Hey Everybody,

Beverly's challenge is to make a night scene. You can find her challenge here.

 I immediately thought of my little cuties that I use for Christmas cards.

 Here is the tutorial for the watercolor sky technique. If you prefer a video, here is a video.

 I stamped in Stazon black ink then cut out a mask with masking paper and put it on top of the animals. I also made a 1" circle mask for the moon. 

I put acrylic blocks into the ink and added a bit of water to the acrylic block with my water brush, so I could make it watery for painting.

 I painted the sky with balmy blue, then night of navy. I added lemon lolly ink to the moon. I added night of navy ink to the side and bottom of the scene. The grass was colored in pear pizzazz.

I mixed white acrylic paint and water to tap above the animals for stars. Next time I'll use less water or use white ink.

The animals were colored with Derwent and Stampin' Up! watercolor pencils. Then I used my water brush to smooth it out. The deer was colored with Copic marker. I forgot that when you stamp with Stazon ink, which is permanent, which is what you need for watercoloring, that you can't use alcohol inks. They run together and make a muddied mess if the marker goes over the ink lines.

So, I took out my watercolor pencils and colored with them for the rest of the animals.

 All of the stamping was done with a stamping platform so I could stamp multiple times to get good coverage on the watercolor paper. This will go in my stash for holiday card sending.

Here are my cards for the challenge. Which one do you prefer?

Keywords: TLC1127

Stamps: Inky Antics-Wild Bunch, Santa's sleigh?

Paper: watercolor

Paper Size: A2

Ink: versafine black, secret sea, lemon lolly, balmy blue, night of navy, pear pizzazz, stazon black

Accessories: masking paper, stamping platform, Copic Marker, Derwent and SU watercolor pencils, water brush, white acrylic marker, scissors

Techniques: watercoloring, masking, fussy cutting

Wild Bunch is a stamp from Inky Antics. I've had it a long, long time. I removed mine from the wood and store it in a clear envelope with the Santa and reindeer.  I don't know who makes Santa and the reindeer stamp. I asked AI and it gave me all kinds of answers, but none of them were correct. I finally told it, "Never Mind."  LOL

Maybe someone out there knows the name of the stamp?

Well, that's it for today, we'll see you again tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by.

Blessings,

Sue

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Wild Bunch Wood Mount Stamp P5-0633K

  

Janie Miller Wood Mount Stamp: Wild Bunch

Each deeply etched, all-natural rubber stamp is mounted with a thick foam cushion onto an indexed wood block. The hardwood maple block features contoured sides for a sure grip and complete control. Our stamps are made in Cleveland, Ohio with the highest quality materials and workmanship to give you reliable impressions time after time.

Wild Bunch is mounted on a 2 1/2” x 4 1/4” block. The stamp image itself measures approximately 3 15/16” x 2 1/4”.

