The Paper Players #470: A Theme Challenge from Laurie

Hello friends! It feels like forever since I've been able to play and post so today was a great day! I'm playing along over at The Paper Players with a fun theme challenge Laurie:

I made this card using an older stamp set and dies from The Stamps of Life.  I've always loved "building" this snowman and the size is great for an A2 card!

She's actually a snow-woman with her pink scarf, gloves and hat. The 'accessories' are covered with sparkly Nuvo Glitter Gloss and the nose super shiny with Glossy Accents.  The heat embossed sentiment is from MFT and the background DSP from DCWV.  

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments!

Hugs,
Annie

Seize the Birthday #179: A Bit of Red

Hi Friends! It's my last challenge as the Surprise Party Guest over at Seize the Birthday.  I have so enjoyed partying with the Design Team. They are a talented and kind group of card makers and they host one of the best challenges around. Thank you, ladies, for letting me hang out with you! I had a blast!

Seize the Birthday takes the month of December off so folks can spend time with their families during the holidays. The last challenge for 2019 is birthday-themed, as usual, with an added Topping of 'A Bit of Red,' if you'd like.

By now you know I love adding Toppings, so here's a birthday card I made for my wonderful son to celebrate, let's say, a "milestone" birthday, using some of my Christmas supplies.

My 'Little Bit of Red' is a red cardstock layer and a red enamel heart on the buck silhouette die cut (Savvy Stamps Deer Head). I stamped the backgrounds on both layers (MFT and Catherine Pooler) in Twilight ink by Catherine Pooler.  The sentiment from Altenew is heat embossed and the flourishes were die cut (MFT) out of silver vellum.  I did not forget to pop up the top layer this time! 

Thanks so much for stopping by and for your kind comments.  They are so appreciated!

Hugs,

Annie 

The Paper Players #466: Theme Challenge from Anne Marie

Hi Friends! Today I'm playing along over at The Paper Players where it is a great Theme Challenge called "Into the Woods."

I must share my inspiration for this one!  Down on the coast, November is the month of the "Rut." That's when the boys (Bucks) seriously look for their girlfriends (Does) so we can have adorable little fawns running and playing around in the Spring.  As I was looking out my window, a beautiful 5-point Buck chased an unwilling Doe into the woods...thus this card:

It ended up being quite the mash-up of products. The trees were stenciled using TCW's 'Aspen Trees' and Hickory Smoke Distress Ink.  The studly Buck is a die cut from Savvy Stamps (Deer Head) and the scarf was die cut from Catherine Pooler's 'Build a Snowman' dies and colored with Copics.  The sentiment (which I thought was perfect because of what's happening in the woods :) is from Ellen Hutson.  The stitched ovals are Gina K. and the stitched rectangles are MFT.  Whew! See what I mean...a total mash-up!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're having a great week - I know the Bucks are!

Hugs,
Annie

Seize the Birthday #178: Off the Edge

Hi Friends!  Happy November and welcome to another fun challenge from Seize the Birthday!  I'm so happy to be staying at the party this month as the Surprise Party Guest.  

Anytime is 'Anything Goes' as long as it's a birthday theme. But, if you're a toppings kind of person (like me) you can add a little extra.  This time around the topping is 'Off the Edge.'

My mind kept going with stamping and die cutting off the edge, so this is what I came up with:

I white heat embossed the sentiment (MFT Spotlight Sentiments) and the stars (MFT Stars Above) on a 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 piece of Classic Crest Sand cardstock.  Then I partial die cut the top star with the coordinating die so it was 'off the edge.'  After some random coloring with a Gold Metallic Prismacolor pencil, I layered the piece onto a Neenah Solar White card base.  Now I'm wishing I would have popped it up for some dimension, but oh well...it's a bit easier to mail!

We hope you'll play along and can't wait to see what you come up with.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Hugs,

Annie

A Halloween Hello

Hello Friends! I played a bit in the craft room this morning before the football game. Before I put away Halloween, I just had to give a home to a few images I had already colored.  I used the latest Freshly Made Sketches challenge to kick start the cardmaking:

Supplies I Used:

Memory Box Cardstock

MFT 'Witch Way is the Candy?' stamps & dies

DCWV 'Spooky Time' DSP

Dylusions Black Marble Spray Ink

Copics & Prismacolor Pencils

Glossy Accents

Sharpie White Pen

Gelly Clear Star Pen

I'd also like to enter this card over at Shopping our Stash #407 where the theme is Halloween.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Halloween!

