My Time to Color Challenge - MTCC04

Well, I'm finally back from vacation and I swear my mojo stayed behind! I had to create my card Thursday night to have it ready in time for the sneak peek image I shared last night (or earlier tonight if you are reading this at midnight :O) I STRUGGLED even though I had a TON of ideas that I jotted down at work. When I got home and tried to put them to paper...no dice! So, I went an entirely different direction that what I originally intended. This is what I came up with.

I used the faux embossing technique on the main image and rub ons for the sentiment. Everything else is pretty apparent I think :O) I kept it simple!!! This came in handy for a graduation card for a friend of my daughter's yesterday. Great timing...so it's probably best that I went a different direction! LOL Here's a shot of the inside. The flowers are rub ons and the sentiment is stamped.

That being said, I came up with an idea at work yesterday on how to finish the first card I started Thursday night. I owe a friend of mine a HUGE thank you! This card will go to her. I kept the yellow to a minimum on this card...only using it on the button, the faux border stitching and the ribbon ties. This is my favorite of the two :]

Oh, and just in case you're wondering, I created the faux border stitching by paper piercing and drawing a line with a chalk pen along the holes. The faux stitching on the "crazy quilt" was created by drawing black dots with a marker and using a white gel pen to cross "stitch".

I hope you can play along this weekend! The color palette inspired by the cute bag is so pretty and easy to work with (even when you're sans mojo :O) If you do play along, be sure to stop by Lauren's blog and link your creation using Mr. Linky! Also, use keyword MTCC04 if you upload in any online galleries so that we can view all of your creations together :]

Don't forget to visit our inspirational design team to get the creative juices flowing! They're sure to give you some ideas with their awesome creations!

Lauren

Alicia

Dana

Dawn

Jennifer

Kendra

Lisa

MacKenzie

Maria

Odette

Pam

Tamara

Tracey

I'll list all of the supplies in my SCS gallery later today :O)

Saturday Color Challenge Sneak Peek!

Tomorrow is the My Time to Color Challenge! Can you figure out what the color palette is, based on these sneak peeks from our ultra talented design team?! Be sure to check back tonight at midnight or tomorrow when you wake up to see my sample and the challenge color scheme! You don't want to miss it :O)

Hope you had a wonderful week. TGIF!!

Weiman Family Request & Future Blog Candy

Well, it's Friday and we're in Georgia safe and sound! If you follow my blog, you'll know I never got around to giving you the eye candy I was hoping to on my Sunday post :( Things just got busy at home preparing for our trip.

Oh, and if you don't live in the south, let me tell you, it is HOT here! Wow!! I wanted to go jogging this morning around 9 but took one step outside and quickly rethought that idea! It's soooo humid here. I would have passed out after a quarter of a mile, I'm sure :O) So, I'll try again in the morning at 6 instead. Wish me luck!

My original intent in writing this post was to advertise a request I received from Alicia Weiman. If you are not familiar with the very special Weiman family, please read about sweet Ethan on Alicia's Caringbridge site and these posts on my blog --> Weiman posts.

Recently, Pink Cat Studios created a very special digital stamp set called the Weiman Wranglers. Proceeds from this set will go to the Make A Wish Foundation, Illinois Chapter in honor of Ethan Weiman. This foundation was a blessing to Ethan and his family. From what I remember, they gave the Weiman's a horse, a "little ass", and a barn. Not only that, but when Ethan's beloved horse, Sonador, passed away last Christmas, they replaced his horse with a new one named Questions. What other organization comes through for people in such a HUGE way? I can think of many charitable organizations doing great things, but when it comes to granting the wishes of sick children this one surpasses any that I'm aware of.

Anyway, many compassionate paper crafters have already purchased and created some stunning projects using the Weiman Wranglers. I created a card and a digi card (while I was on vacation in PA) but I didn't really know what I would do with the tangible card. I made it specifically with little Ethan and his sister, Ava in mind. Meaning, I studied all of their photos to see how they dressed...down to the pattern and color. So, when the card was finally finished, I sat there looking at it thinking, what am I going to do with this? I could never give it to anyone, it's Ethan and Ava. I didn't know if I should send it to Alicia, or just hold onto it. BUT, Alicia emailed me the other night and gave me some food for thought. She told me that if I knew of anyone who created a project using the Weiman Wranglers and didn't plan on doing anything with it, she would love to have it as a keepsake. She's putting all of them in a book because she loves to look at everyone's creations from the set.

So, I haven't sent her mine yet, but I brought it with me and will post it tomorrow! I'm so happy that she asked for the creations because now I feel like mine really had a purpose :O) If you created something with the Weiman Wranglers set and would like to send it to Alicia, please email me and I'll forward her address to you! You can find my email address under the About Me page on my blog.

BLOG CANDY!!!

Okay, so apparently my blogoversary was yesterday! Mind you, I had no idea until I logged on today because we spent the day driving to Georgia :) Thank you to the few who wished me a happy blogoversary and let me know! LOL That being said, I think this is a fitting time to finally offer some blog candy!! I have quite a few duplicate stamping items at home that have never been used, and tons of paper and embellishments that I'm sure I could do without. I also have a Cricut and a Sizzix machine that I could easily make some die cut giveaways from! Soooo, when I get home, I'll put together some blog candy for you all :O) Keep an eye out...I have some cool things just sitting there waiting for a good home.

Last but not least. We are not doing a My Time to Create Challenge this Saturday due to the holiday weekend. Everyone is just so busy it seems...so we're taking a week off! You can view previous challenges on my left sidebar if you want to participate in one that you didn't have a chance to the first time! We would LOVE to see what you come up with if you do! Please leave a comment here to let me know if you played along with a previous challenge so I can check out your creations!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a SAFE, relaxing 4th of July holiday!!

PCS Gift Certificate Winner

Good morning everyone :O) I wanted to publish a quick post to announce the winner of the $5 Pink Cat Studios gift certificate. I didn't have a lot of participants (2 to be exact) but I believe that's my fault for not advertising the prize through PCS or Lauren's blog. Either way, I used random.org to generate my winner, and it returned #1...LeAnne Pugliese. Who incidentally is offering some blog candy on her site right now! Check it out and leave her a comment telling her what your favorite stamping technique is to enter :O)

Thank you to everyone who supported the PCS Weiman Wrangler and the Weiman family fundraisers! We raised $1479 for the PCS Weiman Wrangler's fundraiser and over $500 for the family! I am so touched by the generosity of our stamping community. You are so compassionate and generous...it tugs at my heart strings. Both are such worthy causes...I'm proud to be a part of this community.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope to have some eye candy later today or early this week for you. I'm going on vacation again the 2nd through the 7th, but I plan to play along with Lauren's challenge one way or another :O) So...until then. Have a GREAT stamp-filled weekend!!

My Time to Color Challenge...Digi Style :O)

Okay...so I had a dilemma this week. I left my home in VA for a trip to PA on Tuesday evening. We aren't headed back to VA until Saturday afternoon...and I didn't have my card for the color challenge started! Much less finished :) So I was thinking I would have to sit out this weekend. BUT, it occurred to me after I arrived in PA and destressed, that the images our team is using this weekend are DIGITAL! Who needs a paper cutter, cs and ink when you have a digital image to play with? Well, I do to make a good card, but I thought I would challenge myself with NOT using anything tangible. If anything, to give you something to check out for the challenge :O)

DISCLAIMER! I'm NOT a digital scrapbooker and have never touched this stuff until now. HUGE thanks to Jen Tapler for giving me some digital advice and tips :O) She is a digi queen! Some day I'll learn to add shadows and the cool, fancy stuff...but for now, this is it. I found the stars, metal brads and ribbon FREE on Free Digital Scrapbooking. Pretty cool, huh?

