The Challenge {One Year Anniversary Celebration}

Welcome to The Challenge and our One Year Anniversary! We have some amazing Guests and a wonderful prize to be won!!! All you have to do to win is play along! The more times you play along, the better chance you have of winning!

When I started The Challenge on my blog last March, I never thought it would turn into this wonderful experience! Thank you to all my designers and guests as well as all of the participants who have supported The Challenge in the past year!

We are so honoured to be sponsored by:

A special thank you to SPD owner and dear friend, Wendy for her generous and thoughtful sponsorship!

SugarPea Designs 

($20 Gift Certificate)

One winner will be randomly selected to win a $20 gift certificate to the SugarPea Designs online store! Instead of a sketch/colour combination, this week's challenge is an Anything Goes Challenge!! Come and join the fun!

Here is one of our new challenge graphics! I decided The Challenge needed a face lift! I sure hope you like the new look!

For my "Anything Goes" creation, I decided to ink up one of my favourite SugarPea Designs images!! I love the set called "Twinkle, Twinkle"! I also used the fun new sketch challenge from SugarPea Designs! I coloured my card with Copics and added a flair button I have had in my stash for a LONG time! I figured it qualified as NBUS and so I am entering my card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge!  Thanks for the motivation, Darnell!

We are thrilled to have an amazing group of Guest Designers with us this week for our celebration!!! Welcome to Wendy, Claire, Tracey and Deanne!  And a welcome back to Veronica, Maura and Jeanne; past designers for The Challenge! 

Special Guest Designers

Wendy Ramlakhan 

(SugarPea Designs Owner)

Tracey McNeely

Veronica Zalis

Jeanne Jachna

Maura 

(Beesmom from Splitcoast Stampers)

Deanne Kay

(The winner of our last challenge)

Claire Broadwater

The Challenge Design Team has also created some awesome samples to get you in the crafty mood!

Featured Designer for March

Narelle Farrugia 

Our Featured Designer this month was Narelle Farrugia! 
Thank you Narelle for your inspiring cards!

Anita Madden

Kim Heggins

Kimberly Wiener

Lee Ann Barrett

Lori Tecler

Michele Ferguson

Nance Salkeld

The theme is Anything Goes but participants 
MUST link up a NEW project created especially for this challenge 
and  
Only link to 5 other challenges 
(including The Challenge). 

ANY PRODUCT IS WELCOME!

Winner for The Challenge and Meet a new Designer for The Challenge!

In one hour the celebration will begin! My little challenge on my blog called "The Challenge" will have a One Year Anniversary Celebration! I started the challenge for fun in March last year and it has turned into such a special challenge for me. I adore the team and the past designers who have joined me. Thank you so much, ladies! In one hour we will also have a new look at The Challenge! Here is the new graphic for our One Year Anniversary...

Before I get to the winners of The Challenge #27-I want to welcome another designer to my team. I was thrilled when she said yes! I love everything she creates and she is fun too! Bonus! Introducing Michele Ferguson from I Card Everyone. Welcome, Michele!

Michele Ferguson

I couldn't be more pleased, and thankful, to be invited to “play cards” as I call this craft, with these fabulous, talented ladies! 

I will celebrate my 1^st year of I Card Everyone blogging in May this year.  Little did I know I’d find a worldwide group of the most talented creative people whom I now consider my best friends – and life preservers!!  

I left my job as a trade shows manager with a dental products company to attend culinary school at age 50 – maybe the most fun I've ever had!!!  I occasionally still cater small events.

My best career choice of all?  I am now a SAHW [stay at home wife] to my very best friend, my husband of nearly 20 years, Mom to three grown/married kids, and “Grammy” to six.  Home –in my craft room- is truly where my heart is happiest.  

Now onto our winners for The Challenge #27

(I am using our new winner badges!)

Claire Broadwater

I could not resist Claire's pretty card! I love that she made a matching envelope too! The fussy cutting of the bike image and the amazing way she used the colours made my heart happy! I love this pretty and whimsical card! Congrats, Claire!

