IB21 Mr and Mrs

Happy Thursday, peeps!  I hope and pray you are having a good week so far!  It's time for another Inspired By challenge; I went clean and simple for a wedding card this week:

And here is Laurel's prompt for this week...SO cute:

My inspiration came from the leather suitcases, white letters and that pretty pink flower arrangement!!!  I have lots of scraps from my Wood Textures DSP pile, so I found a nice strip and adhered the Mr & Mrs diecut letters on top.  I used a piece of Adhesive Sheet on the back of white cardstock, so once they were cut out, it was really easy to adhere them...no messy glue smooshing out!  A sentiment from the new Stitched All Around fit perfectly (and rhymes, too) above the letters!

The pretty floral is (again) from Tim Holtz's Flower Garden; I inked it in Versamark and Melon Mambo, then heat embossed it with embossing powder, and used a Copic to color it in.  The leaves in the background are from a past Paper Pumpkin kit; they were supposed to be "clear", but my Versamark pad had a wee little bit of the Melon Mambo ink left on the surface, so the leaves came out a very pale pink....which looked kinda nice, so I left it as it was!  They were embossed with clear embossing powder as well:

There's another beautiful sentiment in the Stitched All Around set, so I stamped that on the inside:

I have a wedding to attend in August, so I am well ahead with this card!  I hope you'll play with our pretty inspiration challenge, and make sure you check out the IB blog to see what the DT came up with!

Cassidy and my two great-nieces....ornery, all three!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Stitched All Around, Flower Garden (Tim Holtz), Paper Pumpkin
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Wood Textures DSP, Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet
Ink	Basic Black, Versamark, Melon Mambo
Accessories
Tools	Big Shot, Lower Case Alpha Dies (Papertrey), Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Copic Marker RV34

JAI409 and CASCS273 Eclipse Birthday

 

Hi peeps!  Another post from me today, not my norm, but I wanted to get this card in for a couple of challenges, one of which is ending soon!  I have never tried the "Eclipse" technique but I thought it would be a good one for me to learn!  Of course, I watched this nice video AFTER I made mine, and in hindsight, I might have chosen a different paper, as it is a bit challenging to see!  But it's a learning curve, right!?  So here we go:

I am using one of the new In Colors that will be available June 1, this one is called Lovely Lipstick!  It's a nice, deep rich red and it makes for a happy card!  So here are the challenges I am entering!

The Eclipse technique from Just Add Ink:

And the sketch from CAS Colours and Sketches (I hope this is CAS enough!):

Here's a little different view of the card:

So I used the "enjoy" die from the Mini Treat Bag thinlets, popped it up on some very tiny dimensionals, then added balloons punched from Happy Birthday Gorgeous, and a sentiment from Better Together; (I taped off part of the sentiment and only inked up a portion of it):

I added some twine for the balloon strings and a Happy Birthday sentiment on the inside, and it was done!  It was fun, but next time I'll try something with a less-busy pattern!  Thanks for popping in again today!

Our property is alive with lots of spring things!  Yesterday I heard and saw my first Baltimore oriole of the season, and while I was trying to find him high up in the trees, I also saw a scarlet tanager!  While I was hanging clothes on the line, I saw a pileated woodpecker by our burn barrel, pecking on the wooden post John uses to poke at the fire!  This morning, while reading my Bible on the porch, I noticed this guy; actually, it might be a gal, looking for a place to lay her eggs:

She was in our back yard, but by the time Dana had dropped Cassidy off for school, the snapping turtle had quickly made her way to the creek that runs at the edge of our property:

Cassidy was a little apprehensive, and she kept her distance:

As long as you stay away from those jaws, you'll be good!  

You can see that we've had LOTS of rain...look how green that grass is!  And it's raining again as I speak!!  Well, it's good for the water supply!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Happy Birthday, Gorgeous, Better Together
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Lovely Lipstick,  Lovely Lipstick In Color DSP
Ink	Lovely Lipstick
Accessories	White Twine (Paper Pumpkin), Dimensionals, Mini Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Mini Treat Bag Framelits, Bitty Banners Framelits (ret), Balloon Punch

RRCB87 A Winter Sketch

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  It's time for another Retro Rubber Challenge, and this time the talented Claire has created a pretty sketch for us:

I started by looking through some of my retired Christmas DSP and I found some scraps from the Winter Frost Specialty line, so I used that for my color theme of Smoky Slate and Pool Party!  So here we go:

I know I used this same set (Winter Wishes, 2015) a while back for another Christmas card, I guess I am just drawn to these images!  I used the sled this time, stamping it in Basic Gray and Versamark, then heat embossing it with clear embossing powder and watercoloring it in:

After I fussy-cut it, I mounted it on a piece of embossed cardstock, a Pool Party mat, and a Silver Foil scallop, then added some silver thread and a couple little fussy-cut pine cones.  I stamped this sentiment on the inside and added some Pool Party boughs:

I didn't save the box this sentiment came in, so if anyone knows the name of it, let me know!! I know it's probably about the same age as the Winter Wishes set!  Edited to add:  Thanks to Karen; the stamp set is called Cheers and it was from winter of 2013!

I hope you'll play along with our sketch this week and give some of your older stamps some love!  Remember, they have to be at least a year old, and you need to tell us how old they are in your post!  So get stamping and share your creation with us at the Retro Rubber Challenge Blog!

So our wee little robins finally hatched!  Very carefully, Cassidy peeked in but she could only see a couple of little beaks!!

The babies weren't making a peep, just sitting there with their beaks open, waiting for mom and dad to feed them!

And mom and dad were close by, making quite a racket, letting us know they weren't happy we were intruding!

I quickly stuck my phone above the nest and took one picture....then we scooted out of there!  I can see four little beaks, but it's hard to tell...they certainly are not very attractive when they're newborns, LOL!

Soon they'll be flying out on their own!  How cool!  I also saw my first oriole yesterday as well as a scarlet tanager!  No pictures, but I was excited that I at least saw them!  Thanks for popping in today and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Winter Wishes (ret 2015), Mini Tag Sentiments (Our Daily Bread Designs (Our Daily Bread Designs 2016), Cheers (ret 2013)
Card stock & Papers	Rustic White (Papertrey), Pool Party, Silver Foil, Winter Frost DSP (ret)
Ink	Versamark, Basic Gray, Smoky Slate
Accessories	Silver Twine, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Quilt Top Embossing Folder, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Layering Ovals Framelits, Aquapainter

CCCB412 and MTS229 BeeUtiful

Happy Monday, peeps!  It is a gorgeous morning, no rain in sight and my grass is a foot high, so I guess I know what I'll be doing later today!  For my card today, I am squeaking in the City Crafter Challenge of "Honey, I'm Home" (use bees),  as well as the Match the Sketch:

I have LOTS of bee stamps, because I just love bees and what they do for the garden!  The sets I used here are from Darcie's Heart and Home, along with some miscellaneous papers floating around on my desk:

I did some random collage-style stamping on the honeycomb background paper:

then I stamped the beehive on some pale yellow DSP , fussy-cut it out and added some shading (and some ink blotches from a messy Hello Honey inkpad 🙁🙁):

then stamped and colored in the frame and sentiment, fussy-cut it and popped it up:

I also added some sequins and a diecut border embellishment, then finished the inside:

I mounted it on a Crumb Cake base and it's all ready for someone's "Bee-day"  

I also wanted to share with you a little favor my sweet friend Linda made for her stamp club girls; it's a little beach bag filled with an umbrella and some other goodies:

It is so sweet!!  Thanks Linda, and thank you for popping in today!  Be sure to stop back tomorrow for a new Retro Rubber challenge!!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	BEEutiful and Day so Sweet (both Darcie's Heart and Home)
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Basic Black, scraps of DSP from my stash
Ink	Memento Black, Hello Honey (ret), So Saffron, Crumb Cake
Accessories	Sequins (Sylvia's Etsy Shop), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Finished Touches Edgelits (ret), Aquapainter

PP394 CAS Blooms and a Tutorial

Hi peeps!  Sunday brings us another Paper Players challenge with Laurie as our sweet hostess!  It's a Clean and Simple challenge...be sure to check out the PP blog to make sure you follow all the guidelines for "clean and simple"!!

For my card today, I chose a simple outline floral from Tim Holtz and stamped it in Stazon Black on some Papertrey Rustic White cardstock:

I loosely colored it with an aquapainter and some inks, then added a sentiment from Technique Tuesday and a little line of washi tape:

I also wanted to show you how I rounded the lower right hand corner of my card with a circle punch!  It's really easy to do!  On this card, I used a 1 3/8" SU circle punch; turn it to the back:

See the dark "groove" under the big silver outer portion of the punch?  That's where the paper slides into when you are punching:

Take the corner of your card and slide it into that groove as far as you can; see how it fits in there?

Very carefully punch!  Your corner will not be perfectly round, as you can see below, but it is easy to just trim it a wee bit to take off the edges at the top and bottom:

so it looks like this:

The less bulky your paper, the less trimming you'll have to do because you can get the corner into the punch more easily!  Practice on some scrap and you'll have it down pat in no time!  And you can use any size circle punch!  I did not come up with this idea, it was shown at convention several years ago!

I made another card with the same flower set, while I had it on my desk!  This time I spritzed some SU watercolor paper with water and Tangerine Tango ink, heat set it to dry it quickly and stamped a different floral on top.  I used some Simple Stories DSP for the background, mounted it on a Very Vanilla card, distressed the edges of my panel and added the same sentiment:

 

On the inside, I stamped the sentiment again in Smoky Slate, added another sentiment to it and stamped the flower again in Sahara Sand:

I used the Freshly Made Sketches sketch by my sweet friend Linda, and am also entering it in the Time Out Challenge, which is Inspired by Words:

I hope you'll play along with our CAS "Bloom" challenge this week!  Check out what the DT did as well:

·        Claire

·        Jaydee

·        Joanne

·        Laurie

·        Nance

·        Sandy

·        Elizabeth

·        Annie

·        Jan

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Flower Garden (Tim Holtz), So Blessed (Technique Tuesday), Itty Bitty Backgrounds (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Watercolor, Rustic White (Papertrey Ink),  Reset Girl (Simple Stories)
Ink	Stazon Black, Tangerine Tango, Crushed Curry, Really Rust (ret), Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Old Olive
Accessories	Pick a Pattern Washi Tape
Tools	Aquapainter, 1 3/8" Circle Punch