Botanical Bounty, Part 1

Mornin' y'all!  Daphne has already started pestering me to go for a walk (we usually go around 10 and it's just now 9), but I just made my second cuppa so she's going to have to wait.  Can't let the tea get cold.

So, after feeling rather blocked for a while last week, this week I am on fi-yurrrr again and I made a bunch of cards yesterday, and bonus, today is Ryan's STEM club so I get an extra hour and a half of crafty time.  Woo!  Anyway, yesterday I took the CAS on Friday prompt of BOTANICAL and I RAN with it.  First I looked up "botanical" online to make sure I was thinking the right thing, and it's anything related to "plants and plant-based products used for medicine, scent, or flavor."  So here's what I made:

The first image to pop in my head was the vanilla orchid in Lovely & Sweet, and I got out the coordinating Nature's Sweetness Specialty DSP (I always think Nature's Sweetness is the name of the stamp set rather than the DSP so it takes me longer to find the stamps).  Turns out I had some scraps already cut from the DSP, so I chose the two larger scraps and made two cards.

I was going to color in the image a bit, but after putting it next to the paper I decided I liked it just the way it is with no color on it.  But I wasn't done yet.

I used the large leafy die from Nature's Symphony to make a mask from scratch paper and then used a blending brush to put it on a Crumb Cake card base I found in my file cabinet.  I added some of the weathering stamp on top and I thought it was looking like a sympathy card since I tend to like more muted color palettes for those, and I gravitate towards blues and greens.  I hate making sympathy cards when I actually need one, so I decided to go with the impulse on this one so I have one on hand next time I need it, using a greeting from the retired hostess set Simply Sketched.

Still not done with my botanical cards, but that will have to continue in another post, probably later today.  Plus I still have some other botanical stamp sets on my table that I haven't used yet and I keep getting more ideas as I go, so I'm going to ride the creative wave where it takes me...after Daphne and I go out for our walk in the lovely sunshine.  Cheers!

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Lovely & Sweet
Ink:  Versamark, Pebbled Path
Paper:  Pebbled Path, Thick Basic White, Nature's Sweetness DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, clear EP, Dimensionals

Supplies, second card:
Stamps:  Lovely & Sweet
Ink:  Versamark, Pebbled Path
Paper:  Pecan Pie, Thick Basic White, Nature's Sweetness DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, clear EP, Dimensionals

Supplies, third card:
Stamps:  Nature's Symphony, Simply Sketched
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Mossy Meadow, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Layering Ovals dies, Dimensionals

Posy Pair

Good afternoon, y'all!  Usually I post in the mornings but Ryan wanted me to stay for his entire 4-hour soccer camp today so that's what I was doing.  While they were practicing, I finished reading one Nancy Drew book and started another, and then I watched him play in two scrimmage games.  He won a prize for the longest kick in his age group this week.

Anyway, I'm finally here with a pair of purple posy cards.

The carnation is the January flower and that's my birth month, so that's why I chose it for today's card.  The sketch is courtesy of CAS Colours & Sketches:

And it was hard to keep this sketch CAS, you know?  I chose a patterned paper for the nine blocks, but I made sure it was a more subtle pattern that kinda blends in with the card base and I did just straight cuts instead of anything with a fancy edge to keep it more CAS.  I chose the failed prior In Color Purple Posy for the Hand-Stamped Sentiments challenge:

A gorgeous array of pastel shades there.  I used both purple and pink on my first card, and then I had three more of the little rectangles left over so I thought I'd make another quick floral card:

I really love Painted Lavender.  Purple Posy was a failed In Color because the ink would darken and not match the cardstock properly, so I used different purples on this.  The flower is stamped in Fresh Freesia and the greeting is stamped in Highland Heather, I know it looks more like dark gray but I recently inked up that pad so it's extra dark.

So there's my two Purple Posy cards.  Looks like it's about to rain and Ryan needs to do his daily reading time, so we're about to both curl up with some good books.  Cheers!

Supplies, carnation card:
Stamps:  Year of Flowers
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Pretty in Pink & Soft Sea Foam
Paper:  Purple Posy, , Thick Basic White, Playing with Patterns DSP Stack
Accessories:  Year of Flowers dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Mini Dimensionals

Supplies, lavender card:
Stamps:  Painted Lavender, Lovely & Sweet
Ink:  Fresh Freesia, Soft Sea Foam, Highland Heather
Paper:  Purple Posy, Thick Basic White, Playing with Patterns DSP Stack
Accessories:  Painted Lavender dies, Mini Dimensionals

SUO Challenges: Bright & Beautiful CASE

 Morning, stampy friends!  It's time for a new challenge from SUO Challenges!

Ready....set....CASE!  Here is Angel's card that we are CASE-ing this time around:

Now, the Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack is one of my favorite-ever DSPs and it's on the Last Chance List (I haven't looked to see if it's sold out yet or not) but I had to use it for today's card:

Y'all KNOW you won't catch me doing fancy fold cards except under duress, so I adapted Angel's card to a regular A2 card.  I used the star pattern instead of the confetti because I had a large piece of the stars in my scraps, and the striped piece and the spots were also scraps.  The sheer ribbon trio is retired but the colors match the DSP so I went with it and used a sentiment from the also-retiring Lovely & Sweet stamp set.

