Another Scaredy Cat for SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all!  It is time once again for a new challenge from SUO Challenges, and this time we are CASE-ing the catty:

My card is a little catty too *snerk*  You know I cannot resist making everything into a Halloween card in the month of October, so here's what I made:

I chose the card on the left and switched out the DSP to the Frightfully Fun pack.  I kept one pumpkin but added an orange scaredy cat and oh hey look, the pumpkin is purple!  I used the iridescent black ribbon and to add some texture to the card base, I embossed the little star background stamp from the Oh My Fright stamp set for a little tone-on-tone thing.  Quite a few pieces to this card but I think I like it.  And I finally stamped one of the cats from Oh My Fright and colored him in!  I tried to give him a bit of stripey pattern and he's popped up on TWO layers of Dimensionals, that's how scared he is.

We hope you'll join us over at SUO Challenges!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Oh My Fright, Painted Pumpkins
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grape, Versamark, Pumpkin Pie Blends
Paper:  Basic Black, Highland Heather, Basic White, Frightfully Fun DSP
Accessories:  Oh My Fright dies, Painted Pumpkins dies & stencils, Stylish Shapes dies, iridescent black ribbon, Dimensionals, foam star stickers, clear EP

Hey Pumpkins

Mornin' y'all!  Hope you had a good weekend and you're ready to start a new week.  Ryan is on fall break for the next two weeks so that means I have to keep him entertained and hopefully not staring at screens all day.  Wish me luck.

I have two cards to share today and I'm not 100% sure how much I like them:

I used last week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I thought I could use some of the busier patterns in the Painted Patch DSP, and then I fussy cut some pumpkins and leaves from the same patterns to use on the greeting block so it says hey pumpkin.  I think maybe I should have done the same Calypso Coral + Golden Glow cardstock colors on the darker card instead of using Golden Glow + Pool Party, the pumpkin on that one looks almost radioactive but maybe I'm overthinking it.  Anyway, I'm glad I used some more of that super fun DSP either way and I always need more coordinating cards for my two friends.  It's kind of a game to send them both cards that are similar every week.

Have a great Monday, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Pumpkins
Ink:  Cajun Craze
Paper:  Calypso Coral, Golden Glow, Pool Party, Painted Patch DSP
Accessories:  Secret Sea Faux Linen Ribbon

Pumpkin Patch

Mornin' y'all, and a misty morning it is too.  Glad to see the weather is getting into the spirit of October as well!  I have a pair of pumpkin patch cards to share today:

I decided to pick the easy option and do pumpkins for the new Color Hues Challenge:

I used Golden Glow (how do I love thee, Golden Glow) and Cajun Craze for the two colors, with Early Espresso on the left card and Pecan Pie on the right card for neutrals.  For the left card, I colored in the pumpkins using Blends, and on the right I used the stencil masks to sponge on softer color.  I really need new Cajun Craze Blends, I think the lighter one is dried out.  Anyway, I combined the colors with the CAS Colours & Sketches challenge:

I needed something easy to make yesterday after I deep cleaned the kitchen (it looked great for three hours and then Ryan got home) and Daphne tried to assassinate me (more on that in a minute).  Painted Pumpkins has been pretty much just living on my craft table for the last month or so, I love how I could stamp and die cut three pumpkins at once easy-peasy for today's cards.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Pumpkins
Ink:  Early Espresso, Pecan Pie, Golden Glow, Cajun Craze, Blends in Cajun Craze & Golden Glow
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Golden Glow, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Painted Pumpkins dies & stencils, Nested Essentials dies, Mini Dimensionals

So anyway, Daphne tried to assassinate me yesterday while I was cleaning the kitchen.  I took the mat from by the back door outside and shook it out on the back porch, and apparently that flipped a switch in her brain because right after I came back inside, she launched herself at me like a 68-pound cannonball with fur and knocked me down.  I may have yelled some highly uncomplimentary things at her from my position on the floor.

