Welcome Baby Girl

 A friend of mine needed a baby card for someone expecting a girl, so I made this card for her while she's busy crocheting a baby blanket. Quite a few years ago, a former blogger; Jessi Fogan, sent me an assortment of these beautiful hand-crocheted medallions in a few different sizes and colors. I have treasured them through the years not only because they're beautiful, but also because Jessi is no longer with as she sadly passed at a very young age in 2019. As long as I have some of these hand-made medallions, her memory will never be forgotten. RIP Jessi. You had such a kind and caring heart.

There was one pink one left in the box that I thought would be just perfect for a baby card. I used a 2009 Sweet 'n Sassy stamped image on a snippet of white; then colored it with Copics and glaze pens. I die-cut it into a circle and placed it inside of the medallion. I used a Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder to make the background, and then used an ancient Spellbinders ribbon tag die to cut and layer the sentiment panel from 2 more snippets. I fussy cut the white piece to fit inside the pink piece and attached it with white sheer ribbon, adding 2 punched hearts done with a (r) SU! mini punch and 2 snippets of white pearlized paper. For the final touch and I added 2 pink sequins in the heart centers for a bit of sparkle. The sentiment is from the same Sweet 'n Sassy stamp set as the image..

I'm sharing this with the following challenges:

The Snippets Playground Challenge #483 - must use snippets

https://pixiessnippetsplayground.blogspot.com/2024/06/challenge-483.html

The Retro Rubber Challenge #233 - Use Stamps older than 1 year with this tic tac toe grid

I went diagonal with Die Cut, Summer, and Sequins

https://www.retrorubberchallengeblog.com/my-blog/2024/06/challenge-233-tics-tacs-toes.html

The Little Red Wagon Challenge #762 - Layer it Up

https://lilredwagon.blogspot.com/2024/06/challenge-762-layer-it-up.html

It's still incredibly frustrating that blogger will no longer allow me to link these challenge blogs by inserting the text into the actual link. It makes writing up a post more cumbersome than it should have to be. If anyone has a fix, I'd love to hear about it. Some bloggers have mentioned they cannot enlarge their photos anymore, but I found that if you click two times on that image size box, the second click gives you the option to choose a different size.

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great Wednesday! Keep smiling, life is good in spite of the hiccups 😉

Carol

the Bunny

 I have loved this bunny from the first time I saw him. A dear friend sent me some die cuts of him (thank-you again) and then another dear friend bought the die and sent it to me (another huge thanks) and I haven't been able to put it down too much since I got it LOL I made this card with 3 of those little bunnies hiding in the grass along with 3 tiny eggs that are hidden with them. The large pink panel was done with a Papertrey ink stamp embossed with white EP and a Gina Marie Designs Venetian label die. The sentiment was a snipped portion of a SSS pre-printed one, and the pre-embossed woodgrain cardstock is also by SSS. The grass dies are by SNSS and I stenciled in a few pale clouds in the sky for those stamped SNSS birds to fly in. 

I'll share this with the Retro Rubber Challenge #226 - Spring is on the Way

(Must use stamps more than a year old)

Papertrey Ink Polka Dot Parade - 2013

Sweet n Sassy Stamps - Serene Silhouettes 2009

Also sharing with the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - 

A Bit o' Green

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you all the best possible day.

Carol

Silver and Blue Christmas Card

 I will try to get a better photo of this card at some point because those mirror silver medallions look more like gold, but they are bright silver and  hard to photograph. The mirror silver was cut with Spellbinder's circle dies. Each center has a blue glittered snowflake done with a die from the retired SU! Pillow Box die set, and each snowflake has a matching silver brad in the center. The embossed panel was done with a Darice snowflake ef and the designer paper is a snippet I found in my overflowing box of scraps. I cut two narrow strips of the glittered blue paper and edged the embossed panel with them to tie everything together. The sentiment is from SU!'s Teeny Tiny Wishes which was released in 2009-2010.

I'll share with the Sketch Saturday #739

Sharing also with the Retro Rubber Challenge #220 - must use stamps older than 1 year.

I used the middle horizontal line of Die Cut or punch / Pattern Paper / Embossing.

the Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #52 - A/G Christmas

Thanks for stopping by today and have a fabulous crafty day!

Carol

Trick or Treat

I've made several Halloween cards using this candy corn die a friend gifted me with several years ago so I'll share one today.  It's time to use up the Halloween papers I've been hanging onto for so long, so I cut the smaller pieces into strips and made a herringbone background for this card. The trick or treat stamped image was done with a SU! Tags 4 You set (2013-2014) on orange cardstock and cut with the coordinating punch. I added a green gel sticker just for a fun accent. 

 The same friend who gifted me with the candy corn die, also gifted me with an envelope of fun die cuts so I added 2 of them here on the inside. I added some fluorescent Copic colors to the cauldron and added a SSS pre-printed sentiment along with another snippet of retired SU! Halloween paper.

I'll share this card with the following challenges:

Shopping Our Stash Challenge #507 - Franken-Card / Halloween

Craft Rocket Challenges #108 - Autumn and/or Halloween

Allsorts Challenge week 749 - Vintage or A/G

Retro Rubber Challenge #217 - A/G using stamps older than 1 year

Two Old Bats October A/G Halloween Challenge

That's going to do it for me today so thanks as always for stopping by and have a great day whatever you do.

I'm keeping the world in prayer for peace.

Carol

Sending a Paper Hug

 I found this older Inky Antics stamp that I've had for probably 8-10 years and decided to give it some love. I pulled out some pretty aqua cardstock and die-cut the sentiment panel with a Kat Scrappiness die, adding a computer generated sentiment. I stamped the image on white and colored it with Copics, adding some stenciled clouds with TE cloud stencils and tumbled glass distress ink, and then added a couple of stamped SNSS birds in the sky. I die cut the image panel with a Lil Inker stitched rectangle and called this one done.

I'll share this with the following challenges:

the Allsorts Challenge week #747 - four legged friends or A/G

Cardz 4 Galz - use a stencil, a sentiment, and an image

the Retro Rubber Challenge #216 - must use a stamp older than 1 year

with the following Tic Tac Toe Grid

I used the diagonal line from the top left down to the bottom right - animal, your choice (stencil), die cut or punch

Thanks for the visit and I wish you a wonderful day today!

Carol

Birthday for a Friend

 While trying so hard to part ways with crafty items I've had for years, I discovered an old Sizzix fold-over die called Flower Burst that I pulled from the cobwebs to make this card. I still have a plastic bag of left over snippets of 3 retired "In" colors of SU! paper that I just can't seem to toss away. One color is Wild Wasabi, and one is Groovy Guava but I can't remember the name of the other one. I cut the flowers, and used a SU! Bouquet Bunch set of dies to create the greenery. The stenciled background was done with a ARTplorations Gridlocked stencil and some Abandoned Coral oxide ink. I used another Sizzix (SU!) foldover die to cut the tiny butterfly and added a pink gemstone to the body and hand-drew the antennae. The ladybug was made with a MB die and the sentiment is by Sweet 'n Sassy from a stamp set called Poppies and Greetings from 2009. For the final touch I added 3 tiny black gemstones to the centers of each flower. Sometimes everything old is new again.

I'll enter this into the following challenges:

the Triple B August Challenge - birds, blooms, and/or butterflies (use 1 or all)

The Butterfly Challenge #185 - Flowers with your Butterfly

the Four Seasons Challenge Blog August 2023 - A/G Summer

the Happy Little Stampers August Birthday Challenge - A/G Birthday

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Summer

the Retro Rubber Challenge #212 - A/G must use stamps older than 1 year

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and thanks so much for stopping by today!

