SUO Challenges: Celebrating Our Galentines

Mornin' y'all and welcome to a new challenge from SUO Challenges!

This time around we're celebrating our gal pals, so make a card for your Galentine!  I must admit I bought the Country Bouquet bundle partially because of this challenge in particular.  Here's my card:

I really enjoyed playing with both the Country Floral Lane and Country Gingham DSPs for my layers, I kinda made this card in the style of Brian King with all those layers on there.  I stamped the heart and leaves, punched with the coordinating punch, added a sentiment and there you go, my Galentine card is done.  Now I just need to make several more to send out to all my pals around the world : )

We certainly hope you'll join in the fun at SUO Challenges and upload your Galentine card.  Enjoy!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Country Bouquet
Ink:  Sweet Sorbet, Mint Macaron, Balmy Blue
Paper:  Petal Pink, Sweet Sorbet, Thick Basic White, Country Floral Lane DSP, Country Gingham DSP Stack
Accessories:  Country Bouquet punch, adhesive sequins (probably retired), Stitched Rectangles dies, Dimensionals

Manor Houses

Scrappy Monday!  And I do plan to get my scrap on today, but I also have to go grocery shopping and get my hair cut.  So I'll have to manage my time well.  Yesterday I went through a lot of my scrapbook page blog posts and it was so fun to look back through the pages, especially Ryan's baby book, and it just made me even more excited to make more scrapbook pages.

Today's layout is one of my more recent ones, it's from two different manor houses that we visited in England.  Obviously I was more interested in taking pictures in the gardens than anything related to the houses ; )

There's so much green in the pictures that I kept trying pretty much every other color under the sun and in the end I decided that what it needed was EVEN MORE GREEN, so I did a green page base, green patterned paper, and green photo mats and whaddya know, the flowers pop pretty well in that forest of green.

Today's color palette includes Evening Evergreen, Just Jade, Shaded Spruce, and Whisper White.  Lots of green.  But hey, green is my favorite color so I am 100% okay with this ; )

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Make a Difference
Ink:  Shaded Spruce; Stampin' Blends in Just Jade & Purple Posy
Paper:  Evening Evergreen, Shaded Spruce, Just Jade, Thick Basic White, Expressions in Ink DSP
Accessories:  None

Hopeful Feathers

I'm squeaking in with one more quick card post this weekend, take a look:

I don't always get to play along with the Inspired By and Inspired By Nature challenges, but I do try.  Here's the latest Nature challenge:

And the sketch:

I used both for my card.  The inspo photo had me thinking of the Emily Dickinson quote that begins "Hope is the thing with feathers", so that's where my mind was when I made my card.  Stampin' Up! actually had that quote in a stamp set years ago, but I didn't buy it and I can't remember offhand what the name was, it was the quote that stuck in my head.  Anyway, I found a nice feather stamp and an accompanying hope sentiment in Positive Thoughts that's been retired for a little while now but my stamp library is vast ; )  The colors are a bit dull in my picture because it's been quite cloudy this afternoon; I used the retired Seaside Spray and Misty Moonlight for blues, with a panel of Smoky Slate.

Anyway, I think I'll mosey on into the living room and work on some stitching for a bit.  I'm not scheduled to work at all this week, so I have a goal in mind for scrapbook pages; I completed two layouts this weekend and I'm hoping to substantially add to that total by Friday afternoon.  But for now I need to work on catching up on my stitching temperature tracker.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Positive Thoughts
Ink:  Misty Moonlight
Paper:  Seaside Spray, Misty Moonlight, Smoky Slate
Accessories:  None

Milkshake Love

Happy Friday, y'all!  I work today but I may have some time this morning to do something in my craft room.  I was seriously in the scrappin' GROOVE yesterday and I've got the beginnings of a layout on my table.  I also made a couple of cards including this one to share today!

Another new stamp alert!!  Share a Milkshake is adorable.  I started with the Hand Stamped Sentiments mood board and had fun playing with this new set!

