Die-cut use of Negative Space - PP402

Hi friends and welcome to another week with The Paper Players!  This week I am pleased as punch to be the hostess for our Clean-and-Simple challenge.  I've challenged everyone to use negative space on your card:

What do I mean by negative space?  It means letting the under layer of your card--be it patterned paper, yardstick, etc. to show through either a die-cut or a sponged area.  I think this technique is so cool for showing off pretty patterned paper in a different way.

My card is super, duper clean-and-simple...just some patterned paper covering the card base and a top layer featuring these pretty die-cuts.  I covered the whole card front with some pretty [retired] Stampin' Up paper then used a [retired] Butterfly Thinlit to cut out some shapes from the thick whisper white cardstock.  I used a small circle die to cut out some random circles and let even more of the pretty paper peek through.  The sentiment is from the companion stamp set, Watercolor Wings and will be perfect to send to a friend.  

I hope you've enjoyed my card today...be sure to check out the rest of the loveliness from my teammates over at The Paper Players.  We would be happy for you to join us before the challenge closes on Friday, July 27th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by!

The Paper Players Design Team 

Claire Broadwater

 Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy 

Sandy Mathis 

Annie Abrahamson 

Jan Clothier 

Elizabeth Stewart 

  

Bold Butterfly Window PP345

Hey there, friends!  I am excited to be the hostess this week at The Paper Players with a fun Clean-and Simple challenge...Butterflies!

With my crazy busy life, Clean-and-Simple seems to be the way my crafting is trending these days.  I suspect it's that way for a lot of people right?!  While I like Clean-and-Simple style, I still try to add small details that make the design intriguing....something that makes you say "how did she do that?"

Super clean design--just some card stock strips and a simple sentiment but the interesting part is the window sheet butterfly!  First I adhered some cardstock strips to a scrap piece of Whisper White cardstock.  Then, I die cut the butterfly from this piece with the Bold Butterfly Framelits.  Next, the butterfly wings were clear embossed onto a piece of Window Sheet using the Watercolor Wings stamp set.  The Bold Butterfly Framelits were used again to die cut a butterfly from my card base.  Once I had my three pieces (card base, window sheet & panel), I started building my layers.  The Window Sheet is adhered to the card base with glue dots and the cardstock panel it adhered over the Window Sheet with dimensionals.  Basically creating a sandwich of card base, window sheet, and main panel.  The last step for the front was the sentiment in Black Archival ink from One Big Meaning.

The inside looked a little plain through the clear window sheet so I lined up and stamped the solid butterfly from Watercolor Wings on the inside.  I used a new ink color--Powder Pink--part of the new In Color palette coming from Stampin' Up in June!  From left to right: Berry Burst, Fresh Fig, Lemon Lime Twist, Powder Pink and Tranquil Tide.  Aren't they pretty?

Here you have a better view of the clear embossed butterfly wings from the inside.  Isn't that a cool look?!  Inside sentiment placement can be a little tricky with a clear hole in the middle of the card but the spot on the inside left works perfectly!  There's still enough room to write a note around the butterfly on the right.  So there you have it...Clean-and-Simple, Detail Style!

I hope you enjoyed today's card. Be sure to pop over and check out the rest of the lovely butterflies from my design team buddies at The Paper Players.  Maybe you'll be inspired to play along with us before our challenge closes on Friday, May 26th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by!

The Paper Players Design Team 

Claire Broadwater

 Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy 

Sandy Mathis 

Crystal Komara

Valentyna Komisarenko

Deanne 

A Sketch for Affectionately Yours: PP301

Hiya friends!  Wow, I finally feel like my family and I can settle into summer.  It's been one activity or another around here since before school let out but now it's clear sailing...well, until mid-August that is!  This week, the lovely Joanne is hosting a fabulous sketch challenge for us at The Paper Players...take a look:

Don't you just love it?  Sketches are my favorite challenge and this one is a keeper!  With all the afore-mentioned activities, I have yet to place an order for new SU goodies...gasp!  Since I'm working only with pre-order goodies I decided to feature the gorgeous Affectionately Yours speciality DSP:

Not a lot of stamping here--just let the paper and colors do the work.  Night of Navy, Watermelon Wonder, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight and Cucumber Crush. 

It's a subtle accent but the Crumb Cake butterfly base layer is stamped with the same ink and the solid image from Watercolor Wings.  Just the tone-on-tone stamping gives a little extra dimension to the background.  There's a little bit of gold thread looped behind the butterfly and some leaves from the Bird Builder punch tucked on the sides.

I can never capture how much sparkle Wink of Stella adds to a project but trust me, it's there!  I brushed it on the background butterfly so it the sparkles would peeok through the die cut.

I hope you enjoyed today's card...be sure to pop over to The Paper Players and check out the rest of the Design Team inspiration.  Maybe we will inspire you to play along before our challenge closes on Friday, July 1st at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by!

The Paper Players Design Team

Claire Broadwater

Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Linda Callahan

Hannelie Bester

Colleen Begley

Watercolor Wings Gate Fold {PP252}

Hey there friends, I hope you're having a great weekend.  Our family has been off work and summer camp since Thursday so we've been having a good time!  Oh how I wish the work week was 32 hours instead of 40.....sigh.  Anyway....this week at The Paper Players it's all about The Great Outdoors.  The amazing Ann is our host for this month's theme challenge:

From the first time I saw the Watercolor Wings stamp set, I've had the idea for a card with this type of fold in my head.  I was also inspired by this fantastic card from Stef Perry and the idea was born:

I wanted the butterfly to look like it landed on a fence or a barn door and thought the gate fold would be perfect!.  I used some retired Adventure Bound DSP for the "gate" but it could also be stamped with the Hardwood background stamp.  How many of you still have the Inspired by Nature stamp set with this big beautiful grass image?  I'll never sell mine and in Cucumber Crush, it made the perfect grassy border.  Although I didn't use any on my card, I took my color cue from the Cherry On Top DSP stack using Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, and Island Indigo for the butterfly with accents of Crushed Curry and Watermelon Wonder.

With all the elements in the center and the background stamping, it was difficult to figure out where a sentiment would go.  I debated whether I needed one but was able to make the sweet little Greetings Thinlits fit over the butterfly and open nicely from the center.  I was really pleased how well it cut and popped out from the new THICK Whisper White cardstock--no wax paper, no dryer sheets needed.  It worked like a charm!

The gate fold opens up to reveal the inside panel with another butterfly and this fabulous sentiment from last month's Paper Pumpkin kit.  I added some Watermelon Wonder dots to the sides to mimic the banner on the front of the card.  

This butterfly stamp set is sooo pretty.  At first I thought, do I really need another butterfly stamp?  But oh, this one is not like the others.  It's photopolymer so lining up each layer is easy-peasy.  There are three layers to the butterfly and each one is a separate stamp so you can create many color combinations.  I can't wait to experiment with some more colors!  One tip: I found it much easier to stamp the center body of the butterfly AFTER cutting it out with the coordinating Bold Butterfly Framelit.  It's easy to line up because it is completely clear and I found that I cut off part of the head or body if I stamped it before cutting.  

I am sure that the rest of The Paper Players design team have some amazing projects inspired by the great outdoors for you.  Be sure to pop over and check 'em out.  I hope you will join in the fun before our challenge closes on Friday, July 10th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by today!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile (on leave) 

Claire Broadwater
 Jaydee
Joanne James
Laurie Schmidt   
LeAnne Pugliese 
Nance Leedy
Sandy Mathis

Amy Koenders
Jodi McKinney 
Lisa Elton