Making of Harry Potter

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Today is J.K. Rowling's birthday (and also Harry Potter's), so that means today is the perfect day to share pages from the Harry Potter studio tour!

I've already shared the layouts from our second visit; this was the first time that hubs and I went (the second time we went with my family when they visited us in England).  You can see those layouts here, here, and here.  And if you look at those, you'll notice that I always do PURPLE when it's Harry Potter related.  Not that I think purple is necessarily Harry's favorite color or anything, but purple just seems like the most magical color to me.

Detail shot of the accents I stamped.  I love these kind of stamps, where it's a pretty design like you might find on tiles or something, to use on my scrapbook pages.  (This one is from the retired stamp set Hello Lovely.)

And here's my second layout.  I did FIVE for the other trip to the studio tour, but this time when we went we only took the little camera and I was more focused on looking at the things on display than I was on taking pictures of them.  And even so I couldn't squeeze everything into one layout ;)

Today's magical color palette consists of Sweet Sugarplum, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, and Whisper White.  Those first three color names sound like a really weird salad.

Okay, it's about time to get the wee bairn off to bed for a nap.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hello, Lovely
Ink:  Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Blackberry Bliss marker
Paper:  Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Whisper White, Cast-a-Spell DSP, Rich Razzleberry DSP
Accessories:  1" square punch, postage stamp punch

Honeymoon Cruise, Part 7: St. Maarten

Happy Saturday afternoon, y'all!  I didn't share any honeymoon album pages last weekend so I definitely didn't want to miss this weekend.  I still have a few more posts after this one even.

So now we're on to St. Maarten.  I didn't do a title on this page because it seemed kinda redundant with the giant St. Maaarten sign in the picture.

Actually the St. Maarten pages were the very last ones I made for the entire album.  We did an excursion where they took us on a bus tour of the island and we spent some time at a butterfly farm, which was pretty cool.

Lots and lots of butterfly pictures :) 

So these are all the pages in the Melon Mambo section of the album, and hubs just sat down next to me and is giving me side-eye because he wants the computer.  Well, he IS doing classwork so I can't argue with him.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies for the whole album:
Stamps:  Tall Tales Alphabet, Island Blossoms
Ink:  Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi, Orchid Opulence, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Whisper White, Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi, Orchid Opulence
Accessories:  Scallop border punch, Mickey Mouse punches

Leafy Thanks

I know there are people (like my husband) who love summertime and all the heat and humidity, and to them I say YOU CRAZY.  I can't wait for some cooler temperatures.  Not saying I want to spend 8 months of the year snowbound, but you can take this 90+ degree weather with 8 million percent humidity and shove it.

So I made a fall card.

Because fall is the best season.  I'd love another stamp set or two to work with those Leaflets Framelits, they had one a couple years ago that I loved too (Lighthearted Leaves anyone?).  I love it when a stamp set has coordinating dies, and I love it even more when those dies coordinate with more than one stamp set.

Anywha, the sentiment is from Orange Blossom because apparently I'm a teensy bit totally obsessed with it, and I used the Post Script background on the card base because it is also awesome.  Speaking of awesome, check out the sketch from the Paper Players:

 And I told you I wanted another hack at the Color Throwdown:

This time I used Berry Burst and Daffodil Delight with Old Olive; I sponged the ink on the background stamp so it wouldn't come out too stark this time.  The leaf kinda looks more yellow and orange than red, but that's what you get when you mix red and yellow ink right?  I was trying to get the leaf to cover from the yellow, through the orange and over to the red side.

But it's a lot more red in the bottom corner than anywhere I could reach with one leaf stamp :)  Still, that's the fun thing about doing watercolors like that, you get something different every time.

That's it for me today, y'all.  Cheers!  And stay cool, yo.  Fall is on its way, just slowly...

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves, Orange Blossom, Post Script
Ink:  Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Berry Burst, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Old Olive, Berry Burst, Thick Whisper White, Watercolor paper
Accessories:  Leaflets Framelits, Dimensionals

Hey, Friend

Mornin', y'all!  Or should I say...

