Beautiful You

By now, you may have received your Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalog and Sale-a-Bration Brochure. If you have, you know that you are seriously going to want most of the items in the catalog! If you haven't yet received them, be prepared to be blown away!

I have had my demonstrator pre-order for some time now but have not had the opportunity to play with my new toys. If you live in Canada and would like to be able to order new goodies before anyone else, contact me today about becoming a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator!

Today's card uses one of the new stamp sets and it is probably going to be one of my favorites!

To begin, I stamped both the woman and the sentiment, from the Beautiful You stamp set, using Basic Black Archival ink on Watercolor paper. The stamped images were then die cut using the Stitched Shapes Framelits.

I used two of the new Watercolor Pencils to add a little color on the left side of the woman's dress and hat and then used my Clear Wink of Stella to work the color over the rest of the image, providing both shadow and highlight.

My first time using the Watercolor Pencils was definitely a delight! They go on easily and I love the shimmery blending when using the Wink of Stella with them! They can also be blended using the Aqua Painter or the Blender Pens.

A standard card base was cut from Emerald Envy and matte from Basic Black. I also cut a matte from a sheet of the Playful Palette DSP. The DSP was adhered to the Basic Black matte and then a length of the Sweet Sugarplum Glitter Ribbon was laid vertically and taped to the back of the matte. The matte was then adhered to the card front using Dimensionals.

The stitched squares were then layered on the card front using Dimensionals to complete the card.

I know I will be using this stamp set again soon, along with the Watercolor Pencils!

Just A Note Botanicals

Have you ever designed a card and then after it's done you can't decide if you like it or not? That's where I'm at with this card!

I started with the idea of placing the flowers from the Botanical Builder Framelits in a tea cup. I chose a lovely paper from the Birthday Bouquet DSP and die cut my tea cup as well as one from self adhesive fun foam. I stuck the two together. I inked up the cup and the edges of the fun foam with Soft Suede. I used Wink of Stella to give the cup a nice shimmer.

On the flip side of the DSP was a lovely coordinating pattern that I chose for the upper two-thirds of my card. I decided on Mossy Meadow for the bottom and I embossed the lower third of a 4 x 5 1/4" matte using the Woodgrain Embossing Folder. I then adhered the DSP to the top two-thirds and adhered a strip of the 3/8" Stitched Mossy Meadow Ribbon across the join. I adhered this piece to a Soft Suede card base using Dimensionals.

Picking colors from the cup for the flowers–Watermelon Wonder, Pool Party and Mint Macaron as well as Mossy Meadow and Old Olive for the greenery–I die cut them using the Botanical Builder Framelits.

I tried a few designs until I settled on the one that I used. After snapping a photo, I inked the edges of the flowers with their matching inks (except for the Pool Party one where I used Lost Lagoon) and both ferns with Mossy Meadow. I also used my McGill Paper Blossom Tool Kit to shape the flowers and ferns.

I adhered the cup to the card front using Fast Fuse Adhesive, sandwiching the darker fern in place beneath it. I then adhered the remaining flowers and greenery with a combination of Dimensionals, Fine Tip Glue Pen and Glue Dots. I added rhinestones to the flower centres.

Using Soft Suede, I stamped the sentiment from the Picture Perfect Stamp Set on Old Olive card stock. I used the Washi Label Punch on it and inked the edges with Mossy Meadow. I adhered it to the bottom of the card front using Dimensionals to complete the card.

I did not create an inner matte for the card yet because I still haven't decided if this card is a keeper! Can you help me decide by leaving me a comment below?

Best Thoughts Joy Fold Card

Finally had the chance to get back to the images I colored using my new Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers!

It seems that I can't get enough of the Best Thoughts stamp set as I am drawn to use it again and again.

Using my MISTI I stamped the rhododendrons using Ranger Archival ink on watercolor paper. My MISTI allowed me to re-stamp the image a couple of times to get a good print. Watercolor paper tends to be hard to stamp on, even using the smooth side so using the MISTI is a good practice.

