Plas Mawr

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  It's going to be busy, busy for the next couple of weeks here--Ryan starts swim lessons this afternoon, we have our household goods coming in on Friday, then unpacking everything, and two weeks from today is Meet the Teacher night at Ryan's new school and then he starts first grade that Wednesday.

But for now it's Scrappy Monday.  Today's layout is from when the hubs and I took a whirlwind trip around Wales just prior to moving back to the States from the UK in 2014.  How is this nine years ago already?!

Plas Mawr is an Elizabethan townhouse in Conwy not far away from Conwy Castle; honestly we only went there because it was free with our Cadw passes.  What, I much prefer castles to Elizabethan stuff.  They are Very Proud of the plaster work in this house (see fireplace, top left pic on the right-hand page) and the hubs and I both thought it was gaudy and we're glad it's not in our house.

Today's color palette:  Summer Starfruit, Poppy Parade, Wild Wheat, and Ballet Blue.  Wild Wheat is my least favorite of the In Colors that were introduced this year, but I discovered that it works well with the retired Summer Starfruit.  Of course, I never used much Summer Starfruit either.  Well, I suppose not every color can be my favorite!

Okay, Ryan and I are off to the Y.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Jayne's Type Alphabet, Best of Shelli
Ink:  Wild Wheat, Poppy Parade, Early Espresso marker
Paper:  Summer Starfruit, Wild Wheat, Ballet Blue, Thick Basic White, Pocketful of Posies DSP
Accessories:  None

Gaggles of Goose Greetings

Hey y'all, how goes it?  After I posted on Monday, I called the moving company to ask when our stuff was going to be delivered but they didn't give me a date, so the hubs called them in the afternoon and was Quite Unhappy at them for taking so long (our stuff arrived in the DFW area on July 20, but they still wouldn't give me a delivery date) and now we're getting it next Friday.  I am very much looking forward to having my bed and couch back.  Not to mention all the contents of my craft room.

So yeah, I have no furniture in my craft room, but I do have my current stamp sets and ink pads, plus a few sheets of all the current cardstock colors (#priorities) so I spent some time in there yesterday.  Ryan came to find me after I'd only been in there for like three minutes, so we both made cards.  This is the first card I've made since the middle of May!

Yep, that Bright & Beautiful DSP stack again, I do quite like it.  I also quite like this week's multilayered sketch from the Paper Players:

I'd only used Silly Goose once before this, so it was long past time to ink up some of the other stamps in the set.  Very soon I shall have to make a Goose Bumps card : )  For today, I'm happy to take fancy Ms. Goose out for a spin in her fashionable hat.  This will be going to my friend Beth who likes frogs.  Thanks to the Paper Players for giving me an excuse to use this stamp set again, and I am so happy to have created something after such a long hiatus.

Ryan wanted to make a card too, so here is his creation:

He wanted to make a card for his dad from Peking (his favorite duck stuffie) and decided that a goose stamp was close enough to a duck for his purposes.  This time he wanted me to do the stamping, but he did all the die cutting, coloring, and adhering.  I told him geese usually are white but he insisted that his goose had to be yellow (Peking the stuffie is {more accurately, was} yellow with orange feet and beak, so the stamped goose had to match him).

So there you go, two goose greetings for the price of one!  I'm hoping to get into my craft room on a more regular basis, but that might not happen until Ryan starts school next month.  At least by then we'll have all our stuff so I won't be stamping on a windowsill.

Have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!, my card:
Stamps:  Silly Goose
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Azure Afternoon, Berry Burst, Bubble Bath, Lemon Lolly, Lemon Lime Twist
Paper:  Azure Afternoon, Berry Burst, Bubble Bath, Lemon Lolly, Thick Basic White, Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Rhinestone Waves Basic Jewels, Dimensionals

Celebrating Karyn

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I tried to schedule a bunch of posts before we left Germany and didn't realize that I'd run out of scheduled Scrappy Monday posts already : p  Ryan and I are still waiting to get our household goods here in Texas, but at least we have the Internet (even if the computer is sitting on the floor and I'm on a yoga mat with the keyboard in my lap).  Hopefully it won't be too much longer.

In the meantime, how about a layout from our time in England.

I hosted a Peter Pan-themed baby shower for my friend Karyn who has twin boys (actually, I have no fewer than FOUR friends who have twin boys!).  The page accents are those dimensional Jolie's Boutique stickers, but since I like to keep things flat in my scrapbooks, I pulled them apart and took out the pop dots that make them stick up.

Today's fun color palette:  Cucumber Crush, Bumblebee, Berry Burst, and Magenta Madness.

Kiddo and I are off to the Y this morning.  I already did a workout today but I do like to take yoga classes in person and now I can : )  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Back to Basics Alphabet, Coffee House Alphabet (Inkadinkado)
Ink:  Berry Burst, Cucumber Crush, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Cucumber Crush, Magenta Madness, Berry Burst, Thick Basic White, Whole Lot of Lovely DSP
Accessories:  stickers

SUO Challenges: Pick Your Favorite

It's already that time again--a new challenge is going live from SUO Challenges!

And we have a question for you:  what's your favorite color combination?  We wanna see!  Make a card with your favorite combo and post it on the SUO Challenges blog.  I must admit I find this challenge a bit problematic...I don't have a single favorite color combo, I'm pretty much a fan of all things bright and beautiful.  So I used the Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack : )

I also piled on the Deckled Rectangles, I CASEd the layout from a card in last year's annual catalog.  I've been having fun pairing Lemon Lime Twist and Berry Burst with a few other colors, like Azure Afternoon or Blueberry Bushel...this time the third color is Pretty Peacock.  And all of those colors are in the Bright & Beautiful DSP so that works for me!  I pulled out some long-retired glitter enamel dots because they're Berry Burst and why not use up some of the stuff I already have.  (I did order a couple of packs of new embellishments but I didn't have them in hand when I made my card.)

