Tic Tac Toe Santa with the Paper Players

Happy Sunday and welcome to a new Paper Players challenge!  This week, the fun and fabulous Claire has brought us a fun and fabulous tic-tac-toe board to inspire you:

I went down the left side *and* across the bottom, hitting white - Christmas - die cuts - trees - sparkle.  I had pulled out the Festive Glimmer Paper for my bear card earlier this week and I thought hey, I can make some sparkly trees with this!  And here is where I ended up:

If you haven't already, definitely pick up a pack of the Nests of Winter DSP that's in the annual catalog.  The coordinating Winterly Tree Tops stamps and dies may be retired, but as you can see the paper still makes for a fun Christmas card!  I chose two Pool Party patterns as a backdrop for this cute Santa and some very sparkly trees.

Once again, I took pictures in several places in my house, with various lighting conditions, and I tried going outside for natural light and *still* it's so hard to make the glimmer paper show up looking anywhere close to the way it does in person!  The trees are cut out of both the Granny Apple Green and Garden Green glimmer papers and I switched the colors of the inner tree trunk/branch part to make them more interesting.  I have adhesive sheets and I should have used them because gluing in those itty bitty skinny pieces was quite fiddly, but I always forget that I own the adhesive sheets and in fact they have been sitting unused in my craft room for at least six months.

I think it's funny that I had at first resisted buying the Festive Friends bundle and now I think it's my favorite of this year's holiday offerings.  Ha!  Anyway, I had so much fun with Claire's tic-tac-toe board and I hope you do too.  Don't forget to upload your card on the Paper Players blog, and keep these rules in mind:

1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission
3.  Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL
4.  Have fun!

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

you are here --> Christy Stanford

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Festive Friends
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Cherry Cobbler, Pool Party, Smoky Slate, Petal Pink, Pretty in Pink
Paper:  Pool Party, Thick Basic White, Festive Glimmer Paper, Nests of Winter DSP
Accessories:  Festive Friends dies, Dimensionals, Glitter Sequins

The Clue of the Leaning Chimney

Happy Saturday and welcome back to another Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today's book is #26, The Clue of the Leaning Chimney.

Both of these covers are by Rudy Nappi; there's the original text on the left and revised on the right.  Nancy, Bess, and George are investigating a mysterious walled compound in the woods wearing very sensible...skirts?!  And probably heels?!  We do have some nice colors on the three girls on the OT cover but I don't know why Bess has dark hair.  I can tell it's Bess in blue because of the expression on her face, George would look eager or determined to get inside the compound and Bess looks concerned.

The RT cover is a similar composition but focusing on Nancy, who's still in a totally inappropriate (but pretty) outfit.  Seriously how does she climb trees in that skirt without getting dirty?  I'm still choosing this one as my favorite of the two; I think Nancy's face is prettier and I like the patterning on her shirt and skirt.  This one just appeals to me more than the OT.

Let's take a look at the story!

Case file:  While driving home late one evening, Nancy and Bess encounter a mysterious man in the woods who drops an antique Chinese vase.  Soon Nancy is involved in tracking down stolen Chinese pottery and the crooks who are not only forging copies of priceless originals, but are also engaged in human trafficking and forcing their victims to make the forged pieces.  Pretty dark for a Nancy Drew book.

Here's my card:

One of the first objects stolen in the book is a vase that has a dragon on it and wouldn't you know I have a stamp of a vase that has a dragon on it?  I have a few packs of DSP with Oriental-inspired designs, so I chose the Ginger Blossom DSP for Nancy's red skirt.

I stamped the vase with Pebbled Path + Versamark, then embossed with clear EP so I could watercolor it.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Ancient Asia, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Versamark, Pebbled Path, Ruby Red, River Rock
Paper:  Ruby Red, River Rock, Thick Basic White, Ginger Blossom DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Word Window & Modern Label punches, Mini Dimensionals, Candy Dot

Here's the RT:

No major changes to the story line here and I decided to make my cards very similar too:

This time I used the Green Tea DSP, which is Ginger Blossom redone in blues and greens.  And that was perfect to go with Nancy's outfit on this book cover.

I do remember this one from reading it as a kid; Nancy gets to learn about some Chinese symbolism and pottery-making methods which is fun.  I give it four stars.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Ancient Asia, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Versamark, Pebbled Path, Baja Breeze, Island Indigo
Paper:  Island Indigo, Thick Basic White, Green Tea DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Word Window & Modern Label punches, Mini Dimensionals, Candy Dot

As always, if you're inspired by Nancy Drew, I would love to see what you make so drop a comment on this post.  My book analysis blog is still on hiatus for the moment but I'll be bringing it back probably after the new year, you can find it at Hey Nancy Drew.  Next week we have another great installment, so stay tuned to learn The Secret of the Wooden Lady.  Cheers!

Magical Elf

Happy Friday, y'all!  How was your Thanksgiving?  We are enjoying our time with friends and I have a fun card to share today:

I tried to resist the Festive Friends bundle, I really did, but these little dudes are SO CUTE!  There was a color challenge awhile back with Lemon Lime Twist and Strawberry Slush and I didn't get to play along at the time, but I just had to try the combo for my little elf today.  And he has Timid Tiger hair : )

This time I did actually stick to the CASE-ing Tuesday Sketch:

And now I want to make even more Christmas cards with these colors together, I think they're so fun and bright and cheery.  A nice twist on the classic red and green, am I right?

I will not be braving any Black Friday sales in person, though I might check out Amazon's offerings.  After I have pie for breakfast.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Festive Friends, Jolly Delivery
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Lemon Lime Twist, Stampin' Blends in Lemon Lime Twist, Strawberry Slush, Pretty in Pink, Petal Pink, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Strawberry Slush, Thick Basic White, Strawberry Slush DSP
Accessories:  Festive Friends dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Strawberry Slush Gems

Winter Bear

Hey y'all, happy Thanksgiving!  We are spending our Thanksgiving once again with Bennet and Missy and their family, so it's a bunch of Baylor bears.  So I have a bear card to share today!

I am a massive sucker for any stamps featuring bears : )  I love Woodland Scenery (which is where the bear and the trees came from) and somehow this is the first time I've used it despite owning it since like September.  Oh yeah, appendix : p  This is also the first time I've inked up any of the stamps in Delicate Pines, I haven't even made a single pine-flake yet!  I did, at least, cut into the Elegant Pine Snowflakes DSP for this card.

So, this started out with a CASE-ing Tuesday Sketch:

But somewhere along the way, I took a bit of a left turn and my card doesn't really reflect the sketch.  I still like it though and I want to cut into more of those gorgeous papers!

Okay, I'm off to feast like a beast for the rest of the day.  Hope you have a great celebration if you're doing Thanksgiving, otherwise I wish you a great Thursday.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Woodland Scenery, Delicate Pines
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Secret Sea
Paper:  Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Elegant Pine Snowflakes DSP, Festive Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Textured Notes dies, Speckled Dots

Reindeer Wishes

Mornin' y'all!  Hope your Turkey Day week is going well!  I've tried to stall as long as possible but I think it's time to start making winter Christmas cards in earnest...I try to stay with fall for as long as possible because it's my favorite season and Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I flatly refuse to decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but I'll let a couple of cards slip in early I suppose.  All that to say, hey look reindeer!

I absolutely love last year's Reindeer Fun suite and I had to bust out the DSP for the new Festive Friday challenge:

I hit Christmas colors (traditional red and green), warm wishes sentiment, and reindeer.  I actually fussy cut two reindeer from the DSP, but when I started playing around with parts and pieces I ended up only using one of them.  You know that means I need to make another reindeer card, can't leave her out in the cold!  Anyway, the only stamping on here is the greeting from Above It All, and I didn't even have to cut the jingle bells and holly patterns I used for the backgrounds as they were scraps and the sizes worked for this card.

That's it for me today, peeps.  We're having a honey baked ham for dinner tonight, which has been a tradition in my family for the last several years--the hubs and the kid like ham better than turkey, but I flatly refuse to skip turkey for Thanksgiving, so we have ham the day before Thanksgiving and they can have leftover ham if they want and I get my Thanksgiving turkey.  (And pies!) Hope you have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Above It All
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Garden Green, Real Red, Reindeer Days DSP
Accessories:  White EP, Mini Dimensionals, Gold Swirl Accents

SUO Challenges: Cheers to Leilani!

Mornin' stampy friends!  It is time once again for a challenge at SUO Challenges!

