PP97 and SSCC1

I wanted to get one more card in today before my husband made it home from work.   Our fearless leader Holly at the Friday Mashup has a fun color challenge on her blog this week that I've been thinking about for a few days.   It seems like my brain takes longer to process colors and sketches lately so I have to think much longer for an idea to hit me!    It finally did this evening!   I even used the sketch from the Paper Players again for this one.  :)

I still don't own Sahara Sand, so I used Crumb Cake instead.   I think it works okay with the other colors.   I'm not sure what was going on with the lighting today, but I could not get a good picture that showed the true colors.   I think I ended up hitting too many buttons on Photoshop too so I might have even made it worse!   I hope you can get the idea though.  :)   I'm in denial that my lovely kites are retired. I love them and will keep them forever.   

Stamps:  Send Me Soaring (retired)

Ink:  Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Wisteria Wonder

Paper:  Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, Neutrals DSP stack

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Scallop Circles #2 die, 3-inch circle die, Tasteful Trim die, Pool Party ruffled ribbon

PP97: Butterfly of Hope

I'm still stamping away and decided to continue my streak today.   I figure if I need to rest I might as well have fun doing it, right?    Hopefully the creative process will be relaxing and get my dang blood pressure back down!  :)    Today I finally had an idea for the LeAnne's sketch at the Paper Players.  I've been running ideas through my head all week but nothing clicked until today.   I'm glad I waited because I really LOVE how this one turned out!  

I pulled out the lovely Everyday Enchantment paper that I had left from Sale-a-bration this year and everything just seemed to click from there!    My sponges and shimmer paint have been a bit neglected lately, so I grabbed those too!   I am not a great vintage/distressed cardmaker, but I try to pick up hints from my buddy Ann Schach and I've come a long way from where I started!   I used the shimmer paint on my Very Vanilla circle and then sponged over to get a bit of the faux mother-of-pearl technique. It works better on glossy card stock, but I didn't think that would look good with the my design.  It still has a nice shimmer even though you probably can't tell from the picture!   I sponged pretty much everything with Crumb Cake ink, including the ribbon.   All in all, I'm smiling and happy with this one.  I don't say that often, so I should probably put this one in my keep box so I can look back at it when I need motivation. :)

Stamps:  Strength & Hope (retired), Tiny Tags

Ink:  Pool Party, Crumb Cake

Paper:  Pool Party, Peach Parfait, Everyday Enchantment DSP, Very Vanilla

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Scallop Circles #2 die, 3-inch circle die, Beautiful Butterflies die, Beautiful Wings embosslit, Jewelry Tag punch, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, sponges, Pool Party Ruffled ribbon, Basic Pearls

FMS37: Wild about My Sketch

It's my turn to host the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches this week!  It's my last one before I take a break for maternity leave.  I will miss it, but I am officially TIRED.   These next 5 weeks are going to be long with the temperatures up in the 90s and my feet nowhere to be seen!   

For my card I used the awesome colors from the Dynamic Duos challenge again.   I just love them!    I have no idea what occasion you'd use this card for, but I think it's pretty cute. It  sure is heavy though!   I guess I got a little heavier than usual on the number of layers.  I must be channeling my friend Anne Marie the layering queen.  :)  

Well if you've been by the FMS blog you know that this week I was blessed with the sweetest surprise from my DT members, the lovely ladies from the Paper Players, and my sweet friend Kathy.   They shocked me and organized a baby blog hop that I was clueless about!    The FMS ladies even made decoy cards to post on our DT blog so that things looked normal!    I'm still surprised and have been crying over their beautiful gesture all morning.  Be sure to go follow the hop and see all the gorgeous creations that they made using my sketch!  

