Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Balloon Celebration

Hi there!  I'm back with another take on this week's Color Challenge at Splitcoaststampers, however, I've substituted Pumpkin Pie for Tangelo Twist, mainly because I like it better but also because I have a bunch of retired Pumpkin Pie textured card stock that I thought would be great to put to use with the current awesome sketch challenge at Fab Friday.





For this card, I pulled out the Balloon Celebration stamp set and set about making a relatively CAS card with layers.  I started with a small Whisper White panel, stamping the balloon strings in Crumb Cake, the birthday greeting in Tempting Turquoise over the top of them, then adding festive swirls in Encore Gold and stars in Pumpkin Pie.  A couple balloons were then stamped, punched with the Balloon Bouquet punch, and added over the top of the strings.  The whole panel was then adhered to a larger panel of Whisper White topped with a piece of polka dot Tempting Turquoise dsp.


Rather than stacking the horizontal pieces in the sketch, I layered some Gold Sequin Trim on top of a strip of Tempting Turquoise card stock, then added the decorated panel over the top.


This is a pretty simple rendition of the Fab Friday sketch, but I can think of so many possibilities with it!  I've added a link above so you can check out all the amazing inspiration on their blog.

Thanks for looking - as always, your visit and comments mean so much!  Have a great week!

Hugs,

Stef


Product detail
Stamps:  Balloon Celebration
Paper:  Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Textured Pumpkin Pie, Brights Designer Series Paper Stack
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, Encore Gold
Other:  Balloon Bouquet punch, Gold Sequin Trim

Monday, March 28, 2016

Best Day Ever

Welcome back!  It's Monday night and time to post my sample for this week's Color Challenge at Splitcoaststampers. Peggy has chosen a lovely, bright combination of Tangelo Twist, Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White.  "Dessert" is to add Gold.


For this card I busted out my new Circle Card Thinlits.  I didn't think I needed this thinlit but after seeing so many cute cards made with it, I was won over.  I started with a base of Tempting Turquoise card stock and added an additional 2 1/2 inches to the recommended length of the card stock so could add an additional fold for an interior sentiment.  That fold was decorated on the outside with polka dot Tempting Turquoise designer series paper and a strip of Gold Foil card stock. The sentiment, from the Birthday Blossoms stamp set, was embossed with gold embossing powder on Whisper White card stock, then flowers from the same set were stamped beside the sentiment in Tangelo Twist.  After punching with a 2" Circle punch, Gold Wink of Stella was used to color the flower centers, and it was added to a Tangelo Twist scallop circle made with a thinlit from the Circle Card Thinlit set.




The unadorned left edge was looking pretty bare, so I added a strip of Delicate Details Lace Tape that were then decorated with gold sequins and pearls.  A Tea Lace Doily was then cut in half and adhered behind the circle to give more contrast against the polka dot panel behind it.


For the interior, I cut a panel of Whisper White, stamped another sentiment from the same stamp set and added a piece of dsp punched with the Scallop Border punch.  This shot shows the extra panel added on the right that folds down on top of the interior when the card is closed.

Thanks so much for visiting and I'd love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave a comment!  Be sure to use the link above to check out all the amazing inspiration and to join in this week's challenge!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Birthday Blossoms
Paper:  Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Tangelo Twist, Gold Foil, Brights Designer Series Paper Stack
Ink:  Tangelo Twist, Tempting Turquoise, Versamark
Other:  Circle Card Thinlits, Tea Lace Doily, Delicate Details Lace Tape, 2" Circle and Scallop Border punches, Metallics Sequin Assortment, Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, Gold Wink of Stella

Sunday, March 27, 2016

What I Love

Yes, a second post on this Sunday!  I didn't know if I would have time to include a card for this week's challenge at Freshly Made Sketches, but when I woke up one morning earlier this week envisioning the card I wanted to make, I knew I had to find a way to get it done before the deadline.

The color combination of Night of Navy and Cucumber Crush was definitely inspired by a woman's clothing catalogue I received last week, with their Spring collection.  Navy is such a classic spring color when combined with bright greens, yellows or reds.


I started with a Night of Navy panel the same dimensions as the Night of Navy card base, embossing the majority of it with the Elegant Dots Textured Impression Embossing Folder.  The Cucumber Crush vertical piece then added to the side and wrapped with Crushed Curry Baker's Twine.


