Butterfly Birthday - Stampin' Up Butterfly Brilliance - Paper Players 534

   Happy Sunday stampers!  The team at The Paper Players is back with a fun new challenge.  Anne Marie has given us this great sketch to work with!  I loved having the narrow strips to play around with!

  Since I've only had time to make one card with the Butterfly Brilliance stamp set since I got it it was high time to get another one made!  

  I wanted my butterfly to stand out so I kept the background clean and just jazzed it up with a panel of Whisper White embossed with the Parisian Flourish embossing folder and rounded the corners.  I wanted ribbon but I didn't have any wide white ribbon to use for the strip across the middle so I doubled up with 2 strips of silver edged satin ribbon.  It gives the added bonus of a little sparkle!

  Next I layered 2 strips of the Butterfly Bijou DSP for the 2 vertical elements.  And not wanting to cover up the pattern too much I added a vellum Stitched Circle to attach my other elements to.  The 'for you' is from the So Sentiment set and is stamped in black onto a scrap and then trimmed to fit.  I added a Purple Posy faceted gem for some detail.

  The butterfly is stamped in Memento, colored with Blends and the cut out.  Some spots of the butterfly are highlighted with Wink of Stella for some more light sparkle.  And you can't really see it in this photo but there is a Highland Heather detailed butterfly diecut underneath with a layer of dimensionals along the body so that the top butterfly is popped up.  It's a nice detail when you see the card in person.

  A few more faceted gems above the butterfly finish off this card.

  I can't wait to see what you all design using this sketch!  For more inspiration from the design team see their blogs!

 Jaydee
 LeAnne
Claire
Joanne
Laurie
Anne Marie
Ann
Nancy
Debbie 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Butterfly Brilliance, So Sentimental

Ink: Memento black

Blends: Purple Posy light & dark, Highland Heather light & dark

Paper: Just Jade, Whisper White, vellum, Butterfly Bijou DSP, Highland Heather

Accessories: Parisian Flourish embossing folder, corner rounder, Stitched Shapes dies, metallic edged ribbon, dimensionals, faceted gems, dimensionals

Perennials for the Guys - Stampin' Up! Pretty Perennials

   The team at Fab Friday is back with a new challenge!  Are you all ready to stamp this weekend or do you have yard work to do now that the weather is nicer?  We weeded, mulched and my husband even mowed last weekend so I've got time to stamp this weekend.  Since getting the new puppy a week ago I haven't spent much time in the stamp room so I'm looking forward to getting inky.

  Check out the colors we are working with for this challenge:

 

 I have to admit that while I do like these colors they were a bit of a challenge for me.  With my limited stamping time I couldn't dawdle and play around with too many ideas.  I ended up using some of the smaller accent stamps from Pretty Perennials (which is still on my desk from my custom cards) to make a guy birthday card.  

  Nothing ground breaking here but it gets the job done!  I can't wait to see what you come up with for these colors so I can get some inspiration and try again!  Check out the fabulous ideas from the rest of the Fab Friday Design Team!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Pretty Perennials

Ink: Misty Moonlight, Pear Pizzazz, Smoky Slate

Paper: Whisper White, Misty Moonlight, Pear Pizzazz, Smoky Slate

Accessories: Stitched with Whimsy dies, Misty Moonlight twill ribbon, baker's twine, dimensionals

Personalized Feminine Notecards - Stampin' Up! Pretty Perennials

   As I shared in my last post we got a puppy on Friday and he has been keeping us on our toes so I haven't had much extra time to post or stamp.  He's super sweet and actually very good but our normal routines are a bit out of whack at the moment.  As my husband says, "everything takes 4 times as long to do when there's a new baby in the house".  That's pretty accurate whether it's a human baby or a puppy!

  Here is the little guy:

 

  But I do have the feminine counterpoint to the last card I shared to show off today.  I'm almost finished with the 18 cards for the ladies.  

  Not the best photo with the terrible gray weather we're having but you can get the gist of it!

  I used the SAB Paper Blooms DSP as my starting point for colors and from there just cut the letters and layered the name banner the same as in the masculine version.  

  I have the same number of flowers on each card but have them arranged differently depending on how long the name is.  I'm trying to keep them all balanced and spaced regardless of the number of letters so it takes a bit of time to put each one together.

