from my ink pad to yours

April 19, 2019

When you need a quick card...

...you have lots of options. Errands for the weekend and Top Ten weather day in Minnesota means I didn't have much time for stamping. So, today we are going to take look at 2 Memories and More packs and a card kit. Yes, once again you will see a retiring pack, a carryover card kit and a brand new Memories and More pack.

Let's start with the Happiness Blooms Memories and More Card Pack.

This is paired with the Happiness Blooms Memories and More Cards and Envelopes. These have 10 4" x 6" cards and envelopes and 10 3" x 4" cards and envelopes. Don't you love the perky Night of Navy Stripes on the envelope flap.
The greeting and background are all on one larger piece. The 3 little flowers are cardstock stickers from the pack
I added 3 Lovely Lipstick enamel dots.

Moving on, we will check out the Lots of Happy Card Kit.

This kit comes with everything you need. I did use my blender pen though that would definitely be optional.
I particularly love that it comes with 4 watercolor pencil.
This kit makes 20 cards of various sizes. **Please note that the refill for this kit is retiring. #145605.

Finally we have the Magnolia Lane Memories and More card pack and coorindating cards and envelopes.

I just added one of the 3" x 4" cards to one of the lovely Magnolia Lane Large Specialty Memories and More Cards & Envelopes. This comes with 20 cards and envelopes.
The Magnolia Lane Linen ribbon was tied into a bow and attached with a glue dot. Voila! A quick and easy but also elegant, wedding card.
Products for this card will be available June 4, 2019.

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Check out the Stampin' Up! catalogs link at the top of my blog. If you don't have regular Stampin' Up Demonstrator and would like hard copies of any of our current catalogs please feel free to email me at cbondersonsmith@gmail.com

***If you don't have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I would love to help you with your stamping journey and have you shop with me! You can click on "Shop with Chris Smith" at the top of my blog. Clicking on any of the items in the product list below will also bring you to my shop.

Chris

If you place a minimum $50 (US) order using the April host code, TSED6YGC, I will send you the free gift of product that will be featured in my May projects. US customers only. Customers placing an order smaller than $50 will still receive my thank you card.

Product List

Happiness Blooms Memories & More Cards & Envelopes

[148806]

Happiness Blooms Enamel Dots

[148805]

Happiness Blooms Memories & More Card Pack

[148531]

Lots Of Happy Card Kit

[146388]

Blender Pens

[102845]

Product List

Lots Of Happy Card Kit Refill

[145605]

Posted at 11:03 PM in Happiness Blooms Suite, Lots of Happy, Magnolia Lane Suite | Permalink | Comments (0)

April Palette Trio

My trio today uses the April Palette I've introduced earlier this month. This palette includes Petal Pink, Grapefruit Grove, Fresh Fig, Mint Macaron, Coastal Cabana. March customers received thank you gifts that included product samples that work with these colors. April customers will receive a selection in a new color grouping.

I'm still trying to get 3 projects done using retiring, carryover and new catalog preview sets. So far, so good!

My new catalog preview looks a little familiar doesn't it.

Smile It's your time to shine. This features Daisy Lane, a companion set to Daisy Delight . The existing punch works with this set and there will also be a smaller one!
Colors are simple here: Mint Macaron with Petal Pink and Grapefruit Grove.
The lovely ribbon, Mint Macaron 1/4" Textile Ribbon is also new. Soft and very tie-able.
The Buffalo Check background stamp and Delicate Lace dies are also featured.
Grapefruit Grove faceted dots are lovely with this card. Sadly, they will retire soon.

My carryover card features the Beauty Abounds Bundle with its fabulous dies.
This is very similar to a card I did this past winter. While I adore the beautifully detailed Butterfly dies I still like some "white" space on my card, even it it is Petal Pink! The previous card used the scarce Grapefruit Grove Foil. This one has watercolor paper that has been splattered with the April Palette colors. I used an aquapainter and ink from my ink pad lids.
The greeting is "A friend is someone who chooses you..." with "...out of a whole world of people." on the inside.
The paper is Petal Pink and the embossed white message is also from Beauty Abounds.
Embellishments: Basic Pearls.

Finally, we have a few sets that I'm sad to be saying goodbye to:

The greeting is from Friendly Expressions, great greetings that are all capable of being the focal point on your cards.
Colors are Fresh Fig, Petal Pink, Mint Macaron. Playful Backgrounds is perfect for making your own background paper, ANY COLOR YOU WANT. I'm going to miss the stripe like pattern, especially.

Here is a close-up of the twine:

Well, there is today's trio. If you have a request for a stamp set to use please leave a suggestion

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

Posted at 12:00 AM in Beauty Abounds, Buffalo Check, Daisy Lane, Friendly Expressions, Playful Backgrounds | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 17, 2019

TGIF Challenge Trio

I have another trio for you today. This time I took my inspiration from a sketch challenge over at TGIF Challenges. Don't you think the way they've layered the image is intriguing?

Here are my versions. I used the Stamparatus in all of them in order to make sure I lined up the images on the upper layer with those on the card bases.

