Canopy Crafts: October 2014

Monday, October 27, 2014

A Holiday Home Sketch {PP219}

Hi everyone. So sorry to be late with my card for The Paper Players. I got hit with a nasty bug that knocked me out and I spent all day Sunday in bed with a fever. Feeling a bit better today but still in bed--just sitting up today. Anyway....this week is my turn to host our sketch challenge at the Paper Players. Here's the sketch:

and here's my card:

These little stamps in the Holiday Home set are so cute and such fun to work with! i used the swoosh image from A Work of Art to create the ground for my house and yard. The grass is stamped in Mossy Meadow and the trees are stamped with Early Espresso and Tangerine Tango/Crushed Curry leaves. Notice the "clouds" in the sky? Those are also stamped with an image from A Work of Art, this time in Sahara Sand to match the woodgrain DSP used in the background.

Stampin' Blendabilites markers made quick work of coloring the house. I used the light shade of Smoky Slate on the house, Medium Smoky Slate on the roof, Medium Crushed Curry for the glowing windows, Pumpkin Pie for the door and the darkest shade of the "Skin Assortment" to color the bricks. What fun!

I hope you enjoyed my little card today. Please stop by the rest of The Paper Players design team to see what they are sharing with my sketch. Come back and play with us before our challenge ends on Friday, October 31st at Noon (PST). Thanks for stopping by!

The Paper Players Design Team

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Bright & Beautiful for the Paper Players {PP218}

Hiya friends! Sandy is our sensational hostess at The Paper Players this week with a beautiful Clean-and-Simple challenge:

I was glad for a CAS challenge as there was lots to do this weekend--can you believe how fast the holidays are coming? Sad to say the stores have nearly shut down the Halloween decorations and moved right on to Christmas...forget Thanksgiving. I prefer to look at my card today not as a rush to Christmas but advance preparation!

So clearly, I chose Silver for my clean-and-simple card. I suppose this might be a bit busier than the usual CAS but considering there is little done to the background, minimal stamping and a reliance on washi tape, I'm calling it CAS for me!

The best part is the way the Bright & Beautiful stars look embossed in white on Silver Foil paper. The coordinating Star Framelits make getting perfect stars a cinch!

I realized after I snapped this pic that my inside wasn't perfect however....I meant to use the gorgeous sentiment from the Bright & Beautiful stamp set on the inside.....but I had this other one on my desk from stamp club projects and grabbed it instead! Too many projects going on at one time. Oh well, either one works! I also had a difficult time photographing my card outside today and here's why....

this sweet little kitty has been hanging around our house for two days now and she is starved for attention! The whole time I was trying to photograph my card, she was rubbing on my legs, my hand and even on my card! Nattering at me the whole time. She blends in with the weathered wood on our porch but she is a pretty smoky slate color with deep amber eyes. She's a beauty. We're not sure who she belongs to (although our neighbor with too many cats is a good bet) but when we're outside we pet her and talk to her. We'll see what happens.....in the meantime we'll just give her all the attention we can!

And you should give your attention over to the fabulous CAS creations from the rest of The Paper Players Design Team. WE hope you'll play along with us before our challenge ends on Friday, October 24th at Noon (PST). Thanks for stopping by!

The Paper Players Design Team

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

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Seasonally Scattered Pumpkins {PP217}

Hi friends! This week Ann has a lovely seasonal color challenge for us at The Paper Players:

A trio of the newest In Colors and I just couldn't resist using them with the fun Fall Fest pumpkins (again). I can't get enough of these pumpkins...this set and coordinating Framelits is one of the most useful in the current Holiday Catalog!

Convention goers this year received the Seasonally Scattered stamp set and I've used it here to make a lovely background of Mossy Meadow vines.

I thought you might want to see a close-up of the pumpkins....see how they have a light area to them? I inked them in Tangelo Twist and then used a Q-tip to swipe off some ink near the "ribs" on each pumpkin. Then, I took a Hello Honey marker and colored straight down over the lines. It lends a shaded effect that makes the pumpkins look a little more natural, doncha' think?! I added some loops of thread taken from the Burlap Ribbon along with some Mossy Meadow leaves from the Bird Builder punch. Of course, since this is Ann's color challenge I had to use some pearls which I colored with a gold Stampin' Dazzle marker.

I was a little pressed for time on this creation and didn't manage to finish the inside (gasp!) but I thought you might be happy with one more creation using these gorgeous colors:

Unfortunately, I needed a quick sympathy card for a co-worker and when I saw this lovely card, I knew it was just perfect. I used post-it notes to mask off an area of Very Vanilla cardstock (I think it was about 2") and sponged the area with the challenge colors. I stamped the trees with the two lighter colors in the background before removing the mask. This really added to the forest look. After removing the mask, just stamp the trees once in the darkest ink (Mossy Meadow) and you've got a quick and easy card.

I hope you've enjoyed my two-fer cards for Ann's color challenge! Do check out the rest of the fabulous inspiration from the Paper Players Design Team. Come back and play with us before the challenge ends on Friday, October 17th at Noon. Thanks for stopping by!

The Paper Players Design Team

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

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Fall Fest in a Box {PP216}

Last week our daughter asked me if this was the first weekend in October. When I said yes she ~~said~~ squealed "Yay, that means we can put up the Halloween decorations!!" Over at at The Paper Players we're putting up the Halloween decorations too with Jaydee's fun theme challenge:

Around here we love Halloween. I love the decorations, the costumes and our new favorite family tradition--decorating the trunk of our car for Trunk or Treat at our daughter's school. I love making the trunk into a special scene for the kids, really going over the top. With that in mind for this challenge, I really wanted to make something special....and I thought the card in a box technique would be perfect. What do you think?

Eeek! Isn't it cute?! I must confess though--between the designer series paper and the stamps with coordinating framelits, this baby came together easy-peasy! There are many tutorials out there but I found this one the easiest to follow. I made the "box" out of Basic Black cardstock and covered it with the adorable candy corn paper from the Motley Monsters DSP.

I've been on a kick with the moons lately and made another one for my box card. This time I added a little shadow effect to the moon with a stamp from Work of Art. The tone-on-tone stamping really makes it look like shadows across the moon doesn't it? A couple "cute" bats from Freaky Friends just add to the fun.

Love the faces that come with the pumpkins in the Fall Fest stamp set. I inked the pumpkins in Tangerine Tango and used a Q-tip to wipe the ink off just the stem then inked the stem with an Old Olive marker. A little Linen Thread bow and Fun Fall framelit leaf dress up these pumpkins nicely.

Lastly, you need a close-up of the ghosts. Did you notice a little extra shine to them? That's because they were embossed on Silver Foil paper! Just that little bit of shine peeking through makes a big difference.

Speaking of making a difference, check out the amazing creations from the rest of the Design Team. We hope you'll be inspired to play along with us before our challenge closes on Friday, October 10th at Noon (PST). Thanks for stopping by today!

The Paper Players Design Team