March 2018

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Didja have a good weekend?  I got to sleep in on Saturday and then took Ryan to the playground for a few hours that afternoon, and yesterday I made pumpkin coffee cake for breakfast so yep, we had a good weekend :)  Ready to get this week started, so let's take a look at today's scrapbook layout!

Ryan's baby book covers February 2017 to February 2018, and after that I started doing monthly recap layouts because I always have a bunch of random pictures on my phone and this is a good way to share those that don't have anything tying them together other than the fact that they were all taken in March.  So here's Ryan with his best buddy Peking Duck, Ryan leaning on Vader (how I miss our dogs), pulling all the DVDs off the shelf for, like, the thousandth time, fun with Daddy, and Ryan with a quilt that was made for him by a friend of my parents.  I made this layout two years ago and now I'm not sure why I didn't have the patterned paper just go all the way across both pages...maybe I only had a scrap to work with, I can't remember.  It's a little different layout for me but I think it's okay.

Sometimes it's a challenge coming up with a color palette since the colors in the pictures are all different, so a lot of times I'll try to go with something seasonal.  Today's springtime color palette is Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Crumb Cake, and Whisper White.

It's off to work I go here in a little bit.  On Friday I learned how to do some things in the frame shop, so I may be framing more stuff for the post office today.  Or maybe I'll be learning how to take passport pictures.  Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Full Calendar, Tall Tales Numbers, Baby Bundle
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Bashful Blue, Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron Stampin' Blends
Paper:  Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Thick Whisper White, Delicate Dots DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles Dies

April Showers

Happy Friday, y'all.  I have been working in my craft room this week, but instead of making cards, I've been working on scrapbook pages.  I think that paper crafting is helping with my emotional well-being during quarantine, so I'm making a concerted effort to get in my craft room when Ryan does quiet time.  I have a small stack of new layouts that I need to take pictures of, but for now, I thought I'd share one I finished last year.

I took pictures at my friend Sarah's baby shower in Japan, and my mom went to my friend Melissa's baby shower in Texas, both of which happened in April so I couldn't resist the title April Showers.  Might be hard to see unless you click on the photo to embiggen.  I made baby books for both Sarah and Melissa; Sarah had a boy and Melissa had a girl.  I figured Barely Banana was a good neutral baby color, so that for the page base, and Wild Wasabi for all the photo mats.  Sarah's page on the left got a cute starry Bermuda Bay pattern, and Melissa's page on the right got the super-girly purple flowers (Mel's favorite color is purple, so I worked it into her book as much as I could).

So a very long time ago, not too long after I started stamping so like probably 15 years ago, I got the Alphahearts stamp set. 

And then...I never used it.  Until this layout.  It just seemed like a good fit for the baby shower layout.  Wheeeee for finally inking up a stamp set!  Now I just need to use the coordinating Alphaheart Numbers :)

Today's color palette is Barely Banana, Bermuda Bay, Wild Wasabi, Rich Razzleberry, Orchid Opulence, Pretty in Pink, and Whisper White.  I just did another layout with Barely Banana for the page base, after not using that color for years I seem to be reaching for it more often lately.  It's less muddy than So Saffron.

Hope you have a great Friday, y'all.  I told the hubs we need to decide which restaurant we're driving by for dinner tonight since we can't actually eat in restaurants right now.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps: Alphahearts, Baby Bundle
Ink:  Pretty in Pink, Bermuda Bay, Wild Wasabi, Orchid Opulence, Basic Gray
Paper:  Barely Banana, Wild Wasabi, Pretty in Pink, Thick Whisper White, Bubbles & Fizz DSP, Cottage Wall DSP
Accessories:  None

Bitty Baby Baylor Bear

If you've been checking out the blog for any length of time, you know that I make a LOT of cards.  This week though my husband requested a specific card, which he almost never does...there's a guy who works for him whose wife is due with a baby girl sometime this month, and both of them are Baylor grads too.  So the hubs asked me for a baby card, but I know this couple is *not* going for the all-pink super fluffy frou-frou girly-girl stuff so here's what I made:

I scribbled on my largest acrylic block with Crushed Curry and Wild Wasabi markers (I tried So Saffron at first but it came out way too pale), spritzed with water, and "stamped" it on my background panel.  I suggested green and gold when the hubs asked for the card, and he said a teensy little bit of pink would be okay.  The little teddy bear is from the now-retired Baby Bundle stamp set, but that was what I needed for this card.

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

So there you go, I can make specific cards on commission ;)

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Made with Love (sentiment), Baby Bundle (retired)
Ink:  Basic Black, Crushed Curry, Wild Wasabi, Blushing Bride (just a teeny bit on the bear's ears)
Paper:  So Saffron, Blushing Bride, Thick Whisper White, Wild Wasabi DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits, Dimensionals

Baby Books: April

Welcome back to another Snapdragon Stamps Special Edition...or something.  We're still doing baby books on Saturday because I have really fertile friends.  Uh, that sounds awkward.

Moving on.  April!

