Corner Garden birthday

Hi there!  This evening my card showcases the new Corner Garden background stamp and nearly all of the new Blendabilities that will be available for everyone to purchase beginning tomorrow.  To me these are a must have if you love to color!

The stamp is the star of this card, so not much additional embellishment was added, just a simple ribbon, a few pearls and the sentiment.  After coloring it was adhered to a Blackberry Bliss card base.  I love how Rich Razzleberry and Blackberry Bliss are so complimentary.

I'm entering the card at Seize the Birthday, where the current challenge is "Anything Goes". Be sure to head over there to take a look at all the lovely entries.  The challenge is almost over but you can still join in until tomorrow morning.

http://seizethebirthday.blogspot.com/

Thanks for taking the time to visit!  I'd love to hear from you if you have time to leave a comment!  Take care and have a great week!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Corner Garden, Bring On the Cake
Paper:  Whisper White, Blackberry Bliss
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Other:  Blendabilities:  Rich Razzleberry, Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, Coastal Cabana, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive; Blackberry Bliss Stitched Satin ribbon, Basic Jewel Pearls, Envelope Punch Board.

Beach Scene Birthday

Hello!  I hope your weekend is going well.  I powered through a few masculine birthday cards this afternoon, one of which I'll share here today.  I used the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch as my inspiration.

http://casethissketch.blogspot.com/

The birds on the shore from the Wetlands stamp set were stamped on Watercolor paper in Craft Chocolate Chip ink and left to dry overnight.  With an Aquapainter I then water colored the scene with Crumb Cake and Soft Sky.

Splatters were added around the scene with a stamp from Gorgeous Grunge, then the sentiment was stamped in Chocolate Chip.

Be sure to use the link above to check out all the wonderful inspiration or join in-there's still plenty of time to play along.  I hope the remainder of your weekend is filled with fun times...I can't believe next Friday is July 4th already!?!!!

Hugs,

Stef

Product details:

Stamps:  Wetland, Gorgeous Grunge

Paper:  Watercolor

Ink:  Chocolate Chip Classic and Craft, Crumb Cake, Soft Sky

Other:  Hemp twine, Envelope Punch Board

You Make the World a Better Place

Welcome back!  A quick post for Paper Players where they have a great sketch challenge this week:

http://thepaperplayers.blogspot.com/

The new designer paper Lullaby provided the color scheme for the card, with a beautiful blend of Coastal Cabana and Hello Honey.  Starburst Sayings provided the sentiment.

Easy peasy card, very lovely colors and that new ribbon?  Oooo, to die for!

Thanks for dropping by and taking a look!  I'd love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave a comment.  Take care!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Starburst Sayings
Paper:  Whisper White, Hello Honey, In Color Paper Stack and Lullaby designer paper
Ink:  Hello Honey, Coastal Cabana
Other:  Hello Honey Stitched Satin ribbon, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Starburst framelit, Neutral Button, Linen Thread

Garden Thoughts

I made this card a couple of weeks ago, practicing with my Blendabilities markers.  One of the flowers from Secret Garden was used.

This is such a beautiful flower, I'm sad that Stampin' Up! decided to retire it after just one year in the catalogue.  It was wonderful to color with my trio of Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities.  These markers create amazing depth of color.

The leaves are from Peaceful Petals.  It was a bit trickier to blend effectively on the leaves, with a smaller "canvas", if you will.  Both the flower and the leaves were fussy cut with Paper Snips.

Some gorgeous retired lace from Artisan Embellishments was layered between the designer paper and the flower.  I still have a bit that I stashed away to be used sparingly, and I thought it would look lovely with this vintage look card.

Thank you for visiting, and I would love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave a comment.  I would love to hear if you have discovered any great techniques for using the Blendabilities.

