Pool Party Papillon

Hey y'all!  It's another rainy day here, but I got the kiddo down for a nap so hopefully that means some good crafty time as soon as I finish washing dishes.  In the meantime though, I have a card for you!

The card base is the brand new Lemon Lime Twist, which is super bright and I'm a little surprised how popular it's been with other demos.  I mean, I love it, but I love bright colors and green in particular.  Looking forward to exploring some color combinations with this one.  Oh, if you click on the photo to see it larger, you can see that I stamped the sentiment in both Lemon Lime Twist and Basic Gray, offset from each other just a smidge to get a shadow effect.  Can you call it a shadow effect if the "shadow" is Lemon Lime Twist?

Anyway, I turned to this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I wish I'd made my square element a little smaller; sometimes it's tough to find the line between letting a sentiment breathe and having it get lost on a panel that's too big for it.  Dangit.  I didn't have time to redo it yesterday because Ryan was waking up from his nap as I was finishing this card.

There's a butterfly on it, so once again I can enter this over at the Paper Players:

I still have some layers on my card, but lots of open space on the card front.  I intentionally left the card base un-stamped to make it more CAS.

The color combo is from Retro Rubber:

I used Lemon Lime Twist, Wisteria Wonder, and Pool Party for my colors, since I thought those would be closest to the photo.  Maybe Baja Breeze would have been closer for the blue color, but I was using all current colors.  So for my "retro" part of this challenge, I've had both Papillon Potpourri and Petite Petals since 2012 or so I think.  Suite Sentiments is, of course, from earlier this year but I think the other two make up for it ;) plus I just wanted to use it at least once more before it retires.

Okay kids, time for me to get to work in the craft room.  The hubs says he'll be home from work early today, and he has tomorrow AND Monday off, so maybe I'll get lots of crafty time in the next few days since someone else is here to help with bottle feedings and diaper changes, haha!  Hope you have a great weekend, y'all.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Papillon Potpourri, Petite Petals, Suite Sentiments
Ink:  Lemon Lime Twist, Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party, Basic Gray
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Wisteria Wonder, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Elegant Butterfly Punch, Petite Petals Punch, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Tea Party

Happy Friday!  Once again I've waited until late in the day to work on my card, but I got there in the end.  Today's Friday Flashback stamp set is Tea Party, and you know how I love my tea!  If you're here just to see today's new card, scroll to the bottom; otherwise, let's take a trip down Memory Lane :)

Also features Artistic Etchings, Curly Cute

The scallopy border stamp on this card is from Tea Party.

Also features Petite Petals

And I bet you can figure out from the picture which stamp on this card is from today's set :)

Also features Fabulous Phrases

A fabulous teapot planter colored with markers for a nice effect...

Put a couple of these together very quickly for my cohosts when I did a Mad Tea Party a few years ago.

Also features Swallowtail

The thank you tag is also from today's set, and of course you recognize Swallowtail.  Who doesn't love that one!

So here is today's brand new creation:

I just loved the sketch from Fab Friday today so I had to use it:

And I'm also entering this over at Retro Rubber:

I have approximately 7 gabillion brads in different colors, and given that I jabbed myself under the fingernail with one while working on my card I remember why I was so happy to switch to Candy Dots.  But perhaps I should do this challenge lots more times to whittle down my brad stash a bit?  Anyway, in the spirit of retro-ness, Tea Party came out in 2013 and I had to have it immediately so it's 3 years old.  The brads are older than that :)

Well, the hubs is here and wants to go out to dinner, so who can say no to that.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Tea Party
Ink:  Always Artichoke
Paper:  So Saffron, Thick Whisper White, Tea & Crumpets DSP
Accessories:  Ovals & Labels Collection Framelits, Rich Regals Brads, Dimensionals

Floral Teapot

Mornin, folks!  I'm sitting here with my morning cuppa tea and as it happens, today's card is tea-riffic as well.

Somehow I managed *not* to use A Nice Cuppa, but I did use the coordinating Cups & Kettle Framelits.  And check out the sentiment, it's from the new Sale-a-Bration offering Perfect Pairings.

