Guacamole Birthday - Stampin' Up! Taco Fiesta

   I've got a cute masculine birthday card to share today for Testosterone Tuesday.  It really could be for anyone that enjoys a good pun or some chips and guac but it's a CAS design with little fuss so it falls into the "guy card" category for me.

   Parakeet Party is used for the card base.  The Basic White panel has 3 score lines across the bottom for some low fuss detail and they also gave a bit of an anchor for the sentiment.  I colored the avocados and the bowl of guacamole with Stampin' Blends markers and then punched them out with a circle punch.  They are backed with a slightly larger punched circle in Basic Black. Some dimensionals are used to adhered them to the card front.

  So it's a quick masculine card too!  Minimal supplies but still really fun!

  Thanks for looking! Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Taco Fiesta

Ink: Memento Black

Blends: Parakeet Party light & dark, Old Olive dark, Basic Black light & dark, SU300 (brown)

Paper: Parakeet Party, Basic Black, Basic White

Accessories: circle punches (or dies), dimensionals, scoring tool

Turtle Get Well - Stampin' Up! Playing in the Rain

   I needed a masculine get well card and this week the Paper Players have a Clean and Simple Get Well prompt so it was perfect timing.

  I haven't watercolored in a really long time and a customer recently inspired me by sending me a card that she watercolored at a class at our local botanical gardens.  I decided to pull out my (very dry!!) Stazon ink pad and some watercolor paper and give it a go.  No, I'm not going to share the first attempts...only the one that came out worthy enough to send to another human!  

  I chose some nice bright cheerful colors in Mango Melody, Parakeet Party, Granny Apple Green and a bit of Night of Navy for contrast.

  First, I adhered a piece of Regency Park DSP onto the card front.  Next I stamped the turtle from Playing in the Rain stamp set in Stazon and then watercolored with water painter brushes.  The sentiment is from the Through It Together stamp set and is stamped in Stazon as well.

  Once the turtle panel was dry I added a length of Night of Navy ribbon to the top and then backed the panel with Night of Navy cardstock.  The whole panel is popped onto the card front with dimensionals.

  The final detail is a Night of Navy enamel dot added to the flower center. See pretty clean and simple!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Playing in the Rain, Through It Together

Ink: Stazon, Mango Melody, Parakeet Party, Granny Apple Green

Paper: watercolor paper, Night of Navy, Regency Park DSP

Accessories: water painter brush, dimensionals, Night of Navy Bordered Ribbon, enamel dot 

Bunny Ears Easter - Stampin' Up! Sentimental Park

   Sometimes when I'm working on a card design I see something in a stamp or die that looks like it could be used for something else.  I was creating this card and while I was fussy cutting the leaves I totally had an "a-ha" moment where I saw bunny ears!  Of course I tucked that little bit of inspiration away and a few days later I sat down to see if I could come up with a design using this stamp as bunny ears.

  I paired the stamp with 2 patterns from the Sale-a-Bration Day at the Farm DSP to create a trio of little bunny ears peaking over the top of a hill.

  The card base is Balmy Blue then a layer of Basic White.  The sky/cloud pattern from Day at the Farm DSP is on the top half of the Basic White panel.  I fussy cut the hill pattern and added it to the bottom half.

  The bunny ears are stamped in Crumb Cake and then the inside is colored with the light Flirty Flamingo Blends marker.  I fussy cut all three pairs of ears then tucked them just behind the hillside.

  To fill in the sky I added a few die cut clouds from the Playing in the Rain dies.  They are popped on dimensionals for added interest (and because I can't say no to dimensionals lol!!).  I cut a few grass/flower stems using the same die set and added them to the hillside.  They are topped with the fun Loose Daisy embellishments.

  The sentiment is an old retired set called And Many More.  The size and bunny reference fit perfectly with the design. 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Sentimental Park, And Many More (retired)

Ink: Crumb Cake, Garden Green

Blends: Flirty Flamingo light

Paper: Balmy Blue, Basic White, Pear Pizzazz, Day at the Farm DSP (SAB)

Accessories: Playing in the Rain dies, dimensionals, Loose Daisy embellishments

Musical Thinking of You - Stampin' Up! Sweet Songbirds

   I'm playing along with the Festive Friday Challenge today.  They are celebrating World Music Therapy Day with a fun list of inspiration to get your creativity going.  From the list I have used Notes, Supportive Sentiment, Clean and Simple (CAS) Design and Ink Blending.

  Out of all my current stamp sets the Sweet Songbirds is the only one that has anything musical in it so wasn't hard to decide what to start with!

  I started with a piece of Regency Park DSP on the card front.  Next I backed a layer of Basic White with some Polished Pink.  I blended a bit of Balmy Blue into the background so I could have a nice sky for my bird.

  The clouds are punched with the cloud punch and I sponged a bit of Balmy Blue ink on the edges to define them a bit more.  The sentiment from the Beauty of Friendship stamp set is stamped in Night of Navy onto one of the clouds and is popped on dimensionals.

  The bird is stamped in Polished Pink and punched out with the Songbird Builder punch.  I added a punched beak in Mango Melody as well as stamped feet in the same color ink.  The bird body and wing are popped on dimensionals.

 Finally I stamped the music notes in Night of Navy to finish the design.  No embellishments are added to keep it more CAS than not.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Sweet Songbirds, Beauty of Friendship

Ink: Night of Navy, Balmy Blue, Polished Pink, Mango Melody

Paper: Basic White, Polished Pink, Regency Park DSP, Mango Melody

Accessories: Songbird Builder punch, dimensionals, Cloud punch

Chubby Cat Birthday - Stampin' Up! Best Day

   I'm getting in just under the wire for posting a Testosterone Tuesday guy card!  My day was full up of college visits with my oldest and I didn't plan far enough ahead to schedule a post you'll get a rare evening post from me!

  I used the Inspired By Challenge in which I used not only the inspiration photo but loosely used the sketch as well.

  These colors were just perfect for a guy card and after looking through my stamp sets I thought the adorable chubby kitty from the Best Wishes stamp set was a perfect image to incorporate them all in.

  The card base is Basic White thick with a slightly smaller layer of Smoky Slate which is embossed with the retired Subtle embossing folder.  Then I added a narrow strip of Balmy Blue to anchor the other other elements.

  The squares are all die cut using the Stylish Shapes dies in various sizes.  The cat is stamped on the large Basic White one in Basic Gray ink.  I used Blends markers to color in the image using all the challenge colors.

  I stamped the sentiment in Basic Gray and then trimmed it down to fit inside the Real Red square which is popped on dimensionals.  And then I dug around in my retired stash of embellishments and blued out some Pacific Point candy dots which I swear are multiplying in the drawer as I never seem to make any headway in using them up!

  It's always a great idea to have some masculine cards tucked away in your stash and I would definitely suggest trying out these colors for a few cards!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Best Day

Ink: Basic Gray

Blends: Smoky Slate light & dark, Real Red light & dark, Balmy Blue light & dark, Night of Navy light

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, Real Red, Smoky Slate, Pacific Point, Balmy Blue

Accessories: Stylish Shapes dies, dimensionals, candy dots (retired), Subtle embossing folder (retired)

Blushing Dear Friend - Stampin' Up! Sentimental Park

 I used the current Tic Tac Toe challenge for this card.  I used the right hand down choices of; CAS, stencil and flowers.

  

  This is such a pretty color combo that I'm sure I've used it more than once but it's also a good combo to use before Soft Succulent and Evening Evergreen retire on May 1.  Double check your reinkers and cardstock so you don't run out of your favorites!  My ordering link is in my sidebar -------->

  The first step for this card was to use one of the retired Adorning Designs stencils on the card base.  I blended some Soft Succulent ink for a nice subtle pattern.

  

  Next I cut a Stylish Shapes circle out of a Basic White panel and added the full panel to the card front.  The flowers from Sentimental Park are stamped in Soft Succulent then filled in with Blushing Bride.  I die cut the flower cluster as well as a few Blushing Bride flowers and popped them with dimensionals along the side of the open circle.

  

  I stamped the leaves in Evening Evergreen and then fussy cut them (the die cuts the large leaf/stem combo) and then tucked it behind the flowers.  The sentiment is stamped in Evening Evergreen and then fussy cut and popped.

  The finishing touches are small pearls on the Blushing Bride flowers and an Evening Evergreen baker's twine bow.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Sentimental Park

Ink: Soft Succulent, Evening Evergreen, Blushing Bride

Paper: Soft Succulent, Basic White, Blushing Bride

Accessories: Stylish Shapes dies, Sentimental Park dies, dimensionals, pearls, baker's twine

Cacti Hello - Stampin' Up! Taco Fiesta

   Check out this fabulous color palette that The Color Hues team has for us this week!  As soon as I saw my friend Nanc's stunning card in their design team gallery I knew I had to play along with these bright colors! Cyan and Lime Green translate to Tahitian Tide and Parakeet Party in Stampin' Up! colors and like Nanc' I added some black to really make the colors pop!

  The card base is Tahitian Tide with a Basic White layer next.  On top of that is a piece of Tahitian Tide embossed with the Gingham embossing folder.

  Next I stamped a row of cacti from the Taco Fiesta set across a piece of Basic White and then colored them in with my Parakeet Party Blends.  I used the color lifter marker to pull up some color in a dot and striped pattern to add some detail to the cacti.  Next I embossed in black the mustache face on one cactus and then backed the layer with Basic Black and popped it with dimensionals on the card front.

  I stamped and embossed in black the 'hello' word bubble from the Conversation Bubbles set and then die cut it with the coordinating dies.  It's also popped up on a dimensional above the cactus.

  I didn't want to take away from the smaller images by adding any embellishments so I left it plain and let the embossed texture and shiny black embossing be the main details.

  Thanks so much for the color inspiration Color Hues!!  This card just makes me smile so much I might have to keep it for myself!!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Taco Fiesta, Conversation Bubbles

Ink: Memento Black, Versamark

Blends: Parakeet Party light & dark

Paper: Tahitian Tide, Basic White, Basic Black

Accessories: Gingham embossing folder, black embossing powder, Conversation Bubbles dies, dimensionals

Park Floral Thanks - Stampin' Up! Sentimental Park

   It is very dreary here in Central Virginia with rain expected for a good part of the day.  It's not cold but I'm going to stay inside and doing stamping things!  I'm sharing a bright floral card to combat the gray weather to start my list of stamping things I need to do today!

  My stampers made this at my last Quick & Easy class.  When you've got gorgeous paper like the Regency Park DSP you want to show it off.  We paired a pretty design with a clean sentiment label.

  The card base is Balmy Blue, then a square of Regency Park DSP backed with a Shaded Spruce square.

  2 lengths of Night of Navy Bordered ribbon which I love are adhered to the card front on a diagonal.  I used glue dots but a bit of snail adhesive would work as well.

  A piece of Basic White is cut with the plain label from the Sentimental Dies set.  The open flower stamp from Sentimental Park is stamped off in Mango Melody across the label.  The 'thanks' is stamped over the top of the flowers in Night of Navy for a nice contrast.  The label is popped on dimensionals and a punched flower from another Regency Park DSP pattern is added to the corner with a Night of Navy adhesive backed Milky Dots in the center.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Sentimental Park

Ink: Night of Navy, Mango Melody

Paper: Balmy Blue, Shaded Spruce, Regency Park DSP, Basic White

Accessories: Sentimental Park dies, Petal Park builder punch, Night of Navy Bordered ribbon, dimensionals, milk dots