E is for Eventually

Mornin' y'all!  I'm tired today...I woke up at 1am thinking that Ryan had yelled or something, but he hadn't, and then I had a lot of trouble getting back to sleep and more or less woke up on the hour until I finally got up at six this morning.  That's always fun.  So I'm going to drink two XL cups of tea before I get out with Daphne this morning.

So!  As I have said, I've been feeling a bit blocked creatively this week and it was driving me nuts yesterday as I was looking for a stamp set to go with the AAA Cards Challenge:

This image popped into my head of a stamp featuring flowers spilling out of an envelope, so I went searching through my hoard and...I don't have it?!  My brain was conflating that image with an old Sale-a-Bration stamp set which I do have (back when it was Sell-a-Bration) and while I do have a few stamp sets featuring envelopes, none of them was what I wanted.

Then my brain FINALLY decided to join the chat (hello brain, I have missed you) and I thought of something starting with E that was not an envelope or an elephant or the Easter bunny.  Those are all totally valid options, but I wanted to do something different.  So here's what I eventually made:

The Eiffel Tower!  And another excuse to use Artistic Etchings, YASSS.  I also embossed the tower with clear EP so I have two Es.  I wanted to add some embellishments (which would have been another E), but since this is for a CAS challenge I resisted the lure of all things shiny.  I thought the new Color Hues Challenge was perfect for this:

That looks like Berry Burst and Night of Navy to me.  I started with the card on the left, using Crumb Cake as a neutral for the script background (I inked up part of the background stamp using a sponge to keep it light, stamped it, and sponged more ink over that one corner) and then my Artistic Etchings stamps kept falling off the blocks so I had to get my Aleene's Tack It Over and Over glue and paint it on the backs of the stamps and let it dry for a while.  In the meantime I wondered what it would look like if I switched the neutral to Smoky Slate, so that's the card on the right and the answer is I need to ink up my Smoky Slate ink pad because it's a bit TOO light.  I let the glue on the stamps dry while I went to pick Ryan up from school and was able to finish both cards in short order when I returned home.

Yesterday I also did my preorder for new In Colors and stuff from SU!, and the new Peaceful Pine ink pad wasn't available and that was the color I'm most excited about (green is my favorite color) but I wanted to get some of the outgoing In Color 12x12 cardstock before it sold out so I submitted the order.  Wow, that was a run-on sentence.  A few hours later I got a notification that the Peaceful Pine ink pad was back in stock so naturally I had to do a second order...I might have gotten another stamp set and another color of cardstock while I was at it.  And some embellishments I missed the first time around.  Aside from new colors (I always love new colors), I splurged and got most of the Midnight Flora suite, I can't wait to see that DSP in person.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artistic Etchings, Carte Postale, French Script
Ink:  Night of Navy, Berry Burst, Crumb Cake, Smoky Slate, VersaMark
Paper:  Night of Navy, Basic White
Accessories:  Clear EP

So yesterday, Jan commented on my post (HI JAN!) and she wanted to see a picture of Daphne, and of course I am always happy to share pictures of my darling girl so here she is:

The oversize chair has turned into Daphne's throne and I just got her a new fluffy blanket to put on it.  She particularly loves that chair because she can see out the window into the backyard and the green space behind us to make sure all the neighbors are behaving and staying out of her territory.

This is what she looks like when she wants something:

And there's my current stitching project in the background, it's fun with the bright orange fabric.  Daphne does this impression of a baby seal when she has her ears slicked back, I'm sure she's trying to look more pathetic so I'll give in to what she wants.

Here's what Daphne looks like when she's being a pushy brat but tries to act like she's not a pushy brat when I take her picture:

Not buying the innocent act, Daph.  (She was shoving my arm with her nose until she saw me trying to take her picture.)  We got her DNA tested (that was a Christmas present to me from Daph last year) and she really is a supermutt.  She was listed as a German shepherd/Labrador mix at the shelter, which is 10% right; she's American bully/pibble/German shepherd/golden retriever/border collie with a bit of Australian cattle dog, Shar-Pei (!!), and Australian shepherd thrown in.  She's about the same size as our previous Lab mixes and weighs about 65 pounds.  She is my darling girl even when she's being a punk nugget, I adore her.

Okay, I'm nearly finished with my second cuppa, so I'm going to take the Daphinator out for her tour of the neighborhood, start some laundry, and hopefully get some work done in my craft room today.  Cheers, y'all!

