Warnemunde & Rostock

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Well, the hubs went back to work today, less than two weeks after brain surgery.  (He's the only one who thinks this is a good idea.)  I have enlisted our friend Bennet to check on him since they work in the same building, and I also texted his boss to send the hubs right back home if boss thinks he's overdoing it.  If he does stay at work all day, I'm hoping for a quiet and productive day for me at the house.  We'll see.

So, scrapbook pages!  These are from our 2014 Baltic cruise and Warnemunde was our first port.

The day we arrived was a German holiday so a lot of things were closed and we elected not to attempt a 3-hour train journey to Berlin (we did go to Berlin a few years later when we were living in Germany).  We took the much shorter ride to Rostock and had a look around, got rained on, then ended up back in Warnemunde and looked around the port and bought ice cream.

At this point I have done a LOT of scrapbook pages for European travels, and I'm always looking for ways to work in or show off Cajun Craze and similar colors.  It's on a LOT of buildings across Europe.  So today's palette is a Sahara Sand page base, Pistachio Pudding, Evening Evergreen, Cajun Craze, and Whisper White.  I think the neutral page base and greens do help accent the deep oranges in the photos.

That's it for me, y'all.  I've already got a load of laundry in the washer, we'll be leaving to get Ryan to school in about 15 minutes, and I have my grocery list ready.  Time to be productive!  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Classic Alphabet, Petal Parade
Ink:  Sahara Sand, Cajun Craze, Evening Evergreen
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Cajun Craze, Evening Evergreen, Thick Basic White, Sweet Sorbet DSP
Accessories:  None

Vanilla Note

Happy Sunday, y'all!  Usually I post in the mornings but this weekend kinda got away from me a bit and I just really, really really wanted to play in the Just Add Ink challenge:

You know what I do NOT have much of in my stamp collection?  Book stamps.  There's the stack of books in Bird's Eye View, and I have a stamp set that's kind of back-to-schoolish that has some books, but other than that I can't think of any.  I have my eye on some non-SU! stamps to fill that void, but in the meantime...

I went with vanilla.  Not sure why but as soon as I saw that inspiration pictures, this vanilla image popped into my brain so I went with it.  I pulled in one of last year's All About Autumn DSP patterns for the background panel (ironically, it has a photo of books on the other side) and popped up the vanilla image on a scrap of Soft Sea Foam cut with the Radiating Stitches dies.  Are those still in the online store?  A few champagne rhinestones and I have another fall-adjacent card to send out soon.

That's it for me, peeps.  I'm going to see if I can make another card before dinnertime : )  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lovely & Sweet, Notes of Nature
Ink:  Early Espresso, Pecan Pie, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Copper Clay, Soft Sea Foam, Lemon Lolly
Paper:  Copper Clay, Soft Sea Foam, Thick Very Vanilla, All About Autumn DSP
Accessories:  Lovely & Sweet dies, Radiating Stitches dies, Mini Dimensionals, champagne rhinestones

Apple Lineup

Happy...(checks calendar)...Saturday, y'all!  Ryan was off school yesterday and I spent the whole day reminding myself that it was Friday, not Saturday.  But now it really is Saturday : ) and I have a card to share!

The first time I looked through the holiday mini catalog, More Than Autumn was the bundle that hit my wishlist the fastest.  Then I didn't order until the beginning of this month and it's taken me this long to use this bundle...and I didn't even use the coffee cup or the pie stamps!  But I was inspired by this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

When I saw it, I had to think for a bit about what to do with those little shapes on the sketch.  Then I saw the Color Throwdown:

And that's what made me think of the itty bitty apples in More Than Autumn : ) I used Real Red, Old Olive, and Boho Blue for my colors, and kept my card pretty CAS.  I did pop up every other apple with a Dimensional, and added some Old Olive rhinestones to make sure it's obvious that I did include the green in this challenge.   My rhinestones were from the retired Noble Peacock set, but you could easily use Stampin' Blends to color clear rhinestones.

Now we just need to convince autumn to come out of hiding.  It's still been in the low 80s here and I am ReAdY for some fall weather!  I keep manifesting fall in my craft room but so far I've only seen a couple of trees starting to change colors.  Think fall thoughts, everyone.

Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  More Than Autumn
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Real Red & Old Olive
Paper:  Boho Blue, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  More Than Autumn dies, Dimensionals, Regal Peacock Rhinestones

L'Automne en France

It's French Friday!  : )  That's not really a thing, I just made it up because I used two stamp sets on today's card that have "French" in the name.  Also I took French classes for something like 7 years and used to be at least minimally functional in the language, but I haven't practiced much except for when we visited France.  And Belgium.  Anyway, card!

So I've been stamping for nearly 20 years and I almost never get rid of any stamps or supplies which is why my craft room is trying to take over the entire house and also why I occasionally like to take a trip down Memory Lane with some long-retired stamps.  This time I paired said stamps with some new DSP and accessories because it's fun to see how they play together. 

For challenges, first up is the Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge:

I loved that!  I zoned in on French Foliage for my leafy stamps right away but what seemed to take forever was choosing patterned paper.  I kept coming back to Thoughtful Journey, though.  I'm also entering this at Shopping Our Stash, where the theme is leaves.  Last up is the CASE the Designer challenge at Inspire. Create.:

I kept the basic layout but switched where the sentiment and the images go, and I stamped my French Script over the dark DSP on the left side of my card.

That's it for me today, y'all.  Ryan is off school, we have the hubs' first post-op appointment this afternoon and then we're going to see the new Transformers movie.  But first I have to go clean bathrooms : p Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  French Foliage, French Script, All-Year Cheer I
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Pretty Peacock, Versamark
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Thoughtful Journey DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Stitched Rectangles dies, Basic Borders dies, White EP, Dimensionals, Faux Glass Dots

Witchy Hat

Mornin' y'all!  We had fall temperatures for a hot second last weekend and it's supposed to get up to 84 today, sigh.  But it still feels like fall in my craft room!

A couple of months ago, I bought a listing of various Halloween goodies on a Facebook resale group and the Inkspirational challenge was the perfect way to break in some of those new stamps:

I thought the playful nature of the Paper Players sketch would work great for my hat too:

I really don't know why I didn't buy Bewitching when it first came out, I love Halloween stuff.  Oh well, it's in my collection now, along with Spooky Cat, which is where I got the Halloween greeting.  I had fun going through some scraps of Toil & Trouble DSP for all the elements of the sketch and decided I wanted some black glimmer paper for behind the witch hat.  Then I discovered that I don't *have* black glimmer paper, whaaat.  So I made my own!  I smooshed my Versamark pad on some black cardstock and embossed with Shimmery Black embossing powder (really, SU!, why did that not become a permanent thing?  It's awesome!) et voilà, DIY glimmer paper.  I added a few shiny black star accents too because why not.

That's it for me today, peeps.  As soon as I get Ryan off to school, I'm heading out to get a mammogram done.  Ick.  Then I'll reward myself with a trip to Kohl's and Michaels : )  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bewitching, Spooky Cat
Ink: Gorgeous Grape, Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Stampin' Blends in Lemon Lime Twist & Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Thick Basic White, Toil & Trouble DSP
Accessories:  Witch hat punch, Stylish Shapes dies, Shimmery Black EP, Shiny Stars, Dimensionals

Supremely Awesome Friends

Mornin' y'all!  How's your week going?  I have a fun card to share today!

I made this for the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge:

It took me a couple of days to decide WHICH favorite food to make my card around.  I mean, I have taco stamps, and pie, and lots of cupcake and cake stamps...but I had to go with pizza.  Usually that's what I want on my birthday ; ) AND this card is already out in the mail.  What with the hubs' surgery last week, our friends Bennet and Missy were keen to help however they could, so they wanted to take me to dinner on Friday while Ryan was at a Parents' Night Out thing at the rec center and the hubs was hopefully resting after the surgery (hard to get much rest in the hospital when the nurses come in every hour and wake you up).  I told them that really I wanted to stay at home in my PJs as I had spent several days at the hospital with the hubs and also I needed to do some laundry because I know how to party.  So what did Bennet and Missy do?  They showed up at my house with pizza and salad and chicken wings, and they were wearing *their* jammies too.  That's friendship, y'all.  So yep, had to make a pizza card!