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Secret Garden, Peaceful Petals, Loving Thoughts
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Textured Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Modern Medley designer paper
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Other:  Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, and Daffodil Delight Blendabilities, Scallop Border punch, Artisan Embellishments, Pearl Basic Jewels

Birthday Gold

It's Sunday and we're watching the US play Portugal in the World Cup.  Very exciting!  My knowledge of all the rules of soccer (or more correctly, futbol) is pretty limited, but it has been interesting to watch nevertheless.  Go USA!

But you came here to see a card, so I guess I better get on with sharing what I made today:

The great sketch this week at Pals Paper Arts (http://www.palspaperarts.com/) was the inspiration for this card.  I saw the banner on the sketch and decided to pile some additional banners along with some gold embellishments on top.

My plan was for a monochromatic gold and white card, but I felt is was lacking something when I started to put it together.  So, I decided to add a pop of color with the Bermuda Bay banner and the ink used for the sentiment.

Thanks for dropping by today and taking a look!  Be sure to head over to the PPA blog, there is still time to play, plus there's also a lot of great inspiration.

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Chalk Talk
Paper:  Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Gold Fancy Foil Vellum, Brushed Gold, Gold Foil.
Ink:  Bermuda Bay
Other:  Circle Collection framelit, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Gold Baker's Twine, Gold Sequin Trim, Lacy Brocade embossing folder

Island Birthday

Hi there!  A great sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches http://freshlymadesketches.blogspot.com/   was my inspiration for the birthday card that I'm sharing with you today.

Isn't that a fun sketch?  I had a great time making this card, but I will say getting all the paper pieces to align perfectly was a challenge LOL!  I found some designer paper from a retired paper stack that I thought was perfect for a masculine birthday card.

The truck from Countryside was stamped in Stazon on watercolor paper and colored using an Aquapainter.  Everything was adhered to a piece of Early Espresso card stock, which was then popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals atop an Island Indigo card.

Brads from Antique Trinkets decorate the sentiment banner, and hemp twine was wrapped around under the truck.  Pretty simple embellishments worked well with the active design and the watercolored image.

Thanks for dropping by today!  I hope the remainder of your weekend is enjoyable.  My husband and I are going on a hunt for a big tomato plant and maybe more flowers for the garden.  It's going to be lovely weather this weekend so it's a perfect time to work in the yard.  Take care!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Countryside, Four You
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Watercolor, Island Indigo, Early Espresso, Festival of Prints
Ink:  Island Indigo, Real Red, Crumb Cake, Mossy Meadow, Soft Sky, Early Espresso, Encore Silver, Jet Black Stazon
Other:  Hemp Twine, Antique Trinkets, Aquapainter, Blender Pen

Thanks...Etcetera

Hello!  I have a post tonight for the Paper Players (http://thepaperplayers.blogspot.com/) challenge number 200.  The post is so fun as each Design Team member has chosen their favorite post from the past and we get to chose which one to participate with.  I wish I had time to make a card for all of them, but that is not going to happen this week LOL! So, I chose the one that worked best for the card I needed to give this week.

I needed to make a quick masculine thank you card and I thought this sketch would be great for a fun design while keeping things clean and simple.

The sentiment is from Hip Notes, which was large enough to take center stage.  Pumpkin Pie textured paper was layered underneath.  The chevron designer paper is the newly retired Etcetera.  Love that paper-so many vintage/masculine designs.

A quick and easy card, embellished with just Candy Dots.  Perfect to mail and I love the color combination and the chevron images for a masculine style card.

Thanks for taking a look!  Have a great Friday!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Hip Notes, Starburst Sayings
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Night of Navy, Pumpkin Pie, Etcetera designer paper
Ink:  Night of Navy and Pumpkin Pie markers, Pumpkin Pie stamp pad
Other:  Labels Collection and Starburst framelits, Brights and Regal Candy Dots

Serene Hello and Happy Birthday

Hi there and welcome back!  I decided to "Go Pink" today using the Deconstructed Sketch.  I ended up making two nearly identical cards.

http://deconstructingjen.com/deconstructed-sketch-155/

I'm also entering this in the Anything Goes challenge at Seize the Birthday.

http://seizethebirthday.blogspot.com/2014/06/summertime.html

Recently I realized I had not been using the gorgeous Strawberry Slush In Color very much, so I decided to go for it in a big way, especially since I ordered some of the now available Strawberry Slush twine available in the new Stampin' Up! catalogue.

