Pink Peony

Mornin' y'all!  It's really nice outside so I opened the back door for Daphne, and she's been doing speed racer laps from the backyard into the house and back out again.  She looks like a happy doggo.

For today's card, I brought out another older stamp set and had some fun with masking and blending brushes, take a look:

HOLY COW I hadn't used Beautiful Day for SIX YEARS!!!  Well, I'm glad I brought it out of retirement for today's card.  It doesn't show much in the picture but I painted the navy lines on the flower with Wink of Stella for a bit of sparkle.  I wanted a big, bold flower for the Inspired By... Challenge:

Isn't that a lovely inspo pic?  I always love the combination of pink and navy, and those vases are gorgeous.  I paired that with this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I didn't put my dotty embellishments in the same place as on the sketch but hopefully the Challenge Police will let it slide this time.  I had a good time yesterday putting this card together, it was so fun to bust out that stamp set again.

Time to finish my tea and then take Miss Daphne for a walk, if she has enough energy after her zoomies this morning.  Oh who am I kidding, Daph always has energy for a walk.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Day
Ink:  Night of Navy, Pretty in Pink, Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Pretty in Pink, Thick Basic White, Floral Boutique DSP, Mossy Meadow DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, In Color Flat Pearls, Wink of Stella

Painted Butterfly

Hey, y'all.  Scrappy Monday is being moved to Tuesday because I wanted to share this card before the challenge closes:

I love the Beautiful Day stamp set; I bought it on a whim and have never regretted it.  The big bold butterfly and flower images are great for all kinds of techniques.  For this card, I stamped the butterfly with Pretty Peacock ink, and then used the splatter stamps from Painted Poppies to paint the butterfly with Pool Party and Flirty Flamingo.  Super easy and it's meant to be a little free-form, so no worries about coloring outside the lines ;)

Here's the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches that inspired me:

Have a great day, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Day, Painted Poppies
Ink:  Pretty Peacock, Pool Party, Flirty Flamingo
Paper:  Shimmery White, Pool Party
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Iridescent Sequins

Best Dressed Friendship

Mornin' y'all!  Surprise Sunday post...and a big surprise because Blogger has somehow gotten over its snit and is letting me upload new pictures again.  I know it's not anything I did to fix it, but yay!  So I got up early this morning and made a card before kiddo wanted to get up.

Alas, it was very hard to photograph, the embossing powder shows up better in real life.

I embossed the big flower from Beautiful Day with Shimmery White embossing powder and now there's glitter everywhere in my craft room :)

Happy I had the opportunity to play along on the challenge for this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the Color Throwdown:

I used Petal Pink and Purple Posy as my colors, with just a smidge of Soft Sea Foam for the leaf.

Well, the hubs has Ryan in the tub right now so maybe I can get a little work done in my craft room.  Getting back in there is helping with my mental health during quarantine so I need to figure out how to make that happen more when our schedule is so upended.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Day, So Sentimental
Ink:  Versamark, Gray Granite
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Soft Sea Foam, Best Dressed DSP Stack
Accessories:  Shimmery White EP, Dimensionals

Butterfly on Black

Happy Friday y'all!  Got any fun weekend plans?  I'll be trying to make some more progress on my scrapbook pages :D

But for now, a card!

The theme challenge from Global Design Project was the perfect excuse to bust out the Beautiful Day butterfly again (as if I need an excuse, haha!)

I paired that with the sketch from Inspire. Create.

Then I just picked some fun, bright colors of Blends and went to town.  And then I discovered that alcohol ink will kinda stain clear embossing powder. *shrug*

Have a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Day
Ink:  Versamark, Stampin' Blends in Bermuda Bay, Mango Melody, Blackberry Bliss, and Basic Black
Paper:  Basic Black, Bermuda Bay, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  white baker's twine, Dimensionals

Watercolor Wildflowers

Hey y'all.  Yesterday was a looooooooooooooong day because Ryan woke up at 3:00 throwing up, and then didn't want to go back to sleep until about 9 a.m. and then was only down for about an hour.  He seems like he's feeling better now, so here's hoping there are no further relapses into last weekend's stomach bug.  I went and bought a new bottle of laundry detergent yesterday because we're going through it so fast :p

