Thanksgiving Leaves

Mornin' y'all, and happy Friday the 13th.  I'm not scared, are you?

I have a Thanksgiving card to share today:

Okay I've been wanting to try this color combination for a while and FINALLY got it out on paper:  Cajun Craze, Pretty Peacock, and Lost Lagoon.  I really like it, what do you think?  I'm entering this at the AAA Cards Challenge:

Arguably I could have three of the spokes on my card, with Nature, Thanksgiving, and Colors, but I've never seen a real leaf in Lost Lagoon and I don't think of these as the stereotypical autumn colors so I chose the Thanksgiving sentiment from Painted Pheasant to hedge my bets :)  That was just the first stamp set I thought of off the top of my head that had a Thanksgiving stamp in it, we really don't get a lot of Thanksgiving-specific stamp sets from SU.

That's it for me, peeps.  It's a beautiful day outside (though far too warm for November if you ask me), so I'm going to take Daphne out and then get some things done in my craft room.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Elegant Leaves, Painted Pheasant
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Lost Lagoon, Pretty Peacock
Paper:  Pretty Peacock, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Elegant Leaves dies, Stitched Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, Cajun Craze & Gold dots, Wink of Stella

Jolly Holly

Mornin' y'all!  And it's a good one, too.  The hubs got home from a business trip to Germany last night and today is the first day that I've actually felt pretty good since Sunday, I've had a headache and a low-grade fever so I'm glad that seems to be over.  AND I got an itty-bitty SU! order delivered so I'll have some new schtuff to play with after I do some chores.

But first, today's card:

I pulled out a scrap of retired Painted Christmas DSP for a quick card, and Framed & Festive for a quick and easy greeting because I love that stamp set.  I chose patterns specifically to play along with the Inkspirational Challenge:

And I chose a pattern with multiple shades of green for the As You See It speed stamping challenge:

Green is my favorite color so of COURSE I had to play along there.  The DSP I used has Garden Green, Pear Pizzazz, Evening Evergreen, and Soft Sea Foam in it, and the holly pattern is the reverse of the pattern I used for most of the card front.  Yeah yeah I did the same thing I've been doing lately with card layouts but it works for me and I like it, and it worked well for a speed challenge.  I decided to stick to Garden Green for the card base, ribbon, and glitter dots, and here's my time:

Not too bad for under seven minutes, right?  And that includes time spent futzing with the ribbon and I had to stamp the greeting twice because I think my Garden Green ink pad could use a refresh.  And yes, I was listening to the scores from The Lord of the Rings while I worked.  I watched The Fellowship of the Ring last weekend while I was stitching (which is absolutely too long for me to stitch in one day, my wrist was unhappy with my decision) and I'm hoping to start The Two Towers this weekend.

Yesterday though I was watching the latest episode of NCIS and Daphne decided the place to be was IN my armpit:

Makes it difficult to stitch but I loves her.

That's it for now, kids.  I'm off to walk the Daph and do a few chores.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Framed & Festive
Ink:  Garden Green
Paper:  Garden Green, Basic White, Painted Christmas DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Garden Green Stitched Satin Ribbon, Sparkle Dot Essentials

Woodland Friends

Mornin' y'all!  How's your week going?  Ryan wasn't feeling good yesterday (and really, neither was I) so I kept him out of school and we had a rot day.  Still went to the grocery store and washed two loads of laundry, but otherwise rotted.  I did manage to make one card though:

And I finally inked up my Woodland Wishes stamp set that I think I've had for several months now.  Let's start with the color challenge from TGIF Challenges:

I figured the Calypso Coral and Pecan Pie were perfect colors for my fox and hedgie, and then a whole lot of Mossy Meadow for a great woodland color and also I just love that plaid.  The year that we had those DSP packs?  Yeah, those are my favorite.  Anyway, Cupcake Inspirations gave me the perfect excuse to ink up two of the little animals in Woodland Wishes:

