Encre, papier, ciseaux

Book-Lover Anya

Inspiration: Colour Inkspiration #134

I wanted to try out my Damask stencil and decided to do it using the Colour Inkspiration combo so that I could incorporate the piece in my design afterwards. It worked out well, because I could use Bermuda Bay ink on Coastal Cabana cardstock to get a tone-on-tone design.

One of my resolution this year is to purge some of my ever-growing stash. I have those big stippling brushes that I purchased years ago with the promise that they were great to get a soft inked background, but I never took on to them and now that we have blender brushes, those have definitely become obsolete for me. I tried them out here to do my stenciling, just to double-check that I did want to get rid of them and while the result looks good, it took three times the time that inking with a blender brush would have taken, so those went in the destash box.

 I was loving the bright colours of the challenge and decided they could work great on a card for my niece's birthday, which will be coming up soon. The Anya Combo stamp set has an image of Anya sitting with a pile of books, which is perfect because Arielle loves nothing more than coming back from the library with a big stack of books. I had not watercolored with inks for a long time, so I stamped the image on watercolor paper using Lawn Fawn's Jet Black ink and I picked up inks from my Stampin' Up! ink pads' lids with an Aquapainter brush.

I based my design on an older Mojo Monday sketch. I matted my stenciled piece with Calypso Coral cardstock and I glued the piece on Pale Papaya cardstock with temporary adhesive to die-cut it with the scalloped rectangle from the Foundation 4 dies. The reason I used temporary adhesive was that so I could add dry embossing to the cardstock afterwards (which would have been flattened if die-cut afterwards). I looked at subtle embossing folders and picked up Scripty, as the text seemed appropriate to go with the books. I inked the embossing with a dauber and glued the cardstock back on with permanent adhesive.

On the initial sketch, this piece was going over a card base, but I was auditioning various cardstock colour and not loving the look so I decided the card would remain scalloped. I die-cut the same piece out of the Pale Papaya cardstock, scored the top at 3/4" and glued the top together with sticky strip. This gives me a card base that has the full scallops at the top.

I looked at sentiment options and picked out "you are one of the joys of my life". I wanted to incorporate the yellow from the combo, but using Daffodil Delight cardstock was a little too jarring, so I decided to emboss the sentiment with Calypso Coral embossing powder on white cardstock and then ink blend Daffodil Delight ink on it using a blender brush. I also used the matching Stampin' Write marker and the now-retired spritzer tool to add speckles. The sentiment was die-cut using another die from the Foundation 4 set and I punched horizontal slots on each sides. I tried out a few ribbons, but picked the Pale Papaya with white border one. I tied it around the card base, added the Anya image with dimensional adhesive and added three sparkly heart stickers (from the Dollar Store). 

Since the card front did not have an actual birthday sentiment, I used the Biggest Wishes stamp set inside the card, stamping the large word in Pale Papaya ink and overstamping the scripty word in VersaMark and embossing it in Calypso Coral powder. I also included a small little Olaf sticker in the corner as I know my niece will like that.

I made a matching envelope using the leftover stenciled piece, punched into a banner, and a piece of Calypso Coral cardstock embossed with the same folder. Another heart sticker was added as well. As a final touch, I added Crystal Glaze to her glasses. I was out of Glossy Accents and picked some up from my local store. The owner mentioned she had heard good things about Nuvo's Crystal Glaze, in particular that it dried really clear (no yellow tone to it). I've used it on a couple of projects since buying it and the jury's still out, but so far I've noticed that it's more runny, which means that you have to be careful as soon as you turn the bottle around as it wants to flow out even before you actually squeeze the bottle. This also means that you have to leave your project perfectly flat while it dries. I tried moving my card after a good 5-10 minutes of the glaze having been applied and while the Glossy Accents would have started to dry around the edges at this point, the Crystal Glaze was still liquidy enough to want to drop down. Thankfully, I noticed and used the tip of my piercer to get the glaze where it dripped below the glasses. On the other project, the glaze also made the dye ink run. (I used it on lollypops on my gingerbread house and the white parts all became colored.) Considering the bottle is more expensive for less product (maybe because Nuvo is an European company and has to be imported in North America), I will probably go back to Glossy Accents once I'm done using this bottle. We'll see if my impression of it changes as I use it more, but this is what I've noticed so far.

(On a side note, there's no matching dies for this stamp set, so I had to get my craft knife out to gut the parts between her body and her pigtails. 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Anya Combo (The Greeting Farm); Souhaits en grand, Bouquet de feuilles (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Pale Papaya, Calypso Coral, Coastal Cabana, Basic White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Pale Papaya, Calypso Coral, Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, 
Peekaboo Peach, Sahara Sand, Soft Suede, So Saffron, Blush Blossom (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Foundation 4 (Queen & Co)
Accessories: Scripty Embossing Folder, Stampin' Dimensionals, Daffodil Delight Stampin' Write Marker,
Spritzer Tool, Triple Banner Punch, Banner Pick A Punch, Aquapainter Brush, Pale Papaya Ribbon,
Horizontal Slot Punch, Calypso Coral Stampin' Emboss Powder (Stampin' Up!);
Crystal Glaze (Nuvo); Damask Stencil (Paper Rose); Heart Puffy Stickers (Stickah - Dollarama);
A2 Lagoon Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

Sweet Gingerbread House

Inspiration: Sunday Stamps #299

The color combo inspired me to pull out the Sweet Gingerbread suite and put together this simple card. The white background was embossed with the Wintry embossing folder an the snowy hill was die-cut out of pastel glitter cardstock from Memory Box. I borrowed a French sentiment from another stamp set to add to the smoke cloud. I used a loose flower flourishes embellishment for the doorknob.

 

 

 

 

Color Combo: Blackberry Bliss + Rich Razzleberry + Polished Pink + Mango Melody + White

 

Supplies
Stamps: Sweet Gingerbread (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Polished Pink, Basic White, Rich Razzleberry (Stampin' Up!);
Delicate Pastel Glitter Pad (Memory Box)
Designer Series Paper: Brights, 2021-2023 In Color (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Polished Pink, Mango Melody, Pear Pizzazz, Blackberry Bliss, Soft Sky, Rich Razzleberry (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Loose Flower Flourishes, Gingerbread House Dies, White Medium Envelope,
Distressing Tool (Stampin' Up!)

 

Birthday Chick

Inspiration: Mojo Monday 407 + ColourQ #138

I ordered the Hey Birthday Chick stamp set and dies during the free shipping day promotion and got around to playing with the set today. I also got the All Wired Up background stamp, as it was an abvious good pairing with the chick set. The wire is smaller than I expected, but it still works. I pulled out my watercolor paper to try and make a colorful background with the wire embossed in gold. It didn't end up getting used on this card (might make it on another card later), but I was down to the last few pieces of my watercolor pack and noticed the packaging was white on the back and had nice texture to it, so I embossed the background in gold on it and tried watercoloring. The paper is clearly not might to watercolor on, as I couldn't spread the color around and the paper buckled badly right away, so I put a pin in that idea and went back to actually using watercolor paper. That being said, once I started preparing my pieces for this card, I realized I really liked the look of the gold embossing on the packaging paper, so I ended up incorporating it in my design. Felt good to use up something that would otherwise have been discarded as well.

I wanted to use gold embossing on my stamped images as well to tie it all together, but I knew I wouldn't be able to use my Stampin' Blends if I did that. I found a workaround to still get the embossing. I used my stamping tool to stamp the images in Blends-friendly ink (Memento). Important stamp: I made sure to wash my stamp but leave them in place in the stamping tool. So after I was done coloring my images with the markers, I put the cardstock back in the stamping tool where it was before, I inked my stamps in VersaMark, stamped over the colored images and added gold embossing powder on top. It turned out so good! 

I did a bit of stenciling with Shimmery White embossing paste on the striped patterned paper, and I added circles of all shapes around the main image, as well as a few banners from the matching dies, and the French sentiment included in the die set. I added resin dots in matching colours and stamped my envelope to match. 

 

 

Color Combo: Bumblee + Poppy Parade + Pool Party + Crumb Cake + White

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Salut poulette (Hey Birthday Chick), All Wired Up
Cardstock: Bumbleebee, Crumb Cake, Poppy Parade, Whisper White
Designer Series Paper: Neutrals, Brights, In Color 2020-2022
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark
Accessories: Fêtons Entre Poulettes Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals, Stampin' Blends Markers,
Shimmery White Embossing Paste, Basic Patterns Decorative Masks, 
Stitched Shapes Dies, Circle Punches, All the Trimmings Embellishments, 
Playing With Patterns Resin Dots, White Medium Envelope, Bumblebee Ribbon,
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder 

 

 

A Day Filled with Adventure

Inspiration: Color Throwdown #609

I was immediately taken with the colour combo from Color Throwdown the second I saw it. The picture is striking and I really loved the regal colors together. It dawned on me that it would make a really nice color scheme for the Puffy Cloud Backdrop die from Lawn Fawn I hadn't yet used, and that the brown could work with the Build-a-Castle die, which my store recently got back in stock. I looked at my cardstock options and landed on Misty Moonlight (a 2020-2022 In Color), Berry Burst and Baked Brown Sugar (two retired In Colors). I felt inspired so I decided to get going on the castle first as I wanted to do the brick stenciling with paste and knew it would require drying time.

