THE PAPER PLAYERS - #638 "TIC-TAC -TOE"

Anne Marie has a really fun challenge for us this week at The Paper Players - it's a Tic-Tac-Toe challenge! I selected the center across row - Ribbon/Die Cut/Patterned Paper because I wanted another excuse to pull out the Stampin' Up "Country Gingham" printed paper gifted to me by Ann.

I adore the peachy pink and yellow version of these papers. Digging through my stash of pieces of ribbon, I came across this beautiful rose-gold satin ribbon to use with the predominantly peachy pink but wasn't clear about what I wanted to do with it. The rosy golden tones of the ribbon suggested a wedding or engagement card, and while I don't need one at the moment, one never knows. I also found a small piece of rose-gold metallic wrapping paper as a mat that I had used some years ago to line envelopes for my husband's nephew's wedding invitations - you can see them here. 

I started with a 5-1/2" square card base. I edged a square piece of DSP with VersaMark Watermark ink and dipped the edges in Recollections "Champagne" embossing powder and attached it to the face of the card. I then die cut a piece of coordinating floral into a deckle edge rectangle. I fussy cut one of the floral centers from the scraps, curled the edges, and attached it to the center of the top flower, adding some champagne embossed dots. The sentiment is from an old wedding stamp set and I heat-embossed it on another scrap of coordinating paper and die cut a tag. The final steps were to punch a double rectangle at the top of the deckle-edged piece, thread the ribbon and tag through it, and attach all to the card with some dimensional foam.

The Paper Players: PP638 - A Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge from Anne Marie

I wasn't sure I would make the deadline this week because it's been such a hellish one - way too much stimulus! As I write this, we have three completely terrorized feral cats in cages that we just trapped and are over-nighting in our garage for a trip tomorrow morning to be spayed and neutered and released back into the community. One of them is a lactating mother, but I've been assured that spaying does not interrupt the milk - we just need to get her back to their babes as soon as possible after surgery, although we have no idea where she's hiding them. We'll be taking another two next week. I feel so sorry for these little creatures, but I know this is for the best. I don't mind feeding hungry animals, but I don't want them continuing to breed rampantly.

Update: We did get all three of the cats released, but they took off immediately. I'm assuming they'll arrive for the evening feeding. The little mama was pretty wobbly, and I hope she has reunited with her kitties and that they were still alive. 

PAPER PLAYERS - SKETCH WEEK

It's Sunday again and this is "Sketch Week", with a sketch from our lovely Ann! I used her sketch as inspiration for a sympathy card, which are always difficult. But Ann's sketch gave me a jump-start.  

I also want to use this opportunity to give a shout out to Ann for sending me these beautiful Stampin' Up designer papers! I wasn't really fishing for free hand-outs when I complimented her on the papers on one of her stamps - but she gifted me with an entire set of 6x6 "Country Gingham" DSP! 

Digging through my scraps I came across a butterfly that I had stamped, colored, and fussy cut some time ago. It seemed like an appropriate image for a sympathy card, so I built the card around it. I started with a card base of Strathmore water color paper. I selected a pale grayed-teal Stampin' Up paper that looked like a cloudy sky and layered a circle cut from the yellow version of the same paper. The horizontal band was several layers of the same piece of paper, using some fancy Spellbinders "Winter Borders" dies. The sentiment is from PTI's "Beautiful Butterflies" stamp set.

Come and play with us at The Paper Players #PP637 Sketch Challenge!

The Paper Players: PP637 - A Sketch Challenge from Ann

On a personal note:

My son called me earlier in the week to let me know that his wife's brother-in-law had passed away after a very valiant struggle with kidney cancer. He was only in his mid-40s. It doesn't really matter what I say or write to the surviving family members, it never feels sufficient.  

WHAT'S UP, PUSSYCAT?

A real quick card this morning, inspired by AAA Cards Challenge #238 "Ripped/Torn Edges" and the six (did I actually say, "six"?) cats we live with. How could I pass up this challenge after spending an entire weekend trying to put a tablecloth back on the dining room table after it was repeatedly pulled off?

There's not much to tell regarding how this card was made. I die-cut a piece of light-weight white cardstock with a stitched rectangular die. After stamping the Tim Holtz "Snarky Cats" image in black and coloring his eyes, I fussy cut him and tore down the rectangle the width of his feet. The sentiment is from Hero Arts "CM351, which I white heat-embossed onto a gray printed stripe paper that I used as a mat to attach it to a black card base. I pulled back the torn panel and glued it to the face of the card and layered my naughty cat on with dimensional foam.  

AAA Cards: AAA Cards Challenge #238: Ripped or torn edges

CREATIVITY IS MESSY

The current challenge at The Paper Players is the Lovely LeAnne's clean & simple challenge "Pencil Me In" for which we are to use a pencil, pen, or craft image on our projects. 

Well, I'm not sure that my project can be officially tagged as "clean"! I was at a complete loss as to what to do with this challenge, so I finally broke down and purchased a new stamp set that I got at 40% off at Joanne's - Hero Arts #CM366 "Handmade Happiness". I started with a very old stamp set with blobs and fingerprints and stamped a white card stock stitched rectangle with Hero Arts "Wet Cement". Then I added black splatters from Tim Holtz and overprinted the sentiment with Momentum "Tuxedo Black". I grunged up the edges a bit with some more Wet Cement ink and then when trying to crimp the corner, I got a nasty paper cut - proving that creativity is messy! You can see my blood on the left lower portion of the card base! Do you think that qualifies as "suffering for one's art"?

I layered the rectangular piece over a scrap of striped paper and added a fussy-cut hand and brush to the top with some dimensional foam after adding a bit of ink to the wrist and fingers of the hand.

Come and join us in the fun at the Paper Players Challenge #PP636. Look to see what our fabulous designers have come up with to inspire you!

The Paper Players: PP636 - A Clean-and-Simple Challenge from LeAnne

I based my layout roughly on the current Freshly Made Sketches, so I decided to also enter my messy card in the challenge #581. It's probably a bit of a stretch, but oh well.

Freshly Made Sketches: Freshly Made Sketches #581 - A Sketch by Cécile

Z IS FOR ZODIAC

This morning marks my sixth time as Guest Designer at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers! Do you think that makes me "officially" snarky? And this two-week challenge is #232 "Z is for Zodiac". 

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers: 232 Z is for Zodiac

 

I chose as my zodiac topic "Mercury retrograde". Mercury is the planet of communication and when Mercury goes retrograde a couple of times a year (that is, appears from the earth to reverse its direction), all bets are off! We're told not to start new projects or sign any important documents - everything related to communication just goes sideways, so it's best to just slow down and re-center. The next time this occurs is starting next week - April 22- May 15th. Buckle up!

I definitely do not have any zodiacal supplies, so improvisation was the word of the day. I found an illustration online with Mercury prominent in a partial astrological chart and printed it out onto heavy paper, trimmed it, matted it with red cardstock, and mounted both layers to a black card base. I made up the sentiment and printed it on gray card stock. The final layer was a stamped and fussy cut image from Riley & Company (FBP-019) that I adhered with some dimensional foam. I added a couple of tiny rhinestones to her ear and wrist.

So, starting next Saturday (April 22), when your days start to descend into chaos fix a cup of tea and take a deep breath! It would probably be a good time to take out your crafting supplies and join us at SOSS.

MORE APRIL SHOWERS

For the Two Old Bats April mid-month offering, I decided to do a different take on the same Tim Holtz trick-or-treaters by stamping them directly onto a lightning image I had printed from the internet. Once I stamped the group onto the internet image, I trimmed it, edged the image with a black felt pen, white heat-embossed the sentiment, and adhered it to a black card with a purple dotted matt. That's it, very simple! 

The envelope is custom-made with some Halloween paper and lined with a light-weight solid purple paper (say that 5 times!).

Here's the mood board once again for your inspiration:

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: April 2023 Mid Month Reminder

ANIMALS 2X2

Another Sunday has rolled around, and we have a new theme challenge at The Paper Players with the lovely Jaydee as our hostess - #PP634 - "The Animals Came in 2X2". 

I grabbed my old "go to" animal stamp set by Avery Elle (#ST-19-08 "Peek-a-Boo Pets") and stamped and colored the pig and sheep and their feet. I die cut a white stitched rectangle and die cut an oval opening to the side. I placed the top layer over a pale aqua top-folded card base and die cut some stitched clouds for a background (with 3 gray stamped birds) and tucked the 2 animals into the oval. After heat embossing the sentiment (Lawn Fawn "Scripty Sayings") with white embossing powder I fussy cut along the top of the sentiment and mounted it to the front of the card. It looked too bare, so I layered a stitched wavey line over the top and attached the little guys' feet to the top of the sentiment. It's really cold and rainy today and the light is poor - my pig came out much pinker than how it looks on the card, and I see that the white top panel has a slightly pick caste to it. Oh well. 

The Paper Players: PP634 - A Theme Challenge from Jaydee

Wait until you see what the other designers have done with this theme! Please join us!

And speaking of animals: If any of you have been waiting with bated breath to find out how Tux is doing, he came back inside a couple of nights ago! I admit I tricked him by using Chloe (his mom) as bait, but he's now back with the rest of the cat-pack while doing his best to avoid contact with me. It will take a while to regain his trust.

APRIL SHOWERS

Well, here it is April already and the theme for Two Old Bats April Halloween Challenge is "April Showers".

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: April Anything Halloween

I pulled out an old Tim Holtz Halloween stamp set of a group of trick-or-treaters, one holding an umbrella. 

I stamped the group with black ink on gray stock and fussy cut them out. I mounted them to a piece of diagonally printed striped card stock that I had made rain streaks and dots on with white gel pen. I used black dimensional foam to set them forward against the background. Then I added a couple of Tim Holtz Halloween die cut trees and a white heat-embossed sentiment over the top of the images. This was all glued to a black top-folded card base. 

I'm hoping my followers will be challenged this month to try your hands at an April Showers Halloween card - why not Halloween cards in April? Check out what our other fabulous designers have come up with on their inspirational cards!