"Little boxes, little boxes, little boxes made of ticky-tacky!"  Sorry, every time I look at our inspiration color pic at this week's Sunday Stamps #211, that little song just runs through my head, lol!
With a color spread like that I wanted to find a way to use as many as I could, while keeping it fairly contained.  I kept thinking about that song, too, and remembered our little pot of brushes in Crafting Forever - perfect!  Then, I just wasn't satisfied with the sentiment - but what about something from scripture?  I finally came across this quote from Psalm 19 that seemed to fit - God's paint brushes are just bigger than my little pot, lol.
So, what will you create?  I can't wait to check it out over at the challenge!
Crafting forever & ODB Scripture Collection 9 Stamp Sets; Terracotta Tile & Whisper White CS; Memento Tuxedo Black, Terracotta Tile, Petal Pink, So Saffron, Pretty Peacock & Fresh Fig (retired) Inks; Aqua-Painter; Faceted Dots in Terracotta Tile; #SSC211.

Art & Silhouettes Class Aug 15 & 17!
So excited for our first focus class of the new catty!  This month we'll zero in on two suites:  the gorgeous It Starts With Art AND Silhouette Scenes!  We'll do three cards in each suite, and class will includes snacks, drinks, and a special treat from me!  All you need to bring is your favorite snips and adhesive, I provide everything else!  Class is $25, or can be FREE with your order of $30 or more!  RSVP to save your spot for Thursday, August 15 at 630 pm, or Saturday, August 17 at 3 pm - see you soon!

Oh goodie - In{k}spire Me #398 has a fun combo for us again this week, and has a few of our amazing new In Colors, too!
So this card went a totally different direction than I planned - I was all set to do something cute with scraps of ribbon, but I couldn't help thinking that I wouldn't know what to do with the envelope, sigh.  Then I happened to notice this little patterned piece in Woven Heirlooms - ooOOoo!  I was off to the races with that, lol.  I used a pretty sentiment from the same set, and finished off with our gorgeous faceted dots - perfect!
Woven Heirlooms Stamp Set; Flirty Flamingo & Whisper White CS; Memento Tuxedo Black, Pretty Peacock & Seaside Spray Inks; Purple Posy Stamp-n-Write Marker; In Color Faceted Dots; #IM398.

Art & Silhouettes Class Aug 15 & 17!
So excited for our first focus class of the new catty!  This month we'll zero in on two suites:  the gorgeous It Starts With Art AND Silhouette Scenes!  We'll do three cards in each suite, and class will includes snacks, drinks, and a special treat from me!  All you need to bring is your favorite snips and adhesive, I provide everything else!  Class is $25, or can be FREE with your order of $30 or more!  RSVP to save your spot for Thursday, August 15 at 630 pm, or Saturday, August 17 at 3 pm - see you soon!

What a super sweet sketch this week from Hand Stamped Sentiments #320 - there's even a tag!
I had a hard time choosing a direction for this card, I have to admit.  It took me a while to come around to that I hadn't stamped the pepper in my Garden Goodness set - or the peas, for that matter, lol.  How about a nice garden card?  I wanted something different for the sentiment, though, and came across this cute little hexie from Believe You Can.  It still ended up a little plainer than I thought, but still, it's pretty cute, lol.  Gotta get my veggies in somehow, and what the heck, I even squeezed the peas in on the envelope!
Garden Goodness & Believe You Can Stamp Sets; Wood Textures DSP (retired); Whisper White & Old Olive CS; Real Red & Old Olive Inks; Pinewood Planks EF; Stitched Shapes Dies; Clear Epoxy Droplets; #HSS320.

Art & Silhouettes Class Aug 15 & 17!
So excited for our first focus class of the new catty!  This month we'll zero in on two suites:  the gorgeous It Starts With Art AND Silhouette Scenes!  We'll do three cards in each suite, and class will includes snacks, drinks, and a special treat from me!  All you need to bring is your favorite snips and adhesive, I provide everything else!  Class is $25, or can be FREE with your order of $30 or more!  RSVP to save your spot for Thursday, August 15 at 630 pm, or Saturday, August 17 at 3 pm - see you soon!

So excited to see a tic-tac-toe challenge at this week's Retro Rubber #116 - the best of all combos!
I studied the grid for a while, and I just kept coming back to the center column:  green, texture and nature.  I have a great idea for everything but texture, lol - let's play!  I knew right away I wanted to use my beloved Inspired by Nature set from 2008 for this one - this grass stamp in particular is a long-time fave of mine, and the Mother Teresa quote is just the icing on the cake, lol.  I finally snuck in a little texture with a little Pinewood Planks panel behind the sentiment.  This card also marks my final 5 Old Olive Glimmer Dots.  {SOB}  I really loved these guys, I wish we did them in our full color line-up, lol!
Inspired by Nature (retired 2008) Stamp Set; Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Old Olive & Whisper White CS; Old Olive & Early Espresso Inks; Pinewood Planks EF; Rectangle Stitched Dies; Old Olive Glimmer Dots; #RR116.

Art & Silhouettes Class Aug 15 & 17!
So excited for our first focus class of the new catty!  This month we'll zero in on two suites:  the gorgeous It Starts With Art AND Silhouette Scenes!  We'll do three cards in each suite, and class will includes snacks, drinks, and a special treat from me!  All you need to bring is your favorite snips and adhesive, I provide everything else!  Class is $25, or can be FREE with your order of $30 or more!  RSVP to save your spot for Thursday, August 15 at 630 pm, or Saturday, August 17 at 3 pm - see you soon!

