IC135 Thanks a Bunch

Happy Tuesday, all! Wow, it's the last day of January....time flies!  Today I have a card using the Thanks a Bunch SAB set....I didn't think a set featuring carrots would appeal to me, but it's really fun to use!  I started with the sketch from Inspire.Create:

and some papers from the Dandy Designs pack, also a SAB freebie!  Here we go:

I stamped the carrots in Mango Melody, Pumpkin Pie and Soft Suede, and the leaves in various shades of green, then fussy-cut them all out.  I gathered them together on a Basic White diecut circle on which I stamped the little dots in Pale Papaya:

For a little additional interest, the horizonal panel of Mango Melody cardstock was scored on my scoring board diagonally at 1/4" intervals.  Since the DSP was pretty busy, I didn't want to detract from it but did want to give it a little something extra!  I stamped the "thanks" in Garden green, then on the inside:

added some baby carrots and the rest of the sentiment!  So cute!  Thanks for popping in today!

The bowling alley that the kids went to on Saturday has a photo booth!  What fun!  Our pastor's kids all gathered in with Cassidy for a group shot:

They are the CUTEST kids!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Thanks a Bunch
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Mango Melody, Granny Apple Green, Dandy Designs DSP
Ink	Mango Melody, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Suede, Granny Apple Green, Garden Green, Evening Evergren, Parakeet Party, Old Olive, Pale Papaya
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, Layering Circles Dies, Score Board

FMS570 Sympathy

Happy Monday morning, peeps!  Hope you had a good weekend!  It was a good one for Philly sports fans for sure as the Eagles are headed to the Super Bowl!  My SIL is one happy Eagles fan!  I spent a wee bit of time in my craft room this weekend because I needed a sympathy card and I am squeaking this one in over at Freshly Made Sketches just in the nick of time!  Here's their sketch from Jen T:

And here we go:

I used some pretty papers from Carta Bella called Home Again and paired them with the large floral image from Happiness Abounds:

It was stamped in the retired shade of Mellow Moss (which SU should never have retired, in my opinion!) and I also stamped some leaves on Mellow Moss cardstock, and diecut everything out.  The sentiment from Special Moments was stamped in Evening Evergreen.  I did add a wee bit of satin ribbon from my stash along with a diecut border.  On the inside, a Stamp Simply Bible verse:

It will be in the mail today!  Thanks for popping in!

Cassidy's team did win their basketball game although she sat out for a lot of it.  Her karate black belt testing is starting and she did several hours of intense work the Friday night and Saturday morning before her game, so she was just worn out.  She did recover enough to go bowling with her church friends on Saturday afternoon:

I forgot to ask her if she managed to a spare on this one!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak. Isaiah 40: 28-29

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Happiness Abounds, Special Moments (ret), Farmhouse Scriptural Quotes (Stamp Simply)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Shimmery White, Mello Moss (ret), Home Again DSP (Carta Bella)
Ink	Evening Evergreen, Mello Moss (ret)
Accessories	Dimensionals, Satin ribbon from my stash
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Blossoming Happiness Dies, Arts & Crafts Dies (ret)

PP625 Love You More Than Cookies

Happy Sunday, everyone!  Our Paper Players challenge today features the amazing Joanne with an amazing sketch!  Here we go:

 

This year I have been trying to use more of the products I have from the regular catalog rather than focus on the mini catalog, so I went through what I had and realized the Nothing Better Than set, with its matching dies, would be perfect for a Valentine's card!  I did combine it with some newer products, so I gave some love to all!  So here we go:

In retrospect, I wish I had used a different background DSP for my card, but I had already started adhering stuff before I changed my mind!! It's from the Day at the Farm pack, which is available as a free SAB item!  Anyway, it's all pretty simple!  For the upper image, I diecut some hearts from Country Floral Lane DSP, and added a red glimmer heart as well.  It was punched from the back of the glimmer paper so that the heart would be facing in the opposite direction.  I added a little diecut arrow and a few sequins for sparkle:

The lower image was three chocolate chip cookies, along with some sequins too, and I stamped the little "sparkle" stamp from the stamp set randomly on the DSP as well.  The center diecut sentiments were cut from Real Red cardstock, and the "cookies" was stamped with Soft Suede ink.

