Friday Flashback: Sincere Salutations

Thank goodness it's Friday, kids.  Not my best week ever.  I will neither confirm nor deny that I ate brownie batter for breakfast today.  Is it weird that I like brownie batter better than actual brownies?  Don't answer that.  Also, I laugh in the face of salmonella.

But anyway, I bring you today's slightly late Friday Flashback.  Today's retired stamp set of choice is Sincere Salutations, and I remember how excited we stampers were when it first came out--eight sentiments in a pretty classy mixed-font format, what's not to love?  So again, this flashback would take a week if I put up every single project I ever made with this stamp set.  Let's just select a few, shall we?

Also features Baroque Motifs

And right off the bat this one might be my favorite of the bunch.  I like the color combination :)  And of course Baroque Motifs can do no wrong.

Also features Natural Beauty

My long-ago SU! upline used to do that thing like on this card where a smaller-than-A2 card is folded and then backed up with a piece of colored cardstock; not really my thing but it did let me do a nice bow on the side of this card.

Also features Pretty Peony

Some pretty purple peonies for a birthday...

Also features Roses in Winter

And Christmas roses.  Yeah, Sincere Salutations has got you covered for most events.

Also features Stippled Stencils, Weathered

The sentiment showed up better IRL on this card than in the scan (and this was so long ago that it was a scan rather than a photo)--it's embossed in gold.

Also features Wonderful Wings, Filigree

One last card featuring one of the gorgeous butterflies from Wonderful Wings, and also last week's Friday Flashback set of Filigree.  And now for this week's new creation:

I'm pretty pleased with it.  I used the color challenge from ColourQ:

And apparently I was influenced by the picture in the challenge graphic too, because I think that's what made me reach for Medallion.  I also used this week's Retro Rubber Challenge sketch:

In the spirit of the challenge, I've had Sincere Salutations for I suppose 11 years because I think I got it when it came out; Medallion dates from 2011 so five years, and True Friend I've had for 9 years.  Yeah, I think I got the "retro" part of the challenge covered this time ;)

Well, hubs just got home and he's taking me out to dinner so that's it for me.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Sincere Salutations, Medallion, True Friend
Ink:  Marina Mist, Pear Pizzazz, Tangerine Tango, Night of Navy
Paper:  Marina Mist, Night of Navy, Whisper White
Accessories:  Circle punches, Regals Candy Dot, Tangerine Tango ribbon from Sale-a-Bration a couple of years ago

Friday Flashback: Ancient Asia

It's time for the Friday Flashback!  If you've been here for a while (or if you've perused my other blog), you know that I used to live in Japan and I love stamps with an Oriental flair.  Today's Friday Flashback is for the superfantastic Ancient Asia!

Also features Bamboo II and Happy Birthday Frame

I sent this to my dad for his birthday a few years ago.  I still miss the retired blue colors like Ballet Blue and Brocade Blue.

Also features Bamboo II, Natural Beauty, and Itty Bitty Backgrounds

I made this card before I ever knew there was a band called Imagine Dragons :)

Also features Sanded and Birthday Whimsy

And there's the other dragon in the set.

Also features Whimsical Alphabet

The first layout in my Okinawa scrapbook--I used the tiny dragon in a line across the top of the pages.  So that was the Flashback part, and because I've been having SUCH a good time in my craft room this week I have two new cards to share!

My friend Misty recently had a wedding anniversary, and when she got married I made her a wedding sampler with Chinese characters on it so I was thinking of her when I made this card.  I used the colors from the Color Throwdown:

Such a pretty photo on there, I want to go wherever that was taken.  And you might recognize this week's Nacho sketch too:

But I didn't stop there, I made one more card today:

Kind of different for me, it's all neutrals (and you know I like color, and lots of it).  That Whisper White layer is actually sponged with Sahara Sand and Basic Gray ink, but the flash kinda whited that out.  I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch on this one:

So there you have it!  I've got some pictures picked out for a scrapbook layout to work on next week, and I think Ancient Asia will be making another appearance in my scrapbooks.  Hope y'all have a great weekend, and cheers, peeps!

Supplies, dragon anniversary card:
Stamps:  Ancient Asia, Best of Love, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Riding Hood Red
Paper:  Basic Black, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Night & Day DSP (I used up a scrap!)
Accessories:  Riding Hood Red taffeta

Supplies, horse card:
Stamps:  Ancient Asia, Weathered
Ink:  Sahara Sand, Basic Gray, Whisper White
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Sahara Sand DSP
Accessories:  Whisper White baker's twine, Neutrals Candy Dots, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Natural Beauty

Time for another Friday Flashback!  This week's featured stamp set is Natural Beauty, and it is a beauty.  It was fun for me to play with this set again : )  So let's take a look back in the archives:

My first two Flashback cards were inspired by some yellow freckled orchids I had when we lived in Okinawa.  The above card also features Floral (background), Full of Life (sentiment), and Itty Bitty Backgrounds (freckles on the flower).

This one is mostly the same as above, but trade out the Full of Life sentiment for one from All Holidays.

Here's something a little different; only the sentiment on this one is from Natural Beauty.  The stamp is kind of a word cloud thing so I just inked up the "Imagine" bit that I wanted.  The dragons are from Ancient Asia, and I also used Bamboo II and Itty Bitty Backgrounds (again).

This one is more CAS; the sentiment is from that perennial favorite, Sincere Salutations.  So that's it for the Flashback part, let's check out the brand new creation:

I used this week's SCS sketch and an old color challenge (I have about 20 sketches and 15 color combos to go to complete my challenge to myself to complete them all).  The flower image was stamped with Chocolate Chip craft ink (sadly retired) and embossed with clear EP before I colored the image using both a blender pen (need some new ones) and an Aquapainter.  The card is pretty straightforward, the only thing that took some time was coloring the image.

Thanks for joining me for this week's Friday Flashback, and have a great weekend!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Natural Beauty, Warmest Regards
Ink:  Chocolate Chip (craft and classic), Crumb Cake, Barely Banana, Real Red, Mellow Moss
Paper:  Barely Banana, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, retired Real Red & Mellow Moss DSP
Accessories:  clear EP, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Oriental Retrospective

So before I left England to visit Texas for two weeks, I scheduled a bunch of blog posts to show up on here.  However, I forgot to factor in that I would leave Texas on a Thursday and wouldn't arrive back in England until Friday, so I didn't have another Friday Flashback post ready to go.  Oops.

So instead, I thought I'd just pick out some old favorite cards to post today, and the first one that caught my eye was using one of SU!'s old Asian sets so I thought hey, why not?  So this Friday Flashback is an Oriental retrospective.  (It's my blog, I can do that.)

Let's start off with a nontraditional Asian Valentine, shall we?  I think this is from the first year that SU! had In Colors, still love that Cranberry Crisp.  The stamp sets used are Artfully Asian and Kanji, and the Artichoke panel is done using the ghosting technique.

I loved Eastern Influences the moment I saw it, and this was a swap card I did as soon as I got those stamps in my hot little hands.  Love Baja Breeze and Pink Pirouette together.

Asian Artistry was a hostess set one year, the year we got Crushed Curry as an In Color.  I think I've said it before, but I wish they'd bring Crushed Curry back--that was probably my favorite yellow ever.  I need to bust out this stamp set again too, I really liked it.

I've always loved dragons, so I hunted down Ancient Asia on the Buy/Sell/Trade boards because that little dragon is pretty cool.  The background stamp is Bamboo II and the "Imagine" sentiment came from Natural Beauty.

Last one for today, another Artfully Asian card.  That flower is colored with Tempting Turquoise ink, just watered down so much that it looks like Cool Caribbean.  I've gotten a lot of mileage out of Artfully Asian, I've used it on a bunch of scrapbook layouts too.

Hope you've enjoyed this slightly different take on the Friday Flashback.  I'm going to go spend time with my sweet little stinky dogs since I haven't gotten to see them for two weeks.  Ta-ta!