Christmas Lights

Mornin' y'all and Merry Christmas!  Ryan was Most Insistent that we all had to get up and go downstairs together to see what Santa brought us.  The hubs and I got chocolate oranges, Daphne got a toy, and Ryan got a bunch of things.  What was he most excited about?  DUCK UNDERWEAR.  My duck-obsessed child can now be fully outfitted in duck items:  duck socks and underwear, duck jammies, a duck hat.  And he can wrap himself up in multiple duck blankets to snuggle with his duck stuffies.  Ducks everywhere.

We opened Christmas presents last night and I got literary tea (can't wait to check that out!) and a book called To Die For:  A Cookbook of Gravestone Recipes which the hubs thinks is terribly weird (it was from my mom) but for reals I am looking forward to reading it.  Ryan got lots of duck things and lots of STEM/building-related things; the hubs got stuff for his RC plane and a new backpack to wear while skiing.  Best of all, none of us got eaten by the Yule Cat because we all got clothes.

Anyway, on to today's card:

I love the lights in the Merry & Bright bundle but I am hoarding the coordinating paper for scrapbook pages (...if I ever get back to making scrapbook pages, I made fewer than 50 this year and usually I'm well over 100), so I paired my lights with some fun stripes from the Snowy Scenes DSP.  This is another card the hubs took into work.

Well, I told the hubs I wanted to relax today, but...I still need to do the dishes.  Maybe sneak another Christmas cookie while I'm at it.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Merry & Bright
Ink:  Garden Green, Real Red, Pool Party, Blueberry Bushel, Pretty in Pink
Paper:  Garden Green, Pool Party, Thick Basic White, Snowy Scenes DSP
Accessories:  Merry & Bright dies

Santa!!! I Know Him!

Merry Christmas, y'all!  I made about eleventy billion cookies yesterday, then reorganized the guest room closet (since we had everything out of it to paint in there over the weekend), then ran a bunch of errands, then came home, made tacos for dinner, and made another cookie dough and a batch of pie crust.  I have an apple pie in the oven for the hubs right now : )  I'll be making that last batch of cookies today too, gotta be ready for our visitor tonight.

It's Santa!  Hope we still have cookies by bedtime tonight, we've all been grabbing them whenever we go in the kitchen : )  And that's why I made so many!  Plus we're going to share with friends on Boxing Day.  Anyway, this Santa card is one of the ones I made for the hubs to give out to his coworkers.  This stamp set is quite old (I think we lived in England when it was released, and that was over 10 years ago!) and I wish it had dies for everything, not just the mustache shape.  Remember when mustaches were ridiculously and inexplicably popular and people would have mustaches tattooed on the side of their fingers?!  What a weird time.

Anyway, I'm going to go check on my pie and take an inventory to make sure I get everything I need at the store.  I know I need butter and vanilla...

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Santa Stache
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Poppy Parade, Petal Pink, Pretty in Pink, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Poppy Parade, Garden Green, Thick Basic White, Snowy Scenes DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals

More Gingerbread

Mornin' y'all!  My guys got up super early this morning to go on a day trip skiing, so me and Daph are going to bake cookies all day.  I made three cookie doughs yesterday and let them chill overnight, so now it's time to start baking...right after I finish this blog post : )

These are two of the cards I made for the hubs to take to coworkers last week.  I pulled out a whole bunch of Christmas stamp sets and DSPs, and I discovered that I had already die cut a bunch of the gingerbread elements from the Gingerbread & Peppermint DSP, so these two cards came together pretty quickly.  I started with the card on the right and I had Dimensionals on the back of the round ornament when I discovered that it wouldn't fit where I wanted it on that card, so I used the bell and made the green card to use the round ornament.

That's it for now, peeps.  It's still dark outside but I'm going to fire up the oven and get started on double chocolate crinkle cookies.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Frosted Gingerbread
Ink:  Old Olive, Real Red
Paper:  Old Olive, Real Red, Whisper White, Gingerbread & Peppermint DSP Stack
Accessories:  Gingerbread dies, Dimensionals

December 2020

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  We finished painting the guest room yesterday so now we have to get the furniture back in place and put everything back in the closet...and next weekend we're planning to tackle Ryan's room.  Wish us luck.  Today I need to go to the store to get ingredients for ALL THE COOKIES and maybe some food with actual nutritional content, we'll see about that part.

