Inspired By a Tree Log (PDCC #88)

Hiya and happy Thursday!  The sun has finally decided to make an appearance again this week.  The weather man was kind enough to inform us that it has rained the last 11 days!  Wow.  I made sure to soak it up as much as I could.  Now, how about a new color story for The Play Date Cafe.  Take a gander:

Aren't those logs the coolest thing?  When I came across this photo, I just knew that it had to be one of our color stories.  I really enjoyed playing with these colors and decided to go literal with my interpretation this week and add a bunch of "rings" to my card.

Have fun with these colors and you just might win a fantastic prize from this week's sponsor, Echo Park Paper.  Be sure to give a huge round of applause to this week's guest designer as well, Debby Hughes.  I can't wait to see what you guys can do.  Sending smiles your way!

My Little Obsession

Pssst.  You.  Yeah you.  I've got something to tell you.  Are you ready for it?  I have a massive tiny obsession with change.  We're not talking moving the furniture 1" to the left, or switch out the throw pillows kinda change.  No, we're talking a new color of paint on the walls and the furniture on the opposite side of the room change.  I think I might need a support group.  They have those, right?

So, it might not come as a surprise to you that this week I decided to go from being a brunette - a tried and true deep shade of brown -  to a sassy, funky cut, rock star blonde.  It's definitely NOT a small change.  It's a slap in the face, I don't recognize myself in the mirror kinda change.  Wanna see?  Well, let's start with the before.

And then the transformation, both from the front and the side:

There you have it, the new, summery me.  Now, if only I could lose some weight too.  Do I think I look better as a brunette?  Yeah, probably.  Do I like my new look.  Hecks yeah.  It's fun to try something different and it is only hair after all.  It will grow back and I can always dye it dark again.  The important thing to remember is that you can never judge a book by its cover! ;)  Have a great day!

Gallery Idol & an Editor

Hi friends.  Welp, on Friday, I got to sit down with Susan Opel, one of the editors of Paper Crafts magazine.  What a special treat that was.  She is just as fun and personable in person as she is in the virtual world.  We chatted for a good long time (as my kids sat idly by harassing me if it was time to go yet and I begged them for just 20 more min.).  We talked about her family a bit, about how she landed the best job on Earth, and of course, about card making!  We also discovered that we both have great taste in clothing as she almost wore the same shirt (except hers is purple) from NY & Co.!  Wouldn't that have been fun if she did.  I tried to convince her to drive back and put it on and then come back for a picture, but she didn't go for it. :)  Here we are together:

We met up in Ft. Wayne - as soon as I found out she would be in IN, I told her I would totally drive to meet her wherever she was.  So, I piled the kids into the van and drove up there and we met up at a really neat Italian place called Biaggi's.  Later on, when I was driving home, I realized that I was so busy chatting that they got my order totally wrong.  Oh well.  I wasn't there for the food.  This first picture is one that my son snapped of us.

This picture is the one that Susan snapped - I think she has a little practice at these types of shots and she always looks good in all of her photos!  So, in honor of her Paper Crafts goodness, I thought it would be fun to share the entries I have posted so far over at The Paper Crafts Gallery Idol challenge.  The theme for the first round is "Congrats" cards.

This card uses just about all of the sentiments I own that have anything to do with congrats.  I lined them up in the shape of an arrow, then hand drew a line around the outside.  I then colored in a few of the letters and around the stars.  The "you" is some stickers from Cosmo Cricket.

The idea for this card came when I saw that awesome thermometer DP.  I thought it would be fun to play on the "fire" aspect.  I hand-cut the flames and printed out the sentiment at the bottom.  I actually used a bit of the packaging that the stickers came in for the lined paper at the bottom.

This card idea came from Pinterest (big shock, I know).  I have seen the letters lined up this way many times, but never in different fonts.  So, I scavenged my stickers to get several different styles (the little bunny is a rub-on).  The really big letters were actually gold to start with - I rubbed them with versamark ink and embossed them in black to change the color - a great way to change up your chipboard stickers.

I have a few others up my sleeve, but am waiting to post them until the last minute so that nobody steals my ideas. :)  Thanks for stopping by today and taking a peek.  Hope you enjoyed.  Now I'm off to become a blonde, more on that later.....

