A Secret Garden, Recycled {PP140}

Hiya friends! Wow, where did last week go? Was it just me or did Easter really sneak up on us this year? I was totally unprepared and have spent the last week trying to play catch up. It's time to catch up with my friends over at The Paper Players where I am hosting this week's Theme Challenge!

Since April is National Earth Month, I thought it would be fun to use recycled items on our projects.  I save all kinds of things (probably more than I should) and am always finding inspiration in colors and patterns everywhere but especially packaging items.  The inspiration for today's card came from of all things, a tissue box!

 

Love the colors, the patterns...all of it!  In need of an idea for a sketch, I went looking at some challenges and found this week's fun Mojo Monday sketch:

I knew I was going to use one side of the tissue box as my focal point, so I cut it apart, cut one piece down to size and used it just as I would use any other pattered paper.  The colors were a great match to Gumball Green, Marina Mist, Early Espresso with just a pop of Summer Starfruit.

The images on the box reminded me of the florals from the Secret Garden stamp set so I stamped a few of them in the corners on the card base.  I love adding some stamping to the background--especially in a matching color and with coordinating images.  It adds a lot of interest and helps ground the whole design. 

I liked how the stamps coordinated with the tissue box images so I added some more to the inside in Gumball Green, Marina Mist, Bashful Blue and Summer Starfruit.   

So, I'll be you've got some pretty tissue boxes of your own around the house!  You won't look at one the same again, will you?  I hope you'll reconsider some of the items in your home and look at their potential use on a craft project.  If you do, we would love for you to join us over at The Paper Players before the challenge closes on Friday, April 12th at Noon (PDT).  Be sure to check out the rest of my mates on the Design Team for their amazing recycled, re-purposed and re-imagined projects!

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 (off this week)

Supplies 
Stamps: Secret Garden, Petite Pairs; Blooming with Kindness
Paper: Gumball Green, Whisper White, Early Espresso CS; Designer Patterns Stack (subtles)
Ink: Early Espresso, Gumball Green, Marina Mist, Bashful Blue, Summer Starfruit
Xtras: Scallop Oval punch; Large Oval Punch; Oval Framelits; Occasions Paper-Piercing Pack; Linen Thread; Summer Starfruit stitched satin ribbon

OMG, a Color Refresh!

OMG! Have you heard the news?  Stampin' Up announced a Color Refresh today that includes...can you guess.....yes, it's true....POOL PARTY!!  Excuse me a minute while I do a happy dance!  So exciting!  We also get to keep Island Indigo, Wisteria Wonder and Calypso Coral--YAY!  And that's not all...we are welcoming back some previously retired colors that also bring a smile to my face including:

• Bermuda Bay
• Blushing Bride
• Crushed Curry
• Pear Pizzazz
• Soft Sky

Woohoo, way to go Stampin Up!  Of course, we are saying goodbye to some other colors as well and though a few make me sad...I think I'll adjust well enough happily hugging my Pool Party ink pad, LOL!.  Here's the lowdown in chart format:

 

Changes will take effect with the new catalog on May 31, 2013 and new color kits will be available in the new catalog.  Products in retiring colors (ink, refills, markers, cardstock, etc.) will only be available while supplies last so be sure to visit my website if you need to stock up!  BTW, You might want to visit my website April 6-8th during the FREE SHIPPING on EVERYTHING event!  That's right, FREE SHIPPING on EVERYTHING but only between April 6-8th! 

 

A Mother's Day Sketch {PP138}

Hiya friends and happy Sunday! Has spring arrived in your neighborhood yet? Here in North Florida it's still colder than usual so I thought I would hurry Mother nature along a bit with my card today! I loved the soft color palette at the challenge blog, Fab Friday {FabFri14}:

Aren't they pretty?  So, I combined these with Anne Marie's fabulous sketch for our challenge this week at The Paper Players to make a Mother's Day card full of flowers!  First, Anne Marie's awesome sketch:

and here's what I did with all this inspiration:

What do you think?  I have to admit, this card made me happy.  :-)  I was in the mood for a soft, feminine flowery card and this is what developed! I stamped the background image from Postage Due in Sahara Sand ink onto Naturals White cardstock added the flourish from Everything Eleanor in Lucky Limeade ink and a few background flowers from the same set in Blushing Bride (substituted for Pink Pirouette).

I stamped the Everything Eleanor flowers in Calypso Coral onto Blushing Bride cardstock and fussy-cut all three.  I added a little sponging with Sahara Sand, a few pearls and some Lucky Limeade organza ribbon from last year's Sale-a-Bration.

I really wanted the color of the flowers on the main panel to pop so I kept the base card and background the same color just adding some tone-on-tone stamping with the Netting background stamp in Sahara Sand.  A little piece of Lucky Limeade ruffled ribbon provides just the right amount of border and texture.

The flourish from this stamp set is so pretty--in fact it's the reason I bought the set(!)--that I just had to stamp it some more on the inside and added a few more flowers.  What a versatile stamp set Delightful Dozen has turned out to be; providing this wonderful sentiment for Mother's Day.

