Paper Players #62- Birthday Theme Challenge

Happy Sunday! This week at the Paper Players our fabulous hostess, Lesley has challenged us to create  birthday-themed projects. Let's face it, we ALL know someone who is having a birthday, so we really hope you will join us this week. We are also welcoming our brand spankin' new Fall Design Team members along with our new Guest Designer for the month of September. SO excited to work with these talented gals! :) 

I decided to create a masculine-themed card for the challenge because I never seem to have enough "guy cards" in my card stash. I used the Open Sea stamp set which was featured in the, now retired, Summer Mini Catalog. But, there is GOOD NEWS! It was just announced that this set is available to order until July 2012. Contact me for details! 

The DSP that matches this set IS retired though. No worries, because it is available in My Digital Studio and that's where I got it. The cool thing about MDS is the versatility it offers. I just needed a 3"x5" piece of DSP for my project, so that is exactly what I printed off. So easy! Point, click, print...

I sponged some ink on a few of the layers and then started to rough up the edges with a Sanding Block. Then I changed my mind...because that's generally how I roll. So, there are sporadic sanded edges. ;) All of the materials used to create the card are listed below. 

Finally, here is the inside of the card, using the leftover DSP I printed off. I left it blank until I get ready to send the card off:

Thanks for stopping by! Please visit the rest of the Paper Players Design Team to see their birthday-themed inspiration. We hope you will join us this week! Our challenge is open through Friday, September 9th at midnight (CST). Have a HAPPY day today! :) 

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

Julie Marshall

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Nance Leedy

Tara Bilbao
Sandra Conner (September GD)

Stampin' Up! Supply List: 
Stamps: Open Sea and Plane and Simple (ret. sentiment)
Paper: Nautical Expedition paper (downloaded in My Digital Studio) Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Night of Navy and Whisper White card stock
Ink: Night of Navy, Crumb Cake (for shading the sails on the boat) and Cherry Cobbler Classic ink
Accessories: 1- 1/4" Circle punch, 1- 3/8" Circle punch, Word Window punch, Modern Label punch, Baker's twine, Crumb Cake 3/8" Taffeta ribbon, Gold Brads, Sanding Blocks, Stamping Sponges and Stampin' Dimensionals
Non-SU! Accessories: gold baubles

Paper Players Challenge #46-A Color Challenge

Hello and Happy Mother's Day to all the fabulous Mama's out there! 

Especially MY Mom, who deserves a special shout-out today! :) 

It's time for another new challenge over at The Paper Players. This week the lovely Ann is our hostess and we are using the color combo of Early Espresso, Not Quite Navy and Cherry Cobbler. You can also throw in your choice of a neutral, like Crumb Cake or Very Vanilla, to add to the mix. We sure hope you will play along with us! 

These colors are so perfect for a masculine-themed card so I went for a Father's Day theme. (Make's perfect sense on Mother's Day, right? Ok, maybe not...) While digging through my stamps, I realized two things: I do not have a lot of "guy" stamps and I tend to over-use the ones I DO have. Then I remembered the motorcycle digital download available in My Digital Studio.  This is my first hybrid creation using MDS and let me just say, I absolutely LOVE the program. I was able to size my cycles perfectly, change the colors to match and print 'em out...all with a few simple clicks! I also love that you can re-size images to fit your project. Click HERE to learn more about MDS. 

I wanted to "rough" the card up a bit so I sponged all of the card stock edges with Early Espresso ink and used the Color Spritzer tool on the main image. (There is something about an "Ann Challenge" and that tool, that just go hand-in-hand...Haha!) A little twine and some metal brads finished it all off. 


The inside of the card was also created in MDS. I didn't have any sentiment stamps that seemed to "fit" so I just typed one up. The inside of the card took less then 3 minutes from "start to print", which is pretty cool. I think I will be using MDS much more often! :)

I hope you enjoyed my Father's Day creation using The Paper Player's color combo. Please stop on over to the site and see what the rest of the Design Team has created for your inspiration. We would love it if you would play along this week, too! :) Have a great rest of your day!


Stampin' Up! Supply List: 
Stamps: Plane and Simple (front sentiment, ret.) 
Digital Images: Motorcycle 
Ink: Early Espresso Classic ink
Paper: Early Espresso, Not Quite Navy, Cherry Cobbler and Very Vanilla card stock
Accessories: Square Lattice Embossong Folder, Modern Label punch, Word Window punch, Colr Spritzer tool, Crumb Cake Stampin' Write marker, sponges, Stampin' Dimensionals and silver brads