Rosy Regards for a Challenge

I always love playing around with a challenge when I can find the time. I decided to play along with The Play Date Cafe this week. The inspiration for this week was awesome . . .

The black, gray, yellow and white were so pretty together, and the yellow roses reminded me that I had a rose stamp just waiting to be used! Here is my design . . .

I love black, white, and any other color together. I find them to really be stunning. I had a hard time bringing in the green for the leaves, but it worked in the end. I did use a bit of embossing powder on the flower, which gave some dimension.

My supplies . . . Cardstock, Pattern Paper and Ribbon from my scrap stash; Ink from Stampin' Up and Close To My Heart; Stamp Set is Rosy Regards from Close To My Heart; Twine from the Twinery.

Hmmm . . . with more scraps, I see a card in a similar color combination in my future.

Splash of Hot Pink

When I saw that The Play Date Cafe Challenge was "splash of color" and that the splash of color was hot pink with black and white . . . I had to play along.  Here is the inspiration . . .

And so I used a recently purchased stamp . . . which I absolutely love . . . to create the card below.  Hot pink was perfect for a marshmallow peep bunny.  And since the challenge was just splash of hot pink, I colored only one of the peeps and then gave it a nice "sugar" coating of Stickles (looks yummy enough to eat).  

And while I love the stamp, I also love that I used a white seam binding that I could stamp on.

Supplies include Bazzill Black and White Cardstock; edge die and emboss folder from Stampin' Up; Stamp and Seam Binding from Close to My Heart; Stazon Black Ink;

I see more peep cards in my future.  Love the peeps . . . to look at . . . but not so much to eat!  

The Play Date Cafe #109

I have not had a "play date" at the cafe in about two months!  I've missed eight dates with my busy schedule.  

So it is time . . .

These were really tough colors for me.  Really tough.  But then I saw that my LSS, New England Scrapbook Co. had Crate Paper's Farmhouse collection which had this one really cute design that looked like a little quilt in several pink hues.  I started with a Bazzill Champagne cardstock card base, and cut a 4 1/8 x 5 3/8 of the pattern paper.  I distressed the edges with a distressing tool.    The die cut is from My Creative Time, as is the stitched border stamp.  The ice cream cone stamp and sentiment are from Unity Stamp (one of their monthly kits). 

Not an easy color combination for me, so it was quite a stretch. 

I always gauge my cards by how they look the next day after a good night's sleep.  Not to shabby at all!

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #99

My weekly expedition into color continues with The Play Date Challenge #99.

These colors are simply gorgeous.  Lilacs and lemonade!  That was the first thing that came to mind for me.  I thought I did a great job of matching up my colors until I looked at this photo.  Somehow things look a little blue.  Amazing what the right lighting can do for you!

I used a Magenta stamp with black Memento Ink, and then used my Twinkling H20's to add color to my stamped image. 

 

 If you've not tried the H20's . . . I highly recommend.  They are super fun to work with, and very "twinkly".  See the close up shot below. 

Until next week . . .

Happy Scrapping, Stamping, Papercrafting!

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #98

I can't seem to tear myself away from The Play Date Cafe Challenge . . . and here I am again this week. 

Their inspirational photo this week . . .

And my design, which was inspired by a sketch I saw recently . . .

This is Stampin' Up paper, stamp, ink and brad.  I pulled in all the colors from the paper on the stamp design as well. 

Looking forward to next week's challenge!  Love The Play Date Cafe! 

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #97

Another Play Date Cafe Challenge! 

I love this weekly challenge, and I think it's about the beauty they bring to colors.  The photo that they post for inspiration is always so inviting.  This week's challenge was really awesome, because it included one of my favorite color combinations . . . black and white with a splash of red.  

So the idea behind the color splash was to create something in black and add just a splash of color . . . and they specifically said RED! 

So here is my design . . .

The cardstock, paper and flower were from my LSS, New England Scrapbook Company . . . and let me just say, the flowers are blooming at NESC this week, as they have a great collection of new flowers in the house!  AWESOME! 

I used my Stamping Up Top Note die (cut in half and trimmed on the sides) to create the illusion of a flap.  I also mixed two stamp sets . . . the birds and sentiment were from Close to My Heart.  The border at the bottom where my splash of red appears is from Unity Stamp.  My stamped images were embossed using white ink and an opague embossing powder.

Loving this challenge!  

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #95

I came across this great challenge site last week:  The Play Date Cafe Challenge (PDCC).  What is super cool is that their challenge is all about color.  You just follow the color combination . . . and you're allowed to make whatever you want. I was super excited to play along last week,  but I just ran out of time.  So I made a point to go back again this week, and fell in love with the colors that were up for this week's challenge.  Check out the photo they've given for inspiration:

Those colors just made me want to get creative!  Aren't they awesome.  So I made a little card using some cardstock and pattern paper in the neighborhood of dark navy.  I just happened to recall having some scraps of pattern paper with a typewriter that I thought might be in the right color scheme.  I was able to dig it up, and then add tissue paper, seam binding and some flowers and stamping. 

One unique thing that I did on this one was to notch the front of my card, and add some paper on the inside of the card as an accent.  I just used a regular circle punch and measured to be sure I put my notches equally down from the top on each side.  I used the cut piece from one side as a guide for the second side so I wouldn't go too deep or not deep enough.  It was perfect!  It's a great way to tie ribbon so it holds, and I plan to use this technique again, as I love the look! 

My stamp came from Skipping Stones Design . . . it's actually called "Cancer Schmancer".  I found it recently while floating through some blogs, and I just knew I had to have it.  I was really touched by the sentiments after watching my brother battle and eventually lose his battle with cancer.  As much as I'd like to sweep it under the rug, I thought it would be nice to make some cards to encourage folks to Kick Cancer's Booty!  The set has a little bit of spunk and humor . . . and spunk and humor is needed when battling.  I didn't use the spunk and humor pieces for this card, so watch for them down the road. 

 I carried my color theme into the inside of the card as well.  Remember too that when you open the card, the ribbon is on the top part of the inside (tied around that notch).  So you get that splash of color on the inside as well.  

Love, love this challenge!  Can't wait to see next week's color scheme and play along.