Thinking of You with Birdies

I am fallen in love with the Concord & 9th set Birdie Banners (link below). So much so that I just had to order some more Concord & 9th stamps so that I had more sentiments to go with the birdies! I know...I know...I have drawerfuls of other sentiments that would work...but any excuse works for me. I used this sentiment yesterday on a neutral, woodgrain card. Here it is with the birdie and neon colors!


There's a solid circle in the set to use to stamp in the center of each bird - they are all a little wonky so that they have a cartoonish look. Hopefully he'll bring a smile!
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The blue and green cardstock is from a package by Astrobrights called Glow - I think I picked it up at Walmart or Target but it's been awhile. The black stripe is just a scrap.

Concord & 9th Birdie Banners	Concord & 9th Grateful	Hero Arts Ombre Neon Chartreuse to Blue	Lil' Inkers Stitched Mats: Squares
MFT Fishtail Flags Die	Ranger Stickles Black Diamond

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Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Simplicity

It's time for a new challenge at the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Simplicity!

I went completely and totally with the inspiration photo - big sentiment, woodgrain, neutral colors!! This stamp set just happened to arrive in the mail and it had a big sentiment - so it didn't have to spend any time at all in my never-before-used-stash!!  (And I already have a card made that I think I'll post tomorrow - so two uses out of one set - that's unheard of!)

I hope to see everybody playing along.  Remember - the challenge is simply..."simplicity"!!  And be sure to check out our guest for this week, Jacquie Southas at What did I do Today?
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Concord & 9th Grateful

TE Stitched Rectangle Stacklets

Kaiser Base Coat Paper Pad

SU Lost Lagoon CS

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Make sure you visit each of the designers' blogs for more inspiration!

Betty Wright

Kim Singdahlsen
Laurie Willison

Leigh Penner
Lisa Henke

Lori Tecler
Lynn Mangan
Marisa Ritzen
Maureen Plut

Melody Rupple
Monika Davis
Sheri Gilson

Silke Ledlow
Stacey Schafer
Tara Godfrey

Follow us!

Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge Facebook Page

Stop by the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Simplicity for the challenge details 

and to play along with us!

Paper Players: Birthday Flowers

I LOVE the bold colors at The Paper Players along with the Soft Sky!

I needed a cheerful birthday card for a friend so I jumped right on these colors. I pulled out some of the "happiest" stamps and dies I know - Reverse Confetti has such fun products - and here's what I came up with.


I had the "happy" panel on my desk for a card I'll post a bit later.When I purchased that panel, I also got the die set with the flowers - so it seemed natural to put it all together.  I plopped a scrap of gray in the background because I love the way gray sets off colors.

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The gray is from My Mind's Eye Chalk Studio Basic Paper Pad. The Soft Sky butterfly is a scrap of some of the earlier patterns from Stampin' Up.

RC Whole Lotta Happy	RC Happy Pretty Panels	RC Flowers For Mom	Reverse Confetti Butterfly Dreams Confetti Cuts
SU Melon Mambo CS	SU Pumpkin Pie CS	SU Mossy Meadow CS	SU Soft Sky CS
PPP 6 mm Sparkling Clear Sequins

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Freshly Made Sketches: Finally!!

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Narelle.

One of my not-yet-used stamp sets includes a graduate...a very grumpy graduate. I liked the idea of him being on a stage so I tried to use those strips to create wooden steps up to a big stage - but I'm just not that artistic. I finally decided he was cute enough to stand alone and didn't need my clumsy attempt at a stage - so I went back to two simple strips.

This is going to be a very fun sketch to see what you all do with it! I look forward to browsing the gallery this week. Hope to see you playing along.
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TE Grad Grumplings Stamp & Die Combo	TE Sugar Cube CS	TE Premium Cardstock - Jelly Donut	PTI Smokey Shadow CS
MFT Cement Gray CS	PPP Silver Stars Sequins

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Taylored Expressions: Felt Feathers

I love felt on cards - it is such a soft and warm look.  Taylored Expressions has a fabulous 100% wool felt  that die cuts beautifully.  There is an array of gorgeous colors, but I only have six - so far!  I was eyeing the colors of felt that I had and feathers came to mind. (I also have a beautiful blue - so between the blue, green, orchid and gold - I saw peacock feathers!)  I went a slightly different direction - I didn't use the blue and I added some little dots.


I really wanted to stitch up the center of these and have the edges pop up a little - but I don't own a sewing machine. I actually drove to Joanns a few days ago to look at a mini machine, but I had a moment of clarity when I realized I was considering buying a sewing machine to make one card so I drove right on by. I still wanted something fun - so I found a set of olive dies in the Little Bits - Martini!!  Seriously...olives!!  There are two side by side and they worked perfect to do "inlaid felt". Just cut the feather - then cut again with the martini olives(!). I kept the little "olive" pieces from each feather - then cut a couple of extra from a lighter yellow - and added them to the feathers.




I have some brighter colors of this felt coming in my next order - I'm looking forward to layering up some bright flowers!
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Free Spirit	Fine Feathers	Little Bits - Martini	Stitched Rectangle Stacklets
100% Wool Felt - Split Pea	100% Wool Felt - Orchid	100% Wool Felt - Mustard	100% Wool Felt - Butter
Premium Cardstock - Sugar Cube	Premium Cardstock - Sweet Basil	Premium Cardstock - Oreo	Beetle Black Doodle Twine

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Merry Monday Christmas Challenge: #200

It is a huge day at the Merry Monday Christmas Card challenge - it's their 200th challenge!! Congratulations to all the folks who have made Merry Monday what it is!! They have a wide variety of fun challenges and an amazing design team, plus a large group of consistent players.  Don't you just love that the team always comments on our cards?!

As I looked back on my blog, I played along starting with #2.   Now I have the privilege and the thrill of being part of the celebration for #200. The amazing Sue Joyce from their design team asked me to join her in the celebration. I scrolled back on her blog and she did play along with the first Merry Monday challenge at the beginning of 2012. She's also been on their design team since 2014. (I bet she has her Christmas cards done on time!)

The challenge for this celebration week has four options.

I ended up using the snowman theme and I used the sketch - plus I was inspired to add pink!

I changed my mind about a dozen times on this card. I'm a huge fan of sketches so that was a given. First I wanted to use pink ornaments - then I thought about putting these little snowmen in the ornaments. I finally gave up on ornaments when I stumbled on this old embossing folder and decided to put the snowmen in front of the little town. I then tried the red, green and kraft color part of the challenge and found the Heidi Swapp paper pad linked below which included all of the colors. But the black striped paper caught my eye. So then I circled all the way back to the beginning of my long thought process and went with pink!  (I'm thinking the four part challenge left with me way too many choices!!!)
The best part of this card?  That heart is going out to the Merry Monday team - LOVE you guys!! Here's to another 200 challenges!
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The embossing folder is a Cuttlebug that I have had forever!

Mama Elephant Polar Pals	Mama Elephant Polar Pals dies	MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags	Lawn Fawn Mini Snowflakes
Heidi Swapp Oh What Fun	MFT Cotton Candy CS	MFT Ripe Raspberry CS	SU Basic Black CS
Doodlebug Sweet Hearts Sprinkles	Doodlebug Lily White Sprinkles

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