OSAT Season of Cheer Blog Hop

Happy Thursday to you all! This week has sure blown by! Taryn leaves for a church youth retreat tomorrow morning and Wesley leaves for the football teams away game tomorrow. They are giving the boys a brunch before sending them on their way, so I have to whip up 2 dozen muffins! Wesley has requested these pumpkin muffins that were one of the first recipes I tried from Pinterest. They are just a box of yellow cake mix and a can of pumpkin. Sometimes I spruce them up with a bit of pumpkin pie spice. All three kids really enjoy them.

Today I am back with my friends and crew from the One Stamp At A Time Blog Hop! We are hopping with the theme "Season Of Cheer", so if your holiday spirit is lacking, this hop is sure to get you feeling jolly again! I decided to pair up the Encircled in Warmth with the Heart Warming Hugs DSP for a fun home décor project and a simple little gift card holder, Lets take a look!

I just love how these projects turned out! I dwelled on the card for hours. The juices weren't flowing and I was pressed for time. I still, no matter what I try, am a master procrastinator! How do I fix this!? My wooden spool Christmas Tree is amazing and maybe why the juices weren't ever flowing! I used 11 spools. A painted one in brown for the trunk and the rest wrapped in assorted patterns from the Heart Warming Hugs DSP. It is accented with a bow of the Real Red Ruffled Ribbon and a stitched star of the Gold Metallic Specialty Paper.

This gift card holder started with the sentiment made with the Encircled in Warmth stamp set and my Stampin' Write Markers in Pear Pizzazz and Real Red. It is die cut with the largest label in the Stitched So Sweetly Dies. This fun little gift card holder sits on a piece of Pear Pizzazz that is 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". This was then matted with Real Red and the pocket feature made of Crumb Cake. I added a bit of the Heart Warming Hugs DSP and the Real Red Sheer Ribbon to keep it closed. You can see the inside below.

The sentiment is attached to the top flap with a few dimensionals. I then accented the label with some Wonderful Gems.  This is the perfect kind of Gift Card Holder for mailing this holiday season!

I am so glad that you stopped in today to see what I made for this Season of Cheer blog hop! I can't wait for you to see what my friends have made! You can click through the blog roll below for all of your holiday inspiration!

TGIF Challenges 316 Create With Friends Sketch

Okay first thing is first, IT IS FRIDAY!!! I spent yesterday afternoon not using my time wisely. I decided to go watch the high school baseball game. My best friends son pitched 5 perfect innings and we won the game 13-0. It was a double header and we decided to leave 2 innings into the second game because it seemed to be along the same lines as far as us scoring. When we got home, Taryn and I ended up walking a few pigs before doing barn chores. I did a quick dinner with Pork Chops that was ready right as Troy got home from a service call! PHEW!!! I still found time to create but it was before all of this above... I am a morning crafter!!!

This sketch killed me for an hour... I decided to set aside what I had started on initially because I couldn't make it work. I have a secret sister for an upcoming retreat and decided to work on a project for her, not realizing subconsciously, that it was our sketch! Let me show you what I have created!

Yes, this is not a card but still followed the sketch and was so fun to make! I have paired the Create with Friends with the Artistically Inked Bundle as well as the Stitched So Sweetly Dies. My color combo used is the Polished Pink, Granny Apple Green and Coastal Cabana. I chose these colors as they seemed to be the closest to the note pad inside. After stamping and die cutting the flowers from the Artistically Inked bundle I set them aside to work on the sentiment portion. The sentiment is from the Create With Friends and heat embossed in Silver over the top of a Coastal Cabana stamped background also from the Artistically Inked. It is die cut with a scalloped rectangle from the Stitched So Sweetly dies. I have accented this with the clear Elegant Faceted Gems. The Basic Black base is nicely matted with a layer of Polished Pink and Pattern Play DSP. To close this cute little notepad holder I have used the Black Glitter Organdy Ribbon. I have given a couple of different views below! 

This is a perfect example of thinking a bit outside of the box for a card sketch! Its amazing how this great little notepad holder came together! I hope my secret sister enjoys it as much as I did creating this for her! 

