Happy Butterfly

Salutations and greetings, friends!  Just trying out a new greeting.  It is a sunny Wednesday morning here and I just so happen to have a sunny card to share.

See?  Sunny.  I'm loving Daffodil Delight lately.  For my butterfly, I got some watercolor paper and did a wash on it with Daffodil Delight and Tangerine Tango ink refills, though I kinda wish I'd sponged the edges of the butterfly a little to give them more definition.  I wanted a solid butterfly, so I cut out one of the fancy butterfly Thinlits and then used the negative shape to trace the butterfly on the back of my watercolor paper (so then I could cut it out and not have to worry about pen lines on the edges).  The sentiment is from the soon-to-retire hostess set Hello Love, which I got last month and hadn't used at all yet; it's got some cute images so I do hope to get something made with it in the next couple weeks.

Anyway, the super cheerful color combo is courtesy of ColourQ:

And I used the latest Sketch Frenzy Friday sketch:

I stuck very close to the sketch this time :D

Anyway, lots to do today so I'd better get a move on.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hello Love, Flower Patch
Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Strawberry Slush, Whisper White, watercolor paper, Coastal Cabana DSP
Accessories:  Butterfly Thinlits, Banners Framelits, hexagon punch, Dimensionals

Nachos: CAS Kindness

Happy Nacho day, peeps!  It is time once again for an awesome Nacho Average Color Challenge:

I admit, I had to put on my thinking cap for this one...I am not necessarily a fan of Strawberry Slush and Crisp Cantaloupe together.  And then I layered them one on top of the other on my card and I like it, so there's a lesson for you:  try the color challenge even if you're not sure about it :)

We're moving in less than a month, so I may be going more CAS with my creations for a while.  Once I chose the retiring Too Kind for my card, I came up with this super-simple layout and I was done with this card in, like, five minutes.  You might notice that I did sneak in a new color...the flower stems are stamped with Mint Macaron, one of the upcoming new In Colors.

Now it's your turn!  Upload your beautiful creation at the Nacho blog for us to see :)  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Too Kind
Ink:  Strawberry Slush, Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana, Mint Macaron
Paper:  Strawberry Slush, Whisper White, Coastal Cabana DSP
Accessories:  None

Santorini

Mornin', y'all!  I spent the weekend in Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia, getting bit by mosquitoes and taking pictures of alligators.  But for today I have a new scrapbook layout to share from Santorini, Greece.

See the original pics here and here.  This was actually the first thing I used any of the new In Colors on--the sea shells are stamped in Tip Top Taupe.  How 'bout a closeup of the title:

This is another layout from our Med cruise in 2013, and I used that same mix of alphabet stamps for the other Greece layouts so I'm being consistent here.  Thera (or Thira) is an older name for Santorini.

My very bright color combination:  Melon Mambo, Brilliant Blue (sometime soon I'm going to run out of this color and then I may cry), Daffodil Delight, Tip Top Taupe, and Whisper White.

It's Monday morning so it's time to get in my first run of the week.  Check ya later, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Empire Alphabet, Spencerian Alphabet, Stippled Shells
Ink:  Brilliant Blue, Melon Mambo, Tip Top Taupe, Night of Navy marker
Paper:  Melon Mambo, Brilliant Blue, Tip Top Taupe, Whisper White, Beyond the Garden DSP
Accessories:  circle & scallop circle punches

Friday Flashback: Service & Sacrifice

Happy Friday, peeps!  Welcome to this week's Friday Flashback.  Our stamp set today is Service & Sacrifice, which is pretty appropriate given that Memorial Day is right around the corner.  Honestly, I'm a little surprised at how short the flashback is today, so let's get to it.

Also features For Your Country, World Map, Bright & Beautiful

I shared this one just a few months ago.  Most of the stamps in Service & Sacrifice are sentiment stamps, and apparently I really like that promotion one...

Also features Bright & Beautiful

Because here it is again, another card that you saw here in the past few months.  I could have sworn I had used Service & Sacrifice on other projects, but if I did, the Archive Gremlin has hidden them (or eaten them).  So here's today's new project:

Again with the promotion stamp, but this time I added the stars :)  The boots are, once again, from For Your Country and I think it's the only stamp I've used from that set.  What, sometimes I have just one favorite from a set.

I used this week's CAS(E) This Sketch:

Only when I copied it down, somehow I had all the elements centered on the card front instead of being a bit lower down.  Well, I tried.

My color combination is courtesy of a new-to-me challenge, The Male Room:

Mossy Meadow, Crumb Cake, and Lost Lagoon.  Their challenge is all about making projects for the dudes:  MAN cards, MANLY scrapbook pages, etc.  Yeah, those are hard, so a challenge all about guys is probably a good idea.  So for my manly man card today, I kept it very simple with just plain cardstock.  No patterned paper, no ribbon, no froufrou embellishments, just manly cardstock and stamps.  :)

That's it for me this week, peeps.  I'm leaving in a few hours to do a photography workshop in Georgia.  Cheers!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Service & Sacrifice, For Your Country
Ink:  Lost Lagoon, Mossy Meadow, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Lost Lagoon, Mossy Meadow, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Circles & Starburst Framelits

New Colors! Squeeee!

So I finally got my new catty preorder yesterday!  But Mr. Brown delivers late in this area, so I got it around 4:30 (which is actually early for UPS at this house) and then I was working on two different scrapbook layouts and I had book club last night and basically I didn't get to play with any of the new colors until this morning.  So feast your eyes!

The two new colors here are Cucumber Crush and Watermelon Wonder, and that patterned paper is from the new Cherry on Top 6x6 paper stack.  LOVE IT.  I'm mixing the incoming colors with some outgoing stamps, both Mixed Bunch and Four You are retiring.

My quick and easy card is thanks to this wonderful Freshly Made Sketch:

And of course the blossom punch that coordinated with my flower stamp.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

I'm off for a Skype date with Missy and then more quality time with these new In Colors.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Mixed Bunch, Four You
Ink:  Watermelon Wonder, Bermuda Bay, Cucumber Crush
Paper:  Cucumber Crush, Whisper White, Cherry On Top DSP Stack
Accessories:  blossom punch, 1" circle punch, Dimensionals, rhinestone

Distressed Butterfly Basics

Once again I have not gotten enough sleep...and this time it is totally my girl Sadie's fault (she's one of our black Labs, if you don't remember).  She was making noise in the middle of the night and woke up both me and the hubs, and then she went back to sleep and was merrily snoring away while I was staring at the ceiling *wishing* I was asleep.  Grr, Sadie.  Grr.

Luckily I made this card yesterday.

Let's all rejoice that Butterfly Basics will be sticking around for a while since it's in the new catalog, shall we?  (And let's also rejoice that I will finally get the new In Colors in my hot little hands today...now if only Mr. Brown delivered here *before* 6 p.m.  Sigh.)

Anyway, I made this card for no fewer than three challenges, starting with the Inkspirational recipe challenge.

The recipe is to use at least three of these four elements:  distressing, flowers, embossing, and pearls.  The one I didn't use is embossing; for the distressing I stamped the three small flowers on the Sahara Sand cardstock, then crumpled it up good.  I smoothed it back out and hit it with some Sahara Sand ink, and if you try this at home I recommend a good strong adhesive for any crumply layers because SNAIL just won't cut it.  I'm thinking liquid adhesive or Sticky Strip.  Or Dimensionals.  But anyway, that crumpled layer does add dimension and texture IRL even if you can't really tell in the pic.

I also used the color combo from The Paper Players:

Sometimes it seems like everyone else in the stamping world is in love with Crumb Cake as a neutral, but Sahara Sand has always been my personal favorite so I'm glad to see it pop up in color challenges on occasion.  And of course Lost Lagoon and Pistachio Pudding are my colors.

Finally, I used this week's Retro Sketch:

And that's all she wrote today.  Can't go back to sleep now so I might as well lace up my shoes and go running...

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Butterfly Basics
Ink:  Pistachio Pudding, Lost Lagoon, Sahara Sand
Paper:  Pistachio Pudding, Lost Lagoon, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Bitty Butterfly punch, 1" circle punch, scalloped border punch (soon to retire!), pearls, Dimensionals

Nachos: Tangerine Hello

Howdy, peeps!  It is time once again for a Nacho Average sketch challenge, and here it is:

So you could do this super-clean and simple, or dress it up a bit like I did:

I chose some DSP that I juts love and used the Hello You Thinlits to cut out a "hello" from Tangerine Tango cardstock so the DSP would show through.  I think this card is a little brighter and more sunshiney IRL :)  Ironically, today is the only day in about the past two weeks that we're expecting to get thunderstorms.

It's your turn now!  Go check out the other lovelies on the Nacho blog and post your own creation there.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flower Shop, Crazy About You
Ink:  Blushing Bride, Tangerine Tango
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Flowerpot DSP
Accessories:  Hello You Thinlits, Pansy punch, Best Year Ever Accessories pack buttons, Dimensionals