Make a Wish Upon a Star with The Paper Players

What would you wish if you could wish upon a star?  I think I would wish for an early spring this year.  Too bad it doesn't really work.  Neither do those wishes you make when you blow out your candles on your birthday cake.  But that doesn't keep us from making wishes, does it?

This week, The Paper Players have stars in their eyes.  That is, their theme for The Paper Players Challenge
#183 is Stars.

It's also supposed to be a CAS (Clean and Simple) project.  I don't know if mine is clean and simple enough, but it is what it is and here it is:

• I love the look of Bermuda Bay against Basic Black and decided to use that as my main colour scheme with pops of Melon Mambo and Crushed Curry, with Whisper White.  This is definitely a cheerful, eye-catching look!
• The DSP is from the Brights Designer Series Paper Stack and is a perfect background for a "starry sky"!
• At first, I didn't think that I had any stars to work with in my stash, but then I realized that I had a star stamp in the Perfect Pennants stamp set.  I also decided to check my Label Card and Circle Card Thinlits, and I found a smaller star in the Circle Card Thinlits dies.  See, there's another reason to keep a picture of all the thinlits in this set as well as in the Label Card Thinlits handy, so you can remember all the shapes they contain.

                                               

• Not only does the Perfect Pennants stamp set have a circle, but it also has the perfect sentiment, "Make a Wish", wish upon a star!  I added a Melon Mambo flag and stamped the sentiment a second time in Crushed Curry so I could punch out the "a" using the 1/2" Circle Punch and popped it up on a dimensional on top of a Bermuda Bay star.  The sentiment and its backing were die cut with Banners Framelits.
• The other large stars I stamped with the Perfect Pennants stamp and hand cut leaving a narrow edge of Whisper White around them.  The smaller stars were just another large star stamped and the middle die cut with the thinlit star.  I wanted to stamp them rather than just die cutting them out of cardstock because I wanted them to have the same quality of colour as the stamped stars.  I could have stamped any solid shape and die cut with the thinlit, but the star was already inked up.  Might as well stamp two as just one.

• The smaller stars are mounted on dimensionals and a Jumbo Rhinestone added for sparkle.

To purchase any of the products listed below used to make this project, simply click on the links which will take you directly to my On-Line Stampin' Up!  Store, where you can view the products and make a purchase if you like.  You can have it delivered right to your door!

• Perfect Pennants [english, wood]
• Perfect Pennants [english, clear]
• Brights Designer Series Paper Stack
• Basic Black 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Bermuda Bay 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
• Melon Mambo 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock
• Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad
• Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad
• Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad
• Jet Black StazOn Pad
• Large Rhinestone Basic Jewels
• Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents
• Circle card Thinlits Die
• Banners Framelits Dies

Better Late Than Never for As You See It Challenge 017

It's really late, I know, but I needed a blog post for you today and I really liked the sketch for As You See It Challenge 017, so I decided to do a card for the challenge anyway!  Besides, I'm itching to get into the new Occasions Catalogue material anyway!  Here's the sketch:

That Amanda, she's so talented!  You really should try some of these sketches and enter these challenges!

Here's my Design Team Sample:

• I'll bet you can hardly wait to get your hands on some of these new products from the Occasions Catalogue!  As soon as it goes live on Jan. 3, I'll be taking orders!  Or you can shop on-line 24/7 at my On-Line Stampin' Up! Store.
• On my Smoky Slate card base, I've used a background panel of Watercolour Wonder Design Series paper.  All the new Design Series Paper will be included in the product shares from the new catalogue.  Keep an eye on my blog for the details next week.
• The sentiment is one I keep having to remind myself about (see my Christmas story below) and you will be able to get this stamp and more like it in the Perfect Pennants stamp set

• I've used a torn piece of Crisp Cantaloupe cardstock to emphasize the "Life doesn't have to be perfect" bit.  The little chevron arrows are from the Circle Card Thinlit accessories dies.
• The rolled flowers are made with a new Originals Die - the Spiral Flower Originals Die.  The size of the flowers it creates are quite large, but I think you could make them smaller by cutting off some of the spiral.  I trimmed off some of the edge to make it shorter.  I will do a video tutorial on how to use it when the catalogue goes live.

I hope your Christmas was a wonderful one.  I know mine was!  It wasn't perfect or even as we had planned, but in the end, it was satisfying and heart-warming.  My daughter, son-in-law and my almost 2 year old grandson came to spend the holiday with us.  We were so excited to have a little one in the house again for the Christmas season!  We planned all sorts of fun activities.  Then, two days before they were to travel here, little Parker came down with a fever and illness, probably the flu.  The fever left before they travelled but he was still very sick and had no energy at all, poor little fellow.

We scaled down our plans considerably, and spent our days looking after him and his mom and dad, who were pretty tired, having to get up with him all the time.  By Christmas morning, he was a little better, but not even remotely interested in opening presents.  We finally got him perked up enough to get interested in the big package for him in the living room, and when he opened it, he was delighted to find a retro style play kitchen with all the accessories!  

Well, that changed the whole atmosphere and he dug into the rest of his presents with gusto, ending the day by eating some Christmas dinner with the rest of us and going to bed happily with some of his new toys.  So Christmas wasn't perfect, but it was wonderful!    

What did you do for Christmas this year?

• Smoky Slate 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
• Crisp Cantaloupe 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
• Island Indigo 8-1/2 X 11 Card Stock
• Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad
• Circle card Thinlits Die
• Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Watercolour Wonder Designer Series Paper *
• Perfect Pennants Stamp Set *
• Spiral Flower Originals Die*

* Products found in the new Occasions Catalogue, available for order Jan. 3, 2014.

More of the Circle Card Thinlets

I played some more with the Circle Card Thinlets die and was able to create a card for Dynamic Duos Challenge #67, already!  I'm so on top of things right now! Woo hoo!  Here's the challenge:

And here's the card:

• I created a swing card again, but this time I added a flap to the right side using a technique demonstrated by Dawn Olchefske on her blog yesterday.
• I used several stamp sets again including Flower Shop, punched out using the Pansy Punch, Lovely Romance and Chalk Talk.
• The Crisp Cantaloupe DSP is from Birthday Basics.
• The sentiment on the front was stamped in Crisp Cantaloupe ink on Very Vanilla and die cut using the Chalk Talk framelits.  But that particular framelit is almost twice as long.  To shorten it, I die cut it with the bracket shape at the bottom, then turned the framelit around and used the bracket edge to cut the shape shorter.

Here's the inside view:

•  The scallop circle and the "thx" sentiment are die cut with the thinlit shapes that come with the Circle Card Thinlits.
• You can see the added flap here, decorated with the DSP.

Here's another view of it:

• You can see the area for writing on inside the flap.  I've added Very Vanilla cardstock, decorated with the image from Lovely Romance in Crisp Cantaloupe.

So definitely a lot of fun.  The Circle Card and it's sister, the Label Card Thinlits should definitely be on your Wish List, which, if it's anything like mine is long enough to circle the earth at the equator by now!

Just a reminder that all this week, until Friday, August 30th at midnight PDT, is my Mystery Hostess Event.

Don't wait too long to get your order in!  Here are the details!  The last event like this I held, the winner got $110 in free products, plus a Big Shot at half price!  It may not be as big or it may be bigger this time, you never know!  You can't win unless you enter.  Contact me with your orders!

Stamps:  Flower Shop (w130939; c130942); Chalk Talk (w130631; c130634);  Lovely Romance (w130264; c130267)

Paper:  Birthday Basics Design Series Paper (130145); Calypso Coral (122925), Crisp Cantaloupe (131298) and Very Vanilla (101650) cardstock

Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Calypso Coral (126983) and Crisp Cantaloupe (131176)

Accessories:  Pearl Basic Jewels (119247)

Tools:  Circle Card Thinlits (133480); Chalk Talk Framelits (129983); Pansy Punch (130698); 2 1/2" Circle Punch (120906); Circles Collection Framelits (130911)

2 1/2" Circle Punch

Birthday Basics DSP

Chalk Talk Stamp Set and Framelits

Circle Card Thinlits

Circle Collection Framelits

Flower Shop Stamp Set and Pansy Punch

Lovely Romance Stamp Set

Stubborn Muse

Can one accuse one's muse of being stubborn?  Of not showing up when you need it?  I'm about to make that accusation, because I struggle with my ideas not happening until well into the evening.  That keeps me up late writing my blog and I'm sure it doesn't help that I need sleep when I'm writing it.  Those muses need to stop their eternal little round dances there and pay attention to my creative needs!

That was the case yesterday.  Mind you, I didn't get started until late afternoon anyway, and we took a break to go out to dinner, but still!!

I just got the new Circle Card Thinlits die and I really wanted to play with it.  I grabbed some Bermuda Bay cardstock and got started.

• I'm still in love with the colours in the Eastern Elegance Design Series Paper, which is what I used on today's project:  Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry with Whisper White.
• I used several stamp sets to make this card:  Papaya Collage for the butterfly and embellishment he's mounted on; A Dozen Thoughts, for the sentiment on this page...

• ...and Chalk Talk for the sentiment on the other side, as well as The Open Sea for the globe image.
• Those cute little chevron arrows come from one of the several thinlits that come with the basic card template.  The Scallop Circle is also one of the accompanying thinlits.

Here's how they work:

        

Aren't they cool?  I'm currently awaiting the Label version, which was back ordered but is now on it's way!

Okay, here's the card in 3D - sort of :

You've got to give these a try!  We've always made these "Swing Cards", but it always used to take at least ten minutes to get the basic card base cut properly and now it takes seconds!

Hope my muse was able to help you today if yours was MIA!

Stamps:  Papaya Collage (w132055; c126612); A Dozen Thoughts (w131056; c131059); The Open Sea (w128454; c123032) and Chalk Talk (w130631; c130634)
Paper:  Eastern Elegance DSP (130131); Bermuda Bay (131197), Crushed Curry (131199) and Whisper White (100730) cardstock
Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Bermuda Bay (131171) and  Crushed Curry (131173)
Tools:  Circle Card Thinlits (133480), 1 3/4" Circle Punch (119850), Extra-Large Oval Punch (119859)

Chalk Talk Bundle

Circle Card Thinlits

Eastern Elegance DSP

Papaya Collage Stamp Set

The Open Sea Stamp Set

A Dozen Thoughts Stamp Set

1 3/4" Circle Punch