Sensational Sunday Blog Hop + CANDY

Good Morning Stampers!

Welcome to the Loves Rubberstamps weekly Sensational Sunday Blog Hop! The Design Team has created some gorgeous projects for your Inspiration. Check out each link and leave a comment. If you get lost along the way, each stop will have a full list of links. One of the Design Team posts is the hop's Sensational Sunday Sweet Spot and a name will be drawn from that list of comments to be in a monthly drawing for a $20 Loves Rubberstamps Gift Voucher! We will draw the winner of the Voucher the 1st Sunday of each month from all the comments left on the design team blogs! Remember, you have until 8:00 pm CST Saturday to leave your comments!

I can't believe April is here already! Seems like this year is flying by so far! With this being the first Sunday of the month we need to draw our March $20.00 Gift Voucher winner! This time the winner of from Denice's Blog....March 8th week... and the winner drawn by Mr. random is: 

Here are your random numbers:

10

Timestamp: 2015-04-05 01:35:20 UTC

Who is: Teresa Kline who said: this is a sweet card, I luv this darlin image...soooo fun! so glad you played along with Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge! sparkle & shine *~*

Congratulations Teresa! Please email: lovesrubberstamps@yahoo.com by April 11th to claim your prize.

Before I show you my project for today I wanted to let you know that we will be posting a DESIGN TEAM CALL for our Design Team term that starts May 1st and runs through August 30th. We will have the details and how to try out for the team on our Tuesday April 7th Challenge. You do not need prior design team experience to apply. We would love to have you try out! 

Today I wanted to create a scenery style card. I love sponging sky backgrounds and making outdoors scenes for my cards and I don't do it as often as I would like. Today my card was inspired by the outdoor scenes that Delphine creates. I have always admired her little outdoor scenes that she creates and I really love how she does her grass area to give the scene depth. So I read through a few of her tutorials and tried a scene of my own :) 

 

I don't think it turned out too shabby for the first time I tried this style. I really like how my grass area turned out...I tried something different with the sky and clouds and I am not sure I am really loving that part...but it may still grow on me - LOL! 

I didn't have any of the colors that Delphine uses in her tutorial so I had to use a mix of my copics and spectrum noir markers for the scene. I was pretty irritated because many of my spectrum noir markers were dried out! Some I had never even used yet and I am not happy about that! I have always kept them in a cool environment with no temperature extremes so I don't know why they are dry. So I was even more limited on my color choices because I had to find markers that worked! GRRRR! 

For my clouds I am awful at drawing the cloud shapes so I decided to use the cute cloud image in Paper Smooches Forest Whimsy set by stamping just the tops with Memento London Fog ink. It was darker than I wanted it to be so I ended up swirling my white gel pen over it and then blending that with my finger to try and tone it down. I also added clear wink of stella over my clouds for some shimmer. I want to try and find a really pale light gray ink to try this again because I don't want it to be as noticible, but I do love the cloud shapes in this stamp set. 

My sentiment panel is created using papers from the Prima Optimist paper pack which I will be listing in the store soon. 

Here is a closer look at my scene...

That sweet little girl is the Blush Babette image from The Greeting Farm. I really love the images from this collection. 

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to mark your calendars to check out our Design team call on Tuesday!

Now let's hop along and see what the Design Team ladies have in store for you...

Laura - Loves Rubberstamps Blog - You are here...

Dangina

Nina
Lydia

Blankina
Denice
Rebecca

Thanks for stopping by!

Laura!

I will be entering this in the following challenges:

The Greeting Farm - Farm Fresh Friday - Have clouds or rain 
Jo's Scrap Shack - Anything Goes
Simply Papercraft - Anything Goes
Stempelsonne - Anything Goes
Creatalicious Challenges - Anything Goes
Emerald Fairies - Sprimg Flowers or Easter
Live & Love Crafts - Signs of Spring
Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes with a sentiment
Kit & Clowder - April Challenge Flowers
Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes

Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers	Blush Babette Rubber Stamp	Forest Whimsy Clear Stamp Set	Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad
Memento Ink Pad Rich Cocoa	LONDON FOG MEMENTO INK PAD	Mini Ink Blending Tool	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Broken China
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad PEELED PAINT	Wink of Stella Christmas Sparkle Brush Glitter Marker Set	Copic Markers	Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers
Copic X-Press It Blending Card	Best Glue Ever

InLinkz.com

Let It Snow!

Do not think by my title that I am asking for snow! I am not a snow person, a winter person or even a cold person and the only snow that I like to see is on my cards - LOL! And the only time I ever want to see snow in the Winter is when I don't have to go outside in it and I can stay home in my flannel jammies with coffee or hot chocolate :) Oh..and on Christmas, I love a white Christmas. OK...enough about SNOW - LOL!

For my card today I am combining my Design Team Posts for Crafty Sentiments Designs and Loves Rubberstamps challenges.

This week I am hosting the challenge at Crafty Sentiments Designs and we want to see your Favorite Technique. And if you don't really have a favorite technique you can still play along by just using your favorite color combination :)

My absolute FAVORITE thing to do is create scenes using sponges. I am not very good with a brayer so I use sponges instead. Believe it or not but the background panel on my Christmas card is all one layer. I just used post it notes to mask off different areas before sponging and then added liquid applique with dazzzling diamonds to create a little dimension on my tree branch, along the frozen creek and for some drifts. The tree branch and the sentiment are from the Tattered Angels stamp set called Chillin'. I extended the letter "N" swirl with my white gel pen so it looked like ice skating marks. The image I used is from Crafty Sentiments Designs called Jasmin - Winter Skates. I colored her with copic markers and I did use spectrum noir for the reds and the lightest green color. Then I just cut her out and popped her on dimensionals. I added some more liquid applique with dazzling diamonds on her hat.

I have had quite a few people ask if we will be getting more Crafty Sentiments Designs in the store and the answer is YES! I do plan on getting ALL of the Crafty Sentiments Designs images that we can carry listed in the store as a preorder. That way we make sure we are ordering the customer requests first because there have been quite a few new releases since our last order! So look for those this week!

This is also my project for this week's Loves Rubberstamps Challenge which is EVERYONE's super favorite... Anything Goes! So if you have a chance to get crafty this week...use your favorite technique or color combo and then enter it in BOTH of our challenges :D We can't wait to see what you create!

Here are the Copics/Spectrum Noir Markers that I used that I can remember :)

Skin: E00, E11, E21, R20 and Spectrum Noir F1

Hair: E25, E31, E33

Brown on Clothes: E31, E33

Greens: G94, G99 and Spectrum Noir DG2

Reds: Spectrum Noir: CR7, CR9, CR11

Thanks for stopping by today!

Laura

I will be entering this in the following challenges:

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge - No Patterned Paper
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes One Layer
Addicted to Stamps - Create a Scene
Christmas Card Challenge - Anything Goes
Craft A Scene - Dusk to Dawn
Robyn's Fetish Challenges - Nature #179

The Letter "B" Challenge!

Hi Stampers!

I am back with my second post for today! This week for my Design Team project for Crafty Sentiments Designs  the challenge is called - The Letter "B" you are to use as many items on your project that start with the letter "B" as you can! This was a lot of fun! Here is what I came up with...

I used the super cute stamp from Crafty Sentiments Designs called Beach Ball then I decided to create a beach scene to try and get as many "B" things that I could think of :)
Here is my list:

B's - Beach, Beach Babe, Beach Ball, Bliss, Button, Burlap, Butterfly, Bucket, Bottle, Bag, Blossom, Bling, Blue, Brown, Black

Here is a close up of my Beach Ball image:

This week they have an awesome prize of a Gift Voucher! Remember if you use a Crafty Sentiments Designs image you will get your name in 3 time in the drawing!