My first thought was to die white paste with a brown reinker and do the bricks tone on tone. As I was pulling out what I needed, I spotted the White Gold Icing Paste from Finnabair and decided that would look even better so I switched gears. While the paste was dring, I worked on my cloudy backdrop, using five shades of Distress Oxide inks, as follows: Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Stormy Sky, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot. I used my blender brushes to do the blending and I speckled the whole thing with Liquid Stardust. I let this aside to dry as well and started working on my images. I was planning on only using the Little Dragon stamp set, but I decided to add the Little Fairy Tale images as well. Those two sets are beyond adorable and a great addition to the Lawn Fawn line. After coloring and die-cutting the images, I went back to working on die-cutting the rest of my castle to embellish.

I used woodgrain cardstock from Lawn Fawn to make the door. I had to go back to the Lawn Fawn video on YouTube to double-check what all of the little pieces were for. (Particularly, the circle split in half... couldn't figure it out, but it's actually the door handles! Gluing those in place will test your dexterity. Good thing we have those sticky wands for embellishments to help out!). To add a bit of variation to my design, I incorporated a second shade of blue (Buckaroo Blue, an old In Color) and I also pulled out the beautiful Gold Rush cardstock from Lawn Fawn to keep up with the gold.

I started assembling everything and testing out placement on my card. I was wondering how to place the sentiment and what to write. I liked the sentiment from the Little Dragon set and decided to go with that, directly on the clouds, embossed in white powder. I could have made life easier on myself had I done the stamping right away, but unfortunately, at that point, I had already decided to frame my card with champagne glitter paper (thought I'd do the Stitched Rectangle Frame, but ended up seeing the Scalloped version and going for that instead). I glued it in place using the dimensional foam strips from Stampin' Up! - which made it really hard to get rid of the excess embossing powder, but hey, I managed. Not the easiest way to go about it, but I made it work. I love how the gold frame really made the whole card come to life and made the colorful background pop even more.

When I do frames glued with foam strips, I always prefer to do an oversized envelope rather than a regular A2 one. I usually go for a 4½" x 6" size when I use my envelope punch board. It makes for a much easier fit when you put the card inside the envelope. I found some old Midnight Muse paper, which is a really close match to the Misty Moonlight cardstock I used on the card.

 

Color Combo: Berry Burst + Misty Moonlight + Baked Brown Sugar

 

Supplies
Stamps: Little Fairy Tale, Little Dragon
Cardstock: Buckaroo Blue, Misty Moonlight, Berry Burst, Baked Brown Sugar (Stampin' Up!);
Gold Rush (Lawn Fawn); Champagne Glitter Paper (Et Cetera)
Designer Series Paper: 2014-2016 In Color
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Stormy Sky, Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Black Soot,
Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Dies: Little Fairy Tale, Little Dragon, Build-A-Castle, Puffy Cloud Backdrop Portrait,
Stitched Scalloped Rectangle Frames (Lawn Fawn); Crafty Dies (Concord & 9th)
Accessories: Liquid Stardust, Brick Stencil (Lawn Fawn); Markers (Copic);
White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Envelope Punch Board, Foam Adhesive Strips, Metallic Pearls (Stampin' Up!);
Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studio); White Gold Icing Paste (Finnabair);
Midas Touch Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo)

 

Frosty Flowers

Inspiration: Freshly Made Sketch #406

When I saw the three elements in the corner of the Freshly Made sketch, I thought I could stamp three vases from the Various Vases stamp set, a set I always love to revisit.I had the idea to pair it with the photorealistic paper from the Feels Like Frost Designer Series Paper pack for something different. (The finished card shows how that paper pack can be used for cards that are not winter-related.) I didn't want the card background to be empty so I reached out for the Mercury Glass Designer Acetate, which I purchased during the preorder but hadn't used yet. Those acetate are truly gorgeous!

To ground the vases, I die-cut three frames using the Ornate Frames dies and I sponged the edges. For the largest frame, I create a negative masks with one of the smaller frame and I inked the inside portion with a sponge dauber and Soft Sea Foam ink. I used the same ink to stamp a pattern, using the falling stars image from the Making Christmas Bright stamp set.

The floral images were all hand cut (no die for those, which is unfortunate) and I added the punched vases over them. I stamped a sentiment from the Various Vases set, which reads, "May you day be filled with a bouquet of happiness." I repeated some of the floral and vases images on the envelope to match. I'm surprised at how much I like those colours together, considering I'm not usually big on purple nor on pastels.There is something very elegant and soothing about that colour combo.

Have you been taking part in Stampin' Up!'s challenge from National Card-Making Day last Saturday? Stampin' Up! has encouraged their demonstrators and clients to send out as many cards as possible before October 16th. They're hoping to reach a goal of 50,000 cards. I've already sent out two and I'm planning to send out more this weekend (including the card I'm sharing in this post and a couple of October birthday cards). Have you been sending cards out? I extend the challenge to all of you. I usually send out around 100 cards a year myself - to downline members each month to congratulate them on sales and promotions and welcome new members aboard, birthday cards to friends and a big pile of Christmas cards every year. I always assumed all cardmakers do, but I've been surprised to realize that this is not necessarily the case, and that making cards and sending cards are two distinct hobbies, it seems. I think it's too bad because if card enthousiasts don't keep snail mail alive, who will?

 

 

Color Combo: Seaside Spray + Purple Posy + Highland Heather + Soft Sea Foam

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Vases divers (Various Vases), Illuminez les Fêtes (Making Christmas Bright)
Cardstock: Seaside Spray, Whisper White, Highland Heather, Purple Posy, Soft Sea Foam
Designer Series Paper: Feels Like Frost, Mercury Glass Designer Acetate
Ink: Seaside Spray, Gorgeous Grape, Highland Heather, Purple Posy, Soft Sea Foam
Accessories: Gorgeous Grape 1/4" Mini Striped Ribbon, Pearl Basic Jewels, White Medium Envelope,
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Vases Builder Punch, Ornate Frames Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies,
Sponge Daubers

 

Sending Flowers and Thoughts

Inspiration: Hand Stamped Sentiments #323 and Color Throwdown #560

This card almost never made it to completion. Boy, did I ever struggle to find my footing with it! Worst part is, I had such a clear vision based on the sketch: use the Stitched Nested Labels for the sentiment, add three stitched roses to the side, use the Bed of Roses die for the background. Boom, done! Or so I thought... Sometimes, the best-laid plans just refuse to work out. First of all, while I love the look of the Stitched Roses stamp set from Waffle Flower, let's be honest: even with a stamping platform, this stamp side is tricky to get lined up perfectly. And it's a grid pattern so if it's crooked, it shows! My first two roses ended up in the recycling bin as they were not lining up. You know how I managed to get perfect roses? I got rid of the stamp platform and pulled out my Stamp-a-ma-jig! I kid you not - the jig got better results than the platform. Then I struggled with the placement of the leaves. I had to Google a video to try and figure out where those went - only to realize I had stamped my flowers to close to the edge to have room for the leaves. roll eyes Yup, I was having one of those days. So I stamped the leaves on another cardstock and cut them out separately.

For the background, I die-cut red cardstock with the Bed of Roses die. Initially, I used my regular cutting plate and I was having to poke out the pieces one by one and struggling to get them out. So I realized that I should have used my precision plate and that if I was going to do that, I should also put adhesive sheet on the back right away to save myself a tricky gluing job. A while back, I've invested in the Chrome precision plate and this is the best tool that could have happened for die-cutting. The difference between the first and second cut was remarkable Even though I had added adhesive sheet, the pieces of the second die-cut fell out the second I lifted the cardstock up. I didn't have to struggle with it, I just bent it a few times and I was done. So I added it to my grey cardstock base and I wasn't sure about the result. I then figured I could use a background stamp on the card base before layering the die-cut. I went looking through my stamps and picked up Fine Lace, a background stamp from Stampin' Up! that probably retired a decade ago. It worked out great, and added just the right touch of texture without bringing the focus to the background.

For the sentiment, I also had a clear idea and was hoping the Genuine Gems stamp set would work. It was the perfect size, so I stamped it in grey - and thought it looked very blah. I love the sentiments in this set, but here's my beef: I wish the sentiment that reads "I sent out positive thoughts in the universe for you" was written in a prettier font. The grungy font seems a weird match for me. I kept thinking the empty letter would look better in color and I kept thinking about paper piecing the letters but they are so small and delicate, I knew it wouldn't work out well. Then I realized I could stamp the word on a white strip and color it with markers. I initially used a Stampin' Write marker on the first letter but remembered I had Stampin' Blends alcohol markers in the right green shade so I pulled them out and did an ombre look on the letters. That immediately made the sentiment look better, so I started working on placement for the roses and couldn't find anything that worked well and this is where I gave up on the card. Sometimes, you need to step back and reassess later so I picked a clear envelope, threw all the pieces in there and decided to work on something else.

