Around the World on Wednesday--Let's Shake Things Up!

Our theme this month is NOT a shaker card, well it could be, but it is really to shake up your creativity by creating something new with a technique or such that you have not tried in the past. This was the perfect time for me to experiment with the Alcohol Stampin’ Blends technique that is super popular!

I want to thank my friend Alanna Wharf as she shared how to create this technique during a recent Summer Stamp Camp that I was co-hosting and it inspired me to try it out! I wanted to use this Blends technique on a holiday card—tis’ the season! Okay, well it is still summer but you can never be too ahead for the holidays!

The base of my card is on Shimmery White and you must use Vellum to create this alcohol Blends technique. You also need a Stampin’ Blend in a color (s) of your choice, in my case I used Light Cherry Cobbler, and some Isopropyl Alcohol (or Rubbing Alcohol). I used an old Aqua Painter (I knew I kept those for some reason, haha!) to apply drops of the Isopropyl Alcohol. The internet is full of a ton of videos (not my specialty) on how you can execute this technique. It is surprisingly easy!

I created my little area and then cut the star shape from the Seasonal Swirls Dies in Cherry Cobbler card stock. I added some yellow stars from the Jolly Felt and Christmas Cheer Dies. I was so happy that felt returned to the Holiday Catalogue this year again!

“Jingle” is from the Holly Jolly Wishes stamp set—this is a fantastic stamp set full of holiday greetings!

Here is a close up of how fun this technique looks like. I will definitely be experimenting with this technique again!

I wanted to create another fun little area at the top of my card and one of my favorite little dies as the moment is the ‘ticket’ die from the Bloom Dies in the Annual Catalogue. I used it to cut some of the Sweet Stockings DSP and then trimmed the ticket down in size. I found “Happy Christmas” in the Words of Cheer stamp set.

Another little felt star and some Matte Decorative Dots completed this fun little area!

I don’t typically add anything to the insides of my cards, but I thought it would be fun in this case to add the complete ‘Jingle’ phrase and another star die cut.

I can’t wait to see what the rest of the Around the World Design Team creates based on this theme! I love how you can ‘Hop’ all over the world to see everyone’s unique styles! I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada! Tricia Butts is up next and resides in the United States. Click on the button below to hop to her page!

Color Fusers--August Blog Hop!

Hello friends and welcome to another fun hope featuring the Color Fusers Design team and this awesome color combo! I really love purples and Just Jade has been permanently living on my craft table lately so I was super excited to create something with these four colors!

This card is all about the layers beginning with a base of Basic Grey! I cut a base layer out of Basic Grey as well and stamped some little flowers from the In Bloom stamp set in Basic Grey ink. A great tip for background stamping is to add all of the images , in this case little bitty flowers, on the block at once! It is a great time saver!

This card is an eclectic mix of items from the Annual Catalogue, the July-January Holiday Catty and Sale-a-bration! I just couldn’t resist using a little bit of something from all three of our publications!

The next layer on top of the Basic Grey is some Just Jade DSP from the Penguin Playmates collection in the Sale a bration catalogue. Off set to that I added some Basic White card stock that I ran through the new Timber 3D Embossing Folder from the July-January Catty and lastly, the Highland Heather DSP print is from the Hand-Penned collection.

Have you ordered this new Highland Heather 1/2 Grosgrain Ribbon yet? If not add it to your cart now! I love the shimmer to this ribbon and its easy to fold and tie and was the perfect add on behind the sentiment “Congrats You’re so Fancy Now”.

I die cut flowers from the Pierced Blooms dies in Gorgeous Grape and Highland Heather. A few of the purple toned pearls from the Pastel Pearls were an awesome finishing touch!

I also die cut some leaves for a little more Just Jade using the In Symmetry DSP and the Pierced Blooms dies.

I hope this card inspires you to play around with this fun color combo. If you look through our many fantastic Designer Series Papers you will see how many awesome options you have to create with!

Up next on the Hop is Melanie! I love her style and am always inspired by her creations! You can visit her next by clicking on the button below!

If you are just joining in her too you can always go back and see what Bonnie has designed as well! Either way, make sure you go all the way around our Design Team!

Around the World On Wednesday--CASE the Designer

Hello friends! Welcome to another fantastic blog hop! I love this hop because the talent of this group is so outstanding and this month our theme is to CASE (Copy and Share Everything) one of the Designers in the hop. I am happy that I am casing Tricia Butts from Colorado! It was actually really hard to pick a card to CASE as she had so many great designs to choose from!

I decided to pick a project of Tricia’s to case that had stamping, coloring and used the Stamp Cut & Emboss machine. Tricia created a really beautiful card that featured Polished Pink and the Hand Penned Bundle, two brand new products that I just love. It came me the idea to create a card that featured a new Christmas Floral stamp set and embossing folder.

I decided to keep as many elements of Tricia’s card in my design as well. So I started with a Basic White card base and a Poppy Parade layer that I ran through a new folder called Timeworn Type to mimic her Polished Pink embossed layer.

I love how Tricia used a scallop edge on her card design as an accent. It is one of my favorite things to do too! The one I chose is from the Peony Dies and Tricia used the Hand Penned Dies.

