CASC&S426 Smile

Hey there, peeps!  Wow, it's the last day of June!  That month whizzed by for sure!  My friend and I are hitting the pool this afternoon to try to stay cool, so this will be quick!  The CAS Colours and Sketches challenge has a color palette AND a sketch to use this week:

I am not sure just how clean my card is, but I did have fun creating it since these peachy hues are some of my favorites!!  Since all the colors are retired, I did use a little creative license and substituted a couple of them....I'll show you where:

My image is one of the florals from Jar of Flowers; I was going to add the jar below the image but in the end, just left it alone.  I stamped it in Sahara Sand, then colored it with Blends of Pink Pirouette, Pale Papaya, Ivory and Cajun Craze:

I added a little interest to the background by masking my image and stamping the word collage from Quiet Moments in Pink Pirouette ink, then added the "smile" from Lovely You.  I couldn't find any Tangerine Tango in my stash, so I substituted with Tangelo Twist.  I put it on a Pale Papaya card base (instead of Peach Parfait) which was embossed with Tasteful Textile embossing folder, and the banner was embossed with the Checks mini embossing folder.  I think this could be used for any number of occasions, so I left the inside blank!  Thanks for popping in today!

And since I was working with peachy hues, I thought I would share a shot of a rose that I saw at Longwood last week.  It was almost past its prime, but it was still beautiful!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Jar of Flowers, Lovely You, Quiet Meadow
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Pale Papaya, Tangelo Twist (ret)
Ink	Sahara Sand, Tangelo Twist (ret), Pink Pirouette (ret)
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Checks & Dots Embossing Folder, Tasteful Textile Embossing Folder, Blends

Woodsy Deer Christmas

 Happy Tuesday, peeps!  Hot enough for you?  It's sweltering here in PA, I am trying to stay cool by stamping Christmas cards and hitting my brother's pool!  Here's my card; it features the sketch from Sunday Stamps as well as the "Neutral Noel" challenge at Jingle Belles!

I pulled out a Unity stamp I have only used once that I can remember, along with some neutral papers:

I stamped the deer twice in Soft Suede on Very Vanilla cardstock, cutting one panel with a Stitched Rectangle die, then fussy-cutting the deer from the other one.  I added a background stamp of Joy to the World on the rectangle panel in Sahara Sand to fill it in a bit.  I colored the deer in with some Blends, and added sponging to it with Cinnamon Cider.  The larger DSP was also sponged with Cinnamon Cider ink, and I diecut some "greenery" (or should I say "brownery") from Cinnamon Cider cardstock and stamped some music on them too!  It still looked a little plain, so I added a coppery bow, which made me think of adding a coppery mat!!!  I diecut a panel from some retired Brushed Copper, using the Stitched So Sweetly dies, cut it apart, and tucked it behind my deer.  

Before adhering everything together, I ran the Crumb Cake card base through the Big Shot using the new Wintery embossing folder and sponged a little ink on that too!  I was pretty happy with the results, although I wish my sponging had been a little more subtle on the background paper...oh well!  And  it looks very "white" here in the picture, but it's really more tan....just couldn't get my camera to capture the true color!  Thanks for visiting today and popping in!

A couple last pictures from Longwood; the children's area has lots of fun fountains, including these little birds spouting water:

And of course, Cassidy had to stick her fingers in it!!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	All is Calm All is Bright (Unity), Joy to the World Hymn (Our Daily Bread Designs)
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Cinnamon Cider, Brushed Copper (ret), Home for Christmas DSP (Kaisercraft)
Ink	Cinnamon Cider, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand
Accessories	Metallic Ribbon (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Wintery EF, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Stitched So Sweetly Dies, Holiday Greens Dies (Tim Holtz), Blends

Fun with Scraps

Happy Monday, peeps!  Hope you had a great weekend!  I spent a lot of time in my craft room yesterday as it was sweltering hot outside and I needed to make a bunch of cards!  No challenges, but I was able to use up some scraps that had been collecting on my desk!  Here we go:

Both these cards use pieces of Sweet Symmetry...such pretty papers!  I trimmed pieces to 1 1/8" x 3 1/4" and they fit perfectly on this Scalloped Contour diecut.  I added a sentiment from Sunny Sentiments and a few "Ritz cracker" flowers from Pierced Blooms:

I had a few more smaller pieces of the same cardstock, so I trimmed them down and added a Scalloped Contour "frame":

I diecut three "friend" pieces from Night of Navy using the Well-Written die, adhered them together and added some Shimmery Crystal Effects and a rhinestone for pizzazz:

You also might be able to see embossed polka dots on the base of the card; I used the Dots embossing folder from Checks & Dots; it's a smaller EF so it only embosses a partial section of the card, but I was able to re-position it to emboss the rest of the card, and it worked perfectly!  Thanks for popping in today!

