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April 23, 2019

Tranquil Tide Trio

I'm back today with a trio of cards made with this week's color challenge at Splitcoaststampers. The colors are Tranquil Tide, Balmy Blue and Coastal Cabana. I did one of the cards with dessert which was leaves. OF COURSE these colors inspired me to get our my ink refills to blend some backgrounds and two of them ended up in today's cards.

Here is my challenge card using the retiring set, All the Good Things which features Bonsai and Koi.

This background/challenge colors were blended onto vellum. This is the technique where I mix classic ink refills with Whisper White craft refills and apply them to the paper with sponge daubers. You can make up quite a few of these while you have the ink out. having the craft ink in the mix makes them really glide onto the paper plus helping it to dry just a little slower so that it is really easy to get nice blending.
The bonsai was stamped with Tranquil Tide. I used a Coastal Cabana marker to add color to the bonsai from the back - and a little from the front.
Since most adhesives will show through vellum, I needed a method to attach the vellum to the white card base. I settled on using a Tranquil Tide frame made with the Rectangle Stitched Framelits. All the glue was applied under the frame.

My carryover card makes use of one of my other backgrounds which was blended onto regular white cardstock:

I stamped a little white craft ink over the lower, Tranquil Tide portion of the background to simulate waves. The stamp I grabbed for this is from the April Paper Pumpkin kit. It's kind of a dotted pattern. (Awesome Paper Pumpkin by the way...).
All of the other stamping is done with High Tide stamps and Tranquil Tide ink. I used the Stamparatus to play it safe since I didn't want to mess up my background.
The blending and stamping was done on a quarter sheet, 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" cardstock. When complete this was adhered to a regular Whisper White card.

Finally my sneak peek or preview card. This card also features a lighthouse from a set of beautifully detailed marine themed stamps called Sail Away. The card design was inspired by some of the leftover framelit pieces from my first card.

The two outer layers are actual frames cut by using two dies.
The Tranquil Tide and Lighthouse are full layers.
I used a Light Blue Blends to color the sky.
The stamp set is Sail Away. The wheel with it's coordinating dies. These aren't currently available to list for my store. They can be purchases starting June 4th.

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 [email protected]

***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.

Product List

Posted at 12:00 AM in All the Good Things, High Tide, Sail Away | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 20, 2019

Have a Blessed Easter

Happy Easter!

Posted at 09:03 PM in His Grace | Permalink | Comments (1)

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!

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 (2)

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.