Friday Flashback: Happy Watercolor

Happy Friday, y'all!  Well, I failed in my goal to have this post up before noon, but here it is anyway :)  Today's featured retired stamp set is the beautiful Happy Watercolor, which debuted in the 2014 Occasions catalog.  So let's take a look through the archives!

Also features Bodacious Bouquet

I think that sentiment stamp is my very favorite stamp in Happy Watercolor.  That stamp makes me happy :)

Also features Postage Collection

I love orchids.  They will forever remind me of living in Japan, where the Make-Man Store had beautiful orchids in a huge variety of colors and some of the plants were as cheap as 500 yen (about five dollars at the time).

Also features Hardwood

And poppies remind me of living in England.  They grow all over the place in late fall and of course they sell plastic ones to put on your jacket for Remembrance Day (which is like the US Veterans' Day).

So even though I post things on here five (and lately six) days a week, somehow I still don't use some stamp sets nearly as much as I might want to....like why isn't this Flashback a lot longer?  So it was fun to play with this stamp set again.  And both of my cards count for the Retro Rubber Challenge:

Easy peasy!  Happy Watercolor is just two years old, so not as retro as some other stamps but hey, it's over a year old so it counts :)

First up is another orchid card!  We have an orchid in our kitchen right now.  I'm very surprised I haven't killed it yet, but it's got three blooms on it so yay us.  I almost called this post a Friday Frustration though because I was all done with this card when I decided to put some Wink of Stella on the flowers (because hey, I've got that pen now so let's wink up everything!) and then the pen BARFED all over my image panel!  So I had to rip that off and re-do all of the stamping and coloring.  Then I was much more carefuller (haha) and managed to give it a little bit of shimmer without having glitter barf all over everything.

Anyway, thank you to the lovely folks at Fusion for this inspiration photo:

Yay orchids!  I love the color on that vase on the left too, I wish we had that exact color in cardstock and ink.  I also used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I suppose I wanted to make up for yesterday's lack of motivation, and I didn't realize that it was already pretty late in the morning because I decided to make a second card for today's Flashback.

And darn it all if this one didn't take multiple tries too!  I used the color combination from Global Design Project:

You can probably tell from my two new cards today that I'm kind of in love with that diagonal stripe patterned paper.  What can I say?  It makes me happy too.  I always try to make the stripes point upwards though because that looks "happier" to me.  Maybe I over-think it.

This was attempt #1 on the poppy (I finished up with attempt #3).  The Tangelo Twist came out more orangey in this one which I liked better (it seemed to get a little muddier the more I stamped with it?) but I just didn't like the placement of the sentiment.  If I had stamped the poppy on there first, I would have moved the sentiment up and over a bit, but I stamped the sentiment first and then it just didn't work for me so I had to redo it.  Bleargh.

Well, I've got lots of errands to run today and my little girl dog Sadie just came in and reminded me that today is her 10th birthday and I owe my birthday dog a walk.  A long walk she says, not like yesterday's short one.  Who am I to deny the birthday dog?  So off we walk.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, orchid card:
Stamps:  Happy Watercolor
Ink:  Basic Black, Blushing Bride, Rich Razzleberry, Tip Top Taupe
Paper:  Blushing Bride, Rich Razzleberry, Thick Whisper White, Blushing Bride DSP
Accessories:  Wink of Stella glitter pen (clear), Dimensionals, hexagon punch, Party Pennants Bigz die (still available on the clearance rack)

Supplies, poppy card:
Stamps:  Happy Watercolor
Ink:  Tangelo Twist, Bermuda Bay, Early Espresso
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Early Espresso, Shimmery White, Tangelo Twist DSP
Accessories:  Hexagon punch, rhinestones, Dimensionals

Nachos: Orchids for a Friend

Hellooooo Nacho fans!  Wait till you see the beautiful color combo the Nacho Average Design Team has for you today...actually, you don't have to wait 'cause here it is!

I admit, I'm generally not a fan of Blushing Bride but darn it all if I don't really like it with Rich Razzleberry and Rose Red.  So here's my card!

The colors reminded me of all the beautiful orchids I saw in Japan, so I had to break out this stamp from Happy Watercolor.  The flowers are stamped with Versamark and embossed with Early Espresso EP, then watercolored with a mixture of blender pen and Aquapainter.  I sponged some River Rock ink on it just because it seemed like a good idea at the time :)

Now it's your turn!  Check out the other beautiful Nacho DT creations on the Nacho Average Challenges blog, and then show us what you've got!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Happy Watercolor, Postage Collection
Ink:  Versamark, Blushing Bride, Rose Red, Rich Razzleberry, River Rock
Paper:  Blushing Bride, Rose Red, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, retired Rich Razzleberry DSP
Accessories:  Curly Label punch, pearls, Beautifully Baroque EF, Early Espresso EP, Dimensionals

Spring Watercolor

My mom said last week that she wanted to see more springy-looking stuff, and I aim to please, so...

I think it's springy.  Do you?

I used the Banners Framelits for the Hardwood piece, but the original Framelit wasn't tall enough for what I wanted on my card, so I cut cardstock to about the width of the die and then just ran the flagged end through the Big Shot so I could have my banner as tall as I wanted it.  For the flower, you can't tell but it's cut out and popped up on Dimensionals, and I "colored" it with the watercolor swooshy stamp in the stamp set.  Easy peasy.

I used last week's SCS color challenge and a recent Sketch Frenzy Friday sketch:

And now I have to start studying again.  I have to retake half of that stupid comprehensive exam towards the end of March, and I'm working on that tea party too, so it's going to be a busy six weeks.  Bleargh.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Happy Watercolor, Hardwood
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Strawberry Slush, Wild Wasabi, Soft Suede
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, Quatrefancy DSP
Accessories:  Circles, Deco Labels, and Banners Framelits, Rhinestones, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Bodacious Bouquet

Happy Friday!  I wrote this post from the wifi hotspot last night and it was a bit of a pain but I was BOUND AND DETERMINED to get this up because it's my birthday!  Then sometime around midnight last night, the Internet returned--it's a birthday miracle!  And to add to all that happy, today's featured stamp set is one of my all-time faves, Bodacious Bouquet.  So let's take a peek through the archives!

I think I used a coordinating wheel on the left side of this card but I can't remember the name of it.  The sentiment is from one of the All Year Cheer stamp sets.

This one's a newer creation and was on the Best Yet Friday Flashback.

This was one of my absolute favorite cards with this stamp set; the sentiment is from Polka Dots & Paisley.

I made this one for a Hawaiian-themed baby shower!  The sentiment is from Warmest Regards.

Here's a tent topper card; birthday greeting from It's Your Birthday.

Another favorite, I think I'm one of the few people who *liked* Glorious Green.  This one also features Happy Everything (another all-time fave) and Paisley.

An Okinawa scrapbook page : )

And a bold baby book layout; I really liked that primary color scheme and used it several times.  These bold flowers just cry out for bold colors!

Haha!  I love this layout, it was our first house in Okinawa.  Don'tcha love the Indiana Jones-style letters?

So that's it for the Flashback, and it would have been longer if I'd posted every single thing I've ever made with Bodacious Bouquet but I picked my faves.  So here's today's new card:

The original sketch had the banner on the top pointing down, but it just didn't quite work once I had everything else on the card front so I did a horizontal one instead.  First time I've used Happy Watercolor, too!  I chose some of my favorite colors for this card--Bermuda Bay, Elegant Eggplant, Strawberry Slush, Garden Green and Daffodil Delight.  Quite the vivid bouquet.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed today's Friday Flashback, and have a great weekend!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Bodacious Bouquet, Happy Watercolor
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Elegant Eggplant, Strawberry Slush, Garden Green, Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Strawberry Slush, Whisper White, retired Elegant Eggplant DSP, Attic Boutique DSP, Quatrefancy DSP
Accessories:  Circle Framelits, Dimensionals