Paper Players #140 – Theme from Nance and Cas(e)this sketch

Hi Everyone.  Happy Saturday.  I hope you are all having a great weekend so far.

The very talented Nance has a fabulous challenge for us this week at the Paper Players.  It took me a little while to work out what I was going to do.  In fact, I thought about it several times whilst we were out shopping this morning and couldn't quite work out what to do.  However, I had a brain wave when I walked into my craft room!  

However, I needed a sketch to help me along the way, so popped along to cas(e)this sketch and saw a beauty.   I thought it would be a great way to combine both challenges.  You know that I am always up for using a tag!

Here's the challenges:

Re-purpose or recyle.   It really had me stumped for a while.  However, when I went into my craft room I noticed an old card sitting on my table top.  It was one of the first cards that I ever made and gave to Lou.  Many years ago!  I always loved the little embellishment on it and decided it was time to recycle that old embellishment for a new card for Lou.

I also wanted to showcase the new DSP and stamp from the This & That bundle.  The minute I saw this new product being announced by SU, I knew that I needed it.  Not wanted it, mind you.  NEEDED it!  But, I knew that I wanted to use the elements for more than just the journal.

Here's the old card.  You can see where the cardboard heart used to be.  That's the element that I wanted to reuse.

So, I carefully peeled off the heart – here's a closeup of it:

It's a really pretty pale blue heart with a wonderful little metal heart embellishment.  I kept the whole thing in tact, including the ribbon.  I thought if I was going to recycle it, I might as well keep it together!

Here's what I did with it for the new card, using the cas(e)this sketch

I used the Sanded background stamp, inked up with Sahara Sand, to add some texture to the Pool Party base.  (So glad this color is staying around!)  I then ran a tag die through my Big Shot and ran it through again with the Charles dotted chevron folder.   (I really need an intervention for using this folder so often!) 

I sponged the edges of the tag with Pool Party ink.  I really needed it to stand off from the card base as they are the same color.   Inking the edges also allowed me to create a halo highlight for the sentiment.

You might notice this…..  if you look closely you can see it on the right hand side of the card base, just underneath the DSP and right next to the tag.

It's the date stamp from the This and That bundle.  I thought it would be a great way to include the date the card was made.  Which, was a great idea.  HOWEVER, I didn't notice until I was doing my blog that I had made it MAY 5….. and, if I remember correctly, it's still April!!!!  DUH!   It's been a very long week, but I hadn't realized I'd missed an entire month this week!    But, I think you get the gist.  It was a good idea 🙂

What I like about the card:

• I love that the chevron embossing folder echoes, and follows the lines of, the This and That DSP.
• The blue of the cardboard heart was the inspiration for the use of Pool Party and I think the blue is masculine, but not in a way that would make the card unusable for either sex.
• The dots of the embossing folder echo the dashes on the dsp
• The Pool Party sponging on the tag really helps to focus the eye on the sentiment, even though it's on a busy background.
• The sanded background stamp helps to break up the brightness of the Pool Party

Now, it's over to you!   We'd love to have you play along with us, and I am pretty sure the cas(e)thissketch team would love you to play with them, too.   You could even do what I did and combine the challenges.  Even if you are not playing along, pop along to the Paper Players and casethissketch to check out the fabulous design team and submission cards from some great inspiration.

On a personal note:

Sorry I didn't post last night.  It was a very long and difficult week at work and by the end of the day yesterday (after a 14 hour day), I was absolutely spent.  I was physically and mentally exhausted and couldn't do more than warm up some food!  This week also seemed to drain me of my normally very positive frame of mind, and made it difficult to switch off and spend some time in my crafting room.   However, I always feel better when I have.   There's something very soothing about playing with paper and getting my fingers all inky.

Oh… and hearing a strange gaggling noise and catching sight of these two didn't hurt either!

It's a terrible photo… but you can make them out.  They were striding around at the back of our woods, where the woods meet the wetland.  They were moving pretty fast and it was tough to get them between the trees!

We have 4 robins and a whole flock of male red-shouldered blackbirds.  I also noticed that we had a couple of American Tree sparrows and some Juncos in the garden, too.   The junco's are on their way north for summer, but we think the sparrows, the robins and the blackbirds will stick around.   Soon, it will be hummer and oriole time!

As always, thank you for spending time in my little neck of the wetland! :-)  I do appreciate your visits and your comments.  Nancy, thank you for reminding everyone about the cornell website.  It's a really useful website if you are into birding.    Tracy,  I so get your comment about colors and no-one understanding!  Last night Lou and I were watching Fashion Star and I said to Lou… "oh, look!  the woman from Macy's is wearing a Summer Starfruit dress."   Luckily, he got my meaning and said: "yeah. it's a pretty color, isn't it?"   I think I trained him well!

Warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Hugs

Jaydee

Card recipe – all ingredients Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted:

• Card stock:  Pool Party
• DSP:  This 'n That
• Stamps:  Sentiment:  Signature Greetings II (PTI).   Date stamp:  SU's This and That.  Background SU: Sanded
• Inks:   Pool Party, Basic Black, Sahara Sand
• Embossing folder:  Charles (Cuttlebug)