Jen's Sketch Challenge 03/21/09

Time for another one of Jen Del Muro's sketch challenges. I got a little creative (with her permission) on the star embellishment and used my SU flower punch in DSP and Chocolate Chip CS and offset them a little bit and then added a button with some Scrapper's Floss. I have been so hooked on Baja Breeze with Chocolate Chip lately! I just got some new DSP from SU from the Sale-A-Bration catalog, so I promise I will be trying some new colors very soon.

Jen Del Muro's SFYTT 03/13/09

Last weekend was really hectic, so I didn't get a chance to participate in Jen's sketch challenge. Jay was working on Saturday and Kendall and I spent the entire day with friends and it was wonderful! Staci met us at the T.O. mall for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and some shopping and then we went over to Kim & Ron's for a visit and a wonderful dinner and then we went over to Nancy and Brian's for a visit before heading back home. Sunday I had to work, which was

no ideal, but I rarely have to work on the weekend's, so I didn't mind it too much.

This week's challenge was fun for me. I actually challenged myself even further by using a small SU! note card, so I had very little surface area to fit all of the layers in. I was also challenged to find an image small enough to not overwhelm the card. I am pretty happy with the results. I finally got some Scrapper's Floss and I love the way it enhances the buttons and makes them even more fun and interesting.

Enjoy!

Kristina Werner Color Inspiration #45

This week, Kristina's challenge was to make a monochromatic card using Basic Black, Basic Gray and Whisper White. I don't have any Basic Gray cardstock, but I had this really beautiful gray damask patterned paper from Little Yellow Bicycle. I got it around Valentine's Day and have been anxious to use it ever since!

I decided to emboss my images onto the black paper to make them stand out. I have not really made a lot of designs using black paper, but I really enjoy the contrast that it gives, so I think I will be trying to do more with black in the future. I always find myself reaching for the Chocolate Chip, but maybe thanks to Kristina I will venture out a little bit more and start reaching for the Basic Black!

Enjoy...

Kristina Werner Color Inspiration #44

This week Kristina chose some of my favorite colors for her Color Inspiration challenge. The colors are , Chocolate Chip, Pink Piriouette, Close to Cocoa, and Whisper White. I love brown andblue and brown and pink together. I didn't think I had any patterned paper that had this color combination, but I found this addorable SU DSP when I was ruffling through my brown paper drawer. I love the polka dots! The stamp is from Unity's February KOTM. I stamped the image in Chocolate Chip and then used my blender pen with the Pink Pirouette ink on the flower, the table top, and the table stand. I added the pearls to make it extra pretty. I am going to give this card to my friend Emily for her birthday this week. She's a girly-girl and I think she will love it.

Sketch Challenge 02/28/09

Time for another one of Jen Del Muro's sketch challenges. This one was a little tough for me. I can't explain why, but I was having difficulty figuring out my color palette and I just wasn't sure what I wanted to stamp. I was in the mood for burgundy so I started by going through my pink/burgundy paper drawer and I found this cute DP that I bought in a huge pack at Costco. I first decided on the flower paper and then added the striped DP for the strip on the lower third of the card. Then I chose this beautiful yellow paper that I got from Tuesday morning and some Chocolate Chip from SU and started cutting and piecing everything together. I cut the corners of the lower part of the center panel to make it a little more interesting and used my Cuttlebug on the yellow paper to give it some texture. After I taped all of my panels down I used my SU scalloped circle punch in the yellow and then embossed this adorable butterfly from Unity's September Kit of the Month. The bottom panel was looking bare so I added the bow and flower brads and then finally the sentiment from SU and punched it out using my word punch.

It is definitely a different color palette than I have ever worked with before, but I'm happy I tried something new. Every endeavor is a learning experience and these challenges have really helped me to expand my thinking and grow creatively.

Kutless/Disciple/Stellar Kart/EsterLyn Concert

Last night we went to Mountainbrook Community Church in San Luis Obispo to see Stellar Kart, Disciple and Kutless together on their second tour. The last time we saw them was in March of 2006. I remember this distinctly because the Bunns were going to try to go with us but they were too busy getting ready for their move to Virginia :(. Aside from looking back on that difficult time emotionally, the concerts both then and now were outstanding. This year EsterLyn replaced Falling Up as the first act. EsterLyn is a fairly new band but they were really enjoyable to watch. They named the band after the lead singer's niece who was adopted from China. You can tell that the band has such a love for this little girl and for Jesus. We saw some growth in Stellar Kart and they were even more fun to watch this year. I also am starting to grow in my appreciation for Disciple. When we saw them in 2006 they were just too loud for me and I couldn't understand a word they were saying. Over the last 3 years I have listened to their CD's (Nicole and Kendall and Jay are all big fans) and I have grown to appreciate them more and more and this year I loved the show! They have so much energy and such a wonderful ministry. Kevin, the lead singer shared about Compassion International and just listening to him speak brought complete silence to a room filled with young people who minutes before were jumping up and down and banging their heads. We started sponsoring a child with Compassion after the last show and hearing Kevin speak reminded me that we need to start sending more letters to our compassion child. His name is Jibin and he lives in India. I will write another post about him later and share a picture. He is such a precious little boy and we are so blessed to be able to share what God has given us with him.

Kutless came on last and they were incredible! They are one of my favorite bands and the highlight of the evening was hearing them sit in a group and do a few acoustic songs. They did Take Me In, which is one of my favorite songs and they also did Sea of Faces and a third song that I can't remember at the moment. It was so intimate and we were just captivated. They are so talented and they can go from rockin' the house down to bringing everyone into worship in such a beautiful way. We were all exhausted today, but it was totally worth it!

Stellar Kart

Disciple

Kutless

Kristina Werner Color Inspiration #43

Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration this week challenged me even more than last week for some reason. The colors all go really well together, but maybe because there were 5 colors (plus white) I struggled to come up with a design. I was originally going to do something with butterflies, but I wanted something more simplified and this simple flower stamp from SU's Merci stamp set ended up being exactly what I needed. I had finished the card and at the last minute decided to add the bling to make the simple flowers just a little bit more interesting. The sentiment is from Unity's February kit of the month and I sponged the edges of the Whisper White cardstock so that the white wasn't quite so "blaring." I did not have Real Red or Brocade Blue in my colection so I used Riding Hood Red and Baja Breeze instead.