My favorite Stampin Up Christmas set for this season 2020, Freshly Made Sketches #448

My inspiration for this is from Freshly Made Sketches for this week.    Click on the link and check all the fabulous projects out.

The bundle is the Poinsettia Petals bundle, there is a suite as well with lots of goodies to go with. My favorite of those is the 2 12x12 packs of DSP. On is a standard pack with lots of poinsettias, and one is vellum with flocked images. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm itching to.  For this card, I used a paper from another set, 'tis the season.  Lots of general fun Christmas designs.

I used silver glimmer paper on the  center cut edges just for some extra bling.  I lightly colored the white die cut pieces with my real red watercolor pencil and smoothed it out using a water brush.

The sentiment was cut out using the new Lovely Labels Pick a Punch.
I hope you'll take a look at FMS, and thanks for stopping by.

#fms446, A Doxie Birthday

I keep meaning to make some cards this size, so thank you Linda at Freshly Made Sketches for using this size for her sketch challenge this week.

So, come see all the fun cards done in this size, it takes a #10 envelop by the way. 


So, this is my youngest daughter's birthday card.  She is a doxie mom and as most who are doxie moms, they love anything doxie.   I fell in love with these pups! Look at that one running to get a piece of the cake.  
I used Soft Suede, Gorgeous Grape, Highland Heather, Misty Moonlight, Just Jade. And some watercolor paper.

I hope you enjoy, have a great weekend.

Butterfly Hello, #gdp242

For this card I'm using the inspiration from Global Design Project #242.   I love black and white with just a pop of color.  Ok, I might have gotten a little carried about with the pop of color, but I like it.  
Here is the challenge page and the challenge.

I started with the Botanical Butterfly DSP and decided on Lovely Lipstick, a retiring color, for my red.  The stripy paper is from Best Dressed DSP.
After putting down the ribbon I cut one butterfly from the paper and colored it, then cut a black scalloped circle for behind.   Next came the Hello,  which I layered onto vellum to help it show up better, then gel glitter drops for some bling and there you go.
The circles came from the Layering circles die set.

I hope you enjoy.

All days are beautiful

I was inspired to try this background effect by a member of my group.  Peggy made hers straight across with big wide stripes that are beautiful.  I decided to try doing smaller ones and I love the cross ways look. And yes, it looks handmade, it should. You don't have to be too careful.
I just used a ruler, put a drop or two of refill ink in the lid of my ink pad, spritzed some water in there too. And, using my Aqua painter swirled it around and dipped into that carefully spreading the watered down ink onto my watercolor paper. Keep an eye on the bottom of the ruler, and wipe it off after each stripe.   I stated in the middle, went down from there, turned it and did the other end. Very simple and fun and you have pretty striped paper in any color you want.  This one is Grapefruit Grove, one of the incolors that is retiring next month.

Besides the Grapefruit, I used Very Vanilla, Basic black and Pool Party.
Also used are Floral Essence stamps, Stitched Label dies and the Perennial Flower punch.

I hope you enjoy. Thanks for stopping.

Stampin Up, Positive Thoughts and feel good wishes

One of the stamp sets that may not have popped out at you in the annual catalog, is Positive thoughts.   There is just so much you can do with it.  If you like something that can be a little vintage or artsy, yet not too much, this is it. 
I choose to use Merry Merlot along with Gray Granit and Mossy Meadow.   A die set came out during SAB for it which I grabbed up, I already had the stamp set.  While it's not available right now, who knows about the new annual catalog that we are just now starting to see as demos. 

The gray background is the embossing folder Mosaic, just use a bit different. Otherwise all the pieces you see on here are in the stamp set and/or the die set called Natures Thoughts. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Stampin Up, Scrappy strip Friendship card

Bruno Bertucci has a video on this card with the strips.  It couldn't be simpler. The fun part is deciding what colors and or DSP to use.  I used Woven Threads DSP and matched my cardstock to the colors.   White, Black, Pretty Peacock, Purple Posy, Rococo Rose, Terracotta Tile, Seaside Spray and Highland Heather.
Next came the hard part, how to dress it up.    I pulled out the Painted Poppies stamps and Painted Label dies for the flower, and decided the die cut from from that set would work great with the sentiment from So Sentimental.

