Speedy Fragrant Forest

Happy Monday, peeps!  The As You See It challenge this week is a Speed Challenge, with the theme of trees, and I knew just what stamp I wanted to use for my under-10-minute card!  I also used the color palette from Sunday Stamps:

Fragrant Forest is a gorgeous background stamp and it inks up and stamps like a dream!  I got my supplies together:  Soft Stone cardstock from Papertrey, Evening Evergreen and Soft Succulent inks, Greetings of the Season and Fragrant Forest stamps, a die from Peaceful Season, some gold pearls and some retired silver ribbon.  I set my timer and away I went:

I stamped the background stamp in Evening Evergreen and the sentiment in Soft Succulent, diecutting it with the Peaceful Season die and threading the ribbon through the slots:

I then added the gold pearls and attached everything to the stamped panel, then attached that to the card front.  I messed up my positioning of my card front in my stamp positioner, and didn't get the image stamped all the way at the top, so it took a wee bit more time to cut a new card and trim down this panel, but I still made it under the 10 minute mark:

I did take another couple of minutes to stamp a sentiment on the inside, also from Greetings of the Season; I didn't time it but it was less than two minutes!

Another card to add to my stash....I'll be getting them ready to mail out soon!  Thanks for visiting today!

After a long, long dry spell, we got some rain and wet snow last week and I heard a familiar yak-yak-yak out my craft window:

I followed this female pileated woodpecker from the suet outside my craft window to the bird feeder outside the kitchen window---she was quick! It looks like she was trying to get shelter from the storm, but trust me, she was just looking for food!  She saw me in the window and quickly flew off!  But it was exciting to see one this close---haven't seen one for several months!  

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Fragrant Forest, Greetings of the Season
Card stock & Papers	Soft Stone (Papertrey)
Ink	Soft Succulent (ret), Evening Evergreen (ret)
Accessories	Festive Pearls, Silver Woven Ribbon (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Peaceful Season Dies

PP717 Sketch from Stef

Happy Sunday, everyone!  Stef is our Paper Players hostess this week with a fabulous sketch!  So much fun to use some new and old products!  Here's her sketch:

The Sentimental Christmas DSP has some wonderful vintage images in it (I've bought three packs already!!) but the opposite sides of the papers feature larger images that are better suited for scrapbooking.  Since I don't scrapbook, I thought I would try to incorporate one of those larger patterns into my card today.  Here we go:

I cut out a portion of the greenery and matted it with a piece of Pecan Pie cardstock, then fussy cut the lantern and popped it up with a little Linen Thread hanger:

In hindsight, I wish I had done some sponging around the edges, but too late now! Anyway, you can't see it, but I also added some Wink of Stella to the flame.  I created a mat for the whole card using another piece of the paper, and then stamped and diecut the sentiment from Iconic Imagery on a scrap left over:

The diagonal panel was a piece of Soft Shimmer paper in Pretty Peacock from last year...what a nice touch it adds!  The Greetings of the Season sentiment went on the inside:

I was really happy with the outcome and I am saving this sketch for the future!  I hope you'll hop over to the Players' blog and see what lovely creations all the other designers dreamed up!  Share yours with us too!  

Not only did our family celebrate Thanksgiving yesterday, we also celebrated my great-nephew Coby's first birthday (and his mom is due again in January!!!):

Of course, his cousins Jameson and Sawyer had to get in some cake smashing too!

Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Greetings of the Season, Iconic Imagery
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Pecan Pie, Sentimental Christmas DSP, Pretty Peacock Soft Shimmer (ret)
Ink	Pretty Peacock
Accessories	Linen Thread, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Iconic Imagery Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies (ret)

Vintage Stockings

Hello, stamping friends! Happy Friday!  This will be quick as we are having our family Thanksgiving tomorrow and I am making creamed mushrooms!  Did you know the area of PA in which I live is the mushroom capital of the world?  I am sure you didn't!  Anyway, we don't eat them regularly but we do like them for the holidays! Okay, enough about mushrooms! I have a CAS Christmas card today, it fulfills the CAS Colour & Sketches sketch as well as the Inspired By challenge of these cute stockings:

I knew just the stamp I wanted to use for this card....the October Kit of the Month from Unity had some adorable stockings!  Here we go:

This was super fun and easy! I stamped the stockings on Crumb Cake cardstock in Misty Moonlight ink and fussy-cut them out, then sponged them with Pecan Pie ink for a vintage look.  The sentiment is from Greetings of the Season (my new favorite), stamped in Night of Navy on some Country Woods DSP:

For some extra interest, I embossed just the lower portion of the card with the Distressed Tile embossing folder, I really like how it adds a vintage feel!  I also added a Crumb Cake star that I enhanced with a gold Wink of Stella pen, as well as some Natural Tones Linen Thread in Night of Navy too.  More Greetings of the Season on the inside:

I haven't counted yet, but I am getting close to the number of Christmas cards I need to send out this year!  How about you?  Have you started your cards yet....the holidays will be here before we know it!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Greetings of the Season, Sweet Bliss of Christmas (Unity KOTM)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Crumb Cake, Country Woods DSP
Ink	Night of Navy, Misty Moonlight, Pecan Pie
Accessories	Dimensionals, Naturals Linen Thread, Gold Wink of Stella (ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Distressed Tile Embossing Folder, Sponge Dauber, Star Punch (ret)

FMS663 & LRW783 Simple Sympathy

Happy Thursday, all.  Sadly, we lost a former church member this week, one of the godliest men I knew.  He was a farmer, a millwright, a hunter and served his community tirelessly.  I wanted to use the paper from Winter Meadow that had the deer image on it, and the FMS sketch worked well with it:

The Little Red Wagon challenge this week is monochromatic, so since these papers are in shades of gray, that's what I used:

I used Smoky Slate and Basic Gray for my cardstocks, although I think probably Gray Granite would have been better, although it has a brown tinge to it that I really don't care for.  I did stamp a pine tree on the background and a sympathy sentiment on the front.  The horizontal panel is also embossed with the Subtle embossing folder.  A few enamel dots were the only embellishment.

