Ryan: June

Mornin' y'all!  I had intended to post this yesterday, but the hubs was on the computer in the morning and I was working on other stuff in the afternoon and it just didn't get done.  So here it is now!

This layout was tough for me.  The picture on top of the right-hand page was taken at the very end of June, so I wanted it on the right page, but I hate to have people looking "off" the page and this layout was just kinda difficult.  Even after I stuck everything down, I switched the pages around--it does work with the patterned paper on the outside edges of the layout, and I can't remember right now which way I eventually put it in Ryan's baby book.

I picked Pumpkin Pie for my page base because bright orange seemed nice and summery for a June layout, and it worked with the greens and blues I pulled out of the photos.  So the palette for today is Pumpkin Pie, Brilliant Blue, Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue, and Whisper White.  All the colors except Pumpkin Pie and Whisper White are retired now.

I think I'm gonna go watch Cars 2 with Ryan now.  We just had orange scones for breakfast and my hubs is missing out since he's not up yet ;)  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Letters for You
Ink:  Wild Wasabi, Night of Navy marker
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi, Brilliant Blue, Thick Whisper White, Jersey Shore DSP
Accessories:  None

Wild Rose Hello

Mornin' stampers!  It's Friday, though I'm not sure how much that matters with the continuing quarantine.  Not much has opened up yet in North Carolina.

I spent some time in my craft room yesterday and made a card and worked on a couple of scrapbook layouts.  So here's the card:

Looking at this picture, I think I should have trimmed the patterned paper a bit more so that more of the Petal Pink card base showed, but it's all glued down now.  That paper is retired but it was just what I wanted for this card, so I went with it.  I used both Shimmer Black EP and Wink of Stella on the rose so it's nice and sparkly, don't know why they're retiring the shimmer embossing powders.

Anywha, I used the color challenge from Cupcake Inspirations:

As I mentioned, I used Petal Pink for my pink color, and Basic Black and Very Vanilla for the neutrals.  I also used the Global Design Project sketch:

That's it for me today, peeps!  Have a great Friday, even if it doesn't seem much different than any other day right now :)

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  To a Wild Rose, Free as a Bird
Ink:  Petal Pink, Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Petal Pink, Thick Very Vanilla, Modern Medley DSP
Accessories:  Shimmer Black EP, Wild Rose dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Varied Vase-Less

Mornin' y'all!  Once again I will be stuck trying to entertain a 3yo while it rains all day.  It's supposed to be intermittent thunderstorms through the weekend.  Ryan had a great time running around in the rain for a little bit yesterday though (just rain is fine, obviously I won't let him play outside in a thunderstorm).

So what we need today is a sunny card.  Does this fit the bill?

When I decided to use the Varied Vases stamp set, I had to use Mary Fish's signature tulip :)  I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch in a slightly modified format:

I had initially planned to do more flowers across the bottom, but it would have been too crowded the way I'd set up the rest of the card.  I used the colors from the As You See It color challenge:

Stampin' Blends made coloring in the flowers pretty quick and easy, and I tried for some color variation and shading on the flowers too.

Last up is the Retro Rubber Challenge:

And this is the reason why I made some design choices that I did.  I did the bottom row: flowers, patterned paper, and bright colors.  I had to add an extra layer in the sketch so I could incorporate the patterned paper, but happily that gave me a place to use Soft Suede for the color challenge.  Almost forgot!  Varied Vases is two years old, so it counts for the retro part of the challenge.

I'm off to watch Paw Patrol with my spawn.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Varied Vases
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Lovely Lipstick, Daffodil Delight, & Lovely Lipstick
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Tropical Oasis DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals

Autumnal Friend

Mornin' y'all!  I just finished my morning workout and I'm enjoying a small break before I get Ryan up this morning.  And I have a card to share that just feels like fall to me.

You probably can't tell from the picture, but I painted the butterfly with Wink of Stella for some shine, and the card base is sponged with Sahara Sand ink to give a little bit different shade than the interior panel.  And I know you can't see it but I stamped the butterfly along the Blackberry Bliss mat, which gives it a nice subtle texture in person.

