Pumpkin Tag

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  I'm back with another Halloween card to share:

Unusually for me, there is no stamping at all on this card.  I got one 12x12 sheet of Doodlebug Designs paper with a variety of tags on it, and a coordinating 6x6 paper pad and that's what I used.  The card base is Magenta Madness, I do like to work in pink for Halloween cards.  CAS on Friday wants to see a tag on your card, so this was the perfect opportunity to do that, and I also tied in the Addicted to CAS challenge:

This particular candy bucket pumpkin made me think of my current stitching project and that's why I had to use it.

Stay spooky, friends!

Supplies:
Stamps:  None
Ink:  None
Paper:  Magenta Madness, Doodlebug Designs
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Basic Gray twine, hole punch

Midnight & Luna for The Paper Players

Happy Sunday, y'all!  Which means it's time for a new challenge from The Paper Players.  I hope you enjoyed Ann's landscape theme last week, the gallery was just beautiful!  This week, our lovely Jan has a color challenge for us:

I have been deeeeep into fall and Halloween mode lately so these colors threw me for a bit of a loop, but I had pulled out a bunch of Halloween stamp sets for other projects and that's when I spied Midnight and Luna:

This is a Sweet November stamp set I bought last year and hadn't used yet, which is exactly why I do the Halloween Hex-Travaganza so I can bring out all my Halloween goodies to play with every year.  And also maybe I buy MORE Halloween goodies every year!  Anyway, I wanted them to be on an Azure Afternoon evening sky and I found a scrap of the blue paper from the Lights of Aurora DSP Stack and started my card there.  The green is another scrap from the Artistry Blooms DSP because sometimes I make it an extra challenge to use up scraps.

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

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:
Stamps:  Midnight and Luna from Sweet November
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Azure Afternoon, Stampin' Blends in Crumb Cake, Granny Apple Green, Smoky Slate, Basic Black
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Basic White, Lights of Aurora DSP Stack, Artistry Blooms DSP
Accessories:  Shimmery Star Foam Stickers, Dimensionals

Spooky Lady Icons

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  I have a lineup of spooky feminine icons for you tonight:

These stamps are part of an Ink Road set called The Real Housewives of Salem and I'm so happy I finally got it inked up.  CAS on Friday wants to see shades of gray and that seemed perfect for these ladies!  And now I really need to start watching the Addams Family TV show, I bought it digitally a while back but I have been watching other things.  I also have Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie for some nostalgic Nick at Nite-style TV fun.  Anyway, there is a variety of greetings in this stamp set and I went with Resting Witch Face because I do, in fact, have that.  Even after nearly 23 years of marriage, my hubs frequently asks if I'm okay and my response is always "This is just ma face!"

Stay spooky, friends!

Supplies:
Stamps:  The Real Housewives of Salem by The Ink Road
Ink:  Basic Gray, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Basic Gray, Smoky Slate
Accessories:  none

Pumpkin in the Patch

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  I have been having SO much fun making Halloween cards this year and there's lots more to come...I need to start sending them out!  But first, let's take a look at Pumpkin:

Yes, I made a black cat and named him Pumpkin : )  I bought these Spellbinders dies called Halloween Add-Ons this summer when I think they went on clearance and I was just waiting for the right opportunity to use them.  Enter the Just Us Girls Challenge:

I used the Spellbinders dies for Pumpkin the cat and the greeting, then three sets of Stampin' Up! dies for the other elements:  Tile Garden, Painted Pumpkins, and Squares Collection.  Lots of dies here and the only stamping is the Oct. 31 and the bats behind Pumpkin.  I love the Halloween palette from TGIF Challenges!

The only other colors I used are neutrals, so quite a lot of black, a bit of Basic Beige and Whisper White, and some pumpkin stems in Pecan Pie.

Stay spooky, friends!
Stamps:  Halloween Backgrounds, Halloween Add-Ons by Spellbinders
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Basic Black, Granny Apple Green, Blackberry Bliss, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Beige, Pecan Pie, Basic White
Accessories:  Halloween Add-Ons dies, Tile Garden dies, Painted Pumpkins dies, Squares Collection Framelits, Dimensionals

Tombstone Cupcake

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  I think the Halloween Hex-Travaganza is off to a good start, and here's my second card:

I just had to use this stamp set for the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge:

I used Tahitian Tide, Parakeet Party, and Petunia Pop for my colors, all retired In Colors from Stampin' Up!  Maybe not a traditional Halloween palette, but I think it works here.  I can't wait to play with this stamp set more, I haven't even gotten to the eyeballs yet : )

Stay spooky, y'all!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Spooky Sweets by Simon Says Stamp
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Stampin' Blends in Smoky Slate, Ivory, Tahitian Tide, Parakeet Party, Pecan Pie, Petunia Pop
Paper:  Parakeet Party, Basic Black, Basic White, Tea Boutique DSP Stack, Unbounded Beauty DSP
Accessories:  White EP, Dimensionals, Shimmer Star Foam Stickers

Haunted Halloween Hex-Travaganza Begins Now!

