Lovely Otters

Hey y'all, happy Friday!  We're on the upswing here, Ryan is feeling better but still doesn't have school today for whatever reason (they seem to have a lot of days off).  It snowed heavily all morning yesterday and was super windy all day, so I went out and shoveled 6-8 inches of the white stuff off the driveway so that it wouldn't be icy when the hubs came home and as a result I was pretty much sore from the neck down this morning.  But then I did a restorative yoga class and it actually helped a lot and now here I sit with my tea and some morning oatmeal and a super cute card to share!

I didn't play with the Otterly Amazing suite much when I first got it as we were all in the throes of holiday paper crafting, but I've had some fun with it in the last couple of weeks.  I'm squeaking in just under the wire to enter this at the Paper Players challenge:

I had the idea to use a wide but not very tall image for the white layer on the sketch, and my first thought was the lobster from Ocean Friends, but I'm glad I went with the otters instead.  I heat embossed the sentiment on Pretty Peacock cardstock and then fussy cut around it so that it wouldn't cover up too much of the otters.  A few Riverside Irregular Pearls and this card is ready to go in the mail.

That's it for me today, peeps.  Since Ryan is feeling better, I'm going to pry him away from the TV to take Daph out for a walk, she hasn't gotten to go for the past couple of days and she needs it.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Otterly Amazing
Ink:  Early Espresso, Versamark, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Ivory, Old Olive
Paper:  Pretty Peacock, Thick Basic White, Otterly Adorable DSP
Accessories:  White EP, Otterly Amazing dies, Riverside Irregular Pearls, Dimensionals

A Pair of Lattes

Hey y'all, hope you're healthy and warm as today Ryan is home sick again (still has a fever, so he's asleep in my bed at the moment) and it's blizzarding outside and I don't care what spellcheck says, blizzard is now a verb in my house.  But I am in my nice cozy house wearing nice cozy clothes and drinking a nice cozy cuppa tea, so it can blizzard all it wants outside.

Today's cards also feature a hot beverage for those of you who like coffee instead of tea:

These are two slightly different variations on this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I am also entering this in the SOS Challenges' Crafty Remnants challenge--I had three large scraps of the A Little Latte DSP and I cut them to 4.25" wide, then cut three strips 1.5" tall for the card on the right.  I happened to flip the remaining scraps over and discovered three patterns all in shades of brown, so I turned those into the card on the left and that's why the strips are different heights, I was using up the scraps.  The two lattes were already die cut out of another piece of the patterned paper and they were in a sheet protector with the other paper scraps, so both of these cards are entirely made of scraps other than the card bases.

I chose the Latte Love collection for the TGIF Challenge:

I have two friends that I usually send cards to every week; we've been friends since at least middle school so over 30 years now (hashtag OLD) and a lot of times I'll look for two similar cards to send to them.  This time I just made two similar cards so I'm all set for mailing them out next week : )  I typically mail out 4-6 cards every Monday, just doing my bit to keep the USPS in business.

That's it for me today, peeps.  I may try to sneak into my craft room though that might wake Ryan up when I use the paper trimmer.  Hmm.  Once he wakes up, he pinkie promised that we could watch The Princess Bride today (yesterday we watched Abominable instead and I do seriously love that movie too).  I'm happy to report that I am feeling better at least, so I got to work out this morning which was nice.  Hoping Ryan bounces back soon.  Cheers, y'all, and stay healthy!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Latte Love
Ink:  Early Espresso
Paper:  Pecan Pie, Lost Lagoon, Petal Pink, Lemon Lolly, A Little Latte DSP
Accessories:  Latte Love dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Rainbow Dots

Feelin' Crabby

Hey y'all, we are officially a House of Plague now, Ryan has a fever today so he'll be staying home with me.  I'm feeling better than I was on Monday, but still not 100%, so we're going to have a rot on the couch day.  Maybe I can talk him into watching The Princess Bride.  I like that idea.

The hubs called yesterday to check on me and at the time I was just sitting in my craft room doing nothing but listening to a podcast.  Eventually I mustered up the energy to work on something and I made this:

Lookit me, making good on my resolution to use patterned paper!  The starfish and the stripes are the two sides of one sheet, and my crab was die cut out of another.  The only stamping is the greeting.

Here's the Atlantic Hearts sketch that I used:

The greenery on the sketch made me think of that coral die cut in the Ocean Friends bundle so that's what I went with.  Plus I just love the bright colors in the DSP, even though my photo came out a bit dark...I need to see if I can find a better place to photograph my stuff, I don't think I have an OttLite anymore.  Maybe I'll check the light coming in the guest room window on the front side of the house.

Anyway, that's it for me today.  I might still get some crafty time if Ryan is resting or playing video games, we'll see.  In the meantime, stay healthy, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Ocean Friends
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Summer Splash, Calypso Coral, Basic White, Friends of the Ocean DSP
Accessories:  Ocean Friends dies, Spotlight on Nature dies, Stitched Shapes dies, White EP, Mini Dimensionals, In Color Shimmer Gems

Everyday Tea

Hey y'all, this week is off to a bit of a rough start as I started not feeling well yesterday afternoon.  Ryan was kind enough to let me lay down after I picked him up from school and while I feel better now than I did then, I am still planning to take it easy today.  Maybe snuggle Daphne on the chofa and watch Criminal Minds while I enjoy my morning cuppa.

I did make one little card yesterday though.

I got Everyday Arches in my last SU! order and this time I paired it with Everyday Details.  Let's get to the challenges, starting with Inspire. Create.:

And the Creative Colour Challenge:

I inked up the teacup image with Versamark and Moody Mauve, then embossed with clear embossing powder so I could watercolor the image without the colors running.  I think I should have gotten the leaves a little bit darker with Coastal Cabana, but I promise that's what I used.

Next up is Addicted to CAS:

This seemed like the perfect opportunity to use one of the arched sentiments from Everyday Arches and then put something in the middle of it.  I chose the teacup partly because it has a flower, so I can also enter this at CAS on Friday where the challenge is flowers.

That's it for me today, peeps.  I'm going to go rest for a little bit before I take Daphne for her daily tour of the neighborhood.  At least it's warming up a tad, by which I mean the high temperature for the day is above freezing ; )  Have a good day, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Everyday Details, Everyday Arches
Ink: Versamark, Moody Mauve, Petal Pink, Coastal Cabana
Paper:  Petal Pink, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Clear EP, Dimensionals, In Color Glitter Dot

Burg Thurant

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Birthday celebrations are done, for me at least--the hubs, Ryan, and Daphne all have their birthdays in February.  We had a busy weekend doing All The Things like the Pikes Peak cog train on Saturday and the ice castles near Cripple Creek yesterday.  I need to take a look at all the photos from the weekend and they'll be future scrapbook pages : )

For today's scrapbook layouts, I have another German castle.  We went to Burg Thurant on the same day we visited Burg Eltz, so these pages will be next to each other in my scrapbooks.

I actually liked Burg Thurant better than Burg Eltz; it's much smaller and cozier, and while Burg Eltz is still intact and inhabited, Burg Thurant is neither.  But I got a good vibe off it and we enjoyed our very short visit since we arrived like 30 minutes before they closed.

I was having fun taking some detail shots around the castle and Ryan got to hold a sword.

Today's color palette was inspired by the flowers all around the castle grounds:  Fresh Freesia, Daffodil Delight, Grapefruit Grove, Gumball Green, Pebbled Path, and Whisper White.  It felt a bit out of the ordinary for me, but I thought they worked well with the photos.

Time to get Ryan to school and for once there's no delay or anything, hurrah!  I was halfway expecting a delay or cancellation today because we got several inches of snow over the weekend, so I'm glad that I was wrong because that means after I go to the grocery store and walk Daphne, I get some crafty time.  Woohoo!  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Back to Basics Alphabet, Letters for You, Carte Postale, Hello Lovely
Ink:  Pebbled Path, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Grapefruit Grove, Gumball Green, Thick Basic White, Watercolor Wonder DSP
Accessories:  1" and 1 1/4" square punches

T-Rrrific

Mornin' y'all!  I've got cinnamon rolls in the oven so I need to type fast : ) We had a good time yesterday doing the cog train up Pikes Peak and MAN, it was cold at the top!!  I need to get all the pictures off the big camera and our phones and see what we got photo-wise but we had such a fun time.  And we got several more inches of super fluffy snow at the house and today we're supposed to drive to Cripple Creek to see the ice castle there.  Birthday weekend continues!

On Friday (my actual birthday), I made a few cards and this is one of them:

I love the Darling Dinos bundle and it's perfect to make cards for my dino-loving pal, Krissy.  I started with the Color Hues Challenge:

I used Night of Navy, Lemon Lime Twist, and a bit of Granny Apple Green for shading.  Next up is the Atlantic Hearts sketch:

This one's a classic, love it.

