Sunburst Valentine

Can you believe that it is already the middle of January? I'm still putting away Christmas decorations but I don't feel too bad because we were a little late in getting them up this year!

Besides un-decorating, I've been enjoying a little down time and catching up with some Netflix tv series. I'm watching Prison Break and it is quite exciting!

Today, after delivering my latest workshop orders, I had the chance to play. As sometimes is the case, I started making one card but it morphed into another! The card today was to be a Valentine card but the background that I created didn't work with my concept so I will save it for another card.

Today's card is 5 x 7" and uses a Melon Mambo card base. I started by creating my heart embellishment. I chose one of the Heart Framelits Collection dies and laid it over top of my Sunburst die to see if my idea would work. It did!

I used the Sunburst die to cut out a section of Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper that would fit the heart die. I glued the die cut to some Melon Mambo card stock and then used the heart die to cut out the heart. I then used two heart dies, with Melon Mambo card stock, to cut out a frame for the die cut.

The frame was embossed with the retired Swiss Dots embossing folder and then I used a sponge dauber with Blackberry Bliss to ink the inside of the frame.

I used the smallest Hearts die to cut two hearts from Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper and then punched four hearts from Melon Mambo card stock using the heart from the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack.
I sandwiched a piece of Silver Metallic Thread between the two glimmer hearts as well as the card stock ones and adhered them together with Fast Fuse Adhesive. I used a sponge dauber with Blackberry Bliss to ink the edges of each complete heart.

The three heart strings were sandwiched between the heart and its frame, and the frame was adhered using Fast Fuse Adhesive.

I cut five, one inch strips of a paper from the Have A Cuppa DSP pack and adhered them to the front of the card base using Fast Fuse Adhesive.

Using the heart from the Occasions Paper Piercing Pack along with my Stampin' Pierce Mat and Paper Piercing Tool, I pierced holes around the framed heart. I then used my 1/8" Circle Punch to punch larger holes. I sewed around the heart using the 1/8" Bermuda Bay Stitched Ribbon, finishing with a bow at the top.

The sentiment from the Bloomin' Love Stamp Set was stamped with Melon Mambo on Whisper White and then die cut using the arrow die from the retired On Film Framelits Dies. A sponge dauber and Bermuda Bay was used to ink the edges.

The completed heart embellishment was adhered to the card front using Dimensionals, leaving the hearts to dangle as they may. The arrow was adhered using triple Dimensionals on one side and a single Dimensional on the heart side.

I'm entering this card in The Paper Players Challenge:

and in the Global Design Project:

Now that it is complete, I'm quite liking this card even though it is not the card I set out to create! Have you started working on Valentine's Day cards yet? Drop me a link below and let me know!

I Never Promised You A Rose Garden, Or Did I?

Hi there! I hope it is warm where you are today–where I am is frigid! However, cold temperatures are a good excuse to stay inside and make cards, right?

Today I worked on two cards, the first of which was on my Evernote list that I mentioned in my Solid Gold Tips For Using The Bloomin' Hearts Framelits Die.

Have you tried using Evernote yet? I have been slowly re-organizing my crafting supplies from another app that no longer meets my needs.

Evernote is wonderful for organizing your crafting supplies (and everything else) because you can tag everything with a few key words and then just do a search to bring up all your Valentine's Day stamps, for instance.

Kathleen Driggers has a wonderful video tutorial on how to create a stamp inventory using Evernote.

What is really cool about the program is that you can run it on your computer, the web, your iPhone (or Android) or your iPad (or Android tablet). So, when you go shopping for craft supplies, you won't buy duplicates of things and you'll end up being able to buy more new things!

One of my favorite purchases from the 2016 Occasions Catalog was the Bundle of the Rose Garden Thinlits Dies and the Rose Wonder Stamp Set. My first card uses both but primarily the dies to create a one layer card.

To start with, I die cut the large rose and leaf combo using Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper. Because this die has a lot of intricacy, I used my special Big Shot sandwich because I wanted a clean cut but I also wanted to catch all the pieces that were cut out by the die so I could use them in the future.
I used the Fine Tip Glue Pen to carefully add adhesive to the die cut and then placed it on the front of a Night of Navy, 4.75 x 6" card front. After putting it into place, I put a piece of scrap paper over top and smoothed over it with my hands to ensure it was adhered.

Next, I stamped a sentiment from the Lovely Amazing You Stamp Set (love this stamp set!)  using Versamark and heat embossed it using white Stampin' Emboss Powder.

