Peonies and Paper Chains

Simply Wonderful!

Happy Friday, friends! I'm thrilled to be sharing the first Five on Friday color combo of 2015 with you today! Let's get right to it:

I'm loving this combo and hope that you will too! As always, my goal with these combos is to inspire you to get creating...

Maybe a card.

Perhaps a display for your mantle.

Possibly a piece of wall decor.

Or even a floral arrangement.

To create something tangible that incorporates the colors and allows you to enjoy them. 

During the time that I've been posting these Stampin' Up! five color combos, I've been encouraged to start a color challenge with them. This isn't something that I'm ready to commit to (at least not yet), however, as we start 2015, I'm encouraging you to share what you create over on the Peonies and Paper Chains Facebook page. Simply visit the page and post a photo of what you've created! 

Yesterday, I promised you a sneak peek and I've got it for you!

You've just said hello to the brand new Simply Wonderful stamp set (and hello again to Gorgeous Grunge). Simply Wonderful is a Sale-a-bration exclusive stamp set and contains several fabulous sentiments including the "you're wonderful" that is shown above.

Here's a list of what I used to create this sneak peek (be sure to scroll on through):

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

 

 

Oh, and this is truly a sneak peek. What you just saw is NOT a full card -- it is the sweet and simple (and very CASE-able) front to a blingy card that I'll be sharing next week. Stay tuned!

 
Get inspiration in your inbox  |  Shop on-line 24/7 for paper crafting supplies

  

 

Hello December!

November was an absolute whirlwind month at our home.

So much so that I squeezed in hardly anytime for creating and blogging.

While I know December will be busy, I was beyond ready to say "Hello December" the other day. I'm excited to usher in this new month!

And, today, I'm happy to share my design team project for the latest Pals Paper Arts color challenge! This week we are working with a beautiful blend:

This mix of Cherry Cobbler, Baked Brown Sugar, and Very Vanilla is such a classy color combo!

That little sliver of a project that you saw the beginning of the post is a very special card...

It is a completely custom 4" x 6" card for a little December #PLxSU album that I am creating! It features stamps from the Project Life December Wonder Photopolymer Stamp Set and some sweet little sequins from the Hello December Project Life Accessory Pack.

Ready to see more of the card? Here it is with its companion cards in a 6" x 8" plastic sleeve:

This title page for the album brings together the PPA color pallete with a patterned card from the Hello December Project Life Card Collection and a custom made 3" x 4" embossed piece of Baked Brown Sugar card stock. I just love the On Point Textured Impressions Embossing Folder -- it was perfect for this project!

I've also put together the first couple pages of the album and thought I show you those:

We'll be recording our memories day by day this month. Some days (like December 1st) will feature a quick journaling entry.

Others will have photos and I know I will be putting in some photos for December 2 and 3, however, I initially prepared the album with some place holders so that it looks nice even without the images:

For December 3, I'll be including a photo of our elves, Oko and Madeline:

 

Oko & Madeline finally arrived while the girls were out today! Really Oko II & Madeline II as I am pretty sure our original elves went into the witness protection program! #elfontheshelf #elfantics2014

A photo posted by Kerry Willard Bray (@kerrywillardbray) on Dec 12, 2014 at 3:47pm PST

The girls love the elves and were so excited for their return to us. In fact, Brooklyn even made some gifts to give Oko and Madeline.

I'll be sharing more pages (complete with photos) as the month marches on! In the meantime, be sure to stop over to Pals Paper Arts to see what the other members of the design team have created!

 

Get inspiration in your inbox  |  Shop on-line 24/7 for paper crafting supplies

 

Mixing It Up with Motley Monsters!

Halloween has come and gone, however my stock of Motley Monsters Designer Series Paper has yet to be depleted. As I thought about a color combo for the week and what I could do with that paper, I came up with a little something fun for Thanksgiving! You'll see it in just a moment!

Knowing that I wanted to use the Motley Monsters paper, I decided to stick with colors only from the pack for this weeks combo and those colors are:

And, given that we've got to set the table for Thanksgiving in a couple weeks, I decided to create something sweet and simple to mark our places at dinner...

To make both of these, I used a single sheet of card stock plus some scraps of the Motley Monsters Designer Series Paper and cardstock in Crushed Curry and Tangerine Tango.

I found a way to score and assemble to cardstock so that it has a gentle arc and it is easy to insert the napkin and utensils! That was a true bonus!

Would you like to know the trick behind the sleeve? I'd be happy to share it with you! Be sure to leave a comment today if you'd like me to pass it along! I'd even be willing to take step-by-step photos of the process this weekend!

Interested in more color combos? Be sure to follow my Five on Friday color combo board on Pinterest!

Enjoy a little creativity today!

 

Get inspiration in your inbox  |  Shop on-line 24/7 for paper crafting supplies

 

Hip Hip Hooray for Friday!

Hello friends...Happy Friday!

I'm happy Friday is here and hope you are too! It really has become my favorite day of the week and that is due in part because I get to share a new five color combo! I'm delighted to be sharing it with you and thrilled to have a reason to get creative! Things have been busy here and my time for making things has been limited. These weekly color combos always get my creative juices flowing -- what about you?

Let's get to the combo:

I'm not quite sure how to describe this combo. It reminds me a bit of sherbet perhaps scooped with a pwetwer spoon. How would you describe it? 

For those who are wanting inspiration to get crafting, here's a full look at my latest card:

This card features one of my favorite sentiment stamps -- "hip hip hooray...today's your day" -- and I love this because you could use it for absolutely anyone's birthday! This stamp is exclsuive to the Hip Hip Hooray card kit. At $19.95, this kit is an incredible deal -- it contains enough supplies to make 20 cards, and, if you are like me, you'll use this one stamp from the kit again and again and again! The other stamps in the kit say "thanks" and "just for you" which make them just as versatile!

The card front is only 3-1/4" wide versus the 4-1/4" of the back which allows the Pistachio Pudding that I applied to the inside edge to show. I thought that was hard to tell from the image above and wanted to share this view.

This card is for one of Britt's friends who is celebrating her birthday this weekend. In hindsight the little paper clip is probably not the best embellishment for a preschooler, so perhaps I will slide it off...easy to do!

Enjoy a little creativity today!

 

Get inspiration in your inbox  |  Shop on-line 24/7 for paper crafting supplies

 

Five on Friday - Purplelicious!

Happy Friday, friends! It is time for a brand new five color combo! Today's is truly "purplelicious" and is the latest Ombre style color palette that I'm sharing:

 

And, to get you crafting with this palette right away, I've got a very CASE-able card to share with you:

 Missed my past ombre color combos? Get them below:

•  a pink and a blue palette
• peach / orange

Do you have a color that you'd like to see in an ombre inspired palette? Be sure to let me know!

Enjoy a little creativity today!

  

Get inspiration in your inbox  |  Shop on-line 24/7 for paper crafting supplies

 

 

Texas Inspired for Five on Friday

Happy Friday, friends! It is time for a new five color combo to get your creative juices flowing! 

This fabulous combo was inspired by this photo that I recently saw on Instagram. It was posted by a company called Tumbleweed TexStyles and you can see their full Instagram feed here. They've not sponsored this Five on Friday post -- I simply loved the photo and it gave me the inspiration for this week!

Now you know I love to share a project idea too...you'll see that over the weekend!

Have a wonderfully creative day!

 

Get inspiration in your inbox  |  Shop on-line 24/7 for paper crafting supplies

 

Five on Friday: A Happy Congratulations Twist!

Happy Friday friends! Back again with a brand new give color combo. This week, I was so in love with the Pals Paper Arts color combo (PPA222) that I decided to bump it up a notch and in in two more colors. Here's what I came up with:

 

 

And here it is in action:

 

 

Usually I think of this Happy Congratulations image as lanterns and have them hanging like a banner...as I created the card, I tippped them on the side and loved the fun twist of flipping them around. What do you think?

Have an amazing day!

 

Get inspiration in your inbox  |  Shop on-line 24/7 for paper crafting supplies

 

Five on Friday!

Happy Friday, friends! Hope you've been having a fabulously creative week!

It is time for a brand new color combo to get you inspired:

It is definitely bright and bold, yet the splash of Basic Gray provides some anchoring.

Did you notice I added a little emblem with the date? Be sure to let me know what you think. I've been creating these colors for awhile now but have never dated them. I thought it would be nice to start doing so. Do you agree? If you are receiving this post via email, simply click the post title to be taken to my blog where you can leave a comment.

Wishing you a creative day!

 

Get inspiration in your inbox  |  Shop on-line 24/7 for paper crafting supplies

  

P.S. I'm super excited for the weekend to arrive and to carve out some time for creating...the only time I set foot in my crafting zone this week was to feed the dogs! Yep, they share space with me.

Five on Friday - A Cool, Crisp Fall!

Cool, crisp fall air has started to arrive here in New England. Morning temps have been in the 50s for the last week and it is evident that fall is just around the corner. Given the change of seasons, I decided to share a color combo that represents some of the myriad of colors that one might see across New England in the next few weeks:

I'm excited to get creating with this combo! How about you?

 

 

Get inspiration in your inbox  |  Shop on-line 24/7 for paper crafting supplies

 

A Big Thanks and Congrats!

In preparation for today's Pals Paper Arts color combo challenge (PPA218), I pulled out my August 2014 Paper Pumpkin Kit and got creating. If you are subscriber, you may be thinking that these cards look almost nothing like what is in the kit and you'd be right! As I often do, I changed things up.

Why change it up?

Because I wanted the cards to fit our color combo...

And, because I love to think outside the box and share something innovative using the kit contents. I strive to create things you may not have seen anywhere else.

To change things up, I grabbed my brayer along with my Hello Honey and Blackberry Bliss ink pads. And, I added color to the white die cuts by simply rolling the color on. Super easy and such a big impact!

As you may have noticed above, the Hello Honey was applied heavily and the Blackberry Bliss was just a light application...

And, I added strips of contrasting color (one with ink and one with cardstock) to really make the die cut sentiments pop. Here is how I added the stripe of Blackberry Bliss without getting all over my entire card front:

For those who prefer written instructions to the visual ones, I:

1. determined the placement for the card front piece

2. slid basic copier paper under card front to block the areas that I wanted to be ink free

3. brayered on ink and then pulled away the copier paper

4. assembled the card.

It really is that easy to do!

All the dots that you see in the projects come from the set pf photopolymer stamps that are a part of the Paper Pumpkin Kit for August. I hope to play with the remaining pieces of the kit in the next few days so you will soon see the other projects I create with this kit!

Be sure to visit the Pals Paper Arts site to see what the rest of the design team has cooked up this week!

Paper Pumpkin provides a fast, fun, and easy way to be creative! And now is a fabulous time to give Paper Pumpkin a try! Get 50% off* your first two months when you sign up by September 10. Go to MyPaperPumpkin.com and use promo code: HALFOFF2. 

After your first two months, keep the creativity coming for just $19.95 + tax per month (shipping included). Each month a fully designed project kit will arrive at your door with stamps, ink, and paper—everything cut and ready to go.

It’s commitment-free! You can cancel or suspend your membership at any time—really! So, go on, give it a try. What do you have to lose? (Except some boredom.)

*For new subscribers only, not valid on prepaid subscriptions. Discount applied to one kit per month for the first two months of a new subscription.

 

Wishing you a creative day!

 

Get inspiration in your inbox  |  Shop on-line 24/7 for paper crafting supplies