A Lakeview of Adventure {PP242}

Hi there friends...happy Sunday!  It's another week at The Paper Players and our fabulous friend Ann is this week's hostess for sketch challenge!

And do you know what else?  It's Ann's birthday today!!  Woohoo!  Happy Birthday, Ann!  May today be as fabulous as you are!  Be sure to pop over to her blog and send her big birthday hugs!  So I hope Ann will forgive me for taking a bit of a....er....um...."abstract" interpretation of her sketch.  I had a couple things in mind and once I started creating, well....creative energy was flowing and I ended up with this:

Oh yeah, and I flipped the sketch on it's side too [insert blush here].  But you can still see the sketch, right?  I used the water and the grass as two of the banners and the linen thread as the third banner element.  The oval is there and the sentiment placement is the same so I hope Ann is OK with it!

I used an assortment of stamp sets on this one and there all listed at the bottom of the post.  I also had to pay homage to my beloved Naturals White cardstock which is on the SU retiring list as well as the Petite Pairs stamp set.  Won't be getting rid of that one--the sentiments are too good and I love the scale of them!  This card is being mailed to the fabulous teacher who recently arranged for my daughter's fifth grade class to go on an amazing camping trip.  I chaperoned the trip last week and it was an amazing experience!  

A gorgeous location full of nature hikes...

campfires.....with s'mores of course!

friendship....

 and adventure....

Yes, that's me climbing the 40 foot Alpine Tower...and I made it to the TOP...along with many of the kiddos!  OK, if I haven't lost you yet, you might be even more interested in the goodie bags DD and I made for all the campers...

Like that closure?  Two holes punched in the top of the bag with a stick from our yard threaded through....clever, yes?  I thought so!  Thanks for bearing with all my photos in today's post.  We had such a great time.  I am so proud of our girl and the effort she made to learn new things and test her abilities.  What an adventure!  So, you can see why I needed to make a special card for the teacher who made this whole trip possible.  The rest of the design team have amazing samples for you so be sure to pop over to The Paper Players and have a look!  We would love for you to join us before the challenge ends on Friday, May 1st at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile
Claire Broadwater
 Jaydee
Joanne James
Laurie Schmidt 
LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy
Sandy Mathis 
Debbie Mageed
Karren Johnson
Shannon Jaramillo

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

{PP241} Wetlands Watercolor Block Technique

Happy Sunday, everyone!  I am so excited to share my Paper Players card with you today.  First, I'll tell you that I am the hostess for a Clean-and-Simple challenge this week:

Oh how I love the look of watercolor.....but....true watercoloring takes time, patience and skill.  None of which I had much of this week, ha!  That's when I was so excited to learn about watercoloring with an acrylic block and markers!  One of my very talented downline, Pilar, demonstrated this technique at our meeting last week.  She is so artistic and made some lovely cards with this technique.  I couldn't wait to use this technique for today's card:

It's so easy!  I used an acrylic block, size D, and "painted" the block with Baked Brown Sugar, Lost Lagoon, So Saffron, Calypso Coral & Pool Party Stampin' Write markers.  Just swipe the markers right onto the block.  Hold the block about arm's length away and spritz a few times with a Stampin' Spritzer of water.  The marker ink will bead up on the block.  Then "stamp" the block directly onto your paper, press and watch the water blend the colors together.  I will say it takes a few tries to get the hang of how much water to use and your image will be better if you stamp with a piercing mat or similar soft surface under your paper.

I wanted this scene to look like a sunset so I scribbled just a touch of Calypso Coral to the center So Saffron panel.  When the water and ink spread, it gave just the effect I was going for--a watery reflection of the setting sun.  And these little shorebirds--love them!

With my inside image, you can see that you won't have the same effect or blend of colors twice.  This is the same combination of colors but I think I had less water so the ink didn't run as much.  Still gives a cool effect though, doesn't it?

This faux watercolor technique would be a perfect way to join in the fun at The Paper Players this week!  Check out the awesome creations from the rest of the design team for even more inspiration.  We hope you will join us before this challenge ends on Friday, April 24th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by today!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile
Claire Broadwater
 Jaydee
Joanne James
Laurie Schmidt 
LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy
Sandy Mathis 
Debbie Mageed
Karren Johnson
Shannon Jaramillo

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

Crazy for Flower Fair {PP240 & FMS181}

Hey there friends!  Wow, what a crazy week it's been.....and here we are back at a Paper Players Sunday.  Joanne is our fabulous hostess this week with a beautiful, springtime color challenge:

Can you imagine a crafting world without Coastal Cabana?  Oh my, but it's true!  Coastal Cabana and this whole trio of colors will retire with the introduction of the new SU catalog on June 3rd.  Whaaaaa!  Joanne was so clever to give us a challenge using all three of these beauties!  I combined them with the fab sketch from the uber-talented Jen Mitchell over at Freshly Made Sketches:

There are a few people, hi Mom!, who will be shocked at me embracing a TILTED sketch but there you have it...I really liked this one!

Because this was a card for Freshly Made Sketches, I wanted to keep it clean and uncluttered.  Because this is Jen M's sketch, I wanted to try big pops of color that she does so well....and because this is Joanne's challenge, I wanted to do something bold with the colors--also something she does well.  So what do you think?  This is my Jen-Joanne channeling card, LOL.  I know they will get a kick out of that!  Anyway, not much to 'splain here except  that yes, I did use my sewing machine to stitch around the center panel and I was really happy when I was able to change mid-stitch to a zig-zag pattern!  I thought that was a fun detail that emphasized the tilted panel.

Here's a close-up so you can see the fussy-cut layer of the flower.  To give the word die a little more strength and stability, I layered two pieces of Basic Black cardstock together before running it through the Big Shot.  Worked like a charm and gave me a nice thick sentiment.

I wanted to use the challenge colors again on the inside but didn't want to take my predictable route of using the same stamp on the inside.  Since this card is headed to my mother and father-in-law in Wisconsin, I put together the appropriate sentiments from Crazy About You with a little birdie to remind them of us in Florida!

Do pop over to The Paper Players and check out the awesome creations from the rest of the design team.  We hope you will join us before this challenge ends on Friday, April 17th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by today!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile
Claire Broadwater
 Jaydee
Joanne James
Laurie Schmidt 
LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy
Sandy Mathis 
Debbie Mageed
Karren Johnson
Shannon Jaramillo

 

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