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Sunday, May 31, 2015

Stencil Color Wash Technique {PP247}

Happy Sunday everyone....sorry I am a little late with my card for The Paper Players.  Sometimes life just gets in the way of stampin', right?  We're wrapping up the school year here and there are TONS of activities and events going on!  Anyway, lovely Laurie is hosting a fun Tic-Tac-Toe challenge this week...check it out:
Oh the possibilities!  I used the far right column: sequins, flower, any shade of yellow.  When I thought about making this card I knew two things I wanted to do--try a stencil technique--Color Wash--(don't know the name of it so I made one up!) and use lots of white space. Laurie is the master of making colors pop by using lots of white space and I wanted to try to emulate her style with today's card:

I've been seeing this stencil technique all over blogland--even my Paper Player friend, Sandy used it too! I'm not sure how others do it--sprtizing or sponging--but I found sponging the color gave me the soft look I was going for.  I used the pretty fancy fan stencil from one of the retiring SU kits, Hooray It's Your Day.  I laid it over the Whisper White cardstock and taped the edges to my work surface with painter's tape (easily removable).  The idea with this technique is to provide a soft wash of color that fades at the edges so I swiped across the stencil with my Crushed Curry ink and then went back over the center a few times to darken the middle. Here's a closer look:

With all the white space, I really wanted to use pops of color so each of the other elements--flower, stems and sentiment--is a separate color.  Keeping it to three follows the design principle of three elements to maintain balance.  I used Calypso Coral for the flower, Cucumber Crush (new!) for the leaves and Soft Sky for the sentiment banner.  Oh, and another sneak peek is the Triple Banner Punch I used to quickly flag the end of the sentiment banner!  Yep, with the new catalog we will have a quick and easy way to snips those banners--and it makes three sizes!  

 Lastly, I want to show you a close-up of the stitching.  Stitching the edge adds just a little bit of detail and texture which really makes the center panel stand out from the base layer--even though they are the same color.  If sewing isn't your thing, you could achieve the same look with paper piercing , a border punch or doodling some faux stitches!
 
That's it for me today....since this is late I want to get it posted asap!  Please be sure to check out the rest of the lovely creations from my Paper Players teammates.  We hope you will join in the Tic-Tac-Toe fun before Laurie's challenge ends on Friday, June 5th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by!


The Paper Players Design Team
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Sunday, May 24, 2015

A Bootiful Occasion for a Sketch {PP246}

Howdy, friends!  As soon as I saw Anne Marie's fantastic sketch for our challenge at The Paper Players, I knew just the set I wanted to use.  First, the sketch:
This is a good one and could be used for lots of different images and occasions.  Today, I wanted to use a soon-to-be-retired set that will probably stay on my stamping shelves for awhile longer....Bootiful Occasions.  Take a look:
The brick pattern of the Adventure Bound paper stack seemed like a good, rustic companion to my blue suede boots.  Wouldn't you love a pair of boots in Lost Lagoon suede and Cajun Craze leather?  Well, with some Stampin' Write markers in hand, that's just what you've got!  The boots were fussy-cut and popped up on the sunburst from Kinda Eclectice because....well, it just seemed Kinda Eclectic and perfectly rustic.
And so does the burlap trim with a little bit of frayed edges...so glad to see this made it into the new catalog!  Disappointed that the Champagne Glimmer paper is retiring so I made sure to use it for a little bit Urban Cowgirl.
You just can't beat the punny sentiment from this set for the inside....and I couldn't resist coloring another boot either!  I hope you also can't resist playing along with us this week at The Paper Players.  Just make sure to check out the rest of the Design Team and play along before the challenge closes on Friday, May 29th at noon (PST)!  Thanks for stopping by today!

