Little Ladybug Thanks

Mornin' y'all!  We woke up to SNOW this morning, but the temperature is just above freezing so I don't think it's going to stick around too long.  It's still trying to snow out there though, so I think I will be driving Ryan to school this morning.

Anyway, I recently acquired (yet another) retired stamp set and it just happened that there was a confluence of sketch and color challenges for me to ink it up.  Here's my card:

Field Journal also has an image of a duck and we know how Ryan loves ducks, plus I like the font on the greetings in this stamp set.  It was brand new (until I got my hands on it, ha!) and I got it at a good price.

Here's this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I immediately saw that dividing line as a bit of ribbon, and I made my card a normal A2 size because I just don't like making cards in other sizes because I'm like that.  Here's the latest Color Dare:

I did Real Red, Shaded Spruce, and Balmy Blue.  I tried coloring the image with Blends first but I just didn't like it, so I used watercolor pencils instead.  The only part I blended with a watercolor brush is the Balmy Blue background.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Field Journal
Ink:  Early Espresso
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Basic White, Shaded Spruce DSP
Accessories:  Nested Essentials dies, Chocolate Chip Polytwill Ribbon, Dimensionals, Delightful Decorative Dots

One more project to share today, earlier this week I finished my stitching project:

The pattern is called Pretty Little Los Angeles from Satsuma Street, and I started it last month when we were in Telluride.  Before I started stitching, my brain was most insistent that I needed to do this on orange fabric and...I think I like it?  I'm not 100% sure, but for now it's done.  I pulled floss for a new project yesterday and then I had to organize all my printed patterns and fabric.  The fabric is still all over the bed in the guest room so I'll finish organizing that today and hopefully choose a color for my new project.

In the meantime, I've got to get Ryan off to school and then there will be several cups of tea.  Cheers!

Playful Puppers

Mornin' y'all, and send caffeine.  I woke up at around two last night and couldn't get back to sleep, so I read a book on my Kindle until about 4:30 (yep, finished that book).  On the upside, I'm 8 books ahead of my Goodreads reading goal for 2026.  On the downside, I'm going to be tired and headachey today.

But let's have a cheerful card, shall we?

I know there are kittens and birds in this stamp set, but let's be real, I got it for the doggos : )  I used the latest color challenge from CAS Colours & Sketches:

I was very tempted to make a Halloween card, but I went with puppers instead.  The flowers are colored with both shades of Flirty Flamingo Blends, bandanas are the two shades of Pumpkin Pie, and the puppers are, from left to right, Crumb Cake, Smoky Slate, Pecan Pie, and one of the dark neutrals because he looks like a Labrador to me and I always wanted a chocolate Lab.  Not to say I don't adore my Supermutt, Daphne:

This was her yesterday asking me to throw the rubber chicken for her.  She can, will, and does destroy most toys before you can say "Destructo-Dog", but the rubber chicken and the rubber duck are holding up pretty well.  My living room is currently decorated with the eviscerated fluff from a toy I bought her on Monday; she is completely unrepentant.  She's lucky she's cute.

Anyway, I'm off to make my second cuppa tea and then take Ms. Destructo-Dog out for a tour of the neighborhood.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Cutest Crew
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Lemon Lime Twist, Flirty Flamingo, Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake, Smoky Slate, Pecan Pie, neutrals
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Thick Basic White, LLT DSP
Accessories:  Cutest Crew dies, Nested Essentials dies, Dimensonials, Array of Dots

CASEing Cindy for SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all!  It's a cloudy morning but I don't think we have any more rain forecast for today.  Daphne and I got rained on during our walk yesterday and she was a bit confused and not altogether happy about it.  Ryan got rained on a bit too, but he didn't seem to be at all unhappy about it.

