Stampin' on Tuesday Project 1 - April 2014

Tuesdays are a very special day for me because I get to stamp,  no matter what else is happening.  That's right, I try not to  book or make plans to do anything besides going to my craft room and having fun!  Now, I don't necessarily do that on my own, it's always more fun having friends join me. 

This past Tuesday I was blessed to have my great friend Sheri join me and we made three projects which I'm going to share with you. We had such a lot of fun.  I laugh more on Tuesdays than I do any other time of the week. I guess that says a lot about stamping and great friends!  

In the near future I'll be posting some of the class projects I'm working on.  If you're in the Fraser Valley area I hope you'll join me for one or more of them.  You can check out my calendar of events by clicking here or check out my Facebook link. 


Project # 1:  Flower Shop Happy Birthday Card 

Now that Spring's arrived I want to use all my floral stamp sets.  If you're the same, have you checked out all the great cards and projects made with the Flower Shop stamp set that are sprouting up everywhere?  Well I have, and I'm simply amazed at all the great designs featuring this lovely six piece floral set.  

In fact, there are so many great samples out there that I'd like to try, I've set up a board appropriately called Cards - Flower Shop on my Pinterest site (access from the Pinterest pin on my sidebar).  If you're looking for some terrific ideas just check there I'm sure you'll be amazed and enchanted too!

Flower Shop Clear Mount #130942 $21.95 or Wood Mount #130939 $29.95

Pansy Punch #130698 $21.95 as seen on page 183 of the Idea Book and Catalogue.

The Flower Shop stamp set is featured on page 94 of the Idea Book and Catalogue (2013/14). There are six five petal stamps detailing various floral images.  This set comes in wood and clear mount styles and coordinates with the Pansy Punch on page 183. You can use the images in so many ways.  You can stamp them on cards, use them as embellishments on gift bags and wrapping paper, or you can even turn them into stemmed flowers in a vase.  The possibilities are endless.  The Flower Shop stamp set and Pansy Punch are available separately or you save 15% of the total cost by purchasing them as a bundle until May 31st, 2014.  What a great deal!  

Inspiration:

For today's card, I took my inspiration from this one made by Sue Craig of Bensarmom blog  that was posted on Split Coast Stampers.  What I liked most about Sue's card was the clean crisp look and the free-hand cutting around the edges of the stamped flowers and  front of the card base.

 Although Sue's card was my inspiration, I didn't CAS it exactly as shown but made some subtle changes to make it my own. 

Here are the cards Sheri and I made, starting with Sheri's:

Sheri made this beautiful card which features an Elegant Eggplant card base and Flower Shop images stamped in Wisteria Wonder ink. She chose a birthday theme and changed the card opening to the bottom from the side so that the longer sentiment from the Perfectly Penned stamp set would fit.  

The Perfectly Penned stamp set has four sentiments that will work for almost any occasion. 

Sheri did an excellent job of stamping the four perfectly placed flowers on the Whisper White panel.  She managed this by twisting and fitting the stamps petal to petal. Her Whisper White layer originally measured 5 1/2 x 4 and she did not cut away the card front base around the petals like Sue's card.

The smaller flowers from the Petite Petals stamp set coordinate perfectly with the Flower Shop set.  Sheri stamped them in Elegant Eggplant ink to give some contrast when they were attached with dimensionals to the large flower images. The Petite Petals stamp set is on page 33 of the Occasions catalogue also has a coordinating punch, and is available individually or as a bundle.  Check out the bundle price, you'll save 15%.

Sheri embellished the top of her card with a strip of card stock punched out with the Scalloped Border punch in Elegant Eggplant card stock.  She also added Basic Rhinestones to the flower centers and dotted the "i" in Birthday with a small basic rhinestone.  The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Perfectly Penned stamp set and was stamped with Elegant Eggplant. 
 

For the inside of Sheri's card she cut a panel from Whisper White card stock with the Top Note Bigz Die Cut.  Plain and simple but very effective. Nice job inside and out Sheri........ I love your card!

Here is my card,which is similar in layout to Sheri's but unlike her, I struggled to place my four flowers in a straight line that would fit on the Whisper White card layer piece which originally measure 4" by 5 1/4".

