Paper Flower Power

Happy Friday, y'all!  Bit of a gloomy day here but I would be happy to get some rain, it's been terribly dry this year and I know it's going to be a bad summer for fires.  And I don't have to go anywhere else until it's time to pick up Ryan (other than taking Daph for a walk) so as far as I'm concerned it can pour down rain from now until midafternoon.  Whaddya say, Zeus?

Anyway!  Apparently this is my week to be an overachieving stamper because I have three cards to share this morning.  Let's start with these two:

I thought this week's Freshly Made Sketch was a good chance to showcase some DSP but then I couldn't pick just one.  Here's the sketch:

And I couldn't leave out one more gorgeous floral paper:

I actually made this one first and couldn't resist making the other two.

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Sweet Blooms
Ink:  Pretty Peacock
Paper:  Mossy Meadow, Basic Beige, Floral Charm DSP
Accessories:  Perennial Postage dies, Low Profile Sparkle Dots, Pretty Peacock Metallic Ribbon, Dimensionals

Supplies, second card:
Stamps:  Sweet Blooms
Ink:  Secret Sea
Paper:  Secret Sea, Basic White, Lovely Blossoms DSP
Accessories:  Perennial Postage dies, Natural Matte Dots, Old Olive Polytwill Metallic Ribbon, Dimensionals

Supplies, third card:
Stamps:  Sweet Blooms
Ink:  Garden Green
Paper:  Garden Green, Secret Sea, Petunia Pop, Florals in Bloom DSP
Accessories:  Sweet Blooms dies, Sparkle Dot Essentials

And here's a picture of Daphne from yesterday just because she's cute, she was sitting there with her toy in her mouth and just STARING at me until I tried to get her picture and then she dropped the toy.  And you can see the carcass of another toy off to the right, she yanked all the stuffing out pretty much as soon as she got it.  Destructo-Dog!

Botanical Bounty, Part 3

Hey hey for the second time today, peeps.  I was all excited to get my SU! order today so I ran out to grab it and...it's the second order that's only a couple of things, the BIG order will be here tomorrow.  I have the Peaceful Pine ink pad now but no cardstock to go with.  Maybe I *will* go take that nap now, ha.

But first, I have a couple more botanical cards for the CAS on Friday challenge!  I told you I have been loving it and I keep finding more and more stamp sets I wan to play with.

So here's the Beauty of Tomorrow stamp set paired with the coordinating Beauty of Tomorrow stamp set.  I tried not to add embellishments to keep it more CAS, but the blank space to the left of the stems was just crying for something to go there.  I still have lots of white space which is actually purple in this case.

And here's a quick and cute card with Pocket Silhouettes, another old old stamp set converted from wood mount that I just love.  It's a couple of simple greetings and some line art imagery and it's just so dang cute.  And I got out one of my all-time favorite colors, Baja Breeze.

That's it for now, y'all.  Will I have more botanical cards to share tomorrow?  Probably ; )  I've been having fun with it so why not!  Cheers, y'all.

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Beauty of Tomorrow
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, VersaMark
Paper:  Blackberry Bliss, Fresh Freesia, Blackberry Beauty Specialty DSP
Accessories:  whatever they called the dies that go with Beauty of Tomorrow, Deckled Rectangles dies, Gold EP, Festive Pearls, Mini Dimensionals

Supplies, second card:
Stamps:  Pocket Silhoeuttes
Ink:  Baja Breeze, Soft Sea Foam
Paper:  Baja Breeze, Soft Sea Foam, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals

Get Your Sunglasses

Mornin' y'all.  I got some nice stitchy time yesterday and I made a few more things in my craft room; I'm hoping I can keep the streak going today but I might have to take a nap as I'm running on maybe 4 hours of sleep.  Insomnia stinks.

Anyway, today's card would definitely help wake you up, you might need sunglasses for this one:

I started with the Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I didn't get all the layers on there, I figured my card was busy enough with those colors so the vertical strip is just one piece of DSP instead of three layers.  I did find some Lemon Lime Twist ribbon in my stash though.  Next up is the Retro Rubber Challenge:

I went down the left side with sequins - ribbon - die cut and I think Sweet Blooms is maybe a hair under a year old (I published my first card with it in May last year) but with how fast SU! is cycling things now, six weeks counts as retro for them : p  But yeah, I don't think I quite count for the challenge.  I may try again with something different.

