PPC-CC #28 & Fall To Layout #105

Happy Monday everyone! This post is a touch late because blogger was uncooperative yesterday. I'm officially on vacation for a week but unfortunately I have to go in for a meeting tomorrow morning. Jamie and I both took a week of vacation to work on the house but it looks like the time will be used to do more catch up than renos. We've got a huge list of things to do before we even touch the kitchen renos. First off, we need to finish that darn laundry room. So Jamie was madly doing laundry today so we can unplug both machines and hopefully drywall tomorrow. We need to bring Khuno for his yearly shots and check-up, he desperately needs to be groomed and I also need my annual check-up! I've also set up a couple lunch dates with some friends and on Saturday we have an all day concert to go to. To end off our vacation, we have a friend's wedding on Sunday. Phew! Just thinking about it makes me feel like I have no time at all! To top that all off, I've finally booked an appointment and saw a chiropractor today about my numb foot issue when I run. The consult alone cost me $89! Gee whiz. So tomorrow I've got an appointment to do some work on my lower legs so that'll be another $39. Lets just hope it works! 

This week over at Picture Perfect Creations, the colors aren't ones I usually put together but I think it worked out in the end. I combined the colors with Fall To Layout #105. The technique used is double emboss resist and the DSP is from Walk In The Park. Yay! Another project down for the No paper/product buying challenge. I do have to confess though, I did put in an order recently for paper that I need to hold an upcoming workshop. Technically, the paper really isn't for me..... So I'm going to keep going with the challenge! Hopefully you have time to join us at PPC this week! 

PPC-CC #27 & FTL #104

Welcome to the second last Monday of the month! Fall is looming and Megan over at the Picture Perfect Creations blog has chosen some fun non-autumn colors this week. I combined this week's PPC #27 challenge with Clean & Simple's Fall To Layout #104. This card had only one stamp and I even mucked that up! I went to stamp the sentiment but my Stamp-a-ma-jig was sitting on top of the knot so I ended up rocking my stamp a bit too forward and got a little line. I tried covering it up but couldn't so I just added more lines! The sentiment is from the Wow Flowers stamp set and the DSP is from a retired hostess 6x6 paper pack. Isn't that new poly-stitched ribbon great?? I'm definitely glad I got all the colors! Worth the splurge! And whooo hoo! Another card using up some DSP for the no paper/product buying challenge! Hopefully you all get a chance to play long with the rest of the design team this week over at PPC! 

Sharing In Her Sorrow

I missed a call late Friday night while out eating dinner with my girlfriends. It was a call from a dear friend at work. I checked my voicemail and received a message that knocked the wind out of me. I didn't even get a chance to hear the entire message before the tears started to fall. The message left was that my friend has just got a call informing her that her son and daughter-in-law had just been killed in a car accident. I stumbled out of the restaurant to call my friend and could hardly speak when she answered. Her son Michael and his wife, Merin, had died in a head on collision. The news is still surreal to me. Michael and Merin became proud parents just a mere 7 weeks ago and my friend, a proud grandma. My heart is heavy and it aches even as I write this. Their families are in my thoughts and prayers. A trust fund has been started for their baby girl, Ysa. To find more details about the trust fund, please visit here. 

CPS #180 & PDCC #43

My oh my it seems like I'm finding my crafting time again! Perhaps it's because all of the trashy reality tv shows I've been following are over... Doesn't matter what the reason is, I just know I'm enjoying myself and even more excited that it's finally FRIDAY tomorrow. The office today was brutal. The air here in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada has been pretty unusual today. It looks like it's ridiculously foggy but it's actually a hazy smoke that's floated all the way over from BRITISH COLUMBIA!!! On the news today it was reported that there are over 200 fires in BC right now and the smoke is travelling across the border! So lots of people at work are getting headaches, allergic reactions and even wheezing! I can't even imagine how bad the air is in BC if Edmontonians think our air is bad. Anyways, onto tonight's card. I combined the Card Positioning Systems sketch #180 with the Play Date Cafe's challenge #43. Speaking of PDCC, I got picked as the cream in their coffee last week (sorta like I got honorable mention)! Unfortunately I couldn't incorporate any patterned paper but I'm still counting this for my no paper/product buying challenge. 

I find is kind of humorous that most of my cards look so insanely simple, but yet it takes me a very very very long time to finish! Take this card for instance. I started this card at approximately 9:30 and finished it at 11:30. Why does it take me so long you might ask? Well here's what happened with this card. I looked through my stamps and found a stamp I wanted to use. Then I proceeded to find coordinating ribbon to use as the 3 stripes. After choosing 3 ribbons, I sat around trying to figure out how to incorporate the Tempting Turquoise. I also wanted to use patterned paper for the no paper/product buying challenge so I look through all of my patterned paper for something green. I pull out the Woodland Walk DSP and spend some time trying to picture it on the card. After wasting precious minutes, I decide against the DSP. I stamp my image in Glorious Green and trim it out. I try stamping the image again on Tempting Turquoise and trim out the flower. After realizing it was kinda ugly because it blended in too much, I stamped it again on white and re-cut it. I started with a white base and wanted to use Glorious Green for the background so I cut that out and dry embossed it. At this point I still haven't found a way to put Tempting Turquoise in so I grab some ribbon and see how that looks. Not good. Then I decide to use the Tempting Turquoise as the base so I re-cut and re-dry emboss another sheet. I then cut up my neutral cream colored ribbons. At this point I have looked at the colors online numerous times already and tried to figure out what the 3 colors were. After reading the description again and again, I realized that the middle color wasn't a light vanilla at all, but rather a LIME GREEN like the description said!!! So I scrap all that previous ribbon and have to choose lime green ribbon now. After I get all that sorted, I wanted to add a bit of color to the middle of the flower. I was hoping for a light watercolor wash of yellow so it still looks close to the lime green. Of course I forgot that the water will make the green ink flower lines run so now I've got a mucky middle. Great. So I decide to add glitter to it to hide my dummy moment. After finishing the glitter I think I'm finished but don't actually like how it looks so I try adding other embellishments to the top left corner. After realizing I have nothing I can add, I decide that the white card base isn't good enough so I trim off the back half of the card and trim down the white border and attach the whole thing onto a Certainly Celery card base. Then I pick a sentiment for the inside, glue in the white inside sheet and stamp the finishing touches (the envelope and my name). Phew!!! I don't know if anyone actually reads posts that have this much writing but I just wanted to share. 12:01 AM. Perfect time to end this post and shower. Good night and hope everyone has a great Friday!! 

PPC Guest Designer Call!!

PPC-Crafty Challenges is now looking for upcoming PPC Guest Designers for September, October and November! (One for each month, of course!) 
 
Candidates must apply by Sunday, August 29th, 10pm EST. 



PPC Guest Designers will be chosen and announced on the First of every month. (Winners will be notified prior to beginning of each month, though).


::What is in it for you::

• Your name, picture and link to your blog on PPC-CC for the month you have been chosen to Guest Design.
• Your projects featured on PPC-CC.
• Possibility for some goodies and RAKs from me during your designated month.

 
::What we are looking for::

• Cardmakers, scrapbookers, altered art creators, beaders, quilters, etc...
• Creators who are active on their own blogs
• Anyone willing to make new friends, have fun and create! :)

 
::Responsibilities::

• Guest Designer term is the alloted month only (chosen by Megan), with the possibility to be extended.
• Each week, PPC Guest Designer will be required to complete a challenge in advance and send a photo of the finished project to my email. (Guest Deigner will receive a the months worth of challenges in advance. So if you create all of them in one night, you may send all your creations at once and be done for the month).
• Promote PPC-CC whenever and where ever possible in the online community.
• Post comments for the creators who enter the challenges each week.
• Make a weekly post about that week's PPC Color Combo and other happenings on your blog.

 
 How to Apply::
Please send Megan the following information to stampinmegs@hotmail.com. 

• Name
• Mailing address
• Email address
• Phone number
• Birthday
• Link to your blog
• Past and current DesignT Exeperience (DT experience not required)
• Are you a current Stampin’ UP Demonstrator? (Just curious...thats all. :))
• Why would you like to be a PPC Guest Designer?
• What would you like to see in the future at PPC-CC? Would you make any changes, additions, etc.?? 
• Three (3) Creations of you own that show your creative style...One (1) Creation MUST be of a current/previous PPC-CC challenge!
• Help spread the word about PCC-CC and our Guest Designer Call!
• Email Subject Line MUST read: PPC-CC Guest Designer Call

Do you have what it takes to be a PPC Creator?! We'd LOVE to have you on our team!
Thanks and Good Luck to all!
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PPC-CC #26 & Stamping 411 SSC #164

Boy I simply cannot believe that August is almost over! I always tell people that time goes by so much faster as an adult! In school the time always seemed to just crawl but not months and years just zip by! It's another Monday and time for another color challenge. Megan over at Picture Perfect Creations put some challenging colors together this week. I combined it with Stamping 411's Saturday Sketch Challenge #164. I got to use a bunch of new things including: the eyelet punch, the Elizabeth stamp set, my Poppy Parade ink pad, Blueberry Crisp DSP and new polystiched ribbon! If you missed my last couple posts, I've joined in on a no paper/product buying challenge. You can find info on my left side bar. I'm trying really hard to incorporate patterned paper into all of my projects. Something else that I noticed while unpacking my latest big order is that I have way too much ribbon!! So that'll be another personal goal to work my way through all my ribbon! 

That new Elizabeth stamp is sooo pretty. I colored it using a blender pen and my ink pad because I don't have the marker for it. Originally I didn't have it on the Pacific Point card base but when I glued on the main panel, I realized I glued it on upside down! There was no way that white embossed panel was coming off so I had to trim down 1/8" off of each side and slap it onto another card base. Turned out alright. Hope you all have a chance to play with us this week at PPC! I'll leave you with a photo of my precious pup Khuno. I came downstairs yesterday night to craft and found him enjoying a snooze by the patio door. 

Play Date Cafe Challenge #42 & Fall To Layout #103

I wasn't very productive today. I had every intention to be productive! Alarm was set for 9:00 AM and Jamie even came to wake me up at 9:30 but then I convinced him (wasn't hard) to nap with me till 10:00. He eventually got up at 11 or 11:30 and I woke my lazy butt up at 1:00 PM!!! Jamie asked what I wanted for breakfast and so I asked him what he wanted and he goes "Well it'd be lunch for me." Ouch. Anyways, I managed to muster up a card today. The photo is the inspiration from the Play Date Cafe Challenge and I paired it up with Clean & Simple's Fall To Layout sketch 103. I got to use some patterned paper for the No paper/product buying challenge and you get a sneak peak of a stamp set that will be available in September from the new winter mini catalogue! Don't be upset with the very Autumn looking card. I swear fall is here already because Jamie and I already saw yellow leaves on some trees on our dog walks. 

The leaves are from the new stamp set French Foliage and the sentiment is from a retired hostess set Flower Lines. I wanted the patterned paper to show through so I used some vellum and got to try out my new Scrapbook Adhesives vellum adhesive. Not too bad but it does tend to clump a bit at the start and end. You can see a little blip of it on the top left corner. The rest is still pretty invisible so I'm happy with it. Worth the $8. The ribbon is Chocolate Chip taffeta and I'm in absolute love with it! The sheen it has is so gorgeous in person. Hope you all had a great weekend! 

Card Positioning Systems #179

98 projects left to go for the No Paper/Product Buying Challenge. If you're wondering what that is, feel free to check out the information on the post here. I didn't do a very good job using patterned paper and I know the goal for Megan and Allison is to use up their patterned stuff. For myself though, my main goal is to just use any of my stuff! With renos and summer, I've been having a hard time sitting down and crafting. So what happens? I post ridiculously late at night. Tonight's cards were made using the sketch found over at the Card Positioning Systems blog. I envisioned a more masculine card when I chose the Marina Mist card base but that didn't pan out...

You can't tell from the picture but the words are actually embossed with Not Quite Navy and I scored both cards along the length of the ribbon. I've been using this level 1 hostess set Because I Care a lot lately, probably because it's nice a big and covers a fair portion of my card. The sentiment is from A Little Birthday Cheer. I didn't even realize I had this stamp set till tonight. The hydrangea is colored with SU pastels and I tried to add a bit more by using my Signo white gel pen to dot the flower centers. The new ribbon is the fantastic new 1/8" taffeta ribbon in Daffodil Delight! If you're wondering why my ribbon knot is facing the opposite ways, it's because: 

1. I tied the left one first and cut the ribbon. 

2. I attempted to tie the second one and realized the first one looked kinda ugly with the ends poking towards the image. 

3. I tried about 7 times before I could figure out how to tie the knot so the ends would poke outwards. 

4. I attempted to retie the left card but had cut the ribbon so short I could hardly grab the darn thing. 

5. I just plain old gave up. So there you have it. Hope everyone has a good day! I'm off to bed! 

No Paper/Product Buying Challenge!!!

Now for all of you that know me, I am a self-proclaimed hoarder. I hoard everything from paper stationary to old clothes to even Khuno's (my dog) fur!!! Since I started meddling in the paper crafts, I must admit that I've accumulated a lot of patterned paper. I've got two entire cases of paper from Costco just sitting there collecting 2 years worth of dust. Although it was a fantastic deal, I just don't get around to using any of it because it never matches Stampin' Up's colors. Well that's going to change! A couple of my blogging world friends Megan and Allison started a NO PAPER/PRODUCT BUYING CHALLENGE!

The Challenge: Complete 100 Crafty Projects (beginning August 1, 2010) before you're allowed to buy any paper/tools/accessories! It's like a support group for those of us not allowed to buy paper! It also gives us a really good excuse to allow more time to get crafty and to do what we love! 

And of course, with every challenge, there are rules...

Challenge Rules:
1. You must complete 100 different paper-related projects. AT LEAST 50 of these projects must be shown on your blog. For the project to count, you must mention in the post that you created the project for the No Paper Buying Challenge.

2. You are allowed to buy consumable items such as adhesives (glue dots, tape runners, etc.), tool accessories (Cricut blades, Big Shot plates, etc.), and embellishments (use good judgement -- do you really need them?).

3. You must keep track of the number of projects you complete. Please display a Project Challenge Tracker on your page and update regularly so we know how many projects everyone has completed.

4. Please be honest with the number of projects you report to have completed!

5. You may enter this challenge at any time. The sooner you join, though, the better chance you have of winning!

6. You must be signed up to be eligible to win a prize. You can send Allison a comment at prettypapersandmore@gmail.com to sign up. Plus, once we know you're participating, we can support each other while we try to use up our paper stashes. Once you have completed all 100 projects, please send Allison an email at prettypapersandmore@gmail.com so she can get your information and send your prize pack out!

Prizes: The first two individuals to complete 100 projects will receive a special prize pack from Megan and Allison. They will share details on the prize packs once we have some idea of how many people are participating.

This prize-contest officially started August 1, 2010 and will end whenever the first person completes all 100 of their projects; your personal No Paper Buying Challenge may end at a different date. Don't give up if you're not first or second!! ;)

Happy crafting everyone!!! 

PPC-CC #25 & Fall To Layout #100

Boy weekends go by way too fast don't they? This weekend we had a great BBQ with Jamie's family. The weather was perfect and we got to watch a bunch of amazing people pass our house all weekend while they were doing a 60km walk for the annual Weekend To End Women's Cancer. Such inspiration! Last week I missed out on Megan's Picture Perfect Color Challenge #24 but not this week!! Head on over to the PPC blog to play with this week's colors. I paired this week's colors with Clean & Simple's Fall to Layout #100! Nice milestones for both blogs! 

The PPC Creators and Megan are SOO super excited to announce our 25th week and #25 Color Combo at PPC, that we just had to celebrate with some super-de-duper Blog Candy!

How about an...

Assortment of Stampin' Up! NEW In Colors Cardstock!!!

Includes: 4 each of 5 NEW In Colors (8-1/2 x 11): Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade and Concord Grape

These NEW In Colors are abosolutely fabulous! The cardstock will definitely, as they will be included in our upcoming challenges! :)

HOW TO WIN:

• Become a follower at PPC, if you're not already one.
• Leave a comment at the bottom of this post.
• And if you would be so kind and crafty, please partipate in our PPC-CC 25 Color Combo Challenge this week!

That's it...sooo simple and easy! Contest ends next Monday, August 16th at 10am.
Good Luck!
 

Play Date Cafe Challenge #41

I can't believe it's already Saturday!!! It has been so busy lately that I didn't even get a chance to participate in this week's Picture Perfect Creations Challenge! I did manage to find some time (at 1:15 in the morning!!) on Thursday night to make a card for the student that I had shadowing me for the last 10 weeks. It was her last day yesterday and I wanted to make her a little congrats card on finishing her nursing school! I was poking around looking for some color inspiration when I found this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge #41. I had a sheet of leftover Sweet Pea DSP in So Saffron sitting on my desk (pays to be messy sometimes!) so I thought it'd go perfectly with Cherry Cobbler. The layout is similar to one that I used in the past PPC challenge. You can check out the other card HERE. 

Everything is Stampin' Up except the button (local craft store) and the flower (from Prima). The embossed white panel is using the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder with my Big Shot. Hope everyone has a great weekend! Off to a family summer BBQ get-together!