Gathering for Fall - Stampin' Up! Gather Together - Fab Friday 171

We are back today with a Fab Friday challenge!  After being away last week it was good to get back into the stamp room!  I pulled out some new products to use on my challenge card and it got me in the mood for fall but I'll have to wait for the real thing as it's still full on summer here.

  We are doing a sketch this time around.

 

  A nice and simple sketch that could work for many different styles.  I pulled my colors from the Come to Gather DSP and went with a fall theme.

 

It was fun to play with the soon to be released Gather Together bundle and get some autumn colors pulled out.  The Stampin' Up! holiday catalog goes live on September 4th so be on the lookout for a lot of new products popping up here.

  Head over to the Fab Friday Challenge to see the rest of the Design Team and join along by adding your card to our gallery!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Gather Together

Ink: Pretty Peacock, Versamark, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso

Paper: Early Espresso, watercolor paper, Pretty Peacock, Come to Gather DSP

Accessories: Gathered Leaves dies, Copper embossing powder, lace trim, dimensionals, twine

 

Time to Celebrate - Stampin' Up! Colorful Seasons

  We're back at Fab Friday with a new challenge today!  It's colors this time.  I have to be honest that these really stumped me!

  I pulled out a punch of stamp sets and tried to get something that I thought did the colors justice.  Nothing seemed to work so I looked to my dies for some inspiration.  I came upon the Seasonal Layers dies which I haven't used in a while and that little Adirondack chair seemed to fit these colors so I went with it.

  There is very little stamping on this card but I do have all 4 colors represented so there is that!

 

  My Fab Friday team members have done a much better job with these colors so definitely head over to see how creative they all are.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Colorful Seasons, Itty Bitty Birthdays

Ink: Petal Pink, Versamark

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Call Me Clover, Blueberry Bushel, Grapefruit Grove

Accessories: Brick & Mortar embossing folder, Colorful Layers dies, dimensionals, white embossing powder, Blueberry Bushel grosgrain ribbon

 

Bold Rose - Stampin' Up! To a Wild Rose

  I'm knee deep in preparing for about 8 different things that I've got going on so there hasn't been much stamping time so I'm digging into the archives for today's card!  I made this one as one of my samples back in June for my new catalog party.

  Neutral with a pop of color are always a fun theme to explore in stamping.  So many great colors to choose from not to mention deciding on which stamp to highlight.  The To A Wild Rose stamp set has that great big blossom that can be colored in so many ways.

 

 Basic Gray, Smoky Slate and Pineapple Punch are a great color trio.

 The card base is Basic Gray, then a layer of Whisper White stamped with the rose outline image in Basic Gray ink. A thin strip of Basic Gray cardstock embossed with the Subtle embossing folder goes down on side of the card front.  A bit of retired Smoky Slate ribbon brings the eye down to the bold rose stamped in Basic Gray and partially filled in with Pineapple Punch ink.  It's cut out and popped with dimensionals.

  The 'Hello' sentiment is embossed in white onto Smoky Slate and then cut out with the Stitched Shapes oval.  I added a retired white enamel dot to the side.

   Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: To A Wild Rose

Ink: Basic Gray, Pineapple Punch, Versamark

Paper: Basic Gray, Whisper White, Smoky Slate

Accessories: Subtle embossing folder, Wild Rose dies, white embossing powder, dimensionals, Smoky Slate ribbon (retired), white enamel dot (retired)

Just Hatched Baby Boy- Stampin' Up! Dino Days

  I don't need as many baby cards as I used to so it's kind of fun to get stamping with a wee one in mind.  A friend of ours and his wife just had their first child so we sent up a little gift along with a card.  I couldn't resist using the Dino Days stamp set for a sweet baby boy card.

 

  This is another card that I pulled my color inspiration straight from the Dinoroar DSP.    The card base is Mango Melody and then I cut a Stitched Rectangle frame in Whisper White, embossed it with the Subtle embossing folder and backed it with a layer of Dinoroar DSP.  I added some retired candy dots in "close enough" colors to opposite corners.

  The dino is stamped in Pretty Peacock with Mango Melody spikes.  I have him popping out of a Pool Party egg embossed with white accents and sentiment.  I sponged a bit of Pretty Peacock ink around the embossed bits to make them stand out a bit and give the egg some depth.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Dino Days

Ink: Pretty Peacock, Mango Melody, Versamark

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

Accessories: Dino dies, Stitched Rectangle dies, Subtle embossing folder, candy dots (retired), white embossing powder, dimensionals

Feathery Thank You - Stampin' Up! Free as a Bird

Today's share is going to be super quick as it's a busy day and the to do list is long!  Here's another card for you bird lovers!

 

  There are so many great colors to pull from in the Bird Ballad DSP that it wasn't hard to put this card together.  The striped paper is the inspiration for the coloring of the bird.

  The feathers are fussy cut from one of the other patterns in the pack.  The different layers are pulled together with some stitched die cuts.

  And I realize I have no idea where there 'thanks' sentiment is from as it's not in the Free as a Bird set.  Oh well! No time today to dig through the stamp room to find it!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Free as a Bird

Ink: Memento black

Blends: Crumb Cake light, Daffodil Delight light & dark, Pool Party light & dark, Mango Melody dark

Paper: Pool Party, Old Olive, Whisper White, Bird Ballad DSP

Accessories: Stitched Shapes dies, Stitched Rectangles die, tab punch, circle punch, baker's twine, dimensionals

Seaside Nature - Stampin' Up! Rooted in Nature

The title of this post might be a bit misleading as there isn't a beach theme going on here at all.  The Seaside is referring to the new In Color Seaside Spray which is a lovely light blue.  I paired it up with some nature images from Rooted in Nature for a cool thank you card.

  The card base is stamped with various leaf images in Seaside Spray ink.  Next I stamped the wood cut with So Saffron and sponged the edge with Soft Suede to mimic the bark.  The tree is stamped in Night of Navy.  Another leaf is stamped in Seaside Spray with Seaside Spray ink and the final leaf is Crumb Cake ink and cardstock.

  The sentiment is stamped in Night of Navy on Whisper White and flagged.  Everything is layered to one side and then a Night of Navy/Sahara Sand baker's twine bow is added with a glue dot.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Rooted in Nature

Ink: Seaside Spray, Night of Navy, So Saffron, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake

Paper: Seaside Spray, Crumb Cake, Whisper White

Accessories: Nature's Roots dies, Night of Navy/Sahara Sand baker's twine, dimensionals
 

Summer Rose in Green - Stampin' Up! To a Wild Rose

  One of the fun things about stamping is not having to stick to realistic color schemes for any images.  You can have purple cats, blue cows and flowers any color you want even if they would never appear that way in ones garden!

  I enjoy finding color combinations from many different places.  I grabbed a fun color scheme on Sunday from cool dress in a pew ahead of me but today's color combination was inspired by this comforter in the Company Store catalog. My rose ended up being green and I don't think that's a real rose color but I don't care because with stamps and ink we can do what we want!

 
These colors just seems so summery to me.  The retired Lemon Lime Twist would have been perfect for the brighter green but since I was designing a card for class I thought that a very light touch with Granny Apple Green would give me the same look and I was right.

 

 I swapped the main colors but kept the floral theme and also got to work in some shimmer with Shimmer White paper and the new Shimmer White embossing powder.  Both the rose and leaf are embossed with the shimmer powder and it looks really cool in real life.  Just a tip though: when embossing on white paper be very careful not to overheat the image.  It's harder to see the change with the shimmer pay close attention.

  Once the image was heated and cooled I did a bit of light watercoloring with inks and an Aquapainter.  I sprayed a bit of water onto the rose so the colors would be more muted but did not for the leaf so the color would be more bold and not look too similar to the flower.  The center of the flower is Granny Apple Green and then Call Me Clover starts a bit darker then lightens as it reached the edges of the petals.  The leaf is Call Me Clover.

  The rose and leaf are popped with dimensionals over a die cut lattice element backed with a strip of Granny Apple Green cardstock.  All of that is backed with a piece of Call Me Clover embossed with the Subtle embossing folder and mounted on a Whisper White thick card base.

  Any sort of sentiment can be used on the inside but we used a birthday on this time.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: To a Wild Rose

Ink: Versamark, Granny Apple Green, Call Me Clover

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Shimmery White, Call Me Clover, Granny Apple Green

Accessories: Shimmer White embossing powder, Wild Rose dies, Subtle embossing folder, dimensionals

What a Cute Dino - Stampin' Up! Dino Days

  Sometimes when I set out to design a card for class I have no plan other than to make an "easy" card.  While I think my classes are doable for all levels of stampers sometimes I can have projects that require a bit more time or are technique heavy so to balance those projects sometimes a card is just simply... simple.

  Which brings us to today's card that we made at my July stamp club.  It's just basic stamping, basic die cutting and a basic layout.  I think the Dino Days stamp set is super cute and I just wanted to make a cute card that would balance out the other 2 class projects that were a bit more involved.

 See.  Simple. Basic. Cute.  At least I think so!  Nothing fancy or over the top here just a nice balanced card with some fun colors taken right from the Dinoroar DSP.  The only things to note for this card is when die cutting the back spikes for the T Rex there is a wider than usual "extra" band to the side of the spikes, this extra is so that you can have room to adhere it to the backside of the dino image.  If it cut right along the stamping it would be too narrow for adhesive.

