Best Birds for a Sketch PP337

Happy funday Sunday, friends!  Our sweet friend, Crafty Claire has a fabulous sketch challenge for us this week at The Paper Players:

I know I say this every month but I just love sketch challenges!  In my mind, the layout is always the most difficult part of the design so I appreciate a head start. 

I recently acquired the Best Birds bundle and though it would be perfect for this sketch.  I started by stamping a masked circle on the Crumb Cake base with the Hardwood background stamp.  To do this, I used the largest size Circle framelit to cut a mask from thin copy paper.  Once the circle was cut out, I laid the copy paper over my card base and stamped on top leaving just the area exposed by the circle for my stamped image.  Copy paper works best because it is thin and gives a crisp outer edge to your stamped image.

All the pieces you see here were stamped onto watercolor paper--with Early Espresso ink--and cut out with the coordinating Birds & Blooms Thinlits.  I colored each piece with a combination of [retired] Blendabilities markers and Stampin' Write markers.  My colors are Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral and Daffodil Delight.  I love the springtime look of this combination!  I tried to show you in this pic the liberal application of Wink of Stella on the birdie but that darn Stella is difficult to capture "on film"!  Trust me, though, she sparkles!

Just a touch of stamping on the inside and coloring with Blendabilities and Stampin' Write markers again.  I really like this stamp set.  The images are so pretty and detailed and there are a bunch of wonderful sentiments--love the fonts too!

Be sure to check out all the wonderful inspiration from the rest of The Paper Players design team--you will love the variety of creativity on display there!  Maybe you will join us before the challenge closes on Friday, March 31st at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by, friends!

The Paper Players Design Team 

Claire Broadwater

 Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy 

Sandy Mathis 

Crystal Komara
Valentyna Komisarenko
Deanne 

Congratulations, Lesley & Corey!

Hi friends, coming to you today with an extra special, super surprise Blog Hop for a dear friend!  My uber talented friend and all-round sweet gal Lesley Croghan and her husband Corey are expecting their first child--a baby girl, squeal--so excited for them!  With the amazing organizational and creative talents of Lori Turner, we are putting on a Blog Hop today:

All of us--at last count there were about 70!--sent cards and presents to Lori who graciously packaged everything up and mailed it to Lesley & Corey!  Lesley is opening the package as this hop goes live and she and her hubby will get to go through the cards in person as well as online--what fun!  So, here's what I made to welcome Little Miss Croghan to the world:

So, the partial cutting technique is the same as I used on my card for last week's Paper Players challenge but I actually made this one first.  I just couldn't share it with you until now...you know because of the surprise blog hop and all!  This version is way more stepped up with lots of layers and embellies.  The Pool Party base is stamped with falling stars from the Moon Baby set and I filled in a few of them with tiny stars punched with the Star Border punch and silver glimmer paper.  Geesh, those were tiny but so worth it!

For this card, I stamped on Watercolor paper and used my Watercolor Pencil--Daffodil Delight & Melon Mambo--with an Aqua Painter to blend.  There's also a touch of Blushing Bride on the rosy cheeks of this sweet baby--oh, she is just so cute!  Just like Little Miss Croghan is sure to be!

A huge thank you to Lori Turner for organizing this fabulous blog hop--so glad to be part of it! Lori is hosting the hop on her blog so we can go check out all the happy baby wishes from everyone.  You can even link up your own well wishes to Lesley on Lori's blog--come on and hop along with us! Check it out!

Lesley...wishing showers of happiness for you, Corey and your soon-to-be-bundle of joy.  What wonders await you.  You are going to be an amazing mother and little Miss Croghan is one lucky baby.  Big hugs to you, my friend, wishing you all the best....mwah!

Clean and Simple Moon Baby: PP336

Our wonderful and talented friend, Joanne, is hostess this week at The Paper Players with a sweet Clean-and-Simple challenge:

I was thrilled with this challenge because it gave me another excuse to use the adorable Moon Baby set!

 

This sweet little nugget just makes me smile every time I stamp with it.  So sweet!  The base of my card is thick Whisper White cardstock which I covered with a piece of Soft Sky embossed with the [retired] Swiss Dot folder.  I associate Swiss Dot fabric with sweet baby outfits and delicate details so it was a natural choice for this card.

So you might be wondering what I did here......well, sweet Joanne is the queen of the partial die-cutting technique (where part of your stamped image goes beyond the edge of the die cut) and she inspired me to do the same with today's card. 

Although I didn't use a die cut, the technique is the same.  After I stamped the image on a piece of Shimmery White cardstock, I used my rotary trimmer to cut in from the sides stopping just at the moon.  From there, I fussy-cut around the sweet little cherub.  I really like the way it frames the image and emphasizes the direction of the moon.

I added a little doily folded in half under the main panel.  You can't see it here but it's brushed with Wink of Stella--love!  This is a CAS challenge so I kept the layers and embellishments to a minimum but the moon needed a little special treatment.  Some looped silver thread was just the thing!

