A Monday Afternoon Three-'fer

Welcome back everyone!  I've got a quick card for you this afternoon since I had a few minutes to play between loads of laundry and picking up the kids from school.  I was able to combine three challenges for this card:


#1 - The Play Date Cafe: I love, love, LOVE this combination.  It is sooooo {au naturel} and calming.  I decided to use Kraft for the brown and Basic Grey for the grey and used silver embossing powder and silver cord to tie it all together:

#2 - 2 Sketches 4 You: This week's sketch is from Kazan - I decided to go against the grain a bit and make a full card instead of just a tag like the rest of the design team did:

 #3 - Just Us Girls:  This week's challenge is to add a 3-D holiday embellishment to our project and I {think} my card works since I used a snowflake and popped up my Christmas tag...

Stamps: Holiday Print background stamp, Doves and Holly (Flourishes)  Ink: Versamark, Basic Grey  Paper: Kraft, Basic Grey, Whisper White  Accessories: Silver embossing powder, heat tool, Kraft tag die cut, paper snowflake, silver snowflake brad, silver cord, Kraft taffeta ribbon, Basic Grey sating ribbon, Snowflakes embossing folder, Smooch spritz (clear)

Okie dokie - time to start thinking about supper!  Thanks for stoppin' by... enjoy the rest of your day!

Childhood Memories at Sentimental Sundays

Welcome back for another Sentimental Sundays Challenge.  This week's challenge theme is "Childhood" - however you choose to interpret that theme - and don't forget your sentiment!

I decide to use one of my Pure Innocence girlies and the Little Paper Shop's Color Challenge for my card:

I also used Laura's sketch at 2 Sketches 4 You:

Stamp: Start Your Day With Whee (MFT)  Paper: Rose Red, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, SU! DSP  Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Old Olive  Accessories: Copics, clear embossing powder, paper piercer, Leafy Tree embossing folder, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, sponge dauber

Thanks for stopping - enjoy the rest of your day!

A Friday Quickie...

Happy Friday, everyone!

I've got a quick post for you today before I head out to be the personal taxi service for my eldest DS this weekend.  He's playing in a volleyball tournament tonight and tomorrow about 45 minutes from home and my youngest DS also has a tournament tomorrow so my wonderful husband is going to have to be the taxi for him.  It's going to be a busy one...

So, here we go: I've got the Play Date Cafe's color challenge (black and white with a splash of burgundy) and Laura's sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You:

Recipe - Stamps: Christmas Greetings (SU!), Noel Clearly Stamps (Bo Bunny)  Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Bravo Burgundy, Basics White paper pad (Basic Grey)  Ink: Bravo Burgundy  Accessories:  Top Note die, Basic Black satin ribbon, buttons, paper piercer, Optic Dot border punch (MS), adhesive pearls, Swiss Dots embossing folder

OK - that's my time.  Sorry for the short post...Enjoy your weekend!  See you Sunday!

A Color Dare Perfect For Christmas...

SO...have you started making your Christmas cards yet?  If you haven't, then this week's Color Dare combination is a PERFECT jumping-off point for you to get started - no excuses!  :)  Riley has given us Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla to work with - don't you love them?  When I created my card, I had just gotten home from a weekend away visiting my parents and was NOT interested in trying to use my brain to "go against the grain", so a Christmas card it was.  :)  I wanted to use a new Flourishes stamps set so I tried to find a sketch that would help me along and Kazan's 2 Sketches 4 You sketch was perfect:

Recipe - Stamps: Sleigh Ride (Flourishes), Ornamental Christmas (Verve)  Paper: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz  Ink: Early Espresso  Accessories: Modern Label punch, brads, paper piercer, Parisian border punch, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Nesties, Chocolate Chip satin ribbon, Pear Pizzazz twill ribbon, jumbo eyelet, sponge dauber

Thanks for taking the time to stop in today - I hope you will join us over at the Color Dare.  If you need more inspiration, please visit the rest of the design team members' blogs - their links are to the left.  Enjoy the rest of the week!!

Challenge #6 at the 4 Crafty Chicks!

