PPA140 Color Challenge - Button Buddies Thank You

I was thrilled to see my favorite color Summer Starfruit represented in this week's Pals Paper Arts Challenge:

What a delightful color combination inspired directly from the Color Coach, one of my favorite go-to tools! As you can see, I took the challenge literally...

The flowers were stamped with the Button Buddies stamp set and punched out using my 1 3/4" Scallop Circle punch. The scallop circle is the perfect size for these flowers, making it once again, you guessed it...easy peasy! I wanted to add something subtle to the background and thought immediately of the Delicate Designs Embossing folders and the Large Scallop Edgelits, both of which are new to the catalog this year.

To create the effect shown here I cut a piece of Whisper White cardstock to 4" x 5 1/4" (just 1/4" smaller than the card base). I then took that piece of cardstock and lined the bottom edge of it up with the bottom edge of Delicate Designs Embossing folder and ran both through the Big Shot. Once the cardstock was embossed, I lined the Large Scallop Edgelit up with the embossed scallop and used two small Post-It's to hold the Edgelit in place while I ran it through the Big Shot and adhered the result to my card base. Two simple steps to create a wonderful accent on a card!

I adhered the two outside flowers directly to the card with SNAIL but popped the center flower up with a Dimensional for a bit of added impact. The sentiment stamped in Real Red balances out the Real Red flower on the opposite side of the card.

This card could easily be re-created in a variety of colors and sentiments so pick your favorites and create it today!

Stampin Supplies:

Stamps: Button Buddies, Deightful Dozen

Paper: Whisper White CS

Ink: Marina Mist, Real Red, Summer Starfruit Classic Ink Pads

Tools: 1 3/4" Scallop Circle Punch, Delicate Designs Embossing Folders, Large Scallop Edgelits

Embellishments:  None

Thanks for stopping by!

Gingerbread Man, Yes You Can!

I am celebrating the release of Stampin' Up! Holiday Catalog with a Christmas card! Christmas somehow always sneaks up on me so I'm going to get a jump start this year :)

This catalog is full of WONDERFUL new items celebrating the latter half of the year from Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas to the Fall and Winter seasons, and  even into Valentine's Day (which is a year-round holiday in my book!). Please click here to browse through it and if you send me an email with your information, I will be happy to send you a catalog!

This little guy just makes me think of crisp winter nights and hot cocoa. And he was soooo easy to create with the Scentsational Season Bundle available in the holiday catalog. This bundle comes with a set of six winter themed stamps and matching Framelits Dies to easily cut them out! Truly easy peasy! The beautiful pattern paper behind the gingerbread man is from the new Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper Stack. This paper comes in a new format for Stampin' Up! The paper pad has 48 4.5 x 6.5 sheets of double sided paper in it, with four each of twelve designs. I'm very happy with this format as I feel it will give you many options for making those Christmas cards and gifts, but many of the patterns could easily be used for non-Christmas themed projects as well. Take a look at them and I really think you will agree!

The greeting on this card is from a stamp set called Seasonal Sayings, available in the holiday catalog as well. It has options for six different seasonal sayings. I do believe this stamp set will be featured on quite a few future projects!

I wanted to try to get a close up of the glimmer accent behind the gingerbread man. This accent was created using our Silver Glimmer Paper. I can't get over how it sparkles and catches the light...it definitely adds that 'wow' factor to any project! Very low maintenance as well. I simply cut a piece of glimmer paper off my sheet, placed one of the Apothecary Accents Framelits on top and ran it through the Big Shot, so simple!

I hope you have enjoyed this sneek peek at Christmas and I have many more seasonal projects to share with you! Please 'like' me on Facebook so you don't miss any of them!

A special shout out to Amy Fink for being the inspration for this card...

Stampin Supplies:

Stamps: Scentsational Season, Seasonal Sayings

Paper: Crumb Cake, Island Indigo CS; Festival of Prints DSP; Silver Glimmer Paper

Ink: Cherry Cobbler Classic Ink Pads

Tools: Big Shot, Holiday Collection and Apothecary Accents Framelits Dies, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border

Embellishments:  

Thanks for stopping by! 

Thanks for a 'Reason to Smile'

Thank you for giving me a Reason to Smile...I am sorry to see you go! This is such a pretty two-step stamp set! After today it will no longer be available for purchase so I wanted to share it with you one more time...

