RRCB110 Best Wishes

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  Hope you got through Monday okay!  It's time for another Retro Rubber challenge, where we use stamps that are least a year old!  Here's our pretty spring challenge:

My card today uses a Papertrey Ink stamp from 2011 called Botanical Silhouettes; I believe it was a freebie, but I bought it from a fellow stamper, and it hasn't seen ink for a while!  So here we go:

I used the color palette from Fab Friday's current challenge:

My Stamparatus came in handy with this multi-step stamp!  It lines up very nicely, though!  I started with stems of Coastal Cabana, then added the florals in Petal Pink.  I then inked a few of the florals again in Blushing Bride, and finally, the last ones is Poppy Parade, stamping directly over the first image.  I did get a little "overstamp" from the Poppy Parade (little spots of ink would have been better to use than a regular ink pad!), so I simply added some shading on all the florals:

I stamped a sentiment from the same set in Coastal Cabana, some little speckles for fun, then ran the whole white panel through the Big Shot using the Subtle embossing folder.  My Pool Party stitched frame was added over top of the white panel and after trimming the corners, was adhered to a white card, trimmed to fit.  My final embellishment was some pearls that I colored with SU Blends!  I think this color combination is one of my favorites! 

So we can't wait to see your floral creations...just make sure the stamps you use are at least a year old, and be sure to tell us how old they are in your post!  Share it with us at Retro Rubber, can't wait to see them!

Cassidy went to visit great-granddaddy....sadly, she never got to meet her great-grammy.

Enjoy your day and be blessed.

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Botanical Silhouettes (2011 Papertrey), Itty Bitty Backgrounds (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Pool Party
Ink	Coastal Cabana, Blushing Bride, Petal Pink, Poppy Parade
Accessories	Pearls
Tools	Big Shot, Subtle Embossing Folder, Simple Stitched Line Round Rectangle Frame Die (My Favorite Things), Bermuda Bay Blends, Blender Pen

Christmas Bunnies

Hi peeps!  I am posting a second card for today because the deadline for the new-to-me challenge, Christmas Kickstart, is almost up!  Their challenge this week is Christmas Bunnies (so cute), and the Global Design Project challenge is to CASE Brian King with this card:

So here we go, with one of the quickest cards I've ever made:

My Christmas bunnies are from 100 Proof Press, stamped in Smoky Slate; the sentiment is from a past Paper Pumpkin kit.  I added a border of Lucky Lime Twist, mounted it on a Gala Gingham panel and all of that went on a Smoky Slate card.  Everything was diecut with the Stitched Rectangles dies  The only wee embellishment I added was a rhinestone to dot the "joy"!!

Thanks for popping in again today!  Enjoy the day and be blessed!

Botanical Sympathy

Happy Monday, peeps!  My family needs several sympathy cards this week as a sweet family member lost her battle with cancer.  Blessedly, she coped with it wonderfully for many years and we all know she is in heaven rejoicing with her Lord!  The challenge at Just Add Ink this week is to make a sympathy card, and the sketch at Sunday Stamps fit what I had in mind:

I've been playing with Botanical Bliss and the matching Botanical Tags dies, and thought a diecut floral would look nice with the sketch.  I cut out a floral from some watercolor paper and watercolored it with Crushed Curry, Mint Macaron and Garden Green inks:

I haven't used Pineapple Punch much, as it is a little paler than what I like, but I combined two of the In Color patterns as a background for my flower and I really like it!  

I finished it with a sympathy sentiment from Flourishing Phrases, stamped in Garden Green, and diecut it with a Stitched Labels die.  Easy and pretty!  Thanks for popping in today!

No Cassidy pix, but my backyard was very active this weekend, full of birds!  First, we have a nutso robin who has been sitting on our car mirrors (and making a big mess!), attaching himself to our screen door and throwing himself against the patio doors.  We think he is protecting a mama robin who is nesting on four little eggs under our shed roo!

Then we had a rose-breasted grosbeak who actually hung around ALL DAY!  He really liked the seed in my feeder and kept coming back again and again!

At the same time, we got an elusive indigo bunting--at least I think that's what he is.  There have been blue grosbeaks spotted in Delaware, but I am still thinking this is a bunting!  He was very skittish and I didn't get any close pictures, but was thrilled to see him nonetheless! 

Finally, we had a brown thrasher, which I see fairly often, but several people told me they've never seen them....their yellow eyes make them quite interesting!

It was an exciting day! The grosbeak and bunting will not hang around, they're just moving through, enjoying a snack, then off to their summer homes, LOL! 

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Paper Players 440 Best Friends

Hi stampers!  Yay, it's Sunday and time for another Paper Players challenge where the talented Jaydee is our hostess with a wonderful theme:

At first, I thought I didn't have many "friends" stamps, but as I looked, I realized I had several sentiments...not so many images, but these little buddies from the retiring Bella and Friends were perfect:

I stamped them on thick Very Vanilla cardstock and colored them with SU Blends, then die-cut them with the Stitched Rectangle die.  My sentiment is from Apron of Love, and I added a few little hearts from the Be Mine dies:

I stamped some additional sentiments (Stitched All Around) on the inside, and added a few more hearts:

My layout is very loosely based on this week's Freshly Made Sketches sketch; my image was pretty big, so the sketch sort of got lost in the interpretation, but it is there!  I used some retired Pretty Petals DSP for my background....love that stuff!

