Up, Up and Away Birthday PP342

Hi friends!  The fabulous Jaydee has a fun Tic-Tac-Toe challenge for us this week at The Paper Players.  We can choose any three options either across, down or diagonally:

So, we have a lot of May birthdays in our family.  In fact, there are three just next week alone!  One of them is my sweet MIL and using the top row--circle, green & twine--this is the card I made for her:

A few years ago, my sweet in-laws took our whole family on a safari in Tanzania for their 50th wedding anniversary.  How wonderful are they, right?!  The highlight of the trip was a hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti on the morning of their anniversary.  It is an amazing memory and one I hope my MIL will remember when she sees the paper on her card.  The paper inspired my color choices of Smoky Slate, Night of Navy, Watermelon Wonder, Peekaboo Peach and Mint Macaron.  I also wanted to play with the retiring Crazy about You stamp set and dies--love this big scrollly "happy"!  I was also pleasantly surprised to figure out that another long-ago retired set, Up, Up & Away, coordinates perfectly with the striped balloons on the paper.  I'm glad to see that the Balloon Bouquet punch will not be retired because it sure makes for quick balloon shapes!

Now I remember why I loved this stamp set and didn't get rid of it!  Just look at those cute balloons and clouds!!  I guess I should have made these inside balloons with the hanging basket but I liked the look of the string dangling and how it mimics to ones on the front of the card.  That's just a little creative license with the stamps!

Thanks for popping in for a visit today...I hope you enjoyed my card.  Take a look at all the wonderful inspiration my teammates have for you over at The Paper Players.  Come along and play Tic-Tac-Toe with us before our challenge closes on Friday, May 5th at Noon (PST).

The Paper Players Design Team 

Claire Broadwater

 Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy 

Sandy Mathis 

Crystal Komara

Valentyna Komisarenko

Deanne 

Crazy for Flower Fair {PP240 & FMS181}

Hey there friends!  Wow, what a crazy week it's been.....and here we are back at a Paper Players Sunday.  Joanne is our fabulous hostess this week with a beautiful, springtime color challenge:

Can you imagine a crafting world without Coastal Cabana?  Oh my, but it's true!  Coastal Cabana and this whole trio of colors will retire with the introduction of the new SU catalog on June 3rd.  Whaaaaa!  Joanne was so clever to give us a challenge using all three of these beauties!  I combined them with the fab sketch from the uber-talented Jen Mitchell over at Freshly Made Sketches:

There are a few people, hi Mom!, who will be shocked at me embracing a TILTED sketch but there you have it...I really liked this one!

Because this was a card for Freshly Made Sketches, I wanted to keep it clean and uncluttered.  Because this is Jen M's sketch, I wanted to try big pops of color that she does so well....and because this is Joanne's challenge, I wanted to do something bold with the colors--also something she does well.  So what do you think?  This is my Jen-Joanne channeling card, LOL.  I know they will get a kick out of that!  Anyway, not much to 'splain here except  that yes, I did use my sewing machine to stitch around the center panel and I was really happy when I was able to change mid-stitch to a zig-zag pattern!  I thought that was a fun detail that emphasized the tilted panel.

Here's a close-up so you can see the fussy-cut layer of the flower.  To give the word die a little more strength and stability, I layered two pieces of Basic Black cardstock together before running it through the Big Shot.  Worked like a charm and gave me a nice thick sentiment.

I wanted to use the challenge colors again on the inside but didn't want to take my predictable route of using the same stamp on the inside.  Since this card is headed to my mother and father-in-law in Wisconsin, I put together the appropriate sentiments from Crazy About You with a little birdie to remind them of us in Florida!

Do pop over to The Paper Players and check out the awesome creations from the rest of the design team.  We hope you will join us before this challenge ends on Friday, April 17th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by today!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile
Claire Broadwater
 Jaydee
Joanne James
Laurie Schmidt 
LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy
Sandy Mathis 
Debbie Mageed
Karren Johnson
Shannon Jaramillo

 

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

Cheerful Critters & Feathered Friends {PP232}

Hiya friends!  We've got another challenge for you at The Paper Players.  It's the first one to be hosted by Joanne and she has a really sweet Clean-and-Simple challenge for us:

I was so excited when I saw Joanne's challenge because I love bird stamps and images!  I went looking through my stash and found mostly small bird images....hmmm.  I wanted to feature a bird more prominently and then it dawned on me!

I got to work with my favorite Cheerful Critters!  So, I colored this cubby little chick with Blendabilities in Daffodil Delight (light) and Calypso Coral (light & medium).  I had a little bit of grass left over from this card and I thought the chick looked perfect peeking out from it.  I then colored the sign with my [new-to-me] Soft Sky Blendabilities, go tout my Soft Sky cardstock for the base humming along thinking I'm doing great and then....WHOA!  The color of my sign didn't really match my Soft Sky card base?  Hmmm....has anyone else had this problem?  I put my little focal piece on a [retired] Bashful Blue card base and whaddyaknow?  It looked like a perfect match!  Maybe I just got an off batch of blendies?  Or, maybe it's because I only used the light & medium shades.  I'll have to experiment some more.

What I did like was the idea to use some washi tape as a base for my focal point.  The clean look of some simple washi tape makes quick work of a clean-and-simple design.  I've been going through alot of Linen Thread lately.  Just love the simple rustic/natural touch it adds to any project.  That, and it's a dream to tie into a bow.

I know that the rest of the design team has some amazing inspiration for you!  Be sure to pop over to The Paper Players to check them out.  Then, head to your craft space and share your Clean-and-Simple "Feathered Friends" projects with us before the challenge closes on Friday, February 20th at Noon (PST).

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile
Claire Broadwater
 Jaydee
Joanne James
Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy
Sandy Mathis 
Debbie Mageed
Karren Johnson
Shannon Jaramillo

 

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.