Just Do It Birthday

Happy Thursday, peeps!  Today is Cassidy's' 13th birthday! How did that happen?  She loves anything Nike, in fact they are doing back-to-school shopping today and the Nike store is their first stop!  So I made her a Nike-inspired birthday card:

I didn't have anything that looked like those little Nike swooshes, but I did have star dies, so I cut some out of cardstock in the Nike colors, then did the same with my Tim Holtz letters. Simple, nothing fancy...the only doodad was an orange dot for the exclamation point because the diecut was so tiny, it got lost somewhere in my craft room!  On the inside, I added sentiments from Biggest Wish and Endless Birthday Wishes, which is one of the very first photopolymet sets SU came out with...an oldie but goodie!

Her family party is Saturday, so she'll have to wait until then to get this!  

I am going to enter this at the Krafty Chicks this week, where they're looking for CAS!

And speaking of birthdays, here's Cass making a birthday card for her cousin using one of SU's card kits...putting it to good use!  Thanks for popping in today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Biggest Wish, Endless Birthday Wishes (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Sweet Sorbet, Starry Sky, Parakeet Party, Pumpkin Pie
Ink	Sweet Sorbet, Starry Sky, Parakeet Party, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories	Orange Sequin
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stitched Stars Die (Paper Rose), Alphanumeric Class Upper Dies (Tim Holtz)

AHSC538 Christmas Blessings

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  I am sorry to disappoint you, but I jumped the gun on my special surprise...you'll have to wait all the way until NEXT week to see what's in store!  SO sorry, LOL!  Anyway, I do have a pretty card for you today; I am gearing up my Christmas cards, and this one uses the sketch from Atlantic Hearts, and the color challenge from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown:

It's a bit of a challenge to make a Christmas card in black and white, but I think I managed to accomplish it!  Here we go:

I had an idea in my head for this card, and when I began looking at all my embossing folders, I came across this one from Darice that had four Christmas images!  I embossed two pieces of Thick Basic White cardstock, then trimmed down six images.  The two duplicates I turned around so the patterns looked a little different.  They're really pretty all together!  Here are a couple of them:

I added a sentiment from Wrapped in Christmas, diecut with the Nested Essentials dies and matted with some black glimmer paper; I added a few star sequins for sparkle:

I had to make my card a wee bit larger than a standard-sized card to accomodate the panels; it's about

6" x 4 1/2".  Another for my stash!  I am also going to enter this at the Krafty Chicks, where their theme is Christmas!  So happy you popped in today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Wrapped in Christmas (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Thick Basic White, Black Glimmer (ret)
Ink	Versafine Black
Accessories	Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Nested Essential Dies, Christmas Squares Embossing Folder (Darice)

Patchwork Plaid Birthday Cards

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  CAS seems to be about the only thing I can come up with lately, LOL!  I recently bought the Patchwork Pieces dies and decided to use them to make a couple of CAS masculine cards.  Really, the dies and the papers do all the work!  And since you need at least two different patterns or types of paper, you can create two cards in almost the same amount of time it takes to make one!  So here we go:

I used Gray Granite and some Woodsy Plaid papers from Memory Box and diecut them with the dies.  Ahead of time, I had made a template, tracing the die on scrap paper and numbering the pieces so I would be able to see how to put them together again easily!  I also found it helpful to adhere the diecut pieces to a slightly smaller piece of scrap paper and THEN adhere the entire patchwork to my cardstock.  

After assembling both sets of patchworks together, I mounted them on a mat of Misty Moonlight cardstock and a white card base.  I stamped the sentiment in Misty Moonlight as well; it's from a new set called Throughout the Year.  I diecut it and added another diecut mat of Gold Foil:

And on the inside, a sentiment in Boho Blue from another new set, Fruitful Blessings; I really love this sentiment, I know I'll be using it way past the fall season!  

Thanks for popping in today--enjoy it and be blessed!  Be sure to come back tomorrow for a special event, wink wink!

