Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge - Sup, grill-friend?

Happy Monday to all! Today I have a card to share for the current Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge.  It's the first week of the month, so you know what that means...

Yep, it's the Trend Watch, where you create a card based on a current trend.  Even though I'm in group 2, I still created a card for today's challenge. It will be linked up to the challenge gallery rather than in the blog post itself.  The inspiration for this week's challenge is this:

I was inspired by all those different patterns mixed together.  Now, my card may take a minute to "get", but stick with me, and I think you'll get a kick out of it.  I still giggle every time I look at this paper yummy:

Get it???  HOMEGIRL GOT HERSELF A GRILL!!!  BAHAHAHA! She's his "grill-friend"!

The idea for this card was actually spawned when I was helping my friend's daughter, Emma, make a Father's Day card.  She wanted to use the little farmer from the new Green Acres stamp set, but wanted to give him yellow teeth.  We ultimately decided to keep his teeth white except for one gold tooth, which was done with a Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust pen (in Clear Star) over a light yellow marker.  Then I thought it would be funny to make another card and give him a grill.  Then my mind went to the Alfresco stamp set with the sentiment "sup grill-friend". I know Kim Hughes designs Paper Smooches sets to work well with one another, but I don't know if this is exactly what she had in mind.  LOL!

The sentiment is normally all on one line, but I masked and stamped each word individually to make it fit into my speech bubble.  The whole time I was making this card, I was remembering back to the time when my family went to Oklahoma City for my brother's wedding, and my sister wanted to go dancing at this club.  We went to the Skky Bar in Bricktown, and this guy came up and tried to dance with her, which was cool...until he smiled and had A FULL-ON GRILL!  Her reaction was so funny!  I don't think she even said anything, just pointed and laughed!  He got the point...  When I showed my sister this card, she started laughing and said "that guy!"

Ahem...back to the SPARKS challenge.  I used a total of 6 different patterned papers on this card.  I still crack up looking at it.  Here's my guy, and his grill-friend in the background:

I had so much fun making this card, even though it involved a lot of fussy-cutting.  I think these guys look so awesome paper-pieced!  I especially love her flowery overalls and gingham shirt...and of course, her grill!  (And a little side note, both the farmer and his grill-friend are the same stamp. Kim included a little "leaf" shape stamp in the set that doubles as pigtails!  Genius!)


I hope you will play along with this challenge.  For each challenge, there will be a PS PRO. This PS PRO will receive a banner for their blog and a $30 credit to the Paper Smooches store.  You have until Sunday, June 10th at 11:59 PM EST to play along.

Did you know?  Paper Smooches is now on Pinterest! Come follow the entire team and company here!!! 

Thanks for looking!

I'm playing along here:

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge: Prints are Charming

The Gingham Challenge in the Moxie Fab World 

Lily Pad Cards Star Challenge

Paper Play Challenge '12 - Week 22: Double Delight (use two of something - I used the farmer stamp 2 times, and added pigtails to one)

Paper Pretties Monday Challenge: Use Bling

Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge

Supplies: card base: Recollections; cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white for stamped images); patterned papers: Simple Stories (red gingham, flower denim, green dot), Authentique (blue dot, blue gingham), My Mind's Eye (stars); stamps: Paper Smooches (images, sentiment), Hero Arts (speech bubble); ink: Memento; markers: Prismacolor; glitter pen: Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust pen; sewing machine: Kenmore; thread: Singer

Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge - One of a kind

Happy Monday to all!  Today I have a card for the weekly challenge at the Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge blog. Even though I'm in group 2 of the design team (weeks 2 and 4 of the month), I still created a card for today's challenge. It will be linked up to the challenge gallery rather than in the blog post itself.  Being that this is the third week of the month, the challenge is this:

Yep, it's a color challenge! And the colors for this month are super yummy:

Fun, right?  I know these colors are "Candylicious", but my card doesn't have anything to do with candy.  And I don't know how these colors appear on your screen, but the color in the upper right kinda messed with me a little.  On one computer, it looked a little lime-y green, but on my laptop it looks yellow.  And since my laptop is the one I use while I'm crafting, I went with yellow. Ok, now for the paper yummies:

I used the giraffe from the Zoo Crew set and a sentiment from Word Salad, only I changed the configuration of the words in the sentiment a little.  I colored in the giraffe using Prismacolor markers that match the papers, and paper-pieced him onto the orange patterned paper.  I added Glossy Accents to his eye and "horns":

I added some twine and a cute little button, and finished off the card with some machine stitching:

I used a super cute sketch from Retro Sketches from last month:

I hope you will play along with this challenge.  For each challenge, there will be a PS PRO. This PS PRO will receive a banner for their blog and a $30 credit to the Paper Smooches store.  You have until Sunday, May 27 at 11:59 PM EST to play along.

Please stop by and show some love to the Team 1 designers also:

Kasia, Heather, Glenda, Lori, and Savannah

Did you know?  Paper Smooches is now on Pinterest! Come follow the entire team and company here!!! 

Thanks for looking!

I'm playing along here:
Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge

Supplies: card base: Recollections; cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white); patterned papers: Echo Park; stamps: Paper Smooches; ink: Memento; markers: Prismacolor; twine: Offray; button: craft supply; hole punch: We R Memory Keepers Crop-a-dile II; sewing machine: Kenmore; quilting thread: Americana

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge - Happy everything

Happy Monday to all!  I'm super excited because today kicks off the term for the new design team at the Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge blog.  Kim has completely re-formatted the challenges, so instead of an inspiration photo every other week, you'll now be able to play along with a new challenge (and see tons of fabulous inspiration from the new DT) EVERY WEEK!  And the type of challenge will be varied as well.  Here are the types of challenges you can expect to see, starting tomorrow, and every Monday thereafter:

• Week 1: Trend Watch (inspiration based on a current trend)
• Week 2: Designer Drafts (sketch challenge)
• Week 3: Cool Shades (color combination challenge)
• Week 4: Picture Perfect (inspiration photo)

Each week will stay the same from month to month; when there is a fifth week in a month, the last week will be an extra week to participate for challenge 4.  Another exciting change is that the design team has been split into 2 groups.  Group 1 will be creating projects for the first and third weeks, and group 2 will have the second and fourth.  Here's the breakdown of the teams:

Group ONE (week 1/3): Kasia, Heather, Glenda, and Lori

Group TWO (week 2/4): Angeline, Kimberly (your's truly), Jackie, and Erica

Fun , right???  Plus, the amazingly talented Savannah is staying on the team, and will serve as coordinator.  She and Kim have truly outdone themselves with this new re-structuring.  I'm so excited to see what awesome projects come out of this!  I mean, just look at these cute new graphics!

Okay, onto the challenge for this week, the Trend Watch.  Even though I'm in group 2, I still created a card for today's challenge. It will be linked up to the challenge gallery rather than in the blog post itself.  The inspiration is this:

I love the cloud/sunshine trend that's so popular right now, and couldn't resist making a card based on this picture.  Now for the paper yummies:

The cloud is a sticker from the Echo Park "Little Boy" Collection Kit.  The yellow patterned paper is from the same collection, but it's normally yellow and white striped, so I colored it with Prismacolor markers for a yellow-on-yellow paper.  I die cut a circle to create my sun, and stamped a cute little face from the Alfresco stamp set.  I stitched along the edges of the cloud, and stamped a sentiment from Simply Said.  For the background (which looks better in person than it does photographed), I stamped the polka dots from the Geo-Graphic set and heat embossed them with white powder. You may be able to see it better here:

I hope you will play along with this challenge.  For each challenge, there will be a PS PRO. This PS PRO will receive a banner for their blog and a $30 credit to the Paper Smooches store.  You have until Sunday, May 13 at 11:59 PM EST to play along.

Did you know?  Paper Smooches is now on Pinterest! Come follow the entire team and company here!!! 

Thanks for looking!

I'm playing along here:

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge: The Sky is the Limit

Supplies: cardstock: Georgia Pacific; patterned paper, sticker: Echo Park; stamps: Paper Smooches (Alfresco, Simply Said, Geo-Graphic); ink: Tsukineko (Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black); embossing powder: American Crafts; circle die: Nestabilities; die cut machine: Cuttlebug; markers: Prismacolor; ribbon: Michael's; sewing machine: Kenmore; thread: Singer; dimensional adhesive: American Crafts

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge - Congratulations (thrilled for you)

Happy Monday! I hope everybody had a lovely weekend. Today I'm sharing a card I made for the current Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge. I'll also be entering it into their DT call. Here is the inspiration photo:

That saying cracks me up. I didn't know who Dorothy Parker was, so I Googled her. Apparently she was a wisecracking poet and writer back in the day. Well, Dorothy, I gotta say, I think I'd be pretty darn darling at it myself. But since I didn't win that last huge lottery, there's probably no chance that me being a millionaire is going to happen any time soon. So on to the paper yummies:

I was inspired by the color combination and the layout of color. I used two sentiments from Simply Said, and the argyle from Debonair. I heat embossed the sentiments, and stamped the argyle with only Versamark, to give it that tone-on-tone look of the inspiration photo. I added some faux stitching, a ribbon, and some buttons. Here's a close-up:

Thanks for looking!

I'm playing along here:

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge

CropStop Challenge #67: Bows and Buttons

Ooh-La-La Creations Challenge #103: Bold & Bright

Paper Pretties Monday Challenge: Embossing (I used heat embossing)

Paper Sundaes Challenge #116: Anything goes

Pile It On 16:Pop it up (I popped the buttons up onto the center of the bow)

Use it Tuesday Challenge 29: Anything goes (hoarded supply is ribbon - had that for YEARS!)

Supplies: cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white), Core'dinations (blue); stamps: Paper Smooches; ink: Versamark; embossing powders: American Crafts; white gel pen: Uniball Signo; ribbon: Offray; buttons: craft supply; baker's twine: Divine Twine