Now it is your turn to create with this sketch! I can't wait to see what you make!

Have an amazing weekend!

The Spot 133 Very Versailles

Happy Tuesday! Situation normal has been restored and all kids are at school for in person learning. Our county is kind of a hot spot at the moment, but I think we are at the end of the Covid train! Fortunately our schools never hit outbreak status, and even though Wesley was quarantined, the middle school and elementary school remained in session,

This weekend I managed to have a day of retail therapy. This cute little scrapbook store to the east of us in Benkleman, Nebraska is going out of business. So we went to see if there was ANYTHING that I HAD to have. Of course I found things!! We also stopped at Dollar General and stumbled on the mother load of adorable Farmhouse Christmas ornaments! It inspired my craftiness and I am getting my head back in the game!

This week The Spot Design Team is creating with a great fall like color challenge! It pushed me a bit out of my zone, because Christmas is in my head! I wasn't quite sure what to do until I thought about the diaper wipe technique! It was perfect for the Very Versailles stamp set! Let  me show you what I created.

When I started this card I started with some diaper wipes. Its a great technique that you use the reinkers to ink up the wipes like an ink pad. I used the Rich Razzleberry and Pumpkin Pie reinkers for the scripty like stamp in the Very Versailles stamp set on my Very Vanilla card front. Then I added the leaves in Pretty Peacock. A bit of heat embossed gold. The Stitched So Sweetly dies worked out fabulously over the lace trim. A few enamel dots and this beauty was done!

I can't wait to see what you create with this weeks challenge!

Have a great day!

The Spot Not Yo Mommas Card Challenge

Happy Tuesday! I am enjoying a hot cup of coffee in silence while typing up my post this morning... sometimes I wake up early just so I can drink my coffee in silence. It is for everyones safety! The kids and I will be working on seed tapes today of carrots and radishes for the garden. I am hoping to plant some of the flowers I got from the nursery on Friday. For those of you who garden, do you follow the Farmer's Almanac? In Colorado there is also the theory of not planting things before Mother's Day... I tend to be a bit of a rule breaker anyway.

Click Here For Full Challenge Details

This week The Spot Design Team is creating cards that are not so average. We are calling it the Not Yo' Momma's Card. You may see some fun folds or Unisex type cards and cards that are NOT for mom!!  I chose to make a fun fold. That isn't necessarily for mom but maybe for an amazing friend. Now I can't take credit for this amazing fold design. I tend to treasure or hoard cards from swaps... I usually keep my very favorites. I received a swap card from my demo friend in California Amy Combs at OnStage in Vegas, I hadn't pulled it out of the clear envelope until a couple of weeks ago, so she gets the credit for the design of this fold. Let me show you what I have created!

Adorable, right?! This card has a rich base of Early Espresso with a mat and accents of Mossy Meadow. I have used the Stampin' Blends Petal Pink, Mossy Meadow and Ivory to color the Magnolia. This was nicely accented with the Magnolia Lane DSP stripe and the Bird Ballad DSP. I even added a bit of the Pressed Petals DSP wood. The Stitched So Sweetly Dies are a go to and a favorite. To create my label I stamped the smaller magnolia in Petal Pink and sentiment from the To A Wild Rose in Early Espresso before die cutting. My label is accented with a bit of Striped Petal Pink and Lace Trim. A few Gold Glitter Enamel dots were an amazing touch. 

I will be making this fold live on Thursday... Stay Tuned for a time!

I can't wait to see what you make for this challenge! 

The Spot #107 Birthday Challenge

Good Morning! I hope that everyone is in good health on this beautiful spring morning!

This is going to be a short and sweet... I have school stuff to enforce, pigs to feed, and one more post for later today!

This week The Spot Design Team has an easy challenge for you ALL to participate in... Birthdays!!!  We all need birthday cards and I am sure that many of us are sending more out than maybe we once were! You can get all of the details by clicking the graphic above but let me show you what I have created today!