Here she is on the couch last night trying to be all casual sitting next to the person she tried to straight up MURDER just a few hours earlier.  I twisted my right knee on the way down, my left ankle is unhappy, and somehow she damaged my right wrist (not difficult, it's already wonky) and the inside of my right elbow which is the part that really confuses me.  She took out three of my limbs with one hit so the only one that still works is my left arm, which is unfortunate because my left hand is deeply stupid and uncoordinated.  Everything hurts today but not as bad as I had feared; I'm in my 40s so I don't bounce back like I did when Sadie tried the same maneuver and I was in my 20s.  At least this time I didn't bang my head on a sidewalk, but I'm going to keep a close eye on Miss Daphne Louise.  I don't trust her intentions anymore.

Must Be Magical

Mornin' y'all!  I'm getting an early start today because I have an appointment as soon as Ryan gets off to school, so let's get started!

There's a color challenge this week that I just couldn't wrap my head around and I had decided to skip it, but then I was in my craft room and I remembered what I wrote yesterday about the Painted Pumpkins bundle being my new go-to for when I'm not sure what to do with a color challenge.  So then I made this:

Sorry the photo isn't the best, I took pictures before the sun was up this morning and artificial light doesn't do great for card photos.  Here's the consternation-inducing (for me) color challenge from Creative Colour Challenges:

Now, I admit that I have some preconceived notions about what colors go together and what don't, and for this trio it's the Cherry Cobbler and Bubble Bath together that's throwing me.  So anyway I thought I'd give it a go, using blending brushes and the Painted Pumpkins stencils and keeping the Cherry Cobbler pretty light.  Imagine my surprise when I lifted up the stencil and somehow the Cherry Cobbler looked PINK on the pumpkins!  I stamped the outlines on top in Pretty Peacock (side note:  would you do the stenciling first, or the stamping first?  Because I seem to do the stenciling first) and then used the background stencil to do some leaves and vines on Pretty Peacock cardstock.  Um, I was not expecting this to work but I think it does!  These pumpkins must be magical is all I can say.

That's it for now, peeps.  Ryan has a fun run thing at school today (I never think running is fun) and I hope it doesn't get rained out.  Meanwhile I will be filling out paperwork at the orthodontist's office and then maybe I'll go wander around Target for a bit and see what they have in the way of fall and Halloween decorations.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Pumpkins
Ink:  Bubble Bath, Cherry Cobbler, Pretty Peacock
Paper:  Bubble Bath, Pretty Peacock, Basic White
Accessories:  Painted Pumpkins dies & stencils, Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals, Array of Dots

Going in Circles

Mornin' y'all.  Urgh, I haven't been sleeping too well the past couple of nights but I am going to do my best NOT to take a nap today because then maybe I'll actually sleep tonight.  I have some projects I really want to work on today, including the new cross stitch project I started last night.

But for right now, I continue my quest to make the Painted Pumpkins stamps/stencils/dies in every color of the rainbow:

At this point I think Painted Pumpkins is my go-to stamp set for when I'm not sure what to do with a color challenge.  Check out this pretty spring palette from CAS Colours & Sketches:

I just didn't want to do a springy card, so pinky purple pumpkins it is!  Next up is the Addicted to CAS challenge, which was a good excuse to use my Spotlight on Nature dies:

I layered on a retired Stitched Shapes die because the circles in Stylish Shapes weren't the right size to nest in the Spotlight on Nature circle and even if the die is retired that doesn't mean I can't use it.

And since I was doing two CAS challenges anyway, that makes it real easy to enter at Inspire. Create. this round too:

I've been making my pumpkins in so many nonstandard pumpkin colors that I haven't used the coordinating DSP much, so I thought I might as well make a DSP-centric pumpkin card while I was at it yesterday:

Oh look, more circles!  I do need to play with that DSP some more, there are some very pretty patterns in it.  Apparently my keyboard didn't get enough sleep last night either; it keeps lagging behind what I'm typing and trying to add all kinds of weird accent marks or skipping letters entirely.  Weird.

