Peace and Joy - Stampin' Up!® Simple Alphabet

   Sometimes you want to make a card where the sentiment is the focus but all of your sentiment stamps are too small or don't say what you want them to.  No problem!  Just stamp it yourself using the Simple Alphabet stamp set!

  I started this design with a Secret Sea card base with another layer of Secret Sea embossed with the Softly Woven embossing folder.  Before adhering the panel down I added a length of Barely Blush Bordered ribbon across the center.

  Using Secret Sea ink and the Simple Alphabet stamp set I created my words.  I find them really easy to line up and I just stamped the letters with a small bit of space between them.  The ampersand is stamped in Strawberry Slush.  Then I fussy cut the words and ampersand.

  The words are popped on dimensionals on a Basic White Scalloped Christmas Cheer die cut panel.  The big scallops really complement the curves of the letters. The scalloped rectangle is backed with a piece of Strawberry Slush.

  I accented the focal point sentiment with a cluster of holly leaves and berries die cut using the Home for Christmas die set.  The berries are covered with clear Wink of Stella and both the berries and leaves have white gel pen accents.

  And the final touch for this card is a Barely Blush fork bow to finish the ribbon detail.  Want to see how to make a fork bow check out my how to video.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Simple Alphabet

Ink: Secret Sea, Strawberry Slush

Paper: Secret Sea, Strawberry Slush, Basic White, Granny Apple Green

Accessories: Softly Woven embossing folder, Scalloped Christmas Cheer dies, Home for Christmas dies, Barely Slush Bordered ribbon, Wink of Stella, dimensionals, white gel pen

Celebrate in Circles - Stampin' Up!® Round About Messages

   I've just been dropping the ball lately and I completely forgot that I had a card due for the CAS Colours & Sketches challenge that posted yesterday.  It's an every other week challenge and for some reason I was thinking I still had a week!  I feel like I'm going crazy some days!  Anyway, here's my card, a day late and a dollar short as my dad says!

Rachel has given us a lovely grouping of circles to work with though you can swap them out for another shape or mix and match!

  Since I was already late I didn't want to overthink it and I knew I needed to add to my masculine birthday cards stash so I went with Pool Party & Secret Sea as a color combo and used the Round About Messages stamp set.

  The Stylish Shapes dies continue to be a staple in my card making and they give just the right amount of detail for a clean and simple card.

  I hope you'll play along with this sketch and share your design in our gallery so we can all oooohhhh and aaaahhhh!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Round About Messages

Ink: Secret Sea, Pool Party

Blends: Daffodil Delight light & dark, Pool Party light & dark

Paper: Basic White think, Basic White, Pool Party, Moonlit Flora DSP

Accessories: Stylish Shapes dies, dimensionals, Clear Ribboned Adhesive Dots (retired)

Hydrangea Christmas - Stampin' Up!® Home for Christmas

   I love finding new color combos to use for Christmas cards and since we get new In Colors each year the options increase giving me even more colors to use.  This year Peaceful Pine and Hydrangea Hue have come together for a knock out pairing for the season!  

  The colors come from the Color Dare Challenge and I'm so glad I saw it since I was wanting to use Hydrangea Hue on a Christmas card and was just waiting on some inspiration!

  I started this one with a Basic White thick base then added a striped background of Hydrangea Hue using Two-Toned cardstock on the outside edges. The strips are embossed with the Swirls of Magic embossing folder and sanded down to really bring out the pattern.  The center panel is a piece of 2026-2028 In Color Painted Patterns DSP.

  I used the Home for Christmas bundle for the stamping and die cutting.  The little tag die cut has been getting a workout the last month or so and you can see it used a lot if you scroll back through my posts.

  The tree is stamped in Peaceful Pine and is popped on the tag with dimensionals.  It's topped with a star that started as Basic White and I colored with the Hydrangea Hue Shimmer Brush.  The sentiment from Soiree Celebrations is stamped in Hydrangea Hue ink.

  The tag is detailed with a bit of Peaceful Pine scalloped trim (cut with the little pocket die) and a few 2026-2028 In Color Dots.  The tag ties are a bit of retired Metallic Edged ribbon and retired Orchid Oasis baker's twine.

 Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Home for Christmas, Soiree Celebrations

Ink: Peaceful Pine, Hydrangea Hue

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, Two-Toned Hydrangea Hue, Peaceful Pine, 2026-2028 In Color Painted Patterns

Accessories: Home for Christmas Dies, Swirls of Magic embossing folder, dimensionals, 2026-2028 In Color Dots, Hydrangea Hue Shimmer Brush, Metallic Edged Ribbon (retired), Orchid Oasis baker's twine (retired)

Season's Treats - Stampin' Up!® Home for Christmas

 Once September hits I definitely begin to look ahead to Christmas and my Christmas card stash.  I've been slowly adding to that stash every week while also trying out ideas that could be used at my upcoming classes.  Stampin' Up!®'s Home for Christmas bundle has been giving me lots of fun ideas and images to work with!  The gingerbread men and peppermint candies take center stage on today's card!

  Overall I like the design of this one but I'm not sure it would be a great one for a class.  I had a heck of a time getting 3 decent gingerbread men images.  Not sure if I got a dud stamp set or what but ink kept pooling in the buttons and icing lines no matter how lightly I inked up. And that just wont work in a class setting.  I persevered and finally got 'good enough' images.  I layered the gingerbread men alternating them with stamped peppermint candies along the side of the card front.

  Under the men I used a bit of recently retired Natural Hues Specialty Paper with torn edges and Early Espresso scallops.  The scalloped edge die is in the Home for Christmas dies and are a wonderfully fun detail to add to a card at Christmas.  The striped DSP is the retired Merry, Bold & Bright DSP from a few years back.  The retired products also don't lend themselves to classes lol!

 The sentiment from the Noel Tidings stamp set is stamped in Early Espresso and is fussy cut and popped up over a smaller scalloped edge trimmed from the pocket die in the Home for Christmas dies.  An Early Espresso baker's twine bow is added underneath.  A few pink sequins finish off this design.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Home for Christmas, Noel Tidings

Ink: Pecan Pie, Melon Mambo, Early Espresso

Paper: Early Espresso, Basic White, Melon Mambo, Natural Hues Specialty Paper (retired), Merry, Bold & Bright DSP (retired)

Accessories: Home for Christmas dies, dimensionals, Early Espresso baker's twine (retired), Adhesive-backed sequins trio (retired)

Hello Sunshine - Stampin' Up!® Round About Messages

   I recently held a card making class for fellow moms of college kids to make cards that we can send to our kids so that they can learn that their university mail room isn't just for Amazon packages!  The designs for the cards are what I would call 'quick & easy' and very doable for new stampers to make.  The Round About Messages stamp set is perfect for this purpose!

  So cute right?  And very easy to make!  I used a nice neutral Basic Beige card base then a strip of the retired Sunny Days DSP with the ends cut at an angle.  Swap in any current DSP that has a bit of yellow in it and use that same yellow to stamp the sun.

  I stamped the hello three times without re-inking in Night of Navy ink on a die cut tag.  The stamped off gradient color look is a nice simple beginner technique to introduce to new stampers.  You can find the tag die in the Home for Christmas die set. The tag has a baker's twine tie and is popped on the card front with dimensionals.

  The sun is stamped in Crushed Curry and is punched out and is also popped up on a dimensional.  The final touch are a few retired Milky Dots in Night of Navy.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Round About Messages

Ink: Night of Navy, Crushed Curry

Paper: Basic Beige, Basic White, Sunny Days DSP (retired)

Accessories: Home for Christmas dies, circle punch, dimensionals, baker's twine, Milky Dots (retired)

Christmas Tidings - Stampin' Up!® Noel Tidings

   You can't beat a traditional red and green Christmas card and I leaned in heavy with that using the Noel Tidings bundle and threw in a bit of gold and rustic wood for a classic seasonal card.

    I started with a piece of Country Woods DSP to cover the whole card front.  Next is a panel of Poppy Parade topped with a piece of embossed Basic White that I had in my scrap bag.  It's embossed with the retired Beautiful Pattern embossing folder but any of your favorite folders would make a good substitute here. 

 Next I stamped one of the pine branches on the light side of Two-Toned Peaceful Pine cardstock a few times and die cut them.  A few branches and Poppy Parade berries come next.  They are all layered under a Framed & Fabulous hot foil circle.  A bit of retired ribbon from my scrap stash is tucked under the circle as well.

  The detailed circle is a nice spot to highlight a bigger sentiment so I stamped the big Merry Christmas from the Noel Tiding set and then fussy cut it and popped it on dimensionals.

