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Monday 27 May 2013

I Challenge You..... to Playtime!

Are you in a Slump? 

It's okay,  you can admit it -- we've all be there -- in fact I sometimes joke that I live there..   thankfully it never lasts for *too* long.  

As many of you know, this last year has been riddled with a boatload of medical drama across my family,  followed by the passing of my Dad which aside from the obvious added a whole new level of drama to my world.  I am fortunate that I have a pretty fabulous support system in my hubby, and the family that he happily shares with me - including his parents who are more like best friends that in-laws - we are truly blessed.  I do not know where we'd be without them.  I hope we don't have to find out for a long LONG time!

When things start going haywire it's not uncommon that the things we love to do get pushed aside, and sometimes forgotten altogether.  As a demonstrator, we often fall into a habit of preparing for classes, and upcoming events but forgetting to take time to just sit down and P L A Y! 

I sometimes find myself overwhelmed in my craft space.  I look at all of the wonderful new toys, and tools that I have brought in with my Club orders, pre-orders, and supply orders --so many things I haven't even breathed on yet - let alone gotten all inky..    I get to feeling like a waste of a craft room..  

I promised myself several weeks ago that I was going to work on making cards and dig back into my much neglected (almost abandoned) scrapbook, and CREATE.  

I challenged myself to dig into my Retired paper stash, and start getting it made up into cards and favors so that I can make room for the beautiful new colors that join us from the new catalog.  I cannot wait to show those to you ~ some wonderful old favorites are returning, and the new in colors are fabulous!  

I think that someone out there heard my plotting, because this past week on our Team group, one of the ladies posted a challenge for our group.  (Thanks to Crystal for running this one - it was just what the "doctor" ordered!) 




We were given the week to come up with a card and post.  To be honest, I was really excited about this challenge but then in the hustle and bustle of a crazy-busy week I forgot about it.   I was puttering away in the craft room in the midst of what I was calling my "Retired Sunday" when I remembered and thankfully inspiration struck quickly.  Here's what I came up with: 




I decided to play with my two newest butterfly punches (you know how I LOVE butterflies!)  and layer them.  I made use of some retired paper that I bought when I was in Vancouver looking for a way to be crafty when I hadn't brought anything with me.  Turns out much of the paper I bought was labelled incorrectly and quite a bit wasn't retired at all - BONUS!   In any case,  I also decided to do a no-stamping card this time, mostly because I was having fun making butterflies and wanted to use them on a card..   as you can see there were many more of them.. :) 



I cannot wait to see what this week's challenge will be.  I thought that I'd post the challenge here for my readers and customers, so we could play together and encourage each other to take some time each week to CREATE!

Did this challenge inspire you?  If you make something with this week's challenge photo,  please share a link to your blog post, or e-mail a photo to iscrapnstamp@gmail.com.  I'd love to see it! 

Team Challenges are just one of the perks of being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator - I just love the chance to share ideas and inspiration with our team, and with my own down-line.  Thinking about taking the plunge?  Ask me for more info!  The get more special on til the end of the month gets you an additional $40 in FREE products when you buy before May 30th!  If you're thinking about it, get in touch ~ I'd be happy to set up a time for you to come and take a look at the products and see what you'd be getting into first hand. 

This week I challenge YOU!  To dig out and dust off those toys that may be hiding in the back of your craft cupboard that you haven't used for a while - perhaps a stamp set or tool that you bought but haven't even unwrapped yet ~ now's your chance!  Choose something that you haven't used in a while and make something..   Share your creations ~ Let us inspire each other! 

Happy Monday everybody!   Happy Memorial Day to our US Friends and Family! 

1 comment:

Danni said...

Very nice! Thank you for playing along with my Flutter By Wednesday Challenge!