Have a Sprite (Or Two)

Mornin' y'all!  I actually got in my craft room yesterday, finally wrote out this week's cards (usually I send them out on Monday so I was running late this week), and then I got to make something, woohoo!  I am looking forward to Ryan having a longer camp next week, this week I have about an hour and a half at the house between when I drop him off and when I go pick him up, and sometimes it's hard to get things done when the day is broken up like that.  But I shall persevere!

In the meantime, here's my card:

Heyyy I used an image from Summer Happiness that is NOT the sunglasses, or the sun!  Yay!  After I made this card, I did wonder if I should have used more Lemon Lime Twist, so then I made this one:

What do you think, the Coastal Cabana DSP or Lemon Lime Twist?  Either way, this layout was great for using up some smaller scraps of DSP, and a couple of long skinny scraps of Basic Black cardstock so that's a win.  I used the sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches:

The images in Summer Happiness are the perfect size for this sketch in my opinion, so maybe I'll go back and make a few more cards.  I haven't used the cherries yet.  For today's duo, I love the color combination from TGIF Challenges:

I really want to make a black card with bright pops of the other two colors now.  Maybe I'll have time to get that done after I take Daphne for her walk and before I drop Ryan off at horse camp.

Aww man, I'm out of tea, so no matter what I have to get up now.  Have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Summer Happiness, Cutest Crew
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Coastal Cabana marker, Pool Party & Lemon Lime Twist Blends
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Basic Black, Thick Basic White, Coastal Cabana or LLT DSP
Accessories:  Summer Happiness dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Shimmering Dots

SUO Challenges: CASEing Jolanda

ACK!  Apologies to my SUO Challenges teamies, for some reason I thought I had already written and scheduled this post and so here I am merrily organizing all my new books and the blog is postless!  So let's fix that now, and this is a fun new challenge where we CASE Jolanda!

So here's what I came up with:

I was looking for a DSP that had yellow and pink in it and then for this card I ended up with part of the wash that's mostly orangey.  I *finally* used the Flowers Fair stamp that Joanne and Jan convinced me to get--hooray!  And I found the exact thanks greeting that Jolanda used in Notes of Spring.  I turned her card layout on its side for something different and added some Strawberry Slush gems below the greeting.

This was actually my second card for this; here's the first one:

This one just didn't feel balanced quite right and I'm not sure why, so I made the Flowers Fair card and I felt like that one was more successful.

We hope you'll play along and post your card on the SUO Challenges blog.  Don't forget to keep it to Stampin' Up! products only for this challenge, and have fun!

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Flowers Fair, Notes of Spring
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Strawberry Slush, Pumpkin Pie, Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Thick Basic White, Garden Poetry DSP
Accessories:  Eyelet Blooms die, Strawberry Slush Gems, Dimensionals

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Fern & Flora
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Flirty Flamingo, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake, Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Thick Basic White, Shy Shamrock, Crushed Curry, Garden Poetry DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Leaves die, Fern & Flora dies, Dimensionals, Array of Dots

And if you scrolled down this far, here's what I was working on this morning:

Innit BEAUTIFUL!  Really I could space out the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books to completely take over both shelves (especially since I have quite a few paperback Hardy Boys books still to add to my collection), but the two shelves upstairs are overstuffed even after I sold three boxes of books last week when we were in Texas.  So for now at least, I have my Patricia Briggs and Kristen Britain hardcovers on the top shelves here, then Nancy Drews , then Hardy Boys, and the bottom right shelf has the ND/HB super mysteries.  I'd love to get another bookshelf but I really don't know where I would put it...I wonder if it would fit in the entryway?  I can just imagine the side-eye my hubs would give me if I floated that idea, ha!

Merry Tidings

Mornin' y'all!  How was your 4th of July?  The hubs and I drove out to Texas on July 1 and were reunited with our spawn:

We celebrated Mom's birthday on the 2d, and went to the annual 4th of July shindig at my brother's house where we traditionally celebrate my SIL's birthday (which is on the 5th) and shoot off fireworks (they're legal there).  Then we got up super early yesterday and drove back to Colorado.

