TCC152 Restful Nest

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  Time for a new Card Concept challenge where we challenge you to share your stamping style with us!  Here's today's inspiration:

I just loved that little bird's nest and this challenge gave me a chance to use one of my all-time favorite SU sets, Soft as a Feather, along with a bunch of other stamps!!!  So here we go:

I have already sent out my Easter cards, but I needed a sympathy card, so I thought the colors and country items in the photo would make a nice shabby and vintage-style card.  I stamped the nest on a panel of Naturals White cardstock with Soft Suede ink and daubered some ink over it to fill it in.  The eggs were stamped with Crumb Cake and colored with Petal Pink ink and a blender pen, then fussy-cut and sponged along the edges:

The Petal Pink and Crumb Cake panels were stamped with background stamps and sponged for more vintage shabbiness; the main panel was stamped with another background stamp before adding the sympathy sentiment and a little feather beneath it.  I sponged and distressed the edges and added some baker's twine:

All of this went on a Soft Seafoam mat that was also stamped along the edges with Gorgeous Grunge and sponged some more!  On the inside, I added a second sentiment and feather.  

I also used the Inspire.Create sketch:

Be sure to fly on over to the Card Concept blog to see what the other designers created, and share yours with us as well!  Thanks for popping in today!

I wanted to share a little fun tip about using SU's Blends or Copics for your Easter crafting!  When Cassidy and I were dying eggs on the weekend, I decided to try adding a bunny to one of the eggs before dying it.  Please bear with me, as my artistic skills are lacking (that's why I stamp---someone else does the artwork, LOL!), but here is my Highland Heather bunny:

And after dying...the alcohol ink stayed in place!  He does look a little sad, though!  I am sure you could probably dye first, then draw...or stamp!  Anyway, I thought he was kind of cute!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

"I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted.  The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.  The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.  he is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him." Exodus 15:1-2

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Soft as a Feather (ret), Birch, Burlap (ret), Gorgeous Grunge (ret), Leaves #3 (Cornish Heritage Farms), Sentiments CL342 (Hero Arts)
Card stock & Papers	Naturals White, Petal Pink, Crumb Cake, Soft Seafoam
Ink	Crumb Cake, Petal Pink, Soft Seafoam, Sahara Sand, Early Espresso
Accessories	Baker's Twine (Dollar Tree), Dimensionals
Tools	Sponge Daubers

RRCB155 Rainbow Crayons

Hi peeps!  Happy Tuesday!  We've got a new Retro Rubber challenge for you: 

I needed a birthday card for a sweet little girl in our church, so I pulled out some really old (2008) Cornish Heritage Farms stamps and a rainbow palette of inks and went to work:

Each crayon was stamped and fussy-cut, then I went searching among all my glimmer papers to find shades that matched and gave each one a star!  They sort of remind me of rockets, LOL!

The Whisper White mat was embossed with the Jumbo Polka Dots EF; I diecut a Stitched Shape circle and cut it in half, stamping a portion of the sentiment on it before adhering it and the crayons to the embossed piece.  The remainder of the sentiment (Right at Home, approx 2016) was colored with matching inks and a blender pen, then also fussy cut and popped up:

The sentiment from Altenew (approx 2016) was stamped in Memento Black and embellished with a few more glimmer stars:

This was a lot of fun to make and I hope she enjoys it!  I am entering this at the Always Fun Challenges this week, which is also rainbows!

I hope you'll play along with our rainbow challenge as well!  Check out what everyone else created at the Retro Rubber blog!  Remember to use stamps that are at least a year old, and give us the age of them as well!  See you there!

Speaking of rainbows, Cassidy and I dyed some Easter eggs on Saturday before we met the baby coyote:

Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

"And God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:  I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.'" Genesis 9:12-13

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Making the Grade (Cornish Heritage Farms 2008), Color In Sentiments (Right At Home, 2016), Label Love (Altenew, 2016)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Basic Black, Glimmer Papers in rainbow colors from various sources
Ink	Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Just Jade, Misty Moonlight, Rich Razzleberry, Gorgeous Group, Memento Black
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Star Punch (ret), Jumbo Polka Dots EF (ret), Blender Pens, Stitched Shapes Dies

Merry Christmas Village

Happy Monday, peeps!  Hope you had a great weekend....we had glorious sunshine one day and downpours the next!  March weather for sure!  I planned to post this Saturday but we had quite an eventful day so I just gave up and posted it today!  I liked the sketch from FMS and so I paired it with the colors from Fab Friday, and the Jingle Belles challenge to use dies!

