December 31, 2018

2018 Year in Review Part 3

It's the last day of the year and my last installment of my 2018 Year in Review. *** note: As with the first 2 installments I can't really do a product list for everything. I will, however, try to link the most of the retiring products at the end of the post.

Blended Seasons and Stitched Seasons framelits were a wonderful pair that was available for a limited time last August. I so wish they would have been in the Annual catalog. If you didn't get in on these during August, you might still be in luck. As of this morning the framelits were still available on the clearance rack. You can see the original blog post with a few more cards if you click on the picture.

Falling Leaves was one of the first Holiday catalog sets I started exploring since I finished out my set of Blends about the same time and it was such a great set to color. This card features a somewhat unusual color combination of Poppy Parade and Mint Macaron, both former In-Colors which came out of retirement to be part of Stampin' Up!'s regular line up. There are only a few more days to purchase Falling Leaves before it retires. Click on the picture to see the original blog post with a couple of other cards.

Another stamp set and bundle that will be "retiring" on January 2 is Nothing Sweeter. If stitching is your thing - or even if it isn't - you should take a close look at this if you haven't already. The stitched dies go so perfectly with the simple cookie cutter style shapes : tree, gift and heart. You can see the original post by clicking on the picture.

Nothing's Sweeter Bundle with Buffalo Check

...Yet another coloring stamp set that will no longer be available after January 2: Great Joy. I have so enjoyed practicing my Blends techniques with this set and designed several cards with it. This one is a little different in that I did some paper piecing with the Festive Farmhouse Designer Series Paper. You can see the original post by clicking on the picture.

This poinsettia card was so fun to design that I made a variation with of it for a non-holiday swap at Onstage. I just realized that I never posted the birthday version. Click on the Christmas card to see the original post.

This Winter Woods card was inspired by a Freshly Made Sketches challenge and I'm guessing that it might be one of my most CASE'd of the year. If you have one that has been inspired by this or any of my other cards feel free to link it in the comments. You can see the original post by clicking the picture.

This was the card I made for general swaps at Onstage. You can see the original blog post by clicking the picture. (This prototype version uses the Beautiful Blizzard stamp set for the Pool Party background though I think I used Artisan Textures for the swaps??) I later did a Facebook Live video to show how to get 14 "L" shaped pieces of designer series paper out of a 12" x 12" sheet. You will want to know how to do this to make the most of the soon to be released Sale-A-Bration DSP, Butterfly Botanicals. hint hint

I did this Happiness Surrounds/Snowflake Showcase card for Kylie Bertucci's International Highlights ...and won the voting! This was a limited edition suite available only in November 2018. You can see the original post by clicking the picture.

As one of the top ten in that voting I was privileged to participate in a blog hop later that month with this card, done with the well loved Wishing You Well You set. You can see the original post by clicking the picture.

More gingham aka Buffalo Check. I celebrated the news that it will continue to be available with a post about this card. You can see the original post by clicking the picture.

Finally, one more card with Wishing You Well. This was my first card to get over 200 likes on Instagram. Over there I'm Chris Smith, @inkpad1. You can see the original post by clicking the card. You can follow me on Instagram here.

I've really had fun recalling the enjoyment I had making these projects. If you've made it this far I appreciate your time!!!

I sincerely thank you for stopping by my little place in the stamping world. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

***If you need a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I would love to have you shop with me! You can click on "Shop with Chris Smith" at the top of my blog.

If you place a minimum $50 (US) order using the December hostess code, 2APHPF9M, I will send your choice of any annual catalog item up to $10 in value. US customers only. Customers placing an order smaller than $50 will still receive my special Christmas thank you surprise.

If you place a $150 or greater order please don't use the hostess code. You will still receive the gifts but you will also get your own hostess benefits.

Product List

Posted at 10:53 AM in Petal Palette | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 30, 2018

Ruff! Ruff!

Happy Tails Bundle, an adorable new dog stamp set with a matching punch is sure to be a hit with dog lovers ... and those who love these dog lovers. Don't you think this pup wants to play?

