TCC131 Woodland Creatures

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  It's time for a new Card Concept challenge, and Julie has a sweet inspiration for us this week:

Aren't those little critters cute?  I knew just what set I wanted to use, so I pulled out some paper, ink and stamps and went to work creating my Clean and Layered card:

I cut a "tree" from some woodgrain paper and diecut three stitched circles in it; behind each one I placed my little animals; each one was stamped in Memento ink, colored with Blends and fussy cut:

For my little bird, I used the SU Well Wishes die, outlined him with a Basic Black SU marker, then colored him in as well; it's hard to see but I used Pool Party and Balmy Blue:

I created a little sign with this serendipitous find from Rustic Retreat; it was stamped in Early Espresso and colored with a Copic to match the tree; I also added some diecut grass!

Finally, on the inside, I stamped a birthday greeting from the same set and added a little deer I had also colored and fussy-cut:

I am also entering this into the Cardz 4 Guyz challenge, which is to use something starting with "F"....forest and fawn!

The DT has come up with some wonderful samples to give you some inspiration, so be sure to stop by the Card Concept and check them out!  Then you can share yours with us as well! 

Cassidy brought home a dot-to-dot from school....it has 951 dots!  Can you believe it?

An astronaut?  A deep-sea diver?  She didn't finish it yet, hopefully she's going to keep at it...she has two weeks away from school, we'll see how she does!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!  

"There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.The one who fears is not made perfect in love/"  1 John 4:18

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Rustic Retreat, Woodland Greetings (Close to My Heart)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Nestled DSP (Authentique)
Ink	Memento Black, Early Espresso
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Circle Dies (Lil'Inker), Blends, White Gel Pen, Grass Die (Impression Obsession)

Card Concept 126

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  I am excited to announce that I've been asked to be on the Card Concept DT!  I want to thank Julie for giving me the chance to participate! I have admired their challenges, not just because Julie chooses amazing inspiration photos, but also because they highlight different "styles" of design!  When you play along, you're asked to identify which style you've used for that particular week!  They have a page that describes all the different styles, so I am looking forward to stretching my creativity and hopefully I can nail all of them at some point!  Today, we have a lovely photo prompt to kick off the new year:

Today is my sister Joyce's birthday, and she is a beekeeper!  Actually, she has embraced many different interests in her life...she loves horses, she's raised chickens, she's bred rabbits, she is a bird nerd like me, encouraged martins but putting up a big martin house, but her latest venture is beekeeping!  So the Honey Bee stamp set was the first thing that popped into my shopping cart when it became available!  For my card today, I chose the gold and vanilla elements to create a Clean and Layered card for my sis:

I began with a Crumb Cake card base and added a Very Vanilla layer which was embossed with the Pine Planks EF with a few little diecut honeycombs on top.  My hive was stamped with Crumb Cake as well, and the flowers were heat-embossed with gold embossing powder, diecut and adhered next to the hive:

There are several bee dies in the Detailed Bee set; this big one was diecut from Gold Foil--isn't it impressive? 

I adhered it near a gold-embossed birthday sentiment (Rustic Retreat), which had been diecut from the new Stitched So Sweetly dies (and also has some gold thread behind it!):

Finally, one last embossing:  a birthday sentiment from Perennial Birthday on the inside, along with a couple more little bees!  I hope she likes it!

I hope that you'll play along with our challenge at The Card Concept, and be sure to stop by to see how all the DT members have interpreted this pretty photo!  Can't wait to see what you create!

Cassidy had off school the day before Christmas eve, so I asked Lee and Jackie to come over to make some cookies.  I had the dough already made and rolled out, so all they had to do was cut and sprinkle!

Jackie was very neat and precise in her sprinkling!

Whereas Lee was a more "one and done" kinda guy---he used a whole jar of gold sprinkles on his, LOL!

But they had fun and each went home with a wee little plate of yummies!

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Honey Bee, Rustic Retreat
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Gold Foil
Ink	Crumb Cake, Gold Encore (ret)
Accessories	Gold Thread, Dimensionals, Gold Embossing Powder
Tools	Big Shot, Pine Planks EF, Detailed Bees Dies, Stitched So Sweetly Dies, Heat Tool

GDP220 Party Cow

Happy Monday, peeps!  My birthday card stash is about non-existent, and I need to replenish it, so when I saw the GDP challenge, I went right to work!

