HaPpY NeW yEaR!!!

Welcome to 2010!  I have a feeling it's going to be a good year.  :)

I spent yesterday chillin' out and I didn't get a chance to craft so I woke up this morning and got right to it.  I was able to combine 3 challenges with this card:

1. Viva la Verve - The first sketch of the year is a great one and Amber has added a {twist} this year: "Every month this year we'll walk through a different room and every week I'll bring you some inspiration pictures of different rooms."  She gave us some pictures for inspiration but you could use inspiration from your own home if you wanted to.  I was drawn to the clean, crisp lines of this picture:

 

Surprised?  This picture is SO not my house, nor is it how I would decorate if given a bazillion dollars but I LOVE the colors and look - for someone else.  ;)  Here's the sketch:

2.  Crazy 4 Challenges - This week's challenge: "Let's have some Polka Dot Fun! Design a card/project using polka dots."  Easy.  :)

3. Our Creative Corner Challenge - "A new month brings a NEW hostess, Joycelyn will start off the new year with a new year's resolution "Clean and Simple". We will leave it to all of you to decide what clean and simple means to you...whether you go with less layers, or maybe no embellishments... whatever you decide."  I think this card is about as clean and simple as I've done for awhile...no bow, no buttons, no adhesive pearls (GASP!)  Yes, I do still have layers but, for me, if a card can fit in an envelope and NOT need extra postage, it's "clean and simple."  *grin*

Without further ado:

Recipe - Stamps: Give Thanks Plain Jane (Verve), Flower Lines (SU!)  Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red, Night and Day DP  Ink: Real Red, Versafine Onyx Black  Accessories: Nestabilities, paper piercer, Swiss Dots embossing folder, clear embossing powder, circle punches, ribbon

I really like how this turned out.  And for all you "sketch purists" out there: yes, I turned the sketch and yes, I realize it is supposed to be a square and yes, I know the sketch doesn't call for ribbon but I was really struggling with the "space" at the bottom and thought the ribbon was perfect for the "feel" of this card: clean, classic and a bit retro.  It's a girl's creative license to change it up a bit, right?

It's another chilly one here today so I'm guessing we will be sticking close to home today - which means more crafting!  YAY!  I need a coffee or something - my fingers are chilly.  :)

Catch ya in a bit!

Tick Tock, Tick Tock...

...is it 2010 yet?  For some of you 'round the world, it is indeed! :)  For me, not quite yet ~ but soon.  Time to get one more blog post with my last challenge card of the year.

Well, Stacey is back!  Before I went on blog hiatus, I tried to do her jewelry-inspired color challenges each week.  When I finally got the mojo flowing again, I discovered that she had changed the name and look of the challenge to Curtain Call Color Challenge - but the great color combos stayed the same.  :)  And this one was no different:

Don't those colors scream fun??  They also whisper, "How on EARTH am I going to put them all together in ONE card???"  :)  Thankfully, I also had Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch to help me figure it out:

I know the card is supposed to be square, but mine isn't - creative liberties, right?   The card might have been less "busy" if I had made it square, but... here's what I came up with:

Recipe - Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes (SU!), Lottie and Gussie Gabalot (Stamping Bella)  Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Real Red  Paper: Real Red, Pretty in Pink, Crushed Curry, Real Red Paper Pad, Whisper White  Accessories: Nestabilities (Labels Nine), Copics, cleaqr embossing powder, Swiss Dots EF, Martha Stewart border punch, satin ribbons, button, silver cord, oval punches, brads

I cannot believe these Bellas had never seen ink - until tonight.  :)  Aren't they fab?  Don't they just make you think of your bestest friend in the whole world? 

Okie dokie - time to call it a night.  Thanks for stopping by - see you next year!  :)

Play Date Cafe Challenge and Jen's Sketch for You to Try

Happy New Year's Eve!!  Do you have big party plans for tonight?  We aren't planning to go anywhere or do anything special.  We'll probably just watch Air Farce and laugh ourselves silly and then see if there's a movie or something and go to bed...we're such party animals!  ;)

I was able to do some crafting this morning before I ran to town to hit the gym and get a few groceries.  Again, I was able to combine two challenges in one. The Play Date Cafe is another one of my new discoveries and Jen's Sketch for You to Try is an old favourite.

 

When I first saw the colors I immediately felt "deja vu" since I had just finished another card using almost the exact same colors for Arielle's Colour Q Challenge!  I wanted to change it up a little bit from that card so I decided to use Taken with Teal for my "turquoise", Chocolate Chip for my "brown" and Regal Rose for my "dusky pink."

Recipe - Stamps: Grateful Heart Plain Jane (Verve)  Paper: Taken With Teal, Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, SU! designer paper  Ink: Chocolate Chip  Accessories: Nestabilities, paper flowers, button, paper piercer, corner rounder, slot punch, satin ribbon, adhesive pearls, sponge dauber

I hope you all enjoy your New Year's Eve - however you decide to celebrate.  :)  I think I'm going to try to make a few more cards before I kick back and relax.  Here's to 2010!!

I *DID* Say I was Going to Bed...

 ... but I HAD to do this one!  OK - I had to do these 2...  :)

The Color Dare is another one of my new additions to my ever-growing list ovah' dere ----> and The Pink Elephant Challenge is one of the newer ones too - both WELL worth a look.  :)  There was another sketch option at TPE but I liked this one better. 

All in all, this card came together quite quickly ~ thankfully. 

Recipe - Stamps: Topiary (Little Paper Shop), Teeny Tiny Wishes (SU!)  Ink: Soft Suede, Versafine Onyx Black  Paper: Soft Suede textured, Cameo Coral, Bashful Blue textured, Whisper White  Accessories: Swiss Dots EF, Argyle EF, Swirlz EF, paper piercer, Soft Suede grosgrain ribbon, buttons, silver cord, Round Tab punch, Copics

Now I'm really going to bed!  Night y'all - see you tomorrow!

I hope everyone had a super fantabulous Christmas!  We had a very quiet, at-home Christmas.  My parents came up on Christmas Day and spent a couple days with us.  Mom and I did our annual Boxing Day shopping - we were up and out of the house by 6AM!!  Yes, we are certifiable!  LOL   I haven't had much time to play, though, so I was pleasantly surprised when I clicked over to Arielle's Color Q challenge this morning and discovered that she chose MY card to be the Colour Queen for last week's challenge!!!  I was pretty excited, that's for sure.  Now, if only someone could tell me how to get that fabulous Colour Queen badge to my sidebar...

I LOVE the colors Arielle chose for this week's challenge:

And, as usual, Julee's Mojo Monday sketch rocks:

I think I went a bit overboard with all the  scallops and rounded-edge items on this card... it needs a bit more "straight" methinks.  Of course, if I had used the regular circles instead of the scallops for the big circle, that might have helped, but I just LOVE how the Verve's flourish frame looks in the scallop circle!  As a side-note, Verve is having a HUGE sale until tomorrow night so click over and grab some deals - some sets are 50% off!!!

Recipe - Stamps: Thankful Accents, 1 Peter 5:7 (Verve)  Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Versafine Onyx Black  Paper: Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, SU! retired DP (??) Accessories: Nestabilities (Scallop Circles, Scallop & Reg. Rectangles), 1-3/4" circle punch, paper piercer, paper flowers, adhesive pearls, Finial Press EF (SU!), Choc. Chip satin ribbon, button, silver cord, sponge dauber, clear embossing powder

I hope the next couple of days slow down a bit so I can get caught up with some of the challenges.  Can you believe 2009 is over?  It seems like just yesterday we were all freaking out about Y2K!  LOL 

See you tomorrow - enjoy your New Year's Eve and bring on 2010!

ONE MORE SLEEP!!!

You'd have thought it was Christmas morning today - I was up *well* before 7 AM and couldn't get back to sleep... what's up with that?  I figured why waste some perfectly good *quiet time?*  I might as well get up and DO something.  ;)

I was out and about most of yesterday so crafting was not on the agenda.  I was busy blog hopping the other day and added MANY new challenges to my list ovah' dere -----> so please check them out.  I found the Play Date Cafe's color challenge for this week and was immediately stumped:

I know the challenge says "blue", and normally I would have chosen a more "subdued" blue, but with that bold, bright hue staring me in the face, I thought I would "take it on."  So, back to my Bold Brights I went (going where I RARELY go) and I dug out Brilliant Blue. Hmmmm...not exactly your first-thing-in-the-morning-inspirational-color to create with.  And I don't have very much gold so I knew this was going to be mostly a blue and cream card.

I popped over to The Pink Elephant's weekly challenge to see what "brilliant" sketch they had posted.

Hmmm... *wheels turning...smoke pouring out of my ears...*

Recipe - Stamp: Snow Swirled (SU!)  Paper: Bazzill Textured (cream), Brilliant Blue  Ink: Versamark  Accessories: Swiss Dots embossing folder, Nestabilities (Labels Four), gold embossing powder, adhesive pearls, ribbon, button, gold cord, paper piercer, Martha Stewart border punch

It was REALLY hard to get a good picture of this card - the flash made it too "in your face"...

... but whatever.

I hope to have time for another card later today.  I need to get my ham in the crockpot - thanks for reminding me, Lor - and then laundry needs to be done and the house needs to be tidied before my parents get here tomorrow. 

If I don't post again, I hope each one of you has a super fantabulous Christmas celebration, wherever you are.  Merry Christmas!

One Day - Three Cards, Six Challenges

I DID IT!!  I finished wrapping the presents.  Well, OK - that's not the truth...  I'm done wrapping the "immediately necessary" gifts - the ones for my nieces can wait for a bit 'cause we're not going to see them at Christmas anyways.  My parents are coming up on Christmas Day and they will take those ones back with them.

I found two more challenge blogs to add to my ever-increasing list:  Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge and Just Us Girls Challenge.  The JUGS challenge this week is a color challenge but it's not always a color challenge.

These were kinda hard colors to work with - I have no trouble putting light pink with red, but a stronger raspberry pink just doesn't "do it" for me.  Nonetheless, I persevered and came up with this:

Recipe - Stamp: Wreathabella (Stamping Bella), Ornamental Christmas (sentiment, Verve)  Ink: Old Olive, Versafine Onyx Black  Paper: Real Red textured, Rose Red, Old Olive, Kraft, Whisper White, SU! DP  Accessories: Nestabilities (pinking circles and circle), Argyle embossing folder, paper piercer, Copics, Kraft taffeta ribbon, Purely Pomegranate ribbon, Old Olive twill ribbon, metal clip, sponge dauber

I think that's it for me - three cards is enough for one day.  Probably won't have much time to craft tomorrow as I have to hit the gym in the middle of the day and the laundry is starting to pile up again.  I *think* I'm pretty much ready for Christmas - are you?