Botanical Bounty, Part 1

Mornin' y'all!  Daphne has already started pestering me to go for a walk (we usually go around 10 and it's just now 9), but I just made my second cuppa so she's going to have to wait.  Can't let the tea get cold.

So, after feeling rather blocked for a while last week, this week I am on fi-yurrrr again and I made a bunch of cards yesterday, and bonus, today is Ryan's STEM club so I get an extra hour and a half of crafty time.  Woo!  Anyway, yesterday I took the CAS on Friday prompt of BOTANICAL and I RAN with it.  First I looked up "botanical" online to make sure I was thinking the right thing, and it's anything related to "plants and plant-based products used for medicine, scent, or flavor."  So here's what I made:

The first image to pop in my head was the vanilla orchid in Lovely & Sweet, and I got out the coordinating Nature's Sweetness Specialty DSP (I always think Nature's Sweetness is the name of the stamp set rather than the DSP so it takes me longer to find the stamps).  Turns out I had some scraps already cut from the DSP, so I chose the two larger scraps and made two cards.

I was going to color in the image a bit, but after putting it next to the paper I decided I liked it just the way it is with no color on it.  But I wasn't done yet.

I used the large leafy die from Nature's Symphony to make a mask from scratch paper and then used a blending brush to put it on a Crumb Cake card base I found in my file cabinet.  I added some of the weathering stamp on top and I thought it was looking like a sympathy card since I tend to like more muted color palettes for those, and I gravitate towards blues and greens.  I hate making sympathy cards when I actually need one, so I decided to go with the impulse on this one so I have one on hand next time I need it, using a greeting from the retired hostess set Simply Sketched.

Still not done with my botanical cards, but that will have to continue in another post, probably later today.  Plus I still have some other botanical stamp sets on my table that I haven't used yet and I keep getting more ideas as I go, so I'm going to ride the creative wave where it takes me...after Daphne and I go out for our walk in the lovely sunshine.  Cheers!

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Lovely & Sweet
Ink:  Versamark, Pebbled Path
Paper:  Pebbled Path, Thick Basic White, Nature's Sweetness DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, clear EP, Dimensionals

Supplies, second card:
Stamps:  Lovely & Sweet
Ink:  Versamark, Pebbled Path
Paper:  Pecan Pie, Thick Basic White, Nature's Sweetness DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, clear EP, Dimensionals

Supplies, third card:
Stamps:  Nature's Symphony, Simply Sketched
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Mossy Meadow, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Layering Ovals dies, Dimensionals

Sympathy Doves

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan was over here trying to convince me that he was late for school this morning, as if I didn't check the school calendar three times to make sure his first day back is TOMORROW.  I'm going to let him enjoy his last day of break and maybe I can get him to watch Hook with me this afternoon.  We discovered over the weekend that Ryan has no idea what that is so of course we need to fix that oversight.

Anyway.  When it comes to making cards, there are a few things that I just don't like to make:  white on white (ugh!), all neutrals (again, give me color!!!), "fun" folds (stressful and frequently use up a lot of paper), slimline cards (again, you can't get two cards out of a sheet of cardstock so it feels wasteful to me and also I don't have envelopes for that).  But my least favorite?  Sympathy cards.  I much prefer to make them when I *don't* need them, but the hubs asked for one and I didn't have anything he thought would be appropriate in my stash, so I had to make one.  Here's my card:

I frequently gravitate towards blues and greens for sympathy cards (on the rare occasion that I make them) because I find those colors soothing and tranquil, which I think is good for a sympathy card.  Usually I try to make them pretty CAS but for some reason I was feeling the layers this time, so I finally cut into several patterns from the beautiful Peaceful Garden DSP, added a whole lot of skinny Secret Sea mats and a simple stamped and die cut greeting.  I put it all on a Soft Succulent card base before I wondered why I didn't use Cloud Cover, but that watercolor wash pattern does lean a bit green rather than blue so I think it works.

So this card is going to a former coworker of my husband's who recently lost his wife to complications from breast cancer.  Ladies, get your annual mammograms!  One of my favorite people in the world fought stage 4 breast cancer tooth and nail for four years and I miss her every day.  Another friend successfully completed treatment for breast cancer after her mother passed away from it.  My mom had it a few years ago, not the hereditary kind but I still get my checks every year.  It's everywhere and early detection is key.

Okay, enough of that.  I promise to have a more cheery card tomorrow because it's the first challenge of the new year for SUO Challenges, so stay tuned for that!  For right now, I'm going to get myself a second cuppa because I can, and leave a few comments on some blogs before I take Daphne for her daily tour of the neighborhood.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Sketched
Ink:  Secret Sea
Paper:  Soft Succulent, Cloud Cover, Secret Sea, Peaceful Garden dsp
Accessories:  Layering Ovals Framelits, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Mosaic Madness

Happy Friday, y'all.  And guess what...my due date is TOMORROW.  Which is frightening.  I know that the vast majority of babies are not born ON their due dates, but I'm still kinda hoping.  So I'm getting a pedicure today, and hopefully going out for one last date night with the hubs tonight.  And wondering if I should do crock pot chicken taco soup for dinner tomorrow...I mean, what if I DO go into labor?!

Anyway.  I don't feel like doing a whole lot now because it's like I'm the human embodiment of the quote "That's no moon...it's a space station!" but I have been doing some stamping and scrapping (because it involves sitting but still being productive).  So for today's Friday Flashback, let's check out the archives for Mosaic Madness!

Also features Empire Alphabet, Magical & Mystical

First up is this layout from Greece!  Actually I did two, and used Mosaic Madness on both, but this post is already going to be pretty long.  I do love this layout.

Also features Curly Cute

Here is a tribute to the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig.  That multicolored panel?  All hand-stamped.  Yes, it took forever, but I really liked how it turned out.

Also features Teeny Tiny Wishes

Something quick for Father's Day, though I think the circle element needed a mat too.

Here's another scrapbook layout, this time from Hearst Castle in California.  Know what I just realized?  I got that picture in the top left enlarged to 5x7, but somehow the photo I had in my archives is with the 4x6 placeholder.  Oops.  So in the real finished layout, that's a 5x7 photo and doesn't have a big distracting white border!  : D

Also features Happy Day

And another Stamp-a-Ma-Jiggy card.  I love stamp sets that have matching punches.

Also features Perfect Peacock, Too Kind

Okay, this one is a little different:  the Mosaic Madness stamp I used on this one is the border underneath the sentiment, instead of one of the mosaic shapes.

Also features Simply Sketched

*suddenly noticing how often I use yellows with this stamp set*

Also features My Paper Pumpkin stamps

Oh hey look, not yellow.

Same sentiment as the card above :)

But there it is again.

Also features Best of Greetings

So there's the Flashback part, which wasn't everything I've got in my archives but I don't want to bore anyone.  Ready for the new project?  Spoiler alert:  I love these scrapbook pages.

I mentioned earlier this week that I had done the rest of my Spain layouts, so here's the first one!  (And this is why I redid the Shenanigans layout in a different color combination.)

I think I need to refresh the ink in my Midnight Muse ink pad, it's not *quite* dark enough on the patterned paper here.  Anyway, I love stamps like Mosaic Madness for our travel layouts; sometimes you just need a little accent stamp that isn't really themed, so I like these that can be any color and go along with everything.

Segovia layout #2, and on this one I used different mosaic stamps for the accents but they still coordinate with the first layout.  And I just love how the Coastal Cabana looks with the pictures.  I used the Best Year Ever DSP on all the Spain layouts, it's one of my very favorite DSP packs.

There's a closeup of some of the mosaic elements from this layout.  Super quick and simple to do, and they look good too :)

So here's my Spain palette again:  Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry, Midnight Muse, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, and Whisper White.  Dog hair not included.

I'm going to go get cleaned up and ready to go for my pedicure.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, last two layouts only:
Stamps:  Mosaic Madness, Morning Post Alphabet
Ink:  Midnight Muse, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral, Midnight Muse, Whisper White, Best Year Ever DSP
Accessories:  Mosaic Punch

Friday Flashback: Pretty Amazing

Happy Friday, folks!  It's time for the Friday Flashback, and today's randomly-chosen retired stamp set is Pretty Amazing.  Y'all know I have a thing for hummingbird stamp sets :)  Let's rock and roll!

Also features Amazing to Zany

There's one ruby-throated hummingbird for you.

Also features Pretty Petals

The background stamp Pretty Petals coordinates fabulously with Pretty Amazing, so I use those two together a lot.

Also features Pretty Petals and Sweet Serendipity

That tiny hummingbird is a bit of a pain to cut out, I will admit.

Also features All Holidays

But it looks so good when it's fussy cut!  So there's the flashback part of the Friday Flashback, so now it's time for today's new creation:

And I fussy-cut the hummingbird again :p  And used Pretty Petals with it.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it, amirite?  I used the color challenge from Colour Q:

Quite the lovely inspiration picture there.  I also used the sketch from As You See It, but I'm too late to enter this over there:

So that's it for this week on Snapdragon Stamps.  Hope you have a great weekend!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Pretty Amazing, Pretty Petals, Simply Sketched
Ink:  Wisteria Wonder, Night of Navy, Marina Mist, Melon Mambo
Paper:  Wisteria Wonder, Night of Navy, Marina Mist, Whisper White
Accessories:  Banners & Circles Framelits, rhinestone, Delicate Dots EF, Dimensionals

Heartfelt Sympathy

A dear friend of mine lost one of her dogs a few days ago, so I found myself in need of a sympathy card.  I think I first saw the idea for this punch art paw print on Mary Fish's blog, but it was quite some time ago so I'm not going to search for the exact post.

I think that sympathy cards should be pretty straightforward and simple, in muted, soothing colors:  this isn't the time to try out the latest complicated technique or use bright colors and lots of embellishments.  So I kept it very simple.  The color challenge at Fab Friday was perfect:

I sponged around the oval and hearts of the paw print with Baked Brown Sugar ink, and then lightly sponged Pistachio Pudding on the Very Vanilla panel to tone it down a bit and give it a softer look.  This one is going out in the mail to my friend today.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps: Simply Sketched
Ink:  Baked Brown Sugar, Pistachio Pudding
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Baked Brown Sugar, Pistachio Pudding, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  3 punches--Full Heart, Small Oval, & Corner Rounder

Nachos: With Sympathy

It's time for another fabulous Nacho challenge, and this week it's a lovely sketch:

Lots of possibilities for this sketch, but for today I opted to go with a simple sympathy card.

I don't need any sympathy cards right now but it's always good to have a few in your card cache I think.  Instead of the bow on the sketch, I used three Old Olive Candy Dots to separate the bird image and the sentiment.  Then all I needed was a bit of sponging and I was done.

So now let's see what you can do with the sketch.  Join in the fun at the Nacho Average Challenges blog!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Sketched, En Francais
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Old Olive
Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Brights Candy Dots

Too Kind Birthday Wishes

DUDE.  I've discovered my new favorite color combination:  Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, and Gumball Green.

However, I cannot claim that this combo was my idea; I found it on a new challenge site, As You See It.  This is their first color challenge, but I looked back through their first few (sketch) challenges and I liked them too so I'll have to add this one to my list of challenges to chase.  Here's their very cute challenge graphic:

I like the bird pic.  I got the sketch from Unscripted:

Though instead of the two circles on the left, I put some Candy Dots on the edges of my main image panel.  Not sure how successful that idea was, but I was trying for something different.

I already know who will receive this birthday card, and I know she won't see it beforehand because she's practically unplugged (and thus probably smarter than I am, since I lose hours on the Internet all the time).  Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Too Kind, Simply Sketched
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Gumball Green, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Sweater Weather DSP, retired Gumball Green DSP
Accessories:  Circles Collection Framelits, Brights Candy Dots, Dimensionals

CreativeCrew: Sketched Christmas

Ready for another CreativeCrew Christmas in July card?  This challenge was to use colors in the Birthday Basics DSP, and I still managed to make it a Christmas card.  Lookie:

I got the layout from an old SCS sketch.  Since I didn't have Birthday Basics yet, I used some retired DSP for the layers on my card, though I suppose since I took advantage of this month's DSP special I could go back and redo it with actual Birthday Basics papers :)

Don't forget to visit the CreativeCrew gallery for more holiday inspiration.  Have a fantastic day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Sketched, More Merry Messages
Ink:  Basic Gray, Raspberry Ripple, Crisp Cantaloupe, Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green
Paper:  Summer Starfruit, Raspberry Ripple, Very Vanilla, retired Raspberry Ripple DSP & Patio Party DSP
Accessories:  Gumball Green stitched satin ribbon, Dimensionals

CreativeCrew: Inky Blocks

I'm back with another color blocked CreativeCrew project :)  This one is the last one I did for the June challenges.

I saw "color block" and I thought blocks of cardstock, which I did on another project, but there was a link to this technique of inking up bare acrylic blocks and using them as stamps.  Hey, I'd never done that before so I had to give that a shot too :)

I used four of the five new In Colors on this one, Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana, and Baked Brown Sugar.  The card front is actually Shimmery White cardstock but of course it's nearly impossible to get the shimmer to photograph properly :)

Been having fun with this little Simply Sketched stamp set, it's wonderful!

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out the CreativeCrew gallery for more beautiful creations!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Sketched
Ink:  Pistachio Pudding, Baked Brown Sugar, Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana
Paper:  Pistachio Pudding, Shimmery White
Accessories:  none, unless you count the acrylic blocks I used to stamp with :)

Mosaic Birthday

Howdy, folks!  I'm finally getting back in my craft room after the craziness of the last couple weeks, which is a good thing since I have less than three weeks to finish those two baby books and I've got a bunch of other projects I need to work on too.  No rest for the wicked!

Once again, playing with the super-cool Mosaic Madness stamp set and thanks to Connie and Mary I used a different color combination!  And can I say I just *love* the font and sentiments in Simply Sketched?  It's available now since the new catty went live on Friday!

Here's the CCMC color challenge, innit purdy:

And the sketch is from CAS(E) This Sketch:

I took a bit of liberty with the sketch but I think you can tell for sure that my card is based on this sketch.  And I finally used the Modern Mosaic embossing folder too :)  This card came together in a snap, I'm gonna have to use this same idea in the future...super-easy Christmas cards, perhaps?

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Mosaic Madness, Simply Sketched
Ink:  Island Indigo, Pool Party
Paper:  Island Indigo, Pool Party, So Saffron, Whisper White
Accessories:  Mosaic punch, Modern Mosaic EF, Dimensionals

Cantaloupe Poppies

So here's the second sneak peek in as many days.  I was planning to do something else today but my Feel Goods stamp set seems to have gone AWOL, not sure what happened with that.  But let's look at some new SU goodies!

The card base is Crisp Cantaloupe, one of the hot-off-the-presses new In Colors.  The flower image is stamped with Basic Gray stamped off once, then watercolored with Cantaloupe and Pear Pizzazz.  I was really pleased with how it turned out, it looks nice and soft and the sentiment still stands out.  It was a nice surprise :)

The color combo is thanks to Inkspirational:

Ok, so it's kind of a liberal interpretation.  When I first saw this swatch card, I was thinking Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, and the retired (but still missed) Peach Parfait, but I ended up with Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizzazz, and Crisp Cantaloupe.  I thought the colors I went with were really interesting together.

The sketch is from CAS(E) this Sketch:

Again, kind of a liberal interpretation of the sketch but this time it was accidental.  I copied the sketch down on a piece of scratch paper and kind of got the placement a bit off with the image panel more to the right, *and* somehow I got the rounded corner on the wrong side.  Well, I tried, anyway!

Hope you have a fantastic day, and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Sketched (new hostess set!)
Ink:  Basic Gray, Crisp Cantaloupe, Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizzazz
Paper:  Crisp Cantaloupe, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Twitterpated DSP
Accessories:  corner rounder punch, Dimensionals