Pool Party Papillon

Hey y'all!  It's another rainy day here, but I got the kiddo down for a nap so hopefully that means some good crafty time as soon as I finish washing dishes.  In the meantime though, I have a card for you!

The card base is the brand new Lemon Lime Twist, which is super bright and I'm a little surprised how popular it's been with other demos.  I mean, I love it, but I love bright colors and green in particular.  Looking forward to exploring some color combinations with this one.  Oh, if you click on the photo to see it larger, you can see that I stamped the sentiment in both Lemon Lime Twist and Basic Gray, offset from each other just a smidge to get a shadow effect.  Can you call it a shadow effect if the "shadow" is Lemon Lime Twist?

Anyway, I turned to this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I wish I'd made my square element a little smaller; sometimes it's tough to find the line between letting a sentiment breathe and having it get lost on a panel that's too big for it.  Dangit.  I didn't have time to redo it yesterday because Ryan was waking up from his nap as I was finishing this card.

There's a butterfly on it, so once again I can enter this over at the Paper Players:

I still have some layers on my card, but lots of open space on the card front.  I intentionally left the card base un-stamped to make it more CAS.

The color combo is from Retro Rubber:

I used Lemon Lime Twist, Wisteria Wonder, and Pool Party for my colors, since I thought those would be closest to the photo.  Maybe Baja Breeze would have been closer for the blue color, but I was using all current colors.  So for my "retro" part of this challenge, I've had both Papillon Potpourri and Petite Petals since 2012 or so I think.  Suite Sentiments is, of course, from earlier this year but I think the other two make up for it ;) plus I just wanted to use it at least once more before it retires.

Okay kids, time for me to get to work in the craft room.  The hubs says he'll be home from work early today, and he has tomorrow AND Monday off, so maybe I'll get lots of crafty time in the next few days since someone else is here to help with bottle feedings and diaper changes, haha!  Hope you have a great weekend, y'all.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Papillon Potpourri, Petite Petals, Suite Sentiments
Ink:  Lemon Lime Twist, Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party, Basic Gray
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Wisteria Wonder, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Elegant Butterfly Punch, Petite Petals Punch, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Elements of Style

Happy Friday afternoon, y'all, and welcome to the Friday Flashback.  This week's stamp set is Elements of Style, which is a lovely vintage-kinda style stamp set which debuted in 2010.  So let's get started!

Also features By the Seashore, Pursuit of Happiness, Perfectly Penned

The flourish behind the postage stamp-style element is the stamp that's from Elements of Style.  Hey Stampin' Up!, we need more flourishy stamps like this.

Also features Pursuit of Happiness

The real reason I got the stamp set:  the hummingbird.  Also that ribbon is actually Marina Mist to match the hummingbird stamp, it just really doesn't look it in the photo.

Also features Fabulous Phrases

There's a big toile stamp in the set in addition to that flourish, both fun.

Also features Papillon Potpourri and Perfectly Penned

Another one with the flourish!

And hey,t here's a card that has one of the Elements of Style sentiments on it.  So there's your flashback, here's today's new card:

Seems like all my card photos are under-exposed lately.  Well, we've been socked in with clouds for what seems like forever (it's a giant swamp outside) and I really think my little camera is on its last legs.  But anyway, that's the new card...and the sentiment is a bit crooked but I'm going to write that off as proof that this is homemade.  And it's going in the mail within the next week.

I used the brand new color challenge from Fab Friday:

But I added a bit of Sahara Sand (generally you're allowed to add neutrals to any color challenge) and that means it also counts for the Inkspire Me color challenge:

Well, we've got to go pick up my car from having its oil changed, so I'm outta here.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Elements of Style, Thank You Kindly, Hardwood
Ink:  Soft Sky, Sweet Sugarplum, Sahara Sand
Paper:  Soft Sky, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes & Lots of Labels Framelits, Dimensionals, Pearls

The Best Things

Hey, kids!  How's it going?  We've got the hubs' parents here this week but I did manage to sneak down to my craft room yesterday and make a quick card or two.

Feel Goods is on the retiring list, and I do love the sentiments in that set although now that I see it in this picture it looks like maybe my sentiment tilts ever so slightly up to the right?  Oh well.  I look at the world in a slightly askew fashion anyway.

I got the colors from this week's Global Design Project challenge:

My first instinct was to go with something marine, like By the Tide, but in the end I decided that Feel Goods needed some inky love before it retires on June 1.

I also used the latest Fab Friday sketch:

Fun times.  I'd better get off the computer and attend to my hostess duties...cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Feel Goods, Papillon Potpourri
Ink:  Mint Macaron, Island Indigo
Paper:  Mint Macaron, Thick Whisper White, Island Indigo & Tip Top Taupe DSP
Accessories:  Deco Labels Framelits, Bitty Butterfly Punch, Hexagon Punch, Regals Candy Dot, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Best of Sale-a-Bration

A rainy Friday morning to you, friends!  Seriously, I'm going to need a boat to get to the gym today, and my little girl dog is going to be very sad when she realizes we're not going for a walk in the wet.  But you're not here for a weather report, you're here for the Friday Flashback.  And today's stamp set is Best of Sale-a-Bration, which shoulda been called Best of Flowers Part 2 because every image but one is a flower.  I was a total lemming and bought all 12 of the Best Of sets a few years ago.

Also features Petal Parade, Four You

So the Best of Sale-a-Bration stamp on this card is the smaller red flower (and there's my favorite Fresh Prints of Bel Air paper!)

Also features Petal Parade, Banner Blast

Same stamp on here.  It was actually a smaller version of a flower in Petal Parade, which was a SAB offering that same year the Best Of stamp sets came out.

Also features Morning Post Alphabet, Rain or Shine, Papillon Potpourri, Artistic Etchings

And here's the labels I made for my cross stitch projects because I'm a dork :)  The flower stamp on the Quarry label is the Best of Sale-a-Bration stamp on here.  Each one of the images has something to do with the cross stitch picture I'm working on:  Rain Blossoms is a scene of people in kimonos with Japanese parasols walking across a bridge; Eilonwy is a fairy with a crown of butterflies; the Quarry is a sort of Impressionist scene with lots of bluebonnets; and the Accolade is a famous Pre-Raphaelite painting of a lady knighting a man who is kneeling before her.

But anyway.  That's it for the Flashback, here's the new card:

Heyyy, I managed to use one of the stamps in the set that hadn't been used before!  Woo.  I used this week's Create with Connie & Mary sketch challenge:

And the Color Throwdown:

I used Pretty in Pink (though it might have worked a little better with a more saturated shade), Bashful Blue, Tangelo Twist, and Peach Parfait.  I can't wait to get the new In Colors in my hot little hands next week--there's a new peach color but what has me really excited are the new green and blue and purple.  And there's a pink.  I'll bust 'em out next week.

That's it for now, y'all.  Have a great weekend and stay dry.

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Best of Sale-a-Bration, Perfectly Penned
Ink:  Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink, Peach Parfait, Tangelo Twist
Paper:  Peach Parfait, Tangelo Twist, Thick Whisper White, Bashful Blue DSP
Accessories:  Lots of Labels Framelits, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella glitter pen

Lime-Tastic

How goes it in Blogland today?  I'm ready for it to stop raining here...I'm a little tired of being ankle deep in mud.  Girl dog is a lot tired of not going on her daily walk; every time I open the back door and it's raining outside, she gives me this look like, "Well, make it stop!"  Ha!  I wish.

Enough weather whining.  You're here for the card.

Today we're all about the limes because of this color challenge at Cupcake Inspirations:

I translated that into Cucumber Crush, Whisper White, and Tempting Turquoise.  Yes, my limes are actually cucumber-colored.  Except Cucumber Crush doesn't look like the color of a cucumber to me, and I don't like cucumbers but I do like limes.

I'm overthinking this.

Check out the sketch from Stampin' Celebration:

I love the sketch but I wasn't really sure what to put for the star element in the upper left corner, so I went with a wee butterfly but I'm not sure it makes sense.