And this time around, we are CASE-ing Leilani!  Check out her blog here, lots of pretties to choose from!

I chose to case this card, and here's what I came up with:

I chose to keep the drinks theme and the purple as the main color, but went with a different DSP.  Actually, two different DSPs:  the drinks are fussy cut from Celebratory Sips, the floral pattern is from that pack too, and the purple pattern is from the Everyday Skies pack.  Is that one still on the clearance rack?  I haven't looked, but that purple pattern seemed to coordinate pretty well with the Celebratory Sips pieces I used.  Once again I turned to Scenic Adventure for a "cheers" greeting to go with the Celebratory Sips drinks.  I don't drink alcohol ever so I tend not to buy the alcohol stamp sets.  A few retired Lemon Lime Twist Tinsel Gems and it's done!

Hope you have a great time perusing Leilani's blog for stampy inspiration, and then upload your creation at the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Scenic Adventure
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Old Olive
Paper:  Blackberry Bliss, Thick Basic White, Celebratory Sips DSP, Everyday Skies DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Tinsel Gems

BEARlin

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  We have our first frost this morning--last night Ryan looked out the back door and said it was raining snow, which sounds funny but looked like an accurate description of the weather to me.  He's disappointed that we haven't had any snow up to now, he enjoyed having so very many snow days off of school last year.  Maybe it's just getting a late start this year.

Anyway, for today's scrapbook layout, we're continuing our Berlin trip pics but this time it's all about the bears!  We discovered that there are bear statues all over everywhere in Berlin so we had Ryan get a picture with every one that we passed.

This is how I designed the layout, but when I went to take a picture of it I put the pages like this:

Do you have a preference?  I still think I like the top one better.  I had the pictures printed out 2x3 inches when I was working at the arts & crafts center in Germany, I was able to show my coworker what I wanted and she printed them out just how I needed to fit in a whopping EIGHTEEN pictures on this layout.  That might be a personal record.

I pulled in the Night of Navy, Call Me Clover, and Crushed Curry from the Funny Faces layout that goes right before this one, adding in Calypso Coral, Blueberry Bushel, and Bermuda Bay for my full palette on today's layout.  What took the longest on this layout was deciding which mat color should go with which picture, and then where each picture should be on the layout, I fiddled with picture placement for quite a while before I started sticking things down but I really like where I ended up.

I really want to get back into scrapbooking, I haven't made any pages in months as I've been concentrating on the Nancy Drew stuff (which has also been great fun).  Just never enough hours in the day to make (and read) everything I want to!  In related news, my newest stitching project is looking pretty good already : ) I wasn't feeling good over the weekend and so I put in a lot of stitching time while watching the first two Lord of the Rings movies, which was great fun and didn't require much energy.

That's it for me today, peeps.  I've got quite a few things to do today, we're starting Thanksgiving prep, I have errands to run and cards to write and a Daphne to walk.  Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Brushwork Alphabet, Geometric Menagerie from Altenew
Ink:  Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry, Night of Navy marker
Paper:  Night of Navy, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry, Call Me Clover, Bermuda Bay, Blueberry Bushel, Thick Basic White, Flowerpot DSP
Accessories:  None

Delivering a Sketch from the Paper Players

Mornin' y'all!  It's Sunday, which means it's time for a new Paper Players challenge!  This week we have a super fantastic sketch from the equally super fantastic Ann!

Here's my card:

So far I've only made a few Christmas cards this year, but I had to showcase the very cool North Pole Delivery Specialty DSP for this one.  The doggo in the cute sweater was die cut from the reverse side of the letters patterned paper.  I should have played with the dimensions of the rectangles using scrap paper before I cut into the DSP though, I ended up cutting into quite a bit of the patterned paper before I found the proportions I needed.  But I think I got there in the end and the only stamping on this is the greeting.  A few quick Garden Green Dear Dots and it's done : )

Head on over to the Paper Players blog to see what my teamies made, or visit their blogs below and leave a comment.  Don't forget the challenge rules:

1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission
3.  Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL
4.  Have fun!

