December 2020

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  We finished painting the guest room yesterday so now we have to get the furniture back in place and put everything back in the closet...and next weekend we're planning to tackle Ryan's room.  Wish us luck.  Today I need to go to the store to get ingredients for ALL THE COOKIES and maybe some food with actual nutritional content, we'll see about that part.

But for right now, I have a December layout from five years ago.  The HECK, how can it be five years ago already?!

That is Ryan with chocolate all over his face on the right page, and I can assure you that five years later he *still* gets chocolate all over his face.  And pretty much everything else he eats.  Not sure when he'll grow out of that, if ever.

Today's Christmas color palette:  Pear Pizzazz, Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Pebbled Path, and Whisper White.  A quick and simple layout other than coloring in the animal images.

That's it for today, peeps, I'm off to walk Daphne and then go to the store.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Full Calendar, Yuletide Pasture
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Mossy Meadow, Stampin' Blends in Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Real Red, Pecan Pie, Smoky Slate, Petal Pink, Pebbled Path, Ivory, So Saffron
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Thick Basic White, Heartfelt Hugs DSP
Accessories:  None

Gingerbread Wishes

Mornin' y'all!  Actually it's pretty close to afternoon and yet I am still waiting on the last couple of gingerbread waffles to cook so I can shut off the waffle maker and go upstairs to help paint the guest room.  This is the first time we've tried gingerbread waffles, but I am thinking about making gingerbread muffins for breakfast on Christmas morning.  And since I still have cream cheese in my fridge, I'm thinking about making gingerbread bars sometime this week too.  I have gingerbread on the brain.

But you know what I don't think I've ever actually made?  Gingerbread cookies.  What?

I have, however, made numerous paper versions.  I made this for last week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I was quite pleased with myself for thinking of the baking sheet die cut for the blue panel on the sketch.  I chose a gingham pattern for the background because it made me think of a tablecloth (though picnics usually have red gingham, we're going with green), baked up a few paper gingerbread men and sprinkled with some peppermint accents.

And I'm just in time to play with the latest Inspired By... challenge:

Thanks for a great excuse to make some paper gingerbread men : )  

The timer went off for the last waffle, so now I have to go help paint.  (That waffle recipe makes a pretty large batch, FYI).  We did the closet and ceiling in the guest room yesterday as well as the ceiling in Ryan's bathroom, and today we're painting the guest room walls.  Current plan is to do Ryan's bedroom next weekend.  Wish us luck!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Homemade Treats, Jolly Delivery
Ink:  Real Red, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Real Red, Garden Green, Thick Basic White, Christmas Tags & More DSP Stack
Accessories:  Homemade Treats dies, Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals, Peppermint accents

Mystery at the Ski Jump

Welcome to a new Nancy Drew Challenge and today we're investigating The Mystery at the Ski Jump, Nancy's 29th adventure.  I didn't finish these cards until yesterday evening, usually I have them done way ahead of time but this week went a little off the rails.  Anyway, let's take a look!

Both of these covers feature menacing men.  Nancy looks quite alarmed in the original text cover by Bill Gillies on the left and we have a really bright poppy red top on her.  Is that a jacket?  Because my jackets are all much less form-fitting but Nancy probably has designer ski clothes.  I think the yellow mittens look a little goofy though.

On the right is the Rudy Nappi cover for the revised text and we have a menacing man's hand, but Nancy looks determined to stop the crooks rather than concerned for her own safety.  I like this cover better, maybe because teal and lime is my color vibe, but I also like the composition of the ski jump in the background better because it has more detail than the Gillies cover.

Let's take a look inside.

Case file:  When Hannah Gruen buys stock in a fur company that operates in an unconventional fashion, selling furs at a discount price door to door, Nancy investigates and discovers that the company is fake and the fur stole Hannah bought is stolen (yes, it's a stolen stole).  The bad girl steals Nancy's identity but she keeps investigating through several towns near River Heights, to New York and a visit with Aunt Eloise, and then to Aunt Eloise's cabin in the Adirondacks where Nancy's foes attempt to put her on ice.  Very exciting and a rare winter outing in the original mystery stories.

Here's my card:

I was going to do something with a lot more Poppy Parade and Daffodil Delight to go with Nancy's outfit, but I found this blue pine tree pattern in the Beauty of the Earth DSP and this ended up being a very blue card instead.  I used the skates from Sophisticated Sled because the bad girl, Mitzi Channing, is a semiprofessional ice skater--Nancy discovers her name when she sees her perform in an old movie.  Also I remembered that name from reading this as a kid because I had never heard the name Mitzi before and thought it was strange.

I did add the cardinal so we get a tiny pop of Poppy Parade for Nancy.  Also, the skates could belong to her as she performs a doubles routine in a big skating competition in Canada with no practice beforehand beyond dancing a single waltz with her partner.  Because Nancy of course is a professional ice skater.  I forgot to mention that she and Carson also go to Canada, there is a lot of traveling in this one.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sophisticated Sled
Ink:  Night of Navy, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Smoky Slate, Poppy Parade, Mango Melody
Paper:  Night of Navy, Thick Basic White, Beauty of the Earth DSP
Accessories:  Sophisticated Sled dies, Ornate Frames dies, Charming Shimmer Faceted Dots, Mini Dimensionals

Let's check out the revised text:

Once again, there are no major changes to the story in the revised text, just condensing it to 20 chapters.  We still get all the same traveling and Aunt Eloise has a larger role in this one than she usually does.  Also Nancy calls her Aunt Lou, which I don't recall seeing in any of Aunt Eloise's other appearances.

Here's my card:

I wanted to incorporate the fun colors on this cover, so I chose Summer Splash, Lemon Lime Twist, and Timid Tiger.  I had a plan to use the Freezin' Fun bundle because I thought there was a fox in it, but upon closer inspection I found it was a sledding raccoon and not a skiing fox (there's a part in the book where the villains refer to Nancy and Carson as foxes).  Still, I like my happy snowman and it amuses me that I found Let It Snow sentiments for both cards.

I stamped some snowflakes on the Summer Splash DSP I used for the background and I like how that looks.  I was making this card up as I went along and trying to make it quickly last night while Ryan was getting ready for bed, pretty happy with where I ended up despite the time crunch.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snowman Season
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Summer Splash, Stampin' Blends in Summer Splash, Lemon Lime Twist, Timid Tiger, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Summer Splash, Thick Basic White, Summer Splash DSP, Celebratory Sips DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Shiny Sequins

I didn't particularly like the aspects of this mystery that deal with the fur trade, but I did enjoy all the travel to different places and Nancy outwitting the dastardly Mitzi, so I give it four stars.  If you're inspired by these books, please leave me a comment so I can see what you make!  And come back next week for the final Nancy Drew Challenge of the year, where we will uncover The Clue of the Velvet Mask.

Naughty!

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan has early release from school today and then he'll be off for the next two weeks, so I'd better wrap up a couple of presents this morning while he is safely elsewhere.  And I think we're going to paint the guest room this weekend so I cleared out the closet of all the stuff (because we are de-greige-ifying the closets too!).  I also admitted to the hubs that I don't like the light blue that we did in the living room, entryway, up through the upstairs hall...which is the largest area in the house...sorry, honey.  It looked fine in small swatches, but it just is TOO MUCH when it's all done.  It needs to be a slightly blueish gray, not baby blue.  He gave me side-eye but said we'll repaint it.  I do feel guilty though.

And also a bit naughty.  As soon as I saw Jaydee's card for a recent Paper Players challenge, I knew I had to get those dies!  I got not just the Grinch hand, but a word die as well:

I still had the Reindeer Fun DSP sitting out from making cards for the hubs, so that's where I got the lights in the background.  The snowy backdrop for the Grinch and his purloined ornament are from the Nests of Winter DSP.  I used this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch:

And I can enter this at Just Add Ink too:

I have stripes (on the ornament), snow (behind the Grinch's arm), and shimmer (red glimmer naughty!).  I had fun making this and I'm sure that I will be using these dies more in the future : )  We need to hurry up and watch some Christmas movies this year.

Daphne is chastising someone outside (how DARE anyone use the green space behind our house without her express written permission, which is hard to get since she's illiterate) but I'm going to take her for a quick walk and then get to wrapping some presents.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  None
Ink:  None
Paper:  Real Red, Garden Green, Granny Apple Green, Whisper White, Basic Black, Reindeer Fun DSP, Nests of Winter DSP, Silver Foil, Real Red Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Grinch Hand & Naughty Word Die from Kat Scrappiness

Snowflake Wishes

Mornin' y'all, how's it going?  I am just sitting down to my morning cuppa, which is especially nice today because the temperature dropped 20 degrees between yesterday and today and it's extra windy to boot.  However, from the weather forecast it looks like the only snowflakes we'll be seeing for the foreseeable future are the paper kind.

