Deer in the Forest, JAI#564

 

I think the deer are really enjoying the snow up in the mountain of AZ, because it has been a very, very hot summer since June1, even for AZ. About now, I'd like to be there with them. 

The inspiration this week comes from Just Add Ink, and now that this is done, I have another idea, should I do that one too? 

I have to admit, hard to choose, sky or sea???  I love the ocean, and do a lot of cards with that idea, but I had to go with this brand new set from the new Mini.  So, check out all the posts over on Just add ink, and maybe join in too.  

I choose a piece of dsp from the Tidings of Christmas papers, altho, there is a whole set of paper just for this bundle called Peaceful Prints. The name of the bundle is Peaceful Deer.  My colors are Crumb cake, white, Misty Moonlight (incolor), and Evening Evergreen, also an incolor.

   To get the sparkle in the sky I just use versamark and sprinkled on some S U Stampin Glitter. Or you could white emboss the tiny snowflakes and then sponge on the blue afterward.

Thanks for taking a look, have fun with your Christmas cards. 

Snowflake Christmas, jai#563

 

Thanks go to Just Add Ink for this weeks sketch challenge. Seems really simple but this was my 3rd try, I just could not get what I wanted and pictured in my mind, but this simple and pretty card did it for me.  

 I hope you will check out all the really lovely projects from the team on FMS.  Just click the link in the colored text above.

So very simple, I used real red for my base card, then a piece of white cut just large enough to tuck a bit under the DSP.

The DSP is from Peaceful Prints, which is the one that matches up with the new Deer Christmas set.   The snowflake is retired, but I love it and collect all the snowflakes I can. I just love using them.

The Merry Christmas comes from the new Heartfelt Wishes in the mini catalog, previously known as the Holiday catalog, which goes live on Aug 3rd for customers.  

I used Dimentionals for popping up the DSP, and the snowflake, it just adds something to the card.  I hope you enjoy. Thanks for stopping.

Merriest Moments Christmas, Sneak peek 2021 Holiday catalog

 

I have 2 new cards today, both made from the new Merriest Moments stamp/embossingfolder/die set in the new Holiday Mini catalog going live on Aug 3rd, 2021.  

I played with my Blends on this one, just embossed on the white cardstock and used my new Soft Succulent blends on it along with one other green.  

I cut the old center using the center die in my set, then stamped and cut the top piece, trimming off just the edges a bit to show the gold under it.

I wrapped that piece with some gold twine, then cute 3 of the small branches from the stamp and dies and added them, popping up the whole small piece in the middle. 

 On this one, I took white cardstock, plus a piece of the Artistically Inked DSP, cut one of each from the big die in the Merriest Moments set and glued them together. This gave it more body.

I used Merry Merlot cardstock, wrapped a ribbon around then layered my piece on top, added the gold piece and added a Poinsettia on top of that, with a little Merry Christmas banner and finished off with red rhinestones in the center of my flower.

I hope you'll take a  look at Merriest Moments, there is so much to it, so many ways to use it.  Thanks for taking a look.

 

 

 

Sneak peek, Holiday Mini 2021, #JAI562

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It's that time of year again, time to start thinking about making those Christmas cards.  I start early because I make a lot of different cards, and that takes time.  

My inspiration this week is from an Inspiration challenge at Just add ink, come and join in.

 

I love the photo, such a beautiful seasonal photo.  I tried hard to capture the essence of it using a brand new set from Stampin Up called Merriest Moments, So much you can do with this set. My brain was on fire, but I did my best to keep to the inspiration photos and ended up really liking this card. 

The colors I used are: Evening Evergreen, and Pale Papaya, both are new incolors, also White and Real Red.

I think you'll be seeing a lot of this set, the new mini goes live on Aug 3rd for customers.

I hope you enjoy and check out the site for all the other yummy projects.

Friendship is a Blesssing, Freshly Made Sketches #492

 

There has been a lot going on here lately, and I haven't been able to sit and make cards like I would like to, but the new sets are so gorgeous, I just had to get in and make another for fms#492,  Such an easy sketch to play with.   

