Bear Hugs

Afternoon, y'all!  My hand is feeling better, though it's still purple; my right shoulder and arm are what bother me more, really.  Be careful when you're walking around where it's icy!  I was Very Careful when I took Daphne out this morning.  I just saw her slip a bit on ice on our back patio when I let her out a minute ago, but she managed to stay on her feets so she does better than I do.  She does have twice as many feets though.

Anyway, since I am feeling okay (if a bit sore), I got in my craft room today and made a few things, including a card to share this afternoon:

Y'all KNOW I love anything with bears!  I got the Valentine Kisses bundle in...November I think?  But I hadn't done anything at all with it yet, not even stamping an index sheet for it until today.  Which means I can share this at Inspire. Create.:

I didn't want to let last week's CASE-ing Tuesday Sketch go by without playing along:

And last up is the new Color Care Challenge:

This seemed like the perfect excuse to cut into my new Made With Love DSP, so I hit the top row of colors with Bubble Bath, Flirty Flamingo, and Real Red, plus a dose of Pecan Pie and Ivory for my kissy-face bear.  There are lots of fun patterns in this DSP, I will have to play with it some more, love it.

Anyway, I've got just over an hour until I need to leave to pick Ryan up from school, so I'm going to go back up to my craft room and see what I can make for tomorrow.  Side note:  the cookie dough Oreos that just came out are dangerously good, which I should have known already because I seriously love Oreos (except anything that's like java or mint, ick), but they only had a couple of packages of them at my grocery store so if you, too, love Oreos, be on the lookout for those.  That is my Public Service Announcement of the day.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Valentine Kisses
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Real Red, Stampin' Blends in Bubble Bath, Flirty Flamingo, Pecan Pie, Ivory
Paper:  Bubble Bath, Real Red, Thick Basic White, Made With Love DSP
Accessories:  Valentine Kisses dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Dots for Days

A Rockin' Color Challenge from The Paper Players

Happy Sunday and welcome to the first Paper Players challenge of the new year!  The lovely LeAnne is starting us off with some fun colors:

Now, these would be perfect for a fun wintry card, but of course I had to go in a different direction.  Here's what I made:

Try as I might, I could not get a true-to-life photo of this card, but I promise that the card base and DSP are Misty Moonlight, the ribbon and greeting are Night of Navy, and the disco balls and stars are silver.  I blame Jaydee for this, she's always making cards with wonderful dies and it's 100% her fault that I ended up buying a bunch of Spellbinders dies during their year-end sale.  Why did I want disco ball dies?  Not a clue, but as soon as I saw them I *needed* them, ha!  So I had to break them out for this challenge.

Don't forget to check out what the other Paper Players made with this fun combo:

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!

I might be quiet for a few days; yesterday when I took my girl Daphne out for a walk, we were almost back home when I hit a patch of ice and fell down.  I hit my right hand pretty hard, which is unfortunate because I'm right-handed, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to do much with that hand for a few days.  I can move everything so I'm pretty sure at least that I didn't break anything, it's just swollen and bruised, and my right arm and shoulder are sore today.  So I'll be relaxing with a cuppa tea and a movie if you need me.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Starstruck from Verve Stamps
Ink:  Night of Navy
Paper:  Misty Moonlight, Silver Foil, Silver Glimmer, Misty Moonlight DSP
Accessories:  Disco Ball dies from Spellbinders, bordered Night of Navy ribbon

The Scarlet Slipper Mystery

Happy Saturday and welcome to a new Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we're investigating The Scarlet Slipper Mystery, Nancy's thirty-second adventure.

Both covers today are by Rudy Nappi.  On the left we have Nancy in a lovely scarlet shirt, examining a painting with George and Ned behind her.  I think this is meant to be a scene at a cabin belonging to Ned's parents, and nice to see Ned get onto a cover.  Believe it or not, this is Ned's first cover appearance, at least of all the editions I own.

On the right is the RT, and once again we have Nancy examining a painting, but this time by herself and also I really want her shirt.  I like that we see more of the painting in this one and I'm already biased towards the green/blue end of the spectrum, so when you add in Nancy's awesome shirt that means the RT cover is my favorite for this set.

Let's take a look inside:

Case file:  Nancy befriends Henri and Helene Fontaine, brother/sister dance school owners who have received threatening messages telling them to leave River Heights.  Nancy stashes them at a lakeside cabin owned by Ned's parents and then runs the dance school with Bess while trying to figure out who's after the Fontaines.  We have jewel smuggling and political intrigue for the fictional communist-controlled country of Centrovia, the Fontaines' homeland, and Nancy and her friends almost die in a fire set by the bad guys (oops).

Here's my card:

Did I buy ballet-themed stamps just for this book challenge?  Obviously.  I had to make a card featuring the titular scarlet slippers.  While Henri and Helene had a real pair of scarlet ballet slippers worn by their mother, the important ones in the mystery are on a painting Henri did of Helene which was then used by the bad guys for international jewel smuggling, which is pretty creative if you ask me.

I took my card colors of of what we can see of the painting on the right side, so I used So Saffron and Cherry Cobbler.  The slippers might look lighter than Cherry Cobbler, but that's what I used, and then I watercolored them a little bit too.  I used some Charming Shimmer Faceted Dots as accents to go with the jewels in the story.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  En Pointe, Ballet Beauty
Ink:  Versamark, Cherry Cobbler
Paper:  So Saffron, Butterfly Bijou DSP Stack, Regal Winter DSP, So Saffron DSP
Accessories:  Clear EP, Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, Charming Shimmer Faceted Dots

Next up is the RT:

No major changes for the revised text, though I will say I think a weak point of this book is that there are too many characters.  We have Nancy's usual Drew Crew plus the Fontaines, an entire ring of bad guys, Nancy's ballet students, and several others to keep track of.  Anyway, I still love Nancy's shirt and here's my card:

I actually got TWO ballet stamp sets for this ; ) and I wanted to use one of the dancer images on this card, so I chose the one that most closely matched the painting on the cover of the book.

I also kept a moody Pretty Peacock background like on the book cover, but I chose to stamp the dancer on some Delicate Desert DSP to give me a range of peachy pinks (and also, I have really enjoyed stamping directly on DSP lately, have you noticed that?).  Once again, I chose rhinestones to accent the image to coordinate with the jewels in the book (ever notice how many Nancy Drews involve jewels?  The answer is many many).  I also used the same dies so these cards look to me like the coordinate even without the books.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Ballet Beauty
Ink:  Secret Sea, Petal Pink, Stampin' Blends in Petal Pink & Calypso Coral
Paper:  Pretty Peacock, Thick Basic White, Delicate Desert DSP, Regal Winter DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Noble Peacock Rhinestones, Dimensionals

This is the first book since The Mystery of the Ivory Charm to include political intrigue for a foreign country, and once again I think The Scarlet Slipper Mystery is loads better than Ivory Charm.  I give it four stars, the dancing and painting aspects were fun but it was a lot of characters to keep straight.  If you're inspired to make a card for this challenge, leave me a comment here.  And check back next Saturday, when we puzzle out The Witch Tree Symbol!

Something Beautiful

Mornin' y'all!  It is a snow day here in Colorado and I think that Winter has been saving up all the snow for this snowstorm because we'd had almost nothing all winter and them BAM.  For reals, we had absolutely nothing on the ground when it started snowing yesterday morning, and when Ryan, Daphne, and I went out this morning, there were some places with drifts up to my KNEES!!

They were having the time of their lives, they both love it.  I should have taken pictures once we got to the big open green space, they both had so much fun running around.

I took this pic yesterday afternoon and we have far more snow today than we did then.  I think I shall be content to stay indoors with a lovely giant cuppa tea (more likely several in succession), the kids can enjoy the snow without me!

Anyway, I do have a card to share today:

Okay I told you I love that new Nature Walk DSP, I already ordered a second pack of it so I can have one pack to hoard and one pack to make pretty things with.  The deer and the trees are from the new Outdoor Adventure (I haven't seen other stampers do much with this yet, but I love it), and I chose a greeting from the long-retired Beautiful Thistle because it seemed right on this card.  The deer and trees are both stamped directly on DSP, the deer is on a different piece that has a bit of a grid pattern on it in a more Crumb Cake color, and then I did the greeting on Very Vanilla sponged with Pecan Pie.

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Lots of wide-open space for creativity with that sketch, love it.

Okay, now I really need that cuppa tea.  The hubs is out shoveling the driveway (I did it yesterday before he got home, but this morning it looked like I never even touched it), or at least that's what he was doing when Ryan, Daphne, and I came back from our walk through the snowdrifts.  I think Ryan is trying to sled down one side of the driveway.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Outdoor Adventure, Beautiful Thistle
Ink:  Early Espresso, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Pecan Pie, Very Vanilla, Nature Walk DSP
Accessories:  Outdoor Adventure dies, Deckled Rectangles dies, Faux Glass Dots

The Cozy Llama

That's my new pub name, I called it.  Y'know, if I ever expand from my first fictional pub, The Laughing Moose.  Anyway, it is SNOWING right now but school starts in 20 minutes and so far they haven't said anything about canceling it so I'm going to hustle Ryan out the door as fast as I can ; )  My guys might go skiing this weekend if we get some good snow.

I also have snow on my card today, and my titular cozy llama:

I adore the llama and the dachshund in this stamp set, which is no longer available so I'm sorry if you didn't grab it.  Seems like SU! is retiring things far too quickly now if you ask me.  Anyway, I started with the color combination from TGIF Challenges:

I added just a teensy bit of Petal Pink for the llama's nose and ears, does that count as a skin tone?  The sparkle gems are technically Balmy Blue and Bubble Bath, but I thought they coordinated with my card pretty well and so I kept adding more of them.