We hope you'll share your favorite color combo with us at the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!  And also, happy birthday today to my dad and my uncle (twins).  Have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Taco Fiesta, Biggest Wish
Ink:  Lemon Lime Twist, Pretty Peacock, Berry Burst, Stampin' Blends in Lemon Lime Twist, Pretty Peacock, Lemon Lolly, Bubble Bath
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Berry Burst, Thick Basic White, Bright & Beautiful DSP
Accessories:  Deckled Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, retired glitter enamel dots

Let's Taco 'Bout It

Hey hey, happy Friday!  This is the first blog post I've actually written from our new house in Texas; we moved in two weeks ago.  We won't have all our stuff until probably close to the end of the month, but for now we have air mattresses, a couple of folding chairs, and the Internet, so it's enough to be doing with.

And Ryan officially made the first card in my new craft room, take a look:

He wanted to make a card for his dad, and since he didn't see any ducks in the stamps I have with me (I only brought the current sets, plus a bit of cardstock and a small collection of tools) he chose to go with tacos.  He helped with the die-cutting and did all the stamping and coloring and adhering himself.  I have no idea what could possibly be a BLUE taco filling, but he insisted.  And he put Wink of Stella on everything.

And there he is, hard at work!  For now, the work surface is limited to the windowsill, but we'll have the rest of our stuff soon enough.  Wonder how long it will take me to unpack everything all by my onesies?!  Ryan *says* he wants to help, but he gets bored pretty quickly.  I think he might be going to Camp Grandparents while I'm unpacking...

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Taco Fiesta, Country Bouquet
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Azure Afternoon, Stampin' Blends in Daffodil Delight & Azure Afternoon
Paper:  Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Thick Basic White, Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Stitched Rectangles dies, Wink of Stella, Dimensionals

Tennessee, Part 5: Crockett's Breakfast Camp

Scrappy Monday and let's roll right on to the last of the Tennessee layouts!

It seems like I rarely get to use purples on my scrapbook pages so I'm always excited when I can incorporate them.  My excuse this time was the picture of my French toast, which had blueberries (I think?) on it and enough purple in the picture to go for a Fresh Freesia page base.  So we all stuffed ourselves silly on the world's largest cinnamon rolls, and then took the kiddoos on a short hike in the national park to get the wiggles out before we hit the road back to North Carolina.  Hey, Ryan was 3 in these pictures and he still has a Captain America shirt like that.  I think I just buy it every time he goes up in size.

Today's berry-inspired color palette:  Fresh Freesia, Rich Razzleberry, Garden Green, Pretty Peacock, Blueberry Bushel, and white.  I'm glad to have Fresh Freesia in the permanent color lineup, and I've got enough Rich Razzleberry cardstock hoarded that I can pair them up on scrapbook pages whenever I want.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Berry Blessings
Ink:  Rich Razzleberry, Pretty Peacock, Garden Green, Blueberry Bushel
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Rich Razzleberry, Pretty Peacock, Garden Green, Thick Basic White, Forever Greenery DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies

SUO Challenges: Hip to Be Square

Happy Independence Day to everyone in the US and let's celebrate with a new challenge from SUO Challenges!

Our theme this time is Hip to Be Square!  Can't wait to see what you come up with.  In the meantime, here's what I made:

Lots of squares : )  I love that the Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack has lots of bold, bright patterns but there are also some soft and pretty ones like what I used for today's card.  Bubble Bath and Fresh Freesia are perfect for a friendly Valentine, right?  When I made this card, I wasn't tracking that the challenge would go live on July 4 or else I would have gone for something more patriotic, but this is what I got.

Hope you'll join us on the SUO Challenges blog.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Country Bouquet
Ink:  Bubble Bath, Fresh Freesia
Paper:  Bubble Bath, Fresh Freesia, Thick Basic White, Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack
Accessories:  Country Bouquet punch, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals

Tennessee, Part 4: Ober Gatlinburg

Scrappy Monday again already, y'all!  We're still in the Tennessee layouts but this one is a little less green than the last one : )

This whole area is super touristy but we had fun there anyway.  We walked along the main drag and did some shopping in Gatlinburg (which is where I found this book and I love reading it to Ryan as often as he'll let me), and then went on up to Ober Gatlinburg to go on rides and spend too much money on food.  It ain't Disneyland, but it was still fun for all of us.

Today's color palette:  Watermelon Wonder, Granny Apple Green, Pretty Peacock, Cherry Cobbler, and white.  Let me tell you, I had a lot of fun using Watermelon Wonder on this layout : )  It was an In Color years ago and it makes me happy to bring retired colors out to play again on my scrapbook pages.  I thought it lent an air of playfulness to this layout.

Cheers, y'all!  I think I might need to go buy myself a watermelon, even if Ryan won't help me eat it.  Picky weirdo.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Calendar Alphabet & Numbers, Pure & Simple Alphabet Upper, Eclectic Expressions
Ink:  Watermelon Wonder, Pretty Peacock, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Watermelon Wonder, Pretty Peacock, Cherry Cobbler, Thick Basic White, Forever Greenery DSP
Accessories:  Circle punches