Basic in Greens - Stampin' Up! Rooted in Nature

 We have all kinds of green things sprouting up in our yard and at our parks.  We noticed just yesterday that our crepe myrtles have itty bitty leaves.  My card today is inspired by all these greens I'm seeing.

  I joined the CAS(E) This Sketch challenge for this card and stuck with a very basic design and layout.  It was also a good design to use up some of my Garden Lane DSP.

  I used a Mossy Meadow card base and went up in lightness from there.  After the Garden Lane DSP panel I stamped a piece of Pear Pizzazz with one of the leaf/branch images from Rooted in Nature.  I stamped off each time for a very light image.  Then I embossed it with the Subtle embossing folder.  Some retired candy dots in what I think are Always Artichoke are in the corners.  I seriously still have hundred of these things so you'll be seeing them a lot more!  I wrapped a length of linen thread around it and then tied a bow before popping it up with dimensionals.

  The sentiment panel is cut with the Stitched Shapes dies.  I stamped the same leaf/branch image also stamping off and then stamped the sentiment over the top in Mossy Meadow and popped it up with dimensionals.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Rooted in Nature

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Mossy Meadow

Paper: Mossy Meadow, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Garden Lane DSP

Accessories: Subtle embossing folder, Stitched Shapes dies, dimensionals, linen thread, candy dots (retired)

Pastel Butterflies - Stampin' Up! Butterfly Gala

  Usually I can get my cards posted in the mornings but today I am running behind!  I decided today was the day to attempt our first big grocery shopping trip in nearly a month.  My husband had grabbed a few things when he had to be out for other reasons a few weeks ago but it's been a long time since I made a store run.  Usually I'm a once a week, or once every 10 days shopper.  We were all out of milk already for a few days and were either out of our quite low on a lot of other things so I figured it might as well be today.  I needed 2 carts to leave the store!  But I won't have to go back for a good long while so we can hunker down at home for at least a month.  I hope.

  My card to day is for the Just Add Ink challenge.  They have a pretty pastel combination for us this time.  I'm usually not a huge fan of baby pinks but for certain cards it works.

  For the background stamping I actually cut apart the 2 butterflies so I could stamp them where I wanted to much easier.  They are connected to make it easy to line up in the punch to punch both sizes at once but I found it worked just fine to line the edges back up for stamping in preparation to punch.  Don't be afraid to cut them apart if you find it works better for your stamping.  The punch works fine on one at a time as well.

  Only a few things to note on this project; the vellum leaves are cut with the Frosted Bouquet dies and tucked under the other elements.  The butterflies are colored with Blends (colors listed below), added a few candy dots and From My Heart faceted gems for a little bit of embellishment on the popped rectangle panel.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Butterfly Gala

Ink: Blushing Bride, Highland Heather, Balmy Blue

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

Paper: Blushing Bride, Whisper White, vellum, Gingham Gala DSP (retired)

Accessories: Butterfly Duet punch, Frosted Bouquet dies, Stitched Nested Label dies, lace ribbon, dimensionals, From My Heart faceted gems, candy dots (retired), dimensionals

Vintage Easter - Stampin' Up! Free As A Bird

    Only a few days left to share Easter projects.  I've got to get my cards in the mail so they can be delivered before Sunday.  Would it be wrong to mail them out with my Santa postage left from Christmas??  I ordered new postage stamps online and got them on Friday and I have to say the choices online are so much better than what the post office usually has.  I couldn't decide so I ended up buying $55 worth!  Normally that would last a really long time but I have been sending out several cards every day so we'll see when I have to restock!

  I made this project at the end of last week after seeing the challenge over at The Card Concept.  They have a nice inspiration photo to work with.  My card ended up being a Shabby Chic/Vintage style with the sponging and Tin Tile embossing folder.  My inspiration from the photo are the colors, cross, bird and flowers.

 

  One of my most favorite embossing folders ever is the Tin Tile e.f.  It just has such a nice detailed pattern and to my surprise, makes a lovely cross.  I didn't realize it until I started this card but if you emboss a 4" x 5.25" piece of cardstock you can line it up just so in the folder so that if you trim out the top right and left squares as well as the 2 bottom ones on each outside row you end up with a perfect cross!  I sponged my cross with Crumb Cake ink and adhered it with dimensionals to a panel of Crumb Cake that is embossed with the Subtle embossing folder and sponged around the edges.

  The bird is stamped in Soft Suede and them colored with Pretty Peacock blends.  I fussy cut him and tucked him behind my bouquet of flowers made with the Bouquet Bunch dies.  It's hard to see but the flower centers are lightly colored with light Pool Party Blends.

  I wrapped a bit of burlap ribbon around the stems and and finished it off with a Pretty Peacock faceted gem.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Free As A Bird

Ink: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede

Blends: Pretty Peacock light & dark, Pool Party light

Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Mossy Meadow

Accessories: Subtle e.f., Tin Tile e.f., Bouquet Bunch dies, burlap ribbon, faceted gem, dimensionals

Blue Palms Thanks - Stampin' Up! Tropical Chic

  Happy Palm Sunday!  Even though we aren't able to worship with our church family we are saying our Hosannas and waving our palm branches at home.  We've been lucky to have our church be able to stream services on Facebook so we've done church from our couch the last few weeks.  It's definitely different (my singing is really subpar in a small group setting lol!!) but also similar enough to be comforting.

  My card today is a sketch challenge from Freshly Made Sketches and then the colors I saw in a home decorating catalog.  The catalog showed large prints of leaves in a beautiful rich blue and they were matted in gold frames.  It was so pretty and the blue was unexpected...you always seem to think of tropical leaves in greens but the blue was gorgeous.  I thought I could use the blue/gold combo for a card.

   I don't do square cards very often but since it's a challenge I thought why not.  It's a bit hard to adjust to a smaller area to work with lol!  I got all the elements crammed on the card front though!

  The card base is Whisper White thick, then a slightly smaller piece of Whisper White embossed with the Subtle embossing folder.  A strip of retired Brushed Gold cardstock is adhered to the edge as well as used for the center stitched circle die cut.

  All 3 leaves are stamped in soon to be retiring Blueberry Bushel ink and then die cut.  The center palm is popped on dimensionals with a little bit of gold twine tied around the stem.

  The "thanks" is from the Here's a Card stamp set and is embossed in gold.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Tropical Chic, Here's a Card

Ink: Blueberry Bushel, Versamark

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Brushed Gold (retired)

Accessories: Tropical dies, Subtle embossing folder, Stitched Shapes dies, gold embossing powder, dimensionals, gold twine (retired)

Bunny Koala? - Stampin' Up! Bonanza Buddies

  Quarantine or not things always get started later for our family on Saturdays!  I usually don't blog on the weekends but with all that's happening and having so much extra time in my stamp room I have plenty of projects to share these days.  And since I've been doing mostly challenges I want to get them posted before the challenge ends. BC (Before Covid) I would do a lot of challenges but never was able to get them photographed and posted in time.  So I feel that I am doing ok on being consistent in these uncertain times!

  My card today is a color challenge over at Color Throwdown.  They use generic color shades so I used kraft, Blushing Bride, Petal Pink, Pear Pizzazz, Smoky Slate and Basic Gray for my project.

This is a variation of my Bunny Pig card from last week.  I was just so tickled at the little bunny ears with the daisy punch that when I saw the colors for this challenge I figured I could do a koala with bunny ears also.  I used a lot of different supplies for this card and really enjoyed using some older dies as well as the retired Kraft paper that SU carried a few years ago to complete my little Easter scene.

  First the background is the Breathtaking Bouquet stamp from the Mini catalog.  I stamped it in Versamark and then embossed it with clear embossing powder.  It's a really cool look and adds some nice subtle texture.

  The egg die cut is from the Dino dies.  I cut 2 halves and lightly sponged the edges with Smoky Slate for definition. A Pear Pizzazz shimmer ribbon knot decorates the side of the egg.  The flower stem and blossoms are cut with the Bouquet Bunch dies.  The flower centers all have a small adhesive pearl.

  The koala body is stamped in Smoky Slate and his face is Basic Gray.  The nose has a layer of Clear Wink of Stella for some shimmer.  The bunny ears are punched with the Daisy punch out of retired White Velvet paper and Blushing Bride ink and a blender pen are used to color the insides.

  The more I'm doing Easter cards with non-Easter stamp sets the more I think next year I'm going to have to get a real Easter set so as not to run out of ideas!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Bonanza Buddies, Breathtaking Bouquet

Ink: Versamark, Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Blushing Bride

Paper: Kraft (retired), Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride, Petal Pink, White velvet (retired)

Accessories: Dino dies, Bonanza dies, Bouquet Bunch dies, clear embossing powder, dimensionals, adhesive pearls, Pear Pizzazz shimmer ribbon (retired)

Friendly Cat - Stampin' Up! Nine Lives

   We had a little kitty visit our yard a few days ago.  It was a friendly little thing and looked well cared for so I assume it's a neighborhood cat wandering about spreading some love.  She hung about our yard for quite some time while the boys were outside playing.  Aggie spotted her through the fence and was very excited to try to meet her; the cat wanted nothing at all to do with a meet and greet though.  Even though it was just a cat walking around it was enough of a novelty that it broke up some of the sameness of the day.  I guess we're at that point where little things like that are way more interesting than they normally would be.

  And it so happens that I was planning to make a cat card so it seems like good timing!  I used the challenge at Stampin' Up! Only Challenges for my sketch.  It's to case one of the card designs on page 42 of the Mini catalog.  I liked the layout of the long narrow card but those always seem impractical to mail so I just used a regular sized card base.

