Monday, May 31, 2021

Ryan & His Dad

Hey y'all, how's the holiday weekend treating you?  We got back from a weekend in Munich a couple hours ago.  It was still a bit cool out but we have ridiculously gorgeous weather today!  Finally warming up to 70 degrees where it's been in the low 60s, tops, for a long time.  We enjoyed getting out of the house, though I have to say Munich isn't our favorite.  It was fine, just not superfantastic.

Anywha, I've got a new layout to share today for Scrappy Monday and I forgot that I decorated it with fall leaves so whoops.  It's still cute.


When I work on a lot of scrapbook pages in a row, I tend to get in a groove and use one or two colors over and over.  So I made this layout and a couple of other ones with Dapper Denim and Dusty Durango (maybe not together).  It's fun to revisit retired colors on my scrapbook pages.  I haven't done much scrapping lately--I have FIVE layouts that only lack journaling and yet they've been sitting unfinished in my craft room for MONTHS.  Need to get back in the scrappy groove, but lately I've been distracted by my Friday Flashback project.


Today's color palette:  Dapper Denim, Dusty Durango, Wild Wasabi, Bumblebee (I think this was the very first time I used that color!), and Whisper White.

Have a great week, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Back to Basics Alphabet, Larger Than Life Alphabet, Falling Leaves
Ink:  Dapper Denim, Dusty Durango, Bumblebee
Paper:  Dapper Denim, Dusty Durango, Wild Wasabi, Thick Whisper White, Dusty Durango & Wild Wasabi DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes dies

Saturday, May 29, 2021

Baby Luke: December

Hey y'all, quick post today.  We're nearing the end of the baby book posts!


AAAHHHHHHH how cute are those elves?!  The stamp set #Elfie was only available in the holiday catalog for I think 2019 and I had to get it for this baby book.  I fussy cut the elves for the right page and colored all three of them with Blends.

Have a great weekend!

Supplies:
Stamps:  #Elfie
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Poppy Parade, Call Me Clover, So Saffron, Petal Pink, Smoky Slate, Pool Party
Paper:  Poppy Parade, Call Me Clover, Pool Party, Thick Whisper White, Pool Party DSP, Santa's Workshop DSP
Accessories:  Sizzix letters, Labels Collection Framelits

Friday, May 28, 2021

Friday Flashback: Ain't Love Grand

Friday Flashback on a Friday! :)  Today's stamp set is Ain't Love Grand, and I thought I'd never used it before.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I'd actually made an entire set of cards with it!  And I made six new cards for today's post, all with the Playing with Patterns DSP Stack.


I chose six pieces of the DSP, cut a piece for each card front, and then I took the two inch strip I had left over and for most of them I turned 'em over and did a mix and match with the patterns on the other side and made a banner for each card.  So I only used six pieces of the patterned paper but I ended up with a nice variety of cards.  I particularly like the Crushed Curry gradient on the card with the car, it looks like a sunset to me :)


Each image was stamped with Night of Navy ink and then colored with various Stampin' Blends.  Really didn't take too long to do all six cards!

Supplies, all SU! (some retired)
Stamps:  Ain't Love Grand
Ink:  Night of Navy, variety of Stampin' Blends
Paper:  Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry, Coastal Cabana, Thick Basic White, Playing with Patterns DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes dies, Tailored Tag punch, Dimensionals

Thursday, May 27, 2021

Friday Flashback: Ageless Adornment

Hey hey!  Since I'm working every day this week I haven't been able to stamp cards for new challenges, which means today is a Throwback Thursday type Friday Flashback.  Today's stamp set is Ageless Adornment, which started out as a hostess set.  There are four images and three sentiments; I made three cards.


For the lily card, I just stamped the image in So Saffron ink and then stamped the greeting over.  Easy peasy.  I did sponging and distressing on all three cards.  For the holly card, I stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and used my other ink colors to watercolor it.


And then for the butterfly card, I stamped the image with Misty Moonlight and then colored in with Stampin' Blends.  So there you have three different techniques using these detailed images :)

Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, lily card:
Stamps:  Ageless Adornment
Ink:  So Saffron, Cinnamon Cider, Early Espresso
Paper:  So Saffron, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  hole punch

Supplies, holly card:
Stamps:  Ageless Adornment
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Shaded Spruce, Cherry Cobbler, Cinnamon Cider, Early Espresso
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Hole punch

Supplies, butterfly card:
Stamps:  Ageless Adornment
Ink:  Misty Moonlight, Stampin' Blends in Seaside Spray and Petal Pink
Paper:  Seaside Spray, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  hole punch

Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Anything is Possible

Hey hey!  How's your week going?

