One Fabulous Chicken

Mornin' y'all!  How long has it been since I made a card with the fun chickens in Hey Chuck?  Well, too long as it turns out, so I have one to share today:

CAS on Friday wants to see clean-and-simple cards featuring birds, so this chicken said she's ready for her close-up, Mr. DeMille.  Or is it a rooster?  I'm not an ornithologist, I don't know.  The hubs was sitting across from me as I colored in the image so he chose the colors for those shorts.  I really want a stamp that says "I'll rise, but I won't shine", but since I don't have one (or if I do, it's hiding really well) that Dare to Be Fabulous popped in my head and I just had to use it here.

Hope you have a fabulous day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hey Chuck, Fabulous Flowers
Ink:  Early Espresso, Pretty Peacock, Stampin' Blends in Poppy Parade, Pecan Pie, Pretty Peacock, Timid Tiger, Pineapple Punch
Paper:  Pretty Peacock, Thick Basic White, Gold Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Hey Chuck dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals

Fun in the Sun

Mornin' y'all!  Hope you are having a great week, and I have some sunshine to share with you today:

I told you, I love those sunglasses.  I made this for the AAA Cards Challenge:

I think my card fits summer and sun, and summer is also the theme at Just Us Girls:

That's it for now, peeps.  I'm gonna grab my sunnies and head outside.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Summer Happiness
Ink:  Gorgeous Grape, Daffodil Delight, Tahitian Tide Blends
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Summer Happiness dies, Perennial Postage dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Flower Lineup

Mornin' y'all!  We have family visiting us for a few days this week, but I made cards ahead of time so I would still have stuff to post here.  Wouldn't want ya'll to think I forgot about you : )

So here is my card for today:

I pulled yet another stamp set out of my To Sell? boxes for today's card, I've hardly ever used Pressed Flowers but it seemed like the stamp set for the job when I saw the Inspired By... Challenge:

I decided to switch out the first color for Rococo Rose, but kept Lost Lagoon and Darling Duckling for the other two colors.  I did a deep dive in my patterned paper hoard in yet another attempt to Just Use The Paper and found a nice light woodgrain pattern to go behind my colorblock flowers.  And there's MORE ribbon, though this Basic Gray taffeta has been in my collection for quite a while.

Well, I'm off to entertain our guests, y'all have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pressed Flowers, A Touch of Ink
Ink:  Rococo Rose, Lost Lagoon, Darling Duckling, Gray Granite
Paper:  Gray Granite, Rococo Rose, Lost Lagoon, Darling Duckling, Basic White, Festive Farmhouse DSP
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Basic Gray taffeta ribbon

Sunny Days with The Paper Players

Good mornin' y'all!  And it's Sunday, which means it's time for a new Paper Players challenge!  I am hosting this month's color challenge and it's right here:

I chose some bright, summery colors and I hope you enjoy them.  You can pick three or use all four, which is what I did:

In addition to all those Halloween goodies I got last week, I also got the upcoming Summer Happiness bundle and how CUTE are those sunglasses!  The greeting is from Sunset Coast, which I've had for a little bit but hadn't inked up until this card, I just liked that greeting with the sunglasses and you know you're going to be seeing them a lot this summer.  And lookit me using more of that ribbon I just got!  Don't know why all of a sudden I want to use ribbon when I've only rarely used it for the last several years.

Hope you enjoy these bright colors as much as I did!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Summer Happiness, Sunset Coast
Ink:  Gorgeous Grape, Coastal Cabana, Lemon Lime Twist, Strawberry Slush Blends
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Lemon Lime Twist, Thick Basic White, Gorgeous Grape DSP
Accessories:  Summer Happiness dies, Nested Essentials dies, Strawberry Slush ribbon & gems, 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 Strange Message in the Parchment

Happy Saturday, y'all, and welcome to this week's Nancy Drew Challenge!  This week Nancy is puzzling out The Strange Message in the Parchment:

We got a color break last week with The Sky Phantom, but now we're back to mostly warm browns like Forgotten City.  Why are so many Nancy Drew covers mainly brown?  This one is a more collage style like some of the Drews in like the teens.  It's okay, but not my favorite; Nancy almost looks like she's sleeping here.

Case file:  Nancy's friend Junie Flockhart (whom we have never heard of before and never will again, I reckon) invites Nancy to her family's sheep farm to see if she can figure out the story behind a piece of artwork done on parchment that her father bought (there are four images, seen on the cover of the book).  Nancy manages to find the original artist, reunite a kidnapped child with his mother, and expose Junie's mean neighbor as a villain.  And she visits a sheep slaughterhouse o.O

Here's my card:

Junie introduces Nancy to one of the shepherds on her family's farm, Ezekiel (who goes by Eezy), who likes to drop Bible verses constantly in conversation.  One of the panels on the parchment features angels, so I made an angel card with a Bible verse on it.  I stamped the angel on Creamy Caramel cardstock, which has been retired for a very long time but it's been coming in handy of late with all these brown book covers, and then used my handy dandy 100-pack of Crayola pencils to color her in.  I found that Cinnamon Cider pattern and the interlocking circles made me think of halos, so that works.

I think the pencil strokes where I colored in the angel coordinate pretty well with the cover art, what do you think?

