Hershey's Chocolate World

Mornin', y'all!  Well, word is that our Mac is D-E-D dead.  It's not the hard drive so something else got fried; hubs went ahead and ordered a new iMac yesterday.  Don't know when it will get here so it appears my hiatus will continue...but I do have a bunch of posts already started with scrapbook pages so at least Scrappy Monday continues.

Say hello to Hershey's Chocolate World in Hershey, Pennsylvania :)  These pictures aren't strictly Christmasy, but they were taken in December two years ago and you can see there's a gigundo house made out of candy with Christmas trees next to it.  See those Hershey candy sticker accents?  I've had them in my stash FOR.EV.ER. and finally got to use them!  What's silly is I have a TON of stickers, like two giant sheets plus some printed die cuts, and I just used four itty bitty stickers here but that's all the layout needed I think.  I chose the patterned paper for the top and bottom strips because it reminded me of out-of-focus Christmas lights. 

And here is today's color palette:  Chocolate Chip (of course!  That was a no-brainer), Tangerine Tango and Crushed Curry (because those are the colors in Reese's Peanut Butter Cups wrappers), the Coastal Cabana patterned paper, and of course Whisper White.

That's it for today, y'all.  See you next Monday...or sooner if the computer gets here super fast.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  None
Ink:  Chocolate Chip marker
Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango, Crushed Curry, Thick Whisper White, Best Year Ever DSP
Accessories:  Hershey's stickers by Creative Imaginations

Unplanned Hiatus

Hey y'all, looks like I'll be taking a little unplanned blogging hiatus.  We think Ryan killed our computer* where all my papercrafting pictures are, and I've never used the new laptop until right this minute as I type this and I don't think we have it set up to download pictures from any of our cameras.  Thus, unplanned hiatus.  Maybe I'll get some scrapping done!


*Last week before we left for Texas, Ryan unplugged the Mac from the wall.  I restarted it and everything seemed fine, but when we got back yesterday it all no worky.  Hubs thinks that the sudden unplug fried the hard drive.  We have all our pictures backed up on a Time Capsule, but I don't know if we'll be able to access them yet.  O Computer Gods, please please please don't let us lose all our pictures!

Christmas Day 2003

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  We're going way back in time to the first Christmas after hubs and I got married in 2003.

Sometimes I hem and haw for ages trying to pick out cardstock colors, patterned paper, and stamps to use on a particular layout.  Other times (and I wish this happened more often), I know exactly what I want to do as soon as I pull out the pictures.  This one was one of those happy times so this layout came together lickety-split.  Yay!  It's fun to look at older pictures like this too and see how much I remember of what was going on.  I do remember that Kitchenaid mixer that my in-laws gave me for Christmas that year, we still have it although it's a bit worse for wear for having been carted hither and yon as hubs and I move around the world.  But it still works and gets used on the regular.  I just had to wait a few years for SU! to come out with a stand mixer stamp to use on this layout, haha!

Today's colors are Primrose Petals (retired), Night of Navy, Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery (retired), Sage Shadow (retired), and Whisper White.  The three greens are all in the patterned paper and while I would never in a million years have combined them on my own, I do love that pack o' paper.

That's it for me today, y'all.  Christmas cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Cozy Christmas, Yummy Little Christmas
Ink:  Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke, Night of Navy marker
Paper:  Primrose Petals, Always Artichoke, Night of Navy,  Whisper White, Wintergreen DSP
Accessories:  None

2016 Christmas Cards Color Block

Scrappy Monday on a Thursday!  The hubs and I are in Texas right now visiting with the grandparents (who are much more interested in seeing Ryan than us, but hey, if that means we get to go out to the movies...).  But I didn't want to skip scrapbook day this week, so I present last year's Christmas card color block.

I started doing this with all the photo cards I get in the mail each year and it's great to be able to see everyone's photos in one place.  And I have a TON of Christmas patterned paper so let's be honest, this is a good way to use up some of that too :p

This was last year's Candy Cane Lane DSP.

This particular Santa has been retired for *ages* but I love him.  I stamped him with Basic Black and then colored with Prismacolor pencils.

And there's the last color block layout for 2016's cards.  I've already gotten a couple of cards in the mail this year and I'm like dude, we haven't even taken a picture yet, much less ordered cards!