Whether it was because I wasn't wearing my glasses or hadn't had lunch, I don't know, but I just couldn't stamp four whole flowers on that piece of card stock.   I even used my Stamp-a-Ma-Jig, but to no avail. The best I could manage was 3 1/2 flowers, and I did it twice! I didn't want to ruin yet another piece of card stock so I just went ahead and used the 3 1/2 flower image.  I cut around each of the flowers leaving a 1/16" border.  Need I say during my frustrating stamping experience that Sheri was giggling furiously on the other side of the table! 

Never to be outdone, or out-laughed, I decided to fix my stamping "miscalculation" by stamping an additional four flowers on a scrap of Whisper White and punched them out with the Pansy Punch.  Then I stamped four Petite Petals flower images for the centers.  I sponged both sets of flowers with Elegant Eggplant ink to add some definition.

I also sponged a very light misting of Wisteria Wonder ink above the original 3 1/2 stamped flowers to give a shadow effect and then attached the punched out flowers across the panel.  Some of the petals had to be overlapped to make the four flowers fit across the card face.

You can just see the faint shadow in the background of these flowers.  Don't they look pretty and the best part is they fit across the card face. 

For the finishing touch to this piece I cut the card stock down to  5 1/4" x 3 1/2" and used the Scalloped Border Punch on the top of this panel.  I adhered Small Basic Pearls along the base of the scalloped edge in between each scallop, and Large Basic Pearls for the centers of each of the four flowers. I also stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment in Elegant Eggplant on this layer. I loved the way this panel looked when it was adhered to the card base. 

The scallop trim border punch adds interesting detail to your projects and it's firm lever action makes it easy to punch out.  Item #118402 $20.95 on page 181 of the IB&C. 

When I began working on the inside of my card I decided to use the second "mis-stamped" piece of Whisper White card stock instead of using a Top Note layer like Sheri did.  I think it worked out okay.

This view shows how I was unable to stamp the four flowers evenly across the Whisper White layer of the card, but was still able to salvage the cardstock by using it on the inside of the card.

TIPS FOR USING THE FLOWER SHOP STAMP BUNDLE:
One thing I'd like to bring to your attention is when you use a stamp set like Flower Shop and it's coordinating punch is that it's sometimes a bit tricky to punch out the flower image nicely unless you've taken the time to line up the punch and stamp set correctly.  

Fortunately I found a video by Sam Donald on YouTube that helped remedy what could be a frustrating situation if your stamps aren't mounted properly. As you'll see in the video when the stamp and images are lined up correctly they work perfectly.

If you purchase the Flower Shop bundle through my online store, I will be happy to show you in person how to line up your stamp images and punch. 

Penny

Wetlands Card Set

We've been having a lot of rain lately, in our little corner of the Pacific Northwest.  

I'm not complaining though.  I know it's good for the water table since we didn't have a lot of snow pack this winter and it's great for all the spring flowers that are popping up all over, it's just that it's really been curbing our daily walking routine.  

Yesterday when the sun popped out for an hour or so we did get a chance to go for our walk starting out by the pond below our place. The evidence of Spring is everywhere, from the buds on the branches and the vivid hues of the Forsythia and cherry trees. The ducks and Canada geese are nesting by the waterside and soon their hatchlings will be trailing along behind them down the many paths.  

You might be asking yourself what all this has to do with stamping?  Well, let me tell you.  On returning from our walk I was inspired to play with one of my new and soon to be favourite stamp sets called "Wetlands". 

Wetlands is comprised of six stamps - three with images of waterbirds and greenery and three with beautifully scripted sentiments.  Wetlands is one of those sets you can easily pass by in the catalogue but it's worth taking a second look.  You can find it on page 69 of the Idea Book and Catalogue. 
 

Wetlands Wood Mount #126695 $26.95 or Clear Mount #126697 $20.95

Here is a set of cards I made:

I'm a big fan of inchies and window cards so when I saw a card on Pinterest by Julia Carmichael, I was eager to CAS it.  Julia's version has a Pool Party card base and her layered inchies were both in Whisper White card stock.  Click here to see Julia's beautiful card.

For the detail on this card I made three short score lines in varying lengths, using my Simply Scored Board.  I started scoring at the outside and decreased the length of each score by 1/4" as I moved towards the center.  I changed up the position of these scores with the layout of each of the four cards.  Although the cards look nice without these score lines, the addition of such a simple detail takes the cards to a higher level. 

I changed the position of the inchies on each of the cards as well as the sentiments and placement of the score lines.  I think this makes for a nicer set of cards. I also plan to make two Birthday Greeting cards to go with this set and a box to hold them.  What a nice gift this will be for someone.

