Chic Welcome - Stampin' Up! Tropical Chic

  Today's card is one of those that came together from bits and pieces from my scrap pile.  I had a bunch of random parts that didn't make the cut on other cards so I built up this welcome card around those.  My husband gave this to a new hire to his team a few months ago.  It was the start of the hot season here so the tropical theme seemed appropriate! Change out the "welcome" and it could be for just about any other occasion.

  I guess I have a thing with Grapefruit Grove flowers this week!  Once flower is full strength ink and the second is stamped off once for a lighter look. 

  The leaves are stamped in Soft Sea Foam and Pear Pizzazz.  The flowers and a few die cut leaves are clustered on the side of the stitched circle die cut and the Basic Black "welcome" from the Well Written die set is adhered across the middle.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Tropical Chic

Ink: Grapefruit Grove, Soft Sea Foam, Pear Pizzazz

Paper: Grapefruit Grove, Soft Sea Foam, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Basic Black

Accessories: Stitched Shapes dies, Tropical dies, Well Written dies, dimensionals

Rosy Birthday - Stampin' Up! To a Wild Rose

  You can't go wrong with a floral birthday card!  I designed this card a while back as a sample for my new catalog party.  You can get really detailed with layering the To a Wild Rose stamp set or be more basic and just use the bold outline stamps.  That's one of the things I really like about this set; it's very versatile to do multi-step stamping or simple.

 

  I went detailed for the rose but simple with the leaves on this card.  The rose is stamped with all 3 layers using Grapefruit Grove which ends up being a nice peach when stamped off before layering.  The outline is full strength ink.

  The rose is layered over the top of the nice sized label die that is in the coordinating Wild Rose die set.  I stamped a leaf outline in Soft Sea Foam as well as a few behind the Stitched Lace die detail.  I stamped the sentiment from Itty Bitty Birthdays in Basic Gray.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: To a Wild Rose, Itty Bitty Birthdays

Ink: Grapefruit Grove, Soft Sea Foam, Basic Gray

Paper: Soft Sea Foam, Whisper White

Accessories: Wild Rose dies, Stitched Lace die, dimensionals

Promotion Congratulations - Stampin' Up! Welcome to the Team

 Not only do I make cards to send to friends and family for special occasions I also make cards for my husband to use at work.  He makes sure to bring a hand stamped birthday card for his team members on their special day as well as for other significant achievements.  The Welcome to the Team stamp set is perfect for some work themed projects.

  My husband was able to promote 2 people on his team recently so that gave me the perfect excuse to ink up Welcome to the Team.  I had fun mixing and matching colors to create these 2 cards.

Congrats in Mango Melody

Congrats in Pool Party

 I took my colors from the Dinoroar DSP. The non dino themed sides have fun all occasion patterns. Since the office chair stamp is kind of small I put it on a Stitched circle die cut and then embossed the sentiment on a Pretty Peacock Tailored Tag punch.

  The chairs are colored with Stampin' Blends and I didn't add any embellishments except for some retired candy dots because I still have sooooo many of them left.   

  These were fun to make not only because I got to play with a new stamp set but because it was such a great reason to get to make some cards.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Welcome to the Team

Ink: Memento black, Versamark, Pretty Peacock (Stampin' Write marker to ink up "from all of us")

Blends: Basic Black - dark, Smoky Slate light & dark, Poppy Parade light & dark, Mango Melody light & dark

Paper: Mango Melody, Pool Party, Whisper White, Pretty Peacock, Dinoroar DSP

Accessories: Stitched Shapes dies, Tailored Tag punch, white embossing powder, dimensionals, candy dots (retired)

Big Birthday Fish - Stampin' Up! Best Catch

 With so many fishermen in my family I was very excited that the Best Catch stamp set and coordinating Catch of the Day dies carried over to the new annual catalog.  We haven't had that many fishing sets over the years and the short time period of the Occasions catalog didn't allow much time to do this set justice.

  In a constant struggle to not drop older products each time new ones are released I wanted to mix some "old" and new products and I did that by combining the Best Catch stamp set with one of the new In Colors; Pretty Peacock.

  So far just 2 months into the new annual catalog I think that Pool Party and Pretty Peacock make for a pretty good pairing.  Remember when Stampin' Up! had "Dynamic Duos"? Totally dating myself with that one right?  But if they still did those color pairings I think this would be one!  Add in a few neutrals and we've got a nice masculine birthday card. 