Color combo was taken straight from the patterned paper:  Real Red, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, and Whisper White.  I do like that DSP.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Magic & Wonder
Ink:  Basic Black
Paper:  Real Red, Crumb Cake, Candy Cane Lane DSP
Accessories:  Prismacolor Pencils

Bold Snowflakes

Happy Wednesday!  We're on our way to the airport for our very first plane trip with baby Ryan.  He's done pretty well with road trips so far, so we hope he'll be okay (and non-screamy) on the plane too.  Wish us luck!

So, on to today's card!  I liked the color challenge at Cupcake Inspirations:

I used Whisper White, Soft Sky, and Basic Black for my colors.  I like the bold patterns in the Merry Little Christmas DSP so I chose two patterns to work with.  For the smaller print, I sponged Soft Sky ink on the white bits.  One single stamp on Soft Sky cardstock later, I was done!  Easy peasy.  Well, after I adhered all those layers anyway.  I wouldn't want to mass-produce this because it's got six layers, but for a one-off it was fun.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Labels to Love
Ink:  Soft Sky, Basic Black
Paper:  Soft Sky, Basic Black, Merry Little Christmas DSP
Accessories: Everyday Label Punch, Dimensionals

Lift Your Spirits

Hey, y'all, how's your morning going?  I had book club last night so I was up way past my bedtime.  It was fun though and that's only once a month...okay so I stay up past my bedtime more than once a month but you know what I mean!

I'm taking a break from red and green and Christmas cards today to bring you this:

I found this color challenge at As You See It and it's different from anything I've done lately so I just had to play along, and the hot air balloons in Lift Me Up seemed like the perfect choice to go with these colors:

I paired that with the Global Design Project's CASE the Designer challenge:

I kept the layout from the inspiration card, but used some patterned paper with torn edges for the panel behind the main image.  That stripey paper is retired, but I had a scrap of just the right size and I just loved those uplifting stripes with the hot air balloons.

Ryan's awake and moving around, so I'd better go grab him and feed us both breakfast.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lift Me Up
Ink:  Pool Party, Pacific Point, Flirty Flamingo
Paper:  Pool Party, Thick Whisper White, retired Pacific Point DSP
Accessories:  Up & Away Thinlits, gold metallic accents, Dimensionals

Pink Champagne

Mornin', y'all.  I'm going to do Scrappy Monday later this week because I've got a card to share today!

I started out with the photo inspiration at Inkspirational:

Mostly I went with the colors for inspiration (Flirty Flamingo, Champagne glimmer paper, Very Vanilla and Basic Black) and of course the glitter was straight out of the inspiration photo.  I paired that with the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches:

(The reason I'm posting this card today, so I can enter it there before the challenge closes!) And finally, all that glimmer paper means I can enter this at Just Add Ink too:

This card took a little longer than I expected to put together and it was because of the snowflakes.  They're from the Seasonal Layers Thinlits.  I don't have the precision platform for the Big Shot, so I ran the glimmer paper through with some waxed paper between the paper and the die, and I ran it through several times to help it cut cleanly.  Even so I had to redo the largest snowflake and run it about eight times.  There's a coating on the back of the glimmer paper that's like waxed paper, so you have to use a paper piercer to punch out the fiddly bits on the insides of the snowflakes from the glitter side of the paper.  If you press from the back side, you end up with bits of that paper coating in all the little holes and it just doesn't look good.  And even though glimmer paper is the most mess-free way to add glitter to a project, I still have glitter all over my craft room and probably had it all over me last night too.

Okay!  Gym time.  Hugs and kisses, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snowflake Sentiments
Ink:  Flirty Flamingo, Basic Black
Paper:  Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Watercolor Paper, Champagne Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits, Seasonal Layers Thinlits

Christmas Quilt

Hey y'all!  Three red-and-green Christmas cards in a ROW here.  (Well, yesterday's was Christmas colors and had a Christmas tree on it, but it was really coffee-related...)  But let's just go with it.

This is the card I talked about yesterday that I was making with the Fab Friday color challenge in mind until I realized it was Emerald Envy in that color challenge and I used Garden Green on here (which is the dark green color in the Quilted Christmas DSP stack).

At least I got the Paper Players' sketch challenge right:

I'm also entering this at SUO Challenges, which is all about the winter holidays right now.