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

you are here --> Christy Stanford

And most importantly, have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Jolly Delivery
Ink:  Garden Green
Paper:  Petal Pink, Poppy Parade, Thick Basic White, North Pole Delivery Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Jolly Delivery dies, Textured Notes dies, Dear Dots, Dimensionals

The Ghost of Blackwood Hall

Happy Saturday and I'm happy it's time for a new Nancy Drew Challenge!  This week's book is great too, take a look at The Ghost of Blackwood Hall:

Let's talk about the OT cover on the left and WHY does it look like Nancy is delivering a singing telegram?!  Also Bess and George seem to both have dark hair.  This book is actually pretty spooky so this cover seems like it doesn't fit, though someone in a Nancy Drew fan group on Facebook said this was their favorite book cover.

I like the RT cover on the right better, I think it fits the spooky vibe much better with the ghostly organist.  Nancy's hair is a weird shade of orange (as in Flaming Hot Cheeto orange), I'll give you that, but at least we can tell Bess and George apart.  I think Bess looks totally adorable on this one.

So let's take a look inside!

Case file:  Nancy meets widowed Mrs. Putney, who thinks her deceased husband is contacting her and believes everything the ghost says until she discovers that a box of jewels she buried in the woods per the ghost's instructions has been substituted with fakes.  Nancy's investigation takes her, Bess, and George to New Orleans, and we get seances and all kinds of suspicious characters.  Nancy doesn't go to the titular Blackwood Hall until a bit late in the book, but we get a haunted house too!  Nancy exposes a group of fake mediums who have hoodwinked people out of lots of money and finds Mrs. Putney's missing jewels too.

Here's my card:

I think the OT cover is a little bit silly with the singing telegram of it all, so I made a silly card to go with it.  Mrs. Putney and several other characters believe that they're being contacted by deceased loved ones and I could not resist this funny image of the ghost on the telephone.

I used blue for Nancy's shirtwaist (that is a shirtwaist, right?  Or is it just a vest?) and green for the overgrown plants in the background.  Had to get the woodgrain pattern because a lot of this book takes place at Blackwood Hall or in the woods nearby.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Boo-la-la and Hey Boo from The Ink Road
Ink:  Versamark, Basic Black, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Shaded Spruce, Pool Party
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Basic Black, Thick Basic White, Pacific Point DSP
Accessories:  Tinsel Gems, white EP

On to the RT!

I think after #18, The Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion, the revised texts stay very close to the originals other than condensing the plot from 25 chapters to 20 chapters, and that is the case here.  But I still made a second card, here it is:

I think the RT cover is pretty spooky so I made a spooky card to match the vibes.  I started by using blending brushes on some white cardstock for my blue and green background, then spritzed with a bit of water and let it dry.  For the haunted house, I embossed shimmery black embossing powder on black cardstock, then die cut it out so it's sparkly and fun.  I hunted through my dies and punches until I found this old something-label punch (I forget its name) that matched the ticket corners on the main image die cuts.

I have green and blue for George and Nancy's outfits, and a bit of deep orange for Nancy's Cheeto hair and maybe sorta Bess's shirt...well, it's a bit more red but whatever.  Good color choices on all three girls, no one looks like they shopped in Steve Irwin's closet this time.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  The Raven
Ink:  Blueberry Bushel, Azure Afternoon, Granny Apple Green, Garden Green
Paper:  Garden Green, Granny Apple Green, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White, Spooky Night DSP
Accessories:  Scary Silhouettes dies, ? label punch, Earthy Matte Dots

So there is The Ghost of Blackwood Hall.  I read these both in October and the spooky vibes were spot-on for Halloween season, five stars for both books.  Absolutely loved this story!  If you're inspired too, leave me a comment so I can see what you make!  Next time we''l be searching for The Clue of the Leaning Chimney.  See you then!

Thankful For Color Throwdown

Mornin' y'all!  Well, I was able to make two different desserts yesterday, get Ryan to school on time, take Daphne for a walk, and get the desserts delivered to the hubs at his work before 11:15 yesterday.  Pretty successful morning if you ask me : )  This morning I'm struggling to get Ryan to put on his clothes and brush his teeth, we need to leave in under five minutes and he'd rather make loads of noise than get ready.

Here's my card for today:

I'm a little sad because this card is for the last challenge of one of my longtime favorite challenge blogs, Color Throwdown:

I used Crushed Curry, Timid Tiger, and Garden Green for my colors, and one last time I had to pair this challenge with Freshly Made Sketches:

So, to the team at Color Throwdown, thank you for so many years of great color challenges.  I will miss playing along with the fun color palettes.

Okay, I need to hustle the kid out the door.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Gathering Moments
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Thick Basic White, Nests of Winter DSP, Timid Tiger DSP
Accessories:  Gathering Moments dies, Textured Notes dies, Perennial Postage dies, Mini Dimensionals, Delightful Decorative Dots

Faster Than a Speeding Apple

Mornin' y'all.  Remember yesterday how I was planning to have a nice, leisurely day of baking today for a potluck at hubs' work tomorrow?  Yeah, the potluck is TODAY and I didn't realize that until this morning.  So I rushed to get the cranberry bars put together (Ryan actually helped) and they're in the oven now.  Hopefully those will cool enough before I have to take them and I still need to make chocolate cherry bars.  Sadly the gingerbread bars got knocked off the list due to time constraints.

Speaking of time constraints, today's card is for a speed challenge:

And here's the challenge from As You See It:

I have at least three different DSP stacks with apple patterns, so I decided to grab this one from the Berry Blossoms DSP which I had never cut into before, I liked the bright Calypso Coral and Lucky Limeade color combo.  I paired that with a pie from Sweets & Treats and colored as fast as I could for a time of:

Woo, under the 10-minute mark!  I made another one and I will send these to some friends next Monday.  I always write out my cards for the week on Monday mornings and usually send out 4-6 a week, sometimes more.

Okay, gotta get Ryan to school so I can work on those chocolate cherry bars.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sweets & Treats
Ink:  Early Espresso, Lucky Limeade, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, neutrals, Calypso Coral
Paper:  Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Thick Basic White, Berry Blossoms DSP
Accessories:  Nested Essentials dies, Dimensionals, Pearls of Beauty

Gingerbread Season

Mornin' y'all!  Today Ryan has STEM club after school which means extra crafting time for me : )  I finished my latest stitching project yesterday so I will be kitting up the next one today...I always have *something* I want to make!  And tomorrow, I will be making desserts for a potluck thing at the hubs' work, which leads me right into today's card:

I've had the Homemade Treats bundle for WEEKS and this is the first time I've inked it up!  It's super cute and will coordinate well with the Frosted Gingerbread suite from a few years ago, and of course I still have the papers (and stamps and dies) from that.  I know exactly who this will go to as well, my dino-loving pal Krissy also loves to bake.  We've joked about how we should open a bakery together where she does cakes and cupcakes and I make cookies and muffins.

Very happy that the latest challenge at Addicted to CAS gave me an excuse to finally ink up a few of these stamps:

The first weekend in December, I will be making gingerbread muffins for breakfast.  I don't know that I've ever made gingerbread cookies but I do make muffins and some cream cheese frosted gingerbread bars (which I will be making tomorrow along with chocolate cherry bars and cranberry crumble pie bars).  'Tis definitely the season for baking at my house : )

That's it for now, peeps.  I'm going to finish breakfast, take Daphne for her neighborhood tour (she's already poking me with her nose, doggo loves her walks), and then go kit up that stitching project and work on some more cards.  Looks like a fun day to me.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Homemade Treats
Ink:  Pecan Pie, Calypso Coral
Paper:  Garden Green, Thick Basic White, Timeless Plaid Stack
Accessories:  Homemade Treats dies, Nested Essentials dies, Mini Dimensionals

And if you're curious, here's my newly completed stitching project:

The pattern is from Autumn Lane Stitchery and I got the fabric from Mystic Fabrics.  It's an opal fabric so it's sparkly, which is perfect for this nighttime scene.  I had hoped to finish this before Halloween, but it's done now so it's all good.  And here is my next project, I'm excited to start it!

Lagoon Spruce

Mornin' y'all...it's almost 11am and I am ready for a nap!  Grocery shopping wore me out : p  But I do have a card to share today:

Toldja I would be making more with the Branching Out bundle and of course I just really want to use it with the recently retired Winter Meadow DSP, I am trying very hard not to hoard it all.  For today's card I started out with The Card Concept challenge:

I wrote down Cajun Craze, Summer Splash, Early Espresso and white for colors and then I ended up using Cinnamon Cider and Lost Lagoon for the first two colors.  I see some blue spruces around the neighborhood and they really are Last Lagoon colored.  

