Challenge #259

'Morning all (or maybe  afternoon or  evening - depending where you are).  Hope you are enjoying your week so far.   
Our photo this week is one of rose petals I took as part of an exercise studying light.

I particularly like how the light is sculpting the petals in this one.

On to our top 3 for challenge #257.  We had several entries (wow!) and it was tough to pick but here they are:

Teresa

Margaret A.

Hansi

and special recognition

Margaret (from our Facebook page)

All of the cards were super this week and it was REALLY HARD to choose.  Congrats to everyone who participated!

Our sketch this week is another from Kaylin and the optional theme is Dreaming of Spring.   I don't know about anyone else but I have had enough of winter.

Our sketch:  

And here are the samples from our team:

Lynne

Sharon

Lynda

Gorgeous, ladies, and thank you so much for  your beautiful cards and inspiration.  I know our followers will be inspired by your work to create cards of their own.  

Remember everyone, that you have two weeks to get your cards done  and you can post them below or as a comment on our Facebook page.

Before I go, it is time to say "good bye" to another of our long time designers.  Nicole has decided to leave us.  Her life is just too hectic and she needs to scale back her card making.  I will miss her greatly and I am sure you will miss seeing her beautiful work.  Join me in wishing her the best and also in hoping to see her back some day.

That being said, we have an opening on our team  if you are interested, please email me at cherylsteve.robinson@gmail.com with three samples of your work and a link to your blog before March 1st.  

Well, that's all for now, folks. Have a great week!

Challenge #258

Hello  to all of you crafty   people!  I am glad you could join us again this week.  If you are new, I am sure you will find this a fun spot to visit.  If you are a regular viewer, welcome back.

As always, we begin with the photo for the week.  Today I have an image I took of two Bohemian Waxwings sharing one apple.  There must have been two hundred of these birds in our apple tree yesterday just pecking at the apples that did not fall before winter came - nature's bird feeder. 

Now, normally we go on to  our top three...but, unfortunately, we only had two cards entered for challenge #256.  So I thought I would show you both cards.  They were beautiful and both deserve a round of  applause.

Maria

Margaret

Thank you so much, ladies, for  gracing us with your beautiful work.

Our sketch this week, and for the next several weeks, is courtesy of Kaylin.  Our designers really step up - especially since they know I am not the best sketch creator.  Thanks, Kaylin.

By   popular demand, we are bringing back optional themes.  Use it or note, our theme this week is : LOVE IS IN THE AIR.

Now here  are the examples created by the members of our team:

Lori

Sara H.

Vicki

Crystal

Kaylin

LeAnne

Wow!  Gorgeous  cards, team!  And very inspirational!  I know we will get lots of entries this week once our followers see your beautiful samples.

remember, everyone, that you have two weeks to enter your card and you can either post it in the linky below or   as a comment to the post on our Facebook page.

Happy crafting to you all!

Challenge #257

Hello everyone!  Let me begin this post by offering you all an apology.  Our linkytool expired for a day and I did not realize it.  I knew it was almost renewal time but did not receive a notice.  It was back up and running within a couple of hours of me finding out.  I am truly sorry if anyone tried to post an entry and could not.  All is good now though so lets get on with it.

Our photo this week is one I took in the snow the other day and gave a slightly blue edit in post processing.

Now for  the top three from challenge #255:

Anne

Teresa

Margaret (from Facebook)

Beautiful, ladies!  Congrats to our top three and thanks to all who participated.

For our main event, we have another basic sketch  for you.  

For some unknown reason, I really seem to like circles.

Now for the inspirational samples from the team:

Sarah C.

Crystal

Lynda

Sharon

Vicki

Great examples from our team!  I am sure they will  inspire lots of participation from our visitors out there.  Remember, our challenge runs until February 23rd and you can enter below or on our Facebook page.

Before I go I just wanted to let everyone know that Sarah Cameron (who has been with us for   over 4 years, I believe) is taking a well deserved six month leave to  devote more time to the necessities of her busy family life.  She will be missed and I will be counting the weeks until she returns.  Please join me in wishing her the best.  That being said, Lynne Jardine has kindly agreed to join our team so let's welcome her with open arms and kind comments on her blog.

Happy creating, everyone!

Challenge #256

Welcome to Try  Stampin' - Or Not!  If you visit us often, thank you so much, if it is your  first time here, I hope you enjoy our site and that you will come back time and again.

As always, I am starting off with our photo for the week.

Finnegan, my daughter's labradoodle comes to play with Elli while the family is working and at school.  He just LOVES the snow.

Our top three for Challenge #254 are as follows (in random order):

Margaret (from Facebook)

Leigh

Zora

And, since we had soooo many entries (thank you), here is an honourable mention:

Kathy

In truth, the cards were so great this week that EVERYONE deserves a top 3.  Thanks everyone! and a big round of applause for our top choices!

Now, for the main event - our sketch for this week:

Another simpler sketch open to lots of possibilities.  Once again, there is no theme but we will start the optional themes up again next challenge (by popular demand).

Here are the cards from the ladies on our team - sure to inspire you:

Crystal

Kaylin

LeAnne

Lori

Sara H.

Sharon

Beautiful cards, team!  Thanks so much.  I know everyone will be inspired by these great samples to create a card of her own.

Remember everyone, our challenge runs for two weeks (until February 16th) and you can enter below with the linky or on our Facebook page as a comment to the appropriate post.  Also, you should check out on Facebook for our challenges, discussions and some cool interaction with other card makers.

Happy creating, all!