Traditional Valentine

Mornin' y'all!  Ooh, I'm actually getting a post done in the morning, yippee for me.  Still haven't busted out any of my new stamps yet, but I did get some things done yesterday, including this Valentine:

The Shopping Our Stash challenge right now is to use something old with something new, so I paired the new Valentine DSP with old dies (Hearts Collection Framelits) and an old stamp set (Country Bouquet).  The only Valentine stamp set I've bought this time around is the Valentine Kisses one with the bears, 'cause you know I love bears, so I used some older heart things already in my stash.  Anyway, I paired all my Valentine goodness with the sketch from Sunday Stamps:

Their sketch prior to this one was really fun too and I'm sad I didn't get to participate, but sometimes challenges get away from me.  I had fun with this sketch though.

So my plan today, after I eat breakfast and take Daphne for her walk, is to actually bust out at least one of my new stamp sets : )  I have some design team work that I need to do and I have some ideas swirling for that.  And I need to do Ryan's laundry; I did four loads of laundry yesterday but that was all my clothes and some towels, didn't get to Ryan's yet.  Super fun times.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Country Bouquet
Ink:  Flirty Flamingo, Versamark
Paper:  Real Red, Flirty Flamingo, Bubble Bath, Made with Love DSP
Accessories:  Hearts Collection Framelits, Mini Dimensionals, White Opaque Gems

Hohenwerfen

Hey, y'all.  This is the first post that I'm actually writing in Colorado--we got here less than a month ago and we're working on getting everything unpacked and organized.  To be honest, I'm having a difficult time with this transition--Ryan already started school and I absolutely loathe the school and its administration.  We bought our house sight unseen and so far we're having to replace the floor in the master shower (which looks like a poorly executed DIY job), and we've had a mouse AND black mold in the garage so that's fun.  I'm already hoping that the hubs' job will have us move again next summer.  I was not expecting to dislike Colorado so much.

Anyway, I have another layout from our Alpine adventure in 2021.  How about a castle:

The top left picture was taken on our hike down the mountain after we toured the ice cave; Hohenwerfen is on a big hill/small mountain and you access it via gondola.  We explored the castle from the basement to the clock tower, saw a falconry exhibition and some sword fights, Ryan had a look down Ye Olde Toilet (gardy-looooo!), and you can see from the picture of the teeny window how THICK the walls of the castle are.

I pulled colors from the pics of the hubs and Ryan on the right page, doesn't the hubs look good in a dress?  So my palette today is Watermelon Wonder (so fun to play with this color again), Mossy Meadow, Kiwi Kiss, Blushing Bride, and white.  I had intended to use some yellow as an accent color but I forgot when I actually put the pages together.

That's it for me today.  I'm going to go hang up some pictures, maybe swinging a hammer will make me feel better?  And I'm going to organize Ryan's bathroom upstairs because we're all going to be using that shower pretty soon.  Later, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Alphabest, Country Bouquet
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Watermelon Wonder, Blushing Bride
Paper:  Watermelon Wonder, Kiwi Kiss, Blushing Bride, Thick Basic White, Birthday Bouquet DSP
Accessories:  Country Bouquet punch

Sweet Sadie Fox

Mornin', y'all!  I had an appointment yesterday morning, so I didn't have as time as I might have liked to work in my craft room, but I am inching closer to having three more scrapbook layouts done and I made a card for today : )

Something like two years ago, maybe more--I just remember I was in Germany--I ordered a few stamps from Whipper Snapper Designs, including this adorable fox, and this is the first time I've inked her up!  This is also my first try at using the brand-new Basic Beige paper, and I discovered that the Ivory Stampin' Blend is pretty much exactly the same color, as in it ends up just barely showing up on the cardstock.  I ended up using some of the natural tones blends for the lighter parts of her fur, and then added highlights with a chalk marker (retired).

I told you I wanted to play along again with the Paper Players challenge:

I could make a card every day for a month and never use the same animal stamps twice, and still have more left over.  I love animal stamps!  I'm glad this challenge finally prompted me to ink up this sweet fox.

