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Sunday 25 February 2018

Free Sweet Soiree Cards from Memories and More


I dreamed once of being a scrapbooker....documenting my child's life with pretty paper and embellishments so that one day he could look back fondly on his childhood.  Then my son turned 6 months old, I went back to work, and my dreams remained...dreams.

As time passed I became overwhelmed with the volume of what still had to be documented, and thought it was impossible.  And then I heard about "pocket scrapbooking."  I won't get into too much detail, but basically this is approach takes traditional scrapbooking, scales it down to manageable squares, and helps you get pages done!

Even better, the market exploded with beautiful papers scaled to this smaller size, and perfect for doing double-duty as card fronts!!  Last year Stampin' Up! announced their own line, called "Memories & More," and I was thrilled to have spent some time making cards with the Sweet Soiree pack this weekend.


Can you believe that paper?!  That is just one of 72 large, double-sided cards in this pack (there are also 20 smaller cards) that you get FOR FREE with a qualifying purchase during Sale-a-bration.

The colours in this pack are so pretty and vibrant that I knew I wanted to pair it with some silver embossing powder, just to help it shine.  Of course in my shot above you can't see that glimmer....but here is a closer shot of the pretty present:


The present and sentiment are part of the coordinating Sweet Soiree bundle, or you can buy just the stamp set separately as well.  I stamped the present on a small piece of whisper white and rounded the corners, then added just a little colour with my blender pen and Calyspo Coral, Rich Razzelberry, and Garden Green inks.  I was able to add dimension to the colours by adding layers of ink to certain spots.


I mounted the present onto a Stitched Oval cut from Pink Pirouette cardstock, and added a smaller stitched oval with my sentiment, "Celebrate", stamped in Rich Razzelberry ink.  Both ovals are popped up with dimensionals and mounted to the front, after running a small band of Silver Ribbon around the card, to ground the center focal point, and then mounted on a Basic Gray card base.

Did you notice the tiny pearls???


This card was so pretty and feminine already, but I wanted to take it over the top with those tiny pearl accents in the middle of some of the flowers.  Aren't they sweet?!

And on the inside....even MORE flowers.


I think this card could easily be for a wedding, anniversary, graduation, promotion--the sky's the limit!

And a couple others that I made with fronts from the same Memories and More pack.  And there are still oodles and oodles left! 



What special event are you looking forward to in 2018?

Barb


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Sunday 18 February 2018

Hometown Greetings in a Whole New, Colourful Light

One of my favourite Christmas products last year were the Hometown Greetings Edgelits, so I was ecstatic to see that they were carrying forward into 2018!  This weekend I needed a break from my Brushos ;) so I thought I would tidy my craft room and low-and-behold, there they were.  Challenge, accepted.  I knew there would be a way to make these "christmas" dies into something usable year-round.

I love the look of mostly white cards, they are so clean and simple.  But I also love the rainbow of colours Stampin' Up! has to choose from.  So I decided to merge the two looks into one!



This would make a great "happy new home" or "welcome to the neighborhood" card, but with the "Happy for You!" sentiment (from the In the City hostess set) it could be used for lots of other occasions as well.

And wait until you see all the colours I used!!!!


I cut multiple sets of the houses out of Thick Whisper White and sponged a rainbow of colours onto each layer.  Quick tip:  Stampin' Up! very nicely provided a colour wheel of all of their ink colours in rainbow order in the 2017-2018 Annual Catalogue, which came in very handy when picking my ink pads and determining their proper order.  My daughter helped me organize all of my ink pads and sponge daubers (she loves rainbows too!).

This look could be obtained using wwaayy fewer colours, but I had them, so I thought I might as well use them!  To recreate with fewer options, just sponge two colours on one house...they will blend beautifully and leave you with a unique "in-between" colour to help make the transition from one colour to the next.  Here is a close up of the houses, and you can see how I transitioned from Tempting Turquoise to Rich Razzelberry in the top row, fourth house in.


Isn't that too much fun?!

I adhered the tallest piece (blues and purples) directly on to my card base (after creating my clouds, see below); I then popped up the next piece (yellows and greens) on top using dimensionals; and finally, attached the top piece (pinks, yellow and oranges) using more dimensionals.  You really can't have enough 3Dness here, can you?  Check out those layers...


Did you notice the clouds at the top of the card front?  Here's a closer look, it's just a very subtle, soft sky look.  I sponged some Pool Party on top of a cloud-shaped mask I made out of chipboard.


This card was so much fun to make, and I left the inside blank to keep it as versatile as possible.

What have you made in rainbow colours lately?

Barb


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Thursday 15 February 2018

Brusho Rain (Stamping Symphony Blog Hop)


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This month's theme was so much fun--Brushos (my new favourite!) along with a stamp set from the annual catalogue.  It gave me a great reason to play around with an old favourite :)


I love this sentiment so much, as it's true...sometimes we all need shelter from the storm.  And don't you love the Brusho rainstorm?!  Here's how I did it (be prepared, it's messy!):


I started by taping a piece of watercolour paper to a sturdy piece of cardboard with low tack masking tape.  Then I partially cut out an umbrella (using the matching die for the stamp set) from a piece of painters edging tape (that wide roll you use to protect your baseboards), masking out the area that I didn't want to have any "rain" in.  And then the fun began!  I used my aquapainter to lay down some water on the top portion of my paper, and sprinkled some yellow and blue brusho crystals on top.  Behold--the magic of Brusho!!

I'm not going to lie, it's a hot mess at this point.  Don't be discouraged.  :)

I added some more water and held the paper up perpendicular to my work surface, and let gravity take it from there.  After it was dry I removed the masked piece and here is what I was left with:


I cut my finished piece down to size and adhered it to a Basic Black mat, and then onto a Real Red card base.  I heat embossed my sentiment in white on a small banner of Basic Black and added some sequins to the other end to balance it out, adhering it across the front piece about 1" from the bottom.

I also heat embossed my umbrella in white on a piece of Real Red cardstock, and die cut it with the umbrella die.  I cut the umbrella handle from a piece of the wood DSP (it looks so real!).  I popped it up on my card front with dimensionals.  Here's a close up:


And a final look at the whole card front:


On the inside I stamped a coordinating sentiment, "I'm here for you", in Basic Black, along with a Real Red umbrella and some floating hearts.

 
I think this is a card that is sure to help the recipient feel loved and cared for.
 
Please keep hopping to see what my teammates created this month!
 
JustBStamping (Barb--you're here!)
 
And please pop by on Sunday evening when I post my next regular blog with my newest creation. :)
 

 Barb
 
 
 

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Sunday 11 February 2018

How to earn free Stampin' Up! Products with Tutti Fruitti

So, Sale-A-Bration is here and there are a plethora of great products to earn for free.  My upline, Leena Girsa, challenged our team, Stampin' Symphony, to showcase one free Sale-A-Bration item this month.  Our next meeting is tomorrow, and in typical fashion I am down to the wire, but I did it!

My Sale-A-Bration choice was the Tutti-fruitti Cards and Envelopes.  The pack includes 16 card bases and 16 envelopes--what a steal!  And the best part....it's free with a $60 purchase (until March 31).

My cards show what you can you buy for $120...everything you need to make my three cards and earn 2 sets of the Tutti-fruitti cards and envelopes for free.  Plus you'll have LOTS of product left over after making 16 cards to make many, many more fun things!

Where do I start?  Each one of these cards is cute, but I'll start with the strawberry "you are the sweetest" card, since it was the first one I made.  The idea for this card popped into my head while I was driving, and I couldn't wait to get home and make it.  Do you think the police would accept that as an excuse for speeding?!
 

How cute are those tiny strawberries?  They are so easy to create with the stamp set and matching mini punches, and they up the adorability factor about....100x.  I stamped my little basket on a whisper white circle and then filled it with strawberries, a few of which I mounted on tiny pieces of dimensionals.  I used one of the Tutti-fruitti card bases and one sheet of the matching DSP and cut strips to cover my card front, pairing each with a piece of Night of Navy cardstock.  I added a strip of the reverse side of that same DSP, a sweet little linen bow, and a Night of Navy banner embossed with Whisper White powder sentiment.
 
Next up...Pineapple heaven!
 
 
Same general design, starting with a card base from the free pack, adding a piece of the coordinating DSP (adhered on an angle), and a strip of Whisper White backed by, you guessed it, the reverse side of the DSP.  I stamped my pineapples in Daffodil Delight and Soft Suede using the Tutti-fruitti ink spots.  These are such a great deal!  A fantastic way to get four fun colours for only $10! 

Card 3 features a super cute piece of DSP with citrus slices.
I fussy cut around some of the slices and popped them up with dimensionals, and mounted my DSP on a piece of Lemon Lime twist.  I mirrored the same look by mounting a piece of Whisper White, stamped with my sentiment in Soft Suede, to another strip of Lemon Lime, and added some fussy cut half-slices.

This suite of products has lots of pieces that I haven't used yet--like matching washi tape, sequins, and ribbons.  Oh my!

And I have barely even touched my DSP pack, so many great patterns left in there!

Tell me which card is your favourite, I'd love to know!

Barb

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