The Paper Players #427: Joanne's Theme Challenge

I love making Valentines and Joanne's theme challenge over at The Paper Players was perfect for me this week!

The hardest part about making this card was using SU's Painted Love DSP.  I just love the colors and designs of that paper!  I've just been saving it (or hoarding it) but it was time to cut into it and share the joy! 

The coral and pink stamped and die cut hearts are from My Favorite Things and popped up over some gold metallic washi from Heidi Swapp. The stitched and scalloped rectangle die cuts are oldies from Sugar Pea Designs.

Thanks for visiting today and I hope you have a love-filled Valentines Day next week!

Hugs,

Annie

Cards in Envy: Give It Some Heart

Welcome back for another Cards in Envy Challenge!  We're still playing with hearts and I'll bet you have a few still sitting on your desk too after Valentines Day!  Just create a card with at least one heart and that is flat enough to fit in an envy and you're on your way to the gallery.

I've been on a rainbow kick for the past few weeks - they make me happy on these gray, winter days.  I used Distress Inks to watercolor a background and then layered the PTI Hearts Cover Plate die cut over the watercolored piece.  The sentiment is from MFT and I left the inside blank so I could use it for any occasion.  

Thanks for stopping by!  Now, show us some hearts!

Valentine Dance

Hi there!  A quick card today to play along with CASology's latest challenge:

When I saw the cue of "Butterfly," I knew I wanted to pull out one of my favorite, old Valentines' stamps from Penny Black.  It's called Valentine Dance and I love the sketchy look...perfect for some loose watercolor with splatters.  The sentiment is from a SSS sentiment set called Loving Heart.

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

Cards in Envy: Love You So Much!

Happy Monday!  It's the first Monday of February and time for a new Cards in Envy Challenge.  With Valentines' Day approaching, CIE is looking for Love and/or Valentines Day cards.  The cards can be any size but must be flat enough to fit in an envy without lumps and bumps.

It's a simple one layer card today using the Hearts frame from Paper Smooches die cut in black cardstock and again out of watercolor card.  I watercolored the hearts in rainbow colors and inlaid them into the black frame.  Of course I had to lather them up with Wink of Stella too!

Thanks for being a CIE fan and stopping by today...come play with us!  This challenge will close on Sunday, February 18th.  

The Paper Players #379: A Theme Challenge from Claire

It's a big day...Super Bowl AND a new challenge from The Paper Players!  This is Theme week and it's hosted by the lovely Claire:

If you haven't finished up your Valentines cards, this challenge is perfect for you!

I pretty much let the DSP do the work on this one.  The Doodlebug Designs' DSP and punny sentiments are just so stinkin' cute and I love the colors.  I used MFT dies to cut the layers and added some bubbles and fizz up on the top with VersaMark ink.  

So, after watching the game (go Eagles), we hope you'll find some time in your craft room to play along.  Check out the DT members' blogs for some fun inspiration:

The Paper Players Design Team

• Claire
• Joanne 
• Jaydee
• Laurie
• LeAnne
• Nance
• Sandy
• Elizabeth 
• Jan

And just a few rules:

1. Create a new paper project.
2. Upload your project to your blog with a link back to The Paper Players.
3. Provide a direct link to your blog post for your challenge entry.
4. Please link your card to no more than FOUR challenges (including ours).
5. HAVE FUN! 

Thanks for stopping by today ~ I hope you have a wonderful week!

The Paper Players #378: A Sketch Challenge from Nance

Welcome back for another fun challenge from The Paper Players!  Last week the gallery was filled to the brim with crafty goodness for our CAS challenge, so we hope you'll play along this week with our talented Nance's Sketch:

It's such a classic sketch and a great jumping off point for any card, any occasion.  I'm still playing with Valentines, so here you go:

It started with an old rubber sentiment stamp from Great Impressions and took off from there.  Once I saw the stamp, I knew I had to use MFT's "Meant to Bee" stamps and dies, along with their great Honeycomb background stamp.  I did simple Copic coloring on the images and layered everything on a Hero Arts black notecard (white inside).  I sparkled up the bees wings with Wink of Stella and it was ready to go.

Buzz by the other DT members' blogs and check out their wonderful projects:

The Paper Players Design Team

• Claire
• Joanne 
• Jaydee
• Laurie
• LeAnne
• Nance
• Sandy
• Elizabeth 
• Jan

And just a few rules:

1. Create a new paper project.
2. Upload your project to your blog with a link back to The Paper Players.
3. Provide a direct link to your blog post for your challenge entry.
4. Please link your card to no more than FOUR challenges (including ours).
5. HAVE FUN! 

