A Mother's Day Sketch {PP138}

Hiya friends and happy Sunday! Has spring arrived in your neighborhood yet? Here in North Florida it's still colder than usual so I thought I would hurry Mother nature along a bit with my card today! I loved the soft color palette at the challenge blog, Fab Friday {FabFri14}:

Aren't they pretty?  So, I combined these with Anne Marie's fabulous sketch for our challenge this week at The Paper Players to make a Mother's Day card full of flowers!  First, Anne Marie's awesome sketch:

and here's what I did with all this inspiration:

What do you think?  I have to admit, this card made me happy.  :-)  I was in the mood for a soft, feminine flowery card and this is what developed! I stamped the background image from Postage Due in Sahara Sand ink onto Naturals White cardstock added the flourish from Everything Eleanor in Lucky Limeade ink and a few background flowers from the same set in Blushing Bride (substituted for Pink Pirouette).

I stamped the Everything Eleanor flowers in Calypso Coral onto Blushing Bride cardstock and fussy-cut all three.  I added a little sponging with Sahara Sand, a few pearls and some Lucky Limeade organza ribbon from last year's Sale-a-Bration.

I really wanted the color of the flowers on the main panel to pop so I kept the base card and background the same color just adding some tone-on-tone stamping with the Netting background stamp in Sahara Sand.  A little piece of Lucky Limeade ruffled ribbon provides just the right amount of border and texture.

The flourish from this stamp set is so pretty--in fact it's the reason I bought the set(!)--that I just had to stamp it some more on the inside and added a few more flowers.  What a versatile stamp set Delightful Dozen has turned out to be; providing this wonderful sentiment for Mother's Day.

It may be a little early for a Mother's Day card but I hope these springtime flowers bring a little big of cheer your way today!  Please check out the rest of the design team and their beautiful projects over at The Paper Players and then join in the fun!  Just make sure to join in before the challenge closes Friday, March 29th at Noon (PDT).  Thanks for stopping by! 

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Amy O'Neill

Brian King

Jen Nelson

Justin Krieger

Sandy Mathis

 

Oh, Hello Paper Players! {PP137}

Hi there, friends! Happy St. Patrick's Day! I've got a card to share with you for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players where the always amazing Ann hosts a Clean-and-Simple challenge for us and it's a sketch...my favorite! 

And here's how I interpreted the sketch:

My color palette was inspired by the colors in the Tea for Two Designer Series Paper.  Even though I didn't use designer paper here, the colors were perfect for coloring the chevron image, from Oh, Hello, with Stampin' Write markers.  

Here, I used Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Calypso Coral and So Saffron.  My trusty Stamp-a-ma-Jig was just the ticket for lining up each chevron as well as the sentiment.  

I was on a roll with the markers so I added one more colored chevron to the inside and added another sentiment from Oh, Hello.  We made a stepped up version of this card in one of my stamp clubs today and we had so much fun adopting British accents with the phrases in this set!  Adding in my personal favorite..."Hello, lovely"!  We have so much fun, love hanging out with my stamp club friends! :)

And, I hope you've enjoyed hanging with me today.  Do go check out the awesome projects from the rest of The Paper Players team and consider playing along with us before the challenge ends on Friday, March 22nd at Noon (PDT)

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Amy O'Neill

Brian King

Jen Nelson

Justin Krieger

Sandy Mathis

 
Supply List
Stamps: Oh, Hello 
Paper: So Saffron, Whisper White CS; In Color Designer Series Patterns Stack 
Ink: Early Espresso
Extras: Early Espresso Baker's Twine; 1.25" Square Punch; Corner Rounder punch; Stamp-a-ma-Jig; Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo & So Saffron Stampin' Write Markers

Ears to You, Paper Players {PP136}

Hi there, friends! As Sunday rolls around I'm sad that our Spring Break has come to an end :-( but glad to be this week's hostess over at The Paper Players.  This week we have a color challenge and oh how I love working with color!  I find color inspiration literally everywhere but often from fashion and home decor.  This week, I've chosen a bright and happy spring combination.

Pretty, yes?  I think so!  I knew that I wanted to make an Easter card and the single stamp Ears to You was calling my name!  I showed it some ink with a previous sketch from Retro Sketches [love] and came up with this:

 

To the Early Espresso base I added a layer of Pool Party CS embossed with the Cloudy Day embossing folder.  I ran the full piece through the Big Shot twice to cover the entire section.  That did leave an area in the middle where the two embossed sections met but I covered that easily with ribbon, the Top Note shape and the focal element. Doesn't the Lucky Limeade chevron pattern from Summer Smooches DSP look great with the patterned bunnies?!  

And about those bunnies....I first stamped the entire image in Early Espresso and then added the bunnies.  I stamped each bunny in Regal Rose, Lucky Limeade and Pool Party inks then fussy-cut each one.  Have I told you how much I love to fussy-cut?  Really, I do just ask my stamp clubs, LOL!  The trick here was to leave a bitty white border so it would cover up the Early Espresso image I stamped first.  Why did I do it this way, you might ask?  Well, I wanted the sentiment in Early Espresso and I wanted a more saturated color than what coloring it with markers would provide so....fussy-cutting was the answer!

Lastly, I wanted those sweet little bunnies on the inside but the stamp was too big.  My Digital Studio to the rescue!  I created a page just the size I needed (4" x 5.25") and added three bunnies from the Little Additions digital stamp brush set and colored them in my challenge colors.  After I printed it onto Whisper White cardstock, all I had to do was stamp the sentiment from Delightful Dozen in Early Espresso to finish it off!

