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

LIfe's a Beach

Mornin' y'all!  I said last week when I did my swimsuit card that I thought of another stamp I could use when I finished that one and guess what I made...

It's Bikinibella!  Man, it's been a while since I used any of the Bellas from Stamping Bella, but she was perfect for the Festive Friday Challenge:

This time, I've got pink, blue, polka dots, bikini, and a beach towel.  One stamp hit half the list, pretty good I think : )  I liked her on the bright colors and fun patterns in the Bloom Impressions DSP so I went with that for my other layers.

That's it for me today, peeps.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Bikinibella and greeting from Stamping Bella
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Azure Afternoon, Ivory, Pecan Pie, Petal Pink
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Basic White, Bloom Impressions DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, Happiness Blooms Enamel Dots

Lilacs Abound

Mornin' y'all!  I had the house all to myself last night other than Daphne, and she's kind enough to let me choose what we watch on TV, so I *finally* finished season 3 of The Mandalorian!  I loved it, I had to put down my stitching project to pay more attention to the show.  We didn't finish that until 9:30 last night and then I once again stayed up too late reading...I am flying through the Penny Parker mysteries which were written in the 1930s and 1940s by Mildred Wirt Benson, the first of probably many ghostwriters using the name Carolyn Keene to write Nancy Drew books.  These ones were written and released under her own name and I have been having a ball with them; I think I started on Friday and I've finished the first three.  Suffice it to say I was up past my bedtime.  Also they're free on Kindle and I like free stuff.

Anyway!  I have made quite a few cards of late so I do have not one, but two to share today.  Here's the first one:

I am fully aware that lilacs grow the other direction (pointing up) but let's just call this artistic license, shall we?  There was a house in our neighborhood in England that had lilacs in their front yard, and another one with lavender.  Lots of flowers in that neighborhood which made daily walks with the doggos more interesting as the seasons progressed.  Anyway, the colors from CAS Colours & Sketches had me thinking floral:

I must admit that I don't think Blackberry Bliss and Gorgeous Grape go together at all, so I solved that problem by stamping the lilacs in various strengths of Gorgeous Grape and then stamping the greeting in Blackberry Bliss, which came out so dark it looks almost black anyway.  I paired that with the sketch from AAA Cards Challenge:

I liked the lilacs bursting forth from the left side of the card and for some reason I'm not really feeling the urge to make 4th of July cards this year, so flowers instead of fireworks are the order of the day.  This card did take two tries though; the first time I started by stamping the stems first rather than starting with the flowers and this happened:

They ended up taking over more of the card front than I really wanted them to for the sketch, so I stopped working on this one and made the first card instead.  But then I decided that there was no reason not to finish out this card, and I frequently send similar but not identical cards to my friends Lori and Toby so here's my second card.  All the supplies are the same except I used Gorgeous Grape for the greeting instead of Blackberry Bliss.

I am going to do a nice restorative yoga session this morning before I take Daphne out for her walk, and then I need to do some straightening up around the house before I start crafting today.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Blossoms Abound, Happy Greetings
Ink:  Gorgeous Grape, Garden Green, Blackberry Bliss
Paper:  Garden Green, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Nothin' but a Stamp-a-ma-jig, these are CAS cards y'all

The Bluebird of Happiness

Mornin' y'all!  Hope your Monday is off to a good start.  It's a gorgeous day out side so as soon as I finish this blog post, I'll be taking Miss Daphne for her daily walk.  It's lovely to be out in the sunshine for 30 minutes every day.

But let's start with a card, shall we?  Once again I have pulled a couple of stamp sets out of retirement, here's my creation for today:

I could not resist making a card with Bird's Eye View after seeing this Inspired By... Challenge:

I did use Pumpkin Pie for my bluebird's belly, but I used the lighter Blend so it's not reading as orange as the inspo pic.  Still I think you can tell where I started.  Next up is last week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And I will admit, you kinda have to squint your eyes and tilt your head to one side to see the sketch, but it IS where I started.  The bluebird is the circle element and the tree branch is the long strip, which would have been closer to the sketch if I hadn't stamped the leaves on the branch but I just had to.  I added some clear gems for the foliage behind the circle element and added my greeting underneath.  So it's not as strict of a sketch interpretation as I usually do, but I promise that's where it started and I do really love how this simple little card turned out.  I loved playing with Bird's Eye View again.  I need to remember to ink up my Azure Afternoon ink pad though.

The great outdoors is calling, so Daph and I must go.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bird's Eye View, Perennial Postage
Ink:  Early Espresso, Azure Afternoon, Stampin' Blends in Lemon Lime Twist, Crumb Cake, Azure Afternoon, Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Azure Afternoon, Basic White
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, Clear Sparkle Gems