God Grant Me the Serenity....

So how are things in your world?

Busy?  CrAzY?  A little 'nwod edispu'?

(ok, that's supposed to be 'upside down', but

maybe it should have read 'backwards').

Although I found this week's challenge at

The Play Date Cafe extremely challenging,

I ended up in the just the right place for me.

First...here is your challenge....

The colors this week are brought to you by my

extremely talented and 'colorful' friend, Sarah.

I love the English architecture of this building.

Now, for my take on the colors....

A little serenity is always nice.

This week, our sponsor is Innovative Stamp Creations.

They specialize in 'realistic' scenes and I have to

say, this background with the water droplets 

is beautiful!

Hope you will have some time to play along with

us this week.  I think Sarah's simple explanation of

just how easy this color combo is made sense.

I just wish I had read it before I tried tackling it : )

I will be back later with a few more creative things

to share, including a very special announcement 

and a project or two!

Open Design Team Call...Last Call!

We are in the final stretch of a nearly

month long search for our next-term designers

over at The Play Date Cafe.

For those of you who are 'newer' to The Cafe,

I thought it might be fun to share a few of the

fabulous 'color stories' that our senior team

has come up with over the course of the last year,

but only a few....

This is where it all started...

 and before we knew it, we were here...

then, what would soon become everyone's

favorite challenge, the 'color splash'...

Mona Pendleton soon joined our team

and brought her special brand of creativity...

and wonderful color combos all her own...

Our UK senior designer, Sarah

has both elegant style....

and fun & 'quirky' too...

me?  Well, I'm just....

,

me,  I guess.....

(had to add this one too because I LoVe it!)

Of course, you can pop over to The Cafe

and check out all of our previous color challenges.

We are looking for fun, fresh faces 

as well as

those who have been around 

doin' their 'thang'

for awhile....

So click here for all the details 

and remember, there are only 3 days left!

Will YOU be joining our team?

Sharing with You, My Friends....

Are these lanterns not beautiful???!!!

We are going in to the deep of autumn on

our way to 'you know where' and when I

chose these colors, I thought how perfect

they would be to create something with

soft tones as a contrast.

Of course, you recognize this graphic as our

next challenge at The Play Date Cafe.

I am very excited that my old 'boss'

(and I mean that old as in 'previous'  : )

Jennie from The Artistic Stamper

is our sponsor AND guest designer!

Spending time on their DT was so much 

fun and her stamps are UNbelievable!

I love this UK company and you will too.

Can I just say on another note...sort of....

I love my design team at The PDCC...

I say that very thoughtfully because without them,

this challenge would not exist.

Yes, the team goes through a transformation

every six months or so, but it's the 

'team factor'

that I am speaking of.

Long story short as I share....

My family is going through a very difficult time

right now...it began on Tuesday, my 19th wedding anniversary

to the love of my life, Paul which we share

with my middle grandson Caleb, who celebrated

his birthday number five!

It's a part of real life that can't just go away.

I wish I could share more, but it's just not possible.

For those of you who are 'pray-ers', 

I covet your prayers.  

Your kind thoughts and virtual hugs are

very sustaining.

Blogging is like no other medium.

To run a challenge and not have the strength

to create a project is tough, but with the

support of my team and your gracious understanding,

next week can be another story....

and I thank you for that.

It's Time for a Little 'Splish Splash' of Color

Somethin' a little CAS for you!

After a really fun week over at The Play Date Cafe

it's nice to take a little breather.

Running a challenge blog is a big commitment and

I love every minute of it....well, almost every minute.

 

To give you an idea...

My Wednesdays are reserved mainly for The Cafe.

I spend a good six hours on preparing the post,

which includes transferring and loading all

of the photo files, gathering the votes from our

design team for recognized players and our winners,

I edit, edit, edit....and oh I, edit some more...

everything from sponsor information to

guest designer bios etc, and answering

the last minute questions that come in 

from the team...

Oh...not to mention that when the 'linking system'

for our player entries goes down (like it did an

hour before the deadline last night) those entries

all have to be forwarded to the team as well.

