Cards In The Mail!

I've decided to be satisfied with posting three times a week, haha...something about a time and a season for things, and this is turning out to not be the season for stamping, no matter how much I wish it!

Today I'm sharing the most recent batch of card swaps I have received. I know, some of these cards use now-gone Sale-A-Bration items, but if YOU earned them, YOU can still create these ideas!! *grin! And you can always substitute what you DO have!

A Butterfly Birthday!

Happy Wednesday!
Today I have a pretty card for you.
I love this set. I love collaging with it, because it looks complicated but it isn't. AND I love that it is not on the Retired List!!! This time, I went with purples.

Supplies:
Stamps: Butterfly Basics
Ink: Pear Pizazz, Mossy Meadow, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum
Paper: Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant card stocks
Accessories: Big Shot, Butterflies Dies, Hexagon Punch

Retiring Stamps List!!!

Any of my readers who are on my email list, already have the Retired Stamps & Products list in their inbox. For anyone else....read on!
I'm only sharing the list of stamps that are retiring, the list is 7 pages of tiny font, and far too long to share here. But you can check the link HERE. The list also includes the Occasions Mini.
*Stamps are available until May 31, but everything else is while supplies last!

Hostess only:  A Whole Lot of Lovely

Best Thoughts (Clear) FR

Best Thoughts (Wood)

Floral Wings (Photopolymer)

Happy Birthday Everyone

Love You Sew

Silhouettes & Script

A Dozen Thoughts

A Little Smile (Wood)

A Nice Cuppa (Photopolymer)

Age Awareness (Photopolymer)

All about Sugar (Photopolymer) FR

All Boxed Up

Amazing Birthday

An Open Heart

And Many More

Another Thank You (Photopolymer)

Apple of My Eye (Photopolymer)

Back to Basics Alphabet (Photopolymer)

Banner Banter

Be the Star

Beautiful Bunch

Beautiful Ride (Photopolymer)

Big News

Birthday Yay (Photopolymer)

Blended Bloom (Wood)

Blessed by God

Bloom for You (Wood)

Bohemian Borders (Photopolymer)

Bordering Blooms (Photopolymer)

Bountiful Border (Photopolymer)

Boys Will Be Boys

Bravo (Photopolymer)

By the Tide

Chalk Lines (Photopolymer)

Choose Happiness

Corner Garden

Creatively Yours

Cupcake Party

Dots for Days

Dotty Angles (Photopolymer)

Easter Lamb (Wood)

Enjoy the Little Things (Photopolymer) FR

Epic Alphabet (Photopolymer)

Every Blessing

Everything Eleanor

Fabulous Four

Feel Goods

Festival of Trees (Photopolymer) FR

Flowering Flourishes

For All Things

For the New Two

For Your Country

Friends & Flowers

Giggle Greetings

Going Global

Groovy Love

Happy Home

Happy Notes

Hello Life (Photopolymer)

Hey, Girl (Photopolymer)

Honeycomb Hello

Hot Diggity Dog

I Think You're Great

In This Together

It's Wild

Kind Koala (Wood)

Larger Than Life Alphabet & Numbers (Photopolymer)

Lots of Joy

Market Fresh

Merry Everything

Num-Num

Oh My Goodies

Party Wishes

Perfect Peacock (Wood)

Perfect Pennants

Petite Pairs (Clear) FR

Petite Pairs (Wood)

Pictogram Punches

Pretty Thankful (Photopolymer)

Project Life Day to Day (Photopolymer) FR

Project Life Happy Times (Photopolymer) FR

Project Life Hello Baby (Photopolymer) FR

Project Life Let's Get Away (Photopolymer) FR

Project Life Memories in the Making (Photopolymer) FR

Project Life Moments Like These (Photopolymer) FR

Project Life Remember This (Photopolymer) FR

Project Life This is the Life (Photopolymer) FR

Ray of Sunshine

Remembering Your Birthday

Santa's Gifts (Photopolymer)