Summer is in full swing over at the Sisterhood of Crafters "play ball" challenge!
So, I keep the venerable Have a Ball set around for all my sporting needs - I think this baby is from 2007!  I'd update it if something close to how awesome this set is came along, but I'm still waiting!  I've gone with a baseball theme today, since we just finished All Stars not too far back, and my hubby is faithfully following his beloved Cubbies for the season, lol.  I did a mixed background panel, and then matched it with Praiseworthy Prose - this sentiment seems perfectly sporty to me!  I'll drop it in the kids section of my cards for sale, I think.  So fun to give this oldie and goodie some field time again!
Have a Ball (retired 2007) & Praiseworthy Prose Stamp Sets; Whisper White, Real Red & Soft Suede CS; Soft Suede, Real Red & Crumb Cake Inks; Rectangle Stitched & Hand Lettered Prose Dies; #TSOCPlayBall.

Art & Silhouettes Class Aug 15 & 17!
So excited for our first focus class of the new catty!  This month we'll zero in on two suites:  the gorgeous It Starts With Art AND Silhouette Scenes!  We'll do three cards in each suite, and class will includes snacks, drinks, and a special treat from me!  All you need to bring is your favorite snips and adhesive, I provide everything else!  Class is $25, or can be FREE with your order of $30 or more!  RSVP to save your spot for Thursday, August 15 at 630 pm, or Saturday, August 17 at 3 pm - see you soon!

Oh goody!  It's a banner day over at Try Stampin' on Tuesday #420! Not only that - we're teaming up again with Double-Trouble Challenges - be sure to check out the extra surprises there!
I decided to focus on DSP today, and it's hard for me to stop going back to the gorgeous Woven Threads - I am LOVING our new In Colors, and these papers give us even more option for sneaking them in!  I decided to add this lovely Our Daily Bread sentiment from their God Verses 2 set - I've always felt like Psalm 19 is so celebratory!So, what will YOU create??  I can't wait to check it out over at the challenge!
ODB God Verses 2; Woven Threads DSP; Whisper White & Pretty Peacock CS; Pretty Peacock Ink; Stitched Shapes Dies; Banner Triple Punch; Pretty Peacock Faceted Dots; #TSOT420.

Wow, such a fun combo at this week's Fusion Card Challenge - with a wonderful theme of kindness!
I started by going hunting for a good "kindness" sentiment, and quickly came across this beauty from Enjoy Life, but I knew I wanted to mix up the images - how about a few beautiful butterflies from Butterfly Gala?  These lovely wings go great with everything, lol.  I wanted a bright and fresh card, so I pulled out a carefully hoarded sheet of Lemon Lime Twist (retired, sob) Gingham DSP, and added some sweet spring colors to go with.  Love the finished look with the black accents!
Enjoy Life & Butterfly Gala Stamp Sets; Gingham Gala DSP (retired); Whisper White & Basic Black CS; Memento Tuxedo Black, Highland Heather, Calypso Coral & Daffodil Delight Inks; Stitched Shapes Dies; Butterfly Duet Punch; Old Olive Glimmer Dots (retired); #FusionKindness.

Once again Back to Basics & Beyond #33 has a fun challenge to try this week - we're going "off the edge!"
I think most edge designs tend to be flowers - lots of room for sprays and coloring!  BUT, I have been really wanting to get back to Garden Goodness so I could stamp this avocado - the whole reason I got this set, lol.  So of course I did the tomatoes first!  Anyway, I went a little avo-crazy, and put them all around the edge, with just one fussy cut one popped up by the sentiment - silly, but so yummy, lol - yay for avocados!  Here's to the "good" fat!
Garden Goodness Stamp Set; Whisper White & Soft Suede CS; Granny Apple Green & Soft Suede Inks; #BBB33.

Inspire Create Challenge #48 has a wonderful birthday challenge for us this week - and I think I'll combine it with The Male Room #116's "surf's up" theme!
So the first task is to figure out a surfboard - the only one I have is Santa's, lol, not good for a more general birthday, maybe! Taking my cue from the guest designer Lisa A, I set up some curves and created a "board," but I'm a little worried it looks more like a stripey tombstone in my little scene, lol.  I added some sand and surf, a few seagulls, and some Itty Bitty Birthday sentiments - for the mature surfer, maybe, lol.  So much fun - now I want a surf board stamp set, lol!
Itty Bitty Birthdays & High Tide Stamp Sets; Whisper White, Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Old Olive & Bermuda Bay CS; Memento Tuxedo Black, Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake & Balmy Blue Inks; #ICC048; #TMR116.

Time for another FABulous day with this week's sketch at Fab Friday #169!  Hope you can join us!
So I totally knew I wouldn't be doing a big circle like in the sketch - how about a tower of macarons??  I just couldn't wait anymore to try out my new Birthday Goodness set - there's donuts, too, lol, but these yummy macarons got first dibs!  I stayed in the pale pinks, and even colored a few pearls - yummy AND girlie, lol.
So, what will YOU create?  I can't wait to check it out over at the challenge!
Birthday Goodness Stamp Set; Whisper White & Petal Pink CS; Memento Tuxedo Black, Petal Pink & Blushing Bride Inks; Petal Pink & Flirty Flamingo Blends; Basic Jewel Pearls; #FabFri169.