A Little Birdie for the Paper Players

Hello friends!  This week is CAS week at the Paper Players and the lovely Joanne is hosting.  She has chosen an apropos theme for this time of year.  Just remember to limit your layers and embellishments and leave plenty of "white" space to keep it CAS.

Paper Players

 

I'm also playing along with the lovelies at Seize the Birthday, with their Anything Goes option.

STB #318

What I was initially thinking of using turned out to be not very CAS, so I made a change of direction and used a fun little die set that is more in line with this challenge.

I adore the Simon Says Stamp Birdies die set, but it's been quite a while since I used it here, plus I acquired the Birdies Winter Accessories dies last month and wanted them to be able to take an outing in their latest apparel. Wait, what?  Birdies around you aren't wearing their winter attire?  Well, those poor little things! 😉

After all the die cutting and assembly, I thought the birdies needed an appropriate background, so I ink blended some sky and clouds on a panel of white using the MFT Rolling Clouds stencil, then adhered it directly to the card base.  After adding the cute birdies on the branch, the sentiment (from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Crazy Talk) was popped up with a bit of thin foam tape.  I'll add the Happy Birthday wishes on the inside of the card when I go to send it.  The last step was to use a Sakura Black Glaze pen for their eyes.

What signs of winter would you like to share this week?  For additional inspiration, please pop over to the challenge blog here, where my amazing teammates have some wonderful creations to share!  You can play along until Friday January 23rd at 3pm EST.  I hope you'll join us!

Thanks for visiting!

Stef

Holiday Knits Noel for Color Hues

Hello friends!  We're back with a new challenge at Color Hues and this time the amazing Carol is hosting.  She has chosen a lovely winter combo of blue and white.

Color Hues

I'm also sharing this card with my friends over at Time Out Challenges, where this fortnight the theme is All That Glitters, and I do have glittery stuff on my card!

TOC #304

When initially thinking about this color combo, my first thought was to use navy or a dark blue.  But when I saw the prompt, the blue color made me think of one of my favorite cardstock colors, so I opted to go lighter.

And of course, you are welcome to use any hue of blue for your project.

I started with a panel of the dreamy Island Blue cardstock from Simon. Isn't it amazing that it's nearly the same color as the prompt?  The stamp is from a package of 2 red rubber stamps called Holiday Knits from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous.  Love the crisp detail one gets with red rubber.  The image was inked up in white pigment ink and then white heat embossed.  The stamp measures 4" x 6" and after embossing, I trimmed it down to that size, then used foam tape to add it to a 4.5" x 6.5" card base.

The sentiment and snowflakes are from the Tim Holtz Sizzix Big Tidings die set and were cut from Altenew Moonstone glitter cardstock along with scraps of Island blue for the shadow and to layer beneath the snowflakes.  I added two additional white shadow die cuts to the sentiment for more dimension, then everything was adhered to the card front.  I knew it needed a little something more, so I searched my embellishments and found an almost perfect match in the Altenew Deep Sea Sapphire Gem Sparkles pack.  

This design was inspired by the blog post here from Kath Stewart, which I found on Pinterest.  She used the embossing folder rather than the stamp and darker blues with ink blending for her gorgeous card.  I think this card is a good candidate for making multiples, it came together so quickly. 

Won't you come join us and show how you choose to use this color combo?  For more inspiration, my oh, so talented teammates and our wonderful guest designer Bobby have some beautiful cards to share over at the challenge blog here.  The challenge will last until 9 am EST on Thursday January 29th.  Hope you'll play along!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stef

Holly Christmas for the Paper Players

Hello friends!  The Paper Players are back with another year of weekly challenges.  This first one is our color challenge, hosted by the lovely LeAnne.  I used these colors to create a Christmas card (can't build up that 2026 stash fast enough!) but the trio would work nicely for many occasions.

Paper Players

What a gorgeous combo of colors!  My card uses a beautiful holly background stamp from Kristina Werner/Concord & 9th.  And because this is the first outing for this stamp on my blog, I'll be sharing it over at Darnell's NBUS blog.  And because Inkspirational is looking for Shine/Shiny on one's card, I'll also share over there because both my cards have shiny embellishments.

NBUS

Inspirational #358

Finally, I'll be sharing over at the SSS Wednesday Challenge where the theme this week is Something New.

I made two styles of card with these colors, but I like this first one best.

Because of the simplicity of the design, I ended up creating multiples, some on colored cardstock, with or without any ink blending.

For this card, I started by heat embossing the Easy Repeat Holly Background stamp in silver, then ink blending with shades of blue, fading to white.  I really like this look.  

The sentiment was created with Spellbinders Sending Joy Betterpress Plate and die.  I had a long and productive foiling session with this set last fall, and I have been reaping the benefits as I put together my holiday cards.  Simon Says Stamp Prism Sparkling Gems were added for berries and I was done!

So simple and so pretty!  For the card below, I ink blended blues on a panel of what I think was Misty Moonlight after heat embossing the same stamp in silver.  I trimmed down the sides, added it to a white card base and finished it off with thin strips of silver and SSS Starshine Sequins.

What style card do these colors bring to mind for you?  My wonderful teammates have a variety of designs to inspire at the challenge blog here.  The challenge lasts until Friday January 16th at 3pm EST.  I hope you'll join us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stef

Warm Wishes for Color Hues

Hello friends and Happy New Year!  I hope your holidays were wonderful.  We're back with a new year of challenges at Color Hues and starting off 2026, the lovely Bonnie is hosting and has chosen a wonderful winter pairing.  

Color Hues

I'd been wanting to use an older stamp set from Stamping Bella and these colors couldn't have been more perfect to use with it.

This is Quinn.  She looks very stylish and cozy in her cute coat and warm boots!  I used Copic markers in cool grays to color her coat, stockings and to add shading, including on the ground so she didn't look like she was floating in air lol!  The red markers are more of a tomato red mix and worked well with the poppy cardstock used for the layering arch. A white gel pen was used to add polka dots to her scarf, but it looked so bright white that I chose to lessen the effect by coloring over them with a light red marker.

I used a piece of gray snowflake patterned paper from the Honey Bee Stamps North Pole paper pad (it came out last year but it's still available), cut it with an arch die, then layered that over the poppy cardstock cut with the next smaller arch die.  Two additional layers were added under that for a bit of dimension before adhering to the card base.  

The sentiment is from the same stamp set and was die cut with a small circle die.  The final touches were to add Star Dust Stickles to the hat pompom and head band, along with the tops of her boots, plus a few HBS Aurora Borealis gems.  In person, the sparkle is amazing but of course, it is difficult to capture in a photo. 

I hope you'll have an opportunity to play along with us this round.  These colors provide a wide range of options, as shown here by my talented teammates and our wonderful Guest Designers Lisa and Barb.  The challenge will stay open until 9 am Wednesday, January 14th.  I hope to see your card in the gallery!

Thanks for visiting!

Stef

• Stamping Bella Uptown Quinn and her Boots stamps
• Simon Says Stamp A2 Arches dies
• Hero Arts Nested Circle die
• Star Dust Stickles
• HBS Aurora Borealis gems
• HBA North Pole paper pad
• Copics - R59, 46, 27, 17, C7, 5, 3, 1, 0, E47, 44, 43, 41, 04, 21, 00