Out of Sight Orange Blossom

So when the Stampin' Up! catalog came out this summer, I only got two new stamp sets to start with (Orange Blossom and Post Script).  And even though I've gotten several other new stamp sets since then, I keep coming back to those first two...especially Orange Blossom!

Sooo that just means I made a good choice when I bought that set, right?  ;)  Today's Orange Blossom card is for the newest Freshly Made Sketch:

I arranged my three elements a little farther down on the card just because I wanted to make sure that orange flower on the patterned paper was visible :)  Isn't that paper gorgeous? It's from the Whole Lot of Lovely pack, and that's not a misnomer.  Love the watercolor-style flowers on that black background.

Well, I've got pumpkin baked oatmeal about to come out of the oven...we're starting fall pumpkin season just a smidge early here :)  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Orange Blossom
Ink:  Basic Black, Powder Pink, Pear Pizzazz
Paper:  Pool Party, Tangerine Tango, Thick Whisper White, Whole Lot of Lovely DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits

May I Offer You a Hot Beverage?

The holiday mini catalog goes live this Friday!  I did pre-order a couple of things, but I've been having so much fun playing with new goodies from the main catalog that I haven't shared any sneak peeks yet.  Well, here's one!

I made this card with the adorable new stamp set called Hug in a Mug; it comes with all sorts of stamps to decorate the cups (and add toppings to the drinks) plus several sentiments.  SUPER cute.  It's a photopolymer set, so I eyeballed the solid color for the mugs (those are separate stamps!) and the toppings without a Stamp-a-ma-Jig (though I did use the SAMJ for the sentiment).  I don't drink coffee, but I do enjoy hot tea (having my morning cuppa right now) and hot chocolate, so I had to get this stamp set :)  The pattern on the sides of the main image is from the Coffee Break DSP, which again, I got even though I don't drink coffee.  Because I know lots of people who do.

So!  Check out the Global Design Project sketch:

As Anne Shirley would say, lots of "scope for imagination" with this sketch, but I had to bust out Hug in a Mug when I saw the Just Add Ink inspiration challenge:

Though I think one should enjoy one's morning cuppa sans cellphone.  Although I guess I can't judge since I'm writing this blog post on my computer while having my tea :)

That's it for me today, peeps.  Hoping to grab some stampy time this afternoon to make something for tomorrow...there's a plethora of sketch challenges this week.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hug in a Mug
Ink:  Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Sweet Sugarplum, Pool Party, Powder Pink
Paper:  Sweet Sugarplum, Thick Whisper White, Coffee Break DSP
Accessories:  Linen thread, Mini Dimensionals, Iridescent Sequins

Guest Designer: Back to School!

I'm tickled pink to be a guest designer for Retro Rubber once again!  And they have the perfect challenge for this time of year:

Now, my kiddo is only six months old so I've got some time before I have to worry about doing teacher gifts and such,  but I did make a school-themed card for today:

I figure it could go in a kiddo's lunchbox on the first day of school, or it could be for a teacher gift at the beginning or end of the school year or whatever.  The sentiment is generic enough to work for lots of people.  Since this is for Retro Rubber, I had to use older stamps...Hardwood and Work of Art are both still in the current catalog but they're three years old; Tart & Tangy is nine years old.  Honestly I thought it was older, I thought I got it when I first started stamping!  But still, nine years is pretty old for a stamp set :)

Want to know how I made my chalkboard?

1.  Cut a rectangle of black cardstock as big as you want the chalkboard to be.  Punch the corners with a corner rounder.

2.  Stamp the Hardwood background stamp on brown cardstock (I used Crumb Cake and the coordinating ink).  Trim the planks along the lines of the stamp, then trim individual planks, two for the shorter side pieces and two longer ones for the top and bottom (same lengths as the black rectangle you cut out).

3.  Glue the shorter side pieces on, then punch the corners with a corner rounder.

4.  Glue the longer top & bottom pieces on, then punch the corners with a corner rounder.

5.  Voila!  You have your chalkboard.  My corner punch left a little indent on the corners, since I had three thicknesses of cardstock in there (even though I only punched through one layer at a time, my punch would cry and break if I tried to do all three at once which is why I punched each layer individually), so I just used the fine point of a black marker to turn those divots into nail heads on my chalkboard.  One fussy cut apple up on Dimensionals and there you have it!

