Love is in the Air

 Hello, it's Sunday. Welcome! Time for a new challenge at The Paper Players and we hope you will join us! Laurie has chosen the perfect theme challenge for this week, Friendship and Love. 

I thought these two love birds would make a great card for my dear man. They were colored simply with Copic markers, fussy cut and arranged in scene. Deciding against a busy background, I chose a soft soft gray panel. 

The Love is in the Air and Bitty Buzzwords stamps (and dies) from Honey Bee stamps provided the fun images and sentiment. It's the first time using the birds and flowers images, so I'm entering this at Darnell's fun NBUS Challenge.

Thanks so much for your visit today, I hope we will see your cards in our challenge gallery!

 Be yourself          

      Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Beary Sweet Valentine

 Hello. friends! I'm officially welcoming you to a brand new month! That means it's time for Color Hues Challenge #34 and Karen has chosen Red and Black for us to use. 

 I hope you're not tired of seeing cute bears on my blog because ...drum roll please.... here comes one more! His arms are open wide to send big hugs! 

This card for our young grands came together so easily using the huge die from Hello Bluebird. I love using HUGS sentiments on a card front because the general greeting spans a variety of themes or age groups and can be made more specific by adding other sentiments.

I colored the bear very lightly with Copics and added small hearts and a bowtie. I may have omitted info about the pretty DSP I used. You may not have noticed that I glued it on with the hearts pattern upside down! Oh well, it was my last sheet. I don't think the children will notice or mind. Do you?  My husband is right about me - he says if I goof at something I always have to tell about it! True. 

Now it's your turn! Please take a moment to see the inspiration from the team and play along! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Glimmering Birthday Wishes

 Hello friends! I used to think I was pretty good at resisting all the newest trends. While some I gave in to readily, and others I jumped into after holding out so long they were no longer trendy, I have to say I have found a new possibility. I told myself I didn't need a Glimmer system, but after I got one for Christmas I'm in love with the new look for my cards. Wish I had done it sooner!

See what you think. 

I created this card for Challenge #576 at The Paper Players. I love a Tic Tac Toe challenge and went with two rows: diagonally - birthday, flower, die cut and the third column down  - die cut, birthday, stencil.

Using the Floral Notes stencil (and Dies) from Pink Fresh studio involved quite a bit of experimenting with techniques, color combos and inks. 

 

I finished the elegant look with several gemstones. Foiling is hard to photograph. Here's a close up.

I will list the extensive list of supplies below.

I sure hope you'll have a go with this fun challenge! Our team has some extraordinary inspiration and I can't wait to see what you make! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Supplies used: 

Stamps: NONE 

Inks: Tea Party - Altenew, Soft Stone - PTI

Paper: white, WPlus9 Dove 

Spellbinder: Glimmer System, Yana's Special Sentiments, gold foil

Accessories - Floral Notes, Diamond Motif  Stencils - Pinkfresh Studio, coordinating Dies and the Slimline Dies

My Sweet Valentine

 Good morning and happy Saturday! 

I had some coloring fun the other evening, and saw a cute sketch yesterday. Combine the two and you get a sweet Valentine and a surprise post on a Saturday. 

Hope you like it! 

Don't these goodies look tempting? We woke up to a light snow this morning - unlike some of you who experienced the BIG storm. Still, it has me just wanting hot chocolate, you know? 

I colored the treats with Copics, adding some white gel pen highlights.  They are from Penny Black (My Sweet). The papers are from Honeybee stamps, can you tell I'm on a roll with using my DSP? 

Here's the lovely sketch by Jen M at Freshly Made Sketches. 

Sharing this also with dear Darnell over at NBUS since the stamps and paper are both brand new. Joining a new challenge too, Global Design Project has a Valentine theme. 

  I will be back tomorrow! I appreciate your visit so very much. Stay warm, and treat yourself with some kindness today. 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

We are Family

 Hello there! It's been a snowy weekend and I've been happy staying inside and catching up on a few things. January is a big month for family birthdays and today that was my focus. A card needs to be in the mail tomorrow, so I got busy! 

My husband and I grew up in Maryland and his family spent lots of time on the water. When I saw the Gina K stamps depicting Magnificent Mallards I knew it would really help with those guy cards. The sentiments are specifically geared towards family adding to it's usefulness. 

My card is a CAS(E) of Mindy's fabulous card HERE. I was inspired by Jen's sketch at Freshly Made as well. Also entering at NBUS #34 as it's my first time using this set. 

That's it for me today! I hope your week is off to a wonderful start. 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

LOVE Paper Play!

 Hello crafty ones, I hope you are finding yourself in the mood for some paper play today. I got some fun papers free with my latest purchase at Honey Bee  Stamps and really did enjoy trying out different combinations. 

I had no idea they would turn into the card for Jaydee's fabulous sketch this week at The Paper Players! 

I thought the polar bear from Laurie's card last week was adorable (you can see it HERE) so you can imagine that I was inspired to use this one featured on the designer paper. Keeping it simple and easy! 

The DP also came in handy for the sentiment on the inside. I love the paper hugs theme. 

I've been much more into ink blending techniques, but playing with papers has long been a delight since my scrapbooking days so I got quite a kick out of the diversion.

Only stamping needed is an embossed and die cut sentiment and I'm calling it done.  ( Pinkfresh Designs - Just a Hello Floral by Emily Midgett.) 

 

I appreciate your visit today, and want to encourage you to check out the work of the talented Paper Players team! Til next time...

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

My Friends are Flakes!

 Hi! Have things begun to warm up where you are? 

It's been a chilly weekend here and we even got a bit of snow under a bit of ice. Perfect time to pull out these new supplies and make a winter card to say thanks. 

I am someone who thinks you can never have too many snow people stamps, so I was ready for these adorable images of snow families and friends from Honeybee stamps (Snow Family Like Ours)  to come to my house when they had their recent sale. 

I loved the the sentiments that come with this set too! I inked the snow-couple and colored them with Zig markers and  a blender pen, then fussy cut them.

Blending the background in Oxide inks using Dried Marigold and Picked Raspberry was my first step. Next I used the Cute Hearts Stencil (SugarPea Designs) and went over the inking adding a second layer to darken the hearts. 

I added splatters of white gouache and a spritz of Glimmer Mist. I really enjoyed including special touches with Nuvo drops, a shimmer pen and clear drops on the snowman's hat. 

Creating a white snowflake background to match the sentiment with  Honeybee (Falling Snow Background) embossed on black card stock added a bold contrast.  Since all these supplies linked are new to me, I will be entering this in the NBUS Challenge. The snowflakes are from an assortment of dies from my stash. 

All in all, this is the kind of card I love to make! Taking cute images and using a variety of mediums and techniques to highlight them has been totally satisfying for me today.

I hope you're glad you've come by! I know I have really enjoyed sharing with you. Stay warm and stay well. 

 Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!