Stampin! with Jaydee

Hi Everyone.  Happy Sunday.

It's the fabulously talented Nance's turn to host our Paper Players challenge this week and she has a great sketch for us.

I knew that I wanted to showcase some of the new SU DSP, but it took me a little while to decide on one of the sheets from the Maritime set.  It's of the constellations and when I originally opened the pack of DSP, I loved it, but wasn't sure what I would do with it.  I had a lightbulb moment when I went looking for a sentiment and found a Hero Arts set that was designed for OWH.  It had the perfect sentiment that I could use on the inside and one that I could pop inside of a Word Bubble for the outside.

Here's my card:

I stamped the sentiment onto a piece of Real Red card stock that had been diecut with one of the dies from Word Bubbles.  The stamp set also comes with a heart with stars, so I stamped that onto a piece of Night of Navy card stock using white pigment ink and placed it behind my sentiment. 

I needed two fishtail pieces for the top left hand corner, so cut two pieces of DSP from the same back and added some star shaped sequins on top.   I also added a dot of glitter sparkles onto each of the stars but, as they were still wet when I photographed this card, it looks like glue.... I promise you it isn't :-)

So, I can hear you asking why I have this star theme going on?  Well, that's because of the sentiment on the inside of the card :-)

I used three of the stars from the OWH set and stamped them on the inside of the card and mixed it with a single heart from the same set. 

The players have created some amazing cards for your inspiration.  Pop along to their blogs and check them out for yourself :-)

• Ann
• Anne Marie
• LeAnne
• Nance
• Sandy

We hope that you will play along with us this week.  We'd love to see what you do with this sketch.

On a personal note:

Today the weather is glorious.  High 70s, reasonable humidity with incredibly clear, deep blue skies.  The birds are singing and we are all enjoying being dry for a change.  Oh... yeah... the rain is coming back tomorrow, but it's days like this that make you realize how wonderful summer can be.

I thought I'd share a couple of photos with you tonight.

Today we got home to more than 20 Great Egrets in the wetland.  It all started with one and now we have a whole flock.  They are amazing birds and I don't think I had ever been aware of their call before today.  I was really surprised to hear how raspy and loud it actually is.

I'm so pleased that the Orioles are more conspicuous again.  they have been very quite whilst they have been nesting, but I was thrilled to get this shot today.

I also wanted to share a photo of our screened-in porch.  It's still a work in progress.  The screening is complete, but the roofing hasn't been done.  The roofers need a dry day before they can adhere the roof to the underdeck.  This will make the space even more useful as it will keep us dry from runoff from the deck above.  We also need to paint the floor, but don't want to do that until the roofing is in.  Hopefully, that will be on Tuesday.

The space is wonderful though.  It's a little more than 30 by 12 and is a cool respite from the heat.  It's fabulous being able to sit there and not be carried off by the mosquitoes!   Whilst we are waiting for the roofing, all of our furniture is out in the garden waiting to be brought back in and loved!

Whilst you are looking..... take a look beyond the door and check out the River Birches.... they are doing SO well and have really helped to fill in the area and give us some privacy.  We've planted some bushes in between them, and have killed the Canary Reed Grass, but that needs to be removed this week.  Once we have done that, we will fill in with some smaller flowers and it should start to look really pretty.

Once the roof is done and the floor painted, we can bring all the furniture back in and start to decorate the area like another room of the house.  We really think we are going to get a lot of use out of it this summer, especially as the mosquitoes are really bad :-)

I hope to get some time in my stamping room tomorrow so that I will have some cards to share with you this week.  In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Enjoy this first day of Summer!

Hugs

Jaydee

Card recipe - all ingredients Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted:

• Card stock:  Night of Navy
• DSP:  Maritime
• Stamps:  Everyday Sayings - Hero Arts for Operation Write Home
• Accessories:  Sequins
• Tools:  Word Bubbles Dies