Let's start with the top card which is my sneak peek card for the day. Good Morning Magnolia is a new suite in the upcoming catalog which will be released June 4th. Since I attended Stampin' Up!'s Onstage last weekend I was able to order some of a select group of products in the Product Purchase Premier. This suite was at the top of my list!

It's really a pretty simple card. I decided it needed the Basic Black layer for a little focus.
I just added a few brushstokes of color with my Petal Pink, Soft Seafoam and Pineapple Punch Blends. All three are in the light shades.
The embellishments are Basic Black Faceted Dots. This is the only product on this card that is retiring. Many of the embellishments will carryover into the next catalog, Unfortunately for me, this was not one of them.
I didn't add the left side embellishments from the sketch. I thought the eye needed a break.

My carryover card uses the butterfly from Beautiful Day.

I loved the colors in this card. I watercolored Mango Melody, Flirty Flamingo and Lovely Lipstick all over the white embossed Shimmery White cardstock layer.
Papers include Shimmery White and Gold Foil.
Gold pearls would be lovely on this card but since they are apparently in hiding,I used the So Saffron Share What You Love pearls. These too will retire.
After doing this I decided that I preferred a smaller top layer, though I don't know if that would have worked with the butterfly.

Finally we have the card that I will enter in the challenge as it most closely follows the sketch. This is my retiring product card.

Colors are Tuxedo Black Memento, Rich Razzleberry and Granny Apple Green Blends Combos.
The Rich Razzleberry "lace" on the side is die cut from the coordinating dies.
This one needed a little more so I took my Basic Black Marker and drew some little stitches around the top layer.
Embellishments are once again from the Share What You Love Artisan pearls
Whisper White Thick cardstock is the only paper used in this card.
You will find quite a few other cards with this set under Petal Palette on the sidebar to the right.

There is it day 2 of my self imposed challenge to show cards from the sneak peek. retiring and carryover products. Maybe I'll have to try it with my April Palette soon!

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

Product List

Beautiful Day Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[145915]

Petal Palette Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[145788]

Petals & More Thinlits Dies

[145655]

Versamark Pad

[102283]

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

Rich Razzleberry Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack

[144602]

Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack

[147274]

Light Soft Sea Foam Stampin' Blends Marker

[148057]

Light Petal Pink Stampin' Blends Marker

[146866]

Light Pineapple Punch Stampin' Blends Marker

[147029]

Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

[141897]

Faceted Dots

[146910]

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[100730]

Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[121045]

Gold Foil Sheets

[132622]

Share What You Love Artisan Pearls

[146927]

Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder

[109129]

Big Shot

[143263]

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

Heat Tool

[129053]

Lovely Lipstick Classic Stampin' Pad

[147140]

Mango Melody Classic Stampin' Pad

[147093]

Flirty Flamingo Classic Stampin' Pad

[147052]

Product List

Stamparatus

[146276]

Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker

[100082]

Posted at 10:11 PM in Beautiful Day, Good Morning Magnolia, Petal Palette | Permalink | Comments (6)

April 16, 2019

Color Challenge Trio

We are in that home stretch for Stampin' Up!'s 2018-2019 catalog. We know what is retiring, what isn't, and demonstrators have had a peek at what is coming in June. I'm not sure I can pull this off every day between now and June 4th, but today I have a card from all three categories. There is so much that I will miss when products retire, much that I'm relieved to have sticking around, and even more new designs that I'm excited to put into play. Here is today's trio:

The retiring set: The beautiful Floral Frames Bundle with the Striped Scallops embossing folder.

Check the Floral Frames link on the right for more cards with this stamp set/bundle.
Colors are Very Vanilla, Lovely Lipstick and Mint Macaron. I'll share more about this challenge later. The colors, the Lovely Lipstick enamel dots and the Rectangle Stitched dies aren't retiring.
I just purchased the embossing folder in the past few months. Many of the stripes are covered by my stamped panel but the scallops give a more interesting texture than regular stripes. My Home to Roost card on the side bar shows a little more of the stripes.
The leaflet on the left is cut with the coordinating dies.

The bundle that is staying round in the upcoming catalog is Rooted in Nature, as is the Layered Leaves 3D embossing folder:

Same colors as the previous card.
The Faceted Dots are retiring and I will sorely miss these. I think that I'm on my 3rd package. They come in Basic Black, Blackberry Bliss, Grapefruit Grove and Mint Macaron. If you've been following my April Palette, these have a fairly important roll. Mint Macaron and Grapefruit Grove are major players in the palette and Blackberry Bliss does well standing in for Fresh Fig.

Finally, I made one more card with today's color combination when I got an exciting package of stamps, bundles and accessories from the new catalog.

How could I resist when the To a Wild Rose set so perfectly played into the Karen and Lela's color challenge, "Lovely Vanilla Mint Macarons with roses for dessert".
The rose, leaves and greeting label are all cut with the coordinating dies .
The Country Floral 3D embossing folder will make a comeback in the new catalog too! I have lots of samples with this if you check my Country Floral Gallery page.
The Scalloped Lace is also new. I'll have to give you a better look on a future project. It has just the right amount of body and the perfect amount of sheen on the scallops. It had to be on my first order.