My bird feeders are in my flower bed, so they're rather messy, LOL!  But there is an upside:

This particular plant has about 35 buds on it....I can't wait to see them all in the bloom!  Plus the finches love the seeds once they mature!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

"Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.  I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands."  Psalm 64:3-4

 

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Sunny Sentiments
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Calypso Coral, Flirty Flamingo, Night of Navy, Bumblebee, Sweet Symmetry DSP
Ink	Night of Navy
Accessories	Dimensionals, Shimmery Crystal Effects, Noble Peacock Rhinestones (ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Pierced Blooms Dies, Scalloped Contours Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Stitched So Sweetly Dies,  Checks & Dots Embossing Folder, Well-Written Dies (ret)

PP547 Get Better Soon

Happy Sunday, peeps!  I hope you're having a good weekend so far!  I had some fun with my stamping friends yesterday...always good to get together!  Today's Paper Players challenge is a sketch from Laurie! I do love sketches!!!  Here we go:

I wanted to make a card for a friend who's going through a rough patch, and Back On Your Feet hasn't seen much ink lately, so I got out my stamps, paper and ink, and here's what I came up with:

I just love the look on that poor turtle's face!  Anyway, I used some Soft Succulent cardstock and designer paper, using the Stitched Rectangle and Scalloped Contour dies, then decided to add a small Soft Seafoam mat to break up the color.  It matched my little turtle too; he was stamped in Stazon Black, then watercolored with Soft Seafoam and Soft Succulent inks, then fussy-cut and popped up:

I added a couple of sentiments from the same set and mounted it all on a Basic White card that was embossed with Tasteful Textile embossing folder.  Simple but cute!  I hope you'll play along with our sketch this week...it's so versatile and the design team has made some wonderful samples as well!  Check them all out at the Paper Players, then come play along with us!  Thanks for visiting today!

Here's a picture of Cassidy next to Chloe and Lucinda, two bronze statues of goats in the Children's Garden at Longwood.  You can click on their names to read about them...they're life-size! And they won't eat anything they're not supposed to!!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Back On Your Feet
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Soft Seafoam, Soft Succulent, In Colors DSP
Ink	Stazon Black, Soft Succulent, Soft Seafoam
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Tasteful Textile EF,  Stitched Rectangle Dies, Scalloped Contour Dies, Aquapainter

AYSI253 Speedy Leafy Thanks

Happy Friday, peeps!  Phew, good thing Heather at As You See It has my  back...I almost forgot my card for this week!  And it's a SPEED stamping challenge!  I managed to get mine done in a little over 9 minutes!  Here is our theme:

I got this lovely skeleton leaf stamp from Sweet & Sassy at the end of last fall and haven't really had a chance to use it, and it came to mind when I saw the challenge!  So here we go:

 

I stamped it with Soft Succulent ink, trimmed it a bit and added a Soft Succulent mat.  I used my Stamparatus to stamp a sentiment in Evening Evergreen and Soft Succulent right below the leaf, and I added some In Color jewels:

The panel looked a little bare, and I didn't want to add ribbon, so I made a banner of Soft Succulent, distressed it with my bone folder, then tore it apart to look like suede.  I sponged on a wee little bit of matching ink and glued it on FAST!

Now, what can you create in ten minutes or less?  Get your supplies ready, think of your design and GO!  Can't wait to see what you make...check out the As You See It blog to see all the DT's samples too!  

Yesterday was probably one of the most beautiful days we've had for a long long time!  Warm and sunny, no humidity, it was perfect!  We took an impromptu trip to Longwood Gardens now that masks are no longer needed and it was great!  We saw the fountains and heard the music that went along with it:

Walked along the stones up to the Bell Tower and heard the Carillon:

Cassidy took a selfie of us:

And we even met up with Uncle Raymond, who is an engineer there, and he took us on his golf cart to get us an ice cream!  It's helpful to know people in high places!

