My Sentimental Sunday DT Debut!

WOW - what a fabulous group of ladies Ann put together for her "renovated" Sentimental Sundays design team and I am lucky enough to be included amongst them all.  :)  There are some names familiar to me and some new ones so it will be fun getting to know everyone.

This week's challenge is to create a Birthday Card...with a sentiment, of course.  I wanted to use one of Ann's Raindrop Echo Designs Digital Collection but couldn't really find any sentiments that screamed "BIRTHDAY!" to me.  I used the Diva Coffee Break Designs Color Challenge and the clean&simple stamping sketch layout from last week:

Recipe - Stamp: Small Script (SU!)  Paper: Poppy Parade, Whisper White, Baja Breeze, So Saffron, SU! DSP  Ink: Poppy Parade  Accessories: Buttons, twine, square punches, paper piercer, Elegant Bouquet embossing folder

Thanks for stopping by today - who's got fun plans for Halloween tonight?  We're not really big into Halloween so nothing going on here.  I hope you all enjoy spooking with your little ghosts and goblins - see you tomorrow for a new PPC challenge!

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!

Punches and Dies at the 4 Crafty Chicks!

Welcome back, everyone!  We've got a super-easy challenge for you this week at the 4 Crafty Chicks Challenge ~~ it's so easy because I'm sure there aren't many of us that don't own a punch or a die cut of some kind and that's what this week's challenge from Lori is all about: punches and/or dies.

I wasn't sure which direction my card was going to go when I first sat down but once I had Arielle's Colour Q combination to work from, the wheels in my head started turning:

I found Mercy's Tuesday Sketch #97 and got down to business:

Recipe - Stamp: Well Scripted (SU!)  Paper: Garden Green, Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery, SU! DSP  Ink: Garden Green  Accessories: Paper piercer, Certainly Celery ribbon, button, twine, Bird Punch (SU!), Leafy Tree embossing folder (Crafts Too), Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Beaded Ovals and Ovals Nesties, Square Lattice embossing folder, dimensionals

AND... because it's the last challenge of the month, we're giving away a PRIZE to one lucky participant.  If Random.org picks you, this little goodie package will be making it's way to live at your house:

So, what are you waiting for?  Get busy creating!  And if you need a bit more inspiration, be sure to check out the other Crafty Chicks blogs - they've done some amazing things with punches and dies this week.  Have fun!

Color Dare #82 & Sweet Sunday #90

Happy Wednesday everyone!  You know what that means... a brand new Color Dare from Riley.  This week's colors could be used for any kind of card - I decided to go with a Christmas theme.  I just bought a new stamp last week that I've been itching to use and these colors were PERFECT for it.  I found Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch and knew it was the right size to fit my image:

Recipe - Stamps: SD016N (The Stamp Barn, Sunshine Designs), Teeny Tiny Wishes (SU!)  Paper: Night of Navy, Old Olive, SU! DSP, Whisper White  Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Night of Navy  Accessories: Copics, paper piercer, Daffodil Delight satin ribbon, button, twine, adhesive gems, Modern Label punch, eyelets

I hope you'll take some time to play along with these colors this week - we'd love to see what you come up with.  If you need more inspiration, be sure to check out the rest of the design team's blogs - I'm sure they have created some amazing projects this week!  See you tomorrow for a brand new 4 Crafty Chicks Challenge!

PPC #36 & Friday Sketchers

Welcome back for another Picture Perfect Creations Color Combo!  This week, Megan has given us a combination that has a distinctly "Halloween-y" feel to it:

I don't have a lot of Halloween stamps so I tried to go in a completely different direction - with a Christmas card!  HA!  I popped over to Friday Sketchers to find this fab sketch:

Recipe - Stamps: So Many Scallops  Ink: Concord Crush  Paper: Concord Crush, Kraft, Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Old Olive, SU! DSP  Accessories: Concord Crush Poly Twill ribbon, Scallop Punch, Circle Punch, button, twine, Northern Flurry embossing folder, Kassie's Brocade embossing folder, adhesive rhinestones, paper piercer

Thanks for stopping by - take a few minutes to stop and see what the rest of the PPC DT did with these colors.  See you later!