I got my inspiration from the Just Add Ink challenge:

When I realized this challenge was closing today, I had to make a card for it because that picture is just so beautiful.  I used the colors Blackberry Bliss, Crushed Curry, Pretty Peacock, and Sahara Sand for my palette.  Totally fall colors, right?

I paired that with the Paper Players sketch challenge:

I've done similar sketches in the past week or two, it's just a classic and I have to play along with every variation on this theme ;)

Two minutes left until I release the Kraken.  Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Positive Thoughts
Ink:  Sahara Sand, Blackberry Bliss, Crushed Curry, Pretty Peacock
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Blackberry Bliss, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Nature's Thoughts dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

SUO Designer's Choice: The Bird & the Keys

I thought of that pun and just couldn't resist.  Let me tell ya 'bout the bird and the keys and the flowers and the trees :D  It's time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!

This one is super simple:  Designer's Choice.  Make any card or other project using only Stampin' Up! products, and share it with us at SUO Challenges.

A while back, I got an email from SU with pictures of three card samples.  The samples were very CAS with just solid cardstock and a black ink pad, but I CASEd the layout from one of the cards to make this:

The Rectangles Stitched dies are on the retiring list, but they're also in the new catalog with a different item number, so for all intents and purposes they're not being retired (you'd have to pry them out of my cold, dead hands anyway, I love those).  So I used the stitched rectangles to cut pieces of the DSP (which really is retiring) and then fussy cut the flowers and the bird image.  I didn't even use Dimensionals on this card--it's totally flat so will be easy to mail.  I need to mail more cards out!

So there's mine, what will you make?  Share it at the SUO Challenges blog!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Free as a Bird
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Calypso Coral, Smoky Slate, Pool Party, and So Saffron
Paper:  Pool Party, Thick Whisper White, Bird Ballad DSP
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched Dies

Helicopter Tour

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I'm back again with another Hawaii layout.

One thing the hubs wanted to do in Hawaii was go on a helicopter tour; to his surprise, I agreed to it ;) (I have problems with motion sickness when flying, and sure enough, I was pretty green around the gills by the time we landed. But I still did it.)  See the pics here.  Fun fact: the helicopter we rode on was used several times on episodes of Hawaii Five-O.

Fun fact (this one stamping related):  I made the stitched rectangle longer than the die on the left page.  The die cut tree hides the join between the two pieces so I could get the rectangle in the dimensions I wanted it :)

Today's color palette includes Pacific Point, Grapefruit Grove, Pool Party, Shaded Spruce, and Whisper White.

See you here tomorrow for a new SUO Challenge!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Rough Type, Timeless Tropical
Ink:  Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Pacific Point, Pool Party, Grapefruit Grove, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  In the Tropics dies, Rectangles Stitched dies

Ryan: Four Months

Lemme tell ya, I enjoyed my day yesterday with Ryan at the babysitter.  I did do a lot of heavy lifting (literally--I was sorting through books), but I took a break and bought floss for several more stitching projects and went out to lunch with the hubs :)  Okay, we had to eat lunch sitting in hubs' truck because the dining areas are still closed here, but whatever.

Anyway, it's time for another layout from Ryan's baby book, so here's his 4 month photo shoot:

He did NOT want to cooperate with getting his picture taken this time, but I'm glad I got one good one featuring his "Mommy's Little Muggle" onesie.  That got passed down to the next baby in the family and I'm hoping it was in turn passed along to my nephew, who should be just about the right size to fit in it now.  I think that top right picture is pretty hilarious, Ryan gets his side-eye abilities from me.

