A Cut Above with the Paper Players

This evening I received the wonderful news that I had been chosen as a Cut Above in the Paper Players Challenge #85.  Have you ever felt so happy that you just had to dance?  Well that's what I did - I literally danced around my kitchen!  Thank you Anne Marie Hile for choosing my card.  It's so fun to participate in this challenge and really such an honor to have my card recognized.  The Paper Players will have another challenge starting tomorrow.  Check it out - maybe you will be inspired to play along too.  Here's my card and thanks for popping in to visit. 

 

A Sunflower from Cindi

I received this gorgeous thank you card from my friend and fellow Stampin Up! demonstrator Cindi Colbert.  I sucked in my breath in awe at the beauty of this card.  Cindi just loves flowers.  When she was my customer she would joke that she needed to buy something other than flower stamps and papers, but she just loved them so much she couldn't help herself.  I think she has a great talent with the projects she makes with them and I'm always stunned by the beauty that comes through in her clean and simple designs that showcase her flower creations (pressed flowers, photos of flowers, flower DP and flower stamps).  Thank you Cindi for letting me share your beautiful card.  Keeping using those flowers 'cause I love them! 

colourQ challenge #127

 

While linking into other amazing blogs I came across the colourQ Challenge #127.   I have seen the colourQ palettes mentioned in the past in a couple other blogs that I have visited, but didn't realize until today that this was open to anyone that wants to participate. These are not colors I would normally think to put all together but I was quite inspired by the Royal team's examples.  So... I just had to give it a try and this is what I came up with.   

It was refreshing to pull out my Certainly Celery cardstock.  It has gotten overlooked since my new love Lucky Limeade came along, but its such a wonderful soft, springy color to add to pink.  I did fuss a little with how to get the Chocolate Chip worked into this card - because I wanted to keep my base lighter, and it seemed a bit stark to me, until I remembered that I had these great Sweet Shop stickers, and problem solved - whoo hoo!  If you have followed any of my past posts you will notice that I really like this Sweet Shop Suite of products out of the Stampin Up! Occassions Mini catalog (available until April 30th). 

I'm glad to have the chance to participate in this challenge.  Check it out - you might just find yourself drawn to submit a card too.  Thanks for popping in to visit - hope you saw something that inspired you!  

Supplies (all products from Stampin Up!):  Cardstock - Blushing Bride, Certainly Celery, Calypso Coral, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White.  Classic Ink - Chocolate Chip, Stickers - Sweet Shop Designer Stickers (125584), Patterned paper - Sweet Shop Specialty Designer Series Paper (125408), Sentiment Stamp - from Bring On the Cake (121899 - wood or 121958 - clear), Border Punch - Scallop Edge Border (119882), Calypso Coral brad - from Designer Printed Brads (2011-2013 In-Color), Rhinestones on ice cream cones - Basic Rhinestones (119246) colored with a pink Sharpie, Ribbon - Certainly Celery twill (retired). 

Little Baby Blue for Freshly Made Sketches #25

 Hello, here is my card for the Freshly Made Sketches #25 (FMS25) Challenge.  I kept my card very clean and simple and the sketch just helps it pop.  It seems as if I've been in a bit of a Baby mood lately (good heavens not for myself though, don't go gettin' any funny ideas!) - I just love those little feet and hands and can't help but using them every chance I get.   Hope you enjoy this card and perhaps see something that inspires you too.  Happy "Finally its Friday" everyone!

Supplies (all are from Stampin Up!):  Cardstock - Whisper White (100730) and Baja Breeze(111352), Classic Ink - Baja Breeze #111833(feet) and Island Indigo #122937(boy), Patterned paper - Sweet Shop Speciality Designer Series Paper (125408 - available in the Occassions Mini until April 30th), Stamps - image and sentiment from Baby Prints (125470- wood or 125472 - clear, available in the Occassions Mini until April 30th), Ribbon -  1/2" Seam Binding in Baja Breeze (122331), Punches - 1" Circle  (119868) and 1 1/4" Circle (119861)

Merry Monday Challenge #10

Hello!  I stumbled across the Merry Monday challenge while visiting the talented Sandi MacIver's blog (I visit her quite often for inspiration).  At first I thought "Oh... Christmas cards now?"  But then I read the thought behind the challenge - 'Making Christmas Cards all year long - one week at a time'.  What a fun idea! Depending on how many weeks you participate by Christmas you can have a good stack to send out and have one less thing to do during the busy holiday season.  So... my second thought was "Yeah - I'm gonna give it a go!" and here is my card for the Merry Monday #10 Challenge.

This is my interpretation of Sandi's great sketch.  I really wanted to use this darling snowman that I barely touched during Christmas last year - but that meant I had to make some modifications to Sandi's great sketch to get it on the card.  I colored my snowman's hat and buttons with my blender pens (#102845) and some residual ink from my Classic Black stamp pad. It didn't flow as nicely as I wanted so I switched to using my blender pens and a teeny tiny drop of ink from my ink refill of the Pool Party, Peach Parfait and Poppy Parade colors.    Not much room for a sentiment so I left that off the front and put on the inside (see below).  The die-cut is from the Attic Boutique Side Notes (from the Occassions Mini).  These die cuts coordinate so perfectly with the DSP.  Hope you enjoy this card and hope you found a little bit of new inspiration.  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies (all are from Stampin Up!):  Cardstock - Whisper White and Pool Party (In-color 2011-2013 collection), Stamp - Snow Much Fun #122560 (wood) or 122562 (clear), Punch - Lace Ribbon Border punch #122362, Ribbon - 3/8" Ruffled Ribbon in Pool Party #122975, Pearls - basic pearls #119247, Patterned paper - Attic Boutique DSP #125407 (available until April 30th in the Occassions Mini).

MOJO Monday 231

Happy Wednesday everyone! Here is the card I put together for the Mojo Monday Madness Contest MOJO231.  I realized after I got most of the pieces together that I didn't have a St. Patty's Day saying that fit on my tag - so I improvised with a set that has been getting lots of attention from me lately (Just Believe).  Do you believe in 4-leaf clovers, good luck, leprachans and your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?  I do!  Now I just need to plug the address of the pot of gold into my GPS and I'm good to go - ha ha.  Seriously though, if you think about it we all have a pot of gold in something - our family, our kids, our pets, our health, our friends, our co-workers.  We are very lucky really - four-leaf clover or not.

Maybe you can help me decide on the inside.  I made two versions but can't decide if I want to go cutesy or with just the St. Patty's Day wish (the one I planned to put on the outside).  I used my Dotto temporary adhesive to tack it on 'til I decide.  Won't you tell me what you think? 

Here's the cutesy version ( I later colored the outfit a darker green and like it better):

And here is the plainer version:

Hope you enjoyed this card and thanks for popping in today.  

Supplies (all from Stampin' Up!):  Cardstock (Garden Green - base and clover, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White and Only Orange - retired (oops - I thought I had grabbed Pumpkin Pie out of my scrap stash until I went to complete the inside.  Pumpkin or Peach Parfait would look good too).  Ink Classic Stamp pads and Stampin Write Markers- Always Artichoke (sentiment on front), Garden Green and Wild Wasabi (sentiment on inside), Stamps - Just Believe  #116948 - wood or #120453 - clear (front), Happy St. Patrick's (inside from the Occassions Mini #125457), Gnome Sweet Home #126535 - wood or 126537 - clear (inside version 1), Butterfly from the Beautiful Wings Embosslet #118138, Paper Doily - Large Sizzlit Die #125592 (from the Occassions Mini), Four-leaf clover made with the Full Heart punch #119883 and the smaller heart on top of each leaf is from the Heart to Heart punch #119881, Button - Designer Buttons, Brights (Old Olive) #119747, Brads on tag (garden green) - Brads, Regals #119737.  Other - I used the Perfect Polka Dots textured embossing folder to give the smaller leaves (hearts) on the clover their texture.   The stem on the clover is the branch from the Bird Builder Punch with the leaves snipped off (117191).



Mojo Monday 230 and Paper Players #85

Happy Sunday everyone!  Today I would like to enter this card in two challenges:  Mojo Monday 230 (Round or Square) and The Paper Players Challenge #85 - Spring has Sprung.

I just love it when I can find inspiration from two different sources. I used the square version of the Mojo Monday challenge - sort of... I guess its more the scalloped square version, to showcase my Spring Has Sprung (one can only hope this is true - I'm sooo tired of winter) theme for the Paper Players (PP85).  Tulips have always been my favorite flower (I wish I could have a whole field of them) so it was an easy choice for me to use them for this card.  I hope you enjoy my card and that you see something that inspires you or makes you smile.  Thanks for popping in to visit!

Here's the inside too: 

Supplies and details (all products are from Stampin UP!):
To make my scallop card base I used a folded cardstock base measuring 4 1/2" x 4 1/2 " and ran it through my Sizzix Big Shot using the Clear Large Scallop Square Bigz die.  You need to leave just a little of the base below the top rim of scallops to be able to still have your fold.   To make the tulips I punched 9 wings from my Bird Building punch and then inked each of the tulip petals (Pretty in Pink) with my finger sponge dauber and some Blushing Bride ink.  I also inked the edges of the sentiment panel in the same manner.  Lastly, I had to give the green and blue pieces a little love with my sponge dauber too so it would all tie together (used Baja Breeze and Pear Pizzazz for those pieces). In retrospect I wish I would have also used the branch piece from the Bird Builder punch for the stems on the tulips so they wouldn't be so "blocky" - oh well (sigh!).  The finished card is 4 1/4" x 4 1/4" in size and will fit in a regular envelope.  But I think I'll try to make a coordinating envelope with the Simply Scored diagonal plate as soon as I get it in my next order.    

Supplies:  Cardstock colors - Baja Breeze (base & sentiment panel), Pretty in Pink (petals), Old Olive (stems and strip above the green panel), Patterned paper - Twitterpated DSP (available in the Spring Mini catalog until April 30th), Ribbon - Lucky Limeade sheer ribbon (FREE during Sale-A-Bration with a $50 order), Inks - Baja Breeze, Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride and Basic Grey (sentiment).  Cardstock base - made with the Sizzix Big shot and the Clear Large Scallop Square Bigz die.