September 2021

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I've already started a load of laundry, got Ryan off to school this morning and did the grocery shopping, and next I have to take Daphne for her walk (she's currently playing with her duck toy that makes squeaky noises, so I can finish writing this post before we go) and this afternoon I'll be making lasagna for dinner per the hubs' request.  But for right now we gotta look at some scrapbook pages.

This is my monthly catch-all layout for September of 2021 where our activities included Ryan helping me make pumpkin cake (still his favorite for Sunday breakfast all year long) and going to a couple of fairs while we were in Germany.  See the pic on the bottom right?  Ryan is wearing a Star Wars shirt that my mom made for him but after this he refused to wear it (or any other Mimi-made shirts) because they're not as comfy as his regular T-shirts.  Child still lives in T-shirts and sweatpants or sweat-shorts, he owns not one pair of blue jeans.  SMH.

The color palette today is taken straight from the International Bazaar DSP that I used as an accent:  Rich Razzleberry page base, Pacific Point, Lucky Limeade, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Early Espresso, and white.  It's always a fun time when I can work in a purple page base.

Okay, Daphne says she's more than ready to go for her walk so I'd better take care of her.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  My Paper Pumpkin, Shapes & Shadows
Ink:  Early Espresso, Tangerine Tango
Paper:  Rich Razzleberry, Pacific Point, Lucky Limeade, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Basic White, International Bazaar DSP
Accessories:  1 1/4" and 1 1/2" circle punches

Sweet Colors, But Make It Spooky?

Mornin' y'all!  It's time for a new challenge from the Paper Players, and this time LeAnne has a sweet color challenge for us:

And if you read the title of this blog post, you're probably wondering how I could possibly turn those colors into a spooky card.  Here's how:

Isn't Medusa the CUTEST?!  As a child, one of my favorite movies was Clash of the Titans (the 1981 masterpiece with Harry Hamlin, not that 2010 disaster, I shall speak no more about it because ugh) and I really love Greek mythology.  (Side note:  there's a new Percy Jackson book coming out soon!)  So anyway, I found this Mini Medusa from Sweet November Stamps and I was instantly smitten with her.  I was cruising through my stamps with the challenge colors in mind and I kept coming back to Medusa.  Hope you love her as much as I do!  What do you think Medusa would use as a nickname?  I think she lets her friends call her Doozie.  And by friends obviously I mean her snake hair.

Hope you'll join in the fun at the Paper Players blog!  And check out what the other Paper Players made for more inspiration:

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

  and now me : )

Have fun!  I think I need to find a book where Medusa is the heroine because she got a bum deal in the original myths and she deserves better.  #JusticeForMedusa  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Mini Medusa from Sweet November Stamps
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Lemon Lolly, Stampin' Blends in Soft Sea Foam, Lost Lagoon, Lemon Lolly
Paper:  Soft Sea Foam, Thick Basic White, Tranquil Textures DSP, Inked Botanicals DSP Stack
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Milky Dots

Guest Designer: AAA Cards Challenge

Good mornin' y'all!  Okay so it's really the middle of the night my time but I have fun news to share, I'm a guest designer for AAA Cards Challenge today!  Here's the challenge:

I am not afraid to say that I had to ponder these colors for a while before I figured out what to make.  I translated them to SU! colors as Cinnamon Cider, Elegant Eggplant, Cloud Cover, and Perfect Plum, three of which are retired colors, and here's what I made:

I actually came up with the idea for this one when I saw someone selling Night of Flight on a Facebook group and it occurred to me that a moth would be PERFECT with these colors!  My Elegant Eggplant ink pad is still extra juicy so while it might read as nearly black, I promise, it's purple.  I used the fill-in stamps in the set to add color to the moth's wings, and then added a bit more on the moth's body and the lightest portions of his wings.

I hope you'll play along at the challenge at AAA Cards Challenge.  Don't forget to keep it CAS and have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Night of Flight, Power of Hope
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Cloud Cover, Cinnamon Cider
Paper:  Cloud Cover, Thick Basic White, Cloud Cover DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, In Color Flat Pearls, Dimensionals

The Quest of the Missing Map

Hey y'all and welcome to another Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we're on #19, The Quest of the Missing Map.

