Celebrating Balloon Birthdays PP329

Hiya friends!  As you read this, we are in Daytona Beach for the start of volleyball tournament season.  It's a crazy season of practice and travel but we love to watch our girl and her teammates develop as athletes and take on the competition and oh boy, the competition is tough in Florida!  Anyway...today at The Paper Players my lovely friend, Joanne, has an awesome sketch for us:

So, there's lots of room for interpretation here as you will see from the Design Team's creations.  While thinking about and looking at the sketch, I looked at it sideways...

 

...and knew right away what I was going to do... 

See it?  Right?  Once I had it in my head, how could I not run with it?!  I covered the side of the card base with some [retired] Cherry on Top designer paper and pulled my other colors from there.  Although, I have to admit...the balloon (from Celebrate Today) is inked with [retired] Poppy Parade because I could not get a clear stamped image with my super wet Watermelon Wonder ink pad...grrrr.  Sometimes, the old style felt ones really are better!  

And, yes, I really did fussy-cut the triangle shaped balloon "string".  Stamped in Crushed Curry on Thick Whisper White (for stability) and then precariously Cut. Out. By. Hand.  It acually wasn't that difficult because it's all straight lines!

I've noticed quite a trend lately of background sentiment stamping--especially with the same color ink.  I really like the look--a lot of dimension without extra bulk.  So, this sentiment is from a retired hostess set called Happy Birthday, Everyone and was just the phrase I needed to accompany the birthday balloon.

Of course, the inside needed a little dressing up too with some simple stamping of images in the Celebrate Today set in Pool Party, Crushed Curry and Poppy Parade.   

I hope you like my take on Joanne's fun sketch...wait til you see what the rest of The Paper Players Design Team has created with it!  Maybe you'll be inspired to play along before our challenge closes on Friday, February 3rd at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by, friends!

My friend, Joanne, told me about the fun balloon challenge at Less is More so I'm playing along with them too.  It's my first time there and I hope to be back!

The Paper Players Design Team 
Claire Broadwater 
 Jaydee 
Joanne James
Laurie Schmidt 
LeAnne Pugliese 
Nance Leedy
Sandy Mathis  
Crystal Komara
Valentyna Komisarenko
Deanne 

 

Go Wild for your Birthday {PP256}

Hi, everyone!  This week, at The Paper Players, the wonderfully talented Jaydee has a fun challenge for us and I found it to be just that....a challenge!  Take a peek:

So, I don't make square cards often....and probably for that reason, I struggled to find a layout that I liked.  I am so used to working with a traditional 4.25" x 5.5" layout that this really pushed me outside my comfort zone.  But, that's good--I need to stretch my creativity!  I ditched the first card I made coz it was too boring but I think I really like my second effort:

I think I was still channeling Laurie's frame challenge from a couple weeks ago because I couldn't get this idea for a vellum window out of my brain.  I HAD to make something of it!   The base is 5" x 5" heavy whisper white cardstock to which I adhered a piece of Go Wild DSP.  I cut out a window with my square framelits and attached a piece of Vellum Cardstock from the back.  Inside the card I cut another frame out of Whisper White cardstock and used it to cover over the edges of the vellum. The big, beautiful greeting from the hostess set Happy Birthday, Everyone was heat embossed in black onto the vellum.  

Doesn't the Melon Mambo pop against the white and black?  I thought the loopy, scribble flower from the Flower Shop set was the perfect playful companion to the funky zebra print.  The double-layer flower was also heat embossed in black.  Two Petite Petals flowers balance the corner layout.  And the Silver Thread?  Oh my, I use it on almost every project!  Probably one of the best items in the new catalog!

Here's a little peek to the inside....yes, I stamped inside even with the opaque vellum window.  The inside flower is closely placed under the flower on the front so it isn't visible through the vellum.  Also, the inside sentiment is stamped behind the one on the front so it's hidden as well.  Once I figured out my design, I really had a lot of fun pulling this card together.  Big props to Jaydee for taking me out of my comfort zone!  

The rest of the design team will have some amazing projects for you over at The Paper Players.  Do go check them out.  I hope you will join us before our challenge closes on Friday, August 7th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by today, friends! 

 The Paper Players Design Team 
Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile (on leave) 
Claire Broadwater
 Jaydee
Joanne James
Laurie Schmidt 
LeAnne Pugliese
Nance Leedy
Sandy Mathis

Amy Koenders
Jodi McKinney

Lisa Elton

The fabulous team over at The Friday Mashup is also hosting a square card challenge--how fun is that?!  I am excited to link up at another challenge because I rarely have time to do that anymore....thanks for the opportunity ladies!  Check out the work of their fabulous design team too!