A Pair of Lattes

Hey y'all, hope you're healthy and warm as today Ryan is home sick again (still has a fever, so he's asleep in my bed at the moment) and it's blizzarding outside and I don't care what spellcheck says, blizzard is now a verb in my house.  But I am in my nice cozy house wearing nice cozy clothes and drinking a nice cozy cuppa tea, so it can blizzard all it wants outside.

Today's cards also feature a hot beverage for those of you who like coffee instead of tea:

These are two slightly different variations on this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I am also entering this in the SOS Challenges' Crafty Remnants challenge--I had three large scraps of the A Little Latte DSP and I cut them to 4.25" wide, then cut three strips 1.5" tall for the card on the right.  I happened to flip the remaining scraps over and discovered three patterns all in shades of brown, so I turned those into the card on the left and that's why the strips are different heights, I was using up the scraps.  The two lattes were already die cut out of another piece of the patterned paper and they were in a sheet protector with the other paper scraps, so both of these cards are entirely made of scraps other than the card bases.

I chose the Latte Love collection for the TGIF Challenge:

I have two friends that I usually send cards to every week; we've been friends since at least middle school so over 30 years now (hashtag OLD) and a lot of times I'll look for two similar cards to send to them.  This time I just made two similar cards so I'm all set for mailing them out next week : )  I typically mail out 4-6 cards every Monday, just doing my bit to keep the USPS in business.

That's it for me today, peeps.  I may try to sneak into my craft room though that might wake Ryan up when I use the paper trimmer.  Hmm.  Once he wakes up, he pinkie promised that we could watch The Princess Bride today (yesterday we watched Abominable instead and I do seriously love that movie too).  I'm happy to report that I am feeling better at least, so I got to work out this morning which was nice.  Hoping Ryan bounces back soon.  Cheers, y'all, and stay healthy!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Latte Love
Ink:  Early Espresso
Paper:  Pecan Pie, Lost Lagoon, Petal Pink, Lemon Lolly, A Little Latte DSP
Accessories:  Latte Love dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Rainbow Dots

Peppermint Latte

Mornin' y'all!  The hubs and the kid are on a two-hour delay today thanks to all the snow we got yesterday, several inches worth.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to go to the store later today or else Taco Tuesday will have to be postponed and I would have a deeply unhappy kid.  And also I'm out of almond milk for my tea so yep we're heading into emergency grocery territory ; )

With all the snow outside I felt the need to make a nice cozy card to share today, behold!

Latte Love and the coordinating dies are on the Last Chance list for a huge discount so don't miss out on that if you haven't bought it already (I think most of us bought it already, ha!).  Anyway, I started with the Just Add Ink inspiration challenge:

I was inspired by the cozy feel, and how the pic is mainly white with some red and brown, and of course that big mug sitting in the foreground.  Confession time:  I don't drink coffee, and also I don't like peppermint (or mint of any kind), but almost all of my friends do and that's why I own the Latte Love suite : )  And I thought my card needed a bit more red on it so I used the peppermint accents.

Check out the sketch from AAA Cards Challenge:

It was a fun sketch, I enjoyed playing with it.

And finally, check out this glamour shot of Daphne in the snow yesterday:

If I hadn't already ordered our photo Christmas cards this would have been great to put on them.  She loves to play in the snow : )  I did use a pic of Daphne and Ryan together and those cards should arrive tomorrow, so I need to write my Christmas letter.

That's it for me today, peeps.  Stay cozy and I'll see you later!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Latte Love
Ink:  Pecan Pie, Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie and Real Red
Paper:  Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Latte Love dies, Nested Essentials dies, Dimensionals, Peppermint accents

Time for a Hot Drink (or Two)

Mornin' y'all!  It's another snow day here and it is *really* coming down.  I don't think anyone is going anywhere today.  We took Daphne out on a very short walk yesterday just until she did her business and then we came back to the house and played in the snow while the hubs shoveled the driveway (he decided against spending $1K+ on a snowblower yesterday but he might change his mind if this keeps up).  I think we might all be housebound tomorrow, too.

