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!

Life is Beautiful With (Feathery) Friends

Hello! It's been a while since I posted, and I can totally relate to the sentiment above! Summertime is always so busy...trying to cram in trips to the beach, BBQ's with family and other warm weather activities while we still have the chance. Anyways... I had to share this adorable (if I do say so myself!) card I created using the Feathery Friends stamp set.

The images in this set just make me smile! I just love the acute birds! They are super fun to watercolor too! I used my Aqua Painter and went to town using a variety of inks pooled in the lids of my ink pad. If you've never done this, it's easy...just give yr inkpad a squeeze and you have an instant pallet right in the lid. The Feathery Friends stamp set can be ordered with hostess rewards, as it is a host set. The sentiment is from the Colorful Seasons stamp set...don't you  just love the font they used? It's an awesome saying too...because life truly is a beautiful thing!

Have a beautiful weekend!

You've Got Style

The You've Got Style stamp set is normally not a set I would choose, but the eccentric looking lady featured in this set cracked me up!

Hopefully my friends will feel the same when they receive birthday cards featuring her in the coming year!

She was fun to watercolor using my Aqua Painter and ink pooled inside the lids of my ink pads. You cannot really tell from photo, but I also used Wink of Stella on her bling to add some sparkle.

Lemon Lime Twist and Berry Burst is the color combo I used. The Black Mini Sequin Trim adds some style layered over the Berry Burst Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon.

Have a great day!

Stepped Up Masculine Colorful Seasons

Hope you had a great weekend! Today I have a couple cards to share using the Colorful Season Bundle.

The card on the left is a little more simple to create and the other has a few more details.

Both cards use Thick Very Vanilla cardstock for the base, Old Olive for the main panel and a die cut square using the Stitched Shapes Framelits. The intricate leaf cut from Copper Foil using the Seasonal Layers Thinlits shines beautifully. 

The stepped up version has added texture to the Old Olive background piece created using the Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder. The die cut sentiment piece also has a subtle texture created using one of the stamps from the Timeless Textures stamp set inked in Crumb Cake. 

1/4" Copper Trim layered over Burlap Ribbon along with a bow tied in Linen Thread finish off the card. Stepped up or clean and simple, both cards are sure to be well received by whoever you are to send them to. 

Flashback Friday - Noble Deer

Happy Friday! Today I would like to share a retirement card I made using, appropriately enough, a retired stamp set...Noble Deer. I remember purchasing this great set on my first order as a new demonstrator. It is still one of my favorite stamp sets.

My hubby's friend and co-worker is retiring after 40+ years on the job and he's an avid hunter, so I thought this card would be perfect for him. I watercolored the beautiful image using my Aqua Painter and die cut it using the largest square die in the Stitched Shapes Framelit set.

The "congratulations on your retirement" sentiment is from another great set, which is current...Wild About Flowers. I used my favorite new embossing folder - Pinewood Planks to give some texture to the Crumb Cake layer. The image and the base layer are both matted onto Always Artichoke.

Have a GREAT weekend!

Stepped Up Feathery Friends

Today I have two versions of the same card to share with you. The first version, shown below is a card we made at my recent All Occasions Card Class. It is very cute, but more basic because the attendees were making 8 cards within a short time, so I kept the design more simple.

The background pieces were stamped with images in the Feathery Friends stamp set. The adorable little bird and fussy cut flower were watercolored using an Aqua Painter. A piece of Berry Burst Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon separate the Tranquil Tide layer from the Lemon Lime Twist layer. The adorable little bird just looks like she's singing, "oh, happy day!" So I chose that sentiment from the Thoughtful Banners set.

It's a cute card, right? I know the ladies at my class love it, but I wanted to show you how adding a couple small touches can make a basic card even more special.

I added a couple embellishments die cut using the Flourish Thinlits to pull the Tranquil Tide color down onto the Lemon Lime Twist layer. The center of the fussy cut flower also received a little Glitter Enamel Dot.

I hope you liked seeing the comparison of these two cards. Have a happy day!

Sugarplum Dragonfly Dreams

When I design the cards featured in my card classes I try to keep the cards fairly simple, yet still have pretty details to make them interesting. This card using the beautiful Dragonfly Dreams stamp set and it's coordinating Detailed Dragonfly Thinlets was one of the four cards created at my last All Occasions Card Class.

I just love the color combo of Sweet Sugarplum, Fresh Fig with a pop of Berry Burst. The detailed layer of the 2-step dragonfly image was stamped in Fresh Fig, and the solid image used to add color to the wings was sponged with color to give a blended look. You cannot tell from my photo, but the wings have beautiful shimmer from the Wink of Stella used over the top of the wings.

The sentiment was stamped in Basic Black and set off with a strand of Black Mini Sequin Trim...isn't this new trim fun? The dragonfly sits on a Whisper White background layer textured with the awesome Hexagon Embossing Folder.

Thanks for visiting today...enjoy your day!

Pocketful of Posies

I'm just lovin' creating adorable little pockets using the the Pocketful of Sunshine stamp set with it's coordinating Pocket Framelits. The pocket framelit both cuts and scores so you can create these little pockets in no time! Here is a fun card that uses the Flower Shop stamp set as well. This is one of the cards we made at my All Occasions Card Class last week.

