Friday Flashback: Love & Care

Hello, stampers!  Welcome to another Friday Flashback.  Today's featured stamp set is Love & Care, a hostess set from 2011.

And somehow all I ever made for it was the index card for its Splitcoast gallery?!  What a crime!  So I had to fix that with a scrapbook layout:

The photos are from when hubs and I went to California with both sets of parents in 2005.  Some detail shots...

I don't understand how I never made anything else with this stamp set, I love it!

Well, at least it got some lovin' for this layout.  I'll have to break it out again soon.  Thanks for stopping by today, and cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Love & Care, Too Kind (the straight stem)
Ink:  Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade, Midnight Muse marker
Paper:  Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Whisper White, International Bazaar DSP, retired Lucky Limeade DSP
Accessories:  Window Labels Framelits

You Did It!

I love looking at other stampers' blogs to get ideas and inspiration, and today's card is a result of that.  I liked a card I saw on Julie Davison's blog, and then I made this:

Both the bicycle and the sentiment are from past Paper Pumpkin kits; they were sitting on my desk so I just grabbed them because they were handy.  I chose the Retro Fresh DSP because it's awesome and it's going away on May 31, get it while you can :)

That's it for me today, so cheers peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge, past Paper Pumpkin kits
Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Coastal Cabana
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Very Vanilla, Retro Fresh DSP
Accessories:  Labels Framelits, Subtles Candy Dots

Tidal Collage: I'm a Guest Designer!

So a couple of weeks ago, I entered a card in a color challenge at The Color Throwdown and I was chosen as that week's Featured Stamper :)  Lovely surprise, that!  So today I get to be a guest designer for this week's new challenge, and I think maybe they picked these colors just for me 'cause I love them!  Take a look:

Gorgeous, am I right?  I love them all.  Maybe it's weird to love Sahara Sand, but it's like a perfect light-colored neutral, and Strawberry Slush and Coastal Cabana are just awesome so ya know I think this one's a winner.  Actually, I even made two cards with these colors, but here's the one I'm sharing today:

It took me a while to settle on using By the Tide, but I like how this turned out.  Once again Gorgeous Grunge sneaks back onto my stamping table!  I like that spatter stamp for a nice sandy background, perfect for a beachy card.  And here it is cold and rainy outside where I am and it's almost June :p

Check out the Color Throwdown blog for more beautiful creations.  So glad I was asked to be a guest designer!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  By the Tide, Gorgeous Grunge, Four You
Ink:  Sahara Sand, Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush, Early Espresso
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Whisper White
Accessories:  Hexagon punch (for the end of my banner, honestly I rarely use it for hexagons), Dimensionals

Hello, Lovely Nachos!

That title pretty much says it all today :)  We've got a fun sketch for you today from Nacho Average Challenges, check it out:

Ok, let me just tell you that I almost feel EMBARRASSED about how fast my card came together!  Like, five minutes.  Probably would have been three but I didn't get a good image the first time I stamped, so I had to do it a second time.  So here's my creation:

Kind of seriously in love with this.  That lovely patterned paper pretty much does all the work; just one stamp and a couple pearls and it's done!  LOVE IT.  See, cute cards don't have to take forever...this was waaayyyy less time than it would have taken me to choose a card in a store ;)

So get ready for some speed-stamping...check out the Nacho blog and then let's see what you create!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hello Lovely
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Wisteria Wonder
Paper:  Wisteria Wonder, Basic Gray, Very Vanilla, Afternoon Picnic DSP
Accessories:  Decorative Label punch, pearls, Dimensionals

Awesome Sauce!

Now with more awesome:

Dude, seriously.  This card took, like, two minutes to make, and a minute and a half of that time was rummaging in my scraps for that bit of Retro Fresh paper.  The main image is from the Retro Fresh Designer Journaling Tags in the Occasions catalog, all I did was slap on a few Dimensionals and BAM.  Done.  And I like it!

I did a slightly liberal take on the most recent sketch at Freshly Made:

This is the kind of sketch where you could go bananas and do all kinds of fun things.  Or, y'know, rummage in your stash for a minute and a half and have a card done thirty seconds later.

I think I even know who I'm going to send this to.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  None!
Ink:  None!
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Retro Fresh DSP (get it while you can, it's awesome!)
Accessories:  Retro Fresh Designer Journaling Tags, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Eastern Influences

Welcome to this week's Friday Flashback!  Today's featured stamp set is another one of my very favorites:  Eastern Influences.  Let's flash back!

