SSSmile

Mornin' y'all.  I'm feeling a little slow this morning but I'm hoping that I'll perk up now that I have my first cuppa in front of me.  I do love a good strong Irish Breakfast tea in the morning...or maybe two : )

Anyway, when I made my snake card for last Saturday's Nancy Drew Challenge, I had at first colored in the snake with Granny Apple Green and Golden Glow before I switched to Bubble Bath instead.  But I still had that green and gold snake image all cut out and ready to go, so here he is on a card:

My picture looks a bit dark but that's what I get for taking it when it was all misty outside and right now I'm trying to get this post written before my wireless mouse runs out of batteries so I'm not going to replace it.  Anyway, the AAA Cards Challenge was the perfect impetus to get Mr. Snakey here on a finished card:

And I paired that with the Festive Friday Challenge:

I already had white on my die-cut snake image, so I chose a frame to go around him and then the "SSSmile" sentiment because it made me laugh.  I almost put some embellishments on there, but with the little dots around the snake on top of the polka dot paper I decided I had better leave it alone.

Amusing anecdote time:  This summer, I spent a lot of time in the car driving Ryan to various summer camps which all seemed to be 30 minutes away, so we started playing a game in the car where Ryan would name a letter and then we'd trade off saying words that start with that letter.  Sometimes we'd do fake acronyms just to try to make each other laugh (there was one about a problematic turnip vs. a pretty tiger).  Anyway, whenever Ryan ran out of words, he'd just yell "SNAKE!" and choose a different letter.  Why snake?  I have no idea.  He also said "Why did I play this game with YOU when you know every word in the English language?!" but we had fun with it.

Okay, I'd better finish up before my poor mouse goes into a coma.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Animal Notes from C.C. Designs, Nature's Symphony
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Granny Apple Green & Golden Glow
Paper:  Golden Glow, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Granny Apple Green DSP
Accessories:  Everyday Detail dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals

A Natural Pair

Mornin' y'all, hows your day going?  You ever see a challenge or two and your brain immediately comes up with an idea?  That's how this card happened:

I loved the colors at Creative Colour Challenges this week:

They already had me thinking of Nature's Symphony and the Nature Walk DSP when I saw this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I like it when challenges work together so easily.  Makes life more fun : )

Check you later, peeps.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nature's Symphony
Ink:  Night of Navy, Pretty Peacock, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Night of Navy, Granny Apple Green, Basic Beige, Nature Walk DSP
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, Nature's Symphony dies, Dimensionals, Sparkle Dot Essentials

A Floral CASE for SUO Challenges

Goooood morning stampy friends!  It's time for a new challenge from SUO Challenges, and this time around we are CASE-ing a page from the new catty, check it out:

So I pondered this one for a while.  I don't have any of the stamps, dies, or patterned paper featured on these cards, but I do have a lot of other stuff ; )  I do have the Lovely Blooms DSP that Joanne convinced me to buy, and it has flowers and some pink patterns (Petal Pink, but still pink...ish), and I do have a different stamp set (that's even current right now, whaaaat) that features the word "smile", so here's what I made:

Since I didn't buy the stamps that coordinate with this particular DSP, I fussy-cut some flowers and leaves from one piece of patterned paper and plopped them on a Petal Pink pattern, and I free-hand cut the banner bottom because I don't have those giant pennant dies.  It's a little wonky but that's okay.  The greeting is from Nature's Symphony, simply punched out with a 1 3/4" square punch and popped up on Dimensionals; I had some leaves from the edge of the paper that I was able to cut out and place behind the greeting where you can't see the edge of the paper, how's that for thrifty.  The diamond pattern is another sheet of this DSP so Joanne was right, it's a fun and useful pack of paper to play with, haha!  And since I have approximately eleventy billion Petal Pink embellishments, I added a bunch to coordinate with the card I CASE'd.

We hope you'll have fun with this challenge and post your card at the SUO Challenges blog.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nature's Symphony
Ink:  Secret Sea
Paper:  Petal Pink, Thick Basic White, Lovely Blooms DSP
Accessories:  1 3/4" circle punch, Dimensionals, Dear Dots

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

I Like Zinnias

Mornin' y'all!  I keep telling myself that one of these days I will finally ink up a couple of new (and at the moment, still current) stamp sets, but...today is not that day.  Ha!