Measurements:

5 1/2" x 8 1/2" Whisper White card, folded.

1/4 sheet Crumb Cake cut into a rectangle with the 3rd largest Rectangle die

1/4 sheet Whisper White or scraps for circle cut from 2nd largest Stitched shapes circle, dog, dog house, and bone.

Stamp the dog with corresponding spots, dog house and bone in Tuxedo Black Memento ink. Stamp Ruff! Ruff! in the black on the white cardstock allowing room to cut with the circle die.
Color the dog house with the Real Red Blends.
Color the dog with the Crumb Cake Blends.
The checked piece of paper from the Butterfly Botanicals Sale-A-Bration DSP is 1 7/8" x 3 3/4" though you could cut this a little differently. Sometimes I like to cut checked paper so that I have a dark border around the whole peice - I forgot to trim the bottom of the piece in my card - do you see what I mean? I colored the piece with my Light Crumb Cake Blends.
Punch out the dog.
Trim the dog house and bone by hand.
Assemble as shown, using dimensionals for the dog.
Put it in the mail to your favorite dog lover!

I sincerely thank you for stopping by my little place in the stamping world. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

***If you need a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I would love to have you shop with me! You can click on "Shop with Chris Smith" at the top of my blog.

If you place a $150 or greater order please don't use the hostess code. You will still receive the gifts but you will also get your own hostess benefits.

Product List

Posted at 03:42 PM in Happy Tails | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 29, 2018

2018 in Review Part 2

Round 2 of 2018 in Review is here: Some of today's projects previously blogged about and you can click on them to see the original post. Others are new to the blog but have previously been posted in my Splitcoaststampers Gallery or on Instagram.

I made this mixed Media card when I rejoined a demonstrator swap group that I used to be in years ago. You can click on the picture to see the original post.

This Little Piggy She Could card by Chris Smith at inkpad.typepad.com

My first time having a go at Serene Garden. I embossed it into watercolor paper and used inkpad covers, just a little water and a fine paintbrush. You can click on the picture to see the original post.

The Sea of Textures Designer Series Paper was my favorite when the 2018-19 Annual Catalog was released. I've almost used all of it and need to start my second pack. The patterns are so sublte and versatile. I thought this one worked particularly well with gold foil and embossing. Click on the picture to see the original post.

With the early release of the Share What You Love suite I couldn't resist using this beautiful specialty paper with one of my favorite card sketches. This picture will also link you to the original post.

This card has not been on my blog before today. Do you recall the #mprraccoon phenomenon last June. Well that was not far from where I live in downtown St. Paul, MN.

mprraccoon was a Twitter post, not a blog post so here is a screen shot:

I don't have many followers on Twitter (Chris Smith - @frommyinkpad). Most that I do have are a result of a card I made last June in response to when the #mprraccoon became a worldwide phenomenon. Seriously. I had 1000+ likes and NBC contacted me for permission to use my photo. Of course, I was off stamping with a friend all day and didn't see the message in time... But all in all, the whole thing was a lot of fun!

This wedding card makes great use of the Floral Frames Bundle. Doesn't very Vanilla and Soft Sea Foam make a wonderful combination? You can click on the picture to see the original post.

I loved doing this card with the Abstract Impressions Stamp set. I stamped on damp watercolor paper, spraying with water and then stamping the more detailed images when the paper was fairly dry again. I didn't blog much over the summer so this wasn't on my blog until I did a quick post about stamps that were on sale.

Another fun card that I don't believe has been on my blog. I used the baby wipe technique to get the multicolored look that I had seen on similar leaves on some clothing. This also shows one of my favorite ways to use designer series paper - in small amounts...

Abstract Impressions again. This time I used it for a collage type challenge to use many stamps. This kind of felt like painting with stamps.

