Holly Jolly Greetings for The Paper Players PP270

Today, my sweet friend across the pond, Joanne, has a lovely and festive color challenge for us at The Paper Players:

Isn't that fun?  Black & white plus silver or gold and a pop of color.  This color combination reads like a festive holiday outfit so I've finally moved on to holiday cards!

You can see I chose to create with black, white, silver and my favorite frosty color--Pool Party.  I struggle with this style of collage stamping but I had a vision for this card and am happy with the results.  I used the large cross hatch design from You've Got This for a pop of color. 

The snowflake and sentiments are from the Holly Jolly Greetings set with coordinating Greetings Thinlits.  I heat embossed the snowflake in white onto Silver Foil paper and popped it out with a Circle Framelit.

The greeting looks lovely and fancy cut from Black Glimmer paper doesn't it?  Who said black glimmer paper is just for Halloween?!   Certainly, not me!

Another snowflake was stamped on the inside, this time in Pool Party and the sentiment, overstamped in black, is from the [retired] set Ornamental Pine.  Incidentally, the sentiment is stamped in SU's new Archival black ink and WOW what a difference it makes!  It gives a clean and strong image and is hands-down the best black ink I've worked with.  

I just know the rest of the Design Team have some fabulous creations for you--make sure to take a look over at The Paper Players.  I hope you will be inspired to join in our challenge fun before it ends on Friday, November 13th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by today, friends!

The Paper Players Design Team 
Claire Broadwater 

Jaydee 
Joanne James 
Laurie Schmidt 
LeAnne Pugliese 
Nance Leedy 
Sandy Mathis 
Amy Koenders 
Jodi McKinney 
Lisa Elton 
Anne Marie Hile (on leave) 

Ornamental Pine for Merry Monday {MM133}

Hi everyone...bet you're surprised to see posting on a Monday!  You know what?  Me too!  I was asked by my good friend Lesley Croghan to be November's featured designer over at the Merry Monday Challenge  and, of course, I said YES!  I am excited to work with all the wonderful folks at Merry Monday AND to bring you a full month's worth of holiday inspiration every Monday in November.

This week, Nina is our hostess and I love the inspiration photo she chose.  The challenge is to create a rustic looking card using creams, tans and browns.  Lovely!  I knew right away which stamp set was perfect for this challenge:

 

Ornamental Pine is one of those stamp sets that is just so classically beautiful, it will live among my craft supplies for years to come.  Here I paired it with Burlap Ribbon and some [retired] Early Espresso core-dinations cardstock sanded to show the Woodgrain embossing. 

After the pine bough was embossed in white on Crumb Cake cardstock, I sponged over it with Crumb Cake ink to add shading and depth.  I also added some falling snow with the Gorgeous Grunge splatters inked in Whisper White craft ink.  Some dazzling diamonds added just the right amount of sparkle!  Love this pine cone--especially when it's fussy-cut and popped up.  With a little Linen Thread bow it coordinates nicely with the Early Espresso background and the rustic texture of the Burlap Ribbon.

Did I mention how pretty this pine bough is?  Yes, I'm quite sure I did.  It stamps so beautifully and one swipe with an Early Espresso marker and the branch is colored easily.  Love that it also comes with such a lovely sentiment for the inside.

Be sure to check out the work of the amazing Merry Monday Design Team.  I know that you will be inspired by their wonderful creations and will want to play along!  I shudder to think how quickly Christmas is coming so why not join in the fun and get some of your cards made!  Thanks for stopping by today, friends!

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