Come Play Along with us this week at Crafty Sentiments Designs and see how many "B"'s you can fit on your project!

Have a great Day!
 Laura

I will be entering this in the following challenges:

Bearly Mine Challenge - Anything Goes!
Celebrate the Occasion - #110 Anything Goes
Party Time Tuesday - Anything Goes!
Artistic Inspirations - #39 - Lots of Layers
Cupcake Craft Challenge - #240 All at Sea
The Cutie Pie Challenge - #43 Lots of Layers
Tammy's Scrappin Corner - Lots of Layers
Addicted to Stamps - #55 Beautiful Button
Crafty Calendar Challenge - Sunshine and Showers
Pumpkin Spice Challenge - Nature
Sweet Stampin' - Anything But Birthday
My Creative Moments - Word Play Weather

Tippy Toe through the HOLLYHocks!

Hi Stampers!

Wow! Did I take a power nap today! After working the overnight shift and getting off work at 7am this morning I had a bunch of errands to run so I didn't get to lay down until 2 this afternoon. I planned on only sleeping for a few hours until about 6 or 7pm so I could get on a more "normal" overnight schedule and what I do I do.... slept till JUST NOW.... 12:26 am! GRRRRRR!!! LOL! So much for a power nap...turned into a full "nights" sleep!

I do halfway remember my daughter coming in and hounding me to spend the night at a friends because they wanted to have a girls movie night. She was like I have to know now! I remember glancing at the clock with half an eye and said...why do you need to know RIGHT this minute it is 7 o'clock in the morning! She was like no Mom it is 7 o'clock at NIGHT! Then back to sleep I went! Oh well...there are worse things I could get them some sleep that apparently I needed - LOL!

Today I have the cutest card ever to share with you from Holly! She used all La La Land images and dies. I have just added some of the dies to the store and will be adding some new images too so be sure to check them out. In fact... I will be listing some more new items a little bit later ... including a new stamp line that I LOVE LOVE LOVE! :D

I totally adore this card! The colors are so rich and vibrant! It is just simply beautiful! Holly used the Dress Up Marci image from La La Land and colored her up so amazing as always! Those GORGEOUS background flowers are Hollyhocks which are also from La La Land! Can you believe that the main scene is one layer? AWESOME!! Holly masked off her Marci image to stamp the flowers... then used her AIRBRUSH to create the grass and sky! She colored the flowers up and then removed her mask and colored her Marci! Holly is the QUEEN of airbrushing! I have never tried it but she does it so beautifully it makes me want too!

If you take a peek around Holly's card you will see some of the new dies we have listed... the gorgeous roses...that stunning filigree corner... the amazing large flourish leaves sticking out around the edges.... such beautiful layering and pieces!

I hope you loved today's inspirational piece from Holly as much as I do!

Have a great day or night whatever it may be for you - LOL!

Happy Stampin!
Laura

Just drop a house on her!

Happy Halloween!

Do you have any frightening plans this evening? I don't, unless you call doing some dishes frightening...then I will - LOL! I plan on staying home and passing out candy to the trick-or-treaters, so that will be a lot of fun. We get a lot of really little kids and they have some of the cutest outfits these days! Not like when my kids were little.

Speaking of Halloween... this week the design team for The Cutting Cafe was given the task of creating a project using one of Regina's adorable Halloween files. I ended up choosing a printable stamp set called Halloween Time. This file has 55 images!! And they are all super cute too! I chose this one for the adorable witch legs because I wanted to make a cute scene that looks like a house just fell on her! Check it out...

