A Color Challenge at the 4 Crafty Chicks!

Howdy peeps!  How has the week been treating you thus far?  I've been busy (as usual) but it's been a good busy.  It's time for another challenge from the 4 Crafty Chicks who are down to two for this week and next... Tamie and Lori are off in Florida for some much needed rest and relaxation so Leanne and I are holding down the fort, so to speak.  :)  I'm your hostess with the mostest this week and I've come up with a lovely color combo for you all to work with:

I love the calmness that this combo inspired in me - how will you make these colors work for you?  I combined the colors with Jen's March Sketch For You to Try...a wonky panel???  Really???  UGH...I guess that's why they call it a challenge, right???  Here you go:

I tried to keep it as CAS as I could...

Stamps: Meditations (Verve)  Ink: Basic Grey  Paper: Very Vanilla, Concord Crush, Pretty in Pink, Lap of Luxury DSP (SU!)  Accessories: Sewing machine, sheer pink ribbon..that's it???

I hope you will join us for this color challenge.  As always, if you don't have these *exact* colors, please feel free to use whatever you have on hand that is close.  :)  Leanne and I can't wait to see what you create!

Act #42 & Unscripted Sketches

How fun are the new In Colors from Stampin' Up???  Well, I can only {hope} that they are as lovely as they look because, sadly, I {still} don't have any of them...*sniff*... yet.  :)  I FINALLY placed an order with my enabler, Lori, the other day and my new stuff should be here within the next couple of weeks!

So, in order to play with Stacey's Curtain Call Color Challenge this week, I had to be {creative}.  I dug through my stash of non-SU! cardstock (mostly Bazzill stuff that was on sale at my LSS) and found something that I {think} is close to the Peach Parfait and then used some Basic Grey paper that looks like it could be Pear Pizazz.  I had a few scraps of Early Espresso that Lori had given me awhile back for another project so I made good use of what I had left.

I used the newest sketch from Unscripted Sketches:

And got this:

Stamp: Meditations (Verve)  Paper: Early Espresso, Basic Grey DP, Very Vanilla, Bazzill CS  Ink: Chocolate Chip  Accessories: Paper piercer, satin flower, buttons, gingham ribbon, twine

The rest of the Curtain Call Crew has samples to show you today, too, so make sure you stop by to see:

Amy White at Devlinwhite Designs
Andrea Roose at Andrea's Scrap- und Stampel Blog
Iwona Palamountain (Chupa) at Random Acts of Creativity
Julie Smith at Paper and Such
Lea Lawson at Lea's Cupcakes & Sunshine
Marisa Ritzen at Rosemary Reflections
Shelley Germann at Stampin' Garden
Sue Kohler at My Inner Reflection 


and our fabulous Guest Designer for August...Teresa Kline at Enjoy the VA Sunshine.

...then play along with us and post your Curtain Call Color Challenge: Act 41 creation using Mr. Linky back over at Stacey's Stamping Stage.

Have fun!

Cupcake Challenge x 9 = Mucho Fun!

What a fun weekend I had!  Taylor is celebrating a year of Cupcake Challenges and she and her Cupcake Crew came up with not ONE, but NINE amazing sketches for us all to play along with.  Let me tell you - I was so "in the groove" I was up until the wee hours on Saturday night/Sunday morning.  For those of you who KNOW me, that is UNHEARD of!  LOL  Not only are there some great sketches but each sketch hostess-with-the-mostest is also offering up some great prizes.

Since I have so many cards to get through, I won't put a lot of details about each one but I will post the recipe.  I have been trying so hard to use up my scraps and papers I've already cut into so all of these cards were made from this part of my stash.  Hopefully, if you click on each picture, it will open a bit bigger so you can *see* it.  I did use my Copics for the first times on these cards - I think I did OK with them but I still have a LOT to learn (and many more colors to get!)  SO, without further ado. . .

Taylor's Sketch

Stamps: Billybootabella (Stamping Bella), sentiment from "Rain or Shine" (MFT)  Ink: Onyx Black Versafine  Paper: Groovy Guava, Chocolate Chip, Barely Banana, Whisper White, Ginger Blossom DP  Accessories: MS border punch, Nesties, Copics, GG stitched ribbon, flowers, brad, oval punch, designer label punch, 1-3/8" circle punch, clear embossing powder

Jackie's Sketch

Stamps: Sweetybellas (Stamping Bella), unknown sentiment  Ink: Onyx Black Versafine  Paper: Rose Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, DP  Accessories: Nesties, Copics, clear embossing powder, adhesive pearls, Hodgepodge Hardware, ribbon, Swiss Dots EF, black brads

Jami's Sketch

Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Warm Words  Ink: Not Quite Navy, Versamark  Paper: Urban Garden DP, Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, WW  Accessories: Top Note Die, Nesties, clear embossing powder, Hodgepodge Hardware, Swiss Dots EF, Kiwi Kiss ribbon

Ana's Sketch

Stamps: Eastern Blooms  Ink: Ruby Red, River Rock, Versamark  Paper: Ginger Blossom DP, River Rock, Ruby Red, Groovy Guava, WW  Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, Nesties, silver brads, clear ambossing powder, pewter jumbo eyelets, River Rock stitched ribbon, bird/grasses embossing folder, flowers

Vicki's Sketch

Stamps: Snowman Bird (Hampton Arts), sentiment from MFT's "Baby It's Cold Outside"  Ink: Onyx Black Versafine, Real Red  Paper: Ski Slope DP, Real Red, Old Olive  Accessories: Nesties, Copics, pewter jumbo eyelets, ribbon, tab punch, brads, Martha Stewart border punch, paper piercer

Donna's Sketch

Stamps: Meditations (Verve), Faux Stitching  Ink: Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip  Paper: Bella Rose DP, Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss  Accessories: Flowers, rhinestone brad, ribbon, 1-1/4" square punch

Sherrie's Sketch

Stamps: Lovey Huggabugg & sentiment (Stamping Bella)  Ink: Onyx Black Versafine, Bravo Burgundy  Paper: Bravo Burgundy, Bordering Blue, So Saffron, Whisper White  Accessories: Nesties, Copics, grosgrain ribbon, adhesive pearls, Martha Stewart border punch, Swiss Dots EF

Stephanie's Sketch

Stamps: Unknown cupcake stamp  Ink: Onyx Black Versafine  Paper:  Regal Rose, Taken With Teal, Chocolate Chip, SU! DP (retired)  Accessories: Birthday embossing folder, Nesties, Copics, ribbon, chocolate brads, pink heart brad, clear embossing powder

Monika's Sketch

Stamps: Happy Heart Day  Ink: Onyx Black Versafine  Paper: Hawaii Papaya DP, Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip  Accessories: Nesties, Copics, Tangerine Tango Ribbon, flower, brad

Well, that's all of them! I hope you will all go over and take a look at each of the sample cards the Cupcake Crew has put together. I had so much fun and any it was a good excuse to craft in exchange for a chance to win goodies!

Have a great week!

I Tried - *Really* I Did. . .

. . . to not use any pearls on this card.  You have to believe me {insert pleading look here}.  In fact, I had the entire card put together and was even taking pictures of it before I just couldn't stand it any longer!  That space down below the scallops was just too perfect for some tiny Pomegranate pearls.

Let me back up a bit - it's Viva La Verve Sketch Friday over at Splitcoast and this week's sketch was pretty straight-forward and the "twist" this week's was to use flowers:

I was out and about this morning and stopped to check out the scrapbooking section at our local drug store.  I picked up a pad of DP from K&Company that was the jumping off point for my card:
Recipe: Stamps: Meditations (Verve), Inspired by Nature (SU!)  Paper: So Saffron, Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, "Urban Rhapsody" (K&Company)  Ink: Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate, Barely Banana  Accessories: Nestabilities, paper flowers, rhinestone brads, paper piercer, Martha Stewart border punch, Purely Pomegranate satin ribbon, adhesive pearls, sponge dauber

I've been having trouble taking a good picture - it's either too dark or too bright. . . this one's too dark.  But my readers are so very clever, they can *imagine* what it really looks like!  

Taylor is celebrating a year of Cupcake Challenges with 9 sketches this week so if I'm going to finish all of them, I'd better get busy!  Later!