Berlin Zoo

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  The hubs is off work today which always makes my schedule go wonky but that's okay.  We walked Ryan to school this morning and walked Daph at the same time, then I cleaned up some things in the house when we got back and here it is almost 11 and I never really had breakfast.  Okay so I may have grabbed a couple of pieces of Halloween candy but whatever.

Anyway, I have another pair of Berlin layouts to share today and I quite like how they turned out!

Hey look, I spy Hedwig in the upper right corner!  They really do have some very nice zoos in Germany, I know we went to at least one other one in a different city, Köln maybe, I can't remember offhand.  The enclosures all look really nice and we got good views of a lot of animals.

Pandas and seals and hippos and polar bears, oh my!  Not to mention mountain goats.  These layouts are similar to some older ones I made for a visit to the Fort Worth Zoo; Crumb Cake page base plus a bright green seems to work really well for zoo pics.

Today's color palette:  Crumb Cake, Call Me Clover, Shaded Spruce, Merry Merlot, Early Espresso, and white.  I pulled the Merry Merlot and Crumb Cake from the first Berlin layouts I did, and for the one after these two I pulled the green, which you'll see next week.  I think it helps several layouts from one trip flow together without having to use the same colors on everything, and I used the same alphabet stamps for the page titles...well, I used Schoolbook Serif on the first layout, and I used it again here plus Brushwork Alphabet, and I think for the other ones I used both alphabets together.  We'll see.

Anyway, time for me to write out this week's cards and go feed some mailboxes.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Schoolbook Serif Alphabet, Brushwork Alphabet, Artfully Layered, Tropical Chic
Ink:  Merry Merlot, Call Me Clover, Shaded Spruce, Early Espresso Marker
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Call Me Clover, Shaded Spruce, Thick Basic White, Painted Seasons DSP
Accessories:  Tropical Layers dies, Tropical dies

Hawaiian Chic Birthday

Mornin' y'all.  I didn't get nearly enough sleep last night, but I'm rising...and today's card is shining :D I had to give Tropical Chic another go before it retires tomorrow, I love this stamp set.  (I almost never get rid of stamp sets, but I do tend to use what's current for cards...everything is fair game on scrapbook pages!)

I also love AAALLLLLLLL the stitched dies!  I used both the stitched rectangles and the Stitched So Sweetly dies.  There's another stitched labels set in the new catalog which will definitely be joining my collection sometime soon.

Anyway, my card is a tropical triple challenge today.  Let's start with the Paper Players:

I did the top row, and chose my colors based on the Fusion inspiration pic:

I liked the pink, aqua, pale orange combination, and I added in darker blue for the sky as well.  Finally, this fits in the Global Design Project theme challenge:

I added some Wink of Stella to the flowers on my card to up the girly factor.  Who doesn't like a bit of sparkle?

I've got 10 minutes before I get the kiddo up, so I'm going to enjoy the quiet while it lasts.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tropical Chic, Peaceful Moments
Ink:  Flirty Flamingo, Mango Melody, Coastal Cabana, Pacific Point
Paper:  Flirty Flamingo, Mango Melody, Pacific Point, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, Tropical dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Hawaiian Thanks

Hey y'all!  Do you ever have days when you sit down to stamp and you just don't know what to do?  I had that stamper's paralysis for a while yesterday.  Then I started one card, but after smearing some ink on the main image, I decided it needs to sit overnight before I watercolor, so that card will be on here tomorrow.  Then I had to start on another card, and eventually this is what I came up with:

Tropical Chic to the rescue!  I love that stamp set :)  I used two sets of dies, but not the one that's actually made to coordinate with this stamp set, go figure.  I was inspired to go tropical by the color challenge from Fab Friday:

The blue on my card looks much darker than it really is; I promise it's Blueberry Bushel rather than Night of Navy.  I was going to just do the white oval for the sentiment, but I decided I needed a little more of the blue on the card because it looked unbalanced to me, so I picked out one of the Ornate Frames dies to set off the oval.  I use the Stitched Shapes dies so often that they just live on the desktop next to my Big Shot.

Here's the retro 300th sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

I actually did pretty well about following the sketch exactly this time ;)  I looked back through the archives and I did a mermaid card with this sketch the first time around. 

