The Paper Players Go Red, White, & Blue

Hey stampy friends!  Are you ready for a new Paper Players challenge?  I hope so because here it is!

When I saw these colors, the first place my brain went was patriotic and for once I went with my first impulse.  Here's what I made:

Whipper Snapper's Liberty Eagle is a fairly new acquisition in my craft room.  In addition to the challenge colors, I added Cinnamon Cider (neutrals are okay), lots of silver sparkle, and just a bit of Mango Melody for his beak.  I think this card will have to go in a package or be hand delivered though; both the Pacific Point starry circle and Sam (of course his name is Sam) are up on Dimensionals.  And it doesn't show up in the picture, but I put a bit of Wink of Stella on all the stars on the main image.  Just because I could.

I used the Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch:

It's a good one!  Hope you'll give these colors a whirl (stars and stripes not required, but they are fun) and post your creation over at the Paper Players blog!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Liberty Eagle by Whipper Snapper Designs
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Stampin' Blends in Real Red, Balmy Blue, Cinnamon Cider, Mango Melody
Paper:  Real Red, Pacific Point, Thick Basic White, Real Red DSP, Silver Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, white EP, Dimensionals, watercolor pencils

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Cindy Beach

Christy Stanford <-- You are here : )

Jennie Maier

Ryan: February

Hey y'all!  Didja miss me?  I haven't been in my craft room all week, except for about 15 minutes yesterday (I got one whole image colored in before I had to go back out).  What with the virus craziness happening, the Y is closed, so I don't get my 2 hours in the morning to work out and/or stitch, so I've been stitching in the afternoons when Ryan does quiet time, which means I haven't been stamping or scrapbooking at ALL.  Sigh.  I hope we can resume our regularly scheduled programming soon.

In the meantime, I can still share Ryan's baby book layouts because it's all done :) So here is the first monthly layout for his book:

Wow he was so tiny!  I mean, he started out at 8 pounds, 10 ounces, so lots of babies start out smaller than he did, but it's quite a difference to look at these pictures and look at Ryan now--he's 3 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs just over 32 pounds.  Growing so much!  Anyway, there's his first picture with Mimi and Grandpa, when he was 8 days old, and I love the three pictures on the bottom of the right page.  Just fun to see Ryan looking at his daddy, and then the other two Ryan's facial expressions are hilarious.  That one on the far right looks like "Hey Mama, how YOU doin'?"

Today's color palette is Balmy Blue (I will never have enough of this in 12x12 so a layout has to be really special to rate this color for the page base), Gable Green (long retired), Blueberry Bushel, and a touch of Real Red.  Usually I make blank baby books for other people, so I can just use whatever seasonal color combination I want; since I did this one after I had all the pictures, I tried to use colors to complement the photos.  And for a lot of the layouts, pictures were taken through an entire month, so finding a cohesive color combination could be a challenge.  But I'm quite pleased with how the whole giant album turned out.

Here's hoping I get some time in my craft room this week.  Stay healthy, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Letters for You, Background Basics, I {Heart} Hearts
Ink:  Real Red, Blueberry Bushel, Gable Green, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Balmy Blue, Gable Green, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Large Letters Framelits

Three Ghoul Friends

I'm aliiiiiive!  I was busy doing something on Tuesday afternoon and didn't get a card made for Wednesday, and then on Wednesday I was not feeling well at all so no card for Thursday.  Yesterday I actually spent all of naptime cleaning up the house because we have people coming in today, but I did have this one card I made and hadn't shared yet so here it is:

I started this when I was spitballing ideas for Leora's birthday party invitations.  Then we went with the other design so I ripped off the "you're invited" and put on a sentiment from Spooktacular Bash instead.

Anyone have any great ideas for Halloween costumes for me, the hubby, and our 2.5-year-old son?  I got NOTHIN' for ideas this year!

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wonderfully Wicked, Spooktacular Bash, Background Basics
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Gorgeous Grape
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Gorgeous Grape, Basic Black, Granny Apple Green
Accessories:  Ornate Frames dies

Stardust

Hey kids, who else is glad it's Friday today?  I'm going to finish out the week strong by sharing a card that fits in four different challenges.  So here it is:

I, uh, more or less permanently "borrowed" the long-retired stamp set Stardust from my mom some years ago, but I think this is the first time I've inked it up.  (She can have it back along with the other two stamp sets I liberated from her collection if she wants them, but she hasn't done any paper-crafting in several years so I don't think I need to worry about sending these back any time soon.)  I was inspired to dust off this set (seriously, the stamps--still on wood blocks--say 2004 on them!) due to the Global Design Project theme challenge:

In related news, my happy fox card was one of the winners for last week's challenge, wahoo!   Anyway, I do have some current SU! stamps that feature the celestial objects making up this week's theme, but I was just feelin' retro so I went with it.  The Color Throwdown this week seemed like an appropriate match:

I used Highland Heather, Pacific Point, Coastal Cabana, and Daffodil Delight for my colors.  And I used the sketch from Inspire. Create.:

Classic sketch, I love it.  And finally, the Retro Rubber Challenge is anything goes:

I honestly don't know how long I've had Stardust in my collection, so let's say it's more than five years (I'm pretty sure that is the case), and Background Basics (the background stars) is over 10 years old in my collection, so lots of senior rubber on this card.

Well, y'all have a great weekend.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Stardust, Background Basics
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Daffodil Delight, Highland Heather, Coastal Cabana, Pacific Point
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Highland Heather, watercolor paper
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Friday Flashback: Watercolor Garden

Happy Friday, y'all!  Looks like it's going to be a nice day where we are today, and the trees are starting to bloom so it looks like spring.  And so does today's Friday Flashback!  Today's featured stamp set is Watercolor Garden.  Let's check it out!

Also features Fancy Flexible Phrases

I made this card for my stamp club way, way back in 2007 and I still love those rock'n'rolled flowers.

Also features Background Basics, Warm Words

Ya know what, looking back at some of my very old cards (this one is from 2006), for a long time there I wasn't using *any* patterned paper.  And now I've got a ton of it!  But sometimes it's nice to go back to the basics of nothing but ink and paper and stamps.

Also features Terrific Tulips, Season by Season

The flowers on this one aren't from Watercolor Garden, just the stems and leaves.  And it's sad that this set has apparently been collecting dust since I made this card in 2008!  Well, I broke it out for today's new card:

Apparently I was feeling old skool so no patterned paper...I got this idea to use only Whisper White (well, Thick WW) cardstock and stamp each panel with something different, but I wanted soft pastel colors.  The Filigree background I did by sponging the ink on the stamp so it came out lighter, and pretty much everything else but the sentiment was stamped off once.  There are some Pink Pirouette butterflies on the bee panel but they're really, really light.

I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch:

And the Retro Rubber Challenge:

I figured that the spring flowers counted as Easter-y, after all isn't there a flower called an Easter lily? ;)  Anyway, I've had Watercolor Garden for at least 10 years (whoa!), same for Filigree, and Fancy Flexible Phrases for 9 years.  Hadn't really thought about it but I suppose I have been a stamper for over a decade now.  Craziness!

The challenge over at Just Add Ink is to Just Add E--I think my Easter card qualifies.

Hope you have a good weekend, stampy folks.  I'm off to the gym (again!) and then I've got some spring cleaning to do.  Bleargh.  But then it's date night with the hubs tonight so that makes it better.  Cheers!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Watercolor Garden, Filigree, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Ink:  Perfect Plum, Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, Pink Pirouette, Soft Suede
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Circles Framelits, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Carved & Candlelit

Happy Friday, y'all!  I have an appropriately October-ish stamp set for today's Friday Flashback:  Carved & Candlelit.  Love it!  So let's get to the fun part :)

Also features Rough Edges Alphabet

It's hard to tell from this photo, but the jack o' lanterns' faces are embossed with Iridescent Ice so they're all sparkly.

Also features Cool Cat, Background Basics, All-Year Cheer III

What's more Halloweeny than a cool black cat?

Also features Background Basics, Petite Patterns, All-Year Cheer II

I happen to know a couple of people whose birthdays are ON Halloween, and quite a few more with October birthdays who also love pumpkins.

Ok, so this one is really old:  it's a layout from the first set of baby books I did way, way back.