I would love to have you check out this color challenge.

A note about the retired list. All current bundles will be listed as retiring since they will only be available separately in the next catalog. Also, all clear and wood mount stamps will be listed as retiring since there will be no wood mount (other than background stamps) or clear mount stamps in the future. Those that are carried over into the new catalog will be cling stamps - with a new order number. I apologize that this makes the list a little confusing.

You should be able to order retiring stamps until at least May 24th. Other products are only while supplies last.

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

Product List

Floral Frames Clear-Mount Bundle

[148406]

Rooted In Nature Clear-Mount Bundle

[148353]

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

Lovely Lipstick Classic Stampin' Pad

[147140]

Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad

[147106]

Very Vanilla 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[101650]

Mint Macaron 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[138337]

Layering Ovals Framelits Dies

[141706]

Very Vanilla 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Lace Trim

[141672]

Faceted Dots

[146910]

Pearl Basic Jewels

[144219]

Happiness Blooms Enamel Dots

[148805]

Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

[141897]

Country Floral Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

[149698]

Layered Leaves Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

[143704]

Striped Scallops Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

[147188]

Big Shot

[143263]

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

Posted at 09:51 PM in Country Floral Embossing Folder, Floral Frames, Rooted in Nature, To a Wild Rose | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 15, 2019

The Retirement List

Back again! You can shop the retirement or "Last Chance Products" in my store. By checking there you will see if it is still in stock.

If you would like to print the list out in its original version(US) out, the PDF versions are here:

AC= Annual Catalog OCC= Occasions

Please note that products are while supplies last. You are best off shopping directly in my shop since things could be discontinued if you wait to reach me and have me place your order.

And, as I promised, I've got the second card of my Eclectic Layers duo:

The butterflies are stamped with Coastal Cabana ink and colored with Highland Heather Blends. This goes well with the lightended Fresh Fig in the bacground.
The background is, once again one of the blended backgrounds that I made as I was becoming familiar with my April Palette to Petal Pink, Grapefruit Grove, Fresh Fig, Mint Macaraon, and Coastal Cabana.
I trimmed my Mint Macaron layer to 4" x 5 1/4" and white embossed my greeting before attaching it to my white card base, leaving a white corner border.
Some tiny tone on tone Mint Macaron images from Oh, So Eclectic add a little visual interest to the butterflies flight, along with Mint Macaron Faceted Dots.

Here it is with its partner card again. The Petal Pink card is described in my previous post.

Enjoy perusing the retired list.

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

Product List

Butterfly Gala Photopolymer Bundle

[150599]

Oh So Eclectic Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[143940]

Eclectic Layers Thinlits Dies

[143774]

Grapefruit Grove Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

[147181]

Fresh Fig Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

[144088]

Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

[138331]

Coastal Cabana Classic In Color Stampin' Ink Refill

[131164]

Whisper White Craft Stampin' Ink Refill

[101780]

Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad

[147097]

Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad

[147106]

Grapefruit Grove Classic Stampin' Pad

[147142]

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[100730]

Mint Macaron 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[138337]

Petal Pink 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[146985]

Fresh Fig 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[144242]

Big Shot

[143263]

Faceted Dots

[146910]

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

Posted at 03:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So Much Excitement!

Quick post. It's been a busy and exciting weekend with Onstage, where Stampin' Up! introduces the new catalog to demonstrators. I'll be back later this afternoon with another post and a link to a list of what is retiring from the current catalog. For now I'm going to tell you about the first card in this duo.

Both of these cards use my April Palette which includes Petal Pink, Grapefruit Grove, Fresh Fig, Mint Macaron and Coastal Cabana. Both also feature the Eclectic Layers dies. The stamp set, Oh, So Eclectic, and the coordinating dies, Eclectic Layers will both be retiring next month. I will post a link to the list later today when the list goes live. Stampin' Up! demonstrators were introduced to the new catalog this past weekend and though we don't have the retirement list YET, we could see what isn't in the new catalog. You can usually order the retiring stamp sets through the end of the catalog's life which is June 3 for our current catalog. The dies however will be while supplies last.

This card features both the above mentioned stamps and dies. The piece peeking through was one of the blended backgrounds that I did earlier with my April Palette.
You can see that one of the dies in the set is just for doing leaflet impressions, while others actually cut out leaves. There are so many options with a set of dies that includes both.
I dressed this one up a bit with Faceted Dots in Grapefruit Grove.
I also added some Wink of Stella though the first photo doesn't quite do it justice.

I will be back later with the second card, the product list for both, and a link to the retiring list.

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

Posted at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 09, 2019

Incredible Blooms

Quick post today with my card for Splitcoaststamper's Color Challenge. I'm so happy that they have asked me to stay on with the color design crew for the coming months. The color challenge is Daffodil Delight, Grapefruit Grove and Berry Burst with sparkles for dessert.

I started by blending the colors on my 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of Whisper White. I squeezed 3 pearl sized amounts of Whisper White Craft refill ink on an acrylic block and then added a few drops of classic dye ink refill into each one using the following colors: Crushed Curry, Grapefruit Grove and Berry Burst. I don't know what made me switch up Crushed Curry for Daffodil Delight but with the white mixed in the background does end up with a daffodil like color. I use sponge daubers to blend my color into the paper. This seems to go pretty quickly - the craft ink makes it easy to spread the ink on the paper, going faster than trying to roll the ink on with the sponge brayers.
I trimmed 5/8" off the 5 1/2" side and used this on the inside.

The stripes from Incredible Like You were stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink along the right side of 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card. I separated the stripes from the blended background with the skinniest layer of Basic Black.
The blooms were stamped with the same colors listed above and then centers were added in Tuxedo Black. These were quickly hand trimmed.
The greeting was also stamped in Tuxedo Black. I used the Stamparatus so that I could make sure it got stamped perfectly. It would have been a shame to mess up that pretty blended paper.
Adhere the flowers, add a Black/Sliver Metallic bow and some black faceted dots and Voila!

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

Product List

Posted at 11:54 PM in Bloom by Bloom, Incredible Like You | Permalink | Comments (2)

April 08, 2019

Wonderful Romance, Vellum and Lace

Hi everybody. Welcome to a new week! Today I'm blog hopping with a wonderful group of demonstrators who are part of Kylie's Demonstrator Training group.

Today's card was inspired by a piece of Fresh Fig paper lace.

I had run the Fresh Fig cardstock through the Big Shot with a Lace embossing folder that had been inked up on the inside of the label side with Whisper White craft ink. It seemed a bit darker than my normal style to use the whole piece of Fresh fig so I trimmed around the scallops in the embossed design to get a smaller piece. When I held it up to the gorgeous printed vellum I couldn't resist making those two pieces cover my whole card.

More details:

The 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card base is Petal Pink, giving it a warmer look.
The tag is also Petal Pink and it is punched with the Tag Topper Scalloped Punch. The bottom two corners are rounder with the Detailed Trio punch.
The greeting is stamped in Fresh Fig and embellished with a few sprigs I handcut from the vellum. It really doesn't take long to hand trim these. Sometimes we get spoiled with the Big Shot and forget that it isn't that hard to cut by hand.
The Petal Pink Variegated Ribbon is also from the Wonderful Romance Suite. A little bit of White Baker's Twine attaches the tag to the ribbon.

Here is a close up of the tag.

Products are listed at the end of my blog post.

I'm so glad you are checking out this blog hop. Here are the other blogs you can visit:

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

Product List

Posted at 04:50 PM in Wonderful Romance | Permalink | Comments (8)

April 03, 2019

Pulling in the Best Catch

Do you ever color in an image or create a background but then feel stumped about how you will turn either of them into a card? Well, I had a couple of those pieces, a colored trout and a blended background, that had me a bit stumped until I consulted my Pinterest Board of current challenges. Julee Tilman has a sketch that has a rather obvious spot for me to use my background, but what about the trout, It isn't square and it looks nothing like a flower, right?

Well, I tried it. I think it works!

The card base is a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" Crumb Cake. I stamped the fisherman in Fresh Fig in the lower right front of the card.
The background strip is actually a strip of Petal Pink where I blended Fresh Fig, Coastal Cabana and Mint Macaron ink refills after mixing them individually with Whisper White craft in on a large Acrylic block. When I decided to try it with this sketch I trimmed it down to 5 1/2" x 1 7/8". As I designed the card I decided to add a 5 1/2" x 2" piece of Fresh Fig underneath this.
As you can see Julee suggests paper dimensions in her sketch. I used slightly smaller squares as I used the largest and 3rd largest stitched squares from the Stitched Shapes Framelits.
It is hard to see but I did try stamping the fisherman in Fresh Fig on the Fresh Fig layer. I dont' think this really shows up so I wouldn't recommend this if you decide to make your own version of this card.
The Crumb Cake square has a Tuxedo Black Greeting and Fresh Fig fly fishing lure.
The trout itself is stamped with Tuxedo Black ink. I used Bermuda Bay Blends Combo as a substitute for Coastal Cabana and Rich Razzleberry Dark as a substitute for Fresh Fig.
When I cut my trout out with the corresponding die I was surprised to find that die also cuts out the fins! I popped this 3D fish up a little more with some Stampin' Dimensionals.
Last of all, I took a risk and stuck some Share What You Love Artisan Pearls to stand in for a few droplets of water. It beats sequins, right? Hopefully it won't mess up this as a masculine card. Otherwise I think I know some fisherwomen.

Here is a close up of those fins:

Products are listed at this end of this blog post.

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

Product List

Best Catch Cling Bundle

[150605]

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

Fresh Fig Classic Stampin' Pad

[147144]

Coastal Cabana Classic In Color Stampin' Ink Refill

[131164]

Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

[138331]

Fresh Fig Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

[144088]

Whisper White Craft Stampin' Ink Refill

[101780]

Sponge Daubers

[133773]

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[100730]

Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[120953]

Fresh Fig 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[144242]

Petal Pink 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[146985]

Bermuda Bay Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack

[144600]

Rich Razzleberry Dark Stampin' Blends Marker

[144583]

Petal Pink Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack

[147272]

Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies

[145372]

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

Share What You Love Artisan Pearls

[146927]

Posted at 10:51 PM in Best Catch, Blends | Permalink | Comments (5)

April 02, 2019

Meet Beautiful Bouquet

Do you need some springtime cards, maybe a wedding card? I have two cards featuring the Beautiful Bouquet stamp set and the Stitched Seasons Framelits. This set of framelits was originally offered last summer and I recently noticed that it is on the clearance rack. While I'm just showing the large framelits there are smaller dies in that set that will add some extra embellishment to you card making.

