Falling Twice as Hard With The Paper Players

Mornin' ya'll and happy Sunday!  It's time for a new challenge from The Paper Players...hope you enjoyed last week's color combo from Stef, and get ready for a great CAS challenge from Claire!  Here it is:

HECK YEAH I am looking forward to fall!  And I just got a new SU! order with several different packs of fall patterned paper, so here's what I made:

Say hello to the Autumn Opulence DSP, which comes with two sheets of cut-outs and that's where I got the images for my cards.  Yep, I made two; the first one came together so fast I figured why not!  The cut-outs have a wide white border around them, so I trimmed that down a bit, added a simple strip of torn DSP and embossed the greeting with copper embossing powder.

This one's on Early Espresso...

And this one's on Blackberry Bliss.  I love when fall papers include a blue or a purple to ground all the browns, oranges, and reds.  I think this one is a bit less CAS just because the image is so large so it's a good thing I made the pumpkin card, which is definitely clean and simple : )

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:  Fern & Flora
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Early Espresso, Blackberry Bliss, Autumn Opulence DSP
Accessories:  Copper EP, Dimensionals

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

Grateful Ferns

Mornin' y'all!  This Friday is turning into a whirlwind; I have to help the hubs drop his truck off for hail damage repair, then pick up a rental car, and I have to ferry Ryan back and forth to horse camp so Christy's Taxi Service will be busy today.  And also somehow I got on the hook to make a dessert for a poker night tonight?  I don't even play poker, but whatever.

Anyway, I have a card to share today:

I'm not 100% sure I like this one, but not every card can be your favorite.  If you don't recognize the stamp I used for the sentiment, it's in the brand new Simply Leaves stamp set which I am looking forward to playing with soon.  I thought I would take a leaf (ha) from Jan's book and stamped a Melon Mambo fern on here for something different, though I wonder if I should have gone all in and done the main fern in pink.

Anyway, I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Paired with the latest Creative Colour Challenge:

I haven't played around much yet with Barely Blush so this was a nice opportunity to do that.  I need to get some DSP with the new In Colors on it.

Anyway, I'd better skedaddle so I can drop off keys for the truck at the paintless dent repair place, then come home to make caramel apple bars since I happened to have everything I needed for those already.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fern & Flora, Simply Leaves
Ink:  Garden Green, Melon Mambo, Barely Blush, Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Crumb Cake & Barely Blush
Paper:  Barely Blush, Garden Green, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Fern & Flora dies, Dimensionals, Glossy Dots

SUO Challenges: CASEing Jolanda

ACK!  Apologies to my SUO Challenges teamies, for some reason I thought I had already written and scheduled this post and so here I am merrily organizing all my new books and the blog is postless!  So let's fix that now, and this is a fun new challenge where we CASE Jolanda!

So here's what I came up with:

I was looking for a DSP that had yellow and pink in it and then for this card I ended up with part of the wash that's mostly orangey.  I *finally* used the Flowers Fair stamp that Joanne and Jan convinced me to get--hooray!  And I found the exact thanks greeting that Jolanda used in Notes of Spring.  I turned her card layout on its side for something different and added some Strawberry Slush gems below the greeting.

This was actually my second card for this; here's the first one:

This one just didn't feel balanced quite right and I'm not sure why, so I made the Flowers Fair card and I felt like that one was more successful.

We hope you'll play along and post your card on the SUO Challenges blog.  Don't forget to keep it to Stampin' Up! products only for this challenge, and have fun!

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Flowers Fair, Notes of Spring
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Strawberry Slush, Pumpkin Pie, Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Thick Basic White, Garden Poetry DSP
Accessories:  Eyelet Blooms die, Strawberry Slush Gems, Dimensionals

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Fern & Flora
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Flirty Flamingo, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake, Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Thick Basic White, Shy Shamrock, Crushed Curry, Garden Poetry DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Leaves die, Fern & Flora dies, Dimensionals, Array of Dots

And if you scrolled down this far, here's what I was working on this morning:

Innit BEAUTIFUL!  Really I could space out the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books to completely take over both shelves (especially since I have quite a few paperback Hardy Boys books still to add to my collection), but the two shelves upstairs are overstuffed even after I sold three boxes of books last week when we were in Texas.  So for now at least, I have my Patricia Briggs and Kristen Britain hardcovers on the top shelves here, then Nancy Drews , then Hardy Boys, and the bottom right shelf has the ND/HB super mysteries.  I'd love to get another bookshelf but I really don't know where I would put it...I wonder if it would fit in the entryway?  I can just imagine the side-eye my hubs would give me if I floated that idea, ha!

Summer Love with The Paper Players

Mornin' y'all and happy Sunday!  It's time for a new challenge from The Paper Players and this time the amazing Ann has a fun theme for us:

Does anyone else's brain automatically start singing "Summer lovin', had me a blast" from Grease?  Just me?  Okay.  Anyway, I kept zoning in on the sunset scene on the top right of the challenge graphic, and I happen to have all these beautiful sunset papers in the Scenic Coast DSP that I have yet to cut into, so I made this:

If my card layout looks familiar, that's because it's Joanne's sketch from last week.  I said then that it was a great sketch to showcase some patterned paper, and after staring at the dies in the Sunset Coast bundle for a long time I decided that I just needed to show the paper off.  So I chose a sunset, and then stamped a bouquet of flowers that I think look like the kind you'd find near the coast, something about the way they're drawn makes me think of sand dunes but maybe my brain is just weird.  Anyway, I'm at a time in my life where most of my friends have been married for quite a long time but we're not quite to the point where friends' kids are getting married (and Ryan is 9, I think I have some time before I have to worry about him bringing home girlfriends, much less getting married), so I elected to go with an anniversary sentiment.  I added some Peaceful Pine Dots to bring a little more green to the card.

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!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sunset Coast, Fern & Flora
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Blueberry Bushel, Stampin' Blends in Daffodil Delight & Peaceful Pine
Paper:  Blueberry Bushel, Thick Basic White, Scenic Coast DSP
Accessories:  Fern & Flora dies, Mini Dimensionals, In Color Dots

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

California Poppies

Mornin' y'all.  I've been feeling a bit under the weather since yesterday, not sure why, but I plan to take it easy today and get some rest to see if that helps.  Not that I'm usually all that wild and crazy, but ya know.  So far the craziest thing I've done is buy fourteen books : )  No wait, it was fifteen.  I found a couple of lots of Hardy Boys books on eBay for cheaps and I got a couple new Kindle books as well.  Yay new books!  And Ryan has soccer practice tonight, which means a guaranteed hour of reading time for me.

Anyway, I did get a card made to share today, having some fun exploring different color combinations with Fern & Flora, and I thought I'd try one of the smaller floral stamps for today:

I used this week's Creative Colour Challenge:

And now I think the flowers look like California poppies, which is fun.  I added just a teensy tiny bit of Smoky Slate shading on my image, but I ended up with a Smoky Slate card base just to make sure that color registers on my card.  I did a mirror image of the CAS Colours & Sketches sketch:

I almost always do my diagonals going upwards because it feels happier to me, is that weird?  If I use patterned paper with a diagonal on a scrapbook page, it's going up towards the right with very few exceptions.  Just how my brain works, I guess.  Anyway, I debated what to use for that diagonal on the sketch, and decided to just die cut a couple of ferns.

That's it for me today, peeps.  Daphne is already asking to go for a walk and then maybe I'll convince her to sit with me on the couch and watch The Mandalorian.  Or take a nap.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fern & Flora
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Pumpkin Pie, Lost Lagoon, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Smoky Slate, Lost Lagoon, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Fern & Flora dies, Nested Essentials dies, Dimensionals

Blackberry Blissful

Mornin' y'all and happy Star Wars day!  Ryan and I said May the Fourth Be With You to each other and then he tried to argue with me when I said Darth Vader could stop blaster bolts with his hand.  LISTEN, my young apprentice, I've been a Star Wars fan for 40 years longer than you!!!  And don't EVEN argue with me when it comes to the original trilogy, I know my stuff.