Here is the link to the video with Bruno's instructions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAHpbdo7SDk&t=2297s

That is about all these was to this, I know the cuts look like a problem, but they really are not, so watch the video.  Have fun, and thanks for stopping by.

I thought of you Peonies

I saw a video I just had to try, wasn't liking how mine turned out, so this is close.  I stamped on the white using 3 purples, Purple Posy, Highland Heather and Gorgeous grape. It's a 3 stamp set and those worked out wonderful.
For my leaves I used Pear Pizzazz for the lightest color, then Old Olive, then Mossy Meadow! Bet you didn't think those were the same color, but they are, just shades different.

After I stamped them all I used a vellum overlay and stamped in white craft ink and white embossing powder on the outside of the vellum.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday to you

I had a friend over for some play with cards yesterday.  Here is one of the cards we ended up with.   The set is the free Happy Birthday to you stamp and it's die set which will be free with a $100 order Mar 3.  
I did gorgeous grape flowers,  Granny Apple Green leaves and Purple Posy cake. After stamping, coloring and cutting it out, I cut off the bottom of the "plate" and cut the plate die out of silver foil to replace it. 

The doily set is from last year and is retired, but I love it, I happen to really love all kinds of doilies.  The background I'd made up for something else then not used it and it was just sitting on my desk. Otherwise I would have thought to put these colors all together, but I love the look.
The background is Coastal Cabana and Rococo Rose.
Thanks for stopping by, I hope I've inspired you a bit.

Just add ink #492, Floral Essence white wash technique.

Good thing there is no such thing as having too much fun, because I'm having more fun with the whitewash technique then I've had in I don't know how long.   I'm so loving it on this Gray Granite!
I've also used a piece of DSP from the Golden Honey paper.  To be honest, I didn't get the bee set, but I just had to have the gorgeous paper.   Hopefully this looks like all the little bees want my flower.
I'm using Just Add Ink for my card inspiration today, check the challenge out here.

In keeping withe the gold accents in the paper, I used gold foil around my oval. 

Simple colors: Whisper white, basic black, and gold foil.
I also used Floral Essence stamps, Layering Ovals, Stitched Shapes Framelits, and a gold faceted gem in the middle.

This technique it so simple.  You stamp using an open stamp,  Emboss in White.  Then after heating, use a brush or the Aqua painter and a very small amount of water and fill in the stamp with white ink.  If you want another color in parts, just do that after the white drys.  I decided with this one to just keep it white. 

I hope you enjoy.

New play with the Whitewash technique, Freshly Made Sketches challenge #422

Someone please tell me why I didn't try the whitewash technique before! It's right up my alley and my play today was so much fun!  In addition, I've not been really liking Gray Granite, but wow oh wow, whitewash on gray granite?!  Gorgeous!!!
So, head over to fms#422 and see what else is there.

This weeks challenge host is my friend Linda, and I'm skidding in at the last min to get my card in, I really do try to at least do Linda's sketches.   And this weeks is so easy and fun!   
I used the Perennial Essence stamps for this, no  need for the dies this time.  And used a piece of the Perennial Essence DSP as well.   Planned my colors to match the DSP.

Colors are: Whisper White, Gray Granite, Blackberry Bliss and Mossy Meadow.  I also used the white pad and white embossing powder to make my flowers and my aqua painter and ink pad to fill in with white and then a bit of Blackberry bliss.

I hope you enjoy.

Stampin Up, Grace's Garden

This is my attempt at the new set Grace's Garden. It's a wonderful set with lots of neat pieces, flowers, gates and fencing. A kitty and a bird.   I left off a sentiment so that I'd have a few cards just in case.  Seems like I always need something I don't have.

Grace's Garden is in  the new Mini catalog that went live in Jan.
My colors are, Rococo Rose, Granny Apple green and So Saffron. 

