Fabulous Day?

Mornin' y'all!  Hope your Friday is off to a good start...Ryan is staying home from school today with a case of the stomach ickies, and hopefully I can keep him quiet and resting for most of the day instead of just playing video games.  I wouldn't say no to a nap my own self but that's just because I woke up a lot last night.  We had a rip-roaring storm roll through around 11:30 last night, which is good because we definitely need the rain.

Anyway, I played with another new stamp set and DSP for today's card, take a looksie:

The stamp set is called Memorable Garden and the DSP is Mosaic Garden, and it has two of the three colors from this week's Creative Colour Challenge in it:

I have been using Crisp Cantaloupe lately but hadn't played much with Hydrangea Hue or Peaceful Pine, so this was fun!  Plus, ya know, new stuff ; )  Both the stamp set and the DSP are currently on preorder.

That's it for now, peeps.  I'm going to call Ryan's school here shortly to let them know that he's under the weather, and then Daphne and I are going to take our morning tour of the neighborhood as it's nice and sunny right now; we're supposed to get more rain later today and all weekend.  But first I will probably make a second cuppa tea : )  Have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Memorable Garden, Painted Pumpkins
Ink:  Hydrangea Hue, Peaceful Pine, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Hydrangea Hue, Whisper White, Mosaic Garden DSP
Accessories:  Nested Essentials dies, In Color Dots, Dimensionals

Gourd-geous!

Mornin' y'all!  I lucked out yesterday, my new stampin' goodies were delivered while I was running errands so I was able to dive right into that box when I got home and LOOK what I made:

Okay for reals, I was all set to skip the Painted Pumpkins bundle because I have quite a few pumpkin stamp sets but then I saw that greeting and that's what did it for me.  What can I say, I am a sucker for a great pun!  This stamp set has dies *and* masks so you can do stenciling on the pumpkins, which I did, I was pretty happy with how the stripes came out.  There's even a large stencil to do a leafy background though I didn't play with that one for today's card.  AND I got the coordinating paper, of course!  Yeah I said recently that I have no more storage space for paper but that didn't stop me from buying five new packs of DSP and none of them were on sale.  I also got several packs of embellishments, so I used the new Radiant Gems on today's card because somehow I accidentally bought two of them but that's okay.

Anyway, this week's Freshly Made Sketch was the perfect jumping-off point to play with my new pumpkins!

Really it was a question of using the pumpkins or the new sunflowers, but the pumpkins won out this time and I'm sure I'll be playing with the sunflowers soon.

That's it for now, peeps, I have more new goodies to play with and HOORAY FOR FALL STUFF!  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Pumpkins
Ink:  Secret Sea, Crushed Curry, Calypso Coral
Paper:  Calypso Coral, Basic White, Painted Patch DSP
Accessories:  Painted Pumpkins dies & masks, Dimensionals, Radiant Gems

Tropical Hello

Mornin' y'all!  We had a much quieter morning here today and Ryan got ready for school in time to ride his bike, so he's happy.  I've already taken Daphne for her walk and I've got a load of dishes in the dishwasher, so after I eat breakfast I can go out and run some errands and hopefully by the time I get back my new fall SU! goodies will be here : )

In the meantime, I have a tropical card: 

For reals, y'all, I am posting lots of FALL stuff starting tomorrow, bring on the warm colors and the fall leaves and the pumpkins and apples and Halloween everything, I am READY.  Anyway, I had to go tropical for the new challenge from Retro Rubber:

As soon as I saw it, Artfully Layered and the coordinating Artfully Composed DSP (both four years old) popped in my head and I had to use them for a card.  The dark strip on the right and the Pale Papaya script pattern were both scraps, but this is the first time I cut into the leafy pattern on the left and I am working on my goal to Just Use The Paper.  I like this week's sketch from Atlantic Hearts:

Once I had chosen that leafy pattern, I had to decide how to use the three green shades.  I chose Just Jade for my card base and main image just because I love that color, Pear Pizzazz is the only one that I had ribbon for so that choice was easy, and then I used Evening Evergreen for the greeting, background die cut, and gems.  All of the greetings in Artfully Layered are pretty large, so I found a teeny-tiny hello in All Year Cheer I and used that.  I think I got all three All Year Cheer stamp sets in the first year I was stamping so they're about 20 years old, how's that for retro!