  A little bit more gold is added with some gold adhesive-backed dots on the left side of the large panel.  And some sparkle is added to the berries with clear Wink of Stella

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.  

Stamps: Noel Tidings

Ink: Peaceful Pine, Poppy Parade, Early Espresso

Paper: Country Woods DSP, Poppy Parade, Basic White, Two-Toned Peaceful Pine

Hot Foil: gold foil, Framed & Fabulous dies

Accessories: Noel Tidings dies, dimensionals, Gold adhesive-backed dots, Beautiful Pattern embossing folder (retired), Wink of Stella

Christmas Two Ways - Stampin' Up!® Home for Christmas

The New at SU! international design team is back this month with a fun theme of "From Simple to Stepped Up" where we will be showing how to take a basic design all the way to 'WOW'!  We hope you are inspired!  Be sure to hop around with us and leave some love on each project.  We love hearing from you.  The hop list is at the bottom of my post.

I'm showcasing the Home for Christmas bundle and the Timeless Christmas DSP for my projects.  I made a little grouping of Christmas trees and alternated colors for the sentiment and then added that to a nice Scalloped Christmas Cheer rectangle.  A star on the tree and a ribbon knot finish the details. Sweet and simple!

Now let's step it up!  I took the basic layout from the first card and added texture, layers and gold for this more detailed second card.  I used the same DSP and same Scalloped Christmas Cheer rectangle but brought in texture by adding a piece of Two-Toned Peaceful Pine cardstock (light side) embossed with the Softly Woven embossing folder.

  The sentiments are in the same spot as the first card but I highlighted them by embossing them in gold on strips of cardstock in my card colors and popped them on dimensionals for more interest. A few gold adhesive-backed dots also accent the sentiment area.

  The trio of trees stays the same but I stamped and die cut all three and added them to a die cut tag that's popped on the side of the scalloped rectangle.  I added gold glimmer paper stars for all three trees, a ribbon tag tie, a strip of dotted DSP and a mini button and baker's twine bow.

  I hope you've gotten some good ideas of how to step up your designs!  Enjoy the rest of the hop!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Home for Christmas

Ink: Peaceful Pine, Soft Sea Foam, Poppy Parade, Versamark, Daffodil Delight

Paper: Timeless Christmas DSP, Peaceful Pine, basic White, Poppy Parade, Soft Sea Foam, Two-Toned Peaceful Pine, Gold Glimmer, 

Accessories: Scalloped Christmas Cheer dies, Home for Christmas Dies, Softly Woven embossing folder, Gold Adhesive-backed Dots, Mini Christmas Buttons, baker's twine, dimensionals, gold embossing powder, Real Red Stitched ribbon

Love & Joy Noel - Stampin' Up!® Welcome Noel

 I'm so excited to be joining the Color Hues Challenge as a guest designer today!  They have a super talented Design Team and I love seeing what they come up with for each challenge and I'm always inspired.  Thanks for having me!!

 I love purple so I was excited to see this combo!  I decided to do a Christmas card using the Neutral Noel Suite.  The little purple village is a fun look for Christmas I think!

 I embossed the Very Vanilla background panel with the Softly Woven embossing folder for a nice bit of texture.  The greenery is Mossy Meadow and makes a nice big oval frame for the sentiment and buildings.

  A tiny bit of yellow is blended on the windows for a nice golden glow.  I just used whatever was left on the blending brush so I can't even say which yellow.  I'm considering the yellow a neutral here, it's like a version of the Very Vanilla lol!  I used both Gorgeous Grape and Highland Heather for the buildings.  Two-Toned Mossy Meadow cardstock  for a slightly lighter look for the garland and the wreath. 

  I cut berries out of both purples and covered them with clear Wink of Stella.  They are then grouped around the wreath adding in some Gold Dots for a bit of shine.

  Thanks for having me Color Hues; it was a fun combo to work with!  

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Welcome Noel, Noel Tidings, Soiree Salutations

Ink: Gorgeous Grape, Highland Heather, Mossy Meadow, yellow

Paper: Very Vanilla, Mossy Meadow, Two-Toned Mossy Meadow, Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grape

Accessories: Softly Woven embossing folder, Noel Tidings Dies, Welcome Noel Dies, dimensionals, Gold Adhesive-Backed Dots, Wink of Stella