I stamped the images randomly on a scrap piece of Whisper White card stock with Staz On Black Ink, and then punched them out with square punches. I used a 1 1/4" square punch for the images and a 1 3/8" punch for the coloured card stock layers.  The card stock colours I chose were for a colour challenge and featured Smokey Slate, Crushed Curry and Marina Mist, in small amounts this was a great combination.

  

I really like the sentiments that come with this set.  They are similar to those in the Sincere Salutations Stamp set which retired last year.  I really, really missed that stamp set, so Wetlands now gives me back at least three of the stamps that I use most often. 

I kept the inside of my card simple and just added the shore birds stamp at the base. 

Supplies for My Card:
Stamp Set:  Wetlands   
Card Stock:  Whisper White, small scraps of Crushed Curry, Marina Mist and Smokey Slate for the 1 3/8 x 1 3/8" background layers.    
Ink:  Staz On Black Ink

Accessories:  Simply Scored Score Board and Scoring Tool, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" square punches, dimensionals, adhesive.

I hope you liked these cards.  They are clean and simple, but so rewarding.  You can't make just one, I promise you.  

I'll be posting more Wetlands cards later this week so come back again.  If you like this stamp set and would like to order it just click here for my online store.   

If you live in the Fraser Valley area and would like to attend a class featuring different techniques using the Wetlands set just email me and I'll set something up.  I have a lot of Wetlands sample cards on my Pinterest site.  I hope you'll check it out.  Just click on the Pinterest Button on my side board panel, and then once you're in my cards board, simply click on my picture and it will take you to my other posting boards.  You'll find the examples on the board called " Cards - Wetlands".  

Penny

Happy Birthday Mom

Today's my mom's 92nd birthday, and I wanted to share the card I made for her special celebration.  

My mom has loved flowers all her life,

so I wanted to make a card that featured some kind of floral stamping or design.  

My original idea was to stamp a Circle Thinlets card base with the Stippled Blossoms stamp set.  I was planning on working with Cranberry Crisp and Whisper White card stock and inks.  However, I changed my mind at the last minute, and I'm glad I did.

I chose instead to make the card base from Smokey Slate card stock and add  some floral designer series paper and a 3-dimensional floral image.  My inspiration for the card I'm about to show you came from my Floral Fusion class that I held last Spring. The card that influenced me sported a large free style flower on it's face.  I decided that was the perfect design to recreate for my mom's card.

Here's what I came up with:

Isn't this paper from the Watercolour Wonder Designer Series paper simply stunning?  The beautiful Cranberry Crisp and Calypso Coral rose images and Smokey Slate dots combined to create a soft and elegant background for my 3-dimensional flower and sentiment. The "happy birthday" sentiment from the Perfectly Penned stamp set, with it's bold curlicues is stamped in Basic Grey over a cluster of roses. 

I used another of the Perfectly Penned sentiments on the inside of my card and stamped the two-step rose from the Stippled Blossoms stamp set in the bottom right corner. 

Supplies:

Card stock:  Smokey Slate for the card base (5 1/2 x 8 1/2 scored at center), Cranberry Crisp for the first layer (5 1/4 x 4 sponge edges with Cranberry Crisp ink) and Whisper White for the inside of the card (5 x 3 3/4 attached with Sticky Strip at the top of card.

DSP:  Silver Glimmer Paper (scrap), Watercolor Wonder DSP (5 x 3 3/4")

Ink:  Basic Gray, Smokey Slate, Cranberry Crisp 

Stamp Sets:  Perfectly Penned, Stippled Blossoms

Accessories:

• 2 1/2", 1 3/4", 1 3/8 , 1 1/4" and 3/4" circle punches
• Bird Builder Punch for leaves 
• Dazzling Details
• Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons #127555 
• Paper Snips
• Sponge Dauber 
• Adhesive, Glue Dots, Dimensionals
• Stamp-a-ma-jig

To Make The Flower: 