That's it for now, peeps.  After I finish my tea it's time to start running errands and hopefully that won't wipe me out so bad that I can't work in my craft room afterwards.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artfully Layered, All Year Cheer I
Ink:  Just Jade, Evening Evergreen, VersaMark
Paper:  Just Jade, Evening Evergreen, Basic White, Artfully Composed DSP
Accessories:  Artfully Layered dies, Pear Pizzazz taffeta ribbon, clear EP, Dimensionals, In Color Gems

Pastel Beach

Mornin' y'all!  Man, Ryan was in a snit this morning.  He was running a little too late to take his bike to school and he was extremely grumpy while I was driving him.  Hopefully he's in a better mood when I pick him up this afternoon.

In the meantime, how about a beach card?

I know, I said no more summer cards so in my mind this is winter at the beach mmmkay?  Also I get my new box o' fall goodies tomorrow and I am looking forward to that, lemme tell ya.

Anyway, back to my card for today, I thought I'd try to do a smaller scene with Rolling Waves for the Addicted to CAS challenge:

And I added on the Color Dare Challenge:

I used Barely Blush, Hydrangea Hue, Soft Succulent, and added some Basic Beige and Whisper White for neutrals.  Last up is the Time Out Challenge:

I was already planning a CAS card, so I decided on birthday for my other option.  I don't make a ton of birthday cards because 95% of what I send out is some form of hi - how ya doin' - thinking of you card, but it's still good to have a stash of other types of cards available.

Ya know, I think I might have to go make me a new cuppa...I'm trying to drink up some of my tea stash and the one I chose this morning is just tasting a bit weird to me today and it could be that it's just too old.  At least it was almost gone so I don't feel bad about tossing the last bit of it out.  So I'm going to go brew a new cuppa and take a look at some other blogs before I get to my chores for the day.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Rolling Waves
Ink:  Hydrangea Hue, Soft Succulent
Paper:  Barely Blush, Basic Beige, Basic White
Accessories:  Rolling Waves dies, Nested Essentials dies, Mini Dimensionals, Classic Matte Dot

Perseverence

Mornin' y'all!  I have a cup of chestnut tea in front of me and a slice of yesterday's apple coffee cake for breakfast, eating a bit late because I had to drive Ryan to school (he lost his bike helmet somehow yesterday) and then go to the store (the hubs ran out of toothpaste).  So maybe I'm a bit slow getting started on the blog today but we're moving now.

And here's my card for today:

I quite like the inspo pic at Inspired By... this time around:

I zeroed in on the turtle on the upper left, but that frog on the bottom right is super cute too.  And the new sketch from Sunday Stamps is a classic for sure:

For my main image, I inked up the turtle in Soft Succulent and then inked the outside edges with Early Espresso and stamped it.  Then I used blending brushes to apply Soft Succulent and Crumb Cake ink for a distressed look, cut it out, and put it on a scrap of Crumb Cake cardstock cut with the Deckled Rectangles dies.  A perusal of my greeting stamps led me to Stepping Stones and I liked that message so that's what I went with.  The card base is Soft Succulent though it's coming across a bit more blue in the photo.  Still can't find a place to take my card photos that works 100% of the time.

Anyway, that's it for now.  I have a list of things to do today so I'd better get started.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nature Prints, Stepping Stones
Ink:  Soft Succulent, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Paper:  Soft Succulent, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Beauty of the Earth DSP
Accessories:  Deckled Rectangles dies, Dimensionals

Proud Colors for The Paper Players

Mornin' y'all and happy Sunday!  We had a small but mighty gallery for last week's Paper Players challenge from Jan, and I hope to see lots of players in this week's color challenge from Stef:

I went with Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, Crumb Cake, and Real Red for my colors, which immediately made me think of the old retired favorite Fresh Prints (...of Bel Air, I can't help it) DSP stack which has the latter three colors in it so that put me three quarters of the way to the color combination.  And you know what I've had on the brain lately?