Ryan DID take a nap yesterday afternoon, so I got to make this:

And yes, watercoloring that panel took FOR.EV.ER!!!  I thought to myself why didn't I decide to make a 3x3 card??  But I liked how it turned out.  I stamped the big flower from Beautiful Day (I bought that set on a whim and I freakin' LOVE IT) in Sahara Sand ink (stamped off once) and then just went to town watercoloring around it.  Does this count as no-line watercolor if I watercolored the lines back on?  The ribbon is retired, but it's what I have on hand and no one is policing that on my blog anyway so I can do whatever I want. :p

I was inspired by the challenge graphic from Retro Rubber:

I love that green bottle; kinda wish my card idea had ended up with a much more saturated green but my stamping muse said watercolor so I watercolored.  Obviously I used the main colors from the picture on my card.  Beautiful Day is just one year old, but Touches of Texture I've had for at least two and a half years...and the word die is brand spankin' new because like I said before, Imma be using that set of dies a lot.  They're fun.  But do be careful to grab the dots for your "I"s...I had to dig through the trash to find the one for my bridal shower card earlier this week.  Oops.

I also used the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch:

Very simple sketch, I like it a lot.  Lots of scope for imagination, as Anne Shirley would say.

Cheers, y'all!  Stay healthy.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Day, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Tranquil Tide, Mint Macaron, Garden Green, Flirty Flamingo, Berry Burst, Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody
Paper:  Mint Macaron, Tranquil Tide, watercolor paper
Accessories:  Well Written Framelits, retired ribbon

Stained Glass Butterfly

Hey y'all!  I finally got in my craft room on Sunday afternoon and made a card to share today because it's SUO Challenges day!

This week's challenge was all about coloring.  Well, it had been long enough since I last stamped that for a while I just sat in my chair and stared at everything, wondering what on earth to make.  Then I thought of the Stampin' Blends markers and pretty soon I was humming along and I made this:

I only used one ink pad (Memento Tuxedo Black) for this card, and both the light and dark Blends in Shaded Spruce, Mango Melody, Blackberry Bliss, and Flirty Flamingo.  I colored each section of the butterfly with the light marker, went around the edges of the area with the dark one, and then used the color lifter on the middle and this is what I got.  I fussy-cut the butterfly, popped up the wings (the center of the butterfly is glued to the card front), and then I went over the black outlines with some Wink of Stella because why not.

Hope you'll hop on over to the SUO Challenges blog to see what the rest of the design team has made, and then take on the challenge yourself.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Day, Butterfly Gala
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Shaded Spruce, Mango Melody, Blackberry Bliss, and Flirty Flamingo, Color Lifter
Paper:  Flirty Flamingo, Mango Melody, Thick Whisper White, Tropical Escape DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

A Bright Birthday

Mornin' y'all!  How's your week going?  We're still trying to get used to the time change here...I'm working on sliding Ryan's schedule to the right, so hopefully by the end of the week we'll be back to a regular schedule.  Can we please not ever do Daylight Savings Time again?  'Cause that would be great.

So for yesterday's card I brought out a few old favorites; for today, I've got one brand-new stamp set only available this month, plus a few newer faves.

The floral images are from Happiness Surrounds, which is part of the Snowflake Showcase promotion and obviously it's more versatile than just snowflakes (though the snowflakes are to-die-for gorgeous!).  I'm looking forward to playing more with both of the stamp sets *and* the super awesome Thinlits!

So for challenges, I'll be entering this one in the SUO Challenge to use die cuts, which is ridiculously easy because I love my Big Shot and all my dies and I have a LOT of dies.  Next up is the Just Add Ink color challenge:

I'll probably be too late to enter the challenge but that's okay, I liked these colors together so much that I couldn't let it pass me by.  I really loved the old Brilliant Blue, and Blueberry Bushel is pretty close to it so it's fun to see it used in a color challenge.  On the bad side, I've discovered that my Berry Burst ink pad has succumbed to the Dreaded Gold Sheen, ugh.  I'll have to buy a new one before the color retires this summer.  And technically the glitter dots I used on my flowers are Melon Mambo, but I thought they worked pretty well here (they look better in person than in the picture).

