Shello

Mornin' y'all!  We got some snow last night, about an inch or two, and Ryan was disappointed that he didn't get at least a two-hour delay today : )  But he's safely at school and he has STEM club today so extra crafty time for me!

So here's my card for today:

Lots of layers today!  I was inspired to go beachy by the Just Add Ink challenge:

I read the colors as Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry (I think it's closer to Darling Duckling or the retired So Saffron, but the patterned paper I wanted to use has Crushed Curry so that's what I went with), Crumb Cake, Pool Party, and Lost Lagoon.  And I got all my layers from the Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I have TEN layers on my card since each panel has a mat around it.  I'll have to weigh it before I mail it out to make sure it doesn't require extra postage.

Daphne is napping adorably in her chair instead of poking me with her nose, so I think I'm going to make a second cuppa tea for myself before I take her for a walk in the snow.  She'll be excited about that, our little Colorado doggo loves playing in the snow.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  By the Tide, Four You
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Lost Lagoon
Paper:  Pool Party, Lost Lagoon, Thick Basic White, Inked Botanicals DSP Stack, Crumb Cake DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Faux Glass Dots

Floral Inspiration for SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all!  It's time for a new challenge from SUO Challenges!

And today we have a very pretty inspo pic for you:

So here's what I made:

I especially liked the pretty pink flowers on the right side of the inspiration pic, so that's my jumping off point.  I combined a die cut flower from Pretty Florals with die cut leaves from Nature's Symphony, it's one big leafy die but I cut it apart to make the leaves go where I wanted them to for my Artistic Vision (hee).  I used a blending brush to apply Mossy Meadow ink because I didn't want the leaves to be so dark that they overwhelmed the delicate pink flower.  The brick wall embossing folder would have been perfect for a background here but I don't have it, so I used a texture stamp from Nature's Symphony in Smoky Slate ink on my card base.  I chose a Valentine greeting from Bee My Valentine (I think that's still current?  I can't keep track anymore) and done!

Check out the SUO Challenges blog to see more inspiration from the design team, and then upload your own card there.  Don't forget to keep it to only Stampin' Up! products, but retired products are totally allowed.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nature's Symphony, Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Pretty in Pink, Mossy Meadow, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Pretty Florals dies, Nature's Symphony dies, Dimensionals, In Color Flat Pearls

Just a Rose

Mornin' y'all!  I started out strong this morning with a workout and running errands, and now it's 10:30 in the morning and I'm running out of steam.  And apparently poor Daphne has an upset tummy, but maybe a walk will make both of us feel better.

Anyway, once again I have chosen some long-retired stamps to play with instead of breaking in the new ones, but here we go:

We're feeling pink today because of the Inspired By... Challenge:

I looked through my entire stamp collection--twice--and just couldn't settle on anything related to hot chocolate or ice cream to go with this inspo pic, and then I settled on the giant rose from Fifth Avenue Floral because the petals remind me of the swirls in the whipped cream in the picture.

And since I'm using retro stamps, I'm entering this at Retro Rubber:

From some Google snooping, I think both the stamp sets I used today date back to 2013, so they're quite retro at 13 years old now.  I saw other Google hits dating to 2016, so they're *at least* ten years old.  Anyway, for the main flower image, I stamped it in Versamark + Early Espresso, heat embossed with clear powder, and then added some shading with Pretty in Pink (because the Pink Pirouette ink didn't show up enough on the Pink Pirouette cardstock).  A quick snippy-snip and a layer of old DSP, and here's a pretty pink rose card to send out to a friend.

Time for me to take Daphne out for her walk, she's a little extra stir-crazy because we didn't go yesterday so she deserves to go today.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fifth Avenue Floral, A Dozen Thoughts
Ink:  Versamark, Early Espresso, Pretty in Pink
Paper:  Basic Beige, Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Pink Pirouette DSP
Accessories:  Clear EP, Dimensionals, In Color Flat Pearls

A Lovely Challenge from The Paper Players

Happy Sunday, y'all!  I think you're going to LOVE Claire's new challenge from The Paper Players, ha!

Now, my hubs' birthday is ON Valentine's Day, and our kiddo's birthday is the day after--even Daphne our dog has a birthday a little later in February!  The hubs would be perfectly happy to ignore his birthday altogether but I can't let him do that.  Anyway, when I saw this challenge graphic, the first thing that popped into my head was the world's most famous (probably) skunk in the history of ever, Pepe Le Pew.  Here's what I made:

Okay, I may not have Looney Toons stamps, but I do have a Valentine skunk!  The stamp set I used, Hey Love, has been retired for quite a while, and I bought it a few years ago but this is the first time I've ever inked it up.  The "stinkin' sweet" is one stamp and I masked off "valentine" from another one to make my greeting here.  Then I just played around with parts and pieces from the Love Notes DSP stack until I came up with this.  The two parts of the background are actually just printed that way on the paper, I cut off a bit from the sides and the top until I got the pink pattern the width I wanted it.  The purple polka dots and the two hearts with the arrow are from other patterns in the stack.

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:  Hey Love
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Highland Heather, Flirty Flamingo, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Flirty Flamingo, Thick Basic White, Love Notes DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Pastel Pearls

The Haunted Showboat

Happy Saturday, y'all, and welcome to a new Nancy Drew Challenge!  This week we reach a milestone:  we've finished the books with original and revised text versions, and from here on out we get just one story for each one, and just one book cover until we get to the paperbacks.  So let's take a look at #35, The Haunted Showboat!

We have another lovely Rudy Nappi cover here, and this is the first of three in a row where we have Nancy and her chums Bess and George turned away from us and looking at something (side note:  Ryan recently read the first Hardy Boys book, and one word he asked me about was chum, he'd never heard it for friend before).  Anyway, I quite like this one, it's got some great vibes like The Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland.

