A Valentine card

Hello and happy Monday to you!
It's Groundhog Day today, but we celebrated yesterday, haha. Yep, we celebrate! We've kind of always watched the Bill Murray movie every year, more like as an indoor date night. One year my daughter heard lots of people talking about the Super Bowl food they were going home to enjoy after church, ha, so we made Super Bowl food to celebrate Groundhog Day that year. And the tradition stuck! 

But most of February, especially in the crafting world, (and the mom world) means Valentines. So today I have a Valentine-y card that I made last year and never shared! Handy! ha! I am pretty sure I designed this for a class and changed my mind. 

Supplies:
Stamps: Perfect Pairs
Ink: Memento Black, Real Red

Paper: Basic White, Real Red, Basic Black card stocks

Accessories: Transparent Adhesive-Backed Dots

Trains! Round Two...

Hello again! Two days in a row- and the same thing, just scrapped a little differently.
This layout one is for my son, and I let him select which photos to scrap, and which DP to use. The first bit of DP is so old it's single sided! ha! The second one, I cut out the part of the map that applied to this engine. 

Supplies:
Stamps: Traveler, Just Perfect Alpha
Ink: Memento Black, Crumb Cake
Paper: World Of Good DP, Timeworn DP (single sided!)
Journaling Font: Courier New

~~~
Another big project that has been keeping me from paper crafting was that we redid our main bathroom. Nine years ago we put together this Batman themed bathroom. What you don't see here are some metal signs we put in there later, next to the shower, and Batman cabinet knobs. You also don't see the Batman trash can hiding around the corner. Astoundingly, no photos exist of these things....which boggles my brain. But it was a whole thing.

It's been fun, but the fan has never been effective and it's a very small space with no actual ventilation, so it's gotten mildewy and smelly and not great. We knew we had to repaint with Kilz, and we needed to replace some things that had started to rust, so we went all out!

The biggest reason I'm sharing it here is that the paint color was created with a scrap of Seaside Spray card stock because that's my favorite shade of Stampin' Up! blue, ever! And it worked so nicely with the shower curtain we planned to return to! 

Cool, huh?? It's a dark room now, darker than we intended, but the people who use it the most love it, so that's good enough for me! 

Trains! Round One...

Some of my kids love trains. lovvvvve trains.
A few years ago the Big Boy engine 4014 was on display in our area, so my husband and I took our youngest to check it out. We decided it was totally worth our son missing a little bit of school to come see it the next day, ha. That meant we got a lot of pictures, which finally got scrapped! 

On this layout, I used an old Simply Scrappin' Kit for a few bits here. It's actually more postage themed than train, but somehow, in my brain anyway, it worked. 
Oh, the journaling is typed up in a strip on the top of the second page, but I took the picture before typing it. 

Supplies:

Stamps: Traveler, Just Perfect Alpha
Ink: Always Artichoke, Tip Top Taupe
Paper: Basic White card stock, Tailor-Made Simply Scrappin' Kit
Accessories: Tailor-Made Simply Scrappin' Kit, Chocolate Baker's Twine from a PP Kit
Journaling Font: Courier New

Our fence was finished last week! Check out the change in view! haha...! 

We're all very excited. We have a gate in the back as shown, and a gate on each side, and a fully fenced backyard! No more wandering pets or visiting wildlife leaving their deposits in the yard. Even me and my internal reality-check that putting in a garden means a lot. more. work. come fall. ha. It's gonna be awesome! 

Yellow Butterfly Birthday

Hello again! It's been almost another week since I got to play! 

Today I have a fun card combining the fantastic colors from SUO Challenges, and the sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches! 

Supplies:
Stamps: A Touch of Ink, Happiness Abounds

Ink: Crushed Curry, Night of Navy

Paper: Night of Navy & Basic White card stocks

Accessories: Denim Jean Ribbon, White & Crushed Curry Baker's Twine, sequins (from a Paper Pumpkin) Dimensionals, scotch tape 

I started this one by looking at what kinds of ribbon I had to make the stripes with, and I like the result! The spacing is a little wonky, but it's fiiine. haha! 

Seeing Elk!

Good morning! Today is a big day at my house! Our back view will change because we are finally getting a real back fence installed! We had a temporary one for a couple years, but it was finally time, ha. I'm excited because it means we can plant a couple more trees and have a small vegetable garden. We've wanted one for yeeears but there's so many deer here! They won't jump where they can't see they'd land, so this will be really good. Not to mention privacy........ haha. Anyway, I'm excited.

And I have a scrapbook layout for you today! This was a snowy winter, unlike the one we're living, lol. These pictures are really old, so I'm glad I got it done. 

Supplies:
Stamps: In The Meadow, Just Perfect Alpha
Ink: Pecan Pie, Gray Granite
Paper: Basic White card stock, All Is Calm DP

Floral Smile

Wednesday already! 

Yesterday's card was winter and today's is spring! I used the fun sketch from SUO Challenges. I knew I wanted to use DP strips with the postage stamp die, but there were other good ideas too! 

