Friday Flashback: On Angel Wings

This week's Friday Flashback set is one that I really love, On Angel Wings.  It was a hostess set in 2004, the first year I started stamping.  It's not just a Christmas set, though one of the sentiments in here is Christmas-related, so I'm including it in my holiday Friday Flashbacks :)  Up first are two cards from the archives.

Here's the first card I ever made with it, for a combination sketch/color challenge on Splitcoast.  And from the looks of my SCS gallery, it took me three years to make anything with the stamp set...though I think that I may have gotten it long after it retired from the BST boards.  That's my story anyway.

I made this one last year as a sympathy card.  How is it that I can use the Stamp-a-ma-jig and *still* have the sentiment be crooked??  I really like this color combo though, Pink Pirouette, Wisteria Wonder, and Concord Crush.

Ok, here's my first new card with this stamp set.  I'm still plugging away at catching up on all the SCS color and sketch challenges though sometimes I think that kind of warps my creativity a little bit, do you ever feel like challenges are stifling?  But I keep at it because I've only got about 30 to 40 more of each to go and I can combine those for the most part.  I kind of threw the kitchen sink at this card though with the stripes stamped with snowflakes (somebody please remind me to re-ink my Whisper White ink pad!) and then the holly on the Certainly Celery layer.  I meant to stamp the angel on Shimmery White cardstock but I forgot so instead I spritzed it with vanilla Smooch Spritz.  She's watercolored with WWC and since I stamped her with Early Espresso, the ink ran a little bit when I wasn't careful enough with the Aquapainter.  I'm hoping it looks like a nice softening of the image and not like she's wearing camouflage-print robes.  Good grief.

Because I'm an overachiever this week (and I was waiting for that Smooch Spritz to dry) I made a second card, this time going more CAS, and I like it better.  Plus I wanted to try stamping the angel in a color without coloring the image in afterward.  I was inspired by the current color challenge on Create with Connie and Mary, but I didn't use any silver so I won't link it up over there.  I think I'll do that color challenge sometime next week, it looks awesome...maybe I'm trying too hard on the SCS challenges and that's why I'm not loving my cards for those.  Hmm.

Hope you enjoyed this angelic Friday Flashback, thanks for stopping by!

Supplies, card #3:
Stamps:  On Angel Wings, Background Basics, Snowflakes
Ink:  Early Espresso, Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Blushing Bride
Paper:  Rose Red, Early Espresso, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Subtles DSP Stack
Accessories:  Vanilla Smooch Spritz, Dimensionals

Supplies, card #4:
Stamps:  On Angel Wings
Ink:  Baja Breeze, Wisteria Wonder
Paper:  Baja Breeze, Shimmery White, In Color DSP Stack
Accessories:  Baja Breeze seam binding ribbon

Midnight Snowflakes

I've had ideas in my head for all kinds of Christmas cards and I finally got one out on cardstock today.

I loooooove dark blue and silver together so I couldn't resist this week's challenge at Dynamic Duos.  I think I'm in just under the wire! Something fun and a little unexpected:  I stamped the Midnight Muse snowflakes first (stamped off once to lighten them up) and then did the Versamark and silver EP for the other ones.  The EP stuck to the Midnight Muse snowflakes just a little bit so it looks kinda cool :)

I also used the latest Fab Friday sketch, love this one:

I will admit that I had a bit of trouble putting my card together even with the colors and sketch picked out for me.  I'd made a card and had it all done, stuck together and everything, and I decided that I needed something else next to the greeting on the top.  So even though it was stuck down, I tried stamping a big snowflake there (stamped off so it wouldn't compete with the sentiment), and it totally didn't work.  At all.  But since I wasn't chintzy with the adhesive, that puppy was NOT coming apart so I could fix it, so in the end I had to recreate the whole card.  Well, I did manage to salvage the ribbon.  I like try #2 though :)

I also designed my 2012 Christmas cards today.  I always say I'm going to make my cards early, and yet every year I'm always putting them together at the eleventh hour.  Just typical I guess :)  Thanks for stopping by today, hope you're having a wonderful Thursday!