Anyway, despite all the traveling, I do have cards to share today!  CAS on Friday wants to see Christmas in July so here it is:

I got out last year's North Pole Delivery Specialty DSP and a two-part greeting from the coordinating Jolly Delivery.  This was actually my second card, I wondered if the first one was CAS enough:

I started out with a scrap of the green postmark pattern and maybe it should have been a bit narrower to be more CAS, plus I used three of the punch-out elements from the paper and some Dear Dots so I think this might have passed out of CAS territory and into clean and layered.  Hence the second card.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Jolly Delivery
Ink:  Poppy Parade
Paper:  Petal Pink, North Pole Delivery Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Mini Dimensionals, Dear Dots

So every time we go to Texas, I always try to hit up as many Half-Price Books stores as I can manage; this time I dragged my reluctant parents to EIGHT and the used book gods were very kind:

I scored around 65 books for myself, plus 18 for Ryan (he's reading the Hank the Cowdog series and I found a bunch of those), and 8 CDs.  I only have three more matte Nancy Drews to track down and I made quite a dent in my list of Hardy Boys books to acquire : )  While out shopping with my mom, I also got two pairs of earrings (on clearance), a pair of capris (on sale), and NINE pairs of shoes (free, because my mom was clearing out her closet and we wear the same size).  The hubs acquired a brand new fancy RC car and Ryan is disgruntled that he doesn't get to play with it, but we've seen how he took care of *his* RC car.

I got a slow start this morning, I was so tired after we drove all day yesterday, but I'd better get moving because we need groceries and Ryan has horse camp this afternoon.  Cheers!

Summer Love with The Paper Players

Mornin' y'all and happy Sunday!  It's time for a new challenge from The Paper Players and this time the amazing Ann has a fun theme for us:

Does anyone else's brain automatically start singing "Summer lovin', had me a blast" from Grease?  Just me?  Okay.  Anyway, I kept zoning in on the sunset scene on the top right of the challenge graphic, and I happen to have all these beautiful sunset papers in the Scenic Coast DSP that I have yet to cut into, so I made this:

If my card layout looks familiar, that's because it's Joanne's sketch from last week.  I said then that it was a great sketch to showcase some patterned paper, and after staring at the dies in the Sunset Coast bundle for a long time I decided that I just needed to show the paper off.  So I chose a sunset, and then stamped a bouquet of flowers that I think look like the kind you'd find near the coast, something about the way they're drawn makes me think of sand dunes but maybe my brain is just weird.  Anyway, I'm at a time in my life where most of my friends have been married for quite a long time but we're not quite to the point where friends' kids are getting married (and Ryan is 9, I think I have some time before I have to worry about him bringing home girlfriends, much less getting married), so I elected to go with an anniversary sentiment.  I added some Peaceful Pine Dots to bring a little more green to the card.

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!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sunset Coast, Fern & Flora
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Blueberry Bushel, Stampin' Blends in Daffodil Delight & Peaceful Pine
Paper:  Blueberry Bushel, Thick Basic White, Scenic Coast DSP
Accessories:  Fern & Flora dies, Mini Dimensionals, In Color Dots

The Thirteenth Pearl

Happy 4th of July, y'all, and welcome to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  We get fireworks for the final hardback Nancy Drew, #56 The Thirteenth Pearl.

The one on the left is my childhood copy, and the one on the right is another matte edition that I picked up at that middle-of-nowhere used book store in Wyoming; the colors are just a bit more saturated on it but for now at least I plan to keep them both.  We get a fun BLUE book cover this time and you can tell we're traveling based on the building depicted on this cover.  I do like how Nancy is in profile and she's the only spot of color on this otherwise blue and gray cover.

Case file:  Japanese jeweler Mr. Moto asks Nancy to locate a missing pearl necklace that belongs to a wealthy socialite (we hear about her a lot but she never actually appears in the book), and shortly after that Mr. Moto also disappears.  Nancy and Carson follow rather insubstantial clues to Tokyo and start tracking an international gang of jewel thieves; upon returning to River Heights the book takes a very strange left turn when Nancy and Ned spy on a cult of pearl worshipers before getting kidnapped.  At least we got a daddy-daughter trip to Japan first, it's fun to have more Carson than usual in this one.

Here's my card:

Naturally I had to do a card featuring pearls for The Thirteenth Pearl, though I included seven pearl embellishments and a bunch of stamped ones.  Did I purchase Seaside Bay specifically to make a card for this book?  Yep.  Of course I did.

I found this Azure Afternoon (and possibly Pool Party?) wash in the Lights of Aurora DSP Stack and I like how it feels like you're underwater and the sun is shining into the water.  I kept a very simple layout and just did some Barely Blush shading on the inside of the oyster and some Wink of Stella on the pearl.  They do talk about color variations in pearls in the book, mentioning pink specifically.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Seaside Bay
Ink:  Basic Gray, Barely Blush, Barely Blush Blends
Paper:  Basic Gray, Azure Afternoon, Barely Blush, Basic Beige, Lights of Aurora DSP Stack
Accessories:  Seaside Bay dies, Layering Circles dies, Circles Collection dies, pearls, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

It's the last hardcover book, you know we're not stopping with one card.  Here's my second:

I bought Geisha Anya from The Greeting Farm many, many moons ago (I have a collection of Asian-inspired stamps since we used to live in Japan for a couple of years) and I'm fairly certain this is the first time I've used her as I still had backing paper on the stamp.  I had some fun coloring in her hair and her kimono, and this time I used some In Color Dots but they look like the flat pearls we had last year in the newer colors so they're still pearls.

