The Play Date Cafe Challenge PDCC37

Are you ready for a tour around the world?

Senior Designer, Julie Ranae is going to be
your tour guide each week that she hosts
beginning with this week's challenge.
Some week's, you will have very specific color
badges to work from and others, like this one,
will have a region of inspiration that will be
left open to much interpretation.

CHOOSE YOUR FAVORITE COLORS

FROM THE PHOTO ABOVE

FOR YOUR FOCUS THIS WEEK!

In keeping with our challenge rules,
we ask that you continue to make the
'color theme'
the focus of your project,
not the scene (although you are always welcome
to be literal with that as long as COLOR is the focus).

So let's head off to Provence, in the south of France...

Joining us on the journey this week is

celebrity guest designer...

Mariana Grigsby!

"I live in Northern Illinois with my husband 

and our two kids.  I am originally from Mexico 

where I was raised and went to College. 

My mom introduced me to the craft world 

many years ago, but it wasn't until 2006 

that I became addicted to it. 

I think I am very lucky to have a supportive husband 

who knows that I love crafting. 

I started blogging a year ago, just because 

I wanted to participate in challenges, 

and since then I have had a lot of fun. 

Currently  I am a Design Team Member of 

Embellish Magazine, Lawn Fawn Stamps and Jane's Doodles, 

which motivate me everyday to keep myself creating. 

You are very welcome to visit 

my blog: http://marianagrigsby.wordpress.com/

The 'Cup of the Week' for this week is going
to win this fabulous prize package...

Jelly Bean Designs is owned by our very own
design team member, Savannah O'Gwynn.


Here's what the rest of our designers have done to inspire you.....

Stephanie Kraft ~ HandKrafted by Stephanie

Ruby McGuire ~ Ruby 2 Shoes Design

Lisa Somerville ~ Splendiferous Creations

Suzanne Czosek ~ Suzz's Stamping Spot

Savannah O'Gwynn ~ Savannahland2

Senior Designer 
Sarah Anderson ~ The Art of Moodling

Please follow the rules carefully to enter.

Deadline for prizes is 11:59pm EST on Tuesday
The 'Cup of the Week' will be announced during the next challenge.

ALL SKILL LEVELS ARE ENCOURAGED TO PLAY! 
We want you to enjoy this challenge. 

Interpret the colors the way you see them. 

We do not use specific card stock color names or brands.

Break out of the box and have fun! 

The main requirement is:

PDCC COLORS BE THE 

FOCUS OF YOUR SUBMISSION

When using additional colors, please limit them to neutrals. 

You are welcome to combine challenges, 
but we do ask that:
 1. The PDCC name and/or photo is used
2. OUR colors are the focus of the card.
 

See complete rules on sidebar at left

The Fab 4

The Cream in our Coffee

and

THE CUP of the WEEK

Another challenge has come to a close.

A very warm thank you to all who entered.

This challenge is only successful because of YOU
so please, PLEASE play with us again!

 This Week's Fab 4...

(in alphabetical order)

 Leigh Ann ~ Stamping with Annie B

Lucille K ~ White Points

Marisa ~ Rosemary Reflections
Sharon B ~ Inklined to Stamp

 
The Fab can proudly display the

'I Made the Fab 4'

badge on their blogs!

The Cream in our Coffee...

( honorable mentions in random order )

Clouds Shadler

Michele G
Susan
Sue Roddis
Andrea M
SmilynStef

Marilyn

ClareB
Emily
Ros C

Yuki

Angie Tieman
 
This group can proudly display the

'Cream in Our Coffee'

badge on their blogs!

and


The Cup of the Week...

Jenny Johns ~ Jen's Cup of Creation

Jenny wins the New Release Stamp Set from

and can proudly display the 'Cup of the Week' Badge.

 

Jenny will also be eligible to be a

guest designer here in The Cafe.

Jenny, please contact Julie Ranae at julieranae@hotmail.com

with your mailing address to receive your prize.

The Play Date Cafe Challenge PDCC36

This week's colors come courtesy of Marthastewart.com

Bright and cheerful to be sure!

We think these colors are going to be

a whole bunch of fun for you to play with!

