Bunny Friends

Mornin' y'all!  The hubs took my car today to have some work done on it, so Ryan was wanting to ride bikes to school.  We got the bikes down and got started and discovered that my tires are super flat, so we had to come back to the house and take the hubs' truck instead...I think it's only the second time I've driven the truck?  But if we get my tires aired up maybe Ryan and I can do the bike thing tomorrow.

In the meantime, how about another bunny card?

I'm playing along with the Paper Players once again:

And for real I have another bun-bun on my radar to make another card with and all I can hear is Judy Hopps in Zootopia saying "Well, we do know how to multiply!"  I thought this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch would be CAS enough to combine challenges:

And finally, I'm having another go at the Festive Friday challenge:

I've got earthy colors, burlap (I stamped a burlap-esque pattern on the Chocolate Chip strip but I realize this might be iffy), splattering (again, a stamp, this time on the Garden Green strip), and animals.  I had the bunnies all picked out for my card and I was looking through my other stamp sets to see if I could hit a couple of other items on the list, and Awesomely Artistic gave me both of the texture stamps and the greeting, so win.  And I'm fairly certain this is the first time I've actually used this Forest Friends from 2005; there's another stamp set with the same name that came later and I've used that a lot, but I got this one on eBay a few years ago and this is her maiden voyage.

I have come to the conclusion that my stamp collection is getting unwieldy and I need to thin out some that I don't use, so I spent Sunday doing just that and put them in banker's boxes with "To Sell?" written on them (note the question mark).  I'm going to let them sit for a few months and if I don't ever go digging through there then I know it's okay to override my dragonish hoarding instincts and let those stamp sets go.  After all, I have four giant shelving units for stamp sets and they were kinda bursting at the seams.  So we'll see how that goes.

Anyway, that's it for now, peeps.  I'm going to eat breakfast and then take Daphne out to enjoy this beautiful day.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Forest Friends (2005), Awesomely Artistic
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Garden Green
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Garden Green, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes dies, watercolor pencils, Dimensionals, Earth Tones Shimmer Gems

China: Golf Cart Tour, Merge, & Light Show

Mornin'!  It's China Sunday, but as it happens I have already shared the next several layouts in the China books so today it's all reruns.  But I like these pages so we're doing it anyway!

First up are two layouts for the golf cart tour.

That color combination of Pool Party, Tranquil Tide, and Powder Pink is one of my favorites.  Love it!

Next up is the Merge, which is apparently what happens when two dudes accidentally share a drink (and then the hubs caught Bennet's cold).

And last up is the light show Illuminations that we went to that night.  So the river cruise (see the layouts here and here), golf cart tour, stop at McDonald's, and the light show were all on the same very busy day.  Next weekend I have a new layout to share, but for now I'm going to go play with the tiny child for a bit.  Cheers!

See the blog posts linked above for supply lists. :)

Retiring: Awesomely Artistic & One Big Meaning

Happy Friday, y'all!  As I promised yesterday, here's the card I was working on when I realized the color challenge I was trying to do called for Tranquil Tide, not Wild Wasabi.

I still like these colors together!  And all three are retiring.  Once again, I used Shimmery White paper for the background, then did a watercolor wash with Wild Wasabi and Wisteria Wonder.  I dried it with my heat tool (impatient me) and then stamped the floral stamp from Awesomely Artistic on it.  The dragonfly is stamped on Shimmery White as well, but just in case it didn't shimmer *enough* I added some Wink of Stella.

The current SUO Challenge is all about flowers:

I do love that big flower stamp.  I'll miss Awesomely Artistic.

Next up is this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Ryan just tried to sit on Vader's head.  Well, better Vader than Sadie...though to be fair Sadie would have run away before Ryan got close enough to try to sit on her head.  Vader is a patient dog!