And here's the TGIF color challenge:

I used three different packs of DSP to get all the challenge colors.  It's really bright but I think I like it anyway.

Gotta get Ryan ready for school.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sweet Blooms
Ink:  Timid Tiger, Lemon Lime Twist, Strawberry Slush
Paper:  Strawberry Slush, Thick Basic White, Refreshed Beauty DSP, Floral Charm DSP, Strawberry Slush DSP
Accessories:  Sweet Blooms dies, Nested Essentials dies, Finishing Touches Edglelits, Starburst Sequins, LLT ribbon, Mini Dimensionals

Botanical Bounty, Part 2

Happy afternoon, y'all, and welcome to my second post of the day because I have more botanical cards for the CAS on Friday challenge!  Here's where we're starting:

I had pulled out Nature's Pace because I was looking at the greeting in that set for a Nancy Drew card (did not use it though), and I just really like that thistle image so I thought I'd make a card with it.  I used a scrap of Enchanté DSP and stamped the image and the greeting in Soft Succulent.  The color in the DSP is Sage Shadow, but that's kinda like a lighter version of Soft Succulent anyway.  My very old Sage Shadow ink pad is probably pretty dried out and I didn't want to dig out the ink refill.

And one more (for now):

I was thinking of the Midnight Flora suite that's on preorder now (mine gets here tomorrow!) so I used Darling Duckling for the card base and stamped the ferns with Mossy Meadow.  Same greeting as before, this time on Basic Beige.

I think that's it for today.  Will there be more CAS botanical cards in my near future?  Probably.  I just thought of another stamp set that really needs to get inked up.  Cheers!

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Nature's Pace, Nature's Prints
Ink:  Soft Succulent
Paper:  Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Very Vanilla, Enchanté DSP
Accessories:  Squares Framelits, Layering Circles dies, Dimensionals

Supplies, second card:
Stamps:  Nature's Prints
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Darling Duckling
Paper:  Darling Duckling, Mossy Meadow, Basic Beige
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, Dimensionals

Botanical Bounty, Part 1

Mornin' y'all!  Daphne has already started pestering me to go for a walk (we usually go around 10 and it's just now 9), but I just made my second cuppa so she's going to have to wait.  Can't let the tea get cold.

So, after feeling rather blocked for a while last week, this week I am on fi-yurrrr again and I made a bunch of cards yesterday, and bonus, today is Ryan's STEM club so I get an extra hour and a half of crafty time.  Woo!  Anyway, yesterday I took the CAS on Friday prompt of BOTANICAL and I RAN with it.  First I looked up "botanical" online to make sure I was thinking the right thing, and it's anything related to "plants and plant-based products used for medicine, scent, or flavor."  So here's what I made:

The first image to pop in my head was the vanilla orchid in Lovely & Sweet, and I got out the coordinating Nature's Sweetness Specialty DSP (I always think Nature's Sweetness is the name of the stamp set rather than the DSP so it takes me longer to find the stamps).  Turns out I had some scraps already cut from the DSP, so I chose the two larger scraps and made two cards.

I was going to color in the image a bit, but after putting it next to the paper I decided I liked it just the way it is with no color on it.  But I wasn't done yet.

I used the large leafy die from Nature's Symphony to make a mask from scratch paper and then used a blending brush to put it on a Crumb Cake card base I found in my file cabinet.  I added some of the weathering stamp on top and I thought it was looking like a sympathy card since I tend to like more muted color palettes for those, and I gravitate towards blues and greens.  I hate making sympathy cards when I actually need one, so I decided to go with the impulse on this one so I have one on hand next time I need it, using a greeting from the retired hostess set Simply Sketched.

Still not done with my botanical cards, but that will have to continue in another post, probably later today.  Plus I still have some other botanical stamp sets on my table that I haven't used yet and I keep getting more ideas as I go, so I'm going to ride the creative wave where it takes me...after Daphne and I go out for our walk in the lovely sunshine.  Cheers!