My first card uses the colors for Splitcoaststamper's color challenge spring/Easter for dessert.

I tried out a new to me set, along with colors that haven't been in my regular repertoire.

I really like doing this technique with layered framelits like this.

I used a Whisper White card base 4 1/4" x 11", scored at 5 1/2" and folded .
On top of this I added a Whisper White layer that had the largest Stitched Seasons framelit cut out of it before embossing with the Subtle folder.
The next layer is cut out of Subtle designer series - in Highland Heather. This is then embossed with the Swirls and Curls embossing folder and then sanded to get a nice worn, but even more textured look.
After attaching the Whisper White layer to the card base, the patterned layer is set into the opening. I used Mulitpurpose glue for this.
Add a White Polka Dot Tulle ribbon around these layers.
The smallest layer is stamped with stems and leaves in Pear Pizzazz. I actually stamped Highland Heather tulips too but later decided to cover them with die cut tulips that were stamped with Gorgeous Grape ink on Highland Heather cardstock. Before adding the die cuts, though, I embossed this layer, again with the Subtle folder before attaching it with Stampin Dimensionals.
Add a tag stamped with hello (You could also choose For You or Mr. & Mrs from the Beatiful Bouquet stamp sets.) is attached with Whisper White Baker's Twine.
Finally add a few Glitter Enamel Dots in Gorgeous Grape.

Here is a close up that shows all the texture and glitter in the dots:

This wedding card uses the same stamp set and framelits with a few substitutions.

Ink color is Petal Pink as is the bottom layer over the Whisper White card base.
The two larger die cut layers were cut from Petal Promenade designer series paper.
Embossing folders are Dot to Dot and Tufted.
Ribbon is Petal Pink and White Variegated Ribbon.
Embellishments: Faceted Dots - in Grapefruit Grove.

Here is a close up of these details:

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

Product List

Posted at 11:20 PM in Beautiful Bouquet, Colorful Seasons | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 01, 2019

April First, Round 2: Kylie's International Blog Highlights

Hey, I'm back again today for Kylie's International Blog Highlights.

The theme for all of Kylie's highlights this year is encouragement and today I'm featuring an often overlooked pair of sentiments from Stampin' Up!'s annual catalog: Friendly Conversation.

The other sentiment reads: "Maybe I can't stop the DOWNPOUR but I will ALWAYS join you for a walk in the rain." The one I featured sounds like a thank you to someone who has been encouraging and the other IS encouraging. Both are worthy of being the focal point of any card whether you want to dress it up more or not!

This card uses the Petal Promenade papers, Calypso Coral Ombre ribbon, Tea Room Copper Vinyl stickers and the Share What You Love Artisan Pearls, all of which coordinate with an April color palette that I've set more myself:

Petal Pink, Fresh Fig, Grapefruit Grove, Mint Macaron, and Coastal Cabana.

Not everything I make will feature these colors. Demonstrators will of course be introduced to next years In Colors so I KNOW I will stray. I am, however, planning to look to these as I approach whatever challenges or papercrafting projects that come my way this month.

And, not everything will be frilly. There are fish in that tray! So, stay tuned and keep track of me here, on Instagram or my Facebook page. I plan to be posting with this palette many more times this month.

Do you want to see who else is participating in the International Blog Highlights? Click here to see the others AND vote for you favorites. The page should be live after 3pm CT.

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

Product List

Posted at 03:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Animal Outing with a Baby Boy Card

Happy Monday, Happy April, and...Happy April Fool's Day Everyone! March was kind of a crazy month and I'm happy about starting a new one. I missed more posts than I would have liked but how about if I make up for it a little with a 2 post Monday. To start with, I couldn't resist this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge:

Doesn't it look rather familiar? I love to use vertical borders on my cards, often with a little lace. I decided to make it a little more challenging by not using lace for a change.

I layered a piece of Whisper White embossed with the Subtle embossing folder over an A2 or 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" white card base.
Since my last baby card was pink I thought I better balance things out with a blue card and started by cutting apart some Balmy Blue gingham from the Gingham Gala designer series paper stack. You will need to cut through the middle to do this but I guarantee you will get other pieces to use including 2 7/8" x 5 1/2" pieces like I used on this card. Use the grid on the Stampin' Trimmer to make sure you are lining up your paper at a 45 degree angle to the edge. If you don't want to bother with this it would also work to use the straight gingham.
Either way you will want to add a skinny border of Balmy Blue to finish off the border. That is what I love about these border cards. You don't have to measure as long as you have a strip that is at least as long as your card's height, in the case of A2, 5 1/2". For everything else you can just eyeball it.
The kangaroo image from Animal Outing was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento and colored with Crumb Cake, Balmy Blue and Smoky Slate Blends.
I cut the image out with the coordinating framelit and then cut an extra to make it a bit stiffer. This is popped up with dimensionals into the lower right corner of the card.
"Welcome" and "Little One" are embossed in white on Balmy Blue cardstock and hand trimmed with my paper snips.
That's it. A baby card for the stash.

