Mother's Little Helper: PS SPARKS Challenge

July 01, 2013

i {heart} papers Design Team Blog Hop/MOJO Monday #300!

Happy Monday morning! Not sure if you've read this yet on the ticker of whatever morning TV program you watch, but it's a big day in the world of paper crafting. Why is that, you ask? First of all, it's the unveiling of the 300th Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge - can you believe it's been almost 6 years since the FABULOUS Julee Tilman started this challenge, way back in September of 2007? To celebrate, 30 challenge participants will be randomly selected to win prizes from 23 generous/wonderful paper crafting companies (check out the Mojo Monday blog for all of the details on sponsor companies, as well as for inspirational samples from the rest of the Mojo Monday design team). You'll definitely want to play early and often this week!

I'm going to go ahead and show you the sketch to give your eyes a tiny break from all this text...

Ahh... pit-chures!

The second reason this is a banner day for all you stampy/scrappy types: i {heart} papers is THRILLED to be adding six new amazingly talented design team members to our current team. We are also welcoming our incredible new July/August guest designer today. To help celebrate we will be offering 6 - $10 gift certificates. Winners will be selected from all of the blog comments you leave as you congratulate and help welcome our new designers to the team so be sure to hop along and comment! Comments close Friday July 5 at noon EST and winners will be announced on the IHP blog the following week. (You must visit the blog to see if you've won. You will not be contacted.)

Ready for another text break? Of course you are! Here's what I created for this doubly delightful day in history...

Like Pearl, the pretty little purple octopus in 'Finding Nemo,' I nearly inked myself, I'm so giddy at all of today's good news. :) Not to mention the fact that my card is actually a three-fer (yippee!) as it comports to this week's Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge, which is to create a card with an OCEAN theme.

Ready to visit the newly expanded IHP family? Then go visit these team members and leave lots of comments so you can be one of our winner-winners.

Also, be sure to follow IHP on Facebook, Twitter and join our newsletter for sales, new products and other announcements. Plus every month a random newsletter subscriber is selected to win a $10 gift certificate just for being a subscriber. Sign up on the right side of the store homepage. Thanks for hopping along today!

Supplies used from i {heart} papers:

Paper Smooches' Briny Blue stamp set
Doodlebug Designs' Fruit Stand 6"x6" patterned paper pad
Echo Park's A Perfect Summer 6"x6" patterned paper pad
Quickutz ZigZag 2 pack embossing folders
Ultra Smooth Premium White Card Stock
Dimensional Dots
Purple Baker's Twine

Posted at 06:00 AM in Blog Hops, Celebrations, i {heart} papers, Mojo Monday, Paper Smooches, PS SPARKS Challenge | Permalink | Comments (36) | TrackBack (0)

February 19, 2013

February IHP Design Team Challenge

This month, the i {heart} papers designers were challenged to create something using a 12"x12" collection sent to us by Kate and the new Spectrum Noir alcohol ink markers IHP is carrying. I was sent the SN@P Life Collection Kit by Simple Stories, which looks like this...

I figured this was the perfect opportunity to dip my toe back into scrapbooking, as I've been meaning to get on the Project Life-type of scrapbooking for over a year now. I just want a simple way to preserve memories without getting bogged down in creating fancy pages; I'll save the artistry for my cards. Thus, what I've come up with isn't necessarily going to blow anyone's mind, but hopefully it will be a nice little reminder of what our lives looked like over the past week or so:

I started small, and here's the great news: printing out the photos is the hardest part! I have the 6"x8" Sn@p Teal Binder, and used one of the 3x4 divided pocket pages that came with the binder. I inserted a few photos embellished with number stickers from the collection kit, and then cut a piece of the patterned paper to fit and did a little journaling. Easy-peasy!

Though I was happy to have created my first scrapbook spread in well over a year (and it only took me a few minutes - yay!), it didn't give me the opportunity to try out the lovely new Spectrum Noir markers I now have in my possession. Thus, I needed to make something else to fulfill that part of the challenge. I've been missing my Paper Smooches stamps, so I took a look at the current Paper Smooches Cool Shades color challenge...