Thanks for stopping by today ~ I hope you have a wonderful week and come play with us!

CASology and FMS #321

Hi there!  I have a couple of quick cards for two of my favorite challenges today.

The first one is for CASology:

I kept thinking about the tortoise and the hare when I saw the cue word "Late."  I found a very old turtle image that I had to use and paired it with a sentiment from The Stamps of Life.

I made a square notecard out of Strathmore watercolor card and did simple watercoloring with my Distress Inks.  Hopefully I won't miss anyone's birthday, but I'm ready if I do!

The second card is for Freshly Made Sketches #321 by Jen B.

And, yep, I'm still making Valentines!  I need about 10 more for the Assisted Living Facility that took such good care of my Dad and I'm almost there!

I stencilled a little checkerboard pattern with Spun Sugar Distress Ink, die cut some stitched hearts (Memory Box) out of Doodlebug Designs DSP, white heat embossed the Hero Arts sentiment, and finished it off with tiny enamel hearts (also Doodlebug Designs).  I like how it came out...a great sketch to play with!

Thanks for stopping by ~ I hope you're enjoying the weekend!  

Tic Tac Toe Challenge #32

Hi there!  Another Valentines card today that I'd like to link up to the following challenges:

Live Love Cards Community Challenge - Love

Tic Tac Toe Challenge #32 - Bottom row across: Sparkle (washi), Love (die cut), Free

I stamped the pink hearts down the left on white cardstock.  Then I stamped the dotted border and striped border and added a thin strip of silver glittery washi tape.  I die cut the 'love' die and finished it off with silver confetti sequins.  The white layer was added to a steel gray card base.  Here's a list of the products I used:

Cardstock - Neenah Solar White, MFT Steel Gray, Bazzill Licorice

Ink - Catherine Pooler Be Mine (pink) and Black Jack (dark gray)

Die - Catherine Pooler Love Die

Stamps - Impress Brushed Heart, Stampabilities Scribble Heart, Catherine Pooler borders

Other - Your Washi silver glitter tape, Pretty Pink Posh silver confetti

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

The Paper Players #377: CAS Challenge from Joanne

Hello PP Friends!  It's Sunday and time for another Paper Players Challenge! 

Our awesome Joanne is the hostess this week and she's looking for a Clean and Simple project with a Love Notes theme.   Just in time for Valentine's Day!

  
For my DT card, I started by blending Distress Oxide Worn Lipstick on Neenah Solar White and spritzed with a little water.  I then stenciled sun rays (MFT) on the top third with Versmark and clear heat embossed.  I die cut a small vellum envelope (Savvy) and stamped it with XOXO's (Stampabilities).  Then I die cut a whole bunch of little red hearts (SSS Mini Heart Set) and sent them 'flying' out of the envelope for my Love Notes.

We hope you can find some crafty time to play along this week and show us some love.  For some "lovely" inspiration, please visit the other DT's blogs:

The Paper Players Design Team

• Claire
• Joanne 
• Jaydee
• Laurie
• LeAnne
• Nance
• Sandy
• Elizabeth 
• Jan

And just a few rules:

1. Create a new paper project.
2. Upload your project to your blog with a link back to The Paper Players.
3. Provide a direct link to your blog post for your challenge entry.
4. Please link your card to no more than FOUR challenges (including ours).
5. HAVE FUN! 

Thanks for stopping by today ~ I hope you have a wonderful week!

Heart Sprinkles

Hello!  Another big coastal storm is on its way, so before I lose power (fingers crossed that doesn't happen) I made a Valentines card for the latest Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge:

I went with the first row down: Pink, Doily, Sequins

Here are the products I used:
Cardstock - Neenah Solar White, Vellum, Bristol, American Crafts Silver Glitter Paper.
Ink(s) - Distress Oxide Picked Raspberry, VersaFine Black, VersaMark.
Stamps - MFT Donuts & Sprinkles (sentiment).
Die(s) - Mama Elephant Scalloped Rectangle, Lifestyle Crafts Dainty Doily, Concord & 9th Heart.
Other - Memory Box Heart Confetti Stencil, Ranger White Detail Embossing Powder, Imagine Crafts Sheer Shimmer Spritz, Silver Confetti Sequins, thin silver Washi Tape.

