Circles of Wild Saffron

Happy Friday! Ahhh... so happy it's the weekend! We've had a sick kitty for the past week and he's finally doing better after some time at the vet and lots of TLC and not to mention a $$$ vet bill! But Aslan seems to be coming around without needing any surgery, he just needs to gain back some weight. Poor lil' guy!

I had the day off and I finally got to do some stamping just for FUN!! Not that all stamping isn't fun but I'm talking about the stamping that you do for really no reason other than to create something well, FUN! After sleeping in for a change, I went into my stamp studio with only one goal in mind - use some new, untouched goodies! And I did just that! I ordered Soft Summer from my SU demo like over a month ago and just got it put together last weekend. Determined to ink it today, it was the first set I grabbed, along with my new Wild Saffron paper pack from K&Company. Feeling in the mood to make a round card, I matched the papers up with some shimmery green cardstock and dug out my Creative Memories cutter to make the circles.

The flower is stamped in Wild Wasabi and cutout using the Labels One Nestabilities. I distressed the edges and sponged them with Walnut Stain. The flowers are from Prima and the flower center bling is from my stash of $1 stuff. Ahhh... it was such a nice feeling to just stamp! I've got a few more things I'm working on, so I'll be back soon. Yes, I really mean it! I'm determined to post more than last month!!! LOL! :)

Oh and I just wanted to say a huge thanks for all the wonderful comments ya'll left on my last post with the ODBd blog hop! It's always nice to come home to so many sweet remarks! And don't forget about the Guest Designer Contest that ODBd is running now through July 9. All the good deets can be found here. Have a super duper day!!!

Card Supplies: Stamps - Soft Summer by SU; Inks - Wild Wasabi, Walnut Stain, Antique Linen; Paper - White, Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun, Green Shimmer, Wild Saffron by K&Company, Green Diamond by Scenic Route; Accessories - Primas, Ribbon & Ricrac, Brad, Labels One Nesties, Rhinestone Flower, Pop Dots; Techniques - Sponging, Distressing, Cuttlebug, Two-Step Stamping.

Our Daily Bread Designs Blog Hop & Color Challenge

Good Morning everyone! Well here it is already July first and that means there is new rubber available from Our Daily Bread designs! And along with that we're having a blog hop with some treats scattered around for a few happy stampers! It starts at the starts over at the Our Daily Bread designs blog, in case you happened here first.

Today the Bread Basket gals are all showing off some of the great new inks by Our Daily Bread designs. Each of us selected three colors to use on one of today's creations. I chose Olive, Burgundy and Periwinkle to use with this lovely lotus flower from the new set Mother Teresa. The pattern papers are all by K&Company and I used several of the Labels One Nestabilities dies for the frames. The edges of the papers are distressed and sponged with one of my three color choices and the verse sentiment is stamped in Periwinkle. I used a touch of gold stickles on the flower center and the stick pin was made with some spare bead parts.

On this card I used the new sets Grow in Grace and Amazing Grace Hymn to create a collage look on this one-layer card. I was so excited to see this beautiful new hymn stamp! Such a wonderful classic! I inked the stamps with Sepia, Walnut Stain and Antique Linen, repeatedly stamped the music print and added a few blue embellishments. The antique gold rose in the center of the Prima flowers is actually an old button from my stash.

Thanks for stopping by today and if you're following the ODBd blog hop you should have come from the lovely Connie's McStampin' Dusk til Dawn and now you should be headed off to beautiful Betty's Stamping to the Wright. Have a wonderful day!

What a busy month!

ETA: Got it all fixed with the pics now. :)

Hello all! It's me! Remember me? I haven't had much time to pop in this month and update. And here the month is slipping away... I didn't think that June would get as busy for us as May was but, wow, it's surpassing it so far I can't complain that I'm bored, that's for sure!

Anyways, here are two of the things that I made over the weekend, playing with some ODBd stamps, along with a golden oldie from the stamp archives. I gotta get myself in gear and photo the rest of the stuff!:)

First up, is this cross card using Ask, Seek, Knock with some of my favorite K&Company papers. It's hard to catch at this angle but the door is stamped twice, cut out and sponged with blues and browns. I came across the beautiful chipboard cross and corner pieces in a basket full of clearance goodies at Michael's.

This card uses the new Quiet Waters set, stamped in Cool Caribbean and Sepia and paired with Chocolate Chip, Pacific Point and another K&Company patterned paper. Don't you just love this sweet peaceful scene with the deer? And oh how I still adore Cool Caribbean! If Stampin' Up ever brought back any retired In Colors, I'd vote for this one first!
And finally, here's something interesting I found hidden at the bottom of a drawer over the weekend. It's at least 7 years old and has to be one of the first cards I ever made. The leaves were stamped in bleach to make the background. Goodness!!! I can't remember the last time I did any bleach stamping! And if I remember correctly, I'm pretty sure this was one of those big chunky foam stamps. WOW! Hmmm... this might get hidden again now in a more permanent hiding location! LOL! Well thanks for stopping by for a few minutes! Have a wonderful day!

Quiet Waters and Misty Mountains

Hello there everyone! Whew! Feels like we've been going non-stop since we got home from our trip to the Biltmore! It was just beautiful in Asheville and I even got to meet up with a fellow stamper and ODBd design team gal Angella Crockett! But again this past week I've hardly had any time in my stamp room. Something has been going on every evening! School meetings, showers, ball games, dinner with friends.... I did tear myself away from some gardening and yard projects on Saturday to stamp up some notecards for a friend using the Quiet Waters set from Our Daily Bread designs. They are simple, one layer notecards with triple embossed edges. I used only two colors of ink on each and each has a snippet of ribbon and a flower for embellishments. Here are a few of them as well as a few photos from our trip.

Have a wonderful day!:)

~Driving through the Smoky Mts on the Blue Ridge Parkway
~Italian Gardens at the Biltmore
~View of clouds moving in from Mount Mitchell

Celebrating...

Sorry you haven't heard from me the past few days. Summer camp started this past week at preschool and along with that half my class moved up to a new class and I got a bunch of newbies. And these new little ones have been wearing me out to say the least! They are a very active and curious group and we're having to do a lot of training of course. I haven't created much at all this past week! Just too wiped out each evening to think about stamping! I even got some new Stampin' Up stamps and they're still unmounted. Sad, huh? And then our DSL was out for a few days. We thought it was due to some recent storms we've had but it ended up being a loose wire. Anyways, we're headed away for the weekend and I'm hoping to get recharged! It's our 8 year anniversary this coming week so we're headed to Asheville to visit the Biltmore and do some sight-seeing along the Blue Ridge Parkway. :)

So I'll be back soon with pictures and hopefully some pretties to share! Have a wonderful day!

Still Meadows & Purple Petals

It's June 1st and there are two fabulous new stamp sets being released today by Our Daily Bread designs! They are called Ask, Seek, Knock and Quiet Waters. In my last post I showed you a sneak peek using Ask, Seek, Knock but here they are both now for all to see!

This Quiet Waters image is going to come in handy for all the seasons, that's for sure! First off, I just had to create a floral spring scene using this set and some Sweet Pea Flower Soft. I stamped the image in Sepia and then watercolored it. I really pleased with how vibrant the colors came out.I added Waterfall stickles to the stream. My cuttlebug has been neglected again so I got it out to make the curly corner pieces. The patterned paper is from K&Company as well as the felt ricrac. I created this card for yesterday's Feature Stamper challenge and here's the card I chose.
Here's a rather simple card using Ask, Seek, Knock. I've been reaching for kraft paper a lot recently - soon going to have to restock! And I'm LOVING the awesome purples in the Wisteria line from Basic Grey. Did some sponging and distressing on a few of the layers but just really kept it simple. I of course had to dig out some of my favorite velvet purple flowers for this.
Now if you'd like to see loads more beautiful and interesting creations using these two new sets, stop on by any of the ODBd design team members' blogs! And be sure to check out the cards in the ODBd card gallery as well. Hope you have a great Monday! Thanks so much for stopping by! :)

