It’s Wednesday and time to take a peek at this week’s Pals Paper Arts card.  If you are interested in a Christmas design with a rustic appeal,  be sure to join me Thursday for the reveal! And in the meantime, please check out this week’s PPA Artist Picks!

Free Card…Anyone? Anyone?

I love sharing my cards, but sometimes I just don’t have homes for all of them.  If you would like this card, please leave a comment on today’s peek and tomorrow’s reveal.  I will use the Random.org random number generator to determine the lucky winner.  I can’t remind you in tomorrow’s post because of Paper Player regulations…so you will need to remember on your own!  You can do it!  Until next time…

Please Note:  My banner is missing in action.  It just disappeared by itself Tuesday afternoon.  Yikes!  However,  I have sent emails to those in the know to see if it can be found. Hopefully it will be back by the time you read this…if not rest assured that a solution is in the works!

Guest Stamper Leslie Swearinger

What a fabulous card vintage-style Christmas card Leslie Swearinger has created!  Leslie is a first-level member of The Schach Pack and is available to assist you with your Stampin’ Up! needs if you live in the Peoria, IL area.  In case you are wondering about the background of this card, Leslie used the Belle wheel to create her own Designer Paper, passed it through the Big Shot with her Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, and then gently swiped the surface with a Cherry Cobbler ink pad. 

Seeing this card just sent the Belle wheel to the top of my Wish List!  Thanks, Leslie, for sharing your creative talent with us!

Twins’ Wins

Does this look like the face of a United Kennel Club (UKC) Champion to you?  Meet UKC Champion Cimarron’s What Were You Thinking.  Brody received his UKC title this weekend, and was named Best of Winners.  His sister Muffy also earned her UKC Champion title, and won the Champion class.  For people not familiar with the dog show world, the UKC is different from the American Kennel Club (AKC).  Muffy needs her two major wins before she becomes an AKC champion, and Brody has not even started accumulating his AKC points.  A major show has a specific number of dogs present, and are typically very large shows.  It is difficult to win majors and they are difficult to find, too.  Muffy will be headed all the way to Monroe, Michigan Thursday in order to compete Friday in a major against 31 other female Boxers.  However, at 13-1/2 months old, she still needs to mature physically.  But she will have fun, and she needs to be in a ring with lots of dogs to gain experience.  The Twins did get their official New UKC Champion picture taken together at the show.  I will definitely post the picture of the two when I receive it.

Card Winner

There were lots of comments left on the peek and reveal of this vintage colleage card which was designed as a Paper Players inspiration card.  However, only one can win, and the random number generator selected:  #3  Carol.

Carol said:

Congratulations, Carol! Just email your address to me, and I will send you this card!  And a big thank you for all who left comments.  I really do appreciate the things you have to say! Until next time…

It’s Sunday and welcome to my Paper Player post.  This week the uber-talented Anne Marie Hile has created a fabulous sketch.  Having designed a few clean and simple cards in a row, I decided to try my hand at an ultra-feminine collage card.  I hope you enjoy!

The Stampin’ Schach Design Tips: A Circular Collage

Today’s card is: 4-1/4″ wide x 5-1/2″ long.

• Anchor your design!  Every circular collage needs an anchor.  Since I wanted a feminine card I wanted a feminine “anchor”.  My choice was to snip a doily from the Flirtatious Designer Series Paper.  I used the white side and brayered on Very Vanilla ink to change it to a hue in this card’s color palette.

• Select a larger focal point! Since the Silhouette from Forever Young is very small, I framed it. And then to add even more size, I framed the Forever Young Frame within the Oval Designer Frame created with the Designer Frames Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.

• Balance! Smaller elements were then added to balance the design.  I selected a cute Postage Stamp from the Beau Chateau Side Notes, the Dress Form from Established Elegance, and snippets of flowers from the Floral Spray from Elements of Style. 

• Distress! A Sponge Dauber and Soft Suede ink were used to distress all edges and add to the vintage look.

• Do over!  As I looked at this card while writing this post, I thought to myself…”Hmmm! Something is missing.”  So I broke down and added a few…pearls.

Sometimes husbands can be so precious.  As always, after I created my card I had my husband, Kim, take a look at it.  He really liked the pink “Dummy”.   “Dummy?” I said.  Then it dawned on me…he meant the Dress Form.

And sometimes, puppies can be so irritating.  As I was writing today’s post, a freshly bathed and show-groomed Brody James Schach decided to explore the not-so-clean fireplace.  He has been mesmorized by it the past few days, and I can only assume that we have birds down the chimney.  He shoved the fire screen out of place, and was able to position the front half of his body inside.  Note to self:  Remove the stylish fire screen and put the doors back on. 
I hope that you enjoyed today’s card.  Remember…it will be heading off to a randomly selected winner.  Your comments are important to me, and I do read each and every one.  I also welcome your questions about the cards that I make and the techniques that I use.  I am only an email away.  Until next time…

Stamp Sets:  Forever Young (W 122570,  C 122572), Established Elegance (W 122530,  C 122532), You’re a Gem (W 122268,  C 122270), Elements of Style (W 118611 C 120045);  Inks:  Very Vanilla (104308), Soft Suede (115657), Pink Pirouette (111838), Marina Mist (119668), VersaMark (102283), Soft Suede Craft (119719); Designer Series Paper:  Flirtatious (122360),  Beau Chateau (122357), Beau Chateau Side Notes (122379); Card Stock:  Pink Pirouette (111351), Marina Mist (119682), Very Vanilla (101650);  Tools:  Big Shot (113439), Designer Frames Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (123130), Snow Burst Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (124096), Small Oval Frame (120908), Corner Rounder (119871), Paper Snips (103579), Sponge Dauber (102892), Heat Tool (100005), Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder (109130), Brayer (102395);  Glitz and Glam:  Basic Pearls (119247), Dazzling Details (124117)