I love it when new colors are released.  It's fun to see how they fit in with the colors we already know and love and imagine new combinations :)  The brand new crop of In Colors actually works really well as a palette.


Thought I'd go for a different look with Hand-Penned Petals and use the filler stamps without the outlines, what do you think?  Fab Friday gave me the perfect excuse to use all five new In Colors on one card:


I paired that with the sketch from Try Stamping on Tuesday:


And thanks to those two challenges, I had my card made lickety-split!

Have a great Wednesday, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hand-Penned Petals
Ink:  Fresh Freesia, Polished Pink, Evening Evergreen, Soft Succulent, Pale Papaya
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Soft Succulent, Pale Papaya, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Tailored Tag punch, Dimensionals

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

SUO Challenges: Playing Favorites

Happy Tuesday and are you ready for a new challenge from SUO Challenges?  'Cause we are!





This time we're asking you to play favorites....pick a favorite stamp set and make a card with it!  It can be your favorite current stamp set, your favorite retired stamp set, your favorite flower stamp set, your favorite sentiment set, whatever.  Just pick stamps and start creating!

I came up with the idea for this challenge and then it was hard for me, lol!  I don't think I could pick a favorite stamp set EVER because I have literally hundreds of sets.  In the end, I chose my favorite stamp set from the Occasions catalog that is not carried over to the annual catalog...Flowering Cactus!


I think I made a good choice :D  I will take any excuse to play with this stamp set and I've loved every single card I've made with it.  I hadn't used the friendship sentiment yet, so I built a little cactus collage and popped up the sentiment on some Ornate Frames dies.  This is the first time I've busted out the Calypso Coral twine that comes in the product medley, too, but I couldn't find the end of the string at first so I made a big mess with it, haha!  That's okay, getting messy is part of the fun of creating things.

So now it's your turn to be creative!  The messy part is optional (unless you're me, then it's unavoidable).  Don't forget to upload your creation on the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flowering Cactus
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Highland Heather, Calypso Coral, Pear Pizzazz, Mint Macaron
Paper:  Highland Heather, Mossy Meadow, Thick Basic White, Flowering Cactus DSP Stack
Accessories:  Flowering Cactus dies, Ornate Frames dies, Calypso Coral twine, Dimensionals

Monday, May 24, 2021

Virginia Beach, Part 3

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Today I'm finishing up the Virginia Beach layouts.  I love the fun bright colors on these!


The second picture is Ryan's face after trying tomatillo salsa.  Cracks me up how he'd try to eat sand TWICE but the salsa only got one bite.  We went to a mall to do a bit of shopping and had lunch before we hit the road back to North Carolina, and Ryan loved the cool hat he got at Firehouse Subs :)  I've talked about the Sweet Taffy DSP for the last two weeks but how amazing is that pattern on here?!  I just love it.  Gave me a good excuse to work lots of colors in on my sea creature page accents.  Isn't that Tempting Turquoise shark adorable?  And the Rich Razzleberry dolphin too!


Most of the color palette is taken straight from the DSP:  Old Olive, Pacific Point (not in the DSP but coordinates well), Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise, Rich Razzleberry, and Whisper White.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fishy Friends, Silly Sealife
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Gray marker, Daffodil Delight Blend
Paper:   Old Olive, Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Thick Whisper White, Sweet Taffy DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles & Layering Ovals Dies

Sunday, May 23, 2021

Pink Cherry

Hey y'all!  I couldn't let a few challenges get by without making a card for them, so special Sunday post this weekend.  Here's my card:


It's hard for me to get pictures in my craft room sometimes.  If it's bright sun then I end up with harsh shadows, but if it's TOO cloudy then the colors come out wonky.  For my super PINK card today, I used Polished Pink and Magenta Madness, with a wee bit of Pear Pizzazz thrown in.  I've said it before, but when I first saw Polished Pink I thought UGH we do NOT need another PINK but having played with it now I do really like it :D

Three challenges today!  Let's start with As You See It:


I drive past the tulip field every day so I almost said tulips, but then I started having thoughts of Japan and we have a cherry tree in our yard so I had to go with cherry blossoms!  Which is handy given the inspiration challenge from Hand Stamped Sentiments:


OH YES!  Aren't those gorgeous pictures?  It was fun for me to stamp the cherry blossoms from the recently retired Butterfly Wishes in Polished Pink instead of doing something really delicate like the retired Pink Pirouette.  Cherry blossoms do come in a variety of colors :)

Last up is the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:


I pre-ordered the handy dandy Basic Borders dies which made my card super easy to put together.  Gotta love that!

