Bear Hugs - Stampin' Up!® Valentine Kisses

  Here's another card that was meant to be made by my stampers at my January class and they only got to make it last week.  It was to be a Valentine's Day card but I added the option for a happy birthday sentiment on the inside for those that were already set on their Valentine's day cards.  These bears are just adorable and I love how you can give them different items to hold!

  I wanted this one to be more of a card without the red/pink "in your face" Valentine's Day theme so I stuck with a nice blue color palette.  Secret Sea is used for the base as well as the Hearts of Love embossed panel.

  The colored stripes are each stamped with one of the tiny accent stamps in the Valentine Kisses stamp set.  They make for a nice pop of color behind the bear.

  The bear is stamped in Pecan Pie and then colored with blends.  My stampers had to the choice to used colored pencils and blender pens if they like that type of coloring instead.  We gave him a sweet little Cherry Cobbler heart to hold and then popped him up on dimensionals above the stamped sentiment.

  Since I was trying to keep this one from being too froofy (technical term) all the embellishment that was added is a baker's twine bow.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

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

Stamps: Valentine Kisses (Online Exclusive)

Ink: Secret Sea, Blueberry Bushel, Azure Afternoon, Coastal Cabana, Pecan Pie

Blends: Pecan Pie light & dark, Ivory

Paper: Secret Sea, Blueberry Bushel, Azure Afternoon, Coastal Cabana, Basic White, Cherry Cobbler

Accessories: Valentine Kisses dies (Online Exclusive), Hearts of Love embossing folder, dimensionals, blue baker's twine (retired)

Sending You Love - Stampin' Up!® Endless Love

   Happy Valentine's Day!  Hope you get and give some hugs and kisses today!  I was finally able to have my stampers make this design at my last class that had to be rescheduled twice since the end of January due to the winter storm we had on January 24. That snow and ice stuck around for nearly 2 weeks which is unheard of here in Richmond!  But at least they got to make it before Valentine's Day.

  This design is basically showing off the Made With Love suite collection featuring the Endless Love bundle.  The classic red/pink color combo shows off nicely with Real Red, Flirty Flamingo and a bit of Strawberry Slush.

  It starts with a Real Red base, then a Basic White Perennial Postage die cut topped with a piece of Made With Love DSP.  Before adhering those layers a Bubble Bath faux linen ribbon is tied around.

  A large heart is die cut out of Flirty Flamingo.  It has a few small hearts cut out from one side for extra detail.  A heart is stamped in Strawberry Slush on Basic White and is die cut.

  The sentiment words are stamped in Real Red and the 'love' is trimmed down to mimic bubble letters.  The words are popped on dimensionals and the heart from the cut out from the Flirty Flamingo heart is popped on the 'o' and colored with Wink of Stella.

  I hope your heart day is filled with love!

Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

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

Stamps: Endless Love

Ink: Real Red, Strawberry Slush

Paper: Real Red, Flirty Flamingo, Basic White, Made With Love DSP

Accessories: Endless Love dies, Perennial Postage dies, Bubble Bath Faux Linen ribbon, dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Hearts & Hugs - Stampin' Up!® Endless Love

 I've got more pink for you today with another Valentine!  I think if I don't get my cards out in the mail tomorrow they won't be delivered in time!  But the Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge was too good to pass up.  It's not often I put 3 different pinks on a card but we're to use Strawberry Slush, Flirty Flamingo and Bubble Bath for our design and this much pink all at once is certainly a challenge for me.  Of course the Endless Love bundle was a no brainer for this card!

  This one is really straightforward with a Flirty Flamingo base, then a layer of Basic White and then 3 1 1/2" x 3 3/4" bands in the challenge colors stamped with the "love" stamp from the Endless Love set.  I stamped in a somewhat random pattern but filled in all the space.

  I cut 3 open hearts in the challenge colors and alternated them down the card front.  The sentiment is stamped and die cut and bakers twine bow added before being adhered with dimensionals.