Carol

The Antique Store

 I found this old stamp from Rubber Cottage (2005) hiding in the cobwebs and thought I'd have a play with it again. I colored it with Copics, colored pencils, and markers. I stenciled a little bit of blue skies with some Tumbled Glass ink and placed it on a chocolate cardstock background. I was stumped for adding a sentiment so I left it blank for the time being until I get ready to mail it. I used to have one of those old milk cans like the one sitting by the door and I loved it, but someone helped themselves to it unfortunately. Now they seem to be difficult to find in this day and age.

I'll share this with the FarmQuest General Store Challenge #4 which is A/G farm/country related.

Also adding to the We Love Stamping May Challenge - A/G stamped with the option of "in the garden."

adding also to the Retro Rubber Challenge #202 - A/G must use stamps older than 1 year.

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a wonderful day! Happy stamping!

Carol

Floating Cow Birthday Card

 I found this stamped cow image in a box that I must have had for a decade or more. I'm pretty sure it's a Penny Black image but I was unable to verify that because it's probably been long retired. Either way it's a cute one and it's long overdue for being used! I made the background with some Sunny Studio papers and stenciled the clouds in with some Tumbled Glass ink. I colored the image with Copics and a black marker, adding color to the balloons with glaze pens. I was stumped for adding a sentiment, so I leaned on a good friend for suggestions and she gave me this one which was perfect! It was computer generated and snipped apart to fit on the image.

I'll share this with the following challenges:

 the Triple AAA Birthday Challenge #49 - Balloons

The Retro Rubber challenge #206 - Tic Tac Toe

(I went across the top line with birthday, stencil and pattern paper)

The Happy Little Stampers May Birthday Challenge - A/G

The Critter Crazy Challenge #74 - A/G featuring a critter

(Calling a cow a critter may be a stretch, but I'll enter anyway 😉)

the May Stencil Fun Challenge - A/G using a stencil  *optional flowers

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Wednesday is a great one!

Carol

Mother's Day Flowers

 I recently unearthed my older Flourishes calendar stamps and was so happy to have discovered that I still had them because I thought I'd given them all away a long time ago. I was pleasantly surprised to find them since the company has now gone out of business. I pulled this Iris stamp out first because an Iris is one of my favorite flowers - probably because it's purple. (my favorite color) It also happens to be the flower for the month of May which includes Mother's Day. I colored the image with Copics and a glaze pen, adding some die-cut grass with a SNSS border grass die. The frame was created by using 2 different sizes of stitched square dies and the sentiment is by Verve who has also gone out of business too unfortunately.

I'm entering this into these challenges:

The Color Hues Challenge #62 - purple & green (my favorite color combo!)

The Four Seasons April 2023 A/G Spring Challenge

The Triple B April Challenge  - Birds, Butterflies, Blooms or all 3

The Retro Rubber Challenge #204 - Spring Scenes  *must use stamps older than 1 year - mine are both probably 8-10 years old or more.

Wishing everyone a wonderful Monday, and thanks so much for stopping by.

Carol

Happy Easter

 Easter is just around the corner, so I need to get busy making cards for that occasion. For my first one, I used all snippets of designer paper and cardstock. The egg was made from a Simon Says Stamp die, while the bunny and his bow was done with Lil Inker dies. The strip of designer paper is unknown, while the notched border was made with a MFT die. The sentiment panel was made with 2 retired SU! punches and a retired (2009-10) SU! teeny tiny wishes greeting. For the final touch I added a tiny black pearl for the bunny's eye, and placed this all on a purple card base.

I'll share with these challenges:

the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - spring and/or Easter

the Double D Challenges - Easter

the Retro Rubber Challenge #202 - A/G (stamps must be at least a year old)

the Krafty Chicks Challenge #656 - All Occasions

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy a wonderful day!

Carol

Birthday Stencil Fun

I've always loved the rose from this older Gina K Designs Stately Flowers 6 stamp set, so I decided to pull the set from the cobwebs and make a card with it. I stamped the rose on white cardstock, coloring with Copics and stenciled one side with a Tim Holtz stencil and some antique linen ink. I added some red smooch drops and a pre-printed Simon Says Stamp sentiment  on a strip of black cardstock and called this one done!

