Fort Worth Zoo

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I've got a couple of things to do today...my brother is coming over to take a look at my car.  Remember I said it had rained cats and dogs all day on Saturday and I was out in it?  Well, I got in my car yesterday to pick up Ryan and the splash guard thingy on the bottom of my car (that thing that covers the underside of the car to protect it from rocks and stuff) was hanging down.  So I met my neighbors for the first time, they were standing out in front of their house and they very kindly took the splash guard off for me and recommended I get it replaced soon.  So now Adam is going to come take a look at it since I know nothing about fixing cars.

Anyway, this week Ryan has a field trip to the Dallas Zoo so I thought I would share a layout from when we went to the Fort Worth Zoo in 2020, just before we left for Germany.

And do I have the PERFECT alphabet for the title or what!  Click the pic to embiggen, the letters are all animals!  It's the aptly named Animal Alphabet, and if you can't tell, the letters are a fox, weasel, zebra, and owl.  I chose a couple of patterns from the Animal Expedition DSP and I wish I had gotten more than one pack of that, I love it.  And I am impressed with myself, I managed to fit in eleven pictures, two patterned papers, a fun title, and two zebra accents!

My color palette today:  Crumb Cake, Call Me Clover, Calypso Coral, and Pool Party.  I can't wait to see the new beige color in person (and prepare to giggle, when I was a kid I thought that word was pronounced beej!).  I'm holding off on ordering anything until the full catalog goes live on May 1 because I want the duck suite.  And I may only get to do one order before we move again, we'll see.  So I've started my list, and I'll definitely pick up all the new colors, the airplane suite, Ryan's ducks, and that one stamp set that says HEY in big letters because it reminds me of Into the Spider-Verse, and Ryan likes to do the hand on the shoulder bit from that movie and if you've seen it you know what I'm talking about.  Anyway, I won't get the new stuff until after May 1 so I'm trying to be patient.

In the meantime, I've got to get Ryan out the door for school.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Animal Alphabet, Zany Zebras
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Neutrals; Basic Black marker
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Call Me Clover, Thick Basic White, Animal Expedition DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies

SUO Challenges: Animal Kingdom

Howdy y'all!  Are you ready for a new challenge from SUO Challenges?  Because it's that time again!

It's a theme challenge this time:  Animal Kingdom!  So let's see your animal-themed cards.  You've got lots of stamps to choose from for this one! :)  I chose the soon-to-be-retired Zany Zebras:

I'm surprised that this one is retiring after just one year in the main catalog, so if you don't have it yet ya better grab it soon!  Something about these super-cute zebras makes me want to dig out the '80s-inspired bright colors, haha.  I grabbed a piece of the Ice Cream Corner DSP and that inspired me to use Bermuda Bay on my zebras.  Flirty Flamingo is *not* in that DSP but I thought it worked well with the Old Olive and Bermuda Bay in the DSP.  Also, I need to re-ink my Bermuda Bay ink pad.  The inside of the card has the birthday sentiment from Zany Zebras stamped inside.

Share your own Animal Kingdom card creation with us at the SUO Challenges blog.  Hope you have as much fun with this challenge as I did!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Zany Zebras
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Bermuda Bay, Stampin' Blends in Bermuda Bay & Flirty Flamingo
Paper:  Flirty Flamingo, Thick Basic White, Ice Cream Corner DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes dies

SUO Challenges: Winter Wonderland

Mornin' y'all!  Christmas is in just a couple of days, which means the new year is right around the corner, which means we've almost made it to the end of one very tough year.  We've got time for one more challenge from SUO Challenges!

The theme this time around is WINTER!  I don't know about you, but I enjoy snuggling up in some nice cozy blankets with a cuppa tea and either a good book or a good movie in the wintertime.  I do love all the snowflakes and snowman images too though, so that's what I went with for today's card:

The hubs asked me for a birthday card for his coworker yesterday and I thought this snowman was just the ticket.  I didn't have much time, so I embossed the snowman in white on Pacific Point cardstock and then die cut--I thought it looked a bit like a snow globe when I added the sentiment underneath.  Super easy, doesn't take much time, but people who don't do papercrafting are always impressed with embossed stuff.  I kept trying to add more stuff to this card, but it insisted on staying CAS to let that amazing snowflake paper show off.  I did add just a little to the inside of the card:

Ya know, just in case you missed the snowflakes on the front :)  I also made the white panel the same size as the DSP panel on the front of the card; usually if I line the inside of a card I just make a little border all the way around but I liked this.