Hope you have a great Sunday, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Butterfly Wishes
Ink:  Polished Pink, Magenta Madness, Pear Pizzazz
Paper:  Polished Pink, Thick Basic White, Magenta Madness DSP
Accessories:  Basic Borders dies, In Color Enamel Dots

Saturday, May 22, 2021

Baby Luke: November

Hey hey!  Here we are in the second half of May and it's still cool enough outside that we're all in long pants and jackets.  I'm ready for it to warm up just a little bit.  Of course, after it gets hot this summer I'll be dreaming of cooler temperatures!

Anyway, a new baby book layout for today.


When I did the Acorny Thank You Friday Flashback post, I'd forgotten that I had used it on this layout too.  I love making the acorns with different colors and patterns.  Wonderfall is a favorite leaf set, too--it has a matching die, but this was before wafer dies were really a thing so it's a Bigz die which means you can't see exactly where it's cutting.  So you have to cut the paper first, then stamp on the die cut shapes...to be honest usually I just fussy cut the things, it's easier to me.  I love these leaves so I'm willing to put up with it :)

I got up before the hubs and the kid this morning so I spent a bit of extra time in my craft room and made ELEVEN cards for future Friday Flashback posts.  I won't get to do any paper crafting this week so I had to snatch the time while I could!

Have a great weekend, y'all.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Wonderfall, Acorny Thank You
Ink:  Raspberry Ripple, More Mustard, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade
Paper:  Soft Suede, Raspberry Ripple, More Mustard, Very Vanilla, Orchard Harvest DSP
Accessories:  Sizzix letters, Acorn punch, Nestabilities circle die

Friday, May 21, 2021

Brushed Sympathy Blooms

Hey y'all, happy Friday.  It's mid-afternoon here but I finally have a card to share!


My hubs asked me for a sympathy card that he could have everyone in his office sign for a coworker who lost her mother last week, so this card is 5x7.  It might LOOK simple, but it took me forever to push out all the little die cut pieces I didn't need :p  Then I used blending brushes to apply a soft wash of color, using the Color Throwdown for my palette:


We sent a bouquet too, so I know that her mother's favorite colors were pastels and white, so that definitely influenced how I made my flowers.  I used Coastal Cabana, Balmy Blue, and Just Jade for my colors.  I left the top die cut white, but after I stuck it down, I painted over it with Wink of Stella and after years of faithful service I think I need to replace my Wink of Stella pen.  It doesn't show up in the photo at all (usually doesn't), but it does add a nice elegance to the card IRL.

My supersize flower die cuts were inspired by the Global Design Project challenge:


Love that the inspiration card from GDP and the color palette from CTD dovetailed so nicely, it's like they planned it that way for me :)

Turns out I don't get ANY days off next week (what the heck, part time job!) so I'm going to go back up to my craft room and try to bust out a few more cards while I can.  Cheers, y'all!  And do more laundry.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  My Paper Pumpkin
Ink:  Coastal Cabana, Balmy Blue, Just Jade, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Many Layered Blossoms dies, Wink of Stella

Thursday, May 20, 2021

Friday Flashback: Afterthoughts

It's another Throwback Thursday version of the Friday Flashback!  I was supposed to have the day off work, but my boss asked if I could come in and help with the custom frame shop so that's what I'm doing.  But it gives me an excuse to share another Friday Flashback post :)

The name of this stamp set makes me giggle because I discovered that it IS an afterthought--I never stamped it out for my personal stamp catalog and in fact I never even inked it up at all before this.  There are a total of six sentiment stamps and it was a hostess set a few years back; I chose three of the stamps to make cards with.


And this is when I discovered my Bermuda Bay ink pad needed to be re-inked, which I have since taken care of :)  I had fun choosing patterns from the Cherry on Top DSP stack, there are a lot of cute ones in there so I'm glad I'm actually using them instead of letting them collect dust in my stash.

Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU! (many retired)
Stamps:  Afterthoughts
Ink:  Cucumber Crush, Watermelon Wonder, Bermuda Bay
Paper:  Cucumber Crush, Watermelon Wonder, Bermuda Bay, Thick Basic White, Cherry on Top DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Bold Cactus

Mornin' y'all!  I'm so happy with today's card that I'm going to skip the chitchat and get right to the picture, lookie!



