Sunday, October 31, 2010

Challenge #22-Anything Goes hosted by Nance

Hi everyone, Nance here! Thank you for joining us last week with Ann's super fun recipe challenge--The Paper Players loved peeking in on your crafty kitchens and all the goodies you cooked up. Look HERE for last week's winners.

This week I am delighted to be your hostess for our "Anything Goes" challenge. The holiday season is upon us so there's no better time to get in the handmade spirit! Charms, flower pins, gift boxes, candles, bookmarks, cards, scrapbook pages, digital projects...the possibilities are endless. While the Design Team uses Stampin' Up! products, we encourage everyone to play along so please use any stamping products you may have on hand. Remember, anything goes!

This week seemed like the perfect opportunity to showcase SU's Simply Adorned charms and here is what I made for you:

And the rest of Design Team really got their craft on! Take a look:





LeAnne-WeeInklings





Ann Schach - The Stampin' Schach

Fabulous, right? So...now it's your turn--we can't wait to see your linked creations right here! This week's linky will close on Friday, November 5th at midnight (PST). We love to read your comments, so leave us a little comment love and let us know what you think of this week's inspiration projects. Happy crafting!

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Winners for Challenge 21---Ann's Recipe Challenge

Wow! The creations this week were fabulous! So much diversity, yet all projects were unified by the presence of a punch, a sentiment, and designer paper!


Before we get to our Headliner, here are the Design Team's CUT ABOVE choices:


This card, Really made me laugh! I loved the color combination and the use of the punch to create the sign. The clean and simple lines also really appealed to me. The finishing touch that I couldn't resist? The doubling up of the ribbons! Fabulous.

Lesley's Choice: Veronica of Many Stamps So Little Time
I chose Veronica's card because of her pretty use of the recipe challenge this week! Her "punched" item is a sweet little flower that I thought was just adorable. I also love how she coloured her image too. The polka dots in the DSP and the little girl's costume look great together. All round, this is a sweet card!


LeAnne's choice: Colleen of Dietrich Designs
I thought Colleen's clean and simple card (just like mine! :D) was so cute and sweet...the paper was so pretty, and she colored the tag to match perfectly! Even though it was simple, the little embellishments she added kicked it up a bit to make it a top-notch card!


Nance's choice: Kerin Sylvester

I, too, loved the clean-and-simple look this week and Kerin's card called out to me! I adore this color combination--so fresh and modern but at the same time has a vintage/retro feel. I love how the clean layout and paper choices really make the details on the tag just pop. And that satin ribbon is delicious. Great card, Kerin!

And for our HEADLINER, Ann selected this beautiful card:


Ann's Choice---Kim Lampone

When I first saw Kim's card, all I could say was "Wow"! From it's unique layout of a message tucked into a pocket, to it's fabulous cracked glass technique, this card is stunning! Topped off with pearls and lace, it is another example of vintage done well!

Congratulations, Kim, for being this week's Headliner!

The Design Team truly appreciates your participation in our weekly challenges, and hope that you enjoy playing in them as much as we enjoy viewing your work. We can't wait to see what you create this week!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Design Team News (Nance said Yes!) and November's Guest Designer

Hi Paper Players!

If you are looking for our current challenge please click HERE.

I have some news to share about our design team.  Paper Player LeAnne Pugliese of WeeInklings, has decided to take a break from designing for the next little while.  She has a new granddaughter and needs some time to settle into being a grandma!  She will still be stamping and involved with card making but just for herself.  She has decided to take a "Wee" break from her Design Team duties for a while.  That said, she will be back in the new year I am sure!  We will miss her in the meanwhile.

Fabulous news to share is that Nance Lempinen-Leedy will be staying with us as a permanent Design Team Member.  Nance said Yes!!!  I am so happy to have Nance on the team as a permanent fixture and admire her work greatly!  Hooray Nance!

 Nance Lempinen-Leedy

Here is some information about Nance!
I live in the beautiful tree canopy of North Florida with my husband, our daughter and two feline friends plus a whole menagerie of woodland animals and critters.  I am a Reference Librarian at our local state college and have been crafty since my mom taught me to sew at the age of 8. I am inspired by art, interior design and fashion. Becoming a Stampin’ Up demonstrator has opened a whole world of paper crafting to me that I love sharing with friends, family and blog readers like you!   

Thanks Nance!  We are thrilled to keep working with you!

We also need to announce our newest Guest Designer.  From this point on, the Paper Players will be selecting one guest designer each month to help with our challenges.  We will choose guest designers from the crafters who play our challenges.
Our Guest Designer for November is Anne-Marie Hile

Here is some information about Anne-Marie!

-I live in the great state of Texas with my husband, who is currently serving in the U.S. Air Force.
-I recently took a huge step and "retired" from a 15 year career in management to return to school and continue my education, focusing on a law degree.

-I have been "playing with paper" for as long as I can remember. I enjoy the creative and social outlet that cardmaking and scrapbooking provides. Because of that, I decided to become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator in March of 2008. I get so excited to create something special for those that mean so much to me because, let's face it, we ALL like getting something "hand-made and heart-felt" in our mailboxes.

-My other hobbies include traveling, photography and cooking. I am THAT gal that always is always snapping pictures at every event. I believe that capturing those memories is what keeps them alive. Life is too short not to celebrate every single day!

-We share our home with three, sweet fur-kids. All were adopted from shelters. We have a boisterous terrier, named Ozzy and two mischievious felines, named Benjamin and Tomas. They keep us very busy and we wouldn't have it any other way! :)

Welcome to the team Anne-Marie!  We look forward to playing with paper with you!!

To all of our participants, thank you for your support of our challenges and for your wonderful comments each week!  If you are interested in being a Guest Designer at some point, feel free to let us know in your posts when you play along with our challenges!  We will feature a new Guest Designer each month.

Smiles,

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Challenge #21 - Ann's Recipe Challenge

Who doesn't love a good recipe...especially when it is a recipe for a fabulous card! And that is exactly what The Paper Players are providing you in this week's challenge...Ann's Recipe Challenge. All you need to do is simply include the following "ingredients":
  • One Designer Series Paper
  • Something which has been punched
  • A sentiment
As with any recipe, feel free to add a pinch of this or that...the sky's the limit as long as you include the above three ingredients!

Let's take a look at what The Paper Players have cooked up for you!

Ann Schach - The Stampin' Schach


LeAnne Pugliese - WeeInklings


Nance - Canopy Crafts



Challenge #20 Winners - Lesley's Sketch Challenge

Hi Everyone.

Another fantastic week of submissions. The design team have really enjoyed visiting each of your creations. We really appreciate you playing along with us each week. 
Before we get to our headliner, here are the design team CUT ABOVE choices.  LeAnne, one of our designers was taking a break from blogging this week and so we have 3 Cut Above winners and 1 Headliner this week.  LeAnne will be back blogging with us tomorrow!

Jaydee's Choice

I fell in love with this card by Lynn. I love the colors, the way she used the embossing folder on the 2nd layer to mimic the plaid DSP and the spokes of the wheel. The way the scalloped edge mimics the circles of the wheel. The final touch... the leaf brads and the pumpkins on the bike! Loved it!


Nance's choice: Lori Rider

Lori's card caught my eye right away. I love her use of SU's In Colors and that sweet little flowerpot. Love how she's repeated all the circle elements with the big polka dot paper, the polka dot stamp on the flower pot and even the paper piercing repeats the theme! And, I really like how she turned the sketch--such a great twist on it. Fabulous job Lori!

Ann's Choice: Julie Gearinger

Julie did a fabulous job with the French Foliage stamp set! I love how she combined Cherry Cobbler and Concord Crush, and how she layered the label. Of course, the Old Olive satin bow complimented the color scheme perfectly. However, the icing on the cake was how she lightly sanded the embossing to bring out the white core of the paper. What a touch of genius!


Our Headliner this week is Susie Wittwer of Inspired by Nature

I chose this card because of the beautiful muted colours and sparkly trees.  The main image stamped on Crumb Cake cardstock looked so pretty and the punched edges without layering, really caught my eye!  Congratulations Susie!!!

Congrats to all our winners!  Please grab your winner badges from the left sidebar.  Please join us back here tomorrow for a new Paper Players Plus Recipe Challenge from Ann.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Challenge #20- A Sketch from Lesley

Hi Stampers, Lesley here! I can't believe we are on Challenge #20 already!!! Whew! What a great lot of fun this challenge blog has been and I am enthralled with all the participants who play along each week!!! Thank you for joining us last week with Jaydee's fabulous colour challenge! The winners for that challenge can be found HERE.

It is my turn this week to host our challenge and I have a simple sketch for you to try! At the Paper Players we encourage everyone to play and so please use any stamping products you may have on hand! We all use Stampin' Up Products.


And here is the card I made using the sketch:


For my card, I used the adorable Stampin' Up set called "Holiday Line-Up". I also used the technique called Spotlighting which is perfect for stampers who love cute images but may not always have the time to colour. Please visit my blog http://www.alwaysplayingwithpaper.blogspot.com/ for more information. 

Here are the measurements for my card:
Card Base: 4.25" x 5.5" (A2)
First Layer: 3.75" x 5"
Centre Strip: 2" x 5.25"
Rectangle in the middle: 2" x 4.25" (this can be any shape-circle, square, top note die, etc...)

The fabulous Paper Players have come up with some real beauties this week!

LeAnne Pugliese - WeeInklings





Nance Leedy - Canopy Crafts


Ann Schach---The Stampin' Schach


Saturday, October 16, 2010

Winners for Challenge #19- Jaydee's Colour Challenge

Hi Everyone!

WOW! You guys really showed us what a wonderful color combination this is - and how versatile. We all had such fun visiting each of your cards. Each of the submissions had something that attracted our attention, and it was very tough again to decide the winners this week. In fact, I visited one blog and thought - OK. This is the headliner. I then visited the next blog and thought... OK. So THIS is the headliner. Then I went to another blog and another one... in the end I was ready to declare you all Headliners - but Lesley brought me back to earth and told me that I had to choose one. Before we get to the headliner though, I'd like to congratulate our CUT ABOVE's this week. Their work was fabulous. Please pop along to their blogs and share a little love :-)

Here are the DT choices.

LeAnne's Choice: Robbie Rubala

I chose this card from Robbie! The sketch is very pretty, but I really loved the delicate images....always wanted this set, but never got it! The border is beautiful as well...and she stamped nicely on the inside to make her card even more special!


Ann' Choice: Marlene Peters


Marlene's card was absolutely fabulous! I loved the square shape, the music DSP, and the sponged edges! And just when you think it couldn't get better...we have "bling" and an extra special ribbon treatment! Wowzer!

Lesley's Choice: Stephanie Uzee

I loved this Clean and Simple beauty that Stephanie made!  The colours work perfectly with the layout and the stamp set.  I love the way she used the Two Tags Die and the vintage brad. I am also in love with that skinny ribbon and it looks terrific here on this card!  Congrats Stephanie!! 

Nance's pick: Christina MacLaren

I love Christina's fresh, fun and modern take on this week's colors.  All the white space is stunning--and admirable(!)--and I love those funky red trees and the sparkly hills of snow.  Definitely, a cut above!  Fabulous job, Christina!


I can tell you, you all made it really tough. In the end I went with Anne Marie's Contempo Card. It would have been so easy to lose the contempo decoration amongst the details in this card, but Anne Marie's treatment of it - popping it, leaving so much white around it, the bling - all made it stand out. However, she also tied each of those elements into the background papers - the repetition of the ribbon and the ribbon above the decoration. Congratulations, Anne Marie. You are our Headliner this week.


Congrats to all of our winners this week!  Please be sure to grab your Winners Buttons from the left hand sidebar of the blog.  Tomorrow we will have a brand new challenge for you with a Sketch Challenge.  Enjoy your Saturday!!  Thank you again to all you Players who join us each week!  We LOVE to see your wonderful ideas and projects!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Challenge #19- Jaydee's Color Challenge

Hi Everyone. Welcome to another week at the Paper Players. Every week it gets harder and harder to choose our favorites. We are so excited that you join us each week and we love visiting each and every one of your blogs to see your fabulous creations.

My hosting challenge this week was to find an inspiration photograph from which to base our Colour Challenge on. Now, I live in Minnesota and, as many of you are well aware, it gets really cold up here for long periods of time. Also, we are famous for our red barns and beautiful snowscapes. I saw this picture and was sold.


There are so many ways you can be inspired by this photo and we want you to use Real Red, Whisper White and Basic Black as your main colours.  Of course, feel free to use any red, white or black products you own when creating your project!  Even though we have used Stampin' Up! products, you can use ANY BRAND to play along. Stampin' Up! is not a requirement.

You have until Friday at 5pm CST to upload your card using our linking tool. We do hope that you join us and have some fun playing along.

Now, take a look at what our Design Team has prepared for your viewing!

Hugs,
Jaydee





Saturday, October 9, 2010

Winners for Challenge 18--Monochromatic

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed ALL the creations you talented stampers made this week! My heart was going aflutter at all the beauty! Some of you said you struggled with monochromatic colors, others said you'd never tried it or rarely used them, so I was glad I challenged you to stamp outside your comfort zone, and I hope you use that theme more often!

Here are our designers' picks this week for the Cut Aboves:

Nance's choice: Linda Callahan

For all it's dark, gothic elegance I had to choose this stunning card from Linda Callahan. I love the starkness of the candelabra and spider web against all the rich designer papers and the Black Raven lace is just the perfect touch on a beautiful card...congratulations, Linda!


Jaydee's Pick: Rose's Vintage Santa


There were so many great cards this week, but this Christmas creation from Rose just stole my heart. I love the fact that Rose mixed the vintage feel paper with the crisp white of the more modern santa and the top note die. The ribbon and button are gorgeous! This card made me smile!

Lesley's Pick: Vicki Burdick
I chose Vicki's cute paper pads and matching cards in the "In Colours". The sweet little paper clips with the flowers and pearls really caught my eye! The "In Colour" designer paper looks amazing with this project!


Ann's Pick: Anne Marie HileWith all of the fabulous cards submitted this week, I found it difficult to select just one! However, I adored this stunning creation by Anne Marie Hile. I loved how the swirls on the embossed background complimented the swirls of the tree. From the shimmer paint to the rhinestones, the "bling" was glorious, resulting in a card that anyone would love to receive!


And my choice for the Headliner is:


The minute I saw this stunning gift bag that Ann made, I was head over heels!!! The unique color she used for a winter scene caught my eye right away, but the coloring, the attention to details and the fussy-cutting of her skaters put it over the top! I love the layout as well, and she even made a card to go with it! Congratulations, Ann, for being our Headliner of the Week!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Challenge #18 - LeAnne's Theme Challenge-Monchromatic

Hello everyone, it's LeAnne again! How did I get to be the hostess two times in a row? Just the way the cookie crumbled, I guess! Anyway, I am challenging you all this week to use Monochromatic colors in your creation....use different hues or shades of one color. It can be any color....just used varying shades of that color. Adding a neutral is okay, too! I love this look, and I can't wait to see what you create!

LeAnne- WeeInklings
Now let's see what the other designers have come up with:







 Jaydee: Stamping with Jaydee


Now it is your turn! Link up your fabulous creation here! Please remember to LEAVE A COMMENT then we will know you have played and come to visit your blog. We can't wait to see your work! 

This linky will close at midnight on Friday, October 8th (PDT).