Welcome to the Neighborhood - Stampin' Up! Arrange a Wreath

  We've got a few new neighbors on our street so I have to hop to it to get some cards made so we can go introduce ourselves before they aren't "new" anymore.  I thought I could make a cute little house card by pairing the Stitched Triangle dies with the stitched square from Stitched Shapes dies.

                              

 The Paper Players challenge this week has a great set of colors and I thought they would be perfect for a little trio of houses. 

  I started with a Whisper White thick card base then a layer of Night of Navy, then a Stitched Rectangle embossed with the Subtle embossing folder.  Before embossing I stamped the "welcome" from Well Said in Night of Navy.

  Once I had the houses cut out and popped on dimensionals I added a few finishing touches.  The Arrange a Wreath bundle had a heart and flower that were just the right size.  The heart is stamped in Melon Mambo and cut out and adhered with a dimensional.  The flower is cut out from Pool Party cardstock and in the center I added an adhesive pearl.  The Pool Party house has a Night of Navy baker's twine bow.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Well Said, Arrange a Wreath

Ink: Melon Mambo, Night of Navy

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Pool Party, Night of Navy, Mango Melody

Accessories: Stitched Triangle dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Subtle embossing folder, Wreath Builder dies, dimensionals, adhesive pearl, Night of Navy baker's twine (retired)

                                    

Balmy Snowflake - Stampin' Up! Snowflake Wishes

   I couldn't help myself over the weekend and had to make another card using the Snowflake Wishes bundle.  I started with several different colors but ended up editing the design to stick with blues.  I thought the CAS(e) This Sketch challenge was a perfect one to use with the largest snowflake die from the So Many Snowflakes die set.

                                            

  So the first time I tried to cut the largest snowflake I didn't realize that it didn't cut out the whole outline of the snowflake so when I went to take it off of the cutting plate I ended up with a bunch of little bits of cardstock scattered every where and the snowflake sitting there (not centered at all!) in the middle of the scrap piece of cardstock I had used.  So when you look at the dies on the bottom of page 38 in the Aug.-Dec. mini catalog it's the one that's shown in the square. 

  So while my first snowflake didn't come out well it works perfectly on the 2 corners of this larger panel.  I stamped a few little Balmy Blue snowflakes around the die cuts.

  I then used some Misty Moonlight cardstock to cut a smaller snowflake to put near the top of the card.  Before adhering it I colored it with a clear Wink of Stella marker and added a retired From My Heart faceted gem to the center.

  The sentiment from the set Banner Year is stamped in Misty Moonlight.  Definitely don't overlook this set.  It's got lots of seasonal sentiments and cute smaller images to go with them.  This set is bundled with the Banners Pick a Punch but it can definitely be used without it.

  And the best part of this card is the Balmy Blue Glimmer paper backing the top panel.  It's so sparkly in real life.  I hardly ever let myself use such a large piece of Glimmer paper but it's certainly worth it for this design.

  Thanks for looking! Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Snowflake Wishes, Banner Year

Ink: Balmy Blue, Misty Moonlight

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Misty Moonlight, Balmy Blue Glimmer paper

Accessories: So Many Snowflake dies, dimensionals, Wink of Stella, From My Heart faceted gem (retired)

                                                 

Summer Greenery Thanks - Stampin' Up! Forever Fern

   I needed a few thank you cards and wanted to use some more of the Forever Greenery DSP.   I based my layout on the sketch at Inspire. Create. Challenges I decided to do some sprigs of greenery as the circle element in the sketch instead of an actual circle.

 

                                            

  You can't see it here but I started with a Soft Sea Foam card base topped with a piece of Forever Greenery DSP.

  I embossed a piece of Garden Green with one of the Greenery embossing folders and adhered that just down from center of the card front.

  A Whisper White stitched rectangle is the base for the focal pieces.  The sentiment from Ornate Thanks is stamped at the bottom of the panel in Pretty Peacock.

  I cut a Garden Green sprig, then stamped and cut one in Soft Sea Foam and Pretty Peacock.  I adhered them to the panel with dimensionals.  I added a bit of braided linen trim to the stems with a glue dot and put a Pretty Peacock faceted gem next to it.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Forever Fern, Ornate Thanks

Ink: Pretty Peacock, Soft Sea Foam

Paper: Garden Green, Whisper White, Forever Greenery DSP

Accessories: Forever Flourishing dies, Stitched Rectangle dies, Greenery embossing folder, braided linen trim, dimensionals, faceted gem (retired)

                               

Embossed Vellum Birthday - Stampin' Up! Whale Done

  This past Monday I posted another inspiration photo for my local stamping Facebook group to use as a starting point for their own projects.  I chose the card on page 103 of the annual catalog which uses the Dandelion embossing folder to emboss vellum and then some of the image is colored on the reverse side.  It's a cool technique and something I don't usually think about.  I wanted to do that technique for my own card and I also needed a birthday card so I got to work.

 

                                           

   I started with a card base of Pool Party, then embossed a layer of vellum with the Seabed embossing folder.  I flipped it over and colored some of the elements with Blends.  The little star fish which got kind of covered up are colored with the Bumblebee Stampin' Write marker since that color doesn't have a Blends.  I should have adjusted my layout because I ended up covering some coral at the bottom too.  Oh well!  I think it looks pretty neat regardless.

  For the strip of waves I hand cut a bit of one of the patterns in the Whale of a Time DSP and layered it across the vellum.  The whale is stamped in Pretty Peacock and punched with the whale punch.  The spout is punch with silver glimmer paper.  Both the whale and the spout are popped up with dimensionals.  

 The happy birthday from Itty Bitty Birthdays is stamped in Bumblebee ink onto Bumblebee cardstock.  I added a little silver/white bakers twine bow to the side to finish off the focal cluster.

  When attaching the vellum piece to the card front I used a strip of tear tape behind the wave strip and another shorter piece behind the whale.  Then I added a few glue dots behind the colored parts of the embossing and you can't see them at all so that eliminates one of the struggles of using vellum which is how to adhere it without the adhesive being seen.  

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

 Stamps: Whale Done, Itty Bitty Birthdays

Ink:  Pretty Peacock, Bumblebee

Blends: Just Jade dark, Terracotta Tile dark, Pretty Peacock dark

Marker: Bumblebee

Paper: Pool Party, vellum, Whale of a Time DSP, Bumblebee, Whisper White, silver glimmer (retired)

Accessories: Seabed embossing folder, whale punch, dimensionals, white/silver bakers twine (retired)

Snowflake Sparkle - Stampin' Up! Snowflake Wishes - VIDEO

  I'm an old dog and I've been working on learning a new trick lately.  Since quarantine I've been unable to hold classes for my local stampers and several of them have have encouraged me to give virtual classes or videos a try.  Since there doesn't seem to be an end in sight and my family will be at home working and schooling virtually for the next several months I figured I should bite the bullet and get with the times.  And I love my stampers too! 

 So today I'm sharing my first ever video and I want you all to know that I hate hearing myself talk so this is a big deal.  The video and editing are a little rough and I'm sure I said "um" too much but I hope with time and practice I'll be able to put out a decent product.  And maybe shorter too...is 15 minutes too long?? In the meantime feel free to leave me a comment or send an email with any constructive criticism.  And thanks to my husband for his construction skills for building me a stand to be able to record with my phone and thanks to my boys who helped with the YouTube stuff because somehow they are the experts at that stuff!

  On to the fun stuff!  Stamping!  First is a photo of the card like usual and then the video link.  At the end I will share the list of supplies used as usual but some of them are also listed with item numbers in the video.  Also, I made this card to play along with the current Global Design Project challenge which is a CASE the Designer inspiration.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Snowflake Wishes

Ink: Balmy Blue, Coastal Cabana, Highland Heather, Misty Moonlight

Paper: Shimmery White, Whisper White thick, Balmy Blue Glimmer paper

Accessories: So Many Snowflakes dies, dimensionals, rhinestones, silver metallic edged ribbon

Partridge in a Pear Wreath - Stampin' Up! Arrange a Wreath

  One of the Christmas challenges that I follow challenged us to make a card using the "Twelve Days of Christmas" song as inspiration.  The designers over at the CAS Christmas Card Challenge had some great samples and I thought it was a fun theme though I wasn't sure I had anything that I could use for the song.  After looking through my Christmas stamps I figured the the Arrange a Wreath set was the best bet for the theme.  The set has a pear image as well as a bird which could be a partridge.  I don't have any tree stamps that would work so I stuck with the wreath.

    I pulled my colors right from the Heartwarming Hugs DSP and started with a Mossy Meadow card base with a layer of the DSP on top. 

  I stamped the wreath in Pear Pizzazz and then die cut a second wreath out of Mossy Meadow and popped it up on dimensionals.  The pears are embossed in gold and cut out and placed around the wreath. 

  I'm a bit of a bird nerd so I looked up images of partridges to decide what color I wanted to use for it and I found that they are quite multi-colored.  I pulled out some neutrals and went to work.  I started with cutting out the bird shape in Gray Granite.  I then stamped the bird in Cinnamon Cider, Gray Granite and Soft Suede.  I cut out each section by hand then adhered the parts to the Gray Granite bird shaped base.  I cut off the little head feather also since that seems to be more of quail thing.  I filled in the open white spaces in the bird image with the matching colored Blends marker.  The partridge is then tucked into it's "tree".

  The Whisper White piece of cardstock has to be quite wide to accommodate the wreath image but that also leaves a lot of open space in each corner that seemed a bit naked and unfinished to me so I added some retired gold brads to the corners for a more polished look.

  A layered Mossy Meadow and Real Red flag is the base for the gold embossed sentiment from Itty Bitty Christmas.  And finally the wreath panel is popped on dimensionals on the card front.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Arrange a Wreath, Itty Bitty Christmas

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Versamark, Gray Granite, Cinnamon Cider, Soft Suede

Blends: Cinnamon Cider light, Gray Granite light, Soft Suede light

Paper: Mossy Meadow, Whisper White, Real Read, Gray Granite, Heartwarming Hugs DSP

Accessories: Wreath Builder dies, gold embossing, gold brads (retired), dimensionals

Follow Me Guys! - Stampin' Up! Festive Post

  I haven't used my Posted for You bundle hardly at all since I got it.  So when that happens you know what I do?  I go and order another stamp set to go with the punch that I haven't used much.  So now I've got the Posted for You stamp set which has more all occasion stamps and the Festive Post stamp set which covers Halloween, Christmas and Valentine's Day.  I'm good to go for a while I think!

  For my card today I used the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge which is a sketch.  The reindeer in the Festive Post was calling my name for this card.  I used the card sample on page 63 of the Aug.-Dec. mini catalog as inspiration. 

  The card base is Balmy Blue with little snowflakes from the Snowflake Wishes stamp set.  I used white craft ink for a subtle look.  Next is a piece of Snowflake Splendor DSP.  I really like the soft watercolor look and colors of the patterns in this pack.

  In keeping with the sketch I created a little banner in Balmy Blue embossed with the Winter Snow embossing folder.  I lightly sponged white craft ink onto the raised snowflakes for added definition.  I tied a Cherry Cobbler bakers twine bow to the top. 

  I stamped the reindeer in Soft Suede onto Crumb Cake cardstock then punched them out with the postage stamp punch.  I sponged Crumb Cake ink on the edges then stamped the snowflake in white craft ink all around the reindeer.  Then I "canceled" the stamps with the cute little cancel stamp that says "it's the most wonderful time of the year".  The Cherry Cobbler ink ties in with the baker's twine.

  I arranged the reindeer stamps across the card front and popped the right most one up on dimensionals.  And since he's clearly the leader of the group I named him Rudolph and gave him a red rhinestone nose to light the way for the rest of the herd.

  The final touch are the snowflake sequins that I topped with a few little From My Heart faceted gems that were in the Occasions catalog this year.  I only have a few of those left and I'm determined to use them up.

  I'm looking forward to making a lot of seasonal cards with the Festive Post and postage stamp punch.  And I'm already looking at my other stamp sets to see which images might fit this punch as well.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Festive Post, Snowflake Wishes

Ink: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, white craft

Paper: Balmy Blue, Crumb Cake, Snowflake Splendor DSP

Accessories: Rectangular Postage Stamp punch, Winter Snow embossing folder, Cherry Cobble bakers twine (retired), dimensionals, snowflake sequins (retired), From My Heart faceted gems (retired)

Retro Stitched Trees - Stampin' Up! Tree Angle

  I finally broke into some of my new Christmas stamps over the weekend.  This card was slow going but I finally got something I was happy with.  I think I was just overwhelmed with so much new stuff to choose from!  I kept flip-flopping between papers and colors.  Once I decided to use 2 challenges to get started it was a bit easier as I had far fewer choices to make.  Sometimes you just have to limit yourself!

  I used the Just Add Ink inspiration challenge for the colors.  These cool non-traditional colors just made me think retro.  The layout came from CAS(e) This Sketch.  I thought the background panel being split like this was a neat element and a nice way to use some the **cough** too much **cough** DSP I bought from the new mini catalog.

  The card base is Whisper White thick, then a layer of Whisper White embossed with the new Winter Snow embossing folder.  I topped the embossed layer with a piece of new Snowflake Splendor DSP split into 2 pieces and popped on dimensionals.

  The sentiment from the new Tree Angle is stamped in Versamark onto Coastal Cabana and embossed with the retired Shimmer White embossing powder.  I so wish this was an item that Stampin' Up! had kept around but I will continue to use it until it's gone.  I love the little bit of extra sparkle that comes with using it.  I flagged the ends and then layered it slightly over the DSP break as shown in the sketch.

  For the trees I made 3 to go with the sketch.  The top one is Coastal Cabana embossed with the Dainty Diamonds embossing folder and then cut with the the Stitched Triangle dies.  All of the trunks are stamped in Soft Suede.  I popped the top tree with dimensionals and added a Bermuda Bay Blends colored rhinestone.

  The middle tree is Melon Mambo ink stamped onto Melon Mambo cardstock and die cut.  I highlighted the little dots in the pattern with Wink of Stella and layered a rhinestone onto a iridescent sequin.

  The smallest tree is Melon Mambo ink stamped onto Whisper White and then cut out.  I trimmed down the trunk to fit the scale of the tree a bit better.

   Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Tree Angle

Ink: Melon Mambo, Versamark

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Coastal Cabana, Melon Mambo, Snowflake Splendor DSP

Accesories: Winter Snow embossing folder, Stitched Triangle dies, Shimmer White embossing powder (retired), dimensionals, rhinestones, sequins