A Birthday Party for Vicki!

Hi all! Surprised to see me on Wednesday? Well, it's a special day today because my friend, Lesley, is hosting a linky birthday party on her blog for Vicki Burdick! She's gathered us together around the virtual birthday cake--or the stamping table as it were--to wish Vicki a very happy birthday!  Head on over to Lesley's blog and check out the fun!

I've never met Vicki in person but we've worked together when she rocked her Guest Designer gig on the Paper Players Design Team.  As a long-time follower of her blog, It's a Stamp Thing, I was thrilled to work with this talented and friendly artist.   Vicki is kind, caring and incredible creative so when Lesley extended the invitation for Vicki's linky party, I said you 'betcha!  So here's to you, Vicki, wishing you the happiest of birthdays and a wonderful year ahead!

And in case you're wondering about the card, there's a complete supply list at the bottom.  

The background paper is the fabulous Naturals Composition Specialty paper that's been sponged with White craft ink.  Each sheet features a different embossed pattern.  The sponging covers the naturals paper but leaves the glossy embossed areas giving the whole thing a lovely texture AND shine.  Shine on, Vicki!

Supplies 
Stamps: Apothecary Art 
Ink: Lucky Limeade, Early Espresso 
Paper: Naturals White, Certainly Celery, Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake CS; Naturals Composition Specialty Paper
Extras: Labels Framelits; Boho Blossoms punch; Modern Label punch; Scalloped Oval punch; piercing tool & mat; Daffodil Delight seam binding ribbon; Basic Pearls

Eleanor's Garden {PP142}

Happy Sunday, friends!  We've had a great weekend so far....visiting with family from out-of-town and watching our daughter play [and win] her volleyball game today!  I hope you've enjoyed your weekend too!  Today, Jaydee is our hostess over at The Paper Players with a [very] challenge Clean-and-Simple challenge:

Wowza, that's right...a one-layer card.  When I thought about what to do with this one, I couldn't get the fabulous label shape from the Everything Eleanor set out of my mind.  So I decided to use the masking technique and build my card around the label.  Here's what I came up with:

I realize now that I should have stamped the sentiment a little higher...aargh!  Anyway, the base is Naturals White and I used the colors of Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral, Pear Pizzazz and Soft Suede.  I think you can figure out what's where, lol!  To the label I added floral images and the leaves from Secret Garden.

I stamped the label in Pool Party first, then the small Calypso Coral flower and used a mask to stamp around it with the Daffodil Delight flower and Pear Pizzazz leaves (who else is delighted to see Pear Pizzazz return? OMG!)  You can also see that I added a little Silver Dazzling Details to the flower centers.

Keeping it clean and simple, I added another Pool Party label to the inside framing the sentiment I stamped in Soft Suede.

Be sure to check out my teammates over at The Paper Players--they really hit it out of the park this week!  I hope you'll consider joining us before our challenge closes on Friday, April 26th at Noon (PDT).  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and...thanks for stopping by today!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Amy O'Neill

Brian King

Jen Nelson

Justin Krieger

Sandy Mathis

 
Supplies 
Stamps: Everything Eleanor, Secret Garden, On Your Birthday [retired] 
Ink: Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, Soft Suede
Paper: Naturals White
Xtras: Silver Dazzling Details

Moving Forward with Color {PP141}

Hiya peeps! Happy Sunday to you and yours. It's Paper Players time and Awesome-Anne-Marie has a beautiful color challenge for us this week:

Aren't they pretty together?!  I saw this fabulous past sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch and knew right away that I wanted to feature the fun blimp from the set, Moving Forward.  First, here's the sketch:

And here's what I did with it:

Stampin Up's Framelits make it so easy to embrace the trend of using a negative space (the space left behind when punched or cut out with a die).  I cut a piece of Baja Breeze cardstock to the desired size (3 x 5.25"), ran it through the Big Shot with an Oval Framelit which created a perfect space to stamp the blimp from Moving Forward in Rich Razzleberry. 

Of course, the Cloudy Day embossing folder is the perfect texture for this sky high sentiment!  I made a sweet little embellishment out of the sentiment with the Itty Bitty Banner Framelits and trailed them from the blimp with some Island Indigo Baker's Twine.

 

The clouds, birds and sentiment from the Up, Up & Away set were a perfect match for the theme of my card. 

