Blooms in Romance - Stampin' Up! All That You Are

  I ran out of time yesterday morning to post a project and just never found time to do it later in the day.  If I was really on the ball I would schedule my posts the day before but I'm really not that organized!

  Today's card is one we made in my February class.  I haven't shared it before now because each time I wanted to the photo was too horrible to put out in the universe.  I think I took 3 sets of pictures of it and each time I got them uploaded and went to edit them with my watermark I could see how poor the quality was.  So I would set it aside and do it again with the next group of cards I made.

  Finally a "good enough for government work" photo of it to share!

  My stampers really enjoyed getting to work with the Floral Romance Specialty paper from the Occasions catalog.  Not only are the colors and patterns beautiful you get 2 printed vellum patterns which are really fun to work with!  We used 2 of the regular patterns on this card and the Petal Pink design is the vellum.  It's a great mix with the leaves and lacy vellum.  The pieces are adhered to a Whisper White panel cut with the Stitched Rectangles die.

  A bit of Powder Pink ruffled ribbon (very close match to Petal Pink) wraps around the DSP panel.

 For the flowers I showed my stampers a fun way to use Stampin' Blends.  Instead of stamping the flowers in Mossy Meadow and then coloring in the flowers we scribbled the blends onto Whisper White blending the colors together and then stamped the flower image over the top and then cut them out with the Frosted Bouquets framelits.  We added a Mossy Meadow leafy branch and popped the flowers on dimensionals over the top.

  Add in a few adhesive sequins and this card is finished!  It's a great Mother's Day, Easter or all purpose spring card with those gorgeous pinks and greens!

  And now for some Stampin' Up! business; the Last Chance list has been released.  Head over to my Stampin' Up! site to see what's retiring so you don't miss out!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: All That You Are

Ink: Mossy Meadow

Blends: Flirty Flamingo light & dark, Petal Pink light & dark

Paper: Mossy Meadow, Whisper White, Floral Romance Specialty DSP

Accessories: Stitched Rectangles framelits, Frosted Bouquet framelits, adhesive sequins, ruffled ribbon, dimensionals

Out of Season Pup - Stampin' Up! Happy Tails - Fab Friday 161

  Sometimes you have a card in your mind and you just have to make it regardless of whether it's seasonally appropriate or not.  I've had this Christmas dog card in my head for a while.  Something about a black dog with a red plaid/checkered pattern was stuck in my head.  So, happy spring to you all!! I present a Christmas dog 9 months early!

  Oh and it's also a Fab Friday challenge day!  And we have this versatile sketch for you to work with!

  I know right??  It can be anything!  Even a Christmas dog in April!  Don't ever say the Fab Friday team doesn't give you choices!

 Oh and something about it being near the end of a catalog period always makes me re-evaluate all the stuff that I didn't get around to using or using completely up and it makes me feel a bit guilty but then I use some of it on a card and I feel better that I had "just the right thing" to make that card in my head.  So this card is a combination of retired and current and maybe soon to be retired...we'll know soon!

  I hope you'll check out the awesomely talented Fab Friday Design Team and play along with our challenge this time!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Happy Tails, Christmas Pines

Ink: Versamark, Mossy Meadow

Paper: Very Vanilla thick, Very Vanilla, Mossy Meadow, Basic Black, Festive Farmhouse DSP (retired)

Accessories: Dog Builder punch, tinsel trim (retired), clear embossing powder, Stitched rectangle framelits, dimensionals, gold star stickers (Sincerely Santa tag kit, retired)

What a Good Pup! - Stampin' Up! Happy Tails

While the weather has been really pleasant the last few days it also means it's been time to get the yard into shape after winter and maybe a wee bit of neglect last fall.  We've been doing some landscaping and tidying as well a lot of mulching so my time in the stamp room has been non-existent.  But the yard is looking great and the mulch pile is dwindling so I hope to stamp some new projects soon!  Luckily I have a few cards that I made a while back to share in the mean time!

  Happy Tails was the sleeper stamp set for me in the Occasions catalog.  I just got it a few weeks ago after seeing so many cute things with.  Sometimes you just can't resist a stamp set when it catches your attention!

 
  This card started with just a dog punched with the dog builder punch and then colored it in with Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends.  I added the spots over the base color with Soft Suede ink.  A bit of Blueberry Bushel 1/8" grosgrain ribbon for the collar.

  I popped the 'Good Pup' up with dimensionals on a stitched circle, added another one with the sentiment in Blueberry Bushel and a heart in Mango Melody.