Okay, time for me to scramble some eggs to go with the cinnamon rolls.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Darling Dinos
Ink:  Night of Navy, Granny Apple Green, Stampin' Blends in Night of Navy, Granny Apple Green, Lemon Lime Twist
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Thick Basic White, LLT & Night of Navy DSP
Accessories:  Darling Dinos dies, Nested Essentials dies, Night of Navy ribbon, LLT sequins, Dimensionals

Lovely Bees

Happy Saturday, y'all!  Well, I got some birthday surprises yesterday and today.  First the hubs picked me up and we had a couples massage, and then we had dinner with our friends at Chuy's and THEN there was cake!  I may have had birthday cake for breakfast (okay, I totally had birthday cake for breakfast) and then the hubs unveiled another surprise--we're taking the cog train up to the top of Pikes Peak today!  And also it's snowing at our house right now so it's going to be even colder at the top of the mountain.  Good thing I got new thermals for Christmas!

Anyway, I did get some crafty time yesterday too (so really, it was the perfect birthday) and I have a cute little card to share today!

I thought to myself when I made my honey card that it had been an awfully long time since I last created anything with Bee My Valentine, so here I am making a bee card!  The bees seemed perfect for the Hand Stamped Sentiments sketch:

Paired with the Creative Colour Challenges palette:

I'm also entering this at As You See It:

One of my crafting resolutions is to use more of my DSP.  My paper hoard has reached critical mass and I'm afraid that I'll walk in my craft room one day and see a giant paper black hole forming in there, and really I can't expand my storage space anymore and also I got six new packs of paper in my last SU! order so clearly I have an addiction to paper.  So for today's card, I broke out the Sunny Days DSP that I think was a SAB offering last year, because I thought that Shaded Spruce floral pattern would be a perfect background for my bees.  I'm also working on using up more embellishments too, those yellow hearts came out at the same time that Bee My Valentine debuted.

I have another crafting resolution but that will be revealed later this year, but I am quite pleased with the work I've done on it thus far.  I'll let that one stay mysterious for now.  I also haven't worked on the wedding album(s) yet but I hope to get cracking on that soon too.  And I have a stack of scrapbook pages that need journaling on them.  Lots to do if they'd just quit having snow days for Ryan's school!

Okay, I'm going to take Daphers out for her walk (in the snow) and then we're heading up to Pikes Peak a little later this morning.  I'm looking forward to it!  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Balmy Blue, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Thick Basic White, Sunny Days DSP
Accessories:  Bee builder punch, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Hearts & Flowers accents

Retro Winter Wishes

Hey y'all, I'm back with a second post today because I've been a card makin' fool and I want to enter a bunch of challenges : )  So here's my card:

I reached waaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the archives to Sleigh Ride, which is the stamp set I used to make Christmas cards my very first year as a stamper.  For today's card, I embossed the image with pewter embossing powder and then watercolored with a bunch of different colors and I wonder why I was crazy enough to watercolor 50+ Christmas cards that year because this takes a while.

Now for the challenges, check out the Festive Friday Challenge:

I used white, metallic (pewter embossing powder), and pearls.  I very nearly used Way to Goat just so I could do the tin can element...and maybe I still will ; )

Next up is the Retro Rubber Challenge:

And apparently I just missed the deadline on this one, the linky is already closed.  Last up is the CASE-ing Tuesday Sketches challenge:

I have been having a lot of fun doing this challenge : )  One more, I almost forgot the Inkspirational word prompt:

I've got some snow in my stamped image, you can't have a sleigh ride without snow!

Okay for realsies, that's it for me today.  I'm going back up to my craft room because it's my birfday and I wanna be crafty.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sleigh Ride, My Paper Pumpkin
Ink:  Versamark, Lost Lagoon, Shaded Spruce, Misty Moonlight, Copper Clay, Pecan Pie, Petal Pink, Moody Mauve
Paper:  Lost Lagoon, Thick Basic White, Winter Meadow DSP
Accessories:  Squares Collection Framelits, Pewter EP, Dimensionals, Festive Pearls

Five Stars

Happy Friday, y'all, and guess what?  It's my birfday!!  So far today, I have done dishes, put the dining room chairs back in place (hubs moved the china hutch, yay!), and vacuumed the living room, so things are finally getting back to their rightful places after painting last weekend.  But after I take Daph for a walk, it'll be crafty time!

And I got to play with some new stamps yesterday, take a look!

You can't see it in the picture, but I used Wink of Stella on the little details on each book, and the shimmer goes along with the Fine Purple Shimmer Gems I used as accents (because I couldn't resist putting them on here even though I'm doing a CAS challenge).  I'm so happy to have some book stamps from SU!  Though I admit I bought some non-SU! bookish stamps last year (but I haven't used them yet).  So for this stamp set's maiden voyage, I used the colors at Cupcake Inspirations:

I used Pretty in Pink, Gorgeous Grape, and Petunia Pop.  I admit I had a hard time coming up with a magenta shade...I know we have Magenta Madness, but it seemed too bright and overpowering with the other two colors, so I used Petunia Pop.  The books and greeting are both stamped twice in Gorgeous Grape to give an extra-dark purple and then I colored with blends.

Next up is the CAS Colours & Sketches sketch:

I like this sketch, it's fun.  I tore a piece of scratch paper and used it as a mask before sponging and stamping in the corner, easy peasy.

That's it for me today, peeps.  Have a great day, I'm looking forward to Tex Mex for dinner tonight : )  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  For the Books
Ink:  Gorgeous Grape, Pretty in Pink, Stampin' Blends in Highland Heather, Pretty in Pink, Petunia Pop
Paper:  Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Fine Purple Shimmer Gems, Wink of Stella

One more thing, I got the pantry organized yesterday:

We painted it dark green but left the shelves that greige color that everything used to be.  And having everything back in place and all organized makes my little nerdy heart happy : )

And this is hanging on the wall in the pantry now, where it should be.  That was hand stitched by ME fifteen years ago.  Anyway, we still have to put the blinds back up on the kitchen windows and a few things like that, but I'll share pics of the kitchen once that's done.  It is not all this dark green color, that's our accent color.  Which just so happens to be my favorite color : )

Crabby Lobster

Hey hey, how's it going?  I managed to put another coat of paint on the pantry yesterday, though it did require two trips to the paint store, and we've covered up all the spots that didn't get covered enough with the first two coats and it looks pretty good.  So today's task is to get everything back in the pantry and organized so tomorrow I can spend the day in my craft room : )

I got a big fat SU! order in yesterday and after unpacking everything, I got one quick card made to share today.

I really tried to resist the Friends of the Ocean suite and then I was like okay I'll just get the paper and the Sunny Day Iridescent Dots and by the time I hit confirm on my order the stamps and dies had jumped in there too.  So for this one it's really the DSP and the dies doing the heavy lifting--the only stamping is the greeting, while the crab and lobster are die cut from the Friends of the Ocean DSP and the seaweed is Lemon Lime Twist cardstock that I added a bit of sponging to for dimension.  I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I like the bold patterns in this pack of DSP and this sketch let me show off a couple of them, fun!  And this card is going out in the mail today, actually in about five minutes when I take Daph out for our walk because I'm going to drop it in the mail on our way out.  It's 17* outside and she can't wait to go.  That girl loves her some snow.

Aright, time to take her out.  At least she usually wants to go fast enough that I don't get too cold, and then I can make me a nice giant cuppa tea when we get back before I tackle the pantry.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Ocean Friends
Ink:  Berry Burst, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Summer Splash, Lemon Lime Twist, Friends of the Ocean DSP
Accessories:  Ocean Friends dies, Sunny Days Iridescent Dots, Dimensionals

You've Got Mail

Mornin' y'all!  I've got a busy day ahead of me--Ryan's school was cancelled yesterday so I wasn't able to do some things during the day.  I need to get a bit more paint for the pantry because there's quite a few spots that need a new coat, which means all the pantry stuff is all over the dining room, and I can't get that all cleaned up until the next layer of paint is dry and I just want everything in place so I can get the full effect of my newly painted kitchen and pantry.  It's just taking longer than I want it to :p

Anyway, I did get a bit of crafty time yesterday to make some snail mail!

He's cute, right?  One of today's challenges is CAS but after taking this picture I just couldn't resist putting on a few Tinsel Gems...

Okay the sketch I used is probably more like clean and layered than truly CAS but I tried.  Here's the Paper Players challenge:

I hunted through my stamp collection and came up with Snailed It, which retired several years ago but my stamp collection has an active retirement community.  Here's the color challenge from As You See It:

I probably wouldn't have put these colors together on my own but I had fun with them!  And here's the sketch from Sunday Stamps:

I tried to keep my card more on the simple side of things by using a large panel of Peach Pie cardstock with no pattern or anything on it.  I may not have succeeded in making my card really, truly CAS, but I had fun making it anyway!

Time to get Ryan hustled off to school so I can get to painting the pantry.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snailed It
Ink:  Basic Gray, Stampin' Blends in Smoky Slate, Peach Pie, Berry Burst
Paper:  Berry Burst, Peach Pie, Thick Basic White, Berry Burst DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Tinsel Gems

Get Inspired with SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all, it's time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!

And this time it's all about inspiration, check out this photo:

Lots going on there to pick and choose from!  My eye was drawn to the blue wall, the quilt in the back with the butterflies on it, and the purple flowers in the front left.  I mixed those up and got this:

Can't wait to see how you use the photo to inspire some paper crafting goodness!  Don't forget to upload your card at the SUO Challenges blog and have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sketched Butterflies
Ink:  Early Espresso, Boho Blue
Paper:  Boho Blue, Thick Basic White, Refreshed Beauty DSP
Accessories:  Sketched Butterflies dies, Spotlight on Nature dies, Wink of Stella, Purple Shimmer Gems, Dimensionals

Burgruine Falkenstein

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Still working on painting the kitchen--the ceiling is done and we did most of the walls yesterday, and today we're painting an accent wall where the china hutch goes, the island, and the pantry.  Can't wait to see everything put back together!  Though I have to agree with Ryan, it's a little weird to have such a colorful kitchen when the rest of the house is still so greige.  We'll just have to paint everything else : p

Anyway, here's my scrapbook layout for today:

This is another one of the castle ruins that we hiked around during the Covid times in 2021.  Ryan would get bored just looking at castles but he loved running around everywhere and making as much noise as a 4-year-old could.  (Can't believe he'll be EIGHT next month!)

Today's color palette is pretty fun:  Concord Crush (super dark purple), Orchid Oasis, Starry Sky, Old Olive, River Rock, Pebbled Path, and Very Vanilla.  Three purples, a green, and three neutrals.  Usually I don't have quite quite that many colors happening on a layout but I think it works here.

Well, as soon as we have breakfast, Daph-Daph will probably get locked up for several hours so we can paint, unless Ryan decides to go play video games or something and can babysit her.  Otherwise she'd be sticking her doggo nose in the paint.  The high temperature today is in the single digits and even *I* have limits to what type of weather I'm willing to endure to take her out for a walk.  The other day I could tell we were the only ones who were crazy enough to be out because ours were the only footprints in the snow.  Anyway, best get to painting.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Rough Type, Wing It
Ink:  Pebbled Path, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Concord Crush, Orchid Oasis, Starry Sky, Thick Very Vanilla, Brocade Backgrounds DSP
Accessories:  None

Pineapple Greeting

Mornin' y'all!  Well, we have made a start on painting our house--we painted the ceilings in the kitchen/dining and pantry areas yesterday : )  Today we're painting light green in there, and tomorrow we're doing dark green accents.  Can't wait to see what it all looks like!  *Really* can't wait until our entire house is in Technicolor!!  I'm so over the greige.

Anyway, I have a quick little cheery card to share today, lookie:

I played with a few patterns from the new SAB Fruit Salad DSP stack so I could enter the Just Add Ink challenge:

And I used the sketch from CASE-Ing Tuesday Sketches:

And here's the card in the mini catalog that's the inspiration:

My card was super quick to make, the thing that took the longest was choosing which patterns I wanted to play with.  And now I have a cute card that's suitable to send to pretty much anyone : )

Okay, time for me to start cleaning the baseboards so we can tape off the walls.  Meanwhile it snowed last night, so Daphne keeps wanting to go out and play in the snow and Ryan wants to try putting water in an ice cube tray and putting it outside to see how fast it freezes.  Guess we've got a busy day ahead.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Musical Jamboree
Ink:  Pecan Pie
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Thick Basic White, Fruit Salad DSP Stack
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Dots for Days

Another Boho Hummingbird

Hey y'all, happy Friday.  The hubs and the kid are currently upstairs playing some kind of car racing game and it's really loud and it's just going to be a chaotic day with both of them home ; )  That's okay though, I am accustomed to a certain level of chaos.

Anywha, without meaning to, I'm posting bird cards two days in a row.  Ryan the bird lover would be so proud : )  Here's today's hummingbird:

I started with this week's Freshly Made Sketch, which I flipped upside down:

And I used this week's Color Throwdown colors:

I used Boho Blue, Pretty in Pink, and Lemon Lolly for my colors, with Early Espresso and Basic Beige for neutrals.  And then I had to ink up my Early Espresso ink pad right after I finished this card, don't know why all of my ink pads are suddenly saying they're in need of ink.

That's it for me today, peeps.  We're waiting for a technician to get here to take a look at our heating system, and then we're going to buy some paint to paint the kitchen/dining/pantry area.  I'm looking forward to seeing that space transform from greige to greens.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Thoughtful Expressions
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Boho Blue, Pretty in Pink, Lemon Lolly, Soft Sea Foam
Paper:  Basic Beige, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Thoughtful Expressions dies, Dimensionals, Earth Tones Shimmer Gems