Anyway, it's time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!  Here's what we've got for you:

We are CASEing Cindy and isn't this a marvelous card?  I really liked the dark DSP background with the lighter band across it for the sentiment, and don't you know I have a brand new pack of dark and delicious DSP so here's what I made:

I kept the fern-y feel of Cindy's DSP but I just had to make something with the Moonlit Flora DSP, isn't it GORGEOUS.  And I need to order the other new In Color Blends because I don't have Golden Glow yet, so I had to watercolor my little moth.  I chose a beautiful print from the DSP and matted it in Soft Sea Foam (I think this DSP might actually make me a fan of Soft Sea Foam, I love how it works with the other colors in here) and used the same color for my band.  There's a friendship greeting in Fern & Flora, so I used that, and then layered a couple of die cuts and my luna moth.  I moved the band and die cuts down a bit from Cindy's card just to work better with my patterned paper, and I used the clear Dewdrops that are in this suite of products as subtle embellishments.  I definitely need another pack (...or two) of this DSP, I love it.

Now it's your turn!  CASE Cindy's wonderful card and link up at the SUO Challenges blog.  Don't forget to keep it SU! Only...that's the name of the challenge, after all, and have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fern & Flora
Ink:  Secret Sea, Golden Glow, Versamark
Paper:  Peaceful Pine, Soft Sea Foam, Old Olive, Thick Basic White, Moonlit Flora DSP
Accessories:  Fern & Flora dies, Mini Dimensionals, Clear EP, Dewdrops

Singin' in the Rain

Mornin' y'all!  Guess what?  It RAINED yesterday!  And we have a chance of rain several days this week!  Guess all my rainy day crafting has finally manifested actual precipitation, ha!  And I have another rainy card to share today:

I just had to have another go at some of last week's challenges, and Playing in the Rain and Rain or Shine were still out on my crafting table.  I decided to get out the sweet bunny this time for the Sunday Stamps challenge:

I skipped the lighter pink and then used Flirty Flamingo, Pineapple Punch, Cloud Cover, and Shy Shamrock for my colors.  That rainy background from the Rain or Shine Specialty DSP is I think a mix of Balmy Blue and Smoky Slate, but it turns out it coordinates really well with Cloud Cover.  I gave the bunny a bright yellow rain slicker because I've always wanted a bright yellow rain slicker and I've never had one.

Once again we have the Retro Rubber Challenge:

I think I nailed the rain theme better on this one than with my fox card.  Once again, Playing in the Rain is 3 years old and Rain or Shine is 13 years old, nice and retro for both.

Inkspirational wants to see rainy cards too:

And I used the same Freshly Made Sketch as the fox card:

This time I did die cut a circle to go behind my little bunny, I think I like it better than the fox card for that.  And then, since I had the Rain or Shine DSP out anyway, I made one more card:

I had never fussy cut these little pals out of the DSP before so it was past time they got on a card of their own, especially after Ann made such a cute card with this paper for a Paper Players challenge.  Everything on here is cut from the DSP, the only stamping is the greeting.  I have been on a tear with paper tearing lately, I seem to want to do that on a lot of cards, but it's a quick and easy way to add extra interest.

That's it for me, peeps.  I've got to get Ryan off to school, finish my brekkie (English breakfast tea and an orange strawberry scone) and then I'm off to have my head examined : )  I'm having an MRI to investigate why I've been having more headaches than usual lately.  Hubs says I've been needing my head examined for years since I live with him and Ryan, but I loves them anyway.  Hope you have a great day, rainy or not!

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Playing in the Rain, Rain or Shine
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Craft Whisper White, Stampin' Blends in Cloud Cover, Flirty Flamingo, Pineapple Punch, Shy Shamrock
Paper:  Cloud Cover, Thick Basic White, Rain or Shine Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Playing in the Rain dies, Textured Notes dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, white EP, In Color Flat Pearls

Supplies, second card:
Stamps:  Playing in the Rain
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Old Olive, Rain or Shine Specialty DSP
Accessories:  None

Just One More with The Paper Players

Gooooood morning stampy friends!  Thanks to everyone who played along with my baby animals challenge last week at The Paper Players, I had so much fun looking at all the little babies!  It's Sunday again already, which means it's time for a new Paper Players challenge, and this week the stylin' Stef has a wonderful sketch for us!

