Kindness is Blooming

Well, here it is Monday again.  How come the weekends always go by so fast?  Wish I could stretch them out just a little bit longer.  Oh well, complaining never got me anywhere before, so I guess there's no point in it now.  So instead, let's take a look at something that I thought was really lovely.  I was wandering around some blogs a week ago and sketched out some layouts that I thought were interesting.  Here's what I did with one of them...

Stamps:  Blooming with Kindness, En Francais,  and Thoughts & Prayers
Ink:  Whisper White Craft pad, Soft Suede, Pool Party pads with Island Indigo  marker
Paper:  Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Island Indigo, and Whisper White
Accessories:   Big Shot with Window Frames Collection Framelits, Fancy Fan TIEF, Modern Label Punch, 2 1/2" Circle Punch, Decorative Label Punch, Pearls Basic Jewels, Sponge quarters, and Dimensionals

First off, the embossed Pool Party layer was sponged with Whisper White craft ink to make the embossing stand out more.  Next the Crumb Cake layer was stamped, then corner-punched with the Decorative Label Punch instead of the usual ripped corners.  Then it was sponged with Soft Suede ink.  The sentiment was also sponged and the pearls added to give a subtle bling to the card.

The flower stamp was inked first with Pool Party, then 'thumped' with the Island Indigo marker.  I love the two-tone effect this gives without being too rigid on where the color is added.

All in all, I thought this card came out really lovely.  The colors are soft and understated like I prefer for sympathy cards, but there's a lot going on to make it interesting.  Hope you enjoy this idea.  See what you can come up with for this layout.  It could become one of your favorites!  Thanks for stopping in today.  Hope your day is blessed with good things going on!  Sharon

Simply Pressed Flowers

Have you gotten the Simply Pressed Clay and played with it yet?  Oh my goodness!   Talk about a fun product!!  With watching my grandsons everyday, I try to have them do different things to give them a well-rounded day.  Carson has enjoyed playing with Play Dough, but it gets really stiff and too hard for him to work with way too soon.  Then I need to get out and buy more, again and again.  Thought I'd give him a little to play with while I worked on molding some flowers for myself.  Did he ever have fun!  The clay is so soft and pliable, then you can put it in a baggy and come back a week later and play again and it's still soft.  This stuff is great!

 Stamps:  Banner Greetings (hostess)
Ink:  Pool Party pad, Calypso Coral Re-inker
Paper:  Pool Party, Gumball Green, Whisper White, with Epic Day This and That Designer Series Paper
Accessories:   Big Shot with Chevron TIEF, Paper Doilies, Pool Party Seam Binding Ribbon, Bird Builder Punch, Simply Pressed Clay with Buttons & Blossoms Clay Molds, and Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue

 I worked color into a small batch, made some flowers with the light color, added more drops of re-inker to the left-over clay and made more flowers.  I did this 3 times to see how much re-inker was needed and to see how it dried and held in shape.  It didn't take very long (10-15 min) to easily pop the flowers out of the mold, but them were still very pliable (make that squishable!).  After sitting out overnight, I sponged a little extra color onto the flowers to show off the detail.  I noticed that the color got a tiny bit lighter as it dried. 

  As you can see on this card, I used two of the darker flowers and one of the lighter ones.  This light one is one of the first I made with only 2 drops of re-inker to an extra-large walnut size of clay.  Surprisingly, after making about 30 flowers, I still have about a teaspoon of clay left!  So I'm telling you, this clay goes a looooooong way when you're making flowers.

Next I'm on to making some buttons.  I'd like to try painting them when dry, but not sure yet what kind of paint to use.  I'll have to investigate that and get back to you with the info.

Hope you're having a very blessed Sunday.  It's always a good day when you thank God for it.  And thank you for stopping by today.  Have a wonderful week, and take time to stamp - it's relaxing!       Sharon

New Pastels Thank You

This is the last project from my card classes last week.  I've made several cards lately using this same grouping of stamps.  They work so well together, picking and choosing different stamps from each set to use together and then changing them up for the next card I make.  Give this bunch of stamps a try yourself and let me know what you've come up with!