The pocket is sized perfectly to hold a gift card or a tag. In this case the pocket holds a tag with a message.

I just cut the pocket shaped tag along the inner stitching so it was a little smaller than the pocket to easily slide in and out.

The "you make me smile" sentiment is from the Colorful Seasons stamp set. Love the font used in that set! I also love this color combo...Pool Party, Flirty Flamingo, Peekaboo Peach, Berry Burst & Lemon Lime Twist...it's so happy & fun! As long as I'm calling out favorite new products...LOVE the Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder!

Have a GREAT weekend!

Colorful Seasons Double Z Fold

Here's a fun Double Z Fold Card using some of my new favorite stamp sets and dies.

Those adorable birds in the Feathery Friends host stamp set make me smile...they are so darn cute! I knew when I first saw them that I wanted to use them with the branch in the Colorful Seasons stamp set. I watercolored the birds using my Aqua Painter and cut them out. The wings are cut out and popped up as well for extra dimension. The new Mini Stampin' Dimensionals are perfect for adhering tiny die cuts such as the wings.

I used several of the new In Colors for this creation...Lemon Lime Twist, Berry Burst & Fresh Fig along with Peekaboo Peach, Pool Party & Old Olive. The flowers on the tree branches are from the Colorful Seasons stamp set. They are stamped using the Rock n Roll Technique along with a sponge dauber to soften/blend the edges where the two colors meet. The branches are die cut using the coordinating Seasonal Layers Thinlits. This bundle really is a must have in my opinion!

The picket fence was created by stamping the Hardwood stamp inked in White Craft Ink onto Crumb Cake cardstock and then cutting apart along the planks. I trimmed the top of each picket and then sponged the edges. The flowers and stems were stamped using the Jar of Love stamp set and die cut with the Everyday Jars Framelits.

I started with a base of Pool Party cardstock measuring 4- 1/4 x 11" scored at 2- 3/4" and again at 5- 1/2" The Whisper White background layer was cut at 10- 3/4 x 4 and sponged with Pool Party ink and masks cut from post-it notes using the cloud dies included in the Up & Away Thinlets.  After sponging my cloudy background I cut 3 panels to fit just inside the scored folds of my card. The photo above shows the card opened flat.

The card folds up, as shown above to fit inside a standard envelope. This card was time consuming, but fun to make. It went to my dear Aunt on her birthday today. She is also a stamper, so I know she will love this card...otherwise I doubt I could part with it! LOL

Hope your day is a happy one!

Dad's Pocket

The Pocketful of Sunshine stamp set with the coordinating Pocket Framelits is super fun and makes creating pocket cards super easy!

I stamped the stitching onto Marina Mist cardstock using Dapper Denim Ink. One pass through the Big Shot cuts and scores the pocket...so easy! Then I used a longtime retired favorite background stamp...Linen, to create the look of denim on both the pocket and the background panel. The cute little "DAD tag" was stamped onto Smokey Slate using the Thoughtful Banners stamp set. "You Rock" across the bottom is from the retired Crazy About You set.

This pocket was to hold concert tickets so I used a non SU! set I have in my stash that features a guitar and other rocker style images.

I think the Pocketful of Sunshine set is going to be a lot of fun for both cards and scrapbook pages.

Hope your weekend ROCKS!

Feathery Friends Thanks

I must say, there are some really great stamp sets Just For Hosts in the new catalog! I just LOVE the adorable images in the Feathery Friends set...especially the sweet bird I used on this thank you card.

I had fun watercoloring these images and I tried a couple of my favorite new In Colors...Lemon Lime Twist & Berry Burst along with a couple of lasts years In Colors...Peekaboo Peach & Flirty Flamingo.

The textured background was created by inking up the new Pinewood Planks Dynamic Embossing Folder with Crumb Cake ink before rolling it through my Big Shot.

Don't you just love this ribbon? It's the new Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon in Berry Burst. Another new embellishment used on this card is the Glitter Enamel Dots. They are really super cute and even much prettier in person because they really do sparkle,

Have you checked out the great Just For Hosts section at the back of the new catalog? Now is the perfect time to earn these wonderful new sets with the WE ♥ HOSTS promo going on through June.

Contact me today to schedule your workshop or place your order. Read all the details here.

Colorful Seasons Father's Day

Such a busy time of year! My first new catalog order came many days ago and I've just been so busy I haven't had time to be creative. I had to make a card for my Dad for Father's Day so I grabbed the very versatile Colorful Seasons Bundle and created this relaxing beach scene.

The watercolor look background was created easily using the Watercolor Background Technique I shared in this free tutorial. Crumb Cake, Bermuda Bay & Soft Sky were used to ink my block.

The Thoughtful Banners set was used for the sentiment and Linen Thread added just the right finishing touch.

I've been watching my sweet little grand daughter a few times a week so that is one of the reasons I haven't had much stamping time recently. I am really enjoying every minute of my time with her! I make sure to take lots of photos and hopefully I will have some scrapbook pages to share soon! Here are a couple photos I captured for my son for his first Father's Day.

We enjoyed a beautiful day yesterday...here is my handsome son and his baby girl.

I hope you had a wonderful day celebrating the Fathers in your life yesterday as well.