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

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  And if you're not American, then happy Thursday! : )  I prepped as much stuff as I could for the last two days and then we started work on the turkey this morning.  I snapped a picture of the hubs, the kid, and my mom all helping to prep the turkey.  It's in the oven now so we've got a chance to chill out for a while while it roasts, then it's time to make mashed potatoes, gravy, and stuffing...and then get stuffed!

Anyway, I took a break yesterday and made a card:

Had to do one more autumn card and the Cupcake Inspirations colors were perfect:

I used Copper Clay, Crushed Curry, and Real Red.  The Crushed Curry pattern is from last year's Inked Botanicals DSP Stack and the Copper Clay pattern is from Take to the Sky which is still current.

I rotated the Atlantic Hearts sketch 90 degrees to the left to accommodate my extra-large sentiment:

And that's it for me, peeps.  Have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Autumn Expressions
Ink:  Copper Clay, Crushed Curry, Real Red
Paper:  Copper Clay, Thick Basic Vanilla, Inked Botanicals DSP Stack, Take to the Sky DSP
Accessories:  Autumn Expressions dies, Dimensionals, Speckled Dots, Wink of Stella

SUO Challenges: Honor Our Heroes

Mornin' y'all!  Daphne and I had a pretty successful first day together yesterday; I took her on a short walk and we played tug-o-war and she was a Very Good Girl.  Now we just need to start training her : )

But right now it's time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!

Here is our theme:

Veterans Day is coming up on November 11 and as it happens I am surrounded by veterans.  I've been an Air Force wife for 21 years.  My dad, brother, and uncle were in the Air Force too (and my brother is currently in the Texas Air National Guard).  My maternal grandfather was in the Army.  I have a cousin who was in the Navy and another one who's in the Air Force (think you can tell what my extended family's preferred service is), and that's just what I can think of off the top of my head.  And of course many, many, many of our friends are or have been active duty.

My challenge today was to make a Veterans Day appropriate card using current Stampin' Up! products, and they haven't had a patriotic type stamp set in a while, but I am up to the challenge!  So here's what I made:

That big bold beautiful Grateful for You is from Autumn Expressions and the heart is from Bee My Valentine (it's also covered in Wink of Stella which of course doesn't show up, it's like vampires in that it cannot be photographed).  The patterned paper is from the Take to the Sky DSP and the Cherry Cobbler wash pattern is from the Splendid Autumn DSP stack.

I'm also going to enter this at Inkspirational:

Considering I have 8 layers of cardstock and DSP, I think I have this challenge covered ; )

So who's your hero?  Make a card with only Stampin' Up! products (current or retired) and share it with us at the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Autumn Expressions, Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler
Paper:  Boho Blue, Night of Navy, Thick Basic White, Take to the Sky DSP, Splendid Autumn DSP Stack
Accessories:  Autumn Expressions dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Beautiful Change

Mornin' y'all and happy Friday!  Did you have a good Halloween?  The hubs took Ryan (as Iron Man) out trick-or-treating while I handed out candy.  We had LOTS of trick-or-treaters of all ages and despite having a huge bag of candy, we ran out around 7:45...notes for next year.  I thought it was funny how many teenagers looked at our inflatable decorations and talked about how much they love Bluey : )  One girl came up to the porch and I immediately said "Fa Mulan!" and her dad told his wife, "See? SHE knows!" so apparently not everyone knew what the girl's costume was.  But of course I recognized the hero who saved China.

Anyway, Halloween cards may be done for the year but I'm still making fall cards!

I tried twice and could NOT get that sentiment to be straight on the die cut.  I tried stamping first, then die cutting--crooked.  So I die cut, then stamped--still crooked.  So now I'm chalking it up to handmade charm.

Check out this week's Color Throwdown:

Pretty!  I used Crushed Curry, Crumb Cake, and Copper Clay, and grounded those warm shades with some rich Early Espresso for the background.  I turned this week's Freshly Made Sketch on its side:

And now my brain is considering other options for this sketch, so we'll see if anything comes of that.

In other news, I had to go to the UPS Store this morning after I dropped Ryan off at school, and that just so happens to be adjacent to Walmart and they have their Halloween stuff 50% off.  LOOK WHAT I SCORED!

Aaahhhhh I'm so excited to have this up next year.  Even more excited that I only paid half price.  I also bought some Baby Ruths for half price because Ryan only brought me ONE in his entire candy haul last night.  (He doesn't like them so I get to eat them!  Sadly for me he DOES like Twix...)

Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Regal Flora, Autumn Expressions
Ink:  Early Espresso, Crushed Curry, Copper Clay, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Regal Flora dies, Stitched Nested Labels dies, Earth Tones Shimmer Gems, Dimensionals

Autumn CAS

Mornin' y'all!  We're going to meet some friends at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo today so that should be fun : )  But first I have a CAS card to share today.

I started with the Color Hues Challenge:

I used Old Olive and Delightful Dijon for my colors, with some Crumb Cake, Pecan Pie, and Early Espresso because apparently one brown just wasn't enough for me.

Next up is the sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches:

And this is my first time playing at Addicted to CAS:

That made me think of the new Autumn Expressions stamp set with that wood cross section, and I found a woodgrain scrap of patterned paper too.  Since two of the challenges are CAS, I didn't add any embellishments other than the stamped wood cross section and the leaf, but I did add a smidge of Wink of Stella on the lines of the leaf for a very subtle sparkle.

Have a great day, peeps!  We're going to go wild at the zoo : )

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Autumn Expressions
Ink:  Pecan Pie, Delightful Dijon
Paper:  Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Thick Very Vanilla, Early Espresso DSP
Accessories:  Autumn Expressions dies, Mini Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Perfectly Lovely Autumn Day

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

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

I started with this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

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

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

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

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

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

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