On The Edge (CAS-ual Fridays #8)

Happy Friday, or in my case, Happy 11th Anniversary, or I can even say "Happy Get To Meet The Editor Of Paper Crafts Magazine Day!"  That's right, I'm meeting the one and only Susan Opel in real life.  To say I'm excited is a bit of an understatement.  I'm REALLY looking forward to chatting it up with my fellow Colts fan. This is shaping up to be one of the best Fridays EVER!  You know what else makes Fridays great?  A new challenge from CAS-ual Fridays!  Are you ready to see what is in store for you?  How do you feel about borders and edges?  Good?  Then you will love this week's challenge - "Getting Edgy".

So, my rebel side really wanted to not use a border punch and to just use some layers with a rounded corner, but I was afraid that wouldn't be quite "edgy" enough, so I added a few small punched strips as well to make sure I was following the guidelines.  Here ya go:

My initial thought is that this would be a great card for someone who is expecting because you could write something silly on the inside like, "you got knocked up again? congrats."  But, I suppose it could apply for several other things too, like a job promotion card that says, "you're moving up in this world, way to go".  Do you have other ideas?  I'd love to hear them.

This week's sponsor is Market Street Stamps and I have used the Zebra Stripe pattern on my yellow to give this card a little bit of sass.  It's hard to see, but it's there.  Now, click over to CAS-ual Fridays and prepare to be inspired!

Easy Enough A 4-yr Old Can Do It! (OTWC #56)

I've got a special post for you today.  A project that my 4-yr old and I worked on one day when we were super bored.  It started with this week's sponsor (Mold Muse) for Off The Wall Craftiness.  The design team got to choose a small mold that we liked to create our very own clay or resin embellishments!  How fun is that!  I chose a square retro button mold.  Once I received it, my daughter and I scurried off to Hobby Lobby to pick out some clay to use in it.  She chose most of the colors - I was only allowed to choose clear...because we all know when a 4-yr old wants something, they usually get it. :)  When we got home, we started by prepping our space as young ones also have a tendency to make a mess.  Here's my daughter all ready to go (sorry about the pictures, you know how it is when you have a limited window to snap them):

We opened up our clay and pulled off a small chunk and started to soften it between our fingers.  Once it was soft enough, she pushed it into the mold.  She tried in the air.....

.......and on the table.

The key was to not use too much clay.  I also found the button holes to be a bit tricky.  I had to try a few times before I was able to get them to go all the way through.  I might suggest trying something without holes if you are a beginner.  We then placed the clay in the oven to set.  I tried both in the mold and outside of the mold.  Because of the button holes, I found that leaving it in the mold worked much better - but my impatient side didn't like that, so many of my buttons came out a little warped as I just tore them out of the mold and baked several at a time.  It's ok, they still looked good.  We then also had fun mixing our clays together as well to create some swirly ones and new colors.  Once they cooled, we painted a clear glaze over the top of each of the buttons as I was afraid they would look too "dull" and too much like clay without it.  I wanted to get that resin look (shiny) without the cost.  It worked great!  My daughter added the finishing touches with a paint brush as I held each button for her.

So, would you like to see a project using these fun buttons?  This week's colors for Off The Wall Craftiness are red, white and blue of any shade.  We are to create something with a fourth of July theme.

Pretty nifty on there, huh?  I REALLY enjoyed using this mold from Mold Muse and want to buy more from them.  They have an amazing selection that you really should check out.  Be sure to check out the rest of the team's inspiration this week as well.  Have a great weekend!

Uncreative Title (PDCC #87)

Well, I wasn't feeling too creative tonight.  This week has been vacation bible school week for our kids and that means that hubby and I have over two hours free of kids every night this week! (Yippee) Soooo, I've been chillin' with him and taking it easy.  I'm trying not to push my brain to work too hard this week. :)

It's Thursday and that means another new color story at The Play Date Cafe.  This week's colors are in commemoration of fourth of July being right around the corner.

A little different twist on the traditional red, white and blue.  This week's sponsor is Stampendous and they have been gracious enough to send us a stamp to showcase.

The heart stamp is the one from stampendous and the other is a sentiment from Unity.  A pretty straight-forward card.  Hop on around to each of the design team's blogs to see what they've created and be sure to check out what this week's prize is over in the Cafe.  Also, give this week's guest designer, Stephanie Severin (also known as SmilynStef) a warm welcome.  Thanks for stopping by!