This was such a  fun card to make! To create my scene, I used sponges and strategically placed post it notes. First, I masked off the grass area and sponged it with old olive. I added some grass clumps using old olive and garden green markers from Stampin Up! I removed those post its and then kept moving them up at 1/2" intervals sponging crumb cake by each one to make the siding. Since I am entering this card in the Top Tip Tuesday challenge... here is my Top Tip - When you are creating the siding, place your card front on grid paper to line up where you want your post its placed. You can have them go off the edge a little bit and just line them up with the lines on the grid paper. This makes it fast and easy to make straight lines at evenly spaced intervals. I use the Stampin Up! grid paper which also includes rulers on the side of it.

I colored my witch legs using Spectrum Noir Alcohol Ink Markers. I also added some iridescent ice to the witch's stockings and buckle straps on her shoes for some shimmer. I fussy cut them out and then had to make them a little shorter to fit on my card. Then I just glued them down and added a strip of grass cut using the C.C. Designs Cutters Grass Die.

My window is actually a Poppy Stamps Die called the Grand Madison Window. It is supposed to have 4 window panes. It is huge and takes up almost a whole card front! So , to make it work for my card, I cut my die cut in half and glue the top and bottom pieces together to create a two-pane smaller window. I glued it to keep the crown molding in place on both the top and bottom pieces. Then I just added some basic black cardstock to the back. I love how it turned out! I am also super excited because we will be carrying these dies soon at Loves Rubberstamps! YAY! Some spooky eyes and a hand drawn spider web in the corner finishes it off.

My creepy, icky spider is from the Die-Namics Spider Web Die from My Favorite Things. I added some sparkly green glitter eyes for some extra creepiness and popped it up on a dimensional. My sentiment is from the same printable stamp set as the witch legs.

Hope you enjoyed today's card! Be sure to visit The Cutting Cafe Blog later this afternoon to be blown away by a load of inspiration from the Design Team and to have a chance to win a prize!

If you are out and about trick-or-treating tonight - be safe!

Happy Stampin!
Laura

I will be entering this in the following challenges:

Crafty Sentiments Designs - Seeing Stars
Party Time Tuesdays - PTT#92 Anything Goes
Top Tip Tuesday - #88 Halloween (see my Top Tip in my post)
Cupcake Craft Challenges - Cupcake #216 Witches and Pumpkins
Fashionista Challenge - #8 Anything Goes
My Crafty Spot - #75 Too Cute to Spook
Tammy's Scrappin Corner - #34 Anything Goes
2 Sisters Challenge Blog - Challenge #115 Halloween or Fall Colors
One Stop Craft Challenge - #202 Halloween
Dilly Beans Challenge - Halloween Challenge

Just a ... SINGIN!

Good afternoon stampers!

It's FRIDAY!! Whoo hoo! Let the weekend BEGIN! Do you have anything fun planned this weekend? I plan on getting new stuff listed in the store...both stuff that has arrived and some more preorders... and hopefully will get to spend some time stampin! And ALL of that is fun for me! Maybe the hubby and I will hit a movie or something too. Now that his racing is over for the season our guarenteed weekend entertainment is over too - LOL!

AND.... another thing that makes Friday special is that it is Holly's Inspiration Day!

Holly used the super cute Gene from Kraftin Kimmie Stamps and created this adorable scene to stay in line with this week's Loves Rubberstamps challenge of creating your background. And if anyone ROCKS at creating adorable scenes using an airbrush...it is Holly! TOO TOO CUTE!! I love the simple layout that just pops with Holly's choice of designer paper. It is beautiful...but still manly looking. I usually HAVE to make my own backgrounds...so I can hoard my paper...LOL! So I commend everyone that actually uses it :)

Be sure to visit Holly's Blog - KopyKat Creations and let her know how awesome her "Man Card" is! It is always a great day when you can "favorite" an awesome masculine card like this because they can be a real challenge.

Don't forget that our Design Team Call is open! You have a little less than a week to apply! We have had some awesome entries so far and look forward to your's too :)

I am off to work in the store :)

Have a great night all and a safe weekend!
Laura

The River Bends

Good Morning Stampers!