So here we go:

I started with a Whisper White card base and stamped a bunch of snowflakes on a panel of Misty Moonlight and adhered it on top.  I then stamped a little village scene in Memento Black in colored it with Blends, diecutting it out and placing it atop some die cut snow:

I added a diecut sentiment, a diecut snowflake and a sprinkling of glitter and the front was done!  Here's the inside sentiment!  Such a fun card to create!

So I said we had an eventful Saturday, and before I get started, I'll add a disclaimer!  What we did is not what you SHOULD do when you find a little stray wild animal on the side of the road! But my nephew has a soft heart and when he saw this little furry bundle along the highway, he stopped to pick it up:

The poor thing was covered in dried mud and was in a daze:

I happened to be babysitting Cassidy that morning, so she got a doll's bottle and we gave it some milk, and it really perked up!  What an interesting experience!  I was sure it was a baby mink but the neighbor thought it was a coyote!  Brad actually took it back to where he found it in the hopes of the mother coming back to retrieve it and we meanwhile called the Game Warden.  She was young and only on the job a few weeks, and thought it might be a fisher, but after consulting with the other wardens, they agreed that it probably WAS a coyote!  Yikes! She relocated it to a safer place but I doubt the momma will be able to find it.  A cautionary tale, as we could have gotten rabies or some other disease if it had been a raccoon or opossum and we had gotten bitten, so we were duly chastised, but it really gave us an exciting day!  Thanks for popping in today!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Simply Celebrate Winter (Lawn Fawn), Christmas Silhouettes (Sweet N Sassy), Christmas Wishes (Scrapbook.com)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Misty Moonlight
Ink	Craft White, Memento Black, Misty Moonlight
Accessories	Rhinestone, Dimensionals, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter (ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Tags Tags Tags Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Simply Celebrate Winter Dies (Lawn Fawn), Stitched Hillside Dies (Lawn Fawn), SU Blends

PP534 Seaside Thanks

Happy Sunday, peeps!  Anne Marie is our hostess for this week's Paper Players challenge, and she has a great sketch for us all:

 

The Seaside Notions stamp set is retiring and it's one of my favorites, so I thought I'd pair it with some Sand & Sea DSP for my card today!  I actually made two cards, as I needed some thank you cards for my online customers!  Here's the first one:

I stamped the shells in Rococo Rose and Seaside Spray and sponged them to give them a very light color!  I added some Whale of a Time sequins to the Stitched Shape circle and finished it with some Polka Dot Tulle ribbon.  The next one is the same, except I used a stitched square, some Seaside Spray twine and a resin embellishment:

My final addition was a fussy-cut sentiment from Here's A Card, stamped in Gray Granite:

Just a heads-up....Stitched Shapes is my MOST-USED set of dies, and it is retiring!  If you don't have it, get it now!  Thanks for visiting today!  Be sure to stop by the Paper Players blog to check out what the other designers created as well, then share yours with us as well!

A few people from our church got together to do some bowling yesterday!  

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Here's a Card, Seaside Notions
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Seaside Spray, Gray Granite, Sand & Sea DSP
Ink	Gray Granite, Rococo Rose, Seaside Spray, Purple Posy
Accessories	Polka Dot Tulle, Seaside Spray Twine, Dimensionals, In Color Resin Embellishments (ret), Whale of a Time Sequins
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies, Sponge Daubers

Dutch Birthday

 Hi peeps, happy Friday!  I have a card similar to my Inspired By card from yesterday (you can see it here).  I don't know about you, but often my cardmaking process is full of stops, starts, detours and crashes!  Sometimes I am able to take the casualties from the "accidents" and make a new card, which is what I did today!  I had originally stamped the scalloped border of my card in Just Jade, but it seemed too strong of a color for the florals, so I opted for a softer Mint Macaron.  But I saved that Just Jade piece, and when I turned the DSP over, this pretty floral appeared!  I had an older Artistic Outpost set on my desk, which featured a windmill I had never gotten inky, so I inked it up in Just Jade and here's what turned out:

I took advantage of a little scrap of polka dot paper that coordinated, and layered it under the scallop, then added some Bumblebee gingham ribbon:

I still had Little Cuties on my desk, so I used the birthday sentiment from it and diecut it with a Tasteful Labels die:

And I happened to see this Library challenge on my friend Michele's blog, so I am entering it there as well:

It's funny...when I was a little girl, I was obsessed with Holland!  I wanted to visit there; not sure what the appeal was, maybe windmills, wooden sabots or tulips!  Might have been a children's book I read too!  Anyway, this brought back some fond memories!  Thanks for visiting today!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Buffalo Check, Little Cuties (ret), A Lovely Day (Artistic Outpost)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Just Jade, Flowers for All Seasons DSP, Crushed Curry DSP
Ink	Just Jade
Accessories	Bumblebee Gingham Ribbon, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangles Dies, Tasteful Labels Dies

TTTC106 Easter Blessings

Hello again, stampers!  Time for a new Tic Tac Toe challenge...I am the hostess this week and here is the grid I've chosen:

I am just obsessed with the sentiment from W+9's Spring Blessings set....I love the font, it is just so pretty!  And here is how I incorporated it today, using the right column of Leaves, Green and Die Cut:

I found this pretty wreath embossing folder in my stash and thought it would be fun to make an Easter egg wreath, but that was an epic fail, LOL!  So I cut an oval out of the center and backed it with a panel stamped with the Buffalo Check stamp in Soft Seafoam and added the sentiment in Pear Pizzazz to match the embossed panel:

I went to my Pierced Blooms die, cut out several flowers and leaves and placed them around the edge of the opening to create a pretty floral ensemble:

For some extra sparkle, I diecut some Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper for the centers and added some Old Olive Linen thread as a ribbon.  This is just about it for my Easter card stamping....although I still have lots more ideas, so I am not promising anything, LOL!  But I do hope you'll come over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge blog and play with my grid this week!  Can't wait to see what you create!

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Buffalo Check, Spring Blessings (W+9)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride, Purple Posy, Soft Seafoam DSP, Barely Banana (ret), Dazzling Diamond Glimmer (ret)
Ink	Pear Pizzazz, Soft Seafoam
Accessories	Old Olive Linen Thread (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Pierced Blooms Dies, Layering Ovals Dies,  Wreath Die (Recollections)

IB167 Spring into Color

Happy Thursday, peeps!  Look at today's lovely spring confection from Inspired By: 

And here's the optional sketch:

I am a wee bit embarrassed to admit that I have NO tulip stamps or dies!!!  But I did find this gorgeous DSP from the Flower for All Seasons that featured similar colors, so I went full speed ahead with it:

For my layout, I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches:

I began by stamping a sentiment from one of SU's very first photopolymer stamps, Endless Birthday Wishes, in Magenta Madness and matted it on a piece of Magenta Madness cardstock that had been embossed with the Stitched With Whimsy die that I fussy-cut around the stitching.  I also added a few little flower sprigs from the DSP as well:

The scalloped portion at the bottom is Mint Macaron, stamped with the Buffalo Check stamp and diecut with the retired Seasonal Layers die; a little Mint Macaron ribbon adds some sheen:

It's a bit bold, but so is our inspiration photo!  It's fun to go out of one's comfort zone occasionally!  I hope you'll be inspired by our spring tulips this week and play along with us!  Check out what the DT did at the Inspired By blog as well!  Thanks for popping in today!

"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.  The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor." I Corinthians 3:6-8

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Buffalo Check, Endless Birthday Wishes (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Mint Macaron, Magenta Madness, Flower for All Seasons DSP
Ink	Magenta Madness, Mint Macaron
Accessories	Dimensionals, Mint Macaron Ribbon (ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies, Stitched With Whimsy Dies, Seasonal Layers Dies (ret)

In(k)spire Me Celebrate You

I hadn't played with the In(k)spire Me challenge for a while, so I thought I'd give it a go!  It's got colors and/or sketches, so I decided to use both...and the colors were a challenge:

I searched my stash for some DSPs, took Sailing Home off the shelf and went to work:

I stamped the lighthouse in Pretty Peacock and added some "light" with some Crushed Curry ink, and colored in the water with Seaside Spray.  The sentiment from Itty Bitty Birthdays was also stamped with Crushed Curry ink.  I added some "rope" embellishment from the matching die set too:

The colors were a challenge, but I loved the sketch!  I am also entering this in a new-to-me Make The Cards challenge, which is Masculine!   

Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Sailing Home, Itty Bitty Birthdays
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Pretty Peacock, Crushed Curry DSP, Plaid Tidings DSP (ret), Seaside Spray DSP (ret)
Ink	Crushed Curry, Pretty Peacock, Seaside Spray
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Smooth Sailing Dies