Happy Valentine's Day!

I used the same colored pencil technique from yesterday's post to make this Valentine card.  I love how easy it is to deepen the interior of flowers to give them some dimension.  I used the Whisper White cut-out from the Labels Collection frame used in yesterday's card to make the main panel on today's card.  I stamped the flowers in Pink Pirouette and the leaves in Gumball Green using the masking technique to make the leaves appear behind the flower petals.  After coloring the petals with pink colored pencils, pearls were added to the flower centers.  I very lightly sponged So Saffron ink on the panel's edges. The hummingbird was stamped in Raspberry Ripple, and the panel was matted on the same color cardstock.  This was trimmed to make a lovely framed border.  This panel was popped up with dimensional popdots on the Whisper White cardbase.  The cardbase has the beautiful Lacy Brocade embossed panel matted with Raspberry Ripple cardstock.  The embossing texture was brought to life with a coloring of Pink Pirouette ink that was applied using a brayer.  The edge of this background was very lightly sponged with So Saffron ink.

I hope that your Valentine's Day is filled with love and laughter!

~June

Stamps:  Bloomin' Marvelous (SAB set)
Paper: Whisper White, Raspberry Ripple
Ink:  So Saffron, Gumball Green, Raspberry Ripple, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: popdots, pearls, colored pencils, Labels Collection framelit, Lacy Brocade embossing folder, BigShot, brayer, sponge dauber

Bloomin' Marvelous Coloring

The beginning of the year is always a great time of year at Stampin' Up!  It's SaleABration time through March 22, and one of my favorite Free stamp sets from the SaleABration catalog is called "Bloomin' Marvelous".  This card was made with stamps from that beautiful set.

First, I used the 3rd largest Labels Collection framelit and cut out the shape on a white cardstock panel to make a masking frame.  I placed that frame on another piece of white cardstock, then sponged on So Saffron ink around the edges to create the outlined shape.  Leaving the frame on the paper, I stamped the flowers in Pool Party ink, then the leaves in Lucky Limeade ink with a masking technique.  The butterfly was stamped in Peach Parfait, and I added little pearls for it's body.  The top frame was removed, and I cut around the outlined shape leaving a 1/8th inch border so that I could add little pen dots around the outer edge.  The depth of flowers was achieved by using 2 darker shades of blue colored pencils to darken up the interior of the flower petals.  I added little black and Peach Parfait pen dots to the centers of the flowers.  To create the cardbase, I embossed a separate piece of white cardstock that was embossed with the Square Lattice folder.  I glued it down on top of the card, then attached the flowery stamped panel to the cardbase with dimensional popdots.

You can have your own Bloomin' Marvelous set with a $50 product purchase.  Click the SaleABration catalog on the left to see the cute selections this year.

Have a great day!
~June

Stamps:  Bloomin' Marvelous (SAB set)
Paper:  Whisper White
Ink: Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, So Saffron (markers in Basic Black and Peach Parfait)
Accessories: popdots, pearls, colored pencils, Labels Collection framelits, Square Lattice embossing folder, BigShot, sponge dauber

WT310 Silhouette

The Ways to Use It challenge on SplitCoast is all about Silhouette Stamping today. This is where your main image is solid and stamped in one color only (you can use an "open" image and color it in a solid color). This kind of stamping is really striking and has alot of WOW factor.

To make my card above, I brayered black ink on white cardstock on the top of the main panel, then stamped the tree from Nature Silhouettes. The deer was stamped next, then I filled in the edges with black ink. Then to really make my main panel visually pop, I heat embossed it about 5 times with clear embossing powder. The surface is now really glassy. I got alittle close with the heat gun during one of the layers, and it caused the ink or paper beneath to spread a golden brown color from the inked areas.... I thought it provided a very cool background effect! After the main panel cooled down, I matted a couple times on white and black cardstock, then popped it up on a So Saffron embossed panel using the Square Lattice embossing folder/BigShot.

Thanks to Kim for hosting this challenge once again. I hope that you have a great Thursday, and are able to come visit with me again soon...
~June

Stamps: Nature Silhouettes

Paper: White, Black, So Saffron

Ink: Basic Black

Accessories: brayer, heatgun, clear embossing powder, sponge dauber, striped ribbon, dimensional popdots, Square Lattice embossing folder/BigShot

IC271 Pink Lemonade

Today's card reflects inspiration challenge #271 over on SplitCoast. This is where we can look through a website found by the challenge hostess, Stef, and find a picture for inspiration. I chose this picture called Pink Lemonade. I love pink lemonade in real life, so I think that's why the picture stuck out to me. I am having such a hard time getting my camera to capture light, soft colors like pink correctly, so I apologize for the poor quality photograph. I took a bunch of pictures under a variety of light conditions, and this one was the best that I could muster, even with the aide of Photoshop. I hope you can see the details well enough...

This stamp set is featured in the Occasions Mini Catalog and called Baby Blossoms. I love 2-step stamping, and there's a variety of different florals in the set. The lighter area of the rose was inked up in Pretty in Pink, stamped once on scratch paper, then stamped again on Whisper White. The darker area of the rose was stamped directly in Pretty in Pink ink without "stamping-off" first. The frame and roses are popped up with dimensional popdots, and the middle white panel has very light sponging done of the edges. The scrunchy ribbon is held in place with sticky strip.

Thanks to Stef for bringing a wonderful challenge today... I hope you have a great Saturday!!

Stamps: Baby Blossoms
Paper: Whisper White, Pink Pirouette
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Perfect Polka Dot embossing folder, Bigshot, sticky strip, whisper white organza ribbon, dimensional popdots, sponge dauber

MISC cards and Fall Break

Hi folks! These two cards have been sitting in my "To Post" blog folder forever, so I thought I'd just get them onto the site today. They were projects that used up leftover pieces of cardstock and patterned paper. I hope they help to inspire you to use up your scraps.




This week was Fall Break for my kids. I took my 3 youngest kids on a trip up to Northern Arizona. We visited Meteor Crater, Lowell Observatory and the Grand Canyon. This little vacation was very refreshing for all of us, and we enjoyed it tremendously. I look forward to scrapbooking about this trip soon. Take care and see you soon!

Bright and Cheerful

Hello there! Today's card was inspired by the little scallops of owl feathers - can you see them on his tummy? I think this new stamp set called Aviary in the IB&C is too adorable and couldn't resist getting it right away. I made strips of multicolored scallops using the scallop edge punch, layered them on top of each other and cut this to a rectangle. The flowers are from the Pretties Kit (retired) that are stacked and attached with a glue dot, and the main panel is raised with dimensional popdots. The ribbon is from my stash of leftovers. I love the Perfect Polka Dot embossing folder - it has just enough texture that isn't too overpowering. So what do you think of my bright and cheerful card?

Stamps - Aviary

Paper - Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White

Ink - Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie

Accessories - Perfect Polka Dot embossing folder/Bigshot, ribbon, Scallop Edge punch, silk flowers from Pretties Kit, dimensional popdots, glue dots

Floral Thank You cards

Hello again! Here's a couple of cards that used up some more of my patterned paper scraps (non-SU). I'm sure you have a pile of paper scraps laying around somewhere - how about putting it to good use and make a quick card or two?

I used a couple of "solid" floral stamps from Just Believe and Priceless stamp sets. They were stamped in Chocolate Chip ink. For the card on the left, a couple of the flowers were stamped on a separate white piece of cardstock and cut out. After tying the ribbon on the main panel, the cut-out flowers were popped up with dimensional popdots.

Circle punches made the card on the right a breeze to put together. The little white strip on that card used the BigShot and Petals A Plenty embossing folder. Can you see the little pearls that I added to each flower center on both cards?

Have a great weekend... see you soon!

