PP789 Masculine Challenge from Stef

Happy Sunday, all!  Time for a new Paper Players challenge, with Stef as our hostess.  She has a timely theme challenge as Father's Day is coming up! But don't limit yourself to just that holiday!   Here we go:

I chose to go with a masculine birthay card rather than Father's Day, and I used the Retro Rubber Tic-Tac-Toe grid as my guide:

I chose the middle column of stripes, squares and twine, using the retired Out West (2010) stamp set:

I stamped my cowboy on a stitched square of Basic Beige using Catherine Pooler's Macciato ink.  I also overstamped it with the Linen (2006) background stamp using Crumb Cake ink.  I mounted it on a square of Early Espresso cardstock, distressing the edges for a rustic look:

My sentiment is from Poppy Stamps Whittle Sayings - not sure the age, but I have had it a couple of years - and it all went on some barbed wire paper from Authentique's Frontier collection.  You can just barely see it; I didn't even see it until I photographed my card, behind the barbed wire is a very faint vintage newsprint pattern.  Very cool!  I used the other side of the barbed wire paper as the horizontal panel, then added a "lasso" of some twine I had in my stash.  I know of a few rootin-tootin cowboy types in the family who might enjoy this card!

I hope this challenge will prompt you to make a masculine card! We know they're not as fun to make as feminine ones but we're sure you'll rise to the challenge!  Share your creations with us at the Players!  We can't wait to see them!  Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Out West (2010), Linen (2006), Whittle Sayings (Poppy Stamps)
Card stock & Papers	Basic Beige, Early Espresso, Frontier (Authentique)
Ink	Crumb Cake, Macchiato (Catherine Pooler)
Accessories	Dimensionals, Twine from my stash
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Square Dies (Lil'Inker)

AHSC659 Peace & Joy

Happy Monday, peeps! Hope you had a good weekend! Time for a new Atlantic Hearts sketch:

Rather than stamp & diecut several images for this sketch, I opted to use an image from a past Unity Kit of the Month set! Here we go:

I will admit that I am not 100% sure about this card, but after spending some time on it, I didn't want to give it up, LOL!  I stamped the image on Basic Beige cardstock with Stazon ink and did some watercoloring. 

To give it a more vintage look, I over-stamped it with a retired Linen background stamp and sponged some Pecan Pie ink around the edges, and I used versamark to stamp some subtle greenery on the banner:

Both sentiments inside and outside were from the same set.  The card base was Pecan Pie.  My final additions were green baker's twine and some pretty sequins.

Hopefully I'll be getting my cards signed and mailed this week!  Such a busy time! I hope that you'll make some time to play with our sketch this week and share it with us at Atlantic Hearts!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Linen (ret), Sweet Bliss of Christmas (Unity)
Card stock & Papers	Pecan Pie, Basic Beige
Ink	Stazon Black, Versamark, Shaded Spruce, Cloud Cover, Calypso Coral, Craft White, Pecan Pie
Accessories	Baker's Twine (ret), Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), Dimensionals
Tools	Cut & Emboss Machine, Nested Essentails Dies, Blending Brush, Aquapainter

IB195 Christmas Tree Farm

Hi there, everyone!  Thursday brings another Inspired By challenge and I am constantly amazed at the gorgeous photos that Danni comes up with!  Check these beauties out:

And check out the optional sketch, which I had every intention of using, but in the end went in a different direction!  

So here we go:

I confess that since it's been a bit of a stressful week, I did some digital "stamping"! I saw a card from my friend Esther (you can see it here) and through that, found a wonderful Etsy shop!  This image jumped into my cart...isn't it pretty!?  To be fair, I did add some stamping to the image itself'; I stamped the retired Linen background stamp over top to give it more of a vintage fabric look.  The background is also digital; the snowflake is from SU's Stitched Snowflakes, and the deer is from SU's retired Card Front Builder dies:

I pulled out my favorite Christmas sentiment stamp from last year, Wrapped in Christmas, for the inside:

I am also entering this at the Peace on Earth challenge with their pretty mood board:

I hope you'll play along with us at Inspired By, can't wait to see what you create!  Thanks so much for popping in today!  Enjoy it and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Linen (ret), Wrapped in Christmas (ret),  Christmas Tree Digital (CreatifBelle, Etsy), Plaid Digital (Gracellie Designs Rustic Winter)
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Basic White, Basic Black, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer (ret), Computer Paper
Ink	Sahara Sand, Memento Black
Accessories	Rhinestone, Mini Glue Dot
Tools	Big Shot, Card Front Builder Dies (ret), Stitched Snowflake Dies

Shades of Green

 Happy Saturday, peeps!  Hope your weekend has some fun plans!  I have a couple of cards to share today, both featuring shades of green!  The first one is for the FMS sketch and uses some retired items:

