The Cozy Llama

That's my new pub name, I called it.  Y'know, if I ever expand from my first fictional pub, The Laughing Moose.  Anyway, it is SNOWING right now but school starts in 20 minutes and so far they haven't said anything about canceling it so I'm going to hustle Ryan out the door as fast as I can ; )  My guys might go skiing this weekend if we get some good snow.

I also have snow on my card today, and my titular cozy llama:

I adore the llama and the dachshund in this stamp set, which is no longer available so I'm sorry if you didn't grab it.  Seems like SU! is retiring things far too quickly now if you ask me.  Anyway, I started with the color combination from TGIF Challenges:

I added just a teensy bit of Petal Pink for the llama's nose and ears, does that count as a skin tone?  The sparkle gems are technically Balmy Blue and Bubble Bath, but I thought they coordinated with my card pretty well and so I kept adding more of them.

And then went for the Hand-Stamped Sentiments sketch:

I was a bit puzzled by the skinny tall piece but I think my llama works pretty well!  What brought everything together is the AAA Birthday challenge:

I had this in mind when I went looking through my stamps for something that worked for a winter birthday.  I know who this is going to, too--one of my friends has a birthday two days after mine (and they're both coming up later this month!) so I'll send this cozy llama card to her : )  Everybody else in my house has February birthdays, Ryan wanted to vote me off the island for having a January one.  Silly.  If he votes me off the island, who's going to keep him stocked up with goldfish crackers?

Anyway, it's time to get Ryan out the door and then Daphne and I can enjoy a quiet morning together, though I imagine she's still going to make me take her out for a walk in the snow.  But I have lots of tea to help me thaw out after.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Long Time No See, Bitty Birthday
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Smoky Slate, Highland Heather, Petal Pink
Paper:  Highland Heather, Smoky Slate, Thick Basic White, Highland Heather & Balmy Blue DSP, Silver Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  So Many Snowflakes dies, Two-Tone Sparkle Gems, Mini Dimensionals

Dolly Christmas for SUO Challenges

Morning came a bit earlier than I wanted it to today, but it's time for the final SUO Challenge of 2025!  (Don't worry, we'll be back in January!)

And here it is:

Something easy for the end of the year busy season, right?  As long as you only use Stampin' Up! products, it counts for this challenge!  So here's what I made:

I am (finally) in the mood to make Christmas cards, so I was looking through this year's stamp sets and came across Long Time No See and I just had to ink up this cutie pie again.  I also had to break out the Christmas Tags & More DSP Stack that I got in my most recent SU! order (which was...near the beginning of November?).  I had to use my favorite plaid from the stack (I love plaid) and the green starburst pattern, which is my favorite non-plaid in the stack, is the opposite side of the paper.  I added two gifts for Dolly to carry (I named her after my friend Lynn's doggo, though her Dolly is blonde like her namesake) (HI LYNN!), fussy cut her out, and added a few Delightful Decorative Dots to finish my card.  (Today's blog post is brought to you by parenthetical asides.)  (I need more sleep.)  (Or tea.)

Now it's your turn!  Make anything with Stampin' Up! supplies and link it up on the SUO Challenges blog.  Doesn't have to be Christmas related : )  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Long Time No See
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Garden Green, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Real Red, Soft Sea Foam
Paper:  Garden Green, Soft Sea Foam, Thick Basic White, Christmas Tags & More DSP Stack
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals, Delightful Decorative Dots

A Llama?!

Mornin' y'all!  My mom came through her surgery okay and is in the ICU for a few days to recover.  Hope that all goes smoothly for her.

I have a CAS card to share today:

I'm not sure how much I like my coloring job but I did like the color combo from Creative Colour Challenges:

I decided to have another hack at the Freshly Made Sketch for this week and keep it more CAS this time:

Because the CAS on Friday challenge is to make a card featuring an animal, so of course my first thought was this adorable llama.  I just went with die cut letters for the greeting because I wanted to keep that strip pretty narrow.

That's it for now, peeps.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Long Time No See
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Gray Granite, Petunia Pop, Pool Party
Paper:  Gray Granite, Pool Party, Petunia Pop, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  alphabet dies, Dimensionals

Long Dog

Mornin' y'all and NEW STAMPS ALERT!!!

Sorry for the shadows on this pic, but you can see how my long dog unfolds...

This is a new stamp set called Long Time No See and it also has a LLAMA so now I just need the slightest excuse to make a llama card too.  I couldn't find a Lemon Lolly pattern I liked for underneath the long dog, so I went back to the old Saran Wrap trick--you just crumple up a small piece of plastic wrap and use it like a stamp to get a cool texture effect.  I have a roll of Saran Wrap in my craft room for just this purpose.

I used this week's color challenge from The Paper Players:

Once again I had to be contrary and ignore the possibility of making a floral card, but I liked these colors together more than I expected to.  How do you like my long dog's colorful sweater?  I also used a tweaked version of this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch:

This would be a fun sketch to showcase some patterned paper.

That's it for now, peeps.  Turns out Ryan's STEAM camp this week runs through today--I think all his other camps have been 4 days so this was an unexpected bonus.  And it's an extra day at Ryan's favorite camp this summer.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Long Time No See
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Pretty Peacock, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Lemon Lolly, Fresh Freesia, Pretty Peacock
Paper:  Pretty Peacock, Lemon Lolly, Thick Basic White, Floral Delight DSP
Accessories:  Starburst Sequins, Mini Dimensionals