Tropically Fab - Stampin' Up! Tropical Chic - Fab Friday 164

   Did you all think that I had fallen off the face of the earth??  I'm still here and kicking but we've made an addition to our family that has been taking up a lot of my time!  Meet our new pup Aggie!!

  She's a very sweet pup but I've had to adjust to the "new baby in the house" routine and it hasn't left me with much time for stamping. It seems that once she falls asleep I race around trying to get to all of my regular tasks around the house and stamping has fallen to the bottom of the list.  I haven't tried bringing her into the stamp room yet.  I think I need to Aggie-proof it first.  Who knows what she'd find on the floor in there!  Are dimensional backings bad for dogs?? 

  But even with my limited stamping time I made sure to make time for this week's Fab Friday challenge!  It's a great color combination!  Do you see spring in these colors?  Here in Central VA it is leaning towards hot early summer these days but I can still appreciate some spring like colors.

   My mind went immediately to the Tropical Chic bundle.  The bundle pricing will be going away once the new catalog comes out so don't wait to order this one!

 

  You can't get more tropical than this!  My favorite things on this card are the Soft Seafoam die cut leaves that are popped over the leaf frame.  They fit just right and look cool hanging just over the edge of the frame diecut.  I also love the stepped down stamping of the blossom.  I only inked my blossom stamp once with Flirty Flamingo and then stamped it 3 times to get the gradient colors.  

  Definitely check out what the rest of the Fab Friday team has done with these colors!  I guarantee that you'll see something to inspire your own stamping!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Tropical Chic

Ink: Flirty Flamingo, Soft Seafoam, Pear Pizzazz

Paper: Flirty Flamingo, Pear Pizzazz, Soft Seafoam, Whisper White

Accessories: Tropical Thinlets, dimensionals, Pear Pizzazz baker's twine

Crazy Cats - Stampin' Up! Nine Lives

  I'm late to the cat punch love fest but once I got the Nine Lives stamp set from the Occasions catalog I had to design a card for my last class to show off how cute this stamp set is along with the punch.

  While everyone can do the 'stamp your image then punch it out' thing I always like to show my stampers some other ways they can use their Stampin' Up! products that maybe they haven't thought of.  I decided to show them how to create a background using different colors of cardstock and the punch.  This is also a nice way to use up some smaller scraps.  If you can get even a small part of the cat punched you can use it to fill in some of the extra spaces.  Just punch all the cats and then arrange them on a piece of Whisper White cardstock.  I arrange them first then take a quick picture with my phone then adhere them referring back to picture to see how I had them 'just so'.  After you have the cats adhered just trim off the overhanging bits and use of those pieces to fill in space if needed.

  The cat background panel is adhered to a Gray Granite card base.  The stamped and punched cat is mounted on a stitched rectangle die cut with dimensionals.  The sentiment is stamped in Memento Black and the whole panel is popped with dimensionals.

  After this card was finished it reminded me of a favorite picture book of my boys when they were little.  It's called Cat Count by Betsy Lewin  The boys loved counting the cats on each page and the rhyming gives the story a nice pace.  Definitely check it out if you see this one at your library and have little ones.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

 Stamps: Nine Lives

Ink: Gray Granite, Sahara Sand, Memento Black

Paper: Gray Granite, Whisper White, Sahara Sand, Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede

Accessories: Cat punch, Stitched Rectangles dies, dimensionals, Nature's twine

 

Wild Highland Rose - Stampin' Up! To A Wild Rose - Fab Friday 163

  We're back with another fun Fab Friday challenge!  We have a great sketch for you this time...what can you do with!  Don't forget to share your creation in the gallery so we can all ooohh and aaahh over it!

  I used a whole bunch of new products on this card because I couldn't wait to break into my preorder when it came on Monday!

  So. Many. Awesome. New. Things!! I don't even know where to start!

I guess we'll start at the beginning!  The DSP is the lovely new Garden Lane.  Great designs using different greens.  Next is the new Scalloped Linen ribbon in Purple Posy (a new In Color!!)...look at that soft purple!  I didn't stick with the flag from the sketch but changed it to a stitched label die cut in Mossy Meadow from the Wild Rose die set.

  Next is the lovely Stitched Lace die that is big enough for a whole card front if you want.  I just cut a bit to keep with the sketch but it's beautiful as a large piece or a smaller on.

  The rose comes next and is a beautiful multi-layered blossom!  I used all 3 stamps starting with the outline in Smoky Slate, then the next layer is Highland Heather stamped off once, then the final layer in full strength Highland Heather.  The coordinating die makes quick work of cutting it out.  The leaf is stamped in similar fashion except using Mint Macaron and Mossy Meadow inks.

  The sentiment is stamped in Highland Heather ink onto Purple Posy cardstock using the Itty Bitty Greetings stamp set.  The flower, leaf and sentiment are popped on dimensionals.

  I can't wait to see the gallery for this challenge!  Check out the rest of the Design Team too; they always inspire with their creativity!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: To a Wild Rose, Itty Bitty Greetings

Ink: Smoky Slate, Highland Heather, Mint Macaron, Mossy Meadow, Garden Lane DSP

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Mossy Meadow, Purple Posy

Accessories: Wild Rose dies, Stitched Lace die,  scalloped linen trim, dimensionals

Bluebird Ballad - Stampin' Up! Free As a Bird

  So I have no (or very little) self-control when there is a Stampin' Up! demonstrator pre-order!  I admit it!  I want it all and I want it now!  Actually I think I do ok and just order a few things to play with because I really just want a hard copy of the catalog.  It could be really easy to go nuts but I try to limit myself to get items that I absolutely love. My preorder came on Monday and I wasted no time opening up that box and seeing my new goodies!

  The Free As a Bird bundle jumped out at me because I love birds and we just had our first nest of bluebirds for the season fledge.  I knew I had to make a bluebird card to celebrate.  How cute are these guys?

  I got some of my inspiration from my fellow Fab Friday Design Team member Brian King who is also on the Global Design Project team and his card is the inspiration this week.  The Balmy Blue gingham paper is a sweet background for these birds.

  I did a lot of coloring with my Stampin' Blends on the birds and flowers.  Prepare yourself for a lot of upcoming bird cards!  The flowers were stamped, colored then fussy cut; they're small so it's pretty easy!

  The new Stitched Nested Label dies are going to be really fun to work with.  They have a nice shape and the set has 9 dies so you'll be sure to have just the right size for your project.

  The little Old Olive leaf sprigs come from the also new Wild Rose dies which you'll be seeing a lot more of as well!

  What are you most excited to see in the new catalog?  What are you going to miss when it retires from the current catalog?

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Free as a Bird

Ink: Memento Black

Blends: Night of Navy light, Balmy Blue light & dark,  Pumpkin Pie light & dark, Ivory, Granny Apple Green light & dark, Old Olive light, Soft Suede dark, Daffodil Delight light & dark, Mango Melody light, Pool Party light

Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Gingham Gala DSP, Old Olive

Accessories: Stitched Nested Label dies, Stitched Rectangle dies, Wild Rose dies, dimensionals, 1/8" Blueberry Bushel grosgrain ribbon

Mirrored Giraffe Love - Stampin' Up! Animal Outing

  Why does this time of the year always seem so busy and it always seems to catch me off guard?  You'd think after all these years of having kids in school and sports and whatever else our family is involved in that I would plan for the end of April until school gets out as being crazy busy!  Nope. Can't seem to do it.  So it ends up being that I haven't blogged in a while and my to do list is a mile long and I have stamping stuff piled on my dining room table left from a class last week! *sigh* At least I found a few minutes to take some card photographs today so that I could share when I have a moment to breathe!

  Today's card is one of the projects we made at my April stamp club last week.  I wanted to show off the Animal Outing bundle.  The stamp set and dies are carrying over to the new catalog but they won't be offered at the bundle pricing.  You definitely don't want to miss out on savings on something you're planning to buy anyway right?

  I was browsing Pinterest for some inspiration and came across the mirror technique on several cards.  Now in the past I've never had much luck getting a crisp mirror image when I've tried the technique using various plastic sheets so when I saw this card from BJ Peters along with a quick video of the technique I knew it was something I needed to teach my stampers.  It's so easy with the Stamp-a-ratus!  Definitely watch the video to see how easy it is. 

  We made these 2 giraffes who are clearly in love and turned them into a polaroid picture.  Once we had the giraffes and leaves stamped and colored in with Blends we cut the frame in Balmy Blue with Layering Square framelits.  Added a punched heart from the dog builder punch and a sentiment from Itty Bitty Greetings.  An adhesive sequin with a grosgrain ribbon knot finish off the frame accents.

  The vine die was used to make the accent at the bottom of the card front and we adhered a strip of the Animal Expedition DSP so that the Lemon Lime Twist color would show through the cut outs.

  I love the bright colors and fresh clean lines of this card.  Now I just need someone to get engaged so I can send it out!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Animal Outing, Itty Bitty Greetings

Ink: Memento Black  Marker: Lemon Lime Twist

Blends: Daffodil Delight light & dark, Soft Suede light, Crumb Cake light

Paper: Call Me Clover, Balmy Blue, Poppy Parade, Whisper White

Accessories: Animal Friends thinlets, dimensionals, Layering Squares framelits, dog builder punch, adhesive sequins, 1/8" Call Me Clover grosgrain ribbon