I made this card yesterday and then worried this morning that I hadn't gotten a picture of it before the hubs took it in to work, but happily I did take a pic yesterday.  The CAS on Fridays Challenge wants to see snowflakes, which works out nicely with the AAA Colourful challenge:

I used Pool Party, Lost Lagoon (stamped off once), Just Jade, and Garden Green stamped twice for the sentiment.  Next up is the TGIF Challenges sketch:

Obviously that sketch demands a flurry of flakes, so I pulled out Snowflake Wishes which is at least a couple of years old but still just gorgeous and has some nice greetings in it too, not to mention the dies which I didn't use today.  Since one of the challenges is CAS, I decided to just do some pierced accents in the corners to keep it more CAS.  Took me a while to figure out where I had put the piercing template and mat, though the piercing tool lives near my Big Shot to help poke out fiddly bits when I die cut.

That's it for now, peeps.  I'm going to enjoy my cuppa, take Daphne out for what promises to be a very chilly walk, and then most likely I'll make myself more tea afterwards : )  Sounds like a good plan to me.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snowflake Wishes
Ink:  Pool Party, Lost Lagoon, Just Jade, Garden Green
Paper:  Pool Party, Just Jade, Basic White
Accessories:  Piercing tool & template

Candy Canes

Mornin' y'all...I started today off with a bang when I whacked my head on my dresser.  It can only get better from here, right?  I was picking up some socks off the floor when it happened and next time I'll just leave the socks on the floor, thankyouverymuch.

Anyway, I spent quite a chunk of time yesterday making Christmas cards for the hubs to take to work and I got eight done out of ten, so not bad at all.  I plan to finish up the last two today after I wrap some presents.  Here's the first card I made yesterday:

Hubs said do different designs and be creative, but I kept the designs pretty simple.  I pulled out a bunch of Christmas stamp sets and fanned them out on the floor on one side of my crafting table, then pulled out a bunch of patterned paper and fanned them out on the floor on the other side of my crafting table, then Daphne galloped in and I had to move the papers to safety.  Currently the guilty doggo is staring at me and trying to puppy dog eyes me into going for a walk before I finish this blog post, but she will have to be patient a little bit longer.  I was lazy and just picked the Christmas DSP that I had closest to hand, so like six packs of 6x6 or 4x6 papers and then a few 12x12s that I could grab without searching through my giant stack o' papers.

Anyway, then I just started mixing and matching stamp sets and papers and the candy cane card is the first one I came up with.  I used the current CASE-ing Tuesday Sketch to get started:

I ended up leaving off the banner part of the sketch since I did two large candy canes.

That's it for now, peeps.  Seems like most challenges are going on a hiatus for the holidays, so I think next week I'll just be sharing the other cards I made for the hubs and otherwise just spend time with the fam since both my guys will be off of work and school next week.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sweet Candy Canes
Ink:  Real Red, Pool Party, Lemon Lime Twist, Garden Green
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Thick Basic White, Quilted Christmas DSP Stack
Accessories:  Candy Cane dies, Dimensionals

Piney Christmas

Mornin' y'all!  Someone explain to me how I could go to the store yesterday *with a list* and still have to go back today and spend another $100 on groceries.  Hopefully I won't have to go back until, like, Friday or Saturday this time.

Anyway, what with one thing and another I got one lonesome little card made yesterday, and here it is.

I started with the As You See It color challenge:

That immediately brought to mind the pineflakes in the Delicate Pines bundle, and I even stamped and die cut one before I decided that today's card needed the pine sprigs and a couple of pine cones.  I chose a Christmas greeting from Jolly Delivery so I can enter this at Addicted to CAS:

I thought about adding some kind of embellishments to my card, but decided that I like it how it is so it's staying more CAS.  I did add some Wink of Stella to the pine cones like they were a bit frosty, but it's very subtle.  Hey y'all, is pinecones one word or two?  Because Blogger thinks it's two and I keep trying to type it as one word.

The hubs told me last night that he needs ten Christmas cards and this morning he needs a sympathy card, so I have my work cut out for me this afternoon.  But first, I'm sure Daphne has figured out that I just finished my tea and she is side-eyeing me to take her out for a walk.  As always : )  Love my pupster.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Delicate Pines, Jolly Delivery
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Pecan Pie, Night of Navy
Paper:  Night of Navy, Thick Basic White, Floral Charm DSP
Accessories:  Delicate Pines dies, Textured Notes dies, Mini Dimensionals, Wink of Stella