Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #19

Hello everyone! Happy Monday! Is everyone ready for Thanksgiving? My kids are so excited to have a short week. They keep telling me how the week is reversed with 2 days of school and 5 days off! All a short week means for me is cramming a full week into two days! UGH!

Dawn posted another color challenge for this week, and let me tell you it was a tough one (for me)!! Anytime I see more that 3 colors, I usually run the other way! Here is the inspiration photo:


I am totally in Christmas mode...which is so unusual for me this early! So, I used my new favorite stamp set Vintage Ornaments. I know I have said this before, but I love this set!! I was having trouble photographing this card...it is really sparkly IRL!




I used the ever popular Martha Stewart punch for my branch. I bought this last spring and was on a kick for awhile using it for non-Christmas cards. If you're interested, some of these cards are posted on my blog here, here and here. I still see this punch at Walmart if anyone is still looking for it.

Okay, I'm off to get some things done. I will be back on Wednesday night for the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop...and believe it or not, I already have my project done!!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Melanie

Supplies (all Papertrey Ink, unless indicated otherwise):
Cardstock: Aqua Mist, Dark Chocolate, Vintage Cream
Stamps: Vintage Ornaments, Polka Dot Basics
Ink: Lavender Moon, Raspberry Fizz, Fresh Snow
Other: Gems-unknown, Glitter-Stampendous, Martha Stewart Punch


Thanks for stopping by!

A new challenge site!!

It is so quiet around here...my kids are off to their grandparents for the weekend. I couldn't resist the opportunity to make a card or two while they're gone! I discovered a new challenge site called Just Us Girls...or JUGS for short! That just makes me laugh!! Anyway, they posted a sketch challenge today that I couldn't resist!





I have gotten some really cute Christmas stamps from Papertrey Ink, but this one called Vintage Ornaments has to be my favorite!

The ornaments are really glittery IRL...


Thanks for stopping by!
Melanie

Supplies (all Papertrey Ink, unless indicated otherwise)
Cardstock: Kraft, Dark Chocolate
Stamps: Vintage Ornaments, Signature Christmas, Polka Dot Basics 2
Ink: Pure Poppy, Fresh Snow, Dark Chocolate
Other: glitter-Martha Stewart, ribbon- unknown, button and twine-Papertrey Ink

Halloween

Hello everyone! I give up on making excuses on why I can't seem to post regularly on this blog...I could mention that my husband went out of town for a week returning the day before Halloween and that we hosted friends and family on Halloween, oh and I can't forget about Avery's tonsilectomy surgery last Monday, but the reality is that everyone has busy lives so I won't bore you with the details!!! I think we could all benefit from a few more hours in the day....or night {wink}!! So anyway, I hope everyone had a fun, safe Halloween. We had our family and some friends over and did some trick or treating in the neighborhood. Since we only have about 8 homes in the subdivision so far, we went up to a local church who was having a trunk-or-treat....Totally new concept to me!!! So much fun!

Here is a picture of my kids:



And I can't resist posting a picture of my brother's family of vampires. My SIL, Jen, is so creative and gets the whole family involved in dressing up....isn't this awesome!!!



I'll be back with a second post...I discovered another challenge site!!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Melanie

It's been too long!

Hello everyone! I'm still here...I hate it when life gets in the way of blogging! This time of year is always busy, but this year seems especially hectic! Between school and extra activities, we just don't hold still very long. I'm sure most of you can relate! Fortunately, we have avoided the flu bug so far {knock on wood}, but friends and family have not been so lucky. I'm hoping for a quick recovery for all of them and anyone else who has been plagued with this nasty bug!
I got some new stamps and have been dying to break them out and finally got a chance to participate in Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #18. I love her color challenges! She has such an eye for color and always has some amazing combo's...plus she uses Papertrey Ink colors which is just an added bonus!! There are a few other color combo challenge sites out there, but most reference Stampin' Up colors {which I don't have} so it makes it harder to match up colors.




I also used The Pink Elephant Challenge #37 for this card. It was a sketch challenge this week.
If you haven't checked out this challenge site...you should! One of the girls, Robin, is offering some FREE Halloween digi stamps available to download and they are super, super cute!! Go check it out....the info is in the link above.

I love these colors for Christmas...and since I'm up to my eyeballs in all things Halloween right now, it's a nice change!!



Thank for stopping by!
Melanie

Supplies {all Papertrey Ink, unless otherwise indicated}:
Cardstock: Kraft, Dark Chocolate, Rasberry Fizz, Vintage Cream
Ink: New Leaf, Dark Chocolate
Stamps: Tree Trimming Trio, Signature Christmas, Text Style
Other: EK Success edge punch, Queen and Co. gems, sewing machine

WCMD Challenge #1: JAPAN

Paper crafters all over the world celebrated World Card Making Day this past Saturday. My favorite stamp company, Papertrey Ink, celebrated by hosting a day of challenges using inspiration from all around the world. I was really, really excited, until I realized that I had lost the charger to my camera battery! :( With a dead battery in my camera and no way to upload pictures of cards, I gave up on making cards for these challenges. Fast forward to today (Monday)...I found the charger ( under my bed...go figure!) at about 4:00pm with a deadline of 7:00am Tuesday. Yikes! Okay, I have never in my life made 4 cards in one night, but I was determined! So, here goes....

WCMD Challenge #1: JAPAN



Thanks for stopping by!
Melanie

WCMD Challenge #2: MEXICO

I'm back with the second of the four challenges hosted by Papertrey Ink.

WCMD Challenge #2: MEXICO



Thanks for stopping by!
Melanie

WCMD Challenge #3: INDIA

Here is the third of the four challenge cards for the WCMD challenges that Nicole posted on Saturday.

WCMD Challenge #3: INDIA



Thanks for stopping by!
Melanie

WCMD Challenge #4: AUSTRALIA

Here is the fourth card for the challenges posted on Nicole's blog for Papertrey Ink's celebration of World Card Making Day.

WCMD Challenge #4: AUSTRALIA



Well, that's all of them! I still can't believe I made four cards in one night...and it's only 11:40 pm!! That is a record for me! I admire those who can make a card in 10 minutes...because that is not me!
Thanks for stopping by!
Melanie

An update and some exciting news :)

It has been such a crazy few weeks here, sorry my blog has been a little neglected! First, things are going well after surgery....actually, much better than I expected. I still have residual nerve damage in my left leg, but my doctor is optimistic that the nerve will repair itself over time. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
We celebrated Avery's sixth birthday over the weekend. We had a Luau...so much fun! Unfortunately, I couldn't find my camera battery charger so I don't have pictures of my own. I was able to use my mom's camera, so I'm just waiting to get a disk from her and I will post pictures then. We had so much fun and I can't believe my baby is six!!!

And then....the most exciting news yet....I earned an Honorable Mention for Papertrey Ink's September Guest Star Stamper contest for the category Best Halloween Project! This was my entry here. I can hardly contain myself!!! Anyone who knows me IRL, knows that I live for Papertrey Ink stamps.... I love this company!!! So, this is a huge honor for me!! You can see the announcement on Nichole Heady's blog here. If you have time, be sure to check out all of the great projects.
AND....If that weren't awesome enough....I was choosen for Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge spotlight w/ this card! I am totally excited about this...there were over 200 entries and some amazing cards in this challenge! You can check out Dawn's announcement and see the other cards that made the spotlight here.

If you've made it this far, thanks for sharing in my excitement!!! I hope to post some cards soon. After having two sick kids over the last few weeks, I have finally caught a bug myself. So between that and trying to catch up on work from being out with surgery I haven't had much crafty time lately!

Thanks for stopping by!
Melanie