Ombre Shells

Mornin' y'all!  I'm pretty happy with the card I made to share today, take a look:

It's been a while since I inked up By the Seashore and I missed it!  Check out the current Retro Rubber Challenge:

By the Seashore (shells) has been in my collection for 10 years and it just so happens that the very first card I ever posted on this blog featured a shell from this stamp set.  It's Your Birthday (sentiment) has been in my collection for at least nine years, so both stamp sets are very retro.  Even my colors are retro, Dapper Denim and Tip Top Taupe are two In Colors from years past.

As soon as I saw this challenge, I thought of the Color Theory DSP Stack from several years ago, which has a variety of ombre patterns.  Then the question was what images to use, that decision took me like four times longer than making the card did!  Once I chose the Dapper Denim ombre and got the idea to stamp the shells, this card came together lickety-split thanks to the sketch from Try Stampin' on Tuesday:

I like this one, it's different and it gave me a nice big panel to show off that ombre pattern.

Have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  By the Seashore, It's Your Birthday
Ink:  Tip Top Taupe, Dapper Denim
Paper:  Tip Top Taupe, Thick Basic Vanilla, Color Theory DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, pearls

She Sells Copper Shells

Happy Saturday y'all!  Usually I don't post on Saturdays buuuuuut I had a few challenges I couldn't let pass me by so here's a card.

I used some long-retired stamps on this one, which I'll get to in a minute.  First challenge is this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And next up I *finally* got a beachy card done for the Retro Rubber Challenge:

Stippled Shells is a very, very retro stamp set--I've had it since at least 2006.  Maybe even earlier, but I started my Splitcoast gallery in 2006.  The sentiment is from It's Your Birthday, which is almost as old since I've had it since 2007.  Touches of Texture is the newbie here at just two years old.

Finally, here's the Color Throwdown:

I must confess I swapped out the white for Very Vanilla on my card, and I added Sahara Sand to the palette.  I beg the forgiveness of the challenge gods :)

Also, I first put the card together without the thin black mat on the vanilla layer, and it just didn't look quite finished to me so I peeled it apart to add the black.  But here's the before version:

Yep, better with the mat.  And also my copper embossing powder is so old it's from the FIRST time SU! had copper EP :D  So even my embossing powder is retro!

Have a great weekend, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Stippled Shells, It's Your Birthday, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Versamark, Sahara Sand, Basic Black
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Basic Black
Accessories:  Copper EP

Friday Flashback: It's Your Birthday

Happy Friday, y'all!  We are currently prepping for Snowmageddon, which is slated to start this afternoon.  But in the meantime, I have a Friday Flashback for you!  Today's stamp set is It's Your Birthday, and who doesn't need a great set of birthday greetings?  In fact, I'd used this set so much that I only picked about half of what I had in my archives to share otherwise we'd still be doing this flashback *next* Friday.  So let's giddyup!

Also features Bronc Buster, Paisley

First is a birthday card I made for my brother a few years ago.

Also features Floral, Roses in Winter

And here's one for my mother's great aunt...

Also features Baroque Motifs, Embrace Life

Honestly I don't know who I sent this to, it's a rare square card.

Also features Bloomin' Beautiful

This "someone like you should be celebrated every day" stamp is done in the same font as the "happy birthday" above so you could use them together.  Or just use this one for a card and it doesn't have to be birthday-specific.

Also features Dream Gardens

 I do love my Oriental stamps :)

Also features Pun Fun

Here's a cute little one I did for my mom, who loves hippos.

Also features Mixed Bouquet

I made this one for one of my favorite people in the world, who has sadly passed away.  Miss you, Neelu!

Also features Petal Prints

Let's be honest, this is one of my favorite cards.

Also features Wing It, Flannel Plaid

And one more kinda masculine card to round out the group.  Are you ready for today's new creation?  Here it is:

My friend Tiana (who doesn't read this blog, so I'm not giving away any birthday secrets) came out to visit at the beginning of the month and mentioned when we were out shopping that she wanted some super-soft comfy pajama pants.  And since her birthday is next week, I found her some ridiculously cute ones at Kohl's, they're black and have foxes on them and look kinda like this card :D  The jammies are more of a raspberry color than coral, but I only have Calypso Coral embossing powder so I went with that.  I loved these so much I ordered some for myself, and I also got her a set of Star Wars jammies because awesome.  The Star Wars ones have purple in them so this card kinda matches both.

Anyway, I used a sketch from the Retro Rubber challenge site, my very first time to play along over there!

