Weekly Wanderings

 Sunday, July 31, 2022

Well, it has been an extremely hot week here in Oregon where we live. So thankful for our air conditioning!

Today I am remembering my father-in-law, Glen, who died eight years ago today at the age of 93. I could tell many stories about him...he was something else. He is certainly missed.

The Farmer and I escaped the heat one afternoon by going to see the movie, "Where the Crawdads Sing". It was very good. I had read the book; the Farmer had not. We both gave the movie a "9" (10 being the best!) The movie was as good as the book! 

We helped our friend, Steve, on his food truck one hot afternoon! It was a fundraiser for the basketball team our son, Steven, coaches. What an experience. It was very interesting, very hot, and we were busy! We had fun and are much more appreciative of those who do this for a living!

Steven is in the window if you look closely!

The Farmer and Steve doing the food prep.

I took orders and the money. Still smiling after our shift!

So, the next couple weeks I probably won't be blogging as much. I have to scrapbook!!! And there isn't much to share with my scrapbooking. I'm a simple scrapper. I have a couple years to do and then I need to decide what I want to do...continue scrapping or what??? Any ideas? I'm open to suggestions.

And it wouldn't be a week without a picture of sweet Paisley! Blowing those little bubbles! ❤

Happy Stamping, my friends!

Tracy

Flying Home Again

 Thursday, July 28, 2022

Studio 1.15 has gone to the birds this week! I had to use another bird image from Flying Home for today's card:

And I'm using LeAnne's sketch this week over at the Paper Players Challenge #601:

My card base is Petal Pink. I'm using the Rings of Love DSP ❤ and a bright Parakeet Party banner.  I added a couple loops of the Parakeet Party baker's twine and a few decorative dots in the same color to finish the card.  My image was colored with Stampin' Blends.

Happy Stamping!

Tracy

Flying Home

 Wednesday, July 27, 2022

I was determined to play along at the Retro Rubber Challenge so I grabbed another stamp set, Stampin' Up!'s Flying Home, and made another card today similar to yesterday's! This stamp set retired in 2018! So I'm good with it! LOL! The sentiment is from SU!'s Vintage Vogue retired  2012. It's such a classic set. 

The Retro Rubber Challenge #187 is a Tic Tac Toe!

I basically used everything except washi tape and copper. 

There's still time to ink up some of those "retro" stamps and play along!

Happy Stamping!

Tracy

Free as a Bird

 Tuesday, July 26, 2022

I was going to enter my card over at the Retro Rubber Challenge and after I got it finished I checked the date of the stamp set...it is on my retired shelf but it just retired in May so technically it doesn't qualify. Oh well! I enjoyed making it! 

I used the current Stampin' Up! Sale-a-bration Rings of Love DSP. I love this paper! I ran it through a striped embossing folder. The DSP kind of "tore" a bit from the EF but I like it. It gives it a distressed look.  I used the Free as a Bird stamp set from Stampin' Up!  I love the sweet birds in this set. I colored the bird with Stampin' Blends. I used Real Red ribbon and I like how it made the Poppy Parade color in the DSP pop! 

Anyway, that's my card for today. 

Happy Stamping!

Tracy

Celebrate Summer!

 Monday, July 25, 2022

Happy Monday! We are in for a hot week here the the Pacific Northwest! Today's card was inspired by summer memories...of wearing flip flops. In my childhood they were not called flip flops though! Does anyone know what we called them???

The sketch was the inspiration of this week's Freshly Made Sketches 545:

Card Details:

• A2 card base in Melon Mambo
• Stampin' Up!'s Hues of Happiness DSP cut with the Stitched Rectangles dies
• Flip Flop stamp from Lawn Fawn's Simply Celebrate Summer and coordinating dies. I colored them with the SU! Blends and adhered them with dimensionals.
• Sentiment from Lawn Fawn's Simply Summer Sentiments
• I added three rhinestone gems in a navy blue color

So, when I was a child flip flops were called "thongs". Yep. And we wore them all the time! We camped a lot and that is what my sister, brother, cousins and I wore the entire time we were at the lake. So many good, good memories of our camping trips! 

I hope all of you are making some great summer memories today!

Happy Stamping! 

Tracy

Weekly Wanderings

 Sunday, July 24, 2022

Overall, it has been a rather quiet week here on the farm. 

Last Sunday we managed to get all our children together in one place! Such a blessing!

