Butterfly Garden

Hey y'all, happy Friday!  I did NOT do laundry yesterday but maybe I can put it off until Monday, ha.  I have a bunch of things to do today and laundry is not on the list.

Anywha, here's my card for today:

I busted out the now-retired Sketched Butterflies and some (slightly) older DSP for this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Which I paired with the Creative Colour Challenges palette:

Hey, since the Color Throwdown is no longer throwing down, maybe I should make this challenge my weekly pairing for FMS.  There's a thought.  Anyway, something about these colors made me think of butterflies in a garden, so I went with it.  At first I was going to do the card base in Cajun Craze, but I traded it out for Garden Green instead, though I think the Cajun would have looked good too.  I didn't worry about really blending the colors on the butterfly, just did a quick color job and called it good.  Some Cajun Craze + Gold Dots to match the Wink of Stella on his wings and it's done!

Have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sketched Butterflies
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Berry Burst, Cajun Craze, Basic Black
Paper:  Garden Green, Basic Black, Thick Basic White, Garden Green & Berry Burst DSP
Accessories:  Sketched Butterflies dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Cajun Craze & Gold Dots

E is for Eventually

Mornin' y'all!  I'm tired today...I woke up at 1am thinking that Ryan had yelled or something, but he hadn't, and then I had a lot of trouble getting back to sleep and more or less woke up on the hour until I finally got up at six this morning.  That's always fun.  So I'm going to drink two XL cups of tea before I get out with Daphne this morning.

So!  As I have said, I've been feeling a bit blocked creatively this week and it was driving me nuts yesterday as I was looking for a stamp set to go with the AAA Cards Challenge:

This image popped into my head of a stamp featuring flowers spilling out of an envelope, so I went searching through my hoard and...I don't have it?!  My brain was conflating that image with an old Sale-a-Bration stamp set which I do have (back when it was Sell-a-Bration) and while I do have a few stamp sets featuring envelopes, none of them was what I wanted.

Then my brain FINALLY decided to join the chat (hello brain, I have missed you) and I thought of something starting with E that was not an envelope or an elephant or the Easter bunny.  Those are all totally valid options, but I wanted to do something different.  So here's what I eventually made:

The Eiffel Tower!  And another excuse to use Artistic Etchings, YASSS.  I also embossed the tower with clear EP so I have two Es.  I wanted to add some embellishments (which would have been another E), but since this is for a CAS challenge I resisted the lure of all things shiny.  I thought the new Color Hues Challenge was perfect for this:

That looks like Berry Burst and Night of Navy to me.  I started with the card on the left, using Crumb Cake as a neutral for the script background (I inked up part of the background stamp using a sponge to keep it light, stamped it, and sponged more ink over that one corner) and then my Artistic Etchings stamps kept falling off the blocks so I had to get my Aleene's Tack It Over and Over glue and paint it on the backs of the stamps and let it dry for a while.  In the meantime I wondered what it would look like if I switched the neutral to Smoky Slate, so that's the card on the right and the answer is I need to ink up my Smoky Slate ink pad because it's a bit TOO light.  I let the glue on the stamps dry while I went to pick Ryan up from school and was able to finish both cards in short order when I returned home.

Yesterday I also did my preorder for new In Colors and stuff from SU!, and the new Peaceful Pine ink pad wasn't available and that was the color I'm most excited about (green is my favorite color) but I wanted to get some of the outgoing In Color 12x12 cardstock before it sold out so I submitted the order.  Wow, that was a run-on sentence.  A few hours later I got a notification that the Peaceful Pine ink pad was back in stock so naturally I had to do a second order...I might have gotten another stamp set and another color of cardstock while I was at it.  And some embellishments I missed the first time around.  Aside from new colors (I always love new colors), I splurged and got most of the Midnight Flora suite, I can't wait to see that DSP in person.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artistic Etchings, Carte Postale, French Script
Ink:  Night of Navy, Berry Burst, Crumb Cake, Smoky Slate, VersaMark
Paper:  Night of Navy, Basic White
Accessories:  Clear EP

So yesterday, Jan commented on my post (HI JAN!) and she wanted to see a picture of Daphne, and of course I am always happy to share pictures of my darling girl so here she is:

The oversize chair has turned into Daphne's throne and I just got her a new fluffy blanket to put on it.  She particularly loves that chair because she can see out the window into the backyard and the green space behind us to make sure all the neighbors are behaving and staying out of her territory.

This is what she looks like when she wants something:

And there's my current stitching project in the background, it's fun with the bright orange fabric.  Daphne does this impression of a baby seal when she has her ears slicked back, I'm sure she's trying to look more pathetic so I'll give in to what she wants.

Here's what Daphne looks like when she's being a pushy brat but tries to act like she's not a pushy brat when I take her picture:

Not buying the innocent act, Daph.  (She was shoving my arm with her nose until she saw me trying to take her picture.)  We got her DNA tested (that was a Christmas present to me from Daph last year) and she really is a supermutt.  She was listed as a German shepherd/Labrador mix at the shelter, which is 10% right; she's American bully/pibble/German shepherd/golden retriever/border collie with a bit of Australian cattle dog, Shar-Pei (!!), and Australian shepherd thrown in.  She's about the same size as our previous Lab mixes and weighs about 65 pounds.  She is my darling girl even when she's being a punk nugget, I adore her.

