Soft Spotlight with Sparkle

  Today's card is one we did last month at my stamp club.  Sometimes us long time stampers forget about simple stamping techniques when there is always a new product or technique coming out so I decided to reintroduce my stampers to the Spotlight Technique.

  The Blended Bloom single stamp is a perfect stamp for this technique!

  All you do is stamp your image in black (or another darker color) on your main panel, then stamp it again on scrap paper and punch it out.  Color in the punched part of the image, back it with a slightly larger punched circle (in this case Basic Gray) and pop it up over the corresponding part of the image on your main panel.

  For this card we colored the spotlight with a Blender pen and ink pad with the lid squeezed into the pad to create a little ink puddle.  We used Pool Party and Old Olive.  Parts of the flower petals and center are highlighted with a bit of Dazzling Diamonds for some extra attend to the spotlight.

  The thank you sentiment is from the soon to be retired Many Thanks set which I use ALL the time!  There is a great mix of font styles, sizes and thank you sentiments and I am very sad to see this one go.

  The final touch for this card is the bit of Old Olive 1/8" taffeta ribbon tied around the panel.

  If you're a seasoned stamper or just getting into this fun hobby I hope you'll try out the Spotlight Technique!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Blended Bloom, Many Thanks

Ink: Stazon, Pool Party, Old Olive

Paper: Pool Party, Basic Gray, Whisper White

Accessories: 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, Dazzling Diamonds, dimensionals, 1/8" Old Olive Taffeta ribbon, Blender pen

Spring Tree

 Spring has arrived here in Richmond along with the pollen.  I've never had it bother me before but the last week I've had the typical runny nose and watery eyes that marks spring for many people here in Central Virginia.  On the plus side we have so many beautiful blooms especially on a lot of trees it kind of makes up for the pollen blowing around!

  I did this card for a private stamping class one of my customers hosted a while ago.

  Sheltering Tree makes such cute cards doesn't it?  The flowers have a tiny bit of Dazzling Detail on top of each blossom.  It's a nice subtle bit of sparkle.

 The flowers and twine are in Crisp Cantaloupe and is retiring.  A lot of the In Color items are already sold out but you may be able to still score a few items before they are gone.  Head over to my online store (link in the sidebar) to place an order for retiring products.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Sheltering Tree

Ink: Early Espresso, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Crisp Cantaloupe (retiring)

Paper: Early Espresso, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White

Accessories: Crisp Cantaloupe thick twine (retiring), Dazzling Details

Watercolored Sympathy

 Stampin' Up! has released the list of retiring products that will not be carrying over into the next catalog!  Yikes!  Have you gotten everything you want from your wish list?  I bet not...I still have things on my list!  Head on over to my online store, click Shop Now and place your order soon to have the best shot at getting what you want.  Accessories are while supplies last and stamps will be available until May 26 and after that while supplies last until June 2. Don't forget to check out the Weekly Deals as well!

  On to the card for today!  I saw this color combo while going through my Color Coach (soon to be retiring) and thought it would make for a good sympathy card.  And the Paper Players challenge is to do some watercoloring.  Perfect!

  The base is Crumb Cake and then I have 2 layers of Watercolor paper. The top layer of Watercolor paper I misted with water and then used an Aquapainter and reinkers to brush the color across the paper.  The colors used are Calypso Coral, Blushing Bride and Hello Honey.  I used my heat tool to dry the paper so I could continue with the stamping.  No two cards will be exactly alike with this water coloring technique.  It's fun to see how the inks blend together.

  I inked up the Serene Silhouettes stamp with markers and then lightly misted the stamp with water before stamping.  The image in the circle was stamped again without reinking.  The "Praying for You" was stamped in Hello Honey ink full strength without water.  It was then punched out with the        1 3/8" circle punch.

  A length of Very Vanilla seam binding ribbon (soon to be retiring) was tied around the top panel and the punched circle was popped up on top of it with a dimensional.  The whole image panel is also popped on dimensionals.

  Get out those inks and watercolor paper and see what you can do!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, Thoughts & Prayers

Ink: Calypso Coral, Blushing Bride, Hello Honey

Paper: Crumb Cake, Watercolor paper

Accessories: circle punch, seam binding ribbon, dimensionals, Aquapainter

  

Lovely Sponged Sky

  With the Stampin' Up! retirement list coming out tomorrow I thought this would be a good card to share since the Lovely As A Tree set has been around FOREVER and demonstrators speculate every year if this set will be on the retirement list.  I hope not as it always makes a great card and having a classic tree/nature set in your collection is a must.

  I made this one for my mom's bible study group to send to a man from church who has been struggling with health problems recently to let him know we were praying for him.

 

  I used some scrap copy paper to mask the sides of the Naturals Vanilla cardstock.  Starting at the top I sponged Pumpkin Pie ink  making it darker towards the top and going lighter into Daffodil Delight ink and then into Old Olive.

  Once the sky was finished I left the mask on and inked up the pine tree stamp with Mossy Meadow and stamped it right over the top of the sky and then stamped a few more times without re-inking to create my forest of pine trees.

  The banner is stamped with the the "thinking of you" from Sheltering Tree set.  I popped it up and wrapped a bit of linen thread and a strip of Mossy Meadow ribbon. 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

  Stamps: Lovely As A Tree, Sheltering Tree

  Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Mossy Meadow

  Paper: Naturals Vanilla, Mossy Meadow

  Accessories: linen thread, Mossy Meadow satin ribbon, dimensionals

What's Not to Celebrate? - Fab Friday 62

  Long time, no see right?  I promise I've been stamping but I just haven't been able to squeeze in the photo taking, photo editing and blog posting to go along with the stamping!  I had to sit out the last Fab Friday challenge but I am ready for this one!