Availability: In stock

$13.50

Qty:Add to Cart

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Ways To Use It Challenge

 Hey Everybody,

Sabrina's Ways To Use It challenge is chickens. You can find her challenge here.      This is my favorite chicken and it is from Unity Stamps and is called, Just Beak-Cause. I stamped the image in memento tuxedo black ink and colored it with Copic Markers.  I stamped the sentiment on the word bubble and added a poppy parade line around the outside. This isn't really a word bubble, but the body of the bee from the bee builder punch. I think it's pretty cool when you can find other uses for pieces from dies or punches from what they are for originally. I die cut the image panel with Stampin' Up!-Deckled Rectangles and added an early espresso layer.  Both were added to the Rings of Love designer paper then added to a poppy parade card base.  I added the hearts and sentiment with dimensionals. This will go on a dinner tray at a local hospital. Keywords: WT1124 Stamps: Unity Stamps-Just Beak-Cause Paper: white, early espresso, poppy parade, SU-Rings of Love designer series paper Ink: memento tuxedo black, poppy parade Accessories: deckled rectangle dies, Bee Builder Punch, dimensionals, Copic Markers Techniques: coloring What I really enjoy about these Splitcoast Challenges is that it has me going into my stash of stamps, embossing folders, dies and punches and using things that are retired or just sitting in drawers.  Sometimes when I am looking through a section of my stamps, I may see a set I haven't used in a while and pull it out to use next for a card. The blessing is that I'm using my stamps and supplies. Several of my friends and I make cards to donate to a local hospital and nursing home.  Imagine the ripple effect that has on people. When you go to the hospital do you expect to receive a greeting card on your dinner tray? When you reside in a senior living facility do you expect to receive free greeting cards to use to send to family and friends? Of course not, and that's why we do this.  We each have a unique gift from God and we are using it to encourage others. I thank God for all the things he's blessed me with. I know how lucky I am. Thanks for stopping by today. Blessings, Sue CHECK THIS OUT Splitcoaststampers is hosting 41 challenges over 10 days! Click on the link or the image for more information. Here's a list of supplies we'll be using so far. Click the link to see an updated list. People are still getting their challenges ready. I hope you can join us for a few of the challenges October 7-17th. so far...... 🍂 Parchment Paper 🍂 Cling Wrap or Glad Press n' Seal (tried it, works great) 🍂 Salt: Kosher, Course or Table, each works, but all have a different result 🍂 Pretty Napkins 🍂Tissue Paper 🍂Shaving cream/foam 🍂Watercolor Paper 🍂Plastic wrap 🍂Metallic embossing powder _OR_ metallic deco foil   * Metallic Embossing Powder:   * Deco Foil: Opal Deco Foil   🍂 Glossy Cardstock

Stamping With Friends

 Today I had two friends come by to make cards. What's so much fun is that we each design a card and the other two people make that card. So we go away with two new card ideas. Isn't that fantastic?

What is also great is that we all have lots of stamps, embossing folders and dies. So if we make a card and we like what we've used, we can borrow things until the next time we meet.

We meet every 2-3 weeks. Another great thing is that we all have such different styles that what we make, is different from what the others make. Today we all had a Fall card and they were so very different.

The first card is one made with dies. I love that she used glossy cardstock for the coffee cup lid.  She added a strip of the background paper on top of cardstock to help divide the panel.  She made a three-loop bow with linen thread. Then we added rub-ons to the collar on the coffee cup. The coffee cup was made with designer paper.  The sentiment was heat embossed. 

This was a great size coffee cup and die set for A2 cards. I got to borrow it to make a few more cards for my card ministries.

Here is the second card we made. It had a lot of detail. What you might not see in the photo is that the image panel is lightly stenciled with bricks. The die cut image was cut strips of cardstock then die cut. This was added to a brown frame then added to a beautifully embossed panel. Unfortunately, the embossing folder wasn't marked with a name. I'd have loved to use it on a few cards. Maybe next time.

I don't know when the last time was that I laid paper strips on paper and used a die.  I'm going to have to look at my dies and see what I can come up with. I think designer series paper would look pretty.

Here's the card I brought to make with my friends. I really like to make fun fold cards and this was an easy one to make. I used a retired Stampin' Up set called, Amber Autumn for the sentiment and image. We colored the image with Copic Markers. I did a double bow using linen thread and added three metallic dots as embellishments.

The background was embossed by a leaf embossing folder from Darice which was called, Leaves. The paper is also retired designer paper called, Gather Together.

My extra cards will be donated to a local nursing home for residents to use or to put on dinner trays at a local hospital.

I was needed to watch my grandson from 8:30-2:15 while my daughter-in-love worked. Her mom usually watches the little guy on Thursday, but her dad needed to go to the ER so I was texted at 7 a.m.  Luckily, Tim is up that early and he woke me to let me know they would arrive in about an hour.

I love watching my grandson by himself because I can lay on the floor and play with him. I can also do things like play with toys, and listen to music and sing to him. He'll be 9 months this week and I can't believe he'll be a year old soon.  He was born the day after Christmas.

We're going to celebrate his birthday separate from Christmas so that he doesn't feel slighted. He needs to be celebrated like everyone else on his special day.

One of my kids was born Dec 30th and at first we celebrated with Christmas because everyone was so busy doing Christmas gatherings.

Then we celebrated her birthday on her birthday with our immediate family. We celebrated with families in  February with her brother. It was easier for family I guess. We did one party for both kids.

In a way it worked out because neither one had to sit and watch the other open gifts when they didn't get any.

I had to wake my little guy from a sound sleep when his mom came to pick him up. We would have let him sleep but mom had to go pick up big sister at school and had a small window of time to get across town to do that.

I  walked into his room and he woke when I came in. I think he'd been in a sound sleep and he started to cry lots of tears. Oh my heart broke. I brought him downstairs and hugged him and rocked him. He settled down but started again when his mom took him. Poor guy. I guess he never went back to sleep at home until evening when it was his bedtime. I'm sure he'll sleep well tonight.

When he went down for his first nap, he played with his feet and legs rolling around in the crib. He usually has a swaddle on for sleep but mom forgot it, so he could grab his feel and play.  He finally fell asleep but only for about a half-hour.

Well, I'm tired and need to get some sleep.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Blessings,

Sue

It's a Sketch Challenge Day

 Hey Everybody,

Today's challenge is a sketch challenge. You can check it out here.

Here is my card.

I turned the sketch. I stamped my little mouse, die cut it with the deckled circles die and colored it with Copic Markers.  The stamp is a House Mouse stamp called Fall Float. The sentiment is from a retired Stampin' Up! set called Amber Autumn.

I stamped the sentiment in poppy parade and added it to the card with dimensionals. This will go on a dinner tray at a local hospital.

Because this card used two different papers that were cut diagonally, I put the other two pieces together to make another card.  I used the leaves and acorn stamp from the Amber Autumn set. I knew if I didn't do that, I'd have scraps I had to store and I didn't want to do that.

Keywords: SC1133

Stamps: House Mouse- Fall Float, Amber Autumn

Paper: white, autumn toile dsp

Ink: memento tuxedo black, poppy parade

Accessories: Copic Markers, deckled circle dies, dimensionals

Techniques: die cutting, coloring

Here is what the stamp set, Amber Autumn looks like.

This was an easy sketch to use. I knew I wanted to make a fall card, so I chose retired fall paper to use it up. Then I chose something that was in my fall stamps that was approximately the same size circle. I really enjoy using House Mouse stamps and know that they will bring a smile to someone at the hospital even if it's delivered with a dinner tray! LOL

This is a great way to use designer series paper. I'm going to have to remember this sketch. For this sketch I could have used a different shape and not a circle. That's the beauty of these things. You can change things as long as you keep the general sketch.

Well, thanks for stopping by today.

Blessings,

Sue

Have You Heard of Kleenex Batik?

 Hey Everybody,

Today we have two cards for yet another technique I've never done before. (That I remember anyway!) LOL

The technique is called   Kleenex Batik. Have you ever heard of it? Check out Anita's challenge here.

Anita has posted the directions and photos of her process. Here are the cards I made.

I've never done this technique before so it took me a while to complete and decide what to do with it. LOL

I followed her directions but spritzed my tissue a bit with water after I used the markers. I cut the rubber bands then laid the tissue flat to dry. Once dry, I cut the tissue in half and put an adhesive sheet on top of the batik piece. I cut the edges even with the side of the card stock then with my finger rubbed a small amount of paper glaze over the edges of the tissue to seal it. I added the silver ribbon and to help keep it in place, I added the narrow black ribbon on each side. I added this piece to a black card base then added my image and sentiment. Lastly, I colored the flower and heart with wink of stella and stamped my sentiment. It was added to the card front with dimensionals. This will go on a dinner tray at a local hospital.