Around The Block (CAS-ual Fridays #7)

Give me a C. Give me an O.  Give me an L.  Give me an O.  Give me an R.  What's that spell?  COLOR!!!!  Can you tell I spent the evening with a bunch of 7 and 8 year olds cheering on the rest of their team at a tournament softball game?  Sadly, we ended our season tonight.  That was tough.  I'm sure gonna miss those girls.  But, at least I have COLOR to cheer me up.  I am having some serious hot flashes over the newest trend - color blocking.  We are seriously speaking my language now.  When I used to create websites for my job, all I did was color blocking.  When I saw that this week's challenge at CAS-ual Fridays was color blocking, it felt like I was shaking hands with an old comrade.

And once we were nice and cozy with each other, this is what was produced:

HELLO is right!  Now I KNOW you're going to go have as much fun with this as I did.  And, if you do, you will have the chance to win an amazing prize from this week's sponsor Crop Stop.  I'm sure you need a reason to be inspired too, so be sure to pop on over to the CAS-ual Fridays blog to see the amazing design team's work.  Have a great weekend my friends and dream in color.

Love Is In The Air (PDCC #86)

Hiya peeps.  In a week and a half, my hubs and I will be celebrating another Anniversary.  This time it will be #11.  We always have grand ideas of being whisked off into some whimsical getaway, but then we come crashing back to reality after viewing our bank account.  Last year, for our tenth (tenth is supposed to be magical, right?), my husband was coming off of unemployment, so we weren't able to do anything at all.  Total pits.  I was sorta hoping for something special this time around too, but let's face it folks, you're lucky if you're just getting by in this economy.  Oh well, at least I have creativity on my side.  He gets a one-of-a-kind and unique card.  Here's what it looks like (hopefully he isn't reading this):

This, my friends, uses this week's combo of colors for The Play Date Cafe.  You all seemed to like the vintagey looking ones from last week, so we are changing it up a bit and doing bright this week!

Our guest designer, who just so happens to also be our sponsor this week is Tami Mayberry.  Stop on over to The Cafe to see what she has whipped up using these colors.  She is offering up a stamp set that she has designed herself as this week's prize.  Now, go have fun with these and get into the mood of summer!

My Daughter's Card

Have you ever bitten your lip....and then bitten it over and over again in the exact same spot because it was so fat?  I'm pretty sure that could be designated as some sort of torture or level of hell.  Every time I bite that same spot, the pain is excruciating and it never fails that it is ALWAYS that same spot.  I digress.

Now, before you freak out and think that a super organized and crafty alien has taken over my body (3 posts already this week, can you believe it?), let me explain today's post.  I'm sure that many of you have small children at home who like to sit alongside you as you craft and make their own creations.  My shadow is 7, and she is always asking me what the next challenge or sketch is.  Sometimes I let her play.  Let me tell you how excited I was when a friend of mine shared the Children's Challenge Corner on her FB page last week.  It is a challenge specifically for kids!!!!  Yay.  What genius (wish I'd thought of it), and I thank the owner tremendously for giving my daughter the chance to be herself and compete with others her age.  This week's challenge was to use insects on your card.  So, here is her card:

She made sure to tell me that she stamped the sentiment in opposite directions so that if someone wants to turn it upside down, they can still read it. :)  Isn't that fun and clever?  The caption at the top says, "A Caterpillar".  Be sure to spread the word and let your little person take part too.  I really feel like teaching your kids to be creative expands their mind.  Thanks for stopping by and sharing the love with my daughter and me.

Sending Smiles!

It has been ages since I have had time or the urge to play along with the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger challenge (rainbow bright).  When I saw this week's photo, I fell in love with those bright colors, so I gave it a go.

Bright enough for you?  I was inspired by the first three spools of color in the photo below and I used a stitch stamp around the outside edge since spools are used for stitching!

Hope I was able to put a smile on your face!  Have a great day.

Happy Flag Day!

Happy Flag Day!

Tic Tac Toe (CAS-ual Fridays #6)

Can you believe this is already the 6th challenge for CAS-ual Fridays?  I can't.  I'm having so much fun, it's just flying by.  This week's new challenge is a fun and unique one.  Have a look at this:

Confused?  Don't be, it's really simple.  Just choose three items that make a row (just like you would if you were playing tic-tac-toe) and create a card using the items in that row.  For my card, I used the row down the left side; chipboard, ribbon and buttons.

