Tiger Thoughts

Mornin' y'all!  I did my first workout in about six weeks this morning and I bet I'll be feeling it tomorrow.  I usually play workout videos on the Mac and work out in the living room, so when the old Mac went kaput so did my workout routine.  But now I'm back in it AND Daphne and I walked Ryan to school this morning.  He's still on spring break this week, but he's doing a film camp thing where they're making a movie based on Peter Pan, which means Daphne and I still get our girl time in the mornings.

Anyway, we were in Telluride for most of last week so yesterday was my first time back in my craft room and I made this:

I hadn't used Along These Lines in a while and every single time I've ever used it, it's been this tiger stamp but that's okay because the tiger is precisely why I bought the stamp set.  I'm entering this at Color Hues:

I used Blackberry Bliss and Peach Pie for the colors.  Next up is the AAA Cards Challenge:

I think my card still counts as CAS, there's a limited amount of patterned paper and lots of white space.  Next up is the Addicted to CAS challenge:

It was this challenge combined with the colors that made me think of the tiger stamp, and just in case the tiger wasn't stripey enough on his own I added a little bit of purple stripey paper for him to recline on in all his regal glory.  I added a bit of color with watercolor pencils and a blender pen.

I'm going to finish my cuppa tea while I look at some card blogs and then I'll probably try to work on something in my craft room until it's time to pick Ryan up.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Along These Lines, Branching Out
Ink:  Peach Pie, Blackberry Bliss
Paper:  Peach Pie, Basic White, Blackberry Bliss DSP
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, watercolor pencils

Desert Sunshine for a Paper Players Sketch

Mornin' y'all!  It is time once again for a new Paper Players challenge, and this week the lovely and talented Claire has a sketch for us:

One of the stamp sets that I got out for last week's CAS floral challenge was Desert Details, and since I didn't use it for that challenge I just had to use it for this sketch.  Here's what I made:

I used both the Delicate Desert DSP and the Dry Brushed Metallic specialty paper for this, I think it's the first time I cut into the specialty paper.  I added some brushed metallic dots to bring the gold over and draw the eye toward the greeting on my desert landscape backdrop.  For the "anything goes" strip, I combined one of the stamps that's a long, thin pattern and a die on a scrap of the same paper I used for the background (it's a bit I cut off the top that's just a little bit Soft Succulent colored).  And just because I like sparkle, I added Wink of Stella to the largest flower.

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:  Desert Details
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Soft Succulent, Pale Papaya
Paper:  Soft Succulent, Thick Basic White, Delicate Desert DSP, Dry Brushed Metallic Specialty Paper
Accessories:  Desert Details dies, Dimensionals, Brushed Metallic Dots

The Phantom of Pine Hill

Gooood mornin y'all and welcome to our forty-second Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we are on the trail of The Phantom of Pine Hill:

This is not one of Rudy Nappi's better covers in my opinion, but maybe I'm just biased by the cultural appropriation happening here (more on that in a minute).  We had such a vivid sky on Moonstone Castle so it seems extra weird to just have white on this cover.  Nancy is once again in her signature color of pale blue.

Casel file:  Nancy, Bess, and George are at Emerson College for June Week festivities and thanks to a clerical error end up staying with "Uncle John" Rorick near the school, who has a phantom problem.  Despite the fanciest locks money can buy, someone keeps sneaking into Uncle John's library and stealing money he keeps in between the pages of the books and then breaking into his safe.  While looking for the phantom, Nancy also tracks down a family heirloom that went down in a shipwreck, digs up a First Nations grave (really), and is pretend kidnapped by Ned who was apparently cosplaying the Chief in Disney's Peter Pan, down to the offensive speech patterns.  I don't think it was meant to be disrespectful, but it absolutely is by today's standards.  Not my favorite book.

Here's my card:

Obviously I decided not to touch the cultural appropriation and I stuck with pine trees and a hill.  And I gave my card a colorful sky, incorporating the color of Nancy's dress and hair.

How is this the first time that I've ever used the In the Pines bundle?  I must have gotten it right when it retired.  Have to say I like my card better than I liked the book.

We do have a secret passage and one of the boys gets stuck in a chimney a la Santa Claus, so there are some fun things about this book, so I give it two stars.  Still better than the hot mess that is Ivory Charm, which might just be the lowest point out of the entire series but we'll find out.  It's still the low point as of #42.  Anyway, if you're inspired to create a Nancy Drew card, leave me a comment so I can oooh and ahhh over it!  And stay tuned for next week, when we investigate The Mystery of the 99 Steps.

Array of Happiness

Mornin' y'all, and happy Friday!  I was cruising through my stamp collection earlier this week while I was working on a card, and a stamp set caught my eye so I had to make a card with it to share today.

