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

PP540 Hello

Hello stampers and Happy Mother's Day to all those in the US!  Laurie is our hostess at the Paper Players this week and she has a color challenge for us:

 

I admit that this was not my first card...although I love this color combo, I couldn't quite figure out what I wanted to do with it!  In the end, I went in a totally different direction when I found some retired gingham paper from an older Sale-a-bration pack!  So here we go:

I used the sketch from FMS:

and a Real Red flower, diecut with the Pierced Blooms, an Altenew sentiment and a sweet little ladybug from Itty Bitties:

I also embossed the Thick White card front with the Subtles embossing folder (another thing I won't get rid of, LOL!).  Thanks for popping in today!  I hope you'll play along with us at the Paper Players with these colors...they seem masculine, but you can see by my card, they're not just for guys!  Can't wait to see what you create!

Last night Cassidy and her daddy were supposed to go to a father-daughter dance; some complications with the tickets spoiled it and they weren't able to go, so they just spent some time together!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Label Love (Altenew), Itty Bitties (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Thick Basic White, Smoky Slate, Real Red, Botanical Butterfly DSP
Ink	Smoky Slate, Real Red
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Pierced Blooms Dies, Stitched Shapes Dies (Ret), Layering Rectangle Dies (ret)

TGIFC315 Brightly Colored Hand Penned

 Hi all, a real quick card today, then off to get some flowers for the patio!  I am using the colors from the TGIF Challenge this week:

I stamped and diecut the floral arrangement from Hand Penned Petals in the colors of the challenge (along with some Soft Seafoam for the leaves), then mounted it on a Basic White card that was embossed with one of the Greenery embossing folders:

I diecut another panel with a Stitched Rectangle die, then diecut one edge with the zig zag die from the new Basic Borders.  I diecut another one from some Magenta Madness DSP and layered it beneath, then added some Polished Pink Open Weave ribbon; it's close enough to the Magenta to match!

My final addition was the "thanks" sentiment, stamped in Mango Melody.  Thanks for popping in today!  And it was a quiet day at the feeder yesterday, so no bird pictures!  Or Cassidy pictures--maybe tomorrow!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Hand Penned Petals
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Magenta Madness DSP (ret)
Ink	Magenta Madness, Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, Soft Seafoam
Accessories	Dimensionals, Polished Pink Open Weave Ribbon
Tools	Big Shot, Greenery EF, Penned Flowers Dies, Basic Borders Dies

Always Fun with Basic Borders

 Happy Friday, peeps!  Hope you have a fun weekend planned!  Sunday is Mother's Day and my sweet SIL has something nice planned for the mothers in his life, so I am looking forward to that!  He told me that I could bring John along too, LOL!  Anyway, I have a very CAS card today, and since it uses an old stamp and a new die, I am entering it at the Always Fun Challenge of new and old!  So here we go:

The old parts of my card are the sentiments and the swallow; they are all from different Paper Pumpkin kits from a couple of years ago.  The new part is that fabulous cloud-inspired border die--I just love this set!  It's in the new SU catalog and it's called Basic Borders.  After cutting out the clouds, I mounted it on a Balmy Blue card base, stamped, colored and fussy-cut my little bird and adhered it with a mini dimensional: 

It's always nice to have a card on hand to let someone know that you're thinking of them!  Thanks for popping in today!

Speaking of birds (that's all I seem to be doing these days), I thought things were going to be quiet at the feeder for a while, but as I was making lunch yesterday, I glanced out the window and saw an indigo bunting!!  Again, my heart went pitter-patter!  They also migrate through on their way south, but I haven't seen one for quite a while:

I read recently that a bunting's feathers are not actually blue, it is caused by light refraction; the underside of his wing is definitely not blue, but whatever miracle of God's creation causes the rest of him to be this color, I love it!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!  

"So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.  And God saw that it was good."  Genesis 1:21

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Paper Pumpkin (past, retired)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Balmy Blue
Ink	Balmy Blue, Smoky Slate
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Aquapainter, Basic Borders Dies

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)