Just Because floral card, Freshly Made Sketches challenge 420

I've been remiss on using my Pigment Sprinkles, but they just sounded perfect for this card. I just used a Whisper White piece of cardstock, sprinkled a tiny amount of the pink along with an even smaller amount of yellow, spritzed the paper with my mister and then picked out spots to stamp and cut my flowers. 

Here, is the link to the challenge for this week, I hope you'll join in. 

It's always fun to have lots of pretty cards to look through.
Colors for this are: Whisper White, Lovely Lipstick, Old Olive and Espresso. 
I used Lovely Lipstick for the card base, then ran the Subtle embossing folder over the White overlay, then used the Stitched so Sweetly dies for the hole.  The inside of my hole is a piece from the All Dressed Up DSP, it's a gorgeous set.

After finishing up with my  flowers that were stamped and cut using the Painted Poppies bundle, I first stamped in a couple leaves, then popped them up and put down some gold tiny beads.
The sentiment is from a retired set that I just love, my favorite piece is this one.
As you'll notice, I only cut the center panel down width wise to show the sides. That's about it.

I hope I've inspired you some.  Thanks for stopping. 

Stampin Up Birthday card, Flowers and butterflies, #FMS419

Birthday card #2 for my 2 feb birthday girls.  And did I tell you that they were both born on the same day 4 yrs apart.  And they are both over the moon about purple! To an extreme. 
Some pretty DSP and some retired things.  
First let me show you the challenge I used for inspiration.   Freshly Made Sketches, sketch challenge.  I have a hard time with the off placement for papers, sometimes It works and sometimes not. Give it a try and see how you do. 

Colors today are:  Gorgeous Grape, Purple Posy, Lovely Lipstick and Mint Macaron.
The butterfly is from the Botanical Butterfly DSP that is retired and punched out with the Duet punch.  I bet lots of you have those, they were really popular and a lot of fun. 
The flower is from Floral Essence stamp set, current in our annual catalog.
The bottom DSP is current and from the Best Dressed DSP
I hope you got just a bit of inspiration. Thanks for stopping.

Happy Birthday to You, updated. Stampin Up

My upline, Mary Fish, has issued us, her downline, with this sketch challenge.  As per usual I kind of made it my own.   This card uses the new, not in the catalog dies for the free with a $50 order Happy Birthday to You stamp set in the SAB.  The dies will be available for customers in Feb, there are also several other sets of dies that match items in the Mini catalog or SAB catalog. 
I know we all love having matching dies, they just add an extra level of fun.  This set has a die for the whole cake complete with platter, a separate platter, and the 3 flowers.  I choose to use the cake and add on the 3 flowers after cutting. 

This is gold embossed, besides being so pretty, embossing makes the coloring so much easier.  I used my Aqua Painters and ink pads.    The Rhinestones come from the Noble Peacock pack in the Annual catalog and the DSP is from the Best Dressed pack.

I used Flirty Flamingo, Mint Macaron, and Pretty Peacock along with the Whisper white.

Stampin Up, Breathtaking Bouquet

I am really behind! I have several cards made up from new product and haven't taken time to post them.   
This one is a gorgeous background stamp, there is a lot you can do with it. You can simply choose a color and let it sit in the background of your card, or you can dress it up anyway you like, and even cut around the flowers in the center for a main event.

I choose to emboss in white on thick whisper white CS, if you notice all the flower elements are in the center and the leaves mostly on the edges, which really helps when doing this.
More and more often I'm just using my Aqua Painter and my ink pads, picking up some color and transfering  it to the lid where I squeeze a bit of water out of the Aqua painter and then I and add color or water to get the look I want.
Colors are Coastal Cabana and Gorgeous Grape. 

Watercoloring is pretty hot right now, and it really is fun, just do what looks good to you.
Thanks for stopping by.

Just a little bear

This little bear just seemed so perfect for the first new sketch for Freshly Made Sketches this week.    He's been sitting in a drawer and hasn't been used, and just looked so lonely.

The sketch is so easy to play with, love those easy ones. So much you can do.   Click here to see all the projects made by the team.

Thanks for stopping by.

