Thursday, October 15, 2026

Fox & Owl

Mornin' y'all!  How's your week going?  I am still deeeeep in the throes of fall and Halloween cards, are you getting tired of oranges and browns yet?  'Cause I have another fall card today:


I got out a bunch of retired stamp sets for the Inspired By... Challenge:


I'm a dollar short and a day late for the challenge but I'm posting my card anyway because I had fun making it and I love this inspo pic.  I love all those mugs, they can come live in my house : ) I especially like the owl and the fox, so I pulled out Fox & Friends, then added a leaf from Falling Leaves and a greeting from Give Thanks.  It barely shows up in the picture, but I stamped Flannel Plaid on the Cajun Craze layer in Versamark for just a little more coziness.  I used Chocolate Chip, Cajun Craze, Copper Clay, and Pecan Pie for my colors and I'd really like to play around with this palette of oranges and browns again.

That's it for me today, peeps.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fox & Friends, Falling Leaves, Give Thanks, Flannel Plaid
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Copper Clay, Cajun Craze, Pecan Pie, Versamark
Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes & Stitched Rectangles dies, Mini Dimensionals

Halloween Apparitions

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  I was in a fussy cutting mood when I made tonight's card:


I got Autumn Apparitions off eBay a year or two ago after I saw someone else use it on a blog post, but I don't remember who it was.  As you can see, we've got several fun Halloween images to play with and I had a go at using them all on a single card.

Stay spooky, friends!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Autumn Apparitions
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Thick Basic White, Wicked Fun DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Wednesday, October 14, 2026

WIP Wednesday: Frankie

Mornin' y'all!  No card today because I've been busy with Ryan on fall break and trying to keep him entertained without screens, but I do have a WIP Wednesday to share of my cross stitch:


Cross stitch projects do look pretty creepy when they're missing eyes like this, ha!  And then once you DO have the eyes stitched in, he stares at you nonstop.  He needs his face filled in, and then there's some candy bits on the sides and the buffalo check on the bottom and Frankie will be done.  Well, there's also the thick black border but that's pretty quick and mindless.

That's it for now.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies:
Stamps:  none
Ink:  none
Paper:  also none, unless you count the chart
Accessories:  fabric & floss : )

Toil & Trouble

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  Let's switch it up a bit and have a witch for tonight's card, shall we?


Instead of using Cauldron Bubble with the coordinating Toil & Trouble DSP (which also has lots of images you can die cut that are already colored in, you might remember them from my what's cookin' card), I stamped my little witch and her cauldron, then colored them to match the Halloween Spells DSP for a different look.  Who knew Pool Party could work for Halloween?

Stay spooky, friends!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Cauldron Bubble
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Highland Heather, Pumpkin Pie, Granny Apple Green, Petal Pink, Smoky Slate, Basic Black, Pool Party
Paper:  Gorgeous Grape, Granny Apple Green, Pool Party, Halloween Spells DSP
Accessories:  Cauldron dies, Wink of Stella, Dimensionals

Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Another Scaredy Cat for SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all!  It is time once again for a new challenge from SUO Challenges, and this time we are CASE-ing the catty:


My card is a little catty too *snerk*  You know I cannot resist making everything into a Halloween card in the month of October, so here's what I made:


I chose the card on the left and switched out the DSP to the Frightfully Fun pack.  I kept one pumpkin but added an orange scaredy cat and oh hey look, the pumpkin is purple!  I used the iridescent black ribbon and to add some texture to the card base, I embossed the little star background stamp from the Oh My Fright stamp set for a little tone-on-tone thing.  Quite a few pieces to this card but I think I like it.  And I finally stamped one of the cats from Oh My Fright and colored him in!  I tried to give him a bit of stripey pattern and he's popped up on TWO layers of Dimensionals, that's how scared he is.

We hope you'll join us over at SUO Challenges!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Oh My Fright, Painted Pumpkins
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grape, Versamark, Pumpkin Pie Blends
Paper:  Basic Black, Highland Heather, Basic White, Frightfully Fun DSP
Accessories:  Oh My Fright dies, Painted Pumpkins dies & stencils, Stylish Shapes dies, iridescent black ribbon, Dimensionals, foam star stickers, clear EP

Black Cat Binx

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  And tonight is extra spooky because it's the 13th night of the Hex-Travaganza!  So how about a lucky black cat:


I do love the Spooky Night DSP, and it did the heavy lifting for this card.  I think I need to go watch Hocus Pocus again.

