Sweet Citrus - Stampin' Up! Apple of My Eye

  Happy Friday that feels like a Tuesday!  The kids are finally back at school for a full day!  Yesterday was the Thursday that felt like a Monday and was a delayed start for school.  Now we're all messed up going into the weekend!  Well it's time to buckle down and get to some stamping business so I can carry on with the Tuesday I mean Friday to do list!

  I made this card a few weeks back and I'm pretty sure the colors if not the layout were challenges.  I can't tell you which ones though so for today it's just a card.  The orange makes me think of Florida and warmer weather!  Now I love winter and the change of seasons here in Virginia but I won't tell you that sometimes thoughts of warmer weather and the beach don't creep up on me.  Like after I ate it on some icy snow this morning on my walk.  Then I think of the beach for sure!

  Since getting all my new DSP from the Occasions catalog and Sale-a-Bration some of my Annual Catalog papers have been getting ignored but this striped stitched pattern in Cucumber Crush was just thing for this card.  It can be found in the Cherry on Top DSP stack...lots of fun celebratory patterns in this set!

  I lightly stamped the Hardwood background onto Whisper White cardstock with Smoky Slate ink.  I added the sentiment in the corner in Basic Gray ink.

  For my orange I inked the stamp up with Pumpkin Pie and then used the small splatter stamp from Gorgeous Grunge to pull some ink off by just pressing the un-inked stamp to the inked one.  I thought it gave the orange a nice little texture like a real orange peel. Both oranges are popped on dimensionals.

  The stem and leaf are stamped in Cucumber Crush and the leaf is hand cut.  I added a little bit of baker's twine and a few Daffodil Delight candy dots for the final embellishments.

  I hope your weekend has lots of fun plans in it!  Especially some stamping!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Apple of My Eye, Gorgeous Grunge, Hardwood

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Cucumber Crush

Paper: Smoky Slate, Cherry on Top DSP, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight

Accessories: candy dots, baker's twine

Just for You - Stampin' Up! Botanicals for You

  The snow has really thrown off our schedules here and today is the first day in a week that the boys will be back in school!  Phew!  We made it!  I love the snow and snow days but once people can get out and about I'm ready to get back to business.  And also if the snow is so melted that everything is getting muddy and the snow is dirty well what's the point right?

  I was supposed to have stamp club this week but rescheduled because of the snow.  I wanted to have several samples from each of my new stamp sets to show off to my ladies and Botanical for You was one that hadn't seen ink yet.  It's a neat set as it coordinates well with one of the new Occasions sets Botanical Blooms.

  

  Nothing fancy to this card but just using colors pulled from the Botanical Gardens DSP as well as some of the paper itself for the flower and under the sentiment.

  I cut out one of the little flowers as well as a fern leaf with the Botanical Builder framelit set.  I popped the flower up with a dimensional and tucked the fern behind it.

  The great thing about the Botanical Gardens suite is you can get them in a bundle!  Botanical Blooms stamp set, Botanical Gardens DSP and Botanical Builder framelits all come together and you save 15%!  The cost of the bundle is $51.75 and that brings your right to getting a free Sale-a-Bration items.....You can get any of the items in the brochure but the Botanicals for You set is a great choice since it already coordinates and gives you some fun sentiments to use with the Botanical Blooms set! Thanks for making it so easy Stampin' Up!

  I hope to get my wreck of a house cleaned up while the boys are at school and then pop into the stamp room to get some more cards made with this set. 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Botanicals for You

Ink: Mint Macaron

Paper: Hello Honey, Mossy Meadow, Whisper White, Old Olive, Botanical Gardens DSP

Accessories: Botanical Builder framelits

Valentine Flowers - Stampin' Up! Sheltering Tree

  I don't usually buy Valentine's stamp set as I have found that I really don't make that many Valentine's Day cards.  One for Matt and two for the boys and then maybe a few to send to family.  I really prefer to use sets that I have and make them fit this one day.

  I wanted to do a clean and simple Valentine so I thought the flowers from the Sheltering Tree would work for a bit of bold color against a white background.

  I stamped off the grass once, it's Pear Pizzazz, and then did the flower stems in full strength of the same color.  

  I sprinkled flowers in Real Red and Blushing Bride across the stems and then added some punched glimmer paper hearts also in Real Red and Blushing Bride.

  The final thing is the sentiment stamped in black.