Because the card base was dark, I created a matte for the inside of the card using Whisper White card stock. I stamped leaves at the bottom of the card using Night of Navy and then lightly sponged over them using the same ink.

This is a very simple yet effective card to create and can be done fairly quickly! The picture really doesn't do this card justice because you can't see the glimmer from the Dazzling Diamonds paper.

The second card was a little more labor intensive but fun to create!

I knew that I wanted to try cutting the rose from a sheet of patterned paper. I chose to use the Have A Cuppa Designer Series Paper Stack and selected a sheet of hearts in shades of Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo and Basic Gray. I chose to use Bermuda Bay and Melon Mambo card stock to coordinate with it. I cut a strip of the patterned paper and adhered it to the left edge of a Bermuda Bay matte.

I used the thinlits to cut out the rose and leaves from a sheet of the patterned paper and I adhered this to a Bermuda Bay matte. I retrieved the dryer sheet on which were stuck the Dazzling Diamonds pieces from my previous card and carefully fit each piece into the openings in the rose die cut. Once I had them all in place, I used the Fine Tip Glue Pen to glue each fragment back into place. To hold each piece while applying the glue, I used my Embellie Gellie Tool, a useful product for holding and releasing little things.

After getting all the pieces in place, I decided that I needed a bit more definition for the rose, so I outlined the rose with a Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker. I liked what it did but it made me feel that I should outline the whole thing! I decided THAT was not happening!

Moving on from there, I stamped the sentiment on Thick Whisper White and then die cut it. This was actually two separate stamps–the sentiment and the little frame around it. I find it easiest to stamp the sentiment first and then line up the frame stamp over it. Then it's an easy matter to line up the thinlit over it to die cut it. I adhered the sentiment onto the card front with Dimensionals.

To provide a bit more definition to the matte, I used a sponge dauber to ink the edges with Basic Black Archival ink. I used my Handheld Stapler to staple a scrap of Melon Mambo Stitched Ribbon onto the top left of the matte. After adhering the finished matte to a Melon Mambo card base, I added a few crystal sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

For the inside of the card, I stamped a section of the rose onto a Whisper White matte using Versamark and then heat embossed it with Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder. I used both Melon Mambo and Bermuda Bay inks with sponges to add a little color to the petals and leaves and then inked the remaining edges with Basic Black Archival ink using a Sponge Dauber.

What do you think?

I think it is really cool that you can create at least two cards using the Rose Garden Thinlits Dies! However, you could go on forever, because as you use the outline of the rose for one card, you cut another paper for the insides of the rose and then you have another outline to create another card and so on and so on . . . :) Kind of like a never-ending card!

I hope you've enjoyed reading about these two cards–enjoy your day!

Bloomin' Masculine Valentine

It happened again last night.

Just as I was falling asleep, my mind provided me with a card idea, this time using the Bloomin' Heart Framelits Dies and the Bloomin' Love stamp set. It was not until I started writing this blog post that I realized what a perfect Valentine card this would be for a man!

The first thing I did was to decide that the standard A2 card would be too small for what I had envisioned so I went with my next favorite size, 4.75 x 6."

I cut a Basic Black card base and then cut a matte measuring 4.25 x 5.5" from Kraft card stock. I positioned the Bloomin' Heart Framelits Die centred horizontally but near the top of the matte. Of course, I used my Big Shot Sandwich that I detailed in my blog post, Solid Gold Tips For Using The Bloomin' Heart Thinlits Die, to ensure a clean cut. However, this time I set aside the actual heart die cut for another time and kept the matte for my card. I used a sponge dauber with Basic Black Archival to ink the edges of the matte and inside the heart die cut.

I cut another Kraft card stock matte of the same size and ran it through my paper crimper so that the lines ran vertically on the matte. I then took my Basic Black Archival ink pad and slid it over the top of the matte, adding ink to the ridges. I used the same technique in Love For the Lotus.

Next, I used Versamark and the heart from the Bloomin' Love Stamp Set to stamp on a piece of Kraft card stock and then heat embossed it with Black Stampin' Emboss Powder. To avoid a horrible black mess, I was sure to use my Embossing Buddy before inking. This is definitely necessary when using black! I then fussy cut the heart.