Here's another version of this same card that the gals in my clubs made last month.  This time, I used the Sunshine & Sprinkles DSP as my color inspiration and we only had to fussy-cut two bunnies instead of all three!  I was kind to them. :-)

I customized the inside of the club card too with a page from MDS using Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist and Melon Mambo to color the bunnies.

I hope I've inspired you to play along with our color challenge over at The Paper Players.  We would love to see your creation in the gallery.  Just make sure to link up before the challenge closes on Friday, March 15th at Noon (PST).  Until then, be sure to stop by my fellow Design Team mates to see their lovely creations and leave them some love!  Thanks for stopping by!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Amy O'Neill

Brian King

Jen Nelson

Justin Krieger

Sandy Mathis

 
Supplies Used to Make this Card
Stamps: Ears to You; Delightful Dozen
Inks: Regal Rose, Pool Party Lucky Limeade, Early Espresso
Paper: Pool Party, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Regal Rose CS; Summer Smooches DSP
Extras: Oval Framelits; Occasions Paper-Piercing Pack; Top Note die; Early Espresso Quilted Satin Ribbon [retired]; Cloudy Day embossing folder; Printed 2011 In Color Designer Brads; Little Additions digital stamp brush set; paper snips

Up, Up & Away with CAS {CTS17}

Hi everyone, happy Tuesday! I can't believe I'm sneaking in another post this week but I had to get this one in under the wire. I was introduced to a new-to-me challenge site, CAS(E) this Sketch and I was smitten with this week's sketch!

See what I mean?  What a creative sketch!  Since I needed a birthday card for a [male] family friend, I had to give this cool CAS sketch a try.  Here's what I made:

My color scheme was taken straight from the Comfort Cafe designer series paper and includes Midnight Muse, Cajun Craze and Summer Starfruit. 

I stamped the hot air balloons from Up, Up & Away in Cajun Craze and Summer Starfruit onto Very Vanilla cardstock and fussy-cut.  A little Linen Thread bow added just enough detail but isn't too feminine. 

I love how the die from the Hearts a Flutter framelit allows me to stamp in the negative space.  I just lined the framelit up on the card front, secured it in place with some small post-it notes and after a quick pass through the Big Shot I've got a cute little window for the sentiment. edited to add: I'm a bit behind in checking my Google Reader and just discovered the Emphasize the Negative Challenge in the Moxie Fab World so I had to play along...and you should too!

To balance the placement of the sentiment on the inside, I stamped a couple more balloons and some Pool Party clouds both peeking through the window and to frame the additional balloons.

I hope you've enjoyed my surprise post today!  Be sure to check out the fabulous sketches over at CASE(E) this Sketch.  You're sure to find some inspiration!  Thanks for stopping by today.

 
Supplies 
Stamps: Up, Up & Away 
Ink: Cajun Craze, Summer Starfruit, Soft Suede, Pool Party 
Paper: Midnight Muse, Very Vanilla CS; Comfort Cafe DSP
Extras: Linen Thread; Hearts a Flutter Framelits; paper snips; Crystal Effects (to secure the bow)

Stitched Papillon Potpourri {PP135}

Hiya friends and welcome to another week with The Paper Players!  LeAnne is our hostess this week and she has a fun challenge for us:

I couldn't wait to get to work with my sewing machine and had all sorts of ideas swimming in my head.  I created one project (I'll show you later this week) but then I saw one of the newest digital MDS downloads and knew right away what I would do with it:

I love printing DSP with My Digital Studio on my home printer.  It's a great way to extend my designer paper collection for very little money.  This paper is from the Spring to Life Digital Kit and features these adorable butterflies on a Lucky Limeade background.

I printed the DSP onto Whisper White cardstock and got to work on the butterflies.  I stamped the bitty butterfly from Papillon Potpourri in Versamark on Basic Gray cardstock, heat embossed with clear EP and punched them out with the coordinating Bitty Butterfly punch.  I backed each one with another bitty butterfly punched from vellum cardstock and stitched them to my DSP using a little bit of removable adhesive to hold them in place during sewing.  

My first instinct was to use a gray or limeade ribbon but I experimented a little and found that Calypso Coral really popped against the Basic Gray.  Coral was too much for the sentiment though so I heat embossed a sentiment from Blooming with Kindness with Pewter embossing powder.  You can also see that I sponged the Framed Tulip embossed edges with a little white craft ink to highlight that gorgeous embossing.

I promise you those butterflies on the inside really are Calypso Coral!  They look a bit more terracotta  here but it's really not. :-)  Paired with a sentiment from Wishes Your Way, this seemed the perfect pick-me-up to a friend who recently underwent surgery. 

So, what do you think?  Have I inspired you to add some stitching to your project?  Real or faux, whatever way you can imagine...we would love to see it in the gallery at The Paper Players.  Be sure to check out the rest of my friends on the design team and their fabulous stitched creations!  Then come on back to join us before the challenge closes on Friday, March 8th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for looking today!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Amy O'Neill

Brian King

Jen Nelson

Justin Krieger

Sandy Mathis

 
Supplies 
Stamps: Papillion Potpourri; Wishes Your Way; Blooming with Kindness
Ink: Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, Basic Gray, Versmark
Paper: Basic Gray, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, Vellum  CS; Spring to Life Digital Kit DSP
Xtras: Calypso Coral ruffled ribbon; Pewter embossing powder; sewing machine; Framed Tulip embossing folder; Bitty Butterfly Punch; Basic Rhinestones