Stampin' Up! Summer Silhouettes with Hardwood

I thought I'd share a card we are making in my class tomorrow.  I love how it turned out so, so much!  I did a Calypso Coral version as well that's a bit different, so I'll try to snap a picture and post it tomorrow.   I am really in love with the Hardwood Background!  It's SOOOO awesome!  

Laila got a new swimsuit yesterday and some shoes that can get wet!  She's been having so much fun with her water table and swimming pool.  Unfortunately that fun involves getting her clothes and shoes soaked, so we decided to try the bathing suit and swim shoes yesterday.   Of course she didn't pour the water out everywhere or jump in the pool.   I guess that only happens when she's not dressed for it.  lol

Mixed Media with Stampin' Up! Summer Silhouettes

After taking the Stenciled class I've really become intrigued with mixed media.  I am not a complicated stamper, so I wasn't sure if it was something that would really fit in with my stamping. I decided to try some of the Mix-Ability challenges over on Splitcoast.  I started with the first one and will work my way through them as I have time.  I hope to learn a little something along with way.  :)   For this one we had to use a matte finish and a shiny finish.  I used gesso (tinted Coastal Cabana) and embossing powder.  

I used my Aquapainter to make the ombre tag.  I am really enjoying using that and watercolor paper so much now!   I wanted to use a tag to play along at the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge.   :)   

It was so pretty out today, so we took a little trip to the park.  :)  

Watercolor Flower

Sharing my card for day two of the stencil class.  I'm having so much fun now that I've just relaxed and decided to play around and see what happens.  My projects won't be perfect or spectacular, but sometimes that's not the point, right?   This is a Silhouette Cameo heavy card.  I cut the letters and even the stencil I used with it.  Cool, huh?  

It's a gorgeous day here in Texas!   Laila had a blast playing in the backyard.  :)

Fab Friday Flowers

I started a card sometime this week, maybe Friday, but I didn't get time to finish it until today.  I woke up around three this morning and couldn't go back to sleep, so...   It uses the sketch from this week's Fab Friday challenge and the color challenge at Splitcoast.  

The colors were some that will be retiring soon, River Rock, Baja Breeze, and Not Quite Navy.   I also used an embossing folder from the Holiday catalog that is still available, but will not be carried over.   And finally, there are some accents on the tag from French Foliage, another retiring product.  Thankfully Summer Silhouettes and Sweet Essentials will be staying around.  :)

Stamps:  French Foliage, Summer Silhouettes, Sweet Essentials

Ink:  River Rock, Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy

Paper:  Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, River Rock, Very Vanilla, Neutrals DSP stack

Accessories:  Basic Pearls, Baja Breeze and Very Vanilla seam binding, linen thread

Tools:  Big Shot, Lacy Brocade embossing folder, Little Leaves sizzlit, Finishing Touches edgelits, 3/8 circle punch

10 months yesterday!  Time is just flying by!

CAS Summer Silhouettes

Okay, so it's been ages since I got to post!  We went to Kentucky for Easter and just got back on Tuesday. Yesterday was chore/unpacking day and today Jason went back to work.  I've been washing cloth diapers for two days trying to get them ready to try and doing the normal grocery shopping, etc.   I thought I'd post a card I'd originally made for the display stamper try-out and then update you on the current SU news!  So here's the card:

I really love how it turned out.  These are two of my favorite colors and part of the big news is that they are sticking around.  :)   Yay, right?!  

Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, Tiny Tags, Fabulous Phrases

Ink:  Island Indigo, Pool Party

Paper:  Island Indigo, Pool Party, Whisper White

Accessories:  Basic Pearls, Pool Party Baker's Twine, Neutrals Designer Buttons

Tools:  Jewelry Tag Punch, Paper Snips

Now for the specials and news: 

There's going to be a change in the current line-up of colors!  I'm so excited about it.  I love that some of my favorites are staying around.  I will definitely miss Baja Breeze and Not Quite Navy (my kitchen is painted in those colors), but I think I like Pool Party and Island Indigo better.   Here's the list of the new colors and the ones retiring:  (you may need to click on it to see it a bit better)

The other awesome news:  Free shipping!!!!!!!   This weekend, April 6-8, all orders qualify for free shipping (except expedited ones of course).  Woo Hoo!!!!!!!   If you like any of the retiring colors, it will be a great time to stock up on those because as of now, they are while supplies last ONLY.   Yikes.  You can order through my website, http://ritawright.stampinup.net if you'd like.  I appreciate any and all orders, big or small.  :)

Can you believe she's 9 months old???   She's crawling EVERYWHERE now!  We just put up another baby gate and I think I'll be heading back to Target soon for one more.  She's "talking" more now with lots of dada and an occasional mama.   I have to thank one of my sweet readers, Janice, who sent me a couple packs of coffee to help me keep up with her.  :)   

She did not like sharing with her cousin, Lauryn.  lol  We are going to have to work on that.  