Welcome back for another fun-filled 4 Crafty Chicks Challenge. This week's challenge is brought to us by Leanne and she wants to see some distressing on our cards.  I must admit, this isn't a technique I use very often so it was fun to give it a go for this card.

I found an awesome color combination over at Crazy 4 Challenges and immediately knew I wanted to use it...and there's a prize up for grabs this week - a $25 VERVE gift certificate!!  WOOHOO!  One can never have too many Verves, in my opinion.  :)

Laura and Kazan over at 2 Sketches 4 You have a sketch that is very open to interpretation and I definitely took liberties with it:

Stamps: Prima Clear Stamp  Paper: Kraft, Basic Black, Wild Wasabi DSP   Ink: Versafine Onyx Black  Accessories: Chipboard swirl, clear embossing powder, felt flower, button, twine, So Saffron striped ribbon, paper piercer

I inked my chipboard with Onyx Black Versafine and then sprinkled clear embossing powder on it to give it some dimension so this card also qualifies for Tuesday Throwdown's challenge to use chipboard.

I wasn't sure about all of the empty space on the Kraft panel but, against my instinct, I left it alone.  I *so* wanted to emboss it or paper poke it or something...

I hope you will join us over at the 4 Crafty Chicks for our distressing challenge...we love to see what you create!

Color Dare #78 & 2S4Y

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

I've got another BE-YOO-TIFUL combination for you from Riley at the Color Dare - Chocolate Chip, Daffodil Delight and Very Vanilla... can you say yummy?  I didn't have much time to put this card together - it's been crazy around here with two boys playing volleyball on different teams... *sigh* - so I went in search of a fairly simple sketch to help me pull it all together.  I found this lovely sketch over at 2 Sketches 4 You... don't you love it?

Stamps: Treasure Life (CTMH)  Paper: Greenhouse Gala DSP, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip  Ink: Chocolate Chip  Accessories: Optic Dot border punch, Chocolate Chip satin ribbon, paper piercer, button, twine

That'll be it for me today - make sure you check out what the rest of the Color Dare design team created with these colors, I'm sure you won't be disappointed.  Their links are to the left...  :)

See you tomorrow for a special edition of the 4 Crafty Chicks Challenge - toodles!

Color Dare #77 & 2 Sketches 4 You

Welcome back for another fabulous Color Dare!  Riley has combined four fabulous colors this week - a little bit of the old and a bit of the new:  Tempting Turquoise, Poppy Parade, Pumpkin Pie and Not Quite Navy.  Have I told you all how much I enjoy the Poppy Parade?  It is such a pretty shade of red...

I clicked over to 2 Sketches 4 You to see what the girls had for us this week - it's been a LONG time since I've played with Laura and Kazan's sketches.  This week's sketch has such a CAS feel to it so I thought I'd give it a try... I'm *so* trying to embrace the idea of CAS:

I couldn't decide if the sketch was more rectangle or square so I made the *executive* decision to make a square card:

Recipe - Stamp: Small Script (SU!)  Paper: Whisper White, Not Quite Navy, Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, Poppy Parade  Ink: Not Quite Navy  Accessories: Paper piercer, twine, eyelet, Modern Label punch, adhesive pearls, Elegant Bouquet embossing folder (SU!)

I hope you will take a few minutes to stop and see what the rest of the Color Dare design team (their links are to the left) has created with these colors and then give it a try yourself!  Don't forget to link back so we can come and see what yumminess you come up with!

Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday - see you tomorrow for a new 4 Crafty Chicks Challenge!

Sugar and Spice...

Hello - I'm so glad you stopped by!  This week's color challenge over at Picture Perfect Creations is a beautiful one and you could use it for many different types of cards - I'm lovin' the new Concord Crush:

This week's challenge from the girls at Totally Stampalicious is to use at least two different textures on your card (ex: dry emboss, heat emboss, fabric, ribbon, flock etc.).  I thought I'd use Desiree Lollipop again so I went in search of a sketch that would fit and found this simple one from 2 Sketches 4 You:

Recipe - Stamp: Desiree Lollipop (Totally Stampalicious)  Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Concord Crush  Paper: Very Vanilla, Concord Crush, Blushing Bride, Wild Wasabi, SU! DSP  Accessories: Paper piercer, Copics, Very Vanilla satin ribbon, adhesive pearls, Elegant Bouquet embossing folder, Swiss Dots embossing folder

If you'd like to see more of these colors, hop over to see what the rest of the PPC Creators did:
 

Lori Turner

Nicole Anderson

Sandy Tran

Trish Radacs

Jackie Weeks

Tamie Camp

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

Paula McClane

 

I'm sure the gals at Totally Stampalicious have created some amazing textured cards so make sure you stop there too!