I used Cornflower Blue (037) for the flowers and Olive Green (043) and Mid Green (046) for the leaves, using my Aqua Pen to blend the watercolor inks. When it was completely dry, I fussy cut it. To ensure a continuous black edge, I used a Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker to edge the image.

I wanted to use patterned paper as well as an embossing folder with the flower image so I decided to make a Joy Fold card. This is a lovely fold technique that uses a regular card with a narrower front than usual and a smaller card that overlaps and opens within the base card. You can find a great tutorial for a Joy Fold card on Debbie Henderson's blog.

I changed the measurements for my card as follows:

6.5 x 7.5" for the Pear Pizzazz card base, scored on the 7.5" side at 2.5"
2.5 x 6.25" DSP for the small flap
4.75 x 6.25" DSP for the inside of the card base
4.75 x 8" for the smaller Pear Pizzazz card base, scored at 4" on the 8" side
3.5 x 4.25" for the Night of Navy piece
3.5 x 4.25" for inner matte of Naturals White card stock

The patterned paper comes from the Regals DSP Paper Stack. All pieces of DSP had the edges inked with Night of Navy using a sponge dauber. All pieces of DSP were adhered to the larger card base using Fuse Fast adhesive.

The Night of Navy card stock panel was embossed using the Woodgrain Embossing Folder. It was adhered to the front of the smaller Pear Pizzazz card base using Fuse Fast adhesive, making sure the card opened in the opposite direction to usual.

The sentiment was stamped on a matte of the now retired Naturals White card stock using Night of Navy ink and the edges were also inked. It was adhered to the inside of the smaller card base using Fuse Fast adhesive. The smaller card base was centred and adhered to the larger DSP panel on the larger card base.

The colored flower was adhered to the embossed panel using Dimensionals. Sequins were scattered around the card and adhered using Crystal Effects. Wink of Stella provided a nice glimmer for the flower petals. (I really wish that I could get a good picture of the Wink of Stella effect to show those of you who are not familiar with it, but no picture seems to capture the subtle yet shimmery goodness Wink of Stella creates!)

A small bow of Old Olive 1/8" ribbon was added to the flower stem using Crystal Effects.

I hope you'll try creating a card using the Joy Fold technique. It's a great way to use some of your patterned paper and creates a lovely card!

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Indescribable Gift Meets Butterfly Basics

Inspiration may come from several different sources–a technique, a product, a design or a color combination.

Because color is very important to me, I am constantly in search of new resources to inspire me in this area. I found a wonderful resource in the magazine, Color Made Easy from Better Homes and Gardens.

It was easy to translate the color swatches in the magazine to the Stampin' Up colors to come up with even more fresh color combos to use in card making!


For my card today, I was inspired by this page:

I translated the color combo from BHG to the Stampin' Up colors of Cucumber Crush, Melon Mambo and Whisper White.

I am really enjoying using the Stampin' Blender Pen with my reinkers to give a watercolor look to my stamped images! However, my card today caused me a bit of grief.

I actually colored my stamped image twice; the first time, I stamped the sentiment over the colored stamp only to find out it was not completely legible :(

The second time I colored it, I thought I would have to color it a third time because I got some ink on the white parts!

Luckily, I utilized a method from Jennifer McGuire to get rid of my mistake. I used a craft knife to scrape lightly over the errant ink area and then blended the paper fibres a bit using a white eraser. That method, paired with a vellum cover-up saved my bacon!

The card itself was pretty simple to create. Using my MISTI, I stamped the flowers from the Indescribable Gift stamp set using Tuxedo Black Stazon ink on Watercolor Paper. After a quick pass under my Heat Tool to set the ink, I used Melon Mambo, Cucumber Crush and Soft Suede reinkers with my Blender Pen to color in the stamp.

I used a die from the Circles Collection Framelits to cut out the colored stamp as well as a same sized circle from Vellum.

Using both the die cut and the original vellum piece, I placed both in my MISTI and stamped the sentiment from Butterfly Basics using the Stazon ink again. Using the original piece of vellum with the die cut allowed me to make sure the round die cut did not move while I was stamping it.
I used tiny amounts of Snail Adhesive on the colored sections of the stamped image to attach the vellum piece over top.