I ran a length of Basic Black Stitched ribbon around the bottom of the die cut matte and then used the Botanical Builder Framelits Dies to cut flowers and leaves both from black and Kraft card stock. I used Dimensionals, Glue Dots and the Fine Tip Glue Pen to adhere these. I added some tiny rhinestones, colored black with a Copic marker, to the centre of the smallest blossoms.

I adhered the die cut matte to the crimped matte using Dimensionals and then to the card front using Fast Fuse Adhesive.

I decided to add a hint of gold to the card so I bundled up some Gold Metallic Thread and secured it with glue dots to the crimped matte showing through the heart die cut. I adhered the heat embossed heart over the thread bundle using Dimensionals.

I stamped the sentiment with the banner stamp, again on Kraft card stock, and then die cut it using the Large Numbers Framelits Dies. I adhered it to the top of the card front using Dimensionals.

For the inside of the card, I cut a matte from the now retired Naturals Ivory card stock, and stamped a border image at the bottom using Basic Black Archival Ink. Using a sponge dauber, I inked the sides using Crumb Cake ink and then adhered the matte using Fast Fuse Adhesive to complete my card.

I've entered this card in the Global Design Project because I felt it fit nicely with their sketch for #GDP018.

Drop me a comment below and let me know how you've used the Bloomin' Heart or Bloomin' Love sets!

The Sky Really Is The Limit!

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It is so nice to start a new year with new Stampin Up products with which to play! As can be glimpsed on Pinterest, card making mojo is at a very high level and it seems that the sky really is the limit when it comes to creating!

In preparing for my stamping group on Friday, I knew I wanted to use both the Sky Is The Limit Stamp Set and the Bloomin' Heart Thinlits.

I started my first card by choosing a color scheme of Rose Red, Blushing Bride and Mint Macaron in preparing what could be used as a Valentine card.

I die cut the Bloomin' Hearts Thinlits Die using a metal shim on my Magnetic Platform and also used a dryer sheet under my card stock to ensure that I got both a good clean cut and that I would not be sitting picking out bits! I ran the sandwich through forward and then back and was pleased with my first time cutting results. I also die cut two of the larger flowers and three of the little flowers from Blushing Bride card stock.

I decided on the placement of the intricate heart die cut on my Rose Red matte and then used my MISTI to stamp the sentiment from the Bloomin' Love Stamp Set with Rose Red ink in the bottom right corner. To punch the matte up a bit, I decided to use my Stampin' Distress Tool to distress the edges.

I adhered the Rose Red matte to a Mint Macaron matte and then adhered the heart die cut to the Rose Red Matte using the Fine Tip Glue Pen. It was very quick to add adhesive to even the little parts of the die cut. After placing it on the matte, I put a scrap paper over it and smoothed it with my hands to ensure that it adhered well.

Next, I adhered the flowers to the solid flower spots on the die cut, again using the Fine Tip Glue Pen. It takes a little work to match up the petals of the flowers but you can do it! I then added Wink of Stella to each of the flowers.

After the flowers were dry, I attached a knotted piece of the Mint Macaron ribbon to the left side of the mattes. To tie the knot, I used a new method learned from a great video tutorial by Sage Kimble, that has you use a clear block to tie the knot or bow and then add it to your project. I admit I was doubtful at first but the method works great!

On the inside of the Thick Whisper White card base, I stamped the intricate heart stamp from the Bloomin' Love set, using Rose Red.

Finally, I adhered the mattes to the front of the card base using Dimensionals.

My first attempt at this card before I remade it.

At this point, I finished card making for the day but was not quite satisfied with my card. I kept mulling it over in my mind to try and find ways to improve it. I thought that the card front was just too plain looking but I was unsure how to give it a bit more zest.

When I eventually got back to card making again, I remade the card but instead of scrapping my process, I thought I would share it with you so you could see how I made my changes and the difference that the changes made in the resulting card.

• This time, I used a Blushing Bride card base instead of the white and the colors seemed to blend better with it than the stark contrast of the white. It also served to reinforce the use of Blushing Bride for the flowers.
• Next, though I used Rose Red again for the matte and distressed it as before, I also sponged the edges with Rose Red which created a kind of glow effect on the matte.
• The die cut was done the same way but I sponged the edges and lightly across the die cut itself with Mint Macaron ink.
• Each of the Blushing Bride flowers were also sponged, this time with Blushing Bride ink. I also used my Flower Tool Kit to give a little shape to each flower.
• In adhering the die cut to the matte this time, I only added glue to the solid flower areas which gave the die cut a more 3D and looser look than before.
• I also adhered the flowers differently, choosing to use glue dots in the centre of each flower to allow the flower to maintain its shape.
• In addition, I added a thicker coating of Wink of Stella and completed each flower by adding a pearl to its centre.

I am pleased with the changes that I made and believe that my card was much improved by them. What would you have done differently?

I chose the Sky Is The Limit Stamp Set to use for my second card because this FREE Sale-a-Bration stamp set is only available until February 15 and I wanted my stamping group to see what a great stamp set it is, filling that masculine card niche that we all struggle to fill! You can get this stamp set FREE just by placing an order of $60 or more with me!

I had already used the stamp set in my Sale-a-Bration Freebie Sneak Peek but wanted something different for class. I liked the idea of using twine for contrails but knew that I would need to use a different card format for them to be effective. In the end, I chose a completed card size of 8.5 x 3.5", long enough to provide a nice swoop of twine!

I cut a Pool Party card base and attached a thin, Basic Black matte using Dimensionals.

On a 8.25 x 3.25" Whisper White matte, I used my cloud template to sponge clouds using Pool Party and a sponge. Toward the bottom, I tried to add a bit of plain sky and also made sure to sponge all the edges of the matte.

Using my MISTI I stamped the plane image on Whisper White using Jet Black Stazon ink. I did this twice to ensure a deep black color. I then fussy cut the plane.

After deciding on the placement of the plane, I used the MISTI again with the Stazon to stamp the sentiment in the bottom right corner of the matte.

I punched three clouds using the Tree Builder Punch and edged each with the Wink of Stella. I drew a mark at the end of the plane and then drew three curved lines out from the plane to the left edge of the card. To make it easier to draw the lines I used a flex curve ruler. I used the 2-Way Glue Pen to trace over the lines and then adhered Basic Black Baker's Twine. I used scissors to trim off the excess twine. I attached the finished matte to the black matte using Fast Fuse Adhesive.

Next, I used doubled Dimensionals on the left side of the plane and a single Dimensional on the right to attach the plane to the card front, as if the plane was turning. I layered one of the clouds over the end of the plane's wing to enhance the 3D appearance.

Close up showing the dimension achieved with the strategic use of Dimensionals.

I layered two more clouds in the top left of the card front to complete the card.

For the inside of the card, I thought it would be fun to have the plane execute a barrel roll!

This time I used Basic Black Archival ink and I stamped off twice on scrap paper before stamping the plane, upside down, in the bottom middle of a Whisper White matte.

Without reinking, I stamped two, right-side-up planes on either side of the middle one. I thought by stamping them lighter it would give the illusion of the plane flying in from farther away, doing the barrel roll and then flying away again! Do you think that I achieved this? Drop me a comment below!

I hope you enjoyed reading about the cards for my stamping group!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Solid Gold Tips For Using The Bloomin' Heart Thinlits Die

I had such fun playing with my new supplies today! Yesterday, I created a list in Evernote of all the ideas I had for cards using the new products, and linked this list to all the new products I owned that it referenced. This morning, I sat down in my craft room to make one of the cards.

I cut a standard card base from Blackberry Bliss card stock and then used the Sunburst Thinlits Die to die cut Gold Glimmer paper. I adhered it to my card front using the Fine Tip Glue Pen and then cut off the excess.

Next, I die cut the heart using the Bloomin' Hearts Thinlits Die. Stampin Up recommends that you cut this intricate die using the Precision Plate on the Magnetic Platform and running it back and forth through the Big Shot several times to get a clean cut. Then they also recommend using the new Big Shot Die Brush to get all the little pieces out of the die.

I have neither the Precision Plate or the Big Shot Die Brush so I will share with you how I got a very clean cut and was able to lift my die right off the die cut and didn't have to poke all the little bits out of the die cut either!

This is the sandwich that I used for my Big Shot with 7 being the bottom of the sandwich:

1. Cutting Pad
2. Bloomin' Heart Thinlits Die
3. Card stock
4. Dryer Sheet, left folded as it came from the box
5. Cutting Pad
6. Metal Shim
7. Magnetic Platform

I ran this sandwich through and back in the Big Shot twice. It was a bit of a tight fit but I did not have to force it through.

I then removed the two cutting pads from the Magnetic Platform, took off the top one, and picked up the Bloomin' Heart Thinlits Die. If you try to do this on top of the Magnetic Platform, the magnet is too strong to do this easily.

