Faster Than a Speeding Apple

Mornin' y'all.  Remember yesterday how I was planning to have a nice, leisurely day of baking today for a potluck at hubs' work tomorrow?  Yeah, the potluck is TODAY and I didn't realize that until this morning.  So I rushed to get the cranberry bars put together (Ryan actually helped) and they're in the oven now.  Hopefully those will cool enough before I have to take them and I still need to make chocolate cherry bars.  Sadly the gingerbread bars got knocked off the list due to time constraints.

Speaking of time constraints, today's card is for a speed challenge:

And here's the challenge from As You See It:

I have at least three different DSP stacks with apple patterns, so I decided to grab this one from the Berry Blossoms DSP which I had never cut into before, I liked the bright Calypso Coral and Lucky Limeade color combo.  I paired that with a pie from Sweets & Treats and colored as fast as I could for a time of:

Woo, under the 10-minute mark!  I made another one and I will send these to some friends next Monday.  I always write out my cards for the week on Monday mornings and usually send out 4-6 a week, sometimes more.

Okay, gotta get Ryan to school so I can work on those chocolate cherry bars.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sweets & Treats
Ink:  Early Espresso, Lucky Limeade, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, neutrals, Calypso Coral
Paper:  Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Thick Basic White, Berry Blossoms DSP
Accessories:  Nested Essentials dies, Dimensionals, Pearls of Beauty

January 2020

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I think I've finally shaken the headache that had been with me since Friday, I did my workout this morning, and I'm feeling pretty good.  I worked on some scrapbook pages yesterday until my headache made me stop, and then I stitched on Ryan's duckling and watched Criminal Minds while the guys were out of the house.  It was a good day other than the headache : )

So I have a layout to share today that I made over two years ago with pictures from three four five years ago.  What year are we?!

I know the colors are more Valentine-y, but I chose pink and red because of the Panera cookie Ryan is eating in one picture, plus the red stripes on his Captain America jacket and Sadie's red collar.  The doggo in the lower right was a stray that we picked up on our way home from the Y one day; I called and left a message on the phone number on his collar but it took the owner almost the entire day to contact me back and he seemed confused about why I didn't let his dog just continue to wander along a busy road.  Some people should NOT have pets.  Harrumph.  Sadie also said harrumph, she laid on the floor between me and the other dog to establish her ownership of me, but she also refused to look at me because she was Most Displeased that I had brought that interloper into her domain.  Queen Bee.  And then the bath pictures on the left are just for funsies, Ryan playing in the tub.

Today's Panera-inspired palette:  Flirty Flamingo, Real Red, Basic Gray, and Whisper White.

That's it for me today, peeps.  As usual, I'm taking Daphne for a tour of the neighborhood and then maybe I'll get some crafty time before we take Ryan to a doctor's appointment.  It's Ryan's last day of winter break and then tomorrow Daph and I will have the house to ourselves for a while : )  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Full Calendar, Sweets & Treats
Ink:  Real Red, Basic Gray
Paper:  Flirty Flamingo, Real Red, Thick Basic White, From My Heart DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies

Wilkommen in Deutschland

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Hope you have a good day off for Labor Day.  Today's scrapbook layout is from our arrival in Germany at the end of August 2020:

This is a mishmash of pictures from the first couple of weeks that we were in Germany, when we were staying in a hotel suite and looking for a house.  Also we were locked in there for two weeks because of all the Covid restrictions, people from the hubs' work had to buy groceries for us and bring them to us, it was a crazy time.  So all those pics are in the hotel room.

Today's color palette:  Crushed Curry, Tangelo Twist, Azure Afternoon, Pecan Pie, and white.  I really liked Tangelo Twist as an orange and I think I'm almost out of cardstock in that color, at least in the 12x12.  Not sure how much 8.5x11 I might have.  Azure Afternoon and Pecan Pie ended up being great matches for Ryan's bear jammies!

That's it for me today, peeps.  I'm going to do my workout and then most likely do dishes because that never stops.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Taffy Alphabet, Calendar Alphabet & Numbers, Sweets & Treats, All Boxed Up, bear from Whipper Snapper
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Tangelo Twist, Azure Afternoon, Pecan Pie, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Ivory, Smoky Slate, Mossy Meadow, Pool Party, Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Azure Afternoon, Pecan Pie, Thick Basic White, Tangelo Twist DSP
Accessories:  None

Ryan Turns 3

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Well, true to my word, I did start working on my wedding album on Friday.  So far it's just planning which pictures to use on each layout, but I've firmed up my color scheme and what papers I'm using, so once I get the pages planned out it should go very quickly.  Hopefully I start getting things stuck down in the next day or two.

Anyway, for today I have a couple of layouts from Ryan's birthday in 2020!

Y'all, he's turning SEVEN this Thursday!  Can't believe it.  Anyway, shortly before his third birthday he suddenly became a big fan of Paw Patrol so that made shopping for him very easy.  As I was working on my 2020 pages last year, I wondered if there were any Paw Patrol stamps out there, and as it happens there are!  I had to have them shipped to my mom and then she sent them to me as the seller wouldn't ship to an APO address, but I got them.  I'm a little sad that Ryan isn't much into Paw Patrol anymore, but what can ya do.

We took him to the local ice cream place which also makes very good cupcakes, and invited a few friends who have kids around Ryan's age so he had a great time.  His big present that year was a Nugget, which is a set of cushions that you can move around to make forts or use as a pallet in front of the TV or whatever.  He still likes playing with that.

Today's color palette is a variation on a Superman theme:  Barely Banana (I'm very glad to have Lemon Lolly in the current color lineup, it's similar to Barely Banana and not muted like So Saffron), Balmy Blue, Real Red, Blueberry Bushel, and white.

We'll be doing a family get-together for Ryan's birthday this Saturday so I'll take lots of pictures for future scrapbook pages.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Pure & Simple Alphabet Upper, Sweets & Treats, Paw Patrol stamps from Melissa & Doug
Ink:  Real Red, Memento Tuxedo Black, Blends in Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Flirty Flamingo, Smoky Slate, Soft Suede, Night of Navy, Ivory; Balmy Blue & Basic Gray markers
Paper:  Barely Banana, Real Red, Blueberry Bushel, Thick Basic White, Dandy Designs DSP, Real Red DSP
Accessories:  circle punches

Foxy Cupcake

Hey y'all, how's your week going?  I'm up to my eyebrows in Thanksgiving prep!  I like to cook as much stuff in advance as I can, because there is NO way to have everything hot at the same time on Thanksgiving day, so we make up plates with the cold food, microwave that, and then pile on what's hot.  Plus the pies and things can be made ahead since they need to be cooled completely before serving anyway.  I made a schedule of what to make each day so I'll be ready tomorrow.

But for today, I made a card!

I've been having fun lately with retired stamp sets and the brand-new ones I just got and haven't inked up yet are definitely giving me side-eye.  I made this for the current Festive Friday challenge:

From the list, I used a cupcake, sprinkles (if the polka dots count), birthday sentiment, do Dimensionals count as a pop-up element?, and patterned paper.  Actually it was the patterned paper that started this card off; I searched through some scraps and came across the polka dots that I thought looked like sprinkles, and I thought they made good colors for a cupcake so I built the card around that.  The DSP is from an old stack called A Little Foxy.  Some of the patterns do have foxes on them, I can't believe I only used it once.  Well, no time like the present to use up a little more!

Have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sweets & Treats
Ink:  Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Ivory
Paper:  Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Thick Basic White, A Little Foxy DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, white EP, Dimensionals, Fine Sparkle Gems

It's Pie Season

Happy Friday, y'all!  Y'know, I was just telling my boss yesterday about how I bake pies from scratch for Thanksgiving every year, and wouldn't you know, I've got a pie card today.

I love that sentiment stamp, it's from an old, old Paper Pumpkin kit.  The pie image is from last year's Sweets & Treats; I had to bust it out for this week's Inspired By... challenge:

Thanksgiving dress code in our house is mandatory pajama pants or sweats.  That's how we roll ; )

I gave this week's Color Throwdown another shot:

This time I used Starry Sky, Bumblebee, and Cinnamon Cider for the colors.  The CAS Colours & Sketches sketch made this card super quick to make:

The sponging on the corners is a bit darker than I'd really intended, but it's still okay.  And now I'm going back up to my craft room to work on some design team stuff while I daydream about pie.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sweets & Treats, past Paper Pumpkin kit
Ink:  Starry Sky, Bumblebee, Cinnamon Cider
Paper:  Cinnamon Cider, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies

Guest Designer: CC&S Sketch

 Hey hey, it's my second post of the day!  It's time for a new sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches:

Fun, right?  I like it!  My problem this week was narrowing down what I wanted to make with this sketch, so many options!  In the end, here's what I came up with:

I recently acquired the Stitched with Whimsy dies and thought they'd be a good stand-in for the bottom layer on the sketch, a sort of faux layer if you will.  Then I added a strawberry and a sweet sentiment and done!

Upload your card at the CAS Colours & Sketches blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sweet Strawberry, Sweets & Treats
Ink:  Polished Pink, Cherry Cobbler, Granny Apple Green, Garden Green
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Stitched with Whimsy dies, Tasteful Labels dies, Strawberry Builder Punch, Dimensionals

SUO Challenges: Time to Celebrate!

Mornin' y'all!  You ready for a new challenge from SUO Challenges?

This time our theme is celebrations!  Aside from the major holiday later this week ;) what are you celebrating?  I had to ink up a new-to-me stamp set for this one:

Yep, as soon as I saw that sentiment in Badger Besties, I knew I had to use it for this challenge!  My friend Faith is a proud Hufflepuff and I have heard her say on several occasions that 'Puffs are HUNGRY and that's why their common room is by the kitchens, hence the background of cupcakes :)

Your turn to celebrate and upload a card at SUO Challenges.  We look forward to seeing what you create!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Badger Besties, Sweets & Treats
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Bumblebee, Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends
Paper:  Bumblebee, Thick Basic White, Pattern Party DSP
Accessories:  Mini Dimensionals

SUO Challenges: Thanksgiving & Fall

Mornin' stampy friends!  Well, after coming back to life briefly last week, our wireless keyboard gave up the ghost so we had to get a new one, hence no Scrappy Monday post yesterday.  But now we've got the new one all set up and my water bottle is over on the window ledge well away from the new keyboard :)

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

This time, we want to see your Thanksgiving and fall creations!  Now, I *love* fall cards and they might be my very favorite thing to stamp, but I decided to focus on Thanksgiving this time.  And what to I associate with Thanksgiving more than anything else, even turkey?

PIE.  All the pie!!!  Um, this pie image is totally why I bought the Sweets & Treats stamp set ;)  And I was not planning to buy Well Defined until I saw this about a holiday being a reason to eat more...c'mon, how could I NOT pair that with the pie image?!  Usually I only make pies for Thanksgiving and maybe one for Christmas.  I mean, you can't have Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie!  And apple pie, says the hubs.  This year I'm going to try making homemade pie crust for the first time, wish me luck!  And if you need some pie inspiration, check out Sally's Baking Addiction for some great recipes ;)

I don't have a current Thanksgiving sentiment, so I borrowed this one from an old Paper Pumpkin set.  Had to get one more pie on the inside!

Show us all your Thanksgiving/fall creations on the SUO Challenges blog, and have fun!  My parents get here later this week so I may not get much stamping time for the next few weeks.  I'll post here when I can!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sweets & Treats, Well Defined, My Paper Pumpkin
Ink:  Cinnamon Cider, Early Espresso
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Cinnamon Cider, Early Espresso, Thick Basic White, Cajun Craze DSP
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, In Color Enamel Dots

Apple Pie

Not last weekend but the one before, we went apple picking (ignoring the fact that we have TWO apple trees in our own yard).  I have since made apple cinnamon bread, apple pie, and apple crumb cake, and we *still* have a giant bag of apples on the counter!  Next up I think I'll try brown butter apple blondies, and maybe homemade applesauce.  I'll probably still have apples left to experiment with.

Apples have also invaded my craft room and I'm not mad at it.  Loved the inspo list for the current Festive Friday challenge:

I used apples (obviously), red, green, circles if you count the rhinestones, baking, and that DSP reminds me of basket weave.  Or a woven lattice pie crust.  The teeny apples on the background are from the long-retired One Smart Cookie stamp set, but I wanted to make it obvious that this is an APPLE pie, which is my hubs' favorite.  Oh, I also printed out a recipe for apple cranberry pie (I've made cranberry apple almond pie before and it is AMAZEBALLS but I don't think I can find the almond paste here).  I've never made pie crust from scratch before, but I think this might be the year to try it.

What's your favorite apple recipe?

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sweets & Treats, One Smart Cookie
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Old Olive, Real Red, Stampin' Blends in Cinnamon Cider & Real Red
Paper:  Real Red, Thick Basic White, Gingerbread & Peppermint DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, Noble Peacock rhinestones