Painted Poppy Birthday

Isn't this Designer paper gorgeous?  We keep getting paper we don't think can be topped and SU artists just keep making it better. 
Colors are Rich Razzleberry, Poppy Parade and that's pretty much it. Except for that one little piece of Whisper white.  After cutting my paper to fit my card base, I just added a retired piece of ribbon.

Then I stamped, colored and die cut the 2 poppies and the leaves using a combo of  Blends, Blender pen and Aqua painter to get the look I wanted.   I used the blender pen, touching the tip to the Poppy Parade ink pad to make the stamped edges darker and color in the darker tips.

The sentiment is cut out with a die from the Rectangle stitched die set and the sentiment is from the new SAB set, Happy Birthday to you.  Free with a $50 order from any current catalog.

Additionally, there are some die sets that will be available to you, the customer starting Feb 4th 2020.

Painted Poppies Cling Stamp Set

$23.00

Painted Labels Dies

$35.00

Stitched Rectangle Dies

$35.00

Peaceful Poppies Designer Series Paper

$11.50

Happy Birthday To You Cling Stamp Set (English)

$0.00

Bells are Ringing Christmas card, Stampin Up

I haven't seen a lot done with this set, but I love it.  I finally got around to ordering it after I noticed it was not coming back next year, and I really enjoyed working with it.

The glimmer paper is left over from a previous SAB, it was in 6x6 packs of 3 colors I think.  It was just perfect for my use. This is the smallest of the 2 bell sizes, and it's so pretty.   I didn't want a bold color for my  holly so it wouldn't compete with the bells, so I used Soft Seafoam and the embossing folder is brand new, coming up in the new mini catalog available in Jan along with the SAB that has free stuff for orders of at least $50.

Big news today is a 1 day sale, FREE SHIPPING today, Dec 11, 2019 only.
You must order at least $50 for US customers. If you have coupons they won't count toward the amount needed for the free shipping.

And if you love these bells too, you might want to pick them up before the Holiday catalog is over.

Bells Are Ringing Photopolymer Stamp Set

$17.00

Detailed Bells Dies

$25.00

Bells Are Ringing Bundle

$37.75

Detailed Skate Dies

$29.00

Stampin Up, Wedding card

A fairly simple wedding card, the die does all the work.  I have 6 grandsons, altho all of them are old enough to be married, this is only the 2nd one to do so.  His older brother still isn't, he just finished college and is on to a new job.

So, the kids are headed to Disneyworld after their wedding, not to honeymoon but to work. They have both been accepted as interns there, it includes living quarters for married interns.   I know they are excited about that. It should be interesting to see how life goes for them, I love that they are so down to earth, I think things will go well.

The die is retired, I hung onto it just for a purpose like this. I hope you are inspired to do something similar.  

Peace, A Christmas card. Freshly Made Sketches #409

I joined SU in May of 2012, in June the new annual catalog came out and we started a year of celebration for SU's 25th year.   Each month there was a new stamp set, each were a compilation of past best of images.  This Nativity is one in a set of 4 Christmas designs from the past, now past once again. LOL

I decided recently that I had so many stamp sets that it was impossible to even think about using any of the older sets, there were just too many.  So, I sold a bunch and kept just my favorites that I couldn't bare to part with.  This was one.

I used a piece of DSP from the Toile Tidings DSP.  Red on one side and green on the other for all the patterns in this set.   Other then that I just used Very Vanilla  and Garden Green Cardstock.   Also, I embossed using the new metallic stamp pad in Copper and Copper embossing powder, and Copper foil for my scallop oval and sentiment. 
I just sprinkled on a few tiny pearls for accent.

If you are looking to purchase the retired stamp set it's called Best of Christmas 2013. I'm not sure anyone has it still to sell, but you never know.
So, here is a link to the FMS#409 sketch challenge that inspired me this week.  

And here is a photo of the stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by.

Poinsettia Christmas card and snowflakes

This is the 2nd poinsettia card made in a very similiar way, using a different Poinsettia.
The first is below this post.