I then was able to peel off the card stock from around the die cut heart. Next, I peeled the dryer sheet, with die cut attached, off the bottom cutting pad. Then, starting with a solid flower section of the die cut, I carefully peeled it back, carefully lifting the fine edges back from the dryer sheet, leaving the little bits of the die cut behind on the dryer sheet!

Now this method worked successfully for me but every Big Shot is calibrated a little differently so you may experience different results.

I used the Fine Tip Glue Pen to put glue only on the solid flower parts of the die cut and then placed it on top of the Sunburst die cut. I placed a piece of scrap paper over top to allow me to smooth it down, and then left my iPad sitting on top of it for a few minutes to ensure that the glue held.

To die cut these flowers it is necessary to use a slightly different method to that of the flower thinlits that we have used up to now. The flower dies that match the flowers embedded in the heart die cut are "closed" dies meaning that you cannot see through them to allow you to place them over the stamped image. Both the dies and the stamps, however, have a tab at the top of them.

Next, I stamped the solid flowers from the Bloomin' Hearts Stamp Set on Blackberry Bliss card stock using Versamark, keeping the tab of the stamps at the top. I heat embossed them with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder.

To be able to die cut the stamped flowers successfully, I made a template for the flower dies by cutting out each of them from card stock being sure to keep the die tab at the top. Next, I placed my stamped images on my cutting pad and placed the template over the embossed flower and ensuring it was lined up correctly.

I remembered to snap some photos to show you how I used the template for the closed die. You will catch a glimpse of my well used bottom cutting pad in the photos!

Template in place over gold-embossed flower stamp

Die set in place in the template

When using small dies on the Magnetic Platform, you sometimes find that they change positions due to the polarity of the magnets in the platform itself. Because of this, I used some Washi to tape the die and card stock in place before running through the Big Shot.

Once cut out, I used my Flower Tools to shape the flowers a bit and then adhered them to the heart die cut using Glue Dots. I added a rhinestone to the centre of each flower.

Finally, I decided to use a folded banner for my sentiment. I cut a piece of card stock 4.5 x .75" and then stamped the sentiment in Versamark using my MISTI for alignment. I heat embossed it using the Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder.

Next, I used the Triple Banner Punch to flag each end of the banner. I used the Simply Scored tool to score .5" and .75" from each end of the banner. Each .75" scored line was a mountain fold and the remaining scored lines were valley folds. This gave me a banner that stands up in the middle with two flat banner ends–a nice touch that you don't often see.

I think the Gold Glimmer and the Blackberry Bliss paired with the Sunburst and Bloomin' Heart dies makes this card very dramatic!

Have you got your dies yet? Place an order with me today!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Today's The Day!

I'm so excited about the NEW Occasions Catalog and Sale-A-Bration!

As a demonstrator, I got first dibs at being able to see the new catalog, order from it and play with the products.

But now, it's YOUR turn!

Starting today, you can order from the new 2016 Occasions Catalog! And, when you place your order, if it is $60 or more (before tax and shipping) you can choose a product from the Sale-A-Bration Catalog for FREE!

But that's not all!

You can act as a HOST and when your personal order or party/workshop order totals $330 or more (before tax and shipping) you receive $35 MORE in Stampin' Rewards!

You also have the option of JOINING Stampin' Up when you choose to purchase the Stampin' Up Demonstrator Starter Kit you can get $195 in product of your choice for only $125!

So what are you waiting for?

Contact me

or

Place an order yourself in the online store.

Remember to choose me as your demonstrator!

Watch for projects from me using the new products in the upcoming weeks!

My Most Popular Posts of 2015

We have come to the last day of 2015 and I look back fondly on my creative endeavors during the year! I wish you all a Happy New Year and look forward to having you visit my blog in 2016!

January–Bokeh Technique and Sneak Peek From 2015 Occasions Catalog




February–My Least Favorite Card To Create




March–Projects From Stamping Group







April–Remnants of Easter






May–Corner Garden Blues




June–2015 Catalog Launch






July–New Floor and Grateful For You




August–Best Thoughts Joy Fold Card




September–Pretty in Pink Poinsettia




October

This was a busy month for me and I didn't get to post AT ALL :( Hopefully, 2016 will allow me to post every single month!


November–Color Burst Christmas and Wonderful Wonderland






December–Tag Exchange and December Stamp Class







I hope you have enjoyed this review of my most popular posts from 2015. I look forward to your comments in 2016!