That's it for me today, peeps.  Cheers!  And have a great weekend!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Awesomely Artistic, One Big Meaning
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant, Wild Wasabi, Wisteria Wonder
Paper:  Elegant Eggplant, Wild Wasabi, Wisteria Wonder, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits, Dimensinoals, Wink of Stella

Color Deja Vu

Mornin' y'all!  I managed to sneak in one more card before Tiana and her girls got here to help me take care of Ryan while also taking care of the hubs and getting him to his surgery today.  Buuuuut I seem to be stuck on some colors!

AAHHHH I still love these colors.  The challenge over at SUO Challenges is to make a butterfly or dragonfly card, so this qualifies :)  I also used the sketch from Clean & Simple:

And once again with the color combo from Just Add Ink:

I'm only slightly obsessed :)

We have to get the hubs to the hospital at 10:00 this morning, so surgery won't be until about noon.  Well, at least we don't have to get up super early in the morning for it!  We would appreciate any and all prayers, kind thoughts, and positive vibes you care to direct our way.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Awesomely Artistic
Ink:  Tranquil Tide, Pool Party, Powder Pink
Paper:  Tranquil Tide, Pool Party, Watercolor Paper, Thick Whisper  White
Accessories:  Tranquil Tide ribbon, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella pen

Golf Cart Tour (Guilin)

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Actually I typed this post up Sunday night because this morning we're taking the hubs to the hopsickle for a pre-op appointment--he has back surgery on Wednesday.  He's in so much pain from his sciatic nerve that Wednesday can't get here fast enough.  I hope that surgery does the trick and he feels a lot better really fast.  I hate seeing him in pain.

Buuuuut you're not here for the not-happy stuff, you're here for a scrapbook layout!  Actually I have two for you today.

You might be able to tell from the lettering template if you've been around here for a while, these pages are from our 2010 China trip.  (See the pictures here.)

Yep, I use the same lettering template on all the China layouts, and accent with Rough Type.  Sometimes I only use one or the other, but most often it's a combination.

And there's the second one.  I don't know why I associate dragonflies with Oriental stuff?  But apparently I do.

Let's talk color!  Today's color palette is Pool Party, Tranquil Tide, Powder Pink, and Whisper White.  Y'all, this is my FAVORITE NEW COLOR COMBINATION ever since I saw it in the SU! catty this summer.  I don't know why but I am in luuuurve with it.  Well, Tranquil Tide is actually my favorite new In Color, I love how it plays nice with pretty much every other color I've put it with and I need to play with it more often.  And guess what...

This is the current color challenge at Just Add Ink.  Technically I made these layouts several weeks ago, so I won't enter them in the challenge, but last night I managed to sneak in a wee bit of stampy time and I made something new for this color challenge that I'll share tomorrow.  Because, as I said, I'm totally in love with it.  A LOT.

Until then, peace out yo!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Rough Type, Awesomely Artistic, Artistically Asian
Ink:  Pool Party, Tranquil Tide
Paper:  Pool Party, Tranquil Tide, Powder Pink, Whole Lot of Lovely DSP
Accessories:  Lettering template, Detailed Dragonflies Thinlits

Pacific Dragonfly Friend

Afternoon, y'all.  I did not get into my craft room yesterday (except when I let the dogs out, since the door to the backyard area is down in the basement too) but I took Ryan with me this afternoon so we could both play in the basement for a bit.  And this is what I made!

Whee dragonfly.  I love dragonflies :)

I put some Wink of Stella on the dragonfly's wings, which made them a little sparkly (this is my totally ineffective attempt to capture the sparkle in a photograph) and had the added benefit of making the ink blur just a teensy bit so it's more watercolory looking.

You may recognize this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And because of the layered square elements, I married that sketch with the CASE the Designer challenge from Global Design Project:

I kept the dragonfly (but used a different one), the polka dots (but used the splatter stamp from Awesomely Artistic), the two squares (but tilted them to fit with the FMS sketch), and the single-word sentiment.  I started out with my Pacific Point dragonfly, then went looking for colors to go with it--I ended up using Sahara Sand and Cajun Craze on the suggestion of my long-retired Color Coach, which I still bust out often enough that it lives in the top drawer right next to my crafting table. 

In addition to all that, I'm also entering this over at SUO Challenges, where the current challenge is to use something new and fun from SU!  I used the Post Script background for the larger square element; that's one of just two new stamp sets I've bought from the new catalog thus far (that's....going to change in the not too distant future!  I need new stamps, right?).  Anyway, I do love Post Script so it was fun to use it here.  I'm also in a group on Facebook that's about to start sending some happy mail to each other, so I need some fun friend cards for that.  Yay for actually mailing the things I make!

And since I talk about Sodapop so much, here's a selfie I took yesterday with the squirt in question.  Yes, he is chewing on Post-It Notes, and he also refuses to look at a camera or a phone.  He's five months old and I swear he knows what a camera is!  And he's already decided not to cooperate with it.  But I love my stinker.  Starting to agree with the hubs that we're going to need to cut his hair though...

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Dragonfly Dreams, Awesomely Artistic, Post Script
Ink:  Pacific Point, Sahara Sand, Cajun Craze
Paper:  Pacific Point, Sahara Sand, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits, Rhinestones, Wink of Stella pen, Dimensionals

Dragonfly Birthday

Mornin', y'all!  Once again I have Ryan trying to help me type...his spelling isn't so great, so it's a good thing he's extra cute :)  As it happens, he also inspired today's card!

You'll see how in a minute.  Anyway, for this one I used the very last Mojo Monday sketch:

I only played along with the Mojo sketches occasionally, but it's sad when challenges stop.  Still, I understand why Julee had to give up something to get her life more in balance, so I wish her well!

I also used this week's Paper Players theme:

Easy peasy!  We have a lot of birthdays in my family coming up in July so this is a good time to stock up on birthday cards.

Okay, so here's how Ryan inspired today's card:

See the colors on his onesie?  It's all Lemon Lime Twist, Emerald Envy, and Pacific Point!  This isn't a really great picture of Ryan though; I took it this morning and he was like why aren't we eating breakfast already? instead of smiling for me.  That's okay though, I have this one from Sunday:

New favorite picture, right there.  They were watching me cook dinner.  Yep, buncha guys standing around watching the only woman do the work!  ;)  I love my boys.

Anyway, I think it's time to read to Ryan for a little bit before he goes down for his nap.  Have a fabby-dabby Tuesday, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Dragonfly Dreams, Awesomely Artistic, Rose Wonder
Ink:  Lemon Lime Twist, Emerald Envy, Pacific Point
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Emerald Envy, Pacific Point, Whisper White
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Perfect Dragonfly

Okay I finally got in my craft room for the first time all year!  :D  Sometimes it's good to take a little break and recharge the batteries a bit though, and it was fun to take a look back at my paper craftiness for 2016.  But now it's time for brand new craftiness!

Speaking of brand new, the sentiment is from Suite Sentiments which debuts in the Occasions Catalog starting tomorrow.  I can't wait to get the dragonfly bundle from that catalog, but in the meantime Awesomely Artistic does have a great smaller dragonfly.

I started with this week's Global Design Project CASE the Designer Challenge:

Obviously I kept the same color combo (Night of Navy, Watermelon Wonder, and Crumb Cake), but there are a few more subtle callbacks to this card as well:  my Crumb Cake layer has spots on it (though mine are speckles rather than true polka dots), I've got a horizontal Watermelon Wonder layer, and my Night of Navy panel is a vertical element.  I suppose I coulda found some balloons but I was just feeling the dragonfly today.

I paired that challenge with this week's Mojo Monday sketch:

And that was that!  The card came together pretty fast once I decided on colors for each of the elements of the sketch.  Not too bad a start for 2017 I think.  Of course, Baby Sodapop is due one month from tomorrow so who knows how much I'll actually get to stamp this year...we'll see if I can work it in between diaper changes and baby cuddles.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Awesomely Artistic, Suite Sentiments
Ink:  Night of Navy, Watermelon Wonder, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Night of Navy, Watermelon Wonder, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits, Dimensionals

Scrappy Showcase, Part 1

ETA:  this was supposed to show up on Saturday morning but it looks like it's already published.  So happy early new year?

Last day of the year, y'all!  And thus begins my 2016 scrappy showcase.  Since I usually only post one scrapbook layout per week, sometimes it takes quite a while between when I make one and when I post it so I didn't necessarily make all of these this year.  BUT I did complete 142 pages, so hooray for me!  My goal was 100, so I passed it by a bit :)  Anyway, let's get going!

First up is this layout from the last castle we visited in Wales; I love the dark orange colors contrasted with the green and blues.

Next is my scrappy ode to Disney's greatest villain, all pics taken at Disneyland Paris.  Again I love the colors with the photos plus it's Maleficent, can't go wrong there.

Next up is this snowy layout from England; I got the color combination of Island Indigo, Baja Breeze, and Rich Razzleberry from the old Color Coach.  I never would have put those three colors together on my own but I love the combination so much that I've used it several times on baby books too.

And the final layout for today is this New Years layout, appropriate no?  No Rock Band parties for us this year though, we'll be staying in tonight.

More scrappy goodness coming up in the next few days.  Hope you have a wonderful New Year's Eve and stay safe, y'all!

Fusion Dragonfly

Happy new catalog release daaaayyy!  Do you have your wish list all sorted out?  I do :D  For today's card, I'm showcasing a stamp that was released with last year's catalog.

I do love that dragonfly!  All the images on this card are from Awesomely Artistic, and I used the photo from Fusion for my inspiration:

I suppose I could have made my card so the splats went from left to right, but I was kinda making up the collage as I went and it ended up being right to left.  I almost called this post "My Blue Period" because the card is Tempting Turquoise, Pacific Point, and Tip Top Taupe but I wouldn't want anyone to think I was depressed--hubs and I watched Lilo & Stitch the other night and in one scene where Stitch is messing up stuff in Lilo's room, he tears a drawing she did and she yells, "Hey, that's from my Blue Period!" which just made me laugh.

Anywha, I kept this card super simple--one layer, only stamping, not even a rhinestone or anything, but I think I like it.  Hope you do too.  Now I think I'll go work on my new catalog order...that sound you hear is my hubs yelling "Nooooo!!!!" but you can ignore him :D

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Awesomely Artistic
Ink:  Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise, Tip Top Taupe
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  None

Ridiculously Happy Butterfly

Okay, y'all.  I don't know about you, but I'm getting really tired of cloudy and rainy weather.  It's been like two weeks since we saw the sun here and everything is soggy and it's making me grumpy.

Grump grump grump.

Okay, card.

Soooo meet the new Dapper Denim and Flirty Flamingo.  I also used Mint Macaron and some stamped-off Tip Top Taupe, and this week's Retro Sketch:

I even tried scattering some pearls around like is on the sketch.  Other than the butterfly, this is a single-layer card; I just used stamped elements for the border at the top and the scribbly circular element behind the butterfly on the sketch.  It had been too long since I last inked up Awesomely Artistic so I paired that with a sentiment from the new stamp set Love & Affection.  That sentiment (and the font) make me ridiculously happy.  Now if they could just get rid of the cloudy rainy weather for me....

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Awesomely Artistic, Love & Affection
Ink:  Dapper Denim, Mint Macaron, Tip Top Taupe
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Dapper Denim, Flirty Flamingo
Accessories:  Bold Butterfly Framelits, Butterflies Thinlits, Pearls

Rocking the New Year

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Actually, this week is going to be Spring Break Scrap Week, because hubs and I are in sunny California to spend the week at Disneyland.  : D  So let's get this week off to a rocking good start!

These pictures are from New Year's Eve 2013, see them here. The page base kinda looks black in that picture, but trust me, it's Elegant Eggplant.  I picked out the long-retired Holiday Lounge DSP for these pictures and I loooooooove it!

Closeup of my title, the Retro Alphabet.  For some reason my Taken with Teal ink pad is some kind of dusty not-really-teal color, so I used a marker to ink up the stamps instead to match the paper.  And I interspersed a few Hello Honey letters in there just for funsies.

