You Make Me Happy

Hiya friends and happy Thursday!  The weekend is almost here--hurrah!  I've got a little somethin' from this month's stamp club to share with you featuring two of the fabulous stamp sets available during Sale-a-Bration, See Ya Later and Banner Blast:

I think there have been lots of these suns made all over blogland so I'm not sure where the idea originated but the first time I saw it was on Erica Cerwin's blog here.  I thought the idea was fabulous and I love finding different ways to use SU products.  I used a total of 16 banners to make the sun's rays--8 punched from Daffodil Delight CS and 8 stamped with Tangerine Tango ink on Whisper White CS and punched out.  A line of SNAIL tape all the way around the back of the circle and then I just positioned the banners one on top of the other, alternating colors around the circle.

I pulled the colors from this fun pattern in the Watercolor Wonder DSP and added some clouds with the Cupcake Builder punch--so cute!  The background needed a little touch of something but with the busy sun, I didn't want to add too much....then I realized that this Gorgeous Grunge stamp looked just like rain!!  Stamped in Smoky Slate ink on the Smoky Slate cardstock, it's just what the background needed.

The little banners in Banner Blast are so stinkin' cute, that all of them needed to come out and play on the inside.  It was pretty easy to line them up once I started with the middle two.  I'm not exactly sure what occasion I would use this card for but I think it could be the perfect pick-me-up for someone who needs it!  I hope it's brought a smile to your face today...sending good thoughts your way!



Supplies
Stamps: Banner Blast, See Ya Later, Perfect Pennants, Gorgeous Grunge
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Gumball Green, Island Indigo, Tangerine Tango & Smoky Slate
Paper: Daffodil Delight, Island Indigo, Smoky Slate & Whisper White CS; Watercolor Wonder DSP
Xtras: Banner punch; Island Indigo Baker's Twine; 2.5" circle punch; Cupcake Builder punch

Hello, Stars! {PP183, PPA191}

Happy Sunday, friends!  I hope you're enjoying your weekend.  Today, it's another week at The Paper Players where sweet LeAnne has a star-spangled Clean-and Simple challenge for us:

I realized, sadly, that I don't own very many star stamps, punches or dies....WHAAAAT?  How did that happen?  I love stars!  Then, just by chance, I ran across this fabulous project from the talented Heidi Baks and I knew what I was going to do!  Thanks for the inspiration, Heidi!

I used my e-cutter to import the Star punch from My Digital Studio and after resizing and placing in my project, I was able to cut it out from some Naturals White cardstock.  After running through the e-cutter, I stamped the Hardwood background stamp in Sahara Sand and backed each star with some designer paper in Gumball Green and Pumpkin Pie--colors inspired by the current color challenge at Pals Paper Arts {PPA191}.

I attached some scraps of designer paper underneath the cut stars to the Sahara Sand card base and then popped the main panel up over it on stampin' dimensionals.  A few randomly placed gold sequins (pulled from the gold sequin trim) were attached with glue dots for some sparkle and shine.

With the e-cutter this project was simple to do and produced a good (IMHO) example of a clean and simple project--lots of "white" space, simple design and limited layers. The colors at Pals Paper Arts are bright and cheery and perfect for this starry challenge:

Be sure to check out the fabulous creations from the rest of The Paper Players Design Team and then consider playing along with us before the challenge closes on Friday, February 21st at Noon (PDT).

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

  
Supplies
Stamps: Peachy Keen; Perfect Pennants; Hardwood
Ink: Gumball Green, Sahara Sand
Paper: Naturals White, Sahara Sand, Whisper White CS; Birthday Basics DSP; [retired] Brights Designer Paper Stack
Xtras: Silhouette Cameo; My Digital Studio; Banner Framelits; Gold Sequin Trim; small Star punch

A Mixed Bunch of Happy {PP182}

Happy Sunday everyone!  I am thrilled to be the hostess this week at The Paper Players for a color challenge!