This was one of those sketches where my brain was trying to go in several directions at once and I had to make myself pause and concentrate on one idea because focus is important.  This is where I ended up:

Really if you replace the stack of books she's using to rest her head for an actual pillow, this is me every single evening.  NEW STAMPS ALERT!  Tracy recently posted a card she made with bookish stamps from Unity, and wouldn't you know I just *had* to mosey on over to their website to check them out and I ended up with three bookish stamp sets of my very own...and don't tell the hubs, I have a couple more stamp sets on the way from them.  I was a naughty girl last week with the online shopping! 

I was inspired to use one of my new bookish stamp sets as soon as I saw the TGIF Challenges inspo pic on Friday morning:

I happened to have a piece of Barely Blush cardstock on my stamping table when I sat down to make my card, so I thought I'd stamp the image on that to make it warmer than if I used Whisper White or even Very Vanilla.  I was going to go along with the colors in the inspo pic, but that Barely Blush base layer took me in a different direction and I had some fun hunting through my pack of 100 Crayola colored pencils for my colors.  Been a minute since I used colored pencils, so that was fun!  This is my first time using Barely Blush, and while I have not been fond of our past colors with "blush" in the name, I think I'm going to like this one.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Just One More Chapter from Unity Stamps
Ink:  Early Espresso
Paper:  Early Espresso, Barely Blush, Soft Suede DSP
Accessories:  Crayola colored pencils, corner rounder punch, In Color Flat Pearls

I still have two other bookish stamp sets that need to be inked up, but I thought I'd show you the card I had made for this challenge before I went for books:

Oh hey, it's the Lovely Blossoms DSP that Joanne convinced me to buy!  I snipped the larger flower image out of one sheet of the patterned paper, stamped a greeting on it, and then layered it with some other patterns in the pack and this whole thing took like ten minutes.  This sketch is versatile, y'all!  I used the exact same measurements on this card as I did for my bookish card, the strip on the left is one inch wide and the larger section is three inches wide, and I dusted off my corner rounder punch just for a little fun detail.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fern & Flora
Ink:  Secret Sea
Paper:  Cloud Cover, Lovely Blossoms DSP
Accessories:  Neutral Matte Dots, corner rounder punch

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!

The Mysterious Mannequin

Hello everyone and welcome to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we're on #47, The Mysterious Mannequin, which was one of my favorites as a kid!

I love this cover, I think the colors are gorgeous and that mannequin is definitely mysterious.  Once again we have Nancy in a pale blue dress, but this one is different from all her other pale blue dresses because of the big fancy buttons.  But let's be honest, I want the mannequin's outfit here, except not the veil because if 2020 taught me anything it's that I hate to wear anything over my nose and mouth (and that people should do better about washing their hands).  My book is a bit battered and the pages are a bit wavy, so I think it might also have been a bathtub read at one time or another.

Case file:  Nancy's father Carson receives a beautiful Turkish rug in the mail which they quickly discover has a hidden message woven into the intricate border.  Carson immediately thinks of his client Farouk Tahmasp, who was accused of criminal behavior and skipped town two years ago before he was exonerated.  Nancy has to track down the beautiful mannequin that was in Farouk's shop window and the entire Drew Crew including Carson (but not Hannah, which is sad) travels to Istanbul to find Farouk himself.  We're in Istanbul, which was Constantinople, Hannah complains about the name change and my brain immediately plays the song by They Might Be Giants.  Fun!

Here's my card:

I bought Treasured Medallion off eBay last year and I have no idea why I didn't just buy it when it was in the catalog, it's gorgeous and intricate and I love it and this is the first time I've used it.  To start with, I stamped the medallion and greeting with Night of Navy + Versamark, then heat embossed with clear embossing powder, which let me watercolor the medallion without making the outlines run.  Yes, this took some time, but I loved every minute.  I fussy cut the medallion and then floated it over panels of DSP in the colors of the book cover.