  The Pretty Perennial stamp set and dies are really perfect for this sort of card as they are simple to stamp and die cut but have some nice layered details.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Pretty Perennials

Ink: Rococo Rose, Night of Navy, Seaside Spray

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Night of Navy, Paper Blooms DSP (SAB), Rococo Rose, Seaside Spray, Old Olive

Accessories: Perennial Petals dies, Playful Alphabet dies, adhesive sheets, Subtle embossing folder, dimensionals, faceted gems

 

Personailzed Masculine Notecards - Stampin' Up! Forever Fern

   I've been working on a set of personalized cards for a family member to use for the staff at her offices.  She wanted a masculine and a feminine design with the employees names so the Big Shot and Playful Alphabet dies have been getting a workout.  I have all the masculine ones finished and am part way through with the feminine ones which I hope to share tomorrow.  22 is a lot of cards!

  I really liked the crisp green and blue for the masculine card.  The Forever Greenery DSP was just the ticket and luckily I had enough of the striped pattern for all the cards I needed.  I layered a piece of the DSP onto a Whisper White thick card base to start this one.

  The name panel is a piece of Whisper White embossed with the Subtle embossing folder.  Then I backed it with a piece of Pretty Peacock.  I sure will be sorry when Pretty Peacock retires as I've used it a ton the last 2 years.  I used Pretty Peacock to cut out the letters as well.  

  I made things easy on myself and used the adhesive sheets to make each letter a sticker so I wouldn't have to mess with glue for 22 different names. If you do a lot of die cutting and want to make it easier to adhere little pieces (or big pieces, there's no size limit!) definitely check out the adhesive sheets.  All you do is peel off one side of the backing, press your cardstock to the sticky side and then die cut the cardstock as usual, then peel off the backing when you're ready to adhere.  I don't use it much when I'm making one-off cards but for multiple it sure makes the process less messy!

  The fern sprigs are stamped in Pretty Peacock and Just Jade and then the one in the background is just cut out of Soft Sea Foam cardstock to round out the sprig.  I layered them and then attached them to the side of the name with dimensionals and then added a braided linen trim knot to the stems.

  I hope to be back tomorrow to share the feminine version but I'm not making any promises.  On Friday we unexpectedly got a new puppy so things are a bit busy and out of sorts but in a good way so stamping business might not happen as it usually does!  

  Isn't he cute??  His name is Herk and Aggie loves him already!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Forever Fern

Ink: Pretty Peacock, Just Jade

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Pretty Peacock, Soft Sea Foam, Forever Greenery DSP

Accessories: Subtle embossing folder, Playful Alphabet dies, dimensionals, adhesive sheets, braided linen trim

 

Thanks a Ton - Stampin' Up! Whale Done - Paper Players 533

 Happy Sunday stampers!  The Paper Players are back with a brand new challenge for you to start your stamping week!  Ann has given us the really fun theme of CAS Animals.  So get out your animal stamps and show us what you've got while keeping it clean and simple!

 

  I blew through all of the thank you cards I had made over the last few weeks and found myself needing one more so I thought the Whale Done set would be just the ticket for my clean and simple animal card.

  I started with a Pool Party base, then a layer of Whisper White with the little bubbles stamped off in Pool Party ink.  I topped that with a piece of Pool Party that I embossed with the Seabed embossing folder.  I cut the one corner off with a Layering Circle die so the stamped piece of Whisper White is showing.  I also used my blending brushes to brush on a bit of white craft ink to help show off the design a little bit better.

  The whale is stamped in Pretty Peacock ink and punched out along with his silver glimmer paper splash using the Whale builder punch.  All of those pieces are popped on dimensionals.

  The sentiment was stamped and embossed in white onto Basic Black cardstock.  It's then cut out with a Stitched So Sweetly die and popped over a length of silver baker's twine.

  So while this card has some texture and dimension I think it stayed CAS with the limited color palette and the open space on most of the card.  And of course the whale for the animal element.

  To check out what the rest of the Paper Players Design Team did with this challenge visit the challenge site or their blogs:

 Jaydee
 LeAnne
Claire
Joanne
Laurie
Anne Marie
Ann
Nancy
Debbie 

Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Whale Done

Ink: Pretty Peacock, Pool Party, Versamark, white craft

Paper: Pool Party, Whisper White, Basic Black, Silver Glimmer paper (retired)

Accessories: Whale punch, Layering Circle dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, white embossing powder, Seabed embossing folder, silver baker's twine (retired), dimensionals

Birthday Heart and Star - Stampin' Up! Itty Bitty Birthdays

   I have been busy working on a set of 24 custom cards and haven't had time to stamp anything else so I'm sharing a card I made a month ago for my brother's birthday.  His birthday falls on Valentine's day so I tried to mix a heart onto the card without it turning into a Valentine's day card! 

  I mixed and matched hearts and stars and used 3 different patterns from the Well Suited DSP.

  The little heart and star stamps are from the Many Messages set and could easily get overlooked but are just the right size a bit of add-on stamping.  Not much else as this card is pretty straightforward and the shapes do all the work here!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Itty Bitty Birthdays, Many Messages

Ink: Night of Navy, Real Red, Smoky Slate

Paper: Whisper White thick, Well Suited DSP

Accessories: heart punch, Stitched Stars dies, Curvy dies, Night of Navy baker's twine, dimensionals, candy dot (retired)

Rainbow Envelopes - Stampin' Up! Snail Dies

   I think a rainbow is in order for this gray, dreary day!  After beautiful weather last week and over the weekend it got overcast yesterday afternoon and then we even had a bit of icy pellets come down last night. My morning walk was cold and damp so I think something cheerful necessary for my share today!

  This card has hardly any stamping but the mini envelope die in the Snail dies certainly got a work out!

 I pulled out my best rainbow colors to put this card together.  It starts with a Whisper White thick base then a layer of Whisper White embossed with the Old World Paper embossing folder.  It's hard to see in the photo but it's there.

  After the envelopes were cut and folded up I arranged them on the card front leaving the center open for the little note.  I stamped the 'smile' from the Cute Fruit set in Memento and then cut it out.  I added a die cut heart out of the Rainbow Glimmer paper.  

  I'm adding this one to my pile to send to Bearly Arts for their card drive for kids in foster care.  To read more about that cause and to join in check it out here: Bearly Arts Cards for Cubs.  If you're local to me and want to help I am collecting cards from my stampers to mail out a big package and you're welcome to join in!  Just get in touch!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Cute Fruit

Ink: Memento Black

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Poppy Parade, Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, Coastal Cabana, Pacific Point, Gorgeous Grape, Melon Mambo, Rainbow Glimmer paper

Accessories: Old World Paper embossing folder, Snail dies, dimensionals

Butterfly Thank You - Stampin' Up! Butterfly Brilliance

   My butterfly envy is over!  My Butterfly Brilliance bundle arrived on Thursday so I was able to play a bit and see what this set is all about.  I'm still not too sure about all the butterflies connected as one large stamp instead of individually but I can always cut them apart if it's too cumbersome in the long run.  But the images are gorgeous and I enjoyed a bit of easy coloring for this card.  I used the CAS Colours & Sketches layout which is a perfect open design for a nice single butterfly as the focal image.

  This one starts with a Mint Macaron base, then a layer of Whisper White cut with the Stitched Rectangle dies.  Next up is a beautiful piece of Butterfly Bijou DSP.  I love the soft watercolor look!  I used the Stitched With Whimsy dies to add a little border around the edge. The whole panel is popped with dimensionals.

  To follow the sketch I cut some leaves with the Poppy Moments dies.  I used Mint Macaron for the bottom layer and Just Jade for the top.  

  I inked up just the one butterfly with Memento black and then cut it out.  I colored it in with Blends (colors listed below) and then popped it on dimensional on top of the leaves.

  The sentiment from Free as a Bird is embossed in white on Basic Black and I added a Blushing Bride flag behind it so it wouldn't look so stubby.  I also popped the sentiment on dimensionals.

  I added a few retired white sequins just because and the fact that I need to use up some embellishments before my drawer overflows!

  I can't wait to create some more with the bundle.  It was perfect timing to get a new stamp set for spring just when the weather is warming up.  Soon enough I'll be seeing my own butterflies in the yard.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Butterfly Brilliance, Free as a Bird

Ink: Memento black, Versamark

Blends: Calypso Coral light & dark, Daffodil Delight light, So Saffron light & dark, Basic Black light

Paper: Mint Macaron, Just Jade, Whisper White, Butterfly Bijou DSP, Basic Black, Blushing Bride

Accessories: Stitched Rectangle dies, Stitched with Whimsy dies, Brilliant Wings dies, Poppy Moments dies, dimensionals, white embossing powder, sequins (retired)