When I was a kid, like in elementary school, my mom used to make pillows for my teachers at the end of the school year.  They had an appliqued chalkboard that looked like this card, complete with the apple, so I was definitely channeling that when I made this card.  The main fabric on her pillows was white with letters on it though.  I should dig up a picture...or more likely, ask my mom to dig up a picture because I don't think I have one :)  Anyway, I hope you play along in this fun challenge at Retro Rubber!  And thanks again to their Design Team for inviting me to be a guest designer!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hardwood, Work of Art, Tart & Tangy
Ink:  Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Basic Black marker
Paper:  Wild Wasabi, Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Mini Dimensionals

ETA:  Mom found the picture!  Ready to see little kid Christy? Hee!

Reed Flute Caves

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Hope you had a good weekend.  We're starting off this Monday with some China pages!

The Reed Flute Caves are in Guilin (see the pictures here).  The rock formations are lit up with multicolored lights which is pretty cool.

I used a bunch of colors on my letters to mimic the colored rock formations.

Second layout for all the journaling!  Really simple layout on this one too, just putting six horizontal pictures in two rows, but I think it works.

Today's super-colorful palette includes Basic Black, Coastal Cabana, Lovely Lilac, Cucumber Crush, Crushed Curry, Strawberry Slush, and Very Vanilla.

That's it for today, kids.  I'm going to eat breakfast and then start cleaning up some stuff around the house.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, mostly SU!
Stamps:  Rough Type
Ink:  Basic Black
Paper:  Basic Black, Coastal Cabana, Lovely Lilac, Cucumber Crush, Crushed Curry, Strawberry Slush, Very Vanilla, Retro Fresh & Flowers for You DSP
Accessories:  Lettering Template

Honeymoon Cruise, Part 9: Castaway Cay

Happy Saturday, y'all!  And today really *is* Saturday :D  I'm about to go grab the munchkin and get our day started, but first I have the penultimate post for my honeymoon cruise album!  Wheeeee!

We're finally on the Orchid Opulence section of the album!  Castaway Cay was our third and final port; it's Disney's private island in the Bahamas.

I confess, we had a bunch of pictures from Castaway Cay and I don't really remember anything about them.  Hence, no journaling!  This is what happens when you wait 12 years before doing the album.  Oops!  It's nice that for a lot of things, I have blog posts to refer back to, but not this one.

Color palette for the whole album; you've seen this before.  Just one more blog post and that's this album finished!

Cheers, y'all!  I'm going to go get Sodapop and get some baby cuddles.

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

P.S. Missing You

Happy Friday, y'all.  I have to say, with the hubs here on convalescent leave for his back surgery, it's kinda hard for me to keep track of the days sometimes.  It sorta feels like the weekend all the time because he's home :)  And I never want to clean house, because who wants to spend a Saturday mopping floors?  But one of these not-Saturdays I need to actually do that.

Well, yesterday we had a tough afternoon.  I was having severe lack of mojo, and Ryan started getting really fussy and we had two open-air accidents yesterday (the last one was when he was, like, three weeks old, so maybe I'd gotten complacent?) and by 4:00 I was just DONE.  But I cleaned up the baby, hubs cleaned up the mess, baby got to take a little nap and I finally managed to get a card made for today.  Not my favoritest ever, but at least I did something.

Given all our tinkle-based misadventures yesterday, I now find it funny that my card is mostly yellow.  Anyway, ever since I got Post Script, I've wanted to use it to make a "miss you" card, because if you're sending someone a letter it means you're not with them so you miss them, right?  I sponged Cajun Craze ink on the stamp, and then stamped it on a piece of ombre Crushed Curry paper from the Color Theory stack.  I figured Tranquil Tide would go well with the other colors (because Tranquil Tide plays nice with everyone), plus it's about the only current ribbon I have, so there you go.

I used this week's Fall-To Layout from Clean & Simple:

That Post Script layer covers up an earlier attempt to use this sketch...seriously I probably spent more than a half hour trying to think of what to do and NOTHING.  This is a great sketch and it shouldn't have been so hard!  I was trying to combine it with a color challenge at it just wasn't working, so I tossed the color challenge.  Sometimes the stamping muse just doesn't want to cooperate.

Ryan is now trying to grab the hubs' breakfast bowl to get more oatmeal, but they ate it all :D  I've got more oatmeal baking in the oven for me, so I'll share a little with him when mine is ready.  It's funny, I typically don't like oatmeal unless it's in the form of cookies, but I tried this earlier this week and loved it.  Yay healthy breakfast?