I'll share this with the following challenges:

Crazy is our fame- STENCILS are our game October challenge

*Optional - use Halloween colors (This is their 1st challenge!)

the Flower Challenge #73 - use a sentiment

They're also celebrating their 6th birthday 

the Retro Rubber Challenge #193 - A/G

(must use stamps older than a year)

my stamp set is from 2013

I saw this sign while driving yesterday and it cracked me up so I thought I'd share it...

Just write "Congrats" if you don't know how to spell "Congratulashions"

😉

Thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic day!

Carol

Leaping Deer

I have another Christmas card to share today, made with some of my favorite (r) SU! papers called "under the tree" along with a snippet of kraft paper. The background is embossed with a (r) SU! snowburst ef, and the die-cut deer is from Memory Box called leaping deer. I added a little die-cut stitched tag with some twine and used a (r) SU! set called Christmas Tag Labels from 2013 to create the sentiment. I added a little red gemstone on the deer's nose just for fun.

I'll enter this into the following challenges:

The Retro Rubber Challenge #190 - Tag, you're it! (use a tag)

must use stamps more than a year old

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #65 - never in a nativity

Addicted to Stamps and More #3437 - Christmas

The Alphabet Challenge  - K is for kraft

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you all a happy Wednesday!

Carol

 

Colorful Summer Card

 Recently a fellow blogger posted a card and mentioned using her Twinkling H2O's. That reminded me that I had some of those hidden in my stash too, so I dug them out and made this card.

I started with 3 strips of white cardstock, and colored each one with a different color of the H2O's and let them dry. They curled up after drying, so I embossed them with a SU! decorative dots ef to flatten them. While trimming the colored strips down to fit this card design, I had a little piece left over from each one, so I stamped the large and small flowers from the 2009 Verve stamp set "Because of You" and fussy cut them. The original image was stamped in black  and I popped the fussy cut flowers on top, adding dots of glaze pen markers in the flower centers and here and there around the image. The sentiment is from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps "Colorful Cocoa" stamp set from 2013.

I used some buried stash items to make this card and I was quite pleased with the way it turned out. I love those summery colors, but it's a shame the camera doesn't pick up the subtle shimmer of those twinkling H20's. I'm leaving them out on my table to use again in the near future. Everything old is new again, right?

I'm sharing this with the Retro Rubber Challenge #188 which is A/G using stamps older than 1 year.

Thanks for stopping by and have yourself a fine day!

Carol

Christmas Gnome

 I have a Christmas card to share today made with some Kringle & Co designer paper, a lawn fawn die-cut tag, and a SSS Gnome die. The embossed strip was made with a SU! (R) snowflake ef, then sanded for a bit of white to show through. The sentiment was done with a (R) SU! set called Endless Wishes (2003)

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

May Rudolph Days Challenge - A/G Christmas

Merry Little Christmas Challenge MLCCB #44 - A/G Christmas

Peace on Earth Challenge #16 - A/G Christmas

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - A/G

Retro Rubber Challenge #183 - A/G must use stamps older than 1 year

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you all a wonderful, peaceful day.

Carol

Yellow Floral Birthday Card

 While I had my Altenew Dahlia stencils out recently, I decided to make another card with them using the color yellow. For this background I used Distress inks of Lemonade and Mustard. The flowers were stamped on pieces that match the card base, clear heat embossed, and fussy cut. I die cut the centers from polka dot dsp and placed them on the centers. The leaves and flowers are both from a very old Hero Arts Stamp set that I've had probably 8 years or more. The sentiment is by Sweet 'n Sassy (from 2009) and I colored inside the letters with a matching Copic marker, and placed it all on a die-cut MFT fishtail flag banner. 

I'll enter this into the following challenges:

The Retro Rubber Challenge #182- Flower Power

HLS May Stencil Challenge - A/G with stencil

The Four seasons May Spring Challenge - A/G Spring 

Craft Rocket Challenge #92 - Birthday

Just Us Girls Challenge #631 - Word Week - "Flowers"

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great day!

Carol