Just Use The Paper

Mornin' y'all!  I hope today is less misadventurous than yesterday (I just made up a word).  Early yesterday morning, the hubs hurt his back and couldn't hardly move, but after he went to the doc and got some muscle relaxers he decided that it was the perfect time to replace the motor in the dishwasher because he can't just rest like a normal person.  Our dishwasher went on the fritz right after we got back from Wyoming...I've always been amused by the phrase "on the fritz", I think probably because my middle school principal was Mrs. Fritz.  Anyway, he enlisted Ryan for help and they got it all put back together and he started a cycle...and 30 minutes later the dishwasher was spewing water all over half our kitchen.  So then he had to take it apart again and fix an electrical short and he says now it's working again, but I won't lie, I'm a bit nervous to run a load of dishes today.

So yeah, let's hope today is a bit more boring.  Anyway, I saw this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And I thought it was a good opportunity to show off some patterned paper, and one of my goals this year is to Just Use The Paper.  So I went through my stack of recent(ish) DSP and found with two packs that I couldn't decide between, so I ended up with two cards, one for the gals and one for the guys.  Or outdoorsy gals.  So here's the super girly one:

I had only used the Lovely Garden DSP I think one time before judging from the lack of scraps I have, and I thought the three heads of hydrangeas would be good for the circular elements on the sketch so let's use up some DSP!  I fussy cut all three flower bunches, adhered them on a Garden Green pattern from the same stack, and added a fun greeting from Flowing Flowers which retired a few years ago.  Some Starburst Sequins and I have a flat, easily mailable card.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flowing Flowers
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Lovely Garden DSP
Accessories:  Starburst Sequins

And here's one for those people who like being outside:

Yeah I think I'm still channeling our Yellowstone trip (more pics at the bottom of the post if you're interested).  This one started with the Weekend Adventures DSP, which I had never cut into before but I am wanting to get back to scrapbooking and I think I should print off the Yellowstone pics to start with and this paper will be *perfect* for that.  Not to mention that wonderful greeting from Exploring Nature.  So anyway, to make this more "manly", I tore the background DSP and used the Deckled Circles dies for the circular elements of the sketch.  I played around with which patterns I wanted to use where, and then I decided to add the deer for a bit more interest.  Some Earthy Matte Dots finish it off.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Exploring Nature, Outdoor Adventure
Ink:  Pecan Pie
Paper:  Old Olive, Basic Beige, Weekend Adventures DSP
Accessories:  Outdoor Adventure dies, Deckled Circles dies, Dimensionals, Earthy Matte Dots

So here's both cards together:

Whaddya think, guys and gals?

As promised, I have more Yellowstone pics.  We got up early on Thursday morning and drove out towards Old Faithful, but on the way we saw...

A small herd of buffalo (with babies!) right next to the road.  We stopped on the side of the road and took some pictures from inside the car before we drove slowly past them because we respect the wildlife.

And here's Old Faithful!  This is what it looked like when we got there, I think it's always venting something in between eruptions.

Luckily we only had to wait about a half hour before we saw an eruption, and we were there early enough in the day that it wasn't crowded and we had front row seats.  You can see a bit of the water on the right side; there was so much steam, it was hard to see the water.

Then we drove up to the Grand Prismatic Pool; we got out to hike to the boardwalk that overlooks the pool, and then we hiked what felt like 37 miles to Fairy Falls.

And on the way we saw a marmot!  I think it's a marmot.

Ryan at Fairy Falls.

After a late lunch, we drove back to some overlooks of the Yellowstone River and saw a bigger waterfall, this I think is the Lower Falls.

And here we all are and apparently we need a V-8 because we're all leaning?

Okay now I have a bunch of scenery shots because it was just SO GORGEOUS here.  I read a sign that said this canyon was formed by the river because it's V-shaped; if it's U-shaped, it was made by a glacier.  Interesting.  We did see a (labeled) glacial boulder, too.

We're both wearing Hulk shirts : ) And this time he's not holding his nose because it didn't smell like sulfur.

And just one more beauty shot of the Yellowstone River.  Daphne is staring at me because she wants to tour the neighborhood, and it's a gorgeous day so I'm going to accede to her wishes.  Cheers!

Sketchy Series for the Paper Players

Hey stampy friends!  Ready for a wonderful new sketch from the Paper Players?  I hope so, because it's coming at you right now!

Isn't that a great sketch?  Here's what I made:

Yep, still obsessed with Artfully Layered, the coordinating dies and papers.  Better hurry up and grab 'em before they retire on July 1!  I thought this sketch was a great way to showcase a couple of  patterned papers together, and after I made this card I just couldn't resist trying out the sketch with some other papers.  I, uh, made several more cards with the sketch :)

Here's the Butterfly Kisses DSP stack in action, sentiment courtesy of Simply Fabulous (don't you love that font?!).  My biggest problem was narrowing down which butterfly to cut out and what papers to use for the layers of the sketch.

Next up, I used the He's the Man specialty paper to make this one, no stamps required.  The hubs and I have talked about getting an RV or something and spending a year or two traveling around the US after he retires.  Don't know if we'll do that if gas prices continue to be so astronomical, though.

You know I wouldn't leave out Cup of Tea and the coordinating Tea Boutique DSP stack!

Finally, I was able to squeak out just one more quick card with the Design a Daydream DSP that's a host option.  I don't like this card quite as well as the other ones, but by the time I got to this one I was in a rush and didn't have time to add a stamped image or some embellishments.  I do like the giant floral pattern though.

