Simple Paradise {PP52}

Happy Paper Players Sunday, everyone!  I hope you're having a fabulous weekend and Happy Father's Day to all the men out there!  Hmmm, I wonder if I have any male readers??  Paper Player Jaydee is our Clean-and-Simple hostess this week and she has challenged us with a simple and classic sketch:

Lovely, isn't it?  Lots of options with this one.  I like to mix it up a bit so I turned the sketch on it's side which put the focal piece on the right side like this:

And what a perfect sketch to show off one of Stampin' Up's newest In Color...Pool Party!  A beautiful soft and cool ocean blue that is just gorgeous and will be available with the new catalog on July 1st .  I've stamped the background with the retiring Sanded background stamp inked in Pool Party.  Another retiring stamp set, Paradise, was inked in Pool Party, More Mustard, Soft Suede and Lucky Limeade (another new In Color) and stamped onto Whisper White.

Here you can get a good close look at Pool Party and Lucky Limeade.  I trimmed out the main piece with a scalloped border of More Mustard that I distressed a little with the bone folder.  Then wrapped the whole thing with Early Espresso Baker's Twine.  This Baker's Twine is a chameleon; it magically matches whatever shade of brown it is paired with.  Doesn't it look like Soft Suede Baker's Twine here? 

A clean and simple card deserves a clean-and-simple inside too!  Because I want to use my Sanded background stamp as much as possible before it retires :-), I stamped it again on the inside behind my Whisper White panel onto which I repeated more tropical leaves from the Paradise set. 

So, I hope you've liked my Simple Paradise card;  I would love to hear what you think!  Be sure to check out the inspiring work of our amazing Design Team and then head off to your craft room from some clean-and-simple fun!  Be sure to load up your lovely creations by Friday, June 24th at midnight (PST) to have a chance for the Design Team's winning selections.  Hope to see you at The Paper Players!

supplies:

stamps: paradise; curly cute, sanded

ink: pool party, lucky limeade, more mustard, soft suede

paper: pool party, whisper white, more mustard CS

xtras: scalloped border punch; early espresso baker's twine.

Recycled Paper Players Challenge: {PP41}

Happy Sunday everyone! Hope you're having a great weekend.  If you're looking for my [Orlando] Regionals Creativity Challenge card, please go here.  

Today is our first April theme challenge at The Paper Players and LeAnne has challenged us to use a recycled or repurposed item on our projects.  

 Clean out your supplies, clean out your stash, look in your recycle bin--find treasures anywhere!  It can be a piece of ribbon from gift box you kept (does anyone else beside me do this?!), a picture from a catalog, or that pretty wrapping paper you just couldn't part with (oh yeah, I do that too!). Can you identify the source of the recycled item on my card?

It's the carton from a 6-pack of beer!  Longboard Lager to be specific:

 

Can you believe how beautiful the artwork is on this carton of beer?!  Wouldn't this make a great "guy card"?!  I took the carton apart, selected the areas I really liked and ran it through the Big Shot with the Circles #2 die.  Look at these beach bums catching some waves:

and I love the palm fronds:

The circles are mounted on More Mustard cardstock with a little added paper piercing around the bottom.  Some baker's twine and a Curly Cute sentiment finished off the front.

...and a little bit of stamping finished off the inside.  There's actually more stamping on the inside than the cover!  The tropical leaves are from the Paradise set stamped in Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler and More Mustard.  Along with a sentiment from Hope Happens and Bring on the Cake.  If you like today's card, you might like this simple masculine card I made a couple years ago for my BIL--it was my first 6-pack card!  You should see how many 6-pack cartons I have piled up now!  My husband will even select beer now based on how cool the packaging would look as a card, lol!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Be sure to check out the rest of the design team's inspiration over at The Paper Players.  If you would like to play along, you have until Friday April 8th at midnight (PST) to load up your creation on our blog.  I hope you'll have some fun with this challenge--we can't wait to visit you!

Three's the charm: CTD{104} SSC{163} SR{31}

This post title looks like alphabet soup doesn't it? That's because, with tonight's card, I managed to meet the requirements for three challenges all in one project--that's a record for me! This one came together pretty easily in my head probably because the challenges did most of the work including the colors, paper and layout! The talented team at Stampin' Royalty asked us to create our own designer paper with stamps. With the tropical color scheme from Color Throwdown in mind, I reached for one of my all-time favorites (do I say that about every stamp set?!) Paradise to create my patterned paper. To Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight and Old Olive I added a neutral, Sahara Sand, just to ground all that hot, tropical color. I think the grey tones of SS calm an otherwise bright combination. Once I had my paper and colors in hand, the easy-breezy sketch courtesy of the Stamping 411 operators made my layout a cinch! Well, of course I fussed over details like I always do so it wasn't quite as easy-breezy as it should have been! ;-) My daughter was crafting with me during this process and she liked this card so much she asked me to teach her how to make one too! That's a ringing endorsement in my book! Although she said she didn't want to complete the inside like I did. Oh well, everyone is entitled to artistic liberty, right?!

