Colorful Fall

Mornin'!  I've been trying to work on some scrapbook pages, but sometimes I have a bit of a creative block so I need to do something else for a bit.  But that means I have a card to share today:

Yeah, I'm going to need more of that Come to Gather DSP, it's all so beautiful (that's where the background pattern is from).  I started with the sketch from Global Design Project:

And paired it with Retro Rubber's color challenge:

I used Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie, and Early Espresso for my card, and my stamp set (Colorful Seasons) is two years old.  You can't tell in the picture, but I painted the leaf die cut with Wink of Stella, which is why I had to do it twice--I had stuck down the Cherry Cobbler circle and the leaf and was just starting to paint it when my Wink of Stella pen burped up glitter all over the circle.  I had to peel it all off and re-cut the pieces and redo that whole part, but at least it didn't get on the card base.

Hope you have a great day and that it's feeling like fall where you are.  We're still getting up to 85 in the afternoon here, but it's better than 95 and at least there's a (very slight) downward trend.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Colorful Seasons
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie, Early Espresso, Thick Whisper White, Come to Gather DSP
Accessories: Seasonal Layers dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Snowy Day Snowflakes

Happy Friday!  I just realized that I'd started this post, but I never finished it and got it published.  Oops!  Guess I was having too much fun yesterday for my birthday :) It DID involve copious amounts of chocolate.

Anyway!

That bright white circle in the center of the big snowflake on the bottom is the reflection off a rhinestone.  It's been pretty gray and dreary for a good portion of the week so this is the best picture I could get.

When I saw this week's Freshly Made Sketch, I thought I'd try to make a one-layer card with it.

I figured a one-layer card would make this work for the Paper Players challenge too:

And I used the colors from Color Throwdown:

I used Night of Navy, Smoky Slate (lightly sponged on for the horizontal layer on the sketch) and Granny Apple Green.

I chose my snowflakes from Colorful Seasons so I could enter the What Will You Stamp? challenge:

Four challenges.  I think I'm done here ;)  Have a great weekend, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Colorful Seasons
Ink:  Night of Navy, Smoky Slate, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  rhinestones

Frosty & Peter and a Bit of News

Mornin', y'all!  GUESS WHAT.  I'm now a member of the Design Team over at SUO Challenges!  How's that for a fun way to start the year :)  So today is my first day as a DT member and our challenge is to make a winter project.  Of course the first thing that popped in my head was the snowman from Seasonal Chums...

I've decided this is Frosty the Snowman and his friend Peter Cottontail.  I stamped the snowflakes on a white card base in varying intensities of ink, and then sponged on a bit of Coastal Cabana just for fun.  Frosty and Peter are colored in with Blendabilities and regular markers and I decided on the combination of Coastal Cabana, Real Red, and Flirty Flamingo because as I was running at the Y track last Friday, I saw three coats hanging up and they were those colors and I liked how they looked together.  The sentiment is from the brand new Sale-a-Bration set Part of My Story, which has some great sentiments in it.

So that's it for me, kids.  I hope you'll head over to the SUO Challenges blog and play along in our winter challenge!  In the meantime, have a great day and stay frosty, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Seasonal Chums, Colorful Seasons, Part of My Story
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Coastal Cabana, Flirty Flamingo, Stampin' Blends in Real Red, Smoky Slate, Mossy Meadow, Mango Melody, and Crumb Cake
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Coastal Cabana, Real Red
Accessories:  Seasonal Tags Framelits, Mini Dimensionals

A Pop of Green

Hey, kids!  How's it going today?  It was rain, rain, rain all yesterday afternoon, and cold to boot, but I got in my craft cave and I made this!

My mother-in-law's birthday is later this month, hence the fall leaf, and her favorite color is green, hence the green leaf.  And a bit of glitter just because why not.  This is, I believe, the first time I've used Merry Merlot too.

