Blue Christmas for The Paper Players

 It's officially time for me to begin making Christmas cards and I am ready! Jaydee gives us a festive array of colors in The Paper Players Challenge # 617. They are sure to get you in the spirit of holiday card-making! 

I love making color blended backgrounds but this time I let the paper do the work! 

I began with a paper from the Craft Consortium Patina pack that has a gorgeous textured look. I assembled snowflakes from a few different sets, inked them up with Versamark, and embossed them in white directly on to the patterned paper. The sentiments are from PTI. Stacking three layers of the CHRISTMAS die cut pieces gave dimension and they are topped with silver foil for the shine! And of course a few rhinestones embellish the snowflake centers. 

Thanks so much for your visit today. I sure hope you will check out the work of the DT as it is amazing! I look forward to seeing your cards in our gallery! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

                   Make something beautiful!  

Linking this card to:  

Grateful Heart for The Paper Players

 Thanksgiving will  soon be happening, have you bought your turkeys yet, my US friends? This is the time of year when I especially need to cultivate a calm and grateful heart. 

Stamping always calms and refreshes me, and a new challenge for The Paper Players #616 fits right in with the gratefulness attitude. Our lovely Claire wants us to create projects with a Give Thanks theme. 

I had the brand new to me Thankful Heart stencil, stamps and dies from The Greetery just waiting for today's card. 

The stencil makes it so easy to sponge an ombre shading to the sentiment. I kept this very simple, using the nesting arched dies to create the card base in Baked Brown Sugar (SU) and arranging the inked die cuts along the panel bottom. 

Both the sentiment and the white panel are popped up with craft foam and dimensionals. Everyone is welcome to play along, hope you will join us at The Paper Players!

I'm grateful for many blessings, thanks to you  for being one of them! I really appreciate your visit today. Have a great week. 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

I'm entering this card in the following challenges: 

NBUS

Double "D" Challenges - Thankful 

Make the Cards Challenge   Thanks

Wishing You Well Color Hues #52

 

Hello friends! Welcome to a new challenge at Color Hues! I really enjoyed playing with some new supplies using Curio: Summer Findings Dies from The Greetery. After making the decision of what to use, creating with Turquoise and Mustard was a delight! 

I began by die cutting the white stitched frame and several rectangles, from white card stock. Using black and white card stock, I die cut the insects and plant images, sponging Distress Oxide inks to color them. 

Arranging the squares and elements came next. Thinking I needed a bit more mustard, I stamped tiny dots around. Needing even MORE mustard, I cut up a frame I had sitting on my desk and used those pieces kind of like parentheses to balance the design.  

This felt out of my comfort zone! I'd sure love to know what you think! It will be nice to have in my stash for a get well.  (Sentiment Suite: Thinking of You)

Can't wait to see how these colors will inspire YOU! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Entering this at NBUS! 

Bicycle Birthday

 Hello, on this last Sunday of October!  I't's the day for a new challenge at The Paper Players! This week's challenge #615  is a grid allowing you to choose your options. I made a girlie birthday card using the Bicycle Builders Honey-Cuts from Honey Bee Stamps and designer papers. Isn't it cute?

Here's the challenge prompt from our lovely Anne Marie. I chose the middle row, top to bottom: Die-Cut, Texture, Birthday.

I knew I wanted to use this brand new-to-me die, and the stamps that coordinate have lovely sentiments to include a birthday. I know I'm really going to love using this! 

Texture. Maybe I went overboard but I added a 3D embossed white panel (Tim Holtz), cut the bike frame out of metallic card stock, and used a bit of sparkly tulle ribbon to wrap around the bike handles. 

The basket had textured details which I highlighted with shading, and I dabbed a shimmer pen on the flowers. I really got in some good time experimenting with what I wanted and what did or didn't work with this one. 

Can't wait to see what you will create! I'll see you tomorrow! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

I'm playing along at NBUS. Looking for inspiration? As I write this there are 135 entries for this month!

Tartan Thanks and some rambling thoughts....

 Hi everyone! It's unusual for me to post on a Saturday, but on this cool rainy day I've had some time to stamp. And think. At the same time, HA! 

Actually I've been thinking about this card for awhile. We had an amazing driver on our trip to Scotland and we got to know him very well as we covered the beautiful countryside.  We wanted the thank you card to be special and unique for him.

Of course that led me to buy new supplies, right? No, I don't often do that, but I did this time! I'll tell you about that in a moment, but first, the card. 

Here's how it went. I visited a blogger or two and like me, they have been stamping for a long long time. That led me to a new store called Stamp Simply owned by Sharon Johnson. The tag line is "Keep it Simple - Make it Pretty" and I was enthralled, remembering how much less complicated stamping used to be, and loving again the sweet vintage vibes. At the beginning, before I had much of any style, I was more shabby chic than anything else. 

So I couldn't have been happier to order ribbon again, and a few masculine papers and one set of stamps. The key dies are my favorites.  All will be listed below. 

How has your stamping style morphed since you began? Mine changes almost daily according to my mood. I like it that way. Changes came also based on who or what business I've been following. Anyway, all that to say that I really liked being able to create a masculine card with touches reminiscent of Scotland. And earlier days. I mean, it's been ages since I've used seam binding. And on a masculine card? Seems kind of like the fringes on a kilt.  Patterned paper is something else I've been using less of. Not today! Now that I've bought more, I'll have to use more. And so it goes!

Thanks for listening and for your visit! Now I really am going to get off the computer. 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Supplies:
WPlus9 - No One Else and dies
Stamp Simply - A Man Of Knowledge Stamps and Dies, Ribbon assortment. Papers from Craft Consortium - TARTAN, Patina, Metal Textures

Poinsettia Builder for The Paper Players

 Welcome to my blog on this first day of a new week. Time for a new challenge at The Paper Players, and a first Christmas card for my stash for this year. It's a bit to early for me to be starting Christmas cards but you know with lovely and talented Ann's Sketch for TPP# 614 I had to go with what works and add a bit of elegance. 

Pulling out my Poinsettia Builder set (WPlus9) I found quite a few elements already stamped and ready to go, plus a few greenery pieces from Bells & Boughs. These are stamps for layering and the results are beautiful! 

If you haven't seen these before, check them out!* Here's my card. 

I used sponge daubers to add ink to the images before stamping and die cutting. I can't quite remember the inks I used but I suspect they're Distress Oxides as they blend so well. 

I arranged the bouquet on a die cut circle and assembled the card using Paper Rose's 6 x 6 Cosy Rosy papers. It needed a bit of sparkle so I added snowy glitter (hard to see), gold thread and a few sequins. The sentiments are from the Poinsettia Bouquet stamps. 

Please have a look at the wonderful samples our DT has for you this week and play along! Thanks for your visit today, it means so much that you come and have a look around. 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

*Want to see more of my cards with this set? Find them   HERE and HERE. 

Welcome Winter

 Hello, welcome to my blog today! I'm jumping ahead to a new season with a simply made card and a sketch for inspiration.

There's nothing like a sketch to kick start your creativity, and this week's Freshly Made Sketch did just that. 

Combined with the new paper pad I just got, it was a quick card and lots of fun to make! The three panels were just cut from the paper. I stamped the greeting and small bird from a long retired holiday set onto a white card stock square.

Thanks so much for popping in, I always enjoy your visit!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Paper is from Carta Bella - Welcome Winter