Sweet Snow Baby - Stampin' Up! Snowman Season

  The weather was cool and crisp this morning so I took Aggie for a walk around the neighborhood and she did the whole thing without dragging.  I think she's definitely a cool weather exercise kind of pup.  The least bit of heat or humidity she takes 10 steps and seems like she'll pass out. We need to build up her stamina!

  While snow is a long way away for us here in Central Virginia I'm sharing this sweet little Christmas card today.

  I layered up some Shaded Spruce and Real Red to start the card off.  Then I embossed another layer of Shaded Spruce with the Winter Knit embossing folder.  It's a fun texture perfect for these winter themed cards.  It kind of makes me want to bust out my sweaters!

  Next I added a strip of Let it Snow specialty DSP pulling in my 2 main colors.  Next I stamped the cutest little snow baby in Smoky Slate onto Whisper White and punched with my tag punch.  I lightly colored in the little guy/girl with my Sampin' Blends. 

  I added some Snowfall Accents puff paint as well as some sequins to highlight the snow falling then I used a strand of Real Red curly ribbon to tie off the tag.  I popped it up with dimensionals. 

  The sentiment from Itty Bitty Christmas is stamped in Shaded Spruce and I added a rhinestone and a real red rhinestone.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Snowman Season, Itty Bitty Christmas

Ink: Smoky Slate, Shaded Spruce

Blends: Pool Party light, Pumpkin Pie light, Flirty Flamingo light, Shaded Spruce dark

Paper: Shaded Spruce, Real Red, Whisper White, Let it Snow DSP

Accessories: tag punch, Snowfall Accents puff paint, Winter Knit embossing folder, sequins (retired), Real Red curly ribbon, red rhinestones, Stitched Shapes dies, dimensionals

Pumpkin Cluster - Stampin' Up! Gather Together

  What a difference a week makes!  It was just 90 degrees and so dry and today it is rainy and 60.  It would be nice for a bit of in between to ease into the fall weather.  But we do need the rain so I can get behind that and besides it's a great reason to stay inside and stamp today!

  Just another fall card to share today using the Gather Together stamp set.  I think it was for a color challenge a week or two back but of course I didn't get to it in time.  I pulled some pieces from my card parts pile to put this one together.

  This color combination is a nice take for a fall card but I'm not sure I pulled it off.  I do really like the wood background paper from the Come to Gather DSP. 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Gather Together

Ink: Pretty Peacock, Crumb Cake, Versamark

Paper: Terracotta Tile, Grapefruit Grove, Mint Macaron, Pretty Peacock, watercolor paper, Come to Gather DSP

Accessories: Gathered Leaves dies, linen twine, dimensionals, copper embossing powder, Seasonal Layers

Perfect Pumpkin - Stampin' Up! Gather Together

Did you pick out the perfect pumpkin this weekend?  Just right to carve that scary face on or just right for those front porch fall decorations?  I think this little pumpkin is just the cutest for a card!

  Sometimes with smaller images it can be hard to design a card where they don't get lost if you're just trying to use it on its own.  I like to build up some layers behind the smaller images so they stand out a bit as well as not to have too much else going on in the background.

 
This card has a Pretty Peacock card base and the front panel is a piece of the Come to Gather DSP in a nice checked pattern.

  I used a bit of burlap trim across the card front and then built up my layers from there.  A Very Vanilla Everyday Label is a nice base for my perfect little pumpkin colored in with Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive Stampin' Blends.  I cut a few little slivers of Old Olive and Pear Pizzazz cardstock for some vines then curled them a bit and adhered them behind the pumpkin which is popped on dimensionals. 

  After finishing with the above things the card still looked a bit bare so I tied a bit of lace trim on a long ago retired vintage trinket safety pin and attached that through the burlap.  Done!  I left off a sentiment on the inside and outside so I could add it later depending on the occasions.  Might end up being a Thanksgiving card!