  The last detail is a scattering of retired Tinsel Gems for a tiny bit of sparkle.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

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

Stamps: Endless Love

Ink: Strawberry Slush, Flirty Flamingo, Bubble Bath

Paper: Strawberry Slush, Flirty Flamingo, Bubble Bath, Basic White

Accessories: Endless Love dies, dimensionals, bakers twine (retired), Tinsel Gems (retired)

Love You - Stampin' Up!® Hope Love & Joy

   Like a lot of challenges the past few week, The Paper Players challenge theme is 'love' this week which is nice and timely as the days are running out to get enough Valentine's Day cards made to send out to family and friends.  I decided to use up some leftover DSP from a completed Scrapbooking Workshop Kit to make my card to play along.  The Hope Love & Joy bundle was an easy choice with the large 'love' stamp.

  I finished up the Turtle-y Sweet Scrapbooking Workshop Kit a few weeks ago and had a decent amount of DSP leftover.  I pulled it out and tried to decide between the blue/green paper or the red/yellow/blue/pink paper.  The one that had red and pink may have seemed like a more obvious choice but as I like to have some more masculine Valentine designs for my boys I decided to go with the blue/green striped paper.

  I used a Granny Apple Green base, then added the DSP. My Pool Party scrap bag is near to overflowing so I decided to try to use an already cut piece as is.  I roughed up the edges of the piece with my paper snips and gave it a few little distressed tears for some texture.

  Next I used another scrap of Basic White and stamped the "l_ve" in Pretty Peacock and then used a marker to just add ink to the 'you' from the 'wishing you' stamp.

  The heart is stamped in Pretty Peacock and colored in with Pool Party Stampin' Blends.  After it's cut out I popped it on dimensionals in place of the 'o'.

  The Hope Love Joy die set has a few dies that don't correspond to a stamp which is a nice bonus with this set so I added a few smaller hearts in Pretty Peacock on the corner of the DSP.

  I like how this one turned out and think it's a good guy card; no fuss, no muss but not boring!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

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

Stamps: Hope Love & Joy

Ink: Pretty Peacock

Blends: Pool Party light & dark

Paper: Granny Apple Green, Basic White, Pool Party, Turtle-y Cute DSP, Pretty Peacock

Accessories: Hope Love & Joy dies, dimensionals

Bunny Love - Stampin' Up!® Easter Basket

 One of my favorite things about card making is being able to mix and match stamp sets for different holidays or occasions to come up with unique combinations.  I always try to get the most out of my stamp sets especially those that might only be current for a few months.  My card to day is just one such design; I used products from 3 different suites from the Stampin' Up!® January-April mini catalog.  Can you spot them??

  I used the fun Valentine's Day choice board over at Festive Friday for my different elements.  You can find Pink, Lilac, Gray, Die Cuts, Love Sentiment, Hearts and Arrows on my card today!  I almost got the whole list!

  I started with a piece of DSP from the Lovely & Beautiful pack in a pretty Fresh Freesia floral pattern.  Next I added an angled piece of Basic White embossed with the Hearts of Love embossing folder.

  Some Smoky Slate arrows from the Endless Love dies are adhered over the seam.  Next comes a large die cut heart in Pretty in Pink (also from the Endless Love dies).

 An adorable bunny from the Easter Basket stamp set is stamped and colored with Blends.  It's die cut and popped on dimensionals.  I added a tiny die cut heart in a a retired Fine Glimmer Paper in the bunny's arms.

  Tucked under the edge of the bunny is a "love" sentiment from Endless Love stamped in Fresh Freesia. 

  Finally, I added a few retired Iridescent Faceted Gems as they reflected the the pink and purple so nicely. 

  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: Easter Basket, Endless Love

Ink: Basic Gray, Fresh Freesia

Blends: Smoky Slate light, Pretty in Pink light

Paper: Basic White, Pretty in Pink, Smoky Slate, Lovely & Beautiful DSP, Fresh Freesia Fine Shimmer paper (retired)

Accessories: Hearts of Love embossing folder, Endless Love dies, Easter Basket dies, Stylish Shapes dies, dimensionals, Iridescent Faceted Gems (retired)

Hugs and Kisses Burst - Stampin' Up!® Endless Love

  Since we were planning on being snowed in this past weekend on top of still being iced in from last weekend I had zero plans and plenty of time to play in the stamp room so I made another Valentine!  This one is quite bold and not the typical colors but I think it's fun design.  The colors come from the Just Us Girls challenge to CASE a Design Team Member.  So fun!!  I chose to use the colors that Elizabeth used on her card.  See her card at the end of my post.

