Bright Birthday!

The instant I saw the latest Freshly Made Sketch I knew exactly how to use it for my husband's birthday! I had my youngest pick colors from Stampin' Up!'s Brights color family and I used strips that were already in the packs! That's all there was to it! Happy, colorful, done!

Supplies:
Paper: Melon Mambo, Pacific Point, Granny Apple Green, Coastal Cabana, Gorgeous Grape, Mango Melody, Basic Black & Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Well Written dies, Big Shot, Glue Dots

Graduating Boys

Of course I know a ton of graduating kids, but I have two boys that we need to mail a card to, so today I'm sharing what I made for them! I used the Mojo Monday sketch for the layout, altho it might be a little hard to see. The stack of books is a fun idea but I think it might be too bright for this card. Oh well! I fussy cut the graduating owl and popped him up on Dimensionals so he could stand out a bit. This sweet stamp set is sold out! Hurry and order those retiring items so you don't miss out on anymore!

Supplies:

Stamps: Check You Out (SOLD OUT!)
Ink: Soft Suede, Gray Granite, Real Red, Pacific Point, Balmy Blue, Pear Pizazz, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie & Granny Apple Green

Paper: Real Red, Pacific Point and Very Vanilla card stocks

Accessories: Dimensionals

And here's some close ups of these cute graduating owls! 

Daddy Birthday

Today I have another masculine card for you, and again with the retiring products! (Seriously tho- they are selling out so hurry and order if you want it!)
I combined the sketch from The Paper Players and the colors from the As You See It challenge for this sweet card for my daughter to give her father for his birthday. For the girl's hair I used Soft Suede lines and then went over it with So Saffron. Stampin' Blends work better, but that's what I had, ha! I did sneak in a tiny bit of blue marker for the water at his feet, but I like how it turned out.

Supplies:
Stamps: A Good Man, Sending You Thoughts (retired)
Ink: Memento Black, Soft Suede marker, Lovely Lipstick marker (retiring!), Call Me Clover marker (retiring!), So Saffron marker, Blueberry Bushel marker (retiring!)
Paper: Soft Suede, Call Me Clover & Whisper White card stock
Accessories: Dimensionals

This Bee!!

My mom loved this bee bundle ever since she opened the Occasions Mini! She wanted to order it for ages but the dies were on backorder for what felt like forever, darn this virus! She finally got it and neither of us has had a chance to play with it! I finally did, in making a bunch of masculine thank yous! And now it's on the retired list! Aaaahhh! So if you love it too, snag it HERE, now, before it's gone!!
Also- there are a lot of retiring products here today! The orangey shade is Grapefruit Grove and that is also retiring! You can order it HERE before it sells out! The Pattern Party decorative masks are retiring and you can find them HERE! And the white baker's twine is sold out!

Supplies:
Stamps: Honey Bee (retiring!)
Ink: Memento Black, Grapefruit Grove marker (retiring!)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Grapefruit Grove (retiring!), Copper Foil
Accessories: Pattern Party decorative masks (retiring), Embossing Paste, Silicone Craft Sheet, Palette Knives, White Baker's Twine (SOLD OUT), Detailed Bee Dies (retiring!), Big Shot, Dimensionals

Nautical Thanks

I need a number of masculine thank you cards right now! A bunch! So I went scouting challenges and picked this Sailing Home set that I love for the "travel" theme issued by the TGIF Challenges blog. I would definitely have to do some traveling to see the ocean from my house, and it is totally on my bucket list! And I think it works fantastically for a guy! I had a lot of fun putting this one together.

Also, that super great Night of Navy/Sahara Sand twine is retiring and on sale HERE, and that very cool washi tape is also retiring and on sale HERE right now!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Sailing Home
Ink: Memento Black, Pacific Point, Smoky Slate
Paper: Whisper White, Mossy Meadow, Early Espresso card stocks, Come Sail Away DP (retiring!)
Accessories: Navy/Sahara Twine (retiring!), Pressed Petals Washi Tape (retiring!), Watercolor Pencils, Smooth Sailing Dies, Big Shot, Glue Dots

Swim Banquet

Today I have another scrapbook layout for you! This one is of the end-of-season Swim Banquet. I thought it was odd that it was so early compared to the last two years, but if they hadn't held it at the end of February, it wouldn't have happened, huh? So PHEW for that!!!

