Sweet Floral {PP90}

Happy Sunday, friends.  If you celebrate Easter--happy egg hunting!  If you're hunting up a lovely color challenge, look no further than LeAnne's gorgeous choices for this week's color challenge at The Paper Players:

Blues and greens are always a favorite and so easy to mix together.  I recently acquired a large background stamp called Sweet Floral and decided to use that as the focal point for today's card:

Pretty dramatic, eh?!  Stamping the darker color, Not Quite Navy, onto the lighter Pool Party is an easy way to incorporate two of the challenge colors.  For a little pop, I stamped the floral image again and fussy-cut a few of the flowers:

Now, to incorporate Certainly Celery, I layered striped grosgrain ribbon, a label stamped with a Four Frames image and an itty bit of Pool Party ruffled ribbon:

I made my sentiment from the mix-and-match set, Fabulous Phrases in Not Quite Navy with a little background stamping in Pool Party.  I had so much fun playing with these colors and I know that you will too!  Be sure to check out the rest of the Design Team for their amazing inspiration.  I hope you will join in the fun over at The Paper Players.  Remember, this challenge will close on Friday, April 13th at Noon (PST).  Hope to see you there!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Nance Leedy
Jenn Picard
Heidi Boos

Shirley Pumpkin (April GD)

Supplies 

Stamps: Sweet Floral, Fabulous Phrases, Fresh Vintage (retired) 

Ink: Not Quite Navy, Pool Party, Certainly Celery 

Paper: Not Quite Navy, Pool Party, Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla CS 

Extras: Decorative Label punch, Large Oval punch; Certainly Celery 1 1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon; Pool Party ruffled ribbon.

Timeless Innocence {CCMC190}

Happy Thursday, y'all, and welcome to another week with the gals at Create with Connie & Mary. This week we have a sketch challenge, which I think have to be my favorite! I always find the layout to be the most difficult part of the design process and with a sketch challenge that's already done for you! Here is the sketch for CCMC190: 

This one was right up my alley as I love the trimming the main image with the Decorative Label punch and adding just a smidge of ribbon.  So that's exactly what I did:

Everything was inspired by the Timeless Portrait designer series paper from the images and patterns to the colors.  The River Rock base was layered with some patterned paper of the same color and I added a strip of Cherry Cobbler dsp trimmed in a little ribbon of Island Indigo cardstock cut with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch.  There is actually very little stamping on this because the boy & girl silhouettes were cut directly from the designer paper and layered on top of some basic black cardstock run through the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and punched with the Ticket Corner punch.  A little striped grosgrain ribbon, some Baker's Twine and two tine tags completed the look.  This card was designed as a birthday card for a co-worker with two children so I thought the silhouettes were perfect!  Pretty simple when the Designer Paper does all the work!

I hope I've inspired you to play along with this great sketch over at Create with Connie & Mary!  Be sure to check out the rest of the lovelies from the design team and then come back to play with us by Wednesday, February 29th at Noon (EST).  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies 

Stamps: Fabulous Phrases; Four Frames

Ink: Island Indigo (really, that's it!)

Paper: River Rock, Island Indigo, Basic Black cardstock; Timeless Portrait DSP

Xtras: Ticket Corner, Dotted Scallop Ribbon, Deocrative Label and Medium Jewelry punches; Paper Snips; Basic Black wide striped grosgrain ribbon; Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine

Tag It for the Players {PP79}

Happy Sunday, friends, and welcome to another week with my best gal-pals The Paper Players! It's Jaydee's turn as hostess and as our reigning queen of clean and simple, she is challenging us to "Tag It: Create a Clean-and-Simple card with a tag on it!"

I pulled out my current favorite designer paper, Everyday Enchantment, and dusted off an old favorite, Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die, to make this:

A friend pointed out to me today that I use Pool Party a LOT.  It's true, I'm guilty...but it is such a versatile color!  Here, it pairs well with Crumb Cake and the Pure Poppy of the designer paper.

