A Colorful Challenge from SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all and guess what?  It's time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!

And without any ado whatsoever, here it is:

Okay I have to say that my brain kept thinking it was an inspiration challenge rather than a color challenge, but I like to use the colors I see on inspo challenges anyway so it worked out and I got to ink up a couple of new stamp sets!  Here's what I made:

Looking at the picture, I saw Cloud Cover, Darling Duckling (or gold, but I opted for Darling Duckling), Strawberry Slush, and Garden Green.  The adorable snowman is from Festive Friends and the trees are the coordinating Festive Friends dies; the greeting comes from Branching Out, which I just *had* to buy because of Cynthia and all the pretty cards she's made with it.

I kept a lineup similar to the challenge graphic, and to give the trees a bit more texture I scrunched up plastic wrap and used it to dab ink on the die cut trees.  Such an easy technique and it makes the trees match the DSP background.  A few Strawberry Slush gems and done!

We hope you'll join in the fun at SUO Challenges.  Don't forget to use only Stampin' Up! supplies and link up your card at the challenge blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Festive Friends, Branching Out
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Darling Duckling, Garden Green, Stampin' Blends in Cloud Cover, Soft Sea Foam, Darling Duckling, Strawberry Slush
Paper:  Cloud Cover, Darling Duckling, Garden Green, Thick Basic White, Cloud Cover DSP
Accessories:  Festive Friends dies, Dimensionals, Strawberry Slush sparkle gems

Berlin Zoo

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  The hubs is off work today which always makes my schedule go wonky but that's okay.  We walked Ryan to school this morning and walked Daph at the same time, then I cleaned up some things in the house when we got back and here it is almost 11 and I never really had breakfast.  Okay so I may have grabbed a couple of pieces of Halloween candy but whatever.

Anyway, I have another pair of Berlin layouts to share today and I quite like how they turned out!

Hey look, I spy Hedwig in the upper right corner!  They really do have some very nice zoos in Germany, I know we went to at least one other one in a different city, Köln maybe, I can't remember offhand.  The enclosures all look really nice and we got good views of a lot of animals.

Pandas and seals and hippos and polar bears, oh my!  Not to mention mountain goats.  These layouts are similar to some older ones I made for a visit to the Fort Worth Zoo; Crumb Cake page base plus a bright green seems to work really well for zoo pics.

Today's color palette:  Crumb Cake, Call Me Clover, Shaded Spruce, Merry Merlot, Early Espresso, and white.  I pulled the Merry Merlot and Crumb Cake from the first Berlin layouts I did, and for the one after these two I pulled the green, which you'll see next week.  I think it helps several layouts from one trip flow together without having to use the same colors on everything, and I used the same alphabet stamps for the page titles...well, I used Schoolbook Serif on the first layout, and I used it again here plus Brushwork Alphabet, and I think for the other ones I used both alphabets together.  We'll see.

Anyway, time for me to write out this week's cards and go feed some mailboxes.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Schoolbook Serif Alphabet, Brushwork Alphabet, Artfully Layered, Tropical Chic
Ink:  Merry Merlot, Call Me Clover, Shaded Spruce, Early Espresso Marker
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Call Me Clover, Shaded Spruce, Thick Basic White, Painted Seasons DSP
Accessories:  Tropical Layers dies, Tropical dies

Color Options

Evenin' y'all!  I said in this morning's post that I had a couple of other cards I made for the new Paper Players color challenge:

So I thought I would share them both tonight.  Here's the first one:

I used Crumb Cake for the main image layer, embossed my image with Versamark + Early Espresso ink, and then I started out using watercolor pencils but they just weren't vivid enough so I watercolored with the ink pad lids.  I also tried it on Very Vanilla:

And then I decided they might not be "good enough" for my Paper Players card so I made the pheasant card I shared this morning.  I think these two cards turned out okay but I just wasn't loving them, what do you think?

Time to get Ryan started on the usual nighttime routine since he's back at school tomorrow.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Rustic Centerpieces, Sweet Blooms
Ink:  Versamark, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Pecan Pie, Whisper White
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Deckled Rectangles dies, Deckled Circles dies, Textured Notes dies, Potted Succulents dies, Dimensionals, Streaked Dots

The Paper Players Autumn Palette

Good morning, y'all!  Hard to believe it's already time for another Paper Players challenge, but here we are!  This week the lovely Jan has an equally lovely autumnal color combination for us:

And here's what I made:

I actually made two other cards before this one (which I will share later), I don't know if it's impostor syndrome or what but I always want to make Very Sure that I have made the best card I can for every Paper Players challenge and sometimes that means I make more than one.  

Anyway, I got out the retired Painted Pheasant (which my brain thought was called Pleasant Pheasant, probably because one of the greeting stamps has the word pleasant in it).  The bird and the greeting are both inked up with Versamark + Early Espresso, stamped, then heat embossed with clear embossing powder, which is a great trick to get embossing done in any ink color.  Yes you get some Versamark in your colored ink pads, but I've been doing this for years and I've never noticed anything happening to my ink pads because of it.  I wanted to emboss so that I could watercolor a bit of Cajun Craze on the pheasant's body, and I also added some Mossy Meadow to his head and did the patch around his eye with Cajun Craze blends (I looked at a photo of a pheasant when choosing how to color him).  I fussy cut him out and then added a few stamped layers for a backdrop, finishing off with some Low-Profile Sparkle Dots in Mossy Meadow.

I hope that you'll join in the fun and add your colorful creation to the linky on the Paper Players blog.  Don't forget to check out what my teamies made, too!  Here's a reminder of the challenge 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!

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

you are here --> Christy Stanford

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pleasant Pheasant
Ink:  Versamark, Early Espresso, Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Cajun Craze; Stampin' Blends in Ivory and Cajun Craze
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Lots of Labels Framelits, Dimensionals, Low-Profile Sparkle Dots

Mystery of the Tolling Bell

Happy Saturday and welcome to the latest Nancy Drew Challenge!  This week's book is #23, (The) Mystery of the Tolling Bell, and I have three different covers for this one.

The Russell Tandy cover on the left features Nancy in her signature blue, I like her pleated skirt and that hairstyle is SO 1940s.  I wonder why this is the only one that has "The" at the start of the title; the second book is the same text as this one but the title slightly changed.  Hmm.

Next we have Rudy Nappi's first cover for this one, which is clearly based on Tandy's but now Nancy has her signature 1960s flip hairdo and I really love that pink and red outfit.  10/10, would wear.  Also, this is the very first original text book I ever bought!

Last up we have Nappi's revised cover, which is kind of a combination of the collage style and also features the same scene as the first two versions but Nancy's outfit is far less interesting than either of the original text covers.  This one is my childhood copy.

I'm choosing the middle one as my favorite cover, both because of the awesome pink outfit and also it makes more sense for Nancy to have her trusty flashlight rather than carrying a clutch purse with her.  So let's take a look at the story!

Case file:  Nancy, Bess, and George are in the seaside town of Candleton to help Carson with a case; his client Mrs. Chantrey was duped into buying worthless stocks in a cosmetics company.  In addition, there's a mysterious cave in the seaside cliffs from which emanates the sound of a tolling bell and the locals think it's haunted.  Naturally, Nancy solves both mysteries and catches all the bad guys with Ned's help as strongman.  This one is like The Whispering Statue in that it's set in a seaside town, and perfume is a major plot point like in The Secret of Red Gate Farm.  But Tolling Bell also has some really whackadoo elements, like when Nancy gets drugged and has a dream that she's carried away by two elves.  It's bonkers.  And Carson gets drugged this time too.

Here's my card for the first cover version:

I just *had* to buy Fanciful Fragrance on eBay just so I could make a card for this book, and who knows how many other Nancy Drews feature perfume as a major plot point so really it was an investment, ha.  Anyway, I do love this image with the fancy perfume bottles and the set has some nice sentiments and some other fancy images too.

I ended up with Baja Breeze and Tranquil Tide to try to color match to Nancy's outfit on this one.  The brownish strip is the Earthen Toned Metallic Specialty Paper but it wasn't reflecting much when I took my photos.  I used champagne-colored rhinestones to make this card a bit fancier, and also that lovely Filigree background stamp, love it.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fanciful Fragrance, Filigree
Ink:  Tranquil Tide, Baja Breeze
Paper:  Tranquil Tide, Baja Breeze, Thick Basic White, Earthen Toned Metallic Specialty Paper
Accessories:  Squares Collection Framelits, Dimensionals, Champagne Rhinestones

On to the next cover!  This one is the original text again.

And here's my card:

The flimflam cosmetics company is Mon Coeur, which means "my heart" in French, so I wanted to do a heart image for this book to coordinate with Nancy's pink and red outfit on the cover.  As soon as I came across Living Large, I knew I had to use it.  Look, the stamped girly even has Nancy's signature 'do!

Once again I tried to work in the colors on the cover, so I ended up with Cloud Cover, Polished Pink, Cherry Cobbler, and Pebbled Path for my neutral.  I love that Wild Hearts background, this was a great excuse to break it out along with Living Large.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Living Large, Wild Hearts
Ink:  Pebbled Path, Polished Pink, Stampin' Blends in Polished Pink, Timid Tiger, Petal Pink, Cherry Cobbler, Cloud Cover
Paper:  Cloud Cover, Polished Pink, Thick Basic White, Cloud Cover DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Rhinestones, Cherry Cobbler Quilted Satin Ribbon, Wink of Stella

And now for the revised text:

The story is the same as the original text, just condensed a bit with no major changes that stood out to me.  And if you've been wondering how I could make multiple cards for the Mystery of the Tolling BELL without using any bells, well, here you go:

Midway through the book, the crooks decide that the Mon Coeur name is getting too hot with Nancy and Carson on their case, so they plan to change the brand name to Sweet Chimes with a logo of bells.  I had to look through my To Sell? stamps to find these bells in Best of Brides & Babies.

