After practicing for several days and watching numerous videos, "I think she's got it". This image uses the Blended Bloom, Secret Garden and Peaceful Petals. The Blendabilities new from Stampin' Up! are the Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive and Daffodil Delight sets.  I took advantage of the bleed through on the back and dry embossed from the backside to make the petals pop up. I fussy cut the whole image and mounted it on the card with dimensionals. Love using those new color tools.

       Time for Flowers, Butterflies, Weddings, Mother and Father's Day and Warm Weather

Woo Hoo...the snow is melting, the grass is showing and turning green and the birds are singing.  I am so glad the sun finally shines and there are no snowflakes falling. Happiness is Spring.

 This is the time of year to think about Mother's Day, Easter, Weddings and Birthdays along with the anticipation of the new catalog coming out in June.

I have created  a Mother's Day card,  a wedding card and a birthday explosion box for this post.

This first card is my Mother's Day card made using Soft Sky card stock as the base.  I stamped it with Soft Sky ink and the Hello, Doily Stamp for tone on tone. Next I used the Ovals collection framelits to cut the frame from Coaster board and ran it through the Woodgrain EF and edged frame with Soft Suede ink. Then I cut the "mirror" from the Silver Foil CS using the frame lit from the Ovals frame lit that fit inside.  Petite Petals Stamp set and Petite Petals punch were used to create the flowers on the frame as well as the Little Leaves Sizzlit. I used Perfect Plum and Elegant Eggplant, Blushing Bride and Crisp Cantaloupe to create the flowers. Their centers were punched using the Boho Blossoms punch and center set with a Basic Jewels Pearl. Teeny Tiny Wishes supplied the Mother's Day sentiment stamped on a hand cut banner.

We have so many weddings to attend this Spring and Summer that I decided I needed to get started on those cards. This card is made on a Naturals White base. The "lace" layers were made using the Delicate Designs EF and cut with the Large Scallop Edglit. I used the burlap ribbon layered with Organza Ribbon and Soft Suede Taffeta ribbon. The flowers were stamped on Crumb Cake and embossed with White embossing powder and cut out. I set all the flowers with Basic Jewels Pearls and finished off the ribbon accent with them as well. The sentiment was stamped from the set Forever with You on a label from the Apothecary Accents framelits. I antiqued all the edges with Soft Suede ink.

I love to do 3D items and this one is fun to do. I have done this in the past without the inside box, but feel this second box adds more interest.  

The basic box is made using Melon Mambo CS and decorated with Gingham Garden DSP and Washi tape.  The lid is Daffodil Delight and decorated also with Gingham Garden. The flowers were punched from Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo and Garden Green for the leaves and edged with corresponding ink. I used Dazzling Details to accent the flowers and the butterfly stamped from Papillon Potpourri and the Elegant Butterfly Punch. I then attached them to a large Scallop Circle and  made a belly band using the same DSP

                                                     


The folded box was decorated with more of the Gingham Garden DSP and the inner Daffodil Delight box was as well. I used the Scallop Trim Border punch to edge the inner box. All the butterflies were stamped and punched from Papillon Potpourri and Elegant Butterfly and Bitty Butterfly. An image from Four Frames was stamped in Island Indigo and the sentiment is from Petite pairs.

         

I hope you enjoyed these ideas and they got your creative juices flowing.

                                                       

            Spring is Here... or is it?????

Here it is...March. It seems to be coming in like a lion here in New Hampshire. I don't even want to know how much snow we got overnight, too much in my opinion plus the icicles outside my window are 3 feet long. (I kid you not). I am so ready for spring and sunshine and the cards I have made seem to have unknowingly or maybe  subconsciously reflected that with a theme of butterflies and flowers. I absolutely love the Papillon Popourri set and the punches that go with it. My love of butterflies has them flitting around on all my projects lately. 

Vintage Spring

This card was made with a base of Soft Sky, Epic Day This and That DSP, Very Vanilla CS stamped with En Francais, Blush Blossom, Crisp Cantaloupe, Crushed Curry, Garden Green CS, Pearls Basic Jewels, Seam Binding Pool Party, Linen Thread,  Vintage Faceted Buttons and I used Baked Brown Sugar Ink. The flowers were punched using the 7/8" Scallop Circle and Boho Blossoms punch. The butterfly is the Beautiful Wings emboss lit.

Black and White Butterflies

For this card I had originally intended to make it full of color, but the butterflies just happened to pop out of the punch onto the Smoky Slate CS so I decided to go with the Naturals White card base, a layer of Basic Black and the Smoky Slate run through the Arrows EF. The butterflies had been embossed with Black EP on Whisper White CS as was the sentiment from Peachy Keen. The frame lit is the Deco Labels Collection. The punches used were Bitty Butterfly and Elegant Butterfly.

Flowers and Butterflies

This card is a 6x6 because I was going to originally use the large Swallowtail stamp, but as is often the case with my creations, the design changes in the middle as this one did.  The card base is So Saffron, the green layer is Wild Wasabi. The DSP layers are one from Sweet Sorbet in the SAB catalog and the other from Retro Fresh in the Occasions Catalog. The flowers were punched using Blossom, Pansy, and Petite Petals punches from Watercolor Wonder DSP. I love that collection. The butterflies were embossed in white on vellum using the Papillon Potpourri stamp and Elegant Butterfly punch. The leaves are the Little Leaves Sizzlit. Rhinestone Basic Jewels finished the flowers off.

                                              
                Could We Please Have Spring???

Now that the snowstorms are hopefully slowing down, happening less frequently and there are more days of sun to be enjoyed here, I am beginning my classes again.
So on March 20th from 6-9PM and Saturday from 1-4PM I will be having a class that will hopefully bring signs of Spring to you. The class each day is the same. Cost is $5 per person.
Here are the 2 projects we will work on.
First is a Card in a Box. This is a very popular project right now and can be made to suit any occasion.  I will have some other samples for you to see. Each participant will receive a template so you can make more at home.
                                       Spring Card in a Box

How do you send such a thing you might ask. Well it folds flat and this particular one fits in one of our regular Stampin'Up! envelopes

Next you will have a choice of one of these cards to make. Each of them is a card from our Watercolor Wonder Note Card kit that you can order and decorate any way you want. I will have the supplies for you to make the one of your choice. When you purchase the card kit found in the Occasions Catalog you will get 4 cards of 5 different designs plus envelopes. The kit is $12.95. They are quick and easy to make up. I will also have another tremendous card kit for you to see that has card bases, stickers, envelopes and bling to dress them up. There are even stamps in that kit.  In the meantime here are the choices for the class.

Watercolor Wonder Butterfly Cards 

Hope to see you there.

St Valentine's Day

Have I mentioned previously how much I love St Valentine's Day?  This card is made from Real Red CS. I added Fresh Prints DSP, Champagne Glimmer Paper, Red Glimmer Paper, Soft Suede ink, Bermuda Bay ink and used the Petite Petals Bundle, 4 petal punch from Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pak, Linen thread, Very Vanilla CS, Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set. This type of card is known as a center step card. With this card I got some mixed media going on, but more organized or should I say symmetrical mixed media.

St Patrick's Day Card

 For this card I used the Label Card Thinlit die. I also used the Adorning Accents Edgelits and Adorning Accents Embossing Folder, Labels Collection Framelit, heart from Owl Builder punch, Fashionable Hearts embosslits, Gumball Green ink for edging, Gumball Green CS and Pistachio Pudding CS. Watercolor Wonder DSP, Black CS, Champagne Glimmer paper. The shamrocks were made using hearts punched and cut from emboss lit. The black pot was cut free hand and the gold coins were punched using the Owl Builder punch. Teeny Tiny Wishes was used for the sentiment inside. A pearl from the Pearl Basics Jewels finished off the large shamrock.

Steph and Hunter's St Valentine's Day Gift

  I enjoy doing mixed media and this one is a 10"x10" canvas so there are a lot of items on it. Mixed media lets you be free to put anything you want on a canvas, card, tag, box or what have you. For this canvas I usedVenetian Romance DSP, Watercolor Wonder DSP, Canvas Creations for the roses which were cut using the Spiral Flowers Originals die and tinted with several colors of ink, leaf from Peaceful Petals, Sunflower stamp, Gorgeous Grunge, Beautiful Wings embosslits, Beautiful Wings Bigz, burlap ribbon left from the Burlap and Blooms Wreath, Banner Blast and Banner punch from SAB, Decorative Dots EF from SAB, Cantaloupe twine from Sweet Sorbet,  Crochet trim, Vintage Designer Buttons, wood pieces from Essentials Wooden Elements, Linen thread, Small Heart punch and Encore Silver ink for accents, Crisp Cantaloupe ink and Soft Suede ink for distressing and edging, and Tea Lace Paper Doilies.

Happy St Valentine's Day, Steph and Hunter.

                              Watercolor Wonder

This card uses one of the 20 cards included in the Watercolor Wonder Designer note cards and envelopes kit.

I first stamped the image on the card and then on another piece of watercolor paper. After coloring the images on the piece of watercolor paper I fussy cut them out, pinched and squeezed them to make them dimensional and adhered them on top of the image stamped on the card. I love the way Cecile Ortiz does this and decided to try my hand at it. 

                                                         
                                St Valentine's Day

I love St. Valentine's Day and couldn't resist doing a little mixed media on my card. This card is 6x6 and I used Watercolor Wonder DSP, the Petite Petals bundle, images from Love You to the Moon  and Happy Watercolor  plus some of the new Essentials Wood Elements. The hearts were cut using the Hearts Collection framelits. I also used a Tea Lace Paper Doily and linen thread. CS and ink colors used were Cherry Cobbler, Pool Party and Soft Suede. The distressing tool was used to distress the edges of some of the paper. I used some Shimmer Spray, but it is hard to see in the photo. Again some Pearl Basic Jewels.

