EVERYTHING IS ROSY

Have you ever paid a visit to the Stampin' Up! Clearance Rack? If you never have, you are missing out on some great buys! 

Recently Stampin' Up! added to their Clearance Rack and a few of my stamping friends and I went sort of nuts. Especially for one item: the Everything Is Rosy Product Medley. Regularly priced at $80.00 -- which already was a good value for all the product in it! -- now, on the Clearance Rack, it is priced at $44.00. 

Following is the list of what you get for your $44.00:  

Everything Is Rosy Photopolymer Stamp Set—18 stamps; suggested blocks: a, b, c

Everything Is Rosy Dies—10 dies; largest die 2-7/8" x 1" (7.3 x 2.5 cm)
6" x 6" Designer Series Paper Stack—48 sheets; 8 each of 6 double-sided designs
6" x 6" rose gold foil paper—8 sheets
Printed die cuts—2 sheets
Rose gold die cuts—4 sheets; 2 each of 2 designs
Rose gold adhesive backed mirror embellishments—60 embellishments; 1/4" (6.4 mm)
Melon Mambo 1/4" (6.4 mm) Ruched Ribbon—10 yards (9.1 m)
Night of Navy/Rose Gold 3/8" (1 cm) Metallic –Edge Ribbon—10 yards (9.1 m)
Rose Gold Shimmer Paint—1/2 oz. (15 ml)

A truly incredible value! The papers are beyond gorgeous, as are the two spools of ribbon. And you not only get a wonderful stamp set, but the coordinating dies! Plus lots more!

This past Monday, my two stamping friends and I got together at my house to create with this Product Medley. We were all so excited. 

The basic colors are Night of Navy, Melon Mambo and Rose Gold, with touches of Whisper White and varying hues of the colors here and there. 

For this blog post, I created eight cards, using as much of the product that came in the kit as possible. I wanted to showcase all of the double-sided Designer Series Papers especially. I don't show you any of the "ordinary" sides of the DSP, just the sides that feature the lovely rose gold metallic accents.

As I show you each card, I will tell you a bit about it.

The first, a Valentine, measures 4 1/4" square. I cut 3" squares of the DSP for the focal point of the card, and went from there. The sentiment is a very old one, stamped in Night of Navy, with the heart fussy cut. The ruched ribbon looped behind the heart comes in the kit. 

One of the dies creates the delicate metallic rose gold edging atop the Night of Navy strip at the right edge. The label which contains the sentiment, the ruched ribbon, the die cut flowers and the precious DSP all are part of the kit contents.

The next card was my first attempt of the session. I had actually dreamed of this heartful concoction and was so excited to give it a try. Meh. Not a huge fan. Anyway, this card too measures 4 1/4" square, with me cutting the marbled metallic piece to a 4" square. From Whisper White cardstock, I used a die from a few years ago to cut the pretty lacy heart. The two flowers were stamped in Night of Navy and die cut with stamps and dies that come in the kit. Notice the three rose gold dots elsewhere on the heart. These also are part of Everything Is Rosy.

The metallic-flavored cardstock in this next card is beyond beautiful: rose gold leaves, flowers and dots upon a Melon Mambo background. I wanted as much of this DSP to show in my card as possible so it could be appreciated to the fullest. The rose gold edged label is part of the kit, along with the metallic dot. I also added some of the Melon Mambo ruched ribbon, and utilized another die from the kit to cut the pretty foliage below the sentiment from some of the shiny rose gold cardstock that comes with all the goodies.

This next card features paper -- this time metallic rose gold fronds and berries upon Night of Navy -- that I wanted to show as much as I could once again. I mounted a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of it against a brushed metallic cardstock I had on hand. Before I did that, however, I stamped a sentiment onto another of the labels that came in the kit and mounted that against the brushed cardstock. I then used a 2 1/2" circle die to cut a circle in the navy DSP and popped it up with Stampin' Dimensionals over the sentiment. I then added a diecut rose gold flower in the upper right of the circle so it overlooked the sentiment piece.

My Birthday Hugs and Wishes card, next, is the most ornate of the bunch I created. I used the marbled paper again, die cutting a 2 3/4" circle into it and popping it up with Dimensionals over a Whisper White card base onto which I had stamped my sentiment in Night of Navy. Everything besides the white card base is on a layer above. The two rose gold on white diecut flowers came in the kit. I used one of the foliage dies from the kit to cut from the shiny rose gold cardstock the two pieces that frame the lower half of the circle. 

