Blessing for Healing - Stampin' Up! Blessings of Home

   Last week I did a quick card making session for a women's circle at my church.  None had stamped before, a few had mobility challenges and all were a little hesitant about trying this new thing.  But they all did fantastic and ended up with sweet cards to share with someone.  

  I don't do many classes with completely new stampers so I kept this one very basic and straightforward without using any techniques or special tools.  I pre-cut the the scalloped rectangles and had extras just in case and just focused on the stamped and adhering!

  This would be a great layout for anyone to use with new stampers.  Change out the stamps and papers and it could be any kind of card.

  I thought the Blessings of Home and Heart & Home DSP were the perfect products to use for this sweet group of ladies.  And I love the soft spring-like colors.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Blessings of Home, Inspired Thoughts

Ink: Fresh Freesia, Soft Succulent

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, Heart & Home DSP

Accessories: Stitched So Sweetly dies, dimensionals, adhesive pearls, Soft Succulent open weave ribbon

Not A Christmas Birthday - Stampin' Up! Christmas Season

   So the title of this one might be kind of confusing but I used a Christmas stamp set to make today's card.  I wanted to use some greenery stamps and I do have Forever Fern but it was already all packed up ready to go for a class so I didn't want to dig it out and risk forgetting it or something.  So I searched through my stamps for something else that had some leaves and greenery that I could use.  Boom! Christmas Season stamp set worked perfectly for what I had in mind!

  I'm going to be sharing this one over at three challenges (it might be a record for me!  2 is usually my limit!): Seize the Birthday which has make a birthday card with Green & White and over at Just Add Ink they have a lovely inspiration photo using greenery and soft green colors on a wreath.  The layout comes from Global Design Project.  I think this card works well for all three!  Thanks for the inspiration to those challenges!

  This one is quite straightforward in the design so I won't do a deep dive into how I made it but I did emboss the sentiment in black which looks really sharp against the white and green.  I also used light Granny Apple Green blends marker to color the Elegant Faceted gems.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Christmas Season, Sweet Ice Cream (sentiment)

Ink: Soft Sea Foam, Pear Pizzazz, Versamark

Blends: Granny Apple Green light

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, Basic Black

Accessories: dimensionals, black embossing powder, Elegant Faceted gems, black bakers twine

Love in Spring - Stampin' Up! Here Together

 Better late than never in getting a card posted today.  I wanted to make sure I got this one shared as both challenges are soon closing.  My layout is from TGIF Challenges and my colors are from my pals over at The Paper Players.

  I just love these spring colors and especially on this gray rainy day that I'm having it definitely cheers things up!

  I used the long border die from Brilliant Rainbow dies to layer the challenge colors along the side of the card front (the card front is textured with the Subtle embossing folder).

  To make the tag element from the sketch I used the Tailored Tags dies and embossed the sweet sentiment from Here Together in black.  It really stands out against the cheerful colors.  I added a bit of sunburst detail in each of the colors above the sentiment. 

  The tag is jazzed up with a Mango Melody heart, sequins, gems and a Pear Pizzazz shimmery ribbon tied off with black twine.  The finished tag is popped on dimensionals.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Here Together

Ink: Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, Versamark

Paper: Basic White, Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz

Accessories: Rainbow of Happiness dies, Tailored Tags dies, Subtle embossing folder (retired), dimensionals, black embossing powder, Here for You dies, Artistry Blooms sequins, In Color Jewels, black twine, Pear Pizzazz shimmer ribbon (retired)

Get Well Giraffe - Stampin' Up! Back on Your Feet

   I'm a guest stamper with the Color Throwdown challenge crew today.  This is the card that was featured on a recent challenge so I'm lucky enough to get to join them this week.  I have to say I was hoping for a bright spring color palette but the more I played with these neutrals the more I liked them together!

   I haven't used the Back on Your Feet set in a while and that giraffe definitely seemed like he could carry these neutral colors!

  

  I decided to use Crumb Cake (tan) and So Saffron (yellow) as my main colors with Smoky Slate & Black as small accents.

  The giraffe is colored with Blends and the embossed background is the Hammered Metal folder.  I used the chain of hearts from the Sweet Hearts dies to make the border along the bottom.  And as always, the Tailored Tags dies are just right for highlighting a sentiment.

  Thanks to the Color Throwdown stampers for having me join them this challenge.  It was a fun one!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Back on Your Feet

Ink: Crumb Cake, Memento Black

Blends: So Saffron light & dark, Crumb Cake light & dark, Smoky Slate light

Paper: So Saffron, Crumb Cake, Basic White, Smoky Slate

Accessories: Hammered Metal embossing folder, Tailored Tag dies, Sweet Hearts dies, Classic Matte dots, dimensionals, baker's twine (retired)

Baby Boy in Blue - Stampin' Up! Rainbow of Happiness

   As I was going through my card stash I realized that I had a few baby girl cards but none for baby boys. Can't leave the boys out of the card receiving! And it's perfect timing with the latest CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge which is a gorgeous palette of Night of Navy, Balmy Blue and So Saffron.  I'm guest designing this month so I got to see the colors early!

  Since it's a clean and simple challenge I kept it very crisp with a lot of open white space and showed off this great color combination.

  

  A crisp rainbow in the challenge colors with a little bit of texture from an embossing folder in the background, a cloud punch to soften the lines a bit and minimal embellishments and this card is complete.

  I hope you'll play along with the CAS Colours & Sketches crew and share your creation in the gallery!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Rainbow of Happiness, Many Happenings

Ink: So Saffron, Balmy Blue, Night of Navy

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, Night of Navy

Accessories: Stripes & Splatters embossing folder, cloud punch, dimensionals, baker's twine (retired), Candy dots (retired)

Rainbow Thanks - Stampin' Up! Amazing Thanks Dies

  A few weeks ago I needed to say a lot of thank yous to my customers for February orders so I started looking at some supplies and seeing what I could use to make the same design but varying the colors and papers.  I needed 25 cards so I knew I didn't have enough of one DSP pattern to do the exact same design for all of them.  I came across a fun design on Instagram by a New Zealand demo using the Sunshine & Rainbows DSP and the Amazing Thanks dies.  See Angela's card here.  As with any good CASE I changed up a few things.

  Some changes I made were using a different embossing folder in the background, shortening up the lengths of the DSP strips to 3x3 so I could get 4 cards out of each piece of 6x6, adding ribbon knots instead of bows in the corner, doing 2 layers for the thanks die cut instead of one and then adding the little extra sentiment strip from Ornate Thanks.

  I just turned on Netflix and started cranking pieces through the die cutter. And then I kept watching Netflix to put them all together!

  Here are all the different designs I ended up with.

  So thanks to Angela for the awesome inspiration for a fun design!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Ornate Thanks

Ink: Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Granny Apple Green, Misty Moonlight, Magenta Madness

Paper: Sunshine & Rainbows DSP (SAB)Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Granny Apple Green, Misty Moonlight, Magenta Madness, Basic White

Accessories: Gingham embossing folder, Amazing Thanks dies, dimensionals, various retired ribbons

Birthday Hat - Stampin' Up! Hats Off

   This week I was woefully short on guy birthday cards which really means I had zero guy birthday cards just when I needed to send one out!  I quickly got to work with 2 great challenges again!  It's awesome when challenges just seem to naturally go together especially when I'm short on time and trying to get a card in the mailbox before the mailman comes around!

  I used the colors from Global Design Project and the layout from Freshly Made Sketches to put this one together.  I did flipped the sketch to to the side to better accommodate the orientation of the hat.

  I was happy to find some Garden Green DSP in my retired stash and it was such a small piece that I don't even know the name of it but I do know it was a Christmas design.  It works for a guy birthday card too right?  And the embossed piece of Balmy Blue was already in my scraps so I just trimmed it down to fit.  Love using up bits and pieces that I've saved!

  I stamped the hat in Garden Green then colored it in with Mint Macaron Blends and cut it out.  The patch is colored with regular markers, stamped and die cut.

  The hat is adhered with dimensionals and the sentiment is stamped to the side in Balmy Blue.  This happy birthday sentiment can be found in the Paradise Palms stamp set in the Jan.-June mini catalog.  The final touch are some retired Garden Green candy dots in the corners.  

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Hats Off, Paradise Palms

Ink: Balmy Blue, Garden Green

Blends: Mint Macaron light & dark

Paper: Balmy Blue, Garden Green, Basic White, unknown DSP

Accessories: Hat Builder dies, dimensionals, Corrugated embossing folder (retired), candy dots (retired)

Delicate Spring Flowers - Painted Poppies

   I'm combing 2 challenges again today.  The Spring is in the Air theme at the Paper Players was perfect to use with the soft colors at Hand Stamped Sentiments.

  I haven't inked up Painted Poppies in forever and it has the cutest little grouping of delicate tiny flowers that I though would work wonderfully for these 2 challenges.

  I used a piece of Hand-Penned DSP for the background and now looking at the package this color is actually Daffodil Delight not So Saffron like the challenge calls for!!  I totally thought it was So Saffron the whole time.  Maybe it's faded enough to fit??  Well I used it in good faith nonetheless!  

  The flowers are stamped in Mint Macaron and then colored in with Blends in So Saffron (I promise!) and Fresh Freesia.  I trimmed the edge into a scallop with the Penned Flowers dies.

  The sentiment from Flowering Tulips is stamped in Mint Macaron and cut with the Tasteful Labels die.  I added a second shape from the Tasteful Labels dies to give the sentiment a bit more weight and popped it up on dimensionals.  A few pearls and Fresh Freesia open weave ribbon finish off the details.

  Thanks for looking! Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Painted Poppies, Flowering Tulips

Ink: Mint Macaron

Blends: So Saffron dark, Fresh Freesia dark

Paper: Hand-Penned DSP, Basic White, Mint Macaron

Accessories: Penned Flowers dies, Tasteful Label dies, dimensionals, adhesive pearls, open weave ribbon