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

Stampin Up, Happy Birthday to you, SAB card

I have 2 daughters with birthdays soon and 2 grandsons with birthdays soon.  First one up, using the new Happy Birthday to You SAB set.  Just spend $50 and it's free during the SAB order period which starts in Jan.

I am having a heck of a time getting the gold embossing to show, maybe if you click on it you can see it, it sure makes a gorgeous card in gold embossing.
I used my Aqua Painter to do the watercoloring and love the effect.  Colors used are, Gorgeous Grape, Highland Heather, Soft Seafoam and Calypso Coral.  I just picked up color with my Aqua painter, squeezed out a bit of water all into the lid of my ink pad. That way I was able to just give very light color. 

I used the Noble Peacock rhinestones, love those beautiful colors.  I also used the Painted Label dies from the Painted Poppies bundle in the new Mini catalog coming out also in Jan.   The DSP however is from the annual catalog, the Perennial Essence DSP, gorgeous stuff!
So, thanks for stopping by.

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

Brightly Gleaming Christmas cards, Stampin Up

So, this is my story and I'm sticking to it!   I had a few min before making dinner, so I decided I'd get some insides done on my Christmas cards.  I kind of promised myself I'd do that this year as I make the cards, but, ummmmm, I didn't. 

Sitting on my stamp desk was a card base with the Balmy blue and Night of Navy already attached, so I thought to myself, why not finish that one first.   Little did I know that card would lead to a 2nd card and I'd never get any insides done at all.

Here is the first card.  I love this paper in the Brightly Gleaming DSP set so much, I really haven't used it much at all, but it needs to be shown off.   I cut my deer out of copper foil, then decided that the paper was so busy, the tree needed to be solid, and what better way then just to punch out my tree. 

But when I punched out the tree, it was so pretty, it looked like a tree all decorated for Christmas , so I had to make a 2nd card, right? 

So, here is the 2nd card, Very Vanilla and Pretty Peacock.  The long strip is a piece cut off the paper I used on the 1st card, placed over a sightly larger piece of copper foil. I also cut a copper foil tree to add to my Brightly Gleaming tree, then added the Pretty Peacock Ribbon and sentiment from Itty Bitty Christmas sentiment set.     I used the Rectangular stitched dies to cut that piece.    

I hope I was able to give you some ideas, thanks for stopping.

A rustic retreat Christmas, Stampin Up

Hmmm, too bad I don't have a little tiny santa, sleigh and reindeer stamp so santa could be flying over head.
I loved this set the min I laid eyes on it.  It's great for Christmas, but so much more. Could be masculine for those hard to make cards ect.

The card under the scene I just stamped on the branch stamp all the way around. Love that look.  I'm still thinking on where I'd put a sentiment, any one have ideas?  

Stampin Up Christmas card, Globe Christmas card

My friend Windy posted some globe cards that were so cute I had to try it.  I resisted buying the globe set as I send 99% of my cards in the mail and those could be difficult to mail.  But this idea is so neat.  All it needs is small items you can check and see what stamp sets you have that would work.  Any of the little scene sets would work great.  And I have one more started that I may use that way.

I think  I'm pretty much done with Christmas cards, except for maybe a couple to go with gifts to friends.  Making them is one of my favorite things to do, so every year I make a lot of cards and everyone I send is a card I made.

The base for this card is the Feels like Frost DSP!  it's just gorgeous and so easy to use. The "globe" is a round piece of vellum, it's about 3".   There is a piece of Night of Navy peeking out with a Balmy Blue base. 
 Thanks for stopping.

Christmas card, Freshly Made Sketches #412

I'm very much enjoying coloring these days. It takes a little time, but is just plain old fun.
This is an Art Impressions design and the paper behind is Stampin Up Let It Snow DSP.
I used my SU watercolor pencils and my Aqua painter, it goes pretty fast.

I used my card today for the challenge this week at Freshly Made sketches.
The sentiment is from the Itty Bitty Christmas stamp collection, so many Christmas sentiments to choose from. 
If you look close you'll see the SU Ice Crystals as the snow.  I just put down some of the glue from the Fine tip glue pen and sprinkled on the crystals.   I also added a small border in black to bring it out, it just seem to enhance the design. 
Thanks for stopping in and checking it out.

