Berchtesgaden

Scrappy Monday, y'all, it's time for the last of the Alpine Adventure pages.

After we came back down from the Eagle's Nest, we walked around downtown Berchtesgaden for a bit and got ice cream (of course).  Then we called it a day at around 3pm and the hubs and Ryan checked out our hotel pool--how ADORABLE is Ryan in that little bitty robe?!

Today's palette:  So Saffron, Cherry Cobbler, Blushing Bride, Blueberry Bushel, Early Espresso and white.  I don't use much Blushing Bride so that was a surprise, but it worked with the ice cream thingy that Ryan's hugging in one picture.

That's it for me, peeps, have a great day.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Alphabest, Carnival Treats, Fabulous Phrases
Ink:  Early Espresso, Blushing Bride, Pecan Pie, Cherry Cobbler
Paper:  So Saffron, Cherry Cobbler, Blueberry Bushel, Thick Basic White, Dashing Along DSP, Blushing Bride DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies

Friday Flashback: Elements of Style

Happy Friday afternoon, y'all, and welcome to the Friday Flashback.  This week's stamp set is Elements of Style, which is a lovely vintage-kinda style stamp set which debuted in 2010.  So let's get started!

Also features By the Seashore, Pursuit of Happiness, Perfectly Penned

The flourish behind the postage stamp-style element is the stamp that's from Elements of Style.  Hey Stampin' Up!, we need more flourishy stamps like this.

Also features Pursuit of Happiness

The real reason I got the stamp set:  the hummingbird.  Also that ribbon is actually Marina Mist to match the hummingbird stamp, it just really doesn't look it in the photo.

Also features Fabulous Phrases

There's a big toile stamp in the set in addition to that flourish, both fun.

Also features Papillon Potpourri and Perfectly Penned

Another one with the flourish!

And hey,t here's a card that has one of the Elements of Style sentiments on it.  So there's your flashback, here's today's new card:

Seems like all my card photos are under-exposed lately.  Well, we've been socked in with clouds for what seems like forever (it's a giant swamp outside) and I really think my little camera is on its last legs.  But anyway, that's the new card...and the sentiment is a bit crooked but I'm going to write that off as proof that this is homemade.  And it's going in the mail within the next week.

I used the brand new color challenge from Fab Friday:

But I added a bit of Sahara Sand (generally you're allowed to add neutrals to any color challenge) and that means it also counts for the Inkspire Me color challenge:

Well, we've got to go pick up my car from having its oil changed, so I'm outta here.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Elements of Style, Thank You Kindly, Hardwood
Ink:  Soft Sky, Sweet Sugarplum, Sahara Sand
Paper:  Soft Sky, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes & Lots of Labels Framelits, Dimensionals, Pearls

Friday Flashback: Tea Party

Happy Friday!  Once again I've waited until late in the day to work on my card, but I got there in the end.  Today's Friday Flashback stamp set is Tea Party, and you know how I love my tea!  If you're here just to see today's new card, scroll to the bottom; otherwise, let's take a trip down Memory Lane :)

Also features Artistic Etchings, Curly Cute

The scallopy border stamp on this card is from Tea Party.

Also features Petite Petals

And I bet you can figure out from the picture which stamp on this card is from today's set :)

Also features Fabulous Phrases

A fabulous teapot planter colored with markers for a nice effect...

Put a couple of these together very quickly for my cohosts when I did a Mad Tea Party a few years ago.

Also features Swallowtail

The thank you tag is also from today's set, and of course you recognize Swallowtail.  Who doesn't love that one!

So here is today's brand new creation:

I just loved the sketch from Fab Friday today so I had to use it:

And I'm also entering this over at Retro Rubber:

I have approximately 7 gabillion brads in different colors, and given that I jabbed myself under the fingernail with one while working on my card I remember why I was so happy to switch to Candy Dots.  But perhaps I should do this challenge lots more times to whittle down my brad stash a bit?  Anyway, in the spirit of retro-ness, Tea Party came out in 2013 and I had to have it immediately so it's 3 years old.  The brads are older than that :)

Well, the hubs is here and wants to go out to dinner, so who can say no to that.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Tea Party
Ink:  Always Artichoke
Paper:  So Saffron, Thick Whisper White, Tea & Crumpets DSP
Accessories:  Ovals & Labels Collection Framelits, Rich Regals Brads, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: World Treasures

Happy Friday afternoon, peeps!  It's time for another Friday Flashback, and grab a cuppa tea (or coffee, if you prefer) and settle in because this one's a long one.  Let's take a look back at the very awesome stamp set (and more recent retiree) World Treasures!

Also features Fabulous Phrases

I think you're going to figure out very quickly which stamp in the set is my favorite.

Also features Four You

 For a while, it was even available as a single stamp.

Also features Vintage Verses

Because it's that awesome.

Also features Sweet Essentials

Haha, snuck one in here without the peacock on it!  But the flowers are from World Treasures too.

Also features Curly Cute

This one might be my favorite card with World Treasures, I just love that bright blue and orange together.

Also features All Holidays

The fun thing about stamps is that peacocks can be any color you want.

Also features Pursuit of Happiness

Or multi-colored.

Also features Occasions

Though I admit, perhaps I am lacking in imagination for usually sticking with the blues, greens, and purples for my peacock.  Or maybe those are just the colors I'm drawn to.

Still, the sky's the limit for peacock colors here.  And that's the flashback part of the Friday Flashback, so now it's time for a brand new creation!

I decided to be contrary and make a World Treasures card *without* the peacock.  I mean, I love that peacock, but these flowers are perfectly lovely too, and I was suddenly curious this afternoon as to how Crushed Curry embossing powder would look on Blackberry Bliss cardstock.  Answer:  awesome.  But use your Embossing Buddy, the first time I had powder all over everywhere.  The sentiment is from World Treasures too, I took a marker to the sentiment stamp in the set and only inked up "friend".  Tip:  make sure your stamp is very, very clean and DRY or you'll get a ghost image around the part you ink up.  And Halloween is over.

So the color combination for today's creation is from Fab Friday:

Another awesome fall color combo, amirite?  Might have to use that one again!  Y'all know how much I love Crushed Curry and Blackberry Bliss.  And they work great together.

The sketch is from Freshly Made Sketches:

So even though it took me a long time to settle down enough to actually make something today, once I sat down the card came together in, like, ten minutes.  Woohoo!

And that's it for today's Friday Flashback, I hope you enjoyed it.  Happy weekend, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  World Treasures
Ink:  Versamark, Cajun Craze
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Blackberry Bliss, Very Vanilla, Comfort Cafe DSP
Accessories:  Banners & Labels Framelits, Crushed Curry EP, Very Vanilla seam binding, Regals Candy Dots, Dimensionals

Silver Peacock...Now Retiring

It's that time of year again, friends--the Stampin' Up! retirement lists came out this morning.  And the fabulous peacock from World Treasures is on it.  Gasp!

Fear not, Mr. Fabulous--you'll get to live in my stamp collection forever.

Silver EP is really difficult to photograph well, even when I've got sunshine coming in my stamp room window.  Fabulous Phrases is also on the retiring list, as is Perfectly Penned (say it ain't so!), but Perfectly Penned will have to get its own tribute card later this week.  Oh yeah, the Houndstooth EF is on the list and so is the corner rounder punch.  I kinda can't believe that last one, my corner rounder is the one punch that lives on my craft table full time.

Anyway, I used last Wednesday's Freshly Made Sketch for my silver peacock:

Obviously I sat on it and squished it into a landscape layout instead of portrait.  I needed it to be landscape to get that whole fabulous peacock on there.  And I moved the sentiment panel a bit and shortened it but hey, all the elements of the sketch are there.  I think it counts, and that's what I'll tell the Challenge Police if they question me.

Hope you have a great day, and thanks for stopping by.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  World Treasures, Fabulous Phrases
Ink:  Versamark, StazOn Black
Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Brushed Silver
Accessories:  Deco Labels & Banners Framelits, Corner Rounder punch, Houndstooth EF, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Scentsational Season

It's time for another festive Friday Flashback and today's stamp set is Scentsational Season.  I loved this stamp set and I was a little sad that it didn't carry over for another year, but on the other hand, that doesn't mean I can't continue to make cute cards with it!  So let's flash back to 2012.

Sorry this first pic isn't great; this card was not pinkish in real life but this was the only pic of it that I took.  I got this stamp set not long after I started this blog last year, so you may have seen these before if you've been a frequent visitor : )  I also liked to use Scentsational Season with More Merry Messages, as you'll see.

I love the sketch on this one.

Ya know what, a nice hot cuppa tea sounds pretty good right now!  "Smile" sentiment from Fabulous Phrases.

Umm, I think I was in love with the Happy Christmas stamp last year.

And I still kinda miss Curly Cute.  So that's the Flashback, here's today's new card:

I used an SCS sketch from a while back and I *meant* to do a color challenge too, but I ended up using similar-but-not-the-same colors instead.  Oh well, Real Red looks good with Baked Brown Sugar and Wild Wasabi, and that gingerbread man was not nearly so cute stamped in Crumb Cake.  I think Baked Brown Sugar is a much better color on him : )

Thanks for joining me for today's Friday Flashback, have a great weekend!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Scentsational Season, More Merry Messages
Ink:  Real Red, Baked Brown Sugar, Wild Wasabi
Paper:  Real Red, Very Vanilla, Holly Berry Bouquet DSP
Accessories:  Holiday Collection & Circles Framelits, 2 1/2" circle punch, Soft Suede taffeta, Dimensionals

Nacho Tea Party Bouquet

Happy Tuesday!  It's time for another fabulous color challenge from the Nachos.  Check it out!

I love Daffodil Delight, it's so sunny and cheerful.  Here's my take:

I just got Tea Party so I decided to use it for this card.  I used markers to ink up the bouquet stamp, which I wouldn't advise if you're mass-producing, but it looks pretty for a one-off card.  I left the layout really simple to let the image and sentiment take center stage.

Hope you join the Nachos for this week's challenge.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tea Party, Fabulous Phrases
Ink:  Midnight Muse, Daffodil Delight, Primrose Petals, Gumball Green
Paper:  Primrose Petals, Midnight Muse, Whisper White, Quatrefancy DSP
Accessories:  none...just a SAMJ to line up my stamped images

Beautiful Friend

If I go up and down the stairs between every batch of cookies I make, that counts as exercise, right?  And also, grabbing a cookie sheet fresh out of the oven bare-handed = not the best idea I've had all day.  Luckily my fingers don't seem to be burned too badly...but if they were, they'd match my sunburn from yesterday.  Yep, I managed to get sunburned in ENGLAND!  Only on my left arm and then around where the neckline of my shirt was yesterday, but it is pretty pink.

But let's talk about something more fun than sunburns, shall we?  Like butterflies!

Oh Swallowtail, you are so pretty.  This time, the gigundor butterfly is stamped in Wisteria Wonder ink that I stamped off once first to make it softer.  And then I stamped the sentiment and covered the entire panel with Iridescent Ice EP (just barely managing not to burn my fingers...again) and I'm so excited the sparkle kinda shows up in the picture!

Today's color combo is courtesy of Dynamic Duos, I totally loved these colors together:

I wanted to use Smoky Slate as my neutral, but it just didn't contrast enough with Wisteria Wonder.  Baked Brown Sugar looked good but didn't quite work with the way my card turned out, so I ended up using the trusty Basic Gray instead.  Smoky Slate and Baked Brown Sugar shall have their day in the sun sooner or later, though.

Thanks for stopping by today, hope your day is sparkly!  Mine is, I think I got Iridescent Ice all over my shirt...

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Swallowtail, Fabulous Phrases
Ink:  Wisteria Wonder, Raspberry Ripple, Versamark
Paper:  Wisteria Wonder, Basic Gray, Whisper White, retired In Color DSP (what? I need to use up more of that stuff before I buy all the new stuff or my craft room floor is gonna cave in and dump all my crafty goodness into the kitchen!  That might be more convenient for when I'm stamping and making cookies at the same time, but how on earth would I organize it all...)
Accessories:  Iridescent Ice EP, Dimensionals

Print Poetry Peacock Feather

Howdy, folks!  I finally have a card done for today's blog post.

I suppose the card is okay, but for some reason it's just not quite doing it for me today.  Probably a result of not sleeping well last night...I woke up at 3:45 and didn't really get any restful sleep after that.  Insomnia sucks.

Anyway, today's card was based on the current Retro Sketch, though I'm afraid I failed to do it justice.  I had all these ideas for this sketch earlier this week but those ideas seem to have fled for the moment.

Well, as Scarlett O'Hara says, tomorrow is another day.  Have a good one, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fine Feathers, Fabulous Phrases
Ink:  Midnight Muse, Wisteria Wonder (hard to see on the feather, but it is in there, and on the sentiment too), Gumball Green
Paper:  Gumball Green, Whisper White, Print Poetry DSP
Accessories:  Wisteria Wonder baker's twine

Friday Flashback: Strength & Hope

Today's Friday Flashback stamp set is one I adore, Strength & Hope.  There are four stamps in this little set, though of course the butterfly is by far my favorite (though it is TOUGH to cut out those teeny antennae!).  So I've got a little gallery for you today and it's not all cards!

Here's a scrapbook layout from when my parents visited us when we lived in Okinawa.  I think as soon as I finish this post, I'm gonna have to go pull out some photos to scrap...I looked at my scrapbook layout gallery on SCS and I just really want to add to it now!  (Supplies for this particular layout listed here.)

Here are a couple of name frames I made.  That Bella Rose DSP is still some of my very favorite, and I have a *lot* of DSP.  *giggle*

Here's more Bella Rose DSP and a CAS card.  If I ever draw Baroque Motifs as the Friday Flashback stamp set, that post is gonna be a mile long.  I love that giant swirl!

I made this for a friend of mine who was battling cancer when I sent it to her (I think the stamp set sales went to benefit cancer research of some kind).  Sadly, my friend lost her battle at the age of 31, but I still think of her every day and miss her always.

I think this is my favorite card I've made with this stamp set; that stamp I used on the border is part of Strength & Hope and the sentiment is from my fave Fabulous Phrases.  And for once I didn't cut out those stinkin' butterfly antennae!

So here's today's card.  It's a bit muted compared to the previous card, but I kinda like it.  I think Sahara Sand is my favorite pale neutral; I know everyone else is crazy for Crumb Cake but for me, Sahara Sand is where it's at.  The sentiment on here is from the also-retired set Friendship Flowers; I thought it went with the theme of Strength & Hope.  And there's that Cast-a-Spell DSP that I'm using once again for not-Halloween stuff :)

Thanks for joining me for today's Friday Flashback, have a wonderful weekend!

Supplies for last card:
Stamps:  Strength & Hope, Friendship Flowers (both retired)
Ink:  Always Artichoke, Sahara Sand, Perfect Plum, Rose Red
Paper:  Always Artichoke, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Cast-a-Spell DSP (retired)
Accessories:  Dimensionals