CAS108 & CCCB45

Happy Monday, peeps!  I am desperately trying to find my mojo after our vacation---it’s coming back, but very slowly!  I thought the SCS Clean & Simple challenge 108 was a great one—the Great Outdoors, and I combined it with the City Crafters Challenge 45 --Nothing To It—no layers or embellishments allowed!  So here is my little CAS spring card:

I pulled out a real oldie for this one---this was probably one of the very first sets I bought from SU---Nature’s Seasonal Borders----stamped it in Stazon and did some coloring with a very decrepit blender pen, hence the “rustic” look of it!  I added a sentiment from PTI’s Wreath for All Seasons.  Hopefully it will be a harbinger of warmer weather to come---- it’s looking really gray outside my window today!  

And I am sure you’d love to see some Cassidy pix---she got her first tooth yesterday, but it will be a while before I’ll get a shot of that!  I don’t think I’ve shared these yet (forgive me if I have), but how about some sweetness from Valentine’s?

Thanks for visiting today!

Paper Players Challenge 36

Happy Sunday to everyone!  I am back from my blogging vacation and ready to share my Paper Players Challenge 36 project with you.  This week, Nance is our host and she has chosen “Fun with Fabric” as her theme! 

What a great challenge!  SU has some really pretty fabric right now---and I made a really, really easy project using a baby food jar that I had in my stash!  This makes a great hostess gift when you fill it with some buttons, brads, ribbon or a little incentive stamp:

I took a piece of Springtime Vintage fabric and cut a circle using my pinking shears, then used Sticky Strip to attach it to the edge of the jar lid, pleating it as I went around.  Then I tied on some narrow black grosgrain ribbon.  I cut a felt flower with the Fun Flower diecut, added a “leaf” of Baja Breeze seam binding and a button center accented with a pearl.  EASY!!! 

The Paper Players can’t wait to see what you come up with!  Use some fabric or fabric-related images to make your creation and share it with us over at the Paper Players blog! 

• Stamps:  none
• Paper:  none
• Ink:  none
• Acc:  Springtime Vintage fabric, felt, Fun Flowers diecut, Basic Black narrow grosgrain ribbon, Baja Breeze seam binding, Subtles button, pearl, Sticky Strip

Swaps Galore!

At last Sunday’s downline meeting, I was fortunate enough to receive LOTS of nice swaps!  The stipulation was that they had to be made with products from the mini catalog!  Here they are:

Hopefully you can find some inspiration from these beauties!  Thanks for visiting today!

Christmas Card Challenge 11

I had a little stamping time today and realized I have been slacking on my Christmas cards!!!  I found a new challenge called, appropriately enough, Christmas Card Challenges!  This week, the challenge was “shopping”:

I made two cards for the challenge.  The first is CAS and I let the Basic Grey Wassail DP do most of the work:

I used a SU sentiment from All Holidays stamped in Always Artichoke, and a Waltzingmouse frame stamp that fits the Labels 4 nesties, stamped in Riding Hood Red.   I also stamped a few little polka dots on the RHR mat:

I popped up a little present cutout and finished it off with some baker’s twine.

The next one again uses Wassail, this time with images from Artistic Outpost and a masking technique:

The card base is Cherry Cobbler, stamped with Woodgrain; I cut a Top Note from the BG paper, stamped the images on Naturals white in Cherry Cobbler and overstamped with the Linen BG stamp in Crumb Cake.  The edges of both the main panel and the Sahara Sand mat were distressed.  Finally, some MS greenery punchouts and a little tag attached to some Cherry Cobbler seam binding finished it off:

Some MS glitter adds just a little sparkle!

Thanks for visiting today---I should have a post tomorrow and then on to my blog vacation!  Here’s a little Cassidy fix for you:

I think I caught her by surprise!!! Enjoy!