Stay spooky, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Spooky Cat
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Thick Very Vanilla, Spooky Night DSP
Accessories:  Cat punch, Stylish Shapes dies, black rhinestones, Dimensionals

Monday, October 12, 2026

Hey Pumpkins

Mornin' y'all!  Hope you had a good weekend and you're ready to start a new week.  Ryan is on fall break for the next two weeks so that means I have to keep him entertained and hopefully not staring at screens all day.  Wish me luck.

I have two cards to share today and I'm not 100% sure how much I like them:


I used last week's Freshly Made Sketch:


I thought I could use some of the busier patterns in the Painted Patch DSP, and then I fussy cut some pumpkins and leaves from the same patterns to use on the greeting block so it says hey pumpkin.  I think maybe I should have done the same Calypso Coral + Golden Glow cardstock colors on the darker card instead of using Golden Glow + Pool Party, the pumpkin on that one looks almost radioactive but maybe I'm overthinking it.  Anyway, I'm glad I used some more of that super fun DSP either way and I always need more coordinating cards for my two friends.  It's kind of a game to send them both cards that are similar every week.

Have a great Monday, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Pumpkins
Ink:  Cajun Craze
Paper:  Calypso Coral, Golden Glow, Pool Party, Painted Patch DSP
Accessories:  Secret Sea Faux Linen Ribbon

Shakespearean Halloween

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  I pulled out another Halloween stamp set and some less-traditional colors for tonight's card:


I have to be real here, this isn't my favorite card and I want to play with the Toil & Trouble stamp set some more.  Not every card can be your favorite though I do like the color combination of Old Olive, Summer Starfruit, and Basic Black.

Stay spooky, friends!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Toil & Trouble
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black, High Tide DSP
Accessories:  Circle punches, Dimensionals

Sunday, October 11, 2026

Midnight & Luna for The Paper Players

Happy Sunday, y'all!  Which means it's time for a new challenge from The Paper Players.  I hope you enjoyed Ann's landscape theme last week, the gallery was just beautiful!  This week, our lovely Jan has a color challenge for us:


I have been deeeeep into fall and Halloween mode lately so these colors threw me for a bit of a loop, but I had pulled out a bunch of Halloween stamp sets for other projects and that's when I spied Midnight and Luna:


This is a Sweet November stamp set I bought last year and hadn't used yet, which is exactly why I do the Halloween Hex-Travaganza so I can bring out all my Halloween goodies to play with every year.  And also maybe I buy MORE Halloween goodies every year!  Anyway, I wanted them to be on an Azure Afternoon evening sky and I found a scrap of the blue paper from the Lights of Aurora DSP Stack and started my card there.  The green is another scrap from the Artistry Blooms DSP because sometimes I make it an extra challenge to use up scraps.

Check out the other design team creations on the Paper Players blog, and you can hop through their individual blogs to leave some comments too:

The Paper Players Design Team



And then upload your card at the Paper Players blog!  Keep in mind a few simple 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!


Supplies:
Stamps:  Midnight and Luna from Sweet November
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Azure Afternoon, Stampin' Blends in Crumb Cake, Granny Apple Green, Smoky Slate, Basic Black
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Basic White, Lights of Aurora DSP Stack, Artistry Blooms DSP
Accessories:  Shimmery Star Foam Stickers, Dimensionals

Candy Corn Treat

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  I have a quick card to share tonight where the DSP does most of the work:


I used some scraps of the Spooky Sweet Specialty DSP...was that last year's or the year before?  The candy corn shapes are from the punch-out sheet with that paper, and the only stamping is the greeting.  Easy.

Stay spooky, friends!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Spooky Halloween
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Petunia Pop, Daffodil Delight, Spooky Sweet Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Mini Dimensionals

Saturday, October 10, 2026

Clue in the Ancient Disguise

Happy Saturday and welcome to this week's edition of the Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we are on book #69, Clue in the Ancient Disguise:


The arch cover reminds me of the cover of Old Attic but with a completely different color palette.  I think the middle one is the one I've had in my collection the longest but I think the last cover is more dynamic.  All three covers depict scenes in the book, but the suit of armor is NOT the ancient disguise.  I think the last cover wins for most action-packed, though I quite like the first cover this time too and maybe it's not a coincidence that those are the two where she has reddish hair.