I couldn't neglect the inside and there are some other sweet stamps in this set.  I colored these little guys with a mixture of watercolor pencils + blender pens and [retired] Blendabilites markers.  So cute!

I know that the rest of The Paper Players design team have some more adorable Baby creations for you--be sure to check them out!  Maybe you will even play along before our challenge ends on Friday, March 24th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by!

The Paper Players Design Team 
Claire Broadwater

 Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy  

Sandy Mathis 

Crystal Komara
Valentyna Komisarenko
Deanne 

Corner Garden of Emeralds PP335 & FMS278

Green is my favorite color...so many pretty shades.  From deep forest green to the softest sea green, I love them all!  So, it was with great anticipation that I looked forward to the fabulous Jaydee's challenge this week at The Paper Players:

The hardest part was deciding just which shade of green to use?  I went from Old Olive to Pear Pizzazz and none of them turned out like I envisioned....until I spotted a new pack of Emerald Envy cardstock and my Corner Garden of Emeralds was born!

This background stamp, Corner Garden, is retired but I still love it.  The delicate layering of flowers is just beautiful and embossed in white on Emerald Envy cardstock, it really pops!  I needed a subtle layer of color behind the focal panel and this Mint Macaron designer paper is just perfect.  Believe it or not, it's actually the reverse of some SU 2016 Christmas paper.  The DSP featured Mint Macaron and Emerald Envy together and they really do pair well.  The subtle pattern "reads" like a solid--meaning your eye picks up the solid color--but the slight pattern adds just enough interest.

The gals at Freshly Made Sketches have an awesome sketch this week and it gave me the perfect layout for this card.  Per the sketch, I tried a couple pieces of cardstock behind the main panel but they all looked to heavy.  I tried some bits of ribbon instead and really liked the look so I went with it!  The 4 pieces of Whisper White Organza ribbon were attached to a scrap piece of cardstock with snail adhesive.  I attached the ribbon + cardstock to my base card and trimmed the ribbon to the width of the card.  I like the soft white color it provides while the satin adds a little elegance to the design.

Also per the sketch, I added an extra flower that was embossed in white and fussy-cut.  It's a little higher than the sketch placement but I think it works!  The sentiment is from Birthday Blooms and I use it all the time!  Love the mix of fonts.  Here, I inked it in Versamark, then Emerald Envy ink and heat set with clear embossing powder for a custom embossed sentiment.

 

I used Corner Garden again on the inside, this time stamping in Mint Macaron ink. The sentiment is an old one from a long-ago retired stamp set that I can't even remember the name of!  I kept it just for this sentiment because, well...good friends are hard to find and they should be celebrated!

Come on over to The Paper Players and celebrate by playing along with us!  Check out all the fabulous inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and then link up your creation before the challenge closes on Friday, March 17th at Noon (PST)!

The Paper Players Design Team 
Claire Broadwater

 Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy  

Sandy Mathis 

Crystal Komara
Valentyna Komisarenko
Deanne 

Affectionately Dragonfly Dreams PP334

Hi friends!  Happy to share my card for The Paper Players with you.  This week, the sensational Sandy is our hostess with a fun Theme Challenge:

 

I was so excited for this one because I really like to fussy cut.  I find it very relaxing--funny, right?  I know some people find it stressful but I can really get in the zone when I'm snipping!  Despite that, I ended up using some dies on today's card and no fussy-cutting at all!  Just shows, that you have to go where inspiration takes you.

Oh how I love the Dragonfly Dreams set and coordinating dies--it was the first thing I purchase from the Ocassions catalog.  Paired with the Affectionately Yours designer paper is gorgeous.  I love the bright, spring colors and the pop of copper throughout.  There's not much explaining needed for this card--it's really pretty simple.  The dots from this set were stamped in Mint Macaron onto the cardstock of the same color and the sentiment was stamped directly with Night of Navy ink.

You do need to see a close-up of this gorgeous dragonfly resplendent in Copper Foil.  The detail of this die is amazing and cuts beautifully from the foil paper.  I cut an extra dragonfly from Vellum cardstock and added it to the background for a subtle extra layer.  I like the gossamer look of the vellum.

The stamps in this set are just as gorgeous as the detailed dies.  The detail SU is able to achieve even with the photopolymer stamps is amazing.  I never thought they would be able to match the detail of red rubber in the clear stamps but this set proves that they have!

I hope you enjoyed my Affectionately Dragonfly Dreams card....it will be headed out to a special friend who enjoys nature and all manner of winged creatures!  Do check out the lovely creations from the rest of the Design Team over at The Paper Players...maybe you'll even join us before the challenge closes on Friday, March 10th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by!

The Paper Players Design Team 
Claire Broadwater

 Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy  

Sandy Mathis 

Crystal Komara
Valentyna Komisarenko
Deanne