New Demo Welcome - Stampin' Up! Attention Shoppers

   It's always an exciting event when a someone joins my team as a new demonstrator and of course I have to welcome them with a card!  I used the upcoming new Attention Shoppers bundle as I thought the shopping bags were a perfect way to celebrate that awesome 20% demonstrator discount that Margaret now gets to take advantage of!  

  This one starts with a Basic White thick card base and then I topped it with a layer of Flirty Flamingo and a piece of the soon to be retired Bee Mine DSP cut with one of the larger Perennial Postage dies.

  I stamped 3 of the shopping bags from the Attention Shopper set (coming May 1!) and colored the handles and tissue paper with Blends markers.  Then I stamped the bag again onto 3 different pieces of DSP and then fussy cut the body of the bag and paper pieced them to the bags that I stamped first.  Then the Attention Shoppers dies were used to cut the whole bag out.

  My favorite part of the this card are the little Stampin' Up! logos which I cut out from the old printed packing lists that we used to get in each order.  They were the perfect size for these shopping bags!

  The sentiment is from a retired demo only set called Stamping Your Way to the Top and I just fussy cut it and popped the pieces on dimensionals.  A few small rhinestones are scattered around for a little bit of sparkle.

  Current items used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.  Items marked with * will be available starting May 1, 2024 with the release of the 2024-2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog. If you'd like the opportunity to order these items early you can join my Stampin' Up! team and get preorder benefits!  And get 20% off just like my new downline Margaret!!

 Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Attention Shoppers*, Stamping Your Way to the Top (retired demo set)

Ink: Memento Black

Blends: Balmy Blue light, Calypso Coral light, Bubble Bath dark, Flirty Flamingo dark

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, Bee Mine DSP (retiring 4/30/24), Flirty Flamingo, Rain or Shine DSP (retired), Bright & Beautiful DSP, Garden Walk DSP (retired)

Accessories: Perennial Postage dies, dimensionals, Attention Shoppers dies*, rhinestones

Pastel Blooms - Stampin' Up! Country Birdhouse Dies

 My card today is one that is totally inspired by a challenge and quite literally followed the colors and the exact suggested layout.  I love the inspiration photo from the Inspired By challenge.  Beautifully decorated cake pops, check out the photos at the end of this post!  The layout is a great one for using up some tiny scraps as well!

  I loved the soft pastels in the inspiration photo and they so reminded me of the Lighter Than Air DSP which is soon retiring so if you love these spring-y colors don't wait to order the paper.  I pulled my color palette directly from the DSP colors (listed below).

  A Crumb Cake card base is a nice neutral background for a card with this many colors on it.  When I pulled out my dies to begin cutting the circles I mistakenly grabbed the retired Stitched Shapes dies instead of the current Stylish Shapes dies and I think the latter would have been the better choice as I think the size of circle is just a tad smaller and would have kept it from looking so crowded.  But I didn't notice until I was adhering them and I wasn't going to go back and re-do them.  12 circles barely fit but I squashed them on with dimensionals as adhesive.

  The flowers are cut from all the card stock colors using one of the flower accents dies from the new Country Birdhouse die set.  I love the simple look of the unembellished flowers

  Finally I stamped the sentiment from the new Simply Said stamp set and cut the banner with the new Hearts & Hugs die set and added it to the center of the card.

  This design is by no means a hard card to make just a bit tedious with the die cutting and lining up...BUT it was nice to pull out some of my smallest scraps and get them used up.

Current items used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.  Items marked with * will be available starting May 1, 2024 with the release of the 2024-2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog. If you'd like the opportunity to order these items early you can join my Stampin' Up! team and get preorder benefits! 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Simply Said*

Ink: Memento Black

Paper: Crumb Cake, Basic White, Lemon Lolly, Balmy Blue, Petal Pink, Fresh Freesia, Flirty Flamingo, Pool Party, Bubble Bath

Accessories: Stitched Shapes dies (retired, Stylish Shapes dies are a great alternative!), Country Birdhouse dies*, Heats & Hugs dies*

Leafy Birthday - Stampin' Up! Leaf Collection

  My card today is inspired by 2 different challenges. Just Us Girls has a fabulous mood board with gorgeous colors and Just Add Ink's choose two...leaves, flowers, pots.  I went with leaves and flowers!

  Look at that dramatic background!!  This one came out better than what I thought it would look like in my head!  It starts with a Basic Black card base and then all the magic (not really) happens on a piece of Basic White. I used colors from the mood board and blended them in a diagonal across the panel with blending brushes.  Then I stamped the new Leaf Collection background stamp in Versamark right over the top the of the ink blending and embossed it in black.  The leaves are so shiny in person and are really quite a cool look.

  After making the background panel it took me a bit of playing around to come up with something that didn't cover too much of the leaf pattern.  I decided on just embellishing a sentiment with some flowers and leaves.

  The two circles are cut with the Stylish Shapes dies and the new Simply Said stamp set is used to emboss the 'birthday wishes' in black to coordinate with the background.  Also it just pops off that Basic White.  I sandwiched a piece of retired Pool Party ribbon between the circles before adhering it all to the card front.

   The little flowers and leaves are part of the Country Birdhouse die set and I just cut a variety and then adhered them around the sentiment.  The two center flowers are popped on dimensionals and embellished with gems.

Current items used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.  Items marked with * will be available starting May 1, 2024 with the release of the 2024-2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog. If you'd like the opportunity to order these items early you can join my Stampin' Up! team today and get preorder benefits!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Leaf Collection*, Simply Said*

Ink: Versamark, Petal Pink, Peach Pie*, Pumpkin Pie, Pool Party, Lost Lagoon

Paper: Basic Black, Basic White, Petal Pink, Peach Pie*, Lost Lagoon, Pool Party

Accessories: black embossing powder, Stylish Shapes dies, Country Birdhouse dies*, dimensionals, blending brushes, gems, Pool Party ribbon (retired)

Thoughtful Sympathy - Stampin' Up! Heartfelt Hexagon

 My husband unfortunately had to send out a few sympathy cards last week so I wanted to restock my supply so I wouldn't be caught short.  I've said it before but making made to order sympathy cards is my least favorite reason to stamp so I always like to have some on hand already made to just send out without having to summon some creative energy on a sad occasion. 

  The new Thoughtful Journey DSP, available to customers starting on May 1, is beautiful paper to base a card around.  The soft watercolor scenes and restful colors are suited for so many kinds of cards but especially sympathy in my mind.

  

  I decided to use one of the scenes and frame it out because it's too pretty to cover it up.  The card base is Lost Lagoon, then a layer of Mossy Meadow and then the Thoughtful Journey DSP scene.  

  The frame is created with Mossy Meadow cardstock and the Deckled Rectangle dies.  The die cut is popped on dimensionals.  The sentiment from Heartfelt Hexagons is stamped in Mossy Meadow.  I promise that this punch and stamp set bundle will be available eventually!  I'm disappointed that the available date keeps getting pushed back because I want to show it off to my stampers in classes but so glad that it is carrying over to the new catalog.  I didn't use the punch this time but paired the sentiment with the new die set Unbounded Love coming May 1.  This set has 16 dies with 12 label/tag shapes and some leaves and flower stem accent shapes.  It will be perfect to highlight so many sentiments!

  I embellished the label with a Wild Wheat leaf and some Petunia Pop sprigs and a linen twine bow.  Sweet and simple!  I might have to use this same layout with a few more of the DSP scenes to finish the sympathy card restocking.

Current items used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.  Items marked with * will be available starting May 1, 2024 with the release of the 2024-2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog. If you'd like the opportunity to order these items early you can join my Stampin' Up! team and get preorder benefits!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Heartfelt Hexagon

Ink: Mossy Meadow

Paper: Lost Lagoon, Mossy Meadow, Thoughtful Journey DSP*, Basic White, Wild Wheat, Petunia Pop*

Accessories: Deckled Rectangle dies, dimensionals, linen thread, Unbounded Love dies*

Sweet & Simple Birthday - Stampin' Up! Lovely & Sweet

   I don't make many square cards and I don't really have a reason other than I'm just so used to doing the A2 size that it's my default.  So it's good when a challenge has a square layout because it gets me out of the A2 box a little!  The Freshly Made Sketches layout this week is square and I made myself stick to it and not turn it into a rectangle!

  To go along with the sketch and the "fresh" standard of the challenge I kept this one very straightforward and used some gold and shimmer to make it pop along with the colors.

  I started with a Basic White thick base cut to 4 1/4" x 4 1/4", next I added a piece of the soon to be retired Textured Shimmer paper in Balmy Blue.  Apparently I loved this paper so much I hoarded it and hardly used it! No idea why as it's lovely and you get white and Shaded Spruce along with the Balmy Blue.  What's not to love?  And it's currently on sale for only $6 until April 30 or until it sells out!

  I stamped the large almond branch in Versamark and embossed it in gold.  Then I used colored pencils and a blender pen to color it in; Garden Green, Granny Apple Green, Balmy Blue and Pecan Pie.  I added that panel to the card front with dimensionals.

  The sentiment is from the a new set that will be in the upcoming annual catalog, Simply Said.  This set is perfect for beginner stampers as well as avid crafters who need an all purpose set.  The embossing looks funky in the photo but it's gold on Azure Afternoon cardstock.

  Current items used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.  Items marked with * will be available starting May 1, 2024 with the release of the 2024-2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog. If you'd like the opportunity to order these items early you can join my Stampin' Up! team and get preorder benefits!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Lovely & Sweet, Simply Said*

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, Azure Afternoon, Textured Shimmer Paper (retiring 4/30/24)

Accessories: colored pencils, gold embossing powder, dimensionals

Pretty Pink Hugs - Stampin' Up! Hearts & Hugs

 After checking my calendar I realized that I need to get my butt in gear to design projects for 2 upcoming events as well as making more samples to show at my new catalog open house at the beginning of May!  I really need to just say no to house work and cooking for a few weeks right??  Since that won't happen I'll have to be efficient when I'm in the stamp room.  So without further ado here is my card that was prompted by the Color Hues challenge to use yellow and pink.

  I thought the new In Color Pretty in Pink would be perfect paired up with Lemon Lolly for this challenge and I think I was right!  As a side note Pretty in Pink seems like an exact match for the retired Pretty in Pink from back in the day.  Not sure if Stampin' Up! did that on purpose or what but if you have product in that color I think they will be interchangeable.

  For this card I used a Lemon Lolly base and then embossed a full panel in the same color with the Dotted Circles embossing folder.

  The mouse from the upcoming new set Hearts & Hugs is stamped in Early Espresso and then colored in with Blends markers.  Once it was die cut I popped it on dimensionals over a strip of retired Iridescent ribbon.

  I punched a heart out of Pretty in Pink cardstock and stamped the sentiment then tucked that behind the mouse. Using the little hearts dies in the Hearts & Hugs die set I added a few more smaller hearts to the card front. A few Iridescent adhesive backed discs are also added for some shine.

 Current items used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.  Items marked with * will be available starting May 1, 2024 with the release of the 2024-2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog. If you'd like the opportunity to order these items early you can join my Stampin' Up! team and get preorder benefits!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Hearts & Hugs

Ink: Early Espresso

Blends: Pretty in Pink light & dark*, Crumb Cake light & dark, Petal Pink dark

Paper: Lemon Lolly, Basic White, Pretty in Pink*

Accessories: Hearts & Hugs dies*, Dotted Circles embossing folder*, dimensionals, Iridescent adhesive-backed discs, heart punch (retired), Iridescent ribbon (retired)

Boho Birdhouse Birthday - Stampin' Up! Country Birdhouse

   I finally got some ink on the Country Birdhouse stamp set!  This bundle caught my eye right away during the demo pre pre-order but I just hadn't used it yet.  It's so cute and the mix and match possibilities with the different birdhouse parts can make endless designs with different combos.  I used so many new products on this card; customer will be able to order the new products starting on May 1st.

    I used some of the new Thoughtful Journey DSP for the background.  It looked like a nice morning sky to me and I pulled some of the colors from the paper to use in the rest of the design.

  I stamped the the birdhouse in Early Espresso ink onto Boho Blue cardstock and then die cut it with the coordinating Country Birdhouse dies.  I used some more new paper for the die cut roof, base and stand.  Country Woods DSP has beautiful woodgrain and flaky wood paint textures and colors and is perfect for some shabby chic designs.  I also die cut the little scalloped roof detail and stamped the scallops with Boho Blue ink.

  I used my Pebbled Path Blends marker to color in the birdhouse opening and little perch peg as the stamped image has them open.  Then I stamped the flowers and bird and colored them in with Blends as well.  I stamped the flowers in Pebbled Path and the bird in Early Espresso.  I couldn't decide if I liked one better than the other for the images so I just ended up leaving them different.

  After the coloring and die cutting I put all the pieces together for the house and then arranged the flowers and bird on the front.  The final thing is the stamped sentiment in Petunia Pop.  I left this one embellishment free which is very rare for me but I just think it didn't need anything else.

  Current items used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.  Items marked with * will be available starting May 1, 2024 with the release of the 2024-2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog. If you'd like the opportunity to order these items early you can join my Stampin' Up! team and get preorder benefits!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Country Birdhouse

Ink: Petunia Pop*, Early Espresso, Pebble Path, Boho Blue

Blends: Pool Party light & dark, Pretty Peacock light, Petunia Pop light & dark*, Fresh Freesia light & dark, Crumb Cake light & dark, Pebbled Path dark

Paper: Thoughtful Journey DSP*, Country Woods DSP*, Basic White, Boho Blue

Accessories: Country Birdhouse dies*, dimensionals

Leafy Birthday - Stampin' Up! Leaf Collection

   I finally got some ink on the all attendee giveaway prize that I got at the Houston OnStage event; Leaf Collection background stamp.  It's a beautiful stamp and I came across the Seize the Birthday challenge which is to use green and any other color to create a birthday card.  The perfect time to use a stamp that's all leaves!

   I was going for a lighter to darker kind of look with the green shades on the background stamp.  I used a brayer to ink up the stamp on a diagonal using (top to bottom) Lemon Lime Twist, Granny Apple Green and Old Olive.  At first I was a bit disappointed at the result with the uneven look (could have been the inking method or user error lol!) but then I kind of ended up liking that the image isn't perfect.  I cut the leaf panel with the Deckled Rectangle dies and then added it to the Basic White thick card front.

  And my whole reason for choosing purple as my other colors is that I mistakenly stamped some envelopes with the big flower from Hooray for Surprises a while back that I didn't end up needing so I wanted to make a card design to go with the envelope.  A little bit backwards from my usual design strategy.

  I added a strip of Gorgeous Grape with the ends angled.  Then a Stylish Shapes circle that I had in my orphaned card parts bin is stamped with Gorgeous Grape ink with a new sentiment set that is coming out on May 1 called Simply Said.  

  The flower from Hooray for Surprises is stamped in Highland Heather and die cut along with a leaf in Granny Apple Green.  I cut 3 tiny flowers and used my scoring stylus and a foam mat to press the centers causing the petal to curl in then added them to the center of the flower with glue dots.  The whole thing is then added to the edge of the circle with dimensionals.

  I accented the edge of the circle and the tiny flower centers with retired gems for a little bit of sparkle for the last touch.

Current items used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.  Items marked with * will be available starting May 1, 2024 with the release of the 2024-2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog. If you'd like the opportunity to order these items early you can join my Stampin' Up! team and get preorder benefits!

 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Leaf Collection*, Hooray for Surprises

Ink: Lemon Lime Twist, Granny Apple Green, Old Olive, Gorgeous Grape, Highland Heather

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, Gorgeous Grape, Granny Apple Green

Accessories: Hooray for Surprises dies, Stylish Shapes dies, dimensionals, Opaque adhesive-backed gems