Storage by Stampin' Up!® is available today! I think it's great that you can start small and let it grow with your needs. While I have worked to get all of my storage to be wall based, I have one area that still needs help and I'm placing an order with Stampin' Up! today. I received the black storage case when I took a certification class many years ago and it has worked well for taking my Blends out of my Stamp Pantry but it takes up a lot of valuable desk space when it is open on my workspace. I'm anxious to replace this with the new storage for Blends. It should take up even less space than my current case does when it is closed. Stay tuned. I think this will inspire a little spring cleaning and maybe a few more photos of the Stamp Pantry!

I'll be back before 3 with a second post around 3pm CT for Kylie's International Blog Highlights.

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

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Posted at 01:28 PM in Animal Outing | Permalink | Comments (3)

March 31, 2019

Adios, Sale-A-Bration 2019

Today is the finale of Sale-A-Bration 2019. So let's have one last hello form this rooster:

The partial background was made by mixing Stampin' Up! classic ink refills with Whisper White craft refill and blending them on cardstock with a sponge dauber. This card uses Granny Apple Green and Bermuda Bay (with a little Night of Navy that was left over from a previous session.) mixed with the white. I masked off all but the left 1 1/4" before blending the border on this card. You want to do this after scoring but before folding the card. I also mask off all but a skinny part of the right side of the back. I wanted to make sure that all of the left front gets inked and it's OK if there is a little bit of neatly masked/edged ink on the back. A while back I did a Facebook Live showing the blending technique.
After the border ink had dried a few minutes I stamped the grasses in Tuxedo Memento ink on the lower part of the border. After re-inking the image I stamped again just a little bit lower and to the right, going onto the white part of the card.
I added the rooster, again in Tuxedo Black, and colored him the the dark Granny Apple Green and light Bermuda Bay Blends.
Sponge a little more Granny Apple Whisper White at the bottom of the card to give the bird something to stand on.
Add a greeting - or leave blank until you are ready to send it - and you are done.

I stamped a variety of these cards, varying the location of my blended strip so that I will have a variety of cards that just need one or two stamped images before they are ready to pop in the mail. Here is one more that I used with the Part of My Story and Painted Seasons Sale-A-Bration stamps:

This card used the same refills as the first card with the addition of Rich Razzleberry and Melon Mambo. I used Rich Razzleberry for the stamped images. You can see that when you are mixing your classic refills with the Whisper White you will get lighter colors and you can vary this with the amount of colored refill you use. Even when your blended colors are lighter they pair beautifully with the full strength stamped images.

I usually have mixed emotions as Sale-A-Bration ends. As a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I'm a little sad that some products I've loved using will no longer be available for purchase but happy to have a little more energy to devote to some lovely stamps and bundles from the annual catalog. And, of course, just because something is retired doesn't mean demonstrators absolutely can't still use things. I'm sure there are people who already have retired items that would love to see more ideas, right? What were your favorite Sale-A-Bration products this year?

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

If you place a minimum $50 (US) order using the April host code, TSED6YGC, I will send you the free gift of product that will be featured in my May projects. Orders placed prior to 11pm MT are also eligible for a free Sale-A-Bration item . US customers only. Customers placing an order smaller than $50 will still receive my thank you card.

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Posted at 03:49 PM in Blends, Home to Roost, Painted Seasons, Part of My Story | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 30, 2019

Easter Card Duo

There is enough going on on the fronts of both of today's card so the greeting would go in the inside, which could have either Easter or Sympathy messages.

This first card features an eclipse technique done with Hold on to Hope and the Cross of Hope framelit dies.
I've done this before keeping it fairly simple but I couldn't resist trying the oval with the scallops on top of the Country Floral embossing.
I mixed framelit ses using both the Stitched Shapes framelits and the Layering Ovals framelits. You could easily substitute a layering oval for the stitched one - as you can see in my next card:

This is the same card but with Highland Heather instead of gold embossing and foil and, as I said, I used a regular oval instead of a stitched one.
The embossing for this card was done with the Layering Leaves embossing folder.
I stacked 5 layers of crosses for the raised eclipse look.
The embossed layers for both cards were trimmed to 4" x 5 1/4" and layered onto 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card bases.

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

If you place a minimum $50 (US) order using the March host code, YDZJFZWA, I will send you the free gift of product that will be featured in my April projects. March orders are also eligible for a free Sale-A-Bration item . US customers only. Customers placing an order smaller than $50 will still receive my March thank you card.

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Posted at 05:57 PM in Country Floral Embossing Folder, Hold on to Hope | Permalink | Comments (6)

March 27, 2019

An Oh, So Eclectic Duo

Today's cards are made with one of my favorite color combinations and Oh, So Eclectic.