I listened to Averie's True Drew podcast about this book and she didn't like this cover at all (or the story for that matter), but it's one of my favorites.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Treasured Medallion
Ink:  Versamark, Night of Navy, Starry Sky, Orchid Oasis, Balmy Blue, Polished Pink, Darling Duckling
Paper:  Orchid Oasis, Starry Sky, Balmy Blue, Thick Basic White, DSP in Balmy Blue, Orchid Oasis, and Starry Sky
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Clear EP, Dimensionals, In Color Pearls

Of course I have another card:

The Drew Crew does have tea once they're in Istanbul, and also I remember when we stopped in Turkey while on a cruise and all the rug shops will try to get you to stay a while and look at all their wares by offering you tea.  Plus the Tea Boutique DSP Stack has Orchid Oasis and Starry Sky as colors, which coordinates with the book cover, and I fussy cut the teapot and teacups from that paper.

This time I focused on the colors in the mannequin's outfit, so Orchid Oasis, Starry Sky, and Polished Pink.  Honestly I would love to have all of those colors in the permanent color rotation at SU!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Cup of Tea
Ink:  Starry Sky
Paper:  Starry Sky, Thick Basic White, Tea Boutique DSP Stack, Starry Sky & Polished Pink DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, In Color Pearls

Rating this book is difficult, because the premise is so very silly--why does Farouk have a hidden message woven into a rug instead of just sending a letter, which is both faster and cheaper and also a heck of a lot easier?  That's not his only questionable decision, either.  Regardless, this one was one of my favorites as a kid and I just loved getting to read it again, even if it's far-fetched and silly.  And this is my blog, so I'm going to give it five stars just for the warm fuzzy nostalgia it evokes, even if the mystery itself isn't five stars.  If you're inspired to create a card, please leave me a comment here so I can see!  And we'll see you next Saturday when it gets *really* weird as Nancy faces off with The Crooked Bannister.  Cheers!

Moonlit Nature Walk

Mornin' y'all!  I'm here with my cuppa tea and Daphne is (for now) ensconced in her chair and keeping an eye on the yard behind us to make sure we're safe from possible invasion.  Actually I need to start the kettle for cup #2.

I had some fun in my craft room yesterday and the day before, I am working ahead on some cards for design teams and the Nancy Drew Challenge (which is tomorrow, and it's a good one this week!).  So here's my card today:

On Monday, I used the Moonlit Flora DSP but not the stamps in that suite; today I'm using the Fern & Flora stamps but pairing them with the Nature Walk DSP.  Nature Walk has all the colors from this Color Dare Challenge:

I read it as Cloud Cover, Night of Navy, Old Olive, and Pretty Peacock, which are all in the DSP though I think that background layer is actually a Secret Sea pattern.  Well, that's still a neutral color anyway.  As I was making this card, I really wondered about having Cloud Cover and Pretty Peacock on there as I generally don't think those two go together, but I think I like it?  I'm having the same issue with my current stitching project, the fabric is orange and I think I like it with the design stitched on it but I'm not 100% sure.  That project is about three quarters done though, and I could always make it again on a different fabric if I want to, but I have a new project tentatively chosen to start next.

I used this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I do like a good triptych moment and I actually *do* have Night of Navy ribbon to use for this sketch.  I hardly ever buy ribbon any more, just occasionally if it's on the clearance rack, because I don't use a whole lot of it.  Just recently I finished off a roll of white taffeta and I think it was over 10 years old!  If SU! had kept the 3/8" taffeta and just done it in different colors I probably would have kept on buying it, I have a photo box full of just the taffeta in my crafty hutch.

Anyway, I've now got my second cuppa so I'm going to enjoy that before I take Daphne out for our daily neighborhood promenade.  Have a great Friday, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fern & Flora
Ink:  Night of Navy, Old Olive Blend
Paper:  Cloud Cover, Nature Walk DSP
Accessories:  Fern & Flora dies, Dimensionals, Night of Navy bordered ribbon, Muted Palette Glossy Dots