Christmas Card Color Block 2017

Mornin' y'all!  How was your weekend?  I spent a good chunk of yesterday listing things on eBay, mostly duplicate Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books from my collection.  I've been meaning to do that for weeks, so it's nice to finally have it done.  

I dropped Ryan off at school today, did the grocery shopping, and checked the mail on my way back to the house.  I hadn't checked it since last Thursday or Friday and we got three more Christmas cards over the weekend, so I thought today would be a good day to share again how I like to preserve photos and photo cards we get during the holiday season.

Today's layouts are from 2017, Ryan's first Christmas when he was 10 months old.  Look how ADORABLE he is in the top left corner!  I might be biased but it's also just facts, my kid is very cute.

I love having these layouts...there's my dear friend Beth in the middle, with the headset on.  She's been gone nearly two years now and her husband doesn't do Christmas cards, so I cherish the ones I have.  And it's fun to see how my friends' kiddos grow and change every year.

Today's color palette is straight from the Quilted Christmas DSP Stack:  Blushing Bride, Real Red, Garden Green, Lemon Lime Twist, Pool Party, and Whisper White.  Quilt patterns are perfect with my patchwork layouts, am I right?

The Daphinator is Staring Me Down saying it's time I take her for a walk, so I'd better hurry up and finish my cuppa.  Have a great day, peeps.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Christmas Quilt, Alphaheart Numbers
Ink:  Real Red, Garden Green
Paper:  Blushing Bride, Lemon Lime Twist, Thick Whisper White, Quilted Christmas DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stitched Nested Labels Dies, Quilt Dies

Christmas Whimsy

Mornin' y'all!  I made pumpkin pancakes for breakfast this morning and Ryan agreed that they could join the Sunday breakfast rotation...he's chosen pumpkin cake every time for his turn for like the last six months.  Now don't get me wrong, I love pumpkin coffee cake, but even I was getting a little tired of it!  The pancakes were good but I burned my hand while I was making them (we have a little pancake cooker thing that's kinda like a waffle maker so they cook on both sides at once, but the sides of that thing get VERY hot as I unintentionally discovered this morning).  This is why I don't do dangerous things, I am dangerous enough (to myself, mostly) without taking unnecessary risks.

Anyway, I have a quick card to share today.

The Inspired By... challenge reminded me of the Whimsy & Wonder Specialty DSP that came out a few years ago, I think I bought it when it went on the clearance rack and this is the first time I've cut into it.

And I used the latest Freshly Made Sketch:

The DSP is doing all the work on my card, and the two patterns I used are both sides of a single sheet of paper.  I layered the Misty Moonlight pattern with the circle cutout on top of the other pattern, but I suppose I *could* have just cut out the circle and flipped it over and it would have been an inset instead of another layer.  Didn't think of it at the time but it's not like I don't have a zillion sheets of paper in my hoard.

Daphne tells me that she wants to go for a walk this morning and I need to work off some pancakes, so we're going to go enjoy an unusually warm and sunny December day before I tackle Ryan's laundry.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Greatest Part of Christmas
Ink:  Misty Moonlight
Paper:  Mint Macaron, Blushing Bride, Whimsy & Wonder Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Circles Collection Framelits, Solid Faceted Gems

The Clue of the Black Keys

It is time for a new Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we're investigating #28, The Clue of the Black Keys, take a look:

Bill Gillies did the artwork for the OT on the left, and I think I heard in a podcast that he based his Nancy on his wife.  She seems to be wearing the same sweater she had on for The Secret of Red Gate Farm.  The scene is a bit crowded with the other three guys on the cover while they unearth literal buried treasure.

Rudy Nappi did the artwork for the RT on the right, it's the same scene but I like that this one only has Nancy and one other person in it so the focus is more on the treasure chest.  The silver is supposed to be tarnished so the black chest on the OT might be more accurate, but artistically, I like the brighter colors and focus of the RT art.  Plus you really get the jungley feeling with all the plants around Nancy.

Let's take a look at the mystery.

Case file:  Nancy is contacted by Terry Scott, a professor who was working on an archaeological dig in Mexico in search of treasure.  He and his partners found three black keys and a cipher stone, but now those items are missing and so is one of the professors working with Scott.  All Terry has is half of a black key.  Nancy's investigation leads her to Florida and then to Mexico and of course she finds the treasure and the missing professor.

Here's my card:

Of course I had to play with the idea of a black key for my card, and I remembered there was a key pattern in an old pack of DSP called Fan Fair, so that's where I started my card.  It was my great good luck that the colors match the colors Nancy and one of the men on the cover are wearing:

I used the map pattern for the background as well as the panel with the key and sentiment on it, I liked the map aspect because it makes me think of a treasure map, and Nancy travels in this one.  She's kinda Indiana Jones-ing it in this book.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artifacts, You're a Gem
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Island Indigo
Paper:  Primrose Petals, Basic Black, Fan Fair DSP
Accessories:  Tasteful Labels Framelits, Rustic Metallic Dots, Dimensionals

On to the revised text:

The story plays out the same way as in the OT, just condensed to 20 chapters vs. 25.  Here's my card:

I really wanted to lean into the jungle theme on this card, so I chose the Tropical Oasis DSP.  The treasure in the book is inside of a silver frog and they call it "the frog treasure", so of course I had to use the little guy from Animal Outing, and that sentiment just makes me laugh.

I used two different extra-leafy tropical patterns to make it feel like the jungle is closing in on Mr. Frog there.  Shaded Spruce and Pretty Peacock aren't listed in the colors for the DSP, but they sure look like they're in it to me!  I popped up the Pool Party circle on Dimensionals, and then popped up the frog and his branch on another layer of Dimensionals.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Animal Outing & coordinating Paper Pumpkin stamp set that I don't know the name of
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Shaded Spruce, Granny Apple Green, Soft Suede
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Pretty Peacock, Thick Basic White, Tropical Oasis DSP
Accessories:  Animal Friends dies, Layering Circles Framelits, circle punch, Pretty Peacock metallic ribbon, Pretty Peacock Foiled Gems, Dimensionals

I enjoyed this installment, I give it four stars.  It's got some fun elements in it and who doesn't like looking for buried treasure?  If you are inspired by this book, leave me a comment as I would be delighted to see what you make too.  Stay tuned next Saturday when we unravel The Mystery at the Ski Jump.  Cheers!

Hobby Hello

Afternoon, y'all.  Ryan and I went to the potluck and both ate waaayyyy too much sugar (the gingerbread bars were great--with dinosaur sprinkles on the cream cheese frosting--but the Mississippi mud stuck to the pan something crazy.  Still tasty though) and then went Christmas shopping for the hubs and Daph.  And now I want a nap, but first I have a second card to share today:

I got the Hobby Haven DSP last month I think and this is the first time I've cut into any of it.  I thought the die cut shapes in the pack would be great with the Atlantic Hearts sketch:

Same sketch I used for this morning's card, but this time I kept the original orientation.  I did mess up the measurements on the DSP layer as I meant to have even borders all around but somehow it ended up being a quarter inch short, but it's okay.  The banner shape and all the images on the right of the card are pre-printed and die cut in the DSP, though I did trim the white borders a bit on the shapes.  Then all I did was add a two-part greeting from Branching Out and some Charming Shimmer Faceted Dots, and it's done.

Might see if Daphne will let me up on the oversized chair with her, I could use some doggo snuggles and a nap right about now.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Branching Out
Ink:  Garden Green
Paper:  Pool Party, Garden Green, Thick Basic White, Hobby Haven DSP
Accessories:  Charming Shimmer Faceted Dots, Mini Dimensionals

Pineflake

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan is at school for some kind of elementary assessment thing (he says they have to do reading on a computer) and I have to pick him up in a half hour, which is happily enough time for me to enjoy my morning cuppa : ) and share a card.

I finally made a pineflake!  I bought Delicate Pines months ago and before now I'd only used one of the greeting stamps, so it was fun to make a pineflake for today.  Love this different take on snowflakes.

I took the Atlantic Hearts sketch and turned it on its side:

My sentiment doesn't show up as well as I might like, but I had already stuck down the DSP when I stamped it so that's how it is.  The pineflake was sinking into the background a little too much, so I added a second pineflake stamped in Shaded Spruce on Old Olive cardstock, glued them together and popped it up on Dimensionals, which I think solved the problem.  I added a mini pineflake in Cherry Cobbler and a few Gold Textured Dots to finish it off.

I made another card with this sketch before this one and I'll share it this afternoon if I can.  After I pick Ryan up, we've got to walk Daphne (of course) and then there's a potluck thing at the hubs' work (this time I got all three planned desserts made ahead of time), and after that I'm going to take Ryan to do some Christmas shopping.  So that's the plan for today.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Delicate Pines
Ink:  Shaded Spruce, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Thick Basic White, Elegant Pine DSP
Accessories:  Delicate Pines dies, Gold Textured Dots, Dimensionals

Christmas Plaid

Mornin' y'all!  I had some fun in my craft room yesterday, which is good since today will be spent in the kitchen.  I have brownies baking for Mississippi Mud right now.  But let's talk about today's card:

I thought about adding gold accents, but I decided I liked it how it is.  I was inspired by the Card Concept challenge:

I like the picture, but I'm glad my kitchen isn't all white ; )  The photo led me to do a CAS design with a white card base and a limited use of patterns.

This also counts for the Festive Friday challenge:

My second time playing this challenge, I got red, white, green, stripes (the DSP strips count as stripes, right?), Christmas tree, and Christmas sentiment.  I stamped "Merry Christmas" on the inside of the card.

Next up is the Color Dare Challenge:

I see that as Real Red and Evening Evergreen, which dovetails perfectly with the Card Concept inspo pic.

And last up, the CAS Colours & Sketches challenge, also for the second time:

Here's the sketch I chose this time:

Man, I was all set to say I followed the sketch more closely this time, but I did put the sentiment underneath the other elements instead of on top.  Oh well, I still like what I made.

Brownies are about to come out of the oven so I'd better get ready to add the marshmallow fluff on top.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Perfectly Plaid
Ink:  Evening Evergreen, Real Red
Paper:  Thick Basic White, Lovely in Linen DSP, Peaceful Prints DSP
Accessories:  Pine tree punch, Dimensionals

You're a Mean One

Mornin' y'all!  Had to go to the store this morning because I am once again baking for a potluck at the hubs' work.  This afternoon I'll be making the dough for orange crinkle cookies (take this lemon crinkle cookie recipe and use thawed orange juice concentrate and orange zest in place of lemon), and tomorrow I'll be making the gingerbread bars I didn't get to make before Thanksgiving as well as a family recipe for Mississippi Mud (which is brownies topped with marshmallow creme and chocolate ganache).  For now I'm waiting for the orange juice concentrate to thaw, so I have a load of dishes running and I need to move clothes into the dryer.  After I finish my cuppa tea while writing this blog post.  And even then I'm going to take Daphne out before I do anymore household chores.

But for right now, how about a fun card?

The card is a lie because all I want right now is a NAP.  I used the two Grinchmas stamp sets from The Ink Road, which are no longer available (sorry) and somehow this is the first time I've used either set.  I really wanted to make a Grinchy card ever since I saw Jaydee's card for the Paper Players challenge this week.  (Also I will neither confirm nor deny that I bought the dies she used as soon as I saw her card.)

I have three challenges today, starting with TGIF Challenges:

Perfect Grinch colors!  Next up is the Festive Friday challenge:

I've got red, white, green, and stripes.  Next up actually I'm not sure my card counts...the CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge:

Here is the sketch I chose:

I'm not sure my card counts for this sketch because the Grinch is nowhere close to that oval shape, but that is where I started my card-making process.

Alas, my tea is gone so it's time to walk the Daphinator.  Then I will need another cuppa tea, it's chilly out there.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Grinchmas Volumes 1 & 2
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Real Red & Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Thick Basic White, Let It Snow Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Red & White Peppermints