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ time to batten down the hatches! Here's what it looked like 2 days ago with the last storm.  Photo courtesy of Kathy Klee...I DID NOT go down there 😨 

A Three-fer to start the New Year!

Hi! If you're looking for the new Paper Players Challenge, click <HERE>

Happy New Year!  The holidays are finally boxed up and I was itching to play along with some challenges.  It has been a couple of weeks away from the ink and paper.  Since there's three cards here, I'll try to make it a short post 😉.

First up is CASology's latest cue word - Encourage

I make school lunchbox notes for my DGS and this is one of my faves from Concord & 9th's Above Average stamp set.  He always gets 5 gold stars from Grandma!

The second card is for the Just Us Girls Challenge.  I hope to play a lot more this year!

LOVE is the word...this card reminds me of the wild and colorful 70's and I think that's all I'll say about that!  I do LOVE Stampin Up's Marbled Background stamp, Catherine Pooler's ink colors and all things Concord & 9th like these Love You So dies.

The third and last card for today was inspired by the latest challenge over at Tic-Tac-Toe:

I was inspired by the photo, especially the blue cups with hot cocoa and marshmallows, so I went with the diagonal - Stamping, Free, & Photo Inspiration.

My poor little fun foam marshmallows...there were three of them but one dropped on the floor and my Sydney (the Schnauzer) gobbled it up.  I'm sure it won't be the last time that happens!  The stamped sentiment and die cuts are from The Stamps of Life's "hotchocolate2stamp" set.  

Thanks for visiting today!  Here's hoping that 2018 is a very crafty year for all!

The Paper Players #375: A Theme Challenge from Sandy

Happy New Year, Paper Players!  I'm so excited to have been asked to stay on as a guest designer for another six months!  This is an awesome challenge blog with such kind and talented ladies...I'm honored and humbled.  I'd also like to welcome Elizabeth Stewart to the team as a new guest designer...so glad you're here!

So, today kicks off The Paper Players' first challenge of 2018 and Sandy, our hostess with the mostess, has chosen a punny theme for Valentine's Day:

For my card, I die cut the Hero Arts' Reef Border out of Neenah Solar White cardstock and layered it over a piece of watercolor paper that was blended with Distress Peacock Feathers and liberally splattered with water.  The cute octopus is from Lawn Fawn's "Octopi My Heart" stamp and die set that I colored with Copics and then tucked in a sparkly heart. A few dots from a white gel pen and clear Pretty Pink Posh drops finished off my Valentine card.

We hope you'll play along with our Punny Valentine theme this week!  Check out the rest of the DT for some inspiration that will make you smile:

The Paper Players Design Team

• Claire
• Joanne 
• Jaydee
• Laurie
• LeAnne
• Nance
• Sandy
• Elizabeth 
• Jan

And just a few rules:

1. Create a new paper project.
2. Upload your project to your blog with a link back to The Paper Players.
3. Provide a direct link to your blog post for your challenge entry.
4. Please link your card to no more than FOUR challenges (including ours).
5. HAVE FUN! 

Thanks for visiting today!  Cheers and Happy New Year!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  Here's another Valentine to remind you that the Cards in Envy Challenge: Be My Valentine doesn't close until this Sunday so there's still time to link up those cards!  I'd also like to link this up to the Just Us Girls Challenge #380 - Hearts.  

I laughed when I first saw this sentiment from Lawn Fawn's Love Letter stamp set.  It fits so nicely into my tech-savy family where text messages fly back and forth during any holiday!

I hope you have a sweet day and thanks so much for stopping by to visit today!

Valentine Balloons

Hello!  I have another Valentine's Day card today to play along with the Valentine theme challenge over at The Paper Players:

A pretty simple card using inks from Gina K. and Catherine Pooler inks and MFT balloon stamps.  I just stamped and stamped using the Misti.  The sentiment is from Taylored Expressions stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black.  Now...I'd better get this in the mail!  Thanks for stopping by :)

Cards in Envy: Be My Valentine

Love is in the air and Cards in Envy is joining in the celebration!  Our newest challenge theme is Be My Valentine and we are looking forward to seeing your envy-friendly cards (any size) with a Valentine theme.

I went with a non-traditional color scheme for my DT card:

I started with a Taylored Expressions background stamp (Brushed Hearts) on Distress watercolor paper.  I heat embossed in silver and used various Distress Markers to watercolor in some (ok, most :) of the hearts.  I added some silver glitter hearts, a white heat embossed sentiment from Lawn Fawn, silver metallic thread and silver glitter scraps to finish off the card.

We hope you'll play along and show us your Valentines!  Thanks so much for stopping by :)

Hoppy Valentine's Day!

Oops! I made this card for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players and almost forgot to link up.

Maybe  because it morphed into something I wasn't "toadally" planning on (or thrilled with) but my DIL loves frogs, so, I thought what the heck.  I'm hoping it's not too far off the mark:

I used the lilly pads and frog as the elements of the sketch.  Then the top of the card looked so blah to me.  I'd already glued everything on the bottom so inking was out of the question.  Couldn't add any patterned paper either, so I decided on some heart DP cut into clouds and added the sentiment.  Yep, I forgot that on the bottom too. 

Here's the stuff I used:

     Cardstock - Hero Arts Snow

     DP - My Favorite Things

     Dies - Sunny Studio, Lawn Fawn

     Stamps - Sunny Studio "Froggy Friends"  (so stinkin' cute!)

     Ink - Catherine Pooler

     Other - Zigs for watercoloring elements, Wink of Stella, Glossy Accents, and enamel hearts

Thanks so much for stopping by!  

Oodles of Hearts

I was able to make a couple of cards today...yay!  It's always such good therapy on a dark, gray day! The Card Concept's latest challenge was perfect to play along with ~ check out the bright colors:

And here's my card with a Valentines theme:

I was inspired by the bright pink & orange, the black & white photographs, and the wonderful texture of the white bedspread.   The card base is Ellen Hutson's white woodgrain embossed cardstock to mimic the bedspread.  The Oodles of Hearts panel from Memory Box was die cut three times, once in white and then inlaid with DCWV bright pink and orange hearts from the 2nd and 3rd pass through the Big Shot.  I used a couple of different background stamps and white heat embossing on some of the hearts to give them a little interest like the pillow in the photo.  The sentiment is an oldie but goodie rubber stamp from Savvy.

I was happy with how this turned out.  Valentine hearts don't always have to be red, do they!  Thanks for stopping by ~ hope you're having a great week :)

Cupid's Bow

Happy Tuesday!  It's a good day...no rain and a new CASology Challenge:

A quick card today using the cue "Bow":

I mailed all my Christmas cards today, so rather than go with a ribbon bow, I decided to get a head start on my Valentine cards.  The only problem I had with this card is I have had this song bouncing around in my head all day ever since I made it - "Cupid, draw back your bow..."

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Enjoy the rest of your week!

The Last Valentine

Whew!  I'm done with my Valentines and still have time to make the mail.  Happy Dance!

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

The Card Concept #48 (Sweet Hearts) (second entry - Clean & Layered inspired by the flowers on the hearts)

CASology #184:  Valentine (I'm a newbie here but have heard great things :)

And, here's my final Valentine:

The white layer was stamped with Memento inks in the shape of a wreath using Rubber Stamp Tapestry's Cherry Blossom peg stamp set.  I traced a heart die to get the shape on my second attempt.  The first try to do this freehand was a disaster...it looked like a flat tire :)  The peg stamps are a lot of fun because they are soooo tiny and you "build" your own image.  It was relaxing...the second time around - Ha!  The little scripted sentiment is from Savvy.  Thanks so much for stopping by!  Happy Valentines Day!

Words 2 Craft By: Love & Friendship

Hello, W2CB friends, and welcome to February's Challenge with, of course, a love theme!  You can never have too many love cards for friends and family - any day can be Valentine's Day!

 
I mixed up the medium for this card, using texture paste and a stencil for the wonky tiles and layering felt hearts on top.  Before placing this layer on the DSP, I decided to brush on some gesso for a little different layering effect.  The sentiment was traced with India Ink so it would pop a bit more.

We hope you'll share your works of "heart" with us this month and have a sweet Valentine's Day!  Thanks so much for stopping by :)

Here's the stuff I used:
Cardstock - MFT Kraft
DSP:  Recollections
Stamp(s):  Avery Elle "Thanks a Bunch"
Other:  Hero Arts "Irregular Checkerboard" Stencil, Ranger Texture Paste, Felt Heart Stickers by Recollections, Pitt Black India Ink Pen, and LiquiTex Gesso.