Switching gears a little. I pulled out the retired Wilderness Awaits to make a watercolored sympathy card for one of my husband's colleagues. I actually used a pen to add more grass to this so it "stretched" to fit this larger 5x7" card. The greeting is from the new set Kindness and Compassion. I love the font of this set!

I did several of the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges on Splitcoaststampers in August. This one uses the gelli plate Magazine transfer technique. I used acrylic paints to make the prints. The images came from magazine ads. A fun technique to try though it usually only gives one good print per ad. The greetings are from Pocketful of Sunshine, which is current and from Adventure Awaits which is a retired set.

I sincerely thank you for stopping by my little place in the stamping world. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

***If you need a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I would love to have you shop with me! You can click on "Shop with Chris Smith" at the top of my blog.

If you place a $150 or greater order please don't use the hostess code. You will still receive the gifts but you will also get your own hostess benefits.

Posted at 11:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

All My Love Trio

One more long holiday weekend and then it is only a few more days until the start of Sale-A-Bration and the release of Stampin' Up!'s 2019 Occasions catalog.

Today I have a few cards showcasing the All My Love Suite from that catalog:

This first card features the Meant to Be Bundle, using the same continuous hearts die that I showed you a few days ago. This time I kept the cut-out AND the background all white and just added some of the fun designer series paper (DSP) with the diagonal white dots on Lovely Lipstick.
The main pointer on this card is to make sure you keep all the non-heart pieces that are die cut. You will want to make sure you have these on your card because if they are white it makes the Lovely Lipstick DSP pop.
And, how about that stitching on the edges of the Lovely Lipstick ribbon?
This next photo is a close up of how this die and DSP look: Can you see the little white pieces that you want to keep as part of your card? If they aren't in the die cut as you pull it off the die check to see if they are still in the die. I cut another set to get some that I was missing and it turned out they were in the die all along...

This next card uses an idea that I got from Kelly at SandCastle Stamper.

I used a dinner plate to trace a curve on some Thick Whisper White cardstock and cut just inside the line so that the line would be discarded from the piece that I would use.
I used this to cut a second piece out of the same Lovely Lipstick DSP that I used in the previous card.
I layered these over the heart pattterned DSP so that they kind of angled so that the red curve was wider on the right than the left.
I used the Stitched Rectangle framelits (p 28 in your Occasions Catalog) to die cut the piece.
I colored the Heart Epoxy Droplets with Dark Real Red and Lovely Lipstick Blends.

This last card features the Forever Lovely Bundle which is also part of the All My Love Suite.
I don't think the photo does justice to this card. I die cut an extra gold foil layer that sits between the flowers and the stripe and it adds just the perfect touch of elegance to the card. The shine definitely doesn't show in this picture.
There is also just a touch of scalloped gold foil behind the greeting, die cut with the Layering Circles framelits.
I originally did this for a color challenge calling for Very Vanilla, Shaded Spruce and Merry Merlot. I think it is the first time I used Merry Merlot but it hasn't been the last. I showed it about a month ago when I used it for my husbands Maroon and Gold (Crushed Curry) birthday card.

I sincerely thank you for stopping by my little place in the stamping world. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

***If you need a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I would love to have you shop with me! You can click on "Shop with Chris Smith" at the top of my blog.

If you place a $150 or greater order please don't use the hostess code. You will still receive the gifts but you will also get your own hostess benefits.

Product List

Posted at 12:06 AM in All My Love Suite, Forever Lovely , Meant to Be | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 27, 2018

2018 In Review Part 1

As we close out 2018, lets take a look back a few cards from earlier in the year.

You should be able to click on each picture to bring you to the original blog post.

Were any of these new to you?

I sincerely thank you for stopping by my little place in the stamping world. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

***If you need a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I would love to have you shop with me! You can click on "Shop with Chris Smith" at the top of my blog.

If you place a $150 or greater order please don't use the hostess code. You will still receive the gifts but you will also get your own hostess benefits.

Posted at 08:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 25, 2018

Monochromatic Wonderful Romance

The Floral Romance Suite has many possibilities and I've barely started to try them out. Today I have a green and white beauty to share with you.