Check out this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the Color Throwdown:

I used Boho Blue, Pecan Pie, and Basic Beige for my colors, with a bit of white and Night of Navy thrown in.  If you want to get super picky, I added a bit of pink to Sadie's ears, and used Mossy Meadow for the grass and leaves.  This is a fun color combination, I like the inspiration pic and now I'm getting hungry.  Is that some kind of apple tart?  Coincidentally, Ryan and I have been playing the game Outfoxed this week, where one of sixteen fox characters steals a pie and the players work together uncovering clues and suspects to deduce who stole the pie.  But sweet Sadie here isn't a thief, right?

That's it for me today and I think I'll go looking through my animal stamps for more fun.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Sadie from Whipper Snapper, Country Bouquet
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, VersaMark, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Ivory, natural tones, Pretty in Pink, Mossy Meadow, Boho Blue
Paper:  Boho Blue, Basic Beige, Night of Navy, Countryside Inn DSP
Accessories:  White EP, white sequins

Blowing Rock

Scrappy Monday, y'all.  I've got Ryan home from school today because he developed some type of rash on his arms and legs--he's all over bumps.  So I'll be calling the doctor's office as soon as they open to get him an appointment.  In the meantime, I still got up fairly early and did a workout, then bought some new dishes because Fiestaware came out with a new color and y'all know how I feel about having ALL THE COLORS, ha.

And speaking of colors, my favorite ever set of In Colors will officially retire at the end of the day tomorrow, so I picked today's scrapbook layouts because they showcase Orchid Oasis and Starry Sky, both of which I love, with a healthy dash of Polished Pink because I would swap Melon Mambo for Polished Pink in a heartbeat.  Take a look:

These pics are from 2020, not too long before we moved from NC to Germany.  We had driven out to Tennessee to meet up with the hubs' sister and her family in the Smoky Mountains, and on the way back to our house, we stopped in the Blowing Rock area for a couple of days.  I took Ryan's pic next to that sign in the shop for the eponymous Blowing Rock attraction and let it be my page title because I'm smart like that.  And check out all those hydrangeas in the photo on the top right!  That led to me picking Hydrangea Haven for accent images, and drove my color choices too.  I'm real pleased with the color combo on this.  Good thing I built up a stash of the retiring In Colors.

Bonus layout today : ) We had too many good pictures from this stop on our trip to only do one layout.  We visited Blowing Rock in the morning and then went out to Grandfather Mountain in the afternoon.  Saw some great views over the mountains, it was gorgeous.

Today's color palette:  Orchid Oasis (page base), Mango Melody (DSP), Polished Pink (DSP, accents), Starry Sky (photo mats), Garden Green (in the photos and for stamped leaves), and white.  That Enjoy the Journey DSP came up on the clearance rack last week, and if I hadn't already hoarded like five packs of it, I would have been all over getting more of it.  It's one of the standout paper packs from the last few years in my opinion.

Anyway, I feel like I've chattered a lot here.  Time to call the doc for Ryan and we'll see what the rest of the day holds.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hydrangea Haven, Country Bouquet
Ink:  Orchid Oasis, Garden Green, Starry Sky, Polished Pink
Paper:  Orchid Oasis, Starry Sky, Polished Pink, Thick Basic White, Enjoy the Journey DSP
Accessories:  Hydrangea dies, Country Bouquet punch

Slimline Valentine & Lavender Bonus

Hey y'all, how's your day going?  Apparently I am extra inspired this week because I have another double card post for today.  Here's the first card:

Okay I realize I am a minority of one but I don't like making slimline cards, they make me grumpy.  I like A2 cards because that's half of a sheet of paper, which is economical, and slimline cards don't work like that.  But slimline it is for this week's Paper Players sketch:

And I paired that with the Festive Friday challenge:

From the list, I have red, purple, slimline (reluctantly), and hearts.  I know it's fun to pull out the newest stamps to play with, but this time I used last year's Country Bouquet for my Valentine.  Don't forget about the new Valentine challenge at SUO Challenges too!

Anyway, like I said, slimline cards make me a little grumpy, and when I was trying to go to sleep the other night I was turning over ideas in my head about how to turn that sketch into an A2 card.  Then of course I had to make this when I got in my craft room yesterday:

I rotated the sketch 90 degrees and happily for me, one of the Perennial Postage dies fits on a standard card front five times.  This was a good excuse to use one of the vertical sentiments from Vertical Blooms too, and I need to send out some thank you cards so this one will be going out today or tomorrow.  Win!  And after I made this card, I made several other ones that I really liked, I was on fire in my craft room yesterday (not literally, that would have been messy).  Honestly I'm procraftinating because I haven't started my wedding album yet.  I haven't done any new scrapbook pages yet this year!  Gotta fix that.

