A Dashing Sketch {PP74}

Hiya friends! I hope my US friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that everyone is enjoying the weekend. It's another week at The Paper Players and the lovely and talented Lesley is bringing us a sketch:

Lesley always comes up with the best sketches--ya know she's the creator of Freshly Made Sketches--and this week is no exception!  One look at that tilted panel and I knew what I wanted to do:

Since titled panels are a challenge for me, I like to tilt the paper but stamp the image straight.  It's a sneaky way to embrace the tilt!  For this card, I paired some Mocha Morning DSP with some Brushed Gold cardstock cut with the Two Tags die.  I did cut it down a little to better fit my image.  Dasher was inked in Versamark, then Early Espresso, stamped onto the Brushed Gold and heat set with clear stampin' emboss powder.

The background was stamped in Early Espresso with the En Francias stamp and I added a little fussy ribbon treatment with vanilla seam binding, linen thread and a glimmer brad.  You might notice that the tiny tag was sponged with Champagne Shimmer paint to dull the brightness of the vanilla a bit.

I did the same with the Northern Frost snowflakes--the vanilla just seemed too bright next to the gold.  A little bit of shimmer paint sponged right on gives it instant sparkle with an aged look.

I went to town with the shimmer paint using it to ink up Dasher again on the inside.  Applied directly to the stamp gives it a shimmery watermark appearance.

And there you have it!  I hope you like today's card...please let me know if you have any questions.  Be sure to check out the rest of the Design Team at The Paper Players:

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

Julie Marshall

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Nance Leedy

Tara Bilbao
  Susan Joyce (November GD)

If you decide to play along with Lesley's fabulous sketch, please link up your creation to The Paper Players by Friday, December 2nd at midnight (PST).  I can't wait to come visit you!

supplies:

stamps: dasher, seasonal sentiments [retired], en francais, tiny tags

paper: early espresso, very vanilla, brushed gold CS; mocha morning DSP

ink: early espresso, versamark, soft suede

xtras: northern frost die; two tags die; very vanilla seam binding ribbon; linen thread; glimmer brad; basic pearls; champagne shimmer paint

Happy Thanksgiving! {CCMC177}

Greetings everyone and to my friends in the United States, Happy Thanksgiving!  I have much to be thankful for today--family, friends and the ability to share with you all, a craft that I love!  I am so thankful for your continued visits to the Canopy, your supportive comments and the friends that I have made through blog-land!  So for today's Create with Connie & Mary challenge, I had to make a Thanksgiving card even though today's colors are a bit non-traditional for this holiday:

Lovely aren't they?  Greens and blues are some of my favorite colors and paired with River Rock they just sing!  Take a look:

I've been wanting to try sponge daubers with the medallion from Day of Gratitude so I did just that starting with the lightest color, River Rock in the center and proceeding with Lucky Limeade and finally Night of Navy on the edges.  I stamped onto Very Vanilla cardstock and then did some fussy cutting.

I inked and stamped another one, punching out the center with a 1 3/8" circle punch and decorating the center with pearls!  I carried the medallion into the inside:

stamping in River Rock and although the Night of Navy sentiment stamp I used is retired, it is available as a digital file in My Digital Studio.  Remember you don't need MDS to use a digital file--just download and use in any word processing or graphics program!

I chose this sentiment because it perfectly sums up my thoughts for you today...thank you!  Please be sure to stop by Create with Connie & Mary to see all the wonderful creations from the rest of the design team.  Thanks for stopping by today, friends!

supplies:

stamps: day of gratitude; hand-penned holidays; seasonal sentiments (MDS)

ink: river rock, lucky limeade, night of navy

paper: river rock, night of navy, very vanilla

xtras: filial press embossing folder; chantilly lace crochet trim; basic pearls; 1 3/8" circle punch; sponge daubers

Online Extravaganza

(Click here if you're looking for my Paper Players card.) 

 

Stampin' Up! is kicking off the holiday season with an Online Extravaganza!   Special items will be available through my Stampin Up website  starting November 21, 2011 at 12:01am (Mountain Time) and running through Wednesday, November 30th.  Even I don't know what they are yet--you'll have to stop by to find out!

In addition there will be two items that will be available for 24 hours only.  Starting at 12:01am (MT) until 11:59pm (MT) November 21, 2011.