This card started with a Bermuda Bay card base with a Mango Melody mat.  I have used the Birthday Bonanza DSP paired with the scalloped rectangles from the Stitched So Sweetly dies to create this fun and cheery card. I have decided to use the Label Me Bold stamp set with the Label Me Lovely Punch to create my great little sentiment. I stamped the sentiment using the Stazon Jet Black and fussy cut it! It is layered over a stamped background of Mango Melody and Bermuda Bay stars. The Foam Adhesive strips were great for this little rectangle sentiment! What is a card from me with out a few little gems! The Gilded Gems are a new go to in my craft room and are available now from the upcoming Annual Catalog!

I am so excited to see what you create for this fun challenge I hope you

A Paper Pumpkin Thing No Matter the Weather

Good Morning! I can't believe that it is Thursday already, it seems like with all that is going on that it has been a 3 week Monday and it all started when Joshua had his appendix removed. The kids and I have spent a lot of time out helping build pig pens. You know, Social Distancing... but the weather has been glorious, so we have been taking full advantage of it! We are officially on a "Stay At Home Order" here in Colorado and we are lucky in that Troy's job is deemed essential. At least he gets a break from the circus!

Today the A Paper Pumpkin Thing Team is hopping with the No Matter The Weather kit! This fabulous kit came with two amazing stamp sets with some amazing clouds and adorable rain boots!

 

My time in my craft room has bee split between pigs, refereeing sibling feuds and my normal household duties. I would be lying if I told you that this scenario isn't taking a toll on my mental health but the last few days of being outside have been great!

I have created two cards for you today using the Stitched So Sweetly Dies and the Under The Umbrella bundle. Let me show you what I have created!

This card started with a Smoky Slate layer stamped with both cloud stamps from the kit in Basic Gray. I layered the boots back behind the Smoky Slate and they fit neatly on my scalloped rectangle of So Saffron Gingham. I made a nice little scene with the stamps from the kit and die cut it with the largest label in the Stitched So Sweetly Dies and accented it with a die cut bunny that is in the kit.

This card uses one of the card fronts as a layer. I again used Basic Gray to created my clouds on the background with the Under My Umbrella bundle to go with my Calypso Coral rain boots that are layered over the grass! The stripe patterned DSP is actually from kit and inside the envelopes! A bit of twine was just the right touch! 

I can't wait for you to see what else my friends have made, you can click through my list below! 

Stay Healthy!

The Spot 103 Pick 3 Very Versailles

Good Tuesday! I hope today finds you in good health! We have spent a lot of time lately as a family outside. Taryn's endeavor of showing pigs for fair this year is coming to fruition! We are now the proud owner of two pigs! These are Taryn's 4-H project and yes she understands what happens once they run through the sale at fair.  

This week The Spot Design Team is creating with a color challenge! Blushing Bride, Grapefruit Grove, Rococo Rose, Early Espresso, Basic Gray and Soft Sea Foam! We really want you to pick 3 and go from there but I decided to use 4 and maybe a bit of gold! Let me show you what I have created!

This card started on Very Vanilla. With Soft Sea Foam stamped leaves and the script stamped in Early Espresso from the stamp set Very Versailles. I decided that it needed a bit of heat embossed Stampin' Emboss Gold Splatters. I stamped the medallion type stamp with Blushing Bride, and then I die cut it with one of the dies from the Stitched So Sweetly Dies and then layered it up with a stitched oval from the Stitched Shapes Dies that is stamped with Soft Sea Foam. A bit of Rococo Rose is stamped underneath. It is accented with some Gold Foil leaves and the Very Vanilla lace trim! This card was perfect to add the Gold Gilded gems. This is on a layer of Blushing Bride with an Early Espresso card base!

I can't wait to see what you create with this weeks colors! You only have until Saturday night to get those cards entered! The link is above! Have a great day!

APPT Lovely Day February 2020 Blog Hop

Man, the last few weeks have been doozies! Between sick kids, large card class, sick husband and me just trying to keep up with all of this. Everyone returned to school yesterday so MAYBE I can get back to a routine.

A Paper Pumpkin Thing is back! We are hopping with the kit from February 2020, Lovely Day. This is an amazing kit, with flower die cuts, copper edged banners and dimensional words! The best thing about it is that is that it coordinates with Sale A Bration stamp set Happy Birthday to You. Did you also know that this stamp set has dies too????? They are called Birthday Dies! 

When I started creating my alternatives for this kit, I had full intentions of sending them in for Paper Pumpkins live. I am in the process of rearranging my craft room and Taryn was helping me on their day off this past Friday. Well, she spilled water on my samples... I thought she ruined them! She did ruin one... But I was able to salvage one. I just can't get enough of the flower stamp in this kit! So let me show you my two creations!

 It makes me giggle when I realize how I get stuck on certain colors that if you asked me about using I may gag. Just kidding, I won't gag! I have always been a lover of a nice buttery type yellow. When I was younger I worked in a paint and wallcovering store and often helped customers with colors. So Saffron is much like the yellows I would have recommended. It is funny how unused it has been in the past in my stamp room. This card started with the So Saffron layer. I stamped the large flower in So Saffron ink on opposite corners and set this aside. The scalloped rectangles are from the Stitched So Sweetly Dies. I cut two, one in Whisper White and one in Flirty Flamingo. The Flirty Flamingo one is also stamped with Flirty Flamingo ink with the small flower from the Paper Pumpkin kit. I have layered these onto the So Saffron layer and set aside while I colored the cake stamp from the Happy Birthday To You with my Stampin' Blends in coordinating colors. This is all layered onto a Mint Macaron mat and Flirty Flamingo card base. I have added the copper foil dimensional word embellishment from the kit with a few sequins to finish it off!

This second card started with the large flower stamp on Fluid 100 paper. I whipped out my Aqua Painters and Watercolor Pencils to color this beauty before using my Paper Snips to fussy cut it out. This is layered onto a piece of Pressed Petals DSP that I adhered over a Pearlized Doily onto my card front layer that I created with a card base from the kit. The sentiment is stamped in Rich Razzleberry ink on a strip of Whisper White that is layered over a piece of Copper Foil. A quick Copper Foil Sprig from the Birthday Dies was a perfect touch before adhering it onto my Pear Pizzazz card base!

I hope you found some inspiration today! I can't wait for you to see what the rest of our team has created! You can click along the list below for inspiration! Have a fabulous day!

TGIF 249 Valentines Challenge

Boy am I glad today is FRIDAY! The kids don't know that tomorrow brings a long list of to-dos and cleaning. It has been a bit of a quiet week, but my stress level does not seem to reflect that! Who are you guys rooting for this weekend? I think we are a house divided... I am rooting for San Fran! Enough about that!

I am designing today with the TGIF Design Team and we have a fun and festive challenge that is just in time! Valentines Day! I am sure we are all up to our elbows in Valentines at this point, in fact I actually struggled with this challenge because everything has been HEARTS. If you have followed me for a while, you will know that hearts are not my favorite. So when I started creating for this challenge, the idea for me was to use what others had not been using and maybe mix it with something new!

 

After creating all day... and not finishing or liking what I was coming up with, I came up with this. This elegant Valentines card started with the Basic Gray stamped heart with Petal Pink sentiment from the Meant To Be stamp set. It wasn't until that moment that I began to have a clear idea of what I wanted to do. I have use the Stitched Be Mine dies to create my cluster of hearts.  These are nicely layered over a Basic Gray layer that has been stamped with the Breathtaking Bouquet background stamp and heat embossed with Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder. This was die cut with the scalloped rectangle from the Stitched So Sweetly Dies and adhered onto a layer of Petal Pink card stock that has been embossed with the Tufted 3D embossing folder. A mat of Vellum to coordinate with the Vellum heart die cut was just the right touch on my Basic Gray card base. A bit of Petal Pink Metallic Edge Ribbon and Champagne Rhinestone to set this card over the top. I gave you a bit of a close up below!

This challenge should be easy for ALL of you and I can't wait to see what your Valentine's will look like! Remember, you only have a week to get those cards submitted!

Have a fabulous weekend!

