Up, Up and Away Birthday PP342

Hi friends!  The fabulous Jaydee has a fun Tic-Tac-Toe challenge for us this week at The Paper Players.  We can choose any three options either across, down or diagonally:

So, we have a lot of May birthdays in our family.  In fact, there are three just next week alone!  One of them is my sweet MIL and using the top row--circle, green & twine--this is the card I made for her:

A few years ago, my sweet in-laws took our whole family on a safari in Tanzania for their 50th wedding anniversary.  How wonderful are they, right?!  The highlight of the trip was a hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti on the morning of their anniversary.  It is an amazing memory and one I hope my MIL will remember when she sees the paper on her card.  The paper inspired my color choices of Smoky Slate, Night of Navy, Watermelon Wonder, Peekaboo Peach and Mint Macaron.  I also wanted to play with the retiring Crazy about You stamp set and dies--love this big scrollly "happy"!  I was also pleasantly surprised to figure out that another long-ago retired set, Up, Up & Away, coordinates perfectly with the striped balloons on the paper.  I'm glad to see that the Balloon Bouquet punch will not be retired because it sure makes for quick balloon shapes!

Now I remember why I loved this stamp set and didn't get rid of it!  Just look at those cute balloons and clouds!!  I guess I should have made these inside balloons with the hanging basket but I liked the look of the string dangling and how it mimics to ones on the front of the card.  That's just a little creative license with the stamps!

Thanks for popping in for a visit today...I hope you enjoyed my card.  Take a look at all the wonderful inspiration my teammates have for you over at The Paper Players.  Come along and play Tic-Tac-Toe with us before our challenge closes on Friday, May 5th at Noon (PST).

The Paper Players Design Team 

Claire Broadwater

 Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy 

Sandy Mathis 

Crystal Komara

Valentyna Komisarenko

Deanne 

Moving Forward with Color {PP141}

Hiya peeps! Happy Sunday to you and yours. It's Paper Players time and Awesome-Anne-Marie has a beautiful color challenge for us this week:

Aren't they pretty together?!  I saw this fabulous past sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch and knew right away that I wanted to feature the fun blimp from the set, Moving Forward.  First, here's the sketch:

And here's what I did with it:

Stampin Up's Framelits make it so easy to embrace the trend of using a negative space (the space left behind when punched or cut out with a die).  I cut a piece of Baja Breeze cardstock to the desired size (3 x 5.25"), ran it through the Big Shot with an Oval Framelit which created a perfect space to stamp the blimp from Moving Forward in Rich Razzleberry. 

Of course, the Cloudy Day embossing folder is the perfect texture for this sky high sentiment!  I made a sweet little embellishment out of the sentiment with the Itty Bitty Banner Framelits and trailed them from the blimp with some Island Indigo Baker's Twine.

 

The clouds, birds and sentiment from the Up, Up & Away set were a perfect match for the theme of my card. 

I hope today's card has inspired you to play along with Anne-Marie's gorgeous colors this week.  We would love to see you in the gallery!  Please do check out the rest of the Design Team's creations over at The Paper Players and then go get crafty!  Our challenge closes on Friday, April 19th at Noon (PDT).  

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Amy O'Neill

Brian King

Jen Nelson

Justin Krieger

Sandy Mathis

Supplies 
Stamps: Moving Forward; Up, Up & Away 
Ink: Rich Razzelberry, Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Island Indigo
Paper: Rich Razzelberry, Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Whisper White CS; Summer Smooches DSP
Extras: Oval & Itty Bitty Framelits; Island Indigo Baker's Twine; Cupcake punch; Cloud Day embossing folder; Basic Rhinestones

Up, Up & Away with CAS {CTS17}

Hi everyone, happy Tuesday! I can't believe I'm sneaking in another post this week but I had to get this one in under the wire. I was introduced to a new-to-me challenge site, CAS(E) this Sketch and I was smitten with this week's sketch!

See what I mean?  What a creative sketch!  Since I needed a birthday card for a [male] family friend, I had to give this cool CAS sketch a try.  Here's what I made:

My color scheme was taken straight from the Comfort Cafe designer series paper and includes Midnight Muse, Cajun Craze and Summer Starfruit. 

I stamped the hot air balloons from Up, Up & Away in Cajun Craze and Summer Starfruit onto Very Vanilla cardstock and fussy-cut.  A little Linen Thread bow added just enough detail but isn't too feminine. 

I love how the die from the Hearts a Flutter framelit allows me to stamp in the negative space.  I just lined the framelit up on the card front, secured it in place with some small post-it notes and after a quick pass through the Big Shot I've got a cute little window for the sentiment. edited to add: I'm a bit behind in checking my Google Reader and just discovered the Emphasize the Negative Challenge in the Moxie Fab World so I had to play along...and you should too!

To balance the placement of the sentiment on the inside, I stamped a couple more balloons and some Pool Party clouds both peeking through the window and to frame the additional balloons.

I hope you've enjoyed my surprise post today!  Be sure to check out the fabulous sketches over at CASE(E) this Sketch.  You're sure to find some inspiration!  Thanks for stopping by today.

 
Supplies 
Stamps: Up, Up & Away 
Ink: Cajun Craze, Summer Starfruit, Soft Suede, Pool Party 
Paper: Midnight Muse, Very Vanilla CS; Comfort Cafe DSP
Extras: Linen Thread; Hearts a Flutter Framelits; paper snips; Crystal Effects (to secure the bow)

Blue Skies & Happy Days {PP85}

Hey there friends! Coming to you today from sunny south Florida where our family is on Spring Break! Yes, still taking Spring Break after all these years, lol...that's just one benefit of living in a college town!  Today is Paper Players Sunday and Jaydee is our hostess-with-the-mostess for our monthly theme challenge:

My take on "spring" is blue skies, pastel colors and a happy sentiment.  I was totally inspired by this card from my CCMC team mate, Julie Edmonds and her super-clever use of the edgelit die.

Isn't that rolling hill of grass the cutest thing ever?!  I can say that since Julie thought of it so I'm not bragging, lol!  My base is Bashful Blue followed by a layer of a Certainly Celery mat and hill made with the Edgelit die and coordinating Adorning Accent embossing folder.   Thank you for the inspiration, Julie!

The balloons from Up, Up & Away were stamped in Bashful Blue, So Saffron and Pretty in Pink, hand-cut and accented with Dazzling Diamonds.  They are oh so sparkly in real life and oh-so-happy!  The clouds and balloon baskets were stamped in Crumb Cake...

...as was the inside sentiment from Sincere Salutations.  I stamped the Distressed Dots background on the inside as well as the outside along with a Pretty in Pink balloon and So Saffron balloon tail. 

I hope I've inspired you to play along with Jaydee's "Spring has Sprung" theme challenge this week at The Paper Players.  Be sure to check out the rest of the fabulous inspiration from our Design Team.  This week we are so excited to welcome two new team members, Heidi & Jenn, as well as one Guest Designer, Sherry!  Welcome ladies, delighted to be stamping alongside of you!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Nance Leedy
Jenn Picard
Heidi Boos

If you decide to play along with us, please link up your craft goodness by Friday, March 9th at Noon (PST).  I can't wait to come visit you!

  

Supplies 

Stamps: Up, Up & Away; Friendly Phrases, Distressed Dots; Sincere Salutations

Ink: Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Pretty in Pink, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake classic ink

Paper: Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Whisper White CS

Xtras: Edgelit dies; Adorning Accents embossing folder; Bashful Blue gingham ribbon (retired); Dazzling Diamonds

Birthday Blog Hop

Come on and join the fun!  Today is a special day because it's Lesley Croghan's birthday!  Lesley is the founder of The Paper Players and someone that I am proud to call a friend.  She works tirelessly to make The Paper Players the best team it can be and strives to highlight new talent. She gave me my first spot as a Guest Designer and I will be forever grateful.  In honor of her birthday we have organized a Birthday Blog Hop of projects filled with happy thoughts and best wishes for our friend! 

I've noticed that Lesley has used the Up, Up & Away set recently so I started there...

It's a simple card based on a sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping and some gorgeous colors from the gals over at Colour Q: Lucky Limeade, Tempting Turquoise, Bashful Blue & Basic Gray.  Love these colors together!  I know you can figure it out but let me show you a few highlights:

I sponged the sky with Bashful Blue ink and a piece of cardstock punched with the scallop circle.  Sponging around the circle and moving it gives a lovely cloud effect.   Lucky Limeade and Tempting Turquoise markers inked up the balloons which I fussy-cut and decorated with Dazzling Diamonds.  Couldn't resist adding a few of my favorite cupcake clouds!

Some more clouds from the same set decorate the corner of the base and balance out the balloons while a few Basic Gray birds ride the breeze.

So, we hope you'll ride the breeze to the other Birthday Blog Hoppers, found below, and then make a stop at Lesley's blog, Always Playing with Paper, to wish her a Happy Birthday!  Thanks for stopping by today...Happy Birthday Lesley!

Birthday Blog Hoppers:

Anne Marie Hile - Stampin’ Anne
Carrie Gaskin - Artistic Avenger
Cindy Beach - Stamps, Paper and Ink
Jaydee - Stampin’ with Jaydee
Jen Mitchell - I Create
Joan Jeffery - JJ Creations
Lauri Ingram - Paperville
Laurie - Hiding in My Craft Room
LeAnne Pugliese - wee Inklings
Nance Leedy - Canopy Crafts (you're here!)
Rita Wright - Cards by Rita
Sandra Azzopardi - Sandra’s Stamping Spot
Tui Nathan - Stampin’ Time