Nachos: Sweet Birthday Wishes

Howdy, Nacho fans!  We're back this week with a fun sketch from Nacho Average Challenges:

I had to think about this one for a while, but then I decided to just take the sketch very literally and I used markers to draw some lines.  So here's my card:

I don't know why, but Blackberry Bliss, Blushing Bride, and Mossy Meadow seemed like a good color combo to me today!  So two of the lines each direction are Mossy Meadow, and the center one is Blackberry Bliss.  I rounded one corner just for some more interest since there's a lot of white space.  Nothing complicated this week for me!

So now let's see what you've got!  Check out the other pretties on the Nacho blog and then make one yourself so we can all ooh and ahh over it!

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Blooming with Kindness
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Mossy Meadow, Blushing Bride
Paper:  Blackberry Bliss, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Corner rounder punch

Grateful for You

Y'all.  For reals.  All my wishing and hoping for cooler weather has been WORKING.  And since cooler weather means I can start drinking hot tea again, I'm going to keep up the cool weather rain dance for a while.  And here's another fall card!

I love the Color Me Autumn DSP.  For this card, I used both sides of a single sheet; I cut the piece the size I wanted for the card front, cut off a one-inch piece on the side and flipped it over and voila!  Instant background.  I used last week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

I added the piece of Cajun Craze underneath the tag to help "ground" it; without that bit, the tag kind of felt a little lost on the card front.

That's it for me today, I hope your manic Monday is going well!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Merry Everything
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Cajun Craze
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze, Whisper White, Color Me Autumn DSP
Accessories:  Note Tag punch, Apothecary Accents Framelits, Dimensionals, Soft Suede taffeta (retired, but it was the only stuff I had that coordinated)

Friday Flashback: Crazy for Cupcakes

Howdy stampy friends!  It's time for another Friday Flashback, and today's featured stamp set is going to come in useful for me since I know so many people with October birthdays.  So let's take a look back at Crazy for Cupcakes!

Also features Priceless and Heard from the Heart

Kind of an interesting layout on this card...I like the colors though.  I think SU! needs more purples in its permanent lineup.  (Well, semi-permanent lineup since they keep changing them every few years!)

Also features Happiest Birthday Wishes

I've got some reverse masks that I made for that giant cupcake so I can use them to sponge color on each individual part of the image.

Also features the cupcake wheel, which I unmounted and put in the case with Crazy for Cupcakes

Oh yes, Crazy for Cupcakes has seen frequent use in baby books!

Also features Bitty Birthday and Sprinkles

Also features Birthday Bakery and Background Basics

Hey, I found an idea I liked so I stuck with it.  And that's it for the flashback part, here's today's brand new card!

I think that this stamp set just begs to be used with bright fun colors, and lucky for me the challenge at Colour Me this week is perfect!

I also used one of the older Nacho challenges that I missed in my unplanned unpack-the-house crafting hiatus:

That's it for me today, peeps.  Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Crazy for Cupcakes, Background Basics
Ink:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Bermuda Bay, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Real Red
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Sycamore Street DSP (retired)
Accessories:  corner rounder, oval, & scalloped oval punches, Dimensionals

Flights of Fancy

It took me another hour after dinner last night to finish sorting my stamps and getting them alphabetized.  The only ones not done are my retired background stamps; for some reason I didn't unmount them when I did every other stamp in my collection so I still need cling foam to do about 16 more background stamps.  Plus cases.

But my crafting space is much more organized than it was this time yesterday, so I thought I'd make a card for the Inkspirational challenge.

Hmm, now if only I had a beautiful new bird stamp that I could use for this challenge...oh hey wait, I found one!  (Because my stamps are all nice and organized now.  I can FIND things.)

Maiden flight for the Perfect Peacock here!  He's not the only thing that was flying today though--I was trying to open up my Island Indigo ink pad and the top flew off it three feet across the room and landed on my plastic drawers right next to the wall.  Then it took me several minutes to get the stupid thing reconnected to the ink pad and now I have indigo fingers on both hands.