A Paper Pumpkin Thing I’ll Be Yours Blog Hop

Happy Thursday!!! I can't believe that we are only a few days away from February, can you? January seems like the longest month ever, and then BOOM it is February!! Taryn (my youngest and only daughter of the 3), turns 10 on the 4th and it always seems to sneak up on me right after Christmas! I can't believe in a week, all of my kids will be in the double digits! 

A Paper Pumpkin Thing is back!! Can you believe we have been around for almost 3 years!? It was an idea that started with the "It's A Sara Thing" kit. Hence the name of ours! A group of us liked the idea of a Paper Pumpkin blog hop, since there was not one out there at the time... and here we are killing it, 3 years later!

January kits are always hard for me to REALLY repurpose or make into alternatives for the kit. With kids in Elementary school, I am always looking for ways to make cute, easy Valentines. So for my designs today, I have paired the stamp set, bee die cuts, Heartfelt Bundle and Golden Honey Specialty Designer Series Paper with some of my favorite stitched dies! Let me show you what I have come up with!

I just love the way that both of these cards came out today! I have paired the Golden Honey Specialty Designer Series Paper with So Saffron and Gold Foil. I love that the stamp set in the I'll Bee Yours kit coordinates with the Heartfelt Bundle in our Mini Catalog and I took full advantage of that!

The tiny sentiments were perfect to put onto the smallest Stitched So Sweetly Dies and it paired so nicely with our Rectangle Stitched Dies. Did you know that there is a stitched stamp in the Heartfelt stamp set? I actually heat embossed it in Gold to coordinate with my card.

I started this card with a piece of Whisper White and stamped the Bee's from the kit in So Saffron ink and die cut it with the largest Rectangle Stitched Die. I added a bit of a banner to go under my heart. Like I said above, the smallest Stitched So Sweetly die was perfect for the tiny sentiments in the kit! My heat embossed gold stitched heart from the Heartfelt bundle is layered over a Gold Foil heart also from the Heartfelt Bundle. A bit of twine and a Bee die cut from the kit and this card was done!

I wanted my second card to coordinate with the first... I took the stitched stamp from the Heartfelt stamp (again) and stamped a background with So Saffron Ink onto the So Saffron card stock. This card also has the Golden Honey DSP. I punched a heart out of both the stripe and So Saffron so that the heart stamp from the kit peeks out from behind in So Saffron ink. The heart is accented with tiny flowers in the kit in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink. A few metallic pearls, bee's from the kit and a bit of twine from Sale A Bration and the kit and this card was done!

I can't wait for you to see what my friends have made with the kit this month! There is a full blog roll below for you to Bee even more inspired!

Happy Hopping!

TGIF Challenges 247 Happy Birthday

Happy Friday to all of you! I am so glad that the weekend is upon us and I am sure the kids are too. There will be much folding and cleaning this weekend as it seems that everyone has forgotten how to fold the laundry or even bring it to the laundry room to be washed. The Christmas Tree needs to be put away as well... it is undecorated, and WAY earlier than years past!

Click Here For Full Challenge Details

Today I am designing with the TGIF Challenges Design team with a fun Happy Birthday challenge. It has been so hard for me to create anything but Valentines this last week as that is what my focus will be for class this weekend. Let me show you what I have made.

I started this card with the "Hooray" sentiment from Broadway Birthday. This was created using my Stamparatus and the Hinge Step technique. Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, Mango Melody, Grapefruit Grove and Terracotta Tile was used on Whisper White card stock. Then I used the scalloped rectangle from the new Stitched So Sweetly Dies to cut it out. This is layered over 2 pieces of the Birthday Bonanza DSP. A stitched circle of Daffodil Delight to hold my sentiment banner and my party supplies from Broadway Birthday are layered over a bit of Whisper White Polka Dot Tulle. What's a birthday without some sequins? The Metallic Bakers Twine & Sequins Combo pack from the Sale A Bration catalog worked out great. A Bermuda Bay card base with Grapefruit Grove Mat made this card really pop!! Oops! Did I mention the Wink Of Stella!? It is on the party supplies!! I have provided a close up below! 

I can't wait to see what you create with this amazing birthday theme. Thank You so much for stopping by today! I hope you have an amazing weekend!