Beautiful Butterflies - Stampin' Up! Butterfly Gala - Fab Friday 162

Wow!  Mindy put the test to the Fab Friday design team this week!  It's a 5 color challenge this time around at Fab Friday!  I know you can all do it!  It's called a challenge for a reason and we want to see all of your creations in our gallery!

    They are lovely aren't they?  I couldn't decide on which colors I wanted to highlight so I made the same card twice to see what I liked better and I still can't decide!  I'm so glad the Butterfly Gala bundle is back because I really can't get enough of this fantastic stamp set and coordinating punch!

  For the first sample I used Blushing Bride, Pool Party and Coastal Cabana cardstock on the card front and stamped the butterflies in Poppy Parade and colored them in with my Petal Pink Blends.

 
The second sample is a bit more bold with Poppy Parade, Blushing Bride and Petal Pink as the cardstock on the front and the butterflies stamped in Coastal Cabana ink and colored in with Pool Party Blends.

  The butterfly bodies and sentiment are stamped with Basic Gray.  Some Polka Dot tulle ribbon tied in a knot and a sprinkling of rhinestones finishes off both cards.

  So which do you like better?  Let's see what you can come up with and share it with us at Fab Friday!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Butterfly Gala

Ink: Basic Gray, Poppy Parade, Coastal Cabana

Blends: Pool Party light & dark, Petal Pink light & dark

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White thick, Blushing Bride, Pool Party, Coastal Cabana, Poppy Parade, Petal Pink

Accessories: Softly Falling embossing folder, Polka Dot tulle ribbon, rhinestones, Butterfly Duet punch, dimensionals

Cute Pup - Stampin' Up! Happy Tails

I have been MIA lately and haven't been stamping much.  We've been busy with the start of spring soccer, Easter and just general life stuff.  And pulling all of my retiring products off my shelves and out of my drawers was a bit depressing lol!  It took a while to make sure I had everything; the list is really long this year.  Once I had it all pulled I didn't quite know what to do with myself so I just looked at the large laundry basket full of stuff for a few days.

While I'm getting myself and my class next week sorted I thought I would share a fun card we made last month at class.  I know I've used the Happy Tails a lot but it's so cute I can't resist!  This card is a fun and easy fun fold.  Just a few scores to make the pieces.

  The base is Tranquil Tide which is retiring and really is a great green and will certainly be missed.  Cut the base to 8.5" x 4.25" and score at 5.5".  We put some Nature's Poem DSP on the front flap.

 Next are the pawprints across the Crumb Cake panel as well as the sentiment in Tranquil Tide.  For this panel just adhere the one side to the card front leaving it loose on the other so you can open it up.

  The Mint Macaron strip is 4.25" x 1.5" scored at 2.5".  Adhere the smaller end under the panel on the inside of the card.  Stamp and punch out the sweet pup and put him/her on this flap.

  It's hard to photograph fun folds and show the details so I hope you can see how the pieces fit together!

 

 And here it is with both flaps opened.  I love the little paw prints on the inside as well.  That little pup has been all over the place!

I hope to be back with some new designs soon!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Happy Tails

Ink: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Tranquil Tide

Paper: Tranquil Tide, Crumb Cake, Mint Macaron, Whisper White, Petal Pink

Accessories: Dog Builder punch, white bakers twine, dimensionals

Blooms in Romance - Stampin' Up! All That You Are

  I ran out of time yesterday morning to post a project and just never found time to do it later in the day.  If I was really on the ball I would schedule my posts the day before but I'm really not that organized!

  Today's card is one we made in my February class.  I haven't shared it before now because each time I wanted to the photo was too horrible to put out in the universe.  I think I took 3 sets of pictures of it and each time I got them uploaded and went to edit them with my watermark I could see how poor the quality was.  So I would set it aside and do it again with the next group of cards I made.

  Finally a "good enough for government work" photo of it to share!

  My stampers really enjoyed getting to work with the Floral Romance Specialty paper from the Occasions catalog.  Not only are the colors and patterns beautiful you get 2 printed vellum patterns which are really fun to work with!  We used 2 of the regular patterns on this card and the Petal Pink design is the vellum.  It's a great mix with the leaves and lacy vellum.  The pieces are adhered to a Whisper White panel cut with the Stitched Rectangles die.

