Hiking (Okinawa)

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Man, it was a whirlwind weekend.  We had friends visit whom we haven't seen for about 10 years, along with their 5.5-year-old son.  Uhh, why does one extra kid make the crazy level in the house rise by a factor of 3,000?!  It seemed like nonstop yelling and now we're having problems with Ryan throwing toys?!  He rarely did that before.  Yeah I'm glad the weekend is over; this introvert is peopled out.  I'm ready for some calm.

So today's layout is from Okinawa; the pics were taken in January but the colors I used ended up looking almost fall-ish.

Pretty easy-peasy layout and I had the hubs do the journaling since it was him hiking with two friends.  I love it when a layout comes together quickly and easily.

Today's color palette:  Early Espresso (I promise it's not black, just very dark brown), Grapefruit Grove, Island Indigo, Pear Pizzazz, and Whisper White.  The DSP is the Painted Seasons pack from this year's Sale-a-Bration.

Hopefully we're back to our regularly scheduled routine today, which means we've got to leave for the gym soon.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Well-Worn Alphabet, Gently Falling
Ink:  Island Indigo, Pear Pizzazz, Soft Suede, Early Espresso Marker
Paper:  Early Espresso, Island Indigo, Grapefruit Grove, Thick Whisper White, Painted Seasons DSP
Accessories:  None

Three Ghoul Friends

I'm aliiiiiive!  I was busy doing something on Tuesday afternoon and didn't get a card made for Wednesday, and then on Wednesday I was not feeling well at all so no card for Thursday.  Yesterday I actually spent all of naptime cleaning up the house because we have people coming in today, but I did have this one card I made and hadn't shared yet so here it is:

I started this when I was spitballing ideas for Leora's birthday party invitations.  Then we went with the other design so I ripped off the "you're invited" and put on a sentiment from Spooktacular Bash instead.

Anyone have any great ideas for Halloween costumes for me, the hubby, and our 2.5-year-old son?  I got NOTHIN' for ideas this year!

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wonderfully Wicked, Spooktacular Bash, Background Basics
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Gorgeous Grape
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Gorgeous Grape, Basic Black, Granny Apple Green
Accessories:  Ornate Frames dies

Best Rococo Rose

Hey y'all, how's it going?  So far this week is starting off well, much better than last week :)  So here's a cute card for today:

Ahh, I hate it when I don't take pictures of my cards until late in the afternoon and then the colors look a little wonky in the photo.  This looks nicer IRL so I may have to take the picture again.  Anyway, I started with the Global Design Project challenge:

I wanted to use the same-ish colors as the picture, so I went with Sahara Sand for the card base, Rococo Rose, Soft Sea Foam, and Balmy Blue.  I also did a similar idea for the layout, with die-cut shapes over a cardstock strip, but I used the sketch from the Paper Players:

Uh, tall & skinny cards are the same as short & fat cards, right? ;) I turned the sketch 90 degrees to the left because I wanted to be able to put my sentiment on the cardstock strip.  I should have used a darker green for the leaf stamp because the stamp just blends into the watercolor because Soft Sea Foam is so pale, but at least you can see the detail on the rose.  For both pieces, I inked up my stamp with Versamark and then the ink color, stamped, and quickly set with clear powder.  And that's how you get stamped outlines in any color that don't run when you watercolor.

Okay y'all, have a great day.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  To A Wild Rose, First Frost
Ink:  Rococo Rose, Soft Sea Foam, Soft Suede, Versamark
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Soft Sea Foam, Shimmery White, Balmy Breeze DSP
Accessories:  Wild Rose dies, Dimensionals, Clear EP

Dollywood

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Since I took pictures of a giant stack o' layouts recently, I have 76 draft posts of scrapbook pages saved up...and today I'm sharing a layout that has been a draft post since October of 2013.  What's even funnier is that the layouts I'm sharing today were started kinda close to when we took the pictures (2004) and then I didn't finish them for years and years because I kinda took a scrapping hiatus when I first started stamping.  Without further ado, here are two layouts from Dollywood:

So wow, my scrapbooking style has changed since I started using mostly Stampin' Up! products.  I have no idea who the paper manufacturers were for this, or who made the butterfly die cuts.  I do know that the bright pattern is really much brighter and in-your-face than it looks here, because I put clear vellum over it to tone it down some.

