Sailing with a 'Splash' of Color

Lots of black and white with just a 'hint' of color

can only mean one thing...

 It's 'Color Splash' week

over at The Play Date Cafe!

This week, it's a Player's Choice and you get

to choose your own 'splash'.

Each of our designers featured their splash of

 color using baker's twine from our sponsor...

 The Twinery has THE BEST baker's twine

on the planet!  Of course, you may think me biased as

I am the design team coordinator for them...

but if you want beautiful 100% cotton in very

saturated colors, then you want baker's twine

from The Twinery.

I have loved all the nautical-themed stamps and papers

this summer and thought it would be a good theme for the splash.

I grabbed this fabulous stamp featuring a Webster's Pages

design from Unity for my focal point this week and used

'Caribbean' baker's twine for the sailboat ropes.

We are saying goodbye to one of our fabulous 

designers this week.  Fiona Schultz has finished her term with

us and is moving on to do things in her country

of Australia, focused on family and her creative work.

I know I will miss her and I thank her for all the

inspiration and friendship she has brought to me.

I hope you will pop by her blog and wish her well

and join us this week in The Cafe.

I'll be back tomorrow to share a few photos from

the CHA Show in Chicago.

Project Recipe:

Stamps:  'Celebrate' by Webster's Pages for Unity

Embellishments:  'Caribbean baker's twine by The Twinery, 

Tools:  Embossing Folder by Quickutz, Big Shot

Joy, Love and Beauty

Show of hands.....

Who knows what the color story is for this week's

challenge at The Play Date Cafe?

Here's another hint.....

Yep!

It's everybody's fave....

Creatively, there's something I just love

about black & white with a 'hint' of color.

Sarah selected this beautiful inspiration photo

for us and I got to work!

This was one of the easiest projects I've put together.

It was just a matter of choosing the DP, deciding where

it would go on the card and then a little stamping.

The only 'extra' that I added was a little

'watercolor-style' painting

around the edges of each flower petal using

dye-based in in a matching shade for the project.

You will love what the rest of our talented design team

has done with this color palette.

All of the fabby projects are on display over in

The Play Date Cafe.

Here's who you'll find along with your's truly...

Sarah Anderson  

Ruby McGuire

 Savannah O'Gwynn 

Andrea Ewen

Colleen Dietrich  

Fiona Shultz

Jaclyn Miller 

Jinny Newlin
Libby Hickson  

Michele Gross

Tracey Kuzniak

 So glad you stopped by and I hope you'll 

leave a quick little note to let me know

you were here : )

Today's Project Recipe:

Cardstock: The Paper Company

Designer Paper: My Mind's Eye

Ink: Memento in Grape Jelly, Ranger Archival in Black

Stamps:  Technique Tuesday, Unity

Embellishments:  Recollections Flowers, velvet ribbon

Tools:  Fiskar's Corner Rounder

Clean and Simple Valentines

I spent a day last week playing around with these very

simple heart shapes, which I created using my Cricut.

I was inspired by an article I saw in the current issue

of Scrapbooks, Etc. and thought I would really

focus on CAS.

There really aren't many details to share.

It's all pretty self-explanatory, so I'll just share them with you.

I will mention that I find one of the easiest ways to

dress up a simple card is to add rhinestones and pearls.

I love textured cardstock...it always seems so much richer.

I have always loved this little sentiment from the

classic PSX rubber stamp company.

I have been hanging on to this one sheet of paper from

Sassafrass Lass for the longest time.

All of the hearts for these cards were cut from 

that single 12x12 sheet.

So glad you took a moment to stop by.

I am planning taking another inspiration from that same

issue to help my grandson create Valentine's

for his 2nd grade class.

He's coming over for the day tomorrow, so we

will be creating and I hope to share those

photos with you soon.

Hey....one more thing!

Hope you will mark your calendar as I

have been invited to participate with a very

talented group of ladies for the....

Today's Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Bazzill

Designer Paper: Sassasfrass Lass

Ink:  Versamark,Tim Holtz Distress Inks

Stamps:  Ippity, Unity, PSX, Studio G

Die Cut/Embossing Templates:  Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dot' EF

Cricut 'George & Basic Shapes',

Embellishments: Recollections rhinestones & pearls

Tools:  Fiskar's Corner Rounder

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like...Well, You Know!

For the H{ippity} Hop
New Ippity Release

click here or scroll down

It's 

Player Appreciation Week

over at The Play Date Cafe.

There are:

Three Brand New Sponsors

Three Terrific Guest Designers

Three Amazing Prizes

 I had lots of fun creating for this challenge.

Our DT was given a set of 'Stickerz' from

and I went to town!

 

Isn't that wreath lovely?

I embellished with fun red pearls,

my favorite Baker's Twine from

The Twinery, and a sweet trim

from Jolee's Boutique.

StampTV had a nice tutorial on creating a

blank space in between embossing, so I 

thought I would give it a try.

I used my Cuttlebug Swiss Dot EF.

But there's more....

This was actually my husband favorite card

for this challenge.

I used the Cuttlebug Ornament EF for

my base card, rounded the corners, aged the

edges of my cardstock using a variety of 

Tim Holtz Distress Inks, and layered each

piece.  There's that twine from The Twinery

once again!  So versatile and fun!

The vinyl stickers from EAD Designs are

repositionable, which is a bonus to be sure.

Yep....there's more....

 This card plays on more of the colors from the

color inspiration photo for the challenge.

 I am in love with that fabulous extra-large snowflake brad

from Paper Studio.  I took the smaller snowflake brads,

which are white metal, and embellished them with

Martha Stewart Fine Glitter and Shredded Glitter.

These colors all work together because it's all about layers.

I added Unity's 'Have a Holly Jolly' sentiment

to the vinyl sticker from EAD Designs.

Here are a couple more little gift tags that I did

with the same set....

What I really LoVeD about using these was they made

for really quick projects. Quick but effective, I think.

So I invite you to play along with us this week.

We sincerely thank all of our regular players and

always welcome new players to our challenge and

this week is all about that!

There's plenty of inspiration over in The Cafe this week!

I will be back soon with the new releases from Ippity!

Yep, it's the Fall 2010 Collection Blog Hop!

So I hope you'll stop back and see what's new....

A Haunting We Will Go

Thought I would share this quick little Halloween

creation with you.  I've had it ready to go for awhile,

but forgot about it.  I am pretty sure that one of my

three grandsons will be receiving this one, which 

reminds me that I now have two more to make!

I recently picked up these fun die cuts from K&Company

knowing that my 7 year old grandson CJ, would love to

make things with them...Now I have to explain that I

had fun before he did!

Believe it or not, I did actually stamp something on this card.

That little bat...that's it!

It's hard to tell in the photo, but the sentiment is actually all

'glittery and fun'.  I added the purple rhinestones, which I

think are really fun for Halloween cards.

So that's it....simple and spooky.

Hey...a special thanks to two challenge blogs

that gave me a shout out this past week.

 

for the first fun tag here

and

for the second tag here

Don't forget, we have a really fun week

of celebration going on over at

The Play Date Cafe.

We are celebrating a year of challenges

with the girls of The Unity Design Team.

Every day of this week's challenge brings 

NEW INSPIRATION 

from their talented designers.

So make a point to stop by each day to be

inspired, but more importantly....

come play along!!!

Celebrate Good Times...Come On!

I am so happy to be bringing this post to you!
It's a big day for one of my all-time favorite
challenge blogs....I am guessing because
it's mine!

The Play Date Cafe is celebrating
it's first complete year of challenges!

Our current design team was all given a set of
'Itty Bitty's' stamps from this week's stamp sponsor,
Unity Stamp Company.
I love this little set 'Find the Joy'.
Add a little bling from Prima and unique
twine accents from The Twinery
and you are good to go!

Along with Unity, we also are pleased to have

sponsoring as well.

My sweet bestie and design team partner Sarah,
is always coming up with unique ways to inspire
you each week of our challenge.  We have seen
her pull out felt, crochet yarn, work with beads and metal...
but this week's entry takes the...well.....

Come celebrate with us!

It's not just a one-day party, either.

Each day, you will be able to visit The Cafe and be
inspired by a member of Unity's own Design Team.

So if you are ready, let's begin
a whole new year together!

With the Help of a Challenge or Two...

I can't thank you enough for all the lovely messages

that were sent, both here as comments and privately.

If you read my last post, you'll know that my creativity

came to a screeching halt this past week.

So I thought the best way to get it up and running again

was to take on a challenge or two.  Even that didn't come

as easily as I had hoped, but I do have two to share.

First up is Limelight Papercrafts Sketch #58

I love making these flowers!

It's a combination of papers from BasicGrey's new 'Jovial' line

and Tim Holtz's 'Tattered Florals' die cut.

The center bling is from Prima.

The sentiment is also die cut from Sizzix/BasicGrey's combo

dies for the holidays.

The next challenge is something completely different.

My dear friend Savannah O'Gwynn is on

the 'All Things Unity' DT and I love to support

my friends when I can.

This week they in turn, our supporting

Jennifer McGuire's 'Card's for Kids' drive

by using that as their challenge.

Of course, the main requirement is to use anything

Unity or Ippity, and on this card....I went all Ippity.

The stamps are from the following sets:

'Just Wanted to Say' (sentiment)

'A Little Buggy' (ladybug)

'Because of You' (flower)

I paper-pieced the flower and ladybug using a variety

of scraps in coordinating colors.

The twine is from my new favorite place...

'The Twinery'

Just a little reminder....all the Ippity stamps shown here

or on any of my posts are always available in my little

'Ippity Shop' here...if they are not pictured, please don't

hesitate to ask...I get behind in my updates sometimes.

Well...that's it for now.

I have a fun Halloween card to share with you tomorrow

and hopefully one or two other projects that I am working on.

I hope you will let me know you were here by leaving 

a quick note in the comment section...thank you kindly.

A Prize and Sharing Some Shopping!

First things first.

My sincere apologies with being so tardy with

the giveaway from my week of GIU.

Many of you know that I was away for a few

days celebrating my birthday

(more on that next)

and last week just flew by with a multitude

of creative deadlines & life as I know it.

Thank you to all who visited during GIU

and I hope you will continue to peek 

inside The Open Window.

Without further delay

congratulations to my birthday twin

StampinCathy!

Cathy...get in touch with me at julieranae@hotmail.com

because you have a choice between 4 different sets from Unity!

Now on a loooong personal note....

I thought I would share a little of my birthday shopping

with you.  Some of these things you have already

seen in action as I have 'broken them open' 

and played...and posted...and played some more!

This is the front of the fab Hilton Garden Inn.

The trees are already turning up in Central Wisconsin

which is always a bonus having a birthday in September.

I hinted on Facebook often about just how close

I was to Archivers...and here is the proof...

Just to the left, you see the back courtyard of our hotel

and what's that I see just a few steps away?

So yes, I was very fortunate to spend most of my

Sunday in the workroom, playing and shopping.

Paul watched football, then came down to see

what I was up to, treated me to coffee at Starbucks

(also next door...I know!).

Here's where I share a funny side story....

Paul noticed that our keycard was not locking the

door properly in our room while I was away.

Can you see it coming?

I decided to take a break to go get my camera,

got to the room to find it completely empty.

Everything was gone.

A trip to the front desk proved that they indeed

had moved us, and apparently I kept passing

Paul in the elevator.  By the time I found him,

he was in Archivers looking for me.

By the way...we were upgraded for the inconvenience

to a beautiful 4 room sweet with a whirlpool bath.

So our second night there was quite a lovely surprise.

There was a nice little make 'n take that day...

It was Tim Holtz weekend there and with a

$30 purchase, you got an Archivers tote

designed by Tim.

Oh!  Speaking of surprises....

When we arrived at the hotel on Saturday afternoon,

the hotel clerk informed me that there was a 

gift card waiting for me over at Archivers from Sarah.

My dear bestie from England made 2 phone calls

to get it arranged...Bless her heart!

She only knew the details because I had

shared them here with you.

It made me a little 'teary' to know that I have a

friend who would think to do all that to

make it happen....so what did I get?

Here's the tour.....

Sarah wanted to make sure that I got that Tim Holtz bag!

I also received two wonderful packages by mail from

my dear friends Savannah & Michele.  Michele sent

me this fabulous Martha punch and Sav sent the rest...

All were such lovely surprises!

I have the best husband!

I used to own my own store and spent 12-14 hours a day

there, he thought I would never want to spend time

the way I did that day.  When that was my request,

he made it happen and even 'indulged' me.

Two more little photos....

This is my favorite thoroughfare through Madison.

We go up there once or twice a month.

We spend so much time on this road getting to our

favorite places.  I love how the changes in color

make this a lovely drive.

And finally.....my family treating me to Red Robin...yum!

From top L:  my son Alex (22), Alex jr (2) & his mom Jayme

CJ (7), Mallory (CJ & Caleb's mom) (26), Caleb (5),

myself and Paul.

(I love little Caleb peeking over his mom's shoulder)

Thanks so much for spending some major time with me!

I appreciated all of the birthday wishes that came my way.

It made turning 50 that much sweeter...