Merry Texas Christmas Y'all! (2004)

Merry Christmas, y'all!

As promised last week, here are the layouts from Christmas in Texas in 2004.  I had *lots* of pictures from that year so I made two layouts.  Also, check out my title--the "Merry Christmas Y'all!" is one stamp, so I stamped the words and cut them apart and inserted the TEXAS right in the middle.  I felt so smart when I did that ;) I cut out some of the flower motifs in the patterned paper to use as page accents too.

This rose pattern is in the same pack of DSP, and I chose it especially because my mom was wearing that shirt with giant red roses on it.  I've been hoarding that paper for YEARS and I'm glad I finally found the perfect place to use it! (And I still have more of it left.)  I also used the Cozy Christmas stamp set which I love.

What's funny to me is I'm working on more Christmas layouts, and I almost used the same sketch I used on this one.  But then I found a different sketch to use.  Not that anyone but me would know anyway!

Today's color palette:  Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Baja Breeze (still my favorite), Chocolate Chip, and Very Vanilla.

Supplies, first layout:
Stamps:  Deadbeat Designs
Ink:  Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Baja Breeze, Thick Very Vanilla, Holly Jolly Bouquet DSP
Accessories:  Circles Collection Framelits

Supplies, second layout:
Stamps:  Cozy Christmas
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze
Paper:  Real Red, Wild Wasabi, Baja Breeze, Thick Very Vanilla, Holly Jolly Bouquet DSP
Accessories:  None

I Think I Need a Tropical Vacation

Hey kids, how's your day going?  This week is just crazy here, which is a big part of why I haven't been posting this week, but I finally got a card made to share today!

It's been a while since I inked up Tropical Chic, so this was fun.  I only used one stamp set on this card, but I made up for it by using three different sets of dies.  Oh, it looks like the embossed texture on the leaves doesn't show up as well as it could, but at least you can see the Wink of Stella glitter on the flowers!

I started with this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And added the Global Design Project color challenge:

I can't help it, every time I see Granny Apple Green in a color challenge, I immediately think of the Tropical Escape DSP.  I like that the DSP has different values of the color, too, so I have light, medium, and dark green but it's all one color.  My flowers are different values too; I stamped one with full-strength ink and the other one I inked up with a sponge dauber so it's a slightly lighter color.

I'm also entering this at SUO Challenges for their Designer's Choice challenge.  It was fun to do something more summery for today's card.

That's it for me, kids.  We've got a busy day ahead so Imma get to it!  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tropical Chic
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Poppy Parade
Paper:  Pool Party, Granny Apple Green, Thick Whisper White, Tropical Escape DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits, Nature's Roots Framelits, Tropical Thinlits, mini Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Christmas At Our House 2004

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  How was your weekend?  I managed to finish a few scrapbook layouts and I have two that are only waiting on some new markers I need to order, and yesterday I made two batches of cookies to give to the ladies who run the nursery at the Y.  I wanted to give them a little gift because I am so grateful they're there to watch my kiddo so I can work out!  (And I neeeeed to work out, I taste-tested the cookies!)

But let's get to today's layout, shall we?  Here's another very retro layout from the first time we lived in North Carolina.

Okay I'm in love with the Wintergreen DSP.  I've had it for YEARS and I still bust it out on occasion.  Honestly, I'm getting pretty low on it, I wonder if they have any for sale on Ebay?  Anyway, it's come in useful on quite a few scrapbook layouts.  My page base is Blue Bayou, a long ago In Color, which wasn't in the DSP pack but I think it coordinates really well.

Click to embiggen if you want to see the title close up.  Hubs and I did our own Christmas thang at home before we went to Texas that year, and wonder of wonders, I did actually do the Texas layouts too (check back next week for those).

Today's color palette is comprised of Blue Bayou, Cranberry Crisp (another long ago In Color), Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, Sage Shadow, Soft Sky, and Very Vanilla.  Quite the list there, but they're all in the DSP except the first two colors.

Looks like a lot of challenges are going on a mini-break for Christmas, so I may be a bit more sporadic with posting.  I'm hoping to squeeze in some more scrapbook pages before the end of the year, though I know I won't get up to 200 (I'm currently at 164 I think?).  Lately I've set aside the baby Ryan and baby Sadie photos (the ones I was alternating working on) and I've been doing layouts of Christmases past.  I still have pictures pulled for at least five more Christmas layouts, I figure I might as well do them all now while Christmas is on the brain!

