Frosted Autumn Bouquet

Happy Friday, y'all!  The hubs has today off of work so we're going to do what I normally do on Fridays and go to the gym :D  Friday is yoga day!  And also running day.

But guess what.  I have a shiny shimmery birthday card to share today!

I used all Shimmery White cardstock and the Frosted Floral DSP has a lovely pearly sheen to it as well, which is why it reflected the camera flash a little bit.  And the sequins are iridescent, sequins are hard to photograph.

Check out this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

In related and very exciting news, my baby bear card was chosen as a Princess for last week's sketch challenge!  Squee!!

I also used this week's Color Throwdown:

I used Blackberry Bliss, Call Me Clover, Crushed Curry, and Poppy Parade for my colors, plus the aforementioned Shimmery White.  And I'll be sending this card out in the mail today to a friend whose birthday was...yesterday.  Well, I made the card on her birthday, so that counts as sorta on time, right?

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  First Frost, Varied Vases
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Call Me Clover, Crushed Curry, Poppy Parade
Paper:  Shimmery White, Call Me Clover, Frosted Floral DSP
Accessories:  Frosted Bouquet Framelits, Metallic Sequins, Dimensionals

We've Got Fun and Games

Hey, kids!  I'm typing this as fast as I can because the kidlet is making noise.  Thankfully he's not roaring yet...

AAAAAAHHHHHH I die of the cute.  I'm stuck on A Little Wild lately.  And also I can't wait to get more Stampin' Blends because that lion would look 500 times better colored with an alcohol marker.  Usually I watercolor, but for this card the lion needed to be a saturated color.

Anywha!  I used the Sunday Stamps sketch:

...I just realized that I tilted the DSP layer the opposite direction from the sketch.  Whoops!

I'm also entering this at SUO Challenges to make a card for babies or kids.  I think this would be adorable for a baby shower, what do you think?

Gotta run.  Cheers, folks!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  A Little Wild, Labeler Alphabet
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Crushed Curry, Flirty Flamingo, retired Blendabilities Crumb Cake marker
Paper:  Granny Apple Green, Garden Green, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White, Tropical Escape DSP
Accessories:  Little Loves Framelits, Tropical Thinlits, Dimensionals

Inspired by Real Life

Friends, I have a slightly odd confession to make.  When I go running at the gym, I run around a track and since there's nothing else to do, I think about what I want to make for cards or scrapbook pages, my current stitching projects, and...I pay attention to what other people on the track are wearing.  Like, if I see a color combination that I like, when I finish my run I make a note of the colors on my phone.  I currently have 9 color combinations written on my phone, and today's card uses one I saw on Monday of this week.

(The inside says "Thanks for the smile and everything else.")  Say hello to Tranquil Tide, Pumpkin Pie, and Basic Black.  Thank you, lady who was walking around the track wearing these colors on Monday :)  That's not all though--you might be thinking that Tranquil Tide would be the more natural choice for the dragonfly color.  Au contraire, mon frere!  I was sitting in the Panera drive-through yesterday and there was a bright orange dragonfly who was apparently quite interested in my car.  And he was really, REALLY orange.

But what really sealed the deal for this card was this week's Fall-To Layout:

I immediately thought of that dragonfly die when I saw the circles on the right side of the sketch.  So then once Ryan went down for his nap, I had my sketch, colors, and dragonfly all picked out so this card came together in under 15 minutes.  It did take a couple of minutes to paint Wink of Stella on the dragonfly die cut.

I'm also entering this at Retro Rubber for their Anything Goes challenge:

I've had Dragonfly Dreams for a year and a half, so it counts as retro now :D

Here's hoping that I actually get to work out at the gym today.  The local schools started this week, and apparently all the mamas have decided that now is the time to start back at the gym and put their younger-than-school-age kiddos in the nursery at the Y.  So I got all dressed and ready to go yesterday, only to find that they were over capacity at the nursery so Ryan and I went to Target instead.  Much as I love Target, I woulda rather gotten to work out.  Wish me luck, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Dragonfly Dreams
Ink:  Versamark, Tranquil Tide
Paper:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Tranquil Textures DSP
Accessories:  Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits, Wink of Stella, White EP

Finally....A Pink Elephant

Mornin', y'all!  I mentioned last week that I reallyreallyreally wanted to do a pink elephant card and at long last, my friends, that day has come.

The Global Design Project color challenge this week features pink in the form of Flirty Flamingo, so I just had to make a pink elephant card.

