Tulle for Ann {PP114}

Hiya friends, and welcome to another week at The Paper Players! Glad you joined me today for the oh-so-talented Ann's fantastic sketch challenge. Check it:

I really like this sketch (thanks, Ann!) and right away I knew two things 1) I wanted to make a tulle ribbon flower after watching this fabulous video from Kimberly Van Diepen and 2) that I wanted to use this Crumb Cake dsp from the Festival of Prints designer series paper stack.  With those two things in mind, and the sketch at the ready, here's what developed in my craft room:

It is kind of interesting to see where I end up as this was not really in my mind's eye but I like it and I think it's fitting for a challenge hosted by Ann, our queen of vintage shabilicous-ness!  I used Early Espresso Core-dinations cardstock embossed with the Fancy Fan folder and distressed with a sanding block.  On the oval, I stamped a flourish from Creative Elements in Crumb Cake along with an Early Espresso sentiment from Bring on the Cake.

The fun part was making this flower with rolled Cherry Cobbler Tulle Ribbon-it's so easy with the Jumbo Sticky Rounds. Just roll, press and voila!  A beautiful tulle flower.  Of course, as this is Ann's challenge, I had to add some Basic  Pearls to the tulle.  :-)

I had so much fun making this card for Ann's challenge....I hope that you will consider joining us too!  Be sure to check out the rest of the Design Team for some fabulous inspiration.  Then...join us before Friday, September 28th at Noon (PDT) when the challenge closes.

The Paper Players Design Team

Jen Arkfeld
Dawn Easton
Helen Heil 
Jaydee
Nance Leedy

Anne Marie Hile

LeAnne Pugliese

Ann Schach

Amy White

Supplies 
Stamps: Creative Elements, Bring on the Cake; One in a Million; Language of Friendship
Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla CS; Early Espresso Cor'dinations CS; Fesitval of Prints DSP
Extras: Fancy Fan embossing folder; Cherry Cobbler Tulle Ribbon; Crumb Cake Tulle Ribbon; Basic Pearls; XL Bird Builder Punch

Banners Five-O {PP113}

Happy Sunday, friends, and welcome to another week with The Paper Players! I am delighted to be this week's hostess for our monthly Clean and Simple challenge. I think it's a fun one:

Banners!  They've been trendy for awhile now--possibly eclipsed by hexagons & chevrons--but, personally, I haven't tired of them.  I can't seem to make a card without at least one flagged end somewhere!  I went uber clean-and-simple with my project(s) for this challenge.  So simple that I actually made 5 cards!  Here's the one that I featured over at The Paper Players:

I apologize, in advance, for the picture-heavy post but I couldn't get a good shot of all 5 together so here we go:

The Bitty Banners Framelits worked overtime in my stamp room today.  6 banners on each card!

But I discovered that the Framelits will cut two sheets of our designer paper so I only had to crank the Big Shot 3 times...for each card, lol!

This one is fun because I "dyed" the Whisper White Baker's Twine with a Summer Starfruit marker.  How cool is that?  If you're impatient like me, be sure to let it dry for a few minutes before working with it.  What happens if you don't wait?  You get slimy looking trails of Summer Starfruit on your card that aren't very pretty!  But I wouldn't know anything about that.  ;-)

Whew!  If you're still with me, congratulations!  I just had to show you all of them.  Especially because I only used ONE stamp set!  All of these great sentiments came from Seasonal Sayings found in the Holiday Mini.  Love the versatility of the set and the generous size of the stamps.  I knew that this set would be the star of the show!  Assembly is pretty obvious with the Seasonal Sayings stamp set and Bitty Banners Framelits but a complete list of papers and colors is at the end of this post.