Also features Bella Toile and Cardinal Christmas

This was our Christmas card one year when we lived in Okinawa.

Also features Floral

This one was a swap card I made when Eastern Influences debuted in the catalog.

A red rose this time with what is possibly my favorite-ever DSP, Bella Rose.

Also features Full of Life

And another Bella Rose for good measure : )

Also features Bella Toile and Thank You Kindly

I think this was an after-Christmas thank you card.

Also features Bella Toile and Cardinal Christmas

I tried out a few color combos for my Christmas cards that one year :)

The Baja Breeze one at the top won out because I love that color.  I had fun playing with the other colors though.

So that's it for the Flashback part, and for the brand-new project I have a scrapbook layout!

The pictures are of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto, Japan.  I had to have all my photos reprinted because the first time they came out too dark...they looked so much better the second time around!  And I'm kind of in love with the color combo:  Baja Breeze, Crushed Curry, Garden Green and Chocolate Chip.  The stamping is done in Lost Lagoon, which is like a slightly darker version of Baja Breeze.  LOVE IT.

There you can see Lost Lagoon in action on Baja Breeze.

And one more time.  I was lucky on this; when I punched the patterned paper, the place where I wanted the birds was pretty much as far down as the punch would go on the paper so it was easy peasy.  I just punched half the shape out, adhered the DSP to my page base, and stamped the birds in the negative space.  I think this is one of my favorite scrapbook layouts ever :)

So that's it for me today!  Thanks for joining me for the Friday Flashback.

Supplies, scrapbook layout only:
Stamps:  Eastern Influences
Ink:  Lost Lagoon, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Baja Breeze, Crushed Curry, Chocolate Chip, Garden Green, Eastern Elegance DSP
Accessories:  Curly Label & Decorative Label punches

Cute Little Something

The new sneak peek stamp set called Something to Say has some cute greetings in it, like this one:

I stamped just the word bubble outline from Just Sayin' to give that piece a little more definition (the Just Sayin' stamp actually says "Gee, thanks" inside it, I just inked up the outline with a marker).  The inside of my card has the other half of the greeting, "for your cute little someone!"

A friend of mine is pregnant with her first baby and she and her husband have decided not to find out boy/girl in advance (no way could I do that, I'd have to KNOW as soon as possible!)  Anyway, she won't have the baby before hubs and I move back to the States, so I'm going to give her a neutral-colored pair of baby booties made by my mommy and this is the card to go with them.

The sketch is courtesy of Fab Friday:

That's it for me today.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Something to Say, Just Sayin', Baby Bundle
Ink:  Smoky Slate, Gumball Green
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral, Gumball Green, Whisper White, Watercolor Wonder DSP
Accessories:  Word Bubble Framelits, circle & scallop circle punches, Dimensionals

Happy Field Flowers

You know, I think it was just last week I was saying that Garden Green should get more attention in color challenges.  Apparently, they heard me over at Splitcoast because this week's color challenge includes my favorite green!

The color combo is Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, and Garden Green:  I think I'm in love.  I also used Calypso Coral for some depth on my flower, but Calypso Coral is a "dynamic duo" with Crisp Cantaloupe so I think this still counts.  At least, that's my story if the Challenge Police try to arrest me :)  Also on the list of things I love?  That greeting stamp from Yippee-Skippee!  And I was late to the Gorgeous Grunge party, but I've been enjoying those teeny splatters lately.

I also used the sketch from Create with Connie and Mary, sneaking it in just before the deadline:

That's it for me today; I've got a lot of stuff to do so I'd best get off the computer and get started.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Field Flowers (retiring), Yippee-Skippee! (not retiring), Gorgeous Grunge (not retiring)
Ink:  Garden Green, Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral
Paper:  Garden Green, Pistachio Pudding, Whisper White, Sweet Sorbet DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals, white baker's twine

Too Kind Nachos

Happy Tuesday, Nacho fans!  Let's get right down to bidness, shall we?  The Nachos have a lovely color combo for you today:

I had to think about these colors for a while, but then I made this:

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!  Usually I stamp the Too Kind flowers the other direction (so they kind of point up instead of down) but I decided to stamp them like this today just for funsies.  Nice to do something a little different.  I pulled out some scraps of Sweet Sorbet paper from Sale-a-Bration and before I knew it, my card was done!

