2 Glasses

Hi and Happy Sunday!

Here in the U.S. it's the middle day of our Memorial Day long weekend, and kind of the official start to our summer. Since it's Sunday, we have a new challenge for you at the Paper Players. This week, Joanne has a fun Tic-Tac-Toe challenge, and I'm looking forward to see what you all create.

This simple card took me about 5 hours! That's because I made three others and they ended up in the recycle bin, then I took a break, LOL. I don't know what was going on with me but three times it was "YIKES! NO!" I was on a mission because I needed to make a birthday card since tomorrow is my "personal chef's" birthday. He loves We love wine, in fact, we are in the Central Coast (California) wine country for our long weekend. I had the idea to make a watercolored background with wine glasses and use this sentiment in some sort of die cut. It wasn't happening! After doing three versions, I pitched them, cleaned off my table, put everything away and had dinner. I came back with a different, simpler approach. Here is the card that I finally ended up with. And, I actually think it looks pretty good and I know Denis will like it.

In case you haven't figured it out, I used the bottom to top diagonal with embossing, die-cut, birthday. The sentiment is heat embossed with gold EP, the banners and background patterned paper are die-cut and as you can see from the picture below of the inside, it's a Birthday card. I've used several different stamp/craft companies to put it all together too.

See more creative goodness when you visit the other DT's blogs. Their links are below.

The Paper Players Design Team

Claire Broadwater

Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Linda Callahan

Hannelie Bester

For those who live in the U. S., Happy Memorial Day. I hope you are spending it with those you love, and taking time to remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our freedom.

Thanks for coming by today,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Taylored Expressions Witty Wine Quotes set (outside sentiment), stamps from SU and MFT used on the inside.
Paper: SU Emerald Envy and Very Vanilla card stock, SU Playful Palette DSP Stack (new catty)
Ink: VersaMark, SU Emerald Envy and Sweet Sugarplum
Other: Ranger Gold EP, heat tool, Die-namics Pierced Fishtail Flags and Stitched Rounded Rectangle dies, Doodlebug enamel shapes and dots, TE Wine A Little dies (inside), the Big Shot, dimensionals

Happy Birthday

Hello,

If it's Sunday, it's time for a new Paper Players challenge. This week we are up to number 296 and Laurie has a fun sketch for us to use.

I have several family and friends who have birthdays over the next three months, so I thought I'd work with a summer theme to make a birthday card for my girlfriend who loves the beach.

I think this is one of my favorite sets from SugarPea Designs. She is a blast to color. Looking through my patterned papers, I found the Sunkissed pack from Doodlebug. Perfect for her background! The image is stamped in Memento tuxedo black and colored with Copics. I stamped the beach bucket a second time on scrap paper, colored and fussy cut it and popped it up over the first stamped image, which was cut off with the die. This also works for the additional element in Laurie's sketch, though maybe not so obvious.

The rest of the DT have some awesome inspiration for us. Stop by their blogs for a visit:

The Paper Players Design Team

Claire Broadwater

Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Linda Callahan

Hannelie Bester

Colleen Begley-Me

I know we'll be seeing some fun and creative projects from you this week. I can't wait.

Have a great Sunday and week ahead. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: SugarPea Designs Seaside Wishes set

Paper: SU Heavy Whisper White card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock, Doodlebug Sunkissed patterned paper

Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics

Other: Die-namics Zig-zag Circle Stax dies, SU Large Polka-dot EF, Wink of Stella clear glitter, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Welcome Baby

Hello stamping friends,

It's a pretty Saturday morning here on the SoCal coast and I'm enjoying it. I had breakfast on the deck in the sunshine eating while reading a new fun book by Mary Kay Andrews called "The Weekenders." I love all of her books. A little romance, a little mystery all set somewhere in the Low Country. 

I made this card Thursday evening. My co-worker is pregnant with her second child and they know that they are having a girl. I'm keeping with my current "stamp my own background" kick with this card, just like on my previous post.

I stamped the sweet little animal images in Memento tuxedo black and used sponge daubers to randomly add color, then cut a circle using a Spellbinders classic circle die to make the shaker part of the card. I stamped the sentiment and bear through the opening for perfect placement. The bear is colored with Copics and I added a liberal amount of Wink of Stella over his muzzle, ears and foot pads.

All in all, a fairly simple card. The longest part was cutting and placing the foam tape perfectly around the circle to hold in the sequin.

This afternoon, I'm working on my Paper Players card for tomorrow. We have a fun sketch challenge for you.

I hope you have a great Saturday, and thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Carnival Cupcakes set by Mama Elephant and Something To Celebrate set by Stampin' Up (sentiment)
Paper: X-Press It Blending card stock and SU Flirty Flamingo
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Flirty Flamingo, Peekaboo Peach, Sweet Sugarplumb, Mint Macroon, Copics
Other: Die-namics Stitched Mini Scalloped circles die, Spellbinders Classic circle die, SU window plastic, the Big Shot, foam tape, sequin, Wink of Stella

A Tropical Thank You

Yay, we made it to Friday!

Hello, I hope you all had a great week. I spent many of the days trying to get a new work computer configured with all of the programs I need and my data transferred from my old computer. It's amazing how long the process seems to take. I made some progress. I have two programs that I need to get help with next week, then it should be all set.

After turning off said computer, I used some new Stampin' Up goodies to make a card. I have tons of patterned paper, yet lately I'm using stamps to create backgrounds. What's up with that, LOL? I tend to go in spurts where I use lots of patterned papers then spurts where I don't use them at all. Anyhoo, on to today's card.

