GARDEN COLLAGE - OLDIE BUT A GOODIE

I really love this set and never really used it (2005) till now.  I've seen lots of cards on Pinterest lately using it and said "well let's get that puppy out and start playing with it."

So this is my version of the card I found on Pinterest but it didn't use Garden Collage.  I felt like coloring so I grabbed it and away I went.  I was more interested in seeing if I could CASE this card done by Amy Celona.

Here is an upclose shot of the bird.

I was very pleased with it!  What do you think?

So then I decided to use the other stamp from Garden Collage and came up with this card.

I was really in the mood to color!!  I used watercolor paper after stamping with Black Stazon.

Here is a close up.

I actually used a retired marker "YOYO Yellow" to fill in some areas.

I ended up taking off the ribbon and it looks much better.

Here is what happens when you leave everything out on your desk thinking you are going to make another card and you end up making something else!  A mess!!

Recipe: (Hopefully I can remember)

Pink card:  

Stamp Set:  Garden Collage (retired)

Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Very Vanilla, Watercolor Paper

Inks: Certainly Celery, Pink Piroutette, Black Stazon

Accessories:  Framelits Labels, large oval punch, sponging, blender pens, Textured Impressions Embossing folder (Hearts and curvy edge), Adorning Accents Edgelits, Designer Frames (Oval) embossing folders, eyelet border (retired), dimensionals, 2 way glue, dazzling diamonds.

MOM card:

Stamp Set:  Garden Collage (retired), Messages for Mom (retired)

Cardstock:  Daffodil Delight, Watercolor Paper, Soft Suede, DSP Polka Dot Parade

Inks:  YoYo Yellow (retired), Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake, Black Stazon

Accessories:  Retired Spiral punch, versamark pen, clear embossing powder, edge tool.

SYMPATHY CARD

Last week my friend Patti's cat, Dickens, passed away.

I just had to make something for her because losing a pet is like losing someone in the family.

She works in a library and loves tags and book marks, so I created this for her.  She might see this before it arrives in the mail, but then maybe she will cry now instead of later.

I don't know why it came out blue, but you can see the true colors in the following pictures.

I didn't want to just sent a tag, so I popped it onto the front of a card and wrote inside.

I used a couple retired sets but love them!

One is the "Canvas" background

The other set is called "Meow Meow" from 1998!

I used a picture she posted to try to re-create how beautiful he was.  This does not do him justice.  After stamping and coloring, I punched him out with the oval punch and then stamped him with versamark and dunked it into the clear embossing powder.  He's shiny!

I used the new Photopolymer Stamp set "Designer Typeset" to stamp out his name.

I hope she loves it!

Recipe:

Stamps:  Retired "Meow Meow" and "Canvas" background stamp, Photopolymer Stamp set "Designer Typeset", and the Hostess Set "Occasional Quotes".

Cardstock:  Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla

Ink:  Soft Suede, black stazon

Accessories: Circle punches to make top of tag, Victoria Ribbon, Clear embossing powder, versamark ink, versamark pen, real red marker.

BY THE TIDE

I have seen so many beautiful cards made with Stampin' Up!'s stamp set called "By the Tide"

I thought I'd give it a try.

I really enjoyed "playing" with these cards.  You can kind of see the clear embossing on the top left coral.

The conch shell and the corals are both embossed with clear embossing powder.  

The coral have been sponged with Baja Breeze.

Recipe:

Stamp Set:  By the Tide, Best Dad Ever

Cardstock:  Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla

Ink:  Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake

Accessories:  Clear Embossing powder, Stamp-a-ma-jig, sponges, dimensionals, Hemp Twine (retired)

STAMPING WITH FRIENDS

I love to stamp!  But stamping with friends is the best!

Yesterday two of my Stampin' Up! demonstrator friends came over and we stamped!  We did a shoebox swap which consisted of a card and a 3D item.

I was so excited to make this card because I didn't know how to use the border Edgelits or the Adorning Accents Folder.  Thank you Pam Dotts for teaching me!!

 Mary Ford received this Easter card from her SU! cousin and wanted to share it with us.  It was created using 4 squares for the flower.  We ran it through the square lattice folder.  Tulips are one of my favorite flowers!

Pam created this great 3D jar filled with Chocolate Nuggets!!  Red, white and blue still appeals to me!!

So summery! (is that a word?)

Mary created this gift bag which also hold cards and envelopes.  I like the lace across the bottom too!

If you click on the picture it will enlarge it so you can see more details.

If you would like to join us when we stamp, let me know!

OHHHH LOOKIE, LOOKIE!!

I found a card I wanted to CASE on Pinterest from Lisa Young.  Well here is my version and I am so happy with it.  Of course it looks much better in real life.

The flower somehow got flattened a little,

 but it's supposed to be scrunched!

Here is a close up of the border and bottom left.

Can you see the spritz??

After stamping the bird with Soft Suede and punching it out, I embossed it with clear embossing powder and added a pearl for the eye.  

Also used dimensionals to make him pop out.

Ahhh NOW you can see the spritz!  I sponged the edges with soft suede after they were all layered.

When making the bow I stapled it so it wasn't going to go anywhere and used the retired Pop Up Glue dots.

I hope you like it!

Here is the recipe:

Stamps:  Blissful Bird, Tiny Tags, Itty Bitty Backgrounds (R)

Ink:  Soft Suede

Cardstock:  Very Vanilla, Baja Breeze, Soft Suede

Accessories: Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon, sponges, Elegant lines & Perfect Polka Dots Textured Empressions, twine, antique brads, 2 way glue pen, clear embossing powder, versamark, basic pearls.

Punches:  Scallop trim border punch, 1 3/4" scallop circle punch, jewelry tag punch, bird builder punch.

STAMPIN' UP! COLOR REFRESH and FREE SHIPPING APRIL 6th-8th

In 2010 when we did our big color renovation 

we shared our plans for smaller color refreshes 

every three to five years to keep our colors on 

trend. Well it has been three years and we are 

excited to announce that the upcoming 2013–

2014 annual catalog will include 10 new colors 

(most of which are returning In Colors® from 

previous years)!

WHAT THE REFRESH LOOKS LIKE.

Q: What are the new core colors, and what are the In Colors that are returning as core colors?

A: The one new color is called Smoky Slate. The nine returning In Colors as core colors are Bermuda Bay, Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry, Island Indigo, Pear Pizzazz, Pool Party, Soft Sky, and Wisteria Wonder. 

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FREE SHIPPING ON EVERYTHING FOR THREE DAYS!

April 6th-8th, 2013

We're excited to let you know that we are offering FREE shipping on EVERYTHING April 6-8 (excluding expedited orders)! That's right. There are no minimums or limits and all order types qualify (customer, demonstrator, workshop, online). Did we mention that the free shipping is on everything?

TRYING A NEW TECHNIQUE

I made a set of 4 thank you cards and am really pleased with how they turned out.

I found this great tutorial by Robin Merriman,
click here to see it.  

What I did was take a piece of DSP and stamp the Swallowtail Stamp with versamark onto it.  Then I covered it in clear embossing powder and heated it with the heat gun.  Then I took Going Gray ink and sponged all over then cleaned the butterfly with a cloth to remove the ink.  This is called "emboss resist"
So on each card you can see the image of the Swallowtail.

On this card I punched Going Gray and Summer Starfruit with the Decorative label punch.  Cut the Going Gray in half, added brads, adhered them to the DSP, then popped the Summer Starfruit up with dimensionals.

On each card I used the small and large butterfly punch, then I ran them through the bigshot with the polka dot embossing folder.

Here I layered the butterflies.

On the tutorial Robin used gray ribbon, but I didn't have any so I used the scallop ribbon border punch and made 2 of them.  Adhered them together to make a larger band.

Here is it up close.  Clever aren't I???  :)

This is the inside of the horizontal card.

Up close shots.

Piggy backing the butterflies. Or should I say layering?

Up close of the layered label.

Inside of the cards.

Stamp sets:  Swallowtail, Tiny Tags, Four Frames

Cardstock:  Going Gray, DSP Sycamore Street, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White

Ink:  Going Gray

Accessories:  Summer Starfruit Ribbon, Large and small butterfly punches, Decorative Label punch, neutral brads, Antique Brads, dimensionals, clear embossing powder, dots embossing folder, dotted scallop ribbon border, glue dots.