To check out the special items and place an order, Click here to visit my online store. (sale items will be revealed when they become available). Items will only be available for the duration of this sale.

Special sale items are available for all types of orders so if you don't want to order online, just email me (nleedy@cox.net) and I can place the order for you!  Thank you!

Festival of Lights {PP73} {FMS11}

Yay, it's Paper Players Sunday!  Hiya friends, welcome to another week with the PP Team!  This week our reigning Queen of Clean-and-Simple, Jaydee, is our hostess with a fabulous CAS Color Challenge...

to use Night of Navy, Whisper White and Silver which I combined with my friend Linda's clean and fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches:

I had another yet-to-be-used stamp from the Holiday Mini, Hanukkah, that was the perfect companion to Jaydee's blue and white palette:

Please ignore the dribble marks--it was just starting to rain as I snapped these photos!  You can see that I kept this one VERY clean and simple but upped the glitz factor with a lot of sparkle and shine.  I embossed the image onto Night of Navy cardstock with silver Stampin' Emboss powder...

and popped out all three Star of David with the tiny circle from the Itty Bitty Punch pack.  The whole thing was matted onto a large piece of Silver Glimmer Paper and wrapped with some Whisper White taffeta ribbon.

I inked just the bottom half of the stamp with silver ink and stamped them, almost like ornaments, across the inside.  Even though this sentiment is from a "Christmas" stamp set, I think the phrase is fitting for the Festival of Lights celebration as well, don't you?

Please be sure to check out this week's fantastic creations from the rest of the Design Team:

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

Julie Marshall

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Nance Leedy

Tara Bilbao
  Susan Joyce (November GD)

I hope you will be inspired to play along with us this week.  If you do, please make sure to load your crafty goodness over at The Paper Players by Friday, November 25th at midnight (PST).  I look forward to visiting you!  

supplies:

stamps: Hanukkah, beautiful season

ink: night of navy, versamark, silver encore [retired]

paper: night of navy, whisper white CS; silver glimmer paper; pattern designer paper stack [regals]

xtras: whisper white taffeta ribbon; silver stampin' emboss powder; itty bitty punch pack

All Buttoned Up {CCMC176}

Happy Thursday, friends, and welcome to another week with the Create with Connie & Mary Thursday Design team! We alternate between sketch and color challenges and this week it's...Sketch Time!

Cool isn't it?  I wanted to do something a little different than a flower for the focal point so I dusted off the yet-to-be-used package of Shaker Frames from the Holiday Mini catalog and came up with this:

This one was personalized for a friend and co-worker who just happens to have the maiden name of....Buttons!  Of course, she loves them so I filled the shaker frame with designer buttons in Certainly Celery, Rich Razzleberry, Tempting Turquiose and...

a little bit of Mica Flakes for some added sparkle.  As if the scalloped circle of silver Glimmer Paper wasn't enough, right?!  There's never enough sparkle in my book!  I filled the back of the Shaker Frame with a 1 3/4" circle of Whisper White and cut a 2" circle from a clear window sheet with the Circles #2 die.  To cover the edges, the Glimmer Paper was punched with the 1 3/4" circle punch and the 2 3/8" scalloped circle.  You might also notice that the theme of circles runs through each element of the card in the polka dotted designer paper, the polka dot impression folder, the circle frame and, of course, the buttons themselves!  

The layout of the rectangles took a little bit of measuring so I thought I would share the dimensions I used:

• Standard A2 card base
• Whisper White panel: 5 1/4" x 4"
• Rich Razzleberry rectangle: 1.5" x 3"
• Certainly Celery rectangle: 2.5" x 2"
• Tempting Turquoise rectangle: 2.5" x 1"

I'm going to keep this one short, friends.  It's been one heckuva busy week around here!  Be sure to stop on by Create with Connie & Mary to check out even more inspiration from the fantastic design team!  If you decide to play along with us, please link up your creation by Wednesday, November 23rd at Noon (EST).  I can't wait to come visit you!  Thanks for stopping by today!

supplies:

stamps: happiest birthday wishes

ink: tempting turquoise

paper: tempting turquoise, whisper white CS; silver glimmer paper; brights & subtles pattern designer paper stacks

xtras: shaker frames; white baker's twine; clear window sheets;designer buttons (subtles & brights); polka dot impressions fold; 1 3/4" circle & 2 3/8" scallop circle punches; circles #2 die