a journal page at The Play Date Cafe

 When I saw this week's Play Date Cafe Colours I knew I had to play along!

It was tempting to use a manilla tag as a base but I decided to challenge myself and do a journal page with the colours instead.  They are  Cappuccino...Slate...Burlap

One of the pages had a burgundy overspill from the previous page so I started by sponging a dark brown acrylic paint around the edge of the page and went from there!

My grey spray ink was a little darker than I remembered (it's an 'altered original' by Dyan Reaveley, pre-Ranger) but it all works so ...

Whilst away on holiday I discovered the 'panorama' option on my iphone and had a go using it to take the whole double page spread - it's easier to take a photo and crop it, this image is a little wonky!

Note to self - use this colour combo again :)  There's loads of gorgeous inspiration with these colours over at The Play Date Cafe if you fancy heading over there, they're a fab design team and this week are joined by the DT from the Jenni Bowlin Studio.

PDCC83 a sweet farewell EDITED

...although a rather sad one!  I've not been able to play along in the Play Date Cafe for a few weeks now, since starting my new job, so the time has come to step down and say goodbye.  

I LoVe this image that Julie chose for my last week.  We've been in this together right from the start so it's not an easy goodbye to say but it's been a ball, and I'm hoping I can call in every now and again and play along!

I was going to do a journal page but when I saw these tiny birdhouses in Dunelm Mill I decided I just had to have one (well, five to be honest!).    As it's colour splash week I chose to use black and white on the birdhouse and use the bird as the splash of colour.

I used my favourite punches to decorate the birdhouse...

...and the tiny bird is made from felt :)

I am honoured to have been part of such a fabulously talented team over at The Play Date Cafe and know that the friendships we've built will continue for a long time to come.

EDIT: Now the girls surprised me with both a blog hop (which ends here so welcome blog hoppers!!!) and their choice of their favourite piece from my time at the PDCC.   What a wonderful, wonderful design team.  You made me cry, but thanks everyone!!  There's no way I could choose a favourite PDCC project, there are so many I LoVe.  The PDCC has challenged me to stretch my creativity in many different directions, and it is one of the many things I love about this challenge - I could make whatever I felt like, even cakes!!!  But Colour Splashes are my very favourite :)

Did you wear your red nose today?

Who remembers the first red noses?   These are so comfortable compared to the originals, and I can' get over how they seem to suite everyone!!  You still can't breathe through your nose whilst wearing them though.

For those non UKers reading this blog post, today is Red Nose Day 2011 for Comic Relief which raises money for the poor and disadvantaged both here in the UK, and in Africa, and this year will include Japan.  I wore my red nose and beeley boppers whilst out driving today and didn't spot any smiles..I would have smiled if I'd seen me!!!  

Things have been a bit busy in my life at the minute, which I'll be able to share with you soon, so my apologies for not keeping up with my DT commitments, and not blogging so often.   

I've been having a brave play in my journal this week, encouraged by the lovely Chris Bedford from Pear Shaped Crafting.  I'm pleased I'm having a go, but one of the things I really don't enjoy is the glare from the shiny paper.  I will be sticking with my usual style but am enjoying the challenge :)

I do, however, love this card I made using this week's play date cafe colours.  It's based on a piece of wallpaper I found on an exposed wall in Ancoats, Manchester.  It had a leaf image on which I've outlined and extended with my sewing machine, adding additional colour with scraps of fabric.

I can't promise that normal service will resume in the next few days, but I will let you know some very exciting news soon!

PDCC63 I suffer from Attention Deficit Oooooh Shiny!

"In England's* green and pleasant land" [Blake 1804] coming across waterfalls or tiny streams is one of my very favourite things whilst out walking.  I love the movement of the water as it falls, the fresh greenery surrounding it, and best of all, the wonderful sound it makes. 

This photograph brought all this to mind for me, and also suggested the unusual colour combination of gold and silver, which I NeVeR put together. 

But I have to say, I just LoVe how it turned out on my journal page!  In fact, when I'd finished it, it evoked an almost audible "ooooooooooo".

I will explain.  You may have noticed that when you are with friends and admire another's work or see something gorgeous in a shop (especially if you are in a stamp shop when the owner opens a recently arrived box of goodies) you will all, simultaneously, say "oooooooooooooo" in wonderment.  This always, always, always makes me think of the aliens in toy story...

Not that I am in any way suggesting we are all aliens lol!

I decided to do a journal page for this week's challenge as I've never used metallics on a journal page, and I'm not sure it would ever have occurred to me to use embossing powder on my pages!  I'd already decided I'd tackle the silver/gold combo by using silver and white in the background and adding a 'something' in green and gold.  I like green and gold.  I like silver and white.  I do not usually like silver and gold together.

I do now though!!!  I had great fun playing with my metallics Mica Watercolour Palette and my embossing powders.  I also incorporated some paper I'd made at The StampMan using Starburst Stains.  In fact, I'm dedicating this to my crafty, StampMan DT colleague Vixykins as she invited me to be part of the facebook group 

I suffer from A.D.O.S - Attention Deficit Oooooh Shiny

There are lots more shiny projects to be inspired by over at The Play Date Cafe, so don't forget to check out what our other designers made :)

PDCC56 Player Appreciation week at the Play Date Cafe

Blogging keeps me in touch with creative friends I've made on workshops, at shows, and through other friends.  And through the Play Date Cafe I've met more people who, although I've never met them in person, have become friends.  Many sent me kind messages of love after my accident this week so this week's play date cafe theme couldn't be any more apt!  Thank you so much everyone; when something awful happens it's people who care that make you feel better - and you've done just that! [update:  I slept all day and all last night, still feeling wobbly inside but am ok, I feel best when I'm with other people, so it's great that it's the weekend!]

For both Julie and I the cafe has been so much more than a colour challenge, it's a place where people meet like-minded people, who care for each other and appreciate and are inspired by each others creative pursuits.  So this week we are celebrating our regular players with some great prizes, from three fabulous sponsors, and as their design teams are also playing along there's tonnes of inspiration over in the cafe this week :)

EAD designs sent each of our design team some vinyl stickers to work with this week.  I LoVe stickers, always have and probably always will, so really enjoyed making my decorative hanging heart.  I had it made before the accident, just didn't manage to get it posted on time, for obvious reasons!

With Tim's tags coming up soon I decided to make a start on some heart shaped ones, made from recycled materials, to hang on a tree or in a window.  I used corrugated card with the top layer torn away, painted it with Red Pepper acrylic dabber then highlighted areas with Pool dabber.

I added snowflake stickers and words to the heart, along with some bling to catch the light, then put the tree stickers onto card before cutting them out and pop-dotting them onto the heart.  

I added a similar design to the back of the heart, and used a torn strip of co-ordinating cotton fabric for the 'ribbon'.  This week's colours are great for Christmas, but you don't need to stick to that theme, as long as our colours are the main feature of your piece you can use any theme, and make aNYTHiNG!!!  Our regular design team have some fab ideas for you

senior designer Julie Ranae

Suzanne Czosek

Andrea Ewen
Savannah O'Gwynn
Lisa Somerville
Ruby 2 Shoes

And don't forget to stop by the cafe for inspiration from our sponsors, and to link in your project.  Have fun!

PDCC 54: not quite peach, fortunately for me :)

... because I just don't 'do' peach!

This colour story from Julie Ranae reminds me of the lanterns that are very popular in the UK at the moment - you light a 'candle' underneath and the paper lantern floats away into the night - beautiful!  (You just have to make sure you buy environmentally friendly ones)

Jennie over at The Artistic Stamper provided each of the design team with their choice of stamps to use for this week's challenge, and is supplying a fabulous prize for this week's cup of the week:

£15 Artistic Stamper stamps plus

Kling On cushioning and free shipping worldwide

I've said before how much I love using Jennie's images, and since I love steampunk too, I just fell in love with her new tick tock butterfly :)

And I couldn't resist showing you the whole page of that book I placed the card on for photography purposes!  It's all about the study of insects and refers to a 'frivolous butterfly'!

Have fun with the colours this week, and don't forget to head on over to the rest of the design team to see what they came up with for this week's colour combo!

