clean&simple: Happy Fall Y'All

I haven't posted for a number of days...very busy getting my house ready for a large dinner last night. My husband and I don't entertain often, nor are we particularly clean and tidy people - so we have to invite people over every so often just to force us to do basic maintenance.  We painted halls and bathroom, we started a rock garden along our walkway, and about a million other little decorating/cleaning things.

Thank you so much for everybody who thought of this gathering and said a prayer.  It was a very nice evening - great conversation, lots of laughter, but only time will tell if the church's long-term interim pastor said the words that this group needed to hear.  It's been a long and difficult year at this church. A year ago - over 400 at worship, now a good week is 150, and the youth program has been hit even harder.  The group that gathered last night had all been hurt in some way - some left the church, some stayed but not happily - but all still love the church community and all still want to see it grow again. Last night was just a dinner, but it felt like a start!

I was going to skip posting again today.  I hadn't planned on making cards, rather I was going to organize and plan ahead.  One of the things that I did was look at my fall/Thanksgiving stamps in my NBUS stash - I figure I have to get them used in the next week.  With other posts already scheduled - I needed to start today to get my fall stamps used!

This is a Hero Arts set called Happy Fall Y'All (although it also a Merry Christmas stamp).  I liked it for the idea of coloring in the dots - but when it came in the mail, I realized it was much bigger than I had thought!  The current clean&simple sketch gave me room to use it.

When I saw the picture I realized that I hadn't done a very good job of blending the Copics.  I went back to fix it, the cat jumped up while I was coloring and I now have a smear across the card.  So you get to see the non-blended coloring and the original has to go in the trash.  Good thing that cat has a nice purr because this is not the first card she has ruined.

• Stamps: Hero Arts Happy Fall Y'All
• Paper: My Favorite Things Primitive White, Simple Stories Harvest Lane
• Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Copics, Versamark
• Accessories: Lil' Inkers Stitched Rectangles, My Favorite Things Fishtail dies, Sparkle 'n Sprinkle Chocolate Sparkle embossing powder, Hemptique Natural Twine

A Freshly Made Curtain Call: Paper Sweeties Scarecrow

The current challenge at Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge is a photo of gorgeous blue gourds.  The sponsor for this challenge is Paper Sweeties who provided the design team with a discount code and, more importantly, is providing the winner of the challenge with a $20 gift certificate.  One of the sets that I got because it had pumpkins/gourds in it, also had a cute scarecrow.  I had used the gourds here in a more elegant card, but I also wanted to ink up the scarecrow.  I found the perfect sketch to showcase him at Freshly Made Sketches.  The sketch also led me to create his hay bale border.  This guy makes me smile!!!

I have a couple of scheduled posts this week but other that, it will be fairly quiet on my blog.  My children have state marching championships on Friday and Saturday.  It's in a town that's a five-hour round trip away so those days are shot from a crafting standpoint - but very exciting from a marching standpoint.  It's also finals week for me in a couple of accounting classes (this school does 2 classes for 2 months instead of the standard 4 classes for 4 months - so finals are hitting me right now!)  Everything is due on Sunday - but I really want to be done before the state championships.  Think of me when you are happily crafting and I have my nose buried in accounting textbooks and financial statements!

• Stamps: Paper Sweeties Stand Add-On 3 (scarecrow, hay bales, big gourd), Stand Add-On 2 (two little gourds)
• Paper: My Favorite Things Primitive WWhite, blue is a scrap piece, flags are Stampin' Up More Mustard CS and dsp
• Ink: Memento black and Copics
• Accessories: Lil' Inkers Stitched Rectangles, My Favorite Things Fishtail dies, Hemptique twine

Catered Crop: Orange

It's that time of year where everything turns up orange!  Pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns and fall leaves and the Denver Broncos football team!!  The current challenge at Catered Crop is "orange" and Linda has curated a Pinterest board full of ideas - not just the typical fall cards, but she's also found cowboy boots and orange sodas and paper flowers!!

Not being quite that creative - I went for a fall leaf!  (Although I do think I deserve creativity points for the zig zags on the leaf because they weren't there to start with!)


To get the zig zags on the leaf, I first stamped the die cut leaf with the zig zag in white, then overstamped with the deep orange.  Jennifer McGuire did this on this card using a canvas background and solid leaves.  I love autumn so much that I do see the joy in every day (as compared to the summer when I am just grumpy from the heat!) so this sentiment was perfect for me and my fall leaf!
I hope you check out the Pinterest board (found here), pull out your orange and play along!

• Stamps: My Favorite Things Thankful Leaves, Cheerful Blessings, Mod Borders
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Terracotta, Smokey Shadow
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Terracotta, Smokey Shadow and Soft Stone, WPlus9 white
• Accessories: My Favorite Things Fall Leaves die, Stampin' Up Silver Cord, Neat & Tangled Festive Fall Sequin Mix

What Fall Means to Me!!

I realized this year that, even though I have about a thousand leaf stamps, I didn't have one that stamped leaves and then the veins.  So I went hunting for the perfect set (and it also had to have dies).  There are a number out there - but I went with My Favorite Thing's Thankful Leaves (I am so very thankful for fall.) There are three leaf shapes in the set - each is a perfect size as they can be tucked in behind as an accent or they can take center stage.

I did two very different looking cards with the set.  The first card uses the solid stamp image along with the veins and the die.  (I love the rich colors of fall.)



This card uses the sketch from Seize the Sketch.

The other reason that I wanted a set that had dies is to be able to cut leaves from patterned paper and then add the veins.  This is the same set as above. (The sentiment is not part of the set.)

This one is for CASology's Autumn challenge.

Did you notice the sequins on both cards?  They are a great mixed set from Neat & Tangled called Festive Fall.  If you like fall colors, this is a must-have!!  Something that I particularly like is the addition of a few clear and a few silver because it reminds me of the cool fall weather. (I love frosty fall mornings!!)
Fall has another meaning for me - one that sort of takes over our lives!!  It's marching band season!!  (I love marching band!)

Both of my sons are marching this year!  Do you see the two marchers in the back - a baritone and a trumpet (the tall guy and short guy side by side) - they are mine!!  (I love my boys - most of the time!)

I'm an old-time marching band geek.  And I have to admit that I don't always totally understand the new style!?  This is actually planned - hiding behind barrels, on the ground, it's fairly strange!!

But they always come back to the classic, solid-sound, lined up marching band that I love!

AND...they placed fourth in their class!!!  Last year, they didn't even make finals.  In fairness, there are smaller schools in a different class that actually got more points than they did so probably more like an 8th place finish.   But they were the most proud of the fact that of every school there, their music score was 3rd!!  They are feeling like they have a solid start on the marching season!
I love fall!!

Newton's Nook Designs: Happy Harvest

Last week, I used Newton's Nook cute little wagon set with the pumpkin and a kitty cat topper.  This week I wanted to try the pots of flowers with some rich fall colors.

I love fall colors!  And I love the trend from some of my favorite designers to back them with gray.  It just seems to make them glow!  This is my last official post for my month of guest designing with Newton's Nook.  I hope you have enjoyed what you have seen.  The stamps have been fun to work with - today's stamp is pretty and I was especially charmed by the Mummy Bear from earlier in the month!  I know that I definitely look forward to their future releases!

• Stamps: Newton's Nook Wagon of Wishes
• Paper: Stampin' Up Summer Sun and Lucky Limeade, Crate Paper Storyteller dsp
• Ink: Memento Black and Copics
• Accessories: Lil' Inkers Stitched Rectangles, MFT Leaf Flourish and Sunflower dies

CAS(E) this Sketch! {Grateful}

I am totally and completely an autumn person.  I love the cooler temperatures and the crisp air, I love the colors, I love the clothing, I love the high school marching band and the Denver Broncos.  I am {grateful} for everything about fall.

I used this week's sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch! and a big fall leaf to show my gratitude!

Funny story - not that any of you need any reason to doubt my complete obsessive side.  The leaf is stamped in Dusty Durango.  A month or so ago, I wrote a post about taking the time to stamp every stamp pad that I owned into an index so I could always choose the best ink color.  I was horrified to realize that I had every Stampin' Up stamp pad back to Mauve Mist and Mint Melody - 113 of them - but was missing one color, a retired color named Dusty Durango.  I'd never missed it - but I was immediately on EBay finding a Dusty Durango pad.  I just couldn't deal with having an incomplete collection! Here it is...I've used it...and it's perfect for my autumn-lovin' self!

This is a great sketch with so many possibilities.  I look forward to seeing you all play along.

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Wonderfall (leaf), Falling Leaves (sentiment)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Sweater Weather dsp
• Ink: Stampin' Up Dusty Durango, Chocolate Chip
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Naturals Designer Buttons, Linen Thread

CASology: A Bargello Leaf

This week's cue word at CASology is "leaf".  I absolutely love leaves and no matter how many leaf stamps I own, I always manage to buy more!

But...did I use a leaf stamp on my card...NO!

