Welcome to a brand new week!  Did you enjoy your weekend?  I thoroughly enjoyed mine - I got to sleep in both mornings and on Saturday afternoon my PIC, Lori, and our favorite torturer (AKA our trainer) got prettied up and drove up to the city to meet Lori's sister and friend for the Matt Nathanson, Train and Maroon 5 concert!!!!  It was an absolutely giggle-filled night with lots of screaming and yelling and shakin' it - and the concert was fabulous... Train absolutely knocked it out of the park!  Maroon 5 opened with "Moves Like Jagger" (which is my favorite song right now) and Matt Nathanson was a pleasant surprise to open the evening up - it ended up being almost 4 hours of entertainment...well worth the price we paid for tickets!

So, this morning I dropped the kids off at school, went over to the gym for some torture and then came home and sat down in my craft room determined to get a card or two done.  I *could* have done a card for one of my DTs but decided to do a *for fun* card.  I wanted to play along with the TCP Tuesday sketch so went off in search of a color combo and found this lovely one at the Color Throwdown:

I always love playing along with Alma and the Cat Pack over at TCP Tuesday and was totally challenged by this week's sketch:

Stamps: Away We Go (TCP)  Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Onyx Black Versafine  Paper: Island Indigo, Whisper White, Basic Gray, Stella Rose DSP (MME), Basics White Paper pad (BG, Bayberry Cottage DSP (Pink Paislee)  Accessories: Circles Nesties, Basic Gray satin ribbon, button, twine, Clouds die (TCP), adhesive pearls, paper piercer, canvas flags and trinket pins (Maya Road), Copics (W00, W1, W3, W5, R81, R83, R85, E23, E25, E34, BG18)

I can't wait for the new TCP release - October 11 can't come fast enough!  Thanks for stopping by this afternoon - you can really tell it's fall here in Central Alberta... I could see my breath this morning when I took the dog out!  The leaves are starting to fall.... my favorite time of the year.  :)  See you later this week!

Hi everyone!  I tried and tried and TRIED to post this yesterday but our internet went out so I had to wait until today.  There She Goes Clear Stamps is celebrating her third birthday and we've got fun planned all month long!  This is my VERY FIRST project for There She Goes and, like I said yesterday, the challenge this week is a bit on the challenging side - we need to make a paper doll and then photograph it in various places. 

The only stamp set I have that would work was Zoo-pendous (which is currently out of stock but I'm sure will be back soon) and used the fun peacock for my image.  I stamped her (she looks like a her, right?) with my Memento Tuxedo Black and then colored her with my Copics...(which I had listed for you too but I forgot to save before I put them all away - am I cursed?)

I took her out into my yard, placed her on the fencepost alongside the leaf and cobwebs (the joys of country living)

Here's a closer pic taken indoors:

Thanks for stopping by today - I  hope you will try and find some time to join us this week...I heard there are even PRIZES up for grabs so make sure you stop by the TSG Blog for all of the details!  See you soon!

Getting Sketchy for the 4 Crafty Chicks!

Welcome back everyone!  Happy Thursday!  Thank you all so much for joining us last week as we celebrated our one year anniversary at the 4 Crafty Chicks.  We had so much fun hopping to all of your blogs and we can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us.

This week, I am your hostess-with-the-mostest and I have concocted a sketch for you all to play with - remember that the shapes I used are just a *suggestion* - please feel free to use whatever works for YOU:

Here's my little card:

I hope you can play with us this week - have fun with my sketch!  Twist it, turn it, mirror image it... there are many ways to make this sketch work for everyone.  See you soon - enjoy your week!

Some BIG News!!!

 Hi everyone!  I am sooooo super-excited to let you all know that I have been asked to join the Design Team over at There She Goes as a Junior Trendsetter!  It was the weirdest thing and came at the best time.  Before we moved, I had given up the majority of my other DT duties to focus on packing etc. and told myself that when we got settled, I would start applying to DTs again.  Well, lo and behold, an email from Jessica Knutsen appeared in my inbox at JUST the right time asking if I'd be interested in joining her fabulous group of ladies?  I was totally shocked because I haven't played along with their challenges in a LONG time and I don't even own any of their stamps (not that I haven't *wanted* to buy some...)  Jessica has a great team already in place and the rest of the new Junior Trendsetters are equally as fabulous.  AND, my fellow Albertan, Jenny Peterson was also asked to be on the team - so excited!

This week's challenge over at the There She Goes blog is to make a paper doll and then photograph it in different environments throughout the week to be eligible for some fun prizes.  Now, don't panic (like I did...).  It's really not that difficult - HERE is a great link to give you a bit of inspiration.  I just received my stamps in the mail late last week so I haven't had a chance to play with them yet but I promise I'll have something for you to peek at soon!  In the meantime, please play along with the Trendsetters all month because we've got some birthday fun planned.  And don't forget about his month's release - - it is going to be PHENOMENAL!  Let me just say you will all die when you see how awesome it is!

That's it from me today.  See you tomorrow for a new 4 Crafty Chicks challenge!

Happy Birthday to the 4 Crafty Chicks!

Hello everyone!  Are you all enjoying the 4 Crafty Chicks Blog Hop?  If you hopped here from Leanne's blog, you are on the right track.  I can't believe we have been doing challenges for an entire year already - where does the time go?