There is lots to share in The Cafe this week, so here is

just a taste to inspire you by this week's color host,

Julie Ranae of Julie's Open Window

"This week, the design team issued sort of an

'insider challenge' to one another to design something

using birdcages, or to be exact,
Tim Holtz's Birdcage Die Cut from Sizzix.

We had a lot of fun as a team seeing what we could come up

with and now we hope YOU will enjoy using this color

combo as much as we did.  You are not required to use

birds, birdcages or any specific theme...we just want to

see what you can do with these fantastic colors!"

Before we introduce you to this week's  
guest designer and sponsor we have some...

Cafe News!

Many of you have come to know a very special

friend and player to The Play Date Cafe,

Paul B.

To date, he is our first and only male player

who each week continues to inspire with his
fab creations all the way from Great Britain.

Well...speaking of fab...

If you scroll down the right sidebar this week, you will see

some FABULOUS NEW BADGES

which were designed by Paul just for 

The Play Date Cafe!

The first thing you will want to do is grab the NEW

'I Play at The Play Date Cafe' badge and display it

proudly on your blog sidebar.

Then if you have been recognized in any of the other

categories, you are welcome to update your badge

with the newest version.  Especially those who have

been 'The Cream in Our Coffee' as THIS BADGE

is brand new JUST FOR YOU!

Now... on to one of YOUR favorites!

We are so happy to have back in The Cafe with us,

Kelly Marie Alvarez of Lawn Fawn Designs!

We are excited to help her celebrate the launch of

her newest collection which will be released on July 8th.

You will be able to catch sneak peeks over on her blog

beginning July 6th.

So the prize for this week is...

Well, it's a mystery because 

It's one of her great new stamp sets!

Totally worth playing for?  You bet ya!

Here is Kelly Marie's inspiration for you this week:

Here's what the rest of our designers have done to inspire you.....

Savannah O'Gwynn ~ Savannahland2

Stephanie Kraft ~ HandKrafted by Stephanie

 

Ruby McGuire ~ Ruby 2 Shoes Design

Lisa Somerville ~ Splendiferous Creations

Suzanne Czosek ~ Suzz's Stamping Spot

Senior Designer 

Sarah Anderson ~ The Art of Moodling

Please follow the rules carefully to enter.

Deadline for prizes is 11:59pm EST on Tuesday
The 'Cup of the Week' will be announced during the next challenge.

ALL SKILL LEVELS ARE ENCOURAGED TO PLAY! 
We want you to enjoy this challenge. 

Interpret the colors the way you see them. 

We do not use specific card stock color names or brands.

Break out of the box and have fun! 

The main requirement is:

PDCC COLORS BE THE 

FOCUS OF YOUR SUBMISSION

When using additional colors, please limit them to neutrals. 

You are welcome to combine challenges, 
but we do ask that:
 1. The PDCC name and/or photo is used
2. OUR colors are the focus of the card.
 

See complete rules on sidebar at right

The Fab 4

The Cream in our Coffee

and

THE CUP of the WEEK

Another challenge has come to a close.

A very warm thank you to all who entered.

This challenge is only successful because of YOU
so please, PLEASE play with us again!

 The Play Date Cafe congratulates 
The Fab 4 for Challenge #35:

(in alphabetical order)

 Angie B ~ My Scraptastic World

Michele G ~ Studio MSG
Sarah A ~ Crafty Naturally
Tracy M ~ Tracy's Stamping Blog

 
The Fab can proudly display the

'I Made the Fab 4'

badge on their blogs!

The Cream in our Coffee

( honorable mentions)

Anna Karin

Diana Evans
Marilyn
Sally
Julie
Chupa

TrinH

Lynnor G
TanteKathe
Sandra P

 
This group can proudly display the

'Cream in Our Coffee'

badge on their blogs!


and The Play Date Cafe Cup of the Week...

Michelle ~ Pigment of my Imagination

Michelle wins the Stamper's Grab Bag

and can proudly display the 'Cup of the Week' Badge.

 

Michelle will also be eligible to be a

guest designer here in The Cafe.

Michelle, please contact Julie Ranae at julieranae@hotmail.com

with your mailing address to receive your prize.

The Play Date Cafe Challenge PDCC35

It's time to 'think outside the box' once again with

this week's senior designer, Sarah Anderson.

Her 'color story' photos are always so unique

and this week's is certainly no exception.

"This week's colours came about as I realised we'd not

really featured the colour brown.  Whilst hunting through some

art photos, I came across these chairs and both Julie and I

LoVeD it!  I was in the mood to make a canvas this week 

and had just used my seahorse image in a zendoodling class

I'd taught, so I thought I'd give him a go in these colors.

A certain little girl in my home has already asked if she can

please have this in her room!

These colours may look scary, but give them a go!"

Before we get to this week's guest, we have news to

share of a mixed-emotion-nature...

Mona Pendleton has decided it's time to work on

some new creative projects and will no longer be

designing with us here in The Cafe.

Mona went from being a weekly player to

our first Private Blend Designer and eventually

to our senior design team.

We will miss her weekly inspiration here

but we're sure that you'll be finding Mona 

in some new and exciting creative places!

How fun for us to welcome our newest

celebrity guest designer from the UK...

Lucy Abrams.

Lucy only lives a short 5 minute drive from

our Sarah, but not even Sarah was aware

until we were preparing for this week's post!

"I am an English and Drama teacher from

Manchester, England and 

I love to play with paper and stamps.  

I have a wonderful husband

who lets me hide away for hours upstairs,

'working' away in my little studio.

I was introduced to papercrafts in 2008 when my

sister gave me a scrapbooking kit.  I managed to

complete a single (awful) page before turning my

hand to card making.  I was hooked instantly!

Now I am lucky enough to design for several companies

including Hero Arts, My Cute Stamps and

Twopeasinabucket.com.

You are welcome to come visit my blog

Lucy's Cards...I'd love to see you there!"

It's been really great learning about where our

design team creates...we hope you have enjoyed it.

Our final designer to share her creative space is

Suzanne Czosek, your host for this week's challenge...

"I started out my craft space using a desk my husband

made in high school.  This triggered me moving my craft

space to our den, which is a shared space with the

family computer, which in turn gets me lots of company!

My original desk has been re-purposed for the computer

and I now use a long piece of countertop as my desktop.

My DH promises to build cabinets to go under it when

he gets time.  In the interim, I am supporting my countertop

with old table legs and the storage for all my supplies are

in plastic drawers and on shelves."

Here's what the rest of our designers have done to inspire you.....

Savannah O'Gwynn ~ Savannahland2

Stephanie Kraft ~ HandKrafted by Stephanie

Ruby McGuire ~ Ruby 2 Shoes Design

Lisa Somerville ~ Splendiferous Creations

This week's prize is 
A Stamper's Grab Bag!

Please follow the rules carefully to enter.

Deadline for prizes is 11:59pm EST on Tuesday
The 'Cup of the Week' will be announced during the next challenge.

ALL SKILL LEVELS ARE ENCOURAGED TO PLAY! 
We want you to enjoy this challenge. 

Interpret the colors the way you see them. 

We do not use specific card stock color names or brands.

Break out of the box and have fun! 

The main requirement is:

PDCC COLORS BE THE 

FOCUS OF YOUR SUBMISSION

When using additional colors, please limit them to neutrals. 

You are welcome to combine challenges, 
but we do ask that:
 1. The PDCC name and/or photo is used
2. OUR colors are the focus of the card.
 

See complete rules on sidebar at right

The Fab 4

The Cream in our Coffee

and

THE CUP of the WEEK

Another challenge has come to a close.

A very warm thank you to all who entered.

This challenge is only successful because of YOU
so please, PLEASE play with us again!

 The Play Date Cafe congratulates 
The Fab 4 for Challenge #34:

(in alphabetical order)

 Hazel ~ My Crafty Outlook

Ann B ~ Anne's Cabin Creations
Deb N ~ Paper, Ink, Scissors
Evelyn ~ Beyond Just Black and White

The Fab can proudly display the

'I Made the Fab 4'

badge on their blogs!

The Cream in our Coffee

( make sure you see this talent, too! )

Jen Johns

Michele
Lorrie M
Julie H
Emily K
Barbara W

Hellemor

Jaydee
Miss Iowa
Paul B

Andrea M

Cecelia B

and The Play Date Cafe Cup of the Week...

Nancy ~ Happy Heart Studio

Nancy wins the fabby giveaway from

and can proudly display the 'Play Date Cafe Winner' Badge.

Nancy will also be eligible to be a

guest designer here in The Cafe.

Nancy, please contact Julie Ranae at julieranae@hotmail.com

with your mailing address to receive your prize.

The Play Date Cafe Challenge PDCC34

It is 'Color Splash' week here in 

The Play Date Cafe.

The design team enjoy hearing your

feedback each week and we know that
the 'color splash' challenge

is one of your all-time favorites.

'Color Splash' 
is simply black & white with a  
'bit' of color.

 THIS TIME "ROUND...
IT'S BLUE!
The shade choices here are YOUR INTERPRETATION.

Here is just a 'taste' of inspiration to get

you started by this week's senior DT host,

Julie Ranae of Julie's Open Window.

We are happy to welcome back

 Limelight Paper Crafts

as this week's sponsor 

and HERE is what you might win...

 

We also welcome the owner of Limelight, 

Mandy Cheshire 
as our Celebrity Guest Designer.

"We are SO glad you

'stepped into the Limelight'!

My husband Drew and I are commited

to bringing you the best the stamping and

scrapbooking world have to offer

at a great price.  We are constantly seeking

out new and exciting products.

Please stop by our website and take a look

around.  We are sure you will find what you

need to inspire your creativity and create

beautiful projects."

Your design team host for this week's challenge is

Lisa Somerville.  

Let's get a 'glimpse' inside

her creative space....

"My studio is in the back portion of our house.  It's a

nice-sized room with an 'L-shaped' countertop and

cabinets overhead for plenty of storage.  I also have

a wonderful cabinet on my wall that my father-in-law

built for even more storage.

I do tend to keep things out on my workspace that I

use daily, which sometimes (well, most of the time)

only leaves me a 10" x 10" workspace.

After all, a studio is supposed to be messy, right...

it's a creative place!

I did however, clean up my space for you,

so come by and take a look at where I create."

Here's what the rest of our designers have done to inspire you.....

Suzanne Czosek ~ Suzz's Stamping Spot

Savannah O'Gwynn ~ Savannahland2

Senior Designer 

Sarah Anderson ~ The Art of Moodling

Stephanie Kraft ~ HandKrafted by Stephanie

Ruby McGuire ~ Ruby 2 Shoes Design

Senior Designer
Mona Pendleton ~ Cupcake's Creations

Please follow the rules carefully to enter.

Deadline for prizes is 11:59pm EST on Tuesday
The 'Cup of the Week' will be announced during the next challenge.

ALL SKILL LEVELS ARE ENCOURAGED TO PLAY! 
We want you to enjoy this challenge. 

Interpret the colors the way you see them. 

We do not use specific card stock color names or brands.

Break out of the box and have fun! 

The main requirement is:

PDCC COLORS BE THE 

FOCUS OF YOUR SUBMISSION

When using additional colors, please limit them to neutrals. 

You are welcome to combine challenges, 
but we do ask that:
 1. The PDCC name and/or photo is used
2. OUR colors are the focus of the card.
 

See complete rules on sidebar at right

The Fab 4

The Cream in our Coffee

and

THE CUP of the WEEK

Another challenge has come to a close.

A very warm thank you to all who entered.

This challenge is only successful because of YOU
so please, PLEASE play with us again!

 The Play Date Cafe congratulates 
The Fab 4 for Challenge #33:

(in alphabetical order)

 Ann Cox ~ Creative Antics

Elise ~ Mamacow Creations
Kirsty V ~ Handmade Little Things
Luana ~ Wannabug Creations

The Fab can proudly display the

'I Made the Fab 4'

badge on their blogs!

The Cream in our Coffee

( make sure you see this talent, too! )

TanteKathe

Banu
Sue Lelli
Erin T
Mary B
Laurie W

Agata

Diana Evans
Karin
Piali

and The Play Date Cafe Cup of the Week...

Arielle ~ Snappy Stampin'

Arielle wins the stamp set from

and can proudly display the 'Play Date Cafe Winner' Badge.

Arielle will also be eligible to be a

guest designer here in The Cafe.

Arielle, please contact Julie Ranae at julieranae@hotmail.com
with your mailing address to receive your prize.