Fond Memories of Peter Rabbit

What on earth does that title have to do with this post?

The color inspiration over at this week's Just Us Girls Challenge used

this fabulous print from Beatrix Potter's most beloved Peter Rabbit.

My wonderful friend Mona is on the JUGS team and I have been

promising that I would try and play soon.

THIS was the perfect inspiration to make that happen!

Before I share my fond memories of Peter and his friends, 

here are the details on this card.

The stamps fun mushrooms are by Hero Arts and the

sentiment is from Scrappy Cat.

(Just as a fun fact, the 'shrooms were stamped in

Adirondack Mushroom ink from Ranger)

The polka dot papers are from

DCWV 'Linen Closet (the brown) and

My Mind's Eye 'Quite Contrary' (the yellow).

The flower is a fab silk blossom out of Michael's $1 bin,
that I actually got for 25 cents.  Such a deal!

Nearly 26 years ago, I decorated my daughter's entire nursery in

Peter Rabbit...from head to toe or ceiling to floor.  Part of the memory

that is so precious to me is that while our family was away on a little

vacation, my dad was walking by this very upscale baby store

and there was this Jenny Lind crib all decked out and he asked

if I liked it...I LOVED it.

Over $350 later (a LOT of money 26 years ago)

I was on my way home with this beautiful set.

Yes, I do still have some bits and pieces tucked 

away in a cedar chest.

So tell me...do you or maybe your children

like Peter Rabbit and Friends?
I would LOVE to hear about it. 

One more thing...I say this a lot, but I can't tell you how

much I appreciate your comments when you stop by.

I want to be able to reciprocate, but I can't do that if

I don't know you were here, so please take a moment

to just say hi because I would LOVE to visit your

blog in return...after all, that's what it's all about!

A Different Take on a Challenge...JUGS20

Thought I would play along this week over at the  
Just Us Girls Challenge.

The technique is 'split negative', but as I am one who does not use

heat embossing all that much, I decided to just put my own spin on it.

 

My 'split' is one stamp with two colors.

I love these stamps from Hampton Arts & Stampabilities.

Of course, used a little 'Boo' with this really old

Making Memories DP.  I have always loved this floral pattern

so I was glad that it worked with these stamps.

They offer a couple of tutorials on this technique

over at the Just Us Girls Challenge blog, so if you are 

in the mood to do something unique, head on over.

One more thing....PLEASE leave a comment to say hello

and let me know you stopped by.  I truly do appreciate it!

A Vintage Challenge ... It's About the Girls

I found myself with a nice relaxing opportunity to create today and thought I would take on the challenge over at Just Us Girls.  This week, it's the sketch challenge above, so here is my offering...

Since the challenge blog is in honor of all us girls who enjoy making art in a variety of ways, I thought I would start at the very beginning.  This vintage baby girl card has many layers which feature Graphic45 papers from the Baby 2 Bride Collection.

I distressed all edges with Adirondack ink in mushroom for a worn wallpaper effect.  These fabulous papers are double-sided for easy coordination.  I used a few of the matching die-cuts as well, including the sleeping angel baby.  The sentiment stamp is from  
My Sentiments Exactly.

 

The flowers are Spellbinders scallops and textured with Cuttlebug's brocade EF.  They are centered with a variety of sweet buttons and floss. Again, the edges were distressed using the same ink as the wallpaper.

I used beautiful pearl-embellished trim in between two different mirrored paper patterns which were accented using the Martha Stewart Loop punch.  The sweet little birdie buttons are also Graphic45 die cuts from the same collection.
I love adding sparkle to vintage pieces using Diamond Stickles.

This card will be up for sale in my Etsy store soon.  If you are interested in purchasing it before it gets there, please email privately at julieranae@hotmail.com.

A big thank you goes to Alice over at Alice's (little) Wonderland.  She honored me with the MeMe Blog Award.  I featured Alice's sweet blog awhile back on one of the Friday Night Favs lists and I know you have come to love visiting her, too.  As we all know with many awards, we are asked to share things about ourselves as part of the acceptance.  I hope you will indulge me if rather than list all those things here at this moment, I will do my best to reveal something new with each post this week.
Deal?  So here is my first installment.