I used Cherry cobbler and whisper white and Pear Pizzazz. I also used the Delicata Shimmery Silver ink, just stamped it on for the little snowflakes and stamped and embossed before cutting out the Poinsettia.  I used the retired SU  Music background to emboss.   I cut a piece of silver foil about 1/4" larger then my snowflake stamped piece for underneath.    I stamped and embossed the sentiment as well.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Poinsettia Christmas card, Freshly Made Sketches#402

Inspiration for this card came from this weeks sketch at fms#402.  Lately I've been using a lot of different colors for my Christmas cards, that's always fun. But today I've used Merry Merlot and Shaded Spruce for a more traditional look.

The plaid is from Wrapped In Plaid DSP, and the holly is from the Detailed Skate dies.

The team cards are really special this week, be sure to check them out.  

I've actually gotten quite a few cards completed for Christmas, that's a good thing because I've decided to make embroidered  wall hangings for my family for Christmas and that's taking a lot of time.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Dove of Peace Christmas, Just Add Ink #473

I know, I haven't been posting much lately.  I am working on Christmas cards, but otherwise I am having a great time making embroidered, quilted wall hangings for my family for Christmas. 
This stamp is retired, but I didn't get to use it much way back when I bought it and it just seemed perfect for this card. 

The DSP is Brightly Gleaming.  So many beautiful, metallic patterns! Then there is the other side.  Also beautiful patterns, but not metallic, so a very nice and usable pack. 
So, my inspiration this week was from Just Add Ink. Check them out here.

As you can see, I chose Metallics and twine.  My bird is also embossed in Copper, which of course makes is super easy to color.  I didn't take a lot of time with the coloring this time. I just used my Aqua Painter and ink pads put lightly put down just 2 colors, Soft Seafoam and Pretty Peacock.  The leaves are from the Lovely Flowers Edgelits, it just seemed to fit in.

I also added some Frost Shimmer paint, if you look close I think you can see it on the leaves.  It's hard in a photo, but beautiful in person.  Sorry to say, the gold twine is also retired, couple of years ago I think, but I'd love more metallic twine.

As an alternative you could stamp the dove on vellum, color the back side and have a whole different look. 
Thanks for stopping by.

Metallic Ornament card, Freshly Made Sketches #400

So, this is a very special week at FMS.  Their 400th week of doing the sketch challenge.  Go on over and check out the team cards and the special  doings.

And, here is the sketch.

Now, about this card, it is so hard to get a good photo of metallic shine.  I'll post another photo down a bit that might help with that.  I used one of 2 sets of ornament stamp and die sets that I have that retired.  If you have one or both of them, you are going to want this DSP! Look at all the matching and metallic shine.
If you don't have one, then the Christmas Gleaming bundle is for you! Personally I think one of these ornament sets is mandatory.  And be sure to get the DSP, which just happens to be by the same name.
This is my 2nd time using the new copper metallic ink. And I am in love.  If you are going to do a resist technique, then you need to emboss, but if not, you can have that gorgeous bright shine just by stamping with these new inks. Besides Copper, it comes in Silver and Gold and there are refills.
My supply list was very simple, I used Very Vanilla, Pretty Peacock and copper.    And I used the retired Ornament Keepsakes stamp and die set, Merry Christmas dies, And the  metallic ink pad.

 I think the shine shows up better in the photo.
Thanks for stopping by, I hope I have inspired you.

Merry Christmas Dies

$28.00

Celestial Copper Delicata Metallic Ink Pad

$11.00

Brightly Gleaming Specialty Designer Series Paper

$14.50

Festive Friday #0040, Vintage Christmas. 2019 Stampin Up Holiday Sneak peek

I know there are plenty of people, not here in AZ, but other places where it's cold, that still ice skate in the winter.  But to me it seems an old fashioned idea, so I combined my new Free Skate bundle with the new DSP Toile Tidings.  A very vintage looking paper.  It has the same designs on each page, but one side is Real Red and the other side is Garden Green.  
In my mind, this just screams Christmas and winter both. 
I used Very Vanilla as the DSP background is VV, then accented the skates with gold foil.
I have layered 2 different designs of the same package then used my Stitched Rectangle dies for the green piece under my skate.  I happen to be in love with this skate die, but there is also a set of skate you can stamp in the set. 

So, here is the challenge, stop by and see what the team did.

Thanks so much for stopping by.