Sunday, September 6, 2026

Spooky Candelabrum for The Paper Players

Goooooood mornin' y'all!  I hope you enjoyed Jaydee's tic-tac-toe board last week and are ready for a new Paper Players challenge coming at you right now courtesy of the joyful Joanne, who will be celebrating a birthday this week!  Take a look:


So maybe the obvious choice was a birthday cake with candles, but you probably know by now that my brain is wired differently especially since we are *finally* in the -BER months and I've been listening to my spooky sweet playlist of movie scores from movies like Hocus Pocus and Casper and okay you read the title to this blog post so you know I made a Halloween card!  Also those ghost candles on the challenge graphic are ridiculously cute.  Here's my card:


I saw "candles" and immediately remembered this spooky candelabrum from the Dark & Dreary stamp set, which I paired with the Magic In This Night DSP that's kinda fancy while still being spooky.  I decided to work my card around the scraps I had from this paper instead of cutting into a new sheet so that drove the design.  This fancy spooky (or is it spooky fancy?) card makes me think of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland and I love that (and I also have that movie score in my spooky playlist, of course).  I meant to sponge some black ink around the candelabrum but I forgot until after I'd already stuck it down so this is how it is.  I used black embossing powder for shine and some black rhinestones to finish it off.  I have been promising more Halloween cards so you shouldn't be surprised ; )  And also I had already made a birthday card for Joanne!

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



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:  Dark & Dreary, The Raven
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Pretty Peacock, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black, Magic In This Night DSP
Accessories:  Lots of Labels dies, Ornate Frames dies, black EP, Dimenisonals, Black Rhinestones


Saturday, September 5, 2026

Captive Witness

Happy Saturday, y'all, and welcome back to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today's book is #64, Captive Witness:


Once again we have FOUR different covers and what a contrast between the first two and the last two!  Nancy's outfit changes in this book include a big fancy historical ballgown and a wetsuit so you know this book is going to be bonkers, I can hardly contain my glee.  I think I might like the second cover best for the dress, but I have a soft spot for the last two because I think my library had both of those when I was a kid.  Let's get to the bonkers part!

Case file:  Nancy Drew...secret agent?  While on a school trip to Germany and Austria with an Emerson College group ("She doesn't even go here!"), Nancy discovers that the professor in charge has a clandestine mission to smuggle ten children out of Hungary into Austria and on to Britain and America because Communism.  Not making this up.  Nancy's other mission is to find a stolen documentary film called Captive Witness about the horrors of Communism.  You know I love me some bananas shenanigans!

Here's my first card:


Naturally it is Nancy who comes up with the plan to get the children to safety, and it involves George masquerading as Nancy while wearing a big straw hat so here's George.


I will say that the cover colors did make me really have to think on more than one of these cards!  I went with Pebbled Path, Golden Glow, Real Red, and Cloud Cover for this one.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Going Out In Style, Favorite Thoughts
Ink:  Pebbled Path, Golden Glow, Stampin' Blends in Pebbled Path, Golden Glow, Real Red, Cloud Cover, Petal Pink, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Pebbled Path, Golden Glow, Basic White, Cloud Cover DSP
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, Dimensionals, Delightful Decorative Dots

On to the second card:


Ned and Nancy split from the tour group to go to Vienna to investigate the missing film, and Nancy lectures Ned about how coffee was introduced to Austria by the invading Ottoman Empire.  And there's a scene where it's early morning and Nancy is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and Ned wonders how she does it, so I think she's mainlining coffee like Lorelai Gilmore.


For this one, I used Primrose Petals, Midnight Muse, and Very Vanilla, with a smidge of Raspberry Ripple and Summer Starfruit in the DSP.  Nancy's wearing a brown wig with her fancy dress and also performs an operetta in public which was somehow necessary to her master plan.  I almost did another music card since we have the operetta and also there's a tour bus driver who is hilariously obsessed with Mozart, but I thought the coffee idea was fun too so that's what I went with.  And like the Scholastic cover for last week's book, they added "Mystery" to the title.  Odd.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Like It A Latte, Morning Cup
Ink:  Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Primrose Petals, Very Vanilla, Print Poetry DSP Stack
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Okay, card #3:


Ned and Nancy unintentionally get a tour of the Austrian Alps when she accepts a ride to Vienna from the bad guy (bad choice, Nancy--she even knows he's the bad guy and still does it).  The bad guy has this car that must have been an early electric car because it runs super quiet and also it's related to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang because it can float too.  (Chitty Chitty does float on the water like a pontoon boat, right?  I know it flies...)  Anyway, here's my card ode to the Austrian Alps.


Colors are Baked Brown Sugar, Orchid Oasis, Basic Black, and some touches of Starry Sky and Wild Wheat.  I really need to ink up my Starry Sky ink pad.  There are a LOT of layers of cardstock on this one to make the mountain scene.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Scenic Adventure
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Starry Sky, Baked Brown Sugar, Wild Wheat, Orchid Oasis
Paper:  Baked Brown Sugar, Orchid Oasis, Basic Black, Basic White
Accessories:  Scenic Adventure dies, Layering Circles dies, Circles Collection Framelits, In Color Dots

And for the final card:


The professor who is supposedly in charge of smuggling the kids out from behind the Iron Curtain is repeatedly described as having an owlish expression, so here's my card for Professor Bagley.  I had picked out a different owl stamp but then I saw a card by Amanda Mertz with the Adorable Owls stamp set and I had to use it instead.


For this one, my colors are Starry Sky, Orchid Oasis, Calypso Coral, and Golden Glow, with some Pecan Pie for the owl.  I had fun with this one, that owl is so cute, and I always love using Starry Sky and Orchid Oasis.  Those were some of my all-time favorite In Colors.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Adorable Owls
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Golden Glow, Calypso Coral, Orchid Oasis
Paper:  Starry Sky, Calypso Coral, Basic White, Orchid Oasis & Calypso Coral DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Matte Ombre Decorative Dots, Dimensionals

Y'all know I love the truly bananas books and this one delivers bushels and bushels of bananas, between the whole spy story, the Mozart-obsessed bus driver (it's really hilarious), the wannabe Bond villain with the magic car, and Nancy's over-the-top rescue plan at the end.  Five stars, no notes.  Obviously this book is a product of its time with all the references to Communism and requires a lot of suspension of disbelief, but it's a romp.  So much better than last week's failed fashion experiment.  If you're inspired to make a card based on the story or any of the book covers, please leave me a comment!  And I'll see you next week when Nancy investigates The Mystery of the Winged Lion.

Friday, September 4, 2026

Tiger Sunflowers

Mornin' y'all and happy Friday!  My boys are both off work and school today so we're going to have a little adventure, but first I have a card to share!


It's the Radiant Sunflowers bundle again, but this time I decided to use the dies for something different.  Check out this week's Freshly Made Sketch:


And I paired that with this week's Creative Colour Challenge:


This is why I decided to use the dies for today's card since we don't have Garden Green Stampin' Blends (still annoyed about that, SU!).  I do think I should have done the flowerpot in white so it didn't disappear on the Berry Burst polka dots but everything was already stuck down by the time I had that thought and I didn't have time to make the whole card over.  Still, I like the sunflowers in Timid Tiger and I had fun playing with both the colors and the sketch together.

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

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Radiant Sunflowers
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Timid Tiger, Berry Burst, Garden Green, Early Espresso; Berry Burst, Garden Green, & Early Espresso DSP
Accessories:  Radiant Sunflowers dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Earth Tone Shimmer Gems, white EP


Oh I lied, I have to share this picture of Daphne who chose to lay like that for several minutes and my neck hurts just looking at her.  Okay bye for reals this time!

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Release the Bats!

Mornin' y'all, I've got another busy day ahead and I just started the electric kettle for my first cuppa.  After my tea, I shall march forth and conquer the day.  I hope...glad that I took yesterday to rest a bit and recuperate, I did all the things I said I was going to (reading and crafting and even some stitching) so now I'm ready to get after it again today.

Anyway, I saw this on Facebook the other day and I cannot agree enough:


So that was flying around in my head when I saw the CAS Colours & Sketches sketch:


So then those two things were flying around in my head and they combined to form this:


Oh, you can kinda see the sparkle on the stamped bat, how about that!  I do hope the CC&S team will forgive me for adding some layers...I was just going to do the orange and black, but then I needed that thin white layer to go with the stamped bat.  At first I was going to do three stamped bats but then I noticed the batty die in the bundle so I decided to mix it up a bit.  And that bat's face is still adorable.

