Sleigh Ride on a Moonlit Night {PP260} {FMS201}

Hi friends!  It's Tic-Tac-Toe week over at The Paper Players and I am still having fun playing with all my goodies from the upcoming holiday catalog.  First, here's the challenge board:

Today's card was a hmmm shall we say..."fluid" process.  By that I mean, I started out with only two things in mind.  1) I wanted to use this gorgeous technique demonstrated here by the talented Lydia and 2) I wanted to use the Sleigh Ride edgelits (I can tell they are going to be my favorite thing from the holiday catalog).  Once I got going...well, I kept adding things on until it looked like "me":

I ended up working with the middle row from the board: circle, embossing and Mint Macaron.  The background was created by inking a piece of Whisper White cardstock with Mint Macaron, Night of Navy and Blackberry Bliss inks.  I was inspired by this week's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches (although I may have taken a few liberties!) and added the Sleigh Ride Edgelit and a silver foil moon.

Th trees have a 3D effect because I added a second layer of Mint Macaron behind giving them a bit of a drop shadow effect.  Kinda cool?  You'll notice also that the snowy hills are two layers.  That's because the first layer got smudged with Blackberry Bliss ink so I covered it up with a second layer and added the Dazzling Diamonds at the edge.  Shhhh, don't tell anyone!  :-)

I busted out another stamp set, Happy Scenes, for the inside using all the same colors again for the snowy trees and starry sky.  

So what do you think?  I hope you like today's card and it inspires you to play along with us over at The Paper Players before our challenge closes on Friday, September 4th at Noon (PST).  I know that the rest of the Design Team has some awesome inspiration for you too so check them out:

 The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile (on leave) 

Claire Broadwater
 Jaydee

Joanne James
Laurie Schmidt 
LeAnne Pugliese
Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Amy Koenders
Jodi McKinney

Lisa Elton

In case you missed it, this week's layout at Freshly Made Sketches is fantastic! 

Among the Branches {PP259}

Hiya friends!  The crafty owl herself, Joanne, has a great sketch for us this week at The Paper Players:

I delved further into my box of pre-order Holiday catalog goodies and put the Spider Web doilies to good use...as did several DT members too!

I took a liberal approach to the sketch using several elements that harkened back to the circles in the sketch.  The spider web doily, the offset circle and the silver cording trim all echo the double circle of the sketch.  The new Woodlands embossing folder is fabulous and looks equally as beautifully on cardstock or vellum as I've used here.  To line up the embossed images perfectly, I simply laid the vellum on top of my cardstock when I ran it through the Big Shot. 

 I heat embossed the "spooky" image from the Among the Branches stamp set in black on Crushed Curry cardstock.  I offset the circle framelit when I cut out the image which gave the illusion of a harvest moon.  If you look closely you will see that the Spider Web doily has a glossy finish.  I covered the front of the doily with Versamark ink and heat set it with clear embossing powder.  The result is a shiny spider web to coordinate with the embossed sentiment.  

Besides being totally clear and super clingy, photopolymer stamps have the added bonus of being two-sided.  To create the Crushed Curry moon, I stamped the back side of the stamp I used on the front.  That is, I turned it over on my clear block and used the back of it--which is a solid circle--as my stamp. This gave me a nice full moon! One stamp = two images!   The branch and owl silhouette are also from Among the Branches while the sentiment is from another fabulous new set called Happy Scenes! 

I hope you've enjoyed my card and the sneak peeks at Holiday Catalog goodies it brings you.  Be sure to pop over and check out the rest of the Design Team at The Paper Players.  We would love for you to join us before our challenge ends on Friday, August 28th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile (on leave) 

Claire Broadwater
 Jaydee

Joanne James
Laurie Schmidt 
LeAnne Pugliese
Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Amy Koenders
Jodi McKinney

Lisa Elton

Beachside Bungalows and a Sleigh Ride {PP258}

Hi all!  The lovely LeAnne is our Paper Players hostess this week with a fun Clean-and-Simple Challenge...The Beach!

I had just received my box of pre-order goodies from the Stampin' Up holiday catalog (goes live for customers September 1st) and I was itching to use something, anything from that box for my card today!  But what to do with holiday goodies for a beach challenge?  Let's see if you can find the holiday goodie on my card:

I wanted to create the look of a tropical seaside village with colorful houses and a rising sun.....so I used the new Sleigh Ride Edgelit dies to make my sand dunes, ocean and houses!  I cut two hills with the house edgelit die from Crumb Cake cardstock.  The die has these little houses on it and since I wanted to make them in different colors, I simply snipped them off the Crumb Cake layer leaving me with a good sand dune.  Stamping some Gorgeous Grunge speckles in the same color gives the illusion of sand.  I cut another edgelit from Pool Party cardstock and used the line stamp from Gorgeous Grunge in the same ink color for the illusion of moving water.



For the houses I used a scrap piece of cardstock to cut just a part of the edgelit.  Since I only needed one house in each color, I didn't need the whole piece.  I chose Calypso Coral, Blushing Bride and So Saffron for my seaside village.  The Sun from the stamp set Kinda Eclectic was stamped in Daffodil Delight and the clouds were stamped in Soft Sky with the Work of Art stamp set. 

One more sneak peek you really can't even see but trust me, you're going to want it!  That's the fine tip glue pen I used to adhere the Hello framelit to my card.  It has a needle like tip that hollow and lets the glue flow freely and easily onto the tiniest of surfaces.  Love it!

I hope you like today's card and an alternative way to use your holiday goodies!.  Do stop over to the rest of The Paper Players design team to see what goodies they are sharing.  I hope you will play along with us before our challenge closes Friday, August 21st at Noon (PST).

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile (on leave) 

Claire Broadwater
 Jaydee

Joanne James
Laurie Schmidt 
LeAnne Pugliese
Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Amy Koenders
Jodi McKinney

Lisa Elton 

Fishes by the Tide & a Creative Oops! {PP257}

Hey there, friends!  We've got another great challenge over at The Paper Players--this time from classy and crafty Claire.  She has a gorgeous color combination for us, take a look:

Aren't they pretty together?!  I thought about them for awhile and while my first thought was floral, I pushed myself to come up with something else.  So here's what I made:

I thought the fish in the By the Tide stamp set would look pretty embossed in gold and sponged in the other challenge colors.  Gold is sorta of the metallic equivalent of Crumb Cake, right?!  I started with this week's fabulous sketch over at Mojo Monday.  I layered the base elements with Crumb Cake and Old Olive cardstock and cut a porthole with my circle framelits.

The background was a creative "oops moment" that started with the Watercolor Wash stamp.  After I stamped the Watercolor Wash background, I stamped some Gorgeous Grunge speckles in versamark ink and sprinkled with Gold embossing powder.  Well, I guess the ink was still kind of wet from the background stamp and the embossing powder covered it too.  Being too lazy to re-do it, I just zapped it with the heat tool and I ended up with a gold embossed Watercolor Wash which looks pretty cool--I think.  :-)

The fishies were also embossed in gold and sponged in Old Olive and Bermuda Bay.  Some fussy-cutting, pearls and a little twine were just the finish I needed!

I hope you've enjoyed today's card!  Please pop over and take a look at the amazing creations from the rest of the design team at The Paper Players--you won't be disappointed.  Then, come play along with us before our challenge closes on Friday, August 14th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by today!

 The Paper Players Design Team 
Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile (on leave) 

Claire Broadwater
 Jaydee

Joanne James
Laurie Schmidt 
LeAnne Pugliese
Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Amy Koenders
Jodi McKinney

Lisa Elton 

 

 

Go Wild for your Birthday {PP256}

Hi, everyone!  This week, at The Paper Players, the wonderfully talented Jaydee has a fun challenge for us and I found it to be just that....a challenge!  Take a peek:

So, I don't make square cards often....and probably for that reason, I struggled to find a layout that I liked.  I am so used to working with a traditional 4.25" x 5.5" layout that this really pushed me outside my comfort zone.  But, that's good--I need to stretch my creativity!  I ditched the first card I made coz it was too boring but I think I really like my second effort:

I think I was still channeling Laurie's frame challenge from a couple weeks ago because I couldn't get this idea for a vellum window out of my brain.  I HAD to make something of it!   The base is 5" x 5" heavy whisper white cardstock to which I adhered a piece of Go Wild DSP.  I cut out a window with my square framelits and attached a piece of Vellum Cardstock from the back.  Inside the card I cut another frame out of Whisper White cardstock and used it to cover over the edges of the vellum. The big, beautiful greeting from the hostess set Happy Birthday, Everyone was heat embossed in black onto the vellum.  

Doesn't the Melon Mambo pop against the white and black?  I thought the loopy, scribble flower from the Flower Shop set was the perfect playful companion to the funky zebra print.  The double-layer flower was also heat embossed in black.  Two Petite Petals flowers balance the corner layout.  And the Silver Thread?  Oh my, I use it on almost every project!  Probably one of the best items in the new catalog!

Here's a little peek to the inside....yes, I stamped inside even with the opaque vellum window.  The inside flower is closely placed under the flower on the front so it isn't visible through the vellum.  Also, the inside sentiment is stamped behind the one on the front so it's hidden as well.  Once I figured out my design, I really had a lot of fun pulling this card together.  Big props to Jaydee for taking me out of my comfort zone!  

The rest of the design team will have some amazing projects for you over at The Paper Players.  Do go check them out.  I hope you will join us before our challenge closes on Friday, August 7th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by today, friends! 

 The Paper Players Design Team 
Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile (on leave) 
Claire Broadwater
 Jaydee
Joanne James
Laurie Schmidt 
LeAnne Pugliese
Nance Leedy
Sandy Mathis

Amy Koenders
Jodi McKinney

Lisa Elton

The fabulous team over at The Friday Mashup is also hosting a square card challenge--how fun is that?!  I am excited to link up at another challenge because I rarely have time to do that anymore....thanks for the opportunity ladies!  Check out the work of their fabulous design team too!