Baby Love

Anybody else out there make cards and also scrapbook?  And do you have trouble moving back and forth between the two?  I think I do sometimes.  I've been working a lot on my scrapbooks lately and I've made a couple of cards that just didn't quite work to me.

This was the first card I made for yesterday's Nacho sketch, and it just didn't seem really finished to me.  I don't know why.  So I made the leaf card I posted yesterday.  Here's the sketch again:

Well, I'm off to take my doggos to the vet so they can get their fit-to-fly health certificates.  Sadly, that means that they're flying out of here on Friday.  I'm going to miss them, even if they're both constantly getting in the way because they like to lay down under my craft table or right behind my rolling desk chair ;)

Cheers, peeps!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Baby Prints (retiring), Banner Blast (from this year's Sale-a-Bration), past My Paper Pumpkin kit (small chevron pattern)
Ink:  Pink Pirouette, Pistachio Pudding
Paper:  Pistachio Pudding, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Labels Collection & Banners Framelits, Festive Paper Piercing Pack, banner punch, Dimensionals

Nachos: Hello Goodbye

*Goonies style* Heyyy youuuuu guyyyyyyys!  You imagined that line in Sloth's voice, right?  It's time for another Nacho challenge, and this week it's a fun sketch:

And my card:

Gently Falling is retiring?  Say it ain't so!  But it is.  Maybe because everyone who buys SU stamps has already bought it?  Love these leaves.  Anyway, I used some already-retired colors, but you could sub in So Saffron for the Barely Banana and Cajun Craze for Dusty Durango.  I miss Barely Banana; it was similar to So Saffron, but without Saffron's muted undertone.  Oh well, I've still got a small stash of Banana cardstock.

Enough of my yammer, go check out the Nacho Average Challenges blog to see the DT's beautiful creations, and get to craftin'!  That's an order ;)

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Gently Falling (retiring), A Dozen Thoughts (not retiring), Gorgeous Grunge (also not retiring)
Ink:  Barely Banana, Dusty Durango, Basic Gray
Paper:  Barely Banana, Dusty Durango, Whisper White, retired Dusty Durango & Basic Gray DSP (because scraps!)
Accessories:  Window Frames & Banner Framelits, Dimensionals

Hello There

I admit, I'm not sure about today's card.

It just wasn't cooperating with me today, but I don't have time to argue with it so there it is.  It started out life with Daydream Medallions stamped under where the patterned paper scalloped circle is now, and I just couldn't get this to work the way I wanted it to.  Shame, too, because I do so like this stamp set so I'm giving it some love before it retires for good.  Is it sold out?  I don't know.

I used the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches:

And that's all she wrote.  Cheers, peeps, and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Happy Day
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Basic Gray
Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Primrose Petals cardstock & DSP, Basic Gray, Whisper White
Accessories:  Circles Collection Framelits, Pumpkin Pie chevron ribbon, Boho Blossoms punch, rhinestone, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Eastern Blooms

Wow, today is already the last Friday in April.  Time is just speeding by and it's time for another Friday Flashback!  Today's featured stamp set is one of my favorites (ok, I have a lot of favorites), Eastern Blooms.  So let's go!

Also features Best Yet and Bella Toile

Let's start off with a baby card.  Hey, baby cards don't always have to have baby-specific images, right?

Also also features Best Yet :)

And here's another one for good measure, this time in purple because not all baby girls (or their mamas) love pink.

Also features Thank You Kindly

And now for something very bright!  I love these flowers with bold colors.

Also features Bring on the Cake

And maybe a lot of rhinestones.

Also features Full of Life, Sprinkles, and Itty Bitty Backgrounds

I think this one would have been better had I moved down the three flowers just a tiny bit more toward the middle of the card.

And last up, here's a scrapbook layout from our time in Japan.  So yep, I've used Eastern Blooms quite a bit I think.  So here's today's brand new card:

Again with the bright colors, they were this week's Splitcoast color challenge.  The sentiment is from Happy Day, which is on the retirement list.  I'm a little sad about that one actually; I think it's a great little stamp set.  Oh well, it will always have a permanent place in my stamp collection!

The layout is courtesy of Retro Sketches:

When I copied down the sketch I didn't make the top panel scooch over to the right like on the original sketch, so my card is a little bit different.  But hey, I got the banner and the button right!

That's it for me this week.  Have a great weekend and cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Eastern Blooms, Happy Day
Ink:  Pacific Point, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red
Paper:  Pacific Point, Whisper White, retired Pumpkin Pie DSP, Ski Slope DSP (I think?  It was in my scrap box)
Accessories:  Banner punch, retired Playground button, Whisper White baker's twine

Lovely Field Flowers

I've got another retiring flower set to feature today, so here's Field Flowers:

I really want to not like Blushing Bride (I preferred Pretty in Pink) but it keeps showing up in color challenges and then I have to begrudgingly admit that it looks okay and that makes me slightly grumpy.  But I love the Perfect Plum and Wild Wasabi so only a little grumpy.  The colors are courtesy of Color Throwdown:

And the sketch is from Fab Friday:

I challenged myself to make this card in 20 minutes yesterday before I had to leave the house for a haircut appointment (it took 22, so not too far off).  If I'd taken more time then I would have spent more time thinking about the layer placement--I just don't like where that Blushing Bride layer ended up on my card.  For the rest of it though, I think it ain't half-bad for such a fast card!

Thanks for stopping by today.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Field Flowers
Ink:  Wild Wasabi, Perfect Plum, Blushing Bride
Paper:  Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, retired Perfect Plum DSP, retired Twitterpated DSP (yay for using up some scraps!)
Accessories:  Deco Labels Framelits (yay for these NOT retiring!), Regals Candy Dots, Dimensionals

Celebrate Today

Today we're celebrating Perfectly Penned (sniffle!) and En Francais, which are both on the retiring list.

Actually, the Flower Shop bundle (stamp set plus matching punch) is on the list too, but only because they won't be available bundled together in the new catalog; you'll still be able to get them separately.  That larger flower punch is retiring altogether, though.

I used the sketch from Create with Connie and Mary for my card:

Looks like I missed a layer.  Oops.  This card also counts for the SUO Challenge to use flowers, no cheating on that one : )  I also used the new color challenge from ColourQ:

There should be more color challenges with Elegant Eggplant.  And also Garden Green, because it's my favorite green but it's never on color challenges (or DSP) so I'm kinda scared that SU! is going to retire it and I'm still sad that Baja Breeze is gone.  Problems, y'all.

Thanks for stopping by today and cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Perfectly Penned, Flower Shop, En Francais
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Elegant Eggplant, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Accessories:  Fancy Flower punch (retiring), Pansy punch (not retiring), Hexagon punch (to do the end of the banner, also not retiring), linen thread, retired Elegant Eggplant button

Nachos: Giant Happy Butterfly

Happy Tuesday!  Ready for a brand new color challenge from Nacho Average Challenges?  Here it is!

I love these colors together.  So fun and summery!  So here's my card:

I think I have butterflies on the brain.  And I think it IS possible for embossing powder to expire; my white EP is kinda chunky and doesn't seem to work quite right.  But I like how this turned out anyway.

Go check out the other Nacho cards and then hit up your stampin' space to try out the challenge colors.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Swallowtail, Yippee-Skippee!
Ink:  Versamark, Bermuda Bay, Strawberry Slush
Paper:  Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Strawberry Slush, Eastern Elegance DSP
Accessories:  White EP, Decorative Label punch, Petite Petals punch, Brights Candy Dot

Silver Peacock...Now Retiring

It's that time of year again, friends--the Stampin' Up! retirement lists came out this morning.  And the fabulous peacock from World Treasures is on it.  Gasp!

Fear not, Mr. Fabulous--you'll get to live in my stamp collection forever.

Silver EP is really difficult to photograph well, even when I've got sunshine coming in my stamp room window.  Fabulous Phrases is also on the retiring list, as is Perfectly Penned (say it ain't so!), but Perfectly Penned will have to get its own tribute card later this week.  Oh yeah, the Houndstooth EF is on the list and so is the corner rounder punch.  I kinda can't believe that last one, my corner rounder is the one punch that lives on my craft table full time.

Anyway, I used last Wednesday's Freshly Made Sketch for my silver peacock:

Obviously I sat on it and squished it into a landscape layout instead of portrait.  I needed it to be landscape to get that whole fabulous peacock on there.  And I moved the sentiment panel a bit and shortened it but hey, all the elements of the sketch are there.  I think it counts, and that's what I'll tell the Challenge Police if they question me.

Hope you have a great day, and thanks for stopping by.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  World Treasures, Fabulous Phrases
Ink:  Versamark, StazOn Black
Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Brushed Silver
Accessories:  Deco Labels & Banners Framelits, Corner Rounder punch, Houndstooth EF, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Extreme Elements

Buon giorno and welcome to this week's Friday Flashback!  This week's featured stamp set is Extreme Elements, and I think I got it on sale and then never used it...until now!  And I made a scrapbook layout and managed to use every stamp in the set except one.