But for right now, I have a December layout from five years ago.  The HECK, how can it be five years ago already?!

That is Ryan with chocolate all over his face on the right page, and I can assure you that five years later he *still* gets chocolate all over his face.  And pretty much everything else he eats.  Not sure when he'll grow out of that, if ever.

Today's Christmas color palette:  Pear Pizzazz, Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Pebbled Path, and Whisper White.  A quick and simple layout other than coloring in the animal images.

That's it for today, peeps, I'm off to walk Daphne and then go to the store.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Full Calendar, Yuletide Pasture
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Mossy Meadow, Stampin' Blends in Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Real Red, Pecan Pie, Smoky Slate, Petal Pink, Pebbled Path, Ivory, So Saffron
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Thick Basic White, Heartfelt Hugs DSP
Accessories:  None

Gingerbread Wishes

Mornin' y'all!  Actually it's pretty close to afternoon and yet I am still waiting on the last couple of gingerbread waffles to cook so I can shut off the waffle maker and go upstairs to help paint the guest room.  This is the first time we've tried gingerbread waffles, but I am thinking about making gingerbread muffins for breakfast on Christmas morning.  And since I still have cream cheese in my fridge, I'm thinking about making gingerbread bars sometime this week too.  I have gingerbread on the brain.

But you know what I don't think I've ever actually made?  Gingerbread cookies.  What?

I have, however, made numerous paper versions.  I made this for last week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I was quite pleased with myself for thinking of the baking sheet die cut for the blue panel on the sketch.  I chose a gingham pattern for the background because it made me think of a tablecloth (though picnics usually have red gingham, we're going with green), baked up a few paper gingerbread men and sprinkled with some peppermint accents.

And I'm just in time to play with the latest Inspired By... challenge:

Thanks for a great excuse to make some paper gingerbread men : )  

The timer went off for the last waffle, so now I have to go help paint.  (That waffle recipe makes a pretty large batch, FYI).  We did the closet and ceiling in the guest room yesterday as well as the ceiling in Ryan's bathroom, and today we're painting the guest room walls.  Current plan is to do Ryan's bedroom next weekend.  Wish us luck!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Homemade Treats, Jolly Delivery
Ink:  Real Red, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Real Red, Garden Green, Thick Basic White, Christmas Tags & More DSP Stack
Accessories:  Homemade Treats dies, Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals, Peppermint accents

Mystery at the Ski Jump

Welcome to a new Nancy Drew Challenge and today we're investigating The Mystery at the Ski Jump, Nancy's 29th adventure.  I didn't finish these cards until yesterday evening, usually I have them done way ahead of time but this week went a little off the rails.  Anyway, let's take a look!

Both of these covers feature menacing men.  Nancy looks quite alarmed in the original text cover by Bill Gillies on the left and we have a really bright poppy red top on her.  Is that a jacket?  Because my jackets are all much less form-fitting but Nancy probably has designer ski clothes.  I think the yellow mittens look a little goofy though.

On the right is the Rudy Nappi cover for the revised text and we have a menacing man's hand, but Nancy looks determined to stop the crooks rather than concerned for her own safety.  I like this cover better, maybe because teal and lime is my color vibe, but I also like the composition of the ski jump in the background better because it has more detail than the Gillies cover.

Let's take a look inside.

Case file:  When Hannah Gruen buys stock in a fur company that operates in an unconventional fashion, selling furs at a discount price door to door, Nancy investigates and discovers that the company is fake and the fur stole Hannah bought is stolen (yes, it's a stolen stole).  The bad girl steals Nancy's identity but she keeps investigating through several towns near River Heights, to New York and a visit with Aunt Eloise, and then to Aunt Eloise's cabin in the Adirondacks where Nancy's foes attempt to put her on ice.  Very exciting and a rare winter outing in the original mystery stories.

Here's my card:

I was going to do something with a lot more Poppy Parade and Daffodil Delight to go with Nancy's outfit, but I found this blue pine tree pattern in the Beauty of the Earth DSP and this ended up being a very blue card instead.  I used the skates from Sophisticated Sled because the bad girl, Mitzi Channing, is a semiprofessional ice skater--Nancy discovers her name when she sees her perform in an old movie.  Also I remembered that name from reading this as a kid because I had never heard the name Mitzi before and thought it was strange.

