FTL #77

**My mom is visiting this week, so my posts for the rest of the week will be short. (I know, I hear a collective sigh of relief go around the room!). Never fear, my overly verbal self will be back next week to regale you with weather reports, two-year old antics and kitchen hysterics. :)**

Today I'm off to the midwife for my 28 week visit and glucose tolerance test (fun, fun!)--now I have to start going every 2 weeks instead of every 4. I'm in the home stretch!



I hardly ever do the Fall-To-Layout sketches because I struggle with the simplicity of them--I like layers and embellishments! I saw this sketch, however, and since the sketch had a stamp set I owned on it, I thought, well there you go. I added a little Bella Bleu dsp, changed the colors to match the dsp, but otherwise, kind of copied the sketch, right down to the stamping!

Supplies:
Not Quite Navy, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla cs, Bella Bleu dsp
Not Quite Navy, Sahara sand ink
Sincere Salutations, Baroque Motifs stamps
Not Quite Navy 1/4" grosgrain ribbon
Open scallop edge punch (SAB)

Making your own dsp

**My mom is visiting this week, so my posts for the rest of the week will be short. (I know, I hear a collective sigh of relief go around the room!). Never fear, my overly verbal self will be back next week to regale you with weather reports, two-year old antics and kitchen hysterics. :) **

This card was for Stacey's Curtain Call Color Challenge (Act 16), which was to use Very Vanilla, Real Red and Kraft. I CASEd the card from NiteStamper, who made the original with Soft Suede and So Saffron. I made my own dsp with a wheel (I generally hate cleaning wheels and so don't use them as much as I should!)--it is so easy! It took many permutations to get this card the way I wanted it, but I'm happy with the result!

Supplies:
Real Red, Kraft, Very Vanilla cs
Great Friend, Always Wheel
Real Red, Soft Suede ink
Paper snips
Vintage brads (antique brass), paper piercer
Kraft taffeta ribbon
mini glue dots

Good works

Today's card features Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday sketch plus a color challenge that I saw last fall somewhere and never got around to using. It took a bit of fiddling to get the elements to come together (plus a bit of wasted cardstock from playing around with options) but in the end, I think it works rather well! I've done a bit of stamping lately with the lovely Inspired by Nature set (more cards to come soon!) and the layout of this card just seemed right for the set. To get the two-tone coloring on the petals, first color them with the lighter color (this case, More Mustard) and then go over it in streaks with the darker color (here, Really Rust) but not covering entirely the original color. Just add accents, or if you want a slightly different look, cover most of the petal with the darker color and just leave the tips light.

My mom is visiting this week, so my posts for the rest of the week will be short. (I know, I hear a collective sigh of relief go around the room!). Never fear, my overly verbal self will be back next week to regale you with weather reports, two-year old antics and kitchen hysterics. :)

Supplies:
Really Rust, More Mustard, Perfect Plum, Very Vanilla cs, Perfect Plum dsp
Really Rust, More Mustard, Perfect Plum ink/markers
Inspired by Nature stamp set
5/8" satin Very Vanilla ribbon

New Baby under a Blue Moon

Good morning! We are hunkering down in anticipation of another big snow, so I decided it was time to make a bright and cheerful card.



I was trying to use the Stamping 411 sketch for this week to make this card, but I just couldn't resist moving the sentiment off-center so that I could add a little ribbon knot. I kept taking it off and making it fit the sketch exactly, but in the end, I decided the knot needed to stay. The card seemed more balanced with it, for one thing, and for another, I had that scrap of ribbon left from another project and wanted to use it up! So I altered the sketch a bit.


The color inspiration came from a card of MaryJo Price-Williams' from last fall, I think, but this card has nothing to do with it other than the colors used. I like how the Ballet Blue gives the So Saffron and Garden Green a little pop.

Supplies:
So Saffron, Garden Green, Ballet Blue, Whisper white cs, So Saffron dsp
Nursery Necessities stamp set
So Saffron, Garden Green, Ballet Blue ink
So Saffron 5/8" ribbon (retired)
Scallop oval and large oval punches
dimensionals
paper snips
Hugs die cut (Occ. Mini)

Asian Artistry Mojo Monday

So we got buried in snow this weekend--28 inches in 24 hours!--which melted a little yesterday, but we have another storm coming on Tuesday night, so I think we'll just get pushed under again. Thank goodness for my hubby and his strong back--the city regulations state that all sidewalks have to be cleared within 5 hours of a snowfall and we have quite a bit of sidewalk in front of our row house! Luckily, we also have great neighbors on our block, so everyone pitches in and helps out. It was a regular snow-shoveling block party on Saturday morning!