Supplies:

Stamps: Skinny Mini Alphabet

Ink: Memento Black

Paper: Pacific Point, Seaside Spray, misc scrapbook store

Accessories: misc sticker

Journaling font: Throw My Hands Up In The Air

The paper across the bottom came from the local scrapbook store, but it features his high school and it looks very cool so I had to use it. There's one sticker from the store, and the rest of it comes from Stampin' Up!

Texture!

I need several of all sorts of cards right now, so the other day I got seven made! That means you don't only have to see scrapbook pages when you visit my blog, haha! I pulled out the embossing paste and played with three of the Decorative Masks that are on the retiring list, and a bunch of other retiring products! Check it all out HERE, choose me as your demonstrator if you don't already have one, and place an order before it's gone!

Here are two of those cards...
This one uses the sketch from the Fusion Card Challenge.

Supplies:
Stamps: Silhouette Scenes, A Good Man
Ink: Night of Navy
Paper: Balmy Blue, Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Navy/Sahara Sand twine (retiring!), Pattern Party Decorative Masks (retiring!), Embossing Paste, Silicone Craft Sheet, Palette Knives

And then I made this stamp-less card. This one used a challenge that ended last night, but I'm posting it now. I used the colors from the card to make mine.

Supplies:
Paper: Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Basic Black, Granny Apple Green card stocks
Accessories: White Baker's Twine (sold out!), Pattern Party Decorative Masks (retiring!), Embossing Paste, Silicone Craft Sheet, Palette Knives, Circle dies (retiring!), Well Written dies, Big Shot, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

What are you making??

Graduating Girl!

Posting today because I try to share my cards with you asap AND I wanted to post that I played with a challenge in time, haha. This card is a double challenge- I used the SUO Challenge for focusing on women, and the Freshly Made Sketch for the layout.

Also, I just checked, and this stunning DP is ON SALE so run place your order HERE now! It is GORGEOUS and so versatile! I have used it over and over and over! (I'm kinda proud that I can say that, hahaha!)

Supplies:
Stamps: Beautiful Moments, Silhouette Scenes
Ink: Memento Black, Blackberry Bliss
Stampin' Blends: Light & Dark Night of Navy, Dark Blackberry Bliss, Dark Old Olive, Bronze, Ivory
Paper: Night of Navy, Very Vanilla card stocks, Perennial Essence
Accessories: Very Vanilla Scalloped Lace Trim, Pearl Basic Jewels

This card is for my niece's graduation. SO many kiddos graduating right now!! She and my son are the same age, just a few weeks apart, so we had to get a cap and gown pic of them together.

Because like, last week, they looked like this....

April Fools!

I really don't do anything for April Fools Day. One year that my son told me he was really looking forward to it "tomorrow" I made him a weird lunch, haha, But that's it. This year, being quarantined, I thought it might be a good and simple "break" from everything. So I had to scrap it for my son too!

I used these strips of this old, but fun and bright DP (so old I don't know what it was called...) and I mixed up some alphabet stamps for the title to keep the silly feeling. Then the journaling is my instagram post. Super simple, and something fun.

Supplies:

Stamps: Peachy Keen, ABC123 Sketch alphabet, Whimsical Upper alphabet, Taffy Alphabet (all long retired)
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive

Paper: Daffodil Delight, Sweet Taffy DP (retired)

Journaling font: Kristen

and a couple close ups...

Senior Pictures

Since he's graduating now, here's his senior pictures. I took them in that two week window when school was first closed. Ha.... These pages are super simple, I wanted the focus to be the photos. I did the pages in MDS, even tho that's long retired now too.

We used all but one shot on his graduation announcement. There was no "plain" background at the location we picked so that was a little exasperating, but the point of going there was for the train stuff, so it worked out okay. And I'm happy with a lot of these photos anyway. So that's a fun layout for him.

6th Grade Graduation

Well that was a crazy day! I got 17 pages done yesterday for my son AND we got his 12x12 pages all sorted and put in his albums in order! It was a lot of work and it was exciting to see it all together. It also made me realize how much is not yet scrapped! Sheesh! His final album (at the moment) is literally just his senior year, up til Easter. The album before that goes from 2012 - last May! YIKES! And my totals are all at the bottom of my sidebar. I've done a LOT! And there's a bunch more to do of the next few days!!!

So for today, here is his 6th grade graduation, which I only did in the last two weeks! It has a mix of new and old and I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Supplies:
Stamps: Check You Out 
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Dapper Denim (retired), Always Artichoke (retired)
Paper: Cherry Cobbler & Sahara Sand card stock, Treehouse DP (retired in 2006!)
Journaling is typed with the font: Little Days

And a couple closeups. Glossy photos are hard to photograph!

Off to make more memories!!

Pep Band!

It's down to the wire- graduation is THIS week! I had hoped to spend today sorting his pages and putting them in order, but first I gotta keep scrapping! This page has pics he took at three different basketball games where he was in the Pep band. I especially love the poster from the cheerleaders!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Letterpress Alphabet (retired), Just Perfect Alphabet (retired)
Ink: Crushed Curry, Pacific Point
Paper: Blueberry Bushel, Crushed Curry card stocks, misc scrapbook store DP
Accessories: retired buttons, Glue Dots
Font: The Serif Hand Extrablack

The stamping is wonky, but here's a close up anyway. I like the idea even if my delivery isn't all that great, ha!

And there's another page for my boy!

State Semi-Finals!

Back to the scrapbooking! Because my total is soaring! Hooray!
This page is for another challenge. We were to use two circles, two borders, a strip of DP, and I combined it with a challenge to use red or orange! This kid's favorite color is orange and there is a LOT of orange in his books, so I threw in red. Also, the college he's at colors are red and white, so red it was!
The Pep Band got to go with the football team to the state semi-finals. However, the football team lost this game, so that's as far as they went.

Supplies:
Paper: Blueberry Bushel & Real Red card stock, misc school & band DP
Accessories: Circle Dies, Big Shot
Font: Astonished

Thank You's

'tis the season for end of year teacher appreciation gifts!
This year, as you well know, the teachers went above and beyond trying to teach kids over the internet. Some used videos, some had to learn new software, and presumably most if not all of them missed the kids they kinda never saw again.
Both of my kids are moving on from the school they attend, and both wanted to thank the teachers they've had more than one year, or for more than one class....and in some cases, both! I had a decent stash of thank you cards but I did need one more masculine card. I picked the sketch from Sunday Stamps. I let my son pick the supplies for this card, and this image is perfect for this teacher who is going from a crazy-busy position to a much calmer, 8-5, lol...

Supplies:
Stamps: A Good Man
Ink: Night of Navy
Paper: Whisper White card stock, Come Sail Away DP (retiring)
Accessories: Circle Dies (retiring), Big Shot

Salem Days

Happy Tuesday! Today's page is one I am particularly happy with how it turned out, even tho it is SO simple! This was for another challenge, and its the kind of challenge I usually don't participate in, but it happened to work out perfectly!
For this challenge, we were to use the word "HARD" and use something with each letter on the page. So for this, their first parade of the season, I went with:
Hot
American Flags
Red Door
Determined Kids, Drummer, "Days"
And I don't know if it's the color or the photos or what, but I love how it all worked out!

Supplies:
Stamps: Musical Season, Whimsical Upper Alphabet
Ink: Seaside Spray, Pacific Point
Paper: Seaside Spray card stock, misc band/high school paper from the local store
Accessories: misc sticker from the local store 

Valentines!

Happy Monday to you! I hope you had a lovely Mother's Day.
I have lots more scrappy pages for you, haha, so that's what we'll start with today. Maybe I can get a card or two later, but graduation is fast approaching and I guess that's my deadline for today so that is where all of my 'free time' focus is!

Today I have a simple, but I think effective way to use and show off that DP stash we all have, haha. My husband is working on the basement so I had to move my retired stash. I've been a demonstrator for 16 years and I keep almost everything (for scrapbooking!) so there was a lot! And I realized I need to be using DP on every project, haha, or I am never going to use it all up! So this was a great page for it!

Supplies:

Paper: Basic Black & Cantaloupe Crisp (retired) card stock, Stacked with Love DP (retired

Accessories: Basic Black Grosgrain Ribbon

Font: Honey Script

I hope you get some craft time this week! Make something pretty to brighten someone else's day! 