Next up is the Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I thought this sketch was a good excuse to use some of the bigger dies in the Branching Out bundle.

It's almost an hour past when I usually take Daphne for her walk, but I just finished breakfast.  Brunch, really.  Anyway, she says it's long past time for me to take her and I can't resist those puppy dog eyes.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Branching Out
Ink:  Early Espresso, Lost Lagoon, Cinnamon Cider
Paper:  Lost Lagoon, Thick Basic White, Winter Meadow DSP
Accessories:  Branching Out dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Speckled Dots

Funny Faces

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  We had a pretty relaxing weekend and yesterday I got to watch The Secret of NIMH snuggled up with Ryan and Daphne.  One of Ryan's monthly homework assignments is to write a compare/contrast paragraph of a book adapted into a movie, and it just happened that he was reading Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH at the beginning of the month so that worked out well.  I'd never seen the movie before so that was fun.  It's on Amazon Prime if you're curious.

I'm still working through pics from our Berlin trip in 2021 and today's layout is just fun.

Ryan has always made a huge variety of funny faces and is not shy about mugging for pictures.  I ordered our Christmas cards on Saturday and one of this year's funny faces will make an appearance : )  The hubs cracked up when he saw the picture, apparently I hadn't shown it to him when I took it this summer.  Anyway, I had a whole stack of funny face pictures from this trip so of course they had to go on a layout together.

Once again, I pulled the Call Me Clover color from the previous layouts (the Berlin Zoo layouts here) and used it as my page base, along with Night of Navy, Pumpkin Pie, Crushed Curry, and white.  I had a good time making this one.

That's it for now, peeps.  I've got to take Daph for a walk and then I have to make some phone calls, ugh.  Wish me luck, I hate calling people.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Brushwork Alphabet, Schoolbook Serif Alphabet, Happy Hearts
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Call Me Clover, Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Call Me Clover, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Thick Basic White, Happiness Blooms DSP
Accessories:  Painted Labels dies

Sleigh Ride for the Paper Players

Happy Sunday!  And that means it's time for a new challenge from The Paper Players!  This time we have a great CAS challenge from the lovely Stef:

Since I've been stamping for over 20 years now, and since I still have yet to sell anything in my To Sell? boxes (note the question mark), that means I have LOTS and LOTS of holiday images to choose from.  The one stamp set that kept popping in my head when thinking about this challenge is the one I used for my very first handmade Christmas cards in 2004:  Sleigh Ride (it is not in the To Sell? boxes).  Here's what I made:

The full image stamp is actually much larger, but I decided to go with just a portion of the image so I could have more open space and keep my card feeling CAS.  I stamped it in Cloud Cover ink on Soft Sea Foam cardstock because I discovered recently that I like those two colors together, die cut it and did a bit of sponging and popped it up on some little scraps of Cloud Cover DSP, also die cut.  I had one little bitty scrap of that DSP and so I cut one end of the rectangle shape twice, the pieces don't actually meet in the middle under the main image.  Don't tell anyone.  Couldn't resist adding a few pearls around my greeting and it's kind of amazing how the Soft Succulent pearls picked up the color of the Cloud Cover cardstock!

Side note:  I took at least ten pictures of this card over several days in various places and this was the best I could get.  Does anyone else have trouble photographing Cloud Cover?  The colors kept coming out wonky.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sleigh Ride
Ink:  Cloud Cover, Soft Sea Foam
Paper:  Cloud Cover, Soft Sea Foam, Cloud Cover DSP
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, Festive Pearls

Want to see my 2004 card?  You can see the full stamped image here:

I made...uh...somewhere between 40 and 60 of these?  And I watercolored every single one because clearly I was bananas.  This is also before I got a Stamp-a-Ma-Jig so I just stamped the greeting and hoped it was straight (spoiler alert:  it wasn't).  Nowadays I order photo cards online for most of our card list and only my favorite peeps get handmade cards (in addition to the photo card and family newsletter).  Mostly because I don't want to make the same design that many times.

Back to today's challenge, we hope you'll join the fun at the Paper Players!  Don't forget to keep your card clean and simple:  limited layers and embellishments, with lots of white space (though my white space is, in this instance, Cloud Cover).  And here are the other challenge rules:

1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission
3.  Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL
4.  Have fun!

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

you are here --> Christy Stanford