Colors today are Shaded Spruce, White, Mint Macron, with some gold touches.

I used Artistically Inked Bundle, So Sentimental Bundle, the Tasteful Textures 3D Embossing folder and Expressions in Ink DSP.

I do love at least some texture on my white, it's hard for me not to do that.  The DSP is just gorgeous, every single sheet and comes in 6x6. 

I hope you enjoyed.
 

Summer Fun, Freshly Made Sketches #491, Sailing Home

 

Inspiration for this comes from the Freshly made sketches challege.   And since it's not only summer but a record high heat summer here in AZ, it seems fitting. Just wish I could be on one of those boats.

For the Background I used DSP from Sand and Sea DSP pack. Looks so much like ocean doesn't it? I thought about putting in some sand and beach area, but I felt like it would need a larger card to pull that off well. But I do love these sailing ships.  

Colors are Seaside Spray, (retired), White and a bit of Balmy Blue Blend, and Basic gray with a touch of Smoky Slate.  The red on the ships is also a blend.  

I feel cooler already!  Hop on over and check out all the lovely cards from the staff and players, bet you'll find some you just have to case. 

Play time, Vellum and embossing folder

 

I have 2 cards for you today. Both done the same way pretty much, but both a bit different.  They are both done with the new Pretty Flowers embossing folder. On this one I ran by brayer over my Gorgeous Grape ink pad then onto the back side, (the background side) of the EF, leaving the color between the flowers.  

The inspiration comes from a card posted by Patty Bennett!!! It was too gorgeous not to try it.    https://www.pattystamps.com/2021/06/pretty-flowers-embossing-folder-with-vellum-video.html

I used Highland Heather card stock for my base and the same for the ribbon, ribbon is retired.  Then I glued my vellum piece to a white piece of card stock the same size.  I have to say, I did a whole set of wedding invits on vellum for my grandson, so I had to find some way to glue them that didn't show. This was the only way I found, simply a 2 way glue pen, the felt tip one works great.

When I did these I just ran a line of glue around the edges, then I put my ribbon on and attached to the base card.  The 3 Gorgeous Grape jewels worked great on the little tag.   Pretty quick and easy. 

 

 A bit more to this one, but not much. Emboss the vellum, then using the blender brushes, pick up color from your ink pad and gently brush on. I used Flirty Flamingo, Soft Succulent and Mango Melody. 

The sentiment is from Elegantly Said, die cut and I found the leaf somewhere and cut one. I'm always rooting through my stamp sets looking for something to use when I get an idea. 

 

Expressions in Ink, #fms489, Thinking of you

 

I used a few different sets on this one. The main flower is from the Hand Penned bundle, Penned Flower dies. 

For inspiration, I've used the Freshly Made Sketches challenge .

My friend and team mate Linda is hosting this week and I do love playing along especially when she does.

I choose the gold striped paper from the Expressions in Ink DSP pack, I realized the back side was also perfect for my flower die cut. But do I use up 2 pieces of the very special paper? Nope, found a work around. I cut my die out of the middle of my 6x6 sheet, then cut down the rest of the piece to fit my card for the striped side. 

This is also a good tip for using papers like the foils and glimmers to get the most out of them.

Lots of the SU sets have dots and or blotches, I just pulled one out the size I wanted and stamped in my corner. Then I put down my previously cut main flower set, added in the small flowers top and bottom corners.  I colored the rhinestones using the Soft Succulent Blend.  Sentiment is from Inspired Thoughts stamp set. The rest of the colors I used are:Evening Evergreen, White, Pale Papaya. 

Thanks for stopping by.
 

First Christmas card of 2021, #jai556

 

It's Slim card week at Just Add Ink this week. Slim cards are fun, and don't cost anymore to send, and if you have any #10 envys around, they will work great in them.  But I have to say, it's a little hard for me to wrap my mind around a long narrow card, I'm so used to the reg size, it takes me a bit of thinking. 

So, if you'd like to give it a try, it's a great week to get some examples to work from, just click here.

There are some really great card by the team and posters.