A few days went by before I picked up the envelope again, spread all the pieces and gave it another good ol' try. The difference this time is that I hid one of the big roses behind the panel. It instantly changed the balance and that's the moment I decided there was hope yet for this design. Having the colored letters also added a touch of brightness to the card, so I got going on gluing everything together, using one layer of dimensionals for the red rose and two for the small yellow rose. The card was all done and I was working on the envelope when I spotted the new red trim sold in the current Holidays catalogue. I didn't purchase that line of product, but I had to have the trim. I love the texture and the fact that it's not too bulky (we've had gorgeous woven trim in the past, but it was so thick, it made it tricky to incorporate on cards. This one is slimmer and very nice-looking.) The bow and the added enamel heart gave a bit of shine and texture to the card and at that moment, I decided this card was not a dud after all. Thank goodness creating is not always that hard, otherwise I would have given on paper crafts a long time ago!

(If you wonder what the color combination is on the flowers, I've used those three combos:

1. Poppy Parade + Reasl Red + Cherry Cobbler
2. So Saffron + Daffodil Delight + Sahara Sand
3. So Saffron + Daffodil Delight+ Crushed Curry)

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Fine Lace, Quand les mots manquent (Genuine Gems - Stampin' Up!); Stitched Roses (Waffle Flowers)
Cardstock: Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, Basic Grey, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Basic Grey, Granny Apple Green, So Saffron, Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Sahara Sand,
Real Red, Poppy Parade, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Bed of Roses (Essentials by Ellen); Stitched Nested Labels (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Real Red 1/8" Curly Ribbon, Subtles Enamel Shapes, Stampin' Dimensionals, Flower Punch Bundle,
Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends Marker Combo (Stampin' Up!); A2 Anthracite Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Foursquare Spooky Village

Inspiration: ColourQ #365

This project was entirely inspired by the new Lawn Fawn products. I paired Spooky Village (a favorite from the new stuff - love those cute houses!) and the Foursquare Backdrop Portrait die. While it was initially going to be a card, as I started die-cutting the elements, I realized this would be more useful to me as a treat pocket. If I keep making one here and there whenever I create, I am going to have enough to go around at the office.

The frame was die-cut out of Knit Picky Fall paper and I inked the outer edges in black ink. I die-cut the four squares out of white Bristol, which I inked in Dusty Concord and Black Soot Distress Oxide inks. I splattered watered down Liquid Stardust over the four panels. I colored the various images with Copic markers, die-cut them and started arranging them on the four panels. I couldn't fit the Halloween patch anywhere comfortably, so I moved it to the bottom of the panel instead. I stamped Happy Halloween on orange cardstock and embossed the words in Crushed Curry embossing powder, then die-cut the words with a Sentiment Labels die. I glued the sentiment panel at an angle using Dimensionals and added two purple glitter enamel dots on each side.

I matted the panel with a piece of Concord Crush cardstock (with edges inked in black) and glued it to the front of a chevron-patterned kraft envelope. I folded the top, punched two holes with a Crop-a-Dile and threaded black lace to finish off the bag.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Spooky Village (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Concord Crush, Whisper White, Tango Tangerine (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Knit Picky Fall (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark; Black Archival Ink (Stampin' Up!);
Black Soot, Dusty Concord Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: Spooky Village Dies, Foursquare Backdrop Portrait Dies, Liquid Stardust (Lawn Fawn);
Black Lace Trim, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers, Glitter Enamel Dots,
Crushed Curry Stampin' Emboss Powder, Chevron Treat Bag, Crop-a-Dile (Stampin' Up!)

 

Sparkly Poinsettias

Inspiration: Retro Rubber challenge #114 (Christmas in July) + Sketch Sunday #571

Quite a while ago, I had played with my glitter pastes and the Poinsettia Background stencil because I was curious to see if I could carefully apply three different paste colours to the same image, to have the leaves in green, the poinsettias in deep red and the centers in gold. The result is not perfect as the colors overlap a bit but I was not aiming for perfect anyway, so I was happy with the result. I left the piece aside to turn into a card later and today, I wanted to craft but had limited time, so I decided that using this piece would save me some time. It was also perfect for the Christmas in July challenge.

I wanted a big, bold sentiment and I reached for Joyeuse année, which came out I believe two years ago. I embossed the sentiment in gold, die-cut the cardstock, added some ribbon underneath, and a piece of polka dot paper to mimick the sketch. I still felt the card was missing something so to mirror the second circle from the sketch, I stamped some poinsettias from an even older stamp set, Souhaits gracieux, which is a good 3 or 4 years old, and embossed it in gold on watercolor paper. I then used an AquaPainter brush and inks to color the flowers. I have not watercolored in ages! It felt good to go back to it, and I made a mental note to revisit this technique more in the coming months. This was a set that did not have matching dies (which is a real shame as I feel all three images from the set would be perfect for die-cutting) so I had to recycle my gold ol' handcutting skills. The original image has a flourishy stem with two poinsettias at the top, but the image was not working as is, so I cut the three elements apart and started playing around the card with them. I found something I was sort of happy with and I left the card aside to go do something and when I came back to it, I was not happy so I actually unglued the whole panel that was over my stenciled image. Because of the texture of the glimmer paste, I was able to pull the glued pieces without ripping anything (which would have been impossible on cardstock). Initially, the paper strip had been centered, but by moving it up higher, I was liking the balance better and was showing more of the green paste, which made the whole card look better. Incredible how moving stuff a few inches sometimes can make the world of a difference in design.

Because I wanted to keep as much of my beautiful background as possible, I ended up with a 5-1/2" x 5-1/2" card, which required an handmade envelope, made out of Designer Series Paper. I used the leftover scraps from the stencil to decorate the envelope and the inside of the card.

I liked the unexpected colour combo - it was inspired by the glitter paste and it's not something I would have ever thought to put together: Fresh Fig, Berry Burst and Garden Green.

 

  

Color Combo: Fresh Fig + Berry Burst + Garden Green + Crumb Cake

 

Supplies
Stamps: Souhaits gracieux (Christmas Blessings), Joyeuse année (Wonderful Year - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Fresh Fig, Berry Burst, Garden Green, Crumb Cake, Watercolor Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Paper Stacks: 2017-2019 In Color, Neutrals (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: VersaMark, Fresh Fig, Berry Burst, Garden Green Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, Aqua Painter Brush, Envelope Punch Board,
Chevron Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals ((Stampin' Up!); Vintage Shimmer Pearls (Studio Katia);
Poinsettia Background Stencil (Honey Bee); Golden Crystal, Seaweed Quartz and
Plum Spinel Glitter Pastes (Nuvo); Labels Nine Nestabilities Dies (Spellbinders)

 

Pretty Topiary

Inspiration: Create with Connie and Mary #562 + Fab Friday #164

The Vertical Greetings is different from my usual esthetic, and I initially purchased it because I was interested in the vertical greetings, but I ended up using it more than I thought and really enjoying it. To decorate the card, I layered various dies and embellishments. The mini green leaves are actually from the boxwood wreaths - I snipped a few leaves away to use on the card. I tried them out on the topoiary, but they were big and looked out of place, so I used them on other parts of the design instead. The background paper is from the Tropical Escape Designer Series Paper.

In order to get a multicolored stamped image, I mounted the stamp in my stamping tool and used Stampin' Markers to ink the image. The stamping tool allowed me to ink and stamp the image three times, getting a more even and more saturated image this way.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: À la verticale (Vertical Greetings)
Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Flirty Flamingo, Whisper White
Designer Series Paper: Tropical Escape
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Stampin' Write Markers, Needlepoint Nood Mini Buttons,
Leaves Trinkets, White Medium Envelope, Corner Rounder Punch, Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder,
Stitched Labels Framelits, Eclectic Layers Thinlits, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Guest Designer for Global Design Project - Galoping Horse

Inspiration: Global Design Project #174

I have been really lucky lately and was extended another Guest Designer invitation, this time by the Global Design Project team. They sent me their latest sketch and I went looking through my latest purchases for inspiration. Let It Ride is one of the stamp sets that immediately drew me in when looking at the new Occasions catalogue. Can you believe that after over 15 years as a stamper, this is my first horse set? It's a good one to have, for masculine cards, but also because one of my colleagues who purchases cards from me has a horse herself and likes to give cards to her friends from the stable. I have a feeling she'll be enjoying cards made with this set.

