Hot Chocolate Day

Hey y'all, happy Friday!  I spent some lovely time this morning with a giant mug o' tea and this week's new episode of NCIS : )  (Side note if you're also a fan of NCIS:  I puffy heart love Agent Knight.  The cheese puns!  And her and Jimmy together!  Love her.)  The hubs and I rarely get control of the TV, especially since I pretty much go to bed right after Ryan does (those 5:15 wake-up calls are pretty intense).  So I enjoy getting to watch something only I like on occasion.

But after that I had to go in my craft room and make something!  Okay, I worked on a layout first but then I made this:

I was inspired by the Inspired By... challenge : )

I loved that color on the bottom mug, so I used Tranquil Tide, Cinnamon Cider, and Very Vanilla for my colors.  And my mugs have hot chocolate because I'm one of those weirdos who doesn't drink coffee ; )  I used the Inspired By sketch too:

The stamps and coordinating dies are by Newton's Nook.  I'm SUO like 98.5% of the time but every once in a while I have to get something from a different company.  I love the variety of hot chocolate mugs and sentiments in this set, but I have gotten spoiled with SU's dies--for the Newton's Nook ones, they all come hooked together in one piece so I had to bust out the needle-nosed pliers to separate all the pieces.

I'm off to continue making good use of my kid-free time.  I probably *should* do dishes, buuuutttt...I'll do those tomorrow.  For now, my craft room is calling and I must go.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Cup of Cocoa from Newton's Nook
Ink:  Versamark, Early Espresso, Tranquil Tide, Cinnamon Cider
Paper:  Cinnamon Cider, Thick Very Vanilla, Tranquil Tide DSP
Accessories:  Cup of Cocoa dies from Newton's Nook, Stitched Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, Clear EP

Peekaboo Gnome

Hey y'all!  Hope your week is going well.  I'm working today but looking forward to having another day off tomorrow.  I'm in the scrappin' GROOVE again and it's all I want to do : )

But I did make a card to share today!  Take a peek:

Thought the Kindest Gnomes set would work well with this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Though I did move the sentiment down as I just didn't want to cover up any of my little gnome friend.  As usual, I paired the sketch with the Color Throwdown:

I read that as Pacific Point, Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake, and Very Vanilla.  SU! doesn't have Pacific Point Blends (why, SU, WHYYYYY) so I used the lighter Night of Navy and the darker Balmy Blue to sub in.  I just recently got the DSP packs in alllllll the color families (I just really love this year's patterns!) so I chose patterns in Pacific Point and Pumpkin Pie to go behind my gnome and his toadstool house.  Believe it or not, the top of the toadstool is colored with the lighter Pumpkin Pie blend, which is very mellow compared to the patterned paper.  *shrug*

Have a good day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Kindest Gnomes
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Night of Navy, Balmy Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake, Petal Pink, Ivory, S100
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Thick Very Vanilla, Pacific Point & Pumpkin Pie DSP
Accessories:  Gnome dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Fine Sparkle Gems

Spooktacular Pup

Hey!  Bit late with my blog post today, but I was working on a scrapbook layout this morning and didn't want to switch gears in the middle to make a card.  So I just got this done!

Check out the tic-tac-toe challenge from Retro Rubber:

I had stars on the brain thanks to a sketch challenge (we'll get to that in a minute), and using dies or punches was easy, but the blue part on the bottom row was throwing me a bit since I really wanted to use this pupster.  That is until I thought of a card that Joanne James made with this cool color combination:

Heyyy, Starry Sky would work for me!  I didn't use any silver on my card, but this color challenge definitely got me going in the right direction.  And here's the starry sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches that started me off:

I bought those star embellishments I think last year and I never used any of them until now.  But they were perfect for my spooktacular pup!  Oh yeah, he's retro too--he's four years old.

That's it for me today, peeps.  I'm going to try to maximize my crafting time before the boy gets off the school bus in a couple of hours.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Trick or Tweet
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Starry Sky, Mango Melody, Smoky Slate, Bronze
Paper:  Starry Sky, Mango Melody, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Cute Stars sequins, Dimensionals

SUO Challenges: Monochrome

 Hey you guuuuuyyys!  Are you ready for a new challenge from SUO Challenges?