Spritzed Just Believe

Hello and Happy Wednesday! I did the Spritzed Background technique on the main panel of this Thank You card. I learned about this technique a couple posts earlier, and wanted to try it out again. The inks that I used were Pumpkin Pie & So Saffron on Watercolor Paper. After letting the background dry, I stamped the main floral image from the Just Believe stamp set in Bravo Burgundy and Basic Black inks. This was matted with Basic Black cardstock and black brads were added in the corners. This was adhered to a Vanilla dotted background made with the BigShot/Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.

I hope you are having a nice week - just a couple more days till the weekend!

Sweet Birthday Cupcakes

Hello and happy day to you! Today's card was created to celebrate another birthday in our family. It seems like I never have enough birthday and thank you cards, so that is what I focused on making these last few days.

This card uses images from the stamp set "Crazy for Cupcakes", and the sentiment comes from Well Scripted (retired). The balloon image is "open", and I used a few of the miniature background stamps (page 140 of the IB&C), A to Z, Solid Stripes and Dot, Dot, Dot to add a little bit of character to each balloon. Several of the balloons are popped up with dimensional popdots. The base colors of this card are using two In-Colors - Peach Parfait and Pear Pizzazz... these colors remind me of slightly muted shades of orange and lime sherbert. They really look very nice together - don't you think? I colored in the cupcake platter with markers. I sponged the edges of the panels and balloons, and dotted the three white panels with the Pear Pizzazz marker for interest. The background was dry embossed with the BigShot and dotted embossing folder. I also die cut the small scalloped rectangle to back the sentiment.

I hope that you are having a nice week, and I look forward to your next visit... :)

A Little CAS Note

Wow... I just realized that this year is almost half over - it seems like time definitely speeds up as you get older! I know that we all become pressed for more time in a day, and you may find yourself needing a quick clean and simple (CAS) card for something unexpected... how about today's card as an example? This one was very fast to put together. I like using this layout - it's one of my "go-to" layouts when I'm pressed for saving some time. I know that I've mentioned this before, but it really does help to have several "go-to" layouts that you can fall back on again and again. I love using the embossing folders too. They always provide a Wow factor with texture. This stamp image was colored directly with markers, so the colors really pop IRL. A bit of organdy ribbon adds a nice touch without going overboard, so it'll be easy to pop in the mail.

Stamps: A Flower for All Seasons, Apple Blossoms (hostess, 2010-2011 IBC)
Paper: Whisper White notecard & cardstock, YoYo Yellow
Inks: Basic Black, markers- YoYo Yellow, Bashful Blue, Green Galore, Creamy Caramel, Only Orange (for the bird beak)
Accessories: Bigshot/Square Lattice embossing folder, organdy ribbon, dimensional popdots

I hope that you are having a wonderful Wednesday... thank you for visiting me today!

Vintage Swaps

Here's a couple more swap samples that I received this week from my demo sisters. This is another beautiful card using the Elements of Style stamp set, and a new embossing folder called Vintage Wallpaper. This wonderful creation was made Julee H, and I love how she brought out the details of embossing by swiping ink across the raised areas of the purple embossed strip... gorgeous!



Here's a stunning card created by Jimi F utilizing different stamp sets. The main panel features a floral sneak peek of one of the stamps in the Friends Never Fade stamp set, plus a view of one of patterns from the coordinating Greenhouse Gala Designer Series Paper line..... Love it and can't wait till I get my hands on this stuff! The "Birthday Wishes" sentiment is from Watercolor Trio, and the "For You" button is in Elements of Style. I've always enjoyed Stampin Up's desire to coordinate different elements (stamps, paper, ink & accessories) to make it EASY for us to create masterpieces! The new 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalog is truly fantastic, as SU really showcases this feature with the samples used in the new catalog for all levels of papercrafters. I can't wait to try out the new product lines!

Thank you for visiting with me today... see you tomorrow!

New Core Colors Cards

Hello again, my friends! I went to my upline meeting yesterday, and one of my favorite things that KM offers is time to swap cards with my sister demos. I thought that I'd show you my swap card, which is shown above. It contains the 5 new 2010-2011 core colors that will be available for purchase on July 1st. I thought something like this would help out my sister demos who might like to show these actual colors in person, as some printed colors are hard to duplicate on paper, like in a catalog. These colors are so vibrant, and I'm really liking 'em (especially Cherry Cobbler!!!!). Anyhow, the yellow cardbase is Daffodil Delight. The "Things I Love" title is stamped in Marina Mist, and the individual panels from left to right are Early Espresso, Cajun Craze and Cherry Cobbler. The textured panels were created using the Bigshot/Square Lattice embossing folder.

I had some leftover strips of the textured cardstock, so I trimmed the ends to the same size and set them side-by-side on a Marina Mist cardstock panel to create a different background.



I hope you enjoyed this little sneak peek - the next few posts will show you the wonderful creations that my "demo" family put together. Thanks for visiting!

ETA - It took me a while to find the card that I CASE'd for swap. I visit many blogs and galleries and couldn't remember where I originally seen a card using this stamp set and the use of blocks for colors which was perfect for my need of sharing the new core colors in one project. I'm so glad I found it! Jeannine Tarrio's card is wonderful, and I thank her for the idea and inspiration!

Teen Birthday card

We celebrated another birthday in my family this week, and I made this card for my oldest son. After stamping the tree and wolf in Chocolate Chip ink, I punched a 1/2" circle post-it for the moon shape and sponged all around it in River Rock and Crumb Cake inks. This was trimmed down and matted with C.Chip cardstock. The background River Rock panel was scored vertically several times to create a slight texture on the left side, then matted as well with C.Chip cardstock. I stamped the birthday sentiment and added a small piece of ribbon with a large decorative brad inserted to hold it down. The pieces were assembled on a Vanilla cardbase. The cardbase has some random stampings using the speckle stamp from Itty Bitty backgrounds in C.Chip ink (by the way, this little stamp set will be officially retired on June 30th - I love my 15+ year old speckle stamp, and it will still be lovingly used in my home for many more years to come!!). This masculine card could be used for a variety of occasions by changing the sentiment, and I hope it's given you some ideas. Have a nice weekend, and I appreciate your visit...

Stamps: Nature Silhouettes, Sincere Salutations, Itty Bitty Backgrounds
Cardstock: Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, River Rock
Ink: Chocolate Chip, River Rock, Crumb Cake
Accessories: 1/2 inch circle punch, sponge dauber, scoring tool, chocolate chip ribbon, brad

Whoo's Birthday?

Owls are so cute - don't you think? With four kids ranging in age from 9 to 17, it seems like I never have enough birthday cards made up for all the different age groups between my kids and their friends. This card above uses the owl stamp from the Fox & Friends, and the flower twig comes from the Eastern Blooms stamp set. I like how this card turned out and think it'll be perfect for the younger crowd. Don't forget that you can click on the photo and a larger version should appear for you...

The flower twig was colored using Chocolate Chip and Poppy Parade markers, then stamped on the main Whisper White panel. The owl was positioned onto the twig with the help of a Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, and stamped using the new In-Color ink called Cajun Craze - it's going to be the perfect color for the autumn cards that I have spinning around in my head. It's similar to the retiring Really Rust color, but has more richness, and (IMHO) it's a prettier color shade all around. I used a scoring tool to add a border around the stamped images. This was matted and glued to a patterned paper selection from the Hostess Patterns Pack III which has a white mat with edges done with the Scallop Edge border punch. Lastly, I glued tiny half-back pearls to the centers of the flowers to add alittle oomph.

I'd love to hear what you think! With all the birthday's around here, this card will be on it's way to a new home soon. My next project to post is another birthday card, but for a male teen... I hope you can come back and check it out! It got the thumbs up from DS #1, so I'm a happy stamper {grin!}. Have a super Friday, and be sure to get a little stamping time in this weekend... till next time...

Desk Calendar

Hello again! I thought I'd post a past project that my hostess club members got to make during one of our meetings this year. I used two 4x4 inch chipboard coasters that were covered with designer paper, and lightly sanded the edges. The coasters are joined with two Round Tab punch-outs. The calendar is printed from Cat's 2010 template that she so graciously shared on Splitcoast and was trimmed down to size. What a timesaver - thank you so much Cat! The calendar pages are held together with a little library clip, so that the months can be changed out easily. The back page has repositionable tape for easy removal, so that you could print out a whole new year and reuse this little creation. The flowers were stamped and cut out, and held together with a little flower brad. It is adhered with dimensional popdots. I hope you enjoy your Friday, and that you can come back again soon.

Stamps: Vintage Vogue stamp set
Paper: Sweet Pea DSP, cardstock: So Saffron, Pretty in Pink
Ink: Creamy Caramel, Pretty in Pink
Accessories: Bigshot/Butterfly embosslit, Sweet Pea paper, scallop edge punch, mini library clip, Round Tab punch, dimensional popdots, Sending Love epoxy brads in chocolate chip, repositionable double-sided tape, sanding block

Black & White - Ollie...

Happy Saturday to you! I thought I'd share a birthday card made for my younger son today. The background in Whisper White uses the new embossing folder available in the Summer Mini catalog called Square Lattice - one of the really neat things about this particular folder is how you can have two subtle, but different, designs with items that are embossed with it. If you click on the picture above, a slightly larger picture should appear and you can more easily see the little crosses in the pattern are debossed (going inward). A few posts down titled Sponged Backgrounds shows you a card with the little crosses facing outward. Anyhow, since this card was made for a male teenager, I had to be careful not to go overboard with the "girly" embellishments. I think the cardstock texture adds just enough to keep the card interesting, don't you think?

The neat background stamps on the main panel are from Extreme Elements. The black ink was stamped off on scratch paper two or three times before the final stamping on my main panel. Promotion plug here - you can order this stamp set, or a number of other selections, in Stampin'Up!'s Scrapbooking Promotion this month and receive Free designer brads through May 31st.... read all about it HERE. The Extreme Skateboard stamp is awesome and was stamped in Versamark/black ink, then heat embossed in black embossing powder. The black frame was made using a ruler and craft knife, then glued to the main panel before final assembly.

I really love the Extreme Skateboard stamp because it fits my son to a "T". Although he's more into the Ripstik now than the skateboard (which is quite amazing because it only has 2 wheels, not 4!), this image is good for both. I love watching him do tricks (and yes, my heart does skip a beat now and then!), and one trick he's good at is called the "Ollie". It's where you make the entire skateboard (or Ripstik) "jump" or "pop" off the ground with you still on it, land and keep on going without your feet (... or other body parts... yikes!) touching the ground.

Have a great weekend, and I'll see you soon. :)

Sponged Backgrounds

As you've probably gathered by now from my posted projects, I love to sponge ink! Usually, it's along the edges of layers, but every now and then, I love to make my background with this technique. This background uses a torn post-it note with sponged ink to create my hillside on Blush Blossom cardstock. Not rocket science by any means, but I love the effect. The colors used on this card are Blush Blossom, Close to Cocoa and Ruby Red. There's one small layer of Cameo Coral cardstock around my main panel. I used my homemade Champaigne Mist Shimmer Paint spray (which my hostess club members will get to play with this month!) all across the stamped panel. In real life, the spray adds a beautiful, subtle glittery effect across the entire surface.... it's so pretty! Just use a small spray bottle, fill with one teaspoon of 70% rubbing alcohol and about 7 drops of Shimmer Paint... shake well before each use, and you are ready to rock! Ribbon and little pearls finish off the main panel. The textured background is a new embossing folder in the Summer Mini called Square Lattice. The stamped trees are from Trendy Trees....