Okay, I'm nearly finished with my second cuppa, so I'm going to take the Daphinator out for her tour of the neighborhood, start some laundry, and hopefully get some work done in my craft room today.  Cheers, y'all!

Because Spring

Mornin' y'all!  I am currently trying to teach Daphne patience...she really wants to go for a walk, and I really want to finish my tea and write this blog post.  So far it's not going well, Daphne is either staring at me from across the room or shoving my elbow with her nose.  So I'm going to ignore her for a few minutes while I write this.

I have not made very much in my craft room this week, I'm still feeling a bit blocked and it had better resolve quickly because I have Things To Do for upcoming challenges and stuff.  But I did make a card yesterday to share today:

Since Joanne made me buy the Words of Beauty bundle, I figured I had better get some use out of it : ) before she convinces me to buy even more things.  This is a triple challenge card, starting with Just Add Ink:

I have twine and sequins on there.  I thought I had some solid color twine in at least one of my card colors, but nope, now I'm imagining I have even more supplies than I really do.  Next up is the sketch at Hand-Stamped Sentiments:

Happily for me, that lent itself handily to the Words of Beauty bundle, and I used some Pretty in Pink DSP that I had pulled out when I was hemming and hawing over my SUO Challenges card for yesterday.  Speaking of colors, I used the new color challenge from As You See It:

A pretty palette, I like it even though Soft Sea Foam is not my favorite green.  The other two colors make it look good, ha.

I was on my way to run some errands this morning and found out that the deers were out running errands too:

I think about six or eight of them total crossed the street in front of me, came up to a fence that was on a level with their noses, and hopped over it like it was nothing.  So that was fun.

Daphne is back to nosing me...uh-oh, she has deployed puppy dog eyes!  I cannot resist the puppy dog eyes and she knows it...so I had better wrap this up and take her for a walk.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Words of Beauty
Ink:  Pool Party
Paper:  Pool Party, Soft Sea Foam, Pretty in Pink, Basic White, Soft Sea Foam DSP, Pretty in Pink DSP
Accessories:  Words of Beauty dies, Nature's Symphony dies, Dimensionals, Pool Party baker's twine, white sequins

Sunny Colors from SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all!  It is time for a new challenge from SUO Challenges, and this time around we have a sunny springy color challenge for you:

I'm not going to lie, I had a hard time with this one.  Had there been a green involved, I could have done a floral card lickety split, but no green.  I wanted to stick with just the challenge colors too and I also wanted to stick with my very small collection of possibly still current items.  I think I sat at my craft table for over an hour trying to do...anything, and nothing seemed to be working.  Finally I landed here:

I used painter's tape for the three stripes and layered on a white die cut from Nature's Symphony.  The greeting is from Exploring Nature, which I just checked IS still available on the SU! website.  I've had it for a while and this is the first time any of it has gotten inky.  I found a sunray-style circle die in the Spotlight on Nature dies which are also still current, and a few Pretty in Pink gems to finish it up.

Now it's your turn!  Upload your creation on the SUO Challenges blog, I can't wait to see what you come up with since I found this combo so difficult.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Exploring Nature
Ink:  Lemon Lolly, Peach Pie, Pretty in Pink
Paper:  Lemon Lolly, Basic White
Accessories:  Nature's Symphony dies, Spotlight on Nature dies, 1 3/4" circle punch, Dimensionals, Pretty in Pink Gems

FOR SCOTLAND!

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan is back at school today which means we can get back to our normal routine.  I plan to enjoy some extra crafty time to celebrate : )

So let's start off the week with a magical card, shall we?

One of my favorite fun facts ever is that the national animal of Scotland is the unicorn.  As soon as I saw the Festive Friday challenge, I knew what I had to do:

I missed the cutoff for the last challenge by a few hours so I made sure to get on it quickly this time around.  So from the list, I have bright colors, sparkle gems (they're called Glitter Sequins, but I think they count as sparkle gems), a fancy border, unicorns, and a magic sentiment.  I wasn't sure what was meant by glitter card, but I do have glimmer paper on there if that counts, and while I don't have an actual rainbow image on my card, I did incorporate a full rainbow of colors.

I have the glimmer paper and the glitter sequins, but my unicorns needed MORE SPARKLE so I added Wink of Stella to their manes and tails.

