Tic-Tac-Toe Ties for The Paper Players

Hi there! It's Sunday and I'm excited to finally be back in a routine after being on "creative hiatus" over the past couple of weeks. It's time for another fun challenge over at the Paper Players. This week, our hostess Lesley, has a Tic-Tac-Toe themed challenge to play along with. Simply pick a row on the challenge board...across, down or diagonally...and create a project with those elements. Easy peasy, right? 

I decided to use the middle row featuring the color blue, dry embossing and a masculine theme for my project this week. This card is becoming legendary, actually. (not REALLY)  Or, at the very least a never-ending project...as I brought a bonanza of these babies to Convention as one of my swap projects. After fussy-cutting almost 200 of those little ties, I thought this one deserved a blog post. Helooo hand cramp! Lol! I made a couple of tweaks (which I wish I made for my swaps, actually) and made yet another "tie card" for the Players this week.

I kind of feel badly for my poor roomies from Convention that I am subjecting them to this card, once again. They MORE then had their share of seeing it, as I was putting my swaps together in the hotel room in Salt Lake City. 


The fussy cut ties are popped up with dimensionals and the embossed texture plays off the patterns in the ties. The blinged out "tie tack" is a simple accent. I do think rhinestone accents are a-ok for a guy card...as long as they are used in moderation. What do you think? All of the supplies used are listed at the end of this post. 

Want to play B-I-N-G-O with the Paper Players? It would be awesome to see what you create with the challenge. You can play along until Friday, August 3rd at Noon (PDT). (Coincidentally, I will be in the operating room at that same time having surgery on my tootsies. Yikes!) It would be awesome if you would join us and play along. Stop by and say hello to the rest of the lovely ladies on the Design Team to see what they created for the challenge:

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile (you are here)

Amy White

Dawn Easton

Helen Heil

Jaydee

Jen Arkfield

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Nance Leedy

Thanks for stopping by!
Have a great day today,

Stampin' Up! Supply List

Stamps: Best Dad Ever and Itty Bitty Banners

Paper: Marina Mist, Gumball Green, Midnight Muse and Whisper White card stock

Ink: Marina Mist, Gumball Green and Midnight Muse Classic ink

Accessories: Chevron Embossing Folder, Argyle Embossing Folder, Bitty Banner Framelits, Midnight Muse 3/8" Stitched Ribbon, Finishing Touches Edgelits, lots of Stampin' Dimensionals and Basic Rhinestones

A Colorful Challenge for Our Creative Corner

Looking for my Dynamic Duos post? It's right after this one! 

Hello and welcome to another fun challenge over at Our Creative Corner. This week our hostess, Lori Rider, has come up with an awesome mix of colors to play along with. There is also one little catch to the challenge: you also have to feature fabric and/or circles somewhere on your card. I went with circles, as featured on the polka dotted paper along with the bling and the sparkly brad.


This week, we are also saying goodbye to four amazing designers over at the OCC, which makes me really sad. These gals will be greatly missed. :( 

Vicki Burdick

Anita Houston

Tui Nathan

Kristin Tierney

I first saw the measurements for this fun card fold over at Laura Lipe's blog.  I happened to have one of these cards already cut and scored out in Poppy Parade (guess I was going to use it for another project at one time or another) so I just went with it. *CLICK HERE* for the cutting and scoring instructions from Laura's blog. This card super-simple to make and can be created from a single 4- 1/4" x 11" piece of card stock.

Here is a side view of the card:
(yes, those side panels of polka dot DSP are cut a wee bit short...I messed up the measurements when I cut the paper. Ugh!! )

I used the Make a Cake set for the layered cake and it was a snap to stamp using the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig tool for perfect placement. The "You are Fabulous" sentiment is from a stamp set that I earned FREE while attending SU Convention classes last week in Salt Lake City. I loooove those fun fonts! 

Here is a quick shot of the inside of the card, using the frame from the I Am... stamp set and a sentiment from the Petite Pairs set.

