Just Sophie Today

It's been a while since I did a Sophie post.  Shame on me since she is the light of my life.  Fluff and love and fun.  She keeps me moving and looking for adventure without traveling too far afield.  It's all a thrill to her and I can't tell you how good it is for me as well.

We headed out on a beautiful October day.  Our dunes are edged with scraggly woods and shallow marshes, and they're a wonderful playground for Sophie.  In the first picture we'd just stepped out of the car and she appears to be making an assessment as to which area she should explore first.

Sophie is just shy of 15 months and still very much a puppy.  Depending on their lifestyle Golden Retrievers stay puppies for many years, and I'm sure that will be the case with Sophie as I do like to keep life playful.

On the edge of a marsh we came upon these pretty Asters with beetle... maybe a cucumber beetle, though no cucumbers in sight.

After a good run in the woods and marsh we headed into the dunes.  Guess who loves to dig in the sand?  Yes, and guess who gets to stand in the backyard pool with Sophie to clean her up before she can come in the house.  She's worth it.

A good time was had by all, including Rich who moseyed along the level path while the kid and I ran hither and yon.

Thanks for coming along.  Wishing you a beautiful day!

Fall Branch with Bird

Hello, friends!  I don't want to forget about fall card making, especially since I have some not-yet-used fall stamps in my basket.  This Penny Black Autumn Masterpiece stamp is one of my newbies, but I believe it was released last year.

I embossed in copper on watercolor paper.  The background is a light watercolor wash with Stampin' Up inks, while the image itself was colored with Tombow markers and blender solution.  Then I proceeded to ruin a perfectly good painting by adding the splatters.  It went horribly wrong because my paint was too dilute, tsk tsk.  Hence, I have a small square card rather than a full size card with the beautiful fall branch trailing all the way down the front.  We make do, don't we?

There's a bit of embossed brown peeking from behind the image panel.  That's the Tim Holtz Sizzix Leaf Vein 3D embossing folder.  Not a new item.  It's very cool, but I've barely used it and I need to give it more time.  I scuffed it up a bit and then rubbed it with ink.

I'll be joining up with the following challenges:

The Sisterhood of Crafters -- Fall/Leaves
Penny Black Saturday Challenge -- Anything goes or optional "cute or spooky"
NBUS Challenge #67 -- Never before used schtuff.  My Penny Black stamp is used for the first time.

Moving along to the next project on the list.  Life is busy these days.  See you again soon!

Stamps:  Penny Black Autumn Masterpiece  Paper:  Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140 lb hot press watercolor, copper metallic, dark brown  Ink:  Versamark, various SU for watercolor  Coloring:  Tombow markers and homemade blender solution, Twinkling H2Os for splatters  Other:  Creative Expressions Mini Stacked Thinking of You, Tim Holtz Sizzix Leaf Veins 3D embossing folder, copper embossing powder, corner punch

Guesting with Seize the Birthday: Feather

Hello and happy day!  I was invited to be the Surprise Party Guest at Seize the Birthday for their challenge which begins today.  Confetti, please!  It's an honor and I would like to thank Nancy for having me!

The challenge topping this time around is "Feather" but, as always, if you're not the toppings sort you can make it "anything goes as long as it's birthday".

I don't have much in the way of feathers in my stamp and die collection, but I sure do have plenty of the critters the feathers are attached to.  I enjoy watching the birds in the garden, and I have as much fun crafting them into a card.

Today it's the Penny Black Songbirds Celebrations set which I've inked up more than a few times in the past.

I hung the birdhouse on a branch from my stash in a twiggy frame called Wildwood (also Penny Black), and backed it up with an embossed panel which matches the flowers on the birdhouse.  If you look real closely you can see some tiny hearts floating around in the embossing.  I'd like to say I carefully selected the embossing folder from my stash, but in fact, it came as a protective sheet in a card from a friend.  It's a cutie!

Inside the card there's a party guest bringing balloons for the birthday bird.  The sentiment is retired Stampin' Up.

That's it for the bird-day party at my house, but there's lots more to see at Seize the Birthday, so hop over and have a look, and then join the party with your own birthday offering.  I'll see you there!

Thank you for visiting!

Stamps:  Penny Black Songbird Celebrations, retired Stampin' Up sentiment inside  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White, SU Cameo Coral  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Old Olive  Coloring:  Copics, brushed on ink for leaves  Other:  Penny Black Wildwood (twig frame), Spellbinders Classic Squares (behind frame), Memory Box Leaf Bunches, unknown embossing folder

Beware of Dog

I'll take treats, please!  I knew I had just the right stamp for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge where the current optional theme is "cute or spooky".  I look at this dog and I just want to hug him because I think he's so cute and approachable!

