Simple Card Using Painterly Pears DSP

Today's card is a simple one because the DSP does all the work!  I used the beautiful Painterly Pears DSP to create the card.

I chose the Secret Sea background sheet from the DSP that has the pears and floral images for the main piece of the card.  I also cut out a small grouping of pears from another sheet to add as an accent piece.  I took a scrap from a third pattern in the pack and stamped my sentiment on it, then cut a small flag on one end.

To begin, I cut an A2 card base using Darling Duckling card stock.  I also cut a 3.5" x 2.5" of the same card stock.  I trimmed the dark blue DSP panel to 4" x 5.25" and cut another one at 3.25" x 2.25 then adhered the larger one to the Darling Ducking card base and the smaller one to the small panel I cut. Then I layered the smaller panel on my card front. 

I placed the pears cut from another sheet of DSP in the bottom left corner of the small panel using dimensionals. I stamped the "Thank You" sentiment from a Paper Pumpkin stamp set and adhered it to the right lower side of the small panel...and just like that, my card was finished!

Do you have a favorite DSP that you go to for quick and easy cards?  If so, I'd love to hear which one it is and how you use it!

 

One Last Christmas in July Card

I decided to make one last Christmas in July card using the Party Celebrations Stamp set.  The bells, stars, and large red bow came from the set.  It also has several solid fall images for the upcoming season.  There are three background stamps in the set: a dotted one, a streamer, and plaid one.

This is a great basic stamp set with so many images that can be combined with other sets or can be used to stand alone.

I stamped the bells in Crushed Curry ink and the stars in Misty Moonlight ink.  The circle is cut from Misty Moonlight two tone card stock and cut out using the Spotlight on Nature dies. The house and bow on the bells are from retired stamp sets and the sentiment is a strip from retired DSP.  I enjoy using my retired stash, but am looking forward to seeing the new holiday products  that will be released in early September!

I'm looking forward to using the Party Celebrations stamp set more in the upcoming months and seeing what others create with this versatile set.

Watercolor Floral Card

As much as I enjoy making Halloween projects, I decided to take a break and create a watercolor card. I enjoy the process of water coloring and watching the image evolve as I work.

I used a 4.25" x 11" piece of Basic Gray card stock as my base, scoring it at 5.5".  I also cut another piece of the same card stock at 4" x 5.25" and used the retired Cane embossing folder to add texture to the background. 

Tip: Gently spritz your card stock with water before placing it in the embossing folder to achieve a deeper impression. The water weakens the paper fibers causing the image to become more deeply etched.

I stamped my floral image from the You Are Remarkable stamp set in Jet Black Stazon ink. This ink is water proof and keeps the outline image from running and blurring. I stamped the image on water color paper and cut it out using one of the circle dies in the Spotlight on Nature dies. 

I used the Stampin' Up! Water Color Pencils to color my image.  I gently colored the image and used an aqua pen to spread the color, allowing it to dry between applications for building darker tones. 

I used a metallic water color to add shading around the flower.  The sentiment and die are from a retired Sale-a-bration set.  I added a few adhesive dots around the card to finish it off.

Have you tried water coloring?  I enjoy it and feel that each time I attempt it, I get a little bit better! ;)

July Creative Challenge SU! Spooky Harbor

As July draws near to an end, I decided to create one more card for the July Creative Challenge for Stampin' Up! The challenge is for anyone who chooses to enter and I encourage you to give it a try!  It is a lot of fun and helps you to stretch your creativity.  

I love making Halloween cards. It evokes memories of past Halloweens trick-or-treating with my sisters, coming home and dumping our candy in piles, then trading favorite treats with each other. Did any of you do that with siblings on Halloween?

This month, the challenge is to choose two different suites that normally would not work together and create something with them.  I chose the Spooky Sweet and Beautiful Gallery Suites to create my card.  

I began by cutting an A2 card base in Basic Black card stock.  Then I chose the harbor scene from the Beautiful Gallery DSP and cut it to 4" x 5.25".  I stamped a colony of bats to fly around in the night sky.  I also ink blended some Basic Gray ink around the edges of the DSP to give it a more spooky look.  And speaking of spooky, I took the "Spooky" sentiment and stamped it several times around the page, re-inking it after I had stamped it three times to give it a fading appearance.  

I die cut three bats and the creepy fence from the dies that come with the Spooky Halloween bundle.  I fussy cut two ghosts from some left over vellum in my last Paper Pumpkin kit and used a Sharpie marker to draw eyes and a mouth on them. 