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends, and happy October!  I loooooove making Halloween cards and over the past 20+ years, I have amassed quite a collection of Halloween goodies, and every year I was sad I didn't use more of my stuff to make new cards.  So last year I started the Halloween Hex-Travaganza:  for the entire month of October, I'm posting a new Halloween card every night at the stroke of midnight!  And this is the first Hex-Travaganza post of 2026, woo!  I didn't prepare as well this year so hopefully I can still do all 31 midnights.  Even if I don't quite manage that, I will be posting lots of Halloween cards!

So for tonight's card, I decided to start with the SOS Challenges theme, to make a card featuring...chickens.

That's right, I said CHICKENS.  How do you make a Halloween chicken card, you may ask?

Like this:

I picked up the Unity stamp set The Coop is Haunted back in July and I've just been waiting for the right time for this trio to make its debut.  I had so much fun coloring them in!  You can't really tell from the picture, but I used the Tile Garden dies for the black mat so it's got some texture to it.  I chose a scrap of long-retired Halloween paper that just seemed to go with these three pullets and that's all there is to it.  My bird-loving child approves this card.

If you like Halloween cards as much as I do, you're in the right place.  If you click on the Hex-Travaganza label at the bottom of this post, you can see all of last year's cards, and like I said the next card will be coming up at midnight.  I'm looking forward to a deep dive in my Halloween stash.

Stay spooky, friends!

Supplies:
Stamps:  The Coop is Haunted from Unity Stamps
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Pool Party, Azure Afternoon, Poppy Parade, Golden Glow, Pumpkin Pie, Smoky Slate, Highland Heather, Old Olive, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Old Olive, Basic Black, Basic White, Ghostly Greetings DSP
Accessories:  Squares Collection Framelits, Tile Garden Dies, Dimensionals

A Spooky Sweet Cupcake

Mornin' y'all!  Happy LAST DAY of September...tomorrow starts the best month of the entire year!  I'm so excited, I absolutely love October--fall colors, cooler weather, comfy sweaters, pumpkin everything.  And lots more Halloween cards on the way but of course I started early and I have another one to share today.

New schtuff alert!  I first discovered this Simon Says Stamp set called Spooky Sweets back when I was looking for eyeballs for Mystery of the Glowing Eye and I finally added it to my Halloween stamp hoard last week.  I had to make a pastel candy-colored cupcake card for the Inspired By... Challenge:

I used Pretty in Pink, Highland Heather, and Peach Pie for my colors and I think I should have gotten an extra pack of that Unbounded Beauty DSP, who knew it would be so good for pastel Halloween cards?  Maybe I should have used Fresh Freesia for my purple but I still like it with Highland Heather.  Anyway, I've already made another card with this stamp set which you will be seeing soon, and I have a couple more cupcakes to ink up too.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Spooky Sweets by Simon Says Stamp
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Highland Heather, Stampin' Blends in Highland Heather, Peach Pie, Pretty in Pink, Ivory
Paper:  Highland Heather, Peach Pie, Pretty in Pink, Basic White, Unbounded Beauty DSP, Peach Pie DSP
Accessories:  Spooky Sweets dies by Simon Says Stamp, Layering Circles dies, Dimensionals, Cute Stars Sequins

It's Wednesday, so how about a Work In Progress (WIP Wednesday) update on my stitching project?  Here it is:

I've been a little bit obsessed with working on this because I think the pattern is SO cute and I finished the first block last night (there will be twelve blocks total).  This pattern was released by Shannon Christine Designs as a Stitch-Along (SAL) where one part was released each month over the course of a year; I also have her Spooky Houses SAL and I bought the floss for that already.  I'm going to go through SO MUCH black floss, but that's okay because I bought a cone of it several years ago and that should cover both of these Halloween projects.  Anyway, I finished off this square last night and started a little bit of the curlicues around the Frankenstein bucket that will go to the left, but I took this picture before I moved my stitching frame so you could see the jack o' lantern in all his glory.

And here's my stitching buddy last night, I don't know how she could breathe laying like that.  It's a rainy day today so she was staring morosely out the window because she knows I won't take her for a walk if it's actively precipitating; now she's facing the opposite direction because she's mad at the weather.  I will take her later if the rain lets up, we go if it's just wet outside but not if it's still falling from the sky.  Anyway, Daphne likes to hang out with me while I'm stitching, we've been rotating between episodes of Smallville, Pushing Daisies, and Scooby-Doo while I work.  She's the best couch companion.

In the Soup

HAPPY FALL, Y'ALL!  I mean, in my heart and home, fall started on September first, but now the equinox agrees with me.  The hubs and I had the following conversation last night:

Me:  You wanna put up the Halloween inflatable decorations this weekend?
Hubs:  It's September.
Me:  Yeah, and I decorated inside the house a month ago.  You're late.

Anyway, I have been a naughty girl of late and I have bought quite a slew of Halloween-related stamps and I inked up one of my new stamp sets yesterday!

This grumpy kitty made me laugh so hard, I broke a land speed record buying this stamp set.  It's from The Ink Road, but the owner currently works only by special drops so you have to be on the mailing list to know when things are coming.  I might have* bought four more Halloween sets in a big drop that hit on Sunday evening.

* I totally did.  Zero regrets.

Anyway, I had to try out the sketch from Hand Stamped Sentiments:

And I decided that Maleficent's red lip yesterday would disqualify her for the Color Hues Challenge, so I didn't enter her but I think Miss Kitty counts.  Here's the challenge in case you forgot:

Maybe I should have used Highland Heather instead of Orchid Oasis, but Miss Kitty told me she wanted her outfit to be Orchid Oasis and I never argue with a grumpy cat stirring a cauldron.

Anyway, that's it for now.  I'm going to finish my cuppa and the last pumpkin cream cheese muffin, and then take Daphne out for a walk and hope we don't get rained on.  It can rain all it wants when we get back.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Roadies 71 by The Ink Road
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Orchid Oasis, Smoky Slate, Basic Black, Soft Succulent
Paper:  Orchid Oasis, Basic White, Soft Succulent DSP, Cutest Halloween DSP Stack
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, Shimmering Stars Foam Stickers, Dimensionals

Mistress of All Evil

Mornin' y'all!  I have several things on my to-do list today so I am on my second cuppa and ready to get going on this blog post to start off with.  I made today's cards last week and I'm pretty pleased with it : )

It's Maleficent!  She is my favorite Disney villain because she can turn herself into a DRAGON and it doesn't get any more awesome than that!  And also she's not afraid to call people fools when that's what they are.  (My second favorite villain is Yzma, and third is Ursula.  My mom's favorite is Cruella but I can't get past the dog fur coat thing.)  Anyway, I made this for the Color Hues Challenge:

And I will be ticketed by the Challenge Police because Maleficent had to have a red lip (she insisted) and her staff's topper had to be a poisonous chartreuse.  Sorry, I just had to.  I broke out the PrismaColor colored pencils because there wasn't a grayish green that worked for Maleficent's skin tone in my Crayolas, it's been a long time since I got the Prismas out so that was fun.  And thanks to Stef whose Halloween kitty card convinced me that I should do something not floral with these colors, I had so much fun inking up Maleficent for the first time (and I've had that stamp set for at least a year, probably several!).

Anyway, I was going to go with a Halloween card like Stef, but then I saw this challenge from AAA Cards Challenge:

And my brain yelled MALEFICENT so that's how my card was made.  My brain yells at me.  Anyway, I'm glad that I finally inked up these stamps, I know I got the greeting stamp last year when I was shopping for Halloween goodies and like I said I don't know if the villains stamps are a year old or even older.  Kindred Stamps are not really my artwork style, but they do have stamps in several subjects that no one else seems to so I have several of their sets (most of which have not seen ink yet, but someday...).

Anyway, I need to finish my tea and take the Daphinator for her walk and then get to work on the rest of my to-do list.  I have to make some phone calls today, ugh.  But on the plus side, I should be getting some new Halloween stamps in the mail today, so that will be fun.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Villains by Kindred Stamps, Desdemona by Sweet November
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Soft Succulent
Paper:  Lavender Lace, Soft Succulent, Basic White
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Wink of Stella on her staff

HOoOowl

Mornin' y'all, hope your Wednesday is off to a good start.  I had a very busy day yesterday and once I picked Ryan up from school, I absolutely hit a brick wall and conked out for a bit and thus never got any crafting done yesterday.  Not a literal brick wall, you know what I mean.  So then I had to make a card this morning to share today and here it is:

Is my wolf levitating?  Yes.  Do I care?  Nope, I think he's cute even if he's levitating.  I used the sketch from Sunday Stamps:

And the color palette from As You See It:

I was looking at a werewolf stamp set that I want to get, and the idea for today's card popped in my head but obviously I don't have those werewolf stamps (yet) so I used the wolves from Lawn Fawn instead.  And my little wolfy fits with the Inkspirational challenge:

Supplies:
Stamps:  Wild Wolves, Wolf Before & Afters from Lawn Fawn
Ink:  Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Smoky Slate Blends
Paper:  Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Basic White, Lights of Aurora DSP Stack, Simply Marbleous DSP Stack
Accessories:  Lawn Fawn dies, Layering Circles dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Shimmery Stars Foam Stickers

I only have two errands to run today so hopefully I'll get some crafty time later this morning.  I do still have a few more cards to share today, as I am the lucky recipient of THREE cards from the UK and New Zealand!  The first two are from Joanne and the last one is from Jan, who are both my teamies on the Paper Players design team.  Take a look:

I wish I had gotten an extra pack or two of that Delightful Floral DSP, isn't it gorgeous!  Also Joanne is the one who "made" me get the Words of Beauty bundle so I think of her every time I use it.  (She's responsible for my purchasing several other things too!)

Joanne said she hoped that Daphne didn't mind the kitties on this card too much and I will say that Daph kinda gave it the side-eye a bit : )  I don't think I've used the kitties from the Cutest Crew stamp set yet and I know I haven't used the birds, I always go for the puppers.

And here's a beauty from Jan, I like how she cut the patterned paper into strips and then popped every other strip up, it's such a neat effect.

Okay, I have just enough time to finish my cuppa and take Daphne for a walk before I have to hit my first appointment.  Cheers, y 'all!

Something Strange in Your Neighborhood

Goooooood mornin' y'all and happy Friday!  The weather is finally starting to cool down just the tiniest bit (I wore a sweatshirt outside last night and it was great) and I've started watching the spooky sweet movies.  Already watched both Hocus Pocus movies and I watched the first half of Casper last night; tonight I need to watch Practical Magic because I'm going to see the sequel tomorrow.

And there's one more movie (well, series) that I am happy to watch at any time of year but it's especially good during spooky season...

OF COURSE I have Ghostbusters stamps!  (But they're retired, so you can't get them, sorry.)  Shopping Our Stash wants to see people, so I chose the Ghostbusters in all their ghostbusting gear.  And I had to try out the sketch from Retro Rubber:

I made my first Ghostbusters card two years ago, I'm pretty sure I'd had the stamps for a while before that but in any case they count as retro.  I really ought to make cards just as soon as I get a new stamp set so I know how long I've had it but let's not talk about the brand new stamps I bought last month that I haven't used yet and nobody tell my hubs, kay?  Kay.  Definitely don't mention the ones that I got in the mail on Wednesday or the ones I ordered on Thursday.

Anywha, I also have a Ghostbusters cross stitch that I did several years ago but I haven't ever done the words I wanted to add on it and I should get on that.  I'm working on the Sanderson Sisters right now, Winifred and Sarah are done and I'm stitching Mary, then I need to do "It's just a bunch of Hocus Pocus!" underneath them and then the real trick is actually getting it framed.  I have an entire stack of stitches that I've done and not gotten framed yet, including at least two very large full-coverage pieces.  Maybe I should make that a goal for next year, get at least one piece framed every year.

Anyway, that's it for now.  I will be making cookies for most of the day because the hubs asked me to make "some cookies" for the Cub Scouts event this weekend and of course I heard "We need thousands of cookies" so I made a double batch of chocolate chunk cookies and a batch of oatmeal white chocolate cranberry cookies yesterday; today it's double chocolate crinkles and lemon crinkles and then I need to deep-clean my kitchen this weekend.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Slime by The Ink Road, Ghoulish Grunge, Itty Bitty Backgrounds
Ink:  Versamark, River Rock
Paper:  Basic Black, River Rock, Basic Beige
Accessories:  Black EP, White EP, Dimensionals

Witchy Wisdom

Mornin' y'all!  We spent the weekend in Estes Park and today I've got to get Ryan back on his regular school schedule, but he's resisting.  He was up plenty early but he's not ready to behave yet, which is fun.