It's Tuesday which means we have a brand new Loves Rubberstamps Blog Challenge! This week the challenge is a Color Challenge of - Black, Turquoise & Yellow AND to be inspired by this photograph from the House of Turquoise:

I think that are some pretty textures and patterns in this photo! Those chevrons are so dramatic! Here is my card.

I used two different stamps from Gourmet Rubber Stamps. The first one is a Lizzie Anne Design called Ship, the other is also a Lizzie Anne Design called The River Bends. I sponged my scene using the Tim Holtz Distress Inks that are the Spring 2012 Limited Edition colors of Peacock Feathers and Squeezed Lemonade. I also used some Daffodil Delight and More Mustard from Stampin Up! to define the sunset and sun. My yellow polka dot paper is from the Simple Stories 6x6 paper pack called Summer Fresh.  I sponged the edges of this with More Mustard also. My chevron embossing folder is also from Stampin Up! and I sponged more of the Peacock Feathers Ink on top to help define the chevrons. I think that this saying with this image would make a beautiful sympathy card, which are always the hardest to make, I think anyway. I have used my favorite technique of sponging scenes :)

For my layout I used this week's Sketch from Mojo Monday #254

I am entering this into the following challenges:

Mojo Monday - MOJO254 Week Sketch
Craft Punked - Beside the Seaside
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Summer
Simon Says Stamp & Show - Use Favorite Technique - Mine is Sponging Sunsets & Sky Scenes
Pile It On - Bingo - My Line is Emboss, Image & Pearls
Incy Wincy Designs - Beach Days
Paper Pretties - Anything Goes
Whoopsi Daisy - Anything Goes
The Squirrel and The Fox - The Sea
One Stop Craft Challenge - A Summer Holiday

Thanks for stopping by!
Laura

Let's Play a Round of...GOLF!

Good Morning Stampers!

Today's card was created for inspiration for this week's Loves Rubberstamps Blog Challenge - Masculine Cards. Be sure to play along because you could win a shopping spree to the Loves Rubberstamps Store of up to $50! The more people that play... the higher the shopping spree :)

Here is my card...

My card was actually a really quick card to make. The golf scene was inspired by Michelle Zindorf and I followed her tutorial to create it. I am not very good with the brayer like Michelle is, so I use all sponging instead of using a brayer.

I added the sentiment on the golf scene using the Flourishes stamp set called A Guiding Light.

My Stampin Up! More Mustard Layer was stamped repeatedly with the All About Men sentiment stamp from Great Impressions Stamps. I stamped it using the More Mustard Ink because I wanted it to be subtle. I then sponged the edges with early espresso ink also from Stampin Up! The thing I LOVED about the All About Men stamp is that my more mustard layer is 4" x 5 1/4" and the stamp fit PERFECTLY clear across the front!

Here is a close up of my golf ball so you can see it actually has dimples in it like a real golf ball would. You can't see it in the other picture because they are very subtle and the light was not the greatest. Sorry for the yellow tinge on this one, one of my lights burned out in my light box right in the middle of taking pics!

My ball is popped up using dimensionals. I also popped the golf scene layer up on dimensionals as well.
Really fun and quick card that packs a big "wow"!

Hope you play along in our Loves Rubberstamps Blog Challenge!

Happy Stampin!
Laura

Calm After The Storm

Hi Everyone! I am EXCITED to share my card with you today because I created it for inspiration for the new, re-vamped Loves Rubberstamps Blog Challenges! This weeks challenge is called APRIL SHOWERS and to play you just create a card, scrapbook page, or other papercrafting project that is ANYTHING shower related! See all the details including what you can win in this post here - Blog Challenge #1 - April Showers

Here is my card:

I sponged the entire background using a lot of different Stampin Up! Ink Pads and my Umbrella is the new release C.C. Designs Cutters Die - Umbrella. After running the die through my cuttlebug I added score lines for dimension to look like the umbrella panels and then "popped" it using dimensionals on my card. The photograph that I was inpired by reminded me of the peaceful, calm stillness after an April rainstorm on the beach which is what I wanted to capture in my card. I chose the sentiment as a reminder to cherish the simple, beautiful things in life like a gorgeous landscape picture.

