Happy Wednesday! What's UP??

   Today seems to be a much better day and although I have not accomplished a whole lot, I am much happier with the two cards that I have completed today.

    I was very excited to get back to some of my favorite challenges and Wednesday if a FUN challenge day for me.  I started today by working on a card that was created for three different challenges and it was inspired by Bugaboo's Wacky Wednesday Challenge, and also by today's Midweek Throwdown Challenge over at Operation Write Home.

    The Wacky Wednesday Challenge (hosted at PCP and CDAC), was to create a project where the Theme was Square and that's exactly what I did with this fun little Summer Card.   Not only did I print my image out into a square size, I also created a square card and made all the layers in squares!    I also chose an image that included 'Water', since that is the theme today over at the Stars and Stamps Blog.   I have found that using 3D Crystal Lacquer on top of my colored image, really gives off the bright shiny look of the sparkling blue ocean.

    This is a close up copy, where you can better see how well the Crystal lacquer works to create a really neat shine and dimension for a water look.

   In addition to the challenges above, this card is also being submitted to these fun challenges:

• The Pink Elephant - Challenge #109  - Fun in the fun
• Paper Sundaes - # 79 - Beachy or Summer Themes

  The next card I have to share was inspired by today's new Sketch Challenge over at The Outlawz Challenge Group and I am sharing a copy of the sketch that Melanie created for this week's challenge.

    And this is the card that I created based on the Sketch.  It's a  Birthday Card and I created it for my niece who is celebrating her birthday next week.  This was perfect timing, because I knew I wanted to work on her card this week and had not come up with and idea!   The sketch worked out perfectly and this wonderful Birthday Cake stamp is a favorite.   It's called "Celebrate (Cake)" and was designed by Victoria Case exclusively for SCACD.

    In addition to the Sketch Challenge at The Outlawz, I am also submitting this new Birthday Card to each of these challenges:

• Stamps R Us Challenge - Happy Birthday - A Blog Hop too!!
• Stamping Scrapping Challenge Central - Bling - Spellbinder Labels 15
• Two Sisters Challenge Blog - Anything Goes
• Bearly-Mine Challenges - Challenge #15 - Tag You're it!!

    And now I am off to work on a card for a brand new challenge that I want to play.  It's a really cute new digi image blog and it's called Jellypark and you can hop on over to play in Challenge One!    I was also excited to see that one of my designer friends, Jennifer, is on their Design Team, which inspired me even more to play along.  Jennifer and I had created together on two former teams and she is a joy to know.    If you plan to play along in this first challenge, hurry on over, as it ends this week, but is one I want to play.  It's a  Christmas in July challenge and they have provided an adorable snowman for those who want to join the fun.   You can find ALL the details on the Challenge Blog and if you want to shop for some of these adorable image, you can find the Jellypark Etsy Store HERE!!   I've already added a couple images to my shopping cart at Etsy!  

  Update:  I am back with my completed 'Christmas in July' card and had a lot of fun creating this one.  It's been fun to find so many holiday challenges lately and that's really been great for helping me get a head start on my cards this year. 

  I really think this is one cute snowman, and it's by Jellypark.  The card is being submitted to their very first challenge and also these new challenges which are all hosting Christmas Themed Challenge:

• Jellypark Challenge Blog - Challenge #1 - Christmas in July
• Going Grey with Scrap Creations -  Favorite Holiday (Christmas for me)
• Partytime Tuesday Challenges - # 26- Anything Goes 
• Paper Creations Ink - Challenge # 5 - Christmas in July

  And that's it for today my friends!  I hope you are all having a nice day and finding some time to create and smile!