Valentinosaurus

Hey y'all, welcome to Wednesday.  I like Wednesdays because Ryan has a STEM club thing after school so I get an extra hour kid-free : )  His birthday is in 10 days so I am still stitching feverishly on the duckling, we'll see if I get it done in time.

In the meantime, I have an adorable dinosaur Valentine to share!

Did I already have multiple dinosaur stamp sets before I bought this one?  Yep.  Was it on the tops of my wish list when I saw the spring mini catalog?  Also yep.  When it comes to stamps, I will pretty much always buy dinosaurs, patriotic stuff, anything oriental-inspired, and tea.  Probably some other stuff too.  And this is why my craft collection is so large and in charge. #CraftyDragon

Anyway, this card will, of course, go to my dino-loving pal Krissy, but first we have some challenges!  Let's start with the Sunday Stamps sketch:

The scalloped edges on the sketch reminded me immediately of the Stitched So Sweetly dies, which I love, so I started with that and build my card from there.  I knew I was doing the "I love you" sentiment for the Paper Players challenge:

And then we have two color challenges that are combining forces, Inkspirational:

And Color Hues:

And then happily for me, all of those challenges dovetail nicely with the Festive Friday inspo list:

Pink, red, glimmer paper, hearts, love sentiment, and a cute animal (dinosaurs are animals, right?).  I debated between doing sequins or the glimmer paper hearts for accents but I decided to err on the side of glitter.

Okay, as soon as I finish my tea (Ceylon orange pekoe today, one of my favorites), it's time to walk Daphne and then work on that stitching project.  Then spend some time in my craft room, because I left a card half-done yesterday.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Darling Dinos
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Real Red, Smoky Slate, Stampin' Blends in Pretty in Pink & Real Red
Paper:  Real Red, Thick Basic White, Pretty in Pink & Real Red DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Darling Dinos dies, In Color Glimmer Paper, Dimensionals

All the Reds & Pinks for SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all!  I'm a bit tardy this morning as I got totally distracted with the updated clearance rack and some online exclusive preorders on the Stampin' Up! website.  Don't tell the hubs that I ordered a few things when I haven't used all the things from the last time I ordered : )  There's one bundle that I'm excited about because I think I can use it in my wedding album and get that thing DONE!

Anyway, it's time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!

This time it's a color challenge...allllll the pinks and reds!

Okay, you don't *have* to use all seven colors on your card or other paper craft creation, but you know I'm an overachiever and so I did.  Here's what I came up with:

I had gotten out the Perennial Postage dies for a project last week and then I didn't use them, so here they are now!  Some of the patterned paper that I used is retired, but I was looking through scraps and you could easily use all current papers.  I picked my background paper first (Pretty in Pink!) and then chose six scraps that I thought would work well together.  I stamped the solid heart from Bee My Valentine in five colors, my greeting on a sixth heart, and the I played around with where to place the different colored hearts vs. the patterns until I liked the arrangement.  I added some little accents to the top middle and the lower left heart and voilà!  I will admit that it took a while to stamp, punch, die cut, and adhere all the layers but I like it.

We hope you'll join us and upload your own creation at the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Pretty in Pink, Petal Pink, Cherry Cobbler, Flirty Flamingo, Melon Mambo, Poppy Parade (I think?)
Paper:  Real Red, Thick Basic White, DSP in Pretty in Pink, Poppy Parade, Melon Mambo, Cherry Cobbler, Flirty Flamingo, Petal Pink, Real Red (I think?)
Accessories:  Bee builder punch, Perennial Postage dies, square punch, white sequin, Mini Dimensionals

February 2021

Mornin' y'all!  I did not spend any time in my craft room yesterday, I was just feeling drained and so I took a two-hour nap.  Sometimes you just gotta nap.  I did work on my current stitching project in the evening though, which is a duckling for Ryan.  Not sure it will get done in time for his birthday which is in less than two weeks, but I'm going to try.

Anyway, how about a scrapbook layout from 2021?

Turns out that Summer Splash is a very good match for that set of bear jammies that Ryan had!  Love it.  If they'd had those jams in adult sizes, I would have bought me some.  I do love a good set of jams.

Today's color palette:  Summer Splash, Close to Cocoa, Blueberry Bushel, Lemon Lime Twist, Shaded Spruce, and white, which was taken directly from Ryan's jams and the little blue table we used to have for him.  We actually donated it when we got to Colorado and mostly he eats at the island now because he likes the tall stools.

Gotta get a move on, Daph says it's time to take her for a walk.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  My Paper Pumpkin, Scentsational Season
Ink:  Lemon Lime Twist, Blueberry Bushel
Paper:  Summer Splash, Shaded Spruce, Blueberry Bushel, Thick Basic White, Frosty Day DSP, Lemon Lime Twist DSP
Accessories:  none

A Pair of Vixens

Mornin' y'all!  I just finished putting all the things back in our china hutch and I even got out all my kokeshi dolls and put them out too.  They haven't been on display for the past couple of houses so it was fun to look at them all again : )  I might spread them out around the house but for now they're all in and on the china hutch.

I have two foxy cards to share today and actually they both went out in the mail yesterday.

I chose the sentiment from Nuts About Squirrels because a.) foxes have bushy tails too and b.) the crud is going around so this sentiment is seasonally appropriate.  I love this week's Inspired By... challenge:

I love that hot chocolate set, it's darling.  I did a reverse image search on Google but I can't find anywhere that it's for sale, sadly.  Not that I need, it but it sure is cute!  I couldn't decide which of my fox images I wanted to use for my card today, so I made two because why not.

I seem to have this week's Freshly Made Sketch on the brain:

And even with the sketch sitting right in front of me on my phone screen, I still can't help playing around with the proportions of the three background strips.

It's time to take Daphne for her daily walk and then I'm sure there's something else I need to be doing around the house.  I already did the dishes though so maybe I'll be able to get some crafty time this afternoon.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fox & Friends, Foxy Friends, Nuts About Squirrels
Ink:  Poppy Parade, Basic Gray, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Gray Granite, Basic Gray, Thick Basic White, Lily Pond Lane DSP Stack
Accessories:  Circle & scalloped circle punches, Poppy Parade baker's twine, Dimensionals

Lavender Fields Forever

Hey y'all!  I'm off to a lazy start this morning but as soon as I finish this blog post, I'll be taking Daphne out for a walk and then doing grocery shopping.  So let's get to it!

I made this card for the Retro Rubber Challenge:

I just missed the cutoff for the last challenge so I got my card done early this time!  Painted Lavender just turned a year old so just barely retro, and Winterly Tree Tops isn't retro yet, so the really retro part of this card is the DSP!  That's Enchanté, which is many moons old because it features Pale Plum and Perfect Plum.  I went with the first three colors in the palette, which I translated to Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, and Elegant Eggplant, and the last one, Very Vanilla.

I used this week's CASE-ing Tuesday Sketch:

I really have been having a fabulous time doing those challenges since the beginning of the new year.  One more challenge for good luck, check out Just Add Ink:

I used glittery gems, brass butterflies, and Wink of Stella on the stamped flowers.

Time to take my sweet girl out for a walk in the snow.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Lavender, Winterly Tree Tops
Ink:  Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant
Paper:  Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Very Vanilla, Enchanté DSP
Accessories:  Painted Lavender dies, I forget which glitter gems, brass butterflies, Wink of Stella, Dimensionals

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 : )