Scrappy Showcase, Part 3

Mornin, kids!  While everyone else is New Years resolution-ing, I made scones for breakfast.  With a sugary glaze on top because of course.  I'm 8 months pregnant and I want to bake ALL THE THINGS.

But now that I've made (and eaten) the scones, it's time to get some things done today.  Aside from the giant pile o' dishes I washed this morning and the load of baby laundry in the washer (ooh, I should go switch that out).  But right now we're talking the last of the 2016 Scrappy Showcase!

I actually made this layout more like at least two years ago but it only showed up on the blog last October.  This was from Halloween in 2004 and was the first time hubs and I carved pumpkins.  Then we didn't do it again until last year ;)  Anyway, I love this layout and I still miss my little Chewie and he's been gone for over 10 years now.

Next up is this Tokyo Disney Sea layout, which I dearly love and maybe I should buy more of that patterned paper before it retires.  (Or maybe not, I have a giant stash of paper.)

And here's a fun Thanksgiving layout for you, I love the contrast of the dark blue page base with all the warm colors in the patterned paper.

And my last layout for the 2016 Scrappy Showcase is this simple one from the Great Wall Marfon.  Partially because I'm just tickled that I got the words "marfon" and "chompuns" immortalized in my scrapbooks since hubs and I still say them (and so do Missy and Bennet, for that matter).

So there you have it!  The 2016 Scrappy Showcase is now concluded.  And I need to get in my craft room today and see what new goodness I can whip up.  Cheers, y'all!

Happy Thanksgiving (2011)

Scrappy Monday!  I swear I haven't forgotten I was going to post my Ohio pages, but Thanksgiving is this week (already?!) and I had a Thanksgiving layout all ready to go!  I actually made this one a while ago (I forget when) but I have quite a few layouts in the pipeline to blog.

You can see the original photos here if you like.  I lovelovelove fall colors, but I used Not Quite Navy to balance out all the warm tones in the patterned paper and the photos to make them pop a bit more.

There's my title/journaling/main stamped accent block all in one.  I still love Day of Gratitude, that leaf is one of my all-time favorite leaf stamps.  I even made wedding invites with it once!

So there's the color palette:  Not Quite Navy, Cajun Craze (I seem to be using that A LOT lately), Old Olive, More Mustard, Early Espresso, and Very Vanilla.  Nice fall colors.  I'm enjoying this fall in Northern Virginia--it's nice that the weather has cooled off some (ignore my husband's whining) and we've got some nice colors right now so yep, my favorite time of year.

I'm off to finalize what I'm making for the big day....we're going over to the hubs' cousins' house.  Hope you have fun plans too!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Day of Gratitude, Holidays & Wishes
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Old Olive, More Mustard, Early Espresso
Paper:  Not Quite Navy, Cajun Craze, Old Olive, More Mustard, Very Vanilla, Autumn Spice Specialty DSP
Accessories:  None

Friday Flashback: Season of Friendship

Ya know, sometimes when I do Friday Flashback posts I'm surprised that I don't have more in the archives for a particular stamp set that I like.  Maybe the archives are incomplete, or maybe I just don't use some things as much as I think I do...whatever the case, today's Friday Flashback is all about Season of Friendship.

The tree is one stamp, and then there's the triple leaf stamp, a snowflake, a bird, a flower, and a sentiment to round out the stamp set.  It takes a while to Stamp-a-ma-jig all the leaves on the tree, but I like the effect.

Another baby book layout, different month and different colors but otherwise pretty similar.

Also features Holidays & Wishes

And here's a Thanksgiving card.  To my surprise, that was the extent of the archives, so here is today's new project:

Rather than leaves, I went for something wintry this time.  I saw that sentiment in Ray of Sunshine and I thought it was just the thing for my little cardinal in the snow.  And I loved that when I cut up the Real Red patterned paper, you can see "love your face" and "love this life" on the bit I used.  They have some good words and phrases on that paper, I love it.

I had to have another hack at this week's Freshly Made Sketch since I wasn't a fan of yesterday's dud.

And my wintry card also fits in with this week's Retro Rubber Challenge:

And for this challenge I have to say how long I've had the stamps...well, Season of Friendship has been in my collection since at least 2008, considering that's the date on the card in my Splitcoast gallery.  Work of Art and Ray of Sunshine are both over a year old too, so all three stamp sets qualify by their rules :) 

I think this is a cute little pick-me-up card, and I know just who to send it to, so I'm going to go do that right now.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Season of Friendship, Work of Art (ground), Ray of Sunshine (sentiment)
Ink:  Soft Suede, Real Red, Bashful Blue, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Bashful Blue, Thick Whisper White, Real Red DSP
Accessories:  None, it's a totally flat card!

2015 Showcase, Part 2

Part 2 of the card showcase, so July through December.

July's pick features the fantastically-named stamp set Awesomely Artistic, which I need to use a whole lot more in 2016.  Sometimes having so many stamps is a problem ;)

July's other pick is this ax murderer card, which is quite possibly one of my favorite cards in the history of ever because of a joke I share with a friend, whom I have referred to for years as "my online friend, the ax murderer".  She thinks it's funny too.

My pick for August is this little stellar card, I love the bright colors and all the white space just seems to make it work.

September's pick is the faboolous Stella, who got sent to my friend Sarah who loves all things Halloween and even managed to have her daughter on her favorite holiday.

