Above the Clouds (Stamping Symphony Blog Hop)

It's time for another Stamping Symphony Blog Hop!  Thanks for hopping along with us. :)

This month we are featuring our favourite item from the new catalogue and I have to say...it was an incredibly tough choice!  I'm still not sure this is my very favourite yet, as I love a lot of the new items, but this one is definitely high on the list (no pun intended).

This is one of the images from the Above the Clouds stamp set, which I stamped in Memento ink and then punched with the coordinating Hot Air Balloon Punch. I coloured my rainbow balloon with the Blends markers and I love how I was able to get the shading so easily with these markers.  They make me feel like an artist every time!

I die cut a stitched rectangle out of Whisper White paper and sponged the edges in Pool Party to give a soft sky look to my background.  I really wanted the coloured balloon to pop so I kept everything else very minimal on my card front.

I added some Smoky Slate clouds to the background piece and then mounted it onto a Thick Whisper White card base.  I added the balloon, basket, and trail of flags (also coloured in rainbow order) using Dimensionals, and they really look like they are going to float right off the page.

I finished the card by stamping "Let your dreams soar" in the bottom left corner in Basic Gray.  Inside I added another line of coloured flags and a sentiment.

This would be a great graduation card, or even a farewell card for someone heading off on their next adventure.

Please leave me a comment below before you hop on to see what everyone else created for you this month.  I truly appreciate your time!

A La Cards (Leena)

LollyandSand (Sandy)

JustBStamping (Barb--you're here!)

Stampingjen.BlogSpot.com (Jennifer)

Hofkissed (Stephanie)

Thanks for hopping by!

Barb

Garden Lane Zig Zag Mini Album

I am still exploring my new goodies from the new catalogue and it is so much fun! Everything is available to purchase now in my online store.  All that new DSP in particular is so pretty, it's a challenge to play with just one at a time.  For my project this week I was looking for something that would really showcase the beautiful Garden Lane paper, and I found just the thing:  a mini album!

This mini album is the perfect size for the wallet-sized school pictures you get every year.  And because it is such a neutral background it will help those photos stand out!  This album is a fun zig-zig shape, which means you can say goodbye to all of those tough binding options you've seen in other albums, and get all the real estate you need with ease.

I followed this great tutorial by Kay, and I think the design is so cool.  And it would be easy to make this in bigger dimensions to fit other sized photos as well.  Basically you score alternating ends of the pages so they "flip" easily, and then glue them all together and decorate.  Super simple!  And I ended up with six double-sided pages to display my photos, in one sturdy little book.

As I mentioned, I used all of the Garden Lane DSP options to decorate my mini book.  The dimensions worked well to get the little strips of DSP for the "binding' pieces and one "page" background from one 5.25 x 4.0 piece of DSP.  Waste not, want not!

I added a couple little pockets to the album as well (as seen in the tutorial) and tucked in a few little tags for journaling.

For the cover I used the beautiful Stitched Nested Labels and the largest image from the Free as a Bird stamp set, coloured with Blends.  I love that this paper looks great with a variety of the new stamp sets, allowing for more diversity in my projects.

Here's a closer look:

The album is closed with the White Linen Ribbon in the Magnolia Lane combo pack--I can tell that this will be a favourite too.  :)

I am thinking about offering this as an event this summer--let me know if you would be interested in creating your own mini album!

Have a good week,
Barb

Colour Challenge (TGIFC215)

Hi all, I'm participating in my first ever TGIF colour challenge this week!  I enjoy having my creativity stretched to new places, and I'm hoping this will continue to help me expand my horizons.  :)

This week's challenge was to create a project using Granny Apple Green, Night of Navy, and Pool Party.  I decided to use some bright green DSP as my background, and added some blue elephants in the coordinating colours, for this baby card.  Who says baby stuff has to be pastel?!

I think this is so fun!  Both elephants come from the Little Elephant stamp set and were punched with the coordinating Elephant Builder punch.  The sentiment is from the some set but is meant to be stacked on top of each other in more of a square shape.  A quick snip with the scissors and I made one stamp into two, allowing me to place them side-by-side instead, and ink them in two different colours.

The little corner cutaway was made with a circle die--they are a great tool to have on hand because they come in a variety of sizes, so you always have the perfect one on hand!  I also used the stitched scallop border die from the Stitched Be Mine dies to make that pretty edging on the polka dot panel.

The scalloped rectangle is popped off the card base with dimensionals, and the elephants are popped up too, lending great dimension to this card.

I finished it off with a white twine bow and some candy dots in Pool Party.

Thanks for checking out my first TGIF post--here's to many more to come!

In Colours with Kylie's Blog Hop

I've been spending time getting to know the five new In Colours from Stampin' Up! this week, and they complement some of our forever colours so beautifully.  I decided to enter this card into Kylie Bertucci's International Blog Hop, so if you enjoy it as much as I do please consider voting for me here http://bit.ly/KyliesInternationalHighlightsJune2019VoteformeHere

I actually started with Terracotta Tile and paired it with Petal Pink....and then couldn't stop!  Is there anything more fun than making the same card in a variety of colours? :)  And with the coordinating linen ribbon and DSP these cards came together in a flash.

Introducing the 2019-2020 In Colours:

Pretty Peacock (with Blueberry Bushel)

Purple Posy (with Highland Heather and Gorgeous Grape)

Seaside Spray (with Pacific Point)

Rococco Rose (with Blushing Bride)

Terracotta Tile (with Petal Pink)

I started each card with a Thick Whisper White base scored into a "fancy fold"--a twisted gate fold, with one side being 1.5" wide and the other 2.75" wide.  Here is a visual of how the cards open:

I layered each front panel with a piece of coordinating DSP.  This double-sided paper made it super easy to get two matching patterns for my card front, but I debated for a while about whether to use just one pattern instead.  I'm happy with my final choice to use both.  :)

I stamped the image from Painted Harvest in two colours, using the lightest colour for the bigger stamp and the darker colour on the small one.  The inside of each flower is Crumb Cake.  There is so much dimension to this set even without using two colours, but I really wanted to highlight how well the new colours pair with some existing favourites.

I cut the stamped image with the stitched squares dies and then layered that on a piece of matching cardstock.  Before I mounted that to the Crumb Cake square with dimensionals I added a "Z" of matching Scalloped Linen Ribbon.  It really is so pretty.

I have had a hard time trying to choose my favourite card from this set, but I think I have it narrowed down to the Purple Posy or Pretty Peacock...or Seaside Spray....

Which one is your favourite?

Barb

PS  I'd appreciate your vote for me here http://bit.ly/KyliesInternationalHighlightsJune2019VoteformeHere