The Lace Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder is sure to be a hit when the 2019 Occasions catalog goes live. It is a 6" x6" folder. It's best to emboss a piece larger than you will need and then trim it down. All that texture kind of shrinks your paper down. It is also a large design and you may decide that you want it to be symmetrical so that you can center it easily on your card.
Use many shades of green, just like you see many sahdes of green in nature. It will give your work a little more realistic look.
Layering white on white is a very elegant look and it allows you to work even with a limited selection of paper.

Do you know what else is starting on January 3rd? Sale-A-Bration. Sale-A-Bration runs through March 31st. During this special time of the year every $50 in US purchases, before shipping and tax, earns a free gift. There is so much to pick from: stamps, ribbon, designer series paper and even all inclusive card kits like this beauty, the Precious Parcel Card Kit:

This kit includes everything you need to make 8 cards, 2 each of 4 designs. You will love all the special details like the beautiful floral cards that can be pulled from their decorative folders, gold foil accents, clips and special envelopes. Here are some close-ups of the 2 styles.

Some of the elements and greetings are interchangeable so each card doesn't HAVE to be exactly alike. You could even do some in French.

I sincerely thank you for stopping by my little place in the stamping world. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

***If you need a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I would love to have you shop with me! You can click on "Shop with Chris Smith" at the top of my blog.

If you place a $150 or greater order please don't use the hostess code. You will still receive the gifts but you will also get your own hostess benefits.

Product List

Posted at 07:56 PM in Wonderful Romance | Permalink | Comments (1)

December 24, 2018

Wishing You Well Background with Lace

There are still so many possibilities with the Wishing You Well stamp set. And there are a few good things to know about this card:

For instance, did you realize that The Calypso Coral Ombre ribbon works really well with Grapefruit Grove? It's an Ombre thing.
Another thing: The bouquet and wreath from Wishing You Well don't HAVE to bet stamped solo. You can mix them together in multiples for an elegant or even shabby chic pattern. Here they are stamped in a repeated alternating pattern.
The Bitty Blooms set of 4 punches have use far beyond the amazing Happiness Blooms Suite that will soon be available on January 3rd.
Applying ink to the insides of embossing folders creates the look of even more texture.
Oh, and the Delicate Lace edgelits don't get nearly enough attention!
It's always good to have a card like this on hand. The time will come when you'll be glad you had it ready.

I sincerely thank you for stopping by my little place in the stamping world. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

***If you need a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I would love to have you shop with me! You can click on "Shop with Chris Smith" at the top of my blog.

If you place a $150 or greater order please don't use the hostess code. You will still receive the gifts but you will also get your own hostess benefits.

Product List

Wishing You Well Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[147864]

Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad

[147116]

Grapefruit Grove Classic Stampin' Pad

[147142]

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

[101650]

Grapefruit Grove 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[146972]

Delicate Lace Edgelits Dies

[147053]

Bitty Blooms Punch Pack

[148532]

Subtle Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

[143706]

Pretty Label Punch

[143715]

Crumb Cake Stampin' Write Marker

[120967]

Pearl Basic Jewels

[144219]

Calypso Coral 1/4" Ombre Ribbon

[144235]

Posted at 03:00 AM in Wishing You Well | Permalink | Comments (4)

December 23, 2018

Classic Garage Suite

I've shared quite a few floral cards this past week so let's switch gears so to speak and revisit the soon-to-be released Classic Garage Suite.

This card makes use of the whole suite: The Geared Up Garage Bundle of stamps and dies, The Classic Garage 6" X 6" Designer Series Paper, the oh, so versatile Black and Silver 1/4" Striped Metallic Ribbon, the Classic Garage Metal Elements and even the Classic Garage Cardstock Pack! Of course you will want it all if the guys in your life will enjoy this style. And, what guy wouldn't?

