{capture the moment}

March DT Challenge: Spring is in the Air

I don't know about many of you, but I am SOOOO ready fro spring to arrive!  We've had a lot of snow down here in Tennessee, very unusual for our area.  I am ready for the warm breezes to arrive and color to return to the great outdoors!  

I challenged the senior design team to embrace what the upcoming season means to them and use their favorite spring color scheme as the basis for a beautiful project that will bring a little sunshine to someone's day!

I had a chance to play along this month and I gained inspiration fro my color scheme from the cover of my latest Sundance catalog.  This is one of my favorite catalogs, always full of beautiful photography and lots of inspiration for projects of all sorts.  What drew me to this particular cover photo was the umbrella.  I loved the unexpected color scheme and how it evoked sunshine and warmth to me.

I decided to interpret those hues into Papertrey colors...

 ...and then created a spring project with them.

I pulled out one of my old favorites, Garden of Life by Alli Miles.  I've always loved the layers in this swirly rose image she created along with the dainty shape of the leaves.  I thought that these images would work perfectly with the spring theme I had in mind and I love the way everything came together.

 
I stamped the sold portion of the flowers with Lemon Tart ink, then followed up with the swirl image using Melon Berry ink.  I repeated the process a second time on scrap cardstock and cut out the centers of the flowers.  These centers were adhered on top of the focal point flowers using foam dimensionals.  The leaves were stamped in Spring Moss and the small dots representing berries stamped in Melon Berry.  I applied a bit of Star Dust Stickles to the flowers and berries to add some sparkle.  The sentiment from Signature Greetings is stamped in Dark Chocolate.

 

The polka dots in the background were added to the Lemon Tart cardstock with Polka Dot Basics II using Summer Sunrise ink.  For the ribbon detail, I adhered a strip of Melon Berry Grosgrain ribbon across the end of the focal point, wrapping the ends underneath.  I then pleated & stitched a strip of Summer Sunrise Twill on top of the the grosgrain using my sewing machine.  I love the way that detail turned out. Frilly and girly without as much bulk as a big bow.

Now, in case you forgot, I challenged the other gals to create a special spring project as well.  Just wait until you see what they cooked up!

 

CLICK HERE to see more from Betsy Veldman.

 

CLICK HERE to see more from Dawn McVey.

 

CLICK HERE to see more from Heather Nichols.

 

CLICK HERE to see more from Lisa Johnson.

 

CLICK HERE to see more from Michelle Wooderson.

CLICK HERE to see more from Kelly Purkey.

As an added treat today, I thought I would challenge all of YOU to use one of the spring color schemes the design team gals developed.  Here they all are, broken down for you into swatches, the perfect eye candy to get you inspired to create!

 

And, just in case you wanted to save all of these for later, here is a download with all of them assembled together for you on one page...

Download Spring Schemes download

Now, what are you waiting for!  Now's your chance to go pull out a few of your favorite Papertrey colors and a spring-like stamp set of your choice and create something!  Then send it to a friend who could se a little pick-me-up!  Or heck, you can even leave it on display in your studio space so you can look at it as a daily reminder that spring is in the air!  So, here's a run down of how you can participate!

1. Make a project using your chosen color palette(s). If you do not have a particular Papertrey color on hand, feel free to substitute with something you have in your stash that is a similar color.

2. Upload a photo of your project to you blog or online gallery. If using a blog, feel free to add the appropriate color palette graphic from above to the top of your post.

3.  Add the link for your photo to the Mister Linky box below.

I hope you will play along!  I certainly look forward to seeing all of your creations!  Thank you for stopping by today!  And have a wonderful week!!!!

 

 

Stamps: Garden of Life, Signature Greetings, Polka Dot Basics II

Ink: Melon Berry, Lemon Tart, Summer Sunrise, Spring Moss, Dark Chocolate

Paper: Lemon Tart, Stamper's Select White, Kraft

Other: Melon Berry Grosgrain, Summer Sunrise Twill, Star Dust Stickles (Ranger), corner rounder punch (EK Success), sewing machine

Finished Size: 4.25" x 5.5"

Just a note...

