Paper Players Blog Hop

Happy Saturday, friends!  Welcome to the The Paper Players Blog Hop where we are celebrating Fall today!  If you're following the hop in order, you've arrived here from Lovely Lesley's blog. 

Here are all the "Hoppers"...click the names to visit each blog.  Some of us have blog candy too so be sure follow the whole hop!

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile
Cindy Hall

Jaydee

Julie Marshall

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Nance Leedy (you are here)

Rita Wright
Tara Bilbao

I know you will be shocked to know that to me, Fall means TREES and WOODGRAIN, lol.  For my hop card, I paired the Leaves of a Tree stamp with the gorgeous colors in the Spice Cake DSP:

The technique to ink the tree is apparently tried-and-true but totally new to me!  I'm not sure what it's called but Linda Heller demonstrated it at Stampcation last month.  Basically, I created my own ink pad by pooling drops of re-inker onto a square piece of felt.  Then I just inked the tree stamp with my felt ink pad and stamped directly onto some Very Vanilla cardstock. edit: I found this great tutorial from SU demo Tonya Ball--thanks Tonya!

The result is beautiful blend of colors just perfect for this autumnal tree.  Here I used Pool Party, More Mustard, Pear Pizzazz and Soft Suede and of course just a little touch of Dazzling Diamonds! 

**BLOG CANDY ALERT**

And just to keep the sparkle going, I'm giving away a tub of Mica Flakes!

All you have to do is just leave me a comment about my Fall Blog Hop card!  I will draw a random winner from all comments and post the winner on  Saturday November 5th.  Please be sure to leave your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you're my winner!  How easy is that?!

I hope you visit us at The Paper Players tomorrow when Ann brings us a seasonal challenge  What will it be?  Be sure to visit the Paper Players blog tomorrow morning to play along.  For now, please click HERE to visit {Sassy} Rita's Blog.  She is next on our blog hop! Thanks for stopping by!

supplies:

stamps: leaves of a tree; hand-penned holidays; woodgrain

paper: soft suede, very vanilla, more mustard CS; spice cake DSP

ink: soft suede

xtras: soft suede, more mustard, pool party, pear pizzazz reinkers; in color ruffled ribbon; linen thread; distressing kit; dazzling diamonds; craft felt

Birthday Blog Hop

Come on and join the fun!  Today is a special day because it's Lesley Croghan's birthday!  Lesley is the founder of The Paper Players and someone that I am proud to call a friend.  She works tirelessly to make The Paper Players the best team it can be and strives to highlight new talent. She gave me my first spot as a Guest Designer and I will be forever grateful.  In honor of her birthday we have organized a Birthday Blog Hop of projects filled with happy thoughts and best wishes for our friend! 

I've noticed that Lesley has used the Up, Up & Away set recently so I started there...

It's a simple card based on a sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping and some gorgeous colors from the gals over at Colour Q: Lucky Limeade, Tempting Turquoise, Bashful Blue & Basic Gray.  Love these colors together!  I know you can figure it out but let me show you a few highlights:

I sponged the sky with Bashful Blue ink and a piece of cardstock punched with the scallop circle.  Sponging around the circle and moving it gives a lovely cloud effect.   Lucky Limeade and Tempting Turquoise markers inked up the balloons which I fussy-cut and decorated with Dazzling Diamonds.  Couldn't resist adding a few of my favorite cupcake clouds!

Some more clouds from the same set decorate the corner of the base and balance out the balloons while a few Basic Gray birds ride the breeze.

So, we hope you'll ride the breeze to the other Birthday Blog Hoppers, found below, and then make a stop at Lesley's blog, Always Playing with Paper, to wish her a Happy Birthday!  Thanks for stopping by today...Happy Birthday Lesley!

Birthday Blog Hoppers:

Anne Marie Hile - Stampin’ Anne
Carrie Gaskin - Artistic Avenger
Cindy Beach - Stamps, Paper and Ink
Jaydee - Stampin’ with Jaydee
Jen Mitchell - I Create
Joan Jeffery - JJ Creations
Lauri Ingram - Paperville
Laurie - Hiding in My Craft Room
LeAnne Pugliese - wee Inklings
Nance Leedy - Canopy Crafts (you're here!)
Rita Wright - Cards by Rita
Sandra Azzopardi - Sandra’s Stamping Spot
Tui Nathan - Stampin’ Time

Paper Players Blog Hop: PP32

Hi everyone and welcome to stop #9 on the first ever Paper Players Blog Hop!  I'm so glad you could join us on our hop through all the new products in the Spring Mini Catalog!  If you're following the hop, you've arrived here from Marlene Peters's blog where I'm sure you found loads of inspiration!  I am so exited to share my favorite stamp set from the mini catalog with you, Sew Suite:

 

I started with an Early Espresso base and using another favorite--Pattern Pieces--stamped the patterns onto some Daffodil Delight cardstock creating my own background paper.  I am a big fan of paper piecing--probably because I'm not great at coloring(!)--and I love the way the mannequins look in all the papers from the Sweet Stitches line.  I stamped the gals in Early Espresso onto Whisper White CS and then again on 3 different papers.  I cut them out and adhered two with SNAIL and the middle one with dimensionals.

A lady just isn't dressed without her pearls so I trimmed each gal at the waist with a row of adhesive Basic Pearls.  Such a fun little touch!  I matched one of the mannequins to the strip of DSP I used along the side to pull it all together.

And my other favorite item is this adorable Melon Mambo Pom-Pom trim!  Isn't it just the cutest?!  So perfectly coordinated to the designer paper.

Now, it wouldn't be a blog hop without a little candy so I offer you one of my favorite items, the can't-hardly-make-a-card-without-it...Polka Dot Impressions Folder!  To win, all you have to do is become a follower of my blog, become a follower of The Paper Players blog and leave me a comment here telling me that you did so!  If you're already a follower of my blog, then sign up at The Paper Players and then leave me a comment.  And if you're already a follower of both my blog and The Paper Players, then just let me know in a comment! (and big hugs to you!)  I will draw a random winner from all those who follow and leave a comment and post the winner on Sunday February 6th!

In the meantime, be sure to check out our challenge this week at The Paper Players--it's anything goes!  We can't wait to see your creations and peek into your blog.

Happy hopping!

1. Anne-Marie Hile- www.stampinanne.blogspot.com 
2. Ann Schach- www.stampinchic.com 
3. Jaydee- http://www.jaydeestamping.com 
4. Jeanne Kupsh- http://happy-jeannie.blogspot.com/
5. Julie Gearinger- http://stampingwithjuliegearinger.blogspot.com/
6. LeAnne Pugliese- www.weeinklings.blogspot.com
7. Lesley Croghan- www.alwaysplayingwithpaper.blogspot.com
8. Marlene Peters- http://marlenehandson.blogspot.com/
9. >>you're here>>Nance Leedy- /http://nanceleedy.blogspot.com

supplies:

stamps: sew suite, pattern pieces, puns from the past

ink: daffodil delight, early espresso

paper: early espresso, whisper white, daffodil delight

xtras: melon mambo pom-pom trim; basic pearls

Random Amusing Challenge #100 blog hop

Happy Monday, everyone!  I have a fun treat for you today...I was so excited and honored when Glenda, my friend and fellow Color Dare Design Team member, invited me to be part of a blog hop celebrating her 100th challenge!  Glenda is so upbeat and always leaves such sweet comments so I was delighted to play along!

Glenda's Random Amusing Challenge #100 is to use RED on your card or project.  Use as much or as little as you like.  Incorporate it by using paper, ink, ribbon, embellishments, whatever you like!  She's even got blog candy but you must play along with the challenge to be eligible to win the blog candy.  If you play along, please leave a comment on Glenda's blog (http://papersscissorsrocks.blogspot.com) and link back to her post from your post.  If you upload to an online gallery, please use the keyword GRAC100.  You have until midnight Pacific Time on January 23rd to play along and you can play along as many times as you like.  The winner will be randomly chosen and announced on January 24th.  At the bottom of this post, you'll find an fantastic group of talented crafters who are playing along too. 

My card uses a digital edition of SU's Love Impression designer series paper and a fabulous Mojo Monday sketch from a couple weeks ago.

The sketch lent itself to a masculine card, I thought, so I had my husband in mind when making this card. The base is Basic Gray (did you know gray is the new black?!) and features Love Impressions digital DSP and some of our new Glimmer Paper!

The sentiment from Word Play was stamped in Basic Gray onto Whisper White and punched out with the 2.5" Circle punch.  Then I stamped it again in Real Red ink and punched out just the globe with the 3/4" circle punch and popped it up on dimensionals.  I was real tempted to mat it with a scallop circle but opted, instead, for a little paper piercing.  A similar framing effect as the scallops but much more masculine.

I used the sweet heart banner from Valentine Defined on the inside with a Basic Gray sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes. 

And, here are all the amazing crafters participating in Glenda's blog hop:

Allison Fillo

Allison Miles

Beate Johns

Belinda Chang Langner

Carly Robertson

Cheiron Brandon

Chris Sather

Dawn Stein

Donna Hitz

Elena Shacochis

Geeta Suggs

Jenn Shurkus

Jennie Moczan

Jill Grace (& family)

Joan Jeffery

June Gibbons

Kamila Younkman

Krystie Lee Hersch

Meghan Fahey

Michelle Clark

Michelle Mathey

Michelle Woerner

Nance Lempinen-Leedy {that's me!}

Sherry Czarnecki

Silke Ledlow

Teresa Kline

Thank you so much for stopping by today...I hope you hop along to some of the other blogs and then head over to Glenda's blog to play along!  Congratulations, Glenda, and thank you for inviting me along for the HOP!!

supplies:

stamps: valentine defined, teeny tiny wishes, word play

ink: basic gray, real red

paper: basic gray, whisper white CS; red glimmer paper; love impression digital DSP

xtras: paper piercing kit; 2.5" and 3/4" circle punches.