Case file:  Nancy is asked to help French inventor Pierre Michaud, who found a mysterious old letter in his grandfather's effects from a River Heights resident referencing some big family secret.  (Absolutely no mention of Ned in this book, which is good because he would have been insanely jealous of Pierre even though Pierre is in love with someone who is not Nancy.)  At the same time, she's investigating a series of break-ins at a local museum.  This one is pretty much what would happen if Old Lace had taken place in River Heights, but with more French Revolution.

Here's my first card:


Most of Nancy's adventures seem to happen in the summer, so I'm always happy when we get something that specifically mentions it's fall.  And the colors on the arch cover are perfectly autumnal.


I used Petunia Pop, Dusty Durango, and Bumblebee for my colors.  Since we're dealing with a French mystery set in the fall, I got out French Foliage : )  I also feel like I am working hard to make my arch cards look different and interesting, how am I doing on that challenge?

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  French Foliage, French Script, Carte Postale
Ink:  Petunia Pop, Dusty Durango, Bumblebee
Paper:  Petunia Pop, Dusty Durango, Bumblebee, Very Vanilla, Dusty Durango DSP
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, Dimensionals, In Color Flat Pearls

On to the second cover:


Nancy, Bess, and George arrange with the museum curator to hide out in the basement overnight to try to catch the people breaking into the museum, but they get chased by someone wearing a suit of armor (which is 100% straight out of the very first Scooby-Doo episode from 1969, What a Night for a Knight) and locked in a storage room.  Since I have this adorable little knight from Magical Day, I had to use him, and he's got a fleur de lis pattern because he's a French knight.


I used Flirty Flamingo, Hydrangea Hue, Ballet Blue, and Basic Gray for my colors.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Magical Day
Ink:  Basic Gray, Ballet Blue, Stampin' Blends in Smoky Slate, Petal Pink, Flirty Flamingo, Hydrangea Hue, Seaside Spray
Paper:  Flirty Flamingo, Hydrangea Hue, Basic White, Myths & Magic Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Magical Mates dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, In Color Dots

And now for the third one:


This book has a LOT of tea in it, I think in the first half Nancy has tea four or five times and coffee twice.  Any excuse to make a tea card, right?


I used Gorgeous Grape, Seaside Spray, and Melon Mambo for my colors and my Gorgeous Grape ink pad is very juicy so the hearts are quite dark.  This stamp set does have coordinating dies, but not for either of the stamps I used so I fussy cut instead.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  A Nice Cuppa
Ink:  Gorgeous Grape, Seaside Spray
Paper:  Gorgeous Grape, Seaside Spray, Basic White, Have a Cuppa DSP Stack
Accessories:  Dimensionals

I thought this one was fun even if the French Revolution connection was totally implausible; it's always fun when Nancy is snooping around a museum (it's a vibe).  It does remind me of Old Lace like I said before, but I like this one better so I'm giving it three and a half stars.  If you're inspired to make a card based on this book or any of the cover art, leave me a comment so I can see!  And I'll see you here next week when Nancy encounters The Broken Anchor.

What's Cookin'?

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  I'm back with another Halloween Hex-Travaganza card and this one is just funny I think:


While I had the Toil & Trouble DSP out for this card, I found the frog, cauldron, and kitty that I had cut out from one of the patterns but hadn't used.  There was also that oddly shaped scrap of the polka dot paper so I thought I'd combine them...and then I couldn't resist the "What's cookin'?" greeting, ha!  A few Glossy Dots and it's done.

Stay spooky, friends!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  What's Cookin'?
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Granny Apple Green, Toil & Trouble DSP
Accessories:  Cauldron Bubble dies, Dimensionals, Glossy Dots

Friday, October 9, 2026

Perfect Day

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan is off school today (because two weeks for fall break isn't enough?!) but we have a parent-teacher conference this morning and then we're going to shop for his Halloween costume.  I think he's going to do something other than superheroes this year, we'll see.

Anyway, here's my card for today:


I had to pull out my favorite Orchard Harvest DSP and the lovely Warms My Heart stamp set for the Time Out Challenge:


I have gingham, a circle, a basket, and lots of apples.  I think I break out Orchard Harvest at least once every fall, I love it.