If y'all like this sketch even half as much as I did, then the Paper Players gallery is going to be full of beautiful cards this week!  Have fun and get inky!

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Cindy Beach

Christy Stanford <-- You are here : )

Jennie Maier

Supplies, Artfully Composed card:
Stamps:  Artfully Layered
Ink:  Calypso Coral, Just Jade
Paper:  Just Jade, Thick Basic White, Artfully Composed DSP
Accessories:  Tropical Layers dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, sequins from a past Paper Pumpkin kit

Supplies, Butterfly Kisses card:
Stamps:  Simply Fabulous
Ink:  Starry Sky
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Thick Basic White, Butterfly Kisses DSP
Accessories:  Potted Succulents dies, Dimensionals

Supplies, He's the Man card:
Stamps:  None
Ink:  None
Paper:  Sahara Sand, He's the Man DSP
Accessories:  He's the Man die cut shapes, Dimensionals

Supplies, Tea Boutique card:
Stamps:  Cup of Tea
Ink:  Starry Sky, Stampin' Blends in Fresh Freesia & Parakeet Party
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Thick Basic White, Tea Boutique DSP Stack
Accessories:  Teacup dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals

Supplies, Design a Daydream card:
Stamps:  Flowing Flowers
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss
Paper:  Petal Pink, Thick Basic White, Design a Daydream DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals

SUO Challenges: Flowers

Happy Tuesday y'all!  And this week it's time for a new challenge from SUO Challenges :)

Our theme this time is flowers.  Easy peasy, right?  I decided to use Flowing Flowers this time, as it didn't carry over to the annual catalog so it will retire at the end of this month.  It will always have a place in my collection though!

I kept things super simple this time to keep the focus on the flowers and sentiment.  I stamped the background panel tone-on-tone with Fresh Freesia and the main image flower with the same ink on Whisper White.  Of course you can't tell from the photo, but I covered the big flower with Wink of Stella.  My biggest difficulty with this card was choosing what my accent color should be.  I tried a bunch of options before landing on Pool Party, and then I used Gray Granite for the sentiment.  This will be going to my friend who is battling stage 4 metastatic breast cancer.

Upload your floral card creation at the SUO Challenges blog and let's turn the gallery into a delightful paper garden!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flowing Flowers
Ink:  Fresh Freesia, Gray Granite
Paper:  Pool Party, Fresh Freesia, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Flamingo & Freesia

Mornin' y'all!  I have one more card to share for the Paper Players challenge:

I enjoyed this challenge ;) and I have lots and lots of flower stamps.  So here was the second card I made:

I stamped the large flower in Flirty Flamingo and fussy cut it, and then gave it a setting of Fresh Freesia smaller blooms.  I think this one counts as more CAS than yesterday's card (which I kinda consider CAS-plus), but the blue sunflower card has more white space...well, blue space ;)

Hope you have a fabulous day today, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flowing Flowers
Ink:  Flirty Flamingo, Fresh Freesia, Sahara Sand
Paper:  Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Wink of Stella 

Go With the Flow?

Mornin' y'all! How is your week going so far?  We had GORGEOUS weather yesterday and yeah, I was at work all day, but we had the door open and I got to enjoy the breeze while I worked on frames.  And then I spent an hour sitting outside after work, it was great :)

I mentioned on Sunday that I had made no fewer than THREE cards for the Paper Players challenge:

And here is the first one I made:

After I made it, I worried that it wasn't CAS enough.  Yeah, it's a simple design, but it's got some layers on it and maybe not enough white space to be strictly CAS, which is why I made other cards ;)  I like this one though, I made it just as an excuse to play with Fresh Freesia, which I paired with Flirty Flamingo and a bit of Pear Pizzazz sponging on the background.

Hope your day is simply wonderful!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flowing Flowers
Ink:  Fresh Freesia, Flirty Flamingo, Pear Pizzazz, Sahara Sand
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Floral Encouragement

Mornin' y'all!  Had the day off yesterday and I did spend hours in my craft room, though I didn't get done with everything I wanted to.  I got distracted because I got half of my Sale-a-Bration/Occasions catalog order :)  I have LOTS of stuff to play with and this was only half of it, haha!  I did ink up a brand new stamp set for today's card:

The sentiment is from Arctic Bears that just retired with the Holiday catalog; I bought it because I have a friend who loooooves polar bears but I hadn't even inked it up before it retired.  Anyway, the flower  image is from the new Flowing Flowers, which is unusual in that it is *not* in a bundle with a punch or set of dies and no DSP or anything associated with it.  I inked up the stamp with sponge daubers and stamped it directly on my card front, but the flower ended up looking kinda muddy for some reason so I stamped it with just Daffodil Delight ink on a bit of scrap paper and fussy cut it so I could salvage the card front.  I did add a bit more sponging on the original flower before I added the layer, and I added Wink of Stella to make the flower sparkle a bit too.

My colors are courtesy of the Color Throwdown:

I used Night of Navy, Smoky Slate, Daffodil Delight, and Old Olive.  Next up is this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I decided to keep it very CAS this week.  Finally, I chose the sentiment to fit with the Make the Cards Challenge theme:

Always good to have some encouragement cards in the stash.  I have quite a few sentiments that would fit the bill for this, it took me a while to choose exactly which one to use.

Hope you have a great weekend, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flowing Flowers, Arctic Bears
Ink:  Night of Navy, Daffodil Delight, Smoky Slate, Old Olive
Paper:  Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Matte Decorative Dots, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella