Luck Dragons

Hey y'all, I'm not moving too fast this Friday morning...I did get up super early (I usually wake up around 5 whether I want to or not) and did a workout like usual, but somehow I torqued my back and it is Not Happy with me.  Hope it feels better soon.

Anyway, I have two cards to share today, starting with this one:

As soon as I saw "dragons" on the Festive Friday challenge, I thought of Ancient Asia, which is a super old stamp set that I've had for years and I bought it mainly for this little dragon image.  Hubs and I lived in Japan for a couple of years so I tend to buy all the Asian-themed stamps.  Here's the Festive Friday challenge:

I used gold, red, layers, a good luck sentiment, and dragons.  I do have a couple of pagoda stamps in my collection so I may have to revisit this one.

Check out the fun sketch from As You See It:

Perfect for my bitty dragons.  I actually made a different card first though...

I do really like the Color Throwdown for this week but I just haven't been able to make a card with it that I really liked.  I thought it might be interesting to use this with the dragons, but I decided I had to do it in the more usual red, black, and gold instead.  Anyway, here's the Color Throwdown challenge:

That's it for me this week, kids.  I don't know if I'm even going to go up to my craft room today, I've been having a tough time with my stampy mojo this week.  Have a good weekend and stay warm, friends.  We've got lows in the 20s happening on Sunday!

Supplies, all SU!, first card:
Stamps:  Ancient Asia, Nature's Harvest
Ink:  Versamark, Real Red, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Real Red, Basic Black, Thick Basic White, Real Red DSP, gold foil
Accessories:  Deckled Circles dies, Deckled Rectangles dies, gold EP, Dimensionals

Supplies, all SU!, second card:
Stamps:  Ancient Asia, Nature's Harvest
Ink:  Versamark, Garden Green
Paper:  Polished Pink, Garden Green, Orchid Oasis, Polished Pink DSP
Accessories:  Deckled Circles dies, Deckled Rectangles dies, gold EP, Dimensionals

Maine: Acadia National Park

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  And it looks like it's going to be a rainy Monday, too, which is all to the good if you ask me--the high temperature today is 88 degrees, the first time it's been under 90 in I don't know how long!

So anyway, I'm continuing the Maine adventure for today's scrapbook pages.  Take a look:

I love that Beauty of the Earth DSP, I had to buy another pack of it when it hit the clearance rack as I had used up almost all of the first pack.  (I am a DSP dragon, my hoard is vast!)  When I make a theme album or a series of pages that all go together, I like to use the same alphabet stamps for page titles, and sometimes I use the same DSP pack so the pages feel like they fit together.  I used the Beauty of the Earth DSP and the Make a Difference alphabet on the title page of the album and again on the two layouts today.

I also worked hard to squeeze in as many pictures as I could on my pages, and even cramming in the max number I had a hard time narrowing down my choices.  On our first full day in Maine, we went to Acadia National Park and just had a great time walking around on all the trails, letting the boys run around and enjoying a spectacular fall day.  This was such a great trip.

Today's fall palette is, once again, taken straight from the DSP:  Bumblebee, Cajun Craze, Merry Merlot, Misty Moonlight, Mossy Meadow, Early Espresso, and Whisper White.

Have a great day, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nature's Harvest, Make a Difference, Rough Edges Alphabet
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Misty Moonlight, Early Espresso marker
Paper:  Bumblebee, Cajun Craze, Merry Merlot, Mossy Meadow, Early Espresso, Thick Basic White, Beauty of the Earth DSP
Accessories:  None

Thankful Flowers

I am still not feeling well but at least it's not Covid, I got tested yesterday.  I think I have the flu.  So after I write this blog post and eat something for lunch, I'm going back to bed.

This was the other card I made on Wednesday morning:

I started with the colors from Global Design Project:

And paired them with the As You See It sketch:

I used some retired So Saffron taffeta ribbon for the yellow stripe on the sketch, and I swear I didn't mimic the colors on the sketch on purpose--I had scribbled the sketch on a piece of scratch paper and didn't even remember that the sketch graphic was blue and yellow.

Stay healthy, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nature's Harvest
Ink:  Early Espresso, Balmy Blue, Granny Apple Green, Stampin' Blends in So Saffron, Soft Suede, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  So Saffron, Thick Basic White, Balmy Blue DSP
Accessories:  Harvest dies, Dimensionals, white Milky Dots

Color Me Intrigued

Mornin' y'all, how goes your week?  Today is my brother's birthday (I sent him a card already) and today I have a dental appointment, how's THAT for a celebration.  Heh.  I do have another birthday card to share today though.