Once again I used Pebbled Path as my neutral, and I used So Saffron for the warm colors of Nancy in the center of the illustration.  There are some hints of blue in the rocks around her, so I chose Boho Blue for my card base, and hey, blue goes with a wedding card, right?  No one gets married in this book, though Ned definitely has it on his mind and Nancy politely ignores it because she's more interested in solving mysteries than canoodling.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Best of Brides & Babies, Occasional Quotes
Ink:  Versamark, Pebbled Path, So Saffron, Peach Pie, Boho Blue
Paper:  Boho Blue, Pebbled Path, So Saffron, Thick Basic White, Bella Bleu DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, Circles Collection Framelits, Mini Dimensionals, Clear EP, Pearls

I hope you enjoyed (The) Mystery of the Tolling Bell, this was another one I really liked from my childhood and still enjoyed a lot on this read through.  If you're inspired to play along (hooray!), just leave me a comment below!  I'll be back next week to search for The Clue in the Old Album.  Cheers!

Rococo Primroses

Mornin' y'all!  Bit of a later start today as the kiddo is off of school today (why) and I was slow getting up and moving this morning.  I only did a short yoga session for a workout but I think even just that little bit helped me set up to feel good today : )  It's a beautiful sunny day too so Ryan and I will be taking Daphne out for her neighborhood tour when I finish writing this.

So here is today's card:

I pulled out a retired In Color and some retired DSP for this one.  Here is this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And this week's Color Throwdown:

I'm sad I missed out on playing in the challenge prior to this one but I'm glad I got play this week.  I used Rococo Rose (the retired In Color), Lost Lagoon, and Darling Duckling.  I chose that plaid pattern out of the Inked Botanicals Stack (I'm a sucker for a good plaid) and it wasn't until I was putting the whole card together that I realized it's more Pool Party with Lost Lagoon lines.  Well, I'm calling Pool Party and Lost Lagoon different values of the aqua shade on the challenge graphic.

This also fits in with the Paper Players challenge this week, there's two more hours left until the challenge closes!

Okay, time to go walk the Daphinator.  Have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Thankful Garden
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Rococo Rose, Darling Duckling, Lost Lagoon
Paper:  Rococo Rose, Thick Basic White, Inked Botanicals DSP Stack, Darling Duckling DSP
Accessories:  Thankful Garden dies, Circles Collection Framelits, Dimensionals, Earthy Matte Dots

An Apple a Day

Mornin' y'all!  Daphne is ensconced on the oversize chair near me where she can look out the window and she just looks so comfy and content : )  And cute, of course.  Pretty soon she'll start poking at me to take her for a walk so I'm going to enjoy the tranquillity while it lasts.

I did a whole lot of apple cards in September but that didn't stop me from making one more yesterday.

Give Thanks is a sweet little stamp set from many moons ago and I love it.  This year I have embraced using more of my retired stamps and other supplies instead of feeling like I *have* to have all the new things that come out.  Anyway, I used a stamp with multiple leaves on it to stamp the Cherry Cobbler cardstock strip but it's not showing up that well on the photo.  Just gives an extra bit of texture.

Thought I'd have another go at the As You See It theme, I had done a pumpkin card already so we had to do apples so I can represent the top two Thanksgiving pies in our house : )

Here's the CASE-ing Tuesday sketch I used:

That challenge is not just for Halloween cards anymore ; )  And last up is the Hand Stamped Sentiments color challenge:

I stamped the main image and the greeting in Secret Sea and I discovered while coloring the image that I need to replace my Pool Party Blends.  I also need to replace the Soft Sea Foam Blends and I just recently got new sets for Mossy Meadow and Shaded Spruce.  Bit annoying, that.

Anyway, I did five loads of laundry yesterday but I need to do at least one more today.  I have a few more things to do but the first on the list is taking our sweet Daphne out for her walk.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Give Thanks, Pick of the Patch
Ink:  Secret Sea, Cherry Cobbler, Stampin' Blends in Cherry Cobbler, Smoky Slate, Pool Party, Mossy Meadow, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Secret Sea, Thick Basic White, Plaid Tidings DSP Stack
Accessories:  Labels Collection Framelits, Dimensionals, Secret Sea Flat Pearls