Thanks, Regina!

Today's card came about because of a card my friend, Regina, made for me.  I liked the layout and the use of two ink colors on one image of her card.  Regina used markers to achieve two colors on one stamp, while I used the rock & roll technique.  I used Lost Lagoon paired with Pool Party and I do like the color combination.  The image is from the Flowering Flourishes stamp set and the sentiment from A Dozen Thoughts.  Regina's card reminded me of the texture that you can achieve using a crimper.  On this card the crimped Lost Lagoon looks soft and pretty.  On other cards, the crimper can make a card look more rustic or masculine.  Have a great day and enjoy the weekend!

Didn't Work too Well!!

I saw a few beautiful cards on the web that were created using the Reflection Technique.  I watched a video of this technique in which watercolor pencils were used.  I wanted to accomplish the technique using Stampin' Up ink and an aqua painter.  Well, the photo with purple flowers are two of the better attempts out of I do not even know how many attempts!   The two completed cards are the best attempts~~but I still need some practice~~did I say some?  I was finally doing ok with water coloring the tulips as if they were laying on their side with their reflection in a puddle of water.  But the reflections are too dark.  And then, when I swipe across the reflections with white paint, the swipe is just to wide.  It is always a challenge to try something new, but for some reason I am having a real problem with the Reflection Technique.  It is a good thing I purchased water color paper when Michael's had a buy two, get one free sale!!!  I think I need to watch a few more videos~~lol! When I get the hang of it, we will do this technique in a class.  Have a great day!

 

Blackberry Bliss Tulip

Sydney and John gave me fresh cut flowers from the garden over the weekend.  As I was looking at the tulips, one looked very close in color to Blackberry Bliss.  So yesterday I put that tulip on a piece of the Blackberry cardstock and it certainly did match!  Last night I stamped the tulips from the Easter Blessings stamp on watercolor paper and then colored them in using Blackberry Bliss, Mossy Meadow and an aqua painter.  The colors are not showing up in the photos as they are in real life, but the tulip was perfect inspiration for this card.  Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Green Galore

We had a great Memorial Day weekend with Sydney as our overnight guest.  She helped John plant flowers and vegetables and we crafted.  She was using my SU markers to make book marks and wondered if I had a brighter green that would go with the Melon Mambo.  So, I pulled out my old markers and asked if Green Galore would work.  It was perfect.  Her bookmarks were very cute and the Green Galore marker prompted me to use some of my retired Green Galore product with the bright, summery colors of Tempting Turquoise and Melon Mambo to create today's cards.   The stamp sets used on the Turquoise card are Flower Shop and Really Good.  The sets used on the Melon Mambo card are Four You and Summer Silhouettes.  If SU brought back a few old colors, Green Galore would definitely get my vote!  Have a great day!

Remember Our Best!

As we begin the Memorial Day Weekend, let's not forget those who died for our freedom throughout the years.  At the same time, if you see a Veteran or know a Veteran, just say "thank you".  I know that is what I will be doing.  Have a great weekend, be safe and enjoy this special holiday. 

Mums or Daisies?

I really am not sure which the flower image on today's card is, but I had fun coloring it in anyway!  Once again I stamped the flowers using this image from the Hostess Set, Bloom With Hope and used

the Pumpkin Pie Blendabilities to color it.  I stamped and colored three of the flowers directly on the white cardstock layer and the fourth flower I stamped and colored on a separate piece of cardstock, cut it out and adhered it using Dimensionals.  Again, those leaves from the Bird Builder Punch came in very handy!  I am thinking I should probably find a nice leaf/leaves image on my Cricut and cut out a little container-full.  Just like my Butterfly embosslit collection, I would have a ready stash of leaves on hand.  The sentiment is from Lots of Thanks.   Stampin' Up just released an up-dated retiring lists, with some of the items being discounted, while available or until June 4th.  If you have a chance, you can check it out.  Not everything is on sale and many of the retired items are no longer available.  If you have any questions, let me know.  Have a great day!

Pretty Little Boxes

It was Cricut Sunday this past weekend and I made cute little boxes for the ladies.  I did not take a photo, so last night I made a couple more using new product and old.  The cardstock, ribbon and stamped sentiment are the new.  The tag shape and embossing folder I used are the old.  Actually, the Decorative Dots embossing folder was originally in the Sale-a-bration catalog and has been brought back in the annual catalog.  The little box nicely fits some raffia and 5 Hershey Hugs.  Take away the raffia and I would say at least 7 Hugs/Kisses would fit.  The sentiment is the combination of two of the stamps in the Work of Art set.  Lost Lagoon and Blackberry Bliss are my two favorite new In Colors and they look so pretty together!  The little flower with rhinestone together with the ribbon is what makes these boxes "pretty" versus the boxes I made for Cricut Sunday which were cute and tied with ribbon~~no tag!  Have a great day!

Easel Post It Notes

I am planning my new catalog open house and one of the Make & Takes is going to be an easel stand/Post It Note holder.  Now the one pictured here is not going to be what you make at the open house, but it will be similar. This is my test version!   I used Blended Bloom, a new single stamp, Pumpkin Pie Blendabilities, Hello Honey ribbon and Tangelo Twist cardstock.   The leaves were cut with a retiring framelit.   I think this particular flower is a little too big for the Post-it Note pad, so I will use smaller stamps or something! Mark you calendars for Sunday, June 8th from 12:00 to 4:00 pm.  Get your new catalog, create a couple Make & Takes, win a prize, purchase retired product, have a bite to eat and have some fun!  Have a great day!

Red Petite Petals

Today's card is a cute thinking of you card.  I used black polka dot DSP (Neutrals stack)and real red ink for the little flowers~~also polka dot!  The Petite Petals stamp set has 6 flower designs which coordinate with the Petite Petals punch, both items in the new annual catalog.  The circles in the flower centers were made using a 1/4" circle handheld punch and the
 leaves were punched using the Bird Builder punch.  You know, I honestly can say that I have used the leaves part of the punch way more than the bird!  Maybe SU needs a leaf punch! The sentiment stamp, from the Four You set, has seen a lot of ink since I purchased it a few months back.   It is one of my wise purchases--hahahah!!!!  Have a great day!

Doily Easel Card

Happy Friday!  I woke up to the largest snowflakes coming down!  Is it May?  I was on one of my Cricut sites and saw a free download of a SVG cut file for a doily easel card (www.birdscards.com).  So, I went to my scraproom to download and cut it on the Cricut.  Once it was completely cut, I took it off the mat and realized that the scallop circle card base didn't cut correctly.  I told myself it was ok (user error) as no one would really know that but me--hahah!!  So I took out my Blackberry Bliss ink and the Blooming with Kindness stamp set and completed the card to the left.  I looked at it and took the photo of it, but it just wasn't right!  I went back to my scraproom and downloaded a different doily easel card.  I adjusted the size a bit, used the same ink and stamp set and everything was fine until I smeared a little ink where I shouldn't have!  So not only are the butterflies covering the little oops, they add a little more pretty to an already pretty card.  By the way, the second card took a while to cut, but there were a whole lot of tiny circles that needed to be cut and not one was miscut!  Have a great day, an enjoyable weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Little Treat Bags

In the past few mini catalogs, one of the available products is a "Designer Series Paper Stack".  The most recent is in the current mini on page 33.  The new Annual Catalog also includes a couple of these stacks. The stack includes 48 sheets of 4-1/2" x 6-1/2" double-sided pieces of heavy-weight paper. At the New Catalog Reveal a couple of weeks ago, one of the ladies from Stampin' Up corporate created cute little treat bags, each one using a sheet of a DSP stack.  These are the two little bags I created using paper from a retired DSP stack.  One I closed using a scallop circle and coordinating thick twine.  The other I closed using a mini clothespin that also holds the tag.  These little bags can be embellished in many different ways.  The bags hold a mini Hershey Bar~~the bars that measure about 3" x 1-1/2".  It is a little too narrow for a traditional size gift card, but it would be a cute money holder.  Or use it to send a little note in someone's lunch.  Have a great day~~despite yet another gloomy & rainy day here in the Chicago area!

Folding Screen Card

I shared the new newly released stamp set in an earlier post and now I want to share a new card.  Keep in mind that this is my "trying it" version of this trifold card, so it will be improved upon.  But how cute is the folding screen idea?  I started with a piece of Wisteria Wonder cardstock measuring 5-1/2" by 12" scored at 3", 6" and 9" and worked from there.  We will be making a Folding Screen card at a future card class!  And again, have a great day! 

