IB57 Kissing Booth

Happy Thursday, peeps!  Are you in a deep freeze yet?!  Brrr, it's cold here in PA...the snow is pretty, and it's not deep, but it is frozen solid!  Anyway, spring will arrive someday, right?!  For now, we can anticipate those lovely fresh deays with a new challenge from Inspired By today!  First, here's a peek at my card:

And here's Laurel's fun prompt!  Perfectly timed for some Valentine crafting!

My Naturals cardstock card started out with a scrap of pink heart paper from American Crafts, and I paired it with a scrapbooking card from My Mind's Eye "My Story" line.  I added a diecut "love you", which I cut out three times and adhered together to give it some dimension, then mounted it on the scrapbook card.  I embossed the edge of the card with a Falling Petals EF, added some twine, gimmer ribbon and a row of glimmer hearts:

And since the edges of the scrapbook card were rounded, I rounded the corners of my card and heart panel as well!  Such a fun, eclectic heart-filled card! And no stamping to be seen, LOL!  Wait until you see what the Inspired By design team created...it will knock your socks off!  Be sure to visit them at the IB blog and share your creation too!

A wee little contest between Grampy and Cassidy made for some interesting play-doh creations!

  

I would give them a challenge and they had to create it...they had to make a bird, an apple, and these are scarecrows....you'll have to use your imagination, LOL!  Grampy's looks like it has a sailor hat on..maybe his scarecrow is on a boat!!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps
Card stock & Papers	Basic Black, Naturals White, Rose Glimmer, Adhesive Sheets, Little by Little DSP (American Crafts-Shimelle), My Story Journal Cards (My Mind's Eye)
Ink
Accessories	Twine (Avery Elle), Glimmer Ribbon (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Small Love You Die (Simon Says Stamp), Heart Border Die (Close to My Heart), Falling Petals EF, Envelope Punch Board (to round corners), Stapler

Blue Christmas Greetings

Happy Wednesday, all!  I am squeaking this card in by the skin of my teeth! I haven't made many Christmas cards yet this year, and here it is, the end of January!  My card today uses three challenges:  Little Red Wagon's Winter Blues; Jingle Belles' Look What Santa Brought Me, and the sketch from Fab Friday:

My card is fairly clean and simple; my new set is from Paper Smooches, and it's called All Yule Need; I stamped it in Blueberry Bushel on a piece of Authentique paper from the Alpine collection, then fussy-cut it and added a Soft Sky mat.  The sentiment is from the same set, same papers, as is the darker blue panel:

For fun, I added a couple of little glimmer stars from my scrap folder, both punched with retired SU star punches:

Everything went on a Soft Sky card base, and I stamped a simple sentiment on the inside, and I have another card to add to my holiday stash!

This morning, the sky was bright blue, sunny and cold!  At 2pm, this afternoon, this is what it looked like:

A quick little snow squall blew through and lasted about 15 minutes....but it's even colder now than it was before!!  Poor little birds, I need to refill their feeder and suets!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

RR103

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  Hope you're staying warm wherever you are today!  It's supposed to be a cold, cold week here in PA!!!  But the Retro Rubber Challenge will warm you up with its sweet theme:

I used one of my favorite Valentine stamps, Sealed With Love (2017), along with Swirly Bird (2016), to make my fun little ribbon-embellished love note card:

Crumb Cake, Real Red, Lovely Lipstick and Whisper White were my color choices; I used the Rectangle Stitched framelits to create my layers, adding a wreath from Crumb Cake and a little love note and envelope using the Love Note framelits:

 

I added a few speckles from Gorgeous Grunge (2013), and Real Red ribbons adorn the Crumb Cake wreath as well as the little envelope; the note pops up out of the envelope to show a wee little sentiment, and then I stamped a Valentine sentiment on the inside:

Gee, I wonder to whom this card will go?!! 💕 I hope you'll play along with our Retro Rubber challenge..just be sure your stamps are at least a year old!  Can't wait to see what you share with us at the Retro Rubber Challenge blog!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Swirly Bird (2016), Sealed With Love (ret 2017), Gorgeous Grunge (2013)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Real Red, In Color DSP, Fresh Prints DSP (ret)
Ink	Crumb Cake, Lovely Lipstick
Accessories	Real Red Cotton Ribbon, Real Red Narrow Grosgrain Ribbon (ret), Linen Thread
Tools	Big Shot, Rectangle Stitched Framelits, Swirly Scribbles Thinlets, Be Mine Framelits, Love Notes Framelits (ret)

