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January 30, 2019

Quick Birthday Gift Enclosure

I've got the quickest little gift enclosure for you today:

The Happiness Blooms Memories and More Cards and Envelopes are designed to work with the Happiness Blooms Memories & More Card Pack and they make really quick cards.
These cards and envelopes have a small card made to use with the 3" x 4" cards from Memories and More and a larger card meant to be used with the larger 4" x 6". These layer perfectly. Though they are currently backordered they are scheduled to be back in stock February 4th. Night of Navy on the outside/ Whisper White on the inside. Night of Navy and White stripes on the inside flap of the envelope. So much fun!

The Birthday Birthday Edgelits fit just about perfectly. I use a sponge to apply Multi-purpose adhesive. Then you'll just trim off a tiny bit of the border off. Stamp or handwrite your birthday greeting. Easy as pie!

I really appreciate that you have taken time out of your day to visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Stampin' Up! catalogs can be viewed with the Current 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 [email protected]

Chris

***If you need 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.

If you place a minimum $50 (US) order using the January host code, 3Q934R4K, I will send you the Happiness Blooms Enamel Dots. You will also earn a free Sale-A-Bration item if ordered on or after January 3. US customers only. Customers placing an order smaller than $50 will still receive my January thank you.

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

Detailed Birthday Edgelits Dies

[148548]

Happiness Blooms Memories & More Cards & Envelopes

[148806]

Liquid Multipurpose Glue

[110755]

Stamping Sponges

[141337]

Posted at 11:18 PM in Birthday Cheer Bundle | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 29, 2019

Needle & Thread Trio

I tried a color challenge over at Splitcoaststampers tonight: Crumb Cake + Cherry Cobbler + Old Olive with lace for "dessert.

I die cut a handful of stamped flowers, leaves and greetings with the Needle & Thread Bundle.
The Lace embossing folder was inked with Whisper White Craft ink prior to embossing Crumb Cake 6" x 6" card stock.
I used the floral stitching die to "cut" the design into to Whisper White cards and also the coordinating stiched design that goes with the "people like you" greeting
I punched the "people like you" greeting with the punch that coordinates with the bundle.
I took all of these pieces along with my adhesives and paper snips into the den to watch a show with my husband.
A few hours later I had 3 cards!

These all use pretty much the same supplies. The stitched background is made with a die in the bundle.

I love using White craft ink to accentuate the texture in embossing folders. I usually put it on the inside of the cover with the Stampin' Up! logo. Just think through where you want the highlights to appear.

This one doesn't use the large flowers which kind of fit into a die cut pair of leaves. Rather, I used two of the leaf pairs attached to the back of the greeting and then embellished with a few of the tiny needlework flowers.

Extra note: Stampin' Up! has let us know that the following Sale-A-Bration products are being depleted faster than anticipated. If you were thinking of ordering them as one of your free gifts it would be better to do it sooner than later.

Grapefruit Grove & Lovely Lipstick Foil Sheets (item 149712) (This is my favorite Sale-A-Bration product this year!)
Precious Parcel Card Kit (item 149750)

The Organdy Ribbons cannot be ordered at this time though they expect a shipment in March and they may once again become available .

I really appreciate that you have taken time out of your day to visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

***If you need 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.

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 11:53 PM in Needle & Thread | Permalink | Comments (4)

January 28, 2019

Encouragement: Kylie's January Top 10 Winners International Blog hop

Happy Monday everyone! It's a blog hopping day with Kylie Bertucci's International Blog Highlight's Top Ten Winners. I want to give an extra big thank you to everyone who voted for my Wonderful Romance vellum card. It was enough to earn me a spot among a talented group of stampers. Grab a cup of something warm - or cold depending on you locale and enjoy!

I often do flowery cards for Kylie's blogging events so I thought I would switch it up a bit and use Happy Trails. This is a stamp set+ punch bundle in the Occasions catalog featuring a dog stamp set with a coordinating punch for the dog. It is great for creating cards for a number of occasions, including the loss of a beloved pet.

