Blame it on Michele

LOL, do you like the name of my post?  It's all because my friend Michele posted cards made with this adorable stamp set called Clever Sausage...and I just had to get it!  Here we go:

I used the sketch from Sketch Saturday, and I am also entering it in the Time Out Birthday challenge:

         

I started by stamping my little pup in Memento ink on some Soft Suede cardstock and shaded him with some blends.  You can get matching dies with the set, but the images fairly easy to fussy cut, so I passed on the dies!  I also gave him a polka dotted sweater:

I added a polka dotted balloon, and a sentiment diecut with a Stitched Rectangle die.  Before adhering everything, I stamped a few little confetti on my Stitched So Sweetly panel!  His little bow and tie around his tummy were hand-drawn!

Finally, on the inside of the Daffodil Delight, I added the sentiment:

All the printed papers are from Honey Bee's The Bee's Knees 6x6 pad!  Thanks for popping in today!

I must admit, that socially distancing myself has made me very, very lazy.  All I did on Sunday, after watching our church service on FB, was to work on a puzzle, oh and I did sew two DIY masks which I will be mailing to my niece.  There is NO 1/4" elastic to be found anywhere, so that's the extent of my mask-making.  I am keeping up on my Bible study, walking, and making a few cards, but mostly just....working on my puzzle!  Hopefully it will be done today and I can move forward!  How are you keeping busy?  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	So Sentimental (confetti), Clever Sausage (Essentials By Ellen Hutson)
Card stock & Papers	Soft Suede, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Basic Black, Bee's Knees DSP (Honey Bee)
Ink	Memento Black, Daffodil Delight
Accessories	Black Ribbon (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Stitched So Sweetly Dies, Blends, Basic Black Marker

PP483 Lookin' Sharp

Hi crafty friends!  It's Sunday, and time for another Paper Players challenge!  Claire is our hostess this week with a fine sketch for us:

My amazingly-creative, uber-generous, wonderful friend Michele gifted me with several of these little embossed cacti and sentiments recently, and I finally was able to incorporate a few of them into a sketch!  I dug around my multitude of 6x6 papers and found a fun pattern that was whimsical enough to complement these little cuties:

I used my Arteza waterrcolor pens to give them some color (and I obviously need to look a little more closely when doing it; I see some spots I missed!), and Michele very kindly diecut them for me too, so it was easy-peasy for me to layer them on a circular panel and add my sentiment!

My vertical pieces were some scraps from my pile; at the last minute, I decided to add some Old Olive strips that I embossed with an Ellen Hutson die....I just love that little extra touch, it adds so much interest!

And finally, to create the panel that crosses the vertical stripes, I added a little banner and some retired candy dots in complimentary colors!!!  I stamped a birthday sentiment on the inside, and it's all ready to go in the mail!

This was a fun sketch to use, and I know I'll be using it again! I hope you'll play with us as well!  Check out what Claire and the other DT members created at the Paper Players blog!  See you there!

Yesterday at church, we practiced socially distancing while we cleaned 70-some globes on our chandeliers.  The ceiling is 20 feet high, so it's quite a feat, requiring a very tall person on a very tall ladder perched on some platforms on top of the pews; this is John (who is NOT a very tall person), starting the process:

Then our friend Ken (who IS a tall person) finished up, handing John a box of globes; he takes them downstairs (our sanctuary is upstairs) where Judy and I washed and dried them, then sent them back upstairs:

All bright and shiny for whenever we are able to meet again!!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Let's Stick Together (My Favorite Things)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Old Olive, Watercolor, Misc DSPs from my stash
Ink	Versamark
Accessories	Candy Dots (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Black Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Stitched Rectangles Dies, Stitched Shapes Dies, Stitching Lines Dies (Ellen Hutson), Arteza Watercolor Brushes, Banner Die (Nestabilties)

Hello Peeps

Happy Saturday!  I have a couple more cards today; this one is another CAS one, using the CAS(E) This Sketch sketch, way back from its very onset:

As I was laying in bed yesterday morning, this little set, Basket Bunch, popped into my mind and I thought how cute it would be in this layout!  So here we go:

All the peeps and bunny were stamped in Stazon, colored with Blends, and mounted on a small stitched circle die from Stitched Labels:

I pulled out a couple more oldies for the inside:

Jingle Belles has a Fa-La-La challenge, which is to use music on your card, and I have had some of this musical DSP for a long time, and never knew quite how to use it:

I mounted it on a cardstock of Crumb Cake after sponging the edges, then added a wide organdy ribbon, a sentiment from O Holy Night (Papertrey), stamped on Very Vanilla, and I added some glimmer paper greenery:

A good trick for diecutting glimmer paper using intricate dies is to peel the backing off the back of the glimmer paper.  I also use a Precision Base Plate....the combination of those two really make the paper pop out easily!  This uses the sketch from Inspire Create:

Thanks for popping in today!!  Be sure to come back tomorrow for a new Paper Players sketch, too!

A little virtual karate:

Master Fisher is doing his best to make sure his students don't lose their skills!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

First Card Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Basket Bunch, Little Cuties, And Many More (all ret)
Card stock & Papers	Thick White, 2018-2019 In Color Gingham (ret)
Ink	Memento Black, Early Espresso
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Labels Dies, Basket Builder Dies (ret)

Second Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	O Holy Night (Papertrey)
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Dark & Light Green Glimmer (ret), Deck The Halls DSP (Melissa Frances)
Ink	Merry Merlot, Crumb Cake (for sponging)
Accessories	Dimensionals, Wide Organdy Cherry Cobbler Ribbon (ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Nested Labels Dies, In The Woods Dies

CAS Kind of Day

Hey there, peeps!  It was a clean-and-simple kind of day yesterday!  I made two cards for two challenges!  Both are get well/thinking of you cards; the first features the FMS sketch:

I pulled out some scraps again from my Bo Bunny Felicity papers, along with a scrap of Blushing Bride, to create this card for a friend who is just home from a stroke rehab facility:

 

I used a Very Vanilla base, then cut out a few hearts with various dies and clustered them together.  I added a diecut Hero Arts sentiment, stamped in Pretty Peacock:

The next one is a masculine one for a guy in our church about to have some surgery; this Lawn Fawn plaid was a quick, easy background for my CTMH bandaid and sentiment from their Get Well Soon set!  So cute!  It's for the Krafty Chicks Clean and Simple challenge:

You can't get much easier than this!

So Cassidy finished her blanket...two-tone blue!  She's quite proud of it!  

Thanks for popping in today!  Hope all is well in your part of the world!  If you have any questions on anything I used to make these cards, just give me a shout....I am feeling too lazy to make up my menu, LOL!  And if you are feeling overwhelmed about what's going on in the world today, I encourage you to read this devotional from Proverbs 31 Woman:  God's Goodness Isn't Cancelled. 

 Enjoy your day and be blessed!  

TTTC#056 Under the Blue Umbrellas

Hi everyone!  Second post today!  If you're looking for my Inspired By post, just scroll down!  It's the second Thursday of the month, and that means a Tic Tac Toe challenge for Team X!  I am the hostess this week, too, and here's the grid I've chosen for you to play with:

I chose the middle column of blue, umbrella and DSP!  I knew I wanted to use the Under My Umbrella set, but I wanted a more "vintage" color palette!  I chose papers from some Graphic 45 6x6 pad and stamped all my umbrellas in Night of Navy and punched them out:

The background paper, which features tiny little hearts, is also from the same pad, but to give it some interest, I stamped some flowers from Perennial Birthday in Crumb Cake directly on to the DSP.  Then I popped up the umbrellas, added the handles and some Blend-colored rhinestones and stamped the sentiment in Crumb Cake and diecut it with a Stitched So Sweetly die:

I added some rhinestones here too! 

A really simple card...the stamps and punch make this a breeze!  I hope you'll play with our grid this week to get your spring cards started!  Check out what the other designers created at the Tic Tac Toe challenge blog and share yours too! 