Today it's all about monochrome!  So pick one color and stick with it : )  I chose Starry Sky and made this:

The DSP packs in the color families include this great plaid that has a lot of color value already in it, talk about easy!  I stamped the sentiment with full-strength Starry Sky, and then the pegasus is stamped off once for a lighter look.  I lightly watercolored his mane, tail, and hooves too.  See, you can get a lot of use out of just one ink pad!  A few rhinestones and I'm all set.

So what's your favorite color?  Let's see your monochromatic cards on the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pure Magic
Ink:  Starry Sky
Paper:  Starry Sky, Thick Basic White, Starry Sky DSP
Accessories:  Deckled Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, rhinestones

Maine

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I've been able to carve out little bits of time recently to work on scrapbook pages, and yesterday I took pictures of a few recent layouts.  I've got two to share today!

In October of 2019, we took a week-long trip to the Bar Harbor area of Maine with our friends Bennet and Missy and their kiddo.  We lucked out in that the week we were there was peak fall foliage so we took *hundreds* of pictures, and then I printed out hundreds of pictures because I liked so many of them.  I ended up making an entire album's worth of scrapbook pages from this trip and I still had a giant stack of pictures left over, so I decided to make two layouts to go in the chronological book too.  So yeah all the pictures on these pages are the ones that *didn't* make the cut for the main book.  The main Maine book.

Funny story:  over the past year or two, I've acquired a number of stamp sets on eBay, and I bought a couple of different sets with moose images thinking hey, I'll use these for the Maine pages.  And then I FORGOT TO USE ANY MOOSE for the entirety of the Maine book!  When I finally remembered, I only had the first and last pages for that album yet to do, so I put a moose on that, and then I made these two layouts so I made sure to include a moose here too.

Today's color palette:  Merry Merlot, Cajun Craze, Mossy Meadow, Cinnamon Cider, and Whisper White.  And now I'm out of Merry Merlot 12x12 cardstock and I really miss the days we could get full packs of a single color.

Have a great week, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Make a Difference, Vintage Leaves, Yukon
Ink:  Versamark, Merry Merlot, Cajun Craze, Mossy Meadow, Cinnamon Cider, Soft Suede, Misty Moonlight
Paper:  Merry Merlot, Cajun Craze, Mossy Meadow, Cinnamon Cider, Thick Basic White, Beauty of the Earth DSP
Accessories:  Leaflets dies, clear EP

Dino-Mite Sketch for the Paper Players

Happy fall, y'all!  I've got a nice cuppa tea and a piece of coffee cake for breakfast, it's a great start to my Sunday.  And to make it better, we've got a lovely sketch from the Paper Players!

This sketch is courtesy of Jaydee, isn't it great?  And here's what I made for it:

One of my husband's coworkers became a dad for the first time recently, and right after the new parents got home from the hospital with their son, we took over a meal for them.  The first time I met the new mama, before the baby was born, she was wearing a shirt that said "We're hoping it's a DINOSAUR!" (they had opted not to find out the baby's gender before he was born).  So I knew that Dino Days would be a perfect choice to make a card for the new family!

I hope you'll make time this week to try out this dino-mite sketch and upload your card at the Paper Players blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Dino Days
Ink:  Mango Melody, Pretty Peacock, Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Pretty Peacock, Daffodil Delight, Thick Basic White, Dinoroar DSP
Accessories:  Dino dies, Stitched Rectangles dies, Dimensionals

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Cindy Beach

Christy Stanford <-- You are here : )

Jennie Maier

Leafy Thoughts

Back with another super quick card for today!  Check it out:

Stampin' Up! didn't come out with a leaf-centric stamp set this year (unless you count Soft Seedlings, I suppose, and it's got just one big leaf in it) so I got out last year's Gorgeous Leaves to play with again.  I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Though I admit it's a bit of a looser interpretation.  The woodgrain stamps are the larger rectangle and I'm counting the sentiment as the smaller rectangle; both of those elements are stamped directly on the card base and I just popped the leaves up on top.

I used this week's color challenge from CAS Colours & Sketches:

Which is why I tried to CAS-ify the sketch a bit by cutting down on the layers.  The larger leaf was inked up with Calypso Coral and then a bit of Merry Merlot around the edges; I promise I did use all the challenge colors : )

And don't forget this also fits with this week's theme challenge at the Paper Players:

And that's all she wrote today!  Have a good one, peeps.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Gorgeous Leaves, Nature's Prints
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Merry Merlot, Calypso Coral, Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Intricate Leaves dies, Dimensionals, Rustic Metallic Dots

Sorry for Your Loss

*sigh* I hate making sympathy cards in general, but I hate making sympathy cards for the loss of a furry family member even more.