 

Many of you have asked when the next installment for the Cedar Ridge blog would continue...just a little note to let you know that I updated it today with some progress made on our driveway.  

Have a wonderful, fabulously creative day!  

The day after (a week later)....

Happy Friday, everyone!  I apologize for my long silence!  Right after the anniversary festivities ended, I had an unexpected health issue occur that required a short hospital stay.  I needed to take some time off to rest and recuperate which didn't allow me to be on the computer as much as I would have liked! :)

But, here I am back at it and in perfect heath!  My creativity is bursting with excitement and I can hardly wait for the March release to get here!  Have I mentioned that the March release is even BIGGER and BETTER than last month's release?  I know, you're probably wondering how that can be, but it's true!  Just you wait and see!

From feedback I have received from some of you, you really enjoy the "Day After" postings I do, which recap my favorite projects from the design team from the recent release.  While this month the post isn't exactly going up the "day after", I thought it would still be fun to showcase everything in one place.  I mean, who doesn't like a good eye candy post like this?  I know it sure has my creative juices flowing!

So sit back, enjoy and thank you for stopping by today!!!!

Betsy Veldman did the most CLEVER thing ever with Melissa Bickford's new Asian Fusion stamp set that just came out this month.  If you will notice, she used the long solid floral border stamp in several fruity colors to create her own AMAZING plaid paper.  I simply love the way this turned out and can hardly wait to try it myself!  

Dawn McVey created this pretty little number with Niki Estes' Butterfly Dreams set.  I love how she positioned the butterflies so that it appears they are gliding along a wisp of wind represented with the flourish from Fancy Flourishes.  The contrast between the True Black felt she cut with our new Medium Scallop Border die and the Raspberry Fizz Twill is just eye catching as well.

Debbie Olson made good use of both the new Polka Dot Basics Impression Plate and Luck of the Irish stamp set.  We have heard so much feedback from all of you about how much you enjoyed having a classy stamp set like this to purchase for so little money.  I love how Debbie allowed the tag image to hold it's own as the foal point for her project.  The polka-dot impressed layer she created is just stunning, with the way she added just a bit of white ink to it to highlight the texture.  The ribbon/button treatment is also a simple statement that can make such an impact!

Erin Lincoln more than exceeded my expectations with ALL of her projects this month, but this one in particular was especially wonderful!  Erin used the various button images from Dawn McVey's new Studio Style to create this amazing frame of buttons for her card front.  (She does a brief tutorial about how she created on her blog post HERE) I can just imagine all the beautiful color schemes you could recreate this in!

Heather Nichols took paper piecing to a whole new level with her use of the new Year of Flowers: Violets stamp set.  She stamped the floral images onto the Lavender Moon floral paper from her Pretty Pastels Paper Pad, then followed up with Copic markers.  I love how she was able to get a two toned effect by making the outer areas darker and leaving the center the natural paper.  Definitely a concept to explore more thoroughly!

Kim Hughes also utilized the new Violets set and achieved a very modern hip look by creating her own background paper.I loved her chosen color scheme of Lavender Moon & Spring Rain.  Following up with the sentiment stamped in Enchanted Evening rather than choosing the "usual" neutral of black or gray was especially impressive as well.

Maile Belles knocked my socks off with her first release projects for us.  This one in particular had me slapping my forehead and wondering why I hadn't thought of this!  Maile created a clever background with the frame image from Fillable Frames #1.  She simply stamped the frame repeatedly then filled in the notched corners with one of the flowers from Asian Fusion.  One of the things I love best is the way she was able to use the frame image both as a focal point and a background element and it totally *works*!

Lisa Johnson made good use of the new Tin Types Impression plate on her project.  Paired with the polka dot frame from Fillable Frames #1.  There are two "favorites" I have about this card.  One, the way she stamped the flower from Violets in a lighter color towards the corner of the frame and two, the way the center of that flower falls within the center of the letter "a" and is highlighted with a rhinestone.  It's little details like this that make me fall in love with stamping all over again!

Melissa Phillips had me at "hello" with this sweet little bunny card created with Alli Miles' new Take Three set!  The buttons, the lace!  And, oh my goodness, the little pom-poms on the bunny tails!  I also love the way she cut just the sides of the bunny blocks with her pinking shears.  It adds just a little detail without being "too much".  I just love it!

Michelle Wooderson used a bright & bold citrusy color combination for her project that embraces Butterfly Dreams.  Her combination of the butterflies and the Dot Spot background are just amazing.  The unexpected hint of Lemon Tart satin ribbon helps to keep the project warm but not too overwhelming or stark.  The small blocks of Raspberry Fizz Mix patterned paper at the bottom of the project are a welcoming surprise to the eye.  Just amazing!

Niki Estes created one of my favorite Copic colored projects using Year of Flowers: Violets.  Her violet is colored perfectly and looks so realistic, you almost think you can pick it!    She kept the background simple with Background Basics: Tin Types stamped in Ripe Avocado, which was perfect for letting the flower stand out on it's own.  The sentiment placement provides a nice balance to the project as well, which I totally love!

This month, I had the honor of introducing Kelly Purkey as our Distinguished Guest Designer.  She created several amazing projects for this release, which you can see HERE, but this one in particular totally stole my heart!  I love what she did with all those butterflies from Butterfly Dreams!  

So neat to stamp them on various colors of cardstock all in black ink!  And the multiple button colors used at their centers!  Just dreamy!  I can just imagine them all lined up along a card front like this too! Such a great concept!!!

So that's it!  I hope you enjoyed all of these projects and perhaps are inspired to go get a few of your neglected supplies out and create something fabulous! 

February 2010 in a Nutshell...

Hello, everyone!  Happy release day!  Just a few notes for you as you do your shopping today!

--->Unfortunately, our new dies & impression plates sold out quite quickly due to a bigger demand than we anticipated.  We have a second shipment of both Fillable Frames #1 and all of the Scallop Border dies arriving at the end of this week.  The other shapes will be here in about 2 weeks.  Thank you for your enthusiastic response and I apologize for the inconvenience of the fast sell-out.

 I have updated the "Previous Releases" list in my sidebar (which you can also access HERE) so that you can easily find and refer to any of my posts from the past two weeks.  I hope you will use the projects shared with you as inspiration to ink up your new stamps when they arrive!

 My "day after" post will be coming soon!  I just needed to take a bit of a break today and enjoy some time with my family!  

 The "Free Stamps for a Year" winner, Patti Gingrich, was announced on our homepage last night, just in case you missed it!  Congratulations, Patti!  I hope we will all get to see what you create with those monthly deliveries of Papertrey goodies!

 I just want to say a big THANK YOU to all of our customers who have participated in all of the festivities this week.  It is so exciting to have the opportunity to see your work, to hear how Papertrey has brought out the creative side in you, to see how much happiness you allow us to bring into your lives.  You are so passionate about our company, which gives us the stamina to keep bringing you the best!  So thank you, thank you, thank you for your loyalty and enthusiasm!  We appreciate you so much!

I hope you ALL have a wonderful, fabulous, inspired day!  :)

 

*official* February Release Party Contest

Hello, everyone!  I am so thrilled to see so many of you from around the world countdown with us tonight! This anniversary party has certainly been exciting and fun-filled!  To continue on with the fun, how about ONE more big contest?  All you need to do is answer the following question...

"What have you enjoyed most about this year's anniversary celebrations?  The new products?  The games?  The challenges?  The inspiration?  We would love to hear from you!"

Leave your comment on this post for a chance to win...

The February "I Want It All" package (a $165 value!)

This contest closes at 11:30pm EST.  One random winner will be selected and posted here shortly before midnight.  Please play nice, only one comment per person.  Winner is responsible for contacting customer service with their shipping information within 30 days.

Good luck to everyone and have fun!

Congratulations, Peggy Sue!  Please be sure to contact customer service to claim your prize!  And thanks to everyone for playing along!  I apologize for the forum troubles this evening!  I hope that you enjoy shopping when the store opens in just a few minutes!