A big thank you to all of you who hopped over to Arden's blog yesterday and left some comment love about her owl bookmarks. It meant so much to her....and to me. Thank you. And if you're wondering what I'm talking about...check it out HERE. Thanks so much and hope to talk with you tomorrow when I'll have a decadent dessert inspired challenge goodie for you to feast your eyes on!

supplies:
stamps: paradise; woodgrain background; curly cute
ink: tangerine tango, old olive, daffodil delight, sahara sand
paper: very vanilla, tangerine tango, old olive, sahara sand
xtras: dotted scallop ribbon border punch; lots of tags sizzlit die;

Paradise Umbrella

I think our long weekend spent in South Florida put me in a tropical mood! Here's yet another card using the Paradise stamp set. I love the images in this set--clean, graphic & modern. You know how you can find inspiration everywhere? Well, every time we visit my mom, I say "we need to make a card inspired by [her] deck umbrella":

It would make a great card, right? So, I had a little crafting time...and here it is:

What do you think? I stamped the leaves from Paradise directly onto kraft and layered it with chocolate chip and really rust (going to miss that one too!) cardstock. I think the chocolate chip striped grosgrain ribbon mimics the stripes in the umbrella quite nicely don't you? Now, if I could just get a pina colada to go with that umbrella....

supplies:
stamps: paradise; warm words
ink: chocolate chip
paper: very vanilla, kraft, chocolate chip, really rust cardstock
xtras: jumbo grommets; chocolate chip striped grosgrain ribbon

The never ending card: PPA39

I really like how this card (finally) turned out. It started as an entry for the Color Q challenge using ruby red, bermuda bay, regal rose and pumpkin pie. I never would have thought to combine these colors but I think they look great! Of course, I never got the card finished before the challenge closed (sigh) so then I thought I might put it together for last week's sketch challenge at PPA38 and that didn't happen either (big sigh)! Aaaah! So this weekend my daughter and I had a little vacation at my mom's house and I finally had time to finish this card! Of course, it looks nothing now like I had intended in the beginning but I like it...and believe it or not, I think it works for this week's Pals Paper Arts 39: KISS! Hurrah! Each square is 2.25" x 2.25" and stamped with one of the leaves from the Paradise stamp set (LOVE it!) with Versamark ink. I sprinkled each liberally with white stampin' emboss powder and heat set each one. I love how crisp and clean the white looks against the strong colors. I'm sure by now you all recognize the new square lattice embossing folder--a Stampin' Up exclusive folder available May 1st with the new Summer Mini catalog. Send me an email if you would like to receive this fun new catalog! I wrapped the panel 3 times with linen thread and finished it with a ruby red button. The sentiment is from Hello Again and inked in bermuda bay on whisper white and punched out with the curly label punch. I thought the clean style of the font worked well with the clean lines of the squares and images on this card. Whew-glad to get that card off my craft table! On to the next one...

supplies:
stamps: paradise; hello again
ink: versamark; bermuda bay classic ink
paper: kraft, ruby red, bermuda bay, pumpkin pie, whisper white cardstock
xtras: square lattice embossing folder (avail May 1st); linen thread; white stampin' emboss powder; curly label punch

paradise island

Good friends of ours, both opticians, own a fabulous optical boutique, Alligator Island Optical, and I make handmade cards for them to send as a thank you to their customers. I also get great deals on glasses--a girl can't have too many! Anyway, I made 10 of these cards this morning to replenish their stash. I CASEd it from this card by Kimberly Van Diepen. I just loved her use of colors with the Paradise stamp set (#113778) and the layout of the stamped images. It adds a little extra fun element when the images run off the edge, I think. I changed a few things since I was making these in quantity and they also needed to be easy for mailing. I also changed up the mat a bit and used my tiny mosiac CB folder on the old olive cardstock. Because this CB folder looks slightly like alligator skin, it has become a staple on all the cards I make for the boutique. In case you're interested, here are the measurements of each element:

1. A2 card with side fold
2. old olive mat: 3 1/2 x 4 1/2"
3. bermuda bay mat: 3 1/4 x 4"
4. whisper white main panel: 3 x 3 3/4
   

Thanks for looking and be sure to check out Alligator Island Optical!

supplies:
stamps: paradise (#113778), short & sweet (#115060)
ink: bermuda bay, old olive, crushed curry, basic black
paper: whisper white, bermuda bay, old olive CS
extras: tiny mosaic CB folder, stampin dimensionals