I used a non Stampin' Up embossing folder–Christmas Vine by Craft Concepts–to emboss the Cucumber Crush matte. I did this because I needed a larger embossing folder to emboss the matte. This matte was then adhered to a Whisper White matte.

I then angled strips of Melon Mambo stitched ribbon across the matte, securing on the back with Sticky Strip. This completed matte was then attached to a Melon Mambo matte that had been previously adhered to a Whisper White Thick card stock card base, using Fuse Fast Adhesive.

The circular stamped piece was adhered onto the card front using Dimensionals. A RV09 Copic Marker was used to color five rhinestones and they were adhered to the vellum matte.

The Bitty Butterfly Punch was used to cut a butterfly from Melon Mambo card stock and then I used my Wink of Stella pen to glimmer it up a bit! I also inked the edges of the butterfly using Rose Red and a Sponge Dauber.

Finally, the butterfly was adhered to the card front using a dab of Crystal Effects.

Close-up showing the effect of the Wink of Stella pen.

What have you watercolored using the Blender Pen? Leave me a link in a comment below!


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New Floor and Grateful For You

My husband puts up with a LOT. I can be very moody at times. And demanding. And selfish. But somehow I lucked out and he is always there for me.

A couple of years ago, after our daughter moved out, I took over her old bedroom upstairs and claimed it as my craft room. Eventually, I persuaded him to make it into a REAL craft room and he did a fabulous job of creating a large work table, another counter with cabinets and a smaller counter with cabinets that I use as my cutting and Big Shot area.

Then after Christmas this year, he installed new lighting fixtures for me as well as mounting a picture ledge on the wall above my work table so I could display the cards that I made.

In April, he decided that it was time to replace all the carpets throughout the house as well as linoleum in the two upstairs bathrooms and a new shower for the ensuite bathroom. Our house was turned upside down as furniture was moved from one room to another as the carpeted areas were being done.

My craft room had existing carpet (being a bedroom in an earlier life) but I persuaded Bob that bare floors would work better for me in a craft room so he agreed to put in laminate flooring for me.

Craft room before new floors.

As much as I was looking forward to the new floors, I was beside myself thinking about the huge job of moving everything out of the room so he could do the floors and then moving everything back. I was sure it would take over a week until I was back in my favorite spot crafting again. You know how a simple job always seems to become more complicated once it's started? That is what I was expecting to happen.

But my fears were not realized after all!

Sunday night we had moved everything out of the room in preparation for the new floor. Monday was the first day of Bob's summer holidays and he spent it installing my floor! He started around 9:00 am and finished laying the flooring about 3:30 pm. We were able to move everything back into my room that night!

The beginning of the new floor.

Almost finished!

So this is what my craft room looks like now:

View from the doorway–look at that floor!

My chandelier in the corner over my Silhouette Cameo & printer.

My wonderful large work table with picture ledge for my cards over top of it.

Punch storage on the wall by the door.

My cutting and Big Shot work station complete with Ott light.

Storage with my rolling platform for my two boxes of dies on the floor in front.

Shows new lighting over my work table as well as my picture ledge for my cards.

New light over window work area.

To show Bob my appreciation, I made him a special card for his efforts.

I started by embossing a Basic Black matte with the Arrows Embossing Folder. I then used my Embossing Buddy to give a good coating to the embossed piece. I then used my Brayer and Versamark ink to ink up the matte. I heat embossed it using Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder to give it a two-tone look. I adhered the matte to a Basic Black card base using Dimensionals.

Next, I cut a 4 1/8 x just under 1 1/2" piece of Tempting Turquoise and used the Triple Banner Punch to flag one end. I then used my MISTI to stamp the sentiment from the For All Things stamp set in Versamark and heat embossed it using White Stampin' Emboss Powder.
I adhered the banner to the matte using Fuse Fast Adhesive.