Stamps:  Secret Garden, Betsy's Blossoms, and Sweet Essentials
Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe, Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay, and Pistachio Pudding
Paper:   Bermuda Bay, Pistachio, and Whisper White
Accessories:  Big Shot with Square Lattice TIEF, Secret Garden Framelits, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack, Scallop Edge Border Punch, Sponge Daubers, and Dimensionals

This card uses two of the new In Colors and two basic colors that were previous In Colors brought back so we can use them again.  This mix of soft and bright colors are so fun to use together.  There's extra texture added with the Pistachio Pudding strip of cardstock that has been embossed with the Square Lattice TIEF.  The sentiment strip is more interesting being popped up in the center instead of laying flat.  The strip is trimmed like a fish-tail and sponged all around to stand out from the card more.

Of course, when using the Secret Garden stamp set you really need to have the coordinating Secret Garden Framelit set to go with it.  It's so easy to add layers of flowers and leaves this way.  There are also those tiny flowers from the Betsy's Blossoms set punched out with the 6-petal flower punch in the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack to add a nice little accent.

Thanks for stopping in again. Hope you enjoy the ideas and get inspired to get out your stamps and play.  Have a great week.   Sharon

Mosaic Madness Card

Today's card is sort of one-of-a-kind.  Even though I've made 6 of this card so far, each card ended up being different because of the layout of the 'mosaic tiles' that are punched and added to the card.  It was fun lining them all up and seeing how different they ended up looking!  Just play around with those punched pieces and have some fun being creative.  Everyone seems to like a different layout on this card.  Give it a try and see what you come up with!

Stamps:  Mosaic Madness and Label Love 
Ink:  Melon Mambo, Elegant Eggplant,  and Old Olive with Melon Mambo, Elegant Eggplant, and Old Olive markers
Paper:  Whisper White and Old Olive
Accessories:  Big Shot with Modern Mosaic TIEF,  Mosaic Punch, Artisan Label Punch, Old Olive Dotted Scalloped Ribbon(ret), and Dimensionals




Love the  new Label Love stamp set and coordinating Artisan Label Punch.  Makes me so happy to be able to punch out my sentiments so easily and pop them anywhere on the card.  Easy peasy!  And the Mosaic Punch works perfectly with the Mosaic Madness stamp set.  Don't you just love how Stampin'Up! keeps coming up with these fabulous new stamps and punches that coordinate?!!  I can never get enough of these - oh, I'm soooo bad!  Have fun stamping!  Sharon

 
 

Square Little Birthday Card

Today I have a cute little square card that really is all about the Designer Paper that is used.  The paper used is from the Quatrefancy Specialty Designer Paper set.  Such pretty designs and the colors are nice and bright - just right for a birthday celebration!

Stamps:  Bring On The Cake
Ink:  Island Indigo
Paper:  Whisper White, Island Indigo,  Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, and Strawberry Slush cardstock and Quatrefancy Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Big Shot with Labels Collection Framelits, AquaPainter, Rhinestone Basic Jewels, and Dimensionls

This is a cute and quick card to make.  It's sized at 4 1/4" X 4 1/4" so it fits in the A2 envelope nicely.    The smallest Framelit from the set was used to die-cut the new Strawberry Slush cardstock piece in the center.  (Now I need to think of something to use those little die-cut pieces!!) 

I love those little flags of coordinating cardstock under the Strawberry Slush layer.  Just a little accent of the colors present in the Quatrefancy paper.   The stamped birthday cake looked a little bland, so I touched it up a little with the AquaPainter so it didn't look so flat.

Here's another card made with a different print from the same DSP.  It looks bolder than the first one, so maybe this would be the man's version??  Or maybe not...

The rhinestones were added to the corners of the Strawberry Slush layer to add a little bling.  You know you need some bling on everything, right?