So you know the drill now:  check out the Nacho Average Challenges blog and then it's your turn!

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Too Kind
Ink:  Summer Starfruit, Night of Navy, Crisp Cantaloupe
Paper:  Night of Navy, Whisper White, Sweet Sorbet DSP
Accessories:  gold brads, Dimensionals

Watercolor Friend

Monday morning again already!  Well, let's try to start this week off on a good note.

I was searching through my scraps when I came across that lovely watercolor flower pattern and I thought bingo!  I can use that for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  I think this card looked a little better in my head than it does on paper though, I can't quite figure out what needs tweaking on it.  Here's the sketch:

Maybe I needed some other teeny accent like where the button is on the sketch.  Oh well!  I do like the colors though :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Six-Sided Sampler, Summer Silhouettes
Ink:  Basic Black, Calypso Coral
Paper:  Gumball Green, Calypso Coral, Basic Black, Whisper White, Watercolor Wonder DSP
Accessories:  Hexagon punch, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: A Beautiful Thing

It's Friiiiiiiday!  And time for this week's Friday Flashback.  The retired stamp set du jour is A Beautiful Thing from back in 2008, so let's flash back.

That little sunburst kind of design between the flowers is neat, I kinda wish I'd focused on that for the new card this week but what can ya do.

Also features For Father

 This card was a one-hit wonder for the stamp set For Father.  One of these days it'll get its own (rather short) Friday Flashback.

Also features Priceless

When I made this card, I was (temporarily) caught up with all the Splitcoast sketch and color challenges.  I'm close to catching up again :)

Also features Weathered

Last card for the flashback part of today's post; I really wish Elegant Eggplant would show up in more color challenges.  And also Garden Green.  I love both those colors but I seem to be in the minority.  (Side note:  to my delight, there are a couple of new patterned paper packs in the upcoming catalog that feature Garden Green.  Still no love for Elegant Eggplant though.)

Anywha, here's this week's new creation:

That gold embossing powder on the flowers did NOT want to show up in the photo.   Trust me, it's there!  I'm contrary enough that I like to take your stereotypical Christmas colors and make something not-Christmasy with them.   One more color challenge closer to catching up on Splitcoast!  I also used last week's sketch from Sketch Frenzy Friday:

Have a great weekend!  We're going to see Godzilla tonight :D

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  A Beautiful Thing
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Versamark
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Gumball Green DSP
Accessories:  Gold brads, gold EP, Very Vanilla seam binding, Dimensionals

Quick & Cheery

I must have been in the mood for really quick cards yesterday; I made three that only took about 10 to 15 minutes each.  So here's today's super-fast card:

Can't beat silver glimmer paper for the immediate wow factor.  I was going to stamp Positively Chevron in white on the Lucky Limeade card base, but then I remembered this pattern from last year's Summer Smooches DSP, and why make it harder than it has to be?  So much faster this way. 

For my color inspiration, I used the challenge palette from Color Throwdown:

And paired it with this no-muss, no-fuss fun Retro Sketch:

Et voila!  Done.  Better yet, I'm kind of in love with this card, which is a lovely and unexpected bonus for something that took almost no time to put together.  :)

Have a fabulous day, friends!  Thanks for checking out Snapdragon Stamps today.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simple Stems, Sweet Essentials
Ink:  Melon Mambo, StazOn Black
Paper:  Lucky Limeade, Basic Black, Whisper White, Summer Smooches DSP, Silver Glimmer paper
Accessories:  Secret Garden & Banners Framelits

Hey Sunshine

Ya know what, I love me some bright, sunny colors, and that's just what this week's Splitcoast color challenge was.  So here's what I made with them:

Bright and cheery, huh?  I like it.  I raided my giant box o' scraps for the background pieces; I just looked until I found three different Old Olive patterns, and yay for using up some scraps.  I think I know who I'm going to give this to...since we're moving soon, I was thinking about giving several of my friends here some cards before I leave just to say hey, you're awesome, and I'm glad you are a part of my life.

