SUO Challenges: A Feast on Scraps

Hey hey, stampy friends!  It's time for a new challenge from SUO Challenges!

The challenge this time is to make a card using scraps.  We all have them, right?  Little pieces of patterned paper, extra stamped images, pieces of cardstock left over from other projects...okay so this challenge might be a little self-serving because I came up with it and I always have a ton of scraps.  I'm a leeeetle bit of a hoarder when it comes to craft supplies (haha), and every time I get a new pack of DSP, I make up one of these:

It's a regular sheet protector and I put on a label with the name of the DSP and the colors featured in it.  I put in a sheet of cardstock and for the 12x12 DSPs I'll put scraps in the back that are still 12" long and thus usable for borders on scrapbook pages, everything shorter than that goes in front of the cardstock.  So for this challenge, I decided to focus on the Tea Boutique DSP stack because I had a bunch of scraps from it (and also I just like it).  And then I made three cards!  Every single bit of paper on these cards (except the card bases) started out as a scrap left over from something else.  Take a look:

So here's the first card I made:

Those three strips of patterned paper were already all the same size; two of the teapots were already fussy cut from another piece of paper.  A quick stamped sentiment on a little scrap of Fresh Freesia and a run through the die cut machine and voila, my first card.

Here's card #2:

I noticed those two Crushed Curry patterns and thought they'd go nicely with that one floral.  I cut down one scrap of the floral pattern to fit my card front (this is kind of CASEd from a previous challenge), and then I flipped the other piece of that scrap over and cut the three circles from it to go behind the Sweet Sorbet teapot.  The scrap wasn't big enough to make a big circle to go around the teapot, so that's why I did three smaller ones, and I think it works.

Final card:

For this last card, I used a couple of the larger scraps.  I cut about 3/4" off the Fresh Freesia scrap and left the other one as it already was, then put together a quick sentiment panel with another fussy cut teapot.  I know the color in this pack is Parakeet Party, not Pear Pizzazz, but Parakeet Party felt too bright for this card so I switched it out for the tamer green.

So in the end, I used up quite a few of my Tea Boutique scraps, but not all--I think I still have three more teapots awaiting cards.  This was a fun exercise for me; besides using up scraps, it made me think creatively about how to use the pieces I had without cutting out anything extra.  So I hope you'll give our scrap-tastic challenge a shot and post your card(s) over on the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Cup of Tea
Ink:  Starry Sky, Garden Green
Paper:  Thick Basic White, Fresh Freesia, Petal Pink, Pear Pizzazz, Tea Boutique DSP Stack
Accessories:  Teacup dies, Stylish Shapes dies, In Color Matte Dots, In Color baker's twine, Dimensionals

March 2020

Scrappy Monday, y'all, and the start of Week 4 of the Cold That Would Not Go Away.  Still miserable.  Both the hubs and the kid are feeling better, at least, it's me that can't kick this thing.

Anyway, I have one of my more recent layouts to share today:

Pics are all from March of 2020, which is when the Covid lockdowns really started in the States, at least where we were.  I almost always angle stripey paper like that so it points upwards, because it seems more cheerful to me, but this time I chose to make it go downwards (and this is part of the Flowers & More DSP that's in the Occasions catalog, I love it!).  So most of the journaling block is about Covid, but I did some short captions on most of the pictures for what Ryan was doing.  Like how he chose is own all-red outfit.  I think that the 2022-24 In Colors might be my favorite batch so far for scrapbooking, I think I've used all of them as page bases already and I bought another pack of 12x12 cardstock (actually my last order was almost all 12x12 cardstock, I bought more from each color family).

Today's In Color palette:  Parakeet Party, Orchid Oasis, Starry Sky, and Sweet Sorbet.  There's just a bit of Tahitian Tide on the patterned paper, too.

Stay healthy, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Full Calendar
Ink:  Versamark, Starry Sky marker
Paper:  Parakeet Party, Starry Sky, Orchid Oasis, Sweet Sorbet, Thick Basic White, Flowers & More DSP
Accessories:  White EP, Beautiful Shapes dies

Oh, Beehive

I'm going to blame that terrible pun on either too much cold medicine, or not enough.  It's one of those two.  I sent Ryan to school today for the first time all week (he was Most Displeased and told me so at top volume several times, but he went) and I am doing my best to stay vertical and do some laundry.  While I'm waiting for the next load to come out of the dryer, I made this:

Hexagons everywhere.  I started with this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I started out by cutting a whole lot of hexagons with the Beautiful Shapes dies, and then just piling them on my card front until I liked it.  I'm also entering this at Festive Friday:

I used green, gold (it's very subtle, but the Genial Gems I used have gold glitter in them and for some reason I just really liked them with the bees), and luck.  And a punny sentiment if you count my blog post title.

Next up is the Color Throwdown:

I used Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, and Parakeet Party.  All my hexes were cut from scraps of DSP in my stash, yay!

Finally, here's the Cupcake Inspirations challenge:

Which is what kind of brought the other three challenges together for me.  The Color Throwdown was good bee colors, the stamp set has a good luck sentiment in it for the Festive Friday challenge, and the hexagons worked with the Freshly Made Sketch.

Time to switch out the laundry.  Stay healthy, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Honeybee Home
Ink:  Basic Gray, Stampin' Blends in Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Thick Basic White, Pool Party, DSP in Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, Parakeet Party
Accessories:  Beautiful Shapes dies, Honeybee dies, Genial Gems, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Hippity Hoppity

Well, someone has put a curse on our house; all three of us are sick to one degree or another.  Ryan hasn't been to school all week, I've called in sick to work two days, the hubs is sick but had to go on a business trip anyway.  The doctors keep telling us it's just a cold, but man, this one just won't give up!

