TTT112 Hooray

 Hello again, stampers!  It's time for a new Tic Tac Toe challenge, and here's our grid:

I chose the bottom row across of balloons, dad/masculine and circles....and here we go:

A friend gave me this fun patriotic paper, so I thought I'd use that as my inspiration.  Another friend gave me the balloon die, so I cut it out three times, once each in Poppy Parade, Misty Moonlight and Whisper White, and trimmed and glued them together.  I had some computer-generated gingham that matched, so that was my background.  For fun, I diecut some Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper stars and adhered one to each balloon:

A couple of Paper Pumpkin sentiments, stamped and cut into banners, created my birthday greeting:

For the inside, I used another Paper Pumpkin sentiment and added a couple of banners from the edge of the printed paper:

We hope you'll play along with our grid...it's always fun to see what designs you creative stampers come up with!  Be sure to check out what the design team created as well as the Tic Tac Toe blog!  Thanks for popping in today--enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Paper Pumpkin (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Poppy Parade, Misty Moonlight, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer (ret), computer-generated gingham
Ink	Poppy Parade, Misty Moonlight
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Banner Dies (Nestabilities), Balloon Die (Unknown)

IB173 Celebrate 85

Happy Thursday, everyone!  We have a pretty new Inspired By challenge for you today: 

And here is our optional sketch:

Since our moms are both gone, I chose to go another route with my card today!  I did keep the wreath and color scheme along with the sketch, but we have a sweet lady in our congregation who will be celebrating her 85th birthday soon, so I thought this would be a perfect way to wish her a happy day!  So here we go:

My first attempt at creating a wreath was a big flop!  WAY too busy, wrong colors, everything was a mess....it got tossed.  I went smaller and simpler and am much happier with it!  I used a Papertrey wreath for my base, stamped in Mint Macaron, and then adhered flowers diecut with the Pierced Blooms dies.  The "celebrate" from Here's A Card was fussy-cut and added to the "85", also fussy-cut, inside the wreath.  I added a Petal Pink gingham mat and scallop and finally, a few little pearls for a soft embellishment!  Those pierced flowers look like Ritz crackers to me....anyone else see that, LOL?!  I hope she likes it!  And I hope you'll play along with our challenge too!  The DT has created some INCREDIBLE samples this wee...be sure you go check them out at the Inspired By blog!

More bird tales....John & I were sitting at the breakfast table a couple days ago and heard the dreaded "thunk" of a bird hitting our patio door; sure enough, a little wren was lying dazed and confused on the deck:

She was still breathing and her eyes were opening and closing, so we just left her to recuperate; eventually she opened her eyes and began to look around:

She began hopping across the patio, leaving me a little souvenir to remember her by:

And then she flew away!  Phew!

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Here's a Card (ret), Wreath for All Seasons (Papertrey), Letters & Numbers (Susan Branch)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Petal Pink, Flirty Flamingo, Pool Party, Blushing Bride
Ink	Mint Macaron, Flirty Flamingo, Petal Pink
Accessories	Pearls, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Layering Circles Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Stitched Circle Dies (Lil'Inker)

GDP290 Seashells

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  Hope your week is going well so far!  I have another really easy card today using the beautiful set, Friends are Like Seashells.  I just recently got the whole bundle and have been having fun playing with it! This particular card only uses the stamp, dies and DSP, and I used the Global Design Project sketch for it:

This is such a great basic sketch, I love it!  And here we go:

I used two patterns from the Sand & Sea DSP to create a layer on top of a white card.  I refuse to give up my Stitched Shapes dies....even though SU retired them, I am hoping they'll bring them back again!!  I used a circle die and Basic White cardstock, stamping some dots from Nature's Beauty, then simply stamping the shells and starfish in Blushing Bride ink, diecutting them and popping them up:

The sentiment was stamped in Smoky Slate and cut simply into a little banner.  I did coat the shells with Wink of Stella...I so wish it would show up in the photo!  Simple and sweet!

So I have been looking for some other spring birds that usually pass through, but my favorites are the orioles....they have such gorgeous coloring.  I usually hear them first, then run outside with my binoculars to scan the trees to see where they are hiding.  It was exceptionally warm yesterday and I had my craft room window open and I heard one....and it was CLOSE!  I peeked outside my window and almost had a heart attack...there was an oriole on the suet feeder right outside my window!  They never come close to the house!  My camera was handy and I was stealthy enough to get a few shots through the screen...the white blur at the bottom is my window sill!!

It's been a great spring for my birdwatching hobby!  Thanks for popping in today...enjoy it and be blessed!

"Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have my law in your hearts:  Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults.  For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool.  But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations."  Isaiah 51:7-8

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Friends are Like Seashells, Nature's Beauty
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Sand & Sea DSP
Ink	Blushing Bride, Smoky Slate
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Seaside Seashells Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Stitched Shapes Dies (ret)

SSC256 Wildly Grateful

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  Just a quick little card using some new In Colors, available TODAY! Woohoo!  I chose Polished Pink and Soft Succulent, along with a sketch from Sunday Stamps:

And here we go:

The flowers and sentiment are from Lovely You, stamped and fussy cut atop a Stitched Rectangle.  The horizontal panel was stamped with some greenery from the same set, then wrapped with the new luscious Open Weave ribbon...love this!  The circle was made with the opposite pattern from the DSP, matted with a Soft Succulent scallop:

I normally don't gravitate towards bright pinks, but paired with the muted green, I think this turned out well!  Thanks for visiting today!

I hope you can indulge me with another bird picture, but I just happened to catch a new (to me) bird yesterday!  Waaaay out at the edge of our yard, past our bluebird houses, I spied a patch of blue in the grass.  I thought for sure it was just another bluebird, I had just been reading up on grosbeaks over the last couple days and I knew a blue grosbeak had a cinnamon-colored wing, so I was VERY excited as I looked at it through my binoculars!  Like the rose-breasted, I believe they are migrating through:

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Lovely You
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Polished Pink, Soft Succulent, In Color DSPs
Ink	Polished Pink, Soft Succulent
Accessories	Soft Succulent Open Weave Ribbon
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Layering Circle Dies

Pink Poinsettias

 Happy Monday, peeps!  Hope you had a good weekend! I've been falling behind on my Christmas card making, so I added one card to my stash this weekend!  It fulfills three challenges:  Inkspirational's sketch, Christmas 24's challenge to add glitter, and the Merry Little Christmas challenge is Anything Goes:

I really love things in threes, so I diecut three small poinsettias from some rose glimmer paper and heat-embossed a sentiment from For Unto Us:

Each flower was mounted on some pink DSP:

And my heat-embossed sentiment was done in silver to match the silver centers of the flowers:

The sentiment inside was stamped in Merry Merlot ink:

Another to add to my stash!

To add to our "interesting birds of the spring of 2021" theme, John looked out our window yesterday morning before church and said "There's a turkey walking up our driveway!".  I believe it was a hen (not sure, though) and when I opened the door for a picture, she turned and went across the yard, around the side of the house and into our back yard all the way to the field:

And sorry, this is such a bad picture, I had a glare, but here she is, walking across the little bridge that goes over our creek....and she continued on into the woods!

It's been such a fun spring for birdwatching!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	For Unto Him
Card stock & Papers	Thick White, Silver Foil, Rose Glimmer (ret), Silver Bells DSP (Kaisercraft)
Ink	Silver Encore (ret), Merry Merlot
Accessories	Dimensionals, Silver Embossing Powder
Tools	Big Shot, Layering Squares Dies, Poinsettia Dies, Heat Tool

PP539 Birthday for the Boys

Happy Sunday, everyone!  We have a new Paper Players challenge with Joanne as our hostess:

This worked out great for me, as I just had a Stamp Camp making cards for men and boys!  I chose one of the boys' ones, using some cool glossy papers a friend gave me and the Bonanza Buddies stamp set:

I used my favorite layouet and mounted the printed papers on a Granny Apple Green card base.  The birthday sentiment was diecut with a Tasteful Labels die and accented with images from the Bonanza Buddies set:

And I just had to add a couple little pompoms for fun!  Here's the inside too:

I have learned to make boys' cards pretty simple....they usually appreciate the gift that goes with it but the card....it's mostly appreciated by the moms and grandmoms, LOL!  I hope you'll play along with "Cards for Boys" challenge this week at the Players....can't wait to see what you create!  And be sure to check out what the DT created at the Paper Players blog!  Thanks for visiting today!

