YOU'VE GOT THIS

I got a request for a card! That doesn't happen nearly often enough. But, when it does, I am thrilled.

This was a commission for a sympathy card, something I don't make very frequently. 

I had purchased the lovely set, You've Got This, quite awhile ago. Like the good, faithful little fussy cutter I am, I did stamp the flower portion several times upon various scraps of Designer Series Paper. I cut them out on car trips, as I am wont to do. But, so far, I hadn't used any of these exquisite flowers in any projects.

As soon as a sympathy card was requested, these lonely flowers popped into my brain. So, I spread them out before me and finally chose one on DSP that I thought was suitable to send condolences.

It took me quite awhile to come up with a cross-hatched background that I liked with this particular flower. But, finally, I hit on this one stamped in Smoky Slate.

The DSP from which the flower was fussy cut was a Mint Macaron and white marbled look. So, I kept the color scheme fairly somber -- black, gray, white and the subtle Mint Macaron, not only in the flower itself, but also in the thin mat around the image layer.

I had wanted to add the sentiment, With Sympathy, but I was having much difficulty in exactly how to present it. 

After many trials, I ended up with this -- stamped in Archival Basic Black onto Vellum Cardstock. I crisply folded the vellum at the edges and folded the ends to the back of the panel. This gives such a neat -- and simple -- edge that is very effective. After I added the vellum strip, I felt it was still calling for something more. A couple of Basic Pearls was just what it needed.

The person requesting this card hasn't seen it yet. I sincerely hope it meets her needs.

What are some of your favorite images to use when creating sympathy cards?

Sympathetic

Smiles.

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

It's the middle of January, and here in central Wisconsin, it is none too cheery. In fact, we've been experiencing deep freeze cold as well as blizzard conditions. 

I thought to cheer us all up, I should introduce some FLOWERS into our life, to at least give us the sensation of cheerful flowery color and gardens growing, by creating a card full of this happiness.

Recently, as I was digging through all the stuff that I just HAD to save throughout the years, I came across a container of paint chips. I thought it would be super cute to "grow" a row of flowers in each of the shades of one specific color.

So I dug out my Petite Petals stamp set (page 86 in the big catalog), as well as the matching punch (page 187) and went to work on an orange swatch.

I was sort of stumped as to what to do with the stems for the flowers. After looking through the Framelits and Thinlits I had, I came across the PERFECT stem. It was part of the Flower Fair Framelits set (page 192). So I grabbed a paint swatch of shades of green and cut out the stems with leaves to go with my row of posies.

I was able to incorporate lots of dimension into this card through the use of Stampin' Dimensionals. For the stems/leaves, I used teeny pieces of it.

Another interesting facet of the card is the combination of textures and prints that I got with the four rows of blue/orange/yellow/green. The dots of the blue Designer Series Paper, the varied lines of the orange ribbon, the straight smoothness of the yellow cardstock, with the uneven texture in the green grass cut with the Fringe Scissors (page 189), all unite for a fascinating combination of visual flavors.

So, I challenge you: get out those paint chips I KNOW you have hidden away somewhere, and give them a good workout!

Chip-per

Smiles.

DELICATE DETAILS STRIPES

Sale-A-Bration is the best time of the Stampin' Up! year. Why? you ask. Because during that period, which began January 4 and runs through March 31, for every $50 you order (before shipping and tax) you can pick one of the freebies from the special SAB brochure! 

This year, they have 12 choices from which to pick. After perusing the Sale-A-Bration brochure, I immediately fell in love with one of the free stamp sets, Delicate Details, found on page 9. It is a set of five border stamps, each a delightful and delectable piece of stamped lace. 

My most recent Stamp-In workshop was held Monday, January 9. So my girls could see firsthand at least one of the SAB offerings, I created a card using one of the lace strips from that stamp set.

Pairing strips of lace stamping with strips cut from a retired Designer Series Paper that featured lines of happy branches, I created an entire background for my card front. In fact, when one of my girls sat down to begin creating this card, she thought it WAS DSP! 

Everyone had so much fun putting this card together! One of the girls had an alternate method for placing the stripes. I will refer to that later, in the instructions.

Isn't that lace simply adorable?!?

If you would like to recreate this card for yourself, here is a tutorial on how to do so:

SUPPLIES:

Old Olive cardstock

Calypso Coral cardstock

Whisper White cardstock

Designer Series Paper (ideally one that has a design in 1/2" stripes)

Rose Wonder stamp set

Old Olive ink

Always Artichoke ink

Big Shot

Rose Garden Thinlits

Banner Punch

Stampin' Dimensionals

INSTRUCTIONS:

Fold a 5 1/2" X 8 1/2" piece of Calypso Coral cardstock in half, creasing well with a bone folder.

TO PREPARE THE 4" X 5 1/4" PIECE OF OLD OLIVE CARDSTOCK: Stamp the lace border in Always Artichoke ink so the tips of the longest portions of lace fall at the bottom of the piece. Add a 1/2" x 4" piece of DSP above the lace stamping. Continue in this manner until you have covered the entire green piece. You will need five of the DSP pieces and will stamp the lace strip about 5 1/2 times.

ALTERNATE OPTION PRESENTED BY MY STAMPER: She first stamped the lace edge, turned over the strip of DSP and laid it above the stamping, then stamped again, and continued all the way up the card, spacing the stamping by laying the DSP strip upside down above the previous stamped lace. After she had all the stamping done, she adhered the strips in their empty spots. Whichever method you prefer and feel most comfortable with is the one you should use.

Adhere the completed piece to the card base.

On a scrap of Whisper White, stamp the border of the label in Old Olive ink and the sentiment in Always Artichoke. Using the matching Framelit, cut it out at the Big Shot.

With the Banner Punch, punch out one banner from Calypso Coral cardstock. Adhere it to the back of the right side of the sentiment label.

From Old Olive cardstock, use the correct Thinlit to cut a branch. Adhere this to the card base as you please.

With a couple Stampin' Dimensionals, adhere the sentiment piece over the top of the branch.

Delicate

Smiles.

DROPPING IN

You realize, if you've been following my blog, that at times, when I need a little boost of inspiration, I will randomly grab from my box one of the Project Life cards that I store in there. From that pick, I then challenge myself to create something with it. Oftentimes the card is something I would NEVER choose had I the option of looking first.

All of the cards have two sides from which to choose. Usually one side appeals to me more than the other, so it's not really that much of a challenge for me.

Sometimes though both sides are equally appalling to me and I am torn about which one I should actually take on. Such torture.

One example of an instance like that is my choices for this particular card. The side I chose -- obviously -- is the landscape one with three green arrows running across the bottom. Huh? Not being an arrow person, I was stymied.

Another thing you've probably noticed over the years is that I love the combination of pink and green or orange and green. For this card, I opted for a combination of pink/orange and chose Calypso Coral with the green.

Once that combination was chosen, I was on a roll.

I was able to instill a lot of dimension into this card with the use of Stampin' Dimensionals, candy dots and ribbon. And I added a bit more interest with a jaunty dotty background DSP.

After some misgivings at first, I walked away from this card suitably inspired and satisfied.

What method(s) do you use to attempt to get your mojo back, to entice your muse to return from vacation, or just to restart your engines? Share!

Mojo

Smiles.

SNOWFLAKES AND SPARKLES

I know this card looks more Christmas-y than not. But, it is chilly and snowy here in Wisconsin today (January 4). A.N.D., isn't the wish for PEACE year-round? 

So, I present to you this peaceful icy snowflake card.

I love the icy look of the glitter.

Would you like to try your hand at recreating this card?

If so, I have a treat for you.

Following is the tutorial:

SUPPLIES:

Holly Jolly Greetings (page 34 of the annual catalog)

Whisper White cardstock

Wisteria Wonder cardstock

Island Indigo cardstock

Watercolor Paper

Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper

VersaMark ink

Island Indigo ink

Pool Party ink

Wisteria Wonder ink

Island Indigo Stampin' Write Marker

Ruler

Stampin' Dimensionals

Heat Tool

White Embossing Powder

Embossing Buddy

Stamping Sponges

Elmer's Glue

Water

Paintbrush

Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

Duet Banner Punch

DIRECTIONS:

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of Whisper White cardstock in half, creasing well with a bone folder.

Rub a 3 1/2" x 4 3/4" piece of watercolor paper well with the Embossing Buddy. Randomly stamp the snowflake onto this piece with VersaMark ink. At the heat station, cover the stamped images with white embossing powder, tapping the excess powder back into its container. Heat to emboss.

Using the appropriate sponges with Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party and Island Indigo inks, sponge across the embossed snowflakes. Start out lightly. You can always add more color to deepen the tones.

Squirt a small dab of Elmer's Glue into a paint tray. Add enough water to pretty much fill up the rest of the hole. With a paintbrush, mix the glue and the water well. Then, dip the brush into the mixture and splatter it onto the snowflake piece until you are happy with the placement of the splotches. 

Holding the piece over a bowl containing Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, spoon glitter all over the paper. Tap the excess glitter back into its bowl. Set aside to dry completely.

Adhere a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Island Indigo to the card base, followed by a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of Wisteria Wonder.

Punch a fancy banner from a scrap of Whisper White cardstock. Stamp your chosen word (mine is PEACE) in the center in Island Indigo ink. With a ruler and the thin end of the Island Indigo Stampin' Write Marker, draw a line from the dip in the top to the dip in the bottom on both sides to make the banner look more dimensional.

Stick one end of a thin strip of the Glimmer Paper into the same banner punch, and punch just the two ends of the banner. Adhere these to the end of the white banner, letting about 1/8" sticking beyond. You may have to trim off a little excess of the Glimmer Paper that shows beneath the white.

If the glued piece is dry, adhere it to the card front. Follow this with the banner, attaching it with two Stampin' Dimensionals.

Warm

Smiles.