Supplies (all SU):
Stamps:  Snow Swirled, More Merry Messages (let's ignore the part where there's a sentiment that says Season's Greetings IN Snow Swirled, I liked the casual font of the other one for this)
Ink:  Midnight Muse, Versamark
Paper:  Midnight Muse, Brushed Silver (need more of that!), Whisper White
Accessories:  Silver EP, Midnight Muse stitched satin ribbon

Watercolor Poinsettia

I really liked today's sketch challenge at Splitcoast, though I admit I took a few liberties with it:

I switched out an oval and framing rectangle for graduated sizes of the Window Frames Collection Framelits.  I just got Watercolor Winter so I couldn't resist using it for this card.  Wish I'd found my Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon before I put the Early Espresso ribbon on here, but too late now!  I'm running out of the Early Espresso and it's retired so I didn't want to cut it off the card and waste it.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies (all SU):
Stamps:  Watercolor Winter, Snow Swirled, Petite Pairs
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, More Mustard, Early Espresso, Pool Party, Whisper White (can't hardly see it even IRL but there are small white snowflakes on the Pool Party layer)
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Pool Party, Very Vanilla, Neutrals DSP STack
Accessories:  Window Frames Collection Framelits, coordinating Festive piercing template, Early Espresso taffeta (sadly retired), Dimensionals

Candy Cane Christmas

Hey look, two Scentsational Seasons cards in a row :)  This is for today's color challenge on Splitcoast, which is to use Real Red, Gumball Green, and Basic Gray.

The only gray is the sentiment; the DSP actually has Cherry Cobbler in it but I thought I could get away with it since there's lighter and darker reds on it.  I could NOT get a decent picture of this card though, it's been rainy and dreary all day--in other words, England!  We do have lots of very pretty days, but today was not one of them.  ETA:  ok, I put in a slightly better picture...at first I thought maybe the brand-new lightbulb was infringing upon my card-picture-taking ability, and then I realized Lee had changed the settings on the camera when we were in Salzburg.  Not sure I've got it back exactly where I want it, but it's closer!

Apparently I didn't veg out enough yesterday since I've had a headache most of the day, so I'm off to veg some more.  I have lots of things that I want and/or need to do, but they'll still be there tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies (all SU):
Stamps:  Scentsational Season, More Merry Messages
Ink:  Real Red, Basic Gray
Paper:  Real Red, Gumball Green, Very Vanilla, Be of Good Cheer & Neutrals Stack DSPs
Accessories:  Brights brads, Holiday Collection Framelits

Cocoa & Gingerbread

Howdy, folks!  How's your Monday going?  I'm starting to think I might be coming down with the virus that Lee's had for the last week and a half...so no stamping for me today : (  Maybe I'll feel better tomorrow after vegging out on the couch tonight (a friend just lent me four movies, so I won't be bored!).  But I still have a card to share.

I made this one a while back for SCS color and sketch challenges, though looking at it again it feels a little bit plain.  Hmm.  I need to play with that stamp set some more so maybe later this week I'll make something else.  After all, there's several other stamps in this set : )

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies (all SU):
Stamps:  Scentsational Season, Curly Cute
Ink:  Soft Suede, Real Red, Always Artichoke
Paper:  Real Red, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, Neutrals DSP Stack
Accessories:  Mellow Moss taffeta (retired, but the closest thing I had to Always Artichoke ribbon, and I had to have *something* on there!)

Friday Flashback: Festive Favorites

We're kicking off a Christmas card bonanza with a fun retired set, Festive Favorites.  Let's do the time warp and see what I made when this stamp set was new:

This was a card I made for one of my very first stamp club meetings way back in the day (like, 2006).  The sentiment is stamped on the inside and I used the Word Window punch so that just "magical moments" showed through.  The background is stamped with Snow Flurries, which was a tiny little set that I totally loved. 

For Christmas 2007, my dad asked me to make some cards to go with gifts for his coworkers, so here's what I did.  I like the color block look and I still have quite a bit of that Dashing DSP.

More color blocking, and a wrapped Hershey bar with a poem on the back about "homemade" fudge (you can see the poem here).