This color combination has made it through several changes in Stampin' Up!'s color palette: a red, a bright green, black and white, with a healthy dose of Crumb Cake. One of the cards includes a little Rich Razzleberry too, just for fun. I don't often use a lot purple in cards but a little is sometimes just the right amount of spice.

When I signed up up to be a demonstrator, a few decades ago, the artist who's team I joined taught me that purple colors work wonders in shadows. Here I used Rich Razzleberry ink to deepen the Rich Razzeberry detailed die cut from Eclectic layers for the flower.
Black dots over Lemon Lime Twist give nice contrast to the center of the flower.
The leaflet was cut from Granny Apple Green cardstock and lightly pressed into a Garden Green ink pad.
The Poppy Parade polka dot pattern from the Brights Designer Series Paper collection give the perfect accent.
Other key features for this card are the Basket Weave texture and a few wraps of Linen Thread.

A little simpler card, but with many of the same supplies:

I used Lemon Lime Twist for the background leaves. The die cut leaflet is the same as in the previous card.
This flower has a Flirty Flamingo base with a Poppy Parade detail die cut over it.
I used dimensionals to attach the flower to the Whisper White layer and again to attach that layer to the Crumb Cake card base.

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

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Posted at 05:18 PM in Oh, So Eclectic | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 25, 2019

Vibrant Vases but Subtle Colors

Here we are in the last week in March. And, it's my last week as a guest designer for the Color Challenge at Splitcoaststampers. The colors this week are Powder Pink, Soft Sea Foam and Early Espresso. Dessert, which is always optional, is designer series paper.

I have collected all of Stampin' Up!'s designer series papers in the color groups. The dots and stripes in these papers work for color challenges and can also be combined with papers in other designer series paper collections. For this card I chose Soft Sea Foam Stripes with Early Espresso dots and wrapped them up with a Shimmery ribbon in Powder Pink.
My focal point is a vase of flowers from Vibrant Vases.
The vase and flowers are both stamped in Early Espresso. I used the Dark Soft Sea Foam Blends to color the vase and flower outline.
The flowers have a 2 step type set up. I stamped the solid flowers in Powder Pink, then darkened the centers a little more with the Powder Pink marker.
The Vase Builder punch is great for punching out the vases in this set. I trimmed out the flowers.
I used a Whisper White stitched shape cut with a Stitched Labels Framelits die, as the base for my vase.
A few Artisan pearls finish off the card.

I had kind of a tricky time photographing the soft colors in this card, since didn't have daylight available. To try something different without my usual pale wood background, I put a few sheets of vellum over a sheet of pink rose paper. I'm not sure which picture I prefer but I think I have one more idea in my card photo bag of tricks.

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon.

Chris

Product List

Dark Soft Sea Foam Stampin' Blends Marker

[148058]

Posted at 11:29 PM in Vibrant Vases | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fresh Fig's Days are Numbered...

Quick post with a little reminder. We are in our last week of Sale-A-Bration... and that means that if you were thinking of adding any of the 2017-2019 In-colors to your collection now is the time to do so. You get Sale-A-Bration items for your orders of $50 or more (US). Furthermore, almost every year we seem to see at least some of the colors run out in April. If you need a ink refill or extra pad of paper, now is the time.

Speaking of 2017-19 In-colors, I have go confess I've been a little late to the party with Fresh Fig. I've seen a few color combinations lately that combine shades of pink with Fresh Fig and it they play together amazingly well!

Words are from Friendly Conversations which is in Stampin' Up!'s Annual catalog.
The flower images are from the Bloom by Bloom stamp set.
The vellum leaves were punched out with the Leaf Punch.
Rectangle Stitched Framelit Dies take the guess work out of measuring!
Colors: Fresh Fig and Petal Pink!
This is a sneak peek of an April Palette you will be seeing next month and I'm going to be showing Fresh Fig whether it is still available or not. Just saying.
PS. If you place an order in March think about choosing Petal Promenade Designer Series Paper as your free Sale-A-Bration Item. This paper is working it's way into my "April Palette".

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon.

Chris

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Posted at 12:19 AM in Bloom by Bloom, Friendly Conversations | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 21, 2019

Well Said Sympathy Butterflies

Here is another variation of the Butterfly and Blended Backgrounds card I shared last week:

This uses a background I made a few weeks ago when I was playing around with some challenge colors. Both were made by blending dye ink refills with white craft refill. This combination makes it very easy to blend the colors on cardstock with the Sponge Daubers.

The background colors are Night of Navy, Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry. Whisper White craft ink lightens them a little as they are blended with Sponge daubers on the Whisper White cardstock.
I used a Layering Circles framelit die to cut the circle out of the 4" x 5 1/4" white cardstock.
I sponged Daffodil Delight o my gold embossed Butterfly Gala butterflies.
The greeting is from the Well Words Bundle with the "Sympathy" cut from Coastal Cabana and the "all my" stamped in Coastal Cabana ink. I used a light touch with Dark Pool Party and Light Night of Navy Blends to darken the bottom of the sympathy die cut to look like the background blending.
Metallic Pearls bring the tiniest bit of bling to this expression of sympathy.

The Butterfly Gala Bundle is still not available as I write this but I'm hopeful it will be available soon!

