A Couple of Corny Cards

Mornin' y'all!  Man, Ryan was in a MOOD again this morning, he must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed.  Hopefully he'll be over it by the time I pick him up from school.  Meanwhile, I'm pretty happy because I had a very productive session in the warcraft room yesterday and made SIX cards.  So let's start with a couple of corny cards, shall we?

I thought of my old favorite set Perfectly Preserved when I saw the AAA Cards Challenge:

So the central theme is on the farm, and I went with the left spoke of crops of fruit or veg.  I've used the apples from Perfectly Preserved much more often than the corn, so today it's the corn's time to shine.  And I actually stamped three ears so I I decided to make a second card while I was at it:

I also used up some scraps of my also favorite Orchard Harvest DSP and I think I still have several unopened packs of it because I am a paper dragon.

Two quick cards that started off my crafting session yesterday.  And these also fit with the theme at the Paper Players of looking forward to fall : )

Okay, the hubs asked for lasagna for dinner tonight so I had to go to the store this morning and I just realized as I typed this sentence that I totally forgot to get ground beef, ugh!  There was someone standing in front of it and so I detoured to pick up the mozzarella cheese and then forgot to go get the beef.  Okay, guess I'm going back to the store.  I even had it written on my list!!  Maybe I'll wait and go get it when I pick Ryan up...

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Perfectly Preserved, Country Home
Ink:  Early Espresso, More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Old Olive
Paper:  More Mustard, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Orchard Harvest DSP
Accessories:  Cannery Framelits, Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals

Harvest Blessings

Hey y'all!  Did you have a good long weekend?  Ryan had both Friday and Monday off of school, but with the hubs mostly out of commission while we await a surgery date, we just hung out at the house.  I did take Ryan to the pool at the local rec center yesterday though.

I am SO HAPPY that it's Pre-October (a.k.a. September) now.  The temps are still in the 80s but I'm wearing a cozy sweatshirt anyway and today's card is cozy too!

Bringing back some old favorites today!  The stamps, DSP, and most of the inks and cardstock are all retired but that doesn't stop me enjoying them anyway.  Check out the Festive Friday challenge:

I used fruity colors (Lucky Limeade, Raspberry Ripple, More Mustard...okay mustard isn't a fruit but anyway), gingham, scalloped edges, and fruit.  Perfectly Preserved came out when die sets for SU! stamp sets were pretty new, so the dies are a lot simpler than what we get nowadays but it is still one of my favorite bundles ever.  I also busted out the Stitched So Sweetly dies for the nice scalloped edge.

Next up is As You See It:

And believe it or not, this was my time:

I went through my Orchard Harvest DSP scraps and picked out my pieces (I only had to trim down the mustard gingham pattern after I started the timer, I used the others as they were) and got all the stamps and ink pads lined up and ready to go before I started the timer.  After I finished and stopped the timer, I thought my card needed something else, so I added some long-retired Candy Dots:

The sentiment is stamped in Island Indigo so I wanted to bring more of that color in.  What do you think, dots or no dots?  Even if I add an extra minute to the timer to get the dots on there, I'm still well under 10 minutes.  Speedy McSpeederson here.

Time to get Ryan off to school even if he's complaining about it.  And then we're having a contractor come out here to start ripping out the floor in our shower, hooray!  Can't wait to have that replaced.  Have a good day, peeps.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Perfectly Preserved, Country Home
Ink:  Raspberry Ripple, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Early Espresso
Paper:  Lucky Limeade, Thick Very Vanilla, Orchard Harvest DSP
Accessories:  Cannery dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, Island Indigo Candy Dots

Pumpkin Harvest

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan and I had a fun adventure yesterday with lots of dinosaurs and ended the day with DQ Blizzards because it's just what you do in Texas and who doesn't love a Blizzard?  My professional opinion:  the snickerdoodle cookie dough Blizzard is the best of the seasonal flavors they have out right now.  I tried the pumpkin pie one yesterday and it was just okay, as was the hot cocoa one.

I've got pumpkins here on the blog, too.

Quick CAS card today for the Cupcake Inspirations color challenge:

I used Tangerine Tango, Call Me Clover, and Balmy Blue for my colors.  Super simple card today, I just stamped three pumpkins and the sentiment, die cut, and put them over a plain card base with just a bit of ink blended in the center.  Up until this week, I was doing a really good job of resisting the Pick of the Patch bundle in the holiday catalog since I have the retired Pick a Pumpkin that I used for today's card.  Well, I saw so many super-cute cards with Pick of the Patch that I ordered it during the free shipping promo.  Plus a few other things : )

Okay kids, I've got to do my workout and try to entertain Ryan today until we go to the batting cages with some friends in a little bit.  If it's not raining, looks pretty cloudy out there...have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pick a Pumpkin, Country Home
Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Call Me Clover, Balmy Blue
Paper:  Balmy Blue, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Patterned Pumpkins dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Mini Dimensionals

Fall Fox

Good morning y'all!  Turns out that I do NOT have strep throat, and as bad as I felt on Tuesday I'm feeling all better today so yay! And in other good news, today is the big 24-hour stamp sale from Stampin' Up! and I already took advantage of that ; )

I am also very happy that it's now cool enough in the morning that I can drink a cup of hot tea without feeling like I'm going to melt into a miserable puddle, so I've got my chestnut tea and some bread with butter and sour cherry jam and some nice music playing and oh yes I am living my best life.  So here is today's card:

I like getting new stamps for Sale-a-Bration but sometimes I don't get to play with the stamp sets much (or at all) before SAB ends.  So Stylish Sketches may be retired now but I had to ink it up for the challenge from Hand Stamped Sentiments:

Obviously I was inspired by the fox in the challenge graphic, but I also glommed on to that deep green saucer on the bottom right.  I thought the color challenge from Sunday Stamps dovetailed nicely with the HSS challenge:

I used Evening Evergreen, Mossy Meadow, Cajun Craze, and Merry Merlot for my colors; I actually did use some dark So Saffron Blend on my fox but ended up going over it with ivory, so for all intents and purposes I left out the yellow color from the challenge graphic.

At first, I moved things around on the card front trying to figure out where to put a sentiment, but in the end I decided to keep it simple and let the fantastic Mr. Fox be front and center.  I stamped "simply thankful for all the good things" from Country Home on the inside of my card but I didn't take a picture of that so you'll just have to trust me.

And with that, I've got about three hours before I have to go get Ryan to take him to an appointment, so I'm going to go be productive.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Stylish Sketches, Country Home
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Evening Evergreen, Stampin' Blends in Cajun Craze, So Saffron, Ivory, Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Evening Evergreen, Thick Very Vanilla, He's the Man Specialty DSP, Come to Gather DSP
Accessories:  Deckled Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, Rustic Metallic Dots

Guest DT: Retro Rubber Loves the 80s

Surprise double post today!  Awhile back, the Retro Rubber team chose my card as the winner for a challenge, so I was invited to be a guest designer for the new challenge going live today : ) Here's a look at the challenge:

I am a child of the 80s so I remember this color palette well!  The house I grew up in had PEACH curtains and it makes me giggle to watch the original Ghostbusters because Dana's apartment is *SO* 80s.  So here's what I made:

Country Home joined my stamp collection 4 years ago.  It's retired now, but I don't let that stop me from pulling out my older stamp sets now and then : )  From the challenge graphic, I chose blue, pink, grey, and tan, using mostly Stampin' Blends to color my image, which I then fussy cut.  (I used a regular Blushing Bride marker for some bits on the image since there aren't any Blushing Bride Stampin' Blends.)  I flagged the ends of a couple of scraps of patterned paper, added a few embellishments and done.  Simple, but I like it!

Hope you'll join in the fun at the Retro Rubber Challenge blog.  Enjoy!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Country Home
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Blushing Bride marker, Stampin' Blends in Petal Pink, Seaside Spray, Misty Moonlight, Gray Granite
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Thick Basic White, Blushing Bride DSP, Misty Moonlight DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Polished Dots

Happy Fox

Hey y'all!  Once again I've been playing with new stamps :D  Apparently I was in a rustic mood the last time I ordered, because I got Rustic Retreat from the main catty and Nature's Beauty, which is in the holiday catalog and has some beautiful animal images in it.  Of course I had to ink up the fox first!

I'm planning to sneak this into my husband's truck one morning before he goes to work :)  Isn't that a GORGEOUS fox?!  I stamped him in Versamark + Early Espresso on watercolor paper and heat embossed him so I could watercolor.  I also did a light wash of Mint Macaron on the whole panel, but it didn't show up too well in the picture.

I used the sketch challenge from the Global Design Project:

I just picked my own combo of colors and I need to play with Shaded Spruce more often, it's beautiful.

Time to get moving, y'all.  Have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nature's Beauty, Rustic Retreat, Country Home
Ink:  Shaded Spruce, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Mint Macaron, Versamark
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Mint Macaron, Soft Suede, watercolor paper
Accessories:  Clear EP, linen thread, Dimensionals

Timeless Country Greetings

Hey y'all!  Happy Thursday.  I lucked out yesterday:  I was super tired so I took a nap when my kiddo went down for his nap, but he stayed asleep long enough that after I woke up, I got this card made before he started making noise.  Yay naptime crafting!

I wouldn't want to mass produce this card just because of the fussy cutting, much less the coloring, but I do like how it turned out.

Challenge time!  Let's start with Freshly Made Sketches:

Hey, I stayed pretty close to the sketch this time!  Next up is the color challenge from Color Throwdown:

I used Berry Burst (just a teensy bit), Highland Heather, Mint Macaron (Old Olive was my first choice, but I don't have the Old Olive Blends yet so I went with Mint Macaron instead), and Crumb Cake.

Finally, check out the What Will You Stamp? challenge:

I used two stamps from Timeless Textures for the horizontal strips under the main image; I thought they really helped with the rustic look on this card.  I had a scrap of Mint Macaron patterned paper so I just snipped off a 1/2" strip for the left side of the card.  Easy peasy!

That's it for me today.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Country Home, Timeless Textures
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Berry Burst, Mint Macaron, Crumb Cake; Stampin' Blends in Crumb Cake, Mint Macaron, & Highland Heather
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Thick Whisper White, Tranquil Textures DSP
Accessories:  None

Thankful Fall Bouquet

Happy Friday, y'all! And it IS a happy Friday because my hubs will be home for a 3-day weekend, then just 4 days next week and he's back home for good!  YAY!  So I made a card about being thankful :D

I don't have all the Stampin' Blends yet, so I thought I'd try a different technique to color in my image:  stippling.  I just tapped a blender pen on my ink pad and then used it to make little dots and kept dotting until I liked the color on my image.  I used Bermuda Bay for the pitcher, and the Coastal Cabana stripe is supposed to look like a highlight but for some reason it came out looking a lot more green than I expected.

Country Home is this week's stamp set at What Will You Stamp?:

And my card started with the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch:

 Both the sentiment and my image ended up being much larger than the original sketch, oops.

Finally, here's the photo challenge from Inkspirational:

I used the colors from the photo:  Bermuda Bay from the napkin in the front, and the oranges and yellows for the decorations on the table.  I even did the "berries" on my image with Lovely Lipstick because of that one really pink apple (side note:  Pink Lady apples are my favorites!).

So that's it for us today.  Hope you have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Country Home
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Pumpkin Pie, Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze, Lovely Lipstick, Mossy Meadow, Early Espresso
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  none, unless you count my blender pen :)

WWYS Guest Designer

Good morning stampy friends!  Normally I do Scrappy Mondays, but today that's been preempted by a guest designer gig :D

My Celestina Warbeck card won the challenge for using Cauldron Bubble, and I was very excited about that, and then even MORE excited when I found out that I actually have the stamp set to be a guest designer for today's What Will You Stamp? challenge!

Country Home is a beautiful stamp set and looks like something Joanna Gaines would design if she did rubber stamps instead of houses.  I really like the coordinating Country Lane DSP as well, so I decided to use them together.

I had the idea for the pitcher and flowers and when I sat down to make it I couldn't decide between stamping tone-on-tone (left), or coloring in the image (right), so I made both.  It's a little hard to tell because of how the cards are tilted in the photo, but the main image panel is tilted to the left a little bit and the sentiment strip is square with the edge of the card.  I used vellum for the sentiment strip on the left card just because I didn't want to cover up the pitcher.  I used Mint Macaron cardstock on the right one because I used the other container and it didn't bother me to have part of it covered up on that one.  What's funny is the designer paper I used is the same piece--the Blackberry Bliss pattern is the back side of the cotton pattern.

Go check out more lovely projects at the What Will You Stamp? blog and I hope you'll join along in the challenge!

Supplies, left card:
Stamps:  Country Home
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Blackberry Bliss
Paper:  Crushed Curry, So Saffron, vellum, Country Lane DSP
Accessories:  staples, clear EP

Supplies, right card:
Stamps:  Country Home
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Blackberry Bliss, Mint Macaron, Crushed Curry, Gray Granite
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Mint Macaron, Very Vanilla, Country Lane DSP
Accessories: chalk marker

Country Blessings

Happy Friday, y'all!  Hope things are going okay for you.

Today is a maiden voyage for the stamp set Country Home that's in the Holiday Catalog.  Take a looksie!

Just three simple strips of cardstock on the left, and a stamped image and sentiment on the right.  I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink so I could watercolor without the ink running.

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the Color Throwdown:

I went with Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake, and Old Olive for my colors.  There's an old pack of DSP called Summer Picnic with these colors (well, minus Crumb Cake I think) but I think they're definitely fall colors when they're all together.  Bring on the fall stuff!!!!  I'm ready for pumpkin spice EVERYTHING, although I was a bit surprised to see pumpkin spice dog treats at Petsmart this week.  Like dogs care about pumpkin spice season.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Country Home
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Balmy Blue
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red
Accessories:  chalk marker