I'm at least the third person to make a milkshake card for this challenge but that's okay, it's fun to see how other people used the same challenge and stamp set together.  For mine, I used the sketch from Try Stampin' on Tuesday:

And the theme from Cupcake Inspirations:

I love how the navy blue pattern from the Regency Park DSP echoes the dots on top of the ice cream.  I stamped the sentiment on the inside, it says "Life is sweeter with you" (I neglected to take a picture of the inside).  This was fun to make.

Have a great Friday, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Share a Milkshake
Ink:  Polished Pink, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Real Red, Early Espresso
Paper:  Bashful Blue, Thick Basic White, Regency Park DSP Stack, Polished Pink DSP
Accessories:  Share a Milkshake dies, corner rounder punch, Night of Navy bordered ribbon, Dimensionals

Desert Sunshine

New stamps alert!  I spent some time this week getting my craft room organized and unpacking my new stamping goodies, and yesterday I made my first card with the stunning new Desert Details bundle.  Take a look:

I haven't cut into the coordinating DSP yet but I will soon : )  For today's card, I used the colors from the Color Throwdown:

I read it as Bumblebee, Rococo Rose, and Old Olive, so yes I used two retired In Colors with my new stuff by why not?  Also I still had some Shimmery White cardstock on my table from yesterday's card, so I stamped the desert blooms on that.  I paired the color challenge with the Freshly Made Sketches challenge:

I had fun with the new stamp set and I look forward to playing with it some more, plus the new papers too.  I love the sentiments in this set!  It's different than any of our other desert-themed sets too, with the Southwest-inspired elements and nary a cactus in sight.

I spent part of the day yesterday going to the store and making a meal for a coworker of my husband's who just had a baby.  Today I'm looking forward to more craft room time and not going anywhere...after all, I have several loads of laundry to do :p  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Desert Details
Ink:  Rococo Rose, Bumblebee, Early Espresso
Paper:  Bumblebee, Shimmery White, Old Olive DSP
Accessories:  Desert Details dies, Wonderful Gems, Dimensionals

Glam in Green

Hey y'all!  Yesterday did not go exactly to plan; I was working on a scrapbook layout and got a big ink splotch on my title block.  I was tired and frustrated so I laid down for an hour and dozed a bit, and did come up with a way to fix it, but that was all I got done in my craft room today.  But the rest of the day went fine and we had a good time last night celebrating Taco Tuesday and my birthday.  There were My Little Pony party hats involved.

Anyway, a card for today!

I got Haute Couture last year, it's a long-retired stamp set (hostess I think?) and it's been sitting in my craft room for months waiting for me to mount it on cling foam.  The Festive Friday challenge inspired me to finally get that done so I could use it for today's card.  Here's the challenge:

I know this dress practically screams to be RED, but I'm sending this card to my friend Beth with a story about a dream I had that involved a green dress so green it is.  I used shimmery black embossing powder for the dress and the sentiment, but the sparkle doesn't show up, and the cardstock is shimmery white too.  This is a very glam card and could be perfect if that dress was over about a quarter inch to the right, but I don't have time to redo it.  Harrumph.  Anyway, from the list I used ribbon, clothes, and square card.  Thought about rhinestones and then decided that would be too much.

The Global Design Project sketch was easy to alter into square format:

And now this card needs to get in the mail.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Haute Couture
Ink:  Versamark, Just Jade, Evening Evergreen
Paper:  Just Jade, Evening Evergreen, Shimmery White, Expressions in Ink DSP
Accessories:  Shimmery Black EP, Potted Succulents dies, gold ribbon, Dimensionals

Happy Bird-Day

 ...to ME.  Yep, it's my birthday today!  Since it's Tuesday, we're having tacos for dinner (it's the LAW according to Ryan) and the hubs invited my friend Krissy and her husband to join us for dinner tonight.  The unfortunate side effect of that is that I had to clean up the house a bit this morning, but it didn't take that long and it needed to be done anyway, *and* now that it's done I can go spend the next several hours in my craft room with a clear conscience.  After I finish my two cups of tea.

So, here's today's bird-day card:

My guest designer stint is over, but I do still love playing along with the Paper Players:

I had to use Adorable Owls for my card today, it's just too cute.  I hunted through all my new DSP (seriously, I have a ton of paper and I just got a half-dozen new packs from the Occasions and SAB catalogs) and I just liked that floral pattern from Flowers & More, so I started with that and colored my owl a whimsical Fresh Freesia because I could.  I've been using Fresh Freesia a bit lately, I will definitely miss it when it retires this summer.

I plan to sit here and surf a few blogs while I finish my teas, and then I'm heading up to my craft room to play until the alarm goes off to get Ryan off the bus.  It's gonna be a great day!

Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Adorable Owls
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Versamark, Crushed Curry marker, Stampin' Blends in Fresh Freesia & Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Sweet Sorbet, Thick Basic White, Flowers & More DSP
Accessories:  White EP, Stitched Rectangles dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals

Texas Trip

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I am finally feeling better (though I still need a box of Kleenex nearby) which is good since this is the start of my birthday week.  Unfortunately, the hubs is now under the weather : (  He was asking me this morning what I want to do for my birthday and I think he's slightly disappointed that I said we'd just stay in and eat tacos and that I was planning to pick up a cake today.  Hey, I was just sick, he's not feeling well now, I think we should keep it low-key, ya know?  Plus I am perfectly happy to just eat tacos with my dudes.

Anyway!  How about a birthday layout from 2013!

That year, the hubs was gone for like two months, including over my birthday, so I flew from England back to Texas for two weeks since I didn't feel like spending my birthday alone.  This was right around the time my SIL got her '55 Chevy, so I decided to go a bit retro with this layout, using the mid-century modern style Holiday Lounge DSP and Retro Alphabet.  Had to use Barely Banana to go with Adrienne's Golden Chariot, which she's planning to paint purple...someday.

The colors are a bit off in this pic of the color palette, but they are Raspberry Ripple, Taken With Teal (I still love this color, it is a lovely bright teal and prettier than it looks in the pictures, taking pictures of my paper crafts in this house is a challenge), Barely Banana, Sahara Sand, Basic Gray, and Whisper White.

Okay, well, I'd best be off so I can go conquer the world this week.  Okay for reals I need to go to the store and the post office and then I've got some more scrapping to do.  And probably laundry ; )  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Retro Alphabet Lower
Ink:  Taken with Teal, Sahara Sand, Raspberry Ripple, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Raspberry Ripple, Barely Banana, Sahara Sand, Thick Basic White, Holiday Lounge DSP
Accessories:  None

Friend Like You

I'm finally on the mend from having the flu last week and I couldn't let the several challenges pass me by, so I made this yesterday while the hubs and the kid were out playing in the snow:

I'll be honest, this didn't turn out as well on paper as it looked in my head; I blame the flu.  Nevertheless, here's this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

The Color Throwdown:

I used both Basic Gray and Smoky Slate, Night of Navy, and white.

Next up is the Inspired By Nature challenge:

I was absolutely thinking of this image when I stamped the large snowflake on the left side of my card, I think maybe I should have left off the smaller ones. 

Last up is the Retro Rubber Challenge:

Flurry of Wishes is over 6 years old and Peaceful Moments is 3 years old, so both retro.

Still think I might redo this card though...after I put in another load of laundry.

Stay healthy y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flurry of Wishes, Peaceful Moments
Ink:  Night of Navy, Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Versamark
Paper:  Basic Gray, Night of Navy, Whisper White
Accessories:  Deckled Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, White EP

Thankful Flowers

I am still not feeling well but at least it's not Covid, I got tested yesterday.  I think I have the flu.  So after I write this blog post and eat something for lunch, I'm going back to bed.

This was the other card I made on Wednesday morning:

I started with the colors from Global Design Project:

And paired them with the As You See It sketch:

I used some retired So Saffron taffeta ribbon for the yellow stripe on the sketch, and I swear I didn't mimic the colors on the sketch on purpose--I had scribbled the sketch on a piece of scratch paper and didn't even remember that the sketch graphic was blue and yellow.