Color challenges are my favorite.  I am so inspired by color everywhere I go and this week's challenge is no exception.  I snapped the photo during a recent day of shopping with my Mom and daughter.  We had so much fun looking at all the jewelry, scarves and clothes that we were there for TWO hours!  OMG, like kids in a candy store we were!  Anywhooo....I love the colors and patterns in these necklaces and couldn't wait to turn them into a card:

These colors really made me happy!  Of course gold is the in "color" this season so I was happy to incorporate that too.  Do you notice the striped effect given by the hanging necklaces in the photo?  That inspired my background panel which consists of layered strips of Crisp Cantaloupe and Midnight Muse cardstock attached to a piece of Whisper White cardstock.  I wanted to add a little more dimension so I clear embossed the Positively Chevron background over the whole piece.

Layering the cardstock first makes it as easy as a single piece to stamp the background.  It was a last minute decision to clear emboss the stamping when the Versamark alone wasn't deep enough.  I really like the shine it provides.

This is my favorite stamp from Mixed Bunch and I think the clean lines are a good companion to the stripes and chevrons.  I started to embellish the flower centers and once I started with the Very Vintage Designer Button, I couldn't stop!  LOL.  I punched two of the largest Boho Blossoms flower from Midnight Muse and Champagne Glimmer paper--layering them for just a peek of color.  With an accent of Gold Baker's Twine at the bottom of the card, it seemed fitting to add some more to the flowers!  ;-)  I just made a small loop and attached it to the back with glue dots. 

Leaves don't have to be green!  Champagne Glimmer makes a lovely accent to the tones of Crisp Cantaloupe and Midnight Muse.  The Secret Garden Framelits cut through the glimmer paper like a hot knife in butter!  So easy that a little bit was needed to back the Perfect Pennants banner.  I trimmed the sentiment banner down to the stamped image so the glimmer paper would peek around it.

There you have it!  I hope I've inspired you to play along with these beautiful colors before the challenge closes on Friday, February 14th at Noon (PST).  If you need even more encouragement, take a peek at the rest of the Design Team for some lovely inspiration!  Thanks for stopping by, friends!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Supplies
Stamps: Mixed Bunch, Perfect Pennants, Positively Chevron
Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe, Midnight Muse, Versamark
Paper:  Crisp Cantaloupe, Midnight Muse, Very Vanilla, Naturals Ivory, Whisper White CS; Champagne Glimmer Paper
Xtras: Secret Garden & Banner Framelits; Gold Baker's Twine; Very Vintage Designer Buttons; Clear embossing powder; Boho Blossoms punch; Blossom punch

A Flower Shop Hive

Hi there everyone!  I'm trying to do a better job of posting to my blog more than once a week so I've got a backlog of projects to share with you.  Today's project was for one of my monthly stamp clubs.  I wanted to feature the Hexagon Hive Thinlit die and the gorgeous Watercolor Wonder paper:

 

I really like this card; I think it represents my true style.  Not sure that I can put a label to it but is there such a thing as "cleanly elegant and detailed"? LOL!  I am in love with the Hexagon Hive Thinlit die, especially how some of the hexagons are cut out and some are not.  When it's backed with some pretty DSP, the colors and shapes look a bit mysterious and...I like that!  

The hexagon layer is cut from Smoky Slate cardstock which I randomly stamped with one of the line art flowers from the Flower Shop set.  This added even more depth and dimension to this layer.  Of course, that's one of the Watercolor Wonder patterns behind it and I took my color inspiration from there.  The flowers were stamped in Island Indigo ink and a blender pen, with just a touch of the same ink, was used to color in the flower.  They key here is to start light and not cover the entire flower.  A little bit of white peeking out adds to the watercolored effect.

You can see I added a little bit of silver Dazzling Details to the flower centers which frame this fabulous sentiment from Perfect Pennants.  This is such a great set because it combines some awesome sentiments with some element stamps (polka dots, stripes, stars and hearts) and banners--love a multipurpose set!

 

I wanted to demonstrate the versatility of this stamp set so I used another sentiment on the inside in Gumball Green.  A few more flowers in Island Indigo and Smoky Slate carry the design to the inside!  If you're interested in the supplies used to make this card, check out the list below.  Thanks for stopping by today, friends...

Supplies 
Stamps: Flower Shop, Perfect Pennants 
Ink: Island Indigo, Smoky Slate, Gumball Green
Paper: Island Indigo, Smoky Slate, Gumball Green, Whisper White; Watercolor Wonder DSP
Xtras: Hexagon Hive Thinlit die; Bird punch; Pansy punch; silver dazzling details; 2.5" circle punch; Gumball Green stitched satin ribbon