You could say this was my warm up card. I wanted to figure out a good layout to use the Keep calm and wag on greeting and I liked the dog over a circle with the greeting on the left side of the circle.
Though I used stitched dies for the shapes you could easily skip the dies and use a trimmer for the square and rectangle and the 2 1/4" circle punch.
The dog is stamped and punched with Basic Gray with a little Night of Navy Twine for his collar.
Night of Navy Happiness Blooms enamel dots provide a little extra embellishment.

Once I photographed this card I decided to try a few more things with it;

I stamped another dog with Basic Gray ink on Smoky Slate card stock and used the Smoky Slate Blends combo to give him a little more dimension.
I thought it would be fun to try a Wood Textures border die cut with the Delicate Lace Edgelets. It's a completely different look on wood and I kind of like it over the gray flannel plaid.

Moving on, I still wanted to do a pet sympathy card and decided to use Julie Tilman's Mojo Monday sketch:

The heart plays perfectly into the sympathy greeting: "a best friend leaves a paw print on your heart".

First I needed a heart that wouldn't look more like a Valentine so I stayed with the Wood Textures paper, choosing this tone since I liked the warmth and it is (just barely) light enough to stamp the greeting in Early Espresso. Basic Gray would have worked too but I like the warmth of the Early Espresso.
I used a leftover piece of the Smoky Slate Buffalo Check for the banner layer.
I just used my trimmer for the Cajun Craze square drawing the stitches with a marker.
The Basic Gray strip is textured with the Subtle embossing folder.
I stamped the outline of a dog in the corner. I think it works if it somewhat resembles the dog, otherwise I would leave it off.

These aren't quite the feminine style I did for the earlier blog highlights are they?

BLOG HOP LIST

1.	Su Mohr-AromasAndArt-USA
2.	Sandy McCullough - Canada
3.	Dianne Keough - USA
4.	Shelly Wadge - Australia
5.	Kylie Bertucci - Australia
6.	Danielle Kassing - Netherlands
7.	Chris Smith - USA
8.	Rick Adkins (USA)
9.	Wendy Lee - USA
10.	Nancy & Kayla - USA
11.	Angie McKenzie - USA

I really appreciate that you have taken time out of your day to visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

***If you need 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.

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 04:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

January 27, 2019

Go for It

I love how the brushstroke design of this horse from the Let It Ride gives it such a sense of movement. I've been looking for a card sketch to use with this one I'd colored earlier this week.

A Freshly Made Sketch did the trick.

I moved the horizontal panel down just a bit because it seemed more balanced with the image I was using. Here is the original Freshly Made Sketches challenge:

With the loose brushstroke style of this image I chose to use more of a quick stroke with my Blends, starting first with the light Petal Pink blends and working towards the dark Cajun Craze.
The horse's mane was also done with strokes of Bronze and Smoky Slate.
The trees are stamped on the Crumb Cake card in Crumb Cake to add a little interest to the card base.
I switched from a wood grain vertical panel to a Cajun Craze panel that matched the mat panel under my image and then used a Butterfly Element leaflet (Sale-A-Bration item) to add texture instead.

I really appreciate that you have taken time out of your day to visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

***If you need a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I would love to help you with your stamping journey and/or 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 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

January 26, 2019

One More for the Seasonal Layers Gallery

I hope your weekend is going well. I have another Seasonal Layers card to share, one that I made for a challenge requiring a beach scene last summer... As we settle into hard core winter, maybe a few of us would like to think of warmer days. Though I didn't use the Colorful Seasons stamp set, I did use the coordinating die set. Since I only have categories for stamp sets I went ahead and added this to that category anyway.

We have few of these chairs up at our town home by Lake Superior. Though the much of the view is similar - you won't see any land across the lake and there are definitely seagulls and waves - we do have more rocks and trees. I saw a piece of wooden wall decor with a similar design on Pinterest.

The Adirondack chair is cut from one of the Seasonal Layers dies. I used Calypso Coral.
Other stamp sets are Woodgrain (retired background stamp), High Tide (seagulls and grass) and Letters for You. There is a whitewashed wood pattern in the Wood Textures 6" x 6" paper stack that could substitute for the Woodgrain stamp.
Colors are Marina Mist (retired), Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz, Smoky Slate, Whisper White Craft. Coastal Cabana or Pool Party would make good substitutes for Marina Mist.
The seagulls were inked with Smoky Slate and then dabbed with Whisper White Craft ink prior to stamping.
I was using a stamp from High Tide for the water and the un-inked areas along with the darker layers create the appearance of waves. Sometimes you just get lucky!
You could stamp with Versamark before embossing the letters with white embossing powder but I used Whisper White. It is easier to see, especially when stamping on colored card stock making it easier to keep the letters relatively even.