And there's my guitar--you can just barely see some gray splatter dots on the Sahara Sand harlequin, probably should have done those a little bit darker.

Today's rockin' color combo is Elegant Eggplant (not black!), Taken with Teal, Hello Honey, Sahara Sand, Strawberry Slush, Basic Gray, and Whisper White.  But when I finished the layout, I had one photo left over, so I used it for another project:

D'awww.  As it happens I finished up the layout (and made the card) on hubs' birthday, so that's when I gave it to him.  Is it weird to give someone a card with a picture of themselves on it?

Supplies, scrapbook layout:
Stamps:  Retro Alphabet Upper & Lower, Grunge Rock, Extreme Elements, Awesomely Artistic
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant, Taken with Teal, Hello Honey, Sahara Sand, Strawberry Slush, Basic Gray

Paper:  Elegant Eggplant, Taken with Teal, Hello Honey, Thick Whisper White, Holiday Lounge DSP

Accessories:  3/4" and 7/8" circle punches, Circles Framelits

Supplies, silly card:
Stamps:  Alphabet Rotary
Ink:  Island Indigo
Paper:  Island Indigo, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Hexagon punch, photo

Timeless Dragonfly

Well, I'm running a little late today...usually I try to have my card made the day before so I can set up the blog post but I was working on the baby book yesterday and the card for today just didn't happen.  But I did manage to get it done this morning!

When I was looking back through all my 2015 posts for the showcase, I noticed that it had been far too long since I played with the Awesomely Artistic dragonfly.  I paired it with the new set Timeless Textures, and srsly, those two sets are a match made in stampy heaven.  It's hard to tell in the photo above, but there's a rhinestone on the dragonfly's body for a bit of extra sparkle and to go with all the silver.  If I had Wink of Stella glitter pens, I probably would have used that...I had planned to emboss the dragonfly with Iridescent Ice, but my girl dog Sadie was giving me serious goo-goo eyes because she wants to go for a walk.  So I went with the faster rhinestone option.

These fabulous colors are courtesy of the Create with Connie and Mary color challenge:

When I saw that, I was like sign me UP because Bermuda Bay and Blackberry Bliss are some of my favorites, and I've been using Pear Pizzazz a lot lately (wait till you see Friday's post, which I already have done because apparently I have problems with working chronologically).  Anyway, I also used this week's Mojo Monday sketch:

Very layery, but I refused to be intimidated and I do like how my card turned out.

So now I have two doglets giving  me the googoo eyes.  Guess I'd better put on my Eskimo outfit to take them for a walk...baby it's cold outside!  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Awesomely Artistic, Timeless Textures
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Bermuda Bay, Pear Pizzazz, Versamark
Paper:  Blackberry Bliss, Bermuda Bay, Pear Pizzazz, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  1" circle punch, rhinestone, silver EP, Dimensionals, silver doily

2015 Showcase, Part 2

Part 2 of the card showcase, so July through December.

July's pick features the fantastically-named stamp set Awesomely Artistic, which I need to use a whole lot more in 2016.  Sometimes having so many stamps is a problem ;)

July's other pick is this ax murderer card, which is quite possibly one of my favorite cards in the history of ever because of a joke I share with a friend, whom I have referred to for years as "my online friend, the ax murderer".  She thinks it's funny too.

My pick for August is this little stellar card, I love the bright colors and all the white space just seems to make it work.

September's pick is the faboolous Stella, who got sent to my friend Sarah who loves all things Halloween and even managed to have her daughter on her favorite holiday.

October's pick is this jellyfish card, just because I think it's funny.

November's pick is this beary thankful card, because I just couldn't get through an entire showcase without that Thankful Forest Friends bear.

November's other pick is this Star Wars birthday card, which I somehow neglected to sign when I gave it to my brother.  Oops.  But I was pretty proud of how Artoo turned out...maybe I should give BB-8 a try?

And to finish up the showcase, December's pick is this sparkly blue poinsettia card, which I sent to my mom because she loves sparkly and blue and all things Christmas.

Happy New Year, peeps!