For some reason, the first idea that popped into my head after selecting this set was stamping it on Crumb Cake cardstock and using Distress Oxide inks to watercolor it. I've been collecting Oxide inks since they started coming out, but had not watercolored with them just yet. Because they are hybrid ink, I knew the pigment would look lovely on a kraft-colored cardstock. Because it's not watercolor paper, though, blending the ink is a little trickier and you have to watch your water flow to make sure the cardstock does not buckle. I will say this: halfway through watercoloring the scene, I started assuming the piece would end up a practice piece and would not make it on a finished card. I've learned years ago that it's okay to try out things and discard cardstock - it's not expensive and it's how you grow your skills, so based off of that, I kept going just to practice some more. It was when I watercolored the horse that I changed my mind and decided that this scene had some potential after all!

I wanted to use the new Well Written dies (in its French version), so I pulled those out. Because the horse image was quite large and I didn't want to hide it (I was proud of my watercoloring, I wanted to show it off!), I picked a shorter word and moved the sentiment strip to the left rather than have it centered. The Framelits set includes not only words but images as well, and the image dies became inspiration to embellish the background. I embossed the cardstock with the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder first and then layered die-cut flowers over it. The flowers would have been too short to show up on both edges, so I cut them in the middle and glued the pieces along the top and bottom edge of my embossed cardstock to make then appear longer. The flourish was added to the oval to fill the space a bit, and I used a Gold Foil Paper scrap on my desk to mat the bottom of my sentiment piece to mimick the scallops on the sketch. I found some old Copper cord Stampin' Up! used to carry to wrap around my center piece (embossed with the Basket Weave 3D folder), to go with the orange cardstock nicely.

I drew my colour inspiration from an old ColourQ challenge combo.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Let It Ride (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Gold Foil (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Rich Cocoa (Memento); Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso,
Peeled Paint, Shabby Shitters, Antique Linen, Tumbled Glass (Distress Oxide - Ranger)
Big Shot:
Accessories: Basket Weave 3D Embossing Folder, Subtle 3D Embossing Folder, Aqua Painter Brushes,
Les bons mots Framelits, Copper Cord, Neutrals Candy Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Oak Woodgrain Envelope (envelopes.com); Stitched Oval Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn)

 

May Your Holidays Be Filled with Joy and Laughter

Inspiration: Festive Friday #22 (Christmas and Snowflakes) + Sunday Stamps #193

So a few years ago, the Clarity Stamps stipple brushes were the new "in" thing and when I was able to get them on sale (because they are really pricey), I purchased them and gave them a try. I remember being really underwhelmed with the result and thinking maybe I'd get more into them after using them more. That never happened as they remained on the back of my desk, forgotten, and I keep reaching for other tools whenever I am using stencils on projects.

Enter the Picket Fence Studios blender brushes. I saw those recently in craft videos on YouTube and my interest was piqued. The crafters were raving about them, but I could see in the video that the resulting blended ink was really smooth. Again, when a Black Friday sale come on, I decided to give them a try. And here's my take on it: they are an instant favorite!! They are really soft, so they can be used with delicate stencils (like the Knitted Sweater one from Echo Park I used here) and the blending is smooth and seamless. That ombre effect? Done with one colour of ink. I simply started blending at the top of the cardstock after tapping the brush on my ink pad and I went down the cardstock without reinking. And it took less than two minutes - the transfer was really fast as well. What also impressed me is that they can be used to ink edges as well (which is where they differ from the Clarity Stamps brushes). They come in a variety of sizes - I went for the 4-brush set. I cannot wait to test them out some more, but as of now, I am thrilled with them!

So basically, the starting point of this card was trying out the brushes. I looked for a stencil that I could easily work into a design after, which I why I picked the wool design, and I looked at online challenges to see if there was a combo I could use. The one from Sunday Stamps is gorgeous and was just calling out my name. After I was done playing with the brushes, I wasn't sure what to use the stenciled piece for. I rumaged through my things for a while and kept going back and forth between a few ideas - and finally went a whole other direction entirely. I spotted the Woodland Critter Huggers and since I've only used them for gift card pockets so far, I thought I would like to see one done on a card, and doing that allowed me to not cover the background too much (which the other ideas did, and I wanted the beautiful background to shine).

I dressed my deer up with the Woodland Critter Huggers Winter Add-On elements and instead of die-cutting the mittens, I used some felt ones I found in my stash recently. (Those were sold by Stampin' Up! many catalogues ago.) Die-cut snowflakes were added to fill out the space a bit and I added some to an envelope to match as well. Considering this started out as me playing with a new tool to test it out, I'm really happy with the end result.

 

 

   

Colour Combo: Raspberry Ripple + Mint Macaron + Powder Pink + Early Espresso

 

Supplies
Stamps: Parfum de Noël (Christmas Messages - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Powder Pink, Very Vanilla, Raspberry Ripple, Mint Macaron, Crumb Cake,
Early Espresso
Designer Series Paper Stack: Subtles
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Emboss Powder, Crumb Cake Medium Envelope, Glitter Dots,
Myths & Magic 6" x 6" Glimmer Paper, Felt Embellishments, Pinewoood Planks 3D Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!);
Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studios); Marisa Snowflake Die (Simon Says Stamp);
Woodland Critter Huggers Dies, Woodland Critter Huggers Winter Add-On Dies,
Dotted Rectangle Stackables, Stitched Rectangle Stackables,
Mini Snowflakes Dies (Lawn Fawn); Knitted Sweater Stencil (Echo Park)

 

Merry Christmas and Crafty New Year

Inspiration: Clean&Simple Sketch #97 + ColourQ #169

This project evolved into something much more complicated than I first intended for it to be. I had seen the Clean&Simple sketch previously and when I woke up, I had this idea that I could use the Crafty dies as the three elements from the sketch and Crafty Turnabout stamp to make a background. And then I got this idea to turn it into a Holidays card by stamping something like "Have a crafty Christmas."

So I went looking at past ColourQ combos for inspiration and picked something Christmas-y. I stamped the turnabout, die-cut the scissors, stamp and paintbrush and assembled everything. And then I realized that the die-cuts were getting totally lost in the background! Not good. So I pulled out a sheet of vellum to solve the problem and die-cut it to A2 size using the Stitched Rectangle Stackables dies from Lawn Fawn.

Then I went hunting for Christmas stamps in English. Now, I mostly stamp in French so I tend to favour French sets whenever I can. That being said, most companies offer only English sets and when I like the images enough, I will purchase the set no matter what the language is. Which means that I have a lot of English sentiments lying around. Because I am always looking for the perfect sentiment, I have compiled all of the sentiments from the sets I own into an Excel spreadsheet so I can look for specific keywords. This works out WAY better than my old method of stamping images in a binder. So today I went to my trusty spreadsheet and started looking up "have a merry Christmas" and "happy new year." I was shocked to find out how little options I had. Especially with all the Lawn Fawn sets I own, I would have expected more results to come out! Anyway, the closest hit was "Merry Christmas and happy new year" from a Papertrey Ink set, so I pulled it out, and using a marker, I crossed happy out and handwrote crafty underneath. I looked at the result and was not too happy, so I decided to use alphabet dies instead.

Initially, I had planned on making an A2 card. But the more I was looking at the card, the more I wanted the wider sentiment strip and I liked having the background peek out from underneath the vellum, so I made a 5-1/4" x 5-1/4" card base. While looking for sentiment stamps, I had also stumbled unto the Stitched Rectangle Frames and decided they would look nice framing the vellum. So with all of those new ideas colliding, I started assembling the card.

I was practically finished and the die-cut letters were bugging me. Too big and taking away from the visual triangle. So I carefully lifted them up and used a small alphabet stamp set instead to add crafty back in. I added a bit of red washi tape at the top because I couldn't use glue underneath the vellum without it showing and the vellum was poking up, so washi was a pretty way to solve the problem. I then added a die-cut button, a silver brad on the scissors, a couple of red gems, Crystal Effects on the little heart, button and paint, and I decided I was done.

I kept thinking it was a shame to waste the die-cut letters so I recycled them as embellishment for the card. I added the little thread loop and needle from the same die set, and used the stamp rectangle for the address box. A couple of sequins from the stamp set were added as well. When you look at the final result, it's not clean and simple no more, but you can still recognize the sentiment banner and three main elements that were the starting point.

 

 

 

 

 

Colour Combo: Real Red + Basic Grey + Pear Pizzazz + Bermuda Bay + White

 

Supplies
Stamps: Crafty Turnabout (Concord & 9th); Tree Trimming Trio (papertrey Ink); Alphabet (Studio G)
Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Grey, Bermuda Bay, Pear Pizzazz, Brushed Silver, Whisper White, Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Real Red, Basic Grey, Bermuda Bay, Pear Pizzazz (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Crafty Dies (Concord & 9th); Glossy Accents (Ranger); 
Stitched Rectangle Stackables, Stitched Scalloped Rectangle Frames (Lawn Fawn);
White Square Envelope, Silver Brad (Stampin' Up!); July Crystals (Studio Katia)

 

Flurry of Snowflakes

Inspiration: Clean&Simple #89 + ColourQ #168 + TGIF #178

This card came together pretty easily. The sketch with the three stars seemed like a perfect opportunity to pull out the Beautiful Blizzard bundle. I looked at past ColourQ combos and drew inspiration from #168, interpreted with current colours (Balmy Blue, Cherry Cobbler, Merry Merlot and Crumb Cake). I had a leftover piece of burlap ribbon that I had cut apart so it's a little slimmer than the ribbon on the spool, that I stapled in place under one of the snowflakes. The borders of the main piece and the card were frosted with a bit of White Frost Glimmer Paint and a dauber for a subtle touch of shimmer. Clear faceted gems were added to two of the snowflakes as well.