Because I also was enthralled by a technique challenge on the Technique Tuesday blog - bargello.  Mynette gives easy instructions for creating a wonderful pattern.  I created the pattern as she described and then die cut my leaf.  Love it!!


One word of advice if you try this.  Do not ignore her instructions about using a strong adhesive and getting every little part of the paper - especially if you are going to die cut.  I thought I did well, but I did spent way too much time with a tweezer re-adhering those tiny pieces at the tips of the leaves.  If you adhere well at the beginning this truly is a simple card!

• Stamps: Verve Amazing Wishes
• Paper: Simple Stories Harvest Lane 6x6 pad, Papertrey Ink Terracotta Tile
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Dark Chocoalte
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Terracotta Tile button, Cane Print Impression Plate, Spellbinders Leaf die, misc twine

An Autumn Scene with Cloud9

I am thrilled to be a guest designer for this month's Cloud9 Blog Hop.  Cloud9 is a monthly challenge to showcase WPlus9 stamps and I do have a thing for WPlus9!!  (They just had a new release with, among other fun things, fabulous Christmas silhouettes and Christmas tree like the pumpkin in my card today....my order is in transit!)

This month's Cloud9 features this inspiration photo:

I liked so many things in the photo - I liked the white/tan house and the direction of the boards, I love the tree decal and the birds on the decorated pumpkin are so fun.  I managed to get ALL of my favorite things in this card!

You do have to have a few sets to create this card - three stamp sets and two die-cut sets on one card!  It should say something about my stamp obsession that I have all of that for one card!
If you have WPlus9 stamps, be sure to check out the Cloud9 Blog Hop.  The challenge is issued on the 6th of month, the hop starts on the 9th giving you plenty of time to create, then ends on the 12th.
If you don't have WPlus9 stamps, they are here!  Have fun!
I was also inspired by the colors at Pals Paper Arts as I've already done a lot of black/orange cards and wanted to be slightly different.

• Stamps: WPlus9 Love Birds (the branch and the bird), Pretty Patches: Pumpkin, Country Charm (the bottom border stripes)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Early Espresso, Papertrey Ink Fine Linen CS and dsp
• Ink: Stampin' Up Early Espresso, More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Papertrey Ink Fine Linen
• Accessories: WPlus9 Love Birds and Pumpkin dies, Stampin' Up White Raffeta, Spellbinders long ovals

It's Fall About You

I am so loving fall colors and the new set by The Alley Way Stamps called It's Fall About You is the PERFECT set to use these colors...


I had to use these colors from the color throwdown - isn't that inspiration photo amazing!

And I used these week's sketch from Technostamper.

Card details at the bottom of this post.

I have had the busiest weekend.  We spent all day yesterday on hard stadium bleachers, in the Colorado sun, watching my son compete in marching band.  This is the 6'4", 200+ pound son whom I have told you about in the past - "Are you sure you're not a football player??"  Nope - THIS is what he does...

He's the saxophone looking right between the drums.  

I am so proud of him.  Just last week, in Theology class, they were discussing stereotypes.  The teacher looked at Andrew and said "Just look at Andrew...you would think football...but NO...marching band!!"  In my day, I would have crawled under my desk at being a band geek.  But my son owns who he is and is extremely proud of being in the band!  (And the teacher knew that about him - it was a PERFECT example of stereotypes)

He's almost right in the center looking VERY serious.Their show started with them all marching in the old-fashioned style, fife and drum style...

Then they broke into a funky rendition of Katy Perry's Firework...
They were extremely upset that they didn't make the finals of the competition (top 12), but when we saw the final scoring - they scored 5th in group musicality!!  I am guessing they will be drilling their marching even harder over the next few weeks before the next competition!

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps It's Fall About You, sentiment is from Cover Up
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake and Summer Starfruit CS, Pumpkin Pie and Sahara Sand dsp
• Ink: Memento black and Copics
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Pumpkin Pie Taffeta, Lifestyle Crafts embossing folder

CAS Challenge: Leaves on Pinterest

Today's Clean & Simple Challenge at splitcoaststampers is a Pinterest inspiration challenge.

Isn't it gorgeous??

I die cut a number of leaves out of patterned paper and cardstock and then laid them onto a rectangle to replicate the print as a whole.  My picture does not do a great job of showing my water drop inspiration - I spritzed the cardstock leaves leaving puddles of shimmer.  (You can kind of see the splotchy part, but sadly the shimmer doesn't show!)