Cassidy's been working on a blanket she started a while ago:

Stay tuned to see the finished product!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Under My Umbrella, Perennial Birthday
Card stock & Papers	Marina Mist, Botanical Tea DSP, Precious Memories DSP (both Graphic 45)
Ink	Crumb Cake, Night of Navy, Soft Suede
Accessories	Rhinestones, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched So Sweetly Dies, Umbrella Punch, Blend

IB116 Hello Spring

 Happy Thursday, peeps!  Hope your week is going well....you're calm and collected, LOL!  It's time for a beautiful Inspired By challenge today, I just love this one:

I had already made this card for my club girls, and since it's very springy, I decided I would share it here:

It highlights the Pleased as Punch DSP that SU has now, which is really cute, and matches several punches they have available!  I chose to fussy-cut my tulips, which are very easy to do, and I created a basket with the new Coastal Weave embossing folder (directions below)!  I used a sentiment from Fable Friends, lots of Layering Ovals dies, and a sentiment from A Wish for Everything for the inside:

So here are the easy directions for the basket.  I began by inking up the inside front of the Coastal Weave embossing folder...it's the side that has the SU logo on it.  Just tap your ink pad (in this case, I used Soft Suede) across the folder, or if you prefer, you can use a sponge brayer.  It does get a little messy, so make sure you wipe the ink off your fingers before handling cardstock!  Place a quarter sheet of cardstock inside the embossing folder and put it through your diecutting/embossing machine.  I used Crumb Cake for mine....you'll get a piece that looks like this:

Take three oval dies of your choice and lay them out like this; for mine, I used the largest Layering Ovals dies, then the next smaller one and one that nested nicely inside it.  The larger one creates your basket bottom; the others create your handle.  You can choose any size die you like if you'd like to make a smaller basket.  I adhered the handle with some glue dots and then arranged my flowers in a pleasing way!  You can sponge the edges with a dauber for more definition, but I left mine naked!  Easy and fun!  I hope you'll try it out as well!

I hope you'll find some inspiration with our Inspired By challenge this week!  Please share them with us so we can enjoy them as well!

I wanted to share a photo of my great nephew, Jameson.  Our family has a friend whose son had a serious aortic root operation due to his Marfan syndrome.  We've all been praying for him, and he's doing well and home from the hospital, but my niece posted this photo of Jameson, spontaneously praying for their friend while they were driving in the car:

This little boy is FOUR YEARS OLD!  Never underestimate how your behavior influences your children...if they see you praying, they will pray too!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Fable Friends, A Wish for Everything
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Pleased as Punch DSP
Ink	Soft Suede, Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories	Grapefruit Grove Narrow Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals, Glue Dots
Tools	Big Shot, Layering Ovals Dies, Small Bloom Punch (SAB)

TCC131 Woodland Creatures

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  It's time for a new Card Concept challenge, and Julie has a sweet inspiration for us this week:

Aren't those little critters cute?  I knew just what set I wanted to use, so I pulled out some paper, ink and stamps and went to work creating my Clean and Layered card:

I cut a "tree" from some woodgrain paper and diecut three stitched circles in it; behind each one I placed my little animals; each one was stamped in Memento ink, colored with Blends and fussy cut:

For my little bird, I used the SU Well Wishes die, outlined him with a Basic Black SU marker, then colored him in as well; it's hard to see but I used Pool Party and Balmy Blue:

I created a little sign with this serendipitous find from Rustic Retreat; it was stamped in Early Espresso and colored with a Copic to match the tree; I also added some diecut grass!

Finally, on the inside, I stamped a birthday greeting from the same set and added a little deer I had also colored and fussy-cut:

I am also entering this into the Cardz 4 Guyz challenge, which is to use something starting with "F"....forest and fawn!

The DT has come up with some wonderful samples to give you some inspiration, so be sure to stop by the Card Concept and check them out!  Then you can share yours with us as well! 

Cassidy brought home a dot-to-dot from school....it has 951 dots!  Can you believe it?

An astronaut?  A deep-sea diver?  She didn't finish it yet, hopefully she's going to keep at it...she has two weeks away from school, we'll see how she does!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!  

"There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.The one who fears is not made perfect in love/"  1 John 4:18

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Rustic Retreat, Woodland Greetings (Close to My Heart)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Nestled DSP (Authentique)
Ink	Memento Black, Early Espresso
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Circle Dies (Lil'Inker), Blends, White Gel Pen, Grass Die (Impression Obsession)