Friday, January 29, 2016

Bloomin' Love for As You See It Challenges


Who do you give Valentines to? Just your hunny, or do you use Valentine's Day as a way to express your love for your kids (and grandkids) as well? In our family we do the latter, so I like to make a lot of them. I'm not sure who I would give this to, probably a daughter. If I was a guy, it would be great for my sweetheart, but not sure if it would be much of a masculine valentine.  It features the Bloomin' Love Stamp set, from the Occasions Catalogue.

This is my Design Team contribution to As You See It Challenges #121, a sketch challenge:


With all those lacy doodads on the bottom, it was perfect for a flowery Valentine. I mean, if you can't be flowery for Valentine's Day, when can you?



  • I got out all my heart punches for this, but I made a disturbing discovery. If I wanted to punch the lower border with them, (them being the Confetti Hearts Border Punch and the Hearts Border Punch) the hearts would be upside down. That was a huge wrench in the works of my design plan. So the first layer has the hearts at the top, thanks to the Hearts Border Punch, and I settled for a scalloped border for the second layer (made with the edge of the largest scallop square framelit) and lace trim for the third.
  • I'm afraid I'm enamored with Real Red, Crumb Cake (or Kraft) and Very Vanilla, especially if you can fit a little bling in there. I used Red Glimmer Paper, Red Foil sheets. Kraft Corrugated Paper and Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla cardstock.
  • The stamped images are from the Bloomin' Love Stamp Set. My Valentine is stamped in Real Red ink. The flower flourish at the top was inked up in Crumb Cake, then I used a Qtip to remove the Crumb Cake ink from the flowers and used my Real Red Stampin' Write Marker to fill them in. 
  • I embellished it with the Red Glimmer Paper hearts that were punched out of the border, using Glue Dots to adhere them to the paper.
Hope you've enjoyed this design. I will be home from holidays by my next post and will show you some vacation photos as well as some new designs! Have a great weekend.



Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.


Product List

Thursday, January 28, 2016

More Movies from Stampin' Up!

I have three more video tutorials from Stampin' Up!'s Youtube channel that I know you're going to love. The first one features the Rose Wonder Bundle from the Occasions Catalogue:

One of my favourite home office personalities, Carrie Cudney, shows you how to use the Rose Wonder Stamp set and the Rose Garden Thinlits to you best advantage. Take a peek:


          


Now, I want to show you a tutorial for one of the most unique bundles in the Occasions Catalogue, the Botanical Blooms Bundles! Here's Shannon West:



         

And finally, Andrea Withers shows us all about the Party Pop-Up Thinlit Dies:


         

Hope you enjoyed learning about these new products! Ciao!

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

More Intricate Dies with the Butterfly Thinlits


Do you know what colour I haven't used for awhile? Wisteria Wonder! She was lying there, forgotten in my Colour Caddy, sniffling a little when I found her. She gave me a hint that she goes really well with Mint Macaron, I colour I've been using a lot, so I thought she deserved some air time! This is a second card for my February Technique Nights which features Intricate Dies and the Big Shot Die Brush, and I wanted to use some of our older intricate dies to show my customers how much use they will get out of the brush.


  • Don't you love the soft look of the Mint Macaron and the Wisteria Wonder together? I don't know why I didn't think of this combination before now.
  • The Designer Series Paper you see in the middle is from the English Garden Designer Series. The background DSP is from the Subtles Designer Series Paper Stack in Wisteria Wonder.
  • I used the Butterflies Thinlits to die cut the big butterfly. I added some clear Wink of Stella to the edges of the wings. You can just see the glitter in this photo.
  • The sentiment is from the Picture Perfect Stamp set and is so appropriate for this card. I stamped it in Elegant Eggplant and punched it out with the Washi Label Punch. I punched out a second one from Elegant Eggplant cardstock, cut it in half and adhered to each end of the sentiment.

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.


Product List

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Stampin' Up! Demonstrates the Bloomin' Heart Thinlit Dies



I'm enjoying some time in the sun and warmth this week, so I wanted to share with you some Stampin' Up! videos demonstrating the new Occasions products. The first one features the Bloomin' Heart Thinlits Dies that I used here for yesterday's blog post. Say hello to Brandi Barnard, from the home office:


        


And one more great video about the Wink of Stella Glitter Brush with Donna Griffith, from the home office as well:



       

I learn so much from these videos, and I know they'll be helpful to you, as well.

Because it's Tuesday, it's time for new...




Monday, January 25, 2016

Embedded Heart Technique Card


For my February Technique Night classes, my theme is intricate dies and the Big Shot Die Brush. One of the cards we will be doing features the beautiful Bloomin' Hearts Thinlit Die embedded in the upper layer of the card front. It was inspired by a card that I found on Pinterest, which I basically recreated using Stampin' Up! products.

Take a closer look and the embedding part:



  • I die cut two of the Bloomin' Hearts with the thinlit using the Precision Base Plate, one heart from the Watermelon Wonder cardstock and one from Tip Top Taupe cardstock. I then used the Big Shot Die Brush to remove the hearts from the die and to also remove all the little bits of paper from the die cut. I put the Watermelon Wonder heart aside to use for something else, and inserted the Tip Top Taupe heart into the negative space left by the Watermelon heart.
  • No, I didn't fit all those little bits of paper back into the spaces in the Tip Top Taupe heart! That would be a ridiculous amount of work. I simply glued the top panel over a 3 7/8" x 4 1/2" piece of Watermelon Wonder cardstock, which was adhered to the card base where the heart would sit. The effect is the same though and it's really hard to tell that it's not all embedded.
  • The sentiments are from the Sale-A-Bration set What I Love. You can earn this set for free for a $60 or more order during Sale-A-Bration, until March 31st. A word of caution, though. Definitely stamp the sentiment first before you die cut the heart out of the cardstock. If you mess up you can turn the paper over or stamp another one before you die cut.

  • The branches and bird are made with the Bird Builder Punch, an old favourite. Make sure you have the pattern you want facing the right direction before you punch. The large flower die from the Bloomin' Heart Thinlits die cut the flowers that you see. Pearls made the flower centers and the bird's eye.
That Big Shot Die Brush works wonders! I highly recommend it! If you are in my area, you are invited to my Technique Night classes. Join with a fun bunch of ladies and learn some new stampin' techniques!


Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.




Product List