My silverware pattern is called Flight, but I don't have any silverware stamps.  Somehow I've never had the need for silverware stamps before, so I went with the peacock instead.

Looks like I'm going on a road trip this weekend to finally pick up our second car!  The hubs isn't crazy about me driving 10+ hours by myself, but I'll be fine.  Just need to make some more cards today so I can still post for the next couple days :)

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Perfect Peacock (it's a wood-mount stamp, but I put it on cling foam), Petite Pairs
Ink:  Versamark, Island Indigo, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Strawberry Slush, Blush Blossom, Mossy Meadow, Soft Suede
Paper:  Island Indigo, Watercolor paper, All Abloom DSP stack, Very Vanilla (lining the inside)
Accessories:  Early Espresso EP

Horses for You

Wow, I did not think I was going to get my card posted today.  I haven't completely organized my stamps yet and I was searching for one particular "for you" stamp and could NOT find it anywhere so I decided to start taking the stamps out so I can alphabetize them.  Yep, my craft room currently looks like this:

Don't tell the hubs, that's only half the stamps.  I found the stamp set I was looking for halfway through my sort here.  So then I was able to finish up my card in about ten minutes!

I have a ton of Saddle Club books (horsey books for preteens) that I am giving to my friend Vicki's granddaughter, so of course I needed a horsey card to go along with the books.  (I want to make a bookmark too, but one step at a time.)  I used the latest sketch from Retro Sketches:

Since this card is going inside a package I figured I could go crazy with the jumbo button--no idea who made that one, it was one I found in my non-SU button stash.  The two smaller buttons are SU though, long-retired.  And all the stamps are retired too.

Anyway, the hubs is taking me to Panera for dinner (I'm a lucky stamper), so I'd better get moving.  Plus I still have to pull out the other half of the stamps and get to alphabetizing...

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU! (though half of them are retired)
Stamps:  Bareback, A Word For You, Flannel Plaid
Ink:  Versamark, Garden Green, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Marina Mist, Whisper White
Paper:  Soft Sky, Garden Green, Crumb Cake, Trim the Tree DSP stack
Accessories:  Top Note die, buttons, Early Espresso EP

Nachos: Unlimited Awesomeness

Eeek!  I forgot to set up this post before I went to bed last night so I'm a teensy bit late.  But I'm here now with an awesome Nacho Average Color Challenge!

I think I might have been the one to suggest this particular combo, I've already used it a couple of times.  But for today's card I wanted to do something different than fall or Halloween, so...

How about superheroes!!  I love the photopolymer set Calling All Heroes; I had to order it just as soon as it was released but this is the first time I've played with it.  And I figured my superheroine and city skyline went perfectly with the awesomeness stamp from Big News!  Hmm, you know what I just noticed though?  I did the bright red hair and green mask so now my superheroine looks like Poison Ivy from Batman instead of someone else like Batgirl.  Ever notice how there's a LOT more redheads in books and movies and comics than there are in real life?

Anyway, go check out the other pretties at the Nacho blog and then try out this awesome color combo for yourself.  Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Calling All Heroes, Big News
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Mossy Meadow, Tangelo Twist, Raspberry Ripple
Paper:  Smoky Slate, Mossy Meadow, Whisper White
Accessories:  Apothecary Accents Framelits, Itty Bitty Accents punch pack (star), Dimensionals

So Glad You're Here

It is a rainy Monday here in Alabama!  I accidentally went running in it.  Well, the running part was on purpose (grudgingly), but it started raining when I was halfway around.  I just wish I'd been wearing anything but a white shirt :P

But anyway!  I have a quick and cute card today.

I know lots of pregos so I'm sure this will come in handy pretty soon!  I used the colors from the Color Throwdown:

And the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

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

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Something to Say, Petite Pairs
Ink:  Pistachio Pudding, Coastal Cabana, Crisp Canteloupe
Paper:  Pistachio Pudding, Coastal Cabana, Whisper White, Lullaby DSP
Accessories:  Hearts Framelits, corner rounder punch, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Like it a Latte

It's Friday Flashback day, yay!  And today's featured stamp set is a real treat, a set I like a lot and should use more often even if it is retired:  Like it a Latte.  Let's get going!

I think that pack of patterned paper was some of the first DSP I got from Stampin' Up!  And now I've got about a zillion pounds of paper.  Just ask my husband:  when we were getting ready to move out of our house in England, he told our movers to double the estimated weight of our stuff just because of my paper.

Ok, ok, so doubling the initial estimate turned out to be just about right, but still.  Don't encourage him.

Also features Short & Sweet

Here's a kickstand card for ya, those are fun to do occasionally.

And back to the same paper pack from the first card, but I did a good job of switching out the toppings on the mug right?  And this is the only card in today's post where I did *not* put the heart on top of the mug.  So that's it for the Flashback part, here's today's all-new card:

And not a bit of patterned paper to be seen!  I've been itching to try the color combination from ColourQ this week:

I kinda sorta want those rain boots.  I don't need them, but man, they're pretty!  I also used the new sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch:

For the pink circle elements on the sketch, I busted out a marker and just drew some hearts and freckles and tried not to overthink where I put them.  Sometimes you've just gotta go with it.

So that's it from me for today!  At least, on the blog.  I think I'm going to continue messing around in my craft room for a while, I want to get back in the habit of spending more time in there and gettin' my muse on!

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:

Stamps:  Like It a Latte, For All Things (the swoosh behind the cup, I love that stamp)
Ink:  Blushing Bride, Blackberry Bliss, Summer Starfruit, Calypso Coral
Paper:  Blushing Bride, Whisper White
Accessories:  Calypso Coral baker's twine, Dimensionals

Another Swap Card

Surprise:  no fall card today.  Instead I've got a Christmas card I made for a swap (even though it's *way* too early to think about Christmas!)

New stuff alert!  The stamp is from Merry Everything and coordinates with the new note tag punch.  And the patterned paper is new too, it's from the Trim the Tree DSP stack.

Usually I make cards all the same for a swap, but this time I just used a mix of the patterned paper and coordinating colors so all the card fronts are a little bit different:

Keeps it interesting, anyway.

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Merry Everything
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, Whisper White, Trim the Tree DSP Stack
Accessories:  Note tag punch, gold baker's twine, gold buttons, Dimensionals

A Friendly Ghost

I am still trying to think cool thoughts, but I just looked at our weather widget (which is still set for England) and it's in the 60s there.  Yep, pretty sure we're at least 30 degrees warmer than that here still!  But I'll keep trying.  In the meantime, here's another fall-ish card, this one for Halloween.

I'll be honest, I don't think I'm on my A game today.  But I still gave it a shot, right?  I think I need to spend more time in my craft room and get back in the groove.  Anyway.  The sketch is from Retro Sketches:

And the color combo I came up with on my own.  Thought I'd shake it up a little and not use black on a Halloween card :)  That Boo! stamp is one I just got yesterday, in this month's My Paper Pumpkin kit.  The kit is to make little goodie bags, but the stamps by themselves are SUPER cute.  And I love Halloween stamps even though I don't send out Halloween cards :)

That's it for me today, folks.  Thought I might try to organize a few things in my craft room before I leave for book club tonight.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fall Fest, Positively Chevron, My Paper Pumpkin (September 2014 kit)
Ink:  Smoky Slate, Blackberry Bliss, Tangerine Tango
Paper:  Smoky Slate, Blackberry Bliss, Whisper White
Accessories:  Arrows TIEF, Ovals & Fun Fall Framelits, Dimensionals

Nachos: Fall Thanks

Howdy, stamping fans!  Are ya ready for a brand new sketch from Nacho Average Challenges?  I like this one, I think you will too!

