Fresh Spring Color

The colors for Color Throwdown #488 are so beautifully fresh and I decided to go with a clean and simple take. Funny how CAS can take almost as long as something more complicated! ;)

Supplies used: 

Paper: SU Whisper White thick and regular

Ink: SU Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, Cool Cucumber; Versafine black

Stamp: SSS Thankful Hearts sentiment

Miscellaneous: SU Pattern Party Decorative Mask; SU Lovely Words Thinlits Die; Big Shot

Since Spring is still struggling here in the Rockies (see photo at the end of this post), I was inspired to do some more with the CTD 488 colors with this lighthearted card:

I had the Stampin'Up Pattern Party Decorative masks out anyway, so I stenciled the clouds on a piece of Pool Party cardstock, made up the sentiment in Silhouette (using Bodoni MT font), then stamped and cut kites and bows from SU Swirly Bird. This was lots of fun to do and I might just keep it around for my own enjoyment! haha!

Can't wait to see this next week's colors . . . this challenge has helped me get my mojo back! 8)

Spring in Northern Utah

Thanks for stopping by!

Kinda Retro

Today I'm sliding in to participate in this week's Color Throwdown #487 - mint, red, and pink - and CAS(E) this Sketch #266. Both of these challenges inspired me and I went a little overboard, coming up with three cards.

First off, I knew that in my voluminous collection of 6x6 patterned paper pads, there had to be one featuring the CTD colors, and, sure enough, a 2013 My Mind's Eye cut & paste pad called "Flair" jumped out at me! The first card I made had to feature the ombre zigzag pattern which reminded me of the beach (go figure!). I decided to use the sketch as a jumping-off point and used the Seaside embossing folder at an angle on the bottom third (it's a little hard to see in the photo), then stamped the beach chairs in mint, red, and pink along the same angle.

Supplies used:
Paper: SU thick and regular Whisper White; MME "Flair"Designer Cardstock Paper
Ink: SU Tip Top Taupe, Real Red, Mint Macaron, Pink Pirouette; Versafine Black
Stamps: SU Colorful Seasons
Miscellaneous: SU Seaside Embossing Folder; Big Shot; Misti


Another one of the patterned papers from the MME pad made a perfect base for this next card:

Supplies Used:
Paper: SU thick Very Vanilla; MME "Flair" Designer Cardstock Paper
Ink: SU Real Red, Mint Macaron, Pink Pirouette; SSS Intense Black
Stamps: SU Petal Parade; Unknown alphabet stamps
Miscellaneous: Misti

I just couldn't leave well enough alone and grabbed the arrow stamp from Stampin'Up's Petal Parade set to create this card:

I thought the CTD colors worked well for the "other" path! ;) I used sponge daubers to layer the ink, a technique that has become a favorite of mine.

Supplies Used:
Paper: SU thick and regular Whisper White
Ink: SU Smoky Slate, Real Red, Sweet Sugarplum, Mint Macaron
Stamps: SU Petal Parade
Miscellaneous: Sentiment created in Silhouette using Dingleberry Solid font; Silhouette Cameo

I'd better get this posted since there's just 15 minutes before the Color Throwdown challenge #487 closes! Yikes!

 Later.

St. Patrick's Day Musings

Hello again! Yes, today is St. Patrick's Day and we're wearin' the green in honor . . . !

Happy St. Paddy's Day y'all!

We had our traditional St. Paddy's meal last night; I put the corned beef into the crockpot since I was going to be gone most of the day and when I came home there was that delicious aroma to greet me along with a hungry husband! Stuffed the cabbage in and served it up once that was tender.

No potatoes this year as I'm cutting back on high carb foods (I only had two pieces of carrot on my plate!) but it was a very tasty repast indeed.