Today's color palette includes Night of Navy, Lemon Lime Twist, Coastal Cabana, Granny Apple Green, and Whisper White.  I miss Lemon Lime Twist, I'd trade Soft Sea Foam for LLT in a Peloponnesian minute.  Not that I think Soft Sea Foam is a bad color, I just love LLT a lot more ;)

Have a good holiday weekend, peeps.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  I {Love} Love, Happy Hearts
Ink:  Night of Navy
Paper:  Night of Navy, Coastal Cabana, Granny Apple Green, Thick Whisper White, Animal Expedition DSP
Accessories:  Lots of Labels Framelits

What Can I Say?

Y'ALL.  I just dropped Ryan off at a babysitter's house and I am KID-FREE until 3 this afternoon! I'm supposed to be sorting through our stuff to get ready for the upcoming move to Germany (still don't know exactly when that's going to happen), but first I'm going to have a nice cuppa tea and enjoy the quiet for a few minutes :D

There are a couple of challenges I wanted to participate in this week, so I made a card yesterday!

So I put this card together and then spent more time searching through my sentiments trying to figure out what to put on there than it took me to make the card and in the end I left it blank.  I think it needs something in the upper left corner to balance out the flower, but I couldn't decide on a sentiment, so I'll just leave it blank until I'm ready to send it out I guess.

Here's the latest from CAS(E) This Sketch:

And I love the colors from Global Design Project:

I am generally not a fan of Blushing Bride, but I do like it with these other two colors.  I don't know if any of the other pinks would bridge the super pale Soft Sea Foam and the super rich Pretty Peacock as well.

That's it for me today, kids.  I'm giving myself 10 minutes to enjoy my tea, then I'm getting to work.  Have a good Friday!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Positive Thoughts
Ink:  Soft Sea Foam, Blushing Bride
Paper:  Pretty Peacock, Soft Sea Foam, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Nature's Thoughts dies, Dimensionals, Noble Peacock Rhinestones

Dune Buggy

Hey y'all!  Didja miss me?  I've been concentrating on scrapbooking this week--I'm working on a whole bunch of pages from our Thanksgiving 2018 trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee and they've been taking up all my stamping time this week.  But I took a break yesterday to make something to share here.

Pedal to the Metal is in the Occasions catalog and I don't think I've seen more than one card made with it among all the blogs I follow.  Well, I bought it for Baby Luke's baby book since my brother is such a car nut, and this is the first time I've made a card with it so there you go.

I love this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

And I was inspired to pull out Pedal to the Metal by the challenge from the Paper Players:

Though I must say I think my card is a bit more CAS-plus.  There's white space, but also some layers on there.  (How do you like the oil splats from Geared Up Garage?)

Finally, I used the colors from CAS Colours & Sketches:

I almost did the monochromatic color challenge from Color Throwdown, but in the end I decided a cherry-red dune buggy was the way to go :)

We have rain, rain, rain for the third day in a row here, wish me luck keeping Ryan entertained.  We've got an 80% chance of thunderstorms for the rest of the day.  Stay cozy, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pedal to the Metal, Geared Up Garage
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Basic Gray, Crushed Curry marker, Coastal Cabana marker, Smoky Slate & Cherry Cobbler Blends
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Smoky Slate,  Crushed Curry, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Dimensionals

Hawaii Botanical Garden

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Today I have another Hawaii layout to share.  It's brightening up a dreary Monday morning here.

This layout goes right after The North Shore; after we left the sea turtles, we found a botanical garden and decided to stop.  See the original pictures here.  When the Tropical Oasis DSP was released, I knew I'd have to use it for my Hawaii pages!

Today's color palette is the  nice and warm Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody, Real Red, and Old Olive.

Have a good week, peeps.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Timeless Tropical, Notable Alphabet, Sweet Shoppe Alphabet Lower
Ink:  Mango Melody, Memento Tuxedo Black, Basic Black marker
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody, Tropical Oasis DSP
Accessories:  None

Ryan: While You Were Sleeping

Hey y'all!  Back again with another layout from Ryan's baby book.  My plan was to do pretty much two layouts for each month, but occasionally I had a collection of pictures I just couldn't resist using and that's how this layout came to be:

I took a lot of pictures of Ryan while he was sleeping and had to put them all on here because they're adorable.  He didn't typically nap on the floor in the kitchen; I put him on his blanket one day so I could do dishes real quick and he fell asleep while I was working :)

Today's color palette includes Poppy Parade, Crushed Curry, Blueberry Bushel, Balmy Blue, Basic Gray, and Whisper White.  Poppy Parade was taken straight from Ryan's outfits, and so was the Blueberry Bushel; I added Crushed Curry because who doesn't like a Superman-esque classic red-yellow-blue color scheme?

I think we're going to a newly reopened state park today to go take a look around while the weather is nice, so I'd better get ready to go.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Brushwork Alphabet, Letters for You
Ink:  Basic Gray, Blueberry Bushel
Paper:  Poppy Parade, Balmy Blue, Blueberry Bushel, Thick Whisper White, Crushed Curry DSP
Accessories:  None

Hello Rose

Okay, as promised, I have something a bit more cheerful today.  Here it is:

I used the color challenge from Hand Stamped Sentiments:

I didn't realize how often I stamp this rose with Rococo Rose ink until I looked back at all my other To A Wild Rose projects, haha.  I guess my brain is literal.  I added some Crumb Cake and Early Espresso to the challenge colors.  And rhinestones, because rhinestones seemed like a good idea.

It seems that my electric kettle is going to the Small Appliance Graveyard In the Sky, so I've got to get a new one.  I drink too much tea to go without an electric kettle ;)  Cheers, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  To A Wild Rose, Butterfly Gala
Ink:  Rococo Rose, Mint Macaron, Early Espresso
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Wild Rose dies, Stitched Nested Labels dies, Dimensionals, Rhinestones

Gratitude in the Face of Grief

Hey y'all.  I'm still struggling in my craft room a little bit; I can't seem to get scrapbook pages to work for me and trying to work on them has been a little frustrating.  I decided yesterday that I needed a couple of thank you cards though and I do love how they turned out.

I love the dog punch; the matching stamp set is retiring but the punch will be in the new catalog.  The sentiment stamp is from A Big Thank You which is retiring as well.  I knew I wanted a Crumb Cake pattern for my card so I pulled out the long-retired but still awesome Fresh Prints (of Bel Air) stack and a bit of retired ribbon.  (I have a ridiculous amount of retired paper!)

The Fab Friday sketch was perfect for what I needed on my card:

I made one of these to send to the veterinarian who cared for Sadie at the end.  The other is going to some friends who live down the street from us; the other day my husband found a bag on our front porch and inside was this little sign:

I'm going to frame some pictures of Sadie and Vader and display them with this.  It makes me cry to look at it right now because I miss my fur babies so much, but I do adore the sentiment and someday I won't be a human waterfall.

This is the last picture I took of Sadie, just two days before she died.

Okay, I'm going to do my best to post something more cheerful next time around.  Peace out, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  A Big Thank You
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Mint Macaron, Basic Black, Real Red, Thick Whisper White, Fresh Prints DSP Stack
Accessories:  Dog punch, hexagon punch, Dimensionals, retired Real Red taffeta ribbon

SUO Challenges: Girl Power

Okay, I'm trying to get back in the swing of things, and to help me along with that, we have a new challenge starting at SUO Challenges.

This time the challenge is to make a card for a lady in your life--I know Mother's Day was last weekend, but that doesn't mean we can't make cards to celebrate all the women we know:  moms, daughters, nieces, friends, whoever.

I decided to go with Beautiful Friendship for my stamp set because I love the floral images and it's so easy to make a pretty (and feminine) card with them.  I had pulled out the striped pattern in consideration for something else and didn't use it, so I started with that on here and let it dictate the colors for my card--Lovely Lipstick, Petal Pink, Purple Posy, and Mint Macaron (not in that particular pattern, but still featured in the Best Dressed papers).