Also features Bright Blessings (unmounted wheel)

So Carved & Candlelit is a simple little set with a couple of pumpkins and a few faces, but clearly I love it.

Also features Grateful Greetings

Again with the Iridescent Ice EP faces.

Also features Priceless, Falling Leaves

You've seen this layout on here quite recently but I couldn't leave it out.  And that's the Flashback part of today's post, so here's the new creations:

Yep, I made two!  My brother-in-law and his son have birthdays one week apart so I figured I'd make cards for both of them.  And between the two cards, I used every stamp in the set one time.

First up is the grown-up card; I had quite a time trying to get this card to work.  This is actually the FOURTH background panel!  I don't know why but I was just having trouble getting things to gel yesterday when I worked on it.

I used the color combination from The Color Throwdown:

And the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

And I think this one counts for the Male Room challenge to make an autumn card for a guy:

So next up, the card for the 6-year-old.

This one didn't quite want to gel either, I don't know what is up with my craft cave lately.  But anyway I used the color combo from ColourQ:

And the sketch from Retro Sketches:

I think this might have worked better for me if I'd made my card more like 5 inches square instead of 4.25".  But I don't have envelopes that size, so what can ya do.

Well, I know what I'm going to do:  I'm going to go back down to my craft room and work on another project, and hope that this time my mojo cooperates a little better.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, next-to-last card:
Stamps:  Carved & Candlelit, Fall Fest, Birthday Wish, Work of Art
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Supplies, last card:
Stamps:  Carved & Candlelit, All-Year Cheer II
Ink:  Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss
Paper:  Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Tangerine Tango DSP
Accessories:  circle punch, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Ruff Day

Happy Friday!  It's time for another Friday Flashback, and today's randomly-chosen retired stamp set is Ruff Day.  Let's get to it!

Also features All-Year Cheer I, A Little Love

Why is it that for baby clothes, all the boys' clothing has dogs on it and the girls' has cats?  Oh well, I thought this puppy made for a cute baby shower card anyway.

Also features Background Basics, It's Your Birthday

Here's a kick up your heels birthday card.

Also features Print Pattern, Tag Time, Tiny Talk

And a St. Patrick's Day card.  I bought Tag Time specifically for that tiny four-leaf clover.

Also features And Everything Nice, Background Basics

One more baby card that I made a couple years ago for a friend, who loved it and said it reminded her of a song in Labyrinth where David Bowie sings about snips and snails and puppy dog tails.  Love Labyrinth : )

So here's today's brand new creation!

I knew without even looking that I hadn't used this dog in the beret yet so he was a natural choice for today's card.  And I did take French for, like, seven years; when I was in high school, we used to speak French with an intentional (and terrible) Texan accent just to make our teacher holler at us.  So bone jour, y'all!

I used the colors from Colour Q:

Though I added quite a bit of black, and the only Chocolate Chip is on the dog's spots.  I used retired Watercolor Wonder Crayons to color in the dog, and then watercolored the beret and the "ground" with ink pooled in the ink pad lid.  I miss WWC!

I also used the fabulous sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

Wonderful sketch, right?  Super easy to work with.

Anyway, I think maybe it's stopped raining so I should take my pups out for a walk.  Otherwise we will have a Ruff Day :)  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Ruff Day, paw print from ?
Ink:  Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush
Paper:  Basic Black, Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush, Whisper White, Crumb Cake
Accessories:  Chalk Talk & Circles Framelits, Neutrals Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Neutrals Candy Dots, Black EP, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Sweet Treats

It's the first Friday of the new year and that means the first Friday Flashback of 2015!  So today's stamp set is a real oldie, Sweet Treats, which retired in 2006.  Let's take a look back, shall we?

Also features Filigree

Please pardon the terrible picture, this card actually looked much better IRL than in this photo.  The filigree background was embossed with Iridescent Ice, as was the entire panel with the cake on it, so it was very sparkly.

Also features Teeny Tinies and Beyond the Basics

There are people who call the long-retired Orchid Opulence color Fairy Puke Purple, but I actually liked it and set out to make a card with it to try to make other people like it too.  Not sure if I changed anyone else's mind, but I enjoyed the challenge.

Also features Background Basics and Whimsical Alphabet

And here's the third stamp in the set, which now has me wishing I had ice cream.  And also one of those cool dishes to put an ice cream sundae in.

Also features Whimsical Blossoms wheel and A Greeting for All Reasons

Last but not least, this was the card I made for the first swap I ever participated in, not too long after I started stamping.  I do have a collection of wheels, but very rarely did I ever use them except when they were current.  Well, there were a few that I cut up and made into individual stamps, so I used those a bit more often.

Anywha, here's today's brand new creation:

January is my birthday month so I thought I would make a birthday card today.  Someone else is having a birthday too:

The color challenge at Colour Me...! is to pick one of the previous challenges, so I got some scrap paper to write down a couple of the challenges that I liked.  Then I ended up writing down about 2/3 of them, so I could probably do a Colour Me card every day for the rest of the month ;)  But here's the one I picked for today:

Nommy picture, and I do love the colors together!  So that's that.

It's raining in Alabama and I'd been hoping to take the dogs for a walk today.  Guess I'll have to do laps around my house until we leave to go see Night at the Museum 3 at the theater?  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Sweet Treats, Birthday Wish (single stamp)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Bermuda Bay, Real Red, Smoky Slate, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Basic Black, Whisper White, scraps of Big Top Birthday & Fresh Prints (of Bel Air!) DSP
Accessories:  Banner Framelits, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Best Fiends

Happy Halloween, folks!  I had randomly drawn the name of another, non-Halloween stamp set for today's Friday Flashback, but since it's Halloween I couldn't resist:  I had to feature my favorite Halloween ghouls, Best Fiends!  So let's take a Friday Flashback with Frankie, Drac, and Agnes.

That trick-or-treat bag wasn't easy to fussy cut but I loved how it looked on Frankie's card here :)

Also features Rough Edges Alphabet and Flannel Plaid

I have a friend whose birthday is today so this was his birthday card one year.  I love the bats on this one--I stamped them in Basic Black on Vintage Violet paper (this was back when we had Vintage Violet as an In Color) and then colored in their eyes with white gel pen.

This was a first birthday party invitation for my friend's daughter, who was also born on Halloween.

Also features House of Haunts, From the Crypt, and Background Basics

And now we're up to baby book pages!  One of the stamps in Background Basics is a pattern of circles with little dots inside them, and I love that for these pages because it kinda sorta suggests eyeballs without actually being eyeballs.

Also features House of Haunts and Background Basics

This was the baby book layout for the little girl whose birthday is on Halloween.  It took FOR.EV.ER. to color in all three Best Fiends, but since her mama is a total Halloween nut I just had to go the extra mile on this layout.

Also features House of Haunts, From the Crypt, and Background Basics

One more baby book layout that's pretty much the same as the first one on this post, but different colors.  The spider stamp is from Best Fiends but I never gave him a name.  The pumpkin from House of Haunts would be Jack, obviously.  So on to the new card creation for today!

I couldn't help it, I had to choose Agnes.  And I knew exactly what patterned paper I wanted to use on here too, I love the Perfect Plum worked into the Cast-a-Spell DSP.  You can't tell from the photo but I sponged some Soft Sky behind Agnes, it looks good IRL.  But what really makes me smile about this card is the inside:

Bwahahahaaaaa!  I've seen people do cards with Agnes and this sentiment from Edgy Eloquence before, but I never put them together my own self until now and I love it.  I think this card will give the recipient a giggle even if I'm not sending it off until today (my bad).  I used the sketch from Create with Connie and Mary:

It kinda seemed like a lot of layers at first but when I saw the design team's work with the sketch I thought hey, I can do that.  I kind of wish I'd done the sketch as a mirror image because there's some blank space under the front of Agnes' broom but oh well.  It wasn't big enough to put the bat in there (who also doesn't have a name, man did I drop the ball) so it had to stay blank.

Anyway, that's it for me this week.  Have a wonderful Halloween, everyone!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Best Fiends, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Edgy Eloquence
Ink:  StazOn Black (someone remind me to get an ink refill for this!), Pumpkin Pie, Perfect Plum, Old Olive, Basic Gray, Soft Sky, Whisper White
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Cast-a-Spell DSP
Accessories:  Oval Framelits, Word Window & Modern Label punches, Regals Candy Dots, Dimensionals