PP541 Clean and Simple Polka Dots

 Happy Sunday, all!  Anne Marie is our Paper Players hostess this week with a CAS challenge, and it is true Anne Marie...I know how she likes polka dots....me too!

This challenge gave me a chance to use another new goodie from the SU catalog called Checks and Dots Embossing Folder:

Can you see that sweet little row of embossed dots?

I also used the colors from Hand Stamped Sentiments for my Pierced Blooms flowers:

and I added some Rainbow Glimmer paper centers, a Basic Borders stitched border and a sweet little Tailored Tags tag, stamped with a "hello" from the new Best Year set!  

I hope you'll play along with our CAS challenge and get out your polka dots!  Should be a fun one, and I can't wait to see what you create!  Be sure to share it with us at the Paper Players blog!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Two for Saturday

Happy Saturday, peeps!  I have a couple of quick cards today using some new and "old" products!  I am absolutely THRILLED that SU finally came out with a cover plate-type die, and I LOVE it!  It's called Stitched Greenery, and I paired it with another fabulous set of dies called Tailored Tags!  I made two cards, one to send and one to show my club girls...here we go:

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

and some pretty new papers from Sweet Symmetry, and a sentiment from the new Shaded Summer.  

There are eight tags in the set of dies, and I used the largest of each (they have different tops).  I cut them so they appear longer here; the sentiment covers up the cut part!  They are easy to make smaller as well, just re-align them in the diecutting machine and just cut the end off!  I added a few Pierced Blooms and some retired Baker's Twine and mounted everything on a Night of Navy card base.

My next card is a quick little card for the Jingle Belles Days of Old challenge; I have tons of these vintage images in my stash so I mounted one on a piece of digital paper I also had in my stash, added a sentiment and diecut holly and berries, and another one for my Christmas card supply:

I think the image was an old Crafty Secrets one; the holly and the sentiment are both from Tim Holtz, and everything was mounted on a Very Vanilla card base.

Sadly, we lost John's stepfather early yesterday morning.  He was 95 and hadn't been ill at all, but suddenly went downhill quickly and passed away in his sleep.  So if I am MIA a wee bit this week, you'll know why!  Here's a picture of him and John at our nephew's wedding a few years ago:

Keep our family in your prayers!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

AYSI250 Lilies of the Valley

Happy Friday, peeps!  I am glad it's the end of the week, aren't you?  Today, our As You See It Challenge is a fill-in-the-blank!  Here we go:

I love ALL the flowers of spring, but I remember my grandmother having lilies of the valley growing along the shady side of her house, and I would always pick some in the spring.  I also remember having some Muguet de Bois perfume in high school...that's French for "lilies of the valley".... and I loved it so much, I wanted to have lilies of the valley as the flowers on my ushers' lapels when I got married!  Unfortunately, my wedding date was in June and all the lilies were gone by then...and this was the pre-silk flowers era!!  I still love them and have managed to grow a few in my flower bed, but first, my card:

I had no lilies of the valley stamps at all, but was fortunate to find a digital image from Marcia Hawley that was simple and easy to color!  I printed it on some computer paper, colored it with Blends and then mounted it on some digital gingham paper as well.  I mounted it on some Garden Green cardstock and added a sentiment and a polka dot bow, and I can't seem to create anything without a few sequins!  The image was fairly large, so my card is larger than a standard A2.  

I just happened to need a sympathy card for a family at church, so I stamped some sympathy sentiments on the inside and it's in the mail! I am also entering this in the Double D flower of the month challenge, as May is lilies of the valley!

 And here is one wee little lily of the valley in my flower bed; they are multiplying each year, so it is a joy to see them pop up (sorry this is a little blurry):

I picked a few and had them on my craft desk...what a lovely scent! I hope you'll play along with our spring flower challenge and you will share your creation with us at As You See It!   Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Spring Border Two Digital (Power Poppy)
Card stock & Papers	Garden Green, Smoky Slate, Digital Gingham, Computer Paper
Ink
Accessories	Blends, Sequins from my Stash, Dimensionals, Polka Dot Organdy Ribbon (ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies

IB174 Oran-Generous Friend

Hey peeps! Hope your week is going well so far!  It's time for a new Inspired By challenge, what a cutie this one is:

And here's our optional sketch, which I did use!

Once again, I find myself lacking ANY citrusy fruit stamps, so I went searching through my retired stash and found a shape that could sort of fit the bill; it was a solid image from Swirly Bird:

As a rule I don't go for these sort of abstract designs but I admit that I really had fun creating this!!!  I stamped the three "fruits" in Pale Papaya and Daffodil Delight and added a sweet little leaf from a Stamp Market set:

I added some speckles with a white gel pen and a few little sequins, then stamped a sentiment in Memento Black.  For fun, I embossed the edge with a Stitched With Whimsy outline die.  Love the extra little design element it gives!