  Thanks for looking! Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Come to Gather

Ink: Memento Black

Blends: Pumpkin Pie light and dark, Old Olive light and dark

Paper: Pretty Peacock, Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Come to Gather DSP, Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz

Accessories: Burlap ribbon, Everyday Label punch, Gathered Leaves dies, dimensionals, scalloped lace trim, vintage trinket safety pin (retired)

Bold Sweet Baby - Stampin' Up! Dino Days

Happy Friday stampers!  Are you all geared up for the weekend?  Do you have pumpkin picking in your plans?  Or maybe some football tailgating?  Raking leaves?  Well whatever you have on your agenda don't forget to add in some stamping time so you can play along with us at Fab Friday with this fun color challenge!

  Now this color combo is a bit of a blast from the past isn't it?  Pumpkin Pie and Melon Mambo have been staples in the Stampin' Up! color collection for many years and I have to admit that I probably haven't used either one in a quite a while so I had to think a bit when starting out my card.  I don't have many fall sets that this combo would work with so I went to my "cards that I need to make" list for a starting point.  I needed a baby girl card so I went with that theme.  Next roadblock is that I really don't have any current baby sets so I pulled one of the only stamp sets that could work with the colors and the theme; Dino Days.

 It's not always pastels and bunnies when it comes to babies so I like to do something different and more bold when I can.  Babies like bold and bright patterns after all!

  I started with the geometric background after being inspired by this card that I came across on Pinterest which originally came from Instagram.  I just used my 2 main colors but kept the cool alternating triangles.  It took a bit to get the sizing right and I still had to trim a bit off one side (I guess I'm not a good measurer? Or more likely my math is suspect!).  I used some scrap copy paper to get generally the right size so I would suggest that as a good starting point.

  Once I had my background pieces cut to size I embossed them with the Subtle embossing folder.  I built the rest of my card up from that with pops of Basic Black and a bit of sparkle with the new (in the Annual catalog) Shimmer Black embossing powder.  I used it on the dino spikes as well as the little sentiment.

  A bit more sparkle on the dino spots comes from Wink of Stella and doesn't show well in the photo.  I finished off this sweet but bold baby card with a little black baker's twine bow and some Melon Mambo retired enamel shapes.

  I hope you're inspired with these colors and will play along with the team at Fab Friday! 

 Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Dino Days, Itty Bitty Greetings

Ink: Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Versamark

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Basic Black, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie

Accessories: Subtle embossing folder, Layered Oval dies, Dino dies, Shimmer Black embossing powder, dimensionals, black bakers twine, enamel shapes (retired)

 

Rawr-Some Boss - Stampin' Up! Dino Days

   I did get some cards made over the weekend for World Card Making Day and finally got the photos taken.  I took a break (for a minute) to make a non-seasonal card.  I was scrolling through my list of challenge sites that I follow and came across the Festive Friday challenge which was to make a card for Boss' Day on October 16.  I didn't use all the elements they required to participate so I'm not linking my card there but it was a good inspiration to make a thank you/I think you're awesome card.

  I haven't had a boss in a long time as I've been doing the stay at home mom thing and running my "jobby" on the side so I don't really need to make a boss' day card but the inspiration was there and I wanted to mix some fall-ish DSP with a non-seasonal stamp set.

  Nothing fancy happening here just having some fun with the colors pulled straight from the Come to Gather DSP.  These dinosaurs make me smile every time!

  For those of you with fantastic bosses get to work on a card to let them know!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Dino Days

Ink: Pretty Peacock, Merry Merlot, Mint Macaron

Paper: Mint Macaron, Merry Merlot, Come to Gather DSP, Whisper White

Accessories: Layering Ovals dies, Dino dies, Hammered Metal embossing folder, dimensionals

Cup of Cheer - Stampin' Up! Cup of Christmas

  My day got away from me yesterday and by the time I had a moment to take photos of the cards I made of the weekend it was already too dark for pictures.  Today is super gray and drizzly but hopefully it's bright enough to snap some photos because today's card is the last one I have in my stash.

  It's another Cup of Christmas card which is actually being used as a Christmas card!  Wonders never cease huh?

  I was just playing around with a fun color combo pulled directly from the Let it Snow Specialty DSP.  It's cheerful, modern take on the tradition red/green combo. 

