Buzzy Bee

Mornin' y'all!  A bit late with the blog post this morning, I drove Ryan to school and then I went to Target to get a shoe rack for the hubs and a gift card for Ryan's teacher since this is the last week of school.  Then I made an appointment for Daphne at the vet tomorrow...she's been acting a bit weird and not wanting to eat her food, which is definitely abby normal for her, so we're getting her checked out.  But for now, I managed to squeak in enough craft room time yesterday to make a card:

I had thought I would just miss out on the bee-tastic Festive Friday Challenge because I thought it ended last week, but I'm in luck, it's still on:

I have yellow, black, hexagons, bees, and flowers, so half the list.  I paired that with the Freshly Made Sketch from last week:

I used hexagons instead of circles and plopped my extra-large bee on top of the three hexagons, but I think you can see I started from the sketch.

That's it for now, peeps.  We did get our closet painted on Saturday, which took forever because I do the edge work and there's a lot of shelves in there, but it's done and looks so much brighter than before, I love it.  But now I need to get the rest of my stuff in there, I did the hangy-up stuff and some plastic drawers yesterday but I haven't refilled the shelves yet.  Fun times, I tell ya.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Pool Party, Petunia Pop
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, Basic White, Cute as Can Bee DSP
Accessories:  Hexagon punch, Beautiful Shapes dies, Bee Builder Punch, Dimensionals, Hearts & Flowers embellishments

A Sweet Sketch from The Paper Players

Mornin' y'all!  I am still trying to post from the hubs' laptop but hopefully we'll get a new Mac soon. (Our old one is apparently going to stay dead.)  Anyway, it's Sunday and that means it's time for a new Paper Players challenge!  This week the fabulous Jan has an equally fabulous sketch for us:

So many awesome creative possibilities with this one!  I just had to bust out the new Homemade Sweetness DSP and here's what I made:

Lots and lots of layers on this one!  The only stamping on this is the greeting (a partial stamp from Bee My Valentine, I masked off the first couple of words so it would fit on my card better), and everything else is fun patterns from Homemade Sweetness, to include the strawberry preserves and honey.  I love that spoon pattern, it's so fun.  I'm sure this is a sketch I could use over and over!

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:  Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Misty Moonlight
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Misty Moonlight, Thick Basic White, Homemade Sweetness DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Dots for Days

Floral Inspiration for SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all!  It's time for a new challenge from SUO Challenges!

And today we have a very pretty inspo pic for you:

So here's what I made:

I especially liked the pretty pink flowers on the right side of the inspiration pic, so that's my jumping off point.  I combined a die cut flower from Pretty Florals with die cut leaves from Nature's Symphony, it's one big leafy die but I cut it apart to make the leaves go where I wanted them to for my Artistic Vision (hee).  I used a blending brush to apply Mossy Meadow ink because I didn't want the leaves to be so dark that they overwhelmed the delicate pink flower.  The brick wall embossing folder would have been perfect for a background here but I don't have it, so I used a texture stamp from Nature's Symphony in Smoky Slate ink on my card base.  I chose a Valentine greeting from Bee My Valentine (I think that's still current?  I can't keep track anymore) and done!

Check out the SUO Challenges blog to see more inspiration from the design team, and then upload your own card there.  Don't forget to keep it to only Stampin' Up! products, but retired products are totally allowed.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nature's Symphony, Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Pretty in Pink, Mossy Meadow, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Pretty Florals dies, Nature's Symphony dies, Dimensionals, In Color Flat Pearls

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

Lovey Bee

Mornin' y'all!  I got up this morning and looked out the window and it's all white--we have some thick fog and yet again we got white stuff falling from the sky last night.  The hubs called it snail because it was a cross between snow and hail...I thought we were done with that for this spring!  I let Daph out this morning and she is Very Excited that there's a doggo in the yard next door to us--I don't know if he's a new neighbor or if he's just visiting, but she really wants to go out there and talk to him.

Anyway, I do have a card to share today and once more I've cut into some new DSP.  Here it bee:

I love the addition of Petunia Pop to the bee papers, Cute as Can Bee is a redux of Bee Mine that had a lot of Petal Pink and Sweet Sorbet in it.  I used the most recent sketch from CASE-ing Tuesday Sketches:

Here's the catalog inspiration:

I don't have that die set with the diamond shape, so I used the Nested Essentials dies for something similar.  I happened to have a scrap of Pretty in Pink glimmer paper on my craft table, so I punched out a few little hearts from that for accents.

That's it for now, kids.  I'm going to go make orange scones for breakfast.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, Petunia Pop
Paper:  Petunia Pop, Thick Basic White, Cute as Can Bee DSP, Pretty in Pink glimmer paper
Accessories:  Nested Essentials dies, Bee builder punch, Dimensionals

All the Reds & Pinks for SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all!  I'm a bit tardy this morning as I got totally distracted with the updated clearance rack and some online exclusive preorders on the Stampin' Up! website.  Don't tell the hubs that I ordered a few things when I haven't used all the things from the last time I ordered : )  There's one bundle that I'm excited about because I think I can use it in my wedding album and get that thing DONE!

Anyway, it's time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!

This time it's a color challenge...allllll the pinks and reds!

Okay, you don't *have* to use all seven colors on your card or other paper craft creation, but you know I'm an overachiever and so I did.  Here's what I came up with:

I had gotten out the Perennial Postage dies for a project last week and then I didn't use them, so here they are now!  Some of the patterned paper that I used is retired, but I was looking through scraps and you could easily use all current papers.  I picked my background paper first (Pretty in Pink!) and then chose six scraps that I thought would work well together.  I stamped the solid heart from Bee My Valentine in five colors, my greeting on a sixth heart, and the I played around with where to place the different colored hearts vs. the patterns until I liked the arrangement.  I added some little accents to the top middle and the lower left heart and voilà!  I will admit that it took a while to stamp, punch, die cut, and adhere all the layers but I like it.

We hope you'll join us and upload your own creation at the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Pretty in Pink, Petal Pink, Cherry Cobbler, Flirty Flamingo, Melon Mambo, Poppy Parade (I think?)
Paper:  Real Red, Thick Basic White, DSP in Pretty in Pink, Poppy Parade, Melon Mambo, Cherry Cobbler, Flirty Flamingo, Petal Pink, Real Red (I think?)
Accessories:  Bee builder punch, Perennial Postage dies, square punch, white sequin, Mini Dimensionals

Lovely Bees

Happy Saturday, y'all!  Well, I got some birthday surprises yesterday and today.  First the hubs picked me up and we had a couples massage, and then we had dinner with our friends at Chuy's and THEN there was cake!  I may have had birthday cake for breakfast (okay, I totally had birthday cake for breakfast) and then the hubs unveiled another surprise--we're taking the cog train up to the top of Pikes Peak today!  And also it's snowing at our house right now so it's going to be even colder at the top of the mountain.  Good thing I got new thermals for Christmas!

Anyway, I did get some crafty time yesterday too (so really, it was the perfect birthday) and I have a cute little card to share today!

I thought to myself when I made my honey card that it had been an awfully long time since I last created anything with Bee My Valentine, so here I am making a bee card!  The bees seemed perfect for the Hand Stamped Sentiments sketch:

Paired with the Creative Colour Challenges palette:

I'm also entering this at As You See It:

One of my crafting resolutions is to use more of my DSP.  My paper hoard has reached critical mass and I'm afraid that I'll walk in my craft room one day and see a giant paper black hole forming in there, and really I can't expand my storage space anymore and also I got six new packs of paper in my last SU! order so clearly I have an addiction to paper.  So for today's card, I broke out the Sunny Days DSP that I think was a SAB offering last year, because I thought that Shaded Spruce floral pattern would be a perfect background for my bees.  I'm also working on using up more embellishments too, those yellow hearts came out at the same time that Bee My Valentine debuted.