Also, I had a different greeting in mind that came from an old Paper Pumpkin, but I wasn't able to find that one... so I used a different Paper Pumpkin stamp instead.  

Supplies:
Stamps: 2020 Paper Pumpkin

Ink: Petunia Pop

Paper: Basic White & Petunia Pop card stocks, Unbounded Beauty DP
Accessories: 2024-26 In Color Resin Dots, Perennial Postage dies, Dimensionals, Big Shot

Cozy Winter

Today's card is a day late for one challenge, but I used it anyway. This one uses the late Freshly Made Sketch and the inspo photo from Inspired By... and now I have this very simple, but cozy card to send off! 

Supplies:

Stamps: Bundle Up

Ink: Pecan Pie, Crumb Cake, Smoky Slate, Gray Granite

Paper: Basic White & Crumb Cake card stock, White Velvet Sheets

Accessories: Neutral Candy Dots

Windmill Birthday!

Hello again! It was a migraine week, full of other things I needed to do, so not much crafting. So today I intend to make up for it! 

Today I have a happy card combining the {adjusted} sketch from Hand Stamped Sentiments and the challenge from Festive Friday, which is why I used red, yellow, orange, gingham ribbon, tulips, a windmill and happy birthday! Ha!  

Supplies:

Stamps: Tulip Fields, Well Said

Ink: Memento Black, Sweet Sorbet, Lemon Lolly, Peach Pie
Paper: Basic White card stock
Accessories: Party Dots, Black Gingham Ribbon, Watercolor Pencils, Windmill Fields dies, Dimensionals, Big Shot 

An Anniversary

This anniversary started off with some dental issues, so all plans had to be postponed. We celebrated a few weeks later with dinner out, a play and a hotel stay. It was a nice little get-away! 

Since the play was based? on Shakespeare's time, I used some old DP with a pretty, dainty floral pattern, that vaguely looks "of that era". Anyway, I liked how it turned out, and that's the part that matters. 

Supplies:

Paper: Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke card stocks, Parisian Summer DP

Accessories: Neutral Candy Dots
Journaling Font: Book Antiqua

Snowy Man

If I manifest snow in my crafting, maybe it will snow for real?? Also if it could stick around enough to make a snowman, that'd be cool. We've had two snow storms this winter and even the mountains don't have a lot of snow right now. Sigh. I hate to admit that more than once, the first time my kids have made a snowman in a season was March.... I'm FINE with winter coming before then! 

So today's card uses the sketch (tho I flipped it sideways) and photo from Inspired By... I used this cute snowman I've only used once before, and the trees that came in the set and some blue with bits of the orange and pink and a hint of bright green.  

Supplies: 
Stamps: Christmas Magic

Ink: Starry Sky, Balmy Blue
Stampin' Markers: Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo, Cucumber Crush

Paper: Starry Sky, Balmy Blue, Basic White card stocks
Accessories: Softly Falling embossing folder, Big Shot, Dimensionals 

An Apple Pie

Happy 2026 to you! I hope it's amazing for all of us!! 

This is a very late-in-the-day post (it's almost 10pm, ha!) but I haven't done any paper crafting since Dec 11 and I got to play today! After a jam-packed week, we spent a very chill day at home, pretty much doing whatever we wanted, and a lot of relaxing. Also it was alternately rainy and foggy all day, which was nice, but snow would have been even better. Anyway, *that's how you spend a New Year's Day, haha! 

Supplies:
Stamps: Just Perfect Alpha
Ink: Poppy Parade
Paper: Basic White card stock, Come To Gather DP
Accessories: July 2018 PP Kit Picnic Paradise (apples, green gingham paper)

I have been looking forward to putting this page together. My kiddo got to make the apple pie for Thanksgiving this year, and I knew I had some cute apple-y things from an old Paper Pumpkin kit. 

I haven't had a chance to set some goals or plans or directions yet, altho I definitely have thoughts swirling. But in January I am determined to get this craft room cleaned out and cleaned up! Part of the problem is our basement is mid-construction zone, and not moving very quickly. And part of the problem is the child-desk in the center that can't fit in the main living space with Christmas. Buuut a lot of the problem is the general disaster, lol. I need to get that taken care of very soon! I'm gonna want play time!  

But for now, Happy New Year to you and best wishes for the best year yet!!

Polar Express Night!

Just one week til Christmas Eve! I hope you've been enjoying the season! 
The other day I was out and a few different people asked if I was ready for Christmas. I responded that we are enjoying the holiday. It started as a kind of cover that no, we are not "ready", but it felt a bit snarky too. But you know what? I don't have all the gifts bought and hardly any of it is wrapped and there's a couple things I haven't even figured out. But we ARE enjoying the holiday. We're DOING fun and festive things. So....... whatever you want to do with that, ha. 

Today's page is from a few years ago. We have a tradition of watching The Polar Express as a family, without any distractions, lol. We have a hot chocolate intermission right after the movie sings about hot chocolate. And this year (shown) we added matching jammies to the night! 

Supplies:

Stamps: Whimsical Alphabet Lower

Ink: Memento Black
Paper: Poppy Parade, Santa Express DP

Accessories: Santa Express Memories & More Card Pack

I hope you are also enjoying this month and family and traditions!