Work of Art #5 Birthday

Ok, last one of the series.  And I'm so tired right now that this post is going to be very short and sweet.  Let's get right to it.....

Stamps:  Work of Art, Gorgeous Grunge, and Endless Birthday Wishes
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo, and Bermuda Bay
Paper:  Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry, and Bermuda Bay
Accessories:   Big Shot with Starburst Framelits, Itty Bitty Accents Punch (star), 2 3/8" Scallop Punch, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, and Dimensionals

I kept the colors all bright and happy for this birthday celebration card.  The colors carry through on both the inks and cardstock pieces.  The stars punched from each of the colors add a festive touch.  And who doesn't like the touch of sparkle from the rhinestones on each star?

Have you seen this new birthday photopolymer stamp set yet?  Both the cake image and the sentiments are from the Endless Birthday Wishes set.  It's going to be one of those sets that gets used over and over again because of all the mix & match sentiments in it.  Love it!!!

The layering of the main image was finished off with the starburst in Crushed Curry. It just made the scalloped Melon Mambo layer stand out even more.

Don't you love the addition of the bits of speckles from the Gorgeous Grunge tying all the components together?  It reminded me of confetti at a party.  I had thought to add bits of the other two colors, but that seemed too much.  So this is it - 3 stamp sets and 3 colors to make the card.  Fun, fun, fun.  And that's it for me tonight.  I'm off to bed to get rewound and we start it all over again at 6am.  Ta ta...       Sharon

Work of Art #4

Back again here with the latest installment of ideas using the new Work of Art stamp set.  Yes, I still think it's a fabulous set and love using it.  It's so simple and can be used in so many different ways.  Today's card has the images stamped in a very straightforward manner.  No quirky ideas or anything of that sort, just simple stamping.

Stamps:  Work of Art and Simply Celebrate
Ink:  Coastal Cabana and Bermuda Bay
Paper:  Whisper White and Bermuda Bay
Accessories:  Watercolor Wonder Washi Tape, Rhinestone Basic Jewels

Isn't this card pretty?  I love the clean look of it and the two colors of Coastal Cabana and Bermuda Bay are fun and breezy.  To jazz up the card a little, the strip of Washi Tape is the easiest idea ever!  Talk about something that's so quick to do but has a little pop - adding the gold of the Washi Tape is too cute.  A little added sparkle from the rhinestones and you're finished in only minutes.

As I mentioned, just simple stamping and not much in the line of layering or embellishments.  Just a clean and simple card.  Oh yeah, this was totally a CASEd idea too.  Unfortunately, I thought I had seen this idea on Stampin' Connection and spent the last half hour looking for it to give credit for the idea and I couldn't find it.  (Couldn't believe there were so many pages of ideas for this set!!!  Wow)   But I never did find the idea.  Sooooo, if this is your idea, let me know so I can give you credit.

Thanks for stopping by for the latest installment of the Work of Art saga.  Hope I can stop at 5 ideas and don't get too bogged down with this one set.  There are lots more new stamps out there to play with and I need to get cracking!  Have a wonderful week.  Hope you're not getting quite as much rain as we are lately.  But I guess we needed it.  Unfortunately, the grandboys really want to get out and play on the playscape.  Oh well, indoor fun for now.   Have fun!      Sharon

Work of Art #3

Ok, I'm back with the latest idea using the new Work of Art stamp set.  In case you haven't figured it out yet, I just love this set and all the fun things that can be done with it.  Today, we're going back to an idea that's similar to the first version I shared.

Stamps:  Work of Art and Yippee-Skippee!
Ink:  Hello Honey, Tangelo Twist, Garden Green, and Pool Party
Paper:  Pool Party and Whisper White
Accessories:  Subtles Candy Dots, and Lg Corner Rounder(ret)

This is actually the first card idea I tried out with the new set as soon as I got my little hands on it.  I had seen something online using the wider swoosh as a sun and I just went from there.  The sun is actually stamped 3 times to get this look.  The overlapping of the stamping doesn't seem to be a problem with the look because everything else also has multiple overlapping going on too.

The flower is the squiggle stamped 3-4 times with a lot of overlap.  The stem is just stamped once, but the leaf is the heart stamped twice and overlapped in the center.  Isn't that a cute idea?

I love this sentiment from the Yippee-Skippee! stamp set.  It just says it all!  And it doesn't have to fit any special day - just any day will do fine!  I think it makes a perfect thinking of you type of card.  I mean, wouldn't it add a little bit of 'happy' to your day if this came in the mail to you?  I'd love to get something besides bills in my mail.  (grin)

Ok, enough editorializing here.  Time to get this posted today.  Thanks for stopping in today.  Hope you're enjoying this series as much as I am.  Have a great day!         Sharon

Work of Art Take 2

Hey, I promised there would be a series of cards using the fabulous new Work of Art stamp set, and here I am with the 2nd in the series.  This time I'm focusing in on the large swoosh of color type of stamp.  Hmm, did that last sentence even make sense?  Oh well, keep reading and check out the card and it will probably make sense.  If not, boy, guess I'm not thinking straight today.  Let's check it out...

Stamps:  Work of Art, World of Dreams, and A Dozen Thoughts
Ink:  Island Indigo, Mossy Meadow, and Stazon Jet Black
Paper:  Island Indigo, Mossy Meadow, and Whisper White
Accessories:  Corner Rounder, and that's it

In case you haven't noticed, this is a really simple card to make.  Although 3 different stamp sets were used, the sentiment and black silhouette stamps are interchangeable with so many different stamp sets.  So that means you could do this idea in a million or more different versions depending on colors and stamps used.  Now what could be more versatile than that?

I've actually done this card using the retired Midnight Muse and Gumball Green ink and it ends up being a little brighter.  The Mossy Meadow is a yummy green, but a little on the dark side for this card.  Hmmm I might just try making it again using Old Olive with the Island Indigo.  What do you think?  And what other color combos should I try??  What about fall colors and maybe the tall weedy looking stamp from the same World of Dreams set???  Yes, I think the options might just be endless!

That's it for today.  Glad you stopped in to see what's new.  Come on back for the rest of the series.  You might just decide you need to own this stamp set too!  You can always order it (or anything else!) directly from me.  I'd be happy to help you out.  Have fun stamping!       Sharon

You are a Work of Art

 If  you are looking for the most versatile set in the new Stampin' Up! catalog, check out Work of Art.  I think this stamp set will be my new go-to set for the next few months.  I've already made 5 totally different cards using this stamp set.  And I'll be sharing them with you for the next 5 days.  Sound like a good idea to you?  Hope so, 'cuz that's what I'll be doing.  So here's the first one. 

Stamps:  Work of Art
Ink:  Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie,
Paper:  Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Very Vanilla, and Pumpkin Pie
Accessories:   Elegant Butterfly and Bitty Butterfly Punches, 1 1/4" Scallop Circle Punch, Lg Corner Rounder(ret), Very Vintage Designer Buttons, Old Olive 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Brights Candy Dots, and Glue Dots

This card was so much fun to make!  The flower is made from a squiggle stamp that is stamped repeatedly.  Just keep one end of the stamp centered and stamp around in a circle.  How simple is that!  Depending which end of the stamp is in the center, you get a totally different looking flower.  With stamping the other end out, the flower has a very feathery look to it. 

The stamp set has several different sentiment to it, so I didn't need a separate sentiment set to make this card.  Easy peasy when it's all right there in the set for you!

The only really addition to the card were the different punches used.  I chose two of the card colors to make a layered butterfly for the corner where it looked a  little bare.  Butterflies are always a nice addition.  I also added a Razzleberry scallop of cardstock underneath the button accent to make it stand out more.  And that's about it.  Quick and simple, but fun with an artistic flair from the loosely stamped flower.

Thanks for sliding by to see what I've been stamping today.  I'll have another card for you tomorrow that uses the same set with totally different look to it.  Come on back and check it out.  See you soon,     Sharon              
ps - Happy Father's Day,  honey!

New Blendabilities

Oh.  My. Goodness!  The new Blendabilities markers that Stampin' Up! is introducing in the new catalog are absolutely fabulous!  I can't wait until they are available in August so I can get my hands on some more colors.  I was able to preorder a few colors - just enough to get me hooked!  Now I really need some more!!  My fabulously talented downline Jan Tink had several of us over for a learning session on how to use these markers.  It was definitely helpful!  I'll share the card we all made together.  Then give you few pointers that I picked up from her and also from just playing around on my own.

Stamps:  Blended Bloom, and Blooming with Kindness
Ink:  Memento Black and Cherry Cobbler  pads, Basic Black marker, and Pumpkin Pie and Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities marker sets
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, and Pumpkin Pie
Accessories:  Basic Black 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Sponge, Paper Snips, and Dimensionals

 Boy, no matter how many pictures I tried, none of them did credit to the card, not even close!  The colors of the flower are so beautiful and almost seem to glow!  And happily, once you got the idea of how to use the new marker sets, it was surprisingly easy to do.  That's something I really appreciate.  I mean, if something looks lovely, but takes hours to get it made, I'm not sure if I have the time or the inclination to do it more than once.  But I've already done 2 more cards using these markers and been quite happy with the results.

Tip #1:  Instead of starting with the darkest color and adding lighter over it, Jan suggested laying down a layer of light, adding the medium shading tone, then adding the darkest color tone.  Finally, going over it all one more time with the lightest color to blend.  This seems to give a better blended look when I used them in this way.

Tip #2:  When you're cutting out a project like this one, go over the cut edges with a black marker when finished cutting.  As you can see, this is something I didn't realize until I started taking pics of the card.  There a lots of little white edges that show up terribly in the pics.  Bummer!  Now I'll be prying this card apart and doing little edge touch ups when I'm done here.  But this certainly gives you an idea how wonderful these Blendabilities marker sets are!  Can't wait til August when I can get some more colors to play with!   Yahoo!   Happy stamping - Sharon

Almost Father's Day

Yes, the time keeps right on moving along whether I'm keeping up with it or not.  It's shocking to see that Father's Day is coming up this weekend already.  Where has the time gone?  Since it's time to consider all the wonderful things our dads and grandpas have done for us over the years, I thought it was appropriate to share a Father's Day card that I'll be giving to my hubby this year.

Stamps:  The Open Seas and Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Night of Navy and Cherry Cobbler
Paper:  Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler, and Whisper White
Accessories:  Big Shot with Arrows TIEF, Word Window Punch, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, and Dimensionals

 Yes, this stamp set has been around awhile, but it's still a go-to set when I need something masculine.  And what could be more masculine than a Father's Day card I ask you!?  The layout I chose to use is very basic with a good number of layers.  With using Night of Navy and Cherry Cobbler  colors, we ended up with a clean and crisp look to the card.  Just right for the stamp set I used.

The tiny Night of Navy layer under the sentiment was embossed with the Arrows TIEF to give just a little more interest and texture to the card.

And what would I ever do without the Teeny Tiny Wishes little sentiment?  Those little sentiments are just the perfect size to add on just about any card, and they cover just about any sentiment you might need.  Definitely a must-have stamp set.

Well, that's it for today.  Just wanted to say hi to my sister Connie for telling me to get back to my blogging.  Thanks for the push and if I fizzle out again (or is that 'when'), make sure you give me a nudge back into it again.  Alright?  Thanks for stopping by today.  I always appreciate hearing from you.   Happy weekend!          Sharon