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon.

Chris

Product List

Butterfly Gala Photopolymer Bundle

[150599]

Well Said Cling Bundle

[150609]

Uninked Stampin’ Craft Pad & Whisper White Refill

[147277]

Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

[131158]

Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

[131156]

Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

[103033]

Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad

[147097]

Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad

[147094]

Pool Party Dark Stampin' Blends Marker

[144594]

Night Of Navy Light Stampin' Blends Marker

[144036]

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[100730]

Pearl Basic Jewels

[144219]

Daffodil Delight Dark Stampin' Blends Marker

[144585]

White Stampin' Emboss Powder

[109132]

Sponge Daubers

[133773]

Heat Tool

[129053]

Layering Circle Framelits Dies

[141705]

Big Shot

[143263]

Posted at 11:31 PM in Butterfly Gala, Well Said | Permalink | Comments (1)

March 20, 2019

Fable Friends Baby Girl Card

I have a cute little baby girl card for you today.

This card got its start when another stamper contacted me to find out what would be a few good colors of Blends to start with. She mentioned that one of the sets she would like to use the Blends with was Fable Friends. I had just received my own set so I set out to get her some examples.

Blends are Stampin' Up!'s alcohol markers. These markers are awesome for blending in shadows and highlights and enable you to avoid the streaky look you sometimes get when you use water based markers. There are various techniques to use in blending these colors but you can just use them as markers too - as long as you use a water based dye ink to stamp your image. You need to do this because the alcohol doesn't mix with the water based ink and blur the outline image. Anyway I did some quick sketchy coloring so I could send her some ideas. Here are the colors I used on each image left to right:

The first bunny is colored with Light Crumb Cake, Dark Flirty Flamingo and Light Mango Melody. I have to tell you that I used these colors because I had seen another version of this bunny by Nicole at wertschatz-papeterie. While I think hers is actually watercolored with slightly different colors, I got the idea to mix Flirty Flamingo with Mango Melody just from looking at her pretty bunny. You really need to check out the adorable flower crown she added too!
The second bunny is even simpler, using just two colors: Light Crumb Cake and Light Flirty Flamingo.
The duck is colored with Light Crumb Cake, Light Flirty Flamingo and Light Mango Melody. The cape is a blend of the last two colors.

Back to the baby card:

I created a base for the bunny by starting with a 3" x 4 1/4" piece of Whisper White cardstock, adding a piece of 3" x 1 1/4" piece of dotted Powder Pink Designer series paper from the 2017-2019 In Colors package. You wouldn't need to cut your bunny out if you just stamped him solo on this piece with the message, though I obviously needed to cut this one out if I wanted to get any use from my examples.
I added the greeting just to the left of the bunny, stamping once again in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink.
Wrap the Powder Pink Ruffled Ribbon around where the dotted paper ends and secure it by tying a piece of Petal Pink and Silver Twine.
I layered this piece onto a 3 1/4" x 4 1/2" piece of Whisper White Thick cardstock and attached it to an A2 (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") card.
Pop a few Artisan Pearls on for the sweater buttons and you are good to go.

You might notice that I used several different Stampin' Up! pinks on this card and they all blend together very well!

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon.

Chris

Posted at 10:39 PM in Blends, Fable Friends | Permalink | Comments (1)

All Adorned Meets Let It Ride

Do you check out Pinterest for your next card making adventure? I do. Have you ever noticed that when you click first click on a pin, Pinterest tries to show you all sorts of other things that "it thinks" would be similar. That's how I found Sandee Shanabrough's lace on wood horse card. Hers is quite elaborate and detail but I was anxious to try a simplified version that still featured that lovely lace on wood look. Here is what I came up with using the beautiful brushstroke horse "cameo" from the Let it Ride stamp set and the lace-like All Adorned stamp set, a recent addition to the Sale-A-Bration line up. You can get it free with a $50 purchase.

Both cards feature the same stamp sets mentioned above, Wood Textures Designer Series Paper, and an oval die from Stitched Shapes Framelit Dies.

This first card with the darker wood tones features a variation in the direction of the wood grain of the paper. I had accidentally trimmed my paper too short so I decided to use a trick I'd one purposely before and add that horizontal strip at the top. the pieces are simply butted together and taped from the back.
The horse is stamped with Early Espresso and trimmed with the oval die.
The Wood Textures paper is stamped with All Adorned images and a greeting from Let It Ride in Whisper White Craft ink and embossed with Whisper White Stampin' Emboss Powder.
A bit of Linen Thread is wound like rope as the lone embellishment on my simplified card.
Here is my slightly fussier version:

This version uses Very Vanilla instead of Whisper White. Instead of Whisper White embossing powder I used an 8 year old bottle labeled June '11. It had yellowed and gives more of a Very Vanilla appearance.
I stepped up the layers, trimming the Wood Textures piece to 3 3/4" x 5" and layered it on 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" piece of Early Espresso cardstock.
A simple tied bow of Linen Thread embellishes the oval.

I so appreciate your time as you visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon.

Chris

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Posted at 01:01 AM in All Adorned, Let It Ride | Permalink | Comments (0)

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