Simply Zinnia is another floral set that I thought about using for the Paper Players challenge, so it came to mind immediately when I saw the TGIF Challenges sketch:

Which I paired with the Retro Rubber color challenge:

Simply Zinnia is two years old, so not as retro as I usually go but it still counts.  I used Bubble Bath, Mossy Meadow, Berry Burst, and Granny Apple Green, though the Berry Burst is photographing a bit darker than it looks in person.  I don't use Berry Burst very often so I really wanted to give it a shot and it seemed to be the best darker pink to go with Bubble Bath.  I chose the sentiment purely because it was the first one I came across that fit in the die cut I wanted to use...it's not retro, but everything else is!

That's it for me today, peeps.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Zinnia, Nature's Symphony
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Mossy Meadow, Bubble Bath, Stampin' Blends in Bubble Bath, Berry Burst, Mossy Meadow, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Berry Burst, Bubble Bath, Thick Basic White, Flowering Zinnias DSP
Accessories:  Simply Zinnia dies, Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals, Tinsel Gems, Wink of Stella

Big Bold Birthday Rose

Mornin' y'all!  Bit late with posting but it's been a busy morning of running errands.  Daphne was just shoving my elbow with her nose, she knows it's past her normal walk time, but I had things I needed to do first and that includes writing this blog post.  So here's my card for today:

I was inspired by the current challenge at Time Out Challenges:

The first big, bold flower in my stamp collection that came to mind after seeing this challenge was the one from Rose Wonder, so I went with that.  There are two very similar color challenges out there right now featuring pinks and greens but I think I managed to choose colors for my rose that don't exactly fit either of those challenges, dangit!  Ah well, I think this card will go to my sister this summer, it just looks like an Adrienne card.  I embossed the image with gold EP and then colored with Blends, two shades of pink and two shades of green.  This is what the back of the paper looked like when I was done:

I just thought it was interesting.

Okay, I'd better go take the Daphinator for her walk so I can come back and whip up some cookie dough.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Rose Wonder, Nature's Symphony
Ink:  Versamark, Berry Burst, Crumb Cake, Stampin' Blends in Granny Apple Green, Mossy Meadow, Polished Pink, Berry Burst
Paper:  Polished Pink, Basic White
Accessories:  Gold EP, Gold baker's twine, Dimensionals, Brushed Metallic Dots

SUO Challenges: Variations on a Theme by Tammy

Mornin' y'all!  I am writing this blog post on the hubs' PC laptop, and given that I've been pretty much exclusively a Mac user for over 10 years, I am practically PC illiterate now.  So it's slower and more difficult to do things but I couldn't NOT post today, because it's SUO Challenges day!  Check out the new challenge:

Every once in a while, I come across a sketch or a theme and I make a card and then my brain fizzes and I make another card and then another one and guess what happened with this challenge.  Here's what I made:

I had individual pictures taken of each of these cards and of course those are all saved on the Mac that is currently dead but we're hoping can be resuscitated, so all I have is this one.  I didn't take new pictures of the cards because I have no idea how to do photo editing on the laptop...I have to email photos to myself on my phone and then access my email on the laptop to even get pictures to show up here, because I can't figure out how to upload blog pictures on my phone either.  #TechTroglodyte

Anyway, I started out with the card on the top left using the Hobby Haven DSP and cutouts, and I used pink but not the same shade that Tammy did.  Next I thought I'd do a love card, but not specifically Valentine's Day since that's past now, so I broke out the Made with Love DSP and the Valentine Kisses stamp set--and I even challenged myself to use a different bear instead of the kissy bear with the wings : )

For my third card, I got out some scraps of the Perennial Lavender DSP which I think is in the annual catalog so you can still buy it if you haven't already.  The die cuts are from an old Paper Pumpkin kit that coordinated with that whole lavender suite.  And finally is probably my favorite, you know I love the Nature Walk DSP and Nature's Symphony bundle.

So there you have my variations on a theme by Tammy.  I was actually going to make a fifth card this weekend but then I got that cold from the hubs and I spent almost all weekend laying around sniffling.  Anyway, I hope that you'll have even half as much fun as I did with this challenge, and upload your creations at the SUO Challenges blog.  Don't forget to use only Stampin' Up! products!

