Color Dare 76

Color Dare 76

Old Olive

Elegant Eggplant

Rose Red

Not Quite Navy

Welcome to this week's Color Dare.  Riley came up with some lovely rich colours for us to use this week.  I paired them with Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge as the stripes were a perfect way to layer the colours.  I used VersaMark to stamp the flower image from the Background Basics set (SU), tied raffia on each of the horizontal panels in lieu of the stitching and found this fun little button in my stash to add on to the butterfly.  Have never seen a button with six holes in it before and it reminded me of a butterfly body so I used it.  I can see my Swiss Dots addiction has also resurfaced LOL!
 

The rest of this term's Color Dare team has lots of inspiration for you.  You can check out their creations  here:

• Glenda Wyatt at Paper, Scissors, Rocks 
• Heater Prince at Princess Scrapper Stamper
• Joan Jeffery at JJ's Creations
• Melissa Hubert at My Paper Obsession
• Nance Lempinen-Leedy at Canopy Crafts
• Riley Fitzgerald at Stampin' With Riley  (our leader)

We'd love you to join us!  Simply create a card using this week's colours and add your card to InLinkz on the The Colour Dare Blog.  If  you are uploading to a public gallery, please make sure to use the keyword CD75.   Each week, Riley will select a Featured Stamper and showcase your card on her blog, as well as noting two honorable mentions.

Busy day after school today with my after school kids back, my daughter's piano lesson and my son's soccer game.  All the more reason to sneak in some stamping during school hours LOL!   Have a great one :)

Preview

What's In It?

Stamps?  Verve Plain Jane, Background Basics

Paper:  Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant, Rose Red, Night of Navy

Ink:  Black, VersaMark

Accessories:  Circle and Scalloped Circle Nesties, Stampin' Up! Butterfly Punch, Raffia, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Button, Gue Dot, Dimensionals

Inspired October Afternoon

I was so excited when I saw this inspiration picture because I had just bought this wonderful October Afternoon DP and it was a perfect match :)  I paired it with some blue I had which doesn't quite match (looks much better in real life), and VersaMarked some polka dots on it with my SU background stamp.  My sentiment panel is matted with Night of Navy as it matched the insides of the flowers on the DP.

I added some saffron ribbon with a turquoise button which I got from Maureen's blog candy win - thank you, Maureen, it was a perfect match :)  I also love how Maureen adds a bit of bling by her sentiments so decided to add some to mine for that little something extra.  Now I'm just one sketch behind, that is if I get the third week done before Friday LOL!

My "mommy time" (aka "me time", aka "introvert time") is working wonders...oh sigh...LOL!  I'm feeling so much more refreshed and energetic than I was at the end of summer, and after this week I'm sure my tank will be full and all will be well in the world :)

Lots of other challenges I want to get to this week so I'm off to play :)  Thanks for taking the time to pop in and visit today :)





What's In It?
Stamps: (Verve) Phil 4:13, (SU) Polka Dot Background Stamp
Paper:  October Afternoon DP, Night of Navy, Blue, White
Ink:  Black, Versa Mark
Accessories:  5/8" Saffron Satin ribbon, Button, White Twine, Glue Dot, Bling, Dimensionals

Lovely Blog Award

I received this wonderful ward from Sally Atkins the other day.  Thank you Sally!!

You can check out Sally's fabulous work on her blog Cards For All Reasons.  She sells her cards and donates the funds from her sales to the Voluntary Care Center Charity. 

As part of the award I am to pass it on to seven lovely blogs, so I would like to forward it to the following ladies:
  
Andrea - her comments make me laugh and her work is amazing!
Colleen - who posted a picture of Tigger on her blog for me --he's my favorite -- when I jokingly asked her to give him a hug for me when her family vacationed in Disneyland
Vicki B - just love her style, and she graces me with such nice comments
Kristina - (such a lovely person and her creations are delicious)
Shelley  - a fellow blogger, become friend, through our Curtain Call DT work
Iwona (Chupa) - who never ceases to amaze me with the number of cards she can crank out in a day!
Christina - who makes lovely cards and is the sweetest thing

Enjoy ladies, and thanks for your inspiration and friendship (((hugs))).

Off to my stamp room to get a few challenges done.  Have a great day!

VLV September Week 1 Sketch

I chose this inspiration room because I had some DP that had white and purple strips and thought it would work perfectly as it coordinates with the striped bedding and wall.  I know there is no green in the inspiration photo, but the DP had some so it got included.  Hope it passes the challenge police inspection LOL!

The Celery green in the DP was a wonderful springboard to work from.  The lower portion of the Serenity leaf image became my flower stems (just inked up the bottom part of the stamp), and the flowers are made from punches and popped up.  Black became my accent colour because there was a bit of black on the top shelf in the picture - yeah!!  Had to pull out my Swiss Dots embossing folder to add some dimension as I haven't used it recently - for me anyway - and winged it with the border punch on the corners.