The first card uses the sentiment from Perfect Pennants, which was popped out with the use of the smallest Banner framelit.  Rhinestones were added to bling it up a bit, as the pink panel looked rather plain devoid of decoration.

With the birthday card, I elongated the panels down the page a bit more.  The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes, still one of the best "go to" sentiment sets Stampin' Up! offers.  Rhinestones were changed out for pearls.

Thanks for taking a look today!  I'd love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave a comment.  I hope those of you celebrating Father's Day had a great time!  Have a super week ahead!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Serene Silhouettes, Perfect Pennants, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper:  Whisper White plain and textured, Pink Pirouette; DSP:  Quatrefancy, 2013-2015 In Color Pattern Paper Pack, Sweet Pea
Ink:  Strawberry Slush
Other:  Circle Collection and Banners framelits, Scallop Circle punch, Strawberry Slush Twine, Polka Dot embossing folder, Pearl and Rhinestones Basic Jewels

Two Birthday Cards

Hello and welcome back!  I've made a couple birthday cards, one for a young woman, the other for a young guy.  Both are quite CAS.  In fact the feminine one is a CASE (Copy and Share Everything) of a beautiful card Betty J. made about a month ago (http://bettys-crafts.blogspot.com/2014/05/happy-birthday-die-achte-teil-2.html) as part of the design team for CAS(e) This Sketch, using this sketch (http://casethissketch.blogspot.com/2014/05/case-this-sketch-75.html).  

I changed the designer paper, colors and sentiment, but used Betty's idea for layering the butterfly with designer paper and vellum.  The sentiment was stamped in Whisper White Craft ink and embossed with white embossing powder.  The middle Coastal Cabana Blendabilities pen was used to color the rhinestones.  I am really pleased with how they turned out!

I wanted to keep the masculine card very simple as well, so I started with Natural Composition designer paper, topped it with a pennant and a popped up sentiment.  

Retired Metallic Eyelets were used to add a bit of interest to the piece under the sentiment, but I'm not 100% in love with the result.  But I think the recipient will like the colors and the wood grain design of the base.

That's it, thanks so much for visiting!!  Be sure to go to Betty's blog and check out her gorgeous card. 

Hugs,

Stef

Mosaic Birthday

Stamps:  Simply Sketched

Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry, Vellum, Eastern Elegance designer series paper

Ink:  Whisper White Craft

Other:  White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Banners framelit, Elegant and Bitty Butterfly punches, Basic Rhinestones, Coastal Cabana Blendabilities

Four Your Birthday

Stamps:  Four You

Paper: Natural Composition and Well Worn designer series paper, Confetti Cream, Not Quite Navy

Ink:  Early Espresso

Other:  Metallic Eyelets, Deco Collection framelit, Linen Thread, Cropadile

Hello, Baby!

Babies are soon to be abounding at my workplace, so I thought I'd better get a stash of cards ready for the upcoming showers.  I used the great sketch from Freshly Made Sketches for my card layout.  I mean, how could I resist?  It has a tag on it!

http://freshlymadesketches.blogspot.com/

I pulled out the super cute baby buggy image from Something for Baby, inked the entire stamp in Crisp Cantaloupe, then went over the undercarriage with a Soft Suede marker.  I used my Paper Snips to fussy cut the image, then popped it up on the tag.

The flags and the tag are sporting the new Lullaby designer paper.  The Whisper White panel underneath was partially run through the Big Shot with the Polka Dot embossing folder so just the end could be embossed.

The sentiment from Sweet Essentials was stamped in Baked Brown Sugar ink and punched out with the Modern Label punch.  The rhinestones on the buggy and the sentiment were colored with the darkest Pumpkin Pie Blendability pen.  Magic!  Love that!

