Masculine Wood Blocks - Stampin' Up! Itty Bitty Birthdays

I missed sharing a project the last 2 days as I've been working hard designing the projects for my next class and I didn't have any other cards to show.  The "cards to upload" folder was woefully empty.  It was a struggle designing for a bit as everything I tried out just was not right.  I got into a groove finally yesterday and designed the class projects as well as a few others that I liked a lot but just wouldn't be good for class.

  I was loving the Freshly Made Sketches challenge with all those little square elements.  I was trying to come up with a masculine birthday card for class and thought that a clean and simple card using small pieces of the Wood Textures DSP might be just right. 

  This design is a fantastic way to use up some little scraps of paper but probably not something you'd want to do with a group of 20+ in a class setting.  It was a bit fussy lining up the squares and I see room for improvement but I like how it turned out overall even if it isn't good for a class project.

  The card base is Early Espresso; it's been a hot minute since I used this color but it's perfect for a masculine card.  The next layer is Very Vanilla embossed with the Subtle embossing folder which I'm obsessed with lately.  It gives just the right amount of 'something' without being over the top.  I embossed the sentiment from Itty Bitty Birthdays in copper embossing powder.  With a quick change of sentiment it can be any type of card as well.

  Next for the focal square piece with another layer of Early Espresso then a Stitched Shape die cut Very Vanilla square which I layered all the bits of Wood Textures DSP.

  I wanted to add just a little something to the square panel so I stamped a leaf from Rooted in Nature and cut it out and layered it on the edge.  A bit of retired thick Very Vanilla twine is knotted around the stem.

  This was a fun sketch to play with and I may even have another card that I designed using it to share another day.  That one didn't make the class project cut either but I think it came out cute anyway.

  Have a great weekend!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Itty Bitty Birthdays, Rooted in Nature

Ink: Crumb Cake, Versamark

Paper: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Wood Textures DSP

Accessories: Subtle embossing folder, Stitched Shapes framelits, Nature's Roots framelits, dimensionals, copper embossing powder, thick Very Vanilla twine (retired)

All Those Flowers - Stampin' Up! All That You Are

  The longer days and a bit warmer temperatures have our family outside doing yardwork and enjoying the sunshine on our faces!  And of course thinking about spring flowers.  My daffodils are blooming and giving some much needed color to the yard.  We don't have any flowers as bright as the ones on today's card but we can dream!

  I don't make square cards very often and I'm thinking that this one was for a challenge a while back that I didn't post in time.  It's a nice size that still fits in a regular envelope.

  The black and white striped pattern is from the SAB paper Botanical Butterfly DSP and just has so many lovely black and white patterns along with a colored side that it makes it hard to choose sometimes!

  The flowers from All That You Are are embossed in gold onto water color paper and painted with inks and aquapainters.  I'm pretty sure the colors are Poppy Parade and Lovely Lipstick but don't make me swear to it...it's been a while since I made this card.

  The leaves are cut from watercolor paper as well and then just colored with Lucky Limeade ink and an aquapainter.

  All of those elements are popped up around the gold embossed sentiment panel.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: All That You Are

Ink: Versamark, Lovely Lipstick, Poppy Parade, Lucky Limeade

Paper: Whisper White thick, Lovely Lipstick, Botanical Butterfly DSP, watercolor paper, Whisper White

Accessories: Frosted Bouquet framelits, gold embossing powder, dimensionals

Spring At Home - Stampin' Up! At Home With You

  I had some lovely inspiration from 2 different challenges to make today's card.  Spring time and pastels just seem to go together so I combined the theme of spring from Festive Friday and the inspiration photos from Hand Stamped Sentiments to make this sweet little spring theme.

  The door and all the porch accessories are fun to color in and make different with each new card.  I used Stampin' Blends and pulled all of my colors right from the color palette in the inspiration photos.

  The card base is So Saffron and then a smaller layer of the same embossed with the Pinewood Planks embossing folder.  To highlight the wood texture just a bit I lightly sponged some Whisper White craft ink across the card front.

  The images are all stamped in Basic Gray and then colored in.  The flower pots and wreath are all popped on dimensionals.  I had a little tiny linen thread bow in my card parts pile that I thought was just right to accent the wreath.

  I hope you're having some spring weather wherever you are this week!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: At Home With You

Ink: Basic Gray, Whisper White craft

Blends: Crumb Cake light & dark, Pool Party light & dark, Smoky Slate light, Petal Pink light & dark, Flirty Flamingo light, Mint Macaron light & dark

Paper: So Saffron, Whisper White

Accessories: At Home framelits, dimensionals, linen thread, Pinewood Planks embossing folder

Bold Swirls - Stampin' Up! Swirly Bird - Fab Friday 159

 We made it to Friday people!  Give yourself a pat on the back and a reward of some stamping time so you can play along with the latest Fab Friday Challenge!  We have a great, basic sketch that can be used for so many cards!

  I had a lot of fun creating for this one because I had some great inspiration!  Some fabric again!  A dear friend gave me a birthday gift in the most gorgeous handmade fabric gift bag that just had to be made into a card!  Is it a gift or a curse to see stamping inspiration in so many places?

  So not the best photo but this is where my card colors came from.  I used the long neglected Swirly Bird stamp set which is still gorgeous and fun to stamp with.  The best part is this can be any kind of card with just a sentiment swap!

   Really nothing crazy on this card.  I just had fun with the colors and the embossed Tin Tile texture.  

  I hope you'll check out the rest of the Fab Friday Design Team and play along.  We love seeing all of your creations in our gallery!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Swirly Bird, Itty Bitty Greetings

Ink: Basic Gray, Poppy Parade, Flirty Flamingo

Paper: Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Bermuda Bay, Granny Apple Green, Whisper White

Accessories: Tin Tile embossing folder, dimensionals

Tropical Thank You - Stampin' Up! Tropical Chic

I'm on a roll this week with challenges!  With an uptick in the weather and warmer temperatures I was inspired to make a card with a summery, tropical feel.  The current challenge at Global Design Project is a CASE the designer challenge so I pulled the colors from the sample to get busy with.

  The card base is Granny Apple Green, then a layer of Whisper White stamped with the various leaves from the Tropical Chic set in Granny Apple Green ink.  The smallest leaf is stamped off once for a lighter look.

  I inked and stamped various combinations of the flower using Lovely Lipstick and Mango Melody. I used a sponge dauber to add a bit of the Lovely Lipstick to the edges of a few of them.

 Once I had the flowers cut out I layered them over a strip of the SAB Lovely Lipstick foil paper and the sentiment stamped in black.  I had a little strip of the 1/8" grosgrain ribbon in Lovely Lipstick that  I added under the one flower.

  Who is longing for summer now?  Well maybe we should let spring have a bit of time first??

Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Tropical Chic, Another Wonderful Year

Ink: Granny Apple Green, Lovely Lipstick, Mango Melody, Memento black

Paper: Granny Apple Green, Whisper White, Lovely Lipstick foil (SAB)

Accessories: Tropical Thinlets, 1/8" grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals

Copper Thank You - Stampin' Up! All That You Are

  I've gotten a lot of mileage out of the All That You Are stamp set from the Occasions catalog.  It's a nice mix of flowers of different sizes and and some sentiments.  While I love creating with it myself and doing some coloring it's a challenge to translate that into a class for 30 people.  To have that many people do a "coloring" card would take forever so I've got to come up with ways to show the stamp set to it's fullest but still keep it class friendly.

  For class last month I wanted to use the large flower bunch stamp without needing to have it colored so I turned to copper embossing powder.  To bring in color I used multiple images of the single blossoms as well as some green leaves.

  This is another color combination that was inspired by fabric.  Here it is:

  Some of the flowers and the sentiment panel are popped up with dimensionals.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: All That You Are

Ink: Versamark, Fresh Fig, Balmy Blue

Paper: Fresh Fig, Very Vanilla, Balmy Blue, Lemon Lime Twist, Mossy Meadow

Accessories: copper embossing powder, Frosted Bouquet framelits, dimensionals

Easter Butterflies - Stampin' Up! Butterfly Gala

I am on a roll the last few days with participating in challenges and actually getting them posted during the challenge time frame!  It's a spring miracle!  And speaking of spring we have sunshine today!

  My card today is inspired by the CAS(e) This Sketch challenge.  It's a fun little off center layout which I flipped to the side just because I can!

 So I had a bunch of small pieces of the Gingham Gala DSP that I thought would be perfect for the polka dots in this sketch.  I cut out various sizes in all 5 colors and layered them on a piece of Whisper White that is embossed with the Subtle embossing folder and then cut with a Stitched Rectangle framelit.

  The butterflies are stamped in Memento and then colored with Highland Heather and Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends.  They are punched and popped on dimensionals over the top of the circles.

  I added some iridescent sequins that are long retired or leftover from a Paper Pumpkin kit...I really have no idea!

  The final thing is the Easter sentiment stamped in Memento black.  Looking at it now I should have stamped it before doing the embossing because it's a bit uneven. Oh well.

  When I showed this one to my husband he wanted to know why it is so empty on the other side of the card...*sigh*  Anyway I think it came out cute and I made a set of 6 to have on hand.  Now I just need to remember to send them out!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Butterfly Gala, Itty Bitty Greetings

Ink: Memento black

Blends: Highland Heather light & dark, Daffodil Delight light & dark

Paper: Grapefruit Grove, Whisper White, Gingham Gala DSP

Accessories: Subtle embossing folder, Stitched Rectangle framelits, Butterfly Duet punch, circle punches/dies, sequins (retired), dimensionals

Lucky Day - Stampin' Up! Itty Bitty Greetings

  Happy Monday!  Is every one bleary eyed and tired from the time change? I hope not but if you are maybe some stamping therapy would help?  I didn't get in the stamp room much over the weekend but I have a card to share that I finished up on Thursday.

  I used 2 challenges for this one; the sketch is from Freshly Made Sketches and the theme is from The Card Concept. A clean and simple (CAS) style allows for the little clovers to pop.

  The idea of punched hearts to make 4 leaf clovers is not a new idea but I loved the idea of making little tiny ones to put in some vases for a good luck or St. Patrick's day card.

  I used some of the Gingham Gala paper in Lemon Lime Twist since it's such a nice bright color.  The hearts are die cut from the Everyday Jars framelits in Granny Apple Green.

  The stems are from the Varied Vases set and the vases are punched with the Vases Builder punch.

  The sentiment is from Itty Bitty Greetings and is punched with a small circle punch and I added a little bit of gold twine for some of that pot of gold good luck feeling.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Itty Bitty Greetings, Varied Vases

Ink: Memento Black

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Basic Black, Granny Apple Green, Gingham Gala DSP

Accessories: Vases Builder punch, Stitched Rectangles framelits, Everyday Jars framelits, dimensionals, circle punch, gold twine