Steven, McKenzie, Aunt Katie holding Paisley, and Uncle Taylor! ❤❤❤❤

The Farmer and I wandered to the Columbia County Fair. He has always worked during the summer so going to a fair was never something he did. So, we went to the fair because we could! I got a few photos of some beautiful quilts that caught my eye!

Wouldn't this be the neatest wall hanging for the month of October?!

Anything with a dog is a yes in my book! And this sweet  quilt! Yes, please!

And this is for my gnome loving friends. Is this just amazing or what?! Some people are so talented!

One more picture of our sweet Paisley! 

Happy Stamping, my friends!

Tracy

Dream

 Friday, July 22, 2022

There are a lot of 2's in today's date! LOL! It's Fri-yay! Hope y'all are ready for a great weekend! 

Today's card features the Gathered Wheat bundle once again:

And I'm using the Global Design Project #GDP352 Case the Designer challenge:

What a beautiful card Susan Wong created.  I'm always nervous about CAS-ing a designer. Oh my! There can be such a range of interpretation! My interpretation is that I saw a focal image (the large hexagon)  with related elements (smaller shapes) scattered diagonally from the focal image. The twine and sentiment along with some gems completed her card.  Sooooo, my card...

The bundle of wheat is the large focal image with various sprigs scattered from it; the linen thread and the sentiment. I adhere it all on a card mat that I embossed with the Fern EF and added some Brass Butterflies.

Dream big, my friends!

Happy Stamping!

Tracy

Gathered Wheat

 Thursday, July 21, 2022

Today's card features a new bundle, Gathered Wheat, from Stampin' Up!'s Holiday Mini Catalog (2022).

Being married to a wheat farmer (although he is now retired) I had to have this bundle. I like it and am having fun playing with it.

Card Details:

• A2 card base in Soft Seafoam
• Using the Scallop Contour dies cut one rectangle from Crumb Cake. Wrap demin ribbon around it and adhere to card base.  Cut another rectangle from Soft Seafoam.
• Cut a Stitched Rectangle from Pretty Prints DSP; adhere to the Soft Seafoam scalloped rectangle.
• Stamp the wheat with Crushed Curry ink onto Basic White cardstock and color the wheat heads with light crumb cake. Cut the other wheat pieces from Crushed Currry cardstock. Adhere to DSP.
• Adhere Soft Seafoam rectangle to card base with dimensionals.
• Cut the banner from Basic White cardstock. Stamp sentiment with Evening Evergreen. Adhere over wheat stems.
• Add 3 gold pearls from the Red & Green Pearls (do you find that an odd name for these pearls? There are silver and gold pearls and the green ones are very light, almost blue depending on the light. They are all very pretty and I highly recommend them.)

The wheat fields have always been my favorite. I think they are so pretty at all the stages of growth. The wheat harvest was fun, too, as it is fast paced. So many good memories of harvesting! 

Happy Stamping!

Tracy

Party Panda

 Wednesday, July 21, 2022

Today's card features a sweet little panda:

I am playing along with the Paper Players #600 Challenge where they are looking for Clean and Simple "Kards for Kids".

Card Details:

• A2 Card base in Pool Party
• 4" x 5-1/4" Pattern Party DSP; wrap a piece of red ribbon around and adhere to card base.
• Cut two stitched rectangles one in Flirty Flamingo and one in Basic White.
• Stamp image on the Basic White rectangle. Stamp 'Hi' in Flirty Flamingo and color the heart using a Real Red Stampin' Write Marker. Adhere to Flirty Flamingo rectangle.
• Adhere to card base with dimensionals.
• Add 3 matte decorative dots.

It's definitely a card for a kid but I have a feeling one of my besties would love receiving this card also!

Happy Stamping!

Tracy

All Together 2

 Tuesday, July 19, 2022

One year ago today the Farmer had an emergency appendectomy. That was quite a day and we are thankful all went so well. I'm sure y'all needed to know that bit of trivia! LOL!

I was having fun with the All Together DSP that I made another card using it:

Easy peasy but oh, so fun! Well, I have a lot of "odds and ends" to complete here in the studio! That means inside sentiments and envelopes! I'd better get on it so I can have COMPLETED cards. I need to do a little studio cleaning before I start another project! LOL!

Happy Stamping!

Tracy

All Together

 Monday, July 18, 2022

Happy Monday, my friends! Today's card features the All Together 6" x 6" DSP.

