TCC152 Restful Nest

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  Time for a new Card Concept challenge where we challenge you to share your stamping style with us!  Here's today's inspiration:

I just loved that little bird's nest and this challenge gave me a chance to use one of my all-time favorite SU sets, Soft as a Feather, along with a bunch of other stamps!!!  So here we go:

I have already sent out my Easter cards, but I needed a sympathy card, so I thought the colors and country items in the photo would make a nice shabby and vintage-style card.  I stamped the nest on a panel of Naturals White cardstock with Soft Suede ink and daubered some ink over it to fill it in.  The eggs were stamped with Crumb Cake and colored with Petal Pink ink and a blender pen, then fussy-cut and sponged along the edges:

The Petal Pink and Crumb Cake panels were stamped with background stamps and sponged for more vintage shabbiness; the main panel was stamped with another background stamp before adding the sympathy sentiment and a little feather beneath it.  I sponged and distressed the edges and added some baker's twine:

All of this went on a Soft Seafoam mat that was also stamped along the edges with Gorgeous Grunge and sponged some more!  On the inside, I added a second sentiment and feather.  

I also used the Inspire.Create sketch:

Be sure to fly on over to the Card Concept blog to see what the other designers created, and share yours with us as well!  Thanks for popping in today!

I wanted to share a little fun tip about using SU's Blends or Copics for your Easter crafting!  When Cassidy and I were dying eggs on the weekend, I decided to try adding a bunny to one of the eggs before dying it.  Please bear with me, as my artistic skills are lacking (that's why I stamp---someone else does the artwork, LOL!), but here is my Highland Heather bunny:

And after dying...the alcohol ink stayed in place!  He does look a little sad, though!  I am sure you could probably dye first, then draw...or stamp!  Anyway, I thought he was kind of cute!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

"I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted.  The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.  The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.  he is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him." Exodus 15:1-2

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Soft as a Feather (ret), Birch, Burlap (ret), Gorgeous Grunge (ret), Leaves #3 (Cornish Heritage Farms), Sentiments CL342 (Hero Arts)
Card stock & Papers	Naturals White, Petal Pink, Crumb Cake, Soft Seafoam
Ink	Crumb Cake, Petal Pink, Soft Seafoam, Sahara Sand, Early Espresso
Accessories	Baker's Twine (Dollar Tree), Dimensionals
Tools	Sponge Daubers

PP430 Coffee Helps

Hi everyone!  Happy Sunday!  It's time for another Paper Players challenge, with Ann giving us a marvelous sketch:

I've gotten in sort of a rut, making the same type of card with the same type of fold, so I thought I would make a Z-fold card with this sketch, and add a little gift card holder inside!  So here we go:

Coffee Cafe is one of those sets that has been neglected on my shelf, so I pulled it out, dusted it off and went to work!  Here is what the card looks when the band is slipped off:

I began by using my favorite paper from the Share What You Love Specialty DSP for the cup, then stamped the sleeve in Coastal Cabana, and whipped cream in Crumb Cake on some Very Vanilla cardstock and cut it out.  I created my own background paper with some Coastal Cabana cardstock, and stamped the little coffee beans and hearts, then sponged the edges.  I love that SU gives us little "extra" stamps in some of their sets, and I don't use them enough!  

My Early Espresso layer was embossed with the Tufted embossing folder too:

For added interest, I stamped a panel with the Burlap background stamp, shaded and trimmed the edges for the inside of my card, then added a little pocket for the gift card holder on the left side:

For the belly band to hold it all together, I adhered some burlap trim together with Tear and Tape, then added the little "HI" from the same set.  Fun!  I hope you'll play along with our sketch this week too!  We have been really impressed by the submissions lately...I think I need to step up my game, LOL!  Check out what the designers did:

·        Ann

·        Claire

·        Jaydee

·        Joanne

·        Laurie

·        Nance

·        Anne Marie

·        Su

·        Wanda

The tractor came in handy...we got it just in time!!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Coffee Cafe, Burlap
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Coastal Cabana, Share What You Love Specialty DSP
Ink	Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Coastal Cabana
Accessories	Burlap Ribbon, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Tufted Embossing Folder, 1/2" Circle Punch, Wink of Stella, Tear and Tape, Envelope Punch Board (to round corners of gift card pocket), Blends (to shade coffee cup)

CAS Santa

Happy Saturday, peeps!  It's a dreary day here; I took a walk and now I am doing some stamping!  I am squeaking in my one-layer CAS Santa card for two challenges:

CAS Christmas wants Santa

and Less Is More wants a holiday one-layer card!