If it's stopped raining (yeah, it's raining for the first time in forever!), I'm going to take Daphne for a walk.  Cheers!

Supplies, Hobby Haven card:
Stamps:  On Display
Ink:  Coastal Cabana
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Petal Pink, Thick Basic White, Hobby Haven DSP
Accessories:  Dear Dots, Mini Dimensionals

Supplies, bear card:
Stamps:  Valentine Kisses
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Real Red, Stampin' Blends in Smoky Slate, Crumb Cake, Flirty Flamingo
Paper:  Real Red, Basic White, Made with Love DSP
Accessories:  Valentine Kisses dies, Dimensionals, Rainbow Dots

Supplies, lavender card:
Stamps:  My Paper Pumpkin
Ink:  Gorgeous Grape
Paper:  Highland Heather, Pretty Peacock
Accessories:  bits from a past Paper Pumpkin kit, Mini Dimensionals, Fine Purple Shimmer Gems

Supplies, masculine card:
Stamps:  Nature's Symphony
Ink:  Old Olive, Secret Sea
Paper:  Blueberry Bushel, Crumb Cake, Thick Basic White, Nature Walk DSP
Accessories:  Nature's Symphony dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Ombre Matte Decorative Dots

Floral Inspiration for SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all!  It's time for a new challenge from SUO Challenges!

And today we have a very pretty inspo pic for you:

So here's what I made:

I especially liked the pretty pink flowers on the right side of the inspiration pic, so that's my jumping off point.  I combined a die cut flower from Pretty Florals with die cut leaves from Nature's Symphony, it's one big leafy die but I cut it apart to make the leaves go where I wanted them to for my Artistic Vision (hee).  I used a blending brush to apply Mossy Meadow ink because I didn't want the leaves to be so dark that they overwhelmed the delicate pink flower.  The brick wall embossing folder would have been perfect for a background here but I don't have it, so I used a texture stamp from Nature's Symphony in Smoky Slate ink on my card base.  I chose a Valentine greeting from Bee My Valentine (I think that's still current?  I can't keep track anymore) and done!

Check out the SUO Challenges blog to see more inspiration from the design team, and then upload your own card there.  Don't forget to keep it to only Stampin' Up! products, but retired products are totally allowed.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nature's Symphony, Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Pretty in Pink, Mossy Meadow, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Pretty Florals dies, Nature's Symphony dies, Dimensionals, In Color Flat Pearls

Symphonic Sketch

Mornin' y'all!  I am happy to report that I did, in fact, ink up one of my new stamp sets yesterday and here's what I made:

I tried to resist the Nature's Symphony bundle at first but as you can see I was unsuccessful.  I had fun with the stamps, dies, and my new favorite Nature Walk DSP, plus the current Atlantic Hearts sketch:

Yep, that sketch was *made* for the Nature's Symphony bundle, and the DSP continues to be stunning and I may need to buy more packs to hoard (I already have two packs but I love this stuff).  I cut a piece of DSP sized for the card front, then traced the edge of a dinner plate for the curve and cut it.  The Secret Sea pattern on the right is the reverse side of the pattern I used on the left, and I managed to cut the curve symmetrically enough to just flip over the smaller piece for my card front.  While making this I discovered that my Pretty Peacock ink pad needs to be replaced I think--like little chunks of the foam are coming off the ink pad and sticking to the stamp when I try to ink up a stamp.  Never had that happen before with any of my other foam pads and you know, I think I've already replaced the peacock one once before.  Weird.

ETA:  Serendipity!  The brand new challenge at As You See It is to use something new!

So today's card is the first time I've used my new Nature's Symphony bundle, which is among the newest purchases that I have here in my craft room currently.  Let's not talk about how I got some more dies from Spellbinders yesterday and it's LeAnne's fault : )  So that's my newest craft purchase, but it hasn't shipped yet.

Ryan has a 3-hour early release today (why) so I had better hurry up and finish my tea and walk Daphne if I want to get anything done in my craft room before I go to pick him up.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nature's Symphony
Ink:  Pretty Peacock, Garden Green, Secret Sea
Paper:  Pretty Peacock, Garden Green, Very Vanilla, Nature Walk DSP
Accessories:  Nature's Symphony dies, Dimensionals, Sparkle Dot Essentials