"We do not remember days, we remember moments." Cesare Pavese

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Moments Release!

 Hello, hello!  Simon Says Stamp has a new release on their website and it is full of some beautiful products!  You can see the entire release here.  Simon was so generous and sent me several products to create with.  Today I'm going to share two of those projects with you.  Let's see what I made.


First up is a little decor piece that I created using the new Retro Daisies stencil, Ribbon Loop Frames dies and Inspiration Quotes stamp set.  Blue is my favorite color (along with green) and so that was my jumping off point.    I used Altenew Fresh Dye ink in Blueberry and Blue Horizon to stencil the daisies.  The Ribbon Loop frame was die cut from a bright green cardstock, as well as two additional layers from white.  The frames were then adhered together.  I tried several options of embossing on vellum and finally settled on white.  It is a little hard to read in the photo, but it looks really pretty in real life.  The frame is a Tim Holtz distress frame that I painted light blue.  Before the paint was dry I wiped some of it off for a little bit of a shabby look.   The stenciled piece was trimmed to fit behind the frame and then adhered to the backing piece using collage medium.   The frame was adhered using collage medium as well.  Once the main piece was dry I adhered the green ribbon frame using liquid adhesive, trimmed down the sentiment and adhered it using rolled up glue dots.  I finished things off with dots of Limoncello Nuvo jewel drops.  I will be sending this little gem off to the new Just Us Girls challenge as it is stencil week.  Thank you so much to JUGs team member Lisa for picking my card as the winner of last week's challenge! Will also be adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.


Now for my second project.  This one uses a fun new background stamp called Pinwheel Party and will be heading over to the current Color Hues challenge of peach and teal.  Let's have a look.


I'm going to be real honest and tell you that peach is not my favorite color to work with, but I always like a good challenge and so I was determined to make something with those two colors.  When I saw the Pinwheel Party I thought it would be perfect to use for those two colors.  I decided to go with using more peach than teal just because teal is a much stronger color.   After stamping both colors I diecut the teal one with a SSS tag die, layered it on a shadow layer tag and added the tab and twine.  The peach background was die cut with a rectangle die and then added to a white cardstock base.  I adhered the tag and then finished with a sentiment from the Inspirational Quotes and some Nuvo drops in Morning Dew.

Well, that's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out the new Beautiful Moments release!



Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Birch Press Design February Post #2

 Hello, hello!  Popping in to let you know that I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.  Here is a little peek of what I made.


Hope you will head over to the blog to see the full card.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!


Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Cherry Blossoms

 Hello!   Can't believe it is already the end of February and spring will soon be here.  To be honest we haven't had much of a winter here in the Pacific Northwest.   I have a begonia on my front porch that is still green and blooming!   And because we have had a mild winter the cherry blossoms are already blooming on the Japanese cherry trees!    But enough talk about our non-existent winter I'm here to talk about a card that I made for the following challenges:  Just Us Girls (mood board), the Paper Players (sketch) and one more entry for the Pinkfresh Studio February challenge (I went with the anything goes option).   Let's look at what I made.


My sweet bloggy friend, Lisa, picked the mood board this month as a member of the JUGs team and she picked a photo of a yummy pink mug of hot cocoa.  I don't have any mug stamps, but I did zero in on the branch of what looked to me like cherry blossoms in the background as my inspiration along with the color pink.  I used the appropriately named Pinkfresh Studio Cherry Blossom die and stencil set.  I wanted soft colors so I used the residual ink left on the blending brushes I use with pink, green, brown and yellow distress oxide inks.  Love the soft look that provides.  I then die cut everything and assembled my little branch of cherry blossoms.  I used the Pinkfresh Studio postage stamp dies to create the elements of the sketch using white, pink and pink glitter cardstock.  I adhered everything to my card base and then finished with a gold foil Memory Box sentiment tab.   




That's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!


Friday, February 13, 2026

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Hello!  I'm popping in to share a little Valentine that I made for my great nephew.  I hadn't planned on it, but when I saw that the JUGs challenge was valentine I decided to share it.  I'm also posting it to Freshly Made Sketches because the layout of my card is does lend itself to the sketch.   Let's have a look at what I created.


Back in the summer my niece convinced her husband to fly to California and bring home a mini Aussiedoodle that they named Coco.  She is cutest little thing and my great nephew and great niece adore her.  I was thinking of Coco when I made this card for my great nephew.    The puppy face is from the Simon Says Stamp set called Hello Animals.  She fit perfectly on top of the happy Valentine's Day setntiment that is from a very old SSS stamp set called Hello Beautiful.  I stamped her using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored her with Copic markers.   I had just planned to stamp the sentiment and then place the puppy as you see it but decided to add the pale blue heart for a little bit more interest. I used a SSS stencil for the heart.  I like how it turned out.  I hope my great nephew likes it too!  Can you see the sketch in there?  Let me know.


That's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!



Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Birch Press Design February Post #1

 Hello!  Popping in to let you know that I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.  Here is a little peek of what I made.

Hope you will head over to the blog and take a look at what I made.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Saturday, February 7, 2026

wishing you...

 Hello!  Finally back with a card for a few challenges:  Color Hues (pink and red) and Pinkfresh Studio monthly challenge.  Let's have a look at what I made.


Recently Scrapbook.com had an offer involving a stamp, die and stencil set from Pinkfresh Studio that is exclusive to Scrapbook.com (I think!).  Spend $25 and you get the stamp set for free.  I couldn't pass up that deal.  Unfortunately, by the time I was able to make my purchase the die was all sold out.  So, I got the stencils and couple other things and my free stamp set!     The Pinkfresh Studio challenge is anything goes now, but they do still provide a color combo and another inspiration.  This month it was geometric.   For the geometric part I decided to use the Pinkfresh Studio dazzling diamond (I think that is the name) impression plate and their Elegant Circles dies.  


I centered the stamp on a panel of white cardstock, stamped and then stenciled the image using Pinkfresh Studio inks in Ballet Slipper, Sparkling Rose and Bubblegum and Altenew Silverstone for the gray.  Once the stenciling was done I centered my panel on the die and ran it through my die cutter.  It worked like a charm!  I then die cut the Elegant Circles from red cardstock (twice and glued together) and then adhered them over the two larger flowers in the image.  Finished with the sentiment that I stamped and die cut with a banner die.




That's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!