Cactus Greetings

Mornin' y'all and happy Saturday!  And it's going to be a fun Saturday too, the hubs arranged for me to have a mani/pedi with my friend Missy today while Ryan entertains his grandparents.  Whee!  And as an extra bonus, I have a card to share today : )

My friend Krissy lives in Arizona and we were texting the other day about this cute cactus shirt that Tee Turtle has in their Valentine collection and I told her I would have to make her a cactus card soon, and here it is.  I started with the same Just Add Ink challenge as I used yesterday:

I actually made this card first, but as I was working on it I decided it absolutely NEEDED some bright pink flowers and that made it not fit the challenge as much.  Check out the cool sketch from Try a Sketch on Tuesday:

Fun sketch, I had lots of ideas for it but the cactus won out.  I used the same greeting stamp as for yesterday's card because the one I liked from Flowering Cactus was too long to fit in the space on the card front.  And for the three background strips, I finally used one of the "texture" dies in the Flowering Cactus set that I had never used before.

Okay, I'm going to see if I can get in a yoga practice before Ryan wakes up.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flowering Cactus, Blueberry Bunches
Ink:  Granny Apple Green, Polished Pink, Blueberry Bushel
Paper:  Blueberry Bushel, Azure Afternoon, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Flowering Cactus dies, Dimensionals, white sequins

Cactus Colorblock

Hey y'all and happy Friday!  I think when Ryan gets home from school today that we're going to start working on his trap for the Easter Bunny, though I question the wisdom of trying to capture a magical creature.  He (Ryan, not the Easter Bunny) says he needs his dad's laundry baskets and lots of rope, so we'll see how this goes.

In the meantime, I have a card to share.

I dusted off the retired Flowering Cactus for today's card because I still love it so much.  Check out this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

As is tradition around here, I paired it with the Color Throwdown:

I used Blushing Bride, Terracotta Tile, and Soft Succulent for my colors, and I was 100% inspired by the picture to use cactus stamps for my card.  I would never in a hundred years have put these colors together on my own so I was surprised by how much I liked them together!  And in general I am no fan of Blushing Bride, I was not sad at all to see it  on the retiring list.  But yeah, these three colors together totally work.

Anyway, I hope you have a good holiday weekend if you celebrate Easter.  I got Ryan an egg-dyeing kit so I predict that I will be eating a lot of boiled eggs next week 'cause no one else in this house will.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flowering Cactus
Ink:  Soft Succulent, Terracotta Tile
Paper:  Soft Succulent, Thick Basic White, Terracotta Tile & Blushing Bride DSP
Accessories:  Flowering Cactus dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Polished Dots

Birthday Cactus

Hey hey hey!  I made a card on Monday, intending to share it yesterday, but then I woke up an hour late and had to hurry to get to work on time so it didn't happen yesterday.  So I'm sharing today!  I pulled out my favorite Flowering Cactus stamp set again for today's card:

And I'm entering this in two challenges.  First up is the color challenge from the Paper Players:

Love those fun colors together!  I like how the black grounds the super bright colors.  I paired that with the Global Design Project Case the Designer challenge:

I kept the layout basically the same for my card, but I pretty much flip-flopped which elements were in color and which were in black and white.  I had a scrap of old Basic Black DSP that had the words on one side, so I used that as the strip on the left of my card because I liked how it mimicked the white-on-black sentiment panel on the inspo card.  I did line the inside of the card with some Basic White cardstock and stamped another cactus in there, but I didn't take a picture of it and this card is already sealed up and ready to go to my beautiful friend Sarah for her birthday :)

Have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flowering Cactus
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Thick Basic White, Basic Black DSP scrap
Accessories:  Flowering Cactus dies, Ornate Frames dies, Dimensionals, gold enamel dots

SUO Challenges: Playing Favorites

Happy Tuesday and are you ready for a new challenge from SUO Challenges?  'Cause we are!

This time we're asking you to play favorites....pick a favorite stamp set and make a card with it!  It can be your favorite current stamp set, your favorite retired stamp set, your favorite flower stamp set, your favorite sentiment set, whatever.  Just pick stamps and start creating!

I came up with the idea for this challenge and then it was hard for me, lol!  I don't think I could pick a favorite stamp set EVER because I have literally hundreds of sets.  In the end, I chose my favorite stamp set from the Occasions catalog that is not carried over to the annual catalog...Flowering Cactus!

I think I made a good choice :D  I will take any excuse to play with this stamp set and I've loved every single card I've made with it.  I hadn't used the friendship sentiment yet, so I built a little cactus collage and popped up the sentiment on some Ornate Frames dies.  This is the first time I've busted out the Calypso Coral twine that comes in the product medley, too, but I couldn't find the end of the string at first so I made a big mess with it, haha!  That's okay, getting messy is part of the fun of creating things.

So now it's your turn to be creative!  The messy part is optional (unless you're me, then it's unavoidable).  Don't forget to upload your creation on the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flowering Cactus
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Highland Heather, Calypso Coral, Pear Pizzazz, Mint Macaron
Paper:  Highland Heather, Mossy Meadow, Thick Basic White, Flowering Cactus DSP Stack
Accessories:  Flowering Cactus dies, Ornate Frames dies, Calypso Coral twine, Dimensionals

Bold Cactus

Mornin' y'all!  I'm so happy with today's card that I'm going to skip the chitchat and get right to the picture, lookie!

