Beach, Please with The Paper Players

Happy Sunday, y'all!  It's time for a new challenge from The Paper Players, and the lovely LeAnne has a fun theme for us!

My hubs and kiddo are both total water babies, so I do tend to buy stamps that have to do with the ocean, pools, the beach, etc.  So here's what I made:

My card base is Barely Blush, though it's a little hard to tell from the photo since it's such a pale color.  I haven't had good luck with the ink color but I do like the cardstock for this color.  I am 100% CASEing Jan's Paper Players card from a couple challenges back for my card today!  I turned my card vertical rather than horizontal and used a watery stamp from Rolling Waves for my horizontal element instead of the die, and then I layered on a net from the long-retired Sea of Textures and a pretty shell from By the Tide.  One antique pearl (because this is a CAS card) and done.  I actually made this card first:

Well, actually, I made it fourth but we'll get to that in a minute.  I thought this card ended up being a little too similar to Jan's new card for this week so I made the vertical one instead, but this one took some experimentation to find the right blue for my wave.  I ended up with Baja Breeze, but not before I tried three other colors:

Sorry for the shadow, but that's the best I could do in my house.  That's Hydrangea Hue, Balmy Blue (my ink pad is extra juicy right now so it turned out so dark), and Pool Party (also extra juicy).  Even though the Barely Blush card base is super pale, it still altered the ink colors of the blue enough that it did take some experimentation to find the right blue for the look I wanted.  But now I have some beachy cards to send out next week and that's no bad thing.

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:  By the Tide, Rolling Waves, Sea of Textures
Ink:  Crisp Cantaloupe, Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze, Night of Navy
Paper:  Barely Blush, Whisper White
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Antique Pearls
Paper:  Barely Blush, 

The Flying Saucer Mystery

Happy Saturday and welcome back to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we're taking a look at #58, The Flying Saucer Mystery:

All three colors are sticking mainly to the green and blue side of the color wheel.  The Wanderer arch cover this time around has some lovely greens and it definitely looks swampy.  The two checkerboard covers are so similar to each other but I like Nancy's outfit on the middle book the best.  Also did you notice that Nancy is strawberry blonde on the arch cover, but just plain blonde on the other two?  The artwork was like that last time, too.

Not sure I can pick a favorite cover...I like the arch one this time because horses and green, but I like the composition on the middle one quite a lot too.  So it's a tie between those two, the third one is fine but not as good as the other two in my opinion.  I mean, it doesn't even have the flying saucer on it.

Case file:  Buckle up, y'all, this one's weird!  Carson sends Nancy and the Drew Crew to the Shawniegunk Forest (possibly based on the real-life Shawangunk Ridge National Forest in New York state) to investigate sightings on a UFO in the nearby Dismal Swamp which sounds like a place the Addams Family would go on vacation.  Despite having professional guides, they get lost and lose supplies and some of the horses run off, but they also meet a naturalist and a First Nations man who is a walking bundle of tropes.  Nancy and Ned get on the titular flying saucer and possibly have hallucinations or else trip on swamp gases and in the end Carson calls in a team of scientists and also the Air Force.

Here's my first card:

Since the arch cover is the only one to feature the horses, I had to make a horse card so here is Nancy's mount, Susan B.  And once again I used the Everyday Arches dies.  I stamped a little forest on the bottom and kept the card pretty simple.

Green is my favorite color so you know I love making a green card too.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Let It Ride
Ink:  Early Espresso, Shaded Spruce, Stampin' Blends in Golden Glow & one of the neutrals
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Golden Glow, Mint Macaron, Very Vanilla, Mint Macaron DSP
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Rustic Metallic Dots

On to cover #2!

Let's not even pretend to act surprised that I bought flying saucer stamps for this challenge ; )  For this card I used a stamp set and matching dies called We've Come For Cake by Trinity Stamps and having grown up in the 80s that "Got milk?" greeting made me laugh.  I wish I had made my ink blend background a bit more saturated but oh well.

I had some fun with this one coloring everything in, but sadly my dark Mint Macaron Blend is totally dried out.  I still had to make my little green men green though.  There were no cows in this book, but we do have Trixie the Wonder Dog and a semi-tamed mountain lion named Kitty.

Supplies:
Stamps:  We've Come for Cake by Trinity Stamps
Ink:  Night of Navy, Blueberry Bushel, Azure Afternoon, Stampin' Blends in Azure Afternoon, Mint Macaron, Pool Party, Smoky Slate, Pecan Pie, Pretty in Pink, Peaceful Pine, Cajun Craze, Darling Duckling and I think that's it but I'm not sure
Paper:  Azure Afternoon, Night of Navy, Basic White, Darling Duckling DSP

And now for the third cover card:

After Nancy and Ned hallucinate about their trip on the UFO (Nancy's dream/hallucination/swamp gas trip involves her and Ned being telepathic, wearing weird futuristic suits with no zippers but they did have mechanical wings and BIRD FEET), they wake up to the First Nations man making them chew on some kind of leaf that makes them both feel better, so this was a great excuse to use my new Simply Leaves stamp set.

I used Taken with Teal for my card base to match the book cover, and that led me to the Autumn Meadows DSP which isn't necessarily a direct match for the cover colors but it's reasonably close.  Look closely and you'll see the stripes on the Really Rust leaf are the same as the pattern on the rust-colored edge of Nancy's top.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Leaves
Ink:  Really Rust, More Mustard, Bermuda Bay, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Taken with Teal, Very Vanilla, Autumn Meadows DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Pumpkin Pie Candy Dots

Finally we get a book that matches the level of bonkers shenanigans we enjoyed in Brass-Bound Trunk and Moss-Covered Mansion, and you know I love the ones that are totally bananas.  And boy, is this one bananas, especially Nancy's hallucination with the telepathy and the bird feet.  I do have to deduct points for the walking trope that is the only non-white character in this book, so I'm giving it four stars.  If you're inspired to make an out-of-this-world card, leave me a comment, and I'll see you next week where Nancy searches for The Secret in the Old Lace.

Balloon Bonus

Bonus post!  When I made my hot air balloon card earlier this week, I had at first stamped the greeting in Night of Navy before switching it to Gorgeous Grape, but then I decided I should make another balloon card with the navy greeting so here we are:

The CAS on Friday challenge is to use only dies and a greeting stamp, so I went with the big balloon dies and added a few clouds for good measure.  And this still fits in the Addicted to CAS challenge:

And that's it for me today, I have the kettle on and I'm going to go eat lunch.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lift Me Up
Ink:  Night of Navy
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Night of Navy, Whisper White, Full of Life DSP Stack
Accessories:  Up & Away dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals

Girl Put Your Records On

Mornin' y'all and happy Friday.  This post would have been up a while ago but for some reason I had to take FOUR pictures of today's card, there was some random bit of black something on it but I finally got a clean picture!  And today's card has me singing a song by Corinne Bailey Rae where she sings, "Girl put your records on, play me your favorite song!"  Here it is:

I missed the deadline for the Just Us Girls challenge but that's okay, I enjoyed making this card anyway.  Here's that challenge:

Which I paired with the new Color Hues Challenge:

I don't know why but I do associate black, white, and red with musical images.  Anyway, I had a good time playing with more of my retired stamp sets and that's the important thing.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  For the Record, Soft Swirls
Ink:  Real Red, Versamark, Real Red Blends
Paper:  Real Red, Basic White
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, black embossing powder, Dimensionals

Ryan had his last day of Lego bot-builders camp yesterday and here we are tailgating on Wednesday:

The lady who ran the camp came out and asked to take our picture because we were just SO CUTE together.  Speaking of cute...

Daphne's adorable when she's sleeping.  That is all.  Byeeee!

