French Horn

Happy Friday, y'all!  I started working on my Christmas letter last night, so I'm hoping to finish that up today and get my cards ready to mail out over the weekend.  I only send handmade cards to a select few people; I send a photo card and a letter to all our friends and family because I just don't want to make 50+ cards every December when things are busy enough.

I do still make Christmas cards though, so here's a new one to share.

That French horn is cut out of silver foil paper, it's not white, the light from my window reflected off the silver.  And my cutting plates are quite...seasoned...so running it through the Big Shot gave me a bit of texture on the die cut that I like.  I was in band all through middle school and high school, so I like musical stuff in general, and I had a friend named Nicole who played the French horn.  She died in a car wreck when we were 17, just before our senior year of high school, and I always think of her when I see French horns or hear them.  That's probably the biggest reason why I got this stamp and die bundle in the first place.  My musical paper has lyrics from Silent Night (I was using up a scrap), but I associate French horns more with a version of God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen by Mannheim Steamroller, which we've been listening to every year since I was a kid.

We're going retro today for the Retro Rubber Challenge:

Musical Season debuted in 2017 so it's six years old (just like my kiddo), but I only ever used it for the first time earlier this year (actually for another Retro Rubber challenge). 

Next up is the CAS Colours & Sketches challenge:

I chose this past sketch:

I loved Joanne's reindeer card, I like this sketch, and I did make a card for the original challenge so it was fun to revisit it.

Okay, time to get Ryan off to school.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Musical Season
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, silver foil, Merry Music Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Musical Instruments dies, Metallic Dots, Dimensionals

Blue Christmas

Today it's good afternoon, stampy friends!  My inability to manage my time this week continues...don't know what the deal is but I just can't seem to get myself organized this week.  I didn't go in my craft room at all yesterday so I made a couple of cards this morning.

It's all about the blues this week at the Color Throwdown:

I chose Blueberry Bushel, Azure Afternoon, and gold foil for my colors, I love that those two blues are now a part of the permanent SU! color lineup (at least until the next color refresh).  And here is this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And let's check out the theme challenge at Inspire. Create.:

I pulled out all my current Christmas stamps and have them spread across the floor in my craft room (but hopefully off to the side enough that I won't trip on them) and Merry & Bright won out for today's card.  Those little light bulbs are just so fun and I love the sentiments too.

I think when I finish my lunch, I'm going to go do a bit of Christmas shopping for Ryan this afternoon and maaaayyybe consider looking at embroidery floss at Michael's while I'm out.  I bought several new (huge) cross stitch patterns and it really makes me want to buy the floss to make them, but they're all so big that even if I started today it would take me YEARS to finish them :)  I'll never be bored!  Unmotivated and disorganized occasionally, but never bored...cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Merry & Bright
Ink:  Azure Afternoon, Blueberry Bushel
Paper:  Azure Afternoon, Blueberry Bushel, gold foil, Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack
Accessories:  Merry & Bright dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Brushed Metallic Dots

Christmas Rhino

Morning, y'all!  How's it going this morning?  Ryan is being a Very Angry Elf today, not sure why that is as he went to bed on time last night.

Anyway, I spent some time coloring in my craft room yesterday and here's my card:

This is the maiden voyage for Festive & Fun, you know I can't resist the critter stamps : )  I started with the Paper Players challenge:

I was drawn to the colors in the upper left picture, especially that bright blue with the more traditional red and green, so that informed my coloring decisions.  And please ignore the spot on the lower left side of the card front, apparently one of my Blends was resting on it when I was coloring and I didn't notice it soon enough, but I'd already stuck down the back layers, so...it's staying like that.

Check out the latest Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch:

That big image panel I thought worked well for the rhino and his little birdy friends.  That's it for me today, I've got to go take the Very Angry Elf to school.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Festive & Fun
Ink:  Garden Green, Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Sweet Sorbet, Shaded Spruce, Azure Afternoon, Pebbled Path, Crumb Cake, Balmy Blue, Lemon Lolly
Paper:  Sweet Sorbet, Thick Basic White, Sweetest Christmas DSP, Garden Green DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, In Color Baker's Twine

SUO Challenges: Get Into the Christmas Spirit

Hey hey, happy Tuesday!  Are you ready for a new challenge from SUO Challenges?

This will be our last challenge of the year and our theme will probably come as no surprise, it's all about Christmas!

I know several other challenge blogs are running with the same theme right now, but there's no rush on ours as it will run for the next four weeks.  So maybe I'll be able to use all the Christmas stamp sets that I bought from the holiday mini before they retire!  (As a Christmas present to me, I did my preorder this morning for the new mini catalog that goes live in January!)

I've used Merry & Bright a couple of times already, but this was the first time I got out the coordinating Merry Bold & Bright DSP, and I had to try out the Melon Mambo foil sheets too.  Not gonna lie, it took me a couple of tries to get the bulb looking how I wanted it!  I don't have any of the adhesive sheets, so I was using Tombow adhesive to glue the filament on, and yeah it was a challenge to not have extra glue squidging out from under there.  I think I need to invest in some of those adhesive sheets.  Anyway, I kept the card pretty simple because who has time for elaborate cards when the holidays are rushing toward us like a runaway freight train?  The only stamping is the sentiment, which I then cut out with the Stylish Shapes dies.  I chose Lemon Lime Twist and Shaded Spruce from the DSP to go with my Melon Mambo light bulb.

