Trianon

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  We spent the weekend painting the living room and powder room in our house; we still have to paint the front entryway, around the stairs, and all the areas upstairs in the loft and hallway but that has to wait until we get a taller ladder, and we haven't done the accent wall yet, just the lighter blue.  This house is starting to reflect more of our personality and less of the awful greige that was everywhere : )  Still have quite a ways to go before everything gets painted but we're working on it.

Anyway, it's time for scrapbook pages and as I was just watching a video on the royal family of France, I chose this layout from when we visited Trianon, a smaller estate on the grounds of Versailles:

Yes we got rained on.  Trianon was a favorite of Marie Antoinette and is a beautiful little estate.

Today's color palette:  Petal Pink, Cajun Craze, Garden Green, and white.  I'm always surprised when I use Petal Pink on scrapbook pages since it is not one of my favorite colors, but sometimes it just seems to work with photos.

Have a great day, peeps!  The weather cooled off a lot from the weekend so I'm going to go make a cuppa.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Spencerian Alphabet, Pretty Peony
Ink:  Petal Pink, Garden Green, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Petal Pink, Cajun Craze, Garden Green, Thick Basic White, Peony Garden DSP
Accessories:  None

China: Marathon, Hard Rock, & Tiananment Square

Mornin', y'all!  I've got some muffins in the oven right now and some China layouts to share!  As it happens, all four of today's layouts have been shared here before, but we're truckin' right through my China albums and it won't be long before we're at the end.  I hope you've enjoyed China Sundays as much as I have!

First up is the Great Wall Marathon...

See my original post on these pages here.  "Marfon" and "Chompuns" are how our idiot tour guide said "marathon" and "champions".  (For the record, I don't say he's an idiot because of how he pronounced these words, he did a lot better in English than I would in Chinese.  I say he was an idiot because he never had a clue what was going on or where we were supposed to be going, and he was the tour guide.  Duh!)

Next up, when you're like 11 days into a two-week trip to China and you really want American food...

You find the Hard Rock Cafe in Beijing.  We actually went twice.  See my original post on these pages here; this was one of the very first layouts I did for my China books.

And finally, a visit to Tiananmen Square:

Original post here.   I never used Bravo Burgundy much even when it was a current color, but every once in a while it's just perfect on a scrapbook layout.

So there's my four China layouts for today.  Looking forward to getting back in the normal posting routine this week, so I'll be seeing ya, peeps!

Supply lists for each layout are on the links above.  Cheers!

Tiananmen Square

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Well, I got my wish for fall weather...it's much cooler today than it was last week, and it rained most of the night.  But I was happy to dress Ryan and me in long sleeves this morning!  We're going to Home Depot and the grocery store this morning.

But before that, scrapbook pages!

More China pages (I'm over halfway done with my China pages!), and the photos are here. We had a terrible tour guide in Beijing, and he told us NOTHING about Tiananmen Square.  Even leaving out the student demonstrations and subsequent massacre in 1989, he didn't tell us any of the history of the square...someone did ask him about the massacre but he refused to respond.  Can't blame him for that one though because the square is obviously under heavy surveillance and all mention of that incident is still heavily censored by the Chinese government.

My Bravo Burgundy ink pad has succumbed to The Dreaded Gold Sheen, so I really wondered how I would be able to stamp the peonies for this layout (so I looked it up, and peonies are actually a traditional floral symbol of China, so they're appropriate for here), but I was blog surfing and someone had posted stuff about using baby wipes as an ink pad and I was like DUH, I HAVE A BABY WHICH MEANS I HAVE BABY WIPES!!!  Luckily I also have a Bravo Burgundy ink refill.  Next time I do an SU! order I might get some of the uninked spots so I can make my own little Bravo Burgundy ink pad, and toss the infected pad.  I don't use this color a whole lot, but enough that I do still want an ink pad that works.

Second Tiananmen Square layout!  I'm experimenting with a bit of "white" space here--that's why I left the blank bit on the right page.  Trying to remind myself that I don't have to fill every available square inch with stuff.

Today's rather autumnal color palette:  Bravo Burgundy, Marigold Morning, Sahara Sand, Bordering Blue, Early Espresso, and Very Vanilla.  And on that note, I think it's time to get Ryan out the door to run errands before it starts raining again.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Rough Type, Pretty Peony
Ink:  Bravo Burgundy, Marigold Morning, Sahara Sand, Mellow Moss, Early Espresso
Paper:  Bravo Burgundy, Bordering Blue, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Four Seasons DSP
Accessories: lettering template

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: Sweet Serendipity

Happy Friday, stampers!  It is time once more for a Friday Flashback, and today's stamp set is Sweet Serendipity, a set of six cool sentiment stamps plus a few little images.  Let's go!

Also features Bronc Buster and Flannel Plaid

 I'd say riding a bucking bronco would be an adventure, wouldn't you?

The Sweet Serendipity stamp I used on this layout says "Live each day with laughter/enthusiasm" which seemed perfect with the picture of my friend Sarah on a carousel in Florence.

Also features Pretty Amazing and Pretty Petals

You saw this one earlier this year in the Pretty Amazing Friday Flashback.

Also features Happiness Always

And this one was in last week's Happiness Always Friday Flashback.

Also features Fabulous Flowers, Sanded, Paisley

 Oh hey, Fabulous Flowers had a Friday Flashback already too.  This is still one of my favorite cards.