Sassy Salutations

Sea Street

Serene Silhouettes

Simply Sports

Six-Sided Sampler

Skating By (Photopolymer)

Something to Say

Sparkle & Shine

Sprinkles on Top

Stake Your Claim

Stamp a Bag (Photopolymer) FR

Summer Silhouettes

Swallowtail

Sweet Li'l One

Sweetbriar Rose (Wood)

Tag Talk

Talented Trio (Photopolymer)

Tap Tap Tap

That Thing you Did (Photopolymer)

The Open Sea

Trust God

Vivid Vases (Wood)

Watercolor Thank You (Wood)

Welcome Words (Photopolymer) FR

What's Your Type? (Photopolymer)

White Christmas (Photopolymer) FR

Words of Truth

World Map

World of Dreams

You Little Furball

You're So Lovely (Photopolymer) FR

Zoo Babies

A flowery birthday

Happy Friday! I am so ready for the weekend...but I am pretty sure relaxing will be at a minimum... haha! We have a lot of things planned!

Today's card is one I designed for the customer who wanted birthday cards. I saw THIS on Pinterest recently and thought a card with soft spring colors would be a nice birthday card- so this is my version!
I started by stamping the Hardwood on a piece of Very Vanilla card stock, and then die-cutting out the circle. Then I stamped three flower designs in three different colors, and punched them out. The greeting came from a Paper Pumpkin kit from 2014, and it fits nicely in the Word Window Punch! And I added a bit of ribbon for a little something.

Supplies:
Stamps: Hardwood, Petite Petals, Aug 2014 Paper Pumpkin kit
Ink: Crumb Cake, Blushing Bride, Daffodil Delight, Wisteria Wonder
Paper: Pear Pizazz, Very Vanilla card stocks
Accessories: Natural Chevron Ribbon, Word Window Punch, Petite Petals Punch, Circle Die, Big Shot

I hope YOU have a wonderful and relaxing weekend, and I will have more stamped inspiration for you next week!

The Birthday Girls!

I wasn't kidding about birthday's this week...! I hope we mailed cards out on time, but I'm not positive that happened.

Today I'm sharing the card I made for my sister, and I think it's super fun. I was inspired by the TGIF sketch challenge, but it isn't exact. And do you see which stamp I finally got to play with?? *grin! I'm pretty sure when they designed it they meant it for envelopes and maybe the backs of cards, but I think it works for a focal point too! And I used three fun prints from the Cherry on Top DP!

Supplies:
Stamps: #imbringingbirthdaysback
Ink: Bermuda Bay
Paper: Bermuda Bay & Whisper White card stocks, Cherry on Top DP
Accessories: Bermuda Bay stitched ribbon

And here are the birthday girls this week....
first my sister...

Then my daughter...

and my Mother in Law!

(but their cards were made a long time ago...in fact, my daughter's card has been sitting, waiting for her since I think June....!)

Back To Birthday Cards!

Hello again!!
Well clearly up til now I haven't had any creative time. But now I have stolen some! {insert evil laughter} Actually, I accepted a card job, (I know, on top of everything else) so I haaaad to stamp. Oh darn, hahaha!! But hey- posts for you! Bonus all around! I might not post every day, but I'll be posting for a while!

The card job is a request for birthday cards. I can totally do that! I'm also keeping them fairly flat and mailable. This is the first one I designed... suitable for anyone...maybe leaning more toward girls with the pinkish base... The color combo comes from the DP.

Supplies:
Stamps: Sprinkles of Life
Ink: Watermelon Wonder, Crushed Curry, Tip Top Taupe
Paper: Watermelon Wonder, Whisper White, Cherry on Top DP
Accessories: Crushed Curry Baker's Twine

And then, since I happen to have three birthdays I need cards for this week (really!) I cut a few extra supplies and made this even simpler variation-

Still fun and cute, perfect for the birthday girl!

Blog Hop: Step It Up Spring Style!

Well apparently an entire month has passed, which means it is time for another blog hop! Therefore, I have created something to show you!

I got a new stamp set that I haven't got to play with yet. I really wanted to try watercoloring with abstract coloring instead of markers. Well, my first try was not good. I stamped it first, then colored, and even with it drying for a long time, the colors went muddy and the images blurred. sad...
So, I tried again, coloring blobs first, then stamping over the dried color! It's not my favorite card, but my family and friend approved, so here's what you get, haha!

My first card was kept very simple, I just trimmed the bottom part off the Watercolor Paper and separated it from the image part.

But in this blog hop, we like to show you how to step up your projects to make them a little more special. I added three accessories - two strips of Washi Tape, a button, and some twine; and I layered the whole card front onto some colored card stock for a bit more punch!

Supplies:

Stamps: In The Meadow

Ink: Memento Black, Calypso Coral, Hello Honey, Mossy Meadow

Paper: Watercolor Paper, Calypso Coral & Mossy Meadow card stocks

Accessories: Botanical Gardens Washi Tape, Neutral Buttons, Crushed Curry Baker's Twine, Glue Dots, Aquapainter

What do YOU think? 

...I think my stamping skillz have gotten rusty... haha! 

Here's hoping for more creative time in April... but in the meantime, go see what Cheryl has created for you, by clicking on the "next" button. And leave us your thoughts! We all like comments! 

Sale-A-Bration Ends.....

Yep, another season has come and gone. Today is THE last day to place an order and earn FREE Sale-A-Bration products. I definitely didn't get to play with mine enough...did you?? So today I have a Sale-A-Bration feature, and an explanation...

First up, you're here for the stamping!
This card shows off the first Sale-A-Bration item I got this year, the Botanicals for You stamp set, but I mixed it up this time. It also shows off a cute print in the Sale-A-Bration exclusive DP, Wildflower Fields!
The card is also based off the latest Mojo Monday sketch, but it isn't exact... I think you can still see all the pieces and parts, even if I kept it with a lot of literal white space.

Supplies:
Stamps: Botanicals For You
Ink: Pear Pizazz marker, Blackberry Bliss marker
Paper: Whisper White card stock, Wildflower Fields DP
Accessories: Hexagon Punch (flagged end)

Second of all....where have I gone? haha...
I was working so hard on my goals to post each week day, and to do calendar pages and to do Christmas cards.... but two major things happened...

We found out that in the fall, I'll be having another baby! We are SO excited about this, and since I'm sure you'll be wondering, I believe my husband's words were that it is a planned surprise. And I am a lot older than I was, and it has worn. me. out. At one point I was taking five hours worth of naps a day, plus sleeping from 10ish-7 every night.
And then... my babysitting job, and my temporary office job both needed me back the same week. So I've been working 2-5 days a week!
And in case this isn't clear, between work and sleep and the rest of my life, that leaves literally no time for stamping anything at all.

The good news is, my office job should only be a few more weeks, and, I am finally getting thru the super duper exhausted phase... That means I think I can get back to some stamping very, very soon! So keep an eye out for lots of inspiration to get you creating too!

Christmas at Easter

Last month was so crazy I never managed to get my planned Christmas cards made, much less posted on the 25th as planned. And today, the day after Easter, you get a dose of Christmas cards! haha!  

On Feb 27th, I was at my mom's and got four Christmas cards done for her stash! 