October's pick is this jellyfish card, just because I think it's funny.

November's pick is this beary thankful card, because I just couldn't get through an entire showcase without that Thankful Forest Friends bear.

November's other pick is this Star Wars birthday card, which I somehow neglected to sign when I gave it to my brother.  Oops.  But I was pretty proud of how Artoo turned out...maybe I should give BB-8 a try?

And to finish up the showcase, December's pick is this sparkly blue poinsettia card, which I sent to my mom because she loves sparkly and blue and all things Christmas.

Happy New Year, peeps!

Friday Flashback: Holidays & Wishes

Happy Friday, friends!  So the hubs and I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens last night, and despite my best efforts I had to blink at least a half a dozen times during the movie so we're going back tonight so I can catch anything I missed the first time around ;)  But you're here for the Friday Flashback!  Right?  Right!  Today's retired stamp set is Holidays & Wishes, so here we go!

Also features Lovely as a Tree, Bella Toile

I love greens and blues together, I think they make a nice sympathy card when you use more subdued tones.

Also features Heartfelt Thanks, Paisley

Playing with Heartfelt Thanks and inchies.  Also, I miss Almost Amethyst and all the other purples :(

Also features Snow Burst

This was before I learned how to tie pretty knots, but otherwise I like this one.  It's shimmery white cardstock for a bit of shine.

Also features Simply Said, Kindness jumbo wheel

And there's a pink and purple Valentine...

Also features Scandinavian Season

And a Scandinavian Christmas tree.

Also features Lovely as a Tree, French Script

One more sympathy card, and now it's time for today's new creation!  Spoiler alert, it has blue and green on it, but it's not subdued for a sympathy card and it might be one of my favorite cards this year.  Take a look:

I just had to use Joyful Christmas again because that flower is so pretty.  And I was inspired by these colorful poinsettias at my local grocery store:

They have glitter on them in addition to being a wonderful shade of royal blue.  Aren't they pretty?

I also used this week's Pals Paper Arts sketch:

And this week's Color Throwdown is a free-for-all Christmas challenge:

I used Garden Green, Pacific Point, and Blackberry Bliss, and I think I love that combination.  The poinsettia was inked with Versamark, then Blackberry Bliss, and I used Iridescent Ice embossing powder plus it's stamped on shimmery white cardstock.  For the leaves, I just stamped them in Garden Green, so they ran a little bit when I watercolored them.  I waited until the water dried and then used the fine tip of my Garden Green marker to go over the lines again, and I like how that worked out for me.

Anyway, I've got to get moving.  Have a great weekend, peeps, and if you haven't seen the new Star Wars movie yet I won't spoil any plot points for you.  May the Force be with you!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Holidays & Wishes, Joyful Christmas
Ink:  Versamark, Pacific Point, Garden Green, Blackberry Bliss, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Pacific Point, Garden Green, Blackberry Bliss, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Iridescent Ice EP, rhinestones, Decorative Label punch, Ovals Framelits, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Heartfelt Thanks

This week's Friday Flashback stamp set is Heartfelt Thanks, which is probably one of Stampin' Up!'s most popular stamp sets ever (at least based on the fact that there are 7,000+ cards in its Splitcoast gallery!).  I had several Heartfelt Thanks cards in my archives so rather than inundate you with all of them, I just picked a couple older creations to share and then one new one.

This was for a Ways to Use It challenge to use inchies.  It was also for a color challenge because I hardly ever reach for Bravo Burgundy by choice : )

Stamps:  Heartfelt Thanks, Paisley, Holidays & Wishes
Remaining supply list can be found here.

This one uses all the same stamps as the card above with the addition of En Francais.  The technique for the background squares is called Serendipity and it works like this:

1.  Start with a piece of white or vanilla paper and ink it up with two colors of ink, direct to paper.  Start wondering if you picked colors that don't go together at all.
2.  Stamp over it with a background stamp in a third color just to add to the mess.
3.  Heat emboss the flower all over on top of everything and think to yourself that this is going to be really, really not pretty.
4.  Cut or punch it into squares and somehow magically it looks much cooler.  Act like you're not surprised and that you knew it was going to be okay from the start.
5.  Rearrange your pieces on a mat however you like and build the rest of your card from there.

Stamps:  Heartfelt Thanks, Paisley, Holidays & Wishes, En Francais
Remaining supply list can be found here.

And here's my new Heartfelt Thanks card, which was oddly enough inspired by a card I made years ago using Carved & Candlelit.  I chose a sketch & color challenge I hadn't done yet and voila, here it is.  I wanted the sentiment to be in the middle of the flower image, but that left me with a lot of empty space on the bottom right so I added a Glimmer Brad.  The sketch is a little on the complicated side for me, but on the whole I like how this turned out.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Heartfelt Thanks, Occasional Quotes
Ink:  Versamark, Soft Suede, Blushing Bride, Certainly Celery
Paper:  Blushing Bride, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Attic Boutique & Twitterpated DSP
Accessories:  clear EP, retired In Color Glimmer Brad, Fancy Fan embossing folder

I recently went through and organized all my card and scrapbook project photos (hence why I was looking at that old Carved & Candlelit card) and I noticed that for the first several years, I hardly ever used patterned paper.  Instead, I used a lot of background stamps.  Now I think it's mostly DSP, sometimes embossing folders, and rarely do I break out the backgrounds.  Note to self:  use more background stamps : )  Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed this Friday Flashback!