I created my patterned paper using the two sentiments in the PCS Weiman Wranglers set. I simply recolored the "Howdy" and used the horseshoe from the "You're Amazing" sentiment. I arbitrarily rotated the images randomly and ended up with some cool patterned paper. Neat, huh? The plaid paper is actually "try before you buy" PTI paper.

Okay, so I KNOW this card is ULTRA simple, but I truly had very little time to work on it in PA. Next week I promise something MUCH more detailed!

So, with all that, we would LOVE for you to play along with the color challenge today (MTCC03) and if you want to go that extra mile, you could join our team in using the Weiman Wranglers set! Pink Cat Studios is offering the set for only $6 and all proceeds are going to the Make A Wish Foundation, Illinois Chapter, in honor of Ethan Weiman. Such a worthy cause, and a fabulous organization that made a huge difference in Ethan Weiman's life. And don't forget the prize I'm offering! You can read about that in my previous post :O) Deadline is midnight Saturday night!!!

Can't wait to see what you create! Please be sure to post a link to your creation using Mr. Linky on Lauren's Blog! Also, be sure to stop by the design team members' blogs for some more inspiration! This talented group is sure to WOW you!

Lauren
Alicia
Dana
Dawn
Jennifer
Kendra
Lisa
MacKenzie
Maria
Odette
Pam
Tamara
Tracey

Weiman Wranglers...Part II

I finally finished my card LATE last night :O) I could not get a clear picture to save my life, so I went with this one in the end. Oh, and if you're new to my blog and you aren't familiar with the Weimans, please read --> these posts.

What does one of the last papercrafters on the planet who doesn't own a Copic marker do to color?! She prints her Wranglers on Watercolor paper and uses markers and an aqua painter to color them (after arranging the Wranglers in her image editing software). Yes, I watercolored...just like the cavemen used to do :O) LOL

For my first card using the Weiman Wranglers, I really wanted to capture little Ethan and Ava’s style (who the images were designed for). So, I went to Alicia Weiman’s Caringbridge site and studied all of the photos I’ve seen hundreds of times before.

For Ethan, I really liked the photo of him wearing his light blue and white plaid, button down shirt, blue jeans, leather belt/boots, and his black cowboy hat. I noticed he had what looks like two leather braided bands around his hat, so I added some black twine to my cowboy’s hat. Oh, and for those of you who aren’t familiar, Ethan LOVED his red bandana! I have some red bandana paper, so I paper pieced the bandana on my cowboy. I also paper pieced the shirts on both wranglers. The rest is watercolored.


For Ava, I didn’t find a lot of pictures where she kept to the same look other than being VERY girly and wearing a lot of pink :O) LOVE the bows she always wears in her hair (I think her grandma makes them for her), so I tied a tiny pink bow and added it to her pink cowgirl hat :O) I watercolored everything but her shirt.
Did you notice the “A” and “E” on their belt buckles? I thought those were so cool! I just added the letters in my image editing program before I printed. Neat, huh?

I didn’t want my main panel to take over the entire card because I had an image in my head of using my new Nestabilities die to make a faux “saddle”. That would be the kraft CS. I embossed using one of my Cuttlebug folders and sponged Vintage Photo Distress Ink around the edges to give it a weathered look. I added the ribbon and buckle to resemble the stirrup :O) Ha ha…it’s funny when you compare it to a real saddle because they’re nothing alike! But in my head, they’re totally the same :]

Okay, now that my post is a novel, I’ll spare you any more long-winded details!! If you made it this far, thanks for reading :O) Hope you are able to make something with these digital stamps! The money is going to SUCH a great cause! I know the Make A Wish Foundation came through in a BIG way for the Weimans on more than one occasion! I’m more than happy to contribute to the organization!!

With that, how about a prize? I’ll donate a $5 PCS gift certificate to a random winner to hopefully go toward the Weiman Wrangler fundraiser! All you have to do is publish a post on your blog announcing the Weiman Wrangler fundraiser (happening over at Pink Cat Studios) before midnight on Saturday this week. I’ll pick a winner using random.org and make the announcement on Sunday. Please use Mr. Linky to add the link directly to your post about the fundraiser to make it easy for me to check them out :O)

UPDATE: 6.28.09...LeAnne Pugliese won the PCS gift certificate! I removed Mr. Linky :]

Thanks so much!

