Postage Love

Mornin' y'all!  Moving slow today because I woke up with a headache, that's always fun, but it's gonna get better from here.  I am manifesting positive things for today.

What with being a chauffeur extraordinaire most of the day yesterday, I didn't get into my craft room until the early evening but I did make a card to share today:

I have two challenges today, starting with the Creative Colour Challenge:

And what gave me a vector on this card is the Addicted to CAS challenge:

I combined the pretty Posted for You Love stamp with Post Script, which might be my favorite background stamp ever.  At first I wanted to use ribbon on my card, but it turns out I have zero ribbon in any of the challenge colors, so instead I put a thin strip of Melon Mambo behind my postage stamp image and I think it works.

That's it for now, peeps.  Have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Posted for You, Post Script
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Gray Granite, Stampin' Blends in Petal Pink, Melon Mambo, Gray Granite
Paper:  Petal Pink, Gray Granite, Melon Mambo, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Rectangular Postage Stamp punch, Dimensionals

Vintage Traveler

Mornin' y'all!  Daphne is currently gamboling about the living room and playing with a toy and being totally adorable.  I went to the store this morning and got her and extendable leash, so we'll see how she does with that in about a half hour when we do our daily neighborhood tour.

Anyway, I've got something a bit different to share today:

Y'all know me and how much I love color--in general, I only make all-neutral cards under duress, but it seemed like the thing to do for this particular card.

Let's talk challenges, shall we?  Starting with Festive Friday:

I've got sepia colors (now you know why I made my card all neutrals), twine, distressing techniques if you count sponging and paper tearing, postmarks, and a thinking of you sentiment, not too shabby.  This list seemed to dovetail nicely with the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge:

I was actually looking for a plane image for this card, but I think the old-fashioned valise works.  Next up is the Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I used a square punch to keep all the background pieces exactly the same size, and once again my flabbers are gasted that I don't have a 1 1/8" square punch.  The heck?  I have 1", 1 1/4", and 1 3/8" but no 1 1/8".  Annoying.  And also why my scale is a bit off from the original sketch.  Also, I used the twine in place of the foliage on the sketch, and I tried to put some embellishments on there but decided my card looked better without.

I just realized this also works for the Retro Rubber Challenge:

This time I have the diagonal with tag - your choice (vintage) - die cut and everything on this card is vintage, including the cardstock, inks, punch, and die I used.  For the stamps, Traveler is the least vintage and has been in my collection for about a year, Post Script is 9 years old, and Teeny Tiny Wishes is at least 14 years old.  I hang onto my stamps, because obviously I need them for challenges.

That's it for now, peeps.  Next time I will post a colorful card as an antidote to all this brown : )  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Traveler, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Post Script
Ink:  Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel
Paper:  Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Lots of Labels Framelits, Early Espresso bakers twine, Dimensionals

Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk

Hey hey, welcome to another Nancy Drew Challenge!  We're up to number 17, The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk.

Again, we have a very slight title change.  The OT on the left gets the colorful cover and a scene from the book; the RT right is another collage and I find it curious that the cover for a book that takes place almost entirely at sea is nearly devoid of sea colors.  Interesting artistic choice.

Case file:  Nancy, Bess, and George are planning to take a trip to South America with the students of a girls' school (which none of them attend), when a pretentious and rude lady appears and Nancy's house and insists that she can't go with them and that her darling daughter Nestrelda (what a name!) cannot associate with people like Nancy.  Meanwhile, Carson wants Nancy to talk to the daughter of a friend of his and convince her to marry the guy that her parents have picked out, which is super ick on Carson and the parents' part but at least Nancy isn't fond of this idea either.  The girls all do go on the trip and Nancy's trunk gets mixed up with Nestrelda's, which her crooked stepfather has been using as part of a jewelry smuggling operation.  Quite a bit of the book takes place in Buenos Aires, which was fun.  Also, Nancy gets struck by lightning in this one.  What?!

Here's my card:

At the start of the book, when Nancy is packing her stuff in her new trunk, we get a return of Effie from Password to Larkspur Lane though this time instead of just being flighty and hilarious she's actively stupid and packs Nancy's passport in the trunk, so Nancy is worried she won't get to go on the trip as the trunk got shipped to the port separately.  So I had to include a passport on my card for this one.  Also I think it's weird that Nancy is so keen to go on a trip to South America when she was nearly an unwilling passenger on a cruise ship heading there in the OT version of #16, The Clue of the Tapping Heels.