I want to circle back to this one and make a card inspired by that photo, those cupcakes are the cutest.  Last up, I used this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch:

And this sketch is the reason why I chose to use two of the little single animals in the set; there's a whole stack of animals to look like a tree but I started small : )  Now I need to make a bear card.  I have a bunch of ideas swirling in my brain so I will have to get started as soon as I take Daphne for a walk.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Woodland Wishes, Fern & Flora
Ink:  Early Espresso, Pecan Pie, Stampin' Blends in Mossy Meadow, Pecan Pie, Calypso Coral
Paper:  Mossy Meadow, Pecan Pie, Very Vanilla, Mossy Meadow DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, Spotlight on Nature dies, Fern & Flora dies, Dimensionals, Painted Patch Dots

It's Wednesday, so time for a WIP Wednesday update on my current stitching project!

This was released as a 12-part Christmas stich-along (SAL) a couple of years ago by Shannon Christine Designs, the same designer who made my Halloween buckets SAL.  I do really love her designs, they're so full of personality and fun colors.  Anyway, this is the top middle design of the SAL and will be a Santa mug, I just did the frame and background snowflakes first.  The fabric is a cornflower blue called Reflection from Mystic Fabrics, I love it.  Shannon Christine showed this design done on gray, but it's got a bunch of brown in it (reindeer mug coming up to the left of Santa, plus gingerbread) and I don't like gray and brown together.  I love how the colors pop on this blue though, I'm very happy with this start.

So this was supposed to be December's new project start but I hit a snag with the leaf mandala I had intended to work on this month (see last week's WIP Wednesday update).  I ordered some more variegated floss that I just got in the mail yesterday, so I need to experiment a bit with the colors on that one while it's daylight so I get a good sense of what works together.  So I might flip back to that one for the rest of the month, we'll see how it goes.  This Christmas SAL will definitely be my project for December and then in January I'll swing back to the Halloween buckets.  Rotating projects helps keep me from getting project fatigue, especially on very large stitching projects.  I was ready for a break from all the black on the Halloween buckets!

Anyway, I'm going to take Daphne for her walk and then get up to my craft room.  Cheers!

Falling for Autumn with SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all!  It is time for a new challenge from SUO Challenges, and here it is:

Okay, so I had A Plan for what I wanted to do but then I was digging through my DSP and this pumpkin pattern leapt out at me and here's what I made instead:

Isn't that patterned paper cute?  Still loving the Painted Pumpkins suite and this time I elected to color in my pumpkin with Blends, so we have a lighter version of Timid Tiger on the DSP, regular Timid Tiger cardstock, and then darker Timid Tiger on the pumpkin.  I've done similar card layouts several times recently but I just really like this idea for showing off a piece of patterned paper!

So let's see what you've got to celebrate my favorite season.  Upload your creations on the SUO Challenges blog and don't forget, it's Stampin' Up! only BUT retired stuff is A-okay.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Pumpkins
Ink:  Secret Sea, Versamark, Timid Tiger Blends
Paper:  Timid Tiger, Secret Sea, Painted Patch DSP
Accessories:  Painted Pumpkins dies, white EP, Mini Dimensionals, Radiant Gems 

Time to Cross Stitch

Mornin' y'all, how's your Monday?  I was down with a nasty headache most of the day yesterday but happily I am feeling better now and I have a card to share that combines a brand new stamp set with some older stuff, take a look:

The new Time to Unwind stamp set has this floss bobbin for cross stitching, plus a couple images of yarn and both knitting needles and a crochet hook, they really tried to cover the bases for fiber arts and I love it.  No dies, but should be pretty easy to fussy cut if I want to.  I had to ink it up for the first time when I saw the Inspired By... inspo pic:

I used Misty Moonlight, Tip Top Taupe, and Copper Clay for my colors.  I could have used the yarn stamps, but I'm a cross stitcher so the floss bobbin had to be on my inaugural card for this stamp set.  I'm sure I will make some yarn-tastic cards for my mom who does do crochet.  After I finished this card, I did go work on my current stitching project, pic to come on Wednesday.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Time to Unwind
Ink:  Early Espresso, Copper Clay, Tip Top Taupe, Misty Moonlight, Copper Clay Blends
Paper:  Tip Top Taupe, Very Vanilla, Copper Clay & Misty Moonlight DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon

And here's my darling girl asking me to toss her Scooby-Doo toy for her yesterday:

My girl's name is Daphne, *of course* I bought her some Scooby toys.  She has perfected the art of puppy dog eyes to get me to do whatever she wants and I adore her.  Even though she tried to murder me last month and my knee still hurts.

Karma Chameleon for The Paper Players

Happy Sunday, y'all, which means it's Paper Players day!  Hope you enjoyed Claire's plaid challenge last week (I always love a good plaid), and get ready for a new color challenge courtesy of the joyful Joanne:

So my brain kept singing the snippet "red gold and green, red gold and greeeeeeeen" over and over and it took me an embarrassingly long time to shake loose more of the song and figure out that it was Karma Chameleon.  I always tell Ryan that my brain is at least 83% song lyrics and movie quotes.  Anyway, these colors immediately made me think of the Wrapped in Plaid DSP Stack so here's another Paper Players card featuring a healthy dose of plaid!

Since I was using a retro paper stack, I figured I would use some retro stamps too and take a stab at the card sketch from Retro Rubber:

Christmas Season (the holly and leaves) is four years old, and More Merry Messages (greeting) is really retro at 14 years old.  I've been a Stampin' Up! demonstrator for over 20 years now and I tend to keep just about everything, so I have a LOT of stamps : )  And paper.  Much as I love new schtuff (and you know I do), I also love having another look at something from the depths of my collection and sometimes combining new and old.  But today it's all retro, ha!

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:  Christmas Season, More Merry Messages
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Shaded Spruce, VersaMark
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Shaded Spruce, Basic White, Wrapped in Plaid DSP Stack
Accessories:  Seasonal Labels dies, gold EP, Iridescent Foil Gems

Enemy Match

Happy Saturday and welcome to another Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today's book is #73, Enemy Match:

The cover on the left is weird...why is there a river of lava?!  I like the creepy feel to it though, with that floating face behind Nancy and the Addams Family-style mansion/castle/place.  As for the two checkerboard covers, you can tell that Nancy is going to get into yet another boating accident.  I've had the middle one for years and bought the other two in the last year or so.  I think I like the middle one the best, I like the brighter colors and it's a very energetic composition.  The third one is high energy too, I do like the colors, just not as much as the second one.  I'm glad they didn't continue the river of lava on the later covers, that was such a weird artistic choice.

Case file:  Nancy is contacted by her old friend, tennis ace Nina Ford, who asks her for help in finding her father who was convicted of fraud but disappeared on his way to prison.  She's also receiving threats related to her tennis matches.  George is off visiting grandparents in California and Bess pops in and out of this one, so Nancy's sidekick is 14-year-old Midge Watson who attaches herself to Nancy like a limpet and insists that she's the Watson to Nancy's Holmes.  I actually kinda like her, she's spunky.

Here's my first card:

I scoured my whole stamp collection and came up with exactly ONE tennis-related image, the tennis ball from Pets & More, which I had to fish out of my To Sell? boxes.  And since I don't do sportsball, I had to ask the Google what phrases are associated with tennis, and then I used my alphabet stamps to make my greeting.  That lattice die is brand new and it reminded me of a tennis racquet so that's a good enough excuse for me to use it.

I used Sweet Sugarplum, Lemon Lime Twist, and Old Olive for my colors; Mossy Meadow was a better match for the border color on the cover but I thought that would have looked weird with tennis balls.  And I just realized that I did NOT use the Everyday Arches dies for this one!  Oops.  I've done the arch dies for every other arch cover.  Oh well.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Pets & More, All-Around Alphabet Upper & Lower
Ink:  Sweet Sugarplum, Old Olive
Paper:  Sweet Sugarplum, Lemon Lime Twist, Basic White
Accessories:  1/2" circle punch, Stitched Shapes dies, Woven Lattice Texture die from Spellbinders, Dimensionals

On to my next card:

Nancy and Midge get followed by a green Chevy several times in the book (that's the first time I've noticed that they use an actual car brand in the Drew mysteries), but my card features Nancy's blue sports car.  Midge is also a bit of a mechanic and stops one of the bad guys from tampering with Nancy's car, so the Geared Up Garage bundle seemed like a natural choice for this book.

My colors are Azure Afternoon, Calypso Coral, and Crisp Cantaloupe, which turned out to be a fun combination to play with.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Geared Up Garage
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Calypso Coral, Stampin' Blends in Azure Afternoon, Smoky Slate, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe
Paper:  Azure Afternoon, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral DSP
Accessories:  Garage Gears dies, Layering Circles dies, Dimensionals, Glossy Garden Dots

And for my final card:

Midge is Most Insistent about being Nancy's assistant detective so I thought this "What would Nancy Drew do?" card would be perfect for her.  Yes, I have Nancy Drew stamps, but I have no idea who manufactured them as there was no company name on the package when I bought them probably more than 15 years ago.  I found some watery DSP in the perfect colors to coordinate with this book cover.

I used Merry Merlot, Tranquil Tide, and Mint Macaron for my colors, with some Cherry Cobbler since we never got Merry Merlot Stampin' Blends.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Nancy Drew stamps, unknown manufacturer
Ink:  Merry Merlot, Tranquil Tide, Stampin' Blends in Cherry Cobbler & Pool Party
Paper:  Merry Merlot, Basic White, Tranquil Textures DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Mini Dimensionals, Matte Decorative Dots

This book isn't one of my very favorites, but I do quite like the character of Midge and there are some very fun elements, so I give it four stars.  I had a good time reading this one, and it's fun to see Nancy be a mentor to a very precocious sidekick.  It's a solid entry in the Drewniverse.  If you're inspired to make a card, please leave me a comment--I'd love to see!  I'll see you next week when Nancy investigates The Mysterious Image.

Regal Pumpkins

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan is off school today (why?  They rarely seem to go five days in a single week, what is up with that) and supposedly he's cleaning his room, which is desperately needed so I hope that's actually what he's doing.  I got my workout done this morning, cleaned the powder room, put up my laundry, started washing a load of towels, and once I finish this post I will be taking Daphne out for her morning perambulation.  Then I have to finish my cards for tomorrow's Nancy Drew post, but first I have a card for today:

Of course I'm back with more pumpkins and I had to have a second go at the Four Seasons Challenge:

This time I had to play with the colors in the bottom left, so I chose Cajun Craze, Pretty Peacock, Crumb Cake, and Very Vanilla, with a bit of gold thrown in there.  I don't know that I've ever put Pretty Peacock and Cajun Craze together but I am loving that combination.  Ooh, I bet I could add in Lost Lagoon too, a thought for another day.  I chose a greeting from Elegant leaves so I could enter at the SOS Challenge to have a grateful/Thanksgiving card.  And I'm tackling the Atlantic Hearts sketch as well:

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Pumpkins, Elegant Leaves
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, Pretty Peacock, VersaMark
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla, Regal Winter DSP, Autumn Woodland Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Painted Pumpkins dies & masks, Dimensionals, Pretty Peacock Foiled Gems, Pretty Peacock Metallic Ribbon

We had a glorious clear fall day yesterday so while I was out with Daphne, I took a couple of pictures.

A lot of the leaves have fallen, but there are a few trees still hanging on to them and the colors are still gorgeous.

