Christmas Day 2014

Scrappy Monday y'all!  Today's layout is the companion to the one I shared last Monday.

I used the same pack of patterned paper, and the same colors, but put them in different places.  I did thick bands of patterned paper on this one to make it stylistically similar to the Christmas Eve layout.

And I cut out more retro reindeer for page accents :)  Same treatment for the title as last time, too.

Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Soft Sky, Delightful Dijon, Whisper White, and Very Vanilla make up the color palette.  I used three different patterns from the Home for Christmas DSP on this, four if you count the reindeer.  This layout came together pretty fast, I like that.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Metro Type Alphabet, Joyful Christmas
Ink:  Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Basic Black marker
Paper:  Mossy Meadow, Delightful Dijon, Very Vanilla, Home for Christmas DSP
Accessories:  None

Christmas Eve 2014

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Now that it's December, we can really start to get things all Christmasy here on the blog.  I like Thanksgiving to have its own time before the Christmas juggernaut overruns us all.

Today's pages are from 2014.  Seems like I still have multiple years' worth of Christmas layouts still to do.

I think I did three layouts with this same sketch, but since I don't scrapbook chronologically, no one will know but me!

This patterned paper was just SO fun...I cut out a couple of reindeer accents from another pattern in the pack.  I created the title by using a marker to ink up "Christmas" from a longer sentiment, and the "Eve" part is done using the Metro Alphabet.  I just lucked out that those two elements ended up being about the same length.

Today's Christmas color palette includes Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Soft Sky, Delightful Dijon, Whisper White, and Very Vanilla.  As a general rule, I'm against the use of Whisper White and Very Vanilla together, but it works in the patterned paper so I just went with it.

Hope your December is off to a great start!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Metro Type Alphabet, Joyful Christmas
Ink:  Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Basic Black marker
Paper:  Real Red, Delightful Dijon, Mossy Meadow, Whisper White, Home for Christmas DSP, Color Me Autumn DSP
Accessories: none

2015 Showcase, Part 2

Part 2 of the card showcase, so July through December.

July's pick features the fantastically-named stamp set Awesomely Artistic, which I need to use a whole lot more in 2016.  Sometimes having so many stamps is a problem ;)

July's other pick is this ax murderer card, which is quite possibly one of my favorite cards in the history of ever because of a joke I share with a friend, whom I have referred to for years as "my online friend, the ax murderer".  She thinks it's funny too.

My pick for August is this little stellar card, I love the bright colors and all the white space just seems to make it work.

September's pick is the faboolous Stella, who got sent to my friend Sarah who loves all things Halloween and even managed to have her daughter on her favorite holiday.

October's pick is this jellyfish card, just because I think it's funny.

November's pick is this beary thankful card, because I just couldn't get through an entire showcase without that Thankful Forest Friends bear.

November's other pick is this Star Wars birthday card, which I somehow neglected to sign when I gave it to my brother.  Oops.  But I was pretty proud of how Artoo turned out...maybe I should give BB-8 a try?

And to finish up the showcase, December's pick is this sparkly blue poinsettia card, which I sent to my mom because she loves sparkly and blue and all things Christmas.

Happy New Year, peeps!

Friday Flashback: Holidays & Wishes

Happy Friday, friends!  So the hubs and I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens last night, and despite my best efforts I had to blink at least a half a dozen times during the movie so we're going back tonight so I can catch anything I missed the first time around ;)  But you're here for the Friday Flashback!  Right?  Right!  Today's retired stamp set is Holidays & Wishes, so here we go!

Also features Lovely as a Tree, Bella Toile

I love greens and blues together, I think they make a nice sympathy card when you use more subdued tones.

Also features Heartfelt Thanks, Paisley

Playing with Heartfelt Thanks and inchies.  Also, I miss Almost Amethyst and all the other purples :(

Also features Snow Burst

This was before I learned how to tie pretty knots, but otherwise I like this one.  It's shimmery white cardstock for a bit of shine.

Also features Simply Said, Kindness jumbo wheel

And there's a pink and purple Valentine...

Also features Scandinavian Season

And a Scandinavian Christmas tree.