I can't remember where I got the idea for this color combination, because the Sunshine & Sprinkles paper has Melon Mambo in it rather than Calypso Coral.  Maybe I switched it out because Calypso Coral has enough orange in it not to seem too girly?  Yeah, that sounds like something I would do.

I still love those umbrellas from Rain or Shine.  Kinda wish SU! would do another umbrella stamp set with some matching Framelits, that would be awesome.

I do remember that my friend Tiana called me while I was working on this and asked what I was doing, and I said that I was looking for a rubber duck.  Which kind of surprised her but I do weird things :p  Anyway, I found this rubber ducky stamp in Baby Bundle.  Perfect!

And here's today's color palette:  Marina Mist, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Smoky Slate, and Whisper White.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, mostly SU!
Stamps:  Rain or Shine, Baby Bundle
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Marina Mist, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Marina Mist, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Sunshine & Sprinkles DSP
Accessories:  Sizzix Alphabet, Window Frame Framelits

Friday Flashback: Confetti

Man, I was doing really good this week with having posts written and scheduled the day before they were to go up, but I think I'm coming down with something right now :(  So I made my card yesterday but didn't get the post done.  Anyway, welcome to this week's Friday Flashback, which features the background stamp set Confetti!

Also features Baby Tees, Sweet Essentials

There are six stamps in the Confetti stamp set, and I love that little alphabet one for baby cards.  I don't know why I think that baby stuff should have the alphabet on it?  But I do.  Hey, I like the layout on this card, I should use that again.

Also features Fintastic

If you click on that pic to see it bigger, you'll see the little polka dot bubbles on the background paper on this one.  I think that's about the only time I used Fintastic, but I was super excited to get it and I'm sure I'll use it again somewhere else.

Also features Baby Bundle

One last baby card for the Flashback part, I'm not sure how all my projects with Confetti ended up being baby-centric, but as it turns out my new card is also baby-riffic as well!

I did try to let Confetti be the star of the show on this one, with the polka dots on the Pistachio Pudding piece and the heart background underneath.  I used the sweetheart punch to cut a heart out of the Pistachio layer so you see the card base through it.  The "baby" is from All-Year Cheer II and I just hand-wrote "hey" next to it.  Seems like everyone I know is having boys right now, but sooner or later the pendulum will spring back and someone will have a girl and I'll have this card all ready and waiting.

I used the color combo from Colour Me...!

And the awesome sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, super easy to work with this week:

So there's your Friday Flashback for this week!  Hope you have a great weekend, peeps.  Cheers!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Confetti, All-Year Cheer II
Ink:  Blushing Bride, Pistachio Pudding, Rose Red
Paper:  Blushing Bride, Pistachio Pudding, Whisper White
Accessories:  Sizzlits labels (I think they're retired), Sweetheart punch, Dimensionals

Cute Little Something

The new sneak peek stamp set called Something to Say has some cute greetings in it, like this one:

I stamped just the word bubble outline from Just Sayin' to give that piece a little more definition (the Just Sayin' stamp actually says "Gee, thanks" inside it, I just inked up the outline with a marker).  The inside of my card has the other half of the greeting, "for your cute little someone!"

A friend of mine is pregnant with her first baby and she and her husband have decided not to find out boy/girl in advance (no way could I do that, I'd have to KNOW as soon as possible!)  Anyway, she won't have the baby before hubs and I move back to the States, so I'm going to give her a neutral-colored pair of baby booties made by my mommy and this is the card to go with them.

The sketch is courtesy of Fab Friday:

That's it for me today.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Something to Say, Just Sayin', Baby Bundle
Ink:  Smoky Slate, Gumball Green
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral, Gumball Green, Whisper White, Watercolor Wonder DSP
Accessories:  Word Bubble Framelits, circle & scallop circle punches, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Baby Bundle

Welcome to another Friday Flashback!  This week's featured retired stamp set is Baby Bundle, so of course today's Flashback will be heavy on the baby projects :)  Ready, set, Flashback!

Another layout from baby books gone by, this one for my friend Sarah whose daughter was born on Halloween, hence the pumpkins in the upper right (which is from the set Give Thanks).

Sometimes I get asked to make a keepsake baby shower invitation for a mommy-to-be since people nowadays seem to do online invites instead.  The sentiment is from Warm Words.

This gonzo sketch was most definitely not my idea, it was for a Dare to Get Dirty challenge a couple years ago.  I think the pink and orange looked better IRL...the words are from Nursery Necessities.

Another keepsake baby shower invite, also using Paisley for the background.

Well, that Flashback was really, really pink.  So here's a change of pace!

This card was in the mail and on its way to its destination about two hours after I made it, which is probably a record for me.  I thought Tempting Turquoise might be gender-neutral, though maybe it could be construed as "boy"...these parents don't know the baby's sex yet but I can't seem to do gender-neutral baby cards.  Partially because I was using another old SCS color challenge.

So there you have it, thanks for joining me on today's Friday Flashback.  Have a great weekend!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Baby Bundle, Confetti
Ink:  Going Gray, Basic Gray, Tempting Turquoise
Paper:  Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, retired Tempting Turquoise DSP