And here's today's brand new card.  Dangit, I meant to add some Dazzling Details to the snow but I forgot!  Oh well, too late now.  These three images were originally supposed to be all on one block, but like a lot of people when I bought the stamp set, I cut the images apart and used them as three separate stamps because it's more versatile that way.  And it takes a LONG time to color in all those teeny tiny spaces when you do all three.  I kind of wanted to have some ribbon on this but the image was too wide for that to work where I wanted it, so this card is totally mailable (our postmaster is super picky).

Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you enjoyed this festive Friday Flashback!

Stamps:  Festive Favorites (retired)
Ink:  Early Espresso plus a whole bunch more for coloring
Paper:  Baja Breeze, Real Red, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Candy Cane Christmas DSP (retired)
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ok, I've never scheduled a blog post before so I hope this works : )  I had to do at least one more Gently Falling card before we start in earnest with the Christmas cards tomorrow, haha!

Check out that gorgeous champagne glimmer paper!  Woowoo!  I used one of my all-time favorite techniques, polished stone, on my leaf panel, then embossed the leaves and brayered (brayed?) over it with Early Espresso ink.  The polished stone was done with Cajun Craze and More Mustard--2 drops of Cajun Craze, 3 of More Mustard, though I think it might have been a little better if I had done a 1 to 3 ratio instead.  I pretty much always do colors that are next to each other on the color wheel because they look so pretty when they blend together.  Wonder how it would work with colors opposite each other on the color wheel...that's an idea for another time.  The hard part with stamping in Versamark on top of the polished stone is I couldn't really see where my leaves were so I accidentally overlapped a bit.  Oh well.

Just to prove that Gently Falling isn't *just* for fall cards, here's a springier version :)  This time I used So Saffron and Wild Wasabi for the polished stone and then brayered on Garden Green, which is my all-time favorite SU! green and I wish they'd incorporate it into more patterned paper (though the DSP stacks in every color are lovely to have).  The So Saffron pattern on this card is retired but I was trying to use up some scraps.

Thanks for looking and happy Turkey Day!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Gently Falling
Ink:  Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Versamark
    Garden Green, Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, Versamark
Paper:  Garden Green, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Glossy White, Champagne Glimmer
     Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, Night of Navy, Glossy White, So Saffron DSP (retired)
Accessories:  clear EP, Dimensionals

Fresh Apples

There's a fun sketch today at Freshly Made Sketches, so I had to play along and use some non-Christmas stamps while I still can, 'cause the Christmas card bonanza starts right after Thanksgiving :D  So here's today's card:

I have to send this to my friend Missy, I used that jar we were talking about!  :)  And the sketch, once again it's slightly tweaked:

Thanks for stopping by today, and Happy (slightly early) Thanksgiving!

Supplies (all SU):
Stamps:  Perfectly Preserved, Sweet Essentials
Ink:  Lucky Limeade, Raspberry Ripple, Island Indigo, Early Espresso
Paper:  Lucky Limeade, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Orchard Harvest DSP
Accessories:  Cannery Framelits, Raspberry Ripple stitched ribbon, dimensionals

Fabulous, Darling

I love the feathers!  (I know you read that to yourself in the Genie's voice, right?)

When the current SU! catalog first arrived, of course there was a "what are you getting first" thread on the demo side of Splitcoast, and Fine Feathers seemed to be on a lot of people's to-buy lists (mine included).  Judging from this set's tiny gallery, though, most of us couldn't figure out what to do with it once we had it in our hot little hands.  Well, I like this one, anyway!  I had to re-ink my Gumball Green ink pad after I did the feathers (rock'n'rolled with Island Indigo)...I love the ink coverage with the new ink pads but hate having to re-ink them so often.  I had a hard time squeezing the Gumball Green ink refill hard enough to get the ink out, what's up with that?

Anyway, this is based on Retro Sketches #38 and I think maybe I should start printing out the sketches I want to use because this is the second time in a row I've gotten the basic elements on there but not *quite* in the same places as on the sketch.  Love this sketch though :)

Thanks for stopping by, happy Tuesday!

Supplies (all SU):
Stamps:  Fine Feathers, Fabulous Phrases
Ink:  Gumball Green, Island Indigo
Paper:  Whisper White, Gumball Green, Island Indigo
Accessories:  Square Lattice EF, 1/2" circle punch, In Color Printed Designer Brads

CAS Field Flowers

It usually takes me a long time to fall asleep at night (no matter how tired I am), so a lot of nights I'll lay in bed and ponder ideas for cards and scrapbook pages.  Anyone else do this?  So here's the result of last night's ponder (giggling that I made ponder a noun instead of a verb)...