PP426 HB2U

 

Hi everyone!  Sunday means Paper Players time, and Jaydee has a sweet sketch for us:

My great-nephew Sawyer has his first birthday coming up, so I found some fun animal-themed papers and pulled out my sadly-neglected Owl punch and my also-sadly-neglected Labeler Alphabet stamps to make his card!!  Here we go:

Mr Owl was punched out of a scrap of Early Espresso; his vest was decorated with some hand-drawn "plaid" with a Cajun Craze marker, and I added a little candle from a retired set called Sweet Stuff:

I added the "H B 2 U" along a branch, diecut with the Seasonal Layers Thinlets, then added a sentiment from the Sweet Stuff set on the inside of the So Saffron card:

So what will you create with this sketch?!  It's a great basic sketch, be sure to check out the PP blog to see what the designers came up with...some beautiful creations there...and share yours with us too!

And here is a rare photo of our wee little ginger-haired birthday boy---rare because he is SMILING!  As long as he is in his daddy or mommy's arms, he's as happy as can be!  I know it's just a phase, but we all would like to have a chance to hold him, LOL!

And I don't think I shared this family photo, taken the evening before my dad's funeral; you can see Sawyer down at the bottom with his brother Jameson (who has a candy cane in his hand, not a toothbrush!!).  Everybody looks pretty good except for Cassidy, who has her eyes closed, and my BIL Jim, who is standing behind my sister...all you can see of him is his glasses on top of his head!  We got a good chuckle out of that!

It's been an emotional weekend....enjoy your family and tell them you love them...you never know what tomorrow might bring!  Enjoy your day and be blessed as well!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Labeler Alphabet, Sweet Stuff (ret)
Card stock & Papers	So Saffron, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Basic Black, Naturals White, Soft Sky (ret), Nestled DSP (Authentique)
Ink	Cajun Craze, Memento Black
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Seasonal Layers Thinlets, Owl Punch (ret), SU Markers, 1/4" Square Punch (ret)

FMS372 Times Two

Happy Friday, everyone!  The sun is shining, which is a plus today, even if the temps are still way down low on the thermometer!  I have two cards to share, both using the FMS sketch from my sweet friend Linda:

This is a fun, basic sketch that has tons of possibilities!  I needed two birthday cards to finish out  my January church birthdays, one for an ornery man who always keeps me laughing and one for a lady!  So here we go:

This Animal Expedition DSP always challenges me--its cute juvenile images don't always lend themselves to my style of card-making, but I thought these giraffes would work great for the vertical panel!  I fussy-cut two of them out, added DSP and a birthday sentiment from Itty Bitty Birthdays (sorry, this isn't following my backwards alphabet challenge, LOL).  This particular sentiment works great with one of the stitched rectangle dies:

My second one basically lets the Botanical Butterfly DSP (a SAB item) do most of the work!  I flipped the sketch so that big beautiful butterfly would take center stage, and I added a Basketweave-embossed background along with two stitched scalloped borders from the Be Mine dies and another birthday sentiment:

 I also made a third card using this same design, but a little simpler without the embossing!  Thanks for popping in today to visit!

I thought I would share a picture that Cassidy drew of my dad!  We brought up some of the gazillion note pads he had at his house (he never threw anything away), so she used one of them for her artwork.  She did pretty good at spelling "remembrance" too--and nailed his plaid shirt as well:

And this is what we'll be dealing with this weekend at his house; he was an antique tool collector and my sister, bless her heart, has been trying to sort through thousands of plumb bobs, planes, rulers, hammers, saws and other miscellaneous stuff to put up for auction. And this is only part of it!!! This is his living room....there are three other rooms in the house that are almost as full as this one!! 

Farmers never get rid of anything...they might need it; even if they haven't farmed since 1972, LOL!!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Itty Bitty Birthdays
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Basic Black, Grapefruit Grove, Botanical Butterfly DSP, Animal Expedition DSP
Ink	Memento Black, Call Me Clover
Accessories	Mini Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Basketweave EF, Be Mine Framelits, Rectangle Stitched Framelits

IB56 Your Special Day

Happy Thursday, peeps!  Hope your week is going by nicely!  It's time for another Inspired By challenge, and I chose to make one with some eclectic elements in unusual colors, for me, at least:

And here is Laurel's prompt:

So I would say this is more of a masculine-themed prompt, but I turned it into more a feminine creation!  I focused on the blackboard image for my sentiment; in trying to use all my current SU stamps backwards from the end of the alphabet, this is from Stitched All Around.  I stamped it on SU's (retired) blackboard paper in craft white ink, added some banners, hearts, twine, another sentiment from the same set and a "wooden" blackboard frame

It was fun adding all the little elements here and there...I jazzed it up with a silver glimmer heart and a few little epoxy dots as well:

Since there was a little greenery in the photo, I mounted it all on a Pear Pizzazz card, added a sentiment on the inside, and this will go in my birthday card stash!

The design team has some interesting takes on this challenge...be sure to check them out at the Inspired By blog, then share your creation with us as well!  Can't wait to see it!

Cassidy had been bugging me to make a backpack for her Ethan doll; my sewing area was buried under stamping stuff but I finally found a few minutes to clear off a space and dig out my sewing machine.  Originally she wanted one with a zipper, but I found a pattern that was a little simpler, so I went with that, using a pair of Grampy's old jeans for fabric:

I used the hem of the pant leg to make a pocket and some retired SU ribbon for the straps!  She quickly went to get a teddy bear on which to try it (Ethan was at home):

And it fit!  She told me she even put some sticks of gum in the pocket, LOL!  If you'd like to see the pattern, you can find it HERE!

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Stitched All Around
Card stock & Papers	Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Woodgrain DSP, Silver Glimmer, Blackboard (ret), Festive Farmhouse DSP (ret), Warmth & Cheer DSP (ret)
Ink	Memento Black, Craft White
Accessories	Santa's Workshop Enamel Shapes (ret), Misc Twine,, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Labels Dies, Be Mine Dies, Tree Punch (ret), Rectangle Stitched Dies, Envelope Punch Board (to round edges of frame)

Home to Roost

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  No challenges today, just thought I would share some samples I made for my workshop last Saturday.  I mostly do clubs, so I haven't had a workshop in a long, long, LONG time, I felt a bit rusty!  But we had lots of fun!  I wanted to show the versatility of the SAB set, Home to Roost.  Here is a stepped-up version with water-coloring on watercolor paper as well as background stamping and using the new Rectangle Stitched dies:

Really, Mr Rooster is a breeze to color...just slap on some reds, yellows and greens with an aquapainter, and you're good to go, LOL!

And for a simpler version, I stamped him in Blueberry Bushel on Sahara Sand, then added some of the grasses on the Blueberry Bushel card base.  I did add a little interest by embossing a design from the Stitched Labels dies and added a gingham ribbon to complete the "country" look!

Thanks for popping in today!

Last fall the Paper Players had a challenge to make Lunchbox Love Notes; you can see my post here.  Imagine  my surprise when Dana sent me a text while she was on her lunch break one day last week:

I had given them to Dana to put in Cassidy's lunch, and Cassidy decided to put one in her mom's lunch!  So cute!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Being So Sweet

Happy Monday, peeps!  No Cassidy today, and I was able to get a little stamping done today that wasn't for a DT!  The JUGS challenge this week is pastels, and the Global Design Project also has the pastel colors of Soft Sea Foam, So Saffron and Petal Pink:

That little row-of-hearts die in the Be Mine framelit set was calling my name, so I cut it out four times:  once each in Whisper White, Soft Sea Foam, So Saffron and Petal Pink, then I went to work:

I used a piece of Adhesive Sheet on the back of the white outline piece, then used some Multi-Adhesive and my Take Your Pick tool to pick up and place the hearts back randomly in the outline.  I am challenging myself to USE THE STAMPS I OWN, and I am going to try to feature them alphabetically backwards, LOL!  SO...this card uses a sentiment from Treat Time and the color splotches from Touches of Texture:

Does anyone else find Petal Pink an awkward color to use?  I don't think the ink looks very pink here, it looks more orange to me..what do you think?  I miss my Pink Pirouette!!  Anyway, my final addition was a few pearls and some Wink of Stella on the white hearts, which you can't see here, but is quite pretty!

So hard to believe how much Cassidy is growing up!  She is still a tomboy but lets Dana "do" her hair sometimes!

Thanks for visiting today!  So happy you dropped in!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Treat Time, Touches of Texture
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Petal Pink, So Saffron, Soft Sea Foam, Adhesive Sheets
Ink	Petal Pink, So Saffron, Soft Sea Foam
Accessories	Pearls (ret), Wink of Stella
Tools	Big Shot, Be Mine Framelits, Take Your Pick Tool