Island Thoughts

Good EVENING, y'all!  Ryan had his first baseball game tonight and we really thought we were going to get rained out (the game prior to his did), but they did play a couple of innings.  Ryan got a good solid hit at one of his at bats, too.

But anyway, I wanted to get a quick little CAS card posted today so here it is:

My dad suggested I make a get-well card for a family friend who had surgery on her thumb for trigger finger, so here it is.  I started with the mood board from Inkspirational:

I was inspired by the colors (of course) and the big, bold flower in the middle.  Island Blossoms is an old favorite stamp set : )  Next up is the AAA Cards Challenge sketch:

The rainbow lines immediately made me think of the lines stamp from Dream Come True, which is another stamp set I've had for ages.  Then I just had to hunt up an appropriate greeting and pop on a few Glossy Dots, and now it's ready to mail tomorrow.

It's past 9pm which means I'm about to turn into a pumpkin.  Night, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Island Blossoms, Inspired Thoughts, Dream Come True
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Azure Afternoon, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive
Paper:  Summer Splash, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Glossy Dots, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Whimsical Alphabet

Ok, I really didn't do it on purpose, but somehow I drew the names of three alphabet stamp sets when I was grabbing the next batch of Friday Flashback stamp sets.  So get ready for another scrapalicious (and long) Friday Flashback featuring the Whimsical Alphabet!  And maybe the numbers, too :)

Also features Beyond the Basics

Several years ago there was a challenge on Splitcoast to make a scrapbook layout for a family.  The wife/mom of four had died unexpectedly; she was an avid scrapbooker but like pretty much all scrappers, she had thousands of photos unscrapped.  So I emailed the project coordinators and got a couple batches of photos and made two layouts; I left the journaling space blank so someone who knew the family could write there.

Also features Darling Dragons, Background Basics

Do you remember the TV show Dinosaurs?  With the baby dinosaur who always said "Not the mama!" to his dad?  Welllll, dragons are kinda like dinosaurs, right?

Here's a layout from Okinawa, when the hubs took a cheapo underwater camera with him on a scuba diving trip to see whale sharks.

Also features Simply Spring, Bunch o' Bugs, Bold Basics

There's my kiddos dressed up for Halloween!

Also features Simply Spring, Bunch o' Bugs

Or should I say, HOWLoween!

Also features Ancient Asia

I know you've seen this one before, it does seem to keep popping up.

And here's a funny card for ya featuring the Whimsical numbers.

Also features Happy Hearts, Dream Come True

I don't much like the color scheme on this one, but I think the idea was cute and I do like how I stamped the "love" on it.

Also features Mixed Bouquet

I kinda miss Apricot Appeal.  Or Peach Parfait.  I wouldn't mind having another pale orange in the next set of In Colors.

Also features Lovely Leaves

I did this layout not too long after I started stamping, it's one of the first scrapbook layouts I made with stamps.  So you know I've had this alphabet for a long time.

Also features Wanted, Bronc Buster

I think this is the only time I've ever decorated a gift bag :)

Also features Sweet Treats, Background Basics

And this one was on here recently too, when I did the Sweet Treats Friday Flashback.  So yep, I think I've gotten some good use out of this alphabet, and for today's new project I have another layout:

Yay!  Love happy layouts!  This was from lil girl's first birthday party, and her daddy has a July birthday too so he got his own Over the Hill pie.

Closeup of the title.  Since I didn't do mixed fonts, I did two colors:  Pumpkin Pie and Rose Red.   This layout is also the maiden voyage for Be the Star, which I just got recently.  I think the sketchy style of the stars paired nicely with the alphabet.

And there's my color palette:  Pretty in Pink (retired), Regal Rose (retired), Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, and Gable Green (retired).  This is why I love my color swatch book, it reminds me to use retired colors for my layouts.  Searching through all my paper scraps for this layout is what made me organize all of them this week.  So glad THAT's done, it was ridiculous.

That's it for me, peeps.  Cheers to a great weekend!