The photograph was one that I saw on Pinterest and had pinned to my CARD INSPIRATIONS BOARD. I love doing scenery cards so you will see a lot of pretty landscape pictures on there. You will also see some pretty cakes because I am inspired by those too...LOL! And if you check a little further into my pinterest boards you will see I have a ton of desserts to try recipes...way more than my food food ones... *blush*

Here is the photograph that inspired my card today, it is called "Colourful Morning by Noval Nugraha"

Here is what I used on my card - items that can currently be purchased in our store, Loves Rubberstamps, will have the clickable links :)

C.C. Designs Cutters Umbrella Die
Cherish Stamp is from a set by Clear Art Stamps

Cardstock Used:
Stampin Up! - Whisper White & Pumpkin Pie

Stampin Up! Inks Used:
Peach Parfait
Calypso Coral
Summer Sun
Basic Gray
Pink Pirouette
Pretty In Pink
Melon Mambo
Lavender Lace
Elegant Eggplant
Basic Black
Night of Navy

I also used a Spectrum Noir Alcohol Ink Marker in True Black from the Essentials Set, sponges, Stampin Up! Dimensionals and lots and lots of post it notes :)

I hope you enjoy the card today and play along in this week's challenge! Happy Stamping! - Laura

Magazine Holder

Good afternoon everyone!

Long time no stamp! I have been super busy lately and just haven't had time to make it to my craft room...but I made up for it today! I have a confession....I have TONS of craft magazines! Not just one craft either...lots! Crochet, Cross Stitch, Scrapbook, Cardmaking... and I can never make myself toss out the special Consultant only magazine, Stampin Success, that Stampin Up! sends out monthly, too much good stuff in there! It features techniques, scrapbook & card layouts and much more. I have all my magazines piled in boxes and when I want to find one I have to dig and it is a huge pain! So I started looking online last night for some easy ways to make your own magazine holder. I came across an e-how article about altering empty cereal boxes and using those to create them. That sounded like a good idea to me but a little flimsy for what I was looking for. So this morning when I was wandering around my craft room I had an A-HA moment! I do a lot of ebay shopping and I keep most of the boxes and envelopes that are in good, reuseable shape. I noticed that the MEDIUM FLAT RATE boxes from the post office were the PERFECT size to make into a magzine holder! They are super sturdy and a perfect 12" wide which makes altering them a breeze with the 12"x12" designer series paper! So I made one this morning for my Stampin Success Magazines! It turned out AWESOME! Here is the side view:



To get the box ready for altering here is what I did. I sealed one end that will be the bottom. I cut the flaps off the other side. I measured up 4" from the bottom on each side at the front of the box and marked it. I then drew a line between the two sides along the front connecting them. I used my ruler to draw a diagonal line from the 4" mark on the front to the upper back corner. I then just cut the box along my lines. To cover with designer series paper I layed the paper on the side I wanted to cover until it was where I wanted it. Carefully holding it in place I layed the box paper side down and traced the back of my paper. I then cut it and mounted it. I took a nail file and smoothed the cut box edges after my paper was on. Pretty easy really!

For this box I used the SPICE CAKE designer series paper to cover the top half. I then used pumpkin pie and chocolate chip as mats for the bottom half. I stamped a large panel of a pretty fall sunset scene set on a lake, with the trees reflecting in the water. I stamped en francais lightly on one side and then stamped the GRATEFUL sentiment, because I am grateful for my Stampin Up business :)
I finished off the panel using the gorgeous Victoria crochet trim. I did the same scene for both sides of my box. You just have to remember that the two sides will be opposite. So when I stamped my first panel I did my words on the right side, and on the second panel I had to stamp the words on the left, because when I mounted them on the box I wanted the ribbon side to be towards the front.