Hey, FRIEND.  I do love that sentiment stamp.  I'm not sure how much I like the rest of the card for today though...but not every card can be your favorite, right?  Time to share a secret:  I added the rhinestones because one of them is covering an ink smudge.  Oops.

I started with this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And combined it with the Color Throwdown:

I used Rose Red (I was going to do Berry Burst but I decided to dust off the long-neglected Rose Red instead), Crushed Curry, and Old Olive.  My Old Olive ink pad is extra juicy and came out a lot darker than I expected.  Might have to have another go at this color combination, I like it and I don't think I did it justice.

Anyway, my kiddo is already getting kinda fussy and ready for a nap and it's not even 8:00 yet.  Best go tend the munchkin.  Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Orange Blossom
Ink:  Rose Red, Crushed Curry, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Rhinestones

Brought to You By the Letter T

Mornin', y'all!  How's your day going so far?  You ready for a kinda CAS card today?

I fussy cut the branch because YES I AM CRAZY.  And when I finished it, I realized I used three different stamp sets whose names start with T.  Even the sentiment starts with a T.

Take a look at this week's Cupcake Inspirations challenge:

And the Fab Friday sketch:

I admit, it's a looser interpretation of the sketch, but this IS what I started out with.

Finally, here's the Global Design Project color combination:

At first I thought I'd need black to ground the colors and then somehow my card turned out with no black on it at all.  Weird.

Well, Ryan did REALLY well when I took him to the gym daycare thing on Monday, so we're going to try it again today.  I prefer to work out in the mornings but for the past few months I've been going in the evenings once the hubs gets home, and really I'd rather spend more time with him ya know?  So this is good.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Thoughts & Prayers, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Berry Burst, Wild Wasabi
Paper:  Wild Wasabi, Thick Whisper White, Color Theory DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits

Lunch on Long-ji (Guilin)

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  We are all socked in with clouds as far as the eye can see, so to combat all the gray I present one very bright and summery scrapbook layout:

Seems like I haven't posted any China layouts lately, though I have been making some good progress on that project.  So!  These pics are from our lunch stop midway through a mountain climb near Guilin (see them here).  I read somewhere once upon a time that the color orange makes people hungry, and that's why restaurants decorate with it.  Don't know if that's true or not, but orange seemed like a good idea for these pages so I went with it and I love it :)

The only stamping on the page is part of the title; for the rest of it, I used some most excellent watercolor-style patterned paper so it was easy breezy beautiful.

Today's bright and fun color palette:  Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Gumball Green, Island Indigo, Night of Navy, and Whisper White.  I have another China layout on my desk right now that I'm working on; maybe I'll make some progress on it once Ryan goes down for his nap.  When he wakes up next time, I'm going to try taking him to the gym...they  have a place where they watch kiddos while you work out, so we're going to give it a shot and see how it goes.  Wish us luck!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Rough Type
Ink:  Night of Navy
Paper:  Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Gumball Green, Island Indigo, Whisper White, Perfectly Artistic & Watercolor Wonder DSP
Accessories:  Lettering template

You're Cool, Popsicle

Happy Saturday, y'all!  Usually I post layouts from my honeymoon album on Saturdays (at least lately), but since I missed a couple of days this week of posting cards that means there's several challenges I wanted to get to and hadn't done yet and time's a-runnin' out.  So popsicles!

I'm hoping the splat stamps on the background give the impression of popsicle drips :)  I stamped the sentiment on the inside, which says You're Cool.  I started with the color challenge from Color Throwdown:

I used Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Real Red, and Bermuda Bay for my colors.  They seemed like good popsicle colors (Green Apple, Lemon {or Banana I suppose}, Cherry, and Blue Raspberry!) so I had to bust out Cool Treats, which is this week's set at What Will You Stamp:

Fa reals, y'all, I had trouble figuring out what to do with this stamp set right after I got it, so it gathered dust for several months before I finally made something with it.  Sometimes you just gotta go for it and if you don't like what you make, it's okay.  Eventually I usually figure out *something* that I like.