Well, I'm outta time this morning so that's it for me.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Christmas Quilt
Ink:  Real Red, Lemon Lime Twist, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Garden Green, Thick Whisper White, Quilted Christmas DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes & Quilt Builder Framelits, Dimensionals, Garden Green Stitched Satin Ribbon

Triple Pump Half-Caf Nonfat Peppermint Latte with Extra Cream

Okay so I don't drink coffee.  Hot tea any day of the week (I'm having a morning cuppa as I type this).  But I do love Hug in a Mug and I've got lots of coffee-drinking friends.

Those gold metallic accents always photograph weird, they look better IRL.  Don't ask me where that card layout came from because I have no idea.  Not something I would usually come up with on my own, but I DID.  Still, I like it!  I think it works.  I also love the color challenge from Fab Friday:

Actually this is my second attempt at these colors.  I made another card (which you'll see tomorrow) and realized at the last minute that I'd used Garden Green rather than Emerald Envy on that card, so I had to make another one.  Because I love Emerald Envy and it's going to retire next summer.  Sadface!  So anyway, I also continue my love affair with the Stitched Shapes Framelits.  If you don't have those already, you should buy them now because they are awesome.

That's it for today, kids.  Check ya later!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hug in a Mug
Ink:  Emerald Envy, Real Red, Lemon Lime Twist, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Emerald Envy, Lemon Lime Twist, Thick Whisper White, Quilted Christmas DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits, Dimensionals

Joyful Reindeer

Mornin', y'all!  Well, Ryan took some really good naps yesterday so I have cards for the next few days already.  Let's start with a darling little reindeer.

At first I wasn't going to get Seasonal Chums, but I'm glad I decided to do it.  This reindeer is adorable, and I like the snowman and jack o' lantern in the set too.  Plus the matching Framelits have some great shapes like that snowflake accent.  Can't argue with that.

Check out the new challenge at Fusion:

I used the sketch, and I used similar colors as the photo too.  I was hoping for a plaid but that particular pack of DSP is plaidless (what the heck, SU?  Needs more plaid!).

Here's the Global Design Project theme challenge:

The word "Joy" is in the sentiment I used on the front of the card, and I stamped "Merry Christmas" on the inside of the card.

And last up is the color challenge at Just Add Ink:

I thought those colors jived really well with the inspiration photo in the Fusion challenge.

Well, it's gym time for me and the tiny tyke.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Seasonal Chums, Snowflake Sentiments
Ink:  Versamark, Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Garden Green, Be Merry DSP, Silver Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Seasonal Tags & Stitched Shapes Framelits, White EP, Dimensionals, Watercolor pencils, Wink of Stella (on his bell)

Holly Jolly Bouquet Colorblock

It's officially after Thanksgiving, so even a Grinch like me says "Fine, put out the Christmas stuff if you have to." :p  I hate it when Thanksgiving gets bogarted by the Christmas juggernaut.  But I just looked through my draft posts and I have a half a dozen Christmas-related layouts in the queue so we might as well get started!

I made this one probably at least two years ago now.  Every year I take all the photo Christmas cards we get and make them into color-blocked layouts like this...seems like more people are going for the giant cards so it's not unusual for it to take several layouts to fit them all now.  Generally I choose a Christmas DSP stack from that year and just piece it all together.  Might not use the same background color for all the layouts, but they all coordinate with the same patterned paper.

Yep, see, first one was a Wild Wasabi page base and this one is Chocolate Chip.  I figure if I ever get my pages into albums then the Christmas cards have a pretty good shot at being the last pages, so having a single page on the end is okay.

Sounds like the kiddo is waking up.  Y'all have a great Monday!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  None
Ink:  Chocolate Chip marker
Paper:  Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Very Vanilla, Holly Jolly Bouquet DSP
Accessories:  Ornament punch

Just One More

Okay y'all, I think this is at least the third time I've made "one last fall card".  But I love fall cards!

I also love Lighthearted Leaves, which was in the Holiday catalog two years ago and sadly didn't carry over but I still love it and it has a permanent home in my stamp collection.  I discovered while working on this card that I have only a teeny tiny bit of clear embossing powder left, oops, but I had just enough to emboss both of the leaves so that I could watercolor them without the outlines running.

So check out this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Which I paired with the Color Throwdown:

I used So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, and Chocolate Chip for my colors, plus Very Vanilla as the neutral.  At first I started out with a Very Vanilla card base, but that didn't look quite right and So Saffron wasn't doing it for me either, so in the end I went with Chocolate Chip and I think that was the right answer.

The current Retro Rubber Challenge is easy peasy for the holidays:

As I said above, my stamps are two years old.  We had friends drive down from upstate New York for Thanksgiving, and they left yesterday morning so I plan to send this card to them to say thank you for driving down here to spend the holiday with us.  We had a FABULOUS time and made way too much food (and ATE way too much food) and it was just awesome.

So maybe this really IS the last fall card for this year, but I won't make any promises ;)  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lighthearted Leaves
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie
Cardstock:  Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Very Vanilla, Pumpkin Pie DSP
Accessories:  Leaflets Framelits, Dimensionals, Clear EP

Star Wars Disneyland

Happy Thanksgiving!  Hope you have a wonderful and safe holiday.  (Watch out for those crazy shoppers on the roads this afternoon and early early tomorrow!)

And today is Scrappy Thursday since I didn't do Monday.  I thought maybe I had another Thanksgiving layout somewhere in my draft posts but nope!  So instead, how about more pictures from Disneyland!

Okay the photos of the layout kinda stink but it was super overcast the day I took them and what can ya do.  The 5x7 on the left is when Lee and I met Chewbacca and I can now say I'VE HUGGED A WOOKIEE.  When we met Kylo Ren, he rudely told the girls to leave after their picture, and as she was walking away, Emma indignantly exclaimed, "He didn't even say please!"  The rest of us about died laughing.

Oh, those orangey circles on the right page?  They're epoxy stickers.  The largest one is Chewbacca and the two smaller ones are the Rebel Alliance insignia.

The epoxy sticker on this one says "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?" which I admit wouldn't have been my first choice but I looked all over and apparently no one sells Star Wars scrapbook supplies anymore.  What the heck, people.  Anyway, on the left is Space Mountain in its new guise as Hyperspace Mountain (it's pretty cool, you go through a space battle and Admiral Ackbar says "It's a trap!") and on the right is the lightsaber fight we had in the hotel room one evening before watching The Force Awakens.

Today's color combo:  Sweet Sugarplum, Coastal Cabana, Tangelo Twist, Basic Black and Whisper White.  Kiddo just woke up so I'm going to go grab him, then we're on like Donkey Kong for all the food food foooooooood!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge
Ink:  Whisper White, Basic Black
Paper:  Sweet Sugarplum, Coastal Cabana, Tangelo Twist, Basic Black, Whisper White, Eastern Elegance DSP
Accessories:  Star Wars paper & epoxy stickers by Creative Imaginations

Monochrome Snowflakes

Mornin', y'all.  Got a busy day ahead prepping for Thanksgiving...yesterday's prep didn't go exactly to plan as I managed to set off the smoke detector four times.  At least no one called the fire department on me?  The sweet potato casserole dripped a bit on the bottom of the oven and the smoke detector took exception to that.  Over and over. :p

I imagine after this week it's all winter/Christmas cards all the time so we'll just start with some snowflakes.  Well, I guess we started with a reindeer but whatever.

I do love that ombre pattern in the Color Theory paper stack.  Meet this week's Global Design Project sketch:

To get my two-tone snowflakes, I stamped half of them normal-normal and then stamped off once for the other half to make them lighter.  I kept looking for somewhere to put the glitter enamel dots that go with the Color Theory paper but just couldn't think of a placement that added to the card, so I left them off.

Well, Ryan has managed to pull off both his socks and looks proud of himself.  We're off to the gym for one last workout before tomorrow.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Colorful Seasons
Ink:  Dapper Denim
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Dapper Denim, Color Theory DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits, white baker's twine, Dimensionals

Falling for Brights

Mornin', y'all!  How's it going?  I've got a cranky kid today.  At least, he was cranky until he started shoving cereal puffs in his mouth and if he's cranky now at least he's quiet about it :p  He was really cranky last night too.

But anyway, since this week is Thanksgiving, I just had to make at least one more fall card.  And oddly enough, I picked three colors in the Brights family to make it.

I cut out the leaves with the Seasonal Layers Thinlits, then stamped each with a stamp from Timeless Textures to give them...a little texture ;)  And how much am I addicted to the Stitched Shapes Framelits lately?  Like, a lot.

Check out this sketch from Sunday Stamps:

I didn't want to cover up my leaves, so I kinda combined the sentiment strip and the three round embellishments into one row.  Rhinestones FTW!

And here's the latest challenge from Cupcake Inspirations:

In other Cupcake Inspirations news, they chose my monochrome fall card from last week as one of their challenge winners, woohoo!

Okay, kiddo is getting all talkative so it's time to take Mr. Cranky McCrankyPants to the gym so he can burn off some energy in the daycare while I work out.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Timeless Textures, One Big Meaning
Ink:  Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits, Seasonal Layers Thinlits, Rhinestones

Cozy Reindeer

Mornin', y'all!  Last week totally got away from me and I have a feeling it's going to be a sprint for the next couple of months.  We're going to be moving to North Carolina in January or February, so we're looking at houses online right now and have a trip planned down there to see some in person, then we'll be taking Ryan on his first plane ride all the way to Texas and both of those things are happening after Thanksgiving and well before Christmas!  (We're doing Ryan's first Christmas at home.)  So anyway, I'll sneak off to my craft room as much as I can, but I might be a little spotty on posting stuff here.

But I do have a card for today!

I usually do scrapbook pages on Mondays but I didn't want to let this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches go by without making something:

Scrapbook layout will come later this week.  Anyway, I think this also works for the Paper Players' CAS challenge:

I think that reindeer looks very warm and cozy in his sweater.  And check out the Just Add Ink challenge:

R is for reindeer!  And this is the maiden voyage for my Merry Patterns stamp set; it was a special from SU! in September and October.

Considering all the pies I plan to make this week, Ryan and I really need to get to the gym today.  Happy Thanksgiving week everyone, and cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Merry Patterns
Ink:  Old Olive, Basic Black
Paper:  Old Olive, Whisper White, Merry Little Christmas DSP
Accessories:  Pearls

Fear Not

So yesterday afternoon I had an idea what I wanted to do for today's card, and I was cruising through my stamps looking for a sentiment that would fit in the big maple leaf Framelit when I came across this Bible verse from Rose Wonder and all of a sudden my card turned out very different from what I had planned.

I have never made anything with this stamp before but I was compelled to ink it up yesterday.  And here is the maiden voyage of Tree Rings, which I stamped off once before stamping on the watercolor paper so it's more like the suggestion of tree rings which isn't exactly what I had planned but I think it looks okay.  And I still added a leaf from Vintage leaves, just a small one.

I was inspired by the photo at Fusion:

In general I don't like making cards with only neutrals and this one is made with ONLY Soft Suede ink on Very Vanilla and watercolor paper.

I used the Fab Friday sketch:

Just turned it on its side to accommodate the verse.

And the Cupcake Inspirations challenge is perhaps my favorite:

Though I think I need to make another card for this challenge and do LOTS of very COLORFUL leaves ;)

Looks like Ryan is waking up so I'm going to go get his bottle ready.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Rose Wonder, Tree Rings, Vintage Leaves
Ink:  Soft Suede
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Watercolor Paper
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes & Leaflets Framelits, Dimensionals, pearls

We're Going to Disneyland!

Scrappy Tuesday!  Thought we'd do scrapbook pages today since yesterday was Guest Designer Day :D  And here are some of the most recent pages to come out of my craft cave!

Pics are from when we went to Disneyland with friends in April of last year.  These same friends are driving down for Thanksgiving next week!  Very excited about that.

Also excited about my title and patterned paper here.  That pattern is one of my VERY FAVORITEST EVER by Stampin' Up!, I just love it.  So for the title, I used the same colors and added Pacific Point.  I sponged ink on the background rectangle rather than inking up straight from the ink pad, which made the colors light enough that you could still tell the letters are BLUE and they look good.

Second layout!  I matted all the photos with different colors from the patterned paper too.  Pacific Point isn't anywhere in the pattern, but I thought it went well with the other colors.

And there's the colors:  Pacific Point, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Tangelo Twist, Mossy Meadow, and smidge of Basic Black and Whisper White.  Wish my photos of the pages were a little better today but we've been socked in with clouds for what seems like forever so it's hard to get good pics.  Ah well.  The trip was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to seeing those friends again next week!

Cheers, y'all!  Ryan and I are heading to the gym for the first time in a week since we both had colds last week.  Wish me luck.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Layered Letters Alphabet, Back to Basics Alphabet
Ink:  Pacific Point, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Tangelo Twist, Mossy Meadow, Basic Black
Paper:  Pacific Point, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Tangelo Twist, Mossy Meadow, Basic Black, Whisper White, Birthday Bash DSP
Accessories:  Mickey punch by All Night Media, circle punches from SU!