A Thousand Thanks - Pals Paper Arts #225

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A Thousand Thanks

To be perfectly honest, at first glance I was not very impressed with the Color Me Autumn Designer Series Paper by Stampin' Up!. But as frequently happens when starting with a sketch in mind, these two papers jumped out at me and I KNEW they would be perfect together with this layout. I'm so glad I had them on hand! I loved being able to bring out the Soft Suede and Mossy Meadow in the pattern paper for a crisp color combination. The sentiment, from the Lots of Thanks stamp set, keeps with the crisp, minimalist tone of the card.

A Thousand Thanks

I love the juxtaposition of elegant and pretty masculine colors and patterns with a layered flower. I used the Flower Patch stamp set, along with the Flower Fair Framelits Dies, and kept with the color scheme, only this time pulling out the Cajun Craze and Crushed Curry.

I think the flower, instead of leaves, is a pleasant surprise addition to this card and keeps it fun and slightly whimsical.

A Thousand Thanks

And of course, the envelope liner is the icing on the cake. I just love the envelope liners, they add so much substance and beauty to the overall gift of the card. It really makes the card feel extra special:)

I was inspired by this delightful, delightful, delightful, (did I mention that it's delightful?) sketch from the Pals Paper Arts design team. They always have such fun challenges to play along with!

If you are so moved, you still have a bit of time to play along with the challenge, so please hop on over to see what the design team has created for you this week!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

EZ Peasy Stampin' Up! Supplies List:

Paper: Soft Suede Cardstock; Color Me Autumn Monsters Designer Series Paper

Stamps: Flower Patch, Lots of Thanks

Ink: Mossy Meadow, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, Soft Suede Classic Ink Pads

Tools: Big Shot, Flower Fair Framelit Dies, Envelope Liner Framelit Die

Accessories: Crushed Curry Baker's Twine, Regals Designer Buttons

Can You Case It #41 - Fall Fest Thank You

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Welcome to a new challenge from the Can You Case It Design Team!

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Clean and Quick? Hmmmm....that's a little outside my comfort zone....just kidding!! I LOVE  quick and clean!

Can You Case It #41 - Fall Fest Thank You

I knew I wanted to showcase these awesome stamps from the Fall Fest Stamp Set and so I set out to pick the perfect colors...Mossy Meadow, Lost Lagoon, Hello Honey and Pistachio Pudding. Only when I started stamping, they were wayyyyy too dark for the feel I wanted. So...I flipped the card stock over and tried again!

Can You Case It #41 - Fall Fest Thank You

On my second try, I stamped the Pistachio Pudding at full strength but stamped off for all the other colors to create a nice soft design. How did I get everything stamped in a perfect square? Well, I cut a piece of regular paper to the same size, 3 3/4" x 5", pulled out my Squares Framelits, placed the Framelit where I wanted my image to be and then ran the whole thing through my Big Shot! Now I had a template to lay over my white cardstock to stamp on. I used Post-It Tape to tack everything down and ensure no movement.

Once I was done I added my sentiment from the Lots of Thanks stamp set and three teeny tiny pearls colored with my darkest Daffodil Delight Blendabilities.

And the envelope! Have you EVER seen anyone use the Whisper White Designer Series Paper? Me, either! Now we both have! I thought it was a nice neutral compliment to my soft colors.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you will hop on over to the Can You Case It website to see what our other designers have in store for you! And we have some new, very talented designers on board so it should be fun! We'd love to see you play along!

Thank You Buds - PPA214

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I am so excited to share with you that I have been selected as a Resident Artist with the Pals Paper Arts design team! A call was put out for applications a few weeks ago so I gathered my courage up and submitted my name...and I was one of three picked to round out both design teams to 11 members each! Woohoo! I can wait to get started so let's do it!!

The design team has a super fun color combination this week:

Aren't the colors yummy??  I couldn't wait to get started designing! I pulled out a new stamp set called Hey There Buds and started coloring with my Stampin' Markers...

Thank You Buds - PPA214

The stamp set actually has the sentiment "hey there" but since I was inking the stamp up with markers, it was easy to just not ink up that sentiment and choose another one. I chose a lovely font for my thank you sentiment and stamped it with the new Memento Black Ink Pad...love the crisp stamp image and the easy clean up-no special cleaner needed!

I added this piece of pattern paper from the All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack (only $6.95!) that I have been oogling and saving for just the right card...and today was the day! I added just a small strip of Wild Wasabi cardstock to really help everything 'pop'. And of course we need jewelry, right? I love the three sequins in Crisp Cantaloupe but somewhere in the design process I realized that gold would go well with this color palette so I add some gold sequins as well and love the result!

Thank you for stopping by!

 

Masculine Thank You - PPA210 & FMS143

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Masculine Thank You - PPA210 & FMS143

What a fun day for challenges! A great sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches (and a big THANK YOU to Jen B. for choosing my card as the Queen of Clean last week!) and a fabulous color combination this week over at the Pals Paper Arts Challenge! Here are the two challenges:

This card developed on it's own fairly easily. I chose a nice neutral background paper from the Moonlight Designer Series Paper Stack (only $6.95 for 48 sheets of paper folks!) and went from there. I kept the circle part of the layout challenge and inked up Wetlands for the first time! I've seen lots of neat things done with it but I kept mine simple, stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink (my new go to black ink-it's awesome!). I created a mask for the goose image by stamping onto a post-it note and then quickly fussy cutting the image out. I then used post-it tape to adhere the mask to my image and inked up one of the other images in the set, the grasses. I didn't really want the seed pods at the top of the image so I inked up the stamp very selectively :) Stamped on each side of the main image and voila!

I had all the parts and pieces cut out and ready to go when I realized I had forgotten Pool Party...whoops! I quickly changed my pieces out to include it. Then I realized I had not really left room for a sentiment and I felt that this card needed an identity so...a tiny little 'thanks' image from the Lots of Thanks stamp set came to my rescue :) And the OCD side of me LOVES my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig for helping me to make SURE that the sentiment is straight...

All done, but...it was STILL missing something...here come three Candy Dots in Basic Gray to the rescue to balance everything out. Yay! I loved making this card, so easy and fun! I just love challenges to give me ideas I never would have come up with on my own!

Thank you so much for stopping by! Please let me know what you think...is this card masculine enough for a girl to give to a guy? Or maybe a student to a male teacher?