You've Got This Collage

You've Got This is such a pretty set, but I haven't used it in a while. Since it is on the retiring list, I figured I would get it out and play. I only knew that I wanted to use a couple of my favorite colors that will be returning to the Stampin' Up! palette in the upcoming new catalog. Here's what I came up with.

I started by stamping the large peony onto Whisper White card stock using Black Archival Ink because I planned to watercolor the image. I masked the flower and used the large crosshatch background that is included in this set inked in So Saffron with a bit of Soft Suede on the edges. I stamped it over the flower not worrying about the leaves because I knew I was painting those using Mossy Meadow (a returning favorite) and the yellow would add a nice compliment to the green of the leaves. Using my Aqua Painter I painted the petals using my favorite returning color...Blackberry Bliss and with a bit of Fresh Fig as well.

Using the Timeless Textures and Butterfly Basics sets I added a collage look to my background with several of the stamps from these sets. The butterfly is from a really old retired set called Natural Beauty. I just kept adding elements until I was happy with it. When I was done stamping, I felt it still needed something so I used a Tim Holtz stencil and applied some Blackberry Bliss ink with a Sponge Dauber. I think this added the perfect touch!

Now that I had my stamped panel all water colored and stenciled it was time to finish the card. I used some retired Blackberry Bliss Stitched Satin Ribbon layered over some Lace Trim. I planned to make a bow, but didn't like the way that looked so after searching for some ribbon charms that I thought I still had in my stash and coming up empty handed, I decided to die cut and embellishment using the Flourish Thinlit Dies.

I cut out Blackberry Bliss and Gold Foil and finished it off with a pretty Gold Faceted Gem. This card was a series of trial and error, that I almost gave up on...but I love the way it turned out! I bet I probably couldn't duplicate it if I tried!

If you don't already have the You've Got This stamp set, be sure to order before the end of the month. As of yesterday, there are now many discounted items on the Retiring List as well...check them out!

Awesomely Artistic Butterfly

On Monday Stampin' Up released this years retirement list...along with many favorite retiring stamp sets and accessories, there are 13 core colors retiring in addition to the 2015-17 In Colors! I created this card using many of my retiring favorite items...

There is kind of a lot going on in this card...but I had fun creating it. I used three different retiring stamp sets along with seven retiring colors...can you spot them all? Here's a little help...

Butterfly Basics and Awesomely Artistic are two of my all time favorite sets. I just love all the different elements that can be used to create collage style cards. Teeny Tiny Wishes...that one is a classic! I've used that one SO much!

I was a little surprised that Tempting Turquoise will be leaving. Tempting Turquoise and Perfect Plum have been around the longest of the departing colors used here. My Perfect Plum ink pad was part of my Demo Kit when I signed up 14 years ago! We are loosing several shades of purple, but the shades we are gaining are even more lovely...so t's a good trade. The other colors used here are: Always Artichoke, Wild Wasabi, Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder and Sweet Sugarplum.

Here are some more projects I created with the Awesomely Artistic and Butterfly Basics stamp sets.

Here's a look at all 17 colors that are leaving the Stampin' Up! color palette.

Do you have ink refills and cardstock of your favorite colors? If not, best to order those as soon as possible while they are still available.

Shop Now...don't forget to choose me as your demonstrator if you don't already have one.

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!

Dragonfly Dreams Thank You

I shared a card very similar to this one a few weeks back. I had created several of the background panels at that time, but I decided to add the beautiful intricate die cut dragonfly to this one.

I used the the stained glass technique by cutting a solid piece from Vellum Cardstock and sponging it with a couple colors used on my background panel before adhering it to the back of the Rich Razzleberry dragonfly.

Using the Wink of Stella Brush I added some beautiful sparkle to the dragonfly.

The inside of the Sahara Sand card base along with the envelope were stamped with the Delicate Details stamp set (FREE during Sale-A-Bration).

I used many different stamp sets and colors to stamp the collage look background panel: Avant Garden (FREE during Sale-A-Bration), Timeless Textures, Gorgeous Grunge & Butterfly Basics.

Colors used: Mint Macaron, Rich Razzleberry, Sweet Sugarplum, Always Artichoke & Sahara Sand. 

Please visit my SU! Store to purchase the products you will need to create many amazing projects with the Dragonfly Dreams Bundle. When you spend $50 you can choose the Avant Garden stamp set, used here for FREE. (There are also many other great products you can choose from as well). I appreciate all orders, and make sure to send a hand stamped card, such as this one, to all who place an order with me.

Enjoy your day! We are finally seeing some sunshine here in Michigan today...it's been far too long!

Butterfly Avant Grarden

Happy Monday! Hope you had a nice weekend. The weather has been really warm & drizzly here this past week. More like March/April weather than January. It could fool you into believing gardens and butterflies were not too far off...BUT this is Michigan, so the only butterflies I'll be seeing for quite a while are in my stamp room!

Butterfly Basics is one of my very favorite, much loved sets and I think it works quite well with two of the new Sale-A-Bration stamp sets...Avant Garden and Delicate Details. I stamped the images onto a piece of DSP from the Serene Scenery Designers Series Paper Stack. I water colored the line art images using my Aqua Painter.