Here is the other Dollywood layout; I think I had this one pretty much finished in 2004 and it was the other layout that languished forever.  And that Dollywood die cut should have been inked a lot darker, it looks a bit lost on the patterned paper/vellum.  I'd like to think I've improved my style since I made these pages!

Here's hoping this week goes a bit better than last week.  We started last week with Ryan having pinkeye (albeit a minor case that cleared up quickly) and then on Friday he apparently decided to play with fire ants at the Y.  He reacts rather severely to fire ant bites, and he has about a dozen on his left hand, so Friday and Saturday were tough days.  Yesterday though he said his hand felt a lot better (and the swelling had gone down a lot) and he ran around like his normal energetic self.  Hope this week is less drama!

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies:
Dude, these layouts are so old, I ain't even gonna try.

Copper Boom

Yay Friday!  How's your day going so far?  I'm excited that the temperature actually dropped a bit this week.  I swan (my great-grandmother used to say that instead of "I swear") that 74 degrees feels positively autumnal after so many days of 90+ degrees and ridiculous humidity.  More fall please!

So how about a very quick fall card today?

I had the CAS(E) This Sketch challenge in my mind as I was rifling through my stamp sets and Gather Together seemed perfect for it (though I almost made another Halloween card instead).

What made up my mind for me was the Paper Players challenge to use metallics:

So once I saw the big leaf in Gather Together, this card idea popped into my head and seriously, if my husband hadn't gotten home right after I started making it, I would have been done in probably about five minutes.  I used copper embossing powder (I still have my old jar of EP from the *first* time SU! had copper powder!) on Pretty Peacock cardstock, then added a sentiment stamped in Rich Razzleberry on a scrap of Very Vanilla, and boom, card done.  (If you're confused about the title of this blog post, "copper boom" is a reference to an episode of Gilmore Girls.)

Well, I've got some work to do today for my volunteer gig, then yoga class, and then I get to work on scrapbooks this weekend anytime Ryan is down for his nap.  Still not sure I'll get to my 200-page goal for the year, but I'm going to get as close as I can!

Cheers, y'all!  Have a great weekend.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Gather Together
Ink:  Versamark, Rich Razzleberry
Paper:  Pretty Peacock, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Copper EP, Dimensionals

Birthday Frost

Mornin' y'all!  How's your week going?  I am THISCLOSE to finishing Ryan's baby book...I have, like, under a half dozen layouts left to do, so I've been working on that as much as I can, but I still made a card to share today.

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And paired it with this particularly lovely color combination from Color Throwdown:

I used Rich Razzleberry, Mint Macaron, Tranquil Tide, and Very Vanilla for my colors, and the retired Frosted Floral Specialty DSP, which has a pearly sheen to it.  Tranquil Tide (retired) was the closest color I could think of for that third splat.  Love these colors together.

Hope you have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  First Frost, Itty Bitty Birthdays
Ink:  Rich Razzleberry, Tranquil Tide
Paper:  Mint Macaron, Tranquil Tide, Thick Very Vanilla, Frosted Floral Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Frosted Bouquet dies, Rectangle Stitched dies, Dimensionals

Blooming Orchid

Hey, y'all!  Ryan did indeed have a mild case of pinkeye, but the doctor cleared us for our normal activities starting today (I just have to give Ryan eye drops until the end of the week).  I'm SO READY to go back to the gym!  Sadly I won't get to run today because I have to go to a meeting at lunchtime, which means I have to get cleaned up after Pilates and then drop Ryan off at the drop-in daycare for a while.

Anyway!  I made a card yesterday and also finished another scrapbook layout for Ryan's baby book.  I'm going to get that done before he turns three, so #WINNING.

My sentiment is a bit on the nose for the Global Design Project theme challenge:

I loved this color challenge from Just Add Ink:

And I used the sketch from Fusion, rotated 90 degrees:

Their challenge closed last night but that's okay.  Today's card is the maiden voyage for the Woven Threads DSP which I got as part of this month's buy 3, get 1 free special on paper.  I love that sale every year because I'm a paper hoarder.

Have a great day, y'all.  I'm surprised that Ryan has been fairly easy to manage the last couple of days when we couldn't do our regular activities, but he's been a trooper.  He's pretty awesome.

Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Varied Vases
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Mossy Meadow, Rococo Rose
Paper:  Blackberry Bliss, Thick Whisper White, Woven Threads DSP
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched Dies, rhinestones, Dimensionals

SUO Challenges: Wicked Good Time

Hey there stampy friends!  It's time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges.

This time it's a super easy challenge--Designer's Choice!  Just make a card (or scrapbook page or 3D item or whatever) using only Stampin' Up! products, then share it with us on the SUO Challenges blog.

Here's my card:

This is the invitation I made for my friend Sarah's daughter's birthday party (Leora is a Halloween baby).  I basically remade this card but with more colors--Sarah asked for orange to be the main color to match Leora's cake.  Instead of rhinestones, I used Glitter Enamel Dots in three colors.  The "wicked" is cut out of Gorgeous Grape cardstock and then embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder, which is retired.  I could have used the white or black shimmer embossing powder that's current, but we really wanted the word to read as purple, not white or black.  (And I now have glittery embossing powder on EVERYTHING in my craft room!)

Having cut out nearly 40 words, I have a few tips for you if you're interested:

1.  Run it through your die cut machine a couple of times to make sure every bit of it cuts all the way through.
2.  When you take it out, the die cut word will most likely be stuck inside the die still, but the top part of the C tends to pop out a bit when you detach it from the rest of the paper.  You can stick the tip of a paper piercing tool under the top bit of the C and use it to separate the die from the cardstock.  I would go all the way to one end of the word, then go back to the C and go to the other end.  This way you're not trying to poke through the little holes in the die and running the risk of poking a hole in your cardstock.
3.  If you want to emboss the word, what worked best for me (since I did 18 of them) was to cover half the word with Versamark and EP, heat that side to set the embossing powder, and then do the other side.  That gives you a place to hold on to it while you heat set, otherwise it's really easy to send the die skittering across your crafting table without actually melting the embossing powder.  Even if you overlap the EP a little bit in the middle of the word, it won't be noticeable on the finished product.

So there you have it!  Hope you'll make a card or other project and share it with us on SUO Challenges.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wonderfully Wicked
Ink:  Granny Apple Green, Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Gorgeous Grape
Accessories:  Wicked dies, Glitter Enamel Dots, Iridescent Ice EP (retired)

Venice 2013

Scrappy Monday, y'all.  Our week is not off to a great start:  we suspect Ryan is coming down with pinkeye, and our dog Sadie had an accident in the kitchen last night.  I'll be taking Ryan to urgent care as soon as he finishes breakfast.

In the meantime, here's a couple of layouts I finished in the last few weeks.  I finally took pictures of a very large stack of finished layouts yesterday :)

See the original pictures here and here.

I used a pack of patterned paper called Venetian Romance, and wouldn't you know it looks perfect with pictures from Venice.  I used it for two layouts from our first visit to Venice as well.

Today's color palette includes Crisp Cantaloupe, Cajun Craze, Pistachio Pudding, Dapper Denim, and Very Vanilla.  The patterned paper has hints of Island Indigo in it, but Dapper Denim matched my photos better so that's what I used for the stamped accents.  The Indigo on the paper is diluted enough that it still looks like it coordinates with the Denim stamped accents.

Well, as soon as kiddo finishes his toast, we're off to the doc.  Cheers, y'all.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Mosaic Madness, Coffee House Alphabet from Inkadinkado
Ink:  Dapper Denim, Cajun Craze
Paper:  Crisp Cantaloupe, Cajun Craze, Pistachio Pudding, Very Vanilla, Venetian Romance DSP
Accessories:  Mosaic punch

Happy Sunflower Hello

Happy Friday, y'all!  Hope you've had a good week.

Today I'm doing a bit of a flashback...I found a color challenge I liked, and it reminded me of a long-retired stamp set, so I inked it up for the first time in a long time and made this:

A Flower for All Seasons has four stamps in it, one for each season, and they're all really cute (the other flowers are tulips, poinsettias, and daisies).  Here is the color challenge that made me think of this stamp set:

I used Call Me Clover (leaves and stems), Shaded Spruce (flower pot and card base), Crushed Curry (flower petals), Mango Melody (sentiment), Creamy Caramel and Chocolate Chip (flower centers).  Hopefully the Sunday Stamps team will forgive me for the wee bit of Real Red, but I just *had* to use it for the ladybug.  After I watercolored the image, I held it up against each coordinating color of cardstock and the Shaded Spruce just made me the happiest.  Well, green is my favorite color so yeah it makes me happy :)

I also used this week's CAS(E) This Sketch:

I kept my card suuuuuper CAS with lots of white (green) space, but I still followed the sketch.  I love sketchy challenges.