Also features Lovely as a Tree, French Script

One more sympathy card, and now it's time for today's new creation!  Spoiler alert, it has blue and green on it, but it's not subdued for a sympathy card and it might be one of my favorite cards this year.  Take a look:

I just had to use Joyful Christmas again because that flower is so pretty.  And I was inspired by these colorful poinsettias at my local grocery store:

They have glitter on them in addition to being a wonderful shade of royal blue.  Aren't they pretty?

I also used this week's Pals Paper Arts sketch:

And this week's Color Throwdown is a free-for-all Christmas challenge:

I used Garden Green, Pacific Point, and Blackberry Bliss, and I think I love that combination.  The poinsettia was inked with Versamark, then Blackberry Bliss, and I used Iridescent Ice embossing powder plus it's stamped on shimmery white cardstock.  For the leaves, I just stamped them in Garden Green, so they ran a little bit when I watercolored them.  I waited until the water dried and then used the fine tip of my Garden Green marker to go over the lines again, and I like how that worked out for me.

Anyway, I've got to get moving.  Have a great weekend, peeps, and if you haven't seen the new Star Wars movie yet I won't spoil any plot points for you.  May the Force be with you!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Holidays & Wishes, Joyful Christmas
Ink:  Versamark, Pacific Point, Garden Green, Blackberry Bliss, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Pacific Point, Garden Green, Blackberry Bliss, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Iridescent Ice EP, rhinestones, Decorative Label punch, Ovals Framelits, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Joyful Christmas

Happy Friday, y'all!  And it IS a happy Friday:  my craft room is clean.  I feel so much better now :D  I cleaned up my stampy area yesterday and this morning I mopped up all the doggy paws on the floor and it looks great and I can't wait to get in there and mess it up again as I create something new.  Only without the doggy paw prints, I'm okay if it doesn't rain for a while.

Anyway, it's time for the Friday Flashback!  Ya know, sometimes I come across a stamp set that I just really like and I can't believe that I haven't used it more.  And I think that happens more with seasonal stamp sets because I, for one, don't make Christmas cards year-round.  But anyway, today's retired stamp set is Joyful Christmas.

ACK!  I love that poinsettia.  The grocery store here (how I love Wegmans!) has some special dyed poinsettias that are, I kid you not, royal blue.  So, so pretty.

Also features En Francais

This Wedgewood-inspired card is one of my favoritest creations ever, I just love it.  I embossed the poinsettia with white EP, and then I watercolored it with white ink.  It took quite a lot of time but I just loved how it turned out.

And that is all I had in my archives for Joyful Christmas, which is a shame because I love love love that poinsettia.  So here's my new creation:

TBH, this is my least favorite of the three cards.  Maybe I'd like it better if I had used Calypso Coral for the card base and then embossed the sentiment in white, I don't know.  I do like the color combination, it *can* be Christmasy with some creativity but it doesn't have to be, thank you ColourQ:

And I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Okay, kids.  I need to go vacuum the rest of the house and then get going to the post office and the store.  Maybe I'll snap a pic of those royal blue poinsettias for you.  Cheers!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Joyful Christmas
Ink:  Blush Blossom, Calypso Coral
Paper:  Blush Blossom, Calypso Coral, Shimmery White, Gold Foil, Coastal Cabana DSP
Accessories:  Scallop edge punch, Dimensionals, Gold Glitz Dazzling Details

Friday Flashback: En Francais

Happy Friday, friends, and welcome to this week's Friday Flashback!  This week's randomly chosen retired stamp set is En Francais, and it just might be one of my most-used background stamps.  Even with picking and choosing just some favorite projects from the archives to share today, this is gonna be a long flashback...let's go!

Also features Artistic Etchings, Circle Circus, I {Love} Love Wheel

It's only natural to pair En Francais with the Eiffel Tower from Artistic Etchings...I did that quite a few times actually, but I picked these to share today because I like the collage effect.

Also features Carte Postale

Here's another French-inspired creation with a fleur de lis.