That could be why I forgot to make my card for today, I was having too much fun at Longwood!  Thanks for popping by...enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Ornate Thanks, Skeleton Leaf (Sweet & Sassy Stamps
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Soft Succulent
Ink	Soft Succulent, Evening Evergreen
Accessories	In Color Gems
Tools	Stamparatus

IB180 Flippin' Out

Hi there, stampers!  It's Thursday, and that means a new Inspired By challenge!  Check out THESE cookies:

 

CUTE as can be!  I knew just what stamp I wanted to use for this challenge...an older Impression Obsession set I've had for a while! So here we go:

I stamped a bunch of the flipflops in different colors, fussy-cut them as well as the straps and layered them on a 7 x 3 1/4" slim card; I added rhinestones on each one for fun!  I used the sketch from Make The Cards this week instead of the IB sketch:

I used the sentiment from the same IO set:

My final addition was a strip of retired SU DSP along the left fold!  I am going to send this to a certain someone who has helped me out this week!!  It has certainly been a week where I felt like I was going to flip out!  

Now....how will you interpret this fun challenge?  Be sure to stop by the Inspired By blog to see what inspired our designers...their creations are pretty amazing!  And of course, share your creations with us too!   PLUS, we'll be taking a little bloggy break, but we'll be back in August with some wonderful new photo challenges!  Hope to see you then! 

It's blueberry-picking time and we went out Monday evening to do some picking; it was a beautiful evening!  But as we were picking, a storm began to come through---we had heard it was in the middle of the state, coming eastward, so we weren't surprised.  But we were surprised to see what I was later told was a "shelf cloud":

It was pretty amazing!  And we did get some rain, but no hail and it the wind wasn't really that bad!  But those clouds were quite impressive!  Thanks for visiting today!   Enjoy your day and be blessed!

"Have you seen the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail. which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?  Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path of thunderstorm, to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?  Job 38:22-27

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Flip Out (Impression Obsession)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, A Little Foxy DSP (ret)
Ink	Coastal Cabana, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Calypso Coral, Granny Apple Green, Strawberry Slush (ret), Blushing Bride
Accessories	Rhinestones
Tools

Free Shipping - One Day Only!

Hey peeps! Just a reminder that tomorrow, June 24, Stampin' Up! is offering FREE SHIPPING on orders of $50 or more (before tax), so if you want to gear up for some holiday stamping, or there is something on your wish list, now is the time!  You can contact me directly, or just order directly through my website!  There's a link on the right sidebar!! Happy shopping and happy stamping! 

TCC158 Beachy Birthday

Hi there, everyone!  Today is the last Card Concept until the fall, as we'll be taking a summer break!  But look how fun this challenge is:

 

At the Card Concept, we like for you to tell us your style as well as what inspired you (you can see all the "styles" on the CC blog), and today, I made a clean-and-layered card inspired by the colors in the whale welcome sign, the braid around the display, the sand dollars and the skinny font on the mugs!  Here we go:

I found a small rectangle of "paneling" paper; it was actually white, so I gave it a wash with some weak Pool Party ink to color it to the shade I wanted.  Of course, I didn't let it dry all the way, so when I stamped my sentiment, it bled a little, and when I added some watery speckles, it bled a little more!

I guess that adds to the "seaside" theme, LOL!  I loosely used a sketch that I saw at Fusion, and stamped some sand dollars in Sahara Sand to tuck down on the lower right.  I added some thick white twine and then mounted it on a panel of ocean blue that was embossed with a Seaside embossing folder:

It all went on a Crumb Cake card base....really easy and really beachy!  I hope you'll play along with our last challenge of the season...be sure to tell us your style and inspiration too!  You can see all the details, as well as what the other designers created, at the Card Concept blog! 

Cassidy wanted to make silly putty yesterday, so we gathered up some glue, food coloring and Borax and started mixing:

Soon it began pulling together and looking more like silly putty...albeit green silly putty!

Then she had to knead it together....it turned from a squishy mess into a nice mound of putty!

Even Grampy was impressed!