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Painted Pumpkins
Ink:  Bubble Bath, Highland Heather, Peaceful Pine
Paper:  Bubble Bath, Highland Heather, Basic White
Accessories:  Painted Pumpkins dies & stencils, Spotlight on Nature dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Dimensionals

Supplies, second card:
Stamps:  Painted Pumpkins
Ink:  Secret Sea
Paper:  Petal Pink, Cajun Craze, Pool Party, Painted Patch DSP
Accessories:  Spotlight on Nature dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Painted Patch Dots

Yesterday I really really really wanted to start a new cross stitch project since I finished the Hocus Pocus one (I didn't really like how it turned out though).  I had picked out my next two projects, a pretty fall leaf pattern and a big Christmas pattern, but had to order some variegated thread for the leaf pattern and it wasn't due to get here until Friday (I just got a notification 10 minutes ago that it will be delivered today, but that's beside the point).  And I just couldn't make myself start a Christmas pattern on the first official day of fall, so I did the only logical thing...

I started a big Halloween pattern instead : )  This one has twelve different Halloween candy buckets and I started with the pumpkin on the top row.  So glad I did the eyeball on the first day so this design can stare at me the whole time I'm working on it : p  The fabric is a warm gray called Wolfsbane from Mystic Fabrics, I picked a medium gray so the white will pop on the fabric, especially when I get to the ghost bucket.  I hadn't been planning to make this pattern right now but I was so happy when I started it, so I think I'm going to work on this through October, start the leaf pattern in November, then start the Christmas pattern in December and then I can alternate projects if I feel like it.

Okay, I've got to walk Daphne and go do the grocery shopping so I can get to my fun projects.  Cheers!

Pink Pumpkin Club

Mornin' y'all!  Well, despite my paper crafty intentions yesterday, I only got one card made in the afternoon...but I have made a lot of progress on my current stitching project so I was still being crafty, just in a different medium.  So here's the card I made:

Continuing to make good on my threat to make these pumpkins in a rainbow of colors, here they are in pink : )  Flirty Flamingo and Crumb Cake, to be precise.  I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Combined with the Creative Colour Challenge:

I used the stencils and blending brushes to color my pumpkins, and then I used another blending brush to apply Lemon Lime Twist ink to white cardstock and used the leafy and viney dies to cut those bits out so they'd match the pumpkins.  That plaid is from the Timeless Plaid DSP stack that's now retired but none of my regular card recipients would know (or care) if my supplies are current or not so I can use whatever I want in my warcraft room.  I found one scrap of that ribbon in one of my ribbon boxes and used about half of it for today's card, I wish I had more as I like that ribbon.  It's odd that I just have the ribbon scrap and not the original roll that I assume it came on.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Pumpkins
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Flirty Flamingo, Lemon Lime Twist
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Basic White, Timeless Plaid DSP Stack
Accessories:  Painted Pumpkins stencils & dies, Dimensionals, Dots for Days (I think), LLT ribbon

And here's my current stitching project:

All I have left to do is the words, it will say "It's just a bunch of Hocus Pocus" on the bottom : )  Probably won't take very long, I've done a lot of work lately while watching episodes of Scooby-Doo so that's fun.  I am already trying to narrow down what my next project will be...fall, Halloween, or maybe Christmas?  So many choices.  Cheers, y'all!

Pumpkin Blues

Mornin' y'all!  I was having a bit of trouble in my craft room yesterday, I had several sketch and color challenges and I was trying to figure out how to combine any of them.  I had made a choice and then the stamp set that I wanted to use would NOT cling to the blocks so I had to put some Aleene's Tack It Over & Over on it and of course that won't be ready to use until probably this afternoon (gotta make sure it's really dry).  Then I was about to put up a few stamp sets and I saw the Painted Pumpkins bundle and aha!  Finally an idea came to me.

I did say I was going to do these pumpkins in all kinds of colors, so how about blues?  I used the latest color challenge from Color Dare:

I chose Lost Lagoon, Pool Party, and Soft Sea Foam for my colors and managed to stick to just those and white for everything.  Next up is this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I did make my card in slightly different proportions than the sketch, but I still think I followed it reasonably closely.  At first I was going to do the Pool Party plaid for the circle element but then I saw the pumpkin vine stencil and went for that instead, and added the plaid to the background layer.  Wonder what colors these pumpkins will be next?

Aright, got to get Ryan ready for school and then I'm off to an appointment.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Pumpkins
Ink:  Pool Party, Lost Lagoon, Soft Sea Foam, VersaMark
Paper:  Pool Party, Lost Lagoon, Soft Sea Foam, Basic White, Painted Patch DSP
Accessories:  Painted Pumpkins dies, Circles Collection Framelits, white EP, Dimensionals, Painted Patch Dots

Pumpkins Aglow

Mornin' y'all!  If you're in the States, I hope you are enjoying a holiday today and get to do something fun.  I got to do something fun--playing with the new Painted Pumpkins bundle!

I still can't resist that gourd-geous greeting : )  And I couldn't resist this month's Colorful Options challenge!

I love the inspiration pics on the challenge graphic and the flowers in the center bottom really caught my eye.  I thought about using Radiant Sunflowers again but I just couldn't resist making some glowing pumpkins!   The base layer of the pumpkins is Golden Glow (really loving that color), and then I added Copper Clay on top and used it for the main color on my card...I had never cut into that Tartan Foil Specialty DSP so it was past time to do that!  I added some copper embossing for the greeting and some brushed copper dots too.  I am sure I will be turning these fun pumpkins all sorts of colors this fall.

That's it for now, y'all.  Have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Pumpkins
Ink:  Golden Glow, Copper Clay, Pecan Pie, Versamark
Paper:  Copper Clay, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Tartan Foil Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Painted Pumpkins stencils & dies, Dimensionals, Copper EP, Brushed Metallic Dots

Sketch Milestone for The Paper Players

Mornin' y'all and happy Sunday!  I hope you had fun with Claire's fall challenge last week, and it's time for a new challenge today.  The amazing Ann is hosting our sketch challenge this month, and it's a milestone number--800!  So we are bringing back our very first sketch:

Isn't that fun?  I couldn't resist playing with the Painted Pumpkins suite again (hurry up fall!) and here's what I made:

I really love that dark pattern with the pumpkins so that's where I started and built the card around that.  I chose two other patterns to complement the first one, and then I had to add some thin mats around the layers, and I stamped my greeting directly on the stripey pattern as a little variation on the sketch.  This time I stamped just one of the pumpkins with Secret Sea ink and used Golden Glow Blends to color it in, just for something different than what I've done with it before, and I added a couple of leaves and vines behind it and then some Painted Patch Dots to finish it off.

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:  Painted Pumpkins
Ink:  Secret Sea, Stampin' Blends in Golden Glow & Pool Party
Paper:  Calypso Coral, Golden Glow, Whisper White, Painted Patch DSP
Accessories:  Painted Pumpkins dies, Dimensionals, Painted Patch Dots

Fabulous Colors for SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all!  It is time once more for a new challenge from SUO Challenges, and this time we've got some fabulous colors for you:

It would be super easy to go for florals with these colors, but I like to do things the hard way so I decided to go with pumpkins instead:

It's the new Painted Pumpkins bundle again!  This time I did use the big leafy stencil background, and instead of stamping the pumpkin outlines, I used the stencils for those as well.  I don't have any current DSP with Fresh Freesia in it but I found some nice stripes in the retired Toadstool Gardens DSP stack and that's what I used to ground my gourd trio.  A few Fresh Freesia gems and done!

We hope you'll give these colors a try and upload your card to the SUO Challenges blog.  Don't forget to use only Stampin' Up! products, like it says in the name : ) Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Pumpkins
Ink:  Peaceful Pine, Darling Duckling
Paper:  Darling Duckling, Peaceful Pine, Basic White, Toadstool Gardens DSP Stack
Accessories:  Painted Pumpkins stencils & dies, Dimensionals, Opaque Faceted Gems

Fabulous Day?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gourd-geous!

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

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

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

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

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

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