(Yet Another) Variation on a Theme

Mornin' y'all, how's your Thursday going?  Ryan is currently "singing", by which I mean he's making all kinds of sustained random noises while also eating breakfast and theoretically reading a book.  Kids.

Anyway, apparently I am stuck on a theme lately and that is the long-retired Hues of Happiness DSP with big word dies because here's another one:

It was the first thing to pop in my head when I saw this week's Freshly Made Sketch and since I already had more of the flowers cut out...

And Shopping Our Stash wants us to focus on a word so out came my Sending Smiles bundle again because it worked so well for Monday's cards.  And I used the tic-tac-toe challenge from Retro Rubber:

I already had flowers on the brain so I knew I was going to start there, so I decided to go along the right side with die cut (my greeting) - butterfly (brass butterfly embellishments) - flowers (fussy cut from DSP).  Sending Smiles is four years old and I thought it was older than that?  The current Words of Beauty is a bit similar in that it has a big bold "just because" but I don't think the "because" fits on a vertically oriented card.  Anyway, I really have a ridiculous amount of DSP in my stash and I am officially out of space for more paper but I also want to buy like five new packs of what's on preorder right now because I am a paper dragon, so this card is good to use a bit more of the gorgeous Hues of Happiness DSP.  I just need to make approximately six thousand more cards before I order more DSP.  Seems doable.

Okay, I've got to take Daphne for a walk before it gets too stinkin' hot and then I need to run to the grocery store, and this afternoon we have Meet the Teacher at Ryan's school so I'd better get moving if I want any craft time.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sending Smiles
Ink:  Flirty Flamingo, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Flirty Flamingo, Granny Apple Green, Basic White, Hues of Happiness DSP
Accessories:  Sending dies, Mini Dimensionals, Brushed Brass Butterflies

Unplanned

Mornin' y'all!  We got quite a lot of rain yesterday and it was fabulous, even if I was out in it for a while.  My favorite way to enjoy a rainstorm is from the comfort of my own home, with a cuppa tea and a good book : )

Yesterday was busy so I only had a teensy bit of time in my craft room, but my card for today almost made itself.

I was perusing my stamp shelves for something completely different when Too Kind jumped out at me and it's been SUCH a long time since I've used this set that I had to make something.  CAS on Friday wants to see flowers and that worked with this week's Creative Colour Challenge:

I really wasn't sure how well Lemon Lime Twist and Golden Glow would play together, though I very much like either color along with Night of Navy, but once I stamped my two simple little flowers I quite liked it.  I looked at them on card bases in LLT and Golden Glow but I decided that the Night of Navy card base looked best and let the flowers pop.  Two simple die cuts and a couple Dimensionals and there's my card.  I didn't add any embellishments since I already have the cute scalloped edges and this is supposed to be CAS.

Ryan and I are thinking about going to the movies this afternoon, so that's our plan for the day.  Have a good one, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Too Kind
Ink:  Night of Navy, Lemon Lime Twist, Golden Glow
Paper:  Night of Navy, Basic White
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals

More Is Better

Mornin' y'all, and I am dragging today.  I woke up around 3am and couldn't get back to sleep for a long time and then Daphne decided she wanted to go outside at 5:30, not long after I had finally gotten back to sleep.  Argh!  I may have to take a nap today before my doctor's appointment...which is about the extreme fatigue I've had all summer.  I will be playing the part of Exhibit A.

I actually had a pretty good day energy-wise yesterday and apparently I was in the mood for fussy cutting and making more cards with All The Things piled on, like my kitchen sink card from last week.  I got out the Hues of Happiness DSP again (I had been a good little housekeeper and put it away after I made the card last week) and made these two cards:

I still have a bunch more pieces that I cut out yesterday and haven't used yet, but all these cutouts seemed like a great way to use the new Atlantic Hearts sketch:

And I didn't shy away from using the busier patterns for the background in my cards, either.  The one on the left fits in with the As You See It Challenge again too:

I love how the design team cards are all mostly yellow, maybe a bit of green, and my cards are every color all at once but also there's still multiple shades of yellow on there (the cut-out flowers are Daffodil Delight and so is the main part of the greeting, but the sparkle dots are Darling Duckling so that counts as multiple shades).  Guess my brain is a riot of color right now?  Hues of Happiness retired probably like five or six years ago (I know I was in Germany when it came out) but it's gorgeous and I enjoyed using it for these challenges.  And I still have a lot of it left.

Ryan isn't up yet, but Daphne continues to make an absolute pest of herself wanting to go for a walk, so I think I'll go ahead and take her before it gets too warm outside.  Cheers, y'all, and wish me luck at my appointment this afternoon, it's causing me some anxiety.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sending Smiles
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Granny Apple Green, Whisper White, Hues of Happiness DSP
Accessories:  Sending Smiles dies, Mini Dimensionals, Low Profile Sparkle Dots

Paper Players Sketch Trio

Mornin' y'all!  I said in yesterday's post that I'd had decision paralysis with my sketch for The Paper Players and ended up making five cards...as promised, I am back today with the three cards I didn't post yesterday.  So here they are:

I started with the Homemade Sweetness DSP and at first I was going to do several fruits for the popped up element, but then I ended up with just the cherries and why didn't I do the stamped cherries from Summer Happiness?  Ah well, I think this is reasonably cute but it's not my favorite.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Words of Beauty
Ink:  Misty Moonlight
Paper:  Strawberry Slush, Granny Apple Green, Basic White, Homemade Sweetness DSP
Accessories:  Words of Beauty dies, 1" square punch, Dimensionals, Strawberry Slush Gems

Next up, how about another Summerween card:

This time I cut some ghosties out of the DSP instead of the kitties, and added some die cut letters to the three squares.  I really like this one, I think it's cute.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Oh My Fright
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Frightfully Fun DSP
Accessories:  1 1/4" square punch, Mini Alphabet dies, Dimensionals

And for my final card, a super-CAS sunny creation:

I used the colors from the AAA Cards Challenge:

I used Melon Mambo, Polished Pink, Pumpkin Pie, and Daffodil Delight.  The sun is from Summer Happiness, but then I had to search through all my stamps for a teeny-tiny sunshiney greeting and pulled another set out of the To Sell? boxes.  I swan, I'm never going to actually sell anything, ha!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Summer Happiness, Special Moments
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Polished Pink
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Polished Pink, Basic White
Accessories:  Summer Happiness dies, 1" square punch, Dimensionals

And just in case this post isn't long enough, I present my kiddos:

Sometimes Ryan likes to wear Peking as a hat.

And Daphne has recently taken to snoozing under my craft table while I'm working.  At least she's not right behind my chair, which was Sadie's favorite place to snooze; Daph is better about staying where she won't get rolled over by the chair.  Have a good day, y'all.

A Paper Players Sketch by Yours Truly

Mornin' y'all!  Sunday means it's time for a new Paper Players challenge, and I am the hostess for this week's sketch:

I based this sketch off a card I made for a Nancy Drew challenge a while back because I liked how that card turned out and I thought this sketch would give "scope for the imagination" as Anne Shirley would say.  Then I had decision paralysis about what to make with the sketch and I made five cards over the course of last week.  Ryan voted this one his favorite:

Stef made a card with a seagull on it for last week's challenge and that made me want to get out Friendly Seagulls for a fun card.  I love his little wink!  The hubs picked this card:

Still using that Lovely Blossoms DSP and Words of Beauty stamp set that Joanne convinced me to buy!  I will share the other three cards tomorrow.

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, seagull card:
Stamps:  Friendly Seagulls
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Darling Duckling, Stampin' Blends in Seaside Spray & Misty Moonlight
Paper:  Seaside Spray, Darling Duckling, Basic White, Sand & Sea DSP
Accessories:  1" square punch, Dimensionals, In Color Enamel Dots

Supplies, flower card:
Stamps:  Words of Beauty
Ink:  Secret Sea
Paper:  Cloud Cover, Secret Sea, Lovely Blossoms DSP
Accessories:  1 1/4" square punch, Dimensionals, Charming Shimmer Faceted Dots

The Secret in the Old Lace

Happy Saturday, y'all, and welcome back to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  This week we are on book #59, where Nancy investigates The Secret in the Old Lace:

So, the arch cover is my least favorite of this trio, but I like Nancy's outfit the best out of all of them.  We have a moody gothic cover with a Captain Hook dude staring down at Nancy from a wall with a sinister cloaked figure behind him, but I just don't like Nancy's face and hairdo on this cover.

Next up is the pink checkerboard, we have Nancy and George confronting a phantom in what looks like a dungeon but WHAT in the 1980s is Nancy wearing??  I like the girls' shoes but Nancy's outfit is definitely mockable.

The fashion doesn't get much better on the orange checkerboard cover, this time we have Bess and Nancy.  Bess, why would you put a purple top with maroon pants?  Nancy, what are you smuggling under that ginormous blouse?  The bit with the painting described in the book is good, though.

Case file:  Nancy enters a magazine contest where she writes a fictitious ending to a real-life mystery of a Belgian nobleman who disappeared in I think the 19th century, and Bess conveniently pops up with a present-day mystery for Nancy to solve in (you guessed it) Belgium.  Nancy has to figure out who the present-day heir is to some jewelry discovered in an old house in Bruges, and along the way she really does solve the mystery of the missing nobleman.  Alas, there were no waffles.  Opportunity missed.

Here's my first card:

So upon perusing my stamp collection, my options for lace were surprisingly slim pickins.  At last I landed on using both Tasteful Touches and Touches of Texture and once again I managed to incorporate an arch for the arch cover, it's becoming a game to design cards around that shape.

My color palette is Purple Posy, Petal Pink, and Concord Crush so even though the card looks like it's got black on it I promise it's very dark purple.  And I included just a touch of Golden Glow to match Nancy's hair; I used it on the flower center.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tasteful Touches, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Purple Posy, Concord Crush, Petal Pink
Paper:  Purple Posy, Petal Pink, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, Dimensionals, In Color Opal Rounds (they're Fresh Freesia, but they looked good with the Purple Posy on my card)

Here's my card for cover #2:

Before the girls take off for Europe, a criminal breaks into Nancy's house.  She calls Chief McGinnis who rushes right over and then she pulls out her own fingerprinting kit (yeah, I have one of those in my hall closet too, Nancy) and he comments that he'd never seen her dust for prints before.  And that was the PERFECT opportunity to use True Crime Vol. 2 from The Ink Road.

I kept this one a very simple design and went with Melon Mambo, Basic Gray, and Cloud Cover for my colors and we're just ignoring Nancy's outfit now.

Supplies:
Stamps:  True Crime Vol. 2 from The Ink Road
Ink:  Smoky Slate, Basic Gray
Paper:  Melon Mambo, Basic Gray, Cloud Cover, Basic White
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals, Glitter Enamel Dots

And on to cover #3:

So there's a bad guy who pretends to be a ghost running around this house that Nancy, Bess, and George are investigating, but Nancy notices the "phantom" is wearing boots and later she finds a guy wandering around Bruges wearing cowboy boots and of course he's the rightful heir to the jewelry.  So anyway, boots are a recurring clue in this book.

This one was the hardest of the three to come up with a card for some reason.  Super bright and possibly not coordinating colors (sorry Bess, I am not digging your outfit), but I went with Mango Melody, Sweet Sorbet, Tahitian Tide, and stamped the boot image in Night of Navy.  So hopefully that color combo feels cohesive on my card?  Well, not every card can be my favorite.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bootiful Occasions
Ink:  Night of Navy, Mango Melody Blend which should probably be tossed
Paper:  Mango Melody, Whisper White, Sweet Sorbet & Tahitian Tide DSP
Accessories:  Nested Essentials dies, Hydrangea Hue glitter pen, Dimensionals, In Color Matte Dots

This book is another travelogue and we learn a few things about lace making along the way.  I had forgotten that this one takes us to Belgium and you know what?  I've been to Bruges!  I did not visit the same museums as the girls did, nor did I foil any nefarious criminal plots, but I can imagine where they were in the book.  Still, I think this one is a middle-of-the-road Nancy Drew book, not terrible but not great either, so I'm giving it two and a half stars.  If any of these book covers (or the story) inspire you, pretty please leave me a comment!  And stay tuned next week when Nancy takes on The Greek Symbol Mystery.

Hues of Yellow

Mornin' y'all, busy morning ahead as I have to take Ryan to camp and then go get blood drawn (again).  At least I don't have to fast before the blood draw this time.

Anyway, my card today is a little floral number, check it out:

It looks like I threw the kitchen sink at this card because the background floral I used is SO busy but I like it anyway : p  I got out the Hues of Happiness DSP to play along with the As You See It recipe challenge:

I've got some old Ombre Enamel Dots in Crushed Curry, a big flower cut from the DSP plus all the smaller ones on the card front, Words of Beauty for a big bold sentiment, die cuts from two different sets, and I've got Daffodil Delight, Lemon Lolly, and Crushed Curry for shades of yellow.  And I managed to fit all that in with the Atlantic Hearts sketch:

And that's it for now, peeps.  Hopefully I will have the energy this afternoon to work on another card for The Paper Players on Sunday...I'm having decision paralysis with that.  Have a great Friday, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Words of Beauty
Ink:  Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Lemon Lolly, Mossy Meadow, Basic White
Accessories:  Words of Beauty dies, Perennial Postage dies, Dimensionals, Ombre Enamel Dots