Neutral Coneflowers - Stampin' Up! Nature's Harvest

   I always have fun designing projects for my Quick & Easy card class and really focus on some easy techniques that might get overlooked for all the new bells & whistles.  For this card, keeping to a neutral color palette and adding just a little bit of highlighting with a white colored pencil makes for a nice and clean card but definitely not boring!

  I started with a Soft Suede base and then added a layer of retired DSP in a checked Crumb Cake pattern for just a little bit of easy detail.

  Then the coneflower from Nature's Harvest is stamped on Crumb Cake cardstock with Soft Suede ink.  Using a white colored pencil, parts of the image are highlighted.  A bit of Crumb Cake ribbon is wrapped around the layer and anchored with a sentiment label also stamped in Soft Suede.

  Keeping with the neutral tones a few Elegant Faceted gems are added to the corner.

  See....Quick & Easy.  You can do this technique on any open line art image and it especially looks nice on leaves, trees and flowers.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Nature's Harvest

Ink: Soft Suede

Paper: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Peaceful Prints DSP (retired)

Accessories: white colored pencil, Harvest dies, dimensionals, Elegant Faceted Gems, Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon (retired)

Perfect Apple Birthday - Stampin' Up! Cheerful Basket

   Sometimes participating in a challenge really ends up being a challenge!  I wanted to play along with Seize the Birthday and their theme of 'food, glorious food' but..... I have almost no stamps involving food!  On first look all I could find were candy canes.  That's a big nope for a birthday card! I looked again and found one stamp in a larger set...the apples in Cheerful Basket!!  I don't know how glorious they are but it works for food!

  I started with a Crumb Cake card base, then a strip of Happy Forest Friends DSP  lines the bottom of a piece of Basic White with the edges lightly distressed.

  I added the die cut basket in Crumb Cake with a bit of sponging around the edges.  The apples are stamped in Memento black and colored in with Blends. Basket and apples are popped up on dimensionals.  

  I cut a few leaves in Old Olive to scatter around the base of the basket.  The sentiment from Blessings of Home is stamped in Crumb Cake and trimmed down to fit the vertical space.

  A Real Red fork bow is the last touch for this fall and food themed birthday card.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Cheerful Basket, Blessings of Home

Ink: Memento Black, Crumb Cake

Blends: Real Red light & dark, Granny Apple Green light & dark, Daffodil Delight light

Paper: Crumb Cake, Basic White, Happy Forest Friends DSP

Accessories: Full Basket dies, dimensionals, Real Red ribbon

Blueberry Thank You - Stampin' Up! Berry Blessings

   I don't often use retired stamp sets as once they retire I pack them away for my annual BOGO retirement sale but last week we were gifted some fresh, just picked blueberries and I had just pulled out my retired stash to look for another old set so the Sale-a-Bration set Berry Blessings from 2021 was out and it was a sign that I needed to use it for a thank you card!

  My layout is from CAS Colours & Sketches and while it does have a few layers I think the clean lines and mostly white background keeps it clean and simple.

  As happens sometimes right as I was finishing the card I caught the top front edge on the Pacific Point ink pad and what was a Basic White card base got trimmed down and remounted onto a Night of Navy base.  

 

  I paired the retired stamp set and retired embossing folder, Pinewood Planks, with the Amazing Thanks die set for a nice bold (but still clean) sentiment.

 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Berry Blessings (retired, SAB 2021)

Ink: Garden Green, Granny Apple Green, Night of Navy, Pacific Point

Paper: Night of Navy, Basic White

Accessories: Amazing Thanks dies,  dimensionals, bakers twine, Tasteful Label dies (retired), Pinewood Planks embossing folder (retired)

Floral Good Feelings - Stampin' Up! Good Feelings

   I designed this card for my recent Quick & Easy card class.  I wanted to showcase a big sentiment as well as the pretty Rings of Love DSP floral pattern.  I really loved the colors from the patterned paper and came up with a cheerful card to reflect the sentiment.