Colour Q - Take Two!

Here we are again... :)  I had so much fun making this little project ~ no card from me this time.  *gasp*  I was inspired to step out of my box thanks to this week's Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge: "The challenge is to create your favorite way to package a gift. With the holidays ahead we'd like to see your ideas for putting together the perfect gift."

Well, I have to admit, I don't really *have* a favorite way to package a gift... usually a gift bag and some tissue paper and I call it done.  (I'm normally a "last minute" kind of gal...)  But I have made these Acetate Boxes before and loved how they turned out.  I have had these test tubes sitting in my cupboard FOREVER and haven't really known what to do with them but was inspired by Taylor's 12 Days of  a Handcrafted Christmas to pull them out and *do* something...

Earlier today I used Arielle's Breast Cancer-inspired Colour Q combination - so now it's time to use the Halloween'ish combination:

I dug out my test tubes and measured them to figure out how big I needed to make the box.  I was originally going to make a 2" x 2" box but thought that you see them better if I made a 4-1/4" x 1" box instead.  Once I got the bottom part done and the acetate was in place, I decided not to do the box top but instead do a folded topper.  Sorry for the crappy pictures...it is very difficult to get a good picture with shiny acetate and plastic test tubes...

Recipe - Stamps: CC Designs Baby Trick or Treat Pumpkin Stamp, Tiny Tags  Ink: Poppy Parade  Paper: River Rock, Very Vanilla, Basic Black  Accessories: Martha Stewart border punch, Poppy Parade Poly Twill ribbon, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Test tubes (Martha Stewart), twine, Copics, bat brads, jelly beans

Pretty cute, eh?  I love how it turned out - in person it looks so much better than in these pictures...

OK, time for bed.  Tomorrow will be a busy day - to the gym in the AM for my daily dose of torture then off to the city for some groceries and other stuff.  Hopefully I'll have some time this weekend to craft.  See you later!

4 Crafty Chicks Meets the Colour Q!

Hey everyone!  Welcome back for a brand new challenge from the 4 Crafty Chicks.  I think I gave you *too* much of a challenge last week - hopefully this week's challenge will be a bit easier for y'all.  The hostess with the mostest is Tamie and she has created a very interesting sketch for you all to work with:

I think this sketch leaves the door wide open for some really fun interpretations.  I decided to use one of this week's Colour Qs for my color palette.  Arielle has given us one combination that honors Breast Cancer awareness and another that has a distinctly Halloween-y feel to it.  I'll be doing that one soon but for this card I went with the Breast Cancer Awareness inspiration:

Don't you love these rubber boots?  I would be proud to wear them ANYTIME.  :)  I still had a few scraps of these colors sitting on my desk from last week's TCP card so off I went.  The two little squares in the sketch kind of had me stumped in the beginning but I finally decided that they didn't both *have* to be squares...one could be the sentiment and the other would be a bow:

Recipe - Stamps: Friendly Notes (SU!)  Ink: Versafine Onyx Black  Paper: Very Vanilla, Regal Rose, Basic Black, Sending Love DSP, unknown Pink Pirouette DSP  Accessories: Scallop Edge border punch, square punches, Nestabilities, Pretty in Pink satin ribbon, Vintage Black Pearl Trinket Pins, Kassie's Brocade embossing folder, Scor-tape, felt flower, velvet flower, crocheted flower, black brad

I hope you will take some time and play along with us at the 4 Crafty Chicks - we all love to peek at your blogs and see what you create.  Enjoy your Thursday!