Whether you enjoy making Halloween cards or any other type of card, try your hand at our Mash Up Challenge this month!  I'm sure you will end up with a beautiful and unique project!

Adorable Halloween Characters

Do you enjoy setting up vignettes for holidays?  I love to create these interesting little scenes around my home!  I created a few elements from the Spooky Sweet Suite to use to decorate for Halloween this year in one of the vignettes I plan to set up.  Stampin' Up! also has a really cute Halloween Haunted House kit that these would work well with and look great as the main focus in a Halloween vignette!

I began by stamping, coloring and cutting out the cat and dog figures from the Spooky Halloween bundle.  I also colored and cut out two trick-or-treat pumpkins for the figures to hold.

I cut another one of each image using card stock but didn't stamp or color them.  I added a score line to each one of these near the top and glued it to the back of the ones I colored.  This gave each character the ability to stand on their own.   

I used another sheet from the DSP pack for the background of my scene.  This specialty pack of DSP has lots of extra pieces to use on projects such as scrapbook pages, treat containers, cards and more.  

As the fall season and Halloween holiday draws nearer, I'll be creating several vignettes that I'll share.  In the meantime, get busy coloring so that these cute critters will be ready to appear in your home too!

The Beautiful Dies in the Floral Charm Suite

I. LOVE. FLORAL.  I can't help it, I cannot get enough of these beautiful images and Stampin' Up! has created some gorgeous floral dies in the Floral Charm Suite. 

For today's card, I made these beautiful images my focal point.  I started by cutting a piece of Soft Suede card stock (retired) as an A2 card base. Then I  cut a panel a quarter inch smaller using a sheet from the Floral Charm DSP and adhered it to the card front.

I cut a circle from the Spotlight on Nature dies, dry embossed it with the Forever Plaid embossing folder and spritzed it with a small amount of brown splatter.

I used the Blackberry Bliss, Old Olive and Soft Suede (retired) Stampin' Blend markers to color the die cut images I chose to use and adhered them to the circle. I also added a thin strip of DSP and a piece of ribbon to the center of the card before adding my focal point. 

I stamped the "Hey" sentiment in brown ink from the Charming Day stamp set and used a small tag die to cut it out.  I added a small bow and some adhesive pearls I also colored with the Blackberry Bliss Stampin' Blend marker to finish off my card!

Here are the other die images in the die set.  I am looking forward to creating more cards with these beautiful dies!

Bonus Card: Week 4 Back to Basics Saturday Class

Thanks for checking back in to see the bonus card to finish our Back to Basics July Classes. T

Once again, we will use the beautiful Painterly Pears DSP and add the Labeled with Love punch to our list of supplies. We will use two different pages from the pack on our card. They are shown below. Our card is made up of several simple techniques combined to make a stunning statement!

The first of the techniques we are going to use is my favorite stamping technique, paper tearing!

I began by cutting both DSP panels at 4" x 5.25.  I took a small pair of scissors and made a snip in the center of the Petal Pink sheet and tore the center out to create a frame.  Then I glued the frame onto the second piece of DSP from the package.

I stamped the single floral image from the Charming Day stamp set in Black Memento ink and used the Darling Duckling and Mossy Meadow Stampin' Write markers to watercolor the image.  After allowing it to dry, I fussy cut out the image. 

I stamped my sentiment from Charming Day stamp set in Secret Sea ink onto another piece of paper from the DSP package. I punched the sentiment out with the Labeled with Love punch and adhered the water colored floral image to the left side of the sentiment to finish up my card.  

Week 4 Back to Basics Saturday Class

I'm so glad you stopped by for today's class.  For today's class and our final one next week, we are going to use the Online Exclusive DSP Painterly Pears.  This is such a beautiful pack of paper and so versatile.  You can use it for bright summer cards or add a little distressed elements to create vintage cards with it.

Today I'm going to use the page that has a floral and pear border around it.  By cutting this sheet into 4" x 5.25" panels, you can get panels that create simple cards that only need a sentiment added to it.

Once I chose which panel to use, I lightly ink blended Petal Pink ink around the edges using a small ink blending brush.  I stamped my sentiment from a retired set in Petal Pink ink as well. 

I used an A2 card base in Petal Pink card stock.  I added a small linen thread bow for an extra detail. 

I have also created a bonus card, using the same DSP pack and adding the Labeled with Love punch to our list of supplies. That card will post later this afternoon.

Christmas Treat Box in Three Sizes

Many years ago, I attended my first Stampin' Up! Convention as a demonstrator.  I learned so much, had so much fun and made so many new stamping friends!  One of the things I learned was how to make a Two-Four-Six-Eight Box. The name stuck with me because those are the measurements for scoring the box. The best thing about the box is that you can vary the height of the box! 

