampler!!  It's along the same lines as Jolly Bingo Bits, and I love these little images!  I stamped them in Garden Green and Real Red, then mounted them on some cardstock and Real Red Glimmer paper scallops:

I also embossed my Very Vanilla base with the Stripes embossing folder, to kick up the "stripes" part a notch!  A quick and easy way to add some interest to a simple card! 

We hope you'll play along with our stripe challenge...just make sure you give some of those older stamps some love...they have to be at least a year old, and you must tell us their approximate age!  At twenty years old, these stamps are still going strong!!  Thanks for popping in today!

Saturday night, Dana let Eden out for a moment, and she took off running after seeing two deer in the yard.  Despite calling her til she had no voice left, after almost four hours, Dana said she still wasn't home!  She took the advice of a couple of people and put her coat out on the deck and within half an hour, Eden was home!  Dogs must have an amazing sense of smell!!  She was exhausted, and so was Dana!  She said "I don't normally let her lick me, but I didn't care!"  A happy ending!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Holiday Sampler (1999), ret
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler, Red Glimmer (ret), Christmas DSP (ret, can't remember the name)
Ink	Real Red, Garden Green
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies, Circles Dies (ret), Stripes Embossing Folder (ret)

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)

PP432 Colors of the Rainbow

Hi everyone!  Happy Sunday! Did you remember to set your clocks ahead?  We do ours on Saturday afternoon so that we don't feel it so much the next morning, LOL!   

Claire is our Paper Players hostess this week with a theme I don't think we've ever had!  Check it out:

Oh, I had so many ideas and so little time....so I pulled out my (retired) small butterfly punch and some scraps and went to work:

This was such a fun, easy card to put together...quick as can be!  The colors I used (and I promise that is not a black butterfly up there, LOL!) were Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, Pacific Point, Blackberry Bliss and Highland Heather. I mounted them all on a Whisper White panel that was embossed with the Falling Petals EF, then added a sentiment from Colorful Seasons:

  

Just to add a little definition, I put a panel of Balmy Blue behind my embossed panel!  And here is a closer picture of that Blackberry Bliss butterfly:

A few pearls finished it off!  I left the inside blank, because it's nice to have a generic card to send on the spur of the moment!

Be sure to check out what the DT created this week, and welcome Windy Ellard to the lineup...her creations are always amazing!  Can't wait to see what you create!

No photos of Cassidy this week, but I wanted to share a couple crafty things I did last weekend; I saw this little totebag on Pinterest and couldn't wait to try it out:

It's made from a Pioneer Woman placemat (Walmart) and the directions can be found HERE.  She has several different styles all made from placemats!  I will say that the basic premise is simple, but getting that zipper in was a bit of a challenge.  It's hard to see, but once I finally finished it, I added a Princess phone keychain I found several years ago while cleaning out my cousin's estate:

Now I just need to use it!  My second craft was a stencilled disk from Chalk Couture.  My sweet friend Joan sent me a sample to play with....I might be hooked!  I just need to figure out what I want to create next!!  It's really cool and fun to do!  You can look at her blog HERE.  

That's it for today...enjoy it and be blessed!

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