Ray of Sunshine ~ Poppystamps

Good morning friends~  I've got a warm toned card of encouragement up on the Poppystamps blog today.

I sure would love it if you stopped in to see more details.

Thanks for stopping by!

Put Me There!

Warm sandy beach, palm trees, setting sun and an empty beach chair.

Please, put me there!

This Adirondack chair is calling my name.  Beach Sunset Stencils from Lawn Fawn were the jumping point for this card.

The Adirondack chair is an oldie from Impression Obsession, while the palm tree from Elizabeth Craft Design is also old and long since retired.

I think I'll enter this card into the following challenges:

Just Us Girls ~ Anything Goes using a stencil

Word Art Wednesday ~ Anything Goes

I hope you're enjoying your summer.

Thanks for stopping by!

Botanical Mushrooms

Hello friends~  I'm popping in with a quick post with a card I made for the Color Hues challenge, where the colors are red & green. 

That color combination does bring to mind Christmas as my first thought, but I wanted to see what I could come up with that wasn't Christmassy.   

These mushrooms from Pinkfresh Studio were sitting on the space where I keep my NBUS and they fit the bill perfectly.  Since this is the first time they've seen ink, I think I'll add this card to Darnell's NBUS Challenge as well.

They fit well inside this bottle from Spellbinders, from one of the past Large Die of the Month sets.

I'll be adding this to the following challenges:

Color Hues ~ Red & Green

Word Art Wednesday ~ Anything Goes

NBUS Challenge ~ #64

Thanks for stopping by!

Basket Full of Posies ~ Double D Challenge

It's time for a new challenge over at Double D Challenge and the theme is "Basket Full of Posies".

I have so many stamps and dies but I was surprised to discover that I couldn't find a basket in the entire lot!  I had to get creative using The Greetery's Wicker Weave stencils. 

The flowers are Altenew's Morning Asters.

Please do stop by Double D Challenge to see more stunning inspiration and join in on the fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

Head Start on Holidays ~ Spellbinders

Hello friends!  It's Christmas in July at Spellbinders with the release of their new Handmade Holidays Collection and Home For The Holidays Collection.

Spellbinders so kindly sent me three surprise products to work with.  This St. Nick die set from Home For The Holidays is perfectly charming!  He reminds me of an old world Father Christmas.  

He  comes with many accessories including a Christmas tree, lantern and the beautiful etched star.

I accented St. Nick with the beautiful Poinsettia Spray die set, which you'll see more of below.  If you are a collector of Santa's or you like the old world look, then you'll love this St. Nick.

This next card shows the other two surprise sets they sent for me to work with.  The Emerald Cut Labels and Tag dies from Home For The Holidays Collection are fabulous in both design and detail.  There are three large rectangular Emerald cut shapes, each with an insert to cut detailed edges. The smallest die in this set of seven thin metal cutting dies is a tag with a detailed accent at the bottom. A wonderful basic set to have in your die-cutting stash!

The Poinsettia Spray die set from Home For The Holidays is equally beautiful.  When used with the greenery die that is included in the set, it creates a lovely spray of poinsettia blooms as well as other flowers and berries.  

The sentiment banner you see is from the Handmade Sentiments set from the Handmade Holidays collection.  You'll see more of that below. 

Spellbinders generously allowed me to pick two items of my choosing to play with.  I chose this delightful Delivery Joy Sleigh as well as the Handmade Sentiments die set, both from the Handmade Holidays collection.

This finely detailed set of dies makes a stunning sleigh full of gifts! So many details from gift-wrapped presents with bows and gift tags to Poinsettia, greens and more!

I couldn't be more delighted with these beautiful dies from Spellbinders!  I have a healthy head start on my holiday card making.  You can find all these dies and more at Spellbinders.

Here is a list of products I used that can be found at Spellbinders:

St. Nick ~ Home For The Holidays Collection

Emerald Cut Labels and Tag Etched Dies ~ Home For The Holidays

Poinsettia Spray ~ Home For The Holidays Collection

Delivering Joy ~ Handmade Holidays

Handmade Sentiments ~ Handmade Holidays

Home For The Holidays Collection

Handmade Holidays Collection

Thanks for stopping by!

Susan's Garden Azalea with Garden Pot ~ Spellbinders

Good morning crafty friends!  I've been spending as much time outside working in the flower gardens as possible when the sun is shining, but I was quite happy to take a break when these dies from Spellbinders arrived.  I was given the opportunity to work with these beautiful dies from Susan's Tierney-Cockburn, Nature's Botanical Garden Collection.  

I chose the Azalea and Garden Pot with Lady Bugs to work with.  These flowers are truly stunning!  Note:  I did not add the lady bugs to my projects.

The background was made using Nested Postage Labels & Tags and Postage Numbers from the Bayfair by Rosie's Studio collection.  I created a collage style background by stamping images from Cathe Holden's Sign Here and Handle with Care.  

The second card is much more clean and simple but equally pretty!

I love how gorgeous these flowers look when molded on a soft mat using a stylus ball tool from Susan's Ultimate Tool Kit.  The stamen have been fairy dusted with a bit of Yellow Paper Flower Pollen to give them a realistic look.

 

Here's a list of all the products I used that can be found at Spellbinders:

Azalea and Garden Pot with Lady Bugs ~ Nature's Botanical Garden Collection

Nested Postage Labels & Tags ~ Bayfair by Rosie's Studio Collection

Postage Numbers ~ Bayfair by Rosie's Studio Collection.

Cathe Holden's Sign Here

Handle with Care

Susan's Ultimate Tool Kit

Yellow Paper Flower Pollen

While typing up this post, our azalea bush was in full bloom.  It is stunning this year!  

We had the blessing of babysitting our dear little "C" over Memorial weekend.  Here he is standing in front of the azalea bush, donning his red & blue to honor our veteran's and those who serve our country.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day!  Happy 4th of July!  However you commemorate this day, let's not forget the adoption of our Declaration of Independence and the lives that were sacrificed to gain such freedom. 

These darling little gals are starting off the day with a bang!  

I purchased the doll images on Etsy and thought they'd be perfect perched atop a couple of old red and white spice tins that were hiding in my closet of shame for far too long.

The Tim Holtz Idea-ology Baubles were colored using Red Pepper and Stonewashed alcohol inks. LOVE!!

Each young lass got a paper pinwheel, a paper flag and a smattering of glittery garland.

I had this envelope sitting in a pile of mixed media materials and I thought the red stripes on the envelope would make a perfect patriotic altered piece. 

A few book pages and paper scraps later and viola!

  

A good use of a tiny dictionary page.

I filled the envelope with some paper ephemera to give to a friend who also likes to create vintage altered art.

While you're here, do you want a look into the stepback cupboard all decorated for July??
 

Pretty much everything in the cupboard came from thrift stores at one time or another.

The gingham plates are from The Pioneer Woman.  Milk glass is always abundant in thrift stores.

Some of the many jars in my collection have been found during excavation at my dear hubbies different job sites.  A little soaking and elbow grease can clean them up nicely.  I love the look of cobalt glass!

These old parade flags have 48 stars.  They were in my great aunts house when we were cleaning it out.  I think they were from our town's parade in 1976, celebrating our nation's 200th independence anniversary.

I hope you enjoyed your visit today.  I know it was a long post, but thanks for sticking with me if you did.  

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July!

Thanks for stopping by!