I have another crafting resolution but that will be revealed later this year, but I am quite pleased with the work I've done on it thus far.  I'll let that one stay mysterious for now.  I also haven't worked on the wedding album(s) yet but I hope to get cracking on that soon too.  And I have a stack of scrapbook pages that need journaling on them.  Lots to do if they'd just quit having snow days for Ryan's school!

Okay, I'm going to take Daphers out for her walk (in the snow) and then we're heading up to Pikes Peak a little later this morning.  I'm looking forward to it!  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Balmy Blue, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Thick Basic White, Sunny Days DSP
Accessories:  Bee builder punch, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Hearts & Flowers accents

Oh, Honey

Hey y'all, how's your week going?  I was able to spend quite a bit of time in my craft room yesterday--I wrote out five cards and got them in the mail, then I made a few cards and finished up with a scrapbook layout.  I now have five layouts that need journaling and I have plans swirling in my brain for more cards and scrapbook pages.

But here's what I have to share today!

I broke out my retired Bee Mine DSP for the Festive Friday challenge:

From the list, I hit yellow, red, bees, and honey.  The jars of honey are cut from the back side of the Sweet Sorbet pattern and this card ended up being a feast of scraps--I had a longer piece of the bee paper so I cut it in a square, and the red pattern and Pool Party cardstock were both scraps as well. I just moved the pieces around on my card front until I liked the arrangement and went with it.

There's a new bee-related DSP in the scrapbooking brochure that has purples in it, I think I'll have to add that to my hoard : ) I have an order on the SU! website that I've been tweaking for a while and I have a birthday coming up next week...

Okay, time to take Daph-Daph for a walk.  She did SO GOOD yesterday!  She tends to flip out when we pass other dogs on our walk, but this time we saw several and I just talked to her calmly and she stayed calm and everything was great.  She's made friends with a poodle named Buttercup (yes, it's a Princess Bride reference, I asked) that we see almost every day, but I think the real draw is that Buttercup's dad likes to come out and give Daphne treats and tell her what a good girl she is.  I think that daily interaction has helped improve how Daph reacts to other dogs, so it's a win all around as far as I'm concerned.  I just finished my tea and I think she knows it, so time to go : )  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, Bee Mine DSP
Accessories:  Mini Dimensionals

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

SUO Challenges: Go Team!

 Mornin' folks!  Get ready for a new challenge from SUO Challenges!

And here it is:

Okay, y'all.  Y'all.  I'm gonna level with you...I don't sportsball at all.  When I was growing up, my dad would watch football 3 to 4 nights a week between pro football, college football, and going to my high school's games because my brother and I were in the marching band.  Y'all.  I have personally attended 50+ football games and I still have NO IDEA what any of the rules are.  That is how little interest I have in sports.  Buuuuut I did go to college so I suppose I can count that as my team colors?

Let's hear it for Baylor green and gold!  And a Baylor Bear, because why not add the mascot on there too.  Ryan does not believe that they have real, live bears at Baylor football games and way back in the day they used to train the bears to drink Dr Pepper.  I don't know if they still do that.  Anyway, I adore my fluffy friend on this card.  I mixed patterns from the To Market DSP and the Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack to get Garden Green and Lemon Lolly.

So what are your team colors?  Could be a pro team, your college team, whatever your local high school is, whatever you want!  As always, have fun and upload your card to the SUO Challenges blog.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fluffiest Friends, Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Pecan Pie, Lemon Lolly, Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Lemon Lolly, Thick Basic White, To Market DSP, Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack
Accessories:  Fluffiest Friends dies, Dimensionals

Don't Worry, Bee Happy

Hey y'all!  How's your Thursday going?  I will admit, I had to check the day on the computer ; ) I have been trucking along on scrapbook pages, my stitching project, *and* rereading my favorite author's series before the next one drops next Tuesday (I still have 4.5 books left to read though).  So I'm a busy little bee and guess what's on today's card!

Oh hey look, I used more of that Peach Pie pattern from yesterday's card.  Anyway, check out this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the Color Throwdown:

I used Lemon Lolly, Peach Pie, and Sweet Sorbet for my colors.  Bee My Valentine was already on my craft table as I was considering it for a different project, but bees and hearts seemed like a good fit for these colors and I had that peachy pattern in my brain from yesterday too.  So yeah, this card came together lickety-split with the Bee Builder punch and some Lemon Lolly sequins.

After Ryan's taekwondo class yesterday, we headed over to Michael's and I got some frames for artwork I ordered last year (because we don't have enough stuff to put on the walls already, haha).  So either today or tomorrow I'll have to get those items framed and ready for the move.  I just typed "movie" instead of "move", but a movie will most likely be in our near future too as Ryan wants to go see Inside Out 2.  So there's our plans for the next little bit.

Have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Lemon Lolly, Sweet Sorbet, Balmy Blue, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Thick Basic White, Peach Pie, Unbounded Beauty DSP
Accessories:  Bee Builder punch, sequins, Mini Dimensionals

Fall in Love with SUO Challenges

It's time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!

You may have heard that there's a certain holiday coming up, so our challenge theme this time around is probably not a surprise...

Let's show some love!  I was extra inspired this time around so I have two cards to share.  Here's the first one:

Okay, it's a bit nontraditional, but still fun right??  I tried to put the pizza slices in a sort of heart shape and then added some teeny hearts from Country Bouquet on the red circles.  It was kinda fun to just push the circles around on the card front until I found a layout that worked for me.

My second Valentine is a little bit more traditional, but coincidentally it still has a lot of yellow:

I just had to make a bee card!  I was inspired by the second card on Julie Davison's blog post and had to try out that layout.  And it was fun to sort through the Bee Mine DSP for patterns to play with.  One teeny heart accent, a bit of twine, and I have a very cute card to share with my Valentine!

And now it's your turn!  Make a Valentine with only SU! products and upload it to the SUO Challenges blog.  I'm having trouble commenting on some blogs, I don't know why, but I get an error message when I try to sign in with Google on certain blogs.  I even tried commenting on two different browsers.  But even if I can't comment, I enjoy looking at what everyone makes!

Supplies, pizza card:
Stamps:  Supremely Awesome, Country Bouquet
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Poppy Parade, Crumb Cake, Versamark, Stampin' Blends in Lemon Lolly, Ivory, Shaded Spruce, Poppy Parade, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Lemon Lolly, Poppy Parade, Crumb Cake, Thick Basic White, Lighter than Air DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, white EP, Dimensionals, Milky Dots

Supplies, bee card:
Stamps:  Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Daffodil Delight, Petal Pink
Paper:  Sweet Sorbet, Thick Basic White, Vellum, Bee Mine DSP
Accessories:  Bee Builder punch, Perennial Postage dies, Sweet Sorbet baker's twine, Adhesive-Backed Hearts & Flowers, Dimensionals

Sweet Colors with SUO Challenges

Hey hey, happy Tuesday!  I'm running behind this week because Ryan was off school yesterday for MLK Day and today he's off because of...extreme cold?  I guess they thought yesterday that we might have ice overnight so they canceled school for his district, but everything looks clear from my front window.  We got to sleep in late this morning and then Ryan insisted on playing Uno Dare before doing anything else.

So it's time for a new challenge from SUO Challenges!

And we've got some sweet colors for you this time, check it out:

These colors are straight from the Bee Mine DSP, but you don't have to use that, and you don't have to use all of the colors either.  These are great for Valentines and spring cards!  Here's what I made:

D'awwwww!  I bought Fluffiest Friends in November I think?  And I just now got it inky!  I love this happy lil bear guy and he's perfect with the sweet sentiment from Bee My Valentine.  I managed to work in all of the colors except for Lemon Lime Twist, and I know exactly who is going to get this cutie pie in the mail.

We hope you'll play along with the color challenge and upload your card to the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fluffiest Friends, Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Pool Party, Petal Pink, Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Sweet Sorbet, Basic Black, Pool Party, Thick Basic White, Bee Mine DSP
Accessories:  Fluffiest Friends dies, Layering Circles dies (retired), Harvest dies (retired), Mini Dimensionals, Opaque Faceted Gems