I got out a few PS sets and got to work. Here's what I came up with, using Karen G's current Sweet Sunday Sketch (#178)...

I love that sweet Matroska image from the FOLKal Points set. The sentiment is from PS's Word Salad set. For those of you aren't familiar with Spectrum Noir Markers, Kate did a great write up on the IHP blog a month or so ago detailing her reasons for deciding to phase out of Copic Markers and carry Spectrum Noir markers instead. Long story short: the Spectrum Noir markers are a much more affordable option for customers. The SN markers can be used in conjunction with Copics, and for those of you who've held back on investing in alcohol markers because they're so expensive, the Spectrum Noir markers are an amazing value at less than $2 per marker.

I colored Ms. Matroska with my SN markers and loved the results. The SN markers have a bullet tip on one end and a broad tip on the other end. I'm used to coloring with Copic's brush tip, but I like the way the bullet tip on the SNs allowed me to get into tight places like the flower barrette in Ms. M's hair:

All in all, I find the SNs very comparable to Copics, and if I were starting over again, it's a no-brainer which markers I'd choose. The less $$$ spent on markers = more to spend on stamps and paper, no? :)

Ready to see what my fellow IHP team mates have put together for your viewing pleasure this month? Me, too! Let's mosey on over to see these gals...

The i {heart} papers team:

February's guest designer, Sankari Wegman
Carole (you are here!)
Deb
Gretchen
Judy
Lori
Taylor
Tracy
Kate

Supplies used:

From i {heart} papers: SN@P Life 12x12 collection kit; Sn@p Teal Binder ; Spectrum Noir markers; FOLKal Points & Word Salad Stamp sets (Paper Smooches); Memento Inks; Copic X-Press Blending Cardstock; Dimensional Dots.

Other: Cardstock - Choice Buttercream (TE), Lollipop (Bazzill), Berrylicious (MFT); patterned paper: Hazel 6"x6" pad from MME's Stella and Rose collection; brown ruffled ribbon; Circle and scalloped Circle Nestabilities; Banner Stacklets 1 dies (TE).

Posted at 05:00 AM in i {heart} papers, Paper Smooches, PS SPARKS Challenge, Scrapbooking, Sweet Sunday Sketch | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

October 17, 2012

SPARKS/Cool Places

Yesterday morning I was messing around on the Interweb and I stumbled onto this week's Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge.

A color challenge! I haven't done a good ol' fashioned color challenge in a while, so I pulled out my bin of Paper Smooches stamps and got to looking for a little something I could make to play along with my sweet friend Kim Hughes and the SPARKS crew.

Now, everytime I see 'SPARKS' written in all-caps (which, I'm not sure how often that really happens in ordinary everyday life, but it does happen every time I look at the Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge blog), I can't help but start singing that song from the '80's, "Cool Places" by the group SPARKS (featuring Jane Wiedlin, from The Go-Gos). Anybody else remember that song? I loved it so much, I had to buy the cassette tape. Of course, as I recall, that was the only good song on the entire album (or at least, the only one I liked).

Anyway, I have had "Cool Places" on the brain ever since.

So, here's what I came up with for the PS SPARKS (or as I will forevermore refer to it, the PS SPARKS/Cool Places; sorry, Kim. So it is written, so it shall be done) color challenge:

*giggle!* Aren't they a fun couple? Wouldn't you like to join 'em for a little din-din? Guess what they're serving? GHOUL-ash!!! (Oh, I crack myself up...) I used the witch, eyeball, and spider from the PS Halloweenies set, the barbecue grill (which can double as a cauldron) and sentiment from the Alfresco set, and the mad scientist, beaker, steam, and bubbles from the Great Chemistry set. I masked stuff, here and there, with Eclipse Masking strips and colored everything in with Copic markers.

Here are the ingredients I used that you can find at i {heart} papers (remember - everything in the ihp store is on sale for 25% off through Oct. 20):

Other ingredients include - cardstock: True Black (PTI), Lavendar Lace, Gable Green & Cameo Coral (SU!); Sakura Black Glaze pen (to make the witch's boots look like patent leather); and my beloved Corner Chomper (CHOMP!).

And now, so this song can run endlessly through your head, too...