Next you see another card with beautiful DSP. The shiny metallic portions of this paper are small and spread out. The pretty rose gold-edged label, as well as the stamped sentiment, are part of the kit. This is the first time I've shown you the other ribbon that accompanies it. It is Night of Navy edged in the metallic rose gold. Very elegant. I looped it through the hole that was in the top of the label. To finish it off, I used the same die to cut Night of Navy fronds to add to the bottom of the sentiment. This whole piece is popped up on the card with Stampin' Dimensionals. The DSP is so beautifully busy that I didn't want to overwhelm it too much with what I added.

Finally, I grabbed the Country Floral 3D embossing folder (page 198 in the Annual Catalog) and ran a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of the shiny rose gold cardstock through the Big Shot inside this folder. Glorious! I used another of the cute labels that accompanied the kit, a diecut flower piece and a snippet of the gorgeous navy ribbon, as well as some Dimensionals, to finish it off. 

If you do a search on Pinterest for Everything Is Rosy, you will be amazed at all the spectacular creations people have come up with using this Product Medley. 

I admit that I was hesitant to spend $44.00 on one thing, but now that I have it, I will never regret it. I have so so much of the paper left, along with most of the ribbon and diecuts. I never even opened the Rose Gold Shimmer Paint. So I still have ALL of that. And I will have the stamps and dies forever. I can't wait to get down to my Creation Station to have more fun with all these goodies!

Rosy

Smiles.

IT'S MADE OUT OF WHAT??

If you've been following my blog for any length of time, you may think of me as weird. Nontraditional. Entertaining. Frugal. Eccentric. A hoarder. Resourceful. Demented. Nonsense. Out-of-my-mind. Someone-to-be-admired. Creative. Any number of descriptives, some not as complimentary as others. Oh well. I am who I am. 

I am very happy with the place from which my creativity comes. Weird or not.

When working with Pigment Sprinkles recently at a Stamp-In Workshops, one of my girls was about to toss a used paper towel into the garbage. I gasped and grabbed it back out so fast her head almost spun around. "No! This is potential art!" She looked at me like I had finally completely lost my mind. Shrugged and walked away. 

Actually the piece she was about to toss in the garbage did need a bit more work. In that it didn't have quite enough splotches of color on it. 

Just to prove that this hoarding capacity of mine is not so weird, here you go:

Do you like my card? The main background is one layer of color saturated paper towel that most normal people would have tossed in the trash without a a second thought. Especially if it seemed to be saturated and used up. 

To utilize a colorful paper towel in this manner, carefully separate the plys (is that the plural of ply, as in 3-ply?). All of the layers will be colorful, but the top ply will probably boast the most intense color. 

Once you have your desired layer, cut a scrap piece of WHITE cardstock for the base. The one for this particular card measured 3 3/4" x 5". Cut your layer of paper towel so it is slightly larger than this base, about 4 1/2" x 6" maybe? 

Crumple the towel in your hands, loosely uncrumple it. Repeat with the crumpling and uncrumpling a couple of times. Don't ever really flatten it. It's the crumples that give it its character and texture.

Using a good glue stick, carefully cover the entire surface of your base white cardstock, being especially careful on the edges and corners. Very important. 

Working quickly, before the glue starts to dry, place the half flattened crumpled paper towel approximately centered over the gluey piece. Don't pull on the edges! Simply pat gently over the paper towel to push it into the glue, being careful to preserve any creases or wrinkles you can. 

Once you are happy with the texture of your piece, gently bring the excess paper toweling to the back of the glued piece and adhere it all neatly in place. 

From there, you are all ready to proceed with your creation!

FYI, the reason I specified that this base be WHITE is that, well . . . I didn't really think it mattered. For my first one, I used a piece of pale gray scrap cardstock. Yuk. A very toned down nondescript piece that DID go right into the garbage. So, for this process, be sure to grab white cardstock for the brightest most flattering colors.

Notice my card sitting atop some more potential backgrounds!

Isn't it amazing how much beautiful texture and dimension you can get 

if you are careful with your crumpling and gluing down?

Just imagine the potential here:

Tell me now, and be honest. Are you going to look at wet soppy paper towels the same again? Are they going to be tossed in the garbage? Or are they going to be dried flat and lovingly stacked in neat piles for the future?

Weird

Smiles.

POPPY THANKS

Tell me. Who doesn't love poppies? 

Well, to tell you the truth, I didn't. As a kid. I thought their centers were really too creepy for words. But, now that I'm grown up, I have more grown up ideas (in some ways), and I think poppies are lovely.

The cover of the new Mini Catalog had me swooning.That breathtaking cover succeeded in doing just that -- took my breath away -- the first time I laid eyes on it. All those poppies. Sigh.

But wait!

There is lots more poppy love inside the catalog, on pages 24 - 27. If you love poppies, please do yourself a favor and check out these pages. 

Unfortunately, so far the only purchase I've made from these pages is the Painted Poppies set on page 26. FYI: I love this ENTIRE catalog, so I have to proceed slowly. Right?

