Flowers Are The Music of Life...

Hi again!  Three posts in one day?  I haven't had time to do that in a long time.  Hopefully I will have more time to do that now that I am only working mornings... woohoo!

So, when I got home today I perused the blogs and came across this very, shall we say, *interesting*, color combination from the Play Date Cafe.  When I first saw the picture I thought, "EWWWWWW!"  But, what is a challenge if it's not a *challenge*?

I had to think long and hard about how I was going to incorporate all of the colors in one card and then I remembered Melissa Craig's Tuesday Morning Sketch and knew it would work:

Recipe: Stamp: Floral Symphony (Verve)  Ink: Cajun Craze  Paper: Cajun Craze, Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip, Melon Mambo  Accessories: paper piercer, adhesive pearls, sponge dauber, Chocolate Chip satin ribbon, Nested Flower & Circles Nesties, Perfect Polka Dots EF, Floral Symphony EF, sewing machine

Okie dokie - that's it for me today.  It's almost suppertime and the eldest should be calling soon to be picked up from his volleyball game.  Enjoy your evening - see you again soon!

Hanging With My Peeps at the 4 Crafty Chicks!

Are you ready to play with the 4 Crafty Chicks?  We are so excited this week because not only is the Golden Egg award up for grabs but this week is our CRAZY EGG challenge!  Most months only have four Thursdays but when there are five Thursdays we want to celebrate by offering a PRIZE!!  Isn't that exciting?  So, to commemorate our very first Crazy Egg challenge, we want to see a card or project with a chick or bird on it...makes sense, right?

So, I went through my stamps and discovered that I don't have very many sets with birds or chicks on them.  I did find one that, *shhhhhh....*, had never seen ink and I knew it would be perfect.  I LOVE Stacey's Curtain Call Color Challenge colors this week:

And Jen's Sketch For You To Try was a match made in heaven:

So I rotated it a bit and...

Recipe - Stamps: Spring Fling (Pink Paislee), sentiment from Hangin' With My Peeps (MFT)  Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Sahara Sand, SU! DSP  Ink: Versafine Onyx Black  Accessories: Clear embossing powder, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, paper piercer, Flower Vines embossing folder, Real Red polka dot ribbon

I had so much fun making this card - it totally makes me smile.  :)  It's pretty basic - just a bit of embossing & some paper piecing...  I hope you will take some time to play along with us at the 4 Crafty Chicks ~ we have been so thrilled with all of the participants in our first month of challenges and we can't wait to visit your blogs and see what you create for us.  :)

See you later!

Thursday Morning Hello...

Good morning everyone!  It's a chilly one here in Central Alberta but it's supposed to warm up this afternoon so dressing in layers is a must today.  I wanted to get this posted before I forgot about it ... too much stuff going on these days.

I absolutely {heart} this week's Color Throwdown - another warm, fall combination:

I needed a sketch that was quick and easy so off to clean & simple stamping I went and found this:

Stamps: Plain Jane (Verve)  Paper: Kraft, Riding Hood Red, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Old Olive, SU! DSP  Ink: Riding Hood Red  Accessories: Paper piercer, Leafy branch embossing folder, EK Success border punch, striped Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, adhesive pearls

This is not your typical "Melissa card" but I kind of like it.  Enjoy your Thursday - see you in about half an hour for a new 4 Crafty Chicks Challenge!

Happy Birthday Colour Q!!!

How exciting!!!  Arielle and the group over at the Colour Q challenge are celebrating their FIRST birthday - that's fifty-two fabulous colour combinations to inspire us!  Well, actually it is only fifty-one because this week's challenge is a bit different - we get to PICK our favorite combo from the last year and then use those colors to make a card with THIS fabulous sketch:

SO, I went back to the very beginning - I didn't "find" Arielle until Challenge #9 so it was fun to see what combos I missed.  When I saw this inspiration photo I was immediately drawn to it:

The colors reminded me of a warm, fall day with the sun shining in a clear, blue sky so that's the direction my card went... I didn't have any Really Rust so I had to use Dusty Durango instead:

Recipe - Stamps: Psalm 84:11 (Verve)  Ink: More Mustard, Dusty Durango  Paper: Whisper White, Dusty Durango, More Mustard, Brocade Blue, Bordering Blue, SU! DSP  Accessories: Paper piercer, buttons, twine, Square Lattice embossing folder, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder

I have really enjoyed participating in the Colour Q challenges and wish Arielle and her Royal Court many more weeks of wonderfully inspiring color combinations!  Oh - I almost forgot... this week's Colour Queen will get to be a member of the Royal Court until the end of the year!  And if that wasn't enough, one random player will win a $25 gift certificate from either Papertrey Ink, Stampin' Up!, twopeasinabucket.com or jessicaspague.com!  So what are you waiting for?  Go pick your favorite combo and make sumthin'!  Have fun!

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!

A Tuesday Afternoon Quickie

OMG - I am so excited about this card!  So quick and easy and sooooo pretty.  I was introduced to this technique on the weekend at our monthly stamping get-together and fell IN LOVE.  So, here it is:

I started by stamping the image (Skater`s Pond, Thomas Kinkade) on Very Vanilla with Versafine Olympia Green.  Then I cut out a piece of Sookwang adhesive sheet that was a bit larger than my stamped image.  I peeled one side of the adhesive off and placed the image face down onto the sticky side.  Using a craft knife, I carefully trimmed around the image and then peeled off the other protective paper, revealing the other sticky side.  I placed it face down in a tray of Sugar Beads (Be Creative) and moved it around to ensure that the image was fully covered.  I matted the image on some Always Artichoke cardstock and adhered it to a 5.25 inch square card base... and that`s IT! It is very hard to see the glittery dimension this card has but if you give this technique a try, I guarantee you will LOVE it!

That`s my time today - enjoy your Tuesday.  I hope the weather is nicer wherever you are - I`ve started to grow webbed feet.  Later gators!

Picture Perfect Creations #32

Welcome to the last week of September - is it a beautiful fall day where you are?  I LOVE the colors Megan has chosen for us this week at Picture Perfect Creations as they are perfect for this time of the year:

I put them together with the sketch from Unscripted Sketches:

And voila!

Recipe - Stamp: Teeny Tiny Wishes (SU!)  Ink: Cajun Craze  Paper: Cajun Craze, Whisper White, More Mustard, SU! DSP  Accessories: Flower Vine embossing folder (Sizzix), Nesties, jewelry tag punch, paper piercer, adhesive pearls, hemp twine, bird punch

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will join us for this week's challenge.  Make sure to stop and see what the rest of the PPC Creators have done with these colors - their links are to the left.  See you soon!

4 Crafty Chicks' Challenge #4!

Hello again everyone!  Are you ready for another 4 Crafty Chicks Challenge?  This week's challenge is brought to us by the one and only Lori - can you do "Fall"???  'Tis the time of year when we start to think about {winter}.  For me, it's my favorite time of the year - the smells, the crisp air, the crunchy leaves..love it all!  So, to help me with my fall-inspired card, I used Arielle's Colour Q combination from this week...it is PERFECT!

I love Julee's Mojo Monday sketch - so CAS:

Recipe - Stamps: Tall Oaks (Verve)  Ink: Versafine Onyx Black  Paper: Whisper White, Poppy Parade, Old Olive, Peach Parfait, SU! DSP  Accessories: Clear embossing powder, sewing machine, Nesties, Optic Dot border punch, buttons, twine, Old Olive twill ribbon

I hope you will play along with us this week at the 4 Crafty Chicks.  Enjoy the rest of your week - 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!

Wanna See Scarlette and her JUGS?

Well, OK... I'm stretching it a little.  No one's going to see anything they shouldn't on this-here blog...no siree.  Yes, there's a bathtub and yes, there are a few bubbles but...  What I *was* referring to (not very eloquently, I might add) is the fact that the Scarlette stamp I used for this card was combined with the Just Us Girls color challenge.  I also used the Crazy 4 Challenges sketch and this week's Totally Stampalicious challenge to use three different ribbons on our project.

Recipe - Stamps: Bubble Bath Scarlette (Totally Stampalicious)  Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red, Wild Wasabi  Ink: Versafine Onyx Black  Accessories: Silver brads, various ribbons, oval punch, Nesties, clear embossing powder, Copics, Twizzle embossing folder (Sizzix), twine

Thanks for stopping by today - can you believe we are almost at the end of September?  ACK!  I really need to see the sunshine for a *few* more days...enough of this rainy stuff.  See you again soon!