Your turn!  Make a Christmas card (or maybe more than one?!) with all SU! products and upload it over on the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Merry & Bright
Ink:  Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Shaded Spruce, Melon Mambo, Thick Basic White, Merry Bold & Bright DSP, Melon Mambo foil
Accessories:  Merry & Bright dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals

Hairy Holidays! 2010

Scrappy Monday!  I've been working through my Maine scrapbook pages, but now that it's December, I'm going to switch over to holiday pages and I'll pick back up on Maine in January.  So to start with, I have a cute layout featuring my much-loved fur babies.

I miss them so much.  Anyway, I had already done some Christmas pages for this year (2010), but I had several pics left over with Sadie and Vader, so I made a layout for their album.  Yeah, Sadie and Vader will have their own scrapbook album once I finally take all my completed pages and actually put them in albums.  For this layout, I used a couple of different packs of patterned paper and just had fun with it.  Usually I'm trying to cram in a lot more pictures on a single layout but this time I could let it breathe with the fun patterns.

Today's festive color palette:  Garden Green, Real Red, Old Olive, and Very Vanilla.  And of course black for my doggos.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Taffy Alphabet, Snow Swirled
Ink:  Garden Green, Real Red, Old Olive, Basic Black Marker
Paper:  Garden Green, Real Red, Old Olive, Thick Very Vanilla, Merry Moments DSP, Cerise DSP
Accessories:  1 3/8" circle punch, Circles Framelits

So, last week I spent some time getting all my loose scrapbook pages organized.  I don't necessarily make pages in chronological order, and I haven't put my pages into albums in quite a while, so I had two or three paper holders of scrapbook layouts that needed to be organized into their proper years.  It took me a couple of hours to get it all done:

I already had a lot of containers labeled with different years, I just needed to file the newer pages into place.  But this gives you an idea of how many layouts I have done...

Yeah this went pretty much around the whole craft room.

And here they are, all properly labeled and organized!  I got several more paper storage containers the week of Thanksgiving when they were on sale for $4; I still have four empty ones at the top so I'll need to work on that ; )  Then there's two containers that have some supplies and odds and ends, and every single other one of these containers has completed scrapbook pages in it.  I'm going to need a whole room just to house my scrapbooks when we get our forever house.  And now that I have all the pages organized, I think Sadie and Vader are going to get at least two albums, because I have a very large stack o' pages for them.

Today I need to start wrapping some Christmas presents for Ryan while he's in school and maybe I'll get to do some more scrapping.  Like I said, I have those four containers that need to be filled with more completed pages.  Cheers, y'all!

Bear With Me

Hey y'all, happy Friday!  And it is a happy Friday, I got up and did a nice relaxation yoga routine this morning and here in a bit I'll be going to the Y to do a yoga class there too.  Time to get my stretch on : )  And this afternoon, Ryan and I will have our monthly ice cream date because as of today, we've conquered five months of the hubs' deployment.  Almost halfway there...

Anyway, apparently this is my week for rustic bear cards because I made another one.  Here it is:

It's a bit of a liberal take on this Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch:

The trees (which are both one big stamp) are standing in for the two vertical strips, and the bear is the third panel.  I did have to add some ground for him to walk on because he looked weird just hovering there.  And I'm playing along in the new Retro Rubber challenge:

I went down the right side with trees, embossing (the bear is heat embossed with black EP, so he stands out a bit from the rest of the card), and your choice, and I chose BEAR.  'Cause I love bears.  The stamp set Pines (trees and bear) is at least two years old; I bought it used off of eBay when I was making my Maine scrapbook pages.  Wildlife Wonder (the ground) is coming up on two years old as well, but the sentiment stamp from Feathered Friends is brand new.  Had to get it when it showed up in the online exclusives because it's got a bunch of ducks and those are Ryan's favorite.

Okay I've gotta get moving if I want to make my yoga class on time.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pines, Wildlife Wonder, Feathered Flight
Ink:  Shaded Spruce, Crumb Cake, Versamark
Paper:  Crumb Cake
Accessories:  Black EP, Dimensionals, linen thread

Just One More Pumpkin Card

Mornin', y'all!  Can you believe that today is the last day of November??? I feel like I just got used to writing 2023 and pretty soon it'll be 2024 already.  Which is good, really, because January first means we'll be halfway through the hubs' deployment.

Anyway, I mightily resist doing Christmas cards before Thanksgiving, and since today is the last day of November I just had to do one more pumpkin card.

Meet this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And FMS's usual dance partner (for me at least), the Color Throwdown:

I decided to go with all retired colors today and used my all-time fave Baja Breeze with Mellow Moss and Peekaboo Peach, which honestly came out a bit darker than I expected so maybe I should have used Petal Pink instead.  Anyway, I had scraps of patterned paper in both Mellow Moss and Baja Breeze, so I punched out a bunch of circles and stuck them down higgledy-piggledy before adding the pumpkins and leaves on top.  And now I suppose it's time to transition from fall cards to winter and Christmas *slightly grumpy* I do have several Christmas stamp sets that I'm looking forward to playing with though.

Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pick of the Patch
Ink:  Peekaboo Peach, Pebbled Path, Mellow Moss
Paper:  Baja Breeze, Mellow Moss, Thick Basic White, Baja Breeze & Mellow Moss DSP
Accessories:  circle punches (1/2", 3/4", 1", 1 1/4"), Pick of the Patch punch, white sequins, Dimensionals