Mosaic Hello

Mornin' y'all!  Daphne is already pestering me to go for a walk but I'm going to type this up first.  I got in my craft room for just a minute yesterday and made this:

We've got a few challenges today, so let's go in alphabetical order.  Here's the As You See It Challenge:

For me it's definitely hello cards or similar.  I just counted seven hello cards posted last week alone : )  I send out at least 4-6 cards per week so this is definitely what I do the most!

Next up is Inspired By...:

I love those colors together!  I used Summer Splash, Pretty in Pink/Strawberry Slush, and Basic Black and I want to come back to this color combination again.

Next up is Retro Rubber:

This time I made SURE my stamps are older than a year (I made a card for this last week only to discover my stamp set will have its first birthday next month); Mosaic Madness is 13 years old and Happy Day is 12 years old, so they're definitely retro.  I went down the left side with sequins, ribbon, and die cuts.

And finally I have the TGIF Challenges sketch:

This sketch made me think of Mosaic Madness immediately so that's what I did.

Okay, time to make my girl happy and go for a walk in the beautiful weather.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Mosaic Madness, Happy Day
Ink:  Summer Splash, Strawberry Slush
Paper:  Summer Splash, Basic Black, Thick Basic White, Floral Impressions DSP
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, Mosaic punch, black ribbon (not SU, I think), black sequins, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Mosaic Madness

Happy Friday, y'all.  And guess what...my due date is TOMORROW.  Which is frightening.  I know that the vast majority of babies are not born ON their due dates, but I'm still kinda hoping.  So I'm getting a pedicure today, and hopefully going out for one last date night with the hubs tonight.  And wondering if I should do crock pot chicken taco soup for dinner tomorrow...I mean, what if I DO go into labor?!

Anyway.  I don't feel like doing a whole lot now because it's like I'm the human embodiment of the quote "That's no moon...it's a space station!" but I have been doing some stamping and scrapping (because it involves sitting but still being productive).  So for today's Friday Flashback, let's check out the archives for Mosaic Madness!

Also features Empire Alphabet, Magical & Mystical

First up is this layout from Greece!  Actually I did two, and used Mosaic Madness on both, but this post is already going to be pretty long.  I do love this layout.

Also features Curly Cute

Here is a tribute to the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig.  That multicolored panel?  All hand-stamped.  Yes, it took forever, but I really liked how it turned out.

Also features Teeny Tiny Wishes

Something quick for Father's Day, though I think the circle element needed a mat too.

Here's another scrapbook layout, this time from Hearst Castle in California.  Know what I just realized?  I got that picture in the top left enlarged to 5x7, but somehow the photo I had in my archives is with the 4x6 placeholder.  Oops.  So in the real finished layout, that's a 5x7 photo and doesn't have a big distracting white border!  : D

Also features Happy Day

And another Stamp-a-Ma-Jiggy card.  I love stamp sets that have matching punches.

Also features Perfect Peacock, Too Kind

Okay, this one is a little different:  the Mosaic Madness stamp I used on this one is the border underneath the sentiment, instead of one of the mosaic shapes.

Also features Simply Sketched

*suddenly noticing how often I use yellows with this stamp set*

Also features My Paper Pumpkin stamps

Oh hey look, not yellow.

Same sentiment as the card above :)

But there it is again.

Also features Best of Greetings

So there's the Flashback part, which wasn't everything I've got in my archives but I don't want to bore anyone.  Ready for the new project?  Spoiler alert:  I love these scrapbook pages.

I mentioned earlier this week that I had done the rest of my Spain layouts, so here's the first one!  (And this is why I redid the Shenanigans layout in a different color combination.)

I think I need to refresh the ink in my Midnight Muse ink pad, it's not *quite* dark enough on the patterned paper here.  Anyway, I love stamps like Mosaic Madness for our travel layouts; sometimes you just need a little accent stamp that isn't really themed, so I like these that can be any color and go along with everything.

Segovia layout #2, and on this one I used different mosaic stamps for the accents but they still coordinate with the first layout.  And I just love how the Coastal Cabana looks with the pictures.  I used the Best Year Ever DSP on all the Spain layouts, it's one of my very favorite DSP packs.

There's a closeup of some of the mosaic elements from this layout.  Super quick and simple to do, and they look good too :)

So here's my Spain palette again:  Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry, Midnight Muse, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, and Whisper White.  Dog hair not included.

I'm going to go get cleaned up and ready to go for my pedicure.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, last two layouts only:
Stamps:  Mosaic Madness, Morning Post Alphabet
Ink:  Midnight Muse, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral, Midnight Muse, Whisper White, Best Year Ever DSP
Accessories:  Mosaic Punch

2014 Showcase, Part 1

Howdy, stampers!  As 2014 winds to a close, I thought I'd take a look back at all the stuff I've posted here for the past year and pick a favorite project for each month.  So instead of a Friday Flashback this week, here's the 2014 Showcase, Part 1!  And lemme just pat myself on the back here, haha.

