Happy Tic-Tac-Toe for The Paper Players

Hey y'all, happy Sunday!  That means it's time for a new Paper Players challenge : )  Hope you enjoyed LeAnne's sketch last week, and now we're on to a tic-tac-toe board brought to us by the lovely Joanne!

What caught my eye first and set the direction for my card was yellow, and then I ended up making a C for the tic-tac-toe with everything but stenciling and the free space because I couldn't really think of anything on my card that wasn't covered by the other options.  Well, maybe the dot embellishments?  Here's what I made:

I have die cuts (four dies from three different sets), flowers, multiple circles between dies and embellishments, yellow, a happy sentiment, patterned paper, and layers.  I initially started out with the smaller circle cut out of the Old Olive pattern, then decided I needed a bigger circle, and then I turned the first circle over to see what the pattern was on the other side and then I ended up using both circles which gave me an extra layer.  And it all started with seeing yellow on the TTT board and deciding that I needed to use the Floral Delight DSP.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Happy Watercolor
Ink:  Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Old Olive, Thick Basic White, Floral Delight DSP
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Thoughtful Expressions dies, Dimensionals, Ombre Matte Dots

Check out the other design team creations on the Paper Players blog, and you can hop through their individual blogs to leave some comments too:

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier

Stef Perry

you are here --> Christy Stanford

And then upload your card at the Paper Players blog!  Keep in mind a few simple rules:
1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission
3.  Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL
4.  Have fun!

The Secret of the Forgotten City

Hey y'all and welcome to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we're taking a look at Nancy's 52nd adventure, The Secret of the Forgotten City:

Oh hey look, *another* mostly brown cover (see Double Jinx, Crossword Cipher, and 99 Steps) but I suppose this one is different because it's a lighter, warmer brown than the others.  I do like the composition though, with the cool rock formation and silhouetted figures in the background.

Case file:  The Drew Crew surprises Nancy with an archaeological trip to Nevada at the same time as a First Nations woman approaches Nancy to see if she can solve the mystery of a bunch of stone tablets with carved petroglyphs on them.  Why don't my friends ever surprise me with archaeological expeditions?  On second thought, it's just as well they don't because outside is where the bugs live.  Anyway, Nancy desecrates yet another First Nations grave and finds yet another buried treasure.

Here's my card:

One of the bad guys (because there's always bad guys) puts a sidewinder snake in Nancy's car at one point of the book, and George grabs it with her bare hands and then calmly tells the others to drive her out of town so she can release it back into the wild.  Okay, George.  As it happens, I have a snake stamp in the Ancient Art stamp set, which I thought might be a nod to the petroglyph plot in the book, and I paired it with a weathered pattern from the Earthen Textures DSP.

I pondered what greeting to put on here before I decided to leave it without one and just do the snake in three shades of brown.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Ancient Art
Ink:  Cinnamon Cider, Copper Clay, Early Espresso
Paper:  Copper Clay, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Earthen Textures DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Earthen Matte Dots

And I do have a second card for this book:

Before they leave on the expedition to Nevada, the entire Drew Crew comes over for dinner at Nancy's house and Hannah makes apple snow pudding with raspberry sauce for dessert, which is something I had never heard of before but now I want to try making it since I found recipes online.  For now I decided to make a sort of sepia-toned card with Apple Harvest.

I chose a patterned paper with metallic accents since Nancy is once again after a golden treasure.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Apple Harvest
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Copper Clay, Ivory, various neutrals, Chalk pen
Paper:  Early Espresso, Creamy Caramel, Very Vanilla, All About Autumn DSP Stack
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, Apple Harvest dies, Dimensionals, Brushed Metallic Dots

Okay y'all, I finally have a contender for Worst Nancy Drew Book Ever to compete with Ivory Charm.  This is the THIRD time that Nancy has dug up a First Nations grave (see the revised text of Hollow Oak and then Pine Hill) and somehow the treatment of First Nations culture gets progressively worse in each book.  Nancy and her friends unearth a skeleton in this book with no supervision from an actual accredited archaeologist, wire it together, then take it back to base camp that night and MAKE IT DANCE AROUND THE CAMPFIRE.  Zero respect.  Ned and his friends must change their college majors every other week to facilitate Nancy's cases, they were something biology-related for Spider Sapphire and then Ned was working with lasers in Glowing Eye, not to mention his interest in international business in Fire Dragon, and now they're pretend archaeologists.  And now Nancy can speak a more obscure Spanish dialect to talk to some gold prospectors who are looking in the wrong place, and she's able to figure out the story of the petroglyphs on the tablet despite having no knowledge of First Nations cultures that we've ever heard about.  Can you tell my favorite part of this book is the mention of apple snow pudding?  One half star for the pudding.  If you're inspired to make a card, please leave me a comment below!  And check back next week, when we take to the skies to investigate The Sky Phantom.

A Sweet Donkey

Hey y'all, and happy Friday!  I had to have another go at the Paper Players sketch for this week, take a look:

I know lots of stampers are super excited about all the Winnie the Pooh stuff that's out now (both SU! and otherwise) since that work entered public domain in the States recently.  I'll admit that Winnie the Pooh isn't really my fandom (see Star Wars and She-Ra), but if I had to pick a favorite it would be Eeyore, so I did get an Eeyore stamp set from Ink Road...like several years ago...and seeing all the Winnie the Pooh stuff out now finally inspired me to ink it up.  Here's the Paper Players sketch to refresh your memory:

I did look up pictures of Eeyore online to get colors and there's some variation, but the more colorful version pretty much perfectly matches the Hydrangea Hill DSP that came out a few years ago.  I colored Eeyore in with Seaside Spray, Rococo Rose, and Highland Heather Blends.  I am really having some fun revisiting some older DSP lately.

That's it for me today, peeps.  Have a great day!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Donkey with an E by Ink Road Stamps
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Seaside Spray, Thick Basic White, Hydrangea Hill DSP
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Pastel Pearls

Mid-Mod Inspo

Mornin' y'all!  Hope you've got your sunglasses ready because I went All In on the bright colors today!

Check out the really fun inspo pic from the Just Us Girls challenge:

I saw where my Paper Players teamie Elizabeth posted her card for this challenge and I just *had* to play along, pretty sure this is the first time I've participated in the JUGS challenges.  Actually I was looking for stamps for a different challenge when I ran across Flores Misticas in my hoard and thought it would be fun to pair with the colors in the inspo pic.  I found a large and in charge sunny greeting in the aptly named Sunny Sentiments.  I really had fun with this challenge, I do love me some bright colors.  And it was really fun to play with Flores Misticas since I've only used it once before this card and it's got such a fun style.

That's it for me today, peeps.  Go forth and conquer!  Or, maybe just spread sunshine.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flores Misticas, Sunny Sentiments
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Pumpkin Pie, Lovely Lipstick, Versamark
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Pumpkin Pie, Lovely Lipstick, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  White EP, Dimensionals, Opaque Dots

Pink Strawberry

Mornin' y'all!  How's your week going?  Today I have yet another card that I made in my marathon session last Friday, take a look:

I was all set to make a cupcake card for the TGIF inspiration challenge:

And then I came across that Berry Delightful DSP in my stash and I just *had* to use it instead.  I liked how the watercolor style of the patterned paper coordinates with the artwork style on the inspo pic and I had never cut into that strawberry pattern before, so I had to use it.  One stamped pink strawberry and a greeting and I have a berry cute card!  I really do like this DSP pack, it's got some really pretty berry-based patterns in it.

Anyway, that's it for me today.  Have a berry good day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Berry Blessings, Sweet Strawberry
Ink:  Flirty Flamingo, Granny Apple Green, Garden Green
Paper:  Flirty Flamingo, Garden Green, Thick Basic White, Berry Delightful DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Circles Collection Framelits, Strawberry Builder Punch, Dimensionals, Rainbow Dots

A Floral CASE for SUO Challenges

Goooood morning stampy friends!  It's time for a new challenge from SUO Challenges, and this time around we are CASE-ing a page from the new catty, check it out:

So I pondered this one for a while.  I don't have any of the stamps, dies, or patterned paper featured on these cards, but I do have a lot of other stuff ; )  I do have the Lovely Blooms DSP that Joanne convinced me to buy, and it has flowers and some pink patterns (Petal Pink, but still pink...ish), and I do have a different stamp set (that's even current right now, whaaaat) that features the word "smile", so here's what I made:

Since I didn't buy the stamps that coordinate with this particular DSP, I fussy-cut some flowers and leaves from one piece of patterned paper and plopped them on a Petal Pink pattern, and I free-hand cut the banner bottom because I don't have those giant pennant dies.  It's a little wonky but that's okay.  The greeting is from Nature's Symphony, simply punched out with a 1 3/4" square punch and popped up on Dimensionals; I had some leaves from the edge of the paper that I was able to cut out and place behind the greeting where you can't see the edge of the paper, how's that for thrifty.  The diamond pattern is another sheet of this DSP so Joanne was right, it's a fun and useful pack of paper to play with, haha!  And since I have approximately eleventy billion Petal Pink embellishments, I added a bunch to coordinate with the card I CASE'd.

We hope you'll have fun with this challenge and post your card at the SUO Challenges blog.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nature's Symphony
Ink:  Secret Sea
Paper:  Petal Pink, Thick Basic White, Lovely Blooms DSP
Accessories:  1 3/4" circle punch, Dimensionals, Dear Dots

Super Quick Tulip

Mornin' y'all!  I said last week that I was having a bit of a tough time focusing in my craft room and getting things done, but on Friday something clicked and I made a bunch of cards.  I think it's because I convinced the hubs to hold off on painting the bathroom ; )  Here's the card that kicked off my streak:

And it all started because of the speed challenge at As You See It:

As soon as I saw tulips + speed challenge, I thought I HAVE PAPER FOR THAT and here's how long it took me:

I would have been even quicker but I hemmed for a bit about whether to put another Mossy Meadow mat around the polka dot layer, and then when I went to stop the timer I accidentally paused my music instead of the timer so really I was under six minutes which is pretty dang speedy.  The latest Freshly Made Sketch also helped speed things along:

A classic sketch that made my card a cinch to put together.  And for just one more challenge, I have Just Add Ink:

There are lots of pretty patterns in the Flowering Fields DSP pack, so I was going through them prior to starting the timer to plan out my card and when I found the Poppy Parade polka dot pattern that really solidified my choices.  A few die cuts, one stamped greeting, and then some embellishments to finish it off all well below the 10-minute time limit.

The only thing that might have slowed me down was Daphne, who was SURE that I should be paying attention to her rather than my card making:

So I played with her for several minutes before I started the timer because I loves her.  We've had her for a year and a half and I am still SO HAPPY she's here, I really missed having a dog in the house.  Even if she sometimes surfs the counters or dumpster dives the trash can looking for food she's not supposed to have, she's a champion snuggler and a great companion.

That's it for now, peeps.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flowering Tulips
Ink:  Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Pool Party, Mossy Meadow, Thick Basic White, Flowering Fields DSP
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Dimensionals, Pearlized Faceted Circles

A Friendly Sketch for The Paper Players

Happy Sunday, y'all!  Did you like Ann's food challenge last week for The Paper Players?  We're back again and this week LeAnne has a fun sketch for us:

I decided right off that this sketch would be a great way to showcase some patterned paper, but none of my recent purchases were speaking to me and for some reason I really wanted to do bright colors.  Last year's Friends of the Ocean DSP was exactly what I needed, and here's what I made:

I went through the scraps first and immediately picked that piece in the top left, and as it happened the Pumpkin Pie pattern is the flip side of it.  The lobster was die cut from another pattern because that was easy and I layered it on some seaweed die cut from Lemon Lime Twist cardstock and added a bit of ink for shading.  The only stamping is the greeting from the coordinating Ocean Friends stamp set.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Ocean Friends
Ink:  Summer Splash, Lemon Lime Twist
Paper:  Summer Splash, Lemon Lime Twist, Thick Basic White, Friends of the Ocean DSP
Accessories:  Ocean Friends dies, Rectangles Stitched dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Sunny Day Iridescent Dots

Check out the other design team creations on the Paper Players blog, and you can hop through their individual blogs to leave some comments too:

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier

Stef Perry

you are here --> Christy Stanford

And then upload your card at the Paper Players blog!  Keep in mind a few simple rules:
1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission
3.  Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL
4.  Have fun!

Mystery of the Glowing Eye

Mornin' y'all and welcome to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today's adventure is Mystery of the Glowing Eye, and buckle up because it's going to get WEIRD in here:

This cover reminds me somewhat of Crooked Banister, and actually the book does too but we'll get into that.  Crooked Banister's cover is all about hot pink and we do have some hot pink here too with Nancy's shirt, but more red around the creepy eye.  I can't think of another book cover that has words on it like the "warning" and "cyclops" here either, but Nancy's hair is on point.

Case file:  Ned Nickerson's science lab partner at Emerson College goes mad scientist and kidnaps Ned, then sends a remote-piloted helicopter to Nancy's house (so he can fly it like a drone, but it's a full-size helicopter).  Mad scientist also has a spotlight that can temporarily paralyze people?  And rigged up a wall in a museum that can make you stick to it like a magnet?  Crazy stuff.  Nancy and the rest of the Drew Crew try to investigate Ned's kidnapping, but Nancy is distracted by the new lady lawyer in dad Carson's office who has her sights set on Nancy's amateur detective gig AND Carson's affections.  Oh no!

So the villain of the story is obsessed with cyclops from Greek mythology, and he's got that helicopter, but my stamp collection was curiously devoid of cyclops or helicopters.  Actually I was even looking for eyeballs and came up empty, which was surprising to me given my extensive collection of Halloween stamps.  Luckily Whimsy Stamps said "Eye got you, girl" so here's my first card:

Yep, I have eyeball stamps nooowwwww : )  I did just a single eyeball for this card because cyclops, and I colored it in green because Nancy is jealous of the new lady lawyer.  Actually I just recently acquired the Rays of Light background stamp and I just HAD to use it for this book cover.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Jeepers Creepers from Whimsy Stamps, Rays of Light
Ink:  Real Red, Basic Gray, Stampin' Blends in Smoky Slate & Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Real Red, Poppy Parade, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Stitched Nested Labels dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

More eyeballs for my second card:

The eyes have it!  Yeah this stamp set will be making another appearance when we get closer to Halloween, it's so much fun.  I did the same Rays of Light background stamp on this one but discovered I liked it in Real Red ink on Poppy Parade cardstock to match the book cover a little better.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Jeepers Creepers from Whimsy Stamps, Rays of Light
Ink:  Real Red, Basic Gray, Stampin' Blends in Smoky Slate, Granny Apple Green, Pecan Pie, Balmy Blue
Paper:  Poppy Parade, Basic Gray, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella, Basic Gray Pearls

And this time I have one more card because I just couldn't stop:

Again with the Rays of Light background, but this time I decided to go with It's a Science for the atomic panel, which is Mango Melody to match Nancy's hair.  Plus I wanted to do a science-y card since this whole mystery started when Ned invented something to do with lasers in science class and his lab partner decided to abduct him and hold him hostage in a swamp.

Supplies:
Stamps:  It's a Science, Rays of Light
Ink:  Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Gray
Paper:  Poppy Parade, Mango Melody, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Nested Essentials dies, Dimensionals, Milky Dots

Like I said, this book is just plain weird, and we don't even have the charm of Robby the Robot from Crooked Banister to make me laugh this time, so I give it two stars.  It's the paralyzing spotlight and the weird glowing eye at the museum that make this feel like a bad 70s sci-fi nightmare instead of a Nancy Drew mystery, but I still had a good time making cards for it precisely because it IS so bizarre.  And now I have eyeball stamps, which is a plus.  If this strange adventure inspires you, please leave me a comment!  And check back next week when Nancy is on the trail of The Secret of the Forgotten City.

More Glitter Dragonflies

Mornin' y'all!  It is Ryan's last day of school (whaaaat) so I will be picking him up for early release day and probably taking him out for ice cream to celebrate.  Hubs and I really liked Ryan's teacher this year and I hope we are as lucky next year.

Anyway, I did what I said I was going to do yesterday and remade my glitter dragonfly card with the colors reversed.  Only I thought I'd play with more than one shade of purple so I have two:

That's Highland Heather on the left and Orchid Oasis on the right, which purple do you like better?  Or do you like the purple dragonfly from yesterday?  I like that I have several friend cards to mail out in the near future : )

Once again I used the Color Hues Challenge:

And the Retro Rubber sketch:

That's it for me today, peeps.  I'm going to take Daphne out for a walk and then put up the laundry that I washed earlier this week.  See you tomorrow for the Nancy Drew Challenge!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Dragonfly Dreams
Ink:  Highland Heather, Orchid Oasis
Paper:  Highland Heather, Orchid Oasis, Basic White, Granny Apple Green glimmer paper
Accessories:  Detailed Dragonflies dies, Dimensionals, Purple Fine Shimmer Gems, In Color Pearls

Glitter Dragonfly

Mornin' y'all!  Hope your day is going well.  I am hoping to get some Serious Card Making done today because tomorrow is Ryan's last day of school so I won't have as much uninterrupted kid-free time after that and I will be doing my taxi service for a good part of the summer.  So I gotta craft now, right?

