Maine: Cadillac Mountain Sunset

Well, today has not gone as expected.  Ryan said he had a sore throat yesterday but seemed fine at bedtime last night...nope he had a fever this morning so he's staying at the house with me today.  And we both conked right back out until 11am!  He's got an appointment this afternoon to check for strep and he's currently cocooned on the couch with my super-soft Baby Yoda blanket and a piece of toast.  Meanwhile I'm eating gummy dinosaurs my friend Krissy sent me :)

Anyway, I need to finish up the last few layouts for the Maine scrapbook, so that's my plan for the next few Scrappy Mondays.  Today I have sunset on top of Cadillac Mountain.

Okay for reals, that Western Sky DSP has been in my hoard stash for over 15 years I am sure, probably close to 20.  I think I started stamping in 2005 and I got this DSP not that long afterwards.  I don't have a whole lot of it left now but it did seem to work for this very clean and simple layout.

Today's color palette is from the DSP:  River Rock (I never thought I'd miss that color, but I really did use it for scrapbooking), Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Old Olive, and White.  I used the very old stamp set Wanted which coordinates with the paper and has a great Western feel to it.  This isn't my favorite Maine layout, but it gets the job done and not every one can be your favorite.

That's it for me today.  I'm going to go chill out with the kiddo until time for his appointment.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Make a Difference, Rough Edges Alphabets, Wanted
Ink:  River Rock, Blue Bayou, Old Olive, Versamark, Not Quite Navy marker
Paper:  River Rock, Blue Bayou, Old Olive, Thick Basic White, Western Sky DSP
Accessories:  white embossing powder, scalloped circle punch

Baby Luke: June

Hey y'all!  We are truckin' right along on Baby Luke's baby book here.  Well, he's more like a toddler now considering he turned one in February and has started walking ;) Here's the June layout:

My brother graduated from Oklahoma State, home of the cowboys, so this layout is my nod to that (the April layout got the Texas Christian University treatment with frogs and purple).  I wish I had gotten more than a single pack of that Painted Autumn DSP, I don't have very much of it left.  I recently used it on several scrapbook layouts so at least I'm using it!

Hope you have a good weekend, peeps.  Weather is supposed to be cold and rainy here so we have to figure out how to entertain Ryan while staying indoors...

Supplies:
Stamps:  Out West, Wanted
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Soft Suede, Stampin' Blends in Soft Suede, Night of Navy, Call Me Clover, Petal Pink, Smoky Slate; markers in Tangerine Tango & Peekaboo Peach
Paper:  Peekaboo Peach, Tangerine Tango, Garden Green, Very Vanilla, Painted Autumn DSP
Accessories:  Sizzix letters, Deco Labels Framelits

Carousel

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Hope your week is off to a good start.  I like starting the week with some scrapbook pages.  Already I'm having my MOST productive year ever when it comes to scrapbook pages...and I haven't even started Ryan's baby book.  But I'm excited to make progress on my scrapbook pages!  How many times can I say "scrapbook pages" in one little paragraph?  Scrapbook pages!!!

...Though I think this one I did last year?

Oddly enough, I don't think I ever blogged about this one after we took the pictures, but it was the last thing we did on a trip to Cornwall.  It was at this place where they collect and refurbish old rides from things like traveling fairs, and they had a whole bunch of carousel horses which of course I loved taking pictures of.  I kept the layout pretty simple to keep the focus on the photos.

There's a closeup of one and the title.  I love the mixed-font-yness of the Broadsheet Alphabet; I figured even split onto three lines you could figure out pretty easily what the title says.  And that mixed font look just seemed to go well with my vintage carousel horses.

Today's rather summery color palette:  Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Night of Navy, and Whisper White.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Broadsheet Alphabet, Wanted
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Night of Navy
Paper:  Bermuda Bay textured, Night of Navy, Whisper White, Real Red DSP
Accessories:  None

A-Team Baby Book: August

ETA:  Well dangit, I meant to schedule this for tomorrow morning and accidentally published it this afternoon, so bonus Friday post and pretend you saw it on Saturday.  :D

Happy Saturday and hooray for a long weekend!  Today's baby book pages are certainly summery.

So my brother attended Oklahoma State University, whose mascot is Pistol Pete (a cowboy) and whose colors are orange and black, and now you know why I incorporated orange and a cowboy on this layout.  Plus my niece was born in Texas and nothin' says Texas like cowboys (and cowgirls!).

I'm still angry at myself that somehow I NEVER got ink refills for the In Colors the year that Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait, and Concord Crush retired.  I forget the other two colors from that year but maybe they came back?  Anyway, my Poppy Parade ink pad is a little dry so the cowboy isn't as saturated as he could be.

I used the medallion from Wanted as an accent next to the month.

And some wee little horses for the journaling block!  They're actually part of a line of five, I just masked off the other two for this.

Today's super hot color palette:  Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, and Whisper White.  Have a great weekend, y'all!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Wanted, Bronc Buster, Weathered, small horses by Deadbeat Designs
Ink:  Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, PTI White, Sunny Garden DSP
Accessories:  Sizzix alphabet, circle & scalloped circle punches

Friday Flashback: Rough Type

Happy Friday, peeps!  Do I say that every week?  Well, regardless, Fridays should be happy because it's Friday Flashback day :)  This week's retired stamp set is Rough Type, which is an alphabet I've used a LOT on my scrapbooks so today is a longer Flashback and I didn't even include absolutely everything I've ever used it on.  So let's go!

My Captain America layout from my brother's return home from deployment, probably one of my mom's all-time fave layouts I've ever shared here :)

Also features Grunge Rock & Extreme Elements

You saw this one recently, from the Beijing Hard Rock Cafe.

Also features Bronc Buster

Oh hey, a card!  And I made it in my dad and brother's college colors (orange and black for Oklahoma State).

Also features Ocean Commotion

More scrapbook pages, this time from the aquarium in Okinawa.  I love Ocean Commotion...but I digress, today's Flashback is for Rough Type!  So this was actually I think the first time I punched out the letters with the 1/2" circle punch, but I did it again on the Hard Rock layout above.

Also features Ancient Asia

You'll notice I use this alphabet on my China pages a lot; to make the pages feel like they all "go" together, I'm using that calligraphy letter template and the Rough Type alphabet on each layout.

Also features Out West & Wanted

It's just a coincidence that the only two cards on today's Friday Flashback feature cowboys and the word "howdy".

More Okinawa pages, and again with the circle-punched letters.

Also features Circle Circus

This was the very first layout I did for my China scrapbooks :)  Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Wow, lots of Okinawa pictures here too.  Actually this layout has been modified since I took this picture, I added some of the dragons from Ancient Asia on the left-hand page.

Also features Letterpress Alphabet, Carry On, Toxic Treats, Elementary Elegance

Finally a layout from England!  And also one of my faves, I love the crowns and the ravens on here.

Another China layout you saw pretty recently, and that's the end of the Flashback part.  So here's today's brand new scrapbook layout, this time from Wales:

And here's a closeup of the Rough Type bit:

The top part is a Sizzlits alphabet, which is a total pain to use because it's always got little cling-on bits on the edges that you have to clean up and it's so tiny that it's hard to glue down without having extra glue everywhere but I just needed to use it for today's layout.  I kinda wish they'd made an uppercase version of Rough Type, though as you can see it bothers me not at all to use just the lowercase letters.

And there's my springy color palette:  Crisp Cantaloupe, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, and Night of Navy.  I kinda wondered about using Crisp Cantaloupe for the page base, and no idea why I thought of it, but I did like how it looked with the other colors once I finished the layout, nice and springy.  And now I'm almost out of So Saffron cardstock :)

So I hope you enjoyed this scrappin' queen-sized Friday Flashback.  Have a great weekend and cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last layout only:
Stamps:  Rough Type Alphabet
Ink:  Night of Navy
Paper:  Crisp Cantaloupe, So Saffron, Afternoon Tea DSP
Accessories:  Sizzlits Alphabet

Friday Flashback: Bareback

Happy Friday, peeps!  It's time for the Friday Flashback, and this week I bring you Bareback.  I was one horse-obsessed kid growing up--when we moved to Texas, 7-year-old me thought we'd have a horse in our backyard and I'd get to ride to school.  When I found out that wasn't the case, I packed a bag and tried to walk back to California ;)  All that to say, of course I bought this horsey stamp set!