 

I stamped the image using Cajun Craze, using both of the two-step stamps. I love the color but wanted to highlight the flower just a bit more so I used my paper piercing tool and the Essentials Paper Piercing Pack to add a circle around the flower. I think it added just the right touch and so easy to do!

Just a bit of Comfort Cafe paper and Old Olive Scallop Dots Ribbon and done!

If you are interested in purchasing this stamp set, it will be available for purchase until 11:00pm PST time today with a $50 purchase through my my online store.

Stampin Supplies:

Stamps: Reason to Smile, Kindness Matters

Paper: Old Olive, Very Vanilla CS; Comfort Cafe DSP

Ink: Cajun Craze, Old Olive Classic Ink Pads

Tools: Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Paper-Piercing Tool, Stampin' Pierce Mat

Embellishments:  1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon in Old Olive

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers to You! - Freshly Made Sketches #44

Today I am sharing a project that I created from a sketch I found over at Freshly Made Sketches:

I was feeling festive birthday last night so I pulled out a great stamp set called Happy Hour and paired it a wonderful piece of banner from the Patio Party DSP. 

I also pulled out a scallop punch and a delightful shape from the Perfect Pennants Bigz Die. The background felt flat to me so I scored a few horizontal lines just above the banners, it was very easy to do with my Simply Scored and added just that perfect touch to the card background! I stamped an extra cocktail, cut it out, and popped it up on a Dimensional to give it a bit more visual weight.

I have noticed that I have been using a lot of banners lately. I chose a banner for my background paper so what's a girl to do but go with the flow and use a banner for the sentiment?! I normally cut my banners freehand. What works for me is to cut a long strip of cardstock using my Tabletop Paper Cutter (it's great for really straight cuts) and then I just eyeball the placement of the stamp. If that makes you uncomfortable, stamp the image on your grid paper first using those lines to give you a feel for placement. Then I just use my Paper Snips to trim one or both ends into a banner shape. This card felt better with a banner on just one end:) I added a Vintage Faceted Designer Button on the other end for a bit of bling (these buttons are just beautiful!)

Once I had the button on there I felt I needed to add a bit of something on the other side and I felt that our new 3/8" stitched satin ribbon fit that bill perfectly! So fun and cheery!

Stampin Supplies:

Stamps: Happy Hour

Paper: Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals, Whisper White CS; Patio Party DSP

Ink: Raspberry Ripple, Midnight Muse Classic Ink Pads

Tools: Big Shot, Perfect Pennants Bigz Die, 1 3/4" Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Simply Scored

Embellishments:  Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons, 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon in Primrose Petals, Dimensionals

Thanks for Stopping By!

Green with Envy!

Hi There! Today was the unofficial opening of the Stampin' Up! Demonstrator Convention and I was green with envy not to be there! So instead, I created a card that seemed to speak to why demonstrators go to convention!

To create my paper 'ribbon', I cut a piece of Twitterpated DSP 1" x 12" and then using my Simply Scored tool, I scored vertical lines at every alternating 1/4" and 1/2" and then folded the paper back and forth. I actually used about 18" of the DSP. The flower was created using a technique inspired by Brian King. Using the Blossom punch, I punched six flowers, two in the Twitterpated DSP, two in the First Edition DSP, and two in River Rock Color Collection DSP Stack. I layered the flowers and punched a hole in the center using my paper piercer and used an Antique Brad to hold the assembled flower together. I then sprized the flower with Stampin' Mist and scrunched the flower petals until I was happy. That's it!

So while I am sad not to be at Convention, I can still be happy creating memories in my own little stamping studio. And next year's convention will mark the 25th Anniversary of Stampin' Up! so it's sure to be a hoot! Please contact me to find out how to sign up to be a demonstrator so you can go too!! Whoo Hoo!

Stampin Supplies:

Stamps: Loving Thoughts; Fruit & Flowers

Paper: Very Vanilla CS; Twitterpated, First Edition, and the Color Collection DSP Stack in River Rock

Ink: Crumb Cake, River Rock

Tools: Scallop Edge Border Punch, Blossom Punch, 3/16" Corner Rounder Punch, Simply Scored

Embellishments: 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon in Very Vanilla, Antique Brad

Thanks for stopping by!