The Paper Players: Baby Animals

Happy Sunday, y'all!  It's my turn to host the challenge at The Paper Players and I hope you enjoy this week's theme:

Lots of animals are born at this time of year, so I thought it was seasonally appropriate and also might be fun for everyone.  One of the great things about the Internet and social media is that places like zoos can share their baby animals in videos and pictures and people everywhere can see just how cute baby leopards are.  I went a bit more domestic animal with my card, and here it is:

I was totally horse crazy as a child, and since I only very rarely got to actually interact with horses in person despite growing up in Texas, I read everything I could get my hands on--I still have my childhood copies of several Marguerite Henry books (Misty of Chincoteague) and the entire run of Walter Farley's The Black Stallion series.  One of my favorite things to do on Facebook is watch videos by Katie Van Slyke, who raises quarter horses and also breeds miniature horses, goats, donkeys, and cows--I didn't even know prior to following her that donkeys and cows came in miniature versions!  And also, baby mini cows are possibly the cutest thing ever, unless it's baby miniature horses. So adorable.

Anyway, I looked through all my horse stamps and just had to use this mama and baby pair from the very old stamp set called Bareback.  I kinda watercolored the horses to match a real-life mama and baby (Annie and Gunner, he's like 10 days old now) and kept the background very soft and dreamy, with a wide border of white space around it and a simple torn edge because this is a CAS challenge.

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

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier

Stef Perry

you are here --> Christy Stanford

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:  Bareback, Notes of Nature
Ink:  Versamark, Early Espresso, Copper Clay, Soft Succulent, Boho Blue
Paper:  Copper Clay, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Clear EP

Katzweiler

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I was scrolling Facebook last week (as you do) and I saw a post from Bonanza Ranch, which was about two blocks away from where we lived in Germany for a few years and so I thought I'd share a Germany layout today.

The top left picture was actually taken at the fence in our yard, the neighbors behind us occasionally turned out their horses in the small yard that adjoined ours which I loved.  The other horse pics were taken at Bonanza Ranch, and the top two on the right page were both taken close to the parkplatz that we could see from our front door, which is where they would do festivals several times a year.  Handy for us since we could walk over there easily.

The pics were all taken in the fall, so my autumnal color palette is Wild Wheat, Moody Mauve, Misty Moonlight, Copper Clay, and Very Vanilla.  I actually found a way to use Wild Wheat on a scrapbook layout!  Will wonders never cease.

Have a great week, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Make a Difference, Bareback, Wanted
Ink:  Moody Mauve, Wild Wheat, Early Espresso marker
Paper:  Wild Wheat, Copper Clay, Misty Moonlight, Thick Very Vanilla, Earthen Elegance DSP
Accessories:  None

Farm Livin'

I used to watch Nick at Nite a LOT when I was a kid.  Green Acres, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Patty Duke Show, Dobie Gillis...but my favorite was Mister Ed.  I was a horse-crazy little girl so no wonder.  Anyway, the stamp set Bareback was one of my early purchases in my stamping career.

I put this card together in no kidding ten minutes, but I still think it looks pretty good?  Everything on the card is retired other than the Very Vanilla cardstock and the adhesive.  Bareback has been retired for years and years, and Blue Bayou was I think in the second year we had In Colors?  Vintage stamping stuff here I tell ya.  At first I was going to make this a birthday card, but that horse has always looked kinda contemplative to me, so I went with "thinking of you" instead.

I used this week's Fall-To Layout:

Great sketch, and also why I was able to put my card together so fast.  Plus I'd kinda planned it out in my head when I was running yesterday morning (I'm not the only one who plans out cards and scrapbook layouts in her head while doing other things, am I?).

Next up, and the reason I chose the horse image, is the Global Design Project theme this week:

Guess what else I discovered when I checked out the GDP blog yesterday morning?  My lemon card was a winner for their last challenge!  Squee!

Anyway, I was trying to think of country and farm life images while I was running yesterday, and somehow using Lemon Zest again did not occur to me, but that horse image from Bareback popped into my head so that's what I did.  But I feel like I didn't put enough effort into that card since it was done in under 10 minutes (we were almost late to kid's swim lessons yesterday) so as a bonus, here's a scrapbook layout that I recently finished and finally got photographed yesterday!

I've been working a lot on pictures from the last time we lived in North Carolina, about 10 years ago or more, and this is one of the layouts from that time period.  I think it was October of 2007?  Indigo Farms is pretty much on the border between North and South Carolina and these pictures are so old they were taken on a non-digital camera with FILM.  Haha!

My color palette is straight from the Orchard Harvest DSP, which I loved and bought like six packs of when it hit the clearance rack and I'm hoarding it.  Anyway, the colors are almost all retired now, and include More Mustard, Raspberry Ripple, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Early Espresso (I know it looks black), and Very Vanilla.

That's it for me today, y'all.  Gotta go to the gym and start cleaning up the house to get ready for some friends to get here on Wednesday!  Cheers!

Supplies, Bareback card:
Stamps:  Bareback, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Wild Wasabi
Paper:  Wild Wasabi, Thick Very Vanilla, Blue Bayou DSP
Accessories:  retired Candy Dots

Supplies, Indigo Farms layout:
Stamps:  Taffy Alphabet, Perfectly Preserved
Ink:  Island Indigo, Raspberry Ripple, Lucky Limeade, Early Espresso marker
Paper:  More Mustard, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Thick Very Vanilla, Orchard Harvest DSP
Accessories:  Cannery Framelits

Friday Flashback: Bareback

Happy Friday, peeps!  It's time for the Friday Flashback, and this week I bring you Bareback.  I was one horse-obsessed kid growing up--when we moved to Texas, 7-year-old me thought we'd have a horse in our backyard and I'd get to ride to school.  When I found out that wasn't the case, I packed a bag and tried to walk back to California ;)  All that to say, of course I bought this horsey stamp set!

Also features Flannel Plaid, Many Merry Messages

This was my Christmas card right before we moved to Japan, because we were in Texas for a few months.  My mom said it wasn't Christmasy enough; I said whaddya mean?  It says Merry Christmas big as day, how much more Christmasy can you possibly get ;)

Also features Flannel Plaid, A Word for You

This one was a fairly recent creation, but not really one of my favorite cards ever.  It's my least favorite of the cards on today's post...I do like how the white markings on the horses' faces turned out, though.

Also features Flannel Plaid, Wanted, Full of Life

And now I realize that I *always* use Bareback with Flannel Plaid, but luckily today I did something different :)  Behold the new card on the block:

I even know who this is going to:  a friend of mine bought a horse a few months ago and takes riding lessons on the regular.  I'm totally jealous, I've always wanted a horse :)  Anyway, knowing her, I figured that sentiment from You're a Gem was perfect on this card.  It's going in the mail today--I'm trying to mail out more of the cards I make instead of just storing them.

The colors are from The Color Throwdown:

I interpreted this as Night of Navy, Cajun Craze, Soft Sky, and Always Artichoke.  The sketch is from CAS(e) This Sketch:

There's something about this one that I just reeeeally like, even all that white space isn't making me nervy.  I like it!

So anyway, today I'm leaving on a jet plane to go back to the land of no-you-don't-have-a-horse-in-your-backyard because my brother's promotion ceremony is on Sunday.  Woohoo!

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Bareback, You're a Gem
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Night of Navy
Paper:  Soft Sky, Night of Navy, Wintergreen DSP
Accessories:  None

Horses for You

Wow, I did not think I was going to get my card posted today.  I haven't completely organized my stamps yet and I was searching for one particular "for you" stamp and could NOT find it anywhere so I decided to start taking the stamps out so I can alphabetize them.  Yep, my craft room currently looks like this:

Don't tell the hubs, that's only half the stamps.  I found the stamp set I was looking for halfway through my sort here.  So then I was able to finish up my card in about ten minutes!

I have a ton of Saddle Club books (horsey books for preteens) that I am giving to my friend Vicki's granddaughter, so of course I needed a horsey card to go along with the books.  (I want to make a bookmark too, but one step at a time.)  I used the latest sketch from Retro Sketches:

Since this card is going inside a package I figured I could go crazy with the jumbo button--no idea who made that one, it was one I found in my non-SU button stash.  The two smaller buttons are SU though, long-retired.  And all the stamps are retired too.

Anyway, the hubs is taking me to Panera for dinner (I'm a lucky stamper), so I'd better get moving.  Plus I still have to pull out the other half of the stamps and get to alphabetizing...

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU! (though half of them are retired)
Stamps:  Bareback, A Word For You, Flannel Plaid
Ink:  Versamark, Garden Green, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Marina Mist, Whisper White
Paper:  Soft Sky, Garden Green, Crumb Cake, Trim the Tree DSP stack
Accessories:  Top Note die, buttons, Early Espresso EP