Hello! PDCC190 and CTS36

Whenever I take a few day off from stamping my creativity seems to take a few days off too, so I try to get in my stamp room and poke around as often as I can.  I hadn't been in there since Monday and figured I better get busy!  Last night I thought the colors at The Play Date Cafe looked pretty.  The design team cards and the gallery submissions looked really cool displaying these colors so I wanted to give them a try.  I paired them up with the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch.

I had a hard time finding shades of yellow far enough apart to get reasonably close to the colors in the palette.  I went with Daffodil Delight (stamped off), More Mustard and the "hello" was cut with my brand spankin' new die in some Lemon Tart cardstock from PTI.  I don't think it shows up all that well in the photo but I think you get the point!

Today has started out a bit rainy, which is good since I need to do some housework this morning, but we're expecting another heat wave.  It's so strange that the summer started out so cool and wet and now that's it's in full swing it's been a real scorcher!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Textures 1 (Florileges Design)

Accessories:  Hello die (The Crafters Workshop)

Butterfly Birthday for STB19 and PDCC186

I had some time last night to play around in my stamp room.  The Bruins were off, the Red Sox were tied, and the rain was coming down endlessly.  Perfect ingredients for crafting!  I was really struck by the colors at The Play Date Cafe and thought they were perfect for the sketch at Seize The Birthday.

I almost never take pictures of my cards from this angle, but it was the only way I could show that I layered the pink butterfly on top of a black cut out of the same butterfly.  I love how this looks in real life, especially with the line of black rhinestones down the center of the butterfly.  They are sparkly, which doesn't show up on the photo at all!

Well as I mentioned above it is raining here AGAIN.  This has got to be the worst spring I can ever remember because mother nature gives us one beautiful day followed by a week of cold, wet ones.  I'm worried that my annuals and vegetables will not be able to withstand all this rain and I'm worried that I'll never get a tan!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Extreme Elements, Papillon Potpourri (SU); Just A Number (Close To My Heart)

Accessories:  Elegant Butterfly Punch (SU); black rhinestones (KaiserCraft)

Thinking of You for CTS22 and PDCC176

I've taken a mini vacation from my stamp room the last few days and I missed it terribly, so when I got home from work last night I was determined to get in there and create something.  I chose to make a card using the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch and the colors from The Play Date Cafe.

That little tag on the sketch caught my eye and I knew it would be perfect for the sentiment from The Alley Way Stamps called Jibber Jabber along with this "you" die cut.  Plus I got to use some of my burlap ribbon that has been languishing in my stamp room since last fall!

Well that's it for me today.  Thanks for stopping by!

Just Because for CTS19 & PDCC173

Whenever I see a color challenge that involves black, white and one other color I get an itch to play along.  Such was the color challenge this week at The Play Date Cafe.  Here's what I made:

The other color (to my eye) was Tangerine Tango, so I inked up this great splotchy flower from Awesome Blossom in it.  I love this flower and you all are probably sick of seeing it, but I can't stop reaching for it!  My layout is my interpretation of the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch and as you can see I took some liberty with the placement of the sentiment.  I couldn't resist changing it up a bit and instead of a banner I made mine a bit of crinkly ribbon from 3 Girl JAM and a tag with a sentiment from Mad Gab.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Awesome Blossom, Mad Gab (The Alley Way Stamps)

Accessories:  Black Seam Binding Ribbon (3 Girl JAM), Antique Brad (SU), Scallop Square Die (Spellbinders)

A Calendar for SRC156 and PDCC162

I've got another desk calendar to share today that I made using the sketch at Stampin' Royalty (that I turned on its side) and the colors from The Play Date Cafe.

I interpreted The Play Date Cafe colors as More Mustard, Island Indigo, Sage Shadow and Wisteria Wonder.  I used a polka dotted embossing folder, some Nouveau Chic DSP, added some newsprint washi tape, a bit of Wisteria Wonder ribbon accented with an Antique Brad, and my little calendar was done!  

