Santa's List

Hey y'all, how's it going?  The hubs asked me yesterday to make things for his potluck at work tomorrow, and it's Hawaiian-themed, so after I get Ryan off to school I will be heading to the store to buy ingredients.  He's taking crock pots of teriyaki chicken and rice, and I'm going to make a couple of desserts.  Then I'll do my big Thanksgiving shop on Friday and we'll really get cookin'!

But for now, a card.

And it's the time of year when a lot of challenges are aligning, so let's get started with the Paper Players:

Joanne inspired me to get out Signs of Santa for my card : )  And as it happened, I had this Santa already stamped and die cut in the stamp case, so I just had to color him.  Easy!

Next up is the Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I used a Santa image for the belt buckle part instead of taking the sketch literally.  And my stripey layer doesn't reach the edges of the card front because I was using a scrap.  It's flocked paper, the white stripes are fuzzy.

We continue with Inspire. Create.:

Yep, easy!  And finally, Inkspirational:

This just clinched my decision to use Signs of Santa for my card today.  One CAS (...okay, maybe it's CAS plus?) card, four challenges.

My next challenge is getting Ryan off to school on time so I can go start shopping and cooking.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Signs of Santa
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Poppy Parade, Petal Pink, Pretty in Pink, Crumb Cake, Gray Granite
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Thick Basic White, Santa's Workshop Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Santa's Signpost dies, Dimensionals, Red & White Peppermints

Ryan's First Trip to Texas

Scrappy Monday!  I was just looking through all my draft posts and I have a LOT of Christmas pages to share--some of our photos from Christmas past, and quite a few Christmas card color blocks.  I take all the photo cards we get each year, pick a Christmas DSP, and do color block layouts to go in my scrapbooks like this one.  I've got the cards in stacks for both 2020 and 2021, I hope to do those color block layouts this week.  And soon I'll start collecting cards for this year's color block!

Anywha, for today's layouts we're going back to Ryan's first trip to Texas, which was in early December 2017 when he was 10 months old.  We went to visit both sets of parents early in the month and then spent Christmas itself at our house; I don't like going anywhere else for Christmas.  Now of course I want to be at home so Santa can visit Ryan.

So, pages!

That top left picture is ME when I was about the same age as Ryan was in the picture on the right.  Funny enough, the end table is the same in both pictures.  For the right page, that selfie my mom took with Ryan cracks me up because he looks like he is just so DONE with it all.

Second layout and man, I loved the two patterns I used on these pages.  I only have small scraps left of the Christmas light pattern that I used as a photo mat.  Don't think I have much left of the hexagon pattern either.

Today's color palette:  Pear Pizzazz, Mossy Meadow, Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy, and Whisper White.  I took it straight from the patterned papers I used.

As soon as I finish breakfast, Ryan and I are going to start making cookie dough.  I'm making some cookies for the hubs to take into work and we give some to a few local friends.  Then I've got to address all the Christmas cards...cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Making Christmas Bright, Signs of Santa, Texas from Deadbeat Designs
Ink:  Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow, Smoky Slate, Soft Sky, Pear Pizzazz, Hello Honey, Versamark
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Mossy Meadow, Cherry Cobbler, Thick Whisper White, Season of Cheer DSP
Accessories:  clear EP

Christmas Card Photo Shoot 2018

Scrappy Monday!  Last week was super BUSY and this one might be too...I work every day this week but shorter days, so in the afternoons I'll probably be trying to get some Christmas stuff prepped.  The hubs and the spawn put up the Christmas tree yesterday and I decorated the entryway a bit, so we're in the process of getting in the holiday spirit :)

How about a Christmas layout for today...

For our Christmas cards in 2018, we plopped Ryan down in front of the tree and did a quick 10-minute photo shoot; we used that 5x7 photo for that year's cards.  I used to hand-make about 65 Christmas cards every year, but I figured most people were probably just going to throw those in the trash anyway so I switched to photo cards.  Now only a few select people get handmade cards.