The Mystery of the 99 Steps

Happy Saturday and welcome to the latest Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we are investigating The Mystery of the 99 Steps, Nancy's 43rd adventure.

We have a pretty cool Rudy Nappi cover here with a whole lot of steps and I really want Nancy's dress.  George's dress is good too, but she's still rocking Danny Zuko's hairstyle from Grease, like she was on the cover for Old Stagecoach.  That mysterious figure at the top of the stairs looks scary but it's Bess, who I'm sure is also wearing a lovely frock.

Case file:  We have another travel mystery as this time the Drew Crew is heading to France on two different cases.  While Carson has been hired to try to figure out why a French financier is suddenly behaving oddly, Nancy has been asked by a French lady to find out why she has recurring nightmares about falling while someone says "99 steps".  We get tourist time in Paris and the Loire Valley as well as lessons on medieval alchemy and Joan of Arc.

Here's my first card:

Actually I can't remember offhand if they talk much about the Eiffel Tower, but they go to Paris and I just had to make a Paris card.  Plus Artistic Etchings is an old favorite stamp set and I will accept any excuse to use it.  I have several stamp sets in French, with today's greeting coming from Carte Postale.

I used Terracotta Tile to match Nancy's dress and Pool Party for George's.  

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artistic Etchings, Carte Postale, French Script
Ink:  Terracotta Tile, Pool Party, Pecan Pie, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze Blend to color the rhinestones
Paper:  Terracotta Tile, Thick Basic White, Early Espresso DSP
Accessories:  some kind of label punch, I forget what, Dimensionals, Rhinestones

I couldn't stop with just one card though, so here's the second:

Since we have the alchemy angle in this mystery, I had to break out the It's a Science stamp set for some chemistry beakers.  And you know what, this is the very first time I've used that stamp set!  I knew it would come in handy sometime.

This time I used my favorite Fresh Prints (of Bel-Air) DSP, so the colors are Coastal Cabana, Real Red, and Crumb Cake.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  It's a Science
Ink:  Early Espresso, Coastal Cabana, Real Red, Versamark
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Thick Basic White, Fresh Prints DSP Stack
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, clear EP, Dimensionals, Delightful Dots, Wink of Stella

I was going to stop there, but then I decided I had to make a card to commemorate the Drew Crew's visit to Notre Dame, so here is my third card:

I had to get out the stained glass stamps from Painted Glass for Notre Dame's rose window.  Once again I tried to choose colors that coordinate with the book cover:

This time I did Coastal Cabana for George, but used Timid Tiger for Nancy, and incorporated Daffodil Delight for the book title.  Still kept quite a bit of Pecan Pie for all the brown on the cover of the book too.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Glass, Stacked Stone
Ink:  Early Espresso, Pecan Pie, Stampin' Blends in Daffodil Delight, Timid Tiger, Coastal Cabana, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Pecan Pie, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Textured Notes dies, Best Year Ever ribbon, In Color Flat Pearls, Earthy Matte Dots

This is another example of the mystery being secondary to the setting, but kid Christy loved the French tourist bit (I started taking French classes in middle school and would have gotten a minor in French if I had taken two more classes in college).  Adult Christy thinks the financier was just about the stupidest person ever--the fake alchemist has him convinced that he can turn coal into gold, which is a trick alchemists have been trying to pull since the Middle Ages so why is the financier so easy to fool?  All in all I give it three and a half stars.  If you're inspired to play along, leave me a comment on this post so I can see!  And come back next Saturday when Nancy investigates The Clue in the Crossword Cipher.

The Hermitage

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I am (very) slowly starting to prep my craft room for our upcoming move...yesterday I pulled all my needle minders off the filing cabinet and packed them up, and went through all the Paper Pumpkin kits and consolidated things to take with me.  I think I'll send those kits in our unaccompanied baggage so I have something I can do for paper crafting when we get to Texas; most of our stuff will probably take close to two months to arrive.

Anyway, today I have a recent layout to share with you:

You can see the original pictures here and here.  This is from when we spent two days exploring St. Petersburg as part of our Baltic cruise in 2014;  the Hermitage is one of those mega museums where you could spend a month of Sundays there and still not see everything, and we were only there for about two hours.  Still, after a while your brain reaches capacity and says no matter what your eyes look at, it won't remember anything because brain too full.

Today's color palette:  Poppy Parade, Just Jade, Pretty Peacock (I really started using this a lot when we found out it was coming back in the new catalog), Crushed Curry, and white.  So why a red color for the page base?  I laid out all my pictures from this place and several had a lot of red in them, so I picked the red cardstock that matched it the most closely.  Then I went through all the pictures and ended up not using any of the red ones *rolls eyes* but the Poppy Parade page base does contrast nicely with the photos.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Letterpress Alphabet, Rough Edges Alphabet, Artistic Etchings
Ink:  Just Jade, Crushed Curry, Pretty Peacock
Paper:  Poppy Parade, Pretty Peacock, Just Jade, Thick Basic White, Sweet Symmetry DSP, Poppy Parade DSP
Accessories:  None

The Language of Love

 Bonjour, mes amis.  Today's card-making adventure takes us to Paris.

*singing* I love Paris in the springtime...okay, it's not spring yet, but with all those pinks it sure feels like it on this card.  I painted the "Amour" with Wink of Stella too, but it shows up a bit better in this pic:

I stacked three die-cut words together to give it a bit of dimension, too.  This little card is for three challenges, starting with Retro Rubber:

Parisian Beauty (the Eiffel Tower and postmark stamps) is two years old; Artistic Etchings (the circle design) is eleven years old; and French Script (the...wait for it...French script background) is sixteen years old.  I think that qualifies my card as retro ;)  I ended up with a bit of a collage thing going on my card which was a surprise to me.  Sometimes things take an unexpected turn when I'm crafting.

Next up is The Color Throwdown:

I used Blushing Bride, Rococo Rose, Cherry Cobbler, and Cinnamon Cider for my colors.

Finally, I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I admit, when I first saw the sketch, my reaction was not positive.  Imagine my surprise when I made something with it that I do like!  I had no plan when I went in my craft room, just started looking for Valentine-y stamp sets and pulled out Parisian Beauty; the card just kinda happened from there.

Have a great day, peeps. À bientôt!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Parisian Beauty, French Script, Artistic Etchings
Ink:  Blushing Bride, Rococo Rose, Cinnamon Cider
Paper:  Blushing Bride, Rococo Rose, Cherry Cobbler, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Parisian dies, Wink of Stella

Parisian Freesia

Mornin' y'all, how's it going?  I had yesterday off so I did my usual routine of laundry and working in my craft room :)  I made a super-girly card to share today.

I pulled out an old favorite stamp set for this one, Artistic Etchings.  I used the color combination from Global Design Project:

When I saw it, Fresh Freesia was the first color to pop in my head, and then I thought about how everyone did pink + black + white with this stamp set and I just had to try it with purple instead and I lurve it. 

I also used the sketch from Retro Rubber:

My first thought was to use the Basic Borders dies for the scallop on the left side of the sketch, but none of the dies is a straight scallop like that and then my brain was like WAIT, there's a punch for that!  So my punch is retro (haha) as well as my stamp set.  I've had Artistic Etchings since 2011 so it's now 10 years old, and I enjoyed this excuse to pull it out and ink it up again.

Have a great Thursday, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artistic Etchings (retired)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Fresh Freesia
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Basic Black, Thick Basic White, Fresh Freesia DSP
Accessories:  Scallop border punch (retired), Layering Circles dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella, In Color Rhinestones

Paris

Scrappy Monday!  Bet you can't guess where we're going today...

Okay so my page title isn't exactly ambiguous :) These pictures are from our first trip to Paris in May 2012; these four didn't fit in any of my other Paris layouts but I didn't want to leave them out so here they are (see some of them here).  Usually I'm trying to figure out how to get a zillion pictures on a single layout, so working with only four pictures was something new and different for me.  I picked a sketch that I've always really liked but never had few enough pictures to use, so this was extra fun, but it did pretty much eat up four sheets of patterned paper.  I loooooooooooved the Parisian Blooms Specialty DSP so it was nice to showcase one of the Eiffel Tower prints on this layout.

Today's color palette:  Cherry Cobbler, Pool Party, Petal Pink, Blueberry Bushel, and Whisper White.  The Parisian Blooms colors (top row) were the easy choices, but I was surprised when Blueberry Bushel turned out to be the accent color I needed.  I used Blueberry Bushel ink for the page title, stamped accent, and journaling.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Empire Alphabet Upper, Artistic Etchings
Ink:  Blueberry Bushel
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Thick Whisper White, Perfectly Artistic DSP, Parisian Blossoms Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Painted Labels dies, corner rounder punch

Barholm

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I finally took pictures of a giant stack of layouts yesterday...I was waiting until I had good lighting and of course I couldn't get through them all before the light changed but dangit I'm not redoing all the pictures.

These pics are from our last trip to Scotland in 2014, which was a family heritage trip with my dad's side of the family.  The original plan was to drive to Barholm Castle (which is a tower house) and just look from the outside because something like 500 years ago someone that we're related to lived there or something.  Well, we got to the site and the owners happened to be at home and saw us looking around, so they invited our whole group inside and told us how they came to own the tower house and restored it and gave us a tour and everything.  Talk about Scottish hospitality!  The lady wrote a book about Scottish castles, but it hadn't been released yet when we were there, so Bob (one of my dad's relatives) arranged to get copies for all of us after the trip, which he had signed by the author.  That was just the coolest experience of this whole trip!

Anyway, let's talk about the layout for a minute.  I used the new Parisian Blossoms Specialty DSP for this.  It might be French themed, but it amuses me to use French stuff on Scottish scrapbook pages because the two countries were allies for a very long time to make England nervous ;)  #HistoryNerdAlert

Today's color palette is Petal Pink, Cherry Cobbler, Balmy Blue, and Whisper White.  The Cherry Cobbler and Balmy Blue were pulled straight from the pictures, and for some reason the Petal Pink just seemed to work with the photos so I went with it.

So my nephew will be born today!  My SIL has a C-section scheduled for this morning, so hopefully I get to see some pictures later today.  Yay new baby!

Hope you have a great week, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lovely Letters Alphabet, Artistic Etchings
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Petal Pink, Balmy Blue, Cherry Cobbler, Thick Whisper White, Parisian Blossoms Specialty DSP
Accessories:  circle punch, Layering Circles dies

Edinburgh Castle

Mornin'!  Scrappy Monday is Scrappy Tuesday this week :) I did good yesterday, I got up early and did my workout AND I stuck to the diet all day long and drank about half an ocean's worth of water (unsalted, of course).  And this morning I woke up about 10 minutes before the alarm was supposed to go off.  Then I just had to convince Ryan that even if Mama is up, it is NOT time for him to be up!

Anyway, scrapbook pages.  Once again I have a stack o' pages that I need to take pictures of, including more pages from this trip to Edinburgh.  But let's start with what we've got, hmm?

See the pictures here and here.  I picked the color palette based on that picture on the far right of the metal...thing...with rust on it:  Cajun Craze and More Mustard for rust and yellow, and then Midnight Muse for a contrasting dark blue.  Since castles are mostly gray/brown, that means I have lots of leeway when choosing color schemes to scrapbook the pictures.

I think that picture of my dad is funny, he looks like he's talking to some Monty Python characters :D

As I mentioned before, the color palette for today includes Midnight Muse, More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Island Indigo, and Very Vanilla.  Though I think it's hard to tell from the pictures that there are two colors of blue on here, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Rough Type, Artistic Etchings, Baroque Motifs
Ink:  Midnight Muse, Island Indigo, More Mustard
Paper:  Midnight Muse, Island Indigo, Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla, Spice Cake DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies

Eiffel Tower

Scrappy Monday on a Wednesday, y'all!  And today's first layout features one of our favorite pictures we've ever taken, have a look:

The hubs and I sat on the banks of the Seine for an HOUR freezing our butts off and waiting for the Eiffel Tower to light up so we could get that shot.  #worthit  Believe it or not, the only editing that hubs did on the picture was to clean up some noise from a bit of junk on the lens and maybe a little shadow protection, but really very minimal editing.

And here's my page title, a mix of upper and lower Empire Alphabet and a stamped Eiffel Tower just in case you didn't get the message clearly enough.  And you know I use Stampin' Up! patterned paper 99.9% of the time, but I had this pattern and it just seemed to go so well with my pictures that I had to use it on here.

Second Tower layout, this one including some pics we took of the city from up inside the tower.  We elected to take the stairs instead of waiting for three hours to get on the elevator :)

Today's color palette includes Basic Gray, Brilliant Blue, Garden Green, and Whisper White.  I'm down to my very last full sheet of Brilliant Blue, y'all.  Blueberry Bushel is a fairly good substitute for Brilliant Blue, but I do so love me some Brilliant.  I've used it a LOT in my scrapbooks.

Peace out, yo!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Empire Alphabet, Artistic Etchings
Ink:  Garden Green, Brilliant Blue, Basic Gray
Paper:  Basic Gray, Garden Green, Brilliant Blue, Whisper White, patterned paper by Far and Away
Accessories:  Lots of Labels Framelits

Notre Dame

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  How was your weekend?  Yesterday was my first (human) Mother's Day...after all, I've been a dog mama for over a decade ;) But this was the first year I've had a tiny human child on Mother's Day.  So the hubs and Tiny Human Child made me waffles for breakfast (yum!), then I got to go get a massage and a facial (which I found out about 10 minutes before I got there!), and then the hubs and I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy 2 while Tiny Human Child entertained some friends.  Pretty awesome first human Mother's Day, I think.

Anyway, it's time for a scrapbook layout!  Coincidentally, today's pages are from our first trip to Paris, which was also a surprise to me...although this time I found out about it about a week before we left.

See the pictures up close and personal here and here (we went to Notre Dame on two different days, hence the blue, blue sky in one photo and the overcast skies in all the other pics).  I did this layout either right before or right after the Nijo Castle one, remember how I said I tend to use a color several times?  More Elegant Eggplant, right here.  I paired it with Kiwi Kiss and Cameo Coral from the Raspberry Tart DSP (one of my all-time favorite packs), and some Bordering Blue mats on the photos.

I've used the Empire Alphabet and that Eiffel Tower image from Artistic Etchings on all my Paris pages from this trip, so they all look like they go together without having to be all the same colors or anything.  And take a closer look at that patterned paper, isn't it GORGEOUS :D

As I mentioned above, today's color palette includes Elegant Eggplant, Cameo Coral, Kiwi Kiss, Bordering Blue, and Whisper White.  And the middle three colors are now all retired.  I do use a LOT of retired stash in my scrapbooks...that's why I have it, right?

Okay, Tiny Human Child is now asleep, so I'm going to do some dishes and maybe sneak down to the craft room while he naps.  I'm working on a big project right now and I've got 7 layouts left to do, but I'm getting a little unmotivated because it's a very limited color palette and I kinda wanna work on something else for a hot minute.  So maybe I'll do one layout of something else and then come back to this project...hoping to start unveiling it in the next week or two.  I WILL finish it by the end of the month!  #goals

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Empire Alphabet, Artistic Etchings, Hello Lovely
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant, Bordering Blue
Paper:  Elegant Eggplant, Bordering Blue, Whisper White, Raspberry Tart DSP
Accessories:  Lots of Labels Framelits

Stirling Castle

Hey y'all, how's it going?  I think I got a bit more sleep last night than usual (still not enough, but better), and Ryan went back to sleep after we got up at 4:00 this morning so I got more sleep after that too.  He's still asleep right now which is why I have time to blog :)

Speaking of time, I've actually used quite a bit of time since Ryan was born to work on scrapbook pages.  Like, I'm surprised how much I've gotten done--I've made SEVENTY scrapbook pages this year!  I work when he's sleeping during the day, or I take him downstairs with me and have him on a blanket on the floor next to me if he's happy to hang out for a bit.

But today's layout I made before he was born (I still need to take pictures of a bunch of layouts I've made in the last week or two).

So here's Stirling Castle, which we visited with Lee's parents, sister, and her family a few years ago.  Somehow I forgot to take my handy-dandy trip notebook with me *and* I never blogged these photos, so to be honest I don't really remember this particular castle.  We went to a lot of castles.  My journaling is basically what I looked up about the castle on Wikipedia :)  But I still like this layout!  I love the contrast between the light yellowy green and the dark purple (yes, friends, the dark color on here is Elegant Eggplant even if it looks weird and not-purple on your computer screen).  Haha, I'm wearing that same shirt right now as in that picture on the bottom right.

Title and journaling all in one convenient place.  Crowns are always a good accent for castle pages, right?

Today's color palette:  Certainly Celery, Elegant Eggplant, Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, and Whisper White.  The two gray colors are mostly in the photos.

With luck I'll get to finish my breakfast tea before Ryan wakes up again.  And if I'm really lucky, I'll finish another layout this afternoon!  I really am scrapping with vim and vigor.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Spencerian Alphabet, Rough Edges Alphabet, Artistic Etchings
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant, Smoky Slate, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Certainly Celery, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant DSP
Accessories:  None

Friday Flashback: Tea Party

Happy Friday!  Once again I've waited until late in the day to work on my card, but I got there in the end.  Today's Friday Flashback stamp set is Tea Party, and you know how I love my tea!  If you're here just to see today's new card, scroll to the bottom; otherwise, let's take a trip down Memory Lane :)

Also features Artistic Etchings, Curly Cute

The scallopy border stamp on this card is from Tea Party.

Also features Petite Petals

And I bet you can figure out from the picture which stamp on this card is from today's set :)

Also features Fabulous Phrases

A fabulous teapot planter colored with markers for a nice effect...

Put a couple of these together very quickly for my cohosts when I did a Mad Tea Party a few years ago.

Also features Swallowtail

The thank you tag is also from today's set, and of course you recognize Swallowtail.  Who doesn't love that one!

So here is today's brand new creation:

I just loved the sketch from Fab Friday today so I had to use it:

And I'm also entering this over at Retro Rubber:

I have approximately 7 gabillion brads in different colors, and given that I jabbed myself under the fingernail with one while working on my card I remember why I was so happy to switch to Candy Dots.  But perhaps I should do this challenge lots more times to whittle down my brad stash a bit?  Anyway, in the spirit of retro-ness, Tea Party came out in 2013 and I had to have it immediately so it's 3 years old.  The brads are older than that :)

Well, the hubs is here and wants to go out to dinner, so who can say no to that.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Tea Party
Ink:  Always Artichoke
Paper:  So Saffron, Thick Whisper White, Tea & Crumpets DSP
Accessories:  Ovals & Labels Collection Framelits, Rich Regals Brads, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Best of Sale-a-Bration

A rainy Friday morning to you, friends!  Seriously, I'm going to need a boat to get to the gym today, and my little girl dog is going to be very sad when she realizes we're not going for a walk in the wet.  But you're not here for a weather report, you're here for the Friday Flashback.  And today's stamp set is Best of Sale-a-Bration, which shoulda been called Best of Flowers Part 2 because every image but one is a flower.  I was a total lemming and bought all 12 of the Best Of sets a few years ago.

Also features Petal Parade, Four You

So the Best of Sale-a-Bration stamp on this card is the smaller red flower (and there's my favorite Fresh Prints of Bel Air paper!)

Also features Petal Parade, Banner Blast

Same stamp on here.  It was actually a smaller version of a flower in Petal Parade, which was a SAB offering that same year the Best Of stamp sets came out.

Also features Morning Post Alphabet, Rain or Shine, Papillon Potpourri, Artistic Etchings

And here's the labels I made for my cross stitch projects because I'm a dork :)  The flower stamp on the Quarry label is the Best of Sale-a-Bration stamp on here.  Each one of the images has something to do with the cross stitch picture I'm working on:  Rain Blossoms is a scene of people in kimonos with Japanese parasols walking across a bridge; Eilonwy is a fairy with a crown of butterflies; the Quarry is a sort of Impressionist scene with lots of bluebonnets; and the Accolade is a famous Pre-Raphaelite painting of a lady knighting a man who is kneeling before her.

But anyway.  That's it for the Flashback, here's the new card:

Heyyy, I managed to use one of the stamps in the set that hadn't been used before!  Woo.  I used this week's Create with Connie & Mary sketch challenge:

And the Color Throwdown:

I used Pretty in Pink (though it might have worked a little better with a more saturated shade), Bashful Blue, Tangelo Twist, and Peach Parfait.  I can't wait to get the new In Colors in my hot little hands next week--there's a new peach color but what has me really excited are the new green and blue and purple.  And there's a pink.  I'll bust 'em out next week.

That's it for now, y'all.  Have a great weekend and stay dry.

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Best of Sale-a-Bration, Perfectly Penned
Ink:  Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink, Peach Parfait, Tangelo Twist
Paper:  Peach Parfait, Tangelo Twist, Thick Whisper White, Bashful Blue DSP
Accessories:  Lots of Labels Framelits, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella glitter pen