I CASEd Shawn's sketch, using Over the Moon and Bird Ballad papers for my card today:

After stamping and coloring my little cow with some Blends, I stamped the hat from Crab and Company (remember that set?) and popped it up on her head!!  I added some Tufted embossing on the background:

A little pop of Basic Black scallop to give some contrast (Be Mine dies), and I recycled some silver cord from a gift package to match the rhinestone on her party hat!!

And finally a sentiment from Rustic Retreat along with a couple more hats, stamped in Calypso Coral:

And this one is already out in the mail for its recipient!  Thanks for popping in!

So, my sister Gail, who lives in SC, turns 60 next week and she and her husband were in the area over the weekend for the Army Navy game on Saturday (her son attends West Point).  I thought it would be fun to have the whole family over for a "sort-of" surprise party for her!  She arrived first, but when she saw the table set, she was surprised!  Everyone pitched in with the food and we chowed down:

She and my other sister caught up on some photos from the game:

Of course, we had to have cake; my niece Kelly contributed a beautiful Boston Creme pie/birthday cake (that's my brother next to her), which is one of Gail's favorites:

AND, Kelly also created these stunning cupcakes:

She is so talented!  It was a great evening, and I'll share more photos later!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Free As A Bird Fun Fold Card

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  I wanted to share one of the cards we made at my club meetings yesterday!  This card is a CASE from Beth McCullough, who got it from her team member.  (You can see hers HERE).  I just adore this fold; it's easy but impressive and can be used with almost any image or diecut!  Here's my take on it:

The basic folds are very easy....on a standard-sized card (8 1/2" X 5 1/2"), score at 2" and 3 1/8" on the longest side, then turn it and do the same thing on the other end.  Fold on the score lines as shown and decorate as desired!  

For our card, I also used the beautiful Bird Ballad DSP, and for the focal image, we cut some watercolor paper with the Nested Labels dies and loosely colored it with Blushing Bride ink, flooding it with water first, then adding a little ink to get the desired effect.  The bird was stamped with Memento ink and colored with blends; now if I could just learn to stamp straight, without my Stamparatus, LOL!  I used Crumb Cake and Pink Pirouette blends, but one of the other girls used Balmy Blue and Mint Macaron and it was beautiful!

 

We also stamped a little sentiment on the back, where we would place our signature.  

Here's another take on the same fold, this time using Rooted In Nature, Rustic Retreat for the sentiment, and Garden Lane DSP:

This makes a great masculine birthday card, don't you think?  And finally, here are the little gifts one of my club hostesses made for her co-stampers....so fun!  I know Cassidy will be thrilled to get hers!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

TMS508 Warm Christmas Wishes

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  Summer vacation schedule has got me a wee bit in disarray....my crafting time has to be done in the evening, and I'm having a little bit of trouble adjusting, LOL!  But I am sure we'll get ourselves into a routine!  I got some new goodies and I couldn't wait to use this new set, Rustic Retreat!  I used the Tuesday Morning Sketches sketch for this week:

And here we go:

The base is Naturals White, and the DSP is from the Magnolia Lane series; I stamped the image in Memento Black and colored it with Blends, then fussy cut it and popped it up over a second stamped image:

I added a Cherry Cobbler sentiment and vertical panel, along with the pine branch stamped in Mossy Meadow and embellished with some Old Olive Linen Thread:

A sentiment from Merry Christmas to All, along with some more pine branches:

Another Christmas card for my stash!  How is your stash coming along?  Have you started making yours yet?  Better get busy!

We had really heavy clouds all day yesterday, and I didn't think it would be a good day to hit the pool, but later in the afternoon the sun broke through, so I got out the sprinkler....

They loved laying on the ground and waiting for the spray to hit them in the head, LOL!  It's amazing what a little bit of water can do to entertain a couple of kids!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Rustic Retreat, Merry Christmas to All
Card stock & Papers	Naturals White, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Magnolia Lane DSP
Ink	Memento Black, Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow
Accessories	Old Olive Linen Thread, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella
Tools	Big Shot, Layering Circles Dies, 1 1/3" Circle Punch, Blends