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Whimsical Alphabet Upper & Lower, Calendar Alphabet & Numbers, Warmth & Wonder
Ink:  Cranberry Crisp, Always Artichoke, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Blue Bayou, Cranberry Crisp, Always Artichoke, Thick Very Vanilla, Wintergreen DSP
Accessories:  None

China: Dong Fang Hotel

Happy China Sunday, y'all!  I'm just truckin' through the Beijing layouts and pretty soon we're going to be all done with the China albums.  Guess I'd better get cracking on Ryan's baby book so I can start sharing that?

We switched tour guide companies in Beijing to go with the ones who were doing the Great Wall marathon, and they were nowhere near as good as the China Odyssey Tours people we had for Shanghai, Guilin, and Xi'an.  The hotel was a giant step down too, I think the beds were comprised of rocks rejected for use in the Great Wall.  But I made this layout for the hotel anyway!  I love that Primrose Petals pattern on the right, it was from a Valentine pack of patterned paper a few years ago.  I started out with it going across the layout, where the Perfect Plum layer is now, but then I scrapped that and switched the colors around and I like it better now.

The colors are Tip Top Taupe (I liked this one, I should use it more), Primrose Petals, Marina Mist, and Perfect Plum, every single last one of which is now retired.  But they will live forever in my scrapbooks!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Baroque Motifs
Ink:  Marina Mist, Early Espresso marker
Paper:  Tip Top Taupe, Marina Mist, Primrose Petals, More Amore DSP, Marina Mist & Perfect Plum DSP
Accessories:  Lettering template

Hanging Stockings

Happy Friday y'all!  I'm finishing the week with a very CAS Christmas card.  All. The. White. Space!

These three stockings and the sentiment are from the cute hostess set Hung With Care in the back of the holiday catalog.  Aren't they cute?

I took inspiration from the Global Design Project CASE the Designer challenge:

I kept all the white space and my sentiment is pretty central to the main image, though I had to change the card orientation to horizontal to accommodate it.  I might have been tempted to make the stockings in our family's favorite colors, but blue, yellow, and green doesn't necessarily scream Christmas to me.  And also I wanted to enter the Cupcake Inspiration color challenge:

Since I didn't get to use Real Red and Call Me Clover on yesterday's card, I did it for today's.  I really need to use Call Me Clover more often, isn't it a gorgeous green!  Plus I thought I was super clever for using both of the colors from the bigger stockings to make the baby stocking.

That's it for this week, peeps.  Have a great one!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hung With Care
Ink:  Real Red, Call Me Clover, Early Espresso
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  None

Sweet Mrs. Claus Bakes Cookies

Mornin' kids!  I tell you what, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in my craft room...this is my fourth Christmas card in a row and I've pulled out a bunch of pictures from Christmas past to work on scrapbooking.  But for now, card!

I decided Mrs. Claus needed some inky love and it just seemed natural to pair her with the candy and cookies from the retired Candy Cane Christmas, which was on my mind after last week's card.  I'm planning to make cookies to give to the three ladies who run the nursery at the Y and watch my kiddo while I work out every day (along with a mug for each of them and some hot cocoa mix and probably some of the hot cocoa flavor Hershey's Kisses because I wasn't a big fan of those so I need to get rid of them and hey, they go with the theme here).  So maybe I'll use this card for one of the ladies in the nursery.

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I almost went with snowflakes from Snow is Glistening, but in the end the Color Throwdown persuaded me to go with Mrs. Claus and her cookies instead:

I had planned to use Real Red and Call Me Clover for the first two colors, but I couldn't resist that Poppy Parade striped paper with the white flocking and it turns out I don't have the Call Me Clover Stampin' Blends yet so I went with Shaded Spruce instead.  Still need to work on my blending skills on her dress, though I thought her hair turned out okay.  I decided to go with Crumb Cake for her hair instead of gray because it fit better with the color challenge.

That's it for me today, folks.  Hope you have a sweet day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Signs of Santa, Candy Cane Christmas
Ink:  Poppy Parade, Shaded Spruce, Crumb Cake, Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Poppy Parade, Shaded Spruce, Crumb Cake, and Petal Pink
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Thick Whisper White, Santa's Workshop DSP
Accessories:  Santa's Signpost Framelits, Dimensionals, Tailored Tag punch

Shiny Happy People

Hey y'all!  How's your day going today?  We've got a busy day ahead with a lot of cooking and baking to do for a get-together I'm going to this evening, so I'd better eat my Wheaties.