Ryan is in his bouncer and making lots of noise, so I'm off to play with Tiny Tot.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Cool Treats, Timeless Textures
Ink:  Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Bermuda Bay, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Pacific Dragonfly Friend

Afternoon, y'all.  I did not get into my craft room yesterday (except when I let the dogs out, since the door to the backyard area is down in the basement too) but I took Ryan with me this afternoon so we could both play in the basement for a bit.  And this is what I made!

Whee dragonfly.  I love dragonflies :)

I put some Wink of Stella on the dragonfly's wings, which made them a little sparkly (this is my totally ineffective attempt to capture the sparkle in a photograph) and had the added benefit of making the ink blur just a teensy bit so it's more watercolory looking.

You may recognize this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And because of the layered square elements, I married that sketch with the CASE the Designer challenge from Global Design Project:

I kept the dragonfly (but used a different one), the polka dots (but used the splatter stamp from Awesomely Artistic), the two squares (but tilted them to fit with the FMS sketch), and the single-word sentiment.  I started out with my Pacific Point dragonfly, then went looking for colors to go with it--I ended up using Sahara Sand and Cajun Craze on the suggestion of my long-retired Color Coach, which I still bust out often enough that it lives in the top drawer right next to my crafting table. 

In addition to all that, I'm also entering this over at SUO Challenges, where the current challenge is to use something new and fun from SU!  I used the Post Script background for the larger square element; that's one of just two new stamp sets I've bought from the new catalog thus far (that's....going to change in the not too distant future!  I need new stamps, right?).  Anyway, I do love Post Script so it was fun to use it here.  I'm also in a group on Facebook that's about to start sending some happy mail to each other, so I need some fun friend cards for that.  Yay for actually mailing the things I make!

And since I talk about Sodapop so much, here's a selfie I took yesterday with the squirt in question.  Yes, he is chewing on Post-It Notes, and he also refuses to look at a camera or a phone.  He's five months old and I swear he knows what a camera is!  And he's already decided not to cooperate with it.  But I love my stinker.  Starting to agree with the hubs that we're going to need to cut his hair though...

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Dragonfly Dreams, Awesomely Artistic, Post Script
Ink:  Pacific Point, Sahara Sand, Cajun Craze
Paper:  Pacific Point, Sahara Sand, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits, Rhinestones, Wink of Stella pen, Dimensionals

Moose & Squirrel!

Well, I meant to make a card for yesterday, or today, but...I got distracted.

By Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Explanation:  when I was little (like, under the age of 7 since it was when we lived in California), my parents used to take my brother and me to Bullwinkle's.  The funny thing is I don't remember anything about actually going there (other than this vague sense of "hey, that was fun!"), but that's where Adam and I got these green headbands with antlers on them that we called "boose ears" and we had those things FOR. EV. ER.  For all I know, there's still some boose ears at my parents' house.  So anyway, back in 2004 the hubs and I were living in North Carolina and we took a road trip down to Myrtle Beach with some friends and we happened to come across a Bullwinkle's restaurant.  I was SO excited I convinced everyone else to go there for dinner.  Turns out it's a lot like Chuck E. Cheese--kinda okay pizza, arcade games, and animatronic characters that put on a show (only these ones are less creepy than a 6-foot-tall rat).  And now I've finally got those pictures scrapped!

Fun fact:  my husband has zero memory of this place.  Or this entire road trip, for that matter.  Of course, he also has no memory of the conversation we had with Bennet and Missy this past Sunday about doing a barbecue this weekend.

The Taffy Alphabet was a bit of an impulse buy but I'm so glad I have it, I love it.  The ampersand is from the Larger than Life alphabet.

So there's my paper-pieced Rocky and Bullwinkle.  I searched for "Bullwinkle line art" on Google and came across this piece on Deviant Art, then printed it off five times on different colors of cardstock and paper-pieced it together (yes, it was a lot of cutting).  The printer toner tended to kind of flake off as I cut around it, so I went over the lines with the fine tip of a black marker when I was done cutting it all out.  Voila, the perfect accent for my page.

Today's color palette:  Glorious Green (if you thought it was Emerald Envy I wouldn't blame you because they're practically THE SAME COLOR), Marina Mist, Hello Honey, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Smoky Slate, Basic Black, and Whisper White.  It's a lot of colors on one layout but I think it works.

