RRCB162 Material Girl

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  Time for a new Retro Rubber challenge, where we give our old stamps some love!  We have a great sketch from Claire today:

I needed a birthday card for a friend from church who is quite an accomplished seamstress.  I pulled out some really old October Afternoon paper called Thrift Shop because I knew it had these "retro" dress-pattern images, along with some pretty florals and stripes:

The sentiment is from an old Cornish Heritage Farm set called Sew Special (at least ten years old), and I stamped it on some of the same paper, then diecut it with a Stitched Rectangle die. I embellished it with some paper buttons and a few goodies from the retired SU Quilt Builder dies:

I've got a brushed silver needle, some embroidery floss and a few more stitched mats:

The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes (2009) and diecut with the Smooth Sailing banner die:

My colors of Coastal Cabana and Poppy Parade go great with these papers!  I almost didn't want to send this card out, I loved it so much!  But off it went into the mail, as today is her birthday!  Now, what will you create with our sketch?  Just be sure to use stamps at least a year old, and tell us the approximate age, then share it with us at Retro Rubber!  Just a hint...if you're using SU stamps and you don't remember the age, you can check the gallery at Splitcoaststampers...they have a listing of all the SU stamps and the year in which they first appeared!  Can't wait to see what you create!  Thanks for popping in today!

Wayne's family had a big family reunion over the weekend and one of the activities was visiting a small local zoo, Plumpton Park:

Apparently this is the summer of the goat, LOL!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Teeny Tiny Wishes (ret), Sew Special (Cornish Heritage Farms, ret)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Coastal Cabana, Crumb Cake, Poppy Parade, Thrift Shop (October Afternoon)
Ink	Memento Black
Accessories	Embroider Floss, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Smooth Sailing Dies, Quilt Builder Dies (ret), Stitched Nested Labels Dies (ret), Layering Circles Dies

MTC Challenge #23 Seashell Wreath

Happy Monday, peeps! Hope you had a good weekend!  I was blessed to have this card chosen as a winner at Make The Cards last week, so today I get to be a Featured Creator!  

This week we have a sketch challenge, which is always a favorite....gives me a good starting point:

What a great sketch!  I was reminded of this pretty shell wreath I saw in my Martha Stewart Living magazine:

So I set about to recreate it in my own way, with the small shell image from Friends are Like Seashells:

I stamped and diecut each shell in Seaside Spray, then sponged color on a few of them to try to replicate the ombre effect on the wreath.  

Instead of the woodgrain background, I chose to emboss my panel with a retired embossing folder, then added a few sequins and a thank you sentiment.  I am also entering this in the Inspire.Create challenge, where they are looking for thank you cards too!

Meanwhile, pop over to the Make The Cards challenge to see what Jill and the other creative team members have shared!  Hope you'll play along!  And thanks for visiting!

We found a few little new neighbors under the shed; three baby robins:

And the sunflowers are in full bloom!  You can even see a tiny bit at the top of the center one that's been "deseeded" by some goldfinches...I heard them flitting around a couple days ago!  They look so pretty--little yellow birds sitting on big yellow flowers!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Friends are Like Seashells
Card stock & Papers	Basic White
Ink	Seaside Spray (ret)
Accessories	Sequins from my Stash, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Sponge Daubers, Stitched Rectangles, Ruffled Embossing Folder (ret)

PP548 Stars and Stripes Stampede

Hi peeps!  Happy 4th to my American friends!  Anne Marie is our Paper Players hostess and she has a fun one---and it doesn't necessarily have to be patriotic...we just need stars and/or stripes:

My friend Karen made a cool fun-fold card on her blog a bit ago (you can see it here), and I thought I would re-create it for today's challenge.  You can find the measurements on the other Karen's blog HERE...she has a perfectly-written template and it just requires some careful cutting and scoring!  So here we go:

I used two different stamps to create my cowboy-themed card for a young man in our church!  I used several striped papers from Cowboy Country by Carta Bella, and my bronco image is from 100 Proof Press, stamped in Misty Moonlight.  The stars and barbed wire are from Yee Haw, as are most of the inside sentiments as well.  I added some Candy Dots to the stitched stars; on the first photo, you can see one of them looks a little pink; after taking that photo, I went back to my craft room and colored it with a Dark Cherry Cobbler Blend....looks better now!

Here are the side views so you can see the folds:

And here is the inside, stamped in Night of Navy and Merry Merlot:

I even added a little leftover strip of the DSP for more stripes!  This card has plenty of both stars and stripes!  

I hope you'll stop by the Paper Players blog to see some more stars and stripes, and then share yours with us as well!  Can't wait to see what you create!  Thanks for popping in today!

