the paper players

Happy Fall y’all!

/ Jodi / 23 Comments

Wondrous Wreath Fall PP212

I know – Fall doesn’t officially begin until September 22, 2014 at 10:29 pm…  (impressed with my precisional detail? – my own made-up word, “precisional” 🙂 )

There are still 12 more days until the Autumnal Equinox, and I can assure you I am going to embrace every last moment of “Summer.”

But  – – – in my quest to also embrace Fall, I’m going with it here folks!

And… The Paper Players Design Team has a “Happy Fall y’all” Theme Challenge  (PP212) this week, so I thought I’d play along.

pp212

And… I know exactly who I am going to send this card to!

She is someone I work with, who L – O – V – E s Fall.

She always puts her Fall wreath on her front door for the first day of school.

Not sure if Jamie even reads my blog, but this card is going in the mail to my Fall-lovin’ friend, and I hope she enjoys it.

For my card, I used SU’s Wondrous Wreath and For All Things stamp sets and had a little fun embellishing with Crystal Effects on the berries and some fluffy, fuzzy Autumn Flower-Soft on the bow and acorns.

Happy Fall y’all!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Most Favorite

/ Jodi / 8 Comments

most favorite

I have ALWAYS had trouble choosing “FAVORITES”…..

Even as a child, I  could never choose a favorite color when asked….    I like one color to wear, another to just look at, another to decorate my house with….. how do you choose which one of those is your ultimate favorite???

Favorite food????  Well – favorite for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, dessert?????

Favorite book?  Usually every book I am currently reading is my favorite….

Favorite season?  Whichever one we are in!

Favorite holiday – well – that’s easy – CHRISTMAS!!!

Anyway – you see I have trouble choosing Favorites, but I LOVED this stamp from Neat and Tangled (the sentiment – the type font), and I figure I can send it to any one of my “favorites” – of which I am blessed to have a few 🙂

I do love black and white, and I just got this awesome SU Cherry Cobbler Sheer Linen Ribbon as a #FreebieFriday PRIZE from Linda Heller (thanks Linda!), and was dying to use it, so I created this card for The Paper Players Challenge #210. 

Here is the sketch challenge Jaydee created:pp210
I was so excited to be chosen as “A Cut Above” last week for my “Birthdays are for the Birds” card.  How fun is that?!?!?  🙂  I get to post this little badge, and you would think I won an Emmy!  (which I am watching while writing this, so excuse any typos as I switch back and forth…  another thing I love – Award shows! )

Cut Above Badge

So here is my card – may not have nailed the challenge – but I still kinda like it – – –  just couldn’t decide which photo angle was my favorite…………
from the right……
or from the left ………?
You decide!  I just can’t!

most favorite 2

Thanks for checking in.
Just having some fun – – – at Life in Between.

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Birthdays are for the Birds

/ Jodi / 21 Comments

child birthday card punch art birds on wire

Birthdays were so much fun when we were kids – right?

And even more when my boys were young and we could do (what they eventually came to dread….)

THEME parties!

I recall parties themed with pirates and magic shows, and Barney the purple dinosaur………

jake 5 cake jake 5 pirates 2 jake 5 pirates

Oh the days….  (I can’t believe these were over 20 years ago now!)

Nick 3Nick 3 2

So I was excited to see The Paper Players Challenge #209 this week be a child’s birthday card.  Gave me a chance to be silly and fun.

pp209

Leanne Pugliese, of The Paper Players Design Team, is celebrating her granddaughter, Cassidy’s, 4th Birthday this week (Happy Birthday Cassidy!), so she chose a Clean and Simple (CAS) Child’s Birthday Card for #PP209 Challenge.

child birthday card punch art birds on wire
My card is a “punch art” card.  I’ve seen some amazingly creative critters created out of punched out shapes.  They range from puppies and turtles and hippos, lions, elephants, and monkeys to caterprillars and lambs and bears and birds – silly birds, angry birds, real birds.  There are some awesomely talented artists and designers out there!

I saw little birds similar to these somewhere at some point and thought they would make a fun child’s birthday card – especially for a “wee one.”  My “birds” are cut out using SU framelit circles and the bird builder punch for the wing and nose.  I sponged them with some pumpkin pie ink, glitzed their feathers a bit with #WinkofStella, cut out party hats from SU DSP, added some Crystal Effects to their beaks, and popped on a candy dot for the eye.  The background is done with a cloud embossing folder, the “telephone wire” is made from baker’s twine, and the Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Bloom with Hope stamp set.

I can’t wait to share this card with a wee one on their birthday.  As for me – no more birthdays please…  Birthdays are for the birds!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

 

Hope Anchors the Soul

/ Jodi / 19 Comments

Hope Anchors the Soul

What a great weekend we had.  A little fun friend time at a Margaritaville Party Friday night.  Thanks Andy and Donna (and Hazel!) for inviting us….

A family wedding celebration – Congrats Jeff and Terri!

A little time to cook and bake on Sunday – – – more on that later this week – but a couple of master bread bakers (ahem Rob and Nancy 🙂 ) had me hankering to bake some fresh crusty rustic bread to go with the sausage stuffed banana peppers from my garden for Sunday dinner.

And a little time to play with my card-making when a thunderstorm busted in on our afternoon.

This card was inspired for someone special I’ve been thinking about and designed for The Paper Players Challenge #206.  I’ve just started trying these out.  It is a fun way to be inspired and challenged with a sketch to see what you can create.  Here is the sketch that inspired my card:

PP 206I love the sentiment on this Neat and Tangled stamp, and had fun using Punchinella, which is basically the leftover sheets from the machine when sequins are made.  Pretty cool – huh?

hope anchors the soul 2

The rest is done using StampinUp products:  Watercolor paper with Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist, and Bermuda Bay inks stamped on a block, then spritzed with water and then pressed onto the water color paper.  I heat embossed the sentiment with gold and used some StampinUp Gold Soiree Designer Series Paper, burlap ribbon, and Chalk Lines stamped onto kraft brown paper for the banner strips.  Natural linen thread was used for the string and bow.  A couple sequins in complimentary colors finished it off.

hope anchors the soul 3Have a great week friends!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi