Piz Gloria

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I'm back with another Swiss-capade scrapbook layout today:

Since we didn't get great mountain views on our first visit to the summit of the Schilthorn, so we went back the next day and actually DID see some mountains.  We also visited Piz Gloria, the restaurant at the top of the mountain, and all the James Bond stuff up there.  Ryan liked the helicopter simulator : )

I chose Tangerine Tango for my page base because of Ryan's fox jacket, Dapper Denim for the hubs' jacket, and a cool pattern from the Sycamore Street DSP just because I liked it with the pictures.  Today's color palette is Tangerine Tango, Dapper Denim, Sahara Sand, and Whisper White.  What do you think, does the orange work with snow photos?

I was super nice and gave Ryan the last of the waffles for breakfast this morning so he'd better appreciate it : p  He starts his last summer camp this afternoon--another robotics one.  He starts school two weeks from today, isn't that crazy?!  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Taffy Alphabet, Artfully Folded
Ink:  Dapper Denim, Sahara Sand, Night of Navy marker
Paper:  Tangerine Tango, Dapper Denim, Sahara Sand, Basic White, Sycamore Street DSP
Accessories:  3/4" and 1" circle punches

Floral Friend

Happy Sunday, y'all!  I'm about to start mixing up a batch of waffles for brekkie, we have strawberries in the fridge : )  I got to pick breakfast today, ha!

Here's my card for today:

I missed the deadline on the last Festive Friday challenge (and really that card was not my favorite anyway) so this time I'm making sure I get my card in well in advance of the deadline.  Here's the new challenge:

I have sparkle (the dots and a lot of Wink of Stella on the flowers, which of course doesn't show up and I just tried to type DOGS instead of dots), heat embossing, friend sentiment, and florals.  And I have Baylor colors thanks to the Color Hues challenge:

I decided to reach for some long-retired In Colors for my card, so I used Pineapple Punch and Call Me Clover.  I started out with Shy Shamrock and then I compared it to Call Me Clover and those two greens are VERY similar.  I think Pineapple Punch is the happiest yellow we've ever had and I love both the greens so I had fun making this card.

Okay, time to make waffles.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Spotlight on Nature
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Pineapple Punch, Stampin' Blends in Pineapple Punch & Call Me Clover
Paper:  Call Me Clover, Thick Basic White, Pineapple Punch DSP
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, white EP, Iridescent Foil Dots, Dimensionals

The Clue of the Broken Locket

Welcome to another Nancy Drew challenge, and today we are on book #11, The Clue of the Broken Locket!

This is one of the times where the original text (left) and the revised text (right) are not even nodding acquaintances they're so different, so let's take a peek.

Case file:  Carson Drew is asked to draw up the legal paperwork for a pair of actors to adopt 14-month-old twins, but he regrets it afterwards and Nancy decides to look for the babies' biological parents.  The babies were found in a boat with a broken locket; the adoptive mom wants to destroy the locket and the clothes the babies were found in, but Nancy prevents that and ends up taking care of the twins along with Bess because the actors' nursemaid is useless (and so are the actor parents, they adopted the babies pretty much as a publicity stunt).  Not only does Nancy reunite the babies with their mother, she also reunites a pair of adult twins who had lost track of each other after the man went off to WWI.  Also, I read somewhere that the old man with the pipe is a self-portrait of the cover artist : )

Here's my card for the OT version of The Clue of the Broken Locket:

I had to have a golden locket on my card, even if it's not broken, and I liked the love sentiment since the mother was so happy to be reunited with her babies.  She had been struck by lightning (!!!!) and unable to claim the babies when they were found the next day in the boat.  I wanted a soft, dreamy background so I inked up Painted Stripes with Versamark for the card base, and found a scrap of a Balmy Blue pattern to match Nancy's ruffled shirt.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Stripes, Best of Love
Ink:  Versamark, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Darling Duckling, Wild Wasabi, Thick Basic White, Tranquil Textures DSP
Accessories:  Gold EP, Antique Pearls, Dimensionals

Next up is the revised version:

Case file:  Carson sends Nancy, Bess, and George to a lake in Maryland to investigate a ghostly boat that's scaring people away from the lake.  The girls meet Cecily Tyson and her boyfriend Nico Van Dyke, who is the lead singer of the popular band The Flying Dutchmen; soon they discover that there's a suspicious family (brothers, their wives, and a set of young twins) living in the big house on the lake.  Cecily is there looking for an old family treasure dating back to the civil war.  They catch sight of a girl who looks exactly like Cecily and it turns out she's really Cecily's cousin and the mother of the twins who is being held against her will.  Cecily and Susan (the doppelganger) both have pieces of a locket that was passed down in the different branches of their family with clues to the family treasure.  And also as if kidnapping and wrongful imprisonment aren't enough crimes for two brothers, they're also pirating Nico's records.  This one is a bit all over the place!