Here is a close up of my stamped panel.



Here is a close up of the side with the ribbon and words:



Here is a close up of the left side:



For the spine of my box I just cut a strip of the designer series paper and covered it. I did do a mat at the bottom of pumpkin pie, chocolate chip and then the matching designer series paper. I left this area kind of blank in case in the future I want to make a panel that says what's in the holder. Here is what the spine looks like.



For the front, I again did the same mat sequence, pumpkin pie, chocolate chip, the designer series paper. Then I did a pumpkin pie 2 3/8" scallop, a 1 3/4" chocolate chip scallop circle, then I created the STAMPIN SUCCESS on the computer and printed it out on very vanilla cardstock, punched it out with a 1 1/4" circle and sponged with chocolate chip ink. I adorned the scallops with the Basic pearls and added some victoria crochet trim. Here is the front:



And here is what it looks like from the front holding my Stampin Success magazines!



I covered the inside of my box with basic white copy paper just to cover up the priority mail wording on the inside. I think it turned out really neat! I can't wait to do more of these for my craft magazines. I thought it would be fun to seperate my magazines by seasons and do seasonal designs! Lots of possibilities and a great way to RECYCLE!

For my stamped design I was inspired by a beautiful card created by Michelle Zindorf which you can see here. Because her's was created awhile ago, I updated the colors I used and changed the stamp set so I used all current products. I also use sponges instead of a brayer.

For the sky & water the colors I used were: Peach Parfait, Bashful Blue, & Basic Gray - before sponging on your paper with the peach and the gray I rubbed them off on scratch paper so it wasn't as dark.

I used more mustard for the en francais words.

I did my trees using basic black, also for the reflections I used the basic black and the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig.

I sponged the outside of my panel with chocolate chip ink.

Here are the products I used to create this project.

MEDIUM FLAT RATE PRIORITY BOX - the one that is 12" wide.

Stampin Up! Stamp Sets: Lovely As a Tree, Always Thankful, En Francais

Paper: Stampin Up! Spice Cake Designer Series Paper, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Very Vanilla

Ink: Stampin Up! Classic ink pads in Peach Parfait, Bashful Blue, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard

Accessories: Stampin Up! Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, post it notes, white gel pen, sponges, Victoria Crochet Trim

Hello...MY FRIEND

Good Morning everyone!

I have an extra special treat for you today! Today's card features a SNEAK PEEK stamp set from the upcoming 2011-2012 Stampin Up! Catalog.... AND another one of the new In Colors - ISLAND INDIGO. This color is gorgeous! Here is the card:



Isn't that stamp set awesome? I love the swirls in the words and that flower silhouette! The new in colors are so pretty and they make awesome colors for the sunset or sunrise style cards. I am noticing a theme...hmmmmm, can you tell I would love to be on vacation? LOL! This card was inspired by the super talented Michelle Zindorf who does amazing scenery cards.

Here is what I used:

Stampin Up! Stamp Sets: My Friend - available July 1st!

Paper: Stampin Up! Island Indigo (available July 1st) & Whisper White

Ink: Stampin Up! Classic ink pads in Basic Black, Island Indigo, Pool Party, Calypso Coral, So Saffron, Daffodil Delight

Accessories: Stampin Up! Stampin Write Black Marker, Versamarker, White signo gel pen, Sponges

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Ahhhh....Paradise!

Good morning stampers!

As I promised yesterday I would share with you a tropical card using the new in color CALYPSO CORAL! Here it is:



Isn't that color gorgeous? I love it! Goes perfect with related colors for making sunset cards. Wouldn't it be awesome to be somplace like that right now? I was inspired by a card made by Loll Thompson on splitcoaststampers. She did a gorgeous card with this layout using blues for her water and yellows for her sky. She also used glossy paper and a brayer, I just used whisper white and sponges. In fact....if you can believe it the only stamps on this card are the two Palm Trees! They are from the stamp set Plant Hope. The rest of the card was done using post it notes as masks and sponging! Super easy once you get the hang of it and huge WOW factor! Schedule a workshop with me and I can teach you how to make these types of cards!