Keywords: TLC1126

Stamps: Unity Stamps-Take Heart, SU Radiant Sunflower

Paper: white, black

Paper Size: A2

Ink: Versafine black

Accessories: tissue, SU-black taffeta ribbon, silver fish net ribbon, Graph-O markers, heart punch, dimensionals, rubber bands, water spritzer, clear wink of stella, adhesive sheets, scotch tape, paper glaze

Techniques: Kleenex Batik, coloring

I followed her directions but spritzed my tissue a bit with water after I used the markers. I cut the rubber bands then laid the tissue flat to dry. Once dry, I cut the tissue in half and put an adhesive sheet on top of the batik piece. I cut the edges even with the side of the card stock then with my finger rubbed a small amount of paper glaze over the edges of the tissue to seal it. I stamped the hat on a piece of extra batik tissue and fussy cut it. I also stamped, colored and fussy cut the little gnome. I added my sentiment in melon mambo then put the gnome on top of my sentiment. This was added to card front with dimensionals. I then added the image panel with dimensionals. This will go on a dinner tray at a local hospital.

Keywords: TLC1126

Stamps: Unity Stamps-Beach Happy Gnome and Wee Little Courier

Paper: white, black

Paper Size: A2

Ink: memento tuxedo black, melon mambo

Accessories: rounded rectangle punch, scissors, adhesive sheet, tissue, dimensionals, Graph-O markers, Paper Glaze

Techniques: Kleenex Batik, paper piecing, coloring, fussy cutting

One thing I have to remember is that there were two layers of tissue. That means if I want I might be able to make 4 cards instead of two. I'm not sure if one layer is thick enough to use. That's something I'll have to experiment with.  

I also think next time I do this I'll use thread or twine instead of rubber bands. The rubber bands were a bit difficult to put on. I thought tying string would be easier, but might not give me a wide enough space without color.  Another thing I'll have to check out.

I think the next one I'd make I'd want fall colors to make leaves or backgrounds for Thanksgiving cards. What do you think?

I might have to make a video and experiment with some things.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Blessings,

Sue

The Timid Tiger is Hiding in the Pretty Leaves

 Hey Everybody,

Today's card is a color challenge. Let's take a look at the colors for this week. The challenge was given to us by Linda. You can find her challenge here.

Are you ready for the Timid tiger is hiding in the pretty cajun leaves?


Timid Tiger
Pretty Peacock
Cajun Craze

Here's my card.

I made a frame using the baby wipe with reinkers and stamped the leaf from Gathering Moments. I stamped the leaves and pumpkins from Gather Together and die cut them. I fussy cut a wheat stack and added it on top of the leaves. I added the pumpkins to the leaves as well. I added peacock cardstock behind two of the corners of my image panel. I layered it on a card base of cajun craze. I stamped the word, Gather then added my brass dots. This will go on a dinner tray at a local hospital.

The two stamp sets are some of my favorite retired sets from Stampin' Up. I love to use them for Thanksgiving and Fall cards.

Here is the stamp/die set for Gather Together.

Here is the set, Gathering Moments.

What would you make with these three colors? For these challenges you can add neutrals as well. 

Some stampers have asked about the neutrals we use for the color challenges.

We use all the colors that Stampin'-Up has designated as neutrals.

In addition to white, vanilla, black, gold and silver the following color chart lists the other neutral shades.

Thanks again for stopping by today. Maybe you can take a look at some of your fall stamps and make something using these colors.

Blessings,

Sue

CHECK THIS OUT Splitcoaststampers is hosting 41 challenges over 10 days!

Click on the link or the image for more information.

Here's a list of supplies we'll be using so far. Click the link to see an updated list. People are still getting their challenges ready.

I hope you can join us for a few of the challenges October 7-17th.
so far......