Stay healthy, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nature's Harvest
Ink:  Early Espresso, Balmy Blue, Granny Apple Green, Stampin' Blends in So Saffron, Soft Suede, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  So Saffron, Thick Basic White, Balmy Blue DSP
Accessories:  Harvest dies, Dimensionals, white Milky Dots

Beautiful Bees

Well.  I got a nice, big Sale-a-Bration order yesterday and all I've done is crack open the box so far.  I wasn't feeling good yesterday and ended up leaving work early, and today I feel like I've been hit by a truck.  I didn't even get out of bed until 11:30 this morning.  I think I'm going to have to get a Covid test done when I go to get Ryan off the bus (there's a testing center literally right next to our house).

But enough of that, before I went to work yesterday I had time to squeeze in two cards, so here's one of them.

The CAS Colours & Sketches sketch challenge made me think of these three bees from Honeybee Home, and I liked the sentiment from Beautiful Thistle to go with them.  True to the CAS mandate, I didn't add any embellishments, other than popping up the bee images on Dimensionals and a bit of Wink of Stella on their wings.  Here's the sketch:

And now I face a perplexing dilemma:  go lie down on the couch or get something to eat first?  Stay healthy, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Honeybee Home, Beautiful Thistle
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in So Saffron, Pool Party, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Soft Sea Foam, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Honeybee dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Wisteria Happiness

Mornin' y'all!  I finally played with a new stamp set I bought in November, check it out:

Meet Wisteria Wishes!  I thought it was perfect to go with this week's Paper Players color challenge:

I'll be honest, I would not ever in a million years put Orchid Oasis and Highland Heather together on my own, so I had to think about this for a bit before I landed on the wisteria stamps.  But I do like how it turned out!  We had wisteria growing on the front of the house we had in England:

This was the garage at the front of the house.

I took those pics early in the season, in April 2011; by June most of the front of the house was covered in the vines (no longer flowering) but somehow I neglected to take pictures at that stage.

Anyway, that's it for me today.  Have a great Wednesday!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wisteria Wishes
Ink:  Highland Heather, Orchid Oasis, Parakeet Party
Paper: Highland Heather, Thick Basic White, Tea Boutique DSP Stack
Accessories:  Wisteria dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, In Color Matte Dots, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

SUO Challenges: It's All Black & White

 Happy Tuesday,  y'all, and we've got a new challenge at SUO Challenges coming at you right...now!

Today we're challenging you to make a card in black and white.  And for me, this *IS* a challenge, I love color!  I'll admit I was a bit pouty about this one, ha.  Then I remembered some black and white patterned paper I have in my stash, and I made this:

The Beautifully Penned DSP from last year's catalog is retired, but there is another set in the current catalog called Perfectly Penciled.  I thought Hand-Penned Petals went with the paper well, so I heat embossed some flowers with white EP on black cardstock and there we go.  I chose the sentiment because anything is possible, including me making a card with only black and white ; )

Hope you'll give this challenge a go and post your card on the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hand-Penned Petals
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark
Paper:  Basic Black, Thick Basic White, Beautifully Penned DSP
Accessories:  Penned Flowers dies, Stylish Shapes dies, white EP, black rhinestones, Dimensionals

Fluffernutter

 Scrappy Monday!  I posted a layout all about Vader last week, so here's one for Sadie.

Once again, just some random pics of our girl from when we lived in England.  Fluffernutter was one of Sadie's many, many nicknames because she was super fluffy, it was like petting a teddy bear.  I miss that girl!  And Vader, too, of course.  I made a punch art paw print out of a heart punch and and oval punch, easy trick.

Today's color palette:  Tranquil Tide, Mint Macaron, Grapefruit Grove, Basic Black, and Whisper White.  We had that kinda dusty teal carpet in some rooms of our house in England which led me to picking the Nature's Poem DSP to work with...the advantage of having black dogs is I can get whimsical with my color combinations since black goes with everything (except navy blue) (and probably dark brown).

Hope your week is off to a good start, y'all.  I'm hoping my week will include some scrappin' time!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tall Tales Alphabet, Filled with Love
Ink:  Grapefruit Grove, Basic Black marker
Paper:  Tranquil Tide, Mint Macaron, Thick Basic White, Nature's Poem DSP
Accessories:  Heart & oval punches

Poinsettia Love & Warmth

Extra post this week because I couldn't skip the Color Throwdown.  So here's this week's bonus card:

Once again I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And here is the Color Throwdown:

It immediately made me think of Christmas, so that's what I went with.  Ringed with Nature is carried over in the Occasions catalog, so I stamped some pretty poinsettias, added a simple greeting and some great plaid DSP, and done.  And now I already have a Christmas card for later this year.