I hope today's card has inspired you to play along with Anne-Marie's gorgeous colors this week.  We would love to see you in the gallery!  Please do check out the rest of the Design Team's creations over at The Paper Players and then go get crafty!  Our challenge closes on Friday, April 19th at Noon (PDT).  

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Amy O'Neill

Brian King

Jen Nelson

Justin Krieger

Sandy Mathis

Supplies 
Stamps: Moving Forward; Up, Up & Away 
Ink: Rich Razzelberry, Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Island Indigo
Paper: Rich Razzelberry, Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Whisper White CS; Summer Smooches DSP
Extras: Oval & Itty Bitty Framelits; Island Indigo Baker's Twine; Cupcake punch; Cloud Day embossing folder; Basic Rhinestones

A Secret Garden, Recycled {PP140}

Hiya friends! Wow, where did last week go? Was it just me or did Easter really sneak up on us this year? I was totally unprepared and have spent the last week trying to play catch up. It's time to catch up with my friends over at The Paper Players where I am hosting this week's Theme Challenge!

Since April is National Earth Month, I thought it would be fun to use recycled items on our projects.  I save all kinds of things (probably more than I should) and am always finding inspiration in colors and patterns everywhere but especially packaging items.  The inspiration for today's card came from of all things, a tissue box!

 

Love the colors, the patterns...all of it!  In need of an idea for a sketch, I went looking at some challenges and found this week's fun Mojo Monday sketch:

I knew I was going to use one side of the tissue box as my focal point, so I cut it apart, cut one piece down to size and used it just as I would use any other pattered paper.  The colors were a great match to Gumball Green, Marina Mist, Early Espresso with just a pop of Summer Starfruit.

The images on the box reminded me of the florals from the Secret Garden stamp set so I stamped a few of them in the corners on the card base.  I love adding some stamping to the background--especially in a matching color and with coordinating images.  It adds a lot of interest and helps ground the whole design. 

I liked how the stamps coordinated with the tissue box images so I added some more to the inside in Gumball Green, Marina Mist, Bashful Blue and Summer Starfruit.   

So, I'll be you've got some pretty tissue boxes of your own around the house!  You won't look at one the same again, will you?  I hope you'll reconsider some of the items in your home and look at their potential use on a craft project.  If you do, we would love for you to join us over at The Paper Players before the challenge closes on Friday, April 12th at Noon (PDT).  Be sure to check out the rest of my mates on the Design Team for their amazing recycled, re-purposed and re-imagined projects!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Amy O'Neill

Brian King

Jen Nelson

Justin Krieger

Sandy Mathis (off this week)

Supplies 
Stamps: Secret Garden, Petite Pairs; Blooming with Kindness
Paper: Gumball Green, Whisper White, Early Espresso CS; Designer Patterns Stack (subtles)
Ink: Early Espresso, Gumball Green, Marina Mist, Bashful Blue, Summer Starfruit
Xtras: Scallop Oval punch; Large Oval Punch; Oval Framelits; Occasions Paper-Piercing Pack; Linen Thread; Summer Starfruit stitched satin ribbon

OMG, a Color Refresh!

OMG! Have you heard the news?  Stampin' Up announced a Color Refresh today that includes...can you guess.....yes, it's true....POOL PARTY!!  Excuse me a minute while I do a happy dance!  So exciting!  We also get to keep Island Indigo, Wisteria Wonder and Calypso Coral--YAY!  And that's not all...we are welcoming back some previously retired colors that also bring a smile to my face including:

• Bermuda Bay
• Blushing Bride
• Crushed Curry
• Pear Pizzazz
• Soft Sky

Woohoo, way to go Stampin Up!  Of course, we are saying goodbye to some other colors as well and though a few make me sad...I think I'll adjust well enough happily hugging my Pool Party ink pad, LOL!.  Here's the lowdown in chart format:

 

Changes will take effect with the new catalog on May 31, 2013 and new color kits will be available in the new catalog.  Products in retiring colors (ink, refills, markers, cardstock, etc.) will only be available while supplies last so be sure to visit my website if you need to stock up!  BTW, You might want to visit my website April 6-8th during the FREE SHIPPING on EVERYTHING event!  That's right, FREE SHIPPING on EVERYTHING but only between April 6-8th!