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Cindy Hall

Erna Logtenberg

Jen Mitchell

Jennifer Timko

KathyTanner

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Linda Callahan

Nance Leedy

Tui Nathan

Tara Murphy Bourgoin

colourQ coffee

Isn't this an awesome color combination?   I was so excited when I saw the colourQ challenge today.   I didn't know what I was going to make with it, but just pulling the colors together and looking at them made me happy.   :)

I know what you're thinking....am I on the right blog?   Yes, you are and yes, that's a non-SU stamp.   I had a doctor's appointment today and like the last few appointments, my blood pressure was high.  I have to get tested for pre-eclampsia AGAIN.   I was so bummed and crying, so Jason took me for a bit of retail therapy.  This was all I got for me, so I wasn't too bad.   I miss my Starbucks so much right now (Laila seems to hate everything I try from there), so I think that's why I wanted this darn cup so much.    It's huge though, so it will take some work to use it.    I wanted to play with it tonight because I'm still pretty crabby.  That might be why it took me forever to make this!    Here's the other part of my shopping, Laila's coming home outfit:

Retro Tree

I love sketch challenges and I found a new one that I haven't played along with before!   It's called Retro Sketches and they have some great sketches over there for inspiration.   I used this week's sketch today to make another Father's Day card.  Hopefully I almost have enough to drop off at the local shop soon.   If anyone needs one, you can email me or stop by Merry-Go-Round in Kingwood.   :)

When I sat down to stamp I had intended to do a very distressed card.  After looking at the design team samples, I realized they are more into clean cards without a lot of fuss (aka distressing) so I decided to go with what I'm best at and do a somewhat clean-and-simple card.   For some reason Father's Day and Christmas are the times of the year that I am really drawn to use Lovely as a Tree.  It just works so well for both!   I'm trying to use up more of my hoarded designer paper, so you'll probably be seeing a lot of retired paper on my blog.   Sorry for that, but there's only so much space in the craft room and it's too pretty to throw away!  

Stamps:  Lovely as a Tree, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Always Artichoke

Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Naturals White, Woodland Walk DSP and other misc retired paper

Tools/Accessories:  Ticket Corner punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch, linen thread

Dynamic Blue Bugs

Now that I'm feeling better during the day, I've been taking advantage of it to get some stamping done.   When I saw the new challenge from Dynamic Duos today I just had to go play along!   I'm not one to jump at color challenges, but I love this one!   Two colors and neutrals are much easier for me to work with than 3-5 colors!  I kept my card pretty simple, but I think it turned out pretty cute!

Stamps:  Bugs & Kisses, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Marina Mist, Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, Whisper White, Neutrals DSP stack, misc. retired dsp

Tools/Accessories:  Bashful Blue 3/8 Taffeta ribbon (retired)

HSS Mojo Dino

Two cards?!  I decided I should stamp while I was feeling better, so I went back to my room and worked on another challenge card.  This one uses the sketch from Mojo Monday and the challenge from Hand Stamped Sentiments to go masculine!  I wanted to do something fun, so I pulled out Dinoroar and did a kid's version of a Father's Day card.   I used a fun color combination, Poppy Parade, Not Quite Navy, and Crumb Cake.   Kinda cute, huh?  :)

Stamps: Dinoroar, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze Lucky Limeade

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Poppy Parade, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White, In Color Hostess Stack (retired)

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Houndstooth embossing folder, Tasteful Trim die, blender pen, Not Quite Navy 3/8 Taffeta ribbon

FM60: For the Boys

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge :

1. Make a project for " That special Man in your life ".
2. Or Make a project with the " Sketch ".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a " Masculine card using the above Sketch ".

Know that old saying better late than never?  Well, that's me this week!  I had actually decided to take this week off from The Friday Mashup because I was feeling so bad, but after some new medicine and a night of sleep, I felt like stamping a little today.  Holly has such a great challenge that I didn't want to miss out playing along.  Now this will be my last card before I'm "officially" on maternity leave, but I still want to try and do some of the challenges if I can fit them in.  It depends on how I'm feeling and then how recovery and motherhood go if that happens or not.  I can't believe it's only 38 more days!  Yikes!   Anyway, on to the card, right?!  

I pulled out some retired designer paper that I really need to stop hoarding use up and the classic Lovely as a Tree stamp set.   It's an easy choice for a masculine card.  I did a bit of "thumping" on the tree to get in some different shades of green; one shade was just a bit boring.  :)    It's a pretty simple card, but it's hard to go all out with embellishments when you are doing something for a man.  Ribbon and bling just don't work without some serious creative effort!  

Stamps:  Lovely as a Tree, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Woodgrain background

Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Always Artichoke

Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Whisper White, miscellaneous retired DSP

Tools/Accessories:  Vintage Trinkets, Color Spritzer, Linen Thread

I hope you'll come play along with us this week!  It's a great time challenge to get your Father's Day cards made before June hits!