Joyful Cardinal

Mornin' y'all!  I am tired this morning, Daphne has been getting me up three times a night for the past couple of nights so she can go outside.  Hope her tummy feels better soon.  Anyway, I got a bit of crafty time yesterday after running errands and writing in cards, so here is my card for today:

I had to dust off my long-retired stamp set A Cardinal Christmas for the Hand-Stamped Sentiments challenge:

I also couldn't resist the plaid, I love me a good plaid!  Or two : )  I used up several scraps of the Wrapped in Plaid DSP Stack for this card, thanks to the layer-iffic sketch from As You See It:

I didn't want to cover up my cardinal image, so instead of the wide strip for the sentiment, I used some gold cord and stamped the greeting on the circle.  And I just now realized that I copied down the sketch a bit incorrectly, that plaid pattern on the right should be narrower, but oh well.  I think it's obvious that I was using this sketch anyway, despite the vagaries of my creative process.  I think maybe I could have added some gold accents on this, but it's already out in the mail so too late now.

I've got a giant cuppa tea this morning and Daphne is waiting impatiently for me to finish it so she can do her daily tour of the neighborhood.  Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  A Cardinal Christmas, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Ink:  Night of Navy, Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy, Thick Basic White, Wrapped in Plaid DSP Stack
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits, gold cord, watercolor pencils

Rose Parade Practice

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  We spent most of last week in Vail with friends, skiing (everybody who is not me or Lynn) and enjoying Thanksgiving together.  I managed a full Thanksgiving meal in our hotel suite kitchen : )  It was a lot less effort than I usually do, too, because I got heat and eat options for almost everything (but my homemade pies are much tastier than the frozen ones!).  I did a turkey breast in the crockpot that turned out much better than I expected, I will definitely use that recipe again.  I did use an entire can of chicken broth instead of a half cup, and Ryan and I didn't measure the mustard either, just coated everything he could reach with it.  Then I flipped the turkey breast a couple of times during the cooking process so that we wouldn't end up with one side much juicier than the other--this turned out great!

Okay, enough turkey talk.  How about a scrapbook layout?

These pics are 15 years old, oof.  My high school band was invited to march in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, and I happened to be in Texas that December so I went out to watch them practice with my sister. (I call my brother's wife my sister; their besties are my other brother and sister, and the hubs' sister and her husband are my SIL and BIL.  Keeps everything straight in my head!)  We never got to do anything that cool when I was in high school, but on the other hand I got to be snug in my house watching the parade that year.

Today's sorta-Christmas palette includes Certainly Celery, Real Red, Blueberry Bushel, and white.  My high school colors are orange and black, so not Christmasy at all but you can see the balloons where Adrienne and I had our picture taken on the bottom right.  I found some Christmas DSP with roses on it and I thought that was just perfect for this.

That's it for me today, peeps.  The hubs is coming down with a major cold or something and I am trying very hard not to do the same...but my girl Daphne still wants to go for a walk and it's been a week since I last took her since we were in Vail last week and she was with a dogsitter.  We got our first snow last night too so we have to go out : )  I swept snow off the driveway this morning and I think most, if not all, of this will melt by tomorrow so we'll enjoy it while we can.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Broadsheet Alphabet, Calendar Alphabet & Numbers, Wreath of Roses
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Blueberry Bushel, Poppy Parade; Mossy Meadow & Blueberry Bushel markers; Mossy Meadow, Poppy Parade, Petal Pink, Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends
Paper:  Certainly Celery, Poppy Parade, Thick Whisper White, Christmastime is Here DSP
Accessories:  None

Tic Tac Toe Santa with the Paper Players

Happy Sunday and welcome to a new Paper Players challenge!  This week, the fun and fabulous Claire has brought us a fun and fabulous tic-tac-toe board to inspire you:

I went down the left side *and* across the bottom, hitting white - Christmas - die cuts - trees - sparkle.  I had pulled out the Festive Glimmer Paper for my bear card earlier this week and I thought hey, I can make some sparkly trees with this!  And here is where I ended up:

If you haven't already, definitely pick up a pack of the Nests of Winter DSP that's in the annual catalog.  The coordinating Winterly Tree Tops stamps and dies may be retired, but as you can see the paper still makes for a fun Christmas card!  I chose two Pool Party patterns as a backdrop for this cute Santa and some very sparkly trees.

Once again, I took pictures in several places in my house, with various lighting conditions, and I tried going outside for natural light and *still* it's so hard to make the glimmer paper show up looking anywhere close to the way it does in person!  The trees are cut out of both the Granny Apple Green and Garden Green glimmer papers and I switched the colors of the inner tree trunk/branch part to make them more interesting.  I have adhesive sheets and I should have used them because gluing in those itty bitty skinny pieces was quite fiddly, but I always forget that I own the adhesive sheets and in fact they have been sitting unused in my craft room for at least six months.

I think it's funny that I had at first resisted buying the Festive Friends bundle and now I think it's my favorite of this year's holiday offerings.  Ha!  Anyway, I had so much fun with Claire's tic-tac-toe board and I hope you do too.  Don't forget to upload your card on the Paper Players blog, and keep these rules in mind:

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!

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

you are here --> Christy Stanford

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Festive Friends
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Cherry Cobbler, Pool Party, Smoky Slate, Petal Pink, Pretty in Pink
Paper:  Pool Party, Thick Basic White, Festive Glimmer Paper, Nests of Winter DSP
Accessories:  Festive Friends dies, Dimensionals, Glitter Sequins

The Clue of the Leaning Chimney

Happy Saturday and welcome back to another Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today's book is #26, The Clue of the Leaning Chimney.

Both of these covers are by Rudy Nappi; there's the original text on the left and revised on the right.  Nancy, Bess, and George are investigating a mysterious walled compound in the woods wearing very sensible...skirts?!  And probably heels?!  We do have some nice colors on the three girls on the OT cover but I don't know why Bess has dark hair.  I can tell it's Bess in blue because of the expression on her face, George would look eager or determined to get inside the compound and Bess looks concerned.

The RT cover is a similar composition but focusing on Nancy, who's still in a totally inappropriate (but pretty) outfit.  Seriously how does she climb trees in that skirt without getting dirty?  I'm still choosing this one as my favorite of the two; I think Nancy's face is prettier and I like the patterning on her shirt and skirt.  This one just appeals to me more than the OT.

Let's take a look at the story!

Case file:  While driving home late one evening, Nancy and Bess encounter a mysterious man in the woods who drops an antique Chinese vase.  Soon Nancy is involved in tracking down stolen Chinese pottery and the crooks who are not only forging copies of priceless originals, but are also engaged in human trafficking and forcing their victims to make the forged pieces.  Pretty dark for a Nancy Drew book.

Here's my card:

One of the first objects stolen in the book is a vase that has a dragon on it and wouldn't you know I have a stamp of a vase that has a dragon on it?  I have a few packs of DSP with Oriental-inspired designs, so I chose the Ginger Blossom DSP for Nancy's red skirt.

I stamped the vase with Pebbled Path + Versamark, then embossed with clear EP so I could watercolor it.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Ancient Asia, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Versamark, Pebbled Path, Ruby Red, River Rock
Paper:  Ruby Red, River Rock, Thick Basic White, Ginger Blossom DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Word Window & Modern Label punches, Mini Dimensionals, Candy Dot

Here's the RT:

No major changes to the story line here and I decided to make my cards very similar too:

This time I used the Green Tea DSP, which is Ginger Blossom redone in blues and greens.  And that was perfect to go with Nancy's outfit on this book cover.

I do remember this one from reading it as a kid; Nancy gets to learn about some Chinese symbolism and pottery-making methods which is fun.  I give it four stars.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Ancient Asia, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Versamark, Pebbled Path, Baja Breeze, Island Indigo
Paper:  Island Indigo, Thick Basic White, Green Tea DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Word Window & Modern Label punches, Mini Dimensionals, Candy Dot

As always, if you're inspired by Nancy Drew, I would love to see what you make so drop a comment on this post.  My book analysis blog is still on hiatus for the moment but I'll be bringing it back probably after the new year, you can find it at Hey Nancy Drew.  Next week we have another great installment, so stay tuned to learn The Secret of the Wooden Lady.  Cheers!

Magical Elf

Happy Friday, y'all!  How was your Thanksgiving?  We are enjoying our time with friends and I have a fun card to share today:

I tried to resist the Festive Friends bundle, I really did, but these little dudes are SO CUTE!  There was a color challenge awhile back with Lemon Lime Twist and Strawberry Slush and I didn't get to play along at the time, but I just had to try the combo for my little elf today.  And he has Timid Tiger hair : )

This time I did actually stick to the CASE-ing Tuesday Sketch:

And now I want to make even more Christmas cards with these colors together, I think they're so fun and bright and cheery.  A nice twist on the classic red and green, am I right?

I will not be braving any Black Friday sales in person, though I might check out Amazon's offerings.  After I have pie for breakfast.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Festive Friends, Jolly Delivery
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Lemon Lime Twist, Stampin' Blends in Lemon Lime Twist, Strawberry Slush, Pretty in Pink, Petal Pink, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Strawberry Slush, Thick Basic White, Strawberry Slush DSP
Accessories:  Festive Friends dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Strawberry Slush Gems

Winter Bear

Hey y'all, happy Thanksgiving!  We are spending our Thanksgiving once again with Bennet and Missy and their family, so it's a bunch of Baylor bears.  So I have a bear card to share today!

I am a massive sucker for any stamps featuring bears : )  I love Woodland Scenery (which is where the bear and the trees came from) and somehow this is the first time I've used it despite owning it since like September.  Oh yeah, appendix : p  This is also the first time I've inked up any of the stamps in Delicate Pines, I haven't even made a single pine-flake yet!  I did, at least, cut into the Elegant Pine Snowflakes DSP for this card.

So, this started out with a CASE-ing Tuesday Sketch:

But somewhere along the way, I took a bit of a left turn and my card doesn't really reflect the sketch.  I still like it though and I want to cut into more of those gorgeous papers!

Okay, I'm off to feast like a beast for the rest of the day.  Hope you have a great celebration if you're doing Thanksgiving, otherwise I wish you a great Thursday.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Woodland Scenery, Delicate Pines
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Secret Sea
Paper:  Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Elegant Pine Snowflakes DSP, Festive Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Textured Notes dies, Speckled Dots

Reindeer Wishes

Mornin' y'all!  Hope your Turkey Day week is going well!  I've tried to stall as long as possible but I think it's time to start making winter Christmas cards in earnest...I try to stay with fall for as long as possible because it's my favorite season and Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I flatly refuse to decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but I'll let a couple of cards slip in early I suppose.  All that to say, hey look reindeer!

I absolutely love last year's Reindeer Fun suite and I had to bust out the DSP for the new Festive Friday challenge:

I hit Christmas colors (traditional red and green), warm wishes sentiment, and reindeer.  I actually fussy cut two reindeer from the DSP, but when I started playing around with parts and pieces I ended up only using one of them.  You know that means I need to make another reindeer card, can't leave her out in the cold!  Anyway, the only stamping on here is the greeting from Above It All, and I didn't even have to cut the jingle bells and holly patterns I used for the backgrounds as they were scraps and the sizes worked for this card.

That's it for me today, peeps.  We're having a honey baked ham for dinner tonight, which has been a tradition in my family for the last several years--the hubs and the kid like ham better than turkey, but I flatly refuse to skip turkey for Thanksgiving, so we have ham the day before Thanksgiving and they can have leftover ham if they want and I get my Thanksgiving turkey.  (And pies!) Hope you have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Above It All
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Garden Green, Real Red, Reindeer Days DSP
Accessories:  White EP, Mini Dimensionals, Gold Swirl Accents