2015 Showcase, Part 1

Since it's the last week of December (already!), it's time for the 2015 showcase here at Snapdragon Stamps.  So I went back through my blog posts for this year and picked out one card and one scrapbook layout for each month (okay, sometimes there were ties) just to share my favorites one more time.  So let's start off with Part 1 of the card showcase.

January's pick:  I love this happy card.  That "oh, happy day" stamp just makes me smile.

February's pick has Valentine-y colors and some pretty lotus blossoms.  I like how it turned out to do the first layer of the flower stamping with white ink.

March's pick:  By the Seashore has long been a fave stamp set, and I just love that patterned paper from last year's Sale-a-Bration.

April's pick is this giant Swallowtail paired with some stamps from Tea Party.  I love the watercolor background for the butterfly and those are my colors.  Spoiler alert:  new tea-related goodness is coming up in the Occasions Mini next week!

May's pick is this coral rose card.  It's an advertisement for why I don't get rid of my retired stamp sets:  I love that rose and the sentiments.  Plus, if I sold off all my retired stuff, how would I do Friday Flashbacks?

And for the last one of the day, June's pick is this bouquet card I CASEd from the catalog.

Lotus Thanks

Once upon a time, the hubs and I visited a botanical garden in Okinawa, and they had a long row of dozens of different kinds of lotus in pots.  I spent over an hour in the scorching heat taking pictures of them all.  They came in all different colors, but I clearly remember some that were white with pink tips.  So I made them into a card.

I'm on the laptop right now because the main computer seems to have a case of the Mondays (I know it's Wednesday, but apparently it doesn't) so the colors might be a bit off since I'm not used to using PC software anymore.  But anyway, I was also inspired by the latest challenge at Cupcake Inspirations:

They never fail to make me hungry :)  Anyway, you see where I got my pinks and the little bit of purple.

I also used the sketch from As You See It:

I only changed it up a teensy bit, moving the sentiment onto the circular element and changing the top embellishment to a butterfly.

And while I don't have any cupcakes in the house, it is lunchtime, so I'm gonna go rustle up some food :)  Thanks for stopping by and cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lotus Blossom
Ink:  Whisper White, Rose Red, Rich Razzleberry, Sahara Sand
Paper:  Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Rich Razzleberry, Sahara Sand
Accessories:  Circle punches, Elegant Butterfly & Bitty Butterfly punches, Banners Framelits, Subtles Candy Dots, Dimensionals

Hellotus

So, if you've looked around Snapdragon Stamps even a little bit, you probably know I'm kind of addicted to patterned paper.  And if I don't use patterned paper, then I either stamp all over the panels or use an embossing folder or something like that.  Seems like I want to fill in every available space with *something* to look at.

Well, today, as a personal challenge, I decided to use only plain cardstock for all my background panels and only stamp the main image and sentiment.  What do you think?

I was going to just have the die-cut "hello" as the sentiment, but it just seemed to need a little something else in that space and it was driving me crazy so I gave in and stamped "friend" on it.  Still, I kinda like it because it kinda feels more graphic and clean to only have the solid colors on here.  Speaking of colors, I used the combo from Just Add Ink:

I admit, I haven't used much Rich Razzleberry since Blackberry Bliss appeared on the scene, so it was nice to break it out for this card.  I like these colors together quite a bit.

I also used the Mojo Monday sketch for this week:

You know I wouldn't come up with all those layers by my own devices ;)

Well, I've got to leave pretty soon here for my stitching group so I'll catch you later, peeps.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lotus Blossom, My Paper Pumpkin
Ink:  Pool Party, Night of Navy, Sahara Sand
Paper:  Pool Party, Night of Navy, Sahara Sand, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White
Accessories:  Circles Framelits, Hello You Thinlits, Dimensionals

Sneaky Peek

I'm taking a break from Christmas cards today, 'cause I got my Occasions mini/Sale-a-Bration preorder on Monday afternoon and I wanted to play with some new goodies.  Behold!

Meet Lotus Blossom, a new SAB stamp set available for free with a $50 purchase starting in January.  Unless you're a demonstrator like me, in which case it's available now for those of us with instant gratification issues.  It's a photopolymer set and the flowers are comprised of 3 different stamps; I didn't line them up completely right but it's pretty close even without the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig.

I admit, I had some trouble with this card because I *didn't* start with a sketch challenge.  I just cut a piece of Whisper White cardstock and kinda went with it from there and had to figure out everything as I went.  But I did use the color combination from The Color Throwdown:

I interpreted this as Mossy Meadow, Blushing Bride, Strawberry Slush, and Baked Brown Sugar.  Coulda been Christmasy, but I chose not :)

Thanks for stopping by today, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lotus Blossom
Ink:  Strawberry Slush, Blushing Bride, Mossy Meadow, Baked Brown Sugar
Paper:  Strawberry Slush, Mossy Meadow, Whisper White, All Abloom DSP Stack
Accessories:  Fancy Fan EF, Dimensionals