Merry & Bright, PP367

Hi friends! It's Sunday and that means time for a new challenge at The Paper Players! This week sweet and talented Claire is our hostess with a sketch challenge.

Yes, another Christmas card! My stash is starting to build up nicely. For my simple creation, I chose a color palette from the papers in this stack from Lawn Fawn. The cute holly leaves and berries are NBUS from Reverse Confetti. My DH wasn't a big fan of this card, specifically he didn't like the colors. But I just ordered him out of the room and everything was good again, lol! 

Stamp Sets: Winter Word Coordinates (Reverse Confetti)

Card Stock: Solar White (Neenah), Real Red (Stampin' Up)

Patterned Paper: Snow Day (Lawn Fawn)

Ink Pads: High Drive (Simon Says Stamp)

Tools: Big Shot, Winter Words Dies, Holly Dies (Reverse Confetti)

Accessories: White Baker's Twine (Stampin' Up)

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please leave a comment, and then head over to visit the rest of the Design Team at The Paper Players. We hope you'll play along with our challenge this week, too! 

Inky hugs :)

Silver Holiday Ornaments, MM261

Hello all :)  I have sooo many Christmas stamp sets, and always vow not to buy any more, but you know how that goes. I really needed this one! I love the classic shape of these ornaments and know I will get a ton of use out of this set from Hero Arts. I've used it once before, but this time wanted to see how these pretty ornaments would look embossed in silver, and I was not disappointed.

I've been trying to play along as often as possible with the Merry Monday Challenge, as they are keeping me on track with my Christmas cards needs for the season. This week the challenge is 'Ornaments'.

So much pretty shine! I wish I could capture it all, but you get the idea.

Stamp Sets: Holiday Ornaments (Hero Arts)

Card Stock: Solar White (Neenah), Textured Black, Texture White, Silver Foil (Stampin' Up)

Ink Pads: Versamark

Tools: Heat Tool, Big Shot, Holiday Ornaments Dies, Nesting Rectangle Dies (Hero Arts)

Accessories: Silver Embossing Powder (Hero Arts)

Thanks so much for paying me a visit today!

Inky hugs :)

Spooky Halloween, PP366

Hi friends! It's Sunday and that means time for a new challenge at The Paper Players. This week our sweet and wonderful Laurie is hostess with a Clean and Simple Challenge: Spooky!

Here's my take on the challenge. The bones of the card are quite simple, and I replaced my "white space" with black space. I did spend a bit of time on the background, playing around with distress inks. I used stencil brushes first, then splattered with ink, then watered down ink, then finally splattered again with clear water. It may have taken me a while, but I like the end result. It was mildly messy but fun, and it's kind of spooky, I think!

Stamp Sets: Spooktacular (Lawn Fawn)

Card Stock: Solar White (Neenah), Black (Simon Says Stamp)

Ink Pads: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Seedless Preserves Distress Ink (Ranger)

Tools: Big Shot, Cute Cobweb Die (Lawn Fawn), Stencil Brushes (Clarity)

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please leave a comment, and then head over to visit the rest of the Design Team at The Paper Players. We hope you'll play along with our challenge this week, too! 

Inky hugs :)

Inspired By Guest Designer

Hi everyone! I'm very excited to say that I've been invited to be a Creative Guest Designer at Inspired By All The Little Things today! I'm so honored. It's an amazingly talented team. Please head over to their blog to check out their fabulous creations, plus there is a little 'interview' where you can learn a bit more about me! 

I absolutely love the inspiration photo for this week, and it's no surprise that I was inspired by the luscious floral bouquet. 

Though the flowers in the bouquet are roses, I thought that the layered petals in the blossom of a Ranunculus mimicked them nicely. This is a digi stamp from Power Poppy (my most recent obsession), and I colored them with colored pencils. Up until now I've found that coloring black images are the most difficult, such as a black cat, but coloring white images can be tricky too. I colored mine with a bit of a peachy hue, like the white roses in the inspiration photo. I didn't want to cover up any of this pretty image, so I'll save my sentiment for the inside. 

