Thoughts of a Grasshopper

I cut out the twiggy branch of leaves (although the DP makes me think of wheat) a few weeks ago. It has been sitting on my desk waiting for me to do something with it. Today was the day. I was in the middle of the usual morning activities and was able to whip out this card. I showed one of my kids this card and they asked why I keep using this set when I have so many others. I guess it is time to start using something else. I was thinking the other day how I'm always pulling the clear mount sets instead of the wood mounted ones now. Stamps: Day of Gratitude, Occasional Quotes CS: VV, Cajun Craze, Autumn Spice DP Ink: Old Olive, Early Espresso Misc.: Button, Dimensionals, Linen Thread, Wide Oval Punch, Piercing mat & tool Now to get on with today's list. I see a lot of cooking/baking happening today.

When I first got the Day of Gratitude set, I had the Blossom Party die on my desk and I wondered if that pointy-tipped flower would work with this image. It does! I actually would change my color choices around, but I had a limited amount of time and I went with what I started with and made it work. If you click on the image, you will see that I pierced a circle around the cajun center to add a little something. The colors are a bit off in my picture but you're familiar enough with them to know. Stamps: Day of Gratitude, Whimsical Words CS: Crumb Cake, VV, Old Olive, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Autumn Spice DP Ink & Markers: Old Olive, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Early Espresso Misc.: Blossom Party die, 1" circle punch, 1/2" circle punch, neutrals designer buttons, linen thread, dimensionals, piercing tool & mat, stampamajig Happy Day!

Those of you that visit my blog regularly know that I love this set. I'm happy to share it on the SU Stars blog hop today. If you would like to start at the beginning of the hop, you can start at the SU Stars Blog . Hopefully, you are already on the hop and just came from Denise Foor's blog . I loved all of the textures on the wreath that Denise created using Stampin' Up!'s DSP, embossing folders and her Big Shot. If you have gotten the Autumn Spice DP, you've probably noticed that on the paper with all the leaves, there is a background in more mustard. After I stamped the leaves, they just seemed so bare on the cardstock so I got out the Sanded background and stamped it in More Mustard to go along with the paper. Stamps: Sanded, Day of Gratitude CS: More Mustard, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla, Autumn Spice Ink & Markers: Early Espresso, Old Olive Cajun Craze, More Mustard (just ink on MM) Misc.: Early Espresso taffeta ribbon, sticky strip, ...

I planned to spend some time this weekend CASE-ing cards that I've saved over the last little bit. I didn't do any stamping at all. I worked on different projects, we went to a BBQ and it was just another typical weekend around here carting the kids to be with the their friends. Mary posted this card yesterday for a clean & simple sketch challenge. As soon as I saw it, I wrote her to say it was awesome and I would be making it. I know I've told you before, but she is one of those people that you know whatever she makes, it is going to be good. Go to her blog for the directions on this card. She even gives measurements. Super easy if you have the punch and if you don't, it isn't bad. I didn't have the right size square punch so I ended up using a knife to cut out the squares. I bought a square punch once and wondered why. It is pretty easy to cut a square with a paper cutter. For the first time, I can see a need for a square punch. Now for the muf...

Today's card is simple in design. I inked up the image with More Mustard and then colored with the markers. Originally, I was going to have a half-circle of rhinestones on the right side of the image but I thought that would be a bit much. I settled for the rhinestone in the center. I love the rhinestones Stampin' Up! has because they seem to sparkle more than other brands I've used in the past. Stamps: Day of Gratitude CS: Cajun Craze, VV, Autumn Spice DP Ink: More Mustard, VersaMark Markers: Old Olive, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso Misc.: Rhinestones, Clear EP

I entered this card in the VC Rocks contest that ended last night. There were some pretty amazing cards entered. I was challenging myself to use the smaller images in the stamp set because I have been so focused on the larger image. I have fun coloring that image with markers and changing up the look. Stamps: Day of Gratitude CS: More Mustard, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Cajun Craze, VV, Autumn Spice DSP Ink/Markers: Early Espresso, More Mustard, Old Olive, Cajun Craze Misc.: Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, Early Espresso 1/8" taffeta ribbon, Dimensionals, Fire rhinestone brads I'm off to a busy day full of meetings, grocery shopping and cooking dinner for a family that lost their mom during childbirth. So sad. You don't really hear of that happening nowadays.

I'm kind of sad that this is the last blog hop for the summer for VC Rocks. I've had a lot of fun participating and hopping around. You should have just come from Brenda's Stamping Corner . When I verified the link, I checked out what was on the front page of her blog. Oh my heck! If you scroll down to "Just Add Ink Challenge #30", check out that poodle skirt. That is cute! You should go back and look, especially if you like punched art. I've mentioned a few times on here about how I have so much DSP and I never seem to use it. How I've taken to leaving it out on my desk so I will use it more. I'm not sure if this is good or not because I feel obligated to make a card with it when I see it. I must talk about it enough around here because one of my kids commented "check you out using the DP!" LOL I was happy they knew what I was talking about when I say DP. Let's talk about the card. I'm so glad I got this set. The first ...

I made two cards Saturday using this set. I have quite a few more ideas for this set but I'm totally focused on swaps . . . still. I'm using this card for one swap and the other card I entered into a contest. It is cloudy today so I wasn't able to capture the shine of the Smooch spray on the main image. It is the first time I've used it and I love it. This needs to stay short because I have a meeting to get to. Lots of cards to share this week. Note that I used the new decorative label punch from the holiday mini. I cut off the points from the top and bottom. They poked around the oval just a smidge but just enough that I felt the need to make them disappear. Stamps: Day of Gratitude CS: Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, VV Markers: Early Espresso, Old Olive, Cajun Craze, More Mustard Misc.: Vintage brads, wide oval punch, decorative label punch, gold glow Smooch Spritz, early espresso 1/4" grosgrain, square lattice embossing folder...