My card is 4 1/4" square; I stamped a Santa on it, made a Post-it note mask to cover him up, then cut a square reverse mask so I could stamp the burlap as a background:

I used the Stamparatus to get a good image!  Then I stamped the sentiment beneath it and my little Santa was done!

Now off to stamp some more!  

A little Thanksgiving cousin interaction:

Have a pleasant day and be blessed!  Be sure to come back tomorrow for a new Paper Players challenge too!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Burlap, Love with All the Trimmings (CTMH), Santa Claus (CTMH ret)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White
Ink	Real Red, Soft Suede
Accessories	Stamparatus
Tools

IB43 Mad for Plaid

Howdy, peeps!  Thursday....the week is winding down...and it's time for another Inspired By challenge!  I loved Laurel's photo prompt, but I admit it did challenge me a bit!  First, here's my card:

Now here's her cute prompt:

Aren't all those thermoses full of retro fun?!  I wanted to use the CAS Colours and Sketches sketch for this week:

and I was trying to keep it pretty clean and simple, so instead of incorporating all those gorgeous plaids, I just did a few!!  I used the Buffalo Check stamp and stamped it three different ways, then used the leaf dies from the Seasonal Layers Thinlets to cut them out:  I added some additional "plaid" with markers:

I adhered them to a panel of Very Vanilla that was embossed with the Cable Knit EF, then added a sentiment from A Big Thank You that I cut with a Stitched Shape Framelit:

 

Finally, I dusted off some washi tape to make my horizontal lines and added a little embroidery floss bow!  When I was cleaning up my desk (haha--sort of), I noticed the negative portion of the red Buffalo Check was a fairly good size, so I used it to make a second card; I used the same sketch, but made it into another shaker card:

I stamped the panel with the Burlap background stamp, adding a sentiment from Jar of Love, and the inside of the shaker was stamped with a crackle stamp from an old Paper Pumpkin set:

I found adding sequins to a shaped opening was a little more challenging than just a square or circle!  But in the end, I was happy with it!  I like the country feel of this one!  

Thanks for popping in today and I hope that you'll participate in the IB challenge this week...those plaid thermoses will give you lots of inspiration!

So we had about 45 minutes yesterday afternoon to make Halloween cookies...Cass invited Lee over and we went to work.  The cookie dough was already made, they just needed to roll it out, cut the cookies and we had some Halloween confetti candy, black and orange sprinkles and green icing with which to decorate.  I helped them with the rolling, but basically left them to their own devices for the rest!  

The rolling and cutting went very well!

Then the decorating began; they each had their own unique style!  You'll have to come back tomorrow to see how they ended up, LOL!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Buffalo Check, Burlap, A Big Thank You, Jar of Love, Crackle (past Paper Pumpkin)
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Real Red, Crumb Cake, Pumpkin Pie, Crushed Curry
Ink	Real Red, Memento Black, Crumb Cake
Accessories	Pick a Pattern Washi Tape, Sequins (from my stash), Embroidery Floss, Fun Foam, Dimensionals
Tools	Big Shot, Layering Squares Framelits, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Seasonal Layers Framelits, Cable Knit EF, Markers

Inspired By #9 In the Meadow

Happy Thursday, peeps! And Happy March!  Is it coming in like a lion or a lamb where you live?  Hope you've been having a good week so far....I am feeling better, just in time for Laurel's Inspired By challenge!  I was lying in bed one night, thinking about the prompt and I remembered this beautiful background stamp SU had called Floral, so I pulled it out and went to work:

I love the richness of Tranquil Tide on Garden Green....reminds me of the green swaths of grass at Longwood Gardens!  I added some yellow roses from Altenew, a sentiment from Technique Tuesday, and after seeing this card by Laurel, I pulled out a PTI hexagon die and added a little vellum panel...I hope she doesn't mind that I CASEd her, LOL!