Anyway, it's about time to get Ryan off to school so I'm out.  As Bennet likes to say...Peace, love, and hair grease!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Supremely Awesome
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Lemon Lolly, Real Red, Stampin' Blends in Ivory, Real Red, Smoky Slate, Petal Pink, Lemon Lolly
Paper:  Real Red, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Make Like a Tree with SUO Challenges

 Hey hey, you ready for a new challenge from SUO Challenges?

Y'all seemed to like the single stamp challenge last time, so here's hoping that this challenge is just as popular:

How's that for an inspiration pic?  I was so inspired that I had to make TWO cards (plus I'm an overachiever, and also I wanted to play with my new mini catalog goodies!).  So here's the first card:

Told you I have been having fun with Regal Flora!  I pulled colors from the inspiration photo and the little polka dots are what clinched Regal Flora as my stamp set of choice for this card.  You can't see it, but I used Wink of Stella on the flowers.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Regal Flora
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Wild Wheat, Calypso Coral, Pretty Peacock
Paper:  Blackberry Bliss, Thick Basic White, Thoughtful Journey DSP
Accessories:  Regal Flora dies, Faux Glass Dots, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Here's my second card:

And my other new favorite stamp set, Splendid Autumn!  And this time I cut into the Regal Winter DSP which coordinates with the Regal Flora bundle but also looks pretty good with these leaves if you ask me.  Once again, I pulled colors from the inspiration pic and this time I lined up the leaves to mimic the line of trees.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Splendid Autumn
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Crushed Curry, Old Olive, Cajun Craze, Pretty Peacock
Paper:  Pretty Peacock, Thick Basic White, Regal Winter DSP
Accessories:  Splendid Autumn dies, Deckled Rectangles dies, Mini Dimensionals, In Color Dots

Know who else was inspired by our inspo pic?  Walmart.

I saw this display of air freshener last week and thought hey, those trees look familiar! ; )

Hope you'll hop on over to the SUO Challenges blog to see what the rest of the design team has come up with, and don't forget to add your own inspired creation to the linky there.  Have fun!

Conwy Castle

Mornin' y'all, and Scrappy Monday!  The temperatures here in Colorado dropped over 20 degrees over the weekend and I am LOVING the fall nip in the air : )  (Hubs is obviously whining that summer is over but tough luck for him!)  We had some blustery weather and gray skies over the weekend so I picked a scrapbook layout that matches:

This was one of the last couple of castles we visited on a week-long road trip through Wales in 2014 just before we left England.  Conwy Castle is one of the larger ones we visited and it is smack dab in the middle of town.  I absolutely loved visiting Wales and wish that we hadn't left it to the very last of our time in the UK; we got a Wales Explorer pass to visit all the castles and historical sites but we didn't do things like go to Snowdonia.  The hubs said all the castles kinda blended together by the end, but that's not surprising considering that several of the ones we saw were commissioned by Edward I in his campaign to crush the Welsh so they share a lot of design features.

Anyway, today's more subdued color palette is Blue Bayou (kickin' it old skool with a very retro In Color!), Perfect Plum, and Wild Wasabi.  I managed to squeeze in 10 pictures, some patterned paper, title and journaling blocks and a stamped accent.  Pretty good for two 12x12 pages.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Jayne's Type Alphabet, Rough Type, To a Wild Rose
Ink:  Blue Bayou, Wild Wasabi, Perfect Plum, Basic Gray
Paper:  Blue Bayou, Wild Wasabi, Perfect Plum, Thick Basic White, Porcelain Prints DSP
Accessories:  Wild Rose dies

Copper Leaves

Hey y'all, how's your weekend going?  We did get to spring the hubs from hospital jail yesterday ; )  We think he's doing really well considering he had brain surgery on Wednesday.  The incision is much larger than I expected it to be so I told him that he should tell everyone it was a shark attack.

I ended up conking out for a 3-hour nap after we got him home yesterday, and then I had to go grocery shopping and do some laundry and all that stuff, but I couldn't let a couple of challenges slip past me so I got some time in my craft room today.

Bringing back some retired stamps for this one, Gorgeous Leaves is one of my all-time favorite fall sets, and Sunny Sentiments just has some great greetings to choose from.  Here is this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

It said Christmas trees to me but I'm hard-headed so I had to do something different.  It's still kinda tree-related because I had to use this week's Color Throwdown:

I used Copper Clay (and copper embossing powder and copper metallic accents), Basic Black, and Mossy Meadow, which I thought worked nicely for some fall leaves.

That's it for me today, y'all.  Have a great Sunday!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Gorgeous Leaves, Sunny Sentiments
Ink:  Copper Clay, Mossy Meadow, Versamark
Paper:  Mossy Meadow, Very Vanilla, Basic Black
Accessories:  Copper EP, Brushed Metallic Dots, Wink of Stella, Mini Dimensionals

Those 70s Colors

Mornin' y'all!  The hubs got moved from the ICU to a regular hospital room yesterday and was much more alert (though he still wants to sleep a lot, which is to be expected).  I took Ryan up to visit him last night and we had dinner together in the hospital room and watched a Discovery show about gladiators and ancient Rome.  They might let the hubs out of the hospital as early as tomorrow, which is amazing to me considering he had brain surgery on Wednesday.

Hubs' boss came by to visit last night too, and he said that we are "difficult to help" (they offered to do a meal train but since Ryan is perfectly happy to subsist on Spaghetti-Os and hot dogs, and I've been grabbing food at the hospital, so I said no we don't need meals but thank you for the offer and apparently that makes me difficult?) so they gave us a HUGE gift card to Door Dash to use when the hubs gets sprung from hospital jail.  I'm going to need to make more thank you cards so here's one to start with, using my new favorite Regal Flora:

I made this at the beginning of the week for the Festive Friday challenge:

I used vintage colors, enamel embellishments, jute trim, clean & simple, and stamps.  My vintage colors are harvest gold (Delightful Dijon), avocado green (Old Olive) and a bit of chocolate brown (Early Espresso).  My parents had a dryer for YEARS that was painted harvest gold; they received it used from my grandmother and then they had it for over 25 years.  It took a lightning strike to take that dryer out of commission permanently.  They just don't make 'em like they used to!

Okay, I'm off to get Ryan to school and then go hang out at the hospital for a few hours.  Then Ryan will be going to an event at the rec center tonight so I'll have a bit of time to get the house ready for the hubs to return, hopefully tomorrow.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Regal Flora
Ink:  Old Olive, Delightful Dijon, Early Espresso
Paper:  Delightful Dijon, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Rustic Metal Dots, linen thread, Mini Dimensionals

Mardi Gras Bird

Mornin' y'all!  I am happy to report that the hubs' brain surgery went well yesterday.  He had what's called a cavernoma or cavernous malformation, which is an abnormal clump of blood vessels.  His started bleeding and causing debilitating headaches a couple of weeks ago, which prompted an ER visit which is when he got diagnosed.  They're sending the tissue they took out yesterday to the pathology lab to make sure its non-cancerous, but the surgeon said everything is looking good.  I'll be going back up to the hospital today as soon as Ryan gets off to school; the hubs is in the ICU for now where kids aren't allowed to visit, but he should be transferring to a regular room later today.

Anyway, earlier this week I made a couple of cards and I have one to share today!

The bird's glasses are popped up on Dimensionals which I just thought was funny with that sentiment from Saying Hey.  I used the sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches:

And the fun color palette from Creative Colour Challenges:

Those colors together make me think Mardi Gras!  I haven't played much with the newest In Colors so it was fun to trot out Shy Shamrock.  I almost did a layer of DSP on the whole card front but I remembered just in time that the sketch is a CAS challenge, so I did a plain card front and a scrap of DSP for the horizontal strip on the sketch.  The sentiment is stamped a couple of times in Gorgeous Grape ink, it might look black in the picture but I promise it's purple.  I added a couple of Glossy Dots to the bottom because they come in two of the challenge colors and I just thought it needed a little something along the bottom to balance the card.

That's it for me today, folks.  Have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bird's Eye View, Saying Hey
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Gorgeous Grape, Stampin' Blends in Shy Shamrock, Daffodil Delight, Gorgeous Grape
Paper:  Shy Shamrock, Thick Basic White, Daffodil Delight DSP
Accessories:  Deckled Circles dies, Deckled Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, Glossy Dots

Halloween Kitty

Today is the day, y'all.  By the time this post goes live, the hubs should be in the operating room for brain surgery.  All prayers and positive vibes appreciated.  I will be up at the hospital until it's time to go pick Ryan up from school.

In the meantime, I have a CAS Halloween card.

Told you I had a card for the animal part of the Paper Players challenge:

And I used the sketch from Sunday Stamps:

That Halloween washi tape is the only washi tape I own, but I thought it would be perfect for the horizontal stripe on the card front.  You can't really see it in the picture (it was super overcast when I took the picture) but the kitty is embossed with shimmery black embossing powder, which ties in nicely with the glittery washi tape.  Also that tag is Lemon Lime Twist, the photo is skewing a bit more yellow even though I edited the photo.

That's it for me today, y'all.  Cheers.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Wonderfully Wicked
Ink:  Gorgeous Grape, Versamark
Paper:  Basick Black, Lemon Lime Twist
Accessories:  Shimmery Black EP, Stitched Nested Labels dies, double slot punch, 1/8" satin ribbon, Dimensionals

Unbounded Zinnias

So yesterday, the hubs and I were in my craft room which also doubles as the computer gaming room because it's where hubs has his laptop, and I said, "Hummingbird, zinnias, or lavender?" and he was very confused.  But he chose zinnias and that's what's on my card today:

Do zinnias come in shades of purple?  Doesn't matter, because in my craft room they do!  I did the plant side of the Paper Players theme challenge:

I already have an animal card made so that will be tomorrow : )  I had to post this one first because I wanted to make sure I could enter at the Just Add Ink color challenge:

I used all three colors of purple/berry to color the zinnias and Shaded Spruce for the stems.  The card base is Fresh Freesia, the scrap of Unbounded Beauty DSP is Petunia Pop, and the "thanks" sentiment is stamped in Berry Burst.  I know I'll need some thank you cards coming up here with people helping out around the hubs' surgery tomorrow.

It's about time to get Ryan in the car and off to school.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Zinnia, Saying Hey
Ink:  Early Espresso, Berry Burst, Stampin' Blends in Fresh Freesia, Petunia Pop, Berry Burst, Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Thick Basic White, Unbounded Beauty DSP
Accessories:  Simply Zinnia dies, Perennial Postage dies, Dimensionals, In Color Shimmer Gems

Heidelberg (The First Time)

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Well, it's almost time--this Wednesday is when the hubs has brain surgery.  We have a friend coming to stay on Tuesday night and get Ryan to school on Wednesday morning so I can take the hubs to the hospital early that morning and be there while he's in surgery and when he comes out.  All the positive vibes are appreciated; he's pretty nervous about this.  I have a friend who had a similar surgery done about 10 years ago so we've been asking her questions about what to expect.

So anyway, I'll probably schedule some posts for the next few days and we'll see how everything goes.  In the meantime, it's Scrappy Monday and I have some pages!

For our very first road trip in Germany, I chose Heidelberg, mostly because Missy used to live there when she was a wee young lass and her dad was in the Army.  We got absolutely poured on the whole way there but we lucked out; the skies cleared and we never got rained on while we were exploring the town.  We went back there a couple of times while we lived in Germany; it was maybe a little over an hour away from our house and it's such a neat little town.  Plus there's a big castle ruin up on the hill and that's always cool.

I was looking for the layout that I did of our house in Germany to share today, couldn't find it in my draft posts and finally figured out that I posted it last spring when we were house shopping here in Colorado.  Ha!

Today's color palette:  Fresh Fig, River Rock, Really Rust, Wild Wasabi, and Very Vanilla.  I got to use purple on scrapbook pages, y'all!  When I do something with fall colors, I like to use a deep blue usually to offset the warm tones a bit, and this time I branched out and went with purple instead.  The Apple Cider DSP I used has been in my stash for a super long time and it was fun to play with that again.  I've been playing with older stamp sets a lot lately, but I've also been making things with my brand new mini catalog haul; it's just that most of those cards are for future design team work so I can't share them yet ; )

Wow, it's almost 7 and I'm still the only one up in this house.  I actually got my entire workout and meditation done with no interruptions this morning!  Okay, the hubs is awake, but he's still upstairs, and since Ryan hadn't come down with the iPad it's been a peaceful morning.  Not for much longer though, he'll have to get up for school soon.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Alphabet Antiques Upper & Lower
Ink:  Fresh Fig
Paper:  Fresh Fig, Really Rust, Wild Wasabi, Thick Very Vanilla, Apple Cider DSP
Accessories:  None

Spooktacular Pumpkins

Hey y'all, happy Sunday.  Per Ryan's request (it was his turn to pick), I made orange scones for breakfast this morning.  : )  I think next weekend it's time for a pumpkin coffee cake.

And today it's time for a pumpkin card!

We're kickin' it old skool today to go with the Retro Rubber Challenge:

I used Elegant Eggplant, Highland Heather, Crushed Curry, Peach Parfait (I think?  We've had three colors with peach in the name and I get them mixed up, I just know it wasn't Peach Pie I used this time), and Tangerine Tango.  Carved & Candlelit was one of the first few Stampin' Up! stamp sets I ever bought and it's been in my collection for 18 years!  Spooktacular Bash (which I used for the greeting) is less retro at only five years old.  Even my embellishments are retro on this card.

I also used the sketch from As You See It:

And I'm quite chuffed to share that my Perfectly Preserved card was the winner of their last challenge : )  See, it's FUN to play with older stamps!  Thanks to the AYSI team for choosing my card, I enjoy playing along with the challenges.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Carved & Candlelit, Spooktacular Bash
Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Peach Parfait, Highland Heather, Elegant Eggplant
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Elegant Eggplant, Thick Basic White, Elegant Eggplant & Highland Heather DSP
Accessories:  1 1/2" and 1 3/4" circle punches, Candy Dots, Sycamore Street ribbon, Dimensionals

When I'm not stamping or scrapping...or reading...my other other hobby is cross stitching, and last week I finished up two projects:

These are patterns by Satsuma Street in the Pretty Little Cities line.  The designer hasn't released any new Pretty Little Cities in a few years though, so I think I'll have to design my own for Texas and Colorado.  They're *called* Pretty Little Cities but sometimes it's not a city, it's a state or a country--I've also made Pretty Little Hawaii and Pretty Little Italy.  Plus more than a dozen other ones.  I've already started a new project that's making my little autumn-loving heart happy, it's a quilt-inspired design in some fabulous fall colors.  The hubs wonders how I can be at the house all day without going stir crazy but I am very, very good at entertaining myself--I always have multiple projects going, either paper or stitching.  I never get bored!

Earthen Elegance Trees

Hey y'all, how's your weekend going?  We're having a quiet lazy morning but the plumber and tile guy are supposed to come back this afternoon (yeah, now there's TWO guys working on the shower problem!).  We know what happened at least--somehow the tile guy got self-leveling compound down the drain, where it hardened into a giant lump and totally blocked the pipe, though we don't know how or where the leak started yet.  So now we have a couple of holes cut in our ceiling downstairs to access the pipe, which will also have to be cut out and replaced, and hopefully we won't have any MORE problems.

Anyway, I have a card to share today:

I actually made this months ago for an SUO Challenges challenge but then the challenge got changed before it was posted and I've just been sitting on this card since, like, April.  I used the online exclusive set Encircled in Nature and the now-retired Earthen Elegance DSP and this card got mailed out weeks ago, so more than time to post it here.

For now, I'm going to go upstairs and start doing an inventory on my hard-copy cross stitch patterns.  I just started a new project yesterday (yay new project!!) but I need to look through all my patterns and decide what's next.  And then I'll probably stitch for a while and finish watching Charade with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant because I only got halfway through it yesterday.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Encircled in Nature
Ink:  Misty Moonlight, Copper Clay
Paper:  Copper Clay, Night of Navy, Thick Very Vanilla, Earthen Elegance DSP
Accessories:  Deckled Circles dies, Tinsel Gems, Dimensionals

Sending Love

Mornin' y'all!  I'm sleepy this morning...the hubs has been having trouble sleeping, which means *I* have trouble sleeping.  Hopefully things will get better after the surgery next week.

Anyway, I mentioned that I had made a couple of cards on Wednesday that I just wasn't thrilled with when I finished, and here's one of them:

I did enjoy playing with the new Regal Flora bundle but I think I was trying too hard to make multiple challenges work together for me.  I do like the sketch from Try a Sketch on Tuesday:

And the floral theme at Inspire. Create. was an easy add:

I think it was the colors from The Card Concept that tripped me up:

I used Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Crushed Curry, and Boho Blue, which look great together--my problem was finding patterned paper that worked with what I was going for and I don't think it really gelled quite right.  But not every card can be your favorite, right?  And I got to practice layering lots of die-cut images for a clean-and-layered style card.

Almost time to get the kiddo off to school and then I get to do the super-fun grocery shopping.  We'll see if the contractor actually shows up today (he didn't yesterday) to fix whatever is wrong with our shower now.  So ready to have our shower back and functional!

Cheers, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Regal Flora
Ink:  Boho Blue, Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Basic Black, Thick Basic White, Thoughtful Journey DSP Stack, Full of Life DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes dies, Regal Flora dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella, In Color Dots

Perfectly Lovely Autumn Day

Mornin', y'all.  Yesterday morning was a doozie what with the shower shenanigans but theoretically the contractor is supposed to come back this morning and try to figure out what he did wrong.  And we have a date for the hubs' surgery (next Wednesday) so at least we're finally moving on that point too.

I made two cards yesterday afternoon but I wasn't real thrilled with either of them.  Hardly a surprise given how frazzled I was (I had to do some chocolate therapy.)  So this morning I made a real fast card kinda based on one of the ones I worked on yesterday and I think I like it better.  Here it is:

I started with this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I drew a blank at first when I saw this yesterday, but then I thought of the larger sentiment stamps in my brand new Autumn Expressions set and went to work.  Here's the Color Throwdown:

I used Cherry Cobbler, Pecan Pie (it says terracotta, but it looked more like brown to me, I think of terracotta as being more orange) and Mossy Meadow.  What a cozy inspo pic, too!

If you're curious, here's my first version:

I used a teeny bit of the new Regal Winter DSP and a smaller oval for the sentiment.  So for my card this morning, I went with a larger oval to let the sentiment "breathe" a bit more, eliminated the DSP, and did three leaves and three of the smaller size speckled dots.  Small tweaks, but I think I like this morning's version better.

Got a busy day today with the contractor theoretically coming this morning and then getting the hubs a CT scan this afternoon, which is part of his surgery prep.  And I'm trying to decide if I want to make from-scratch cinnamon rolls for dinner tonight...cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Autumn Expressions
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Cherry Cobbler
Paper:  Pecan Pie, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Autumn Expressions dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Speckled Dots, Dimensionals