Owl Be Home for Christmas

Mornin' y'all, and happy Friday!  Today is Ryan's last day of school before winter break, and he has early release today so I'd best get up and moving with a few things before I have to pick him up.  The hubs brought home two more presents for me to wrap and I have to take the Daphinator out for a walk.  It's a nice sunny day though so that will be fun.

Anyway, I have a card to share today.

I feel like I haven't used Christmas Friends nearly enough this season and it's on the Last Chance List.  I've made cards with the bear and the moose so today it's the owl's turn, along with a punny sentiment.  I used the Sunday Stamps sketch:

I have absolutely been hoarding that jingle bell pattern that I used behind the owl; the Shopping Our Stash challenge to use something you've been hoarding pushed me to finally cut into it for this card.  And I cut into a couple of other patterns as well because I do have a bad hoarding tendency when it comes to patterned paper but for reals, I have a ton.  Maybe literally.

Okay, as soon as I finish my tea I'm taking Daphne out for a tour of the neighborhood.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Christmas Friends
Ink:  Early Espresso, VersaMark, Stampin' Blends in Real Red, Pecan Pie, Ivory, Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Garden Green, Thick Basic White, Reindeer Days DSP
Accessories:  Christmas Friends dies, Stylish Shapes dies, White EP, Peppermint accents, Dimensionals

Regal Strength

Mornin' y'all, how's it going?  I got my two cookie doughs made yesterday and one of them I already know the recipe is not a keeper because I don't want to spend 30 minutes finely chopping up dried cranberries.  So I'll be baking those two doughs today and we'll see if I make the two bar recipes or not.

I have a special card to share today that I made for my friend Krissy, who lost her heart dog last Saturday after he suddenly collapsed.

I usually send her a card a week as part of my routine, but I wanted to send her extra love this week.  I used this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the filigree shape on the right until I remembered the Cupcake Inspirations challenge:

Coincidentally, both challenges are on the same number : )  A bow was just the thing I needed for my card.  I knew I had that Pretty Peacock and gold ribbon from last year or the year before (I had never actually opened it, and this is why I rarely buy ribbons anymore) so I actually started my card design with that ribbon and paired it with the Regal Winter DSP since it has Pretty Peacock in it.  And from there the card came together pretty fast.

I also got all my Christmas cards sent off and mailed off one last package yesterday.  All the presents here have been wrapped; there are a couple of things that might not arrive until after Christmas but they'll just be birthday presents instead.  Feeling like I'm ready for the holiday now : )

Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Regal Flora, Inspiring Snapdragons
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Pretty Peacock, Versamark
Paper:  Pretty Peacock, Blackberry Bliss, Thick Basic White, Regal Winter DSP
Accessories:  Regal Flora dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella, Gold EP, Pretty Peacock & Gold ribbon

Jingle Bells Rock

Mornin', y'all.  I'm going to have to type fast as we need to leave in about 10 minutes if I can get Ryan to get moving.  He's started doing this thing lately when he's supposed to be getting ready for school or getting ready for bed where he just dillydallies and wastes time and it's getting very frustrating.  He spent 20 minutes goofing off in the bathroom last night instead of brushing his teeth so he didn't get books.  Ugh.

Anyway, here's my card for today:

I still had the Holly Berry Bouquet DSP on my craft table when I saw this TGIF Challenges sketch:

I had a bunch of 1-inch squares of the holly pattern already cut out, I don't remember why, so I thought they'd be a good starting point for the sketch.  I cut a couple more squares out in the red pattern and found a scrap of Wild Wasabi DSP, then used the retired postage stamp punch to punch out frames for the squares.  The jingle bells image is from Reindeer Fun, I thought it was nice to focus on a smaller image that isn't the reindeer for this card.

That's it for me today, peeps.  I'm off to take Ryan to school and then go mail off our Christmas cards and one package, and go to the store because the hubs asked me to make one batch of cookies for a potluck at work on Friday.  Naturally, I picked out two cookie recipes and possibly two bar recipes because I am who I am.  I'll be mixing up cookie dough this afternoon to bake tomorrow.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Reindeer Fun
Ink:  Real Red, Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Real Red & So Saffron
Paper:  Real Red, Thick Basic White, Holly Jolly Bouquet DSP
Accessories:  Reindeer Fun dies, Apple Blossoms dies, postage stamp punch, Mini Dimensionals, Festive Pearls

Good Tidings Cardinal

Mornin' y'all!  I am happy to report that I got our Christmas letter written last night, and got all the envelopes addressed and stuffed.  Now I just need the postage stamps (they should be arriving today or tomorrow) and those will be out the door.  Might not arrive everywhere before Christmas but that is exactly why my cards always say Happy Holidays.  New Year's is a holiday.  So is MLK Day.  And Valentine's Day, though I've never been *that* late.

Anyway, since I flatly refused to get on the Christmas train before Thanksgiving, I'm still over here playing with Christmas stamps while I still can and most everybody else in blogland has moved on to stuff from the upcoming catties.  But here's what I have for today!

Mixing old and new again today, with Sophisticated Sled for the stamps and Wrapped in Plaid from a few years ago for the DSP.  I was inspired by The Card Concept:

I got the wreath and plaid on my card, but my colors are lighter versions of what's on the inspiration pic.  Next up is the Just Add Ink sketch:

That zigzag made me think of the Basic Borders dies which retired a while back but nobody I send cards to cares what's current vs. what's retired, so I used it.

It's about time to get Ryan off to school and then I will be wrapping presents while he's gone.  Usually I do that on the floor, but this time I'll keep everything up on the dining room table because I don't want Daphne's nose in it : ) I love having a doggo again.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sophisticated Sled
Ink:  Shaded Spruce, Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Shaded Spruce, Real Red, Cherry Cobbler
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Thick Basic White, Wrapped in Plaid DSP Stack
Accessories:  Sophisticated Sled dies, Countryside Corners dies, Border Basics dies, Mini Dimensionals, Festive Gems

Merry Christmas 2019

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  And today is a day to celebrate--our master shower is FINALLY operational after 3 months!!!  The hubs and the kid tried it out last night and I took a shower in there this morning.  So glad to have our entire bathroom back!  Daphne was a bit confused about the whole thing as the shower was torn up well before we adopted her.  Once she saw the water turned on, she decided that she wanted nothing to do with that and noped out : )

Anyway, I have a couple of scrapbook layouts to share from 2019, so here they are:

AAAAACCCKKK Ryan is such a cutie.  This Christmas was in North Carolina and my parents came out to spend Christmas with us.  Of course almost everything under the tree was for Ryan and he loved opening up all the presents.  In fact, he would offer to "help" everyone else open up theirs too!

I love the side-eye from Ryan in that smallest picture on the left page.  And I love the fun patterned paper I chose for this, high energy for our high energy kiddo.

Today's festive color palette:  Real Red, Pear Pizzazz, Mossy Meadow, Pacific Point, and Whisper White.  I rather miss Pear Pizzazz or Certainly Celery, I would trade out Soft Sea Foam for one of those colors in a heartbeat.

Gotta get Ryan to school, this is his last week before winter break.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snowman Season, Pure & Simple Numbers, #Elfie
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Real Red, Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in neutrals, Petal Pink, Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Real Red, Night of Navy, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Pacific Point, Thick Basic White, Heartwarming Hugs DSP
Accessories:  None

Cozy Rosy Christmas

Good AFTERNOON, y'all, I got a late start today : )  We're going to do game night tonight with friends and I volunteered to provide dessert, so I'm baking some things for that and my house smells like gingerbread, at least the downstairs does, which is much better than it smelling like the sealer the hubs used on the floor of our shower.  The hubs has finished sealing it (I think) and so now we just need to reinstall the glass wall and door and then we can USE that shower for the first time in three months.

Anyway, here is today's card:

I started with the inspiration challenge from Hand Stamped Sentiments:

I zeroed in immediately on the center picture, the pitcher with the roses and pine cones, which made me think of the Holly Berry Bouquet DSP.  And then I got stuck until I looked through some old sketches from Freshly Made Sketches and came across this one:

And then my card came together pretty quickly.  I'm a little too late to enter this at Retro Rubber but I'm mentioning it anyway:

This time I did the diagonal, with dies - greenery - ribbon.  I am continuing my trend of using older retired stamps:  Cozy Christmas (the greeting) is 9 years old, and To a Wild Rose is 5 years old, so both retro.  And of course my DSP is retro too : ) and so is the ribbon.  Just retro all around.

That's it for me today, peeps.  I need to frost the gingerbread bars and bake the Oreo cheesecake cookie dough that I made this morning before I took Daphne out for a walk.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Cozy Christmas, To A Wild Rose
Ink:  Real Red, Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip, Versamark
Paper:  Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Thick Basic White, Holly Jolly Bouquet DSP
Accessories:  Wild Rose dies, Stylish Shapes dies, White EP, white 3/8" taffeta, Dimensionals

Blue Christmas

Happy Friday, y'all!  Ryan is off school today except for some 10-minute test thing he has to do 15 minutes from now, and once that's done we're going to take Daph-Daph for a walk and then get packages ready to ship out.

But first, I have a card!

Okay for reals, I spent like two days in my craft room just staring at stuff and trying to come up with something for a couple of challenges, and this is where I ended up for the Festive Friday challenge:

I did silver, blue, shimmery jewels, and birds.  I was going through my DSP looking for something blue and came up with that piece with blue *and* birds, so that's where I started.

Okay, we've got to get Ryan out the door ASAP so that's it for me.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sophisticated Sled
Ink:  Night of Navy, Versamark, Stampin' Blends in Night of Navy, Misty Moonlight, Boho Blue
Paper:  Night of Navy, Misty Moonlight, Thick Basic White, Countryside Inn DSP
Accessories:  Sophisticated Sled dies, Nested Essentials dies, Silver EP, Tinsel Gems, Dimensionals