My Swap

I spent several days trying to complete ten of these cards to mail out. I finally got them all out and they should be delivered today! That means I can share it with you now! haha...

I really wanted to use my cute chair dies, and I thought I might try a beachy scene. And I think I managed to pull it off.
So here's the closeup. I used one darker and one lighter blue Glitter Enamel Dot, and one of the pale yellow ones.

Supplies:
Stamps: Colorful Seasons
Ink: Dapper Denim
Paper: Thick White Card stock, Marina Mist, Crumb Cake card stocks, Wood Textures DP
Accessories: Glitter Enamel Dots, Big Shot, Seasonal Layers thinlit dies, Softly Falling embossing folder, Fine Tip Glue Pen

And here's a glance at all of them. Each "sand" piece turned out differently, (yes, I tried ink on one of them...) and each card got a different set of "bubbles'.

I LOVE the wood DP for the little wooden chair. I love the Glitter dots! And I love this new bundle!

Mixing Old & New!

This past week, my first-born went ahead and had yet another birthday. Funny how my own birthdays don't make me feel older, but his sure do...
He is such a great kid and I have been pleasantly surprised to find myself agreeing with more experienced mom's- teenagers are challenging, just like all phases, but teenagers are a lot of fun too! He's a hard worker when he needs to be, and he's willing to do pretty much anything as soon as he's asked. He is generally happy and pleasant, and he is a huge help to me.

He got some big-ticket items in the weeks leading up to his birthday so the day itself was kinda small. I wanted to make a point to make a card for him to read on his actual birthday. While he went to see the new Spiderman movie with my husband, my older daughter was on babysitting duty so I could get it done!
I used the latest TGIF Challenge, which was a sketch, thank goodness. I use retired DP and retired Washi Tape and retired dies, punch and embossing folder, but I used a brand-spanking new stamp, haha! The words came from my newest Paper Pumpkin kit, which arrived earlier the day I made the card! How's THAT for a mix? haha.... But the colors and patterns are all very "him", so of course I had to.

Supplies:
Stamps: July 2017 Paper Pumpkin
Ink: Calypso Coral
Paper: Soft Sky & Whisper White card stocks,
Accessories: Big Shot, Dimensionals, Banner Dies (retired), Lucky Stars Embossing Folder (retired), Wide Oval Punch (retired), Washi Tape (retired, forgot the name)

Cards In the Mail!

I really haven't had another chance to stamp since the blog hop but I DID find and set aside supplies for projects sooooooo I'm optimistic...? haha!
In the meantime here is the latest from the Cards In the Mail swap I participate in:

Blog Hop: Stepping up a wishing well!

Another month has flown by... and a third of the summer is already over! I haven't had time to stamp the last few weeks, but that's one of the things I like best about participating in our blog hop- I have to stamp! *grin.

This month I decided to play with my newest set. This is from my second new catalog order, haha! I am a sucker for old and beautiful things like this well. I also enjoy coloring so that makes it a perfect stamp for me. Not only that, but it has words for several occasions, making it useful and versatile! I used the latest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches for the card layout. I kept both cards very similar, and literally just stepped up some details.
First, I have a very simple card. I stamped the image and colored only the flowers.

Supplies:

Stamps: Bright Wishes

Ink: Archival Black, Rich Razzleberry

Paper: Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Crumb Cake & Very Vanilla card stocks

Accessories: Watercolor Pencils, Dimensionals

My stepped up version has an embossed background using the Brick Wall folder. I thought it went well with the stone well. Then I added a strip of wood DP, It is pretty hard to tell, so I added a bonus picture below, haha. And I water-colored the entire image, and it is on Shimmery White card stock, which I read is a good one to watercolor on! And it worked well with minimal buckling so I'm calling that a success!

Supplies:

Stamps: Bright Wishes

Ink: Archival Black, Rich Razzleberry

Paper: Old Olive & Rich Razzleberry card stocks, Shimmery White, Wood Textures DP

Accessories: Watercolor Pencils, Aquapainter, Big Shot, Brick Wall embossing folder, Dimensionals

And that promised close up of the wood grain paper strip

That's it for me today. Hop along to Cheryl's blog, and all the way thru and see what every one else has created for your stampy inspiration!

I really AM hoping to stamp more in the coming weeks. I really wanted to have a class scheduled by now... we'll just have to see how things go. But in the meantime, I hope YOU get some time to stamp and create!