Yep, I did it, another peacock!  I went through the DSP stack first and I really liked that floral print with three of the colors in it, and the peacock from World Treasures seemed to match the style of artwork so I stamped him in Bermuda Bay to round out the challenge colors.  I did accent some of his feathers with some Coastal Cabana ink, but I kept the card very simple since the pattern is busy and the peacock's tail of course is also a lot visually.  I used a simple strip of Crumb Cake cardstock to ground the peacock and that gave me a place for a simple stamped greeting.  Almost everything I used on this card is retired, but that doesn't mean I can't still use those supplies to play with : )

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

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:  World Treasures, Express Yourself
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Fresh Prints DSP Stack
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Peacock Feather

Mornin' y'all.  Daphne made me get up earlier than I wanted to today so she's lucky she's cute.  Well, I'm up now so I might as well get to doing...as I mentioned yesterday, the Nancy Drew Challenge has been postponed until next week.  Miraculously I DID find the missing stamp yesterday, of course a few hours after I got a shipping notification from the eBay seller who sold me the replacement stamp set, but I only have one card out of the three ready to go so here we are.  At least I found the stamp and I'll just resell the replacement set when it gets here.

I did make an unrelated card to share today though:

The color on the peacock feather isn't showing up so well in this picture, let's try at an angle:

Oh yeaaahhhh.  I used some foil paper (I think it's Bermuda Bay but apparently I don't have the original label) for the die cut peacock feather.  I know I made another peacock card last week but I can't help it when Color Hues has these perfect peacock colors:

I used Night of Navy and Bermuda Bay for my colors, and my CAS layout is courtesy of CAS Colours & Sketches:

I found a pretty monochrome floral pattern in the Regal Winter DSP (one of my favorites) and used that as a backdrop for my feather.  One simple sentiment from the Royal Peacock stamp set and it's done.

Daphne is now giving me side-eye because she wants to go for a walk and it's already starting to get warm outside so we'd better hit the road.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Royal Peacock
Ink:  Night of Navy
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Regal Winter DSP, Bermuda Bay foil paper
Accessories:  Royal Peacock dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, Mini Dimensionals

Flip-Floppin'

Mornin' y'all, and thank goodness it's Friday, I am ready for this week to be over.  I have spent a lot of time this week making phone calls (I hate making phone calls) and trying to get some appointments set up and the whole process has been a long drawn-out frustration and so I decided that today I am taking the day off from all of that and I am going to make some art in my craft room.  First I will need more tea (I always need more tea) so I'd better put the kettle on.

Anyway, I have two cards to share today, so here's the first one:

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the Creative Colour Challenge:

I made a fall card because I am 100% manifesting fall and summer can go kick rocks, gimme fall colors and pumpkins and apples and baking and Halloween and Thanksgiving and all the good stuff.  But I just wasn't loving that card and I thought you know what, those colors just really want to be a summer card.  So I grumbled and made this:

Same colors and sketch as before, though I changed the sketch to a landscape card because that "Summer Adventures" stamp is so wide.  And this card insisted that it had to be CAS, who am I to argue.  I had thought about entering my Dog Days card in the As You See It challenge:

But I worried that the Dog Days card wasn't quite on theme enough so I didn't, and now here I am with some flip flops which I hadn't used before from the Summer Happiness bundle.  However, I fully intend for this to be my last summer card this year because I am so ready for this summer to be over already, it's been tough with me dealing with bad fatigue issues and just not feeling well in general.  I am ready to turn over a new (fall) leaf, and on Tuesday I placed a nice fat Stampin' Up! order with some fall goodies to make my little goblin heart happy.  There's a bunch of cute Christmas stuff on preorder now too, but I didn't order any of it yet because I want to enjoy fall first.