Sentiment reads, "If a hug were a snowflake, I'd send you a flurry."  

 

 

 

 

  

Colour Combo: Cherry Cobbler + Merry Merlot + Balmy Blue + Crumb Cake + White

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Tourbillon de flocons (Beautiful Blizzard)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Merry Merlot, Whisper White
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Merry Merlot, Balmy Blue
Accessories: White Frost Glimmer Paint, Sponge Dauber, Blizzard Thinlits,
Clear Faceted Gems, White Medium Whisper, 5/8" Burlap Ribbon

 

High Five!

Inspiration: Color Throwdown #507

I liked the pretty color combo from Color Throwdown and wanted to play with it, but I also wanted to use the new Lawn Fawn stuff, so I ended up turning this combo into an untraditional Holidays color combo. The two shades of greens were perfect for the elves, anyway, and I had this idea to use the new Reveal Wheel Square Add-On die: use the reveal wheel to show the toys that are inside the decorated box.

It also appeared to me that the elves had their hand up like they were about to high five, so I capitalized on that and made it as if they are pleased with a job well done. The Stampin' Up! 2018 Holidays Catalogue is introducing a really cool 3D embossing folder called Corrugated, which looks like a cardboard box, so needless to say, it worked perfectly with the boxing and packaging theme of this card!

For reference, the new square add-on measures 3-3*4" x 3-3/4". With the matting, I ended up with a card that measures 4-3/4" x 4-3/4". It's a cute, but still substantial size.

TIP: The lid is a separate stamp from the box, so you can choose to have it closed or open. And the die set includes a tiny line that follows the shape of the inside of the box, so you can die-cut a slit and place characters or toys inside. Very clever! Anyway, I used the dies to die-cut the lid and the bow, but that created a lot of white borders when stacking the two pieces on top of the box. I used my scissors to take off the bottom white border of the bow and the lid. I find that the finished piece looks much more cohesive that way and looks like one stamped image.

 

 

 

 

 

Color Combo: Granny Apple Green + Tranquil Tide + Gorgeous Grape + Pool Party

 

Supplies
Stamps: Holiday Helpers (Lawn Fawn); Polka Dot (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Pool Party, Gorgeous Grape, Granny Apple Green, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Paper Stacks: Brights, 2017-2019 In Color (Stampin' Up!)
Inks: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Pool Party, Tranquil Tide ((Stampin' Up! Classic Inks)
Accessories: Corrugated 3D Embossing Folder, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Adhesive Foam Strips (Stampin' Up!);
Reveal Wheel Lawn Cuts, Reveal Wheel Square Add-On Lawn Cuts, Holiday Helpers Lawn Cuts (Lawn Fawn);
Markers (Copic); White Square Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Extraordinary Snowflake

Inspiration: MFT Sketch #397 and Color Throwdown #505

The soft colours from the combo inspired me to pull out the Beautiful Blizzard bunble. You can never go wrong with a beautiful snowflake sets, as those are very versatile, and Stampin' Up! came up with a great one this year. I particularly like the Thinlits cover plate, which can be used to either create a snowflake-filled card layer, or to get multiple delicate snowflakes to use on your projects. Because I knew I would be able to use the leftover snowflakes on other projects, I switched from using the Smoky Slate cardstock as the layer to the Pool Party cardstock, figuring I might have an easier time working Pool Party into future projects (we'll see if I was right). I had initially pulled out Blushing Bride, but the pink was not as soft as I wanted, so I went back to my cardstock and tried out Powder Pink and Petal Pink as well, then decided I liked Powder Pink the best. (Lots of pale dusty pinks available with the color revamp.) There's something a little vintage about the feel of those three colours together.

I wanted a sentiment that could fill a circle and that is why I picked two sentiments that I paired together: "Snowflakes are unique in their own beautiful way and you are extraordinary." Because the French has a longer word, the first part of the sentiment falls on four lines and made it easier to balance out in the circle (if you look at the English version, it would be longer and narrower). I was trying out options to mat my circle with a scalloped circle - my initial idea was Silver Foil, and I also tried out Silver Glimmer Paper, but when I spotted and tried out the Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper, I liked the result much better as it was not distracting from the sentiment piece, but just framing it delicately.

One thing I was excited about seeing back in the Holidays catalogue are the shimmer paints! I majorly loved those when then came out years ago and I have been using them consistently since they retired. Champagne Mist has always been my favorite (and it's back!), but we're also getting two brand-new colors: Vegas Gold and Bright Copper, plus getting Frost White back. They are great for painting, but more importantly, to create your own shimmer mist with our Stampin' Spritzers bottles. The Pool Party layer felt a little bare, so I pulled out the mist I had made with the glimmer paint (you just add a few drops of paint to rubbing alcohol, shake gently and you are good to go) and I covered the cardstock with it.

The pink strip was embossed with the Swirls & Curls embossing folder, and I added matching ink to the front side of the folder before running it into the Big Shot. It gave the design definition and added interest to the overall design.

A corner rounder punch was used on two opposite corners of the snowflake-covered cardstock, to match the sketch, but also to soften the design a bit. Finally, pearls were added to the center of the snowflakes. The resulting card is pretty flat, so this will be easily mailable without extra postage.

 

 

 

 

Color Combo: Smoky Slate + Pool Party + Powder Pink

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Tourbillon de flocons (Beautiful Blizzard)
Cardstock: Smoky Slate, Pool Party, Powder Pink, Whisper White, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper
Ink: Smoky Slate, Pool Party, Powder Pink
Accessories: Swirls & Curls Embossing Folder, Blizzard Thinlits, Layering Circle Framelits,
Pearl Basic Jewels, White Frost Shimmer Paint, Stampin' Spritzer, Envelope Punch Board (Corner Rounder)

 

Deathly Takeout

I've wanted a takeout box die for a long time, and Stampin' Up! finally added one to its lineup in the 2018 Holidays catalogue. Like most dies meant to go in the regular Big Shot, the resulting box is quite small. But quite adorable. It was one of the first things from my preorder I was drawn to trying out so that I could judge by myself how big it was and how the dies from the set could be used. Here are a few things I noticed:

• The box is not square. The sides are narrower. This is important to know since the die set includes a piece meant to cut a layering piece to decorate the box. This layering piece can be centered on the front and back, but not on the sides. It would be the same width as the sides, but not the right height. That being said, it would help you get the right shape and you could certainly trim down the pieces by hand so they are the right size for the sides. I would have liked the side layering piece to be included in the set, though. This is where I feel Stampin' Up! something miss the boat in their sets. They include a lot of hearts and stars repeatedly, but not always all the core pieces a set could benefit from.
• The layering piece leaves a wider border than I expected. This is in part why I decided to stamp my boxes, because the box still felt bare even with the added patterned paper. Personally, I might have prefered a larger piece with a narrower border. Personal taste here, though.
• To me, a takeout box usually has a handle, and one that can swing up and down. The die set does not include anything handle-related, so I made my own with a decorative border and brads. It makes opening and closing the box a little harder if the handle is up, but that is not a problem when using brads since you can rotate the handle out of the way.
• The die cuts two slits on the top of the box to secure the box shut the same way you would a takeout box

The colour inspiration for those boxes was the MFT Color Challenge #99 (Crumb Cake + Tango Tangerine + Basic Black + Going Grey). Based on the sixe of the boxes and the colors, I think I could slip a small Reese's Cup inside as a treat. I wound up with two boxes because I hesitated between two cardstock colors and cut out two boxes before deciding on the grey one. I figured I would use the kraft one for a Christmas box but as I was working on the first box, ideas kept coming and I already knew what I could do to decorate the second one, so I kept going. I'd like to give candy boxes to colleagues at work again this year and I always prefer to work on it over a few months rather than do assembly-line work all at once (which takes all of the fun away from it for me, since I like creating and despise repeating). So two down and 2½ months to go to work on the rest.

To include the kraft colour on the first box, I stamped and colored my images on Crumb Cake cardstock using Prismacolor pencils. My pencil coloring keeps improving and the images turned out pretty cute. I didn't have the matching dies last year when I bought the stamp set since they were always selling out but I managed to put my hands on them since, so I was able to cut the small images out neatly. I hung the spider from a piece of black twine and glued the end of the twine inside the box using a piece of grey washi tape. The handle was made using the Mini Provincial Impresslits from Tim Holtz. I used the new Joyous Noel Glimmer paper from the Holidays catalogue but I spaced out on the fact that I had to be mindful of which side of the paper I was putting face down in the Impresslits. The embossing ended up on the white wide instead of the sparkly one. Not to worry, I used a blending tool and my Ripe Persimmon Distress Oxide ink to turn the white backside to orange. The sparkly side of the handle is still showing, so that's a fun little surprise. The same paper was used to add a punched star to the top of the second takeout box.

The Takeout die set includes a little banner with fold lines on it to give it dimension. (Going back to my previous comment, the just retired Popcorn Box die set had the exact same die in it, but I guess you have to repeat some pieces to replace the retired ones.) I had a look at which Halloween sentiments I had that could fit between the two lines and spotted what I needed in the Frightful Friends stamp set. The first one reads, "Love You to Death" and I paired it with the tombstone image. The second one reads "Happy Haunting" and it goes well with the cemetary theme, with all three other sides decorated with tombstones from the Grave Situation stamp set. When I made the second box, I was running a little low on coloring steam and I didn't feel like going back to my Prismacolor pencils again, so I stamped the images directly on grey cardstock and just did very simple shading using Smoky Slate and Basic Black Stampin' Blends. Sometimes, it doesn't have to be fancy to be cute.

 

 

 

 

 

You can see based on the size of my fingers how tiny the takeout box is!

 

Color Combo: Crumb Cake + Smoky Slate + Basic Grey + Tango Tangerine

 

Supplies
Stamps: Frightful Friends, Fab-BOO-lous Friends, Grave Situation (My Favorite Things)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Smoky Slate, Tango Tangerine
Designer Series Paper: Happy Haunting (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Basic Grey (Stampin' Up! Archival Ink);
Ripe Persimmon (Distress Oxide - Ranger)
Accessories: Basic Black and Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Markers, Stampin' Dimensionals, Black Baker's Twine,
Joyous Noel 6" x 6" Glimmer Paper, Mini Star Punch, Takeout Thinlits Dies, Black Rhinestone Basic Jewels (Stampin' Up!); 
Mini Provincial Impresslits (Tim Holtz); Tangerine Cord (Lawn Fawn); Blending Tool (Ranger); Pencils (Prismacolor)

 

Piling On the Wishes

Inspiration: MFT Color Challenge #98

I really liked the soft colour combo from MFT and once I realized I could make the peaches and violet shades work with the animals from Safari Friends, the idea for this card was formed very quickly.

Stampin' Up! has carried many clear-embossed patterned papers over the years and even though I've used them quite a  bit, they tend to get forgotten in my stash once they are retired. Lately, I've ben thinking it would be good to get them out and pair them with some of my new colour mediums, like Oxide inks or powder pigments. For this one, I pulled out the Distress Oxide ink to use on the Iressistibly Yours Specialty Designer Series Papers. I picked the one with the foliage pattern, which seemed appropriate for safari animals. To ground my furry pile, I also used Distress ink on a piece of polka dot paper, which I die-cut with the Grassy Border die from Lawn Fawn.

I found a Happy Birthday sentiment in Vertical Greetings, and I turned my design into a 3-1/4" x 6-1/2" card. I love those tall, long cards and I'm quickly burning through my envelopes left from when Stampin' Up! was selling this size. Here, this size allowed to stack the animals and still have room to breathe,

By the way, the colors I picked for the combo showcase three new Stampin' Up! hues: Petal Pink, Highland Heather and Gorgeous Grape. I added a touch of Calypso Coral as well. Isn't the result soft and pretty? This would work well for an unconventional baby card as well.

On a side note, I forgot to add Stampin' Dimensionals behind the animals and glued them flat on the card. I decided to do the same for the sentiment banner, which makes this card mailable with regular postage (a rare occurence for me).

 

 

 

 

Color Combo: Petal Pink + Calypso Coral + Highland Heather + Gorgeous Grape

 

Supplies
Stamps: Safari Friends (My Favorite Things); À la verticale (Vertical Greetings - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Calypso Coral, Highland Heather, Whisper White
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Iressistibly Yours (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Calypso Coral, Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grape, Petal Pink (Stampin' Up! Classic Ink);
Shaded Lilac, Tattered Rose (Distress Oxide Ink - Ranger)
Accessories: Blending Tool (Ranger); Grassy Border Die (Lawn Fawn); Markers (Copic);
White Tall Envelope, Subtles Enamel Shapes, Gorgeous Grape 1/4" Mini Striped Ribbon, Stampin' Blends Markers (Stampin' Up!)

 

Your Brighten Up My Life

Inspiration: CAS(E) This Sketch #282 + SUO challenge #204

The color combo for this card was inspired by a picture of colored enveloped I saw online this weekend. I liked the fun, vibrant colours and combined with the CAS(E) This Sketch challenge, they inspired this card. It showcases the new Stitched All Around bundle. The circle sentiment was embossed with Copper embossing powder.

 

 

 

Color Combo: Calypso Coral + Mango Melody + Island Indigo + Crumb cake

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Cousu avec soin (Stitched All Around)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Mango Melody
Designer Series Paper Stack: Brights, Subtles
Ink: VersaMark, Mango Melody, Calypso Coral
Accessories: Crumb Cake Medium Envelope, Calypso Coral Ombre Ribbon,
Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stitched Labels Framelits Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Cornered

Inspiration: Freshly Made Sketch #339 + Hand Stamped Sentiments Color Challenge #290

This is a fairly simple card, as reflected by the simple supplies list, but I must say I'm pretty happy with the result. The colors look great together, and the addition of a little touch of copper really made a huge difference in the final result. I used copper embossing powder for the bird, but I also lined the two corner pieces with a strip of Copper Foil paper, and that totally changed the look of the bottom part. I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of white cardstock, handcut it and popped it on Dimensionals, and I also used the same sentiment tone on tone to create a pattern on my piece of Marina Mist cardstock. Confession time: I never really liked that shade of blue and had the hardest time pairing it with anything to make good use of my ink and cardstock. Paired with these two colours, though, it looks good. What's funny, though, is that I initially wanted to make my card base with Marina Mist (you know, try to use it up!), but the color combo was not looking as good. By simply switching the blue card base for a Razzleberry one, and using the blue for the corner, the combo suddenly came alive. I'm still amazed at how big of a difference subtle design changes can make sometimes. I will miss this fun stamp set, I must say.

 

Retiring items:

• Marina Mist cardstock and ink
• Color Me Happy stamp set

 

 

 

 

Color Combo: Marina Mist + Rich Razzleberry + Old Olive

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Couleur bonheur (Color Me Happy)
Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Marina Mist, Old Olive, Whisper White, Shimmery White
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Marina Mist, Old Olive
Accessories: Fresh Fig 1/8" Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Copper Foil Paper,
Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder, White Medium Envelope

 

Buttercup Flower Cart

Inspiration: Tuesday Morning Sketch #455

Just giving one of my favorite stamp sets, Friendship's Sweetest Thoughts, one last whirl before it retires.

 

Retiring items:

• Hello Friend stamp set
• Friendship's Sweetest Thoughts stamp set (2018 Occasions Catalogue)
• Regals Enamel Shapes
• Paper Doilies
• Night of Navy Velvet Ribbon (2018 Occasions Catalogue)

 

 

 

Color Combo: Night of Navy + Pacific Point + Crushed Curry

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Friendship's Sweetest Thoughts, Bonjour très chère (Hello Friend)
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Pacific Point, Crushed Curry, Watercolor Paper
Ink: Night of Navy, Pacific Point, Crushed Curry, Sahara Sand, Soft Suede,
Lost Lagoon, Wild Wasabi, Soft Sky
Accessories: Circle Punches, Layering Circle Framelits, White Paper Doilies,
Regals and Metallics Enamel Shapes, White Medium Envelopes, Night of Navy Velvet Ribbon,
5/8" Burlap Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder

 

Retiring Set: Going Far

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Let's Doodle) + Clean&Simple Sketch #66 + Just Us Girls #437 (Prominently Purple)

The starting point of this card were the retiring stamp sets from Stampin' Up! I had put aside to use before they go bye-bye. The Going Far stamp set is part of that list, and the Clean&Simple sketch was the perfect size to use one of the images. I ended up using other images from the same set to stamp my cardstock. Since the Just Us Girls' theme was about purple and we have two retiring purple shades, I based my color combo on Elegant Eggplant and Wisteria Wonder and picked Crushed Curry as my third color. Once upon a time when I first started as a demonstrator, I used Elegant Eggplant on a regular basis. These years - not so much. I never stopped loving the colour, but Stampin' Up! stopped including it in its Designer Series Paper and Rich Razzleberry was the purple shade that became the most versatile for current color combo. I was surprised to see Wisteria Wonder on the retiring list because this one I used a fair bit, but we'll see what the new purples look like in person. (Not judging the new colors from online images, you always get a better idea when you get the cardstock and play around to create combos.)

I kept the design very simple. Because the images have English text, I placed a French "congratulations" die-cut going across the image. And I used a Stampin' Write marker to doodle a frame around my main image. This brought me back to when doodling was the new trend and I was adding little frames and doodles to most of what I was making. It was fun to pull this technique out again, and it works well with the whimsical look of the stamp set, anyway.

 

 

Color Combo: Elegant Eggplant + Wisteria Wonder + Crushed Curry

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Going Far
Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder,  Crushed Curry, So Saffron, Watercolor Paper
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder,  Crushed Curry, So Saffron, Smoky Slate
Accessories: Gold Foil Paper, Voeux ensoleillés (Sunshine Wishes) Thinlits),
Wisteria Wonder Stampin' Write Marker, White Square Envelope

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall...

Inspiration: Fab Friday Sketch #133 + Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes) + Naughty or Nice #50 (picking past challenge #49, Drinks)

One of the new items released at Creativation that immediately caught my eye were the three Blueprint sets released by Tim Holtz through Stampers Anonymous. I loved the look and the theme - drinks! I debated long and hard on whether to get the whole set with the smaller images or to pick a favorite with the bigger images. I had trouble deciding on favorites but I also knew that I preferred the bigger images, which would fill out a card better - the bigger version finally won when I managed to score them during a sale.

The other night, I pulled the images out and was puttering around, trying to decide which image to use first, and a color combo to go with it. I spotted ColourQ #307 and thought I would pair it with the beer mug because of the golden yellow, but then when I pulled out the cardstock, I thought the three shades of purple and burgundy might work better with the wine images. So I pulled those out, but eventually decided I liked my first idea better and went back to the beer mug.

I stamped the mug in VersaMark on watercolor paper and embossed the image in gold powder, then I used an Aqua Painter brush and my Classic inks to paint the image. I was initially not planning on coloring the mug in purple (maybe just a bit of blue shading) but I was using a bit of burgundy ink to give the beer a gold tint, and I accidently went over, and those deeply pigmented colors will really spread fast! There was no going back, and I could have started over with a fresh image, but before giving up on it, I decided to go with the flow, and ended up liking the image enough to use it.

The Fab Friday sketch #133 inspired me, but I had to modify it so I wouldn't cover up my image. I placed the banner underneath instead and embossed it with a Tim Holtz folder I've had for a long time, that looks a tiny bit like bubbles. The background piece was stamped with the beer bottle image, and I had some bottle caps that were out on my desk. I had come across them during my recent stash rearranging and had pulled them out to pair with the Bubble Over suite from the Occasions catalogue. Turns out they were perfect for the beer theme as well, so I used my Big Shot and some old and used cutting plates to flatten a small cap, and add it to the card. As I was looking for a small sentiment to add on a strip, I actually spotted some French sentiment die-cuts I recently acquired and changed gears. It was my first time cutting out the "Happy Birthday" so I didn't know how big it would be, and it's not so large that it's hard to add to a card, but still large enough that it was not fitting underneath my image. I decided to just go for it and place it over the image. I like how it turned out, goes with the sketch/collage look well. I made sure to place the top of the F in the center of the O to make the overlapping more interesting.

This will be a great masculine card to have up my sleeve for upcoming birthdays.

 

 

 

 

    

 Color Combo: Summer Starfruit + Bravo Burgundy + Sweet Sugarplum + Blackberry Bliss

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Beer Blueprints (Stampers Anonymous)
Cardstock: Summer Starfruit, Bravo Burgundy, Sweet Sugarplum, Blackberry Bliss (Stampin' Up!);
Watercolor Paper (Fabriano)
Ink: VersaMark, Summer Starfruit, Bravo Burgundy, Sweet Sugarplum,
Blackberry Bliss (Stampin' Up! Classic Ink)
Accessories: Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, White Medium Envelope, Aqua Painter Brush,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Silver Soda Pop Tops (Stampin' Up!);
Stitched Rectangle Stackables Lawn Cuts (Lawn Fawn); Embossing Folder (Tim Holtz)

 

I Could Never Forget You

Lawn Fawn hit another home run with its latest release - definitely as exciting as the fall/winter one was, and they managed to score more of my money once again. I'd have a hard time picking favorites but I will say that the Mini Picture Frames and the Quilted Backdrop dies got me really excited the second I saw them, and were at the top of the wish list. I was also really happy to see a new set of "hanging" critters, after using For You, Deer on a ton of projects. The new Slow Down stamp set was a natural fit for the picture frames, so that's what I reached for when I started creating this card. The initial starting point was the gorgeous colour combo from the My Favorite Things Color challenge #90. Because of the pink and grey, I immediately thought of using the elephant. And I liked that the combo included two shades of pink, which allowed me to do the Quilted Backdrop in two tones. Initially, I was planning on using the light cardstock over the dark one, but the reason why I went the other way is pretty silly... I have a lot of Crisp Cantalope cardstock left in my stash and it's not a colour that I use often, more so now that it is retired. I wanted to use it to make my card base, so I decided to try the dark cardstock on the pale one and frankly, the result was a very nice surprise! I love this dainty die-cut so much, you probably have not seen the last of it on my projects.

As I was coloring my elephant and starting to ponder sentiment options, I vaguely remembered having a French sentiment about never forgetting someone's birthday, so I looked through my list and found what I had in mind: "Me, forget? Never!" How perfect with the elephant! With the added benefit of working for a variety of occasions.

The back of the frame was lined with Gotta Have Gingham paper from Lawn Fawn, another cute addition to their line. The outside frame was die-cut out of Silver Foil Paper, to add a metallic touch and also have the frame stand out from the elephant, as I was afraid it would be a bit boring if I cut the frame out of grey cardstock. The Mini Picture Frames die set includes a tiny heart, which I die-cut out of blue cardstock and covered with Glossy Accents, since I didn't have enamel shapes in the right colour. A silver enamel dot was used at the top in lieu of a nail, to hang the frame. Isn't that tiny bow the cutest thing you've ever seen? We've come so far with dies compared to ten years ago when I first bought my Big Shot.

One last detail I added was a Stitched Rectangle Frame in grey around the card. Since the Quilted Backdrop die covers the whole card front, I like how the Stitched Frames add a pop of color along the edges, with the stitching detail.

The design was based off of Reverse Confetti Sketch #58.

 

  

 

 

Color Combo: Going Grey + Crisp Cantalope + Bashful Blue + Calypso Coral

 

Supplies
Stamps: Slow Down (Lawn Fawn); Un petit plaisir de fête (A Little Birthday Cheer - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Going Grey, Crisp Cantalope, Calypso Coral, Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Calypso Coral (Stampin' Up! Classic Ink)
Lawn Cuts Dies: Mini Picture Frames, Quilted Backdrop, Stitched Rectangle Frames, Slow Down
Accessories: Enamel Shapes (Metallic, Subtles), Urban Underground Washi Tape,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Stitched Shapes Framelits, White Medium Envelope,
Silver Foil Paper (Stampin' Up!); Markers (Copic); Glossy Accets (Ranger)

 

Copper and Cream Flowers

I'm trying to use my SAB items as much as possible before the promotion is over. I wanted to use the Springtime Foils paper with the flowers and fussy cut them on a project. I had this idea that the copper foil would look really lovely paired with navy, so I went looking at my list of past ColourQ  combos for inspiration and found something interesting in challenge #113: night of Navy + Marina Mist + Soft sky + Sahara Sand. The design was inspired by Freshly Made Sketch #329. To have a big enough circle for the card, I pulled out an old Coluzzle template. I stamped the circle with the Hardwood background stamp and roughed up the edge with a blade.

The sentiment reads, "joy and happiness." It was stamped with the Happy Wishes stamp set (another 2018 SAB offering). To make a matching envelope, I fussy cut one more flower, and I colored with one with the Stampin' Blends markers. The result is a little more streaky than on regular cardstock because of the glossy texture of the Specialty DSP, but it still works nice enough.

 

 

 

Colour Combo: Night of Navy + Marina Mist + Soft Sky + Sahara Sand

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Souhaits sympas (Happy Wishes), Hardwood
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Marina Mist, Soft Sky, Sahara Sand
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Springtime Foils (2018 SAB)
Ink: VersaMark, Marina Mist, Soft Sky
Accessories: Detailed Floral Thinlits Dies, Distressing Tool, Enamel Shapes (Subtles, Regals),
Very Vanilla Medium Envelope, Night of Navy Stampin' Blends Combo, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder

 

Uptown Zodiac: Capricorn

The Uptown Zodiac Girl collection is one of my favorite releases ever from Stampin' Bella. I've been slowly working on making a card set with the various Zodiac signs. Inspired by Color Throwdown, I made this card with the Capricorn image. I stamped it on Crumb Cake (kraft) cardstock and colored it with Prismacolor pencils. I also used alphabet dies to write the Zodiac sign in French on the card (since the stamp set includes the English version). To keep the attention on the image, I kept the rest of my design really simple.

 

 

 

Color Combo: Groovy Guava + Basic Black + Kiwi Kiss + Crumb Cake

 

Supplies
Stamps: Uptown Zodiac Girl Capricorn (Stampin' Bella)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Groovy Guava, Kiwi Kiss
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento
Accessories: Alisha Alphabet Dies (Echo Park), Border Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Buttons, Crumb Cake Medium Envelope, Prismacolor Pencils

 

Season of Bliss

Inspiration: Try Stampin' on Tuesday #356 and TGIF #147 (Sale-A-Bration Inspiration - I used the new Basket Weave embossing folder and the Springtime Foil papers)

These cards came together quite easily. I had this colour combo in my head that I wanted to try and I figured it would look nice paired with the Colorful Seasons bundle. The Basket Weave embossing folder could tie in with the texture of the chair, and the copper polka dot paper from the newly added SAB freebie Springtime Foils Specialty Designer Series Paper worked well with my color combo. I even thought about adding the Calypso Coral ribbon from the SAB ribbon pack, but it was a little wide and after trying the Calypso Coral 1/4" Ombre Ribbon, I just liked the ombre one better, both because of the size and because the color was more subtle. I will admit that the ombre is not always easy to work into designs, but in this case, it looked gorgeous so I went for it.

The large scallops are from a die included in the Seasonal Layers Thinlits set. I couldn't decide which of the sentiments from the set would work better, so I decided to try then both. One says "Life is beautiful!" and the other says "May all of your seasons be filled with happiness." Subtles enamel shapes in matching colors were added to finish off the design.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Color Combo : Marina Mist + Calypso Coral + Pool Party + Crumb Cake + Copper

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Saisons colorées (Colorful Seasons)
Cardstock: Marina Mist, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Springtime Foils
Ink: Marina Mist
Accessories: Seasonal Layers Thinlits, Subtles Enamel Shapes, Basket Weave Embossing Folder,
Crumb Cake Medium Envelope, Calypso Coral 1/4" Ombre Ribbon, Clear Wink of Stella Brush,
Circle Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Simply Incredible

The Waterfront stamp set was one that I went back and forth on. I liked all of the samples I saw with it, but I was wondering if I would be able to come up with my own designs with it, since it's a little different from my usual style. I finally decided to get it with Stampin' Rewards. This is my first try at using it and this card came together incredibly quickly. Because I wanted to use the Seaside embossing folder, I picked out the little cabanas and palm trees to go with it, and the colour combo I had seen on the Try Stampin' on Tuesday was perfect to go with it. The design was inspired by Create with Connie and Mary #496.

I added Clear Wink of Stella to the sun and water so that it would sparkle. For the sentiment, I decided to use the French version of the Celebrate You Thinlits dies and the matching Amazing You stamp set. The sentiment reads, "Simply incredible," which could work for a variety of occasions. I also think it matches the beach/vacation image nicely. The word was die-cut out of the Myths & Magic 6" x 6" Glimmer Paper. Loving the look of it and how well it pairs with a lot of other stuff in the SAB and Occasions offering - not liking how much it sheds glitter, though! I wish we could go back to the initial glimmer paper they first carried, which held its glitter infinitely better. I'll be a sparkly lady tonight!

 

 

 

 

Colour Combo: Flirty Flamingo + Pool Party + Bermuda Bay

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Au bord de l'eau (Waterfront), Simplement formidable (Amazing You)
Cardstock: Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Flirty Flamingo, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Ink: Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Flirty Flamingo, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede
Accessories: Myths & Magic 6" x 6" Glimmer Paper, White Medium Envelope, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Clear Wink of Stella Brush, Tu es formidable Thinlits dies, Seaside Embossing Folder

 

Panda Party!

Confession time: I totally overlooked the Panda Party stamp set when I first saw the 2018 SAB offering. I was thinking it was not a set I needed or even wanted. And then because I didn't preorder, I started seeing other stampers' creations popping up on the Internet. And a lot of them were using the panda set. And a lot of those cards were awfully cute. In French, we often say that only crazy people don't change their minds... so I did, and this SAB gift ended up quite high on the list when making my selection of freebies.

When I saw the Match the Sketch challenge #214, I thought I could create windows and slip the pandas in them. This is turn prevented me from having to pick which one to stamp first and sneak all three of them on a one card! The panda set includes French sentiments, but they are quite small, so I looked at other sets for something that would fill the space a bit more, and found what I was looking for in Picture Perfect (another awesome set that I already know I'll use a bunch in my upcoming creations). The sentiment reads, "Today we celebrate brilliant, fabulous you!" 

And let's talk about the card itself. Another SAB ofering: the Tutti-Frutti Cards & Envelopes. The kit includes four colours of cards and envelopes in pretty fruity colours. I decided to pair the green one for the card base and the coral one for my window piece, cutting one of the cards apart to use as pattern paper instead. Because, really - why not? The colours and patterns were so pretty together, it was worth it, and I'm left with the back of the card to use on a future project as patterned paper again. Or patterned cardstock - this is a reason why this worked well. The card has a a nice thickness to it, so it allowed me to create the windows and have the piece be sturdy when putting the scene together and adding to the card base using a bunch of Stampin' Dimensionals. It also took the white heat embossing for the sentiment really well, without any buckling.

The sparkly ribbon is another SAB gem, from the Shimmer Ribbon Pack. I really love narrow ribbons to add dainty borders like here. I also added some Tutti-Frutti adhesive-backed sequins, which match the cards perfectly. And I gave my Stampin' Blends markers some more action. This is one more reason to love those pandas: the coloring on them is really minimal, since you're really just coloring their accessories.

Finally, I didn't waste anything: I recycled the three squares from the window inside my card and on my envelope to decorate them to match!

 

 

 

 

Colour Combo: Calypso Coral + Daffodil Delight + Lemon Lime Twist + Bermuda Bay

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Pandas festifs (Party Pandas - SAB), Anniversaire idéal (Picture Perfect Birthday)
Cardstock: Whisper White
Cards & Envelopes: Tutti-Frutti (SAB)
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento, VersaMark
Accessories: Layering Squares Framelits, Tutti-Frutti Adhesive-Backed Sequins,
White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stampin' Blends Markers, Shimmer Ribbon Pack (SAB)

 

Some New Stuff to Break In!

I have been patient and waited until January to place my Sale-A-Bration order (even though I could have preordered in December). My box of new goodies was waiting on my doorstep today, which means that you should see some brand new stuff popping up in my upcoming creations! I was eager to pair the Colour me Happy with the Stampin' Blends. The little lanterns just make me smile every time I see them. They're adorably drawn, I find. I also finally got the Ruffled 3D embossing folder (it's not new per se, it came out in the annual catalogue last summer) after seeing a sample made with it that convinced me I liked it enough to finally get it.

The design is inspired by Tuesday Morning Sketch #438 and colours by Sunday Stamps #171. A few Subtles enamel shapes were added around the lanterns, as well as a punched border and a bit of Fresh Fig 1/8" ribbon.

Tip: I used masking to have the sentiment in two colours. I wanted the main word stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento ink so that I would be able to color the word without it smearing, but I thought I would like the look better if the second word was in colour. I used a stamp positioning tool and I first covered the last word with a piece of Post-IT note to ink the sentiment in black. I TOOK OFF the Post-It (very important - ask me how I learned about it...) and stamped the image. I then washed it clean with a baby wipe, put the Post-It note on the first word, inked the sentiment in Fresh Fig ink, TOOK OFF the Post-It and stamped again. The two words are exactly where they should be, but in two colours. Stamp positioning tools truly revolutioned the way we stamp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colour Combo: Pink Pirouette + Calypso Coral + Fresh Fig + White

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Couleur bonheur (Colour Me Happy)
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Calypso Coral, Fresh Fig
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento, Fresh Fig, Calypso Coral
Accessories: White Medium Envelope, Subtles Enamel Shapes, Clear Wink of Stella,
Stampin' Blends Markers, Silver Foil Paper, Decorative Ribbon Border,
Fresh Fig 1/8" Ribbon, Ruffles 3D Dynamic Embossing Folder

 

Beary Good Book

I have made a bunch of projects using the For You, Deer stamps and dies from Lawn Fawn, but I still had not made any bookmark. Inspired by Just Us Girls #424, I decided to make a polar bear bookmark for myself.  I stamped "This ia a beary good book" on the front and "I can't bear to lose my place" on the back. I couldn't help but stamp a little heart on the bear's bum (with the Heart Swatch stamp set), which I'm sure is influenced by the fact that I played with My Little Ponies a lot when I was a kid.

After I was done putting the bookmark together, I felt there was still something missing on the front of it, so I decided to add a bowtie on the bear, using the new Rawr stamp set.

 

 

 

Color Combo: Island Indigo + Marigold Morning + Pumpkin Pie

 

Supplies
Stamps: For You, Deer, Heart Swatch, Rawr (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Island Indigo, Marigold Morning, Whisper White
Ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black), Stampin' Up! Classic Ink (Pumpkin Pie), VersaMark
Accessories: Black Enamel Accents (Ranger), Island Indigo Baker's Twine (SU!), Markers (Copic),
For You, Deer Lawn Cuts, For You, Deer Add-On Lawn Cuts, Rawr Lawn Cuts, Heart Swatch Lawn Cuts (Lawn Fawn)