Anyway, we got back yesterday before noon, which means I had time to make a card after I went to the grocery store and I was thinking about this card all weekend.  Take a look:

It's Sally Owens from Practical Magic!  I seriously love that movie (I've read the book too, but this is one of those rare occasions that I like the movie better) and I got myself a ticket to go see the sequel this weekend while my dudes are out camping with the Cub Scouts.  Anyway, the advice on the three circles is all quotes from the movie.  I didn't look up Sally's wardrobe but matched it to the colors in the latest Inspired By... Challenge:

If I could live in one house from any movie, it would be the Owens house from Practical Magic hands down.  Have you SEEN the kitchen?!  I know the entire house was a set built for the movie but I wants it!  Anyway, the botanicals on the rolling pin made me think of the ones in this stamp set and what put these together for me is the Time Out Challenge:

I have LOTS of stamp sets for different movies (including several for Hocus Pocus that I'm sure you'll be seeing this spooky season) but I had never inked up any of the Owens Sisters stamps from Sweet November after I bought the set last year, and with the sequel coming out this weekend I just had to do a Practical Magic card.  I hope the second movie is good!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Sweet November Gals The Owens Sisters
Ink:  Early Espresso, Soft Succulent, Stampin' Blends in Petal Pink, Ivory, Bronze, Soft Succulent, Soft Sea Foam, Crumb Cake, neutrals
Paper:  Soft Succulent, Basic Beige, Very Vanilla, Soft Sea Foam DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies

I have a couple of pics from Estes Park to share if you're interested:

We went horseback riding in the mountains on Saturday, it was fabulous!  Ryan's horse was named Fritz, mine was a grumpy guy named Tuxedo, and the hubs rode Ace.  I was in the middle, and Tuxedo kept crowding up to Fritz who threatened to kick him, and then every time we stopped Tux would give Ace a dirty look for being too close.  Ha!

There was an arts & crafts fair going on in the main square, so we walked through that and then got ice cream to cool off.

We drove into the national park and saw one solitary elk making a wallow for himself in the mud.

When we got to the visitor center on top of the mountain, it started pouring down rain, but once the rain cleared off we were treated to a giant rainbow.  And bright sun again which is why I couldn't keep my eyes open for the picture.

Hope you had a good weekend too and now it's time for me to hustle Ryan along to get ready for school.  Cheers!

More Dolly Quotes

Hey y'all, extra post this afternoon because I decided that everyone on my weekly sunshine card list is getting a Dolly Parton card this week.  I just wasn't ready to put away my Dolly stamp set yet and all of the quotes in it are fabulous, so I made five quick cards.

And three more...

I'm really hoping that Lara at The Ink Road will re-release this stamp set and/or better yet a new one with more quotes.  She had a Dolly Christmas stamp set but I didn't get that one since I already had this one.  Anyway, I kept with the butterfly theme since that was Dolly's emblem and now I just have to decide who on my list gets which card.  These are going out today.

I spent the weekend listening to my new Dolly albums (um, I've bought three in the past week to go with the three I already had) and I also watched 9 to 5 for the first time, it's on Disney+.  I'm also working on two Dolly books, Songteller and Behind the Seams, which have been fun.  To honor Tim Curry, I also watched the '90s Three Musketeers where he plays the dastardly Cardinal Richilieu, he always looks like he is having more fun than everyone else when he plays a villain.  Love it.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Dolly from The Ink Road, Sketched Butterflies
Ink:  Berry Burst, Blackberry Bliss
Paper:  Bubble Bath, Blackberry Bliss, Delightful Floral DSP
Accessories:  Chalk Talk Framelits, Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals, Brass Butterflies

Dolly's Butterfly

Mornin' y'all.  I found out yesterday that Tim Curry also passed away on Tuesday, but I don't have any Tim Curry stamps so I made another Dolly card.  Here it is:

When the hubs and I went to Dollywood like 20 years ago, they had a professional photographer take your picture when you came in the park and they'd CGI a butterfly on your photo, so I thought a butterfly would be a great choice with that particular quote.  And it made for a cheery card for the Color Hues Challenge:

I used Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie with some Early Espresso for a neutral.  Happily for me, the old Beyond the Garden DSP has both those colors in it and I chose a fun floral to back my butterfly.

