Reaching Out

Mornin' y'all!  Hope your week is going well.  I'm glad that Ryan is back to watching Miraculous (Ladybug and Cat Noir)...I enjoy that show a lot more than some other ones he watches.  I like to watch this one with him : )

Today's card has nothing to do with ladybugs or cats, though...

I was inspired to dust off this octopus from Sea of Textures thanks to a combination of challenges, starting with Retro Rubber:

Sea of Textures is six years old, so nice and retro for this challenge.  I had this challenge in the back of my mind when I saw the CAS Colours & Sketches color palette:

I stamped the octopus in Lost Lagoon on Pool Party cardstock with some Wink of Stella for sparkle, the sentiment is in Pebbled Path, and the card front is stamped with Pool Party ink on the same color of cardstock.  I thought those colors went well with the Retro nautical theme.

I'm also entering this at the Paper Players challenge:

I'm hoping to play along with this challenge at least once or twice more though, I love animal stamps!  And the pictures on the challenge graphic are so dang cute.

Just a few more minutes and I have to get Ryan ready to go to school.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sea of Textures
Ink:  Pool Party, Lost Lagoon, Pebbled Path
Paper:  Pool Party, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Under the Sea dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella, Tinsel Gems

So Long, Octopus

Hey y'all!  Been quiet on the blog lately, but I've been working on stitching projects and just hadn't been in my craft room very much the past couple of days.  But I'm back today with a quick card!

SU! released the retirement list this week, and my octo-buddy is on it.  Two years ago, Sea of Textures was one of the first two stamp sets I bought when that year's catalog debuted--I just love this guy!  Of course, I pretty much don't get rid of stamps so he's got a permanent home with me.

I liked this week's sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch:

Okay, so I took some liberties with the sketch by adding the octopus as a layer.  A couple of weeks ago, the CAS(E) this Sketch team picked one of my cards as a challenge favorite, that's always fun!

Next up is this week's Color Throwdown:

I used Night of Navy, Pineapple Punch, Crumb Cake, and Granny Apple Green.  As it happens, I opened up my stamp case and I already had the yellow and green octopus stamped and die cut, so that made this card really quick to put together.  Sometimes I save extra pieces in the stamp case, and sometimes I stamp things on scratch paper and use them as kinda placeholders to see how things will look before I commit to stamping (especially alphabets for scrapbook pages).

Last up is this week's Retro Rubber Challenge:

Sea of Textures is two years old.  Well, maybe a bit shy of two years, I think I got it in the summertime, but close to two years anyway.  I've got some more photographs from aquariums coming up to scrapbook, so I'm sure my octo-buddy will be getting inky again soon :)

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sea of Textures
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Night of Navy, Pineapple Punch, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Night of Navy, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Under the Sea dies, mini Dimensionals, Happiness Blooms enamel dots

If you're curious, this is the cross stitch project I finished earlier this week!  This is one of the Pretty Little Cities patterns from Satsuma Street.  I have a dozen of them, and this is the third one I've made for myself.  All the other ones are for places I've been, but I haven't visited India (yet).  This is more in honor of my friend Neelu, one of my favorite people in the world; we became friends in 7th grade when her family moved to my hometown and she was a bridesmaid in my wedding.  Sadly she lost a battle with cancer a few years ago.  This makes me think of her every time I look at it.

Have a great weekend, y'all.  I'll be back tomorrow with more pages from Ryan's baby book!

Broken Elbow

Hey y'all!  I've been working hard on scrapbook pages this week, which is why I had no card to post yesterday.  But over the weekend one of my honorary nieces fell off her bike and broke her elbow, so I needed a card to send her.

The idea of an octopus card for a broken elbow just amused me, so I went with it.  I wish the sentiment was a wee bit smaller, I think the card feels kinda crowded but Abby is 8 so she won't care :)  I used the latest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

And the color challenge from Global Design Project:

I inked up Gus (the octopus) with Pineapple Punch ink, then used a sponge dauber to add some Granny Apple Green to his arms.  I made the sea background with a sponge brayer, but I had to add a little bit of Pacific Point because the Night of Navy on its own was reading too dark and not obviously blue.  After I did the brayer, I spritzed it with water, sprinkled on some table salt, and let it dry while I worked on the other parts of the card.

And here's a sneak peek of the layout I'm working on:

I changed how the pictures are laid out, added patterned paper and photo mats, and now it's ready for some accents and journaling.  But there you can see my phone (which was playing Disney music) and up at the top my (empty) Tinker Bell tea mug, and Rapunzel my desk princess.  Oh yeah, to the left of the mug is a Maleficent Hot Wheels car...I bought it for Ryan but by the time we got home I decided it was too cool for a two-year-old so it's mine now.  Haha!  I have a collection of Maleficent swag.

Okay, enough blah-blah.  Have a great day, folks!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sea of Textures, Labeler Alphabet
Ink:  Pineapple Punch, Granny Apple Green, Night of Navy, Pacific Point
Paper:  Pineapple Punch, Granny Apple Green, Crumb Cake, Shimmery White, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Under the Sea Framelits, Mini Dimensionals

Adventurous Octopus

Woohoo it's Friday y'all!  This weekend, a certain octopus wishes you to have a wonderful adventure.

When I saw this week's Freshly Made Sketch, I very quickly decided to bust out my still-nameless octopus...seriously, why doesn't he have a name yet?  OH WAIT I'VE GOT IT!  Let's call him Octavius, but for short we'll call him Gus like the mouse on Cinderella.  Gus the Octopus.  I like it!  Okay, I feel better now that he has a name.  Anyway!

Fun news to share, my Sunflower Mosaic card was chosen as a Princess card!  I was also a special mention at Global Design Project for the same card.  I was rather proud of that card, so it's nice that it got chosen for those two challenges :)

Back to Gus!  Sea of Textures was one of the first two stamp sets I got from the catalog when it went live last summer, and it's been far too long since I last inked it up so I was glad of this sketch for an excuse to use it again.  I decided to use some Lovely Lipstick foil cardstock for the little stripe on the right--it was a Sale-a-Bration option but has since sold out.  Might as well use it, right?  I inked up Gus with Grapefruit Grove and then sponged on a bit of Lovely Lipstick, which left me with a nice bit of shading on his head and his tentacles.  I love that technique for achieving some color variation on more solid stamps.  I also went over him with Wink of Stella for a bit of shine, but you can't see it at all in the photo.  Looks nice in person.

Well, you heard Gus...have a wonderful adventure this weekend!  Cheers.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sea of Textures
Ink:  Grapefruit Grove, Lovely Lipstick, Night of Navy
Paper:  Night of Navy, Thick Whisper White, Tranquil Textures DSP, Lovely Lipstick Foil Sheet
Accessories:  Under the Sea Thinlits, Dimensionals

The Greatest Octopus

Hey kids!  Are you having trouble getting up and moving after the long weekend?  I only missed working out yesterday but I feel like I missed more than that.  Probably has something to do with the iced pumpkin coffee cake I made for breakfast on Sunday.  Ha!

It's been a little while since I made a card with this octopus and I am still totally stuck on what to name him/her.  Any suggestions?  I mean, as this card says, this is the GREATEST octopus.

Say hello to the Inkspire Me color challenge:

I think this is the first time I've seen Gorgeous Grape crop up on a color challenge and I am HERE for it!  Actually all three of these colors are new as of this summer's color revamp.  Balmy Blue and I are very good friends, and I used Soft Sea Foam on a recent scrapbook layout.

Here's the latest sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch:

Pretty cool, huh.

Okay, I'm gonna go feed everyone breakfast and then Ryan and I are gym-bound.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sea of Textures, Magical Mermaid, Tropical Chic
Ink:  Soft Sea Foam, Balmy Blue, Gorgeous Grape
Paper:  Soft Sea Foam, Balmy Blue, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Under the Sea Framelits, Dimensionals

An Ocean of Thanks

Hey y'all!  Kiddo took a short nap yesterday so I didn't get in my craft room to stamp until after he went to bed last night but I think it was worth it because...

I busted out my brayer and made an OCEAN!!!  I haven't used my brayers in a very long time, other than to ink up the occasional background stamp.  This was really easy too, all I did was ink up the sponge brayer with Blueberry Bushel ink and roll it on the top 2/3 of a piece of white cardstock until I had good coverage, and then I kinda rolled the brayer on scratch paper to get rid of excess ink before I inked it up again with Night of Navy and rolled on the bottom 1/3, blending with the lighter blue until I liked how it looked.  I happened to have a cup of water with a straw on my desk, so I pulled the straw out and flicked water on my cardstock until I liked how that looked too.  Next time I'd do this on one of my place mats though (I have two cheapo plastic place mats from the World of Wally that I use for extra messy techniques--helpful because it keeps the mess from getting everywhere else and I can clean them with a spritz of Stampin' Mist and a paper towel).  Anyway, those water drops really made the background pop in my opinion.

