Snowflake Wishes

Mornin' y'all, how's it going?  I am just sitting down to my morning cuppa, which is especially nice today because the temperature dropped 20 degrees between yesterday and today and it's extra windy to boot.  However, from the weather forecast it looks like the only snowflakes we'll be seeing for the foreseeable future are the paper kind.

I made this card yesterday and then worried this morning that I hadn't gotten a picture of it before the hubs took it in to work, but happily I did take a pic yesterday.  The CAS on Fridays Challenge wants to see snowflakes, which works out nicely with the AAA Colourful challenge:

I used Pool Party, Lost Lagoon (stamped off once), Just Jade, and Garden Green stamped twice for the sentiment.  Next up is the TGIF Challenges sketch:

Obviously that sketch demands a flurry of flakes, so I pulled out Snowflake Wishes which is at least a couple of years old but still just gorgeous and has some nice greetings in it too, not to mention the dies which I didn't use today.  Since one of the challenges is CAS, I decided to just do some pierced accents in the corners to keep it more CAS.  Took me a while to figure out where I had put the piercing template and mat, though the piercing tool lives near my Big Shot to help poke out fiddly bits when I die cut.

That's it for now, peeps.  I'm going to enjoy my cuppa, take Daphne out for what promises to be a very chilly walk, and then most likely I'll make myself more tea afterwards : )  Sounds like a good plan to me.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snowflake Wishes
Ink:  Pool Party, Lost Lagoon, Just Jade, Garden Green
Paper:  Pool Party, Just Jade, Basic White
Accessories:  Piercing tool & template

Eisriesenwelt Ice Cave

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Continuing with my Alpine Adventure series, I have THREE layouts to share today!

Eisriesenwelt is the world's largest ice cave, tucked away near Werfen in Austria.  We lucked out, they were closed for all of 2020 with the pandemic, and had only reopened for tourists on July 1.  We got tickets for July 3, and it wasn't busy at all.  So you start out taking a steep, windy road up into the mountains, park at the visitor center, and then do a 25-minute hike up to a gondola.  The gondola ride is only 3 minutes, but it's pretty zippy and also nearly straight up.  Then there's *another* 20-minute hike to get to the ice cave, so you gotta WORK to visit here.  But man oh man, the mountain views!

Our tour guide, David, was really great and conducted the tour in both English and German.  He said that it's about 1400 stairs each time he takes a group through, 700 up and 700 down, and when they're running at full capacity he would do several tours in a day, I forget how many.  But every day is leg day if you're a tour guide here, that's for sure!  Our only illumination was carbide lanterns and the magnesium flares that David carried, so taking pictures inside was a challenge.  Usually you're not allowed to take pics in there but since it was a small group we got the go-ahead to do it.

And of course after the ice cave tour, you have to do all the hiking to get back down to your car!  We stopped at a restaurant on the mountainside to eat lunch and we all got dessert because we deserved it after all that physical activity.  Ryan did great with it, he only asked to be carried towards the end of the ice cave tour and did a good job with all the hiking.

So for the first and third layouts, my color palette includes Balmy Blue, Azure Afternoon, Calypso Coral, Mossy Meadow, Granny Apple Green, and Whisper White.

For the Ice Cave layout in the middle, I kept Balmy Blue, Azure Afternoon and white, but used Blueberry Bushel as my accent color.  Plus snowflakes to really sell the ice theme.

Have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!, first & third layout:
Stamps:  Alphabest, Art Gallery
Ink:  Azure Afternoon, Calypso Coral, Granny Apple Green, Mossy Meadow, Night of Navy marker
Paper:  Balmy Blue, Azure Afternoon, Granny Apple Green, Awash in Beauty DSP
Accessories:  Floral Gallery dies

Supplies, all SU!, second layout:
Stamps:  Alphabest, Snowflake Wishes
Ink:  Azure Afternoon, Blueberry Bushel, Night of Navy marker
Paper:  Balmy Blue, Azure Afternoon, Blueberry Bushel, Thick Basic White, Snowflake Splendor DSP
Accessories:  So Many Snowflakes dies

Sparkling Snowflakes

Hey y'all!  I have to write this post really really fast because I need to be out the door in about 10 minutes.  This is the current view from my craft room window:

SNOW!  The temperature is too high for it to stick on the ground, especially the roads, but it always seems so special to me when it snows.  I grew up in Texas where snow is a Really Big Deal if you're a kid--if the ground is even just kinda white, they cancel school, so yep, snow = magic to me!

Here is my super sparkly snowflake card for today!  I'm submitting this for the Paper Players challenge:

I couldn't think of anything to fit the words "Winter Wonderland" better than a super sparkly snowflake.  I used the sketch from Inspired By Challenges:

I'm hoping I can grab enough time in my craft room to make a card based on one of their inspo pics, too.  And finally, here's the brand new Festive Friday challenge:

I used sparkle, emboss (white embossing powder for the sentiment), rhinestones, silver, and die cuts.  The rhinestones were a last-minute addition; I thought it was too much to put one in the middle of the snowflake, but I needed something in the bottom corner of the blue strip, so rhinestones to the rescue!  That's going to be my new band name, Rhinestones To The Rescue.  I like it.

Gotta run.  Stay toasty warm, friends!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snowflake Wishes
Ink:  Pacific Point, VersaMark
Paper:  Bashful Blue, Shimmery White, Pacific Point, Snowflake Splendor DSP, silver Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  So Many Snowflakes dies, white EP, rhinestones, mini Dimensionals

Snowflake Thanks

Happy Friday, y'all.  Ryan did GREAT with getting his flu shot yesterday, I was amazed.  He seems to have sailed through with no side effects too, and here I am with a big headache and kinda wishing I could stay home today :p  Oh well, onward we go!

I have one more card that I made last weekend to share today.

I used the Just Add Ink sketch but the challenge has already closed:

I'm happy to play along with the current Festive Friday challenge as well:

I used a thank you sentiment, pastel colors, and shimmer (the white cardstock is actually Shimmery White, and I added the rhinestones for a bit more shine as well).  I had been planning to do flowers of some kind but Snowflake Wishes kept popping up in my view like hey, pick me, so I did :)

Hope you have a great Friday, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snowflake Wishes
Ink:  Balmy Blue, Fresh Freesia
Paper:  Balmy Blue, Shimmery White
Accessories:  So Many Snowflakes dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, enamel dots, rhinestones

Blue Christmas Snowflakes

Hey y'all!  Most of the time I don't post on Saturdays, but I made a bunch of cards the other day and almost forgot to post this one before the challenges ended!

I got Snowflake Wishes and the coordinating dies last year but never got to use them before now.  Suuuuuper simple card to start with but that's okay!  I'm entering it in a couple of CAS challenges.  I tried adding some rhinestone or sequin embellishments but they just didn't work for this card, so it really stayed CAS.

I used the sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches:

And the color challenge from Less Is More:

Those two challenges together said snowflakes to me (obviously).  This came together in just a couple of minutes, gotta love that.

Hope you have a great weekend, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snowflake Wishes
Ink:  Pacific Point, Balmy Blue
Paper:  Pacific Point, Balmy Blue
Accessories:  None