So let's see what you've got!  Share your card at the SUO Challenges blog and have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lovely & Sweet
Ink:  Azure Afternoon
Paper:  Azure Afternoon, Berry Burst, Lemon Lolly, Thick Basic White, Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack
Accessories:  Nested Essentials dies, Sheer Ribbon combo pack, rhinestones, Dimensionals

California Oranges

Mornin' y'all!  The hubs took the past two days off work and we went glamping in Monument for one night.  It would have been really fun except that the hubs has a sinus infection and Ryan had an upset stomach and ended up tossing his cookies that evening, poor kid.  We'll have to try it again some other time.  Daphne did pretty well, she was off leash pretty much the whole time we were out there and pretty much only ignored me when she was supposed to stay at the tent with me instead of going exploring with the boys.  She had her second pro training session yesterday so we've got things to work on with her.

Anyway, I am continuing my quest to cut into some more DSP so here's my card for today:

The oranges are fussy cut out of the reverse side of that cool blue tile pattern I used in the background.  The green pattern and the navy stripes are from two different DSP packs but I think they all worked together pretty well, don't you?  I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

My parents were both born and raised in a California town surrounded by orange groves, so this will be going to them in the mail next week.  I've had the Mediterranean Blooms DSP for months and this is the first time I've used any of it.

Anyway, time for me to get off the computer and go do some things...first thing being to switch out my laundry.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lovely & Sweet
Ink:  Night of Navy
Paper:  Boho Blue, Thick Basic White, Mediterranean Blooms DSP, Floral Delight DSP, Countryside Inn DSP
Accessories:  Nested Essentials dies, Stylish Shapes dies, In Color Dots, Mini Dimensionals

Winterberry

Mornin' y'all!  We had demo day yesterday on the shower and Daphne was Not A Fan.  She barked and barked at the guys every time they came down the stairs and then had to spend most of the day in doggy jail.  And in the end, we found out that we need a plumber to come in and fix the stuff the first two yahoos messed up AGAIN.  What a mess.

Anyway, I do have a card to share today and unfortunately I need a sympathy card.  My friend's dad passed away last weekend so I made this for him:

The hubs gave it the thumbs up so I'm entering this at SOS Challenges for their masculine challenge.  I thought the colors from the Inspired By... challenge would work well for a sympathy card:

I used Misty Moonlight and Crumb Cake, plus a bit of Pecan Pie to have some darker browns for parts of the bird image.  I like the sketch from AAA Cards:

I know I added a layer with the bird image but I really wanted to use it on there.  I'd love to revisit this sketch and make a card closer to the sketch with the way the snowflakes are done but I don't know if I'll get to in the next few days since my parents will arrive in a few hours.

That's it for me, peeps.  Gotta go walk Daphne and do one or two other things before company arrives.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Winterly Tree Tops, Lovely & Sweet
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Crumb Cake, Pecan Pie, Misty Moonlight
Paper:  Misty Moonlight, Thick Basic White, One Horse Open Sleigh DSP Stack
Accessories:  Winterly Tree Tops dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

A Couple of Copper Cards

Mornin' y'all, and happy Saturday!  Our pre-Halloween snow is still sticking around in the backyard, though it was completely gone in the front yard by the time trick-or-treating started on Halloween night.  Just goes to show how much colder it is in constant shade!  But I'm all nice and toasty in my house and thinking about starting the kettle for my first cuppa tea today : )

But first, a couple of copper cards!

I have been having lots of fun playing with Copper Clay lately, love this color.  For this card, I paired it with Old Olive and a little bit of Peach Pie on the bird--I did regular masking and reverse masking to sponge Peach Pie on the bird and Old Olive on the background.  Then I used a marker to isolate just the single word from a greeting stamp (the whole thing says "Sending a bit of love your way") and added some retired Chocolate Chip ribbon.

Still having fun with this Atlantic Hearts sketch and the Sweet Days of Autumn DSP so I made another card:

I kinda wish the animals were all facing one direction on this paper, not gonna lie.  That deer looks a little past tense if you know what I mean ; )  Still, it's super cute paper and this time I used a greeting from Latte Love and some leaves from Autumn to Remember.  The ribbon is retired; I almost never buy ribbon anymore because I don't use it a whole lot, but lately I've been dipping into the retired ribbon stash.  Soft Suede taffeta worked pretty well on this card I thought.

Here's the Just Add Ink inspiration challenge that I started with:

I took the colors Old Olive, Copper Clay, and Peach Pie from the picture, plus the nature images and cozy feel and that's what I started with for my cards.  And like I said, I'm just having too much fun with the Atlantic Hearts sketch:

This time I tried to stay very close to the sketch instead of making it more CAS, so I've got lots of layers and patterns happening on both my cards.  Here they are together:

I do love me some fall cards : )  That's all I've got for today, peeps.  Have a great weekend!  I'm planning to make a chai spice swirl bundt cake today and call it coffee cake so we can have it for breakfast tomorrow.  Cheers!

Supplies, lovebird card:
Stamps:  Inspirational Sketches, Lovely & Sweet
Ink:  Copper Clay, Peach Pie, Old Olive, Early Espresso
Paper:  Copper Clay, Thick Very Vanilla, Sweet Days of Autumn DSP
Accessories:  Circles Collection dies, Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon, Speckled Dots

Supplies, hello fall card:
Stamps:  Latte Love, Autumn to Remember
Ink:  Copper Clay, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Copper Clay, Thick Very Vanilla, Sweet Days of Autumn DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Soft Suede taffeta ribbon, Speckled Dots, Dimensionals

Vanilla Note

Happy Sunday, y'all!  Usually I post in the mornings but this weekend kinda got away from me a bit and I just really, really really wanted to play in the Just Add Ink challenge:

You know what I do NOT have much of in my stamp collection?  Book stamps.  There's the stack of books in Bird's Eye View, and I have a stamp set that's kind of back-to-schoolish that has some books, but other than that I can't think of any.  I have my eye on some non-SU! stamps to fill that void, but in the meantime...

I went with vanilla.  Not sure why but as soon as I saw that inspiration pictures, this vanilla image popped into my brain so I went with it.  I pulled in one of last year's All About Autumn DSP patterns for the background panel (ironically, it has a photo of books on the other side) and popped up the vanilla image on a scrap of Soft Sea Foam cut with the Radiating Stitches dies.  Are those still in the online store?  A few champagne rhinestones and I have another fall-adjacent card to send out soon.

That's it for me, peeps.  I'm going to see if I can make another card before dinnertime : )  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lovely & Sweet, Notes of Nature
Ink:  Early Espresso, Pecan Pie, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Copper Clay, Soft Sea Foam, Lemon Lolly
Paper:  Copper Clay, Soft Sea Foam, Thick Very Vanilla, All About Autumn DSP
Accessories:  Lovely & Sweet dies, Radiating Stitches dies, Mini Dimensionals, champagne rhinestones

Cozy Quilt Trio

Okay what day is it today???  I finally feel like I'm emerging from the cold-induced zombie stupor and I got Ryan off to school today and now I need to deal with the tornado situation he perpetrated in the living room while I wasn't feeling well over the long weekend.  It's pretty bad in there.

But first, I have a set of cards to share!

After seeing the latest Inspired By... challenge, I had to try out the other die in the Patchwork Pieces set.

I see some Calypso Coral in that inspo pic, and that led me to pick the Sale-a-Bration DSP Softly Stippled.  This particular die has 12 openings, so you could have a nicely symmetrical design with 2, 3, 4, or 6 different colors/patterns.  I decided to go with three patterns and then chose sentiments from three different new stamp sets just for funsies.  A few Opaque Faceted Gems and I have three more cards in my stash!

Okay, I'm off to go do...something...productive.  I'm glad that I'm feeling better than I was for the last couple of days, and Ryan was pretty good about letting me rest when I needed to.  So now I need to start tackling the things that fell by the wayside for the last several days.  Cheers, y'all, and stay healthy!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Thoughtful Expressions, Lovely & Sweet, Perennial Postage
Ink:  Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Wild Wheat
Paper:  Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Wild Wheat, Thick Basic White, Softly Stippled DSP
Accessories:  Thoughtful Expressions dies, Dimensionals, Opaque Faceted Gems

Brighter Day Botanical

Mornin' y'all!  Well, I got my SU! order yesterday...only to discover I had ordered a stamp set but not the punch to go with it, and I did NOT order the baker's twine like I thought I did...oops.  Might have to order some other stuff before the end of Sale-a-Bration...anyway, I went out to lunch with my parents yesterday and then my dad hung out at the house until his volunteer shift with the police department started (he does patrols and does things like help motorists with car trouble, directs traffic, keeps people out of the fire lane at Walmart, that kind of thing).  So in the end I had barely an hour to unpack all my new goodies and make a card.  My alarm went off to pick up Ryan when I was still working on coloring in my main image for today's card:

It's flowers, but I think the navy blue would make it appropriate for a guy or a gal.  Lovely & Sweet was one of the new stamp sets I got yesterday!  Everyday Details was in my January order but I hadn't used it yet either; the sentiment was a good fit for this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I'm hoping I can enter the challenge this week, last week I tried to enter my link for three days straight and kept getting an error message.  As is my habit, I combined the sketch with the Color Throwdown:

I used Night of Navy, Granny Apple Green, and Pecan Pie.  I like these colors together, I should make another card when I have a bit more time.

Today is shaping up to be busy again; my car is going back to the shop, I'm going to hang out with my dad while the car is at the shop, and then Ryan has taekwondo this afternoon *and* they want to try him in a weapons class.  I told him if it was nunchucks I was 10000000% calling him Michaelangelo.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lovely & Sweet, Everyday Details
Ink:  Night of Navy, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Granny Apple Green, Night of Navy
Paper:  Pecan Pie, Thick Basic White, Countryside Inn DSP, vellum
Accessories:  Lovely & Sweet dies, Dimensionals, Matte Dots