Your turn!  Make something winter-inspired and share it on the SUO Challenges blog here.  Peace, joy, and let's all yell JUMANJI! as soon as midnight hits on New Year's Eve, k?

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snowman Season, Zany Zebras
Ink:  Versamark, Pacific Point, Balmy Blue
Paper:  Pacific Point, Balmy Blue, Whisper White, Snowflake Splendor DSP
Accessories:  White EP, Stitched Shapes dies, Tasteful Labels dies, Dimensionals

SUO Challenges: Birthday Party

Mornin' y'all!  You ready to get stamping on a new SUO Challenge?

We've got a super easy one for you this time:  make a birthday card!  I think the only thing I make more often than birthday cards is thank you cards :)  Today also happens to be my friend Melissa's birthday, we've been friends since we were in middle school.  Happy birthday, Melissa!

Here's my zany little card:

I just can't seem to make myself do plain black and white zebras :)  I stamped them in Blackberry Bliss ink on top of the Artistry Blooms DSP, which is probably the easiest way to get some fantastic color on these zebra friends.  My glimmer paper and enamel dot embellishments are retired, but there are some great options in the current catalog that would be easy subs for what I used (I'm trying to use up what I've got).

You know what's next!  Make a birthday card and share it with us at the SUO Challenges blog.  We'll be waiting with cake ;)

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Zany Zebras
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss
Paper:  Magenta Madness, Thick Whisper White, retired Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Tailored Tag punch, Dimensionals, Glitter Enamel Dots (retired?)

Tropical Zebra

Happy Friday, y'all!  Are you ready for a good holiday weekend?  The hubs is off work today and all next week; we're going to go out of town for a few days but I'm going to schedule some blog posts here while we're gone.  Is it weird that I'm excited to get my hair cut today??  It's been over three months, I definitely need a haircut.  But anyway!  On to my card for today.

I love these zebras, yes I do.  I pulled out some retired DSP (Tropical Escape stack from I think two years ago) because I liked these patterns with my cute little zebra, and Magenta Madness seemed to make the greens pop.  The strip with the sentiment is actually Pixie Pink, a long-retired hot pink color that's a good dynamic duo with Magenta Madness.  I suppose I could have used Flirty Flamingo, but ehh.  I'm to the point where I'm just going to use the retired stuff if that's what makes me happy.

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

At first I was trying to use all three zebra stamps as the shapes on the sketch, but I just couldn't make it look right so I went with some patterned paper circles instead.  I'm happy with what I ended up with and this will be going to my honorary niece for her 11th birthday in a few weeks.

Have a great holiday and stay safe, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Zany Zebras
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Pixie Pink marker
Paper:  Magenta Madness, Thick Whisper White, Tropical Escape DSP Stack, Magenta Madness DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, Dimensionals

Punk Rock Zebra

Guess what?  I finally got my new catalog order yesterday!  I got several new stamp sets, some dies, alllll the new In Color ink pads, markers, and cardstock, basically a bunch of fun stuff.  I'm sure I'll be playing with the new stuff a lot in the next few weeks, but to start off with I couldn't resist Zany Zebras!

I love "critter" stamp sets; I got the walrus one right before it retired but I haven't inked it up yet.  For this zebra's maiden voyage, I made him a punk rock zebra!  It was easy, just stamp with Memento Tuxedo Black and color over the stripes with markers.  And to add a bit of pizzazz I also swiped it with Wink of Stella so he's colorful *and* sparkly.  The yellow banner, twine, and accent pieces are all from May's Paper Pumpkin kit.

And there's the inside, in full color!  Love having the new ink pads, and I'm glad I got them today since the new colors are featured in the Global Design Project color challenge:

And I used the Inspire. Create. sketch:

I didn't finish my scrapbook layout yesterday because I was busy pulling out all the new stuff and getting organized, so maybe this afternoon...one way or another, I plan to get inky!  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Zany Zebras
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Just Jade, Bumblebee, Magenta Madness
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Just Jade DSP
Accessories:  pieces of the May 2020 Paper Pumpkin kit, Wink of Stella, Dimensionals