Daisy Delight Thank You

One of my favorite new bundles when the catalog premiered in June was the Daisy Delight Bundle. It was so popular that the punch was backordered during the demo pre-order! It was still not available when I put in my first new catalog order, so I waited and got it along with stuff from the Holiday Catalog.

Not only is the the Daisy Delight stamp set and the coordinating Daisy Punch awesome, the gorgeous Delightful Daisy DSP is totally drool worthy! I used three of the prints here on this card. It's one of those packs where each and every sheet is just prettier than the next! 

If I had to pick six favorite patterns from the pack it would be these six...but here's a look at the flip sides.

Beautiful...right? I thought I'd share these photos as it's hard to tell sometimes when just seeing them in the catalog. (click on photos to see full size) Trust me...they are even prettier in person! So make sure and add a pack of the Delightful Daisy DSP to your next order.

Have a DELIGHTFUL weekend!

Colorful Seasons Autumn Leaves

The change of season inspired the cards I have to share today. It seems like just overnight many of our trees went from having lush green foliage to leaves the shade of golden yellow. Our maple and oak trees are still holding onto their green leaves, but when they do start to change, the maple are my favorite...with beautiful vibrant oranges and reds. The Colorful Seasons stamp set and coordinating Seasonal Layers Thinlits have some great maple leaves included, which is what I used here.

To create this autumn branch, I first cut out the large branch from Soft Suede card stock using the Seasonal Layers Thinlits.  I placed the branch onto my Very Vanilla panel and lightly traced the outline of the branch to help with the leaf placement.

I stamped the leaves using the Wet Wipe Technique...which is perfect for creating the look of fall leaves. If you've never tried this technique it's really fun and super easy to use with any bold, solid image to get a multicolor look. Simply fold  a wet wipe to increase thickness and create a more manageable size...roughly the size of an ink pad. Place wet wipe onto a flat plastic surface that you don't mind getting inky. The image sheet from your Stamp-a-ma-jig works well for this. Use several colors of Ink Refills to ink up the wet wipe. Colors will mix together to create new shades, so try and use colors that look good mixed or you will end up with brown, muddy colors.

After stamping leaves, I lightly sponged the background with Dapper Denim and the edges with Soft Suede, adhered the branch and added my sentiment. Then I ran the piece through the Big Shot using the Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder.

I thought it made quite a nice masculine card so I made several since I had my wet wipe "ink pad" all made and I needed to send out some guy cards. This one gets an extra pop with the intricate Copper Foil die cut leaf. Here's a look at the group of cards I made...just like in nature, they all turned out a little different. As you can see, its a card suitable for all different occasions.

Have a wonderful day!

Spooky Night Owl

Happy Friday! I'm back today to share another card using the Spooky Cat stamp set along with the Spooky Night DSP. I just love this owl and how easy it is to stamp him on this spooky tree square of DSP. There are 16 spooky tree squares on the full sheet of DSP which means you get 32 of them in the pack. That would make it really easy to create some great invitations or fun treats in a snap!

Like I told you in my previous posting, I LOVE purple in my Halloween color schemes, so I was hoping to see purple in this years DSP. No such luck, but I figured out a way around that...by adding purple stripes on the DSP with a Blender Pen and Rich Razzleberry ink. I also created my own DSP using the texture stamp included in the Spooky Cat set...I just stamped repeatedly to cover background area...not worrying about center which ended up covered.

The little spiderweb label is a fun stamp too. I'm having lots of fun playing with these new products!

Have a GREAT weekend!

Spooky Cats

Between having a very busy summer and also being very indecisive...I just received my Holiday Catalog pre-order at the end of last week. The catalog is filled with so many awesome products that my wishlist is a mile long! Unfortunately, my bank account doesn't match the size of my wish list so I went back and forth trying to decide which products to get first. I LOVE stamp sets that have coordinating punches and I also LOVE Halloween and cats!!! So of course the Spooky Cat Bundle was a no brainer for me! Can you tell I am super excited about this bundle? LOL Here's my first Spooky Cat card.

A strip of Spooky Nights DSP runs along the bottom. This paper pack is super cute...one of the patterns is a full page of cats sized purrfectly (couldn't resist a cat pun...sorry!)  to cut out with the punch. another with a spooky tree that you can stamp the owl perched on the branch, plus several other patterns. However, I do have to admit to being really disappointed that, yet again this year, the color scheme consisted only of shades of orange & black. What's up with that??? I had really hoped to see some purple and/or green! BOO! So I took it upon myself to create the DSP I really wanted...

Using a Blender Pen and Rich Razzleberry and Lemon Lime Twist inks I painted the plain Very Vanilla stripes. You could also use your markers...but I found, that for me, the Blender Pen worked better. While this worked out fine on this small piece used on my card, I don't think I would have the patience to color an entire sheet! I would end up in a real rubber room...not just a room full of rubber!

The Vintage Crochet Trim used here is really nice too...while shown for Halloween, it could be used all year. Note: The embossing folder I used is actually a retired folder, but there is a new one available called Oh My Stars that could be used instead...I just don't have that one yet.

Thanks for visiting!

Dragonfly Dreams & Butterfly Basics

Here's a card that looks detailed and time consuming but it was actually fairly quick and easy to make.

The ferns from Butterfly Basics were stamped onto Whisper White cardstock and then ran through the Big Shot using the Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder. The dragonfly, from the Dragonfly Dreams stamp set, is a 2 step image so the hand colored look is easily achieved by using the second solid layer over the detailed image. I like to use a sponge dauber to apply a second, darker color to the solid image before stamping.

The "thanks" sentiment is from the Jar of Love stamp set and was die cut using the Stitched Shape Framelits. To finish off the card I ran a piece of 1/4" Copper Trim across bottom and attached the die cut sentiment piece and dragonfly with Stampin' Dimensionals.

I used only two ink pads...Lemon Lime Twist & Tranquil Tide.

Have a great weekend!

Colorful Season Beach Chairs

With Labor Day Weekend being the last official weekend of the Summer, I thought this fun, beachy card was a good one to share today.

I used the Timeless Textures stamp set to create the sandy beach & water background and then sponged the sky using some die cut clouds as masks. The frame of the beach chairs are stamped over the background using Basic Black ink. Next the colorful part of the three chairs was stamped using the kissing technique.

To do this, ink up your solid image real well in a lighter color, in this case that is the canvas chair image from Colorful Seasons, and set it aside. Next, ink up a textured image in a darker color...I used both the polka dot image from Timeless Textures and the chevron pattern image from Work of Art. Use the inked, textured image to "stamp" or "kiss" your solid image stamp before using it to stamp onto your paper. This creates a fun, patterned chair instead of the plain, solid ones.

Colors of ink used:
Background: Crumb Cake, Pool Party & Bermuda Bay
Chairs: Berry Burst/Fresh Fig, Pumpkin Pie/Berry Burst & Bermuda Bay/Tranquil Tide

I hope you enjoy the last weekend of summer, whether it's squeezing in one last trip to the beach or perhaps a BBQ with family and friends...Autumn will be here before we know it. Yet again...Summer flew by way too quickly!