Our design team created some amazing things with this inspiration photo....be sure to go check them out at the Inspired By blog, and while you're there, add yours to the mix!  Can't wait to see what you create!

I had a few visitors to my back yard a day or so ago:

They were taken through the screen, but they're still beautiful!  Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Whirly Bird (ret), Lots of Leaves (The Stamp Market) Unknown Sentiment
Card stock & Papers	Pale Papaya, Basic White
Ink	Pale Papaya, Daffodil Delight, Memento Black
Accessories	Sequins from my stash
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched With Whimsy Dies, White Gel Pen

TCC155 Garden Pleasures

Hello stampers!  Wednesday brings us a new Card Concept challenge...look at this lovely spring inspiration:

 

I was inspired by the bee skeps and the birdhouses to pull out one of my all-time favorites, Garden Pleasures!  I wanted to incorporate several of the images into my card, so I stamped some of them on watercolor paper, colored them in with ink and an aquapainter, and diecut them out for my card today:

I love the details in these images, always have, and I always enjoy coloring them in!

I added a little bee from a different stamp set and mounted everything on a Crushed Curry DSP mat and a Very Vanilla card base.

I would describe this style as clean and layered (my usual!!).  I hope you'll play along too...check out the styles at the Card Concept blog, then let us know what inspired you and your style as well!  Thanks for popping in today!

Yesterday the weather FINALLY turned a bit more seasonal (it has been a wee bit chilly the last few days) and I was able to put out the flowers that Dana bought me for Mother's Day.  I found this sweet little bumblebee warming herself on my hanging begonia:

That made me smile!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

"Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." Proverbs 16:24

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Garden Pleasures (ret), Bee Happy (Darcie's)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Watercolor, Crushed Curry DSP (ret)
Ink	Stazon Black, Bumblebee, Cinnamon Cider, Cajun Craze, Sahara Sand, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies (ret), Stitched Rectangle Dies, Aquapainter

RRCB158 Happiest of Birthdays

 Hi peeps, happy Tuesday!  We've got a new Retro Rubber challenge up for you, where we give our older stamps some love!  This week we have a Tic-Tac-Toe grid:

I am sure you can find something on our grid to tickle your fancy!  I went with the center column down of patterned paper, heat embossing and ribbon!  So here we go:

I started with a sketch from Try Stampin on Tuesday:

and some retired DSP called Garden Lane.  The sentiment is from Picture Perfect Birthday (2018) that was positioned in my Stamparatus and stamped with Mint Macaron ink, then re-stamped in the same position with Versamark ink and heat-embossed with Clear Embossing Powder.  

I cut it out with the Tasteful Labels dies and added some Mint Macaron ribbon and a few Soft Seafoam faceted embellishments.  It all went on a Soft Seafoam card.  I already have this card ready to go out to a recipient whose birthday happens to be today! 

I hope you'll play along with our challenge this week and have some fun with our tic-tac-toe grid!  Hop on over to the Retro Rubber blog to see what our designers did!  Just make sure to stamps that are at least a year old, and tell us how old they are!  

A couple of weeks ago, Cassidy did some chalk artwork on our driveway and created a bird:

She named it "Sher-bird"....because it looked like the colors of sherbet!!!

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Picture Perfect Birthday (ret, 2018)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Soft Seafoam, Pear Pizzazz, Mossy Meadow,  Garden Lane DSP (ret)
Ink	Mint Macaron, Versamark
Accessories	Faceted Embellishments (ret), Mint Macaron Textile Ribbon, Clear Embossing Powder
Tools	Big Shot, Tasteful Labels Dies, Heat Tool, Stamparatus

JAI553 Friends Like You

Happy Monday, peeps!  It's stamp club day today, so I'll make this quick!  I found a fun sketch at Just Add Ink:

I love the two new In Colors, Soft Succulent and Evening Evergreen, together...they complement each other beautifully! So I used them both in today's card, along with the Positive Thoughts stamp set:

I stamped the foliage directly on to a piece of Soft Succulent DSP, diecut it with the mat die from Nature's Thoughts and matted it with a piece of Evening Evergreen.  For the little doodads sticking out from under the mat, they are also from the Nature's Thoughts dies.  I stamped and diecut the butterfly and added an In Color gem:

Finally a sentiment from the same set, diecut with a Stitched Rectangle die:

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Positive Thoughts
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Evening Evergreen, Soft Succulent DSP
Ink	Evening Evergreen
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Nature's Thoughts Dies