Features Snow Swirled

For January, I chose this snowy layout.  I love the bright blue with the three pastel colors, and I love those photos from our house in England.  And I miss snow.  I think I've worn a jacket like, maybe three times since we moved to Alabama.  Okay, maybe four.

Perfectly Penned, Starburst Sayings, Nacho card!

February's pick is this bright and fun birthday card (even though there's a dog hair stuck in the middle of it in the photo).  Plus this blog post was one of the funniest ever I think; this is what happens when I blog late at night.

Best of Butterflies, Happy Day, Nacho card!

My March pick is all about the butterflies.  It's hard for me to do CAS cards, but this one just worked for me.  And who wouldn't want to get a butterfly smile in the mail?

Swallowtail, Yippee-Skippee!, Nacho card!

My April card is also butterfly-riffic, this time giant size.  I love bright fun happy colors and that Nacho color challenge delivered bright, fun, and happy in spades!  And you know what?  Three out of four projects I picked for this post were Nacho cards!  Love the Nacho challenges.

Showcase Parts 2 and 3 coming up soon.  Cheers, peeps!

Hello There

I admit, I'm not sure about today's card.

It just wasn't cooperating with me today, but I don't have time to argue with it so there it is.  It started out life with Daydream Medallions stamped under where the patterned paper scalloped circle is now, and I just couldn't get this to work the way I wanted it to.  Shame, too, because I do so like this stamp set so I'm giving it some love before it retires for good.  Is it sold out?  I don't know.

I used the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches:

And that's all she wrote.  Cheers, peeps, and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Happy Day
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Basic Gray
Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Primrose Petals cardstock & DSP, Basic Gray, Whisper White
Accessories:  Circles Collection Framelits, Pumpkin Pie chevron ribbon, Boho Blossoms punch, rhinestone, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Eastern Blooms

Wow, today is already the last Friday in April.  Time is just speeding by and it's time for another Friday Flashback!  Today's featured stamp set is one of my favorites (ok, I have a lot of favorites), Eastern Blooms.  So let's go!

Also features Best Yet and Bella Toile

Let's start off with a baby card.  Hey, baby cards don't always have to have baby-specific images, right?

Also also features Best Yet :)

And here's another one for good measure, this time in purple because not all baby girls (or their mamas) love pink.

Also features Thank You Kindly

And now for something very bright!  I love these flowers with bold colors.

Also features Bring on the Cake

And maybe a lot of rhinestones.

Also features Full of Life, Sprinkles, and Itty Bitty Backgrounds

I think this one would have been better had I moved down the three flowers just a tiny bit more toward the middle of the card.

And last up, here's a scrapbook layout from our time in Japan.  So yep, I've used Eastern Blooms quite a bit I think.  So here's today's brand new card:

Again with the bright colors, they were this week's Splitcoast color challenge.  The sentiment is from Happy Day, which is on the retirement list.  I'm a little sad about that one actually; I think it's a great little stamp set.  Oh well, it will always have a permanent place in my stamp collection!

The layout is courtesy of Retro Sketches:

When I copied down the sketch I didn't make the top panel scooch over to the right like on the original sketch, so my card is a little bit different.  But hey, I got the banner and the button right!

That's it for me this week.  Have a great weekend and cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Eastern Blooms, Happy Day
Ink:  Pacific Point, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red
Paper:  Pacific Point, Whisper White, retired Pumpkin Pie DSP, Ski Slope DSP (I think?  It was in my scrap box)
Accessories:  Banner punch, retired Playground button, Whisper White baker's twine

Nachos: Hello from the Seashore

I'm not really at the seashore, but that's what today's brand-new Nacho Average Challenge colors made me think of:

And once that idea came to me, I jut couldn't do anything else with these colors.  So here's what I made:

I stamped the shells on my main image panel and then got the sudden idea to do cracked glass, which I haven't done in YEARS.  Usually it's done with Ultra-Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE), but a.) I was too lazy to dig around to find mine and b.) mine's at least seven years old, and does embossing powder go bad?  I feel like I should know the answer to that.  I'll ask Google later, Google knows everything.

