Fastest Watercolor in the West

Mornin', y'all!  How's your fine Tuesday going?  I'm hoping that today will be slightly less soggy than yesterday.  I got poured on twice and did swim lessons with the kid, so lots of water.

And also I watercolored for today's card!  Lookie:

This is a QUADRUPLE challenge card too.  First up is the photo inspiration from Just Us Girls:

That's why I chose the flower from Beautiful Day, and I used the colors Grapefruit Grove, watered-down Granny Apple Green, and a little bit of Poppy Parade and Shaded Spruce.

Next up is the Sunday Stamps sketch:

And just to make things interesting, the Inkspirational speed stamping challenge:

Believe it or not, I made this card in 9 minutes and 54 seconds, including cutting the cardstock and doing the embossing and watercoloring.  I had all my supplies picked out and out on my table when I started so I could stamp like the wind.  I intentionally did a very, very fast watercolor on the stamped image (I inked up the stamp with Versamark, then Grapefruit Grove, stamped, and then heat embossed so it wouldn't run when I watercolored) and didn't worry about trying to make it look perfect, and I actually like this style because it feels more organic and spontaneous.  And I always feel like I'm under a time crunch because who KNOWS when my son is going to wake up from a nap.

Finally, the As You See It challenge was easy peasy:

I am TOTALLY obsessed with the Tropical Escape DSP.  It was the #1 thing I wanted when I first got to see the new SU! catalog (is it new still if it's been out for two months?).  I wish this paper was 12x12 because I would use it on ALL THE THINGS in my scrapbooks.  And I love the coordinating Tropical Chic stamp set too, which is where my greeting is from.

Hope you have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Day, Tropical Chic
Ink:  Grapefruit Grove, Poppy Parade, Granny Apple Green, Shaded Spruce, Versamark
Paper:  Grapefruit Grove, Poppy Parade, Shaded Spruce, Thick Whisper White, Tropical Escape DSP
Accessories:  Clear EP, Dimensionals

Bath Time for Sadie

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  And today I have one of my most recent scrappy finishes...

Bath time for Sadie when she was but a wee pup!  Like, 12 years ago.  So I just finished the pages but the photos themselves are pretty old.  At least I'm getting them done?  Anyway, I could have SWORN I had a rubber duck die cut somewhere, from back in the day when we had locally owned scrapbook stores and they had racks and racks of die cut shapes of just about anything you can imagine, but apparently I imagined the duck.  So I found some clip art on the computer and just printed it on Daffodil Delight cardstock.  I hope that the printer ink doesn't flake off the cardstock...

Something else to make you giggle:  see that pink cup the hubs is using to pour water on Sadie?  We're using that EXACT SAME CUP now when we give the kiddo baths.

Today's color palette includes Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, and Whisper White.  Plus a fair amount of Basic Black on Sadie and the journaling.

Hope your week is off to a good start.  I'm excited to go to the gym in my new workout pants!  ...It's weird what adults get excited about.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Big Deal Alphabet, Big Pieces
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black marker
Paper:  Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie DSP
Accessories:  rubber duck clip art, circle punch

China: Li River Cruise, Part 1

It's China Sunday, y'all!  First up I've got two layouts that I've shared before, and then a new one for this week.

So let's start with Rosemary's Cafe:

Love that bright green page base here (thank you Missy for wearing that green shirt).  Next up was a visit to the pagodas next to a lake:

It's rather unusual that I do scrapbook layouts with fewer than five photos...most of the time I'm trying to squeeze in upwards of eight, so these two are a nice switch.  Plus since we probably won't go back to China again, I didn't want to skip anything in my albums :)

New photos!  This was the hubs' favorite part of our entire trip to China:

See the original pics here.  This is just the first layout of three for the river cruise, I'll share the other two next week.

Today's color palette includes Crumb Cake, Crushed Curry, Island Indigo, Garden Green (mostly in the photos), Basic Black, and Whisper White.  Why is it that so many of my scrapbook pages feature green and yellow together?  I blame Missy for infecting my brain with Baylor colors as the scrapbook default :)  I tease.  It's a bit less obvious on this layout anyway since the green is mostly in the pictures.

I'm going to finish my cranberry orange coffee cake while the hubs is distracting Ryan.  It's okay to eat cake for breakfast if you call it a coffee cake!

