AHSC536 Aloha Birthday

Happy Monday, everyone!  I hope & pray you had a restful weekend!  I have a fun beachy-themed birthday card for our niece and I am using the Atlantic Hearts Sketch for it!  Here's the sketch:

Tomorrow SU starts a sale on kits, and I thought it would be fun to use the Little Smile kit---unfortunately, I only found this kit currently available in French, so I guess I should have checked BEFORE I made it, but I am still going to show it because there are lots of other fun kits available on the website! I have a couple more that hopefully I can highlight throughout the week!  Anyway, here we go:

I used DSPs in Pool Party, Crumb Cake and Old Olive to make my 1 1/4" banners and layered them on a Basic White card base that was embossed with the Twisted Rope EF.  The circular element features a vellum piece from the kit that I sponged lightly with Pool Party ink, the palm tree and a couple of glimmer punchouts:

The sentiments inside and out are from Lasting Joy, and I added a couple of stamped starfish from the stamp set included in the kit as well:

And going along with my beachy/aloha theme, as promised, here is a birthday card from my friend Wendy....I just love this wave!

And finally (this will make you jealous!), some photos from Dana, Wayne & Cassidy's recent vacation to Punta Cana:

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Lasting Joy, A Little Smile Kit (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Pool Party DSP, Crumb Cake DSP, Old Olive DSP (ret)
Ink	Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Old Olive
Accessories	Mini Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, Tailor Made Tags Dies, Blending Brush

PP651 Blueberry TicTac Toe

Happy Sunday, everyone!  Time for a new Paper Players challenge, and since it's the fifth Sunday of the month, Jaydee has a tic-tac-toe grid for us:

I chose the left column of flowers, feminine and blue!  I did manage to get some diecuts and embossing in there too!  Here we go:

I also used the sketch from Sunday Stamps and the Just Add Ink challenge had a "choose two" prompt, so I chose gingham and flowers (and I did add a couple of splatters too!):

I stamped and fussy-cut the flowers from Inked and Tiled and layered them on a panel of  Blueberry Bushel cardstock and gingham:

and added a Tailor Made Tag on which I stamped a sentiment from Biggest Wish:

I added some seam binding ribbon and some blue gems and mounted everything on a Basic White card base that was embossed with the Countryside Blossoms embossing folder.  I think this gingham creates a very fresh-looking card!  And I hope you'll play along with our Tic Tac Toe grid this week!  Check out what the other designers created with it over at the Paper Players blog!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Biggest Wish, Inked & Tiled, Color & Contour (speckles)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Blueberry Bushel Gingham
Ink	Blueberry Bushel, Garden Green, Azure Afternoon
Accessories	Rhinestones, Crinked Seam Binding (ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Countryside Blossoms EF, Tailor Made Tags Dies, Scalloped Contour Dies, Night of Navy Blend (to color rhinestone)

AHSC535 Thank You

Happy Saturday, peeps!  A little late today, but here nevertheless!  I wanted to squeak in a card for the Atlantic Hearts Sketch challenge before it ended:

I had some of this Blueberry Bushel left over from the card that I made for my Paper Players challenge for tomorrow (a sneak peek, LOL!) so I decided to use it to make a little slimline thank you card:

This card measures 3"x7" and uses the Timeless Arrangements bundle. All the elements were stamped in Blueberry Bushel and colored lightly with ink and an aquapainter.  I just love the elements featured in this set!  The sentiments and matching panels are great too!

I finished it off with some pearls and it was good to go!

Yesterday was my birthday and I want to thank everyone who made it extra-special with all the gorgeous, thoughtful cards that were sent! I'll take pictures of them and share them in the next few days!  We spent some time with family and didn't get a single picture!  That's how it goes sometimes! Anyway, thanks for popping in today--enjoy it and be blessed!  And be sure to come back tomorrow for a new Paper Players challenge! 

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Timeless Arrangements
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Blueberry Bushed Gingham
Ink	Blueberry Bushel
Accessories	Pearls, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Timeless Arrangement Dies, Aquapainter

FMS596 Dash Away All

Happy Friday, peeps!  I am on a Christmas card roll for some reason...I have totally skipped over fall, but I am sure I'll get to it soon, LOL!  The FMS sketch this week was really neat:

And surprisingly enough, the idea that I had for it worked out fairly well!  Here we go:

I can't believe that I used Starry Sky cardstock twice in one week!  But I wanted to make a sky for my Dash Away All diecut from Tim Holtz, and it seemed like a perfect color!  I first diecut the image from Basic Black cardstock, then cut a piece of Starry Sky to fit the top of my Basic White card.  I diecut just the top portion of the die from the bottom of the cardstock, then inlaid the two diecut pieces together and glued them to the white card:

Before adhering, I embossed the Starry Sky panel with the Softly Falling embossing folder, then colored each "star" with a Silver Zig Painty Pen. I also diecut a moon from the silver More Dazzle specialty paper.  And thank you to everyone who gave me some hints about embossing!  This attempt was a little better....still a couple of strays, but I used the Embossing Buddy more liberally, I inked my stamp FIRST with Versamark, then craft white ink, and I was a little more intentional about flicking away the strays with a tiny paintbrush before heating:

After heating, I diecut it with the Bitty Banners dies and popped it up with black mini dimensionals.  The inside was stamped wtih a fun sentiment from CC Designs:

I am also going to enter this at Peace on Earth Christmas; here's their sweet mood board:

Last week while coming back from my early-morning walk, I noticed a great horned owl sitting on a bench my neighbor has by his pond.  I almost fainted....I have wanted to see an owl in the daylight for a loooong time!  The video I got at that time wasn't very good, but yesterday, when I was driving home from an errand, I saw him again on another neighbor's mailbox!  I stopped my car, got out my phone, slowly backed up and was able to get several shots and this video...you have to watch to the very end to see what he did!

I am such a bird nerd!  Anyone else get excited about these things?  Thanks for visiting today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Christmas Words (Impression Obsession), Jolly Christmas (CC Designs)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Basic Black, Starry Sky, Silver More Dazzle Specialty
Ink	Versamark, White Craft, Starry Sky
Accessories	Black Mini Dimensionals, White embossing Powder
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Softly Falling EF (ret), Dash Away All Dies (Tim Holtz), Zig Silver Painty Pen, Bitty Banners Dies (ret), Heat Tool

BYSH Christmas in July

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  The week is almost half over! I have a Christmas card today for a new-to-me challenge called Build Your Stash Holiday Cards!  Their theme is Christmas in July, and although I don't think you have to use their prompt as inspiration, I liked it so much, that I did!  Here's the prompt:

(And I believe there are prizes involved!)  I used the sketch from Try Stampin' On Tuesday:

And here we go:

I used some retired DSPs in Soft Succulent and Mint Macaron and the Cottage Wreath set, stamped in White Craft ink on Mint Macaron.  I sprinkled Heat & Stick powder on the white image, heated it up and then added some chunky glitter to make my wreath sparkle.  Some giant Specialty Glimmer paper "berries" and bow, and brown pearls completed my wreath.  I mounted on an embossed banner, then used the same set for the sentiment:

It's hard to see in a photograph, but it's quite sparkly in real life!  Everything went on a Very Vanilla card, and I stamped a sentiment from Hope & Peace on the inside:

Another for my Christmas card stash!  Thanks for popping in today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Cottage Wreath, Hope & Peace
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Mint Macaron (ret), Soft Succulent DSP (ret), Country Gingham DSP (ret), Specialty Glimmer Paper (ret)
Ink	Early Espresso, Craft White
Accessories	Brown Pearls (unknown), Linen Thread, Dimensionals, Ice Stampin Glitter (ret), Heat & Stick Powder
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, Country Wreath Dies, 1/4" Hole Punch, Heat Tool

JAI662 Special Birthday

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  I totally forgot that I made this card yesterday to post today---and I want to get it entered at Just Add Ink, so I cannot delay any longer!  Here's their sketch:

I needed a birthday card for a friend who loves purple, so I pulled out some of the retired Hues of Happiness DSP and paired it with some Highland Heather cardstock, and here we go:

The Highland Heather layer was embossing the Stitched Greenery die, and accented with Starry Sky edges, and the sentiment is heat-embossed in white on another Starry Sky piece,, accented with a Fresh Freesia layer, some fussy-cut flowers, a little gem and some sparkly ribbon:

And even after twenty years of stamping, I still cannot get a decent embossed image without any strays---I used an embossing buddy, flick it off with a paintbrush...any number of things!  Anyone have any tips for the best ink/embossing powder/techniques to use??? I'd be happy to hear them!  Finally, a sentiment from Picture Perfect Birthday, one of my all-time favorite sets, went on the inside:

And it's off in the mail!  Thanks so much for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Dainty Delight, Picture Perfect Birthday (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Fresh Freesia, Highland Heather, Starry Sky, Hues of Happines DSP (ret)
Ink	Craft White, Starry Sky
Accessories	White Embossing Powder, Faceted Gem (ret), Glittered Organdy Ribbon (ret), Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Heat Tool, Stitched Greenery Die (ret)

CAS Happy Summer

Happy Monday, peeps! Stamp Camp tonight, so this is going to be quick and CAS!!  Three challenges:  Just Us Girls wants three of something; I chose the center column of summer and single layer for the Tic Tac Toe, and CAS on Sunday's theme is "Summer"!

I got this Pretty Pink Posh surfboard set a few years back and it's barely gotten inky, so I thought this would be a good time!  Here we go:

I stamped the images in Memento Black, then added color with Blends.  In hindsight, I wish I had added some pink to the board on the left...it looks a little lopsided, color-wise!  I added some "splashes" as well as some pale aqua sequins:

And on the inside, a sentiment from the retired Sweet Ice Cream:

This will make a great August birthday card for some youngster or young-at-heartster, LOL!  

