IB60 Sending Letters

Happy Thursday, peeps!  It's time for another Inspired By challenge...boy, the week flies by, doesn't it?  Anyway, after checking out Laurel's inspiration photo, I was inspired to do a vintage/eclectic card...I haven't done one of them for a while!  So here we go:

And here is the prompt:

I searched for some papers that I knew had lots of little letters on it like this...but of course, I couldn't find it!  So I went instead for some papers by Photo Play and My Mind's Eye, stamped some vintage images from various sets and embellished it with a shabby seam-binding bow.  (You can see directions on how to create shabby seam-binding HERE).

And I think my favorite stamped image is this row of vintage pencils:

Do you still write letters?  I have to admit, I send out lots of cards but don't write letters much any more!  It is definitely a dying art!  But I still love pens, pencils and paper!  I hope this will inspire you to create something for our Inspired By challenge this week...can't wait to see it!

 Sledding in the snow one week, riding bikes the next...Pennsylvania weather is CRAZY!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Vintage Postcard (ret), Established Elegance (ret), Vignette: Old Type (Stamplorations), Vintage Pencils (unknown maker)
Card stock & Papers	Naturals White, French Flea Market DSP (Photo Play), Blush DSP (My Mind's Eye)
Ink	Memento Black, Crumb Cake, Smoky Slate
Accessories	Pleated Ribbon (ret), Very Vanilla Seam Binding (ret), Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)
Tools	Label Punch (ret), Sponge Daubers

Mojo Monday 379

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  We had a snow day yesterday, so I stayed inside and did lots of stamping!  And it’s COLD today, too!  Brrrr!    Unfortunately, I needed a sympathy card, so I used the Mojo Monday sketch:

I used some new as well as retired items on my card; Newsprint DSP, Blushing Bride pleated ribbon, Established Elegance stamped in Smoky Slate on the background panel, and an assortment of butterflies, along with Petite Pairs:

There are all kinds of tutorials on the web these days about how to used waxed paper and a dryer sheet to get these Butterfly diecuts to pop out easily, and I kept the waxed paper diecut and placed it behind my Very Vanilla butterfly to give it a little bit of interest.  I also added pearls to the In Color sequins:

Any questions, just shoot me an email!

I didn’t have Cassidy yesterday, but I was able to get some fun shots of an assortment of birds on my little suet feeder, all in the span of about 15 minutes.  (This is photo heavy, so if you’re not a birder, skip it!)

I was only able to get a shot of this male downy woodpecker once, he was very shy!

A little Carolina wren:

A white-breasted nuthatch (he looks a bit angry, doesn’t he?):

A slate-colored junco:

A tufted titmouse:

And even a mockingbird!

I had to laugh at this junco and American goldfinch….they look like they are singing a duet!  But not really….they’re actually yelling at each other!!!

Enjoy your day!  Stay warm!!

2 Sketches

Hi everyone!  I had a wee bit of stamping time on Monday and utilized a couple of sketches!  The first one was from The Kraft Journal:

My four top-selling downline received one of these cards:

Here are closeups:

I used the SAB set See Ya Later and papers from the Fresh Prints and Retro Fresh lines, as well as the little banners from Banner Blast. 

The second one was a thank you card for a sweet friend, and it uses the Sweet Sunday sketch challenge 208:

I used some papers that were “gifted” to me, along with vintage images from Established Elegance and French Foliage, in shades of Pink Pirouette and Basic Gray.  It was embellished with some shabby seam binding, a glimmer heart and an organdy rose; sentiment is from Itty Bitty Banners:

If you have any questions about products used, just shoot me an email!

One of Cassidy’s special treats when she has a sleepover is to make popcorn.   She is just fascinated when that mountain of popcorn begins to come out of the chute!  She calls it a snowbank of popcorn!!!  It was a worthwhile yard sale investment of $4, whenever I see that look on her face!!

And she doesn’t like it when Grammy sneaks a piece from her bowl, LOL!

Enjoy your day!

Make It Monday 153

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  Are you staying warm?  Boy, it’s cold out there!  I spent some time in my craft room recently making a little “love” banner with the new Scalloped Tag Topper Punch, which is a really cool little tool.  What do you think:

I have wanted to make one of these for a long time and I don’t know why I never did!!!   I began by punching out four 4” tags from Real Red cardstock; the tags have to be no larger than 2” wide in order to fit into the punch.  I also cut some tags from Modern Medley designer paper, trimming them to 1 7/8” by 3 7/8” before centering them in the punch.  I layered them on top of the cardstock tags; the holes will not line up perfectly, but there is a small opening that is large enough to thread some ribbon or seam binding through.   I used a bunch of vintage-imaged SU sets and stamped them right on the Modern Medley DP in shades of gray, black and red, then stamped my Morning Post letters and mounted them on Basic Black Artisan Label punchouts.  Here they are a wee bit closer:

The Kraft Journal’s Make It Monday challenge is “Lace it Up”, so I added ribbon, embossed and sponged hearts, seam binding, rhinestones and taffeta flowers in addition to my lace!!! (But oops...I forgot you need to use KRAFT, which I didn't...so maybe I should make another?)  I added a piece of black scored cardstock running horizontally on  the back of the tags to give them some sturdiness and finished it with some wide black grosgrain ribbon!  Sweet!

Cassidy made a suncatcher with some crafty stuff she received for Christmas:

I am going to run out of crafts soon!  She LOVES to do crafts!
Enjoy your day!

Queen for a Day

Happy rainy Wednesday, everyone!  Today’s card is for three challenges!!!  I have been dying to try the Pals Paper Arts color challenge:

as well as this week’s Mojo Monday sketch:

and the City Crafter Challenge this week,  “royalty”!!

So here we go:

I used a crown image (along with others) from the retiring Established Elegance, to complement the queen sentiment from the retired You’re A Gem:

I also added a little banner and button from this year’s SAB goodies:

And did you notice all the stitching?  You will probably see MORE stitching because I finally got my craft room done and there is room for my sewing machine!  Woohoo! I went from this:

to this:

I still have some painting (see the above window frame)  and reorganizing to do, but I am so thrilled with the work my DH did….he did everything except painting the walls and making the curtain, both of which I managed to do!!!  I got new floors, new cabinets to hold my cardstock and supplies, new ribbon holders, a new ceiling fan and light,  and new countertops to replace my 7’ wooden trestle table.  I can sit at my computer and look out the window, and I can sew and have my ironing board all in the same room!!  It is so much easier to keep clean.  One of the things that helped me with my storage is transferring a lot of my wood-mount stamps to clear-mount!  I did clean out a few sets and will put them up for sale once the new catalog goes live!  Thanks for indulging me with these photos!