Cassidy wanted to make some cupcakes for their July 4th party and decorate them with sprinkles.  She had a plan to make "USA" in red, white and blue sprinkles, then decorate the rest with gold stars.  We made some stencils with waxed paper and an alphabet and star die, then she went to work.  We were a little crunched on time, so the first few looked pretty good, but she had to rush, so the last stars were a bit messy!  Here she is starting the stars (we did a trial one with the "S"...you can see it next to her:

Looked pretty good!  We didn't know if it was better to put them on when the icing was still unset, but that would mean it would stick to the waxed paper.  If we let it set, the sprinkles wouldn't stay put!  Trial and error!

On to the the "U":

Finally, they were done!  The "A" was made with the little pearl decorations, so it's hard to see, and she had to put them on one by one!  I gave her a lot of credit...she did all of it by herself with only a wee bit of help from me (well, I did make the cupcakes and ice them, LOL!)!!!  

Have a blessed fourth!  

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Stampede (100 Proof Press), Yee Haw (ret), Endless Birthday Wishes (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Cowboy Country DSP (Carta Bella)
Ink	Misty Moonlight, Night of Navy, Merry Merlot
Accessories	Dimensionals, Candy Dots (ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies (ret), Stitched Star Dies (Paper Rose)

Happy Fourth of July!

"Blessed is the nation whose GOD is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance."  Psalm 33:12 

Wishing You The Best

Happy Friday!  It's a wet, rainy start to our holiday weekend!  Hopefully it will clear up by the 4th!  I have a fun card today for two challenges:  the TGIF color challenge and the Fab Friday sketch challenge:

I pulled out some DSPs, my new Basic Border dies and went to work:

I heat-embossed a sentiment from Friends are Like Seashells and a matching Pierced Bloom flower, and mounted everything on a Basic White card base that was embossed with the Dots embossing folder!

And just for fun, I added one of the leftover strips to the inside of the card and stamped a sentiment from Best Year:

Thanks for popping in today!  Enjoy your Friday!

We haven't had much luck making our own slime, so we bought some premade and added some goodies to it:

Sparkly and gross!!!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Friends are Like Seashells, Best Year
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Granny Apple Green DSP, Fresh Freesia DSP, Polished Pink DSP
Ink	White Craft, Polished Pink
Accessories	Dimensionals, White Embossing Powder
Tools	Big Shot, Pierced Blooms Dies, Basic Border Dies, Heat Tool, Checks & Dots Embossing Folders

TTTC120 Embossed Friend

Hello there, stampers!  It's time for a new Tic-Tac-Toe challenge for Team X!  Ashwini is our hostess with this awesome grid:

I chose the middle row down of die cut, flowers and heart for my card today; I was inspired by this napkin from the latest Martha Stewart magazine:

Rather than use a leafy design, I chose a floral design from Shaded Summer, embossing it in white on Blushing Bride:

I wanted to kick it up a little bit, so after diecutting the embossed image, I added a scalloped mat in Misty Moonlight and mounted it on some Blushing Bride DSP. I added the word "friend" by taping off part of a sentiment from the same set and stamping it in Misty Moonlight as well, then diecutting it and adding a couple little hearts coated with Shimmery Crystal Effects:

It's hard to see, but I did do some clear embossing behind my circle image as well. I wish that my white embossing powder was a truer white...does anyone have the same issue with their SU white embossing powder?  Maybe mine is just OLD!  I would love to find one that is a brighter white! I'm open to suggestions!  Anyway, I hope you'll play with our grid this week and pop over to the Tic-Tac-Toe blog to see what the others created!  Thanks for stopping in today!  

We were playing velcro ball a couple days ago and Cassidy threw the ball on the shed roof!  Uh oh!  But she had no fear about climbing up on the ladder to retrieve it!

Thank goodness for young legs and good balance!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Shaded Summer
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Blushing Bride, Misty Moonlight, Blushing Bride DSP
Ink	Craft White, Misty Moonlight, Versamark
Accessories	Dimensionals, White & Clear Embossing Powder, Shimmery Crystal Effects
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies (ret), Layering Circles Dies, Stitched So Sweetly Dies, Heat Tool, Triple Heart Punch (ret)

Farmhouse Christmas

Hi peeps!  I am squeezing in this Christmas card just before the TGIF deadline!  Here's their challenge:

And I am using the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

And here we go:

My Cherry Cobbler card base is 4 1/4" square.  I added panels from the Winterberry line by My Mind's Eye, along with some snowflakes from Avery Elle (Holiday Skatches), mounted on a Cherry Cobbler glimmer paper circle:

The sentiment is from The Stamp Market's Candy Cane Christmas, diecut with the Stitched Rectangle dies:

I am also entering this in the Merry Little Christmas Challenge, which is "Anything Goes"!

Now we're off to take a bike ride and feed the horses down the road!  Thanks for visiting today--enjoy your day and be blessed!  And be sure to stop back later for a new Tic-Tac-Toe challenge!