Yesterday something happened that has never happened before...Calamity has befallen the warcraft room.  I LOST A STAMP.  I was working on a card for the Nancy Drew Challenge and I know I had that stamp, I clearly remember having it out when I was playing with some parts and pieces, but it has disappeared.  Poof.  I spent over an hour looking everywhere I could think of and nothing.  The hubs came home in the middle of me looking through everything on my craft table for the fifth time and bless 'im he said "Just order another one, then you'll find the one you're looking for."  By the end of the evening I was frustrated enough to do just that, but so far my original stamp is still in hiding.  Unless it magically turns up today, the Nancy Drew Challenge will be delayed by one week, which doesn't make me happy, but I think it's worth having the specific stamp I'm looking for and it's my challenge and my blog so I can do that.  Maybe if I stop looking for that lost stamp, it will appear?  One hopes.  Anyway, I am going to do my best today to not worry about the doctor's appointments or the missing stamp and just have fun making some art.  Maybe I'll put out all my fall and Halloween decorations too, that would make me happy.  Cheers, y'all.

Supplies, leaf card:
Stamps:  Simply Leaves
Ink:  Real Red, Lemon Lolly, Azure Afternoon
Paper:  Real Red, Basic White, Lighter Than Air DSP Stack, Azure Afternoon DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Supplies, flip-flop card:
Stamps:  Summer Happiness
Ink:  Lemon Lolly, Azure Afternoon, Versamark
Paper:  Lemon Lolly, Real Red, Azure Afternoon, Basic White
Accessories:  White EP, Mini Dimensionals 

SSSmile

Mornin' y'all.  I'm feeling a little slow this morning but I'm hoping that I'll perk up now that I have my first cuppa in front of me.  I do love a good strong Irish Breakfast tea in the morning...or maybe two : )

Anyway, when I made my snake card for last Saturday's Nancy Drew Challenge, I had at first colored in the snake with Granny Apple Green and Golden Glow before I switched to Bubble Bath instead.  But I still had that green and gold snake image all cut out and ready to go, so here he is on a card:

My picture looks a bit dark but that's what I get for taking it when it was all misty outside and right now I'm trying to get this post written before my wireless mouse runs out of batteries so I'm not going to replace it.  Anyway, the AAA Cards Challenge was the perfect impetus to get Mr. Snakey here on a finished card:

And I paired that with the Festive Friday Challenge:

I already had white on my die-cut snake image, so I chose a frame to go around him and then the "SSSmile" sentiment because it made me laugh.  I almost put some embellishments on there, but with the little dots around the snake on top of the polka dot paper I decided I had better leave it alone.

Amusing anecdote time:  This summer, I spent a lot of time in the car driving Ryan to various summer camps which all seemed to be 30 minutes away, so we started playing a game in the car where Ryan would name a letter and then we'd trade off saying words that start with that letter.  Sometimes we'd do fake acronyms just to try to make each other laugh (there was one about a problematic turnip vs. a pretty tiger).  Anyway, whenever Ryan ran out of words, he'd just yell "SNAKE!" and choose a different letter.  Why snake?  I have no idea.  He also said "Why did I play this game with YOU when you know every word in the English language?!" but we had fun with it.

Okay, I'd better finish up before my poor mouse goes into a coma.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Animal Notes from C.C. Designs, Nature's Symphony
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Granny Apple Green & Golden Glow
Paper:  Golden Glow, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Granny Apple Green DSP
Accessories:  Everyday Detail dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals

Dog Days

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan's first day of school was yesterday and so far he's done well with the routine.  I had to drive him to school yesterday because his bike had a flat, but the hubs fixed that last night so Ryan rode his bike to school today.  I'm not quite finished with my first cuppa but I'm already contemplating a second one since I have to get out and run some errands here shortly.

Anyway, it has been too long since I played with the Cutest Crew bundle so that's what I did today.

I made this for the current Inspired By... challenge:

I liked the colors, and I started going through my more-or-less current stamps (i.e. the ones in the new packaging since they're all in one handy container but I still don't like the new packaging so there nyeh) and I pulled out Cutest Crew immediately.  I figured it would work well with the colors (I used Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe, Golden Glow, and Pecan Pie) and I thought a lot of horizontal elements would be a good callback to the inspo pic, so this is a good chance to play with a few of the dies that I hadn't messed with before.  I still need to use the birds and the kitties from this stamp set, but the pupperinos are just so cute!  I needed some kind of pattern on the Crisp Cantaloupe paper so I inked up the now-retired Painted Stripes and do not ask me how I got it to go all the way across the card front when it's not that wide, I have no idea how I got the stripes to match up as well as I did and I am sure I could not replicate it.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Cutest Crew
Ink:  Early Espresso, Crisp Cantaloupe, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Golden Glow, Smoky Slate, Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana (the Blendabilities and WHEN IS SU! GONNA GIVE US BLENDS IN THIS COLOR)
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe, Golden Glow, Pecan Pie, Basic White, Fresh Prints (of Bel Air) DSP Stack
Accessories:  Cutest Crew dies, Nested Essentials dies, Dimensionals

