Hello Note - Stampin' Up! Hello Harvest

   I've got another clean and simple (CAS) card for you today.  I made it for the CAS Colours & Sketches challenge that closed yesterday.  I didn't get my act together enough to get it photographed and blogged in time but it's a great layout to use for some of the smaller images that might get overlooked in a set.

  I focused on the just using the oak leaf and a simple tag and sentiment.

  Daffodil Delight and Coastal Cabana are a fun, unexpected color for oak leaves and I love how bright and cheery they are; perfect for an all purpose note card!

  The tag is stamped with one of the Go To Greetings stamps and a bit of retired Coastal Cabana ribbon and some linen thread finishes it off.  A few gems that are actually Pale Papaya but definitely look more yellow add a little bit of sparkle.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Hello Harvest, Go To Greetings

Ink: Daffodil Delight, Coastal Cabana, Crumb Cake

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White

Accessories: Rustic Pumpkin dies, Tailor Made Tags dies, dimensionals, In Color gems (retired), linen thread, Coastal Cabana ribbon (retired)

Blessings and Hugs - Stampin' Up! Blessings of Home

   Today's card is just a sweet little floral card to show someone you are thinking of them.  I combined the Blessings of Home image with the sentiment from Splendid Thoughts and a piece of the Splendid Day DSP as a background.

  Stampin' Blends markers make quick work of coloring this image using the shading already on the image as a guide.

  The image is cut out and popped up with a bit of Petal Pink ribbon as an accent and a few Polished Dots for a bit of shine.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Blessings of Home, Splendid Thoughts

Ink: Crumb Cake

Blends: Petal Pink light & dark, Soft Sea Foam light & dark, So Saffron light & dark

Paper: Splendid Day DSP, Basic White

Accessories: Flowers of Home dies, dimensionals, Petal Pink twill ribbon, Polished Dots

Autumn Nature - Stampin' Up! Ringed with Nature

   Are you getting into your fall feels yet?  School has started in many places and my kids go back to school this coming Monday so all the autumn things are starting whether the weather feels like it or not!  Our forecast hits 90 degrees every day for the next week so pumpkins, colorful leaves, Halloween, football and sweaters will definitely be hard to sell to me but I can always get behind some seasonal cards no matter the temperature!

  I started this card before leaving for vacation and finished it up when I got home.  I love these colors for a fall card and the the bright Parakeet Party really gives the combo a bit of a fresh pop don't you think?

  I started with a Rich Razzleberry card base and then stamped my own DSP panel using the Ringed with Nature set and a piece of Very Vanilla.  I used Rich Razzleberry, Cajun Craze and Parakeet Party using both full strength and stamped off once images.  Before adhering that panel to the card front I edged it with a bit of Distressed Gold Specialty paper.

  Next I cut one of the wood cuts from the Tree Rings hybrid embossing folder/die to use as my base for a flower and some branch and berry sprigs also from this die set.  I popped all of them up with dimensionals.

  Finally I stamped the sentiment in Cajun Craze and hand cut it and added it to the side of the flower with a few more dimensionals.

  Go ahead and get your autumn cards started just in case the weather decides to go with the calendar!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Ringed with Nature

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Cajun Craze, Parakeet Party

Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Very Vanilla, Distressed Gold Specialty paper

Accessories: Tree Rings hybrid embossing folder/die set, dimensionals

Christmas or Not? - Stampin' Up' Uniquely Artistic

   Sometimes it's fun to try to make a Christmas card with a non-Christmas stamp set.  Not sure if this one is successful at that or not.  I think maybe if I add in some Cherry Cobbler or Merry Merlot it might make it more obvious but I stuck with a single color, Evening Evergreen, and gold for this one.  A quick change of sentiment and it's a great all purpose card.

  The base is Evening Evergreen, then a layer of Gold Glimmer paper.  The image is first stamped in Evening Evergreen onto a Stitched Rectangle panel.  I over stamped the Evening Evergreen with Versamark and then embossed the detail in gold.

  The sentiment is from Brightest Glow and is embellished with a narrow strip of Gold Glimmer paper on the edge.  The strip is popped on dimensionals.  

  Since I was trying to go for a clean and simple (CAS) look I didn't add any extras in the way of ribbon or gems.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Uniquely Artistic, Brightest Glow

Ink: Evening Evergreen, Versamark

Paper: Evening Evergreen, Very Vanilla, Gold Glimmer paper

Accessories: Stitched Rectangle dies, gold embossing powder, dimensionals

Hanging Ornaments - Stampin' Up! Spruced Up!

 After a bit of a break for vacation prep and actual vacation I'm back in the stamp room!  My card today is one I made before my trip and I used 2 now closed challenges; TGIF Challenges and Freshly Made Sketches.  I loved these bold colors for a non-traditional Christmas look.  Red/Green combos can get a little 'blah' after a while so it's nice to change things up!

  I started by masking a small stripe on a piece of Basic White and then lightly blended some Bermuda Bay ink and then stamped the snowflake also in Bermuda Bay ink before removing the mask.

  The ornaments were stamped in Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay and Pumpkin Pie and then die cut.  The hanger pieces were die cut in silver foil and added to the ornament with a glue dot.

  I hung the ornament with silver simply elegant trim and then used dimensionals to pop them up at various levels over the blended stripe.

  The sentiment is stamped in Bermuda Bay and accented with adhesive backed sequins.

    Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Spruced Up

Ink: Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, silver foil

Accessories: Spruced Up Outlines dies, dimensionals, Simply Elegant Trim, Adhesive Backed Sequins & Gems

Sunrise or Sunset - Stampin' Up! Palms Dies

   I few weeks back I needed to make a congratulations card and I had been wanting to do a blended sky background so the time was right to get it done.

  I started with colors from a closed As You See It challenge (I ran out of time to get it shared).  The colors are Starry Sky, Orchid Oasis, Polished Pink and Petal Pink.  How perfect are these for a sky?  And do you think it's a sunrise or a sunset?

  After blending the colors onto a piece of Basic White with blending brushes starting with the lightest corner first I created a frame with a piece of Starry Sky and my Stitched Rectangle dies.

  Next I cut some palm trees and grass with the Palms die using black glimmer paper.  I popped those all up with dimensionals and added the stamped congratulations sentiment.  Swap out the sentiment for any type of card you need.  

  The upper corner seemed a bit bare so I pulled in a bit more Polished Pink with a piece of open weave ribbon adhered with a staple.

  This is a very simple card to make and the variations with changing the sky colors gives a lot of options for reproduction without the cards being exactly alike.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Inspired Thoughts

Ink: Starry Sky, Orchid Oasis, Polished Pink, Petal Pink

Paper: Basic White, Starry Sky, Black Glimmer paper

Accessories: Palms dies, Stitched Rectangle dies, dimensionals, Polished Pink Open Weave ribbon

Birthday Mail - Stampin' Up! Full of Love

    I combined 2 fun challenges for this sweet birthday card.  I used the Freshly Made Sketches layout which is closing shortly so I'm just in the nick of time.  I also used the Tic Tac Toe challenge and I chose the left to right diagonal of stencil, birthday & flowers.

  The layout is a fun one with 3 split panels at the bottom (or side if you flip it) that you can mix and match or keep the same just spaced apart.  I blended ink onto Crumb Cake cardstock using a mask/stencil for the subtle pattern.  I also blended Soft Sea Foam ink behind my envelope/flower focal point.

  The images is colored with Blends (listed below) and fussy cut and popped on dimensionals.  The sentiment from Penguin Place is stamped in Calypso Coral and also popped on dimensionals.

  Embellishments include narrow Petal Pink twill ribbon and Fine Sparkle adhesive backed gems.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Full of Love, Penguin Place

Ink: Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral, Soft Sea Foam

Blends: Daffodil Delight light & dark, Calypso Coral Light & dark, Soft Sea Foam light & dark, Peal Pink light & dark

Paper: Soft Sea Foam, Basic White, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Fine Sparkle adhesive backed gems, dimensionals, Adorning Designs decorative masks (retired), dimensionals, Petal Pink ribbon (retired)

Festive Elements - Stampin' Up! Jingle Jingle Jingle

   I have a clean and simple Christmas card to share today.  I used the Perfectly CAS challenge which has the theme 'festive' this time around.  That could mean Christmas, birthday or something to celebrate. Using some smaller stamps from the Jingle Jingle Jingle set and a small star die from Spruced Up Outlines dies I filled in the lower third of my card front with a traditional Christmas color palette; red, green and gold.

  I started with the line of candy canes then added the die cut stars and finally the Garden Green bells (they fit nicely between the points of the stars).  The sentiment from Christmas to Remember is embossed in gold on Basic Black to make it pop a bit.