It's sad to lose our loved ones at any time, but to lose them around the holidays is an additional challenge.  I know Dave's family is rejoicing that he is in heaven, but we all miss him here on earth!  Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

I heard a loud voice speaking from the throne: "Now God's home is with people!  He will live with them, and they shall be his people.  God himself will be with them, and he will be their God.  He will wipe away all tears from their eyes.  There will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain. The old things have disappeared." Revelation 21:3-4

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Sentiments CL342 (Hero Arts), Forest of Tress (Flourishes)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Winter Meadow DSP
Ink	Basic Gray, Smoky Slate
Accessories	Enamel Dots (W+9)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Subtle Embossing Folder (ret)

Cute Little Postage Stamps

Happy Wednesday, peeps! I was lying in bed unable to sleep one night last week and remembered I had these cute tiny little stamps in my stash that would be good for a postage-style card.  The stamps are pretty poor quality, but they are cute, and with a little TLC, I can usually get them to stamp a fairly good image.  I already had a piece of Pool Party embossed with a snowflake embossing folder, so I used that as my starting point:

The card itself is notecard-sized.  I used dies from Waffle Flower's Postage Collage set, then stamped the images and added some shading and coloring.  A couple of stamped images from the Postage Collage stamp set added to the "postage" feel.  Snowflake Sky is the embossing folder I used, and I sponged Craft White ink all over the embossing for that snowy look!  A sentiment from Papertrey went on the inside. 

And since the Double D Challenge has a beautiful winter theme, I am going to pop it in there, as well as the Can You Handle The Pressure challenge!  (Thanks for the suggestion, Darlene!)

Thanks for stopping in today! Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Holiday Stamps (Peachy Cheap), Postage Collage (Waffle Flower)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Pool Party, Acetate Sheet
Ink	Craft White, Versafine Black, Real. Red, Shaded Spruce, Pool Party, Garden Green, Smoky Slate
Accessories	Rhinestone, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Snowflake Sky Embossing Folder, Postage Collage Dies (Waffle Flower), Sponge Daubers, Real Red Marker, Blender Pen, Blushing Bride Marker (ret)

AHSC604 Thanksgiving Blessings

Happy Monday, peeps! Time for a new Atlantic Hearts sketch!  I almost went literal here and made another Christmas card, but I've been making lots of them lately, so I decided I had better bulk up on some Thanksgiving cards!  Here's the sketch:

See what I mean? It's hard to get that image out of one's head! Anyway, I knew I wanted to use these wheat sheaf dies on my card, so I cut them out of Bumblebee cardstock, then went searching in my vast stash of papers for something appropriate.  Here we go:

I pulled together papers from various manufacturers and an oldie-but-goodie sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes!

It's hard to see but there are a couple of enamel dots on the floral panel and I added some Cinnamon Cider ribbon for an embellishment.  Since I had three sheaves diecut and only used two on the front, I added the third to the inside along with a Papertrey sentiment:

This sketch is a fun one and I haven't been using Very Vanilla much this season, so it was good to get it out and play with some older goodies!  You can see all the DT's submissions on Wednesday at the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog, but YOU can play along now!  Thanks for visiting! 

I bought this 1000-piece puzzle at a yard sale recently:

It was a challenge, but a fun one!  And instead of having a missing piece, I had an extra piece---see it on the table over on the left?!  That was crazy!  Now I am donating it to my local library--they lend out puzzles as well as books! What a great idea!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Teeny Tiny Wishes (ret), Take Three-Fall (Papertrey)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Bumblebee (ret), Pleasant (Authentique), Trail Mix (Simple Stories), Soft Suede Gingham (ret)
Ink	Vintage Photo (Ranger)
Accessories	Enamel Dots (W+9), Dimensionals, Cinnamon Cider Ribbon (ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stitched Rectangle Dies (ret), Wheat Sheaf Dies (Impression Obsession), Banner Dies (Pink & Main)

PP716 Vintage Christmas

Happy Sunday, stampers!  It's time for a new Paper Players challenge and the talented Jaydee is our hostess!  It's clean-and-simple day, and she's chosen a timely theme:

I decided to go a bit vintage for my card today!  Here we go:

I stamped my vintage tree on some Crumb Cake cardstock in Tranquil Tide ink, diecut it with an oval die and did some sponging around the edges.  I added a scalloped mat in Very Vanilla and mounted it on a panel of embossed stars. 

I recently got a nice little stash of gingham ribbons from a vendor on Etsy, so I took a green one and colored it with a Soft Suede blend to give it an aged look.  It doesn't match my green perfectly but I still like it!  I also added a little metallic embellishment to the star!  The inside sentiment is from a retired Paper Pumpkin set:

The Christmas theme lends itself very well to the clean-and-simple vibe...so many possibilities! I hope you'll play along with us, just remember to keep it clean-and-simple!  Check out what the DT created at the PP blog!

Thanks so much for visiting today! Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Your Season (Unity), Paper Pumpkin (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
Ink	Tranquil Tide, Pecan Pie
Accessories	Dimensionals, Gingham Ribbon (Penny Supplies, Etsy), Adhesive Metallic Gem
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Oval and Oval Scallop Dies (Nestabilities), Star Embossing Folder (Sissix), Sponge Daubers, Soft Suede Blend (ret)