I decided to create three Christmas Treat boxes using this template to share today.  I chose the use the Season of Green and Gold DSP.  It is currently on the Last Chance List so there is a limited supply.

I began by cutting the DSP to 8.5" x 11".  On the 11" side, I scored at 2", 4", 6", 8".  On the 8.5" side, I scored at 2".  This will make the tallest of the boxes.  To make a smaller box, just cut off some of the DSP on the 8.5" side opposite the 2" score line. 

Next, remove the .5" corner up to the 2" score line (see image below).  Fold and burnish all score lines.  Then use Tear and Tape on the .5" side to adhere the opposite side.  This will give you a box like tube.  Glue the flaps nearest the score lines on top of one another to create a bottom for your box.

Once the glue has dried, fill your box with your treat or small gift.  Pinch the sides together to close it and embellish it as desired.  I chose to fussy cut images from the DSP to decorate my box.  I also used the retired Iconic Imagery and the Circle of Seasons dies to finish off the other two boxes.

I hope you will give this fun box a try.  It would also be great for birthdays, Halloween and any other holiday or event!

Global Design Project Challenge #506

My card for today is one I created for this week's Global Design Challenge.  I used the Floral Charm Suite and the Forever Plaid embossing folder to create my card.

I began by cutting an A2 piece of Pretty Peacock card stock for my base.  Then I cut a 4" x 5.25" panel of Lost Lagoon card stock for the background. I used the Stamp, Cut and Emboss machine to dry emboss the panel with the Forever Plaid embossing folder.

TIP: Spritz your card stock with a light spray of water before running it through the Stamp, Cut and Emboss machine to weaken the paper fibers and get a deeper embossed image.

I cut a small piece of the Floral Charm DSP at 4" wide, tore the top and bottom to reveal the white core and adhered it to the panel.  I also added another small strip of paper from the pack to the bottom of the DSP for another layer.  

Then I die cut the large floral image from the Charming Day die set and trimmed it to create a smaller image in Basic White card stock.  I also cut the same image in Petal Pink card stock and used the negative flower centers to fill in on my white embellish.

I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment in Pretty Peacock ink and used the retired Stitched Rectangle dies to cut the image out.  I frayed the Petal Pink ribbon and placed it behind the sentiment to finish off the card.

 

A Fun and Simple Halloween Layout

Do you love documenting memories but have little time to devote to it? The Spooky Sweet DSP pack is perfect for helping you get your pages done in no time at all!  The DSP comes with great patterned papers, background scenes and lots of images ready to adhere to your pages!

For Layout 1, I cut the gray and orange patterned paper in 4" x 6 rectangles and adhered them to the left side of the 12 x 12 page. Then I adhered the banner, hippo, dancing crows, tree, fairy bear, crow and pumpkins in place as shown.  All of these images were from the punch out sheet in this pack.

I cut the "EEK!" panel and words from the Fright Night bundle and placed a strip of black DSP from the Spooky Sweet DSP pack behind it.

Poof! ...and just like that, the first Halloween scrapbook page is almost completed!  All that is left to do is to add pictures.

Layout 1

For Layout 2, I cut two more gray panels and the candy/star patterned paper in 4" x 6" panels and adhered them to the right side of the page. I cut one of the scenery panels and layered a strip of orange DSP to the left side of it.  All of these papers are included in the Spooky Sweet DSP pack. I layered several pieces from the punch out images around the page.

I die cut the "EEK", "BOO", bat tag, fence, bats and spiders from the Fright Night Bundle to complete this page.

Layout 2

These two pages came together in very little time but are very cute!  The possibilities are endless when you combine the products in this kit to create scrapbook pages!

Dutch Door Paper Pumpkin Alternative

Do you enjoy making Dutch Door cards? They remind me of fairy tales, fairies and gnomes.  After all, isn't that the kind of door they have on their houses? :)

For my card today, I chose the strawberry card with the blue background as my card base.  I cut the top part of the card front away from the card and saved it for a later project.  Then I cut a small panel from the pink polka dot card and mounted it on a piece of one of the green card bases.  

I adhered this to the lower portion of the original card base.  I added a piece of velum from the kit in the middle of the pink piece then glued one of the light blue striped rectangle die cuts from the kit in the middle of the panel.  I stamped the "Hello, Friend" image on the die cut  image it was intended for in the kit and used dimensionals to adhere it to the striped piece.  I also tied a large looped bow in green twine to place behind the sentiment.