Exciting Announcement - Weiman Wranglers

Good morning :O) I’m sooooo excited to announce that Pink Cat Studios JUST released a stamp set in honor of Ethan Weiman; the Weiman Wranglers! If you are new to my blog, please read this post for more information about this amazing little guy.

This is a digital stamp set and all proceeds will go to the Make A Wish Foundation. For only $6 you can purchase both Weiman Wranglers and the sentiments – and have INSTANT access to your images so you can start creating right away!!

I’m sad to say that my project with this set just isn’t finished yet despite staying up until 1:30 last night. I’m going to try and finish it today after work because I’m going out of town on Tuesday until Sunday. Soooo, keep an eye out :O)

Last but not least I just want to tell you how amazing this papercrafting community is. Lauren presented the idea for the stamp set to Melissa from PCS on the Friday that we found out Ethan was called home. Melissa who is moving this week, and undoubtedly has NUMEROUS preparations for that, managed to create these adorable images in less than a week! Not only did she get the images ready, she figured out the payment mechanism (to Make A Wish), created the landing page, and a collage of the creations our team made…among other things! I can’t forget Ethan’s mom, Alicia. She is one of the strongest ladies I know. She worked with Lauren and Melissa on the verbiage for the landing page and determined which charity to send the money to…again, among other things...all just a week after losing sweet Ethan. These ladies are just incredible to me.

I sooo hope you make something amazing with the digi images! We’re going to leave the fundraiser link for the family up for a few more days if you want to contribute directly to the Weimans (note the widget in my right side bar). Otherwise, you can contribute to the Make A Wish Foundation through Pink Cat Studio and gain an amazing stamp set to boot!

Be sure to check out Lauren's blog and her awesome challenge!

Please leave a comment with a link to your card if you are able to make something with one or more of the images! I would LOVE to see what you come up with :O) You guys are so inspiring to me!

Have a great Monday and an even better week.

My Timeless Template Challenge...#3

Wow! What a week this has been! I've been unusually busy at work AND at home. I almost didn't have time to create my project for the challenge! Sooo unlike me...I'm usually finished by Tuesday at the latest :) My point being that it's hard to believe it's time for another, AWESOME weekly challenge from Lauren Meader and the My Time to Create Design Team!

Today's challenge is a template challenge. You can use any of Lauren's templates on Papertrey Ink to create a project (there are TWO free templates, so no excuses not to play :O)...but you must create your own patterned paper and incorporate it into the project! Easy peasy. I've been wanting to make a navy based girly project for a couple of weeks now. I kind of followed that idea with my project today. It's pretty basic, I know, but I do like the clean yet girly look! This is the Perfect Matchbox template. I made this into a gift box for an extra long necklace I made a while ago.

I used Lisa Johnson's Flower Garden stamp set from PTI. This has long been one of my absolute FAVORITE sets!! I love how she drew the flowers to be colored or stamped...they're so bold yet so delicate (just like Lisa's beloved Poppies). I used PTI Spring Rain for the main image, and SU! Night of Navy for the outline. I also randomly stamped the swirly line from the set, the leaves and smaller outlines of the flower in SU! Kiwi Kiss. I also stamped smaller flowers in Night of Navy.
I used my new Nestabilities dies for the panels, and a large SU! white grommet with Kiwi Kiss ribbon for the drawer pull. The "foam" on the inside has been reused from other DSA jewelry businesses :]


This project was pretty easy. Probably because I seem to have lost my mojo AGAIN last weekend...but I feel that it's nearby, just waiting for me to pick it up and put it to work :O)


Don't fear though, our team has some amazing peeks that I can't WAIT to see!!

