Buzzy Bee

Mornin' y'all!  A bit late with the blog post this morning, I drove Ryan to school and then I went to Target to get a shoe rack for the hubs and a gift card for Ryan's teacher since this is the last week of school.  Then I made an appointment for Daphne at the vet tomorrow...she's been acting a bit weird and not wanting to eat her food, which is definitely abby normal for her, so we're getting her checked out.  But for now, I managed to squeak in enough craft room time yesterday to make a card:

I had thought I would just miss out on the bee-tastic Festive Friday Challenge because I thought it ended last week, but I'm in luck, it's still on:

I have yellow, black, hexagons, bees, and flowers, so half the list.  I paired that with the Freshly Made Sketch from last week:

I used hexagons instead of circles and plopped my extra-large bee on top of the three hexagons, but I think you can see I started from the sketch.

That's it for now, peeps.  We did get our closet painted on Saturday, which took forever because I do the edge work and there's a lot of shelves in there, but it's done and looks so much brighter than before, I love it.  But now I need to get the rest of my stuff in there, I did the hangy-up stuff and some plastic drawers yesterday but I haven't refilled the shelves yet.  Fun times, I tell ya.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Pool Party, Petunia Pop
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, Basic White, Cute as Can Bee DSP
Accessories:  Hexagon punch, Beautiful Shapes dies, Bee Builder Punch, Dimensionals, Hearts & Flowers embellishments

Snack Time with The Paper Players

Gooooood morning stampy friends!  Thanks to everyone who played along with Claire's fun color challenge last week, our gallery was small but mighty!  Today, the Paper Players are back with a great new challenge from the artistic Ann!

This was another time when I have SO MANY stamp sets I could use that it might have given me decision paralysis and then I ended up with two cards.  Last Friday was National Chocolate Chip Day (who knew that was a thing, but I approve), so I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and then I discovered later on Friday afternoon that National Chocolate Chip COOKIE Day is actually August 4, but I figured chocolate chip cookies count for National Chocolate Chip Day as well.  And Ryan got to gloat because he was right that Friday was National Chocolate Chip Day and not National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, so I'm glad to see they're teaching him the really important stuff at school.  Anyway, here's my card:

I bought the stamp set Roadies 19 from The Ink Road *just* for that greeting because my brother and I grew up eating raw cookie dough, which I realize may be a divisive subject but I thought this stamp was just hilarious.  I stamped the cookies from Nothing's Better Than and then put together a very simple CAS layout on a Pool Party card base, which I chose honestly because I was wearing a Pool Party-ish colored shirt when I made the card, and Pool Party looked good with Baked Brown Sugar and Early Espresso.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Nothing's Better Than, Roadies 19 from The Ink Road
Ink:  Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso
Paper:  Pool Party, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Love You More Than dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals

However, I had already made a different card for this challenge and I think it still deserves to be shared here, so take a look at a bonus card:

My dad and I like to share really silly puns ("dad jokes") with each other, and I will be mailing this card to him.  There was a Paper Pumpkin kit a while back that was based entirely on food puns, and I restarted my Paper Pumpkin subscription specifically to get that kit (and let's not talk about the 3-foot tall stack of other Paper Pumpkin kits that have not been opened, I conquered my FOMO and stopped my subscription again so at least that stack isn't getting any taller).  There's a little stamped image of an egg but I thought I could make a CAS fried egg out of cardstock, so that's what I did.  I die cut a circle for the yolk and then free-hand cut an amorphous shape for the egg white, sponged the edges of both pieces, and added a very simple greeting popped up on Dimensionals.  I chose a Basic Gray card base to look like a frying pan.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  My Paper Pumpkin
Ink:  Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Basic Gray, Basic White, Mango Melody
Accessories:  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 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.

Sketchy Pair

Mornin' y'all!  Happy Friday.  I have some work ahead of me today; I need to clear everything out of our closet because we're painting the master closet and all the ceilings in the master suite this weekend.  Hope it won't take too long before we paint the walls, too--I'm ready to have all that greige gone!  Well, after we paint the master suite, we'll still have greige in some of the smaller closets, but I'll let that slide because they don't bother me as much.

Anyway, I sat down yesterday to make a card based on a sketch, and since I let the patterned paper pretty much do all the work, I ended up with two cards:

And here's the sketch from Hand-Stamped Sentiments:

For the card on the left, I snipped the flowers out of some Lovely Blossoms DSP and that panel was not quite as wide as on the original sketch, but I think you can tell that's where I started.  And then I just had to make a second card with the Midnight Flora DSP too because I hadn't played with it for a little bit.

