07/01/2022
06/28/2022
Red, White, and Blue Potted Geranium
Stampin’ Up! Deckled Rectangles and Stamparatus
When I saw this stamp set, I immediately knew I had to own it. As you can see by the image below, the detail is extraordinary! And having a Stamparatus made the 2-step stamping a breeze. The blossoms are a combination of Flirty Flamingo and Real Red Classic Ink. The leaves are Old Olive. The leaves were stamped first and then the stems were stamped on top. The buds were colored with a Red Stampin’ Write Marker. The pot is Smoky Slate Classic Ink. The background is cut from the Sun Prints Designer Series Paper. The sentiment is from a stamp set in the new July-August Mini Catalog called Soft Seedlings.
06/20/2022
Stamp Review Crew - Rays of Light
Stampin’ UP! Happiness Abounds Suite
It's the third Monday of June 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 background Rays of Light. You have likely come from Heidi Baks’ 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 background stamp, at first glance, doesn’t seem very flexible. I know when I first saw it I thought it would not be a very useful stamp with a singular purpose of depicting “Rays of Light!” But I bought it so I could participate in this hop, and I’m so glad I did. I was determined to show some versatility that you might not have thought of. The team of the Stamp Review Crew is very creative in our goal to present ideas you might not have thought of, so the bar was set pretty high for this one.
My first card, Happy Birthday, happened by accident. I inked the stamp with ink and then used the “kiss” technique to transfer the pattern to another solid stamp. When I stamped off I accidentally created the overlap design. It became the “technique” I used. I inked the stamp with Sweet Sorbet and laid it on my work surface face up. I carefully laid a 4” x 5.25” piece of Polished Pink cardstock on it, laid a piece of printer paper on top of that, and pressed evenly over the stamp to get a perfect impression. Then I turned the card stock 180° and repeated the process. The result is the kaleidoscope effect that I immediately fell in love with.
My second card was also an accident. Initially I was going to stamp the image on the Designer Series Paper using VersaMark and then heat emboss it using gold embossing powder. But the watermark effect on the Designer Series Paper was so amazing that I just stopped and left it as is. It REALLY looked like rays of light coming through clouds! I cut out the roses from the Hues of Happiness Designer Series Paper using the Blossoming Happiness dies and arranged them over the watermark image. I’m already thinking of other ways to use this single stamp!
Happy Birthday Card
Many Thanks Card
06/06/2022
Stamp Review Crew - Quiet Meadow
Stampin’ UP!
It's the first Monday of June 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 Quiet Meadow. You have likely come from Kristie Wilson’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. I fell in love with Sun Prints Designer Series Paper in the new 2022-23 Annual Catalog so I thought I’d feature it in the card and card background along with the Quiet Meadow stamp and die set. The leaves of the fern in the Designer Series Paper is a perfect pair with the die cut in the Quiet Meadow Bundle. And the flower sprig let’s the match shine through. And I love the subtle effect of the text stamp on the Designer Series Paper. It looks like it’s part of the original design. Let me know what you think. Enjoy!
- The background Designer Series Paper was mounted on Very Vanilla cardstock.
- The main image was heat embossed using White Embossing Powder on Night Of Navy cardstock and matted on Whisper White Cardstock. I used Highland Heater and Night Of Navy Blends to add accents to the white embossing.
- It was attached to the background using Dimensionals.
- The sentiment was stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock using Pacific Point ink. It was attached to the background on the right using Dimensionals and directly to the main image on the left using Multipurpose White Glue.
- The fern was die cut using Whisper White cardstock and shaded using Blending Brushes, Night Of Navy ink and Highland Heather ink.It was attached to the card face using Multipurpose White Glue on the left and Dimensionals on the right.
05/30/2022
Stamp Review Crew - He’s All That
Stampin’ UP! He’s The Man & Gold Foil Sheets
It's the last Monday of May 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 He’s All That. You have likely come from Holly Krautkremer’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.
The set we are featuring this Monday is one of the very VERY few masculine stamp sets in the 2022-23 Annual Catalog. It’s part of a suite of products called He’s The Man and it’s a sweet suite! (I couldn’t help myself!) It includes a Specialty Designer Series Paper also called He’s The Man that has two die cut sheets. For folks who are new to stamping, it gives you the ability to embellish your products with coordinating images the are pre-cut so you don’t need a Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine to get those professional looking images.
For my project I decided to use some retired Specialty Designer Series Paper that includes amazing foil accents. Although the color palette includes colors like a hot pink Melon Mambo, the graphics are bold enough to create a perfectly masculine modern card. Enjoy!
05/26/2022
05/22/2022
05/20/2022
Sending Smiles - Birthday Wishes
Stampin’ Up! Sending Smiles and Sun Prints Designer Series Paper
It’s the last day of my Sending Smiles series. And in my humble opinion I’ve saved the best for last. This card uses the die cuts for the flowers and the handwritten Sending Die. Although both “Smiles” are cut from Whisper White card stock, I blended Polished Pink, Pale Papaya, and Soft Succulent together before I cut out the word. In fact, those are the three colors I used for the flower. The Designer Series Paper is a beautiful subtle print in Gray Granite with handwriting. I used Iridescent Rhinestones to embellish the sentiment frame and for that elusive “i” dot. See Wednesday’s post.
05/19/2022
Sending Smiles - Thanks
Stampin’ Up! Sending Smiles and Artistically Inked
Thursday’s Sending Smiles card is here. This card was exciting for me. I found that the Sending stamp works great with the “thanks” from the Artistically Inked stamp set. I simply stamped the Sending in VersaMark and heat embossed it in White Embossing Powder. Then repeated the process with the 'thanks".
Another set that would work well together with this design is the “Nothing Better Than” stamp set and the “Love You More Than” dies. The flower is Old Olive, Sweet Sorbet (one of the new In Colors), and Pale Papaya.
05/18/2022
Sending Smiles - Sunshine To Brighten Your Day
Stampin’ Up! Sending Smiles and Daffodil Afternoon Designer Series Paper
Welcome to my Sending Smiles series of cards for Wednesday. Today’s card features the Sending Smiles Bundle and Daffodil Afternoon Designer Series Paper. But the star of this card is the die cuts from the Sending dies - part of the Sending Smiles Bundle. One of the other features I love about this set is the frame dies that accommodate the small sentiment stamps. Just be careful when you cut out the handwritten word. The dot of “i” is really elusive. I must have die cut that “i” five times for the dot!
05/17/2022
Sending Smiles - Comfort & Strength
Stampin’ Up! Sending Smiles and Sun Prints Designer Series Paper
It’s Tuesday and this is my second installment in using the Stampin’ Up! Sending Smiles stamp set from the new 2022-23 Annual Catalog. All of these cards rely a lot on the Designer Series Paper used in them. My first post highlighted using only the Sending stamp. The Designer Series Paper does all the talking.
For today’s post I’m using the sympathy sentiment Comfort & Strength. It could also be a get well card or a ”Hang In There” card. The Designer Series Paper featured in this card is Sun Prints from the current Annual Catalog. It is matted on one of the new In Colors called Orchid Oasis. Although this color is not listed in the color list for the Designer Series Paper, it highlights the Designer Series Paper. night of Navy ink was used for the sentiment.
05/16/2022
Stamp Review Crew - Sending Smiles
Stampin’ Up! Sending Smiles Bundle
It's the third Monday of May 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 Sending Smiles from the new 2022-23 Annual Catalog. 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.
This is one of those stamps sets that I just couldn't stop making cards. In fact, this whole week - through Friday - I'll be featuring cards from this set. Some people may say "The set is 'only' a sentiment set!" But having the "Sending" in a huge font lends itself to not only using different words not in the set, but not using any other words at all. Such is the case with my card for the hop. I decided to let the single word do all the talking. Can you guess what the other word is?
05/06/2022
05/04/2022
05/02/2022
Stamp Review Crew - Grassy Grove
Stampin’ UP!
It's the first Monday of May! (Can you believe it?). 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 Grassy Grove. You have likely come from Kristie Wilson'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 set on page 47 of the January - June Mini Catalog has a matching set of dies that create the most beautiful silhouette picture frame. Layered this bundle can create a gorgeous diorama of spring, summer, or even fall with the right colors. But I chose to use it in a more untraditional, less obvious way. I've created a simple unisex card with a minimum of supplies. Let me tell you how it was created.
- I started with a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Gray Granite card stock. I stamped it using Gray Granite ink to give it a sort of watermark look. And then I matted it on a 4 1/8" x 5 3/8" piece of Basic Black card stock.
- The tree is stamped on a 1 1/2" square of Pear Pizzazz using Pear Pizzazz ink.
- The deer is stamped on a 1 1/2" square of Balmy Blue Card stock using Memento Black Ink.
- The grass is stamped on So Saffron card stock using Crushed Curry ink.
- The sentiment is also stamped using Memento Black Ink.
- The three squares are mounted onto the card face using Dimensionals.
- The card face was mounted on a Balmy Blue card base.
