In Good Taste Thanks - Stampin' Up! Itty Bitty Greetings

    I generally find masculine cards harder to make than cards for women and a masculine card for a college age guy even harder.  I wanted to send a thank you to a young man who has been doing a lot to help our church have online worship every Sunday.  He's gotten a lot of the tech and video stuff running smoothly and I wanted to make sure his efforts were recognized at least by our family. 

  The In Good Taste DSP which will be in the new annual catalog coming out on June 3rd seemed like a good place to start.

   I started with the new In Color Misty Moonlight for a card base.  The colors listed for this set of DSP says Night of Navy but for this pattern Misty Moonlight is perfect.  Next is a layer of the In Good Taste DSP.  Then I trimmed a very narrow bit of another In Good Taste pattern with the quatrefoil shape to go across the cardfront.

  And to use as many new products on a card as I can I kept on with a strip of Whisper White embossed with the Tasteful Textile embossing folder.  I adhered a piece of Just Jade In Color ribbon over the Whisper White so a bit would peek through my banners.  I cut the banners with the Tasteful Labels dies after embossing one with the sentiment from Itty Bitty Greetings.  I popped the banners on dimensionals and trimmed off the overhang on each end.

  Because it looked a little bland and I wanted a bit more of the Just Jade color to show a little ribbon knot is the final touch.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Itty Bitty Greetings

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Misty Moonlight, Whisper White, In Good Taste DSP

Accessories: Tasteful Labels dies, white embossing powder, Tasteful Texture embossing folder, Just Jade In Color ribbon, dimensionals

Retro Gold & Aqua - Stampin' Up! Varied Vases

   Here's another card from the vault from a few weeks back.  It was for one challenge or another and I didn't get it shared in time.  I think it came out with kind of a cool retro vibe.

  Check out all that golden glitz!  I started with a Coastal Cabana card base. Then a layer of gold foil topped with a piece of Whisper White embossed with the Parisian Flourish embossing folder.  I sponged Versamark over the top of the embossing for a bit of randomness and then heat embossed with gold powder. 

  A layer of torn and crinkled Smoky Slate cardstock is the anchor for the the rest of the elements that make up the focal point.  I dug around in my scrap ribbon and came up with 3 different ribbons to go with the color combination.  I layered those on the Smoky Slate cardstock.

   I embossed the flower and vase in gold on Whisper White then cut it out with one of the Stitched So Sweetly dies.  I used the light Bermuda Bay Blends marker to color the blossoms.  The label is then popped on dimensionals.

  The sentiment is stamped in Versamark and embossed in gold on Bermuda Bay cardstock.  It is also cut out with another Stitched So Sweetly die and popped on mini dimensionals.

    I'm trying out a new Blogger interface for this post so if things seem wonky it's because I couldn't figure out how to do some stuff that is normally very easy.  I'm not big on change but I thought I would give it a go so we'll see how that works out lol!  If you see anything on your end that's a problem please let me know so I can figure it out!

  Thanks for looking! Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Varied Vases

Ink: Versamark

Blends: Bermuda Bay light

Paper: Coastal Cabana, Whisper White, Gold foil, Smoky Slate, Bermuda Bay

Accessories: gold embossing powder, Parisian Flourish embossing folder, Stitched So Sweetly dies, dimensionals, assorted ribbon (retired)

Sweet Bee Mother's Day - Stampin' Up! Honey Bee

  Still cleaning out the "cards to be uploaded" folder!  Only a little bit of time left to order out of the Mini Catalog so if you've had your eye on this Honey Bee bundle now is the time to order it!  We've been seeing bees of all sorts buzzing around the yard now that there are lots of flowers blooming.  Aggie being the goofy lab she is keeps trying to stalk them and bite at them as they buzz past her head.  She's going to get a big surprise if she catches one!!

  
  I've enjoyed stamping with the Honey Bee stamp set and Detailed Bees dies over the past 5 months.  It's a cute set and works really well as an all purpose set for lots of occasions.  I would certainly use Honey Bee as I would a lot of my flower sets.

  This card starts with a Whisper White base, then a layer of Peaceful Poppies DSP.  I stamped the hive in Daffodil Delight and popped it up over a piece of black ribbon and 2 diecut flowers.  The flowers are colored with markers; Pool Party and Pear Pizzazz.  Looking at the photo now I should have used a darker blue so the blossoms would show up better.  Oh well!

  The bee is stamped in Memento black and colored in lightly with the light Daffodil Delight Blends marker.  It's also popped on dimensionals.

  I stamped the sentiment from Itty Bitty Greetings right below the hive.  To jazz up the card front a bit I added small adhesive pearls to the bottom of the hive as well as a few sequin/pearl combos around the hive.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Honey Bee, Itty Bitty Greetings

Ink: Memento Black, Daffodil Delight

Blends: Daffodil Delight light

Stampin' Write Markers: Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Peaceful Poppies DSP

Accessories: Details Bee dies, dimensionals, adhesive pearls, black ribbon (retired), sequins (retired)

 

Purple Poppies - Stampin' Up! Poppy Moments Dies

  Now that Mother's Day is over and all the moms have received their cards (I hope!) I can share on my blog.  Plus I haven't gotten much stamping in over this weekend so nothing brand new to share at the moment.

  I took full advantage of all the beautiful poppy themed products for this card.

  The card base is Whisper White thick, then a layer of Whisper White embossed with the Subtle embossing folder.

  A piece of the Peaceful Poppies DSP backed with a layer of Pool Party is the background for the rest of this card.

  The poppies and leaves are die cut using the Poppy moments dies.  The centers of the poppies have a bit of shimmer thanks to the Wink of Stella pen.  Both poppies are popped on dimensionals

  The sentiment is stamped in Memento black on a narrow strip of Pool Party.  A crinkled seam binding fork bow finishes off this floral card.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Something to Celebrate (retired)


Ink: Memento black

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Pool Party, Peaceful Poppies DSP, Rich Razzleberry, Blackberry Bliss, Basic Black, Old Olive, Mossy Meadow

Accessories: Poppy Moments dies, dimensionals, Wink of Stella, crinkled seam binding ribbon, Subtle embossing folder

Bouquet of Flowers - Stampin' Up! Jar of Flowers - Fab Friday 190

  Happy Friday everyone!  Yes, it's Friday; I checked the calendar to be sure lol!  And I also know it's Friday because we've got a new challenge over at Fab Friday!  I hope those of you working have a day or 2 off to do some full on relaxing including stamping!

  We are doing colors this time!  A lot of colors!  This was a tough one for me since there. is. so. much. pink!  But it's not called a challenge for nothing.  I think I did pretty well!

  The only idea I could think of when I saw these colors was flowers so that's what I went with.  It was also a good reason to ink up my brand new preorder set Jar of Flowers.  While I didn't use the jar on this card I think the flowers easily stand on their own!

  The card base is Blushing Bride and then I embossed a piece of vellum with one of the new Greenery embossing folders.  It's a two pack of embossing folders that are narrower than the traditional folders and are great patterns.

  For the flowers and stems I stamped the images on Whisper White with Memento black then colored them in with Stampin' Blends.  We don't have markers for every single color so sometimes you have to find one that's "close enough" so I used Lovely Lipstick as my close enough for Melon Mambo.  No Blushing Bride marker either but I didn't miss it with the other nice bright colors.  After coloring both pieces are fussy cut. I stamped the yellow flowers a second time and colored and cut them out to pop up with mini dimensionals.

  I wrapped a piece of narrow Whisper White ribbon around the stems and "tied" it with a Melon Mambo candy dot.

  The 'hello' from Well Said is stamped in Melon Mambo and cut out with the flag die from the new Tasteful Labels die set.

  I can't wait to see all the creativity with this set of colors!  Head over to the Fab Friday challenge site and see the rest of the Design Team inspiration and then play along with us!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Jar of Flowers, Well Said

Ink: Memento black, Melon Mambo

Blends: Call Me Clover light & dark, Pineapple Punch light & dark, Lovely Lipstick light & dark, Flirty Flamingo light & dark

Paper: Blushing Bride, vellum, Whisper White

Accessories: Greenery embossing folder, Tasteful Labels dies, dimensionals, Whisper White ribbon (retired), candy dot (retired)

Vintage Star Hello - Stampin' Up! Birds & Branches

  In normal times our family would be getting ready for an annual Memorial Day weekend camping trip with our church this coming weekend.  We enjoy the fellowship, food, fishing and kayaking during the weekend and will miss the outing for sure.  About the only thing that might be the same this year is our family heading out on our kayaks in the river...maybe.  It all depends on the weather and I hope we end up with a nice day because a change of social distancing scenery would be nice!

  I'm playing along with the The Card Concept today with a vintage inspired card.  I was inspired by the wood grain, colors, metal buckets and the stars.  See the end of my post for the inspiration photo.  There isn't much stamping on this card but I did pull out some scraps of retired DSP to create with so I feel good about using what I have on hand.

 This card starts with a Night of Navy base then a layer of retired Wood Textures DSP.  I created the patchwork star by adhering different patterns and sizes of DSP (all retired) onto a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock.  I cut a star using the largest Stitched Star die.  This patchwork look is a great way to use up smaller pieces of DSP that coordinate.  A friend sent me a cool card that used this technique with a big die cut heart so you can really use any larger open shaped die.

  Next I stamped the 'hello' onto Very Vanilla in Night of Navy and cut it out with the new Tasteful Labels dies.