I like that you can make this sketch really CAS, or go wild and add a lot to it.  I went more the CAS route:

I *love* it when a card takes me, like, ten minutes and I really like it when I'm done.  Three stamps, one Candy Dot, and that was pretty much it!  I noticed when I stamped the leaf that the rubber on my stamp has a little imperfection on it--see the nick out of the edge of the leaf on a level with the top thank you?  I thought about calling SU! about it, because they'd send me a new stamp set no questions asked, but I kinda like that my leaf is a little bit different so I think I'll keep it :)

So now you know what your homework assignment is!  It is back to school season, after all.  Go check out the Nacho blog and then show us what you've got!  I promise you get full credit just for participating :)

Fun bonus factoid for your amusement:  It was on this day 14 years ago that I first met my husband when he got locked out of his apartment.  Fate, I tell you.  Love my honey pie.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  For All Things, Something to Say
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, Early Espresso (kind of seriously in love with this color combo)
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla (I think?  It was in the folder with my Vanilla cardstock, but it seemed to be a little bit different texture.  I don't think it's watercolor paper...)
Accessories:  Regals Candy Dots, Stamp-a-Ma-Jig (which usually I don't list here, but you know I used it to line up my repeated sentiments!)

More Fall Fun

Seriously, I'm ready for fall.  It was a little cooler out when the hubs and I were jogging this morning (I hate jogging), but I'm ready for sweater weather...which will probably happen in December in Alabama (if then).  But at least my card creations can be autumnal.

Here's my latest leafy card.  I used the sketch from As You See It:

And heyyy I followed it almost exactly :)  I also used the nice fall palette of colors from the Paper Players:

And with the sketch and color combination picked out, the rest of the card came together pretty fast.

Well, I've got just about an hour before a friend picks me up so I'd better get to work on the dishes.  Thanks for stopping by today, and remember, friends:  think cool thoughts.  Maybe it'll help fall get here faster.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fall Fest, A Dozen Thoughts
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Baked Brown Sugar, Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke
Paper:  Baked Brown Sugar, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Corner rounder punch, Regals & Neutrals Candy Dots

Friday Flashback: Morning Soft

Hellooooo stampy friends!  I'm late, but finally here with today's Friday Flashback.  It's been a long time since the last one!  But anyway, today's featured stamp set is Morning Soft.

I love morning glories, they're some of my favorite flowers.  I also love hydrangeas and orchids, if you're curious :)  When we lived in North Carolina, I had some morning glories in our backyard.

Also features Floral and Warm Words

I had morning glories in all different colors, from a pretty cornflower blue to the striking dark purple Grandpa Ott variety, and I also planted some moonflowers and four o'clocks in there too so I had flowers all day.  Well, until the hubs put undiluted Miracle Grow on them...did you know that can kill plants?  The moonflowers were HUGE, too.

Also features one of the All-Year Cheer sets.  Honestly, who can keep all three of them straight?  Not I.

I think the sentiment on this one should be scooched over just a little down and left...I try hard at CAS cards but it's so difficult to get everything in just the right place!  Anyway, that's it for the flashback part of today's post, so here's the card that took me all afternoon to make:

I was going for a Grandpa Ott morning glory :)  I thought I'd try something a little different and embossed the image with clear EP on white cardstock, then colored it in with my (retired, but still missed) Watercolor Wonder Crayons.  Actually I think the shading looks a little bit better IRL than it does on the picture, and when I was halfway done with coloring it in I thought I'd made a mistake, but I ended up liking the finished image better than I thought I would.  I used this week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

I'm a little bothered by the white space to the left of the sentiment, but I couldn't think of anything to put there that wouldn't make the card too busy so I left it as is.  And I know who's getting this card too, so now I just need to pull out my postage stamps and get to writin' so I can send along some happy mail!  But not 'til after dinner.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Morning Soft, Elegant Cheer
Ink:  Versamark, Garden Green
Paper:  Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, retired Elegant Eggplant DSP
Accessories:  Circles & Windows Collection Framelits, clear EP, pearls, Dimensionals, retired Watercolor Wonder Crayons

It's Too Early For This, But...

I made Christmas cards for that swap.

I wanted to make an all-new card to share today, and save this one for later (personal rant:  I hate how Christmas has taken over all of fall too, I mean really most stores have a little Halloween blip {read:  candy} and then it's all Christmas, all the time.  I like Thanksgiving!  Stand up for Turkey Day!) but I woke up sick yesterday.  I'm still feeling poorly today but better than yesterday...and as I told my mom, the one good thing about being sick is that it's acceptable to still be in bed at eleven in the morning.

So anyway, this is a brand-new stamp set from the holiday catalog and I am a total sucker for anything with stars.  Love stars.  And swirls.  And plaid.  And stripes, actually.

Anyway, I'm going to go chill for the rest of the afternoon.  Cheers, yo.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bright & Beautiful
Ink:  Lost Lagoon, Smoky Slate, Pear Pizzazz
Paper:  Lost Lagoon, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, All Is Calm DSP
Accessories:  Stars & Chalk Talk Framelits, Rhinestone, Dimensionals

Grateful For You

I'd also be grateful for the cooler temperatures of fall, but so far it's still hot :)  Anywha, here's another fall card for you because you can never have too many fall cards or pumpkin recipes.

I made these (before we got all our stuff, even) for a swap, but all the swaps have been swapped and returned to the swappers so I can post it.  I used the new set For All Things, new paper called Color Me Autumn, and matching new washi tape also called Color Me Autumn.  I may have been in England too long; I keep wanting to type Colour Me Autumn :)  But any autumnal paper that has purple mixed in with all the warm fall tones is fantastic in my book.  This is also my very first foray into washi tape (the Blackberry Bliss patterned stripe next to the patterned paper.

So that's it for me today!  Hope you're chillin' like a villain and not melting in the Alabama heat and humidity.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  For All Things
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Hello Honey, Blackberry Bliss
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Whisper White, Color Me Autumn DSP
Accessories:  Color Me Autumn washi tape.  That's it, not even any Dimensionals.  Yep, this card is flat and totally mailable!

Nachos: Pretty Butterflies

Ok, after an unplanned two-week break I am back with the Nachos!  This week it's a beautiful and summery color challenge:

I didn't want to do flowers, because sometimes I think I always do flowers, so I did butterflies instead.  Because when I don't do flowers, I do butterflies : )

I actually made this card before I made the one I shared yesterday, so it was my first card in several weeks.  I decided to keep it very simple because baby steps.  I think I know who's going to get this card in the mail, too!

So now it's your turn...check out the other lovely cards at Nacho Average Challenges and then give it a whirl yourself!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Papillon Potpourri, Occasionally
Ink:  Crisp Cantaloupe, Daffodil Delight, Coastal Cabana
Paper:  Crisp Cantaloupe, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Elegant Butterfly & Bitty Butterfly punches, Dimensionals, Rhinestones

Ready for Fall!

I'm baaaaack!  And I'm happy about that.  It seemed to take us forever to unpack this time around...we've still got some organization to do, but all the boxes are out of the house at least.  Well, they're in the garage (but empty).  So anyway this morning I was able to get into my craft room and have some fun!

I know just who's going to get this card, too.  I have a friend who was all over Facebook talking about pumpkin spice latte day at Starbucks when everyone else was posting their kids' first-day-of-school pictures because priorities.  And her birthday is later this month.

I used the latest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches to get the creative juices flowing:

Also doesn't hurt that the pumpkins are from a brand new stamp set called Fall Fest.  Gotta love new stamps!

Thanks for stopping by after my little hiatus, have a funtastic day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fall Fest, Four You
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, Mossy Meadow, Blackberry Bliss
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Mossy Meadow, Whisper White, Moonlight DSP
Accessories:  Fun Fall & Labels Collection Framelits, Woodgrain EF, Dimensionals