I started with this week's CASE the Designer challenge from Global Design Project:

Louise's card is all soft and delicate with pale colors and mine...is not ;)  I kept the basic layout and the idea of leaves/foliage for the main image; my card base and the stripey pattern are pretty light, but I think it balances out with the leaves and the bit of Merry Merlot.

I also used the inspiration photo from Fusion for my colors:

I picked out Sahara Sand because that's what's in the background, some Cajun Craze and Crushed Curry for my fall leaf, and the aforementioned Merry Merlot for the wine bottle.  But I just loved that pop of green on the photo, and that's why I used green on my card.  Plus, MIL's favorite color.

Hope you have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Colorful Seasons, Varied Vases
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze, Merry Merlot, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Merry Merlot, Thick Whisper White, Tropical Escape DSP
Accessories:  Seasonal Layers Thinlits, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella, glitter enamel shapes

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

Let's Skip Summer

And go straight to fall!  I think that's what the folks at Global Design Project did.

Not that I'm complaining, I love making fall cards and scrapbook pages, but doesn't this color combination look like fall to you?  So I made a fall card even though it's June.

I'm so glad that SU! brought back glossy white cardstock, because it means I can do polished stone again!  You put a bit of isopropyl alcohol on a cotton ball, then a few drops of ink refill in whatever colors you want, then pounce it on the cardstock and it all blends together.  You just have to be careful with the color balance:  I used Real Red and Pumpkin Pie, and with two drops of red and three of orange it came out looking ALL red.  So I did two drops of red and five of orange, and that was a better balance.  Then I just cropped some leaves with the Seasonal Layers Thinlits.

I used this week's sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping:

You can just see the Rich Razzleberry circles peeking out beneath my leaves.  I'd wanted to use the Stitched Shapes Framelits, but even the smallest circle was a little too large to use on a regular A2 card front, so I switched it out for a 1" circle punch.

I hear my kiddo talking so I'm going to get him up, feed us both, and head for the gym.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Colorful Seasons, Tree Rings
Ink:  Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede
Paper:  Thick Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Rich Razzleberry, Glossy White
Accessories:  Seasonal Layers Thinlits, 1" circle punch, Dimensionals

Just Breathe

Y'all, I think it's time to face facts:  I've had blooms on the brain this week.  I've also got two black thumbs, so all my flowers have been the ink-and-paper kind :) So here's one more CAS flower card for this week.

I am a military spouse, and I know sometimes you need someone to tell you to just breathe and you'll get through it.  Because it never fails, your spouse deploys and the dog gets lost and everybody gets the flu and your kid breaks her leg on the slide at the park (I do actually know someone whose kid broke her leg while her dad was deployed, and someone else whose kid got food poisoning on a trip to Croatia and ended up in the hospital).  So yeah.  Just breathe.

Let's start with the Color Throwdown:

I used Poppy Parade (because it's a poppy and sometimes I'm on the nose like that), Marina Mist (it looks more gray in the picture, trust me it's blue), white card base, and the sentiment is in Early Espresso.  Doesn't show up in the picture but the center of each flower has some Wink of Stella on it for shine.  When I pulled out my Poppy Parade ink pad for this card, I discovered that it has succumbed to the Dreaded Gold Sheen that afflicts some red ink pads.  This disease is terminal, so now I have to buy a new Poppy Parade ink pad when the new catalog goes live.  Seems like I used it not that long ago and it was fine...

Anyway, here is this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Which I turned into a one-layer card.  What is with me and the CAS cards lately?  Oh yeah, it's the challenge at the Paper Players:

...that I've played with three days in a row.  But it's fun!

Well, the hubs has off work today so I think we're driving to Wilmington for the day to hang out with the little one.  He's never seen the ocean before, so here's hoping this is fun and not just hot and miserable ;) Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Touches of Texture, Colorful Seasons
Ink:  Poppy Parade, Marina Mist, Early Espresso
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Wink of Stella

Simple Smile

Hey dudes, how's it going?  Mosquito season has started here, and lemme tell you, skeeters LOVE me.  I'm already coming down with a case of polka dots.  Ick.

