An Ocean of Thanks

Hey y'all!  Kiddo took a short nap yesterday so I didn't get in my craft room to stamp until after he went to bed last night but I think it was worth it because...

I busted out my brayer and made an OCEAN!!!  I haven't used my brayers in a very long time, other than to ink up the occasional background stamp.  This was really easy too, all I did was ink up the sponge brayer with Blueberry Bushel ink and roll it on the top 2/3 of a piece of white cardstock until I had good coverage, and then I kinda rolled the brayer on scratch paper to get rid of excess ink before I inked it up again with Night of Navy and rolled on the bottom 1/3, blending with the lighter blue until I liked how it looked.  I happened to have a cup of water with a straw on my desk, so I pulled the straw out and flicked water on my cardstock until I liked how that looked too.  Next time I'd do this on one of my place mats though (I have two cheapo plastic place mats from the World of Wally that I use for extra messy techniques--helpful because it keeps the mess from getting everywhere else and I can clean them with a spritz of Stampin' Mist and a paper towel).  Anyway, those water drops really made the background pop in my opinion.

Triple challenge today!  Let's start with the Global Design Project theme challenge:

Of course as soon as I saw that, I thought of Sea of Textures and my favorite (as yet unnamed) octopus, but I decided as an extra challenge to make a card with Sea of Textures *without* using the octopus.  Ha!

Next up is the Just Add Ink sketch:

And then the Sunday Stamps color challenge:

I used Blueberry Bushel, Night of Navy, Poppy Parade, and Smoky Slate as my colors.  I left off the yellow because it just wasn't working for this particular card.  I do love this color palette though!

I've got my eye on another color challenge that I think would work well for my rediscovered brayer...ideas are percolating!  Have a great Wednesday and cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sea of Textures
Ink:  Poppy Parade, Blueberry Bushel, Night of Navy
Paper:  Smoky Slate, Poppy Parade, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Under the Sea Framelits, mini Dimensionals, sponge brayer

Retro Rubber Tropical Friend

Hey y'all!  I was asked to be a guest designer for Retro Rubber this week, so exciting!  And it's a tic-tac-toe challenge:

And here's my card:

I did the diagonal from top left to bottom right:  die cut, green, and leaves.  The sentiment is from Suite Sentiments (1.5 years old) and the flower is from Bodacious Bouquet (11 years old) so nice and retro.  I paired them with the brand-new Tropical Chic (the border stamp) and Tropical Escape DSP (my favorite!).  I saw that sentiment stamp a week or two ago when I was looking for something else and I thought hey, I should use that sometime soon.  So here it is.

Go check out the Design Team's work on the Retro Rubber Challenge blog and give it a try!  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Suite Sentiments, Bodacious Bouquet, Tropical Chic
Ink:  Shaded Spruce, Lovely Lipstick, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Lovely Lipstick, Granny Apple Green, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits, Glitter Enamel Dots, Dimensionals

Walk Along the Thames

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I got some scrapping done this weekend while the kiddo was napping, but I have like over a half-dozen layouts that I haven't taken pictures of yet.  I'm up to 140 pages done so far this year...I'm going to aim for an even 200.  :)

So here's today's layout!

See the original pictures here.  I wish I had lightened them up with some photo editing before posting on that blog and before printing them out for this layout, but this is what I've got.  These pics were taken on our first trip into London and I'm wishing I'd bought an extra pack of that DSP before it retired.  I love how the blue pattern reinforces the water theme for a walk along a river.  And I put a wee baby umbrella accent on the layout because it's England :)

Today's color palette includes Mint Macaron (I have been using this A LOT in my scrapbooks of late, probably a good thing I jump around when I choose what photos to work on so you can't tell when I get obsessed with one certain color), Watermelon Wonder, Dapper Denim, and Very Vanilla.

That's it for me today, y'all.  Hope you have a great week!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Letters for You, Rough Type, Postage Collection
Ink:  Dapper Denim, Watermelon Wonder, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Mint Macaron, Dapper Denim, Watermelon Wonder, Very Vanilla, By the Seashore DSP
Accessories:  Postage stamp punch

China: Golf Cart Tour, Merge, & Light Show

Mornin'!  It's China Sunday, but as it happens I have already shared the next several layouts in the China books so today it's all reruns.  But I like these pages so we're doing it anyway!

First up are two layouts for the golf cart tour.

That color combination of Pool Party, Tranquil Tide, and Powder Pink is one of my favorites.  Love it!

Next up is the Merge, which is apparently what happens when two dudes accidentally share a drink (and then the hubs caught Bennet's cold).

And last up is the light show Illuminations that we went to that night.  So the river cruise (see the layouts here and here), golf cart tour, stop at McDonald's, and the light show were all on the same very busy day.  Next weekend I have a new layout to share, but for now I'm going to go play with the tiny child for a bit.  Cheers!

See the blog posts linked above for supply lists. :)

All the Stars

Mornin' kids and happy Friday!  Hope your day is off to a good start.

As for me, I got to play with some new stamps yesterday while my kiddo was napping, so that's good :D

The stamps are from the set Little Twinkle, which also has the coordinating Twinkle Twinkle DSP (which I used here) and a punch (which I didn't use this time).  I stamped some smaller stars on the Bermuda Bay strip and I just now noticed that you can't hardly see any of them.  Well, oops.  Anyway, I lovelovelove the patterned paper in that set and this is my first time cutting into it.  And lookit me using Gray Granite twice in one week!

Check out the latest Fab Friday sketch:

And this week's Color Throwdown:

I used Gray Granite, Bermuda Bay, and Petal Pink as my colors, though I think Blushing Bride would have matched the swatch a bit better.  But I think the challenge gods will forgive me for using a different pink ;) Plus I'm still kinda obsessing over Petal Pink.

Alright kids.  I'm off to yoga to breathe and tie myself in knots :) Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Little Twinkle
Ink:  Gray Granite, Bermuda Bay
Paper:  Gray Granite, Bermuda Bay, Thick Whisper White, Twinkle Twinkle DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits, Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins, Dimensionals

Beach, Please

Mornin', y'all!  Wow, we had quite the storm last night--lots of lightning and high winds.  Fun to watch from our living room windows :)

So this is my first try at creating a scene with Waterfront.  The card base is Thick Whisper White; it turned kinda pink in the photo but I promise it's white on the bottom.  Anyway, like I said, this is my first attempt at creating a scene, so I think I need some practice.  But I think this is okay for a first try.  I added the "just breathe" sentiment from Colorful Seasons because I think we often need a reminder to breathe.  I resisted taking yoga classes for years and only started when we lived in Virginia, and then I liked them a whole lot more than I thought I would and I think it's because you spend so much time during the class just breathing and stretching.  And also doing crazy things like side planks and shoulder stands, but the teacher keeps reminding you to breathe while you turn into a pretzel ;). Anyway, "just breathe" seemed like an appropriate sentiment to go with my beach.

Check out this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the challenge from Just Us Girls:

That's it for me today.  Have a great day, kids, and remember to breathe.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Waterfront, Colorful Seasons
Ink:  Pool Party, Flirty Flamingo, Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, Sahara Sand, Soft Suede, Coastal Cabana
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Coastal Cabana
Accessories:  Metallic sequins

Rustic Hello

Mornin', y'all!  Usually I write my blog posts the night before they go live, but I forgot to do it last night so I'm writing this one with Ryan bouncing all over the place.  So I'd better type fast.

Here's my card for today:

I hadn't used Gray Granite much yet so that's what the card base is.  The Hardwood background is intentionally not stamped all the way--I laid the cardstock down on the inked stamp and finger-walked on the back of it to get this effect, though somehow I ended up with a pretty stark line at the top.  My inspiration for this card is the Fusion challenge:

As you can see, I did both the sketch and the inspiration photo.  And I managed to sneak in another piece of my favorite Tropical Escape DSP ;) Man I love that stuff.

Okay, time to go chase the kiddo around until we go to the gym.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Varied Vases, Hardwood
Ink:  Gray Granite, Memento Tuxedo Black, Blush Blossom, Mint Macaron, Soft Sea Foam
Paper:  Gray Granite, Thick Whisper White, Tropical Escape DSP
Accessories:  corner rounder punch, Dimensionals, adhesive sequins