For most of us, 2020 did not offer much opportunity to socialize. Thanksgiving is here! Let’s celebrate BOTH 2020 and 2021 Thanksgiving I am thankful that I’m still here with my health and able to embrace the season and friends once again.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Sometimes you just have to look at things differently. Take, for instance, the Peaceful Cabin stamp set in he July-December Mini Catalog.
This set looks like a beautiful winter stamp set with trees covered with snow and drifted snow surrounding the cabin. But I only saw a peaceful cabin. Of course it doesn’t hurt to have a cabin in the San Jacinto Mountains of Southern California. So I guess it was easy for me to place that cabin in any season. So I decided fall was in the air and the frost had painted the ground a warm shade of auburn can you see it?
And there you have it - the perfect fall scene. I can almost smell the logs burning in the fireplace!
It's the third Monday of November and that means it's time for the Stamp Review Crew. We are a group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators sharing a ton of ideas focused on a single stamp set. This week we're featuring the stamp set Merriest Moments Bundle. You have likely come from Cindy Elam’s blog on your way through this amazing hop. If you get lost, simply click on the banner for a list of participants and get back on track.
This bundle is an amazing set. It reminds me of the Friends Are Like Seashells Bundle from the Annual Catalog. It is the second bundle that offers a set of Dies with the coordinating 3D embossing folder that creates amazing depth. I’m sure if you don’t already have this set you’ll want one after this hop! And here’s a tip. If you are working with a 4” x 5 1/4” card front, place the bottom edge of the card front on the black line even with the Stampin’ UP! Logo and the card stock will be centered vertically.
My last class featured quick and easy Christmas cards. As luck would have it I used this set for two of the cards. I did cheat a little and used the retired Designer Series Paper Christmastime Is Here from last year’s Holiday Mini Catalog, but the technique can be used with any DSP like the Peaceful Place Specialty DSP.
My second card uses a combination of gold shimmer products. I discovered (quite by accident when I didn’t realize that both sides of the Gold Shimmer Vellum were not the same!) that if I embossed the paper with the non-glimmer side up, it gave me this beautiful antique look. Embossed with the glimmer side up gives consistent color. I guess it’s whatever works for you. I kind of cheated with the bow. I glued the embossed image on the same size piece of Basic White card stock to give it some body. The sentiment was gold embossed. I cut a 6” piece of ribbon and wrapped it around the card gluing it on the back. Then I took a 4” piece of ribbon and just tied a knot around the 6” piece. Trim the tails. It’s so much easier than trying to do it with one piece of ribbon. It uses less ribbon, and I can slide the knot wherever I want. Perfect!
Sale Ends Tonight At Midnight!
Click the graphic to save!
Click the graphic for the list and mark your calendar!
It's the third Monday of October and that means it's time for the Stamp Review Crew. We are a group of Stampin' UP! demonstrators sharing a ton of ideas focused on a single stamp set. This week we're featuring the background stamp set Birch. You have likely come from Nikki Spencer’s blog on your way through this amazing hop. If you get lost, simply click on the banner for a list of participants and get back on track.
Just because it’s CALLED Birch, it doesn’t mean it has to LOOK LIKE a birch tree. Let’s make it look like clouds and drifted snow.
This project involves some very creative masking. It also required that I figure out when the Birch image needs to be behind things as “clouds” and when it needs to be in front of things as snow drifts. The Drybrush background stamp can also work well for this technique. We will mask off all the places where there will be snow.
I’ve always loved trees - from the real McCoy to pictures and stamp sets. One of my favorite stamp sets of all time is Lovely As A Tree. It remained in the Stampin’ UP! Annual Catalog from its introduction in the 2001-02 Idea Book & Catalog until its retirement on June 3rd, 2019. It’s probably the longest active stamp set in Stampin’ Up!’s history. For me, Beauty of Friendship is my close second. I love the structure of the stamp’s tree branches and the canopy stamp that lets you create whichever season you’d like to represent from spring to the stark branches of winter. I tried to capture all four seasons in this post. I hope you like it as much as I do.
The tree branches were stamped using Early Espresso ink. I removed some of the ink from the branches using a Blender Pen to give the illusion that the branches were being hidden by the leaves. The tree canopy was created by applying Granny Apple Green, Garden Green, and Cinnamon Cider ink using a Sponge Dauber directly on the stamp.
One of my dear friends turned the big seven oh the end of August and found every possible excuse (not reason) to delay/postpone/avoid/ignore/forget celebrating it! Now do you really think I was going to let him get away with that!? Having had that birthday the end of last year I could understand the trepidation. And I was able to postpone my celebration until April. But Rick and I showed up at his home last Thursday and celebrated his birthday with a few other friends.
Buck loves vintage cars so I thought it was appropriate to create a vintage card with vintage cars using vintage Stampin’ UP! products - most of which are retired.
With winter on the horizon, Rick and I are looking forward to heading to our cabin, lighting a fire and watching the snow fly. The pic to the right shows our cabin (if you can find it in the snow) during one of 2020’s snowfalls. I know not everyone looks forward to cold weather, or even lives where it snows. But where ever you live, we are sure you can appreciate the feeling of cozying up in a quaint winter cabin. Stampin’ UP! has captured that feeling perfectly with the Peaceful Place Suite. With winter scenes illustrated in charcoal, soft artistic qualities, and never before seen products you will want to cozy up with a warm blanket and let Tanner show you everything this suite has to offer. But this bundle is not limited to winter weather. Stay tuned for a fall scene I created using the Peaceful Cabin Bundle, some fall colors, and a bit of imagination and start creating some “weather” of your own.
It's the first Monday of September and that means it's time for the Stamp Review Crew. We are a group of Stampin' UP! demonstrators sharing a ton of ideas focused on a single stamp set. This week we're featuring the stamp set Beauty of Friendship Bundle. You have likely come from Cindy Elam’s Blog on your way through this amazing hop. If you get lost, simply click on the banner for a list of participants and get back on track.
This stamp set/bundle is a beauty. And if you like 2-step stamping sets, then this one’s for you! The set is in the 2021-2022 Annual Catalog. But since the 2021 July-December (Holiday) Catalog is out, I thought I’d keep it in the Holiday mood. So I’m including the Banner Year stamp set that includes all the little accents and greetings to make it a ‘beauty’ of the Holidays. Enjoy!
My first card uses the accents from the Banner Year set to create the “homemade” DSP and sentiment. But the stark trees in the background scream (no pun intended) Halloween. The only other thing it needed was a frightful color palette of Highland Heather, Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie.
My second card celebrates Fall and Thanksgiving with its theme and colors. Add the ‘Happy Fall y’all’ sentiment and a piece of Beauty of the Earth DSP and this really flexible set becomes a perfect fall set.
My final card creates what, to me, is the perfect image of a Silent Night. The Evening Evergreen tree adorned with Holiday Rhinestone Basic Jewels and white embossed winter trees complete the landscape.