Measurements:

Whisper White card base: 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", folded

Whisper White cardstock: 1 1/2" x 3 1/2" for card

Basic Black cardstock: 4" x 5 1/4"

Crushed Curry: 1" x 3"

Tranquil Tide: 1/2" x 2 1/4"

Classic Garage Designer Series Paper (DSP):

Crushed Curry: 1 1/2"x 3 7/8"

Speedometer pattern: 1 3/8" x 3 5/8" - You will want to make sure the pattern is oriented vertically.

Automobile pattern: 2 1/2" x 3 5/8" - You will want to make sure the pattern is oriented vertically.

Black/Silver 1/4" Striped Metallic Ribbon: 5" though you could sneak by with a few inches less if you don't have it extend all the way under the sportscar.

Stamp "You're a Classic" in Tuxedo Black Memento ink on the Mustard DSP.
Stamp the sports car in Tuxedo Black Memento ink on the small piece of Whisper White.
Adhere your DSP to the Basic Black layer. If cut correctly you should be able to butt the edges up to each other. Remember that you will cover the horizontal "seam" with the ribbon. I suggest using something like our multi purpose adhesive since it allows you to move slightly if done right away.
Wrap your ribbon around the black layer, adhering it to the back and then adhere this to your Whisper White card.
Color the sports car with the Smoky Slate Blends combo, applying the Light Basic Black to the shaded areas indicated with the fine lines (do not apply to the windows!) and blending with the Dark Smoky Slate. Add Light Mango Melody to the headlights and just a touch of Light Smoky Slate to the grillwork and hubcaps.
Cut out the car with the corresponding die.
Use Stampin' Dimensionals to adhere over the ribbon above the greeting.
Make an approximately 1/4" snip at the middle of a short end of your Tranquil Tide strip. Cut in from each of the 2 nearby corners to create the flagged look.
Make an approxiamtely 3/8" snip at the middle of a short end of your Crushed Curry strip. Cut in from each of the 2 nearby corners to create the flagged look.
Adhere these over the "seam" between the patterned papers as shown.
Use a glue dot to add a metal key element. If you are concerned about mailing this piece you could easily substitute a die cut gear in silver foil paper.

I apologize to my Minnesota followers since this looks like a Green Bay Packer fan's card. You may want to come up with an alternate color scheme if you are celebrating an avid Vikings fan. Unless you are from Minnesota or Wisconsin I'm not sure you would notice... Of course if you are a Packer fan you double the points!

I sincerely thank you for stopping by my little place in the stamping world. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

***If you need a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I would love to have you shop with me! You can click on "Shop with Chris Smith" at the top of my blog.

If you place a $150 or greater order please don't use the hostess code. You will still receive the gifts but you will also get your own hostess benefits.

Product List

Posted at 05:06 PM in Classic Garage Suite, Geared Up Garage | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 21, 2018

Meant to Be Bordered with Hearts

I have a quick little post as we head into the Christmas weekend. It's officially Christmas weekend now since we've had our annual Christmas visit to Happy Hour at the Amsterdam in downtown St. Paul. We started the first year we lived here, taking a break from preparations for our son and daughters coming home. This year we took a walk over there for frites and Kippenbout before we finished packing for our trip down to our oldest daughter's place in Missouri.

I don't usually eat ketchup but I throw that rule out when Curry Ketchup is involved.

Ahh, but you came here for stamping right?

I think you've seen most of my Christmas Cards so I'm going to introduce you to some of the features of the All My Love Suite:

This is just one of the dies in the Be Mine Stitched Framelit Dies set but you get about 20 little hearts from it.
You can even use them for other projects and use just the frame as I did in this card which features 2 of the patterns in the All My Love Designer Series Paper: tiny hearts above the heart frames and soft lovely flowers below the frames. Just imagine all the possibilities you can do with this die and there are 15 others in the set.
And then there is the 1/8" Calypso Coral ribbon, which is part of a set of two. It is delicate and full of body all at the same time. I tied a double strand around the card and then tied the tag on with another bow, giving a pretty, loopy effect.
The Detailed Trio punch was perfect for rounding the corners of my tag.

