Having a 'Date' With You !

Oh my goodness !

Day #3 is here already . . . one more to go.

In case you didn't have a chance to get to the post from

yesterday (my guest spot with Rubbernecker Stamps)

You still have time to visit to win...read the post HERE

I'd thought I would go ahead and share the finished card

because I truly do love these stamp sets . . .

I'm hoping to cover a little more ground with this post, but I'm

sure you know that to fit THREE YEARS of blogging memories

into 4 days is simply impossible.

By my calculations, it would take SIX YEARS because with every

post comes some sort of idea . . . thought . . . challenge . . .

Can you tell I love what I do ?

I hope so.

The truth is, many of us who get involved in the 'business' end of

designing, do spend more of our days creating and posts specifically

for those times.  It goes with the territory.

I've chosen to try and weave in personal stories along the way because

I know that is what brought some of you to my blog in the first place.

I didn't work for anyone or have a lot of projects to post . . .

Proof of that is to visit the month of June back in 2009

when I shared 'tiny' little photos 

(because I had NO idea how to edit them)

and when I finally learned a *little*, one of the first things 

I posted were photos I had taken of my three oldest grandsons.

Yep, those are three of the four from the photo I

posted on Day #1 of our party (HERE)

Baby Finn wasn't even a twinkle in his mom's eye at that time.

Yes . . . I know. I am STILL on the first month of blogging in '09.

So let's move it along.  I think you get it.

I LOVE TO SHARE 

ON MY BLOG ! ! !

Before we get to the next story, you KNOW I have to

give a shout out to some special people because let's face it . . .

as much as you are enjoying my posts (as you share with each note),

you are definitely lovin' the giveaways!

I am so excited about this upcoming week over at The Twinery

because we are teaming up with the uber-creative girls from

and look at what my friend Shemaine Smith arranged

for this anniversary celebration . . .

Make sure you plan to join us June 18-22 for so much fun

and inspiration using baker's twine & terrific scrapbooking elements

from My Little Shoebox.

To see all MLS has to offer, visit their website too!

Oh heck !  Let's do one more that has a story with it . . .

Last summer, I met someone who had become a dear friend

through blogging when I first met her as she joined the DT

over at The Twinery.  From there, I had the pleasure of meeting

up with her twice last summer at a consumer show & at CHA.

 

Angelica Suarez, owner of Market Street Stamps is one

of the sweetest ladies in the biz.  I have enjoyed our

friendship so much and have been so inspired by watching

her grow her stamp company to be one that people are in love with.

I had the blessing of being a part of their design team in 2011

and am so excited to see what is on the horizon for them.

Here are a few of my favorites created using MSS . . .

 With husband Jorge, they are a GREAT team !

Market Street Stamps are sharing a

for one of our winners during the celebration !

A big thanks to Angelica & Jorge & continued success to you both!

So I asked you to take your best guess on what this photo was . . .

I so enjoyed all of your answers, especially those who felt as

though they might be cheating because they 'copied off someone

elses paper while leaving their comment'  LOL

Yes, it was the very first challenge graphic for what would become

a HUGE part of my blogging life, 

The Play Date Cafe.

It's a big part of my life because of the time it takes to physically

work on it each week, but there is an even greater reason . . .

It became a huge part of my life because of the aMAZing friendships

I've made along the way.  We started The Play Date Cafe Challenge

back in October 2009 and what a journey it has been.

 It's beginnings were fairly primitive . . .

We didn't even have a separate blog set up for it, but before the first

week ended, we sure did !  The response what quite amazing 

and we will be celebrating our 3rd anniversary this October.

{YES . . . another fabulous party with lots of prizes & guests}

My bestie Sarah (you read about her on Friday's post) and I

partnered together to make the challenge happen.  We knew

we needed to find a small and talented team to work with us

and fill special 'roles' that we had.

You see, we wanted the PDCC to be more than just a

card-making challenge.  We wanted to encourage all types

of work and in recent months, we've even had cupcakes entered

into our challenges !

So we asked the very talented Alison Spellman & Sandra Kelly

to join our team.  Shortly after, Julie Campbell joined us as well.

As the challenge grew, we knew we wanted to create a 'designer position'

that was by invitation-only and the Private Blend Designer born.

This is a designer who we recognize (at the time they come on)

that they are designers who deserve a platform to share their work,

maybe have never been on a team before, but are really talented and

would add just the 'missing' piece to our own team.

Although our first designer was well on her way to becoming a

very popular designer & blogger, she still agreed to fill the role.

 Our first PBD was none other than my friend

Mona Pendleton of Cupcake's Creations.

Mona has gone on to represent some of the biggest companies in

the industry and has been featured in publications.

Paul and I had the pleasure of spending time with Mona & her husband Scott

a couple of summers ago during CHA in Chicago.

It was an blast to share coffee & great conversation.

Mona & I had spent hours on the phone in our early blogging

days and still enjoy sharing comments with one another.

From there, our PBD's have included:

Andrea Ewen, Colleen Dietrich, Julie Day, Stacy Rodriguez

and our current designer, Donna Bowman.

Even though the PDCC team changes from time to time,

we remain a family of friends.  We are currently having a

DT Call to add SEVEN NEW DESIGNERS to our team

and I KNOW they will become family as well.

Today we are blessed to have Jaclyn Miller as our

Color Story Coordinator.  She is the genius behind

the colors that bring us all together each week.

We are also home to the 'Color Splash' Challenge,

which has become a favorite by so many players.

It began week #15 and continues to this day.

Our very first 'splash' is featured in the graphic above

and was Black & White with a 'splash' of teal.

I want to thank each of the designers here who have been a

part of my life way beYOND The Play Date Cafe team:

Michele Gross
Andrea Ewen
Libby Hickson
Tracey Kuzniak
Fiona Shultz
Julie Campbell
Suzanne Czosek
Sandra Kelly
Lisa Somerville
Alison Spelman 

and our current team:

Savannah O'Gwynn

Ruby McGuire

Jaclyn Miller

Colleen Dietrich

Jinny Newlin

Denise January

Stacy Rodriguez

Alicia Thelin

Donna Bowman

 You will find a link to all the blogs of all these fantastic

designers over at The Play Date Cafe.

I hope you will take time to visit them & check out what

they are up to today!

BTW . . . we are not losing 7 designers : )

But you'll have to stay tuned to see what IS happening.

And of course, we would LOVE to see your submission for the Call.

So I mentioned that when we first started the challenge, we had

specific needs to be filled along with the idea of fabulous design-work.

Keep in mind, I barely knew how to edit my own photos back then!

I was extremely happy when Alison shared with me that she knew how

to do graphics & would be happy to do all of our color stories for us.

So each month, our designer chose the photo they wanted as the

inspiration for that week and Alison made them come to life !

Today, Alison runs her own stamp company called

The Alley Way Stamps and has generously offered our party

 $35 Shopping Spree

You can read all about the company and check out all of

their adorable stamp designs by visiting their website HERE

OK  . . .  while I know this post probably took you maybe a

minute or two to read through (not counting visiting the links),

it took me nearly two hours to write.

(My husband and daughter called for a few minutes of that time)

so it's time for me to take a break.

Tonight . . . I will be sharing a post that is all giveaways!

Yep . . . GIVEAWAYS !

So I'll let you know when that post goes live, but until then,

I hope you enjoyed your visit.

Tomorrow, I will be sharing a very special post which will include

some very special people and I hope you will make plans to

stop by for that too.  It will be the final day of the celebration

and of course, we will wrap it up with some pretty cool prizes as well!

Today . . . 

All you need to do to win any one of today's featured prizes

(from this post)

is to let me know this about The Play Date Cafe Challenge :

a.  it's NEW to you

b.  You've heard of it, but haven't had a chance to play 

c.  You play and LOVE it!

Thanks again for your visit!

A BIG thank you to:

My Little Shoebox
Market Street Stamps
The Alley Way Stamps