Of course when we came back inside from the cold I had to make myself a cup of tea (or two), which brings me to today's card:

The SOS Challenge this week is Time for a Hot Drink, and I've got two.  So which would you choose, pumpkin spice with marshmallows, or apple cider with whipped cream?  I recently met up with a friend at a coffee shop in Monument (it's called Wesley Owens Coffee & Cafe, you should check it out Lynn) and I had what they called a fall fog--it was English breakfast tea with pumpkin spice and steamed milk and it was really good.  I enjoyed the blackberry scone too, so there's my plug for the coffee shop : ) and I don't even drink coffee.

Anyway, here is this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the Color Throwdown:

I used Pumpkin Pie, Mossy Meadow, and Cherry Cobbler, and added Early Espresso and Pecan Pie for neutrals.  I tried a Pumpkin Pie card base and it just didn't look good, so I used Early Espresso instead.  I thought about adding Pumpkin Pie embellishments, but nothing spoke to me so I just left it as is so the focus is on the cute drinks.

And here is a picture of Daphne this morning, who is Not A Fan of all the snow:

There's the hubs shoveling a path out into the grass for her : )  She's getting better about doing her tinkle fast so we can come back inside, and mostly she's behaving so well, but she did go in Ryan's room this morning and grab a stuffy to gnaw on.  I rescued Wolfier (big brother to Wolfy, Ryan has a naming convention for most of his stuffies, we also have a Foxy, Eagly, Pengy, Ducky...and this is why I named Daphne instead of letting Ryan do it) who now has a bit of damage around his nose but at least wasn't eviscerated.  Ahh, life with a puppy.  I love having a dog again.

Cheers, y'all!  I'm gonna go make some tea while I watch the snow come down.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  More Than Autumn, Latte Love
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Ivory, Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Early Espresso, Pecan Pie, Thick Basic White, Cherry Cobbler & Mossy Meadow DSP
Accessories:  More Than Autumn dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals

A Couple of Copper Cards

Mornin' y'all, and happy Saturday!  Our pre-Halloween snow is still sticking around in the backyard, though it was completely gone in the front yard by the time trick-or-treating started on Halloween night.  Just goes to show how much colder it is in constant shade!  But I'm all nice and toasty in my house and thinking about starting the kettle for my first cuppa tea today : )

But first, a couple of copper cards!

I have been having lots of fun playing with Copper Clay lately, love this color.  For this card, I paired it with Old Olive and a little bit of Peach Pie on the bird--I did regular masking and reverse masking to sponge Peach Pie on the bird and Old Olive on the background.  Then I used a marker to isolate just the single word from a greeting stamp (the whole thing says "Sending a bit of love your way") and added some retired Chocolate Chip ribbon.

Still having fun with this Atlantic Hearts sketch and the Sweet Days of Autumn DSP so I made another card:

I kinda wish the animals were all facing one direction on this paper, not gonna lie.  That deer looks a little past tense if you know what I mean ; )  Still, it's super cute paper and this time I used a greeting from Latte Love and some leaves from Autumn to Remember.  The ribbon is retired; I almost never buy ribbon anymore because I don't use it a whole lot, but lately I've been dipping into the retired ribbon stash.  Soft Suede taffeta worked pretty well on this card I thought.

Here's the Just Add Ink inspiration challenge that I started with:

I took the colors Old Olive, Copper Clay, and Peach Pie from the picture, plus the nature images and cozy feel and that's what I started with for my cards.  And like I said, I'm just having too much fun with the Atlantic Hearts sketch:

This time I tried to stay very close to the sketch instead of making it more CAS, so I've got lots of layers and patterns happening on both my cards.  Here they are together:

I do love me some fall cards : )  That's all I've got for today, peeps.  Have a great weekend!  I'm planning to make a chai spice swirl bundt cake today and call it coffee cake so we can have it for breakfast tomorrow.  Cheers!

Supplies, lovebird card:
Stamps:  Inspirational Sketches, Lovely & Sweet
Ink:  Copper Clay, Peach Pie, Old Olive, Early Espresso
Paper:  Copper Clay, Thick Very Vanilla, Sweet Days of Autumn DSP
Accessories:  Circles Collection dies, Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon, Speckled Dots

Supplies, hello fall card:
Stamps:  Latte Love, Autumn to Remember
Ink:  Copper Clay, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Copper Clay, Thick Very Vanilla, Sweet Days of Autumn DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Soft Suede taffeta ribbon, Speckled Dots, Dimensionals

A Couple of Cool Cats

Hey y'all.  Today is my wedding anniversary, but my inlaws are coming in so I get to celebrate with crippling anxiety.  Hooray.

But I have a couple of cards to share.

This one was very quick and simple using the Atlantic Hearts sketch:

All the elements coming out from the central circle reminded me of this patterned paper from my stash, and I had to do a spooky cat card.  I had cats on the brain because of the Cupcake Inspirations challenge:

And of course thinking of cats made me think of my favorite animated kitty:

Yzma from The Emperor's New Groove.  I tried out the Creative Colour Challenge for this week:

I used the same sketch but this time I stamped some elements to go behind Yzma.

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

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Spooky Cat
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Calypso Coral, Basic Black, Basic Beige, Cupcakes & Carousels DSP Stack
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, star accents, Dimensionals

Supplies, second card:
Stamps:  Latte Love (splats), Poison Kitty from The Ink Road
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Bubble Bath, Melon Mambo, Gray Granite
Paper:  Melon Mambo, Gray Granite, Thick Basic White, Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Festive Gems I think?

Cozy Cuppa

Mornin' y'all!  I didn't get quite as much craft room time as I wanted to yesterday (I need to work on my time management skills...I get distracted) but I did make a card for today!

Check out this week's fun sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

And the Color Throwdown:

The inspo pic just looked so COZY and it 100% drove what I chose for stamp sets today.  I used Boho Blue, Very Vanilla, and Crumb Cake for my colors, with a bit of Pecan Pie for the coffee (even though I don't drink coffee, I'm a tea girl).  Some In Color dots from last year's catalog and my card was finished.  Like I said, I don't drink coffee, but a lot of my friends do so I'm sure this will get sent out soon!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Latte Love, Drizzling Droplets
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Boho Blue, Pecan Pie, Stampin' Blends in Boho Blue & Pecan Pie
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  In Color Dots, Dimensionals

Speaking of cozy, while the hubs and I were out antiquing on Tuesday, I found this:

It's a little quilt about 3 feet square and I bought it to go on my dining table or island counter to decorate for Thanksgiving (I like to host Thanksgiving with as many people as I can because more people = more PIES to make!) and it was only $6.  I recently bought three cross stitch patterns that are quilt inspired and done in fall colors, so yesterday I went out and bought the thread for all three of them:

Most of the reds are on the bottom I think.  Anyway, at some point, I will have those cross stitched pieces done and framed to go on the little quilt.  Most likely not for this Thanksgiving since I haven't started yet, but maybe next year's.  Gotta love starting new projects!

It's a Bird...It's a Plane!

Hey y'all!  Big day here in Snapdragon Land--in less than an hour, I'll be signing the paperwork for us to buy our new house in Colorado.  This is the first time the hubs and I have ever bought a house, so it's a really big deal for us!

So while I wait for the notary to get here (we're doing a remote close since I'm in Texas and the hubs is not even in this hemisphere), I have a card to share that will be going to my hubs soon:

It's...SUPERMAN!  Yes, I have Superman stamps.  This one happened to be out on my craft table (Ryan was going to make a Superman card for his dad and then got distracted and never did it) and it was perfect for a couple of challenges.  Love the sketch from Sunday Stamps:

I did tweak it a little bit with my Superman image for the main image panel and the placement of the sentiment, but I think you can see that I definitely started with the sketch.

Next up is the Festive Friday challenge:

I used twine, alcohol markers, Superman, and a thanks sentiment.  I don't really count this as masculine colors because I like to tease the hubs about the Man Rainbow--it seems like 99% of his wardrobe is black, navy blue, gray, and khaki, so that's what I think of as "masculine" colors.  Anyway, my hubs always does a lot to take care of me and the kid, and he's put in a lot of work on this house acquisition thing so basically I'm just signing the papers.  So he deserves a Superman thank you card.