Daphne is currently in dog jail because she wouldn't come inside when I told her to; it was far more important for her to yell at the French bulldogs next door.  Since she's in jail now, I can enjoy my second cuppa and enjoy some blog surfing before I take her on her neighborhood tour.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Magical Day, Terrific Toadstools
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Petunia Pop, Stampin' Blends in Melon Mambo, Timid Tiger, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, Azure Afternoon, Pool Party, Petunia Pop
Paper:  Granny Apple Green, Thick Basic White, Myths & Magic Specialty DSP, Myths & Magic Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Magical Mates dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Basic Borders dies, Dimensionals, Glitter Sequins, Wink of Stella

Tic-Tac-Toe with The Paper Players

Happy Sunday, y'all!  It is the fifth Sunday of the month, so we get a tic-tac-toe challenge for The Paper Players today.  This time our board is courtesy of the lovely Ann and she's got some great choices for us:

The choices are so wonderful that I couldn't choose between them, so I decided to go all out and attempt a blackout.  As long as my gold cord counts for the ribbon/twine option, I think I did it.  Here's what I made:

I have dies from two different sets, cord, a two-part sentiment, sparkle dots as well as Wink of Stella on the large word, some fabulous floral paper which knocks off two of the choices in one, gold embossing, a circle, and 8 layers of paper.  And I used a brand new stamp bundle because once again Joanne made me buy something : )  I paired the Words of Beauty bundle with the Floral Charm paper that I think came out last year, it's just gorgeous in these rich dark colors.

For once, I got the sparkle from the Wink of Stella to show up in a photo!  And for the first time ever, I finally remembered that I own adhesive sheets so I used them when I die cut the "because".  That gold cord has to be at least 15 years old, I also have it in silver and copper and despite using it every year I still have quite a supply of it.

Check out the other design team creations on the Paper Players blog, and you can hop through their individual blogs to leave some comments too:

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier

Stef Perry

you are here --> Christy Stanford

And then upload your card at the Paper Players blog!  Keep in mind a few simple rules:
1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission
3.  Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL
4.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Words of Beauty
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Blackberry Bliss, Berry Burst, Very Vanilla, Floral Charm DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, Words of Beauty dies, gold EP, gold cord, metallic? Sparkle Dots, Mini Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

The Mystery of the 99 Steps

Happy Saturday and welcome to the latest Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we are investigating The Mystery of the 99 Steps, Nancy's 43rd adventure.

We have a pretty cool Rudy Nappi cover here with a whole lot of steps and I really want Nancy's dress.  George's dress is good too, but she's still rocking Danny Zuko's hairstyle from Grease, like she was on the cover for Old Stagecoach.  That mysterious figure at the top of the stairs looks scary but it's Bess, who I'm sure is also wearing a lovely frock.

Case file:  We have another travel mystery as this time the Drew Crew is heading to France on two different cases.  While Carson has been hired to try to figure out why a French financier is suddenly behaving oddly, Nancy has been asked by a French lady to find out why she has recurring nightmares about falling while someone says "99 steps".  We get tourist time in Paris and the Loire Valley as well as lessons on medieval alchemy and Joan of Arc.

Here's my first card:

Actually I can't remember offhand if they talk much about the Eiffel Tower, but they go to Paris and I just had to make a Paris card.  Plus Artistic Etchings is an old favorite stamp set and I will accept any excuse to use it.  I have several stamp sets in French, with today's greeting coming from Carte Postale.

I used Terracotta Tile to match Nancy's dress and Pool Party for George's.  

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artistic Etchings, Carte Postale, French Script
Ink:  Terracotta Tile, Pool Party, Pecan Pie, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze Blend to color the rhinestones
Paper:  Terracotta Tile, Thick Basic White, Early Espresso DSP
Accessories:  some kind of label punch, I forget what, Dimensionals, Rhinestones

I couldn't stop with just one card though, so here's the second:

Since we have the alchemy angle in this mystery, I had to break out the It's a Science stamp set for some chemistry beakers.  And you know what, this is the very first time I've used that stamp set!  I knew it would come in handy sometime.

This time I used my favorite Fresh Prints (of Bel-Air) DSP, so the colors are Coastal Cabana, Real Red, and Crumb Cake.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  It's a Science
Ink:  Early Espresso, Coastal Cabana, Real Red, Versamark
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Thick Basic White, Fresh Prints DSP Stack
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, clear EP, Dimensionals, Delightful Dots, Wink of Stella

I was going to stop there, but then I decided I had to make a card to commemorate the Drew Crew's visit to Notre Dame, so here is my third card:

I had to get out the stained glass stamps from Painted Glass for Notre Dame's rose window.  Once again I tried to choose colors that coordinate with the book cover:

This time I did Coastal Cabana for George, but used Timid Tiger for Nancy, and incorporated Daffodil Delight for the book title.  Still kept quite a bit of Pecan Pie for all the brown on the cover of the book too.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Glass, Stacked Stone
Ink:  Early Espresso, Pecan Pie, Stampin' Blends in Daffodil Delight, Timid Tiger, Coastal Cabana, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Pecan Pie, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Textured Notes dies, Best Year Ever ribbon, In Color Flat Pearls, Earthy Matte Dots

This is another example of the mystery being secondary to the setting, but kid Christy loved the French tourist bit (I started taking French classes in middle school and would have gotten a minor in French if I had taken two more classes in college).  Adult Christy thinks the financier was just about the stupidest person ever--the fake alchemist has him convinced that he can turn coal into gold, which is a trick alchemists have been trying to pull since the Middle Ages so why is the financier so easy to fool?  All in all I give it three and a half stars.  If you're inspired to play along, leave me a comment on this post so I can see!  And come back next Saturday when Nancy investigates The Clue in the Crossword Cipher.