Sailing Home Because You Are My True North!

Sail Away

I always love a good nautical theme. The many ombré shades of blues and stripes just call my name. Throw in a vintage nautical compass and swoon! I will be in LOVE. Water just calls my name whether it be the beach or our local Greer’s Ferry Lake and Little Red River you will often find me out on it. My children seem to have inherited this from me and ask often when our next beach trip is. I own a flotilla of kayaks and canoes and drag along any one I can convince to spend the afternoon with me.

This was a quick simple card using the Sailing Home stamp set from Stampin’ Up. I used Night of Navy ink and black Stazon to stamp the images. I stamped and cut the sentiment apart. Who is your True North? The person that always resets your path in the right direction.

Take the pictures while you can.

Ocean air and salty hair makes the best memories.

Making memories.

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“You Are Wonderful” with some Country Floral

Every spring I look around in sheer awe of the beautiful scenery here in the Ozarks. I drive across the dam at Greer’s Ferry Lake daily and love the way the trees dapple the shoreline and reflections dance in the water. There are more shades of green in the trees than I can name. It makes me think of the Rooted in Nature stamp set. It is my favorite stamp set that is carrying over to the 2019-2020 catalog and that’s where the wonderful sentiment came from.

Rooted in Nature with Country Floral

I adored making this card. It was pure simplicity. Nothing was precise or measured. It probably took less than ten minutes to create from start to finish and for me that says a lot. I can spend an entire day or maybe two working on one card. I know. I have a problem. Now I’ll be off to therapy. Paper crafting is therapy for me. It makes my soul happy. I can unwind and relax. I embossed directly on the whisper white card base using the Country Floral embossing folder. I then sponged Blushing Bride ink over the embossed area for a subtle feminine look. The sentiment was stamped in Early Espresso on Whisper White card stock then die cut using the Stitched Shapes framelits and then layered with Blushing Bride card stock.

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The Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon was the perfect finishing touch to this card. Light and airy, soft and feminine I think this card is destined for my daughter Victoria. Shhh, don’t tell her. It will be a surprise.

Best Catch!!!

Hello everyone! It’s Renee here from StampinwithReneeTorres@wordpress.com. I am loving the beautiful spring weather here in central Arkansas and I had a few moments to sit down and create today and this is what I came up with.

This coordinating stamp and die set from Stampin up is just perfect for our area. We are a trout fishing destination on the Little Red River. The stamp set is called “Best Catch” and comes in the new cling stamps. I absolutely adore them. They cling to your stamp blocks like no others now. You don’t have to worry about them falling off. The coordinating dies are called “Catch of the Day”. I also used the net die from “Under the Sea”.

I colored the images in with my Stampin’ Write markers and then die cut the images. The sentiment is stamped in Early Espresso and the fishing fly was stamped in Crumb Cake. I stamped the card base in Crumb Cake using the “Crackle Paint” background stamp. The white mat was embossed using the “Subtle” embossing folder. It’s just enough texture. I colored the cat tails with an Early Espresso market and sponged the net and greenery with old olive and crumb cake.

I left the inside of the card blank because I’m not sure if I’m going to use this as a Father’s Day card or a Birthday card. I stamped the fly fisherman in Crumb Cake. I think any of the men in my life would enjoy this card. It’s perfect for your husband, father, son or nephew and the list just goes on. What do you think? What are you creating today? I would love to see.

”Beauty Abounds” just look around

It’s a beautiful sunny afternoon after what seems like weeks of rain and I got just a bit of time to myself to get crafty. I sat down with the new stamp set from the Stampin’ Up occasions catalog called Beauty Abounds and I am in love with the bokeh stamps in this set. I will be using them a LOT! It’s kind of like the retired set Gorgeous Grunge.

The Beauty Abounds stamp set has coordinating Butterfly Beauty dies. I snipped the butterflies apart to make this lovely scrapbook layout using the Botanical Butterfly Designer Series Paper. I stamped the bokeh in Grapefruit Grove to coordinate.

This double page layout has gotten to me and I’m ready to go work on my spring flowers pots, the front porch or yard. It’s that time are you ready? I love to look around and see all the shades of spring. The depth of all the greens and the trees burst into bloom and the butterflies start fluttering around in the sunshine. It’s a beautiful day. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Florentine Filigree

Good morning all my crafty friends! Spring is coming and the days are getting longer. It will get here eventually. Of course I woke up to snow here in Central Arkansas today. The chilly weather has me dreaming of the beach and this gorgeous card has a warm Moroccan vibe! So without farther ado I recreated this card from the Stampin’ Up Occasions catalog and it is the card that made me fall in love with my stamparatus. It was so easy to line up the stamps and create the beautiful background with the matching die. I spent a wonderful morning with friends at a crop in Greers Ferry, Arkansas creating layouts and cards and this was my absolute favorite.

Rooted in Nature

Good morning and happy Sunday Fun Day with the family! It has been way to long since I have posted on here. Life and work seem to have a way of happening like that. I took some much needed time to crop this last week at a retreat in Central Arkansas at the lovely Budd Creek Church camp. They kindly allow us to use their facilities in the off season for scrapbooking retreats. We had scrappy friends from as far as Jacksonville Florida and Las Vegas Nevada. It was an amazing time with friends to learn new techniques. I had a chance to play with some stamps I had never inked up and I fell in LOVE with the Rooted in Nature stamp set by Stampin Up. The images are so calm and serene and relaxing. I love that they can be overtly masculine or soft and feminine and they come with the matching dies available.

Such a simple and uplifting card. Take a few moments out of your day and send a word of encouragement to someone.

I used Soft Suede, Pool Party, Mint Macaron and Bermuda Bay for this simple card you can make up in minutes. Take a bit of time away from a hectic day. RELAX and sit down for some crafting therapy. It takes mere moments to make this card and you will be thankful you did.

I spent some wonderful days with good friends even if it did rain all week!

Water Front Memories

Hello all my scrappy friends! This chilly damp weather has me looking forward to a spring break beach trip and the new Water Front stamp set in Stampin’ Up’s Occasions catalog was just the perfect pick me up. It brings back memories from living in South Texas as a child and requesting a camping trip to the beach every year for my birthday. Now as an adult with a family of my own I have children that love the beach as much as I do. Beach trips involve lots of close friends and family and I love the memories that we make together. There is nothing like sitting on the beach and digging your toes into the sand and chatting with your best friend or your sister. I’m also the crazy kite lady. I always have to pack a kite to take to the beach. The breeze is just right. So till March gets here I’m just going to have to pacify myself by making pretty beach scenes with this lovely stamp set. Warm wishes everyone! Let’s chat soon.

Last but not least here are a few of my favorite people to hangout with at the beach. My sister Dawn and best friend Missy and my daughter Victoria.

It’s a HOLLY JOLLY Christmas!!!

It’s the best time of the year! It’s time to put on your comfy clothes and a pot of soup and craft the day away. The chilly weather always make me want to stay inside and craft and this winter in no different. Maybe it’s because I fell in love with this new stamp set by Stampin’ Up. It just has that traditional Christmas vibe that never goes out of style. This will be the stamp set that you just have to hold onto because you know you WILL use it again.

I love the texture of the stamped images and the dry embossed holly. I can’t wait to send these out to friends and family near and far. This year I’ll remember to sign them all! Last year I sent a handmade card to an aunt in Wisconsin and didn’t sign it. She knew it was from me because I’m the only one that sends her handmade cards.

Flurry of Wishes!

via Flurry of Wishes box card, now I’m ready for some snow!

Good Tidings of Great Joy

This fabulous new stamp set by Stampin’ Up called “Good Tidings” has me singing Christmas carols. How can you not get into the Christmas spirit while singing and stamping your Christmas cards?

This card has a homey, vintage traditional feel that is still wonderful today. It evokes that home for the holidays feeling.

The card base is Wild Wasabi and I used Garden Green, Wild Wasabi, Real Red and Blushing Bride to stamp the holly and berries. The Blushing Bride and Real Red combo really makes the berries pop.

I have really fallen in love with this stamp so I’m sure you’ll see it again! Merry Christmas everyone!