Supplies, last layout only:
Stamps:  Whimsical Alphabet Upper & Lower, Be the Star
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Green Galore, Rose Red ink pad & marker
Paper:  Pretty in Pink, Gable Green, Whisper White, Sweet Always DSP, Party Animal SSK
Accessories:  Stars Framelits

Friday Flashback: Dream Come True

Hey, it's the first Friday Flashback of the new year!  And I've got a lovely stamp set to feature today, it's Dream Come True, which is appropriate since Valentine's Day is right around the corner.  So let's flashback!

This is from way, way back before I was a demonstrator; we did this at a stamp club held by my upline.  I still think it's cute, though it would be better if the Whisper White ink pad was inked up better.

Made this one for my hubs when I was still pretty new to stamping, I mean come on that color combo!  Not working.  The other hearts are from Happy Hearts and the "love" is stamped with the lower case Whimsical Alphabet.

Ok, so here's my favorite creation with this stamp set, and it's a CAS card.  I think it took me two or three tries to get the stripey background bit and the "dream come true" stamped where I wanted them on the Shimmery White card base, but once I got that part done right I totally loved this card.

I made a little 8x8 new mom advice book for a baby shower, and this was one of the layouts.  The smaller hearts are from You & Moi, and I had fun looking up lots of baby quotes to go in this book.

So that's it for the flashback part, here's today's new card:

Now *there* is a color combo I can get on board with:  Strawberry Slush, Pear Pizzazz, and Lavender Lace.  SU! needs some new mid-tone purples that aren't tinged gray (though Wisteria Wonder can be lovely).  I think SU! needs more purples, period, and maybe a great emerald green.  I'm excited to see what this year's new In Colors will be in a few months.

So that's it for today's Friday Flashback, hope y'all have a great weekend!  I gotta go either clean my house or study.  It's really a toss-up.

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Dream Come True
Ink:  Strawberry Slush, Pear Pizzazz, Lavender Lace
Paper:  Strawberry Slush, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Swimming at the Lake

I think it's going to be a scrappy week here on the blog.  In fact, I'm sure of it, because a.) I have a couple of posts already scheduled and b.) I'm behind on sharing my scrapbook pages so now is a good time for that : )

Behold my latest!

I wish I'd done the "swimming at the" part a little more to the right, but I decided after I'd already stamped that part that I wanted another paw print on there so what can you do.  Maybe I'll stamp another paw print on the other side of that bit...If you look closely, you'll see that the Bordering Blue strip (I miss that color) is stamped with the fine splatter from Gorgeous Grunge, which I got when it was on sale last month and this is its maiden voyage.  Whee!

In other news, I've created a new tool for myself and I must toot my own horn here because it's GENIUS.  I made myself a color swatch book!

When I scrap, I like to try out a few colors with the photos and decide on a color combo before I drag out the 12x12 cardstock and patterned paper.  I have two file cabinets with my 8.5x11 cardstock, but the one with the retired colors is a bit wonky--it's hard to open the drawers on it because I think it got banged up in our last move.  So it's a pain to pick out retired colors, ya know?  Then I had the genius idea to get some divided page protectors and put swatches of cardstock in them.  I cut the pieces to 3 7/8" by 5 1/2" so they'd slide in and out easily, and labeled them all with a black marker on the bottom.  The only one where the label doesn't show up is Basic Black, and I'm pretty sure I could peg it as black without a label : )

I divided them up by color (reds/pinks, oranges, yellows, etc.) and then alphabetized them within the colors because I figured that was easier than trying to decide a light-to-dark order, especially since we have a zillion reds.  So now I can take out whichever swatches I think will work for a layout, and when I'm done I know exactly which color goes where to put them back.  I'm hoping this will help me use more of my retired cardstock colors, though it seems like I've been using a ton of Brilliant Blue lately.  Why do I fall in love with colors right when they retire or long after they're gone and I can't buy any more cardstock?!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge, Rough Type Alphabet, Big Deal Alphabet, Dream Come True (heart), non-SU paw print
Ink:  Bordering Blue, Buckaroo Blue, Riding Hood Red, Basic Black marker
Paper:  Baked Brown Sugar, Bordering Blue, Buckaroo Blue, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  None but my SAMJ to do the title