Oak Leaf Thanks

Hello crafty people!  It may not feel like fall outside (it was 77 degrees here yesterday, WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK it's November for cryin' out loud!) but at least it LOOKS like fall in my craft room!

This is like the card equivalent of a cozy sweater, isn't it?  I started with the Color Throwdown colors:

I used all retired colors:  Buckaroo Blue, Marigold Morning, and Chocolate Chip.  Whisper White is, of course, not retired :p Anyway, I paired that with the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

And the theme challenge from the Paper Players:

And finally, the Retro Rubber Challenge:

This card is so retro, everything I used is retired except the white cardstock, the adhesive, and the linen thread.  The leaf images are from Gently Falling (possibly my favorite ever leaf set), which I've had for 7 years; the sentiment is from One Big Meaning and is 2 years old; and the Linen background stamp (look closely at the Buckaroo Blue layer, it's subtle but it's there) has been in my stamp collection since dirt was new and it's 12 years old.  It's been fun to hunt through my older stamp sets and actually *use* them this week, though of course I use them all the time on my scrapbook pages.

Hope you have a great day, peeps.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU! but mostly retired:
Stamps:  Gently Falling, Linen, One Big Meaning
Ink:  Marigold Morning, Chocolate Chip, Buckaroo Blue
Paper:  Marigold Morning, Chocolate Chip, Buckaroo Blue, Whisper White
Accessories:  Dimensionals, linen thread

Eclectic Thanks On One Layer

Hey y'all!  During Ryan's naptimes yesterday, I managed to get some embroidery floss organized for my next ten projects (ten Pretty Little Cities patterns from Satsuma Street, yes I'm crazy but they're SO CUTE), got started on a new scrapbook layout, and I also managed to make a real fast one layer card. Yep, I'm maximizing naptime!

It's too bad the Just Add "O" challenge is over, because the two stamp sets I used both start with O--One Big Meaning and Oh So Eclectic.

Here's the sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping that made my card come together so fast:

And the color challenge from Color Throwdown:

I used Real Red, So Saffron, Smoky Slate (stamped off once), and just a hint of Mint Macaron on the flower stem on my white card base.

I'm also entering this in the Retro Rubber May Flowers challenge, but I can't get the challenge graphic to upload.  Sometimes Blogger does that, where it just flatly refuses to upload a picture, so I'll have to try again later.  I've had One Big Meaning since at least February of 2016, but Oh So Eclectic hasn't achieved retro status yet ;)

Okay, the kid is clamoring for attention so I'd better go see what he wants.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Oh So Eclectic, One Big Meaning
Ink:  Basic Gray, Smoky Slate,  Real Red, So Saffron, Mint Macaron
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  None

Retiring: Awesomely Artistic & One Big Meaning

Happy Friday, y'all!  As I promised yesterday, here's the card I was working on when I realized the color challenge I was trying to do called for Tranquil Tide, not Wild Wasabi.

I still like these colors together!  And all three are retiring.  Once again, I used Shimmery White paper for the background, then did a watercolor wash with Wild Wasabi and Wisteria Wonder.  I dried it with my heat tool (impatient me) and then stamped the floral stamp from Awesomely Artistic on it.  The dragonfly is stamped on Shimmery White as well, but just in case it didn't shimmer *enough* I added some Wink of Stella.

The current SUO Challenge is all about flowers:

I do love that big flower stamp.  I'll miss Awesomely Artistic.

Next up is this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Ryan just tried to sit on Vader's head.  Well, better Vader than Sadie...though to be fair Sadie would have run away before Ryan got close enough to try to sit on her head.  Vader is a patient dog!

That's it for me today, peeps.  Cheers!  And have a great weekend!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Awesomely Artistic, One Big Meaning
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant, Wild Wasabi, Wisteria Wonder
Paper:  Elegant Eggplant, Wild Wasabi, Wisteria Wonder, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits, Dimensinoals, Wink of Stella

Falling for Brights

Mornin', y'all!  How's it going?  I've got a cranky kid today.  At least, he was cranky until he started shoving cereal puffs in his mouth and if he's cranky now at least he's quiet about it :p  He was really cranky last night too.

But anyway, since this week is Thanksgiving, I just had to make at least one more fall card.  And oddly enough, I picked three colors in the Brights family to make it.

I cut out the leaves with the Seasonal Layers Thinlits, then stamped each with a stamp from Timeless Textures to give them...a little texture ;)  And how much am I addicted to the Stitched Shapes Framelits lately?  Like, a lot.

Check out this sketch from Sunday Stamps:

I didn't want to cover up my leaves, so I kinda combined the sentiment strip and the three round embellishments into one row.  Rhinestones FTW!

And here's the latest challenge from Cupcake Inspirations:

In other Cupcake Inspirations news, they chose my monochrome fall card from last week as one of their challenge winners, woohoo!

Okay, kiddo is getting all talkative so it's time to take Mr. Cranky McCrankyPants to the gym so he can burn off some energy in the daycare while I work out.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Timeless Textures, One Big Meaning
Ink:  Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits, Seasonal Layers Thinlits, Rhinestones

Leafy Thanks

Mornin', y'all.  Is it fall yet?  I'm so done with sultry super-humid weather...bring on fall and sweater weather!!

Also since I gave Tiana about 85% of my card stash (thank you cards and everything else), I'm working on rebuilding my stash.  Need lots more thank you cards, and thinking of you, and birthday...pretty much everything.

So today I started with the Fall-To Layout from Clean & Simple Stamping:

This week's Retro Rubber Challenge was super easy:

I happened to use the same combination of older stamps on this card for another Retro Rubber Challenge; Vintage Leaves is two years old and One Big Meaning is one year old.  The wee splatter stamp is from Magical Mermaid and will probably be my most-used stamp from that set because I loves me a good splat :)

Colors are courtesy of Sunday Stamps: 

I used Night of Navy, Tranquil Tide, and Peekaboo Peach for colors 2, 4, and 5 on the graphic.  I wanted to work in some Rich Razzleberry but it just wouldn't work for my card.  Such a pretty inspiration pic though.

Sounds like the hubs just finished feeding the baby...so maybe we're going for a walk now.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves, One Big Meaning, Magical Mermaid
Ink:  Peekaboo Peach, Tranquil Tide, Night of Navy
Paper:  Tranquil Tide, Night of Navy, Watercolor Paper, Painted Autumn DSP
Accessories:  Tranquil Tide ribbon

Thanks Kind-Leaf

Well, I hope you're having a better Sunday morning than Ryan is--the hubs just wipes off the baby's face and Ryan took exception to that :p Tough luck, kiddo.  So anyway, I'm back with another thank you card today!

I used this week's Retro Rubber sketch:

So I've had Vintage Leaves for two years, and One Big Meaning for one.  I thought both of them were older than that.  The speckles on the back are from Magical Mermaid, which I've had for less than a week, but it was on my desk to stamp for my personal stamp catalog and I needed something on the card base so there it goes.  You can't tell from the picture, but I popped up the Whisper White layer on Dimensionals. The Real Red Candy Dots are retired, but I like those better than the enamel shapes SU! has now, and I still have a stash of the Candy Dots so might as well use 'em.

Say hello to the As You See It color challenge:

They called it "Summer Salad" but I made a fall card with it :)  I have a feeling it's going to be fun to make up fall-y color combos with Lemon Lime Twist this year.  I didn't want the leaves to overwhelm the sentiment, so I used sponges to apply ink to the leaf stamps.  Actually I did that for the sentiment too because my Elegant Eggplant ink pad is still way extra juicy.

Muffins just came out of the oven and I think the kiddo is about ready for a nap (uhh, breakfast is late for the parental units today) so that's it for me today.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves, One Big Meaning, Magical Mermaid
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant, Real Red, Lemon Lime Twist
Cardstock:  Lemon Lime Twist, Elegant Eggplant, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Dimensionals, retired Candy Dots

Super Simple Silver Star

Well, The Invasion starts late this afternoon!  We have friends and family coming in for the hubs' promotion ceremony on Friday; his parents arrive today and everyone else gets in tomorrow.  I figured we were going to need some thank you cards afterwards, but I don't have a lot of time to make them, sooo...

CAS it is!  I turned to the CAS(E) this Sketch challenge:

I kinda think maybe it's a little *too* plain, but this is pretty much all I have time for before the festivities kick off.  I'm also entering this over at SUO Challenges to use patriotic colors.  Sadly the Medium Star Punch is retired but I just had to have a star on here!  It still looks manly enough for my hubs to send out even with a glittery star, right?

Well, I've got floors to vacuum and/or mop today once Ryan goes down for his nap.  Maybe if I'm really ridiculously lucky I'll be able to steal away to my craft room for a hot minute, but I'm not counting on it :p  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  One Big Meaning
Ink:  Dapper Denim
Paper:  Dapper Denim, Real Red, Thick Whisper White, Silver Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Medium Star Punch (retired), Dimensional

Thanks, Baby

Mornin', y'all!  How's it going?  We're still super-busy with the wee baby, but hubs kept an eye on him for a bit and I got to go down to my poor neglected craft room and make some cards.  And they're still baby-related because I needed more thank yous!

Still totally loving Moon Baby.  I made a dozen of these, so I kept it very simple and ignored the urge to add some baker's twine or do Wink of Stella on the little star.  Because I didn't want to wait for Wink of Stella to dry--I sent off at least half of the cards I made already.  And they count for this week's Paper Players challenge:

I am really, really missing my paper crafting time (though wee baby snuggles are fun too), so I think on the weekends when the hubs is home and enjoying his own baby snuggles that I should make a concerted effort to get in the craft room.  I suppose I could try to do that in the evenings, but it seems like once hubs gets home we make dinner and then it's time to try to convince the kiddo to fall asleep so we can go to sleep too.  Anyway,  I reallyreallyreally want to work on some scrapbook pages but first I need to print off some photos like this one...

TINY BABY FEETS!!!  This was another shot from the newborn photo session when Ryan was 8 days old; as of today he's five weeks old.  He's already changed a lot from the newborn photos, but he's still absolutely adorable with all that crazy hair.  We blow dry his hair after baths! (Low heat and very carefully, rest assured we aren't doing anything that will hurt him.  Bonus:  it all sticks straight out from his head after we dry it, which is totally hilarious.)

Anyway, wee lad is asleep right now so I need to get cleaned up.  Our adventure for the day:  Imma try taking him to the grocery store.  Wish me luck.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Moon Baby, One Big Meaning
Ink:  Marina Mist, Pear Pizzazz, So Saffron
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, So Saffron DSP
Accessories:  None

Gratitude with the Nachos

Forget all the crazy stuff on the news today, the Nachos have a great theme challenge for you!

I always, always, always seem to need thank you cards, and I love fall cards, so here's what I made:

I haven't used vellum in no kidding YEARS but for today's card that's what I went to immediately.  I'm holding it down so you can see the background leaves, here's what it looks like just by itself:

Think maybe I should use vellum a little more often :)  And of course I've got some copper on there too, I do enjoy all the copper stuff out now.  I still have my old embossing powder from the last time SU! carried it, and the copper foil sheets are just so pretty.

So make your own gratitude-themed project and share it with the Nachos.  And whatever you do, don't turn on the TV today unless it's to watch a movie.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves, One Big Meaning
Ink:  Versamark, Dapper Denim, Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze
Paper:  Dapper Denim, Crushed Curry, Very Vanilla, Copper Foil, Vellum
Accessories:  Copper EP, linen thread

Thank You...Now With Bamboo

I blame Rysa Walker.  Here I was all set to spend lots of time in the craft cave yesterday but while I was eating breakfast I started reading The Delphi Effect and next thing I know the hubs is getting home from work (oops).  I stopped reading long enough to make dinner and do some stitching, but let's just say I finished the book last night.  #WorthIt

And today I finally made something!  Now if I could just finish the scrapbook layout that's been 75% done since the weekend....anyway.  New card.

I had to do the sentiment twice; the first time I had too much ink on the stamp and the insides of the teeny letters on the bottom line were all filled in, so I used a sponge to ink up the stamp this time and that's like my new favorite technique.  Anyway, I started with a fun color combo from Cupcake Inspirations:

I used Old Olive and Elegant Eggplant for SU! versions of the colors, plus added in some crumb cake because I thought my card needed it.  I used this week's CASE the Designer challenge at Global Design Project as a jumping-off point:

I used the same layout (my "main" bamboo stalk is even tilted to the left like the bear) but my layers are a bit different sizes.  The length of my sentiment stamp dictated that the main image panel had to be wider than in Brian's card but I still think mine is balanced fairly well.  Bonus:  it's got Dimensionals, but other than that it's flat and easy to mail :)

So that's it for me today.  I now have three choices:  a.) eat lunch, b.) go to the gym, or c.) finish that scrapbook layout.  Decisions, decisions....

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  One Big Meaning, Artistically Asian, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Elegant Eggplant, Crumb Cake, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Make Way for Ducklings

Hey, kids, how's it going?  I've got a quick card for you today thanks to the Global Design Project theme challenge this week:

When the hubs and I were in the Boston area earlier this month, we met up with my sweet friend Vicki who gave me a baby gift that included the book Make Way for Ducklings and a stuffed animal duckling.  For Baby Sodapop, obviously.  So I wanted to make her a duckling thank you card, and happily for me I own Barnyard Babies :)

I kept it really simple on this one, just stamping the duckling several times and doing some quick (and slightly messy, it's a stylistic choice) watercoloring.  I'd thought about putting a button on the end of the sentiment banner, but the idea of staples occurred to me so I did that instead and I think this is the first time I've ever done staples on a card.  The whole card took me like maybe 15 minutes.  Now I just need to get it out in the mail!

Okay, kids.  This is turning into Baking Week so I have cupcakes to frost and some cookies to make.  Because that's a balanced diet.  I kid!  I'm taking the cupcakes to a thing tonight and the cookies are going to hubs' work tomorrow.  Not saying I won't taste test anything though...

Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Barnyard Babies, One Big Meaning
Ink:  Basic Black, So Saffron, Peekaboo Peach, Crumb Cake
Paper:  So Saffron, Pool Party, Thick Whisper White, Peekaboo Peach DSP
Accessories:  Staples

Nachos: Getting Sketchy

Mornin', y'all!  Hey, lookit that, two days of blog posts in a row.  And I'm back with the Nacho Average Challenges team and check out this awesome sketch!

Nice and simple, just what I need when I'm still getting back in the stamping groove.  Last week the hubs and I spent several days gallivanting around New England, and one evening we had dinner with a sweet friend of mine and her husband so I made this for her:

I don't have the paisley DSP that's in the holiday catalog, but that doesn't mean I can't use it for color-iffic inspiration!  I chose Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry (my friend loves purple, so that seemed appropriate), a bit of Soft Suede and some metallic copper to finish it off.  The sentiment is embossed with copper EP, and check out this view of the copper foil paper:

SHINY.  I added a white panel on the inside of the card too, also with the two rounded corners, but sponged with some Rich Razzleberry instead of Night of Navy like on the card front.  I chose leaves for this card because the main reason we went driving all through New England was to see the fall foliage (and did we ever).  So there you have it!

Hope you join along with this awesome sketch challenge on the Nacho blog.  Until next time, cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves, One Big Meaning
Ink:  Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede, Versamark
Paper:  Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Copper Foil
Accessories:  Corner rounder punch, Dimensionals, Copper EP

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming?

Well, that was a bit of an unplanned hiatus but I'm finally back in the ol' craft cave again.  I can't promise I'm going to post 5-6 days a week like I was before, but I'm going to get my stamp on as often as I can (especially before Baby Sodapop arrives).

I have been extremely remiss in sending out baby thank you cards so my first foray back in my stamping space was to make a stack of these:

Missy is super proud that they're green and yellow (Baylor colors).  Green is my favorite color, and kinda seems like the "theme" of what we've put on a registry--if there's an option to get an item in green, that's the one I go for.  My next trick will be to actually get these written in and sent out.

Not real thrilled with the picture, but the little point-and-shoot camera that I've been using for yeeeeears is finally giving up the ghost so I took this one on my iPhone.  Technically the phone camera is supposed to be "better" than our old camera, but this pic just didn't turn out that great, I don't know.  Maybe I'll have to find a different place to photograph my projects with the phone.

Anyway, I've got dogs to walk, a gym to hit, and dishes to do.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  One Big Meaning, Made with Love
Ink:  Wild Wasabi, So Saffron
Paper:  Wild Wasabi, Thick Whisper White, So Saffron DSP
Accessories:  Lots of Labels Framelits, Dimensionals

Moroccan Lanterns #2

So when the new SU! catalog came out this summer, one of the first stamp sets I wanted to get my grubby inky little hands on was Moroccan Nights.  It was on my first order but somehow I've only used it once before today.  I really need to sit down with this set and get to craftin'.

I do love those lanterns.  I started out with this week's Global Design Project challenge:

I kinda flipped the layout upside down so I could do hanging lanterns instead of floating balloons, and instead of stamping around the edges I did some light sponging.  Speaking of light, check out the Paper Players challenge:

Thanks, Paper Players, for giving me a great excuse to ink up the Moroccan lanterns again.

Hubs is home early from work today so maybe we'll go watch some Olympics until dinnertime.  Or maybe I'll go make something else in my craft room, who knows.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Moroccan Nights, One Big Meaning
Ink:  Emerald Envy, Dapper Denim, Early Espresso, So Saffron
Paper:  So Saffron, Thick Whisper White, Moroccan DSP
Accessories:  nothing unless you count the Stamp-a-ma-jig

A Little Foxy Thanks

Allow me to toot my own horn just a bit...y'all, today's card is a quadruple challenge.  I mean like, whoa.  Four challenges in one!

And pretty stinkin' cute, if I do say so myself.  This will be going out in the mail today or tomorrow, I know exactly who's getting it.  As always you can't tell in the picture, but the hearts have Wink of Stella on them so they sparkle a bit.

So, challenge #1 is Cupcake Inspirations:

As always, that cupcake is adorable and I really want to eat it.  Especially if that's cream cheese frosting.  It's very unfortunate that Wegmans sells red velvet cake by the slice in their bakery, because I have zero willpower and also red velvet cake is pretty awesome.

Challenge #2 is ColourQ:

I switched out the Glorious Green for Emerald Envy since Emerald Envy is pretty much Glorious Green 2.0 anyway, and it's easier for me to get to than the Glorious Green cardstock.  Which I still have.

Challenge #3 is today's Freshly Made Sketch:

And finally, Challenge #4 is What Will You Stamp?

I had much better luck getting good ink coverage on my fox today, so here's what I did:  I inked it up with my regular Calypso Coral ink pad, which is still way too juicy and doesn't give me a great impression with photopolymer stamps.  Before stamping it, I got out a Calypso Coral ink spot that I got in some past Paper Pumpkin kit and pressed it all over the stamp too, not to add more ink but to make sure that the stamp was inked evenly (I suppose a brayer would work too, but then I'd have to clean it).  Then I put my cardstock on top of my piercing mat and stamped it that way--the extra cushion helps a bit with photopolymer stamps.  And whaddya know, it turned out pretty great!

This card took me sufficient time to make that I have missed my 11:00 gym class, so I suppose I'll just have to go to lunch at Panera instead.  Oops.  Haha.  No, I mean oops.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Foxy Friends, One Big Meaning
Ink:  Calypso Coral, Blushing Bride, Night of Navy, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Calypso Coral, Emerald Envy, Whisper White
Accessories:  Wink of Stella clear pen

Shabby Thanks

Hey y'all, I'm finally here with today's card.  Ever since our AC went out, even though it was replaced on Tuesday, I'm just having a hard time finding the motivation to get down in the craft cave and do some stamping.  But I'm going to keep trying.

I kicked around ideas for today's card while I was at the grocery store (anyone else love Wegmans as much as I do?) and this is what I made when I got home.  After I put up groceries and ate an entire container of watermelon chunks, because that's how I roll.

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the Color Throwdown color challenge:

Ya know what, a frozen banana split skewer like that sounds pretty darn good right now.  Anyway, for my SU! colors I used Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Real Red, and Crumb Cake.

When I first stamped the flower (the one on the far right was the first one) I figured out pretty quick that my Real Red ink pad was way too juicy, so I squished it with a plastic spoon to work the ink in a bit more and tried it again (middle flower).  Still not quite where I wanted it, but instead of going back at the ink pad with the spoon, I just inked up the stamp again but this time I made sure to only tap it lightly on the ink pad (far left).  Just what I wanted!  I needed that shabby texture to show up on the flower so it would go with the center panel that I hit up with Timeless Textures.

That's it for me today, y'all.  See you back here tomorrow for the Friday Flashback!  Oh wait, one more thing:  if you look really closely at the stamps in Flower Shop, one of the petals has an extra little divot in it (look at the bottom petal, towards the right side).  That's the only one with two divots on the stamp and the matching punch, so today I finally gave my stamps a close examination and put a mark with a Sharpie on the bottom of the stamp that coordinates with that petal, which also happens to be the bottom one on the punch (and I marked my punch too).  Definitely makes it easier to tell which way to punch out the flowers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flower Shop, One Big Meaning, Timeless Textures
Ink:  Real Red, So Saffron, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Pansy punch, Dimensionals