It's a HUGE Celebration - PP400

Oh my gosh, do we have a HUGE party going on at The Paper Players this week!  It's our FOUR HUNDREDTH challenge--yes, I'm shouting because it's a big deal!  I am so proud to work alongside this amazing group of crafters.  Week in and week out we laugh, sometimes cry, and craft together.  They are kind, caring, and wicked creative and I'm so honored to call them my friends.  This week we're even joined by some of our best design team buddies--Ann Schach and Anne Marie Hile--who are back to play with us this week!  Big hugs ladies--great to have you with us again.  

So any good party has to have prizes, right?  We've got tons of them--40 prizes to be exact and we will draw winners from our participants with random.org.  This is such a big deal that we are running the challenge for TWO WEEKS to give folks lots of time to participate.  

Our theme this week is....what else...Celebrations!  Any kind of celebration--birthday, anniversary, retirement, whatever you want.

Our challenge badge features balloons but our cards don't have to....just any celebration.  My in-laws are celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary next month so that seemed a fitting celebration for the theme:

I used the awesome sketch from the gals at Freshly Made Sketches for the layout and played with a new SU set and coordinating thinlits, Serene Garden.  I'm also playing with one of the new SU colors, Soft Seafoam which is really lovely.  Paired with Smoky Slate and Pink Pirouette, it makes a pretty color combination.  

This set has a really cool die that cuts out just part of the stamped image to let a little bit of the under layer peek through.  Here I stamped the corner image in Soft Seafoam and layered a piece of Smoky Slate cardstock underneath that had also been stamped.  The flowers have a coordinating die too--they were stamped in Basic Gray archival ink and colored with [retired] Stampin' Blends in three shades of Pink Pirouette.

There's some really nice sentiments in the returning set, Beautiful Bouquet.  I combined three of them for the inside of this special anniversary card.  My in-laws were high school sweethearts and are true role models of "love is in the staying there"...relationship goals!

Here's the layout from the team at Freshly Made Sketches:

I mentioned the amazing number of prizes we have for PP400 at The Paper Players so check out the full list, in alphabetical order:

1. Altenew - $30 gift card
2. Atenew Academy - $20 gift card  - compliments of Jaydee
3. Avery Elle - $20 store credit
4. Butterfly Reflections - Breathe Rainbows Stamp Set (US only)
5. CAS-ual Fridays - $25 store credit
6. Cheery Lynn - $20 gift card  
7. Cheery Lynn - $20 gift card - compliments of Laurie
8. Concord & 9th - $25 gift card
9. Craftin Desert Diva's - $10 store cedit
10. Dies R Us - $15 gift card
11. Ellen Hutson -  20 gift cards - compliments of Annie 
12. Ellen Hutson $20 gift card - compliments of Eliz
13. Happy Little Stampers - $20 store credit
14. Heffy Doodle - Sticky Friends Stamp Sets (exclusive - not available for purchase)
15. Heffy Doodle - Sticky Friends Stamp Set (exclusive - not available for purchase)
16. Heffy Doodle - Sticky Friends Stamp Set (exclusive - not available for purchase)
17. Heffy Doodle - Sticky Friends Stamp Set (exclusive - not available for purchase)
18. Lawn Fawn - $25 gift card
19. My Favorite Things - $25 store credit
20. Neat & Tangled - $15 store credit 
21. Newton's Nook - $20 store credit
22. Pink & Main - $20 store credit
23. Power Poppy - $10 store credit
24. Stampendous - $20 rewards cards (US only)
25. Stampendous - $20 reward card (US only)
26. Stampendous - $20 reward card (US only)
27. Stamplorations - $20 gift certificate
28. Stampin' Up - $20 gift certificates compliments of Nance (US only)
29. Stampin' Up! $20 gift certificate - compliments of LeAnne (US only)
30. Stampin' Up! $20 gift certificate - compliments of Joanne (UK only)
31. Stampin' Up! $20 gift certificate - compliments of Claire (US only)
32. Stampin' Up $20 gift certificate - compliments of Jan (NZ only)
33. Technique Tuesday - $20 gift card
34. The Foiled Fox - $25 store credit
35. Trinity Stamps - Let it Grow and Lady Liberty Stamp Sets
36. Tutti Designs - $15 gift card
37. Uniko - any in-stock stamp set of winner's choice
38. Verve Stamps - stamp & accessory bundle - compliments of Sandy (US only)
39. Verve Stamps - stamp & accessory bundle - compliments of Sandy (US only)
40. Waffle Flower - $15 gift card

Huge thanks and appreciation to all our sponsors who gave so generously for all these wonderful prizes.  I knew the crafting community was generous but this really takes the cake!  With a prize list like that, I'm sure you will want to participate...just be sure to link up before our special two week challenge ends on Friday, July 13th at Noon (PST).  Don't forget to visit the rest of The Paper Players design team and our special guests for even more inspiration.  I'll be back again next Sunday with a second card for our challenge...have a great week, friends!

The Paper Players Design Team 

Claire Broadwater

 Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy 

Sandy Mathis 

Annie Abrahamson 

Jan Clothier 

Elizabeth Stewart 

Special Guest Designers

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile