Before Pictures

Mornin' y'all!  My brother and his family left yesterday morning, taking Ryan with them to spend time with his grandparents in Texas, and the hubs has a 4-day weekend off work so guess what we're doing...painting the master suite!  This is the last area to still be ugly greige, though I do want to repaint the main area of the house because it ended up being baby blue instead a bluish neutral like I wanted.

So our house is technically three bedrooms; we have Ryan's room, the guest room, and the master, but the master suite has the bathroom, a sitting area I suppose you'd call it, and then the master bedroom itself.  Well, the hubs and I don't need a bedroom that's big enough to play soccer in, so we put our bed and dressers in the smaller sitting room area (closer to the bathroom) and the bigger area is what I like to call the warcraft room.  The boys like to play World of Tanks on the laptop in here, and I do crafts.  Here's what it looked like last weekend when I cleaned everything up before our guests arrived:

Hi Daphne : )  In the left corner that you can't see, there's a shelving unit with all my 12x12 cardstock and DSP, then there's two plastic drawer things under the windows which you can see to the left.  In the back corner is the shelving unit with my completed scrapbook pages and some other odds and ends, the back wall has the vast majority of my stamps, and in the right corner is another shelving unit with scrapbook albums in it.  Then on the right wall you see my file cabinets with cardstock in them, and then a hutch which is where my Big Shot lives and more storage.  In the middle, we have two tables back to back and an odd assortment of storage and furniture, so I have my ink caddies on the left and on the right are drawers holding my markers and other supplies.  Yes, I realize that I have a ridiculous amount of craft supplies.

So yesterday I spent hours clearing stuff out of here in preparation to paint this weekend.  Not only do we have to paint the walls, we have to paint the ceilings because I am NOT staring at ugly greige ceilings if I don't have to, and I'm not a fan of the color drenching thing so we've painted all the other ceilings a creamy white to match the baseboards.

So this is what the loft area currently looks like, and since Ryan isn't here, I took over his bedroom too:

And here's what the craft room looked like when I called it quits yesterday afternoon:

I had left that one container of SU! stamps on the shelf, thinking that I would make a card or two to wind down yesterday, but I was just worn out from all the heavy lifting so I didn't make anything.  I think I may postpone this week's Nancy Drew Challenge because I have one card made, but I wanted to make a second and it just hasn't happened yet.  I do have my Paper Players card all done for Sunday and SUO Challenges for next Tuesday taken care of, but anything else I think is going to have to wait.

I'm going to take Daphne for a walk before we get stuck in for today, hopefully that will loosen up my muscles because I'm sore from all that work yesterday.  Wish us luck with painting these three rooms, and stay tuned for the after pictures!

Seahorse Thoughts

Mornin' y'all!  All our guests have left, the hubs went to work this morning, and now it's just me and Daphne in the house.  She kinda wandered around a little bit and whined like she wasn't used to the quiet.  I'm going to take her out for a walk here in a minute, and then I will be taking things out of the craft room because we're going to paint that, the master bedroom, and the master bathroom this weekend.  So it might be a little quiet here while everything is topsy-turvy, but I hope to be back up and running in short order.

In the meantime, have a colorful under the sea card for you today:

I was looking for a stamp set for something else (this has happened a couple of times recently) when Seaside Notions caught my eye and I thought it would be perfect with the Color Dare colors here:

I missed the challenge deadline but oh well.  My added color is a whole lot of Pacific Point, and I had to do another card with the CAS Colours & Sketches challenge:

And actually I made this card before the teacup card I posted last week.  That's it for now, kids, check ya later!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Seaside Notions, On the Grow
Ink:  Early Espresso, Pacific Point, Stampin' Blends in Calypso Coral & Berry Burst
Paper:  Pacific Point, Basic White, Waves of the Ocean DSP
Accessories:  Merriest Trees dies, Rectangles Stitched dies, Calypso Coral bakers twine, Dimensionals

One Fabulous Chicken

Mornin' y'all!  How long has it been since I made a card with the fun chickens in Hey Chuck?  Well, too long as it turns out, so I have one to share today:

CAS on Friday wants to see clean-and-simple cards featuring birds, so this chicken said she's ready for her close-up, Mr. DeMille.  Or is it a rooster?  I'm not an ornithologist, I don't know.  The hubs was sitting across from me as I colored in the image so he chose the colors for those shorts.  I really want a stamp that says "I'll rise, but I won't shine", but since I don't have one (or if I do, it's hiding really well) that Dare to Be Fabulous popped in my head and I just had to use it here.

Hope you have a fabulous day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hey Chuck, Fabulous Flowers
Ink:  Early Espresso, Pretty Peacock, Stampin' Blends in Poppy Parade, Pecan Pie, Pretty Peacock, Timid Tiger, Pineapple Punch
Paper:  Pretty Peacock, Thick Basic White, Gold Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Hey Chuck dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals

Fun in the Sun

Mornin' y'all!  Hope you are having a great week, and I have some sunshine to share with you today:

I told you, I love those sunglasses.  I made this for the AAA Cards Challenge:

I think my card fits summer and sun, and summer is also the theme at Just Us Girls:

That's it for now, peeps.  I'm gonna grab my sunnies and head outside.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Summer Happiness
Ink:  Gorgeous Grape, Daffodil Delight, Tahitian Tide Blends
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Summer Happiness dies, Perennial Postage dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Flower Lineup

Mornin' y'all!  We have family visiting us for a few days this week, but I made cards ahead of time so I would still have stuff to post here.  Wouldn't want ya'll to think I forgot about you : )

So here is my card for today:

I pulled yet another stamp set out of my To Sell? boxes for today's card, I've hardly ever used Pressed Flowers but it seemed like the stamp set for the job when I saw the Inspired By... Challenge:

I decided to switch out the first color for Rococo Rose, but kept Lost Lagoon and Darling Duckling for the other two colors.  I did a deep dive in my patterned paper hoard in yet another attempt to Just Use The Paper and found a nice light woodgrain pattern to go behind my colorblock flowers.  And there's MORE ribbon, though this Basic Gray taffeta has been in my collection for quite a while.