If you want to try one on your own here are the colors I used and what I did:

SKY:
After masking your horizon line with a post its....Sponge On
DAFFODIL DELIGHT
Make your sun by punching a 1" circle from a post it being sure to get some sticky and place it where you want your sun... Then Sponge
CALYPSO CORAL then sponge
TANGERINE TANGO and finally
CAJUN CRAZE

For the water I used:
DAFFODIL DELIGHT
CALYPSO CORAL
TANGERINE TANGO

The mountains I just ripped post its to make the edges rough, masked the area off with post its and sponged with basic black until it was solid.
I added white gel pen water highlights.
Stamped the trees in basic black then colored in the trucks, the branches, and the fronds with a basic black marker.
Freehanded the little birds
Highlighted a few palm fronds with my white gel pen...and WAAALAHHH....PARADISE!

I inked my square lattice embossing folder with calypso coral ink before running the calypso coral card stock through the big shot to give that piece extra depth. Very pretty color! I am loving the new in colors.... ONLY 6 more days for the new catalog to start! YAY! I hope you try one of these cards - they are fun! Have a great day!

Sweet Joy Fold Cards

Good morning everyone!

Today I wanted to share with you a couple of Joy Fold cards that I made using the branch stamp from the Easter Blossoms stamp set. I love the way the stamp looks coloring it with a white gel pen. Very pretty and it makes it just pop off the background colors! These are so easy to do and fun to see what it looks like on different colors!

My first one is done using PINK PIROUETTE and EARLY ESPRESSO cardstock and the early espresso designer series paper from the Neutrals paper pack (gorgeous papers!)



The next one I did was using SO SAFFRON & SOFT SUEDE card stocks and the soft suede designer series papers also from the same neutrals designer paper pack



The butterflies are made using the beautiful embosslits die and the vellum cardstock. I love how they both turned out! These would be great to use for many different occasions - Birthday, Thinking of you, Get well, Sympathy.

To create a JOY FOLD CARD this is what you do:

1. For your base cardstock - cut it at 4 1/4" x 8 1/2" and then score at 5 1/2"

2. For the base cardstock that will be the opening piece - cut it at 3" x 8" and score it at 4"

3. You will need designer series paper - 1 piece cut at 4" x 5 1/4" for the inside and then 1 piece cut at 2 3/4" x 4" for the front piece

4. On your card flap piece - you will need to have 1 piece of cardstock stamped or designer series paper whichever you prefer (branch piece in my samples) cut at 2 3/4" x 3 3/4" that is for one layer - if you want to do 2 layers besides the base cut it a 1/4" smaller so 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" - after this is done adhere to the outside flap piece - the flap needs to open from the left so like a backwards book.

5. For the inside of the card adhere a white or neutral color cardstock piece cut at 2 3/4" x 3 3/4" and stamp your sentiment on. Adhere to inside flap piece.

6. Adhere your flap piece to the card base and create a closure using a punch or small stamp design, like my "For You"

There is a great tutorial on Joy Fold Cards on splitcoast stampers which you can look at by clicking here:

Hope you enjoyed the cards today! If you want to try one here are the supplies I used:

Stampin Up! Stamp Sets: Easter Blossoms, Elements of Style

Paper: Stampin Up! So Saffron & Soft Suede, Very Vanilla & Pink Pirouette , Early Espresso & Whisper White. Designer Series paper Neutrals pack, Vellum Cardstock

Ink: Stampin Up! Classic ink pads in Early Espresso

Accessories: Stampin Up! White Gel Pen, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1" circle punch, big shot, beautiful wings embosslit, sponges, dimensionals, Chocolate Chip marker