Paper Players Color Challenge 34

Happy Sunday, peeps!  Today Jaydee is hosting our Paper Players challenge, and she has chosen a color challenge:

I love these colors!  But they feel fall-ish and I didn’t want to do fall!  Then I remembered I had wanted to make one of those “ruffle” cards….you know, with the scalloped DP made to look like ruffles.  So here we go:

It’s pretty clean & simple; it didn’t take too long, although had I owned a big scallop border punch or die, it would have taken less time, I’m sure.  I used a 1 3/8” circle punch and punched circles of Cherry Cobbler and Cajun Craze Patterns DP, then layered the pieces along my card to make it look like big scallops!!!  The flourish & sentiment are both from Friends 24-7.  I just received a pretty card using this set, which reminded me it hadn’t been inked up for a while! (Thanks, Cheryl!)   Hope you can play along with us; just check out the Paper Players blog for all the details and the other samples! 

• Stamps:  Friends 24-7
• Paper:  Cherry Cobbler,  WW Textured, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler & Cajun Craze Patterns DP
• Ink:  Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze
• Acc:  Nestie, Bakers Twine, Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, 1 3/8” Circle Punch

Downline Meeting

Last Sunday I had a downline/sideline meeting for my Stampin’Up! group, the WeeInkers!  We always have fun chatting, swapping and stamping!  Here are a few of the projects that were shared:

Carol made a cool box, decorated with a baby wipe technique panel and the new cupcake punch:

Another view:

Penny made us all nice little calendars (she got her idea here):

and that clever gal Kathy made a cute little penguin to decorate a hand-gel holder:

Here’s my make & take (although the girls wheeled their boxes with the Cornelli Lace wheel---mine is naked):

Now here are some of the WeeInkers and friends in action:

Sue & Kathy

Lesley, Penny and Alison

Laura, Barb and Shawn

 

and Connie and Karin.

Carol is intent on teaching her make & take!

I’ve decided to take a little blog vacation for the next couple weeks, but I promise to  post all the swaps that were exchanged  very soon!  I do have a Paper Players card to share with you tomorrow, so be sure to stop back!!

Mojo177 & PPA80

“I love it when a plan comes together.”  Hannibal Smith, the A-Team

Yes, and I love it when a plan comes together too!  I really did not think I could pull off the Mojo 177 Sketch:

but I gave it a shot on this card that has almost NO stamping on it….just a little tiny bit!  The Pals Paper Arts Challenge 80 was “Those Were The Days”….take a peek at their inspiration photo:

The photo reminded me of growing up in the 50s, so I went running for my “Dick and Jane” reader I got at a yard sale and found a cute picture to complement the  Cosmo Cricket Material Girl DP I had in mind:

This so reminds me of patterns that my mom used to have;  who even had a figure like that?  Certainly not anyone in my family!!  LOL!!  And my MIL still wore hats like this every Sunday---at her funeral, everyone referred to her as “the hat lady”!!   For embellishments, I found a couple matching buttons, stamped a sentiment from CHF’s Sew Suite and added some SU pompom trim.

And the inside:

 

Another image and sentiment from the CHF set, along with a birthday sentiment from PTI…..thanks for visiting today!

• Stamps:  Sew Suite, CHF; Vintage Picnic Basket, PTI
• Paper:  Confetti Cream, So Saffron, So Saffron, Cosmo Cricket Material Girl DP
• Ink:  Wild Wasabi, So Saffron
• Acc:  Pompoms, Nesties, So Many Tags Diecut, Floss, Buttons, Dimensionals

More Hearts!

There are heart challenges abounding out there in blogland, so I am sure this qualifies for some of them, but for the time being, I am just highlighting Stampin' Royalty’s Challenge 58, Hearts, Hearts & More Hearts!

At my downline meeting, I made these little tags for the gifts I gave the new recruits and their uplines:

Really easy, big hearts diecut from the Red Glimmer paper, then a little additional Modern Label tag using All Holidays and Things I Love.  Of course, after doing the heart diecuts, I had leftover scraps, so I made this big honkin’ card:

This is about 5” square; the three Glimmer Paper negative pieces are backed with Love Letter DP; the fourth is a Very Vanilla panel stamped with a sentiment from Define Your Life; I punched out a few more hearts from the scraps and added them here & there!  I seem to be gravitating to this square layout quite often lately….I think I’d better look for some sketches for new inspiration!

Thanks for visiting today!

• Stamps:  Define Your Life
• Paper:  Basic Black, Red Glimmer, VV, Love Letter DP
• Ink: Stazon
• Acc:  Hearts Die (SU); Narrow Grosgrain Ribbon, Spiral Punch, Small Heart Punch, Dimensionals