Anyway, have a great day, peeps.  I'm hoping to get some more quality crafting time today and start that wedding album.  It's got to be done.  Cheers!

Supplies, slimline card:
Stamps:  Country Bouquet
Ink:  Real Red, Gorgeous Grape
Paper:  Thick Basic White, Most Adored Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Country Bouquet punch, Dimensionals

Supplies, lavender card:
Stamps:  Painted Lavender, Vertical Blooms
Ink:  Orchid Oasis, Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Orchid Oasis, Thick Basic White, Perennial Lavender DSP
Accessories:  Perennial Postage dies, Painted Lavender dies, Iridescent Foil Gems, Dimensionals, Orchid Oasis baker's twine

Fall in Love with SUO Challenges

It's time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!

You may have heard that there's a certain holiday coming up, so our challenge theme this time around is probably not a surprise...

Let's show some love!  I was extra inspired this time around so I have two cards to share.  Here's the first one:

Okay, it's a bit nontraditional, but still fun right??  I tried to put the pizza slices in a sort of heart shape and then added some teeny hearts from Country Bouquet on the red circles.  It was kinda fun to just push the circles around on the card front until I found a layout that worked for me.

My second Valentine is a little bit more traditional, but coincidentally it still has a lot of yellow:

I just had to make a bee card!  I was inspired by the second card on Julie Davison's blog post and had to try out that layout.  And it was fun to sort through the Bee Mine DSP for patterns to play with.  One teeny heart accent, a bit of twine, and I have a very cute card to share with my Valentine!

And now it's your turn!  Make a Valentine with only SU! products and upload it to the SUO Challenges blog.  I'm having trouble commenting on some blogs, I don't know why, but I get an error message when I try to sign in with Google on certain blogs.  I even tried commenting on two different browsers.  But even if I can't comment, I enjoy looking at what everyone makes!

Supplies, pizza card:
Stamps:  Supremely Awesome, Country Bouquet
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Poppy Parade, Crumb Cake, Versamark, Stampin' Blends in Lemon Lolly, Ivory, Shaded Spruce, Poppy Parade, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Lemon Lolly, Poppy Parade, Crumb Cake, Thick Basic White, Lighter than Air DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, white EP, Dimensionals, Milky Dots

Supplies, bee card:
Stamps:  Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Daffodil Delight, Petal Pink
Paper:  Sweet Sorbet, Thick Basic White, Vellum, Bee Mine DSP
Accessories:  Bee Builder punch, Perennial Postage dies, Sweet Sorbet baker's twine, Adhesive-Backed Hearts & Flowers, Dimensionals

Country Heart

Hey y'all, how's your day going?  We didn't resolve all the car stuff yesterday so I have that to look forward to today :p  Ugh.  Anyway, due to running around a lot trying to figure out what to do about my car, I didn't get much time in my craft room, but I managed to make one quick card to share today.

Here is this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the Color Throwdown:

I used Petal Pink with the long-retired Bordering Blue and Rococo Rose.  The Petal Pink is coming off more peach, but I ran out of time to switch it out for something else.

Okay, I'm going to go attack the car problem again.  Cheers, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Country Bouquet
Ink:  Petal Pink, Bordering Blue, Rococo Rose
Paper:  Petal Pink, Bordering Blue, Rococo Rose, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Dimensionals

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

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

SUO Challenges: Going Green!

 It's time for a new challenge at SU Only Challenges!

This time around, our theme is GO GREEN!  So make a card using shades of green and/or make a St. Patrick's Day card.  I did both...twice!  Here's my first card:

We're reaching way back in my SU archives for the set Pinch Proof, which I've had for fifteen years now.  I stamped the leprechaun in Shaded Spruce and fussy cut him, and then the sentiment is stamped 3 or 4 times in Granny Apple Green so it's kinda in between the Parakeet Party plaid pattern and the darker Shaded Spruce.  I added some gold rhinestones from a past Paper Pumpkin kit because a leprechaun has to have some gold coins, right?

Next up I used the Country Bouquet stamp set and punch to make an XL four-leaf clover.  The "stem" is from Trees for Sale, you could easily draw a line or use a stem from any stamp set with large floral images.  This one is just Parakeet Party and Shaded Spruce, with a matte dot in the center of the clover for a bit more interest.

Hope you'll take the time to go green and share a card with us at the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, leprechaun card:
Stamps:  Pinch Proof
Ink:  Shaded Spruce, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Thick Basic White, Parakeet Party DSP
Accessories:  Mini Dimensionals, gold rhinestones

Supplies, clover card:
Stamps:  Country Bouquet, Nature's Prints
Ink:  Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Parakeet Party, Thick Basic White, Parakeet Party & Shaded Spruce DSP scraps
Accessories:  Natural Prints dies, Dimensionals, Matte Dots

Bouquet of Countries

Hey y'all!  Didja get a lot of chocolate yesterday for Valentine's Day?  I was surprised at the Valentines that Ryan brought home from school.  We just made simple ones and taped a piece of candy to them, but some of the ones he got were like full-up goodie bags and stuff.  Guess we'll have to step up our game next year.  It was also the hubs' birthday, but he's coming down with a cold again (like, he hadn't fully recovered from the last one) so it was a very low-key evening involving pizza and cake.  We still have cake left over from Ryan's birthday too, this was a different cake.  So much cake.

Anyway, today's card is not cake-related and I busted out a new stamp!

I got an SU! order on Monday and let's not talk about how I hadn't used all the stamp sets yet from my previous SU order and move along here, hmm?  Anyway, Watercolor World is one of my new stamp sets (it's just a single stamp, does it still qualify as a stamp set?) and I'm afraid I over-inked it a bit (my Orchid Oasis ink pad is very, very juicy) but I didn't want to toss that piece of patterned paper so I'm just going with it.  Most of my cards get sent back to Texas, so I put rhinestones on the map for Germany and Texas.

I used a recent sketch from Try Stampin' on Tuesday:

I turned the sketch on its side for my card since the world map is a horizontal image.  I paired that with the colors from Just Add Ink:

This is such a fun combination and I'm glad I managed to make a card before the challenge deadline.  I've been using the newer In Colors a LOT on my scrapbook pages too, I had to buy another pack of Starry Sky cardstock.  In fact, I think I should just put a pack of it on every SU! order I do from now until it retires next year.  I'm definitely a paper hoarder.

Anyway, I've got just a bit of time before I have to go pick up cupcakes (more cake! but smaller!) to take to Ryan's school for his birthday.  We'll be having tacos for dinner tonight (his favorite) and probably cake.  Just a guess.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Watercolor World, Country Bouquet, Peekaboo Farm
Ink:  Orchid Oasis, Polished Pink
Paper:  Tahitian Tide, Orchid Oasis, Thick Basic White, Tea Boutique DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Country Bouquet punch, In Color rhinestones, Dimensionals

Just Wanted to Say...

Mornin' folks!  Ryan is feeling better today, but since it's less than 24 hours since his fever broke we kept him home again today.  He's going through a lot of Kleenex but otherwise seems to be bouncing back just fine.  However, since he's home, it took me longer than I expected to make a card for today; in the end I made a deal with him that I could finish my card and then he and I would make one together.  So here's mine:

The inside says "I love you".  This is a variation on the first two cards I made for yesterday's post that didn't seem CAS enough for one of the challenges.  So here is this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the Color Throwdown:

I used Sweet Sorbet and Petal Pink, and even though it doesn't look like it in the picture of my card, I promise the sequins are gold.  It was a challenge to take pictures of cards today.

As soon as I finished that one, Ryan pounced and said we had to make a card for his dad whose birthday is coming up next week (and Ryan's is the day after).  So here's what we made:

He did most of the stamping (I just did the beaks on both birds and the foot on the Fresh Freesia penguin on the left) and chose all the colors, I helped him use the penguin punch and the heart punch, and he stuck everything down himself.

Working hard on his creation.

Ta-daaahh!  After I took this picture, he dictated the message for the inside and we both signed it.  And then he drew some fireworks on the front, too.  Now he's eating lunch and watching a cartoon so maybe I can run upstairs and make a card for next week's SUO Challenges...

Cheers!