Supplies:
Stamps:  Angels of Peace, Blessings from Heaven
Ink:  Early Espresso, Cinnamon Cider
Paper:  Cinnamon Cider, Creamy Caramel, Very Vanilla, Flowers for Every Season DSP Stack
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Dimensionals, Crayola colored pencils

And I have one more card:

We spend a lot of time with sheeps in this book (hey, check out Whistling Bagpipes for more sheeps), so I wanted to make a card with a sheep on it and I happened across the stamp set Nursery Times which I haven't used in aaaaaaaages.  Is she Little Bo Peep or Mary Had a Little Lamb?  Well, Mary's lamb had white fleece so I'm saying Bo Peep for my card, which reminds me of Velvet Mask because Bo Peep is Bess's costume of choice for the masquerade parties in that book.

I went with brighter colors on this one, focusing on the color of Nancy's shirt and her lips are kinda pink, but I still have Cinnamon Cider on there.  Hey, I had a scrap of that paper left over from the first card so why not use it here.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nursery Times, Once Upon a Time, Hearts a Flutter
Ink:  Early Espresso, Pretty in Pink, Stampin' Blends in Coastal Cabana, Cinnamon Cider, Pretty in Pink, Petal Pink, Ivory, Neutrals
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Pretty in Pink, Basic White, Flowers for Every Season DSP Stack
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, Hearts a Flutter Framelits, Dimensionals

This one is a bit unusual as Nancy is investigating with just Junie for most of the book; the rest of the Drew Crew shows up in just the last couple of chapters.  I mean, the boys do that a lot but usually she's with Bess and George for the whole adventure.  I read reviews on Goodreads for this and a lot of people say this book is anti-vegetarian propaganda, and I do have to say the parts where they visit the slaughterhouse are weird and jarring for a Nancy Drew book.  We do have one instance of sci-fi weirdness that has characterized these books in the 50s as well, this time with mechanical attack birds.  I'm giving this one two and a half stars.  If you're inspired to make a card based on this book, leave me a comment so I can see!  And come back next week when Nancy tackles the Mystery of Crocodile Island!

Wisdom from Mrs. Roosevelt

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan had his last day of this week's camp yesterday so I got to sleep in a little...or I would have if not for Miss Daphne : p  SHE wants to get up at six even if she doesn't bother to eat her breakfast until noon.  But she's cute.

Anyway, I was looking for something in my stamp library yesterday and I came across Favorite Thoughts and had to make a card with it immediately, so here it is:

Isn't that a great quote?  I saw it and immediately thought of the Have a Cuppa DSP Stack since I remembered it had tea bag patterns, and then I had to stamp the large teacup from A Nice Cuppa  to go with the latest challenge at Color Hues:

I used Polished Pink and Bermuda Bay for my colors, though the ribbon on the tag is actually Pretty in Pink.  I need to ink up my Polished Pink ink pad.  I also used the sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches:

Since a.) I don't like making square cards and b.) my tag tie is large and in charge, I did a standard A2 card instead of the square shown in the sketch.  I wanted to put some little gems on there but I resisted the urge since this is a CAS challenge.

That's it for now, peeps.  I'm going to try to get Daphne to eat her breakfast, wish me luck.  We think she's holding out in case we decide to give her treats instead, but it's not going to work AND I won't take her for a walk until she eats either.  So there.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Favorite Thoughts, A Nice Cuppa
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Polished Pink
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Basic White, Have a Cuppa DSP Stack
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Cups & Kettle dies, Merriest Trees dies, Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon, Dimensionals

Lighthouse Triptych

Mornin' y'all!  I had a good time in my craft room yesterday and I have a couple of cards that you'll be seeing in the next few days, but let's start with this one:

We are kicking it old school for the Retro Rubber Challenge:

Okay, I pulled out Coast to Coast for The Card Concept (graphic below), and it is 19 years old so definitely retro.  So for Retro Rubber's tic-tac-toe challenge, I went across the top with die cuts, stripes, and my choice (stamping directly on patterned paper).  And now I have a story to tell because I can't believe this worked.  I pulled out the old Nautical Expedition DSP to go with my lighthouse, and I wanted to stamp ON the patterned paper but I only had a few small horizontal scraps of the pattern I liked best for that, so how to solve that...think think think...I cut three of the scraps with a Textured Notes die, then adhered them to some solid cardstock in a line and held my breath when I stamped the lighthouse on top since I didn't have enough scraps to do it twice.  Success!  BUT then I noticed I had used Night of Navy for my mat, and the paper is actually Not Quite Navy (long-retired color that I still love).  Oh, calamity!  The lighthouse is stamped in Night of Navy, but that didn't bother me like the cardstock did.  Maybe no one else would notice it, but *I* noticed it, and now I'm really in a pickle because the paper is stuck down.  So what did I do?  I got some dental floss and gently worked it between the layers of paper and I was able to remove the patterned paper *without* it getting warped and creased and unusable.  I can't believe that worked!  So then I put my lighthouse triptych on the correct color cardstock and thanked the stamping muses for blessing me.

Here's The Card Concept that inspired me to break out Coast to Coast after many years:

I'd say my card is in the clean and layered style.  As I was finishing up my card, I decided at the last minute to add some twine as an accent, and because of that I just realized this morning that my card also counts for the Just Add Ink Challenge:

Time to get Ryan to his camp for today.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Coast to Coast
Ink:  Night of Navy
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy, Nautical Expedition DSP
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, linen twine, Dimensionals, watercolor pencils