So, the stamp is a new background stamp in the 2021-2022 AC.  It, of course would do the whole long card, but what I did was use my stamp positioner and stamp and emboss each end of the card, leaving the middle without.Then I used the Bermuda Bay and my brush to add color.  The stamp is called Festive Foliage. 

The Holiday mini will be out before you know it, but for now the AC has some darling sets to get you started and this neat background.

The sentiment is a previous year as is the branch. The die set is from long, long ago, but I just don't part with some of this stuff.   Fairly quick and easy, no coloring except for the brushing over the embossing. 

Thanks for taking a look.

From there I am sorry, but I used some retired items, 

Wonderful Birthday, Paper Players#542,

 

First, I have to say, this was not the card in my head when I sat down to make one.  But there was this stack of brand new DSP sitting there, so instantly the card in my head changed. I know, I'm pretty strange. 

My inspiration for this comes from this weeks sketch for the Paper Players challenge.  Click on the linked text to see it all. There are some gorgeous cards both from the designers and posted cards from others. 

We continue to have the most beautiful DSP I have ever seen! This is Simply Elegant DSP, which goes with the Elegantly Said stamp and punch bundle.  The sentiment is part of the stamp set along with this flower and some other items.  

The pink is our new incolor Polished Pink, also used is Black, white and Copper embossed. 

As it's so new, I haven't yet bought any ribbon so went looking through my rather large stash of ribbon for something I could use. I could have used a little white ribbon, but found this Melon Mambo ribbon left over and was very surprised that it matched.  Melon is darker in color. So, what would be your favorite, should I have used the white or do you love the pink?  

Thank you so much for stopping by.  

Masculine Happy Birthday, Stampin Up, #JAI553

 

I found out last night that my grandson, the one living in Fl, will be home in CA this weekend. So, it's his birthday soon and I needed a quick card to get in the mail and there by sat.  I loved the sketch, looked really good for a nice masculine card, I know I and many of you, struggle with these. 

The Birthday die is a retired Stampin Up die, one I'll always keep, I used it with the retired Sparkle Glimmer paper. 

My base card is Crumb Cake, then 4 3/4" wide Night of Navy strips, then I cut a piece of Crumb cake from the Rectangle Stitched Dies, and cut a piece of Soft Suede using the next size down in the die set. I added the Birthday die, then stamped 2 of the candle stamps from the retired Piece of Cake set, And cut them out with a small circle die.  

Now I think I'll go make a more girly card with this sketch.  Thank you for stopping by.

Thinking of You, #fms484

 

I guess I'm stuck on yellow and pink, this is my 2nd card using them.  I guess it's just spring that got into me. I'm thinking gray and ? up next.  The interesting item on this card is that little piece under the flower, I'll tell you how to do that.

But first, the inspiration for this card was from Freshly Made sketches, they always do such nice sketches, very easy to use.  

If you find some strange things on my post today, I don't take credit. My mouse is acting up! Clicking twice about 80% of the time when it's only pushed once.  Hubby just last night told me, get a new set for goodness sake!  LOL.  So this morning I ordered one. I'm kinda into the higher end and the high end laser mouse is necessary to keep from making my shoulder from becoming very painful.  But this is a very very old set and I guess it's just time. 

So, can you see that pretty little piece under the flower? I used the SU alcohol Blends + alcohol + Vellum. One of the SU Demo's has a tut on you tube for the technique, that's where I saw it. Her name is Tina Zink.  I did one thing different.  So, you pick colors, color in some areas with them on the vellum, then use the alcohol with a plain brush to get the ink moving. 

I had a bit of trouble with some of my colors, it may have been because she used 90% alcohol and I only have 70% or may some of my Blends are older and not as juicy as they could be.  But I did get some pretty pieces.  She glues her vellum to white cardstock, instead, while it is still very wet, I turned the vellum over and smooched it down onto the white piece to transfer the ink. 

I used White, Daffodil Delight, and 2 new colors Soft Succlent and Polished Pink. To get my flower 2 colors, I used my stamp positioner, did one stamping in the pink, cleaned off the foliage and stamped that part in the green. You can also just make two flowers, one in pink and one in green and stick them together, the sentiment would have covered that part.