Play along with the challenge at the SUO Challenges blog.  Have a great day, stampers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Friendship
Ink:  Lovely Lipstick, Petal Pink, Purple Posy, Mint Macaron
Paper:  Petal Pink, Thick Whisper White, Best Dressed DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals

Sadie Belle

Hey y'all.  Last week was really tough for me.  It's been a week since she died, and I'm still looking for our Sadie girl in all her favorite spots.  Sigh.

After Vader died last year, I really put some effort into getting a lot of our dog pictures scrapped.  We loved those doggos, and as I told my husband, I'd wager that I spent more time in a room with one or both of them over the last 13+ years than I have with HIM.  Today's layout is from right when we first adopted our Sadie in July of 2006.

Sadie was an accidental acquisition :)  We had driven up to Greenville for the day and I wanted to go to their Michaels, which was right next to Petsmart, and they were doing an adoption event and there was Sadie all tiny and cute and extra fluffy and it was love at first sight and she came home with us.  I miss our girl.  And Vader.  But I'm glad I made all the pages for them that I have; I'll need to get the album put together soon.

Today's girly color palette is Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa, Barely Banana, Real Red, and Basic Black.  Sadie came home with a brown collar (I think it had fish on it?! Maybe it was actually a cat collar) but we soon got her a red collar and she wore red for the rest of her life.  Vader wore a blue collar.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Letters for You, Brushwork Alphabet, Hearts a Flutter, Bow Wow
Ink:  Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa, Basic Black
Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Barely Banana, Loves Me DSP
Accessories:  None

Sadie

We said goodbye to our girl Sadie yesterday.  It was absolutely the right decision--she wasn't eating, and the vet discovered she had a mass on her spleen, and we knew she was in a lot of pain--but that doesn't make it hurt less.  We did get to go in and spend some time with her before the vet gave her the last shot, for which I am grateful; her passing was much easier than Vader's was last year.  But my heart hurts.  We got her in July of 2006, when she was just 16 weeks old, and she turned 14 last month, so that's how long she's been my near-constant companion.

Sadie Belle

1 April 2006 - 4 May 2020

I might take a little break from the internet for a bit.

Supplies:
Stamps:  A Light Heart
Ink:  Riding Hood Red, Basic Black marker
Paper:  Pink Pirouette textured, Riding Hood Red, Pool Party, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White, Candy Lane & Attic Boutique DSP
Accessories:  Letter template

Painted Butterfly

Hey, y'all.  Scrappy Monday is being moved to Tuesday because I wanted to share this card before the challenge closes:

I love the Beautiful Day stamp set; I bought it on a whim and have never regretted it.  The big bold butterfly and flower images are great for all kinds of techniques.  For this card, I stamped the butterfly with Pretty Peacock ink, and then used the splatter stamps from Painted Poppies to paint the butterfly with Pool Party and Flirty Flamingo.  Super easy and it's meant to be a little free-form, so no worries about coloring outside the lines ;)

Here's the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches that inspired me:

Have a great day, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Day, Painted Poppies
Ink:  Pretty Peacock, Pool Party, Flirty Flamingo
Paper:  Shimmery White, Pool Party
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Iridescent Sequins

Ryan: May

So how many weeks have we been in lockdown now?  Seems like forever and here we are in May.  Wonder when this will all end.

I suppose it's appropriate that today's layout from Ryan's baby book is for May!

When Ryan was really little, I seemed to take a lot of pictures of him laying in my arms or selfies of the both of us, so that's what most of these pictures are.  That picture on the right where you see "OMG" on my shirt is really funny with Ryan's facial expression.

Today's color palette includes Call Me Clover (love this green), Crushed Curry (why do I always do green and yellow together?), Blueberry Bushel (I'm now hoarding this blue), Balmy Blue (if they had a 12x12 package of just this color, I would hoard it too), and Whisper White.  I like it.

My big plans for this weekend include lots of laundry and not much else.  How about you?

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Letters for You
Ink:  Blueberry Bushel, Night of Navy marker
Paper:  Call Me Clover, Balmy Blue, Blueberry Bushel, Thick Whisper White, Crushed Curry DSP
Accessories:  Large Letters Framelits