What a weekend!

Posted by emily on August 22nd, 2011 filed in Stamping and Creating

It all began Friday evening when I finally got the chance to make these blackberry scones from a recipe featured on one of my favorite food/cooking blogs, Orangette.
All over the northwest, the blackberries are beginning to ripen; first the bushes that get the most sun – like the ones by our church – and then the canyon shaded berries turn from red to black and offer up their sweetly tangy fruit, just perfect for flakey, not-too-sweet scones like these. They are best when lightly toasted, topped with blackberry jam, and accompanied by a cup of coffee – it’s just about the perfect breakfast! If you have access to fresh blackberries and you like scones, you really need to try these!

On Saturday morning – before the husband and I went downtown to see Les Miserables at the 5th Avenue Theater, and have cocktails and antipasti at The Pink Door where some of the cast of Les Mis were having their tween-show repast, and eat dinner at the Palomino where we had complimentary glasses of wine and truffled deviled eggs before sausage ravioli with veal tomato ragu, finished with tiramisu and coffee (I know, wow! right?!) – I got into the craft room to finally make this card, which I had designed last Tuesday but couldn’t actually make because I was waiting for my new Stampin’ Up! order, which came on Friday – yay!

This card is another take – this one pretty straightforward – of last week’s Mojo Monday sketch #204:

And here is my card:

And here’s what I used:
Cardstock: Basic Gray, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Domestic Goddess DSP
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Basic Gray
Stamps: House & Home, Creative Elements
Accessories: Big Shot, Sweet Buttons Embosslits, Paper Piercing Tool and Mat Pack, Curly Label Punch, Large Oval Punch, Needle and Thread, 5/8” Whisper White Grosgrain Ribbon (retired), Sponges, Stamp-a-majig, Stampin’ Dimensionals

When I first saw this stamp set, I thought it was cute, but I couldn’t think of how I would actually use it. However, the images wouldn’t leave me alone and once I saw the Domestic Goddess DSP, I knew I had to have both! I designed this card before I even had the stamps and paper in hand, I was so excited for them! The color combo is quite bright for me, but the images work well with the bright and clean colors.

Here are a couple closer looks:

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Yesterday I couldn’t get in the craft room because after service in the morning, our church had its summer picnic; we went swimming and ate bbq and tossed water balloons and ran relay races and wacked a piñata and generally had a lot of fun even though it was quite warm and we all needed baths and showers before we headed over to a friend’s house for dinner – yum!

However, the busy day meant that I couldn’t get to the other card I had designed and ready to go until today. It is also a pretty straightforward interpretation of this week’s Inkspirations sketch #83. Apparently my creative juices are not so abstract this week. Here’s the sketch:

And here’s my (first) card:

Here’s what I used:
Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder, So Saffron, Whisper White
Ink: So Saffron, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, VersaMark
Stamps: She’s All That (retired), Creative Elements
Accessories: Scoring Tool and Stylus, Clear Embossing Powder & Heat Gun, Sponges, Modern Label Punch, Post-it Notes, Lace Ribbon Border Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

This card has A LOT of layers – like 9 or 10! It’s a color combo I’ve been wanting to try for awhile, and it suggested wedding to me – not really sure why. The only fancy thing I did here was to clear emboss the flourish from the Creative Elements set on Whisper White cardstock before stamping the bride in Elegant Eggplant so that her dress and veil are covered with the floral pattern. That and I scored some frames on a couple of the panels and sponged inside the score lines to add even more depth (as if this card needed more layers!).

Here’s another look:

When I finished the above card, I wasn’t completely happy with the results. It’s pretty, the color combo is great, it’s almost exactly like the design I’d sketched a few days before, but I think it ended up being too heavy – too layered. I had a little extra time before I had to get back to laundry and the dirty dishes before dinner, so I had another go at the sketch. This time I kept it much simpler:

Here’s what I used:
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Blushing Bride, Soft Suede, First Edition DSP 
Ink: So Saffron, Soft Suede (and marker), Blushing Bride (and marker), Regal Rose, Rose Red
Stamps: Creative Elements (such a fun and versatile set!)
Accessories:  Color Spritzing tool, Sponges, Stamp-a-majig, Stampin’ Dimensionals

I LOVE this color combo!!

Here’s another look:

And of course after I finished this card and in the course of washing the dishes and getting dinner started another card (inspired by yet another sketch and a new stamp set) popped into my head … but there are other projects to complete as well – knitting and sewing and plans for our homeschool (ach!), which starts next week – have been taking a back seat to this stamping surge; however, they must get done as well.

Thanks for looking and happy stamping and scone making. May these last few days and weeks of summer be glorious for you and yours!