Retro Red Rose

July means I need lots of birthday cards for my friends and family, so I gotta get crackin' this week!  First up is my mom's birthday on July 2, so here's her card:

She loves all things red, white, and blue, and the current Fusion challenge was perfect for her birthday card:

I love it when I see a challenge and immediately think "I have the perfect stamps for that!"  The inspo pic made me think of Stippled Blossoms right away, which was released before Stampin' Up! had dies for so many of their sets, so I fussy-cut the flower and leaves.  I rather enjoy a bit of fussy-cutting every now and again.  I used Sweet Sorbet and Cherry Cobbler for the flower, and busted out some retired shades for the leaves, namely Baja Breeze (still my favorite) and Not Quite Navy.  The sentiment is stamped in Midnight Muse for the darkest shade on the color palette.

My SU! order *finally* arrived yesterday so I need to go unpack it all and get to work on some scrapbook pages.  Woohoo!  Fun day ahead for me, hope your Tuesday is fun too!

Supplies, all SU! (many retired)
Stamps:  Stippled Blossoms, Perfectly Penned
Ink:  Sweet Sorbet, Cherry Cobbler, Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Midnight Muse
Paper:  Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Thick Basic White, Walk in the Park DSP
Accessories:  Circles Collection Framelits, Dimensionals, In Color Matte Dots

Perfectly Retro

Mornin' folks!  I had a bit of an unplanned blogging break this week...on Sunday I knocked over my water bottle and got water on our wireless keyboard, which as you can imagine wasn't particularly good for the keyboard.  The hubs took it and let it dry out for a few days on a radiator (turned very low) and we crossed our fingers.  Well, now it works!  Color me relieved.

I made a few cards over the weekend that I had intended to share this week so here we go with a retro card!

The colors look a bit off in the photo; the card base is green (Kiwi Kiss) and the apples are Raspberry Ripple on the Mango Melody plaid paper.  I was inspired by the Retro Rubber challenge:

I know it's pumpkins but apparently I still have apples on the brain from all those apple recipes I made recently.  So I mixed the elements from the photo:  my plaid is orange(ish) and my fruit is red, but my background is still green.  My stamp sets are both very retro:  I've had both Perfectly Preserved (the apples) and Perfectly Penned (the sentiment) since 2012 and I frequently use them together, maybe because I got them just a couple months apart.

Ryan is not at daycare today so I'd better get off the computer and go entertain him before he takes over the world and covers it in googly eyes.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Perfectly Preserved, Perfectly Penned
Ink:  Raspberry Ripple, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Kiwi Kiss, Thick Basic White, Perfectly Plaid DSP Stack
Accessories:  Cannery Freamelits, Stitched Shapes dies, Dimensionals

Birthday Poppy Stars

Mornin', y'all!  Okay wow, what a difference a week makes--last week my kiddo wasn't feeling good and he was REALLY tough to handle, especially since I'm solo parent ops right now.  But the hubs was here over the weekend, and kiddo is feeling much better, and he's been SO happy and easy to get along with!  Which makes me one very happy mama.

Sooooo I kinda slid right past everyone's birthdays in October, but I'm hoping to do a little better in November, so I made this for my brother:

I started out with the challenge from As You See It:

I made my card in 9 minutes, 32 seconds, and my two shades of red are Poppy Parade and Cherry Cobbler.  Although I think I'm *always* doing a speed stamping challenge since I'm always trying to finish things before Ryan wakes up from his nap!

I'm also entering this over at Global Design Project:

In the spirit of this challenge, I dusted off the very first stamp set I ever bought, Stars & Swirls, and used it for the background on my card.  Then I chose my favorite ever happy birthday stamp from Perfectly Penned for the main element on my card.  And I pulled out some old favorite Framelits to set everything off.  It's fun to dust off the retired stamps periodically.  Now I just need to get this card mailed off today...

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Stars & Swirls, Perfectly Penned
Ink:  Poppy Parade, Cherry Cobbler
Paper:  Poppy Parade, Cherry Cobbler, Thick Whisper White, Poppy Parade DSP
Accessories:  Lots of Labels Framelits, 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

Friday Flashback: Perfectly Penned

Hey kids.  My Friday started off with a bang--my little boy dog Vader injured himself again.  He was trying so hard to run up the stairs to get breakfast faster and he's busted his left knee this time.  So I'm stressed out and feeling bad that he's hurt and he's stuck up on the middle floor of the house until the hubs can get home and carry him downstairs.  Hope he doesn't have to tinkle...

Anyway, here I am with today's Friday Flashback, and I'm going to have to be quick because I need to be out of the house in under 10 minutes.  So here we go!

Also features Perfectly Preserved

I think I have at least three stamp sets with apples in them.  No wait, four.  I must like apples :)

Also features By the Seashore

Perfectly Penned is one of my favorite sentiment stamps ever ever ever, so I just picked out some favorites for today's post or else we'd be here until next Friday.  And I started to notice something...

By the Seashore again :)

I also really like By the Seashore, and...

Also features Stippled Blossoms

A lot of my favorite cards are in fall colors.

Also features Gently Falling

Also features French Foliage

See what I mean?  Ooh, I love the copper brads on this one.  I still have quite a stash of those.

one more time for By the Seashore

Haha, more seashells, which I had so much trouble typing the word "seashells" you'd think I was trying to stumble through saying "She sells seashells by the seashore" six times fast.

