Paper Pretties: Birthdays, Challenges, and More Sneak Peeks!

Stamps:  Paper Pretties 'Everyday Sentiments'.  Cardstock: Cool Caribbean, Night of Navy, textured white.  Ink:  Cool Caribbean, Night of Navy.  Accessories:  3/4" circle punch, UTEE.

Happy Birthday, Jennifer!!

Welcome to Paper Pretties' Wednesday Challenge:  Emboss It!  where we also happen to be celebrating fellow DT member, Jennifer (Glitter in My Hair)'s birthday, and having sneak peeks today for another soon-to-be-released Paper Pretties' stamp set, 'Everyday Sentiments'!!  If you are arriving here from Jane's blog (Whoopsie Daisy), then you are heading in the right direction.  If you are just jumping into the hop, start at the Paper Pretties' blog so you won't miss a single stop on our birthday blog hop!

Don't you love sentiments?  I collect them with a passion, so I was thrilled to see 'Everyday Sentiments' with nine versatile sayings and four fun spots to go with them.  I knew right away that I wanted to use Clean & Simple's Fall-To sketch #114 which would be perfect for using the 'Celebrate' sentiment in  honor of Jennifer's birthday.  Unfortunately, embossing and white paper so not mix well for me, or maybe they mix too well -- no matter how much I pat my little ant-static bag, I get stray embossed dots.  Sometimes I can pretend like I meant to do this by adding in some more dots for country/distressed feel (see THIS CARD) or I can decide to completely change my project after ruining two card bases. 

I chose the second option and went with creating my own brads out of the fun circles included in this set.  Stamp circles, punch out shapes, add Versamark, dip in Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE), and repeat last two steps about five times.  Here's my results:

My other favorite embossing techniques are dry embossing  and good old fashioned embossing, as long as it's light colored EP, like this sparkly 'Winter Wonderland':

 Have you seen these new Basic Grey embossing folders by Sizzix? Love them! Doesn't this 'Powdered Sugar' folder have a texture that reminds you of a cozy Nordic sweater?

 Here's a detail of my sparkly white embossed snowflakes which don't seem quite so sparkly on the computer screen. Oh well, at least the stray embossing powder dots don't stand out, either!

The fun colors in this winter card is inspired by Really Reasonable Ribbon challenge #11, Winter theme - use blues, whites, and silvers.

Then link your creation HERE so we can admire your take on the challenge and enter your name for a chance to win a free Paper Pretties stamp! You do not need to use Paper Pretties stamps in order to play along, but if you do, you will get a bonus entry into the drawing! Please be sure to mention our challenge and link back to the Paper Pretties blog in your project posting. If you upload to a public gallery please use the keyword PWC127.

**Next stop on the birthday blog hop is Pam's (The Stamping Addict) blog.

And don't forget to stop by Jennifer's blog, Glitter in My Hair' to wish her a very happy birthday!!