Supplies, all SU! (first card)
Stamps:  Country Bouquet
Ink:  Sweet Sorbet, Petal Pink
Paper:  Thick Basic White, Country Floral Lane DSP, Country Gingham DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Basic Borders dies, Country Bouquet punch, Dimensionals, gold sequins

Supplies, all SU! (penguin card)
Stamps:  Penguin Place
Ink:  Pacific Point, Fresh Freesia, Sweet Sorbet, Mango Melody
Paper:  Pacific Point, Thick Basic White, Country Gingham DSP
Accessories:  Penguin punch, Sweetheart punch, Dimensionals

A Valentine Bouquet

I've got a sick kiddo home with me today, so probably not a lot of craft room time happening.  Poor kid has a fever and just general blahs, so I'll be Doctor Mama today.

But I do have a card to share that I made yesterday afternoon, take a look:

The CAS Colours & Sketches color challenge immediately made me think of the Country Bouquet suite since both of the DSPs in that suite have these colors:

It actually took me THREE tries to get this card, I tried at first to combine this with the Freshly Made Sketches challenge but it felt like too many elements to be considered really CAS, so this is where I ended up.  I like that larger heart, it's two different stamps for the flowers and the leaves and it came out so pretty with hardly any effort.

I'm also entering this at Cupcake Inspirations:

Valentine's Day is getting close but I hope to play with this suite a bit more soon.  And I hope Ryan is feeling better soon too.  I'd better get in there and watch cartoons with him.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Country Bouquet
Ink:  Sweet Sorbet, Mint Macaron, Balmy Blue, VersaMark
Paper:  Thick Basic White, Sweet Sorbet
Accessories:  Country Bouquet punch, Picture This dies, Dimensionals, retired blue rhinestones, Wink of Stella

Here We Go Again!

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I was the busiest little bee last week.  I completed 7 scrapbook layouts and then on Saturday I took pictures of no fewer than TWENTY-ONE layouts so I have a bunch more draft posts waiting to go now.  Yesterday I finished another layout and started a new one so it doesn't look like I'm going to slow down much this week : )  I like it when I find a scrappin' groooove!

So today's layout is one that I made just last Friday.  Take a look:

I did order several more packs of that amazing Enjoy the Journey DSP so I was okay with cutting into this pack ; )  I wanted to do pink for this layout because of Vader's tongue in two of the pictures and this orange-and-pink chevron pattern just makes me happy.  Pics are from when we were getting them ready to go for their last overseas move, from the UK back to the States, in 2014.  Once I decided what the title was going to be, this came together super fast and I like it.  I added the hearts from Country Bouquet because that stamp set was still sitting on my table and I just liked it on here.

Put on your sunglasses for today's color palette:  Polished Pink, Melon Mambo, Mango Melody, Pumpkin Pie, Pacific Point, and Whisper White.  Cheerful, right?  I like it.

I'm off to work today for the only day in the next two weeks.  I'm also dropping off some (more) things to be framed, as if we don't have enough framed art/photographs to wallpaper the entire house.  Taking advantage while I work in a frame shop to get that done.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Taffy Alphabet, Headline Alphabet, Country Bouquet
Ink:  Polished Pink, Melon Mambo, Pacific Point, Merry Merlot marker
Paper:  Polished Pink, Pacific Point, Mango Melody, Thick Basic White, Enjoy the Journey DSP
Accessories:  Country Bouquet punch, Layering Circles dies

SUO Challenges: Celebrating Our Galentines

Mornin' y'all and welcome to a new challenge from SUO Challenges!

This time around we're celebrating our gal pals, so make a card for your Galentine!  I must admit I bought the Country Bouquet bundle partially because of this challenge in particular.  Here's my card:

I really enjoyed playing with both the Country Floral Lane and Country Gingham DSPs for my layers, I kinda made this card in the style of Brian King with all those layers on there.  I stamped the heart and leaves, punched with the coordinating punch, added a sentiment and there you go, my Galentine card is done.  Now I just need to make several more to send out to all my pals around the world : )

We certainly hope you'll join in the fun at SUO Challenges and upload your Galentine card.  Enjoy!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Country Bouquet
Ink:  Sweet Sorbet, Mint Macaron, Balmy Blue
Paper:  Petal Pink, Sweet Sorbet, Thick Basic White, Country Floral Lane DSP, Country Gingham DSP Stack
Accessories:  Country Bouquet punch, adhesive sequins (probably retired), Stitched Rectangles dies, Dimensionals