Maine

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I've been able to carve out little bits of time recently to work on scrapbook pages, and yesterday I took pictures of a few recent layouts.  I've got two to share today!

In October of 2019, we took a week-long trip to the Bar Harbor area of Maine with our friends Bennet and Missy and their kiddo.  We lucked out in that the week we were there was peak fall foliage so we took *hundreds* of pictures, and then I printed out hundreds of pictures because I liked so many of them.  I ended up making an entire album's worth of scrapbook pages from this trip and I still had a giant stack of pictures left over, so I decided to make two layouts to go in the chronological book too.  So yeah all the pictures on these pages are the ones that *didn't* make the cut for the main book.  The main Maine book.

Funny story:  over the past year or two, I've acquired a number of stamp sets on eBay, and I bought a couple of different sets with moose images thinking hey, I'll use these for the Maine pages.  And then I FORGOT TO USE ANY MOOSE for the entirety of the Maine book!  When I finally remembered, I only had the first and last pages for that album yet to do, so I put a moose on that, and then I made these two layouts so I made sure to include a moose here too.

Today's color palette:  Merry Merlot, Cajun Craze, Mossy Meadow, Cinnamon Cider, and Whisper White.  And now I'm out of Merry Merlot 12x12 cardstock and I really miss the days we could get full packs of a single color.

Have a great week, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Make a Difference, Vintage Leaves, Yukon
Ink:  Versamark, Merry Merlot, Cajun Craze, Mossy Meadow, Cinnamon Cider, Soft Suede, Misty Moonlight
Paper:  Merry Merlot, Cajun Craze, Mossy Meadow, Cinnamon Cider, Thick Basic White, Beauty of the Earth DSP
Accessories:  Leaflets dies, clear EP

Flying with Holie

Scrappy Monday and happy Valentine's Day.  Today is also the hubs' birthday!  He does *not* like being a Valentine's baby and would probably rather ignore his birthday altogether but we love him and want to celebrate him.  I don't have a traditional red hearts and roses layout to share today, but I do have one showcasing one of the hubs' favorite activities:  flying!

He had the opportunity a few years ago to meet up with a friend (Holie is his nickname) and go flying in some vintage planes.  Every once in a while, especially if it's some event that I wasn't involved with at all, I have the hubs do journaling on scrapbook layouts.

Today's fall-ish color scheme includes Garden Green, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, Early Espresso, and Very Vanilla.  Well, the pictures were taken in November, after all.

Hope you have a great Valentine's Day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves, Rough Type, Letterpress Alphabet
Ink:  Garden Green, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, Early Espresso
Paper:  Garden Green, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, Thick Very Vanilla, Painted Autumn DSP
Accessories:  Leaflets dies, Layering Ovals dies

Fear Not

So yesterday afternoon I had an idea what I wanted to do for today's card, and I was cruising through my stamps looking for a sentiment that would fit in the big maple leaf Framelit when I came across this Bible verse from Rose Wonder and all of a sudden my card turned out very different from what I had planned.

I have never made anything with this stamp before but I was compelled to ink it up yesterday.  And here is the maiden voyage of Tree Rings, which I stamped off once before stamping on the watercolor paper so it's more like the suggestion of tree rings which isn't exactly what I had planned but I think it looks okay.  And I still added a leaf from Vintage leaves, just a small one.

I was inspired by the photo at Fusion:

In general I don't like making cards with only neutrals and this one is made with ONLY Soft Suede ink on Very Vanilla and watercolor paper.

I used the Fab Friday sketch:

Just turned it on its side to accommodate the verse.

And the Cupcake Inspirations challenge is perhaps my favorite:

Though I think I need to make another card for this challenge and do LOTS of very COLORFUL leaves ;)

Looks like Ryan is waking up so I'm going to go get his bottle ready.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Rose Wonder, Tree Rings, Vintage Leaves
Ink:  Soft Suede
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Watercolor Paper
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes & Leaflets Framelits, Dimensionals, pearls

Shimmery Birthday Leaves

Bonus Saturday card today!  I was completely incapable of resisting the color challenge at Create with Connie and Mary:

I think autumnal color combinations are my favorites...I love the jewel tones.  Fall is my favorite season and I don't even drink pumpkin spice lattes...though I do make lots and lots of pumpkin-y goodies in the fall.  I'm having pumpkin baked oatmeal for breakfast this morning.  But I digress!  This color combination was another chance to play with Fresh Fig, so I did.