Creating the flowers from What I Love is a 2 step stamping process.  First So Saffron was stamped for the petal color, then Crushed Curry was used for the outline stamp, after which they were fussy cut with Paper Snips and popped them up on the squares with Dimensionals.  For the third square the stem was inked up with Cucumber Crush then stamped off lightly before stamping on the white card stock.  The sentiment was then stamped using Night of Navy ink.

Well, thanks for dropping by and taking a look!  As always, your visit and comments are so appreciated!  I've included a link to the FMS challenge above, so do be sure to use it to check out all the fabulous inspiration.  I hope you have a great week ahead!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  What I Love
Paper:  Whisper White, Cucumber Crush, Night of Navy
Ink:  Night of Navy, Cucumber Crush, So Saffron, Crushed Curry
Other:  Whisper White and Crushed Curry Baker's Twine, Squares Collection Framelit, 1 3/8" Square punch, Elegant Dots TIEF, Subtles Collection button

Timeless Birthday

Hi there!  Hope your day is going well!  I have a card to share that I made for this week's challenge at Color Throwdown, with the gorgeous combination of teal, aqua and gold.  I ended up using Bermuda Bay and Pool party for the blues.


For my card I decided to create a collage and ended up using 4 different stamp sets.  I started by stamping the flourish and dots in Versamark on a panel of Whisper White card stock, then heat embossing with clear embossing powder.  Next I stamped the large Watercolor Wash background stamp in Pool Party and sponged both Pool Party and Bermuda Bay around the edges and over the embossed images.  The dragonfly and the circle image were stamped then embossed with gold embossing powder.


Timeless Textures has a great variety of background images, one of which was stamped horizontally in the middle and the other one with dots used vertically on the lower right.


After I got done with all the stamping, embossing and sponging, I was not really sure I liked the result, it didn't seem to have enough contrast.  But after the ink dried overnight, the clear embossed images really seemed to pop out more and the texture of all the stamped images more apparent.


To finish things off, I applied a strip of Gold Metallic Tape, then popped up the sentiment with Dimensionals.  I decided not to add any other embellishments so as not to obscure everything going on in the collage.

Thanks so much for looking!  As always, your visit and comments are so appreciated!  Do be sure to use the link above and check out all the great inspiration at Color Throwdown!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Watercolor Wash, Balloon Celebration, Awesomely Artistic, Timeless Textures
Paper:  Whisper White, Bermuda Bay
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, Versamark
Other:  Gold and Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder, Gold Glitter Tape, Circle Card Thinlit (banners), Sponges

Monday, March 21, 2016

Circle of Spring

Good evening, and welcome back!  It's time to post my card for this week's Color Challenge at Splitcoaststampers.  This week Karen chose the colors of Blackberry Bliss, Blushing Bride and Mint Macaron, and "dessert" is to use a die cut. Initially I thought this would be an easy combination but I have to admit that as I started to make my sample card, I struggled and ditched my first effort.  But then I decided to use the this week's sketch challenge at Pal's Paper Arts and was also inspired by this week's Clean and Simple Spring theme at The Paper Players, and things finally fell together.






The wreath from Circle of Spring was stamped in Archival Basic Black, colored with a Blender Pen and reinkers in the Color Challenge colors then die cut with the matching Wondrous Wreath framelit.  The sentiment from the same stamp set, perfect for the Paper Players challenge, was stamped in Blackberry Bliss and popped out with a 1 1/4" Scallop Circle punch.


A piece of Birthday Bouquet designer series paper was adhered to the top part of the Whisper White card base.  I knew I wanted to use a Tea Lace Doily as the lower half circle under the horizontal panel but by itself, it got lost against the white card stock base, so I die cut a circle of Mint Macaron card stock to place under it.


The horizontal piece of Blackberry Bliss was embossed with the Polka Dots TIEF then adhered to the card with Dimensionals.  Because of the large size of the wreath, twine was used across the panel rather than a banner under the circle.  The Vellum polka dot embossed butterflies were left over unused from another project and worked perfectly to carry the theme of spring, adhered to a same size butterfly punched from Blushing Bride card stock.  Pearls were the finishing touch.


Well, that's it for tonight.  I hope you'll have a chance to join us at SCS for this week's color challenge.  I've included links above for all the challenges, so do be sure to use them to check out all the great inspiration and join in! Thanks so much for your visit today and would love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave a comment!  

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Circle of Spring
Paper:  Whisper White, Blackberry Bliss, Blushing Bride, Vellum, Birthday Bouquet dsp
Ink:  Archival Basic Black, Blackberry Bliss, Blushing Bride, Mint Macaron
Other:  Wondrous Wreath and Circles Collection framelits, 1 1/4" Scallop Circle, Elegant Butterfly and Bitty Butterfly punches, Tea Lace Doily, Polka Dot TIEF, Painted Blooms Cotton Twine, Pearl Basic Jewels, Blender Pen.

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Blushing Birthday Bloom

Yes I know, a second post!  Well, I made this card last weekend and really liked it but didn't have time to post, so I decided not to put it off any longer.  It's another card with the beautiful Birthday Blooms large flower image.  Sigh...I cannot seem to get enough of water coloring this gorgeous image.



The flower image was stamped on Watercolor paper with Archival Basic Black ink, then colored using an Aqua Painter with Blushing Bride, Watermelon Wonder, Old Olive and Mossy Meadow ink.  The stamens were colored with a So Saffron marker.  After drying, it was fussy cut with my Paper Snips, then Clear Wink of Stella was brushed onto the flower petals.


The Blushing Bride base was covered with a slightly smaller piece of Birthday Bouquet designer series paper.  Next a banner of Blushing Bride Glimmer paper and a horizontal strip of Delicate Details Lace Tape were added.  A couple pieces that had been languishing unused finally found a home, including the Textured Old Olive piece of card stock punched with the Curly Label punch and the piece of Blushing Bride scallop circle under the flower that had been die cut with the Perfect Pennant Big Z die and sprayed with Vanilla Shimmer Smooch.

Okay, I'm done for today!  Thanks for visiting and I'd love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave a comment!!

Hugs,

Stef



Distress Birthday

Hi there!  This week Mojo Monday had another fabulous sketch and I decided to give it a distress look, which worked well for the masculine birthday card that I needed.


I had a great piece of designer series paper from the retired This & That Epic Day primarily in Pool Party and Crumb Cake, so I decided to start with a Crumb Cake base, then layered the dsp on a separate panel of Crumb Cake card stock just slightly smaller than the base.  Next, I cut a piece of Kraft Corrugated card stock for the small vertical panel layered on the main panel.


I then took a piece of Pool Party Core'dination card stock, ran it through the Big Shot with the Boho Chic Textured Impression Embossing Folder, then distressed it with a Stampin' Sanding Block.  Before being adhered together, all layers were distressed with a Cutter Kit then lightly sponged with Crumb Cake Ink.  Some Hemp cord was wrapped around the horizontal piece and brads from Vintage Trinkets added to the upper left corner of the panel.


The sentiment, from the Celebrate Today stamp set, was stamped on Very Vanilla card stock, cut with a Starburst framelit and layered on a slightly larger Crumb Cake circle.

Thanks for looking - as always your visit and comments are so appreciated.  I've provided a link above to Mojo Monday, so be sure to use it and check out all the great inspiration!

Hugs,

Stef

Monday, March 14, 2016

Many Thanks

Hi there!  Tonight it is again time for my post with this week's Color Challenge at Splitcoaststampers.  This week Vicki has chosen the lovely combination of Crisp Cantaloupe, Crumb Cake and Sahara Sand.  "Dessert" this week is any kind of dots. Well, I love polka dots, so no problem including dessert!




I am also entering my card in this week's challenge at Global Design Project, where this week's theme is to say "Thank You".



I started with a panel of Whisper White card stock embossed with the Large Polka Dot embossing folder and bordered with a Crumb Cake patterned dsp from Love Blossoms.  Both were adhered to a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" panel of Crumb Cake and popped on a base of the same after adding some Crumb Cake Thick Baker's Twine.


Next I added the sentiment from Petite Pairs and my favorite flower from the Flower Patch stamp set, with leaves stamped in Sahara Sand on the same color card stock.  Both the leaves and the bottom layer of the flower were cut with the matching framelits. The top two layers of of the flower were fussy cut with my Paper Snips.


This was a fairly quick and easy card to make, using last week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  The challenge is closed but here's a link to the blog FMS 227.

Thanks for taking time to visit!  I appreciate it!  Please be sure to use the links above to check out all the fabulous inspiration and to join us in this week's SCS Color Challenge!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Flower Patch, Petite Pairs
Paper:  Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Crisp Cantaloupe, Sahara Sand, Love Blossoms DSP stack
Ink:  Crisp Cantaloupe, Sahara Sand
Other:  Flower Fair Framelits, 1" Circle, 1 1/4" Scallop Circle and 1 3/8" Circle punches, Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Large Polka Dot TIEF, Crumb Cake Thick Baker's Twine from Hooray, It's Your Day Project Kit (retired)

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Vivid Thoughts

Hi there and welcome back!  I've been pretty quiet on my blog lately as I have not had much time to spend in my craft room lately but I made up for it this weekend by making 3 cards, one of which I am sharing in this post.  The color challenge at The Paper Players this week caught my eye and I decided to play along.


I pulled out a couple of long neglected Blendability Markers sets in Calypso Coral and Bermuda Bay that worked great to color the Vivid Vases stamped image.  The stamp actually has 5 vases, but I wanted to use just the middle images, so I covered each one with a piece of tape, inked up the stamp with the ink pad, then removed the tape before stamping.


The vases were stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black then colored with the markers.  I used a Blender Pen and a tiny bit of Smoky Slate to create shadows at the base of each vase.  Next, a panel of Bermuda Bay was cut with a Squares Collection framelit to create a frame for the vases and space to add the sentiment and Baker's Twine.  A few sequins were added and I was done!


Thanks for looking, and as always, your visit and comments are so appreciated!  There's a link above to The Paper Players, so do be sure to use it to check out all the wonderful inspiration!

Hugs,

Stef


Stamps:  Vivid Vases, Sheltering Tree
Paper:  Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Basic Black Stacked with Love Designer Series Paper Stack
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Smoky Slate
Other:  Bermuda Bay and Calypso Coral Blendability Markers, Black Baker's Twine, Metallic Sequins Assortment, Square Collection Framelit

Monday, March 7, 2016

Two for Color Challenge 573

Welcome back!  It's time again for the weekly Color Challange at Splitcoaststampers, where Mary has created a fun Bingo color chart.  Pick any horizontal, vertical or diagonal line, or chose the four corners.  "Dessert" is anything you chose.  I chose the diagonal of Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Bermuda Bay and Soft Sky.  {Edited to Add:  I goofed and added Pool Party dsp to the first card rather than Soft Sky}.

This week I ended up making two cards, one of which uses the wonderful sketch at Pals Paper Arts, and no dessert.




My first card, using the sketch challenge, was one of those where I had a "light bulb" moment.  I knew I wanted to use the Field Flowers stamp set, so I didn't think the sketch with the square would work.  Then the idea of using a frame to represent the square became the solution.


I had to take a bit of artistic license with the sketch, flipping the circle and the horizontal bar to fit the stamp.  Since the flowers are a 2 step stamping process, a Stampamajig was used to align them properly.  The frame was created with two layered sizes of Squares Collection framelits.  After the flowers were fussy cut and popped up on Dimensionals, I decided to use Clear Wink of Stella to add the lovely sparkle, which I hope can be seen better in the photo below.


My second card uses the Banner Blast stamp set to create a festive card with a banner draped across one corner.  It could really be used for a variety of celebrations with the sentiment from Circle of Spring.  For this card, "dessert" is the color gold.


Starting with a Bermuda base, the next layer of Whisper White embossed with the Boho Chic Textured Impression Embossing Folder.  The tiny banners were stamped in the challenge colors then cut out with the Banner punch.  The banners were attached to a length of Gold Baker's Twine with bows of Bermuda Bay twine added to each end.  The sentiment, stamped in Bermuda Bay on Whisper White, was punched out with the 7/8" Scallop Circle punch and layered on a 1 1/4" Scallop Circle of Soft Sky.  Both were then layered onto a Gold Metallic Foil Doily.  Finally sequins were added.

Thanks for your visit, and of course I'd love to hear you if you have a moment to leave a comment.  I've added links above to each challenge, so do be sure to use them to enjoy all the wonderful inspiration!

Hugs,

Stef