So there are days like today,

when I turn the ringer off of my phone!

But...I love it!
 

My good friend and partner in crime over at

The Play Date Cafe has chosen this lovely

color splash photo of, what we call here,

Columbines...but when you visit The Cafe

and read about Sarah's choice of color story,

you will see she calls them something quite different.

I have lived with a British man for over 20 years

and have found that even though we both speak

English, they are two very different languages to be sure!

(But I digress.....)

Yes, Clean & Simple.

We are being sponsored by Mark's Finest Papers

this week and they provided the team with a lovely

set of stamps to play with.

I loved using their flourishes around the edges of my

die cuts, this one is from Sizzix.

The sentiment is also lovely with it's ornate lettering.

Even with a bow, this card would be quite appropriate

for a man or a woman.

Don't forget....our Design Team Call

is still open through November 7th.

We have received submissions from pretty much

every corner of the globe...have we received yours?

Many of you have mentioned that you were

going to 'set your nerves aside and apply'.

I am guessing that happens to many people, so don't

let that deter you...you could be one of the next

designers on The World's Greatest Design Team!

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!

Life IS Beautiful....

Technically, this makes two posts in one day

but the first one went on just after midnight.

I have been so inspired by Sarah's colors over

at The Play Date Cafe.

Here we are in the midst of autumn and yet

working with these soft tones has really been lovely.

It's been a blast pulling out a lot of the new things

I bought on my recent birthday trip to Archivers.

Starting with the base paper from My Mind's Eye.

The top panel is a die cut from Bo Bunny's

'Mama-Razzi' set.   Embellishing this layer

 was not difficult because of

the wonderful colors already offered.

The butterfly image is from Memory Box Stamps.

I inked it in a variety of shades until I got what

I wanted (which was debatable at the time!)

Before clustering those stunning

Prima 'Madrigal Blossoms',

I 'wrapped' it in 'Cappucino' twine

from The Twinery.

Hope you enjoyed it....

Now off to get my to-do list done!

Gettin' Sketchy & Waltzing All at the Same Time!

And how was your weekend?

Mine was nice as I had lots of time to be creative and

I am happy to say that that 'spark' I have been missing

of late seems to be returning.

It may be because Paul is in the middle of a week's

vacation and I am just more relaxed when he is home.

Speaking of which, since he is home, we have many

fall cleaning things on our list and tomorrow is

carpet-cleaning day.  So thought I would post a couple

of projects I made for challenges now because I

think Monday is going to be a 'smidge' on the busy side.

This first project is for 'Get Sketchy' #60.

What a fun and creative sketch to work with.
I turned mine a bit, but followed the sketch for sure : )

Featured here are 'quilt blocks' of DP from

Webster's Pages and K&Company.

The sentiment from My Mind's Eye and the felt ornament

is from Little Yellow Bicycle.

The satin ribbon is by Martha Stewart and I can't say

enough about the wonderful twine from The Twinery.

The color?  Maraschino.  Love it!

The next challenge I played along with is

Waltzingmouse Sketch #19

My creative friend Mona Pendleton is on the

DT over there and is always an inspiration.

Beautiful DP from the 'Meadowlark' collection by My Mind's Eye

and Bo-Bunny's 'Mama-Razzi' collection provide the

foundation for this card.  The ornament stamps are also from

My Mind's Eye.  I love that Prima jewel surrounded by

more twine from The Twinery, this time in 'Caribbean'.

These are two really 'challenging' challenges.

Are you up for it?

I sure appreciate you stopping by and taking a 

'peek' in The Open Window.

Don't forget, we are celebrating our

first anniversary over at

The Play Date Cafe!

We have a wonderful sponsor who's DT

will celebrating with us as well as our

returning DT alumni, including our very first

Private Blend Designer, Mona Pendleton.

Do you have the above badge on your blog?

Make sure you pop over to The PDCC,

get your badge and mark your calendar

for this Thursday, October 21st!

I am looking forward to a great week and I hope

you are as well.  See you very soon!