Picture Perfect Creations #31 & Our Creative Corner

Well...talk about a challenge!  Megan is giving us a very, shall we say, interesting, color combination over at the Picture Perfect Creations Color Combination challenge:

I love all of these colors but the two that gave me the most trouble were the Rose Red and the Riding Hood Red.  I went in search of a sketch that might help me make sense of this combo and found that Our Creative Corner has a nice one for us this week:

So- off I went... I filed two cards under "G" before I finally settled on this one:

Recipe - Stamps: Thankful Accents (Verve)  Ink: Rose Red  Paper: Whisper White, Perfect Plum, River Rock, Riding Hood Red, unknown pattern paper  Accessories: Satin Ribbon, sewing machine, paper piercer, Vintage Wallpaper EF, Seeing Spots EF, circle and scallop punch, adhesive pearls

And, again, I used stitching to attach the ribbon so it qualifies for Stampin' Royalty's "Stitching" challenge this week.

I hope you will take some time to stop and see what the rest of the PPC Creators did with these colors - their links are to the left in the sidebar.  Have fun and good luck!  LOL

Diva Coffee Break Designs Meets The Sweet Sunday Sketch

Hello again!

It is C-O-L-D and rainy here in Central Alberta today - the perfect combination for staying inside and CRAFTING!!  I knew you'd agree...  :)  So, I combined the Diva Coffee Break Designs color challenge with Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch.

At first, the colors screamed fall, but when I looked through my stamps, I didn't find anything that screamed "Use ME!" so I went in a completely different direction and made a boy-ish card:

Recipe: Stamps - Dog-Gone Cute (MFT)  Paper: Kraft, Cajun Craze, Peach Parfait, Very Vanilla,
Wild Wasabi, Woodland Garden DSP  Ink: Versafine Onyx Black  Accessories: Nesties, Seeing Spots EF, Gridlock EF, clear embossing powder, twine, Copics
 

I had so much fun paper-piecing his clothes - isn't he cute?  The colors are very fall-ish so this card also qualifies for Paper Sundaes' challenge this week to use fall or Halloween colors.

Thanks for stopping by - I hope the weather is much nicer wherever you are!  Send some this way if you can.  :)  See you tomorrow!

Another 3-in-One Quickie. . .

Hey again, crafty friends!

Here I am again . . . still recovering from a nasty tummy bug.  At least I have been able to eat a bit today which is a good sign, right?  I thought I'd work on a little something this morning and immediately put this week's fabulous Color Throwdown together with Mercy's Tuesday Sketch:

Recipe - Stamps: Beautiful Kindness (Verve)  Paper: Pink Pirouette, Basic Grey, Rich Razzleberry, SU! DSP  Ink: Pink Pirouette, Rich Razzleberry  Accessories: Paper piercer, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Basic Grey satin ribbon, Nesties, Scallop Edge border punch, sewing machine, adhesive pearls

I also stitched the ribbon so this card qualifies for Stampin' Royalty's "Stitching" Challenge #37.

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you have plans to enjoy the weekend.  I'm hoping to feel good enough to get out in the yard to start putting stuff away and get ready for, shhhhhh.... {winter}.  See you soon!

Unscripted Sketches #72 & Colour Q #50

Hi everyone!

I'm going to make this post short and sweet - I've been home sick all day but wanted to get this card posted before I forgot about it.  I used Arielle's Colour Q challenge (can you believe she's at #50 already??) and the sketch from Unscripted Sketches (rotated):

 

 

Recipe - Stamps: Forever in Our Hearts (Verve), Vintage Labels (SU!)  Ink: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler  Paper: SU! DSP, Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait  Accessories: Paper piercer, sewing machine, taffeta ribbon, SU! border punch, adhesive pearls, hodgepodge hardware frame, oval punches

This card also qualifies for Stampin' Royalty #37 Challenge to use stitching.

Thanks for stopping by - don't forget to check out the new challenge over at the 4 Crafty Chicks!  We'd love to have you join us!  See you soon!