Beautiful Blooms

 Hi peeps!  Happy Saturday!  I am in love with the new Pierced Blooms dies that are in the mini catalog!  I sort of glossed over them at first glance until I realized they were "stitched"....and there are so many dies, there are endless possibilities!  I used the Try Stampin' On Tuesday sketch along with The Spot's palette for my card today, and I am adding The Flower Challenge as well:

So here we go:

I cut the blooms from Petal Pink and Night of Navy, with leaves of Soft Seafoam:

I added some layers in the challenge colors, stamped a sentiment from Here's a Card on a Whisper White panel and ran it through the Big Shot with the Subtle embossing folder:

I added an Ornate Border in Night of Navy (although it looks black here!) and stamped a sentiment on the inside, adding a few extra blooms for fun:

I can't wait to play with this die set some more!  Thanks for popping in today!

Dana gave her coworker a baby shower yesterday; the decor was so cute, I thought I'd share:

My niece Kelly (the Martha Stewart of our family) made the cupcakes..don't they look delicious?!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	So Sentimental, Here's A Card
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Night of Navy, Soft Seafoam, Petal Pink, Subtles DSP
Ink	Night of Navy
Accessories	Pearls, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Ornate Borders Dies, Pierced Blooms Dies. Subtle EF

Just One of Those Days

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  Yesterday, I had "one of those days".....you know, where nothing that you stamp turns out right; ideas don't flow; colors and papers don't work together; the layout fails...you get the picture.  I wanted to make a card for the sketch from CAS Colours and Sketches, as well as for The Spot's heart challenge:

I don't have the current curvy die set, but I do have another one, but the curve was not going in the right direction, so I decided to flip the sketch.  After MUCH deliberation, I finally chose a Flirty Flamingo DSP along with the gingham heart from Lots of Heart and the Stitched Be Mine dies.  So here we go:

I was grumbling about how the colors of the heart outline were not matching my DSP very well (grumble, grumble) when I realized (after it was completed) that I used Calypso Coral cardstock instead of Flirty Flamingo!  DUH!  Well, I wasn't going to redo it, so it's just going to stand the way it is!  I curved the sentiment to align with the diecut edge, then added a pearl embellishment and another little diecut from the die set to make the flourish at the top of the heart:

And then, because I made a SMUDGE on the inside of the card (can you see it?), I stamped the row of hearts along each edge. 

For fun, I took the inside of the cutout heart and heat embossed the little flower image on it, then added another little white diecut heart:

And since I had a wee little bit of the curvy portion left, I made a 3x3" note card with the remaining DSP, diecut the little rosette and sponged behind before adhering it:

That sentiment is from Here's a Card.

I am going to blame all these booboos (because I didn't even share my other failures from the day with you!) on a rainy day with poor lighting and a sinus headache!! Hopefully today will be better!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

IB157 CAS Birthday

 Hi peeps!  Wow, this week is whizzing by!  It's already time for a new Inspired By challenge!  Here's our pretty prompt for today:

I just loved the colors in the prompt, so I pulled out a die that I hadn't used in a long time to create some simple flowers for a birthday card.  Here we go:

I had been pushing this little scrap of green gingham around my desk, so I was happy to put it to good use, adding a sentiment from a sweet retired set, stamped on vellum and adhered on top of the stems with a little gem embellishment:

And I used a sentiment from the same set for the inside:

Instead of using the Inspired By sketch this week, I chose to use the sketch from CAS Colours and Sketches:

and since I used a "splashy" stamp from Gorgeous Grunge behind my flowers, I am entering this into the Splish Splash challenge at The Spot too!

I hope you'll get out some pretty stamps and ink and play with our challenge this week!  You can use the photo prompt, the sketch, or both!  Check out what all the designers did at Inspired By! And while you're there, welcome our two talented new designers, Silke Ledlow and Cindy Beach!  So happy to have them with us...I am going to have to "up" my game for sure! Thanks for popping in today!

Cassidy got an interesting gift for Christmas from Wayne's parents....it's a kit to make your own markers!   Check it out:

Pick an ink color and fill the tube, then insert the wick:

Watch as the wick soaks up all the ink:

Assemble the rest of the marker...and try it out!  Cool!

Looks like there are lots of markers there to make lots of fun colors!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Friend to Friend (ret), Gorgeous Grunge (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Vellum, Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz, Marina Mist (ret), Fall Break DSP (Carta Bella)
Ink	Misty Moonlight, Soft Seafoam
Accessories	Blue Gems, Mini Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Prim Poppy Die (Memory Box), Banner Die (Nestabilities)

Just Saying Hello

 Hi stampers, happy Tuesday!  Hope your day is going well! I got in some stamping time yesterday and dug out a couple florals to create my card for today:

The Global Design Project had a lovely palette for their current challenge, so I used that as my starting point:

Petal Pink is not a color I normally gravitate to, but it makes a beautiful flower with the All Things Fabulous set.  I added foliage in Soft Sea Foam and some smaller florals in Night of Navy.  I adhered it to a Shimmery White panel that I watercolored with a Soft Sea Foam wash and diecut it with the Nature's Thoughts die:

I added a Night of Navy scalloped mat, created from piecing together three Stitched So Sweetly panels, then mounted it on a Soft Sea Foam card base on which I had stamped some greenery from Tasteful Touches.  The sentiment is from the same set.  My final embellishment was a wee bit of gingham ribbon!  This could be a get well card, a birthday card, or a just thinking of you card!!!  I am also entering it in The Spot's challenge this week, which is Designer's Choice:

Thanks so much for popping in today!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	All Things Fabulous, Tasteful Touches
Card stock & Papers	Soft Sea Foam, Whisper White, Night of Navy, Shimmery White
Ink	Soft Sea Foam, Petal Pink, Night of Navy
Accessories	Navy Gingham Ribbon, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched So Sweetly Dies, Nature's Thoughts Dies, Fabulous Florals Dies, Aquapainter

The Spot 143 Sympathy

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  Unfortunately, the holidays are no respecter of persons and sadly, I find I still need sympathy cards.  I used the sketch from The Spot along with some pretty Peony Garden papers for my card today; first, the sketch:

And here we go:

The color in my photo doesn't quite match the colors in real life, so you'll just have to imagine that the peony, colored with Blushing Bride ink and an aquapainter matches the DSP nicely!  I added a diecut sentiment, stamped in Smoky Slate, along with a strip of the gorgeous new Blushing Bride Metallic Ribbon (satin on one side, metallic on the other--so pretty!), and a few sequins:

The inside is stamped with a sentiment from Woven Heirlooms:

I hope it brings comfort to the family! 

From Christmas evening, my niece gave Jameson and Sawyer personalized chef aprons and hats:

Cooking and baking are VERY important to these boys' family, and all the grandparents, aunts and uncles are passing down their culinary love and talents to them and their cousins!  Here's a picture of the boys making cookies at the Christmas cookie baking session their maternal grandmom has every year:

They do a better job decorating than I do!  Enjoy your day and thanks for popping in...be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Itty Bitty Greetings, Woven Heirlooms
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Smoky Slate, Peony Garden DSP
Ink	Smoky Slate, Blushing Bride
Accessories	Sequins, Blushing Bride Metallic Ribbon
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies, Layering Circle Dies, Aquapainter, Tasteful Label Dies

IB153 Poinsettia Sympathy

Hello, stampers and happy Thursday!  Time for a new Inspired By challenge...isn't this a cute one?  So clever!   

And here's the optional sketch to use..or not!

All the makin's for some fun snowman goodies!  I went in a bit of a different direction, however; I found out earlier in the week that my cousin Michael lost his battle with a rare form of cancer.  We found out only weeks ago that it was terminal, but it was still a shock when we got the news.  Our grandfather started a florist business back in the 1920s; his son, my uncle Kenny, took over it and then Michael after my uncle went into semi-retirement. Now Michael's brother Brian is running the business.  Why am I telling you all of this?  Going to the "greenhouse" and its particularly wonderful smell, is a part of my childhood that is very special to me, especially at Christmas.  There would be hundreds of poinsettias and other amazing holiday creations (along with that wonderful smell), and so I thought it would be fitting to use poinsettias on a sympathy card for Michael's family.  I chose to pull the Seaside Spray and Basic Gray from the challenge photo for my colors:

The Spot has a "CASE the Designer" challenge this week, so I chose this card and sketch of Andrea's, turning mine in the landscape orientation:

Poinsettias come in so many colors nowadays; I used the smallest one from Poinsettia Petals, stamping it in my Stamparatus twice with Seaside Spray ink to get a darker color, then filling in with the "fill" stamp:

I diecut them with the matching die; added a piece of white organdy ribbon on top of the Basic Gray DSP from last year, then finished them with silver metallic pearls.  After stamping the sentiment in Memento Black, I ran the top layer through the Pinewood Planks EF.  One of my favorite verses from an old Daily Bread Designs set was stamped on the inside:

I hope it brings some comfort to Michael's family.  And I hope you'll find some inspiration in our Inspired By photo too...the DT made some really fun cards; their creativity continues to amaze me!  

Thanks so much for popping in today!  And here's a picture from around 1962 of Michael, my sister Joyce and me at my grandmother's house on Christmas day! I particularly remember that Christmas because I wanted drum majorette boots, which I got; however as I trudged around in them all day long, the tassels began to fall out one by one, much to my dismay--and my mom and grandmother's! We were still finding them weeks later! 

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

 

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Itty Bitty Greetings, Poinsettia Petals, Scripture Collection 2 (Our Daily Bread Designs)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Seaside Spray, Basic Gray DSP (ret)
Ink	Seaside Spray, Memento Black
Accessories	Silver Metallic Pearls, Flowers for Every Season Ribbon, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Pinewood Planks EF, Poinsettia Dies

Truly Grateful

Happy Saturday, peeps!  I have a Thanksgiving card for you today, using a retired SU set that I just love!  Here we go:

The set is called Truly Grateful; I stamped the background and wheat sheaf on a piece of Very Vanilla and colored it in with ink and a Blender pen:

The sentiment was stamped on a piece of Gilded Autumn specialty paper, which also is used for all the other layers except for the gold foil.  I used Tear n Tape to adhere it to the front, creating a bit of a curve to it for interest:

If you can believe it, I've only used stamps, ink and paper on this...no embellishments, no diecuts, no embossing!  So here are the challenges in which it will be entered:

The Spot:  Plant Kindness, Harvest Love, Krafty Chicks Challenge-Stamp Act, Just Add Ink -Stamps, Ink, and Paper, and Fab Friday's sketch:

Thanks for popping in today!  I am truly grateful for all of YOU!  And for nature; check out this sunrise photo Dana sent to me:

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Truly Grateful
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Gilded Autumn Specialty Paper, Gold Foil
Ink	Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze
Accessories
Tools	Blender Pen