Suzanne Czosek

Andrea Ewen
Savannah O'Gwynn
Lisa Somerville
Ruby 2 Shoes

Then stop by the cafe to link up your piece so we can all head on over to see your work too :)

PDCC53 Into our Second Year :)

How cool is that :)  Thanks to all of you who joined in our celebrations last week.  This week is colour splash week, a favourite within The Play Date Cafe, and a great way to start our second year of the challenge :)

Whilst out hunting for a photographs for this week's colour splash I came across this image by trunkguy.  

He had been playing with a colour splash app on his iphone (so jealous, I so wanted an iphone!!) and produced this image.  I fell in love with the colours, and I just happen to love Acquilega too - gorgeous, gorgeous flowers!

This week the design team were all sent the above set of stamps from Mark's Finest Papers.  They are clearly designed for card making (or tags) so I decided to challenge myself - was it possible to use stamps such as these for a journal page?

I'm happy to say it is :)  I played with Black Soot and Aged Mahogany distress inks, stamping words repeatedly for texture then individually to show what the page is about.  It is good to be thankful for all the great things we have in our lives so I added a weeny envelope to the page so I can place 'thankful' tags in it.  This is my A5 Daler Rowney sketchbook.

We'd love to have you join us over in the cafe this week.  You don't have to make a card, or even a journal page, it can be aNYTHiNG you've made in the colours of the week - black, white and a splash of burgundy!

We've even had cakes lol ;)

There's some fabulous inspiration on our designers' blogs, so head over there for a lookie :)

Julie Ranae

Suzanne Czosek

Andrea Ewen
Savannah O'Gwynn
Lisa Somerville
Ruby 2 Shoes

Then stop by the cafe to link up your piece so we can all head on over to see your work :)

It's Party Time in the Play Date Cafe - We're One Year Old Today :)

We're celebrating a WHoLe YeaR of challenges over at The Play Date Cafe today so I'd like to thank eVeRYoNe who plays, has played, or intends to play but never manages it, for your support.   There's tonnes of inspiration for you in the cafe this week as everyone who was on our first design team is joining us, including our first private blend designer Mona Pendleton.

But you can't have a celebration without CaKe :)  The Play Date Cafe Colour Challenge accepts all creative submissions, as long as the chosen colours are the main colours of your piece, so here's my contribution to the party - fairy cakes (like mini cupcakes) !

My husband did ask me how cakes worked for a blog party; well, you look at them in a photograph, and I eat them in your honour ;)   Actually, I'm not too keen on orange flavouring (which is in the buttercream - icing sugar and butter - which is yellow IRL) so I think I'll just eat the whole tube of pink smarties :)

We'd love to have you play along this week.  Julie is doing a full week of inspiration over in the cafe, and we have two fabulous sponsors which means some great prizes :)

These great chipboard letters are from Cosmo Cricket, and Unity have sent a pile of Itty Bitty stamps from their Ippity range [Ippity stamps are available in the UK via an Ippity girl, of which there are a few but our very own Ruby is one so contact her if you are interested in any you see, the rubber is amazing and the images  fab!!]

Our guest designer this week is AJ Otto, Unity's design team co-ordinator.   To see all the work from our designers, please visit the cafe and PaRTY!!!  :)  My Itty Bitty stamp is still winging it's way to me over the ocean but when it arrives I will be making a piece with it and posting it here so watch this space :)

a Crafty Individual Play Date Cafe

This week Crafty Individuals, a favourite stamp company of many of us here in the UK, is sponsoring the Play Date Cafe.  They very kindly supplied the design team with a stamp of their choice, and a wonderful prize package for this week's challenge winner.

Julie's chosen this week's photo inspiration.  I love this image.  I had a lilac and deep blue kitchen once, and love this combo with lime green, but there's too much metal to clean in this one lol!  

I chose to work with a deep blue and used Chipped Sapphire distress ink, with Peeled Paint providing the green.  My silver comes in via the diamantés.   I was tempted to use a grey inkpad somewhere,  I just couldn't decide how!

Head on over to the Play Date Cafe to check out this week's prize, and to see the other designers' stunning pieces using this week's colours.

 Julie Ranae

Suzanne Czosek

Andrea Ewen
Savannah O'Gwynn
Lisa Somerville