Yesterday, I had promised to share with you what I believe is a most relaxing Sunday afternoon.  I have the opportunity to attend services at church either on a Saturday or a Sunday.  So assuming I have gone on Saturday, my idea of a relaxing Sunday is to sleep in a bit.  Then have a lovely cup of tea with Paul as we talk about whatever may come up.  Some days, it's what's happened earlier in the week and other days, it might be childhood memories.  I love that about our conversations.  I love hearing about his childhood in England and about extended family whom I will never have the chance to meet as they have already gone on before.  But my most favorite thing to do, especially as the weather turns cold and snowy, I love curling up next to him on the couch as he watches his favorite football game, of the English or American variety,  while I have a stack of my very favorite magazines at hand.  Of course, the tea keeps flowing all the day long.  So that's it, really.
Simple, but very lovely.

I hope you had a lovely Sunday...chat with you tomorrow.

Oh Baby....It's Another Challenge!

   I mentioned yesterday that my friend Mona from Cupcake's Creations is a part of a new challenge called 'Just Us Girls'...she is this week's host...and here is my offering!

 

The challenge this week was to add a 3-D flower to a project.

I have been wanting to play around with crepe paper flowers for the past couple of weeks and this was a great opportunity to do so.  I had a 3-tiered flower ready, but not in the colors I needed to complete this baby card, so will have to share that with you another time.

I love the retro vibe that crepe paper adorned with glitter provides.  I used patterned papers from Prima's Nursery Rhyme Collection and did a little distressing.  To make the glittering really simple, I used Stickles in silver, on both the flower and the sentiment frame.  Of course, the frame was made using Spellbinders Labels die cuts and a sentiment from Phrase Cafe.  The pastel pearls finish it off.

Speaking of challenges, did you get the new color combo for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge?  If not, get on over and see what's next...and while you are there, I hope you will congratulate our Spotlight entry and Fab 4 winners.  All of our participants did a fabulous job last week...and now, it's YOUR turn!

BOO! Catchin' Up With You!

I was trying to think of all the things that I have done over the past couple of weeks that I haven't talked about.
I've been extremely busy organizing The Play Date Cafe Blog
and my attention has been divided.

So let's catch up, shall we?!

 There have been a lot of fun things going on in blog land, especially this month.  The weekend of October 17th-18th, I participated in 'The Hauntingly Magical Celebration' sponsored by A Fanciful Twist.  This was a blog hop-style party to end all parties!  I visited over 300 blogs and met so many creative people.  Yes, I truly did visit each blog and yes, it really did take me two days, but it was terrific.  One of the bonuses when you participate in these hops is that many hosts have giveaways just for stopping by and leaving a comment.  I was notified not once, but twice this week that I would be receiving gifts.  So when those arrive, I will be sure to share them with you.  I was also contacted by Michelle from Faerie Dust Dreams.  She mentioned that I was officially her 100th follower, so she is sending something as well.
WOW!  What a week!

 What else?  OH!  My friend Mona from Cupcake's Creations was recently asked to participate on the DT for the new Just Us Girls (JUGS) Challenge.  I am doing my best to get a project submitted to show my support and I hope you will make a visit as well.  Mona is actually this week's host so perfect timing!  When I was over at Mona's blog earlier today, I left my comment and as on many of our blogs, I had to type in the 'verification code' before my comment was complete.  Well, look what my code was:

How fun was it to find a security code 
that actually had some meaning?!

Well...I think it's time for me to get ready for tomorrow's  
Play Date Cafe Challenge.  Are you ready to play this week?  I hope so.  The designers and I have had so much fun preparing projects to jump start your creative juices.  Our first challenge had entries from all over the globe and we couldn't be happier.

 Beginning at midnight EST, you will see not only the new challenge for the coming week but also

OUR VERY FIRST CHALLENGE WINNER 
and our 
FAB 4 HONORABLE MENTIONS!

Good luck to all!