Have a great weekend, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Ringed with Nature
Ink:  Real Red, Garden Green
Paper:  Garden Green, Soft Suede, Thick Basic White, Soft Suede DSP
Accessories:  Seasonal Sequins, Dimensionals, Chalk Talk Framelits

Taco Tuesday

FINALLY.  I can't believe it took me this long to ink up Taco Fiesta, I've had it for a month!  But its day has come, look!

I  kinda think I should have put faces on the tacos, but I didn't think of it until after I'd already stuck everything down with about a hundred Dimensionals.  The Granny Apple Green squares are up on Dimensionals, and the tacos are on a second layer.  Lots of coloring going on here too, I used Blends to color in the tacos and made my own patterned paper for the rectangular element in the background.  This card will be going out next week and I hope it makes the recipient as happy as it does me!

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Got a busy day ahead so I'd better get to it.  Have a great day, peeps, and remember--tacos are a valid option every day, not just Tuesday : )

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Taco Fiesta
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Stampin' Blends in So Saffron, Real Red, Granny Apple Green, Shaded Spruce, Old Olive, Smoky Slate, Pool Party
Paper:  Real Red, Basic Black, Thick Basic White, Granny Apple Green DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, White EP, Dimensionals

Inspired Heart

Mornin' y'all!  Having a good week so far?  Hope so!  I'm going to squeeze in just a bit of craft time before I leave for work today, but first, a quick blog post!

Inspired Thoughts was one of the new stamp sets on my shelf that hadn't gotten inked yet, so when I stamped my personal index sheet for it (I have binders with stamp set index sheets, organized generally by theme) I thought I'd make a card with it.  I used this week's Sunday Stamps sketch:

Congrats to them on their 300th challenge!  I busted out my very old Hearts Collection Framelits to match the sketch.  I paired that with the Festive Friday challenge:

I had to let ideas for this one percolate for a bit, but I happened to look through the Tea Boutique DSP Stack and found that pattern with the envelopes on it, and that gave me the direction for my card.  From the inspo list, I used red (Sweet Sorbet), envelopes, sequins, and heat embossing.  If you want to get technical, some of the flowers on the patterned paper are Orchid Oasis colored : ) 

Have a great day, y'all!  I have approximately 50 minutes in my craft room before time to leave for work...

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Inspired Thoughts
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Sweet Sorbet, Petal Pink, Tea Boutique DSP Stack
Accessories:  White EP, Hearts Collection Framelits, Seasonal Sequins, Dimensionals

Dandy Spring Tea Party

Mornin' y'all!  I spent hours yesterday happy as a clam working in my craft room...got one scrapbook layout done and the next just lacks journaling.  Plus I started picking colors for the next two layouts : D Glad my scrappy groove is back on!

But for today I have a card to share and I busted out some of the new Sale-a-Bration papers.  Take a look!

Dandy Designs is a mega stack of papers, so my main problem was narrowing down what patterns to use.  I was pondering this week's Paper Players challenge and it occurred to me that the Cup of Tea set has some tags.  Yay!  I attached the tag to the teacup with baker's twine and just let it swing freely, it's not adhered to the card front.  I thought that made it a little more fun : )

I paired that with the sketch from Try Stampin' on Tuesday:

That sketch gave me multiple layers for different patterns.  I suppose I could have used different patterns for the two background rectangles, but I thought that might make the design too busy.  Fun fact:  I used the same rectangle die for all three rectangles on my card.  I suppose the central rectangle should have been bigger to match the sketch, but I didn't want to cover up all those polka dots : )

I'm back at work today but I might be able to squeeze in just a bit of craft room time before I have to leave.  I still have so many scrapbook ideas swirling in my brain.  Have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Cup of Tea
Ink:  Granny Apple Green, Fresh Freesia
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Granny Apple Green, Thick Basic White, Dandy Designs DSP
Accessories:  Teacup dies, Stitched Rectangles dies, In Color twine, Dimensionals