Hugs,

Annie

The Paper Players #464: CAS from LeAnne

Hello friends! Today I'm playing along with The Paper Players #464 Challenge:

It's a Clean & Simple Challenge featuring big sentiments...love the idea!

I die cut and inked up the Merry Christmas Blend stamps from MFT with two different Catherine Pooler inks.  I was a little disappointed with the coverage (need to reink :( )  so my 'fix' was to stamp the sentiment again with VersaMark and heat emboss the letters with Wow's Wanderlust embossing powder.  It's clear and very glittery and covered up the boo boo's perfectly!  I popped the sentiment up over a confetti stenciled background (MFT) and layered on a Memory Box Lagoon notecard. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Annie 

Seize the Birthday #177: Candles

Hi Friends! I was a little sad that this was my last post for Seize the Birthday as their Surprise Party Guest BUT they've asked me to stay through November!  Happy dancin' now!

The Seize the Birthday Challenge this time around includes a 'CANDLES' topping.  The challenge is always anything goes birthday-themed and you have the option to include the topping if you'd like.

My card for today features candles because I love me some toppings...on everything!

I pulled out some oldie but goodie products for this one.  First I used a well-loved Happy Birthday embossing folder from Cuttlebug on black cardstock as the backdrop for my Stamps of Life die cut candles (candles4birthday) in rainbow colors.  I glittered up the flames and lathered them with Glossy Accents, sticking my finger in one of them while still wet, of course!  I finished off the card with May Arts black/white twine and a sentiment from Technique Tuesday's 'Umpteenth Birthday' heat embossed on an old Sizzix label die cut.  Love that sentiment!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you next time!

Hugs,

Annie

The Paper Players #463: Color Challenge from Laurie

Hello friends! Oh yes, I was excited to see the colors that the lovely Laurie over at The Paper Players picked for this challenge!  I wrapped up my Halloween cards with this one using black, gray, purple & orange!

Supplies I used:

Memory Box Cardstock

Paper Studio 'Stargazer' DSP

MFT 'Witch Way is the Candy' stamps & dies

MFT Stitched Rectangle and Sentiment Strip Die

PTI Border Die

Zig Clean Color Markers, Glossy Accents, Sharpie White Pen

It's a quick post today ~ thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,

Annie

Seize the Birthday #176: For Kids

Hi Friends! I'm still enjoying my time as a Surprise Party Guest over at Seize The Birthday! This time around (as usual) you can create a birthday card with any theme or, for extra fun, you can add a topping!  

The Topping for our current challenge is "For Kids" so I thought I would play with some super cute super heroes!

These cuties are from Sunny Studio's 'Super Duper' Stamps & Dies that I simply colored with Copics.  I don't have a large selection of Copic markers so I try to supplement with my Prismacolor pencils for shading, etc.  I used MFT's 'Radiating Rays' stencil and Mustard Seed Distress ink for the background. I die cut a Quickutz Starburst for the heat embossed sentiment and then popped up the little heroes.  A sparkly Jelly Roll pen, Glossy Accents, and a little rhinestone for the wand finished up this card and they are ready to save the day! 

Thanks so much for stopping by and we can't wait to see your birthday creations!

Hugs,
Annie 

The Paper Players #462: Joanne's Theme Challenge

Hi Friends! Joanne's Grateful/Thankful Challenge over at The Paper Players this week meant it was time to take a break from Halloween cards and play in the leaves! 

I had my mind on raking leaves when I made this one.  I spent a few hours doing that this weekend and then...Monday came, the rains came, and boy did the wind show up too.  It didn't look like I had cleaned up anything!  Oh well, I know these leaves aren't going to blow away:

I don't usually do too many scene cards but the tractor and trailer were screaming at me for one.  I randomly blended a sky, added a grassy hill, and a die cut tree (Lawn Fawn) from woodgrain cardstock.  The little leaves were also part of the Lawn Fawn set that I die cut out of scrap cardstock to fill the trailer.  I just love this tractor and trailer from Catherine Pooler's latest Christmas release (Christmas Tree Farm stamps & dies). I inked them up with CP inks and also used colored pencils for some of the details. The sentiment dies are from MFT and the sentiment is a very old wood-mounted one. 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you're having a good week!

Hugs,
Annie

The Paper Players #461: Tic-Tac-Toe from Jaydee

Yippee! The next card I worked on was for Halloween which happens to be my 2nd favorite type of card to make after Christmas! I was thrilled to see The Paper Players latest challenge from Jaydee was Tic-Tac-Toe:

And looky there...middle row across...Orange, Die-cut, and Halloween!

I got pretty inky with this one and did a lot of masking. The background was blended with Distress Oxide Inks. Then I splattered Copic Opaque White and stenciled some stars with Memory Box Starry Nights Stencil.  I used Tim Holtz Crazy Dogs, Crazy Things, and Pumpkinhead stamps and dies, coloring the images with my Zigs.  I just love that puppy...she looks just like my Sydney the Mini Schnauzer!  

Thanks for stopping by ~ I hope you have a great week.  I can't believe it's going to be October but that means it's time to pull out the witches and goblins and decorate!

Happy Fall Y'all,

Annie

Freshly Made Sketches #404

Hi friends! I made a couple of cards today to play along with challenges.  The first card was for the latest Freshly Made Sketch #404:

Now as I look at it, I probably should have cut down the layer a bit more but I just couldn't do it!  The background stamp from Taylored Expressions called Bloomin' Background was so perfect for this sketch with the oval 'built in' with the background.  I spent so much time watercoloring with my Zigs, adding sparkle with my Nuvo Glitter pen, and white gel pen accents, I wanted to keep as many of the blooms as possible 😉.  I layered it on the card base after adding 3 hello black die cuts, glued together.  Hopefully I'll be forgiven!

Thanks for stopping by ~ I hope you had a great weekend!

Happy Fall Y'All!
Annie

Seize the Birthday #175 - Geometric Shapes

Hi Friends! The party continues over at Seize the Birthday and I'm the lucky Surprise Party Guest for September/October.  Every Challenge is always Anything Goes and a special Topping is included for extra fun.  It's not required to include the topping on your birthday card.  

Challenge #175 Topping is Geometric: 

 I enjoy adding Toppings so this time around I went with triangles for my geometric shape:

I started with black cardstock, Nuvo Moonstone Glimmer Paste, and an Abstract Triangle Stencil by KaiserCraft.  It's amazing how the glimmer paste takes on different looks depending on the cardstock.  The black cardstock brings out the gold tones.  Since this card is for a young man, I went with a simple birthday sentiment (MFT Impact Alphabet & Numbers) die cut out of black foam and gold cardstock.  

Here's another card I made since I had all the fixings out.  This one also used the Moonstone Glimmer Paste but on blue cardstock it took on a silver look.  The sentiment was from The Stamps of Life on a MFT triangle die cut stamped and embossed with Catherine Pooler's Something Borrowed ink.  I think this one could be the "girly" card :)

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you can join the birthday party!

The Card Concept #119: Beautiful Butterflies

Hi friends! The Card Concept is back from their summer vacation with a "Beautiful Butterflies" theme:

It was a very rainy day yesterday and I thought I would play with my Deco Foil.  It has been ages since I used those beautiful shiny sheets!  One of the foils I have is rainbow colored and I thought it would be perfect for TCC's latest challenge:

I used toner sheets from Gina K. (I think...I had taken them out of the packaging) and the rainbow Deco Foil to create the multi-colored butterflies for my clean and layered card.  The red stripes were foiled from Heidi Swapp's toner sheets and the Gina K. sentiment was also foiled in red.  Lots of foil action here and I had completely forgotten how difficult it is to photograph :(  I hope you get the idea of just how shiny this card is!

Thanks for stopping by ~ I hope you enjoyed the last weekend of the summer (eek!).

Hugs,

Annie

The Paper Players #458: A Color Challenge from Ann

Hi Friends!  When I saw the new color challenge over at The Paper Players this week, I immediately thought of Fall like many others did.  Great colors to ink up those leaf stamps with!

I tried to match the colors the best I could and added a little gold embossing for my 'neutral.'

Gina K. Sandy Beach Cardstock

Stampin' Up Very Vanilla Cardstock

Concord & 9th Give Thanks Stamps (sentiment)

Ellen Hutson Rustic Botanicals Stamps and Dies (leaves)

Ranger Very Fine Gold EP

Stampin' Up Cajun Craze ink

Catherine Pooler Peppermint Scrub & Day Dream ink

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you're enjoying the last few weeks of summer 😎

Seize the Birthday Surprise Guest!

Hi friends! I'm thrilled that I have been asked to be the Surprise Party Guest over at Seize the Birthday for September and October. It very quickly became one of my favorite challenges when I started playing and I'm so excited!  It is always Anything Goes for Birthdays but they also include a Topping that you can add if you'd like.  

For Seize the Birthday #174, the Topping is NUMBER. 

I started with a Neenah Solar White card base and die cut a rainbow watercolor panel I made and black cardstock for shading with Technique Tuesday's "By The Numbers"  die.  I glued them together, layered on the card base, and added the white heat embossed birthday sentiment from MFT with a piece of MFT striped DSP to finish off the card.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you'll play along us!  We can't wait to see what you create. 

Seize the Birthday #172 - Butterflies

Hi friends! I just had the best week with my DGS visiting for a week. It's always so fun when he comes to the land of "YES!"  

I made a card today for the latest Seize the Birthday Challenge with a BUTTERFLIES topping:

The challenge is always anything goes but they add a "topping" if you'd like. I have a few butterflies in my stash that are my go-to's.  For this card I used the Bellina Butterfly Triptych die from Poppystamps.

After die cutting from Neenah white cardstock, I layered the butterflies over a watercolor wash, added the SSS sentiment, and layered that piece over some MFT DSP on the card base.  The card was finished off with some matching Pretty Pink Posh sequins and a scrap of DSP to the inside.  I love the airy feel of this die!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week 😎.

The Paper Players #454: A Color Challenge from Jaydee

Hello friends! I'm excited to play along with The Paper Players Color Challenge this week:

I love black & white plus just about any color!  I decided to use yellow this time for my beach card because I'm enjoying the sunshine we've been having lately.  

The card is pretty bold but I guess I should have expected that when I used Hero Arts' Beachy Bold Print background stamp!  I colored in some of the beach umbrellas and flip flops with a yellow Zig Clean Color Marker.  I die cut the Stamps of Life sentiment three times in white cardstock and glued them together.  I also fussy cut one of the colored umbrellas and popped it up on the sentiment label.  All the layers were die cut with Honey Bee's Deckled Edge dies. I added glitter to the stars but, you know, sparkly doesn't photograph that well! 

Thanks for stopping by ~ I hope you're having a great week!

Hugs,

Annie

A Break from Summer Outdoor Projects!

Hi friends! It's been a busy few weeks. Beautiful weather and lots of company and many outdoor projects but today I was anxious to get in the craft room and play along with a couple of challenges!

The first card is for The Paper Players Theme Challenge hosted by the lovely Claire:

AND to help celebrate Freshly Made Sketches 400th Challenge, I used their sketch that was the very first sketch when the challenge launched 8 years ago. Congratulations!!

I made a school-themed card for my DGS who will be in 4th Grade this year...I can't believe it! I've had this DCWV 'Grade School' paper pad forever that is my go to for school cards.  I white heat embossed the sentiment on a die cut apple (Stamps of Life) and added some VersaMark background dots with a pencil eraser. All were layered on a Hero Arts Black Notecard.

The second card is for the Seize the Birthday AG Challenge with a topping of Flowers:

I watercolored this floral arrangement from Concord & 9th with Zig Clean Color Markers. The MFT Pinstripe background was stamped on a white card base with Catherine Pooler 'It's a Girl' pink ink.  I used a sentiment from MFT's June or July 2016 card kit, white heat embossed on black cardstock, and cut it up and popped it up to work with the 'Wonderful' sentiment.  Nuvo Purple Rain Glitter Drops were added for a little bling to finish it off. 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you're having an amazing summer!

Hugs,
Annie

PP451: CAS Challenge from Ann

Hello! Back again with a card for the latest Paper Players Challenge #451:

I went with a simple Kraft card base and coffee stamp from Riley & Co. I clear heat embossed the image and colored with Prismacolor pencils.  Finished it off with coffee "drips" in VersaFine Clair Pinecone ink. 

CAS was just what I needed and a masculine card for my stash is a bonus! Thanks for stopping by ~ hope you're having a great week!

Hugs,
Annie