Unlike the last few books, the plot for the RT version of this book sticks fairly close to the OT version.  We have an illustrated scene from the book for the OT, and we're still doing the collage style for the RT version.  Personally I like the bold purple cover of the RT version better but they're both good.

Case file:  Nancy meets Hannah's friend Ellen Smith, who asks her to investigate prospective employer Mrs. Chatham, whose daughter Trixie says that Ship Cottage on their estate grounds (yeah they're rich) is haunted.  She's not entirely wrong; crooks are using secret passages on the estate to get around.  Also, Ellen's dad is trying to track down his long-lost twin brother because they each received half of a treasure map from their father and they have to work together to find the treasure.  Multiple bad guys are after the pieces of the map, but Nancy manages to charter an expedition to the south Atlantic and find the treasure despite being kidnapped several times.

Here's my card:

The model ships made by Mrs. Chatham's deceased first husband (who is the missing twin) are a big plot point, so I pulled The Open Sea out of my to sell sets to make this.  At first I was going to work in some Darling Duckling for Nancy's dress, but I found a striped piece of Island Indigo DSP so I used that instead.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  The Open Sea, Daring Adventure, World Map
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Paper:  Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Island Indigo DSP
Accessories:  Deco Labels Framelits, Dimensionals, Enamel Dot Essentials

And here's the RT:

Only a few minor differences this time between the two versions but I like how we get Bess and George on this cover as well as the map.  Here's my card:

I went with the palm tree from Balmy Breezes because they're searching for Little Palm Island, and I chose that greeting stamp from World Treasures to echo the treasure hunt theme and also to honor Bess and George on the cover.  And I threw on some purple glimmer gems because treasure.  Y'all know I am highly influenced by the colors on the book covers when I make these cards.

I kept the World Map background from the first card but I kept it lighter and kinda faded in places for the background.  I did a lot of sponging on both cards for this challenge.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Balmy Breezes, World Treasures, World Map
Ink:  Pecan Pie, Crumb Cake, Gorgeous Grape
Paper:  Gorgeous Grape, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Layering Ovals dies, Dimensioanls, Purple Shimmer Gems

If these books inspire you to make a card, please leave me a comment so I can see!  As always, you can read a much more in-depth discussion of the books over on Hey Nancy Drew.  I'll see you here next week when we uncover The Clue in the Jewel Box!

Witch Cat

Mornin' y'all!  I have a fun card to share today with a new-to-me stamp set that I acquired earlier this year and haven't used until now:

I think Clever Cats came out in 2021 and I don't know why I didn't get it then but at least I've fixed that oversight ; )  Okay I'm much more of a dog person when it comes to my own pets, but who can resist cats for Halloween?  Also the Shopping Our Stash challenge was a great excuse to ink this up for the first time--it's a challenge to make a card with cats and/or gags.  I love the expression on this cat's face, haha!

I paired that with this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

The Everyday Arches dies made the arched elements a breeze and I fussy cut the cat, broomstick, and hat.  I pulled out some real old Halloween DSP for this one, I don't even remember what year Creepy Crawly came out, but More Mustard was still in the color lineup then.  I put all my Halloween DSP all together in one plastic container so I don't have to hunt through all my papers for it.  I need to start sending out Halloween cards now as I've already made several recently.

Daphne is giving me puppy dog eyes to take her out for a walk so I'd better hurry up with my breakfast so we can do that.  The hubs took today off work so we're finally going to finish the painting in the entryway...here's hoping we have no mishaps with the ridiculously tall ladder!  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Clever Cats
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Perfect Plum, Pecan Pie, Darling Duckling
Paper:  Perfect Plum, Darling Duckling, Thick Basic White, Creepy Crawly DSP
Accessories:  Everyday Arches Dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Shimmer Star Foam Stickers

Art Deco Inspiration

Mornin' y'all!  I have a card to share today that I think is a bit unusual, what do you think?

About a year and a half ago I had the idea to do an Art Deco inspired design with the Stitched Triangle dies, but for one reason or another I didn't make it, until now.  Thanks to the folks at Addicted to CAS for the push I needed to finally get this idea out on paper:

I hope this still counts as CAS, I couldn't resist putting a few rhinestones across the bottom because this design is fancy : )  I used the colors from TGIF Challenges:

I may have to play with this idea some more, I think this would be extra fancy with some glimmer or foil paper, hmm.  And it would work with any colors but I think black and metallics would be interesting to try as well.  The ideas are percolating!

But for now, Daphne says it's time for me to escort her on a tour of the neighborhood.  And who could say no to this face?

BLEP.  She has ears, I promise, she just likes to keep them pinned back against her head.  Oh, she's talking to me now, gotta go!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fabulous Phrases
Ink:  Secret Sea
Paper:  Secret Sea, Strawberry Slush & Timid Tiger DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Triangles dies, Rhinestones

Autumn Trio

Mornin' y'all.  Apparently our house was the chosen spot for a bird of prey to eat a late-night snack last night; we kept hearing noises from the chimney (we have a fireplace in our bedroom) and there's a lot of feathers in the yard this morning.  Between that and Daphne getting me up twice last night to go outside, I didn't sleep too much...but Ryan has STEM club after school today so maybe I have time for a nap!

It is supposed to get up to 81 degrees today which is just unsatisfactory for September and I am manifesting fall as hard as my little autumnal goblin heart will go.  And I finally busted out my Rustic Centerpieces stamp set, take a look:

The three images in Rustic Centerpieces are LORGE so I hope this still counts as a CAS card to enter at CAS on Fridays.  I thought it would lean more towards CAS if I stamped the outline image and didn't color it in at all, and I just added a simple greeting.  Plus that made it super fast to make two cards.

I was inspired by the Four Seasons Challenge which is new to me but LOOK HOW GORGEOUS:

I saw someone else link to this challenge but thanks to sleep deprivation I don't remember who it was and none of the cards in the gallery is jogging my memory either.  I must need more tea.

Anyway, I wasn't ready to be done with that beautiful inspiration challenge yet so I made a third card:

I finally cut into my Autumn Toile DSP and I love those foxes!  The stripes on the edge are the reverse of the fox pattern.  I slightly edited the Sunday Stamps Challenge sketch:

I didn't want to cover up the foxes so I switched the directions for the greenery behind my sentiment circle.  I used last year's Autumn Expressions because I love it and it has several extra-large greeting stamps that would be perfect for a sketch like this.

Daphne is pestering me to take her for a walk and who am I to tell her no?  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, top two cards:
Stamps:  Rustic Centerpieces, Gathering Moments
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies

Supplies, bottom card:
Stamps:  Autumn Expressions
Ink:  Cajun Craze
Paper:  Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Crushed Curry, Autumn Toile DSP
Accessories:  Autumn Expressions dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Cajun Craze & Gold Dots

Prague Castle

Scrappy Tuesday, y'all!  I was all set to publish my SUO Challenges DT post and then...I realized it's supposed to be for next week, not today.  Glad I realized my mistake before I hit publish!

Since I skipped Scrappy Monday yesterday, I thought I'd share a layout today instead.  Here's the first set of pages from a quick weekend trip to Prague in 2021:

Prague Castle is one of the largest castle complexes in the world and the government still has offices in use there while other parts are open for tours.  My favorite part?  We saw the window where one of the defenestrations of Prague happened.  Gotta respect a people who will toss politicians out a window when they lose patience.

Today's color palette:  Gray Granite, Mint Macaron, Watermelon Wonder, Not Quite Navy, and white.  I love Watermelon Wonder as a bright pop against the more muted colors and it plays so well with Mint Macaron.  I've been so busy with the Nancy Drew books that I haven't scrapped in quite a while, hoping to fit that in soon.

Time to get Ryan off to school.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Classic Alphabet, Travels Abroad
Ink:  Not Quite Navy, Gray Granite, Night of Navy marker
Paper:  Gray Granite, Not Quite Navy, Watermelon Wonder, Basic White, Design a Daydream DSP, Carried Away DSP
Accessories:  None

Can't Stop, Won't Stop

I know I said last week that I couldn't skip Scrappy Monday, but...then I made this and I couldn't wait to post it.