I got the color combo from the 400th color challenge on Splitcoast, to use Pear Pizzazz, Baja Breeze, and Bravo Burgundy.  Burgundy and I don't get along very well, so I only use it when it comes up in color challenges and my strategy is almost always to use the absolute minimum that I possibly can.  I kinda sorta cheated a teensy bit on the color challenge too, I added a bit of Not Quite Navy but the flower needed the extra oomph to counteract even the little bit of Bravo Burgundy.  The whole image panel is some Very Vanilla DSP, it's a very subtle pattern IRL and actually shows up better in the picture.

The layout is from CAS(E) This Sketch #6.  

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies (all SU):
Stamps:  Field Flowers
Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, Bravo Burgundy, Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Bravo Burgundy, Neutrals DSP Stack, Floral District DSP
Accessories:  paper piercing template, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Lovely Leaves

Ever have one of those days where you just can't seem to settle down and get something made?  That was me today (other than cookies, I made dozens of cookies).  I drew quite a few stamp set names before I finally settled on today's Friday Flashback set:  Lovely Leaves.  Because I wanted to do another fall card today.  But first up, let's see what I have in the archives with this set.

I made this for Father's Day probably the first year I started stamping.  I used the cracked glass technique on the main image, and the sentiment is from Sincere Salutations.

And here's one of the first scrapbook layouts I made after I first started stamping; I also used the Whimsical Alphabet. The pictures are from when we drove cross country from Texas to move to North Carolina.

And here's today's brand-new card.  I decided to use the colors from the Autumn Spice Specialty DSP (retired) and then once I got my leaf panel stamped, the scrap I had of DSP just wasn't working for me so I pulled out Orchard Harvest instead : )  I also stamped French Script over the panel, but I just walked my fingers over it so that the whole panel wasn't stamped, just bits here and there.

I used today's Sketch Frenzy Friday sketch, though I was basing it off memory and it looks like I got a few things just a little bit off, but I think most of it is there.  Here's the sketch:

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps:  Lovely Leaves, French Script, Noteworthy
Ink:  Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Old Olive, Early Espresso
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Orchard Harvest DSP
Accessories:  oval punches (smallest one is retired), scalloped oval punch, Dimensionals

A Perfect Pear

So I've been a baking fiend this week...I'm working on four huge care packages, and so far I've made 500 cookies since Monday.  You read that right, five HUNDRED.  The good thing is I've found some new cookie recipes that I really like.  The bad thing is that I've found yet more cookie recipes that I really like.

Then I took a baking break and made a card.

I wonder if there are any recipes for pear cookies?  I found several apple cookie recipes (and tried a couple of them out earlier this week), so I'm betting the answer is yes.  But I'm not going to look right now because I already have my next six recipes picked out...if you're wondering, I have so far made eleven different types of cookies.  Feel free to question my sanity; my husband does that daily :)

Supplies (all SU):
Stamps:  Perfectly Preserved, A Word For You
Ink:  Pear Pizzazz (uh yeah, they're pears!), Gumball Green, Early Espresso
Paper:  Gumball Green, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz, In Color & Brights DSP Stacks
Accessories:  Cannery Framelits

Dynamic Duo Leaves

Ok, so, my brain works in kinda funny ways sometimes.  Today's card is for a Dynamic Duos challenge, Sahara Sand and Cherry Cobbler, and as I was putting it together of course I thought of the *original* Dynamic Duo, Batman and Robin.  Which then led me to thinking about leafy superheroes, of which there are none, but maybe there should be.

I have this idea for a card that I really want to do using Gently Falling but I thought I didn't have time today and then I realized my watch was still set on Italy time and I had an hour longer than I thought I did.  But then I'd already started this one, and I like it, so maybe tomorrow for the other idea.  As mentioned above, this is for the color challenge at Dynamic Duos (Bam! Pow! Leaf Blower Activate!):

And also the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, and it was just posted today, lookit me all on the ball for this one!