  The base is Pretty Peacock and then I created a little background rectangle with Very Vanilla, stamped with Sahara Sand then embossed with the Subtle embossing folder.  I backed this panel with a slightly larger piece of Pool Party. 

  Our big fish is stamped with Versamark onto Pool Party then embossed with copper embossing powder.  Once the big guy cooled down I cut him out with the coordinating die.  It's hard to see but the fins are cut so you can pop them out a bit.  That's a really fun detail that you can't always tell from the pictures in the catalogs.  The fish is popped with dimensionals over a length of Braided Linen Trim that I pulled apart for more a netting look.

 I used Itty Bitty Birthdays and my card colors to make the sentiment panels.  Don't be afraid to mix and match smaller sentiments to make for a larger element on your card.  Sometimes a tiny sentiment just disappears.  Also, on this design it created a bit of balance to the fish in the lower corner.  And it's a great way to use up some narrow scraps that I know you all have been saving! 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Best Catch, Itty Bitty Birthdays

Ink: Sahara Sand, Pretty Peacock, Pool Party, Versamark

Paper: Pretty Peacock, Pool Party, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Catch of the Day dies, Subtle embossing folder, copper embossing powder, dimensionals, Braided Linen trim

Is That You Ferdinand? - Stampin' Up! Over the Moon

I know. I know!  This is cow not a bull but I just had to name this one Ferdinand with those flowers all around!   As you can see I'm getting a kick out of the new Over the Moon set and having fun combining it with some old favorites.

 

 

  This was a sample that I made to show at my new catalog party last month to feature the stamp set as well as the new In Color Rococo Rose.  I paired the Rococo Rose with Grapefruit Grove and So Saffron for a sweet combination.

  Beautiful Bouquet is a go to set for a variety of flower images as well as stems, leaves and sentiments and you can use them individually for small areas or group multiples to fill in more space.

  I really like the cows in the Over the Moon set because not only are they sweet images they don't take that long to color.  Sometimes you just want a quick coloring session and these gals fit the bill.  I used Blends to color on this card and the Crumb Cake light and dark and Petal Pink light and dark are all it took.  See!  Quick!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Over the Moon, Beautiful Bouquet

Ink: Black Memento, Grapefruit Grove, So Saffron, Rococo Rose

Blends: Crumb Cake light & dark, Petal Pink light & dark

Paper: Rococo Rose, Grapefruit Grove, Whisper White

Accessories: Layering Oval dies, Bouquet Bunch dies, dimensionals, rhinestone, linen thread

Dinos for Days - Stampin' Up! Dino Days - Fab Friday 168

  Vacation Bible School is kicking my butt this week so I haven't had time (or energy) to sit down and blog though I have done a bit of stamping.  But today is the last day of VBS and it's a Fab Friday challenge day so I pulled myself together to get this post written.

  We have a fun, bright set of colors this time around.  Almost a rainbow I thought when I first saw it.  I thought it would be a great set of colors for a birthday card.

  My friend Julie totally talked me into the Dino Days bundle.  I thought it was a really cute set but then I figured that my boys are older and not into dinosaurs really so it wouldn't get much use.  Well lo and behold I kept going back to it in the catalog and it somehow made it's way onto my last order!  Thanks Julie lol! 

  These dinos are perfect for our bright challenge colors.  I simply stamped them in various colors, added a bit of detailing in other colors, die cut them and arranged them around the happy birthday sentiment. 

  Some added details on the card; the pterodactyl is popped on dimensionals, the heart on the "i" and some of the dino details are colored with Wink of Stella and the background of the sentiment panel is embossed with the Subtle embossing folder. 

  Don't forget you have almost 2 weeks to join us with this Fab Friday challenge. No excuses!  Get those projects made and shared!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Dino Days

Ink: Lovely Lipstick, Pineapple Punch, Bermuda Bay, Pacific Point

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Lovely Lipstick, Basic Black

Accessories: Dino dies, Stitched Rectangle dies, Well Written dies, dimensionals, Wink of Stella, Subtle embossing folder, grosgrain ribbon, candy dots (retired)

All the Green Leaves - Stampin' Up! Wild Rose Dies

  Sometimes a card doesn't need a lot of stamping because the die cuts and Designer Series Paper is plenty!

