Sweet Friend

Have you ever seen a stamp set in the catalog and really liked it, then bought it, and once it got to your house you just sat and stared at it and it stared back at you and you had absolutely no idea what to do with it?  You Are Loved was one of those stamp sets for me.  But after owning it for at least a year, I have finally made something with it, and it will finally quit staring at me in such an accusatory tone of voice.  Yay.

Hey look, two More Amore DSP cards in a row.  Well, I bought the Valentine paper this year but not the Hearts a Flutter stamp set which I am trying mightily to resist.  Wish me luck and tell me to stay strong; my husband will thank you for encouraging me not to buy another stamp set ;)

So You Are Loved might still be languishing in my stamp cabinet, uninked, were it not for the Sketch Frenzy Friday challenge posted last week:

I had to make the middle panel wider to accommodate the heart image but everything else is the same as the sketch.  I wish SU would quit "aging" the edges of their DSP; it can make it look kinda weird when you cut it up for a card.  The pattern I used today had pinkish sponging all around the edges, so I added some more with Primrose Petals so it would look right to me.  I also lightly sponged some Pool Party and Basic Gray around the heart panel to make it match the aged paper, though it doesn't show up well in the photo (hate it when I have to take pictures after dark...doesn't help that dark is before 5 p.m. here right now).  And the good folks at SU apparently also disagree with my opinion that Primrose Petals and Real Red clash, though thus far I have succeeded in ignoring the Real Red in this DSP ;)

Thanks for stopping by today, enjoy your Wednesday!

Supplies:
Stamps:  You are Loved
Ink:  Primrose Petals, Pool Party, Basic Gray
Paper:  Primrose Petals, Pool party, Very Vanilla, More Amore DSP
Accessories:  uhh...sponges?  Dude, I didn't even use Dimensionals on this one.  I did fussy-cut that bird though.

Because Once Isn't Enough...

Say it three times!  This idea pretty much fell into my head when I saw the sketch challenge at Create with Connie & Mary...I like it when my mojo works like that, it could happen a lot more often as far as I'm concerned.  The only thing that took me a while was choosing something to go on the middle banner...it felt too plain with nothing there, so I ended up with a button threaded with DMC floss (3731 is a fairly good match for Primrose Petals if you're interested).  Pretty sure I still have more skeins of floss than I do stamp sets, but the floss is a bit more portable ;)  Cross stitching is my other obsession.

Anywho, here's the sketch:

Thanks for stopping by today, and don't forget to tell people you love 'em as often as possible!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Seasonal Sayings (still available, woohoo!)
Ink:  Primrose Petals
Paper:  Pool Party, Very Vanilla, More Amore DSP
Accessories:  Sycamore Street ribbon & button pack, DMC floss

Mambo Number 5

Ever since I got my spring catty preorder, I've been going through Melon Mambo cardstock like it's going out of style.  I'm totally in love with that Sunshine & Sprinkles DSP, though I didn't use any of that on the card I'm sharing today.

The inspiration for this one came from a couple of challenges; first off, one from Freshly Made Sketches: 

And second, a color combo courtesy of Pals Paper Arts:

Well, I like the colors and the sketch, but this isn't my favorite card ever.  I did use a new toy though--I just got that Argyle EF, always fun to play with new toys :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies (all SU!):
Stamps:  Mixed Bunch, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Melon Mambo, Basic Gray
Paper:  Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Whisper White, Neutrals DSP Stack
Accessories:  Argyle EF plus lots o' punches--Blossom, 3/4" circle, Word Window, Scallop Trim Border

Friday Flashback: Great Friend

Welcome to another edition of the Friday Flashback!  This week's set is the super-cute Great Friend, which includes an awesome butterfly stamp.  First up let's check out the archives:

The butterfly lends itself beautifully to the rock 'n' roll technique.  This was a baby shower card for my friend Melissa; I made her a baby book which also included that DSP and the butterfly stamp on the first page.

I made a set of these but I can't remember now if they were thank you cards for after my birthday or if I made a set for my SU! customers.  I still have one of these in my stash and it inspired a swap card I recently made (which will show up on the blog sooner or later, promise!).

And now for the all-new card!

I'm pretty pleased with it.  I like how the bright colors pop on the black DSP, but of course I didn't come up with the combo on my own...I got it from another brand spankin' new challenge blog, Inkspirational:

I used Primrose Petals for my pink...I was going to go with Melon Mambo but I don't have any ribbon that color.  The green is the retired In Color, Kiwi Kiss.  I think it's fun to mix the new In Colors with some retired colors...but then again, I'm of the opinion that SU! should introduce 5 new colors a year and never get rid of any even if it means we have 5,426 ink colors.  I like options.  And LOTS of colors.

The layout is courtesy of last Friday's sketch from the good folks at Sketch Frenzy Friday:

Once again I have taken a few liberties with the sketch but the basic elements are there.  What can I say?  I'm a rebel.

Happy Friday and thanks for stopping by for another Friday Flashback!

Supplies (for the new card only):
Stamps:  Great Friend (retired)
Ink:  Primrose Petals, Kiwi Kiss, StazOn Black
Paper:  Primrose Petals, Whisper White, Night & Day and Urban Garden DSPs (both retired)
Accessories:  basic rhinestones, Primrose Petals stitched satin ribbon

Retro Peacock

Nothing beats a nice hot cuppa tea in the morning!  Though it looks like it's been afternoon now (here at least) for the last 10 minutes.  Oh well.  Today's card has nothing to do with tea.

How do you like that?  'Cause I'm quite fond of it!  The thing that took me the longest was choosing DSP for the strip on the left...not that I couldn't find anything, but more that I had trouble narrowing it down.  I finally chose that one since the design reminded me of the eyes on peacock feathers.  I thought about making the bird multicolored, but I decided I liked him in all Pacific Point so I just added some rhinestones.  Think I'd like the button better if it was Pacific Point, but I didn't have any buttons that color so Pool Party is what I got.

Today's card layout is courtesy of Retro Sketches:

I had fun with this sketch though of course I modified it a bit.  All the elements are there, just in slightly different proportions.  If you're curious, the DSP strip is 1 inch wide, and the peacock piece is 3 3/4 inches wide; both are 3 1/2 inches tall.  Whenever I want to stamp multiple things one one panel, I usually stamp the images on scratch paper first, cut them out, and lay them on my grid paper.  That way I can see what size I need to cut my paper and I can mess around with arrangement of the images, and when I'm done, I put the images into the respective stamp cases for if I need them again.  You know the cheapo white paper that comes in scrapbook page protectors?  I use that as my scratch paper since I have a ton of it.

Thanks for stopping by today and have a wonderful Thursday!

Supplies (all SU!):
Stamps:  World Treasures, Curly Cute
Ink:  Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango
Paper:  Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, International Bazaar DSP
Accessories:  Sycamore Street ribbon & buttons pack (SAB is coming!), Island Indigo baker's twine (not quite a match to Pacific Point, but close enough for this card), basic rhinestones, corner rounder punch

Scentsational Cocoa

Alas, today is the last day for the holiday catalog and thus we must bid adieu to Scentsational Season.  So I had to get one last card in with it :)

For this one, I went to a brand spankin' new challenge blog, Still Addinktive.  Love these colors together!  I need more purple in my life.

As you can see, I rotated the sketch 90 degrees.  I wondered if I'd be able to find a sentiment to fit in between the cocoa mugs but then I ran across that Smile sentiment from Fabulous Phrases and thought hey, that'll work!

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day!

Supplies (all SU!):
Stamps:  Scentsational Season, Fabulous Phrases
Ink:  Perfect Plum, Wild Wasabi, Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Baja Breeze, Whisper White
Accessories:  Holiday Collection Framelits, Square Lattice EF

Favorites Showcase 2012, Part 2

2013 may have started already, but I've still got to do the last 6 months of the 2012 retrospective.  So let's go!

I live in England and I have grown really fond of tea this last year.  I made this birthday card for a friend because we sent him a whole lotta tea for his birthday!  I used Morning Cup, the Take a Sip wheel (I cut it up into individual stamps), and Curly Cute.

I think By the Seashore and Perfectly Penned are two of my favorite stamp sets, and I really like the look of the shells thumped with markers.

I couldn't pick just one card for August, so here's an Artistic Etchings/Pursuit of Happiness card.  Generally I hate those "color" challenges that involve only neutrals and no colors, but I really liked how this card turned out.  (And I'm proud of myself for using Artistic Etchings but *not* the Eiffel Tower!)

This French Foliage card was for a September combo color/sketch challenge at SCS and I lurve those fall colors!  Had some good times with my leafy stamps this year...and we had a gorgeous autumn in this part of England, too.

Here's a pink birthday card for October using Papillon Potpourri, Perfectly Penned, and Elements of Style.  Sometimes it's fun to stamp on patterned paper.

More fall colors for November; this was a Friday Flashback card for Lovely Leaves.  Still really like that layout sketch too, I should re-use that soon!

I had a LOT of Christmas cards to choose from for December, but I thought I'd go with this sweet Scentsational Seasons gingerbread man instead of our personal tea-riffic Christmas cards.  Sentiment is of course from More Merry Messages, which got quite a workout this year!

I'll be back tomorrow with something all-new.  Hope your 2013 is off to a great start!