Old, New, Borrowed, Blue

Happy Monday! I'm on a bit of a run with hosting different challenges, as I have another one today! My good friend, June Houck, is one of the Honeybees at Betty Bee's Buzz challenge blog and has invited me to be a guest host for them. June was my inspiration to start blogging 3 1/2 years ago, and I always love peeking in to see what she's been whipping up in her craft room. The Honey Bees are a fun and talented bunch, and their challenges are creative and unpredictable (in a good way) -- everything from techniques, like a freezer paper technique or altering photographs, to broad themes, such as celebrating mothers or welcoming new babies.

I was brainstorming challenges back around the time of the Royal Wedding and thought it might be fun to use weddings as my inspiration. I came up with "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, and Something Blue." If you play along (and I hope you will), you don't have to create a wedding-themed project (unless you want to), you just have to include each of the four things from this familiar wedding custom. Sound fun? I hope so!

Here are just a few ideas I kicked around ...

• For old, you could use an older product; create something that looks old by distressing, sanding, and/or using vintage papers; repurpose an old item for some new purpose, etc. 
• New is pretty easy -- use a new or new-to-you product, use a new trend or technique, make something for a new baby or to congratulate a friend on her new home. 
• For borrowed, you might borrow a tool or product from a crafty friend, borrow a fellow papercrafter's design  (a.k.a. CASE), or borrow from another craft altogehter, for example, incorporate quilting or jewelry or fabric into your design. 
• Throw in a little blue and you're good to go! 

Those are just suggestions -- I'm sure all of you creative folks can think of lots more!

Are you curious how my project fits the bill? I've used some new My Mind's Eye papers -- the Out of the Blue collection from the Lime Twist line. The sentiment is my old element. It's from Verve's Dare to Be You set, which came out two years ago. (By the way, Dare to Be You is Verve's current Stamp of the Month. Pick it up during the month of May and save a whopping 40%.)  My borrowed element is the clean-and-simple style that I so, so admire, but definitely isn't my norm. I hope the blue in the papers is obvious. If not, time to calibrate your monitor - teehehe!

Head on over to the Betty Bee's Buzz blog, where today you'll find a short "interview" (free advice included {grin}) with yours truly, as well as the challenge details and my sample. Then on Wednesday, the Honeybees will post their challenge samples as part of their regular Wednesday "Honeybee Showcase." The Wednesday post is also where you'll be able to link up your challenge creations. Sure hope you'll play along! Check back at Betty Bee's Buzz on Friday, too, as the hive has a really unique and sweet Friday feature, "Buzz, Brag, and BEE Happy," where the Honeybees share all sorts of good news, from new babies to new cars to publication acceptances and contest wins. Readers and participants can share their good news in the comments section - love that!

Thank you, Honeybees, for letting me buzz about the hive this week!

And thank you, readers, for stopping by for a visit. Always a pleasure!





Stamps: Dare to Be You (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Papertrey Kraft (card base), My Mind's Eye Lime Twist Out of the Blue designer paper
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: The Twinery twine, My Favorite Things Jumbo Scallop and Button Quartet Die-namics dies, Cuttlebug Seeing Spots embossing folder, sanding block, Pizzazz Aplenty 3mm and 4mm clear rhinestones
Size: 3 1/4" x 5 1/2"