FMS78: Purple Silhouettes

This might be a short post; I forgot about it and now that it's bed time here I am! Yikes.  Anyway, as you know Wednesdays always bring a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!   This one is from Jen M and has so many possibilities!   I even made a scrapbook page with it, but you'll have to wait to see that.  It's part of a super secret group of projects I've been working on for the past week.   I hope to post them this weekend or early next week, so stay tuned!  

This was not what I had in mind when I sat down to stamp, but it's what I ended up with.  You can't really go wrong with purple and green together and I combined those with two of my favorite stamp sets.  

Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, Petite Pairs

Ink:  Lucky Limeade, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant

Paper: Lucky Limeade, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, In Color DSP stack

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Perfect Pennants die, 2 1/2 circle punch, Scallop Border punch, Lucky Limeade ribbon

Well, last Friday she finally mastered crawling!   She also started saying dada, drank out of my cup, and started working on standing up.  I guess it was just a day to do everything!   It's been so fun to watch her moving all around exploring.  Our cats are confused to say the least.  :)  

FMS56: Summer Silhouettes

Time for a new Freshly Made Sketch!  I'm the hostess this week, so this sketch was my design.  It seems a bit boring compared to some of the ones we have had recently, but hopefully you'll find it fun anyway.  I always seem to do cards with squares or rectangles; I think I have an aversion to circles or something?  I can use them on my cards just fine, but I don't tend to create sketches with them.  Anyway, rectangles it is!  :)

I used a new favorite color combination for this one, Crumb Cake, Island Indigo, and Lucky Limeade.  They work so wonderfully together!   I usually go for an embossed panel on my background, but I tried something different here and used Versamark to stamp some of the flower images from the set on there.  I like how it turned out I think and will have to try it again.   The designer paper is from Festival of Prints that is in the holiday catalog; it is so useful for more than just Christmas cards!  

Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, Petite Pairs

Ink:  Versamark, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White, Fesitval of Prints DSP stack

Tools/Accessories:  Whisper White stitched grosgrain ribbon

Have I mentioned how much I love this girl?  After losing Eli, I never thought we'd be truly happy again.  She has brought so much joy and happiness back into our lives and I'm so glad that we never gave up hope of being parents again.  It's a bit sad right now as this time of year is time that we actually did get to spend with Eli.  Hopefully Laila will help us remember the good parts of that time and not dwell on that which we cannot change.  I sure do miss my little pumpkin though.  

Happy Birthday, Kathy!

I made this card to celebrate the birthday of my sweet friend Kathy.  She was the first demonstrator I really got to know personally and I absolutely LOVE her.  We haven't let the fact that we are in different countries stop us from becoming close friends.  I think she's amazing and super duper talented!   I hope you have a wonderful day my friend!  I wish I was there to celebrate with you!   (If I didn't time this post correctly, it's Jason's fault since he helped me with the time conversion.)   

I used a few challenges for my card, the sketch at Retro Sketches, the colors from The Paper Players, and the challenge of 3 b's from the brand new Black Tie Friday challenge.   I have been struggling with my creativity lately but I hope Kathy will think it's the thought that counts.  :)   

Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, Papillon Potpourri, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Staz On Black, Basic Gray, Baja Breeze

Paper:  Basic Black, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Neutrals DSP stack

Tools/Accessories:  Basic Black satin ribbon (retired), Basic Pearls

      

DD10: Razzleberry Flower

Being a new mom is tough at times, so I keep trying to fit in some stamping time to give myself a bit of a mental break.  The evenings have been very challenging for sure; what is it that makes babies so fussy around that time? Anyway, tonight I worked on a card for one of my favorite challenges, Dynamic Duos.  I wanted to make a non-embellished card that I could easily mail off to my granny this week.   

I really love the Natural Composition DSP.   It's awesome that you can make it any color you want or leave it in its natural state.  :)   I paired it with the gorgeous Summer Silhouettes stamp set.  Just a simple card, but I hope my granny will like it.  I hear that she shows off and keeps anything I send her, so that makes me feel good that she enjoys my work. 

Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, Best Yet (retired)

Ink:  Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry

Paper:  Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Whisper White, Natural Composition DSP, Brights DSP stack

Tools/Accessories:  Stamp-a-ma-jig, sponges

Don't ask your husband how much he thinks the baby weighs. lol  I think we were pretty sleep deprived at this point.   :)

Card Patterns 171

Last night I started a card using this fun sketch from Card Patterns but tired out before I could finished it.   I was able to finish it this morning since I was up at 4am.   I hate that I can't sleep these last few days that I actually can, but what can you do?   I think this baby girl is already getting me on a schedule to wake up every 2 hours and I'm helpless to stop her.  lol   Anyway...  I pulled the colors from an old colourQ challenge and used a few of my new goodies to make this one.

I'm still figuring out my new Summer Silhouettes stamp set.   I'm thinking it might be one I should have bought in wood.   I tried to eyeball the little turquoise flowers and didn't get them where I wanted them.   I should know by now that I need my Stamp-a-ma-jig for everything or else I'll not be happy with how it turns out!   Close is only good in horseshoes, NOT stamping.  :)   I paired it with an awesome new butterfly from Papillon Potpourri and a neutral gray button.   Pretty simple card, but a fun one for summer I think!

Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, Papillon Potpourri

Ink:  Lucky Limeade, Tempting Turquoise, Wisteria Wonder

Paper:  Lucky Limeade, Tempting Turquoise, Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, In Colors DSP stack

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Fancy Fan embossing folder, Labels Collection Framelits, Elegant Butterfly punch,  Wisteria Wonder Baker's Twine, Neutrals buttons, Basic Pearls

3 more days until Laila arrives!!!!    :)

Paper Players Celebration!

My wonderful friends at The Paper Players are celebrating their 100th challenge this week!   Back in May of last year, they were kind enough to ask me to serve as a guest designer and things have only gotten better for me since then.   I am so thankful to them for giving me a chance at being on a design team.  I know it has made a huge difference in my stamping abilities and has motivated me to increase my skills and try other challenges.    Love you ladies and congratulations on this huge milestone!    

My first challenge as a guest designer was challenge #45, a theme challenge from LeAnne and asked us to use Birds, Bees, Flowers, and Trees.   I thought it was only fitting that I go back and do this one.  :)    I had more new products that I wanted to try out, so I pulled them out and got to work!    First I used the amazing Natural Compositions Designer Paper for the cool background you see.   That stuff is awesome!   It's an easy and mess-free way to do some cool emboss resist.    I think it looks great with one of the new in colors, Midnight Muse and one of my favorite new stamp sets, Summer Silhouettes.    This style and color combination are way, way, WAY outside my comfort zone, but the Color Coach recommended them and I thought I'd go with it!    Not a typical Rita card using bright colors and cute stamps, but I hope you'll like it anyway.  

Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Midnight Muse, Rich Razzleberry, More Mustard

Paper:  Midnight Muse, Rich Razzleberry, More Mustard, Whisper White, Natural Composition DSP

Tools/Accessories:   Big Shot, Finishing Touches Edgelits, Ticket Corner punch, Modern Label punch, Word Window punch, More Mustard 1/4 grosgrain ribbon (retired), Brights buttons, Linen Thread, Basic Pearls, Color Spritzer tool

FMS39 and Laila Update!

The UPS man showed up yesterday...well, last night at 7:30pm!...with a box of goodies for me and my club ladies.   I was impatiently waiting for him as I really wanted to play with some new stamps!    I was a good girl and made thank you notes for my orders (see below) before I pulled out some new inks, paper, and stamp set to play.   Insomnia paid off last night as I was piecing together my cake around 1am!  I used the great sketch from Freshly Made Sketches this week as the guide for my card.   

I just adore funky cakes, so Topsy-Turvy Celebration was one of the new stamp sets that I was really drawn to in the new catalog.   It is just so whimsical and FUN!  I also used another product I was looking forward to, the Polka Dot Parade DSP.   I'm a big fan of bright colors and that paper has plenty of them!  The Color Coach had me pairing up 2 of the new in colors with an old favorite for this one:  Marina Mist, Midnight Muse, and Gumball Green.   Don't they look great together?   I think it might be my new favorite color combination!   

Stamps:   Topsy-Turvy Celebration, A Little Birthday Cheer (retired)

Ink:  Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Marina Mist

Paper:  Midnight Muse, Marina Mist, Gumball Green, Whisper White, Polka Dot Parade DSP

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Scallop Circles #2 die (retired) 3-inch circle die

Here's a quick picture of the little thank you notes I whipped up last night.   They use two new sets, Summer Silhouettes and Papillon Potpourri, along with the Elegant Butterfly punch.    Nothing fancy, but I like my customers to know I do appreciate them.   

Finally, an update on Laila.   My blood pressure was still up at my doctor's appointment on Monday but no other signs of pre-eclampsia.   I do keep adding in lots of new issues and am even having a bit of trouble walking around now because of all the pressure she's putting on my lower body.    My doctor took pity on me and she is now scheduled to arrive on June 27th at 3pm.   11 more days!!!!!   We are excited, scared, happy, nervous...just a mess of emotions.    This pregnancy has been a rough one for me as the physical issues have caused some mental stress, but I know in the end it will all be worth it.   I can't wait to meet our little girl!