JOY!

Just a quick post to show you the card I created today.  I used the beauty and joy stamp set with the bird ballad dsp. I love when I can use paper that is not for a particular holiday and make it work. Even though this is not your traditional Christmas colors I really like the way it turned out!

I would love to hear how you stretch the products that you have. How do you make them work for you and the projects you are working on? I find it such a fun challenge to use what I have. 

Thank you for stopping by and have a joyful day!

Matching scrolls make me happy!

Did you notice that the scroll from the beauty and joy set matches the scroll embossing folder? I can't help myself when I find something so simple.  Another thing that I think is when I find a set that I can use for multiple seasons. This set has sentiments and topiarys for so many occasions. 

The set is sold in photopolymer and so it makes stamping each piece easy to line up.  For the leaves I tried a rock and roll technique. I stamped the leaves stamp in pear pizzazz and then rolled just the edge of the stamp in old olive. This technique is really fun and can look amazing however, I don't feel like I used colors that were that different because it is hard to see the color difference.

I decided to cut apart the greeting so that I could stagger it around the image. I also added a little dot of the new shimmery crystal effects. I am so excited to have crystal effect back and to have it shiny is an extra added bonus!

Which sets in either the holiday or the annual catalog do you find can make cards for multiple occasions? I would love to hear from you! Thank you for stopping by. If you do not have a demonstrator and would like a holiday catalog let me know and I will mail one out to you!  Have a blessed day and enjoy beauty and joy and let yourself bloom!

More gather together!

I just am having so much fun coloring these pumpkins. The other night I sat down and had a bunch of the images from the gather together stamped in the momento ink and started to color so I think you might be in for a few more ideas with this set. 

I have been challenging myself to think of different cards to make with all the images that I have colored. When you stamp do you like to make many of the same card or do you like them all to be different? Although I do not mind mass producing cards I think I really just like to make all different cards. I love to try and see if I can find a new way to use a stamp or stamp set.  For this card I liked the idea of using the wood plank embossing folder behind the nested stitched die cut out.

The greeting fit perfectly into the stitched label die! Don't you love it when that happens. I am always looking for a way to switch up my greeting. What is your go to for greetings? Have a beautiful day and enjoy the nice fall weather that is slowly approaching! Thank you for stopping by!

Only a few days left to this sale!

Global Design Project #205

Do you ever feel like you get in the same color rut?  I do and so when I saw the color challenge over at the GDP I decided to give it a try. Color challenges have always scared me. I am not really sure why. Maybe because sometime it is a color combo out of my comfort zone. So I am really excited that I did this one.

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I used stampin' blends for my coloring of these adorable little birds, in what I like to call the highlighting technique. I stamped the image with momento black ink then die cut it with the stitched nested labels. Then I used the smallest of the circles in the stitched shapes die for the center part. As you can tell I was really into all my stitched dies, I also used the largest rectangle for the mint macaron layer.

Not really sure that there are birds this color in real life but since it is my work of art I took liberty of creative license on this one. Make some time this weekend and give the color challenge a try.  It also helps to pull you out of creative ruts. (Which I also have been having lately)

Keep in your prayers all those affected by hurricane Dorian!  All those in the Bahamas that are without there families and homes. Also to all those on the East Coast of the US I am keeping you in my prayers for safety! It is times like these that I am so grateful for all the family and faith that I have. God bless you all!

TGIF Christmas Challenge

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Christmas in July? Well, I don't know about where you live but her in Southern California it does not feel like Christmas but I do love making Christmas cards. They are the most fun! I am looking forward to seeing the new Stampin' Up! holiday catalog. As a demonstrator I will get to see it tomorrow and I can't wait! (one of the great perks of being a demonstrator, preorder) Many lucky demonstrators who earned the Greece trip already have the catalog along with many of the stamps and other goodies. So I have seen lots of things online and they are all so cute, I know it will be a big preorder for me!

So for today I have made a Christmas card for the TGIF challenge. When I decided to join in on the challenge this week I realized I do not have any Christmas sets that are current and so I used my favorite punch, perennial flower punch to make my own poinsettia flower.

I punched out a few flowers in cherry cobbler and then sponged the edges to give it more dimension. Some of the flower petals I cut apart to make the flower look even fuller. I used the same punch for the leaves and scores them in half so that it would look like a vein. 

I added a little white chalk line for small reflection on the leaves and curled the flower with my bone folder. For the center I colored a few pearls with my daffodil delight dark stampin blend.

I used fine lines of wink of stella to add to the flower petals. It was really hard to get a picture of that but, it looks so pretty in person. This card was fun and a challenge to make something new with the punch. I admire all the people out there who are so creative with punches. I look forward to seeing the new holiday catalog and sharing the new sets when they arrive.  If you would like to join and receive the same benefit let me know. I would love to answer any questions you may have and now till the end of August is the best time to join! Check out the special pay only $99 and you can choose $155 worth of product from the catalog plus you will receive a coupon towards $10 to use next month! Give the TGIF a try and join them in the Christmas in July challenge. Enjoy!

Special Day

I love to make cards for special people in my life!  This card was made for a friend of mine who's birthday was last month. I also love a punch for my flowers because it makes the whole process so much quicker. 

I stamped the flower with calypso coral and then added dimension with my coral stampin blends and my white water color pencil. I used a few of the new dies: stitched nested labels and wild rose.

The sentiment is from the stitched all around stamp set and the designer paper is from the bird ballad DSP. I saved the negative portion to use on a future card. Check back and see what I did with that. Make someones day special and create a work of art for them! Enjoy!

Inspiring Iris

Wow is this set beautiful!  The possibilities are endless with it and I am so excited to share this card with you today. This card I CASED from the new Stampin' Up catalog page 124. It is an amazing resource for ideas and creative inspiration! I just changed the stamp set and colors and made it my own.

I started with a piece of watercolor paper and white heat embossed the outline of the iris's. I thought that rather than using the stamp to color them in I would watercolor them. (This set comes with stamps that fill in the colors for the stem, leaves and flowers) I did a quick watercolor on the entire panel with a messy look (not staying in the lines). I like the way that this came out. I am still trying to become better at my watercoloring and I know that it takes lots of practice!

                                         

I also looked up iris colors online to see what colors I wanted to use.  This is also a great resource for when coloring. It is fun to see all the color combinations and variety.  For this panel I decided to keep with the traditional iris colors. I stamped the solid stamp with versamark ink on the pear pizzazz card front. The new stitched nested label dies were calling my name. I have been wanting to give them a try and so I decided to use just the top half to frame my iris painting.

The card that I was looking at in the catalog had the sentiment in a straight line and so I stamped this greeting each line separate and carefully lining up using my grid paper. The piece of gingham paper is from the neutral designer series paper. I love the new designs! I also added a few of the new woven thread sequins for a little sparkle and some wink of stella on the iris flowers (however it is hard to see in the photos). Give this set a try and if you need a demonstrator (and don't have one) I would love to order this set for you! I think you will have lots of fun with it!