Have a great weekend! See you soon!

Easel Cards

Easel cards are so easy and fun to put together. They really add a different flair to cards and are a great way to really grab your recipient's attention! A great tutorial can be found at Splitcoaststampers under the Resources section - check it out! The one above uses the "Great Friend" stamp set and white embossed vellum butterflies. I love watching embossing powder melt, so this one was extra fun to assemble!



Here's another one made before Easter using the Vintage Vogue stamp set..... love this stamp set to pieces! Oh, don't forget that today, April 30th, is the last day that you can order from the Occasions Mini Catalog - some things have sold out already (ie the On-Board Heart book, Sweet Pea Designer paper stack, Sweet Pea Stitched felt). You can order any other items online at www.june.stampinup.net and be sure to check out the clearance rack section too! Lots of great bargains to be had there.

Have a great Friday! Till next time...

Vintage Elements

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday. This card is using Apricot Appeal, Sage Shadow, and Basic Gray colors posted as a challenge over at SCS. I love doing them - the challenges do keep the ideas fresh and inspirational..... try 'em, you'll like 'em! Tee hee!!!

This color combination reminded me of "vintage" when I pulled all the sheets of cardstock together. It was a bonus in the challenge to use lace which pretty much sealed the "vintage" idea I had floating around in my head.

The flower spray comes from a large stamp in the upcoming SU! Summer Mini stamp set called "Elements of Style". It was stamped in Basic Black ink on Vanilla cardstock and colored direct-to-paper with Apricot Appeal, More Mustard and Sage Shadow markers. I ever-so-lightly blended the colors together with a slightly damp aquapainter. I cut the flower spray with an oval Coluzzle, stopping in areas of the image that I wanted "out-of-the-box", and trimmed those areas with small scissors. I lightly sponged Apricot Appeal ink around the edges, and this was matted on a Basic Gray cardstock oval. The lace was attached on the back with Sticky Strip.

The sentiment comes from the Great Friend stamp set. I used a StampAMaJig for that step.

The butterfly is a new single stamp called All a Flutter and was stamped in black and colored with the same markers mentioned above and a white gel pen. The butterfly and flowers only were heat embossed with Versamarker/clear EP. The background was made with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder/BigShot and lightly sponged with Apricot Appeal ink to bring out the dots. This main panel and butterfly were adhered with dimensional popdots. I added 3 small half-back pearls to finish it off.

I hope today starts a fabulous week ahead for you. Take care and see you next time!

Roses for Prom

Hello again - This card was made for my oldest son to give to his date on their way to their high school's Junior-Senior Prom next weekend.... along with chocolates and a rose corsage, of course! He will be wearing the standard black tuxedo and white shirt with a red vest/tie to match her lovely red dress, so that's why I chose these colors for the card. The layout is this week's Sketch Challenge over on Splitcoast.

The large rose and rose buds on the tags were made with hearts punched from various heart sizes, and I inserted little half-back pearls that are held in place with Crystal Effects. The two smaller roses were made with the Trio Flower punch, with 3 punch-outs stacked on each other and scrunched up with a little pearl inside. The stamped "flower stem" is a portion of the flourish stamp from SU's new Elements of Style (which will be available for purchase on May 1st), and it was selectively colored with Old Olive marker before stamping. I lightly sponged the edges and used the speckle stamp from Itty Bitty Backgrounds in Real Red ink to add alittle more color to the flower panel. I applied a smidge of Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint with a make-up sponge to the large rose/leaves - the leaves were hand cut from scrap DSP.

I used the scallop trim border and tiny tags punch for the ribbon layer. I left the middle tag blank so that my son could write his date's name in Japanese handwriting - my son and his date met in their Japanese language class, so I think that will add a special, personalized touch for this card. The background embossed panel was created with the Finial Press folder/Bigshot.

I hope you have a great weekend and can stop in again very soon! C Ya!!