The Paper Players Design Team
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Sunday, May 17, 2015

Sneak Peek for the Paper Players {PP245}

Hi everyone and happy Sunday to you!  Jaydee is our hostest with the mostest at The Paper Players this week and she is challenging us to create a Clean-and-Simple "Girly" thank you card--how fun!
Just this past week, I received my pre-order goodies from the upcoming 2015-2016 Stampin' Up catalog.  I couldn't resist the ease of using one of the sneak peek sets called You Got This:
Oh how I adore the background image in this set!  It's a fabulous cross-hatch pattern that is perfect for adding the look of texture to the background.  I can't wait to experiment with it.  For today's card though, I kept it pretty clean and simple stamping the background in three of the retiring in colors.  These cards were so quick and easy, that I made three!
Over the background stamp I stamped this beautiful flower in Versamark ink and heat embossed with gold embossing powder.  So pretty!
After embossing, the flower didn't stand out quite as much as I wanted so I colored the edges of the image with a coordinating Stampin' Write marker.  I like that much better!  This little sentiment is my favorite from the Another Thank You photopolymer set--I was happy to see that it is returning in the new catalog. 

And we would be happy if you would return to The Paper Players to play along in our challenge this week.  We always love to see what creativity pops up in the gallery!  Just make sure to play along before the challenge ends on Friday May 22nd at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by today!

The Paper Players Design Team
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Sunday, May 10, 2015

Tribute to By the Seashore {PP244}

Hi there friends.....wishing all the mamas out there--pet mamas too--a very Happy Mother's Day!  This week at The Paper Players, the lovely LeAnne is our hostess with a beautiful color challenge:
Blue, green and natural....happy sigh!  So pretty together and the colors reminded me of the beach, which reminded me that I soon needed a retirement card for a dear friend who....loves the beach!  So, today's card was born:
It was very difficult to get a good photo of the colors.  I guess the light background with fairly light colors did not add up to a bright card...no matter what the light was outside!  I used a base layer of Naturals White because the flecks lend itself to the casual, rustic, beach feel.  A combination of images was used to achieve the seaside look--coral in Pistachio Pudding and a trio of sea life in the challenge colors....how 'bout a close-up?
I stamped each one with Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder.  I had a hard time getting the colors to stand out just stamping on white paper with the colored ink.  I thought the white embossing on colored cardstock highlighted the colors better.  For the Lost Lagoon nautilus (?) shell, I cut around the swirl and used a double stack of dimensionals to make the center stand out.
You can also see in this photo that I sponged the edges of the base layer, as well as the shells and starfish with [retired] Champagne Mist shimmer paint.  I still have several bottles of the stuff....I just love the soft color and lustre that it adds.  

 I'm going to keep this short and sweet today so you can get on with your day!  Be sure to stop by the rest of the Design Team to see what wonderful ideas they are sharing this week.  We hope you will play along with us before the challenge closes on Friday, May 15th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by today!

The Paper Players Design Team

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Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.
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Sunday, May 3, 2015

Sheltering Bicycle {PP243}

Hi all, boy I am late with my post for The Paper Players!  We had another volleyball tournament for DD this weekend and while I (just barely) managed to get my card done, I ran out of time to write my blog post!   But...better late than never, right?! Sandy has a fun theme challenge for us this week:
I really liked this (older) sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and it was perfect for the small sized stamp I had in mind:
and here's my card....
Sorry for the poor photo quality.....I just could not get a good shot of this card and this one from my phone ended up being the best I could do.  Gesh!  Anyway, I used the little bike stamp from Sheltering Tree and a sentiment from a retired set called Pedaling Past.  You might be wondering about my color choices here....the bike is Pool Party because it is a tribute to my husband's beloved Bianchi bike.  Bianchi bikes are famously painted a color called Celeste Green which is a greenish-aqua very similar to Pool Party.  When I showed DH the color choices and asked him to pick the one closest to Celeste, he went with Pool Party!  This card is pretty simple but the little squares have a nifty little detail.  After I stamped the images on a piece of white cardstock, I cut them out with a square framelit.  Before I popped it out of the framelit, I traced around the inside edge with a Pool Party marker to make the border.  It is a small detail that just makes the squares stand out more.  I also colored the smallest pearls with my Silver Stampin' Write marker to make them look like wheel hubs.  DH was impressed with that detail!  :-)

Be sure to stop by and check out the rest of the design team's amazing creations with Sandy's theme--there's lots of eye candy there!  WE hope you'll play along before the challenges ends on Friday, May 8th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by!

The Paper Players Design Team

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