China: UDO

Mornin' y'all!  It's time for another China Sunday.  I just finished my orange cranberry muffins and a nice hot cuppa tea so I'm ready to go for the day :)

So, when I left off, we were doing our 8-mile bike ride on the city walls of Xi'an.  When we got to the fourth side, we discovered these:

None of us knew what to call them, so I jokingly said they were Unidentified Decorative Objects (UDOs) and it kinda stuck as a name.  I thought that floral pattern went pretty well with the colors in the UDOs, but that floral pattern is so busy it's best to use it in smaller quantities so I went with one thick strip of it for each layout.

And here is the second layout for you.  I kept these pretty simple since the pictures (and the floral paper) are pretty busy.

Today's very bright color palette is comprised of Summer Sun, Ruby Red, and Basic Black.

And that's all she wrote today.  I'm going to enjoy a few more hours with the hubs before he drives back to Virginia Beach for school.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Rough Type, Love & Affection, Bodacious Bouquet
Ink:  Basic Black, Groovy Guava, Ruby Red
Paper:  Summer Sun, Basic Black, Ginger Blossom & Botanical Gardens DSP
Accessories:  none

Hello Bear

Mornin', y'all!  After you come back from a vacation (even a short one), do you feel like you need some time to get back in the stamping groove?  Because I snatched a couple of minutes yesterday to work on a card and it just seemed like my brain didn't quite want to engage.  But eventually I got here:

I started out wanting to make a card with the current stamp set Baby Bear, but three tries went in the trash and I switched Baby Bear for my favorite ever Stampin' Up! bear from Thankful Forest Friends.  Because this week's Cupcake Inspirations challenge is all about da bears!

I've seen those cupcakes before, and in fact I made a version of them with cream cheese frosting and yogurt-covered pretzels to make polar bear cupcakes for my polar bear-loving friend Sarah.  The ones I saw were billed as reindeer cupcakes but I thought they looked more like bears :)

So I paired my bear with the Global Design Project sketch:

And I chose my sentiment after seeing the word prompt challenge at Inkspirational:

My big "hello" stamp is from a retired Sale-a-Bration stamp set called....Hello.  I kinda like the effect of stamping it on the patterned paper; where the paper was white, the stamp came out darker so the words have a floral pattern too.  Fun.

Well, I need to bundle Ryan up and leave for the gym in ten minutes, so I'd better hurry up with my breakfast.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Thankful Forest Friends, Hello, Love & Affection (all retired)
Ink:  Basic Black, Garden Green, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Garden Green, Thick Whisper White, So Saffron & Basic Black DSP (retired)
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits

I Heart Dragonflies

Heyyy I made another card this week!  I'm also making good progress on the honeymoon album...SO ready to get that done.  But anyway, card!

I loooooove the Dragonfly Dreams bundle from the Occasions catalog, which is happily carrying over to the big catty.  But for today's card I just used the Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits along with some stamps that are on the retiring list, Gorgeous Grunge and Love & Affection.  I think they're only retiring Gorgeous Grunge because *everyone* owns it now (let's be honest, I've used this splatter stamp more than all the other stamps in the set put together!).  I love Love & Affection for that super pretty font on the sentiments, so I wanted to revisit it before it retires.  Not that it will be leaving my collection because #hoarder.

So this card came together super fast with the help of this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I followed the sketch pretty much exactly this time :D  I also used this week's Color Throwdown:

I thought these would be perfect colors for a dragonfly card.  I used Tempting Turquoise, Cucumber Crush (sad to see it retire too), and Crushed Curry for my colors.  The background was made by scribbling on the largest acrylic block with markers, spritzing with water, and then "stamping" it on Thick Whisper White cardstock, love that technique for superfast watercolor backgrounds.  I'm very happy that you can actually see the Wink of Stella glimmer on the dragonfly too!

So on Mother's Day, my sweet Ryan made a card for me:

I suspect his daddy helped him (after all, Ryan is just 3 months old and not really writing much yet), but it looks like he took dictation.

And there's authentic-looking drool marks on the inside.  I love it!

That's it for me today.  I'm hoping to put Ryan down for a nap soon and then finish up the scrapbook layout I started yesterday.  I actually think I get pages done *faster* since I had Ryan because when I get him to sleep I'm all like MUST WORK FAST DO NOT WASTE NAPTIME!  I've always worked best under pressure ;)

Cheers y'all!

Supplies (first card), all SU!
Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge, Love & Affection
Ink:  Crushed Curry & Cucumber Crush markers, Basic Black
Paper:  Cucumber Crush, Tempting Turquoise, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Detailed Dragonflies Thinlits, Wink of Stella pen

Lovely Dragonfly

Okay y'all, I think I'm starting to get tired of this whole pregnancy thing.  It's getting more than just uncomfortable.  About all I'm good for right now is sitting...so today I sat in my craft room :)

So here's a CAS card for today.  I think it might need a Sahara Sand dragonfly next to the sentiment, whaddya reckon?  I came up with this for the Global Design Project CASE the Designer challenge:

I kept Sahara Sand as the main color, but used Emerald Envy as my accent color.  I figured the tiny dragonfly from Swan Lake worked well as something similar to (but different than) the large polka dots, and instead of lace I used some linen thread.