If I got both It's Your Birthday and Fox & Friends when they first came out, then I've had It's Your Birthday for TEN years and Fox & Friends for 6.  And I still love them both :)

Ok, I'd better get moving before Snowmageddon starts.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  It's Your Birthday, Fox & Friends
Ink:  Basic Black, Versamark
Paper:  Basic Black, Lavender Lace, Lucky Limeade & Calypso Coral DSP
Accessories:  Circles Framelits, retired heart punch, Calypso Coral EP, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Take it to Heart

Happy Friday, y'all!  Today's Friday Flashback stamp set is Take it to Heart, and this flashback is going to be quite short.  I got this stamp set for free through some promotion, and it's not really my style.

Also features I {Love} Love unmounted wheel

Yep, that's the entire flashback right there.  But the whole idea behind the Friday Flashback is to go back to some older retired stamp sets and dust them off to create something new.

Umm, that heart stamp is the only one that I kinda like out of the set.  There's a much larger heart with a bird but he's got crazy eyeballs like he's going to come after you and peck you to death.  And the silhouette one is kinda cute, but not really my thing either.  So anyway, I paired my little floral heart here with the colors from Color Throwdown:

I used Lucky Limeade, Baja Breeze (bring it back, SU!) and Regal Rose, all three of which are retired.  I also used some Elegant Eggplant because black and gray just seemed to stark, and who wants to see a black or gray heart anyway?  And I tend to treat most of the Rich Regals family as neutral colors when it suits me anyway.

I used the sketch from Global Design Project:

I've played along with every challenge so far from GDP so I'm trying to keep my streak alive ;)

Have a great weekend, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Take it to Heart, It's Your Birthday, Fresh Fillers
Ink:  Regal Rose, Baja Breeze, Elegant Eggplant
Paper:  Baja Breeze, Lucky Limeade, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, Cheerful Treat DSP
Accessories:  Hearts Framelits, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Ruff Day

Happy Friday!  It's time for another Friday Flashback, and today's randomly-chosen retired stamp set is Ruff Day.  Let's get to it!

Also features All-Year Cheer I, A Little Love

Why is it that for baby clothes, all the boys' clothing has dogs on it and the girls' has cats?  Oh well, I thought this puppy made for a cute baby shower card anyway.

Also features Background Basics, It's Your Birthday

Here's a kick up your heels birthday card.

Also features Print Pattern, Tag Time, Tiny Talk

And a St. Patrick's Day card.  I bought Tag Time specifically for that tiny four-leaf clover.

Also features And Everything Nice, Background Basics

One more baby card that I made a couple years ago for a friend, who loved it and said it reminded her of a song in Labyrinth where David Bowie sings about snips and snails and puppy dog tails.  Love Labyrinth : )

So here's today's brand new creation!

I knew without even looking that I hadn't used this dog in the beret yet so he was a natural choice for today's card.  And I did take French for, like, seven years; when I was in high school, we used to speak French with an intentional (and terrible) Texan accent just to make our teacher holler at us.  So bone jour, y'all!

I used the colors from Colour Q:

Though I added quite a bit of black, and the only Chocolate Chip is on the dog's spots.  I used retired Watercolor Wonder Crayons to color in the dog, and then watercolored the beret and the "ground" with ink pooled in the ink pad lid.  I miss WWC!

I also used the fabulous sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

Wonderful sketch, right?  Super easy to work with.

Anyway, I think maybe it's stopped raining so I should take my pups out for a walk.  Otherwise we will have a Ruff Day :)  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Ruff Day, paw print from ?
Ink:  Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush
Paper:  Basic Black, Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush, Whisper White, Crumb Cake
Accessories:  Chalk Talk & Circles Framelits, Neutrals Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Neutrals Candy Dots, Black EP, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Floral

Time for the Friday Flashback again already!  This week's randomly chosen retired stamp set is just one stamp, the background Floral.  Back in the day before I had tons of patterned paper and embossing folders and such to play with, I used background stamps a LOT so today's Flashback is longer than like the last three put together (no wait, four flashbacks, I looked), and I didn't even post all my previous cards with Floral : )  So let's flash back with a visit to the archives, shall we?

This one features an old favorite, Roses in Winter, plus It's Your Birthday for the sentiment.

One of my favorite color combinations ever!  Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette, and neutrals.  Main images on this one are from Eastern Influences (another favorite of mine).

 Flower and definition stamp on this one are from Bloomin' Beautiful.

A nice springy card with the morning glories from Morning Soft and sentiment from Warm Words.

Main image from Perfect Petals, "wish" from Small Script.

Here's a more autumnal take with a hummingbird from Spring Song and a second background stamp, Sanded.  I like this card but I wish I could move that sentiment up onto the main image panel--it would have fit just fine underneath the bird!

