Seven Cards for Seven Moms

Mornin' y'all!  Once again I did not sleep well last night and after I'd been awake for an hour starting at 1am, I grabbed my Kindle to read a biography of Ivan the Terrible.  This is a pretty dense academic work, not a pop history beach read kind of book, so I was hoping it would make me go back to sleep ; )  Took an hour and a half but I got there in the end and also I had a Really Fun Idea that I'm super excited about and I hope to unveil in the next few days.  I was so excited about this idea that I started working on it this morning and accidentally let my tea go cold.  Horrors!

Anyway, I didn't realize until last weekend that Mother's Day is this Sunday so I figured I'd better get my rear in gear and make a card for my mom.  And then I thought hey, I should send one to my sister.  And then I was like I should send cards to my friends who are moms too and that's how this happened:

Um, can I enter seven cards at the Paper Players challenge?

Of course the phrase something old, something new makes me think weddings, but I don't need any wedding cards at the moment so Mother's Day cards it is.  For the old stuff, I used an old stamp set (Happy & Heartfelt for that super cute Happy Mom Day greeting) and old dies (Stitched Rectangles, Stitched Shapes, Countryside Corners).  For the new, I busted out my brand new Florals in Bloom and Floral Impressions DSP, some new In Colors, and also I made a couple of cards with the Floral Delight DSP that I've had for a couple of months just because I could.

I really enjoyed the sketch at Sunday Stamps so I had to use it again:

For all of the cards but one, I used the floral print from one side of the sheet of DSP for the circles and the pattern on the back side for the rectangular element on the sketch so these really came together pretty quickly.  Also I need to find a screwdriver because the handle on my Big Shot is coming unscrewed!  Anyway, I took some close up pics of the cards:

The Florals in Bloom trio to start off.  I think my favorite patterns in this DSP are those two on the top left, I just love them.  The bottom card is the only one that I didn't use a single sheet of DSP for; the back side of the flowers was all Strawberry Slush and I didn't think it worked well with the flowers, so I used the Cloud Cover stripes from a different sheet instead.  And to finish off, I raided my embellishments box and picked different embellishments for each card.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Happy & Heartfelt
Ink:  Secret Sea, Strawberry Slush
Paper:  Petunia Pop, Secret Sea, Darling Duckling, Strawberry Slush, Peach Pie, Thick Basic White, Florals in Bloom DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Countryside Corners dies, Dimensionals, Antique Pearls, Strawberry Slush gems, Peach Pie Party Dots

Here's the Floral Impressions duo, and there are some other pretty patterns in this pack that I haven't played with yet.  It was accidental that both these cards ended up with Fresh Freesia card bases, I was making all seven cards at the same time and just mixing and matching colors and patterns and that's how it ended up for these two.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Happy & Heartfelt
Ink:  Garden Green, Secret Sea
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Garden Green, Secret Sea, Thick Basic White, Floral Impressions DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Countryside Corners dies, Dimensionals, Earth Tones Shimmer Gems, Faceted Gems

And finally the Floral Delight duo because the yellows in this DSP are just so cheery.  I particularly love that background pattern on the left card.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Happy & Heartfelt
Ink:  Old Olive
Paper:  Pool Party, Old Olive, Lemon Lolly, Thick Basic White, Floral Delight DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Countryside Corners dies, Dimensionals, Old Olive Glitter Gems, Old Olive Glitter Sequins

Now I just need to get these cards written in and sent off.  They won't make it to their destinations before Mother's Day, but I'm gonna pretend they're on time as long as they go out in the mail before the weekend, haha!

Daphne didn't get to go on her walk yesterday because it rained all morning and then we had SNOW in the afternoon, so I'd better go take her now while it's just overcast outside.  Then I'll write in all my cards and then I'll get to work on my new project...lots of fun to be had today!  Cheers!

Tropical Calypso

Hey y'all, how's your Tuesday going?  I'm glad I have today off because I have a nasty headache.  Took me a while to make a card for today because my brain no worky :p  Then I turned to my current favorite stamp sets and made this:

The cloud pattern is in the Flowering Fields DSP, you know the one with the tulips?  But I figured it would work just fine with some tropical not-green greenery : )  I do love stamping these leaves in colors other than green.

I used the Just Add Ink sketch:

And the Global Design Project color challenge:

That's it for me today, folks.  I might go lay down for a bit while my laundry is going...cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artfully Layered, Happy & Heartfelt
Ink:  Calypso Coral, Pale Papaya, Soft Suede
Paper:  Pale Papaya, Pool Party, Thick Basic White, Flowering Fields DSP
Accessories:  Tropical Layers dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Stitched Rectangles dies, Mini Dimensionals, Happiness Blooms Enamel Dots

Guest Designer: CC&S Triple Sentiment

Hey y'all, second post for me today and it's my last card as a Guest Designer for CAS Colours & Sketches.  I've had so much fun this month, thank you for this opportunity!  Today's challenge is a sketch:

Fun, right?  I thought about it for a while and had lots of ideas (just wish I had time to try them all!) and I made this:

Believe it or not, this is the first time I've used any of the New Horizons DSP from the Occasions catalog that everyone else is so crazy about.  I do like it, I just hadn't gotten around to using any of it before now!  I decided I wanted some subtle color variation on the three rectangles for the sentiments, so I chose a pretty Pale Papaya pattern.  The "thank you" is stamped in Evening Evergreen (I think my ink pad needs a refresh) and I cut out a floral spray from the Honeybee Blooms dies also in Evening Evergreen.  My card base is the retired color Pistachio Pudding. 