Our Daily Bread Designs Blog
Amazing Paper Grace
Angelosity
Anything but... Plain Jane
Body, Mind, Spirit & Stamps
Inspired to Stamp
Joy in a JAR
Mama Dini's Stamperia
My Paper Adventures
Pickled Paper Designs
Stamping to the Wright

Simply Southern Sandee
Th-INK-ing of You
Twinkles Glow from Stamps

At the Door ~ Our Daily Bread designs Sneak Peek

Hello my friends! I hope you all enjoyed a lovely weekend and Memorial day. We had a nice relaxing time, just taking it easy around the house. Today I have a sneak peek card to share with you! This wonderful door image and verse is from Ask, Seek, Knock, one of the new sets that will be released on June 1st by Our Daily Bread Designs. I just recently got my hands on some Flower Soft and this is the first card I used it on. I love the stuff! I thought it would look neat to create the look of an old weathered door with flowery vines growing all around it. The stone path in front of the door was hand-drawn. And then I added a touch of Flower Soft growing between the stones as well. Now no matter what I tried I couldn't get the lighting right on this and it makes it look as if the flowers sticking out above the verse clash with the vine colors but they don't IRL. Those are from a sprig of flowers I found at Michael's. The pattern paper is all from the Wisteria line by Basic Grey. I was so excited when this line came out because purple is one of my favorite colors and there really doesn't seem to be a very good variety of pretty purple patterned papers. (Try saying that fast a few times! LOL) The edge punch and butterfly punches are from Martha Stewart. And that ribbon is one of my favorites - its got a very elegant look don't you think? I picked it up at Archiver's by the yard. Hope you liked seeing this! There are a few more sneak peeks out there with this set and the other, called Quiet Waters, so be sure to check out the blogs of the rest of the ODBd Design Team!

Have a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by! :)

Supplies Used: Stamps - Ask Seek Knock by ODBd; Paper - Purple, White, Wisteria patterns by Basic Grey; Ink - Sepia, Assorted SU reinkers; Accessories - Heather Flower Soft, Ribbon, Martha Stewart Punches, Pop Dots; Techniques - sponging, watercoloring.

Tweet, Tweet!

Here's a fun little Saturday morning card for ya! I made it for today's Inspiration Challenge which lead us to the Little Odd Forest. It's an online store filled with whimsical prints made into anything from purses to booties. For my inspiration I went with this fabulously cute pouch. It's a super cute shape and I haven't made any fun shaped cards in a while! I selected a heavy kraft paper for the base and free-handed the shape and the little tree lines are faux stitched. I did some heavy sponging around the edges with Walnut Stain. The sweet birdie is by Autumn Leaves. She's watercolored and has a tiny black rhinestone for her eye.
Supplies Used: Stamps - Noteworthy, Autumn Leaves; Paper - Kraft, White, Yoyo Yellow; Ink - Walnut Stain, Pixie Pink, Gable Green, Only Orange, Yoyo Yellow; Accessories - Ribbon, Primas, Rhinestones, Brad, Pop Dots; Techniques - Sponging, Watercoloring, Faux Stitching.

And speaking of birdies, we had this baby bird visit us for a few days about two weeks ago. He was just learning to fly it seems and spent time learning by fluttering back and forth between our front porch and a tree in the front. He didn't seem to have learned a fear of people yet as he let me get super close to take his picture. He even ate a few worms that we found for him. So very sweet!

Hope your weekend it truly enjoyable and relaxing! Thanks for popping by! :)

THAT can't be comfortable!

Mom always said not to leave my shoes at the top of the stairs! But not to fear! Aslan is on the job and he'll make sure you don't trip over them. Might trip over him but not the shoes. He's had a thing for shoes since he was a kitten and we often find him trying to fit himself into one if its left out. I don't know how this is comfortable for him seeing how his head is really only resting on the buckle, but this is how I found him earlier as I was coming out of my stamp studio. Silly kitty! :)