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Jolly Old St. Nick for CTS7 & PDCC159

Now that Thanksgiving is over it's full steam ahead to Christmas.  I seem to have caught the Christmas bug and have begun making tags for my gifts and I'm making cards fast and furiously to make sure I have enough for mailing.   Today I've made a card with the colors at The Play Date Cafe and I used the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch.

As I was putting this post together and I uploaded the picture of my card, I realized that I completely forgot the little scallops on the side of the main layer.  Yikes!   Thankfully, it was a pretty easy fix to adhere some half circles that I punched from Red Glimmer Paper and take a new photo to upload.  

Of course, St. Nicholas is front and center on a card that features colors like these.  And on a side note, I think I had a tricycle that looked an awful lot like the one in the graphic.  Only mine was purple.  Dark, sparkly purple.  I wonder what happened to it...

Thanks for stopping by!

CAS(E) this Sketch 4 and The Play Date Cafe 156

I've been at sixes and sevens this week and I'm not sure why.  The hurricane on Monday surely threw me for a loop but what I experienced in regards to that storm pales in regard to what others are suffering so I don't think that's it.  I really needed some stamping therapy and after several false starts this week I managed to put a card together last night.  My inspiration comes from the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch and the colors at The Play Date Cafe.

I'm pretty sure I messed up one of the colors.  One of the little squares at the bottom looked an awful lot like Soft Suede so I used that color as well as More Mustard, Very Vanilla and Always Artichoke.  But then I went back and read the challenge interpretation of my "soft suede" as something they call "cinnamon."  I probably should have used something like Cajun Craze or Dusty Durango but Soft Suede is a lovely color all on it's own and has certainly got some cinnamon roots so I'm sticking to it!

It feels good to get back in my stamp room and stretch my creative fingers, as it were.  Hopefully I'll be inspired to return there tonight!  In the meantime thanks for stopping by!

Less Is More 90 and Play Date Cafe 154

The theme challenge this week at Less Is More is AUTUMN .  That sort of challenge is no problem for me since I seem to have collected a few leafy sets over the years.  The biggest problem I had was choosing which one to use!  I chose to make my autumn card using the colors from the challenge at The Play Date Cafe.  They are calling the colors "flame, grape, and mulberry" and to my eye the photo inspiration looked like Cajun Craze, Pacific Point, and Elegant Eggplant so that's what I went with.

I've got to say this was a really tough color challenge for me.  I fretted and changed my mind about a hundred times before I settled on masking the leaves from Gently Falling around the thank you sentiment from Much Appreciated.  I love the look of masked stamps, but I don't love the halo effect masking sometimes creates.  I did get white spots around my mask, but I filled them in with markers.  

I almost gave up when I was making a card for this challenge because I couldn't decide what to do, but after a while the ol' stubbornness kicked in and I wouldn't let these colors get the best of me!  I figured I had put so much energy into designing something there was no way I was going to scrap what I had started.  So I trudged along.  I don't love this card, but I think it's got a certain clean and simple appeal anyway!

Thanks for stopping by!

JUGS157 and PDCC152

The weather was kind of lousy yesterday, which is the perfect excuse to stay in and get some house cleaning done (ugh!) and to stamp.  I'm happy to report that I was quite productive in the craft cave and I even managed to make this card just for fun!

I've never played along with the Just Us Girls challenge or The Play Date Cafe, but I see cards all the time from crafters who do so I thought it would be fun to try something new to me.

I chose Perfect Plum as my splash of purple.  The DSP is from Cast-A-Spell, a Halloween paper pack from several years ago.   I always think it's a hoot when I can use holiday paper for something that is completed unrelated to that holiday.  And this card is really far from a Halloween card!  The flourish is a Memory Box die and let me tell you it was no fun time picking out all the little bits of cardstock from around the delicate flourishy parts.  I'm amazed that it didn't rip as I was prying it apart.

Well I'm off from work today for Columbus Day where we celebrate a guy who not only didn't "discover" America, but was such a great navigator that he mistook the Caribbean for India.  All I know is that I get a free day off from work, so I'll take it!