I decided to use some Golden Glow for Nancy's hair this time and Flirty Flamingo and Barely Blush for pinks to go with Nancy's face.  And lots more Azure Afternoon for my blue book cover.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Geisha Anya from The Greeting Farm, Symbols of Solicitude, French Filigree
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Azure Afternoon, Stampin' Blends in Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Barely Blush, Azure Afternoon, Golden Glow
Paper:  Azure Afternoon, Basic White, Moonlit Flora DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, In Color Dots

But wait, there's more!

I had pulled Power of Hope and this pagoda before I remembered that I had Geisha Anya, but I wanted to make a card with it too.  I used the leftover scrap of DSP from my first card here and once again accented with more pearls.  I found the Basic Gray DSP scrap in my stash.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Power of Hope
Ink:  Azure Afternoon, Basic Gray
Paper:  Azure Afternoon, Basic Gray, Basic White, Lights of Aurora DSP Stack, Basic Gray DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, pearls

The Thirteenth Pearl trucks along fairly normally by ND standards for like the first 80%, and it reminds me of Fire Dragon where Nancy and several friends visit Hong Kong.  Nancy even dresses up in a kimono and wig to pass herself off as Japanese in this one while George impersonated a specific Chinese girl in Fire Dragon, which is still not my favorite plot point.  I did like the part of this book spent in Japan and we learn quite a bit about cultured pearls, but the ending of it just comes out of left field where suddenly there's not just jewel thieves but a pearl cult.  Say what now?  The heck is a pearl goddess??  I give it three and a half stars for the bizarre turn, it does get extra credit for going to Japan because I loved that part of the plot.

This is the last hardcover Nancy Drew, so does that mean we're done with the Nancy Drew Challenge?  Heck no!  Starting next week, we'll turn over to the Simon & Schuster paperbacks, and not only are there many many of those, there are several cover variations for a lot of them too so I have a whole lot of cards in my future.  If you're inspired to make a card based on today's book, leave me a comment!  And I'll see you here next Saturday for The Triple Hoax.

A Natural Pair

Mornin' y'all, hows your day going?  You ever see a challenge or two and your brain immediately comes up with an idea?  That's how this card happened:

I loved the colors at Creative Colour Challenges this week:

They already had me thinking of Nature's Symphony and the Nature Walk DSP when I saw this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I like it when challenges work together so easily.  Makes life more fun : )

Check you later, peeps.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nature's Symphony
Ink:  Night of Navy, Pretty Peacock, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Night of Navy, Granny Apple Green, Basic Beige, Nature Walk DSP
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, Nature's Symphony dies, Dimensionals, Sparkle Dot Essentials

Just My Style

Mornin' y'all and happy birthday to my mom!  And I get to spend the day with her too : )  So my card for today is inspired by my mom, who is a seamstress extraordinaire and loves purple:

Okay this is a simple one-layer card (other than the sequins, I suppose) but I had some trouble with it!  I saw the Addicted to CAS code word:

And my brain immediately went to the old, old stamp set Pattern of Friendship with this fun illustration of the two ladies.  I have many fond memories of going to Hancock Fabrics with my mom and looking through all the pretty fabrics and she has tons of patterns with pictures like that.  My problem is that this image is pretty dang big, so how to keep a CAS card when so much of the real estate is taken up by the image.  This was actually attempt #2 and I still went back and forth on if I should stamp the greeting from Haute Couture on a scrap of white and pop it up, but I thought I'd try stamping it over the image in Blackberry Bliss.  So do you like the one-layer look, or is it better like this:

I think either of those is better than my first attempt; if you're curious, here's that:

I was trying too hard to incorporate a color challenge, I definitely like the monochromatic purple better.  So sometimes a card just doesn't quite want to work for me but at least I think I like where I got in the end.

That's it for me today, I'm going to hang out with my mama.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pattern of Friendship, Haute Couture
Ink:  Fresh Freesia, Blackberry Bliss
Paper:  Fresh Freesia
Accessories:  Purple Sequins

Supplies, second card:
Stamps:  Pattern of Friendship, Haute Couture
Ink:  Polished Pink, Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Polished Pink, Lemon Lolly, Whisper White
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Artistry Blooms sequins