I told Ryan I wanted a first day of school picture of him yesterday.  This is what I got:

I told him that I am keeping many many pictures like this because in a few years when he brings a girlfriend home I'm going to have LOTS of things to show her.  Thankfully Daphne was here for the cute:

BOOP.  I loves her.

Okay, I've got the kettle on for my next cuppa, and as soon as that's gone I'll have to go run some errands.  Cheers, y'all!

SUO Challenges CASE-ing the Catty

Mornin' y'all!  It's time for a new challenge from SUO Challenges and this time we're literally taking a page from the current catalog : )  Here it is:

Now, I don't have that rounded rectangle punch or the DSP that they used, but that doesn't mean I can't CASE one of the cards.  I had a look-see through my current papers and picked one that has blue and green tones and I reversed the colors on the card in the lower left corner.  Here's what I made:

The Nested Essentials dies gave me a similar shape to the punch they used in the catty, and I found a similar greeting with mixed fonts in Fern & Flora, which I embossed in white.  Even when I do CAS cards, I like to use different colors for the card bases, so I went all in on the blue for this one and used a white-based pattern for the three rectangle pieces.  Fun fact:  the watercolor wash is the back side of the floral pattern I used and also, hooray for using up some more DSP!  I added a few retired Blueberry Bushel Tinsel Gems to finish it off.

Now it's your turn!  Take a look at the samples from the catalog and make a CASE for yourself.  And remember, it's completely up to you how much of the inspiration you use on your own card--I think you can tell that I started with that one particular card for my inspiration, but my card looks fairly different because of the paper choices.  Upload your creation at the SUO Challenges blog...remember to use only Stampin' Up! products and most important, have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fern & Flora
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Blueberry Bushel, Garden Poetry DSP
Accessories:  Nested Essentials dies, white EP, retired Tinsel Gems

Tiny Tranquil Tree

Mornin' y'all!  I am on my second cuppa tea this morning and I had pumpkin coffee cake for breakfast because Ryan picked Sunday breakfast yesterday and he almost always chooses pumpkin cake.  I think I took a page from his book too because for some reason I was getting crumbs everywhere, but at least I clean up after myself.

Anyhoodle, the hubs and I were both in the warcraft room on Saturday (where he plays World of Tanks and I do crafts) and the following conversation took place:

Me:  Do bonsai count as trees?
Hubs:  ...Yes?  (definitely questioning)
Me:  Okay cool *stampy stamp stamp*

Result:

Ohhh yeeaahhh we're CAS today and I like it.  I used the Color Dare Challenge for my colors:

The card base and the stamping are done in Pretty Peacock (it looks extra dark in the picture, and I even took more than one but they all looked dark), the shading under the bonsai is Coastal Cabana, and I used watercolor pencils in Calypso Coral and Bermuda Bay to color the bonsai.  As to why I needed a tree, here's the Addicted to CAS challenge:

I hope they agree with the hubs that bonsai count as trees.  Bonsaaaaiiiiii!

Daphne is ready for her morning perambulation so I'm going to take her because I am totally stalling about all the phone calls I need to make today because I hate calling people on the phone but I need to make appointments and pretend I'm a functioning adult.  Wish me luck.  Bonsaaaaiiiii!!!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Calming Garden, Kanji
Ink:  Pretty Peacock, Coastal Cabana
Paper:  Pretty Peacock, Basic White
Accessories:  Corner rounder punch, watercolor pencils

My darling Daphne.  Sun's out, tongues out!

Paper Players: A Card for Ryan

Happy Sunday, y'all, and that means it's time for a new Paper Players challenge!  This week the jubilant Jan has a fun theme challenge for us to kick off August:

Jan wants to see cards for babies or kids, and as it happens I live with a not-quite-so-little-anymore kiddo who will be starting fourth grade this week, so this is a perfect time to make a card to slip into his backpack on that first day.  Here's what I made:

Ryan has been fixated on ducks for yeeeeeaarrrrs but after we went to Yellowstone and then to a nearby wolf sanctuary this summer, he is now also fixated on wolves.  He's read several books about the wolves of Yellowstone and I am all for anything that gets him to enjoy reading.  Anyway, this was also a fabulous opportunity for me to finally ink up my Wild Wolves stamp set from Lawn Fawn that I got last year.  I kinda took inspiration from a shirt that Ryan and I both have:

We took this selfie at Yellowstone this past May : )

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

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:
Stamps:  Wild Wolves from Lawn Fawn
Ink:  Night of Navy, Stampin' Blends in So Saffron, Smoky Slate, Copper Clay
Paper:  Night of Navy, Basic White, Everyday Skies DSP Stack, Simply Marbleous DSP Stack
Accessories:  Wild Wolves dies

The Greek Symbol Mystery

Happy August and welcome to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we are on the sixtieth book in the series, The Greek Symbol Mystery:

I still don't like Nancy's hair and face on the arch covers (no shade to Ruth Sanderson, the artist, and the charcoal illustrations inside the book are quite nice) but I do like the background of ruins and Nancy's outfit is pretty good.

We get Nancy, Bess, and George all together on the first checkerboard cover and for once the outfits aren't bad at all.  Actually all three books have pretty good outfits, which is a contrast to last week's mystery.

I think the one on the right is my favorite though, I like the purple and green color combination, Nancy's facial expression, and it feels more active than the other two covers which are rather static.  And I'm pretty sure I have a button-down shirt in a very similar color to what Nancy's wearing on this one (even though it's George who discovers the snake in the book).

Case file:  Not sure why Nancy bothered to go home to River Heights after her mystery in Belgium because she's right back in Europe, this time in Greece.  Maybe she did it for the frequent flyer miles.  Anyway, she's tracking down a missing person, investigating a possibly fraudulent charity, trailing some art thieves, and running afoul of the local law enforcement (which might be a first, usually the cops are falling over themselves to help her with anything she wants).  And in the end someone names a yacht after her, which is a questionable decision given how many boating accidents she's had.

Here's my card for the arch cover:

I had to ponder this card longer than the other two for this book, the colors on the arch cover don't really say "ancient ruins" to me but I think I made it work here.  I used More Mustard, Bermuda Bay, and Pretty Peacock; since I don't have More Mustard ribbon (and I really thought I did), I used some Hello Honey ribbon which I thought worked well with the So Saffron in the patterned paper and the card base.

I will say that even though the Winged Victory statue *is* Greek (or is it a Roman copy?  I can't remember), I associate it with France since it's on display at the Louvre (and I've seen it).  The Winged Victory stamp actually says Greece on it though so I started with that and used several other travel-related stamp sets to make a collage.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Travels Abroad, World Wonders, Travel Post, Next Destination
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Pretty Peacock
Paper:  More Mustard, Pretty Peacock, Very Vanilla, Cupcakes & Carousels DSP Stack
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, Hello Honey Stitched Satin Ribbon, Dimensionals

And here we go for cover #2:

I had to ink up Sweet November's Mini Medusa for this one!  In the first chapter, Nancy tells her friends, "Last night Hannah dreamed that we'd be greeted at Athens airport by gorgons--monsters with snakes for hair!" and then George says that was probably because Hannah had an appointment to have her hair permed.  I adore this Medusa stamp so I was delighted to use it for this one.