I bet you can figure out where we were when we took these photos ; )  Click here to see the photos close up on my other blog.  So here's a couple detail shots of Extreme Elements in action:

Stamp collages are difficult for me.  I wish I'd let the wing be a little darker on here, but otherwise I think it's at least moderately successful.

I used the now-retired textured cardstock for my page base, which made this stamped fleur de lis even more weathered-looking than usual.  I like it.

That's it for me, have a great weekend!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Extreme Elements, Well-Worn Alphabet, Rough Type Alphabet
Ink:  Early Espresso, Island Indigo, Cajun Craze, Soft Suede
Paper:  Early Espresso, Island Indigo, Cajun Craze, Whisper White, Well-Worn DSP
Accessories:  distressing tool from the retired Cutter Kit

Soft Wisteria Rose

Salutations and greetings!  I have been a busy little bee and having a wonderful time in my craft room lately.  In one day, I created a scrapbook layout, did the journaling on three others, and made two cards.  Pretty dang productive, says I!  And here is one of those cards.

I used a recent sketch from Splitcoast...I won't lie, I thought it was too complicated to start with (believe it or not, I left out a layer) but I do like how this turned out.  I think I might be addicted to Banner Greetings lately too, but hey, we *know* that one's going to retire so I might as well use it now, right?  I also used this week's colors from Dynamic Duos:

They'd be good Easter colors too, but at this point I couldn't mail out Easter cards and have them arrive on time, so I went with this.  I'm thinking it might be a Mother's Day card, that "Thankful for you" sentiment works for Mother's Day, right?  The only problem is my mom reads this blog, so maybe I'll have to make another Mother's Day card and keep it secret.  Or maybe she'll forget this one by the time she gets it in the mail...

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Stippled Blossoms, Banner Greetings, En Francais
Ink:  Wisteria Wonder, So Saffron
Paper:  Wisteria Wonder, So Saffron, Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Watercolor Wonder DSP
Accessories:  Circles Framelits, Wisteria Wonder baker's twine (that color is retired, but you could use plain white), Dimensionals

All Things Bright & Beautiful

Mornin' peeps!  I hope you're having a wonderful day.  If not, then maybe today's card will cheer you up.  Not sure you can be unhappy while looking at this:

Don't those colors just scream summer?  They're courtesy of the latest challenge at Create with Connie and Mary:

I haven't made a tent topper card in a long time, but it was a sketch challenge a month or so ago on Splitcoast so it was fun to do again : )  I wish the Starburst and Circles Framelits were a little better sized for layering, but I think what I ended up with ain't too bad.

The small chevron pattern under the sentiment stamp is from a past My Paper Pumpkin kit, I like having a much smaller chevron than the Positively Chevron background.  Ok, I admit, I haven't actually put together any of the Paper Pumpkin kits, but at least I occasionally use the stamps : D

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Too Kind, Starburst Sayings, My Paper Pumpkin
Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Gumball Green
Paper:  Tangerine Tango, Gumball Green, Whisper White, Quatrefancy DSP
Accessories:  Circles, Starburst, & Banners Framelits, Gumball Green stitched satin ribbon, Dimensionals

Nachos: Just Because

Mornin', Nacho fans!  And happy tax day?  Maybe that's not a thing, wishing people a happy tax day.  Guess it's a happy day if you're getting a refund.

I digress.  Are you ready for a brand new Nacho sketch?

I peeked at some of the other Nachos' cards and I think I might be the only one who got the sentiment in the wrong place.  Oops.  But here's my card:

Apparently I'm still stuck on the idea of teal, orange, and butterflies from last Friday : )  And this card may LOOK all simple and easy, but it took me three tries to get the stamping right.  Even with the Stamp-a-ma-jig.  Because I'm special like that.  I think it was worth it in the end though, I rather like this one.  Hooray!

Your turn!  Check out the Nacho Average Challenges blog for the rest of the Design Team beauties, and then try it out yourself.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Papillon Potpourri, Perfect Pennants, A Dozen Thoughts
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Whisper White
Accessories:  Elegant Butterfly punch, Dimensionals

Baby Cakes (Again)

Mornin'!  Hope you had a good weekend.  I spent Sunday afternoon at a cupcake-themed baby shower and I had NO IDEA there was so much cupcake baby stuff in the world.  Mommy-to-be said they're planning to decorate the nursery for baby girl with a cupcake theme too (mommy is quite well-known 'round these parts for making cupcakes) so they are now well on their way to that goal I should think.  Even the favors from the baby shower went with the theme--they're teeny little cupcake-shaped containers of lip balm.

Anywha, I wasn't 100% happy with my first Baby Cakes card (I think the black mat around the patterned paper is too thick and heavy for the rest of the card) so I made another one.

I like this one better and I used up several scraps of retired DSP between the stripes and polka dots.  But every time I make a cupcake card, I seem to lose the cherry piece and punch out another one only to find the first cherry somewhere after I've already stuck the second one on the card.  It's like an unintentional magic trick.

The sketch from Freshly Made must have been stuck in my head REAL good because I didn't even realize I'd followed the sketch (rotated 90 degrees) until after I made the card.  I was planning to make something else with the sketch this morning, but the cupcake card works.

I like this sketch.  Probably will use it again sometime.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Cheers, peeps!  And cupcakes for everyone!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Banner Greetings
Ink:  Strawberry Slush, Pear Pizzazz
Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Strawberry Slush, Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, retired DSP in Pink Pirouette, Wisteria Wonder, and Pear Pizzazz
Accessories:  Cupcake punch, Hearts Collection Framelits, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Butterfly of Happiness

Happy Friday!  Welcome to this week's Friday Flashback, where my retired stamp set this week is Butterfly of Happiness, which debuted back in 2006.  I think I'm going to try out something a little different...I like to tag every stamp set I use in each post, but it can be confusing for the longer flashbacks so I'm going to try out putting captions on the photos with the names of the other stamp sets (other than the featured Friday Flashback stamp set) that I used and we'll see how I like it.  I do have several photos to share today, so let's go!

Also features French Script

My first card with these butterflies; very simple monochrome purple.

Also features Take Three and Wild Hearts

Next one up, I rather liked this one at the time in blues and teals.  The background with the butterflies on top and the blue sponged on bottom is actually one piece, I covered the seam with ribbon.  I think I could do this idea better now ;)  Maybe I should have just done a makeover of this card, hmm.  Well, I still can I suppose.

Also features The Gifts of Spring and Beyond the Basics

Can't forget the baby books!  The little stamped butterfly in the journaling block is from today's stamp set.

So that's it for the flashback, here's today's bright and happy new card:

Let's take a closer look at that tangerine butterfly:

SPARKLY!  I stamped it once in Tangerine Tango and then stamped over it again with Versamark and embossed with Iridescent Ice.  Looks pretty cool IRL if I do say so myself :)  The ribbon tab and rhinestones on the card add other bits of shine.  I like it.  Which is saying a lot since I kinda feel like my mojo has been on vacay of late.

Must give props to Colour Q for the beautiful color combination:

Loved those colors together as soon as I saw them, so I was happy that my randomly drawn stamp set worked with the color palette.  Ok, to be fair if it hadn't worked I would have probably drawn another stamp set name until I got one that did ;) but this time I got it on the first try.

Anywha, do also check out the latest Retro Sketch:

I stuck to it pretty good this time around, I even got the little embellishments in the right places.  Whee!

Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you have a lovely weekend.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Butterfly of Happiness
Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Bermuda Bay, Cool Caribbean, Versamark
Paper:  Peach Parfait, Cool Caribbean, Bermuda Bay, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White
Accessories:  White organza ribbon, rhinestones, Iridescent Ice EP, Dimensionals

Flowers for Baby Girl

So it seems like most of the pregos I know are having (or just gave birth to) boys, but as it happens I find myself in need of two baby girl cards for showers this weekend.  So here's one I came up with (you already saw the Baby Cakes card).

And the inside:

The picture isn't the greatest, but rest assured that even though it's stamped in Pistachio Pudding, the sentiment is perfectly easy to read IRL.  My photos have just been a bit lacking of late, despite the bright sunshine...oh no wait, it was bright and sunny earlier, but we're back to clouds now.  Such is England.  (Don't believe me; I'm really going to miss England.)

This card was only produced thanks to the proper application of chocolate, Disney songs, and a couple of challenges.  First up, I used today's brand-new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch:

I actually had lots of ideas for this sketch when I saw it, but I needed this baby card so it came first.  I thought the colors from Around the World would be great for a baby girl card:

This actually took me a ridiculously long time to make.  I started with the Postage Stamp punch behind the flowers, but it was just too big for the delicate little Petite Petals, so then I tried a couple more things before I ended up with my two sizes of scalloped circles.  I thought about putting some Candy Dots in the flower centers but I thought that might be one thing too many; I already wonder if this card really counts as CAS.  Oh well, it's done now!

Thanks for stopping by today.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Petite Petals, One in a Million, Cuddles & Kisses
Ink:  Blushing Bride, Pistachio Pudding, So Saffron
Paper:  Whisper White, Blushing Bride, Pistachio Pudding, So Saffron
Accessories:  Petite Petals punch, 7/8" and 1 1/4" scallop circle punches

Wish Upon a Star

I don't know what the deal is lately, but I've been having a hard time making cards that I really, really like.  Except I did like yesterday's card.  But anyway, here's a new one for today:

I used a Splitcoast color challenge--Soft Sky, Bermuda Bay, and Midnight Muse--and I can't help thinking that Soft Sky looks kinda dishwatery and this card would be better with Baja Breeze.  Because everything is better with Baja Breeze.

I'm afraid I didn't quite do justice to the Seize the Sketch challenge:

Well, I gave it a shot.  And the only way to get my mojo back is to keep trying, and since I post here five days a week I don't get any time to slack off (especially since that stupid exam used up almost all of my draft posts while I was too busy studying to create stuff).

Thanks for stopping by.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Stars, Perfect Pennants, Positively Chevron
Ink:  Soft Sky, Bermuda Bay, Midnight Muse
Paper:  Soft Sky, Midnight Muse, Whisper White, retired Bermuda Bay DSP because I'm still using up scraps
Accessories:  retired star punches, Dimensionals, corner rounder punch

Nachos: Hello from the Seashore

I'm not really at the seashore, but that's what today's brand-new Nacho Average Challenge colors made me think of:

And once that idea came to me, I jut couldn't do anything else with these colors.  So here's what I made:

I stamped the shells on my main image panel and then got the sudden idea to do cracked glass, which I haven't done in YEARS.  Usually it's done with Ultra-Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE), but a.) I was too lazy to dig around to find mine and b.) mine's at least seven years old, and does embossing powder go bad?  I feel like I should know the answer to that.  I'll ask Google later, Google knows everything.

So here's a quick step-by-step on how to do the cracked glass technique:

1.  Put on some good music.  (I just got the score to the 1963 film Charade, starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant.  Awesome.)
2.  Stamp your image, and then sponge it too if you want.
3.  Cover it in Versamark and then emboss with either UTEE or clear EP.  Maybe drop the paper once or twice before you get the embossing done (nope, just me?  Ok).
4.  Lather, rinse, repeat.
5.  Emboss a third time, and accidentally get your finger in the still-soft embossing powder.
6.  Try not to trip over a very helpful dog on your way back to your craft room to cover your image in another layer of EP.
7.  Emboss for the fifth time and decide that's enough EP, more because you're tired of walking back and forth than anything else.  (My heat gun lives in the computer room because that's where the transformer is.  I can't plug it in the wall in my craft room because our house is 220-volt and the heat gun is not.  The perils of being an American living in England.)
8.  Stick your newly embossed paper in the freezer for a bit, and then amuse yourself imagining what your hubs will say if he sees random paper in the freezer even though he's not home right now.
9.  Wander off to do something else for at least 20 minutes.  Facebook is a good time-filler.
10.  Take your paper out of the freezer and then bend and scrunch it to make the embossing powder crack.
11.  Sponge dark-colored ink into the cracks until it looks how you want it.  Get ink all over your fingers because it doesn't stick to the EP, but ink does stick to you.
12.  Buff the EP with a paper towel so you don't get any more ink all over (even though it's pretty much too late at this point).
13.  Use super-strength adhesive to attach your brand-new cracked glass panel to the rest of your card.  Pat yourself on the back for making something purty.

And that's it!  I think the UTEE might be better than the EP because it's thicker (duh) and it cracks better, but maybe if I'd done a few more layers of EP it might have helped.  I still think it looks alright.

So let's see what you've got!  Check out what my fellow Nachos have made for your viewing pleasure, and then make your own pretty card.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  By the Seashore, Happy Day
Ink:  Marina Mist, Perfect Plum, Sahara Sand, Early Espresso, Versamark
Paper:  Marina Mist, Perfect Plum, Early Espresso, Whisper White
Accessories:  Clear EP, Delicate Dots EF, Dimensionals