Birthday Endless Wishes

Do you remember the Holiday Endless Wishes photopolymer stamp set that sold out almost as soon as it was introduced?  Well SU has released a similar set, Endless Birthday Wishes.  It comes with 27 stamps for $13.95 plus tax and shipping.  I think it is a really cute set and a "while supplies last" item.  Have a great day!

Happy Birthday & Coastal Cabana Stars

You can never have enough birthday cards on hand, so out came Sketched Birthday and my Coastal Cabana Blendabilities.  Since Blendabilities are alcohol based, the ink won't stay wet long enough to color directly on the stamp.  But my trusty SU markers worked just fine:  Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana and Pool Party.  I inked up each line of the zig zag (Work of Art) using a different color.  I used the Blendabilities to color in the cake image once the image was stamped and the Bermuda Bay ink pad for the sentiment.  There was a lot of white space that needed a little something~~like glitter stars.  I used my retired Glimmer Paper (the paper was remade for the new catalog), my new little star punch and the darkest Coastal Cabana alcohol  marker.  After the stars were punched, I colored them with that marker and the card now has color-coordinated glitter stars! Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Tropical Card-In-A-Box

Today's card is one that I made more than a month ago.  But it was Jenny's birthday card and I couldn't post it until she saw it.  Yesterday she opened her birthday presents and her special card.  She is a fan of anything tropical~~Jimmy Buffett, palm trees, the beach, etc., so a tropical/beach was the perfect theme for her card.  I used my Cricut Explore and the first step was to find an image I liked.  Once I chose an image and brought it to the design canvas, what size should I make it? I made a flamingo and it was too tall.  I made another one~~to small.  So I spent quite a bit of time sizing each image in the card.  When all was said and done, it was the perfect card for our daughter.  And I now have a good idea as to how big images should be for future cards-in-a-box. Have a great day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Today we will be going to our daughter's house to celebrate Mother's Day and her birthday.  Jennifer  was our first baby and we brought her home from the hospital the day before Mother's Day.  She was such a pretty baby and slept peacefully all day.  But then came nighttime and she wouldn't sleep.  Little did I even think that back then I would be a grandma celebrating Mothers Day with my family!  Today's photos are of little favors I made using my Cricut and my SU punches.  Sydney suggested the roses, Reese's Pieces and color combination and I created them.  Together we did a good job!  I will be having a great Mother's Day and wish a Happy Mother's Day to all.   

Navy Postage Due

My new catalog wish list gets a little longer each time I open the new cattie!  So yesterday I decided to go through the catalog marking the things I already purchased from past wish lists~~lol!!  I used two such sets on today's cards:  Postage Due & A Dozen Thoughts.  On one I stamped in Versamark and then embossed using white embossing powder.  On the other, I stamped using Night of Navy ink on Whisper White.  I used retired Night of Navy ribbon on the white card front and "was retired but new again" white satin ribbon on the embossed card front!  (I am happy to see that ribbon in the new catalog as it was and still is a favorite ribbon of mine.)  I like both cards, but in my opinion, the Night of Navy embossed card is a tad prettier.  Have a great day, a nice weekend and don't forget it is Mother's Day on Sunday! 

Mossy Meadow

Today's card was created using Mossy Meadow, the last new In Color paired up with Blendabilities and the hostess set, Bloom With Hope.  Mossy Meadow is a rich deep green and one I will surely be using often, especially come Fall.   The flowers were colored using the Coastal Cabana assortment of Blendabilities, with a touch of Pumpkin Pie in the center.  And did you notice the embossed background?  It is the Stylish Stripes embossing folder from the Holiday Mini!  I was very happy to see that this embossing folder made it into our annual cattie.  I added a couple of our Candy Dots from the Brights collection and finished the card using the new beautiful ribbon.  We will be having a great day here today.  The temp will be in the 80's and sunny, too! Hope you have a great day, too.

Hello Honey & Tangelo Twist

Today's card is a combination of two new In Colors, Tangelo Twist and Hello Honey.  Tangelo Twist is very close to Pumpkin Pie, another bright and cheerful shade of orange. Hello Honey is close to Crushed Curry and although it is not shown here, the Hello Honey ribbon is very pretty..  Again I used the Work of Art stamp set for this card, stamping off the background images and direct stamping the sentiment.  I used a punch from the new trio of mini punches for the flower.  Check out the rhinestone centers of the little flowers.   Now that Stampin' Up has alcohol markers, I used the Pumpkin Pie Blendabilities pen to color coordinate the rhinestones to match the card. I see pretty, colorful bling on my future creations!  Have a great day!

