Let's Talk Snow

Hey kids!  Taking a break from getting my Christmas cards ready to go so I could make a card for today.  The picture isn't great but I have to leave in 10 minutes so here it is anyway:

Pretty simple design but I like it.  The white is actually Shimmery White cardstock, as always it's hard to capture in a photo.  I started with the Create with Connie and Mary color challenge:

They're an SUO challenge, so I must point out that the silver cord *is* SU!, albeit retired.  I still have quite a lot of the metallic cord from several years ago, the year that it wasn't elastic.  I can't even remember if there's metallic cord in this year's holiday catalog.

Anyway, I paired the colors with this week's Global Design Project sketch:

This would have come together really, really fast if I hadn't had to contend with my little Sadie girl dog laying down RIGHT BEHIND my chair so I couldn't move to get to the paper trimmer (or anything else).  But she's just so cute I didn't make her move.

Anyway, I've got to get out the door.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flurry of Wishes, Crazy About You
Ink:  Soft Sky, Sweet Sugarplum
Paper:  Soft Sky, Sweet Sugarplum, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Tags & Labels Framelits, 1/8" hole punch, retired silver cord

Simple Snowflake Birthday

Mornin', folks!  It's a good day today.  The sun is shining and I actually slept for SIX HOURS STRAIGHT last night!  All hail the powers of the Zantac prescription to stop the heartburn/acid reflux that was waking me up every two hours or more.  I hope it works like that consistently and that it's not just a fluke (I now think it was worth waiting two hours at the pharmacy yesterday to get that prescription).

Anyway, you're here for the card not my medical woes! :)

My friend Karyn has a mid-December birthday, so I thought she'd like a wintry birthday card that wasn't at all Christmasy.  So I turned to the latest Freshly Made Sketch:

And this week's Color Throwdown:

I used Basic Black, Pear Pizzazz, Rich Razzleberry, and Coastal Cabana for my colors.  Coastal Cabana may be retired, but I have quite a stash of cardstock that color and it just seemed like the right choice for my big ol' snowflake.  I also used Shimmery White cardstock to give the card a little something extra, though of course that doesn't show up in the picture.

That's it for me today, kids.  Stop by tomorrow for the Friday Flashback!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flurry of Wishes, Crazy About You
Ink:  Coastal Cabana, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizzazz, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Hello You Thinlits, Dimensionals, Metallic Enamel Shapes

Double the Flowers

Hey, y'all.  I continue to be somewhat lacking in the card-making mojo but on the plus side, I *did* make some progress on my purple-licious scrapbook pages yesterday.  But you won't get to see those for a little bit so here's a card for today:

I think this one worked out a little better in my head than it did on paper.  I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge to use flowers:

I even used the same palette of colors as in this inspiration picture for my card.  As an extra bonus, this one dovetails nicely with the SUO Challenges' Delight in Nature challenge.

Just wasn't thrilled with the first card so I made this one:

It was *supposed* to be a one-layer card, but I got some fuzz on the sentiment stamp the first time I stamped it, so I had to cover it up.  The hazards of living with two dogs, especially one who is extra-super-ridiculously fluffy.  Anyway, this one also fits in the Create with Connie and Mary color challenge:

The piercing template and the oval Framelits I used on these cards are both retired now, but I don't have the new Layering Ovals Framelits yet and no sense not using perfectly good craft supplies.

Well, I'm off to run some errands.  See you back here tomorrow for the Friday Flashback!

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  All About Everything, Crazy About You
Ink:  Mint Macaron, Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral, So Saffron, Perfect Plum
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Perfect Plum
Accessories:  Ovals Framelits (retired), Hello You Thinlits

Supplies, second card:
Stamps:  Love & Affection
Ink:  Peekaboo Peach, Tangelo Twist, Cucumber Crush
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Occasions paper piercing template, Dimensionals

Nacho Blog Hop: All Cards Masculine

Guess what, y'all?  It's time for another Nacho Average Blog Hop!  This month the Nachos are all about the dude cards.  Yep, masculine cards!  You might have come here from Anne's blog, but if not, don't worry--I've got all the links you need at the bottom of the post.  But first up, here's my cards.

So, when thinking about this theme, I decided to think about the guys in my life and specifically what they'd like, and naturally I started with my hubs.  He loves scuba diving, so for him I made this:

Teehee, it's punny, which will only make him roll his eyes.  I figured that fish looked more masculine than the sea turtle or the jellyfish :)  I stamped the sentiment with the now-retired Alphabet Rotary, but if I'd been smart enough to put the new Labeler Alphabet on my first order then that would work too.  Anyway, if you saw my hubs' wardrobe, you'd think the only colors he can see are dark blue, gray, khaki, and black, so I used Dapper Denim and Smoky Slate for my main colors on this one.

Next up, funny story!  Last week I was in a tizzy trying to get Father's Day cards made, and I was thinking we were sending stuff off all horrendously late (last Saturday) and on Sunday I even reminded my hubs to call his dad for Father's Day.  Which he did, and my FIL was like, you do know that's next week, right?  Oops.  Well, anyway, since I was in such a (needless) rush, I used last month's Paper Pumpkin kit to make a card for my dad:

My dad (and my brother, for that matter) graduated from Oklahoma State so he loves all things orange and black.  If you looked at *his* wardrobe, pretty much all you'd see is orange, black, and blue jeans. :p  Lucky for me the Paper Pumpkin kit came with corrugated orange cardstock (corrugated = manly, I guess), and the "happy" sticker was Pool Party so I was able to brayer black ink over it for this orange and black card.  And I added the Pool Party star from the kit just for funsies.

Thinking I was pretty much out of time for Father's Day cards, I made this one for my FIL:

So far as I know, he's not overly partial to orange, but I was in a hurry.

Last up, since I finally figured out I still had some time before everything for Father's Day is late (this next one is still going to be late unless I mail it today), I thought about my brother who's been a dad for two months now.  And he (like me) loves Star Wars...

Please please pretty please tell me you know what that is!!!  Not a lot of detail, sure, but I started by looking at this gorgeous print online and kinda working it into paper art.  The only stamping on this one is the hyperspace trail and the starry background, both courtesy of Gorgeous Grunge, and then I used stamps from Crazy About You to add Happy Father's Day to the inside.  And now I need to order a Chewbacca mask for my brother for Father's Day.

So there you have my four masculine cards (although I admit, #3 feels like a cheat).  I highly encourage you to follow along with the rest of the hop for more manly paper crafting goodness!



Supplies, card #1:
Stamps:  From Land To Sea, Alphabet Rotary
Ink:  Versamark, Dapper Denim, Smoky Slate, Soft Sky
Paper:  Dapper Denim, Smoky Slate, Watercolor paper, Whisper White
Accessories:  Clear EP, Dimensionals

Supplies, card #2:
Stamps:  My Paper Pumpkin May 2016 kit
Ink:  Basic Black
Paper:  came with the kit
Accessories:  came with the kit

Supplies, card #3:
Stamps:  My Paper Pumpkin May 2016 kit
Ink:  Night of Navy
Paper:  came with the kit
Accessories:  came with the kit

Supplies, card #4:
Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge, Crazy About You
Ink:  Whisper White, Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Marina Mist
Paper:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Smoky Slate, Basic Gray
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits, Word Window Punch (retired), hole punches

CAS Congrats

This must be my week for CAS/clean lines cards, because I have another one for you today.

I thought about adding something else, like texture or stamping to the card base, but I just really liked it the way it is so I left it.

Thanks to this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the Color Throwdown:

Got my card done lickety-split.  Or at least, it would have been lickety-split had I not been arguing with my Cucumber Crush ink pad; in the end, I had to squish it with a plastic spoon so it would ink up the stamp better.  In fact, I got an entire box of plastic spoons just for that purpose.  Anyway, I interpreted the Color Throwdown colors as Crumb Cake, Cucumber Crush, and Very Vanilla (which would make for a very weird meal if we were eating them).  I also added some Chocolate Chip for the sentiment, and I stamped the coordinating Congrats! on the inside.  I added the Crumb Cake Candy Dot even though it's retired because I thought the flower needed something in the middle.  And why not have a green flower?  There was some kind of plant I saw in Alabama that had bright lime green flowers.  Or maybe this one is some kind of succulent plant or something.

Wow, tomorrow it's already time for another Friday Flashback!  See you then, peeps.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Crazy About You, Happy Happenings
Ink:  Cucumber Crush, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Flower Medallion Punch, Dimensionals, Neutrals Candy Dot

Nacho Blog Hop: Mother's Day & Graduation

Happy Sunday,  y'all!  It's time for this month's Nacho Average Challenges blog hop, and this month it's all about moms and graduates.  I don't have any new or recent graduates in my immediate circle, but I did make some Mother's Day cards so that's what I have for you today.

First up is a CAS monochromatic card:

This was for my mom; the white layer is actually Shimmery White and it was made to go with her present:

It's a special edition Starbucks mug for Disneyland's Diamond Anniversary (my mom was born the same year Disneyland opened, so it's her diamond anniversary too!).  There's a gemstone in one of the Occasions catalog sets, but I don't have that one, so I looked in my past Paper Pumpkin stamp sets and found the one I used which I thought was perfect.  One die cut word and stamped sentiment later, and that card was done!

Next up is something tea-riffic:

We got my MIL some herbal teas from a tea shop in Old Town Alexandria, so I made a tea-related card to go with.  The sentiment is from a recent Paper Pumpkin kit (because I might not put the kits together, but I DO use the stamps pretty often!)

Last up is a picture frame for my SIL's desk at work:

She's a new mama, so I thought I should get her something for her first Mother's Day.  She can put a 4x6 photo on there and have it on her desk when she goes back to work full time.  How do you like the ladybugs?  They're made with two circle punches (1/2" and 1") and the sweetheart punch turned upside down.  I loved how they turned out.  I tried stamping the spots all over the heart but decided I liked just a few sprinkles of spots better.




Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Crazy About You, past My Paper Pumpkin
Ink:  Pacific Point
Paper:  Pacific Point, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Hello You Thinlits

Supplies, second card:
Stamps:  My Paper Pumpkin
Ink:  Basic Gray, Blushing Bride, Old Olive
Paper:  Pool Party, Blushing Bride, Sahara Sand, Birthday Bouquet DSP
Accessories:  Cups & Kettles Framelits, Circles Framelits, Dimensionals

Supplies, picture frame:
Stamps:  Larger than Life Alphabet, All About Everything, Made with Love (spots), Watercolor Wings (antennae)
Ink:  Garden Green, Basic Black, Real Red
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Basic Black, Real Red, Whisper White, Real Red DSP
Accessories:  1/2" and 1" circle punches, Sweetheart punch, Deco Labels Framelits

2015 Showcase, Part 2

Part 2 of the card showcase, so July through December.

July's pick features the fantastically-named stamp set Awesomely Artistic, which I need to use a whole lot more in 2016.  Sometimes having so many stamps is a problem ;)

July's other pick is this ax murderer card, which is quite possibly one of my favorite cards in the history of ever because of a joke I share with a friend, whom I have referred to for years as "my online friend, the ax murderer".  She thinks it's funny too.

My pick for August is this little stellar card, I love the bright colors and all the white space just seems to make it work.

September's pick is the faboolous Stella, who got sent to my friend Sarah who loves all things Halloween and even managed to have her daughter on her favorite holiday.

October's pick is this jellyfish card, just because I think it's funny.

November's pick is this beary thankful card, because I just couldn't get through an entire showcase without that Thankful Forest Friends bear.

November's other pick is this Star Wars birthday card, which I somehow neglected to sign when I gave it to my brother.  Oops.  But I was pretty proud of how Artoo turned out...maybe I should give BB-8 a try?

And to finish up the showcase, December's pick is this sparkly blue poinsettia card, which I sent to my mom because she loves sparkly and blue and all things Christmas.

Happy New Year, peeps!

Golden Birthday Wishes

Howdy, peeps!  How's your Wednesday going?

I had planned to make a card yesterday for today's blog post, but I didn't get to it because I was working on baby books.  Hoping to finish those up in the next week or two, but this morning the first item on my agenda was to make a card for today.  Luckily I had help from The Color Throwdown:

I used Basic Black, Whisper White, Lost Lagoon, and Watermelon Wonder for my colors, and put them together with the hot-off-the-presses Freshly Made Sketch 201:

A few gold touches and my card was done.  I kept it pretty simple.  And now I can go back to working on baby books...or maybe I should to Thursday's card first?  Hmm.

Have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Crazy About You, Petite Pairs
Ink:  Watermelon Wonder, Versamark
Paper:  Lost Lagoon, Watermelon Wonder, Basic Black, Whisper White, Kaleidoscope DSP (retired), Brushed Gold cardstock (retired)
Accessories:  Gold EP, scallop circle punch, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, gold brad, Dimensionals

Thankful Dragonfly

Mornin', peeps!  How's it going this fine Wednesday morning?

I took a break from baby books yesterday to work on some other projects, including today's card.  And you knew I wasn't going to stray far from the butterflies and dragonflies for long, right?

I do totally love this stamp set.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I was going to get it first thing.  All of the stamps I used today are from Awesomely Artistic except for the "so much" part of the sentiment, that's from Crazy About You that goes with the Hello You Thinlits.  I thought about adding some pearl accents to this, but I decided I liked it the way it was.

This awesome color combo is courtesy of the folks at Fab Friday:

Of course, I added Sahara Sand to balance out those three strong colors.

Okay, I'm off to work in my craft room again.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Awesomely Artistic, Crazy About You
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Lost Lagoon, Blackberry Bliss, Sahara Sand
Paper:  Lost Lagoon, Blackberry Bliss, Sahara Sand, Whisper White
Accessories:  Hello You Thinlits

Nachos: Tangerine Hello

Howdy, peeps!  It is time once again for a Nacho Average sketch challenge, and here it is:

So you could do this super-clean and simple, or dress it up a bit like I did:

I chose some DSP that I juts love and used the Hello You Thinlits to cut out a "hello" from Tangerine Tango cardstock so the DSP would show through.  I think this card is a little brighter and more sunshiney IRL :)  Ironically, today is the only day in about the past two weeks that we're expecting to get thunderstorms.

It's your turn now!  Go check out the other lovelies on the Nacho blog and post your own creation there.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flower Shop, Crazy About You
Ink:  Blushing Bride, Tangerine Tango
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Flowerpot DSP
Accessories:  Hello You Thinlits, Pansy punch, Best Year Ever Accessories pack buttons, Dimensionals

Swirly-Twirly Gumdrop Flower

I love this one flower in the Crazy About You stamp set where the petals kinda curve around and it makes me think of Buddy the Elf talking about swirly-twirly gumdrops and I bet these are the kind of flowers that would grow on gumdrop trees.  (And if I'm misquoting Elf, it's because I didn't get to watch it this Christmas.)  What do you think?

I just inked up my Sahara Sand ink pad, and it made some kinda fun patterns on the leaves when I stamped them (I stamped them off once first).  That was a happy accident, but I'm still looking forward to upgrading my ink pads to the firm foam ones.  My Sahara Sand is quite old and kinda dips in the center.  And if you look closely, you might see that I put some Dazzling Details glitter glue on the center of my gumdrop flower.