Scrappy Saturday!

I have SO many scrapbook pages, I'm posting on a Saturday too! Which- yeay!
The scrapbook group I'm a part of on splitcoaststampers.com is having a Virtual ScrapBook "Night", and I issued a challenge for it! We were supposed to base the challenges on our "home" since we're all "Staying Safe At Home" right now. Some challenges are of the state or town a person lives in, but my challenge was based upon my actual house. We built our home about 3 years ago and one of the fun parts was choosing the materials. So my actual challenge was this:

My house has a black roof, dark gray stucco, light gray stone work and white trim. And a red door! It makes me happy every time I pull up to it!CHALLENGE: Make a page that is monochromatic with a pop of a color from the other side of the color wheel--- OR ----Make a page that is grayscale with a pop of red!

And here's what I created for this particular challenge! I picked monochromatic blues with a pop of orange, and the photos fit that too!

Supplies:
Stamps: ABC123 Sketch Alphabet
Ink: Blueberry Bushel
Paper: Blueberry Bushel (base), Bashful Blue (retired) (thick strip), Seaside Spray (title strip), Balmy Blue (photo mat)
Accessories: Dapper Denim ribbon (retired!), Peekaboo Peach enamel shapes (retired!)
Font: Enviro

One Sketch, Two Cards

Today I have two more Mother's Day cards for you. One card uses the exact supplies as yesterday's card...but I put it here with the same sketch, lol. I used the Mojo Monday sketch for today and created two totally different cards.

First, if it's possible, an even softer version of yesterday's card?

Supplies:
Stamps: Very Versailles, March 2018 Paper Pumpkin
Ink: Smoky Slate, Pear Pizazz, Merry Merlot
Paper: Whisper White & Smoky Slate card stock
Accessories: Pressed Petals Washi Tape (retiring!), Tin Tile Embossing Folder, Clear Faceted Gems (SOLD OUT), Big Shot

and second, another Paper Pumpkin kit is the star of the show here!

Supplies:
Stamps: April 2019 Paper Pumpkin (Sentimental Rose)
Ink: Flirty Flamingo & Mint Macaron
Paper: Flirty Flamingo, Whisper White & Mint Macaron card stock
Accessories: Tin Tile embossing folder, Big Shot, Dimensionals

And I think now I'm ready for Mother's Day cards to be mailed out!

Mother's Day

You know Mother's Day is THIS Sunday, right? haha.... I have been forgetting everything lately, so I'm just making sure you know. I needed a small stack of cards made so my kids could send them out so this is the first of what I made yesterday!

Today's card used the latest sketch from Inspire.Create.Challenge blog. I love sketches for my cards! I picked this pretty Very Versailles stamp set (which is sticking around, btw- YEAY!) and to me, that means soft colors. But I also wanted this pop of Blackberry Bliss for this sweet washi tape flower (although after looking at the catalog, the flower actually is Merry Merlot).

Supplies:
Stamps: Very Versailles, March 2018 Paper Pumpkin
Ink: Smoky Slate, Pear Pizazz, Blackberry Bliss
Paper: Whisper White & Pear Pizazz card stock
Accessories: Pressed Petals Washi Tape (retiring!), Clear Faceted Gems (SOLD OUT)

Are you making any cards to mail out this week? Any birthday or thinking of you or anything? You really should!

Bright Birthday!

Today I have a card and a three-fer! This card uses the color challenge from TGIF Challenges, the theme challenge from SUO Challenges and the sketch from Splitcoaststampers! And it's already been delivered!

The stamp is long retired. It was a Sale-A-Bration stamp from a few years ago. The colors are current and they are perfect for my friend's birthday card! I fussy cut out the little hearts and popped them on Dimensionals, and that's really it!

Supplies:
Stamps: Best Day Ever, Well Said
Ink: Calypso Coral, Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight
Paper: Whisper White, Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Dimensionals

Band Concert

Happy Tuesday! I can barely keep track of the days of the week right now, but my littlest kiddo always seems to know!
Today I have another scrapbook page for you. I am particularly happy with how this one turned out. I think it's the striking color combo... The colors come from the photos. I wanted to keep it simple- black and white gives that classy feel, but my son has his orange vest peeking out, and orange IS his favorite color, so I used that too for a pop. I used a sketch from Pinterest found HERE, and actually that sketch is from my online friend Cheryl. It does look cooler with all the journaling, but I needed to delete the names.

Supplies:
MDS. Stamps: Music Notes
Accessories: Silver Brads
Colors: Smoky Slate, Tangelo Twist, Basic Black, Whisper White
Font: Clarendon HV

Autumn Scrapping!

Happy Monday! Did you know that this past Saturday (two days ago) was international scrapbooking day?? Did you happen to spend it scrapping?

I actually did...sort of. I needed to make a small gift scrapbook so I spent Saturday finding pictures, organizing them, and creating a book on Shutterfly. Personally, I do not find Shutterfly books all that easy to maneuver and maybe that's because I'm used to customizing all of a page or book myself? So, after most of the day wasted fighting with a book I didn't love, I gave up and started compiling the book in my much-loved, long-retired MDS program! I got half of it done Saturday and then I had to go to bed. It was like 1am... Sunday afternoon I finished it up and got it ordered! So, yes, I spent the weekend "scrapping"...

okay, okay enough whining! I have been cruising along, trying to scrap all the things for my son before he graduates. And no, we don't yet know what "graduation" will look like for him... Since I have plenty to show off, and tons more to do still, hahaha, today I have a three-fer. Three layouts from last fall! Hooray!

Here's the first one. One of our solid traditions- going to a pumpkin patch that has a bunch of other activities too!

And a couple close ups.... I realized, it's hard for me to get decent pictures of a double page layout because I usually order glossy prints. And then it reflects EVERYTHING back, like, my shadow hanging over the photo or whatever else...

Supplies:
Stamps: ABC123 Sketch Alphabet (retired)
Ink: Cajun Craze
Paper: Mint Macaron & Cajun Craze card stock, Come to Gather DP (retired)

Carving pumpkins last October...

Supplies:
Stamps: September 2016 Paper Pumpkin
Ink: Old Olive, Memento Black, Only Orange (retired), Tangelo Twist (retired)
Paper: So Saffron & Basic Black card stock, Halloween Night DP (retired in 2006!)

And finally, our Thanksgiving...and the day before, haha.

Supplies:
Stamps: September 2015 Paper Pumpkin, other Paper Pumpkin
Ink: Mossy Meadow, Early Espresso, Blackberry Bliss, Tangelo Twist (retired)
Paper: Old Olive, Baked Brown Sugar (retired) card stocks

And there's six more pages for my count (listed at the bottom of my sidebar if you're curious) and six more for his books!

We Create Blog Hop: Mother May I

This year is definitely going slower than last....but in some ways it's still cruising right along. Mother's Day is just around the corner so that is the theme of our blog hop this month!

I always have my kids send their grandmothers a card, and this year, since visiting is pretty much a no-go, we've tried to send more cards out too. I have a few other loved ones I am thinking about sending a Mother's Day card to as well.

For today's card, I used the sketch from the Just Add Ink blog...mostly. I moved one of the strips to the front side. I also have a mix of retiring stamps and supplies, and some that are sticking around! So here are two quick and pretty Mother's Day cards to inspire your own craftiness today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Artfully Aware (retiring!), Well Said
Ink: Flirty Flamingo
Paper: Whisper White & Flirty Flamingo card stock, Perennial Essence DP (retiring!)
Accessories: Baker's Twine (retiring!), Basic Pearls, Dimensionals

Supplies:
Stamps: Artfully Aware (retiring!), Well Said
Ink: Blackberry Bliss
Paper: Whisper White & Blackberry Bliss card stock, Perennial Essence DP (retiring!)
Accessories: Lace Trim, Metallic Pearls Dimensionals

Can I tell you a secret? I kinda hope I get the pink one myself, haha. I just love those tiny daisies mixed with the bigger pink flowers!
Now hop on over to Anastasia's blog by clicking the button below!

Kimberly Morris

Sharon Dalton

Tricia Butts

Libby Fens

Cheryl Curtis

Tanya Harvey (You Are Here)

Anastasia Radloff

Julie Davidse

And after you hop through and see what everyone has made, try creating a card yourself and stick it in the mail tomorrow! Every person you can think of could use a paper hug in the mail!