I'm entering it in the Freshly Made Sketches #544 challenge:

And the Seize the Birthday #242 where they are looking for metallic:

Card Details:

• A2 card base in Thick Basic White
• 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" All Together DSP (retired) that I've colored with the Natural Tones Blends; adhere to card base.
• 1-3/4" x 4-1/4" Real Red embossed with Hearts EF (retired); adhere to card base.
• I cut the rectangles from the DSP using the Stitched Rectangle dies; adhere together. Adhere one to the card base using adhesive and the other with dimensionals.
• Using the Heart Punch Pack punch the scallop heart from Galvanized Metallic Paper; punch a heart from Basic White. I stamped the swish with metallic copper ink and embossed the sentiment from Ready to Pop (retired) with copper embossing powder. 
• Adhere hearts together. Add a few loops of Sweet Sorbet Metallic Ribbon to the back. Adhere to card base with dimensionals.
• Add three Brushed Metallic Dots

Today would be the 59th birthday of a very special friend who died tragically in a car accident when he (and I) was 20 years old. A lifetime ago but it still makes my eyes water, if ya know what I mean.  The card I made has some deeper meaning:  the hearts representing love; the red color represents Christ blood shed for us;  the black color with the hearts represents grief but I do not grieve in vain; and I think the hands for me represent the passage of time yet were still connected and we will see each other again.  Stamping is sometimes the best therapy! 

Happy Stamping!

Tracy

Weekly Wanderings

 Sunday, July 17, 2022

Well, it was another full week! We hiked the Cascade Head out at the coast near Lincoln City. Our friend went with us. 

The temperature was great for hiking. This was the best pic I could get of the view. At the top it was socked in with fog and very windy!

There really is an ocean in that mass of white! LOL! Thankfully, this wasn't our first time here. It is a favorite hike/area of ours and this time it just happened to be foggy. We still had a nice time and enjoyed the hike. It's a workout!

My upline, Teresa Harper,  at KnT Designs by Teresa celebrated her 10th anniversary with Stampin' Up! this week! Such a wonderful thing! She's an amazing artist! I made her this card:

My inspiration came from the cover of SU!'s current annual catalog. I watercolored those flowers from the Happiness Abounds set...watercoloring is not my forte but I just went with it. 

And our granddaughter, Paisley, just keeps growing! Here she is already seven weeks old:

Happy Stamping!

Tracy

Birdhouses

  Friday, July 15, 2022

Today's card is just a quick and easy one...Oh, wait! Most of my cards are quick and easy! LOL!

These birdhouses are a wood block stamp that joined my collection recently when a friend "gifted" me her box of "I don't want this stuff"! LOL! It's a DeNami Design dated 2001. I think it's pretty cute.

Card Details:

• A2 card base in Crumb Cake
• 4" x 5-1/4" Blackberry Bliss; embossed with SU!'s Decorative Dots EF (retired)
• Mossy Meadow 3-3/4" x 4-3/4"
• Basic White 3" x 4-1/2"; stamp image with Blackberry Bliss ink. 
• I colored the image with Stampin' Blends in Dark and Light Crumb Cake; Dark Sweet Sorbet; Dark and Light Old Olive.
• The sentiment is from Itty Bitty-licious by Robyn Cardon and is stamped with Blackberry Bliss.
• Adhere a few red gem stones.

Happy Stamping!

Tracy

A Clever Cat

 Thursday, July 14, 2022

Today's card features one of the cute cats from SU!'s Clever Cats stamp set (retired).

I had been wanting to use this sketch for awhile and thought it fit for this week's Global Design Project #351 theme challenge of shapes... a few triangles, ovals, and circles!

Card Details:

• A2 card base in Fresh Freesia
• 4" x 5-1/4" Perfectly Penciled DSP; cut corner to corner to get the triangles. Adhere to card base.
• Stamp the image with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. I used the Stamparatus to insure I had a good inked imaged. I had to reink multiple times. Cut using an oval die.
• Cut a scalloped oval from Fresh Freesia and a larger one from Blackberry Bliss. Adhere image to the Fresh Freesia oval then adhere with dimensionals to the Blackberry Bliss oval.
• I added 3 Opal gems to the card.

Happy Stamping!

Tracy

Beautiful Ride

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Today's card is just a reminder to myself that "life is a beautiful ride".

