Rita's Baby Blog Hop! {FMS37}

Surprise!!  Hi everyone and welcome to a special Baby Blog Hop where the design teams of Freshly Made Sketches and The Paper Players teamed up to celebrate...and surprise...Rita Wright!  If you're following the hop, you've arrived here from the fabulous Linda Callahan's blog where I am sure she had an adorable project for Rita!  This week Rita is the hostess at Freshly Made Sketches and all of us secretly made a baby themed card with Rita's sketch!  What a great idea, Lesley! 

Didn't Rita design a great sketch?  Love it!  So, aside from the sketch, I knew two things I wanted to incorporate for my friend.  One of her favorite stamp sets, Fox & Friends and one of her favorite color palettes of Basic Gray, So Saffron and Crumb Cake. So here is what I made for you, Rita!

Oh, I had fun stamping these little guys!  I think my favorite is the So Saffron owl peeking out from the corners:

And that little jumping monkey is so cute isn't she?  I know it's a girl because for one, Rita's baby is a girl (!) and two, she has a little bow in her hair:

I fell in love with the flower Rita added to the girl fox in this post and just had to CASE the idea for her special card!

And it is my opinion that Rita and her husband are going to be the best parents little baby Laila could ever hope for!  My heartfelt wishes to you both for a healthy, beautiful baby girl and many joys in the years ahead.  Come on Baby Laila, we can't wait to meet you!!

To continue on the hop, you're headed "down under" for a visit with the terrifically talented Tui Nathan!  Thanks for hopping by and be sure to hop on over to Rita's Creations and leave her some baby love and to play along with her sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!

Rita's Baby Blog Hop

Anne Marie Hile
Ann Schach 
Cindy Hall
Erna Logtenberg 
Jen Mitchell
Jennifer Timko 
Kathy Tanner 
LeAnne Pugliese
Lesley Croghan 
Linda Callahan

>>>Nance Leedy (you're here)<<<

NEXT: Tui Nathan

Tara Murphy Bourgoin

 

Supplies 

Stamps: Fox & Friends; A Word for You; Occasional Quotes (retired)

Ink: So Saffron, Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Basic Black

Paper: So Saffron, Basic Gray, Whisper White CS; Designer Series Paper--Patterns Stack (Subtles)

Xtras: Crumb Cake Taffeta Ribbon; Glimmer Brads (Neutrals); Scallop Ribbon Border Punch; Basic Rhinestones; Itty Bitty Punch Pack; 2 1/2" Circle Punch; Perfect Pennants Bigx L die  

Happy Birthday to me! {PP97}

Hi there friends, I hope you're having a great Sunday!  I sure am...as you read this the family and I are hitting the beaches of Florida for a little R&R because...well, yes it really is my birthday this weekend!  What better way to spend it then crafting up a creation using this fantastic sketch from the lovely and talented LeAnne who just happens to be our hostess at The Paper Players this week:

It's a great one, right?  I finally busted into some of my sneak peek goodies to make a birthday card:

This card really represents my style so I decided it will be my own birthday card, LOL!  Really, the colors, the patterns, the bird (!) are all some of my favorites.  When you work with colors and designs you like, it's easy to pull something together, right?!  Lots of sneak peek goodies here, starting with the stamp set and that gorgeous bloom.  It's from a new set called Betsy's Blossoms and I've stamped it on a 3" circle of very vanilla in one of the brand-new In Colors, Summer Starfruit...love it!  It is an intense shade that I think some people are having intense reactions to, LOL, but I love it.  On it's own it might be a little strong but I think it's a great "mixer" color that pairs well with so many others in the SU color families!

The pretty little bird is also part of Betsy's Blossoms and I stamped her in another new In Color, Midnight Muse.  Sounds a bit like a romance novel title doesn't it?!  ;-)  Notice how even the ink coverage is, particularly on the bird.  Did you guess why?  Yep, that's the work of SU's new Firm Foam ink pads...WOW, love 'em!

A few more little blooms stamped in the background of the sentiment tag that I tied onto some Not Quite Navy taffeta ribbon.  It's a pretty good companion to Midnight Muse.  Notice the designer paper?  Yep, that's a new one too--Comfort Cafe.  I just love the chevron pattern!

For the inside, I really busted out the stamps in Betsy's Blossoms--using almost all of them in the set.  Again, inking with Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse, Pool Party and Soft Suede...ahhh {happy sigh}! 

I hope you'll think about joining The Paper Players this week with LeAnne's fabulous sketch!  Be sure to check out the rest of the Design Team inspiration.  This week is the last challenge with our Guest Designers: Jenn, Heidi and Narelle.  I'm going to miss stamping and chatting with them.  They've done such amazing work for us these past weeks...thanks gals!  Be sure to stop by and give them some comment love--as well as the rest of the DT:

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Nance Leedy
Jenn Picard
Heidi Boos

Narelle Farrugia (May GD)

 LeAnne's challenge will close on Friday, June 1st at Noon (PST).  Now go get stamping!
 

Supplies 

Stamps: Betsy's Blossoms, Petite Pairs, On Your Birthday 

Ink: Summer Starfruit & Midnight Muse (available June 1st), Pool Party, Soft Suede

Paper: Comfort Cafe DSP, Summer Starfruit CS (available June 1st), Pool Party, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla CS

Xtras: 3" circle die; Not Quite Navy Taffeta Ribbon; Linen Thread; 1 1/4" Circle Punch; Basic Pearls;

Polka Dot Parade {PP96}

Hey there, friends, happy Paper Players Sunday! Sweet Anne Marie is our hostess this week for a fun Clean-and-Simple challenge featuring....Polka Dots!  

Happy and fun, large or small, polka dots are the perfect pattern.  Today, I used these fabulous colors from Arielle and the DT over at the ColourQ:

I love, love these colors together--anything with Basic Gray is a winner in my book.  I liked them so much that I made two cards!  For the first one, I took a very clean-and-simple approach letting the designer paper do the work:

Not much 'splaining needed here--just some circle punches, dry embossing and Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine!  The sentiment is peeking through the negative space of the circle although it is difficult to see in the photo.  I wasn't totally in love with this card so I made a second one:

This one I like a little bit better although I wouldn't call it clean-and-simple!  The Flower Fest flowers were all embossed with white embossing powder three times each on Wisteria Wonder and Tempting Turquoise cardstock then fussy-cut.  I'm going to keep this one short today....but I would love to know what you think of today's cards.  Which one do you prefer?  For even more inspiration, check out my amazing teammates on the Design Team.  I know they will inspire you to play along with Anne Marie's Polka Dot Parade challenge!  Just make sure to do so before Friday, May 25th at Noon (PST) when the challenge closes.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Nance Leedy
Jenn Picard
Heidi Boos

Narelle Farrugia (May GD)

 

Supplies Card #1

Stamps: You're a Gem

Ink: Basic Gray

Paper: Basic Gray, Whisper White, Designer Series Patterns Stack (In Colors), Island Floral DSP (retired)

Xtras: Luck Limeade Baker's Twine, Basic Rhinestones

Supplies Card #1

Stamps: Flower Fest; Petite Pairs; Build a Blossom

Ink: Lucky Limeade; Versamark

Paper: Basic Gray, Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Wisteria Wonder CS; Designer Series Patterns Stack (neutrals)

Xtras: Scalloped Oval Punch; Large Oval Punch; Basic Rhinestones; Ruffled Ribbon in color; Stampin Emboss Powder (white)