A Perfect Blend for a Birthday

Happy Sunday, peeps, and welcome to another week with The Paper Players.  Today is a very special Paper Players day because TODAY is Leanne Pugliese’s birthday!  It is an honor and privilege to know and work with LeAnne.  She’s one of the nicest people in our crafty blog world, has a wicked sense of humor and more creativity in her pinky finger than I have in my whole body--love her!  Happy Birthday, LeAnne!  I hope your day is wonderful.  LeAnne is also our hostess for this week’s sketch challenge:

I’ve never actually had the chance to meet LeAnne in person but if I did, I just know that we would sit talking and laughing over a delicious cuppa!  So, my new Perfect Blend stamp set seemed just the thing to celebrate LeAnne and her wonderful sketch!

Oh boy, lots of new goodies on here some of which are fast-becoming go-to products for me including the Hexagon Punch and the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set.  The hexagons are punched from Baked Brown Sugar DSP found in the 2013-2015 In-Color Designer Series Paper Stack.    

The background cardstock, also Baked Brown Sugar, was inked up with the coffee stain splatter stamp from Gorgeous Grunge and layered with Gumball Green cardstock that was embossed with the new Alphabet Press embossing folder.  The two color combo I had going needed a little POP of something so I added a small oval of Crushed Curry cardstock just the perfect size for the sentiment.  I added some Candy Dots (Soft Suede is a close match for Baked Brown Sugar) and a little flower detail to the latte cup.

I hope you've enjoyed sharing a cuppa with me!  Be sure to pop over to LeAnne's blog to wish her a Happy Birthday and then go check out the rest of my friends on the Paper Players Design Team.  We do hope you'll play along with our sketch this week--just be sure to do so before the challenge closes on Friday, August 2nd at Noon (PDT).  Thanks for stopping by!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Supplies
Stamps: Perfect Blend; Four You
Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Gumball Green
Paper: Baked Brown Sugar, Gumball Green, Crushed Curry, Whisper White CS; 2013-2015 In Color Designer Series Paper Stack
Extras: Alphabet Press embossing folder; Candy Dots (neutrals); Large Oval Punch; Boho Blossoms Punch; Itty Bitty Shapes Punch; Hexagoon Punch; glue dots

A Wetlands Goose

I really love this Wetlands stamp!  It's very versatile working equally as well with light, beach colors or dark, masculine colors:

I needed a birthday card for my BIL who lives in the wilds of Wisconsin and this goose is just perfect!  I paired it with some Core'dinations cardstock embossed and sanded to resemble barn wood.  Again, perfect for my BIL who actually salvaged wood from an old barn--I mean the entire barn--and used it to build an addition onto their house! How cool is that?!

Sometimes when an image is colored with markers, the color is less saturated and not as pretty.  Not so with this stamp!  The weathered, watercolor look of it makes for a great multicolored image.  Here I colored with Early Espresso, Gumball Green and Crushed Curry.  I masked the goose so that I could stamp the grasses around him.

Love the Crumb Cake Epic Day Washi Tape for a little texture and subtle color and the Banner Greetings hostess set was a must on my very first order!

This is just one of those stamp sets that Stampin' Up does so well--fine details that stamp beautifully!  I hope you've enjoyed my Wetlands Goose birthday card.  The full list of supplies I used to make this card is listed below.  Thanks for stopping by today, friends! 
 


Supplies
Stamps: Wetlands, Banner Greetings, Blooming with Kindness
Ink: Early Espresso, Gumball Green classic ink
Paper: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Gumball Green CS; Eastern Elegance DSP; Early Espresso Core'dinations CS
Xtras: Oval Framelits; Window Frame Framelits, Hexagon Punch; Epic Day Washi Tape; Stampin Write markers (Gumball Green, Crushed Curry, Early Espresso), Festive Piercing Pack;Stampin' Pierce Mat; Paper Piercing Tool; Woodgrain embossing folder 

Regarding Dahlias {PP155}

Happy Sunday, peeps!  Glad that you've joined me today for another card with The Paper Players!  This week our reigning Queen of Clean, Jaydee, has a fabulous Clean-and-Simple challenge for us and it's a sketch!

I love sketch challenges...don't you?  As the foundation for any great design, they help kick the mojo in gear and give me the inspiration I need to get started.  The big circle in Jaydee's fantastic sketch immediately brought to mind the Regarding Dahlias stamp set:

This is such a great set because not only do we have this gorgeous flower but 4 practical sentiments too--love that!  I found my color inspiration from a previous card I designed using Pool Party, Very Vanilla and Basic Black.  The dahlia was embossed on Basic Black cardstock with Pool Party embossing powder. The background DSP is also new, called Modern Medley, and looks great paired with Pool Party and Vanilla.