Finally, on the inside, a sentiment and heart from the Country Bouquet set finished it off.

I think Cassidy might like this card, what do you think?  

I hope you'll find some inspiration from Joanne's sketch and play along with us this week!  The DT has come up with some amazing samples for additional inspiration!  Check them out at the Paper Players blog and play along with us!  You may be our Headliner next week!  Thanks for popping in today--enjoy it and be blessed!

We love because He first loved us.  1 John 4:19

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Nothing Better Than, Country Bouqet
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Early Espresso, Real Red, Red Glimmer, Country Floral Lane DSP, Day at the Farm DSP
Ink	Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Real Red
Accessories	Sequins from my Stash, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Love You More Than Dies, Love Note Dies (ret, for the arrow), Country Bouquet Punch

Big Celebrate

Happy Saturday, peeps!  I am off to watch another one of Cassidy's basketball games!  She struggled last week so I am hoping she does great today!  I have a Christmas card to share today--a BIG one---this one is 6" square, way larger than I usually make but it fits the Jingle Belles challenge of "Stuck on You" as well as the In(k)spire Me sketch challenge and the TGIF challenge of no stamps:

The "Stuck on You" challenge is to use a sticker, so I went way, way, way back into my stash to find some chipboard stickers I had gotten many years ago! I remember getting them at a stamp store but no idea who the manufacturer is!  Anyway, the Christmas banner appealed to me, so I turned the sketch on its side, cut some Very Vanilla 12x12" cardstock and went to work:

I found a strip of retired DSP that matched some of the colors in the chipboard and cut a strip to back it.  I diecut a zigzag strip of red glimmer paper for accent, and since I was already creating a card with a lot of thickness to it (this will need to be a hand-delivered card for sure!) I added a chipboard "celebrate" from this past holiday mini's Santa Express Cards & More:

I added a chipboard star to the "c" in celebrate, and a little wee sprig of holly to the glimmer paper strip:

This was a fun card to make, definitely out-of-the-box for me, and once I finally picked out my paper, it was a snap to put together!  I added a holiday sentiment on the inside, and created a custom envelope with my Envelope Punch Board (sadly retired) from some spare DSP!  And on another AMAZING note, while searching through my vintage Christmas stuff, I found a photopolymer stamp that I had lost probably TWO YEARS AGO!!!  YAY!!!  It was stuck to a cello bag!  A banner day for sure!

Thanks for visiting today!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.  My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.  Psalm 29:7

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Christmas to Remember (inside sentiment)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Red Glimmer, Coastal Cabana DSP
Ink	Real Red
Accessories	Chipboard Celebrate (ret), Chipboard Banner & Embellishments (unknown)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Finishing Touches Dies (ret)

Inspired By Thinking of You

 Happy Friday, peeps, happy weekend!  I have a colorful card for you today for the Inspired By challenge; here's the prompt and sketch:

I needed a get well/thinking of you card for a friend of ours who is doing some rehab, and the nested bowls in the photo reminded me of the little teacup stamp that SU had a long time ago!  I found papers to match the bright colors, cut them to fit the sketch and here we go:

I stamped the teacups in Granny Apple Green, Daffodil Delight and Tahitian Tide, then fussy cut them out and popped them up on a circular diecut:

I added some sequins, then a sentiment from Quiet Meadow, stamped in Coastal Cabana and diecut with a banner die from Give It A Whirl, then added another sentiment from the same set on the inside, highlighting it with a circle stamp from Watercolor Shapes:

Thanks for popping in today, I appreciate it!  AND I appreciate all the comments and suggestions about my mess-up on the 80th birthday card!  Some great ideas, thanks so much!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Quiet Meadow, Watercolor Shapes, Tiny Teacup (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Dandy Designs DSP, Daffodil Delight DSP, Tahitian Tide DSP, Celebrate Everything DSP (ret)
Ink	Coastal Cabana, So Saffron, Daffodil Delight, Tahitian Tide, Granny Apple Green
Accessories	Sequins from my stash, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, Give It A Whirl Dies

Altered Valentine Tin

Happy Thursday, everyone!  I have very few Valentine's decorations...I wonder why?  For some reason, it's just not a holiday that warrants many decor items in my house, LOL!  Anyway, I thought I'd take a little Altoids tin and alter it with some retro Valentines to at least add a little heart-felt spirit to my home!  I found a red one and went to work, perusing all my vintage Valentine images I had saved.  Here we go:

I started by covering the front center of my tin with some Bo Bunny Kiss the Cook paper.  I printed out a few vintage/retro images on cardstock and fussy-cut them, adding some sponging to give them an older appearance. The front also uses images and words from a retired SU set called Sealed With Love, along with some Tim Holtz sentiment stickers.  I get a lot of my vintage images from the Graphics Fairy, but there are other sites around that share them as well.  Here's the back; it used DSP from Country Floral Lane:

I used some scraps for the inside, adding some diecut hearts here and there.  Each image was printed out twice, fussy-cut, then the second image was popped up with strips of adhesive foam:

Anybody remember getting little Valentines in school with these types of images on them?

Finally, to cover up the words on the side, I used some retired SU ribbon, adhering it with Tear N Tape:

These are so fun to make, but I really need to amp up my Valentine decor as it looks rather lost all by itself!

So here's a funny tale about the card I made yesterday for the 80 year-old birthday boy (and I am sure none of you have ever had an episode like this); blessedly, before I stuck the card in the mail, I found out he's turning EIGHTY-FIVE, not 80!  I had to remove the card from the already-sealed envelope, remove the center of the card, and re-stamp everything with an "85" instead of an "80".  I am sure he would have gotten a kick out of the fact that I had him five years younger than he really was!  Thanks for popping in today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Winter Scene for an 80th Birthday

Hi stampers!  Yay, it's Wednesday and I have a very special birthday card for a friend of ours who will soon be 80!  I combined the Atlantic Hearts Sketch and the Retro Rubber Winter Scene theme to create my card for him:

The sketch had some decidedly feminine aspects to it but I envisioned some masculine elements, even though I did sprinkle a few sequins on there....hope he doesn't mine too much!  So here we go:

My cabin image is from Reflected in Nature (2021), stamped in Misty Moonlight ink.  I just love the detail on this, and I didn't get hardly any use from it when it was current!  I diecut it with a circle die and added a mat from Kraft cardstock.  Instead of flowers, I used some Seaside Spray "greenery", accented with sequins, and I added a denim ribbon behind my sentiment:

I diecut a piece of brown and blue plaid paper with a Spellbinders rounded-edge die and mounted everything on a Early Espresso card base, on which I also rounded the edges. The sentiment on the inside was from A Dozen Thoughts (2013) and to get that 80 in there, I stamped the numbers from Number of Years (2016) behind the sentiment in Soft Seaspray.  The eagle was also from Reflected in Nature.  Hope he likes it!

Thank you for much for popping in today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Rich and poor have this in common: the Lord is the Maker of them all. Proverbs 22:2

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Reflected in Nature (2021), Number of Years (2016), A Dozen Thoughts (2013), Your Biggest Fan (2022)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Kraft, Early Espresso, Seaside Spray (ret),  Woodsy Plaid DSP (Memory Box)
Ink	Seaside Spray (ret), Misty Moonlight (ret)
Accessories	Sequins from my stash, Denim Ribbon
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Layering Circle Dies, Zigzag Circle Dies (Sizzix), Ornate Frames Dies (ret), Holiday Greens Dies (Tim Holtz), Curved Matting Basics A Dies (Spellbinders), Corner Rounder Punch (ret)

Fun Fold Valentine

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  I found a lovely card while scrolling through Facebook yesterday that featured a pretty (and pretty easy) fun fold!  Here's the YouTube link to the original card HERE.  Her card is 5 7/8" high and I cut mine down to 5 1/2" to fit in a standard envelope.  This is my prototype; I used retired Lovely Lipstick cardstock along with Country Floral Lane and Country Gingham DSPs, and several different stamp sets.  So here we go:

First, let me say that I know the Lovely Lipstick doesn't match the colors in my DSP and ribbon, but it was my prototype!!  The card starts as a gatefold, then when it is opened, the fun fold pops out:

I added some DSP panels and stamped the "Love You" in Real Red, then diecut them out.  The heart was punched from the DSP, and the "valentine" sentiment was fussy cut from the Love For You set as well:

The belly band is Mossy Meadow; I diecut a couple of panels for the sentiment, and I stamped the top floral in Petal Pink, filling in the leaves with a Mossy Meadow marker and the hearts with a Poppy Parade marker.  I added some of the Real Red ribbon for added interest:

I am going to enter this at Anything Goes with a Fun Fold!

I do have another quick little get-well card; it uses the sketch from  As You See It:

This is note-card sized; the base is Very Vanilla and I covered the front with a piece of Balmy Blue DSP:

I pulled out some really old stamps; the bird is from Of the Earth (2009) and the sentiment is from A  Dozen Thoughts (2013).  The diecut borders are from the Arts & Crafts dies....aren't they pretty?  I feel bad that I don't use them often enough!

The inside sentiment is from Friend to Friend (2004).  It feels good to get some older stamps inky! 

So yesterday I took a little class at the local Senior Center and we learned to decorate cupcakes; this month's theme was animals!  So here is my labradoodle:

I definitely need practice with that grass tip!  And my polar bear, which looks more like a husky to me:

I've played with decorator bags, icing and tips, but had never made anything like this!  The fondant tongue just cracks me up!  John refuses to eat them, he says they're too special to eat, LOL!  Thanks for visiting today--enjoy it and be blessed!

First Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Love For You, Eden's Garden, Country Bouquet
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Petal Pink, Mossy Meadow, Lovely Lipstick (ret), Country Floral Lane DSP, Country Gingham DSP
Ink	Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Mint Macaron
Accessories	Real Red Ribbon
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Stylish Shapes Dies, Stitched With Whimsy Dies, Love For You Dies, Country Bouquet Punch, Mossy Meadow & Poppy Parade Markers

Second Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Of the Earth (ret), A Dozen Thoughts (ret), Friend to Friend (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Balmy Blue DSP
Ink	Balmy Blue, Midnight Muse (ret)
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, Arts & Crafts Dies (ret)

378 Moo Birthday

Happy Monday, peeps!  Boy, I have been a LAZY stamper lately!  I think it's the holiday let-down!  How about you?  Are you in a stamping funk?  Anyway, I managed to squeak out a very simple card for my great-nephew Sawyer!  He's that red-headed imp I sometimes show you pictures of!  I think he's going to be five---it's hard for me to keep track of their ages!  Anyway, since his family lives in farm country, the On the Farm series was a natural choice to use!  I made use of the Global Design Project sketch for this week:

and here we go:

Since this card is for a little one, and a little boy at that, I didn't put a lot of doodads on it!  The DSP is the SAB Day at the Farm. I dusted off Labeler Alphabet to make the "moo" (wouldn't it have been nice if this farm set had some "moo"s and "oink"s and "cluck"s in it?), punching out the letters with a 1/4" square punch and mounting them on a Conversation Bubble diecut.  Since it looked a little bare, I mounted the bubble on a piece of Soft Suede and fussy cut around it to make a border, then mounted it on a diecut banner:

I couldn't wait to use the new Best Family Ever set for the inside; I added the "luv ya" from Conversation Bubbles and a couple more images from On the Farm.  

Thanks for popping in today!

This is my surprise for today; my phone says that it is RAINING but as I look out my window, this is what I see:

Hopefully it will subside by this afternoon...I am taking a little cupcake-decorating class at our senior center! Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	On the Farm, Conversation Bubbles, Best Family Ever
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Day at the Farm DSP, Old Olive DSP
Ink	Soft Suede, Crumb Cake
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Conversation Bubbles Dies, Stylish Shapes Dies, Stamparatus, Gingham EF, 1/4" Square Punch (ret)