Birthday Valentine

Mornin', peeps!  Hope you had a good Valentine's Day weekend.  February 14th happens to be my sweetie pie's birthday, so today I wanted to share a layout I did a few years ago.

Happy Valent-irthday!  This was from when we lived in Japan.  This year all my hubs wanted to do was go out to dinner, so we did.  He hates being the center of attention so I didn't even tell the waitress it was his birthday :)

Anyway, I'm off to go start my Monday morning run.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Jayne's Type Alphabet
Ink:  Not Quite Navy
Paper:  Not Quite Navy, Ruby Red, Whisper White, Western Sky DSP
Accessories:  Large star punch

Friday Flashback: Script Heart

Happy Friday and thanks for joining me on today's (rather late) Friday Flashback!  Since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, I have an appropriately lovey-dovey stamp set today:  Script Heart.  Oddly, it seems this little set is so obscure that it doesn't even have a Splitcoast gallery.  So let's get started!

Also features French Script

Honestly, I thought I hadn't used this stamp set at ALL so I was a little surprised to find this one in the archives.  And that's the entire flashback part of today's post, so here's my new creation:

There are other stamps in the set, like some floral bits that would be used in corners and a couple of sentiments in that same spidery script, but I like the big heart the best.

I wanted an extra-simple layout to let the ornate stamp be the star of the show.  I'm still loving my new firm foam ink pads and I'm slowly getting all the colors out of the wrappers...just for funsies, I've only been opening up new colors as I use them, because I was kind of curious to see what I would open up first and what would be left to the very last.  I don't think I've got even half the colors opened up yet, though Perfect Plum, Pear Pizzazz, and Real Red joined the list this time.  (Garden Green was the very first one out of the wrapper, it is my favorite green!)

Speaking of colors, I must thank the lovely folks at the Color Throwdown for today's color palette:

I used Coastal Cabana, Perfect Plum, Real Red, and Pear Pizzazz, plus a bit of Sahara Sand for shading and a teensy bit of Crushed Curry for the violets' centers.  A scrap of patterned paper and some ribbon, and finito!

I hope y'all have a great Valentine's Day tomorrow.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Script Heart
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Real Red, Perfect Plum, Coastal Cabana, Pear Pizzazz, Sahara Sand, Crushed Curry
Paper:  non-SU white (because it's thicker), Fresh Prints of Bel Air DSP stack (I never get tired of that joke)
Accessories:  Pear Pizzazz taffeta ribbon, corner rounder punch

Hearty Lumberjack

Well, Missy agreed that she liked my Baylor-iffic lumberjack, so we'll see what she thinks of a Valentiney one.  He'll be going postal quite soon:

I think he's so stinkin' cute no matter what color he's wearing.  And 'tis the season for Valentines, right?

I wanted this to be on the front of the card, but it was a little bit too big for the sketch I was using so I stuck it on the inside instead.  Speaking of the sketch, it's from Freshly Made Sketches:

And my color combo is from Colour Me...!

Perfect for Valentines.  Beautiful picture too.  I thought about doing something on the Pink Pirouette card base, but I decided to just leave it as-is so my cute little lumberjack can be the star of the show.  I need to think of a name for him.

Hope you're having a great day.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wood You Be Mine?, Hardwood, A Dozen Thoughts
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Blush Blossom & Pink Pirouette markers, Blendabilities in Crumb Cake and Smoky Slate
Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Trim the Tree DSP Stack (from the Holiday mini)
Accessories:  Sweetheart punch, Dimensionals

Lotus Thanks

Once upon a time, the hubs and I visited a botanical garden in Okinawa, and they had a long row of dozens of different kinds of lotus in pots.  I spent over an hour in the scorching heat taking pictures of them all.  They came in all different colors, but I clearly remember some that were white with pink tips.  So I made them into a card.

I'm on the laptop right now because the main computer seems to have a case of the Mondays (I know it's Wednesday, but apparently it doesn't) so the colors might be a bit off since I'm not used to using PC software anymore.  But anyway, I was also inspired by the latest challenge at Cupcake Inspirations:

They never fail to make me hungry :)  Anyway, you see where I got my pinks and the little bit of purple.

I also used the sketch from As You See It:

I only changed it up a teensy bit, moving the sentiment onto the circular element and changing the top embellishment to a butterfly.

And while I don't have any cupcakes in the house, it is lunchtime, so I'm gonna go rustle up some food :)  Thanks for stopping by and cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lotus Blossom
Ink:  Whisper White, Rose Red, Rich Razzleberry, Sahara Sand
Paper:  Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Rich Razzleberry, Sahara Sand
Accessories:  Circle punches, Elegant Butterfly & Bitty Butterfly punches, Banners Framelits, Subtles Candy Dots, Dimensionals

Nachos: Sympathy in Pink & Gray

Happy Tuesday, Nacho fans!  It is time once more for a fantastic Nacho Average Color Challenge:

These colors would be perfect for a wedding card or a Valentine, and I was planning to use them to make a baby card, but I found out last week that a friend of mine recently lost her brother so I find myself in need of a sympathy card instead.

I like soft colors for sympathy cards, and these three fit the bill.  Still, for such a simple-looking card this seemed to take me forever!  It took at least 20 minutes looking through my patterned paper scraps for something that would work with what I had in mind, but then I found that soft dot pattern from last year's Watercolor Wonder paper.  Just what I needed.

I usually don't combine my Nacho cards with any other challenges, but I needed a sketch to make the process go faster so I turned to the gals at Create with Connie and Mary:

I think it's an interesting sketch, different from what I normally do, but I liked how my card turned out.

So anyway, I hope no one else out there needs a sympathy card so you can get to making the pretty Valentines or baby cards!  Check out the Nacho blog for more eye candy and then make your own :)

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Blooming with Kindness, Thoughts & Prayers
Ink:  Blushing Bride, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Blushing Bride, Smoky Slate, Watercolor Wonder DSP
Accessories:  Sweetheart punch, white baker's twine

Go Away!

Me, not you :)  When we were getting ready to leave Okinawa, my coworkers set up a farewell lunch for me, and then one of the guys called it a "go away lunch" (which sounds like he couldn't wait to get rid of me...) and the name stuck and now it's immortalized in scrapbook form!

What's funny is when I started this layout, I had the pages reversed so the one with the title on it was on the right.  But I like it better this way, and how it looks like that patterned paper strip goes straight through even though I cut it so there would be a border of Melon Mambo between it and the photo.

Here's my rainbow-licious color palette:

I started out with all the colors in the Sunshine & Sprinkles DSP (one of my all-time favorite packs!) and then added Pumpkin Pie and Orchid Opulence to complete the rainbow.  I needed those two extra colors to do my title all multicolored.  Do you like the title?  (You can scroll back up to look, I'll wait.)  I can't seem to get away from mixed font titles but at least I used some different alphabets this time.

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

Supplies, mostly SU!
Stamps:  Retro Alphabet Upper, Big Deal Alphabet, non-SU image
Ink:  Pacific Point, Orchid Opulence, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray, Pumpkin Pie, Lucky Limeade, Memento Tuxedo Black; Basic Black marker, Blush Blossom marker, Marina Mist, Night of Navy, & Smoky Slate Blendabilities
Paper:  Melon Mambo, Pacific Point, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Sunshine & Sprinkles DSP
Accessories:  Circles Framelits

Friday Flashback: Bareback

Happy Friday, peeps!  It's time for the Friday Flashback, and this week I bring you Bareback.  I was one horse-obsessed kid growing up--when we moved to Texas, 7-year-old me thought we'd have a horse in our backyard and I'd get to ride to school.  When I found out that wasn't the case, I packed a bag and tried to walk back to California ;)  All that to say, of course I bought this horsey stamp set!

Also features Flannel Plaid, Many Merry Messages

This was my Christmas card right before we moved to Japan, because we were in Texas for a few months.  My mom said it wasn't Christmasy enough; I said whaddya mean?  It says Merry Christmas big as day, how much more Christmasy can you possibly get ;)

Also features Flannel Plaid, A Word for You

This one was a fairly recent creation, but not really one of my favorite cards ever.  It's my least favorite of the cards on today's post...I do like how the white markings on the horses' faces turned out, though.

Also features Flannel Plaid, Wanted, Full of Life

And now I realize that I *always* use Bareback with Flannel Plaid, but luckily today I did something different :)  Behold the new card on the block:

I even know who this is going to:  a friend of mine bought a horse a few months ago and takes riding lessons on the regular.  I'm totally jealous, I've always wanted a horse :)  Anyway, knowing her, I figured that sentiment from You're a Gem was perfect on this card.  It's going in the mail today--I'm trying to mail out more of the cards I make instead of just storing them.

The colors are from The Color Throwdown:

I interpreted this as Night of Navy, Cajun Craze, Soft Sky, and Always Artichoke.  The sketch is from CAS(e) This Sketch:

There's something about this one that I just reeeeally like, even all that white space isn't making me nervy.  I like it!

So anyway, today I'm leaving on a jet plane to go back to the land of no-you-don't-have-a-horse-in-your-backyard because my brother's promotion ceremony is on Sunday.  Woohoo!

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Bareback, You're a Gem
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Night of Navy
Paper:  Soft Sky, Night of Navy, Wintergreen DSP
Accessories:  None