Paper Players: For the Guys

Hey y'all, happy Sunday!  Looks like Joanne's Tic-Tac-Toe challenge for the Paper Players last week was a big hit, judging from the size of the gallery : )  Today we're back and Stef has a great theme for us:

Need a card for Father's Day?  Know some guys with summer birthdays?  Now's your chance to make a card for them : )  So I'm still thinking Yellowstone (see here and here), but I thought I'd make a card featuring the animal we were most excited to see during our trip:

A grizzly bear!  (If you want to see lots of black bears, rent a cabin near Smoky Mountains National Park, we saw lots of black bears there!)  The bear and the trees are stamped directly on a pattern from the Nature Walk DSP (been a while since I had used it), and the big, bold greeting from Weekend Adventures is stamped on Basic Beige and popped up on Dimensionals.  I think Weekend Adventures was marketed as a scrapbooking stamp set (like I've ever had a problem using any and all stamps on my scrapbook pages) because it has a lot of large and in charge word stamps, but I've used it on a couple of cards instead.  I added a few Natural Matte Dots to finish it off.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wildlife Wonder, Weekend Adventures, Outdoor Adventure
Ink:  Pecan Pie, Mossy Meadow, Secret Sea
Paper:  Mossy Meadow, Basic Beige, Nature Walk DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Natural Matte Dots

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!

The Double Jinx Mystery

Mornin' y'all and welcome to the FIFTIETH Nancy Drew Challenge!  I am still just having the best time entertaining myself over here, both reading the books and making cards for them, and I hope you're enjoying the journey with me.  So today, Nancy takes on The Double Jinx Mystery.

Once again we have a mostly brown cover (see also 99 Steps and Crossword Cipher), but this time Nancy is wearing a pretty cool 70s orange collared shirt with a fun pattern (this book was first published in 1973, still some years before I was even born).  Not sure why Nancy looks extra worried on this one, but hey, we get another Ned cover!  I had some fun using this cover for inspiration, as you'll see in a minute.

Case file:  Carson asks Nancy to help investigate a case where a town is considering tearing down a family-owned zoo and aviary to make way for a high-rise apartment complex.  Someone is trying to convince the owners of the zoo/aviary that they're being jinxed, so there's quite a lot about superstitions and it's very clear that Harriet Stratemeyer Adams gives superstitious people short shrift.  Nancy and Ned both contract ornithosis (different from bird flu according to Google, but it sounds similar) while investigating and Nancy gets kidnapped by one of the most bizarre villains ever, a mentally unbalanced male ballet dancer.  A bonkers ballerino, if you will.

Here's my card:

A lot of this book has to do with birds, and one of the characters is a foreign exchange student from an unnamed Eurasian country who brings along her pet wryneck woodpecker while studying in the States, like you do.  I don't have any wryneck stamps, but I figured a feather would do, and I had a good (and messy) time making the background with watercolor paper, ink refills, and salt.  I dripped the ink on wet watercolor paper, then spritzed more water to get the colors to run, and when you sprinkle salt on and let it dry, it kinda gives you freckles, which I liked.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fine Feathers, Sincere Salutations
Ink:  Peach Pie, Pecan Pie, Early Espresso
Paper:  Early Espresso, Basic Beige, watercolor paper, Autumn Toile DSP
Accessories:  Lots of Labels dies, In Color Dots, Dimensionals

I was having SUCH a good time with my background that I ended up with several more pieces, and I thought I could make a better card than the first one, so here is attempt #2:

I do like this one better with the fussy-cut feathers, and I feel like it lets more of the fun background show.  I chose the good luck greeting for both of these cards since so much of the book has to deal with people thinking they're jinxed or getting bad luck from all kinds of things, which reminded me of the peacock-induced bad luck from The Hidden Window Mystery.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fine Feathers, Sincere Salutations
Ink:  Peach Pie, Pecan Pie, Early Espresso
Paper:  Early Espresso, Basic Beige, Very Vanilla, watercolor paper, Autumn Toile DSP
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Pecan Pie Ribboned Dots, Dimensionals

And then I liked the second card so much that I just had to keep going and make a third:

I had to do a get well card since Nancy and Ned both come down with ornithosis in this book, it just made me giggle.  And this time I found a piece of DSP with a great circle pattern that matches Nancy's shirt!

As soon as I found that pattern in the Gathering Together Specialty DSP I knew I would use it.  The watercolor bit is a leftover piece from my first watercolor background so I kind of had to build the rest of the card around it.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wildlife Wonder, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Peach Pie, Pecan Pie, Early Espresso
Paper:  Pecan Pie, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, watercolor paper, Gathering Together Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, Circles Collection Framelits, Dimensionals, Earthy Matte Dots

This book and its focus on superstitions and bad luck is just a little weird to me, and that's even before we get to the bonkers ballerino, so I'm giving it two and a half stars.  I think several books in the 50s go a bit off the track but sometimes the really bananas ones are the most fun (the high-water mark for bananas shenanigans is still a tie between Brass-Bound Trunk and Moss-Covered Mansion, and I really love those), but this one just feels weird without the extra fun.  Anyway, I hope it inspires you to make something and if so, leave me a comment!  And make sure to tune in next Saturday when things get *really* weird (again!) for Mystery of the Glowing Eye.

Alma Mater

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Well, I didn't finish the journaling on those scrapbook pages on Friday...but I did get it done yesterday : )  Sometime this week, I'll have to take pictures of eleven scrapbook layouts for future blog posts.  Whee!

Today is Ryan's last Monday in first grade, ack!  He's got fun things going on every day this week and Thursday is his last day.  Then on Friday we're heading down to Waco for a promotion event for a friend, which will be held at our alma mater, Baylor University.  Which is why I picked this layout to share today:

These pics are from 2013, hubs was deployed so I went back to Texas for a couple of weeks around my birthday and my parents took me on a day trip to Baylor.  Usually I'm trying to cram in as many pictures as I possibly can but today it's just four, so I kept the layout simple and left some open space, which helps balance out the busy pattern I used on the edges.

Today's Bayloriffic color palette is Soft Succulent, Evening Evergreen, and So Saffron.  I bought a bright yellow dress to wear to the event this Friday, can't wait!

Okay, time to hustle Ryan off to school.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Schoolbook Serif Alphabet, Wildlife Wonder
Ink:  Soft Succulent, Evening Evergreen marker
Paper:  Soft Succulent, So Saffron, Lovely in Linen DSP
Accessories:  None

Bear

That's it, just bear.  Bear is today's card. 

Bear.

This is the one that I was going to post on Wednesday and then cute cows happened : )  Anyway, I started with the CAS Colours & Sketches sketch:

And I paired that with the Card Concept inspiration:

I really did try to keep it CAS for the CC&S challenge but I'm not sure I managed it, this looks more like either the clean & layered or clean & graphic style.  I would have gone for a moose like the inspiration pic, but my moose punch isn't working quite right and I forgot to have the hubs take a look at it when he was here for Christmas.  So I went with a bear, and also this is the quilt on my bed right now:

I got it on Amazon, I do love it.  It's a lighter weight than the comforter we have, and I tend to get hot at night so I've been using this.

Anyway, we're preparing to move again this summer so I've spent the past few days looking at pictures of dozens of houses and I think my eyeballs are about to cross.  I've come up with a motley list of things I like, things I don't like, and one thing I saw that felt like an assault to my eyeballs and I wish to press charges against two different houses:  CARPET IN THE BATHROOM.  Like, whyyyyyyy.  Ew.

Anyway, that's it for me today.  It's March 1, so kiddo and I will be going on our ice cream date after school today--we have officially made it through 8 months of this year-long deployment!  So that definitely warrants ice cream.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wildlife Wonder, Perennial Postage
Ink:  Pecan Pie, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Thick Basic Vanilla, Shaded Spruce DSP
Accessories:  blending brush

Bear With Me

Hey y'all, happy Friday!  And it is a happy Friday, I got up and did a nice relaxation yoga routine this morning and here in a bit I'll be going to the Y to do a yoga class there too.  Time to get my stretch on : )  And this afternoon, Ryan and I will have our monthly ice cream date because as of today, we've conquered five months of the hubs' deployment.  Almost halfway there...

Anyway, apparently this is my week for rustic bear cards because I made another one.  Here it is:

It's a bit of a liberal take on this Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch:

The trees (which are both one big stamp) are standing in for the two vertical strips, and the bear is the third panel.  I did have to add some ground for him to walk on because he looked weird just hovering there.  And I'm playing along in the new Retro Rubber challenge:

I went down the right side with trees, embossing (the bear is heat embossed with black EP, so he stands out a bit from the rest of the card), and your choice, and I chose BEAR.  'Cause I love bears.  The stamp set Pines (trees and bear) is at least two years old; I bought it used off of eBay when I was making my Maine scrapbook pages.  Wildlife Wonder (the ground) is coming up on two years old as well, but the sentiment stamp from Feathered Friends is brand new.  Had to get it when it showed up in the online exclusives because it's got a bunch of ducks and those are Ryan's favorite.

Okay I've gotta get moving if I want to make my yoga class on time.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pines, Wildlife Wonder, Feathered Flight
Ink:  Shaded Spruce, Crumb Cake, Versamark
Paper:  Crumb Cake
Accessories:  Black EP, Dimensionals, linen thread

Birthday Bear

Hey y'all, how's your Sunday going?  I'm still trying to work through organizing the stuff upstairs...and downstairs...and pretty much everywhere.  It's going to be a work in progress for a while, I'm afraid.  Ryan and I were busy all day yesterday going to the zoo with his grandparents, and then today is Ice Cream Day--on the first of the month, we go out for ice cream to celebrate making it through another month with his dad away from us.  Three down, nine to go...we can do it!  After ice cream, I snuck up to my craft room to make a card real quick.

We have a lot of family birthdays coming up soon, starting with my brother-in-law.  I had to make a card for this week's fun Freshly Made Sketch:

And the beautiful autumnal colors from the Color Throwdown:

I used Old Olive (the DSP is technically Mossy Meadow, but I thought it worked fine with Old Olive for my card base), Copper Clay, Pecan Pie, Very Vanilla, and a bit of Early Espresso for a neutral.  And obviously I stuck with the theme in the Color Throwdown inspo pic.

I think the metallics in the DSP make this card pretty fancy.

Ryan appeared in my craft room as I was trying to take pictures of this card, and insisted that his latest Lego creation had to be in a picture.  I think it's a robot?  It's not a bear.

Well, I'd better go fold laundry before Ryan and I head out to watch the Paw Patrol movie with his cousins.  Do I know how to party or what!  I joke, but I like Paw Patrol pretty well so I'm perfectly happy to take him to the movies today.  All paws on deck!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wildlife Wonder
Ink:  Pecan Pie, Early Espresso, Old Olive
Paper:  Old Olive, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, All About Autumn DSP Stack
Accessories:  Rustic Metallic Dots

Meaningful Bear

Hey friends, hope you had a good Thanksgiving yesterday if you celebrate that.  We did!  Since our new dining room furniture is late getting here, we had Thanksgiving dinner on our plastic folding craft tables with a cheapo tablecloth on top, and used the folding chairs we take to the park : )  You gotta make it work, right?  I made my first-ever turkey and no one got salmonella.  We ate soooo much food that I said yesterday that I didn't want to eat for the next several weeks at least.  And what is in front of me as I type this?

Cannot resist the allure of sweet potato casserole.  Breakfast of champions!  I *love* sweet potato casserole but I'm the only one in my family who does (the hubs tolerates it, the kid sticks his nose up at everything that isn't a PBJ or Goldfish crackers) so I usually only make it once a year.

Anyway!  I do have a card to share today.

Had to take a picture at an angle to get that copper embossing powder to show up.  The dots are copper, too.

It might be a holiday week, but I still had to make a card for Freshly Made Sketches!

And as usual I used the Color Throwdown:

I used Soft Succulent, Basic Black, Crumb Cake, and the aforementioned copper accents.  It's been a while since I used Soft Succulent, it hasn't come up in color challenges lately I guess.  I do like this combination and the cool inspo pic.

Anyway, I need to finish eating my sweet potatoes and then we're going to hit up a Christmas market in Trier for the day.  Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's okay to do the Christmas things ; )  I don't like it when Thanksgiving gets stampeded by overzealous early Christmas stuff.  Gimme my holiday all about food and PIE! 

Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!

Striped Owl

Hey kids, it's 9 in the morning and the day has not gone to plan.  Ryan is home with a low-grade fever and sore throat, so I can't go to the Thanksgiving potluck at the hubs' work and I made a bunch of stuff for it :p Told the hubs he has to bring me back pieces of two things because I used new-to-me recipes and I want to try them.  On the up side, I get to stay at home in my nice warm jammies and it looks like it's going to rain and also I have my first cuppa tea for the day sitting next to me, so those are all good things.

So here's my card for today.

It ended up a bit darker than I really intended and I don't usually go much for the all-brown look.  It's definitely a masculine card!

Had to give the Sunday Stamps sketch a whirl:

And this fits with the Just Add Ink theme:

Which I missed the deadline for, but oh well, it *is* the reason I chose a bird for my card.

I'm going to go enjoy my nice cuppa tea and maybe cuddle on the couch with Ryan if he'll let me.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wildlife Wonder
Ink:  Soft Suede
Paper:  Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Neutrals DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Rustic Metal Adhesive Dots, Dimensionals

SUO Challenges: Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Tuesday, stampy friends!  It's time for a new challenge from SUO Challenges!

Hope you enjoyed the coloring challenge from last time, but today we've got a new one for you: we're celebrating Thanksgiving!  So here's what I made:

The Painted Pheasant stamp set was pretty much made for this challenge, am I right?  I inked up the pheasant with Versamark and Cajun Craze inks, stamped, and heat embossed with clear EP.  Then I added the other stamped bits so he'd have something to stand on.  It's fun sometimes to use a color other than white or vanilla for the main image panel, what do you think?

We hope you'll upload your own Thanksgiving creation on the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Pheasant, Wildlife Wonder
Ink:  Versamark, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Mossy Meadow, Crushed Curry, Thick Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Potted Succulents dies, Rustic Metallic Adhesive Dots, Dimensionals

Black Bear

Hey y'all, how is it Thursday already?  I feel like this week has flown by.  How about a masculine card for today?

I suppose it doesn't *have* to be a masculine card, but it can be.  I paired the Wildlife Wonder stamp set with the He's the Man DSP.  They were the perfect match for the Card Concept challenge:

As ever, my card is clean and layered.  And I used the Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch from last week:

It's a little different with the oval going off the edge of the card, but that worked for me since I don't have an oval die big enough to contain the entire bear image.

Okay, I'm off to work in my craft room.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wildlife Wonder
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Early Espresso, Sahara Sand
Paper:  Early Espresso, Sahara Sand, He's the Man Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Layering Ovals dies, Ornate Frames dies, Dimensionals, Brushed Metallic Dots

Paper Players: Wild About Wildlife

Salutations and greetings on this fine Sunday morning!  At least I hope it's a fine Sunday morning where you are.  We had gorgeous weather yesterday, hoping it continues today.  And there's a new challenge at the Paper Players to enjoy, too!

Not gonna lie, I loved this challenge.  I made a card for it weeks ago and then had to go back and make two more!  Couldn't pass up the excuse to ink up the awesome and amazing Wildlife Wonder stamp set for multiple cards, and here they are:

And now for some closeups:

I made the wolf card first.  I found the Basic Gray enamel dots in a pack of Halloween embellishments from a couple of years ago.

A single layer card for my bear dude here.  I stamped the thanks sentiment from this set on the inside of the card.

And I couldn't leave out the owl.  The sentiment strip looks blue in the pic (thanks to the uncooperative lighting where I live) but I promise it's Soft Succulent.

If you have even half as much fun as I did with this challenge, you're in for a happy Sunday :) Don't forget to upload your project(s) at The Paper Players blog!

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Cindy Beach

Christy Stanford

Jennie Maier

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wildlife Wonder
Ink:  Gray Granite, Cinnamon Cider, Memento Tuxedo Black, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Evening Evergreen
Paper:  Basic Gray, Gray Granite, Cinnamon Cider, Evening Evergreen, Crumb Cake, Soft Succulent
Accessories:  Tasteful Labels dies, gray enamel dots, Dimensionals

Wildflower Birthday Wishes

Hey y'all, happy Friday!  I can happily say that I had a productive day in my craft room yesterday :) First week of the new year and I've finished two scrapbook layouts already, and I made several cards too.  Sometimes when I have a day off I feel like I waste the time doing nothing productive, so this year I'm going to try to stay focused on what I want to get done on my days off.  So far, so good, and I have a card to share today.

My birthday is in January so I couldn't resist making another birthday card for the Inspire. Create challenge:

The birthday greeting is from the brand new Wildlife Wonder stamp set and I can't WAIT to make some cards with the animals in the set.  (The bear!!!)  Kinda laughing at myself because the stamp set has a very masculine feel and what do I make with it first?  Something feminine and PINK.  Ha!

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I hope the challenge gods will forgive me for turning this sketch into a landscape card.  I tried, but everything was much too squished in portrait mode.  I specifically wanted to used DSP for the square/rectangle elements on the sketch and I sorted through my giant stack o' DSP until I came to Sweet Symmetry and thought it would work with the sketch.

Hope you have fun weekend plans!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wildlife Wonder
Ink:  Night of Navy
Paper:  Bumblebee, Just Jade, Flirty Flamingo, Sweet Symmetry DSP
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Stitched Shapes dies, In Color Enamel Dot