We've got lots of birthdays coming up in the next couple of months (my brother, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and nephew, not to mention all my friends with fall birthdays and why am I friends with so many Libras?) so I thought a birthday sentiment would be a good idea for this one.  Very simple for the leaves, I just stamped one in each of the challenge colors on Shimmery White cardstock and then cut them out with the matching Framelits.  I spritzed the background with water and did a little Pear Pizzazz watercolor wash, dried it with my heat tool, and then stamped some flecks from Touches of Texture on it.  The part that was difficult was deciding how to arrange the leaves on top.  The Calypso Coral and Pear Pizzazz leaves are simply glued on, and the Fresh Fig leaf is popped up on Dimensionals.

So anyway, y'all have a good weekend.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves, Rose Wonder, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, Fresh Fig, Calypso Coral
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Fresh Fig, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Leaflets Framelits, Dimensionals

Leafy Thanks

Mornin', y'all.  Is it fall yet?  I'm so done with sultry super-humid weather...bring on fall and sweater weather!!

Also since I gave Tiana about 85% of my card stash (thank you cards and everything else), I'm working on rebuilding my stash.  Need lots more thank you cards, and thinking of you, and birthday...pretty much everything.

So today I started with the Fall-To Layout from Clean & Simple Stamping:

This week's Retro Rubber Challenge was super easy:

I happened to use the same combination of older stamps on this card for another Retro Rubber Challenge; Vintage Leaves is two years old and One Big Meaning is one year old.  The wee splatter stamp is from Magical Mermaid and will probably be my most-used stamp from that set because I loves me a good splat :)

Colors are courtesy of Sunday Stamps: 

I used Night of Navy, Tranquil Tide, and Peekaboo Peach for colors 2, 4, and 5 on the graphic.  I wanted to work in some Rich Razzleberry but it just wouldn't work for my card.  Such a pretty inspiration pic though.

Sounds like the hubs just finished feeding the baby...so maybe we're going for a walk now.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves, One Big Meaning, Magical Mermaid
Ink:  Peekaboo Peach, Tranquil Tide, Night of Navy
Paper:  Tranquil Tide, Night of Navy, Watercolor Paper, Painted Autumn DSP
Accessories:  Tranquil Tide ribbon

Thanks Kind-Leaf

Well, I hope you're having a better Sunday morning than Ryan is--the hubs just wipes off the baby's face and Ryan took exception to that :p Tough luck, kiddo.  So anyway, I'm back with another thank you card today!

I used this week's Retro Rubber sketch:

So I've had Vintage Leaves for two years, and One Big Meaning for one.  I thought both of them were older than that.  The speckles on the back are from Magical Mermaid, which I've had for less than a week, but it was on my desk to stamp for my personal stamp catalog and I needed something on the card base so there it goes.  You can't tell from the picture, but I popped up the Whisper White layer on Dimensionals. The Real Red Candy Dots are retired, but I like those better than the enamel shapes SU! has now, and I still have a stash of the Candy Dots so might as well use 'em.

Say hello to the As You See It color challenge:

They called it "Summer Salad" but I made a fall card with it :)  I have a feeling it's going to be fun to make up fall-y color combos with Lemon Lime Twist this year.  I didn't want the leaves to overwhelm the sentiment, so I used sponges to apply ink to the leaf stamps.  Actually I did that for the sentiment too because my Elegant Eggplant ink pad is still way extra juicy.

Muffins just came out of the oven and I think the kiddo is about ready for a nap (uhh, breakfast is late for the parental units today) so that's it for me today.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves, One Big Meaning, Magical Mermaid
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant, Real Red, Lemon Lime Twist
Cardstock:  Lemon Lime Twist, Elegant Eggplant, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Dimensionals, retired Candy Dots

Leafy Thanks

I know there are people (like my husband) who love summertime and all the heat and humidity, and to them I say YOU CRAZY.  I can't wait for some cooler temperatures.  Not saying I want to spend 8 months of the year snowbound, but you can take this 90+ degree weather with 8 million percent humidity and shove it.

So I made a fall card.

Because fall is the best season.  I'd love another stamp set or two to work with those Leaflets Framelits, they had one a couple years ago that I loved too (Lighthearted Leaves anyone?).  I love it when a stamp set has coordinating dies, and I love it even more when those dies coordinate with more than one stamp set.

Anywha, the sentiment is from Orange Blossom because apparently I'm a teensy bit totally obsessed with it, and I used the Post Script background on the card base because it is also awesome.  Speaking of awesome, check out the sketch from the Paper Players:

 And I told you I wanted another hack at the Color Throwdown:

This time I used Berry Burst and Daffodil Delight with Old Olive; I sponged the ink on the background stamp so it wouldn't come out too stark this time.  The leaf kinda looks more yellow and orange than red, but that's what you get when you mix red and yellow ink right?  I was trying to get the leaf to cover from the yellow, through the orange and over to the red side.

But it's a lot more red in the bottom corner than anywhere I could reach with one leaf stamp :)  Still, that's the fun thing about doing watercolors like that, you get something different every time.

That's it for me today, y'all.  Cheers!  And stay cool, yo.  Fall is on its way, just slowly...

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves, Orange Blossom, Post Script
Ink:  Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Berry Burst, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Old Olive, Berry Burst, Thick Whisper White, Watercolor paper
Accessories:  Leaflets Framelits, Dimensionals

Gratitude with the Nachos

Forget all the crazy stuff on the news today, the Nachos have a great theme challenge for you!

I always, always, always seem to need thank you cards, and I love fall cards, so here's what I made:

I haven't used vellum in no kidding YEARS but for today's card that's what I went to immediately.  I'm holding it down so you can see the background leaves, here's what it looks like just by itself:

Think maybe I should use vellum a little more often :)  And of course I've got some copper on there too, I do enjoy all the copper stuff out now.  I still have my old embossing powder from the last time SU! carried it, and the copper foil sheets are just so pretty.

So make your own gratitude-themed project and share it with the Nachos.  And whatever you do, don't turn on the TV today unless it's to watch a movie.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves, One Big Meaning
Ink:  Versamark, Dapper Denim, Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze
Paper:  Dapper Denim, Crushed Curry, Very Vanilla, Copper Foil, Vellum
Accessories:  Copper EP, linen thread

Hello Fall

Okay, so I am enjoying being back in my craft cave...I made a card yesterday and got started on a new scrapbook layout which makes me happy :)  So here's my card for today:

Still experimenting to find the best place to use my iPhone to take pictures, so far ain't nothin' looking too good.  This was on my craft table under my Ott Light and still not a good pic.  Anyway, today's card ended up being a kind of weird combination of clean lines with some grungier elements...I wanted some way to use the colors on my white card base and I'm not sure I chose the right thing.   But I do love the colors, which I got from Cupcake Inspirations:

Red and green might immediately say Christmas to you instead of fall, but what can I say, I'm a rebel :)  I used sponges to ink up the leaf stamp with Cherry Cobbler and Garden Green ink, which turned out looking pretty cool if I say so myself.  Might have to try that with a few fall-y color combos.

The sketch is from Global Design Project:

I substituted the leaf for the square element, and my greeting is larger than shown in the sketch, but I have every element of the sketch on my card.

Finally, the Paper Players' CAS challenge is perfect for this time of year:

I think fall cards are my very favorite type to make.  I know lots of people with fall birthdays and I just love all the brightly colored leaves and cooler weather and yeah, it's my favorite time of year.  Almost makes up for the Virginia heat and humidity trying to kill me for four or five months of the year :p

Okay kids, I have an errand to run and then a date with a scrapbook page.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves, Timeless Textures
Ink:  Blushing Bride, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Blushing Bride, Cherry Cobbler DSP
Accessories:  Leaflets Framelits, Hello You Thinlits, Dimensionals

Nachos: Getting Sketchy

Mornin', y'all!  Hey, lookit that, two days of blog posts in a row.  And I'm back with the Nacho Average Challenges team and check out this awesome sketch!

Nice and simple, just what I need when I'm still getting back in the stamping groove.  Last week the hubs and I spent several days gallivanting around New England, and one evening we had dinner with a sweet friend of mine and her husband so I made this for her:

I don't have the paisley DSP that's in the holiday catalog, but that doesn't mean I can't use it for color-iffic inspiration!  I chose Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry (my friend loves purple, so that seemed appropriate), a bit of Soft Suede and some metallic copper to finish it off.  The sentiment is embossed with copper EP, and check out this view of the copper foil paper:

SHINY.  I added a white panel on the inside of the card too, also with the two rounded corners, but sponged with some Rich Razzleberry instead of Night of Navy like on the card front.  I chose leaves for this card because the main reason we went driving all through New England was to see the fall foliage (and did we ever).  So there you have it!

Hope you join along with this awesome sketch challenge on the Nacho blog.  Until next time, cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves, One Big Meaning
Ink:  Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede, Versamark
Paper:  Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Copper Foil
Accessories:  Corner rounder punch, Dimensionals, Copper EP

Go Ahead, Make My Day

So I was working on a scrapbook layout yesterday (which you'll see in a couple of weeks I think, I'm starting to build up steam on scrapping) and I just really had to use the bear from Thankful Forest Friends to make a Baylor card.

The hubs and I are both Baylor University grads, but to both my mom's (HI MOM) and my friend Missy's (HI MISSY) dismay, we're not like total rah-rah obsessed with all things Baylor.  Though when the weather is cool, I wear a Baylor fleece or sweatshirt almost every day, and when we painted the upstairs bedrooms one of them got painted green and the other one light yellow (close enough to gold to make Missy happy).  If I could figure out how to make this bear stamp do sic 'em bears, I would, if only to hear Missy shriek with glee.

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the other reason I wanted to use Thankful Forest Friends, I found a new challenge called What Will You Stamp?  They pick a Stampin' Up! stamp set every week and you make a card with it.  I can get on board with that.

Nice idea for a challenge, and different from all the color/sketch/inspiration challenges out there.  I like it.

So anyway, this Baylor bear is off to get her hair cut.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Thankful Forest Friends, Vintage Leaves, A Dozen Thoughts, Gorgeous Grunge
Ink:  Delightful Dijon, Garden Green, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Garden Green, So Saffron, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Leaflets Framelits

Nachos: Emerging Colors

Happy Nacho day, peeps!  It is time for a fabulous Nacho Average Color Challenge, check this out:

Perfect for fall!  And since I seem to have a lot of friends and family with birthdays in October and November, this worked out well for a birthday card:

It's even already been mailed out.  I used the Emerging Colors technique on this; I sponged the three challenge colors on Very Vanilla cardstock, then stamped the leaves from Vintage Leaves with Versamark and heat embossed.  I brayered Chocolate Chip ink over it all, then wiped the ink off the leaves and voila!  Colorful fall leaves.  One simple sentiment banner and it was pretty much done.

So let's see what you do with this great color combo!  Head on over to the Nacho blog for more eye candy and to upload your own creation.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves, Butterfly Basics
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Daffodil Delight, Tangelo Twist, Chocolate Chip, Versamark
Paper:  Mossy Meadow, Daffodil Delight, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Clear EP, hexagon punch

Always There

Soooo peeps, I'm up early today.  I didn't do hardly anything at all yesterday thanks to the nasty headache I had, but eventually it let up in the afternoon and I made this card to share today.  Lookie:

I got the sentiment stamp set Me = Grateful on my last SU! order, I love the range of sentiments and the pretty fonts.

And the set is designed so you have one stamp for the front of the card and another for the inside if you so desire :)

My color combo today is courtesy of Cupcake Inspirations:

I used Delightful Dijon (not exactly peach, but the closest I could get with current SU! colors), Melon Mambo, and Soft Suede.

The layout is from Sketch Frenzy Friday:

I suppose I could have switched around the stamps so the smaller "thanks for being you" was on the card front and it matched the sketch a little better size-wise, but oh well.  I like it the way it is.

Now the question is what am I going to do with all this extra time today since I'm up so early.  Maybe I'll go take a nap, it's still dark outside...

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves, Me = Grateful, Hardwood
Ink:  Soft Suede, Melon Mambo, Delightful Dijon
Paper:  Soft Suede, Melon Mambo, Delightful Dijon, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Circles & Leaflets Framelits

Nachos: Let's Hear It For Fall

Hey Nacho fans!  You're in for a treat this week, just check out the latest Nacho Average Sketch Challenge:

Do you lurve it?  I do, I do!  And I used some new stampy goodies.

Vintage Leaves is in the regular catalog, but it's new to me, as are the gold doilies.  The package has silver doilies too, they're awesome.  But don't get glue on them where you don't want it, because it smudges.

And here's a bonus card for you, I wanted to see how it would look with the sentiment in Rich Razzleberry.

So now it's your turn!  Link up your sketchy project on the Nacho blog and have fun, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves
Ink:  Lost Lagoon, Tangerine Tango, Rich Razzleberry Early Espresso, Soft Suede
Paper:  Lost Lagoon, Rich Razzleberry, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Hello You Thinlits, gold doilies