All Framed Up! {PP118}

Happy Sunday everyone! Welcome to another week with The Paper Players. It's finally started to cool down here in North Florida and we are lovin' it.  Mind you, when I say cool I mean mid-70s, LOL!  Anywho...let's see what our hostess-with-the-mostest, Anne Marie has this week for our Clean-and-Simple challenge.

Our challenge was to incorporate frames into our projects keeping it clean-and-simple.  So I turned to the Four Frames stamp set and went to town with all of them!  

I was inspired by the colors in this fabulous card from Rochelle Gould.   Isn't it incredible?!  I used Basic Gray, Cajun Craze, More Mustard and Baja Breeze and stamped them in all of the images from Four Frames.  I matted the whole piece with More Mustard, trimmed it out in some More Mustard designer paper from the Regals Designer Series Paper Pattern Stack, wrapped it with Baja Breeze Seam Binding ribbon and a Designer Ribbon Slide.  Do you have these ribbon slides from the Holiday Catalog yet?  You should!  They're great!

This is just one of my "stash" cards so I left the inside without a sentiment but repeated some more frames...and that's it!  Pretty clean and oh-so-simple!  So simple it's a little embarrassing even!  The rest of the design team has some awesome projects for you so be sure to check them out.  Hope you'll join the fun but don't delay!  The Paper Players challenge ends Friday, October 26th at Noon (PDT)!

The Paper Players Design Team

Jen Arkfeld
Dawn Easton
Helen Heil  

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

Nance Leedy

LeAnne Pugliese

Ann Schach

Amy White

 
Supplies 
Stamps: Four Frames; Sweet Essentials 
Ink: Basic Gray, More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Baja Breeze, Jet Black Stazon
Paper:  Basic Gray, More Mustard, Whisper White CS; Regals Designer Series Paper Pattern Stack
Xtras: Baja Breeze Seam Binding Ribbon; Designer Ribbon Slides; Large Basic Pearls

Paper Players Blog Hop {PP100}

Hiya friends, I am so glad you're here.  Today is a VERY special day at The Paper Players because we are celebrating our 100th Challenge!!  100 challenges with these amazing women on the Design Team who I respect so much for their creativity, support and friendship.  I am honored to work alongside of them and, though we've never met in person, I count them among my very best friends.  :-)

For our 100th challenge, we each chose a favorite past challenge to re-visit.  Looking back at our past sketch and color challenges, I was immediately drawn to Anne Marie's fabulous sketch for Challenge #65. 

Such a great sketch!  I love the focal circle and the trio of panels so perfect for featuring designer paper.  What sold me on using this sketch was that I didn't get to play with it the first time!  I was on a short break the week that it posted and am delighted to get a second chance!  The big brown truck delivered some new goodies this week and I couldn't wait to dig in.  New paper, new ribbon, new stamps, new colors...oh my!

There is so much inspiration in our designer paper and this one is Patio Party featuring some of the newest In Colors: Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit and Primrose Petals paired with Baja Breeze.  Gorgeous together.

The Summer Silhouettes set is great because each element is a separate stamp so you can mix and match flowers, leaves and colors too.  The leaves and stems were stamped in Summer Starfruit while the flowers were stamped in Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals and Baja Breeze.  

Summer Silhouettes also includes this fabulous trellis pattern that I used here.  So trendy!  I stamped it in Primrose Petals onto cardstock of the same color and used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to line up both rows.  Each panel is 4" x 1.5" and the image is stamped twice. I needed to pull in another color and frame the focal circle somehow so I used the Four Frames set and punched four Baja Breeze decorative labels.  As you can see above, two labels were adhered directly to the circle and two were adhered to the card base--giving each layer a little more dimension.

Those bitty pearls are the perfect accent for the Midnight Muse flowers, aren't they?  So, what do you think?  Will you join us for our 100th Challenge?  Take a browse through Paper Players history and see what catches your eye.  You can play along with any of our previous challenges (except Anything Goes challenges, please)...or, pick one of the challenges featured by the Design Team.  Hop along to all of their blogs and see which one inspires YOU to play along with us.  And did I mention?  This week's Headliner will receive ALL of the Design Team's cards--it's a Paper Players inspiration package!  So come along, join us, and let's raise a toast to 100 more challenges with The Paper Players!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile
Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Nance Leedy

 

Supplies 

Stamps: Summer Silhouettes; Petite Pairs; Four Frames

Ink: Summer Starfruit, Primrose Petals, Midnight Muse; Baja Breeze

Paper:  Primrose Petals, Midnight Muse; Baja Breeze, Naturals White; Patio Party DSP

Extras: 3" circle die; Decorative Label punch; Summer Starfruit Stitched Satin Ribbon; Basic Pearls