Case file:  Road trip!  Nancy, Bess, and George drive down to New Orleans to visit another cousin, Donna Mae (whose dad is always referred to as "The Colonel" so I imagine him looking just like Colonel Sanders at KFC).  Donna Mae has just jilted her perfectly lovely fiance and taken up with a new and more obnoxious man as well as a new obnoxious personality.  She wants to refurbish an old showboat to use as the location for a ball to announce her engagement, but no one will work on the boat because it's haunted.  In between tourist activities, Nancy investigates the haunting and proves the new fiance is a ne'er-do-well in the middle of Mardi Gras.

Here's my card:

I don't have any showboat stamps (what a weird omission in my collection, am I right?), but we do get a LOT of descriptions of flowers and gardens in this book, including several mentions of azaleas.  George is wearing that lovely pink shirt on the cover so I had to do an azalea for this one.

My current favorite Nature Walk DSP coordinates very well with the book cover, don't you think?  The style of the DSP mirrors the painting style on the cover art and also I just really love that DSP.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Best Thoughts
Ink:  Secret Sea, Stampin' Blends in Polished Pink, Magenta Madness, Berry Burst, Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Dapper Denim, Basic Beige, Thick Basic White, Nature Walk DSP
Accessories:  Seasonal Labels dies, Layering Circles dies, Dimensionals, Sparkle Dot Essentials

But wait, there's more!  We also get talk in this book about pirates and hidden treasure, and a day or two after I made the azalea card I just had to come back and make a pirate card for this book:

This isn't the first book where Nancy has found literal pirate treasure, and I'd wager it won't be the last!  I do have a pirate image in this stamp stamp set, but I decided to just go with the treasure chest and a punny sentiment this time.

I dug out my Waves of the Ocean DSP for this card for a fun background, quite appropriate for pirate treasure, don't you think?  I still incorporated pink for George's shirt and I didn't even talk yet about how Nancy and Fred from Scooby-Doo apparently shop at the same clothing boutique.  It's hard to tell but I think Bess is wearing an orange button-down shirt, it kind of blends in with Nancy's hair.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pirates & Mermaids
Ink:  Early Espresso, Night of Navy, Stampin' Blends in Daffodil Delight, Pecan Pie, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Pacific Point, Thick Basic White, Waves of the Ocean DSP, Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, Purple Fine Shimmer Gems, Dimensionals

So only one book cover, but I still made two cards this week!  I'm not going to say I will *always* make more than one card for each book, but sometimes I might.  Anyway, this book does have some fun tourist stuff (the restaurants mentioned in the book are still in operation today), but be aware that there are some not-so-fun racial stereotypes involved.  I'm going to give it three stars for the stereotypes and also I think that Donna Mae's first fiance should have run very far away instead of taking her back at the end of the book.  If you're inspired to make a card, either just by the book cover or if you read the book itself, leave me a comment so I can see!  Or just tell me what your favorite Nancy Drew book is.  Stay tuned next week when we uncover The Secret of the Golden Pavilion!

Puppy Love

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan has an early release day (WHY?) so I need to get moving if I want to get some things done before I go pick him up in about three hours.  I already dropped off a package at UPS and picked up a few things at the store, and as soon as I finish my tea I'll be taking Daphne out for our walk.

Speaking of puppers, I have a paper puppy today!

One of my (ahem, several) Spellbinders purchases recently included this super adorable doggo and I can't wait to send this card to my puppy-loving pal Krissy.  I would NOT want to mass-produce this, it took quite a while to die cut all the different pieces and assemble them, but I do love how he turned out.  I adapted this week's Freshly Made Sketch for an A2 card:

I wanted to do a heart behind the pupper, but I didn't have a die cut that was big enough to be obviously a heart but small enough to fit on an A2 card, so I went with the circle.

I thought of the old Candy Lane DSP as soon as I saw this color palette from Sunday Stamps:

The paper has Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa, and Very Vanilla in it, but the stripey pattern I used behind the doggo seems to have a shade between the red and pink that I thought worked very nicely for this color challenge.

Okay, my real-life doggo is demanding attention with her rubber duck toy that makes this funny wheezy sound, so I'm going to play with her and then take her for a walk.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  I {Love} Love (unmounted wheel)
Ink:  Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa, Riding Hood Red
Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red, Basic White, Basic Black, Pink Pirouette DSP, Candy Lane DSP
Accessories:  Darling Dog dies from Spellbinders, Circles Collection Framelits, Dimensionals

Smoochy Kiss

Mornin' y'all, I am on the struggle bus today.  Another night of not nearly enough sleep, which means a lot of caffeine today!  So let's get to it.  How about a Valentine?

I was kicking around card ideas in my brain yesterday and I thought the Creative Colour Challenges palette would be fun with this bear from Valentine Kisses:

There are two other bears in this stamp set, but for realsies we know I'm going to choose the kissy face bear every time.  I also used this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I looked for a fun rectangular die to use for the background elements but they were all the wrong aspect ratio for my card, so I ended up snipping a few scraps of Lemon Lime Twist DSP for the panels and then giving them a thin Early Espresso mat.  And I still have die cut elements on the diagonal behind the sentiment piece.

Anyway, I think it's time to brew my first cuppa tea today and then take Daphne for a walk.  Hopefully I'll still be able to get a few things done today.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Valentine Kisses
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Ivory, Strawberry Slush, Lemon Lime Twist
Paper:  Strawberry Slush, Early Espresso, Thick Basic White, Lemon Lime Twist DSP
Accessories:  Valentine Kisses dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Strawberry Slush Gems