Are you ready to hop??? The Paper Girls Challenge blog hop

  Thanks for joining the blog hop at The Paper Girls Challenge blog.  First things first. Here's the order of the blog hop. You should have come over from Charity's blog. If not make sure you don't miss out on any of the stops along the way.

The Paper Girls Challenge Blog
Amber Sheaves
Kristina McKeen
Judy Stech
Kyla Norris
Charity Becker
Erica Bass <<<----- You are here
Heather Gray <<<---- Go here next

How to Participate:

Want to win? Get one entry for commenting on each of the blog posts, "like" the Paper Girls Challenge on Facebook, and finally become a follower on our blog. It's simple, you get to see some fabulous projects and you know you want to!

Want to have more fun after seeing all of the inspiring projects? Join in! Link up an ATC created by you at the Paper Girls Challenge blog and you will get an extra entry for the prize!

International readers are welcome to play along but currently we are only shipping prize packs to the US and Canada due to shipping costs.

You have until May 6th to comment and submit ATC entries.


 We thought it would be fun to feature ATCs for our inspiration project. About a year ago all of us started participating with ATC swaps and we started with the theme of the four Seasons. I have loved receiving the little packets of miniature works of art made by all of my friends.

Spring

The ATC above is my most recent of the collection. I know it's Spring when the trees start blooming so I just had this picture in my head.  First I painted my background with ink and my aqua painter,  then I stamped the tree and leaves. I misted them with the gold smooch and white perfect pearl mist. After they were dry I added the pearl dimensional paint -- not sure of the brand. About the canvas paper it's a cool texture but it absorbs ink like crazy. So my colors were not coming out as vibrant as I wanted. I had to touch up the grass by sponging on green chalk ink. Even though the texture is cool, I think I would use multi media paper next time.


Here are the other ATCs I made in the series:

 

Summer

Fall

Winter

Next stop: Heather Gray

Make sure you comment on all of the blog posts, "Like" us on Facebook, and become a follower of The Paper Girls Challenge so you are secured an entry. I hope you get lots of ideas from all of the posts on all of the Paper Girls blogs. Good Luck to all of you! This is just the beginning of many blog hops and prizes.

The Paper Girls Challenge #6

The challenge this time is a photo inspiration. I fell in love with the yellow and gray palate. I had the perfect paper for it too. I had a kit of Teresa Collins Carolina Breeze just waiting to be used on a project. I used my 6 x 6 pad since it had so many different prints and the prints are also smaller. Another thing I thought of was a digital page I came across last year by Erica Shaw which was the perfect layout for the inspiration picture. Here's the inspiration picture:
And here's my take on it:


See what I mean? These colors are so beautiful. I used my postage stamp punch to cut out all of the squares which made it super easy. Then I just arranged them as randomly as possible. The keep my bottom line straight I lined up a 4" x 12" piece of card stock along the bottom of the page as a guide. After I placed the photo I fussy cut out all of the flowers from one of the 12 x 12 sheets from the paper kit. Next for the title I actually was influenced by Teresa Collins herself. I was at a retreat last year that Scrapbook Steals put on and she was a guest teacher there. She talked about making sure to use your own handwriting on your pages. Then she gave a little tip for doing a cursive title. First, write what you want in pencil, then write over it with black or a dark ink. After that go over it one more time with a slightly lighter ink to give it some dimension. She said not to erase the pencil because it adds to the effect. I did something similar, I first wrote with pencil. Then I traced over with my Sahara Sand stamp and write marker, then I went over the top with my white uniball signo pen.

Don't forget to check out the other blog posts by my team members at Paper Girls Challenge. We have something cooking for after this challenge that I think you won't want to miss!

Going, going, gone!

Time for the Stampin' Up! retired stamps to be posted. Here's a link to the PDF. If you see something you have had your eye on you can contact me and place an order or order it through my Demonstrator business website at ericabass.stampinup.net and click on "Shop now" and that works too. Remember - don't delay because when they are gone - they are gone!

Paper Girls Challenge #5

I had a lot of fun with this recipe challenge Kyla came up with. I admit it did take some thinking but after I got started with the picture and title the page just came together. Here's the recipe and what I used:

1 Photo
2 Journaling Cards
3 Different Ribbons/Trims/Twine
4 Stamped Images
5 Non Paper Embellishments
(Brads, Buttons etc...)
BONUS
6 Words in the Title

So first I came up with my title. "You bring Color to my World" yeah! 6 words. Then I was super excited to use a digital download for MDS Epic Overlays Stamp brush set that I just bought. So I printed my title out on Sahara Sand card stock. Trimmed it down a little bit and matted it with Melon Mambo card stock. Then I went crazy with my different pray inks. I have a little Shimmerz, Mr. Hueys, some home made white, etc. I was a little worried that I went a little too crazy. Next for the recipe I needed to have four stamped images. I didn't count the printed portion so I went for it on the journal cards. I had a Sassafras Lass "Head in the Clouds" That was perfect. I made the journal cards out of a ripped out piece of paper from a sketch pad and clipped them together with a library clip. For the other four non paper embellies I used a fabric brad and three small brads. For the three trims I used the wide striped grosgrain ribbon, and some super fun washi tape.

Hope you enjoy! Keep checking for new projects at The Paper Girls challenge blog! Next post is up April 16th.

Paper Girls Challenge #4

I'm a little behind blogging my own creations at the Paper Girls Challenge. Seeing as we are about to post Challenge number 6 tomorrow I thought I should get caught up! I'm hoping to place a little blame on my younger brother for getting married - since I made the wedding cake I hope that give me an out! I will post a picture below for proof.

For this particular page we had a lovely sketch made by team member Sheryl. I love how versatile the sketch was. If you get a chance go check out the other great pages made by our other team members at The Paper Girls Challenge.

Here's the sketch:
For my page I dug into a fresh pack of My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline - Dilly Dally. These papers are so awesome and when I saw the wood on the shed in the photo I was inspired to use the wood grain paper. The green sheet is the same sheet just sponged green with Color box fluid chalk ink. Thanks for checking things out over here.

Last but not least here's a picture of the wedding cake as promised. The picture is taken by my talented sister in law Danelle Prestwich. Go check out her photography facebook page if you get a chance.