Tea Cozy

Mornin' y'all!  Moving slow today because we didn't get much sleep last night--the wind was absolutely HOWLING all night long.  For reals it sounded like a train whistle.  It is currently a balmy 18 degrees (but feels like 9).  And also Daphne decided she needed to get up and go outside at 4am, so yeah, it was not a restful night.

Anyway, I did make a tea-rific card yesterday.

Had a second go at the Inspired By... challenge, this time with the teapot : )

I've got breakfast in the oven (fruit turnovers, it's the hubs' turn to choose Sunday breakfast) and I plan to fortify myself with quite a lot of hot tea before I take Daphne out for our walk.  And then I'm gonna hibernate in my nice warm house for the rest of the day : )  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU! (many retired)
Stamps:  Morning Cup
Ink:  Versamark, Misty Moonlight, Seaside Spray, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Seaside Spray, Crumb Cake, Boho Blue, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Tags & Labels dies, clear EP, Kraft 3/8" taffeta ribbon, Dimensionals

Tea Time

We're just going with the tea theme this week.  I didn't make a card yesterday (but I did finish a scrapbook layout that I LOVE) so how about another tea-related layout?

These are pics of some of the teapots and teacups I bought while I lived in England.  (I have pictures of even more stuff I bought right before we moved back to the States!). There's one thing I'm particularly proud of on this layout--if you click to embiggen, look at the darker pink stripes between the patterns.  Those are from a third piece of patterned paper; I cut out the stripes and carefully glued them down to make borders between the two larger busy patterns.  Quite pleased with how that turned out.

I used the Notable Alphabet for my title and then stamped a few teacup embellishments just in case the theme wasn't obvious enough.

Today's color palette includes Flirty Flamingo (always surprised when I can use this color successfully, I don't dislike it but I have trouble using it in ways that I like), Peekaboo Peach, Cucumber Crush (one of my favorite greens ever), Watermelon Wonder, Early Espresso (it's not black, I promise) and Whisper White.

Now I've got a cuppa English Breakfast steeping, so I'm going to get something to eat and enjoy my cup of tea.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Notable Alphabet, Morning Cup
Ink:  Watermelon Wonder, Flirty Flamingo, Early Espresso
Paper:  Flirty Flamingo, Cucumber Crush, Fruit Stand DSP
Accessories:  Layers Collection Framelits

Friday Flashback: Morning Cup

Happy Friday, peeps!  My computer is running slow this morning (so am I, actually) so I had to restart it before I could get this post written.  But I think we're in business now :)  Today's Friday Flashback stamp set is Morning Cup, which I got completely by accident:  it was included in an order I received even though I didn't order it, and Stampin' Up! told me to keep it.  Isn't that nice of them?  So let's flash back!

Also features Heard from the Heart

I'm sure this was for a combination SCS sketch/color challenge.  I think the main image panel and the stripey strip should be larger to balance out the polka dot panel.  But those stacked teacups are my favorite Morning Cup image...'cause I'm a tea drinker, not a coffee person.

I did make this for a friend who does drink coffee every morning, though :)

Also features Curly Cute, Take a Sip wheel

There was also a coordinating wheel of teacup images called Take a Sip, so I bought that and cut up the wheel to make individual stamps, which I used on here.  The tea bag background is from Morning Cup.

Also features Warm Words

I made these for my family when they came to visit us in England, the colors match the teapots I bought them.  And that's it for the flash back part, here is today's new creation:

Had I looked through my archives before I made this, I *might* have chosen a different image to play with, but I just love those stacked teacups so I went with that.  The colors are from the Color Throwdown:

I used Blushing Bride, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, and So Saffron for my colors.  I also used last week's Sketch Frenzy Friday sketch:

And that's all she wrote this week!  Hope you have a great weekend, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Morning Cup
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Blushing Bride, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, So Saffron
Paper:  So Saffron, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Blushing Bride DSP
Accessories:  Chalk Talk Framelits, wide oval punch, scalloped border punch, Subtles Candy Dots, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Heard from the Heart

It's Friday again and that means it's time for another Friday Flashback!  Today's randomly chosen retired stamp set is Heard from the Heart, a lovely set of 4 sentiment stamps; I love the mixed fonts.  So let's do the time warp again!

The butterfly on this one is from God's Beauty, which was a hostess set and though I like it, this was its solo voyage.  

The cupcakes are from Crazy for Cupcakes, and the background flourishes and flowers are from Priceless.

Here's Morning Cup and a slightly weird layout...it was a sketch challenge.  I think my card looks a little unbalanced...like the main image and the stripey bit should be larger to balance out the polka dots.  Oh well.

The main image on this one is from Serene Spring, another one hit wonder hostess set.  I made this one for a swap.

Pretty Peonies in orange...

And a monochromatic Upsy Daisy card.  You know what I just noticed?  There are four stamps in the set but I've only ever used two of them!  I didn't go back and look at my previous cards before I did the new card for this week, so that "wishes" stamp is making yet another appearance:

The flowers on this one are from Array of Sunshine, by coincidence yet another hostess set.  This little birthday card will be going out in the mail to a sweet friend today :)  I used the latest Unscripted Sketches challenge for my card:

When I copied down the sketch to take with me into my craft room, somehow I didn't draw it square so my card is the standard A2 size.  I used a striped pattern instead of cutting out lots of strips for the background panel, I think that still keeps to the spirit of the sketch.

That's it for me today, folks!  Have a great weekend!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Heard from the Heart, Array of Sunshine
Ink:  Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie,  Garden Green
Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Rainbow Sherbet DSP
Accessories:  Labels Collection Framelits, Dimensionals

Favorites Showcase 2012, Part 2

2013 may have started already, but I've still got to do the last 6 months of the 2012 retrospective.  So let's go!

I live in England and I have grown really fond of tea this last year.  I made this birthday card for a friend because we sent him a whole lotta tea for his birthday!  I used Morning Cup, the Take a Sip wheel (I cut it up into individual stamps), and Curly Cute.

I think By the Seashore and Perfectly Penned are two of my favorite stamp sets, and I really like the look of the shells thumped with markers.

I couldn't pick just one card for August, so here's an Artistic Etchings/Pursuit of Happiness card.  Generally I hate those "color" challenges that involve only neutrals and no colors, but I really liked how this card turned out.  (And I'm proud of myself for using Artistic Etchings but *not* the Eiffel Tower!)

This French Foliage card was for a September combo color/sketch challenge at SCS and I lurve those fall colors!  Had some good times with my leafy stamps this year...and we had a gorgeous autumn in this part of England, too.

Here's a pink birthday card for October using Papillon Potpourri, Perfectly Penned, and Elements of Style.  Sometimes it's fun to stamp on patterned paper.

More fall colors for November; this was a Friday Flashback card for Lovely Leaves.  Still really like that layout sketch too, I should re-use that soon!

I had a LOT of Christmas cards to choose from for December, but I thought I'd go with this sweet Scentsational Seasons gingerbread man instead of our personal tea-riffic Christmas cards.  Sentiment is of course from More Merry Messages, which got quite a workout this year!

I'll be back tomorrow with something all-new.  Hope your 2013 is off to a great start!