I'm using the color challenge over at the Paper Players PP599:

Card Details:

• A2 card base in Basic White
• Parakeet Party DSP cut using the largest Stitched Rectangle die. Adhere to card base.
• Stamp image from SU!'s Beautiful Ride (retired) in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. Color with the Dark and Light Tahitian Tide Blends. Fussy cut out and adhere to card base with dimensionals.
• Cut banner from Stylish Shapes dies. Stamp sentiment in Tahitian Tide ink.
• Add 3 loops of Tahitian Tide Metallic Woven Ribbon to the back of the banner.  Adhere to banner to card base with dimensionals.
• Add 3 Fine Sparkle Gems

Happy Stamping!

Tracy

Abstract Impressions

 Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Today's card features the retired SU! Abstract Impressions stamp set:

And I used the sketch from the current Retro Rubber Challenge #186

Card Details:

• A2 card base in Evening Evergreen
• Basic White 1-1/2" x 5-1/2" Stamp flower: this is a three step stamp. The first and largest stamp I used Crushed Curry stamped off (second generation); second stamp Crushed Curry full strength; third stamp Bumblebee (retired).
• The leaves I stamped with Pear Pizzazz and Garden Green
• I added the dots using the Dark Old Olive Blend.
• Stamp the sentiment in Evening Evergreen. Cut using the Layering Circle dies. Cut matte from Pear Pizzazz. Adhere together. Add three loops of gold thread and adhere to card base with dimensionals.
• I used the Wheat dies to cut the decorative border from Bumblebee. The small banner is cut using the Stylish Shapes die from retired Pear Pizzazz DSP.

I made another one and switch up the colors. 

The card base is Soft Succulent. I used Blushing Bride, Flirty Flamingo and Calypso Coral. The leaves are Soft Succulent and Evening Evergreen. My inspiration for these cards came from a new shower curtain I bought! 😂 

Which card do you like best? And where do you get inspiration for your creations?

Happy Stamping!

Tracy

A Butterfly

 Monday, July 11, 2022

Happy Monday, my friends! As I was cleaning up the Studio yesterday I put this card together with remnants laying around on my desk!

I had used the Best Butterflies bundle for my make-n-take Saturday. I played around a bit with the stamp set. This butterfly is just stamped. The bits on the bottom are from the dies. The sentiment is from a past Sale-a-bration set called, In Your Words. It was all quick and easy and I have another birthday card made! Yea!

Happy Stamping!

Tracy

Weekly Wanderings

 Sunday, July 10, 2022

 What a very full week! I think I might be tired. LOL!

Monday, the 4th of July, found the Farmer and I with all of our kids watching a parade! Yea! That is always a treat! The Farmer and I went and watched a nearby fireworks display that night. It was nice but so nerve wracking with all the "other" fireworks going off around us! 

We took advantage of $5 Tuesday at the movies and watched Elvis. Has anyone else seen it? Let me know what you thought of it. We gave the movie a "7" (10 being best). Very interesting story. I didn't really know alot about Elvis. I have always liked his singing voice and alot of his songs. What a tradegy his life ended so early. Oh, Tom Hanks was amazing and so was Austin Butler!

I spent all day Wednesday making rolls. Our pastor got married Thursday and I was asked to make rolls for the reception. So, I made rolls! What an honor.

Thursday was a beautiful day for the wedding and it was a beautiful wedding. I spent the day washing dishes, cleaning the kitchen and filling the beverage dispensers. I was very happy doing all of it! Large groups tend to wear me out so serving is much more comfortable for me. Do you prefer the social or the serving? 

Friday found the Farmer and I picking cherries! We picked the Bings but like all cherries! LOL!

I wanted about 50 pounds...we ended up with 83! Good grief! We pit and freeze them and eat them like candy! 

Saturday was our monthly crafting day. I shared this make-n-take using the Best Butterflies bundle:

We made a fun explosion card!

My upline, Teresa Harper, at KnT Designs by Teresa shared this make-n-take using the adorable Storybook Gnomes DSP:

Sunday I hope is going to be restful! Church and then a nap! I hope all of you are doing well! I will end this rambling post with the one who has made my heart full, our granddaughter, Paisley!

Even after a day of cherry picking and pitting this bundle of sweetness brings us smiles!

There is nothing like a sleeping baby!

Have a wonderful week!

Happy Stamping!

Tracy

He's The Man

 Thursday, July 7, 2022

Today's card features Stampin' Up!'s He's The Man Specialty DSP.

Easy Peasy! I used the paper and the die cuts from the pack to make this card. I am entering it in the Hand Stamped Sentiments Sketch Challenge #392.

This will be a great card to give to my hubby! LOL! As we continue our weekly wanderings/adventures!

Happy Stamping!

Tracy