Triple challenge today!  Let's start with the Global Design Project theme challenge:

Of course as soon as I saw that, I thought of Sea of Textures and my favorite (as yet unnamed) octopus, but I decided as an extra challenge to make a card with Sea of Textures *without* using the octopus.  Ha!

Next up is the Just Add Ink sketch:

And then the Sunday Stamps color challenge:

I used Blueberry Bushel, Night of Navy, Poppy Parade, and Smoky Slate as my colors.  I left off the yellow because it just wasn't working for this particular card.  I do love this color palette though!

I've got my eye on another color challenge that I think would work well for my rediscovered brayer...ideas are percolating!  Have a great Wednesday and cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sea of Textures
Ink:  Poppy Parade, Blueberry Bushel, Night of Navy
Paper:  Smoky Slate, Poppy Parade, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Under the Sea Framelits, mini Dimensionals, sponge brayer

Birthday Boy Octopus

Mornin' y'all!  It's supposed to rain every day this week so it's possible that by the weekend we'll all be underwater.  So maybe that's what the What Will You Stamp? crew was thinking of when they chose this week's featured stamp set? ;)

You KNOW I'm gonna play along with this one!  Any excuse to bust out the as-yet-nameless octopus.  So here's my card for today:

Tiana was telling me when she was here that she doesn't have any birthday cards for boys (she's got two girls, and I gave her a ton of cards but let's be honest I like girly stuff so that's a lot of what she got from me), so that's why I chose to make this a more boyish birthday card.  I thought the bright Mango Melody made a nice contrast with the Tranquil Tide/Soft Sea Foam pattern.

I followed the basic layout on this week's CAS(E) The Designer challenge on Global Design Project:

I kept the patterned paper layer and the circle element, and let the linen thread stand in for the horizontal strip.

I'm also entering this at the Paper Players:

It might be difficult to tell in my photo, but the circle is actually cut out of my card front and the octopus and greeting are stamped on the inside of the card.  That's how I was able to wrap the linen thread around the sides, and then I tied each piece in a knot and cut it off right at the knot so there's no loose threads.

We'll see you here tomorrow, peeps.  Have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sea of Textures, Lemon Zest
Ink:  Mango Melody, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Tranquil Textures DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits, Linen thread

Octo-Squeeze

Mornin' folks!  I hope you had a safe and fun 4th of July yesterday.  We let the kid play in a sprinkler and his kiddie pool, and then we lit some small fireworks on the back deck and scared him, poor thing.  I had to pick him up sopping wet and sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider until he quit crying.  Then we fed him apple pie and everything was okay again.

So, on to today's card!

I told you I was gonna pair that sentiment with my favorite octopus!  I'm funny like that.  Next time the hubs travels out of town I'll have to sneak this into his bag before he leaves.

I'm entering this in the Under the Sea challenge at Cupcake Inspirations:

I love this sketch from Palm Trees & Pogo Sticks (formerly Clean & Simple Stamping):

And I used the color challenge from Global Design Project:

I probably would not have put those three colors together on my own, but I do like the combination.  And happily for me, the only DSP I have from the new catalog contains both Mint Macaron and Fresh Fig patterns :)  I did another order on July 1 with more paper (because sale!) but it hasn't shipped out yet so I await it impatiently.

We're off to the Y again today because I'm not sore enough from Tuesday.  I'm kidding, it was difficult to get my shirt on over my head this morning because we did chest and back flies on Tuesday and OWWW.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sea of Textures, Lemon Zest
Ink:  Groovy Guava, Mint Macaron, Fresh Fig
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Tranquil Textures DSP
Accessories:  Under the Sea Framelits, Dimensionals

Hello Again

Mornin', y'all!

I must confess.  I cannot resist the octopus in Sea of Textures.  He needs a name!

And he's gradually branching out into more colors!  So this card is the maiden voyage for my Grapefruit Grove ink pad, as well as my new Poppy Parade (RIP, gold sheen pad from however many years ago).  I inked up the octopus in Grapefruit Grove, then used a sponge dauber to add in some Poppy Parade on his tentacles and then on his head.  I wasn't exactly sure what it would look like, but I was really pleased with the effect.  The three hellos are all Poppy Parade too, but the middle one is stamped off once, just to add some interest.  Though maybe I should have put eight hellos on there, one for each tentacle?