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Blessings & Thanks
• Paper: Stampin' Up Cajun Craze, Papertrey Ink Fine Linen, K&Company Alleghany Plum
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate
• Accessories: Sweet 'n Sassy Season of Change Leaf Dies, Papertrey Ink Rustic Cream Button Twine and Dark Chocolate Button, Rectangle Spellbinders

Sweet 'n Sassy Fall Frenzy

I LOVE fall!  I love the cooler temperatures.  I love the colors.  I love the crispness in the air - everything seems clearer.  So I was absolutely thrilled when Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps came up with the following idea...

Hello stamping friends!!  We are so excited about Fall arriving

soon that we've decided to celebrate the season with a 

Fall Frenzy Blog Hop & Virtual Stamp Day!

The Design Divas have created some fabulous eye candy for you featuring our wonderful selection of Fall stamps so we hope you'll hop along with us today!

Be sure not to miss a single stop along the way because we'll be drawing one lucky commenter from a random DT blog to win a $25 credit to the store!!

Here's the list of blog participating in today's hop: 

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog

Monika Davis

Jessica Fick

Cathy McCauley

Mary Faus

Kim Singdahlsen <===You are here

Bridget Finlay

Dina Kowal

Jennifer Ingle

Kim Schofield

Ceal Pritchett

Giovana Smith

Jennie Harper

Korin Sutherland

When you're done hopping be sure to join us for a fun day of challenges over in our Splitcoaststampers forum.  We're giving away some fun prizes, too, so don't miss it! We look forward to seeing your fabulous Fall creations!

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When we do blog hops or new stamp releases, we get to pick the stamp sets that we want to share.  I saw the list of fall stamps that we were showcasing and the one that I picked instantly was Sweet Pumpkin because I knew I would make cards for a very special young lady - my youngest niece.  Check out this smile and then you'll see how totally perfect these grinning pumpkins are!

I'm not sure which is cuter?!!  Oh...who am I kidding?  I am the luckiest auntie on earth to be the recipient of this little girl's smiles and hugs!  (But these pumpkins are also pretty darn cute!)

Then I have another very sweet set to show you - Autumn Lovin' Cocoa.  This a very cute set with Cocoa Mouse - but I used very rich colors and papers to create a surprisingly elegant card!Isn't Cocoa a nice surprise peeping over all of those rich autumn colors?!I hope you enjoyed my peek at autumn.  Next on our hop is Bridget Finlay.  Enjoy the hop, then join us for a Virtual Stamp Day in the Sweet 'n Sassy Forum over at splitcoaststampers.  There are new challenges every two hours starting at 10 a.m. EST.  (I have created the first challenge so I hope to see you there!!)Sweet Pumpkin:

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Sweet Pumpkin
• Paper: Stampin' Up Lucky Limeade CS, Pumpkin Pie dsp
• Ink: Memento black and copics
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Scallop border punch, Lifestyle Crafts embossing folder, misc twine
• Challenges: Freshly Made Sketches One Year Anniversary to use any past sketch

Autumn Lovin' Cocoa:

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Autumn Lovin' Cocoa
• Paper: Stampin' Up Cherry Cobbler, Reminisce Autumn Plaid
• Ink: Memento Black and copics
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Cherry Cobbler ribbon, Brushed Bronze Buttons, Linen Thread

BE Unique for BE Inspired

Today is the day for a new BE Inspired challenge over at The Alley Way Stamps (TAWS).  Today we are heading into the fall season with this fun inspiration photo:

I saw all the pumpkins and remembered a sketch that I had originally looked askance at - how exactly does someone add 15 little images to a card??!!

This is how...

I just love the idea of all of these identical little pumpkins with a few unique ones tucked in!!
Check out the TAWS Blog for all of the creative ideas from the rest of the design team - then join in and link up!!  Here's the fine print...

• You must use one of the Alley Way Stamps but don't worry if you don't have any we have freebies you can use in our Freebies section of the blog :)

• Prizes.. we have to have prizes for all the effort put into it right? .. 1st place will be hand picked by me.. will receive 1 free stamp sets of their choice, and a badge to proudly display on their blog.
• Random winner.. we will have one random winner, who will receive 1 free stamp set of their choice, and a winners badge to proudly display on their blog.
• Feel free to upload your projects to our Creation BLVD. Flicker group for your chance to be spotlighted on the TAWS blog or our Facebook page where each month someone is randomly drawn for a stamp set of their choice!

Here is our BE Inspired logo for you to use, we would love it if you added it to your blog :)

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Ghoul-Friend, Talk to Me (sentiment)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Very Vanilla, Pumpkin, Black, MME Haunted
• Ink: Stampin' Up Pumpkin, Black
• Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folder, Martha Stewart Halloween twine 

A Season Full of Bountiful Blessings

This is my second post...it's just a short 

scroll down for embossing with CAS-ual Fridays.