At least the now-retired Dog Builder punch makes them really easy.  I used this week's sketch from Sunday Stamps:

I wanted my DSP rectangle to be larger, but I only had that one scrap of it so that's what I used.  Very quick card to make, it was ready to go in the mail in under 10 minutes.

Have a good weekend, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pampered Pets
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Sweet Sorbet, Thick Basic White, Crumb Cake DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Dog Builder punch, Dimensionals

Sunflower Hello

Howdy, y'all!  I think we're starting to get settled in a routine for Ryan's school day.  With the way my work schedule is, it usually leaves me roughly 45 minutes in the morning and a bit over 30 minutes in the afternoon that I can hop in my craft room before or after getting Ryan on/off the bus for school.  I've been working hard to utilize that time to the max, and in fact I've made several cards and finished a scrapbook layout in those little blocks of time.  The hubs pointed out that I actually get MORE craft stuff done when I have other things scheduled that I have to do, like work--yeah he might be right.

So!  Here's a card I completed yesterday morning in between getting Ryan on the bus and me heading out for work:

I loved the sketch this week from Hand Stamped Sentiments:

In fact, there's such a bounty of great sketch challenges this week that I don't think I'll get to do them all.  I paired this sketch with the Color Throwdown:

I used Bermuda Bay, Summer Sun, Early Espresso, and Old Olive for my colors.  I tried coloring in the flower with So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie Blends first, but it didn't look bright and cheery enough, so I stamped another flower and used my old Summer Sun marker on it.  Yeah, that marker is drying out pretty bad now but at least I got the sunflower done first.  Wish we had Blends in Crushed Curry, the So Saffron ones are just too pastel I think.

Kept my card simple so I could finish it before I had to go to work.  Whee!  Hope you have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Celebrate Sunflowers, Biggest Wish
Ink:  Early Espresso, Bermuda Bay, Old Olive, Stampin' Blends in Cinnamon Cider, Old Olive, and Pool Party; Summer Sun marker
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Early Espresso, Old Olive, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Sunflower dies, Stitched Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Second Scarecrow

Ya know, it seems like whenever we have a CAS challenge at the Paper Players, I can't ever make just one card for it!  I have to get one not-quite-CAS card out of my system before I can really embrace the clean and simple.  This week is no exception, I made a CAS-plus card before the simple card I posted on Sunday.  So here it is:

I really, really, really love that patterned paper from the long-retired Autumn Vine DSP pack and wanted to use it for this week's challenge, but the scarecrow image is so large that adding the patterned paper made this more CAS-plus as opposed to CAS.  But I love this little scarecrow and I'm sending out at least three or four cards a week, so he'll get to go postal soon.

Here's the challenge graphic from the Paper Players:

Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU! (many retired)
Stamps:  Happy Fall Y'all, For All Things
Ink:  Versamark, Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow, More Mustard, Basic Gray, Really Rust, Riding Hood Red, Dapper Denim, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Sage Shadow, Thick Very Vanilla, Autumn Vine DSP
Accessories:  clear EP, Stitched So Sweetly dies

Fairy Princess Halloween

Mornin' y'all!  Got a bit of time on Sunday to play  in my craft room and I had to ink up a new Halloween set, Scary Cute.  So here's my card for today:

Thought I'd go non-traditional for Halloween with a pink-and-purple fairy princess card.  With a bit of imagination, I made this work for the Festive Friday challenge:

I used stars, sparkle, and tried my hand at ink blending with the blending brushes.  My fairy princess is fussy cut, popped up on Dimensionals, and covered with Wink of Stella for sparkle that of course doesn't show up in the photo.  I also used this awesome sketch from Try Stampin' on Tuesday:

This is a sketch that you could use to make a really fast card by using some pretty patterned paper, or take your time and stamp something lovely in that giant open space.  Fun!

Hope you have a great week, peeps.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Scary Cute, Penguin Place
Ink:  Flirty Flamingo, Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grape
Paper:  Flirty Flamingo, Gorgeous Grape, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Wink of Stella, retired Glimmer Dots, Dimensionals

Time for Tea

No Scrappy Monday today because I want to get a card in for a challenge before it closes later today.  And it's time for tea!

Here's the awesome sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches:

I decided to use the teacup image first, then chose a pattern from the Tea Boutique DSP Stack and let it dictate the colors for all the elements.  This came together in about the length of time it would take to brew a cup of tea...which I think I'll do right now.  So glad that it's finally cool enough to make drinking hot tea enjoyable again!  I missed it over the summer.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Cup of Tea
Ink:  Orchid Oasis, Fresh Freesia, Fresh Freesia Stampin' Blend
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Thick Basic White, Tea Boutique DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Teacup dies, white baker's twine, Dimensionals

Welcoming Fall with the Paper Players

It's Sunday morning, and that means it's time for a new challenge from the Paper Players!  This week, Claire has a great theme for us:

I'm pretty sure I have just ONE scarecrow stamp in my collection so I had to dust him off a bit and make a new card : )

I checked the weather for the next week and our highs are supposed to be mainly in the low 60s, so we are definitely welcoming fall here!  Which makes my little heart happy : )  This scarecrow is part of the stamp set Happy Fall Y'all, which has been in my collection for at least sixteen years.  I broke out a slew of retired colors to watercolor him, I've enjoyed watercoloring several projects lately.  Still obsessed with the Deckled Rectangles dies so I couldn't resist using one on this card too.

Hope you'll make time to join us for this fun challenge and post your card on the Paper Players blog.  Don't forget to keep it CAS and have fun!  I think I'll take my cuppa tea upstairs and get to stamping.  I've got lots of leaf stamps I could use for this challenge too.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU! (many retired)
Stamps:  Happy Fall Y'all, For All Things
Ink:  Versamark, Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow, More Mustard, Basic Gray, Really Rust, Riding Hood Red, Dapper Denim, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Sage Shadow, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  clear EP, Deckled Rectangles dies

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Cindy Beach

Christy Stanford <-- You are here : )

Jennie Maier

Thanksgiving Pumpkin

Howdy y'all and happy Friday!  Kiddo doesn't have school today (seriously, they seem to have days off all. the. time) so we got to sleep in a bit today and he's playing video games while I write up this blog post.  I think later I'm going to enlist his help to make pumpkin cream cheese muffins.  In the meantime, I have a paper pumpkin to share.

Going CAS today for a simple Thanksgiving card!  I started with this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And of course I paired it with the Color Throwdown, I love pairing those two challenges:

I used Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, and Lost Lagoon for my colors.  I don't have any current pumpkin stamps (at least I don't think I do) so I broke out the retired Pick a Pumpkin and Teeny Tiny Wishes for this card.  I am in full fall crafting mode now!  My favorite : )

Have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pick a Pumpkin, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Watercolor Shapes
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Lost Lagoon
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Lost Lagoon, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Patterned Pumpkin dies, Deckled Rectangles dies, Dimensionals

Fall Fox

Good morning y'all!  Turns out that I do NOT have strep throat, and as bad as I felt on Tuesday I'm feeling all better today so yay! And in other good news, today is the big 24-hour stamp sale from Stampin' Up! and I already took advantage of that ; )

I am also very happy that it's now cool enough in the morning that I can drink a cup of hot tea without feeling like I'm going to melt into a miserable puddle, so I've got my chestnut tea and some bread with butter and sour cherry jam and some nice music playing and oh yes I am living my best life.  So here is today's card:

I like getting new stamps for Sale-a-Bration but sometimes I don't get to play with the stamp sets much (or at all) before SAB ends.  So Stylish Sketches may be retired now but I had to ink it up for the challenge from Hand Stamped Sentiments:

Obviously I was inspired by the fox in the challenge graphic, but I also glommed on to that deep green saucer on the bottom right.  I thought the color challenge from Sunday Stamps dovetailed nicely with the HSS challenge:

I used Evening Evergreen, Mossy Meadow, Cajun Craze, and Merry Merlot for my colors; I actually did use some dark So Saffron Blend on my fox but ended up going over it with ivory, so for all intents and purposes I left out the yellow color from the challenge graphic.

At first, I moved things around on the card front trying to figure out where to put a sentiment, but in the end I decided to keep it simple and let the fantastic Mr. Fox be front and center.  I stamped "simply thankful for all the good things" from Country Home on the inside of my card but I didn't take a picture of that so you'll just have to trust me.

And with that, I've got about three hours before I have to go get Ryan to take him to an appointment, so I'm going to go be productive.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Stylish Sketches, Country Home
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Evening Evergreen, Stampin' Blends in Cajun Craze, So Saffron, Ivory, Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Evening Evergreen, Thick Very Vanilla, He's the Man Specialty DSP, Come to Gather DSP
Accessories:  Deckled Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, Rustic Metallic Dots

Sugar Apples

Mornin' y'all!  How's your day going?  I had just enough time on Monday (in between six loads of laundry) to make a card to share today.

Yeah I was so set to resist Apple Harvest and then the dies came out and it's all I want to use now ; )  Once again, I inked up the stamp with Versamark, then Early Espresso, stamped it and sprinkled clear EP on it.  Apparently I should have tapped off a bit more of the embossing powder because my apples look like they've got sugar on them.

For today's card, I started off with the Global Design Project challenge:

I traded the yellow/orange tones for greens but kept the layout and the main colors the same on my card.  I thought this paired nicely with the new Inspired By challenge:

Welcome back, Inspired By Challenges!  Nice to see y'all again.  I loved the gorgeous deep red color on the apples in this photo, so I used Cherry Cobbler to watercolor my apples.  Now I've done apples in Polished Pink, Sweet Sorbet, and Cherry Cobbler, but not the color that actually has the word "apple" in its name.  Ha!

Hope you have a great day, peeps.  I need to go pick up a bunch more apples that have fallen off the tree in our yard.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Apple Harvest, Nature's Prints
Ink:  Versamark, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow, Crumb Cake, Sahara Sand
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler DSP
Accessories:  Apple Blooms dies, Dimensionals, Clear EP

SUO Challenges: Hello Fall!

Hello stampy friends!  I know I missed Scrappy Monday yesterday, but we got back late Sunday afternoon from our Norwegian fjords cruise and I'm so TIRED and I think I'm getting sick.  I tested negative for Covid yesterday but went in this morning for a strep throat screening, so that's fun.  Okay not really so let's get to something that IS fun, a new challenge from SUO Challenges!

This time our theme is autumn and fall and I AM HERE FOR IT.  So much, in fact, that I made two cards for the challenge today.  So let's go!

I had forgotten about that leaf pattern in the Celebrate Everything stack from the holiday catalog until I saw Heather's card for the last challenge, so thanks for the jumping off point, Heather! : )  I started with the leaf pattern and used it to dictate my colors for the rest of the card.  One of my honorary nieces has a birthday in November so I think this might be her birthday card!

Next up, how about something a bit more CAS?

I actually made this one first and it was so quick and easy that I just had to go make a not-CAS card for the challenge today too.  Nothing but a Very Vanilla card base and several ink colors to make this one!

Hope you'll have a good time with this challenge too.  It's definitely getting a bit cooler in the mornings and I'll take any indication that fall is on its way!  Don't forget to upload your fall card to the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Nuts About Squirrels
Ink:  Versamark, Early Espresso, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Granny Apple Green, Thick Basic White, Celebrate Everything DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Stitched Rectangles dies, white EP, retired glitter enamel dots, Dimensionals

Supplies, CAS card:
Stamps:  Nuts About Squirrels
Ink:  Early Espresso, Cinnamon Cider, Pumpkin Pie, Sweet Sorbet, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  None

Daydreaming with the Paper Players

Sunday again already!  That means it's time for a new Paper Players challenge, and Joanne has a great color combination for us:

You might recognize the colors as being from the Designer Daydream DSP that's a host choice in the Stampin' Up catalog.  So of course that's what I used to start my card:

Can't get enough of those deckled rectangles : )  I left out Pool Party and Old Olive and used the other four colors.  I started out by choosing that stripey pattern and built the card from there.  I stamped the flower image and sentiment in Blackberry Bliss ink, and then after the ink dried I colored the flowers with Stampin' Blends.

I made another card too, this time using the fill-in stamps instead of coloring with Blends, just to see which one I liked better.  No harm in having two get well cards in my stash.

Hope you'll have fun with these colors too!  Upload your card at the Paper Players blog.  Enjoy!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hand-Penned Petals
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Stampin' Blends in Petal Pink, So Saffron, Mint Macaron
Paper:  Petal Pink, Thick Basic White, Designer Daydream DSP
Accessories:  Deckled Rectangles dies, Penned Flowers dies, Dimensionals

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Cindy Beach

Christy Stanford <-- You are here : )

Jennie Maier