returning to challenge adventures

If you've been following along, you know I'm really busy at work during the first quarter of the year, and by March/April I'm ready for vacation - we took three this year, one week and two long weekends!  I've kept up with Card Buffets and haven't had to skip one yet this year.  In order to have choices at the buffets (it wouldn't really be a buffet if there weren't choices) I've made lots of cards.  As always, I use challenges for inspiration, but - this is where something had to give - I haven't had time to write up any descriptions for blog posts.  I finished the taxes today, so now I can get back to playing and posting - yay!  Of course, I went to one of my favorite sites first, and found a color challenge at the Watercooler:

I had a request for wedding cards on the buffet, and personally I forget to have anniversary cards on hand, so this is what I came up with:

stamp set - Best Birds; ink - Calypso Coral, Pool Party; card stock - Whisper White, Island Indigo, Pool Party; Big Shot with Happy Hearts embossing folder and Birds & Blooms framelits

For some reason, most of the choices I prepared for Card Buffet this month are in the blue-green-yellow range.  When I noticed that, I was inspired to try the rainbow challenge from CAS-ual Fridays, using this fun idea from Rachael Tessman:

stamp set - Sunburst Sayings; ink - Basic Black, Perfect Plum, Tempting Turquoise, Cucumber Crush, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red; card stock - Whisper White thick and regular; Big Shot with Sunburst thinlit

I maaaaaay have had a little too much fun with the sponge-dauber dots :)

And finally, I took another shot at the wedding card idea, using the sketch from TGIF Challenge and this fun idea from Carol Payne:

stamp set - Flourishing Phrases; ink - Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry; card stock - Sweet Sugarplum, Shimmer White; Fluttering embossing folder

Another case where I may have been having too much fun - when I pressed the Shimmer White card stock down on the inked Fluttering embossing folder, I intended to leave more white space around the edges to better correspond with the sketch.  It's pretty sweet this way, too, though.