July 4, 2018

Scrappy Monday and do I have the *perfect* layout to share ON July 4th!

Pics are from when Ryan was nearly a year and a half old; we set up a sprinkler in the backyard and he had a ball playing in the water.  I had a ball taking pictures of him, so I'm glad I was able to squish LOTS of the photos on my layout!  In the evening, we set off some small fireworks we'd bought and that scared poor lil Ryan, that's why he's unhappy in the pic with me.  But then he ate some of Dad's apple pie and that made it all better : )  And that's why I used the apple pattern from the old, old Summer Picnic DSP on this page--American as apple pie!

Today's color palette:  Brilliant Blue (I don't have much cardstock left in this color, I've gone into hoarding mode), Real Red, Coastal Cabana, and Whisper White.

If you're celebrating for the 4th, I hope you have a happy and safe celebration, and I recommend that it include apple pie.  And maybe a sprinkler to play in when you're done eating pie.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps: Red White & Blue, Simply Stars, One Smart Cookie, Tart & Tangy
Ink:  Brilliant Blue, Real Red, Garden Green, Early Espresso
Paper:  Brilliant Blue textured, Coastal Cabana, Thick Whisper White, Summer Picnic DSP
Accessories:  star punch, 1 3/8" square punch, hexagon punch 

Feed Me Now!

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I'm pleased to report that I am almost back to normal (or what passes for normal in these parts) after my second vaccine shot, and Ryan is doing fine with his newly perforated noggin.  We made him take it easy over the weekend, which he did not much like, and I had to dig through all his clothes to find shirts with buttons so he wouldn't have to pull a shirt on/off over the cut on his head.  But he's doing fine :)

I've got a funny layout to share today.

I seem to have a LOT of pictures of Wee Ryan eating, and that's because that was pretty much the only time he sat still long enough for a photo, and he is (still) occasionally very demanding when it comes to food.  So of course I had to make a scrapbook layout about it.  I read once that a lot of restaurants are decorated with orange because supposedly that color makes you hungry, so I picked a patterned paper that's a mix of orange and red, Ryan's favorite color.

Today's color palette:  Pineapple Punch, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Pacific Point, and Whisper White.  I never thought I'd be gaga about a super bright yellow, but man, I love me some Pineapple Punch!  I pulled out a real oldie for the accents--I'm pretty sure I got Tart & Tangy my first year as a stamper!

Hope your week is off to a great start, peeps.  I'm starting off with a nice yoga workout :)  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Taffy Alphabet, Larger Than Life Alphabet, Tart & Tangy
Ink:  Pineapple Punch, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Granny Apple Green, Chocolate Chip, Night of Navy marker
Paper:  Pineapple Punch, Pumpkin Pie, Pacific Point, Thick Whisper White, See a Silhouette DSP
Accessories:  circle punches

Ryan: August

Mornin' y'all!  I have a fun summery layout for Ryan's baby book to share today.

If I could get single color packs of 12x12 cardstock, I would buy a metric ton of Granny Apple Green, Balmy Blue, Shaded Spruce, Mango Melody, and probably more ;) I know I've said it before but I mean it.  Anyway, I adore that patterned paper and I've been hoarding it for years so I'm glad I used some of it on Ryan's baby book.  Ryan's honorary Aunt Tea gave him his first haircut and his honorary cousins had so much fun playing with him :)

Today's very colorful palette includes Granny Apple Green, Night of Navy, Balmy Blue, Riding Hood Red, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, and Whisper White.

I think Ryan and I will be heading back out to the splash pad again today.  He ran around there for two hours yesterday and loved it :)  Gotta do it while the weather is nice, we're supposed to have another week of thunderstorms.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Letters for You, Tart & Tangy
Ink:  Night of Navy, Pumpkin Pie, Riding Hood Red, Granny Apple Green, Early Espresso
Paper:  Granny Apple Green, Riding Hood Red, Balmy Blue, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Thick Whisper White, Washington Apple DSP
Accessories:  Large Letters Framelits

Guest Designer: Back to School!

I'm tickled pink to be a guest designer for Retro Rubber once again!  And they have the perfect challenge for this time of year:

Now, my kiddo is only six months old so I've got some time before I have to worry about doing teacher gifts and such,  but I did make a school-themed card for today:

I figure it could go in a kiddo's lunchbox on the first day of school, or it could be for a teacher gift at the beginning or end of the school year or whatever.  The sentiment is generic enough to work for lots of people.  Since this is for Retro Rubber, I had to use older stamps...Hardwood and Work of Art are both still in the current catalog but they're three years old; Tart & Tangy is nine years old.  Honestly I thought it was older, I thought I got it when I first started stamping!  But still, nine years is pretty old for a stamp set :)

Want to know how I made my chalkboard?

1.  Cut a rectangle of black cardstock as big as you want the chalkboard to be.  Punch the corners with a corner rounder.

2.  Stamp the Hardwood background stamp on brown cardstock (I used Crumb Cake and the coordinating ink).  Trim the planks along the lines of the stamp, then trim individual planks, two for the shorter side pieces and two longer ones for the top and bottom (same lengths as the black rectangle you cut out).

3.  Glue the shorter side pieces on, then punch the corners with a corner rounder.

4.  Glue the longer top & bottom pieces on, then punch the corners with a corner rounder.

5.  Voila!  You have your chalkboard.  My corner punch left a little indent on the corners, since I had three thicknesses of cardstock in there (even though I only punched through one layer at a time, my punch would cry and break if I tried to do all three at once which is why I punched each layer individually), so I just used the fine point of a black marker to turn those divots into nail heads on my chalkboard.  One fussy cut apple up on Dimensionals and there you have it!

When I was a kid, like in elementary school, my mom used to make pillows for my teachers at the end of the school year.  They had an appliqued chalkboard that looked like this card, complete with the apple, so I was definitely channeling that when I made this card.  The main fabric on her pillows was white with letters on it though.  I should dig up a picture...or more likely, ask my mom to dig up a picture because I don't think I have one :)  Anyway, I hope you play along in this fun challenge at Retro Rubber!  And thanks again to their Design Team for inviting me to be a guest designer!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hardwood, Work of Art, Tart & Tangy
Ink:  Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Basic Black marker
Paper:  Wild Wasabi, Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Mini Dimensionals

ETA:  Mom found the picture!  Ready to see little kid Christy? Hee!

Bear Book: September

Happy Saturday, y'all!  Ready for another bear book layout?  This one is one of my favorites!!

I tend to do apples for September baby book layouts because...back to school, even though babies don't go to school, it's still a thing in my brain.  So apples, along with this cutie:

This is Cadbury, I love him :)

And some wee baby apples for the journaling block...

And bigger apples on both the patterned paper and stamped accents.  It's kind of funny how many apple stamps I have, really.

Today's colors:  Early Espresso, Real Red, Old Olive, So Saffron, and Whisper White.  Yup, one of my favorite layouts from this book.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Cadbury from Whipper Snapper, Tart & Tangy, One Smart Cookie
Ink:  Basic Black, Real Red, Early Espresso, Old Olive
Paper:  Early Espresso, Real Red, So Saffron, Thick Whisper White, Summer Picnic DSP
Accessories:  Sizzix alphabet, circle & scalloped circle punches, Prismacolor Pencils

A-Team Baby Book: September

Happy Saturday, y'all!  Any fun plans for the weekend?

Here's the September layout for my niece.  Her mama (my SIL) works for the school district so of course apples (for teachers!) are a natural choice for September.  And I had this super cute image from The Greeting Farm:

Isn't she darling?!  For some reason my camera doesn't like Marina Mist cardstock, but trust me, it's blue and not gray.

And there's a few more apples.

Today's color combo:  Marina Mist, Real Red, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, and Whisper White.  That's all she wrote today, have a great weekend!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Tart & Tangy, One Smart Cookie, Lottie from The Greeting Farm (all retired)
Ink:  Basic Black, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive
Paper:  Marina Mist, Old Olive, Chocolate chip, PTI White, Summer Picnic DSP
Accessories:  Sizzix alphabet, Prismacolor Pencils, Ovals & Lots of Labels Framelits, circle & scalloped circle punches

Friday Flashback: One Smart Cookie

Happy Friday, peeps!  This weeks stamp set du jour is a cute little set called One Smart Cookie, which has teeny tiny little images and punny phrases to go with.  So let's flash back!

Also features Tart & Tangy

Here you see what I mean about the punny phrases.

Also features Fruit & Flowers

I admit:  I bought One Smart Cookie for the wee apple, which I used on baby books (look in the corner of the journaling square).

Also features Perfectly Preserved

So the larger apple images might have changed a little bit...

Also features Tart & Tangy

But that tiny apple stayed the same.

Also features Tart & Tangy

I'm very proud to say that the baby books I'm close to finishing right now have September pages that are completely different, with nary an apple in sight.  But I didn't want One Smart Cookie to feel left out, so I made a couple of cards for today's Friday Flashback.

How do you like them oranges?  All of the stamps in One Smart Cookie are tiny, so I was a little worried about what I was going to do until I saw the sketch at Create with Connie and Mary:

I thought it worked out so well on the orange card that I made another one:

I used my Color Coach (why did this retire again?!) to come up with the color combo on here--Soft Sky, Rich Razzleberry, and Old Olive.  This card will go to my hubs' cousin, who had us over for dinner last week.  That means that this also qualifies for The Male Room challenge to use fruit:

Actually I think the orange card will go to a little boy, so they both count (Mom, I will put that card in a pile for you to send to your little penpal).  So that's it for me this week, peeps.  The hubs is off work today so I think we're going to drive out to Monticello, but I need to go get cleaned up first.  Cheers!

Supplies, orange card:
Stamps:  One Smart Cookie, Tart & Tangy
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  So Saffron, Old Olive, Whisper White
Accessories:  Brights Candy Dot, hexagon punch

Supplies, grape card:
Stamps:  One Smart Cookie
Ink:  Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Soft Suede
Paper:  Soft Sky, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Whisper White
Accessories:  1" and 3/4" circle punches, 7/8" scallop circle punch, hexagon punch, Dimensional

Friday Flashback: Tart & Tangy

Welcome to another Friday Flashback!  Today's stamp set is Tart & Tangy, which is a fun little set with four fruit images.  First up, let's open up the archives (I still giggle at the thought of me having archives):

Lots of polka dots on this one!  I thought that sentiment was pretty cute with the strawberries.

I used Iridescent Ice embossing powder on this one to make the oranges sparkly, and the brads were silver ones colored in with an orange Sharpie.

One year for Father's Day we sent my dad a gift card to Sonic (terribly mean that they sell Sonic gift cards here when there's an entire ocean between me and the closest one), and I made this card because my whole family is utterly addicted to cherry vanilla Cokes at Sonic.

This is one of several similar baby book layouts I did with the apple image from Tart & Tangy, it's always been one of my favorites.

And here's my new card!  It might look black, but the dark color is actually Elegant Eggplant.  Call me crazy, I like orange and purple together (and it was an old SCS color challenge).  The layout is based on the latest sketch at Freshly Made Sketches:

I wasn't quite sure what to make of the sketch when I first saw it, but I like what I came up with.

Thanks for joining me on another Friday Flashback, and have a fabulous weekend!

Supplies (all SU!):
Stamps:  Tart & Tangy, One Smart Cookie
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, retired Tempting Turquoise DSP
Accessories:  Brights brads, 1 1/2" and 1 3/8" circle punches, Dimensionals