Copper Leaves

Hey y'all, how's your weekend going?  We did get to spring the hubs from hospital jail yesterday ; )  We think he's doing really well considering he had brain surgery on Wednesday.  The incision is much larger than I expected it to be so I told him that he should tell everyone it was a shark attack.

I ended up conking out for a 3-hour nap after we got him home yesterday, and then I had to go grocery shopping and do some laundry and all that stuff, but I couldn't let a couple of challenges slip past me so I got some time in my craft room today.

Bringing back some retired stamps for this one, Gorgeous Leaves is one of my all-time favorite fall sets, and Sunny Sentiments just has some great greetings to choose from.  Here is this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

It said Christmas trees to me but I'm hard-headed so I had to do something different.  It's still kinda tree-related because I had to use this week's Color Throwdown:

I used Copper Clay (and copper embossing powder and copper metallic accents), Basic Black, and Mossy Meadow, which I thought worked nicely for some fall leaves.

That's it for me today, y'all.  Have a great Sunday!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Gorgeous Leaves, Sunny Sentiments
Ink:  Copper Clay, Mossy Meadow, Versamark
Paper:  Mossy Meadow, Very Vanilla, Basic Black
Accessories:  Copper EP, Brushed Metallic Dots, Wink of Stella, Mini Dimensionals

Tulip Greetings

Mornin' y'all, how's your Wednesday treating you?  I haven't been sleeping well this week so I've got the first of what is sure to be several cups of tea sitting next to me, hopefully that will help me wake up.

In the meantime, I have a tranquil little card today.

I pulled out some retired stamps for this card; I just really wanted to do tulips after seeing the inspo pic at The Card Concept:

I suppose my card is a clean-and-layered style, I think the patterned paper bumps it out of CAS territory.  I know we have a tulip stamp set in the current catalog, but I wanted something softer and more watercolor-y for my card and using an older retired set dovetails nicely with the Retro Rubber Challenge:

I used Very Vanilla (cream), Petal Pink and Flirty Flamingo (pinks), and Soft Sea Foam (green).  I was going for a very light and dreamy color palette and I forgot that my Soft Sea Foam got inked up recently, so it came out a lot darker than I was expecting for the stems.  I added a bit of shading with a blending brush.  Anyway, my first Tranquil Tulips card was posted on here in August of 2017, so that stamp set is at least five and a half years old; Sunny Sentiments is younger at about a year old.  The basket weave pattern is in the Regency Park DSP stack; I didn't get any of the coordinating stamp bundles but I do like that paper!

Okay, I'm off to do the things before the caffeine wears off and I want to take a nap.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tranquil Tulips, Sunny Sentiments
Ink:  Soft Sea Foam, Petal Pink, Flirty Flamingo, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Soft Sea Foam, Very Vanilla, Regency Park DSP Stack
Accessories:  Deckled Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, Milky Dots

SUO Challenges: Big Words

Happy Tuesday y'all!  This is my first post of the day, stay tuned for the second one that will be coming up in a couple of hours.  Right now, it's time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!

This time around, we're asking you to focus on sentiments, so bust out the word stamps!  Here's my card:

Ryan actually did the stamping for me but lost interest before we got to the die cutting part, haha.  I love Sunny Sentiments, another stamp set on the retiring list; I was going to use the sunny thoughts stamp with the Sunshine & Rainbows DSP stack from Sale-a-Bration, but then this thank you caught my eye.  Since it has the word "heart" in it, I thought it would pair well with the Valentine DSP from the Occasions catalog...did you forget all about that paper as soon as Valentine's Day was over? ; ) Yeah, me too.  But here's proof that it works for things other than Valentines!

Hope you'll hop on over to the SUO Challenges blog and share a card with us!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sunny Sentiments
Ink:  Highland Heather
Paper:  Blushing Bride, Real Red, Thick Basic White, Sweet Talk DSP
Accessories:  Tasteful Labels dies, Stitched Rectangles dies, Dimensionals

SUO Challenges: Bunches of Bundles

 Hey hey, y'all!  You ready for a new challenge from SUO Challenges?

This time around, we're asking you to make a card with your favorite bundle (stamps + dies, or stamps + punch, either one) from a current publication.  Now, uh, I don't have a favorite bundle *shifty eyes* okay okay fine I wanted to do something different from Artfully Layered since I already posted two cards with it in the past week, so I thought I'd play with a bundle I haven't used much yet, and I made this:

I used the Hello Ladybug stamps and matching punch for my cute buggies, but instead of traditional (and true to nature) red and black, I decided on pink and navy.  I punched the bug bodies out (which sounds really weird out of context, doesn't it?) of a piece Abstract Beauty DSP, which is a quick and easy way to give them a bit of interest since it's not just flat color.  Also I finally bought the Stitched Greenery die and why did I wait so long?! I love it!  Doesn't it make a great backdrop for my ladybugs?

There are a LOT of bundles from which to choose for today's challenge; I certainly had trouble narrowing down my selection :)  Upload your creation on the SUO Challenges blog and have fun.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hello Ladybug, Sunny Sentiments
Ink:  Polished Pink, Night of Navy
Paper:  Granny Apple Green, Thick Basic White, Abstract Beauty DSP
Accessories:  Ladybug Builder Punch, Stitched So Sweetly dies, Stitched Greenery die, Dimensionals

SUO Challenges: Designer's Choice

 Mornin' folks!  Are you ready for a new challenge from SUO Challenges?

We're starting off with something easy:  Designer's Choice!  So as long as your card uses only Stampin' Up! products, you're golden!  Here's what I made:

I borrowed the layout idea from Mary Fish and went to town with the new Sunshine & Rainbows DSP Stack in the Sale-a-Bration catalog.  My sentiment is from Sunny Sentiments and I dug through my stash until I found accessories in colors to match the DSP.  Nothing complicated at all about this card, but I love how it turned out!

Start your year off right and play along with us over at SUO Challenges.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sunny Sentiments
Ink:  Magenta Madness
Paper:  Pool Party, Magenta Madness, Mango Melody, Thick Basic White, Sunshine & Rainbows DSP Stack
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, Dimensionals, Magenta Madness baker's twine from a Paper Pumpkin kit, Tutty Frutti sequins (retired)