Cap Thank You - Stampin' Up! Cap & Gown

   My oldest has still been receiving graduation gifts so I had to make a second batch of thank you cards for him to write out.  I used last weeks Freshly Made Sketches layout as it was an easy one to produce multiples of and use a variety of DSP patterns.  The Cap & Gown stamp set is still in the Online Store for anyone needing to make some graduation thank you cards or happy graduation cards.  Get it now and be ready for next year!!

  I used Summer Splash for the card base, the label and the coloring on the cap.  The strip of Glimmer paper is also Summer Splash and it comes in a 12x12 size in a 5 pack with one sheet of each of the 2024-2026 In Colors so you have tons of shimmer when you need it.

  I used the small cap stamp to stamp on a strip of Basic White.  The label is cut with the Unbounded Love dies and the sentiment is from the My Small Business set.  While at first glance this might seem like only a set for someone who sells things but there are really only 4 stamps in this 15 stamp set that are for business purposes.  The rest are perfect for all types of thank you cards.  Don't believe me?  Check out page 97 of the catalog or see it here in my online store.

  The DSP is a retired pack called All Together so I just grabbed a few different patterns and used them for the wide panel in the layout.

  The cap is colored with Blends then fussy cut and popped on dimensionals.  A few retired faceted gems are added by the cap for a hint of sparkle.

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

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Cap & Gown, My Small Business

Ink: Memento Black

Blends: Summer Splash light & dark, Daffodil Delight light & dark

Paper: Summer Splash, 2024-2026 In Color Glimmer paper, Basic White, All Together DSP (retrired)

Accessories: Unbounded Love dies, dimensionals, faceted gems (retired)

Celebrate with Cake 2 - Stampin' Up! Attention Shoppers

  "Second verse same as the first...." or something along those lines!  My card today is the same as this one that I posted on Monday but with different prominent colors.  The same colors are used but I chose to highlight the pinks on this version.  Remember that I sold a bunch of my cards and that the birthday cards were hot items so while I had all the supplies out to make the birthday card for my son I figured I would make a second for the stash.

  I chose Berry Burst as the base for this design and added an embossed panel in the same color foe texture along the edges.  The Dashing Designs embossing folder is part of the Wildly Flowering suite and has a nice alternating emboss/deboss design that works well for many different styles.

  Next is a layer of Bright & Beautiful DSP in a bit of a rainbow diagonal stripe pattern.  The ink used for the sentiment and cake are Berry Burst.  The cake from Attention Shoppers stamp set is colored with Blends in colors pulled right from the DSP.  Again both panels are made with the Heartfelt Hexagon punch.  If you had this punch on your wish list from the spring mini but missed out when it was backordered for so long you definitely don't miss out on ordering it now that it's a carryover item.  It's perfect when a circle is not quite right but a plain square is too boring!!

  The stars are again punched out with a retired star punch (but use any star die/punch that you have to easily re-create your own version!) and sprinkled over the card front and adhered with dimensionals.

  The stars and bits of the cake are covered in clear Wink of Stella which is back in stock!!!  Yay!  This is a fantastic way to add a bit of sparkle to your designs.  It's so easy to use and doesn't add bulk like gems or ribbon.

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

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Attention Shoppers, Heartfelt Hexagons

Ink: Berry Burst

Blends: Lemon Lime Twist light & dark, Bubble Bath light & dark, Lemon Lolly light & dark

Paper: Berry Burst, Basic White, Bright & Beautiful DSP, Bubble Bath, Lemon Lime Twist, Lemon Lolly 

Accessories: Dashing Designs embossing folder, Heartfelt Hexagon punch, dimensionals, Wink of Stella, star punch (retired)

Celebrate with Cake - Stampin' Up! Attention Shoppers

 This week is a week of birthdays at our house!  Both of my boys have birthdays in the span of 4 days so there is a lot of gifts, good food and cake in our house right now.  I used a combo of older and new supplies to make this star filled birthday card for my oldest.

  This panel of Bright & Beautiful DSP (which is a carryover from the last Annual Catalog that you can find in the Online Store) seemed like a fun inspiration to get this card started.  I pulled my base color, Blueberry Bushel, from it and then added a panel of the same color embossed with the Dotted Circles embossing folder so you can see some texture peeking out the sides.

  The sentiment is from Heartfelt Hexagons and is stamped in Blueberry Bushel ink and then punched with the Heartfelt Hexagon punch.  I punched a second hexagon to be a base for the cake.

  I used the cake from the Attention Shoppers stamp set and then colored it in with Blends markers adding a tiny little bit of gold Wink of Stella for the flames.  Once it was colored I fussy cut the cake (because I totally forgot there was a die for it!) and popped it on the the hexagon with dimensionals.

  A long retired star punch was used to punch out a few more stars in some of the DSP colors.  I colored them with clear Wink of Stella so they have a nice sparkle to them in real life.  The stars are all added to the card front with dimensionals too.

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

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Heartfelt Hexagons, Attention Shoppers

Ink: Blueberry Bushel

Blends: Azure Afternoon light & dark, Lemon Lime Twist light & dark, Lemon Lolly light & dark

Paper: Blueberry Bushel, Basic White, Bright & Beautiful DSP, Azure Afternoon, Lemon Lolly, Lemon Lime Twist

Accessories: Dotted Circles embossing folder, Heartfelt Hexagon punch, dimensionals, Wink of Stella, small star punch (retired)

Retro Birthday Message - Stampin' Up! Tune In

   The Tune In bundle is for you if you need a stamp set that has fun vibes for birthday cards and that works well for those hard to create for guys in your life! And that wide open TV screen can accommodate so many other sentiments so you can make a variety of cards not just birthdays!

  This one starts with a neutral card base in Basic Beige, then a layer of Pretty Peacock embossed with the Dotted Circles embossing folder.

  2 narrow strips of Crushed Curry cardstock create and anchor for the TV placement as well as bring in another color to add to the retro palette.  The TV is stamped in Copper Clay onto Copper Clay cardstock and is then die cut.  

  The sentiment and antennae are stamped in Pretty Peacock on Basic Beige and the electricity bolts are stamped in Crushed Curry on Basic Beige as well.  All of these are die cut and added to the card front.  The antennae is colored in with a Copper Clay blends marker.  Various elements are popped up on dimensionals so no flat screen TVs here lol!

  The final detail are the 2 adhesive-backed texture dots that are added to the TV knobs.

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

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Tune In

Ink: Pretty Peacock, Copper Clay, Crushed Curry

Blends: Copper Clay light

Paper: Basic Beige, Pretty Peacock, Crushed Curry, Copper Clay

Accessories: Tune In dies, dimensionals, Dotted Circles embossing folders, adhesive-backed texture dots

Best Friend Sympathy - Stampin' Up! Happy Tails

 The Happy Tails stamp set is one that I will never get rid of no mater how long it's been retired.  It's probably the most used of my few retired sets and the coordinating punch is an exact match to my dogs silhouettes.  Unfortunately I had to make a sympathy card recently for a friend who had to say good-bye to her sweet Labrador but Happy Tails was just the right stamp set to use to let her know how sorry I was.

  The Country Lace DSP gave me a good starting place for this card as the soft colors and subtle patterns in this pack are a nice tone-on-tone.  I used a Basic White thick card base and then chose one of the Basic Beige patterns for the next layer.

  I stamped the sentiment from Heartfelt Hexagons in Basic Beige on a strip of Basic White.  I die cut a large heart (with retired dies) in Petal Pink then embossed it with the Eyelet embossing folder.  The Eyelet embossing folder echoes the patterns on the DSP for some nice coordination.

  The pup is stamped in Versamark on Basic Black cardstock them embossed with clear embossing powder.  After he's punched out out I popped him up on the large heart and then added a smaller punched heart in Calypso Coral also popped up.

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

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Happy Tails (retired), Heartfelt Hexagons

Ink: Basic Beige, Versamark

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, Basic Black, Petal Pink, Calypso Coral, Country Lace DSP

Accessories: Dog builder punch (retired), Eyelet embossing folder, Heart dies (retired), dimensionals

Wildflower Spotlight - Stampin' Up! Wildflower Designs

   We made this design in my last class and I loved showing off the new Wildflower Designs bundle paired up with my new favorite circle dies: Spotlight on Nature dies.  The Spotlight on Nature dies are just lovely with 3 different designs along the edges of the 12 dies (so many!!) for great mix and match layering possibilities.

  The basis for the color combo is directly from the Wildly Flowering DSP that coordinates with the Wildflower Design bundle.  So pretty all around.  The card starts with a Crumb Cake base and then we took a panel of the DSP (my stampers could choose this blue design or a similar one with a Crumb Cake background depending on which they liked better) and added some scallops in Mossy Meadow along some of each side.  

  The scallops are cut from one of the frames that comes in the Wildly Flowering die set.  Just cut out a frame trim the long parts of the scallops and add them to the DSP.  Next the Spotlight on nature dies are used to cut 2 circles and the flower image is stamped on the Basic White one.

  Using blender pens and ink we lightly colored the image and then popped it on the Mossy Meadow circle.  The sentiment is stamped in Mossy Meadow onto a strip of Moody Mauve and is also popped on dimensionals.

  The embellishments are a floppy linen thread bow for some texture and 2 Adhesive-backed sparkle gems in the champagne color.

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

Stamps: Wild Flower Designs

Ink: Mossy Meadow, Moody Mauve

Paper: Crumb Cake, Mossy Meadow, Basic White, Wildly Flowering DSP

Accessories: Wildflower Designs dies, Spotlight on Nature dies, dimensionals, linen thread, blender pens, Adhesive-backed Sparkle Gems

Badger Birthday - Stampin' Up! Hearts & Hugs

   I recently sold a ton of my card stash to family members so now it's time to re-stock my bins and since birthday cards are always a need for me (and apparently my family members!) I decided to use the Hearts & Hugs bundle to make a sweet badger birthday card to get started.

  Don't have a lot of time for coloring or just don't feel like doing a lot of coloring with this set?  It's easy to just emboss or stamp the animal images onto neutral or colored cardstock and you're finished!  For these badgers I embossed them with white embossing powder onto black cardstock and did a tiny bit of coloring with just a white watercolor pencil around their eyes.  So easy!

  The card base is a Basic White thick, then a layer of Summer Splash and the top layer is also Basic White.  On the top layer I lightly blended some Summer splash ink with a blending brush to give the badgers a bit of a background.  I popped them up with dimensionals then added some stamped hearts to the side also in Summer Splash ink.

  The sentiment from Simply Said is stamped in Memento Black onto Summer Splash card stock and then die cut with the banner die in the Hearts & Hugs die set.  I tucked the banner under the badgers feet and adhered it with dimensionals.

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

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Hearts & Hugs, Simply Said

Ink: Versamark, Memento Black, Summer Splash

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, Summer Splash, Basic Black

Accessories: Hearts & Hugs dies, dimensionals, blending brush, white water color pencil

Birdhouse Blues - Stampin' Up! Country Birdhouse

  Well it's been a hot minute since I've shared a project hasn't it?  And hot can be taken a few ways at least here in Central Virginia!  I was out of town last week and I even brought my computer to share a few projects but I just didn't make the time to do it and then once I got back home there was a bajillion (actual number!) things that needed my attention.  And I may or may not have spent several hours at the pool with my book because that was about the only way being outside was bearable!  But now I've finally grabbed a few minutes to try to get back in the swing of things stamping-wise!

  My stampers made this design a few weeks ago at class and it was the first time I've shown them the Country Birdhouse bundle and they all thought it was adorable!  How can you not love this sweet stamp set and the dies just make it even better!

  I used a lot of new product on this card because I don't want my stampers to miss out on anything!  I also showed them the quick trick of how to stamp mirror images using the silicone craft mat since this set only comes with one bird image and I wanted 2 birds towards each other!.

  We started with a Misty Moonlight card base, then a layer of Basic White is embossed with the sweet Eyelet embossing folder.

  Next the birdhouse is die cut using pieces of Country Woods DSP, Basic White and an Early Espresso punched circle for the opening and also for the hanging bow.

  The flowers and one bird are stamped in Misty Moonlight onto Basic White.  To make the mirror image stamp the bird onto the silicone craft mat and then carefully press a piece of Basic White over the image. Voila!  You've now got a bird facing the opposite direction! To die cut the mirror image simply hold the image up to a bright light or a bright window and line the die up on the back of the image and secure it with a piece of painters tape, masking paper or washi tape and then run it through your die cutter.  Below is a quick video showing how I did the stamping.

  

  After all of the images were stamped they are colored in with Stampin' Blends then die cut and added to the card front.  The birdhouse fills up pretty much all of the card front so it doesn't need much else to finish the card.  We added a few Pool Party adhesive-backed Dots for Days as a final touch.

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

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

 Stamps: Country Birdhouse

Ink: Misty Moonlight

Blends: Pool Party light & dark, Petal Pink light & dark, Crumb Cake light, Lemon Lolly light

Paper: Misty Moonlight, Basic White, Country Woods DSP, Early Espresso

Accessories: Country Birdhouse dies, dimensionals, Adhesive-backed Dots for Days, circle punch, Eyelet embossing folder, silicone craft mat