The Card Concept 175 Jar of Flowers

Happy Wednesday, crafty friends!  It's time for a new Card Concept challenge, where we use different concepts to create our cards!  Today I have another clean and layered card (no surprise there!), but first, let's see the prompt that Julie has for us:

Isn't that so pretty!  What gorgeous colors!  I used the colors as my inspiration, along with the flowers and the jar!  Here we go:

I wish I had some pretty pale DSP in the pink shade that is in the photo, but I couldn't find anything that I liked, so I opted for the Pale Papaya paper from the Hand-Penned retired papers.  I pulled out my trusty Jar of Love and stamped some flowers in pretty colors and arranged them in my Pale Papaya jar:

I added a sentiment from Happiness Abounds, stamped on a Tailor Made Tag and added some Pale Papaya ribbon.  I also used the Stitched with Whimsy die around the outside edge of the DSP.  I'll add a sentiment on the inside when I'm ready to send this little pretty off!

I think this is such a gorgeous spring inspiration that I hope you'll play along with us at the Card Concept.  You can see all the "concepts" on the blog; be sure to tell us what concept you're using too!  Thanks for visiting today!

Cassidy just loves babies and Dana's friend was happy to oblige her by letting her hold her wee one:

Dana calls her a little Cabbage Patch!  LOL!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." Colossians 2:6-7

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Happiness Abounds, Jar of Love (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Hand-Penned DSP (ret)
Ink	Mint Macaron, So Saffron, Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral, Flirty Flamingo, Poppy Parade, Pale Papaya, Blushing Bride, Petal Pink
Accessories	Pale Papaya Sheer Ribbon, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Tailor Made Tags Dies, Stitched With Whimsy Dies,  Everyday Jar Dies (ret)

RRCB182

Hello stampers!  Today is a new Retro Rubber challenge, where we show some love to our older stamps!  Here's our theme prompt for this week:

Aren't those blooms pretty?  I don't have many tulip images, but I did have these big Tim Holtz flowers so I thought they'd fit the bill:

I stamped them on Shimmery White cardstock in Stazon Black ink, masking a few of them to give them depth.  I then loosely watercolored them with shades of pink and red.  To get the brick-looking background, I lightly inked up the inside of a brick embossing folder and pressed it gently on the cardstock. 

Finally, I stamped the "hello" from a retired SAB set, fussy-cut it out and mounted it on a stitched banner.  Some matching sequins added some sparkle, and it all went on a Polished Pink card base.

I am also going to enter this at Just Us Girls, since their challenge this week is flowers!  

This card is already out in the mail to a special recipient!  I hope you'll play along with us, and share your spring (or any season) flowers!  Just make sure your stamps are at least a year old and tell us the approximate age!  Splitcoaststampers is a great place to find the age of those older stamps!  Be sure to hop over to the Retro Rubber blog to see ALL the great floral creations made by the DT and share yours too!  Thanks for popping in today.  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Hello (ret, 2016), Flower Garden (Stampers Anonymous 2018)
Card stock & Papers	Shimmery White, Basic White, Polished Pink
Ink	Stazon Black, Polish Pink, Sweet Sorbet, Calypso Coral, Sahara Sand, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive
Accessories	Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stylish Shapes Dies, Brick EF (Stampers Anonymous), Aquapainter

TSOT554 Amazing Florals

Happy Monday, peeps!  Hope you had a wonderful weekend! I have my Stamp Clubs meeting today, it's always too long between meetings, so I am happy to see them and share the new catalog!  I have two cards today using the same sketch from Try Stampin' On Tuesday, and they both use the Hues of Happiness suite!  Since I already had it on my desk for yesterday's card, I decided to use it again!  So here's the sketch:

I used some of the clustered floral DSP for my background and used coordinating cardstock for the bases.  Then I diecut some florals, added a white diecut panel and stamped a design on each one, adding a little matching banner and gems!  Here's the first one:

I used Fresh Freesia cardstock, ink and DSP, using a sentiment from the Happiness Abounds set:

This is the second one; it was Dana's Mother's Day card.  It used Pool Party cardstock and ink, and the banner is cut from the opposite side of the floral DSP; sentiment is from the retired SAB Special Moments.

