IMAGINE

Sunday again, and here we are with a brand-new challenge at The Paper Players, and the very talented LeAnne has a great sketch to inspire us!

The Paper Players: PP655 - A Sketch Challenge from LeAnne

Looking for some additional inspiration with regard to color, I turned to Color Hues for their red and yellow challenge #70.

 

This card started with stamping this very ancient "Inchies" image from Inkadinkado in black on a scrap of yellow card stock, which I colored with a red Copic marker and white gel pen and matted with red card stock. I prepared a white card base and die cut a stitched rectangular panel into which I die cut a square opening. 

A couple of weeks ago I had won a challenge over at Time Out Challenges #242 for my silly Chicken Little card and my prize was a gift certificate to AALL & Create! I chose a couple of new stamp sets and they arrived just ahead of this card. I used a sentiment from their #197 clear stamp set and stamped it in black just below the square opening of the front panel. I punched a hole next to the sentiment and strung a couple of pieces of red twine around the panel and terminated it with a small yellow button I found in my stash. Finally, I mounted the panel over the yellow and red image with dimensional foam.

I look forward to seeing what our visitors do with LeAnn's sketch. In the meantime, check on what the other members of our team have prepared for your inspiration and look in on their blogs!

Here's where I got my color inspiration for this week:

 Color Hues: Color Hues #70-Red and Yellow (colorhuesthecolorchallenge.blogspot.com)

Added September 1, 2023:

TEEN BIRTHDAY

The grand-twins are having their 14th birthday in a few weeks and I've been mulling over what to do for birthday cards for them. We gave our granddaughter an early birthday gift of an evening for her and her bestie of dinner and a performance of the local teen musical company's version of "Footloose", which they loved. So, her card won't have an additional gift or money attached. While mulling ideas around, AAA Card Challenges #247: "Sketch for a Teen" arrived just in time. I decided to use it as inspiration for my granddaughter's CAS birthday card. Her brother's card is still undecided!

To reproduce the squares shown in the challenge sketch, I used an Alexandra Renke stamp set "Accentuation - Areas" and stamped them with PTI "Berry Sorbet" and "Summer Sunrise", overlapping the two squares. Then to give them a bit of a boost I die cut a small square and stenciled each one with a translucent square. Over this I stamped and heat embossed a black silhouette figure that I've had for many years. I added a sentiment in regular black ink and die cut the numbers, which I layered with 3 layers of pink card stock behind. I trimmed the panel with a stitched rectangular die and mounted the panel to the face of a white card base with a couple of layers of card stock to give it some dimension. Finally, I added a couple of small sequins and a tiny gem.

The inside is a simple version of the same square image with an additional sentiment. I completed the ensemble with a custom envelope cut from some old glittery paper from my stash.  

Here's the sketch for the challenge:  

AAA Cards: AAA Card Challenges #247: Sketch for a teen

CREEPY MUSIC LYRICS

It's been a while since I visited over at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers, so I looked in on them this morning. The new challenge is "M is for Music" and I decided to wade into those waters. I have so few supplies that suggest music, but I did remember this Impression Obsession Halloween stamp set - #CL553 "Is the Moon Out Tonight?" and I immediately went to, "I don't care if it's cloudy or bright, 'cuz I only have eyes for you, dear." I'm sure that Harry Warren and Al Dubin (yes, I actually looked up the writers) would roll over in their graves if they saw what I've done with their old classic lyrics!

I started by stamping the moon sentiment on pale gray card stock with pale gray ink. By the time I was finished with this card the gray ink had faded out considerably, but it was too late to turn back. I die-cut the moon and die cut a circle out of a panel of printed Halloween paper, fitted the moon image into the background paper, and over-stamped the 3 Tim Holtz bats. After letting all of the inks dry for a couple of hours, I stamped the Katzelkraft bug (I already had the set out from an earlier post this morning) with VersaMark watermark ink and black heat embossed him. I colored him with white gel pen and Prismacolor pencils and glued on some googley eyes. The sentiment was computer generated, printed onto some pale gray paper, die cut, and trimmed to fit around his face. I attached the panel to the face of a black card base and tied on some black trim.

You should come over and join me at the current SOSS Challenge!

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers: SOSS #241 - M for Music

Added September 5, 2023:

A LITTLE INSECT HUMOR

"Don't Bug Me!" That's our beloved Ann's Clean-and-Simple theme for The Paper Players PP654 Challenge this week - CAS projects featuring any type of insect. What a great opportunity for a bit of insect humor!

The Paper Players: PP654 - A Clean-and-Simple Challenge from Ann

And what a great excuse for me to pull out my favorite Katzelkraft rubber bug stamp set. These bugs are so whimsical, and I've used them for several cards over the past years. It's anyone's guess which insect each of these little characters actually is, so that got my mind jumping around to come up with some sort of silly sentiment. My first thought was "Jack's biggest disappointment in life was that he was not born as a bee." But that was way too wordy for the area I had planned to place the sentiment (also, you'll notice that Jack actually has more than six legs, so I guess he's not technically an insect)!

I started this card with a white card panel that I die cut with a stitched rectangular die. I stamped my little creature with black ink and colored him with Copic markers. Then I masked him and overprinted the flowers and bee in green. I masked off the area around the little bee and restamped him in black and filled in with a bit of yellow and pale blue. The final step was to generate the sentiment with my computer, trim, and glue over the face of the card. I put a couple of white gel pen dots at the right margin of the sentiment banner.

Come and join us in the fun! Just make sure to keep it CAS - and you have my permission to be as silly as you want!

Our Team Designers have some great inspirational cards for you, so visit their blogs and check them all out.
 

COLOURFUL CHALLENGE

I'm happy to announce that for the next two weeks I'm Guest Designing over at Time Out Challenges and the current key word for Challenge #245 is "Colourful" (which my American English spell check doesn't like!). This challenge is sponsored by Lawn Fawn and the winner will be awarded a $25 certificate! So, it's well worth your time to enter your "colourful" card.

TIME OUT Challenges: Challenge 245 - Colourful

I recently picked up a couple of sheets of this 2-sided printed card stock at Joanne's for only .25 per sheet - I should have bought more! This paper and challenge came at the perfect time to send a thank you note to an old friend for providing a very nice bedroom en suite for my husband and me when attending my 60th high school reunion last weekend. 

This was a very simple card. I started by die cutting a stitched rectangle from white card stock and then cutting an additional opening in the panel. I stamped the sentiment from PTI's "Doodlie-do" set and attached the panel to a card base with dimensional foam, inserting a scrap of the paper behind. The butterfly will be recognizable if you saw Sunday's The Paper Players post. I fussy cut her image from the main side of the printed paper (see the inside of the coordinating envelope) and then cut out an additional set of wings and inserted them through slits in her body. The final step was to attach a couple of heart-shaped sequins and a single orange gem.

Did I already say how honored I'm feeling to have been chosen as Guest Designer? This is my second such honor at the Time Out Challenge over the past two years. Thanks to all of the fabulous designers there for selecting me for this fortnight (trying to be consistent with the spelling of this challenge)! 

 

THREE YOUNG CATS FOR TWO OLD BATS!

The middle of August and time once again for our mid-month reminder at Two Old Bats Anything Halloween Challenge. We're actually approaching the beginning of "Halloween Season" - at least that's what the stores would have you believe as they stock the shelves with all of the Halloween products. But, here at Two Old Bats it's always Halloween Season!

At the beginning of the month, I chose the top left quadrant for my inspiration, but this time I'm combining the ideas of all of the other quadrants. I still have tons of this 2-sided Halloween paper I bought last year, and I wanted to use a couple of sheets of it up. You'll see that the cats and pumpkins were all fussy cut from one side of the paper that I also used for the coordinating envelope. I die-cut a stitched circle from some yellow cardstock and stamped the sentiment and splatter and blended on some orange ink. I glued this moon to the face of a black and white printed panel, matted with some red-orange stock and then glued these layers to a black card base. Then I attached the fussy cut pumpkins, cats, and candy corn to the face after coloring the cats' eyes and pumpkins with yellow and black markers. I had a bit of problem with some bleeding of the markers, but decided it was okay for the casual/whimsical feeling of the card.

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: August 2023 Mid Month Reminder

 

Here's our inspiration board - wait until you see what our Design Team members have prepared for your enjoyment! 

The good news is that we have hit 25 entries, so the prize will be awarded! Remember that you can enter with "anything Halloween" and you can more than once so that you have more than one chance to win.  

COLOR CHALLENGE

Good morning, all! Sunday has rolled around again, as has our weekly challenge at The Paper Players. I love the current color challenge from our gifted Anne Marie - Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral, Sweet Sorbet, and Blueberry Bliss. What a great combo! We can also use a neutral of our choice, but I chose to do this with only white.