Next up is the Fall-To Layout:

I was very tempted to use the snowflakes and the Snow is Glistening stamp set for the main image panel, but that color challenge from above made me change my mind :)

Last up is the Just Us Girls challenge:

I don't use the Sheet Music background stamp nearly often enough, so it was nice to have an "excuse" to ink it up for today's card.

And that's all she wrote, folks.  Have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Happiness Surrounds, Beautiful Day, Sheet Music
Ink:  Lemon Lime Twist, Blueberry Bushel, Berry Burst
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Blueberry Bushel, Berry Burst, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Snowfall Thinlits, Glitter Enamel Shapes, Dimensionals

Bold Butterfly Splat

Happy Friday, y'all!  I'm looking forward to the weekend.  How 'bout you?  And to start things off right, how 'bout a big bold bright butterfly?

Okay, I kinda love how the butterfly turned out--I stamped a splotch from Touches of Texture several times on a piece of white cardstock, then stamped the butterfly outline in black over it, and then cut it out.  I could wish that I'd gotten the colors to overlap a bit more, but I still like the effect.  What do you think?

Let's start off with this week's CAS(E) This Sketch:

I liked how Jen Mitchell on their design team used a script stamp for one of the layers, so that's why I wanted to use a background stamp on mine.  I chose Sheet Music just because I liked it :) I inked it up with a sponge to make it a bit softer than if I inked it with the ink pad normal-normal.

Next up is the inspiration photo at Just Add Ink:

I took my colors straight from the photo:  Flirty Flamingo, Pineapple Punch, Call Me Clover, and Lovely Lipstick, plus some Basic Black to ground all those bright colors a bit.  And this image is what inspired me to do the stamped splotch coloring technique.  I could have used the flower from Beautiful Day, but I just used it earlier this week so I went with the butterfly instead.

That's it for me today, peeps.  Ryan and I will be heading to the gym so he can play in the nursery while I run two miles and do yoga.  I think we both win with that plan.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Day, Touches of Texture, Sheet Music
Ink:  Flirty Flamingo, Pineapple Punch, Call Me Clover, Lovely Lipstick, Basic Black
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Call Me Clover
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Metallic Sequins

Fastest Watercolor in the West

Mornin', y'all!  How's your fine Tuesday going?  I'm hoping that today will be slightly less soggy than yesterday.  I got poured on twice and did swim lessons with the kid, so lots of water.

And also I watercolored for today's card!  Lookie:

This is a QUADRUPLE challenge card too.  First up is the photo inspiration from Just Us Girls:

That's why I chose the flower from Beautiful Day, and I used the colors Grapefruit Grove, watered-down Granny Apple Green, and a little bit of Poppy Parade and Shaded Spruce.

Next up is the Sunday Stamps sketch:

And just to make things interesting, the Inkspirational speed stamping challenge:

Believe it or not, I made this card in 9 minutes and 54 seconds, including cutting the cardstock and doing the embossing and watercoloring.  I had all my supplies picked out and out on my table when I started so I could stamp like the wind.  I intentionally did a very, very fast watercolor on the stamped image (I inked up the stamp with Versamark, then Grapefruit Grove, stamped, and then heat embossed so it wouldn't run when I watercolored) and didn't worry about trying to make it look perfect, and I actually like this style because it feels more organic and spontaneous.  And I always feel like I'm under a time crunch because who KNOWS when my son is going to wake up from a nap.

Finally, the As You See It challenge was easy peasy:

I am TOTALLY obsessed with the Tropical Escape DSP.  It was the #1 thing I wanted when I first got to see the new SU! catalog (is it new still if it's been out for two months?).  I wish this paper was 12x12 because I would use it on ALL THE THINGS in my scrapbooks.  And I love the coordinating Tropical Chic stamp set too, which is where my greeting is from.

Hope you have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Day, Tropical Chic
Ink:  Grapefruit Grove, Poppy Parade, Granny Apple Green, Shaded Spruce, Versamark
Paper:  Grapefruit Grove, Poppy Parade, Shaded Spruce, Thick Whisper White, Tropical Escape DSP
Accessories:  Clear EP, Dimensionals

Beautiful Day Again

Mornin', y'all!  Uh, today is not scrappy Tuesday.  I made two cards yesterday and I had to get one of them posted today before a challenge expired, so here we are.  And it's another Beautiful Day card!

