Thoughtful Branches Autumn Thank You

Friday, I needed a thank you card in a hurry so I reached for my Beautiful Branches Thinlits and a "dots" stamp from the Swirly Birds stamp set.

To begin, I die cut the tree from Soft Suede card stock and a matte from Whisper White. I placed the tree in the middle of the matte and drew a very light pencil line around the tree branches.

I removed the tree and then used the "dots" stamp to stamp several times within and slightly outside the pencil line using a variety of fall ink colors–Cherry Cobbler, Real Red, Cajun Craze, Delightful Dijon, and Garden Green.

Once the ink was dry, I erased the pencil lines. I then cut small pieces of Adhesive Strips to place on the back of the tree. The tree was then adhered to the matte so that the colorful "leaves" showed through the branches.

A 5.5 x 5.5" card base was cut from Cherry Cobbler and the front embossed using the Softly Falling Embossing Folder.

The white matte was adhered to a Soft Suede one and then to a Delightful Dijon one and finally to the card front. The last touch was to add the now retired wooden Thanks element to the tree to complete the card.

I love the design of this card, with the "leaves" peeking through the branches of the tree. I could remake this card, over and over again, using different color schemes each time and never get tired of it!

Swirly Bird Wreath

Have you been playing with the new In Colors? I can't get enough of them! I really like the way that they play so nicely with our other Stampin' Up colors.

Today's card started with neutrals–Basic Black and Very Vanilla–and touches of gold.

I cut a standard card base from Very Vanilla and topped it with a matte of Basic Black on the left side. Using the grunge stamp from the Swirly Birds stamp set, I stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder. I added one more grunge stamp from the Touches of Texture stamp set and heat embossed it as well. To carry the gold theme a little farther, I added a thin strip of Gold Foil Paper down the right side of the Basic Black matte.

Using the Swirly Scribbles Thinlits, I die cut the largest swirly circle from Very Vanilla and adhered it to the card front using liquid adhesive. I then stamped three of the smallest swirls from the Swirly Birds stamp set with Sweet Sugarplum on Very Vanilla. I stamped two of the larger swirls in Mint Macaron and also two leaves in Emerald Envy. The bird was stamped in Rose Red. These were all die cut and then adhered to the card front using Dimensionals.

For the inside of the card, three of the larger swirls were stamped in Sweet Sugarplum and die cut. Two of the smaller leaves were stamped with Emerald Envy inside the card and the swirls adhered over them using Glue Dots.

I love how well the colors all worked together to create this simple yet effective card! Feel free to save this color combo if you would like to use it.

Color Blocking and Pun Intended

I was in the mood for some in-your-face contrast when I sat down to craft today. Pop of Pink DSP immediately sprang to mind, with its crisp Basic Black, Whisper White, and Melon Mambo.

Choosing two sheets of the DSP to work with, I cut them to size for a 4.75 x 6" card. I used Fast Fuse to adhere them to a Melon Mambo card base.

My next step was to stamp the camera from the Pun Intended stamp set onto Thick Whisper White using Basic Black Archival ink and my MISTI. I stamped it a couple of times to get a really rich black and then cleaned the stamp before inking and stamping with Versamark.

I heat embossed with Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder to really make the camera show up and then fussy cut it. I used Clear Wink of Stella to add shine to the flash and other white sensors on the camera.

I die cut the two largest swirls from the Swirly Scribbles Thinlets from Basic Black and Melon Mambo. They were stamped over with Versamark and heat embossed with Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder two times to provide a really glossy and smooth coating.

The sentiment was stamped with Versamark on Basic Black and heat embossed with White Stampin' Emboss Powder and both ends were flagged with the Banner Triple Punch. A second banner was created from Melon Mambo. The two were attached with Dimensionals and adhered to the card front also with Dimensionals.

The die cut swirls were adhered using rolled up Glue Dots and then the camera was adhered with double Dimensionals over top of them. A Basic Black card stock strip adhered down the left side completed the front of the card.

A Whisper White matte was cut for the inside of the card. The dots from the Swirly Birds stamp set were stamped repeatedly in the bottom right corner using Melon Mambo and then the camera was stamped on top using Basic Gray Archival ink. The matte was adhered with Fast Fuse to finish the card.

I love the "punchiness" of this card! The heat embossed swirls looks like strings of licorice and make a nice little nest for the camera.

Swirly Bird Meets Love & Affection

So nice to actually get my hands on Swirly Bird and the coordinating Swirly Scribbles dies! Cards using these products are all over Pinterest.

I started my card by cutting a standard card base from Emerald Envy card stock. I also cut a matte from the retired Irresistibly Yours Specialty DSP.

Using my brayer, now retired, I inked up the matte using Dapper Denim and then carefully wiped off the excess using a paper towel.

Using the dies, I cut two of the swirls from Emerald Envy and coated them with Clear Wink of Stella. While they were drying, I punched the small flowers from Dapper Denim using the Blossom Bunch Punch. I used my McGill Paper Blossom Tool Kit to shape the flowers a bit.

Using my new Marsupial Layering Tool, I adhered my matte to the card base using Dimensionals. I used dots of glue on the back of the swirls to glue them to the bottom of the card front.

Glue dots were used to adhere the tiny flowers to the swirls and then I added White Perfect Accents to the centres.

The sentiment from the Love & Affection was stamped on a strip of Emerald Envy using Versamark and then heat embossed with White Stampin' Emboss Powder. I then used the Triple Banner Punch to flag the end. Fast Fuse adhered the strip to the top of the card front.

On a scrap of Whisper White I stamped three little swirls from the Swirly Bird stamp set, using Dapper Denim. I fussy cut these and then edged them with the Dapper Denim marker so that no white was evident. These were attached to the sentiment strip using glue dots.

On a Whisper White matte on the inside of the card, I used the "dots" stamp from the Swirly Bird set to stamp using Dapper Denim, both full-strength and stamped-off. I then stamped two sizes of the tiniest swirls stamps in Emerald Envy on top of the dots to complete the card.

Have you had the chance to play with Swirly Bird yet? If not, place an order with me!