My Favorite Challenge at the 4 Crafty Chicks' Challenge

Welcome back for another week of fantastic-ness at the 4 Crafty Chicks' Challenge.  I'm your HWTM this week and I've got a simple color combo for you to play with:

I made my card using Jen's December Sketch For You to Try:

Stamps: Tag Time (Verve), Holly Jolly (TSG)  Ink: Early Espresso  Paper: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, various DSP  Accessories: Corduroy brads, Nesties, sponge dauber, Frost embossing folder, Northern Flurry embossing folder, Early Espresso satin ribbon, jumbo eyelet, Tagged Rectangle Die (Verve)

I hope you can find some time in your busy holiday schedule to join us this week! 

I'm Trendsetter of the Week at There She Goes!

Happy Monday, crafty peeps!  Did you have a nice weekend?  We got some Christmas shopping done but are nowhere near done.  We *did*, however, break down and buy an "artificial" tree... as hard as it was for me, the tree is beautiful.  :)

Anyhoo, this week is FINALLY my turn to be Trendsetter of the Week over at There She Goes!  As part of my duties, I had to pick a challenge for this week and found this AMAZING, non-traditional Christmas table setting:

I thought that using the colors would be a HUGE challenge for me so off to my paper I went.  I also took some inspiration from the ball decorations and decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to use a technique I saw online awhile back.  I cannot remember *where* I saw it, so if you know, please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due. :)  Basically all you do is use various border punches to punch strips of paper and then adhere them to cardstock before cutting out the shape you want.  It was fun to do - didn't turn out *exactly* how I envisioned it would but is definitely worth revisiting another time.  :)  The only stamping I used on this card is from TSG's Holly Jolly set (currently out of stock but keep checking back):

Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch was perfect for this card:

I hope you will play along with us this week - inspiration comes in many shapes and forms so don't be afraid to tell us how you were inspired by the picture.  Have fun and don't forget to go back to the TSG blog to link us up.  :)

Enjoy your day!

Happy Birthday!! {4CCC-66}

Happy December, everyone!  HOLY smokes - how did it get to be December so quickly?  Wasn't it just August?  *sigh*  I am still trying to decide if we will get a real tree this year (as we do every year) or if we will bite the bullet and get a *faux* tree... I just can't decide.  Pros?  Cons?  I'd love to hear 'em... :)

Enough of my jibberjabber - you're here to see a card, right?  This week at the 4 Crafty Chicks' Challenge, Leanne is our hostess-with-the-mostest and she wants to see Birthday cards!  I've got another one of my little note cards that I made for the chocolate shop in town:

Stamp: Hope Blooms (Verve)  Paper: Handsome Hunter, Very Vanilla, Lost & Found Two Breeze (MME)  Ink: Handsome Hunter  Accessories: Buttons, sponge dauber, Scallop Notecards (SU!)

Thanks for stopping by today - only 24 more sleeps until Christmas... are you ready?  Enjoy your week!

Some Inspiration Over at TCP Tuesday

*Please scroll down for my There She Goes Sneak Peek post. Thanks!*

Hey everyone!  It's been a busy week here in my house so when I had a few minutes to *play* I jumped on the opportunity.  You know how much I {heart} me some Cat's Pajamas stamps ~ did you know they are releasing some new stamps next week?  The sneak peeks have been a-ma-zing! ~ and this week Jen has a gorgeous Inspiration Challenge for us for TCP Tuesday 186:

I just {love} the softness and elegance of the photos, but you know me, those aren't usually words in my vocabulary.  ;)  So, I took inspiration from the Paris winter scene - when my DS and I were in Paris a couple of years ago, it was such a surreal experience that I had to stop and often remind myself to "Take a Deep Breath" and really appreciate what we were seeing.  So, I used TCP's "Deep Breath" set and Jen's Sketch For You to Try for November and came up with this:

That bunny gets me every time!  He is soooooo freakin' adorable!  I used some retired DSP from Stampin' Up! (it's got to be at least 2-3 years old) and colored my little bunny-dude with Copics.  I kept the rest fairly simple...you likey?

If you haven't seen any of the TCP sneak peeks, please RUN over to the Dancing in Pajamas blog to check out the first three days - they've got a new bunny, a honey bear and a penguin with a fish... yep, a penguin with a fish...for Christmas.  You MUST read the sentiment for that set - cracked me up!  OK, gotta run and get the monster from school.  Have a lovely day, friends!

There She Goes Sneak Peeks {Day Three}

*Please scroll down for my 4 Crafty Chicks post*

Torico is in the mood to make winter all warm and cheery. She has illustrated a fabulous set that will keep you in stitches or get you in the mood to make gingerbread houses and sugar cookies. The set includes hearts, stars, and snowflakes to create a one of a kind snowman or holiday tree. This set also includes six dies – so warm up your die cutting machine and let the baking begin. What set wouldn’t be complete without a few sentiments to add to your winter projects?

Warmest Wishes is a 4x4 set that includes a total of 23 stamps and six dies and will sell for $31.50.

 
I ADORE this set - just wish it would have made it to my house in time so I could *really* play with it. :(  Nonetheless, I persevered and came up with something I love - who doesn't love a bit of houndstooth?? {heart}  I paper pieced the tree (love the stitching detail) and used a new 6x6 paper pad from Simple Stories called "25 Days of Christmas."

Would you like to win the new Warmest Wishes stamp set? Here is what you need to do- visit the Trendsetters' blogs that are participating in each of the blog hop challenges below and comment on their creations as you go. One of the Trendsetters' blogs (from each hop day) will be randomly chosen as the ‘it’ blog and a winner will be picked using a random number generator from the comments left on that Trendsetter’s Blog Hop Challenge post. 

You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning new stamps! The Blog Hop Challenges will be open until 5 PM ET Saturday, November 26th with the winner being announced during the release party chat.

That's it for me today!  Enjoy your hopping and we'll see you on Saturday for the release party!

It's Snowing at the 4 Crafty Chicks

Morning everyone!  Can you believe we are at the end of November already?  ARGH!  Who's done their shopping?  Who hasn't even started yet??? {sheepishly raising hand}  Whatever!  It will get done eventually...

Who's ready for another 4 Crafty Chicks' challenge?  This week's hostess is Lori and she LOVES her snowflakes so that's what she wants to see - snowflake paper, snowflake die cuts, snowflake stamps...whatever you've got!

I just finished making a bunch of gift cards for a local chocolate store and this was one of the ones I came up with - very simple:

Stamps: Ornamental Christmas (Verve)  Ink: Early Espresso  Paper: Soft Sky, Early Espresso, scrap of DSP  Accessories: Scallop Edge notecards, sponge dauber, paper piercer, gingham ribbon, snowflakes embossing folder

Thanks for stopping by - don't forget to come back in a few hours for Day Three of the There She Goes sneak peeks!  Have a great day, everyone!

There She Goes Sneak Peek {Day Two}

No two snowflakes are alike…each with a beauty of their own and Melyssa Connolly has captured the beauty of snowflakes in this new Holly Jolly set that are sure to make you wish it were snowing. This amazing set also includes a die! It’s a fabulous versatile set that will surely bring a holiday glisten to your projects – all you need to add is the glitter! 

Holly Jolly is a 6x8 set that includes a total of 35 stamps and one die and will sell for $31.50.

Unfortunately, because I live over the border from Jessica, my stamps and dies didn't arrive in time for me to use the fabulous snowflakes and die like I had wanted to. *boohoo* SO - I had to make do with some of the smaller images in this amazing set.  I used last week's TCP Tuesday sketch (which actually is PERFECT for these little images) and, since I still had it out on my desk from yesterday's card, I used Echo Park's Holly Jolly Christmas paper pad:

Would you like to win the new Holly Jolly stamp set? Here is what you need to do- visit the Trendsetter’s blogs that are participating in each of the blog hop challenges below and comment on their creations as you go. One of the Trendsetter’s blogs (from each hop day) will be randomly chosen as the ‘it’ blog and a winner will be picked using a random number generator from the comments left on that Trendsetter’s Blog Hop Challenge post.

You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning new stamps! The Blog Hop Challenges will be open until 5 PM ET Saturday, November 26th with the winner being announced during the release party chat.