OCC: Everything's Coming Up Green

Hi Paper Friends!


Short post today. With Spring now in swing, we're celebrating this week on OCC! Our host this week is Marcy Kaminski from En Papillote Arts and she's provided a photo for inspiration on the green theme.

And here's my take on the color inspiration - including a little touch of brown and white.

I love this stamping technique - Heat Embossing Resist. Start by stamping a large dense pattern in with embossing ink. Then coat with clear embossing powder. Set with your heat tool. Then select the dye ink colors you'd like to work with. I chose two Tim Holtz colors - Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters. 

So find some inspiration in the green photo and play along with us this week on Our Creative Corner! We'd love to have you join us!

Linda Coughlin The Funkie Junkie
Vicki Burdick It's a Stamp Thing
Sue Butler Scrumplescrunch
Anita Houston The Artful Maven Haven
Anne Marie Hile Stampin' Anne
Wendy Janson It's All About Stamping
Marcy Kaminski En Papillote Arts
Irena Kowalczyk (aka Rudlis) Love, Life and Crafts
Meihsia Liu Simply Paper Crafts
Tui Nathan Stampin Time
Lori Rider The Diva Stamper
Kristin Tierney Lilly Beth Boutique
Sharon Wheet Designs by Sharon 

Have a great spring-y week!

Holly

OCC: Travel Inspiration

Happy Saturday!


Spring has sprung (at least on the calendar)! Weather in Washington has been crazy. I actually had about 3/4 inches of snow on my car on Thursday morning. Talk about weird.


This week, a challenge around vacation destinations couldn't be more suitable given our wacky weather. My card is obviously Paris inspired.


I had these chipboard fancy frames that were finished with glitter when I bought them and I have used them on a few things but more times than not, I look at them and then put them back because the color isn't right. So this time, I thought I'd cover them with a patterned paper. And at first, I didn't like it but as the glue dried over time, I got used to it.

For the flower, I took a crocheted mini doily and rolled it up. Then I took a green Prima paper flower and tore two petals off the flower to make my leafs. 

One day, I'll stop stamping Paris images and I'll get to see them for myself in person. Until then, I'll keep stamping.

So think about one of the places you'd like to visit (or have already visited) and use it as inspiration for a project this week at Our Creative Corner. 

Linda Coughlin The Funkie Junkie
Vicki Burdick It's a Stamp Thing
Sue Butler Scrumplescrunch
Anita Houston The Artful Maven Haven
Anne Marie Hile Stampin' Anne
Wendy Janson It's All About Stamping
Marcy Kaminski En Papillote Arts
Irena Kowalczyk (aka Rudlis) Love, Life and Crafts
Meihsia Liu Simply Paper Crafts
Tui Nathan Stampin Time
Lori Rider The Diva Stamper
Kristin Tierney Lilly Beth Boutique
Sharon Wheet Designs by Sharon 

I can't wait to see where in the world you'll take us with your papercrafting this week!  

Holly

OCC: The Luck of the Irish

Happy St. Pat's day, friends! 

This morning, Grady, my four-year-old, got St. Patrick's day started with green pancakes topped with green sugar while wearing some rockin' shamrock glasses courtesy of my mom. He loved it!

This week on Our Creative Corner, we're celebrating ourselves by making our cards with a bingo board while incorporating some green.

And here's my contribution:

I just adore this new paper I found at Artco yesterday by a company I've never heard of - Simple Stories. They had a full sheet of bingo cards in different designs and colors so it was perfect for today's challenge. I think I'll be getting more of this line.

Another fun discovery yesterday was this burlap "ribbon" that I've tied a knot in and wrapped around the bingo card. I comes already frayed on the edges and is a perfect addition of texture. The shamrock button was in my stash.

My last detail is the stitching. I think I use my sewing machine on paper more than I do on fabric. I just love the look of it.

So play along with us this week. Special thanks to Amy Lazzell

Just a Thought...Cards by Amy for joining us this week. Take a look at what our team came up with to get yourself inspired:

Linda Coughlin The Funkie Junkie
Vicki Burdick It's a Stamp Thing
Sue Butler Scrumplescrunch
Anita Houston The Artful Maven Haven
Anne Marie Hile Stampin' Anne
Wendy Janson It's All About Stamping
Marcy Kaminski En Papillote Arts
Irena Kowalczyk (aka Rudlis) Love, Life and Crafts
Meihsia Liu Simply Paper Crafts
Tui Nathan Stampin Time
Lori Rider The Diva Stamper
Kristin Tierney Lilly Beth Boutique
Sharon Wheet Designs by Sharon

I can't wait to see what you come up with for our challenge!

Holly

OCC: Papercraft Tic Tac Toe

Good Morning, papercrafting friends!

I'm hosting this week at Our Creative Corner. I decided to take a little bit 'o inspiration from a game my son Grady thinks he knows how to play - Tic Tac Toe. I love him but he's no strategist when it comes to playing the game.

So the idea is to pick "three in a row" to use in a paper project. Here's the game board:

I chose the middle vertical line - pink, stickers and ribbon.

This is a fun, easy card that came together quickly and would make beautifully for a set.

I just love this soft set of paper from SEI. Buying a paper pad with a good variation of designs within the same color scheme is probably one of the easiest ways to get a set of cards together quickly and beautifully.

The natural paper flower is actually a sticker. Its hard to tell in the picture but the flower is pretty realistic and soft. I just love it.

My favorite part of this is the ribbon "leaf" tucked behind the flower. I thought it was a clever idea although now that I'm writing about it, it doesn't seem so "out of the box".

I hope you're inspired by this gaming challenge and that its enough to get you motivated to join us this week. 

Special thanks to our Guest Designer Tracey Vidal from My Creative Side. Take a look at what the rest of the OCC team came up with this week. I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Holly

OCC: Making Melody

Hi Friends! Can you believe it's March already? It seems like 2012 has clicked along at a rapid pace.


I don't know if you've noticed, but I've been absent from blogging and papercrafting for a few months. Let's just say there's been a lot going on in my life lately.


Henry Wadsworth put it this way:  "Into each life some rain must fall." Its been pouring for me since January 1. And only by God's grace and mercy, have these "rains of life" been tapering to a drizzle a little more every day.


One thing I've learned through this process: other ladies on the Our Creative Corner team with me are good, good people. Caring, warm and encouraging. It makes me grateful for a community of ladies to offer kind words and compassion in the difficult times.


Enough sappiness, let's talk about the challenge this week on Our Creative Corner. 


This week, I'm hosting a "Making Melody" challenge. I'm inviting all my paper crafting peeps to take inspiration from a song. As I contemplated how I would approach it myself, I kept thinking about lullabies. One of my favorites is Kenny Loggin's Return to Pooh Corner. It seems so timeless to me.


So the obvious take away from the song is Pooh himself. And when I think of Pooh it has to be the classic Pooh - soft colors, beautifully drawn characters and a little bit of a reflection of nature. 

I'm limited right now in my papercrafting - my workspace is a little disorganized and not fully in tact so I had to improvise. I couldn't find my foam adhesive dots so I had to glue a few buttons behind the Pooh die cut but it works. I'll find my stash somewhere (guess what I'm doing this weekend)!

If you have some time to spare this week for a little bit of papercrafting, play along with us this week! Take a look at what our other designers have put together for our Making Melody challenge on the Our Creative Corner blog.

I hope you have a great week!

Holly