Today's color palette:  Real Red (Ryan's favorite color), Old Olive, Blueberry Bushel, Shaded Spruce, and Whisper White.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Make a Difference, Signs of Santa
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Real Red, Blueberry Bushel, Stampin' Blends in Real Red, Shaded Spruce, So Saffron, Petal Pink, Balmy Blue, Smoky Slate, & Ivory
Paper:  Real Red, Shaded Spruce, Thick Whisper White, Under the Mistletoe DSP
Accessories:  Santa's Signpost dies

Merry Christmas 2009

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I have an interview for a part-time job this morning and I was doing fine up until like 30 minutes ago and now I'm nervous.  Wish me luck?

So here's a real flashback scrapbook layout, 2009!  You can see some of these pictures here.  I love that patterned paper with the Christmas lights and I think I only have some teeny scraps of it left.  We just put up stockings and the Christmas tree here yesterday, Ryan was very excited about it all.

Today's color palette:  Mossy Meadow, Pear Pizzazz, Hello Honey, Soft Sky, Real Red, Basic Black, and Whisper White.  I probably would not have put those two greens together if not for the patterned paper but I do like the effect.

Okay, Imma go be nervous some more.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Signs of Santa, Christmas Greetings, Whimsical Numbers
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Basic Black marker, assorted Stampin' Blends
Paper:  Mossy Meadow, Hello Honey, Pear Pizzazz, Soft Sky, Real Red, Thick Whisper White, Season of Cheer DSP
Accessories:  Santa's Signpost Framelits

Ryan: Ten Months

Mornin' y'all!  It's time for another baby book layout and we're up to 10 months :)

I totally chose Ryan's monthly photo shoot outfits with specific patterned paper and/or color combos in mind for his baby book (which is totally normal, right?).  How cute is that tree pattern with Ryan's onesie?  Plus since the paper was in black and white I was able to pick whatever other colors I wanted to go with it.  Signs of Santa has now made appearances on at least three different Christmas layouts (another benefit of scrapping out of order).

Today's color palette:  Gumball Green, Marina Mist, Real Red, Basic Black, and Whisper White.  Easy peasy!

Cheers, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Signs of Santa
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Basic Gray marker, Stampin' Blends in Real Red, Petal Pink, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Gumball Green, Real Red, Marina Mist, Thick Whisper White, Merry Little Christmas DSP
Accessories:  Signs of Santa dies, Stitched Shapes dies

Santa's Elves

Wow, I can't believe it's December already!  And that means it's time to bust out the Christmas scrapbook pages :D  I have quite a few draft posts all ready to go.

I put headbands on Sadie and Vader and hubs says this is why dogs bite people.  Ah, I miss my little Vader man so much.  I miss Sadie right now too, but that's because she's been in a kennel since last Tuesday when we left for a Thanksgiving trip to Alabama, and I'll be picking her up today (we got home on Saturday night, but this kennel doesn't do pickups/dropoffs on Sundays so we had to wait).  Anywha, I used last year's supercute Signs of Santa stamp set and the coordinating Santa's Workshop DSP for this.  Poppy Parade is the page base but you can only see it along the top border and around the journaling.

Today's color palette includes the aforementioned Poppy Parade along with Garden Green, Pool Party, Pistachio Pudding that I forgot to put in the palette, and Whisper White.  The photo mats are alternating Pool Party and Pistachio Pudding.

Hope your December is off to a great start!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Notable Alphabet, Signs of Santa
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Poppy Parade, Garden Green, Basic Black marker,  Crushed Curry marker Stampin' Blends in Poppy Parade, Pool Party, Petal Pink
Paper:  Poppy Parade, Garden Green, Pistachio Pudding, Pool Party, Thick Whisper White, Santa's Workshop DSP
Accessories:  Santa's Signpost Framelits

Sweet Mrs. Claus Bakes Cookies

Mornin' kids!  I tell you what, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in my craft room...this is my fourth Christmas card in a row and I've pulled out a bunch of pictures from Christmas past to work on scrapbooking.  But for now, card!

I decided Mrs. Claus needed some inky love and it just seemed natural to pair her with the candy and cookies from the retired Candy Cane Christmas, which was on my mind after last week's card.  I'm planning to make cookies to give to the three ladies who run the nursery at the Y and watch my kiddo while I work out every day (along with a mug for each of them and some hot cocoa mix and probably some of the hot cocoa flavor Hershey's Kisses because I wasn't a big fan of those so I need to get rid of them and hey, they go with the theme here).  So maybe I'll use this card for one of the ladies in the nursery.

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I almost went with snowflakes from Snow is Glistening, but in the end the Color Throwdown persuaded me to go with Mrs. Claus and her cookies instead:

I had planned to use Real Red and Call Me Clover for the first two colors, but I couldn't resist that Poppy Parade striped paper with the white flocking and it turns out I don't have the Call Me Clover Stampin' Blends yet so I went with Shaded Spruce instead.  Still need to work on my blending skills on her dress, though I thought her hair turned out okay.  I decided to go with Crumb Cake for her hair instead of gray because it fit better with the color challenge.

That's it for me today, folks.  Hope you have a sweet day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Signs of Santa, Candy Cane Christmas
Ink:  Poppy Parade, Shaded Spruce, Crumb Cake, Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Poppy Parade, Shaded Spruce, Crumb Cake, and Petal Pink
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Thick Whisper White, Santa's Workshop DSP
Accessories:  Santa's Signpost Framelits, Dimensionals, Tailored Tag punch

Climbing the North Pole

Hey, kids!  This week has been crazy.  I've got doctor's appointments today for both Ryan and one of our dogs and yesterday we spent the day going to the Y and then driving 90 miles round trip to go to Kohl's.  (I do love Kohl's.) But I finally got a card made to share today and I think it's pretty stinkin' cute.

I loooooooooove the Signs of Santa stamp set and I swear if we had a sign like that, my little elf would be finding a way to climb on top of it, which was my inspiration along with the latest Freshly Made Sketch:

They're also doing a DT call, and I would love to be on their team!  I play along almost every single week unless I go out of town or something.

Also looking for new DT members are the folks at SUO Challenges, who are running an anything Christmas challenge.

That goes along with the theme challenge at Global Design Project:

I used the colors from this week's Color Throwdown:

Cheating a tiny bit and counting the elf's skin as the top color, which was a dark Petal Pink Blends marker, and then I used Poppy Parade, Old Olive, and Smoky Slate for the other colors.

Last but not least is the challenge from What Will You Stamp?:

As I said, I love this stamp set so I *had* to play along in this challenge.

Have a great day, peeps!  And please send us good vibes for the kid and the dog, who are both feeling a little poorly.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Signs of Santa
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Petal Pink, Poppy Parade, Old Olive, Smoky Slate, and Crumb Cake
Paper:  Poppy Parade, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White, Under the Mistletoe DSP
Accessories:  Santa's Signpost Framelits

Proud Merry

Y'ALL.  I am completely incapable of passing up a good pun!  I was trying to think of a title for this blog post, and since the sentiment on my card is so large I was going to say "Loud & Proud" and then...

PROUD MERRY, Y'ALL.  I'm not even sorry.  And even if no one else thinks it's funny, I'll sit here in my little corner and cackle maniacally to myself because I think I'm hilarious.

So yeah, this started with the Just Add Ink challenge:
 

I think I have that covered.  In fact, the Large Letters Framelits are SO large that this is a 5x7 card to accommodate them.

Add in the CAS(E) This Sketch challenge:

Once again, turned on its side (I rotated the sketch I used for yesterday's card too).  Last up is the Color Throwdown:

I used Real Red, Coastal Cabana, and silver foil for the colors.  It took me a few tries to get a picture of this card (not least because it was rainy all day yesterday so not much natural light), so here's one where the silver foil isn't reflecting the camera flash:

This is the maiden voyage for Signs of Santa, which has lots of other cute little images and such in it, and also Birthday Backgrounds (on the red strip) which I got during the Stampin' Up! birthday sale in October.  The "Christmas" stamp is part of a longer sentiment in Snowflake Sentiments; I just inked up the word I wanted with a marker and stamped it.  I'm kind of in love with this card, it turned out exactly how I imagined it.

Well, I've gotta run.  Cheers and happy Friday, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Signs of Santa, Snowflake Sentiments, Birthday Backgrounds
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Basic Black & Coastal Cabana markers, Stampin' Blends in Real Red, Smoky Slate, and Petal Pink
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Real Red, Thick Whisper White, Silver Foil
Accessories:  Large Letters Framelits, Santa's Signpost Framelits, Dimensionals