Also features Snow Burst and Paisley

The sentiment says sparkle, and this card delivered!  The whole top panel is covered in Iridescent Ice EP, which is hard to photograph but looks awesome and sparkly in real life.

Also features Pretty Peony and Sanded

This was the first card on the Pretty Peony Friday Flashback, and it's another of my old favorites.  I love that Sanded background stamp.   That's it for the flashback part of today's post (and the flashback to prior flashbacks, if you followed all the links), it's time to see what's new!

I had Sheltering Tree out on my table for a different project so I thought I'd use it for today's post too.  I used the Fall-To Layout #22 from Clean & Simple Stamping:

And the softer color combination from Colour Me...!

But since I was on a roll in my craft room, and there was a whole 'nother color challenge on there, I had to try the bold combination as well:

I added a bit of Sahara Sand to both color combinations, I couldn't help it :)  For this one, I also used the sketch from the Paper Players:

Hope you enjoyed today's extra-long Friday Flashback.  Have a great weekend, peeps, we're painting again!

Supplies, Sheltering Tree card:
Stamps:  Sweet Serendipity, Sheltering Tree
Ink:  Tip Top Taupe, Blushing Bride, Wisteria Wonder, Sahara Sand
Paper:  Tip Top Taupe, Blushing Bride, Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, Wisteria Wonder DSP
Accessories:  Oval & Scalloped Oval punches, Dimensionals

Supplies, Secret Garden card:
Stamps:  Sweet Serendipity, Secret Garden
Ink:  Night of Navy, Whisper White
Paper:  Calypso Coral, Night of Navy, Sahara Sand, Whisper White
Accessories:  Secret Garden Framelits, Spring Flowers EF, ticket corner punch, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Heard from the Heart

It's Friday again and that means it's time for another Friday Flashback!  Today's randomly chosen retired stamp set is Heard from the Heart, a lovely set of 4 sentiment stamps; I love the mixed fonts.  So let's do the time warp again!

The butterfly on this one is from God's Beauty, which was a hostess set and though I like it, this was its solo voyage.  

The cupcakes are from Crazy for Cupcakes, and the background flourishes and flowers are from Priceless.

Here's Morning Cup and a slightly weird layout...it was a sketch challenge.  I think my card looks a little unbalanced...like the main image and the stripey bit should be larger to balance out the polka dots.  Oh well.

The main image on this one is from Serene Spring, another one hit wonder hostess set.  I made this one for a swap.

Pretty Peonies in orange...

And a monochromatic Upsy Daisy card.  You know what I just noticed?  There are four stamps in the set but I've only ever used two of them!  I didn't go back and look at my previous cards before I did the new card for this week, so that "wishes" stamp is making yet another appearance:

The flowers on this one are from Array of Sunshine, by coincidence yet another hostess set.  This little birthday card will be going out in the mail to a sweet friend today :)  I used the latest Unscripted Sketches challenge for my card:

When I copied down the sketch to take with me into my craft room, somehow I didn't draw it square so my card is the standard A2 size.  I used a striped pattern instead of cutting out lots of strips for the background panel, I think that still keeps to the spirit of the sketch.

That's it for me today, folks!  Have a great weekend!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Heard from the Heart, Array of Sunshine
Ink:  Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie,  Garden Green
Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Rainbow Sherbet DSP
Accessories:  Labels Collection Framelits, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Pretty Peony

Wow, it's time for a Friday Flashback again already!  Today's randomly-chosen stamp set is a good one, and one I've used a lot so this is a long post :)  Let's take a flashback to Pretty Peony!  Oh wow, no posts in that gallery since 2011?  We're about to change that.

So this is from before I learned how to tie knots where they don't stick out all akimbo like that, but I still like this card.  I also used Sanded and Sweet Serendipity (both retired).

Here's another super-simple layout with one of my favorite colors:  Elegant Eggplant.  The other color is Close to Cocoa, which I still miss.  I remember being kinda surprised how well those two colors worked together when I did this card. The sentiment is from longtime favorite Sincere Salutations (retired).

I made a set of these for a friend of mine as a farewell gift (her first initial is S).  Kind of in love with this stamp set. I also used French Script (retired) for the background and the initial is from Lovely Letters.

Here's the Mother's Day card I made a couple years ago, again with Lovely Letters.  I love these peonies in all kinds of colors!

Made this for my SIL's November birthday a couple years ago, so I went with fall colors on this one.  The sentiment is from Heard from the Heart.

Hey look, I've also used Pretty Peony on a scrapbook layout!  It's a bit of a pain to cut out the flowers and leaves, but I've done it a couple times.  So those were all the Flashback pics, here's a new one!

The color combo was a challenge on Still Addinktive recently but I didn't get a chance to play at the time, so I was excited to use these colors today--Pretty in Pink, Old Olive, and Rich Razzleberry.  I was flipping through my binder looking for a sentiment to put on this and came across Elegant Cheer and thought perfect!  The card came together pretty fast thanks to the Nacho sketch challenge:

Hope you enjoyed today's Friday Flashback!  I had fun revisiting this particular retired stamp set today.

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Pretty Peony, Elegant Cheer (both retired)
Ink:  Pretty in Pink, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive
Paper:  Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Haiku DSP & Pretty in Pink DSP (both retired)
Accessories:  Dimensionals