I loooooooooooooooooooooove the Flowering Cactus product medley in the Occasions catalog and I might have to buy an extra pack of the DSP even though I'm currently on a mission to use up paper I already have, haha!  I just love it all so much.  Anyway, I cut a piece of Basic Black cardstock for yesterday's card base, and I still had the other half on my table when I started this card so I decided to go bold and use it for this card too.  For the other colors, I used the color challenge from The Spot:

I think this is my first time playing along in their challenges, I love this color palette.  This is my first foray with Fresh Freesia and we're going to be friends :)  I used the sketch from Fusion:

That pupper is adorable and I may have to play along again using the inspiration picture just because he's so cute.  Last up is the Festive Friday challenge:

I am a TERRIBLE gardener and the only reason we have five orchids growing like crazy in our kitchen window is because my hubs takes care of them :)  Anyway, from the inspo list I used plants (cactus), green (Granny Apple Green, love it), die cut (two, even), and flowers (on the cactus and on the Fresh Freesia strip).  There you have it--three challenges!  I love it when a plan comes together :)

Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flowering Cactus
Ink:  Granny Apple Green, Magenta Madness, Fresh Freesia, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Basic Black, Fresh Freesia, Thick Basic White, scrap of retired Granny Apple Green DSP
Accessories:  Flowering Cactus dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Flowering Cactus Fun

Hey y'all!  How's it going today?  I have two fun cards to share :)  Last week, I brought in a stack of cards I'd made to show my coworkers at the arts & crafts center, and both of them loved the Flowering Cactus card I made for a Fusion challenge.  They asked if I could make more and I'm always happy to play with the Flowering Cactus suite!  I didn't want to just make the exact same card over again, so I just played around until I made two cards I liked.

Faith said both her sister and her bestie love cactus, and they've got birthdays coming up, so she's getting the original card I made but I added a birthday sentiment to the inside of the card.  She liked the "rare find" sentiment on the front, so I kept that on this card too, and I stamped the same birthday sentiment on the inside of this one:

In fact, the only bits I stamped on either of these cards are the sentiments.  All the cactus and flower images were die cut out of the matching paper, which made these super quick and easy to put together!  So here's the card I made for Amy's niece, who also has a birthday coming up:

Amy requested something different than the "rare find" sentiment on the front because she thought that would be odd on a card for her niece, so I chose this "happy looks good on you" instead.  I love the font used in this stamp set, too.  Also, if you don't have the Stitched Shapes dies yet, snatch them up now if they're still available!  This is probably my most frequently used set of dies EVER and they can pry them from my cold, dead hands because I love them so.  Anyway, same birthday sentiment on the inside of this card too:

I will have to thank Amy and Faith for giving me an excuse to play around with Flowering Cactus some more, I love it so much!  I've loved every card I've made with this suite.  I may have to get an extra refill pack of that gorgeous paper...ignoring the fact that I have a giant stash of paper already....

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Flowering Cactus
Ink:  Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Highland Heather, Mossy Meadow, Thick Basic White, Flowering Cactus DSP Stack
Accessories:  Flowering Cactus dies, Hippo & Friends dies, Dimensionals

Supplies, second card:
Stamps:  Flowering Cactus
Ink:  Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Calypso Coral, Mossy Meadow, Thick Basic White, Flowering Cactus DSP Stack
Accessories:  Flowering Cactus dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Tasteful Labels dies, Dimensionals

A Rare Find

Hey y'all!  I snuck up to my craft room while Ryan was quiet on Sunday and made a quick card to share.  Maybe it didn't take long to make but I love how it turned out!

The DSP stack that goes with the Flowering Cactus stamp set is SO. PRETTY!!!  I loved the sketch from the current Fusion challenge and I couldn't resist showcasing some of this pretty paper for it.

I like the inspo picture too, but I doubt I'll be able to do another card for this challenge before it closes.

Hope your week is off to a good start, peeps.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flowering Cactus
Ink:  Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Mint Macaron, Highland Heather, Thick Basic White, Flowering Cactus DSP
Accessories:  Rectangle Postage Stamp punch, Hippo & Friends Dies, Dimensionals

Prickly Cactus

Mornin' y'all!  I'm taking a break from butterflies to bring you the *other* card I made on Sunday, and here it is!

AAAHHHHHH I love it!  A while back, SU! had a cactus stamp set and I liked it but I didn't buy it and then it retired and I was sad I hadn't bought it so when the Flowering Cactus product medley came out in the Occasions Catalog I jumped on it lickety-split but this is the first time I've gotten it inked up.  The product medley comes with stamps, dies, DSP, and accessories and I love it!

I also love the sketch from the Paper Players:
 

Given how many stamp sets have coordinating dies nowadays (not complaining), this sketch would be super easy to use with just about anything!

The Fab Friday color challenge was taken straight from the Flowering Cactus DSP which just cemented my decision to use it:

I used both greens on the heart-shaped cactus--I inked the stamp up with Mint Macaron, and then used a sponge dauber to apply Mossy Meadow ink around the outside of it, and then stamped.  Easy peasy!

Well, I'd better get my workout on while Ryan is watching PowerPuff Girls.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flowering Cactus
Ink:  Mint Macaron, Mossy Meadow, Calypso Coral
Paper:  Mint Macaron, Thick Basic White, Flowering Cactus DSP Stack
Accessories:  Flowering Cactus dies, Rectangles Stitched dies, Hippo & Friends dies, Dimensionals, retired Happy Day Enamel Dots