Well, I'm off to entertain our guests, y'all have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pressed Flowers, A Touch of Ink
Ink:  Rococo Rose, Lost Lagoon, Darling Duckling, Gray Granite
Paper:  Gray Granite, Rococo Rose, Lost Lagoon, Darling Duckling, Basic White, Festive Farmhouse DSP
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Basic Gray taffeta ribbon

Sunny Days with The Paper Players

Good mornin' y'all!  And it's Sunday, which means it's time for a new Paper Players challenge!  I am hosting this month's color challenge and it's right here:

I chose some bright, summery colors and I hope you enjoy them.  You can pick three or use all four, which is what I did:

In addition to all those Halloween goodies I got last week, I also got the upcoming Summer Happiness bundle and how CUTE are those sunglasses!  The greeting is from Sunset Coast, which I've had for a little bit but hadn't inked up until this card, I just liked that greeting with the sunglasses and you know you're going to be seeing them a lot this summer.  And lookit me using more of that ribbon I just got!  Don't know why all of a sudden I want to use ribbon when I've only rarely used it for the last several years.

Hope you enjoy these bright colors as much as I did!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Summer Happiness, Sunset Coast
Ink:  Gorgeous Grape, Coastal Cabana, Lemon Lime Twist, Strawberry Slush Blends
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Lemon Lime Twist, Thick Basic White, Gorgeous Grape DSP
Accessories:  Summer Happiness dies, Nested Essentials dies, Strawberry Slush ribbon & gems, Dimensionals

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 Strange Message in the Parchment

Happy Saturday, y'all, and welcome to this week's Nancy Drew Challenge!  This week Nancy is puzzling out The Strange Message in the Parchment:

We got a color break last week with The Sky Phantom, but now we're back to mostly warm browns like Forgotten City.  Why are so many Nancy Drew covers mainly brown?  This one is a more collage style like some of the Drews in like the teens.  It's okay, but not my favorite; Nancy almost looks like she's sleeping here.

Case file:  Nancy's friend Junie Flockhart (whom we have never heard of before and never will again, I reckon) invites Nancy to her family's sheep farm to see if she can figure out the story behind a piece of artwork done on parchment that her father bought (there are four images, seen on the cover of the book).  Nancy manages to find the original artist, reunite a kidnapped child with his mother, and expose Junie's mean neighbor as a villain.  And she visits a sheep slaughterhouse o.O

Here's my card:

Junie introduces Nancy to one of the shepherds on her family's farm, Ezekiel (who goes by Eezy), who likes to drop Bible verses constantly in conversation.  One of the panels on the parchment features angels, so I made an angel card with a Bible verse on it.  I stamped the angel on Creamy Caramel cardstock, which has been retired for a very long time but it's been coming in handy of late with all these brown book covers, and then used my handy dandy 100-pack of Crayola pencils to color her in.  I found that Cinnamon Cider pattern and the interlocking circles made me think of halos, so that works.

I think the pencil strokes where I colored in the angel coordinate pretty well with the cover art, what do you think?

Supplies:
Stamps:  Angels of Peace, Blessings from Heaven
Ink:  Early Espresso, Cinnamon Cider
Paper:  Cinnamon Cider, Creamy Caramel, Very Vanilla, Flowers for Every Season DSP Stack
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Dimensionals, Crayola colored pencils

And I have one more card:

We spend a lot of time with sheeps in this book (hey, check out Whistling Bagpipes for more sheeps), so I wanted to make a card with a sheep on it and I happened across the stamp set Nursery Times which I haven't used in aaaaaaaages.  Is she Little Bo Peep or Mary Had a Little Lamb?  Well, Mary's lamb had white fleece so I'm saying Bo Peep for my card, which reminds me of Velvet Mask because Bo Peep is Bess's costume of choice for the masquerade parties in that book.

I went with brighter colors on this one, focusing on the color of Nancy's shirt and her lips are kinda pink, but I still have Cinnamon Cider on there.  Hey, I had a scrap of that paper left over from the first card so why not use it here.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nursery Times, Once Upon a Time, Hearts a Flutter
Ink:  Early Espresso, Pretty in Pink, Stampin' Blends in Coastal Cabana, Cinnamon Cider, Pretty in Pink, Petal Pink, Ivory, Neutrals
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Pretty in Pink, Basic White, Flowers for Every Season DSP Stack
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, Hearts a Flutter Framelits, Dimensionals

This one is a bit unusual as Nancy is investigating with just Junie for most of the book; the rest of the Drew Crew shows up in just the last couple of chapters.  I mean, the boys do that a lot but usually she's with Bess and George for the whole adventure.  I read reviews on Goodreads for this and a lot of people say this book is anti-vegetarian propaganda, and I do have to say the parts where they visit the slaughterhouse are weird and jarring for a Nancy Drew book.  We do have one instance of sci-fi weirdness that has characterized these books in the 50s as well, this time with mechanical attack birds.  I'm giving this one two and a half stars.  If you're inspired to make a card based on this book, leave me a comment so I can see!  And come back next week when Nancy tackles the Mystery of Crocodile Island!