Really, a Christmas card might have been the obvious way to go with those two colors, but I'm the type of person that I like to focus on one holiday at a time so Christmas doesn't show up till the day after Thanksgiving.  And I'm planning to share LOTS of Christmas cards after Thanksgiving, so I'm trying to get the last of the fall cards out of my system before Santa takes over :)

Today has been a much easier day than yesterday, and little girl dog seems to be doing well.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies (all SU):
Stamps:  Gently Falling, A Word For You
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Sahara Sand, Soft Suede, Early Espresso
Paper:  Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Neutrals DSP Stack
Accessories:  Paper piercing tool & template, corner rounder punch, Dimensionals (can I buy stock in those?  'Cause I use them on almost everything I make)

Wonderfall Thanksgiving

I am somewhat amazed that I got a card made today at all, it's been a rough evening.  If I were a wine drinker, tonight would definitely be the night for it.  But I did get this card made today.

The sentiment is a little bit crooked, even though I used a SAMJ.  I'm just that special.  But this card will be going to a guy, and 99.999% of the guys I know wouldn't notice a crooked sentiment.  The only ribbon I have in any of these colors is some retired More Mustard grosgrain, and that stuff is hard to tie so no wonder it's retired.  Well, I have some Midnight Muse ribbon, but this needed some Mustard on that side of the card.  I'm wondering if maybe I should have make the Crumb Cake the left-most layer and done the Midnight Muse in the middle, hmm.

This is for two challenges, Fab Friday #6...

I had a tough time working the Crumb Cake in there, I think I like three colors for cards.  I slightly adapted Retro Sketch #37...

I made it a regular size card instead of square and did torn edges instead of scallops as depicted in the sketch, but still pretty darned faithful to it.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies (all SU):
Stamps:  Wonderfall, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Midnight Muse
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Midnight Muse, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Orchard Harvest DSP
Accessories:  Autumn Accents Bigz die, corner rounder punch, More Mustard grosgrain (retired)

Peacock in the Sunshine

Thought we'd take a little break on fall cards.  I meant to make a brand-new card today but I just started Cookie-Palooza (making up gajillions of cookies for four care packages) so time got away from me today.  I made this one for a swap a while ago.

Yep, I'm crazy enough to cut out that peacock over a dozen times *and* I put nine rhinestones on every one.  Last year I overestimated how many rhinestones I'd need for Christmas cards (honestly, I overestimate a lot...) and I had a ton left over, so I didn't mind using up so many for this swap.  And hey, now that peacock stamp is available all by its onesies if that's the only stamp from World Treasures that you like!

Thanks for visiting today!

Supplies (all SU):
Stamps:  World Treasures, Pursuit of Happiness
Ink:  Pacific Point, Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, International Bazaar DSP, Brights DSP Stack
Accessories:  Labels Framelits, rhinestones, Dimensionals

Veterans' Day

In honor of Veterans' Day today, we're going to get a little bit serious.  A little while back, I saw this sketch on a new challenge blog:

And this idea immediately popped into my head, but since I didn't get it stamped until after the challenge was over, I thought I'd save it for today.  So here is my Veterans' Day card:

The military has several traditions and ceremonies to honor fallen and missing comrades.  Ever hear of the Missing Man formation?  That's kind of what the sketch reminded me of, and that was the genesis of this card.  So today, just stop and think about the men and women who serve our country and fight for freedom and democracy in the world, and if you know one of those brave people personally, say thank you.  They will appreciate it more than you know.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Supplies (all SU):
Stamps:  Words of Courage (this stamp set now has just ONE card in its SCS gallery)
Ink:  Sahara Sand, Not Quite Navy
Paper:  Whisper White, Regals DSP Stack (Riding Hood Red)
Accessories:  2 1/2" circle punch

Friday Flashback: Heartfelt Thanks

This week's Friday Flashback stamp set is Heartfelt Thanks, which is probably one of Stampin' Up!'s most popular stamp sets ever (at least based on the fact that there are 7,000+ cards in its Splitcoast gallery!).  I had several Heartfelt Thanks cards in my archives so rather than inundate you with all of them, I just picked a couple older creations to share and then one new one.

This was for a Ways to Use It challenge to use inchies.  It was also for a color challenge because I hardly ever reach for Bravo Burgundy by choice : )

Stamps:  Heartfelt Thanks, Paisley, Holidays & Wishes
Remaining supply list can be found here.

This one uses all the same stamps as the card above with the addition of En Francais.  The technique for the background squares is called Serendipity and it works like this:

1.  Start with a piece of white or vanilla paper and ink it up with two colors of ink, direct to paper.  Start wondering if you picked colors that don't go together at all.
2.  Stamp over it with a background stamp in a third color just to add to the mess.
3.  Heat emboss the flower all over on top of everything and think to yourself that this is going to be really, really not pretty.
4.  Cut or punch it into squares and somehow magically it looks much cooler.  Act like you're not surprised and that you knew it was going to be okay from the start.
5.  Rearrange your pieces on a mat however you like and build the rest of your card from there.

Stamps:  Heartfelt Thanks, Paisley, Holidays & Wishes, En Francais
Remaining supply list can be found here.

And here's my new Heartfelt Thanks card, which was oddly enough inspired by a card I made years ago using Carved & Candlelit.  I chose a sketch & color challenge I hadn't done yet and voila, here it is.  I wanted the sentiment to be in the middle of the flower image, but that left me with a lot of empty space on the bottom right so I added a Glimmer Brad.  The sketch is a little on the complicated side for me, but on the whole I like how this turned out.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Heartfelt Thanks, Occasional Quotes
Ink:  Versamark, Soft Suede, Blushing Bride, Certainly Celery
Paper:  Blushing Bride, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Attic Boutique & Twitterpated DSP
Accessories:  clear EP, retired In Color Glimmer Brad, Fancy Fan embossing folder

I recently went through and organized all my card and scrapbook project photos (hence why I was looking at that old Carved & Candlelit card) and I noticed that for the first several years, I hardly ever used patterned paper.  Instead, I used a lot of background stamps.  Now I think it's mostly DSP, sometimes embossing folders, and rarely do I break out the backgrounds.  Note to self:  use more background stamps : )  Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed this Friday Flashback!

Happy Birthday, Adam

Oyy, I had a headache when I went to bed last night and unfortunately it's still here.  Today's card is a pretty clean and simple one I made for my brother's birthday (which is tomorrow, so I need to figure out a gift to go with it!).

This was last week's sketch challenge on Splitcoast, I love these kinds of sketches--enough pieces to be interesting but not so many that it feels overly complicated.  My biggest problem with this sketch was figuring out what I wanted to do because I had so many ideas for it!  : )  Once I picked my stamps, this went together in under 10 minutes.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies (all SU):
Stamps:  Gently Falling (I may be addicted to this set), Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Cajun Craze, Not Quite Navy
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White, Regals DSP Stack
Accessories:  Brights & Regals brads

Thistle Do Nicely

Last year, my husband and I visited Edinburgh, Scotland, with my parents and some friends (my dad totally loves all things Scotland).  The thistle is a national symbol of Scotland, and we saw several shops with punny thistle names, my favorite one being Thistle Do Nicely.  When Nature's Pace was released with the thistle stamp, I had to get it.  Now all I need is some tartan DSP to go with it...hmm!

Really simple card, just inked up the image with markers and cut it out with Framelits.  A bit of piercing around the mat for extra interest and there you have it!

Thanks for visiting today!

Supplies (all SU):
Stamps:  Nature's Pace, Field Flowers (sentiment)
Ink:  Old Olive, Perfect Plum, Whisper White
Paper:  Perfect Plum, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Brights DSP Stack
Accessories:  Labels Framelits

Perfectly Wonderfall

Happy Tuesday!  Today's card is one I did for a swap when the SU holiday catalog first arrived.  I really liked the Island Indigo with the more traditional fall colors in the Orchard Harvest DSP.