It's been a while since I last played in the As You See It challenges, but I did like their sketch this week:

It's getting close to the wire before the challenge closes but I made it :)

Thanks for stopping by today, friends!  Have a lovely Wednesday.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flower Shop, Papillon Potpourri, A Dozen Thoughts
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Night of Navy, Real Red
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Whisper White, retired DSP scraps from (I think) Island Oasis, Haiku, and Bali Breeze (really old one right there!)
Accessories:  Chalk Talk Framelits, Bitty Butterfly & Elegant Butterfly punches, rhinestones, Dimensionals

Nachos: Beach Birthday

Happy Tuesday and happy Nacho day!  This week we've got a sketch for you from Nacho Average Challenges:

And hey, the Nacho blog has gotten a new springy makeover, ain't it purdy?  Here's my card for today:

I made this before I got the new In Colors in my hot little hands, or I would have used Lost Lagoon.  Apparently someone at SU is also sad that Baja Breeze is retired, because Lost Lagoon is a shade or two darker than my beloved Baja.  I shall enjoy it very much : )  Anyway, the card front here is Shimmery White cardstock but it doesn't show in my picture.  it adds just a bit of oomph IRL.  And if you look at the Artisan Label punch under my banner, I did a paper-pierced circle for a bit of emphasis there.

Go check out the other Nacho DT creations and get to stampin'!  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  By the Seashore, Banner Greetings
Ink:  Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Sahara Sand
Paper:  Baja Breeze, Sahara Sand, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Artisan Label punch, Essentials Paper Piercing Template, Dimensionals

Hearts a Flutter

Happy Manic Monday, stampy friends!  I've been totally mildly obsessed with scrapbooking lately but I managed to make a quick CAS card today.

I keep wanting to add more rhinestones, but I couldn't figure out where they'd look good so I left it at just the one on the heart.  I used the latest sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch:

And my card is a farewell ode to two retiring stamp sets, Hearts a Flutter and Express Yourself.  Well, not really a farewell since I keep all my retired stamps like a rubber-loving dragon with her hoard of treasure.  Hence the need for Friday Flashbacks so that I dust all those retired sets off once in a while :)

That's it for me today, thanks for stopping by.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hearts a Flutter, Express Yourself
Ink:  Wisteria Wonder, Primrose Petals
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White
Accessories:  Apothecary Accents & Hearts a Flutter Framelits, Mosaic EF, rhinestone, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Vintage Verses

Howdy folks and welcome to this week's Friday Flashback!  I'm a little late getting my post done today, but I've been distracted...I got my preorder goodies in the mail today and I just *had* to have a sit-down with the new catty before I could do anything else.  But I'm ready to go now and this week's randomly chosen retired stamp set is Vintage Verses from last year's Sale-a-Bration!  What's with all the former SAB sets lately?  I don't know, they were all chosen from the proverbial hat.

Also features Mixed Bunch

Here's a very bold bright card to start us off.

Also features Lovely Leaves and Weathered

Something a bit more manly...

Also features Swallowtail

Ok, I admit, this is one of my favorite cards ever.  Gotta love the giant butterfly.

Also features Nature's Pace

And this one...is not my favorite.  Well, they can't *all* be winners.  So that's it for the Flashback, here's today's new card:

You can see I kinda love that little "Just because" stamp :)  And I had to give the World Treasures peacock a little more love since he's on his way to blissful retirement in Jamaica.  That peacock panel was a pain though; I had three different tries at polished stone and one try at doing something on watercolor paper before this one kind of worked.  The Old Olive ink refill muddied the Bermuda Bay too much when I tried to use them together for polished stone, Bermuda Bay was too dark by itself, but Bermuda Bay plus Coastal Cabana seemed to work okay.

I used almost the right colors for this week's Color Throwdown:

I accidentally used Old Olive instead of Lucky Limeade; this is what happens when I try to do color challenges from memory.  I think the Old Olive is close enough for me to be safe from the Challenge Police though.  I also used this week's Retro Sketch:

That one I stuck pretty close to, except all my card elements are bigger than they are on the sketch.

And now it's time for me to dive in with the new In Colors and have some fun.  My fingers are already stained blue and green, so I'm a happy stamper!

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Verses, World Treasures
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, Night of Navy
Paper:  Old Olive, Bermuda Bay, Night of Navy, Glossy White, Season of Style DSP scrap
Accessories:  Deco Label, Petite Petals, and Boho Blossoms punches, rhinestone, Dimensionals