I took this picture looking up at a branch over my head and the only editing I did was shrinking it down a bit for the blog, the leaves really are that vibrant and so was the sky yesterday!  Isn't that amazing?  Have a lovely day, y'all!

Joyful Bear

Mornin' y'all.  I could have had this post up like an hour ago but Ryan threw off my morning routine and I'm a little grumpy about it.  I'm on my second cuppa tea though, so I'm sure that will help, and right after I finish this I will take Daphne for a walk which will definitely help.  And also I might have been browsing fall cross stitch patterns (as if I need more) and that's always fun.

Know what else is fun?  New paper crafting goodies to play with : )

Peep that gorgeous paper that I finally added to my collection!  It is really doing the heavy lifting here, the bear and trees are part of another pattern in the pack and I'm in love with those watercolor stripes.  And I got some new oval dies from Spellbinders, I've been wanting some flat-sided ovals and these went on sale so of course I bought them (I'm a sucker for a good sale).  I combined both of those new things with an older retired stamp set and snowflake dies, and this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I added a greeting on the inside of the card, too, but didn't take a picture of it.  I do like how this turned out, it was lots of fun to cut into this DSP and I think I need a second pack of it for hoarding purposes.

Almost done with my tea and Daphne is more than ready for her tour of the neighborhood.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Snow is Glistening
Ink:  Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Pretty Peacock, Whispering Woods DSP, silver glimmer paper
Accessories:  Snowfall dies, Scallop and Stitched Edge Ovals dies (Spellbinders), Tinsel Gems

More Pie!

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan had his orthodontist appointment yesterday and now has an expander installed to make his mouth bigger...I thought it was big enough based on how he talks nonstop, but apparently his teeth said they need more room.  It's definitely going to be a learning process with the bands, he was not a happy kiddo yesterday afternoon and I think we've told him a hundred times already that it's just going to take time to get used to.  Braces will go in in January.

Anywhaaa, now that it's November, you probably know what is occupying my attention...PIE.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I always try to bake as many pies as I can possibly manage, and other than maybe making one for Christmas this is the only time of year that I make pies.  I have not yet finalized my lineup for this year, but one of the pies that is *always* on the list is...

Pumpkin pie!  The hubs' favorite is apple pie, and the only type of pie that Ryan eats is creamy lemon (weirdo...I mean, that's a great pie, but I love lots of other pies too), but my favorite Thanksgiving pie is pumpkin.  I use a praline pumpkin pie recipe from a cookbook we got for our wedding over 20 years ago, I love it.  The If You Give a Crafter a Cookie challenge was the perfect excuse to use my pumpkin pie stamps:

I like a lot more whipped cream on my pies though ; )  And I used the new sketch from Sunday Stamps:

In an ironic twist, given the greeting stamp I used, I decided that using Pumpkin Pie DSP for the three banner strips would have been too much pumpkin, so I did those with Cherry Cobbler DSP scraps and added some fun ribbon across the top.  I will be trying out a recipe for cranberry-cherry cobbler this year, which is pie adjacent so I count it for my Thanksgiving desserts.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  More Than Autumn, My Paper Pumpkin
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Pumpkin Pie, Ivory, neutrals
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler DSP
Accessories:  More Than Autumn dies, Cherry Cobbler Quilted Satin Ribbon, Matte Decorative Dots, Mini Dimensionals

It's Wednesday, so time for a WIP Wednesday update and why did it take me three tries to type Wednesday correctly?  I just started a new pattern called Flaming October from Chouette des Forets on Etsy:

And here is what I have so far:

Okay, so I'm not digging it so far but I Have A Plan.  The model was stitched with some hand-dyed silks, which I don't have, so I am substituting some variegated DMC floss--there are only four colors on the pattern, but you get a lot of color variations with this type of floss, and this will be my first pattern to really focus on it.  Should be fun if I can get the colors right.  I loooooooooove that dark red on the bottom left of what I have here (sorry the lighting is terrible on the picture), but I think the yellow is too bright to go with it--needs to be more mustard and less lemon.  So I am going to order some more variegated thread and confer and converse with my mama when she gets here for Thanksgiving.  I may pick out the yellow I've done so far and keep going on this fabric, or I might switch depending on what else I get to go with the red.  In the meantime, I think I'll go ahead and start the Christmas pattern I had planned to start in December; I have the floss and the fabric all picked out and I am confident in my fabric choice for that, so I know that will be fun for me to start while I wait to get the other floss.