The inks I used are: SU! Black Archival, Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Rich Razzleberry, Wild Wasabi & Always Artichoke. I added some shimmer to the flowers using the Wink of Stella brush pen. Here's a closer look...

I embellished my stamped piece with Silver 1/8" Ribbon, Basic Rhinestones and a retired Something Borrowed Embellishment.

Thanks for visiting today!

Butterfly Basics #GDP038 Sketch

A great sketch challenge this week at Global Design Project. When I saw it I immediately thought of using one of my favorite techniques...the watercolor background technique. The long, narrow acrylic Block I was perfect to create the strip down the right side of the card.

I used Sweet Sugarplum, Bermuda Bay and Mint Macaron to ink up my block. Then after it was dry, I used Butterfly Basics and Awesomely Artistic to stamp over my strip of color to add more interest. I shared more on this technique a while back in a free tutorial posted here.

The little banner is created with the Thoughtful Banners stamp set and coordinating Duet Banner Punch. These two items are already getting a LOT of use in my stampin' studio! Here's a closer look...

There's still time to play along with the Sketch Challenge at Global Design Project.

Thanks for visiting...ENJOY your weekend!

Find Your Inspiration

Happy New Catalog Day! It's June 1st and the awesome new and inspiring Stampin' Up! catalog is now live! Last week I had a "New Catalog Pick Up Party" where my local stampin' friends had the opportunity to stop by and pick up the new catalog and do some make & takes.

Everyone who attended received the above goodies created using the new In Colors. One make & take used all the new In Colors and the Thoughtful Banners & Flower Shop stamp sets. More info is here. The other make & take was created using the Sitting Here stamp set and I'll share more on that in my next blog posting.

This years In Color bookmark uses the Bitty Butterfly Punch and the Work of Art and Butterfly Basics stamp sets.

The bookmarks have magnets to keep them in place...I like to keep mine at the beginning of the Color Collection pages because I am always flipping to those pages the most.

To help mark favorite items in the catalog I made these post-it flag covers using the Thoughtful Banners set. The words Inspiring, Amazing & Fabulous describe so many of the new products found inside the pages if the new catalog!

I packaged up the bookmarks and post-it flags along with a 1/2 sheet each of the new In Color cardstock in a Large Cello Bag with toppers stamped using the Timelesss Textures stamp set.

No party is complete without treats and prizes! I made these Ghirardelli square covers using Flower Shop and Thoughtful Banners in the five new In Colors. I invited each of my guests to chose one in their favorite color. After everyone had picked one I brought out my prize basket. Each item in the basket had a butterfly punched out from the five different In Colors. Each person could choose from the items marked with the color they choose. Here's my friend Amy looking super excited about her prize and make & takes.

Here are some of the rest of the ladies at my first session. (sorry I did not get pictures of everyone)

I tried a new recipe I found on Pinterest for these Salted Caramel Buttery Crumb Bars. Oh my!...they were rich, ooey gooey buttery caramely goodness!

It was so great to see everyone and share the new catalog excitement with you all!  If you were not able to make it my event but would like a copy of the new catalog, please contact me and I'll make sure to get one to you.

Enjoy finding your inspiration as you flip through the new catalog!

Timeless Textured Butterfly Basics

What a beautiful weekend we had here! I figured we are pretty safe from frost at this point so I got busy and started planting some of my flowers in pots. All the pretty colorful flowers brighten up the yard and make me feel happy...BUT unfortunately there is someone who isn't happy!

A dirty rotten squirrel (or maybe chipmunk?) keeps digging up my planted flowers each night! Yesterday after replanting what I could salvage, I sprinkled cayenne pepper around each plant. This morning I found that most were left untouched, but there was one area that the little vandal went crazy in. I can only hope that he jumped in there busily searching for nuts and instead got a snootful of hot pepper! As he tried to wipe it from his nose and eyes he just spread it around making it worse...because his filthy paws were covered in the red hot pepper! Ahhh...revenge is sweet! Hopefully he gets the message (tells his friends) and moves on ...or this is going to get very costly and even more frustrating.

Here's one pretty flower my nemesis can't mess with...

It's been a while since I used Butterfly Basics and I thought it would be pretty combined with some of the stamps from Timeless Textures. I used Mint Macaron, Perfect Plum and Pool Party to create a soft look perfect for Spring or any occasion. The Venetian Crochet Trim (retiring) tied with Linen Thread along with a Basic Pearl add the finishing touches to the card.

Thanks for visiting. If you have any good suggestions for keeping the squirrels and chipmunks from destroying flowers...please share!

Awesomely Eleanor

Awesomely Artistic...Everything Eleanor...or maybe Butterfly Basics? Oh, what the heck, I have them all out now... may as well use them all! So that's exactly what I did!

