SUO Challenges: Fun Folds

Gooooood morning stampy friends!  Are you ready for a new challenge from SUO Challenges?

This time around, we're asking you to make a card with a fun fold!  I must admit, I found this to be a challenge as I rarely make anything but a standard A2 card--I don't even much like doing square cards!  But I thought for a bit and eventually decided to make a bridge card.

I first made bridge cards in 2017 (you can see them here and here), and I used a tutorial on Lyssa Zwolanek's blog.  Basically, you start with a piece of cardstock that is 4.25" tall and 8" wide.  Score at 1.25" from either end (the long way), then flip the cardstock over and score again at 2.5" in from either end, so you have a mountain fold and a valley fold on either side.  The bridge piece is 1.25" by 5.5".  Then you just decorate the panels as desired.  What took me the longest was deciding which pieces of the gorgeous Blackberry Beauty DSP to use!  The flower accent and the piece I stamped the sentiment on are both from the Blackberry Beauty Ephemera Pack.  I've never bought one of those before but I just loved the colors and patterns in this suite so much that I had to get it too.  I added a piece of white cardstock to the back of the middle panel and that's where I wrote the message to the recipient--this card has already been mailed off.

Now it's your turn.  Show off your fun folds on the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun getting crafty!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Timeless Tropical
Ink:  Rich Razzleberry
Paper:  Blackberry Bliss, Blackberry Beauty DSP
Accessories:  Blackberry Beauty Ephemera Pack

Ginger vs. RC Car

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  How is it Monday already?  We spent the weekend doing a quick trip to Prague and I feel like I need another day to recuperate ; )  But here we are anyway!

I've got an old, old layout to share today...actually I made the layout 4 years ago and the pictures are even older than that!

Ginger was my dad's dog for years and years, and one year (2003, according to the date on the bottom of the pictures, remember when cameras would put the date on the picture for you?) my brother Adam got a big RC car for Christmas and Ginger was Not Pleased about it.  She barked like crazy, chased it everywhere, and when she got brave, she would dart forward and bite the tires : )

Today's color palette:  Early Espresso, Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Emerald Envy, and Whisper White.  Ginger was very dark brown and white, so that's why Early Espresso and Whisper White; my brother and my dad both graduated from Oklahoma State so that's why Pumpkin Pie; the car was blue so that's why Brilliant Blue, and the Emerald Envy just seemed to jive with the other colors.  Plus green is my favorite color : )

Okay, gotta get moving this morning.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  None
Ink:  Early Espresso marker
Paper:  Early Espresso, Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Emerald Envy, Thick Whisper White, Emerald Envy DSP
Accessories:  lettering template

Friday Flashback: All Boxed Up

Mornin' friends!  Time for another Friday Flashback, and today's stamp set is All Boxed Up.  I didn't get the coordinating dies that went with it because if I remember correctly it made little milk carton-style boxes and I just don't do the 3D thing hardly ever.  But I loved the sentiment stamps in this set :)  For today's set of cards, I paired All Boxed Up with the Cupcakes & Carousels DSP stack.  Here's what I made:

I think that "happy thoughts" stamp was the main reason I bought the set, I love it.  And I loved the sunburst effect from the DSP on two of the cards.

I used the same supplies for all the cards, just changed where the sentiment went based on the background DSP and what I thought looked good.  Four cards done very quickly, CAS but cute.  Gotta love some good DSP patterns and cute sentiments!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  All Boxed Up
Ink:  Early Espresso
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Peach Parfait, Calypso Coral, So Saffron, Cupcakes & Carousels DSP Stack
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Dimensionals

Polar Party Part 2

Mornin' y'all!  I saw the newest Freshly Made Sketch yesterday and it's #500 so I had to play along!  I just managed to make a card while Ryan was in the tub last night.  And since the Penguin Playmates DSP was already out from making yesterday's card...

I have three packs of this paper, and I rarely use up all of even a single pack so I have given myself permission to cut up one pack just as much as my little crafty heart desires and then I still have two packs to hoard if my little dragon heart desires.  I wasn't sure if I liked the polar bear by himself or if he needed friends though...