I paired that with the Paper Players sketch challenge:

I made the Daffodil Delight strip 1" wide, the flower strip is 1 1/2" wide, and the bottom strip is 2" wide.  That "dirt" strip was way more trouble than it should have been, this was the third try to get something I liked.  I had wanted to stamp the sentiment on the card base with the peekaboo circle on the "dirt" strip, but somehow I got some fuzz in my ink or something and it didn't look right.  Luckily I had the circle I'd cut out of the strip so I just stamped the sentiment on that instead, but like I said, it was more trouble than it had to be.

Hope y'all have a good day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  A Little Wild, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Flirty Flamingo, Soft Suede, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Flirty Flamingo
Accessories:  Little Loves & Layering Circles Framelits, Dimensionals

Playground Puppy

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Man, I got some stuff DONE this weekend.  I finished up two layouts except for 5x7 photos I have to have printed off, two more layouts are completely done, and yet another one is about halfway there.  But today I'm sharing a layout I finished a week or two ago.

Tiny puppy Sadie's first trip to the playground!  She actually likes going down slides; I've seen her climb up to one and slide down all on her own.  Feels like I've been ping-ponging back and forth between baby Sadie layouts and baby Ryan layouts, but that's okay.  These pictures are from 2006 and I'm making a big effort to finish scrapping my oldest pictures.

Today's color palette is super bright and cheery:  Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise, Blueberry Bushel, and Whisper White.  I figured it was appropriate to post today since it still feels like summertime outside.  Next weekend, even if it still feels like summertime in the swamp, I'm making pumpkin coffee cake for breakfast because I can't wait for fall!

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Taffy Alphabet, Big Pieces
Ink:  Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Blueberry Bushel, Basic Black marker
Paper:  Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Blueberry Bushel, Daffodil Delight, Thick Whisper White, Big Top Birthday DSP
Accessories:  circle punch

China: The All China Uno Tournament

Hey hey hey, y'all!  I'm finally up to my last layout in the first China book (fear not, there's only two books...imagine how many there would be if we'd stayed in China for a month rather than 12 days!).  Anyway, I'm kinda ridiculously proud of this page:

The four of us played Uno all over China, but this is the only picture we took while we were playing.  (We played in hotels, in airports, pretty much any time we were sitting still for longer than 10 minutes.)  And why am I so proud of this page?  I made it in the COLORS OF UNO CARDS!!!!

Real Red, Summer Sun, Emerald Envy, Pacific Point, Basic Black, and Whisper White.  I love it.

Also, I won the All China Uno Tournament.  Hee!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Rough Type
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Basic Black marker
Paper:  Real Red, Pacific Point, Emerald Envy, Thick Whisper White, DSP in Real Red,  Emerald Envy, Pacific Point; Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Accessories:  lettering template, Tailored Tag punch to flag my banners

Birthday Margaritas?

So I sat down in my craft room yesterday and not five minutes later, Ryan woke up from his nap and started crying.  Usually he doesn't wake up crying, we think maybe he's teething?  I finished making a really really REALLY fast card and went to grab him, and never got back to writing a blog post for it.  Doesn't matter since I didn't like the card anyway, and last night Ryan grabbed it and kinda crumpled it but that's pretty much what I thought of the card so that's okay.  So today I just got a few minutes and I made this!

I bought Lemon Zest kind of on a whim, and I don't think I've used the coordinating punch very much, but I'm using the stamps more often than I thought I would!  I was inspired to make some limes by the Paper Players challenge:

I paired that with a sketch from Inkspire Me:

Okay, I'm kinda loving this sketch.  My card base is Lemon Lime Twist; I cut a piece of thick Whisper White cardstock to be 1/2 inch shorter than a standard card front, and then I adhered a 1/2 inch strip of Call Me Clover on top of the white.  It's amazing what a clean, graphic feel those two 1/2 inch bands of green give this card!  Stampin' Up!, I want MOAR FROOTZ PLEASE because this would be fun with apples and strawberries and pumpkins and why are there no pumpkin stamps in the new holiday catalog?!  I may be busting out last year's stamps this fall.

Anyway, Ryan just started to make noise again.  At least I got a card done today that I actually LIKE!  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lemon Zest
Ink:  Lemon Lime Twist, Call Me Clover, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Call Me Clover, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Wink of Stella

Hello Baby Bear

Hey y'all!  I have a cute little card to share today.

With the way the sun was coming in the window while I took the picture, you can really tell that the bear and the bees are up on Dimensionals!  The inside of the card completes the sentiment with "Welcome to the world!"

