Butterfly Thoughts

I mistyped my blog post title and for a second there, this was labeled Butterfly Thugs.  What would a butterfly thug even be like?!

Anyway, here's today's card:

I ordered the butterfly Framelits that are in the Occasions catalog but they're on backorder so I broke out the butterfly punches instead.  I got my color combination from Cupcake Inspirations:

And I haven't had breakfast yet, so I kinda want to just reach through the screen and grab that cupcake.

I also used the sketch from Sketch Frenzy Friday, been a while since I played along over there:

I thought this was a fun and different sketch, I relished the opportunity to play with it.

Anyway, I've got a busy day ahead so I should probably go get running.  First off, a poll if you will:  I do the Kindle First thing on Amazon, where at the beginning of the month I can get one of four books for $1.99.  Some months, none of the books are appealing to me, but this month, two of them are--The Mermaid's Sister and The Dead Key.  So which one do you think I should get?  I can only get one at the $1.99 price, the other one I'd have to preorder for $4.99.  I'm gonna go ponder while I run :)

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Too Kind
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Basic Black, Bermuda Bay, Brushed Gold, Whisper White, Confetti Celebration DSP
Accessories:  Bitty Butterfly & Elegant Butterfly punches, Brights Candy Dots, Dimensionals

Hellotus

So, if you've looked around Snapdragon Stamps even a little bit, you probably know I'm kind of addicted to patterned paper.  And if I don't use patterned paper, then I either stamp all over the panels or use an embossing folder or something like that.  Seems like I want to fill in every available space with *something* to look at.

Well, today, as a personal challenge, I decided to use only plain cardstock for all my background panels and only stamp the main image and sentiment.  What do you think?

I was going to just have the die-cut "hello" as the sentiment, but it just seemed to need a little something else in that space and it was driving me crazy so I gave in and stamped "friend" on it.  Still, I kinda like it because it kinda feels more graphic and clean to only have the solid colors on here.  Speaking of colors, I used the combo from Just Add Ink:

I admit, I haven't used much Rich Razzleberry since Blackberry Bliss appeared on the scene, so it was nice to break it out for this card.  I like these colors together quite a bit.

I also used the Mojo Monday sketch for this week:

You know I wouldn't come up with all those layers by my own devices ;)

Well, I've got to leave pretty soon here for my stitching group so I'll catch you later, peeps.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lotus Blossom, My Paper Pumpkin
Ink:  Pool Party, Night of Navy, Sahara Sand
Paper:  Pool Party, Night of Navy, Sahara Sand, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White
Accessories:  Circles Framelits, Hello You Thinlits, Dimensionals

Nacho Average Valentine

It's Nacho Average Challenge day!  This week, the Nachos bring you a sketch:

And I followed it pretty literally, except my sentiment is on the heart :)

The heart die cut, stamp, and little Blushing Bride banners are all from January's Paper Pumpkin kit, and the chevron stamp was from a Paper Pumpkin kit from months and months ago, one of the first few I got.  One of these days I need to actually make the projects that come with the kits instead of mostly using the stamps ;)

So go check out the Nacho blog for more eye candy and then give the sketch a try yourself.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  past My Paper Pumpkin kits
Ink:  Real Red, Coastal Cabana
Paper:  Real Red, Whisper White, Brushed Gold
Accessories:  Die cuts from MPP kit, Delicate Dots EF, Dimensionals

Ionian Sunset

Scrappy Monday, peeps!  I'm typing this one-handed since I've got a blueberry muffin in my left hand.  Can't leave that unguarded, Vader likes blueberry muffins almost as much as I do ;)

Today's scrapbook layout takes us back to Greece; this one goes right after last week's Olympia layout.  You can see the original pics here if you so desire.  I kept this layout super super simple to let the pictures be the star of the show.

My big deal lately seems to be mixing fonts on stamped titles; I did yet another scrapbook layout over the weekend using this same trick but with different alphabet stamps (I have...several alphabets, but I need more because I always need more, right?).  I showed this layout to the hubs and he's like "Ionian?  What's Ionian?" so I told him that we were in the Ionian Sea when we took these pictures.  And that sea was named after Io, who was hit on by Zeus and then he turned her into a cow to keep Hera from finding out, but Hera's not stupid, so she sent a gadfly to sting Io.  Personally, I think I would have sent the gadfly to sting the philandering husband, not the poor princess who wasn't allowed to say no to the king of the gods.

Greek scrapbook layout with a side of Greek mythology for your Monday morning.  You're welcome.

Every single color I used on this layout (except the Basic Gray marker) is now retired.  The Apricot Appeal and Certainly Celery were pulled over from the Olympia layout since these two go right next to each other, but I wanted a much softer color scheme for the sunset pics.

Lemme just pat myself on the back and say that I'm pretty happy with how this layout turned out.  And now it's time to take the doglets out for a walk; hopefully it's not too terribly muddy though it probably will be since it rained All. Day. Long. yesterday.  But Sadie hasn't been for a walk since last Wednesday and she's going stir-crazy, so here's hoping there's no more limping.

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Chere Amie, Spencerian Alphabet, Empire Alphabet
Ink:  Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Apricot Appeal, Afternoon Tea & Summer Picnic DSP
Accessories:  1 1/8" circle punch, white EP

Friday Flashback: Ageless Adornment

It's Friday Flashback day!  Today's retired stamp set of choice is Ageless Adornment, which was a purple rubber hostess set way back when.  There are four images (butterfly, pear, holly, and calla lily) plus three fancy-font sentiments.  So let's take a look, shall we?

I know, this is the absolute *worst* picture, but the original card was pretty.  The background is polished stone (wish SU still carried glossy white cardstock just for this technique) and I colored the butterfly to match.

Also features Roses in Winter, Script, and Filigree

Here's the butterfly again, and this card is...less than successful.  Sadly the part I like the least is the Ageless Adornment butterfly :(  So since this card is disappointing, I tried to make something mo bettah today, and this is what I came up with:

I knew I wanted to use a stamp that wasn't the butterfly ;) but I didn't realize beforehand that I hadn't used *any* of the other images.  But the pear seemed like a good choice with this week's Color Throwdown combo:

I interpreted the colors as Lavender Lace (hoping for another purple when the new In Colors are introduced this summer), Summer Starfruit, Cool Caribbean, and Barely Banana, all of which are retired.  So today we're featuring retired stamps *and* retired colors, though happily for me, Chocolate Chip is still current.  Do NOT take away Christy's chocolate if you want to live.  I stamped the pear with Chocolate Chip craft ink (which is retired) and then embossed with clear EP so I could watercolor without smearing ink everywhere.  Everything else is pretty self-explanatory.

Anyway, I also used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I did a plain border around my circular element instead of the scallops as shown on the sketch, and I think my banners are a little fatter,  but I followed the sketch pretty closely.

So that's it for me this week, peeps.  Have a fantabulous day!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Ageless Adornment, Happy Harmony
Ink:  Chocolate Chip (craft and classic), Cool Caribbean, Lovely Lilac, Barely Banana, Summer Starfruit
Paper:  Cool Caribbean, Chocolate Chip, Barely Banana, Lovely Lilac, Whisper White, Summer Starfruit DSP scrap
Accessories:  Circle Framelits, clear EP (really, I didn't even use Dimensionals this time!)

This One's For Missy

I'm late posting again today, but this time it's because I went shopping with a friend before I got my card completely finished.  Oh, and Sadie seems to be doing better today; she was asking to go for a walk and I was like hahahahNO, you're still moving kinda slow and I don't want to hurt you more.

But anyway, there is a stamp set in the Occasions catalog that I love.  My friend Missy....does not.  And I don't know why, because I think it's awesome and hilarious and fun and different and so when I got it yesterday (birfday present to me!) I had to make a card to send to her featuring....

A lumberjack!

Heeee's a lumberjack and he's okay, he sleeps all night and he works all day!  Oh wait, that's a whole 'nother song.  Anyway, how could you not love this lumberjack?  He's awesome!  And I broke open the first of my new firm foam ink pads to stamp his Garden Green shirt (green for Baylor, obviously, also why his hat is Crushed Curry).  And I used some of my new Blendabilities, but I didn't, you know, blend them.  Anyway, I used a slightly modified version of the sketch from Retro Sketches:

The lumberjack image was big enough that I couldn't make this a 4.25" square card, and I didn't want to do a 5.5" square and have to pay extra for postage, so I stretched the sketch to an A2 size.

Anyway, it's pretty much dinnertime so that's it for me today.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wood You Be Mine?  (buy iiiiiit Missy!)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Garden Green; markers in Blush Blossom (I know it's retired but it's less pink than Blushing Bride), Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze, Calypso Coral; Blendabilities in Crumb Cake and Smoky Slate
Paper:  Garden Green, Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Gold Soiree DSP
Accessories:  Itty Bitty Accents punch pack

Sunshine Rose

Sounds like a hippie baby name, doesn't it?  But what else would you call a card that looks like this:

I started out with the rose and smaller flowers using the color combo from Colour Me...! and then the sunshine sentiment just seemed like a natural fit.

I also used the sketch from the Paper Players:

As it happens, I *just* got the Confetti Celebrations DSP today, so yay for new stuff!  I also got three stamp sets and my new firm foam ink pads, but those haven't been opened up yet since I'd already done all the stamping for this card by the time Mr. Brown showed up.  We get UPS deliveries after 5:00 here, why can't we have 'em at 9:00 a.m.?

Anyway, this post almost didn't happen...had to take both the doglets to the vet this afternoon.  I took them out this morning for our usual walk, and Sadie was going really, really slow (which she never does), and after we got back she was limping pretty good.  We think it might possibly be arthritis in her shoulder, poor baby.  She wasn't a fan of the way the vet manipulated her leg and shoulder.  Vader was a good sport about everything, probably because he got treats and Sadie had the more disagreeable end of the deal.

So that's it for me today.  I'm going to go chill out with my doglets.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Stippled Blossoms, Ray of Sunshine
Ink:  Tangelo Twist, Daffodil Delight, Island Indigo, Rich Razzleberry
Paper:  Tangelo Twist, Daffodil Delight, Island Indigo, Whisper White, Confetti Celebrations DSP
Accessories:  Circles Framelits, Dimensionals