Love is Kindness PP287

Hello and happy Sunday, friends!  Sunday means another week at The Paper Players where the lovely and talented Jaydee has a fabulous Clean-and-Simple challenge for us:

We are all ready for spring, right?  Even here in Florida, where we've had closer to summer temperatures, we are ready to go back to Spring!  I took Jaydee's challenge very literally and made perhaps the most CAS card I've ever made which, of course, made me wonder if it was too simple.  My own worst critic, I tell ya!

Right?  Verrrry clean-and-simple!  The card base is think Whisper White cardstock and the [retired] image Love is Kindness was stamped in Archival Basic Black ink.  I almost stamped it in the middle of the card but at the last minute moved it to the lower corner.  I think it's a little more interesting and less predictable that way.  My stamp-a-ma-jig is an invaluable tool for this kind of design decision.  With the image stamped on the clear plastic sheet, I can play around with the layout until I figure out where it would look best.

Tulips are my favorite spring flower and yellow tulips are even better!  I had so much fun playing with my [discontinued] Blendabilities markers last week, that I pulled them out again to color the tulips.  I used light & dark Daffodil Delight for the flowers and dark Wild Wasabi for the stems.  If you look close, you can see that I also made a thin wash of Soft Sky around the image using a Blender Pen and Soft Sky ink.  

Lastly, I stamped the image a second time on a piece of scrap paper and fussy cut the newspaper bundle.  I wrapped it with Linen Thread and popped it up with dimensionals.  It adds the right amount of dimension to this otherwise uber CAS card!

Thanks for stopping by today.  Be sure to pop over to The Paper Players and check out the creations from the rest of the Design Team.  We hope that you will join in the fun before our challenge closes on Friday, March 25th at Noon (PST).

The Paper Players Design Team

Claire Broadwater

Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Linda Callahan

Hannelie Bester

Colleen Begley

Love is Kindness for The Paper Players {PP227}

Hey there friends! Ann has a beautiful color combination for us over at The Paper Players: 

Isn't it pretty?!  Makes me think of spring.  Too bad it's still winter--even here in Florida!  I actually made two card with these colors and ended up liking the second one best.  

I also thought this one was more in line with Ann's style and since it is her challenge....well, I thought she might like it!  Although, I will admit, I tried to add pearls but couldn't make it work.  LOL.  Anyway, I really love this single stamp from the new Occasions catalog called Love is Kindness.  It's very versatile; I can see using it for Valentine's Day, Easter, spring or even just a special Thank You card as I've done here.  The image is stamped in Memento Ink and colored with a combination of Stampin' Write markers, Blender Pens and an Aqua Painter. 

There are some water spots courtesy of Gorgeous Grunge and I crumpled the Typeset DSP for a vintage look.  I thought you might want to see a close-up of the two different ribbons I used: Lost Lagoon satin and Venetian Crochet.  Ahhh.....pretty!

Here, I tried to capture the sparkle for you.  I thought the white on the background paper was a little too stark so I spritzed it with a homemade mix of rubbing alcohol and Champagne Mist shimmer paint.  The entire background is full of shimmer and shine!  The Tea Lace Doily was also quite white so I sponged on some shimmer paint and Sahara Sand ink for a nice, aged look.

The inside is pretty self-explanatory just stamped off to the side so as not to repeat the sentiment.  I sponged the edges with more Sahara Sand ink and added some more water spots.  

Now, here's the first card I made.  A total departure from the second one, right?  This one features the popular Bokeh Effect technique.  It's really very simple.  The Whisper White background piece is sponged with all three challenge colors.  Next, I cut a piece of window sheet to serve as a stencil.  In this piece of window sheet I die cut two circle shapes--about 1.25" and 3/4".  Using Whisper White craft ink, I sponged the circles all around the background varying the intensity of the ink with each one.  You want to achieve the look of soft focus lights in the background.  Final touches were a vellum balloon, silver baker's twine, Crisp Cantaloupe washi tape (Sweet Sadie) and a sentiment die cut with the Little Letters Thinlits.   

So, there you have it.  Two cards in one post!  Be sure to pop over to The Paper Players and check out all the inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.  Then, I hope you will play along with us before the challenge closes on Friday, January 16th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by today!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile
Claire Broadwater
 Jaydee
Joanne James
Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy
Sandy Mathis 
Debbie Mageed
Karren Johnson
Shannon Jaramillo

edited 1/12/15: I was so excited to share that I totally forgot the layout for my first card was inspired by the great sketch over at The Challenge!  Duh.  It's a keeper too!

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.