Got any fun weekend plans?  I thought it was getting a little cooler here, but nope, we were back up in the 90s yesterday.  So why does my kid insist on wearing PANTS instead of SHORTS?  Weirdo!

Cheers!

Supplies, all SU! (some retired)
Stamps:  A Flower for All Seasons, All-Year Cheer I
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Call Me Clover, Shaded Spruce, Crushed Curry, Mango Melody, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Real Red
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes dies, Dimensionals

Hey, Ghoul Friend

I love Halloween.  I have lots of Halloween stamp sets (and paper), and yet somehow I still manage to buy more every year.  This year I got two Halloween stamp sets (Wickedly Wonderful and Spooktacular Bash) and the Halloween DSP and I plan to have lots of fun with them for the next couple of months :)

Spooktacular Bash is a really cute stamp set, but I wish it had more of the characters featured in the Monster Bash DSP.  Aren't these ladies fabulous?  I trimmed them out of a sheet of DSP.  The only stamping on here is the greeting, and the one on the inside that says "Glad we're such ghoul friends!"

And here's this week's Freshly Made Sketch that inspired my card:

Now I just need to come up with a brilliant idea for Halloween costumes this year...

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Spooktacular Bash
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Granny Apple Green, Terracotta Tile, Thick Whisper White, Monster Bash DSP
Accessories:  Ornate Frames dies, Dimensionals, Monster Bash Enamel Shapes

Colorful Fall

Mornin'!  I've been trying to work on some scrapbook pages, but sometimes I have a bit of a creative block so I need to do something else for a bit.  But that means I have a card to share today:

Yeah, I'm going to need more of that Come to Gather DSP, it's all so beautiful (that's where the background pattern is from).  I started with the sketch from Global Design Project:

And paired it with Retro Rubber's color challenge:

I used Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie, and Early Espresso for my card, and my stamp set (Colorful Seasons) is two years old.  You can't tell in the picture, but I painted the leaf die cut with Wink of Stella, which is why I had to do it twice--I had stuck down the Cherry Cobbler circle and the leaf and was just starting to paint it when my Wink of Stella pen burped up glitter all over the circle.  I had to peel it all off and re-cut the pieces and redo that whole part, but at least it didn't get on the card base.

Hope you have a great day and that it's feeling like fall where you are.  We're still getting up to 85 in the afternoon here, but it's better than 95 and at least there's a (very slight) downward trend.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Colorful Seasons
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie, Early Espresso, Thick Whisper White, Come to Gather DSP
Accessories: Seasonal Layers dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

The Pack

Scrappy Monday!  I made some progress on my scrapbook pages over the weekend, but it's still going to be tough to meet my 200-page goal for the year.  I may be making fewer cards and concentrating on scrapbooks for a while.

So here's a layout I made a few months ago, from when I moved temporarily back in with my parents prior to moving to Japan in 2008, and my brother and sister-in-law moved in at the same time because they were buying a house.  So we had my two dogs, their one, and my parents' dog all in the house at the same time.  (Sadly, my girl Sadie is the only one of these dogs who is still alive, and she's 13.)

Anyway, the advantage of scrapping pages with four dogs who are all neutral colors is that I was free to pick ANY colors for this layout.  So I chose a wild print from the Confetti Celebration DSP pack (on the bottom) and used it to pick the colors for my page base and mats.  And I used the dog punch and Happy Tails stamp set for an accent on the right page.

So here's my fun color palette for today:  Bermuda Bay, Strawberry Slush, Tangelo Twist, Crushed Curry, Basic Black, and Whisper White.