Anyway, that's it for me today as I need to get out and run some errands.  Hubs gave me the go-ahead to buy some new paper storage for all my 12x12 patterned paper, which is great because what I have already is falling apart.  I see an afternoon of organization in my future.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Apple of My Eye, Perfect Pairings, Papillon Potpourri
Ink:  Cucumber Crush, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise, silver Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Hexagon & Bitty Butterfly punches, rhinestones, Dimensional

p.s.  It has not escaped my notice that I've used the stamp set "Apple of My Eye" twice now and never made a card with an apple on it.  Ha.

Nachos: Cherry on Top Butterfly

Happy Tuesday, Nacho fans!  Are you ready for another great sketch?  Here's this week's Nacho Average Sketch Challenge!

I thought the two smaller circle elements were just begging for punched images so that's what I did.

And yet again I used the Cherry on Top DSP stack...it's the only current DSP I have right now :)  But I still like it, so hopefully I won't get totally sick of it before I acquire some more DSP.  Anyway, I pulled out some oldies for the butterfly and flower and used a recent My Paper Pumpkin stamp for the sentiment.  Uh, I've never actually put together a Paper Pumpkin kit, but I do use the stamps :D

Don't forget to post your own creation on the Nacho blog.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Papillon Potpourri, Flower Shop, My Paper Pumpkin
Ink:  Watermelon Wonder, Bermuda Bay
Paper:  Watermelon Wonder, Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, Crushed Curry, Whisper White, Cherry on Top DSP
Accessories:  Pansy, Bitty Butterfly, & Elegant Butterfly punches, rhinestone, Dimensionals

Nachos: Pretty Butterflies

Ok, after an unplanned two-week break I am back with the Nachos!  This week it's a beautiful and summery color challenge:

I didn't want to do flowers, because sometimes I think I always do flowers, so I did butterflies instead.  Because when I don't do flowers, I do butterflies : )

I actually made this card before I made the one I shared yesterday, so it was my first card in several weeks.  I decided to keep it very simple because baby steps.  I think I know who's going to get this card in the mail, too!

So now it's your turn...check out the other lovely cards at Nacho Average Challenges and then give it a whirl yourself!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Papillon Potpourri, Occasionally
Ink:  Crisp Cantaloupe, Daffodil Delight, Coastal Cabana
Paper:  Crisp Cantaloupe, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Elegant Butterfly & Bitty Butterfly punches, Dimensionals, Rhinestones

Nachos: Sunshine & Butterflies

Hellooooo Nacho fans!  Are ya ready for a brand-new Nacho Average Color Challenge?  Because here it is!

Three Regals colors, love it!  Have I ever mentioned how happy I am that Crushed Curry came back to the regular SU! color lineup?  Mah favorite yaller ever.  (You're supposed to read that with a fake cowboy accent.)

Anywha!  Here's my creation:

I used my paper piercing tool and a couple of piercing templates to do the butterfly toots.  I mean, why do we always draw flight paths behind butterflies and airplanes?  For the airplanes, it's exhaust or condensation, right?  So this must be butterfly toots.

I think I've already spent too much time thinking about this.

Go see what the other Nachos have made and then give it a whirl yourself!  Link up on the Nacho Average Challenges blog so we can ooh and ahh over your creation :)

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Feel Goods, Mixed Bunch, Papillon Potpourri
Ink:  Island Indigo, Perfect Plum, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Island Indigo, Perfect Plum, Whisper White
Accessories:  Essentials & Occasions Paper Piercing Packs, Scallop Edge, Blossom & Elegant Butterfly punches, Dimensionals, Rhinestones

Hey Sunshine

Ya know what, I love me some bright, sunny colors, and that's just what this week's Splitcoast color challenge was.  So here's what I made with them:

Bright and cheery, huh?  I like it.  I raided my giant box o' scraps for the background pieces; I just looked until I found three different Old Olive patterns, and yay for using up some scraps.  I think I know who I'm going to give this to...since we're moving soon, I was thinking about giving several of my friends here some cards before I leave just to say hey, you're awesome, and I'm glad you are a part of my life.

It's been a while since I last played in the As You See It challenges, but I did like their sketch this week:

It's getting close to the wire before the challenge closes but I made it :)

Thanks for stopping by today, friends!  Have a lovely Wednesday.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flower Shop, Papillon Potpourri, A Dozen Thoughts
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Night of Navy, Real Red
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Whisper White, retired DSP scraps from (I think) Island Oasis, Haiku, and Bali Breeze (really old one right there!)
Accessories:  Chalk Talk Framelits, Bitty Butterfly & Elegant Butterfly punches, rhinestones, Dimensionals

Nachos: Just Because

Mornin', Nacho fans!  And happy tax day?  Maybe that's not a thing, wishing people a happy tax day.  Guess it's a happy day if you're getting a refund.

I digress.  Are you ready for a brand new Nacho sketch?

I peeked at some of the other Nachos' cards and I think I might be the only one who got the sentiment in the wrong place.  Oops.  But here's my card:

Apparently I'm still stuck on the idea of teal, orange, and butterflies from last Friday : )  And this card may LOOK all simple and easy, but it took me three tries to get the stamping right.  Even with the Stamp-a-ma-jig.  Because I'm special like that.  I think it was worth it in the end though, I rather like this one.  Hooray!

Your turn!  Check out the Nacho Average Challenges blog for the rest of the Design Team beauties, and then try it out yourself.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Papillon Potpourri, Perfect Pennants, A Dozen Thoughts
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Whisper White
Accessories:  Elegant Butterfly punch, Dimensionals

Stitching Labels

I've been busy for the past couple weeks either working on tea party prep, or studying for my exam retake, or down with a headache (yeah, that lasted three whole days, it was awesome) so I haven't been doing much stamping other than my weekly Nacho cards and Friday Flashback stuff...everything else has been using some draft posts I had (including today's post).  My other hobby has kinda fallen by the wayside too, which is cross stitching.

And today I'll show you how my stamping and stitching hobbies converge.  If you've ever checked out my other blog, you've most likely seen progress posts on my stitching projects (click here to see).  I'm currently working on four very large projects in rotation, so at the beginning of every month I switch to a different project.  I've got four floss cases, one for each project, plus two cases of shared colors, but I thought it would be nice to have labels for the individual project cases so I could tell them apart more easily.

I'd had the idea for a long time and finally made them last month, so there they are.  I just stamped the first letter of the name of each project and a small image that has something to do with the image I'm stitching.  So here's my February project's floss case now:

"Eilonwy" isn't the name of the pattern I bought from Scarlet Quince, it's the name I gave to the fairy in said pattern because "Take the Fair Face of Woman" was far too long and I like the name Eilonwy.  I got the name from Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain; Eilonwy is a princess born of a line of enchantresses who talks a lot and is always described as having red-gold hair.  The second book in the series was made into a Disney movie, The Black Cauldron, so now I've managed to knit together four of my hobbies in one post.  Yay me.

Have a great week, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Morning Post Alphabet, Rain or Shine, Papillon Potpourri, Best of Sale-a-Bration, Artistic Etchings
Ink:  lots of different ones, I'm not even gonna try to remember
Paper:  Whisper White
Accessories:  Deco Label Framelits

Daffodil Festival

This is turning out to be day 3 of an unexpected flower bonanza here on Snapdragon Stamps...maybe this will make spring hurry up and get here already?  Regardless, here's a scrapbook layout for your viewing pleasure.

Pics are from the daffodil festival I went to last March with Karyn and Karen.  Naturally, I had to use Daffodil Delight cardstock for my daffodil layout : )  I also used Wild Wasabi, Marina Mist, and the journaling is done in the retired Handsome Hunter because I like to use all kinds of dark colors for journaling rather than just limiting myself to black.

This might be the last bit of scrapping I'll get to do for the next month, though...I'm going to be one busy little bee between studying for the exam (at least only half the exam this time) and working on preparations for the Mad Hatter tea party.  Life is never boring, fo sho.

Thanks for stopping by today!  And by the way, the daffs are already coming up here this year...mid-March last year, most of them hadn't bloomed yet, but when I was out yesterday I saw a few overachievers already in bloom and it's still February, ha!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Papillon Potpourri, You're Lovely
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist, Handsome Hunter marker
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, retired Marina Mist & Wild Wasabi DSP
Accessories:  Artisan Label, Elegant Butterfly, & Bitty Butterfly punches

Make a Wish

I'm late posting today but my hubs just got back yesterday after two months in the States, so I think I can be forgiven since I still DO have a new card :)

The layout is this week's SCS sketch challenge; I didn't think I'd like it much at first but I'm okay with what I ended up making.  For some reason the flowers kinda made me think of dandelions so that's why I went with the "make a wish" sentiment.  The pretty springy colors are courtesy of Nacho Average Challenges:

I started out with a Pretty in Pink card base but it was TOO pink, so I used white instead and then sponged on a bit of Pretty in Pink.

Thanks for stopping by today and have a wonderful evening!  I'm going to spend it with my husband :D

Supplies (all SU!):
Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, Papillon Potpourri, Sweet Essentials
Ink:  Summer Starfruit, Pretty in Pink, Primrose Petals
Paper:  Whisper White, Primrose Petals, Patio Party DSP, In Color & Subtles DSP Stacks
Accessories:  Labels Collection Framelits, Bitty Butterfly Punch

Butterfly Birthday

Howdy, folks!  (I'm in Texas right now, I can say that.)  Today's card was made for a recent SCS sketch challenge and an old SCS color challenge.

Hmm, I guess I'm liking Daffodil Delight lately...nice antidote to gray weather!  This sketch is a bit more complicated than I generally prefer, but I think the card came out okay anyway.  And I love that Daffodil DSP, leaves or feathers or whatever they are, they make me happy.

Happy Tuesday, folks, and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies (all SU!):
Stamps:  Papillon Potpourri, Perfectly Penned
Ink:  Rose Red
Paper:  Rose Red, Basic Gray, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Floral District DSP, Neutrals DSP Stack
Accessories:  Whisper White taffeta, basic rhinestones, Elegant Butterfly punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, scallop circle punch, corner rounder punch (yeah that's a lotta punches)

Olivia's Baby Book

Not too long after I started stamping, I got the idea to make baby books for a couple of friends of mine for their baby showers.  Since then, I've done ten, and I've got one more that's 80% finished (I just need to find out if the baby's a boy or a girl).  I do one layout for each month of the year, plus layouts for the baby's birth and first birthday.  Add in the first and last pages, and each book is 30 pages.  They take me at least a couple of months to do, so I don't do them for very many people.  And I won't sell them either, because honestly, no one would pay what I would want to charge for them given how much time they take, never mind the cost of supplies.

So here's the one I just finished up for my SIL and her new daughter, Olivia.  If you want a complete supply list, check out my SCS gallery here.  Jill is doing the nursery in what my mom calls Strawberry Shortcake colors--pink, hot pink, and lime green, so that's what I started with.  The die cut alphabet I used is by Sizzix and I've had it since I graduated from college and it's long retired :)  Click on any of the pictures to see it bigger.

 Stamps:  Mixed Bunch, Papillon Potpourri

Stamps:  Baby Prints

Stamps:  Make a Mitten (retired), Snow Swirled

Stamps:  Artistic Etchings, Carte Postale (retired), En Francais

Stamps:  Celtic Knots (retired), Tag Time (retired)

Stamps:  Announcements (retired)...I did this one several months ago, had I known Rain or Shine was coming out I woulda waited so I could have used that!

Stamps:  Tea Shoppe...I thought a mother-daughter tea party theme would be cute?

Stamps:  By the Seashore

Stamps:  Land That I Love (retired)

 Stamps:  Bronc Buster (retired), Wanted (retired)...Olivia was born in Texas, she needed a cowgirl layout :)

Stamps:  Fruit & Flowers, One Smart Cookie

Stamps:  Googly Ghouls (retired)

Stamps:  Wonderfall, Falling Leaves (retired)

Stamps:  Reindeer Print

Stamps:  Crazy for Cupcakes (retired), coordinating cupcake wheel (retired)

So excited this one is done!  I've even made a card to go with it, so now I just need to get it in the mail.  Thanks for stopping by!