  You could make a whole bunch of these in no time at all!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Sheltering Tree, Good Greetings (retired hostess)

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Real Red, Blushing Bride, black

Paper: Whisper White thick, Real Red Glimmer paper, Blushing Bride Glimmer paper

Accessories: Owl Punch

Hello Love - Stampin' Up! Hello

  With a house full of boys my Valentine's Day creations can't be too girlie or I'll get some eye rolls.  I was poking around on Pinterest and came across a card with this layout and I thought it was a neat angle with the DSP.  I went with some masculine colors except for the bit of Blushing Bride.  Hopefully my guys will forgive me the bit of pink on this one!

  And I would love to give proper credit for the inspiration for this card but I could not for the life of me find it on Pinterest again....Do you know how many projects come up when you search "Valentine's Day card"??  And if you search twice you don't even get the same cards again.  So if you recognize this card please point me in the right direction and I can edit my post to show the original!

 It's hard to see in the pic but the DSP has little arrows on it!  Fitting for the theme right?  The Going Place DSP is fast becoming a favorite of mine.  I feel like it works for so many cards travel themed or not!

  The Hello Love is embossed in black embossing powder and I mixed the words from 2 different sets to get the saying that I wanted.  "Hello" is from the awesome Sale-a-Bration (SAB) set Hello.  And the "Love" is from Enjoy the Little Things set in the Occasions catalog.  The stamp actually says Love this Life but it was easy enough to just ink up the love with Versamark.

  

  The heart is punched with a retired small heart punch out of Blushing Bride Glimmer paper.  The baker's twine is a bit leftover from last years Valentine themed Paper Pumpkin kit.  

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Hello (SAB), Enjoy the Little Things (Occasions)

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Sahara Sand, Blushing Bride Glimmer paper, Going Places DSP (Occasions)

Accessories: black embossing powder, small heart punch (retired), Blushing Bride baker's twine (Paper Pumpkin)

Fishy Thank You - Stampin' Up! Friends & Flowers

  I passed over the Reason for the Season set and coordinating Festive Flower Builder punch that came out in the Holiday catalog.  But now they are part of my collection after I won the Friends & Flowers set from the Occasions catalog.  The punch works with both stamp sets so of course I needed to have all the choices available!  It's so hard to say no to stamping stuff isn't it?  And if you are being won over to this group of products you're in luck because they have carried over so you can still order them!

  I needed a thank you for a Christmas gift I received from one of my Sunday School kids so I wanted to make one that was a little more kid oriented.  I thought the fish from Friends and Flowers was the perfect thing.

 
   While I haven't jumped in to Project Life (yet) I did choose the PL cards that are one of the free selections during Sale-a-Bration (SAB).  The Memories in the Making card pack has a lot of great designs that can be used for all kinds of occasions not just in your PL album but also on cards.

  I used this Tempting Turquoise card with clear embossed circles as the background for my cute goldfish.

  It adds a nice little something to this otherwise simple design.

  The gold fish is stamped in Pumpkin Pie and then punched with the Festive Flower builder punch.  

I popped him up with dimensionals and then added a googlie eye.

  I dug around in my ribbon scrap bin and found this old stitched grosgrain ribbon in Whisper White  and I even found a little fork bow that was already tied!  It makes me feel good to use up scraps.  But we won't talk about how many scraps are still in the bin!

  I used the retired Word Bubble framelits to cut out the sentiment panel.  The Alphabet Rotary stamp made quick work of the sentiment.

  We have hunkered down at home in anticipation of the big snow storm.  It hasn't started yet but should begin any time now.  I hope those of you in the storms path stay safe and warm in your stamp rooms and that you don't have to go our for any reason.  Just think of all the cards you can get made while you're snowed in!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Friends & Flowers (Occasions catalog), Alphabet Rotary stamp

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Memories in the Making Project Life card pack (SAB)

Accessories: Festive Flower punch, stitched grosgrain ribbon (retired), Word Bubble framelits (retired)

Citrus Thank You - Stampin' Up! Apple of My Eye

  The Apple of My Eye set is a stamp set that I had won at the On Stage Local event in Baltimore back in November.  I was so excited to see this set during the Occasions catalog reveal and then to win it at the event was even better.  I've used it a few times for some projects and the images are nice and crisp and bold and a good size as well.

  I designed this card to give to the parents who volunteered at the 2nd grade winter party or sent in treats and supplies for it.  Everyone likes to know their contribution was appreciated and I wanted to make sure they knew that I, as the room mom, couldn't have done it without them!  A party for 27 kids definitely takes a village!    And really what stamper doesn't use any reason she can to make a card using a new stamp set??

  This is a nice clean and simple card letting the bold colors stand out.  The addition of the Wildflower Fields DSP from the Sale-a-Bration brochure is the perfect compliment to the Old Olive in the leaf. And doesn't Daffodil Delight make a great lemon?

  For my readers on the East Coast are you all getting ready for Snowmageddon??  There is such a wide range of snow total predictions for our area that it's hard to know what is going to happen.  But for sure we will get anywhere from 1 inch to 2 feet of snow!  LOL!  The boys have already asked a few times when school will be cancelled.   They are ever hopeful and think our public school communications director who sends out the snow day notifications is a celebrity!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Apple of My Eye (Occasions)

Ink: Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, black

Paper: Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Whisper White, Wildflower Fields DSP (SAB)

Accessories: linen thread, dimensionals

Hello Wildflower Fields - Stampin' Up! Hello

  The Sale-a-Bration set Hello is one of my favorites this year and I'm sad that it's a limited time only set and won't be a SAB choice after February 15.  So don't wait if you want this one!  I for one will continue to use it because I love the bigger font of the hello and the sweet little stamps that go along with the secondary sentiments.

  I stamped the sentiment in Blackberry Bliss.  Added a sweet little flower cut with the Botanical Builder framelits.

  And a strip of the SAB DSP Wildflower Fields at the top finished this one off.  I really like the mix of patterns and flowers on this set pf papers.  I think they are very versatile.

  Done!  Super fast card so make a few and send them out right away to some friends just to say hello!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Hello (SAB)

Ink: Blackberry Bliss

Paper: Whisper White, Old Olive, Calypso Coral, Hello Honey

Accessories: Botanical Builder framelits, corner round punch, dimensionals

Celebrate with Balloons - Stampin' Up! Balloon Celebration

  So people here in Central VA are starting to get their snow panic on!  There are a wide variety of weather predictions for us here on Friday and Saturday so in true Richmond fashion the stores are beginning to be swarmed with people stocking up on bread and milk!  I for one made the boys try on their snow pants and boots last night and I say bring on the snow.  I always think any snow that's enough to play in is cause for celebration!

  So without further ado let's celebrate with some balloons!

   It's not a fancy layout, no fancy techniques just some balloons stamped directly on the card front and then a few stamped and punched out with the Balloon Bouquet punch and layered but this card just makes me smile.  The Balloon Celebration and coordination punch come together as a bundle to save you 15%, even more things to smile about!

  The color combination is Watermelon Wonder, Soft Sky, Night of Navy and Gold.  Kind of a festive set of colors right?

 For the sentiment panel I used the label framelit from the Rose Garden thinlet set and cut it out fully then used the framelit again to make the panel smaller to fit with the scale of the card.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Balloon Celebration, And Many More

Ink: Watermelon Wonder, Soft Sky, Night of Navy, Gold

Paper: Whisper White, Night of Navy

Accessories: Balloon Bouquet punch, Rose Garden thinlets, candy dots, dimensionals

  

Botanical Flowers - Stampin' Up! Botanical Builder Framelits

  The products in the Botanical Gardens suite in the Stampin' Up! Occasions catalog are so versatile!  Use the stamp set with the DSP, use the framelits with the stamps, use the DSP with the framelits and it goes on and on!

  One of the things I love about this suite are the "greenery" stamps.  They are kind of on the masculine side with those big leaves and leaf details and paired up with the colors in the DSP you can make some great tropical and guy oriented cards.  But that's not the direction I went with todays card!  Here is that versatility coming out.  I used the framelits on their own and made pretty girlie type flowers.

  I needed some thank you cards after Christmas so I dug out these colors from the closed Colour Q challenge of Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Melon Mambo and Blushing Bride.  And in full disclosure I grabbed Soft Sky by mistake and didn't realize it until my flowers were assembled but they are kind of close so we're just going to go with it.

  This was a great design to use up a lot of small scraps of these colors.  I arranged all the framelit pieces with different colors of cardstock on my precision base plate and cut them out all at once.  I repeated that process several times changing which colors I used with which framelit so by the end I'd used a lot of smaller scraps as well as had enough cut to make 4 cards.  Each one was slightly different as I just mixed and matched the different pieces.

  The flowers are put together using a combo of glue dots and two way glue.  They are arranged on a simple Whisper White background with the sentiment stamped almost in the center.  The layout is from the closed CAS(e) This Sketch challenge.  

  It was fun to build all these different flower and I especially like the little three dimensionals flowers where parts of the petals can be popped up.

  Thank for looking!  Did you stamp today?

  Stamps: One Big Meaning

  Ink: Crumb Cake

  Paper: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Soft Sky, Melon Mambo, Blushing Bride

  Accessories: Botanical Builder framelits, corner rounder

Love in the Sky - Stampin' Up! Sky is the Limit

  Sale-a-Bration is here until March 31 so now is the perfect time to get new Stampin' Up! products as well as stock up on cardstock and envelopes...might as well get freebies for stuff you're going to purchase throughout the year right?