On a small pink rectangle from the kit, I stamp "You're the Best" and adhered it beneath the main sentiment.

I added one large strawberry to the bottom left of the front panel. 

I used a stylus and my pierce mat to add some dimension to my flowers by pressing it to the center of each flower and gently twisting it. Each flower was adhered with a small glue dot from the kit.

To finish off my card, I added a 4" x 5.25" panel of Pool Party card stock to the inside back panel to provide more color to the background.

So, is making a dutch door card in your future?  With all the magic around them, they may just bring you luck! :)

Friend Card Using the July Paper Pumpkin and Performing Minor Stamp Surgery

Do you ever alter your Paper Pumpkin stamps?  For some people, it is a little scary to cut stamps and they are a little leery to attempt it, but I do it quite often to achieve a new sentiment or look.  

For my card today, I wanted a stamp that simply said, "Friend".  The kit has a stamp that says, "Hello, Friend".  I decided to separate the two words so that I could stamp it without taping part of the stamp or masking it.  Plus, I'd also get a stamp that says, "Hello".

I simply took a sharp pair of small scissors and cut the words apart. But don't worry!  The pieces practically snap back together if I decide to use them in the way this was intended. But now I have a "Friend" stamp that I can use whenever I choose with no hassle at all.

And lucky me...the sentiment fits perfectly on the large pink strawberry die cut from the kit.  

To begin my card, I chose the strawberry card with the blue background for my card base. I cut a piece of Basic White card stock at 4" x 5.25" and dry embossed it using the Forever Plaid embossing folder.  I also used one of the circle dies from the Spotlight on Nature set to cut out a circle on the top left side of the panel.

I adhered the white panel to the front of my card base.  I stamped the "Friend" in Strawberry Slush ink on the large strawberry die cut.  I also stamped "Love you lots" in Garden Green ink on one of the small blue rectangles from the kit.  

I tied a large looped green bow and placed it behind the Love You Lots sentiment and just below the strawberry die cut.

When I placed the small white flowers from the kit on the card, they got lost on the white background. I used the light Pool Party Blend to outline them so they would stand out a little more.  I also used my stylus and pierce mat to gently press in on the center of each one to give them dimension and adhered them with glue dots.

So, have you tried stamp surgery?  You can always start with a simple snip and work up to more difficult ones.  ;)

Paper Pumpkin Ice Cream Scrapbook Page

The July Paper Pumpkin, Sweeter With You, is perfect for a summer scrapbook layout page!  All the bright red strawberries and pretty plaid designs work together to make an eye catching design! 

My sister, Beth, and her husband, Roddie, visited us over Memorial Day.  They have recently married and it was so nice to get to know him a little better being that we live 8 hours away from them.  One thing we discovered about him is that his loves ice cream...and not just like others love it! In the three days they were with us, we went to four different ice cream shops!

As we were enjoying the cool, creamy treat one day, they mentioned their favorite ice cream shop in Knoxville.  We promised that when we were in Tennessee, we would visit his favorite one there.

Last weekend, we went up for a visit and everyone got together to make the drive across town to give it a try. The shop is called The Creamery and it did not disappoint!

I decided that I would create an ice cream page documenting the memory using the new Paper Pumpkin kit, Sweeter With You. The strawberries would be perfect for the layout.

I began by cutting a 12" x 12" page of White Willow card stock down to 10.5" x 10.5" and ink blending  Strawberry Slush and Timid Tiger inks on the paper. I also stamped the strawberries and flowers from the kit in the top left and bottom right quadrants. Then I mounted that page onto Basic Black card stock.

I mounted my pictures from the shop on Granny Apple Green card stock.  While I was at the shop, I took several pictures of the sign thinking it would make a great embellishment for the page.  When ordering my prints, I ordered several of the ice cream cone so I could use it in my layout.  I colored the ice cream cones with Strawberry Slush, Timid Tiger and Pecan Pie Stampin' Blends.  I used a thin black Sharpie marker to add lines to create a waffle cone look.

I used the orange and pink plaid card, the scallop envelope flap and the pink dotted card from the kit as layers for my page.

I journaled the story of our visit on the large scalloped rectangle from the kit, cut out some white flowers from the Circle of Seasons coordinating die set, added a few scraps of torn Two Tone card stock and placed strawberries from the kit around the page for visual interest.  I also used a stamp from the kit "Life is Sweeter with You" to finish off the page!

And the funny thing about our trip....no one got strawberry ice cream! :)

Circle of Season dies