Dapper Birthday

Mornin', y'all!  We're on day #3 of the 4-day week and tomorrow is new catalog day!  Woo!

But for today I have the maiden voyage of a stamp set I got from the Occasions catalog and why didn't I use it before now?

Truly Tailored coordinates with the Tailored Tag punch; the stamp set is retiring, but the punch (that I didn't use on this card) is carrying over to the next catalog.  I finally dusted this stamp set off today because of the What Will You Stamp? challenge to use it:

I've been watching their challenge for weeks and they finally circled back to a stamp set I own :)

This card came together in under 10 minutes thanks to this sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping:

Really, the True Gentleman DSP is doing all the work here.  I only stamped the sentiment, and then inside the card I stamped the "Wishing you a dapper day" sentiment, but I left off the mustache.

It's time to feed the kid his daily dose of Cheerios, and then for the first time in almost four months WE'RE GOING TO THE GYM!  After that wild and crazy move and having the gallbladder surgery, it took me a while to feel like working out again and then I had to find a gym that was a) reasonably priced and b) provides childcare while I work out.  So yesterday Ryan and I joined the Y.  Wish us luck!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Truly Tailored
Ink:  Tranquil Tide
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Night of Navy, Very Vanilla, True Gentleman DSP
Accessories:  None

Flamingo Dragon

So the whole time Flirty Flamingo was an In Color, I couldn't really figure out what to do with it, but all of a sudden since we found out it's joining the regular color lineup I keep using it.  And today I have a pink dragon!

I love love love this stamp set.  And happily for me, the Cupcake Inspiration challenge is to make a card with a magical creature on it!  Also, how gorgeous is that silver washi tape?  I almost never buy washi tape because I forget that I have it.  Yep, I've had that tape for months and this is the first time I've used it.

Take a look at the Just Add Ink inspiration photo:

I took the aqua, pink, and yellow tones in this picture and translated them as Coastal Cabana, Flirty Flamingo, and Crushed Curry.

Finally, here's this week's sketch challenge from the Paper Players:

That red bar would be a great place for a sentiment, but I couldn't find one I wanted to use that fit in that space, hence the washi tape.  Inside it says I hope you have a magical day.

Ryan is getting antsy so I'm going to go get him some Cheerios.   Hope you have a magical day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Magical Day, Magical Mermaid
Ink:  Basic Black, Coastal Cabana, Flirty Flamingo, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Flirty Flamingo, Shimmery White, Color Theory DSP
Accessories:  Magical Mates Framelits, Magical Day washi tape, Dimensionals

Friendly Tulips

Mornin', y'all!  After a four-day weekend we're back to business as usual and Ryan is getting into the DVDs and books every time I turn around.  Good thing he's cute!

Anyway, while Mr. Cute was napping yesterday, I made a quick card.

Tranquil Tulips is a gorgeous stamp set and why didn't I use it more often?!  Well, I broke it out for today at least.  And of course you recognize the sentiment from Orange Blossom because I'm still in denial that it's retiring.

So let's check out the CASE the Designer Challenge at Global Design Project:

Really I kept my card very close to Brian's original concept.  Pink and green (though mine are more saturated shades), flowers on the left, friend sentiment on the right.  I even had a lacy sort of stamp for the bottom, but it just didn't work for my card so I sponged it instead.

I was also thinking of this picture at Inkspirational:

This is why I did darker colors on my card, and I thought the way I sponged it sort of echoed the curve of the tree branch in the picture.  Okay, since I mentioned the colors...hey look it's Flirty Flamingo!  For some reason I've been using that more recently.  Today I paired it with Melon Mambo and two new greens, Shaded Spruce and Granny Apple Green.  I'm looking forward to playing more with those greens!  The glitter enamel dots are retiring (as are all the stamps) and they're actually Old Olive, but the color is light enough that I figured they blended pretty well with the Granny Apple Green sponging.

Well, it's time to feed the kiddo his morning Cheerios (not to mention get breakfast for me, too!).  Cheers, y'all, and have a great week.  New SU! catalog goes live on Friday!  Until then, it's likely I'll still be revisiting some retiring favorites.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tranquil Tulips, Orange Blossom
Ink:  Flirty Flamingo, Melon Mambo, Shaded Spruce, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Flirty Flamingo, Shaded Spruce, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Glitter enamel dots

Pearl Harbor

Scrappy Monday, y'all.  We thought our Memorial Day weekend was going to be nothing but thunderstorms for days, but actually it's been pretty nice weather-wise.  Lots of clouds, yes, but we haven't been getting pouring down rain so we've been taking the kiddo outside to play in his wading pool while we sit on the deck.  Quite nice.

Anyway, since it is Memorial Day, I thought it would be appropriate to share my layout from our trip to Pearl Harbor.

Always Artichoke seemed like a good military green color, and I'm always surprised in a pleasant way when Summer Starfruit works on anything ;) The focal point picture shows the sheen on the water from oil that is still leaking from the sunken USS Arizona.

I have been loving Letters for You lately (I made this layout last year not long after I got the letter stamps, but I've been using them on several scrapbook layouts that I've made recently and which will appear on the blog at some point in the future).  I like the weathered effect on the letters, and then I used the long-retired Empire Alphabet for the second word.