So let's talk about something more fun today, like a very fast card.

I've been having some trouble lately with getting colors to show up true-to-life when I take pictures of cards and scrapbook pages.  At first I was afraid the sponged background wasn't even going to show up in the photo.  I used a technique called reverse masking to do that--I die cut a square out of some scrap computer paper (so it's thinner), and then I used the negative of the square for my mask.  Super easy but it gives neat results.  Anyway, the sentiment is stamped in Soft Suede and doesn't look nearly so dark IRL.

Here's the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch that I used:

I just thought this sketch was fun and different, and I enjoyed the challenge of using this sketch to make a one-layer card.

Here's a pretty springy color combo from Just Add Ink:

I've been slowly working on rearranging all my craft supplies for the new catalog.  Usually it's just a matter of moving the In Colors over to the retired section for my cardstocks and ink pads, but with the color revamp this year it's a bigger job than normal.  And I got my new catty preorder yesterday afternoon so I finally got an eyeball on the new colors!  I'll probably be playing with those this week which makes me happy.  I love new colors.

Anyway, sounds like the kid is awake so I'm going to go get him up.  Have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artistically Asian, Colorful Seasons
Ink:  Powder Pink, Pear Pizzazz, Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi, Soft Suede
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits used as a mask

Easter Flowers

Mornin', y'all!  Heyyy look it's the first card I've made in my new craft room!

I don't make or send a lot of Easter cards, so I don't have any current bunnies or specifically Easter sets, which means I reached for some floral stamps, Eastery colors, and good ol' Teeny Tiny Wishes for this one.  And dangit, rhinestones typically don't photograph well.

Let's start with the Fall-To Layout from Clean & Simple Stamping:

Love it.  Classic sketch.

And here's the theme challenge from Global Design Project:

I combined those two with the color challenge from Sunday Stamps:

Those speckly eggs are my FAVORITE Easter candy.  Let's not even discuss how many bags I may or may not buy every year.  And they had them at Christmas too, just different colors :). Oh yeah, colors...I used Tranquil Tide, So Saffron, Marina Mist, and Sweet Sugarplum for my colors (everything but the first swatch, really).  I think Tranquil Tide hasn't been super popular but I love it.  It reminds me of a lot of Stoney Creek cross stitch patterns I've done; they always seem to choose a bluey green for leaves on floral designs.

That's it for now.  I've got to get the kiddo up in about 45 minutes to take him to the doctor...he's had a wet-sounding cough that just will not give up so I'm taking him in.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Colorful Seasons, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Sweet Sugarplum, So Saffron, Tranquil Tide, Marina Mist
Paper:  Sweet Sugarplum, So Saffron, Tranquil Tide, Whisper White
Accessories:  rhinestones

You're Delightful

Hey, Saturday post!  I'm going to type this fast as Ryan seems very angry this morning and hubs hasn't been able to make him happy.  Love to start the day with a cranky baby :p

So let's go for a delightful card!

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I liked how Jennifer Timko had watercolored her banner, so I decided to try doing the same.  I paired the sketch with the color challenge from Cupcake Inspirations:

I used watercolor paper and Very Vanilla for the cream color, then Berry Burst and Basic Black for the other two colors.  I cut a piece of Color Theory DSP to fit the entire card front for a nice little ombre look behind the main image panel.  The flower centers are the black rhinestones from the holiday catalog, which I know are retired but I happened to find them when I was digging in a drawer and hadn't used any of them yet, so now was the time.

Okay, let's go entertain the baby.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  You're Delightful, Colorful Seasons
Ink:  Berry Burst, Basic Black, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Very Vanilla, watercolor paper, Color Theory DSP
Accessories:  Seasonal Layers Framelits, black rhinestones, mini Dimensionals

Monochrome Snowflakes

Mornin', y'all.  Got a busy day ahead prepping for Thanksgiving...yesterday's prep didn't go exactly to plan as I managed to set off the smoke detector four times.  At least no one called the fire department on me?  The sweet potato casserole dripped a bit on the bottom of the oven and the smoke detector took exception to that.  Over and over. :p

I imagine after this week it's all winter/Christmas cards all the time so we'll just start with some snowflakes.  Well, I guess we started with a reindeer but whatever.

