The Play Date Cafe: Delicate Doilies

It was working really hard at coming up with some new way to use these doily stamps - but then I decided they don't need anything fancy - they are cute enough to do all of the work for you for a great quick and easy card.  But...I did go for unique colors.  I am playing along with this week's colors at The Play Date Cafe.  I thought they had a bit of a Southwest vibe so...here's my attempt at Southwest doilies!!


The colors are steel blue, peach and apricot.  I write that because the graphic that follows looks much more muted that I went and I think the darker color looks like black.  But I checked design team cards and I think I'm not too far off.  I did add a little gray since I was seeing it in the photos.

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps delicate doilies
• Paper: Stampin' Up Peach Parfait, Night of Navy
• Ink: Stampin' Up Peach Parfait, Night of Navy, Papertrey Ink Canyon Clay
• Accessories: Jolee's Boutique Vintage Round Buttons, Brushed Silver brads, Maya Arts twine

A Little Bit of Calypso Coral and iPad Sketches

OK.  I have to admit it.  I think my least favorite color in the Stampin' Up rainbow of colors is Calypso Coral.  I don't even know why. Every time that I use it, it just seems to dominate.  So when I saw the color challenge at Play Date Cafe, I thought that pairing it with just black and white could work...and I think it does!


Last Friday, I spent a wonderful afternoon playing at a friend's house who has even more than I do.  (Yes, it is possible!)  I had to use this butterfly stamp - and I have a couple more Stampin' Up goodies to share throughout this week.  I'll try to do a little more with Stampin' Up.  A number of you started following me when I was doing a Stampin' Up countdown in an attempt to use every single one of my Stampin' Up sets.  Then I found some other styles of stamps that I truly love.  I don't dislike Stampin' Up   - I just got distracted.  My continually growing stash of SU stamps is feeling a little lonely and I'll be giving them some more attention!
This butterfly was the perfect fit for this week's Sketch Frenzy Friday.

And I would not have used these colors without The Play Date Cafe:

Sketching with the iPad:

I am an iPad fanatic.  I have shared many of my favorite apps for crafting in a tab at the top of the page. I will be doing a major overhaul of this section over the next month as I decide on a Google Reader replacement so don't spend too much time looking at it now.

In the meantime, I wanted to share an amazing write-up of an app called Paper53.  Amber, at Damask Love, details all the amazing features and shows you how she uses it to lay out her cards.

If you do your own sketches or constantly find yourself with ideas in your head - this app seems to be a great app to capture it all!!

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Swallowtail
• Paper and Ink: Stampin' Up Calypso Coral
• Accessories: misc black twine

Peace on Earth in Plum

This is my second post today.  It's just a short scroll

down for this week's Dynamic Duos challenge.

I love it when challenges come together!  This week's Merry Monday Challenge is a great sketch but also leaves it wide open to almost anything.  So I thought I'd get some help from Christmas Cards All Year Round which had two options but I decided to go for the non-traditional color option.  Then I got stuck again.  I don't use plum much, so I decided to add in this week's Play Date Cafe - black, white and a splash of plum.

Having said all of that, I'm still not sure about this card.  I was going for elegant, but I'm thinking it's just dark.  But if I'm going to use my wonderful silver glimmer paper - you're going to see it - it's too wonderful to waste!!

Remember the snow on my swing yesterday?  Check out today...

This is Andrew at 7:45 a.m. on a Saturday scraping off a layer of ice before I take him to an 8 hour OUTDOOR marching band rehearsal.  Brrrr!!  

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Greetings of the Season, Ornament Keepsakes
• Paper: Stampin' Up black dsp, Silver Glimmer
• Ink: Stampin' Up black, Perfect Plum
• Accessories: Silver cord, Perfect Plum button

A Play Date with TAWS

Two of my favorites are getting together: The Alley Way Stamps is posting the Play Date Cafe!!

The colors in the Play Date inspiration seem very modern and bold to me, so I tried to step a little out of my comfort zone...a very little.  I kept a LOT of white, then used these bold colors in my little "cameo".

I originally just had the little cameo by itself in the corner and it was getting lost.  So I remembered this week's Less Is More challenge of "ovals".  I added a row of orders as a border.  I like the concept, but I should have popped them or something as it gets a little lost.

I am also entering at Simon Says Stamp: Emboss It as this card includes dry embossing and heat embossing.

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Awesome Blossom
• Ink: Versamark
• Paper: Stampin' Up More Mustard, Papertrey Ink Raspberry Fizz
• Accessories: Creations Unlimited Teddy Bear Embossing Powder (brown), Sparkle White Detail Embossing Powder (no name on jar), misc sheer ribbon, Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate Twine, Stampin' Up Oval and Scalloped oval punch, gems colored with Copics

Awesome Blossom, Colors and Sketch

If you follow my blog, you know I am a huge challenge player.  I really need that starting point.  Typically I start with a need or stamp set and then go looking for sketches or colors to fit.  But this time, I started with the colors at The Play Date Cafe.  It's such a different combination that I typically use and I wanted the colors to be the star.

So...I have a new set from The Alley Way Stamps called Awesome Blossom - big blooms that I could splash across the card particularly given that I had this week's sketch at clean&simple in the back of my mind!!

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Awesome Blossom, Mad Gab ("snazzy"), Christmas Magic ("very")
• Paper: Stampin' Up Purely Pomegranate, Sahara Sand
• Ink: Stampin' Up Purely Pomegranate, Sahara Sand, Old Olive, Midnight Muse
• Accessories: Martha Stewart Trio of Butterflies, gems colored with Copics

Clown Wishes in Neon

Under the heading of "what was I thinking?" I purchased the new Hero Arts Neon Inks.  What in the world does a conservative stamper like me do with neon?  Surround it with neutrals!


I kind of like it this way.  Neon is so, so scary bright - just the little bit on this card totally pops!!
I used the colors from The Play Date Cafe (although they didn't specific neon!)

And I used the Mojo Monday sketch - but vertically.

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Admit One, "Wish" from Christmas Magic
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake
• Ink: Hero Arts Neon Pink, Yellow and Orange, Stampin' Up Crumb Cake
• Accessories: Cuttlebug Charles folder, twine, clear Dew Drops plopped on punched circles rubbed with neon

Less Is More: Three

If you are here for the Dynamic Duos post,

it's just a short scroll away!

This week's Less Is More challenge is EASY - - "THREE" - - and there is no better number to use for cardmaking. Of course, to counteract the easy theme - it had to be ONE LAYER week.  I really do like CAS cards, but one layer is hard.  I always at least want to put one layer at the back as a frame.

I am seeing a lot of cards out there that are a stamped solid image, highlighted with Copics or other pens.  I decided to give it a try on this very simple card.  There is just a touch of darker color near the bodies of the butterfly.

You can see it a little better on this card that I rejected because the top butterfly was just too "heavy".  (For the record, I'm not in love with the first card either, but it's hard to go too wrong with the gorgeous sentiment and sweet little butterflies!)

Notice that I used THREE butterflies, THREE little blings and, I just noticed, there are THREE words in the sentiment (or maybe that's stretching it a little bit!)





My butterflies are the colors from this week's Play Date Cafe challenge

You'll have to read on to my next post which was an attempt at a card for LIM - but after I got done with it, I noticed the big bold "ONE LAYER" on their challenge!  Oops.

• Stamps: DRS Designs sentiment, PTI Beautiful Butterflies
• Paper: white
• Ink: Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, So Saffron, black, Copics to match
• Accessories: tiny bling

It's New Release Day at Sweet 'n Sassy!!

It's the most wonderful time of the month...new release day at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps!!!

This month's new release is what I love about Sweet 'n Sassy...there is a mix of classic, Christian and fun.  I got a little of both in my package to preview!!

The first stamp set is a classic Christian set.  Although you don't see the stamp on the outside of my card - the sentiment that inspired this card is the verse from the hymn "It Is Well"...When peace like a river attendeth my way..."




The bridge is silver embossed with a few tiny sparkles for the feeling of the sun shining on the water.  Such a classic and so very peaceful image!

Then for my second card, I stretched my comfort zone...can you hear me taking a big leap???  I already had my stash of embossing powders out and when I am embossing I try to do a number of cards because no matter how hard that I try I MAKE A MESS!!  I have to strip everything off my desk and scrub in every nook and cranny - so I might as well make it worth the time.

I also just got a very unique Washi tape - it's almost neon.

I put it all together for this...




Doesn't that image work perfectly with all the gold and neon???  It's such a sweet and simple image, it can be used in so many ways.  Sweet 'n Sassy is celebrating their release all day long with challenges in the Sweet 'n Sassy forum on Splitcoaststampers.  I'm hosting a color challenge at noon EST and for my sample, I use this same stamp in a very traditional way!!!

My card recipes are at the very bottom of this post.

The next person on the hop is Cathy McCauley. 

Click on this badge for full details on all of the fun and all of the challenges with Sweet 'n Sassy!

Other fun details:

• The full release is available NOW in the Sweet 'n Sassy store.  
• There is a free stamp set with a $50 purchase!
• There are SO many prizes this month...I have lost track!!  Definitely comment as you are hopping, because the full release is up for grabs - get your comments in by Friday the 13th at midnight EST.  Taylor is giving away stamps for commenting on her blog and another set on Splitcoaststampers.  There are also prizes up for grabs for playing along with the challenges.  

In case you get lost - here's the list of the the design team:

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

Bridget Finlay

Taylor Usry

Jennie Harper

Kim Singdahlsen <==You Are Here

Cathy McCauley

Jessica Fick

Giovana Smith

Mary Faus

Kim Schofield

Dina Kowal

Monika Davis

Korin Sutherland 

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Bridge of Hope
• Paper: Stampin' Up Blush Blossom, Brushed gold from Michaels
• Ink: Stampin' Up Basic Gray, Versamark
• Accessories: Spellbinders tag, Fiskars small corner rounder, silver cord and detailed silver embossing ink
• Challenges: The Play Date Cafe - I almost didn't acknowledge this challenge because the photo of my card looks distinctly copper and pink - but the paper REALLY was Brushed Gold.  Unfortunately, I delivered the card at church this morning, so I do not have it to take another picture!  I still wanted to credit Play Date Cafe, because I was having a total mental block on this card until I saw this color challenge!!

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Dream Big
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Summer Sunrise
• Ink: Versamark
• Accessories: detailed gold embossing powder, Washi Tape by Sweet Bella (I wrapped the edges of my second layer in Washi tape), gold cord

A Techno Play Date!!

Sadly, I need sympathy cards for our church card ministry.  I was browsing challenges and saw soft colors at Play Date Cafe.  I paired it with the sketch at Technostamper.

These are so not colors that I would have put together, but I love how soft and gentle they are.

As I was looking through embossing folders for the first card, I found a butterfly folder that I had not yet used and thought it would look great with these colors.  It seemed a little "cheerful" for sympathy so I made it Get Well.

I also had to share some pictures of a fun moment from yesterday.  We have some very cold, snowy weather.  My oldest is in charge of taking the garbage out to the corner (which when you have 5 acres is quite a haul). He had forgotten to take it out last week so we had piles.  With his new learner's permit for driving, he decided he would load up the back of the car with trash bags and drive them out.  Made sense to us.  Somehow this is what happened...

Front end in the ditch!!  The truly inexplicable part of this is that our driveway is about 20 yards to the left of where he is, so it's not like he shot out of the driveway too fast and ended up in the ditch??!!

Then he had to come get Dad to help him.  Can you imagine how mortified he was to come tell Dad?  Of course, I grabbed my camera.  Andrew is actually walking from our driveway in this picture, so you can see how odd it was that the car is in the ditch almost by the neighbors house??!!

It turns out that after he unloaded the trash, he tried to U-turn so he didn't have to back down the driveway.  You can tell that the road is very icy - so he just slid right off!

Scott just pulled forward a little bit for traction and it came right out!  But it sure is going to be fun teasing Andrew about this over the years.  (And clearly we have to teach some snow driving!)

We are going to head up to our mountain place a little later today so I won't be back until Monday.  We are thrilled because the forecasted high in the mountains is 12F and the low is -9F.  We are a strange family that that excites us, aren't we??

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Kindness Matters (butterfly), Perfectly Penned (Get Well), All That Scraps Sympathy Sentiments
• Paper: Stampin' Wisteria Wonder, Groovy Guava, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede
• Ink: Stampin' Up Wisteria Wonder, Groovy Guava, Soft Suede
• Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing (leaves), Darice embossing (butterflies), Stampin' Up embossing, (stripes on fence), Stampin' Up Scallop border punch, Nestabilities oval and scalloped oval, My Favorite Things die (leaf), misc pearls and gems colored with Copics

Technostamper is the fun challenge that lets me show you all the other entrants.  Remember, you have to go the blog if you want to enter yourself.