What do you think?  I think this might be the must adorable DSP that Stampin' Up! has ever produced ;)  Here's the Freshly Made Sketch:

Congratulations to the FMS team for an entire DECADE of challenges!  What a milestone.

Aaack, I've got to do my workout and get ready for work.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Penguin Place
Ink:  Just Jade
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Just Jade, Penguin Playmates DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Nested Labels dies

ETA:  I got a better pic of the card, had to share it too :)

Polar Party

Mornin', kids!  I stole some time this weekend to play in my craft room for a bit and I just could not wait anymore to cut into the oh-so-cute Penguin Playmates DSP.

I want ALLLLLLLL of these cuties as stamps, like, NOW.  Yes we have the penguin bundle (which I haven't played with yet) but COME ON those polar bears and foxes are ADORABLE in their little scarves!!!  I would also accept stuffed animals that I could cuddle.  I thought the Fusion sketch would be great for showing off this super-cute DSP:

The stripes on the left side of my cards are cut from another pattern in the pack.  I couldn't decide if I wanted to use Fresh Freesia or Just Jade for my card base, so I made two cards.  It's a playful polar party pair :)  The thing that took the longest for making these cards was choosing a sentiment.  Eventually I landed on Peaceful Moments, and I just wish we had more extra-long and skinny dies because I don't have any that would fit the sentiment I chose.  Oh well, I just stamped the sentiments on some scraps of white and cut 'em out with my paper trimmer the old-fashioned way ;)

Peace out, polar pals!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Peaceful Moments
Ink:  Misty Moonlight
Paper:  Just Jade, Fresh Freesia, Thick Basic White, Penguin Playmates DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Bicycle Race

Hey kids!  How is your day going?  I have a CAS card to share today with a cute bicycle.

Somehow I managed to combine three challenges into one CAS card ;)  First up is the color challenge from CAS Colours & Sketches:

And the sketch from Just Add Ink:

Finally, I chose a bicycle for the main image for the Retro Rubber challenge:

It amuses me that the inspo pic is a tractor for a mode of transportation.  The area where we live is rural enough that we occasionally get stuck behind slow-moving tractors when we're driving around.  We have a lot of bike riders too.  My bike stamps (that main image is actually four different stamps:  bike, flag, basket, and bird) are from 2016 and this is only the second time I've used the set, so it was nice to dust it off for these challenges.

Hope you're having a great day, and enjoy the ride! :)

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pedal Pusher, Wild Cats
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Pool Party, and Smoky Slate
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Ornate Frames dies, Pool Party baker's twine, Mini Dimensionals

Nana & Papa

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I'm happy to report that on Friday, I actually DID some scrapping!  Managed to start and finish a layout on the same day, even.  Wish I could have worked on the next one but the hubs ended up having to go into work this weekend so I had to entertain the spawn instead.

So for today's layout I'm going way back to when the spawn was a wee little squirt and just one month old.

This was his first meeting with his paternal grandparents, and he also got to meet his honorary Aunt Missy and Uncle Bennet.  Bennet refused to hold Ryan until Ryan was screaming about something, because Bennet said then there was no way he could make it any worse :D

Today's color palette:  Pool Party, Soft Suede, So Saffron, Shaded Spruce, and Whisper White.  And one stamped bear because I have to have a bear for Missy and Bennet...and Ryan was wearing a Baylor onesie in those pictures.

Have a great Monday, peeps.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Notable Alphabet, Thankful Forest Friends
Ink:  Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Shaded Spruce marker
Paper:  Pool Party, Shaded Spruce, Thick Whisper White, Color Me Autumn & Flock Together DSPs
Accessories:  None

Friday Flashback: Happiest of Holidays

Happy Friday, folks!  Whaddya know, I'm posting a Friday Flashback *ON* a Friday!

I used three out of the four stamps from Heard from the Heart on my All I Have Seen Flashback post, so I wanted to use the last one too.  Enter the pink and red poinsettia card.  I got Happiest of Holidays pretty early in my stamping career and managed to use all four stamps on the set on the second card :)

I finally got my latest big fat Stampin' Up! order and I really need to get upstairs and play with my new goodies!  Have a great weekend, kids.

Supplies, all SU!, left card:
Stamps:  Heard from the Heart, Happiest of Holidays
Ink:  pink?, Real Red, Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Real Red, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  none

Supplies, all SU!, right card:
Stamps:  Happiest of Holidays
Ink:  Shaded Spruce, Real Red, Night of Navy
Paper:  Real Red, Night of Navy, Thick Basic White, Shaded Spruce DSP
Accessories:  none

Snow Leopard

You know, I like to tease my husband about the Man Rainbow.  It seems like almost every article of clothing he owns is gray, black, navy blue, or khaki.  Add in some army green on special occasions and that is the extent of the Man Rainbow.  My card for today fits squarely in the Man Rainbow, as it's all shades of Gray Granite!

I was inspired to make a snow leopard thanks to Helen Read in the UK!  For mine, I inked up the solid stamp by using a sponge, which gave it some nice texture and let it be lighter than the spots and face detail, which I inked up like normal.

I'm entering this over at the Paper Players:

I have a couple of layers, but it still has a clean and simple vibe.  Have a great day, kids!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wild Cats
Ink:  Gray Granite
Paper:  Gray Granite, Thick Basic White, Gray Granite DSP
Accessories:  Big Cats dies, Rectangles Stitched dies, Dimensionals

Calming Garden Hello

Mornin' kids!  How's it going today?

I've been buying some retired stamp sets lately (I need to get off of eBay...) and the inspiration challenge at Just Add Ink was the perfect excuse to ink up one of my new acquisitions!

Isn't that a gorgeous inspiration pic?  So here's my first-ever card with Calming Garden:

The layer behind the flower panel is DSP from the Woven Threads pack; it has a subtle pattern to it.  I thought Terracotta Tile and Pretty Peacock were a good match for the inspiration pic, especially with the Sahara Sand.

Hope you have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Calming Garden, A Big Thank You
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Pretty Peacock, Stampin' Blends in Cajun Craze, Pretty Peacock, and Ivory
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Pretty Peacock, Woven Threads DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella, Glitter Enamel Shapes

SUO Challenges: Plant Life

Good morning stampy friends!  It is already time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!

This time our theme is plant life.  That means flowers and leaves and trees are all fair game, but I wanted to do something a little different.  Here's what I came up with:

That houseplant image was fussy-cut from the gorgeous Bloom Where You're Planted DSP!  My mom loves houseplants and has them everywhere, so this will go to her.  I, on the other hand, do not have a green thumb unless I'm in my craft room, in which case it is frequently (literally) green because I tend to get ink all over the place ;)  I did end up with green ink on my fingers when I made this, even though the ONLY stamping on it is the sentiment!

That DSP is amazing.  I love the greens in it!  Just Jade and Evening Evergreen look pretty fabulous with a bit of Cinnamon Cider, don't they?  I don't have the coordinating Plentiful Plants stamps and dies but it was easy peasy to cut the plant out of the patterned paper even without dies.

Your turn now!  Make a plant-ariffic creation and share it with us on SUO Challenges.  Hope to see you in our gallery!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Blossoms in Bloom
Ink:  Just Jade
Paper:  Just Jade, Evening Evergreen, Thick Basic White, Bloom Where You're Planted DSP
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Tasteful Labels dies, Dimensionals

Ryan's First Haircut

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  We had a pretty low-key weekend, which was fine, and yesterday the hubs and Ryan got their hair cut.  So today I thought I'd share a layout from Ryan's very first haircut when he was a wee babe!

My friend Tiana cut his hair for us :)  This kid had *multiple* haircuts before his first birthday.  I use a lot of blue on Ryan's layouts, and this time around I used several patterns from the Fresh Prints (...of Bel Air, I will never not say that) DSP stack because I love it.  It's only 4.5x6.5" so I have to be creative when it comes to using it for scrapbook pages.

Today's color palette:  Real Red, Pacific Point, Coastal Cabana, and Whisper White.  Huh.  Usually I put the color of the page base first, but for some reason I did it backwards here.  Oh well.

Hope your week is off to a great start!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Taffy Alphabet, Calendar Alphabet & Numbers
Ink:  Pacific Point, Real Red
Paper:  Pacific Point, Real Red, Coastal Cabana, Thick Whisper White, Fresh Prints DSP, Best Year Ever DSP
Accessories:  None

Blue Christmas Snowflakes

Hey y'all!  Most of the time I don't post on Saturdays, but I made a bunch of cards the other day and almost forgot to post this one before the challenges ended!

I got Snowflake Wishes and the coordinating dies last year but never got to use them before now.  Suuuuuper simple card to start with but that's okay!  I'm entering it in a couple of CAS challenges.  I tried adding some rhinestone or sequin embellishments but they just didn't work for this card, so it really stayed CAS.

I used the sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches:

And the color challenge from Less Is More:

Those two challenges together said snowflakes to me (obviously).  This came together in just a couple of minutes, gotta love that.

Hope you have a great weekend, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snowflake Wishes
Ink:  Pacific Point, Balmy Blue
Paper:  Pacific Point, Balmy Blue
Accessories:  None

Succulent Pair

It is definitely Friday the 13th, a little bit ago I was putting laundry in the washer and managed to whack my head but good on the window when I stood up.  Got a bit of a headache going but hey, I'm off work today so hopefully I'll get some good progress made in my craft room after I write this post :)

Today I have two cards to share.

I liked the color combination on this week's Color Throwdown, and I decided to pair it with Simply Succulents.  Then I was playing with the pieces I had stamped and/or die cut and ended up making two cards with them.

I did learn from my past mistake though and I ran that background die through the machine like five times to make sure every little bit of it cut the way it's supposed to ;)  Sorry the pic is a little blown out, I just couldn't get a good one today.

Here is the Color Throwdown:

I used Blushing Bride, Mint Macaron, and Smoky Slate for my colors.  Cute inspiration pic, too!

Wishing you nothing but good luck today, peeps.

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Simply Succulents, Stacked Stone
Ink:  Mint Macaron, Blushing Bride, Craft Whisper White
Paper:  Smoky Slate, Mint Macaron, Blushing Bride, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Potted Succulents dies, Dimensionals

Supplies, second card:
Stamps:  Simply Succulents
Ink:  Smoky Slate, Blushing Bride, Craft Whisper White
Paper:  Smoky Slate, Mint Macaron, Blushing Bride, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Potted Succulents dies, rhinestone, Wink of Stella

Amazing Tiger

Hey, y'all!  I had some trouble focusing yesterday morning in my craft room, but I finally found my groove and ended up making a whole bunch of cards.  I'm particularly proud of the one I'm sharing today.

One of my favoritest people in the entire world was my friend Neelu, and she loved tigers.  She died of cancer a few years ago and every time I see anything tiger-related I think of her.  So of course that's why I bought the Wild Cats stamp set and dies.  This card ended up being pretty busy, but I think I like it!  The two patterns of DSP are actually both sides of one sheet, how's that for thrifty?

I started out with the Sunday Stamps color challenge:

Hopefully the colors of the In the Wild DSP are a close enough match--I used Soft Succulent, Cajun Craze, Merry Merlot (in the jungly DSP), and Evening Evergreen, only leaving out the purple.

I paired that with this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And I thought I'd enter this at As You See It since I love tigers because I associate them with Neelu:

Apparently I have LOTS of favorite animals ;)

Have a great day, peeps.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wild Cats, Ornate Thanks
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Evening Evergreen, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Soft Succulent, Thick Basic White, In the Wild DSP
Accessories:  Big Cats dies, Layering Ovals dies, Potted Succulents dies, Dimensionals

Batty for Halloween

A conversation I had on WhatsApp yesterday with my friend Faith:

Faith:  I'm making a Christmas stocking...I have no idea why lol  I'm almost done and I'll prob make another one

Me:  I'm about to make a Halloween card in August.  Crafters gonna craft!

Faith:  Haha!  I wish I had Halloween colors {in yarn} and I'd make Halloween stockings lolol

True to my word, I did indeed make a Halloween card!

I could not resist making a Halloween card when I saw the Festive Friday challenge!

I used bats, night (the gray panel is the night sky with clouds), black, and embossing.  As I was going through my punches last week I found the spooky bats punch and thought it would be perfect for this.  I embossed the sentiment with white EP and originally I was going to just punch the bats out of black cardstock, but then I saw the Shimmery Black EP and of course THAT had to happen, so my bats are fancy!

I used the sketch from Inspired By...:

The cloud stamps are meant to stand in for the circles on the sketch, and then I put the bats on top plus one more for luck.  I'm also entering this at Retro Rubber:

Spooky Sweets was released in 2018, and Wonderfully Wicked in 2019, so they're both nice and retro for this challenge.  Heck, even my polka dot DSP is retro--I found a big scrap of it with my Pumpkin Pie cardstock and thought why not use that :)

Have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Spooky Sweets, Wonderfully Wicked
Ink:  Versamark, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Smoky Slate, Gorgeous Grape, Thick Basic White, Pumpkin Pie DSP
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Hippo & Friends dies, Spooky Bats punch, Dimensionals, Mini Dimensionals, White EP, Shimmery Black EP

Fierce Dragon

Hey y'all!  I worked a shorter day yesterday and I had just enough time to eke out a quick card before I went to pick Ryan up.  Here is today's card:

My parade of retired schtuff continues ;)  I'm entering this in a couple of challenges; first up is As You See It:

The first animal that popped in my head when I saw this challenge was a dragon, so that's what I went with.  Dragons are my favorite mythological animal...dogs are my favorite pets...my favorite shirt has a llama on it...foxes are my favorite forest dwellers.  So it's hard to pick just one favorite animal!  And of course I could pick out favorite animals for a lot of my friends and family too, but I only have so much time to make cards.

I used the sketch from Fusion:

And paired it with the colors from the Paper Players:

I had never colored the dragon red before, which seemed like an egregious oversight on my part, and I thought a red-and-yellow dragon would be nice.  I admit that I was stumped for a bit on how to incorporate the Old Olive but I got there in the end (the scales on his tummy shade to Old Olive, and his spines are Old Olive as well...the flash kind of washed that bit out when I took the picture).  And how awesome is that FIERCE sentiment with the dragon image?!  Thank you Wild Cats stamp set!

Hope your week is off to a good start.  Go forth and conquer!

Supplies, all SU! (many retired)
Stamps:  Magical Day, Wild Cats
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Real Red, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Shimmery White, See a Silhouette DSP, Ice Cream Corner DSP
Accessories:  Magical Mates dies, Starburst dies, Tags & Labels Collection dies, Dimensionals

August 2018

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I had Friday off, and while I did spend quite a bit of the day in my craft room, I didn't make anything.  I've been working on cleaning some stuff up and reorganizing a bit instead, but I'm hoping to get a lot done this week!  In the meantime, I have a layout to share today.

All the pictures were taken in August of 2018, and I used Ryan's dragon jammies as my inspiration for colors and for the dragon accent : )  Let's be honest, there are some kid clothes that if they made them in my size I would *totally* wear them, like dragon jammies, and also Ryan's bright orange jacket with a fox face and ears on the hood.  Anyway, I squeezed in nine pictures on this layout so other than the dragon and just a smidge of patterned paper, there wasn't a lot of room for embellishment here.  Which is fine because the pictures tell the story.

Today's color palette:  Call Me Clover, Lemon Lime Twist, Basic Black, and Whisper White.  You know I love me some greens!

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Full Calendar, Magical Day
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Lemon Lime Twist, Basic Black marker, Call Me Clover Blends
Paper:  Call Me Clover, Lemon Lime Twist, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White, Lemon Lime Twist DSP
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched Dies

Blooming Freesia

Woohoo Friday!  Confession time:  I have no idea what freesia looks like :)

But I love the color from Stampin' Up!  When I saw this week's Freshly Made Sketch, I really wondered what on earth I was going to do with it, and then Blossoms in Bloom popped in my head and I chose foru In Colors (Fresh Freesia, Pale Papaya, Just Jade, and Misty Moonlight) and got to work.  Here's the sketch:

Might as well enter this one in the Global Design Project challenge too!

Gotta love flowers, right?  Know what else I love?  I'm off work today, which means I get to spend most of the day in my craft room!  Can't complain about my job too much though, it's been pretty slow lately which means I've been working on my cross stitch and getting paid to do it :)

Have a great weekend!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Blossoms in Bloom
Ink:  Fresh Freesia, Pale Papaya, Just Jade, Misty Moonlight
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Misty Moonlight
Accessories:  None