I loooooooooooooooooooooove the Flowering Cactus product medley in the Occasions catalog and I might have to buy an extra pack of the DSP even though I'm currently on a mission to use up paper I already have, haha!  I just love it all so much.  Anyway, I cut a piece of Basic Black cardstock for yesterday's card base, and I still had the other half on my table when I started this card so I decided to go bold and use it for this card too.  For the other colors, I used the color challenge from The Spot:


I think this is my first time playing along in their challenges, I love this color palette.  This is my first foray with Fresh Freesia and we're going to be friends :)  I used the sketch from Fusion:


That pupper is adorable and I may have to play along again using the inspiration picture just because he's so cute.  Last up is the Festive Friday challenge:


I am a TERRIBLE gardener and the only reason we have five orchids growing like crazy in our kitchen window is because my hubs takes care of them :)  Anyway, from the inspo list I used plants (cactus), green (Granny Apple Green, love it), die cut (two, even), and flowers (on the cactus and on the Fresh Freesia strip).  There you have it--three challenges!  I love it when a plan comes together :)

Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flowering Cactus
Ink:  Granny Apple Green, Magenta Madness, Fresh Freesia, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Basic Black, Fresh Freesia, Thick Basic White, scrap of retired Granny Apple Green DSP
Accessories:  Flowering Cactus dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

An Interesting Experiment

Hey y'all!  How's your day going so far?  Since Ryan stayed home on Friday, I didn't think I'd be able to make any cards to share today and tomorrow since I'm working.  But my hubs took Ryan to see his cousins on Sunday so I got a couple cards made :D  Here's the first one:


This was pretty interesting.  It's very hard to tell in the photo, but the Very Vanilla layer is actually some old DSP--the pattern shows up the most in the center of the middle flower.  That Very Vanilla pattern also made the ink colors turn out more muted than I expected--I used Mango Melody, Bumblebee, and Terracotta Tile but it sure doesn't look like it, does it?  Not necessarily displeased, just not quite what I was expecting it to look like.

I got my inspiration from the Inspired By challenge:


I used the optional sketch as well as the inspiration pic for my card.  I was going to dig up an old stamp set with fruit in it, but Painted Poppies caught my eye so I went with that instead.  As for the sentiment...well, since I've been mailing a lot of cards to two ladies undergoing treatment for breast cancer, there's nothing more appropriate than this one!  Plus I figure neither one of them want a constant flood of "get well soon" cards since this is a long-term fight, so I like to go with "thinking of you" or just "hello" instead.  And cheerful stuff.  Because it's always nice to get pretty mail.

Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Poppies, Hydrangea Haven
Ink:  Mango Melody, Bumblebee, Terracotta Tile, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Basic Black, retired Very Vanilla DSP
Accessories:  none

Monday, May 17, 2021

Virginia Beach, Part 2

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I'm back with more Virginia Beach pages.  This layout is from our visit to the local aquarium.


The Pumpkin Pie print is once again from the Sweet Taffy DSP pack.  I thought the Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight page base made a great contrast to all the blues in the photographs, and I'm tickled that I worked in some purple.  I love purple, but I don't get to use it too often in my scrapbooks.


Today's color palette:  Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Gorgeous Grape, Tempting Turquoise, and Whisper White.  Nice bright colors for little kid pages!  It's funny to me how scrapping pictures of Ryan has shifted what colors I use the most.  Hey, kids' clothes come in bright colors--they're fun to play with.

Have a great Monday, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fishy Friends
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, & Basic Gray markers; Highland Heather & Pumpkin Pie Blends
Paper:  Daffodil Delight textured, Tempting Turquoise, Gorgeous Grape, Thick Whisper White, Sweet Taffy DSP
Accessories:  Layering Ovals Dies

Saturday, May 15, 2021

Baby Luke: October

Hey y'all!  I've been doing a re-read of my favorite author's book series, and it's been several years since I read the first two books so even though I generally remember what happens, I've forgotten enough that I keep staying up past my bedtime to read :D  Happily I got to sleep in a bit this morning and despite threatening rain we're going to get out and do something here shortly.

But in the meantime, I have a baby book layout to share!


I love doing Halloween layouts :) And how cute are the little monsters from the Boo To You stamp set?  I bought it just for this book and I love how cute they are on here.

