Well BMB! So Excited it's Friday!!!

 It's always exciting for Fridays...not only the end of a work week for most (I sometimes work 7 days a week, oh the joy of being self-employed!)  BUT... BUTTER MY BISCUIT!!!, for my 5th GIU Day, I'm happy it's a  Craft Roulette night too!  For my 5th card, I followed the weekly challenge (Episode #306) and completed my 106th entry over the course of 2-1/2+ years.

 For those of you who are not familiar with Craft Roulette, I will QUICKLY give the scoop.  Each Friday night, a new challenge created by Mary Gunn Funn and her son, Mr. Producer,  airs live on YouTube.  I catch the live as a replay, as this is a central time thing (6:30 p.m.) and I tend to not be ready to start my weekend that early.  The rules are simple...  There are 4 parameters, each with 20 options, up for the possibilities, based on "Mr. Wheel", who spins to determine each parameter.  

Parameters:

1.  Project

2.  Colors

3.  Element

4.  Random

Once spun...you know what you are working with!   The show features each week, a guest, who often is a well known celeb in the paper crafting world.  At the end of the episode, you are encouraged to submit your creation (you have 48 hours, unless you are member, then you have extended time...like I'm doing this week)...which then makes you eligible for a random selected door prize.  Usually, there are 4-6ish opportunities to win.  (I have won twice!)(It's fun to see your name spin around)  I know this was a VERY quick description of Craft Roulette... You can visit my blog post from June to learn more, and I encourage you to visit the Craft Roulette website for precise info.  

Episode #306, Mr. Wheel decided the following:

Our project was to be an A7 size card (I used to make this size more often, it was kind of nice to do one again), Summer Dessert Colors, Chalkboard Element, with a Random Bottom Border.

I decided for my 5th GIU day, I'd pull from my Unity Stamps to do this challenge, so...I kind of gave myself a 5th parameter.  That parameter was fairly easy to do, I find Unity Stamps has turned into one of my top "go to" companies each week when I'm doing this challenge.  

My process this week...  hahahaahaaaa 

I'd love to tell you, I ended up with what I planned to do from the get go.  I'm still wondering how that card would have turned out, because I really liked the idea, but, I wasn't getting the "summer dessert" colors vibes with it...I could have justified it one way or another, as you really don't need to SCREAM each parameter on the card or project...you just need to justify it.  Summer desserts can be a ton of things...and one can justify practically any color...for instance:  My kid's birthday is in the summer and we made sugar cookies decorated to fit a pirate themed party, therefore, my colors are bright red and black with shiny gold...yada yada yada...  Well, that wasn't the case for me.  I tend to take things literal, good or bad, it can make me go bonkers...I kept digging through my Unity stamps stash until I found what I needed.  Since "summer desserts" was my holdup, I really needed to have those colors in my mind, and some how get the other parameters to work around that.  I thought of TWO summer desserts that wouldn't leave my brain...

Peach Pie

Strawberry Shortcake

I'll bet you can tell by the card, which one I went with...  So hear me out...  If any of you ever watched Beverly Hills 90210 before...you may recall a famous diner called...  THE PEACH PIT... yep...I found Cafe Delights going through my Unity inventory...it reminded me of where Brandon, Brenda and gang might have hung out...and what did I see?!  A CHALKBOARD on it!!!  Yep, that was the other parameter that was determining which way I was headed with this card!  If you peruse the gallery for episode #306, you will see...most people chose to do a chalkboard technique, and that was kind of my original thought...I actually was going to make my own chalkboard, I've done that before...  I waffled on peach pie colors..but, strawberry shortcake kept calling my name.  Hmmm  Diner...50s looking...Strawberry Shortcake Colors...and out of the corner of my eye...I spied those doilies on my table...the ones I had used out of my October 2025 Butter My Biscuit Whit Kit for yesterday's Winnie card...BINGO!  That's when the card started to fall into place for me!  I tried to get a doily on this card, wasn't happening, but I did find my sentiment and character to finish off this card.

That's it in a nutshell..how I have evolved into design.  I would never have thought of putting all of these together, had I not had certain criteria to follow.  I LOVE it when the wheel lands on something unusual and different...something I'd never dream up on my own (like chalkboard).  I not only have expanded my creative thinking, but I tend to really get into the research behind things at times too.  I've learned more about topics I never knew much about...ask me about gnomes...I thought I new it all, but I guess not...lol  

This challenge has been good for ME...and I would encourage anyone to give it a whirl at least once, to see if it's for you too.  I have my family now asking each week, "what are this week's parameters"?  This includes my 24 year old son, his girlfriend, my husband, sisters...and now my daughter often joins in on the fun via facetime with me.  Since we live 1000+ miles apart, it's been special to share this time with her.  If it's not for you, that's ok too...but if you do ever get in a slump, or are looking for something different to create, there is this challenge plus so many more out there in stamp land.  It really opened up my creative thinking.  I don't always design based around Craft Roulette......GIU Days 1-4, were 100% on me...but, I will say, it's so much easier now to come up with ideas than 5 years ago, with or without Craft Roulette.  If you recall...it took me 5-6 MONTHS to design my GIU week back then.  This time?!  1-2 weeks...that's it!  (And that long, only because I really do work in the day...so, it's at night)  I see Unity has a fun challenge going, I hope to jump in an play in the future, it looks fun! 

 So, there you go!!!  I warned you I'm chatty.  I truly hope, through all the words and paragraphs this week, someone out there, may have felt a spark of something that inspires them..even if it's a color scheme, an element, or a supply (please ask me, if you are interested any supply I may have used this week)!  

Tonight Craft Roulette spins again...and I suspect, I'll have a few Unity stamps on my table as options to use...it's kind of a lay them out in a line, and see where my eyes keep going to thing.  I very well may be able to design something in less than 2 hours...I'm getting awfully close!  If I don't, I'm skipping the week, as I am not available to play along next week)

 Thanks all for visiting with me these past few days!  Leave comments!  There will be 2 randomly chosen to receive a Unity gift credit, $20 each...once my week is complete!!!  I'll post here, and in the Unity groups as well, who those lucky 2 are sometime next week!

 See you in Stampland! 

 Want to play along this week with Craft Roulette?!

Invitation to play! Episode #307 

Trudi