For the Birds

Mornin' y'all!  I got some new SU! goodies over the weekend, but they're mostly Christmas-related and I am not ready to be done with fall and Halloween yet so I've been playing with some other stuff.  I have two cards to share today, so I'm going to share the first one, then the challenges, and then the second one.  Here we go.

I saw the new challenge at SOS Challenges to use birds or feathers and couldn't resist playing with Bird's Eye View.  Next up is the CAS challenge from the Paper Players:

And I thought I could put a tag on the Inspire. Create. sketch in place of the greenery:

For some reason I really wanted to play with Summer Splash yesterday, so I made that color the main focus of the card.  Then I started to worry that maybe my card wasn't CAS enough for the Paper Players challenge, so I made a second one, still with Summer Splash but this time focusing on Peach Pie:

I've never been much of a peach person before but Peach Pie is the first of this year's In Colors that I had to buy a whole pack of cardstock for because I was using up the variety pack so fast.  (Pretty in Pink doesn't count because I already had that color from the first time it was in the lineup.)  Anyway, for this one I used several elements from the first card, but made my tag (and bird) smaller and only did one pattern for the strip going across the card front.  I actually used up most of the 6x6 sheet of DSP that I used for yesterday's pumpkin pie card, I have a 1/2" strip left  : )

That's it for me today, peeps.  We're going to take Ryan to another martial arts studio tonight so he can try out a class; we're trying to find something that was similar to what he was doing in Texas.  So we'll see how that goes.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies for the first card, all SU!
Stamps:  Bird's Eye View, Saying Hey
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Peach Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Poppy Parade, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Summer Splash, Thick Basic White, Summer Splash & Pecan Pie DSP
Accessories:  Merriest Trees dies, Mini Dimensionals, white baker's twine

Supplies for the second card, all SU!
Stamps:  Bird's Eye View, Saying Hey
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Peach Pie & Pecan Pie
Paper:  Peach Pie, Thick Basic White, Summer Splash & Pecan Pie DSP
Accessories:  Tags & Labels dies, Mini Dimensionals, white baker's twine

Mardi Gras Bird

Mornin' y'all!  I am happy to report that the hubs' brain surgery went well yesterday.  He had what's called a cavernoma or cavernous malformation, which is an abnormal clump of blood vessels.  His started bleeding and causing debilitating headaches a couple of weeks ago, which prompted an ER visit which is when he got diagnosed.  They're sending the tissue they took out yesterday to the pathology lab to make sure its non-cancerous, but the surgeon said everything is looking good.  I'll be going back up to the hospital today as soon as Ryan gets off to school; the hubs is in the ICU for now where kids aren't allowed to visit, but he should be transferring to a regular room later today.

Anyway, earlier this week I made a couple of cards and I have one to share today!

The bird's glasses are popped up on Dimensionals which I just thought was funny with that sentiment from Saying Hey.  I used the sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches:

And the fun color palette from Creative Colour Challenges:

Those colors together make me think Mardi Gras!  I haven't played much with the newest In Colors so it was fun to trot out Shy Shamrock.  I almost did a layer of DSP on the whole card front but I remembered just in time that the sketch is a CAS challenge, so I did a plain card front and a scrap of DSP for the horizontal strip on the sketch.  The sentiment is stamped a couple of times in Gorgeous Grape ink, it might look black in the picture but I promise it's purple.  I added a couple of Glossy Dots to the bottom because they come in two of the challenge colors and I just thought it needed a little something along the bottom to balance the card.

That's it for me today, folks.  Have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bird's Eye View, Saying Hey
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Gorgeous Grape, Stampin' Blends in Shy Shamrock, Daffodil Delight, Gorgeous Grape
Paper:  Shy Shamrock, Thick Basic White, Daffodil Delight DSP
Accessories:  Deckled Circles dies, Deckled Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, Glossy Dots

Unbounded Zinnias

So yesterday, the hubs and I were in my craft room which also doubles as the computer gaming room because it's where hubs has his laptop, and I said, "Hummingbird, zinnias, or lavender?" and he was very confused.  But he chose zinnias and that's what's on my card today:

Do zinnias come in shades of purple?  Doesn't matter, because in my craft room they do!  I did the plant side of the Paper Players theme challenge:

I already have an animal card made so that will be tomorrow : )  I had to post this one first because I wanted to make sure I could enter at the Just Add Ink color challenge:

I used all three colors of purple/berry to color the zinnias and Shaded Spruce for the stems.  The card base is Fresh Freesia, the scrap of Unbounded Beauty DSP is Petunia Pop, and the "thanks" sentiment is stamped in Berry Burst.  I know I'll need some thank you cards coming up here with people helping out around the hubs' surgery tomorrow.

It's about time to get Ryan in the car and off to school.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Zinnia, Saying Hey
Ink:  Early Espresso, Berry Burst, Stampin' Blends in Fresh Freesia, Petunia Pop, Berry Burst, Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Thick Basic White, Unbounded Beauty DSP
Accessories:  Simply Zinnia dies, Perennial Postage dies, Dimensionals, In Color Shimmer Gems

Insert Clever Message Here

Hey y'all, how's it going?  I'm back to writing posts in real time, whee.  Also I feel like I'm starting to come down with something again, I had strep throat a couple of weeks ago right after we arrived here in Colorado.  Ugh.  BUUUUUT to focus on the positive today, my craft room is up and running and here is the very first card I've made in Colorado:

Had to start with the Paper Players challenge:

I didn't want to dig through all my retired stamps for something beachy, so Sea Turtle it is!  Plus I've started sending my friend Middy sea turtle cards.  I think she expressed an interest in sea turtles at some point but my brain could be making that up, but regardless, every time I make a sea turtle card, I send it to her.  And if I don't have any sea turtle cards on deck, the USPS recently released sea turtle postage stamps :)  All that to say, I know who's getting this card!

And also congrats to the Paper Players for making it to more than 700 challenges!  Wish I could have played along last week but it's taken a while to get unpacked and organized.  Sooooo do you want to see my new crafting CASTLE?  Stay tuned, but first here's the recipe for the card:

Stamps:  Sea Turtle, Saying Hey
Ink:  Azure Afternoon, Blueberry Bushel, Night of Navy, Lemon Lime Twist, Garden Green, Whisper White
Paper:  Basic Beige, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Adhesive Glitter Sequins, Wink of Stella, Dimensionals



Okay, just to get this out of the way, my craft room is the master bedroom in this house.  We had wanted a four-bedroom house (master, Ryan, guest room, craft room), but this one is three...however, the master suite has a huge bedroom and a sitting area separated by a wall with a dual-sided fireplace on it.  All our bedroom stuff fit in the sitting room side just fine, so here's my craft room which I realize is RIDICULOUS.

Pictures aren't the best quality, I think because of all the light coming in from the windows, but I took this one standing in the doorway between the craft room and the master bedroom.

The movers had beat up my old file cabinets sufficiently over the years that they were pretty much done, so I got two new file cabinets that Ryan and the hubs put together for me.  I salvaged one of the old file cabinets (the shorter one on the left) because it's still standing, albeit dented.

My old bookshelves were also toast, but I'd had most of them since high school so they hung in there for quite a while.  So I got these four Ikea bookshelves for all my stamps.

Okay this is a terrible picture but it's the only one I took of this side of the craft room.  I have two giant shelving units in the corners, one with all my 12x12 cardstock and DSP (except I'm missing one of the paper totes and can't find it anywhere), and the other has my completed scrapbook pages and some other miscellaneous items.

So here's the wall between the craft room and the bedroom, you can see through the fireplace if you want to, and the doorway is to the left of the fireplace.

The hubs took yesterday off work to attend to a few things around the house, and we put up artwork in my craft room which makes me so happy.  So above the file cabinets I have Maleficent, The Princess Bride, and Megara (sorry for the glare).  We still have a LOT of things to hang up around the house to cover up that greige paint until we can paint the house something nicer.  Even the ceilings are greige!

And in one corner I have my happy coyote who makes me think of Mercy Thompson (heroine of my favorite book series), and Indiana Jones and Marion on the bottom.

And to represent my first fandom, I have an entire Star Wars wall.  Mostly the ladies of Star Wars, focusing on Princess Leia, but the Mandalorian is in there too.

My two largest pieces that I got on a May the Fourth sale last year and just framed right before we packed out in Texas.  Whee!  This room is YOOOOJ and there's still enough room to put a second 6-foot table in the middle so the hubs could work on projects in there too, though I absolutely drew the line at him hanging up a giant RC plane from the ceiling anywhere in here.  Well, really, anywhere in the house.  I think giant planes hanging from the ceiling would be claustrophobia-inducing, and I don't want something that 3D on any of the walls either.  That stuff can stay in the garage, thankyouverymuch.

So yeah, there's my crafting castle.  Guess we'd better stay here awhile because I don't know how I'd fit all that in a smaller space...

Cheers, y'all.

Tropical Birds

Happy Friday, y'all!  I admit, I got a slow start today despite good intentions.  I did eventually get my workout done but it was too late for breakfast so I had an early lunch and it was GOOD and now I am ready to get to work today!

But first, get out your sunglasses because today's card is bright!

Yep, still loving that Saying Hey stamp set.  Let's start with this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the very fun Color Throwdown:

I used a mix of Lemon Lolly and Daffodil Delight (the Daffodil was a bit darker for watercoloring the birds, but the papers all feature Lemon Lolly), Pumpkin Pie, and Berry Burst for my colors and this was just so much fun.  I do love me some bright colors.  I also added some Pebbled Path for a neutral; I have been using this color A LOT on scrapbook pages as an alternative to Basic Gray.  Anyway, for this card, I decided to watercolor the birds rather than using Blends to color them, so I inked up each stamp with VersaMark, then whatever ink color I wanted, and then embossed with clear EP so I could do the watercolor without making the stamped ink run.

That's it for me today, peeps.  I've got a zillion pictures laid out on my craft table and it's time to start organizing them onto scrapbook pages.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bird's Eye View, Saying Hey
Ink:  Berry Burst, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Pebbled Path, Versamark
Paper:  Berry Burst, Lemon Lolly, Thick Basic White, Bright & Beautiful DSP stack, Flowering Zinnias DSP
Accessories:  Countryside Corners dies, clear EP, white EP, retired glitter dots, Dimensionals

Puddle Bunny

Mornin' y'all!  Okay, this morning didn't go how I thought it would...I had planned to go do a yoga class at the Y after I dropped Ryan off at school, but I ended up conking out for two hours instead.  Not sure why I was so tired but apparently I needed more sleep!  We've got a busy afternoon ahead with Ryan participating in the black belt test for his teacher, so probably a good thing I got a bit more sleep this morning.

Anyway, here's my card today:

The colors are a bit muted in the picture, probably because we were absolutely socked in with clouds and rain all day yesterday.  For a while, it was getting darker instead of lighter as the sun came up!  That might have influenced my choice of stamp set for today's card.  Anyway, I like the Just Add Ink sketch:

And I had to have another go at the Color Throwdown:

This time, I used Pumpkin Pie, Petunia Pop, and Pretty Peacock, so today's card is brought to you by the letter P.  And now I'm wishing I had gotten all the new In Color Blends because I don't have Petunia Pop yet; I had actually stamped and cut out the fox first but decided to switch it out for the bunny because I wanted the fox to have a purple jacket.

Anyway, my goal for today is to go work on some scrapbook pages.  I have one layout in progress and four (five?) other ones that only lack journaling to be finished.  Gotta use my time wisely since Ryan's last day of school is coming up and it's harder for me to get craft time when he's out of school.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Playing in the Rain, Saying Hey
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Pretty Peacock, Stampin' Blends in Gray Granite, Pretty in Pink, Pretty Peacock, Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Petunia Pop, Thick Basic White, Petunia Pop DSP, Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack
Accessories:  Playing in the Rain dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Mini Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Fox Face

Mornin' y'all!  Our busy week continues, but I did make a card to share today with more new stamps : )

I bought Pets & More a couple of months ago but this is the first time I've inked it up.  I used another greeting from Saying Hey just because a.) I could and b.) it fit on the die cut.  Here is this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Ummm...this is *not* a sketch I will be using again.  Not My Thing.  I do, however, really like this week's color palette from the Color Throwdown:

I used Pumpkin Pie, Gorgeous Grape, and the new In Color Summer Splash.  I hope I can find time today or tomorrow to give these colors another go because I like them.

Okay, gotta get the kiddo off to school and then I have a couple of appointments today.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pets & More, Saying Hey
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Gorgeous Grape
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Thick Basic White, Summer Splash DSP, Gorgeous Grape DSP
Accessories:  Everyday Moments dies, Dimensionals, Noble Peacock Rhinestones

Glad You Exist

Mornin' y'all!  How is your Tuesday going?  I'm happy that I got to break out a brand new stamp set for today's card, take a look:

Saying Hey was on my first new catty order, it has some fun sentiments, like "Insert clever message here", which makes me giggle.  Plus it makes me think of Into the Spider-Verse and if you've seen that movie, you know why.  Ryan likes to put his hand on my shoulder, look in my eyes, and say HEY which makes me laugh.  (Miles Morales' uncle is trying to teach him how to flirt with a girl by using that move in the movie; Ryan ups the ante by making a goofy face while he does it.)

 Check out the color challenge from the Paper Players:

I admit this combination had me scratching my head at first.  I chose the birds from Bird's Eye View because I figured I could make them any color I wanted so I bet you could use them for just about any color combination under the sun :) I chose Pretty Peacock for my extra color, so I had two purples and two teals to work with.  I stamped several birds on scratch paper and colored them however seemed like a good idea at the time, and cut them out.  I really didn't have a plan for this card when I started since I wasn't working with a sketch, so I just kinda kept moving pieces around until I liked it.

I would not have put those colors together on my own, so I'm surprised how much I ended up liking my card when I finished it.  And that right there is why I am a challenge junkie ;) Helps me stretch my creativity.  And now I'm off to wrestle with the scrapbook layout that has been giving me fits with the color combination.  Too bad these colors wouldn't work with my photos, ha!  Also, thanks to LeAnne for choosing my octopus card as the winner of last week's challenge.  I always love to play along with the Paper Players!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bird's Eye View, Saying Hey
Ink:  Fresh Freesia, Pretty Peacock, Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Lost Lagoon, Highland Heather, Fresh Freesia, Pretty Peacock
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Thick Basic White, Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack
Accessories:  Nested Essentials dies, Mini Dimensionals, Tinsel Gems