I was quite intrigued when I saw the color combination from Just Add Ink, I had to try it out for myself:

I would not have put those colors together on my own in a million years but do you know I think they work!  I even managed to use only the challenge colors with the addition of white; my flowers are stamped in Blackberry Bliss.  There's a texture stamp in that same stamp set and I used it to stamp over and over on the Petal Pink panel for a one-of-a-kind-but-super-easy backdrop for the flowers.  I used the classic sketch from Try Stampin' on Tuesday:

My MIL's birthday is later this month so I think this will be going to her.  Well, I've got my dental appointment this morning and then hopefully I'll get to do some stamping and laundry in the afternoon before Ryan gets home from school.  Wish me luck!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nature's Harvest, Flowering Tulips
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Petal Pink, VersaMark, Stampin' Blends in Blackberry Bliss, Petal Pink, Bermuda Bay
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Blackberry Bliss, Petal Pink, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  White EP, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella, Rhinestone Waves Basic Jewels

Thankful Coneflowers

Mornin' y'all, I'm running a bit behind today.  I think the heat is slowing me down, but at least today is supposed to be a little bit cooler than yesterday.  Here's my card for the day:

I really wasn't sure what to think of this week's Freshly Made Sketch, so imagine my surprise when this card came together super fast and easy yesterday!

Paired that with the Color Throwdown:

I used Daffodil Delight, Call Me Clover, Tahitian Tide, and Crumb Cake for my colors, with some Early Espresso thrown in for contrast.

Got a lot to do today so I'd better hurry up and hop to it.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nature's Harvest
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Daffodil Delight, Call Me Clover, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Thick Basic White, Tea Boutique DSP Stack
Accessories:  Harvest dies, Stitched Rectangles dies, Mini Dimensionals

Retro Leaf Trio

Hey stampy friends!  I had kind of an off day in my craft room yesterday, it took a lot of work to get my brain to settle down and create something, but I got there eventually.  Hope today's crafty session is a bit less like pulling teeth.  In the meantime, I have a new card using some older stamps to share today.

I made this for the Retro Rubber tic-tac-toe challenge:

I managed to do both of the diagonals--and wow for some reason the word "diagonal" isn't playing properly in my brain, I had to try spelling it three times and it still looks weird but my computer says it's right.  Hmm.  Anyway, I've got circles, green, patterned paper, die cuts, and nature on here.  The leaves and sentiment are from Rooted in Nature, which is a fabulous stamp set that I've had for four years and I'm surprised they retired it as quickly as they did.  For the circles behind my leaves, I stamped on some texture with a stamp from Nature's Harvest, which isn't quite a year old yet so it doesn't qualify as retro.  I took my colors from the coordinating Nature's Poem DSP, with a strip of Blackberry Bliss pattern paired with Mint Macaron and the retired (but still beautiful) Tranquil Tide.  It was fun to break out that retired color again.

Time to head up to the craft room and try to be productive.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Rooted in Nature, Nature's Harvest
Ink:  Tranquil Tide
Paper:  Mint Macaron, Tranquil Tide, Thick Basic White, Nature's Poem DSP
Accessories:  Nature's Roots dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Rustic Metal embellishments

A Gentle Reminder

Mornin' y'all!  I spent quite a bit of time in my craft room yesterday and I'm so HAPPY about it!  After not scrapping for months, I finished one layout yesterday and got another one about 75% done, and made a couple of cards to boot.  Can't wait to get back in there and scrap some more :)

But first, a card!

I bought the Nature's Harvest bundle from the holiday mini catalog sort of on a whim, and then I didn't get to stamp hardly at all in November and December so I didn't even use a lot of the stuff I got.  (Uh, let's not talk about the occasions catty preorder I may or may not have placed yesterday...)  Nature's Harvest is carrying over, at least for a bit, and I have given myself permission to use things even if they're retired ;) So anyway, this card is the maiden voyage for the Nature's Harvest bundle.  I made this for the Global Design Project challenge:

I kept my layout similar, used Crumb Cake for my card base, and also used some twine on my card, though I looped mine behind the sentiment instead of tying it around the card front.  I decided to keep my colors soft and muted and I enjoyed the excuse to cut into the Harvest Meadow DSP for the first time (let's also not talk about how much DSP I may or may not have preordered yesterday).

Hope your year is off to a good start.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nature's Harvest
Ink:  Misty Moonlight
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Misty Moonlight, Thick Basic White, Harvest Meadow DSP
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Harvest dies, Dimensionals, linen thread, Wink of Stella