I hope I've inspired you to play it "Clean-and-Simple with Banners" this week!  I would love for you to join us at The Paper Players.  Just to make sure to load up your banner-ific creations by Friday, September 21st at Noon (PST).  Before you go, pop on over to all my gal pals on the Design Team to see what kind of beautiful banners they've created:

The Paper Players Design Team

Jen Arkfeld
Dawn Easton
Helen Heil 
Jaydee
Nance Leedy

Anne Marie Hile

LeAnne Pugliese

Ann Schach

Amy White

 

Thanks is for Giving card
Stamp: Seasonal Sayings
Paper: Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla CS; Comfort Cafe DSP
Ink: Soft Suede
Xtras: Linen Thread; Bitty Banner Framelits; Itty Bitty Punch Pack; Basic Pearls; Color Spritzer + Soft Suede stampin' write marker

Halloween card
Stamp: Seasonal Sayings
Paper: Tangerine Tango, Very Vanilla CS; Howlstooth & Scaringbone DSP
Ink: Basic Black
Xtras: Linen Thread; Bitty Banner Framelits; Itty Bitty Punch Pack; Basic Pearls; Silver Dazzle marker; Color Spritzer + Basic Gray stampin' write marker

Christmas card
Stamp: Seasonal Sayings
Paper: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla CS; Candlelight Christmas DSP
Ink: Lucky Limeade
Xtras: Early Espresso Baker's Twine; Bitty Banner Framelits; Itty Bitty Punch Pack; Basic Pearls; Color Spritzer + Early Espresso stampin' write marker

Love You card
Stamp: Seasonal Sayings
Paper: Baja Breeze, Whisper White CS; Patio Party DSP
Ink: Primrose Petals
Xtras: Whisper White Baker's Twine; Summer Starfruit marker; Bitty Banner Framelits; small Heart punch; Basic Rhinestones

Celebrate card
Stamp: Seasonal Sayings
Paper: Island Indigo, Whisper White CS; Summer Smooches DSP
Ink: Rich Razzleberry
Xtras: Island Indigo Baker's Twine; Bitty Banner Framelits; Itty Bitty Punch Pack; Basic Rhinestones

A Fab Duo...on Wednesday!

Hiya friends! I had a rare moment to stamp just for enjoyment and I couldn't resist the color challenge, and the inspiration, over at my friend Lesley's blog Dynamic Duos.  I was particularly inspired by my pals Anne Marie's gorgeous fall creation.

I might be the last person in the blog world who hasn't played along with the fun new Fab Friday Challenge so I'm sneaking this one under the wire over there too.  Love that their challenges run for two weeks!

We needed a birthday card for my daughter's teacher and I thought these colors and some fall leaves were perfect for a seasonal masculine card:

Always a favorite, the two-step leaves from Gently Falling look gorgeous just in one color.  I inked the leaf in Always Artichoke and stamped off once before stamping on the paper.  Going over it full-strength in the same color just a wonderful water colored look and adds so much dimension.  I did the same with the acorn in Cajun Craze, stamping off once and full-strength for the outline.

I added a little background stamping with the script and water spots from French Foliage in Sahara Sand to match the card base.

One more of each element carries over the design to the inside and I added this great sentiment from a new-to-me set, One in a Million.  It's actually two separate stamps but they look like one when stamped close together and in the same color.  I love that SU is getting more sets like this one that provide a companion sentiment for the inside too.  Love stamping the inside! But you knew that, right?!  :-)

That's it for me folks...thanks for stopping by today!
  
Supplies 
Stamps: Gently Falling, French Foliage, Once in a Million, Itty Bitty Banners
Ink: Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke, Sahara Sand
Paper: Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla CS; retired DSP in Always Artichoke
Xtras: Square Lattice EF; Crumb Cake corduroy button [retired]; Linen Thread; Itty Bitty Banner framelits

Evergreen Breeze {PP112}

Hiya, friends, and welcome to another week with The Paper Players. It's color challenge week and Lesley has some gorgeous colors for us.  Take a look:

Yummy!  When I saw these colors, I knew right away that I wanted to make a Christmas card with the Evergreen set.  Taking an advance peek at my team mates' projects, I see I wasn't the only one!  I paired the colors with Cindy's great design at Freshly Made Sketches:

 And, here's what I made for you:

 

 Had to laugh at myself...last week I had blue leaves and this week it's the whole tree!  Love this two-step Evergreen stamp and the way the solid tree looks in Baja Breeze.  The outline stamp was inked in Versamark and heat embossed in silver...pretty!