Okay, here's my card for today:

This week I have been having trouble connecting to challenges and actually sitting down to make things, it happens sometimes.  So I was looking through my stamp shelves yesterday and I was thinking about a couple of themes from different challenges and nothing was clicking and then I saw Dragonfly Dreams and it works for *two* challenges, neither of them the themes I was looking for to start with, but the idea for this card popped in my head fast so I'll take it.  DONE.  I had a hard time photographing this card though, the first picture showed the Highland Heather glimmer paper on the dragonfly better but made the Lemon Lime Twist card base look radioactive, so I used this photo.  Imagine the dragonfly is more purple, but hey, you can see the sparkle this time!

First up is the Retro Rubber sketch challenge:

I had no idea in mind for this sketch when I was looking through my stamp sets, but that dotty fill-in stamp in Dragonfly Dreams ended up working nicely.  I just checked through my older posts and I got Dragonfly Dreams about a month before Ryan was born, so it is also nine years old, which is retro in stamp years but not kid years.

Next up is the Color Hues Challenge:

I used Lemon Lime Twist and Granny Apple Green for two hues of lime green, and Highland Heather and Gorgeous Grape for two hues of violet.  I wanted to do something not-floral with these colors and had kinda been thinking about going for a Halloween card (it's never too early for Halloween at my house), but I do like the dragonfly with these colors.  Ooh, I have Granny Apple Green glimmer paper, I could make this card again in reverse!  I might just do that.

Daphne says it's a nice day out and she wants to go for a walk.  We've gotten some rain this week, which is great, but it's been so cool out it feels more like March than May.  So I'll take some nice sunny weather before I go up to the craft room, which is my reward for doing four loads of laundry yesterday.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Dragonfly Dreams
Ink:  Granny Apple Green, Gorgeous Grape
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Basic White, Highland Heather glimmer paper
Accessories:  Detailed Dragonfly dies, Dimensionals, Tinsel Gems

Midnight Moths

Mornin' y'all!  Yesterday turned out to be a bit on the crazy side and it's looking like today is shaping up to be more of the same.  Daphne is on a bland chicken and rice diet while we try to figure out why she doesn't want to eat her normal food (and knowing her, she's probably just holding out for treats and there's nothing wrong) but she's acting like she feels perfectly fine.  Anyway, I do have errands to run and laundry to switch out and other things to do, so let's get to it.

Here's my card for today:

I just had to break into more of my Midnight Flora DSP and I definitely need another pack of this just to hoard it, and possibly a third pack because I am a paper dragon.  I let the paper do the work for the Sunday Stamps sketch:

The only stamping is the greeting block and the moth I colored with Golden Glow Blends and then went over with the Golden Glow glitter brush.  I got that color and the Hydrangea Hue one, they're basically Wink of Stella but colored.  I like it.  I had stamped the poppy bouquet to put on the card somewhere but I ended up wanting more of the patterned paper to show, so those poppies will have to wait for another card.  Oh, I almost forgot, I put the two patterned paper panels on Peaceful Pine mats, but I wanted the green to be a bit darker to match the front pattern more, so I simply colored the edges of the cardstock with my dark Peaceful Pine Blend.  Et voilà, a darker shade of Peaceful Pine.  Simples.

Okay, looks like it's drying up a bit so maybe if I take Daph out now we won't get rained on too much.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fern & Flora
Ink:  Secret Sea, Golden Glow, Stampin' Blends in Golden Glow & Peaceful Pine
Paper:  Secret Sea, Peaceful Pine, Thick Basic White, Midnight Flora DSP
Accessories:  Fern & Flora dies, Dimensionals, Golden Glow glitter brush, In Color Flat Pearls

Snail Mail

Mornin' y'all!  And a busy one at that.  Ryan had me drive him to school today (can't blame him, it's chilly and misty out) and then I had to drop off a package and grab a few things at the grocery store; my hair dryer gave out after many many years of faithful service and now I have just a few minutes to type this up before I take Daphne to the vet.  As if to prove that she's Just Fine Thankyouverymuch, she ate her breakfast and is now playing vigorously with her toys behind me.

Anyway, today's quick & cute card:

CAS on Friday wants to see envelopes, and Joanne had used this cute snail for a card recently so I had to get him out myself.  I was really intrigued by this week's Creative Colour Challenge:

I don't think I would have put those together on my own but I do really like the combination and I thought it worked great for the snail.  I went back and forth about whether or not to color in his eyes and I think maybe I should have left them uncolored, but too late now.

Okay, off to take Miss Girl to the vet.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snailed It
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Bubble Bath, Stampin' Blends in Bubble Bath, Crumb Cake, Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Bubble Bath, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Snail dies, Dimensionals

Buzzy Bee

Mornin' y'all!  A bit late with the blog post this morning, I drove Ryan to school and then I went to Target to get a shoe rack for the hubs and a gift card for Ryan's teacher since this is the last week of school.  Then I made an appointment for Daphne at the vet tomorrow...she's been acting a bit weird and not wanting to eat her food, which is definitely abby normal for her, so we're getting her checked out.  But for now, I managed to squeak in enough craft room time yesterday to make a card:

I had thought I would just miss out on the bee-tastic Festive Friday Challenge because I thought it ended last week, but I'm in luck, it's still on:

I have yellow, black, hexagons, bees, and flowers, so half the list.  I paired that with the Freshly Made Sketch from last week:

I used hexagons instead of circles and plopped my extra-large bee on top of the three hexagons, but I think you can see I started from the sketch.

That's it for now, peeps.  We did get our closet painted on Saturday, which took forever because I do the edge work and there's a lot of shelves in there, but it's done and looks so much brighter than before, I love it.  But now I need to get the rest of my stuff in there, I did the hangy-up stuff and some plastic drawers yesterday but I haven't refilled the shelves yet.  Fun times, I tell ya.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bee My Valentine
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Pool Party, Petunia Pop
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, Basic White, Cute as Can Bee DSP
Accessories:  Hexagon punch, Beautiful Shapes dies, Bee Builder Punch, Dimensionals, Hearts & Flowers embellishments

Snack Time with The Paper Players

Gooooood morning stampy friends!  Thanks to everyone who played along with Claire's fun color challenge last week, our gallery was small but mighty!  Today, the Paper Players are back with a great new challenge from the artistic Ann!

This was another time when I have SO MANY stamp sets I could use that it might have given me decision paralysis and then I ended up with two cards.  Last Friday was National Chocolate Chip Day (who knew that was a thing, but I approve), so I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and then I discovered later on Friday afternoon that National Chocolate Chip COOKIE Day is actually August 4, but I figured chocolate chip cookies count for National Chocolate Chip Day as well.  And Ryan got to gloat because he was right that Friday was National Chocolate Chip Day and not National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, so I'm glad to see they're teaching him the really important stuff at school.  Anyway, here's my card:

I bought the stamp set Roadies 19 from The Ink Road *just* for that greeting because my brother and I grew up eating raw cookie dough, which I realize may be a divisive subject but I thought this stamp was just hilarious.  I stamped the cookies from Nothing's Better Than and then put together a very simple CAS layout on a Pool Party card base, which I chose honestly because I was wearing a Pool Party-ish colored shirt when I made the card, and Pool Party looked good with Baked Brown Sugar and Early Espresso.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Nothing's Better Than, Roadies 19 from The Ink Road
Ink:  Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso
Paper:  Pool Party, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Love You More Than dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals

However, I had already made a different card for this challenge and I think it still deserves to be shared here, so take a look at a bonus card:

My dad and I like to share really silly puns ("dad jokes") with each other, and I will be mailing this card to him.  There was a Paper Pumpkin kit a while back that was based entirely on food puns, and I restarted my Paper Pumpkin subscription specifically to get that kit (and let's not talk about the 3-foot tall stack of other Paper Pumpkin kits that have not been opened, I conquered my FOMO and stopped my subscription again so at least that stack isn't getting any taller).  There's a little stamped image of an egg but I thought I could make a CAS fried egg out of cardstock, so that's what I did.  I die cut a circle for the yolk and then free-hand cut an amorphous shape for the egg white, sponged the edges of both pieces, and added a very simple greeting popped up on Dimensionals.  I chose a Basic Gray card base to look like a frying pan.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  My Paper Pumpkin
Ink:  Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Basic Gray, Basic White, Mango Melody
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Check out the other design team creations on the Paper Players blog, and you can hop through their individual blogs to leave some comments too:

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier

Stef Perry

you are here --> Christy Stanford

And then upload your card at the Paper Players blog!  Keep in mind a few simple rules:
1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission
3.  Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL
4.  Have fun!

The Double Jinx Mystery

Mornin' y'all and welcome to the FIFTIETH Nancy Drew Challenge!  I am still just having the best time entertaining myself over here, both reading the books and making cards for them, and I hope you're enjoying the journey with me.  So today, Nancy takes on The Double Jinx Mystery.

Once again we have a mostly brown cover (see also 99 Steps and Crossword Cipher), but this time Nancy is wearing a pretty cool 70s orange collared shirt with a fun pattern (this book was first published in 1973, still some years before I was even born).  Not sure why Nancy looks extra worried on this one, but hey, we get another Ned cover!  I had some fun using this cover for inspiration, as you'll see in a minute.

Case file:  Carson asks Nancy to help investigate a case where a town is considering tearing down a family-owned zoo and aviary to make way for a high-rise apartment complex.  Someone is trying to convince the owners of the zoo/aviary that they're being jinxed, so there's quite a lot about superstitions and it's very clear that Harriet Stratemeyer Adams gives superstitious people short shrift.  Nancy and Ned both contract ornithosis (different from bird flu according to Google, but it sounds similar) while investigating and Nancy gets kidnapped by one of the most bizarre villains ever, a mentally unbalanced male ballet dancer.  A bonkers ballerino, if you will.

Here's my card:

A lot of this book has to do with birds, and one of the characters is a foreign exchange student from an unnamed Eurasian country who brings along her pet wryneck woodpecker while studying in the States, like you do.  I don't have any wryneck stamps, but I figured a feather would do, and I had a good (and messy) time making the background with watercolor paper, ink refills, and salt.  I dripped the ink on wet watercolor paper, then spritzed more water to get the colors to run, and when you sprinkle salt on and let it dry, it kinda gives you freckles, which I liked.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fine Feathers, Sincere Salutations
Ink:  Peach Pie, Pecan Pie, Early Espresso
Paper:  Early Espresso, Basic Beige, watercolor paper, Autumn Toile DSP
Accessories:  Lots of Labels dies, In Color Dots, Dimensionals

I was having SUCH a good time with my background that I ended up with several more pieces, and I thought I could make a better card than the first one, so here is attempt #2:

I do like this one better with the fussy-cut feathers, and I feel like it lets more of the fun background show.  I chose the good luck greeting for both of these cards since so much of the book has to deal with people thinking they're jinxed or getting bad luck from all kinds of things, which reminded me of the peacock-induced bad luck from The Hidden Window Mystery.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fine Feathers, Sincere Salutations
Ink:  Peach Pie, Pecan Pie, Early Espresso
Paper:  Early Espresso, Basic Beige, Very Vanilla, watercolor paper, Autumn Toile DSP
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Pecan Pie Ribboned Dots, Dimensionals

And then I liked the second card so much that I just had to keep going and make a third:

I had to do a get well card since Nancy and Ned both come down with ornithosis in this book, it just made me giggle.  And this time I found a piece of DSP with a great circle pattern that matches Nancy's shirt!

As soon as I found that pattern in the Gathering Together Specialty DSP I knew I would use it.  The watercolor bit is a leftover piece from my first watercolor background so I kind of had to build the rest of the card around it.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wildlife Wonder, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Peach Pie, Pecan Pie, Early Espresso
Paper:  Pecan Pie, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, watercolor paper, Gathering Together Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, Circles Collection Framelits, Dimensionals, Earthy Matte Dots

This book and its focus on superstitions and bad luck is just a little weird to me, and that's even before we get to the bonkers ballerino, so I'm giving it two and a half stars.  I think several books in the 50s go a bit off the track but sometimes the really bananas ones are the most fun (the high-water mark for bananas shenanigans is still a tie between Brass-Bound Trunk and Moss-Covered Mansion, and I really love those), but this one just feels weird without the extra fun.  Anyway, I hope it inspires you to make something and if so, leave me a comment!  And make sure to tune in next Saturday when things get *really* weird (again!) for Mystery of the Glowing Eye.