Lost Lagoon & Blendabilities

Today's card was originally going to be about the new In Color, Lost Lagoon~~and it is.  In addition though, it is also about the other products used while creating the card.  For starters, do you recognize the embossed background?  That is the embossing folder that was one of the items available during Sale-a-bration and is now in the annual catalog!  The Lost Lagoon ribbon is next~~just beautiful!  The image and sentiment are from a new hostess set, Bloom With Hope.  I stamped the image using Black Memento ink and colored the image using Blendabilities, SU's alcohol markers which were just released.  The markers are alcohol based and would not work well using our Staz-on black ink.  So, SU has introduced Black Memento ink for use with the new Blendabilities.   The Blendabilities come in sets of 3 for $11.95.  The main color in this particular set is Coastal Cabana and then one marker is a little lighter than that and one a little darker.  I colored the stem using a regular SU marker.  (A little note~~our markers are not being replaced by the Blendabilities.)  The sentiment was stamped using the Lost Lagoon ink pad.  I am looking forward to sharing all the new things on June 8th while at the same time selling many of my retired items.  Mark your calendars for June 8th and stop by between 1-4 for a little fun and picking up your annual catalog..  Have a great day!

New Colors!

As promised, here is a little peek at the new In Colors.  I used an image from the new Work of Art stamp set and punched the hearts using one of a new set of three mini punches.  In addition to the heart, the trio includes a star and a little flower. Starting from the top are the new In Color names:

• Tangelo Twist
• Hello Honey
• Mossy Meadow
• Lost Lagoon
• Blackberry Bliss

The colors are pretty and very similar to present and/or previous colors.  Each day this week I will create a card using one of the new In Colors, starting with  Blackberry Bliss.  Blackberry Bliss is very pretty and the ribbon is gorgeous.  The stamped images are also from the Work of Art set.  The color is very dark and rich and so for the bottom two stripes and the background of the sentiment I stamped off.  When stamped off, you can see that it is a little like Rich Razzleberry.  The first stripe and the sentiment were stamped directly on the Shimmery White cardstock.  So far, Blackberry Bliss is my favorite of the new In Colors and I added my favorite embellishment~~butterflies from the Beautiful Wings embosslit.  Tomorrow I will have a Lost Lagoon card for you so be sure to check back!  Have a great day.

Apothecarty Art

 One of the products that Stampin' Up is introducing with the new annual catalog is SU's version of alcohol markers, Blendabilities.  I have used Copic markers, own a set of them and I have also posted a card now and then on which I used my Copics.   I am looking forward to trying out SU's Blendabilities.  They come in sets of three and cost $11.95 each set.  There are about 10 color sets and a skin tone set that will be available on June 1st.  As soon as I receive them, I will be trying them out!  In the meantime, last night I went downstairs with coloring on my mind and the Apothecary Art stamp set called out to me.   As I was coloring with my regular SU markers, I was wondering why I have neglected this stamp set.  It really is very pretty and the Labels framelits coordinate with the set.  On the Just Because card I colored using two shades of blue and two shades of green.  On the Wisteria Wonder card I used Wisteria Wonder, Gumball Green and a touch of Crushed Curry.  The sentiments are from sets other than Apothecary Art, but the sentiments from any number of sets fit in the space nicely.  Check back on Monday as I am sure I will have the new colors to share.  Have  a great Friday and a nice weekend, too.

My First Peek At New Catalog!

Today's post is a photo of Stampin' Up's new annual catalog cover.  I love it!  The cover says it all~~inspire, create, share!  This morning I get my first look at the new catalog and I also have a chance to pre-order select products.  For sure I will be ordering  the new In color cardstock and ink.  And as soon as I finish today's post I will be deciding which of the pre-order product choices are on my "gotta' have it" list!  How many new products do you see on the catalog cover that inspire you to create and share?  The cut out letters were the first item that jumped out at me.  Set aside Sunday, June 8th to attend  my annual catalog Open House!  Between then and now, I will definitely be sharing new product sneak peeks with you.  Have a great day!