Three, Two, One....Happy New Year!

Hiya friends!  Just wanted to pop in with a little New Year's Eve sneak peek.  I'm sure by now, you've seen new products from the upcoming Occasions catalog all over blogland so I'm throwing my effort into the mix!  Here's a little card I made earlier this month for DD's 10th birthday.  

Such a milestone birthday--double digits, Mama!--deserved a plethora of new goodies!  New designer paper, two new Framelits, new stamp set, new washi tape, new twine...oh my!  Love the colors in the Retro Fresh designer paper--So Saffron, Tangerine Tango and Pool Party mixed with Soft Suede.  The word bubble Framelits coordinate with the Just Sayin' stamp set and the film strip is courtesy of the On Film Framelits which also have a coordinating stamp set.  How 'bout a closer look?

Isn't the new Gold Baker's Twine yummy?  Love the gold thread running through.  I've gone a bit over the top with the layers but DD is an over-the-top kind of girl!  I'm sure you know one or two girls like that, lol!  ;-)  My inspiration came from a previous sketch by the fabulously-creative Chupa at Sketchbook Saturday:

Whether you're headed out tonight or staying in, I hope you have some fun planned to ring in the new year.  Thanks for checking out my little corner of blogland and all your support throughout the year.  Your comments and friendship mean a great deal to me!  Here's to you in 2014....ready?

Supplies
Stamps: Memorable Moments, Off the Grid, Gorgeous Grunge, Just Sayin'*
Ink: Pool Party, So Saffron, Soft Suede
Paper: Naturals White, So Saffron, Tangerine Tango, Soft Suede CS; Retro Fresh DSP*
Extras: Retro Fresh Washi Tape*; Gold Baker's Twine*; On Film Framelit dies*; Word Bubbles Framelit dies*;Gold Sequin Trim*
*from the upcoming Occasions Catalog

A Festive Flurry of WOW {PP176}

Hiya peeps!  Sorry to be late with my post for The Paper Players.  We ran a two-day statewide cyclocross (bike racing) event this weekend and that occupied all my time!!  Today, the fabulous Sandy has a GORGEOUS challenge for us:

So gorgeous, in fact, that we’re calling it WOW, that is, White-on-White.  I always admire WOW cards and I was excited for the chance to make one.  I knew that I wanted to emboss on vellum and beyond that I just let it happen!

I embossed the Festive Flurry snowflakes on vellum with Whisper White embossing powder, layered them and embellished with 1/8" Silver Ribbon, Vintage Faceted Buttons and Basic Rhinestones.  

Next, I wanted to try the Dryer Sheet technique with Dazzling Diamonds.  I cut a dryer sheet to size covered it with spray glue, attached to the same sized piece of Whisper White CS and liberally sprinkled with Dazzling Diamonds.  This is such a cool effect and used as a background here, looks like homemade white glimmer paper!  Check out the link for the tutorial--it's so easy!  Lastly, I just had to use my new Banners Framelit dies*** to make a Whisper White banner (***available January 3, 2014 from the Occasions catalog).

 I had a few left-over vellum snowflakes and put them to use on the inside.  The sentiment is embossed with silver embossing powder.  It's so difficult to capture the right color and shine of the snowflakes and the sentiment that this picture really doesn't do it justice!

I hope you will grab some crafty time to yourself during this busy week to do justice to Sandy's gorgeous WOW challenge before it closes this Friday, December 20th at Noon (PDT).

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

This is the last Paper Players challenge of 2013 after which we will take a brief holiday break and start up again in 2014. I'm sure my posting will be much less frequent during the holiday season as I wind down the year with family and friends.  I'll still have a few posts with sneak peeks from the 2014 Occasions catalog but in the meantime...I'd like to wish all my readers a very, merry holiday season! 

Supplies
Stamps: Festive Flurry, Christmas Messages
Ink: Versamark
Paper: Whisper White, Vellum CS
Xtras: Festive Flurry Framelit dies; white stampin' emboss powder; silver stampin' emboss powder; Ovals framelit dies; Banner Framelit dies; 1/8" silver ribbon; vintage faceted buttons; basic rhinestones

A Snowboarder's Cabana

Hi everyone--happy mid-week!  We're in the mad dash here in our house--DD birthday is today so there's lot of preparations! One of our nephews also has a December birthday and I was inspired by the fantastic work over at CAS(E) this Sketch and Fab Friday:

What a unique sketch, right?!  Combined with these fabulous holiday/winter colors, I had the perfect inspiration for my sports-lovin' nephew's card:

 

You might  be surprised to know that there is absolutely no stamping on this card--none. at. all!  It was all made with My Digital Studio!!  Once I printed out the design onto Whisper White cardstock, I just matted it with black and added it to a Coastal Cabana card base.  I love the flexibility of designing cards in MDS.  I can resize, color and modify to my heart's content! If you're interested, a full list of the MDS files I used is at the end of this post.

I couldn't find a suitable sentiment to coordinate with a "daring adventure" so I just used MDS, again, to type up my own.  I added a few more elements and printed it along with the front of the card.  I hope our nephew likes it!  As I am just getting this in under the wire, I'm going to keep this post short 'n' sweet!  Have a great day, friends!

Supplies
Paper: Coastal Cabana, Basic Black & Whisper White CS
MDS stamp Brush Sets: Extreme Snowboard, Daring Adventure, Woodgrain, Chevron Designer Kit, Ink Splatter 6
 

Joyful Paper Player Wishes {PP175}

Hiya friends!  Can you believe it's the second week of December--oh my gosh!  So much left to do.....yikes!  But I'm not thinking about it today because our friend Anne Marie has a lovely color challenge for us over at The Paper Players:

Old Olive and Raspberry Ripple are lovely together for the holidays but add Pink Pirouette and you have a wonderful twist on a holiday classic. 

After a few false starts, I used my go-to technique of stamping a dark color on light cardstock this time with the gorgeous poinsettia from Joyful Christmas.  Stamping on some textured Pink Pirouette cardstock [from my stash] really gives a nice texture to the poinsettia.  I stamped it twice and fussy-cut the smaller center of the flower to pop up for dimension.

I wanted some pearls in the center but since they were too bright, I sponged them with a little Champagne Mist shimmer paint [retired but still love the stuff!].  The color is a nice match to the the strip of Champagne Glimmer paper.  

I was happy to find some Raspberry Ripple patterned paper in the Birthday Basics DSP.  It has a nice [almost] snowflake pattern to it that is perfect for my holiday card.  After embossing the Very Vanilla background with the Pretty Print embossing folder, I sponged on a little Champagne Mist glimmer paint as well as Gold metallic ink for some extra shine and sparkle.

I stamped another poinsettia on the inside in Raspberry Ripple ink--stamped off once--and then made a mask so the Old Olive leaves would just peek out on the sides.

Be sure to stop by The Paper Players and check out some gorgeous from the rest of the Design Team.  I hope you'll consider playing along with us before the challenge ends on Friday, December 13th at Noon (PDT).  Thanks for stopping by today, friends!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Supplies
Stamps:  Joyful Christmas
Ink: Raspberry Ripple, Old Olive
Paper: Raspberry Ripple, Old Olive, Very Vanilla CS; Textured Pink Pirouette CS [retired]; Birthday Basics DSP
Extras: Champagne Glimmer Paper; Print Poetry embossing folder; Basic Pearls; Champagne Mist glimmer paint [retired]

Lovely as an Evergreen {PP174}

Hiya friends!  To all my friends in the US, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I am excited to bring you a card for this week's challenge at The Paper Players.  LeAnne is our hostess with a fun theme challenge:

Using our evergreen theme as a trigger, I thought of two things...1)  Lovely as a Tree stamp set and 2) the color Always Artichoke.  With these in mind, I found this great sketch over at Create with Connie and Mary:

 and happily put them all together to make a card for today:

The color combination of Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler and Crumb Cake is a favorite for more traditional holiday cards.  On this card, I used white accents in the embossing powder and sponging to keep the traditional colors fresh.  The tree was embossed in white on Always Artichoke and sponged over with Whisper White craft ink.  Wiping the ink off the embossed tree with a baby wipe, created a glow around the tree that looks like fallen snow. 

I sponged over the embossed images on the Natural Composition Specialty DSP with more Whisper White craft ink.  I layered this piece onto some Always Artichoke CS that was embossed with the Woodgrain embossing folder and wrapped with Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon.  The Crumb Cake card base was stamped in Sahara Sand with the Netting background stamp.

I am certain that the rest of the Design Team has some gorgeous inspiration for you so be sure to stop by and check it out.  I hope you'll consider playing along with us before the challenge ends on Friday, December 6th at Noon (PDT).  Thanks for stopping by today, friends!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Supplies
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree; Netting; Magical Season; Greetings of the Season
Ink: Cheery Cobbler, Versamark, Always Artichoke; Whisper White craft ink
Paper: Crumb Cake; Always Artichoke; Whisper White; Natural Composition Specialty DSP 
Xtras: Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon; large oval punch; sponges; corner rounder punch; white embossing powder