Friday Flashback: Fifth Avenue Floral

It's time for another Friday Flashback!  Today's randomly-chosen stamp set is Fifth Avenue Floral, and yet again I'm surprised I don't have more stuff in my archives because this is a really pretty stamp set.  Let's take a look at what I've got, shall we?

I made this for a swap, probably right when Fifth Avenue Floral made its debut in the SU catalog.  Not hard to make a pretty card with this stamp set, amirite?  My only problem was I thought the DSP I used coordinated with Sahara Sand and then after I'd stamped all my floral pieces, I realized the DSP was actually Crumb Cake, so I had to re-stamp the whole set because my OCD wouldn't let me not be all matchy-matchy.  Oops.

But it all worked out because I used the Sahara Sand pieces to make cards to send out to my SU customers.  I just couldn't toss all those perfectly good stamped bits!

Some while later, I made this one for my friend Connie for her birthday.  I was in a hurry so I CASE'd those two earlier cards to make this one.  So that's it for the archives, but it's longer than last week's Friday Flashback ;)  I could have sworn I had used that one stripey flower for a scrapbook layout, but I went through my scrapbook pages three times and I couldn't find it on any of my pages.  At this point, given my week-long battle with insomnia, I may be delusional about that scrapbook page.

Anywhoo, how about a brand-new card!

Dang, that photo is slightly out of focus on the bottom.  Shoulda taken an extra shot for insurance but oh well, you get the gist.  I realized in looking at the archives that I'd never actually colored the flowers in (unless it was on that mythical scrapbook layout, snort) so today I pulled out an oldie from the technique files:  polished stone.  I'm sad that the glossy white cardstock is retiring because you have to have that to do polished stone, which is a technique I love.  The flower is done with Summer Starfruit and Primrose Petals ink refills, and then stamped with Raspberry Ripple for the outline and cut out.  Really fast way to color the flower and get a unique result every time!

Let's hear it for last week's Sketch Frenzy Friday sketch:

It's pretty layer-licious for my tastes but I just had to give it a go with that giant rose.  And the two strips behind the flower were a great way to use some more Print Poetry DSP, because I need to either a.) buy less DSP (yeah like that's gonna happen) or b.) use more of what I've got (I think I could actually do that one).

The color combo is from the hot-off-the-presses Fab Friday color challenge:

My challenge was working in the Soft Suede; if left to my own devices, I would have stamped the sentiment in Primrose Petals.  But I managed to hit all five colors on this challenge and didn't add any extras, can I get a whoop whoop!  :D  So given the stamp sent name and the challenges, this card is a Fab Frenzy Floral Flashback, bwahahahaa!

Thanks for joining me on today's Friday Flashback, have a fabby-dabby weekend!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Fifth Avenue Floral, Elementary Elegance
Ink:  Raspberry Ripple & Soft Suede ink pads, Primrose Petals & Summer Starfruit ink refills
Paper:  Raspberry Ripple, Summer Starfruit, Glossy White, Print Poetry DSP, Neutrals DSP Stack (the vanilla piece is actually DSP with subtle stripes on it)
Accessories:  Modern Label punch

Print Poetry Peacock Feather

Howdy, folks!  I finally have a card done for today's blog post.

I suppose the card is okay, but for some reason it's just not quite doing it for me today.  Probably a result of not sleeping well last night...I woke up at 3:45 and didn't really get any restful sleep after that.  Insomnia sucks.

Anyway, today's card was based on the current Retro Sketch, though I'm afraid I failed to do it justice.  I had all these ideas for this sketch earlier this week but those ideas seem to have fled for the moment.

Well, as Scarlett O'Hara says, tomorrow is another day.  Have a good one, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fine Feathers, Fabulous Phrases
Ink:  Midnight Muse, Wisteria Wonder (hard to see on the feather, but it is in there, and on the sentiment too), Gumball Green
Paper:  Gumball Green, Whisper White, Print Poetry DSP
Accessories:  Wisteria Wonder baker's twine

April Showers

Last time I was making baby books, I had just done some "April showers" layouts when I saw the Occasions mini catalog with Rain or Shine in it, and of course the matching DSP.  Since it was too late to use that stuff last time, I made sure to use it for this set of pages!

Karyn (the mommy who will get these books for her twin boys) loves bright colors, and I think I delivered that on these layouts.  Since they're for boys, I tried doing the title and accent color with Lucky Limeade, but it just didn't pop enough, so I did Melon Mambo instead.  And I left open some areas on the layout to showcase that oh-so-cute umbrella DSP.  I suppose it would look more boyish if I'd done the photo mats in Lucky Limeade and used Pacific Point as the accent color, but I like this the way it is (and I'd already cut all the photo mats for both layouts anyway).

I think this might be my favorite-ever April layout.  Hope you like it too!  I'm happy to report that I am very nearly halfway done with this batch of baby books.  I've been going at warp speed--want to make sure they're done in time for the baby shower near the end of June :)

Supplies:
Stamps:  Rain or Shine, Weather or Not (the small umbrellas on the journaling block)
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Sunshine & Sprinkles DSP
Accessories:  old Sizzix alphabet

Cantaloupe Poppies

So here's the second sneak peek in as many days.  I was planning to do something else today but my Feel Goods stamp set seems to have gone AWOL, not sure what happened with that.  But let's look at some new SU goodies!

The card base is Crisp Cantaloupe, one of the hot-off-the-presses new In Colors.  The flower image is stamped with Basic Gray stamped off once, then watercolored with Cantaloupe and Pear Pizzazz.  I was really pleased with how it turned out, it looks nice and soft and the sentiment still stands out.  It was a nice surprise :)

The color combo is thanks to Inkspirational:

Ok, so it's kind of a liberal interpretation.  When I first saw this swatch card, I was thinking Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, and the retired (but still missed) Peach Parfait, but I ended up with Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizzazz, and Crisp Cantaloupe.  I thought the colors I went with were really interesting together.

The sketch is from CAS(E) this Sketch:

Again, kind of a liberal interpretation of the sketch but this time it was accidental.  I copied the sketch down on a piece of scratch paper and kind of got the placement a bit off with the image panel more to the right, *and* somehow I got the rounded corner on the wrong side.  Well, I tried, anyway!

Hope you have a fantastic day, and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Sketched (new hostess set!)
Ink:  Basic Gray, Crisp Cantaloupe, Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizzazz
Paper:  Crisp Cantaloupe, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Twitterpated DSP
Accessories:  corner rounder punch, Dimensionals

Mad for Mosaics!

I said on Friday that I'd probably have some new goodies to showcase today and look at this!

I've got new stamps and new colors and new DSP to play with :D  And a punch that coordinates with the stamp set--be still my heart!  I think I'm in love.   I think this Mosaic Madness stamp set will quickly become a favorite, at least at my house--it's the kind of stamp set that you can do in just about any color combo and use for just about any occasion, so you gotta love that.

So I used two of the new In Colors on this card--Strawberry Slush and Coastal Cabana.  Can't wait to get my hot little hands on more DSP in the In Colors :D  I think a nice subtle pattern on the Coastal Cabana strip would take this card over the top.  The sentiment stamp is from the first My Paper Pumpkin kit...with the way our mail runs, I think I'll be getting my packages about a month after everyone in the States but at least they get here eventually.  Love that sentiment stamp.

Today's card is based on the latest wonderful Freshly Made Sketch:

Only of course I rotated it 90 degrees for my card.  I suppose I could have made this horizontal, but I liked it vertical with the mosaic pattern.

I've also been making some really excellent progress on the twin boy baby books so I'll be posting pics of those scrapbook pages here and there.  At least I'm working on those fast enough that I don't feel too guilty taking some time out to play with new goodies just for funsies :)

Hope your week is off to a fantastic start, thanks for stopping by!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Mosaic Madness, My Paper Pumpkin
Ink:  Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana
Paper:  Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana, Whisper White, Quatrefancy Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Mosaic punch!!, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Just Beakause

It's Friday, and that means it's time for another Friday Flashback!  Today's stamp set is Just Beakause, and the funky birds in this set always remind me of the Tiki Room at Disneyland.  I haven't used this stamp set a whole lot since I got it (wow, back in 2006 from the dates on Splitcoast?) but at least today's Flashback will be longer than last week's ;)

My first card with the set, done for a Virtual Stamp Night (VSN) challenge on Splitcoast.  The sentiment is punched out with the key tag punch (I think that was what it was called?).  I kinda miss that punch.

Hey look, I used the funky birds on a baby book layout for my friend Sarah's daughter.  Sarah likes bright colors so that's how this one came about.  I also used the retired set Tropical Party on this layout, and the fun Island Oasis DSP.

Ok, so a whopping two previous projects, but still longer than last week's ;)  And here's today's brand new card!

Ok, so it might seem an odd choice for a Mother's Day card, but hubs' parents both grew up in the Canal Zone in Panama and my MIL likes the bright tropical birds, so that's the reasoning behind the card.  Makes sense to me.

And this card came together in a flash thanks to the Fab Friday sketch:

Heyyy, this time I stayed pretty close to the original sketch, aside from putting my flag on the wrong side on the sentiment.  After I stuck everything down I kinda wished I'd done paper piercing around the bird image but too late now.  And have I been using those Glimmer Brads a lot lately?  Can't mail 'em from here (postmaster is super picky about anything dimensional) so luckily this will go in a package.

Ooh, tip for the day!  If you've got a Glimmer Brad with the legs stuck together, the paper piercing tool can help unstick them, just use the point to pry the legs apart.  I kind of had to work at it on both brads for today's card--I think that's the part that took me the longest in making this, to be honest--but it does work!

Thanks for stopping by for today's Friday Flashback, and I'll see you again in Monday.  And maybe some sneak peek goodiez from the new catalog!!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Just Beakause, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, Rose Red, Pacific Point
Paper:  Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron, Whisper White, Island Oasis DSP
Accessories:  Labels Collection Framelits, Brights Glimmer Brads

Hello, Baby

Another week almost done!  Here's my card for today.

To be honest, this is not my favorite card ever, but I think it's because I dislike Blushing Bride.  That and I think this card looked better in my head than it does on paper?  The layout is this week's Splitcoast sketch and the colors are from Dynamic Duos:

So I should get points for attempting a card with a color I don't like.  I figured this would be an okay card for a baby shower, or failing that, next time my hubs is gone for a bit I can send this to him because that thought kinda made me giggle.  I'm not the only one who calls her husband "baby", am I?  Is that weird?

Who am I kidding, I don't care if it's weird.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Mixed Bunch, Sweet Essentials
Ink:  Calypso Coral
Paper:  Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, Everyday Enchantment DSP (retired, but I have GOT to use up some of my stash!)
Accessories: mini silver brad