For my colors, I used Shaded Spruce, Azure Afternoon, Golden Glow, and Crisp Cantaloupe to coordinate with the book cover.  Doozy's skin is Crisp Cantaloupe and I did wonder if that looked okay, but the hubs said he liked it so I kept it that way.  I had fun coloring in Doozy's snek friends.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Mini Medusa from Sweet November, My Paper Pumpkin greeting
Ink:  Night of Navy, Shaded Spruce, Stampin' Blends in Shaded Spruce, Golden Glow, Crisp Cantaloupe, Azure Afternoon
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Basic White, Venetian Romance DSP, Bloom Impressions DSP
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, In Color Dots

And speaking of snakes, here's my card for the third cover:

I never thought I'd be saying "Oh how CUTE" about a snek image but here we are.  For a wonder, I did *not* buy the Animal Notes stamp set from C.C. Designs specifically for this challenge, I got it because it's got a dozen super cute rolly-polly animals and the snake happened to be one of them.  Then I perused my Halloween stamp sets for my greeting and it makes me laugh because I am a giant nerd.

I think this cover is the hardest of the three to find; I would like to get one that's in better condition, but I have yet to find one despite being on the hunt for over a year.  At least I have this book even if it is a bit distressed.  I remember this cover especially because it's the one my library had when I was a kid.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Animal Notes from C.C. Designs, Scary Cute
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Granny Apple Green & Bubble Bath
Paper:  Petunia Pop, Gable Green, Granny Apple Green, Basic White, Cute As Can Bee DSP
Accessories:  Everyday Details dies, Dimensionals, Petunia Pop Iridescent Ribbon

When I first read this book as a wee young lass, I never guessed that one day I'd get to go to Greece too; the girls visit Athens, Piraeus, and Corfu, and I've been to all three of those plus several other places like Santorini and Olympia.  Also I have cousins who are half Greek so this book was extra interesting to me for that reason.  Usually I like the travelogue books, but this one feels like they skipped a chapter at the beginning--the missing persons case isn't explained at all, we just find out about it in dribs and drabs through the book and most of what happens doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  I do like the Greek setting though and the covers are all good so I'm giving it one and a half stars.  If you make a card based on the book, leave me a comment as I'd love to see how it inspires you!  I'll see you next week when Nancy finds The Swami's Ring.

Gleaming Peacock

Happy Friday, y'all!  Me and the boys are going to see the new Spider-Man movie today so I am planning to play the last one on my phone while I'm in my craft room just as a refresher before we see the new one.  Should be a fun time!

So, here's my card for today:

The copper embossing powder wasn't showing up quite as well in the photo as it does in real life, so I took another picture:

And I was inspired to make this by the Just Us Girls challenge:

Here is Elizabeth's card that I chose to CASE:

Now, I don't have that really awesome die that she used for her inlaid background (actually I bought it right after I finished this blog post, so I WILL have it), but I do have a variety of peacock stamps.  Obviously my card isn't  super close to hers, but I kept the peacock theme and proud greeting, and I used my Golden Glow shimmer pen to add some yellow like the greeting on Elizabeth's card.  I was actually looking for a different patterned paper that reminds me of peacock feathers, but I happened across the Brightly Gleaming DSP and my brain went OOH SHINY so here we are.  Plus I had never cut into any of that DSP so it was definitely time to use some of it up.

I also used the latest sketch from Sunday Stamps:

I changed it to an A2 card to accommodate my peacock image, but I liked that this sketch lined up so well with Elizabeth's card with the main action on the left.  And then I added my giant sentiment on the right but what can you do.  The DSP has copper foil, so I used copper paper for the layer under my peacock and copper EP for the greeting.  Then I couldn't resist adding the ribbon even though it's got gold in it because OOH SHINY and let's just add a bit more so how about some sequins.

My mom loves peacocks (and hummingbirds and hippos, how's that for a trio?  Now I'm imagining a peacock standing on a hippo and a hummingbird on top of the peacock and my brain is a weird place) so this will likely go to her.  She has two peacock cross stitch pieces made by yours truly hung up in her house and at Christmas she likes to put peacock feather decorations on her tree.

Daphne is kinda low-key staring at me so I'm going to take her for her walk before it gets too hot.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Royal Peacock
Ink:  Night of Navy, Pretty Peacock, Versamark
Paper:  Night of Navy, Basic White, Brightly Gleaming DSP, Copper Foil
Accessories:  Royal Peacock dies, Nested Essentials dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Clear EP, Copper EP, Pretty Peacock ribbon, Pretty Peacock sequins, Dimensionals, Golden Glow shimmer pen