Super easy challenge at Retro Rubber:

I'm pretty sure my Dolly stamp set is more than a year old, but I'm not sure how long I've had it since I hadn't inked it up before now.  However, I do know that Watercolor Wings is eleven years old and the last time I used it was 2019, so it was fun to dust it off.  I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I maybe should have done the smaller butterfly image and added another square element to my card, but I like the big butterfly image.

I bought The Essential Dolly Parton yesterday even though it has several songs that I had on a different album, but my new favorite Dolly song is Dumb Blonde, the first one on the album, and the last one is a cover of Collective Soul's Shine which is pretty cool.  So I listened to Dolly yesterday and then watched Clue last night while I worked on my stitching project.  My first Tim Curry movie was Legend (one of my three favorite movies as a tiny child, along with Labyrinth and The Last Unicorn) and I did think about watching that, but there's a limit to how much Tom Cruise in hot pants I can take, and I just love the sly humor of Clue.  Maybe next I'll watch The Three Musketeers.  I don't think I've ever seen 9to5 either and I don't want to watch Steel Magnolias because I would have to buy Kleenex in bulk for that one.

Anyway, that's it for me today.  Cheers,  y'all.  I will always love you.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Watercolor Wings, Dolly from The Ink Road
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Early Espresso
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Basic White, Beyond the Garden DSP
Accessories:  Bold Butterfly dies, Tiled Garden dies, Dimensionals, rhinestones, Wink of Stella

For Dolly

Well, this isn't the card I thought I would be making yesterday, but here it is:

News of Dolly Parton's death yesterday was totally unexpected.  I've had this Ink Road stamp set for a while but hadn't inked it up yet.  It has the image of Dolly and a variety of quotes, I just chose the one that fit in my die the best.

I used a Color Dare Challenge:

I used Berry Burst, Bubble Bath, and Parakeet Party for colors, though there's a bit of yellow in the floral pattern too.  And here's this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I moved the sentiment a bit because I didn't want to cover up the image of Dolly.

I think I have just three of Dolly's albums in my music library, as I was never much into country music I am mostly familiar with her biggest hits.  The hubs and I did go to Dollywood about 20 years ago, and of course I know about her Imagination Library and philanthropy.  She was an extraordinary woman, and extraordinarily kind.  The world could use more people like Dolly.

If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go listen to the Dolly album I just bought.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Dolly from The Ink Road
Ink:  Berry Burst, Bubble Bath
Paper:  Berry Burst, Bubble Bath, Basic White, Delightful Floral DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Charming Shimmer Faceted Dots, Dimensionals

SSSmile

Mornin' y'all.  I'm feeling a little slow this morning but I'm hoping that I'll perk up now that I have my first cuppa in front of me.  I do love a good strong Irish Breakfast tea in the morning...or maybe two : )

Anyway, when I made my snake card for last Saturday's Nancy Drew Challenge, I had at first colored in the snake with Granny Apple Green and Golden Glow before I switched to Bubble Bath instead.  But I still had that green and gold snake image all cut out and ready to go, so here he is on a card:

My picture looks a bit dark but that's what I get for taking it when it was all misty outside and right now I'm trying to get this post written before my wireless mouse runs out of batteries so I'm not going to replace it.  Anyway, the AAA Cards Challenge was the perfect impetus to get Mr. Snakey here on a finished card:

And I paired that with the Festive Friday Challenge:

I already had white on my die-cut snake image, so I chose a frame to go around him and then the "SSSmile" sentiment because it made me laugh.  I almost put some embellishments on there, but with the little dots around the snake on top of the polka dot paper I decided I had better leave it alone.

Amusing anecdote time:  This summer, I spent a lot of time in the car driving Ryan to various summer camps which all seemed to be 30 minutes away, so we started playing a game in the car where Ryan would name a letter and then we'd trade off saying words that start with that letter.  Sometimes we'd do fake acronyms just to try to make each other laugh (there was one about a problematic turnip vs. a pretty tiger).  Anyway, whenever Ryan ran out of words, he'd just yell "SNAKE!" and choose a different letter.  Why snake?  I have no idea.  He also said "Why did I play this game with YOU when you know every word in the English language?!" but we had fun with it.

Okay, I'd better finish up before my poor mouse goes into a coma.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Animal Notes from C.C. Designs, Nature's Symphony
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Granny Apple Green & Golden Glow
Paper:  Golden Glow, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Granny Apple Green DSP
Accessories:  Everyday Detail dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals