The Paper Players 388 - Design Team Card

Today, LeAnne has a colour challenge for The Paper Players. Isn't it pretty? With that gorgeous graphic, I couldn't help but think of lavender and the lovely lavender set that was available during Sale-a-bration. Then I got the stubborns and decided that I wouldn't use it!

Even so, I couldn't get away from the idea of flowers and got out a long neglected set, Wild About Flowers. I really like this set because the stems and heads are different stamps, so that it's really very easy to create colourful garden scenes - or do both in a dark colour and make a silhouette.

I used Sheet Music to create a background in Wisteria Wonder and the other two colours for the flowers. Even though the colours are so pretty, there was something elegiac about them, so I made this a sympathy card. I think not all sympathy cards need to be heavy and black.

We'd love to see what you do with LeAnne's pretty colours. Pop over and see what the rest of the team has done with them here.

Here's a quick reminder of the rules at The Paper Players.

1. Create a NEW paper-craft project specifically for this challenge.
2. Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us.
3. Please provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge entry.
4. Please link your card to no more than four challenges, total. Entries linked to more than 4 challenges, including ours, will be deleted without notification.
5. Have fun!

If you live anywhere in New Zealand and don't have a Stampin' Up demonstrator, I'd love to help you with ideas and Stampin' Up products. Please message me through my Facebook page, linked in the sidebar of this blog or leave a comment below. 

And, of course, you can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking the SHOP NOW button in the sidebar of this blog or by clicking on any of the products listed below.

Product List

Wild About Flowers Photopolymer Stamp Set

[138728]

$44.00

Sheet Music Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[143970]

$31.00

Better Together Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[141736]

$78.00

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

[106549]

$19.25

Elegant Eggplant A4 Card Stock

[108614]

$17.00

Elegant Eggplant Classic Stampin' Pad

[126969]

$14.00

Wisteria Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad

[126985]

$14.00

Tranquil Tide Classic Stampin' Pad

[144085]

$14.00

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

$12.00

Garden Trellis Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

[143741]

$15.75

CAS Colours and Sketches 215

It's colour week at CAS Colours and Sketches and the colours chosen are rich and vibrant.

I've used them today as inspiration for a retirement card for a colleague who has worked at the same school for around 40 years. 

Update: Delighted to be a Weekly Winner at CAS Colours and Sketches.

Ingredients

Card: Rich Razzleberry, watercolour paper

Stamps: Wild About Flowers, Timeless Textures

Inks: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Pacific Point

Other: Postit notes, sponges, enamel shapes

Global Design Project 61

Just recently, I challenged myself to use the new in-colours in another challenge entry, because I'd been neglecting them of late. This was partly because I wasn't sure I liked them. That challenge went well and now this week, the colour challenge at Global Design Project uses some of those colours too. Clearly, it was a sign that I should get onto it!

So I got out a set I have a lot of time for, Wild About Flowers.

Ingredients

Card: Basic Black, Sweet Sugarplum, Emerald Envy, Whisper White, DSP from Pop of Pink

Stamps: Wild About Flowers

Inks: Tuxedo Black, Sweet Sugarplum, Emerald Envy

Other: Layering Oval framelits, Emerald Envy solid baker's twine, Emerald Envy enamel shapes, dimensionals, sponges

Case This Sketch 194

A thunderstorm struck with a vengeance this afternoon, so what's a girl to do but retreat to the craftroom where the latest sketch from Cas(e) This Sketch was waiting.

I've 'landscaped' the sketch and done something I seldom do - grabbed out the patterned paper. I'm often seduced by lovely paper and then leave it sitting in my drawer so today's wee challenge to myself was to use some!

I'm feeling pretty pleased with the bright and cheerful result.

Ingredients

Card: Basic Black, Melon Mambo, DSP from Pop of Pink suite.

Stamps: Wild About Flowers, Labeler Alphabet

Inks: Old Olive, Melon Mambo

Other: Little Letters thinlits (retired), dimensionals.

CAS Colours and Sketches 194 CAS(E) 193

I didn't mean to play two challenges at once! There I was putting together my bits and bobs to make something for the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch, as it was one of my favourite sketches ever, when I realised that I was putting out the colours from CAS Colours and Sketches.

So I just went with it. Blogland is currently full of autumn challenges - which I enjoy, as the colours are so rich - but here in New Zealand, it's spring. The colours suggested springtime and flowers and I do have a soft spot for masking and sponging, so here it is. Rather like the spring growth, I seem to have been a little exuberant myself.

Wink of Stella continues to be difficult to photograph!

For such a card that seems so exuberant, it's only one-step removed from being a one-layer card and easily could have been one.

Update: Delighted to be a Weekly Winner at CAS Colours and Sketches.

Ingredients

Card: Whisper White

Stamps: Wild About Flowers, Endless Birthday Wishes, Touches of Texture (dragonfly)

Inks: Melon Mambo, Emerald Envy, Pacific Point (the closest I have to Tempting Turqoise)

Other: Sponges,  Clear Wink of Stella, Metallic enamel shapes, Stamp'n'write marker to partially colour the dragonfly.

LIM 293

The challenge at Less is More this week is to create a one layer card using your favourite flower.
I'm a bit of an avoider where one layer cards are concerned, but I do so love my Wild About Flowers set...

The background was created using a spodge in stamped-off Wisteria Wonder, a fine splatter of Sweet Sugarplum and some medium splats in Perfect Plum. The flower is stamped in black and Elegant Eggplant.

Ingredients

Card: Whisper White, heavy weight

Stamps: Wild About Flowers, Gorgeous Grunge, Timeless Textures, Better Together

Inks: Wisteria Wonder, Perfect Plum, Sweet Sugarplum, Elegant Eggplant, Tuxedo Black.

Pals Paper Arts 315

Last night in bed, I planned in my head a card for the colour challenge at Pals Paper Arts which was going to use the beautiful Dapper Denim ruched ribbon.

This morning, all was going well until I reached for the ribbon only to discover that I'd never actually purchased any. The Plan B I never knew I had came into action instead!

I used the one of the new Seasonal Masks from the soon-to-be Holiday Catalogue to create a ground for the flower using Old Olive and So Saffron. My missing ribbon was replaced with a strip of Dapper Denim embossed with the Seaside embossing folder. So while it didn't quite turn out as I'd planned, it's still turned out well.

Ingredients
Card: Dapper Denim, So Saffron, Whisper White, scrap of Old Olive
Stamps: Wild about Flowers, Thoughtful Banners
Inks: Old Olive, Dapper Denim, So Saffron
Other: Seasonal decorative mask, Seaside embossing folder, Thoughtful Banner punch, So Saffron enamel dot, sponges, dimensionals.

Global Design Project 45

Having two weeks of school holidays has been a great boon to my craft time and I'm really enjoying the chance to play lots of challenges and experiment with lots of bits. I'm really glad to have had the time to play at this week's colour challenge at The Global Design Project.

I think it's a fun combination and it lead me to this congratulations card.

Ingredients

Card: Smoky Slate, Melon Mambo, Whisper White, DSP from Everyday Chic

Stamps: Wild About Flowers, Thoughtful Banners

Inks: Tuxedo Black, Melon Mambo

Other: Melon Mambo thick baker's twine, dimensionals

GDP 39 and CCMC410

Yesterday, I watched an interesting video from Jennifer McGuire about creating faux dimensions. In my experimentation of her technique, I've taken inspiration from the theme challenge at Global Design Project and the colour challenge at Create with Connie and Mary.

The colours seemed so bright and cheerful that they'd be good in a Get Well card.

In this close-up, you can see the effect I was aiming at - giving some 3-D to the lettering, which is not so obvious in the above photo. The other technique that I used from the video was to remove the embossing with an iron after sponging to leave a smooth, matte area behind. It's quite a nice effect. The third thing that I tried out, and worked the best it ever has for me, is to mask off part of the stamp so the one stamp was used in two parts: the front and the inside. All in all, this card was a bit of an experiment but it still turned out to be cheerful enough to use. The twine is my touch of Kraft/Crumb Cake.

Update: Unbelievably delighted to be a Winner at Global Design Project.

Ingredients

Card: Bermuda Bay, Whisper White

Stamps: Wild about Flowers, Fabulous Four

Inks: Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Other: Linen twine, Clear embossing powder, White embossing powder, sponges, iron.

Connie and Mary 408

The colour challenge at Connie and Mary this week seemed perfect for my new favourite stamp set, Wild About Flowers. Not a new set, it's new to me so I'm still experimenting with it and the soft pastels conjured up a summer field of flowers.

I like soft, dreamy result. Although I intended it to be a birthday card, it could be used for lots of things with this sentiment. 

Possibly the consumable item I will miss the most once the new catalogue is live, will be candy dots since I've used a lot of them with butterflies! What will you miss?

Update: Delighted to be a Top Pick at Create with Connie and Mary

Ingredients

Card: Blushing Bride, Whisper White

Stamps: Wild About Flowers, Papillon Potpourri, Endless Birthday Wishes

Inks: Blushing Bride, So Saffron, Mint Macaron, Tuxedo Black

Other: Lots of Labels framelits, Elegant Butterfly punch, Blushing Bride baker's twine, Mint Macaron dotty lace ribbon, Softly Falling embossing folder, So Saffron candy dot and brad base, dimensionals, sponges.

Paper Craft Crew 194

Today was the first chance I've had to play with my pre-order stuff, which arrived during the week. I didn't get any new stamp sets but I did get the new colours to try out and a re-appearing stamp set, Wild About Flowers. I had a play around with them and decided to give them an outing at The Paper Craft Crew's challenge Flowers.

Picking up on an idea I played with earlier in the week, I came up with this:

It uses all the new colours except Dapper Denim. I've added a black shadow to the stacked die-cut 'thanks' to help it show out against the background. I can't quite believe I left it so long to get such a beautiful set of stamps!

Ingredients

Card: Flirty Flamingo, Whisper White, Sweet Sugarplum, Basic Black

Stamps: Wild About Flowers

Inks: Peekaboo Peach, Emerald Envy, Flirty Flamingo, Sweet Sugarplum

Other: Lots of Labels framelits, Hello You thinlits, Softly Falling embossing folder, sponges.