I really appreciate that you have taken time out of your day to visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

***If you need a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I would love to help you with your stamping journey and/or 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

High Tide Photopolymer Stamp Set

[143006]

Letters For You Photopolymer Stamp Set

[141968]

Woodgrain Background

[117100]

Seasonal Layers Thinlits Dies

[143751]

Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad

[147117]

Marina Mist Classic Stampin' Pad

[126962]

Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad

[147116]

Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad

[147104]

Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad

[147113]

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

[101650]

Marina Mist 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[119682]

Calypso Coral 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[122925]

Uninked Stampin’ Craft Pad & Whisper White Refill

[147277]

White Stampin' Emboss Powder

[109132]

Big Shot

[143263]

Stamping Sponges

[141337]

Liquid Multipurpose Glue

[110755]

Heat Tool

[129053]

Product List

Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad

[147107]

Pool Party 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[122924]

Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad

[147097]

Coastal Cabana 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[131297]

Posted at 10:10 PM in High Tide, Letters for you | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 25, 2019

Colorful Seasons/Seasonal Layers Thinlets

I've shown you several cards over the past few months with the scallop edge done with the "wave" thinlet from the Seasonal Layers Thinlets. That is a rather spendy set of thinlets just for the scallop so I've been meaning to show some of the other wonderful things you can do with the thinlet set along with its companion stamp set Colorful Seasons. And, there is a group of CAS (clean and simple) challenges that I came across a few months ago and have been wanting to play. So today I'm bringing you both!

There is a group of Clean and Simple monthly challenges that cover 4 subjects: Watercolor, Mixed Media, Stencils and Christmas. I managed to get the first three done today - the last day that I can link the challenges to the appropriate blogs. I will have to et started earlier in February...

The watercolor challenge was to use watercolor with a theme of winter. This seemed a natural to show off the pretty snowflakes included in the Seasonal Layers Thinlets.

I started with a 1/2 sheet of Stampin' Up!'s watercolor paper - 4 1/2"x 6" and sprayed with 4-5 times with spritzes of water.
I applied slightly watered down Blueberry Bushel ink refill to the watercolor paper with a paintbrush and blotted the excess ink and water, then dried it a little more thoroughly with my heat tool.
I trimmed it to 5 1/2" x 3 1/2", setting aside the excess for later use.
I trimmed the watercolor piece with a thin strip of silver foil paper added to a standard A2 card.
Heat emboss message with silver embossing powder.
I cut the three snowflakes from the thinlets out of the silver foil paper and attached them to the card with Multipurpose liquid adhesive which I applied with a sponge.
Add a sprinkling of silver metallic pearls and you are ready to write a note on the inside and pop it into the mail.

The Stencil Challenge called for sponging. While the leaves might have been good for sponging I did decide to bypass this thinlet set for this card and decided to try my hand at using the big group of butterflies from the Butterfly Beauty Thinlets. I was kind of mimicking and emboss resist card I once did.

The butterfly panel was sponged with Crumb Cake ink and edged with Champagne Foil paper. I cut the larger butterflies from copy paper with one of the Butterfly Beauty die.
The "just breathe" message is also stamped with Crumb Cake and layered with Champagne Foil paper.
I cut three little smaller butterflies from the Champagne paper with the same set of thinlet and applied them going up the right side of the card.

The CAS Mix Up or Mixed Media challenge calls for using a Bokeh technique - the white-ish circles that appear sometimes on photographs.

I water colored a piece with the same technique I used in the first card, except I also used some Coastal Cabana and Granny Apple Green.
I punched various sized circles from a piece of vellum to create a stencil. I then used these to sponge/lightly rub white craft ink over my water color piece.
I then trimmed the piece to my liking and cut a piece of gold foil paper 1/8" larger to mat it.
I stamped the greeting with Versamark ink on vellum, embossed it in gold and hand trimmed it.
Usually adhesive shows through on vellum but I seem to have gotten away with applying SNAIL adhesive to the back and it really doesn't show through since so much of it is embossed.
Embellish with gold metallic pearls.