Okay, so I spent most of the weekend making cookies for the hubs to take into work and I didn't plan well enough to have a Star Wars card to share today, so we'll have to make do with this:

I've made a few cards with Blackberry Bliss as the main color and I like it.  The latest Color Dare gave me an excuse to make this card:

I used Blackberry Bliss (of course), Cloud Cover, and Soft Sea Foam.  I really like how the two lighter colors pop on that Blackberry card base, and the pearls I used are actually Soft Succulent but they blend really well with the two colors I used here today.  My greeting is stamped on Basic Beige; I've discovered that I like the cardstock but the ink just turns out to be a really yucky sick greenish color so I'm going to pretend that the ink doesn't exist.

I also used the new sketch from Sunday Stamps:

All the elements are there, though my placement of them is a little bit different since my greeting isn't as long as in the sketch.  This time I mostly played with the die cut ferns from Fern & Flora, and I have some Blackberry Bliss ribbon in my stash that dates back to when it was an In Color, ha!

That's it for now, peeps.  Have a great Star Wars day, I'm wearing a shirt with an Ewok on it : )  May the Fourth be with you!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fern & Flora
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Cloud Cover
Paper:  Blackberry Bliss, Cloud Cover, Soft Sea Foam, Basic Beige
Accessories:  Fern & Flora dies, Dimensionals, Festive Pearls, Blackberry Bliss Stitched Satin Ribbon

CASEing Cindy for SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all!  It's a cloudy morning but I don't think we have any more rain forecast for today.  Daphne and I got rained on during our walk yesterday and she was a bit confused and not altogether happy about it.  Ryan got rained on a bit too, but he didn't seem to be at all unhappy about it.

Anyway, it's time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!  Here's what we've got for you:

We are CASEing Cindy and isn't this a marvelous card?  I really liked the dark DSP background with the lighter band across it for the sentiment, and don't you know I have a brand new pack of dark and delicious DSP so here's what I made:

I kept the fern-y feel of Cindy's DSP but I just had to make something with the Moonlit Flora DSP, isn't it GORGEOUS.  And I need to order the other new In Color Blends because I don't have Golden Glow yet, so I had to watercolor my little moth.  I chose a beautiful print from the DSP and matted it in Soft Sea Foam (I think this DSP might actually make me a fan of Soft Sea Foam, I love how it works with the other colors in here) and used the same color for my band.  There's a friendship greeting in Fern & Flora, so I used that, and then layered a couple of die cuts and my luna moth.  I moved the band and die cuts down a bit from Cindy's card just to work better with my patterned paper, and I used the clear Dewdrops that are in this suite of products as subtle embellishments.  I definitely need another pack (...or two) of this DSP, I love it.

Now it's your turn!  CASE Cindy's wonderful card and link up at the SUO Challenges blog.  Don't forget to keep it SU! Only...that's the name of the challenge, after all, and have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fern & Flora
Ink:  Secret Sea, Golden Glow, Versamark
Paper:  Peaceful Pine, Soft Sea Foam, Old Olive, Thick Basic White, Moonlit Flora DSP
Accessories:  Fern & Flora dies, Mini Dimensionals, Clear EP, Dewdrops

Just One More with The Paper Players

Gooooood morning stampy friends!  Thanks to everyone who played along with my baby animals challenge last week at The Paper Players, I had so much fun looking at all the little babies!  It's Sunday again already, which means it's time for a new Paper Players challenge, and this week the stylin' Stef has a wonderful sketch for us!

This was one of those sketches where my brain was trying to go in several directions at once and I had to make myself pause and concentrate on one idea because focus is important.  This is where I ended up:

Really if you replace the stack of books she's using to rest her head for an actual pillow, this is me every single evening.  NEW STAMPS ALERT!  Tracy recently posted a card she made with bookish stamps from Unity, and wouldn't you know I just *had* to mosey on over to their website to check them out and I ended up with three bookish stamp sets of my very own...and don't tell the hubs, I have a couple more stamp sets on the way from them.  I was a naughty girl last week with the online shopping! 

I was inspired to use one of my new bookish stamp sets as soon as I saw the TGIF Challenges inspo pic on Friday morning:

I happened to have a piece of Barely Blush cardstock on my stamping table when I sat down to make my card, so I thought I'd stamp the image on that to make it warmer than if I used Whisper White or even Very Vanilla.  I was going to go along with the colors in the inspo pic, but that Barely Blush base layer took me in a different direction and I had some fun hunting through my pack of 100 Crayola colored pencils for my colors.  Been a minute since I used colored pencils, so that was fun!  This is my first time using Barely Blush, and while I have not been fond of our past colors with "blush" in the name, I think I'm going to like this one.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Just One More Chapter from Unity Stamps
Ink:  Early Espresso
Paper:  Early Espresso, Barely Blush, Soft Suede DSP
Accessories:  Crayola colored pencils, corner rounder punch, In Color Flat Pearls

I still have two other bookish stamp sets that need to be inked up, but I thought I'd show you the card I had made for this challenge before I went for books:

Oh hey, it's the Lovely Blossoms DSP that Joanne convinced me to buy!  I snipped the larger flower image out of one sheet of the patterned paper, stamped a greeting on it, and then layered it with some other patterns in the pack and this whole thing took like ten minutes.  This sketch is versatile, y'all!  I used the exact same measurements on this card as I did for my bookish card, the strip on the left is one inch wide and the larger section is three inches wide, and I dusted off my corner rounder punch just for a little fun detail.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fern & Flora
Ink:  Secret Sea
Paper:  Cloud Cover, Lovely Blossoms DSP
Accessories:  Neutral Matte Dots, corner rounder punch

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!

Moonlit Nature Walk

Mornin' y'all!  I'm here with my cuppa tea and Daphne is (for now) ensconced in her chair and keeping an eye on the yard behind us to make sure we're safe from possible invasion.  Actually I need to start the kettle for cup #2.

I had some fun in my craft room yesterday and the day before, I am working ahead on some cards for design teams and the Nancy Drew Challenge (which is tomorrow, and it's a good one this week!).  So here's my card today:

On Monday, I used the Moonlit Flora DSP but not the stamps in that suite; today I'm using the Fern & Flora stamps but pairing them with the Nature Walk DSP.  Nature Walk has all the colors from this Color Dare Challenge:

I read it as Cloud Cover, Night of Navy, Old Olive, and Pretty Peacock, which are all in the DSP though I think that background layer is actually a Secret Sea pattern.  Well, that's still a neutral color anyway.  As I was making this card, I really wondered about having Cloud Cover and Pretty Peacock on there as I generally don't think those two go together, but I think I like it?  I'm having the same issue with my current stitching project, the fabric is orange and I think I like it with the design stitched on it but I'm not 100% sure.  That project is about three quarters done though, and I could always make it again on a different fabric if I want to, but I have a new project tentatively chosen to start next.

I used this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I do like a good triptych moment and I actually *do* have Night of Navy ribbon to use for this sketch.  I hardly ever buy ribbon any more, just occasionally if it's on the clearance rack, because I don't use a whole lot of it.  Just recently I finished off a roll of white taffeta and I think it was over 10 years old!  If SU! had kept the 3/8" taffeta and just done it in different colors I probably would have kept on buying it, I have a photo box full of just the taffeta in my crafty hutch.

Anyway, I've now got my second cuppa so I'm going to enjoy that before I take Daphne out for our daily neighborhood promenade.  Have a great Friday, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fern & Flora
Ink:  Night of Navy, Old Olive Blend
Paper:  Cloud Cover, Nature Walk DSP
Accessories:  Fern & Flora dies, Dimensionals, Night of Navy bordered ribbon, Muted Palette Glossy Dots