On the Crumb Cake base, I also stamped some Burlap, and you can see how I stamped "so very" so very crookedly....sigh, even with a Misti, sometimes I still go awry!

Anyhoo, here's Laurel's inspiration prompt:

Perfect for spring...how will you interpret this lovely little work of art?  Can't wait to see yours, and be sure to pop by the Inspired By blog to see the DT's take on it!  And Laurel has set up a Facebook page too....go over and "like" us!!

Santa-inspired Emoji nightwear....she cracks me up!

 Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Burlap Background, Floral Background (ret), Painted Flowers (Altenew), So Blessed (Technique Tuesday)
Card stock & Papers	Garden Green, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Vellum
Ink	Tranquil Tide, Garden Green, So Saffron, Crushed Curry, Hello Honey (ret)
Accessories	Pearls, White Sequin (from my stash)
Tools	Big Shot, Bouquet Bunch Framelits, Seasonal Layers Framelits, Painted Flowers Dies (Altenew), Hexagon Die (Papertrey), Dimensionals

MTS197 Burlap Pumpkin

Happy Monday, peeps!  Hope you had a good weekend, we did!  I snuck in a little stamping time yesterday (I should have been painting,😏) and played with the Match the Sketch sketch:

I needed a thank-you card for a customer and I had not yet used any of these patterns from Painted Harvest.  I paired it the Patterned Pumpkin and Bouquet Bunch dies to make my creation:

I cut the large outline pumpkin from Cajun Craze cardstock, then traced the outline on another piece and cut it out slightly smaller to fit behind.  Before I adhered it, I stamped it with Versamark and the Burlap background stamp...I love the "texture" it gives!  I added a little tag and some Soft Sky ribbon and it was done!  Off in the mail it will go!

We had such a fun time at our reunion!  It was a small crowd but it was still nice to see some familiar faces from so long ago!  There is a winery nearby that also does catering and we were treated to some yummy Italian dishes while we reminisced!  Here I am with my sweet friend Vanelle (I am willing to bet you've never heard of that name before)....we have been friends since second grade, and she traveled all the way from Colorado to Pennsylvania to be with us!

Our school colors are maroon and gold and I thought they looked so pretty with the glass jars in the windowsill!

We decided we should get together more often...especially those of us close by...and Mario, the owner of the winery, said he would be happy to accommodate us, LOL!!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Teeny Tiny Wishes, Burlap
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze, Soft Sky, Crumb Cake,  Painted Harvest DSP
Ink	Versamark, Cajun Craze
Accessories	Soft Sky Ribbon
Tools	Big Shot, Bouquet Bunch Framelits, Patterned Pumpkin Framelits, Dimensionals

MTS192 Perk Up

Hi everyone!  I hope your Friday is going well!  I have a quick little card that perhaps I should send to myself! (More about that later!)  It uses the Merry Cafe set that is in the holiday mini catalog as of today!  It features the Match the Sketch sketch:

and here we go:

I used some of those fun papers from Naturally Eclectic, and stamped the solid green panel with the Burlap background stamp to give it some texture.  Then I just stamped my mini coffee cup image two times, once in Night of Navy and once in Tranquil Tide, fussy-cut them out and glued them together:

I also added some Lost Lagoon thick baker's twine on the Night of Navy panel for a little extra interest!  So why should I send this to myself?  I just found out I have shingles!  Blessedly, they are confined to my right arm and hand, and are not really too bad right now.  Hopefully with some meds the pain won't be too bad....I do have a wedding coming up, so I don't want to be a mess for that, LOL!  Anyway, prayers are appreciated!

On our way to a meeting last night, we saw a car stopped in the middle of the road next to what I call our "spooky tree", about 1/4 mile from our house.  We looked over and saw this:

We had seen him last week as well, circling high above our house, so having him a little closer was quite exciting!  Have a blessed weekend...I'll be back on Sunday for a Paper Players challenge, so be sure to stop back!