Dear SU!,
Please replace Soft Sea Foam with Pistachio Pudding in the permanent color lineup. 
Sincerely, Me. 

I think Soft Sea Foam is just too close to nothing for a color--if my stamps aren't super squeaky clean and I ink up with Soft Sea Foam, it comes out looking like Dirty Dishwater.  Not appealing.  Pistachio Pudding, on the other hand, is only like one shade darker and it's so much prettier.

Anyway, enough chatter about color woes.  I hope you'll mosey on over to the CAS Colours & Sketches blog and play along with the challenge.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Happy & Heartfelt
Ink:  Evening Evergreen
Paper:  Pistachio Pudding, Evening Evergreen, New Horizons DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Honeybee Blooms dies

Tropical Celebration

Happy Friday y'all!  I'm happy to say that I'm feeling much better than I was yesterday (perhaps yesterday's 3-hour nap contributed to me feeling better today?) and I spent some time in my craft room today playing with ink and paper.  And water.

I haven't dug out my watercolor paper in a looooong time but I did today!  I do have some green splotches on my hands now but it's all part of the process.  Bee tee dubs, if you're on the fence about the Artfully Layered bundle, just know that it is *not* carrying over to the new catalog, so buy it now ;)  Happy & Heartfelt too, for that matter--it's got great sentiments in a fun and casual font.  I also used the "We have to celebrate this!" on the inside of the card.

Anywha, I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And as per standard, I paired it with the Color Throwdown:

I used Granny Apple Green, Coastal Cabana, and gold foil paper for my colors, plus some white.  And now I have about 30 minutes to work on my current stitching project before I go to pick up the spawn.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artfully Layered, Happy & Heartfelt
Ink:  Granny Apple Green, Coastal Cabana, Versamark
Paper:  Granny Apple Green, Coastal Cabana, Thick Basic White, Gold foil, watercolor paper
Accessories:  Tropical Layers dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, corner rounder punch, white EP, Gold Glitter enamel dots, Dimensionals

SUO Challenges: Animal Kingdom

Salutations, stampers!  It is time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!

Our theme this time is animals!  There are a lot of Stampin' Up! animal sets to choose from, so this will be fun!  Here's what I made:

This sweet little bunny is from Easter Friends, and I decided on the baby sentiment because one of my coworkers is pregnant, so this card is for her.  I used a piece of Hand-Penned DSP for a background panel and chose colors based on that--Blushing Bride, Pale Papaya, and Cinnamon Cider.  I absolutely adore Cinnamon Cider, time to stock up now before it retires.  The Stitched So Sweetly dies are also retiring, but you'd have to pry them out of my cold, dead hands to get me to quit using them ;)  Though I'm sure there will be fabulous new dies in the upcoming catalog.

Make your own animal card and share it with us at the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Easter Friends, Happy & Heartfelt
Ink:  Cinnamon Cider, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Blushing Bride, Pale Papaya, Thick Basic White, Hand-Penned DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, Polished Dots

You Matter Spring Bouquet

Hey y'all, happy Friday!  Even though I was home with Ryan all day yesterday, I did manage to make a quick card while he was playing video games.

We've had a whole lot of sunshine here this week, which is great weather-wise but it makes taking pictures of my cards a challenge.  Can't really do anything about the harsh shadows on here.

Had to have another go at this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And this time I paired it with the CAS Colours & Sketches soft spring color palette:

And since that challenge is specifically CAS, I didn't add any embellishments except a bit of Wink of Stella in the flower centers, which doesn't show up in the picture anyway.

And with that, I'm going to grab Ryan and go outside to enjoy the beautiful weather, even if it is still chilly.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hand-Penned Petals,  Happy & Heartfelt
Ink:  Soft Suede, Stampin' Blends in Soft Sea Foam, Fresh Freesia, Flirty Flamingo
Paper:  Soft Sea Foam, Flirty Flamingo, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Wink of Stella

Paper Players: Get Sketchy

Happy Sunday!  Ready for a new Paper Players challenge?  I am!  And I think you're gonna like this one!

Isn't that sketch wonderful?  I thought it would be a great way to showcase some pretty patterned paper, so here's what I made:

I chose one sheet of Hand Penned DSP, cut the panel the size I wanted for the card front, and then cut it in two pieces--those patterns are both sides of a single sheet of paper.  I think the part that took the longest when creating this card was deciding which colors to highlight for the mat/ribbon color and the card base!  That ribbon was a Sale-a-Bration offering a few years ago, so I'm happy to find a use for it now.

Remember to upload your sketchy creation at the Paper Players blog!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Happy & Heartfelt
Ink:  Highland Heather
Paper:  Mint Macaron, Highland Heather, Thick Basic White, Hand Penned DSP
Accessories:  retired Highland Heather ribbon

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Cindy Beach

Christy Stanford

Jennie Maier