And I just realized that I didn't put the sentiment where it belonged...sigh.  That's what happens when you try to do something from memory!  Oh well!  I hope you'll play along with us at the Paper Players this week, and meanwhile, check out what the DT did as well:

Ann

Claire

Jaydee

Joanne

Laurie

Nance

Anne Marie

Su

Wanda

Windy

Cassidy recently got her green belt!!!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Bella and Friends, Apron of Love, Stitched All Around
Card stock & Papers	Thick Very Vanilla, Calypso Coral, Baja Breeze (ret), Pretty Petals DSP (ret)
Ink	Memento Black, Calypso Coral
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Be Mine Dies, Blends

You're Sweet

Happy Saturday, peeps!  It's going to be another rainy weekend here in PA....I am beginning to feel like a mushroom, although we did have a couple of nice days during the week...I just wish the weekends would get the message!  I have a fun little card today for three challenges:  Festive Friday is looking for stripes; Time Out wants playful, and CAS Watercolour wants a card for a child:

This tower of ice cream cones has always been one of my favorites, especially for children; I stamped it on some SU watercolor paper and colored it with various yummy ice cream shades, then coated it with some Wink of Stella and fussy-cut it out, mounting it on another piece of watercolor paper I painted with Balmy Blue ink:

As much as I like ice cream (make that LOVE ice cream!), I think this much would probably give me a tummyache!  I mounted my panel on a striped piece of DSP, added a few sequins:

and finished it off with a sentiment from the retired set, Sweet Stuff, coloring those itty-bitty letters with some matching ink as well; I die-cut it with a tag punch, added some baker's twine (more stripes), and it's good to go:

Thanks for popping in today---YOU'RE sweet!!  

Cassidy has been wearing shorts and a t-shirt lately; I was surprised when came yesterday morning wearing a Yoda hoodie!!  You can never tell with this girl!

 Enjoy your day and be blessed!  Be sure to come back tomorrow for a new Paper Players challenge too!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Sweet Stuff (ret), All Smiles (Unity)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Watercolor, French Flea Market DSP (Photo Play)
Ink	Stazon, Balmy Blue, Misc Reinkers
Accessories	Sequins from my Stash, Baker's Twine (Avery Elle)
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Die, Stitched Tag Dies (Pretty Pink Posh), Aquapainter

IB70 It's Your Pennant Day

Happy Thursday, peeps!  Today's the pre-order period for the new SU catalog..woohoo!  Can't wait to get my hands on some new goodies!  Meanwhile, it's also time for Inspired By!  Here's my card for Laurel's newest challenge:

Some soft, pretty colors!  And here's her prompt:

I went pretty literal, combing through my plethora of 6x6" paper pads until I found some that matched the photo pretty well! I used a SU tree punch to punch out a few, then sponged them for a vintage look, and embellished them with some glimmer and enamel doodads! 

Before adhering them, I scored my Naturals White card front every 7/8" with my scoring tool, then very, very lightly, added some Smoky Slate watercolor to bring out the dimension.  I stamped a little stitched line on which to "hang" my banners, and another stitched circle for my sentiment; I added a tiny enamel star and a Blend-colored heart to finish it off!

I love the sweet pastels in this card...hope you find some inspiration and will share your creation with us at Inspired By too!  Can't wait to see it!

Cassidy helped Mommy make salsa!!

She did a great job....but she didn't like the onions!!!  Running late today---have a wonderful day and be blessed!

CAS341 and CI54 A Little Hello

Happy May Day, everyone!  I am glad May is here, spring is finally sticking around!  I am playing with a new-to-me challenge today, Colour INKspiration (at their FB page) as well as the CASology turquoise challenge:

I pulled out some retired colors, Tempting Turquoise and Taken with Teal, for my little wreath card today:

I stamped the greenery from Botanical Bliss twice around to create my wreath, then stamped the bird in Stazon black and fussy-cut him out.  It surprises me that SU has such a nice coordinating die for  some of the images in this set, but no bird die!!!  Anyway, I added a little sentiment from Itty Bitty Greetings, backed it with a wee little black mat and popped them both up on the wreath with mini dimensionals.  The bird looked a little bare, so I added some Taken with Teal greenery diecut with the Botanical Tags die and added some of the smallest Basic Black faceted embellishments:

I diecut the panel with the largest Stitched Rectangle die, added another narrow mat of Basic Black and adhered it all to a Whisper White card....I left the inside blank so I could use it for any upcoming occasion!  Glad you popped in today---be sure to come back tomorrow for a new Inspired By challenge!

Speaking of May--we had some intense April showers last week that hopefully will bring May flowers!  Cassidy, Lee and Grampy were all out in the garage when the deluge started!  Grampy sent Lee and Cassidy to the porch with his big golf umbrella, while he used Cassidy's ladybug umbrella!  It was pretty funny!

Cassidy had forgotten all about this umbrella, so she insisted on using it instead (and putting on a fake sad face), while Lee just loved standing out and watching the rain pour down!!

But there was no playing outside after that deluge!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!