Eiffel Tower Encore

Mornin' y'all!  I did not let Ryan ride his bike or rollerblades to school this morning as it's supposed to be rainy and SNOWY this afternoon.  Like my dad says, does Colorado know it's May?  Ryan only has two more weeks of school after this one and we have snow in the forecast.  Wild.

Anyway, I have another Eiffel Tower card to share today:

Do I have at least four SU! stamp sets featuring the Eiffel Tower?  Yes.  Did I buy this Eiffel Grunge stamp set from Unity last week anyway?  Also yes.  Do I have impulse control issues?  Probably.  But come on, that's a cool Eiffel Tower!  I stamped it in my newly inked up Basic Gray ink pad, die cut it, and added some color to the flowers with a blender pen as well as Wink of Stella on the tower, which doesn't show up in the picture because it's shy like that.

I've hit all the ingredients for the As You See It recipe challenge:

One word sentiment:  Bonjour!  Die cut:  four dies from three different sets.  Flowers:  on the stamped image and the patterned paper.  Frame:  patterned paper around the main image panel.  Shades of pink:  Pink Pirouette (I love this pink, I have been playing with it again recently) and Pretty in Pink.  I tried a Regal Rose card base but I didn't like it, so I stuck with two shades of pink.

For the filigree pattern behind the tower image, I tried stamping it with Pink Pirouette ink but it came out blotchy, so I flipped the cardstock over and stamped it in VersaMark and embossed with clear powder.  That means my card counts for the Inspire. Create. Challenge:

You can't tell from the picture, but the filigree looks shiny if you look at it from an angle, the tower is subtly sparkly, and I added Pretty in Pink sparkle gems.  So yeah, this card also fits in perfectly with this week's Paper Players challenge:

And to go along with my Eiffel Tower cards of late, I recently started reading a book about an early medieval French and English queen.  I listened to several episodes of You're Dead to Me over the weekend, which is a history podcast produced by the BBC and it's really entertaining and informative, and one of the episodes was about Eleanor of Aquitaine.  Listening to that reminded me that I was pretty sure I'd bought a book about her at some point, and as I had just finished a book, I did a search on my Kindle.  I was wrong, I have SIX books about Eleanor of Aquitaine.  Ha!  Okay, one is about her daughters, but still.  I picked one of the biographies and got started on Sunday night, it's really interesting.  Eleanor is the only woman to have been queen of both France and England, she went on crusade with her first husband, she's the mother of Richard the Lion-Heart and the dastardly Prince John of Robin Hood fame, and her second husband locked her up for over a decade because she wouldn't do what she was told.  She still outlived him I think.  Fascinating lady.

I've just finished my tea so I should take Daphne for a misty and cold walk around the neighborhood; the rain and snow is supposed to start after noon so this is the time to go.  Cheers...or should I say, ciao!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Eiffel Grunge by Unity Stamps, Filigree, Carte Postale
Ink:  Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette, Soft Sea Foam, VersaMark
Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Basic Gray, Thick Basic White, Pretty in Pink DSP
Accessories:  Eiffel Grunge die by Unity Stamps, Rectangles Stitched dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, clear EP, Dimensionals, Pretty in Pink Gems

Blackberry Blissful

Mornin' y'all and happy Star Wars day!  Ryan and I said May the Fourth Be With You to each other and then he tried to argue with me when I said Darth Vader could stop blaster bolts with his hand.  LISTEN, Padawan, I've been a Star Wars fan for 40 years longer than you!!!  And don't EVEN argue with me when it comes to the original trilogy, I know my stuff.

Okay, so I spent most of the weekend making cookies for the hubs to take into work and I didn't plan well enough to have a Star Wars card to share today, so we'll have to make do with this:

I've made a few cards with Blackberry Bliss as the main color and I like it.  The latest Color Dare gave me an excuse to make this card:

I used Blackberry Bliss (of course), Cloud Cover, and Soft Sea Foam.  I really like how the two lighter colors pop on that Blackberry card base, and the pearls I used are actually Soft Succulent but they blend really well with the two colors I used here today.  My greeting is stamped on Basic Beige; I've discovered that I like the cardstock but the ink just turns out to be a really yucky sick greenish color so I'm going to pretend that the ink doesn't exist.

I also used the new sketch from Sunday Stamps:

All the elements are there, though my placement of them is a little bit different since my greeting isn't as long as in the sketch.  This time I mostly played with the die cut ferns from Fern & Flora, and I have some Blackberry Bliss ribbon in my stash that dates back to when it was an In Color, ha!