Hope you like this idea - simple and fun to do.  Thanks for stopping in.  Come back again for more ideas.   Sharon

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads out there!  My dad was one of the really good ones and I still miss him very much even though he's been gone for many years.  Somehow my dad was still my special 'daddy' even when I was grown and had kids of my own.  Miss you dad!  Now I'm lucky to have a husband that loves and cares for me and our family, so happy Father's Day to you dear!  Then I have a wonderful son-in-law who has blessed our family by being part of it.  And he's a great dad too!  This card is a version of the one I made for him to celebrate this special day.  Hope you like this idea...

Stamps:  By the Tide and Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  VersaMark, Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Marina Mist, Pear Pizzazz, Midnight Muse, and Soft Suede ink pads
Paper:  Soft Suede, Midnight Muse, and Whisper White
Accessories:   Winter White Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Piercing Tool and Mat, Word Window Punch, Early Espresso Baker's Twine, Sponge quarters, and Dimensionals

Love this soft look of embossing resist with the under water images.  This is a CASEd card from my downline Phyllis D.  When I saw her card, I knew I had to make one of these too.  I loved the collage effect of all these stamps with the overlapped stamping onto the embossed coral.

 Holding the card, the colors are so soft, but still rich looking.  I wasn't sure exactly what colors she used, but just went with what I had on hand.  I was surprised with how dark the Crumb Cake was for the sand, but when all the other colors were layered on, it worked out nicely.

This would be a great card for many occasions, and with the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set, it's easy to make whatever kind of sentiment you need for you card.  I actually ended up making 3 of these for different occasions and with different people in mind.  I mean, if you get out all these colors to use, might as well make more than one.  Right?

Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope this card inspires you to try the Emboss Resist Technique.  Just emboss one of your images first, then stamp and sponge colors over it.  It's fun seeing the seahorses and fish peeking out from the coral on this card.  See what you can do with the idea!  Happy stamping and a very Happy Father's Day!  Sharon

Serene Silhouette Block Print

I have a feeling any posts this week will be just a little schizophrenic in nature.  With the new Stampin'Up! catalog here, I want to share new goodies with you.  But I don't have tons of the new goodies to play with yet.  In fact, not too many at all.  So I'll be sneaking in some old accessories on my projects until I can replace all that's been retired.  Every time I sit down to stamp, I find myself grabbing something to work with and then freaking out because it's retired and I can't show it at parties anymore.  And making up samples to share is just getting a little crazy!  So you're getting a hodge-podge of things here.  There will probably be something retired snuck in there, so you're just going to have to deal with it.  OK?  Hope so...

Stamps:  Serene Silhouettes and Label Love
Ink:  Stazon Jet Black, Daffodil Delight, and Pear Pizzazz
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, and Whisper White
Accessories:  Artisan Label Punch, Pear Pizzazz Seam Binding Ribbon(ret), Brights Buttons(ret), Baker's Twine, Sponge Dauber, Glue Dots, and Dimensionals

Are you wondering where the Daffodil-stamped rectangle came from?  I still purchase some of my stamps in a wood base.  For me, it just depends on the type of stamp it is.  So when I have a lot of excess rubber from a stamp set, I might keep a bigger piece for future reference. This time I cut a piece into a rectangle to stamp these blocks of color behind the black image. 

Did you notice the cool new sentiment stamp and the coordinating punch?  I just love it when I can stamp, punch, and pop it up!  So quick and easy, but it stands out so much more than just stamping directly onto the card.  And for me, sentiment stamps are an addiction.  If a new one comes out, I need it!  The top left corner of the image layer was also corner-punched with the same punch to coordinate with the sentiment (just in case you were wondering).

Hope you're having a fabulous Sunday - or whatever day it is when you read this!  The day has been simply gorgeous today and I've been enjoying it immensely.  It's been so rainy lately that this is wonderful.  Happy stamping - Sharon