Spring Bouquet

Howdy, y'all!  Had to run some errands yesterday morning (my car is all shiny clean now!) but I did get some work done in my craft room--my five layouts are all done except for journaling, and I made a card to share today.

Not quite sure how much I like it though.  I picked the sketch and color challenges I wanted to use and then I couldn't figure out what I wanted to stamp!  Eventually I inked up another new stamp set (Wrapped Bouquet) and paired it with a sentiment from Well Said, which is on the retiring list.  Kinda digging that newsprint layer on the bottom though.

Anywha, here's the Freshly Made Sketch:

Okay so my card is a bit more in the spirit of the sketch this time rather than exactly reproducing it, but I think it's recognizable.  Here's the color challenge from Color Throwdown:

I loved these colors together and I don't know why it was so hard for me to come up with an idea for them.  Maybe it was throwing me to work with four colors since usually I stick to three for cards?  But then I added Gray Granite to the mix so I had five *shrug*  I used Flirty Flamingo, Daffodil Delight, Highland Heather, and Coastal Cabana for the colors.

Okay, I'd better get my workout on so I can be ready to go to work on time today.  Ryan and his daycare peeps are going to a wildlife park today so I'm surprised he's not already up and chattering about it!  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wrapped Bouquet, Well Said
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Gray Granite, Stampin' Blends in Flirty Flamingo, Daffodil Delight, Highland Heather
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Flirty Flamingo, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Wrapped Flowers dies, Ornate Frames dies, Dimensionals, white baker's twine

Springtime Serenity

Hey y'all!  I had a day off yesterday so I got my hair cut for the first time in over four months and I'm SO HAPPY about that.  I ran around and did some errands and then spent two hours in my craft room, so I'm also happy about that!  Here is one of the things I worked on yesterday:

It was a raw, blustery day yesterday but in my cozy craft room it was all about soft spring colors.  I started with Soft Sea Foam and Purple Posy and then I had to add in a bit of pink, so I pulled out some retired Powder Pink because Petal Pink is too peachy for this card.  Don't recognize that heart die?  It retired a while back, it's in the Sunshine Wishes Thinlits.  I wanted something to go behind my sentiment block, and I cut out some of the flowers with the Wild Rose dies but one wasn't enough and two or more just felt like they were taking over the card and then I found this heart already cut out and was like yep, that's exactly what I needed here.  I managed to use three different sets of dies on this card, and a corner rounder punch.

I started with the sketch from Global Design Project:

As soon as I saw the sketch, the Well Written dies popped in my head and I hadn't used them in a while so I decided to go with that notion.  I combined that with the Paper Players theme challenge:

You don't have to use fall colors with leaf stamps, ya know!  I picked Soft Sea Foam because it's the softest SU green, and then stamped three leaves from Love of Leaves for the biggest panel on my sketch.  This card came together pretty quickly and I figure it's a good multipurpose card.  Could be just a thinking of you but can also work for sympathy.

I've got my third day at work today.  Wednesday was day #2 and my bosses kinda left me minding the shop by myself for a good chunk of the day.  Good thing I'm a fast learner, and I knew where to find them when something came up that I needed to ask a question (they were playing ping-pong!).  Ryan is enjoying daycare a lot and I'm enjoying the opportunity to be out of the house and interacting with other people, so yeah I think this is a success so far.  Hope y'all have a great Friday, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Love of Leaves, Well Said
Ink:  Soft Sea Foam, Highland Heather
Paper:  Purple Posy, Soft Sea Foam, Powder Pink, Pear Pizzazz, Thick Whisper White, Playing With Patterns DSP Stack
Accessories:  Sunshine Wishes Thinlits, Painted Labels dies, Well Written Framelits, corner rounder punch, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Happy Thanksgiving 2017

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  How was your weekend?  I've made more progress on my future nephew's baby book, so that makes me happy.  I haven't heard Ryan make any noise yet this morning, so maybe I can sneak in my craft room for a few minutes and work on the next layout!

But for now, how about a couple of Thanksgiving layouts?

These pictures are from Thanksgiving in 2017, Ryan's first.  We were living in Virginia at the time; Bennet and Missy lived about 1 1/2 miles away, and Scott and Tiana drove down from New York to spend the holiday with us.  I think this was the first year we instituted the pajamas rule for Thanksgiving.  I don't know if we get to do that this time since we're going elsewhere for Turkey Day, but anytime Thanksgiving is at my house, pajama pants are the dress code.

That apple pie was hands down the PRETTIEST pie I've ever made.  I used a little cookie cutter thing (actually I think it was specifically made for pie crust but works the same as a cookie cutter) to cut out leaf shapes and then piled them on top of the pie.  It was a cranberry apple almond pie and sooooo delicious.

So here is today's color palette:  Peekaboo Peach, Cherry Cobbler, Granny Apple Green, Bermuda Bay, Gray Granite, Basic Black, and Whisper White.

Dangit, Ryan is awake now so no stamping time until he goes down for a nap this afternoon.  Oh well, time to get with it!  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Taffy Alphabet, Well Said, Wonderfall, My Paper Pumpkin (the pie sentiment, love it!)
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Granny Apple Green, Cherry Cobbler, Peach Parfait, Memento Tuxedo Black, Basic Black marker
Paper:  Peach Parfait, Cherry Cobbler, Bermuda Bay, Granny Apple Green, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White, Festive Farmhouse DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits

Riding Off Into the Sunset

Day #4 of 5 a.m. wakeups and I only used my alarm on the first day.  So far, so good!  I did have to take a short nap yesterday though.