I think I've gotten spoiled though, it's so much easier to use stamp sets that coordinate with Framelits than the Bigz dies.  The leaves are stamped on Sahara Sand cardstock so this is one of those rare cards that uses no white or vanilla at all.  Have to admit, I've gotten several colors of SU's embossing powder now too, that's fun to play with :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies (all SU):
Stamps:  Wonderfall, Perfectly Penned
Ink:  Gumball Green, Raspberry Ripple, VersaMark
Paper:  Island Indigo, Sahara Sand, Orchard Harvest DSP
Accessories:  Autumn Accents Bigz die, Gumball Green EP

Daydream Friend

I got a couple of new stamp sets recently, including Daydream Medallions, so I had to use it for the most recent sketch at Fab Friday.  Here's my card:

And the Fab Friday sketch:

I also used the colors from Nacho Average Challenge 18:

I'm thinking about using them again for a baby book layout, it's a fun color combo.  Thanks for visiting today!

Supplies (all SU):
Stamps:  Daydream Medallions, Mixed Medley
Ink:  Calypso Coral, Summer Starfruit, Soft Suede
Paper:  Calypso Coral, Very Vanilla, DSP Stacks in Neutrals & In Colors
Accessories:  Floral Framelits dies, smaller scalloped circle punch

Friday Flashback: A Little Bit of Happiness

Time for another Friday Flashback!  Today's stamp set is A Little Bit of Happiness, which I think might have been a hostess set?  It's from 2008, so that was a while ago and I don't have to know everything about SU all the time.  Here's the one and only card I made with it (at this point I kind of hope it was a freebie so I won't feel so bad for not using it more...):

I know this was for a color/sketch challenge combo on Splitcoast.  I miss Almost Amethyst and Taken with Teal.  We need more purples and teals.  And maybe some more sketches using long, skinny images.  At any rate, this week I made two more cards with this stamp set.

This is one of those Splitcoast sketches that leaves me cold, but at least I can check it off as done.  I like the colors though, Barely Banana, Always Artichoke (I just so tried to type WARTichoke) and Rich Razzleberry.  That's not the full image on the card; I masked with a Post-It note to only get the part of the image I wanted to use.  This one and the next one are both stamped in Chocolate Chip craft ink (why did they retire that?  I love that color in craft ink!) and then embossed.  Helps me stay within the lines when I color that way.

For this one, I stamped the whole image, colored it with a mix of markers and WWC, and then cut it all apart (which I only recommend if a.) you're crazy like me and b.) you like cutting things out).  This is a much simpler sketch since the main image took me so long.  This is the kind of sketch I like, easy breezy beautiful.  Only with stamps and paper, not makeup.  I can't do makeup.

Thanks for joining me for this Friday Flashback!

Supplies:
     Card #1
Stamps:  A Little Bit of Happiness
Ink:  Basic Black, Taken with Teal, Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery
Paper:  Certainly Celery, Taken with Teal, Whisper White, Almost Amethyst monochromatic DSP (retired)
Accessories:  white taffeta, corner rounder punch

     Card #2
Stamps:  A Little Bit of Happiness
Ink:  Chocolate Chip craft
Paper:  Rich Razzleberry, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, monochromatic DSP in Always Artichoke and Barely Banana (retired)
Accessories:  WWC, clear EP

     Card #3
Stamps:  A Little Bit of Happiness, Sprinkles
Ink:  Chocolate Chip Craft, Barely Banana marker
Paper:  Barely Banana, Ballet Blue, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Accessories:  WWC, clear EP

A Harvest of Apples

A few weeks ago, I was talking to my friend Missy and she said she'd gotten an old SU stamp set with a jar image in it when she first started stamping and then never ever used it again.  Then we both said we would not be getting Perfectly Preserved from the holiday catalog.

Oops.

Stampin' Up!'s powers of psychic resonance are just too strong.  C'mon, it coordinates with the Orchard Harvest DSP, so I had to get it!  Right?

I tried to resist, really I did.

This card is based on Freshly Made Sketches #59.  I didn't realize until just a minute ago that yesterday's Halloween card uses an almost identical layout...I actually stamped that other card two years ago : )  Just so happens everything on it is still current except the ribbon, but we already talked about that.

 Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies (all SU):
Stamps:  Perfectly Preserved
Ink:  Raspberry Ripple, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo
Paper:  Early Espresso, Raspberry Ripple, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Very Vanilla, Orchard Harvest DSP
Accessories:  Cannery Framelits, postage stamp punch, Raspberry Ripple stitched satin ribbon