Kind Succulents

Mornin' y'all!  I made this card last week but I'm sliding in just under the wire to enter it at Festive Friday, take a look:

And here's the inspo list for the challenge:

The first item, kindness sentiment, made me think of Simply Succulents right away.  I used that plus alcohol markers and two shades of blue (Night of Navy and Misty Moonlight) for my card.  I thought it would be fun to incorporate the large die for the background, so I cut it out of the Night of Navy card front, backed it with some Country Gingham DSP, and then put another piece of Night of Navy cardstock on the back of it so the inside of the card is solid navy (well, I added a piece of Basic White so I can write in the card, but you know what I mean).  Then I just put on some music and went to town coloring in the succulents, which takes a while but it's kind of relaxing.

That's it for me today, cheers peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Succulents
Ink:  Night of Navy, Stampin' Blends in Mint Macaron, Misty Moonlight, Highland Heather, Flirty Flamingo
Paper:  Night of Navy, Thick Basic White, Country Gingham DSP Stack
Accessories:  Potted Succulents dies, Polished Dots, Dimensionals

Sketchy Ducks

Mornin' y'all and happy Friday!  I'm finally starting to feel like I'm kicking the Covid crud...I was still super tired yesterday but I decided to ignore it and get stuff done anyway.  That sort of worked?  I did six and a half loads of laundry and put the clothes up, plus I managed not to take a nap, and I'm feeling better today.  So yeah, we'll call that a success.  I even spent some time in my craft room.

How about some manly ducks?  The duck image is from the Sale-a-Bration set Stylish Sketches and I really thought I'd use the fox first, but the ducks worked better for my two challenges today.  First up is this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And next is the Color Throwdown, you know how I like to combine those two challenges:

I used Mossy Meadow, Early Espresso, Memento Tuxedo Black, and white, plus some Soft Suede because apparently there weren't enough neutrals for me : p  I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then gave it a very quick watercolor with the other shades of ink, keeping it loose and quick to go with the style of the artwork.  This card came together very quickly and now I have a manly card, should I need it.  Always a good thing!

Got some work to do, so I'm off.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Stylish Sketches, Simply Succulents
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Mossy Meadow, Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Cajun Craze
Paper:  Mossy Meadow, Basic Black, Soft Suede, Thick Basic White, He's the Man DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Potted Succulents dies, Dimensionals, Rustic Metallic adhesive dots

Green Thumb for the Paper Players

Sunday once again, and that means it's time for a new Paper Players challenge!  I'm so glad they invited me to be a guest designer for them this year, I've been having such a fun time : )  Here's the new theme challenge:

I have to say, my house is where plants come to die...I very much do NOT have a green thumb, mine are both black!  (And sometimes all my fingers are multicolored, ha!)  Paper flowers are the only ones I can grow.  We do have five orchid plants in our kitchen window, but my hubs is solely responsible for keeping those alive, I can claim no credit for that!  Happily, I can have all the paper flowers I want in my craft room.

If you're wondering if I used last week's sketch *again*, you are correct!  I made this when I was on my sketch spree for last week's challenge and decided when I got to TEN cards that I should probably split them up between the challenges : )  So I used last week's sketch and the beautiful and rainbow-y Hues of Happiness DSP to make several more cards!

I'm a bit of a hoarder when it comes to pretty papers, so I kinda had to force myself to cut into this paper, but I'm so glad I did.  I had fun playing with the different colors and fussy cutting the flowers (I don't have the coordinating stamp and die bundle). 

This is a bit more liberal take on the sketch, I thought the center stripe on the DSP could stand in for the horizontal layer on the sketch.  And this paper is so pretty that I didn't want to cover it up if I could help it.  It was fun picking and choosing which flowers to fussy cut for my cards, so many choices!

Hope you'll have a good time with this theme too!  Don't forget to upload your green thumb creations at the Paper Players blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Succulents, Bamboo Beauty
Ink:  Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Gorgeous Grape, Mossy Meadow, Thick Basic White, Hues of Happiness DSP
Accessories:  Potted Succulents dies, Dimensionals

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Cindy Beach

Christy Stanford <-- You are here : )

Jennie Maier

Triptych Sketch for the Paper Players

Happy Sunday, stampy friends!  It is time once again for a new challenge at the Paper Players!  Check out this week's sketch:

This sketch is a classic!  I decided to play with some patterned paper for my card, here's what I made:

Stitched Rectangles dies to the rescue!  I love the patterns in the Symbols of Fortune DSP, but I didn't get the coordinating Crane of Fortune bundle.  The three smaller rectangles were cut from the Symbols of Fortune DSP and then I decided they needed a darker backdrop, so I used the In Color DSP stack for the Evening Evergreen pattern.  The sentiment is once again heat embossed in white on dark cardstock, and then I used the Potted Succulents dies to cut it out (slightly crooked, but...it's a handmade card, so slightly crooked is to be expected).  A few gems under the sentiment and done!

Hope you enjoy the sketch as much as I did, don't forget to upload your card at the Paper Players blog!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Succulents
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Evening Evergreen, Symbols of Fortune DSP, Evening Evergreen DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Potted Succulents dies, White EP, Dimensionals, Polished Dots

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Cindy Beach

Christy Stanford

Jennie Maier

Anniversary Extraordinaire

Mornin' y'all!  My work schedule is a bit wonky this week so the hubs is taking Ryan to daycare in the morning, and that means I had time yesterday to make an anniversary card for him!  (The hubs, not the kid.)  So here's what I made for our 18th anniversary yesterday:

Have you ever heard of a golden birthday?  Where the date matches how old you are, so like when you turn 15 years old on the 15th of the month?  Well, that would make this year our golden anniversary--18 years on October 18th.  So my brain wanted to use gold on the card, and I really liked the Sunday Stamps sketch:

I thought of fall leaves for the circle elements, but I decided on green because our marriage is still growing and thriving :)  Plus we met when we were in college at Baylor University, and their colors are green and gold, so there you go.  I used Evening Evergreen and Soft Succulent for my greens.

Have a great day, friends!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Succulents
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Soft Succulent, Evening Evergreen, In Color DSP, Gold Foil
Accessories:  Gold EP, Potted Succulents dies, Stitched Rectangles dies, Intricate Leaves dies, Dimensionals

SUO Challenges: People

 Happy Tuesday, y'all, and welcome to a brand new challenge from SUO Challenges!

Our theme this time is people.  As it happens, I don't have any current stamp sets with people...I do have Beauty of Tomorrow, which has the word "people" in one of the sentiments, but no people images.  So I jumped way far back in the time machine for a stamp set that came out in 2004!

I kinda sorta permanently "borrowed" Summer by the Sea (and two other sets) from my mother, but she's never once noticed or mentioned it so I think they're mine now ; )  Still, this is the first time I've used this particular set and I had SO MUCH FUN doing it!  I love taking old stamp sets and using them with new stuff, like Stampin' Blends!  I kept the coloring on this one quick and loose to go with the sketchy style of the artwork and I love how it turned out.

Now it's your turn!  Make something to go with our keyword "People" and share it on the SUO Challenges blog.  Don't forget that retired Stampin' Up! sets are fair game : )  Most important, have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Summer by the Sea, Simply Succulents
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Pale Papaya, Cinnamon Cider, Calypso Coral, Petal Pink, Old Olive & Balmy Blue
Paper:  Cinnamon Cider, Pale Papaya, Thick Basic White, Hand-Penned DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Potted Succulents dies, Dimensionals, retired Glitter Enamel Dots

Succulent Pair

It is definitely Friday the 13th, a little bit ago I was putting laundry in the washer and managed to whack my head but good on the window when I stood up.  Got a bit of a headache going but hey, I'm off work today so hopefully I'll get some good progress made in my craft room after I write this post :)

Today I have two cards to share.

I liked the color combination on this week's Color Throwdown, and I decided to pair it with Simply Succulents.  Then I was playing with the pieces I had stamped and/or die cut and ended up making two cards with them.

I did learn from my past mistake though and I ran that background die through the machine like five times to make sure every little bit of it cut the way it's supposed to ;)  Sorry the pic is a little blown out, I just couldn't get a good one today.

Here is the Color Throwdown:

I used Blushing Bride, Mint Macaron, and Smoky Slate for my colors.  Cute inspiration pic, too!

Wishing you nothing but good luck today, peeps.

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Simply Succulents, Stacked Stone
Ink:  Mint Macaron, Blushing Bride, Craft Whisper White
Paper:  Smoky Slate, Mint Macaron, Blushing Bride, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Potted Succulents dies, Dimensionals

Supplies, second card:
Stamps:  Simply Succulents
Ink:  Smoky Slate, Blushing Bride, Craft Whisper White
Paper:  Smoky Slate, Mint Macaron, Blushing Bride, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Potted Succulents dies, rhinestone, Wink of Stella

SUO Challenges: To Hydrangea, or Not to Hydrangea

Hello stampy friends!  How are you today?  My day got an extra-early start when Ryan woke me up at 4 in the morning :p But I've got my tea and my protein shake on the desk in front of me, and I have today off of work so that means craft room time!  Which is perfect, because it's time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!

Today, we have a color challenge which we pulled straight from the Hydrangea Hill suite in the Occasions catalog:

Rococo Rose and Seaside Spray are officially retired, but as of right now you can still order the Hydrangea Hill DSP and all that good stuff.  I do *own* the Hydrangea Haven stamp set and that DSP, but I'm hard-headed so I decided to do something different with these colors...and ink up a brand new stamp set.

I had zero plans to buy Simply Succulents and its matching Potted Succulents dies and then all of a sudden I HAD TO HAVE THEM.  Does that happen to anyone else???  I stamped the pot with Misty Moonlight, the plants with Gorgeous Grape, and the sentiment with Mossy Meadow, and then I went to town with Stampin' Blends to color the images.  I won't lie, it took a while.  Also, this background die is fabulous but definitely run it through your die cut machine three or four times to make sure that all the bitty pieces get cut.  Pro tip :)

Your turn now!  Show us what you can do with the Hydrangea Hill color palette (hydrangeas are not required to play along) and post it on the SUO Challenges blog.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Succulents
Ink:  Gorgeous Grape, Misty Moonlight, Mossy Meadow, Stampin' Blends in Rococo Rose, Old Olive, Highland Heather, Mossy Meadow, Seaside Spray, and Misty Moonlight
Paper:  Seaside Spray, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Potted Succulents dies, Mini Dimensionals