Check out this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge:

I'm counting the three bees as one of the floral elements on the sketch.

I also played along with this week's color challenge from Just Us Girls:

I used Granny Apple Green, Coastal Cabana, and Daffodil Delight as my colors, plus some Soft Suede for the bear.  I tried sponging on some color for the grass and it looked a mess so I redid it with just the grass stamp.  It looks a lot cleaner and much mo' bettah now.

And finally, here's the challenge from What Will You Stamp?

I'm really DYING to make a pink elephant card, but the bear just worked better for the sketch I chose so I went with him instead.  That elephant's time is coming, though.  I just know it.

Well, in a little bit I'll be off to try my first piyo class.  Wish me luck?

Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  A Little Wild, Baby Bear
Ink:  Granny Apple Green, Coastal Cabana, Memento Tuxedo Black, Daffodil Delight, Soft Suede
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Little Loves Framelits, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella on the bees' wings

Blackberry Frost

Mornin' y'all!  I had a headache yesterday and didn't particularly feel like working in my craft room, so I just sat there and stared at stamps for probably a good five minutes and then I got an eye-dear (idea) and I made a card and I'm glad I stayed in there for a bit while the kiddo was sleeping.  Behold!

Here's my second card with First Frost (so is this second frost?) and I like it better.  And also meet the Frosted Floral Specialty DSP, which has a lovely pearl sheen to it which is why it reflected the camera flash a bit when I took the picture.  And I used the coordinating Frosted Bouquet Framelits to cut out the flowers and leaves...the leaves are actually part of a larger stamp, I just snipped off the bits I wanted to use here.

I used the Global Design Project CASE the Designer challenge as my starting point:

I used the same basic layout, some flowers, and a shade of purple, but the holiday catalog has a couple of DSP options with Blackberry Bliss patterns and I'm in love with them and that's why I went with that shade of purple.  (And then I chose a pattern that doesn't have purple on it, but the rest of the stack does!)

And here's a picture to make you giggle:

This is my girl Sadie 12 years ago, the one and only time she decided to attack toilet paper.  The next scrapbook layout I plan to make will feature this little miscreant and her TP adventure :)

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  First Frost
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Tranquil Tide
Paper:  Blackberry Bliss, Tranquil Tide, Thick Whisper White, Frosted Floral Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits, Frosted Bouquet Framelits, Dimensionals

Space, the Final Frontier

Hey y'all!  The hubs had yesterday afternoon off, and kiddo absolutely REFUSED to take a nap, but my wonderful hubby took the kid outside to play so I could make a card.

I used the Northern Lights technique to make my background.  I would have chosen some slightly different colors if I'd looked at the Fusion inspiration picture again before I made it though:

I used some pink and orange, and I would have gone more for aqua and purple if I'd looked at this again, but I'm okay with how my galaxy background looks.  Though perhaps I'll give it another shot ;) The stars are done by stamping the splatter from Waterfront on the cardstock with Versamark and heat embossing with clear powder before I started sponging on all the other colors.  There's several stamp sets with splatters in them, Waterfront just happened to be the one I saw first (Magical Mermaid would be great too).

That's it for me today, y'all.  Have a good 'un!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Waterfront, Little Twinkle
Ink:  Versamark, Flirty Flamingo, Mango Melody, Granny Apple Green, Pacific Point, Night of Navy
Paper:  Night of Navy, Pacific Point, Thick Whisper White, Silver glimmer paper
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits, clear EP

Yusupov Palace

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Hope your week is off to a good start.  I'm starting the week with a layout from the St. Petersburg part of our 2014 Baltic cruise:

See the original pics here.  Yusupov Palace is now perhaps most famous as being the site of the murder of Rasputin.  The conspirators poisoned him and he didn't die, then shot him and he still managed to run out of the house before being shot in the courtyard, and then they bundled him up in a rug and disposed of the body in the Neva River.  See the mannequins in the two far left pictures?  They're reenacting the crime!  (The poisoning part, not the bloodier shooting part.)

I did a two-toned title again, using sponge daubers to ink up the letters in Delightful Dijon and Early Espresso and only on a scrapbook page would dijon and espresso go together because as foods that would be ick.  Anyway, I wish I'd managed to grab another pack or two of the Moroccan DSP when it went on clearance, I love that paper so I'm trying not to hoard it by using it on some scrapbook pages.

Today's color palette:  Not Quite Navy, Delightful Dijon, So Saffron, Early Espresso, and Very Vanilla.  And some fantastic patterned paper.