See you later! 

2 Sketches 4 You Meets the Little Paper Shop

Good Morning everyone!

I had a bit of time this morning before heading off to work so I thought I'd better get some crafting time in since this week is kinda busy with work and appointments and... I'm going to see Daughtry with some of my girlie-friends on Thursday night!!!!  OH my goodness!  I am soo soo excited!  We get to go to the city, do a bit of shopping, go out for dinner and then enjoy the concert - what could be better?

So, for this morning's crafting installment, I popped over to the Little Paper Shop blog and found this fun color challenge:

I went over to Laura and Kazan's 2 Sketches 4 You to see what they had for us this week.  It's been a LONG time since I've played with their sketch but as soon as I saw this one I knew what I could do:

All of those scallop-y layers at the bottom totally reminded me of dresses I wore when I was little - rows of ruffles and lace and ribbon.  (I know some of you are thinking...she wore dresses???  HA!)  So out came the sewing machine and the ribbon and. . .

Recipe - Stamps: Sunshiny Day (MFT), Teeny Tiny Wishes (SU!) Ink: Versafine Onyx Black  Paper: Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Taken With Tea, Wild Wasabi  Accessories: Buttons, twine, ribbon, Copics, Textile embossing folder, sewing machine, paper piercer

AGAIN - I had to flip the sketch to make it fit yet another Pure Innocence image - yes, I'm obsessed with these little girlies!  They are just too darn cute!

Thanks for stopping by - enjoy your Tuesday!

Thursday Combo Challenge

Hey everyone!

I hope you have had a good week - mine's been great.  I've been very busy but, thankfully, my day off tomorrow will actually be spent AT HOME.  I don't have to go ANY--WHERE.  I am SO looking forward to a day of peace and quiet.  I haven't had many of those lately so this one is hugely appreciated.

When I got home after school today I thought I'd be playing with my new Copic markers but soon found out I wasn't in the mood to throw myself into watching a bazillion tutorials.  I haven't done the sketch over at 2 Sketches 4 You in quite some time so I popped over to see what Kazan and Laura had up their sleeves this week.  The sketch was another interesting one:

Since I wasn't in the mood to *think*, I clicked over to SCS to check out this week's color challenge: Bravo Burgundy, Regal Rose and Kiwi Kiss (or Old Olive) - I chose Old Olive.  I got my new Verve stamps in the mail this week and have been ITCHING to ink them up.  None of them really fit the sketch they way it is oriented in the picture so I took the liberty of rotating it 90* to the right.  I took quite a few other "artistic liberties" with this sketch but I quite like how it turned out.

Recipe: Stamps: Jeremiah 29:11 (Verve) Ink: Bravo Burgundy Paper: SU! DP, Regal Rose, Bravo Burgundy, Old Olive Accessories: Ticket corner punch, paper piercer, Martha Stewart border punch, adhesive pearls, Old Olive twill ribbon, finger dauber

There are quite a few layers on this card - probably more than I've ever used before!  I even ended up having to cover up an "oops!" which added to the thickness of the card.  It was an evolution from one idea to the next until it finally ended up like you see it.  I wasn't sure about the color combo but I really like how the Bravo Burgundy makes the other colors pop.  Of course I *had* to put pearls *somewhere* on the card -  the centers of the flowers on the DP at the top needed to be covered and the scallop edge at the bottom wouldn't have been complete without them. . . right???  (Just nod in agreement. . .disagreeing wouldn't do any good!)

I'm hoping to complete a few challenges tomorrow - Taylor's Cupcake Challenge will likely be first on my "To Do" list.  You should check out her blog 'cause she's got a great new look - SO Taylor!  Have a good night!