I sure hope you can join us this week for Lori's "color challenge with a twist" over at Our Creative Corner. We also have five new member of the OCC Design Team that I wanted to give a proper welcome to, as I missed their first week with us: 

Lisa Minckler - You Made Me Ink

Kim Price - Inkcognito

Paula McClane - Scrap Addict's Attic

Liliana Inguanti - Stampin' From Home

Chris Barnes - Dot Dot Stamping Designs

Also, please check out the rest of the lovely ladies on the team to see what they created this week: 

• Linda Coughlin- The Funkie Junkie
• Sue Butler- Scrumplescrunch
• Anne Marie Hile- Stampin' Anne
• Wendy Janson-  It's All About Stamping
• Marcy Kaminski - En Papillote Arts
• Holly Kean- Kean On Paper 
• Irena Kowalczyk (aka Rudlis) - Love, Life and Crafts
• Meihsia Liu- Simply Paper Crafts
• Lori Rider- The Diva Stamper
• Sharon Wheet- Designs by Sharon

Thanks for stopping by! 

Have a HAPPY day! :) 

Stampin Up! Supply List
Stamps: Make a Cake, I Am... and Petite Pairs (inside sentiment)
Paper: Subtles DSP in Pretty in Pink, Poppy Parade (ret.), Pear Pizzazz (ret.), pretty in Pink, Basic Black and Whisper White card stock
Ink: Basic Black and Poppy Parade Classic ink
Punches: Pinking Hearts Border punch, Itty Bitty Punch Pack and Large Oval punch
Accessories: Poppy Parade, Pretty in Pink and Pear Pizzazz Stampin' Write markers, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, Whisper White Organza ribbon, Pretty in Pink Glimmer Brad, Dazzling Details, Basic Rhinestones and Stampin' Dimensionals

DD#13 - "Brown" Ribbon Birthday

Hello and Happy Saturday to you! After a short hiatus, I am SO excited to be back with the Dynamic Duos Design Team. I have really missed these fabulous gals! This week we are focusing on the monochromatic duo of Early Espresso and Crumb Cake. This is an awesome color combo! When I got to creating, I was really inspired to use the combo for a masculine-themed card. I don't know about you, but I never seem to have enough "guy cards" on hand. 

For my layout, I was also inspired by this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. The lovely and talented Cindy Hall created this sketch and I was fortunate enough to finally meet her "in-person" at Convention last week. Hooray! :) Scroll down for some fun photos from Convention, that I just posted last night. 

I received the Blue Ribbon stamp set in my latest SU order this week and was excited to ink it up. This ended up being more of a BROWN ribbon card, though. The stamp coordinates with 2- 3/8" Scallop punch, the 1- 3/8" Circle punch and the 1- 3/4" Circle punch so I just inked and popped up all of the layers. I added some ribbon (which is sadly retired, but the only ribbon I have in Early Espresso) to the cut out "tails" for a textured touch. The large punched scallop was run through the Paper Crimper for some added texture, too. All of the supplies are listed below. 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you will have a chance to play along with us this week at Dynamic Duos. Please stop by and check out what the rest of the Design Team have created for inspiration: 

The Dynamic Duos Design Team:

Allisa Chilton

Anne Marie Hile

Anika Lerche

Bronwyn Eastley

Kim Singdahlsen

Lesley Croghan

Lisa Elton

Melissa Chipperfield

Paige Grabau

Sue Joyce

Have a HAPPY day! 

Stampin' Up! Supply List
Stamps: Blue Ribbon
Paper: Festival of Prints DSP Paper Stack (Holiday Mini catty), Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake and Early Espresso card stock
Ink: Versa-Mark and Early Espresso Classic ink
Punches: Scallop Border punch, 1- 3/8" Circle punch, 1- 3/4" Circle punch and 2- 3/8" Scallop Circle punch
Accessories: Early Espresso Quilted ribbon (ret.), Chevron Embossing Folder, Naturals Designer Buttons, Paper Crimper, Early Espresso Embossing Powder, Silver brads, Stampin' Dimensionals and Basic Pearls

Convention 2012 - Part 1

Hi there stampin' friends! Wow, it has been a couple weeks since I have posted! Things have been crazy-busy around these parts and in the middle of it all, I took off to Salt Lake City, Utah for Stampin' Up Convention last week. After uploading over 1000 photos and finally unpacking my suitcases, I am finally back in blogging action, once again. Whew!

Convention was absolutely AWESOME!! Not only did I have an amazing time with my friends but I came back completely motivated and energized to create. What an amazing experience it was! 

I wanted to share a few quick photos tonight. These are mainly photos from the first two days of Convention and our tour of the SU home office in Riverton, UT. I will have more to share in the coming days, now that I am back in the blogging world. (Well, at least until next Friday when I am having foot surgery...but more on that later.) 

Here are a few photos from the Riverton tour, last Wednesday. Don't you just love this frame and the fabulous saying with the pop of color? 

 Speaking of color...isn't this room gorgeous? There is a creative museum set up right as you walk into the home office set up with awesome inspirational ideas for home decor. So pretty!!

 The last room on the museum tour featured a vintage typewriter and some pretty card samples.

 This is where the SU orders are packed and shipped. SO cool to see in person! 

 Here is a display from one of the meeting rooms. I love the bright colors, the framed words and the clean design. I really need to do something like this for our office here at home. 

Finally, here is a one quick shot from the first morning session last Thursday. Pictured here are my 3 roomies: Ann, Ginger and Amy...along with the fun-tastic Mike Funke.  

I just love my stampin' friends...even if we all have creepy eyes from the dim lighting at General Session! Haha! :) 

Thank for stopping by to visit today! I will be back soon with more Convention fun! 

The Traffic Light Card for Paper Players #103

Hello and Happy Sunday to you! It's time for a new challenge over at the Paper Players! Hooray! This week, I am the challenge hostess and I have a fun color combo to try out. Bright and cheerful for the summer season. I sure hope you can join us and play along! :)  

When I got the colors on my desk to get started on my card, they were laid out in the order of Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight and Lucky Limeade. I have also been really inspired to play along with Jennifer Timko's design over at Freshly Made Sketches since it posted earlier this week. I sat down to create my card and all that came to mind....was a traffic light! Haha! Now isn't that random? Creative inspiration comes from many places, so I just went with it and came up with my card, using three layered flowers the Floral Fusion die as the focal point. 

The only stamping on my card was the sentiment, actually. It was a pretty simple card to create but I really like how it turned out. That's a good thing, right? All of the supplies used are listed at the end of the post. 

Thanks for stopping by! Please stop by and visit the rest of the Paper Players Design Team to see what that have whipped up with this week's colors. I hope you will join us and play along, too. The challenge closes on Friday July 13, 2012 at 12:00 Noon (PDT).

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile (you are here)

Amy White

Dawn Easton

Helen Heil

Jaydee

Jen Arkfield

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Nance Leedy

Guest Designer: Vicki Burdick

Have a HAPPY day! :) 

Stampin' Up! Supply List: 
Stamps: Tiny Teacup (ret. sentiment)
Paper: Perfect Polka Dots DSP, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade and Whisper White card stock
Ink: Calypso Coral Classic ink
Accessories: Floral Fusion Sizzlits Die, Bitty Banners Framelets die,Itty Bitty Punch Pack (flower centers), Square Lattice Embossing folder, Stripes Embossing folder, Calypso Coral 3/8" Ruffled Ribbon, Basic Pearls and Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Hour for Dynamic Duos #10

Hey there! Who is ready for another fun color challenge at Dynamic Duos? As it is the first week of the month, we are going with a "Bold and Sassy" color combo of Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive. Don't you love these colors together? I sure do! Old Olive has always been a favorite of mine. :) 

I decided to ink up a new stamp set called Happy Hour for this one. When I saw the sketch from Mojo Monday, I was immediately inspired to play along. Hooray for some crafting mojo...as that AND time have been in short supply recently. 

Once I got to stamping, I didn't really give much thought to that little accent on the left hand side of the sketch, until I got the card put together. None of the sentiments in that stamp set would fit on a 1'" circle, or so I thought. I simply colored in part of one of the sentiments with a marker and just stamped the word "cheers". Whew! Crisis averted! 

Also, for the record, I did not intend to stamp the three drinks in a straight line...for couple of reasons. Even with the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig, I still struggle to stamp in a straight line, so why fight it. Haha, I'm a "stamp-a-ma-mess" sometimes, I tell ya! I also wanted the middle drink to look like it was a bit more focal, as it was dressed up with that sparkly lime. This is such a fun set, it was one of the first on my list to order from the new SU catalog. 

Here's a little photo of the dressed-up inside of the card, just for fun: 

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you will join us this week at Dynamic Duos for the "Bold and Sassy" color challenge. Please stop by and visit the rest of the gals on the Design Team, to see what they created with this week's colors, too. These gals are chock full of awesome-ness! 

The Dynamic Duos Design Team:

Allisa Chilton

Anne Marie Hile

Anika Lerche

Bronwyn Eastley

Kim Singdahlsen

Lesley Croghan

Lisa Elton

Melissa Chipperfield

Paige Grabau

Sue Joyce

Have a HAPPY day! :) 

Stampin' Up! Supply List: 
Stamps: Happy Hour
Paper: Polka Dot Parade DSP, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive and Whisper White card stock
Ink: Rick Razzleberry and Old Olive Classic ink
Punches: Scallop Trim Border punch, 1" Circle punch, 1- 1/4" Circle punch and XL Oval punch (inside of card), Dazzling Details, Fancy Fan Embossing folder, Stampin' Dimensionals and Basic Rhinestones
Accessories: Rick Razzleberry Satin ribbon (ret.), 
Non-SU Accessories: oval and scallop oval dies

Party this Way with Our Creative Corner!

Hello and Happy Saturday to you! This week at Our Creative Corner, the lovely Sharon Wheet is our hostess and she is ready to party, with a fun theme challenge: 

"We challenge you to make a paper craft item for a party!  Any kind of party: birthday celebrations, an afternoon BBQ, a summer evening soiree, a beautiful wedding ceremony, or an elegant dinner.  Just make your paper craft item related to your party: an invitation, a party favor, some decorations, a hostess 'thank you' gift/card, etc.  All we ask is that you have fun, be creative, and share your creativity with us!"

I created a birthday card, which could also easily be used for a party invitation. Simply add the party info to the inside of the card and there you have it. I got some inspiration from the gorgeous color combo from the Stampin' Royalty Challenge this week. 

The layout for this card, isn't new. I made THIS CARD not too long ago, with the same sketch and it has always been in the book of "favorite layouts". I have to admit, I was stumped as to where to start for this challenge and while out shopping Wednesday for a birthday gift, I had this random idea to make dressed-up party hats. So that was my starting point. 

I heat embossed three pennants from the Pennant Parade stamp set (punched them out) and then trimmed them down from their original size, so they would fit in the punched squares. I popped on some puffy pom-poms that I found in my crafting stash. Don't even remember when I bought them...don't you hate when that happens? Finally, because I am not known to hold back on the bling, I added some sparkly trim as a finishing touch. I added some embossing, ribbon and die cut trim for added detail. All of the supplies used are listed at the end of the post, if you are interested. 

A quick shot of the inside of the card. I decided to go with a birthday card, over an invitation because I needed to make one for the friend I was buying the gift for: 

Thank you so much for visiting! Won't you join us at Our Creative Corner this week? Please stop by and visit the rest of the gals on the Design Team for some wonderful inspiration. They were serious party animals for this challenge! We hope you will join the party this week at our challenge. You can link up until Friday June 12, 2012 at 11:59 pm (EST). 

Linda Coughlin- The Funkie Junkie

Sue Butler- Scrumplescrunch
Anita Houston- The Artful Maven Haven

Anne Marie Hile- Stampin' Anne

Wendy Janson-  It's All About Stamping
Marcy Kaminski - En Papillote Arts
Holly Kean- Kean On Paper 
Irena Kowalczyk (aka Rudlis) - Love, Life and Crafts
Meihsia Liu- Simply Paper Crafts
Tui Nathan- Stampin Time
Lori Rider- The Diva Stamper

Sharon Wheet- Designs by Sharon

Party on! :) 

Stampin' Up! Supply List: 
Stamps: Pennant Parade and Party This Way (ret.)
Paper: Perfect Polka Dots DSP, Basic Gray DSP paper pad (ret), Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, Basic Gray and Whisper White card stock
Ink: Versamark and Basic Gray Classic ink
Punches: Scalloped Square punch, 1- 1/4" Square punch, Petite Pennants Builder punch and XL Oval punch (inside)
Accessories: Chevron Embossing folder, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing folder, Daffodil Delight 1/4" Stitched Grosgrain ribbon, Clear Embossing powder, Heat Tool, Finishing Touches Edgelits Die, Basic Rhinestones and Stampin' Dimensionals
Non-SU Accessories: white pom-pom accents