To create my watercolor look background I used my largest acrylic block and inked it up with So Saffron, Bermuda Bay and Perfect Plum. Gave it a few spritzes of water and pressed in onto my Thick Whisper White Card stock. I love how these colors blended together! If you want a more detailed description of this fun technique, I shared a tutorial here a while back.

I added some paint splatters using the splatter stamp from Awesomely Artistic while my paper was still damp, but I waited until it was thoroughly dried to stamp the other elements. To finish the card I die cut two butterfly shapes using the Bold Butterflies and Butterfly Framelits. The solid one was cut from White Vellum card stock  and the detailed butterfly was cut from Silver Foil.

For those of you who still have items on your wishlists from the Holiday Catalog, Stampin' Up! has released a list of those items (most of the catalog) that will be retiring. Check it out here and get those items before they are gone!

Recently I have received a few online orders from customers who selected "no contact" on their order. Normally I send out a thank you card for all the online orders I receive, but in this case I don't know who the order is from...so THANK YOU in case it was one of my blog readers. :-)

Have a GREAT day!

Watercolor Wings Anniversary

I've been busy enjoying the beautiful weather and good times of summer that I haven't been able to spend a whole lot of time stamping...my poor stamps and blog are so neglected! I needed to make an anniversary card last week so I'm here today to share that card. I used a pretty butterfly stamped using the Wonderful Wings set and combined with elements from the Butterfly Basics set.

A smaller butterfly die cut out of Gold Glimmer Paper and a Vintage Faceted Button help make this card extra special.

Have a beautiful day!

Wild About Flowers Thanks

I really love how user friendly the Wild About Flowers set is! Since the blossoms are separate from the stems and leaves its so easy to stamp all different colors of flowers. Lining them up is super easy since it's a photopolymer set.

I added a little shading to the stamps by first inking them in the lightest color and then using a sponge dauber I added a darker color. So for the flowers, first ink in Calypso Coral and then add Rich Razzleberry. For the leaves I used Wild Wasabi first and then Mossy Meadow.

Thanks for visiting today!

A Quick Tip

Today I just wanted to share a quick tip that you may find helpful to avoid frustration when using your brand new ink pads. I was working on something for an upcoming class and was using a brand new Watermelon Wonder ink pad and a butterfly stamp from Butterfly Basics. I inked up the stamp and stamped it onto Whisper White card stock, but I did not get that nice crisp detail that should be showing with this image.The delicate hexagon texture was lost all together.

Check out my photo to see what I mean...the top butterfly was the first one I stamped.

What happens with the many of the new foam ink pads is that when they sit, unopened or unused, excess ink may raise to the surface of the pad. What you need to do is simply work that ink back into the pad. It only takes a minute...run your bone folder, a plastic spoon or other utensil back and forth over the surface of the pad gently working the ink into the pad. I did this up & down from top to bottom, then repeated side to side.

After working the ink down into the foam pad, I inked my stamp and again stamped it onto Whisper White... you can see the results. A perfect, crisp image, without the frustration! Hope this helps!

Butterfly Basic Wishes

Good news for those who have been waiting to order the Butterfly Bundle from SU!...

After a (very) long migration, the Butterflies Thinlits Dies have landed in the warehouse and are now available for purchase! Remember, you can take advantage of two special offers through April 30th:

Get the Butterflies Thinlits at a 15 percent discount--just $21.20! 

OR

Buy any of the Butterflies Thinlits Bundles at a 15 percent discount and choose one of three FREE Sale-A-Bration items (only available while supplies last)!

• Best Year Ever Designer Series Paper (item 138633)
• Best Year Ever Accessory Pack (item 138634)
• Irresistibly Yours Specialty Designer Series Paper (item 138635)

I absolutely LOVE this set! My card today uses the Irresistibly Yours DSP, which you can select for free when purchasing the bundle. I have colored it easily by sponging on Lost Lagoon ink. I watercolored the pretty flower image in BlackBerry Bliss and Mossy Meadow inks using my Aqua Painter.

If you love the watercolored look but struggle with the technique, you may want to check out my Butterfly Basics Watercolor Tutorial. I share step by step instructions and some helpful tips on how to watercolor using SU! Classic Inks and the Aqua Painter.

If you haven't added this beautiful bundle to your collection yet, please visit my SU! Store to purchase this today...with the added savings and extra FREE product, there's no better time to buy!

Watercolor Butterfly Basics

My Aunt had a birthday recently and when I needed to make her a card I grabbed my new go-to set...Butterfly Basics.

I created a soft watercolor background simply by brushing on some color using Classic Ink Refills- Soft Sky, Crisp Cantaloupe & Pistachio Pudding, to a dampened piece of Watercolor Paper and let the colors bleed and blend together. I used my Heat Tool to dry the paper instead of waiting and then stamped away, creating the collage look that this set is great for.

I layered Venetian Crochet Trim over the Soft Sky Seam Binding and finished it off with a pretty bow.

Best Year Butterfly

The patterns in the Best Year Ever DSP papers are so fun! I paired them up here with the Basic Butterfly stamp set for a cheery card that could be used for any occasion.

The Pool Party strip was stamnped using the polka dot desing from the Painted Petals set.