The set I used is called Harvest Home, and it was stamped on some Naturals White cardstock with Stazon and watercolored with various inks.  I overstamped it with the Linen background stamp because I just love the effect that it gives!  The leaf is from the same set, fussy-cut, and the sentiment is from a Paper Pumpkin kit from a few years back.  The papers are from Orchard Harvest, also a few years back. I love the line-drawing detail in these types of stamps:

My next card uses the sketch from Try Stamping on Tuesday:

I had these three little strips of Forever Greenery floating around on my desk for several weeks and when I saw the sketch, I knew they would be perfect!  I diecut them with a narrow Stitched Rectangle die; they weren't quite long enough to go all the way across the card, so I cut and separated them and just layered my Pretty Peacock banner on top:

The sentiment is from Comfort and Hope, and I overstamped it with an image from the same set, stamped off with Old Olive.  I used the Stitched Shapes dies to cut it out, then backed it with another diecut from Tasteful Labels.  It was finished off with some retired Old Olive Linen thread:

That's it for today!  So happy you popped in!  Be sure to come back tomorrow for a new Paper Players challenge!  And, someone asked me for my daughter's Spaghetti Squash Lasagna recipe; unfortunately, it does use marinara sauce, but I am sure you could substitute alfredo if you didn't like tomatoes.  Also, I am pretty sure she used ground turkey instead of sausage!  You can find the recipe HERE.

And here are a few more natures pictures from my walks this week:

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

RRCB138 Country Best Wishes

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  Wow, can you believe it's the last day of June!  July, here we come!  But first, it's time for another Retro Rubber challenge:

Anything goes!  Well, that means it's wide open, just as long as your stamps are at least a year old!  I went country/vintage today with a stamp from 2010 called Countryside:

I stamped my images on Very Vanilla cardstock in Stazon Black ink and colored them in with an aquapainter and inks.  I just want to give you all a BIG WARNING/HINT if you purchase the new SU Water Painters....they are very similar to the Aquapainters, (and a great product, of course) but the top portion of the brush that screws off to fill the barrel is LEFT-TURNING.....it is the opposite of the way the Aquapainter opens.  I almost broke my hand trying to get it to open, and finally had to call SU.  DUH....all I had to do was turn it in the opposite direction. What genius designed that?  Anyway, just a heads-up if you decide to invest in a new set...be forewarned, LOL!  So after coloring all my little pictures in, I over-stamped the images with the Linen background stamp (2006) with Sahara Sand ink, diecut them with some tag dies and sponged around the edges for a more vintage look:

I gave each one a little Linen Thread doodad, mounted it on some red barnwood DSP and added a diecut sentiment (oops, not a year old) along with some candy dots, then stamped the inside with another sentiment and the truck from the Countryside set:

I hope you'll play along with our Anything Goes challenge...just remember your stamps have to be a year old or older, and be sure to tell us how old they are!  We can't wait to see what you create!

Thanks for popping in--enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Countryside (2010 ret), Linen (2006 ret), Itty Bitty Birthdays
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Frontier DSP (Authentique)
Ink	Stazon Black, Cinnamon Cider, Garden Green, Cajun Craze, Real Red, Smoky Slate, Sahara Sand, Soft Suede, Early Espresso
Accessories	Candy Dots (ret), Linen Thread, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Tags & Labels Framelits (ret), Sponge Dauber

IB64 Today Blooms

Happy Thursday, peeps!  Time for another Inspired By challenge....it's a warm vintage one today, here's what I created (the photo doesn't do it justice, really):

And here's Laurel's sweet prompt:  

Spring lovelies they are, too!  Just look at all that homespun goodness!  I started by diecutting an oval from the front of a Naturals White panel, then stamped it with the Linen background stamp in Sahara Sand ink.  For my background, I stamped the Buffalo Check background stamp in Pear Pizzazz and placed it behind the "window". I mounted all of this on a Soft Seafoam card base.  My diecut flowers in Pear Pizzazz and Almost Amethyst were laid along side the edge of the oval and accented with a couple of sequins:

Finally, I "tied" the stems with a piece of crochet trim and Old Olive linen thread.  My sentiment is from Perennial Birthday, and I hand-cut it out and sponged the edges:

I could gaze for hours at this pretty vignette that Laurel found!!  It's so homey and cozy...what inspires you?  I hope you'll play along with us this week as well!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Perennial Birthday, Buffalo Check Background, Linen Background (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Naturals White, Soft Seafoam, Pear Pizzazz, Almost Amethyst (ret)
Ink	Pear Pizzazz, Sahara Sand
Accessories	Old Olive Linen Thread, Crochet Trim (ret), Sequins (Sylvia on Etsy)
Tools	Big Shot, Layering Ovals Framelits, Prim Poppy Die (Memory Box)

IB59 Love in a Teacup

Hey, peeps!  Happy Valentine's Day!  I am so behind, I didn't send out ANY Valentines this year!  SO sad, I know, but I promise I'll be better next year!  Laurel's Inspired By prompt today features a non-frilly sort of love scene!  First my card:

And here's her prompt:

How's that for fun?  Unfortunately, I haven't jumped on the cactus bandwagon...I know they're popular, they're just a bit too "prickly" for me!  I do have a little succulent my brother gave me for a housewarming gift, and I haven't destroyed it yet!  And I did have one little cactus stamp that came in a Paper Pumpkin kit a couple years ago!  So here is my cactus in a teacup!  I stamped the cup in Gray Granite, used a Linen background stamp in Sahara Sand to give it a little dimension, then the cactus in Memento Black and Mellow Moss:

I did some shading with a Light Crumb Cake blend, and added the "love" cut from a strip of DSP from My Mind's Eye.  My layout is a sketch from Crazy for CAS:

The background paper is from the same DSP; I added a stitched circle frame and some faceted gems for accents.  And here's a funny story; I decided to add some stitching lines at the top and bottom of my DSP panel after I had adhered the faceted gems....do you know what happens to faceted gems when you run them through the Big Shot?  Yeah, they're not so faceted anymore, LOL!  I guess it will be easier to mail to my friend that way!

So I hope you'll find some warm inspiration from our challenge photo and play along with us at Inspired By!  Be sure to check out what the DT created as well!

A little side-by-side dot-to-dot activity on a snowy day!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Paper Pumpkin (ret), Linen Background (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Gingham Farm (My Mind's Eye)
Ink	Sahara Sand, GrayGranite, Memento Black, Mellow Moss (ret)
Accessories	Faceted Gems, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Stitching Lines Dies (Essentials by Ellen), Blends

PP381 Sew Glad We're Friends

Hey, everyone!  Happy Sunday!  I am the hostess over at the Paper Players and our CAS challenge today is called Sew Much Fun!  Sewing used to be at the top of my "favorite hobby list" but now I would have to say that stamping has replaced it!  So I thought I could combine both and do a sewing-themed challenge!

I did THREE cards for my own challenge this week...my first one, I forgot the CAS part..so I'll share that one tomorrow!  This jury is still out on this one as to whether it is as clean and simple as I would prefer, but I had my heart set on using this DSP, so I went for it anyway!  (I think my teammates did a better job at the CAS part than I did!)  Anyway, I used Narelle's FMS sketch for this week:

And here we go - it's bright, you might want to wear your shades, LOL!

The older paper from Cosmo Cricket called Material Girl was my inspiration....unfortunately, I blocked one of the model's heads, but hopefully you can see the other pattern designs!  I used the sewing machine image and sentiment from SU's Puns from the Past, and added some stitched elements...the DSP and both circles...and added some retired ribbons in shades of green.  I broke my own rule of not adding a button, only because I thought it would be fun to use some green cotton perle thread I picked up at a yard sale, and it added a cute element to the sewing theme!  The larger circle was also stamped with the Linen background stamp!

 Finally, for the inside, I stamped the sentiment from Beautiful Day (that sentiment has gotten a LOT of use lately) and a few vintage sewing images from an older Cornish Heritage Farms set called Sew Special:

And here's the second card I did for the challenge....same sketch, but I thought with all the diecutting and piecing of the quilt block,  it might be a little fussy for the CAS challenge:

It will definitely be put to good use for some occasion!

The design team has some really cute and fun samples for you to check out:

·        Claire

·        Jaydee

·        Joanne

·        Laurie

·        Nance

·        Sandy

·        Elizabeth

·        Annie

·        Jan

 And we hope you'll play along too!  Can't wait to see what you create!

Friday night was Cassidy's first father/daughter dance....a big evening!  She has a sweater over the prettiest part of her dress....the bodice had pink sequins on it!  She even had a little wrist corsage!  So sweet!

And Charlie even wore cuff links that said "Daddy"!!!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

First Card Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Beautiful Day, Puns from the Past, Linen Background (both ret SU), Sew Special (ret Cornish Heritage Farms)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Lucky Limeade, Material Girl DSP (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink	Basic Gray, Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz, Smoky Slate
Accessories	Button, Perle Cotton, Various SU ret ribbons
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Layering Circle Framelits, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

Second Card Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Everyday Expressions (Paper Studio)
Card stock & Papers	Powder Pink, Very Vanilla, Summer Crush DSP (Maja Designs)
Ink	Bashful Blue (ret)
Accessories
Tools	Big Shot, Quilt Builder Thinlet (ret), Stitched Shapes Framelit, Dimensionals, Elegant Dots EF (ret)