Linda has a great sketch over at The Freshly Made Sketches blog. I love the big empty space that allowed me to do my background stamping. I've used some of the new In Colors and a new stamp set from the new SU catalog that starts June 1. I'm loving this new green. To color the pineapples I used the new In Color markers, coloring directly on the stamp.


My personal chef has a trip to Orlando this coming week for work meetings. I'll take him to the airport on Sunday morning, then come home to watch some baseball and stamp. I hope you have fun plans for the weekend with some creative time scheduled.

Thanks for looking in today,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Pop of Paradise by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Emerald Envy and X-Press It Blending card stock
Ink: SU Emerald Envy, Flirty Flamingo and Memento tuxedo black classic ink pads and Emerald Envy and Peekaboo Peach markers
Other: Gold enamel dots and pink Baker's twine, SU dimensionals

Hippo Birdie To You

Well Hello to you all,

Wow, it's been a long time since I've done any stamping! Between a vacation in NYC, attending my niece's college graduation in Colorado and work commitments, I have not had the time.

LeAnne has a fun CAS challenge for us today at the Paper Players and that was just what I needed to get my mojo going again.

I have many stamps that would work for this challenge and it took a while to decide on what I wanted to use. I don't know how "wild" these guys are, but they sure are cute! All stamps, dies, and the patterned papers are from Lawn Fawn and the layout is the current Freshly Made Sketch.

For the inside, I used another Lawn Fawn set called Party Animals.

You can visit the rest of the DT blogs using the links below. They have some awesome projects!

The Paper Players Design Team

Claire Broadwater

Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Linda Callahan

Hannelie Bester

Colleen Begley-Me

I'm looking forward to seeing your "wild things" cards. Thanks for playing along and thanks for looking in today,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Hippo Birdie To You set by Lawn Fawn

Paper: SU heavy card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock, Lawn Fawn Let's Polka In the Meadow patterned papers

Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics

Other: Lawn Fawn co-ordinating set dies, Lawn Fawn banner die, enamel dots, the Big Shot, dimensional

Finally, I thought I'd play proud Auntie and show you a picture of my niece, the new graduate, and her brothers taken last weekend after the ceremony. Rachel in the middle is 23, Ian on the right is 19 and Nathan in the glasses is 17. They are the best!

Congratulations on Your Retirement

Hello and welcome to this week's The Paper Players challenge. Jaydee has a very pretty and soft color palette for us to use.

One of my laboratory customers retired a few weeks ago. (I also worked with her about 30 years ago before I left for my current job.) She loves gardening, so I knew that these pretty colors with these flower stamps would make the perfect retirement card for her. 

The Avery Elle image is stamped in Memento tuxedo black and colored with Copics to match the challenge colors. With these funky, drawn flower images, I don't usually do much shading when I color them and I think they look just fine. I love this image that wraps around a corner and there are several single flower shapes and leaves as well in the set.

After coloring the images and rounding opposite corners, the panel was glued onto a Wisteria Wonder card base. For a little added dimension, I stamped the single flower again and cut it out and used a dimensional to raise it up. A few enamel shapes were added that matched the challenge colors well.

I know you'll find more inspiration when you check out the rest of the DT's blogs here:

The Paper Players Design Team

Claire Broadwater

Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Linda Callahan

Hannelie Bester

Colleen Begley-Me

Enjoy your Sunday. I can't wait to see what you create with this beautiful color combination. (I also can't wait until I'm the one receiving "happy retirement" cards, LOL)

Thanks for stopping by,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Floral Frame set by Avery Elle and PSX single stamp for the sentiment

Paper: SU Wisteria Wonder and X-Press It Blending card stock

Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics

Other: Fiskers corner punch, enamel shapes, dimensional

Life Is A Journey

Hello and good morning stampers,

It's Sunday and time for a new Paper Players challenge. Nance is our hostess and she has a theme for us this week. We want to see bicycles "riding" across your project.

My niece is graduating from college next week. Since I needed to make her a graduation card, I thought I'd use Nance's theme and see what I could do. While it's not your typical graduation card, I rather like the way it worked out. I've combined a couple of Taylored Expressions stamp sets.

The bicycle is stamped in Memento tuxedo black and colored with Copics. After cutting it out with a Die-namics square die, the sentiment and graduation balloon were added. I stamped the balloon again on a scrap of white card stock, colored and cut it out, and popped it up over the bike with a dimensional.

The inside sentiment is a Dr. Seuss quote from The Places You'll Go stamp set:

"You have brains in your head

You have feet in your shoes

You can steer yourself,

any direction you choose."

I know you'll enjoy the rest of the DT's cards. Check them out here:

The Paper Players Design Team

Claire Broadwater

Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Linda Callahan

Hannelie Bester

Colleen Begley-Me

As you read this, I'm actually in NYC for a week. On my way back to California next Friday, I'll be stopping in Colorado for the weekend so I can attend my niece's graduation ceremony.

Thanks for looking in today. Have a fun and relaxing Sunday!

Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Bikes and Trikes set and  The Places You'll Go set by Taylored Expressions
Paper: SU Mambo Melon and X-Press It Blending card stock, Doodlebug Sunkissed patterned paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: Die-namics Stitched and Double Stitched square and Double Stitched circle dies, enamel dots, the Big Shot, dimensionals