I bought some papers at Joanne's a couple of weeks ago that were on close-out for 25 cents for a 12 x 12 double-sided printed paper (American Crafts). This was the simplest card ever. All I did was fussy cut one of the butterflies from the sheet twice and layer the second pair of wings, inserting them under the body before gluing it to a purple die cut square that was matted with a white die cut square and yellow backing. I punched a hole to the right of the white heat-embossed sentiment and inserted a scrap of yellow twine. Done. 

Your turn!

The Paper Players: PP653 - A Color Challenge from Anne Marie

HAPPY SUMMER

Our creative Claire has the floor this week in our Paper Players Theme Challenge #PP652 "Hot Fun in the Summertime". This is her photo inspiration board:

The Paper Players: PP652 - A Theme Challenge from Claire

I have an older stamp set with rows of watermelons, flip-flops, ice cream cones, and pineapples, and I decided on the pineapples. I've been fooling around this week with a rubber Unity Stamps "Bubbles Border" and had some left-over scraps that I didn't use, so I die cut a small rectangle from one of the experimental scraps I had created on polka-dot paper (you'll probably see more of this at a later date, since I still have scraps left). 

The scraps have the bubble border white heat embossed with some PTI "Ocean Tides" sponged at the bottom. I mounted the small rectangle to a white panel and then glued this to the card base that I had background stamped with pale blue ink and black sentiment. I stamped and colored the pineapples on white cardstock, fussy cut them, and glued them on the face. One of the pineapples was then given black embossed shades and a bow and glued over the top with dimensional foam. She ended up with a bit of attitude, which had been my intention!

Well, your turn! But first, go over and see what the rest of our talented designers has offered up as their "hot fun".

On a personal note: The front yard landscape project is finally completed until next spring! Here's what we started with:

This was all lawn that we have hand-watered for many years. When we started this whole thing, we had no idea it would be a full year to get the first phase in. This was last year when we had just had most of the old plants removed and the lawn scraped and turned.

Here we are today:

The light beige color in the back toward the patio area is decomposed granite and there will be mostly grasses and rocks put in there in the spring. The mulched area around the red bud tree will have native plants, grasses, and rocks in the spring. It feels really good to now have an irrigation system of lawn sprinklers and drip lines for the full area. I'm creating some steppingstones in the decomposed granite area using recycled metal hoops from old wine half-barrels, bricks, and rocks from the yard. Three down and three to go!

 

TWO OLD BATS HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE - AUGUST

Time for the August Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge! We have a great inspiration board, but you're free to share "anything Halloween". I chose the top left quadrant.

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: August Anything Halloween

I started this card with a scrap of yellow card stock (left over from the menus at my son's wedding in September 2008!). I die cut a circle from a piece of paper and sponged on Hero Arts "Unicorn" pigment ink. Then I sponged on orange, red, and sepia inks, as well as sepia tree branches at the bottom edges. Using an ancient clear stamp that I had never used, I overprinted the raven/gate image - then I immediately threw it away because I couldn't get a solid black image. I had to go back in with black markers to fill in the ravens. The "two old bats" at the top right are from Tim Holtz. Once the yellow/orange work was complete, I die cut the yellow cardstock with a deckle edge die and matted it with a larger black deckle edge rectangle. Finally, I attached a tag with a white heat-embossed sentiment, using yellow and white baker's twine. 

Remember that you can enter our challenge more than once, and our Design Team has some great inspirational ideas for you! 

SEA YOU SOON

I'm playing with two challenges this morning - Freshly Made Sketches #596 "Bottom half left clean" and Less is More #488 "Under the Sea".

Starting with a very pale aqua card scrap, I stamped a Lost Coast Designs "Bubble Border" with PTI "Ocean Tides" ink and then over-stamped a Lavinia Stamps fish in black and colored her with a gray Copic marker. Then I added some undersea greenery with some Indigo Blue "Laurel Leaves" and a school of fish and sponged some additional Ocean Tides ink to the bottom of the scrap. Finally, I inked the bubble border a second time and heat embossed it with white embossing powder. The final step was over-printing the sentiment in black and trimming the panel to fit a stitched rectangle that I mounted to a white card base.

 

I'm sliding this in under the wire to:

Freshly Made Sketches: Freshly Made Sketches #596 - A Sketch by Judy

"Less is More": Challenge #488 - Theme (simplylessismoore.blogspot.com)

SPRING CHICKEN

Welcome Sunday and the new Paper Players challenge! Our very creative Design Team member Joanne is challenging us this week with a sketch:

The Paper Players: PP650 - A Sketch Challenge from Joanne

Here's my take on her sketch. I've been playing with a new stamp set that I bought a couple of weeks ago that caught my fancy - Simon Hurley/Ranger "Spring Chicken" #HUR83351. I love all of the chicken images on this set, and I'm sure there will be many more that will pop up on my cards from this point forward!

This card is pretty straightforward with the many layers, numbered in order of layers:

                        1. Started with a kraft wood textured card base

                        2. Die cut stitched rectangular panel

                        3. Die cut stitched rectangular frame from wood textured cardstock

                        4. Overlapped matted rectangular patterned paper

                        5. Stamped and colored chicken and die cut with a circle die

                        6. White heat embossed sentiment

On a personal note: What a crazy week - we finally have a new lawn! Early in the week, we had to have an electrician mend and re-wire the connection to a light post. The light post will be replaced at some point, but probably not until the spring. The sod arrived early Friday morning and was rolled out for an instant lawn. The sprinklers and drip lines were all started up, and everything is looking so much better! What a process this has been - a full year of living with a large dirt patch for a yard. In a couple of weeks, once the area has been watered regularly, we'll be adding a couple of inches of bark mulch and calling it quits until the spring, when we complete the plantings. When everything gets cleaned up and the bark mulch is in place, I'll post some before and after photos.
 

CHICKEN LITTLE

When I saw the challenge at Time Out Challenges #242 - "Inspired by Words" I knew I wanted to participate and to use a new stamp set I just received from Simon Hurley/Ranger "Spring Chicken" #HUR83351. I didn't know where I wanted to start so I used the latest sketch at Freshly Made Sketches as inspiration - but, bummer, by the time I got my card finished and photographed, the challenge at FMS was closed! 

The Time Out Challenge is to use a fairy tale or fable, or something read to us from our childhood as inspiration. I chose the folk tale of Chicken Little, who when hit in the head by an acorn, ran around yelling, "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" It seems a pretty relevant story in today's world. 

I started this card with a white stitched rectangular panel that I stamped a cloud directly on from Hero Arts #CM357 set. Then I masked it and blended a light blue circle around it. I then stamped Chicken Little, colored her, and die cut her with an oval die. I blended some green ink on the bottom of the oval and then added a blended green circle below the blue one and over-stamped it with a Tim Holtz splatter and attached the oval to the face of the front panel and, using a black thin marker, dashed a curved line from the cloud to Chicken Little's head and beyond and attached a fussy cut acorn stamped from a very old Thanksgiving stamp set. I stamped another set of clouds from the same Hero Arts set with the small cloud, fussy cut it, and mounted it to the face of the oval. The final step was to glue the panel with all of the circles and oval to the face of the white card base and add a sentiment that I computer generated.

 

TIME OUT Challenges: Challenge 242 - Inspired By Words

Added 7/27/23:

PURRFECT HALLOWEEN

Mid July and time for our Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge mid-month reminder! I started out with good intentions to use the current July mood board for inspiration. I thought to use the lower right quadrant - black cat with red, white & blue ruff (Doesn't 'ruff' sound like a canine word?)! 

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: July 2023 Mid Month Reminder

But after over-working my idea about using the Tim Holtz Halloween cats stamp and trying to apply collars and bowties, I finally just gave up and opted for "cute".

I stamped the three cats with black ink on gray cardstock and decided to die cut them into a tag. I wanted their eyes to show up, so I hand cut the openings and backed the tag with a scrap of sparkly green paper. The green sparkle doesn't show up in my photo. I white heat embossed the sentiment over the black cats and attached the gray tag to a second tag cut from green and black cat paper. I attached them with a bright green satin ribbon and glued them to a card I had prepared with a couple of mats in black, gray, and white printed papers. 

So, that's my "Anything Halloween" card for mid-July. You still have about 2 weeks to finish up your cards and share them with us.  

And speaking of purrfect: Earlier this week I received a package of used wine barrel hoops from Etsy that I had ordered to augment my existing 3 hoops (my plan is to use all of them as steppingstones in my garden) and they arrived in a box with kraft packing paper. I decided to leave the box and packing material for the cats to play with and the first one in was this cutie, Tiger.