I stamped on a big hand cut flag and watercolored with Stampin' Up inks.  Most of the stars are those which popped out of dies when cut.  I save little things like that in a small container, knowing they'll come in handy someday.  All the stars are sparkled up with Black Diamond Stickles.  To brighten the night sky I also added yellow homemade resin dots -- 1/8" punched circles with dimensional crystal glaze on top.

Because it's a Halloween card I'll also be sharing at Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge.  They're always "anything goes", but do provide a fabulous inspiration board as well.  One more challenge inspired the making of this card -- Love Those Pretty Papers.  Their optional theme this month is "Halloween colors/papers".  These old, but still cute, papers go way back to when I was scrapbooking... probably 20 years ago.  

Penny Black Saturday Challenge -- Cute or Spooky
Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge -- optional inspiration board
Love those Pretty Papers -- Halloween colors/papers

 

That's all, friends!  This was a fun interlude and now I'm off to see what kind of trouble I can get into.  Enjoy your day!

Stamps:  Penny Black Beware of Dog, PB Haunted Halloween (sentiment)  Paper:  Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140 lb hot press watercolor, black cardstock base, very old halloween patterned paper  Ink:  Ranger Archival Jet Black, various Stampin' Up for watercolor  Coloring:  Watercolor with SU inks  Other:  Misc. stars including Sizzix Primitive Stars, Black Diamond Stickles, JudiKins Dimensional Crystal glaze, 1/8" hole punch

Santa is Coming

Ho ho ho!  Time for a batch of Christmas cards.  I played with the Picket Fence Studios Santa Mischief set which I bought solely for the sentiments, but the Santas grew on me so I made a card for each of them.

It's possible that everything on these cards is retired.  We all have a few oldies in our stash that we still love to play with, right?  I stamped all my Santas in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics.

Memory Box Pine Forest Frame, Impression Obsession Ho Ho Ho and Small Snowflake Set,
TH Sizzix Snowfall embossing folder, Darice Corner Scroll embossing folder

I stamped a snowflake background for the next card and added some designer paper borders.  Santa's list needed some writing on it so I scribbled in gray fine tip pen.

Taylored Expressions Stitched Rectangle Stacklets, Spellbinders Long Classic Rectangles,
Impression Obsession Small Snowflake Set

The third card has a little scene which I laid out exactly as shown on the stamp package.  I cut a snowy hill, added a snowflake border above, and accented with the little snowflake centers that popped out of the border.  The gentle bokeh sky background is Mintay paper.

Precious Marieke Snowflake Border

My first Santa is going to head over to the Peace On Earth Christmas Challenge because, even though he's not a lamb, he does remind me of the red-coated lambs in the inspiration board.

That's three more for the Christmas card box and Santa Mischief can take a rest till another year.

Thank you for stopping by!

Double D Challenge: Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Who's Got the Pumpkin?

 

Hello, friends!  The Double D Challenge is all about pumpkins today.  Darlene wants to know, "Pumpkin, pumpkin, who's got the pumpkin?

Check out the inspiration photo with pumpkins galore, and see the prize the DDs have for a random winner.  As always, the team votes for creative winners, as well.

 

I have a painted patch of two stylized pumpkins and a scattering of fancy leaves.  They're from a 2020 Penny Black set called Owlsome.  I loved it for the whimsy, yet have only used it once, tsk tsk.  Today it's colored with Tombow markers and blender.  The sky is smooshed watercolor.

You can probably tell I hand cut the leaves and added them to the finished painting.  Spellbinders Hemstitch Rectangles provided a border.  That's about it.  Not a lot of hooplah to 'splain about this card.

The team has a lot of pretty pumpkins to share on the Double D blog, so do hop over and get inspired.  I hope to see your pumpkins in the gallery!  Have a beautiful fall day!

Stamps:  Penny Black Owlsome  Paper:  Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140 lb hot press watercolor, cinnamon Bazzill  Ink:  Ranger Archival Jet Black  Coloring:  Tombows and Stampin' Up inks  Other:  Spellbinders Hemstitch Rectangles

A Hint of Orange for Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge

The Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge always has the most inspiring mood boards (see at end of post).  They've got an orange theme going on currently -- not required to follow it, but a fun idea.  I scratched my head and then remembered I hadn't yet colored the fox mug from Penny Black's Mugs of Joy, one of several stamped images from this set shared by a sweet blog friend.

The fox is a rusty shade of orange.  The homemade resin dots were punched from SU Really Rust and Groovy Guava, then coated with Diamond Glaze.  The baker's twine is a peachy orange.  The photo below shows the gold lines in the designer paper, as well as the gold paint I brushed onto the die cut leaves, and maybe you can make out the glint of gold paint on the stamped leaves and stars.  Also, I smooshed white pigment ink onto the green card base just to soften the color.

I worked with a lot of spare parts which largely determined the card design.

Okay, time to head over to the Peace on Earth Challenge and link up my card.  Maybe I'll see you there.  Have a beautiful day!

Stamps:  Penny Black Mugs of Joy, Memory Box Holiday Wishes  Paper:  Hammermill white, Neenah white, Bazzill dark green, Memory Box Christmas Plaid designer paper  Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Stampin Up Old Olive  Coloring:  Copics, gold Twinkling H2O's paint  Other:  Lil' Inker Silly Stitched die set, MFT Die-namics Wonky Stitched Squares, Paper Smooches Foliage 1, Judikins Diamond Glaze, 1/4" & 1/8" hole punches

Birds, Birds, Birds

Hello and welcome back!  It's nice to see you on this beautiful fall day.

I currently have an excess of crafty things sitting on and around my desk and I'm going to have to tidy up or I'll get nothing done.  But first... I finished three cards using three different Cottage Cutz die sets, and now those three never-been-used die sets are tucked away in the Cottage Cutz bin.  That's tidying up, isn't it?

The first is called Spring Bird w/Vine, but I thought I could make it look fall-ish by using certain colors.  I made up my own bird species.  It's part of the joy of crafting.

Cottage Cutz Spring Bird w/Vine, Creative Expressions Mini-Hello & Hi
Spellbinders Scallop Labels and Tag

For all three cards I worked with an old Heartfelt Creations paper collection and Spellbinders dies for the mats.  The focal dies were cut in Neenah 110# white and colored with inks and blending brushes.

Moving backwards into summer, the next die set is called Garden Bird.  It does not have an extra wing part for layering so I cut a whole extra bird and trimmed out the wing to make my own layer.  Easy and makes a lot of difference.

Cottage Cutz Garden Bird and Hello Phrase, Spellbinders Essential Arches

I'm including one extra photo to show sparkle and shimmer:

Card #3 is representing spring with the Spring Potted Flowers set.  The bird is sweet and I love the die set, but I don't like the way I colored the flowers and leaves.  Not sure what I was thinking when I colored solid and forgot to leave any light areas.  This die set is worth a do-over.  Maybe I could put poinsettias in the pot for Christmas.

Cottage Cutz Spring Potted Flowers w/Bird, Impression Obsession Have a Nice Day
Spellbinders Long Classic Rectangles

I'll send my fall card over to two challenges today:

Triple B Challenge --  Birds, Blooms, and/or butterflies.  I did not use the beautiful colors in the mood board this time, but I'm inspired to make another card before the month is over.
NBUS Challenge #67 -- All the Cottage Cutz bird sets and the Spellbinders Scallop Layers and Tag are never before used schtuff.

Now I plan to do a little more tidying up and move on to the next set of cards.  Thank you for stopping by!

Double D Challenge: To Spook or Not to Spook

 

Hello, and welcome to another Double D Challenge!  I like the title and theme of Diane's challenge this time around -- To Spook or not to Spook.  Make a Halloween card, or a pink card for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, or combine the two by making a pink Halloween card.  Cute!

Pictured below is the inspiration board and a prize for a random winner.  The DD team votes on creative winners as well.  See the challenge blog for more details.

 

I made a straight up Halloween card in order to use my never-been-used Spooky Ghost & Crow die set by Cottage Cutz.  Those dang sales at The Scrapping Cottage... I try to resist, but I do enjoy these dies.  I combined with other dies from my stash to craft the rest of the card.

I cut in white and colored with inks and brushes.  The frame is glitter cardstock and I added Orange Peel Stickles glitter to the star on the crow's hat.

In the photo below I mostly wanted to capture the semi-gloss on the crow's beak.  I painted it with clear top coat nail polish to make it look more beak-ish.  A person can add more coats after the first is dry to achieve different levels of gloss without it turning too glossy.  Just a fun thing for small parts.  Try different colors or maybe glitter or chrome polish.  I've got a few bottles left over from the old days.  I'm more of a file and buff kinda gal with all the gardening and dog cuddling I do.

I can't wait to see what you all share in the Double D gallery!  The team has a fabulous variety of inspiration for you, so be sure to head over and visit.  Thank you so much!

Dies:  Cottage Cutz Spooky Ghost & Crow, Memory Box Oval Master Frame and Boo Posh Script, Cheery Lynn Spider Net  Paper:  Neenah 110 lb white, glitter cardstock for frame, woodgrain white for card base, SU Tangerine Tango and Going Gray  Ink:  Various mostly SU for coloring except Distress Black Soot for crow  Other:  Stickles Orange Peel glitter glue, clear top coat nail polish for crow's beak