Here is the current sketch from Global Design Project:

And I'm entering this at Retro Rubber too:

Sea of Textures is new of course, but the greeting comes from Sunshine Sayings which is two years old.  And maybe Poppy Parade counts as retro too because it retired for a while and then came back ;)

Hope y'all have a great day.  Kiddo and I are off to the gym again.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sea of Textures, Sunshine Sayings
Ink:  Grapefruit Grove, Poppy Parade
Paper:  Balmy Blue, Thick Whisper White, Tranquil Textures DSP
Accessories:  white baker's twine, Under the Sea Framelits, Dimensionals

*Waving Madly*

Hellooooooooo!

Something about an octopus waving hello at you makes me giggle.  So Sea of Textures is the only brand new never-seen-before stamp set I have from the new catalog, but before the last one ended I did buy Lemon Zest, Beautiful Day, and at the last minute Beautiful Bouquet (which is where I got the "hello" from).  I won't be doing another new catty order until July so Sea of Textures is this year's featured set for me.  (Last year it was Orange Blossom, which I still can't believe it retired after one year!)  Anyway, I've inked up this octopus three times and two of those times he was purple.  Today he's black, and you can't tell but he's covered in Wink of Stella for some sparkle.

Octopi are animals, right?  Because the Paper Players challenge is all about the animals:

I used the sketch from Sunday Stamps:

To be honest I wish I'd used the Marbled background on my card front or something else and then left the oval behind the octopus plain, but my kiddo was waking up from his nap so I had to finish fast and I couldn't change it around.

Check out the Color Throwdown for this week:

I used Coastal Cabana for the aqua color; I've been mildly obsessed with it since it was announced that Coastal Cabana was returning to the SU! color lineup.  (I've done a couple of scrapbook layouts that haven't been shared here yet, plus a few cards that have been shared here.)

Hope you have a great day, y'all.  I've been fighting a cold all week and it is no fun, though Ryan thinks the noise I make when I blow my nose is super funny.  At least he's amused?

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sea of Textures, Beautiful Bouquet
Ink:  Coastal Cabana, Memento Tuxedo Black, Whisper White
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Under the Sea Framelits, Stitched Shapes Framelits, linen twine, Tailored Tag punch (to flag the end of the black banner), metallic sequins, Dimensionals

Thankful Octopus

New catalog launch day!!  And I ordered just one stamp set from the preorder sooooo....

Okay I know I did a purple octopus last time, and sooner or later this octopus will appear in every color under the sea, but I saw an ad for something (I don't even remember what) that was Coastal Cabana and Gorgeous Grape so I had to use those colors.  I added Lemon Lime Twist because when is Lemon Lime Twist *not* a good idea :p There's actually a bit of subtle texture stamping on the LLT panel though it's hard to see in the photo.

I used the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch:

Should have made the rectangle smaller to more strictly adhere to the sketch but oh well.  This card will be going out in the mail very soon; my in-laws gave Ryan a little wading pool and he LOVES that thing, so Ryan is going to send them a thank you card for it.  He likes to hop in the pool and then go put his cold wet hands on Dada's leg, haha!

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sea of Textures
Ink:  Coastal Cabana, Lemon Lime Twist, Gorgeous Grape, Night of Navy
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Lemon Lime Twist, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  corner rounder punch, Under the Sea Thinlits, Dimensionals

Adventurous Octopus

Howdy, y'all!  Question:  how many octopus stamps does one stamper need?  Apparently at least two...Message in a Bottle is retiring so here's a new octopus!

New stamps, new patterned paper, new colors...yay!  I never thought Mint Macaron would actually look like a *dark* green, but Soft Sea Foam is SO pale that it makes everything else look dark ;). Also say hello to Balmy Blue, which to me looks like it's just a shade darker than the old Bashful Blue that I miss so much, so that's good.  The Balmy Blue pattern and the dots are the two sides of a single sheet of paper, I love that paper pack.  Well, the cool colors are where my heart is at anyway, but they've got neat patterns in Tranquil Textures.

Take a look at the current Fusion challenge:

I have a very, very old stamp set of lighthouses called Coast to Coast, and I was going to bust it out for this but then that octopus just refused to leave my stamp table until he got inked up.  So I used the Fusion sketch only.

Okay, I hear the kiddo talking...better go feed him breakfast.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sea of Textures
Ink:  Fresh Fig, Night of Navy
Paper:  Mint Macaron, Soft Sea Foam, Thick Whisper White, Tranquil Textures DSP
Accessories:  Under the Sea Framelits, Dimensionals, corner rounder punch