Once I got my hands on this set, I was sure I wanted to create a card for my girls to make at my January Stamp-In Workshop. 

This is the card I came up with:

I used the large poppy stamp for the background stamping on -- you guessed it! -- Poppy Parade cardstock. For the two focal point poppies, I stamped two of the smaller poppy onto Whisper White cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and used, yup!, the two shades of Poppy Parade Stampin' Blends to color them in. 

Obviously, since this is the only poppy-themed item I own, and don't have the dies that do the fussy cutting for me, I (and the girls) had to fussy cut these two small poppies.

Just a couple of Stampin' Dimensionals under the left poppy give the card a modest amount of dimension. Ideal to stick in the mail.

Below you see a closeup photo of the two fussy cut poppies perched atop their black diecut frame, which used the Ornate Frames Dies from the 2019 Holiday Catalog. Happily, this set of dies is one of the items from the Catalog that are still available. Their product number is 150664.

Following you will find a tutorial on how to recreate this card.

SUPPLIES:

Poppy Parade cardstock (of course!)

Basic Black cardstock

Whisper White cardstock

Itty Bitty Greetings (page 30, Annual Catalog)

Painted Poppies (page 26, Mini Catalog)

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Poppy Parade Stampin' Blends, both Light and Dark

Big Shot

Ornate Frames Dies (item #150664)

Stampin' Dimensionals

DIRECTIONS:

Fold a 4 1/4" x 11" piece of Whisper White cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

To this card base, add a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of black cardstock.

Stamp in Memento Tuxedo Black ink the larger poppy image randomly onto a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of Poppy Parade cardstock, starting with a poppy near the center and working out from there, turning the stamp so the poppies aren't all facing the same way. Be sure to add pieces of the poppy to the edges also so the entire paper is covered with wall to wall poppies.

from black cardstock, die cut the large ornate frame, as well as the smaller one for the sentiment, using dies from the Ornate Frames Dies.

On a scrap of Whisper White cardstock, stamp the smaller poppy twice. Use both of the Poppy Parade Stampin' Blends to color them, doing a little blending.

Fussy cut the two flowers. Add one to the right of the large ornate frame, adhered flat. Tilting the second flower a bit, add this one to the left, but pop it up with a couple Stampin' Dimensionals.

Adhere this flat to the card front, about 1" - 1 1/4" from the top.

Choose a sentiment from the Itty Bitty Greetings that will fit on a 1/2" x 1 1/2" strip of Whisper White cardstock. Stamp your chosen sentiment. Add it to the smaller of the ornate frames.

Adhere the sentiment flat below the poppies.

Poppy

Smiles.

ADD-ON BUNDLE

As it always is, the August 2019 Paper Pumpkin kit was adorable. The contents of the kit were meant to be used to make fall-flavored treat bags. 

Well, Stampin' Up! hadn't done this before -- at least, not to my recollection -- but to coordinate with this kit, they also offered an add-on bundle. With this bundle, rather than use the kit elements to create treat bags -- something which many Paper Pumpkin subscribers may have no need for -- the add-on bundle enabled purchasers to make cards instead. 

There were two card designs in the bundle. Two of my stamping friends, who had also purchased the bundle,  got together with me at my house and we had a lovely time making card after card after card. The possibilities were endless, especially if you were willing to dig through your stash for even more creative elements. 

While I did make many of the cards using the Paper Pumpkin components, I eventually moved on to a different drummer. As I almost always do. I still used the cute card bases, which measured 3 1/2" x 5" with matching envelopes, but I incorporated a few other elements.

Do you recall, when the new Annual Catalog was released in June of 2019, there was a Suite, 

Bird Ballad Suite (pages 90-92), that cause a lot of excitement? One part of this Suite was the lovely Designer Series Paper, found on page 92. 

Several of the sheets of this DSP consisted of many many birds. Being an avid fussy cutter, this was right up my alley. Balmy summer days on the deck found me cutting away at these birds (and feathers) until I had more birds than I knew what to do with. 

I grabbed the packet of birds I'd fussy cut and added a few of them to three of the cards I made with the Add-On Bundle. I love how they look in their new homes!

This first card used a burgundy diecut circle that came in the Paper Pumpkin kit. After digging through my many past Paper Pumpkin kits' stamp sets, I came across one that I decided to use on the card. That stamp, the lined circle, was stamped on the circle in VersaMark ink, then embossed with white embossing powder. I took some of the snazzy ribbon that came in the kit and added it in loops to the lower right of the embossed circle. I also added a diecut tan branch that came in the kit. My cute fussy cut bird is perched atop the branch.

Using another stamp from the kit where I found the lined circle, I stamped "happy" in Merry Merlot on Whisper White and popped it up with Dimensionals above the bird's head. Inside is the rest of the sentiment, "birthday" in the same font and color.

The second card is much simpler than the first. I used the other style card base, which is a gorgeous Pretty Peacock color, with the autumn wreath already printed on the card. I simply added another of the tan diecut branches and perched another of my fussy cut birds on top of it.

This card obviously can be used for any number of occasions. It would even work well for a masculine card!

The third card is also quite simple. Using one of the diecut circles again, I stamped the word "thanks" in VersaMark and embossed it with white embossing powder.  This stamp with the awesome calligraphy is from another past Paper Pumpkin kit.

Our fussy cut bird is perched atop another diecut leafy piece that came in the August Paper Pumpkin kit. 

There! Now I have three fairly simple cards on hand. And three of my fussy cut birds found permanent homes!

OK. This next thing is something a little weird about me. Each evening I draw the prompt for the next day for the #dailycreating group. As I am shutting down for the night, I close my computer, stand the night's prompt drawing on its easel on the cover of the computer. I also usually add a card or two (or three) that I'd been working on. So, when I come into my room in the morning, I am greeted by a little creative tableau that I'd set up. Weird, huh? The photo shown below is what I got up to this morning.

FYI, as soon as I publish this post, I am going to finish my drawing for tomorrow, which happens to be of a young orangutan's face. I have it all drawn, but it's the coloring that takes me forever. So, wish me luck!

Stay safe and warm.

Add-On

Smiles.

TWO COLOR EMBOSSING

Do you love the look of heat embossing? Especially when a metallic embossing powder is used? Gold? Silver? Copper? Or my all time (retired) favorite, Pewter? They are all so lovely and always succeed in making a creation extra special.

Have you ever combined two different embossing powder colors? 

In my card today, I have combined gold and silver in the same background. While it may seem complicated and fussy to do, it really isn't. You just need to take some extra precautions to avoid contaminating any of your embossing powders.

I started out with a piece of Whisper White cardstock. 

My first step was to rub the Embossing Buddy really well over the entire piece before stamping. This prohibits embossing powder from sticking where it's not wanted. An easy enough step to take, but so necessary. It saves a lot of heartache. Believe me. I know.

Using a stamp of little snowflake clusters, I stamped randomly with VersaMark ink, leaving lots of space between the stamping. Starting with gold embossing powder. I sprinkled the stamping with the gold, tapping the excess off the stamped piece back into its container. Using the Heat Tool, I heat set the gold snowflake clusters.

When I am doing embossing, I always have a fresh page from an expired mini catalog to work on. As soon as the embossing is done, I dispose of this page. Clean away any signs of that first embossing color. 

I then went back to my work table and used the Embossing Buddy again, then filled in the spaces left over from the first stamping with the same snowflake clusters, once again in VersaMark ink. 

At the Heat Station, I this time added SILVER embossing powder to the new stamping. Since the gold was all finished and heat set, this new embossing color won't affect it at all. Tap the excess silver embossing powder back into its container. Use the Heat Tool to set the embossing powder.

Immediately throw away the page you'd done the silver embossing on.

By being intensely careful about disposing pages from embossing immediately after finishing, you run very little risk of mixing any of the embossing powders together. 

There! In two simple steps you now have both silver and gold clusters of snowflakes on a white background.

The next step involves some sponging. Bringing in Balmy Blue ink, I carefully sponged over the embossed white cardstock, making it lighter and darker in areas. 

Because I didn't want to cover up just too much of my two color snowstorm on Balmy Blue, I elected to adhere three beautiful snowflakes die cut from Whisper White with the Seasonal Layers dies, found on page 195 of the Annual Catalog. Have you checked out this set of dies? Please do so. There is such a variety of beautiful seasonal pieces.

To pick up a little bit on the silvery of half the embossing, I added Basic Rhinestones to the center of each of the diecut snowflakes. Don't they look pretty?

To create the blue on blue look of the background polka dot piece, I used a Sponge Brayer (page 181 of the Annual Catalog) over the dotted Pattern Party Decorative Mask, found on page 181, also in the Annual Catalog. I inked the brayer with white ink.

After using sticky tape over Night of Navy cardstock to hold the mask in place, I rolled the inked up brayer over and over across it. Lifting up the stencil for a quick peek showed me if I was getting the ink dark enough. If not, tape it back in place and give it a few more runs of the inked brayer.

With the exception of the three Basic Rhinestones at the centers of the three snowflakes, the only dimension in this card comes from the central snowflake panel that I popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals onto the polka dot piece.

A beautifully simple card, it doesn't really even need a sentiment. Living in central Wisconsin, this card can be used for any number of occasions.

Now, give two color embossing a try. Just be careful to not mix any of the embossing powders together. Have fun!

Metallic

Smiles.