                          

                                                                               

Tussie Mussie

With the season of upcoming weddings and showers in mind as well as May Day, this little project was fun to do.

This is my version of a Tussie Mussie.

I started with a paper cone made from a triangle cut by diagonally cutting a piece of Watercolor Wonder DSP in half.  After rolling it into a cone I added the 5/8" Organza Ribbon through the bottom of the cone and added the bow. The same ribbon was used to make the hanger. Before putting the ribbon handle on I added Delicate Details Lace Tape to the top edge of the cone. The cone was then stuffed with tissue paper as a base for my flowers. (No need to make stems)  I added some adhesive to the inside of the cone to keep the tissue in place. 

The Spiral Flowers die was used to make the roses from Whisper White edged in Crisp Cantaloupe, plain Whisper White, Crisp Cantaloupe, Daffodil Delight and Tangerine Tango. I used the Petite Petals bundle again to create the little flowers stamped with Daffodil Delight. "Rose" leaves were stamped from the Peaceful Petals stamp set  and hand cut. I got lazy and instead of using the other leaf image from that set I used the Little Leaves sizzles. Once again after punching or cutting the images I edged them with ink and pinched and creased them to give them dimension before gluing them and the roses onto the tissue paper. Out came those Pearl Basic Jewels again to use as flower centers and the Large Pearl Basics Jewels were set in a line down the front of the cone. Shimmer Spray was used to enhance the flowers.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog.

Some news from Stampin'Up! Leadership held this last week in Houston.

Stampin'Up! will be adding alcohol markers in their line up of tools. They will also add Memories Tuxedo Black ink to be used with those markers.

The photopolymer line of stamps will now be made at their own facility in Kanab, UT.

Since I haven't as yet broken into the alcohol marker craze, I am anxious to try these. I have seen some beautiful things made with alcohol markers. Oh, by the way this new line is called "Blendabilities". These markers are said to become available sometime this month. Me, I'm hoping it's tomorrow.

Love the way the same paper can look so different just by cutting in an different direction. Chevrons are great for doing this.

                             Christmas Ideas

                                 Gift Card

This little item is a gift card made to look like a mini file folder using the Envelope Punch Board.

I used Wild Wasabi CS and an assortment of the papers from the Season of Style DSP and a little Whisper White CS. The stamp sets were the carryover Ornament Keepsakes, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Merry Little Christmas and the "to/from" found in Tag It.  I used the Word Window Punch and the Holiday Ornaments framelits to do my cutting for me. Some wash tape and Cherry Cobbler seam binding finished it off.

Happy Snowman

 I wanted to do a "for anyone" card. This happy little snowman is so excited about that star or maybe it's the snow. 

This card was made using Naturals White CS, Silver Glimmer Paper and Night of Navy CS along with scraps of red, orange and brown for his scarf, nose and arms and of course some yellow for the star.  I embossed the little guy with white embossing powder and cutting him out. It also took a little fussy cutting to do his appendages, nose, and scarf. The stamp sets used were the carryover Greetings of the Season and new Snow Day. I also used a little Whisper White ink and Dazzling Details for the snow flakes. Ink was Night of Navy.

Snowflake Gift Bag and Ornament

 I decided to try my hand at a snowflake ornament and thought it would be a wonderful addition to a gift bag.

On a purchased white gift bag I used Winter Frost DSP on which I stamped and embossed the large snowflake in Silver EP from the Festive Flurry set. The ornament was made using Silver Foil sheet embossed with the Pretty Print EF. The center layer is a piece of the striped foiled paper from the Winter Frost Specialty DSP. This ornament is double sided (identical on the other side) with some of the Silver 1/8" ribbon sandwiched in between.  The snowflake pieces were cut using the Festive Flurry Framelits Die. I added a large Rhinestone Basic colored with a Sharpie marker to the center. Pool Party seam binding was used to tie it to the bag. 

Thanks for viewing my projects.

                               Flip Card Thinlit Die

When I first saw this die at convention, I knew this was a "must have" along with it's partner the Thinlit Label card. The minute it arrived I was in my craft room cutting this card.
                                                                               
                                   Vintage Flip    

I absolutely love vintage so this is what I came up with. It uses the Thinlit Circle die, Crumb Cake CS, Venetian Romance DSP, En Francais background stamp, Modern Medley DSP, 2 1/2"circle punch, 13/4" Scallop Circle punch, 1 1/4" Scallop Circle punch with Blushing Bride CS to make mini roses, Antique Brads, Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons, Very Vintage Designer Buttons, Pearl Basic Jewels, linen thread, Crochet trim and Soft Suede ink.