After my nap, I just barely had time to make a card for my brother's birthday this weekend.  Here it is:

My brother and our dad both went to Oklahoma State, and their mascot is a cowboy and their colors are orange and black.  I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

That die cut "happy" was sitting on my table in a pile of stuff I'd die cut and then not used, so I don't even remember what it was originally intended for.  It was Pumpkin Pie cardstock and that was good enough for me!

I added lots of black to the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge colors:

I used Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, and Daffodil Delight to make my sunset.

Okay, time for me to do my morning workout.  Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU! (some retired)
Stamps:  Out West, Well Said
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Monster Bash Enamel Shapes, Happy Expressions Thinlits (I think?)

Heartfelt Hydrangea Sympathy

Hey y'all!  It's been a busy week here.  We live in North Carolina, so we've been preparing for Hurricane Dorian.  We're far enough inland that we don't expect it to be too bad where we are, but when a hurricane is coming you have to prepare for the worst-case scenario, so that's what we've been doing.  I managed to carve out some stamping time yesterday and made this:

I started with the sketch from Fab Friday:

Added the colors from Global Design Project:

And finished with the theme challenge from Inspire. Create:

I like this particular challenge because I hate to make sympathy cards when I actually need to send one, so it's nice to have a couple in my stash.  Usually I stick to blues and greens for sympathy cards because I find those colors soothing and comforting, but I thought the GDP challenge colors would still work for sympathy.

Have a great day, peeps.  At least Ryan and I get to go to the Y this morning like usual...they've already decided to close on Friday morning so there goes my yoga class : /  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Friendship, Well Said
Ink:  So Saffron, Rococo Rose, Mint Macaron, Soft Suede
Paper:  Rococo Rose, So Saffron, Thick Whisper White, In Color & Subtles DSP
Accessories:  Basics Adhesive Sequins, Dimensionals

SUO Challenges: All About Birthdays

Happy Tuesday, stamp enthusiasts!  We have a new challenge at Stampin' Up! Only Challenges today, and it's all about BIRTHDAYS!  Everyone you know has a birthday, so why not make 'em a card?

So here's a birthday card I made for my dear friend Sarah!

This card is a bit Beauty and the Beast inspired because I'm sending her BatB socks (long story).  I chose blue and yellow for Belle's two most iconic dresses in the animated Disney version, and of course there's a rose that plays an important part in the story but I made my roses yellow.  I used the recently retired Post Script background because I love it :)

Go check out the rest of the design team's creations at SUO Challenges, and then make a birthday card yourself!  It's fun, I promise :)  I have three birthdays coming up in my family in the next few weeks, so I'll definitely be making more birthday cards!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Well Said, To a Wild Rose, Post Script
Ink:  Balmy Blue, Pineapple Punch, Crushed Curry, Soft Suede, Granny Apple Green, Shaded Spruce, Night of Navy
Paper:  Balmy Blue, Night of Navy, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Wild Rose dies, Well Written dies, Dimensionals

SUO Challenges: Steampunk Adventure

Mornin' y'all!  It is time once more for a new challenge at Stampin' Up! Only Challenges!

This time around, we're making cards with dies, and there are a LOT of choices in the new Stampin' Up! catalog!  I wanted to make sure that dies were the main focus of my card, so I chose two sets of dies, Garage Gears and Well Written.

I love the gear dies in the Garage Gears bundle, they're great not just for car-related cards, but watches/clocks and all kinds of steampunk stuff too.  If you've never heard of steampunk, it's like a Victorian aesthetic with lots of steam-powered devices, like a Jules Verne novel.  Think deep jewel tones, lots of brass, gears and goggles, and machines like airships.  I know people who decorate their house in this style; I don't, but I've read several steampunk novels that I quite like.  So that's what I was thinking of when I made this card!  I looked through all the options for the Well Written dies and coordinating Well Said stamps, and this "Hooray! Time for a new adventure!" just seemed like the perfect fit, so I went with it.  And OH YES--I used a new color!  That's Pretty Peacock behind the copper foil gears.  Love it.

So now it's your turn!  Make a card using your favorite dies and share it with us at the SUO Challenges blog.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Well Said
Ink:  Pretty Peacock, Early Espresso
Paper:  Pretty Peacock, Early Espresso, watercolor paper, copper foil
Accessories:  Garage Gears dies, Well Written dies

Bridal Rose

Hey y'all!  It's time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!

Today we're sharing spring cards, including Mother's Day if you're late (like me).  I *almost* made a Mother's Day card, but then the card insisted it was a bridal shower card instead.  Lookie:

I got my new catalog preorder late on Thursday but last week was so hectic that I didn't get to play with the new schtuff until the weekend.  Well Said and the coordinating dies are in the Occasions catalog but I just now got them because I didn't want to miss out on the 10% discount bundle pricing.  I can tell those are going to be favorites for me. 

Brand new stuff alert!  To A Wild Rose is a new stamp set with coordinating dies, and I stamped my rose with the new In Color Rococo Rose.  The DSP is new too, it's called Garden Lane and it's my favorite new DSP even though there are LOTS of great new DSPs.  This reminds me of the old, old set Wintergreen, which I've used on my scrapbook layouts a lot.  I was actually thinking maybe I should try to find some more on eBay or something because I don't have much of it left, and then Garden Lane came along.  It's all in shades of green (my favorite color) and I LOVES IT.

So now it's your turn to show us some spring on your papercrafting project!  Add your linky at the SUO Challenges blog.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  To A Wild Rose, Well Said
Ink:  Rococo Rose, Merry Merlot, Mint Macaron, Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Merry Merlot, Thick Whisper White, Garden Lane DSP
Accessories:  Wild Rose Dies, Well Written Framelits, Dimensionals