Friday, May 29, 2020

#TGIFC266 Product Challenge - Magnolia Sympathy

It's Friday!!!  Y'all know what that means...time for an all new TGIF Challenges.  This week we have a Product Challenge for you...it's time to break out your vellum and favorite die cuts!

I am so happy that Good Morning Magnolia and the coordinating Magnolia Memory Dies are carrying over to the new catalog. This is one of my favorite stamp sets to color.  The die cut vellum leaves and magnolia worked beautifully with the pretty little magnolia buds.
I colored the magnolia buds with Flirty Flamingo and Old Olive Stampin' Blends, tucking the vellum die cuts behind them.  I created a soft background by sponging Soft Sea Foam and stamping the sentiment in Basic Gray.  I stamped the back layer of card stock with the large magnolia to add just a bit more color.  I added just a little bit of bling with Frosted & Clear Epoxy Droplets, which I am also very happy are carrying over!
I never like having to make sympathy cards, but I always hope that when I do, the recipient knows that it was made from my heart. Sadly, this card is being sent to my husband's cousin and his wife, who lost their baby last week.  Our family is heartbroken and are sending all of our love and prayers in this card.
Supplies Used:
Paper ~ Whisper White, Soft Sea Foam, Vellum
Ink ~ Soft Sea Foam, Basic Gray, Memento, Stampin' Blends:  Flirty Flaming, Old Olive
Stamp Sets ~ Good Morning Magnolia, Peaceful Moments
Other Supplies ~ Magnolia Memory Dies, Frosted & Clear Epoxy Droplets, Stitched Rectangle Dies

Be sure to check out all of the amazing creations from our design team!  You will certainly be inspired to play along with us.

Happy Stamping!




Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Create Your Own Cutting Garden ~ HSSIC#340

Hello friends!  Welcome to an all new Hand Stamped Sentiments Inspiration Challenge.  I have been working all spring on planting a cutting garden and I can not wait for all of my flowers to start blooming!


While I wait, I had so much fun creating some paper flowers in some of my favorite varieties!
I used the Daisy and Perennial Flower Punches, along with Magnolia Memory dies to create the flowers. I used up the last of my Perennial Essence Floral Centers, some of them inked up in Early Espresso.  I am sad to see these fuzzy little embellishments go.  I had the perfect little bud vase to arrange these flowers in and finished it off with a cute little tag stamped from Celebrate Sunflowers and cut out with Tasteful Labels Dies.

Supplies Used:
Paper ~ Rocco Rose, Grapefruit Grove, Whisper White, Petal Pink, Mango Melody, Granny Apple Green, So Saffron, Basic Black
Ink ~ Memento, Early Espresso
Stamp Set ~ Celebrate Sunflowers
Other Supplies ~ Punches: Daisy, Medium Daisy, Perennial Flower
Dies : Magnolia Memory
Perennial Essence Floral Centers

Thank you for stopping by today!

Happy Stamping!


Monday, May 25, 2020

Mountain View Anniversary

Happy Memorial Day!  Today we honor and celebrate the lives of those who served our country...thank you!

Today also happens to be my parents 45th wedding anniversary!  They have set such an amazing example of what true love really is. 

Our little valley is so beautifully lush and green right now.  As I was driving my son to go fishing with his friend the other day, I was so inspired by all of the beauty of this town we call home.  I just had to come home and recreate it in a card.  It turned out to be the perfect anniversary card for my parents.

I started out by watercoloring the background with Pool Party and Granny Apple Green, letting them bleed in to each other a little.  After letting it dry, I stamped the mountains and trees from Mountain Air in shades of Balmy Blue, Old Olive and Shaded Spruce.  I added a few wild flowers from Healing Hugs and a little pond and deer from Snow Front.  I love it when you can use several different stamp sets!

Supplies Used:
Paper ~ Whisper White, Basic Black, Watercolor
Ink ~ Pool Party, Granny Apple Green, Old Olive, Balmy Blue, Shaded Spruce, Memento, VersaMark
Stamp Sets ~ Mountain Air, Snow Front, Healing Hugs, Itty Bitty Greetings
Other Supplies ~ White Embossing Powder

I'm pretty sure I share this picture of my parents every year, but they were just so darn cute!   They have been dating since they were in 7th grade!

Happy Stamping!

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Sunflower Celebration and Thanks ~ Monday Montage


Welcome to an all new Monday Montage Blog Hop!  You won't want to miss a single creation from this amazing group of stampers!
It's not very often that I can say one stamp set or bundle is my absolute favorite, but I absolutely LOVE the Celebrate Sunflowers bundle!  I mean, what's not to love?!?!  Beautiful sunflowers that you can color and coordinating dies that don't even require ink...be still my heart!

You all know how much I love my Stampin' Blends, so of course that was my go-to coloring choice for these cute little flowers.  Misty Moonlight was the perfect background color of choice to go with the sunny Daffodil Delight flowers and the Tasteful Textile 3D embossing folder added just the right amount of texture.  I added a little splash of Granny Apple Green, some Misty Moonlight/Silver Bakers Twine and a few Rhinestone Jewels to finish the card off.
 We might not have been able to pre-order the beautiful new In-Color inks, but we were still able to get our hands on the paper.  If you are a demonstrator, you probably saw a card very similar to this in one of the recent Succeed Weekly's.  It just had to be CASE'd!  This was a fun way to showcase ALL of the new 2020-2022 In-Color's. 
Just Jade was my color of choice for the card base, along with the fun polka dot pattern DSP.  I cut the sunflower from Bumble Bee, adding a little texture using the  Subtle embossing folder with Cinnamon Cider for the center.  The sentiment was heat embossed on the bright and cheerful Magenta Madness for the perfect pop of pink!  I did add just a touch of ink for the leaves, then topped with the delicate die cut leaves.  I couldn't leave out Misty Moonlight on this card...a few In Color Enamel dots were just what the card needed!

I know we are seeing so many great creations with this bundle and you can be sure that I will be creating more with it soon!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Now, on to the next stop on the hop!

Happy Stamping!

We've added a list of everyone's home pages so you can hop along in any order you wish!  Just make sure you don't miss any!



Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Country Club Graduation

What do you do when it rains ALL DAY LONG?!?!  Spend the day in your craft room of course!  I'm still working on a few more graduation cards and this weeks Freshly Made Sketches sketch challenge was perfect for this Country Club Graduation.
One of our baseball families has a senior graduating this year and we couldn't be more happy for him!  He is college bound this fall to pursue a degree in paramedicine and a career as a firefighter/paramedic.  He is also an avid golfer, which means I finally got to use a bit more of the fun Country Club DSP.  
I love it when the Designer Series Paper makes the card.  These patterns are not only fun, but also happen to include the right school colors...Green and Gold...or in this case, Garden Green and Crushed Curry.  I used the retired Celebrate You dies and added the Happy Graduation using Itty Bitty Greetings.  I've made so many graduation caps lately, I'm pretty sure I could make them blindfolded!

Supplies Used:
Paper ~ Crushed Curry, Garden Green, Whisper White, Country Club DSP
Ink ~ Garden Green
Stamp Set ~ Itty Bitty Greetings
Other Supplies ~ Celebrate You Dies, Whisper White Bakers Twine

This was such a fun sketch!  I have some other fun ideas with other stamp sets...be watching for more projects!

Have a great day!

Happy Stamping!



Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Sneak Peek Control Freak Style

Welcome to an all new Control Freaks Blog Hop!  You may just be getting started or you may have arrived here from Connie Babbert's blog...didn't you LOVE what she created?!?! We are back and ready to share some awesome Pre-Order creations with all of you!  

I really wanted to order ALL the things on the Pre-Order, but I managed to have a little bit of control and only ordered half of them. LOL!
World of Good and In Good Taste Suites caught my eye as soon as I saw the new catalog, so I was SUPER excited to see them both on the Pre-Order!

Okay...you are ALL going to want the In Good Taste Designer Series Paper.  It is so GORGEOUS!  The visual textures in this paper is absolutely AMAZING!  I CASE'd a couple different cards in the catalog to create this card.  I cut out several different patterns of DSP using one of the stitched Tasteful Labels Dies and adhered them in a tile-like pattern.  Next, I stamped two of the beautiful flowers from Tasteful Touches stamp set, colored them in Rocco Rose and fussy cut them out.  I added a few background stamps, along with some Linen Thread and In Good Taste Elements to complete the card.  I love the colorful flowers against the neutral tiles.
Supplies Used:
Paper ~ Gray Granite, Whisper White, In Good Taste DSP
Ink ~ Gray Granite, Memento, Stampin' Blends:  Rocco Rose, Mango Melody
Stamp Set ~ Tasteful Touches
Other Supplies ~ In Good Taste Elements, Linen Thread, Tasteful Labels Dies

I was so drawn to World of Good Suite...I love all of the colors, textures and images. This suite will be perfect for creating cards and scrapbook pages filled with travel memories.
In an effort to make the best of the current circumstances for so many seniors, I've been making lots of graduation cards.  The Beautiful World are not only good for travel, but for graduates and new beginnings as well!  I broke out my Aqua Painters and painted the world...in bright and cheerful colors.  I used the same colors, Crushed Curry, Grapefruit Grove, Lovely Lipstick, Coastal Cabana and Old Olive to stamp a fun background, and added a few splatters as well. I heat embossed the sentiment in white, which I fussy cut, of course!  I topped the world off with a fun little graduation cap.
Supplies Used:
Paper ~ Whisper White, Basic Black, Watercolor
Ink ~ VersaMark, Crushed Curry, Grapefruit Grove, Lovely Lipstick, Coastal Cabana, Old Olive
Stamp Set ~ Beautiful World
Other Supplies ~ World Map Dies, Whisper White Bakers Twine, Black Embossing Powder

I was inspired by this amazing card (below) created by our very own Stampin' Up! Concept Artist, Kaitlyn Zumbach. I LOVE this creation and just had to CASE it.
No photo description available. 
Thank you for joining us this month!  Be sure to make your way through the entire tour...you won't want to miss a thing!
Next up is the talented Connie Tumm...I love what she has shared with us!
Happy Stamping!




Friday, May 15, 2020

#TGIFC264 Technique Challenge - Watercolor

Happy Friday stampers...we made it through another week!  It was kind of a rough one for me...the yucky weather here has left me in kind of a funk.  Thank goodness for an all new TGIF Challenges to help out with a little creative therapy!
This week's Watercolor Technique Challenge was just what I needed! There is just something about coloring, of any type, that soothes me.  Painting this beautiful Magnolia was so much fun and I love how it turned out.
I used Petal Pink for the flowers, adding some darker color, then blending in some lighter color.  I did the same for the leaves, using Mossy Meadow.  I love the softness of the Petal Pink flower against the Early Espresso Magnolia Lane DSP.
I had yet to ink up this sentiment from Good Morning Magnolia, but it seemed so fitting for the crazy times we are in right now.  Without the continued connections with friends through all of this, I would be so lost!
Supplies Used:
Paper ~ Early Espresso, Whisper White, Watercolor, Magnolia Lane DSP
Ink ~ VersaMark, Early Espresso, Mossy Meadow, Petal Pink
Stamp Set ~ Good Morning Magnolia
Other Supplies ~ Magnolia Memories Dies, Painted Labels Dies, Basic Adhesive Backed Sequins

We are in the final stretch of our school year with just one month left.  I have enjoyed helping my boys learn at home, but I am looking forward to our summer break!  

Have a fantastic weekend!

Happy Stamping!

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Forever Friends ~ Hand Stamped Sentiments #339

Here we are again with an all new Hand Stamped Sentiments Challenge!  This week we have a pretty Color Challenge for you.  I don't know about you, but I am so thankful for these challenges to keep me busy during our continue quarantine!
I broke out my Aqua Painters for this card...something I need to do more often!  I love to watercolor as much as I love to color.  I just love these cute rain boots and happy little flowers!
I created a fun background by doing a watercolor wash, then stamping the tiny little raindrops in Seaside Spray.  The flowers were done in Mint Macaron, Seaside Spray and Rocco Rose.  Wondering where that pretty shade of purple came from?!?  That's the beautiful combination of Seaside Spray and Rocco Rose!
Supplies Used:
Paper ~ Seaside Spray, Basic Black, Watercolor
Ink ~ VersaMark, Mint Macaron, Seaside Spray, Rocco Rose, Soft Suede
Stamp Set ~ Under My Umbrella
Other Supplies ~ White Embossing Powder, Whisper White Crinkle Seam Binding Ribbon, March 2020 Paper Pumpkin Raindrop Embellishments, Subtle Embossing Folder

I hope you will join along in the fun with this weeks challenge.  We always love to see what everyone is creating!

Happy Stamping!


Sunday, May 10, 2020

Mother's Day Trio ~ Monday Montage


Welcome to an all new Monday Montage Blog Hop!  You won't want to miss a single creation from this amazing group of stampers!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day and had the chance to celebrate the important women in your life.  My boys, with the help of my hubby, made sure I had a nice day!  We spent a restful day at home and enjoyed a nice dinner with our momma's and aunt...a perfect day in my book!
I'm not only blessed with my own mom, but with two mother-in-laws as well!  It was fun creating these cards for them this year.

  Last month's Paper Pumpkin had some beautiful stamps that were perfect for Mother's Day.  I love the stamp to create the tree.  I had a few left over tree trunks from the kit, which I dressed up with the Frosted Flower Embellishments.  The little butterfly stamp was just what I needed for a cute boarder along the edge.

Next up is a card with some watercolored butterflies and some pretty layers of color.  I always forget how fun it is to combine Whisper White and Very Vanilla.  

My final card was created with the beautiful Ornate Garden Specialty DSP and Stampin' Blends...color therapy for me and a beautiful Mother's Day card for my mother-in-law.  That's a win for both of us!
Supplies Used:
Paper ~ Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Petal Pink, Old Olive, Best Dressed DSP, Ornate Garden Specialty DSP
Ink ~ Petal Pink, Pear Pizzazz, Granny Apple Green
Stamp Sets ~ April 2020 Paper Pumpkin, Strong & Beautiful, Butterfly Gala
Other Supplies ~ Linen Thread, Frosted Flower Embellishments, Iridescent Sequin Assortment

Thanks for stopping by today!  Now, on to the next stop on the hop!

Happy Stamping!

We've added a list of everyone's home pages so you can hop along in any order you wish!  Just make sure you don't miss any!



Monday, May 4, 2020

Quaran-TEAM Teacher Appreciation

It's Teacher Appreciation Week!  As with so many other things in life right now, this week of celebrating teachers is going to look so different.   But that doesn't mean we can't show our teachers how much we love and appreciate them!
My son's elementary school is doing Spirit Packet Pickup days every Monday between now and the last packet pickup of the year.  Today is Rainbow Spirit Day, so I thought it would be fun to make a fun card for the ENTIRE staff.  Yes, it's teacher appreciate week, but if it wasn't for ALL of the staff throughout our district, Distant Learning would not be as successful as it has been.
I think this is what you can call a $200 card!  I used SEVERAL different stamp sets, inks and supplies.  I think these are my favorite cards to make!

"You Make A" comes from Broadway Birthday, "Great" comes from To A Wild Rose, "Team" comes from For The Win,"Thank You For All You Do" comes from Rooted in Nature, and the fun little sunbursts come from Rise & Shine.  How awesome it that so many stamp sets can come together to make a fabulous card for some amazing teachers?!?!

Supplies Used:
Paper ~ Poppy Parade, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, Blueberry Bushel, Gorgeous Grape, Melon Mambo, Whisper White
Ink ~ Poppy Parade, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, Blueberry Bushel, Gorgeous Grape
Stamp Sets ~ Broadway Birthday, To A Wild Rose, For The Win, Rooted In Nature, Rise & Shine
Other Supplies ~ Hand-Lettered Prose

I hope you are able to show a teacher in your life how much you appreciate them this week!  Make their week with a handmade card, their favorite coffee or lunch delivery...or just a simple text or email letting them know just how much they mean to you.

I hope you all have a great week!

Happy Stamping!

Friday, May 1, 2020

Teachers Are A Work of Wonderful Art ~ #TGIFC262

We've made it through another week of working and learning from home and I am celebrating with an all new TGIF Challenges!  This week's color challenge is just what I needed to rest and relax my mind...especially since these are some of my FAVORITE colors!!!
I know that most teachers are putting in more work right now than they normally do in the classroom.  It has not been easy for them to prepare their classes week after week and not get to present their lessons in person.  Teachers are missing our kids so much and I am so grateful for all that they are doing to stay connected.  I made today's card with my youngest son's 2nd grade teacher in mind.  She is so WONDERFUL!  A simple card will never be enough to thank her for all that she has done, but I am hopeful that it will brighten her day! 
It Starts With Art has been my go-to stamp set for teacher cards lately...I'm so sad to see it go!  And the adorable Follow Your Art DSP is so cheerful and fun!!  I colored the pencil and pens with my {favorite} Stampin' Blends, then had some fun with different DSP patterns and cute little Arts & Crafts die cut pieces. 
The sentiments from Rooted In Nature were absolutely perfect for this card!  I stamped "You are wonderful" in Daffodil Delight and fussy cut the pieces for a fun layout.  I heat embossed "to thank you for all you do', cutting off the "to".  Do you like to fussy cut sentiments to make your own?  It's one of my favorite things to do!

Supplies Used:
Paper ~ Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral, Coastal Cabana, Follow Your Art DSP
Ink ~ VersaMark, Daffodil Delight, Memento, Stampin' Blends:  Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Bermuda Bay
Stamp Sets ~ It Starts With Art, Rooted in Nature
Other Supplies ~ Arts & Crafts Dies, Subtle Embossing Folder, White Embossing Powder

I hope you find time to play along with us this week!  It's always fun to see what everyone is inspired to create.

Happy Stamping!