Friday Flashback: Best Fiends

Happy Halloween, folks!  I had randomly drawn the name of another, non-Halloween stamp set for today's Friday Flashback, but since it's Halloween I couldn't resist:  I had to feature my favorite Halloween ghouls, Best Fiends!  So let's take a Friday Flashback with Frankie, Drac, and Agnes.

That trick-or-treat bag wasn't easy to fussy cut but I loved how it looked on Frankie's card here :)

Also features Rough Edges Alphabet and Flannel Plaid

I have a friend whose birthday is today so this was his birthday card one year.  I love the bats on this one--I stamped them in Basic Black on Vintage Violet paper (this was back when we had Vintage Violet as an In Color) and then colored in their eyes with white gel pen.

This was a first birthday party invitation for my friend's daughter, who was also born on Halloween.

Also features House of Haunts, From the Crypt, and Background Basics

And now we're up to baby book pages!  One of the stamps in Background Basics is a pattern of circles with little dots inside them, and I love that for these pages because it kinda sorta suggests eyeballs without actually being eyeballs.

Also features House of Haunts and Background Basics

This was the baby book layout for the little girl whose birthday is on Halloween.  It took FOR.EV.ER. to color in all three Best Fiends, but since her mama is a total Halloween nut I just had to go the extra mile on this layout.

Also features House of Haunts, From the Crypt, and Background Basics

One more baby book layout that's pretty much the same as the first one on this post, but different colors.  The spider stamp is from Best Fiends but I never gave him a name.  The pumpkin from House of Haunts would be Jack, obviously.  So on to the new card creation for today!

I couldn't help it, I had to choose Agnes.  And I knew exactly what patterned paper I wanted to use on here too, I love the Perfect Plum worked into the Cast-a-Spell DSP.  You can't tell from the photo but I sponged some Soft Sky behind Agnes, it looks good IRL.  But what really makes me smile about this card is the inside:

Bwahahahaaaaa!  I've seen people do cards with Agnes and this sentiment from Edgy Eloquence before, but I never put them together my own self until now and I love it.  I think this card will give the recipient a giggle even if I'm not sending it off until today (my bad).  I used the sketch from Create with Connie and Mary:

It kinda seemed like a lot of layers at first but when I saw the design team's work with the sketch I thought hey, I can do that.  I kind of wish I'd done the sketch as a mirror image because there's some blank space under the front of Agnes' broom but oh well.  It wasn't big enough to put the bat in there (who also doesn't have a name, man did I drop the ball) so it had to stay blank.

Anyway, that's it for me this week.  Have a wonderful Halloween, everyone!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Best Fiends, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Edgy Eloquence
Ink:  StazOn Black (someone remind me to get an ink refill for this!), Pumpkin Pie, Perfect Plum, Old Olive, Basic Gray, Soft Sky, Whisper White
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Cast-a-Spell DSP
Accessories:  Oval Framelits, Word Window & Modern Label punches, Regals Candy Dots, Dimensionals

Blackberry Blooms

My love affair with Blackberry Bliss continues unabated.

And also my obsession with embossing powder.  I swear, I can do things besides emboss images and watercolor them.  I mean, oy with the poodles already.  Maybe I'll do something different tomorrow.  Anyway, Garden Green just happens to be my favorite green, and I'm so glad that finally SU! is using it on some patterned paper and I've seen it pop up here and there on color challenges, like the new one from Colour Me:

You could pick either combination for this challenge; I do love the colors on the other side too.  But Blackberry Bliss and Garden Green won out.  I also used a teensy bit of Hello Honey/Crushed Curry (really, they're practically the same color) because I needed something for my flower centers.  And also the Candy Dot because it needed to be a visual triangle of yellow.  I don't make the rules, y'all.

I also used this week's challenge from Freshly Made Sketches:

And that's it for me today, peeps.  I'm off to do...something.  I was up way too late last night so I'm all tired today but I WILL NOT take a nap.  So that means I have to do something.  Wish me luck.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bloom with Hope, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Versamark, Blackberry Bliss, Garden Green, Hello Honey
Paper:  Basic Gray, Blackberry Bliss, Garden Green, Whisper White, Park Lane DSP
Accessories:  Banners & Circles Framelits, Word Window & Modern Label punches, Silver EP, Dimensionals, Argyle EF

Hey, Sunshine

I took the dogs for a walk this morning and we got *poured* on just at the very end--two more minutes and we would have made it home without getting soaked.  And this is kinda what it looks like outside right now:

So I guess I'll have to go running after all.  :p  Anyway, my celestial card colors are courtesy of the Color Throwdown: 

I love bright colors.  I used Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, and Pacific Point, set off with a healthy dose of Basic Black.  You can't tell from the picture, but I used Shimmery White cardstock so the sun has a subtle sheen goin' on that's very pretty IRL.  And I used the sketch from the Paper Players: 

I actually wanted to use it for my Friday Flashback post this week since I know what stamp set it's going to be, but I just couldn't wait that long :D

Time to get my running shoes on.  Enjoy the sunshine, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Ray of Sunshine
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Pacific Point
Paper:  Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Pacific Point, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Corner Rounder, 1 1/4" circle, and Artisan Label punches, Dimensionals

Nachos: CAS Sketch

Hey there Nacho fans!  It is time for another sketch from the Nacho Average Challenges team, so here it is:

It's a nice CAS sketch with lots of possibilities!  Once I picked some patterned paper, my whole card was put together in under five minutes.  Lookie:

Yep, it's just that easy!  I bet you could have a card done in well under 10 minutes too with this fab sketch :)  Check out the Nacho blog for more stampy inspiration, and then get to crackin'!

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Perfect Pennants
Ink:  Lost Lagoon, Tangerine Tango
Paper:  Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Flowerpot DSP
Accessories:  Banner Framelits, Lost Lagoon ribbon

Choose Happiness (Even on Monday)

Mornin', folks!  Hope you had a good weekend.  Hubs and I spent a good portion of the day yesterday working on framing pictures and choosing photos for giant collage frames.  We have so much stuff to hang up on the walls, I think we're gonna need to live in a gallery.

But anyway!  You're here for today's card, not the story of my weekend.

And there you go.  I got this stamp set, Choose Happiness, when it was on sale as part of the Stock Up & Save thing at the beginning of the month, and for this card I used every stamp in the set except for one.  I also used the sketch from Fab Friday:

I like that sketch, how about you?  Easy to use and makes a great card.  And you can see I continue my love affair with Blackberry Bliss (don't tell the hubs).

That's it for me at the moment, gotta keep moving on several projects today and hopefully get a workout in.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Choose Happiness
Ink:  Versamark, Blackberry Bliss, Old Olive, Calypso Coral, Soft Suede, So Saffron
Paper:  Blackberry Bliss, Whisper White, Park Lane DSP
Accessories:   Gold EP, Curvy Label & Artisan Label punches, Subtles Candy Dots, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Dream a Little

It's Friday Flashback day!  This week's retired stamp set is Dream a Little, which was a hostess set back in 2009 and I admit I got it because of the hummingbird.  I'm a sucker for hummingbird stamps.  And peacocks.  And stars.  Hubs thinks I'm just a stampin' fiend.  Anyway, back to Dream a Little:

And then that was the only card I ever made with it....well, at least I made a dozen of them because it was for a swap, right?  And also, I love that Raspberry Tart DSP.  So today's Flashback is pretty short, and here's my new card:

I wasn't feeling very inspired today until I found the brand new sketch from Sketch Frenzy Friday.  Once I got started at my craft table though, this came together pretty fast.  If I'd looked in my archives and realized that I'd already done pink roses with this set, I might have gone for a different color combination but what can ya do.  I used Strawberry Slush, Blackberry Bliss, and Coastal Cabana, which might just be my default color combination.  I didn't even try to get the rose outline stamps lined up, I wanted them to be a little more freeform and I embossed them with gold EP.  I'm an embossin' FOOL lately, it's been nice to have my heat gun in the same room with me.  In England, it had to be plugged into the transformer so it wasn't quite as convenient to emboss there.

Anywha, here's the SFF sketch:

I made the image panel a little bigger than the original sketch but otherwise I stuck pretty close right?

That's it for me today, peeps.  I'm off to make one more batch of cookies (been baking for a Fall Fest that's happening tomorrow) and then I'm going to refuse to bake anything else for, like, at least three days.  Cheers!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Dream a Little, Positively Chevron, Curly Cute because it's one of my fave sentiment sets ever and I love it
Ink:  Coastal Cabana, Blackberry Bliss, Strawberry Slush, Versamark
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Blackberry Bliss, Whisper White
Accessories:  Gold EP, Blackberry Bliss ribbon

The Golden Peacock

Sounds like a pub name, dunnit.

I was thinking about what to make for my card today while I was running this morning (beats thinking about running) and this was the idea I had fixed in my noggin by the time I got home.  What do you think?  I stuck the piece of white cardstock to the card base with repositionable adhesive and stamped the entire image at once; there's a bit that doesn't get stamped right between the white and the cardstock, so the brushed gold mat covers that up.  The image is embossed with gold EP and then I colored the top part with about a gajillion colors of ink.  I really like how the flowers turned out--I watercolored them with Strawberry Slush and then went over it with Blackberry Bliss, so the color is kind of in between those two berries.  It might be kinda hard to tell in the photo, but I also embossed the sentiment with gold EP.

The layout is courtesy of Freshly Made Sketches:

And I definitely used gold, so it counts for the Paper Players challenge too:

I think my card is clean, though I'm not 100% sure it could be called simple.  Anyway, sadly I am a bit too late to enter this in the Just Add Ink challenge, though I did use it as an inspiration:

Isn't that just a ridiculously gorgeous challenge graphic.  Anyway, I already know who's going to get this card and it will be going out in the mail for her birthday tomorrow.  And now I'm off to bake another batch of cookies.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Perfect Peacock, Work of Art
Ink:  Versamark, Night of Navy, Bermuda Bay, Pacific Point, Gumball Green, Soft Suede, Strawberry Slush, Blackberry Bliss, Garden Green, Tangelo Twist
Paper:  Night of Navy, Brushed Gold, Whisper White
Accessories:  Gold EP, Bracket Tag punch, Dimensionals

Autumnal Artwork

Happy Wednesday afternoon, stampy fans!  It's a gorgeous day where I am today, so I think that there's a dog walk in my not too distant future.  It's finally cooled off enough that it doesn't feel like a sauna outside!  Not sweater weather by a long shot but I'll take what I can get.  Even if the weather doesn't really feel like fall yet at least it's fall in my craft room.

Oh yeah, workin' the For All Things stamp set again.  I also used the zigzag stamp from Work of Art; got the set a while ago and haven't really figured out what to do with it yet.  No sentiment on the front or on the inside so I can use this card for anything I need.  Well, maybe not a new baby card.

I used the wonderful color combination from the Color Throwdown:

And a sketch from Sketch Frenzy Friday:

My card came together in a snap but not before I managed to get Cajun Craze ink all over my shirt.  At least the shirt itself was orange to start with.

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  For All Things, Work of Art
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Mossy Meadow, So Saffron, Soft Suede
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Mossy Meadow, So Saffron, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  None

Nachos: Birthday Bloom

Happy Tuesday!  Are you ready for another great color combination from Nacho Average Challenges?  Because we've got one for you!

Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry are two of my favorite SU colors (um, I have lots of favorites) and of course Basic Black just makes them pop even more.  So I decided to go with a black card base:

I hope that it looks cool and modern for a birthday card and not over-the-hill-y.  I would have preferred to use three Bermuda Bay Candy Dots but wouldn't you know, I only had two left.  Dangit.  Anyway, I just got the hostess set Bloom with Hope so I couldn't resist trying it out today!  I stamped the image with Versamark and embossed with black EP, which seems to be my favorite thing to do lately (sometimes it's black, sometimes it's Early Espresso, but it's a lot of heat embossing).  I watercolored the flower and then added in some darker bits with a Bermuda Bay marker, and I used a Crushed Curry marker for the flower center too so that it would be nice and saturated color.  Love how that flower turned out.  I stamped some smaller flowers on the inside of my card too.

So you know it's your turn now!  If you need more inspiration, check out the Nacho blog and then...happy stampin'!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bloom with Hope
Ink:  Versamark, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Basic Black, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, retired Crushed Curry DSP (what, I was using up scraps)
Accessories:  Apothecary Accents Framelits, Black EP, Candy Dots, Dimensionals

Blackberry Birthday

Ok wow, I've been reading some good books lately but it's totally interfering with my stamping ;)  I have a new friend who loves purple and her birthday is today, and I just finished making this card for her!

I think For All Things is my go-to stamp set at the moment.  Well, I love fall things anyway.  I used the sketch from As You See It:

But I switched out one of the layers for ribbon, I hope it still counts?

Anyway, we've got to run if we're going to make it to dinner on time.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  For All Things, Bloom with Hope
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Blackberry Bliss, Cajun Craze
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Whisper White, Color Me Autumn DSP
Accessories:  Labels Collection Framelits, Blackberry Bliss ribbon, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Baby Prints

Happy Friday!  And of course it's time for a Friday Flashback : )  Today's featured retired stamp set is Baby Prints, which I've used more than a couple of times since my friends do insist on having the babies.  I think you'll be able to figure out pretty quick which stamp in the set is my favorite!

Also features A Word for You

Here's an easy-peasy baby boy card to start off with.

Also features Banner Blast and a past Paper Pumpkin stamp

And one for baby girls too!

Again with the stamp from A Word For You

...And another baby girl card, which is funny because for a long time it seemed like everyone I knew was having boys.

Baby book!  Can't go wrong with green and blue for baby boy pages, right?  And it turns out there's a pair of hands to go with the baby feet.

 Hey, same layout but in pinks.  The lighting isn't optimal in this picture, it looked better in real life.

Also features Cuddles & Kisses

 I wish the sentiment had shown up a little better on the patterned paper for this one.

Also features Curly Cute

I know you're surprised to see more baby feet.

Also features Cuddles & Kisses

And this time it was TWIN feet!  Those twins turned one a couple months ago.  So there's the Flashback (a long one this time!) and that means it's time for today's brand-new card, featuring (you guessed it) FEET.

I can't help it, I like the baby feet stamp like 700 times more than the baby hands one.  I was looking around for a sentiment to go with the baby feets and that one from Apple Blossoms seemed like a good idea, so I went with it.  Today's card is boyish because that's where the colors from Colour Me...! took me today:

I started out kinda doing this week's Retro Sketch, but I strayed far enough away from the original sketch that I'm not going to enter it over there.  So that's it for me this week, hope you have a great weekend!

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Baby Prints, Apple Blossoms
Ink:  Island Indigo, Crisp Cantaloupe
Paper:  Soft Sky, Island Indigo, Whisper White, Crisp Cantaloupe DSP
Accessories:  Labels Collection Framelits, Alphabet EF, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Dimensionals

I Am Not Left-Handed

Oy.  I've been having trouble with my right wrist for several years now, but usually it's only cranky if I do things like pushups or moving a lot of boxes.  As of yesterday I think that my wrist is starting a shock and awe campaign.  Yeah Mom, I know:  I need to see a doctor.  Surgery may be in my future.

But let's ignore that for now and see what I made today.

This stamp set is on the page in the catalog where they talk all about coloring with Blendabilities, but I don't have those so I went old skool and colored with my ink pad lids, with a bit of marker to really make the shadows deeper.  I started out with this awesome color palette from The Color Throwdown:

My colors ended up more saturated though so I wonder if I can still count this for the challenge?  Plus I had to use a bit of Pool Party to give my paper lanterns a background.

I was a little better about sticking closely to the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

Well, a little better anyway ;)

That's it for me, typing one-handed is slow going.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Today & Everyday
Ink:  Versamark, Crushed Curry, Real Red, Pool Party, Early Espresso, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Very Vanilla, Real Red, Flashback DSP
Accessories:  Early Espresso EP

Starry Night

We had a giant thunderstorm roll through on Monday night, and it's been a lot cooler since that happened.  I'm LOVIN' IT.  Drinkin' my tea and having iced pumpkin coffee cake for breakfast because the hubs forgot to take it in to work with him (we don't communicate well before five a.m.) and *somebody* has to eat it for breakfast so that means it has to be me.  But anyway, I have a card to share!

I think this actually looks better IRL than it does in the picture.  And also I need to get some new plates for my Big Shot, the ones I have are too warped to sit flat and let the magnetic platform work properly so the Framelit shifted a little bit on its way through.  Oh well.  And I just got the Lucky Stars embossing folder yesterday!  Love that.  Well, like my mama, I love stars.  And purple.  And I only wear silver jewelry, so I guess this card is both her and me all over.

There's the inside.  I thought about just leaving it blank, since the star could be pretty much for anything, but I liked the idea of doing another star on the inside with the sentiment in Blackberry Bliss on top of it.  And also, I think I want to marry Blackberry Bliss.  Sorry, hubs.  ;)

I'm going to enter this in the Inkspirational challenge to use silver and purple:

I should get triple points for using silver glimmer paper, brushed silver cardstock, and silver embossing powder on the front of the card.  And I used Smoky Slate on the inside, so maybe that's quadruple points.

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bright & Beautiful (buy eeeet!)
Ink:  Versamark, Smoky Slate, Blackberry Bliss
Paper:  Blackberry Bliss, Brushed Silver, Silver Glimmer paper, Whisper White
Accessories:  Silver EP, Stars Framelits, Dimensionals, Lucky Stars EF

Nachos: Leafy Thanks

Y'all!  I've only been in Alabama for a few months but already my DRAWL is showing.  But today is Nacho Average Challenge day!  And that means it's time for a great sketch:

What do you think of that???  I pondered while I was jogging...it helps me if I have something to think about when I run because I hate running.  But anyway, since it's October (even if it still feels like a sauna here), I thought I'd go with some fall leaves and a thank you card.

We had cooler weather for a New York minute and then it went back to being Alabama.  I'm 'bout to MELT, y'all.  Think cool thoughts for me, wouldja?  Anyway, it wasn't until I uploaded this picture onto the computer that I thought maybe I shouldn't have put the card on the dark wood furniture to photograph :)  At least the card matches the background?  And also, So Saffron plus Pumpkin Pie plus Cherry Cobbler makes a great fall color combination.  I added in some Soft Suede and Early Espresso too.  And now I'm a teensy bit hungry for pumpkin pie and cherry cobbler.

Anyway, I've nattered on long enough.  Go check out the Nacho blog and then make your own pretty creation!  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  For All Things (I stamped the larger watermark-y stamp and die cut the leaves out of it, then sponged the edges of them...and did the same on the flags at the top), Lots of Thanks, Hardwood
Ink:  Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Pumpkin Pie, Cherry Cobbler
Paper:  Soft Suede, So Saffron, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Fall Fun Framelits (say that three times fast), Hexagon punch, Neutrals Candy Dots