There's some other upcoming Sale-a-Bration goodies on here...Calypso Coral Organdy Ribbon and the Everyday Enchantment brad pack.   Tied onto the butterfly, the ribbon makes a fine pair of gossamer antenna, don't you think?

Even though it's retired, this sentiment from the Hope Happens set is my favorite to pair with a butterfly.    This card will be on it's way to a friend who recently went back to work after several years at home with her children.   

And there you have it--a clean-and-simple post for a clean-and-simple card!  Be sure to check out the rest of The Paper Players design team inspiration.  We hope you will consider playing along with us this week!  Our challenge closes on Friday, January 27th at 12 Noon (PST).  I hope to see you in the gallery!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Nance Leedy

Supplies

Stamps: Fabulous Phrases; Creative Elements [butterfly, inside]; Hope Happens [retired] 

Ink: Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Early Espresso classic inks

Paper: Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Very Vanilla CS; Everyday Enchantment DSP [SAB available 1/24/12]

Extras: Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die; Everyday Enchantment Ribbon & Brad Pack; Scallop Tags die [non-SU]; Filial Press Textured Impressions folder; my sewing machine 

Leaves of Autumn {CCMC165}

Happy September 1st, friends, and welcome to another week at Create with Connie & Mary!  Wow, September 1st is a great day because it's the first day of the Holiday Mini Catalog!  It's an exciting time at CCMC, too, because subscriptions to the Holiday Edition of CCMC are now available with early bird pricing--that's $5 off the normal $34.95 price...$29.95 US for six weeks of daily posts and tutorials featuring items from the Holiday Mini.   So, how about this week's challenge?!  It's a fabulous color combination perfect for autumn or Halloween cards:

And here is the Thanksgiving card I designed using The Paper Players sketch:

 

Next to birds and leaves, trees are my favorite stamp images--I think I own every one that SU makes.  So, of course, I had to have Leaves of a Tree from the new Holiday Mini!  I embossed it in gold onto Very Vanilla cardstock and colored scattered leaves with a Blender pen and inks in all three challenge colors.  Here's a closer look:

Love the effect mixed with the gold embossing!  I find that the blender pen + ink pad technique gives me better control over the color strength than if I colored with markers.  For small detail work, like these leaves, the colors show up better in a slightly lighter shade than I would get with a marker. 

The Rich Razzleberry panel was stamped with the same ink on the French Filagree stamp and the edges were roughed up with the 7-sided distressing tool.  That's some Lucky Limeade patterned paper from the In Color patterned paper stack trimmed out in a tiny punched Pumpkin Pie scallop ribbon border.  Instead of ribbon, I wrapped some gold Waffle Paper around the front panel, scrunched it with some linen thread and secured with a glue dot--instant gold ribbon!

And finally, I was channeling my friend Carrie Gaskin with this little sentiment banner!  She uses them often on her cards and I just love the whimsical look of them!  The Fabulous Phrases sentiment was stamped in Rich Razzleberry onto Very Vanilla and over stamped with a Pumpkin Pie leaf from Day of Gratitude.  My paper snips cut it into a rectangle and the 1 1/4" square punch turned on an angle made the flagged ends!  Isn't it cute?  Thanks for the inspiration, Carrie!

Well, I hope I've inspired you to play along with these gorgeous fall colors at Create with Connie & Mary.  Be sure to stop by and see all the wonderful Design Team inspiration.  If you play along with us,  please link your card up to Create with Connie & Mary by Wednesday, September 7th at 12 noon (EST).

supplies:

stamps: leaves of a tree, day of gratitude, fabulous phrases

ink: rich razzleberry, pumpkin pie, lucky limeade, versamark

paper: rich razzleberry, pumpkin pie, very vanilla CS; in color designer patterns stack

xtras: 3" circle die; gold waffle paper; linen thread; brads (brights); 7-sided distressing tool (cutter kit); paper snips; 1.25" square punch; scallop ribbon border punch; stampin' emboss powder (gold)