Because of the snow and needing to cook (I made a huge pan of vegetable lasagna and a chocolate cake for Cheesefare week this week--last dairy before Lent!), I didn't do any stamping this weekend.

So this morning, it was time to get back to work. I'm pretty proud of myself; I actually did a Mojo Monday sketch on a Monday! I almost didn't do the sketch this week because I thought it looked pretty hard, but then I saw Mary Fish's take on it, and decided maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all. My card is definitely inspired by hers, but I made it my own with the PPA color challenge of Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink and Black, plus the Asian Artistry set.The tricky thing about the sketch, as you might imagine, was the central panel with the curved bottom. I fiddled and fiddled with it before I had something I liked. Actually, I spent most of the morning on this card! I couldn't believe how long it took me to figure out all the elements, especially since the stamping was so straight forward--no coloring or anything!


Supplies:
Basic Black, Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White cs, Night and Day dsp
Asian Artistry, Vintage Vogue labels
Melon Mambo, Basic Black ink
5/8" black satin ribbon
paper snips
vintage (black) brads, paper piercing tool, mat pack
big shot/circles #2 die--I cut a bunch of these at my upline's house a while back just to have them around!

Sun Rises over Japan

Huh?, you say. Well, lemme explain. No wait, is too long. Lemme summarize. (Yes, I'm a Princess Bride fan). La Zindorf posted this funky tutorial earlier this week and I had to try it right away! Her card had a more vintage funky vibe to it, but because of a few substitutions I had to make, I think my final project kind of has an Asian flair to it and vaguely reminds me of the Japanese flag. So there you have it.

I actually had almost all the ink and most of the other supplies on hand--that always makes it easier. I just substituted the vine from Thoughts and Prayers for the vine on the Vintage Vogue set, which I don't have. The other little thing I changed was the gold stamping--my cheapie generic gold pigment pad that I had for a long time dried up, so when I went to stamp with it, that was a no-go! Instead, I stamped in Versamark and embossed it clear, following the tutorial instructions (except for the vine--I had to stamp/emboss the vines before sponging the tempting turquoise to resist the ink) and then at the end, I used a gold uniball gel pen (like the white one but gold) to go over all the embossed parts and make them look gold stamped. Sort of gave it a gold leaf look, but I like the funky vibe and the bright colors. Oh, the other change was to use Rich Razzleberry instead of Elegant eggplant because I don't have that color ink yet and it was an easy substitution.

The only little oopsies are that I didn't quite get all the crumbs of clear emboss powder off the page before embossing, so there is a bit of feathering here and there (live and learn, and then get Luvs), and I forgot to wipe off the darker sponged ink on the embossed edges before applying gold gel pen, which gives the gold a gradient effect, but actually, I kind of like it!

Snowpocalypse!

Well, my son woke up this morning after sleeping a record 14 1/2 hours (!) and seems to be feeling fine this morning. He drank a ton of water shortly after getting up, but otherwise seems normal. I'm grateful it seems to have been a short-lived bug. Plus I got some much-needed extra sleep--my hubby has been traveling this week and sleep is usually the first thing to go when single parenting!

The only bummer of the morning is that I wanted to go grocery shopping with my Phil and Ted's stroller because of the greater basket capacity, but as I pulled it out, I realized that the other tire had blown as well (one of the rear tires blew a few weeks ago after my husband over inflated it--sounded like a bomb went off when it blew!-- and we had to replace it). Oh well. Thank goodness for the internet, where one can replace parts on an Aussie stroller pretty easily. So out came the umbrella stroller, which was okay, but definitely left a bit to be desired in the basket department. But we have a major snowpocalypse on the way (12" expected tonight!) and we needed food for the onslaught!


Today's card was made using the Colour Q color challenge for this week, which was to use Melon Mambo, So Saffron, Old Olive, Baja Breeze and white. I liked the challenge of incorporating the Baja Breeze into the other colors, which already seemed to suit one another. I had a cordouroy Baja Breeze button left over from a swap from last year and decided that would be the accent. The card design is basically CASEd from the last issue of Stampin' Success, which is the magazine that Stampin' Up! sends to all its demonstrators every month. I just changed the colors and textures, plus a few little details.

Supplies:
Melon Mambo, So Saffron, Old Olive, Whisper White cs
Sanded, Razzle Dazzle stamp sets
Old Olive, So Saffron ink, Melon Mambo, Old Olive, So Saffron markers
paper snips
rhinestone brad, baja breeze cord button (retired), So Saffron 5/8" grosgrain ribbon (retired, 2009 SAB)
metal edge ruler for distressing