Life is Better When.....

Well...there's no question about that sentiment, is there?

Playing with these colors and fun designer papers

is TOTAL FUN for me!

As one who hosts a color challenge, I am all too

happy to participate in others.  I love working with

a variety of color combos and THIS one over at

Stacey's Stamping Stage

is just right for me!

I focused on this great color pattern from Cosmo

Cricket's 'Early Bird' collection.  It has such

a retro feel for me.  Of course, my childhood was

spent in the whole of the 60's and this pattern for

me takes me back.  Now the colors on the other

hand, take me back to my teen years in the

decade of the 70's where this green was

EVERYWHERE!

I used the Cuttlebug 'Stylized Flowers'EF and distressed it to 

really make it POP.  This is by far one of my favorite EF's I own.

Of course, you can't go wrong with a little polka dot ribbon

to tie it all together.  The sentiment is from Cloud 9 Design.

So here is what I want to know....

Name something that brings

FUN to your life...

Hope you will leave a comment and 

share your thoughts....

Love this Color Combo in The Play Date Cafe!

I love this color combination!

So many options...so many ways to play!

Mona Pendleton is our host this week

and she really put a great collection of colors

together for you to play with.

When you make your way over, you will be

amazed at the creative inspiration from one of the  

most creative design teams 

in the challenge world!  Biased...maybe a bit  : )

The focal point on this card is a wonderful stamp that

Sarah sent to me from Wendy House over in the UK.

The background was created with a Tim Holtz/SA

stamp and the sentiment is Ippity.

Honestly, this is so about the 'color story'

and layering...really quite simple!

Did I mention that you have a chance

to win THIS FAB SET from

our sponsor?  That's right!

So glad to have Courtney Baker

from Practicing Creativity Designs

as our Celebrity Guest Designer.

We thank her for sharing her creativity

with us this week!

Here's just a peek:

I will be back tomorrow with another

project to share and a reminder about

a very special giveaway I have coming up

this weekend!

Celebrating Challenges!

Very excited to help Claire over at
Waltzing Mouse

celebrate their new sketch challenge.

I don't do sketch challenges all that often,

but if they continue to be THIS fun,

that will definitely change!

I used a variety of DP from DCWV's

'Flower Shower' pack.

I used the Martha Deco punch for my borders

and fabby Debbie Mumm ribbon runs through

my die cut buckle, which was originally silver.

I stained it with 'worn lipstick' distress ink

from Tim Holtz.  White pearls for just a

little 'white' touch.  The sentiment is

from Hero Arts.

This was a great Tuesday Trigger from
Moxie Fab as well....

These popsicles SCREAM SUMMER!
This card focuses on those summertime color 'flavors'
which were totally inspiring!

I am supporting a variety of other challenges

as well as this card ended up being very versatile.

Cupcake Inspiration #62

(photo above...I focused on the pinks)

The Pink Elephant #69

(theme - bright)

 The Corrosive Challenge #67

(die cuts)

Your Next Stamp #17

(border punch)

Wee Memories #9

(punch it)

AI Factory #38

(anything goes with a punch)

Hope you will stop by these challenge sites

and show your support!

Sharin' a Little Ippity...

Very excited to share a little Ippity with

you first thing this week!  It's part of the

Monday H{ippity} Hop!

Many of you know my friend and fellow

designer over at The Play Date Cafe,

Savannah O'Gwynn.

Well, she's an Ippity girl and she

sent me the 'What Matters Most' set

and what a wonderful surprise it was!

So I did a little somethin' pretty basic, but it's

so fun to try something new and play with

new stamps, isn't it?!

One of the great things about this set for me,

is that my 7 year old grandson, CJ helped cut

out these houses...so it has just a little more

'special-ness' for me   :  )

Everything was stamped with chalk inks in a 

variety of colors and shaded with Tim Holtz

'old paper' distress ink.

By the way...my color combo here?

It was inspired by a tank top and jacket I

saw in the window of the Chico's store at

the mall where Paul works.

It just goes to show that inspiration can come

from pretty much ANYWHERE!   

Stop by the Ippity blog and check

out the others who are 'hopping' with me!

One more thing....

The card just above came with the stamp set from

Savannah...it's also created with Ippity.  I had no idea

when leaving a comment on her post the day she

featured this card, that the 'special person' she was

sending this to was me....I actually told her that

"I would really like to see that butterfly up close"!

Thank you Savvy.....it's just as beautiful as I thought!

Happy Saturday...and RSVP requested : )

A couple of completely different cards to

share with you today and then some fun news!

First...this is a birthday card that I made for

my husband which I am also entering over at

Simon Says Challenge.

The Challenge - Male Cards

This is some of my favorite

Webster's Pages paper.

I pieced it together and over-stamped

with this great Kelly Panacci clock

from Sandy Lion.

I inked up a chipboard buckle and added

the double satin ribbon.

Now for a 'bright' change of pace!

I am playing with both

CAS-tastic Challenge

Focus on Sentiment

and

The Color Throwdown #95

I have to say that the sentiment tag

on my work table IS lime green.

In the photo, not so much.  It

matched the top lime green really well.

Anyway....

I finally bought a Hero Arts Asian set

that had chinese lanterns.  I have wanted

some lanterns since last summer but never

got around to getting them.

I stamped, cut out and accordion folded

each one.  Then just attached them to

wire with some gold cord and added

a few 'sparkles'.

The umbrella stamp is also from that set.

Now for my fun little news....

It will be my 

First Blogaversary!

in less than 9 days!

I can hardly believe it and I am

amazed at how MUCH has 

changed since then.

So I will be having a little 'party'

to celebrate and of course,

YOU ARE INVITED!

I will be sharing some fun projects with you

and there will be a fabulous giveaway

so I am looking for RSVP's!

Leave me a comment here to let me know

that you are planning on stopping by sometime on

June 14th.....

Very excited!

A Little Creativity to Tie Me Over...

Been doing a little 'workin' for the weekend'

on some cards this week.

I have a wedding to attend in which my daughter

is a bridesmaid (for the first time) and her son,

my 7 year old grandson, is the ring bearer.

I can hardly wait!

So I am pretty sure that my weekend will be nearly

gone before I can get back to a little creative time.

So here are some cards I made

for a couple of challenges.

This first one is for the

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #61
over at Hope Stamps Eternal.

Monochrome and polka dots

and above all else, cupcakes  : )

This next card is for two challenges....

Challenge #31 - Alter an Embellishment

CAS-tastic challenge #6 - Focus on Sentiment

Both of these challenges focus on the

sentiment for this card.

I took a 'rub-on' embellishment

from Rhonna Farrer then:

'aged' it with ink, 

added rhinestones to the letters

and added ribbon tabs.

Hope you enjoyed these two little creations.

I will have a couple more to share with you tomorrow.

Before I go....here's what I would LOVE to know...

WHAT ARE YOUR

CREATIVE PLANS
FOR THE WEEKEND?

Please leave a comment and let me know.

It's always fun to know what you are up to...

it may be paper crafting, attending a graduation party,

leaving on vacation or planting a garden...

There's creativity in

EVERYTHING!   : )

Inspired by Etsy...Challenged by Etsy Inspired

What a great suprise!

I was one of the winners this week over at

The Etsy Inspired Challenge

and will be the recipient of a fabulous

pendant from Sunshyne Silverware.

Here's a little 'sneaky peek'

at my winning entry...

If you are up for seeing the rest of the card,

just click HERE!

I love this challenge because it's a

'pay it forward' kinda challenge.

Not only does it promote the blogs of the

design team and it's players, but it also

supports those who sell one-of-a-kind

handcrafted work.

Now THAT'S a challenge I can really get behind.

Thanks so much to the Etsy Inspired ladies!

Feelin' Peachy...

As I was working on a post for this week's

Play Date Cafe Challenge, a nasty thunderstorm

swept through the area and knocked out my

power just long enough to make life a bit difficult.

So....I am at least sharing the 'color story'

with you, which was chosen this week by

our British Senior Designer, Sarah Anderson.

Make sure you visit her blog to see the entire

photo of this cake...it's pretty amazing!

 Also very happy to share with you that

this week's sponsor is

Limelight Papercrafts.  This week's winner

is going to receive TWO wonderful prizes!

We have a very talented celebrity guest designer

in The Cafe as well....so what are you waiting for?

It's ok...you can go now  : )