My color combo today is from a brand new challenge called The Colour Tree:

I like Perfect Plum, and for some reason it doesn't come up too often in color challenges so I had to play along.  The sketch for today is courtesy of The Global Design Project:

I did move the heart accent to the left because I needed more Plum there to balance out the sentiment I stamped in the bottom right.

That's it for me today.  Since we've had guests at the casa since last Wednesday, I'm behind on some projects that I need to work on, so full day ahead :)  Peace out, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Petite Petals, Perfect Pairings
Ink:  So Saffron, Perfect Plum
Paper:  So Saffron, Perfect Plum, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Cups & Kettle Framelits, Circles Framelits, Itty Bitty Punch Pack heart, Fancy Fan EF (retired), Regals Candy Dot, Dimensionals

Happy Bearthday

Ya know, sometimes the stamping gods are just smiling down upon you, and that happened this week.  It started with the Global Design Project CASE the Designer challenge:

And I thought, hey cool, but I don't have penguins.  Enter the Cupcake Inspirations challenge for this week:

I can definitely do something with bears.  And then, the icing on the cake was the What Will You Stamp? challenge to use Lovely As a Tree:

Add those three together, and you get...

A Baylor bear birthday card.  This is going to my friend Missy's husband, who is also a rah-rah Baylor bear...I added the flower so Missy would know that one is her :)

That's it for me today, peeps.  Off to start making pies for Thanksgiving.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Thankful Forest Friends, Lovely As a Tree, Ray of Sunshine, Petite Petals
Ink:  Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Garden Green, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Garden Green, Pear Pizzazz, Crushed Curry, Soft Sky, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Thankful Bear

Mornin, peeps!  How's the weather where you are?  We might need a canoe by the week's end here.  I don't mind the rain though, there's something lovely about a rainy day when you don't have to go anywhere.  Though I must say my poor hubs was drenched last night from his bike ride home from the metro station.

Anyway, on to other matters....like today's card!

 I love this bear.  Well, my college mascot is a bear, so there's that, and also he's just so stinkin' cute.  And I finally broke into the Into the Woods DSP that I've been hoarding for, like, a month.

I started out with the latest color combo from Fab Friday:

It's been a while since I played along over there and I always hate to miss their challenges, so yay for getting this one done.  I did use Early Espresso for the bear and the sentiment though just to make them more Baylor bear-y.  But the background is Soft Suede.

Speaking of challenges I haven't played along with for a while, how about the Sketch Frenzy Friday crew:

I like it.  I kinda thought I should draw a little flower in the bear's hand so I could make a visual triangle with Rich Razzleberry elements, but I didn't do it.  I was chicken to mess it up I guess :p

Anyway, this chicken is off to go work on some scrapbook pages.  Yep, I started scrapping again yesterday!  Very exciting.  Cheers, peeps!  Or should that be cheeps, peers?

At least I amuse myself...

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Thankful Forest Friends, Petite Petals
Ink:  Early Espresso, Rich Razzleberry
Paper:  Old Olive, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Into the Woods DSP
Accessories:  Oval Framelits, Petite Petals punch, Dimensional, Brights Candy Dots

Hardwood Floral Thanks

Apparently I'm on a floral kick this week.

I got dinner in the oven last night and figured I might have time to make a card while dinner was baking, so this is the card that resulted.  I started with the colors from As You See It:

Just the names of those colors make me hungry.  Actually, we went to a friend's house for dinner Sunday and there was a fruit platter that included strawberries and blackberries, both of which I sampled, and I'd brought cookies that had vanilla, so....I actually did eat things inspired by this color challenge too : )

Anyway, lots going on today with the delivery of our household goods (yay!) so that's it for me.  Peace out!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flower Shop, Petite Petals, Hardwood, Lots of Thanks
Ink:  Sahara Sand, Strawberry Slush, Blackberry Bliss
Paper:  Strawberry Slush, Blackberry Bliss, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Pansy & Petite Petal punches, Dimensionals, Rhinestones

Nachos: Hello Sunshine

Happy Tuesday, Nacho fans!  This week Nacho Average Challenges brings you a lovely sketch:

I love sketches like this because there are so MANY possibilities!  So here's what I came up with:

I accidentally smudged the green lattice I stamped on the patterned paper, but I'm going to pretend I did it on purpose.  It's a little hard to see in the photo, but there are rhinestones in each of the flower centers.

Call me crazy, but I almost like the inside of the card even better than the front of it:

I don't know, it makes me happy :)  I used a marker to ink up just the word "sunshine" on a stamp from Feel Goods, and then added the little "hello" from A Dozen Thoughts.  And I like the little flower and how the center of the flower lines up just right with the swirl on the end of "sunshine" :)

So now it's your turn!  Check out the Nacho Average Challenges blog to see the beautiful creations from the rest of the design team, and then post us a link to your own card so we can ooh and ahh over it :)

Peace out!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Petite Petals, Summer Silhouettes, Feel Goods, A Dozen Thoughts
Ink:  Strawberry Slush, Garden Green, Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Garden Green, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, All Abloom DSP Stack
Accessories:  Petite Petals punch, rhinestones, Dimensionals

Flowers for Baby Girl

So it seems like most of the pregos I know are having (or just gave birth to) boys, but as it happens I find myself in need of two baby girl cards for showers this weekend.  So here's one I came up with (you already saw the Baby Cakes card).

And the inside:

The picture isn't the greatest, but rest assured that even though it's stamped in Pistachio Pudding, the sentiment is perfectly easy to read IRL.  My photos have just been a bit lacking of late, despite the bright sunshine...oh no wait, it was bright and sunny earlier, but we're back to clouds now.  Such is England.  (Don't believe me; I'm really going to miss England.)

This card was only produced thanks to the proper application of chocolate, Disney songs, and a couple of challenges.  First up, I used today's brand-new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch:

I actually had lots of ideas for this sketch when I saw it, but I needed this baby card so it came first.  I thought the colors from Around the World would be great for a baby girl card:

This actually took me a ridiculously long time to make.  I started with the Postage Stamp punch behind the flowers, but it was just too big for the delicate little Petite Petals, so then I tried a couple more things before I ended up with my two sizes of scalloped circles.  I thought about putting some Candy Dots in the flower centers but I thought that might be one thing too many; I already wonder if this card really counts as CAS.  Oh well, it's done now!

Thanks for stopping by today.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Petite Petals, One in a Million, Cuddles & Kisses
Ink:  Blushing Bride, Pistachio Pudding, So Saffron
Paper:  Whisper White, Blushing Bride, Pistachio Pudding, So Saffron
Accessories:  Petite Petals punch, 7/8" and 1 1/4" scallop circle punches

Nachos: Happy Bouquet

It's Nacho day!  This week's Nacho Average Challenge is a sketch:

And here is my slightly liberal interpretation of the sketch, rotated 90 degrees to the left:

This all started because I had that "You make me happy" banner already stamped and cut out because it was supposed to go on another project and just didn't work, so then I thought heyyyy I can use it on this sketch!  So then I broke out three different flower stamp sets and coordinating punches and went to town.  And dude, Hardwood is making me love background stamps again.  I think I need to convert my backgrounds to unmounted--the retired background stamps are the only ones in my collection that are still wood-mounted.  Anyway.

Head on over to the Nacho blog to see what the rest of the design team has in store for you and then get yo stamp on!  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hardwood, Perfect Pennants, Petite Petals, Flower Shop, Mixed Bunch
Ink:  Sahara Sand, Rich Razzleberry, Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana
Paper:  Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White
Accessories:  Banner Framelits; Blossom, Pansy, & Petite Petals punches, Dimensionals, Rhinestones

Cantaloupe Petite Posies

Hubs and I were out of town part of last week, so I scheduled posts to go up here while I was out.  Now I'm just kinda getting back into the swing of stamping (and hopefully later today, scrapbooking as well).  Sometimes I think that there's just too MANY challenges out there and I have trouble focusing, does anyone else have that problem?

This one is courtesy of Unscripted Sketches.  I saw the circle elements on the sketch and I thought heyyy, teeny flowers!  Seriously, this card took under 10 minutes.  Not too bad for what I thought was just going to be a warm-up card.  Here's the sketch:

While we were gone, I seem to have picked up some weird kind of bug that has done some weird stuff to my voice, though other than that I feel completely fine.  I just sound like a musical saw when I try to sing along with my iPod : )

Beware the Polish laryngitis and thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Petite Petals, Sweet Essentials
Ink:  Crisp Cantaloupe, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Pistachio Pudding, Whisper White, Sweet Sorbet DSP
Accessories:  Petite Petals Punch, Whisper White taffeta, Subtles Candy Dots, Dimensional

Cuppa Tea, Anyone?

Living in England for three years has left me addicted to tea.  Like, I have boxes and boxes of the stuff on my kitchen counter, and during the winter I usually have at least two cups a day, and I can't keep track of all the people who have gotten tea pots as gifts from me.

I'm not 100% sure I like how the main image turned out--I colored it with markers and stamped it, and I thought the Soft Suede bits seemed ever so much darker than the Pear Pizzazz ones.  Well, not every card can be your favorite, right?  I do like the sketch I used though, it's courtesy of Around the World:

I even used the same shape as on the sketch, though mine was rotated 90 degrees.

Happy Thursday and thanks for stopping by today.  I think I'm going to go make myself a cuppa to start the day...

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tea Party, Petite Petals
Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, Soft Suede, Blushing Bride
Paper:  Blushing Bride, So Saffron, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Afternoon Picnic DSP
Accessories:  Oval & Labels Collection Framelits, Lacy Brocade EF, Petite Petals punch, pearls, Dimensionals

I Got Sunshine....

...on a cloudy day!

We're mixing some Holiday mini paper with some Occasions mini stamps and paper today.  And Sale-a-Bration too actually, since See Ya Later is a SAB stamp set.  The only thing I wish I'd done differently on this card is I kinda want to put some white baker's twine around the stripey layer, but it was already stuck to the card front so I'm not going to pull it up now.

Today's card is brought to you by the Pals Paper Arts sketch challenge:

I figured the stripes on my patterned paper were easier than cutting a bunch of different layers while still staying true to the spirit of the sketch.

Anyway, I just printed out a seriously long study guide for an exam I have to take next month, so I suppose I'd better start studying.  Urgh.  Thanks for stopping by and have a sunshiney day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  See Ya Later, Petite Petals
Ink:  Basic Gray, Bermuda Bay, So Saffron
Paper:  So Saffron, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Winter Frost & Kaleidoscope DSP
Accessories:  Deco Labels & Circles Framelits, Petite Petals punch, corner rounder punch, Brights Candy Dots, Dimensionals

Nachos: Good Thoughts

Get out your sunglasses and flip flops, 'cause the Nachos have got a fun summery color combo for you today!

Ya know, in case you're suffering from Christmas card overload like me.  So here's my card with more new stuff from the Occasions mini!

The only thing I'm not sure I love on here is the different color Candy Dots on the flower centers.  I kinda like that one little pop of Bermuda Bay but I think the Basic Black ones are too much.  Hmm.  Anyway, the watercolor wash background was not done by yours truly, it's from the Watercolor Wonder DSP which is truly fabulous and looks even better in person than it does in the mini catalog, and this piece is the least wow-y of them but I needed a good yellow background for my card.  You'll be seeing lots more Watercolor Wonder stuff from me, I'm sure.  The flip side of that pattern is totally specfabulous and I kinda want to marry this paper.  Ok, maybe not marry it, but maybe wallpaper my craft room with it.  Yeah.

The stamps are brand spankin' new as well, two new sets called Petite Petals (all flowers that fit in a coordinating punch) and Perfect Pennants (almost all sentiments and matching Framelits, thought I didn't use those).

So now it's your turn!  Head on over to the Nacho Average Challenges blog to see what your other favorite Nachos have done with this color combo, then give it a shot yourself!  Have fun with it!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Petite Petals, Perfect Pennants (coming to a craft room near you in January!)
Ink:  Basic Black, Melon Mambo
Paper:  Basic Black, Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Watercolor Wonder DSP
Accessories:  Petite Petals Punch (say that three times fast), Brights & Neutrals Candy Dots, Dimensionals