I do love that ombre pattern in the Color Theory paper stack.  Meet this week's Global Design Project sketch:

To get my two-tone snowflakes, I stamped half of them normal-normal and then stamped off once for the other half to make them lighter.  I kept looking for somewhere to put the glitter enamel dots that go with the Color Theory paper but just couldn't think of a placement that added to the card, so I left them off.

Well, Ryan has managed to pull off both his socks and looks proud of himself.  We're off to the gym for one last workout before tomorrow.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Colorful Seasons
Ink:  Dapper Denim
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Dapper Denim, Color Theory DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits, white baker's twine, Dimensionals

Colorful Seasons Leaves

Hey y'all, how's it going?  I'm getting a cold.  I have a feeling the next few days will NOT be fun.  At least the hubs has Friday off of work so if I need to I can spend most of Friday sleeping? Just got to make it to Friday....

At least it's already Wednesday.  I thought for a minute it was only Tuesday.

My brother's birthday is tomorrow so I need to get this card out in the mail today.  It won't get to Texas in time, but he's been in our family long enough not to expect birthday cards and presents on time ;)  Anyway, as an Oklahoma State alum, he lurves him some orange so I started with the color challenge from Fab Friday:

I'll be honest:  I like Tangerine Tango and Pumpkin Pie separately, but I'm not a fan of them together.  I sponged the ink on the leaf stamp to make it less concentrated, so it's more subtle that the three leaves are two different colors.  And then I stamped the fancy outline leaf stamp on the card front in stamped-off Tangerine Tango on Pumpkin Pie cardstock, which turned out okay.

I also used the latest sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping:

And then I combined those two challenges with the Global Design Project CASE the Designer challenge:

I kept the orange from this card, and the linen thread (I need to order more linen thread...), and I stamped a large image on my card front though mine is a lot more subtle than the pumpkins here.  I like challenges like this because there's a lot of "scope for imagination" as Anne Shirley would say.  Though I am extremely color-driven so a lot of my CASEd cards incorporate similar colors.

Sounds like kiddo is ready to get out of his bouncer for a bit.  Hope naptime comes quickly, 'cause I want a nap too...

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Colorful Seasons, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Pumpkin Pie, Fresh Fig
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Fresh Fig, Whisper White
Accessories:  Petals embossing folder, linen thread, Dimensionals

Hey, Friend: Fall Edition

Howdy, folks!  How's your Friday morning going?  After my complaining earlier this week, it's *finally* starting to feel a little like fall here.  Color me thrilled!

I think I've said before that fall cards might be my very favorite thing to make.  The inspiration for this one came from the new challenge at Fusion:

I loved those fall leaves on the blue background, so I tried to kinda recreate that on my card.  I also dyed half my fingers blue in the process--it got all around one of my fingernails too so that ain't coming out for a day or two.  I spritzed water on glossy white cardstock and dripped some ink refill on it, then spritzed some more to make the background.  Messy, but fun.

I also used the sketch from Sunday Stamps:

I didn't have a recipient in mind when I made this, but I was talking to my friend Tiana last night and our friend Sarah's husband just deployed, so she'll be the one getting this in the mail.  And probably cookies, because I just got the Sally's Cookie Addiction cookbook and I need an excuse to try out a recipe or three.  (I already tried the giant M&Ms cookies.  Uhhh....they're gone.  And I need to be spending more time at the gym.)

That's it for me today, folks.  Have a fantabulous day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Colorful Seasons, Orange Blossom
Ink:  Island Indigo, Tangerine Tango
Paper:  Island Indigo, Tangerine Tango, Cajun Craze, Glossy White, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Seasonal Layers Framelits, Dimensionals, White baker's twine