Here's my stitching helper:

Maybe her nose got cold?  I don't see how that's comfortable but she was sawing logs, so it must work for her.  Loves my Daphne girl.  Cheers!

Moonlight & Cloud

Mornin' y'all.  November has arrived and it is being *extra* November-y, we had rainy weather most of the day yesterday and it was super windy all night.  My card today is pretty much a paper representation of the weather:

I was inspired to make a blue-gray leaf card by the Four Seasons Challenge:

Specifically the bottom right pane, though I would love to go back and make cards for the other three parts of this too, they're all fantastic inspiration pieces.

I think this also works for the Time Out Challenges theme:

I send out general hello/friendship cards by far the most often, but I think this will go to a cousin who is undergoing cancer treatments and had to have surgery last week.

Anyway, I need to get Ryan out the door for an orthodontics appointment; wish him luck as he's getting some hardware today.  Maybe I should make another one of these for him.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Elegant Leaves
Ink:  Cloud Cover, Misty Moonlight
Paper:  Cloud Cover, Basic White
Accessories:  Elegant Leaves dies, Dimensionals, In Color Flat Pearls, Wink of Stella

Pumpkin Wreath

Mornin' y'all!  Hope you had a good weekend and a good Halloween if you celebrate.  Ryan had an inflatable Godzilla costume, so for a while he stood very still at the top of the driveway and when kids walked past him to get to where I was with the candy, he'd suddenly move and scare the kids.  He didn't scare the little ones but I told him teenagers were fair game, and he got quite a few of them to holler even if they KNEW he was in the costume, it was hilarious.  Then he went off trick-or-treating with his dad and I handed out candy, it was a fun time.

Anyway. I have been a naughty little shopper of late and I got a new-to-me stamp set last week that I bought on Ebay, and I had to ink it up for today's card:

The stamp set is a retired SU! set called Full of Blessings and I have zero memory of this from whenever it might have been released, but then again I've been stamping for over 20 years now so I suppose I can't remember *alllll* of the stamp sets.  Anyway, I thought it would work for last week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I wanted to keep all the colors soft, so I heat embossed the images with Versamark + Soft Suede + clear embossing powder, and then lightly watercolored the images.  The wreath was die cut, very simple, and I fussy cut the longer image to go behind it.

That's it for now, Daphne just woke up from a nap and she wants to go for a walk...plot twist, it looks like it's raining, so we might have to go later.  I swan it wasn't raining five minutes ago.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Full of Blessings
Ink:  Versamark, Soft Suede, Mellow Moss, Crushed Curry, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade
Paper:  Soft Sky, Very Vanilla, Soft Sky DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes dies, clear EP, Dimensionals, Clear Epoxy Shapes

Oh wait, how about a couple Halloween pictures?

Daphne and I were Maleficent twinsies!  The hubs says this is why dogs bite people; I say Daphne can wear a costume for under 10 minutes one day a year.

There's my Godzilla.  Oddly cropped because I didn't want to show other people's faces without permission.  A lot of costumes I didn't recognize because I have the olds, but I did see a pint-sized Michael Jackson in Thriller costume and a teenage Princess Buttercup who was quite pleased when I greeted her by name.  And there were two tiny kiddos dressed as Elsa and Olaf and they were walking around with an actual PONY wearing reindeer antlers.  First time I've ever seen a pony trick-or-treating!

The Paper Players are Mad for Plaid

Mornin' y'all and happy Sunday, which means it's time for a new Paper Players challenge!  Thanks to everyone who played along with my sketch last week, and now it's time for the fabulous Claire to choose our theme:

Now, I loooove me a good plaid and I have three different packs of plaid-specific 6x6 DSP that I can think of off the top of my head, and I had even pulled one out probably two weeks ago thinking I would use it for this challenge, buuuuuut......I got a new box of goodies last Wednesday and one of the DSPs has a fun plaid in it.  So here's my card with all-new plaid and and all-new stamp set and some all-new dies, too!  

Of course I bought this bundle, he's got a COOKIE!  I have, at various points in my hubs' career, been rather famous amongst his coworkers for my cookie baking, so this particular image had to be the first one I used from this stamp set.  I started out with kind of a variation on last week's sketch, to let me really have a lot of the plaid showing on my card front, and I just couldn't make the greeting work on the front so it's stamped on the inside ("May your Christmas be as sweet as a warm cookie").  Now that Halloween is over (sniffle), I thought I'd start making a few Christmas cards.  Of course I will still be making fall cards too, Thanksgiving is actually my favorite holiday : )

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:  Merry Mischief
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Cinnamon Cider, neutrals, Petal Pink, Hydrangea Hue, Calypso Coral, Real Red,  Basic Black
Paper:  Real Red, Basic White, Creative Celebrations DSP Stack
Accessories:  Merry Mischief dies, Party Pennants dies, Dimensionals, Hydrangea Hue ribbon, Glossy Garden Dots

The Haunted Carousel

Happy Saturday and welcome to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we're on a Halloween-appropriate book, The Haunted Carousel:

I think I've had the one on the right for the longest and that I got the other two after I started rereading my Drews last year, but I'm not 100% sure.  The one on the left has zero carousel horses on it and it gives me Wizard of Oz vibes, does anyone else see the Wicked Witch of the West in that shadow?  I actually quite like all three covers this time.

Case file:  A newspaper reporter dares Nancy to find out why the carousel in a local amusement park has started turning itself on late at night when the park is closed and no one is around.  At the same time, a girl named Joy Trent (who happens to own a horse that used to be part of the haunted carousel) approaches Nancy for help in solving a riddle that her father left her just before he died.  We get a lot of time in the amusement park and it's fun.

Okay, y'all.  It's Halloween, today's book has some fun spooky elements, and there was a LOT in the story to inspire cards so...it's a supersize Nancy Drew challenge!  I made TWO cards for each cover, one spooky and one not.  So let's get started!

Nancy chases a bad guy into a haunted house and gets knocked out for her trouble, so of course I have a haunted house card to start us off!

Pretty sure it's the scene inside the haunted house that inspired this cover.  Also, I heard on one of the Nancy Drew podcasts that I listen to (yeah, there's several) that Ruth Sanderson, the cover artist for this one, is actually known for painting horses, but the publisher wouldn't let her for this cover.  Weird call, but okay; obviously that changed for the two later editions.  My colors for this one are Real Red, Cloud Cover, Misty Moonlight, and Basic Gray.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tricks & Treats, Haunt Ya Later
Ink:  Basic Gray, Misty Moonlight
Paper:  Real Red, Misty Moonlight, Cloud Cover, Winter Meadow DSP, Cloud Cover DSP
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, Tricks & Treats dies, Strawberries & Dots accents (the Misty Moonlight Dots)

And for my non-spooky card:

Joy's riddle involved Old Glory, which referred both to the American flag and to the name she gave her carousel horse, so a flag card it is!  I thought it would be fun to invert the arches and turn them into pennants for this one.

Also, Joy wants freedom from her overly strict guardian aunt, so the "Let Freedom Ring" greeting seemed appropriate.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Red, White & Blue, Simply Stars
Ink:  Real Red, Misty Moonlight, Bordering Blue (not sure where my Cloud Cover ink pad is hiding and it doesn't match the cardstock anyway)
Paper:  Real Red, Cloud Cover, Basic White
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, Gold baker's twine

On to cover #2!

Joy's riddle also involves a frog and I can make frogs Halloweeny so that's just what I did.  I love the expression on his face, he is so done with these witchy shenanigans.

I used Tangerine Tango, Granny Apple Green, and Basic Black for my colors here.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Best Witches
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends
Paper:  Tangerine Tango, Basic White, Howlstooth & Scaringbone DSP, Halloween Spells DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes dies, Stitched Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, Glitter Sequins

And for my non-Halloween card:

Yes, I bought the Carousel Birthday stamp set last year on eBay just for this book, and no one is even pretending to be surprised by that decision.  Fun fact:  one of our neighbors when we lived in England bought an antique carousel horse and had it displayed in her living room.

I still used Tangerine Tango for the card base, but pulled in Tahitian Tide and Daffodil Delight for my supporting colors.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Carousel Birthday
Ink:  Night of Navy, Stampin' Blends in Pumpkin Pie, Granny Apple Green, Tahitian Tide, Flirty Flamingo, Smoky Slate, Night of Navy
Paper:  Tangerine Tango, Basic White, Tahitian Tide DSP, Daffodil Delight DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, Candy Dots

And on to the third cover!

Two of the villains in this book have the absolutely spectacular criminal sobriquets of Baldy Krebs and Fingers Malone (love it), and they sneak into the amusement park at night while Ned and Nancy are surveilling the carousel.  Baldy is described as looking like an overgrown hippie at one point (savage) so he's Frankie here, and he even has a tool to tinker with the carousel.  Fingers the pickpocket is Drac : )

I used Blushing Bride, Perfect Plum, and Basic Black for my colors on this card.  I tried doing an ink blend background for my baddies, but then changed my mind and did a bit of Polished Stone instead.  I used the Branching Out dies for the ticket shape since we needed lots of tickets for the amusement park.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Handmade Monsters & Jeepers Creepers from Whimsy Stamps
Ink:  Blushing Bride, Perfect Plum, Versamark
Paper:  Blushing Bride, Glossy White, Cast-a-Spell DSP
Accessories:  Branching Out dies, black EP, Dimensionals, Low Profile Dots

And for my final card:

Another part of Joy's riddle has to do with irises; her mother's name was Iris and her father had decorated all over the house with fresh flowers and even iris wallpaper, which I really want to see even though I am generally very anti-wallpaper.  I like the name Iris, that is my phone's name after the Greek goddess of the rainbow.  Another fun fact:  the first flowers my husband ever gave me were irises because he remembered me saying that roses were overdone and boring, ha!  Anyway, irises worked well with the colors on this book cover.

This time my colors are Blushing Bride, Highland Heather, Summer Splash, and Basic Gray.  I was never a fan of Blushing Bride when it was a current color for SU!, but I think it works surprisingly well with the other two colors here.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Inspiring Iris
Ink:  Basic Gray, Blushing Bride, Stampin' Blends in Highland Heather & Summer Splash
Paper:  Blushing Bride, Basic White, Blushing Bride & Highland Heather DSP
Accessories:  Branching Out dies, Dimensionals, In Color Resin Dots

I thought this book was a lot of fun.  Are there some plot elements that seem shoehorned in for no reason?  Yeah.  Does Chief McGinnis treat Nancy like she's a detective on his force and even let her plan and run a sting operation?  Uh-huh.  Is it absolutely unbelievable that he would share so much information with a teenager?  Absolutely.  Would Nancy have severe cognitive impairment due to how many times she's been knocked on the head over the course of the series?  Undoubtedly.  Is it fun anyway?  Yep!  Five stars, no notes.  If you're inspired to make a card based on the book or its covers, leave me a comment below!  Stay tuned next week when Nancy meets her Enemy Match.  Happy Halloween!