Timeless Innocence {CCMC190}

Happy Thursday, y'all, and welcome to another week with the gals at Create with Connie & Mary. This week we have a sketch challenge, which I think have to be my favorite! I always find the layout to be the most difficult part of the design process and with a sketch challenge that's already done for you! Here is the sketch for CCMC190: 

This one was right up my alley as I love the trimming the main image with the Decorative Label punch and adding just a smidge of ribbon.  So that's exactly what I did:

Everything was inspired by the Timeless Portrait designer series paper from the images and patterns to the colors.  The River Rock base was layered with some patterned paper of the same color and I added a strip of Cherry Cobbler dsp trimmed in a little ribbon of Island Indigo cardstock cut with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch.  There is actually very little stamping on this because the boy & girl silhouettes were cut directly from the designer paper and layered on top of some basic black cardstock run through the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and punched with the Ticket Corner punch.  A little striped grosgrain ribbon, some Baker's Twine and two tine tags completed the look.  This card was designed as a birthday card for a co-worker with two children so I thought the silhouettes were perfect!  Pretty simple when the Designer Paper does all the work!

I hope I've inspired you to play along with this great sketch over at Create with Connie & Mary!  Be sure to check out the rest of the lovelies from the design team and then come back to play with us by Wednesday, February 29th at Noon (EST).  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies 

Stamps: Fabulous Phrases; Four Frames

Ink: Island Indigo (really, that's it!)

Paper: River Rock, Island Indigo, Basic Black cardstock; Timeless Portrait DSP

Xtras: Ticket Corner, Dotted Scallop Ribbon, Deocrative Label and Medium Jewelry punches; Paper Snips; Basic Black wide striped grosgrain ribbon; Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine

Bitty Boo Box {CCMC167}

Welcome to another Thursday challenge at Create with Connie & Mary!  Wow, the weeks are just flying by aren't they?  I hope you're not tired of Halloween projects because with it right around the corner and colors like these...

...it's hard to resist another Halloween project!  Today I have a Bitty Boo Box to share with you.  What it lacks in size, it makes up for in details!

Eek!  Isn't that Owl sweet?!   Not too much explaining to do here--the Matchbox die and some Frightful Sight designer paper made quick work of the box!  I do admit that the details took a lot longer than the should have, lol!  Wanna see?

It's a Wrap Holidays stamped directly onto Avery mailing labels and wrapped around some nugget candy.  4 fit perfectly in the matchbox in challenge colors of Old Olive & Cajun Craze.

 And look...when you eat take the candy out....eek!  Spiders!

I popped the owl up on a shimmer moon and a old olive decorative label.  Her little trick-or-treat bag was popped up too for a little more dimension! 

I hope you like my Bitty Boo Box today--would love to hear what you think!  Be sure to check out the rest of the design team over at Create with Connie & Mary.  I'm sure they will have some amazing projects!  We would love for you to play along with us...if you do please link up your project at Create with Connie & Mary by Wednesday, September 21st at 12 noon (EST).  Thanks for stopping by!  And don't forget, there's only one more day to take advantage of early bird pricing for the Holiday Edition of Create with Connie & Mary! 

supplies:

stamps: four frames, tiny tags, warmest of wishes, it's a wrap holidays, out on a limb (spiders)

ink: old olive, basic gray, cajun craze

paper: old olive, basic gray, whisper white CS; frightful sight DSP

xtras: old olive 1/8" taffeta ribbon; silver shimmer paper; decorative label punch; owl punch; medium jewelry tag punch; 1 3/4" circle punch; matchbox die; avery mailing address labels; nugget candy

Easy Holidays {PP61}

Happy Paper Players Sunday, friends! Our talented team mate, Jaydee has a fabulous sketch for you this week:

I love this sketch and I think I will be using it a lot--thanks Jaydee!  Right away, it brought to mind tree ornaments and holiday cards so with the holiday season a mere two months away, I thought it was time to get started on my stash of Christmas cards!

I see that I wasn't the only team member who used this fun set called Easy Events!  The delicate spray of leaves and berries is so clean and I love that the sentiment is built right in for perfect alignment every time! The black card base has an extra layer of black that was embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper folder and spritzed with homemade Glimmer Spray.  The center panel is First Edition specialty paper trimmed with a sliver of Real Red punched with the scallop ribbon border punch.  I tucked some 1 1/4" Old Olive striped grosgrain ribbon under the embossed black panel at the bottom, tied it with some Very Vanilla seam binding ribbon and attached at the top with a big glue dot.  Attaching the ribbon to the extra layer of black cardstock saved me from wrapping it around the whole card front and saved quite a bit of ribbon!

The berry sprig was stamped onto Very Vanilla with jet Black Stazon and the leaves were colored with an Old Olive watercolor crayon.  I just bought my first set of these and I love that they come in each color family and give a watercolor effect without the water and no pilling of your paper!  My favorite detail though is the Basic Rhinestones colored with a red Sharpie marker.  Just color them right on the backing paper, wait a few seconds to make sure they are dry and peel them off as usual!  Such a great technique for making custom colored rhinestones.  (BTW, the wide tip Sharpies give the best coverage).  Wanna see a closer look?

Cute, eh?!  I haven't shown you the inside of a card in a while so I made sure to finish this one for you:

An Old Olive frame from Four Frames was the perfect companion to the sentiment from Petite Pairs.  So, friends, what do you think?  I'd love to hear from you.  Big thanks to all who continue to leave comments for me even though I haven't been 'round to visit lately.  Commenting has taken a back seat to the new school year, busy days at work, and a traveling husband!  I hope to get around to see you all soon--thanks for being patient with me! 

In the meantime, be sure to check out the fabulous inspiration from the rest of The Paper Players Design Team as we say goodbye to our Summer Designers, Lauri and Sandra as well as our August Guest Designer, Carrie.  They have been wonderful to work with and I'm so glad to have "met" them all.  If you decide to play along with us, and we hope you will, be sure to link up your creation to The Paper Players by Friday, September 2nd at midnight (PST).

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

Lauri Ingram

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Nance Leedy

Sandra Azzopardi

Carrie Gaskin (GD)

supplies:

stamps: easy events, four frames, petite pairs

ink: jet black stazon, old olive, real red

paper: basic black, real red, very vanilla CS; first edition specialty DSP

xtras: old olive 1 1/4" grosgrain ribbon; scallop ribbon border punch; circle scissors; very vanilla seam binding ribbon; watercolor crayons (brights); basic rhinestones; sharpie marker

Haunted Forest {CCMC164}

Happy Thursday friends and welcome to another week with the Create with Connie & Mary design team!  We know how much everyone loves a sketch and this week's is a fun one.  Check it out:

As you will see, I took a few liberties with the sketch so feel free to use it as inspiration!  Instead of a square, you could make a standard A2 size card as I did:

I couldn't wait to a) order the Haunted Forest (upcoming holiday mini) single stamp and b) play with it!!  This sketch gave me the perfect canvas for this stamp.  I heat embossed it in black onto Very Vanilla cardstock and sponged the Rich Razzleberry sky with a More Mustard moon.  So spooky!  You have to see this stamp up close to wonder at the detail of it:

and there's even a little mouse in the corner:

Aww!  You can also see that I added some Old Olive grass to tie in with the Old Olive mat.  That itty bitty grass stamp is a favorite of mine and it's from the Pony Party stamp set...go figure!

I hope you enjoyed today's card--I sure love this stamp!  I hope you do too because you'll likely see a lot more of it, LOL!  Be sure to pop on over to check out the rest of the Create with Connie & Mary design team for some fabulous inspiration!  Have a great day friends!

supplies:

stamps: haunted forest (holiday mini); pony party; woodgrain (of course!); four frames

ink: rich razzleberry, more mustard, versamark, old olive

paper: rich razzleberry, more mustard, old olive, very vanilla

xtras: black stampin' emboss powder; decorative label punch; black wide striped grosgrain ribbon; glimmer brads (neutrals), 7-sided tool; color spritzer; crumb cake marker

Pocketful of Love: {CCMC160}

Welcome to the Thursday Challenge of Create with Connie and Mary--oh, I was sweating over this one!  Skewed panels get me every time so this truly was a challenge for me but that's why it's called a "challenge", right?!  Here's this week's sketch:

Yep, it's a doozy!  I really loved the look of the black ribbon in the sketch and thought it was a great pop against the beautiful colors of the Timeless Portrait designer paper.  Here's what I made for you:

What do you think, really?  This is so far out of my comfort zone but I'm kinda liking the results.  I had an anniversary card in mind for my in-laws and thought the rich colors lent themselves to a romantic, shabby feel so I went with it!  The base is River Rock onto which I stamped Hello Doily in River Rock ink, sponged the edges with more River Rock for a tea stain look and framed it in Cherry Cobbler.  The panels of Timeless Portrait DSP were also edged in River Rock and applied directly to the card base.

The real star is this yummy flower punched twice with the Fancy Flower punch from Cherry Cobbler cardstock.  Just fold, crunch and distress each flower using the bone folder on the edges until the paper starts to separate.  I pulled apart the layers of cardstock flipped one over and layered them on top.  Flipping one flower over to the distressed side gives it a suede or velvet look.  

I finished off the center with a 3/4" circle of Island Indigo, an Antique Brad and a Tiny Tag sentiment.  The background of the sentiment is stamped in River Rock with one of the flourishes from the Tiny Tag set.  In lieu of a bow, I added a few Basic Black branches using the Large two-step Bird punch and tucked them behind the flower.

The inside got a little matching designer paper as well as a Teeny Tiny Wishes sentiment framed in Island Indigo with a Four Frames stamp.  So what do you think, will you take the challenge?  I certainly did!  I hope you will check out what the rest of the Create with Connie & Mary design team did with this sketch and then play along with us.  We can't wait to come visit you!  Thanks for stopping by...cheers!

supplies:

stamps: hello doily, teeny tiny wishes, charming, tiny tags

ink: river rock, island indigo, jet black sazon

paper: river rock, very vanilla, cherry cobbler CS; timeless portrait DSP

xtras: basic black satin ribbon; large two-step bird, scallop ribbon border, medium jewelry tag, 3/4" circle punches; antique brad; bone folder

Fabulous Petals

Happy Friday everyone!  Just a quick post to share a card we made in the Canopy Club on Tuesday night.  It features the gorgeous new designer paper--Paisley Petals--which is a sneak peek from the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog being released July 1st.  This paper is just beautiful--it looks like tapestry and the colors are so rich and elegant.

To make it look even more like fabric, I adhered a generous piece to Not Quite Navy cardstock and ran both layers through the Square Lattice embossing folder.  Isn't that a cool effect?  It really adds so much texture and volume to an otherwise clean and simple card.

Another sneak peek is this darling label from the Four Frames set that coordinates perfectly with the Decorative Label punch--love that!  Here, I stamped it in NQN onto Naturals Ivory cardstock and added a sentiment built from the Fabulous Phrases collection of words.  This really is a great set to have in your arsenal--single words that can work together to build sentiments for every occasion and person--check it out, pg. 149!

Ribbon Share final UPDATE:  Ribbon shares were mailed out to participants this morning, woohoo!  So glad to get those in the mail!  Thank you to everyone who participated.  I know you will enjoy your ribbon and have a great time creating with it!  Stay tuned for more opportunites to "share".

That's all for me today, friends.  We're planning some quality family time this weekend and I am taking a short vacation from the Paper Players design team so I look forward to chatting with you next week!

the goodies:

stamps: fabulous phrases, four frames

ink: not quite navy, cherry cobbler

paper: cherry cobbler, not quite navy, naturals ivory CS; paisley petals DSP

xtras: cherry cobbler seam binding ribbon; decorative label punch; square lattice embossing folder

Paper Players CAS Sketch: {PP43}

Welcome to Paper Players Sunday! It's a good thing I have to post a card for the Paper Players because otherwise this blog would be pretty quiet (insert chirping crickets here). I'm not sure if life will ever slow down but lately it's been difficult to find time in my craft room! :-(  Anywhoooo...so glad it's a clean-and-simple challenge this week! We have a great sketch from Jaydee for you:

and here is my card:

The Wild Wasabi base was stamped with a random pattern of single stamps from Button, Button.  This is such a cute set with 18 different button selections that coordinate with some of our punches!  I stamped the buttons in Versamark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder for a glossy effect:

You might be thinking that I stamped each of those little buttons separately.  I could...but I didn't!  I used our largest clear block (F), placed all the buttons in a collage pattern on the block and stamped the whole thing just once! 

How easy is that?  Next, I trimmed some of my very favorite Sweet Stitches designer paper with an Early Espresso scalloped border.  Did you spot the sneak peek product?  If you follow any other Stampin' Up blogs, you no doubt have seen the Four Frames stamp set that is currently available to customers as a pre-order this month.  The set of 4 stamps coordinates with the Decorative Label punch for a perfect label every time!  Here I used the polka dot frame in Melon Mambo on Very Vanilla.

The sentiment, from Hello Again, was stamped in Wild Wasabi on Very Vanilla and punched out with the Large Oval punch.  I popped it up on dimensionals and added a little Early Espresso ribbon tail underneath topped off with a Daffodil Delight flower button.  That's a little snip of Early Espresso cardstock threaded through the button holes for instant matching "thread".

 Here's another sneak peek for you--Happy Greetings provided the wonderful sentiment I used on the inside--just one of the many new stamps and goodies awaiting you in the Summer Mini Catalog.  I finished it off with a scrap of designer paper and a few buttons stamped in Wild Wasabi, Melon Mambo and Daffodil Delight.

I hope you like today's card and that you will play along with The Paper Players this week.  You have until midnight (PST) Friday, April 22nd to load your fabulous creation at The Paper Players.  I hope to see you there!  Have a great day, my friends.

the goodies:

stamps: button button, hello again, four frames, happy greetings

ink: wild wasabi, melon mambo, early espresso, daffodil delight, versamark

paper: wild wasabi, early espresso & very vanilla CS; sweet stitches DSP

xtras: clear block "F"; large oval, decorative label, & scallop trim border punches; brights designer buttons; clear embossing powder