  The paw prints are embossed in white on a strip of Blueberry Bushel cardstock and everything is on top of a Mango Melody panel embossed with the Dot to Dot embossing folder.

  So I'm off to keep calm with my mulch pile and I hope I can hold a stamp after wrangling the wheelbarrow and pitchfork for 2 days straight!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Happy Tails

Ink: Versamark, Blueberry Bushel, Mango Melody, Soft Suede

Blends: Crumb Cake light & dark

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Mango Melody, Blueberry Bushel

Accessories: Dog Builder punch, white embossing powder, Dot to Dot embossing folder, Stitched Shapes framelits, Blueberry Bushel grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals

Butterfly Fix - Stampin' Up! Butterfly Gala

  The Butterfly Gala bundle is back!  This stamp set punch combo was on the top of my list to order when the Occasions catalog was released to demos in December.  I was so excited to show these products to my stampers.  The mix of butterfly styles paired with a punch that punches both the large and small butterfly at the same time is just a great combo of stamping goodness.  Unfortunately everyone else felt the same way and the products quickly sold out and Stampin' Up! couldn't replenish their stock fast enough so that the bundle became backordered for quite a while.

  I was only able to use the bundle as a class project once before it was backordered but now that it's back I will be for sure sharing this great bundle.  And just in time for the beautiful spring weather!  I made this card a few weeks back for a challenge using up some scraps of the Sale-a-Bration Botanical Butterfly DSP.  I added a tiny bit of the Gingham Gala paper also to round out the colors.

   The card base is Highland Heather then the DSP squares are mounted on Whisper White then a layer of Daffodil Delight.

  I stamped some butterflies on the card base with Highland Heather then embossed the sentiment in white under the DSP panel.

  The butterflies are stamped in Memento and then colored with Stampin' Blends pulling the colors straight from the DSP.  After they were colored I popped the butterflies with dimensionals and sprinkled some adhesive sequins and faceted gems across the front for a bit of sparkle.

  I hope you'll take a look at the Butterfly Gala bundle and see how you can use it for upcoming spring birthdays, Easter and Mother's Day.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Butterfly Gala

Ink: Highland Heather, Versamark, Memento black

Blends: Daffodil light & dark, Calypso Coral light, Highland Heather light & dark, Balmy Blue light & dark

Paper: Highland Heather, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Botanical Butterfly DSP (SAB), Gingham Gala DSP

Accessories: Butterfly Duet punch, dimensionals, adhesive sequins, faceted gems, white embossing powder

Masculine Birthday Cheer - Stampin' Up! Birthday Cheer

  Happy Monday!  Maybe I should start to do a Masculine Monday theme?  That would challenge me to to do more guy cards which can be hard sometimes!!  Having just spent our spring break away with all males maybe not!  We had a great trip to South Carolina and explored the Charleston area and while the weather was not the best we did enjoy it.  But now it's back to the grind and after updating about 37 things on my computer this morning I'm ready to get to checking things off of my to do list!

  First up is sharing this masculine birthday card that we made at my March stamp club.  I've not used the Stamparatus very much in class so I wanted to design a card where I could show off some of the features.  This card just kind of came together once I pulled out some colors to work with.

  The card base is Smoky Slate and using the Stamparatus we stamped the sentiments in Night of Navy and Basic Gray ink.  The sentiments in the Itty Bitty Birthdays set are perfect for this technique...not too big and not too small.  Each stamp is inked up only once and then stamped and the plate is moved down one notched and then stamped again and then repeated a third time. The process is repeated with the other color.  Since each stamp is mounted just right for spacing on the clear plate it doesn't matter which one you start with.

  The flags are created by embossing the Mango Melody flag with the Subtle embossing folder and the Balmy Blue is stamped with the confetti stamp from Birthday Cheer with Smoky Slate ink.  The flags are tied with a Night of Navy baker's twine bow.

  The party hat is embossed with white embossing powder on Night of Navy card stock then cut out and popped up with dimensionals over the flags.

  Sometimes it can be hard to design a masculine card since a lot of us stampers want to use so many accessories and 'stuff' and then it ends up looking fussy.  So try to pare down when you're designing guy cards and you might find that it becomes easier!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Birthday Cheer, Itty Bitty Birthdays

Ink: Night of Navy, Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Versamark

Paper: Smoky Slate, Mango Melody, Balmy Blue, Night of Navy

Accessories: white embossing powder, Subtle embossing folder, Night of Navy baker's twine, dimensionals

P.S. It's Your Birthday - Stampin' Up! P.S. You're the Best - Fab Friday 160

Cheers for Friday!  Cheers for the start of spring break!  Cheers for a new Fab Friday challenge!

We have a fantastic set of vibrant spring colors this time around at Fab Friday.  I can't wait to see the awesome gallery once you all upload your cards!

  These are great aren't they?  It didn't take me long to decide that my project needed to have some flowers on it.  Granted they are small but I think I still have the spring vibe here!

 It has been a hot minute since I used the P.S. You're the Best stamp set so I thought I would pair it up with these fun colors for a birthday card.  And since we're winding down Sale-a-Bration 2019 I wanted to bring a bit of the Botanical Butterfly DSP in one more time before SAB is over.

  Nothing crazy going on on this card but it's a nice cheerful card that has a bit of an old timey vibe with the typewriter and botanical print.

  I hope you'll love this color combo as much as I do and will make a project to share in the Fab Friday gallery! 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: P.S. You're the Best

Ink: Highland Heather, Bermuda Bay, Basic Gray

Stampin' Write Markers: Lemon Lime Twist, Highland Heather, Flirty Flamingo

Paper: Highland Heather, Botanical Butterfly DSP, Flirty Flamingo, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White

Accessories: Layering Circles framelits, Polka Dot Tulle ribbon, dimensionals, adhesive sequins

Bright Spotlight - Stampin' Up! All That You Are

 It's been a busy week for me with preparing for Stamp Club so blogging has been pushed to the back burner but now I'm back to share one of my class projects.

  The All That You Are large flower image is beautiful but too big for a large group to color all the way in so I had them use it with the spotlight technique so they could color some but not have to do the whole thing.  I pulled my inspiration from this card from a while back and used some fun bright colors.  The colors come from the now closed Global Design Project challenge.

  Lemon Lime Twist, Grapefruit Grove and Daffodil Delight are fantastic against black accents. I think this color combo spoke to me on a gray rainy day when I was wishing for spring colors instead of the blah gray that we've been seeing a lot of.

 

  The spotlight panels are colored using reinkers and Blender pens.  And pro tip here for you: if you've had your blender pens for a while and the tips are a bit frayed and soft it might be time to replace them.  They will last a long time but will eventually dry out and the tips will break down.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today? 

Stamps: All That You Are

Ink: Memento black, Lemon Lime Twist, Grapefruit Grove, Daffodil Delight

Paper: Lemon Lime Twist, Basic Black, Whisper White

Accessories: Stitched Rectangle framelits, circle punches, dimensionals, 1/8" Grapefruit Grove grosgrain ribbon

  

Sweet Friend Sympathy - Stampin' Up! Happy Tails

 I'm late to the party with the dog builder punch and the Happy Tails stamp set but I kept seeing such cute projects made using them and then I looked at my supplies and I didn't really have anything like them so I went ahead and got them.  I can't wait to play some more but this card came about using some card parts that I had after playing around with the stamp set but not really trying to design a card.  I had been playing around with coloring the dog different ways so I didn't want to waste any pieces because this pup is just too cute.

 
  I decided to use the sympathy sentiment because it's always a good idea to have a few on hand just in case.  Losing a dear pet is a hard thing as our family knows from experience.  We had to say goodbye to our 15 year old Josie in November and you truly do feel a hole in the family.  We have no pets at the moment and the house does feel different especially coming home.

  The card base is Whisper White thick then a layer of Crumb Cake embossed with the Corrugated embossing folder.  Back in the day when the crimper was all the rage (remember that blue and orange contraption??) I struggled every. single. time. with it.  I could never get any of my cardstock to crimp straight.  Every piece veered off on an angle.  This embossing folder pretty much makes that problem go away as long as you put the paper in straight!

  Next is a layer of Pineapple Punch embossed with white embossing powder with the bone and paw print stamp.  The dog house is stamped in Blueberry Bushel and black, fussy cut then and layered behind the sentiment.

  The sweet pup is stamped in Soft Suede and then colored in with the Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends.   After he was punched out I gave him a little Blueberry Bushel grosgrain ribbon bow for a collar.

  I have a few more cards designed with this sweetie and I look forward to sharing those in the coming days.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Happy Tails

Ink: Soft Suede, Blueberry Bushel, Versamark, black

Blends: Crumb Cake light & dark

Paper: Whisper White thick, Crumb Cake, Pineapple Punch, Whisper White

Accessories: Corrugated embossing folder, white embossing powder, Stitched Shapes framelits, Dog Builder punch, dimensionals, Blueberry Bushel 1/8" grosgrain ribbon