Time for me to get Ryan ready for school and then I'm going to start pulling everything out of the closet.  And then later today I've gotta make cookies because it's National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, which is definitely an important holiday.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Words of Beauty
Ink:  Secret Sea
Paper:  Barely Blush, Cloud Cover, Peaceful Pine, Secret Sea, Thick Basic White, Lovely Blossoms DSP, Midnight Flora DSP
Accessories:  Words of Beauty dies, Mini Dimensionals, Natural Matte Dots, linen thread, Night of Navy bakers twine

California Poppies

Mornin' y'all.  I've been feeling a bit under the weather since yesterday, not sure why, but I plan to take it easy today and get some rest to see if that helps.  Not that I'm usually all that wild and crazy, but ya know.  So far the craziest thing I've done is buy fourteen books : )  No wait, it was fifteen.  I found a couple of lots of Hardy Boys books on eBay for cheaps and I got a couple new Kindle books as well.  Yay new books!  And Ryan has soccer practice tonight, which means a guaranteed hour of reading time for me.

Anyway, I did get a card made to share today, having some fun exploring different color combinations with Fern & Flora, and I thought I'd try one of the smaller floral stamps for today:

I used this week's Creative Colour Challenge:

And now I think the flowers look like California poppies, which is fun.  I added just a teensy tiny bit of Smoky Slate shading on my image, but I ended up with a Smoky Slate card base just to make sure that color registers on my card.  I did a mirror image of the CAS Colours & Sketches sketch:

I almost always do my diagonals going upwards because it feels happier to me, is that weird?  If I use patterned paper with a diagonal on a scrapbook page, it's going up towards the right with very few exceptions.  Just how my brain works, I guess.  Anyway, I debated what to use for that diagonal on the sketch, and decided to just die cut a couple of ferns.

That's it for me today, peeps.  Daphne is already asking to go for a walk and then maybe I'll convince her to sit with me on the couch and watch The Mandalorian.  Or take a nap.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fern & Flora
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Pumpkin Pie, Lost Lagoon, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Smoky Slate, Lost Lagoon, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Fern & Flora dies, Nested Essentials dies, Dimensionals

Pink Peony

Mornin' y'all!  It's really nice outside so I opened the back door for Daphne, and she's been doing speed racer laps from the backyard into the house and back out again.  She looks like a happy doggo.

For today's card, I brought out another older stamp set and had some fun with masking and blending brushes, take a look:

HOLY COW I hadn't used Beautiful Day for SIX YEARS!!!  Well, I'm glad I brought it out of retirement for today's card.  It doesn't show much in the picture but I painted the navy lines on the flower with Wink of Stella for a bit of sparkle.  I wanted a big, bold flower for the Inspired By... Challenge:

Isn't that a lovely inspo pic?  I always love the combination of pink and navy, and those vases are gorgeous.  I paired that with this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I didn't put my dotty embellishments in the same place as on the sketch but hopefully the Challenge Police will let it slide this time.  I had a good time yesterday putting this card together, it was so fun to bust out that stamp set again.

Time to finish my tea and then take Miss Daphne for a walk, if she has enough energy after her zoomies this morning.  Oh who am I kidding, Daph always has energy for a walk.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Day
Ink:  Night of Navy, Pretty in Pink, Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Pretty in Pink, Thick Basic White, Floral Boutique DSP, Mossy Meadow DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, In Color Flat Pearls, Wink of Stella

A Beachy Sketch for SUO Challenges

Goooood morning stampy friends!  Are you ready for a new challenge from SUO Challenges?  Because we have one heading your way, and it's a fun sketch:

I mentioned yesterday that I finally got the Rolling Waves bundle in my hot little hands, and I couldn't resist using it for this sketch, so here's my card:

I had a good time layering the dies and the stamped detail for the waves, with the white foam standing in for the green strip on the sketch.  I combined two sets of circle dies for the sentiment and the only thing I wish I could change is where I put the seashell, it should be up closer to the sentiment but I'd already glued it down so there it stays.  A few In Color Dots and done!

I do have to say, though, that somehow I managed to order TWO of this bundle, I guess I was just so excited when it finally was back in stock?  That's the first time that's happened in over twenty years of being a demo for SU!, and in fact I had no idea that SU! doesn't do returns, only exchanges.  So I sent back the extra bundle for a very boring exchange of cardstock and some stamp cases.  That'll teach me to look more carefully before I submit an order!

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this sketch as much as I did, and upload your card to the SUO Challenges blog.  Don't forget that this is a Stampin' Up! Only challenge, like it says on the tin : ) Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Rolling Waves
Ink:  Blueberry Bushel, Coastal Cabana, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Blueberry Bushel, Coastal Cabana, Crumb Cake, Basic White
Accessories:  Rolling Waves dies, Spotlight on Nature dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, In Color Dots