Have a great day, y'all.  I'm off to stitch at the Y today...Thursdays I don't work out, I either read for two hours or bring a stitching project while someone else watches Ryan.  Gotta get some "me time" on the regular!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tropical Chic
Ink:  Petal Pink, Grapefruit Grove, Call Me Clover, Blueberry Bushel
Paper:  Petal Pink, Grapefruit Grove, Call Me Clover, Blueberry Bushel, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes dies, Ornate Frames dies, Dimensionals

Dino Daze

Mornin' y'all!  And also....

NEW SCHTUFF ALERT!  NEW SCHTUFF ALERT!!!!  Aaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!

I'm terribly excited about today's card because the new dinosaur stamps are SO RIDICULOUSLY CUTE.  Lookie!

My dino is playing peek-a-boo from behind Tropical Chic leaves.  Somehow I managed to use two stamp sets and no fewer than FOUR sets of dies to make this!  And!  That new patterned paper I used heavily features Pretty Peacock, and I'm in love with that color.  So fantastic.

Here's the Fab Friday sketch I started with:

I promise there's a stitched rectangle under the dino and his leaves.  I just used a simple strip of Pool Party cardstock instead of doing any kind of scallop though; I figured the rest of the card was busy enough.

So there's my first Dino Days card, and I can't wait to make more with this stamp set.  SO.  CUTE.  I love that it has dies too; I've got two previous dinosaur stamp sets that don't have matching dies and this one is already the favorite of the three just for that reason.

Well, I'm off to take Tiny Terror to the gym and then I've got a lunch thing to go to, and I haven't decided if he's going with me or not yet.  Hmmm....

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Dino Days, Tropical Chic
Ink:  Mango Melody, Pretty Peacock, Old Olive
Paper:  Mango Melody, Pool Party, Thick Whisper White, Dinoroar DSP
Accessories:  Dino Dies, Tropical Dies, Stitched Shapes Dies, Rectangle Stitched Dies, Dimensionals

National Zoo

Scrappy Monday y'all!  I didn't get as much scrapping done this weekend as I wanted to...I've got one layout that still needs journaling, and another one is about 75% done but I'm kinda stuck on it for accents.  I thought it was going to be a really quick one to finish, too.

But anyway!  Today I have two layouts from when we visited the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. when Ryan was tiny (I think he was 2 months old when we did this).

I think I bought the Animal Expedition DSP months before I got the Animal Outing stamp set and dies :)  But that paper was perfect for zoo pages!  I chose the Berry Burst background because my honorary niece Emma helpfully wore a bright pink sweater, and happily that's one of the colors in this particular pack of DSP.  It seems like I don't use the really bright, saturated pinks for page bases very often, so I'm excited when I do it and I like how it turns out.

So here's the color palette for the first layout:  Berry Burst, Call Me Clover, Pool Party, Crushed Curry, and Whisper White.

For the second layout, I used the same pack of DSP, but I swapped the Crushed Curry for Lemon Lime Twist (which I hope will make a reappearance in a few years when they do another color refresh, I love that color).  Honorary niece Abby helpfully wore a lime green shirt, so this really worked out perfectly for my scrapbook pages :)

And there's the second color palette:  Call Me Clover, Berry Burst, Lemon Lime Twist, Pool Party, and Whisper White.

Despite not making as much progress as I wanted to over the weekend, I still have a stack of 20+ layouts that I need to take pictures of so I can share on here.  Maybe I'll get that done before the next scrappy Monday...

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, first layout:
Stamps:  Calendar Alphabet & Numbers, Broadsheet Alphabet, A Little Wild
Ink:  Berry Burst, Call Me Clover, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Berry Burst, Pool Party, Crushed Curry, Thick Whisper White, Animal Expedition DSP
Accessories:  Hexagon punch, Lots of Labels Framelits

Supplies, second layout:
Stamps:  Tropical Chic
Ink:  Call Me Clover, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Call Me Clover, Pool Party, Lemon Lime Twist, Thick Whisper White, Animal Expedition DSP
Accessories:  Tropical Thinlits

Chic Thanks

Happy Thursday y'all!  Thursdays are my days to relax at the Y...my barre instructor had a baby (and she's moving), and there's no other fitness class that I want to take right now, so for the past few weeks I've been taking my stitching to the Y to work on while Ryan is in the nursery.  Making some progress on that so there's a happy thought for today!

And here's another happy thought:

I'm always tickled when I have the featured stamp set to participate in the What Will You Stamp? challenge.  Tropical Chic was one of my first purchases from the catalog last year, always fun to play with.  (By the way, my last Tropical Chic card won an honorable mention at CAS(E) This Sketch!  Woo!)

I also used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And I love the color palette from Color Throwdown:

I used Night of Navy, Calypso Coral and Grapefruit Grove (I wanted a bit of color variation in my flowers), Bermuda Bay, and Very Vanilla.  Plus a bit of gold because it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Have a lovely day, friends!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tropical Chic
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Night of Navy, Grapefruit Grove, Calypso Coral, Versamark
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Rectangle Stitched Shapes dies, Tropical dies, Dimensionals, Gold EP

Tropical Chic Thanks

Hey y'all.  Well, I thought we were finally free and clear of whatever virus hit Ryan last week...nope.  Poor kiddo threw up again yesterday afternoon, and unfortunately he was in his car seat when it happened.  Do you KNOW how many nooks and crannies are in a car seat?

Ugh.

But after his nap he seemed like he'd bounced back to his normal cheerful little self, so here's hoping he's okay today.  In the meantime, I snuck into my craft room last night after he went to bed and made a quick card:

I just got some workout pants at Target that have tropical leaves on them (though they're more like Pacific Point and Call Me Clover than what I used on this card).  Can't wait to wear those for the first time :)  For this card, I used the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch:

I figure my leaves and flowers qualify this card for the Paper Players challenge:

And I looooove the colors in this week's Color Throwdown:

I almost used Poppy Parade for the red color, but instead I pulled out my retired Watermelon Wonder ink pad because I love it and I haven't used it in a long time.  I used Coastal Cabana and Night of Navy for the other two colors.

Hope you have a great weekend y'all.  Stay cool.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tropical Chic
Ink:  Coastal Cabana, Night of Navy, Watermelon Wonder
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Glitter Enamel Dots

Tropical Gala Thanks

Hey y'all.  I'm supposed to be packing, and it's for a trip I really do want to go on, but I *hate* packing so I'm procrastinating ;)  And guess what!!!

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!!!  Global Design Project liked my Messy Inspiration card from last week.  So that was the best thing that happened to me yesterday, when I saw that.

So here's my card for this week's challenge!

Played with Butterfly Gala again, and I thought it would go well with the leaves from Tropical Chic so that's what I did.  Here's the GDP graphic:

My card base is Shimmery White, and the largest butterfly is popped up on Dimensionals.  It's an almost one-layer take on the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

I'm counting the Granny Apple Green sponging/stamping as the teal layer on the bottom of the sketch.  I sponged some Coastal Cabana on the top for the sky, and left a bit of white in the middle just because.

Well.....I gotta go pack.  Y'all have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Butterfly Gala, Tropical Chic
Ink:  Melon Mambo, Calypso Coral, Granny Apple Green, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Shimmery White
Accessories:  Butterfly Duo Punch, Dimensionals

I Think I Need a Tropical Vacation

Hey kids, how's your day going?  This week is just crazy here, which is a big part of why I haven't been posting this week, but I finally got a card made to share today!

It's been a while since I inked up Tropical Chic, so this was fun.  I only used one stamp set on this card, but I made up for it by using three different sets of dies.  Oh, it looks like the embossed texture on the leaves doesn't show up as well as it could, but at least you can see the Wink of Stella glitter on the flowers!

I started with this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And added the Global Design Project color challenge:

I can't help it, every time I see Granny Apple Green in a color challenge, I immediately think of the Tropical Escape DSP.  I like that the DSP has different values of the color, too, so I have light, medium, and dark green but it's all one color.  My flowers are different values too; I stamped one with full-strength ink and the other one I inked up with a sponge dauber so it's a slightly lighter color.

I'm also entering this at SUO Challenges for their Designer's Choice challenge.  It was fun to do something more summery for today's card.