I found another apple challenge at Inspired By...:

And a cool sketch at As You See It:

I think this is a great way to use little bitty image stamps like the apples from More Than Autumn without them getting overwhelmed by other design elements.

But wait, there's more!

I had to do a pumpkin version for the Color Hues Challenge:

I chose Timid Tiger and Shy Shamrock for an In Color pumpkin patch.  I've been focused on apples, but it is also pumpkin's time to shine 
: )  Both of these cards fit the theme at the Paper Players too!

Speaking of pumpkins, I have pumpkin coffee cake in the kitchen and it's time for breakfast, just as soon as I make a cuppa tea to go with.  The hubs took Ryan to school this morning for a Donuts with Dads event which means I can have a leisurely cuppa tea with my breakfast.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, apple card:
Stamps:  More Than Autumn, Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Stampin' Blends in Old Olive & Cherry Cobbler
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Thick Basic White, Timeless Plaid DSP Stack, Color Theory DSP Stack
Accessories:  More Than Autumn dies, Textured Notes dies, Mini Dimensionals

Supplies, pumpkin card:
Stamps:  More Than Autumn
Ink:  Early Espresso, Shy Shamrock, Timid Tiger Blends
Paper:  Shy Shamrock, Thick Basic White, Shy Shamrock & Timid Tiger DSP
Accessories:  More Than Autumn dies, Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals

Paper Players: I'm Baaaack!

Mornin' y'all and I am SO EXCITED to finally share this:  I'm joining the Paper Players Design Team!  I was a guest designer there a couple of years ago and I was just so thrilled when they asked me to come back on a more permanent basis.  I've been sitting on this news since the end of June : )

So, without any further ado, here's the new Paper Players challenge courtesy of Ann:

And here's my card:

Lookit that, I have an official watermark and everything!!!  I made this card weeks ago, long before I went all apple crazy here on the blog last week, so we're just continuing that theme here and I still haven't made the apple cider muffins yet (need to track down apple cider before I can do that).  Anyway, I turned to the fabulous More Than Autumn stamps and dies that debuted last year and paired them with the Timeless Plaid DSP Stack for my apple cider card.  I do NOT drink coffee, so no pumpkin spice lattes for me, but I do enjoy a nice hot apple cider.  I am ready for all things fall!

Check out what the other Paper Players have made and we hope you'll play along!

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

  and now me : )

I am honored that they invited me back, I hope I'm up to the challenge!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  More Than Autumn
Ink:  Early Espresso, Calypso Coral, Cherry Cobbler, Stampin' Blends in Calypso Coral, Cherry Cobbler, Pecan Pie, Ivory, Old Olive
Paper:  Old Olive, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Basic Beige, Timeless Plaid DSP Stack
Accessories:  More Than Autumn dies, Nested Essentials dies, Earth Tones Shimmer Gems

Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion

Mornin' stampy friends and welcome to another Nancy Drew Challenge!  This week we're taking a look at The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion, or The Mystery *of* the Moss-Covered Mansion depending on which version you have.  I have both : )

For the OT on the left, we have an action scene but it's a little ambiguous--looks almost like Nancy, Bess, and George are burying some cash but in fact they're digging up a criminal's stash of stolen funds.

We have a collage on the RT with Nancy looking a bit concerned that a panther is stalking her and also that house looks like the Addams Family lives there and I like it.  Interestingly, the RT version says AT on the spine but OF on the cover, which I never noticed until this year and I've had that book since I was 9.

Between those two covers, I have to go with the RT as my favorite.  That Addams house is just too cool.  Let's take a look inside, shall we?

Case file:  Nancy, Bess, and George are supposed to be enjoying a vacation in the town of Ashley while Carson works on a case to find an heiress, but Nancy is intrigued by a mysterious moss-covered mansion nearby.  Nancy crosses paths with Ramo, a "gypsy-like" character who is up to no good.  The missing heiress turns up and Carson hands over the inheritance, but then she absconds with Ramo, so Nancy figures out that she's a fake and they have to find the impostor and the money as well as the real heiress.  Everything seems to revolve around the moss-covered mansion where the owner keeps a variety of wild animals, and of course in the end Nancy solves it and all the good people live happily ever after while Ramo goes to jail.

