IB55 Warm Winter Wishes

Hi everyone!  Happy Thursday!  Time for another warm, cozy Inspired By challenge!  I usually love making Christmas cards at any time of the year, but for some reason, I have not been very inspired since 2019 rolled around!  I had to give myself a kickstart to get in the spirit with this card!!:

And here is Laurel's prompt; warm and cozy for sure:

My DSPs are all retired from SU; the darker blue one actually had white flowers, but I brayered them with some Soft Suede ink to give them a more distressed apperance!  The sentiment was heat embossed in white ink and embossing powder, and the little coffee cup was stamped in Memento Black, Night of Navy and Soft Suede, then I added some coloring with a Bronze Blend:

I stamped the horizontal panel with the Buffalo Check stamp in Night of Navy, and I embossed the background with the Cable Knit embossing folder.And here's the inside:

All other sentiments and images are from Close to My Heart, and I used the Tuesday Morning Sketches sketch for this week:

 

If you've not ever played along with the Inspired By challenge, I encourage you to give it a try!  Can't wait to see your creation!

I recently joined the Spellbinder Die of the Month club, and got a cute little paper doll-style die that I thought Cassidy would like:

Most of the pieces are small and fiddly, but she did a great job; true to her tomboy-style (regardless of the Mardi Gras beads she is wearing!!!), she chose to create a boy with neutral clothes....although I am not too sure about those shoes, LOL!  To each her own, right?!  She added the buttons, pocket and fingers herself!!!

Thanks for popping in today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Buffalo Check, Love with All the Trimmings (Close to My Heart), Just Treats (CTMH)
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Night of Navy, Delightful Daisy DSP, Warmth & Cheer DSP (both ret)
Ink	Craft White, Memento Black, Soft Suede, Night of Navy
Accessories	Braided Linen Trim, Dimensionals, White Embossing Powder
Tools	Big Shot, Layering Ovals Framelits, SU Blends, Brayer, Embossing Buddy, Sponge Dauber, Cable Knit Embossing Folder, Stamparatus, Heat Tool

RRCB102 Black and White

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  The Retro Rubber Challenge is back for the new year!  Here is our first challenge of 2019 for you; are you ready to dust off those older stamps?  Here ya go:

I need several birthday cards this month, so I pulled out a set from 2012 called Storybook Friends, and simply stamped the bunny in black:

I did use some new DSP; this is from the Botanical Butterfly line, which is a SAB freebie! I love these little polka dots! To keep the black and white polka-dotted theme, I added some washi tape, and a birthday sentiment with some faceted gems as an embellishment:

I layered two square Basic Black scalloped squares together to create a mat for my white panel, then mounted it on a another black layer that was diecut with some curved scalloped dies:

My final addition was some dotted ribbon and a few diecut stars!  I was itching to color this little bunny in, but I kept it plain for the challenge!  I hope you'll play with our challenge this year!  Remember, your stamps must be at least a year old, tell us how old they are, then share your creation with us at the Retro Rubber blog!

A little trip to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ!:

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Storybook Friends, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Basic Black, Botanical Butterfly DSP
Ink	Memento Black
Accessories	Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon, Faceted Gems, Pick a Pattern Washi Tape, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Layering Squares Framelits, Rectangle Stitched Framelits, Stitched Hillside Dies (Lawn Fawn) Star Frame Die (Avery Elle)

PP424 Fable Friends

Hello, all!  It's been another crazy week...another family funeral, out-of-town family hanging out at our home, and my hostess appreciation party today!  Yikes!  So this will be short and sweet...we have another  Paper Players challenge, this one is from our wonderful hostess, Anne Marie!  So here we go:

Oooh, I love these pastels, a perfect palette for the new Fable Friends set that is featured in the Occasions mini catalog along with some other new goodies!  First, the card:

This little mama duck and her little ducklings are adorable, don't you think?  I colored them in fairly quickly with some SU Blends, and I almost missed that Anne Marie said we could add another color of our choice, so I chose to stamp the grass in Granny Apple Green!  Check out mama's stylish cape, created with some Grapefruit Grove Gingham Gala DSP (say that five times fast!!!):

I also used lots of new goodies....Rectangle Stitched Framelits, some Gingham Gala sequins, and see that little stitched scalloped horizontal piece going across the center of the gingham below....that's cut with the Be Mine Stitched Framelits!  This is an amazing set of dies....you can create tons of beautiful cutouts with this one!

And you can see where I layered two scalloped squares together from the Layering Squares Framelits behind my stitched rectangle to create a mat for my rectangular panel!  Just another way to stretch the use of your dies!  And since there is a lot of "stitching" on my card, I'm submitting this to the Festive Friday challenge for this week:

I hope you'll play along with this delightful spring palette....we're in a cold snap with a wee bit of snow, so it is nice to see some pastel shades!  Share your creation with us at the Paper Players blog...can't wait to see it!  Meanwhile, check out what the DT created:

·        Ann

·        Claire

·        Jaydee

·        Joanne

·        Laurie

·        Nance

·        Anne Marie

·        Sandy

·        Su

·        Wanda

 Playing some games with Grampy on the tablet!!!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Fable Friends
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Grapefruit Grove, Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Gingham Gala DSP
Ink	Memento Black, Granny Apple Green
Accessories	Gingham Gala Sequins, Dimensionals
Tools	Rectangle Stitched Framelits, Be Mine Stitched Framelits, Layering Squares Framelits, Stitched Shapes Framelits, SU Blends

IB54 Cozy Denim Birthday

Hello everyone!  I am so sorry to be so lax in my posting, but we are beginning to go through my dad's stuff....years and years and years of stuff!  I am sure some of you know what I'm experiencing!  Anyway, I did take out some time to play with Laurel's latest Inspired By challenge because I needed a masculine birthday card, and it was a good inspiration!  So here we go:

And here is the prompt:

I also used the FMS sketch for this week:

My recipient is kind of a no-frills guy, so I let the Authentique papers from the Original and Genuine collections do most of the work!  I cut out some pieces and adhered them on, and I did add some random grunge stamping with Smoky Slate and Night of Navy:

and I used the new Itty Bitty Birthdays with the new Rectangle Stitched dies:

And since it was late, I thought it would be fun to put this sentiment from the retired Birthday Wit set inside:

This nice cozy scene is sure to be a happy inspiration for you...can't wait to see what you create!  Be sure to share it over at the Inspired By blog!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Itty Bitty Birthdays, Gallery Grunge, Birthday Wit, Gorgeous Grunge (both ret)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Night of Navy, Original and Genuine DSP (Authentique)
Ink	Night of Navy, Smoky Slate
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Rectangle Stitched Framelits, Sponge Daubers

PP423 True Kitty Love

Happy Sunday, peeps!  It's back to challenges for the new year for the Paper Players....and we said goodbye to Sandy (sniff sniff) but hello to some new guest designers!  You'll have to pop by to see who they are if you haven't seen already!

Ann is our hostess for our first challenge of January, and here's her theme:

This was a great chance to highlight a new set from the Occasions catalog, Nine Lives!  This set matches the cat punch I already had and it's a fun two-step photopolymer set, so I used it to make a sympathy card for a neighbor who just lost her beloved Fezzywig!! (Love that name!).  So here we go:

I used the sketch from the Global Design Project:

and several images and sentiments from the set with some papers from the Animal Expedition DSP line:

The kitty was stamped with Memento Black and Gray Granite, and I added some shading with a Smoky Slate blend.  The yarn and mouse were stamped in black as well and colored with blends too.  On the inside, I took a sentiment from the other pet set in the new catalog, called Happy Tails, and embellished it with some mats for the inside:

This theme is open wide for any kind of critter! I can't wait to see what everyone creates!  You can check out what the DT created here:

·        Ann

·        Claire

·        Jaydee

·        Joanne

·        Laurie

·        Anne Marie

·        Sandy

·        Su

·        Wanda

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Happy Tails, Nine Lives
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Real Red, Animal Expedition DSP
Ink	Memento Black, Lovely Lipstick, Gray Granite
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Layering Rectangle Framelits, SU Blends in Smoky Slate and Real Red

AYSI191 Sympathy Butterfly

Hi everyone!  Yay, it's Friday, the start of the weekend, and the As You See It challenge is back for the new year with a marvelous sketch:

And here's my creation:

Since my time is really crunched this week, I turned to the beautiful Botanical Butterfly DSP that is being offered as a Sale-a-bration item this year.  These papers are GORGEOUS and really make your card-creating easy as pie!  I cut a piece 2 7/8" x 4 1/8", backed it with a Basic Black mat, then added a sentiment and a die-cut butterfly and it was done!

My sentiment is from Flourishing Phrases, and the butterfly is from the retired Bold Butterfly (retired) Framelits.  The little ribbon is also a SAB redemption item from the Organdy Ribbon Combo pack!

I hope you'll play with our lovely sketch..I will be using this one often...it's a keeper for sure!  Check out what all the designers created by hopping over to the AYSI blog!  Thank you for popping in here, too..be blessed and enjoy your day!

It was "Wear-Your-Pajamas-To-School Day"!!

IB53 Mr Snowman

Happy Thursday, peeps!  Time for another cute Inspired By challenge!  The snowman on this card is the closest we've gotten to snow in a long time....just lots and lots of rain in our neck of the woods!  Here ya go:

And here's Laurel's fun prompt:

My card is a birthday card for someone special, and I used an old as well as a new set!  The old set is Snow Place, stamped in Memento Black, Balmy Blue and Poppy Parade, and the new set is a birthday set called Itty Bitty Birthdays!  I created a little frame to match the snowman's scarf from above, then cut it out with the new Stitched Rectangle dies - love them, they have stitching on both the inside and outside of the frame!  I added my snowman, altering the Santa hat a bit, gave him a colorful scarf, and mounted it on a snowy background along with a matted sentiment:

On the inside, I took the center part of the frame and used it as a background for some more birthday sentiments, also cut with the new rectangle dies:

  

I just love the little smile on this snowman and I hope it brings a smile to the recipient as well!  Hope you'll play along with us this week...we have some new designers at the IB blog...be sure to go check them out and give them some love AND show us what you create as well!! Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Cassidy got some cousin time with Zion:

and Titus!  She was in her babysitting glory!