I did add the cardinal so we get a tiny pop of Poppy Parade for Nancy.  Also, the skates could belong to her as she performs a doubles routine in a big skating competition in Canada with no practice beforehand beyond dancing a single waltz with her partner.  Because Nancy of course is a professional ice skater.  I forgot to mention that she and Carson also go to Canada, there is a lot of traveling in this one.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sophisticated Sled
Ink:  Night of Navy, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Smoky Slate, Poppy Parade, Mango Melody
Paper:  Night of Navy, Thick Basic White, Beauty of the Earth DSP
Accessories:  Sophisticated Sled dies, Ornate Frames dies, Charming Shimmer Faceted Dots, Mini Dimensionals

Let's check out the revised text:

Once again, there are no major changes to the story in the revised text, just condensing it to 20 chapters.  We still get all the same traveling and Aunt Eloise has a larger role in this one than she usually does.  Also Nancy calls her Aunt Lou, which I don't recall seeing in any of Aunt Eloise's other appearances.

Here's my card:

I wanted to incorporate the fun colors on this cover, so I chose Summer Splash, Lemon Lime Twist, and Timid Tiger.  I had a plan to use the Freezin' Fun bundle because I thought there was a fox in it, but upon closer inspection I found it was a sledding raccoon and not a skiing fox (there's a part in the book where the villains refer to Nancy and Carson as foxes).  Still, I like my happy snowman and it amuses me that I found Let It Snow sentiments for both cards.

I stamped some snowflakes on the Summer Splash DSP I used for the background and I like how that looks.  I was making this card up as I went along and trying to make it quickly last night while Ryan was getting ready for bed, pretty happy with where I ended up despite the time crunch.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snowman Season
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Summer Splash, Stampin' Blends in Summer Splash, Lemon Lime Twist, Timid Tiger, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Summer Splash, Thick Basic White, Summer Splash DSP, Celebratory Sips DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Shiny Sequins

I didn't particularly like the aspects of this mystery that deal with the fur trade, but I did enjoy all the travel to different places and Nancy outwitting the dastardly Mitzi, so I give it four stars.  If you're inspired by these books, please leave me a comment so I can see what you make!  And come back next week for the final Nancy Drew Challenge of the year, where we will uncover The Clue of the Velvet Mask.

Naughty!

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan has early release from school today and then he'll be off for the next two weeks, so I'd better wrap up a couple of presents this morning while he is safely elsewhere.  And I think we're going to paint the guest room this weekend so I cleared out the closet of all the stuff (because we are de-greige-ifying the closets too!).  I also admitted to the hubs that I don't like the light blue that we did in the living room, entryway, up through the upstairs hall...which is the largest area in the house...sorry, honey.  It looked fine in small swatches, but it just is TOO MUCH when it's all done.  It needs to be a slightly blueish gray, not baby blue.  He gave me side-eye but said we'll repaint it.  I do feel guilty though.

And also a bit naughty.  As soon as I saw Jaydee's card for a recent Paper Players challenge, I knew I had to get those dies!  I got not just the Grinch hand, but a word die as well:

I still had the Reindeer Fun DSP sitting out from making cards for the hubs, so that's where I got the lights in the background.  The snowy backdrop for the Grinch and his purloined ornament are from the Nests of Winter DSP.  I used this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch:

And I can enter this at Just Add Ink too:

I have stripes (on the ornament), snow (behind the Grinch's arm), and shimmer (red glimmer naughty!).  I had fun making this and I'm sure that I will be using these dies more in the future : )  We need to hurry up and watch some Christmas movies this year.

Daphne is chastising someone outside (how DARE anyone use the green space behind our house without her express written permission, which is hard to get since she's illiterate) but I'm going to take her for a quick walk and then get to wrapping some presents.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  None
Ink:  None
Paper:  Real Red, Garden Green, Granny Apple Green, Whisper White, Basic Black, Reindeer Fun DSP, Nests of Winter DSP, Silver Foil, Real Red Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Grinch Hand & Naughty Word Die from Kat Scrappiness