Canopy Crafts: April 2016

Sunday, April 24, 2016

A Two-for-One Sketch PP292

Hi friends--I hope you're having a great weekend. No travel volleyball for us this weekend so it's a rare one at home! Today at The Paper Players my dear friend, Claire, has a great sketch challenge for us. Take a look:

Oh how Claire loves her layers! :-) I tried to live up to her expectations with today's card so see what you think:

This stamp set, A Nice Cuppa, is on the retiring list and I'm very sad to see it go. With the coordinating framelits that cut out the teap cup and accessories, it's a must-have. It's going to stay in my craft room even after retirement! The coordinating DSP stack Have a Cuppa, is also retiring and I took my color cues from the happy hues it contains: Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry and Melon Mambo. If you're wondering about the dimensions for the strips of paper I used, they are as follows:

Crushed Curry (yellow) panel: 1.5" x 4.75"
Melon Mambo (pink) panel: 1.25" x 3.75"
Have a Cuppa DSP panel: 1.75" x 3.25"

I heat-set the sentiment with white embossing powder on my Bermuda Bay teacup and decorated it with a single Iced Rhinestone. Some Silver Metallic Thread is a subtle accent and almost looks like steam from the teacup.

This was not the first card I made with Claire's sketch though... When I first sat down to create, I had an idea to use the elements of the sketch for a one-layered stamping card. I really wanted to use the retiring Summer Silhouttes stamp--another favorite that won't leave my craft room. So here's the first card I made:

What do you think? Can you see the sketch elements? The Pool Party trellis is one of the three panels in the background. The two stamps leafy vines are the other two panels in the sketch and the large Queen Anne's lace flowers are the circle element. It was fun to stretch my brain and try to approach the sketch in an abstract way.

One more pic so you can see that I stamped onto Shimmery White cardstock. I often forget to use it but it's so pretty and just a light dusting of shimmer makes this simple card a bit more special.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Design Team's creations over at The Paper Players. They have knocked it out of the park...again! We hope you will join us before our challenge closes on Friday, April 29th at Noon (CST).

The Paper Players Design Team

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Clean and Simple Swallowtail PP291

Hi friends, I hope you are having a fantastic weekend. We're in Jacksonville, Florida this weekend for another volleyball tournament. My in-laws are visiting from Wisconsin and this is the first time they get to see our daughter play in a tournament. She's come a long way from the local Girls' Place volleyball and I am so excited for them to see her play and compete at the next level! Anyway, this week our super talented friend, Sandy has an awesome Clean-and-Simple challenge for us at The Paper Players...Butterflies!

I had so many ideas swirling in my brain but not a lot of time to put them down on paper. In the end, I went with the one that kept floating to the top and here's what came to light:

I've always loved the Swallowtail butterfly stamp from SU. It's big and bold but oh, so pretty! I wanted to play with some of the outgoing In Colors and used Lost Lagoon/Mossy Meadow on the front card and Hello Honey/Blackberry Bliss on the back card.

This card isn't complicated at all but it did take a little bit of figuring to get the background butterfly lined up with the one in the foreground. First,I stamped the butterfly on the card base. I then stamped it on the window sheet of my Stamp-a-ma-Jig and lined it up over the stamped image on the card base. I slipped the center panel (3.5" x 4.75") in between the window sheet and the card base where I wanted it to be. Holding the window sheet and the center panel, I slipped out the card base and then stamped my butterfly on the center panel. I popped it up on dimensionals, pierced the corners and lined it up. I think I did pretty good for just winging it!

I refrained from adding some glitz and glam with sequins but couldn't resist the call of some Wink of Stella painted onto the butterfly. Can't go wrong with Stella!

You also can't go wrong by checking out the fabulous inspiration from the rest of our Paper Players design team. These gals knock it out of the park every week and I just love working with them! If you're inspired to join in the fun...and why wouldn't you be?--just be sure to do so before our challenge closes on Friday, April 22nd at Noon (PST). Thanks for stopping by!

The Paper Players Design Team

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Number of Years Birthday PP290

Hiya friends and welcome to another week at The Paper Players! Our dear friend across the pond, Joanne, has a happy and bright color challenge for us:

I know sometimes a 4 color challenge might be,well...challenging...but I started by looking at the Soft sky color as a background for the other three. While I don't always want to go with the first thing that pops in my mind, this time...I did!

To me, these colors were crying out for flowers and leaves with a soft background. I needed a card for a friend in my stamp club who recently turned 72 years young so the Number of Years photopolymer set and Large Number Framelits were the answer! I used the birthday girl's numbers to stamp a subtle background with matching Soft Sky ink. Then layered some retired DSP in polka dot Pumpkin Pie to ground my focal point.

I stamped the leaves and stems in Mossy Meadow ink and used Melon Mambo and Pumpkin Pie for the various flowers. The numbers were stamped in Veramark ink and heat embossed with gold powder. Love how evenly the framelits cut those numbers! To coordinate with the gold numbers, I tucked a snippet of gold foil doily underneath both sides of the circle. I backed it with some retired ruffled ribbon. It's Strawberry Slush, not Melon Mambo, but close enough that I thought it worked.

Soft Sky was used for the stems on the inside so the background stamping doesn't compete with the Mossy Meadow sentiment. The flowers were stamped off once to keep the whole color scheme light and keep the sentiment the focal point.

I hope you've enjoyed my card today....pop over to The Paper Players and check out the rest of the design team's inspiration. I hope you will join in the fun before our challenge closes on Friday, April 15th at Noon (PST).

The Paper Players Design Team

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Giddyup Cowgirl PP289

Happy Sunday, happy Funday friends! We hosted a 40 person reception in our home last night so yesterday was all about cleaning and preparations. Today is FUN day and my friend Laurie certainly has a fun theme challenge this week at The Paper Players:

I have very few...well, in fact, just one....stamp set that I could use for this challenge. It's a retired one that, thankfully, I never got rid of. As I considered the design of my card, two other challenges fell into place that gave me just the kick I needed. The Global Design Project 029 has a fun color challenge and with my friend Brian King on the design team I couldn't resist! Then I saw the fabulous sketch from my sweet friend, Dawn Tidd, at Pals Paper Arts PP294 and everything just clicked! Here are the two challenges:

...and here's how they inspired me:

I promise you, I really did use Bermuda Bay...I know it looks more like Tempting Turquoise but the light was terrible when I took this picture and it made it a different color but I swear it is Bermuda Bay! I stamped the Hardwood background stamp onto Crumb Cake cardstock, distressed the edges and placed it onto my Early Espresso base.

The boots were embossed with Early Espresso embossing powder on the Bermuda Bay cardstock and fussy cut. I love the way the color pops on the Tangelo Twist sunburst circle. The Linen thread looped behind the boots and the bit of Burlap trim all added to the rustic look I was going for.

You can see the Bermuda Bay color a bit better here but what I wanted to show you was the dusting of Wink of Stella the boots received. Because really, who doesn't love stardust cowgirl boots, right?

I hope you've enjoyed my card today....pop over to the challenge blogs that inspired me and say hello to everyone there. Then, I hope you will join us at The Paper Players before our challenge closes on Friday, April 8th at Noon (PST).

The Paper Players Design Team