Here's my card:

This one was actually really tough for me, but in the end I had to go with one of the wild animals that Nancy encounters at the moss-covered mansion.  I was tempted to go with a fortune-teller theme (Ramo's sister is a con artist fortune teller, and I found a cute cat fortune-teller stamp set and I'm just looking for an excuse to buy it) but all those parts in the book are *highly* problematic so wild animals seemed to be less fraught for a theme.  Also there's a plane crash in the book, but I'm definitely not making any plane crash cards.  Oyy.  I gave just a very brief synopsis of this book but it's pretty bananas.

I used Darling Duckling as my primary color to go with Nancy's dress on the cover of the book, plus it makes a good leopard color.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wild Cats
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Darling Duckling, Evening Evergreen, Soft Succulent
Paper:  Darling Duckling, Thick Basic White, In the Wild DSP, Soft Succulent DSP
Accessories:  Big Cats dies, Textured Notes dies, Matte Decorative Dots, Mini Dimensionals

Next let's look at the RT, which is even MORE bananas:

Case file:  Carson Drew takes Nancy, Bess, and George down to Florida to help investigate when his friend and client Mr. Billington is accused of sending a truck of explosive oranges into the Kennedy Space Center (as if NASA is going to let a teen detective within a hundred miles of a case like that).  Once again Nancy is intrigued by a moss-covered mansion which is home to wild animals, but this time it belongs to a Bond villain wannabe who's trying to sabotage the US space program (this was written in 1971, so the Cold War was definitely the inspiration).  Like #17, this one was a gift to me for Christmas of 1989 and I adore how bananas it is.

Here's my card:

I was torn between the panther and the explosive oranges for my card inspiration, but since I did the leopard on the OT card I decided to go with the oranges on this one.  I fussy-cut one pretty orange from the Mediterranean Blooms DSP and then somehow stamped my greeting just a leetle bit crooked.  When I was growing up, my great-grandmother used to tell us to drink orange juice at breakfast to put sunshine in our day, so I had to go with a sunshine sentiment on here.

I did keep the main colors of the book cover on my card and now I kinda want to go make a haunted house card.  That mansion on the cover is a whole VIBE.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Celebrate with Flowers
Ink:  Early Espresso
Paper:  Thick Basic White, Pecan Pie, Lemon Lolly, Mediterranean Blooms DSP, Floral Impressions DSP
Accessories:  Nested Essentials dies, Mini Dimensionals, Transparent Dots

If you would like to play along, please drop a comment on this post with a link to your card as I would love to see!  You can read a much more in-depth analysis of Nancy Drew books on my other blog, Hey Nancy Drew.  It's a few books behind where I'm at here, so next week on this blog, we will undertake The Quest of the Missing Map!

Another Apple Card

Hello again, y'all!  I got Ryan off to school and did the dishes while I made myself a cuppa, so now I can relax with my tea and a protein bar for breakfast.  And I have my second card to share today:

Apples again and I have to say that Apple Harvest is my favorite apple stamp set ever, I love it.  For this card, I turned to this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the Color Throwdown:

I read that as Real Red, Darling Duckling, and Granny Apple Green.  I tried it with Old Olive first but the background stripes looked too dull, so I switched to Granny Apple Green but I neglected to switch out my Blends so the leaves on my apple are Old Olive and Darling Duckling.  My Granny Apple Green pad is extra juicy right now so the greeting looks dark but I like it.

Halfway through my cuppa tea and I'm already contemplating making another one : ) Daphne thinks we should go for a walk first, but I think we'll wait a bit since it's supposed to start raining here shortly.  Maybe I can make another apple card while we wait...

Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Apple Harvest, Heartfelt Hellos, Painted Stripes
Ink:  Early Espresso, Granny Apple Green, Stampin' Blends in Real Red, Darling Duckling, Old Olive, Bronze
Paper:  Real Red, Thick Basic White, Darling Duckling DSP
Accessories:  Apple Blossoms dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Iridescent Foil Gems

Return of the Toadstools

Mornin' y'all!  It's a gray morning here and the temperature has dropped 20 degrees since yesterday...and the hubs and the kiddo are planning to go camping this weekend.  Me and Daphne are staying home where the indoor plumbing is : )  I want to get out all the fall and Halloween decorations while they're out in the wilderness.