  And if you really like the Sky is the Limit stamp set don't wait to place your order.  This set is available for a limited time during Sale-a-Bration (SAB).  You have until Feb. 15 to get the 3 limited time only products found towards the back of the SAB brochure.

  Blushing Bride, Basic Gray and Soft Sky are a great combo for Valentine's Day cards!  Throw in the Blushing Bride Glimmer paper and you've got an even better card!

  The plane is cut out and popped up with dimensionals on top of the Soft Sky squares which are actually the SAB Perfectly Artistic DSP (limited time!). You can see the subtle design much better in person.

  And those sweet little glimmer hearts...just use the Owl Builder punch.  You forgot about that one huh?  I use the hearts all the time.  I find they are the perfect size for small accents on a project.

  If you're local to me my next stamp club is on Jan. 26 at 9:30am or 7:00pm so don't forget to RSVP by Jan. 21.  Leave me a comment or send me an email if you'd like more information on my stamping classes in the Richmond, VA area!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Sky is the Limit (SAB)

Ink: Blushing Bride, Basic Gray, Soft Sky

Paper: Whisper White - thick, Blushing Bride Glimmer (Occasions), Perfectly Artistic DSP  (SAB)

Accessories: Owl Builder punch, baker's twine, dimensionals

Shimmery Lucky Stars - Stampin' Up! Going Global

 Have you ever seen a crafting product and knew immediately that you had to have it and your mind just started thinking of all the great projects you could use it for?  Well that's what happened when I first saw Stampin' Up!'s Going Places suite of products in the Occasions catalog.  I got a sneak peek of it in November at a demonstrator event and I couldn't wait to order the stamp set, embossing folder and DSP.  I saw all the masculine card possibilities as well as Valentine's day and travel themed cards.

 

  Sometimes you need a card that says how much you appreciate or love someone but not have it be all frou-frou and mushy and the Going Global stamp set and coordinating products fits the bill!

  The Lost Lagoon strip is embossed with the World Traveler embossing folder and is then paired up with a piece of Going Places DSP.  There are lots of maps and travel themed designs but there are also these really cool ink swirl patterns that I love.

  I stamped the Big Dipper ink black ink onto Sahara Sand cardstock and then flagged the end.  And my favorite part of this card is the shimmer!  Stampin' Up! is now carrying Wink of Stella Glitter Brushes!  For this card I used the clear which doesn't add color but just a nice shimmer wherever you brush it.

  Before punching out the little stars with the stars border punch I used the Wink of Stella brush again and just colored a piece of Lost Lagoon scrap so I could have some shimmery punched stars!  So easy!

  I carried a bit of bling to the sentiment as well by backing it with a black Glimmer paper circle.

  I can't wait to create more fun projects with this suite!  Though I might have a hard time cutting into that DSP....I'll have to be strong and just do it!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Going Global

Ink: Basic Black, Lost Lagoon

Paper: Sahara Sand, Lost Lagoon, Very Vanilla, Going Places DSP stack, Black Glimmer paper

Accessories: World Traveler e.f., circle punches, twine, stars border punch, Wink of Stella clear, dimensionals

Happy New Year!

  It's crazy to me to think I haven't posted to my blog a month!  How did that many days go by?  The second half of December is a whirlwind of course and we hosted family at our house for much of the Christmas break and blogging just kept falling off the to do list!  The start of January seemed like it was just trying to play catch up, get the house re-organized and just catching my breath really!

  I didn't make it into the stamp room too much the last few weeks but I do have some projects to share that I made prior to my Holiday Open House to introduce my customers to the Occasions catalog and Sale-a-Bration so I'll be getting those posted over the next week or 2.  But first here is a card that I made when I was just over stamping for Christmas but knew I'd need a few more cards to send to family and friends.

  There were quite a few challenges at the end of December that called for black, gold and vanilla/white so that's where this combo came from.  I can't recall which challenge sites specifically but I know there were several that inspired this card.  I can't be expected to remember something from last year right?  :)

  The gold is such a festive, fun element for new year's cards.

I used the retired Typeset Alphabet dies for the number but there is a fab new number set with matching framelits in the Occasions catalog called Number of Years so you could easily re-create this card with current products.  It's not too late to send new years greetings!

  Thanks for bearing with me over the extended break!  I appreciate all of my readers and hope you had a Merry Christmas and a happy start to 2016!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Good Greetings (retired hostess set)

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Gold Shimmer, Very Vanilla, Typeset Specialty DSP, basic Black

Accessories: Typeset Alphabet dies, Tags & Labels Framelits, gold sequins, gold thread, gold embossing powder, Softly Falling embossing folder, corner rounder punch