I wanted to use Nancy's smart blue skirt suit as the main color inspiration, so I went with Island Indigo for my card base with Pool Party for the sky, and just a touch of Sweet Sorbet to echo Bess's red jacket.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Next Destination, Post Script
Ink:  Island Indigo, Pebbled Path, Pool Party, Sweet Sorbet
Paper:  Island Indigo, Pool Party, Thick Basic White, Shades & Hues DSP Stack
Accessories:  Perennial Postage dies, Dimensionals, Sweet Sorbet pearls

Now let's take a look at the RT:

Case file:  Nancy, Bess, and George embark on a transatlantic cruise from Holland to New York and meet Nelda Detweiler, who shares their cabin.  Nancy's trunk goes missing while another similar one with the initials ND is delivered to the cabin in its place.  Nelda had been wrongly accused of stealing jewelry in South Africa; Nancy and the other girls open up this trunk that doesn't belong to them and discover that the trunk is being used to smuggle jewels; Nancy has the bad guys arrested as soon as they dock in New York.  And along the way there's a meteor and she and Nelda get thrown overboard, no big deal (by which I mean this is totally bananas).  Also, fun fact, this book was a gift to me from my cousins for Christmas 1989.

Here's my card:

I admit, I bought the Traveler stamp set on eBay specifically for this Nancy Drew challenge.  I had to do a monochromatic card to match the cover, and I included some antique pearls for the jewelry on the cover.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Traveler, Scenic Adventure, World Map
Ink:  Cinnamon Cider, Early Espresso
Paper:  Cinnamon Cider, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Antique Pearls

But wait, there's more!  I couldn't resist making a second card for this book:

There's a costume contest during the cruise, and George dresses up as an old lady in a nightgown with mice embroidered on it and I could NOT let that opportunity pass me by so here's a mouse card!

I still kept the colors similar to the cover, though I worked in some of Nancy's orangey hues for the cheese.  Still got some jewels on there with the Frosted Iridescent Dots.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Mischievous Mice
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Cinnamon Cider, Daffodil Delight, Peach Pie, Pretty in Pink
Paper:  Cinnamon Cider, Bumblebee, Thick Basic White, A Flower For All Seasons DSP, Bumblebee DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Mini Dimensionals, Frosted Iridescent Dots

Both versions of this book are utterly bananas and I love it, five stars!  Hope you enjoyed this peek at The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk and if you'd like to play along, write a comment here with a link to your card.  You can read more about Nancy's adventures on my other blog, Hey Nancy Drew, where my posts just keep getting longer and longer but I'm having fun.  Stay tuned for next week's adventure, The Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion!

Leafy Greens

Mornin' y'all!  Yesterday I decided to take the day off from working around the house and I dug into a brand new book from my favorite author and drank copious amounts of tea and okay, I also did five loads of laundry because I can't ignore that for long ;) Once I finished the book, I had enough time to make a quick card in my craft room!

Saint Patrick's Day might have been yesterday but I approve of green any day because it's my favorite color.  The card base on this is Granny Apple Green, the square is gold foil and I had trouble getting a good picture of it because it was so rainy and dark out yesterday (which made it an even BETTER day to stay in and read!).

There you can see the gold a bit better.  I could not resist the supergreen challenge from Color Throwdown (and you get a million bonus points if you know what movie "supergreen" is from):

I used Garden Green, Granny Apple Green, and my trusty gold foil to go with the white.  I quite enjoyed this sketch from Fab Friday:

And I'm entering this card over at Retro Rubber as well:

Neither Love of Leaves nor Art Gallery count as retro as they are under a year old, but I broke out Post Script, which is one of my favorite-ever background stamps and I acquired it in 2017.  I hadn't decided on a sentiment to use when I pulled out Post Script, but something about that stamp makes me want to make "I miss you" cards, so I did.

I'm hoping to get some scrapping done today, and then tomorrow I'm working at the arts & crafts center again.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Love of Leaves, Art Gallery, Post Script
Ink:  Garden Green, Versamark
Paper:  Granny Apple Green, Garden Green, gold foil, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Stitched Leaves dies, Floral Gallery dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Dimensionals

Aloha Flowers

Happy Friday, y'all!  I have a lovely tropical card for you today, which is funny since it snowed here yesterday :)  Here's my floral creation:

I dunno, I think it's prettier IRL.  It was overcast when I took the photo, so the colors aren't quite true to life; the sequins are iridescent (not pink) and I used Wink of Stella on the aloha.

I started with the CASE the Designer challenge from Global Design Project:

For my design, I was inspired to do a stamped background with a die-cut word and die-cut flowers on top, and purple is my main color.  The card base on my card is Concord Crush, which is a super-dark purple; I couldn't get an accurately colored photo yesterday.

Speaking of colors, here's this week's Color Throwdown:

This time I managed to use all the colors, haha!  (Last week I left out the gray by accident.)  I used Gray Granite because it's a warm gray, Lemon Lime Twist, Lovely Lipstick, and the aforementioned Concord Crush.  Some of the colors are retired, and the Post Script background stamp is retired, but I use what I want.

The sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch really tied the card together for me, I had been turning over ideas in my head for the Global Design Project challenge all week and when I saw this sketch I knew what I was making:

Fun, right?

Hope y'all have a great Friday.  I'm just hoping the roads aren't too icy so I can go to yoga!

Aloha, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Post Script
Ink:  Gray Granite
Paper:  Concord Crush, Lovely Lipstick, Lemon Lime Twist, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  In the Tropics Dies, Metallic Sequins, Wink of Stella

SUO Challenges: All About Birthdays

Happy Tuesday, stamp enthusiasts!  We have a new challenge at Stampin' Up! Only Challenges today, and it's all about BIRTHDAYS!  Everyone you know has a birthday, so why not make 'em a card?

So here's a birthday card I made for my dear friend Sarah!

This card is a bit Beauty and the Beast inspired because I'm sending her BatB socks (long story).  I chose blue and yellow for Belle's two most iconic dresses in the animated Disney version, and of course there's a rose that plays an important part in the story but I made my roses yellow.  I used the recently retired Post Script background because I love it :)

Go check out the rest of the design team's creations at SUO Challenges, and then make a birthday card yourself!  It's fun, I promise :)  I have three birthdays coming up in my family in the next few weeks, so I'll definitely be making more birthday cards!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Well Said, To a Wild Rose, Post Script
Ink:  Balmy Blue, Pineapple Punch, Crushed Curry, Soft Suede, Granny Apple Green, Shaded Spruce, Night of Navy
Paper:  Balmy Blue, Night of Navy, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Wild Rose dies, Well Written dies, Dimensionals

Hello, Beautiful Butterflies

Mornin' y'all!  Ready for a bright springy card?

I've had a lot of fun playing with Butterfly Gala since I bought it, so when I saw this week's What Will You Stamp? challenge of course I had to join in.

I combined that with the CASE the Designer challenge from Global Design Project:

I kept the same layout with the rectangles and the pattern behind the main image panel (though I stamped mine rather than using DSP), and I kept my card springy but with different colors.  Speaking of colors, check out the fun palette from As You See It:

I added a bit of black and white but otherwise only used those three colors.  I stamped off every other butterfly so there are light and dark pink ones, but they're all Lovely Lipstick.

Well, I've got a very busy day ahead so I'm going to hop to it.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Butterfly Gala, Post Script
Ink:  Pineapple Punch, Lovely Lipstick, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Pineapple Punch, Powder Pink, Basic Black
Accessories:  Rectangle Stitched Framelits, Butterfly Duet Punch

Friendly Watercolor Sunflower

Hey y'all!  Despite having The Headache That Would Not Die (I swear, I've had this headache on and off since last Tuesday), I managed to make a card yesterday afternoon.  Here 'tis:

I sponged Soft Suede ink on the Post Script background stamp to give it a softer feel so it wouldn't compete with my sunflower from Painted Harvest.  I love Post Script so this was me reminding myself to use it more often :)  My card was inspired by the CASE the Designer challenge at Global Design Project:

And I paired that with the color challenge from the Paper Players:

Assuming that neutrals aren't counted as the extra color, I used Pear Pizzazz for the color of my choice because the sunflower needed some leaves.

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

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Post Script, Painted Harvest, Oh So Eclectic
Ink:  Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz, Grapefruit Grove, Daffodil Delight, Soft Suede
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories:  Leaf Punch, Dimensionals, retired epoxy shapes, Wink of Stella pen

Pink Posy

Mornin', y'all.  I was SO tired yesterday, I really can't stay up late like I used to.  I even took a nap when I put the kiddo down for his nap yesterday, so that helped.  And I got myself up in time to squeeze in a card before we had to leave for swim lessons, and as an added bonus, I like how it turned out.

This is another card that I planned out while I was running (I did two miles yesterday, woo!).  I haven't used Painted Harvest in a while, or the Post Script background stamp, so it was nice to dust off both of those.  I used the color combo from Fab Friday:

Even some of the Fab Friday design team was saying that they had trouble figuring out how to incorporate the Mossy Meadow with the other colors.  I think the problem is that it's on the yellower side of the green spectrum, whereas Mint Macaron and Tranquil Tide are on the blue end.  The only Mossy Meadow on my card is stamped off twice to make it much much lighter, and it's on the flower center.  That flower center has some residual purple on it too--there's some Blackberry Bliss or Rich Razzleberry ink on that stamp that I just can't seem to get cleaned off, and it transferred when I stamped it with Mint Macaron here.  Maybe I need one of those cloth shammies...

Anyway, I also used the sketch from Fusion:

I think the color combination kinda jives with the Fusion inspiration photo too.  My circular element isn't in the center like in the sketch, but I think the challenge gods will allow me a bit of leeway with that ;) I liked that this sketch is different from most of the ones I've seen--I like that layer below the circular element.  To make mine, I cut a rectangle of cardstock slightly narrower than a circle die, then ran it through the Big Shot on one end only so it cut only the bottom off the rectangle.

Hope you have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Harvest, Post Script
Ink:  Mint Macaron, Tranquil Tide, Powder Pink, Mossy Meadow, Whisper White
Paper:  Mint Macaron, Tranquil Tide, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits, leaf punch, Dimensionals

Plum Grape-ful

You know I love me a good pun!

I didn't have a color challenge picked out for today's card, so I decided to dust off yet another seldom-used color:  Perfect Plum.  I love purple but it rarely comes up in the color challenges, and I'm a challenge junkie so I don't use it as much as I'd like.  I paired Perfect Plum with Elegant Eggplant and Old Olive for this card, and put a bit of Wink of Stella on the flower so IRL it's nice and sparkly.  I added two rhinestones to the corner to sparkle it up a little more (although they don't look so hot in the picture).

Anyway, check out this week's theme at Global Design Project:

It's possible that I make more thank you cards than anything else; I've never counted (not going to, either!).  I love doing thank you cards with fall colors too but for today it was nice to give the warm colors a rest and play with purple.

I also used this week's Fall-To Layout from Clean & Simple Stamping:

Y'all, this is totally a sketch that I use all. the. time if left to my own devices, it's SO easy.  I like easy.  Maybe it's a good thing I do so many sketch challenges though, keep me from doing the same card layout 99% of the time ;)

That's it for today, y'all!  Ryan and I are off to the gym in a little bit.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artistically Asian, Post Script
Ink:  Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive
Paper:  Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, Thick Whisper White, Color Theory DSP
Accessories:  Wink of Stella, Rhinestones, Dimensionals

P.S. Missing You

Happy Friday, y'all.  I have to say, with the hubs here on convalescent leave for his back surgery, it's kinda hard for me to keep track of the days sometimes.  It sorta feels like the weekend all the time because he's home :)  And I never want to clean house, because who wants to spend a Saturday mopping floors?  But one of these not-Saturdays I need to actually do that.

Well, yesterday we had a tough afternoon.  I was having severe lack of mojo, and Ryan started getting really fussy and we had two open-air accidents yesterday (the last one was when he was, like, three weeks old, so maybe I'd gotten complacent?) and by 4:00 I was just DONE.  But I cleaned up the baby, hubs cleaned up the mess, baby got to take a little nap and I finally managed to get a card made for today.  Not my favoritest ever, but at least I did something.

Given all our tinkle-based misadventures yesterday, I now find it funny that my card is mostly yellow.  Anyway, ever since I got Post Script, I've wanted to use it to make a "miss you" card, because if you're sending someone a letter it means you're not with them so you miss them, right?  I sponged Cajun Craze ink on the stamp, and then stamped it on a piece of ombre Crushed Curry paper from the Color Theory stack.  I figured Tranquil Tide would go well with the other colors (because Tranquil Tide plays nice with everyone), plus it's about the only current ribbon I have, so there you go.

I used this week's Fall-To Layout from Clean & Simple:

That Post Script layer covers up an earlier attempt to use this sketch...seriously I probably spent more than a half hour trying to think of what to do and NOTHING.  This is a great sketch and it shouldn't have been so hard!  I was trying to combine it with a color challenge at it just wasn't working, so I tossed the color challenge.  Sometimes the stamping muse just doesn't want to cooperate.

Ryan is now trying to grab the hubs' breakfast bowl to get more oatmeal, but they ate it all :D  I've got more oatmeal baking in the oven for me, so I'll share a little with him when mine is ready.  It's funny, I typically don't like oatmeal unless it's in the form of cookies, but I tried this earlier this week and loved it.  Yay healthy breakfast?

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Post Script, Oh So Eclectic
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Tranquil Tide
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Tranquil Tide, Color Theory DSP
Accessories:  Tranquil Tide ribbon, Stitched Shapes & Layering Circles Framelits, Mini Dimensionals

"Thanks" Doesn't Seem Like a Big Enough Word

Happy Saturday, y'all!  Hubs went in for his back surgery on Wednesday and stayed overnight in the hospital; he came home Thursday morning.  My friend Tiana, who is the awesomest person in the world, drove down here with her daughters to take care of Ryan while I was at the hospital with the hubs, and while I was gone she made a half-dozen meals for us and put them in the freezer, AND she swept/vacuumed/mopped the middle floor, AND she washed sheets/made the bed for hubs, AND she washed towels and cleaned the bathroom counter.  She is the most capable and efficient person I have *ever* met and I want to be her when I grow up. (She's also taught me 90% of what I know about being a mama.)

Tiana mentioned that she could use some thank you cards to send out, so rest assured I am going to mail her an entire box of thank you cards, because I think she deserves probably about 57,413 thank you cards and also a million dollars for everything she did to help us out.  So while hubs and baby slept yesterday afternoon (baby Ryan got his six-month shots, he was all tuckered out after that), I got started on Operation Thank You Card.

Having fun with the sequins again :)  I'm starting to wish I'd bought sequins before now, they're fun embellies and they're flat so this card will go through the mail no problem.  (Sorry the photo is a little dark, I took it this morning and it was really overcast.  What can ya do.)

Meet this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I just got a box full of new stamp sets and other goodies, and I still pulled out my favorite Orange Blossom and Post Script for this card.  Can't help it that they're awesome ;)  But hopefully I'll be able to ink up some new rubbah in the next couple weeks.

Anywha, I also used this week's Color Throwdown:

I used Melon Mambo, Pear Pizzazz (the long retired Gable Green would be a better match for the color swatch, but I was using all current schtuff), and Daffodil Delight.  My Melon Mambo flower came out much too dark and overpowering the first time, so I cleaned the stamp off and then inked it up by using a sponge and that worked better.  I also tried stamping off, but that just made it turn out kind of blotchy, so for this card sponges were where it's at.

I've got a happy baby boy dressed like Superman.  I think we're going to go have some quality time together while his dada sleeps in this morning.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Orange Blossom, Post Script
Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Iridescent Sequins

Leafy Thanks

I know there are people (like my husband) who love summertime and all the heat and humidity, and to them I say YOU CRAZY.  I can't wait for some cooler temperatures.  Not saying I want to spend 8 months of the year snowbound, but you can take this 90+ degree weather with 8 million percent humidity and shove it.

So I made a fall card.

Because fall is the best season.  I'd love another stamp set or two to work with those Leaflets Framelits, they had one a couple years ago that I loved too (Lighthearted Leaves anyone?).  I love it when a stamp set has coordinating dies, and I love it even more when those dies coordinate with more than one stamp set.

Anywha, the sentiment is from Orange Blossom because apparently I'm a teensy bit totally obsessed with it, and I used the Post Script background on the card base because it is also awesome.  Speaking of awesome, check out the sketch from the Paper Players:

 And I told you I wanted another hack at the Color Throwdown:

This time I used Berry Burst and Daffodil Delight with Old Olive; I sponged the ink on the background stamp so it wouldn't come out too stark this time.  The leaf kinda looks more yellow and orange than red, but that's what you get when you mix red and yellow ink right?  I was trying to get the leaf to cover from the yellow, through the orange and over to the red side.

But it's a lot more red in the bottom corner than anywhere I could reach with one leaf stamp :)  Still, that's the fun thing about doing watercolors like that, you get something different every time.

That's it for me today, y'all.  Cheers!  And stay cool, yo.  Fall is on its way, just slowly...

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves, Orange Blossom, Post Script
Ink:  Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Berry Burst, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Old Olive, Berry Burst, Thick Whisper White, Watercolor paper
Accessories:  Leaflets Framelits, Dimensionals