Also features Flannel Plaid, Many Merry Messages

This was my Christmas card right before we moved to Japan, because we were in Texas for a few months.  My mom said it wasn't Christmasy enough; I said whaddya mean?  It says Merry Christmas big as day, how much more Christmasy can you possibly get ;)

Also features Flannel Plaid, A Word for You

This one was a fairly recent creation, but not really one of my favorite cards ever.  It's my least favorite of the cards on today's post...I do like how the white markings on the horses' faces turned out, though.

Also features Flannel Plaid, Wanted, Full of Life

And now I realize that I *always* use Bareback with Flannel Plaid, but luckily today I did something different :)  Behold the new card on the block:

I even know who this is going to:  a friend of mine bought a horse a few months ago and takes riding lessons on the regular.  I'm totally jealous, I've always wanted a horse :)  Anyway, knowing her, I figured that sentiment from You're a Gem was perfect on this card.  It's going in the mail today--I'm trying to mail out more of the cards I make instead of just storing them.

The colors are from The Color Throwdown:

I interpreted this as Night of Navy, Cajun Craze, Soft Sky, and Always Artichoke.  The sketch is from CAS(e) This Sketch:

There's something about this one that I just reeeeally like, even all that white space isn't making me nervy.  I like it!

So anyway, today I'm leaving on a jet plane to go back to the land of no-you-don't-have-a-horse-in-your-backyard because my brother's promotion ceremony is on Sunday.  Woohoo!

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Bareback, You're a Gem
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Night of Navy
Paper:  Soft Sky, Night of Navy, Wintergreen DSP
Accessories:  None

Friday Flashback: Out West

Time already for another Friday Flashback!  This week's retired stamp set is Out West--having grown up in Texas, I do like to buy all the SU! Western stamp sets.  I kept putting off getting Out West until it hit the retirement list though, and this Flashback is going to be short:

Yep, so far just the one card.  But I kinda like the unexpected pop of pink on a cowboy card, what do you think?  I used some past SCS sketch and color challenges.

Hope y'all have a wonderful weekend...looks like it might be a rainy one for us in England!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Out West, Paisley (on the card base, hard to see), Wanted, Rough Type Alphabet
Ink:  Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Dusty Durango
Paper:  Creamy Caramel, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Dusty Durango DSP
Accessories:  Linen thread, really old SU button in Really Rust 

Favorites Showcase 2012, Part 1

My humble little stamping blog here is less than a year old so I didn't realize the year-end favorites showcase was a thing until I saw everyone else was doing it and so I'm hopping on the bandwagon slightly late because I wanna go to the party too.  I'm a teensy bit hampered by the fact that it looks like I was a bit sporadic in uploading to my SCS gallery this year, but I've got a few fun cards from the first 6 months of 2012.  (Detailed supplies lists for all my cards are included in my gallery.)

This one uses Curly Cute and Mixed Bunch and I think that might be this year's SAB paper?  Hope I have a hoard of that somewhere ;)

Here's a Valentine card with nary a heart to be seen, but the Eiffel Tower is romantic, right?  This one uses Artistic Etchings, Grateful Greetings (retired), and En Francais.

I didn't have a whole lot in the gallery for around March, but I thought this kid birthday card was tolerably cute.  I like how the background came out--it's just scribbling on the acrylic block with markers, spritzing with water, and smooshing it around on the paper.  This one uses Dinoroar and I forget the alphabet.

So this uses the retired sets Bronc Buster, Wanted (which now live in the same stamp case because I almost always use them together) and Cute & Curly.  I needed an encouragement card for my dad who is a die-hard Oklahoma State Cowboy.

Here's something more CAS-y, again with Mixed Bunch and Curly Cute.  (I kind of love both those sets.)

I couldn't pick just one for June so I've got one manly card and one girly card.  Love this one with French Foliage and one of the retired All-Year Cheer stamp sets; I think I need to use this layout more often 'cause I love it.

One more CAS creation with Kindness Matters and the (sadly retired) Thank You Kindly.  That Beau Chateau DSP is now on the clearance rack...and I am resisting buying any more retired DSP because I think I've hit critical mass when it comes to patterned paper o.O

Stay tuned for the second half tomorrow and Happy New Year!