Well, Ryan is asleep right now so I'm off to go see what I can do in my craft room this morning before he wakes up.  And maybe even when he's awake; I had him down there yesterday afternoon and he seemed to have fun kicking his helicopter toy around on the floor while I finished up this layout.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, almost all SU!
Stamps:  Taffy Alphabet, Larger than Life Alphabet
Ink:  Glorious Green, Whisper White, Basic Black
Paper:  Glorious Green, Marina Mist, Hello Honey, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Smoky Slate, Thick Whisper White, Marina Mist DSP
Accessories:  Rocky & Bullwinkle clipart

Fancy Fold Stars

Hey, y'all!  Today is my dad's birthday, but unfortunately I just made his card yesterday so I don't think it's going to get there on time...it hasn't gone out in the mail yet.  Oops!  (Let's not even talk about how I forgot to send out several other cards from earlier this month!)  But at least I got one made.

I had so much fun with the dinosaur card last week that I decided to make another bridge card for Dad.  I wanted to do stars and stripes (because...July) so the latest color challenge at Sunday Stamps worked really well for me:

This is my first time to play along over there.  I used Cherry Cobbler, Smoky Slate, Lost Lagoon, and Night of Navy for my colors, and wrote a message to my dad on the back of the card.  All the stamps I used today are retired but so's my dad ;)

Hope you have a great day!  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Be the Star, Happiest Birthday Wishes (both retired)
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Smoky Slate, Night of Navy
Paper:  Lost Lagoon, Smoky Slate, Thick Whisper White, DSP in Cherry Cobbler and Night of Navy
Accessories:  retired Stars Framelits, Metallic Enamel Shapes

Carousel

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Hope your week is off to a good start.  I like starting the week with some scrapbook pages.  Already I'm having my MOST productive year ever when it comes to scrapbook pages...and I haven't even started Ryan's baby book.  But I'm excited to make progress on my scrapbook pages!  How many times can I say "scrapbook pages" in one little paragraph?  Scrapbook pages!!!

...Though I think this one I did last year?

Oddly enough, I don't think I ever blogged about this one after we took the pictures, but it was the last thing we did on a trip to Cornwall.  It was at this place where they collect and refurbish old rides from things like traveling fairs, and they had a whole bunch of carousel horses which of course I loved taking pictures of.  I kept the layout pretty simple to keep the focus on the photos.

There's a closeup of one and the title.  I love the mixed-font-yness of the Broadsheet Alphabet; I figured even split onto three lines you could figure out pretty easily what the title says.  And that mixed font look just seemed to go well with my vintage carousel horses.

Today's rather summery color palette:  Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Night of Navy, and Whisper White.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Broadsheet Alphabet, Wanted
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Night of Navy
Paper:  Bermuda Bay textured, Night of Navy, Whisper White, Real Red DSP
Accessories:  None

Honeymoon Cruise, Part 6: Classic Characters & Modern Favorites

Happy weekend, y'all!  As I type this, kiddo is getting a bath in the kitchen sink (or really, inside a baby tub on the sink) and then we're going to try taking some pictures of him since he's five months old today.  Already!

And it's already Saturday again, which means time for some more honeymoon cruise layouts.  We're on the Disney characters section of the book :)

So there's Pinocchio, Wendy Darling from Peter Pan, Dopey from Snow White, Peter Pan himself, and Smee and Captain Hook from Peter Pan.  Captain Hook refused to stand next to me in the picture because I was wearing a Tinker Bell shirt :)

And here's Lilo and Stitch from...Lilo & Stitch, Aladdin from duh do I even have to say it, Pain & Panic from Hercules (they were the FUNNIEST thing in the show we went to one night) and Goofy's son Max from A Goofy Movie, which I have still never seen.

Preeeetty sure you've seen the color palette before.  Well, Ryan is almost done with his bath, so it's time to blow-dry his hair (yes, for reals) and then try taking some pictures.  Wish us a cooperative kiddo!

Supplies for the whole album:
Stamps:  Tall Tales Alphabet, Island Blossoms
Ink:  Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi, Orchid Opulence, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Whisper White, Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi, Orchid Opulence
Accessories:  Scallop border punch, Mickey Mouse punches

Happy Bird-Day!

Happy Friday, y'all!  My little monster is on his playmat on the floor next to me (and hence NOT "helping" me type!) making monster noises while chomping on a giraffe toy.  I love my little weirdo.

Card time!

My friend Missy's birthday was yesterday (HI MISSY!!!!) and for some reason I kept thinking it was much later in the month, maybe I was mixing her up with my "niece" Emma?  I don't know.  I plead mommy brain.  But I made this for her and I've got a li'l something to go with it next time I see Missy.  It's a 5" square card because of this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And I also used this week's Color Throwdown:

I used Melon Mambo, Flirty Flamingo (because DUH flamingo!), and Cucumber Crush.  You might be looking at my card and thinking where's the second pink shade?  If you look at the flamingo, she's actually two colors.  I inked up the stamp with Flirty Flamingo, and then used a sponge dauber to add darker Melon Mambo ink on her legs and head.  Promise I used two pinks.

Hope you have a lovely Friday.  I'm going to play with my monster baby until I can convince him that naps are goooooood.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pop of Paradise, Cool Treats, No Bones About It
Ink:  Flirty Flamingo, Melon Mambo, Cucumber Crush, Basic Black
Paper:  Cucumber Crush, Melon Mambo, Thick Whisper White, Pop of Pink DSP (retired)
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Metallic Enamel Shapes

Cherry Vanilla Coke Bear

Mornin', y'all!  How's your day going so far?  Ryan decided to wake up at 5:30 this morning; I was not amused.  But I'm working on my morning cuppa so things are improving :)  Now if I could convince Ryan that *he* doesn't want my tea.  He's also helping me type (read:  making it more difficult).

How about a beary adorable card?

I got Baby Bear last year I think when it was on sale from Stampin' Up! and this is the first time I've gotten it inked up.  The inside of the card says "beary much" because OF COURSE IT DOES.  I was inspired by the Cupcake Inspirations color challenge:

This made me think of cherry vanilla Cokes from Sonic, which I miss but I quit drinking Coke almost three years ago.  Anyway!  I used Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, and Early Espresso.

I was also inspired by this sketch from Clean & Simple:

So glad they've started posting there again.  My bear image ended up being larger than planned, so the sentiment ended up migrating to the bottom panel, but I did at least start with this layout.

Okay, Ryan is totally getting grabby-hands with the keyboard so I'm going to go try to wear him out so he'll take a nap.  He did NOT want to nap yesterday!  Oy.

Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Baby Bear
Ink:  Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  retired Cherry Cobbler ribbon

Dinos Gettin' Fancy

Howdy, y'all!  Didja miss me yesterday?  I was working on scrapbook pages on Monday so didn't get a card done for yesterday.  But I've got a doozy today...I did a fancy fold!

I got the idea for this from Lyssa Zwolanek's blog.  Her tutorial is pretty easy to follow, but if you try  it, be aware that one of the measurements is off:  you should score at 2.5 inches, not 2.75.  You want the four side panels to all be 1.25 inches wide.  It only took me three tries to figure that out *rolls eyes* I couldn't math yesterday, y'all.

There you can see the inside panel, which doesn't really show up if you're looking at the card straight on.  It's just four score lines to make the card base, two peaks and two valleys.  I did the outside two score lines and flipped the paper over to score the two inside lines on the other side to make it easier to fold (does that make sense?).

I thought the Fab Friday color challenge would be good for a kid birthday card:

And the Global Design Project theme challenge is exactly what I needed this week:

My "niece" Emma's birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks, so now I just need to get this in the mail to her.  (Uh, I still haven't mailed off birthday cards I made for earlier this month, which are both now late...)

There's the back; I did the message on the back so it wouldn't be covered up by the band across the front.  I still need a birthday card for my dad too, d'ya think he'd like dinosaurs?

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  No Bones About It
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Lemon Lime Twist, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Berry Burst
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Lemon Lime Twist, Daffodil Delight, Thick Whisper White, Color Theory DSP
Accessories:  nothing really...a bone folder and a ruler?