I sincerely thank you for stopping by my little place in the stamping world. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

***If you need a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I would love to have you shop with me! You can click on "Shop with Chris Smith" at the top of my blog.

If you place a $150 or greater order please don't use the hostess code. You will still receive the gifts but you will also get your own hostess benefits.

Product List

Posted at 10:58 PM in All My Love Suite, Meant to Be | Permalink | Comments (0)

More Techniques with Bloom by Bloom

You might want to grab a cup of coffee for this one. I've got 3 cards again today. As I mentioned yesterday I have more Bloom by Bloom cards in a completely different color this time, featuring even more of the Happiness Blooms Suite. This is one of many highlights in the upcoming 2019 Occasions catalog. With a wide variety of solid floral images it is a dream set for playing with colors!

I got started with this set by choosing some colors - other than what's already in the vibrant coordinating designer series paper - that would go with the beautiful Calypso Coral Ribbon that is also part of the suite.

Baby Wipe Technique:

I grabbed reinkers for Mango Melody, Flirty Flamingo, Calypso Coral and spread several drops onto a few layers of Baby Wipes placed over a plastic cover or large acrylic block. You want to use the generic kind of wipes. I've found that some of the more expensive brands have a kind of embossed texture that affects your image. I use these as my pads for the images in the first two cards and the largest background dotted layer in the 3rd card. I also put some Granny Apple Green reinker on the end of my baby wipe "pad" though you could just as well as used an ink pad as I didn't really blend the green with the other colors.

Stamp up about a quarter sheet of Whisper white filling it up with all sorts of the Bloom by Bloom images.
Trim down to size of your choice.
Tie some ribbon around the trimmed piece.
Mount onto a folded white card with Stampin' Dimensionals. The size doesn't matter too much. as you can see I like to use a lot of white space in the background to really set off my bright colors.
Add your choice of greeting to the lower right of the trimmed piece. I used "many thanks" from Itty Bitty Greetings.

Emboss a 6 x 6 piece of Whisper White cardstock with the Dot to Dot embossing folder. Trim down to 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" and adhere to a folded white card. You can save the leftover piece for another project.
The posie like flowers here were also stamped with the Baby Wipe technique to get the variation. I used regular ink pads for the details and the long multi dot stamp for the grass. Trim and mount on Granny Apple Green cardstock that is cut 1/8" larger than the trimmed stamped piece.
Tie Calypso Coral Satin ribbon around the lower part of the piece, which is adhered to the card with dimensionals.
The greeting, "fabulous at any age" is once again from Itty Bitty Greetings. It was cut with the small circle from the Stitched Shapes framelits. Pop this over the lower right edge of you posie layer, just over the ribbon.
This circle was adorned with posie and leaves that were punched with the Bitty Blooms Punch Pack that is part of the Bloom by Bloom bundle.

This card uses some leftover pieces of baby wipe stamping along with some leftover pieces of the blends technique I shared in my last blog post. They were all done on glossy paper. There is a little Lovely Lipstick on the Blends piece.
The posie layer (posies stamped over the Blends technique on glossy) has a Calypso Coral mat which is cut slightly larger than the posie layer (about 1/16th inch but 1/8" would work too.
The greeting, "Let's get together and giggle" is from the Part of My Story stamp set that is in the Sale-A-Bration promotion during January - March. It is punched out with a 1 3/4" circle punch and layered offset over another Calypso Coral 1 3/4" circle.
Can you see the 3 Calypso Coral Enamel dots that add a bit more texture and detail?

Whew! That was a lot for one day. These just kind of needed to stay together for the post.

I sincerely thank you for stopping by my little place in the stamping world. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

***If you need a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I would love to have you shop with me! You can click on "Shop with Chris Smith" at the top of my blog.

If you place a $150 or greater order please don't use the hostess code. You will still receive the gifts but you will also get your own hostess benefits.

Product List