  The Ringed with Nature little spray of flowers was a perfect size to add to the corners of the sentiment panel and bring in some of the other colors from the DSP.  The Poppy Parade layer behind the sentiment as well as the Poppy Parade baker's twine bow add even more cheerful brightness to the card.  Th top panel is popped up for added interest.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Good Feelings, Ringed with Nature

Ink: Night of Navy, Mint Macaron, Crushed Curry

Paper: Night of Navy, Poppy Parade, Basic White, Ringed with Love DSP (retired - SAB)

Accessories: dimensionals, baker's twine

Butterfly Spotlight - Stampin' Up! Butterfly Brilliance

   I recently needed a get well card for one of my stampers and saw a great color combo on a closed challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches and thought they would be nice cheerful colors for such a card.

  I love this spotlight technique to bring color to a detailed image without coloring the whole thing.  Just punch out part or parts of the image, color, back with a slightly larger layer (I used circle punches here but nesting die sets work too) and then line the image back up and pop with dimensionals.

  I colored with Stampin' Blends and used Highland Heather (the challenge called for Gorgeous Grape but no Blends in that color so HH is a close match), Mango Melody and Polished Pink.

  The sentiment is from Ringed with Nature and stamped in Memento black onto Polished Pink cardstock and popped on dimensionals. A few clear polished dots complete this get well card.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Butterfly Brilliance, Ringed With Nature

Ink: Memento Black

Blends: Highland Heather light & dark, Polished Pink light & dark, Mango Melody light & dark (retired)

Paper: Basic Black, Basic White

Accessories: circle punches, dimensionals, Polished Dots 

24 Hour Stamp Sale!! Today Only!!

   Stampin' Up! has discounted over 100 stamps in the annual catalog.  Save 15% on select stamps for today only until midnight (Thursday Sept. 15).

  To view the sale stamps and place an order with me click HERE

  To be entered into my monthly door prize drawing please order using Host Code HEJKQYUU For each $25 in product order you get one entry.

  Have fun clearing those wish lists!!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Autumn Thoughts - Stampin' Up! Splendid Stems Dies

   I made a whole stack of this card design the other day for my August customer thank you cards.  I was going for a bit of an autumn vibe with the colors.  The gold foil from the Splendid Day DSP is a nice pairing with the orange tones of the leaf die cuts.

  I backed the foil panel with Cajun Craze, then layered a wide band of Basic White with the sentiment stamped in Cajun Craze ink.

  The die cuts in Cajun Craze, Pale Papaya and Pumpkin Pie are grouped to the side of the sentiment and accented with a Pale Papaya ribbon knot.  

  A brushed brass butterfly finishes the details for this autumn inspired all occasion card.  

  I always leave my customer thank you cards blank inside just tucking in my note on a separate piece of writing paper so that they can use the card for themselves to send out (or keep it for inspiration-- there are no rules with these cards lol!).  If you'd like to place an order and receive one of my hand made thank you cards you can find my ordering link in the sidebar.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Go To Greetings

Ink: Cajun Craze

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, Cajun Craze, Splendid Day DSP, Pale Papaya, Pumpkin Pie

Accessories: Splendid Stems dies, Pale Papaya ribbon, Brushed Brass Butterflies, dimensionals

Bold Snowflake - Stampin' Up! Snow Crystal

   Are you looking for some non-traditional Christmas colors?  My card today has a great combo to try out.  We made this card at my last project and my stampers loved the colors and how easy it is to get this multi-colored effect on a large background stamp.

  The colors used on this card are Highland Heather, Balmy Blue and Starry Sky.  So pretty right?  We used the Snow Crystal stamp mounted on the Stamp-a-ratus and used sponge daubers in each of the colors to apply the ink to the stamp.  Using the Stamp-a-ratus is a key just in case you miss inking up a spot you can easily add more ink and re-stamp and not have to try line it back up perfectly....the Stamp-a-ratus does all the work here!

  Once the snowflake is stamped just cut the square panel into 3 equal strips.  Here the starting panel is 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" so each strip ends up at 1 1/4" x 3 3/4" and adhere them spaced out on the card front. Told you it was easy!

  The sentiment from Brightest Glow is stamped in Starry Sky and cut and backed with Stylish Shapes circles.  Between the circle layers a length of In Color Metallic Woven ribbon is added for some sparkle. The sentiment is then popped on dimensionals.  A few Adhesive Backed Stars are added for even more shine.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Snow Crystal, Brightest Glow

Ink: Highland Heather, Balmy Blue, Starry Sky

Paper: Basic White, Starry Sky, Highland Heather

Accessories: Stylish Shapes dies, Metallic Woven ribbon, Adhesive Backed Stars, dimensionals