Happily for me, Superman dovetails nicely with the Cupcake Inspirations color combo:

I always think of the triadic red-yellow-blue color combo as the basic Superman.  I used Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, and Azure Afternoon for my colors.  Took  me a while to get Supes colored in, some of those spaces are teeny tiny!

That's it for me today, peeps.  Have a great day!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Superman from Inkadinkado, Latte Love
Ink:  Night of Navy, Azure Afternoon, Stampin' Blends in Azure Afternoon, Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, SU800
Paper:  Poppy Parade, Night of Navy, Thick Basic White, Best Dressed DSP Stack, Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack
Accessories:  Rainbow Adhesive Dots, Mini Dimensionals, Night of Navy baker's twine, Stylish Shapes dies

Mix It Up with SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all!  Hope your Tuesday is off to a good start.  Ryan got to take a blanket and a pillow to school today and they're watching a movie...kinda envious of that TBH ;)  I suppose I could do the same here at the house, but I do have some things to do today starting with the new SUO Challenges challenge!

I hope you think this one is fun...

Fun, right?  And if you have a pack of DSP, it should be pretty easy to mix and match for a cute card!  So I made it my mission to fit in as many patterns as I could using the A Little Latte DSP, and here's what I made:

Stripes, plaid, coffee beans, splats...I think I got a good mix here!  It was easy peasy to put together with a couple of sizes of circles from the Stylish Shapes dies, and then the coffee mugs are cut out of the DSP as well.  The only stamping is on the sentiment.  A few adhesive-backed Swirl Dots and this card is ready to go in the mail.

We hope that you'll play along with us and upload your card (or cards, if you're inspired to make more than one!) at the SUO Challenges blog.  As always, use just your Stampin' Up! supplies, and have all the funs!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Latte Love
Ink:  Lost Lagoon
Paper:  Lemon Lolly, Thick Basic White, A Latte Love DSP
Accessories:  Latte Love dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Swirl Dots

On the Diagonal

Mornin' y'all!  We had some exciting news yesterday at Ryan's taekwondo studio...the guy who runs the place will be doing his 7th degree black belt test soon, and a big part of the test is how he teaches students.  So he is asking students at each learning level to be a part of his test, and Ryan is one of just two kids in his class to be asked to participate!  Honestly I think I might be more excited about it than Ryan is.  We were already planning to go watch just because we wanted to see what was involved at a belt test at that level.  So in a couple of weeks, Ryan will get to help with it!

Anyway, I spent some quality time in the craft room yesterday, finished three scrapbook layouts, and made this card:

Here's the color challenge from Color Throwdown:

I used Smoky Slate, Berry Burst, and Lost Lagoon for my colors (plus a tiny bit of Bubble Bath for the smaller flowers).  I had to ponder for a bit to choose a stamp set to go with them, but in the end I went with a vase like in the inspo pic.  Here's this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I must admit, I did NOT like this sketch at first glance.  I think I even made a face.  I had no idea what to do with it...so imagine my surprise when I ended up with a card that I like!  That's what makes it a challenge, I suppose!  I added one more challenge too, courtesy of Just Add Ink:

Sparkly things are notoriously hard to photograph, but I have Wink of Stella on the larger flowers, then Tinsel Gems in their centers, and if that's not enough, I added some Shiny Sequins on the diagonal.  Also I think that greeting stamp from Latte Love is my favorite stamp in the whole set : )  I need to get some cards out in the mail today.

Gotta go get the kiddo off to school.  And then I'm hoping my SU! order shows up early rather than later this afternoon.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Everyday Details, Latte Love
Ink:  Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Stampin' Blends in Smoky Slate, Berry Burst, Lost Lagoon, and Bubble Bath
Paper:  Lost Lagoon, Berry Burst, Thick Basic White, A Little Latte DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Tinsel Gems, Wink of Stella, Shiny Sequins

Pink Zinnia

Hey, look at me back with another card already.  Had to dust off my craft table.

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the Color Throwdown:

I used Melon Mambo, Granny Apple Green, and Daffodil Delight for my colors, which seemed perfect to ink up my brand-new Simply Zinnia stamp set.  I used a sentiment from Latte Love just because I didn't need a thank you card at the moment and I like that greeting.  The Bee Mine DSP from the Occasions catalog made a nice background for my bright flower, and I accented with a few Melon Mambo sequins.

Have a great day y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Zinnia, Latte Love
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Granny Apple Green, Stampin' Blends in Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Granny Apple Green, Thick Basic White, Bee Mine DSP
Accessories:  Simply Zinnia dies, Stylish Shapes dies, adhesive sequins, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Tea Mug

Mornin' y'all!  It has dropped like 40 degrees in the past couple of days so I am happily ensconced with a mug of tea (at least I was, I finished it...think I should brew another one!).  So that's tea in the mug on my card.

Having some fun with the new Latte Love stamp set : )  Check out the great layery sketch from the Paper Players:

And I couldn't resist the Inkspirational mood board:

I used Pool Party and Powder Pink for my two colors.  This card was my second attempt at these challenges, I made an Easter card but I just wasn't feeling it so I had to give it another go.

Anyway, I'm back to house hunting.  We're going to Colorado soon to start looking at houses for our upcoming move : )  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Latte Love
Ink:  Pecan Pie, Pool Party Blends
Paper:  Powder Pink, Thick Basic White, Powder Pink & Pool Party DSP
Accessories:  Latte Love dies, Dimensionals, Rainbow Dots

Inked Pink Drinks

Mornin, y'all!  Happy Friday.  I must admit, I feel a bit guilty this morning...Ryan and I were both feeling extra tired this morning (not sure why, we both went to bed at the normal time last night), but I still bundled him off to school and then...I went back to sleep for another hour.  Let's just not tell Ryan that ; )

Anyway, this week has been a bit crazy with multiple things keeping me from my craft room and the brand new SU! order that arrived on Wednesday, but I did manage to make one card yesterday:

NEW GOODIES ALERT!!!  At the beginning of the month, I decided to do another order to take advantage of Sale-a-Bration and I had some Occasions catty goodies picked out and then I found out that there's new online only exclusives including an entire suite of coffee-themed stuff.  You may remember that I do NOT drink coffee (at all.  e.v.er.  ick!) but everyone else I know does, so I bought it.  And then I made this card and I know who's getting it.  Actually I could make this in a few color combinations and it would be great for pretty much all my friends.  Ha.

Anyway, here's the latest challenge from As You See It:

The entire Latte Love suite was part of my latest craft purchase, and the Most Adored DSP was on the order before this one (and let's not talk about the order I placed yesterday for that punch I forgot...plus a few other things...oops).

I lucked out that I got several other challenges to dovetail neatly into this one card, starting with the Cupcake Inspiration challenge:

I used Real Red and Flirty Flamingo, which are the two main colors in the Most Adored DSP.  Next, take a look at the Inspired By... challenge:

I had been planning to use some different new schtuff for the AYSI challenge, but when I saw this one of course I had to bust out Latte Love first, and happily the images I chose worked really well with the Sunday Stamps sketch challenge:

Four challenges, easy peasy!  I can't wait to play with this suite some more, not to mention all the other goodies I got.  But for today, I am GOING TO START ON MY WEDDING ALBUM RIGHT NOW!!!  I got all the pictures sorted out earlier this week and then circumstances kept conspiring to keep me out of my craft room for longer than maybe an hour a day and I really need to just start on that.  So I'm going to.

Just got an email from the hubs asking me to make cookies for his deployed comrades, who have been ridiculously busy of late, so I know what I'm doing this weekend.  Ryan can help me with cookie baking at least, I wouldn't let him near the wedding pictures.  Ha!  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Latte Love
Ink:  Real Red, Flirty Flamingo, Versamark
Paper:  Real Red, Thick Basic White, Most Adored DSP
Accessories:  Latte Love dies, Stitched Rectangles dies, Wonderful Gems, white EP, Dimensionals