  I added a bit of retired red striped ribbon as I liked how it matched the candy cane stripes and my scrap bin is starting to overflow!!  Then the whole panel is adhered to a Basic White thick card base.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Jingle Jingle Jingle, Christmas to Remember

Ink: Real Red, Garden Green, Versamark

Paper: Basic White, Basic White thick, Basic Black, Gold Glimmer paper

Accessories: gold embossing powder, dimensional, Spruced Up Outlines dies, striped red ribbon (retired)

Wood Cuts Birthday - Stampin' Up! Ringed With Nature

   I'm trying not to forget about making some birthday cards even though I have a big stack of Christmas products to use.  The Ringed With Nature works for a nice masculine birthday card and I used it with the Color Throwdown challenge this week.  I love the neutral/earth tones in this palette.

  I started with a Basic Black base, then added a layer of Basic White embossed with the retired Subtle folder and rounded corners.

  Then I embossed the wood cuts with clear embossing powder onto Soft Suede cardstock.  I fussy cut them and then die cut the branches in Mossy Meadow and Old Olive and arranged everything in a diagonal across the card front.  The open branch is from the Splendid Stems dies and the others are from the Tree Rings embossing folder/dies.

  I added a die cut acorn as well as some retired candy dots in Soft Suede (because I still have so many...I think they are reproducing in my desk drawer!).  A black bakers twine bow tops the acorn stem.

  The sentiment from Go-To Greetings is stamped in Memento Black and then die cut with the Stylish Shapes banner die.  The banner and acorn are both popped on dimensionals.

  Thanks to the Color Throwdown team for a great set of colors to work with!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Ringed With Nature, Go-To Greetings

Ink: Versamark, Memento Black

Paper: Basic Black, Basic White, Soft Suede, Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Tree Rings embossing folder/dies, Splendid Stems dies, Stylish Shapes dies, dimensionals, baker's twine, corner rounder, Subtle embossing folder (retired), candy dots (retired)

Jolly Hippo - Stampin' Up! Hippest Hippos

   I had a lot of fun putting together this Christmas card using a bunch of different products.  The Hippest Hippos stamp set is still available for Sale-a-Bration rewards during the month of August while supplies.  The Jingle Jingle Jingle set has a fun relaxed vibe that works well with the hippos.  And the santa hat is a perfect fit!

  This one starts with a Real Red base, then a piece of Basic White embossed with the Whimsical Woodland embossing folder.  A strip of Sweetest Christmas DSP anchors the other elements.

  All of the stamping with the exception of the candy cane and hat fill in is with Memento black.  I colored in the 'jolly' with Pool Party Stampin' Blends and then fussy cut it.  I popped it on dimensionals and then added the 'tis the season to be' strip with a baker's twine bow on one end.

  The hippo is also colored with Blends and then embellished with hat and candy cane which are also fussy cut.  

 Using the Frosted Flurry dies I cut 3 glimmer paper snowflakes and scattered them across the card and added Iridescent Rhinestones to the centers.

  Thanks for looking! Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Hippest Hippos (SAB), Jingle Jingle Jingle

Ink: Memento Black, Real Red

Blends: Pool Party light & dark, Smoky Slate light & dark, Gray Granite light & dark, SU1000

Paper: Real Red, Basic White, Pool Party, Sweetest Christmas DSP, glimmer paper

Accessories: Whimsical Christmas embossing folder, Hippo dies, Frosted Flurry dies, dimensionals, baker's twine, Iridescent Rhinestones

Just for You Bear - Stampin' Up! Happier Than Happy

   I needed a set of thank you cards and I used the Paper Players Challenge of a Tic Tac Toe board to get me started on them.  I used the top row across: yellow, person or animal, and embossing.

  I've used a mix of Annual Catalog, Mini Catalog and Sale-a-bration items on this card.  Can you spot the items from each?

  From the annual catalog we have the Happy Than Happy stamp set and Happy Forest dies with the bear and trees as well as the Windowpane Check ribbon.  From the mini catalog we have the Leaf Fall embossing folder and the sentiment from Ringed with Nature.  And from the Sale-a-Bration rewards we have the Rings of Love DSP which I used as the background circle and inspiration for the color combination.

  The colors are Evening Evergreen, So Saffron, Poppy Parade, Crumb Cake and Soft Suede.  Isn't it a woodsy little look?

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Happier Than Happy, Ringed with Nature

Ink: Soft Suede, Poppy Parade

Paper: Evening Evergreen, So Saffron, Crumb Cake, Basic White, Rings of Love DSP (SAB)

Accessories: Happy Forest dies, dimensionals, Stylish Shapes dies, dimensionals, 2021-2023 In Color Gem (retired), Evening Evergreen Windowpane ribbon