Last weekend we cleaned up the roads around our church; this weekend we worked on the cemetery!  Last weekend the weather was beautiful...this weekend, it was sunny, 45 degrees and the winds were blowing about 40 mph (well, at least that's what it felt like!).  We all needed hats, scarves, gloves and warm clothes....except for Cassidy:

After helping me replace most of the American flags, which get very worn in the weather, she helped pick up sticks.  When you have a really old cemetery, there is always work to be done.  Some of our headstones are from the 1800s and are not anchored in the same manner that modern headstones are, so they end up looking like this:

Or snuggled together like these are, or even toppled over completely:

It's quite an effort to right the ones that are leaning or toppled over...it requires a special machine and a plan to affix them properly in place once they are upright, not to mention the funds to do it!  So probably many will have to stay this way for a while!

And this is one of the oldest ones I found, there are probably older, but Mary Ramsay died in 1851 at age 42, so she would have been born in 1809! 

Hope you didn't find these too morbid!  I think it's really interesting to see these older headstones...a walk into past history!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

 

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Bonanza Buddies (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Granny Apple Green, Basic White, Birthday Wishes Stack DSP (DCWV)
Ink	Granny Apple Green, Pacific Point, Poppy Parade, Mango Melody
Accessories	Pompoms (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Tasteful Labels Dies

Just a Couple of Cards

Happy Saturday, peeps! Oh, and Happy May Day!!  In between watching my birds and puttering around the house, I was able to make a couple of cards for a few challenges yesterday!  The first card uses the FMS sketch challenge along with the colors from Just Add Ink: 

I used the upcoming Hand Penned Petals set along with a sentiment from Lots of Heart:

The florals were stamped in Memento Black, then filled in with So Saffron and Garden Green:

I added some "sprinkles" from Sweet Ice Cream and a couple little In Color Jewels for sparkle!

The second one is for the Fusion challenge and the Krafty Chicks challenge, which is Anything Goes:

I don't make Mother's Day cards as a rule, as both our moms have passed away, but I loved the idea of using a mother and baby image on just a simple "hello" card, especially this sweet little elephant pair from Wildly Happy, which is retiring soon:

I stamped them in Stazon Black ink and watercolored them with Smoky Slate and Blushing Bride, then created a tag, matted in Blushing Bride:

I stamped a sentiment from Here's a Card, creating a couple of banners, and as an afterthought, made a bow with the Pierced Blooms die and added another In Color jewel! The background is some retired Gingham, also in Smoky Slate. I love this combo of gray and pink!

At Jameson's birthday party, the craft activity was painting flower pots!  We have NO lefties in our family, these boys must have gotten their left-handedness from their momma's side of the family, LOL!

Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

"I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.  Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live."  Psalm 116:1-2

First Card Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Sweet Ice Cream, Hand Penned Petals, Lots of Heart
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Basic Black
Ink	Memento Black, So Saffron, Garden Green, Craft White
Accessories	Dimensionals, In Color Jewels, White Embossing Powder
Tools	Big Shot, Heat Tool, Stitched Shapes Dies, Tasteful Labels Dies, Penned Flowers Dies

Second Card Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Wildly Happy, Here's a Card
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Shimmery White, Smoky Slate, Blushing Bride, Blushing Bride DSP, Smoky Slate Gingham DSP (ret)
Ink	Stazon Black, Smoky Slate, Blushing Bride, Gray Granite
Accessories	Dimensionals, In Color Jewels
Tools	Big Shot, Pierced Blooms Dies, Aquapainter