Peonies and Paper Chains

PPA - You Made My Day!

 

Hi friends! After a week off, Pals Paper Arts has a brand new color challenge that features three beautiful Stampin' Up! colors:

 

Such a sweet combo for PPA238! It is perfect for last minute Valentine's projects! Or for every day paper crafting projects, like the card I'm sharing with you today!  

 

 

Do you recognize the stamp that was used to create the large white circle?

 

 

It's a fresh new take on Wondrous Wreath and cut out with a Circle Punch rather than with the the coordinating Wreath Framelits. Really creates a completely different look!

Notice too that I rolled my circles across my Basic Gray ink pad -- it helps each circle pop off one another!

The overall card background was created by inking up my Decorative Dots embossing folder and running the Pink Pirouette card stock through my Big Shot. Be sure to experiment a little with this -- too much ink and you may get a look that is a little too grungy for your taste!

Be sure to play along with us at Pals Paper Arts this week! Can't wait to see what you create!

 
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Stamp Review Crew: Valentine Free for All

It's time for another Stamp Review Crew Hop and we have something really special in store for you! It is a first for us...a free for all! Crew members are sharing any stamp set of their choice for Valentine's projects! It was lots of fun creating my project together and I am so very excited to see what everyone else has made!

Whether you just stopped over from Cindy Beach at Stamps, Paper, and Ink or are starting here, I do hope you'll hop on through and see all the creations today!

Let's get going! My stamp set is:

Work of Art!

I received this set last spring when I attended the Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog Premiere. I loved having a chance to gather with fellow demonstrators close to home and see the new catty before it went live.

The stamp set is fabulous -- it is incredibly versatile!

For those who have the wood mount version, it can also be incredibly frustrating to fit all those stamps back in the case! If you've been challenged to solve this puzzle, print out my photo and pop it into your wood mount case as a guide! Consider this my Valentine's gift to you!

Now let's get to the Valentine's project, shall we?!

This close-up is my favorite picture of this project...

• the shimmery glimmer paper
• the zig zag stamp pattern showing so crisply on the hearts
• the stripes in Coastal Cabana
• the gente sway of the linen thread bow that is tied to the button
• the sweet "love you" sentiment that is perfect for Valentine's day...

All the little details that make this project special!

While this design could certainly be used on a card, what I created to share with you is a piece of home decor:

Here's one more close-up for you:

This project is crisp, clean, and very CASE-able! The supply list is lengthy, though you could easily make substitutions such as using a heart punch (believe it or not, I do not own one) or snipping flag ends on your own rather than using Framelits to cut yours. Here is what I used: 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

 

Be sure to hop along to see what the Stamp Review Crew members have created for you! Next stop is Wendy Wiexler at Wickedly Wonderful Creations and you'll find the full hop line-up below my signature.

       

Enjoy a lil' creativity today!

 
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Stamp Review Crew Valentine's Free for All Blog Hop Roll:

1. Heidi Baks  
2. Ann Schach  
3. Adriana Benitez  
4. Rochelle Blok  
5. Yapha Mason  
6. Nancy Smith  
7. Debra Burgin  
8. Tanya Boser  
9. Lisa Young  
10. Dawn Tidd   
    
11. Shana Gaff  
12. Beth Beard  
13. Martha Inchley  
14. Holly Krautkremer  
15. Bronwyn Eastley 
16. Linda Callahan  
17. Cindy Beach  
18. Kerry Willard Bray   -- YOU ARE HERE
    
19. Wendy Wiexler  

 

Let's Get Hopping with Stampin' Up!'s Hey, Valentine!

 

Welcome to the first Pals Blog Hop of 2015! We hope your new year is off to a great creative start! To celebrate the start of a new Stampin' Up! season, we are showcasing products from our newest catalog this month - the Occasions catalog. Some hoppers will also showcase new Sale-a-bration products too. If you don't know how to earn free Sale-a-bration products - contact your Stampin' Up! demonstrator to learn more.

You may just be starting the blog hop or may have come from Becky Gifford at The Social Stamper. Whichever is the case, I hope you'll take a look at me creations and use the full lineup below to move along from blog to blog so you see all the projects we've created for you!

I'm really excited to share my creations with you! Those who know me well know that I am a deadline worker and hopefully none of them will spill their coffee or fall out of their chairs when they see that I am sharing Valentine's treat ideas...a full month before Valentine's day! These were so much fun to create using the brand new Hey, Valentine stamp set from the Occasions catalog: 

It is just precious! And perfect for making Valentine's for Brooklyn and Britt to give to their friends.

First up, the sweet little fox:

 

This fox is adorable and makes me smile just thinking of the girls dancing along to the song "What Does the Fox Say" -- it is a regularly requested song for dance parties at our house! It is also one of those songs that just sticks in your head.

Britt will be sharing the fox tags and a few crayons with her friends.  A tightly wrapped band of card stock holds the crayons together and forms the perfect backdrop of the Bermuda Bay ribbon. A box of 48 crayons will be divided up amongst Britt's friends making this a really affordable Valentine's treat!

For Brooklyn's friends, there will be a mix of all the other stamp designs in the set:

The school of fish...that Brooklyn colored in by herself! 

 

The sweet tweet bird...so very sweet!

 

The cutie pie pirate -- I especially adore the parrot perched on the pirate's hand!

 

Since Brooklyn is older, we are going with pencils as her treat:

Do you agree? Candy free and lots of fun?

For those who want to know what supplies I used,  scroll on down to the very bottom of the post!

The next stop is Debbie Crowley at expressivelydeb... on the Pals Blog Hop! Thanks for visiting and I'll see you next month!

              

One more thing before I go...a big shout-out to the one and only Nicole Watt for the fabulous retro badge and buttons! Love them!

 
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Pals January 2015 Blog Hop Line-up

1. Amy Whelan at Amy's Inklings
2. Maggie Mata at Maggie Made Cards
3. Becky Gifford at The Social Stamper
4. Kerry Willard Bray at Peonies and Paper Chains --- YOU ARE HERE
5. Debbie Crowley at expressivelydeb...
6. Amy Williams at Stamps and Spice
7. Rae Harper at WildWestPaperArts.com
8. Sherrie Gross at Stampin' Sunshine
9. Wendy Klein at Doggone Delightful Stampin'
10. Becky Volpp at InkBlossomwithBecky
11. Nancy Gleason at My Stampin Space
12. Jane Knudsen at www.seejanestamp.com
13. Debbie Mageed at Secret Stamper
14. Michelle Quinno at Shell's Life
15. Susan Lankford at Stamp and Create With Susan
16. Karen Hallam at Karen's Blog
17. Kelly DeTommaso at Kelly's Creative Corner
18. Mary Fish at Stampin' Pretty
19. Laurie Chilton at Stampin' Ink
20. Brian King at Stamp with Brian
21. Peggy Noe at prettypapercards.com
22. Martie Pollard at The Crafty Bandit
23. Kim Jolley at Stampin' Artfully
24. Beth Beard at My little craft blog
25. Michelle Gleeson at StampinMojo
26. Sue Becker at RnR Stamping
27. Jackie Diediker at Stampin' Jackie
28. Natalie Bradley at Natalie Bradley Events
29. Lisa Ann Bernard at Queen B Creations
30. Candy Ford at Stamp Candy
31. Dawn Tidd at Tiddbits From Dawn
32. Angie Valle-Peters at Paperluxuries
33. Amy Hoptay at Inking of You!
34. Lynn Kolcun at Stamping with Avery's Owlery
35. Shannon K Jaramillo at Shannon Kay Paperie
36. Liz Gautreaux at Kind Deeds Stampin
37. Beth McCullough at Stamping Mom
38. Nicole Watt at Pixel Maven's Retreat
39. Pamela Sadller at Stampin Pink Rose
40. Jennifer Michalski at Stamping Serenity
41. Shannon Hokanson at Paper Works by Shannon

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

 

 

Ugh...so as soon as I posted this, I realized I forgot the Pumpkin Pie Blendabilities (130997)! Sorry about that, friends!

Stampin' Up! Project Parade!

It's January 26 and that means you have just today and tomorrow to order the limited time Valentine's Day products that Stampin' Up! is offering this year. The Love You More stamp set is actually much more versatile than just Valentine's Day alone and those littel monster from the Monster Hugs kits are so cute! I thought it would be fun to do a quick little "parade" today with projects created using the exclusive Valentine's products. Let's get this parade started:

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Which one of the projects is your fave? I'm going with monsters chain followed closely by the little banner that kicked off the post! 

Don't want to miss out on Love You More, Monster Hugs or other exclusive Valentine's products? Purchase the exclusive 2014 Stampin' Up! Valentine's products today! 

Thanks so smuch for stopping by! Come back soon...I've got some fun projects in store for you this week! 

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Order genuine Stampin' Up! products here.

 

Free Je t'aime Banner Printable!

Hi friends! Happy Wednesday! As promised, I'm sharing details today for the Je t'aime banner.  For those who don't speak French, this translates to "I love you" and the sentiment makes this a perfect DIY valentine's banner. It would also be wonderful for an engagement party or wedding shower. This project pulls together Stampin' Up! cardstock and the new gold Watercolor Wonder Washi tape with paint, ribbon, and and some gold foil decor. 

To create the banner:

• Cut 4-1/4’ x 5-1/2” banner pieces from cardstock and punch holes in the top corners.
• Print this free "Je t'aime" banner printable and cut widely around each letter.
• Use a pencil to color in the back of each piece making sure to “cover” the letter.
• Center each letter on the appropriate banner piece (4-1/4” x 5-1/2”) .
• Carefully trace using a ball point pen – this will transfer the pencil onto the banner piece. 
• Paint in each letter.
• After the paint dries, string together your banner.
• OPTIONAL: Add ribbons or tassels between the banner pieces if you like.

 

Creating Double Pointed Banner Pieces:

• Take a piece of cardstock that measures 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" and score down the middle (2-1//8").
• Add a perpendicular score line that is 1-1/2" from the bottom edge.
• From the point where the two lines meet, draw diagonal lines to the bottom corners.
• Cut out along the diagonal lines and use this cardstock as your template for cutting out the banner pieces.

 

Creating the Gold Foil Tassels:

• Cut several pieces of gold foil to approximately 16" in length 
• Take 3 pieces and wrap around a round clothespin, magic marker, or wooden spoon handle. Twist once or twice and then wrap with a small amount of Washi tape.
• Slide the tassel off the clothespin, marker or spoon and it is now ready to string onto the banner.

Here's the gold foil that I used for the project.

 

Additional Supplies Used:

• Gold metallic paint and a paint brush
• Gold foil decor from a party store
• 1/4" wide gold ribbon

You can easily re-create this banner using any sentiment and font that you choose! Hope this project inspires you to create something fun today!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Do come back and visit again soon!

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Two on Tuesday: Love You More!

UPDATE on 1/26/2014:

An issue has arisen with the formatting of the original text for this post. As such

the text has been removed. Enjoy the pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Five Color Combo with Pinks and Gold!

Hello Friends! It is that time again...Five on Friday! This week is all about color and you'll get to see today's color combo in action.

Our palette:

The Very Vanilla, Pink Pirouette, Blushing Bride, Melon Mambo, and Gold is a palette with bold sophistication (at least I think so).

When it comes to creating five color combos, I generally look to nature for inspiration...a picture of our flower garden, the bright turquoise truck sitting in a parking lot with beautiful fall colors all around. Sometimes, though not always a neutral color or two can be found along side the other hues.

Other times my color combos come from grabbing pieces of cardstock and laying them out until I find a combo that speaks to me. For the project I am about to share, I worked with a photograph a friend sent to me and pieces of cardstock to find just the right mix of colors.

Here's the special project that showcases this color combination:

For those who don't speak French, "Je t'aime" means "I love you" -- a perfect sentiment with Valentine's Day less than a month away.

This banner was a custom project for a friend of mine. She saw a similar banner at Anthropologie for $48...I made this one for a fraction of that! The gold tassels were the most challenging part and took several tries to get just right. Details will follow next week with all my tips and tricks behind the creation of this banner!

What will you make with this color combo?

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a fabulous day!

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Wicked Fast Wednesday & the Stampin' Up! Weekly Review!

It's time for a "wicked fast Wednesday" project and in fact you are getting two projects. Would you be shocked if I told I created these from a kit? After all the kitprojects lately, I am sure it is no surprise at all! With Valentine's a month away, it was time to start kicking things up a notch in terms of decor and these projects do the trick!

WARNING: This first project may cause flashbacks to having to climb up the rope in gym glass OR making it through a recent CrossFit workout!

Admittely, you likely have not climbed a rope with alongside 4 of your friends! Don't you agree though that this absolutely works for these little monsters?! These cuties come from the Monster Hugs Boy and the Monster Hugs Girl kits. Each kit contains 18 monsters so after buying 2 packs for Brooklyn to share at pre-school I had enough left over for the the projects today!

TIP: The monsters do stay in place pretty well on their own when using the Natural 5/8" Chevron Ribbon. However, knowing how much the girls open an close the bedroom door where this hangs, I did add a little bit of tape to the back of each monster to be sure it stays in place!

And I also put together a little monster chain to hang across the playroom door:

Here are some close-ups for a better look:

"Love you"

"Love you more"

Can you just picture the monsters shouting this back and forth?

TIP: Put away your ink pad and grab a Stampin' Write Marker to color in only the portion of the stamp that you want to use!

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY FOR JANUARY 14, 2014: "Momma, that Monster is showing me his butt" - Britt, 2-1/2 years old

 

TIP: Until you write or stamp on the back, do NOT apply the googly eyes...they make it really hard to get a solid stamped image. 

 

Trust me, these are "wicked fast" projects! So should you find yourself with extra kit pieces or simply want some monstrous decor this Valentine's Day, hope you'll give these ideas a try!

 

SUPPLY LIST: Monster Hugs Boy kit (132162), Monster Hugs Girl kit (132163), Natural 5/8" Chevron Ribbon (132982), Love You More stamp set (wood mount  131850 / clear mount 131853), Hearts a Flutter stamp set (wood mount 131922 / clear mount 129522), Night of Navy ink (Stampin' Write Marker 100069 / ink pad 126970)

 

And now I did say there would be a Stampin' Up! weekly review so here goes:

NEW WEEKLY DEALS (Jan 14 - Jan 20 Only).  Check out the latest batch of Stampin' Up! Weekly Deals.  Love that this week includes the Chalk Tak Framelits, Alphabet Pressed Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, and the Notecard Envelopes in Kraft/Crumb Cake.  

 

WHOLE LOT OF LOVE:  View the Whole Lot of Love Valentine products here.  Available December 1-January 27 or while supplies last. NOTE: These are exclusive products that will not be available after the promotion. 

 

See the newest MDS downloads here. This digital kit is my favorite download of the week:

 

 

 And, last but not least:

FREE MARKERS FOR NEW PAPER PUMPKIN SUBSCRIBERS: New Paper Pumpkin subscribers who sign up atwww.mypaperpumpkin.com/ between January 11 and February 10, 2014, will receive a FREE set of 2012-2014 In Color Stampin' Write Markers -a $14.95  value-with their Welcome Kit. 

 

I'm so delighted that you stopped by today! Thanks for visiting and do come back again soon!

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Sneak Peek: Stampin' Up! Scalloped Tag Topper Punch

Here's a little treat holder idea to get your ideas churning! It was created using the Love You More stamp set (available only until January 27, 2014) and the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch that is available as of January 3! 

Such a simple treat holder to make -- 1-7/8" x 8-1/2", Scallped Tag Topper punch on both ends and then scored in two spots to make the flat bottom. Easy, easy, easy! 

What treat would you place in a little holder like this? 

Click here to order your paper crafting supplies today!

Hope you'll be inspired to create something today! Thanks so much for stopping by!

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Sneak Peek Saturday!

Hello friends! Do you love sneak peeks? I was always one for taking peeks at Christmas presents...a true master at splicing the Scotch tape just right to slip the gift out of the wrapping and take a look! Please leave a comment today sharing if you have ever taken a sneak peek at a birthday or holiday OR if you love be surprised so much that you would not even consider doing this!

The sneak peek you get to see today has nothing to do with Christmas -- it is a sneak peek at a Sale-a-bration exlusive item that Stampin' Up! will be offering in the new year. So excited to share this little paper chain with you today:

When I chose "Peonies and Paper Chains" for the name of my blog, I knew I would be regularly sharing paper chains with you. And I mean paper chains in the broadest sense. If it is something that you can hang up and includes paper, it counts!

Paper Chain Supplies:

• Love You More stamp set (available now until January 27, 2014)
• Decorative Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (SALE-A-BRATION SNEAK PEEK! Available only January 28 - March 31, 2014)
• Cardstock in Calypso Coral, Pink Pirouette, and Whisper White
• Stampin' Write Markers in Calypso Coral, Coastal Cabana, Early Espresso
• Ruffle Trim Ribbon in Coastal Cabana

Click here to order your Valentine's crafting supplies today!

Hope you'll be inspired to create something today! Thanks so much for stopping by!

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