Stampin! with Jaydee

Happy Sunday.

It's my turn to host our Paper Players challenge this week and it's color week.  I choose some rich, autumnal colors from Stampin' Up! and they are some of my favorite SU colors.  I decided to use my Paper Florist dies to showcase the colors.  Here's a sneak peek:

I added some texture to the background of my card with the Exposed Brick 3D embossing folder and added a few jewels from the Loose Frosted Dots embellishments as the rich deep colors worked well with the colors for the challenge this week.

Here's my card:

I hope you will join us this week as we would love to see what you do with these colors.  As always the design team have some fabulous inspiration for you:

• Ann
• Claire
• Joanne
• Laurie
• LeAnne
• Anne Marie
• Suzy
• Fran
• Tara

On a personal note:

Well, the temps might have been in the mid to high 90s last weekend, but they are 30 lower this weekend.  That means the switching out of the summer to fall decor feels much more appropriate :-)  The thing about our current living space is that the light, bright daylight lends itself to any color scheme, so the bright oranges and fall colors help to warm up the space.  I'll share some photos with my Paper Players post next week.

In the meantime, my prep for retirement continues and to help celebrate this (long overdue) next step, I've booked a round the world cruise.  Lou will still be working, so will be looking after everything here, including the cats.  We leave for our Christmas/New Year  cruise on December 22 and will spend 12 days sailing the Caribbean.  Lou gets off the ship just after New Year and I stay on and don't get back stateside until May 5th!

We will be meeting up in Australia for a couple of weeks in February.  Lou will be flying in and I will be sailing into port :-)  I rejoin the ship 10 days later on the other side of Australia and continue onto Asia, middle east and Europe.  I only just realized that I will be missing the worst of the mid-west weather and returning just as Spring is starting to arrive. :-) 

I won't be carding whilst I'm on the ship as there really isn't a way I could whittle down what to take with me. :-) I will be continuing my design team duties as much as possible by getting cards made before I go.  On the ship I will  still be doing something creative.  I have my travel watercolors, my calligraphy and my sketchbooks, as well as a couple of coloring projects.  I'll also be working on my genealogy.  So, on the sea days, I will have lots to to in addition to all the things that the ship puts on for entertainment. 

On shore I'll be: visiting with Orangutan's in Indonesia; Visiting Bedouins in  the Wadi Rum;   walking around Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 18 years; sailing around James Bond Island in Phuket; going to a performance at the Sydney Opera House; having lunch with Buddhist nuns in Da Nang; visiting the hidden places in bustling Hong Kong; taking a cable car ride in the Canaries; visiting the tallest sand dunes in the world in the Namib desert; star gazing in the Blue Mountains; transiting the Suez Canal and having tapas in Barcelona amongst other things!   Although I have visited some of these ports before, I really don't mind going back and experiencing different things.   One of the great things about crusing these areas versus flying.. no jet lag and unpacking once! :-)

I won't be posting many cards, but will certainly be posting about my adventures - Lou insists that I do that:-)  So lots to prep for in the next couple of months and lots to look forward to, including our upcoming cruise at the end of September where we will be entertained by the Royal Shakespere Company.

I'll be back later in the week with another card.  In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Hugs

Jaydee

Card recipe:

• Embossing folder: Exposed Brick - Stampin' Up!
• Dies: Paper Florist - Stampin' Up!