Stampin' Up! Sea Street Hugs & Kisses - Fab Friday 60

It's another Fab Friday challenge today!  A nice sketch to start off the weekend!

  I took some liberties with the sketch but that's the whole idea right?  To have a place to get started from?

  I had it in my mind that I wanted to use Sea Street and do some heat embossing....

  I tried all sorts of combinations for the octopus panel and I just couldn't get something I was happy with until I brought in the Starburst framelits.  The octopus is embossed with white embossing powder onto Night of Navy cardstock.  Once it was cut out with the framelit I paper pierced around the edge using the circle piercing template.

  The octopus part is popped up onto a piece of the Maritime DSP.  I love this design with the fish swimming around!  I added a little bit of vellum underneath the cotton ribbon knot to make it a little bit more like the sketch.

  Finally I did a bit more embossing on the card front using both white and clear embossing powder.  The sentiment is from the Good Greetings set that was a hostess special back in the fall.  I hope they do more of these sets as I love all the choices and the style!

  I hope you'll come along and play with the Fab Friday team on this challenge!  To see the inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and see last challenge's winners pop over to Fab Friday!  Remember it's a 2 week challenge so there is plenty of time to create a card or 2!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Sea Street, Good Greetings (retired)

Ink: Night of Navy, Versamark

Paper: Coastal Cabana, Night of Navy, vellum, Maritime DSP

Accessories: Starburst framelits, clear e.p., white e.p., cotton ribbon, piercing guide, dimensionals

  

Customer Appreciation Gift - Stampin' Up! One Tag Fits All

  At the beginning of February I went to a Stampin' Up! demonstrator get together hosted by a fellow demo up in Northern Virginia.  It was great to catch up with friends and make some new ones.  In true Stampin' Up! event style there were door prizes and I won the Tag A Bag Accessories Kit.  I hadn't used any of the fun treat kits yet from this Annual Catalog so it was fun to get something I didn't already have.

  My customers are the best and I have such a good time seeing them every month and they are always so supportive of the projects I design for them I wanted to do a little something to say thanks.

  What better way to say thanks than to give them some bling to use on their own projects and dress them up with some fun tags.  I paired up the One Tag Fits All with the Tag A Bag Accessories kit for some fun treats!

  I mixed up the small and large tags so there would be a different combination and look for each one.

  I actually cut the sentiment apart from the gem image so that I could use them more easily and not have to mask.  The sentiment is stamped with Smoky Slate onto the small tags.  The gem is embossed with silver embossing powder onto Shimmery White cardstock and then cut out.

  The gem is popped up with dimensionals on the the small tag and then the small tag is popped up onto the larger tag.

  In the Tag A Bag Accessories Kit you get a whole roll of thick white Baker's Twine (60 feet worth!) that's worth the $7.95 cost of the kit right there!  I tied the tag around the rhinestones and then added the coordinating binder clip.

  I'm trying to think what I could use to make some teacher appreciation gifts using the kit....Any ideas?

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: One Tag Fits All

Ink: Smoky Slate, Versamark

Paper: Shimmery White

Accessories: Tag A Bag Accessories Kit, silver embossing powder, dimensionals, rhinestones

Snail Mail Love

   When Stampin' Up! released the set Better Than E-mail I had to have it!  The little stamps to go on the back of your cards were so cute and there was such a great variety of images.  They work for not only hand stamped items but other hand made items like knitting or baked goods so you can stamp a special tag to go along with little gifts.  It's nice to have a variety now to put on the back of my cards.

  I wanted to see if I could use this set for the front of a card too.  The little snail is so cute I decided to use him and pair him up with the Retro Sketches challenge.

  The awesome Adventure Bound DSP seemed to be the perfect fit for my little snail's journey!  How cool is that grass photo?

  I used one sheet of Adventure Bound DSP and trimmed it to size and then just cut a strip away to follow the sketch.  I adhered both pieces to my card front with dimensionals.

  The snail is stamped on Whisper White cardstock and punched out with a circle punch.  I did mask off the © Stampin' Up! portion of the image since that would look a little strange on the front!  I colored him in with inks and a blender pen.  His shell is Bermuda Bay and his head and tail are Sahara Sand.  I popped him up on a larger circle cut with my Circles framelits and paper pierced along the edge for some detail.