Well, I'm off to start my week right with a trip to the gym.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Letterpress Alphabet, Rough Edges Alphabet, Moroccan Nights
Ink:  Not Quite Navy, Delightful Dijon, Early Espresso
Paper:  Not Quite Navy, Delightful Dijon, So Saffron, Very Vanilla, Moroccan DSP
Accessories:  Hexagon punch

China: Green Lotus Hotel

So, I was so excited to have the hubs home after he was gone for a week that I forgot to do my China Sunday post this morning.  Well, better late than never!  Next stop:  the Green Lotus Hotel in Guilin.

See the original pictures here.  Again, Missy is the one who takes pictures inside hotel rooms ;)  We got up early one morning to take pictures in the hotel's courtyard though, I still love those uniquely shaped hills.  And I found a lotus stamp in my stash to go along with the hotel's name.

I love the color palette for today:  Garden Green for the page base, Lemon Lime Twist makes the mats pop, Soft Sky patterned paper, a pop of Real Red, and some Whisper White.

On our way to the airport, we did two last stops in Guilin: the Reed Flute Caves and the China Odyssey Tours offices.

These two layouts are repeats though, see more info here.

I like these layouts, I think the black page base makes them more dramatic.

That's it for today, y'all.  Next Sunday I have the very last page in the Shanghai/Guilin album, which means we're at roughly the halfway point for the China books...I think I have a few more pages in the Xi'an/Beijing album.  I'm still very, very happy that I finished these books!  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, Green Lotus Hotel layout:
Stamps:  Rough Type, Friends Never Fade
Ink:  Garden Green, Lemon Lime Twist, Real Red, Soft Sky, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Garden Green, Lemon Lime Twist, Thick Whisper White, Soft Sky DSP
Accessories:  Lettering Template

Grrr, Arrgh

Ya know, sometimes I just have an off day in the craft room when nothing seems to turn out quite like I want it, and that's happened to me two days in a row this week.  Maybe because I've been working at night instead of in the afternoon during kiddo's naptime?  I don't know, but I hope it sorts itself out soon because I'm just not happy with today's card.

I liked the color and sketch challenges I used (I'll get to those in a minute), but my card just isn't wowing me.  Well, not every card can be my favorite, right?  The floral image is from the hostess set Pressed Flowers, which reminds me of the very old Art of Life (I was sure I had used that stamp set at least once, but I couldn't find it in my archives) and this card is its maiden voyage.  Perhaps its second journey will be a bit better.

Here's the CAS(E) this Sketch challenge:

And the Inkspire Me color challenge:

I think those would be great Christmas colors.

That's it for me today, y'all.  Have a great Friday!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pressed Flowers, Lots of Happy
Ink:  Tranquil Tide, Rich Razzleberry, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Metallic Sequins, Wink of Stella

Autumn Frost

Hey kids!  How's your Thursday going?  I've got to take kiddo to the doctor for his 18-month checkup and he's going to get shots, so my morning is going to be not so fun.

So let's start with a card.

So I got a couple of new stamp sets from the upcoming holiday catalog, and I find it amusing that I used a stamp set called First Frost to make a card with a buncha yellows and oranges.  I'm not really in love with this card though; the idea looked a lot better in my head than it turned out I think.  I do really love this stamp set though so I'll give it another go...and there's some coordinating patterned paper that is GORGEOUS.

I started with this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And I actually followed the sketch exactly this time.  Then I added in the Paper Players color challenge:

This is the color combination I was talking about yesterday where I thought I'd give a brayer background another try, but instead I sponged the colors on the circle element and the rest of the card is neutrals.  I tried it with a black card base, and a white one, and I thought any of the challenge colors would just be orange/yellow overload, which is how I landed on Smoky Slate.

At any rate, I'm gonna take the kiddo up to the Y this morning so we keep our routine as close to normal as we can, and then it's off to the doc.  Wish us luck.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  First Frost
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Mango Melody, So Saffron, Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Whisper White
Paper:  Smoky Slate, So Saffron, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits, Dimensionals, White EP

An Ocean of Thanks

Hey y'all!  Kiddo took a short nap yesterday so I didn't get in my craft room to stamp until after he went to bed last night but I think it was worth it because...

I busted out my brayer and made an OCEAN!!!  I haven't used my brayers in a very long time, other than to ink up the occasional background stamp.  This was really easy too, all I did was ink up the sponge brayer with Blueberry Bushel ink and roll it on the top 2/3 of a piece of white cardstock until I had good coverage, and then I kinda rolled the brayer on scratch paper to get rid of excess ink before I inked it up again with Night of Navy and rolled on the bottom 1/3, blending with the lighter blue until I liked how it looked.  I happened to have a cup of water with a straw on my desk, so I pulled the straw out and flicked water on my cardstock until I liked how that looked too.  Next time I'd do this on one of my place mats though (I have two cheapo plastic place mats from the World of Wally that I use for extra messy techniques--helpful because it keeps the mess from getting everywhere else and I can clean them with a spritz of Stampin' Mist and a paper towel).  Anyway, those water drops really made the background pop in my opinion.

Triple challenge today!  Let's start with the Global Design Project theme challenge:

Of course as soon as I saw that, I thought of Sea of Textures and my favorite (as yet unnamed) octopus, but I decided as an extra challenge to make a card with Sea of Textures *without* using the octopus.  Ha!

Next up is the Just Add Ink sketch:

And then the Sunday Stamps color challenge:

I used Blueberry Bushel, Night of Navy, Poppy Parade, and Smoky Slate as my colors.  I left off the yellow because it just wasn't working for this particular card.  I do love this color palette though!

I've got my eye on another color challenge that I think would work well for my rediscovered brayer...ideas are percolating!  Have a great Wednesday and cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sea of Textures
Ink:  Poppy Parade, Blueberry Bushel, Night of Navy
Paper:  Smoky Slate, Poppy Parade, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Under the Sea Framelits, mini Dimensionals, sponge brayer

Retro Rubber Tropical Friend

Hey y'all!  I was asked to be a guest designer for Retro Rubber this week, so exciting!  And it's a tic-tac-toe challenge:

And here's my card:

I did the diagonal from top left to bottom right:  die cut, green, and leaves.  The sentiment is from Suite Sentiments (1.5 years old) and the flower is from Bodacious Bouquet (11 years old) so nice and retro.  I paired them with the brand-new Tropical Chic (the border stamp) and Tropical Escape DSP (my favorite!).  I saw that sentiment stamp a week or two ago when I was looking for something else and I thought hey, I should use that sometime soon.  So here it is.

Go check out the Design Team's work on the Retro Rubber Challenge blog and give it a try!  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Suite Sentiments, Bodacious Bouquet, Tropical Chic
Ink:  Shaded Spruce, Lovely Lipstick, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Lovely Lipstick, Granny Apple Green, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits, Glitter Enamel Dots, Dimensionals

Walk Along the Thames

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I got some scrapping done this weekend while the kiddo was napping, but I have like over a half-dozen layouts that I haven't taken pictures of yet.  I'm up to 140 pages done so far this year...I'm going to aim for an even 200.  :)

So here's today's layout!

See the original pictures here.  I wish I had lightened them up with some photo editing before posting on that blog and before printing them out for this layout, but this is what I've got.  These pics were taken on our first trip into London and I'm wishing I'd bought an extra pack of that DSP before it retired.  I love how the blue pattern reinforces the water theme for a walk along a river.  And I put a wee baby umbrella accent on the layout because it's England :)

Today's color palette includes Mint Macaron (I have been using this A LOT in my scrapbooks of late, probably a good thing I jump around when I choose what photos to work on so you can't tell when I get obsessed with one certain color), Watermelon Wonder, Dapper Denim, and Very Vanilla.

That's it for me today, y'all.  Hope you have a great week!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Letters for You, Rough Type, Postage Collection
Ink:  Dapper Denim, Watermelon Wonder, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Mint Macaron, Dapper Denim, Watermelon Wonder, Very Vanilla, By the Seashore DSP
Accessories:  Postage stamp punch

China: Golf Cart Tour, Merge, & Light Show

Mornin'!  It's China Sunday, but as it happens I have already shared the next several layouts in the China books so today it's all reruns.  But I like these pages so we're doing it anyway!

First up are two layouts for the golf cart tour.

That color combination of Pool Party, Tranquil Tide, and Powder Pink is one of my favorites.  Love it!

Next up is the Merge, which is apparently what happens when two dudes accidentally share a drink (and then the hubs caught Bennet's cold).

And last up is the light show Illuminations that we went to that night.  So the river cruise (see the layouts here and here), golf cart tour, stop at McDonald's, and the light show were all on the same very busy day.  Next weekend I have a new layout to share, but for now I'm going to go play with the tiny child for a bit.  Cheers!

See the blog posts linked above for supply lists. :)