Anyway, I need to get Ryan ready to go.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Warms My Heart, Suite Sentiments
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Old Olive, Azure Afternoon, Pool Party, Petal Pink, Pecan Pie, Gray Granite, Lovely Lipstick, neutrals
Paper:  Old Olive, Raspberry Ripple, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Orchard Harvest DSP
Accessories:  Watercolor Wonder Crayon (More Mustard, for her hat), Spotlight on Nature & Tile Garden dies, Dimensionals, Radiant Gems

Halloween Bingo

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  Tonight's card is one I made last week while I was just playing around with some stamps and papers.

Spooky Bingo Bits has a whole bunch of different images that are all designed to fit inside a small square so you could make your own bingo cards; I picked six and punched them out with a 1" square punch and then the postage stamp punch to layer.

Stay spooky, friends!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Spooky Bingo Bits, Cutest Halloween
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Highland Heather, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Highland Heather, Old Olive, Basic Black, Basic White, Cute Halloween DSP Stack
Accessories:  1" square punch, postage stamp punch, Cute Star Sequins

Thursday, October 8, 2026

Big Bold Sunflower

Mornin' y'all!  Hope your week is going well.  I have had so many ideas for cards swirling around in my little brain that yesterday I felt like I had a pack of overcaffeinated squirrels using my head as a gymnastics studio and I did something that turned out to be very smart:  I got a piece of scratch paper and wrote down the card ideas I had swirling around.  It was that simple.  I didn't feel like I was going to forget a gymnastic squirrel while I worked on something else and I crossed off the top four or five of my ideas yesterday and I felt like I got so much accomplished!  It was great, I was in the zone for sure.  I'm hoping to tackle the second half of my list after I take Daphne for a walk, but first, let's talk today's card:


I've had some fun playing with the new Radiant Sunflowers suite but I had to pull out Celebrate Sunflowers for the AAA Birthday Challenge:


And that worked very well with this Color Dare Challenge:


I used Flirty Flamingo, Darling Duckling, and added Peaceful Pine.  I could have gone with Calypso Coral and Daffodil Delight, but I use those colors a lot more so I thought I'd go for two colors I don't usually play with very often instead.

Daphne and I will be leaving for our daily walk shortly, which will hopefully make my tummy feel better.  I woke up this morning craving chocolate cake, so once Ryan was off to school I made a chocolate mug cake because there's no one here to stop me doing things like that and it turns out I need someone here to stop me doing things like that because that was waaaayyyy too much this early in the morning.  I am no longer craving chocolate cake, at any rate!  Cheers, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Celebrate Sunflowers
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Darling Duckling, Peaceful Pine, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Darling Duckling, Peaceful Pine, Basic White, Flirty Flamingo DSP
Accessories:  Celebrate Sunflowers dies, Stitched Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, In Color Flat Pearls

Scaredy Cat

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  Can't believe I'm more than a week into the Halloween Hex-Travaganza already this year, hope you're having as much fun as I am.  Tonight is a fun but quick card:


I think I tend to stick to pretty simple card layouts when I'm not following a sketch and I really like to put things towards the bottom right corner.  Anyway, Shopping Our Stash wants to see black cats and that pairs nicely with this month's cookie inspiration at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie:


I always *want* to play along over there but this might just be the first time I've done it.  I liked the bright yellow cat cookie with the edges shaded into orange, so I did the same on my card and I had that fun scrap of kitties to go with the theme.  I was going to put it on a Pumpkin Pie card base, but that felt like too much orange, and I tried Highland Heather too before I decided to go with Granny Apple Green.  What can I say, I like green and orange together.

Stay spooky, friends!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Scaredy Cat
Ink:  Versamark, Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Granny Apple Green, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, Toil & Trouble DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Circles Collection Framelits, black EP, Dimensionals, Iridescent Black Ribbon

Wednesday, October 7, 2026

Wishing Well Leaves

Mornin' y'all!  I got all my errands done yesterday but not much crafting, so that will be happening after I take Daphne for a walk today.  There's lots of challenges I need to catch up on, so let's start with two for today's card:


I used this week's Creative Colour Challenge:


The Mary Mary Quite Contrary in my really wanted to do purple leaves, but I decided to keep the leaves to actual real-life leaf colors.  (If I was using pumpkins, you know that pumpkin would have been purple because I am a pumpkin color anarchist!)  I paired that with this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch:


Pro tip real quick:  Always make sure you're LOOKING at your mug when you set it on a coaster, I just almost ended up with hot tea all over my desk and lap and that would have been a real shame as it's sweet potato pie tea and it does not belong in my lap.  Anywha, back to the card.  I saw this sketch and my brain said NO and then ten seconds later it hiccuped and there was my card idea.  I cut two patterns of Darling Duckling DSP into 1/2" strips and adhered them at an angle on a piece of copy paper (so it wouldn't add bulk), then cut off the extra bits on the sides before I put the whole thing on a Cajun Craze mat.  A few die cut leaves, the greeting, and some dots to finish.

Weirdly, I made a card with a very similar color combination earlier this week which you'll see on Saturday's Nancy Drew Challenge.  Check you later kids, I'm off to do a virtual appointment and then walk the Daphinator.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Gather Together
Ink:  Highland Heather, Cajun Craze, Darling Duckling, Versamark
Paper:  Highland Heather, Cajun Craze, Darling Duckling, Basic White, Darling Duckling DSP
Accessories:  Gathered Leaves dies, Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals, Frosted Iridescent Dots

Oops, I forgot to post my WIP Wednesday stitching photo!  Here it is:


I've done a whole lotta black stitching so far on the Frankenstein block (don't come at me, I know it's Frankenstein's MONSTER and he doesn't have his own name, but you know how we refer to artwork as like "a Picasso" and stuff like that?  He's a Frankenstein!...and now I need to watch Young Frankenstein, stat) and I am still having so much fun with this.  However, I know I need to slow down a bit as my right wrist is starting to complain, so I really need to back it off to maybe an hour of stitching per day.  That just means I'll get to enjoy making this project for longer, right?

Halloween Raven

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  Tonight's card features one of this year's Halloween stamp sets and I think this is the only time I've gotten it inky thus far, here it is:


This started out as a card for a past Paper Players challenge, but I ended up going with a different card instead.  So now Mr. Raven is making his debut tonight along with some retro DSP.

Stay spooky, friends!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Raven's Tale
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Wicked Fun DSP
Accessories:  Oh My Fright dies, Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals, Moody Palette Dots

Tuesday, October 6, 2026

Circles or Squares?

Mornin' y'all!  I've got a busy day ahead with several errands to run, so let's get started.  I have a pair of cards today:


The latest Inspired By... Challenge made me think of the Spice Cake DSP which Google says was released in 2011.  I made the card on the left first, but then I had the negative shape from the leaf I'd die cut so then I had to make the card on the right and use that shape.  So, circles or squares?

Here's the Inspired By... Challenge that got me started:


I used River Rock, More Mustard, Pear Pizzazz, Soft Suede, and Very Vanilla for my colors, which are all in the Spice Cake DSP.  I love that paper, I was smart enough to get an extra pack but for today's cards I was working only with scraps instead of cutting into any new sheets.  Because I'm still a paper dragon even though I'm trying to convince myself to Just Use The Paper.

Supplies, left card:
Stamps:  Love of Leaves
Ink:  Soft Suede
Paper:  River Rock, More Mustard, Very Vanilla, Spice Cake DSP
Accessories:  Love of Leaves dies, Layering Circles dies, Dimensionals

Supplies, right card:
Stamps:  Love of Leaves
Ink:  Soft Suede
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Soft Suede, Spice Cake DSP
Accessories:  Love of Leaves dies, Layering Circles dies, Dimensionals


In other news, Daphne missed the memo on proper couch usage.  No idea how this could possibly be comfortable for her, but it didn't stop her laying like this for quite a while.  As long as it makes her happy, I suppose!

Spooky Lady Icons

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  I have a lineup of spooky feminine icons for you tonight:


These stamps are part of an Ink Road set called The Real Housewives of Salem and I'm so happy I finally got it inked up.  CAS on Friday wants to see shades of gray and that seemed perfect for these ladies!  And now I really need to start watching the Addams Family TV show, I bought it digitally a while back but I have been watching other things.  I also have Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie for some nostalgic Nick at Nite-style TV fun.  Anyway, there is a variety of greetings in this stamp set and I went with Resting Witch Face because I do, in fact, have that.  Even after nearly 23 years of marriage, my hubs frequently asks if I'm okay and my response is always "This is just ma face!"

Stay spooky, friends!