Today's color palette includes Always Artichoke, Summer Starfruit, Night of Navy, and just a teeny bit of Whisper White.  With the SU! color revamp, Night of Navy has moved to the Neutrals family along with deep, saturated red and green shades, and I like that move because I tend to use the darkest shades of every color as neutrals.

Sounds like Ryan is awake, so I'm going to go get him dressed and start feeding my little Hobbit.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Letters for You, Empire Alphabet
Ink:  Always Artichoke, Night of Navy
Paper:  Always Artichoke, Night of Navy, High Tide DSP, Night of Navy DSP
Accessories:  Medium star punch

Yuyuan Gardens

Sunday means it's time for more China pages!  I have a couple of layouts I've shared before and then two never-before-seen ones today.

I shared this Giant Pandas layout about a year and a half ago.  I thought that bamboo pattern from the Ginger Blossom DSP was just perfect for this layout (and Baja Breeze is always a good idea!).

This was the very very first China layout I did FOUR YEARS ago!  I think I made it a little too busy with the shapes on the left page but done is better than perfect.

So here's the new pages!

Our next Shanghai stop was the Yuyuan Gardens, which are in the big fat middle of the city but through some sorcery once you step inside you can't even tell you're near the city.  And this layout once again uses my favoritest sketch which I've used I can't even remember how many times now.

We took a LOT of pictures here so this is just the first 2/3, tune back in next Sunday for the third layout.

Today's color palette:  Pear Pizzazz, Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Brilliant Blue, and a bit of Basic Gray for journaling (also featured a lot in the pictures).  I don't have much Brilliant Blue cardstock left because I love to use it in my scrapbooks, so here's hoping that Blueberry Bushel will be a good alternative for me :) Cheers, y'all!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Rough Type
Ink:  Basic Gray
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Brilliant Blue, Whisper White, Bella Rose DSP
Accessories:  Lettering Template

Baby Bear

Bonus card this week because I'm an overachiever! :) And guess what?  It's not flowers.

I love bears (my college mascot!) but I haven't used this stamp set very much.  I've had more luck with it since I started using my piercing mat as a pad when using photopolymer stamps, but even then I had some ink coverage issues this time around.  But Baby Bear ended up looking okay.  And he fits in with this week's SUO Challenge:

I also used the color combination from Inkspire Me:

I really like Wild Wasabi, I'll miss it.  For the additional color, I added Soft Suede...used that on the bear with Early Espresso to get some nice shading on it.  You can't see much white on my card, but I did stamp the bear on white ;)

Finally, here's this week's sketch from Retro Rubber:

Baby Bear is almost two years old because I got him one October when SU! did a sale on select stamp sets, but then I didn't use him for months afterwards.  The speckles on the background are from Magical Mermaid, but she's not quite a year old yet so she doesn't count as retro.  I did leave off the small circular element from the sketch because I couldn't think of anything to put there.  Alternatively you could say I moved that element to the bear and it's his gold bow.

That's it for me today.  I'm going to go see Solo!!!!  Can't get a babysitter, so I'm going to see it solo.  And I will make that pun all day long.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Baby Bear, Magical Mermaid
Ink:  Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Wild Wasabi, Versamark
Paper:  Wild Wasabi, Thick Whisper White, gold foil
Accessories:  Gold EP, Dimensionals

Just Breathe

Y'all, I think it's time to face facts:  I've had blooms on the brain this week.  I've also got two black thumbs, so all my flowers have been the ink-and-paper kind :) So here's one more CAS flower card for this week.

I am a military spouse, and I know sometimes you need someone to tell you to just breathe and you'll get through it.  Because it never fails, your spouse deploys and the dog gets lost and everybody gets the flu and your kid breaks her leg on the slide at the park (I do actually know someone whose kid broke her leg while her dad was deployed, and someone else whose kid got food poisoning on a trip to Croatia and ended up in the hospital).  So yeah.  Just breathe.

Let's start with the Color Throwdown:

I used Poppy Parade (because it's a poppy and sometimes I'm on the nose like that), Marina Mist (it looks more gray in the picture, trust me it's blue), white card base, and the sentiment is in Early Espresso.  Doesn't show up in the picture but the center of each flower has some Wink of Stella on it for shine.  When I pulled out my Poppy Parade ink pad for this card, I discovered that it has succumbed to the Dreaded Gold Sheen that afflicts some red ink pads.  This disease is terminal, so now I have to buy a new Poppy Parade ink pad when the new catalog goes live.  Seems like I used it not that long ago and it was fine...

Anyway, here is this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Which I turned into a one-layer card.  What is with me and the CAS cards lately?  Oh yeah, it's the challenge at the Paper Players:

...that I've played with three days in a row.  But it's fun!

Well, the hubs has off work today so I think we're driving to Wilmington for the day to hang out with the little one.  He's never seen the ocean before, so here's hoping this is fun and not just hot and miserable ;) Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Touches of Texture, Colorful Seasons
Ink:  Poppy Parade, Marina Mist, Early Espresso
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Wink of Stella