Card Concept 126

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  I am excited to announce that I've been asked to be on the Card Concept DT!  I want to thank Julie for giving me the chance to participate! I have admired their challenges, not just because Julie chooses amazing inspiration photos, but also because they highlight different "styles" of design!  When you play along, you're asked to identify which style you've used for that particular week!  They have a page that describes all the different styles, so I am looking forward to stretching my creativity and hopefully I can nail all of them at some point!  Today, we have a lovely photo prompt to kick off the new year:

Today is my sister Joyce's birthday, and she is a beekeeper!  Actually, she has embraced many different interests in her life...she loves horses, she's raised chickens, she's bred rabbits, she is a bird nerd like me, encouraged martins but putting up a big martin house, but her latest venture is beekeeping!  So the Honey Bee stamp set was the first thing that popped into my shopping cart when it became available!  For my card today, I chose the gold and vanilla elements to create a Clean and Layered card for my sis:

I began with a Crumb Cake card base and added a Very Vanilla layer which was embossed with the Pine Planks EF with a few little diecut honeycombs on top.  My hive was stamped with Crumb Cake as well, and the flowers were heat-embossed with gold embossing powder, diecut and adhered next to the hive:

There are several bee dies in the Detailed Bee set; this big one was diecut from Gold Foil--isn't it impressive? 

I adhered it near a gold-embossed birthday sentiment (Rustic Retreat), which had been diecut from the new Stitched So Sweetly dies (and also has some gold thread behind it!):

Finally, one last embossing:  a birthday sentiment from Perennial Birthday on the inside, along with a couple more little bees!  I hope she likes it!

I hope that you'll play along with our challenge at The Card Concept, and be sure to stop by to see how all the DT members have interpreted this pretty photo!  Can't wait to see what you create!

Cassidy had off school the day before Christmas eve, so I asked Lee and Jackie to come over to make some cookies.  I had the dough already made and rolled out, so all they had to do was cut and sprinkle!

Jackie was very neat and precise in her sprinkling!

Whereas Lee was a more "one and done" kinda guy---he used a whole jar of gold sprinkles on his, LOL!

But they had fun and each went home with a wee little plate of yummies!

Thanks for popping in today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Honey Bee, Rustic Retreat
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Gold Foil
Ink	Crumb Cake, Gold Encore (ret)
Accessories	Gold Thread, Dimensionals, Gold Embossing Powder
Tools	Big Shot, Pine Planks EF, Detailed Bees Dies, Stitched So Sweetly Dies, Heat Tool

52CCT120 Tags Tags Tags

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  Phew, the sinus infection that I've had since before New Year's really got me down!  A trip to the doctors and some meds has me feeling almost human today!  I know there are some bugs going round, so if you've got one, take care and you have my sympathies! 

I managed to do a wee bit of stamping last night, using the Christmas Card Throwdown sketch for January:

This is my favorite go-to sketch of all times, although this one is square, it works for any style card!  I used the Tags Tags Tags set for my card, which has been carried over and is a fun little set for several holidays!  I paired the cardinal image with some embossed kraft cardstock:

I stamped the tag in Crumb Cake, although in hindsight, I think Soft Suede would have been a better match for the cardstock; I colored in the cardinals with Real Red blends, then added a little Real Red snowflake, which is a die that comes with the Trio of Tags dies; I "tied" it on with some red baker's twine from my stash:

The kraft is embossed with the Tin Type EF, and I added a little scalloped border of Real Red above it.  Since I already had my stamp set out, I inked up a different tag with Pretty Peacock to make a second card; this one uses the new Best Dressed DSP; it doesn't have to be used just for girly cards!!

This time, I diecut two snowflakes from Purple Posy cardstock and embellished all three elements with rhinestones....I colored the snowflake ones with some Blends!

A little Mint Macaron ribbon was all the accent I needed!  So happy you could pop in today! 

Cassidy's hand-crafted 2019 Christmas ornament!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

PP472 New Beginnings

Happy Sunday, peeps!  The Paper Players are back for 2020, and here's our first theme challenge of the year:

As I said in a previous post, two church families had babies born right around Christmas, so a baby card for one of the grandparents was perfect for the challenge!  I used Wildly Happy again; this time, I used the mama and baby elephants:

This pattern from the Mosaic Mood DSP seemed "jungle-ish", which was a good background for my watercolored pachyderms:

My sentiment, from Itty Bitty Greetings, was stamped in Mossy Meadow, then stamped again in Versamark and heat-embossed in clear embossing powder; I did that by using my Stamparatus; once I stamped in MM, I cleaned the stamp and re-stamped with Versamark. Then I sprinkled clear embossing powder on top and heated it up!  For fun, I diecut it with the new Stitched So Sweetly die:

I put everything on a Mossy Meadow card, and on a white mat on the inside, stamped these sentiments from Wildly Happy and Here's a Card:

Be sure to pop on over to the Paper Players blog so you can see what the DT created!  PLUS, we have three new guest designers and I know you'll want to see who they are and give them some support as well!  Meanwhile, we hope you'll play along too....hope to see you in the gallery!  Thanks for stopping by today!

The pups got a new bed for Christmas:

It seems that Cassidy likes it too!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Wildly Happy, Here's a Card
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Watercolor, Mint Macaron, Mossy Meadow, Mosaic Mood DSP
Ink	Stazon, Smoky Slate, Mossy Meadow, Versamark, Old Olive
Accessories	Dimensionals, Clear Embossing Powder
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies, Stitched So Sweetly Dies, Aquapainter, Heat Tool, Stamparatus

CTD574 Thanks From the Heart

Happy Saturday, peeps!  I had a wee bit of stamping time today...it is dreary and gray, so I just stayed inside and relaxed!  I loved the colors at CTD, and I haven't played with them for a while so I thought I would give them a go!

The Be Mine dies haven't seen much action in my craft room lately, so I ran the multiple-hearts one through Whisper White, Poppy Parade and Early Espresso cardstocks, then adhered the white frame to a card base and adhered some hearts randomly in each little heart opening:

I realize in this photo, the hearts look black...but really, they're Early Espresso!  I embellished some of the white ones with pearls, then added a sentiment from Bloom and Grown, diecut with the Stitched So Sweetly die.  To add a little more interest, I diecut two Poppy Parade strips with another little Be Mine die and placed them vertically along the edges.

Thanks for popping in today!

Cassidy got a cool Christmas gift:

STAMPS!  Wahoo!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Bloom and Grow
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Early Espresso, Poppy Parade
Ink	Poppy Parade
Accessories	Pearls, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Be Mine Dies, Stitched So Sweetly Dies

AYSI216 A Little Hug

Happy Friday, peeps!  Time for a new As You See It challenge, and it's a "recipe"!  They're always fun:

It seems like silver and white are popular colors for the beginning of 2020!  I am hoping this little sentiment on my card is "inspiring" enough...it's more encouraging perhaps, but hopefully it will work!  So here we go:

I was also inspired by the colors from Sunday Stamps:

They are a little unusual; I used Gray Granite for the sentiment, which I find is a difficult color to use.  I stamped the "hug" in Basic Gray and added a little shading as well as some rhinestones:

My Smoky Slate background was embossing with a sweater knit EF, and I added some Silver Foil snowflakes, rhinestones and sequins:

I happened to find a little scrap of DSP in my stash that had some snowflakes in the Gray Granite color, so I added that as a way to tie these two colors together!  It all went on a Naturals White cardbase.

Thank you for stopping by today, I hope that you'll have fun playing with our recipe this week!  Can't wait to see what you "cook up!  

Speaking of cooking, Cassidy made some cookies with the help of Mommy....although she looks like she's doing a pretty good job all by herself!

Yum!  Enjoy your day and blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	A Little Something Makes Everything Better (Hero Arts)
Card stock & Papers	Naturals White, Smoky Slate, Silver Foil, Winterberry DSP (My Mind's Eye)
Ink	Basic Gray, Gray Granite
Accessories	Rhinestone, Silver Sequins, Dimensionals, Blending Tool
Tools	Big Shot, Knit EF (Fun Stamper's Journey), Large Snowflake Die (Fun Stamper's Journey), Small Snowflake Die (Tailored Expressions)

IB105 Winter Hues

Happy day after New Year's, everyone!  I spent New Year's day sneezing and blowing my nose...a lovely cold/sinus infection to ring in the new year!  I did manage to get all my Christmas decorations down while watching the Mummer's Parade, a Philadelphia tradition!  But on to my card for today!  Laurel's got a pretty Inspired By challenge for us..definitely a wintry one!  Here's my take on it:

And here is her photo:

I received this beautiful card from my friend Elizabeth Stewart, and I loved it so much (trying to find that stamp, too!) that I decided to use the sketch for my own card:

The main panel uses a pair of skates diecut from Impression Obsession; I used a black marker for the heels and a silver Zig Painty Pen for the blades.  I mounted it on a lace-print panel which was mounted on a Brushed Silver mat, and I added some shabby seam binding, dyed with gray ink, from my stash:

I heat-embossed a birthday sentiment from Papertrey in Silver, then added a little Tim Holtz Ideology Seasonal sticker and some big silver sequins:

It was all mounted on a white woodgrain piece of DSP, and I heat-embossed a new sentiment from So Sentimental on the inside:

And since I need several January birthday cards, this one is already in the mail!  I hope you can find some inspiration from our prompt this week...be sure to stop by Inspired By and share your creation with us!  Thanks for popping in today!

Mommy and Wayne let Cassidy stay up until midnight on New Year's Eve!  She looks much more chipper than I did!!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	So Sentimental, Wreath for All Seasons (Papertrey)
Card stock & Papers	Naturals White, Brushed Silver (both ret), Silver Bells and Wonderland DSP (both Kaisercraft)
Ink	Silver Encore (ret)
Accessories	Silver Embossing Powder, Seam Binding (from my stash), Silver Sequins (ret), Silver Baker's Twine (ret), Ideology Sticker (Tim Holtz)
Tools	Heat Tool, Big Shot, Skate Die (Impression Obsession), Black Marker, Zig Painty Pen