But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you.  Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?  In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.  Job 12:7-10

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Throughout the Year, Fruitful Blessings
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Misty Moonlight, Brushed Gold Foil, Woodsy Plaid DSP (Memory Box)
Ink	Misty Moonlight, Boho Blue
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Patchwork Pieces Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies

LIM489 A Little Hi From Me

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope you had a good weekend!  I have an uber-easy, CAS note card today for the Less Is More one-layer photo challenge:

Isn't that a sweet inspiration photo?  It made me instantly think of one of my favorite SU stamps called Garden Pleasures....it has a sweet little straw hat and some wee little birdies!  So here we go:

I warned you it was uber-easy and CAS!  I stamped each image in Saddle Brown Stazon, then watercolored them with ink and an aquapainter.  I added a wee little bit of shading using an oval stencil and a blending brush.  I added some speckles too, very lightly stamped in Lemon Lolly ink:

Finally, I stamped a sentiment from Special Moments next to a little bird at the bottom of the card:

Cutie patootie!  Thanks for popping in today!

Saturday night ice cream night---even for the pups!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Garden Pleasures (ret), Special Moments (ret), Itty Bitty Backgrounds (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Thick Very Vanilla
Ink	Saddle Brown Stazon, Crushed Curry, Crumb Cake, Pecan Pie, Lemon Lolly, Hello Honey (ret)
Accessories
Tools	Aquapainter, Blending Brush

PP653 Fruitful Blessings

Happy Sunday, peeps!  Hope you're having a great weekend!  Anne Marie is our Paper Players challenge hostess this week and she has an interesting color challenge for us:

These colors really challenged me this week---I am all about those warm colors but Blackberry Bliss is not one that I normally gravitate to!  Usually when there is a color like that, I tend to use just a wee little bit of it!  But today I decided to go whole hog and featured Blackberry Bliss as my main color! Here we go:

I used the sketch from Try Stampin on Tuesday:

and a new stamp set that will be in the upcoming Holiday Mini catalog called Fruitful Blessings.  I stamped it in Blackberry Bliss ink while in my Stamparatus, then cleaned the stamp, leaving it on the plate, and inked it again with Versamark.  Then I heat-embossed the image with clear embossing powder and used an Aquapainter to color in the image.  I used watercolor paper and I think the ink bled a little bit, but I used it anyway!  I added some speckles and a little shading around the outside, then used a Deckle Edge die to cut it out.  I embossed a Blackberry Bliss card with the Leaf Fall embossing folder, added some various DSPs and a wee bit of stitched Daffodil Delight ribbon for the horizontal elements in the sketch, and finally, stamped the sentiment in Poppy Parade for the circular element.  A couple of yellow rhinestones finished the front:

I diecut another deckle-edged piece and added a sentiment and a pretty leaf on the inside to complete my card. This is a really pretty set of fall images and I look forward to playing with it more in the future!

The design team has done a fabulous job with these colors---they came up with some really original designs, so if you're looking for some inspiration, check out the Paper Players blog and see what inspires you!  Can't wait to see your creations!  

Last week Cassidy and I went down to our neighbor's pasture to give his donkey and horse some carrots.  Paco the donkey has been around for a while and in his old age, he's not real keen on people, and it took him a while to come close to the fence:

Even when Cassidy held out the carrot, he would not come all the way up to her, so she finally threw it in the pasture to see if he'd pick it up.  The doleful look on his face cracks me up!

Eventually, he deigned to pick it up and trotted off to eat it in peace.  I wish I had gotten a video of him trotting away, it was pretty funny!  Despite his fat little tummy, he was pretty spry!

The horse, on the other hand, was quite eager to take whatever we gave him...he cleaned us out of carrots!!  They're on our grocery list to be replenished!

Thanks for visiting today--enjoy it and be blessed!

The Lord created the heavens by his command, the sun, moon, and stars by his spoken word.  He gathered all the seas into one place; he shut up the ocean depths in storerooms.  Worship the Lord, all the earth!  Honor him, all peoples of the world!  When he spoke, the world was created; at his command everything appeared.     Psalm 33:6-7

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Fruitful Blessings, Itty Bitty Backgrounds (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Blackberry Bliss, Watercolor, Sweet Sorbet, Blackberry Bliss DSP (ret), Country Gingham DSP (ret)
Ink	Versamark, Blackberry Bliss, Sweet Sorbet, Daffodil Delight, Calpyso Coral, Sahara Sand (ret)
Accessories	Daffodil Delight Stitched Ribbon (ret), Dimensionals, Clear Embossing Powder, Pretty Peacock Rhinestones (ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Leaf Fall EF (available via Online Exclusives), Heat Tool, Deckle Edge Dies, Stylish Shapes Dies, Layering Circles Dies (ret)

Floral Sympathy

 Happy Saturday, peeps! Sadly, I needed a sympathy card this week, so I went looking for some challenges that would give me some inspiration! I took the sketch from TGIF and paired it with the Double D challenge of Anything Goes.  They are collaborating with Altenew and their stencils, which are optional, but since the images that I used just happened to be Altenew, I decided to add a little stenciling too!

And here's my card:

My florals are from Garden Treasure, and I used some retired DSP for the bottom panel.  The sentiment was stamped in Memento Black, then diecut with a Stitched Labels die.  I very lightly stenciled some Bubble Bath polka dots on the card base around the flower:

and added a little banner of the new Grosgrain Ribbon:

A Stamp Simply verse was stamped on the inside:

Thanks for visiting today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Cassidy did a little fishing with Wayne last week and had some success:

Hard to believe she'll be thirteen next week!  

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Special Moments (ret), Garden Treasure (Altenew), Farmhouse Scriptural Thoughts (Stamp Simply)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Garden Green DSP (ret)
Ink	Memento Black, Bubble Bath, Flirty Flamingo, Poppy Parade, Soft Seafoam, Garden Green, Mint Macaron (ret)
Accessories	White Grograin Ribbon, Dimensionals, Basic Pattern Decorative Masks (Stencils, ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stitched Labels Dies, Blending Brush

CAS Birthday

Happy Friday, peeps!  Yay, the weekend is upon us!  I've been watching Cassidy (well, she doesn't require much watching, if you know what I mean) so my routine is a little different and my stamping time has been a little limited.  Plus the tomatoes in the garden are calling my name, so they're taking up a bit of my time!  But I did get a chance yesterday to make a cute little CAS card for two challenges; the Inspired By has a fun alphabet challenge, and Just Add Ink wants clean and simple:

Cute!  I have had a set of Tim Holtz alphabet dies for a while and haven't given them much use, so now is the time! Here we go:

I took some scraps of Soak Up the Sun papers from Carta Bella and stuck some foam adhesive sheets on the back, then cut them out with the dies. I love the dimension the foam creates!  I added a sentiment from Biggest Wish, stamped in Bubble Bath, then added the Stitched With Whimsey stitching around the edge and a few sequins for sparkle:

A fun sentiment from Picture Perfect Birthday was stamped on the inside.  This will be going to a sweet young lady at our church!

And this is the last of my birthday cards!  This pretty floral is from Carol:

And I knew right away this was Bonnie's beautiful style!

And this beauty is from Beth:

As my friend Karen said, I really stretched out my birthday with all these cards!  Thanks, everyone!  I am so happy you popped by today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Biggest Wish, Picture Perfect Birthday (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Thick Basic White, Soak Up the Sun DSP (Carta Bella), Foam Adhesive Sheets
Ink	Balmy Blue, Bubble Bath
Accessories	Sequins from my Stash
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stitched With Whimsy Dies, Alphanumerica Classic Upper Dies (Tim Holtz)