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Post Script, Oh So Eclectic
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Tranquil Tide
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Tranquil Tide, Color Theory DSP
Accessories:  Tranquil Tide ribbon, Stitched Shapes & Layering Circles Framelits, Mini Dimensionals

Magical Mermaid Birthday

Mornin', y'all!  I had a busy day yesterday getting stuff ready to go in the mail--you know I said my friend Tiana deserves 57,413 thank you cards and a million dollars?  I sent her two big boxes full of cards yesterday, not just thank you cards but just about everything.  (Except sympathy.  I never seem to have sympathy cards on hand.)  I definitely sent her several hundred cards.

So now I need to work on building up my stash again :)

Let's start with a mermaid!  Because why not.  Mermaids are cool.  I stamped her in Versamark and Night of Navy ink (just ink up first with Versamark so you don't get colored ink all over that ink pad) and then heat embossed with clear powder so I could watercolor without the lines smudging.  Her hair is Flirty Flamingo because why shouldn't a mermaid have pink hair?  I painted her tail in an ombre from Night of Navy to Bermuda Bay, then masked off the mermaid and lightly sponged some Bermuda Bay ink for the background, and some splatter stamps.  A few sequins and a sentiment and voila!  One magical mermaid birthday card.

Take a look at this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I'm counting the Bermuda Bay background as the circle, the mermaid as the blue triangle, and the sentiment as the star.

And here's this week's Global Design Project color challenge:

Great colors for a mermaid :)  I added a little Blushing Bride for her skin, but otherwise I only used the challenge colors.

That's it for me.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Magical Mermaid
Ink:  Versamark, Night of Navy, Bermuda Bay, Flirty Flamingo, Blushing Bride
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Bermuda Bay
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits, Dimensionals, Iridescent Sequins

Quirky Birthday Critters

I am a member of what I fondly refer to as "my giant nerd group" on Facebook--it's 4,000 plus of the nicest people on the interwebs.  We're all different kinds of nerds and do all kinds of different things--making costumes for going to conventions, reading everything under the sun, baking, stitching and crochet, pretty much anything crafty you can think of, and best of all we have a strict no politics rule, which *really* makes it nice.  When I tried out a recipe a while back and it didn't turn out right, I asked the question of my nerd group and found out WHY it was a dud (I whipped the cream too long).  Sometimes people need answers to surveys for grad student papers, or their kids are asking for postcards from as many places as they can get for a class project, or someone is thinking of trying to learn a new craft and asking for advice.  All kinds of goofiness and good works going on over there.

All that to say, one of the nerds posted that her daughter was bummed out because her birthday is right before school starts, and no one RSVP'd for her birthday party because they were all out on end-of-summer vacays (or else people just stink and don't RSVP for stuff, seriously).  So mama nerd asked if anyone would be willing to send her daughter a birthday card.  Well, I'm late with mine since I got all distracted with the hubs' back surgery, but this is going out tomorrow:

Daughter loves sloths and narwhals, and this is totally the reason why I ordered Quirky Critters.  I also found some narwhal socks at Target (OMG I love the socks at Target and I have a huge collection and I want to buy more socks every time I go in there and I just got GHOSTBUSTERS SOCKS!!!!!!) so I made the narwhal bookmark to match the socks.  But the sloth was perfect since a.) she loves sloths, and b.) this card is late (her birthday was yesterday).  But it's more of a surprise to get a birthday card late, right?  That's what I'm going with.

The current Paper Players challenge is to do a CAS card with coloring:

I used watercolor pencils to color both images.  I think the patterned paper I used on the card makes it look a little *less* CAS, but it's a very simple layout I promise.  I looked through my ribbon stash, hoping to find some Calypso Coral ribbon to go across the bottom, but the only thing I could find was some retired baker's twine so I wrapped that around several times.  I have a fairly sizeable stash of retired ribbon; I quit buying it much because I would only use a tiny bit off each roll.  So now I have like one current ribbon and some baker's twine.  The white ribbon on the bookmark is also retired.

Pretty soon here the munchkin is going to want to go down for his nap, so I'm out for now.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Quirky Critters
Ink:  Basic Black, Night of Navy + Versamark on the bookmark
Paper:  Soft Suede, So Saffron, Thick Whisper White, Night of Navy, Delightful Daisy DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits, Dimensionals, retired Calypso Coral bakers' twine, retired white taffeta ribbon, retired double rectangle punch, retired flower punch, regular ol' hole punch, Wink of Stella

Elizabethan Gardens

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Hope you had a good weekend.

For today's scrapbook pages, we're doing the Time Warp all the way back to 2005.

Hubs and I took a trip out to the Outer Banks (North Carolina) to celebrate our anniversary that year, and we happened to find this place with Elizabethan gardens so we decided to check it out.  That's the hubs on the left page testing out his camouflage powers in a bright red shirt :p  This is an old, old Becky Higgins sketch that I used on these pages (I think it's BH?) and I never thought I'd use it because I tend to crop my photos as little as possible.  But these ones are from way back and had a lot of "dead space" in the pictures and I hope my photography skillz have improved since then.  Regardless, I do like how this turned out.  I added the fussy-cut flowers in a visual triangle to help move your eye through the layout. 

Still enjoying my Taffy Alphabet stamps :D

Today's color palette:  Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, Berry Burst, Tranquil Tide, and Whisper White.  Not pictured:  So Saffron, it must have been sick on school picture day. (Or I forgot.)

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Taffy Alphabet, Flower Fancy
Ink:  Pretty in Pink, Berry Burst, So Saffron, Tranquil Tide
Paper:  Pretty in Pink, Washington Apple DSP
Accessories:  None

Thanks Kind-Leaf

Well, I hope you're having a better Sunday morning than Ryan is--the hubs just wipes off the baby's face and Ryan took exception to that :p Tough luck, kiddo.  So anyway, I'm back with another thank you card today!

I used this week's Retro Rubber sketch:

So I've had Vintage Leaves for two years, and One Big Meaning for one.  I thought both of them were older than that.  The speckles on the back are from Magical Mermaid, which I've had for less than a week, but it was on my desk to stamp for my personal stamp catalog and I needed something on the card base so there it goes.  You can't tell from the picture, but I popped up the Whisper White layer on Dimensionals. The Real Red Candy Dots are retired, but I like those better than the enamel shapes SU! has now, and I still have a stash of the Candy Dots so might as well use 'em.

Say hello to the As You See It color challenge:

They called it "Summer Salad" but I made a fall card with it :)  I have a feeling it's going to be fun to make up fall-y color combos with Lemon Lime Twist this year.  I didn't want the leaves to overwhelm the sentiment, so I used sponges to apply ink to the leaf stamps.  Actually I did that for the sentiment too because my Elegant Eggplant ink pad is still way extra juicy.

Muffins just came out of the oven and I think the kiddo is about ready for a nap (uhh, breakfast is late for the parental units today) so that's it for me today.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves, One Big Meaning, Magical Mermaid
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant, Real Red, Lemon Lime Twist
Cardstock:  Lemon Lime Twist, Elegant Eggplant, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Dimensionals, retired Candy Dots

"Thanks" Doesn't Seem Like a Big Enough Word

Happy Saturday, y'all!  Hubs went in for his back surgery on Wednesday and stayed overnight in the hospital; he came home Thursday morning.  My friend Tiana, who is the awesomest person in the world, drove down here with her daughters to take care of Ryan while I was at the hospital with the hubs, and while I was gone she made a half-dozen meals for us and put them in the freezer, AND she swept/vacuumed/mopped the middle floor, AND she washed sheets/made the bed for hubs, AND she washed towels and cleaned the bathroom counter.  She is the most capable and efficient person I have *ever* met and I want to be her when I grow up. (She's also taught me 90% of what I know about being a mama.)

Tiana mentioned that she could use some thank you cards to send out, so rest assured I am going to mail her an entire box of thank you cards, because I think she deserves probably about 57,413 thank you cards and also a million dollars for everything she did to help us out.  So while hubs and baby slept yesterday afternoon (baby Ryan got his six-month shots, he was all tuckered out after that), I got started on Operation Thank You Card.

Having fun with the sequins again :)  I'm starting to wish I'd bought sequins before now, they're fun embellies and they're flat so this card will go through the mail no problem.  (Sorry the photo is a little dark, I took it this morning and it was really overcast.  What can ya do.)

Meet this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I just got a box full of new stamp sets and other goodies, and I still pulled out my favorite Orange Blossom and Post Script for this card.  Can't help it that they're awesome ;)  But hopefully I'll be able to ink up some new rubbah in the next couple weeks.

Anywha, I also used this week's Color Throwdown:

I used Melon Mambo, Pear Pizzazz (the long retired Gable Green would be a better match for the color swatch, but I was using all current schtuff), and Daffodil Delight.  My Melon Mambo flower came out much too dark and overpowering the first time, so I cleaned the stamp off and then inked it up by using a sponge and that worked better.  I also tried stamping off, but that just made it turn out kind of blotchy, so for this card sponges were where it's at.

I've got a happy baby boy dressed like Superman.  I think we're going to go have some quality time together while his dada sleeps in this morning.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Orange Blossom, Post Script
Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Iridescent Sequins

Color Deja Vu

Mornin' y'all!  I managed to sneak in one more card before Tiana and her girls got here to help me take care of Ryan while also taking care of the hubs and getting him to his surgery today.  Buuuuut I seem to be stuck on some colors!

AAHHHH I still love these colors.  The challenge over at SUO Challenges is to make a butterfly or dragonfly card, so this qualifies :)  I also used the sketch from Clean & Simple:

And once again with the color combo from Just Add Ink:

I'm only slightly obsessed :)

We have to get the hubs to the hospital at 10:00 this morning, so surgery won't be until about noon.  Well, at least we don't have to get up super early in the morning for it!  We would appreciate any and all prayers, kind thoughts, and positive vibes you care to direct our way.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Awesomely Artistic
Ink:  Tranquil Tide, Pool Party, Powder Pink
Paper:  Tranquil Tide, Pool Party, Watercolor Paper, Thick Whisper  White
Accessories:  Tranquil Tide ribbon, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella pen

Psychic Octopi

Hey y'all!  I mentioned yesterday that the current color challenge at Just Add Ink is, like, my favoritest ever color combo from the new catalog, right?  Here it is:

And as promised, I made something new for it...not just one, but two cards!

Having fun with the Message in a Bottle stamp set, from whence my wee mermaid came on Sunday.  I couldn't decide if I wanted the octopus to be Powder Pink or Tranquil Tide, so I did both...mostly because I messed up the Marbled background the first time I stamped it.  I stamped it a little too far down on the card front, so to salvage it, I cut it a bit to layer on a new card base (the card on the right).  The backgrounds look different too because for the right one (the first one I stamped), I inked it up, then used a brayer to spread the ink out a bit so I wouldn't have patches.  On the left card, I inked up the brayer itself and used it to apply the ink to the stamp, and that's how it came out different.  Interesting!  I like this Marbled background stamp for this because it looks wavy to me.  OH!  And check out my brand new iridescent sequins!  I ordered a few more embellishments than usual this last time.  You might even see RIBBON sometime soon.

So now to the psychic part.  I made these two cards on Sunday night, before the Global Design Project posted their newest challenge (#100).  All of their DT have posted cards and this time we get to pick any one we want to CASE.  And if you looked at Brian King's card, I bet you'd think I saw it before I made my cards...

It's just such a coincidence that I have to link it up over there even though I hadn't seen this card before I made mine.  I ended up with a similar layout, pink, and the Marbled background!  Weird, isn't it?  Well, okay, it would be spookier if Brian had used the same stamp set for his main image too, but whatevs.

Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Message in a Bottle, Marbled
Ink:  Pool Party, Tranquil Tide, Powder Pink
Paper:  Pool Party, Thick Whisper White, Delightful Daisy & A Whole Lot of Lovely DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Iridescent Sequins

Golf Cart Tour (Guilin)

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Actually I typed this post up Sunday night because this morning we're taking the hubs to the hopsickle for a pre-op appointment--he has back surgery on Wednesday.  He's in so much pain from his sciatic nerve that Wednesday can't get here fast enough.  I hope that surgery does the trick and he feels a lot better really fast.  I hate seeing him in pain.

Buuuuut you're not here for the not-happy stuff, you're here for a scrapbook layout!  Actually I have two for you today.

You might be able to tell from the lettering template if you've been around here for a while, these pages are from our 2010 China trip.  (See the pictures here.)

Yep, I use the same lettering template on all the China layouts, and accent with Rough Type.  Sometimes I only use one or the other, but most often it's a combination.

And there's the second one.  I don't know why I associate dragonflies with Oriental stuff?  But apparently I do.

Let's talk color!  Today's color palette is Pool Party, Tranquil Tide, Powder Pink, and Whisper White.  Y'all, this is my FAVORITE NEW COLOR COMBINATION ever since I saw it in the SU! catty this summer.  I don't know why but I am in luuuurve with it.  Well, Tranquil Tide is actually my favorite new In Color, I love how it plays nice with pretty much every other color I've put it with and I need to play with it more often.  And guess what...

This is the current color challenge at Just Add Ink.  Technically I made these layouts several weeks ago, so I won't enter them in the challenge, but last night I managed to sneak in a wee bit of stampy time and I made something new for this color challenge that I'll share tomorrow.  Because, as I said, I'm totally in love with it.  A LOT.

Until then, peace out yo!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Rough Type, Awesomely Artistic, Artistically Asian
Ink:  Pool Party, Tranquil Tide
Paper:  Pool Party, Tranquil Tide, Powder Pink, Whole Lot of Lovely DSP
Accessories:  Lettering template, Detailed Dragonflies Thinlits

Mermaid Splash

Mornin' y'all!  I know it's Saturday, and usually I post layouts from my honeymoon cruise album, but I missed posting the last couple days and I have a card I want to share instead.  I've been dealing with a headache all week that just will. not. go. away so lately I've been napping when Ryan naps.  Makes it hard to get any stamping done, but last night I made this!

Message in a Bottle is one of the stamp sets I just got in the last couple of weeks, and it's SO. CUTE.  When I saw this week's Color Throwdown, I knew I had to ink up that sweet little mermaid.

I used some retired colors on here but it's going to my two "nieces" and they won't care about that.  So I used Coastal Cabana, Flirty Flamingo (Powder Pink might have been a closer match for the swatch on the right, but I wanted something that was definitely pink so it wouldn't make her tail just blend into her skin), and Lavender Lace.  I used Island Indigo for the bottle and sentiment.  I noticed as I colored in the mermaid that she's got a belly button, which I thought was funny.

Anywha, here's this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Congratulations to the FMS team for making it to #300.  I haven't participated in every single challenge (it's really hard to do that in the middle of a move, for instance), but I do participate more often than not.  I like this sketch...might have to try another card with it.

ETA:  Oh what timing!  Check out the word prompt from Inkspirational!

I think my card counts for this...the mermaid is surrounded by water waves, *and* it looks like she's waving (with both hands, because she's excited).  Ha!!

That's it for me.  I've got a kiddo to entertain until he goes down for his nap.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Message in a Bottle, Seaside Shore
Ink:  Coastal Cabana, Flirty Flamingo, Lavender Lace, Island Indigo, Blushing Bride, Basic Black
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Fresh Prints (....of Bel Air) DSP Stack, Flirty Flamingo DSP
Accessories:  Pearls, Mini Dimensionals these things are SO COOL

Sweet Day

Hey y'all, how's it going?  I've got to type fast; Ryan is supposed to be napping right now but instead he's talking to the monitor :p

So, card!

It's pretty overcast here so the colors are a bit off in my photo, but here's the color challenge from Fab Friday:

Fun fun fun.  I paired them with the sketch from Clean & Simple:

Aaaand I'd better go get the baby.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Cool Treats
Ink:  Lemon Lime Twist, Melon Mambo, Flirty Flamingo, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Melon Mambo, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  None!

Driftwood Anniversary

Happy Toooosday, y'all!  I've got a happy baby bouncing right next to me.  At least he can't reach the keyboard from where he is right now ;)

So here's today's card.  I'm in looooooove with Emerald Envy, what about you?  I had a good excuse to use it too, what with the current photo inspiration from Inkspirational:

Oooh pretty.  I don't have the new So Many Shells stamp set or I would have been tempted to use it today; instead I pulled out the brand-new-to-me Oh So Eclectic for the greenery on my card.  I tried using the matching Framelits to cut it out, but I discovered that the matching Framelit is not an exact match for this stamp, it works better with the *other* sprig of greenery.  So I ended up fussy cutting the two for my card to get the look I wanted.

I chose the sentiment to go along with this week's theme challenge from Global Design Project: 

So there you have it, that's my card for today.  Hope to get in some more stamping sometime later today once Ryan tires himself out in his bouncer :)  I literally have a bouncing baby boy.  Ha!

Cheers, y'all!  Happy stampin'!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hardwood, Oh So Eclectic, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Emerald Envy, Soft Suede, Whisper White
Paper:  Emerald Envy, Sahara Sand, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Mini Dimensionals