I used the Art Gallers stamps and Floral Gallery dies. A square vellum doily and rhinestones from the brand new incolor collection. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Healing Thoughts, Inspiration at JAI#552

 

Such a beautiful inspiration photo for this weeks challenge from Just Add Ink.  I tried to pull in the feel of the inspiration, the yellows, flowers and spring feel.  I hope I've done that.

See how pretty this is?  To join in or just look at all the other pretty projects, click here.

I started with a piece of the beautiful Fine Art Floral DSP, then added the base color, So Saffron, and the accent piece behind the DSP, which is Flirty Flamingo.  The edge die is from the new set Penned Flower dies.  

I cut a few Butterflies from the Butterfly Brilliant die set and kept it simple by using the dies in a see through way so the flowers show through.  I added the yellow rhinestones from the new incolor set of rhinestones.    The sentiment is from the new Inspired Thoughts set.  

Thank you for stopping by.

Hand Penned sneak peek, The Paper Players #538, Sending prayers

 

Inspiration this week comes from the challenge, The Paper Players. 

 Check out the rest of the teams work here:

The DSP for Hand Penned is  just stunning, the whole pack, front and back. One of my all time favs.  I used: Cinnamon Cider, Cajun Craze, Garden Green, Pool Party, White and Black.  I've had trouble using Cinnamon Cider, but wow, it's beautiful on this. 

I stamped and watercolored the flowers using my water brush and ink pads and for the green, a colored pencil then water. 

The center 2 pieces were made using the Rectangle stitched dies, the scallop die is included with the Penned Flower dies. You will find the stamps, dies or in bundle for savings, in the new 2021-2022 catalog. 

The flower centers are from the Incolor Enamel dots.

This set was on my #1 list, I admit it was 2nd but my first choice was not avail for pre-order, but I'm not sorry about that, I LOVE this set.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sneak peek, Stampin Up annual catalog for 2021-2022. Elegantly Said bundle

 

I'm casing the catty today.  The bundle is called Elegantly Said. I changed the colors from what's in the catalog to a new incolor called Fresh Freesia, isn't it gorgeous?

I also changed some of that was done in the catalog. They started with White paper and gave it all the color by brushing and stamping it on, I decided to start with my color, do my tone on tone stamping then brush on extra color top and bottom.  

Then the embossing is over top of all that, with the sentiment on the punch that comes with the bundle.  I added some silver drops that are new this year, instead of the rhinestones that are used in the catty. They are hard to photograph, but so pretty on here. The set has a sheet of 3 designs, one sheet in clear and one in silver. The clear didn't show up well on this, but I love how the silver does. 

Thanks for  taking a look. 

River of Flowers, Freshly Made Sketches #480, Stampin Up

 

It's finally warming up here in AZ, a bit late this year, but still unpredictable.  At least now the wind is from the south so not so cold.  All too soon it will pass and then the heat will take over.  

For this card I've joined the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches. Check here for all the cards, there are many wonderful ideas. 

And here is this weeks sketch.  

But today I have this river of flowers to look at.  And I've used a brand new set from the 2021-2022 new Annual catalog. I've also used a couple of the new in colors, Polished Pink and Soft Succulent along with a Blushing Bride card base. 

For the top layer I've cut my piece the size I wanted for the final layer. FirstI embossed using the 3D texture embossing folder, then used a die in the  Penned Flowers die to do a stitched scallop close to the middle.  I cut the smaller side down even more to allow my river of flowers to show well, and that left room on the larger side for my large flower.  The stamp set is Hand Penned Petals, also sold in a bundle with the dies. And sold as a suite with the DSP included and the jewels. 

The DSP doesn't use the 2 new colors I choose, but with a bit of watercolor I was able to make them very close.  I stamped in black, then used my pink fill color, but then used a water brush to add just a tiny bit of pink from the stamp pad for the smaller flower, and did the same with the leaves using the Soft Succulent.  

My sentiment came from the set Inspired Thoughts and was cut using one of the Stitched Rectangle dies. I added the jewels from the new In color jewels for a bit of bling.  

