Monkey Business Birthday - Stampin' Up! Catch You Later

 Just a quick share today to show a fun birthday card.  I'm getting ready for my monthly class so there is lots of activity to get set up to stamp with 2 different groups.

 The Catch You Later set caught my eye in the mini catalog because of the cute animals.  I wanted a casual, non-floral set to be able to color.  

   I used not only the new Catch You Later set but also the new embossing folder Stripes & Splatters.  For this card I used the stripes one on the Crumb Cake strip at the top of the card.  The DSP is also new and you can earn it for free during Sale-a-Bration.  The Friendly Hello DSP is a lot of floral patterns but also has this great leafy design in Granny Apple Green.

  The monkeys are stamped in Memento and colored with Stampin' Blends markers and then die cut in a circle.

  I cut a few leaf sprigs in Garden Green with the Forever Flourishing dies and topped that with the sentiment stamped on a piece of Balmy Blue.  A few bright green sequins finish off the details on this quick and easy birthday card.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Catch You Later

Ink: Memento black

Blends: Granny Apple Green dark, Ivory, Soft Suede light & dark

Paper: Crumb Cake, Basic White, Balmy Blue, Friendly Hello DSP (SAB), Garden Green

Accessories: circle dies, Forever Flourishing dies, dimensionals, sequins

Framed Hearts - Stampin' Up! Sweet Conversations

   I'm sharing a sweet little Valentine's Day card today.  Actually it could be for any time of the year but with the heart day just around the corner it was my inspiration.  I used the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches for the layout. 

 I used a Basic White thick card base and then added a piece of Sunshine & Rainbows DSP in a sweet polka dot pattern.

  I cut the frame with the Stitched Shapes and Layering Square dies and popped it up with dimensionals.  I stamped the hearts in a few different pastel shades then embossed the outlines in gold.  I die cut them and arranged them around the edge of the frame.

  The sentiment from Happy & Heartfelt is also embossed in gold then fussy cut and popped on the larger heart.  I used my Flirty Flamingo marker to color in the little heart.

  A few more smaller hearts in the card colors and a retired iridescent sequin finish this card off.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

  Stamps: Sweet Conversations, Happy & Heartfelt

  Ink: Coastal Cabana, Blushing Bride, Flirty Flamingo, Versamark

  Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, Sunshine & Rainbows DSP, Blushing Bride, Soft Sea Foam

  Accessories: Sweet Hearts dies, gold embossing powder, dimensionals, sequin, Stitched Shapes dies (retired), Layering Squares dies (retired)

Watercolored Sympathy - Stampin' Up! Blessings of Home

  Unfortunately I had the need to make another sympathy card this past week.  This one started as just playing out with some inking techniques to make a background and before I had taken the card in another direction I found out I needed a sympathy card so I used the background I already had made and built the card up from that.

  I started with a piece of watercolor paper that I lightly brushed with Soft Succulent reinker and water for a very light band of color down the middle of the paper.  Then I dripped large drops of water and reinker from above for the large splatters.  Once those were dry I flicked smaller drops of reinker for a lighter splatter. When that was dry I inked up the smaller flower stamp in Gray Granite and then stamped off before stamping the water color paper.  Then finally I tore the edges off all the way around the panel for a soft look.

  I used a square vellum doily as the base for building up the rest of the elements.  Next are a few sprigs of greenery from Soft Succulent cardstock, then a small strip of retired burlap ribbon.

  I stamped the flower in Gray Granite onto another piece of watercolor paper and used Soft Succulent, Fresh Freesia, Daffodil Delight and Mango Melody reinkers to color it.  I die cut with the matching die from Flowers of Home die set and then popped it up on dimensionals over the other elements.

  The sentiment from Many Messages is stamped in Gray Granite and then adhered across the card front.  I added a few adhesive pearls to finish the details. 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Blessings of Home, Many Messages

Ink: Gray Granite, Soft Succulent, Fresh Freesia, Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody

Paper: Fresh Freesia, Watercolor paper, Soft Succulent

Accessories: Flowers of Home dies, vellum doily, adhesive pearls, dimensionals, burlap ribbon (retired)

Cheerful Tulip - Stampin' Up! Flowering Tulips

   When I saw the new colors over at CAS Colours & Sketches it was a no brainer for me which set I was going to use.  Granny Apple Green, Mango Melody and Daffodil Delight were just asking to be made into a tulip card.  As the challenge is clean and simple I just stamped and didn't add any extras like die cuts but you could certainly step this card up a few notches but it's so pretty all on its own!

  I'm thinking this might be a perfect card to make a set of for Easter this year.  Bright and cheerful but easy to mass produce!

  I did emboss in black the center of the flower and the sentiment and it's just the right amount of detail.  The sentiment is from the new Happy & Heartfelt set and I just love the script-y font and it embosses so nicely!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Flowering Tulips, Happy & Heartfelt

Ink: Granny Apple Green, Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, Versamark

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White

Accessories: black embossing powder, corner rounder

Birthday Bicycle - Stampin' Up! Tulip Fields

   Only 2 weeks in to the Stampin' Up! 2022 Jan.-June mini catalog and I'm already worried I won't have enough time to stamp with all of the awesome stamp sets I got.  Maybe I ordered too many?? Nah, that's not possible but it is possible to feel that there are just so many creative ways to use them there just won't be enough time to do it all!

  I haven't used the Tulip Fields set very much yet but I grabbed it to play along with the Global Design Project's current sketch challenge.  It's a fun one with a center panel to focus on. I've been thinking about making a card with the cute bicycle die in the Windmill Fields die set (it coordinates with the Tulip Fields stamp set) and this sketch seemed like the perfect match.

   Did you even notice the bicycle or did you only have heart eyes for the windmill? I noticed the bike right away and figured it would be fun to use on it's own.  

  I started this scene with a piece of the New Horizons DSP and then added a Basic White square.  On top of that I cut a stitched square from Basic White and did some masking and ink blending to create my sky and grass. Next I added my stamped tree and stamped cloud.

  I die cut a few lengths of fencing as well as a cloud and added them to the scene.  Next came the bike.  I cut one on black and one in red and trimmed the black tires, handlebars and seat and glued them to my red bike.  I found a few silver mini brads that retired years ago and added those for some detail to the wheels. The space behind the mini brads is just big enough for a mini dimensional so I used those to pop the bike on to the scene panel.

  The last thing to add was the sentiment that I stamped from the Catch You Later set.  It's part of a larger sentiment that I trimmed and then flagged the end and popped it off the back of the bike.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Tulip Fields, Catch You Later

Ink: Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Balmy Blue, Misty Moonlight, Memento Black

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, New Horizon DSP, Real Red, Basic Black, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Windmill Fields dies, dimensionals, Stitched Shapes dies (retired), mini silver brads (retired)

Icy Mountain Encouragement - Stampin' Up! Horizon Dies

   It took me a while to get around to using the challenge colors over at Just Us Girls but I'm happy I got to play along.  After dithering about for a bit over what kind of card to make and not feeling it with a few different ideas I landed on using the new Horizon dies and making a snowy/icy mountain scene.

  The Horizon dies and coordinating stamp set, On the Horizon along with the New Horizons DSP are not normally my style but I'm enjoying stretching myself a bit to create some beautiful scenes.  The mountain and water shapes work perfectly with the challenge colors of light blue, silver and white.

  I started my scene with a piece of Basic White with a circle cut from the top half.  I embossed the panel with the retired Subtle embossing folder and then layered a piece of the Sale-a-Bration Simply Marbleous DSP in Balmy Blue on the back of the cut out circle after stamping a few birds in Night of Navy.  I hope the Navy is ok as I was using it as a neutral and not part of the challenge colors!

  Then I cut out 2 mountain shapes along with the matching detailed overlay which I cut out of retired silver glimmer paper.  I layered one directly onto the card front and then offset the other on top and adhered with dimensionals.

  Using some more glimmer paper this time in Balmy Blue, I cut a few of the water like shapes and layered them under the mountains with one also popped on dimensionals.

  The sentiment from Through it Together is stamped on a narrow scrap and adhered at the edge of the water layers.  Then the whole top panel is adhered to a Basic White thick card base.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: On the Horizon, Through it Together

Ink: Night of Navy

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, Simply Marbleous DSP (SAB), Silver Glimmer paper (retired), Balmy Blue Glimmer paper (retired)

Accessories: circle dies, Horizon dies, Subtle embossing folder (retired)

CAS Penguin Thanks - Stampin' Up! Penguin Place

   I'm taking a break from playing with Jan.-June mini products and going with a carryover stamp set from the just retired June-Dec. mini catalog.  The Penguin Place stamp set is so cute and I didn't get to show it at class when it was new because the punch was so popular we couldn't keep it in stock. I'm glad it's carrying over so I can show it off a bit more.  I saw the newest Paper Players challenge from Claire which is to do a winter animal on a clean and simple card. I think the penguin is about the only animal stamp I have that can be considered winter so that's what I went with!

  I was proud of myself for using up a length of retired Balmy Blue ribbon as well as the little embossed penguin which I had leftover from another project and it had been sitting on my desk for a while.  I love putting leftover card parts from different projects onto a new design.  It's so satisfying using up things I already have.

   I started with a Basic White thick card base and then used an Adorning Designs decorative mask and my blending brush to get the snowflakes across the card front.  I used Balmy Blue ink and didn't reink my brush as I went so the snowflake got progressively lighter.

  The ribbon is tied around the card front and the penguin is popped on dimensionals.  I stamped the hat and scarf in Misty Moonlight and highlighted with clear Wink of Stella then fussy cut.  The sentiment is also stamped in Misty Moonlight. 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Penguin Place

Ink: Misty Moonlight, Balmy Blue, Versamark, Mango Melody

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White

Accessories: penguin punch, black embossing powder, Adorning Designs mask, Wink of Stella, dimensionals, Balmy Blue ribbon (retired)

Hearts Galore - Stampin' Up! Sweet Conversations

   My stampers got a little taste of the cute Sweet Conversations bundle this past week at my new catalog kickoff.  There are so many cute dies in this bundle that I had a hard time just picking a few to use when designing this class card.  In the end I couldn't resist the little envelope so I paired it with a few hearts.

 I managed to fit a lot of products from this suite on this card in addition to the stamps and dies.  We have the fun Sweet Talk DSP in this fun striped heart pattern, the Real Red Faux Linen ribbon and the Iridescent Rhinestones which will definitely be used a lot on my designs this year!

  Less then a month to go to get your Valentine's made and you should really consider the Sweet Conversations bundle and the Sweet Talk suite as a whole.  

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Sweet Conversations

Ink: Highland Heather, Real Red

Paper: Highland Heather, Real Red, Basic White, Blushing Bride, Sweet Talk DSP

Accessories: Sweet Heart dies, Real Red Faux Linen ribbon, Iridescent Rhinestones, dimensionals