So I am not suffering the emotional or physical (or literal) hangover from the holiday weekend that I normally would from a long (in our case) four day weekend.  No instead I am suffering from the “are you sure it’s not Monday?”.  Seriously.   It isn’t Monday?  It sure feels like a Monday.

Had to even run the trash cans out in a fury of ‘please don’t skip my house’ this morning and everything.  Seriously….it isn’t Monday?  I have a feeling my whole day is going to feel off.

So, in short Happy Tuesday…even though it feels like a Monday.

The online Copic Jumpstart class continues for me, and there are totally moments where my mind has been blown.  It is always cool when you are introduced to a theory you’ve never thought of.  Today has a new class, and as soon as I’m done here, I am off to see what today brings.

On the even more exciting news front, my mommy and daddy come to town tomorrow, so needless to say I am in a mad dash to get the house clean (my mom is one of those really tidy people who do not appreciate the function of an organized chaotic messy pile).  I haven’t seen them for almost a year, and seriously that is way too long.  With the exception of the years we lived in Japan, this is the longest I have ever gone without seeing my mom.  I can’t wait to hug her (and dad too of course).  My kids needless to say are way too excited.  Nana and Papa are simply that cool.  They are here for a week, so needless to say, I may be just a bit AWOL for a few days.

However, today, a day that is not a Monday (even though it sure feels like one) I’ve got a handful of challenge cards for you to enjoy.

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Up first today we have a photo inspiration challenge for the designers over at Inspired By All the Little Things.  The simplicity of this inspiration photo had me (which we all know I rarely do) wanting to go CAS-ish.

I wish I had a really great tea stamp, but alas I don’t, unless there is

a little girl sitting in it (that Gorjuss stamp is great but wouldn’t work for this image).  However, I have this cute little tea bag stamp from Prima and figured that would be a great jumping off place.  I added the little cupcake from the same stamp set and colored in both of the images with my copics.  I wish the pink wasn’t so hot (bright), but alas, I don’t like starting over.  Always embrace the ugly.  I pulled out this great little sentiment from one of my Dylusion stamp packs and stamped it out in a little Memento sweet plum.  Finally I pulled out this great printed paper that had both a purple hue and green hue that reminded me of the inspiration show and added it under the card stock.  I experimented with some sequins, but in the end, I liked it just as it was.  I know some will find it dull, but for me, sometimes a cup of tea and a bit of cake can really be the best things in life, especially if you are with friends.

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Next up is a tic-tac toe challenge from the gals over at The Paper Players.  I really really struggle with challenges like this.  I don’t know why, but it is usually cause I get hung up on boxes that I can’t actually connect to each other.  In this case I wanted to use twine, embossing and sequins, but since that was a no go, I ended up using the first row: yellow, masculine,

and embossing.

I pulled out a Heidi Swapp stencil and some yellow texture paste.  The stencil was one of those sticky ones that keep from sliding when applying, but it tore my card stock a little when I pulled it up, which is annoying.  However, in the end, I really liked how the paper looked with it dried.  It gave the card a bit of a distress feeling.  Then I pulled out my father’s day stamp pack from Hero Arts and embossed a sentiment and image in some antique gold embossing powder onto some kraft.  I lightly colored the image with a bit of copic gray and yellow and added it to my texture paste with a bit of dimensional tape.  I added some black and white twine (told you I wanted to use it) and added everything to a deeper shade of yellow paper.  You can’t see it but inside the card I stamped out a “happy father’s day” sentiment to wrap the whole thing up.

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Finally today we have a sketch challenge from the sleuths of design over at Can You Case It.  This week they have us trying to solve the case of a simple design, and for once, this can pretty easy to me.

I pulled out a Sizzix embossing folder and speared a little Distress
carved pumpkin ink onto it and ran it though my Big Shot.  I love how the page is pressed with the color doing this technique.  I trimmed up the embossed paper and laid it over a piece of lightly colored print paper.  Finally, using a Memory Box stamp set, I stamped out my little tea bunnies and colored them in with a bit of Copic marker.  I stamped out the sentiment from the same stamp pack, and left the card at just that.  I really like the coloring I did on the bunnies, not so much the color on the cups.  But I’m learning.

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That’s all for now.  I’m off to run vacuums, fold laundry, and then if there is still time, color, color and color.  I just have to remember that I have a Tuesday schedule, not the freedom of a Monday which is usually light.  Oh well.  Have a great day and hope you can shake off your long weekend hangover.