Supplies, last layout only:
Stamps:  Rough Type, Best of Shelli
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Crushed Curry, Garden Green
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Island Indigo, Crushed Curry, Whisper White, Perfectly Artistic DSP
Accessories:  lettering template, circle punches

Target Inspiration

Happy Friday, y'all!  I've got a bright and cheery card to help us coast into the weekend.

Last week I saw a cup at Target that said "Squeeze the day" on it, and I actually wrote the phrase down on a Post-It Note stuck to the Lemon Zest stamp case so I'd remember it the next time I came across a good sketch to use it.  And happily for me, Freshly Made Sketches delivered one this week:

My orange was inked up with Mango Melody and then I used a sponge dauber to apply some Pumpkin Pie ink to the outer edges.  And then once I had it on my card front, I put some Wink of Stella on it to give it a bit of citrus shine.  I'm seriously loving the Tropical Escape DSP.  I liked this polka dot pattern to kind of coordinate with the weathered look on the stamps.

Hope you have a great Friday, folks.  Here in a little bit I'll be heading off to the gym to go run and then do yoga.  The lady who teaches my pilates and yoga classes told me on Wednesday that she can tell I'm getting stronger.  Always nice when someone else can tell you've been working hard!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lemon Zest, Labeler Alphabet
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Mango Melody, Pumpkin Pie, Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Mango Melody, Thick Whisper White, Tropical Escape DSP
Accessories:  1 3/4" circle punch, Everyday Label punch, Lemon Builder punch, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

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

Wonderful Origami

Hey y'all!  Here we are already at Wednesday :) And that means another swim lesson for my kiddo tonight.  Except mostly he just likes to let me tow him around in the water without actually putting forth any effort himself.  Well....if our positions were reversed, I'd probably let him do all the work too, so there's that.  Ha!

I busted out some brand new stamps yesterday.

The origami crane and the other two pink shapes are from the hostess set Artfully Folded, which has a bunch of cranes facing both directions and I love that because it's useful to have your stamped object "looking" in the direction you want.  I'm weird like that.  The sentiment is from Rooted in Nature and I've been jealous watching everyone else play with it so I'll be really diving in on that one sometime soon.  I love the fonts on the sentiments, and I'll have to play with the tree images soon.

Anywha, meet the latest CAS(E) This Sketch:

And the color combination from Just Us Girls:

I used Coastal Cabana (so happy it's back!) and Flirty Flamingo for my colors.  Since I had the sketch and colors picked out already, once I decided on stamps this card came together lickety split.  I think my crane stamp has a small flaw on the wing, because I couldn't get ink coverage no matter how hard I tried, and my attempts to fill it in with a blender pen didn't help so I pulled out some retired glitter epoxy shapes from the Occasions Catalog to cover that spot and add a little bling to the other two shapes.  They are sparkly in real life.

Hope you have a great day, kids.  It's a running day for me...after about two months at the gym, I can once again run a mile and a half like it's no big thang, so now I need to work on upping it to TWO miles.  Hey, cardiovascular health is important for running after a small child.  Kid is FAST.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artfully Folded (hostess), Rooted in Nature
Ink:  Coastal Cabana, Flirty Flamingo
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  retired glitter epoxy shapes

Birthday Boy Octopus

Mornin' y'all!  It's supposed to rain every day this week so it's possible that by the weekend we'll all be underwater.  So maybe that's what the What Will You Stamp? crew was thinking of when they chose this week's featured stamp set? ;)

You KNOW I'm gonna play along with this one!  Any excuse to bust out the as-yet-nameless octopus.  So here's my card for today:

Tiana was telling me when she was here that she doesn't have any birthday cards for boys (she's got two girls, and I gave her a ton of cards but let's be honest I like girly stuff so that's a lot of what she got from me), so that's why I chose to make this a more boyish birthday card.  I thought the bright Mango Melody made a nice contrast with the Tranquil Tide/Soft Sea Foam pattern.

I followed the basic layout on this week's CAS(E) The Designer challenge on Global Design Project:

I kept the patterned paper layer and the circle element, and let the linen thread stand in for the horizontal strip.

I'm also entering this at the Paper Players:

It might be difficult to tell in my photo, but the circle is actually cut out of my card front and the octopus and greeting are stamped on the inside of the card.  That's how I was able to wrap the linen thread around the sides, and then I tied each piece in a knot and cut it off right at the knot so there's no loose threads.

We'll see you here tomorrow, peeps.  Have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sea of Textures, Lemon Zest
Ink:  Mango Melody, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Tranquil Textures DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits, Linen thread