I can't get over how pretty these papers are!  Just gorgeous!  Thanks for visiting today!  And here's the promised oriole video. I love how he sticks his head all the way down into the orange!!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

"And God said, 'Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky'.  So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.  And God saw that it was good."  Genesis 1:20-21

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Happiness Abounds, Special Moments (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Pool Party, Fresh Freesia, Hues of Happiness DSP, Fresh Freesia DSP (ret)
Ink	Fresh Freesia, Pool Party
Accessories	In Color Gems (ret), Glossy Dots
Tools	Big Shot, Blossoming Happiness Dies, Stylish Shapes Dies, Stitched So Sweetly Dies (ret)

PP590 Happiness Abounds Birthday

Happy Sunday, and Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!  I am back from my little blog vacation and have a pretty card for you using Joanne's color challenge from the Paper Players!  Check it out:

At first, I was really stymied by these colors but I had just received the Hues of Happiness suite and was thrilled to see these gorgeous florals and greenery in just the right colors!  The dies cut the flowers out of the DSP so it is quite easy to make a stunning card with just a few passes of one's diecutting machine!  Here we go:

I stamped the sentiments on a plain Basic White piece of cardstock, then mounted the flowers and added a scallop of Parakeet Party glimmer paper---it's not Granny Apple Green, but it matches pretty well!  And it's so sparkly!  That all went on a Night of Navy card base.

The final touch was a few sequins.  For fun, I did a little more stamping/diecutting on the inside:

I've only begun to scratch the surface of how pretty this bundle is, I can't wait to use it some more!  Meanwhile, I'll hope you'll play along with our fun color challenge!  Be sure to pop by the Paper Players blog to see how the design team members interpreted it, then share yours too!  Thanks for visiting today!

In all the many years of birdwatching I've done, I have NEVER had an oriole come to any orange I placed around the feeders, especially when they were close to the house!  This year has been a banner year!  Yesterday we watched as a mature male oriole and a young male oriole fought for two orange halves that we have in different parts of the yard.  It was pretty funny....the mature male couldn't be at two places at once, but he was determined to not let the young male have any!  Back and forth they went from clothesline pole to hanger to bush to tree.....he finally did let the poor guy have a little peck.  I couldn't get a picture, they were moving so quickly!  These are from my craft room window, through the screen, so they're not real clear but you can get the picture.  Hopefully the video I took will come through and I'll share that later!  It was POURING rain all day and he was still intent on getting all the pulp he could!

I just think it's fascinating that an orange bird eats oranges!  Nature is amazing!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Happiness Abounds
Card stock & Papers	Night of Navy, Basic White, Granny Apple Green,  Parakeet Party Glimmer, Hues of Happiness
Ink	Night of Navy
Accessories	Pearls, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Scalloped Contours Dies, Blossoming Happiness Dies

TTTC160 Best Wishes in Gold

Hello, peeps!  Popping in during my little bloggy break...a break from my break, lol....to bring you the latest Tic Tac Toe challenge!  I chose the top row across of White on White, Ribbon and Gold! 

I am so disappointed that Pierced Blooms has retired...that is a set of dies that I won't part with for sure!  I diecut some flowers and leaves from some Brushed Gold cardstock, then created a circular element with the new Stylish Shapes dies to create my wreath:

I used the Greenery die to emboss a background, and adhered it with dimensionals to a Basic White card base.  I added a gold and white bow:

and an embossed sentiment, diecut with the banner from Stylish Shapes die:

I think this has a bit of whimsy as well as a bit of elegance!  Can't wait to send it out to a birthday recipient!  I hope you'll play along with our Tic Tac Toe grid this week...perfect for several occasions!  We can't wait to see what you made!  Thanks so much for dropping in today!

Spring is such an exciting birding time for us here in southeast PA...it means lots of birds that we don't normally see are migrating from their winter homes to their summer ones....I always feel like they're going from north to south, but it's more than likely the other way around!  Anyway, these two rose-breasted grosbeak friends visited earlier in the week, on the same date that they visited a couple of years ago!  One even was sipping from my hummingbird feeder, but I couldn't get a picture!

They are just beautiful! I heard and saw my first oriole of the year too....extra-exciting!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Special Moments (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Brushed Gold
Ink	Encore Gold (ret)
Accessories	Gold Weave Ribbon (ret), Gold Embossing Powder, Dimensionals, Glue Dots
Tools	Big Shot, Stylish Shapes Dies, Greenery Die, Pierced Blooms Die (ret), Heat Tool

Five-Minute Christmas Card

Happy Monday, peeps!  Wowza, I have a crazy busy day today so I have a crazy simple card to share...really, it took maybe five minutes!  Well, maybe a wee bit longer, but you'll see why!  I am entering it in the Jingle Belles challenge of Winter Fun as well as the Less Is More challenge of One Layer/Off Center:

So here we go with my uber-simple vintage-style one-layer Christmas notecard:

I actually took my inspiration from Stephanie's second card for the challenge; you can see it here.  I really liked the sepia tones and remembered these (old) CTMH silhouette images and thought they would be cute stamped in a vintage style!!  I stamped the snowman/kids image on a Very Vanilla notecard in Crumb Cake ink, then added an old SU sentiment and some snowflakes from a Paper Pumpkin kit:

I really wanted to add some glitter, but the challenge says NO embellishments, so it's just plain SIP:  stamps, ink and paper!  I added another retired SU sentiment on the inside and it was good to go!  Oh, I did round the corners, I hope that was okay!  Thanks for popping in today!

Is anyone besides me a fan of the British/PBS show Call the Midwife?  WOW....what an ending to last night's episode.  I could barely stand to watch the ending, I just knew there was going to be a big tragedy.  Talk about being on the edge of my seat!  I am hoping for a happy continuation!  I just love that show!  Thanks for indulging me!

I am going to be taking a little bloggy break for a few days, so I'll see you when I return!  Enjoy your day and be blessed! 

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Warmth & Wonder (ret), Snow Much Fun (ret), Winter Joy (Close to My Heart, ret), Paper Pumpkin (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla
Ink	Crumb Cake, Soft Suede
Accessories
Tools	Corner Rounder Punch (ret)

PP589 Bee Better Soon

Hi peeps!  Happy May Day! And happy Sunday, which means a new Paper Players challenge!  Jaydee is our hostess today and she has a theme that is near and dear to both of our hearts:

Oh dear, which should I choose?  I love both my birds and my bees, but the bees won out this week! I pulled out a couple of stamps I've had for a long while to make my "bee better soon" card:

Since I used the FMS sketch:

I began looking for some appropriate papers; once I found them, I diecut them with a Reverse Confetti stitched strip die.  I also stamped a grungy honeycomb background from MFT along the right side in Sahara Sand:

I stamped a couple of bumblebees and a sentiment from two sets by Darcie's Heart & Home, coloring and fussy-cutting the bees, and stamping the sentiment on a tag and embellishing it with some Bumblebee ribbon:

This will be going to a gentleman at church who fell and is recuperating at a rehab center!  

So, which will you choose?  Birds, bees or both?!  I hope you'll check out what the DT created at the Paper Players blog, then share your creations with us as well!  Can't wait to see them!  Thanks for visiting today!

I don't have any current bee photographs, but this one is from a couple of summers ago....I am looking forward to warmer temps and pretty sunflowers embellished by bees!!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	BEEutiful, Day is Sweet (both by Darcie's Heart & Home, Distressed Background Blocks (My Favorite Things)
Card stock & Papers	Naturals White (ret), Stella & Rose Mabel DSP (My Mind's Eye), Genuine DSP (Authentique), Farm Sweet Farm DSP (Prima)
Ink	Sahara Sand, Memento Black
Accessories	Bumblebee Ribbon, Mini Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Tailor Made Tags Dies, Stitched Strip Dies (Reverse Confetti), Daffodil Delight Blends