PP505 Martha Stewart-Inspired Sketch and Flying Through Longwood

Happy Sunday, peeps!  I am the hostess over at the Paper Players this week and I have an interesting sketch for you! 

I had several ideas in my head for this sketch, but just before I began, the mail lady brought me the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living.  WOWZA, that cover knocked my socks off and I knew I had to use it as my inspiration:

Look at those textures...and that color!  I pulled out a couple of embossing folders, some dies, a few pieces of cardstock and went to work:

I started by embossing a triangle of Coastal Cabana with the Tufted EF, then the Pool Party triangle with one of the Greenery EFs.  The Early Espresso panel was embossed with the other Greenery EF and they were all layered on a Whisper White card base.  The sentiment is from Beautiful Autumn, stamped in Soft Suede and diecut with a Nested Labels die. 

 To add a little interest, I added a couple of diecut borders, some "foliage" and a few brown pearls:

Besides the colors, I also got my inspiration from the various patterns in the pottery, which I think is very striking!  I don't have room for it in my home, so I will just enjoy it vicariously through Martha...and through cardmaking!

I hope that you will play along with us using my sketch this week....it's open to lots of interpretation and I can't wait to see what you create!  Check out what the DT did at the Paper Players blog too!

I know I have shared that I live near Longwood Gardens, which is just one of the most beautiful gardens in the world!  I haven't been to visit since the virus hit, but their recent newsletter featured a video of a drone flying through the conservatory...it is magical!  I feel like I am riding on the back of a dragonfly, getting a bird's eye view!  You can see it for yourself HERE!  Enjoy it and your day, and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Beautiful Autumn
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Early Espresso, Coastal Cabana, Pool Party
Ink	Soft Suede
Accessories	Brown Pearls (from my stash), Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Tufted EF (ret), Greenery EFs, Nested Label Dies, Nature's Thoughts Dies, Forever Flourishing Dies, Arts & Crafts Dies (ret)

GDP254 Ho Ho Ho

 Happy Friday, peeps!  The Global Design Project has a nice basic sketch challenge this week, and I was itching to use some new Tis the Season DSP from the holiday mini!  I paired it with some images from Little Treats; here we go:

And here's the sketch:

After choosing my DSPs, I diecut the layers with a Stitched Rectangle and Stitched So Sweetly dies, then stamped the sentiment in Shaded Spruce and the hats in Real Red, using the matching dies to cut them out:

You can't see it here, but the hats are embellished with some Wink of Stella for fun!  I love the traditional colors in this paper pack, I know I'll be using them a lot!  Thanks for popping in today!

It was just like the drive-in at Dana's house a few nights ago; Wayne set up a screen by the pool and the family snuggled into some pool floaties to watch:

That wouldn't have been MY choice of movie, but she liked it! Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Little Treats
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Real Red, Tis the Season DSP
Ink	Shaded Spruce, Real Red
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Stitched So Sweetly Dies, Little Treat Dies, Wink of Stella Pen

TTTC78 Birthday Balloons

Hello stampers!  Time for another Tic Tac Toe challenge with Felicita (the new grandmother!!!) as our hostess!  Here's her grid:

I went really simple with my card, as I thought the right column of balloons and dies would be great for a child's birthday card, as I usually struggle to come up with easy cards for them!  So here we go:

I didn't intend to use rainbow colors, but I kept adding balloons in primary colors and this is what I ended up with!  The balloon punch made quick work of the balloons, and I mounted them on a star-embossed Whisper White panel.  The sentiments were diecut with the Well Written dies, and I put a strip of Adhesive Sheet on the back of each piece of cardstock before diecutting, and they adhered like a dream!

I used a Zig Painty pen in silver to create some strings, stamped a sentiment on the inside and it was done, easy peasy!  Hop on over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge to share your creation with us and check out what the designers created!  They're amazing!  Thanks for popping in today!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	None
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Seaside Spray, Pacific Point, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Highland Heather, Call me Clover (ret), Adhesive Sheets
Ink	None
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Well Written Dies, Star EF (ret), Balloon Punch, Zig Painty Pen

IB138 Punny Statements

 Happy Thursday, everyone!  We have a cute challenge today at Inspired By:

Isn't that fun?  And here's the optional sketch, which I didn't use this week:

I do have a couple of sets with punny sentiments, and I actually made two cards!  Let me show you the one that I liked the most!! It uses a really old SU set with vintage images called Puns from the Past:

I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches:

I wanted a vintage feel to my card as well, so I stamped the sewing machine in Soft Suede and the matching sentiment in Bumblebee, mounting it on an Crumb Cake mat embossed with the retired Quilt Top EF:

The cute little patterned papers from an old My Mind's Eye pad were punched out with a 1 3/8" circle punch, then mounted on a stitched scallop die from the new Little Treat Box die...just love that thing:

And since I've used at least three patterned papers, I am also entering this in the Sparkles Monthly challenge!

And here's the other card I made that didn't make the cut, LOL!  It uses an equally-as-old Crafty Secrets stamp set featuring coffee and tea themes!

It's cute, but it just wasn't "speaking" to me like I wanted!!

So, what punny sentiment will you find to use on a card today?  They always bring a smile to a recipient's face, so get stamping and show us what you create!  Check out all the DT's creations at the Inspired By blog to get some more inspiration!  Thanks for popping in today!

