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February 10, 2021

You've Got Mail...from Around the World On Wednesdays

I'm blog hopping today with the talented Around the World on Wednesdays crew.

This is really going to be a fun hop! The theme, You've Got Mail, encourages us to think about what it is like to open our cards featuring things such as the envelope or even the inside of our card. What is really fun to open up?

I often do CAS or Clean and Simple cards. But that's not totally true today!

This is similar to a pop up card I did a few years ago and I have been meaning to use the pattern again. When I saw the Hey Chick Birthday stamps I knew this would have just what I need to fill all the spots, especially since I already had the Hey Chick stamps with the same characters. (I promise I will move on some day to feature more of our beautiful flowers. These chicks are just too much fun though!)

When you have a bundle like this, with dies of picket fences and streamers along with the dies that cut the chicks, well, there is just SO much playing around!

All of the coloring is done with watercolor pencils - without the water. I've really enjoyed using these with the chicks as I can layer on lots of rich, bright colors to make these gals so much fun. I had a color challenge earlier this week that had me making blue and Bermuda bay chicks and I might have gotten carried away with these colors. Who doesn't love a blue chick?
I followed a pattern for the Twisted Pop-Up card on Splitcoaststampers. There is a link after the blog hop.
The Pool Party blocks play really nicely with the Bermuda Bay DSP and the Pacific Point Card base.
The Pool Party blocks have a little Pool Party Ink Blending around the edges. Plus Pacific Point behind the bird on the front of the card. The streamers really step up the celebration idea! I was going to try different colors but it seemed to make a better statement by keeping them all in Pacific Point.
And who doesn't like a white picket fence. I love this die!!!

Here are a few more close ups of the fence and streamers:

I just love these colors together!

Now it is time to move along and see what eye candy Anne Marie Hile has for us:

Jan Clothier - NZ

Rochelle Laird-Smith - AU

Cheryll Miller - AU

Danielle Kassing - NL

Satomi Wellard

Aurélie Fabre - FR

Mikaela Titheridge - UK

Chris Smith - US- you are here!

Anne Marie Hile - US

Brenda Nelson - CA

Tricia Butts - US

Elaine de Montmorency - CA

Sharon Hashimoto Burkert - US

Teri West - US

Cheryl Hamilton - US

You can find the general directions for this Twisted Pop Up Card on Splitcoaststampers.

Would you like to see moreof these chicks? Hey Chick/Hey Birthday Chick Bundles Gallery. You can check out more of my gallery pages with the gallery link near the top of the right sidebar.

I so appreciate that you took the time as you visit my blog today. Let me know what you think and come back again soon! Feel free to ask questions if something isn't clear.

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]

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 February host code, R9ZD7JQE, I will send you a free gift. US customers only. Customers placing an order smaller than $50 will still receive my thank you card.

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.

Shopping Links

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Posted at 04:55 AM in Hey Birthday Chick | Permalink | Comments (15)

February 09, 2021

Word Wishes Meets Four Season Floral for St. Patrick's Day

I think you are going to really enjoy the theme for today's technique blog hop. It's Die Cutting! sometimes we forget that there are special things to do with our Stampin Cut & Emboss or other die cutting tools. It's not just a short cut for fussy cutting!

I've done variations of this in the past, including one without vellum that I posted last week. I'll share that at the end of this post. I guess you could call it Die Cutting Along the Seam.

Since I had already done a Valentine card with a similar technique I decided to see what I could come up with for St. Patrick's Day. Just Jade and Shaded Spruce looked like good color choices and this lead me to the Just Jade in Flowers for Every Season Suite of Products. Did you know that there is an extra set, Four Season Floral, especially designed for Beginners. It's also useful if you have that suite already! I thought the rose like duo would be perfect!
I usually choose two papers for my seamed background and I really like to use designer series papers. I've got a few photos of my process for putting this piece together:
Choose and cut your papers. You can adjust your sizes to other designs.
Turn your papers over and match the seam up very closely.Apply regular one-sided tape across the whole seam.
Arrange your die cut across the seam and cut it. You may want to use your Take You Pick tool to gently pull the words out. They will be a bit sticky due to the tape.
Apply Vellum to the back using tiny dots of Multi-purpose Adhesive. I used a 1.75 strip of vellum that was wider than I needed and then trimmed off the excess.
Using the same die that you cut your DSP with, cut another of contrasting color. I chose Shaded Spruce. It's a good idea to add the tiny pieces first, before you lose track of them.
I finished the card off with some fussy cut flowers that were colored with Soft Sea Foam and Just Jade Blends, a little ribbon in the corners and some green gems.

Here are the few other versions from last week:

This was made with the die cut taken out of the previous card:

Now it's time to check out the other die cutting techniques:

Would you like to see more? Visit my Die Cutting Along the Seam Gallery page. You can check out more of my gallery pages with the gallery link near the top of the right sidebar.

I so appreciate that you took the time as you visit my blog today. Let me know what you think and come back again soon! Feel free to ask questions if something isn't clear.

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 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

February 05, 2021

Blog Hopping with the Hey Chick and Hey Birthday Chick Bundles

I'm back with some more Hey Chick and Hey Birthday Chick cards today. And, if you are crazy about this birds too you are in luck because there is a great blog hop going on.

One of the things I love about these birds is that they are cartoonish and you can use them to play with any colors you like.

I played with watercolor pencils here - without the water. You can get really nice bright colors with these. Plus its easy to pick up a few stamped images and grab the pencils to color while you watch a show...
This also features some of the fun die cuts.
The border paper is from Whale of a Time Designer Series Paper.

This silly old bird is so much fun.
I gently inked the stump die with Cinnamon Cider Ink before running it through my Stampin' Cut & Emboss. See that detail!
That coarsely woven image in the background is from Textured Essentials.

It's time to check out the rest of the blog hop:

Would you like to see more? See my Hey Chick/Hey Birthday Chick Gallery here. You can check out more of my gallery pages with the gallery link near the top of the right sidebar.

I so appreciate that you took the time as you visit my blog today. Let me know what you think and come back again soon! Feel free to ask questions if something isn't clear.

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

Hey Chick Bundle (English)

[158627]

Hey Birthday Chick Bundle (English)

[158631]

Textured Essentials Cling Stamp Set

[152612]

Whale Of A Time 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[152460]

Posted at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

February 03, 2021

Masculine Valentine with Forever & Always Bundle

This week's Paper Craft Crew Challenge has all sorts of possibilities:

Here is mine:

Masculine - check! I don't think a tiny rose keeps it from being mascline. Think boutonniere, right?
Die Cut - check! I haven't tried this technique for a while and it's so fun and easy to do when the dies are layered like this. Just tape your two choices of background paper together in the back and cut the larger die across the "seam" and inset the red and black.
Designer Series Paper - check! I colored the Love Always black and white pattern with my Dark Cherry Cobbler Blends marker.
This is a taller than your typical handmade card here in the US. This is 6.25" x 4.25", similar in size to Stampin' Up's Memories & More larger cards.

I hope that you will play along!

Would you like to see more? Check out my Love Always Suite Gallery. You can check out more of my gallery pages with the gallery link near the top of the right sidebar.

I so appreciate that you took the time as you visit my blog today. Let me know what you think and come back again soon! Feel free to ask questions if something isn't clear.

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.

Clicking on any of these products will bring you to my store:

Product List

Posted at 06:25 AM in Forever & Always | Permalink | Comments (1)

February 01, 2021

Flowering Cactus & Heal Your HeartThank You Card

I'm back today with another Flowering Cactus Card. This time it is a thank you card that also features the Sale-A-Bration set Heal Your Heart AND I'm participating in Kylie Bertucci's International Blog Highlights, an fun event I haven't done for a long time.

I've been working on a gift featuring this medley and if you add a few of the coordinating ink pads to it you will have an order that qualifies for 2 Sale-A-Bration sets. I'm choosing a couple of word sets that I'm including with the samples that go with the gift: Heal Your Heart and Approaching Perfection. I will share a little more about this gift later this week...

Here is today's card:

My card base is white and I layered a piece of Crumb Cake embossed with the Brick & Mortar folder. I inked up the inside layer( the side with the line) with white craft ink prior to putting it through my Stampin Cut & Emboss.
My greeting is stamped in Mint Macaron with the "Thank You" from Heal Your Heart.
Though it is great fun to shade your stamped cacti with different colors, you can easily get to know how the images function on your card simply by using the dies to cut our some of the images on the designer series paper that comes with the medley. Aren't these cute? The Saguaro Cactus is cut with a die from the medley. The die pierces "prickles". I think it could double as a dill pickle...
The little felt embellishments come in two colors: Highland Heather and Calypso Coral. They are so cute and you will get lots of them!!!
Those itty bitty prickles are from a die that cuts three at a time. While I love to add little embellishments like pearls and rhinestones these don't add any thickness and you can even apply Wink of Stella to them to make sure they sparkle!

Make sure you visit the other highlights. And, don't forget to vote!

Want to see more of the Flowering Cactus Medley? Here is my Flowering Cactus Medley Gallery Page

You can check out more of my gallery pages with the gallery link near the top of the right sidebar.

I so appreciate that you took the time as you visit my blog today. Let me know what you think and come back again soon! Feel free to ask questions if something isn't clear.

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