The central image on my card is from the Words of Cheer stamp set which is coming out in the new July-January (JJ) catalogue. This catalogue features Fall, Halloween and Christmas and you are going to LOVE IT! If you live in Canada and would like one, leave me a comment and I will make sure to get you one!

I colored this large poinsettia image with my Stampin’ Blends. The poinsettia is colored with Cherry Cobbler and the berries are with Poppy Parade. The greenery is colored with Old Olive. I added Wink of Stella over top of the poinsettia flowers too!

I loved how Tricia stamped her sentiment in White Craft Ink and embossed it so I decided to do the same with my sentiment “Wishing you a Joyful Christmas”. I wanted to bring a little gold into my card to accentuate the gold from the Wink of Stella so I added some gold metallic twine behind my sentiment.

A little strip of Gold Foil paper along the top was a little finishing touch to bring in a bit more gold.

I think this is SUCH a #goodcarddesign that can be repeated using any embossing folder and stamp set! I think you should give it a try yourself! Just make sure to give Tricia the design credit :)

To continue on the hop you are actually going to go and visit Tricia’s blog yourself! Just click on the link below! Thank you so much for coming by today! I hope you have to visit everyone on the hop for some fantastic inspiration!

Color Fusers--July 2021 Blog Hop

Hello friends! I really appreciate you taking the time to pop by and enjoy our Color Fusers Blog Hop! I love color challenges as they help stretch my creativity! This month’s color challenge is amazing and I am so excited with the project I designed using Basic White, Basic Black, Petal Pink and Gold!

When I was mentally toying around with this color palette, I had the idea to create something with stripes. I ended up including them but on the diagonal to create a focal point for my scrapbook page!

I also chose this particular picture because my mom and daughter are wearing black and white and call me crazy, but my photos have to coordinate somewhat with my page designs. In fact I hardly EVER create a page without my pictures first. I can make exceptions for specific holidays, like Father’s or Mother’s Day, but typically I always chose my picture first!

I decided to start off with a Basic White background for my scrapbook page and I added a spray of black using my Stampin’ Blends marker. I flicked the Blend across my page where I was intending to add in some flowers.

The flowers are from the Blossoms in Bloom stamp set and are stamped in Petal PInk. I pinched up the edges to give them a little more interest and depth. This page is quite minimalist for me but I am so happy with how it turned out!

The best part of this whole page is this 4 x 10 diagonal panel that I created to bring in the Basic Black, Petal Pink and Gold colors of this challenge. I cut a separate piece of Basic White card stock to 4 x 10. I then covered it with Tombow Glue—I think this is key, because there is wiggle time with this glue to get things perfect unlike Stampin’ Seal. I added in my strips which are 1 1/4 wide. Once I had them in place, I flipped over the Basic White and trimmed off the excess to create this fun panel.

The sentiment “Love is What Makes Us Family” is from the stamp set Lovely You.

I also added in a few Gilded Gems for a little extra pop of gold.

The sentiment “I like you a lot” is from the Blossoms in Bloom stamp set.

I cannot wait to see what the others in the Hop create with this color combo. If I am your first stop make sure you Hop all the way around and leave a comment! If you live in Canada you can shop with me using my Hostess Code or visiting my online store :)

You can go back to see what amazing project Melanie has created by clicking below,

To see what my fellow Artisan Design Team member Tami has designed please click below

Thank you so much and hope you all have an amazing JULY! Happy Stamping!

Love Your Colors!

Recently in our Artisan Team group chat we were talking about colors that we rarely use and don’t ‘love’ as much as some others. The idea was born to create a project using that color that tends to be left out and launch a campaign to #loveyourstampinupcolors

We hope you will share this hashtag too and create a project that features a color that can feel a little lonely in your collection.

Can you tell what color was my focus? Merry Merlot! I don’t know why but it isn’t a color that I reach for very often, but after making this card I think I have developed a little more love for it. Doesn’t it look beautiful and elegant paired with the Shaded Summer stamp set and some gold accents?

The base of my card is Merry Merlot and I cut a 2 x 5 1/2 strip that I ran through the Pretty Flowers embossing folder and added to the bottom of my card.

I cut a layer of Basic White and ran the bottom through the one of the Basic Borders Dies…if you do not have these yet, hit ADD TO CART now :)

I decided to pull out the Gilded Leafing to add an elegant touch to my card. I thought it would look so pretty with Merry Merlot. I used the wide tip of my Tombow Multi Adhesive Glue to spread some glue in random spots along the edge. You can then press the panel into the Gilded Leafing and dust off the excess. It is such as easy way to add this product on.

I flicked my Merry Merlot marker across the card base too. I love adding a little flecking of color to my projects and this technique is so easy.

I used my Stampin’ Write Markers in Merry Merlot and Mossy Meadow to color both of the large floral images in the Shaded Summer stamp set. I then hand trimmed this out and added them to my project to appear like one larger floral.

I also selected a couple flowers to color again and cut out to add on top of the image to give a little more height and dimension.

I added a little strip of Gold Foil Paper along the top edge as well for a little more glam. And finally finished it off with some classic Pearls! Can’t get any more elegant than pearls right?

I love how this card turned out and I am so happy I have sparked a little more love for this rich lovely color. I hope you will pull Merry Merlot off of your shelf and create something with it too. Make sure to use the hashtag #loveyourstampinupcolors