Anyway, I used the color challenge from the Paper Players, with the addition of Basic Black:

And the sketch is from Retro Sketches:

That's it for me today, it's raining outside so I'm going to go spend time in my craft room and make something pretty.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Crazy About You, Petite Pairs
Ink:  Crisp Cantaloupe, Sahara Sand, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Basic Black, Whisper White, All Abloom DSP Stack
Accessories:  Scallop circle punch, hole punch, Lost Lagoon ribbon, Dazzling Details, Dimensionals

A Flower, Just Because

Who else is freezing today?  It was 19 degrees out this morning when I got up, so the hubs and I threw water on some bushes in our backyard in an effort to create some icicles and take some neat pictures.  Well, the water froze just fine but in most cases it's crystal clear so then the holly leaves just looked extra shiny.  We tried, at least!  I did go out walking this morning to take some pictures of the Spanish moss on some trees near here, and while I was gone one of the dogs (I'm guessing Vader) ate one of my Eos lip balms.  Then my oatmeal exploded in the microwave, and at lunchtime I burned my grilled cheese sandwich but after that I figured that was three bad things in a row so I'm safe for the rest of the day.

So then I made this :)

Just because it's always fun to get mail for no other reason than the sender was thinking of you.  I used the current challenge at Cupcake Inspirations:

I *had* to add some green though.  I also used the current sketch from Freshly Made:

Gotta love a sketch that's non-fussy and easy to work with, which are adjectives that do not describe my girl Sadie.

I mean, I love that she wants to hang out close to me when I'm working in my craft room, but usually she's even closer to my chair so I have a very hard time getting up and moving around, which I do all the time because all my paper and stamps are not within arm's reach other than the stamp sets stacked up on my table and some white paper scraps, which do not a whole project make.  That was a long sentence.

I'm off to go work on another scrapbook layout.  I've got one all done except for journaling, but I want to make a companion layout for it first and then journal on both of them together.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Crazy About You, A Dozen Thoughts
Ink:  Blushing Bride, Rose Red, Pear Pizzazz
Paper:  Pool Party, Rose Red, Whisper White, All Abloom DSP Stack
Accessories:  Scallop circle punch, 1/2" circle punch, Regals Candy Dots, Dimensionals

Let's Start Off Amazing

Sounds like a plan for 2015, right?  I hope this year is amazing.

I used some new stuff for today's card.  The "you" is from the same set of Thinlits I used on Tuesday's Happy New Year card, and this time I used the matching stamp set, which has alllll kinds of words to mix and match with the Hello You Thinlits.  You could even cut the "s" off the "thanks" die cut and have "thank you" in die cut letters.  But anyway, I also used the brand-new Birthday Bash specialty DSP (the Night of Navy swirly piece) along with some of the soon-to-be-gone All Is Calm silver patterned paper.  Kind of love that swirly pattern though, and even better there's another paper in the pack in that same pattern but with several colors.  I'm kind of totally crazy about patterned paper even though I haven't been scrapping nearly enough since we moved to Bama.

But anyway, I used the color challenge from Pals Paper Arts:

Love. It.  I kind of want an outfit in these colors.  Well, the silver could be jewelry, but a shirt in Night of Navy and Wisteria Wonder would be awesome.  My card took me a while to make because a.) I was talking to my mom on the phone and b.) I haven't made anything in over a week because we were out of town for Christmas, so it takes some time to get the mojo back ya know?

I also used the sketch from Sketch Frenzy Friday:

Buuuuut I kind of supersized the layers.  Umm, at least all the sketch elements are there?

Anyway, I think I'm overdue for some veg time in front of the TV...the hubs and I have been watching old episodes of Grimm :)  Cheers peeps, and happy new year!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Crazy About You (coming soon in the Occasions mini!)
Ink:  Wisteria Wonder (I need to invest in the Firm Foam pads, I wasn't happy with how my old-style felt pad inked up the stamp), Night of Navy
Paper:  Wisteria Wonder, Night of Navy, Brushed Silver, Whisper White, All Is Calm & Birthday Bash DSP
Accessories:  Flower Medallion punch, Banners Framelits, Hello You Thinlits, Regals Candy Dots, Dimensionals