I hope you enjoyed.   Thanks for stopping.

Celebrate Sunflowers, I'm thinking of you

 

Thre is a technique called Josephs coat that I hadn't tried, and decided now was the time.  If you are looking to try it, just do a search on you tube and you'll find several tuts for it. You start with white paper and end up with what I have as a background.  

I have been going to buy this set,  Celebrate Sunflowers all year, and finally got it. It's a great set with lots of ways to use it. 

After making my background I glued it to the slightly larger Just Jade piece then to a white card base.

For the top flower I cut from Mango Melody for the outlines of the sunflower, and took a piece of white, sponging or brushing color from Just Jade, Calypso Coral and Mango Melody over areas of the paper, then cut my background part of the sunflower.   I also stamped and cut 3 leaves from white and brushed on a bit of the Jade over top.  

Thanks for stopping.

Easter Greetings, #fms476,

 

I love making a very simple card with something very special on it.  

In this case I used a retired embossing folder, I love embossing folders, there is so much you can do with them and they are so affordable.  

My inspiration for today's card came from the weekly challenge at Freshly Made Sketches here. 

 There are some gorgeous cards to check out over there. 

I used Rococo Rose and Misty Moonlight, both are incolors for Stampin Up.   I embossed my folder then used my craft white SU ink pad to lightly rub over the top of the paper. It left white on raised areas.  An alternative is to use a brayer to take ink from the ink pad and roll onto the background part of the folder before embossing, and then you'll have a white background for your rose colored card. 

I also used the brand new Brilliant Wings dies. And Rhinestones from the Noble Peacock rhinestones set of  colors. 

 

I hope I've inspired you just a bit.  

 

Butterfly Easter card, Freshly Made Sketches #474

 

I'm working on my Easter cards. And I'm doing them a little different this year, the Easter sentiment in inside, and I'm making them pretty spring cards with a simple message on the front. 

One great way to get started is using a challenge, so this one is for this weeks Freshly Made Sketches.

Hop on over to see what everyone else made.
 

I'm using a retired die set for my butterfly, Butterfly thinlits, and Bold butterfly.  I've kept it because I just love the whole set along with a couple other pieces like a stamp set and 2 punches with butterflies. 

The floral die is from the Ornate Border Dies, a gorgeous set of border with an equally pretty stamp set.  

My colors are: Rococo Rose, So Saffron, and white. I watercolored a piece of watercolor paper using my ink pads and water brush, and cut the top part of the big butterfly out of that, then punched the 2 little ones out of the left over.

I used the Noble Peacock Rhinestones on my large butterfly, and reg rhinestones on the two little ones. 

I hope I have inspired you some. Thanks for stopping.

 

Wonderful Romance, Just wanted to say

 

As a Stampin Up demo, most of what I buy in the stamping field is from Stampin Up.  But, I've always been a crafter so I'm always looking at what everyone is doing.   I get reg emails from several sources, often I find product SU doesn't have that looks like fun.  What started as make up brushes has come over to stamping now. I had that first for elsewhere.  SU wisely decided to carry them too, they are fab if you haven't tried them.

I remember when I first started stamping. There wasn't much to be had besides stamps. Stampers would buy lots of different things from all kinds of strange places to use.  One I remember well was from the lumber yard.  It was a product meant to tape walls together and it started showing up on cards. It was a lot of fun back then, but stamping has only gotten better and more fun.

So, I saw a card from one of my mailings that hit a nerve, and this is my take from it. It's not the same anything, it just spoke to me and I went off with an idea. The stamp set here is retired, but it's very much a favorite of mine, it's called Wonderful Romance and has matching dies. There are extra pieces to cut, but I liked it simple this time. 

I used Mango Melody, Soft Seafoam, Gorgeous Grape and white.  

My top layer of card stock was embossed using the Tasteful Textile 3D embossing folder. I love that it lets you add something subtle so your eye is drawn to the center.    I just stamped and embossed on vellum and softly colored on the back side adding my purple centers on the front.  I love the little extra that the dots give to the design. 

This is going out as an Easter card this year. Just got 3 or 4 more to go.

Thanks for stopping.