CHALLENGES at Design Dollies and The TownScrapper!

lots going on at the House of Orange this week! i'm working on wedding invitations for a friend and need to have them mailed by MONDAY (i only got the details from her this past sunday, so i'm kinda flying by the seat of my pants this week!). MONDAY! it's right around the corner! it's a small wedding, so i'm only making 25 invitations, but that's 25 cards with inserts and handmade embellies in one week... WHEW!

somehow, however, i've managed to get a couple of things done, while even incorporating some challenges into the mix. YAY!

for the brand new SKETCH challenge at Design Dollies - Kristy-Dollie has rocked us yet again and given us an awesome sketch to play with. i give you...

is it not brilliant? yeah, it is! i had photos i wanted to use, and decided it made more sense flipped on its side... et voici:





i have to say - figuring out HOW to get that tiny turquoise ribbon to stick where i wanted it was QUITE a challenge! it wasn't like i could wrap it around something and tie it and slap it down, so HOOOO-boy i struggled! happy with the result, but still a bit of a pain in the rump. ;) click HERE to check out the other awesome Dollies' creations, and play along in one of two ways: do the TRIFECTA by this SUNDAY at midnight, EST (combining the Color Challenge, the Elements Challenge, and this Sketch Challenge), or just try your hand at the sketch by next Wednesday, May 5th at midnight EST.

i decided to play along with the challenge to use KRAFT at Gingersnap Creations as well - how much do i LURRRRVE kraft? yeah, i blame HOLMES (aka Kristy) for that one!

i'm also entering this one for Tuesday Taggers' "Memories" challenge - these pictures were taken 16 years ago, yet it seems like yesterday! i miss those summer days, sitting out on my Gram's front porch and gabbing about who-knows-what.

and one more, the "not a spring chick anymore" challenge at Simple Doodles - they want to see something stamped (the yellow heart) and something OLD - the Basic Grey patterned paper is something i've had in my stash since, oh, probably two years ago, and the little piece of crackled chipboard (with the yellow ribbon in it) is some little embellie i made LAST SPRING when i first discovered Crackle Paint! i made it for a specific project, but decided it wasn't going to work, so it's just been sitting around collecting dust. :) i guess the photos would count as old, too.


ANNNNND we also have a brand new challenge up at The TownScrapper - this time it's a sketch, from our awesome Senior Scrapette, Ann. here's the sketch:

and my card, using "Beary Sweet Sophie" - one of the lovely Victoria Case stamps EXCLUSIVE to The TownScrapper!



CLICK HERE to go to the Sketch Challenge and see what the rest of the Scrapettes have done with Ann's awesome sketch, and PLAY ALONG! we have a SUPER-CUTE Victoria Case stamp up for grabs!

i'm entering this card into the following challenges:
365 cards - Day 56 Sketch - 'cuz it was so easy to look at both sketches and work them both! (the ball trim and the scallopy-topnotey border worked PERFECTLY!) see for yourself:


and for Allsorts - inspiration (the flourishes i used are actually wing stickers - while i didn't want to do a butterfly card, i wanted to mimic the look)

um, what else to share? i had traffic court yesterday and it was the PITS. i wasn't allowed to READ in the courtroom! i SO wanted to just dive into my book but that wasn't happening. :( all eyes were on us, and they weren't happy friendly eyes, either! it's a good thing some of the cases were interesting. i walked out of the courthouse $589 poorer, but with no points on my license. i hope i never have to go back!

that's about it - enjoy the weekend, folks, and i'll be back MONDAY! and i'll have lots MORE to share, because life is fun and fabulous and crazy-busy both here (chez la famille l'Orange) and in the blogosphere! :)