  Lately I've been using a lot of Pool Party so I thought a bit of a color change was in order so Balmy Blue takes the stage on this card.  It's a Balmy Blue base with another layer of Balmy Blue embossed with the Tufted embossing folder.

  The large main panel is watercolor paper and I used Colored Pencils in Balmy Blue and Granny Apple Green and an Aquapainter to do the background.  I stamped some open hearts in Balmy Blue onto the sky.

  The kitty cat is stamped in Smoky Slate then I added a little bit of lighter gray with the Basic Gray colored pencil.  After punching out I popped him/her? up on dimensionals.

  To pull in another spring-y cheerful color I used some retired Gingham Gall DSP in Daffodil Delight to stamp the sentiment banner and the ball of yarn which is then fussy cut.  A bakers twine bow embellishes the banner for the final detail.

  I'm continuing to send out a lot of cards otherwise I don't know what I would do with everything I'm making!  Maybe I'll have to start selling some to help make some cash to pay for all the postage!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Nine Lives

Ink: Smoky Slate, Balmy Blue

Paper: Balmy Blue, watercolor paper, Whisper White, Gingham Gala DSP (retired)

Accessories: Cat punch, Tufted embossing folder, dimensionals, Basic Gray baker's twine (retired), Colored Pencils

Tropical Hello - Stampin' Up! Tropical Chic

  About the only thing interesting happening around our house these days is that our bluebird pair just hatched 4 eggs so we've been watching them on the bird camera a lot.   It fun to see Rachel & Andy (those are the parents) come and go with bugs and other unidentifiable food things.  This is the first time we've had 4 eggs; in the past there have been 5 or 6 eggs so we're curious to see if this family grows more quickly or not.

  For my card today I'm playing along with the sketch over at Global Design Project.  I went bold with these colors and was originally inspired by a bedding print I saw in a catalog.

  First I stamped the background by using my bright colors and different leaves from the Tropical Chic stamp set.  My idea was to make custom DSP and then layer the banner and circle elements right on top.  Well once I finished the background it was super busy and bright and I felt that any other element would kind of get lost. 

  I decided to use a piece of vellum and emboss it with the Subtle embossing folder for a bit of texture and to also tone down the background stamping.  I think it worked!  I still can see my leaves and colors but it lets the banner and circle be the focal element.

  The banner is embossed with the Coastal Weave embossing folder and then I embossed in white the Hello from the Varied Vases set.  I added an enamel dot and a white baker's twine bow.

  On a Whisper White stitched circle I layered the die cut leaves and the stamped and die cut flowers using dimensionals for some of them.  I used markers to highlight the centers of the flowers.

   Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Tropical Chic, Varied Vases

Ink: Blueberry Bushel, Granny Apple Green, Poppy Parade, Bermuda Bay, Mango Melody, Versamark

Paper: Blueberry Bushel, Whisper White, Vellum, Granny Apple Green

Accessories: Subtle embossing folder, Coastal Weave embossing folder, Stitched Shapes dies, Tropical dies, dimensionals, enamel dots, bakers twine, white embossing powder

Soft Spring Poppies - Stampin' Up! Painted Poppies

  Today's card took a while to make but not because there is anything difficult about it but because all of the coloring is with Blends.  And I'm not terribly proficient with them so it takes a bit of time!

  I used the Paper Players challenge which is a tic-tac-toe board and you're supposed to pick three in a row and create a card using those elements.  I think I have several three in a rows with my card.  A happy accident I guess.  I've got "ribbon, die cut, pink" and "diecut, spring, birthday" So double points for me right?

 

  I started by opening my annual catalog to a random page and choosing a layout to case.  My page was 75 and I used the yellow and green card as my starting point.  Remember that caseing isn't about an element for element match of a card but using certain parts to get your project started with the supplies you have at hand.

  The Layered Leaves embossing folder on the sample was nice but I wanted to make them a bit more interesting so I colored all of the raised images with my light Mint Macaron Blends marker.  For the layered leaf die cut I colored the top part with my dark Mint Macaron Blends for some contrast between the layers.  All of the flowers are stamped in Smoky Slate and colored with various Blends (listed below in supplies).

  I liked the circle? wreath? label? die cut element in the Painted Labels dies so I used that for my sentiment base layer and arranged all the flowers and the leaf around that with various levels of dimensionals.  The ribbon is on the right side is retired organza ribbon which I had just the right scrap for a little detail.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Painted Poppies, Bonanza Buddies (sentiment)

Ink: Smoky Slate

Blends: Mint Macaron light & dark, Rococo Rose light & dark, Flirty Flamingo light & dark, Petal Pink light & dark

Paper: Mint Macaron, Whisper White

Accessories: Painted Labels dies, Poppy Moments dies, Layered Leaves embossing folder, dimensionals, circle punch, organza ribbon (retired)