Those fun flowers are from Array of Sunshine, a lovely image-only set of bold flowers, and the greeting is from Rainbow of Happiness.  I just had to have another go at the As You See It sketch:

But I didn't stick quite as closely to the sketch this time as I did with the Wonderful Wings quartet, I was just having some fun with it.  And finally I managed to use the correct colors for the Cupcake Inspirations color challenge:

Well, kinda close anyway.  I used Magenta Madness because I love it, Granny Apple Green because I thought it looked good with Magenta Madness, and Pecan Pie because I wasn't thinking quite as dark a brown as in the picture and I should have gone with Chocolate Chip or Early Espresso but this was the challenge I was thinking of when I chose my colors.

That's it for me today, peeps.  Have a great Friday!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Array of Sunshine, Rainbow of Happiness
Ink:  Magenta Madness, Granny Apple Green, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Magenta Madness, Pecan Pie, Basic White, Floral Delight DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Charming Faceted Dots

I Like Zinnias

Mornin' y'all!  I keep telling myself that one of these days I will finally ink up a couple of new (and at the moment, still current) stamp sets, but...today is not that day.  Ha!

Simply Zinnia is another floral set that I thought about using for the Paper Players challenge, so it came to mind immediately when I saw the TGIF Challenges sketch:

Which I paired with the Retro Rubber color challenge:

Simply Zinnia is two years old, so not as retro as I usually go but it still counts.  I used Bubble Bath, Mossy Meadow, Berry Burst, and Granny Apple Green, though the Berry Burst is photographing a bit darker than it looks in person.  I don't use Berry Burst very often so I really wanted to give it a shot and it seemed to be the best darker pink to go with Bubble Bath.  I chose the sentiment purely because it was the first one I came across that fit in the die cut I wanted to use...it's not retro, but everything else is!

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

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Zinnia, Nature's Symphony
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Mossy Meadow, Bubble Bath, Stampin' Blends in Bubble Bath, Berry Burst, Mossy Meadow, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Berry Burst, Bubble Bath, Thick Basic White, Flowering Zinnias DSP
Accessories:  Simply Zinnia dies, Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals, Tinsel Gems, Wink of Stella

A Pair of Wings

Mornin' y'all!  I have a super quick pair of cards to share today and I love how they turned out.

Wonderful Wings is one of those stamp sets that has been in my collection for many years and I just hadn't done anything with it recently, but the Just Add Ink challenge was the perfect excuse to change that:

And I was thinking about this challenge when I saw the As You See It sketch:

I chose some simple ombre paper from Shades & Hues DSP stack, stamped my wingy-dingies and the greeting in the coordinating ink color, and tore the bottom edge on the ombre just for a little extra interest.  These two came together so quickly that I kinda want to go back and do the other two wingy-dingies in the Wonderful Wings stamp set.

That's it for me today, peeps.  Have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wonderful Wings, Art Gallery
Ink:  Fresh Freesia, Pool Party
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Pool Party, Basic White, Shades & Hues DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Mini Dimensionals, Tinsel Gems

ETA:  I did it.  I made two more cards : )

There's Petal Pink on the left, and Misty Moonlight on the right.

And the full set of four.  And really, all four cards together probably took less than twenty minutes start to finish.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wonderful Wings, Art Gallery
Ink:  Petal Pink, Misty Moonlight
Paper:  Petal Pink, Misty Moonlight, Basic White, Shades & Hues DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Mini Dimensionals, Tinsel Gems, Round Faceted Gems

SUO Challenges: CASE the Catty for Spring

Mornin' y'all!  It's time for a new challenge from SUO Challenges, and it's time to CASE the catty:

I chose the card on the top left and I thought I'd do something for Easter, so here's what I made:

I got the Easter Time Mix & Match Ephemera, thinking it would probably coordinate with the Easter-themed DSP but NOPE, which is annoying.  The colors do coordinate with some of the colors in the Love Notes DSP Stack, so that's what I used for the purple polka dot DSP.  the only stamping is the greeting from the retired Easter Friends stamp set because I didn't buy any Easter stamps this year, and I used a retired die for the cutout shape behind the egg and wreath too.  So yeah, retired SU! stuff is still good for SUO Challenges :)

Your turn now!  Pick a card from the catalog picture to CASE, and upload your creation to the SUO Challenges blog.  And most important, have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Easter Friends
Ink:  Highland Heather
Paper:  Flirty Flamingo, Basic White, Love Notes DSP Stack
Accessories:  Easter Time Mix & Match Ephemera, Labels Collection Framelits, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Rainbow Dots