So, over at Color Throwdown it's challenge #484 with green, eggplant, and white - St. Patrick's Day kind of colors. I struggled a little bit with this but then remembered that I had the perfect ink in Stampin'Up's Elegant Eggplant and Garden Green. Ha! So, I pulled out an old Close to My Heart stamp set that I had never used (yikes! I have a few too many supplies that fit in that category!). Here's how it turned out:

I was very glad to have my Misti stamping tool because I painstakingly colored the blossoms and stems and stamped them multiple times to heighten the color

Supplies used:

Paper: SU thick Whisper White CS, green CS from my scraps.

Stamps: CTMH Treasure Me (easily 2011 or before!); SU Style Beautiful.

Ink: SU Elegant Eggplant, Garden Green; Versamark 

Miscellaneous: SSS Fine Detail White Embossing Powder; heat gun; Misti

Turns out that these colors inspired me quite a bit and I went on creating. Made this card with our son in mind who celebrates (?) the big FIVE OH next month:

Although this turned out not so CAS, I am entering it in CAS(E)thisSketch #263.

Supplies used:

Paper: SU thick Whisper White; eggplant and green CS from my scraps.

Ink: Distress Ink in Concord Grape and Mowed Lawn for the background; SU Elegant Eggplant for the "50."
Stamps: SU Number of Years; unknown (maybe Stampendous) alphabet stamps for sentiment.
Miscellaneous: Cuttlebug Happy Birthday embossing folder; SU Number of Years dies; Big Shot.

I flipped the sentiment to the right of the focal point. I thought about putting the "50" in a circle but it wouldn't fit in this portrait layout.

Anyhow, that 'bout does it for today. We went up to our great-grandson Dawson's first birthday party this afternoon and the little monster was on his best behavior (for a one-year-old heading into his Terrible Twos)! Haha! All his grandmas and grandpas (greats included, like us) helped him celebrate. Crazy that a year has gone by so darn fast!

Ta for now.

One of a Kind

Today I'm back with my take on this week's Color Throwdown - coral, green, and kraft - colors I wouldn't normally be drawn to. However, yesterday at the nail salon the big screen was showing creatures of the coral reef and a sea turtle floated by sporting green and coral! So, it set off what became this card.

Although the design ended up being closer to last week's CAS(E) this sketch, I thought it might work for CAS(E) 262, this week's sketch so I'm playing there too.

Our granddaughter made senator for the CHaSS (College of Humanities and Social Science) by a landslide at Utah State University for next year, so this card is going to her. She definitely is one of a kind in every way!

Inside

 Supplies used:

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Year Two - turtle; Studio Calico - be awesome.

Dies: Lawn Fawn Year Two; StampinUp! Celebrate You

Ink: SimonSaysStamp Intense Black; StampinUp! Calypso Coral, Garden Green

Miscellaneous: StampinUp! Crumb Cake CS; StampinUp! circles stencil; blender pen; computer-generated sentiment; StampinUp! Thick Whisper White CS

CTD483

CAS(E) this Sketch

Bye for now!

Chirping You On

Our youngest granddaughter is running for College of Humanities and Social Sciences Senator (CHaSS) at Utah State University and because I love her dearly and want her to know I'm always cheering for her, I made up this card. I saw the "chirping" you on sentiment in a new stamp set from HeroArts and thought it'd be fun to copy that and combine it with a cute bird from a Cocoa Daisy stamp set.

Color inspiration comes from the Color Throwdown challenge (CTD 479). 

Of course I had to finish the inside of the card too!

Supplies:

Stamps: Cocoa Daisy bird and inside speech bubble, Heroarts outside speech bubble, SSS Favorite Flowers inside love you sentiment.

Sentiment - designed in Silhouette using Lulu Font.

Paper - SU Smoky Slate CS, Authentique PP

Ink and Color - Versafine black, SU Smoky Slate, Prismacolor pencils

Miscellaneous - Martha Stewart hearts punch, Wink of Stella clear sparkle pen

Bye, bye for now.

Color Throwdown 478 Fun

Hi, hi!

I've been having some fun trying out different techniques - things I've pinned here - using the colors for the latest Color Throwdown challenge, #478.

The direct link to the Color Throwdown can be found here.

First up (and the card I am entering in the challenge) is this Distress Oxide Ink blended and white heat embossed bouquet of flowers.

Sending Best Wishes

I blended the ink onto the cardstock prior to stamping the bouquet and white embossing it; hence the confusion of color! I did go in and add ink to the individual leaves and flowers to brighten things up a bit which helped some. When I was splattering the Copic opaque white drops, things got a little wild but whatever!

We were blessed with a new great granddaughter on the 19th of January and I wanted to 1) make a special card for her, and 2) try Yana Smakula's iron embellishment technique. I remembered that I have a stamp set for babies acquired many moons ago that had the sentiment "Welcome Little Star" which became the basis for using my nesting star dies for the technique. Of course, my star is really not iron-looking since I used another old item in my stash, rainbow sparkle embossing powder, to coat it.

Welcome Little Star

Here is a closeup of the star:

So, I was kind of on a roll with these colors and took out my Stampin'Up! re-inkers in Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, and Soft Sky. A couple drops of water in each one in my little palette got them close to the colors in the challenge. I then stamped out the cute little gift in SU's Weather Together stamp set in black Versafine onto a 5-1/2 x 4-1/4 inch piece of Bristol smooth watercolor paper and stamped the mermaid and seahorse from Magical Day with Versamark and white heat embossed it on another piece of Canson XL. I then set to watercoloring . . . 

The gift background turned out great I think! However, the mermaid was NOT the best choice for this technique because, I came to the conclusion, it has too fine of lines. Anyway, here are both attempts; the gift background made into a birthday card for a special friend, and the mermaid background, uh, nothing memorable! Haha!

Happy Birthday Friend

Mermaid Booboo

Supplies:

Sending Best Wishes - SSS Let Us Rejoice stamp (bouquet and "best wishes"), SSS Sending die, Distress Oxide inks in Picked Raspberry, Twisted Citron, Fossilized Amber, Salty Ocean, Bristol smooth CS, SSS fine detail white embossing powder, Versamark ink, Copic Opaque White.

Welcome Little Star - SU star dies, various CS from my stash, unknown Little Star stamp set, Versamark ink, rainbow sparkle embossing powder.

Happy Birthday Friend - Bristol Smooth CS, SU re-inkers in Pear Pizzazz, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Soft Sky, SU Weather Together stamp set, HeroArts sentiment, Versafine black ink, Zing yellow embossing powder, Versamark ink, black and white stripe paper I made.

Mermaid Booboo - Canson XL CS, SSS fine detail embossing powder, Versamark ink, SU re-inkers as above, SU Magic Day stamp set.

I think I've exhausted further card ideas using these colors! I need to make some Valentine's Day cards, especially for my grands and greats.

Just a note - I've signed up for the Family History Writing Challenge which started February 1st. Of course, like most things, I am behind; however, with some encouragement from my older sister (who is our family research wizard), I have gathered my wits and am determined to begin writing about my chosen ancestor. . . our 94-year-old father. I am considering writing on this blog but we will see about that!

Bye for now.

Something New

Just a quick post to declare my intent to participate in the weekly Color Throwdown Challenge. I've been wanting to do this for quite some time and just haven't gotten up the gumption but one of my goals this year is to ignore my fear-of-failure voice and dive in! I am also signed up for Lynn Palermo's Family History Writing Challenge 2018 but that is for another post.

Anyway, my cousin's birthday is coming up and I've had this idea floating around in my head to make a "little gray HARE" card. So, here's what I came up with:

CTD 477 - blue, orange, grey 

Inside - my handwriting since I couldn't find this humor among my stamps. LOL.

I used Distress Ink on Canson XL Watercolor paper for the image, StampinUp! Basket Bunch and Balloon Celebration stamps. Had some fun with this and am looking forward to next week's colors!

I did a card for CTD 476 which featured blue, khaki (beige), and white but didn't get it entered in time. Here it is:

Sent to my granddaughter who is going to college in a Arctic-like location!

Bye for now.