Got my cuppa tea and when I finish that it'll be time to head out to start running errands.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Oh My Fright
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Gorgeous Grape
Paper:  Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Gorgeous Grape, Basic White
Accessories:  Oh My Fright dies, Textured Notes dies, Mini Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Birthday Sunflowers

Mornin' y'all.  After two very busy days, I am hoping that today I can kinda rest and reset at the house and just chill for a bit, especially since I woke up with a humdinger headache today.  I am going to enjoy my cuppa tea and pumpkin spice English muffin before I take Daphne out for a walk and then I'm hoping to spend a good chunk of the day reading and crafting.

But first, here's today's card:


I had a great time playing with the Radiant Sunflowers suite for my pal Krissy's birthday card.  (I also had fun shopping for her and may have gotten a thing or two to add to my fall decorations!)  This week's Atlantic Hearts sketch was perfect for sunflowers:


So the DSP and sunflower stamps are new, but I had to dust off my old favorite Perfectly Penned stamp set for the birthday greeting, isn't it pretty?  And my trusty corner rounder punch that I used on the larger layers to echo the shape of the die in the middle.  I just had to add some Cajun Craze Blends to my SU! shopping cart, the light Blend I have has suddenly turned more brown and icky, which is weird because I swear it was fine last week.  I've had to replace probably at least a half dozen Blends pairs and it's not like I'm using them hard.  I'd rather be spending my crafting dollas on NEW things rather than replacing markers that shouldn't be acting that way.

Anyway, I think I'm going to get a second cuppa and think fall thoughts.  Cheers, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Radiant Sunflowers, Perfectly Penned
Ink:  Early Espresso, Mossy Meadow, Stampin' Blends in Golden Glow, Cajun Craze, Pecan Pie, Mossy Meadow, Old Olive
Paper:  Mossy Meadow, Very Vanilla, Sunflower Fields DSP
Accessories:  Radiant Sunflowers dies, Dimensionals, corner rounder punch, Radiant Gems

Tuesday, September 1, 2026

Fall Inspiration from SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all!  I had a very busy day yesterday and today promises to be even busier, but let's get started with a new challenge from SUO Challenges!  Check it out:


Something about this photo made me think of the Glow of Harvest DSP that was the August Product of the Month, so I decided to really feature one of the patterns in a super quick card:


Once again, the idea came to me in the shower (where all the best ideas hang out) and I put this together in probably less than five minutes when I got to my craft room.  I am loving Golden Glow right now, it's going to be fantastic for fall cards...probably Christmas cards too!  So the DSP has a pearlized finish to it and I accented with the Calypso Coral and copper ribbon even though Calypso Coral isn't listed in the colors for the DSP, it kind of reads as a lighter hue of Cajun Craze to me.  A couple of Painted Patch Dots to accent the greeting and it's done.  You could make this card with pretty much ANY patterned paper and whip up an entire army of cards in no time.

I hope you'll join us for this challenge and upload your card to the SUO Challenges blog.  Don't forget to keep it to Stampin' Up! products only--it's in the name of the challenge after all.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Natural Artistry
Ink:  Early Espresso
Paper:  Golden Glow, Glow of Harvest DSP
Accessories:  Calypso Coral & Copper ribbon, Painted Patch Dots

Monday, August 31, 2026

More Dolly Quotes

Hey y'all, extra post this afternoon because I decided that everyone on my weekly sunshine card list is getting a Dolly Parton card this week.  I just wasn't ready to put away my Dolly stamp set yet and all of the quotes in it are fabulous, so I made five quick cards.


And three more...


I'm really hoping that Lara at The Ink Road will re-release this stamp set and/or better yet a new one with more quotes.  She had a Dolly Christmas stamp set but I didn't get that one since I already had this one.  Anyway, I kept with the butterfly theme since that was Dolly's emblem and now I just have to decide who on my list gets which card.  These are going out today.

I spent the weekend listening to my new Dolly albums (um, I've bought three in the past week to go with the three I already had) and I also watched 9 to 5 for the first time, it's on Disney+.  I'm also working on two Dolly books, Songteller and Behind the Seams, which have been fun.  To honor Tim Curry, I also watched the '90s Three Musketeers where he plays the dastardly Cardinal Richilieu, he always looks like he is having more fun than everyone else when he plays a villain.  Love it.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Dolly from The Ink Road, Sketched Butterflies
Ink:  Berry Burst, Blackberry Bliss
Paper:  Bubble Bath, Blackberry Bliss, Delightful Floral DSP
Accessories:  Chalk Talk Framelits, Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals, Brass Butterflies