But today I managed to get in my craft room for a little bit while Ryan was watching cartoons and I made this:

Easter Bunny is one of my newer acquisitions that hadn't been used yet, so I'd better hurry up before Easter is over for this year.  (I got it because I have some Easter pics from last year and this will be perfect when I do those scrapbook pages.) (I also did another SU! order for today, but for once, it had zero stamps on it.  All cardstock, mostly 12x12 because as soon as I can sit up for longer than an hour without the room spinning, I will be back to scrapbooking.)

And of course Easter Bunny is perfect for the challenge at the Paper Players:

And I thought the CAS Colours & Sketches challenge this time around is a great collection of Easter colors:

And the Hand Stamped Sentiments sketch is nice and CAS too:

So the only two things that took a bit of time for my card were fussy cutting the rabbit's flower garland and trying different things to change the shape at the top of the Daffodil Delight DSP.  I ended up going with one of the Basic Borders dies and it kinda sorta looks like a house so I'm going with it.

Hope Ryan has picked a cartoon that I like because I'm going to go lay on the couch for a while.  Cheers, and stay healthy y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Easter Bunny
Ink:  Soft Suede, Highland Heather, Stampin' Blends in Highland Heather, Daffodil Delight, Parakeet Party, Crumb Cake, Polished Pink
Paper:  Thick Basic White, Daffodil Delight & Parakeet Party DSP
Accessories:  Easter Bunny punch, Stitched Rectangles dies, Basic Borders dies, Dimensionals

Party Llama

Hey y'all, congratulations we made it to Friday!  That calls for a fiesta : )  (and a siesta afterwards, because who am I kidding I always need more sleep).

Yep, we're bringing back another retired stamp set for today, Birthday Fiesta!  I kind of totally adore it.  Check out this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the Color Throwdown:

I realized that three of these colors are in the Butterfly Kisses DSP stack, so I used that for my patterned paper.  The colors I used are Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry, Balmy Blue, and Starry Sky.  Can't see the Balmy Blue?  It ended up being just a squee bit of shading on the llama with the lighter Balmy Blue Blend.  Doesn't show up a lot, but it's there!  Also I painted over "fiesta" with the Wink of Stella pen so it's got a little shimmer to it IRL.

Need to throw myself a fiesta because I have been scrappin' up a storm this week despite *still* being under the weather.  I think I'm at a dozen pages done since this Monday, woohoo!  Trying to get as much done as I can before we pack up all our stuff to move this summer, since I know it'll likely be at least two months that I won't get to paper craft at all.  Better enjoy it while I can!  And I am, I've been very pleased with the pages I've been making.  Now I just need an overcast day so I can take pictures of the completed layouts...

Have a great weekend and stay healthy, yo.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Birthday Fiesta
Ink:  Starry Sky, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Thick Basic White, Butterfly Kisses DSP Stack
Accessories:  Fiesta Time dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Artistry Blooms sequins, Wink of Stella

Stuck On You

You know, I've got several brand-new stamp sets that I haven't even inked up at all yet, plus several more that I've only played with once, so what do I do?  I make cards with retired stamp sets.  I can't help it, sometimes I see a challenge and I'm like OOH I have the perfect stamps for that and there sit my new stamps like what about us???  Yeah yeah, I'll get to you, I promise.  (I hope.)

Anyway.

As soon as I saw the Inspired By Nature challenge, I knew I had to break out one of my retired cactus stamp sets--I have both Cactus Cuties from last year and Flowering Cactus from the year prior, so for this card I used Cactus Cuties with the DSP stack that coordinated with Flowering Cactus.

I used the sketch as a jumping-off point too, though I didn't follow it strictly:

And I was inspired by the colors from The Card Concept:

I think my card kind rides the line between CAS and clean and layered, but since most of the "white space" is patterned paper it probably leans to clean and layered.  I have a friend who is moving to Arizona this summer, so I know she'll be getting this : )

Don't forget about the Go Green challenge at SUO Challenges too, you can use current or retired SU! stuff for that one, just show us shades of green.

Hope you have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Cactus Cuties
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Early Espresso
Paper:  Mossy Meadow, Thick Very Vanilla, Flowering Cactus DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, Rustic Metallic Dots

Miraculous Ladybug!

Hey y'all!  I have a happy little card to share today.  But first, a side tangent:  my kid has been binge-watching Miraculous:  The Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir for a while (I think he's watched it all the way through two or three times) and if my SIL doesn't know about it, then she will after I send her today's card.

My SIL decorated my niece's nursery with ladybugs so now I think of them every time I see anything ladybug-related.  And also I like the cartoon, too; it's a fun watch if you have access to Disney Plus.  I used this week's Paper Players sketch:

My problem with this sketch was narrowing down all my ideas for what to do with it, but finally I decided I just needed to make a ladybug card today.  I started by thumbing through the Flowers & More DSP from the Occasions catalog (I love this paper!  I've used it on several scrapbook layouts already and other cards too, lots of bold patterns and fun bright colors and you need it in your stash) and chose this fun abstract background.  I chose Polished Pink, Parakeet Party, and Blackberry Bliss from the colors on the paper and used that for my ladybug and her leaf (yeah, she's not black, she's dark dark purple).  I didn't get the spots lined up quite right this time but I decided that on this card I liked the effect so I kept it that way, and added some Wink of Stella to them and a few Opal Rounds for more sparkle.  Time to spread awareness of Ladybug and Cat Noir : )

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hello Ladybug
Ink:  Polished Pink, Blackberry Bliss, Parakeet Party
Paper:  Polished Pink, Thick Basic White, Flowers & More DSP, Vellum
Accessories:  Ladybug builder punch, Stylish Shapes dies, In Color Opal Rounds, Wink of Stella, Dimensionals