Eggplant Splat

Hey y'all!  My blog post title today doesn't sound very pretty, but I'm rather pleased with how my card turned out :D

And it is, indeed, a splat of Elegant Eggplant ink.  I had this ink smooshing technique on the brain thanks to Brian King...this is my second attempt and at first I didn't think it was going to work, but when it dried it looked a lot better.  Oh, I stamped the inside of this card too but I didn't take a picture; it's got another flower (this time in Lemon Lime Twist) and says Happy Birthday.  My purple-loving sister-in-law's birthday is coming up soon...

I'm entering this at the CASE the Designer challenge on Global Design Project:

I kept the same basic layout, with just a bit of a patterned layer peeking out from under the white card front, and my main image is also watercolory albeit with a totally different effect.  My eggplant splat flower was inspired by Inkspirational:

SU! doesn't have a blue-violet color like that, but I thought the Elegant Eggplant looked pretty good and I LOVE it with Lemon Lime Twist.  This inspiration photo made me think of the giant flower from the retired hostess set Bloom with Hope, so I broke out the retired stamps today.  The Lemon Lime Twist layer has the retired background Bella Toile stamped on it.  Much as I love new schtuff (who doesn't?) it's fun to go back to some older stamps every once in a while.  Need to get back to doing Friday Flashbacks.

That's it for today, y'all.  I'll be back with TWO new cards tomorrow, I've already got them made and sitting on the desk :)  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bloom with Hope, Bella Toile
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant, Lemon Lime Twist
Paper:  Elegant Eggplant, Lemon Lime Twist, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Dimensionals, hexagon punch

Speedy Purple Butterfly

Hola, peeps!  How's it going today?  Looks like we're going to have rain in 'Bama.  Anywha, I have a purple-licious card for you today:

I broke out the retired Cottage Wall DSP and Orchid Opulence grosgrain ribbon for this one.  I made this for the As You See It Speed Stamping challenge:

I won't lie, trying to make a card in 10 minutes was a wee bit stressful, even though I had all the supplies set out before I started the timer.  I also used this week's Retro Sketch:

I do know that there are two other dies in the Butterflies Thinlits set, but I seem to be stuck on the medium-sized one :)  Anyway, it's time once again to take the doglets on their tour of the neighborhood, so cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bloom with Hope, Gorgeous Grunge
Ink:  Orchid Opulence (retired), Smoky Slate
Paper:  Whisper White, Blackberry Bliss, Cottage Wall DSP (retired)
Accessories:  Butterflies Thinlits, rhinestone, Dimensionals, Orchid Opulence grosgrain ribbon (retired)

Nachos: Sympathy Birds

Sooooo I meant to write up this post last night but I started editing the hubs' latest paper for class and the Nacho post didn't get done.  Oops.  So here I am now with this week's Nacho Average Color Challenge:

My first thought was to use By the Seashore and/or By the Tide but then I decided to go with something different.

I don't *need* a sympathy card right now (thank goodness), but it's good to have a few in the stash just in case.  It's hard to tell in the photo, but I sponged on Pool Party ink to make it look like a sky on the panel with the birds.  I must say, I love the font on the sentiments that come with Bloom With Hope :)

Your turn now!  Check out the Nacho blog for more eye candy and then show us what you can make with Baked Brown Sugar, Pool Party, and Very Vanilla.  Have a lovely Tuesday!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, Bloom with Hope
Ink:  Pool Party, Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso
Paper:  Pool Party, Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Fancy Fan EF, Neutrals Candy Dots, Dimensionals

Blackberry Blooms

My love affair with Blackberry Bliss continues unabated.

And also my obsession with embossing powder.  I swear, I can do things besides emboss images and watercolor them.  I mean, oy with the poodles already.  Maybe I'll do something different tomorrow.  Anyway, Garden Green just happens to be my favorite green, and I'm so glad that finally SU! is using it on some patterned paper and I've seen it pop up here and there on color challenges, like the new one from Colour Me:

You could pick either combination for this challenge; I do love the colors on the other side too.  But Blackberry Bliss and Garden Green won out.  I also used a teensy bit of Hello Honey/Crushed Curry (really, they're practically the same color) because I needed something for my flower centers.  And also the Candy Dot because it needed to be a visual triangle of yellow.  I don't make the rules, y'all.

I also used this week's challenge from Freshly Made Sketches:

And that's it for me today, peeps.  I'm off to do...something.  I was up way too late last night so I'm all tired today but I WILL NOT take a nap.  So that means I have to do something.  Wish me luck.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bloom with Hope, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Versamark, Blackberry Bliss, Garden Green, Hello Honey
Paper:  Basic Gray, Blackberry Bliss, Garden Green, Whisper White, Park Lane DSP
Accessories:  Banners & Circles Framelits, Word Window & Modern Label punches, Silver EP, Dimensionals, Argyle EF

Nachos: Birthday Bloom

Happy Tuesday!  Are you ready for another great color combination from Nacho Average Challenges?  Because we've got one for you!

Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry are two of my favorite SU colors (um, I have lots of favorites) and of course Basic Black just makes them pop even more.  So I decided to go with a black card base:

I hope that it looks cool and modern for a birthday card and not over-the-hill-y.  I would have preferred to use three Bermuda Bay Candy Dots but wouldn't you know, I only had two left.  Dangit.  Anyway, I just got the hostess set Bloom with Hope so I couldn't resist trying it out today!  I stamped the image with Versamark and embossed with black EP, which seems to be my favorite thing to do lately (sometimes it's black, sometimes it's Early Espresso, but it's a lot of heat embossing).  I watercolored the flower and then added in some darker bits with a Bermuda Bay marker, and I used a Crushed Curry marker for the flower center too so that it would be nice and saturated color.  Love how that flower turned out.  I stamped some smaller flowers on the inside of my card too.

So you know it's your turn now!  If you need more inspiration, check out the Nacho blog and then...happy stampin'!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bloom with Hope
Ink:  Versamark, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Basic Black, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, retired Crushed Curry DSP (what, I was using up scraps)
Accessories:  Apothecary Accents Framelits, Black EP, Candy Dots, Dimensionals

Blackberry Birthday

Ok wow, I've been reading some good books lately but it's totally interfering with my stamping ;)  I have a new friend who loves purple and her birthday is today, and I just finished making this card for her!

I think For All Things is my go-to stamp set at the moment.  Well, I love fall things anyway.  I used the sketch from As You See It:

But I switched out one of the layers for ribbon, I hope it still counts?

Anyway, we've got to run if we're going to make it to dinner on time.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  For All Things, Bloom with Hope
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Blackberry Bliss, Cajun Craze
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Whisper White, Color Me Autumn DSP
Accessories:  Labels Collection Framelits, Blackberry Bliss ribbon, Dimensionals