Feathers and a Last Farewell! CCMC357

We have a really fun sketch this week at Create with Connie and Mary!  I am saying a last good-bye to some retiring products that I have enjoyed and still have some on hand; my "sneak peek" is scheduled to arrive this evening (if there isn't too much flooding)!  We have been in and out of town so was just recently able to place my order!  Next week I'll have new schtuff to show!  : )

I chose to rotate the sketch clockwise one turn to make a vertical card.  The base card is white overlaid with a pattern from the Sweet Dreams DSP (Occasions catalog).  The two Lost Lagoon DSP strips are from the Moonlight DSP Stack. 

A layer of Coastal Cabana is behind the main layer of Crisp Cantaloupe.  The sentiment is heat embossed with White Craft Ink and White Embossing Powder.

Three feathers were grouped together for the focal image and anchored with a shape from the Ikat photopolymer set which I heat embossed in Silver (several layers for thick coverage).  A Basic Pearl colored with a Sharpie Marker centers the image and a knot of Baker's Twine ties the pieces together visually.

Stamps:  Four Feathers, Lovely Amazing You (photopolymer set), Eye-Catching Ikat (photopolymer set)
Inks:  VersaMark, Lost Lagoon, Basic Gray, White Craft Ink Pad
Paper:  Sweet Dreams, Moonlight DSP;  Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe, Whisper White, Pool Party
Accessories:  Silver and White Embossing Powders, Basic Pearl, Baked Brown Sugar Baker's Twine
Tools:  Big Shot, Feathers Framelits Dies, Heat Tool, Paper Snips

Here is the sketch for this week's challenge:  
 

Now it's your turn to create with this great sketch!!  How about taking the challenge and see what you come up with then share it with us on the Create with Connie and Mary website!   Also, be sure to check out the creative works of the other Challenge Team members.. they are so talented and always inspire me!

Thanks for visiting today!  Happy Stamping!

Margaret

Wildflower Meadow Sympathy

Here's a sympathy card I needed to make today;  I used the new Wildflower Meadow set and Wildflower Meadow Textured Impressions Embossing Folder plus the new Pistachio Pudding color cardstock.

I wanted something soft and subtle and this beautiful new color just fills the bill.  

I love these silhouetted flowers and the sweet hummingbird.  They are stamped in the same Pistachio Pudding color as the cardstock for a tone-on-tone look.  I think nature is so soothing to the soul, don't you?

Notice the tiniest Pearls that I put in the center of each flower; I used the medium size on the sentiment banner.  The sentiment itself is from the Thoughts and Prayers set and is stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock.  Inside is a sympathy verse from the same set.

The Wildflower Meadow set and Wildflower Meadow embossing folder can be purchased separately. However, it is more cost effective to purchase the bundle on page 83 of the 2013-14 Stampin' Up! Catalog and save 15% off the total of the pair!  Makes your stamping dollars st-r-e-t-c-h- further!

Wildflower Meadow Wood-mount Bundle     #132735     $21.95

Wildflower Meadow Clear Bundle     #132985     $18.50
Each item may also be purchased separately.

You may purchase any Stampin' Up! or MDS items from my official Stampin' Up! website HERE.  Thank you for choosing to purchase from me as your demonstrator!

Blessings,

Margaret

Betsy's Blossoms In Color II!

Here's another card I made as a set sample before my last workshop where we used Betsy's Blossoms for one of our Make 'n Takes.  I've found this set to be as versatile as it is bold and fun!  Today's card doesn't use the birdie but instead uses the largest (about 2-1/2" diameter) of the three flower stamps in the set.  I've seen this flower used so many ways, so it in itself is also very versatile.  That's always a plus!!

My color scheme is the new In Colors for 2012-2014:  Midnight Muse, Gumball Green, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple and Summer Starfruit.  I chose Gumball Green cardstock for the card base and then randomly (sort of ) stamped the leaf in Gumball Green, the medium flower in Primrose Petals and the small flower cluster in Summer Starfruit.

 

I stamped the large flower with Midnight Muse onto Whisper White cardstock and then quickly cut it out with my Paper Snips; I am not one who yearns to cut things out but this went very fast and painlessly, lol!  I stamped and cut out another medium flower in Primrose Petals and stamped a small Summer Starfruit flower and punched it out with the 1/2" Circle Punch!  (Always love those punches!!)  These were each layered with Dimensionals and the Starfruit flower was centered with a small Rhinestone for a little bling!

Oops, I forgot to mention that I attached some of the new In Color 3/8" Primrose Petals Stitched Satin ribbon about a third of the way up from the bottom of the card; that ribbon is just beautiful and comes in all five of the new In Colors!  For the greeting, I stamped the Thank You from the Itty Bitty Banners set and die cut it with the Bitty Banners Framelits, and added to the Midnight Muse flower with Dimensionals. 

I love how fresh and summer-y this card turned out!  I must say that I love working with the new Firm Foam Ink Pads from Stampin' Up!  They are just wonderful from the ease of inking up your stamp to the fantastic coverage you get, even on solid image stamps like this set.  I can't wait to get them all, I like them SO MUCH!!  You really must try them, you'll like them!!

Thanks for visiting today!  Have a great week!

Margaret

Betsy's Blossoms In Color!

Well, yes, they are in color, but they are also stamped in the NEW 2012 IN COLORS which just became  available on June 1st!  Midnight Muse, Gumball Green, Summer Starfruit, Primrose Petals and Raspberry Ripple... don't those sound deliciously fun?  Since my last post was regarding the new In Colors, I was eager to make a card with my new stamps and colors!  (Sorry for the delay, we went on another trip, this time to Houston, a family reunion, and visiting relatives.)

Love the Betsy's Blossoms set!  The images are mostly solid and bold.  You can make a quick card with them or one with a lot more intricacy, either way!  The card base is the new Summer Starfruit In Color, over that is a layer of Whisper White.  I stamped the medium blossom in the set once with each of the new In Colors down the right side of the white, then trimmed away the edge to about the middle of the flowers.  I added a touch of Dazzling Details to the center of each flower to add some sparkle.

The adorable bird in this set was stamped in the dramatic dark Midnight Muse, cut out and an additional wing cut-out was layered over the base with a Stampin' Dimensional for emphasis.  A tiny Rhinestone was added for the eye.  The bird was placed over a leafy stem of Gumball Green which was diecut using the Sizzlit Little Leaves, a favorite of mine that I have used almost ever since I've had my Big Shot and is in the new catalog, thankfully!  (There is a wonderful leafy stem stamp in the set but for this card, this diecut seemed to fit my space better.) 

The verse is from a sweet set called Friendly Phrases which I know I will be using a lot!  A smaller flower from Betsy's set was stamped in Primrose Petals, punched out with the 1/2" Circle Punch and attached with a Stampin' Dimensional.  

This was my first opportunity to stamp with Stampin' Up!'s new Foam Ink Pads and they were a joy to stamp with!  I must say, I MUST NOW HAVE THEM ALL!!  lol!  The way they stamp these solid images is a stamper's dream!    The coverage is great!  Just wait until you try them, if you haven't yet!  You'll be lovin' them too!!

Any or all of these products can be purchased on my Stampin' Up! online store HERE   Thank you in advance for your order.  You may contact me through my Stampin' Up! website HERE with any questions.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Margaret

Presenting the 2012-2014 In Colors by Stampin' Up!

 WOW!!  Are these NEW 2012 IN COLORS stunning?!!  It's always fun to anticipate what new colors Stampin' Up! will come out with in the new annual catalog, and they didn't disappoint!  These colors are en pointe, trendy and lucious.  They also work well combined with each other and also with many of the existing standard Stampin' Up! colors!

2012-14 In Color Designer Papers

The gorgeous papers above are the prints in the new 2012-14 In Color 12 x 12 Designer Series Paper Stack.  It contains 40 sheets, 4 each of 2 double-sided designs in the five In Colors, #126910.