  The little galvanized metal buckets in the inspiration photo made me think of the retired Galvanized Metallic paper we had a while back and I thought it would pair wonderfully with the new jar punch.  After punching it out I used my scoreboard to make little scores along where the jar threads would be for a bit of detailing.

  I wrapped some natural colored thick baker's twine around the neck and added a retired Vintage Trinket safety pin to the knot.

  To decorate the jar I stamped a heart in Cherry Cobbler and Night of Navy using the heart stamp from the Birds & Branches stamp set and cut them out with the coordinating die adding a plain Very Vanilla heart also.  I popped the hearts up on dimensionals to finish off this card.

  I hope you all have some fun plans for the Memorial Day weekend in spite of the quarantine.  Maybe some camping in the back yard?

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Well Said, Birds & Branches

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy

Paper: Night of Navy, Very Vanilla, Wood Textures DSP (retired), various retired DSPs, Galvanized Metallic paper (retired)

Accessories: Stitched Stars dies, Jar punch, Birds & More dies, Tasteful Labels dies, dimensionals, Vintage Trinkets (retired), thick baker's twine (retired)

Christmas Berry Wreath - Stampin' Up! Thoughtful Blooms

   In these trying times we must make do with what we have on hand and that includes trying to make Christmas cards with only 2 Christmas sets.  I wanted to play along with the CAS Christmas Challenge which is to make a card using winter berries but there was a problem..... no winter berries to be found in either of my Christmas sets. 

  What to do? What to do?  I dug around and the only stamp set that had something even close to berries was the Sale-a-Bration set Thoughtful Blooms.  And it is a teeny tiny image!  How to get this itty bitty image to be the basis for a whole card.  Luckily part of the challenge is CAS which is Clean and Simple.  I decided that using the berry image to create a wreath might work.  That prompted me to figure out how to make a template for my Stamparatus that I had been putting off for some time.  It was far easier than I thought it would be and I'm pleased with how it came out.

  The berries are stamped in Shaded Spruce and Merry Merlot and once I got the wreath all set I cut it out with circle dies and added a larger circle in Copper Glimmer paper behind it for some shine.

  The double bow is Cherry Cobbler baker's twine which is a decent match for the Merry Merlot and that's added to the wreath with a glue dot.

  The sentiment from Merry Christmas to All (which is retiring in case you still want it) is stamped in Versamark right onto the DSP and embossed with copper embossing powder.  The DSP is retired Joyous Noel and the color is the retired Tranquil Tide but is a nice match to the Shaded Spruce berry stems.

  Overall I think it took longer to find a berry stamp and make the wreath template for the Stamparatus than it did to actually stamp this card.  And it was fun trying something new and using up some retired supplies.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Thoughtful Blooms (retired SAB), Merry Christmas to All

Ink: Shaded Spruce, Merry Merlot, Versamark

Paper: Very Vanilla thick, Very Vanilla, Copper Glimmer paper (retired), Joyous Noel DSP (retired)

Accessories: Circle dies, Cherry Cobbler baker's twine, copper embossing powder, dimensionals

 

Spring Bird - Stampin' Up Birds & Branches

  My card for today uses another of the demonstrator preorder bundles.  I couldn't resist the Birds & Branches stamp set and coordinating dies.  Even though the Bird Ballad set is carrying over I needed to have this one too!  The styles are quite different and really I just can't resist.

  I used the color challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments to create this little spring scene.

  The soft colors are perfect for a sweet little scene with a nest in the trees.  I used Crumb Cake and Soft Suede for the nest and branche.  After stamping the larger branch I added a few smaller ones to fill out the space.  The leaves are stamped in Mint Macaron once then stamped again without reinking the stamp.  I like that this makes each branch a little more full.

  The eggs are stamped off once in Rococo Rose for a little bit lighter look.  The bird is stamped in 2 layers of Seaside Spray ink with the first layer stamped off once.  I added the pink chest with the light Rococo Rose Blends marker and then used the color lifter to lighten it.

  The Birds & More dies have some fun "extra" shapes.  In addition to the dies to cut out the birds and nest etc. there is a cool leafy vine edge die that I used here as a border along the side of my scene.

  To finish off the details of this card I used the new Many Mates stamp set for the sentiment and die cut it with the new Tasteful Labels dies.  Look at that fun detail along the edge.  I popped the circle up with dimensionals over a piece of Rococo Rose scalloped linen trim.

  This is a cute set and I can't wait to make more cards with it!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Birds & Branches, Many Mates

Ink: Seaside Spray, Rococo Rose, Mint Macaron, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede

Blends: Rococo Rose light, Color Lifter

Paper: Seaside Spray, Mint Macaron, Whisper White, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Birds & More dies, Tasteful Labels dies, dimensionals, scalloped linen trim