  I gave my stampers a choice of a few of the sentiments that come in the set or to use the Itty Bitty Birthdays stamp set.  A few of those sentiments reference "old" and "age" so for the right person you could tease a bit that they are as old as a dinosaur!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Dino Days

Ink: Pool Party, Old Olive, Mango Melody

Paper: Pool Party, Old Olive, Whisper White, Dinoroar DSP

Accessories: Stitched Shapes dies, Dino dies, white baker's twine, dimensionals

 

Checking on You - Stampin' Up! Check You Out - Fab Friday 169

Well this week went by quickly didn't it?  Monday started off with a bang with sending my boys to camp for the week and here it is Friday and I'm picking them up already!  And now I have to set aside some time to take care of their laundry.  Gross!  Boys!!

As always any Friday that's a Fab Friday challenge day is a good Friday!  We have a great sketch this time (I think I say that every time!) that I think is very versatile.  What are you going to do with that circle?

   Being a bookworm with a "To Read" list that never seems to get below 80 books as soon as I saw the new Check You Out stamp set I knew I needed it!  We haven't had any (?) book themed sets that I can remember since I've been a demo and that's over 10 years now so it's exciting when it's truly new for me!  So not only is it a cute book theme the sentiments are nice for some thinking of you and congratulations cards.  And it's not so serious which I like too.

 

  I paired our great sketch up with a color combo I had saved from a bedding catalog and thought it made for a super cute card.  I might be biased though!  

  The card base is Seaside Spray, one of the new In Colors, with the same color DSP from the In Color 6x6 DSP.  I thought the gingham was a nice light background to my wise owl.  The large circle is cut from the Stitched Shapes dies and I used that to build up my elements for the rest of the card.

  The owl is stamped in Soft Suede and has Night of Navy glasses then is fussy cut and popped up with dimensionals.  The books are stamped with Seaside Spray, Flirty Flamingo, Night of Navy and Grapefruit Grove.  The books are also fussy cut and stacked up.

  To be able to use the sentiment from this set on the narrow element in the sketch I had to finagle a bit.  I used the Night of Navy marker to ink up and stamp each word one at a time cleaning my stamp in between.  It's not perfect but I'm happy with the alignment for eyeballing it!  The sentiment is also popped with dimensionals and I added a retired Night of Navy candy dot because I need to use them up.

  Go over to the Fab Friday challenge site to see the rest of the design team.  I guarantee you'll get a ton of inspiration to start your own card to share with us.  

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Check You Out

Ink: Soft Suede, Seaside Spray, Flirty Flamingo, Night of Navy, Grapefruit Grove

Paper: Seaside Spray, Whisper White, 6x6 In Color DSP

Accessories: Stitched Shapes dies, dimensionals, candy dot (retired)

Vintage Bluebirds - Stampin' Up! Free as a Bird

  My family thinks I'm a bit of a crazy bird lady as I have a bunch of bird feeders and bird baths throughout our yard as well as a little bird cam inside of the bluebird nesting box.  I get a kick out of seeing all the different birds in our small yard.  Bluebirds are by far my favorite so when I color the Free as a Bird images I think I tend to go straight to blues.

  Today's card is one that we made last week at my monthly stamp club.  And while the birds don't exactly resemble Bluebirds they are sweet nonetheless!

  This card has a great vintage-y vibe with sponging, script font DSP and a nice lacy label for our main image.

  The card base is Very Vanilla thick, then a layer of Pretty Peacock.  On top of that we have a panel of Sahara Sand that has a lot of stamping.  First using a sponge we inked up the All Wired Up background stamp with Sahara Sand ink.  The sponging gives a lighter tone as well as a less full image.  Over the top of the All Wired Up the blossom, bud and branch are stamped again in Sahara Sand and finally the edges are sponged. 

  Along the one edge is a strip of 1/2" Pretty Peacock Scalloped Linen ribbon adhered with Tear Tape and then a very narrow strip of 6x6 In Color DSP.

  The birds are stamped in Soft Suede and then colored with Blends (colors listed below).  The gorgeous label die from the Stitched Labels die set might get overlooked but this die set is great for mixing and matching for some detailed shapes to enhance any layout.  The edges of the label are also sponged with Sahara Sand and then popped on dimensionals. 

  The final detail is the Hello sentiment stamped in Pretty Peacock.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Free as a Bird

Ink: Sahara Sand, Soft Suede, Pretty Peacock

Blends: Crumb Cake light & dark, Pretty Peacock light & dark, Mossy Meadow light & dark, Rococo Rose light & dark, So Saffron dark

Paper: Very Vanilla thick, Very Vanilla, Sahara Sand, Pretty Peacock, 6x6 In Color DSP

Accessories: Stitched Labels dies, Scalloped Linen ribbon, dimensionals