 Thanks for stopping by--enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Paper Pumpkin (ret), Seashells (Inkadinkado)
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Basic White, Wonderland DSP (Kaisercraft)
Ink	Pool Party, Sahara Sand, Soft Suede
Accessories	Dimensionals, White Twine from my stash
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangles Die, Seaside Embossing Folder, Aquapainter

RRCB161 Sweet Birthday Wish

Hi peeps!  Happy Tuesday, happy second day of summer and happy Retro Rubber Challenge day!  It's a sweet treat inspiration for sure!  Check it out: 

My stamps for today's card are from a Unity set called All Smiles, and it is from June of 2011!  So here we go:

I stamped the ice cream image in Memento Black and colored it with various Blends.  The sentiment is from the same set, stamped in Soft Suede.  The background is Crumb Cake, stamped with a grid image from Timeless Textures (2018), and my mats are Mint Macaron and Crisp Cantaloupe.  I added the Baker's Twine as an afterthought and wish I hadn't....I think it would have looked better without!  Oh well!  It's still a yummy stack of ice cream and it is making me wish I had some right now!

I hope you'll find something retro in your stash of stamps that will fit the challenge for this week!  Stamp it up, tell us the approximate age and share it with us at Retro Rubber!  Can't wait to see what you create!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Timeless Textures (ret), All Smiles (Unity)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Crumb Cake, Mint Macaron, Crisp Cantaloupe (ret)
Ink	Memento Black, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake
Accessories	Dimensionals, Crisp Cantaloupe Baker's Twine (ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Scalloped Contour Dies, Blends in Various Colors

Tower Father's Day Card

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope you had a good weekend!  I promised I would try to share some directions for this card, and while the photos aren't very good, I do have a bit of a tutorial for you!  Since I already had the cardstock cut, scored and assembled to make the sample, I went ahead and decorated it for Wayne's Father's Day card:

I used lots of retired SU products, did some embossing and fussy-cutting:

Some stamping and diecutting (even though he's technically not my son, he IS my #1 son-in-law!):

And had a fun time doing it!  He loves football (Eagles) and baseball (Phillies) and he is the manager of our church softball team (we are currently in first place!) so I made sure I got some of those elements in there as well!

Now for the tutorial; as I said, the photos are not very good, but hopefully you'll be able to still get the gist of it!  This creates a standard sized card, so the panels to be decorated are not real big, but I think it still makes for an impressive card!  So here we go:

1.  Cut 4 pieces of cardstock 2 5/8" x 5 1/2".  Score each one at 1/2" on the short side and fold and burnish.  You should have a 1/2" "tab" along each left side:

2.  Lay one piece on your work surface with the left tab facing up.  Apply strong adhesive or tape to the back of the tab on the second piece of cardstock.  Adhere the edge of that tab right next to the fold of the piece that is on your work surface:

3.  Do the same thing for the third piece:  apply strong adhesive to the back of the tab and adhere that right along the fold on the second piece of cardstock.  

4.  If you stand it up, it should look like this:

5.  Do the same thing with the last piece of cardstock. 

 6.  It should look like this:

7.  Flip over the entire piece and apply strong adhesive to the remaining tab, which is the tab on the very first piece you laid on your work surface.  Carefully adhere that to the remaining piece of cardstock, again, right next to the fold.  This is where it will turn into a 3D card.  It is helpful to pick it up to maneuver that last tab into place.

8.  Your final piece should look this this:

Be sure to burnish your tabs to make sure your adhesive stays tight....Tear N Tape or Sticky Strip works great!  When you flatten your card, it should measure 4 1/4" x 5 1/2".  At this point, you can pop it back out and decorate in whatever way you wish.  It is helpful to create a test one first using some scrap cardstock or paper.  Once you get the basic idea down, they come together quickly!  Have fun, hope it was helpful!  And enjoy your day and be blessed!

After a long day:

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Camouflage, Epic Alphabet, Have a Ball, Misc Paper Pumpkin (all ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Call me Clover (ret)
Ink	Cajun Craze, Garden Green, Smoky Slate, Real Red, Cinnamon Cider, Crumb Cake
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stars EF, Decorative Dots EF (all ret), Diamond Plate EF (Cuttlebug), Typewriter EF (Tim Holtz), Timeless Type Alphabet Jr Sizzlits Dies (ret)