Stampin Up, Christmas snowflake card

I decided to play around with the back side of one of the pieces from Feels like frost DSP.  They are all white and silver designs.  

I first used my brayer and the Night as Navy ink pad and inked up the piece of DSP, then very simply added the snowflakes in Sparkle Glimmer paper with a couple smaller ones in white, then added the sentiment and the ribbon.

The sentiment is from Itty Bitty Christmas stamp set, the ribbon is Seaside Spray metallic 1/4" ribbon, and I used reg Rhinestones for the small flakes and a blue one from the Nobile Peacock Rhinestone set, there are several colors in that.

The die for the sentiment is from the Rectangle Stitched dies.

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy the season, Christmas card, Freshly Made Sketches #410

Is there anything cuter then 2 cats and a dog singing Christmas carols?    What a fun set to color, I did all watercolor using my Aqua Painter.  I love that tool, I use it so much I need a new set. 
Check out Linda's Sketch challenge at FMS and join in.

I used red foil for the piece behind the image, and SU's new Ice glitter for the snow.  I simply put down some glue from the fine tip glue pen and then sprinkled on the Ice Glitter.  I gave it just a minute to dry and shook off any extra glitter that was still loose.

Thanks for stopping by. If you have questions, just leave a comment and I'll answer them the same way.  

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.

Perfectly Plaid with sparkle Christmas card

Here is a fairly quick card, given some elegance by using Silver Glimmer paper for the center tree. I stamped the trees on the side with Shaded spruce on white simply because I thought using the green to cut them out would make them too dark, I did sponge the edges a bit to enhance the tree look.
My base is Shaded spruce, I cut my white at 5 1/2 by 4. the plaid paper is cut just a bit smaller then the white so it doesn't show, or you can cut it the size of the white, cutting the white down a bit more so the plaid shows on the edges.
I punched out a tree from printer paper, laid it on the center, then put down my green trees where I wanted them, then brought in the glimmer tree so it was right where I wanted it.

The sentiment is from Itty Bitty Christmas stamp set. All small sentiments, all Christmas/holiday.

Thanks for stopping by,  I hope you got some inspiration today.

Itty Bitty Christmas Cling Stamp Set (En)

$22.00

Pine Tree Punch

$18.00

Perfectly Plaid Photopolymer Stamp Set (En)

$17.00

Silver Glimmer Paper

$5.00

Stitched Nested Labels Dies

$35.00

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Beautiful Boughs Christmas card for FMS#408

Are you still thinking it's too early for Christmas?  I'm seeing that in some of my crafts groups, but if I don't start early enough, I don't get it done.  I have all my cards to make and some sewing/quilty/embroidery to get done. I should start in Jan, then enjoy my next season, but by then I'm really tired of it. 

So hard to see here, the silver box under the black, it looks dark at the top, but does show well on the right side. 
I used Soft Seafoam, Basic black, Crumb cake, Soft Suede. The white looking branches are Sparkle Glimmer paper, and the sentiment is from Itty Bitty Christmas .  I love that we have a whole set of small sentiments to choose from in one set, so glad I got this. I cut my branches out with Multipurpose adhisive on the back side, that way after cutting I just pull the liner sheet off and stick it down.
So, there is the link to Freshly Made sketches,  go check out all the projects, and consider playing along.
And here is the sketch! Lots of fun stuff you can do with this.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope I've given you some inspiration today.

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. 

Stampin up poinsettia Christmas card, Just Add Ink #479 challenge

Inspired by the jai challenge this week.  Check it out here.

Besides these colors, I also used some silver. The holly on the center piece is stamped using the new Delicato Shimmery Silver ink.  It's the first embossing ink I've ever come across that looks great without embossing.  I did emboss it on the sentiment however.

I used the retired Peaceful Poinsettia stamps and Detailed Poinsettia dies. And that is just about all there is to this card, I did use a piece of silver foil so it shows on the outside edges of my center panel. 

I hope you got some inspiration from me today, thanks for stopping.