Be sure to stop by their blogs to check out their projects and to get a healthy dose of inspiration from each and every talented designer!

Lauren
Alicia
Dana
Dawn
Jennifer
Kendra
Lisa
MacKenzie
Maria
Odette
Pam
Tamara
Tracey

If you play along be sure to do two things; 1 - link your post to Mr. Linky on Lauren's blog, and 2 - use keyword MTTC03 in the online galleries. I really can't wait to see what you can do with Lauren's awesome templates!


Have a wonderful weekend.

Weiman Family Fundraiser

I'm writing this post with such a heavy heart. For those of you who don't know, my friend, and fellow DT member, Alicia Weiman, lost her precious 4-year old son, Ethan, on Friday. Ethan has been battling neuroblastoma cancer for 2 years now. If you follow their Caringbridge Journal, you know the trials they have been through and the extraordinary actions Alicia and Dave took to try and beat this horrible disease. Sadly, after a long, painful battle, the good Lord called Ethan home.

Alicia is the first to say that "Heaven gained the greatest little boy ever". Without a doubt. I'm sure Ethan is happily riding his beloved horse, Sonador (who passed away last year right around Christmas time), looking down on his family with loving eyes and a happy heart. Their forever guardian angel ♥

The family is holding a private service for Ethan tomorrow from 4-7 in Illinois. As a DT, we all want to contribute to the family in some way and have discussed several ideas. They requested that in lieu of flowers, plants or concrete statues, they would like to fill the place with balloons or a memorial in Ethan's name. Lauren is all over the balloons order, and we discussed sending a gift card for Schwann's also. After brainstorming the best way to collect donations from the DT who so lovingly wants to contribute, we thought it might be best to use PayPal. I set up a donation button in honor of the Weiman family and have loaded it in my right side bar --->

I'm not sure how to set up a widget like the one they used for the SOA event (to keep track of the total amount contributed to date) without creating the widget myself (html). I could do that, but it would take me a few days to figure out all of the details. Since the service is tomorrow, I would like to start accepting donations as soon as possible so as not to delay our contribution to the family. Therefore, I went with a simple "Donate" button.

The plan is to use the DT contributions to pay for the balloons and the Schwann's gift card, and give the remaining balance (from DT and any other followers who would like to donate) to the family. We figure they can use the money to help pay final expenses, any medical bills they are still paying on, or donate to a charity, etc.

So, if you would like to help in a small or big way, please use the PayPal Donation button in my right sidebar --> I will keep my blog updated with the total amount collected to date...and if I figure out how to create a widget that keeps track for me, I'll add it right away! We will send a list of everyone who donates as well as any comments you would like to pass along, with the money we collect. Please feel free to use the comment box below the PayPal button to share your well-wishes or email me (email address is listed in my "About" page).

Please pray for the Weimans. I can only imagine what they are going through and what they will face in the coming days and weeks. They are an amazing family who have done so much! I hope we can help ease their burden.

If I can steal Alicia's words one more time, I think this is an appropriate closing to this post, "Here's to you COWBOY ETHAN! Hope you're having fun riding your Sonador! GOD BLESS!"

My Time To Inspire Challenge...MTTI02

Well, it's finally Saturday and you know what that means! Another My Time to Create Challenge from Lauren Meader! Lauren asked me to host the challenge today (**big smile** :O) because she is SUPER swamped with the Papertrey Ink release (that happens on the 15th of each month...so exciting, and so much fun to participate via the forum the evening of the 14th! You should check it out if you haven't already.)

Okay, onto the challenge...

This week the challenge is an inspiration challenge! Isn't this an adorable baby room??