Supplies:
Stamps:  The Real Housewives of Salem by The Ink Road
Ink:  Basic Gray, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Basic Gray, Smoky Slate
Accessories:  none

Monday, October 5, 2026

I Love Leaves

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan got off to a rocky start this morning but hopefully he'll turn his attitude around by the time he gets out of school, he was a grumpy Gus this morning.  Anyway, I had a nice relaxing weekend and got to work on several cards which makes me happy.  I decided to get out the Gathering Together DSP from two years ago along with the coordinating stamp set Gathering Moments to make a couple of cards for today.


I started out with the inspo pic from Inkspirational:


I love this pic and I really want to make a different card for every single cupcake but I don't think I'm going to be able to do that before the challenge ends.  For today's cards, I was looking particularly at the two cupcakes with leaves on them, very first one on the top row and third one on the bottom row, and I chose my DSP because it has the shiny metallic elements like the pic.  I paired that challenge with last week's Freshly Made Sketch:


I couldn't decide between the leafy patterns to use for the larger panel so that's why I made two, might as well use up multiple scraps while I'm at it.

I'm on my second cuppa this morning and as soon as I finish that, I'm off to take Daphne for a walk (the weather is not Octobery today, it's back up in the high 70s for a high but it should be pleasant to walk in) and then work on some laundry and send out this week's cards.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Gathering Moments, Elegant Leaves
Ink:  Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Early Espresso, Basic Beige, Basic White, Gathering Together Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Gathering Moments dies, Perennial Postage dies, Dimensionals, Wonderful Gems, gold cord

Pumpkin in the Patch

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  I have been having SO much fun making Halloween cards this year and there's lots more to come...I need to start sending them out!  But first, let's take a look at Pumpkin:


Yes, I made a black cat and named him Pumpkin : )  I bought these Spellbinders dies called Halloween Add-Ons this summer when I think they went on clearance and I was just waiting for the right opportunity to use them.  Enter the Just Us Girls Challenge:


I used the Spellbinders dies for Pumpkin the cat and the greeting, then three sets of Stampin' Up! dies for the other elements:  Tile Garden, Painted Pumpkins, and Squares Collection.  Lots of dies here and the only stamping is the Oct. 31 and the bats behind Pumpkin.  I love the Halloween palette from TGIF Challenges!


The only other colors I used are neutrals, so quite a lot of black, a bit of Basic Beige and Whisper White, and some pumpkin stems in Pecan Pie.

Stay spooky, friends!
Stamps:  Halloween Backgrounds, Halloween Add-Ons by Spellbinders
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Basic Black, Granny Apple Green, Blackberry Bliss, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Beige, Pecan Pie, Basic White
Accessories:  Halloween Add-Ons dies, Tile Garden dies, Painted Pumpkins dies, Squares Collection Framelits, Dimensionals

Sunday, October 4, 2026

Purple Mountains Majesty for The Paper Players

Happy Sunday, y'all!  I hope you enjoyed Jaydee's fabulous sketch last week, but it's time for a new challenge from The Paper Players.  Take a look at our theme courtesy of the amazing Ann:


I currently live in Colorado so I knew from the jump that I wanted to do mountains, and I remembered a particular pack of patterned paper that was just the thing I needed.  Here's my card:


Do you remember the Enjoy the Journey DSP?  I think I have like four packs of it, partially because it features Starry Sky which is one of my top In Colors ever and also because I love the patterns in it.  That meant I have a sufficient hoard that I was able to convince my dragon brain to cut into it for this challenge : )  And then I ended up with two more cards while I was at it:


It's always nice to have a stash of thank you cards and once I started, I couldn't just leave these two pieces of the patterned paper without turning them into cards too.

Check out the other design team creations on the Paper Players blog, and you can hop through their individual blogs to leave some comments too:

The Paper Players Design Team



And then upload your card at the Paper Players blog!  Keep in mind a few simple 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!


Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Greatest Journey
Ink:  Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grape
Paper:  Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grape, Basic White, Enjoy the Journey DSP
Accessories:  Painted Labels dies, Starry Sky bakers twine, Pearlized Faceted Circles, Dimensionals

Cat in the Pumpkin Patch

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  Hope your October is off to a good start.  And here we are with a new Halloween Hex-Travaganza card:


I pulled out the Spooky Night DSP and thought it would be fun to fussy cut the jack o' lanterns from one of the patterns, and then I stamped a spooky cat to hang out in the pumpkin patch.  I have a feeling I will be playing with Cajun Craze for Halloween cards again this year, I like it.