Hot Air Balloon Ride

Mornin' y'all!  I have about an hour until it's time to take lunch to Ryan at his camp so I'm going to type fast and try to get some work done in my craft room before I have to leave.  So here's today's card:

I pulled out the long-retired Lift Me Up stamp set for a variety of challenges today.  Let's start with the Shopping Our Stash color challenge:

My colors are a little off from the inspo pic but I had to use that Petal Pink cloud pattern.  I used Pool Party, Petal Pink, Highland Heather, and Gorgeous Grape; that smaller balloon is dark purple though it looks black in the photo.  Next up is this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I changed it from a square card to a standard A2 size so my middle panel stretched to a rectangle as well.  Last up is Addicted to CAS:

And this is the challenge that inspired me to ink up Lift Me Up for the first time in seven years.  As much as I love new stamps, it's fun to play with the ones that have been in my collection for a while.

That's it for now, peeps.  Check ya later!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lift Me Up
Ink:  Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grape
Paper:  Pool Party, Thick Basic White, Lighter Than Air DSP Stack
Accessories:  Up & Away dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Nested Essentials dies, Dimensionals, Solid Faceted Gems

Palm Breezes

Mornin' y'all!  I did get some cards made yesterday but today I have to go back to Ryan's camp early because they're showing off what they've been working on (it's a Lego bot-builder camp) so I think this morning will just be writing out this weekend's Nancy Drew and Paper Players posts since I have cards done for them and not really enough time to make something.  And also, this morning I finally found a copy of one of the paperback Drews that I've been looking for for the last year and a half!  Woo!

Anyway, today's blog post title sounds like the name of an apartment complex, doesn't it?  But here's my Palm Breezes:

I zeroed in on the palm trees in the Hand-Stamped Sentiments mood board:

I was already thinking about this challenge when I saw the new sketch from Retro Rubber:

I've had Balmy Breezes (the little palm tree postage stamp) for at least two years though I used it for the first time last year (I've used it for two Nancy Drew challenges so far), and Timeless Tropical is six years old.  I was going to do the palm tree from Balmy Breezes but the pair in Timeless Tropical were just a bit narrower and worked better with the sketch.  Maybe I should have looked for a more saturated pink/orange color wash, but Butterfly Bijou was the first DSP that I thought of so I went with it.  The darker coral on the postage stamps is actually the part of the DSP I cut off for the card front, it's much darker pink in that one corner.  Easy-peasy card with some retired punches and stamping directly on DSP.

That's it for now, peeps.  My second cuppa tea just finished steeping : )  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Balmy Breezes, Timeless Tropical
Ink:  Early Espresso
Paper:  Calypso Coral, Basic White, Butterfly Bijou DSP Stack
Accessories:  1" square punch, postage stamp punch, Pearls of Beauty

Beach Umbrellas

Mornin' y'all!  Still trying to adjust to Ryan's schedule this week but by the time I do, it will change for next week : p  As soon as I write this blog post, it will be time to pack up lunches and go pick him up for a car picnic, then I'll be back at the house for about two hours before I pick him up again.

Anyway, I had started a card during yesterday's chaos and didn't finish, so I had to get that done this morning and here it is:

I had to pull out Rolling Waves for this Time Out Challenge:

I tried to make this look different than the other cards I've made with these stamps and dies, and if you look at the edges of the white foam, they overlap the edges of the main image panel just because I thought it was fun that way.  I got my colors from the Inspired By... Challenge:

I used Tahitian Tide, Strawberry Slush, Tangelo Twist, Crushed Curry, and I needed a sandy color so I used Crumb Cake for that.  I do love those die cut umbrellas!

That's it for now, peeps.  I have several ideas that I want to get down on paper this afternoon so here's hoping my PM session will be productive.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Rolling Waves
Ink:  Tahitian Tide
Paper:  Tahitian Tide, Crumb Cake, Tangelo Twist, Strawberry Slush, Crushed Curry, Whisper White
Accessories:  Rolling Waves dies, Dimensionals, In Color Pearls in Tahitian Tide