Anyway, I have a card to share:

It's been a while since I made a Terrific Toadstools card.  I had a go at the Paper Players tic-tac-toe challenge:

I went across the middle with bright colors - free (toadstools!) - enamel dots.  The enamel dots I used are some of the first ones that SU! ever released, they're glitter enamel dots and I bought like five packs of them.  I paired that with the Atlantic Hearts sketch:

It was actually the Toadstool Garden DSP that kicked off this card, I knew I was going for bright colors when I was looking through my DSP stash and that one fit the bill.

This is NOT all for me today though, peeps, I will be sharing another card here in a little bit because I wanted to enter some challenges and I already have my posts planned out for Saturday and Sunday and I'm excited to share those and then we can't skip Scrappy Monday.  Stay tuned!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Terrific Toadstools
Ink:  Melon Mambo, Fresh Freesia, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Melon Mambo, Thick Basic White, Toadstool Garden DSP Stack
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Glitter Enamel Dots

Pirate Ship

Mornin' y'all!  Well, I did not get the laundry done yesterday but today is a new day and that laundry is always waiting ; )  What I did get done is a pirate card!

I will be sending this to a friend who's been having a hard time of it lately because sometimes you just need to yell ARRRRR!  I was inspired to talk like a pirate by the Festive Friday challenge:

I used black, white, a ship, and waves, and I'm not sure if the pearl accents count as jewels.  They're not stones, but they are used in jewelry.  My ship is either the Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean or the pirate ship Revenge from The Princess Bride.  One of those.

My card came together super fast thanks to the CAS Colours & Sketches challenge:

And I'll enter this at Shopping Our Stash, where the challenge is on or in the water.  It was fun to pull out two of my piratical stamp sets for this card : )

Time to go walk with Daphne.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  On the Ocean, Beware Pirates
Ink:  Versamark, Lost Lagoon, Pretty Peacock
Paper:  Baja Breeze, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  On the Ocean dies, black EP, Dimensionals, Riverside Irregular Pearls

Apple Thanks

Mornin' y'all!  Did you have a good holiday weekend?  We flew out to Texas for the weekend, which was great until they canceled our flight back to Colorado on Monday.  Somehow our suitcase ended up flying out on Monday night, but we spent that night in a hotel and flew out yesterday morning and Ryan got to miss a day of school.  We're back to our regularly scheduled programming today and I got to spend the weekend with my parental units and I hit up four Half Price Books stores and came back with a rather tall stack o' books.  If I had bought any more, we would have had to get a second bag for them : )

Anyway, I got in my craft room for a little bit yesterday and made this:

My friend Toby gave me a book that's kinda like a Nancy Drew scrapbook, so I made this card to send to her.  I absolutely loooooove the inspo challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments:

An excellent excuse to break out my favorite retired apple stamp set, Apple Harvest, and also I would like to go to there, please.  Actually I'm planning to make apple cider muffins in the very near future (I got the new Sally's Baking 101 cookbook), I can easily make myself a cuppa tea, and I have a stack of new books to read so that will be very much like living in these inspo pics : )  

Next up is the follow my lead challenge at AAA Cards:

Which dovetails nicely with the TGIF Challenge:

I used one of the Everyday Arches dies as a mask to sponge ink on my card base, then floated my apple branch on top and added the greeting and a few sparkle dots.  I think I want to play along with all of these challenges again and Ryan has his cooking class after school today which means extra crafty time (after I wash dishes and start some laundry, anyway).

That's it for now, peeps, have a great day!  As soon as I get Ryan off to school, I'm going to make myself a cuppa.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Apple Harvest
Ink:  Early Espresso, Darling Duckling, Wild Wheat, Stampin' Blends in Sweet Sorbet, Darling Duckling, Pecan Pie, Mossy Meadow, Ivory
Paper:  Basic Beige, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Apple Blossoms dies, Everyday Arches dies, Dimensionals, Opaque Sparkle Gems, Wink of Stella