Using Tempting Turquoise and MISTI, I stamped two flowers on Whisper White card stock, one from Flower Shop and one from Petite Petals. I used both the Pansy and the Petite Petals Punches to cut out the flowers.

I used a few glue dots to serve as an anchor for some Whisper White Baker's Twine on the left side of the banner and then used a Dimensional to adhere the larger flower on top. The smaller flower was adhered next, using Multipurpose Liquid Glue. I used a black Sharpie to color a White Perfect Accent and placed it in the centre of the flower.

The final touch was to add a little Wink of Stella to the flower petals!

I did not add a matte to the inside of the card because I planned to write in it using my White gel pen.

I'm not sure you can see the two-tone effect well in the pictures but the shine of the embossed areas on the black really add to the texture of the card.

I hope you've enjoyed reading my blog today. Drop me a comment below!


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Gardening With Market Fresh: Part Three

Today is the third and final part of my "gardening" series. If you missed them here are Gardening With Market Fresh: Part One and Gardening With Market Fresh: Part Two. It is fitting that my third post deals with a celebration: Lettuce Celebrate!

Using my MISTI and Jet Black Stazon ink I stamped the image from the Market Fresh stamp set on Watercolor paper. I did not need as many colors of reinkers for this image. I used Pear Pizzazz and Mossy Meadow for the lettuce and Real Red and Cherry Cobbler for the banner, blending them with my Blender pen.

I purposely chose red for the banner. Since red and green are complementary colors, using the two together provides the most impact.

I used the Ovals Collection Framelits to cut the stamped image and a Cherry Cobbler matte. The stamped image was adhered to the matte using Dimensionals.

I chose the lovely vegetable printed paper from the Farmers Market DSP pack and mounted it on the same size matte of Real Red to give it stability. The ovals were adhered to the matte using Fuse Fast adhesive and then a bow of Wild Wasabi Seam Binding was tied around it.

The matte was adhered to the Real Red card base using Dimensionals.

Because this was a celebratory card, I added a few red and green sequins to the top of the card and, like with the two previous cards, I added a touch of Wink of Stella to the lettuce to make it look fresh!

So, are you liking the Market Fresh stamp set? Pairing it with the Farmers Market DSP is a no-brainer in my books and I look forward to using both again soon!

I hope you've enjoyed my three part "gardening" series. Leave me a comment below–I'd love to hear from you!

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Gardening With Market Fresh: Part Two

Today I continue my series on "gardening" by using the Market Fresh stamp set. If you missed it, you can view Gardening With Market Fresh: Part One.

While, Part One of my series used grapes as the focal image, my second card uses strawberries.

I started by using my MISTI to stamp my image with Jet Black Stazon ink on Watercolor paper. I then used my Blender pen and reinkers to color the image. I chose to use the now retired Raspberry Ripple rather than Real Red for the berries and for the shadows, I used Cherry Cobbler. The leaves used Old Olive and Mossy Meadow and the banner used Daffodil Delight with Crushed Curry for the shadows.

I used the Circles Collection Framelits to cut both the stamped image and a Cherry Cobbler matte. The stamped image was adhered to the matte using Fuse Fast adhesive.

I chose a black striped paper from the Farmers Market DSP pack and adhered it to a Cherry Cobbler matte of the same size to give it stability. A length of Cherry Cobbler Sheer Linen Ribbon was adhered across the middle of the matte. The matte was adhered to a Cherry Cobbler card base using Dimensionals.

On the back of the matte for the berries, I placed several glue dots and then adhered and shaped a length of Crushed Curry 1/8" Ribbon. The matte was then adhered to the card front using Dimensionals.

As with the first card, I used my Wink of Stella marker to make the berries look fresh and juicy! Check back tomorrow for the third part of my "gardening" series.

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Gardening With Market Fresh: Part One

Anyone that knows me well knows that I am not interested in gardening; I hate to get my hands dirty unless it's with craft supplies! However, as soon as I saw the Farmer's Market Designer Series Paper and the Market Fresh stamp set, I knew I wanted to create with them.

Using my MISTI and Jet Black Stazon Ink, I stamped the image of the grapes on Watercolor paper. I used my Blender pen and reinkers to color the image.

For the grapes I used Perfect Plum and Elegant Eggplant, leaves were Old Olive and Mossy Meadow, stem was Crumb Cake and the banner was Pumpkin Pie and Tangerine Tango. The darker inks were used in the shadow areas of the stamped image to provide depth.

I used the Window Frames Collection Framelits to cut out both the stamped image and a matte from Pumpkin Pie card stock. The matte was embossed using the Decorative Dots Embossing Folder. I inked the edges of the matte with Blackberry Bliss and adhered the stamped image to it using Fuse Fast adhesive.

I cut a matte from a Blackberry Bliss gingham paper in the Farmer's Market DSP pack and adhered it to a Blackberry Bliss matte of the same size to give it stability. I wrapped Mossy Meadow Thick Baker's Twine around the matte and then adhered the matte to a Pumpkin Pie card base using Dimensionals. Lastly, the image on its matte was mounted to the card front using Dimensionals.

The finishing touch for this card was to use my Wink of Stella pen to make the grapes look like they were fresh with dew. I wish you could see them in real life because they really look impressive with the glimmer on them but a photo does not capture the true look of the glimmer.

I think they look good enough to eat! What do you think? Leave me a comment below!

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Bittersweet Card Class

June 19 was the wind-up for our monthly card class. I always look forward to each of our card classes but because this was the last class before our summer break, it was also a little sad to think we wouldn't be stamping together for two whole months!

At our wind-ups, we always bring food to share and last year we started having our food first so that we could socialize as a group before we got down to the stamping end of things. It's always fun to sample the different treats and though we didn't know who was bringing what, it all worked out well!

Just before we broke up to head down to the craft room, the group presented me with two lovely gifts and a handmade card! Such sweet ladies! As I started to read the card, I got a little emotional so I saved it to finish reading later. The gifts and the card were much appreciated!

The two cards we made for this class were very different in nature.

The first card was a fun, lighthearted card to construct. Using the Sprinkles of Life stamp set can't be anything but fun, right?

The ice cream image was stamped in each of three colors of ink–Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, and Island Indigo–on the coordinating card stock and then punched with the Tree Builder stamp.

The cone was stamped on Tip Top Taupe and fussy cut. It was adhered to a Whisper White matte and then each layer of ice cream was stacked on top using Dimensionals.

The sentiment was stamped in Bermuda Bay and then a length of Coastal Cabana Thick Baker's Twine was knotted around the matte. It was then adhered to a Bermuda Bay matte with Dimensionals and then adhered to the Bermuda Bay card base using Fuse Fast.

A Wink of Stella pen was used to highlight the ice cream layers.

Close-up showing the shimmer from Wink of Stella pen.

Looks good enough to eat, doesn't it?!
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Our second card was designed to be a sympathy card.

The MISTI and the woodgrain stamp from the Build a Bouquet stamp set was used to stamp with Versamark on a 4 x 5.25" Basic Black matte. It was heat embossed with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder and then the matte was trimmed to the size of the stamp. It was adhered to the black card base using Dimensionals.

On a strip of Basic Black card stock 5 x 1" (just shy of 1") the sentiment from the You've Got This stamp set was stamped in Versamark and then heat embossed with the gold. The Triple Banner punch was then used to flag each end. It was adhered to the matte using Dimensionals.

The Pansy Punch was used to cut two flowers from Gold Foil and one from Basic Black. Two flowers were punched from Basic Black and one from Gold Glimmer using the Petite Petals punch.
Each group of punched flowers were put together and pierced through the centre using the Piercing Tool and Piercing Mat.

Two 1/8" brads were heat embossed with Gold and one was colored black with a Sharpie marker. These were used to attach the flower groups. The three flowers were adhered with Dimensionals at the top of the card.

A matte of Naturals Ivory card stock was stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with Gold. The edges were also inked and embossed. The matte was then adhered to the inside of the card.

I think that the gold embossing gives a rich look when used on black. Have you tried embossing on gold? Let me know in the comments below and link me up to your creations!

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