Leapin' Leprechaun

Mornin' y'all, how's your Monday?  The hubs and I both feel like we're coming down with something again, all I really want to do is take a nap but I think Daphne is going to insist I take her for a walk first.  But she has to wait so I can share a card today, and here it is:

I used a new-to-me technique here and I can't wait to play with it some more!  A while back I saw this post on Mary Fish's blog about using painter's tape to apply ink to cardstock and I finally got to try it.  I've already bought some narrower tape to play around with more, hopefully sometime this week : )

Let's talk challenges, starting with Retro Rubber:

Allllll of my stamps today are retro, very VERY retro.  I've had both Pinch Me and Pinch Proof since 2008, so 18 years, and All-Year Cheer since 2006, which is I think the year I started stamping other than the occasional thing for scrapbook pages.  No, wait, I think I started stamping in 2005, but that's over twenty years!  I'm old now ; )

Next up is the latest Freshly Made Sketch:

It was the irregular shape behind the leaves that made me *finally* try the painter's tape technique.  I did three tries and experimented with doing more than one piece, but since all I had at the moment was the wide tape I decided that one strip worked better.  Then I fussy-cut my leprechaun, popped him up, and added some itty-bitty clovers and the greeting.  Simples!

Last up is the Festive Friday Challenge:

I have lots of green, a leprechaun, and the aforementioned teeny-tiny clovers.  And of course this also fits with my challenge at The Paper Players:

That's it for now, I'm either going to take Daphne for a walk or else we're going to take a nap.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pinch Me, Pinch Proof, All-Year Cheer III
Ink:  Parakeet Party, Garden Green
Paper:  Parakeet Party, Whisper White
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Pinch Proof

Happy Friday, stampy friends!  As it happens, this week's Friday Flashback is the super seasonally appropriate Pinch Proof, just in time for St. Patrick's Day next week.  SU! doesn't do a whole lot of St. Paddy's Day stamps, so you'll see I used this one quite a few times in baby books.  You ready to flash back?

Also features Pinch Me, non-SU stamps

This one was for the most recent set of twin boy baby books.

Also features Pinch Me, All Holidays

I made this card for a friend whose birthday is on Halloween...it's a Halloween birthday card in costume as a St. Patrick's Day birthday card.  Does that make sense to anyone else?

Also features Happiest Birthday Wishes

This card was for a friend of mine whose birthday is actually on St. Patrick's Day, not Halloween :)

Also features Tag Time

The wee clover on the journaling block is from Tag Time, and that wee clover is pretty much the whole reason why I bought that stamp set.  Is that silly?  Don't answer that.

I like that leprechaun but I wish we'd get a stamp set with a pot of gold and stuff like that too.  Just for variety.  But I do also like that "lucky me" stamp.

Also features Sprinkles

...as you can see.

I think I had one day where I tried to come up with a whole slew of Pinch Proof cards.

And that's finally it for the flashback!  Here is today's new project:

Gasp, it's a one-layer card!  If you don't count the ribbon, anyway.  It so happens that the Fusion challenge this week was absolutely MADE for Pinch Proof, take a look:

I recycled my color combo from all those baby book layouts and used Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, and Garden Green instead of green ombre.  I thought about doing a rainbow theme but then if you start with red and go diagonally, then you'd only have two green shamrocks and that didn't seem right either :)

So that's it for this week!  Hope this post reminds you to get out a green shirt for next Thursday so you'll be Pinch Proof :)

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Pinch Proof
Ink:  Garden Green, Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  1/8" Daffodil Delight ribbon

Baby Books: March

Hey kids!  I know tomorrow is Valentine's Day (and the hubs' birthday) but crafters work ahead so today's baby book layout is all about St. Patrick's Day.

The title letters might look black on your computer screens, but they're Night of Navy.

SU! doesn't make a lot of St. Patrick's Day stamps (and I have most of the ones they've made since I started stamping) so I had to augment with some *gasp* non-SU stuff.

That design in the lower left is a claddagh; I wear a claddagh ring on my right hand every day.  I love that design, and it's Irish so it fits with the page theme :)

Today's color combination includes Cucumber Crush, Night of Navy, Green Galore, Crushed Curry, and of course Whisper White.  I'd only had Cucumber Crush for a few weeks when I made these layouts (this was for twins, I made two of everything) but I thought it would be fun for a March layout.  I do like Cucumber Crush with the long-retired Green Galore...

Happy Saturday, y'all!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Pinch Proof (large clover, leprechaun), Pinch Me (ridiculously tiny clover), non-SU stamps (claddagh, sentiment, medium clover)
Ink:  Cucumber Crush, Crushed Curry, Night of Navy
Paper:  Cucumber Crush, Green Galore, Night of Navy, Whisper White, Best Year Ever DSP
Accessories:  Sizzix alphabet

Friday Flashback: Pinch Proof

Happy Friday and welcome to the Friday Flashback!  Usually, I draw a random stamp set name out of a proverbial hat (it's actually a big rubber container 'cause I don't have any hats large enough to accommodate slips of paper with the names of every stamp set I own on them) but today it's rigged:  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to share some St. Paddy's Day cards.  So let's celebrate Pinch Proof!

I have a friend whose birthday is on Halloween, so there's been a couple of times where his Halloween birthday card has gone in costume as something else, like a St. Patrick's Day birthday card, or a 4th of July birthday card.  :)  This one also used the coordinating Pinch Me wheel, which I have since cut apart into 9 stamps.

I made those three cards for my SU customers one year, I was just having fun playing with Pinch Proof and trying out some different layouts.  So that's it for the archives, let's see a new Pinch Proof card, shall we?

Ok, double motive for picking this stamp set today:  my friend Karen really *is* a St. Paddy's Day baby, so I needed a card for her.  I've been in a bit of a mini-funk the past couple days where none of my creations were really making me happy, but this time I went in my stamp room with a very clear idea of what I wanted to do and I am pretty pleased with the result.  Yay, funk over!  (I hope, anyway.)

The color combo is from ColourQ:

It was fun to play with Glorious Green again, it's been a long time since I pulled that out of the ol' cardstock file.  I actually like that color, though I admit I didn't use it a whole lot even before SU! retired it.  And the chevron background on my card makes me happy; I think that's the first time I've used the chevron EF.

Most of the time I don't decorate the inside of my cards much, but since I was lining this one with Whisper White I thought I'd throw a few shamrocks on there.

Thanks for joining me on today's Friday Flashback, have a wonderful weekend and Erin go bragh!

Supplies (last card only):
Stamps:  Pinch Proof, Happiest Birthday Wishes (both retired)
Ink:  Glorious Green (retired), Basic Black, Basic Gray, Lucky Limeade
Paper:  Glorious Green, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Whisper White, In Color DSP Stack
Accessories:  2 1/2" circle punch, Chevron EF, Dimensionals