I flagged the ends of the banners with the Hexagon punch and stamped a sentiment from the same set in Jet Black Stazon.  Using a bone folder on the ends of the flagged banners helps add movement and interest.

This gorgeous flower makes a bold statement on the inside too when stamped in Pool Party with a sentiment from Blooming with Kindness.

Be sure to check out the amazing projects that the rest of the Design Team created for us.  I hope I've inspired you to join us this week at The Paper Players!  Remember our challenge closes on Friday, July 26th at Noon (PDT).  Thanks for stopping by!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Supplies
Stamps: Regarding Dahlias
Ink: Pool Party, Jet Black Stazon, Versamark
Paper:  Pool Party, Very Vanilla, Basic Black CS; Modern Medley DSP
Extras: 3" circle die; Hexagon punch (for flagged ends); Candy Dots (Neutrals & Subtles); Beautifully Baroque embossing folder; Pool Party embossing powder

It's a Merry Monday!

It's a Merry Monday today, friends!  I was tickled pink when my friend Lesley asked me to be a Guest Designer this week for her month-long Merry Monday challenge. 

All month long the Merry Monday challenge is to make an "Anything Goes" holiday card.  Each week Lesley will feature two new Guest Designers on her blog. 

My layout was inspired by samples in the soon-to-be-released Seasonal Catalog.  Isn't that elongated chevron a nifty idea?  Thank the designers at Stampin' Up for that one! I just cut a piece of the Eastern Elegance DSP the width that I needed, and using a ruler, drew lines from the center point and snipped, snipped, snipped my way to the shape I wanted.  I have mentioned before that, to me, this designer paper looks like snowflakes, right?  Even though it isn't a holiday paper, you know how I love to mix it up!  Thank goodness the Evergreen stamp set carried over!  It didn't see nearly enough ink last holiday season. 

Be sure to hop over to Lesley's blog to see what Anne Marie cooked up for us today!  I hope you'll play along with the holiday fun at Merry Monday too.  Just link up to the fun HERE--afterall you've got until August 4th to join in so why not get started?!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:Evergreen; Greetings of the Season [retired]
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Smoky Slate, Versamark
Paper: Smoky Slate, Whisper White CS; Eastern Elegance DSP
Xtras: Woodgrain EF; Vintage Faceted designer buttons; Silver cord [retired]; Pewter embossing powder

Stippled Blossoms {PP154}

Hello friends and happy Sunday to you!  This week I am delighted to host a color challenge over at The Paper Players.

Cool Bermuda Bay pairs up beautifully with the warm tones of Baked Brown Sugar and Crushed Curry.  I dove into my box of new goodies and came up with this:

Sneak Peek alert!  The background image is stamped in Baked Brown Sugar onto Crushed Curry using a stamp set from the upcoming Seasonal Catalog called Truly Grateful [love!].  The chevron woodgrain pattern looks like parquet flooring and adds a textured look without the bulk.  Isn't it pretty?!

Stippled Blossoms is a new-to-me set that creates gorgeous flowers every time.  The simple two-step stamp technique creates a depth and dimension that makes the flowers and leaves jump off the page.  The solid flower image was inked in Bermuda Bay and stamped off once while the outline image was stamped full-strength Bermuda Bay. I did a little bit of fussy-cutting and added some pearl and Linen Thread accents just because they make me happy.  :-)

The outline flower image makes a lovely background all on it's own.  Here I inked it in Baked Brown Sugar and stamped opposite corners of the background and sentiment panels.  Can you spot the spots?  Yes, I used Gorgeous Grunge, again, this time in Crushed Curry.  The coordinating Chalk Talk stamp set and Framelits gave me a quick way to add the sentiment here.  I simply scored and folded it over the top of the cardstock--a finishing touch that's nicer than a rough edge.

I'm not really sure what I will use this card for so I left it free of an inside sentiment but just had to stamp more of these flowers.  I resisted this stamp set for a long time, thinking it a bit too much like Grandma's couch (you know what I mean!) but it really is gorgeous.  And done up in Bermuda Bay, it's an unexpected twist!

What isn't unexpected, is the fabulous work of my gal pals on the Design Team.  Please check out their gorgeous work on their blogs below.  They're the best team around!  We do hope you'll join us over at The Paper Players before our challenge closes on Friday, July 19th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Supplies
Stamps: Stippled Blossoms; Chalk Talk; Gorgeous Grunge; Truly Grateful (available 8/1/13)
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Baked Brown Sugar, Crushed Curry
Paper: Very Vanilla, Baked Brown Sugar, Crushed Curry CS
Extras: Linen Thread; Chalk Talk Framelits; Basic Pearls; Distress Tool

Sandpipers by the...Wetlands?!

Happy hump day, friends! So just a little card to share with you tonight for no other reason than I had some quality craft time lately! I've been feeling mojo-less and the big box of new catalog goodies has been a little intimidating. Does that happen to you when you get a bunch of new stuff?  Too excited to know what to do with it all, that's me!  My new Wetlands set was calling my name though and, this time, I couldn't resist!

 I was inspired by this fabulous [previous] sketch over at Sketch Frenzy Friday.  I fell in love with the birds in this set the minute I saw it and knew that I would make a beach scene with them.  They look like Sandpipers to me!  I chose a beach-y color palette of Soft Sky, Crumb Cake and So Saffron with a pop of Calypso Coral. 

I'll show you the birds close-up so you can see that I used one of the images from Gorgeous Grunge as the water for my wading birds.  A great way to add some subtle color quick and easy!  The same set also provided the waterspots on my Soft Sky background.  I wanted the focal shape, cut with the Chalk Talk Framelits, to look like a tag so I added a half circle behind some Natural Trim Ribbon and a So Saffron Candy Dot to mimic a hole for the ribbon.  The complete list of supplies I used is at the bottom of this post.

I hope the rest of your week is swell!  Thanks for stopping by. :-)



Supplies
Stamps: Wetlands; Gorgeous Grunge; Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Early Espresso and Soft Sky
Paper: Crumb Cake, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla CS; Naturals Specialty DSP; retired So Saffron DSP
Xtras: Epic Day Washi Tape; Linen Thread; Subtles Candy Dots; Naturals Ribbon; Chalk Talk Framelits; 3" Circle Die; Hexagon punch (to punch a flagged end in DSP)

Ornament Keepsakes {PP153}

Hiya friends! I've been real busy in my studio the last couple days and does it feel great!I hope to get an extra post up this week to show you what I've been creating.  In the meantime, it's time to play with my friends at The Paper Players!  The always-amazing-Ann has a fun theme challenge for us this week:

Thinking about cool holiday weather sure is nice right now when it's over 90 degrees and humid as a swamp here in North Florida!  Yikes! I grabbed some new designer paper and one of my favorite stamp sets and got busy!

 

If you've followed my blog for awhile, you know that I love non-traditional colors for holiday cards.  I'm kind of a non-traditional girl all 'round (just ask my Mom, lol).  I was inspired by a previous layout from Clean & Simple Stamping.  Now, I won't lie....there's nothing simple about this card!  Lots of little details that I so enjoy pulling together.  Allow me to show you:

It all started with the Eastern Elegance DSP.  I think the Bermuda Bay pattern looks a but like snowflakes, don't you?  The DSP gave me my color scheme: Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry & Smoky Slate.  The flourish from Creative Elements gives the suggestion of a branch on which to hang the festive ornaments.  The flagged ends were easily made with one corner of the Hexagon punch--perfect every time!  And, of course, it's not a holiday card without Glimmer Paper, right?

The Ornament Keepsakes stamp set isn't in the new catalog but it is still available and combined with the matching Framelits, makes holiday trimming easy as can be!

I'm a big fan of our Pewter Embossing Powder--it's slightly darker than silver and shows up nicely on Whisper White.  This sentiment is from an all-time favorite holiday set--More Merry Messages--also carried over even though it's not in the new catalog.

I hope you've enjoyed my non-traditional holiday card as much as I enjoyed making it!  Maybe you will consider playing along with us this week at The Paper Players?  We would love to see your work in the gallery before the challenge closes on Friday, July 12th at Noon (PDT).  Be sure to stop by and check out the rest of the Design Team for some fabulous creations!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Supplies
Stamps: Keepsake Ornaments; More Merry Messages; Creative Elements
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Smoky Slate, Versamark
Paper: Whisper White & Smoky Slate CS; Silver Glimmer Paper; Eastern Elegance DSP
Extras: Ornament Framelits; Hexagon punch; Basic Rhinestones; Itty Bitty Punch Pack