I didn't take a picture of it but the inside was stamped down one side with a cascade of of hearts with the wee little heart stamp from the same set.

Thanks so much for the visit!  I hope you have a super week ahead!  I'm looking forward to a short week at work, taking Friday off to spend with my husband on his birthday.  It should be fun!

Take care!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Something for Baby, Sweet Essentials
Paper:  Whisper White, Lullaby designer series paper
Ink:  Crisp Cantaloupe, Baked Brown Sugar
Other:  Pumpkin Pie Blendabilities, Basic Rhinestones, Crisp Cantaloupe Twine, White Baker's Twine, Polka Dot embossing folder, Scallop Tag Topper punch, Modern Label punch, Paper Snips

Mossy Birthday

Hello again!  Tonight I am sharing the card I made for my husband's birthday that is coming up next Friday.  Yes, Friday the 13th, and so fitting for the character that he is LOL!!

I used the weekly sketch challenge at Splitcoast Stampers as the base for my card.  It seemed such a natural with the wide open space at the right side.

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/

I created an outdoor scene starting with the trees from Plant Hope that were inked up with the new Mossy Meadows ink.  I then took a Chocolate Chip marker and applied it directly over the top of the Mossy Meadow ink to color the tree trunks.  I then used a sponge to add some Pear Pizazz around the trees and a sponge dauber inked with Sahara Sand to create the "mountains" behind the stamped image.

Under the focal point is a piece of Crumb Cake stamped with the Hardwood background stamp inked in Chocolate Chip.  A strip of textured Chocolate Chip card stock along with Moss Meadow ribbon were adhered atop that layer, along with the focal point. Everything was distressed and sponged along the edges with Sahara Sand and/or Crumb Cake.

The photos don't really do justice to the sponged "mountains"; they look a bit more realistic IRL. It is supposed to resemble an area in which we hope to be camping in the Rocky Mountains sometime this summer.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.  I'd love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave a comment!

Hugs,

Stef


Product detail:
Stamps:  Hardwood, Plant Hope, Simply Sketched
Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Soft Sky, Mossy Meadow, Watercolor
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Pear Pizazz, Soft Sky, Sahara Sand, Island Indigo
Other:  1 1/4" and 1 3/8' circle punches, Large Oval punch, Mossy Meadow Stitched Satin ribbon, Linen Thread, Antique Brad, Sponge, Sponge Daubers

Bride Bliss

This afternoon I'm joining two challenges.  I've been eyeing the sketch from Deconstructing Jen all weekend and finally the inspiration struck, thanks in part to this week's theme at Paper Players.

http://deconstructingjen.com/deconstructed-sketch-153/

http://thepaperplayers.blogspot.com/

The Best of Brides and Babies has the sweetest wedding couple stamp, which I inked in Versamark and heat embossed with Pewter embossing powder.

I decided to go with a Blackberry Bliss and Silver color combination, using some new Moonlight designer series paper.  I am sooo in love with the new Blackberry color, and it looks fittingly rich with the silver.

Blackberry Bliss ribbon was tied below the embossed image and sentiment.  This new stitched satin ribbon is a dream to work with.  The Lacy Brocade embossing folder was used to emboss the bottom panel.

For the interior, a set of bells from the same stamp set was stamped in Encore Silver.  The sentiment, stamped in Blackberry Bliss, is from the long retired Sale-A-Bration set Well Scripted.  I decided to use it because of its lovely font.  

Thanks so much for dropping by and taking a look!  Be sure to use the links above and check out these two challenges.  As always, I'd love to hear from you if you have time to leave a comment!

Have a great week!

Hugs,

Stef

Product details:

Stamps:  Best of Brides and Babies, Well Scripted

Paper:  Whisper White, Blackberry Bliss, Silver Foil, Moonlight designer series paper

Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Encore Silver, Versamark

Other:  Lacy Brocade embossing folder, Pewter Stampin' Emboss Powder, Basic Rhinestones, Blackberry Bliss Stitched Satin Ribbon