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Lovely & Sweet
Ink:  Versamark, Pebbled Path
Paper:  Pebbled Path, Thick Basic White, Nature's Sweetness DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, clear EP, Dimensionals

Supplies, second card:
Stamps:  Lovely & Sweet
Ink:  Versamark, Pebbled Path
Paper:  Pecan Pie, Thick Basic White, Nature's Sweetness DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, clear EP, Dimensionals

Supplies, third card:
Stamps:  Nature's Symphony, Simply Sketched
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Mossy Meadow, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Layering Ovals dies, Dimensionals

Bubblegum Ice Cream

Mornin' y'all!  Blogger was being a little bit weird for some reason, but it seems like it's working now so let's get to it!  Today we're starting with Time Out Challenges:

And you know what,  I have an old SU! stamp set named Sweet Treats so obviously I had to get that out.  I think I got that stamp set fairly early in my stamp career, I'm thinking prior to 2010 so it's been here a while but it's still fun.  Here's what I made:

I had to color in the image twice, because the first time I colored in the cherry first and when I finished I realized I needed to switch the colors on the cherry and the ice cream topping, here's my first attempt:

Definitely looks better with the sauce darker than the cherry, but I had to color the second one in a hurry since I had dinner in the oven and I was trying to finish before the chicken was done cooking.  I suppose this image could be strawberry ice cream, but I'm going to call it bubblegum ice cream because my kiddo likes the weird flavors like that (though usually he'll go for one that's bright blue instead of pink).  I chose pinks for my card today for the Color Dare Challenge:

I went with Bubble Bath for my lightest pink, and then chose two darker shades, Magenta Madness and Berry Burst.  You know, I usually don't use much Berry Burst but here lately I have used it several times.  My additional color is Lost Lagoon because I thought it would jive well with the other colors, and it worked for the glass and the cherry leaf.

My first errand yesterday took much longer than expected so I didn't get as much done in my craft room as I wanted to yesterday, but I didn't have any errands to run today so I should be clear to craft as soon as I take Daphalonia on her walk.  For once she's not shoving her nose under my elbow telling me to hurry up, but that could change at any moment.  Maybe she's tired because she played with Ryan this morning and he threw her toy and it BROKE OFF bits of the wall where it hit.  I think the hubs will be able to fix it but he won't be happy about it.  At least it was one of the walls that I want to repaint anyway, and we've got another wall on the staircase landing where Daph cannon-balled into it so that eventually needs fixed too.  I think we're going to paint the master suite before we go back and repaint the living room/stairs/upstairs hallway/loft.  Anyway, none of that will be today, I've got some card ideas swirling around for today.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sweet Treats, You're Cherished, Background Basics
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Berry Burst, Lost Lagoon, Stampin' Blends in Bubble Bath, Magenta Madness, Berry Burst, Lost Lagoon
Paper:  Berry Burst, Bubble Bath, Thick Basic White, Abstract Beauty DSP Stack, Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, Tinsel Gems, Wink of Stella

Strawberry Greeting

Mornin' y'all!  Hope your week is starting off well.  After I get Ryan off to school, I'm going to finish off the leftover waffles and strawberries from yesterday's breakfast : )  And it so happens that I'm starting off my blog week with a strawberry too!

Something about the CAS Colours & Sketches palette made me think of strawberries right off:

Also I think Shy Shamrock and Summer Splash are twins, they look a lot alike but one leans a bit green and the other leans a bit blue.  My card base and the greenery around the strawberry are Shy Shamrock, and the DSP and the greeting are Summer Splash, and they don't look all that different to me.  Hmm.

Anyway, I need to get Ryan out the door and off to school so I can go run some errands, eat brekkie, switch out laundry, take Daph-Daph for a walk, and hopefully get some things done in my craft room.  Yeah, I've got plans today.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sweet Strawberry
Ink:  Melon Mambo, Shy Shamrock, Summer Splash
Paper:  Shy Shamrock, Thick Basic White, Summer Splash DSP
Accessories:  Strawberry builder punch, Nested Essentials dies, Dimensionals