Have a great day, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Taffy Alphabet, Headline Alphabet, Happy Tails
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Strawberry Slush, Tangelo Twist, Memento Tuxedo Black, Basic Black marker
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Tangelo Twist, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White, Confetti Celebration DSP
Accessories:  Dog punch, Stitched Shapes Framelits

Dino Duo

Mornin' y'all!  I haven't been posting on Saturdays lately, but I had an idea for a card yesterday and I just had to make it.  Actually I made two:

I'm in looooooove with the color challenge from As You See It, I may do this one again:

Uhhhh now I HAVE to do it again, I used Crushed Curry instead of Mango Melody!  Oops.

I paired that with the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch:

Just for funsies I did the sketch in the original portrait orientation and again in landscape.  I think the Coastal Cabana dino turned out cuter, but I like the use of space on the Crushed Curry dino card better, so *shrug*.  Maybe I'll send these to my friend Tiana and she can sneak notes in her daughters' backpacks :)

Since we're officially hurricane-free (yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day), I'm going to yoga this morning.  Wooooo!  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Dino Days, Forever Lovely
Ink:  Pretty Peacock, Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Rectangle Stitched Dies

Fresh Fall Fusion

Hey y'all!  I think the worst of Dorian is past us, but we still have to figure out how to entertain a 2.5-year-old for the whole day without leaving the house.  Wish us luck.

Here are the results of yesterday's naptime crafting:

I loved the inspiration picture from Fusion:

I chose my colors from the photo:  Mango Melody, Cajun Craze, Memento Tuxedo Black, and Crumb Cake.  That tree stump cross section thing seemed like the perfect thing for the circular element on this week's sketch from Freshly Made:

At first, that circle was making me think of wreaths, but I just don't want to start Christmas cards yet ;)

Ooh, the power just flickered.  Maybe we should turn the computer off...

Stay safe, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Rooted in Nature
Ink:  Mango Melody, Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Nature's Roots dies, Mini Dimensionals

Heartfelt Hydrangea Sympathy

Hey y'all!  It's been a busy week here.  We live in North Carolina, so we've been preparing for Hurricane Dorian.  We're far enough inland that we don't expect it to be too bad where we are, but when a hurricane is coming you have to prepare for the worst-case scenario, so that's what we've been doing.  I managed to carve out some stamping time yesterday and made this:

I started with the sketch from Fab Friday:

Added the colors from Global Design Project:

And finished with the theme challenge from Inspire. Create:

I like this particular challenge because I hate to make sympathy cards when I actually need to send one, so it's nice to have a couple in my stash.  Usually I stick to blues and greens for sympathy cards because I find those colors soothing and comforting, but I thought the GDP challenge colors would still work for sympathy.

Have a great day, peeps.  At least Ryan and I get to go to the Y this morning like usual...they've already decided to close on Friday morning so there goes my yoga class : /  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Friendship, Well Said
Ink:  So Saffron, Rococo Rose, Mint Macaron, Soft Suede
Paper:  Rococo Rose, So Saffron, Thick Whisper White, In Color & Subtles DSP
Accessories:  Basics Adhesive Sequins, Dimensionals

SUO Challenges: Summer Colors

Happy Tuesday, y'all!  I had intended to post a scrapbook layout yesterday, but I just didn't get around to it.  The hubs and I took the small child out to Asheville over the weekend and spent most of Sunday driving back, after which I was just so wiped out.  So here we are and it's time for another SUO Challenge!

 

And this time it's a color combination!  Check it out:

I think this is the last hurrah for summery colors and now that it's September, I can officially dive in to all things fall (which is my favorite season!) even though it's still eleventy billion degrees outside.  So one last summer butterfly:

It was after dark when I took this picture so it's not great, sorry.  I used Pool Party as my base and the other bright colors are used in small, measured doses on the image panel ;) I used sponge daubers to apply Mango Melody and Lovely Lipstick on a scrap of white cardstock, then stamped the butterfly in black and punched it out.  A couple of Granny Apple Green leaves courtesy of the Tropical dies, and boom!  All challenge colors accounted for.  The white square is a bit crooked on the card base, but I'm going to call that handmade charm ;)

Mosey on over to the SUO Challenges blog and link up your own summer color creation.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Butterfly Gala, A Big Thank You
Ink:  Pool Party, Mango Melody, Lovely Lipstick, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Pool Party, Granny Apple Green, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Butterfly Duet punch, Tropical dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Dimensionals