Here is a better shot of the embossing:

I love the many messages and beautiful font in the Colorful Seasons stamp set.

If you click on Colorful Seasons over on the right side bar of my blog you will see other projects I've complete with this set/bundle.

They are perfect to use with hand made or hand stamped background papers.

I really appreciate that you have taken time out of your day to visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

***If you need 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.

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 01:21 AM in Colorful Season | Permalink | Comments (2)

January 23, 2019

Animal Outing with Inspiration from the January Paper Pumpkin Kit

I had penciled in something else for today's blog post but I really got distracted by the January 2019 Paper Pumpkin and its coordinating set from the annual catalog, Animal Outing. I took it out for a play with yesterday's color challenge at Splitcoaststampers along with the CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge. Then, since I needed to try some quick and simple Valentine projects, I tried some #simplestamping.

This is the card I did for the challenges.

I used one of the Petal Pair embossing foldes to create the right sided vertical element for the sketch challenge on a Pool Party card front. This was then adhered onto a Whisper White card case.
I stamped the giraffe from Animal Outing with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink, colored it with the Crumb Cake Blends Combo and cut it out with the corresponding die.
The Leaflet/branch was also cut with the coordinating dies that are part of the bundle.
I stamped "Thank you BIG TIME" in Tuxedo Black ink on a scrap fo Calypso Coral card stock and trimmed the flag at teh end iwth my paper snips. This was popped up over the giraffe with Stampin' Dimensionals.

My second card uses the Animal Outing stamps for a somewhat non-traditional Valentine. Great for kids. This also uses the same color combination.

The inside is where the Paper Pumpkins set comes in. I stamped the Valentine message with Tuxedo black on a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Whisper White.
I attached a skinny strip of Coastal Cabana to trim the inside of the card.
The hearts were stamped with Calypso Coral and hand cut with paper snips before adhering over the Coastal Cabana strip.

This is my #simplestamping card and an alternative Paper Pumpkin Project. Well you can make it after you have used up all of the supplies to make the pillow boxes I showed yesterday and just have the stamp set remaining.

I punched a 2 1/4" circle and stamped the birds in Tuxedo Black Memento ink long with the ground line (from the Animal Outing set). The little hearts are stamped with Poppy Parade.
I scored a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of Poppy Parade at 4 1/4" an stamped a row of hearts with Poppy Parade for a sublte row of hearts.
The circle is layered over the row of hearts as shown.

"together WE MAKE A GOOD PAIR", from Animal Outing is stamped on a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Whisper White card stock.
Another skinny strip, this time in Poppy Parade, is adhered to the Whisper White piece.
2 hearts are stamped in Calypso Coral on a scrap of Whisper White and hand trimmed. before layering them in the lower right corner of the inside.

I really appreciate that you have taken time out of your day to visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

***If you need 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.

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 05:13 PM in Animal Outing, Paper Pumpkin | Permalink | Comments (2)

January 22, 2019

Valentines for Everyone

Today I've got 3 Valentines for special people in your life. First up, this duo:

These were done with the same Designer Series Papers, All My Love plus the stamp/die Bundle Meant to Be.

This card could be used for the favorite guy in your life OR your best girlfriend - I guess as long as you still feel like a girl!

The stitched scallop border die in the Be Mine Stitched framelits - part of the bundle - is long enough to do a diagonal edge like this on a A2 (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") card.
I don't have exact measurements for this card but those I posted for a similar card would work.

I had die cut the Be Mine dies in several coordinating colors earlier and just played around to find which looked best at the intersection of this card.
I used the Lovely Lipstick enamel dots from the Happiness Blooms Suite.
Colors are Crumb Cake, Powder Pink, Lovely Lipstick.

This next card could be the perfect card for the guy in your life:

The L shape and heart frames are cut from the dotted stripe Lovely Lipstick pattern in the All My Love papers.
You can see the video of my method for cutting "L" shapes here.
I used a dark wood tone paper from Wood Textures Designer Series Paper as a darker layer to come through the heart frames and provide a skinny corner border.

