Play Date Cafe 85 - Inspired by a Hollister Shirt

If you are looking for my Anniversary Blog Candy giveaway, click HERE. 

This week's color story from The Play Date Cafe is brought to us for the very first time by our very own Jaclyn Miller!  She has recently been named Color Story Coordinator for our challenges.  We're all excited for her!  Check out the first story, a la Jax:

I leaned heavily on the linen color and took my inspiration from a shirt my 13 YO Birthday Girl owns (it's from Hollister):

I love this shirt!

And now, my card:

On Sahara Sand cardstock with the same color ink, I stamped the Linen background from Stampin' Up!.  I played with a new-to-me punch from EK Success, Double Embossed Dotted Lace.  It's just what I was looking for lately in a punch:  big scallops. 

The flower was made with a SU Sizzix die, Blossom Party, using Sahara Sand and Pink Pirhouette cardstock.  The center features a blue and a pink button from my stash, topped with a pearl.

I added a piece of a page from my old Miss Manner's Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior book, then layered a delicious piece of ribbon, then tiny pearls, on top. (I still care about manners very much, but not enough to read about them LOL)

This week our Guest Designer is the oh-so-talented Anya Schrier.  She has a unique clean and simple style, touched with vintage, that I absolutely love.

And one lucky player will win a prize from

Hope you join us at The Play Date Cafe this week!

Colleen

Stamps:  Linen background - SU
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Pink Pirhouette, page from book
Ink:  Sahara Sand
Punch:  Double Embossed Dotted Lace - EK Success
Other:  Sahara Sand ribbon - SU, pearls - Recollections, buttons - stash, Big Shot, Blossom Party die - Sizzix/SU

More Favorites plus Blog Candy!

Hi!  Still celebrating my first anniversary of blogging here.  This is my last round of "Favorites From The Past Year" for you to see before the Blog Candy Giveaway!  It's a way of saying 'thanks' for reading my blog. 

Okay, here we go!  These cards are from February - May 2011.  Just click on a picture to go to the original post.

Wow, I have a lot of favorites.  ;)

For putting up with my endless parade of favorite cards, I have some Blog Candy to offer one lucky commenter. 

Included in the goodie package:

• Crumb Cake Dye Ink by Stampin' Up! (kraft color)
• Punched Scallop border punch by Stampin' Up!
• Tin with 6 assorted Anna Griffin clear stamps (including two sentiments)
• 26 pink glittered chipboard accents by Colorbok
• Dimensional 'Mariposa' Stickers by DCWV
• 3 packages of die cut tags in three cardstock colors:  Glorious Green, Brilliant Blue and a blue that's either Ballet Blue or Bordering Blue - not sure :-)
• 2 yards and 30" of striped grosgrain ribbon

To be entered into the drawing, just leave me a comment - let's say maybe one of your favorite cards of mine from this past year - before 11:59 PM EST Saturday, June 11, 2010.  I'll randomly draw one lucky winner and announce the name on Monday, June 13, 2011.  The winner will have 72 hours to contact me via email at bcdietrich@verizon.net with a mailing address. 

Here's to another year of blogging!

Colleen

Play Date Cafe 84

This week's Play Date Cafe colors gave me a bit of a struggle at first:

Individually, I like the colors, but the creative side of my brain just dawdled when it came to combining them.  I searched through my patterned paper stash, but nothing had just the right colors.  I thought about making a Christmas card, but I didn't have the "right" stamps I needed. 

Since our sponsor this week is Mark's Finest Papers, I pulled out my newer sets from them to see what I could do.  The lily pads from Floating Along jumped at me, begging for some Copic coloring (which, by the way, I really need a class in this).

I really didn't know where this was going at first.  I stamped a bunch of images in Pale Plum ink on Pale Plum cardstock.  Then I wound up covering it all with a frame and a punched border, so those stamps aren't even noticeable!

The green piece of punched cardstock was a sample I received from California Paper Goods, whom I used to order my envelopes from.  (they've since reorganized, and now I buy them from Discount Office Items)
It has shimmer to it, but my camera just refused to capture it.

The frame is glittery, from Colorbok, and I've set a piece of Purely Pomegranate cardstock behind it.

