Thursday Afternoon Fun With the Play Date Cafe

Hi everyone!  I had some spare time this afternoon to craft for fun so I popped over to the Play Date Cafe to see what they had for us this week and found this lovely inspiration photo:

So, the color splash is lilac (or any shade of purple).  Purple isn't a color I use very often ~ about the only time I do is when it is part of a color challenge ~ so I was kind of excited to use it for this challenge.  I had a picture in my mind of what stamp I wanted to use and when I found the clean & simple stamping sketch, I knew it fit the bill:

Stamps: Happily Ever After (Darcie's)  Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Perfect Plum  Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, polka dot transparency  Accessories: MS border punch, black satin ribbon, adhesive pearls, jump ring, filigree brad flower, heart brad, Labels Five, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, clear embossing powder, sponge dauber

Thanks for popping by tonight - I'm off to eat some supper and chill out with the family.  I've got tomorrow off so who knows what fun I might get myself into?  Stay tuned...  :)  Night all!

4 Crafty Chicks' Color Challenge & a Mojo Monday Sketch

Welcome back crafty peeps!  How's the week been treating you all?  I've been busy out and about ~ the gym has been my second home this week.  I am trying to get there four times a week now... we'll see if I can do it.  Yesterday's workout nearly killed me.  Anyone out there hate the Jacob's Ladder machine as much as I do?  UGH.  But, what's the saying?  "That which does not kill you makes you stronger?"  Not sure I believe *that* but...  ;)

Anyways, enough about me - this week's challenge over at the 4 Crafty Chicks is brought to you by our hostess-with-the-mostest, Lori  and she has given us a fun color combination to work with:

As always, if you don't have these exact colors, just use whatever you have that is close.  I paired these colors with Julee's Mojo Monday sketch...love this one!  But, what Mojo sketch *don't* I love? :)

I rotated it ninety degrees...

Stamps: Thankful Accents, Accent Notes (Verve)  Paper: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Kraft, SU! DSP  Ink: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip  Accessories: Brown gingham ribbon, paper piercer, Nesties, hat pin & pearls, corner rounder, dimensionals, sponge dauber

I hope you will stop over at the rest of the Chicks' blogs to see what they created and then play along with us!  We love to peek at your blogs and admire all the creativity out there.  Have a great week, everyone! 

Color Dare Meets Viva la Verve!

Welcome back everyone!  Today's crafty installment comes to you courtesy of the Color Dare and Viva la Verve, Week Four.  Riley has given us a Color Dare combination perfect for making a Valentine or two for the "special someones in your life: Pretty in Pink, Perfect Plum, and Pear Pizzazz and Sankari's sketch gives you a great jumping-off point:

Stamps: Love Monkey (Verve)  Paper: Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Perfect Plum, SU! DSP  Ink: Perfect Plum  Accessories: Argyle embossing folder, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, paper piercer, heart brads, EK Success border punch, Pretty in Pink satin ribbon, silver cord, Nesties, jeweled button

Thanks for stopping by today - we'd love it if you would play along with us this week at the Color Dare.  See you tomorrow for a new 4 Crafty Chicks Challenge!

PPC Monday

Welcome back, ladies (and gents?)  I spent a lovely weekend doing NOTHING...yes, you heard me right...nada.  Well, I suppose that's not *entirely* the truth - I did bake cinnamon buns, prepare lasagna for the freezer, and bake a couple of yummy, *healthy* loaves (Loaf Potion #9 from my Eat, Shrink and Be Merry cookbook) but I didn't craft one iota.  I *will* be crafting a bit later on, though.  :)

Today's Picture Perfect Creations Color Combo is a fun one - LOVE me some Cherry Cobbler:

And here's another one of the Vivia la Verve sketches - with a tilted panel...ACK!

Stamps: Be Mine Plain Jane (Verve)  Ink: Cherry Cobbler  Paper: Very Vanilla, Marina Mist, Bashful Blue, Oliver DSP (Basic Grey)  Accessories: Flower Vines EF (Sizzix), twine, Bashful Blue Satin ribbon, buttons, fabric (SU!), Nesties, spiral punch

I'm running a bit behind this morning so I don't have time to post details but I will try to come back and edit after work.  Enjoy your day - I hope you will play along with us at PPC!

*ETA*  As I was typing this this morning, I was watching my husband try to get his truck unstuck from the snowdrift in our driveway that tried to eat him up... :)  Once he finally got himself out, he phoned me and told me not to even try to go anywhere today - so that means I get to stay home with my DS#2 and bake cookies!  Woohoo!  I'm sure I'll get to craft a bit too...

A Color Challenge at Sentimental Sundays

Welcome to another Sentimental Sundays' challenge!  This week's challenge is a color challenge but please don't worry if you don't have these exact colors - just use whatever you have on hand that is close. :)

I have decided that I am going to try and complete ALL of the Viva la Verve sketches this year over at Splitcoast.  I kind of forgot about them last year but with the chance to win some new Verve-a-liciousness each month, how could I NOT play?  So, here is the January Week #2 sketch from Charmaine:

And my card:

Stamps: Floral Symphony (Verve)  Ink: Handsome Hunter  Paper: Handsome Hunter, Poppy Parade, Crushed Curry, Very Vanilla, Garden Variety (Cosmo Cricket)  Accessories: Paper piercer, Oval Nesties, jumbo eyelet, button, baker's twine, Crushed Curry ribbon, Old Olive twill ribbon, scallop circle nesties

Thanks for stopping by today - I hope you will be able to play along with us!  See you tomorrow.  :)

A Recipe Challenge at the 4 Crafty Chicks

Hello again, everyone!  How's the week been treating you?  First of all, I want to thank everyone that played along with my metal challenge last week at the 4 Crafty Chicks - you guys knocked it outta the park!  We posted the winners yesterday so if you want to check out our Golden Egg winners please do and then while you are there, take a peek at our new challenge.  Tamie is the hostess-with-the-mostest this week and she has given us a recipe to follow while making this week's cards:  3 patterned papers, 2 brads and 1 ribbon. 

I spent the other evening over at The Cat's Pajamas Pajama Party at SCS and had some great fun with Alma and the girls - the new release is awesome!  If you missed it, please check it out over at the TCP store and then pop over to the TCP Blog for some FABULOUS creations using the new stamps.  Did I order some?  Ummm...what do you think?  :)   This week's TCP Tuesday Challenge is a color challenge and I really like the colors Sony chose:

And, since TCP is this month's sponsor over at Jen's Sketch For You to Try and the sketch is REALLY awesome, I thought I'd use it again for my card:

Once I had the colors and sketch out of the way, I had to find some patterned paper that would work for these colors and came across another paper pad from Cosmo Cricket that I had never used.*sigh*  I am so addicted to paper...  Anyhoo, this one is called Material Girl and it has some really fun patterns in it.  Here ya go - my card with 3 patterned papers, 2 black brads and 1 ribbon - some black satin...LOVE IT!

Stamps: Ship Happens (TCP)  Ink: Versafine Onyx Black  Paper: Material Girl DSP (Cosmo Cricket), SU! DSP, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Poppy Parade, Whisper White  Accessories: Black brads,black satin ribbon, sewing machine, corner punch, scor-tape, Copics, red metallic cord, halfback pearl (Pretties Kit), circle punch, clear embossing powder

I hope you will play along with the 4 Crafty Chicks this week - you know we love it when you do.  :)  Enjoy the rest of your week.  It is FINALLY starting to warm up around here so I am looking forward to enjoying the sun.  See you soon!

A Couple of Verve Challenges and a Color Throwdown

Hello everyone!  While I was enjoying The Cat's Pajama Release party the other night, I took a few minutes to browse around the Splitcoast Stampers website because I hadn't been there for quite awhile...I know, bad me.  As many of you know, Verve stamps are some of my favorite stamps in the whole world and LOVE to use them whenever I can.  I regularly play in Julee's Mojo Monday challenge but completely forgot about the Viva la Verve weekly challenges and the Verve Stamps Blog challenges... *head hung*  I had to rectify *that* little faux pas and speedy-quick so I sat down this afternoon and whipped a little something up.  :)

This month's Verve Diva Dare challenge is "Baby Love" and this week's Color Throwdown has the PERFECT color combination for a baby card.  For my sketch, I popped back over to the Viva la Verve forum at Splitcoast and found the Week #1 sketch from Amber  & let me tell you, this was a VERY hard sketch for me.  I find that long, skinny cards are more difficult because I feel like I need to *fill* all the space instead of just letting it be... anyone else do this?  I'm probably the only one.  :) 

Stamps: Hello Pumpkin (Verve)  Paper: Very Vanilla, Kraft, SU! DSP, Cappella paper pad (Basic Grey)  Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake  Accessories: Sewing machine, clear embossing powder, buttons, Kraft tag die cut, adhesive pearls, Labels Five Nesties, Kraft taffeta ribbon, sponge dauber

So, there it is - too bad I don't know anyone having a baby.  :( I will see you all back here tomorrow morning for a brand new 4 Crafty Chicks challenge - it's a fun one, you won't want to miss it!  See you then!