And then went for the Hand-Stamped Sentiments sketch:

I was a bit puzzled by the skinny tall piece but I think my llama works pretty well!  What brought everything together is the AAA Birthday challenge:

I had this in mind when I went looking through my stamps for something that worked for a winter birthday.  I know who this is going to, too--one of my friends has a birthday two days after mine (and they're both coming up later this month!) so I'll send this cozy llama card to her : )  Everybody else in my house has February birthdays, Ryan wanted to vote me off the island for having a January one.  Silly.  If he votes me off the island, who's going to keep him stocked up with goldfish crackers?

Anyway, it's time to get Ryan out the door and then Daphne and I can enjoy a quiet morning together, though I imagine she's still going to make me take her out for a walk in the snow.  But I have lots of tea to help me thaw out after.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Long Time No See, Bitty Birthday
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Smoky Slate, Highland Heather, Petal Pink
Paper:  Highland Heather, Smoky Slate, Thick Basic White, Highland Heather & Balmy Blue DSP, Silver Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  So Many Snowflakes dies, Two-Tone Sparkle Gems, Mini Dimensionals

Tulip Time

Mornin' y'all!  I am happy to report that I have been working on my goal to spend less time staring mindlessly at social media and more time on the things I really want to accomplish.  When I sat down at my craft table yesterday, I was having trouble focusing and figuring out what I wanted to make, how to combine challenges, what stamps to use, etc. and instead of hopping on Facebook for a while and hoping my brain would eventually cooperate, I listened to a short meditation on focus.  Then instead of turning on a podcast, I put on some instrumental music and began to concentrate on what I wanted to make and guess what?  It worked!

I felt like at first my brain was trying to go in several directions at once to figure out how to combine two challenges, but when I was finally able to get it to focus I really liked where I ended up.  And once I got started I was able to turn the podcast back on without losing my focus, which was nice.  I'm a little bit addicted to The Soundtrack Show with David W. Collins right now and yesterday I was listening to a deep dive on the music of Jurassic Park, highly recommend the podcast if you're interested in movie soundtracks.

Anyway, my first challenge of today is the Festive Friday Challenge:

Thanks to my super colorful DSP, I have red (...debatable, it might be classified as dark pink), yellow, orange, and tulips, and I added a stamped windmill.  I thought about making it a birthday card but I send a lot more hello/friendship/thinking of you type cards so I went with that.

Next up is the Atlantic Hearts Sketch:

The sketch clicked into place for me when I decided to add the windmill on top of the square piece instead of behind and above it, a small adjustment that made the design work for my card I think but you can still see the sketch I started with.

After I finished this, I even started on unmounting a bunch of stamp sets that have been languishing in my craft room for MONTHS, so after I take Daphne for our daily walk, I will be finishing that up and then I probably will have to buy a few more stamp cases.  But hooray for getting started on projects that I've been putting off for far too long : )  And hooray for figuring out how to work through temporary creative blocks to make something when my time is limited, love that.

Have a great day, peeps!  Daphne is ready to go for our walk.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tulip Fields, All-Year Cheer I
Ink:  Early Espresso, Mango Melody, Petal Pink, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Mossy Meadow, Petal Pink
Paper:  Mango Melody, Mossy Meadow, Thick Basic White, Flowering Fields DSP
Accessories:  Windmill Fields dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Milky Dots

A Lovely Sketch for SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all!  Man, Ryan was in a MOOD this morning but he's off at school now and hopefully he'll be happier when I pick him up.  Daphne and I are enjoying the quiet...or we would be, if the wind wasn't kicking up so much.  I'm going to have hair styled by tornado when we go out for our walk in a bit.

Anyway, today is the day for the first SUO Challenge of the year!

We're starting off with a sketch:

Okay, I had to think long and hard about this sketch, but I ended up with two cards:

I made the darker card on the left first, and then I wanted to play around with the colors a bit so I made the lighter card on the right.  Okay I had a piece of that beautiful DSP I used in the background that was big enough for a second card front and I just had to, isn't that pattern gorgeous?  Here's a closer look at the dark card:

Instead of cutting smaller pieces for the elements behind the circle, I cut a striped pattern the "wrong" way (usually I like to cut where the stripes go the long way of the piece of paper if that makes sense) so it kind of gives the feel of those breaks in the pattern but it's still one piece.  Except one of those strips is two pieces because I am a thrifty soul and I knew the join would be hidden by the circle so I could use up a smaller scrap.

Here's the lighter version:

I had cut the white "lovely" for the first card and didn't use it, so I figured I would work it in here.  I remembered there are stripes in the color family DSP packs so I got some Summer Splash stripes from that, and then used the Summer Splash splatty pattern for the circle since I knew the Secret Sea ink would show up well on it.  So which one do you like better, the darker version or the lighter one?  Either way I love that floral DSP : )

We hope you'll play along with us at upload your card at the SUO Challenges blog.  Don't forget to use only Stampin' Up! products and most important, have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sweet Blooms
Ink:  Secret Sea
Paper:  Garden Green, Cloud Cover, Secret Sea, Petunia Pop, Basic White, Flowers in Bloom DSP, Summer Splash DSP
Accessories:  Sweet Blooms dies, In Color Flat Pearls