Friendly Doggos

Mornin' y'all!  Guess what?  Today is Ryan's SEVENTH birthday!  He's growing so much, so fast.  He's got two giant teeth coming in where he'd lost his front two teeth, and he's gotten so tall that one of the people at his martial arts studio thought he was turning 8 rather than 7.  So for today he gets to bring in cookies for snack time at school, and after his taekwondo class tonight I promised to take him to dinner anywhere he wants to go (he says hibachi).  On Saturday, we're having all the fam over for tacos and ice cream cake : )

Anyway, I have another new stamp making its debut here today and I don't know what took me so long to ink this one up because I LOVE IT!

All the doggos!!!!  I know exactly who's getting this card too, definitely my friend Krissy who might possibly love doggos even more than I do, which is saying a lot.  Anyway, I kept this simple and just stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black on Crumb Cake cardstock, and then used a blender pen to add just a smidgen of color.  It's Tongues Out Tuesday somewhere.

Check out this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the Color Throwdown:

I used Real Red, Crumb Cake, white, and black for my card.  I was actually looking for my Sweetest Cherries stamp set when Doggone Friendly caught my eye and I knew I had to use that instead.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Doggone Friendly, Biggest Wish
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Real Red, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Thick Basic White, Much Adored DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, linen thread, Dimensionals


And now the conclusion to yesterday's wayward stuffie story!  If you missed it, Ryan was giving his duck stuffie, Peking, "flying lessons" and Peking went off course and landed in a light fixture that is way too high for us to reach.  So my dad came over yesterday morning, took one look at the situation and said "Nope!" so we called the fire department.

Fifteen minutes later, three firefighters showed up and studied the situation.

Then they busted out the big guns...er, big ladder...

And succeeded in reaching Peking's landing spot.

Of course I took pictures for future scrapbook pages : D  Ryan was very excited to have his ducky sidekick back yesterday afternoon, and he'll be writing a thank you letter to the fire department.  A happy ending for Ryan and Peking, and hopefully he'll stick to lower altitudes going forward.  Ha!

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

Wisteria & Bluebonnets

Hey y'all, how's your week going so far?  I didn't get as much done in my craft room as I wanted to yesterday (do I ever?), but I've got most of the day today until Ryan gets off the bus so it's a new day to tackle my goals.  I did make two cards yesterday though:

I was inspired by the Paper Players challenge and one card just wasn't enough : )

I made the wisteria card first:

I was inspired by the Just Add Ink challenge to pull out my Wisteria Wishes set, take a look:

Add black and these are prime Halloween colors, but I toned them down a bit and made them more summery.  Yeah wisteria blooms in late spring/early summer, so I had to have another go for a more springtime flower:

Bluebonnets!  I have lots of friends and family in Texas, and I've already started seeing some bluebonnet photos pop up on Facebook.  I need to play with this stamp set some more, it's so pretty!  And I do love how you can do the flowers in either direction.  Think I need to try some Indian paintbrushes next time.

Have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, wisteria card:
Stamps:  Wisteria Wishes, Biggest Wish
Ink:  Mango Melody, Granny Apple Green, Gorgeous Grape, Gray Granite
Paper:  Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Wisteria dies, Layering Circles dies (to make a mask), Mini Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Supplies, bluebonnet card:
Stamps:  Wisteria Wishes, Biggest Wish
Ink:  Balmy Blue, Blueberry Bushel, Pear Pizzazz, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Wisteria dies, Mini Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Sunflower Hello

Howdy, y'all!  I think we're starting to get settled in a routine for Ryan's school day.  With the way my work schedule is, it usually leaves me roughly 45 minutes in the morning and a bit over 30 minutes in the afternoon that I can hop in my craft room before or after getting Ryan on/off the bus for school.  I've been working hard to utilize that time to the max, and in fact I've made several cards and finished a scrapbook layout in those little blocks of time.  The hubs pointed out that I actually get MORE craft stuff done when I have other things scheduled that I have to do, like work--yeah he might be right.

So!  Here's a card I completed yesterday morning in between getting Ryan on the bus and me heading out for work:

I loved the sketch this week from Hand Stamped Sentiments:

In fact, there's such a bounty of great sketch challenges this week that I don't think I'll get to do them all.  I paired this sketch with the Color Throwdown:

I used Bermuda Bay, Summer Sun, Early Espresso, and Old Olive for my colors.  I tried coloring in the flower with So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie Blends first, but it didn't look bright and cheery enough, so I stamped another flower and used my old Summer Sun marker on it.  Yeah, that marker is drying out pretty bad now but at least I got the sunflower done first.  Wish we had Blends in Crushed Curry, the So Saffron ones are just too pastel I think.

Kept my card simple so I could finish it before I had to go to work.  Whee!  Hope you have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Celebrate Sunflowers, Biggest Wish
Ink:  Early Espresso, Bermuda Bay, Old Olive, Stampin' Blends in Cinnamon Cider, Old Olive, and Pool Party; Summer Sun marker
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Early Espresso, Old Olive, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Sunflower dies, Stitched Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Hello, Friend

Hey y'all, how's it going?  This week I've been concentrating on scrapbook pages so I didn't make a new card for today, but I do have one I made a while back to share.

I made it for a design team thing but ended up not liking it so much when it was done, so I made something else for the DT challenge and I've just been sitting on this picture for a few months.  I guess there's nothing wrong with the card, it's just not my favorite.  Meh.

Anyway, I just made a double batch of from-scratch blueberry muffins for the hubs to take to work tomorrow, and it's time for me to head up to the craft room and get some things done.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Watercolor Shapes, Biggest Wish
Ink:  Fresh Freesia, Pear Pizzazz, Balmy Blue
Paper:  Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Tasteful Labels dies, Dimensionals

Paper Players: Have a Rainbow Day

Happy Sunday, stampers!  It's time for another Paper Players challenge, and this time we're doing tic-tac-toe.  Check it out:

Fun, right?  Here's my card:

At first I was trying to do the left column, rainbow - CAS - birthday, but when I added the rhinestones I worried that it was veering out of CAS territory.  Happily it works for the top row, rainbow - sparkle - die cut.  I had fun choosing colors for a pinky-purple rainbow :) I didn't buy the new rainbow stuff in the Occasions catalog, but I do still have an old Paper Pumpkin stamp set with rainbows, so that's what I used. I have a friend in mind to receive this card, so now I just need to remember that when her birthday comes up this summer!

Take a look at the tic-tac-toe board and share your creation with us at the Paper Players blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  My Paper Pumpkin, Biggest Wish
Ink:  Magenta Madness, Flirty Flamingo, Fresh Freesia
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Thick Basic White, Flirty Flamingo DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, gold sequins, Dimensionals

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Cindy Beach

Christy Stanford

Jennie Maier

Deceptively Simple

Hey y'all!  Do you ever sit down to create something and it feels like your brain and/or your project just won't cooperate?  Yeah that was me yesterday.  I think it's worse when I know I have a finite amount of time to spend in my craft room and then panic because I'm "wasting" time trying to figure out what I'm doing.  So here's the card that took me two hours *rolls eyes*

I had a couple of challenges in mind and then I just couldn't figure out how to make them work for me but I think I got there in the end?  First up is the Inspired By Warm Winter challenge:

I just got a new (non-SU...shhhh!) stamp set with all kinds of supercute mugs and I couldn't wrap my brain around using that set (that SHOULD have been perfect with this inspo pic!) so I ended up with Nothing's Better Than from SU.  I think what was throwing my brain for a loop is the all-neutrals aspect of the inspiration picture, I just could NOT make it work in my head until I finally said FINE and used some Misty Moonlight.

Check out the Global Design Project sketch:

Once I finally got the colors and DSP sorted, this sketch made the card come together really fast.  Ya know, after I agonized over it for a while first :p  I bought a Starbucks mug to send to someone so this card is going in the package with the mug.  But man, was it a struggle to get it done...

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nothing's Better Than, Biggest Wish
Ink:  Misty Moonlight
Paper:  Early Espresso, Thick Basic Vanilla, In Good Taste DSP
Accessories:  Love You More Than dies, Rectangles Stitched dies, Dimensionals

Butterfly Wishes

Mornin' y'all!  How's your week going?  For the past two days, it has been really slow at work so I've been stitching a lot while I mind the store...I really shouldn't stitch all day because it hurts my wrist after a while, but I just couldn't stop yesterday until I finished the page I was on in the pattern.  Woo!  And then last night I got a wee bit of time to stamp while Ryan was in the tub, so that's always nice.

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch for my card:

Butterflies were the first thing that popped in my head when I saw it, so I thought I'd use some of the Brilliant Wings dies that I hadn't used before.  You can't tell from the way I took the picture of the card, but I only stuck down the butterflies' bodies; their wings stick up a bit from the card front, and I painted them all with Wink of Stella because I love that stuff.  I had a two-inch strip of the Butterfly Bijou DSP left over from a previous card, so I just tore the edges of it.  This card came together fast, gotta love that.

Hope you've had a great week, peeps.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Biggest Wish
Ink:  Calypso Coral, So Saffron
Paper:  So Saffron, Pretty Peacock, Basic White, Butterfly Bijou DSP Stack
Accessories:  Brilliant Wings dies, Wink of Stella

I'll Be There For You

Hey y'all!  How's it going?  Have you ever sat down to make something and you've got so many competing ideas in your head that it's hard to get even one out on paper?  That's what happened to me today.  I have so many awesome challenges that I want to play in that it was hard to focus enough to choose what to do first.  But here's what I ended up with:

Biggest Wish is a brand new stamp set and we're going to be friends; Flower Patch is an old retired set and we're still friends :)  For the sketch I used (more on that in a minute), I needed a big, bold focal point, and Flower Patch was a natural choice for that.  I also dragged out some long-retired DSP.  The sentiment strip is up on Dimensionals, and the flower is up on an additional layer of Dimensionals.  This card happens to be going in a package so I didn't have to worry about keeping things flat for the post office.

This is for two challenges.  First up is Festive Friday:

I chose to use a friendship sentiment, rhinestones, and pink (Polished Pink looks dark in my photo but I promise it's pink!).  I chose the purple and yellow colors because I was thinking of the door of Monica's apartment on the TV show Friends; plus Highland Heather and Daffodil Delight look pretty good with Polished Pink.  Next up is the awesome sketch from As You See It:

I did opt to put my sentiment on the long skinny panel rather than on top of the focal point.  And for some reason I could not get the DSP layer on my card straight...oh well, I'll chalk that up to the charms of being handmade!

Okay, I'd better skedaddle back to my craft room and see if I can channel some creative chaos into cards.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flower Patch, Biggest Wish
Ink:  Polished Pink, Highland Heather, Night of Navy
Paper:  Highland  Heather, Thick Basic White, Beyond the Garden DSP
Accessories:  Flower Fair Framelits, Rectangles Stitched Dies, rhinestones, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella