A Color Dare Perfect For Christmas...

SO...have you started making your Christmas cards yet?  If you haven't, then this week's Color Dare combination is a PERFECT jumping-off point for you to get started - no excuses!  :)  Riley has given us Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla to work with - don't you love them?  When I created my card, I had just gotten home from a weekend away visiting my parents and was NOT interested in trying to use my brain to "go against the grain", so a Christmas card it was.  :)  I wanted to use a new Flourishes stamps set so I tried to find a sketch that would help me along and Kazan's 2 Sketches 4 You sketch was perfect:

Recipe - Stamps: Sleigh Ride (Flourishes), Ornamental Christmas (Verve)  Paper: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz  Ink: Early Espresso  Accessories: Modern Label punch, brads, paper piercer, Parisian border punch, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Nesties, Chocolate Chip satin ribbon, Pear Pizzazz twill ribbon, jumbo eyelet, sponge dauber

Thanks for taking the time to stop in today - I hope you will join us over at the Color Dare.  If you need more inspiration, please visit the rest of the design team members' blogs - their links are to the left.  Enjoy the rest of the week!!

PPC #34 & Truly Scrumptious #42

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian friends!  Here in Alberta the weather has been absolutely perfect - warm, sunny with a bit of a breeze to make the leaves rustle and fall on the ground.  This week's Picture Perfect Creations color combo can be interpreted and used for many different occasions:

When I saw the Artichoke, I knew I wanted to try the technique I used a couple of weeks ago with the double-sided tape sheets and glitter over the stamped image.  I dug out a retired Stampin' Up set, Sleigh Bells Ring, and set off to find a sketch that would accommodate the image.  When I saw the sketch from Truly Scrumptious I knew it was the one:

Not only was the sketch perfect, but the additional challenge was to use a snowflake on your card - perfect for a winter wonderland image.  You can't tell from this picture but the ribbon is tied together keeping the two halves together:

Recipe - Stamps: Sleigh Bells Ring, Christmas Greetings (SU!)  Paper: Always Artichoke, Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, SU! DSP  Ink: Olympia Green Versafine, Rich Razzleberry  Accessories: Paper piercer, Rich Razzleberry polka dot ribbon, snowflake brad, Be Creative double-sided adhesive sheets, Glitter Ritz transparent Warm Highlights glitter

I hope you will take sometime to play with us over at Picture Perfect Creations - we always love to see what you create for us.  If you have some time, stop and check out the rest of the PPC Creators' blogs to see what they created with these colors.

Challenge #6 at the 4 Crafty Chicks!

Welcome back for another fun-filled 4 Crafty Chicks Challenge. This week's challenge is brought to us by Leanne and she wants to see some distressing on our cards.  I must admit, this isn't a technique I use very often so it was fun to give it a go for this card.

I found an awesome color combination over at Crazy 4 Challenges and immediately knew I wanted to use it...and there's a prize up for grabs this week - a $25 VERVE gift certificate!!  WOOHOO!  One can never have too many Verves, in my opinion.  :)

Laura and Kazan over at 2 Sketches 4 You have a sketch that is very open to interpretation and I definitely took liberties with it:

Stamps: Prima Clear Stamp  Paper: Kraft, Basic Black, Wild Wasabi DSP   Ink: Versafine Onyx Black  Accessories: Chipboard swirl, clear embossing powder, felt flower, button, twine, So Saffron striped ribbon, paper piercer

I inked my chipboard with Onyx Black Versafine and then sprinkled clear embossing powder on it to give it some dimension so this card also qualifies for Tuesday Throwdown's challenge to use chipboard.

I wasn't sure about all of the empty space on the Kraft panel but, against my instinct, I left it alone.  I *so* wanted to emboss it or paper poke it or something...

I hope you will join us over at the 4 Crafty Chicks for our distressing challenge...we love to see what you create!

Color Dare #79 & Mojo Monday Madness!

Hey everyone!

I hope you are ready for another fabulous Color Dare combination - Riley's given us a lovely one: Early Espresso, Marina Mist and Wild Wasabi.  I don't have any DSP in the new colors (note to self...order some!) so this was a bit of a challenge for me.  I did, however, manage to find some Wild Wasabi paper in my stash that I could use for my scallop circle flower.

Off I went in search of a sketch and Julee's Mojo Monday sketch fit the bill:

Recipe - Stamps: Love's Flowers (Verve)  Ink: Marina Mist, Early Espresso  Paper: Whisper White, Marina Mist, Early Espresso, Wild Wasabi, SU! DSP  Accessories: Scalloped Circle Punch, button, twine, Embossed Curve border punch, Wild Wasabi stitched ribbon, Perfect Polka Dots EF, Victoria EF, adhesive pearls

I think I'm going to have to give this sketch another shot because I'm not sure I did it justice.  :(  I hope you will stop over to play with us at the Color Dare and check out what the rest of the Design Team created.  See you tomorrow for a new 4 Crafty Chicks challenge.  :)

Take Two - Mojo Monday & The Play Date Cafe

OK... I have to admit something... I was wrong.  I know, I know, "How can that be possible?" {giggle} But, alas, it is. (Just don't tell my husband...)  Last week, I made a card for the Play Date Cafe and was NOT lovin' these colors...but the more I thought about them, the more they grew on me.  So much so that I had to make one more card before the deadline.  If you missed my card last week, here's the inspiration picture:

I used Julee's fabulous Mojo Monday sketch:

And voila!

Recipe - Stamps: Upsy Daisy (SU!), Celebrating You (Verve)  Ink:  Melon Mambo, Versamark  Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Cajun Craze, Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise  Accessories:  Tea Dye embossing powder (Tim Holtz), Perfect Polka Dots EF, Argyle EF, Optic Dot border punch, Melon Mambo polka dot ribbon, button, twine, adhesive pearls, scallop circle punch, circle punches

Thanks for stopping by on this lovely, fall, Tuesday afternoon.  I am sure enjoying only working mornings - leaves me so much more time to create.  See you tomorrow with a new Color Dare!

PPC #33 and TWO Celebrations!!!

Oh MY GOODNESS!!!  This week's Picture Perfect Creations Color Combo screams "fun" and I immediately knew I wanted to ink up one of my Kraftin' Kimmie's that has never seen ink...(I'm sure none of you have stamps like that, right?  *wink*)

So, imagine my surprise when I clicked over to the Kraftin' Kimmie blog and discovered that they are CELEBRATING their one year ANNIVERSARY with a fun blog hop and this week's challenge is to create a "celebration" card!  How fun!  So, alright...I've got the colors, the theme, the stamp...all that's missing is the sketch.  So, off I went to the Just Us Girls challenge blog and, lo and behold, they TOO are celebrating their one year anniversary!   Both blogs even have prizes to make the party more fun so if you have time, make sure you stop by to play along.  Anyhoo...the JUGS girls have a sketch for us this week:

Once I got started, I realized that my image was a bit too big to make a regular size card so I went with a 5-1/4" square instead:

Stamps: Goldilocks (Kraftin' Kimmie)  Ink: Garden Green  Paper: Whisper White, Night of Navy, various SU! DSP  Accessories: Sewing machine, Copics, Optic Dot border punch, adhesive pearls, So Saffron striped ribbon, Twizzle embossing folder, button, hemp twine, Lots of Tags Label One Sizzlit, dimensionals 

I figured that the sentiment was pretty versatile and could celebrate many different occasions - a birthday, an anniversary, friendship or even a get well soon or thinking of you...  Isn't she adorable?

I hope you will play along with us over at Picture Perfect Creations - we always love to see how you interpret the colors and make them your own.  :)  If you have time, check out the other PPC Creators' blogs to see what they made using these colors.

Enjoy your Monday - see you again soon!

Blog Candy Alert!!

Hey everyone!

Sheila and the gals over at Scrappin' Great Deals have some awesome blog candy to give away to one lucky crafter.  Hop on over to their blog for all the details and to see the cutest stamps up for grabs...

THEN, if you've got some time, stop in at the Scrappin' Great Deals website and check out their Daily Sale Event - my mom and I LIVE for the daily sales!  LOL  And, until midnight tonight (EST), all Copics and Stamps are 25% off!  Just click on the "Card-Making Event" link on their left sidebar and then start shopping!  :)

Happy shopping!