#126835  In Color Card Stock and Pad Kit

By purchasing the Card Stock and Ink Pad kit, you save $6.75, effectively getting the 20 sheet package of 8-1/2 x 11" cardstock (4 sheets each in the five In Colors, reg. $6.95) for free, because you also save on the tax and shipping!!  The ink pads are the fabulous new Firm Foam, which are wonderful and give even better coverage than the previous felt-type pads!

Primrose Petals 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon

Above is a roll of NEW In Color 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon; it comes in all five of the 2012-14 In Colors!  Gorgeous!

See the other items available in the NEW 2012-2014 In Colors on page 152 of the Stampin' Up! Catalog!  If you don't have one, you can view it  HERE in Flash format or  HERE in .pdf format.

I'll be posting a new card in just a few minutes using these new In Colors.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Margaret

Just Believe! Cajun and Pear

Welcome to the third day of our Just Believe! set series.  My hope to show some of the versatility of this lovely set this week!

I wanted to showcase the silhouette stamps on this card and use the new color Cajun Craze.  The new Color Coach was my go-to tool for this to give me ideas for a color scheme.  You'll love the totally new Color Coach!  It has so much larger chunks of color and you can fan the pages out to see and compare colors together!   There's even a couple of pages to add your own color schemes!  Check it out; I think you'll really like it and see how it you would benefit from it!

First I sponged Cajun Craze onto the lower part of a piece of Blushing Bride, then More Mustard was blended above that.  The large silhouette was then stamped twice in Cajun Craze and the smaller stems were stamped sparingly in Pear Pizzazz.  The sentiment was added at the top in Cajun Craze and the right side torn off.  This was layered on Pear Pizzazz which has the bottom treated with the Pinking Hearts Border Punch and the right side torn also.  Pear Pizzazz ribbon was tied around for finishing.  This was all layered on a Cajun Craze card base.

Inside I added a layer of Very Vanilla cardstock and stamped a sentiment from Favorite Thoughts set (Summer Mini), which will not be available after today, August 31st. : (  Several stems were stamped in Pear Pizzazz to carry the design through to the inside for a finished look.

Products used:
Just Believe!  #116948   $33.95 (w)      #120453  $25.95 (c)
Color Coach  #121620  (English only)  $14.95; 
      #122228 Color Coach (multiple languages) $14.95
Favorite Thoughts  (available only until Aug. 31, 2010)
     #116968  $15.95 (w);   #120048  $11.95 (c)
Pinking Hearts Border Punch  #117649  $15.95
Pear Pizzazz 1/2" Stitched Poly Ribbon  #119265  $8.95
Cardstock:  Cajun Craze  #119684;  Blushing Bride  #119796;  Pear Pizzazz  #119795;  Very Vanilla  #101650

You may order any of these items from your Stampin' Up! demonstrator.  If you don't have a demonstrator, I'd be happy for you to contact me by email or order online from my secure Stampin' Up! website here.  Then just click on the "Shop Now" button.

Thanks for visiting!  Have a great day!  I'll have another card in the series tomorrow!

Margaret

Just Believe!

One of the sets we received in our bag at Stampin' Up! Convention and used for our Make and Takes is the wonderful set of nine stamps called Just Believe (#116948 w or #120453 c, p. 109).  This understated and elegant card was made at a pre-convention stamp camp.

 The base is Sahara Sand layered with Crumb Cake and the new In Color Pear Pizzazz.  All of the stamps used on this card with the exception of the En Francais background stamped in Sahara Sand, are in the set, along with several others.

The circular floral stamp was stamped in Pear Pizzazz then punched out with the 1 1/4" Circle Punch and layered onto a circle of Crumb Cake punched out with the 1 3/8" Circle Punch.  A hole was punched through the center of this with the larger hole punch on the Crop-a-Dile and the new Pear Pizzazz ribbon threaded through and tied with a length of Linen Thread for a nice touch.

As you can see, a good bit of sponging and tearing gives this card some interesting character.  I enjoyed making it and was pleased with the results!  I'm eager to make more projects with this beautiful set!

Thanks for dropping by today!

Margaret

Fancy Flowers Everywhere!

Hi!  So sorry that I've not posted but it's been really busy around here!  I accepted an invitation to have a table of things for a special group of secretaries from around the state so I've been in high gear trying to get some things made!  I have cards but wanted to have some other items too.

The Extra Large Fancy Flower Punch may be my new BFF!!  lol!  I've used it so much in the last few days and it's working like the jewel that it is!  A couple of friends came over this weekend (Hi, Deanne and Cindy!!) and we made bookmarks and paperclips; the quickest and easiest way to make a quantity of like items is to use punches and we REALLY used the Fancy Flower and BoHo Blosssoms Punches!

First we made the Scallop Square Chipboard Frame Ribbon bookmarks in two different color combinations and then we made some flower paperclips using the square chipboard from the center of the frames as the base, again using the Fancy Flower Punch.  All of these flower projects also use the Boho Blossoms Flower Punch for the two smaller center flowers!



The first picture above is one of the bookmark color combos using some retired and/or retiring colors, cardstock and ribbon:  Pink Pirouette Ribbon is used for the actual bookmark portion of the project.  The frames are sponged in Regal Rose Craft Ink, leaves are Kiwi Kiss, flowers are Baja Breeze, centers are YoYo Yellow and Pretty in Pink with a gold brad center.  Pink Pirouette DSP is underneath the flower.

On the right is a picture of all the projects; they are so very colorful together!  My other project that I'll post later this week is also flowers, so other than the cards I'm selling, everything else will be flowers of some sort! 

You've probably all seen the paperclips with flowers but the Fancy Flower Punch makes them go so much faster, more dimensional and, I think, prettier!

I apologize for the last picture; the lighting was incandescent; there is a real yellow cast to it that I can't quite edit out.  It is of just the Scallop Square Chipboard Ribbon Bookmarks in Lilac and Lavender Lace.  The ribbon is the retired Kiwi Kiss grosgrain.

I actually should have posted these last weekend for the Blogger's Challenge which was for something altered.  The large paperclips are altered and I guess you could also consider the chipboard frames altered too!  If you would like to see what the other very talented Blogger Challengers did last weekend, just click HERE to see a list of the participants, then click on their name to go to their blog.

Thanks for visiting!  I'll have more projects to show you soon!

Margaret

Bermuda Bay Upsy Daisy

Wow, I hadn't used my Upsy Daisy in a while; it's such a great stamp set!  I'm thinking (wishing) for warmer weather and these flowers really appealed to me, PLUS I love how this print from the Thoroughly Modern Designer Series Paper pack reflects the daisy look!! 

I designed this card for a card class I did last week using the color scheme of Bermuda Bay, Barely Banana and Sahara Sand.  The daisy design was stamped on Sahara Sand then layered on Bermuda Bay and Barely Banana.  A strip of the DSP was layered onto the Bermuda Bay card and then the daisy layers added on top.

The sentiment from Whimsical Words (I got FREE as a Sale-A-Bration bonus for a $50. purchase) "You're never more than a Thought away" was stamped on sand with Bermuda then punched out with the Curly Label Punch.  This was then layered on additional punch-outs of banana and Not Quite Navy and added to the upper right-hand corner.  A single 5/16" Silver Jumbo Brad was the final touch!

Stamps:  Upsy Daisy,  Whimsical Words
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Not Quite Navy
Paper:  Thoroughly Modern DSP; Bermuda Bay, Sahara Sand, Barely Banana, Not Quite Navy
Accessories:  Curly Label Punch, 5/16" Silver Jumbo Brad

This was a simple yet cheerful card to convey your thoughtful message to a friend or loved one!  The banana color was the perfect counterpoint to brighten up the Bermuda Bay too!

 

Your comments make my day! 

Thanks for visiting!  Have a great day!

Margaret