I also used this week's As You See It sketch:

Instead of the doilies pictured on the sketch, I did a bit of paper piercing on the sides but honestly I wish I'd left that off altogether.  Hmm.

Anyway, that's it for me today; I'm now working on another scrapbook layout.  So far I've done 22 pages this year, which is quite the surprise to me...I know that's going to change very soon here.  But I'll enjoy the scrappin' while I can.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Swan Lake, Love & Affection
Ink:  Whisper White, Emerald Envy
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Emerald Envy, Whisper White
Accessories:  paper piercer, linen thread

Watercolor Pineapple

Hey, y'all.  I'm spending lots of time in the basement to hang out with my injured little boy dog, and that's also where my craft room is so you'd think I was making lots of progress on stampy projects and you'd be wrong.  The last set of scrapbook pages I worked on was from the Harry Potter studio tour, which prompted me to start an HP re-read, and that seems to be sucking up a lot of my time :)  I'm on Goblet of Fire now, Harry just finished the second task in the Triwizard Tournament.  But I managed to tear myself away long enough to make a card.

I just had to make something pineappley for the tropical challenge at Cupcake Inspirations:

And I thought maybe the color combination at the Color Throwdown would work:

I used Pear Pizzazz, Peekaboo Peach, Sweet Sugarplum, and Pool Party.  Last of all I thought I'd play along with the sketch at As You See It:

For my background panel, I scribbled on my largest acrylic block with markers, misted heavily, and stamped it on Shimmery White cardstock.  The Sweet Sugarplum was still lots darker than the Pool Party, so I used an AquaPainter to add in more blue.  I kinda wonder if my card still needs a little something extra but I don't know what.

Anyway, I'm going to head back to the basement.  Maybe this time I'll work at my craft table instead of reading...oh J.K Rowling, your books still suck me in even though I've read them all several times over.  It's still quite the tale!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pop of Paradise, Love & Affection
Ink:  Pool Party, Sweet Sugarplum, Peekaboo Peach, Pear Pizzazz
Paper:  Pool Party, Peekaboo Peach, Shimmery White
Accessories:  corner rounder punch, Dimensionals

Foxy Smiles

When I saw today's sketch on CAS(E) This Sketch, I knew I had to make something with it:

I love a solid, simple sketch.  And I hadn't used my new Foxy Friends stamp set since I made the Cheshire Cat, so here's what I came up with:

I had some trouble inking up the fox...my Calypso Coral ink pad is way, way juicy, so I tried an ink spot I got in a past Paper Pumpkin kit, but that looked pretty terrible.  So I got out my super-juicy ink pad and a sponge, and sponged the color onto the stamp, and that worked out fairly well for me.  Not perfect coverage, even stamping on top of a piercing mat, but much better than the first two I tried.  I paired my fox with a sentiment from Love & Affection because I love that font and the sentiments are sweet, and I also used the foxy paper stack (A Little Foxy!) because I bought it and hadn't used it before.  I'm not thrilled that the thick Whisper White card base makes the patterned paper look a little dingy but what can you do.

Anyway, I need to run out to the store and pick up dog food.  It's a glamorous life, but one of my dogs just has to eat every single day twice a day (more if he can manage it...the other one doesn't care much at all if she eats every other day!).  So off I go.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Foxy Friends, Love & Affection
Ink:  Calypso Coral, Basic Black, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Pool Party, A Little Foxy DSP Stack
Accessories:  None

Double the Flowers

Hey, y'all.  I continue to be somewhat lacking in the card-making mojo but on the plus side, I *did* make some progress on my purple-licious scrapbook pages yesterday.  But you won't get to see those for a little bit so here's a card for today:

I think this one worked out a little better in my head than it did on paper.  I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge to use flowers:

I even used the same palette of colors as in this inspiration picture for my card.  As an extra bonus, this one dovetails nicely with the SUO Challenges' Delight in Nature challenge.

Just wasn't thrilled with the first card so I made this one:

It was *supposed* to be a one-layer card, but I got some fuzz on the sentiment stamp the first time I stamped it, so I had to cover it up.  The hazards of living with two dogs, especially one who is extra-super-ridiculously fluffy.  Anyway, this one also fits in the Create with Connie and Mary color challenge:

The piercing template and the oval Framelits I used on these cards are both retired now, but I don't have the new Layering Ovals Framelits yet and no sense not using perfectly good craft supplies.

Well, I'm off to run some errands.  See you back here tomorrow for the Friday Flashback!