  At a craft day a few weeks ago my stamping friend Jill made a sunburst card and that inspired me to try my hand at it as it had been years since I've done this technique and it's so easy I don't know why I don't do it more often!  Because I had so many colors I wanted to include I made my strips pretty thin so there would be a good number of each color.  

  After the sunburst was finished I stamped a piece of Berry Burst cardstock with the heart stamp from the Endless Love stamp set in Versamark and then embossed it in white. After it was die cut I added the "XO" and the arrow and popped it on dimensionals.

  I felt that I needed a bit of sparkle to round out the design so I looked through my glimmer papers and found a piece of the retired Rainbow Glimmer paper and the gradient colors matched the card colors pretty closely so I cut a handful of hearts in the various shades and added them around the larger heart popping a few up for dimension.  You can get a similar effect by coloring cardstock hearts with Wink of Stella 

  A few retired white Neutral Matte Dots are added to finish the details.

  I love how cheerful this card turned out and now my only problem is deciding who is going to get it!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

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

Stamps: Endless Love

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Berry Burst, Melon Mambo, Timid Tiger, Crushed Curry, Basic White, Basic White thick, Rainbow Glimmer paper (retired)

Accessories: Endless Love dies, dimensionals, white embossing powder, Neutral Matte Dots (retired)

Bear Kisses - Stampin' Up!® Valentine Kisses

   The colors at Sunday Stamps challenge are perfect for tackling another Valentine's Day card.  This time I thought the browns in the color palette would work nicely for the bear in the Valentine Kisses stamp set though he didn't turn out as chocolate-y as I hope!

  I was even able to use up a few pieces that had already been cut and were just waiting for the perfect project.  The DSP and the embossed panel fit in perfectly for the theme!

  I started with a Basic White card base, then a layer of Pretty in Pink.  Next is the Made With Love DSP that includes the challenge colors.  Next I backed the Hearts of Love embossed panel with a piece of strawberry Slush  That white space gave me a nice spot to add the adorable angel bear and die cut hearts (more of the challenge colors).  The angel wings are covered with clear Wink of Stella for a pretty shimmer.

  Next is the little wooden sign added to the center heart and added a rhinestone as a holder.  The sentiment is stamped on a narrow strip of Basic White in Strawberry Slush ink.

  How could you not love this bear??

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

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

Stamps: Valentine Kisses (Online Exclusive(

Ink: Memento Black, Strawberry Slush, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, Pretty in Pink, Strawberry Slush, Flirty Flamingo, Crumb Cake, Made With Love DSP

Accessories: Valentine Kisses dies (Online Exclusive), Hearts of Love embossing folder, dimensionals, Wink of Stella, rhinestone

Fresh Hugs & Kisses - Stampin' Up!® Endless Love

   I'm really trying to build up my Valentine's Day cards so I've got another one to share today.  The layout is from Freshly Made Sketches and I really like how these non-traditional Valentine's colors turned out.

  I already had the Endless Love bundle out on my stamping desk so it was a no brainer to use the big heart for the circle element of the layout.

  The base is Secret Sea, then the vertical band is Darling Ducking stamped and embossed with the little hearts for a random pattern. Next is the big heart in Petunia Pop, then a smaller heart cut from Petunia Pop Glimmer paper.

  The "sending you" is stamped in Secret Sea and the ends trimmed to flags.  The "XO" is stamped twice in Darling Duckling and then the "Hugs & Kisses" is stamped right over the top in Secret Sea.  I fussy cut around the image and then popped all the sentiments up with dimensionals on the edge of the heart.

  I added a few Secret Sea flat pearls for a tiny bit of shine for the last detail.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

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

Stamps: Endless Love

Ink: Secret Sea, Darling Duckling

Paper: Secret Sea, Darling Duckling, Petunia Pop, Basic White, Petunia Pop Glimmer Paper (retired)

Accessories: Endless Love dies, white embossing powder, dimensionals, Secret Sea Flat Pearls

Endless Hearts - Stampin' Up!® Endless Love

   I'm combining two challenges today for this card.  A color combo that I gave my stampers last week along with the sketch from the Paper Players.  I thought the colors would be a cute combo for Valentine's Day and the sketch just seemed like I should use some hearts.  The Endless Love bundle was a perfect choice for lots of accessorizing!

  I started with a Smoky Slate base, then a layer of Pool Party stamped with the "XO" stamp and then trimmed down with the Textured Notes dies for a nice detail along the border.

  I die cut 4 hearts from the retired Country Lace DSP in this Petal Pink pattern.  I popped the hearts on dimensionals then added details with other die cuts from the Endless Love die set.  

  The sentiment is from Banner Sayings and fits nicely on the die cut tag.  I finished the design with some retired Iridescent Rhinestones for some subtle shine.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

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

Stamps: Endless Love

Ink: Pool Party, Smoky Slate

Paper: Smoky Slate, Pool Party, Basic White, Country Lace DSP (retired)

Accessories: Endless Love dies, Textured Notes dies, dimensionals, baker's twine, Iridescent Rhinestones (retired)

Angled X's & O's - Stampin' Up!® Endless Love

   I'm back today with the CAS Colours & Sketches challenge team with a cool layout for you!  It's got a fun diagonal corner element and I can't wait to see what you do with it!  

  I'll be working hard the next few weeks to get all of my Valentine's Day cards made in plenty of time to get them mailed out so I took advantage of this layout to come up with another one using the Endless Love bundle.

    For the diagonal lines in the corner I decided to use the Endless Love "XO" dies and cut a bunch out of Coastal Cabana and Cloud Cover and alternated them and added some Pretty in Pink and Strawberry Slush hearts back to the O's.  I colored the mini hearts with some Wink of Stella for a subtle shimmer.

  For the rest of the layout I stamped the heart in Pretty in Pink onto the same color cardstock and popped it up then added the sentiment in Strawberry Slush along with a Summer Splash gem.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

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

Stamps: Endless Love

Ink: Strawberry Slush, Pretty in Pink

Paper: Strawberry Slush, Basic White, Pretty in Pink, Cloud Cover, Coastal Cabana

Accessories: Endless Love dies, dimensionals, Wink of Stella, faceted gem (retired)

  

Big Hugs & Kisses - Stampin' Up!® Endless Love

    I'm having a lot of fun with the great patterns in the Made With Love DSP. They are easy to mix and match and also look great on their own.  I'm using 3 on this card today and I think they make a nice background for this big Flirty Flamingo heart!

  The colors in the Made With Love DSP are perfect for playing along with the Color Dare challenge as their palette basically has all the colors in this pack and I've used Basic Gray for a neutral!  Perfect timing!

  The card base is Basic White thick and then I used 4 panels of the DSP cut to 4" x 1 3/4" each.

  Next I added the large heart die cut in Flirty Flamingo to have a good solid base for my other elements so they didn't get lost among the patterns. 

 

  The sentiments are stamped in Basic Gray and then trimmed down.  The X's and O's are stamped in Real Red and I fussy cut them and popped them on the card front with dimensionals.

  I dithered over adding some kind of ribbon but in the end decided to add some small heart die cuts that I colored with clear Wink of Stella.  The little red hearts were perfect for above the sentiment.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

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

Stamps: Endless Love

Ink: Basic Gray, Real Red

Paper: Basic White thick, Made With Love DSP, Flirty Flamingo, Basic White

Accessories: Endless Love dies, dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Bear Hug Valentine - Stampin Up!® Valentine Kisses

   Since I'm surrounded by guys at home I always need to make some masculine-ish cards for occasions throughout the year.  And Valentine's Day is no exception of course so for this Testosterone Tuesday I've got a sweet but subdued card to give to one of my sons which hopefully won't scare him with too much overt affection or sappiness.  IYKYK! lol!

  Can you see how restrained this card of love is?? I pulled my colors right from the current Inspired By challenge and while I don't have anything "knit" on my card I do have a warm and cuddly bear so that counts I think!

  The card base is Secret Sea and then a panel of Basic White which is embossed with the Hearts of Love embossing folder.  Next I added 3/4" strips of cardstock with the 2 pieces of Basic Gray edged with a bit of Secret Sea Bordered Open Weave ribbon.  I embossed the sentiment and a some tiny hearts on the strips to fill the space on the right.

 The bear is stamped in Memento black and then colored in with Pecan Pie Stampin' Blends.  I added a heart to his arms and then popped him on dimensionals on the left.

 Finally I added a few retired adhesive-backed sparkle gems for the finishing touch.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

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

Stamps: Valentine Kisses (Online Exclusive)

Ink: Memento Black, Versamark

Blends: Ivory, Pecan Pie light & dark

Paper: Secret Sea, Basic White, Basic Gray

Accessories: Hearts of Love embossing folder, Valentine Kisses dies (Online Exclusive), dimensionals, white embossing powder, Secret Sea Bordered Open Weave ribbon, adhesive-backed sparkle gems (retired)

Love Hearts - Stampin' Up!® Endless Love

   I'm trying to jump right into Valentine's Day cards so when I see a challenge (or 2) that inspire me I'm going to be getting deep into the hearts! I used the Endless Love bundle to to make today's card and used the Color Hues Challenge of red and gray along with the just closed Sunday Stamps Challenge layout for my design features.

   This one starts with a Basic White thick card base, then uses a piece of Made With Love DSP in a red polka dot pattern to cover about 3/4 of the card front.

  I stamped a bunch of hearts and then cut them out and arranged them along the edge of the DSP.  The fun part of this card comes with adding in the little details.  I cut out a few "XO" combos in Smoky Slate and then filled in the little hearts with red glimmer paper.  A few more red glimmer paper hearts are popped on dimensionals and are added around the larger hearts.  A smoky slate arrow is added to the second heart.

  Finally the sentiment is from the new Reason to Celebrate stamp set and I used both Real Red and Smoky Slate ink.

  I don't think you can go wrong with hearts and the color red for a Valentine's Day card and the Endless Love bundle gives you lots of options for creating!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

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

Stamps: Endless Love, Reason to Celebrate

Ink: Real Red, Smoky Slate

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, Real Red, Made With Love DSP, Smoky Slate, Real Red Glimmer paper (retired)

Accessories: Endless Love dies, dimensionals

Endless Hugs & Kisses - Stampin' Up!® Endless Love

  Now that Christmas is in our rearview mirror I'm looking ahead to Valentine's day when I will need another decent sized stack of cards to mail as well as hand deliver.  I got a little bit of a start designing for it at my holiday stamping party where I was able to introduce my stampers to the new Endless Love bundle.  We've got hearts galore as well as some mix and match sentiments; add in the Made With Love DSP and this set of products will definitely get you on the right track for Valentine's day!

  This one is pretty straightforward but shows off a lot of the products in the suite.  The card starts with a Real Red card base, then a piece of Basic White is embossed with the Hearts of Love embossing folder.  A piece of Made With Love DSP in a fun 'XO' pattern comes next.

  One of the Endless Love dies is a cute heart shape with a little tab on the top like a necklace locket and I've used it on this card in Flirty Flamingo cardstock.  A bit of Bubble Bath Faux Linen ribbon is tied in the hole and then a few hearts from the Loose Valentine's Assortment are glued to the larger heart.  The heart is then popped on dimensionals.

  To finish this a quick sentiment is stamped on a narrow piece of Basic White in Real Red.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the products used on this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Endless Love

Ink: Real Red

Paper: Real Red, Basic White, Flirty Flamingo, Made With Love DSP

Accessories: Endless Love dies, dimensionals, 1/8" Bubble Bath Faux Linen ribbon, Loose Valentine's Assortment, Hearts of Love embossing folder

Love You Bear - Stampin' Up!® Valentine Kisses

 I've had the Online Exclusive Valentine Kisses bundle for a bit of time already and it hasn't seen any ink until this card!  I needed to make a card using the color combo that I challenged my customer with this past week.  These are definitely not traditional Valentine's Day colors but I think they look pretty good for a 'love you' card nonetheless!

  I started with some Floral Delight DSP for the top and bottom of the card front.  I added a narrow strip of Pumpkin Pie embossed with the tiny sentiment from the Banner Sayings stamp set.

  The bear is stamped in Memento Black and then I added a bird to each shoulder.  The images are colored in with Stampin' Blends and then the panel is popped on dimensionals.

  After these pieces were all adhered I though the middle needed something more so I cut a few of the scalloped trips in Basic White and added them below the sentiment strip.  Luckily the dimensionals on the bear panel weren't in the way and I could tuck the scallops underneath.

  I added 2 retired Faux Glass Dots in Pumpkin Pie to finish off the details.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

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

Stamps: Valentine Kisses (Online Exclusive), Banner Sayings (Online Exclusive)

Ink: Memento Black, Versamark

Blends: Pecan Pie light & dark, Daffodil Delight light & dark, Pumpkin Pie light & dark

Paper: Floral Delight DSP, Basic White, Pumpkin Pie

Accessories: white embossing powder, Valentine Kisses dies (Online Exclusive), dimensionals, Faux Glass Dots (retired)

Valentine's Day Stripes - Stampin' Up!® Bee My Valentine

  With the longest day of year just yesterday isn't it time to start looking ahead to Valentine's Day??!!  Just kidding, well not really but I saw the Tic Tac Toe challenge board yesterday and got inspired to design for Valentine's Day.  I was asked to make 75 Valentine's Day cards for one of the women's circles at my church for next February.  My friends who is in charge of this project asked me a month ago if I could do this many cards and she wanted to make sure I had plenty of time.  I had started to pull some supplies together to play around a few weeks ago but I just wasn't feeling it then.  Knowing I had plenty of time I set the project aside until I saw the challenge yesterday and it seemed like the right time!  I'm using the center across line (CAS, heart, stripes) for my very early Valentine's day design.

  I told my friend that to keep costs down for her and to make it manageable for my time that the cards would be fairly simple whatever design I came up with.  I pulled out all of my retired Valentine's Day themed DSP and definitely have enough to mix and match these half inch wide strips of DSP along with some Real Red strips.

  2 retired heart punches come in handy for the layered heart element that's popped on dimensionals.  I embossed the sentiment from Bee My Valentine stamp set in white and then added a baker's twine bow.

 I'm sure that after making 75 of these I might think that they weren't simple enough but if I work on them a bit at a time over the next little bit I think I won't end up hating them!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

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

Stamps: Bee My Valentine

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Basic White thick, Real Red, Basic White, Snail Mail DSP (retired)

Accessories: white embossing powder, dimensionals, real red bakers twine, Heart punch pack (retired)

Seagull Love - Stampin' Up! Friendly Seagulls

  You know I love my animal stamps and bird stamps so the Sale-a-bration (SAB) set Friendly Seagulls was sure to find its way to my stamp room!  I decided to make a fun little Valentine's day card that I think I'm going to send to my son at college.  The inside says "I love you more than french fries"!  So cute!  A $60 order can get you these seagulls for free during Sale-a-bration!

  The layout is one that I gave to my customers last week for a stamping challenge on our group Facebook page.  It's a simple layout and the big circle could be changed out for another larger shape so you can really go in so many directions with it.

  I started with a Lost Lagoon card base, then another layer of Lost Lagoon embossed with the Sale-a-Bration Starstruck embossing folder.

  The Spotlight on Nature die set was used to cut the circle.  I used a blending brush and very lightly added some Pool Party ink to it for a bit of a sky effect. Country Woods DSP is used for the pilings and I gave them 2 different heights so the birds wouldn't be crowded.

  The seagulls are stamped in Memento Black and then colored with blends markers.  I fussy cut them and popped them up on the pilings with dimensionals.

  The little banner is cut with the Stylish Shapes dies and I stamped the 'hey' in black.  It seemed a bit empty so I punched a Poppy Parade heart with the house builder punch and added that to the side of the banner.  Behind the banner I looped a bit of baker's twine and then popped it all up on a dimensional.

  This is such a fun stamp set and I keep seeing more and more cute ways to use it!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the supplies used to make this card can be purchased or earned for free in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Friendly Seagulls (SAB)

Ink: Memento Black, Pool Party

Blends: Basic Black light, Smoky Slate light & dark, Daffodil Delight dark

Paper: Lost Lagoon, Basic White, Poppy Parade, Country Woods DSP

Accessories: Starstruck embossing folder (SAB), Spotlight on Nature dies, dimensionals, Stylish Shapes dies, baker's twine, house builder punch

   

Marbled Hearts - Stampin' Up! Hugs for Love

 I've been mixing and matching different products lately to make my Valentine's day cards and today's card is more of the same.  I designed this one to use some of the Marbled Elegance DSP, Hearts of Elegance dies and the Hugs for Love stamp set.