The pictures are weird because I only had my phone. Funny how the close-ups turned out looking dry embossed with stamping on top... I kept it simple- it really is just stamping, and only the card front for a layer!
This card I made first- and discovered I really need to re-ink two of my ink pads!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Peaceful Wishes?
Ink: Mossy Meadow (pine), Soft Suede (pinecones), Wild Wasabi (holly), Real Red
Paper: Real Red & Very Vanilla card stocks
Accessories: Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details

So I used different ink pads for the others:

Supplies:

Stamps: Peaceful Wishes

Ink: Real Red, Tip Top Taupe, Mossy Meadow, Cucumber Crush

Paper: Real Red, Very Vanilla card stocks

Accessories: Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details

And then I put forth effort (....Friday night!!!) to make sure I added to my stash too!
I made four very similar cards, but I stamped the trees a little differently, and I used a different greeting for each card.
I started to use the TGIF color challenge, but then I had to modify the colors, lol, so you get a touch of Easter-y-ness today after all!

Supplies:
Stamps: Happy Scenes
Ink: Mint Macaron, Blushing Bride, Soft Sky
Paper: Soft Sky, Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Mint Macaron Lace Ribbon, Dimensionals

Very slowly but surely, I'm making a dent in the cards we'll need for Christmas! And that means no (less?) holiday burn out!!! 

Paper Pumpkin Birthdays!

My friend had a birthday and I needed an excuse to create!!! I'm going thru withdrawals here, people! I really have not had time for making anything at all, but I got my newest Paper Pumpkin kit- and realized I'd never touched the previous one! And! It was absolutely perfect for my friend's card! In under ten minutes I had these three cards to choose from!
(it was a very snowy day so the pictures aren't great but I had to get one of them in the mail!)

This is by far the simplest of the cards- you stamp the words, attach the banners and sequins and bam! that's it!
However...it is also very busy for my taste.

These two are much more my style. I couldn't even choose a favorite!  

The flowers and leaves are stickers, and then again you add the stamped banner and the sequins and that's it!

And if you're curious, this is the one I chose for my friend. hee hee...

There are other pretty greetings in this kit, I just needed birthday cards so I stuck with that. And you can of course make them any way you want. I was going for fast so I pretty much followed the picture with the kit. And both are good options! *grin

This refill kit is currently available HERE, but only current subscribers can order past kits!
So here's what you need to know!

• A 3-month subscription to Paper Pumpkin is on sale right now, til March 31! It's only $55 right now, and! it earns you a FREE Sale-A-Bration item too! 
• March was Paper Pumpkin's 3 year anniversary AND they shipped their 1 millionth kit! And so they are shipping an exclusive and free stamp set with next months' kit, on top of the stamp set that comes with the kit!!! 
• If you subscribe, you can choose a monthly billed subscription or prepay for a 3month, 6month or 12month option. And then you can order any available past kits and past kit refills you see HERE.
• As a Paper Pumpkin subscriber, you'll get a thin box, full of ready-to-create stamp supplies, an ink spot, and an exclusive stamp set - ready for you to create whenever you have a minute! Once you use up the papers, you still have the stamps and inks, which fit nicely inside just one or two boxes for storage! 

What's not to love?? 

Now I just need a minute to play with my newest kit...

March Calendar Page

Wow- it has been for EV ER since I got to stamp anything at all! I have definitely missed it!

Today's post is honestly only because I committed to have a calendar page done every month and post it on the 20th- which is today. So I got the March page done for my inlaws!
I used THIS challenge to focus on welcoming spring.
I also used THIS sketch I found on Pinterest.
...I dunno, I might make the photos bigger to take up more space... but for now, here's my page, haha!

Supplies:
MDS: Torn Edge stamp, Good Friend stamp, Ink Splatters, White Brads, Pistachio Pudding card stock.
Colors: Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Yoyo Yellow

I would really, really love to keep stamping, but there are so, so many things going on in my life right now, that I can't make any promises...
So you get some stamp time in for me, okay? ha....

Cards In The Mail!

I've gotten several of these pretty cards in the mail lately, and two arrived on my birthday so that was kind of extra fun, haha! I've shared the photos with the creators names on them, so they have proper credit.
There are lots of Sale-A-Bration products shown too, so if you love what you see, place an order very soon!