And here's something a bit different, I stamped the floral pattern with a contrasting color on light cardstock instead of doing tone-on-tone like I did with everything else.  So that's it for the flashback part, here's my new card:

This time I wanted the Floral stamp to take center stage, so I stamped it with Versamark and embossed with Early Espresso powder, then colored with an Aquapainter.  You can't tell from the picture, but the white bit with the sentiment is popped up from the card base, and then the butterfly is popped up again from there so it's multidimensional.

I used the colors from Dynamic Duos' Triple Threat Week:

So there you have it!  I've done nothing but flowery cards (and even a floral scrapbook layout) for over a week now, so I promise that next week I'll have at least two non-floral projects to share.  In the meantime, have a great weekend!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Floral, Best of Butterflies, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Ink:  Versamark, Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Wild Wasabi, Elegant Eggplant (because pansies have to be purple!)
Paper:  Melon Mambo, Whisper White, retired Wild Wasabi DSP
Accessories:  Early Espresso EP, Circles Framelits, Artisan Label punch, Dimensionals, random ribbon from my stash that's probably not SU

Friday Flashback: Bodacious Bouquet

Happy Friday!  I wrote this post from the wifi hotspot last night and it was a bit of a pain but I was BOUND AND DETERMINED to get this up because it's my birthday!  Then sometime around midnight last night, the Internet returned--it's a birthday miracle!  And to add to all that happy, today's featured stamp set is one of my all-time faves, Bodacious Bouquet.  So let's take a peek through the archives!

I think I used a coordinating wheel on the left side of this card but I can't remember the name of it.  The sentiment is from one of the All Year Cheer stamp sets.

This one's a newer creation and was on the Best Yet Friday Flashback.

This was one of my absolute favorite cards with this stamp set; the sentiment is from Polka Dots & Paisley.

I made this one for a Hawaiian-themed baby shower!  The sentiment is from Warmest Regards.

Here's a tent topper card; birthday greeting from It's Your Birthday.

Another favorite, I think I'm one of the few people who *liked* Glorious Green.  This one also features Happy Everything (another all-time fave) and Paisley.

An Okinawa scrapbook page : )

And a bold baby book layout; I really liked that primary color scheme and used it several times.  These bold flowers just cry out for bold colors!

Haha!  I love this layout, it was our first house in Okinawa.  Don'tcha love the Indiana Jones-style letters?

So that's it for the Flashback, and it would have been longer if I'd posted every single thing I've ever made with Bodacious Bouquet but I picked my faves.  So here's today's new card:

The original sketch had the banner on the top pointing down, but it just didn't quite work once I had everything else on the card front so I did a horizontal one instead.  First time I've used Happy Watercolor, too!  I chose some of my favorite colors for this card--Bermuda Bay, Elegant Eggplant, Strawberry Slush, Garden Green and Daffodil Delight.  Quite the vivid bouquet.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed today's Friday Flashback, and have a great weekend!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Bodacious Bouquet, Happy Watercolor
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Elegant Eggplant, Strawberry Slush, Garden Green, Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Strawberry Slush, Whisper White, retired Elegant Eggplant DSP, Attic Boutique DSP, Quatrefancy DSP
Accessories:  Circle Framelits, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Dream Gardens

Welcome to this week's Friday Flashback!  Today I get to feature one of my favorite stamp sets, Dream Gardens.  Since I used to live in Japan, I pretty much buy every Oriental stamp set Stampin' Up! makes ;)  So let's flash back!

I discovered pretty early on that I love this lady stamped in craft ink on patterned paper and then heat embossed.

I did Japanese Christmas cards one year.  See, you can use a non-Christmas stamp set and make perfectly festive Christmas cards.

Alternate Christmas card design; my hubs liked this one because he said the layout reminded him of kimonos with the obi around the middle.

Quick and easy thank you card for some friends of ours whom we met in Okinawa.

I shared these pages a few months ago and I was unhappy because I did the title and then decided to mat the kimono lady instead of stamping her directly on the paper, so it looked out of whack to me with too much space above the title.  It stuck in the back of my head for a while and finally I got it back out and added the little origami crane from Gifts from the Orient and voila!  Fixed.

And here's today's new card:

I love blues and greens together, they're very peaceful to me.  Something about using shades of those two colors together just makes me happy...which might be why 98% of the stuff we own is blue and/or green ;)  Anyway, I pulled out my favorite Baja Breeze (sniffle! please don't really be retired forever) and I picked the two stamps I'd never used from the stamp set.  I love that dream kanji stamp, don't know how it hadn't been used on something before.  And I used a couple of DSP scraps on this too.

Thanks for joining me for this week's Friday Flashback.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Dream Gardens
Ink:  Baja Breeze, Always Artichoke, Midnight Muse
Paper:  Baja Breeze, Midnight Muse, Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke retired DSP, retired Green Tea DSP
Accessories:  circle punches, Dimensionals