Also features Baroque Motifs, All Holidays

En Francais also makes some pretty Christmas cards.  I like how this one has the traditional red and green but also Elegant Eggplant for something different.  And I made this card before I learned how to tie pretty knots :)

Also features Illuminations, Bella's Border wheel

I *love* the stamp set Illuminations, love love love it.  This was for one of those annoying all-neutral color challenges.

Also features Stippled Blossoms, Christmas Messages

 Another Christmas card, this one of a more recent vintage.

Also features Joyful Christmas

And this is one of my favorite cards ever.  I love the white watercolored poinsettias.

Also features Stem Silhouettes, Print Pattern, Sincere Salutations

One more less-traditional Christmas card.

Also features Pretty Peony, Lovely Letters Alphabet

And a pretty monogram.

Also features Simply Sketched

This one is a little bit different with the script stamped in such a dark color, so it's a bolder element than most of the cards on this post but I still thought it worked well for a sympathy card.

Also features Perfectly Penned, Flower Shop

You can just see the script stamped in white on the background squares.  And that's all I'm sharing from the archives, which is maybe half the cards o.0  Ready for a new creation?

It's Friday Flashback day and I still got to play with my brand-new Watercolor Wings :D  For the white squares, I pressed an acrylic block into my Whisper White ink pad and used it like a stamp--it came out with more ink around the edges and less in the middle without me even trying, which was great since that's what I wanted it to do.  I used three different stamps to make the butterfly (actually four, counting the antennae), but I ended up having to cut it out by hand because where I stamped the butterfly body didn't jive with the matching Framelit.  Note for next time:  cut out the butterfly and stamp the body on afterward.  That baker's twine bow was a pain too, it took four tries to get something that looked halfway decent.

But anyway!  I used this week's ColourQ colors:

I kinda thought that they shouldn't work together, but I did really like them when I had all five laid out on my stamp table.  I also used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And that's it for me this week.  Hope you have a great weekend!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  En Francais, Watercolor Wings, Vintage Verses
Ink:  Summer Starfruit, Concord Crush, Pale Plum, Coastal Cabana, Whisper White
Paper:  Summer Starfruit, Whisper White
Accessories:  white baker's twine, Dimensionals

Favorites Showcase 2013, Part 2

2013 is almost over, so here we are with the second half of the 2013 favorites showcase.  Let's go!

Here's one of my picks for July, I love this card.  Always good to have some masculine cards on hand.

My second July pick; July is when I really started to get back into scrapbooking and had loads of fun with it.  I can't wait to dive back in once my exam is over on January 13th!

Here's another scrappy pick for August, from when hubs' truck got squished almost 10 years ago.  It wasn't fun at the time, but I get a kick out of looking at this layout now.  The title makes me giggle every time.

My choice for September was this awesome leafy card, I love those colors together!

Another scrappy layout for October with lots of blues for my mama!

Another great color combo for November's card, love the aquas and purple together.

And we'll finish it up with my favorite December card, this Wedgwood-inspired poinsettia creation.  Once again, I've linked up the original posts for each card or scrapbook layout if you want to see more.  Tomorrow is Nacho Average Challenges day and then we're in to 2014!  Seems like I just got used to writing 2013...

Joyful Pink Poinsettias

I forgot something.

I made six of these yesterday, and I meant to do something on the center of the poinsettia to jazz it up a bit--like some glitter glue or something.  But I forgot to do that yesterday.  Oops.  I did decorate the inside of the cards, though.

The Pink Pirouette poinsettia turned out darker on the edges and lighter in the center, and I'm gonna pretend I planned it that way to stamp the sentiment in the flower.

The color combo is courtesy of the Paper Players:

And the card sketch is from Mojo Monday:

Though my card is more "inspired by" than a strict use of the sketch.

We've got a bit of low-lying fog here today, so it looks all wintry outside and I'm about to take my two little doglets for a walk.  Unfortunately I just checked the temperature--34 degrees--so it's gonna feel pretty wintry out there too.  But then I can make myself a nice hot cuppa tea when I get home...have a wonderful day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Joyful Christmas
Ink:  Raspberry Ripple, Old Olive, Pink Pirouette
Paper:  Raspberry Ripple, Pink Pirouette, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Season of Style DSP
Accessories:  Apothecary Accents Framelits, Dimensionals