In the meantime, here's a card for today:

I loved Making Christmas Bright as soon as I saw it, and yet somehow this is its maiden stampy voyage, explain that one.  But I couldn't stay away from the What Will You Stamp? challenge to use this set!

There's a matching light bulb punch that I haven't used yet, so I'll have to keep this stamp set out on my stamping table for a bit.

I also used the latest CAS(E) this Sketch:

And the Paper Players color combination:

My extra color of choice was Crushed Curry.  I looooooooooooove Shaded Spruce and I need to use it more.  I also used some other patterns from that Under the Mistletoe pack on a scrapbook layout I'm nearly finished with...maybe that will make an appearance soon for Scrappy Monday.

Anyway, got lots to do so I'd better go get started.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Making Spirits Bright
Ink:  Real Red, Shaded Spruce, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Real Red, Crushed Curry, Thick Whisper White, Under the Mistletoe DSP
Accessories:  Wink of Stella

Christmas Day 2014

Scrappy Monday y'all!  Today's layout is the companion to the one I shared last Monday.

I used the same pack of patterned paper, and the same colors, but put them in different places.  I did thick bands of patterned paper on this one to make it stylistically similar to the Christmas Eve layout.

And I cut out more retro reindeer for page accents :)  Same treatment for the title as last time, too.

Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Soft Sky, Delightful Dijon, Whisper White, and Very Vanilla make up the color palette.  I used three different patterns from the Home for Christmas DSP on this, four if you count the reindeer.  This layout came together pretty fast, I like that.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Metro Type Alphabet, Joyful Christmas
Ink:  Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Basic Black marker
Paper:  Mossy Meadow, Delightful Dijon, Very Vanilla, Home for Christmas DSP
Accessories:  None

China: Ming Tombs

Hey y'all!  We got SNOW here last night but it's currently raining so it's going to melt it all sometime today most likely.  I grew up in Texas, where it hardly ever snows, so I always get excited to see the white stuff.

And today is China Sunday!  Today's layouts are from the Ming tombs we visited outside of Beijing.  If you check out my first blog post with these pictures, you'll see that I lightened them up quite a bit when I had them printed out.  Hubs likes things a little under-exposed.  I don't. :p. And you can also read about the two-hour odyssey to get to the tombs because our tour guide was more than a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

So I did three layouts for these pictures, all with the same colors but I rotated where the colors were used (page base, patterned paper, accent color).  Oh, and you'll see this layout used the same sketch as my Christmas layout from Monday.  Toldya that I used that sketch several times.

And there's my page title, complete with dragon and that little bitty dragon is the whole reason why I bought the Ancient Asia stamp set and I'm not sorry.  I love that little dude.

Second layout, also with dragons.  I love Cucumber Crush.

And these pictures, from inside one of the tombs, are the reason why I used Cucumber Crush as one of my colors.  It was like being in the Emerald City in Oz.

Today's color palette:  Cucumber Crush (for the inside of the tomb), Tempting Turquoise (because of my turquoise shirt), So Saffron (because it worked well with the other colors), Basic Gray (because there's a lot of gray in the pictures from outside the tombs), and Whisper White (which really shouldn't be on here because I didn't use any white for journaling blocks or anything, but the sky sort of looks white?).

Baked oatmeal is about to come out of the oven...cheers y'all!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Rough Type, Ancient Asia
Ink:  Cucumber Crush, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Gray
Paper:  So Saffron, Cucumber Crush, Tempting Turquoise
Accessories:  lettering template

Visions of Sugarplums

Happy Friday, y'all.  This week just 'bout done did kilt me...I haven't been sleeping well and Sadie keeps waking me up in the middle of the night to let her out again.  So yeah, I'm tired.  I didn't get to take a nap at the same time as Ryan yesterday because it was a short one before we took Sadie to the vet, so I used that time to make a card to share today.

I got rid of a bunch of my old ribbon last year and I wish I hadn't gotten rid of the Early Espresso ribbon I was looking for and I ended up with this Chocolate Chip ribbon instead.  Oh well!

Here's this week's Fall-To Layout:

And the Paper Players theme challenge:

And finally the Retro Rubber Challenge:

Looks to me like the snowman is holding a cookie, so that's what I focused on for my card.  Candy Cane Christmas (my stamp set) is two years old, I rather thought it was older but that's okay.  The most retro item on here is the scissors I used for the scalloped border.  I've had those since wayyyy before I started stamping.  Like, the 90s.  They're at least two DECADES old!

Anyway, hope y'all have a great weekend.  Cheers!

Supplies, almost all SU!
Stamps:  Candy Cane Christmas
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Candy Cane Lane DSP
Accessories:  Chocolate Chip ribbon, fancy scissors from Fiskars

Climbing the North Pole

Hey, kids!  This week has been crazy.  I've got doctor's appointments today for both Ryan and one of our dogs and yesterday we spent the day going to the Y and then driving 90 miles round trip to go to Kohl's.  (I do love Kohl's.) But I finally got a card made to share today and I think it's pretty stinkin' cute.

I loooooooooove the Signs of Santa stamp set and I swear if we had a sign like that, my little elf would be finding a way to climb on top of it, which was my inspiration along with the latest Freshly Made Sketch:

They're also doing a DT call, and I would love to be on their team!  I play along almost every single week unless I go out of town or something.

Also looking for new DT members are the folks at SUO Challenges, who are running an anything Christmas challenge.

That goes along with the theme challenge at Global Design Project:

I used the colors from this week's Color Throwdown:

Cheating a tiny bit and counting the elf's skin as the top color, which was a dark Petal Pink Blends marker, and then I used Poppy Parade, Old Olive, and Smoky Slate for the other colors.

Last but not least is the challenge from What Will You Stamp?:

As I said, I love this stamp set so I *had* to play along in this challenge.

Have a great day, peeps!  And please send us good vibes for the kid and the dog, who are both feeling a little poorly.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Signs of Santa
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Petal Pink, Poppy Parade, Old Olive, Smoky Slate, and Crumb Cake
Paper:  Poppy Parade, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White, Under the Mistletoe DSP
Accessories:  Santa's Signpost Framelits

Christmas Eve 2014

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Now that it's December, we can really start to get things all Christmasy here on the blog.  I like Thanksgiving to have its own time before the Christmas juggernaut overruns us all.

Today's pages are from 2014.  Seems like I still have multiple years' worth of Christmas layouts still to do.

I think I did three layouts with this same sketch, but since I don't scrapbook chronologically, no one will know but me!

This patterned paper was just SO fun...I cut out a couple of reindeer accents from another pattern in the pack.  I created the title by using a marker to ink up "Christmas" from a longer sentiment, and the "Eve" part is done using the Metro Alphabet.  I just lucked out that those two elements ended up being about the same length.

Today's Christmas color palette includes Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Soft Sky, Delightful Dijon, Whisper White, and Very Vanilla.  As a general rule, I'm against the use of Whisper White and Very Vanilla together, but it works in the patterned paper so I just went with it.

Hope your December is off to a great start!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Metro Type Alphabet, Joyful Christmas
Ink:  Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Basic Black marker
Paper:  Real Red, Delightful Dijon, Mossy Meadow, Whisper White, Home for Christmas DSP, Color Me Autumn DSP
Accessories: none

China: Han Tombs & Great Wall

It's China Sunday!  All the layouts I'm sharing today are ones that I've shared before, but there are six of them in a row so we're just doing a rerun post today.  Hope you enjoy!

This was one of the earlier layouts I did for the China books (original blog post here).  The page base is Elegant Eggplant, and some of the photos are matted with Perfect Plum.  This was the very last thing we did in Xi'an before boarding the plane to Beijing.

And our first activity in Beijing was going to the Great Wall!  I will never say no to an opportunity to look at these pages :)  (original blog post here).

We had SO MANY pictures from the Great Wall and I just didn't want to leave any out if I could help it, ha!

This is one of my favorite layouts ever (original blog post here).  I need to look around online and see if I can find more Handsome Hunter cardstock in both 8.5x11 and 12x12.  It was the perfect Baylor green and I'm almost completely out.

We've been teasing Missy for years about her affinity for lots of stairs but I think the Great Wall will forever hold the record for most stairs in a single day (original blog post here).

And there's the last Great Wall layout (from this day, anyway).  Hope you enjoyed this scrappy flashback.  Have a great Sunday!