  I wanted to make a card where the Garden Lane DSP could shine and show off all the lovely greens that Stampin' Up! has.

  I was able to get 3 of the 5 greens in this pack of paper on this one card!  The card base is Soft Sea Foam with a layer of Garden Lane DSP.  I used a strip of retired Mint Macaron ribbon across the center.

  After cutting 3 leaves in Mint Macaron, Pear Pizzazz and Soft Sea Foam with the Wild Rose dies I adhered them to a Stitched Nested Labels die cut and popped the whole panel up on dimensionals.

  The sentiment from Itty Bitty Greeting was stamped in Mint Macaron and cut out with a small Stitched Nested Labels die.

  Sweet and simple!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Itty Bitty Greeting

Ink: Mint Macaron

Paper: Soft Sea Foam, Whisper White, Mint Macaron, Pear Pizzazz

Accessories: Wild Rose dies, Stitched Nested Labels dies, Mint Macaron ribbon (retired), dimensionals

Pretty Vases - Stampin' Up! Varied Vases

I'm so glad that Stampin' Up! kept the Vase builder punch and the 2 coordinating stamp sets.  I'm still seeing great projects made with these products and I didn't want the fun to end.  I highlighted the punch and the Varied Vases stamp set in one of my last classes of the just retired catalog.  It's not a difficult card but the embossing gives it a nice wow factor.

  The trick to getting the images placed just right so the vases fit onto the shelf is to use the Stamparatus.  I lined up everything just right so that my stampers could ink up the flowers, shelf and hello all at once stamp onto the Sahara Sand cardstock.  Trying to do each one individually would have resulted in smudges, crooked images and misalignment's.  Stamparatus makes it easy.

  Once the embossing was done some quick punching for the vases and popping them up with mini dimensionals set the stage for adding a pop of purple.  The solid vase is Gorgeous Grape and the other is the now retired Gingham Gala DSP in Highland Heather but any DSP would look great in this clean and simple design.

  To finish off the look a bakers twine bow goes across the card front and an adhesive sequin and rhinestone decorate one vase.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Varied Vases

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Whisper White thick, Gorgeous Grape, Sahara Sand, Gingham Gala DSP (retired)

Accessories: Vase builder punch, white embossing powder, dimensionals, bakers twine, sequin, rhinestone

Party Cow - Stampin' Up! Over the Moon

 You can't go wrong with with a funny animal card for a masculine birthday.  The cute cows in the new Over the Moon stamp set fit the bill!

  Not only are the cows cute they are really easy to color with Stampin' Blends!  I used Petal Pink and Soft Suede for this cutie.  The moon is Daffodil Delight and the grass tufts are colored in with light Granny Apple Green.

  I kept the accessories to a minimum with just a bit of Pineapple Punch grosgrain ribbon to highlight the sentiment.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Over the Moon

Ink: Memento Black, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, Night of Navy

Blends: Soft Suede light & dark, Petal Pink light & dark, Daffodil Delight dark, Granny Apple Green light

Paper: Night of Navy, Granny Apple Green, Whisper White

Accessories: Stitched Rectangle dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Pineapple Punch grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals

Well Said Birthday - Stampin' Up! Well Said - Fab Friday 167

We are back this week with the latest Fab Friday challenge.  We've got a sketch this time around and I think it will be very versatile and I can't wait to see what you all come up with.  The creativity among stampers is always fun to see and inspiring!

 I went with a bright color combo paired with some emboss resist to make my long panel.  The colors were inspired by this newer to me challenge; The Library Challenge.  It's a fun challenge that used books as the inspiration for each challenge.  See the end of this post for the graphic that inspired my colors.  I used Poppy Parade, Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry to sponge over the white embossed flowers.  The flower image is from the Free as a Bird stamp set.

 I used some black accents to make the colors pop even more.  The sentiment is from Well Said and is embossed in white on Bermuda Bay cardstock.  I used a smaller die of the Stitched Nested Labels set to back the sentiment and then added some black embossed flowers that were sponged with color.

  Check out the rest of the Fab Friday Design Team and then join in the fun!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Well Said, Free as a Bird

Ink: Versamark, Bermuda Bay, Poppy Parade, Crushed Curry

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Basic Black, Bermuda Bay

Accessories: white embossing powder, black embossing powder, Stitched Nested Labels dies, dimensionals, black bakers twine