Here's my card:

I managed to find a piece of patterned paper that has the same colors as Nancy, Bess, and George's shirts AND it's even in the same order as on the cover.  Since one of the mysteries dealt with pirated records, I had to bring out For the Record for this one.

Also there is no power on this earth that would induce me to go trudging through a swamp barefoot.

Supplies, RT card:
Stamps:  For the Record
Ink:  Versamark, Night of Navy, Misty Moonlight, Blushing Bride
Paper:  Misty Moonlight, Crushed Curry, Bashful Blue, Magenta Madness, Thick Basic White, Abstract Beauty DSP Stack
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, clear EP, gold sequins, Dimensionals

Comment here with a link if you make a card for this challenge, I would love to see!  Visit Hey, Nancy Drew for more in-depth book commentary.  I'll be back next Saturday when we'll be taking a look at The Message in the Hollow Oak!

Long Dog

Mornin' y'all and NEW STAMPS ALERT!!!

Sorry for the shadows on this pic, but you can see how my long dog unfolds...

This is a new stamp set called Long Time No See and it also has a LLAMA so now I just need the slightest excuse to make a llama card too.  I couldn't find a Lemon Lolly pattern I liked for underneath the long dog, so I went back to the old Saran Wrap trick--you just crumple up a small piece of plastic wrap and use it like a stamp to get a cool texture effect.  I have a roll of Saran Wrap in my craft room for just this purpose.

I used this week's color challenge from The Paper Players:

Once again I had to be contrary and ignore the possibility of making a floral card, but I liked these colors together more than I expected to.  How do you like my long dog's colorful sweater?  I also used a tweaked version of this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch:

This would be a fun sketch to showcase some patterned paper.

That's it for now, peeps.  Turns out Ryan's STEAM camp this week runs through today--I think all his other camps have been 4 days so this was an unexpected bonus.  And it's an extra day at Ryan's favorite camp this summer.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Long Time No See
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Pretty Peacock, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Lemon Lolly, Fresh Freesia, Pretty Peacock
Paper:  Pretty Peacock, Lemon Lolly, Thick Basic White, Floral Delight DSP
Accessories:  Starburst Sequins, Mini Dimensionals

You're Cool

Mornin' y'all, I've got to type fast if I want to finish this before I take Ryan to his last day of STEAM camp.  So let's go!

I forgot that Cool Treats has dies that cut INSIDE the stamped image so there's no white border on the stamped images, not sure I like that.  Anyway, I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

The Color Throwdown:

I went with Daffodil Delight, Strawberry Slush, and both Basic Gray and Smoky Slate.  I think I'm too late to join the Festive Friday challenge:

But I did use it for inspiration.  I worked in pink, yellow, swirls, a cone, ice cream, a bowl, and sort of a food related sentiment.

Okay, gotta get going.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Cool Treats
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Strawberry Slush, Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Cinnamon Cider
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Thick Basic White, Smoky Slate, Celebratory Sips DSP, Floral Delight DSP
Accessories:  Frozen Treats Framelits, Stylish Shapes dies, Glossy Dots, Mini Dimensionals

Hey There, Frond

Mornin' y'all!  For once, Ryan is ready to go a couple of minutes early so he's watching some show that was talking about the Bermuda Triangle and I have enough time to write a blog post.  Hooray!

Today's card came together so fast that it feels like I'm cheating somehow:

Just had to get my old favorite Artfully Layered out for the CAS Colours & Sketches challenge:

I simply stamped the frond on a Soft Sea Foam card base with Shaded Spruce ink, and then used an Aquapainter to smooth out the ink a little bit.  I added a sentiment and a few glitter dots and dude, I think this card was done in about three minutes.

Yesterday while Ryan was at STEAM camp learning about physics, I took a nap : ) and in the afternoon I worked on making index sheets for my most recent stamp purchases, but didn't actually make any cards.  But now that that bit of housekeeping is done, I have a clean slate to make something today.  I also need to make up a picnic lunch because when I pick Ryan up, we're going to eat lunch at the picnic tables and then actually go visit the Western Museum of Mining and Industry.  Might as well since that's where his camp is this week, but I don't think they've gone in the main building.  Should be interesting!

Okay, time to go.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artfully Layered
Ink:  Shaded Spruce, Soft Sea Foam
Paper:  Soft Sea Foam
Accessories:  Clear Glitter Gems

A Drink In Each Hand

Mornin' y'all!  Once again as I type this, I am waiting for Ryan to get dressed and brush his teeth before we leave for camp.  We'll see if we get out the door on time today : p  We did make it yesterday but it was close and I haaaaaate being late!

Anyway, I said that I had spent part of the weekend fussy cutting a whole bunch of drinks from the Celebratory Sips DSP and I made another card with the pieces:

They both look delicious.  Once again, I used the "cheers" from Scenic Adventure, though I am leaning towards maybe possibly getting the Cheers & Sips bundle sometime.  We'll see how my impulse control is doing.  Anyway, say hello to the sketch from Hand-Stamped Sentiments:

I like this sketch.  I got to use a couple of other patterns from the Celebratory Sips DSP, I do like this whole pack.  It's fun!

That's it for now, peeps.  I'm off to chauffeur Ryan to camp.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Scenic Adventure
Ink:  Strawberry Slush
Paper:  Timid Tiger, Strawberry Slush, Celebratory Sips DSP, Pretty in Pink DSP
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, Strawberry Slush baker's twine, Strawberry Slush gems, Dimensionals

Trummelbach Falls

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Wish me luck getting Ryan out the door on time today, he is being super slow this morning.  So aggravating, I swear he's going slower on purpose because he knows how much I hate being late and he has STEAM camp today.  Arrrrgh.

Anyway, I have another Switzerland layout to share today:

Trummelbach Falls is a series of waterfalls inside the mountain near where we stayed in Lauterbrunnen.  It's all glacier water and it was amazing to me that as we walked along the trail, we turned a corner to where the water was and the air temperature dropped significantly because the water was so cold.  It moves FAST too so we kept a firm grip on Ryan to make sure he didn't do anything crazy.

Today's color palette started with inspiration from Ryan's fox sweater and if they had that in adult sizes I would totally buy it, just sayin'.  Colors are Baked Brown Sugar, Tangerine Tango, Blueberry Bushel, Coastal Cabana, and Very Vanilla.

Gotta get out the door.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Calendar Alphabet & Numbers, Taffy Alphabet
Ink:  Baked Brown Sugar, Coastal Cabana, Blueberry Bushel marker
Paper:  Baked Brown Sugar, Blueberry Bushel, Tangerine Tango, Coastal Cabana, Very Vanilla, Retro Fresh DSP
Accessories:  1 1/4" and 1 1/2" circle punches

Cheers to Missy!

Mornin' y'all!  I've gotta type fast, I have orange scones in the oven : )  Happy birfday to my friend Missy!  Here's the card I made for her:

Ryan and I had dinner with Missy and her family last night (the hubs was volunteering at the rodeo so he missed out, but he did get hit on by an older cowgirl so he had that going for him).  Yesterday afternoon I decided to take the Celebratory Sips DSP sheet with the larger drinks on it and cut them all out, then chose three to use for this card.  I don't know that I would put Timid Tiger, Blackberry Bliss, and Cloud Cover together on my own but I hope I made it work here??  And now I have a stack o' drinks to use on other cards too.

I used the Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I didn't buy the Cheers & Sips stamp bundle, but I built my own greeting using Scenic Adventure.  I took "cheers to" from "cheers to another" and the "you" is part of "you're amazing".  Cutting out that "you" was more difficult than all the drinks on that entire 12x12 sheet of paper : p

That's it for now, y'all.  Orange scones are calling.  Cheers to you!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Scenic Adventure
Ink:  Blackberry Biss
Paper:  Blackberry Bliss, Cloud Cover, Basic White, Celebratory Sips DSP
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, Blackberry Bliss stitched satin ribbon (retired), Dimensionals

Password to Larkspur Lane

Happy Saturday and welcome to the TENTH Nancy Drew challenge!  Today's book is Password to Larkspur Lane:

There's the OT on the left and RT on the right, and again a slight change in titles.  Also, we're back to the trend of the OT covers being to be brighter than the RT versions, but I like them both for this book.  

Case file:  A wounded carrier pigeon falls in Nancy's yard with a weird message, and a doctor friend of the Drews is abducted to care for a woman at a huge estate and afterwards told to forget the whole incident.  Nancy uncovers a criminal group who trick rich old ladies into moving to their fake sanatorium and then they coerce the women into signing all their money over to them.  Nancy busts the criminals and frees all the little old ladies.  Hooray!

So here's my card for the OT version, The Password to Larkspur Lane:

I wanted to work in the pink of Nancy's top on this card, and I kept the main color Balmy Blue to go with the larkspur, sky, and the old lady's cardigan.

I'm not sure if Nancy's wearing a shirt and skirt combo or if it's a color block dress situation, but I want it.  She looks so cute but for this cover that hair had to come out of a dye bottle.  You may have noticed that the color of Nancy's hair is inconsistent to say the least, not just on the book covers but in how it's described in the text--sometimes she's blonde, sometimes she's "titian" or strawberry blonde, and sometimes she's a redhead.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Soft Spring, Sweet Strawberry
Ink:  Night of Navy, Balmy Blue, Garden Green
Paper:  Balmy Blue, Night of Navy, Thick Basic White, Balmy Blue & Pretty in Pink DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Matte Decorative Dots

Next up is the darker, moodier RT Password to Larkspur Lane:

Case file:  The RT version still has the elder abuse story line from the OT version, and adds a subplot where Helen Corning's grandparents keep seeing a ring of blue fire outside their lake house and it's creeping them out.  Nancy finds out that the Cornings' houseman (I wonder how that's different from a butler) had been affiliated with criminals in the past but had gotten out of the criminal life.  His old gang is trying to coerce him into stealing from the Cornings, and coincidentally it's the same group running the fake sanatorium.  Two very different versions of theft going on.

So here is my card for the RT version, Password to Larkspur Lane:

I made this card before I got the OT version of the book and I had to use Wisteria Wishes for my larkspur this time.  I used some Darling Duckling DSP to match Nancy's yellow dress on the cover.

I like her pink-and-navy outfit on the OT better, but this dress is pretty too and I'd love to have Nancy's wardrobe even though I almost never wear anything but T-shirts, jeans, and workout clothes.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wisteria Wishes
Ink:  Orchid Oasis, Starry Sky, Garden Green
Paper:  Orchid Oasis, Thick Basic White, Orchid Oasis & Darling Duckling DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, In Color Pearls

If you'd like to participate in the challenge, leave a comment below with a link to your creation, I'd love to see!  Next week I'll be looking into The Clue of the Broken Locket.  

Also, if you'd like a more in-depth discussion of the books, I did what I threatened I would and started another blog.  Visit Hey, Nancy Drew here.  New posts on Tuesday (Drews-day).  Cheers!

Lovely Yellow Flowers

Mornin' y'all.  I just had a minor mishap and I'm not sure how it happened, but my water bottle got knocked over across the computer desk.  Luckily for me it seems to have spilled in the open space between the computer base and the keyboard; the bottom of the keyboard was a bit wet but I don't think any water actually got IN it.  I have a pile of wet kitchen towels sitting next to me but the keyboard works, and the mouse was completely out of the puddle.  Glad it wasn't my tea that spilled!

Anyway, here's my card for today:

I just had to try the Thankful Garden flower masks *without* stamping the outline, what do you think?  This took me a couple of tries...take my word for it and put some scratch paper down on the sides of the masks because I kept ending up with ink where I didn't want it.  I had one image panel done but I flubbed the stamping (the "you're" is a piece of a larger stamp) so I had to do it over.  The advantage to that is that the third try I ended up with no ink where I didn't want it and I got the one single word stamp done right.  Sometimes it just takes extra tries to make it work.

Anyway, I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the colors are from Cupcake Inspiration:

I used both Lemon Lolly and Daffodil Delight for yellows, with Pecan Pie for brown.

That's it for now, peeps.  The hubs will be here in a little bit and we're going to a picnic thing his work is doing, and tonight we're going to the rodeo.  I went to a rodeo once when I was a kid so now I'm looking forward to telling anyone I can, "This ain't my first rodeo!"  I am easily amused, it's true.  Think I might use the next hour or so to work on my stitching.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sweet Blooms
Ink:  Lemon Lolly, Daffodil Delight, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Pecan Pie, Lemon Lolly, Thick Basic White, Floral Delight DSP
Accessories:  Thankful Garden masks, Sweet Blooms dies, Textured Notes dies, Faceted Gems

Think Threes

Mornin' y'all!  I took Daphne out for a walk at 6:15 this morning and I think that's going to be our new routine until the weather cools off some.  Today I even managed to get a workout done and get cleaned up well in advance of when Ryan needs to leave for camp, so it's 8am and I feel like I've accomplished something today.  Woo!

I have a triple challenge card to share today.

Let's start with the Paper Players challenge:

I knew from the jump that I would be starting with that Cloud Cover circle pattern, and then I saw the Sunday Stamps sketch:

And I think those two challenges were just made to go with the Inkspirational challenge:

I fussy cut three flowers and three leaves to go on three die-cut circles and accented with three Flat Pearls and if you want to get really pedantic the sentiment has three words on each line.  Think that's enough for the three challenges : )

It's about time to get Ryan out the door for his last day of robotics camp.  Next week it's STEAM camp at a mining museum, which he's looking forward to as he is obsessed with gold.  Not sure why that is, just call him Scrooge McDuck.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Year of Flowers
Ink:  Secret Sea
Paper:  Petunia Pop, Floral Impressions DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, In Color Flat Pearls

Stars & Stripes Birthday

Mornin' y'all!  I tried doing things in a different order this morning and I think it will work for the rest of the summer.  It's getting toasty enough outside that I walked Daph early this morning before Ryan got up and before the hubs left for work, and I still got my workout done before I took Ryan to camp.  I think that will be good to keep Daphne from getting too hot walking later in the day when the sun's all the way up.

Anyway, I made three cards in my crafting palace yesterday, so here's the one I'm sharing today:

This was the only stars and stripes cards before the 4th this year, and I'm holding onto it for next year's July birthdays since I already sent out cards this year, so here's another one for next year.  The paper strip behind the star is gold foil and I added some gold Low Profile Dots to draw the eye to the greeting in the corner and coordinate with the gold paper.

I like the Just Add Ink sketch:

Though I only realized after the fact that I left off the bow, oops.  The sketch did inspire my card though, promise.

I'm also entering this at Color Dare:

I used Real Red and Azure Afternoon for the colors, plus the gold.  I'll have to make more 4th of July cards next year, they're fun.

Okay, I've got about 30 minutes left before I have to go back to Ryan's camp for their parent showcase day (it's a robotics camp this week).  Better make the most of it...and finish my cuppa tea!  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Be the Star, Painted Stripes, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Versamark, Real Red, Azure Afternoon
Paper:  Azure Afternoon, Basic White, gold foil
Accessories:  Stars Framelits, white EP, Dimensionals, Low Profile Dots

SUO Challenges: I'm on the CASE!

 Mornin' y'all!  Get ready for a new challenge from SUO Challenges...

Because here it is!

So for this challenge, you pick anything from my blog and CASE it using only Stampin' Up! supplies.  I just looked at the number of posts and today happens to be my THREE THOUSANDTH published post!!! Can't even believe that.  Well, I know I tend to get lost when I have too much to choose from, so I rifled through my box of more recent card creations and came across this one:

You can see more about it on my original blog post here.  So I picked that one to CASE and decided to stay pretty close to the original card, but with updated supplies.  Here's what I made:

I used the Florals in Bloom and Floral Impressions DSP, which I think just go together, a lot of the colors overlap and I keep combining them.  For this card, I wanted to stick with the idea of using DSP flowers for the main image, so I fussy cut a bouquet of purple blooms from the Florals in Bloom DSP to start with, and then chose a mix of patterns from both packs for the other layers of the card.  I even found some Garden Green twine (I think it's retired) and chose a different friendship sentiment, this one from Year of Flowers.  Here are the two cards together:

I'd love to see what you create, so don't forget to share over on the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, purple card:
Stamps:  Year of Flowers
Ink:  Garden Green
Paper:  Petunia Pop, Florals in Bloom DSP, Floral Impressions DSP
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, Garden Green twine, Petunia Pop Shimmer Gems, Dimensionals