Happy Hula Hoop: {CCMC156}

Yahoo, it's Thursday and that means a new challenge at Create with Connie & Mary! This week we have a fantastic color combination for you.   Check it:

Love it, right?  These colors are so bright and happy that I had to give some love to the Recess stamp set from the Mini Catalog:

This card reminds me of my daughter and her love for jump ropes and hula hoops!  I thought the Playdate Designer Series Paper was the perfect match for these happy colors.  I used the big flower from the DSP and just cut down the 12x12 paper to the section that I needed.

Then I stamped my girl in Jet Black Stazon and colored her shirt, skirt and hula hoop with my Stampin' Write markers a Blender pen and ink pads in the challenge colors.  See the little bows in her hair?  Yes, I drew those free-hand with a Tangerine Tango marker!  I also rimmed the edge with a glue pen and then dipped it in Dazzling Diamonds because a little girl can never have too much sparkle!

I trimmed the main panel with a Tangerine Tango Scallop Ribbon Border and stamped the background randomly with the Recess hopscotch image inked in Old Olive. 

Using the Cupcake punch (coming back in the new catalog July 1st) I made some Whisper White clouds which I sponged with Tempting Turquoise and stamped in the challenge colors with "Happy Sweet Day" from the Fabulous Phrases set.

Of course, I couldn't forget the inside!  Some Funky Four flowers were stamped in the challenge colors and the Apple Blossoms [hostess] sentiment just seemed to fit the feel and emotions of this card...happy thoughts do indeed make happy days!  You'll make us happy if you play along at Create with Connie & Mary!  Be sure to check out the rest of the design team inspiration over at Create with Connie & Mary and then load up your challenge card for a chance at the top 3 pick!

supplies:

stamps: recess, funky four, apple blossoms, fabulous phrases

ink: tangerine tango, tempting turquoise, old olive

paper: old olive, tangerine tango, whisper white CS, playdate DSP

xtras: scallop ribbon border punch; dazzling diamonds; stampin write markers (tangerine tango); blender pen; cupcake XL punch; 2-way glue pen; 1 3/4" circle punch; 2" circle punch (non SU)

Fabulous Petals

Happy Friday everyone!  Just a quick post to share a card we made in the Canopy Club on Tuesday night.  It features the gorgeous new designer paper--Paisley Petals--which is a sneak peek from the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog being released July 1st.  This paper is just beautiful--it looks like tapestry and the colors are so rich and elegant.

To make it look even more like fabric, I adhered a generous piece to Not Quite Navy cardstock and ran both layers through the Square Lattice embossing folder.  Isn't that a cool effect?  It really adds so much texture and volume to an otherwise clean and simple card.

Another sneak peek is this darling label from the Four Frames set that coordinates perfectly with the Decorative Label punch--love that!  Here, I stamped it in NQN onto Naturals Ivory cardstock and added a sentiment built from the Fabulous Phrases collection of words.  This really is a great set to have in your arsenal--single words that can work together to build sentiments for every occasion and person--check it out, pg. 149!

Ribbon Share final UPDATE:  Ribbon shares were mailed out to participants this morning, woohoo!  So glad to get those in the mail!  Thank you to everyone who participated.  I know you will enjoy your ribbon and have a great time creating with it!  Stay tuned for more opportunites to "share".

That's all for me today, friends.  We're planning some quality family time this weekend and I am taking a short vacation from the Paper Players design team so I look forward to chatting with you next week!

the goodies:

stamps: fabulous phrases, four frames

ink: not quite navy, cherry cobbler

paper: cherry cobbler, not quite navy, naturals ivory CS; paisley petals DSP

xtras: cherry cobbler seam binding ribbon; decorative label punch; square lattice embossing folder