The two circles on the side of the sketch gave me a bit of grief so I added some half pearls to each side in lieu hoping to dodge the challenge police yet again - gotta live on the edge I say LOL!  A little black butterfly finished things off perfectly.  For some reason, I just love this card.  Always nice when your own card makes you smile :)

Monday begins our first full week of school.  Body clocks, sleep times, extracurricular activities, and everyone's schedules are basically in place so we should have smooth sailing from here on in.  And yes, I am loving my mommy time :)  Have a great day!





What's In It?
Stamps:  (Verve) Serentiy
Paper; Certainly Celery, Costco DP Pack, Purples, White 
Ink:  Certainly Celery
Accessories:  Swiss Dots Embossing Folder. SU Border Punch, Marvy Flower Punches, Martha Steward Butterfly Punch, Black and White Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Curtain Call Act 46 From The Other Side

When I saw the inspiration piece for this week's Curtain Call colours I had to play along.  Just love the colour mix of the flowers and thus decided to make a flower card - old habits die hard LOL.  It still feels a bit strange being on this side of the Curtain Call crew, but it is wonderful to have a new Crew's creations to enjoy and be inspired by :)

I don't own any of the colours on this week's pallet so I did a clean sweep with substitutions of Garden Green, Pretty in Pink, Apricot Appeal and Real Red as well as some So Saffron ribbon.  Since this is Our Creative Corner's last sketch of the year (sniff, sniff) I just had to use it as I just love their sketches and have used them for quite a few Curtain Call cards. I filled the large panel with a Botanical Blooms scene. embossed my white panel with Diamonds in the Rough,  added some ribbon, a button (from my wonderful Michael's purchase) and the sentiment from the set.  Always nice to get a double challenge card done :)

Think the family will have a low key weekend as we are all suffering from the first week back in school syndrome:  our bodies needing to adjust to new sleeping and waking times, having added activities on the calendar (I already messed up by showing up for my daughter's piano lesson at last year's time rather than our new one - thankfully I got the day right LOL!), celebrating a few family birthdays over at my mom's place and enjoying our last weekend before soccer games begin.  Hopefully I can throw a little stamping into the mix too :)

Have a fabulous day!






What's In It?
Stamps:  Botanical Blooms (SU)
Paper:  Real Red, White
Ink:  Apricot Appeal, Pretty in Pink, Garden Green, Real Red
Accessories:  Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, Diamonds in the Rough Embossing Folder, 5/8" Satin Saffron Ribbon, Green Button, Glue Dot, Black Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Colour Q Happy Birthday

This week's Colour Q colours couldn't have come at a better time.  Yesterday was my hubby's birthday and these were the perfect colours for a masculine birthday card - score!! I had to do a bit of substituting, but I think it worked out great.

I paired the colours with Card Patterns Sketch 80 and kept things rather simple as my hubby is a simple kind of guy.  It's a bit hard to see, but the Navy background has VersaMarked stars on it from one of the stamps in the Background Basic (SU) set.  I also got to try out my new PTI scalloped die and just love it - that is after figuring out that the scallops on the die aren't flush with the top of the die when you use it (insert - redo of scallops LOL!).   Crimped the white panel for some texture, added some twine, stars and a button to keep things masculine and used this wonderful Verve Happy Birthday stamp.  I think hubby will enjoy his card.

We are celebrating all the family's September birthdays this weekend so now I have to get a card done for my daughter and sister-in-law!  Back to my stamps I go - oh darn LOL!

Enjoy your weekend!!






What's In It?
Stamps:  Verve Happy Birthday Plain Jane, (SU) Background Basics
Paper:  Night of Navy, Close to Cocoa, Two Unknown Blues, White
Ink:  Black, VersaMark
Accessories:   PTI Medium Scalloped Die, Star Punch, Crimper, Twine, Button, Paper Piercer, Dimensionals

Mojo 155

Well, the kids are now back in school and if you listen closely, you may very well be able to hear a deep "....sigh....." coming from the West Coast LOL!  I love my kids to death, and so cherish the time we have together in the summer.  The only stresser is the lack of quantity "mommy time".  Someone once told me that for every hour an introvert spends with people they need two to three hours to themselves.  That being said, I have a lot of banked time and am not afraid to use it LOL!

Kids got good teachers.  My son and his best buddy are in the same class for the eighth year in a row (they met in Preschool), and other than my daughter not having her best friend in her class, all is good in the school world. 

Okay, enough babbling, on to the card.  First on the list to get done today was this week's Mojo sketch.  Since it is the first Monday of the month, a chance to win some free Verve is up for grabs so you don't have to ask me twice if I want to play along LOL!  My Verve order (which has tons of flower sets which I'm drooling to use) still hasn't arrived after almost three weeks!  Don't get me going on what I think about the border and our postal system!!!  So, in order to calm myself down a bit, I compromised by using my Vintage Vogue flowers.  Since the old creative juices are still a bit rusty, I stuck with a cream and black combo - nice and easy LOL!  This wonderful DP from my Costco pack was my springboard.  The black button is from a total score I got at Michael's!  They had some great little containers of buttons in quite a few colours for only $1.50!!  Needless to say, I got multiples of each colour :)

That's it for today.  Need to make a few more cards to get the mojo juices a-flowin' so I can get things done around the house and make more than one card while the kids are at school!  For now, slow and steady is winning the race LOL!

Have a great day and thanks for popping in :)




What's In It?
Stamps:  Vintage Vogue
Paper:  Costco DP Pack, Cream, Black
Ink:  Black, So Saffron
Accessories:  Circle and Scalloped Circle Nesties, Script Embossing Folder, Martha Steward Butterfly Punch, 5/8" Cream Satin Ribbon, Half Pearls, Scalloped Scissors, Button, Glue Dot, Dimensionals

The Color Curtain Has Fallen, The Color Dare Has Begun

I am delighted to share that I've been selected to be part of the next six month Color Dare Design Team!!  I had such an amazing experience during my six month term with Stacey's Curtain Call Crew that I needed something to fill the void.  Enter, The Colour Dare :)  Every Wednesday a new Color Dare will be posted on The Color Dare blog, and the Design Team will post samples for your inspiration.   This week's Color Dare is as follows:

Color Dare 75

Cherry Cobbler

Pretty in Pink

Garden Green

Very Vanilla

I paired this week's colours with Mercy's Sketch #86 and came up with the above card.  The pink was really throwing me for a loop as the other colours are stereotypical "Christmas colours".  After digging through my stamps, I came across my Sweet 'n Sassy Snow Friends stamp and found the perfect solution to my pink issue - the heart LOL!   Since I don't own any Cherry Cobbler yet, I used Real Red instead.  I glittered the brim of his hat, her ear muff and the snow, though it is quite hard to see in the picture.  I also flipped my button over so you could see more of the black, added a few pearls and it was good to go.

That being said, it took me forever to make this card.  Sheesh!!  It was like having to learn calculus with a brain that doesn't do math LOL!   Think my mojo was having too much fun up in the trees over at the Wild Play course (see prior post) and decided to stay on the Island.  I will definitely need to get back into the swing of things now that the kids are back in school (today is their first full day...happy sigh.....LOL!) so I can shake off the dust and coax my mojo out from the trees and back into my craft room.

The rest of this term's Color Dare team has lots of inspiration for you.  You can check out their creations  here:

• Glenda Wyatt at Paper, Scissors, Rocks 
• Heater Prince at Princess Scrapper Stamper
• Joan Jeffery at JJ's Creations
• Melissa Hubert at My Paper Obsession
• Nance Lempinen-Leedy at Canopy Crafts
• Riley Fitzgerald at Stampin' With Riley  (our leader)

We'd love you to join us!  Simply create a card using this week's colours and add your card to InLinkz on the The Colour Dare Blog.  If  you are uploading to a public gallery, please make sure to use the keyword CD75.   Each week, Riley will select a Featured Stamper and showcase your card on her blog, as well as noting two honorable mentions.

It feels good to be back and blogging.  Hopefully the mojo will come flowing back and I'll have something to show for my first kids-at-school so I get to play day LOL!   Have a great day!




What's In It?
Stamps:  Snow Friends (Sweet 'n Sassy)
Paper:  Real Red, Garden Green, Linen Vanilla
Ink:  Black
Accessories:  SU Border Punch, Snowflake Embossing Folder, Twinkling H20s, Aqua Pen, Ribbon, Button, Twine, Glue Dot, Glue Pen, Sparkles, Black Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Mini Golf and a bit of Wild Play Thrown In

Well, we are finally back from vacation and we had a fabulous time over on Vancouver Island visiting my in-laws and enjoying some good family time.  I am so thankful for such wonderful in-laws.  Love them to bits and they are absolutely wonderful with the kids.  My MIL even made me a lemon meringue pie that was to die for and I splurged by eating two pieces!  Yes, I am blessed :) 

The weather was great (can't beat BC for gorgeous scenery - I'm biased of course LOL!) and we were able to have lots of fun mini golfing, splashing in the wave poo, seeing the goats on the roof at Coombs, enjoying ice cream, and doing the Monkey Do/Wild Play course (my favorite part of our vacation this year).  Below are some pictures.

This is one of our favorite mini golf courses. 

My son being a boy :)

Every year I take a picture of the kids by this fish.  Needless to say, there is less fish in the picture every year.

Here we are with our pinnies on at the Obstacle Course.  We were teasing my hubby about his form fitting pinny. 

These are some action shots of us on the Monkey Do/ Wild Play course.  You are up to 60 feet in the air at times, but believe it or not, you are so focused on getting through the obstacles you really never look down or realize just how high up you are (good thing LOL!)

You have to go through a training session and pass a trial course before they let you on to the main course.  They check to make sure you are following all the instructions they gave you to ensure you will be safe on the course as you are up there on your own, clipping and unclipping yourself to the guide/safety wire (orange one in the pictures) as you work your way through the course. You have to even set up the glide thingy (very technical term, I know LOL) for the zip lines all by yourself.  It's a bit intimidating at first but before you know it you are zipping along.  My son was in seventh heaven through the whole course and can't wait until he is 12 so he can do the black course!   I had a ball, though a few muscles were speaking to me rather loudly the next day LOL!
 
Now it's back into reality.  I cleaned our carpets day before yesterday, hit Costco and stocked up on goodies for lunches, and if all goes well, we can tackle part of the basement before the weekend is over.  Only three more sleeps until I get my first day of six hours all to myself - yeah!!  Needless to say, I'll be catching up on some stamping, big time!

Thanks for dropping in and I hope to be able to post a card sooner than later. I'm going to have to hunt for my mojo after all this time off though.  Wish me luck!!

Curtain Call Act 45

It makes me sad to know that this is  my final Curtain Call Crew Design Team card...sniff, sniff....  The current Crew's six month journey has come to an end and a new Crew will be coming on board.  I have already thanked Stacey for this fabulous opportunity, but wish to do so one last time - thanks, Stacey!!!

What an amazing journey this has been for little old me :)  From the first e-mail Stacey sent me asking me whether I would like to be part of the Design Team (which almost sent me into shock and then hyper-ventilation), to being stretched and challenged, to having the joy of working alongside some wonderfully talented ladies - the perfect mix!  And to think, I used to shy away from colour challenges LOL!  Needless to say, I look forward to continuing to participate in Stacey's wonderful weekly challenge as it's hard to give up a good thing :)

This colour combination is my favorite one of the month.  I love the mix of colours, and the inspiration piece couldn't be more appropriate - flowers, yeah!!!  That being said, I did plan on using flowers on my card but they morphed into grapes LOL!    I just couldn't settle on a flower set and then tripped across this wonderful Art Impressions stamp and knew it was meant to be.  I brought out my crimper for a bit of a rustic feel and ended up using the large dot embossing folder on the celery panel because it tied in with the round grapes.  I did try the swirls folder as it matched the vine swirls, but it didn't look as good with the crimped panel (at least in my mind it didn't).  A button, a few half pearls and I'm ready for a nice glass of red wine LOL!


The rest of the Curtain Call Crew have some samples for you along with our August Guest Designer, Teresa Kline.

• Amy White - Delvinwhite Designs
• Andrea Roose - Andrea's Scrap -und Stampel Blog
• Iwona Palamountain (Chupa) - Random Acts of Creativity
• Julie Smith - Paper and Such 
• Lea Lawson - Cupcakes & Sunshine
• Melissa Hubert - My Paper Obsession 
• Shelley Germann - Stampin' Garden 
• Sue Kohler - My Inner Reflection 
• Stacey Schafer - Stacey's Stamping Stage (Our Director) 

And, our August Guest Designer, Teresa Kline at enjoy the va.sunshine


We'd love it if you joined us too!!  Simply create a card using this week's colours and add your card to Mr. Linky on Stacey's blog.  If  you are uploading to a public gallery, please make sure to use the keyword Curtain Call 45.  Each week, Stacey will select one person to receive her "I Got The Lead At The Curtain Call"  Award as well as five people to receive her "I'm A Top 5 Curtain Call Show Stopper" Award which you can post on your blog, so come on over and join the fun!

This coming week is going to be a zoo!  We are away for a few days and then have to get organized for school and all the Fall activities.  This has been a busy summer, and this introverted stamper is beginning to twitch from a lack of quiet, alone, uninterrupted, mommy time!!  I am SO looking forward to September 8th, the kids first full day of school.  Just me and the cat for six blissful hours....oh sigh....LOL!  I'm sure it will be a mix of reading and stamping over the six hours.   That being said, hope to post on the weekend some time, if all goes well, if not, after Labour Day for sure.  Have a fabulous week!




What's In It?
Stamps:  Art Impressions, Itty Bitty Backgrouds (SU)
Paper:  Elegant Eggplant, Certainly Celery, Kraft
Ink:  Sahara Sand, Certainly Celery, Elegant Eggplant
Accessories:  Scalloped Square Nesties, Seeing Spots Embossing Folder Crimper, 5/8" White Satin Ribbon, Black Button, Black Half Pearls, Glue Dot, Dimensionals