Color Dare #81 & Regina's 2S4Y Bonus Sketch

It's Wednesday and that means....WAIT!!  Before I get to the "real" reason for today's post I want to say "Happy Birthday!" to my littlest man who turns eleven today!  Eleven???  How did that happen?  He's requested a Chocolate Cake with Mint Cream Cheese frosting and Fettucine Alfredo for supper so that's what I'll be doing today when I get home from work and the gym.  :)

All-righty then - - - back to your regularly scheduled programming!  It's Wednesday and that means it's time for another Color Dare from Riley.  I really like this week's colors together: Sahara Sand, Rich Razzleberry and Peach Parfait.  When I first sat down to make my card, I wasn't sure what I was going to do.  I went through all of my stamps and NONE were jumping out at me.  I hadn't picked a sketch yet so I thought I'd see if that would give me a push in the right direction.  I hit the jackpot when I got to 2 Sketches 4 You!  Not only did they have their "regular" weekly sketch but they had two "bonus" sketches!  I fell in love with Regina's bonus sketch:

Once I had the layout in my head, I went back to my stamps and found a Stampin' Up! set I hadn't even put together...*hanging head*... and off I went:

Supplies - Stamps: Kind and Caring Thoughts, Well Scripted  Ink: Rich Razzleberry  Paper: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Sahara Sand, SU! DSP  Accessories: Paper piercer, Divine Swirls embossing folder, Peach Parfait twill ribbon

Thanks for stopping by today.  Make sure you stop and see what the rest of the Color Dare design team created with this fab combo - their links are to the left.  See you tomorrow with a brand new 4 Crafty Chicks Challenge!

PPC #35 & Unscripted Sketches #77

Welcome to another week, everyone!  It's Monday and that can only mean one thing - a brand new Picture Perfect Creations Color Combo from Megan.  This week's combination is quite lovely, if I do say so myself:

I spent most of the weekend reading the Percy Jackson series so I didn't have much time for crafting.  Yes, I read the entire series in a weekend -- I read until the wee hours of the morning and neglected my family for two and a half days.  Was it worth it?  Definitely.  Now I can't wait to read the first book in Rick Riordan's newest series, The Lost Hero.  So, anyways... I needed to make my card quickly so I popped over to Unscripted Sketches to see if theirs would work and, thank goodness, it did:

Recipe - Stamps: Proverbs 3:5 (Verve)  Ink: Chocolate Chip  Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, SU! DSP  Accessories: Scallop Circle punch, Square Lattice embossing folder, brad, paper piercer, Chocolate Chip satin ribbon, Little Leaves Sizzlit, circle punches

I hope you can join us this week at PPC - if you need more inspiration, please stop by the rest of the PPC Creators blogs to see what they created for us...their links are to the left.  :)  See you soon!

Friday Fun - Take Two!

I'm ba-ack.  :)  I got my Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns done but the Caramel Apple Muffins are going to have to wait.  {Someone} got distracted by a color challenge.  I'm sure that doesn't happen to anyone else, right?

You want to see what prevented me from baking cupcakes?  Well, here's the Play Date Cafe's color challenge for this week ... aren't the colors fabulously calm and soothing?

You all know that I can't let an awesome color combo be without an equally awesome sketch so off to clean&simple stamping I went to find this beauty:

I decided to use Crumb Cake/Kraft, Baja Breeze and Sage Shadow for my colors and stuck with the leaf/nature theme to create this bit of loveliness:

Stamp: Lemons, Life and Love (Flourishes)  Paper: Woodland Walk DSP, Baja Breeze, Sage Shadow, Kraft, Very Vanilla  Ink: Crumb Cake  Accessories: Paper piercer, corner rounder, Leafy Branch embossing folder, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Kraft taffeta ribbon, Daisies Die (Sizzix), button, hemp twine

Okie dokie - that's going to be it for today.  DH is bringing home "How to Train Your Dragon" so we'll be popping some popcorn and hunkering down in front of the TV tonight.  Enjoy your Friday night - see you back here on Monday for a new Picture Perfect Creations Color Combo! 

Friday Morning Fun

YIPPEE!!!  It's Friday!!  I am VERY ready for the weekend.  Not too sure yet what it will bring but I'm sure crafting will be involved at some point... :)

I didn't have to go in to work today so I had the whole morning free to do whatever my little heart desired and, well, wouldn't you know it?  Making a card was the winner!  I saw the Color Throwdown's combination a couple of days ago and knew I had to create {something} since my fave Poppy Parade is one of the colors:

I picked out my new CC Designs Baby Trick or Treat Dragon Stamp for the image and off I went to find a sketch.  Unscripted Sketches #76 fit the bill:

Isn't he cute? I had a hard time figuring out how to color the little dude, but eventually came up with something I am OK with. 

Have a great Friday - I am off to do some baking since it is cloudy and cool here today {and it's been a LONG time since I've had time to bake...}  Right now I've got dough for Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns rising and then I'm going to make some Caramel Apple Cupcakes.  Both are new-to-me recipes so I'll let you know how it goes.  :)  See you later!

Think Pink Blog Hop at the Cat's Pajamas

Did you know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month?  Of course you did!!  I'm sure most of us have had our lives touched by this disease in some way or another.  Over at The Cat's Pajamas, it's a "Think Pink Customer Blog Hop" and Alma's given us a challenge ~ in honor of World Card Making day AND Breast Cancer Awareness Month, she and the Cat Pack are challenging us to use PINK.  Now, I must admit, pink isn't my "go-to"color and I {certainly} don't make cards consisting of ONLY pink...but I thought I'd make an exception this time.  *grin*


I decided to use Birthday Bunny along with Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink and Regal Rose and the TCP Tuesday 129 Sketch was a perfect match for the stamp:

I also used TCP Flower Buttons and Wave dies - I love those things!  I need to pull them out more often.  :)  I colored the image with my Copics... I just got 38 new colors in the mail today and *had* to try some of them out...right???  *grin*  I bit of ribbon scrunching and paper poking to finish it off and VOILA!  A pretty cute card, if I do say so myself.  :)

If you'd like to play along with the TCP Customer Blog Hop, you have until October 18 to get it done.  Thanks for stopping by tonight - it's almost time for Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice.  :)  Hopefully I'll have more to share with you tomorrow - see you then!

An Inspiration Challenge at the 4 Crafty Chicks

Welcome back, everyone!  I have an inspiration challenge for you this week at the 4 Crafty Chicks Challenge.  Take a peek at this fabulous photo from Better Homes and Gardens:

Now, you can use whatever you want from the picture as your inspiration...it could be the colors, the shapes, the theme, the textures ...whatever!  Pretty much anything goes (within reason, of course!  LOL)

When I first saw this picture, I was immediately struck by the light fixture and the hanging "mobile"  and the very modern feel of this dining area.  Of course, as my card evolved, it ended up being NOTHING like I envisioned it would!  LOL  I thought the colors reminded me of So Saffron (for the rectangle on the wall), Pumpkin Pie (for the place mats on the table) and then Kraft and Espresso (for the wood).  The table looks like it could be set for a celebration of some kind so I went with a birthday card.  I found one of my Pure Innocence girlies and discovered that Taylor's Sketch would be perfect for it:

 

Recipe - Stamps: Birthday Princess (MFT)  Ink: So Saffron, Early Espresso  Paper: Early Espresso, Whisper White, Kraft, SU! DSP  Accessories: Adhesive pearls, Scallop Edge border punch, Kassie's Brocade embossing folder, paper piercer, Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon, staples, Nesties, Copics

Over at Crazy 4 Challenges, it is Silke's birthday this month so she's asking us to make a birthday card - how perfect!  :)

So let's see what you can create using this picture for inspiration - I know we will ALL take different things from it and that's the beauty of an inspiration challenge...  :)  Make sure you go back to the 4 Crafty Chicks blog when you are done to link us up so we can come and see how clever you are.  Have fun!