That's it for now, peeps.  Have a great Star Wars day, I'm wearing a shirt with an Ewok on it : )  May the Fourth be with you!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fern & Flora
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Cloud Cover
Paper:  Blackberry Bliss, Cloud Cover, Soft Sea Foam, Basic Beige
Accessories:  Fern & Flora dies, Dimensionals, Festive Pearls, Blackberry Bliss Stitched Satin Ribbon

Girl Time with The Paper Players

Happy Sunday,  y'all!  Seems like stampers enjoyed Stef's sketch last week for The Paper Players just as much as I did : ) and now it's time for a new challenge brought to us by the wonderful Jaydee:

Girl time!  Your card doesn't have to be pink, but mine is.  Here's what I made:

I once went on a girls' trip to Paris with my friend Krissy (we lived in Germany at the time so it was just a short train ride away, so why not) and I had Paris on the brain because I recently bought some address labels with artwork of the Eiffel Tower and flowers on them, so I thought I'd make that in card form.  I actually started this card with the Eyelet Blooms die that was the April product of the month and built everything else on top of it.  I love the look of pale Pink Pirouette with black accents, and added in a bit of Pool Party just because I liked it.  The big flowers are from an old, old stamp set called Embrace Life, and I used a blending brush to add some ink to the flower centers and then used a marker to add darker pink too before I fussy cut them.  A few rhinestones and some crocheted trim and here we are.

Hope you'll enjoy this challenge too, after all we have Mother's Day coming up so we need some feminine cards, right?  The hubs asked me the other day if I wanted anything in particular for Mother's Day and I told him he bought me two more orchids at the store the other day...okay I bought them but he has to take care of them because both my thumbs are the blackest black and I can't keep plants alive for anything.  We already had a yellow orchid, and I got a blue-violet one with freckles and a teeny-tiny one with white flowers.  I do love to have orchids by my kitchen sink, especially since I'm not the one taking care of them.  We had five tiny ones above our kitchen sink in Germany.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Parisian Beauty, Embrace Life, Happy Happenings
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Pink Pirouette
Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Pool Party, Basic Black, Basic White, Parisian Blossoms Specialty DSP 
Accessories:  Parisian dies, Eyelet Blooms die, some kind of label punch, rhinestones, black crocheted trim, Dimensionals

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 Crooked Banister

Good morning friends, and welcome to the 48th Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today, Nancy is investigating The Crooked Banister.

Okay, so Rudy Nappi went ALL IN on the hot pink on this cover but I really like the composition with the crooked banister and that somewhat menacing robot.  Quite an eye-catching cover.

Case file:  Carson has clients who have been swindled by conman Rawley Banister, who has since disappeared, so he asks Nancy to investigate Rawley's peculiar mansion and see if she can find clues as to where he went, with the help of Rawley's two siblings.  Rawley liked to call himself the Crooked Banister and he's got a creepy robot, a literal crooked banister, poison paintings, hidden rooms, and a moat that sometimes catches on fire.  Yeah this one is pretty weird.

Here's my card:

Did I buy robot stamps just for this challenge?  Uh, YEAH, of course I did.  I had to make a card for Robby the Robot (who does not say "Danger Will Robinson!" because he IS the danger), and I really enjoyed the colors too:  Magenta Madness, Lovely Lipstick, and Mango Melody.

My robot is far less menacing than Nancy's.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nuts & Bolts
Ink:  Basic Gray, Versamark, Stampin' Blends in Smoky Slate & Magenta Madness
Paper:  Magenta Madness, Lovely Lipstick, Thick Basic White, Magenta Madness DSP, Lovely Lipstick DSP, Mango Melody DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, white EP, Dimensionals, Smoky Slate Pearls

One more card because I was having fun:

Rawley was obsessed with poisons so I had to do a poisonous card with the Sweet Hauntings stamp set.  I need to ink up my Lovely Lipstick ink pad, my background of poisonous drips was more subtle than I was really going for.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sweet Hauntings, Drizzling Droplets
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Lovely Lipstick, Stampin' Blends in Mango Melody, Magenta Madness, Lovely Lipstick, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Magenta Madness, Thick Basic White, Lovely Lipstick DSP, Mango Melody DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, Dimensionals, Neutral Matte Dots

Like I said before, this book is just a bit bizarre...well, more than a bit, but I do enjoy bananas hijinks so I'm giving this one three and a half stars because I think it's fun.  If Nancy and Robby inspire you to make a card, please leave me a comment so I can see!  And we'll see you next week when Nancy sleuths out The Secret of Mirror Bay.

Toadstool Appreciation

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan isn't feeling so great this morning, poor kid, but I dropped him off at school for just a one-hour assessment today and then he can change back into jams and rot on the couch for the rest of the day if he wants to.  We got dinner from a food truck last night because we were at an event at Ryan's school, so maybe his burger didn't agree with him.

Anyway, I do have a card to share today and that's what you're here for, so here it is:

Yep, once again I am using Words of Beauty that Joanne made me get : )  This time I used one of the Stylish Shapes dies and paired it with the retired Gathering Moments because it's my stamp room and I can do what I want.  Check out the Just Add Ink sketch:

I had to ponder this one for a few days, but I was looking through my stamps for something to go with the Creative Colour Challenge for this week:

And I came across Gathering Moments and thought it would be perfect for the three smaller circles on the sketch.  I actually had to make this card twice because the first time I used Lemon Lime Twist instead of Soft Sea Foam...I really like LLT with Blackberry Bliss, so I grabbed it even though I had written down the correct color.

Not much time now before I have to go pick Ryan up, hope he's feeling better soon.  I think he'll be vegging on the couch and watching Miraculous:  The Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, which is a pretty fantastic cartoon set in Paris and it's on Disney Plus.  Maybe I'll watch with him.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Gathering Moments, Words of Beauty
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Soft Sea Foam, Calypso Coral
Paper:  Blackberry Bliss, Soft Sea Foam, Thick Basic White, Regal Winter DSP
Accessories:  Gathering Moments dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Layering Circles dies, Pearls of Beauty, Dimensionals

Little Ladybug Thanks

Mornin' y'all!  We woke up to SNOW this morning, but the temperature is just above freezing so I don't think it's going to stick around too long.  It's still trying to snow out there though, so I think I will be driving Ryan to school this morning.

Anyway, I recently acquired (yet another) retired stamp set and it just happened that there was a confluence of sketch and color challenges for me to ink it up.  Here's my card:

Field Journal also has an image of a duck and we know how Ryan loves ducks, plus I like the font on the greetings in this stamp set.  It was brand new (until I got my hands on it, ha!) and I got it at a good price.

Here's this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I immediately saw that dividing line as a bit of ribbon, and I made my card a normal A2 size because I just don't like making cards in other sizes because I'm like that.  Here's the latest Color Dare:

I did Real Red, Shaded Spruce, and Balmy Blue.  I tried coloring the image with Blends first but I just didn't like it, so I used watercolor pencils instead.  The only part I blended with a watercolor brush is the Balmy Blue background.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Field Journal
Ink:  Early Espresso
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Basic White, Shaded Spruce DSP
Accessories:  Nested Essentials dies, Chocolate Chip Polytwill Ribbon, Dimensionals, Delightful Decorative Dots

One more project to share today, earlier this week I finished my stitching project:

The pattern is called Pretty Little Los Angeles from Satsuma Street, and I started it last month when we were in Telluride.  Before I started stitching, my brain was most insistent that I needed to do this on orange fabric and...I think I like it?  I'm not 100% sure, but for now it's done.  I pulled floss for a new project yesterday and then I had to organize all my printed patterns and fabric.  The fabric is still all over the bed in the guest room so I'll finish organizing that today and hopefully choose a color for my new project.

In the meantime, I've got to get Ryan off to school and then there will be several cups of tea.  Cheers!

Playful Puppers

Mornin' y'all, and send caffeine.  I woke up at around two last night and couldn't get back to sleep, so I read a book on my Kindle until about 4:30 (yep, finished that book).  On the upside, I'm 8 books ahead of my Goodreads reading goal for 2026.  On the downside, I'm going to be tired and headachey today.

But let's have a cheerful card, shall we?

I know there are kittens and birds in this stamp set, but let's be real, I got it for the doggos : )  I used the latest color challenge from CAS Colours & Sketches:

I was very tempted to make a Halloween card, but I went with puppers instead.  The flowers are colored with both shades of Flirty Flamingo Blends, bandanas are the two shades of Pumpkin Pie, and the puppers are, from left to right, Crumb Cake, Smoky Slate, Pecan Pie, and one of the dark neutrals because he looks like a Labrador to me and I always wanted a chocolate Lab.  Not to say I don't adore my Supermutt, Daphne:

This was her yesterday asking me to throw the rubber chicken for her.  She can, will, and does destroy most toys before you can say "Destructo-Dog", but the rubber chicken and the rubber duck are holding up pretty well.  My living room is currently decorated with the eviscerated fluff from a toy I bought her on Monday; she is completely unrepentant.  She's lucky she's cute.

Anyway, I'm off to make my second cuppa tea and then take Ms. Destructo-Dog out for a tour of the neighborhood.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Cutest Crew
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Lemon Lime Twist, Flirty Flamingo, Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake, Smoky Slate, Pecan Pie, neutrals
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Thick Basic White, LLT DSP
Accessories:  Cutest Crew dies, Nested Essentials dies, Dimensonials, Array of Dots