SUO Challenges: Cheers to Leilani!

Mornin' stampy friends!  It is time once again for a challenge at SUO Challenges!

And this time around, we are CASE-ing Leilani!  Check out her blog here, lots of pretties to choose from!

I chose to case this card, and here's what I came up with:

I chose to keep the drinks theme and the purple as the main color, but went with a different DSP.  Actually, two different DSPs:  the drinks are fussy cut from Celebratory Sips, the floral pattern is from that pack too, and the purple pattern is from the Everyday Skies pack.  Is that one still on the clearance rack?  I haven't looked, but that purple pattern seemed to coordinate pretty well with the Celebratory Sips pieces I used.  Once again I turned to Scenic Adventure for a "cheers" greeting to go with the Celebratory Sips drinks.  I don't drink alcohol ever so I tend not to buy the alcohol stamp sets.  A few retired Lemon Lime Twist Tinsel Gems and it's done!

Hope you have a great time perusing Leilani's blog for stampy inspiration, and then upload your creation at the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Scenic Adventure
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Old Olive
Paper:  Blackberry Bliss, Thick Basic White, Celebratory Sips DSP, Everyday Skies DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Tinsel Gems

BEARlin

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  We have our first frost this morning--last night Ryan looked out the back door and said it was raining snow, which sounds funny but looked like an accurate description of the weather to me.  He's disappointed that we haven't had any snow up to now, he enjoyed having so very many snow days off of school last year.  Maybe it's just getting a late start this year.

Anyway, for today's scrapbook layout, we're continuing our Berlin trip pics but this time it's all about the bears!  We discovered that there are bear statues all over everywhere in Berlin so we had Ryan get a picture with every one that we passed.

This is how I designed the layout, but when I went to take a picture of it I put the pages like this:

Do you have a preference?  I still think I like the top one better.  I had the pictures printed out 2x3 inches when I was working at the arts & crafts center in Germany, I was able to show my coworker what I wanted and she printed them out just how I needed to fit in a whopping EIGHTEEN pictures on this layout.  That might be a personal record.

I pulled in the Night of Navy, Call Me Clover, and Crushed Curry from the Funny Faces layout that goes right before this one, adding in Calypso Coral, Blueberry Bushel, and Bermuda Bay for my full palette on today's layout.  What took the longest on this layout was deciding which mat color should go with which picture, and then where each picture should be on the layout, I fiddled with picture placement for quite a while before I started sticking things down but I really like where I ended up.

I really want to get back into scrapbooking, I haven't made any pages in months as I've been concentrating on the Nancy Drew stuff (which has also been great fun).  Just never enough hours in the day to make (and read) everything I want to!  In related news, my newest stitching project is looking pretty good already : ) I wasn't feeling good over the weekend and so I put in a lot of stitching time while watching the first two Lord of the Rings movies, which was great fun and didn't require much energy.

That's it for me today, peeps.  I've got quite a few things to do today, we're starting Thanksgiving prep, I have errands to run and cards to write and a Daphne to walk.  Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Brushwork Alphabet, Geometric Menagerie from Altenew
Ink:  Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry, Night of Navy marker
Paper:  Night of Navy, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry, Call Me Clover, Bermuda Bay, Blueberry Bushel, Thick Basic White, Flowerpot DSP
Accessories:  None

Delivering a Sketch from the Paper Players

Mornin' y'all!  It's Sunday, which means it's time for a new Paper Players challenge!  This week we have a super fantastic sketch from the equally super fantastic Ann!

Here's my card:

So far I've only made a few Christmas cards this year, but I had to showcase the very cool North Pole Delivery Specialty DSP for this one.  The doggo in the cute sweater was die cut from the reverse side of the letters patterned paper.  I should have played with the dimensions of the rectangles using scrap paper before I cut into the DSP though, I ended up cutting into quite a bit of the patterned paper before I found the proportions I needed.  But I think I got there in the end and the only stamping on this is the greeting.  A few quick Garden Green Dear Dots and it's done : )

Head on over to the Paper Players blog to see what my teamies made, or visit their blogs below and leave a comment.  Don't forget the challenge 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 Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

you are here --> Christy Stanford

And most importantly, have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Jolly Delivery
Ink:  Garden Green
Paper:  Petal Pink, Poppy Parade, Thick Basic White, North Pole Delivery Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Jolly Delivery dies, Textured Notes dies, Dear Dots, Dimensionals

The Ghost of Blackwood Hall

Happy Saturday and I'm happy it's time for a new Nancy Drew Challenge!  This week's book is great too, take a look at The Ghost of Blackwood Hall:

Let's talk about the OT cover on the left and WHY does it look like Nancy is delivering a singing telegram?!  Also Bess and George seem to both have dark hair.  This book is actually pretty spooky so this cover seems like it doesn't fit, though someone in a Nancy Drew fan group on Facebook said this was their favorite book cover.

I like the RT cover on the right better, I think it fits the spooky vibe much better with the ghostly organist.  Nancy's hair is a weird shade of orange (as in Flaming Hot Cheeto orange), I'll give you that, but at least we can tell Bess and George apart.  I think Bess looks totally adorable on this one.

So let's take a look inside!

Case file:  Nancy meets widowed Mrs. Putney, who thinks her deceased husband is contacting her and believes everything the ghost says until she discovers that a box of jewels she buried in the woods per the ghost's instructions has been substituted with fakes.  Nancy's investigation takes her, Bess, and George to New Orleans, and we get seances and all kinds of suspicious characters.  Nancy doesn't go to the titular Blackwood Hall until a bit late in the book, but we get a haunted house too!  Nancy exposes a group of fake mediums who have hoodwinked people out of lots of money and finds Mrs. Putney's missing jewels too.

Here's my card:

I think the OT cover is a little bit silly with the singing telegram of it all, so I made a silly card to go with it.  Mrs. Putney and several other characters believe that they're being contacted by deceased loved ones and I could not resist this funny image of the ghost on the telephone.

I used blue for Nancy's shirtwaist (that is a shirtwaist, right?  Or is it just a vest?) and green for the overgrown plants in the background.  Had to get the woodgrain pattern because a lot of this book takes place at Blackwood Hall or in the woods nearby.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Boo-la-la and Hey Boo from The Ink Road
Ink:  Versamark, Basic Black, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Shaded Spruce, Pool Party
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Basic Black, Thick Basic White, Pacific Point DSP
Accessories:  Tinsel Gems, white EP

On to the RT!

I think after #18, The Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion, the revised texts stay very close to the originals other than condensing the plot from 25 chapters to 20 chapters, and that is the case here.  But I still made a second card, here it is:

I think the RT cover is pretty spooky so I made a spooky card to match the vibes.  I started by using blending brushes on some white cardstock for my blue and green background, then spritzed with a bit of water and let it dry.  For the haunted house, I embossed shimmery black embossing powder on black cardstock, then die cut it out so it's sparkly and fun.  I hunted through my dies and punches until I found this old something-label punch (I forget its name) that matched the ticket corners on the main image die cuts.

I have green and blue for George and Nancy's outfits, and a bit of deep orange for Nancy's Cheeto hair and maybe sorta Bess's shirt...well, it's a bit more red but whatever.  Good color choices on all three girls, no one looks like they shopped in Steve Irwin's closet this time.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  The Raven
Ink:  Blueberry Bushel, Azure Afternoon, Granny Apple Green, Garden Green
Paper:  Garden Green, Granny Apple Green, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White, Spooky Night DSP
Accessories:  Scary Silhouettes dies, ? label punch, Earthy Matte Dots

So there is The Ghost of Blackwood Hall.  I read these both in October and the spooky vibes were spot-on for Halloween season, five stars for both books.  Absolutely loved this story!  If you're inspired too, leave me a comment so I can see what you make!  Next time we''l be searching for The Clue of the Leaning Chimney.  See you then!

Thankful For Color Throwdown

Mornin' y'all!  Well, I was able to make two different desserts yesterday, get Ryan to school on time, take Daphne for a walk, and get the desserts delivered to the hubs at his work before 11:15 yesterday.  Pretty successful morning if you ask me : )  This morning I'm struggling to get Ryan to put on his clothes and brush his teeth, we need to leave in under five minutes and he'd rather make loads of noise than get ready.

Here's my card for today:

I'm a little sad because this card is for the last challenge of one of my longtime favorite challenge blogs, Color Throwdown:

I used Crushed Curry, Timid Tiger, and Garden Green for my colors, and one last time I had to pair this challenge with Freshly Made Sketches:

So, to the team at Color Throwdown, thank you for so many years of great color challenges.  I will miss playing along with the fun color palettes.

Okay, I need to hustle the kid out the door.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Gathering Moments
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Thick Basic White, Nests of Winter DSP, Timid Tiger DSP
Accessories:  Gathering Moments dies, Textured Notes dies, Perennial Postage dies, Mini Dimensionals, Delightful Decorative Dots

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

Gingerbread Season

Mornin' y'all!  Today Ryan has STEM club after school which means extra crafting time for me : )  I finished my latest stitching project yesterday so I will be kitting up the next one today...I always have *something* I want to make!  And tomorrow, I will be making desserts for a potluck thing at the hubs' work, which leads me right into today's card:

I've had the Homemade Treats bundle for WEEKS and this is the first time I've inked it up!  It's super cute and will coordinate well with the Frosted Gingerbread suite from a few years ago, and of course I still have the papers (and stamps and dies) from that.  I know exactly who this will go to as well, my dino-loving pal Krissy also loves to bake.  We've joked about how we should open a bakery together where she does cakes and cupcakes and I make cookies and muffins.

Very happy that the latest challenge at Addicted to CAS gave me an excuse to finally ink up a few of these stamps:

The first weekend in December, I will be making gingerbread muffins for breakfast.  I don't know that I've ever made gingerbread cookies but I do make muffins and some cream cheese frosted gingerbread bars (which I will be making tomorrow along with chocolate cherry bars and cranberry crumble pie bars).  'Tis definitely the season for baking at my house : )

That's it for now, peeps.  I'm going to finish breakfast, take Daphne for her neighborhood tour (she's already poking me with her nose, doggo loves her walks), and then go kit up that stitching project and work on some more cards.  Looks like a fun day to me.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Homemade Treats
Ink:  Pecan Pie, Calypso Coral
Paper:  Garden Green, Thick Basic White, Timeless Plaid Stack
Accessories:  Homemade Treats dies, Nested Essentials dies, Mini Dimensionals

And if you're curious, here's my newly completed stitching project:

The pattern is from Autumn Lane Stitchery and I got the fabric from Mystic Fabrics.  It's an opal fabric so it's sparkly, which is perfect for this nighttime scene.  I had hoped to finish this before Halloween, but it's done now so it's all good.  And here is my next project, I'm excited to start it!