  Using white baker's twine I made a little snail trail and used some Tombow multi glue every little bit to adhere it.

  The last little details are the Bermuda Bay candy dots, small punched hearts using the Owl punch (and the flip side pattern of the strip I cut away from the grass panel) and just a bit of Dazzling Details on the snail shell swirl.

  If you'd like to order the Better Than E-Mail stamp set head over to my online store (link in the side bar) and use item #140463 and the best part....it's only $15.95!  

  I'm looking forward to sending this one out to brighten someone's day!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Better Than E-Mail

Ink: Black, Bermuda Bay, Sahara Sand

Paper: Whisper White, Adventure Bound DSP

Accessories: circle punch, circle framelits, baker's twine, candy dots, paper piercing guide, Owl punch, dimensionals, Dazzling Diamonds

Spring Weather - Stampin' Up! Sheltering Tree

  While my surrounding don't quite look like my card today we are moving in the right direction.  The weather is getting warmer even if the sun isn't shining here in Richmond today so we are heading towards spring!  I've seen flocks and flocks of robins about as well!

  I've combined 2 challenges today for this card; CAS(e) this Sketch and The Paper Players color challenge.  I thought they were well suited to each other and the Sheltering Tree stamp set was ready for some love!

   I stamped the tree scene using the challenge colors and then added the sun by using a sponge dauber and rubbing it directly onto the tree panel.  

  To complete the sketch I added some punched banners using last year's Sale-a-Bration DSP.  I did trim the banners a bit to make them more in scale with the tree panel.

  The final detail is a bit of linen thread wrapped around 2 of the corners with a little bow.

  I left off a sentiment so I can add one later as needed.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Sheltering Tree (Occasions catalog)

Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe, Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, Crumb Cake

Paper: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Sweet Sorbet DSP (retired)

Accessories: dimensionals, linen thread, banner punch

Lotus Blossom in Rose Red

  Here is another of our class projects from last month.

  Lotus Blossom makes beautiful cards every time and this one couldn't be easier to make!  Just one color of ink! And the stamp set is free for the rest of March until the end of Sale-A-Bration!  Just order $50 of Stampin' Up! products and qualify for a free Sale-a-Bration (SAB) reward!

 

  The trick to using one color of ink with the Lotus Blossom set is to use the first layer with full strength ink, the second layer stamp off on scrap paper once and the third layer stamp off twice.  That way each layer is just a tad lighter than the next.

  For this card we cut out the blossom and popped it up with dimensionals above the stem which is just a bit of the Painted Blooms twine in Wild Wasabi.  It's just glued down with a little bit of Tombow Two Way glue.

  The flower panel is layered over a piece of the Painted Blooms DSP and the sentiment is stamped also in Rose Red ink and punched with the Decorative Label punch.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Lotus Blossom (SAB)

Ink: Rose Red

Paper: Rose Red, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, Painted Blooms DSP

Accessories: Painted Blooms cotton twine, dimensionals, Decorative Label punch

Fabulous Bokeh

  Or should I title this post "Bandwagon Bokeh"??  Bokeh is every where lately and after my stamping ladies saw this card I made a month ago they wanted to give it a try at our monthly class.  So we did it a few weeks ago.  It's fun technique and gives a neat look for a background.

  I designed this card to focus on the Bokeh technique so the rest of the elements are simple.

  Apologies for the quality of the photo...all these dark rainy and snowy days don't make for good photography conditions!  And I took the photo after the class and I think my sample was a little worse for wear with some smears and such! 

  

  The card base is Wisteria Wonder.  Then using a sheet of Whisper White cut just 1/4" smaller we sponged on Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay and Wisteria Wonder ink.  I used a circular rubbing motion to blend the different colors together but there isn't a wrong way with this; just get the ink on the cardstock.  

  I made a stencil with a window sheet and the 3 smallest circle framelits.  I just placed the framelits randomly onto the window sheet and ran it through the Big Shot several times to fill the window sheet with circles.   Placing the stencil over the sponged background I used Whisper White craft ink and sponged circles.  I moved the stencil once or twice to fill in spaces and slightly overlap some of the circles.  The background is complete!