I had these lovely blank chipboard tiles from Technique Tuesday.  I punched several of the squares out and stamped them using their polka dot set.  I then just topped them off with buttons and a few knotted ribbons.  Easy and dramatic at the same time.  This week's sponsor and guest designer is Tami Mayberry who is providing a super awesome stamp set that she designed for a prize.  Now, get your mouse a clicking on over to the CAS-ual Fridays page and hoot and holler over what the rest of the design team has done.

A Dangle and A Jangle (OTWC #55)

Hi peeps.  Almost Friday, almost Friday.  I keep telling myself that.  Today has been one of those days that just started off wrong.  We've all had them and they just plain stink!  I keep asking God to help turn it around.  In fact, I once read a Christian book titled, "The Frazzled Female" where the author suggests that you write out a list of things to do for the day and then pray over every single item on that list before you do anything else.  I'm taking that approach today and am giving my laundry up to the glory of God - thankful that I have clothes to wash and kids who can wear them. :)

It's time for a new Off The Wall Craftiness challenge.  You've got some gorgeous neutrals to work with this week.

We are trying something a little bit different this week and are welcoming a unique sponsor.  This week's sponsor is Unkamen who specializes in pre-packaged jewelry making kits.  The team each worked with a kit of their own.  I already have dabbled a bit in jewelry making myself, but I found my bracelet to be very easy to create and the result was beautiful.  Would you like to see it?

I used this week's colors to create a neat little package for presenting this as a gift to someone who has done something special for me. :)  It was super easy to make but packs a big punch in presentation.  If you love that bracelet, you can find this particular kit HERE.  Thanks for stopping by today and be sure to pop on over to OTWC to see what the rest of the design team has whipped up.

Colorifficky Goodness! (PDCC #85)

Hooray - today is the day for my very first color story to appear over at The Play Date Cafe.  I have been having so much fun putting them together and have some really great color combos coming up over the next few months.  I just knew this one had to be the first and I hope you all love it as much as I do.

I like to call these colors blueberry, cream and dusty rose.  Isn't it romantic?  I love that bluish purple color and I thought that a pair of old jeans would work perfectly for it.  So, I cut them up, pleated them and came up with this card.

Whaddya think?  In real life, that blue matches a bit more closely, but it works, right?  I love having old jeans on hand for cards and I have plenty of them.  It seems like it's my son's job to put holes into the knees of ALL of his jeans.  See those buttons, my 4-yr old daughter and I sat down one day and made those out of clay using a mold from mold muse (more on that to come in a future post).

This week's sponsor is Nikki Sivils and our guest designer is Anya Schrier.  Be sure to stop over at The Cafe to see the work of the rest of the DT and go leave Anya some love.  I am super psyched to see what you guys can do with my first color story.  I know you will do me proud!

Wilson Designs June Release: Release Day

It's Here!!!  It's Here!!!
It's reveal time.  Say hello to the newest stamp sets from Wilson Designs. First up is the set that I helped to inspire with a few sketches and ideas.  Give it up for:
  
Baby Rock retailing for $12.99.

 

...and the other set, Teeny Bikini, also retailing for $12.99.

Whew, so glad that cat finally got out of the bag!  It seems like it has been forever since Kim and I talked about that baby set before it was released.  I really hope you guys are on board with the "rocker" baby idea.  I think it is so fun and versatile and as somebody commented, it works great with the Let's Rock set as well.  So, how about the last bits of inspiration on how to use this super "rockin'" baby set?

I added a bit of dimension to this by making the baby's diaper out of cloth and using that safety pin.  And that phrase - we watch the Homeward Bound series A LOT around here and one of the phrases my kids think is hilarious is when the dog says, "Dogs rule, Cats drool".  I thought, how appropriate to change that up and use it for a baby phrase, you know, since babies really do drool. :)  Here's another little project I made up using that onesie that I am sooooo in love with.

Alrighty, on to the "Teeny Bikini" set.  This one is so much fun too and oh so summery.  Take a gander at these beach side projects.

As you can see, this set is great for making some fun little scenes.  That first card uses the sun and flags from "Nauti-cool" as well.  So, this set combines well with others too.  On that second card, I thought the bit of cork looked great as sand.  I hand cut those waves and popped them up for some dimension.

Now that you've seen the newest Wilson Designs sets, hop on over to the store and get your own.  Don't forget to comment on all of the Design Team blogs for your chance to win your very own Rock Baby and Teeny Bikini stamp sets!!

Amy

Kim

Tenia

Tammy
Ashley

Wilson Designs June Release: Day 1

Hi again.  Glad to see you came back.  You won't regret it, I promise.  I have a slew of fun and cute projects lined up for you today and they will be nothing short of inspirational (at least that's my hope, well that and that you will REALLY want to buy these sets). =)  Shall we begin?  First up is the set that I helped to inspire.  I'm really crossing my fingers that you guys like this out of the box and unique take on this first set.

First up is a card that uses the new set combined with the Wilson Designs set "Let's Rock".

Here's another using a few of the smaller images from the set:

Are you starting to see a theme yet?  Let's move onto the other release for this month, shall we?  How's about this card that is combined with another Wilson Designs set "Scoot Away With Me".  I used the houndstooth and polka dot backgrounds that are so versatile.

Isn't this fun?  Are you feeling summer ready yet?  Can't you just taste that delicious, icy cold drink?  And, I have one more tidbit of goodness for you to feast your eyes on today.

 

Awwwww yeah, we are all feeling the sun's rays on our faces and hearing the waves hit the beach now, aren't we?  Now that you're good and relaxed, leave me some love and visit the rest of the design team's blogs and leave them love too for your chance to win.

Amy

Kim

Tenia

Tammy

Ashley

P.S. Did you guys see that I was featured over on the Paper Crafts blog today? 

Wilson Designs June Release: Sneak Peek

Hey everybody.  How was your weekend?  I had an AMAZING weekend with my mom and dad.  They came for a short visit and we has such a blast.  My daughter had a softball game on Saturday and it was 96 degrees here!  The girls were hot, so we all got together at the pool afterwards.  My p's were good sports and tagged along.  On Sunday, we grilled out some humongous steaks.  Moms and dads are the best about treating their kids well!  I didn't even have to eat dinner that night, that's how much steak I ate.  It was fun, but my kids were mondo crabby - an early bed time was in order.

Well, it's Monday and the beginning of the month and that means a new release from Wilson Designs.  We will be releasing two sets again this month.  I am over the moon excited about the first set as Kim allowed me to stretch my wings a bit and help inspire her with some of the images.  Wanna take a peek and see if you can guess what these are?

Remember to leave a comment on my blog here and then be sure to stop by the other girl's blogs and leave comments as well for your chance to win this month's release. 

Amy

Kim

Tenia

Tammy 

Thanks for stopping by today.  I look forward to sharing some amazing projects with you tomorrow for the rest of this release party.

A Birthday Tag For Fun

It has been a while since I've posted anything just for the heck of it.  So, I thought I would share a short post today to share a creation I made a while back.  I think I was going to make this for one of the Moxie Fab challenges, but it didn't turn out the way I wanted, so I scrapped that idea.  Lucky you - you get to see it anyway.  This was inspired originally from a notebook cover I saw at Borders.  I love having my camera on my cell phone to take pictures of stuff I'm inspired by at the store.  Enjoy this little snippet today and be inspired.

A Sketch From A Pro (CAS-ual Fridays #5)

Some of you may remember 2 Sketches 4 You - a challenge blog for those who like to create from sketches.  If you do, you may also remember that our very own teamie Laura Davis was co-founder of that site.  Sadly, that amazing challenge has retired, but lucky for you, Laura has put on her drawing cap again and given us an amazing sketch to use for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge.  Here ya go:

Are you diggin' it?  I will admit that I struggle more with sketches than I do color challenges.  I decided to go with a fun Father's Day card for this one:

I masked off my half circle and my sentiment and stamped with some woodgrain (Skipping Stones) and topped it off with some fun real life nuts (as in nuts and bolts, not wackos)!  I think it is very manly if I do say so myself.  This week's sponsor is The Craft's Meow and they are offering up one fabby prize.  Be sure to hope on over to CAS-ual Fridays to check it out and to see what the rest of the design team did as well.  Have a great weekend!