Hope you have a great day, peeps!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Boo To You
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Orchid Opulence, Stampin' Blends in Smoky Slate, Pumpkin Pie, Flirty Flamingo, Granny Apple Green, Blackberry Bliss
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Granny Apple Green, Orchid Opulence, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Sizzix letters

Friday, May 14, 2021

Berry Greeting

Hey y'all, how's it going today?  I have today off work and I was planning on getting my hair cut and working in my craft room, but Ryan has an upset tummy and threw up his breakfast so looks like I'll be doing lots of couch time with him today.  Hopefully I can get him to watch something other than PJ Masks :p  I do have a card to share today though!


Sometimes if I fold a card and it's not really laying flat enough, I sit on it for a minute or two to make it flatten out--anyone else do that?  I forgot I had this one under my leg and accidentally got a little crease mark on it, but I figure cards usually get a wee bit distressed in the mail anyway.  This is the first time I've pulled out Polished Pink, and I must say I like it a lot more than I thought I would.  My first thought was "Another pink?  We don't NEED another pink!" but dang if it doesn't look just perfect with these strawberries!  I pulled out some retired Tropical Escape DSP that has pink on it--that pink is Blushing Bride, but I figured the stripes were skinny enough that it worked with everything else I had going on with this card :)  And I'm still in the "use up DSP stacks" mode.

Check out the quick and easy Freshly Made Sketch:


And the Color Throwdown:


At first I was going to make a card with Timeless Tropical, but given the inspiration picture I could not resist Sweet Strawberry.  I used Real Red, Polished Pink, Granny Apple Green (and some Shaded Spruce), and Early Espresso (only for the sentiment).

This card also counts for the Just Add Ink challenge:


I admit I made my card before I saw this challenge, but the Granny Apple Green totally makes it count for this!

Happy Friday, y'all.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sweet Strawberry
Ink:  Real Red, Polished Pink, Granny Apple Green, Shaded Spruce, Early Espresso
Paper:  Polished Pink, Thick Basic White, Tropical Escape DSP
Accessories:  Strawberry Builder Punch, mini Dimensionals, Tailored Tag punch

Thursday, May 13, 2021

Friday Flashback: Acorny Thank You

Okay, so today's Friday Flashback is on a Throwback Thursday ;)  We could have Time Warp Tuesday and Way Back Wednesday as well, but since I already started the Friday Flashback tag a long time ago that's what I'm sticking with ;)  Today's stamp set is Acorny Thank You, plus the coordinating acorn punch.


Just something nice and simple, but still cute I think.  I told you that my Flashback cards were probably going to be more CAS--I'm practicing!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Acorny Thank You
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Crushed Curry, Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie, Early Espresso
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Acorn punch, mini Dimensionals

At first I only made that one card, then went on to different projects.  Then another idea popped in my head so I had to circle back around and make a second Acorny card.

Man, I love a good plaid.  I had to go back and do this one because I don't think I'd used the "Nuts About You" acorn stamp at all yet and I just couldn't leave it out.  I pulled all the colors from the Wrapped in Plaid DSP stack, though if you want to get picky about it Cinnamon Cider isn't on this *particular* plaid.  Glad I went back to make this second card!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Acorny Thank You
Ink:  Early Espresso, Mango Melody, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, Cinnamon Cider
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Pretty Peacock, Thick Basic White, Wrapped in Plaid DSP Stack
Accessories:  Acorn punch, Dimensionals

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Happy Birthday, Freckles

Hey y'all, how's it going?  Turning out to be a rainy week here in Germany but that's okay.  I didn't get as much craft room time yesterday as I might have liked because I had an event to go to with the hubs, but I do have something cute to share today!

My mom loves hippos, so now I just have to remember this card in July when it's her birthday! :D  I think it's funny that the Coastal Cabana layer on the hippo came out looking like he's got freckles on his face.  This is only the second time I've gotten Hippo Happiness inked up, it's so cute so I'm glad I chose it for today's challenges.  Check out the Fab Friday sketch:


The die cut for the polka dot layer is also in the Hippo & Friends dies, and it was roughly square so I thought it was a good choice for that layer of the sketch.  I picked the birthday sentiment to fit in with the Global Design Project theme:



The recently retired Playing with Patterns DSP stack had some fun colors for birthday cards, so I picked two patterns to play with and let them dictate the colors I used for the stamped images and the card base.  Easy peasy!