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  All About Everything, Crazy About You
Ink:  Mint Macaron, Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral, So Saffron, Perfect Plum
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Perfect Plum
Accessories:  Ovals Framelits (retired), Hello You Thinlits

Supplies, second card:
Stamps:  Love & Affection
Ink:  Peekaboo Peach, Tangelo Twist, Cucumber Crush
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Occasions paper piercing template, Dimensionals

Baylor Smiles

Mornin', y'all!  Hope your day is off to a sunny start.  If not, maybe this will help:

Yep, definitely sunny.  :)  I started with this week's Global Design Project challenge:

I used a similar layout with the vertical sentiment and kept the floral idea, but instead of doing a watercolor look I went with bold and graphic.  I also used this week's Cupcake Inspiration Challenge color combo:

I interpreted the colors as Cucumber Crush, Basic Black, and Daffodil Delight.  Which means green and gold and kinda Baylor-y so I know who's going to get this card in the mail :D  The sentiment is from Greatest Greetings, which I chose for the What Will You Stamp? challenge:

Maybe later today I can actually break out some of the new stamps I got last week!  Here's hoping.

I designed the card with the sentiment going up the side but I think I might like it better this way.  Guess it works either direction since the flower panel doesn't have an up or down orientation.

That's it for me today, y'all.  Have a fabulous day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Love & Affection, Greatest Greetings
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Cucumber Crush, Basic Black, Whisper White
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories:  White EP

Lovely Words

Hey kids, happy Tuesday.  Hope you enjoyed your long weekend.  Only half of ours was rainy, so that's progress, right?  I got to spend a bit of time in my craft room yesterday and I made this pretty quick little card:

Once again I used the new stamp set Love & Affection, which will be available for everyone starting tomorrow, woohoo!  It's photopolymer, so I was able to put the bitty flower in the center of the larger ones without a Stamp-a-Ma-Jig, plus I wasn't too fussed about making everything perfect.  I love the font on the sentiments that come with this stamp set.

I used the Fab Friday color challenge:

I always hate to say goodbye to colors when they retire, even if we get new favorites to offset the sting a little bit.  So long, Hello Honey and Blackberry Bliss!  They'll continue to pop up on my scrapbook pages and such, I'm sure.

I also used this week's Global Design Project sketch:

I kept my card very clean and followed the sketch pretty much exactly :D

That's it for me today, y'all.  Have a good 'un.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Love & Affection
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Blackberry Bliss, Hello Honey
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Thick Whisper White, Hello Honey DSP
Accessories:  Lots of Labels Framelits, Dimensionals

Ridiculously Happy Butterfly

Okay, y'all.  I don't know about you, but I'm getting really tired of cloudy and rainy weather.  It's been like two weeks since we saw the sun here and everything is soggy and it's making me grumpy.

Grump grump grump.

Okay, card.

Soooo meet the new Dapper Denim and Flirty Flamingo.  I also used Mint Macaron and some stamped-off Tip Top Taupe, and this week's Retro Sketch:

I even tried scattering some pearls around like is on the sketch.  Other than the butterfly, this is a single-layer card; I just used stamped elements for the border at the top and the scribbly circular element behind the butterfly on the sketch.  It had been too long since I last inked up Awesomely Artistic so I paired that with a sentiment from the new stamp set Love & Affection.  That sentiment (and the font) make me ridiculously happy.  Now if they could just get rid of the cloudy rainy weather for me....

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Awesomely Artistic, Love & Affection
Ink:  Dapper Denim, Mint Macaron, Tip Top Taupe
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Dapper Denim, Flirty Flamingo
Accessories:  Bold Butterfly Framelits, Butterflies Thinlits, Pearls

New Schtuff

Guess what?  I got my new catty preorder yesterday...but I didn't get a copy of the new catty because apparently I opted out of it somehow when I did the order???  Arrrgh.  Anyway, I didn't order a whole lot, just the new In Color ink pads, cardstock, and markers, plus just one new stamp set.  Oh, and one roll of ribbon in my new favorite green.

Kids, meet Sweet Sugarplum (the purple) and Emerald Envy (I think you can figure that one out).  Sweet Sugarplum is a warm purple and will make a great Dynamic Duo with Rich Razzleberry, which is what I did here and my RR ink pad is way too juicy and that's why the stamped edges on the RR parts are uneven.  Emerald Envy is a beautiful jewel tone green with some bluish undertones and I think I'm gonna love it for scrapbooking.  I'll have to do something with the other three colors (Dapper Denim, Peekaboo Peach, and Flirty Flamingo) later this week.

Anywha, for today's card I used the latest sketch at As You See It:

It's been a while since I played along over there.  Sometimes I have a problem in that there are too many challenges for me to get to all of them, even though I post things here six days a week.  Granted, two of those days are for scrapbook pages and baby books, but still.

Well, I'm off to walk the doggos (oh yeah, remember I said it wasn't raining and it was a minor miracle?  By the time I got the dogs outside to start our walk, it was sprinkling.  Because of course it was.  We went anyway and just got wet.) and then this afternoon I have a dental appointment I am very much not looking forward to.  Ugh.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Love & Affection
Ink:  Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry, Emerald Envy
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Sweet Sugarplum
Accessories:  Decorative Dots Embossing Folder (retiring), Circles Framelits (retiring), Dimensionals (never retiring because they're awesome), Emerald Envy ruched ribbon