Follow Your Dreams

Happy Monday!! Life is back to "normal" today, whatever that means, and I still didn't get anything created til after 4pm! 

This one combines the colors and texture from the inspiration photo from SUO Challenges and the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. And I'm too late for the sketch! That's okay- I like how this turned out and I know who is getting this card!  

Since I was using almost-retired colors, I went ahead and chose a retired stamp set too. And the dots are retiring too. I love these dots and I love Copper Clay. Not so much with the Wild Wheat but I have two kids who like it, so I've stocked up on the 12x12 paper for their scrapbooks. 

Supplies;

Stamps: Elements of Text, Lighting The Way (retired)

Ink: Basic Beige, Wild Wheat, Copper Clay

Paper: Wild Wheat, Basic Beige

Accessories: Earth Tones Shimmer Gems, Perennial Postage Dies, big shot (retired)

Fireflies!

Happy Friday!

Fireflies are not common in my area at. all. I had been told they don't live here, and I absolutely believed it until about three years ago when I heard they were at a small nearby lake... I saw some as a kid, when my family took a vacation to Illinois, but not here. Not ever.

My husband's co-worker owns a farm about 20 mins from our home and she has fireflies in her field! So she does little tours and asked him if he'd like to bring his family. I told him YES HE WOULD, ha, so we went!
We learned that one reason they are so rare here is the ground has to stay moist and not freeze for the bug's life cycle under ground, which takes two years. Yeah, that's not a thing around here, ha. Each of our kids got to catch a firefly, and watching them blink across the field was really cool. It was definitely a special family night. 

Supplies:
Stamps: Lighting the Way, Skinny Mini Alphabet

Ink: Mossy Meadow, Daffodil Delight, Evening Evergreen, Soft Succulent 

Paper: Soft Succulent, Basic White card stocks

Accessories: Lighting the Way Dies, big shot

Journaling Font: Moon Flower Bold

This firefly set that retired this spring was perfect for this page. And this page is easily in my top 10 favorites ever. I stamped the grassy-ness, and then stamped and die cut the fireflies. And I really love the result. 

Featuring: Orchid Oasis

Since the end of the catalog year is fast approaching, I'm going to hold a card class focusing on the soon-to-retire 2022-2024 In Colors. 

I do like Orchid Oasis, but I don't find myself using it much. The word that comes to mind most is "pleasant". It's a calm kind of color amidst these super brights. 

And therefore, I remade a design I've done previously to show off the softness of this color in a class. I made this rectangle by laying post-it notes down, lining them up with the grid on the scratch paper. Then I used a blending brush to make the background, darker toward the bottom. I stamped this leafy image on the side, and then a greeting- and class attendees can use which ever greeting they like. Then a few In Color pearls and it's done! Also nicely mailable, altho occasionally round embellishments like that can cause an issue. 

Supplies:

Stamps: Lighting The Way

Ink: Orchid Oasis

Paper: Basic White card stock

Accessories: In Color Pearls, Blending Brush

Fireflies!

Today's card uses the color combo from As You See It Challenges. I am extremely happy with how this card turned out. I don't know that I would have paired Mossy Meadow with Melon Mambo but I like it!! I also liked the depth to the grassy look here, just stamping off the inked stamp til it needed more.

Supplies:

Stamps: Lighting the Way
Ink: Mossy Meadow, Granny Apple Green, Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo
Paper: Mossy Meadow, Melon Mambo & Basic White card stock
Accessories: Dimensionals

In My Thoughts

I don't know about your corner of the world but here there has been a lot of loss and heartbreak. The biggest reason I haven't shared a single thing in about a month is that my sweet mother in law passed away. She was 89 and in declining health, but she was one of those amazing humans who loved and welcomed everyone in her path. So her being gone now is keenly felt even by those who weren't part of her family. 

But I've got a number of friends who also lost family members in that same month. Some of them sent us something or otherwise supported us and I am clearly running behind. So here's a quick card to send our love as well, and I happen to think it came out stunningly. 

I combined the autumnal color challenge from The Paper Players, along with last weeks sketch from SUO Challenges, and their newest SUO Challenge of silhouette stamping. This isn't exactly how it was shown, but it is a silhouette... And for the inked panel, I used post it notes to frame the rectangle and Blending Brushes for the sunset look.

Supplies:

Stamps: Lighting The Way, In The Moment

Ink: Wild Wheat, Copper Clay, Pretty Peacock, Pebbled Path

Paper: Very Vanilla

Accessories: Blending Brushes

Then, ha, I loved this result so much, I played again, but this time with the color challenge from Just Add Ink. I knew that would be great for a sympathy card, but nothing was jumping out at me to use.... Oh, this. This layout is kinda perfect! 

Supplies: 

Stamps: Lighting The Way, In The Moment

Ink: Crumb Cake, Misty Moonlight, Mossy Meadow

Paper: Basic White

Accessories: Blending Brushes

And three more cards are on their way! 

Fireflies!

Two cards today. That's how much I want to participate in challenges, HA! Getting this one in under the wire! So this thank you card uses the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and the challenge from TGIF Challenges! And it was made quickly! 

Supplies:
Stamps: Lighting The Way
Ink: Copper Clay, Crushed Curry, Night of Navy
Paper: Crushed Curry, Night of Navy, Basic White
Accessories Red & Green Pearls, Dimensionals, circle dies (retired), big shot (retired) 

annd because you can't tell in the first picture, I did stamp the swirly clusters of fireflies across the background. see? 

Lantern

I liked this set when I saw it in the mini, but my mom loved it. And that means I get to play with it! 

I've seen lots of ideas with this bundle and I really loved the lantern looking old and maybe rusty. And I also loved the lantern surrounded by dark foliage. I kept it simple for this card, using the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches (too late to link, but credit is due) and some pretty DP. 

Supplies:
Stamps: Lighting The Way
Ink: Crushed Curry, Evening Evergreen
Paper: Evening Evergreen, Cajun Craze & Very Vanilla card stocks, Pretty Prints DP
Accessories: Lighting the Way dies, Red & Green Adhesive Backed Pearls, big shot