1. Punch out a 2 1/2" and a 1 3/4" circle from Smokey Slate.
2. From both pieces snip out small "V's" leaving the same amount of space as you work your way around the circle. 
3. Use a sponge or sponge dauber to distress edges of the flower petals with Smokey Slate ink.  Curl up the edges with your bone folder.  Adhere the smaller petal round to the larger one with sticky strip.
4. Punch out a 1 3/8" circle from the Silver Glimmer Paper and adhere it to the center of the flower with sticky strip.
5. Punch out a 1 1/4" circle from Cranberry Crisp Cardstock and sponge the edges with corresponding ink.  Adhere to Glimmer paper with a large glue dot.
6. Punch a 3/4" circle from Smokey Slate.  Sponge the edges with Smokey Slate ink and adhere to center of Cranberry Crisp piece.  
7. Adhere a small clear faceted button to the center of the flower with a large glue dot and place a medium sized basic rhinestone in the center.  
8. Cut four wings from Pear Pizzazz card stock using the Bird Builder Punch.  Attach these with glue dots to the bottom of the flower, arranging in clusters of two.  
9. When flower is finished add some glitter to the gray flower petals with Dazzling Details.  Just enough to give a wet look around each petal.  
10. When the Dazzling Details is completely dry attach the flower to the card front with dimensionals. 

  Here is the card along with the one that inspired me.

To change the look of this card I made a few simple changes such as the addition of a card stock layer, changing the DSP, the card and flower petal colours.  I also switched the layering of the flower center to card stock instead of the bottle cap.    

Here you can see the original card along with others in the Floral Fusion set. 

And one final look at my finished card.  My mom loved it.

To bring out the gray dots on the Watercolour DSP piece I sponged around the edges with Smokey Slate before adhering to the Cranberry Crisp layer.  This really worked to bring in those soft gray tones.

Thanks for taking a look at this card.  It was a joy to make.  I'd love to hear from you, so leave me a comment if you like this card design too. 

SALE-A-BRATION Last Chance...

The end of March has rolled around quicker than I imagined.  So this is my final reminder that in just a few hours, there won't be any more Sale-a-bration free stuff.  

This is absolutely your last chance to decide if you got all the things you wanted?  If not take advantage of the time that's left.  

All you have to do is place a $60.00 Stampin' Up! Order (you can order anything from my On-line store to qualify).  Every $60 purchase will earn you a free product.  

Penny

Make a Wish...........Birthday Banner Card

Every now and again we all need a little push to try something out that isn't in our comfort zone.  Last week I entered that "twilight zone" by choosing to make a gender neutral birthday card using banners and brighter colours than I normally would.

The decision to change up my usual card making style gave me an opportunity to try out some of my new products from the Spring Occasions catalogue. 

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Perfect Pennants #133230(cm) or wood #133227and Bring on the Cake

Framelit:  Banners Framelit Dies #132173  Note: You can save 15% by bundling the Banner Framelit Die and Perfect Pennants Stamp set.  See details on Page 27 of the Occasions Catalogue.

Ink:  Real Red, Coastal Cabana

Card Stock:  Real Red, Crumb Cake, Coastal Cabana, Whisper White

DSP:  Fresh Prints Designer Series Paper Pack #132996, pg 33 Occasions Catalogue

Accessories:  2 1/2 Circle Punch, Starburst Framelits Die #132967, 1/2 inch circle punch, Stripes Embossing Folder, Decorative Dots Embossing Folder (Free in Sale-a-bration Catalogue with $60 purchase until MARCH 31st) adhesive, Big Shot Machine,

Bring On The Cake - Clear-Mount Stamp set #121958 Price: $33.95 or Wood Mount # 128490 $47.95

Perfect Pennants Clear-mount Stamp Set #133230 Price: $26.95 or Wood Mount #133227 Price: $36.95

Perfect Pennants Clear-Mount Bundle   #134816 Price: $50.95 or Wood Mount #134815 Price: $59.50    If you want to create that "just because" project for a friend or loved one, the Perfect Pennants Set is perfect! And the Banners Framelits Dies make cutting the Perfect Pennants images quick and easy.  Buy the Perfect Pennants clear-mount stamp set and coordinating Banners Framelits Dies together at a 15% discount. 

Here's My Finished Card:

TIP FOR USING BANNER FRAMELIT DIES:

Tip #1.  I find it really helpful to put a label on each package of dies that I have in my stockpile of Stampin' Up Tools so I can find them quickly when I'm searching for it in the drawer.  

Tip #2:  I like to number my nesting framelits starting from the inside and working to the center.  As you can see from this picture there are 6 dies in this framelit set.  I just use a Sharpie Black Marker.

Tip #3:  When I get a new die cut I like to cut a template for reference.  The template(s) can be stored in the packaging for the die cut and I find it helps to write the number of the Framelit and the framelit measurements on each of the templates in a set. When I'm working on a sketch or designing my own card I can play with the templates to get positioning and sizing worked out before I cut my actual card layers.  

The next layer on this card is really fun to make.  For the Coastal Cabana banner simply cut a 2 1/2" x 8 1/4" piece of card stock and score this piece at 4 2/8 and fold on the score line.   

  Using framelit #2 from the Banner Framelit dies, place the fold line of the Coastal Cabana card stock just below the cutting edge of the framelit and run through the Big Shot.  

To make sure the fold line isn't cut off place the card stock a little below the cutting line.  See the gap above.

Emboss the full banner with the Stripes Embossing Folder.  Adhere this banner to the right hand side of the large dsp banner.

Using Framelit #3 cut out a banner from Whisper White card stock and stamp it with the "Wish Big" sentiment from the Bring on the Cake stamp set.  Adhere this smaller banner to the inside of the folded Coastal Cabana banner.

For the layered Starburst portion of the tag, stamp the sentiment "Make a Wish" from the Perfect Pennants stamp set in Real Red on Whisper White and punch out with a 2 1/2" circle punch.  Stamp the sentiment again in Coastal Cabana ink and punch out the "a" with the 1/2" circle punch.  Mount this small "a" with a dimensional to the real red image.   

Die cut a piece of Real Red card stock with the Starburst Framelit die and adhere to Coastal Cabana banner with dimensionals.  

For the inside of the card I adhered the top of a 5 14 x 4" piece of Whisper White card stock to the card base.  I added a 1/4" wide strip of the Fresh Prints Designer Paper to the right hand side of this card layer and stamped the sentiment "Sending Good Thoughts Your Way" in Real Red ink.

This card could be made in many colour combinations, just pick a piece of DSP or make your own designer paper by combining at least 3 colours. I really liked using the Banner Framelits for this card and the Starburst framelit and think they added a modern twist. 

Thanks for joining me today and checking out this brief tutorial.  Hope you enjoyed it.  I would really appreciate your comments and any tips you can leave about how you organize or work with framelits and your thoughts on this card.  Is it one you would re-create?  Let me know.

 Penny  





 

Stampin Up Promotions Ending March 31st..........

Sale-A-Bration ends Monday, March 31! 
March 31st is your last chance to earn FREE, exclusive Sale-A-Bration gifts with each $60 purchase. 

Weekly Deals:
Check out the March 25th to 31st Weekly Deals here.

Best of 25 Years
March 31st is your very last chance to get any of the 12 exclusive 25th Anniversary Stamp Sets.  Check out this link for all the information on how to order these very reasonably priced exclusive sets.  

If you've been collecting proof of purchase stickers on the Best of 25 stamp sets your last chance to redeem them is April 30, 2014.  Remember you need six stickers to qualify for a free stamp set of your choice valued up to $17.95. 
 

Free Markers With New Subscription to Paper Pumpkin.  This promotion ends on March 31, 2014. Click here to see the details.

My Digital Studio - Latest Downloads
Are you a fan of My Digital Studio.  If so check out this link to Tuesday's newest MDS Downloads.

March Updates................The Clock is Ticking!!!

Where Have I Been???

Wow!  Are you wondering where I've been? It's been a while and I'm sorry for the delay in posting but I've been on the road and not able to access my blog and posts.  But, as of today I'm getting back on track and will be uploading both the Stampin' Up Promotions for March as well as some great cards, 3-D projects and upcoming class information.

Promotions and Weekly Deal Changes:
Starting today, I'm making a change in how I post the Stampin' Up! Promotions and Weekly Deals, and I think you'll like it!  

Instead of posting all the information about a special promotion or the weekly deals on my main blog page, I'll be giving you a short alert to let you know something's up and putting a link in the post to my new Promo Page or Weekly Deals Page, at the top of my Blog, then you can check out the link for all the details.  

Pinterest Updates: 
Are you a follower of my Pinterest site?  If you click on my Pinterest Button located on the top left hand side of my main page, you will link to "My Cards" on Pinterest,  How cool is that?  

While you're on my Pinterest site you can also check out what I'm interested in making, baking and more, by simply clicking on my picture icon on that page.  Yes, that's right once you click on my picture the link will take you to my main Pinterest page and you can access all my boards.  

Lately I've been re-pinning pictures of cards for various Stampin' Up stamp sets, for example Wetlands.  If you've bought this set from me and want to see other examples besides the ones I've shown you, this will be the board for you.  Sound like fun?  It is!  Hope you'll try it out today.