I love the clean, constrasting, airy colors in this photo, and I was inspired by the circles. The circles of course led my imagination to paper quilling (remember, my new fetish?...err...that I need to learn more about?). Well, quilling flowers didn't seem too hard to accomplish, so I went to work using the colors in the photo. I used Sahara Sand as my background color. I know it's not quite as dark as the paint in the photo, but it's close in hue and it kept my card summery, so I went with it :O) I wasn't as inspired by the pillow's turtle, but I loved the rug! I just didn't manage to incorporate the stripes onto my card. Tracey's sneak peek looks like she might have though :]
This is my take on the challenge and my first REAL attempt at paper quilling (I really shouldn't count the "steam" from my card last weekend :O) Let me just say, I haven't exactly nailed the art of adhering quilled paper. I know it's important for the glue/adhesive not to show, and I think I managed that okay, but keeping those center circles glued together took an act of Congress! I used two different adhesives (Tombow and MS glue)...neither held permanently. Probably used too much of both and it had a counter-effect. Oh well. I plan on buying some glue that is designed for paper quilling this weekend. Translation: Elmers :O)

I have to extend a HUGE THANK YOU to Alice H. and Sylva for sending some awesome paper quilling leads! I learned a lot from these sites alone:

www.quilling.com/
www.quillingsuperstore.com
www.quilledcreations.com/

Oh, and check out the BEAUTIFUL paper quilling Sylva did around her framed wedding invitation! Isn't it AWESOME!!! I've convinced myself that I'll be that good one day!! Stay tuned...

Hopefully I'll get my hands on one of the instruction books soon and learn some really cool designs! I LOVE learning new crafts! I keep saying that sewing is next, and I keep putting it off for other things :O) One of these days I WILL learn to use a sewing machine! LOL

Okay, I'm rambling now! Be sure to check out the other team member's creations! They're sure to inspire you to play along!! Here's a sneak peek from some of them:
Stop by their blogs for the full view and maybe some other projects to get your creative juices flowing :O) The ladies in bold font are the ones who were able to play along this week.

Lauren

Alicia

Dana

Dawn

Jennifer

Kendra

Lisa

MacKenzie

Maria

Odette

Pam

Tamara

Tracey

If you play along, be sure to upload the direct link to your post in Mr. Linky!!

Also, if you use an online gallery, please use keyword MTTI02 :O) Can't wait to see your take on the inspiration challenge!!

Hope you have a long, craft-filled, relaxing weekend!

Sneak Peek for Saturday's Inspiration Challenge!

Here's a sneak peek at my project for tomorrow's inspiration challenge! Be sure to come back at midnight tonight or in the morning to check out the details and hopefully play along :O)

Have a great weekend!

Quick and Easy Birthday Card...CTD45

I needed a QUICK birthday card on Saturday, so I CASEd my own card that I made in February. The layout for both cards was inspired by a card in Papercrafts "Card Creations" Volume 6 magazine, page 37 by Rae Barthel. The color scheme is from the Color Throwdown challenge (CTD45).

This card took 15 minutes to make!! Love cards that are clean, simple, quick and easy :O) I stamped the green butterfly with SU! So Swirly jumbo wheel, and the pink butterfly with PTI Polka Dot Basics in white craft ink before punching.

I'm showing both the dark and light background photos of this card because I'm curious which one you think looks best...is most striking...etc. I uploaded the dark background in SCS, but every time I look at it I second guess my selection. What do YOU think??

Thanks for checking in :O) Hope your week started off great!

Supplies are listed in my SCS gallery.

Saturday Sketch Challenge :O)

Oops! Forgot to include the sketch with my first post :O)

Good morning! Today the My Time to Create team offers you a sketch challenge (mytimess33)! I have two projects to share all because I'm indecisive. I started with my latte card but really didn't like where it was going, so I completely switched gears and used the SCS color challenge (CC221) to inspire me in creating my flower card. I kept looking back at the latte card colors and couldn't let them go. So, I changed my thought process and finished up that card as well. I don't know where my energy came from the night I made these, but I was wide awake and even tried making a third card for a completely different challenge. First road bump with that card sent me straight to bed :O)

Okay, so for the latte card, I knew what image I wanted to use, knew my colors, but I didn't have a sentiment that would fit nor did the mug look right just stamped on plain white CS. Soooo, I cut out the mug (I wanted the bottoms of the steam lines showing), pressed the image onto a VersaMark pad, covered with clear embossing powder and heat set it. To me, this gives the mug a lacquered appearance...just like the latte mug I use at home :O) I stamped another mug in plain Sahara Sand on the white CS (to give a faux shadow), and added the base shadow using Sahara Sand (stamped it off on another sheet first to give a lighter shadow).

I recently developed a serious interest in learning to quill paper, which stemmed from CardMaker magazine's May 09 edition. It has some amazing projects with paper quilling! In true, Kristin fashion, new cool craft = I have to learn to do it myself! I don't know why I'm like that, but I am...with everything. I haven't really researched it yet, but I'm dying to know how to do it and how to do it well. I just found this site that I think might be an amazing help to me (not my checkbook...I'm a gadget-girl also...have to own all the gadgets to create all of these things :O) Check out Quilled Creations if you're interested. If you know of another site that deals with paper quilling, please feel free to share! I'm still in research mode so every lead helps!

So, here's is my LAYMAN stab at quilling paper for my steam :O) LOL
Now, the sentiment that came with the PTI Warm Happiness set just wouldn't fit this layout, sooo, I had to make my own sentiment that was appropriate. I used the "Thanks a" from a "Thanks a lot" rub on, and pulled out my white rub on letters to create the "latte". Common sentiment, but I didn't have a stamp with it...so, the rub ons worked like a charm for me :O) I adhered using a glue dot and covered it with a dew drop (even though I found that you couldn't see the glue dot through the vellum). If I were to do this over, I would trim the paper to fit the sentiment only and leave out the dew drop.

I added two, dark chocolate buttons (from my PTI Vintage Buttons stash). I originally tried adhering chocolate covered espresso beans to my card which matched perfectly! BUT, I didn't want them to melt to the paper, so I tried putting them in a tiny plastic ziplock (the kind you use for jewelry), but it was too tight, so I tried shrink wrapping the beans...which was bulky and ended up melting the beans the more I tried to smooth out the plastic with the heat gun. That was my sign that the espresso beans should NOT go ON the card :O) LOL

Wow...that was a long explanation for my latte card :O) The next one shouldn't be quite as long...I didn't have a lot of trial and error with espresso beans and sentiments on this one!

I used the SCS color challenge (CC221) for my color palette. DISCLAIMER: I am NOT an "orange" girl by any stretch of the imagination. It is probably my LEAST used color. I don't even know if I've really used it before...other than some rust variations. Anyway, I say this to let you know it was a STRUGGLE to use it on this card. I'm envious of gals like Dawn Easton who use it effortlessly on a regular basis and return beautiful cards!
I colored the main image by pressing it to the Kiwi Kiss stamp pad and coloring the flowers with SU! markers. I sponged the white panel with Kiwi Kiss before adhering. I decided to create faux stitching, 1 - because I cannot use a sewing machine to save my life, and 2 - it matched the stitching on my button :O) Plus I wanted to add interest between the DSP and the plain green panel. I pierced the holes using Tim Holtz's Design Ruler, and simply drew white lines with my SU! white gel pen. I added two orange crushed velvet buttons (to get rid of them if nothing else :O) LOL and tied the flowers to the white twill. The sentiment is from PTI Birthday Basics and is stamped in Riding Hood Red. Pretty basic card...and TOTALLY different than my latte card.
Check out our Design Team's amazing sneak peeks! You're sure to get inspired by their takes on this sketch!

Stop by their blogs for that added creative fuel to get you inspired to play along!

Lauren
Alicia
Dana
Dawn
Jennifer
Kendra
Lisa
MacKenzie
Maria
Odette
Pam
Tamara
Tracey

Can't wait to see what you come up with! Hope you find some time to stamp this weekend :O)

Sneak Peek for Saturday's Sketch Challenge!

I have two sneak peeks to share for tomorrow's sketch challenge. Be sure to stop back by at midnight or in the morning for the whole story and two very different projects :O)