  My local stampers made this design in my last class and everyone agreed that the Online Exclusive Marbled Elegance Designer Series Paper is gorgeous with it's swirls of color and gold foil.  This card isn't big on stamping but it's big on the gold "wow" factor!

  The card starts with a Real Red base, then a layer of Basic White embossed with the Forever Plaid embossing folder.  A piece of the Marbled Elegance DSP is added to the right side of the card.

  A bit of gold twisted thread is wrapped around the center and tied in a bow.  Next come 3 lovely die cut hearts using the Hearts of Elegance dies.  The red heart is stamped and embossed with the sentiment.  Both the red and pink patterned hearts are accentuated by using a scoring stylus on the backside of the die cuts.  This gives the die cut a beautiful "puffy" look and is so easy.  Just leave the die cut in the die and flip it over to the back side.  Use a foam mat and the scoring stylus to gently trace the shape on the inside of the die.  And that's it; you get a jazzed up die cut in seconds.

  All 3 hearts are popped up on dimensionals and a few Adhesive-Backed Heart Sequins are added for even more gold shine.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

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

Stamps: Hugs for Love

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Real Red, Basic White, Marbled Elegance Specialty DSP (Online Exclusive), Brushed Gold Foil Specialty paper (Online Exclusive)

Accessories: Forever Plaid embossing folder, white embossing powder, dimensionals, Gold Twisted Thread (Online Exclusive), Adhesive-Backed Heart Sequins (Online Exclusive)

Love Hearts - Stampin' Up! Hugs for Love

   Sometimes card designs just come about because you have an orphaned card part that is just begging to be used!  That's what happened with this colorful Valentine's Day card!

  I had this Basic White panel that was embossed with the Sale-a-Bration (SAB) Starstruck embossing folder just sitting around since it didn't make the cut for another project.  And of course I would never throw it out so this card all started with just that panel!

  I added it to a Blueberry Bushel card base then stamped a whole bunch of hearts in bright colors using the Hugs for Love stamp set.  I fussy cut the hearts (really didn't take long at all if you were wondering lol!) and then layered them in a band towards the bottom of the card front.

 The sentiment is from the Saying Hey stamp set and is stamped in Blueberry Bushel and then popped on dimensionals.  The finishing touch are a few retired Iridescent Rhinestones for a little bit of shine.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

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

Stamps: Hugs for Love, Saying Hey

Ink: Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Coastal Cabana, Blueberry Bushel, Azure Afternoon

Paper: Blueberry Bushel, Basic White

Accessories: dimensionals, Starstuck embossing folder (SAB), Iridescent Rhinestones (retired)

Blue Crab Love - Stampin' Up! Ocean Friends

   I'm trying to get back in the stamping groove after a few days away from home so I thought I would start with a Clean and Simple (CAS) card inspired by the Addicted to CAS challenge which has a prompt of code word Blue.  What's better than a blue crab saying "love you"???  Not much!

  The trick with a CAS card is to make it balanced without overdoing anything as well as maintaining open space without it looking empty.  They are harder to make than the finished product would have you believe!

  For this one I started with a Basic White thick card base.  I'm always trying to use up narrow scraps as best as I can and I thought that embossing 3 Basic White strips with the Soft Waves embossing folder and adding them to the bottom of the card would be a nice way to use them up as well bring some textural interest to the card.

  The lovely blue crab is stamped in Blueberry Bushel and Azure Afternoon.  Once he was die cut I popped him up with dimensionals.  I used the Spring Corners die for the heart and tucked it into the claw.

  The sentiment from the Ocean Friends set is stamped just above the top embossed strip in Blueberry Bushel ink.

  I'm thinking this card might be a good Valentine's Day card for one of my boys.  Not too mushy and if I give it with enough candy I might even get a smile!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

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

Stamps: Ocean Friends

Ink: Blueberry Bushel, Azure Afternoon

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, Blueberry Bushel

Accessories: Ocean Friends dies, Spring Corners dies (Online Exclusive), Soft Waves embossing folder, dimensionals