Hope you have a great day, stampy friends!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hippo Happiness
Ink:  Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, Night of Navy, So Saffron, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Calypso Coral, Thick Basic White, Playing with Patterns DSP
Accessories:  Hippo & Friends dies, mini Dimensionals

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

SUO Challenges: To Hydrangea, or Not to Hydrangea

Hello stampy friends!  How are you today?  My day got an extra-early start when Ryan woke me up at 4 in the morning :p But I've got my tea and my protein shake on the desk in front of me, and I have today off of work so that means craft room time!  Which is perfect, because it's time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!


Today, we have a color challenge which we pulled straight from the Hydrangea Hill suite in the Occasions catalog:


Rococo Rose and Seaside Spray are officially retired, but as of right now you can still order the Hydrangea Hill DSP and all that good stuff.  I do *own* the Hydrangea Haven stamp set and that DSP, but I'm hard-headed so I decided to do something different with these colors...and ink up a brand new stamp set.

I had zero plans to buy Simply Succulents and its matching Potted Succulents dies and then all of a sudden I HAD TO HAVE THEM.  Does that happen to anyone else???  I stamped the pot with Misty Moonlight, the plants with Gorgeous Grape, and the sentiment with Mossy Meadow, and then I went to town with Stampin' Blends to color the images.  I won't lie, it took a while.  Also, this background die is fabulous but definitely run it through your die cut machine three or four times to make sure that all the bitty pieces get cut.  Pro tip :)

Your turn now!  Show us what you can do with the Hydrangea Hill color palette (hydrangeas are not required to play along) and post it on the SUO Challenges blog.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Succulents
Ink:  Gorgeous Grape, Misty Moonlight, Mossy Meadow, Stampin' Blends in Rococo Rose, Old Olive, Highland Heather, Mossy Meadow, Seaside Spray, and Misty Moonlight
Paper:  Seaside Spray, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Potted Succulents dies, Mini Dimensionals

Monday, May 10, 2021

Virginia Beach, Part 1

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  When I posted my Fishy Friends card last week, I mentioned that I'd bought it and Silly Sealife for my Virginia Beach scrapbook pages, and then I discovered on Saturday that I hadn't posted those pages yet!  Oops.  So I present to you Virginia Beach, part 1.


These pictures were taken in October of 2018, so Ryan was about one and a half.  He had a grand time playing in the sand and surf and also tried eating the sand...twice (see the closeup picture of him right under the page title?).


I made four VB layouts, and for each one I used patterns from the Sweet Taffy DSP which retired quite some time ago.  I think I only have a couple sheets of Bashful Blue 12x12 cardstock now too...yes, Balmy Blue is similar, but I don't have very much of it either since I have to buy a pack of Subtles cardstock to get two sheets of Balmy Blue.  I wish when they introduced new colors that I could buy packs of just the new color cardstock in 12x12.  I would own SO MUCH Balmy Blue and Shaded Spruce.


Today's color palette is what I think of as the basic Superman:  primary colors!  Bashful Blue, Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Blueberry Bushel, and Whisper White.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Make a Difference, Fishy Friends, Rough Draft Alphabet by Fontwerks
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Bashful Blue, Blueberry Bushel, Real Red & Daffodil Delight Blends, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Bashful Blue, Blueberry Bushel, Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Thick Whisper White, Sweet Taffy DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies

Sunday, May 9, 2021

Bright Parasol

Surprise Sunday post!  I didn't want to miss entering a card in a couple of challenges, so here we are.  This time around I used a stamp set that's only a teensy bit retired--as in, it was current a week ago ;)

I got Under My Umbrella and the coordinating umbrella punch when they first came out, and I was tickled when Pretty Parasol was released that also coordinates with the punch.  Took me a while to get it, and then I didn't get it inked up before SU! retired all the umbrella stuff.  Better late than never, right?  I also got the Flowers for Every Season DSP stack when it went on deep discount before retiring.  As if I didn't already have a lot of 6x6 DSP that I'm trying to work my way through ;)

Check out the Hand Stamped Sentiments color challenge:


This color combo is what inspired me to ink up the Pretty Parasol stamp set for today's card.  And I think I'm getting better with Stampin' Blends--check out the blended Flirty Flamingo top on the parasol!

I also used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I like this sketch, I'll have to use it again.  Anywha, hope you have a great Sunday and Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pretty Parasol
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Flirty Flamingo & So Saffron
Paper:  Pool Party, Thick Basic White, Flowers for Every Season DSP Stack
Accessories:  Umbrella Builder Punch, Mini Dimensionals, Stitched Shapes dies