  The twine is Coastal Cabana and is wrapped around the card front with a bow attached with a glue dot.  The Chalk Talk framelits were used to cut a tag out of the Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper.  The sentiment from Work of Art was stamped in Wisteria Wonder ink onto the same color cardstock and punched out.  The circle is adhered to the Glimmer paper with dimensionals and the whole tag is attached to the card front with more dimensionals.

  A few rhinestones finish off this fun technique card.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Work of Art

Ink: Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White craft

Paper: Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper

Accessories: Coastal Cabana twine, Chalk Talk Framelits, dimensionals, rhinestones

Celebrate Happy Hour - Fab Friday 59

  It's Fab Friday Challenge time again!  What a great way to start off the weekend...a Fab color challenge, a Fab fruity drink...what else can you celebrate?

  We have a fun color combo this time around!  Check it out:

  Hello Honey, Calypso Coral and Blushing Bride.  Great spring colors right?  Maybe if spring has arrived in your area already!  Here in Central Virginia it still seems like winter with snow and all!  Hopefully my poor spring bulbs won't be too shocked by the cold weather because I'm looking forward to their bright colors in my yard!

  In the meantime I thought we could drink away the winter blues with some fun beverages using the Happy Hour set.  I've neglected this set for quite some time but I thought they would look great in our challenge colors.

 The card base is Sahara Sand and measures only 3.5 inches across to leave plenty of room for the flag element on the edge and still be able to fit into a regular A2 envelope!  The height is 5.5 inches.  This is a great way to show off smaller images so they don't get lost on a full sized card front.

  The drinks are stamped in Sahara Sand ink onto Whisper White cardstock.  Next I stamped the drinks again in our challenge colors and cut them out with my handy paper snips and glued them down "inside" the glasses.  Next, I added some accessories; a lemon slice, umbrella and rhinestone.

  The drink panel has 2 narrow scraps of Blushing Bride cardstock edging the top and bottom.  The Calypso Coral flag and Hello Honey stitched satin ribbon flag are attached to the back of the drink panel and then the whole shebang is adhered to the card front.

  The final bit is the sentiment from And Many More inked in Versamark and then heat embossed in white.

  I know you'll get lots more inspiration from the rest of the Fab Friday Design Team as they are a super talented bunch.  I hope you'll join us in this color challenge!  Remember you have 2 weeks to play along so no excuses that you ran out of time!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Happy Hour, And Many More

Ink: Hello Honey, Calypso Coral, Blushing Bride, Versamark

Paper: Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Calypso Coral

Accessories: Hello Honey Stitched Satin ribbon, rhinestone, White embossing powder

Butterflies in Flight

  It must be the new "normal" to have a snow day on Thursday because we are at it again here in Richmond.  We haven't seen a flake of snow yet and probably won't for several hours so it's really a rain day at this point!

  I've been trying to get through my to do list all week and things just keep piling up so blogging has taken a backseat and if I'm honest so has stamping.  I'm thinking I should get my priorities straight and put stamping on the to do list right at the top!

  Here is a card I made a few weeks ago in anticipation of spring....still anticipating!

  The base is Sahara Sand, then a layer of Very Vanilla and another panel of Sahara Sand on top.  The top panel is stamped with the mini background stamp from Postage Due.  I say mini because it's a large stamp but it's not as big as our regular background stamps.  I used Whisper White craft ink for a soft look.

  I stamped a Very Vanilla banner with a retired sentiment Sweet Essentials in Blackberry Bliss ink.  I used a scrap of linen thread and a scrap of retired SAB satin ribbon for the end and then popped it up with dimensionals.

  Next the butterflies are punched out of Pool Party, Blackberry Bliss and Perfect Plum cardstock.  I adhered them with a glue dot and then folded the wings up slightly for dimension.  I added a small pearl to the centers.

  I'll be back tomorrow with the new Fab Friday challenge and hopefully there will be snow on the ground to make this "snow day" worthwhile! 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Postage Due, Sweet Essentials (retired)

Ink: Whisper White craft, Blackberry Bliss

Paper: Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Blackberry Bliss, Pool Party, Perfect Plum

Accessories: Bitty Butterfly punch, pearls, linen thread, satin Pool Party ribbon (retired SAB)