I hope you will join us as a Guest Designer for The Challenge! Please email our Guest Designer Coordinator, Kimberly Wiener at  oloughlin.ka @ gmail.com (no spaces) for more information!

I also chose three other cards from the challenge to be our "Runner-Up's"! 

(In alphabetical order)

 Jacquie 

Lizzy Crust - Aust

 Sandy M 

I would also like to give some Shout Outs to a couple of other cards that caught my eye!

(In alphabetical order)

Bev 

Emily Frasier 

Tracey W. 

Please join us in one hour, 

we will be back with our One Year Anniversary Challenge for you!

Viva la Verve & Simon Says Stamp {Great Friend}

Today is my last day of Spring Break! I have enjoyed it immensely! I managed to get in a spa treatment or two! And I got the chance to craft. All in all, it has been a wonderful break!

When I saw this new paper pack called Jack & Jill by Echo Park, I thought it might be for babies? But inside are the prettiest papers! I am a sucker for anything floral. 

 

My washi tape is some older tape I have in my stash. I stamped a pretty Sentiment from Verve's set called Great Friend and used my Stampin' Up butterfly punches to accent the paper.

Today I was inspired to play along with the fun sketch at Verve and I am playing along with Simon Says Stamp-Anything Goes. LOVE the clean lines of the sketch and right away I knew I wanted to showcase some pretty new paper and some washi tape!

  

FUSION {Birthday Wishes in Red, Green & Yellow}

Hi stampy friends! This week I am thrilled to be Guest Designing for my Challenge called FUSION. My dear friend and designer, Amy Tsuruta, is taking this challenge off at FUSION and so I decided to jump in for her!

This week we have a cupcake for inspiration. I create all the sketches and the inspirations for FUSION, and I chose this cupcake because of the cupcake liner. LOVE the texture on it. So I reached into my hoarded stash of embossing folders and chose a criss-cross pattern to mimic the texture on the cupcake liner. I also went with a birthday theme sentiment using the Poppy Birthday stamp set from Verve.

I used the flowers from a retired Stampin' Up set called Peaceful Petals. I wanted the flowers to pop, so I kept my background white. The sketch comes from the current SCS Sketch. I went with an A2 card and used the large yellow flower as the #4 piece of the sketch. I also used the fun colours at The Color Throwdown. The inspiration photo got me thinking about flowers. I tried to find a suitable red copic in my stash, for a more muted look. I tried to shade the large yellow flower to match the yellow flowers on the dress.

Thank you for stopping by my blog! I had so much fun creating my card for FUSION. I hope you will come and play along with us.

SugarPea Designs Theme Challenge {Spring}

Happy Wednesday! Wow, my Spring Break is FLYING by but I have been enjoying myself. My super sweet sister treated me to a facial yesterday! My mom and I went to see the new Cinderella movie (SO GOOD) and my parents took me out for supper. Yes, I am spoiled!

Today at SugarPea Designs we are celebrating SPRING! It is in the air and I immediately thought of this sweet little dragon and his kite. The weather has been beautiful here but also a little windy. I love the sentiment...I am sending this to a sweet friend. She sent me some pretty mail this week and so this will be what I send in return.

Once again I am using some of the new Lawn Fawn papers. I kept my design super simple...

Come and join us at SugarPea Designs for your chance to win!

Don’t forget…if the winner (chosen at random) card or project features a SugarPea Designs stamp set, we will increase their prize to $15!!

Viva la Verve {Celebrate Your Day}

Today I am sharing a card I made using another fun sketch at Verve. I loved the cool design! I had some poppies from Poppy Birthday left on my desk from the last couple of cards I made...so I just used them with some scrap papers on my desk. I used the white doily...to "brighten"my card. The french script on the kraft card base is a stamp from Hero Arts.

Not my usual style of card...it was fun to push myself out of my comfort zone. I think it was the gingham"ish" paper I used...I sponged everything with distress inks.