We've got a fun theme for you all to play with this week, "Celebrate!" and, boy-oh-boy, does that leave the door wide open for you all to play with us.  You could celebrate a birthday, a wedding, a new baby, an anniversary... the options are endless so you really have no reason to NOT play!  PLUS, there are prizes to be won - everyone loves a prize, right?

For my card, I decided to go with a birthday card - quick and easy - no specific color combo and a sketch from somewhere I can't remember... good one, hey?  I pulled out one of my Pure Innocence girlies and got to work:

Each Chick has graciously donated a prize to be given to one lucky Blog Hopper who leaves a comment on the Chick’s blog. The winners will be chosen by each Chick using Random.org.   To be eligible to win Blog Hop prizes, participants must: (a) become a follower of the 4 Crafty Chicks blog; (b) leave a comment on each of the Chicks’ blogs; AND (c) leave a comment on the 4CC blog. Here's what one lucky hopper will win from me:

 So, not only is this a fun anniversary challenge, the 4 Crafty Chicks have also decided that NOW is the time to start having a monthly Guest Designer! We are so excited to be giving everyone the opportunity to join us for a month of fun challenges. This month, and during the first challenge of the month in January and May, we will be on the lookout for Guest Designers for the next three months. If you participate in this week’s “Celebrate!” challenge and would like to be considered for October, November or December’s Guest Designer positions, please put (GDT) after your name when submitting to inlinkz – please remember that you will be committing to a month of challenges (which you will receive immediately after being chosen as Guest Designer.)


So, what are you waiting for?  Get busy creating - we can't wait to see the fabulousness out there!  Off you go now to Tamie's blog - Paper Infusions and More - for the third installment on our Celebration Blog Hop!
 

Two Days In a Row???

Are you shocked?  I know I am!  I was out of the house for the whole morning and when I got home I was feeling inky so into my craft room I went.  I knew that Arielle and the gals over at Colour Q were celebrating 100 challenges this week so I popped over to see what fun she had for us.  It turns out that we get a sketch AND we get to pick our favorite color combo from the past 100!

So, off I went to The Cat's Pajamas to see what their challenge for the week was... Ah.  It's a fun one that would give me the chance to use another one of my new TCP stamps: "Wing It" ~ use any TCP stamps with wings...birds, planes...you get the idea.  Once I knew which stamp set I was going to use, back I went to Colour Q to find the perfect combo.  Coincidentally, it's the same one Arielle used for her card - I love these colors and the punch of black always makes a card pop.

Stamps: Take Off (TCP)  Ink: Cool Caribbean, Whisper White Craft Ink, Versafine Onyx Black  Paper: Basic Black, Fly a Kite DSP (MME), This & That DSP (lily bee design), Whisper White, SU! DSP  Accessories: Clouds border die (TCP), paper piercer, black ric rac, Copics, buttons, chipboard cloud, dimensionals

So - there it is.  Two days in a row.  Who knew?  LOL  That's it for me today but don't forget about the 4 Crafty Chicks celebration on Thursday.  We've got some fun for y'all and I *heard* there may even be prizes up for grabs and who doesn't love a prize or two?  Just sayin'... :)  Later gators!

Some Monday Morning-into-the-Afternoon Craftiness!

Welcome to another fun-filled week, everyone!  I know I have been VERY MIA lately and I must apologize - between packing, moving, unpacking and hanging out with the kiddos, I just haven't spent much time in my craft room.  But, with school starting this week for one of the monsters and next Tuesday for the other two, I KNOW I will be here MUCH more often.  :)

So today's post is actually a two-fer for y'all - well, you're going to get to see two cards for four challenges...how's that for you?  The first card is for  this week's TCP Tuesday Challenge over at the Cat's Pajamas blog (it's a color challenge...my fave!) as well as for the Viva la Verve Week Four sketch by Charmaine...I had to rotate it 180* to make it work for the stamp set I wanted to use...

I kind of *improvised* and used my clouds as the scallop border at the top of the main panel...the coloring on my bear leaves something to be desired but...whatev'!  LOL

Stamps: Catch My Drift (TCP)  Ink: Chocolate Chip, Onyx Black Versafine  Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Marina Mist, Pumpkin Pie, SU! DSP  Accessories: Cloud Border die (TCP), Swiss Dots embossing folder, Seeing Spots embossing folder, paper piercer, dimensionals, Chocolate Chip twine (SU!), Copics

The second card I've got for you is for the Viva la Verve Week Five sketch as well as the CR84FN Color Challenge where I haven't played for awhile - I decided to use Early Espresso for my neutral:

Stamps: Hope Blooms (Verve)  Paper: Sweetly Smitten DSP (Sassafras), Madeline DSP (Prima), SU! DSP, Early Espresso, Bashful Blue  Ink: Early Espresso  Accessories: Paper piercer, Circles Nesties, Sweet Scallop Tag die, sponge dauber, Bashful Blue satin ribbon, button, twine

Thanks for stopping by today... hopefully you will be able to stop by again sooner than later!  I have some exciting news to share with you all in the next week or so so I hope you will join me for that PLUS the 4 Crafty Chicks are celebrating ONE YEAR of challenges on Thursday and we have some fun planned for you all!  Enjoy your week!