I think that the colors at this week's colourQ challenge are about the strangest group of colors that I have ever seen.  Who puts Cameo with Burgundy or, even worse, Starfruit with Saffron?  Admittedly, the blouse in the photo is cute...but this is still a seriously odd combination.  (Sorry, Arielle!!!)

But somehow it still got my creative juices flowing.  I saw a beautiful sentiment in the burgundy, surrounded by simple flowers or silhouettes.  I checked out the sketch from splitcoaststampers and thought it could all work - as long as I kept a lot of white to offset the colors!!

I like it!  Thank you to colourQ for the challenge!!

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Blessings & Thanks, Nature Silhouettes
• Paper: Stampin' Up So Saffron, Bravo Burgundy, Cameo Coral
• Ink: Stampin' Up Bravo Burgundy (sentiment), Summer Starfruit and Cameo Coral (flowers), So Saffron (sponged on edges)
• Accessories: Stampin' Up scallop border punch, white taffeta

The Beauty of Autumn

The seasons are starting to change...finally!  The mornings are wonderfully cool, so even when the day temps get way too high, my house stays comfortable.  I am thrilled that I am starting to feel autumn - it's my favorite season!!

I have just pulled autumn papers out of my stash, so decided I had to make them work for today's splitcoaststampers sketch challenge.

I'm also submitting to Simon Says Put A Stamp On it!

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Autumn Bounty, Tree Background
• Paper: SEI Nutmeg, Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate
• Ink: Versamark, Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate, Memento Black and Copics
• Accessories: Orange Stickles, Creations Unlimited Moss Tinsel Embossing Powder, Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate Satin

A Perfectly Preserved Birthday

I have a VERY exciting week ahead of me.  I am a guest at the Stampin' Up Regional Conference in Denver this coming Saturday.  Yeah!!  (And thanks so much to Donna for inviting me!)

I hear there's this thing called "swaps" and that I have to take a supply of my cards to trade.  So I'm starting today with a big focus on Stampin' Up this week.

For my first card, I thought it would be appropriate to play along with a brand new challenge - Fab Friday.  I'm trying to use the newest of my new stamps so I pulled out Perfectly Preserved.  After doing the die cutting, etc. I am most definitely NOT going to have a big supply of this particular card to trade - but I'll have handful!

I hope everybody in the States has a great Labor Day planned.  I am still dealing with the bored kid on crutches so we decided to drive down to Colorado Springs for his favorite breakfast -"The Thing".  I'm sure I will have pictures to share tomorrow as I do seem to feature big food on my blog.  

Since I'm in the Springs - watch out Simple Pleasures - the most wonderful scrapbook store on this earth - I'll be there by noon or so and I have a shopping list!!  What a wonderful day!

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Perfectly Preserved, Itty Bitty Banners
• Paper: Stampin' Up Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Raspberry Ripple, Island Indigo, Very Vanilla and Orchard Harvest dsp
• Ink: Stampin' Up More Mustard, Raspberry Ripple, Early Espresso
• Accessories: woodgrain embossing (I don't have my SU woodgrain yet, fingers crossed that my order comes this week!), Stampin' Up Scallop Trim Border, Buttons embosslit, Early Espresso baker's twine and dies for Perfectly Preserved and Banner

You're the Best Hostess

I was chatting with a friend yesterday about how much I was NOT looking forward to the long weekend.  My 12-year old son is a highly active guy and most days you can find him outside throwing a lacrosse ball, or a baseball, or kicking a football, or skateboarding...  Unfortunately, he is temporarily on crutches due a possible stress fracture - so he is going slightly crazy which means he is driving the rest of us totally crazy.



So my wonderful friend said "come on over for a barbecue".  Do people really entertain that spontaneously?  It takes me a full week just to clean.  Of course, I don't do a lot of cleaning any other time.  I gave up years ago - small house, lots of hobbies and supplies, lots of sports and gear, lots of books, lots of pets - it's really not worth the effort to keep it much above the "safely inhabitable" level.

We're off in just a few hours to enjoy our barbecue and I definitely wanted to bring a thank you card!


I got a start from this week's sketch at iSpy Sketches:

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Perfectly Preserved, Friendly Phrases
• Paper: Stampin' Up Orchard Harvest, Cajun Craze, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
• Ink: Stampin' Up More Mustard, Lucky Limeade, Chocolate Chip
• Accessories: Stampin' Up buttons, Perfectly Preserved Dies, Apothecary Accents die, Lucky Limeade ribbon, misc gems colored with Copics