  Let's check out this sketch challenge that we have this time around at Fab Friday:

  Lots of possibilities with this one!

  I went with a bold offset design using the Celebrate Today set.

  The card base is Smoky Slate with a slightly smaller Soky Slate panel embossed with the Stars embossing folder.

  I pulled the the color for this card from the Confetti Celebrations DSP.  The balloon is stamped in Bermuda Bay, the string and sentiment are in black ink.

  For the accent pieces I cut a few flags, one with the Confetti Celebrations paper and another larger one in Tangerine Tango cardstock.    The edges of the Tangerine Tango flag are paper pierced.  The star was cut with the stars framelits out of Crushed Curry cardstock.

  A few candy dots, baker's twine bow and a little rhinestone are the last touches.  The whole top panel is popped with dimensionals.

  Pop over to the Fab Friday Challenge and see the rest of the Design Team samples and then make one of your own!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Celebrate Today

Ink: Bermuda Bay, Black

Paper: Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Crushed Curry, Confetti Celebrations DSP

Accessories: Stars Framelits, candy dots, rhinestone, baker's twine, paper piercer, dimensionals, Stars embossing folder

Blue Bird Sympathy

  I tend to always gravitate towards Serene Silhouettes for sympathy cards and this one was no exception.  I love the peacefulness of the images and they don't need a lot of embellishment or fuss.

  I made this card almost 2 weeks ago using 2 already completed challenges; Freshly Made Sketches 178 and Colour Me challenge 63.

  The base is Sahara Sand and then a layer of the Adventure Bound DSP.  It's hard to see but I embossed the sentiment in the lower corner with white embossing powder.  The sentiment is from the Petite Pairs stamp set.

I dug through the ribbon scraps and came up with this old piece of Marina Mist satin ribbon.  Remember this stuff?  I loved it and wish we still had something like it.  I flagged the ends and then adhered it to the card front.

  I inked up the bird/branch stamp with Sahara Sand and used my blender pen to remove the ink from one bird and then recolored it with a Marina Mist marker.  I stamped it on Whisper White cardstock then cut it out with the circles framelits.  Using a sponge dauber I inked up a sun on the edge of the circle with So Saffron ink.  The circle is popped on dimensionals over the ribbon.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, Petite Pairs

Ink: Versamark, Sahara Sand, So Saffron, Marina Mist (marker)

Paper: Sahara Sand, Adventure Bound DSP, Whisper White

Accessories: Circles framelits, Marina Mist satin ribbon (retired), white embossing powder, dimensionals

Stampin' Up! Sea Street Hugs & Kisses - Fab Friday 60

It's another Fab Friday challenge today!  A nice sketch to start off the weekend!

  I took some liberties with the sketch but that's the whole idea right?  To have a place to get started from?

  I had it in my mind that I wanted to use Sea Street and do some heat embossing....

  I tried all sorts of combinations for the octopus panel and I just couldn't get something I was happy with until I brought in the Starburst framelits.  The octopus is embossed with white embossing powder onto Night of Navy cardstock.  Once it was cut out with the framelit I paper pierced around the edge using the circle piercing template.

  The octopus part is popped up onto a piece of the Maritime DSP.  I love this design with the fish swimming around!  I added a little bit of vellum underneath the cotton ribbon knot to make it a little bit more like the sketch.

  Finally I did a bit more embossing on the card front using both white and clear embossing powder.  The sentiment is from the Good Greetings set that was a hostess special back in the fall.  I hope they do more of these sets as I love all the choices and the style!

  I hope you'll come along and play with the Fab Friday team on this challenge!  To see the inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and see last challenge's winners pop over to Fab Friday!  Remember it's a 2 week challenge so there is plenty of time to create a card or 2!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Sea Street, Good Greetings (retired)

Ink: Night of Navy, Versamark

Paper: Coastal Cabana, Night of Navy, vellum, Maritime DSP

Accessories: Starburst framelits, clear e.p., white e.p., cotton ribbon, piercing guide, dimensionals

  

Customer Appreciation Gift - Stampin' Up! One Tag Fits All

  At the beginning of February I went to a Stampin' Up! demonstrator get together hosted by a fellow demo up in Northern Virginia.  It was great to catch up with friends and make some new ones.  In true Stampin' Up! event style there were door prizes and I won the Tag A Bag Accessories Kit.  I hadn't used any of the fun treat kits yet from this Annual Catalog so it was fun to get something I didn't already have.

  My customers are the best and I have such a good time seeing them every month and they are always so supportive of the projects I design for them I wanted to do a little something to say thanks.

  What better way to say thanks than to give them some bling to use on their own projects and dress them up with some fun tags.  I paired up the One Tag Fits All with the Tag A Bag Accessories kit for some fun treats!

  I mixed up the small and large tags so there would be a different combination and look for each one.

  I actually cut the sentiment apart from the gem image so that I could use them more easily and not have to mask.  The sentiment is stamped with Smoky Slate onto the small tags.  The gem is embossed with silver embossing powder onto Shimmery White cardstock and then cut out.

  The gem is popped up with dimensionals on the the small tag and then the small tag is popped up onto the larger tag.

  In the Tag A Bag Accessories Kit you get a whole roll of thick white Baker's Twine (60 feet worth!) that's worth the $7.95 cost of the kit right there!  I tied the tag around the rhinestones and then added the coordinating binder clip.

  I'm trying to think what I could use to make some teacher appreciation gifts using the kit....Any ideas?

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: One Tag Fits All

Ink: Smoky Slate, Versamark

Paper: Shimmery White

Accessories: Tag A Bag Accessories Kit, silver embossing powder, dimensionals, rhinestones