That's it for me, kids.  We've got a busy day ahead so Imma get to it!  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tropical Chic
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Poppy Parade
Paper:  Pool Party, Granny Apple Green, Thick Whisper White, Tropical Escape DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits, Nature's Roots Framelits, Tropical Thinlits, mini Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

A Suite Combination

Hey kids!  We're still waiting for the flood waters to go back down here.  It's not a problem at my house, but there is a river here so a bunch of other places are having trouble.  I'm ready for everything to go back to normal!  Plus I need to go back to the gym because #hurricanebaking, haha.

In addition to baking (and eating), I made this card while the hurricane was here doing its thing on Thursday (hubs and I switched off every hour who was keeping the kid entertained, which was awesome for both of us).

I used a combination of two suites here, the Tropical Escape suite and the Eclectic suite (well, it was a suite in the last catalog--now it's just a coordinating stamp set and Thinlits).  First up I used the colors from the Fab Friday color challenge:

Can a color palette be jewel tone and pastel at the same time?  Because I feel like this one is.  I managed to work in all five colors and I *think* they all look like they're supposed to be there.  Whee!

I paired all those colors with the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch:

That grill-looking element on the bottom reminded me of the die in the Eclectic Thinlits.  I'd never used it before so I was happy to take this opportunity to bust it out.  I just adhered some DSP on the inside of the card; it doesn't bother me to see the other side of the pattern on the inside of the card, but you could cover it up with more white cardstock if it bothered you.

Wish me luck keeping Ryan entertained again today.  We went to Joann's yesterday and he had to touch All The Things but at least he wasn't pitching a major hissy fit like some other kid in the store was.  He's even pretty good about putting things back where he found them when I tell him to.  As long as he's behaving and not damaging things, I'm okay with chasing him around stores to let out some energy.  Because stores are more fun than the same old boring house you see all the time, right?

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tropical Chic, Oh So Eclectic
Ink:  Gorgeous Grape, Highland Heather, Tranquil Tide, Balmy Blue, Powder Pink
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Tranquil Textures DSP
Accessories:  Eclectic Layers Thinlits, Tropical Thinlits, Dimensionals

Country Lane Daisies

Hey y'all!  Happy Wednesday!  Are you thrown off this week after having a Monday holiday?  My hubs was off for four days in a row so it's like we had two weekends here.  Not that I'm complaining.

I'm so ready for some fall weather here, yo.  It was in the 90s and 8 billion percent humidity yesterday.  My husband loves the summertime and I'm just like UGH it's trying to kill me.  Fall is obviously the best season.

The inspiration for today's card was courtesy of the photo at Fusion:

Which I paired with the Global Design Project sketch:

I made my main image panel a bit too wide, so I had to slightly edit the rest of the sketch to accommodate because I didn't want to start over :D. I wish I had some buttons or something to put on that little tabby bit on the upper left of the main image panel...I needed some Espresso up there so I ended up using a retired Candy Dot (I miss those!!) because it just HAD to have some Early Espresso up near the top or it looked unbalanced.

Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Harvest, Tropical Chic
Ink:  Whisper White, Granny Apple Green, Crushed Curry, Early Espresso
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Crushed Curry, Country Lane DSP
Accessories:  retired Candy Dot, white EP, Dimensionals, linen thread

The Greatest Octopus

Hey kids!  Are you having trouble getting up and moving after the long weekend?  I only missed working out yesterday but I feel like I missed more than that.  Probably has something to do with the iced pumpkin coffee cake I made for breakfast on Sunday.  Ha!

It's been a little while since I made a card with this octopus and I am still totally stuck on what to name him/her.  Any suggestions?  I mean, as this card says, this is the GREATEST octopus.

Say hello to the Inkspire Me color challenge:

I think this is the first time I've seen Gorgeous Grape crop up on a color challenge and I am HERE for it!  Actually all three of these colors are new as of this summer's color revamp.  Balmy Blue and I are very good friends, and I used Soft Sea Foam on a recent scrapbook layout.

Here's the latest sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch:

Pretty cool, huh.

Okay, I'm gonna go feed everyone breakfast and then Ryan and I are gym-bound.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sea of Textures, Magical Mermaid, Tropical Chic
Ink:  Soft Sea Foam, Balmy Blue, Gorgeous Grape
Paper:  Soft Sea Foam, Balmy Blue, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Under the Sea Framelits, Dimensionals

Retro Rubber Tropical Friend

Hey y'all!  I was asked to be a guest designer for Retro Rubber this week, so exciting!  And it's a tic-tac-toe challenge:

And here's my card:

I did the diagonal from top left to bottom right:  die cut, green, and leaves.  The sentiment is from Suite Sentiments (1.5 years old) and the flower is from Bodacious Bouquet (11 years old) so nice and retro.  I paired them with the brand-new Tropical Chic (the border stamp) and Tropical Escape DSP (my favorite!).  I saw that sentiment stamp a week or two ago when I was looking for something else and I thought hey, I should use that sometime soon.  So here it is.

Go check out the Design Team's work on the Retro Rubber Challenge blog and give it a try!  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Suite Sentiments, Bodacious Bouquet, Tropical Chic
Ink:  Shaded Spruce, Lovely Lipstick, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Lovely Lipstick, Granny Apple Green, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits, Glitter Enamel Dots, Dimensionals

Fastest Watercolor in the West

Mornin', y'all!  How's your fine Tuesday going?  I'm hoping that today will be slightly less soggy than yesterday.  I got poured on twice and did swim lessons with the kid, so lots of water.

And also I watercolored for today's card!  Lookie:

This is a QUADRUPLE challenge card too.  First up is the photo inspiration from Just Us Girls:

That's why I chose the flower from Beautiful Day, and I used the colors Grapefruit Grove, watered-down Granny Apple Green, and a little bit of Poppy Parade and Shaded Spruce.

Next up is the Sunday Stamps sketch:

And just to make things interesting, the Inkspirational speed stamping challenge:

Believe it or not, I made this card in 9 minutes and 54 seconds, including cutting the cardstock and doing the embossing and watercoloring.  I had all my supplies picked out and out on my table when I started so I could stamp like the wind.  I intentionally did a very, very fast watercolor on the stamped image (I inked up the stamp with Versamark, then Grapefruit Grove, stamped, and then heat embossed so it wouldn't run when I watercolored) and didn't worry about trying to make it look perfect, and I actually like this style because it feels more organic and spontaneous.  And I always feel like I'm under a time crunch because who KNOWS when my son is going to wake up from a nap.

Finally, the As You See It challenge was easy peasy:

I am TOTALLY obsessed with the Tropical Escape DSP.  It was the #1 thing I wanted when I first got to see the new SU! catalog (is it new still if it's been out for two months?).  I wish this paper was 12x12 because I would use it on ALL THE THINGS in my scrapbooks.  And I love the coordinating Tropical Chic stamp set too, which is where my greeting is from.

Hope you have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Day, Tropical Chic
Ink:  Grapefruit Grove, Poppy Parade, Granny Apple Green, Shaded Spruce, Versamark
Paper:  Grapefruit Grove, Poppy Parade, Shaded Spruce, Thick Whisper White, Tropical Escape DSP
Accessories:  Clear EP, Dimensionals

Greatest Dragonfly

Mornin' y'all!  It's a bright shiny morning here and we've got friends visiting and the house is loud :). How about a fun tropical card?

I'm entering this at SUO Challenges, where the challenge is to use your favorite Stampin' Up! stuff from the new catalog.  Tropical Chic and the Tropical Escape DSP were two of my favorite things in the new catalog and I couldn't wait to get them in my hot little hands!  Dragonfly Dreams and the Wink of Stella pen are two long-time favorites :)

I also used this week's color challenge from the Paper Players:

Very fun!  I love that the Tropical Escape DSP has a lighter version of Granny Apple Green in it.  I stamped off the flowers in Highland Heather to kinda match the saturation of the patterned paper and let the greeting shine.

Last up is this week's sketch from Retro Rubber:

Of course Tropical Chic is new, but the star of today's card is Dragonfly Dreams, which I've had for a year and a half.  I thought that dragonfly paired well with the tropical theme.

That's it for me today.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Dragonfly Dreams, Tropical Chic
Ink:  Granny Apple Green, Highland Heather, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Lovely Lipstick, Tropical Escape DSP
Accessories:  Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella