The Force Is With the Nachos

Happy Tuesday, stampy friends!  Get ready for another Nacho Average Sketch Challenge, because it's here:

Confession time:  this sketch made me very, very glad that I can see our challenges in advance, because it was a real head-scratcher for me.  And then I came up with an idea...and then it took me over two hours to actually make it.  But here's what I did:

I have a fever, and the only cure is more Star Wars.  I was looking at a picture of R2-D2 while I made this, but I think my scale is off a little bit.  But by golly, I tried really hard, and I think you can tell what I was going for here.  This card is for my brother, who is also a giant Star Wars nerd (the Force is strong in our family!).

Plain and simple on the inside, but that Artoo sucked up all my mojo for an entire day.

So now it's your turn to tackle the sketch!  Don't forget to share on the Nacho blog.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Alphabet Rotary, Happy Happenings, Gorgeous Grunge
Ink:  Pacific Point, Basic Black, Whisper White
Paper:  Pacific Point, Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Real Red, Whisper White
Accessories:  not sure I remember them all right, but Circles & Ovals Framelits, 1/2" circle punch, 1" square punch, hole punch and a lot of patience.

Frozen

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Today's layout shares a name with a Disney movie you may have heard of.

Actually I got some Frozen stickers that I had intended to use on here, and then I changed my mind and just went with snowflakes.  Somehow I never posted these pictures on my other blog, but this was from February when we actually had a freeze in Alabama.  These deer statues were at the entrance to the housing development we lived in, and they usually have a fountain of water spraying on them so that's why they froze over like that.

Just got these snowflake stamps and I love them :D

When I was still planning to use my Elsa sticker on here, I found a lettering template that was similar to the one they use for the movie title but I used a snowflake for the O.  I don't know why Disney doesn't use a snowflake for the O.

Today's color palette:  Mint Macaron, Lost Lagoon, Rich Razzleberry, Smoky Slate, and Whisper White.  Although the "Frozen" part is right now wishful thinking...the high here on Saturday was 78 degrees.  In November!  Global warming, y'all.

Happy birthday to my brother, who doesn't read this blog, but you'll see his birthday card here tomorrow.  Cheers!

Supplies, mostly SU!
Stamps:  Flurry of Wishes
Ink:  Mint Macaron, Lost Lagoon, Rich Razzleberry
Paper:  Mint Macaron, Lost Lagoon, Thick Whisper White, All is Calm Specialty DSP
Accessories: Flower Medallion punch, lettering template

Friday Flashback: Triple Treat Flower

Happy Friday, peeps!  Welcome back to the Friday Flashback.  Today's featured stamp set is actually one single stamp, the Triple Treat Flower.  So let's look back in the archives...

Also features All Holidays

 Oh, okay.  That's it for the archives.  Well then, on to today's new card!

I like the colors.  I used the ColourQ color challenge (colour challenge) and decided to use Island Indigo as the main color and just pops of the other colors.  And I decided to use the Get Well sentiment from Express Yourself because I don't have a big stash of Get Well cards.  I have lots of Thinking of You which also works for that, but we like variety.  Anyway, here's the ColourQ challenge graphic:

I also used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Those collage-type layouts aren't really in my comfort zone, so I appreciate this challenge making me stretch a bit and I do like how the card came out.

It wasn't all sunshine and roses working on it though.  Have you ever opened up a red ink pad and seen the dreaded gold sheen?  I don't know what causes it but I opened up my Raspberry Ripple ink pad and there it was.  Well, Raspberry Ripple is retired, and as I had no fear and nothing to lose, I took the ink pad up to the sink and rinsed it out, hoping to get all the gold sheen off.

Note to self:  do not rinse out ink pads in a white porcelain sink.  It looked like a crime scene cleanup.  Luckily it came off with some Clorox wipes.  After I rinsed it out and squished it on a lot of paper towels, I set about inking it back up with an ink refill.

That little bugger was hard to squeeze, this is what the ink pad looked like when I was almost done.  And then I tried inking up my stamp.  And I think maybe I didn't get enough of the water out of the ink pad before I started with the ink refill.  I'm going to have to think about how I might possibly salvage this ink pad...might have to go rinse it out again and let it dry really good before inking it up again.  Only I won't use the white sink to do that ;)  I ended up using a marker to color in the stamp, which turned out much lighter and less saturated than the ink pad would have but at least it worked.

Anyway.  It's time for me to get off the computer and go tackle something else.  Though I might check all my red ink pads for the dreaded gold sheen...

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Triple Treat Flower, Express Yourself
Ink:  Island Indigo, Cajun Craze, Raspberry Ripple
Paper:  Island Indigo, Always Artichoke, Whisper White, Island Indigo DSP
Accessories:  two retired flower punches, 1/2" circle punch, hexagon punch, rhinestone, Circles Framelits, Secret Garden Framelits

Thankful Leaf

Hey peeps!  I am currently procrastinating about cleaning house :D  But I really do need to get in the basement and clean some stuff out.  It's a little crazy in there right now, that always happens when I've been creating a lot.  Creativity breeds chaos in my craft cave.

But it also produced this:

I did that thing where you take an acrylic block and scribble on it with marker, spray it with a bit of water and then smoosh it on watercolor paper.  The Calypso Coral ended up being much lighter than the Mossy Meadow ink, so I got out an Aquapainter and painted on some more coral to even it up a bit.  Then I dried it with my embossing gun and then embossed the Lighthearted Leaves giant leaf on top in gold.  My colors today are thanks to the Color Throwdown:

Preeeeeettttttyyyyy.  I used gold, Calypso Coral, and Mossy Meadow and somehow managed to only use those colors and nothing else :)

I also used the latest sketch from Fab Friday:

Instead of the stitching, I used a gold doily.  And my main image ended up being so large that I left off the pearls...and I didn't do that one extra background layer.  But I think I still kept the spirit of the sketch?

This also fits with the current Paper Players challenge:

I was looking for an excuse to use that gorgeous "Thankful" stamp from Six Sayings, don't you love it?

The embossing on the sentiment shows up a little better in this pic, though the leaf looks a little washed out.  It's one of those cards that I think looks a little better in person.

Anyway, I really do need to clean that basement, so cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lighthearted Leaves, Six Sayings
Ink: Mossy Meadow, Calypso Coral, Versamark
Paper:  Mossy Meadow, Calypso Coral, watercolor paper
Accessories:  gold doily, gold EP, Leaflets Framelits, Dimensionals

A Dozen Best Thoughts

Or really, just one "hello".

I thought I'd do something a little different with the sentiment so I punched it out with the Elegant Butterfly punch as opposed to a circle or an oval or something you might expect.

Today's floral greeting is brought to you by the Global Design Project colors:

And also the Mojo Monday sketch:

I moved the circular element on the sketch down a little bit to accommodate the flower image.  I like this sketch.  It's more layers than I typically do on my own, but I think it works.

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Best Thoughts, A Dozen Thoughts
Ink:  Versamark, Tip Top Taupe, Mint Macaron, Watermelon Wonder
Paper:  Tip Top Taupe, Mint Macaron, Whisper White, In Color DSP
Accessories:  Clear EP, corner rounder punch, Elegant Butterfly punch, Dimensionals

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

Rosemary's Cafe

Scrappy Monday, peeps!  I hope you had a good Halloween.  The hubs and I carved pumpkins, and then we decided to go to the movies and out to dinner instead of handing out candy.  We were just watching the previews in the theater when the fire alarm went off and we all had to troop outside for about 15 minutes while the fire department checked things out.  While we were waiting, the hubs and I saw a little kid dressed up as a fireman; his momma was taking advantage of the unexpected prop and taking his photo with the fire truck :)  We also saw Darth Vader, R2-D2 (it was an R2-D2 dress, I liked it), Captain America, and Iron Man.  We should wear costumes more than once a year.

Anyway, on to the scrappy Monday pages!  I finished up this layout last week and I'm very happy to share it today.  Behold pictures from China!

We went to this cafe the first night we were in Guilin, and liked it so much that we went back again the next night.  And can I just say God bless Missy for wearing that awesome green shirt!  I'm loving my Glorious Green page base.

As with all my China pages, I'm using a lettering template and the Rough Type alphabet stamps.  This is the first time I've ever used the round outline though.

This week's color palette:  Glorious Green, Bashful Blue, More Mustard, Riding Hood Red (all retired), Basic Black, and Whisper White.

I've already got some more pictures pulled for the next scrapbook layout, so I'm going to go work on that.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, mostly SU!
Stamps:  Rough Type Alphabet, Chere Amie
Ink:  Glorious Green, Basic Black
Paper:  Glorious Green, More Mustard, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Frosty Day DSP, More Mustard DSP
Accessories:  Circle punches, corner rounder punch, non-SU lettering template