I used the Crumb Cake Twine from Nature's Twine
The wooden leaflet is from the Butterfly Elements which is a Sale-A-Bration item.

Finally, here is a peek at this month's ***Paper Pumpkin which coordinates beautifully with the Animal Outing Suite. This set already can do a respectable job with juvenile or humorous Valentines. The stamps will take that up a notch. I leave you with a look at one of the 20 pillow boxes that comes in this months delightful little box.

***Paper Pumpkin is a subscription kit program by Stampin’ Up! Each month a fully designed project kit arrives at your door filled with stamps, ink, and paper—everything cut and ready to go, so you can skip to the fun. You'll enjoy fun projects like cards, gift packaging, home décor, and more for just $19.95 a month (shipping included). Contact me if you would like to know more.

I really appreciate that you have taken time out of your day to visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

***If you need 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.

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 05:30 PM in Meant to Be | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 21, 2019

Freshly Made Sketches Card for the Cat Lovers

This morning I was updating the Pinterest board where I track card challenges and I noticed this awesome challenge:

There are so many uses for this simple sketch but I decided to go with this little Nine Lives number.

I pulled out a piece of Powder Pink that turned out to already be embossed with the Lovely Floral embossing folder. This design lends itself to square proportions so I knew I was on the right track and promptly trimmed it and rounded the corners.
I cut a piece of 5" x 10" Whisper White card stock, scoring and folding at 5" for my card base.
The greeting from Nine Lives: "True Love has four paws" is stamped with Smoky Slate on a scrap of Whisper White card stock. This was embellished with a pearl from the Share What You Love Artisan Pearls.
I stamped the cat outline with Smoky Slate on white card stock. This is a photpolymer set and you will need to take care to let the tail "fall naturally" onto the block so that it will still line up with the spotted stamp and the cat punch. The spots were also stamped with Smoky Slate.
After punching the stamped cat, I punched 2 more from Powder Pink card stock and stacked them together before attaching them to my card with Stampin' Dimensionals.

I have all sorts of other ideas for this sweet little card sketch. What would you do with it?

Many thanks for stopping by my little spot 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 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.

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 02:46 PM in Nine Lives | Permalink | Comments (3)

January 20, 2019

Needle & Thread with Burlap and White Washed Wood

I everyone! I hope you have had a good weekend. And if you are in North America I hope you have kept warm. We felt luck to be running errands while it was up to 10 degrees.

I have a pretty little shabby chic style card today. It showcases the Needle & Thread Bundle I've shown you a few other times. Have you noticed that I have several stamp sets listed on the side bar to make it easier for you to find other cards with the same set. Just click on Needle & Thread and you should see at least 2 other cards with this stamp set.

I had one sheet left of this whitewashed toned wood before starting the new pack. It was the only piece left after I did several convention swaps, each with a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of Wood Textures DSP. This piece inspired me to go for a more or less pale shabby chic look with this set.

If you have it, it is a nice touch to emboss the Wood Textures paper with the Subtle embossing folder. It helps the paper mimic the feel of real wood.
The Burlap was stamped with Crumb Cake on Crumb Cake card stock.
I used Soft Suede to stamp stitches from the Needle & Thread stamp set just inside of the "Fringe" so that this distinction would be clear.
Rough up the edges of your Crumb Cake piece with a scissors' edge if desired.
I stamped off both the Mossy Meadow for the leaves and the Soft Sea Foam for the flowers because I was going for a soft look. Not quite white flowers but soft enough. You get the idea.Both flowers are cut with the coordinating dies and the smaller one is popped up over the larger.
The little butterfly is stamped with Soft Sea Foam on card stock of the same color. It coordinate with the Butterfly Duet punch so it is punched out with that before being popped onto the card and embellished with a tiny basic pearl.
"miss you" is die cut with the Well Written thinlets.

Did you know that you can follow me via emails from Feedblitz - sign up in the side bar.

Others follow me via Bloglovin.
If Instagram is your thing you can find me as inkpad1.
My Facebook page is From My Inkpad with Chris Smith
My Pinterest boards; My Needle & Thread Pinterest board

I hope you can make this week a good one!

I really appreciate that you have taken time out of your day to visit my blog. Let me know what you think and come back again soon!

Chris

***If you need 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.

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