Here's a little youngster I saw on my walk yesterday...and she had a twin but she was camera-shy, although I have seen them both popping in and out of my neighbor's cornfield!

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Sweet Ice Cream (ret), Summer Surfboards (Pretty Pink Posh)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White
Ink	Memento Black, Pool Party, Bermuda Bay (ret), Soft Sky (ret)
Accessories	Sequins from my stash
Tools

PP650 Countryside Sympathy

Happy Sunday, all!  Joanne is our Paper Players hostess for this week and she has a wonderful sketch! I just love sketches!  Check it out:

I needed a sympathy card, and I thought the patterns in the Countryside Inn papers would be beautiful used on Joanne's sketch, since there are several layers and that would give me a chance to play with several of them!  So here we go:

After choosing my papers, I simply layered them together and added a sentiment from Lasting Joy, diecutting it with a rectangular die from Timeless Arrangements, then adding some embellishments also diecut with dies from Timeless Arrangements as well as some little fussy-cut flowers:

On the inside, I stamped another sympathy sentiment (Hero Arts) and some little flowers from Lasting Joy:

And this is off in the mail! 

I hope that Joanne's sketch inspires you to create something wonderful...share it with us at the Paper Players blog and you might be our Headliner!  And while you're there, be sure to check out the amazing designs from the Design Team, they're sure to inspire you as well! 

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Lasting Joy, Sentiments CL342 (Hero Arts)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Boho Blue, Balmy Blue, Countryside Inn DSP
Ink	Balmy Blue, Boho Blue, Night of Navy
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Timeless Arrangements Dies

52CCCTD28 Fussy Cut Vintage Christmas Deer

Hello everyone!  I was thrilled to be chosen as a 52 Christmas Card Throwdown winner recently, so I am guesting this week for their current challenge!  This week we're concentrating on fussy-cutting, where you cut out an image rather than use a die!  Here's the prompt:

I had several ideas for this challenge but in the end, I decided to use a little retro deer image because I found some retro deer papers that I thought would be fun to use!  So here we go:

These cute retro papers were some I got last year in a Simon Says Stamp kit.  I have no idea the name of the papers, though, sorry!  Anyway, the deer reminded me of a little deer stamp I got years ago from Artistic Outpost, so I stamped the image three times: once in Soft Sea Foam (for the trees), once in Pebbled Path (for the shadows), and once in Pecan Pie (for the deer).  After coloring in the deer with some ink and an aquapainter, and adding the spots with a white gel pen, I fussy-cut everything out and adhered the elements to the Pebbled Path image, which I had diecut with a Stylish Shapes die.  Before adhering, I did use a blending brush to add some Soft Sky to the background:

I added a glimmer paper scallop piece behind it, which is prettier in real life than shows here, and an Impression Obsession sentiment at the bottom:

For the corner embellishments, I added some subtle sequins so as not to detract too much from the central image.

Everything was mounted on a Pistachio Pudding card base, and I stamped this retro sentiment from Flonzcraft in Mint Macaron ink:

I love how this turned out, even though it took a little extra time for the fussy-cutting, it was still a fun card to create!  I hope you'll get out your sharp scissors and do a little fussy-cutting for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge!  Share it over at the blog, so we all can enjoy it!  Thanks for visiting today--enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Frosty & Friends (Artistic Outpost), Christmas Sentiments (Flonzcraft), Christmas Words (Impression Obsession)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Pistachio Pudding (ret), Glimmer Specialty Paper (ret), Vintage Deer DSP (unknown)
Ink	Pebbled Path, Pecan Pie, Soft Sea Foam, Soft Sky (ret)
Accessories	Sequins from my Stash, Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Stylish Shapes Dies, Layering Circles Dies (ret), Bitty Banner Dies (ret), Aquapainter, White Gel Pen (Posca), Wink of Stella, Real Red Marker

AHSC534 Life is Better

 Happy Friday, everyone!  Hope you have some fun plans for the weekend!  My friend Shawn lent me her Crafting With You bundle and I had some fun today playing with it!  I used the Atlantic Hearts sketch:

and I paired the set with some pretty Inked Botanicals DSP!  Here we go:

This is perhaps a little busier than my usual card, but there are so many fun dies in the set, I just felt I had to play with them!  After stamping the sentiment on a piece of Pool Party cardstock, I created the embroidery hoop image, stamping the flowers in Calypso Coral, then adding some extras in Pool Party and Petal Pink:

I diecut some spools and buttons, along with some of the other hearts and flowers to create all my little embellishments:

Eek! So fun to play with!  Thanks, Shawn!  And thank you for popping in today--enjoy it and be blessed!

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.  Proverbs 15:1

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Crafting With You
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Pool Party, Lost Lagoon, Crushed Curry, Calypso Curry, Petal Pink, Inked Botanicals DSP
Ink	Lost Lagoon
Accessories	Dimensionals, Bumblebee Ribbon (ret)
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Crafting with You Dies