  A bit of Powder Pink ruffled ribbon (very close match to Petal Pink) wraps around the DSP panel.

 For the flowers I showed my stampers a fun way to use Stampin' Blends.  Instead of stamping the flowers in Mossy Meadow and then coloring in the flowers we scribbled the blends onto Whisper White blending the colors together and then stamped the flower image over the top and then cut them out with the Frosted Bouquets framelits.  We added a Mossy Meadow leafy branch and popped the flowers on dimensionals over the top.

  Add in a few adhesive sequins and this card is finished!  It's a great Mother's Day, Easter or all purpose spring card with those gorgeous pinks and greens!

  And now for some Stampin' Up! business; the Last Chance list has been released.  Head over to my Stampin' Up! site to see what's retiring so you don't miss out!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: All That You Are

Ink: Mossy Meadow

Blends: Flirty Flamingo light & dark, Petal Pink light & dark

Paper: Mossy Meadow, Whisper White, Floral Romance Specialty DSP

Accessories: Stitched Rectangles framelits, Frosted Bouquet framelits, adhesive sequins, ruffled ribbon, dimensionals

Out of Season Pup - Stampin' Up! Happy Tails - Fab Friday 161

  Sometimes you have a card in your mind and you just have to make it regardless of whether it's seasonally appropriate or not.  I've had this Christmas dog card in my head for a while.  Something about a black dog with a red plaid/checkered pattern was stuck in my head.  So, happy spring to you all!! I present a Christmas dog 9 months early!

  Oh and it's also a Fab Friday challenge day!  And we have this versatile sketch for you to work with!

  I know right??  It can be anything!  Even a Christmas dog in April!  Don't ever say the Fab Friday team doesn't give you choices!

 Oh and something about it being near the end of a catalog period always makes me re-evaluate all the stuff that I didn't get around to using or using completely up and it makes me feel a bit guilty but then I use some of it on a card and I feel better that I had "just the right thing" to make that card in my head.  So this card is a combination of retired and current and maybe soon to be retired...we'll know soon!

  I hope you'll check out the awesomely talented Fab Friday Design Team and play along with our challenge this time!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Happy Tails, Christmas Pines

Ink: Versamark, Mossy Meadow

Paper: Very Vanilla thick, Very Vanilla, Mossy Meadow, Basic Black, Festive Farmhouse DSP (retired)

Accessories: Dog Builder punch, tinsel trim (retired), clear embossing powder, Stitched rectangle framelits, dimensionals, gold star stickers (Sincerely Santa tag kit, retired)

What a Good Pup! - Stampin' Up! Happy Tails

While the weather has been really pleasant the last few days it also means it's been time to get the yard into shape after winter and maybe a wee bit of neglect last fall.  We've been doing some landscaping and tidying as well a lot of mulching so my time in the stamp room has been non-existent.  But the yard is looking great and the mulch pile is dwindling so I hope to stamp some new projects soon!  Luckily I have a few cards that I made a while back to share in the mean time!

  Happy Tails was the sleeper stamp set for me in the Occasions catalog.  I just got it a few weeks ago after seeing so many cute things with.  Sometimes you just can't resist a stamp set when it catches your attention!

 
  This card started with just a dog punched with the dog builder punch and then colored it in with Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends.  I added the spots over the base color with Soft Suede ink.  A bit of Blueberry Bushel 1/8" grosgrain ribbon for the collar.

  I popped the 'Good Pup' up with dimensionals on a stitched circle, added another one with the sentiment in Blueberry Bushel and a heart in Mango Melody.

  The paw prints are embossed in white on a strip of Blueberry Bushel cardstock and everything is on top of a Mango Melody panel embossed with the Dot to Dot embossing folder.

  So I'm off to keep calm with my mulch pile and I hope I can hold a stamp after wrangling the wheelbarrow and pitchfork for 2 days straight!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Happy Tails

Ink: Versamark, Blueberry Bushel, Mango Melody, Soft Suede

Blends: Crumb Cake light & dark

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Mango Melody, Blueberry Bushel

Accessories: Dog Builder punch, white embossing powder, Dot to Dot embossing folder, Stitched Shapes framelits, Blueberry Bushel grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals

Butterfly Fix - Stampin' Up! Butterfly Gala

  The Butterfly Gala bundle is back!  This stamp set punch combo was on the top of my list to order when the Occasions catalog was released to demos in December.  I was so excited to show these products to my stampers.  The mix of butterfly styles paired with a punch that punches both the large and small butterfly at the same time is just a great combo of stamping goodness.  Unfortunately everyone else felt the same way and the products quickly sold out and Stampin' Up! couldn't replenish their stock fast enough so that the bundle became backordered for quite a while.

  I was only able to use the bundle as a class project once before it was backordered but now that it's back I will be for sure sharing this great bundle.  And just in time for the beautiful spring weather!  I made this card a few weeks back for a challenge using up some scraps of the Sale-a-Bration Botanical Butterfly DSP.  I added a tiny bit of the Gingham Gala paper also to round out the colors.

   The card base is Highland Heather then the DSP squares are mounted on Whisper White then a layer of Daffodil Delight.

  I stamped some butterflies on the card base with Highland Heather then embossed the sentiment in white under the DSP panel.

  The butterflies are stamped in Memento and then colored with Stampin' Blends pulling the colors straight from the DSP.  After they were colored I popped the butterflies with dimensionals and sprinkled some adhesive sequins and faceted gems across the front for a bit of sparkle.

  I hope you'll take a look at the Butterfly Gala bundle and see how you can use it for upcoming spring birthdays, Easter and Mother's Day.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Butterfly Gala

Ink: Highland Heather, Versamark, Memento black

Blends: Daffodil light & dark, Calypso Coral light, Highland Heather light & dark, Balmy Blue light & dark

Paper: Highland Heather, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Botanical Butterfly DSP (SAB), Gingham Gala DSP

Accessories: Butterfly Duet punch, dimensionals, adhesive sequins, faceted gems, white embossing powder

Masculine Birthday Cheer - Stampin' Up! Birthday Cheer

  Happy Monday!  Maybe I should start to do a Masculine Monday theme?  That would challenge me to to do more guy cards which can be hard sometimes!!  Having just spent our spring break away with all males maybe not!  We had a great trip to South Carolina and explored the Charleston area and while the weather was not the best we did enjoy it.  But now it's back to the grind and after updating about 37 things on my computer this morning I'm ready to get to checking things off of my to do list!

  First up is sharing this masculine birthday card that we made at my March stamp club.  I've not used the Stamparatus very much in class so I wanted to design a card where I could show off some of the features.  This card just kind of came together once I pulled out some colors to work with.

  The card base is Smoky Slate and using the Stamparatus we stamped the sentiments in Night of Navy and Basic Gray ink.  The sentiments in the Itty Bitty Birthdays set are perfect for this technique...not too big and not too small.  Each stamp is inked up only once and then stamped and the plate is moved down one notched and then stamped again and then repeated a third time. The process is repeated with the other color.  Since each stamp is mounted just right for spacing on the clear plate it doesn't matter which one you start with.

  The flags are created by embossing the Mango Melody flag with the Subtle embossing folder and the Balmy Blue is stamped with the confetti stamp from Birthday Cheer with Smoky Slate ink.  The flags are tied with a Night of Navy baker's twine bow.

  The party hat is embossed with white embossing powder on Night of Navy card stock then cut out and popped up with dimensionals over the flags.

  Sometimes it can be hard to design a masculine card since a lot of us stampers want to use so many accessories and 'stuff' and then it ends up looking fussy.  So try to pare down when you're designing guy cards and you might find that it becomes easier!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Birthday Cheer, Itty Bitty Birthdays

Ink: Night of Navy, Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Versamark

Paper: Smoky Slate, Mango Melody, Balmy Blue, Night of Navy

Accessories: white embossing powder, Subtle embossing folder, Night of Navy baker's twine, dimensionals