🍂 Parchment Paper
🍂 Cling Wrap or Glad Press n' Seal (tried it, works great)
🍂 Salt: Kosher, Course or Table, each works, but all have a different result
🍂 Pretty Napkins
🍂Tissue Paper
🍂Shaving cream/foam
🍂Watercolor Paper
🍂Plastic wrap
🍂Metallic embossing powder _OR_ metallic deco foil  
* Metallic Embossing Powder:  
* Deco Foil: Opal Deco Foil  
🍂 Glossy Cardstock

For Today Monday, September 21, 2026

 For Today Monday, September 21, 2026

 

Looking out my window, it's a bleak, dreary and rainy day here in Northeast, Ohio. It's a great day for napping, wearing pajamas and reading a good book with a hot beverage in hand. What's your favorite beverage? Mine is caramel coffee with a bit of chocolate.

 

I am thinking-that after such a super busy week last week, I need to slow down. I need to read and do some things for myself. Last week I was busy with card making classes. I have classes Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Between those I also had 3 days to watch my grandblessings.

 

I am thankful-for so much in my life. Last week as I met with classes, God brought so many ladies and situations to light that it made me grateful for the 'little' problems I have. I know how blessed I am. I also know things could be so much worse. Praising God for my life.

One of my favorite things-is watching my grandblessings. I never know what is going to come out of the 4 year old's mouth. She constantly keeps me amused and laughing and astounded by what she says and what she knows.

 

I am creating-a very colorful ripple afghan. I wanted something that was bright and bold, so I ordered yarn from Hobby Lobby and started working on my afghan now that football season is upon us. I love to make small lap afghans for a local nursing home. To me this looks bright and cheery. I hope it makes someone smile.

 I am wearing-my San Antonio tie-dye shirt, jeans and tennis shoes.

I just began reading an autobiography recommended by a friend who knows the author personally.  The title is From Trials to Triumph: To God Be All The Glory by Alena McGregor 

This is so interesting as she was born and raised in Russia.

 

I am learning-that sometimes I just have to do it!  Even if I don't want to do it, it needs to be done and I'm the one who needs to do it whether I want to or not. LOL  Things like exercise and vacuuming are on that list.

 In the school room-I am finishing up cards from last week's classes and putting things away that have been our for classes. It feel so good to get my room back in order. This week, I'll begin again to look for ideas for next month's cards. I love looking at and learning new things as I research ideas. I find some techniques that I've long forgotten that I can try again.

My Surprise was-my 4 year old granddaughter was sitting down to dinner with us last week. Papa was making his chicken nuggets. He bakes them in the oven.

 I asked her if she wanted pb&j sandwich or something else. She looked at me and said, "Grandma, I eat chicken nuggets at school. I want some of Papa's chicken nuggets!" That shocked and amazed us because up until now, she's never let a chicken nugget get near her plate!  So, she dunked them in ketchup and happily ate seconds. LOL

In my garden-We had unwelcomed visitors last night. A mama deer and her baby as well as a bunny rabbit. My husband works very hard on the garden and doesn't want to feed the local wildlife with it. In the front yard he has a sprinkler with a motion sensor so if they come near, it sprays them. I think he's going to have to do that for his garden.

 

A moment from my day-Today, both our baseball and football teams were winners. That is saying something since our football team has been a big disappointment for a while.

Our Guardians are in 1st place in our division just above the Chicago White Sox. Our team has a lot of young players and has had its ups and downs just like any other team. I really enjoy watching baseball games and working on my crocheting while I do that.

This is a score that no one predicted or expected today.  Our team has seemed like a lost cause for a long time. We're always saying, "Well, maybe next year is our year." So we weren't very hopeful today.  Maybe all they needed was a two hour lightning delay to win the game.  It seems that at the two-minute warning they saw lightning. When lightning is seen, they have to wait 30 minutes. They waited two hours.  Hey, whatever it was, it worked today.  I'm not going to get my hopes up for the future, but I will take a win when we can get them.

I got my studio organized and cleaned up from all of the classes last week. I also spent a day finishing the cards for people who weren't at class. I cut several extra cards in case I have late reservations. If I don't have reservations, those cards are donated to a local hospital to go on dinner trays.

Today was a great day to get some things done and to relax. Tomorrow starts another week. We'll see what's in store tomorrow when I awake.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Blessings,

Sue