Cassidy got a new bike for her birthday!!

Dana told me they had a difficult time finding one in the stores or online; this was the last one in stock at one store!  I thought that was odd, but then I watched a PBS blurb about a local bike shop; first they were so slow due to Covid that they thought they would have to close altogether.  Then suddenly there was a high demand for bikes as people were doing more outside activities!  So that caused a bike shortage, and to make it worse, the factories were not producing bicycles or even parts to repair old bikes, so the bike shop owner found himself scrambling to get inventory to meet his demand!  So the struggle Dana had to find a bike was understandable! Of course, it couldn't be pink or purple either! I think this is a terrific color myself!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Puns from the Past (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Stella & Rose:Mabel DSP (My Mind's Eye)
Ink	Bumblebee, Soft Suede
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Little Treat Box Dies, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Quilt Top EF (ret)

Comfort and Hope

Happy Wednesday, all!  I recently got the Comfort and Hope stamp after seeing it used on several cards in blogland....I am a sucker for all those little eclectic background-y images!  The Spot challenge had a very interesting color palette, and the TGIF challenge had a sketch challenge, so I combined the two for a sympathy card; they're nice to have on hand:

And here are the challenge prompts:

I gave a piece of Shimmery White cardstock a wash with some water and Cinnamon Cider ink to get started, then I stamped images from Comfort and Hope and Beautiful Autumn and fussy-cut them out

I stamped the sentiment with Blackberry Bliss and added some elements from the set behind it, also giving it a stitched scalloped border and a little bow with some retired Blackberry Bliss twine:

I love the font on this sentiment..I stamped it on the inside and stamped a little greenery behind it.

I thought the color combo would be odd but I really like it together, and it pushed me to use Blackberry Bliss, which I rarely use!  Thanks for popping in today!

Here is a little cheerful guy....eating some cotton candy at Cowtown Rodeo:

It's hard for me to look at that cotton candy....BLUE food, yuck! LOL!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

 

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Beautiful Autumn, Comfort and Hope
Card stock & Papers	Shimmery White, Very Vanilla, Mint Macaron, Cinnamon Cider, Blackberry Bliss
Ink	Mint Macaron, Cinnamon Cider, Blackberry Bliss
Accessories	Blackberry Bliss Twine (ret)
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched So Sweetly Dies

Mushroom Digi Thanks

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  My friend Michele, who always creates the most edgy, fun, eclectic cards in blogland, recently had a card on her blog featuring a pretty mushroom (and a snail!).  You can see it HERE.  Now I really liked that little image and guess what---it was a FREE digital image, so I went over to Rachelle's blog and snagged it for myself!  THEN I had a conversation with Michele about printing with my printer using cardstock or watercolor paper (it doesn't do well with either), and she gave me a couple of hints, so I decided to try it....just on some cheapo Georgia Pacific cardstock from Walmart.  And I was just going to experiment...you know how that goes...and it actually turned out pretty good..it warped a wee little bit but not badly enough to toss it!  So here we go:

I was concerned about the black ink bleeding, but I used a damp aquapainter with my ink and a very light touch, and I love how it came out!  I used some retired nature-themed Painted Seasons DSP on my Crumb Cake card, and added a panel of Poppy Parade and an Altenew sentiment.  Of course, every white gel pen I have ever tried malfunctions after about a month, so my white spots on the mushroom cap did not turn out very well:

Thanks, Rachelle!  I love this pretty little image.  I do know it's called a Fly Agaric, only because I saw someone recently used a similar image on a card!  And you may not know that my neighboring town called Kennett Square is considered the "Mushroom Capital of the World"....they produce lots and lots of mushrooms, sent all over the country!  And here in our little yard, the mushrooms are quite prolific due to all the rain we've had!  Now I am not an expert on mycology, so I have no idea what kind of mushrooms these are!  This one was huge....probably 8-9" across, and it was in my yard:

These are in my flower bed under my butterfly bush...curly-edged:

And these are also in my flower bed, but they teeny tiny....only about 1/4" across and they even have little mushrooms INSIDE of the mushrooms!!  They're barely noticeable in the mulch:

So that's the nature walk for today!  Thanks for popping by...enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Label Love (Altenew), Digital Image by Rachelle
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Poppy Parade, Painted Seasons DSP (ret), White (Georgia Pacific)
Ink	Poppy Parade, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Cinnamon Cider, Sahara Sand, Soft Seafoam, Memento Black
Accessories	Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Greenery EF, Computer

Joy of the Season

Happy Monday, peeps!  I have a quick Christmas card today using some new and old products!  The Jingle Belles challenge wants us to forego the DSP, and the Krafty Chicks want a Christmas card!  So here we go:

I started with a mat of Mint Macaron, embossed with the retired Holly EF..simple and easy!  I then stamped one of the sentiments from the beautiful new set, Wrapped in Christmas, and diecut it with a Tasteful Labels die:

As an accent, I diecut some holly leaves and berries from the new Festive Felt Sheets and adhered them at the top and bottom!  Simple and easy!

A little birthday pizza and gifts!

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

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Wrapped In Christmas
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Mint Macaron
Ink	Real Red
Accessories	Festive Felt Sheets
Tools	Big Shot, Tasteful Labels Dies, Holly EF (ret), Holly Die (Lil'Inkers)