Here's another card made with similar ingredients:

On this one, I needed to use a different frame (because the package didn't have duplicates), and I've off-centered my focal point.  My 12 YO thinks this looks terrible, being off in the corner.  However, my 9 YO loves this version because I am using one of her embellishments:  the glittery 5 Petal Flower punch. 

And the 9 YO thinks more people will like this version of my card better, because of her glittery flower. :-)

I'm still not totally enthralled with either of my creations, but I ran out of time to play further. 
I'm anxious to see what YOU will create with our colors, though!

Thanks for joining me today!

Colleen

Stamps:  Floating Along - Mark's Finest Papers
Paper:  Purely Pomegranate, Pale Plum, white by PTI, green sample from Calif. Paper Goods (probably no longer available)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Pale Plum
Punch:  Modern Garland - Martha Stewart, 5 Petal Punch - SU
Other:  Copic markers, white satin ribbon, dimensionals, green bling from Michael's $1 bin

The Anniversary Celebration Continues

Hello!  You've made me smile with your kind comments and happy wishes for the one year anniversary of my blog!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  :)

Today I am featuring some of my favorite cards I made from November 2010 through January 2011.  This week I'll have one more look at my past favorites, and then it's time for Blog Candy!  Stay tuned...

Just click on a photo to go to the original post for that card. 

I sometimes surprise myself by the different styles of cards that I do.  They can be clean and simple, a little whimsical, or vintage(ish).  I don't like to stay in one category.  It's more fun to test my boundaries from time to time. 

Hope you've enjoyed my parade today.  :)

Colleen

More Blog Anniversary Celebration!

This week marks the first anniversary for my blog!  I began my celebration HERE by showing some of my favorite cards from the past year. Today I have more for you to see.  At the end of this 'Trip Down Memory Lane', I'll be offering Blog Candy, so keep checking back!

If you want to see an original post, just click on the picture.  :)

These cards are from August through November 2010:

After my Blogaversary post on Friday, I received such nice comments and compliments from you all!  Thank you for the anniversary wishes.  :-)  It really made me happy to read that my work inspires you, and that we can go ahead and call these cards "Art" after all!  LOL  (if you didn't read the original post about that, my kids had scoffed - lovingly - at me when I called my cardmaking "art").

I'll be back soon with another anniversary post, showing off more of my work from the past year.  Thanks for joining me!

Colleen

Mark's Finest Paper 57 - Lace And Ivory

Hello!  I am hosting the Mark's Finest Paper challenge this week, and the theme is "Lace And Ivory".  Now, when I came up with that idea, I had planned on an all-ivory creation.  However, the day I made my sample card for the Design Team, my creativity wasn't working as it should.

Today I had a bit of time to do the card that was intended all along:

And can you believe I put a hat pin on here??  I figure it's pretty safe and secure, tucked into the foamy dimensional sticker under the sentiment.  That made me feel more relaxed about using it.  :)

I used a stamp from a June release called Floating Along.  It has water lilies, a pretty scene with a swan, and some terrific assorted sentiments. 

Here is the other card I had originally done as my sample card for the challenge:

Not as much ivory and lace here, huh?

I used a wreath and sentiment from Seasonal Poinsettias, but turned this into a sympathy card by putting a "With Sympathy" stamp inside.  The patterned papers are all from MFP.

I hope you can come and play in my challenge this week!  Cards should be uploaded HERE by Friday, June 3, 2011 at 3:00 PM EST. 

Thanks for joining me today.  :)  Stay tuned for more Blogaversary posts coming soon!

Colleen

Top Card -
Stamps:  Floating Along - Mark's Finest Papers
Paper:  Ivory by MFP, kraft by SU
Ink:  Early Espresso - SU
Other:  Big Shot, oval and scalloped oval Nesties by Spellbinders, pearls by Recollections, lace from stash, pin from Jenny Bowlin Studio, dimensionals

Bottom Card -
Stamps:  Seasonal Poinsettias,
Paper:  Ivory cardstock, patterned papers - MFP
Ink:  Tattered Rose Distress Ink, Sahara Sand
Punch:  scallop border by SU
Other:  Big Shot, circle Nesties by Spellbinders, pearls by Queen & Co, lace from stash, dimensionals