I did even more embossing on the background to really make the texture pop. First I inked one side of the Lacy Brocade embossing folder with a Versamark pad--just smeared it directly on the folder.  Then, I ran it through the Big Shot with a piece of textured Basic Gray cardstock.  Next, I sprinkled it with clear embossing powder and set it with the heat gun.  Voila!  Glossy embossed cardstock!  Trimmed it out with a little silver glimmer paper and we've got sparkle AND shine!

I struggled with whether to add a sentiment on the front and opted to go without.  However, the inside is the perfect size for a yuletide sentiment from Greetings of the Season.  And, of course, one more [blue] tree!

I hope that my blue holiday tree has inspired you to look at your stamps in a new way and come out to play!  We would love to see you in the gallery at The Paper Players.  Just make sure to load your crafty goodness before the challenge closes on Friday, September 14th at Noon (PST).   

The Paper Players Design Team

Jen Arkfeld
Dawn Easton
Jaydee
Nance Leedy

Anne Marie Hile

LeAnne Pugliese

Ann Schach

Amy White

 
Supplies 
Stamps: Evergreen; Greetings of the Season; Woodgrain
Ink: Baja Breeze, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Versamark
Paper:  Baja Breeze, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Whisper White, Vellum CS; Silver Glimmer Paper
Xtras: Scalloped Border punch; Basic Gray Striped Ribbon; Silver stampin' emboss powder; Clear stampin' emboss powder; Apothecary Accents framelits; Lacy Brocade embossing folder; Oval nestabilities

Gently Falling for Fall {PP111}

Hi everyone! Happy Labor Day weekend to my friends in the U.S. North America and happy Sunday to everyone else. I can't believe it's September 2nd already, can you?  Fortunately, Jaydee has the perfect theme challenge to usher in a new month:

Trees or leaves--YAY!  Normally, I love working with both of them but I think my mojo must have fallen along with the leaves coz it just wasn't coming together for me.  Anywhoooo, here we go:

I started by stamping all the leaves from the Gently Falling set and fussy cutting them.  The colors were inspired by my pack of  Orchard Harvest DSP:  Lucky Limeade, More Mustard, Raspberry Ripple and Island Indigo.  Yep, Island Indigo!  I love using colors in unexpected ways!  Who says I can't have a blue leaf?!  My card is pretty straightforward--nothing fancy--and you'll find a complete supply list at the end of this post.  I do love the way the Scalloped Tulle Ribbon looks bunched and tied onto a Naturals Button with Linen Thread.  And that woodgrain embossing folder....swoon!

The Paper Players Design Team

Jen Arkfeld
Dawn Easton
Jaydee
Nance Leedy

Anne Marie Hile

LeAnne Pugliese

Ann Schach

Amy White

Be sure to pop over to the rest of The Paper Players design team to see what these talented gals have conjured up this week...it's always something fantastic!  Jaydee's fabulous fall challenge will close on Friday, September 7th at Noon (PST) so be sure to join in the fun before then!

Also, a big thank you to everyone who left a comment on my daughter's blog this past week.  She was thrilled and delighted with each one and I thank you for making her day brighter with your visit!  Crafters are the nicest people! I hope you have a great day!


Supplies 
Stamps: Gently Falling, Itty Bitty Banners
Ink: Lucky Limeade, More Mustard, Raspberry Ripple, Early Espresso and Island Indigo
Paper: Crumb Cake CS; Early Espresso Cordinations CS; Orchard Harvest DSP
Xtras: Bitty Banners Framelits; Naturals Designer Buttons; Linen Thread; Crumb Cake Scalloped Tulle Ribbon; Woodgrain embossing folder