It may be a little early for a Mother's Day card but I hope these springtime flowers bring a little big of cheer your way today!  Please check out the rest of the design team and their beautiful projects over at The Paper Players and then join in the fun!  Just make sure to join in before the challenge closes Friday, March 29th at Noon (PDT).  Thanks for stopping by! 

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

 

Oh, Hello Paper Players! {PP137}

Hi there, friends! Happy St. Patrick's Day! I've got a card to share with you for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players where the always amazing Ann hosts a Clean-and-Simple challenge for us and it's a sketch...my favorite! 

And here's how I interpreted the sketch:

My color palette was inspired by the colors in the Tea for Two Designer Series Paper.  Even though I didn't use designer paper here, the colors were perfect for coloring the chevron image, from Oh, Hello, with Stampin' Write markers.  

Here, I used Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Calypso Coral and So Saffron.  My trusty Stamp-a-ma-Jig was just the ticket for lining up each chevron as well as the sentiment.  

I was on a roll with the markers so I added one more colored chevron to the inside and added another sentiment from Oh, Hello.  We made a stepped up version of this card in one of my stamp clubs today and we had so much fun adopting British accents with the phrases in this set!  Adding in my personal favorite..."Hello, lovely"!  We have so much fun, love hanging out with my stamp club friends! :)

And, I hope you've enjoyed hanging with me today.  Do go check out the awesome projects from the rest of The Paper Players team and consider playing along with us before the challenge ends on Friday, March 22nd 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

 
Supply List
Stamps: Oh, Hello 
Paper: So Saffron, Whisper White CS; In Color Designer Series Patterns Stack 
Ink: Early Espresso
Extras: Early Espresso Baker's Twine; 1.25" Square Punch; Corner Rounder punch; Stamp-a-ma-Jig; Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo & So Saffron Stampin' Write Markers

Ears to You, Paper Players {PP136}

Hi there, friends! As Sunday rolls around I'm sad that our Spring Break has come to an end :-( but glad to be this week's hostess over at The Paper Players.  This week we have a color challenge and oh how I love working with color!  I find color inspiration literally everywhere but often from fashion and home decor.  This week, I've chosen a bright and happy spring combination.

Pretty, yes?  I think so!  I knew that I wanted to make an Easter card and the single stamp Ears to You was calling my name!  I showed it some ink with a previous sketch from Retro Sketches [love] and came up with this:

 

To the Early Espresso base I added a layer of Pool Party CS embossed with the Cloudy Day embossing folder.  I ran the full piece through the Big Shot twice to cover the entire section.  That did leave an area in the middle where the two embossed sections met but I covered that easily with ribbon, the Top Note shape and the focal element. Doesn't the Lucky Limeade chevron pattern from Summer Smooches DSP look great with the patterned bunnies?!  

And about those bunnies....I first stamped the entire image in Early Espresso and then added the bunnies.  I stamped each bunny in Regal Rose, Lucky Limeade and Pool Party inks then fussy-cut each one.  Have I told you how much I love to fussy-cut?  Really, I do just ask my stamp clubs, LOL!  The trick here was to leave a bitty white border so it would cover up the Early Espresso image I stamped first.  Why did I do it this way, you might ask?  Well, I wanted the sentiment in Early Espresso and I wanted a more saturated color than what coloring it with markers would provide so....fussy-cutting was the answer!

Lastly, I wanted those sweet little bunnies on the inside but the stamp was too big.  My Digital Studio to the rescue!  I created a page just the size I needed (4" x 5.25") and added three bunnies from the Little Additions digital stamp brush set and colored them in my challenge colors.  After I printed it onto Whisper White cardstock, all I had to do was stamp the sentiment from Delightful Dozen in Early Espresso to finish it off!

Here's another version of this same card that the gals in my clubs made last month.  This time, I used the Sunshine & Sprinkles DSP as my color inspiration and we only had to fussy-cut two bunnies instead of all three!  I was kind to them. :-)

I customized the inside of the club card too with a page from MDS using Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist and Melon Mambo to color the bunnies.

I hope I've inspired you to play along with our color challenge over at The Paper Players.  We would love to see your creation in the gallery.  Just make sure to link up before the challenge closes on Friday, March 15th at Noon (PST).  Until then, be sure to stop by my fellow Design Team mates to see their lovely creations and leave them some love!  Thanks for stopping by!

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 Used to Make this Card
Stamps: Ears to You; Delightful Dozen
Inks: Regal Rose, Pool Party Lucky Limeade, Early Espresso
Paper: Pool Party, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Regal Rose CS; Summer Smooches DSP
Extras: Oval Framelits; Occasions Paper-Piercing Pack; Top Note die; Early Espresso Quilted Satin Ribbon [retired]; Cloudy Day embossing folder; Printed 2011 In Color Designer Brads; Little Additions digital stamp brush set; paper snips