I had already written up my blog post for yesterday's card when I saw the What Will You Stamp? challenge:

They've circled back to a stamp set I own so I can play along again!  They did Rooted in Nature a few weeks ago but alas, I just ordered that and I don't have it in my hot little hands yet.  Anyway, I noticed that two people on their design team used the butterfly, but no one used the flower so I inked up the flower in my set.  Plus I used the butterfly yesterday.

Here is the inspiration challenge from Just Add Ink:

I liked the soft colors and the flowers, so that's what I went with.  I'm liking Petal Pink more than I thought I would; it's got a peachy undertone that I thought I wouldn't like, but it looks pretty good paired with Soft Sea Foam and Sahara Sand, don't you think?

There's a sketch this week on Sunday Stamps:

I thought this sketch worked well with the oversized flower.

And finally, I'm going to enter this one at the Paper Players since it's another birthday card:

Okay, I should go rescue my kid from the playard.  He got banished there because he kept trying to run off with the dog's food bowl while poor doggo was trying to eat breakfast.  Gotta entertain the kid until it's time to go to the Y...cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Day
Ink:  Sahara Sand, Petal Pink, Soft Sea Foam, So Saffron, Versamark
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Sahara Sand, Petal Pink, Soft Sea Foam
Accessories:  Clear EP, Dimensionals

Big Bold Beautiful Birthday Butterfly

Mornin', y'all!  Scrappy Monday will be held on Tuesday this week because I just HAD to make a card for last week's Freshly Made Sketch and I needed a birthday card.  I really missed stamping last week!  (How many times can I say "week" in one tiny paragraph?)

I did some reverse masking here to sponge the color on the butterfly, and this is my second attempt--the first time I got some Crushed Curry ink where I didn't want it so I had to redo it.  And you absolutely can't see it in the picture, but I painted over the Flirty Flamingo butterfly outline with Wink of Stella so it has a nice shimmer in real life.  And also don't those little flowers on the Flirty Flamingo strip look like they could double as leopard print in the right colors?  Hmm...

Say hello to the color challenge from As You See It:

Very bold, I like it.  Seems like I've been using a lot of Flirty Flamingo lately.

And here's a lovely bold Freshly Made Sketch to go with the colors:

Love that sketch, I really do.  And finally it's the FOUR HUNDREDTH challenge at the Paper Players!

As I said, I needed a birthday card PDQ and thus my card was created.  That challenge graphic makes me wish I had that new hostess set with the lady and the balloons :) And today is my mom's birthday, so happy birthday Mom!  (This is not YOUR birthday card, ha!)

At any rate, it's time to get the kiddo and myself ready to go to the Y today.  I take a barre class on Mondays and it's pretty fun!  But man, my legs were sore after last week's class...cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Day
Ink:  Flirty Flamingo, Crushed Curry, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Flirty Flamingo, Basic Black
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Mango Melody

It's shaping up to be a very gray week here--we're supposed to get rain and maybe thunderstorms every day this week.  So how about a very bright orange card to offset that...

When I got my preorder stuff earlier this week, as soon as I saw the Mango Melody cardstock I thought what am I going to do with THAT so of course I had to attempt using it first.  SU! has released some color combo charts to go along with the color revamp, so I took this combo from them.  Actually I used Powder Pink in place of the new Petal Pink, which is more peachy, because I don't have any form of Petal Pink ink yet.  So Powder Pink and Tranquil Tide (my favorite) with Mango Melody.

Here's the sketch from Fab Friday that I used:

The sequins were a last-minute add to the card because I got some stray Tranquil Tide ink on the card that I didn't want--it's hard to get a good crisp image on watercolor paper and I pressed down the stamp hard enough that some stray ink from the edge of the stamp and the blank spot in the top of the wing got on the card.  There are no mistakes, just opportunities for embellishment, right?

Well, I hear the kiddo talking to himself so let's get this day started.  Have a great one, kids!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Day
Ink:  Mango Melody, Powder Pink, Tranquil Tide
Paper:  Mango Melody, Powder Pink, Tranquil Tide, watercolor paper
Accessories:  Tutti Frutti adhesive sequins