Also features the All Dressed Up Framelits which were pretty cool

One last happy yellow card and I would totally wear that if it were a real dress.  Now for today's new card:

My friend Missy (a.k.a. Baylor bear extraordinaire) had a birthday earlier this week and I musta been sticking my head in the sand because I DIDN'T SEND HER A CARD and I'm very distraught about this, so I made a Baylor bear card.  But I do feel a bit guilty because this one came together really fast so maybe I should spend some more time in my craft room tomorrow and really make her a masterpiece.

Anyway, I revisited this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I switched the main image panel to the left side so the bear would be looking into the card rather than off the side, I think about these things (comes up even more in scrapbooking).  And to add a bit of glam, I painted the balloon with clear Wink of Stella.

Okay, I've got two minutes to get out the door.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Perfectly Penned, Thankful Forest Friends, My Paper Pumpkin (balloon)
Ink:  Basic Black, Garden Green, Daffodil Delight, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Garden Green, Thick Whisper White, Garden Green DSP
Accessories:  Lots of Labels Framelits, black taffeta (retired), Dimensionals, clear Wink of Stella

Friday Flashback: Starburst Sayings

Happy Friday!  It is time once more for the Friday Flashback, and today's featured stamp set is Starburst Sayings, which seems kinda appropriate to kick off the 4th of July weekend.  So let's take a whirl through the archives, and if all you want to see is today's new card then scroll to the bottom :)

Also features World Map

Starting off with this lovely map card.  I wish that SU! had done some more stamp sets (or even just one more!) to coordinate with the Starburst dies before they retired them all, but oh well.

Also features Perfectly Penned

That little starburst stamp on the left is covering up a booboo on the embossing powder at the bottom of the H :)

Also features Something to Say

Ahh, my favorite stamp from this set.  What's not to love about a giant Happy Day stamp!

Though apparently that little starburst stamp is the runner-up for favorite stamp from Starburst Sayings.

Works on any color combination!

And lots of different card layouts.

Also features Alphabet Rotary, Gorgeous Grunge, Positively Chevron

This is quite possibly my favorite card in the history of ever.  The inside says "You know the rest!" and I sent it to my dad :D

Also features Wood You Be Mine?

And here's a little lumberjack thank you card.

Also features Too Kind, My Paper Pumpkin (tiny chevron stamp)

Last one, another brightly-colored thank you card.  Now for today's new creation!

My SIL's birthday is on July 5th, so I'm going to send this out to her ASAP for her birthday.  Hey, it looks like this is the first time I used the little celebrate stamp so woohoo for me!  The fireworks and star stamps are from a stamp set called July Fourth.

And I stamped on the inside of the card too.  My patriotic color combo is courtesy of Fab Friday:

And of course I re-used the Freshly Made Sketch that I used yesterday:

And that's it for today.  See you back here tomorrow for another baby book layout :)

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Starburst Sayings, July Fourth, Happy Happenings
Ink:  Tempting Turquoise, Pacific Point, Night of Navy, Real Red
Paper:  Temping Turquoise, Night of Navy, Pacific Point, Shimmery White, Whisper White (just for the inside)
Accessories:  Starburst Framelits, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Linen

Happy Friday, y'all!  Today's Friday Flashback stamp set is Linen--yep, we're shining the light on a background stamp today.  Let's check it out!

Also features Baby Talk, Petite Patterns

One thing I noticed going through my archives is that I've used Linen quite a few times, but it's hard to see in the pictures because the texture is so fine on the stamp.  So click on the photos to enlarge, and check out the card base on this one.

Also features Heartfelt Thanks, Warm Words, French Script

Or the Almost Amethyst layer on this one.

Also features Fall Whimsy, Print Pattern, AYC3

Pumpkin Pie layer on this one...

Also features Touch of Nature, Print Pattern, Weathered, AYC3

The card base on this one...

Also features Steppin' Style, Print Pattern

And finally, the blue layer on this one.  Uh, Linen is a hard stamp to photograph I guess?  Well, here's my new card:

I think you can see it a little better here; I stamped Linen with Dapper Denim ink on Dapper Denim cardstock and IRL it looks like blue jeans which makes me happy.  I'm entering this at Just Add Ink, where the challenge is to just add "B"--I made a birthday card with a blue jeans background, using the color Blushing Bride and the stamp set Bodacious Bouquet for my blooms, to which I added a bit of bling in the form of rhinestones, and I used my Big Shot to cut out the Lots of Labels die for my sentiment.  How's that for Bs?

This also counts for Retro Rubber's challenge to use flowers:

I've had Linen for 10 years (!!!), Bodacious Bouquet for 9, and Perfectly Penned for 5, so they're all nice and retro for that challenge.

I also incorporated the colors from The Color Throwdown:

I used Dapper Denim, Blushing Bride, and Watermelon Wonder for my colors, and I think they'll forgive me for adding a smidge of Pear Pizzazz because I just needed some leaves for my flowers.

This afternoon, hubs and I are going to see the new X-Men movie (hubs is off work today!) and then we're going out to dinner.  Maybe I can talk him into going to Chuy's for some Mexican food...adios for now!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Linen, Bodacious Bouquet, Perfectly Penned
Ink:  Dapper Denim, Blushing Bride, Watermelon Wonder
Paper:  Dapper Denim, Blushing Bride, thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Lots of Labels Framelits, rhinestones

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