Stamp Sets: Ranunculus Digital Stamp Set (Power Poppy)

Card Stock: Solar White (Neenah), Wild Wasabi (Stampin' Up), Cream (Simon Says Stamp)

Patterned Paper: Here Comes Santa (Doodlebug)

Colored Pencils: Prismacolor

Accessories: White Baker's Twine (Stampin' Up)

Please pay a visit to the wonderful Design Team at Inspired By All The Little Things, and we would be pleased if you played along with the challenge this week, too!

Inky hugs :)

Party Like A Rockstar

Hi everyone! It's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday! This time around there are no toppings, so it's Anything Goes Birthday!

I made this card for my daughter's boyfriend's birthday. Masculine cards for young adults have always been challenging for me and I hope the critters weren't too childish, but he seemed to like it. We got him a gift too, but he said the card was the best part :-) Smart boy! 

Products Used:

Stamp Sets: Rock and Paws, Good Times (Mama Elephant), Big Birthday Wishes (Simon Says Stamp)

Card Stock: Solar White, Desert Storm (Neenah), Audrey Blue (Simon Says Stamp)

Patterned Paper: Black and White Essentials (My Favorite Things)

Ink Pads: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Tumbled Glass Distress Ink (Ranger), Tide Pool (Hero Arts)

Markers: Copic

Tools: Big Shot, Femme Frames Dies, Rock and Paws Dies (Mama Elephant)

I'm so glad you paid me a visit today! If you have a moment please leave a comment, then visit the rest of the wonderful Design Team at Seize the Birthday. We'd love for you to play along, too!

Inky hugs :)

Sunshine of my Life

Hi friends! It's Sunday and that means time for a new challenge at The Paper Players! This week the wonderful and talented Joanne is our hostess with an autumnal color challenge. These colors had me immediately thinking of sunflowers!

Well, here's proof that I can take pretty much any color combo and use it for a floral. This is the second card I made with this digital stamp set from Power Poppy. You can see the first one here, and as you can see I made the image a little larger, which is one of the fun feautures of a digi stamp. I had a nice relaxing evening coloring the images with my Prismacolor colored pencils.

The Flower Challenge is celebrating its first anniversary, and would like us to use our favorite flower. That's impossible because I like every flower! However, I'd have to say that sunflowers are a favorite for this time of year. 

Stamp Sets: Sunshine of My Life, Fall Hall Digital Stamp Sets (Power Poppy)

Card Stock: Solar White (Neenah), Early Espresso (Stampin' Up)

Patterned Paper: Thankful (Authentique)

Colored Pencils: Prismacolor

Tools: Big Shot, Circle Punches (Stampin' Up), Femme Frames Dies (Mama Elephant)

Accessories: Enamel Dots (My Minds Eye)

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please leave a comment, and then head over to visit the rest of the Design Team at The Paper Players. We hope you'll play along with our challenge this week, too! 

Inky hugs :)

Merry Christmas Tree

Hello crafty friends :) My Christmas card stash is starting to build up nicely, but I still have a long way to go. Today's card features the Hero Arts Coloring Layering Christmas Tree stamp set. I stamped the first three layers in a variety of green inks, and the fourth layer was heat embossed in white. The background was created by smooshing and splattering distress ink onto watercolor paper, and the ornaments are rhinestones I colored with a red sharpie.

I'm playing along with the Christmas Tree challenge at Merry Monday, and the Christmas challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. 

Stamp Sets: Coloring Layering Christmas Tree (Hero Arts)
Card Stock: Solar White (Neenah), Soft Sky, Lost Lagoon (Stampin' Up), Watercolor Card Stock (Strathmore)
Ink Pads: Soft Olive, Field Greens, Forever Green, Cup O' Joe (Hero Arts), Tumbled Glass Distress Ink (Ranger), Tuxedo Black (Memento), Versamark
Tools: Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Stitched Hillside Border Dies (Lawn Fawn), Coloring Layering Christmas Tree Dies (Hero Arts), Heat Tool
Accessories: Rhinestones (Stampin' Up), White Embossing Powder (Hero Arts), Red Sharpie

Have a great day :)