PDCC44 - Horribilis Colour Challenge

I can't believe I've actually finished the challenge on the day it came out lol and what a doozy the challenge is this week! It has been dubbed the "Horribilis Challenge" because of the unique colour combo. Here's the picture you'll find over at the Play Date Cafe:


Yes...that's right, navy blue, hot pink and MUSTARD! Having just read the latest PaperCrafts magazine I remembered a little tidbit from the colour challenge and ironically the colours in the challenge in the magazine weren't that far off from these colours. Anyways, the key piece of info was, when mixing bold colours, you should treat it like a paint combo (gallon, quart and pint) for the most pleasing visual effect. So I applied this formula to this...umm..unique colour combo and came up with this:


I chose my least favorite colour out of the three and used that as my "pint". The mustard circle has the flowers from the "Upsy Daisy" stamp set by Stampin' Up! stamped in Navy ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder. This was definitely an odd colour combo to work with for me, but it's starting to grow on me :)

Birthday Unique Colour Combo Card

Cardstock: (Melon Mambo, More Mustard, Night of Navy) Stampin' Up!
Ink: (Night of Navy, More Mustard) Stampin' Up!
Ribbon: (Grosgrain Melon Mambo) Stampin' Up!
Embossing Powder: (Clear) Stampin' Up!
Rhinestone Stickers: (Hot Pink) Me & My Big Ideas
Stamps: (Upsy Daisy) Stampin' Up!
Other: (Harlequin Texture Plate) Sizzix

Thanks for stopping by and good luck with your "unique" colour combo :)

PDCC43 & The Scrap Pile

My scrap pile has gotten so large that I needed a drawer just to fit it all, and the bigger it gets, the more I wonder what to do with it all. Sometimes it's very tempting to just "toss" it all, but there are so many cute odds and ends in the pile. So my challenge for myself this week is to make my cards with items only from the "scrap" pile. This week at the Play Date Cafe there is a great colour combo featuring this inspirational photo:


It took a while, but I managed to find little odds and ends with all three colors. My best find was a slew of rhinestone sticker sheets that were half used. My card this week is very simple.

Lots of white space for this one. I found a canvas scallop circle in my pile and inked it up with some Certainly Celery. The "hi" is chipboard letters, covered in cardstock that was run through my big shot machine with a checkered texture. Of course I've been on a stick pin craze and made a little one to go with this card too, and I confess, I strayed from the scrap pile to find some beads :)

Simple Hi Card

Cardstock: (whisper white, tempting turquoise) Stampin' Up!
Canvas tag: Stampin' Up!
Ink: (certainly celery, whisper white) Stampin' Up!
Rhinestone stickers: Me & My Big Ideas
Other: Stick pin, beads, scallop punch, big shot texture plate

Thanks for stopping by :)

PDCC42 + 2 extra challenges

Ever get to the point you have so much "stuff" that you don't know what you own? *sigh* I'm guilty of being one of those people that buys faster than I can use :) So along with the challenge at the Play Date Cafe, I also challenged myself two other ways. 1) I had to pick something off my peg board that has been sitting there forever and 2) the card could take no more than 10 minutes (yikes!) I knew my colors had to be green, dark brown and beige so I started sifting through the pile of "stuff" on my peg board and I found something I forgot I had (go figure!) I found a whole sheet of this pretty glittered bird stickers by Martha Stewart Crafts and just my luck, one was green with brown and beige :) I tried the 10 minute challenge, came close, but was over by 3 minutes because of the bow. I love bows, but I don't quite have the technique down where you get that "perfect knot lol. So....this is what I came up with:


Birdie Hello Card

Cardstock: (Chocolate Chip) Stampin' Up!, (Champagne Frost) Bazzill
Ribbon: (Satin Chocolate Chip) Stampin' Up!
Rub-On: Stampin' Up!
Texture Plate: (Big Dots) Sizzix exclusive Stampin' Up!
Punch: (Scallop Border) Stampin' Up!
Other: Stitching Tool

Thanks for looking and why not challenge yourself to use something you've had forever ;)

Christmas in July...a few weeks late

This week I decided to enter some crafts in our local exhibition and one of the categories was right up my alley...Christmas ornaments! The category is for three ornaments not more than 4.5" in size. I wanted to use up some of my scraps, so I made all of the ornaments out of paper.


The one on the left was made using a small styrofoam ball as the base. I punched two flower sizes in contrasting colours using the Boho Blossoms punch from Stampin' up! The centers are small Swarovski pearls held on with a stick pin. This technique is the same one I used for my floral topiary, to see that click here. The second ornament was a bit more complex :) It is called a sonobe origami ornament and there is a great tutorial at Splitcoststampers that you can find here. Their version uses 30 pieces to make it, but I adapted mine to a smaller version using only 12 pieces.

The last ornament was my favorite and probably the easiest out of the three.

This ornament is called a double ball and you can find another great tutorial at Splitcoaststampers found here. I switched mine a bit and put the small ball on top and opted for a Swarovski crystal to give it some extra sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

PDCC41-Italian Style

Another Play Date Cafe challenge has arrived and this week it is based on the photo below:


When I first caught a glimpse of the colour palette I automatically thought of fall, high suns, geese and fields of corn ( I know, totally different than what the picture depicts). So that is what I went with.


I decided to dig out my brayer and give that technique a whirl again for this card. To make the sun, I cut a circle from a post it note and stuck it on my piece of white before I brayered on my two colours. I didn't have any corn or wheat stamps, so I used a stamp from the "Pocket Silhouettes" by Stampin' Up! instead; they were stamped with Really Rust. I had tried white ink on my trial piece first, but it didn't stand out like I wanted it to. I thought for sure I would of had a bird stamp in my collection, but no such luck, I ended up drawing those little critters. The sentiment is a rub-on from Stampin' Up! as well.

Lately I've been on a DIY embellie kick, my latest craze being stick pins. I have so many beads (enough to sink a large ship lol) I figure I best start using them up! Here is a close up of the stick pins:
They're really simple to make. With these ones, I just selected beads that went with the colour scheme, dipped the pin ends in a little bit of crystal effects, slid the beads into place and then let them dry completely before handling.

Bless Your Home Card (all supplies Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted)

Cardstock: Whisper White, Really Rust
Ink: Really Rust, More Mustard
Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes
Ribbon: Whisper White Satin
Rub-On: Autumn Days
Diecut: Top Note
Embossing Texture: Distressed
Other: Stick pins, Beads, Pop Up Dots

Thanks for looking and happy crafting!

PDCC40 - Splash of Green

This week's challenge over at the Play Date Cafe is a Splash of Colour challenge which basically means a black and white card with a hint of colour, and this time around it's green! Here is the sample photo you will find on their site:


Here is what I came up with for the challenge and getting a good picture seemed to be a challenge in itself! I'll blame it on the ho-hum lighting in my art room instead of the photographer this time around :)

The paper is from Stampin' Up! and mostly everything else with the exception of the stickers, rhinestones and stick pins. It's hard to tell in the picture but the rhinestones are peridot. I think the sticker letters wouldn't focus that well because of the white ink I stamped in behind them. I made the sticks pins by taking a pin and gluing a white freshwater pearl to the ends. Here is a close up of the pins:


Thanks Card (all supplies Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted)

Cardstock: Basic Black
Patterned Paper: Night & Day
Ink: Whisper White
Ribbon: Basic Black Satin
Rhinestones: (Peridot) Me & My Big Ideas
Stickers: (Shimmer Alpha Black) Making Memories
Other: Stick pins, freshwater pearls

Thanks for looking and happy crafting!