  The card base is Shaded Spruce as are the little sprigs coming out of the mug.  The striped patterned paper seemed like a good counterpoint to polka dots of the mug. 

The polka dots are jazzed up with some of the Snowfall Accents Puff Paint.  I also added a little tag to the mug handle as well as some red rhinestones to the sprigs.  It's all popped up with dimensionals onto a Stitched Shape Coastal Cabana square.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Cup of Christmas

Ink: Shaded Spruce, Real Red

Paper: Shaded Spruce, Coastal Cabana, Let It Snow Specialty DSP, Whisper White

Accessories: Cup of Cheer dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Real Red rhinestones, Snowfall Accents Puff Paint, dimensionals

 

Cup of Friendship - Stampin' Up! Cup of Christmas

  Did everyone have some time to stamp on Saturday to celebrate World Card Making Day?  I was able to stamp a few cards but I failed to get photos taken so I'm pulling out a card a made a few weeks ago to share today.  Again, I'm using the Cup of Christmas stamp set for a non-Christmas card.

 
  We all have a few friends that we like to meet for coffee to have catch up chat and I wanted to make a cheerful hello card to recognize those friends.

  The colors and layout are from some long past challenges but I like the bright colors and it was fun to do the mirror image of the mugs with the same stamp.  That's such a cool feature of this stamp set that you should definitely check out. 

  I highlighted some of the bricks in the Brick & Mortar embossing folder with a blender pen and Granny Apple Green ink.  Everything else is pretty basic with some white baker's twine, retired enamel dots and dimensionals.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Cup of Christmas, Well Said

Ink: Pineapple Punch, Poppy Parade, Granny Apple Green, Soft Suede

Paper: Granny Apple Green, Whisper White, Soft Suede

Accessories: Cup of Cheer dies, Brick & Mortar embossing folder, dimensionals, white baker's twine, enamel dots (retired)

Simple Snowman - Stampin' Up! Snowman Season

  It's hard to think in terms of snow and snowmen when the weather is still so hot and humid but I've got to get rolling on Christmas cards or I won't have enough when the time comes.  I designed today's card for the simple reason that the snowman is adorable and I wanted to show my stampers the Snowfall Accents Puff Paint at my last class.

  Sometimes a new product comes out and it's just so cool that you want to use it on every card whether it's appropriate or not.  I think the Snowfall Accents Puff Paint is that to me the last few weeks!  It's so cool to watch when you heat it with the heat gun it just dries up and then poof! you've got a puffy bit of snow on your card!

 

 You can see the Whisper White strips behind the snowman panel have both been edged with the Snowfall Accents.  First I tore the edge off of both pieces so that it wouldn't be such a straight line. and look more like mounds of snow. 

                 Here are some Snowfall Accents Puff Paint tips:

• Make sure to shake the bottle before applying (I did one strip at a time and shook the bottle each time. With the lid ON!).  It does make a difference!
• It comes out very liquidy so be aware to not squeeze the bottle too hard.  You might want to test it out on a piece of scrap paper first.  You can always add more but once you have a big puddle there's not much you can do.
• Don't hold your heat gun too close or in the same spot for a long time.  It takes longer for the Snowfall Accents to "cure" than embossing powder but you need to move the heat gun back and forth over a small section and not just aim in the same spot.  If you get too close or hold the heat in the same spot it can burn your paper.
• The Snowfall Accents can make your ink bleed if you apply it directly to a stamped image.  Test it out first to see. 

  Another thing to note on this card is the fun fiber trim behind the snowman.  It's Real Red Curly Ribbon.  And let me tell you it's not really ribbon at all but kind of like a soft yarn and works really well on these winter cards.

  Thanks for looking! Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Snowman Season

Ink: Coastal Cabana, Smoky Slate

Markers: Real Red, Coastal Cabana, Flirty Flamingo, Shaded Spruce, Pumpkin Pie

Paper: Coastal Cabana, Whisper White, Shaded Spruce

Accessories: Stitched Rectangles dies, Snowfall Accents Puff Paint, dimensionals, Real Red Curly Ribbon