Stay spooky, friends!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Spooky Cat
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, Spooky Night DSP
Accessories:  Cat punch, Painted Patch Dot, Dimensionals

Saturday, October 3, 2026

The Elusive Heiress

Happy Saturday and Nancy Drew Challenge day!  Today we are on Nancy's 68th adventure, The Elusive Heiress:


Okay, we've got some fun action happening on the arch cover with Nancy in fancy dress and firecrackers scaring some horses, which does happen in the book but Nancy is inside the stagecoach rather than watching from afar.  The one on the right is the cover I grew up with; I like the composition of it but I don't think it tells us much about the mystery at hand since it's just a broken window.  I think this Nancy looks like Erica Durance as Lois Lane on the show Smallville (she's my favorite Lois Lane), but maybe that's because I've been rewatching Smallville lately.

Case file:  Nancy is tasked with tracking down the daughter of an aging millionaire; said daughter ran off 30 years ago to marry a man her father didn't approve of (good for her, the millionaire sounds like a butt).  Nancy and Ned travel to Cheyenne, Wyoming, while Carson follows a lead to Canada.  En route to Cheyenne, Nancy is asked to watch after a little girl named Jennifer who is on her way to meet her mother, but the mother doesn't show at the airport and so now Nancy has two missing persons to find.  And also there's a rodeo which is a lot of fun.

Here's my first card:


Nancy and Ned are staying with an old friend of Nancy's mother while they're in Cheyenne, and the local police are so busy with the big rodeo that Jennifer stays with them too because Child Protective Services isn't a thing in the Drew-niverse.  Ned and Nancy play pretend parents and take Jennifer to various rodeo activities, including a carnival one night so I made a card with Carnival Treats.


My colors are Poppy Parade, Pacific Point, and So Saffron; I initially had thought to do something with firecrackers instead but for some reason this is the card that came out.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Carnival Treats, July Fourth, Super Cool
Ink:  Poppy Parade, Pacific Point, So Saffron, Versamark
Paper:  Poppy Parade, Pacific Point, So Saffron, Basic White
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, white EP, Dimensionals

I actually made a second card for this cover:


Ned and Jennifer go ride a Ferris wheel while Nancy gets assaulted at the carnival and is left unconscious under the bleachers, which is a normal day in the life of Nancy Drew and I'm glad I was not a teen detective.


I swapped the So Saffron for Basic Beige on this card and kept the design simple.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Feeling Sentimental
Ink:  Poppy Parade, Pacific Point
Paper:  Poppy Parade, Basic Beige, Blueberry Crisp DSP
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, Not Quite Navy taffeta ribbon, Dimensionals

On to the second cover:


The book is set at Cheyenne's Frontier Days rodeo so I had to have a cowboy card!  I actually had to stamp the horse and cowboy three times before I found the look I wanted.  I think every time I've used this stamp set (Out West), I've used just this image so this time I decided to incorporate the horseshoe and made my own border.  Then I decided that there was too much space under the horseshoes so I tore off the edge of the card front and backed it with some Rococo Rose gingham.


My colors are Island Indigo, Rococo Rose, and Pecan Pie for this go-round.  There is a variation of this cover but the only difference is the colors on the title block; the artwork is the same so I never bothered to track down the variant.  I've had this copy for at least a couple of decades.  I wanted to make another card for this cover but I ran out of time.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Out West, Rough Edges Alphabet
Ink:  Early Espresso, Pecan Pie, Island Indigo, Rococo Rose, Versamark
Paper:  Island Indigo, Very Vanilla, Rococo Rose DSP
Accessories:  Deckled Circles dies, Dimensionals, clear EP

Oddly, I had absolutely no memories of this story when I picked it up this time and usually I remember at least *something* about the books that have to do with horses even tangentially.  Maybe it's because the artwork on my childhood copy is horse-free?  At any rate, I really enjoyed it this time around though I think that people could have looked harder for the titular heiress thirty years ago because Nancy seems to track her down pretty fast.  I had a great time reading this one so I'm giving it four and a half stars.  If you're inspired to make a card by either the book covers or the story, leave me a comment below!  And I'll see you next Saturday when Nancy searches for The Clue in the Ancient Disguise.