So here's a quick step-by-step on how to do the cracked glass technique:

1.  Put on some good music.  (I just got the score to the 1963 film Charade, starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant.  Awesome.)
2.  Stamp your image, and then sponge it too if you want.
3.  Cover it in Versamark and then emboss with either UTEE or clear EP.  Maybe drop the paper once or twice before you get the embossing done (nope, just me?  Ok).
4.  Lather, rinse, repeat.
5.  Emboss a third time, and accidentally get your finger in the still-soft embossing powder.
6.  Try not to trip over a very helpful dog on your way back to your craft room to cover your image in another layer of EP.
7.  Emboss for the fifth time and decide that's enough EP, more because you're tired of walking back and forth than anything else.  (My heat gun lives in the computer room because that's where the transformer is.  I can't plug it in the wall in my craft room because our house is 220-volt and the heat gun is not.  The perils of being an American living in England.)
8.  Stick your newly embossed paper in the freezer for a bit, and then amuse yourself imagining what your hubs will say if he sees random paper in the freezer even though he's not home right now.
9.  Wander off to do something else for at least 20 minutes.  Facebook is a good time-filler.
10.  Take your paper out of the freezer and then bend and scrunch it to make the embossing powder crack.
11.  Sponge dark-colored ink into the cracks until it looks how you want it.  Get ink all over your fingers because it doesn't stick to the EP, but ink does stick to you.
12.  Buff the EP with a paper towel so you don't get any more ink all over (even though it's pretty much too late at this point).
13.  Use super-strength adhesive to attach your brand-new cracked glass panel to the rest of your card.  Pat yourself on the back for making something purty.

And that's it!  I think the UTEE might be better than the EP because it's thicker (duh) and it cracks better, but maybe if I'd done a few more layers of EP it might have helped.  I still think it looks alright.

So let's see what you've got!  Check out what my fellow Nachos have made for your viewing pleasure, and then make your own pretty card.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  By the Seashore, Happy Day
Ink:  Marina Mist, Perfect Plum, Sahara Sand, Early Espresso, Versamark
Paper:  Marina Mist, Perfect Plum, Early Espresso, Whisper White
Accessories:  Clear EP, Delicate Dots EF, Dimensionals

Butterfly Smiles for the Nachos

Howdy friends!  Are you ready for another awesome color challenge courtesy of Nacho Average Challenges?  I hope so, because here it is:

I thought these colors would be perfect for a little boy birthday card and then...I did something totally different instead : )

I went kinda CAS this week; it's hard to tell in the picture but there's a touch of Marina Mist ink on the little tiny spots along the outside edges of the butterflies' wings.  The butterflies were embossed with black EP for a nice crisp look (and also because then I don't have to worry about the black ink bleeding when I watercolor).

Stop by the Nacho blog to see what beautiful projects the rest of the design team has cooked up, and then give it a whirl yourself.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Best of Butterflies (only available until March 31!), Happy Day
Ink:  Versamark, Pumpkin Pie, Marina Mist, Wild Wasabi, Baked Brown Sugar (on the butterflies' bodies, if you were like "umm...where?")
Paper:  Whisper White, Marina Mist
Accessories:  Black EP, rhinestone

Sale-a-Bration Smile

Somewhere, I once saw a sign that said "Start the day with a smile and get it over with"--maybe it was in one of my teachers' classrooms growing up?  Well, let's just start this Monday off with a smile and get it over with.

I broke open my pack of Sale-a-Bration exclusive Sweet Sorbet DSP for this one--who knew that Pistachio Pudding, Summer Starfruit, and Crisp Cantaloupe would work so well together?  Ya know, that kinda sounds like a fruitarian lunch right there.  Anyhow, I used the totally awesome sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

Quick and cute.  The part that took the longest was waiting for the Basic Black ink to dry--I just re-inked the ink pad and I didn't want black smears all over everything, so I let it dry overnight before I die cut the shape and stamped the flower over the top.  But it was worth it to have a nice, crisp, saturated black for the greeting stamp : )

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Petal Parade, Happy Day
Ink:  Basic Black, Crisp Cantaloupe
Paper:  Pistachio Pudding, Whisper White, Sweet Sorbet DSP
Accessories:  Deco Labels Framelits, Dimensionals

Hello There

So I posted a Valentine for the Nacho sketch challenge yesterday, but I actually made two cards this week.  This one was actually my first idea:

But when I got the idea for the hearts for yesterday's card, I had to make that one too, so this one is just a bonus.  I continue to be enamored of the idea of Island Indigo and Pool Party plus whatever other color strikes my fancy--last week it was Pistachio Pudding, next time maybe it'll be Rich Razzleberry...uh-oh, now I have to try that.

As a refresher, here's the sketch:

Seriously, I made yesterday's card and today's in all of a half hour, probably less.  Quick and easy and still cute?  Yes, please!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Mosaic Madness, Happy Day
Ink:  Island Indigo, Tangerine Tango
Paper:  Island Indigo, Pool Party, Whisper White
Accessories:  Mosaic punch, Dimensionals, Brights Candy Dots