Mother's Love Meets Flower Patch

Well, originally my plan was to make a card for Freshly Made Sketches, but fate intervened as it often does, and I caught sight of a cute Mother's Day Card on a Facebook page. I loved the bright colours, but even more I liked the marriage of two stamp sets, Mother's Love and Flower Patch. I love the sentiments in Mother's Love, but I'm not totally sold on the flower images. So I cased the card.

It was a creation of Trish Brunkhart, who in turn cased one of Dawn Griffith's designs. My card base is a different fancy fold. I used the Center Step fold design, which is controversial in itself. I think it should be call the Double Side Step fold because the steps are on the side, not in the center. But I don't make the Stampin' Rules, so this shall remain the Center Step fold design, under protest!

• Here's where I found a great template, that looks like this:

• I totally cased the colour scheme using Daffodil Delight as the card base, Tangerine Tango to layer and Whisper White,  I added DSP from All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack.
• The great sentiment from Mother's Love fits so perfectly on the center panel. I stamped it in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink. The other coordinating sentiment I added on the inside of the card.
• I had to stick with smaller flowers so I used two designs from the Flower Patch Photopolymer Stamp Set. The little daisy doesn't have a coordinating framelit so I stamped that right on the sentiment panel. The only other appropriately sized flower did have a framelit so I stamped two of them in Daffodil Delight and Crushed Curry and another two in Pumpkin Pie and Tangerine Tango and die cut them, adding them to the card base with Glue Dots.

• And here's the other sentiment on the inside. These flowers were all stamped.

This is a cute alternative to the fancy pastel cards I did for Mother's Day last week! Hope you've found a card that works for you.

#StampingforNepal

I just want to remind you that I'm conducting a fundraiser for the relief effort in Nepal after the earthquake, with a silent auction that you can participate in until Thursday, May 7 at 10 pm, when bidding stops. You can see the details here, or go straight to the Facebook Album to look at the items and bid on them.

You can help the relief effort as well as get a great hand-stamped item for yourself or maybe your mom. Here's a sample:

And if you are a papercrafter, I'm challenging you to use your craft to do some fundraising yourself. Then update your Facebook status with what you did and how much you donated from that using the hashtag #StampingforNepal. We'll see what a difference a group can make!

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 Stampin' Up! products used to make this card today!

Product List

Mother's Love Clear Stamp Set [138841]	Mother's Love Wood Stamp Set [138838]	Mother's Love Photopolymer Stamp Set [137170]	Flower Patch Photopolymer Stamp Set [134207]	Flower Patch Photopolymer Bundle [136788]
*All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack [133703]	Daffodil Delight 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [119683]	Tangerine Tango 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [111349]	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]
Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad [126944]	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad [131173]	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad [126945]	Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin' Pad [126946]	Flower Fair Framelits Die [133731]
Stampin' Trimmer [126889]	Big Shot [113439]	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]	Glue Dots [103683]

*Retiring June 2, 2015

Flower Patch Card for As You See It Challenges

No matter how long and tiring the week has been, I always look forward to designing for As You See It Challenges every Thursday. Amanda's creative challenges never fail to get my mojo kick-started. Last night was no exception. I had spent the day preparing for a large workshop that evening and hadn't had a moment to work on today's challenge sketch. I looked it over carefully before leaving for the workshop, hoping that my brain would begin the planning process on it's own while I was busy. It actually worked. By the time I got home, I knew exactly what I was going to do, and it involved the Flower Patch stamp set and coordinating Flower Fair Framelits.

Here's a look at the challenge sketch:

As soon as I saw it, I thought, "Hawaiian shirt!", but I imagined flowers embossed on vellum and added to the card. I knew that the Flower Patch stamp set would be great for the job.

• I went to look in my cupboard to see what colour embossing powders I had in stock and came up with this combination: Crushed Curry, Pool Party and White. I used Versamark ink to stamp several of the same designs and added the three colours of Stampin' Emboss Powders before heat setting them using the Heat Tool. I remembered to dust my whole sheet of vellum with the Embossing Buddy before I started to remove oils and static so the powder would not stick where I didn't want it. I love the look of the embossed colours on the vellum.
• After embossing, I used the Flower Fair Framelits to die cut most of the flowers you see. The small irregular flowers don't have a coordinating framelit shape so I had to fussy-cut three of those but it wasn't too hard.
• I opted for an oval in the middle with the sentiment (also from Flower Patch) because I wanted to use a sheet of the All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack for a background it is not conducive to stamping a sentiment because of the small designs that cover it. The oval also helps with the placement of the flowers.
• The great thing about the Flower Patch designs is that you can build your flowers as the different designs work well together.

Hope you enjoyed this design! Have a great weekend and I'll be back on Monday with a design for Freshly Made Sketches!

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 Stampin' Up! products used to make this card today!

Product List

Flower Patch Photopolymer Stamp Set [134207]	Flower Patch Photopolymer Bundle [136788]	Vellum 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [101856]	All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack [133703]	Pool Party 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [122924]
Crushed Curry 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [131199]	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]	Versamark Pad [102283]	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad [126982]	White Stampin' Emboss Powder [109132]
Pool Party Stampin' Emboss Powder [129398]	Crushed Curry Stampin' Emboss Powder [133753]	Embossing Buddy [103083]	Heat Tool [129053]	Flower Fair Framelits Die [133731]
Ovals Collection Framelits Die [129381]	Big Shot [113439]	Fuse Fast Adhesive [129026]	Glue Dots [103683]

Flower Patch Poinsettias for As You See It Challenges

I have a love/hate relationship with poinsettias. I usually get one or two of them over the Christmas season.  They are so beautiful with their scarlet petals and green leaves. They kind of epitomize Christmas for me. However, I always end up killing them. Not on purpose, you understand.  I want them to live long, lovely flower lives, I will them to live long, lovely flower lives, but I have not discovered the secret of keeping them alive for more than a month at the most. Usually by January 2 or so, the petals are dropping like crazy and, instead of a lush, colourful floral display, I'm left with the sickly skeleton of its former glory. It's then that I guiltily open my back door and deposit the poor thing in the snow, to be cleaned up next spring. I should never buy them, but the hopeful faces of the kids selling them as a fundraiser always gets to me, and as I bring it home, hope rises once more that I will be able to keep THIS one alive. Sigh!

When I saw the As You See It Challenge #063, I thought,"Odd, to be doing a design with flowers in the winter time." But then I realized I could do poinsettias, and what's more, these would not die on me! Bonus!

Here's Amanda's cute sketch:

And a closer look at my design:

• I used Clear Mount Block C to create the rectangle in the center. I just inked it up with Smoky Slate and stamped it right on the Whisper White. I love the texture you get from doing that.
• Then I got out the Flower Patch Photopolymer Stamp set. It is so versatile. I inked up the small five petal flower in Cherry Cobbler and stamped it right on the edge of the rectangle. Then I inked it up again and positioned the petals between the petals already stamped, and stamped again. I inked it up once again and stamped the single image on a separate scrap piece of Whisper White twice, and this time die cut them with the coordinating Flower Fair Framelits. It left a wide margin of white around the petals, which detracted from the scarlet display, so I hand trimmed them with my Paper Snips.
• The centers are also from the Flower Patch set and I stamped them first in Tuxedo Black Memento ink, then in Crushed Curry, to get that two-toned center look.  These were also die cut with the Flower Fair Framelits.
• I assembled the die cut flowers and centers over the ones stamped on the front panel and I think it created two fairly credible looking poinsettias.

• I could not believe that I hadn't yet used my Real Red Woven Satin Ribbon yet.  Even though it's Real Red and not Cherry Cobbler, I think it works here.  The texture on the ribbon edges reminds me of the texture on the poinsettia leaves and petals.
• The sentiment, stamped in Old Olive ink is from Good Greetings, unfortunately, no longer available.
• A few sprinkles of Rhinestone Basic Jewels and the card is done.

Holy Stampin' Bonuses, Batman!  Stampin' Up! has announced a new ONE WEEK deal on the Starter Kit!  If you have ever thought of joining Stampin' Up! as a Demonstrator, this just might be the ideal time!  For one week only, from Monday, November 24 - Tuesday, December 2, the Starter Kit will be 25% off! That means you pay only $93.75 for  $155 dollars worth of product of your choice from any current catalogue. (The regular price is $125.00)  But that's not all!

Not only do you get the 20% discount as long as you qualify as a Demonstrator, but your first order will give you 30% off.  There's more!  If you sign up between Nov. 24 and Dec. 2, you will get a 5% Cash Back Bonus for your December Sales!  Now, tell me, who wouldn't want to sign up??  

How do you become a demonstrator?  Click on "Join My Team" in the top menu or right here and follow the prompts.  Or email me and I will help you through the process!  Make sure you wait until Monday, November 24th though, so you can take advantage of this promotion.

Also, we've had notice from Stampin' Up! that something is coming, and we find out the details today!  I will let you know as soon as I know.  I'm guessing that it might be a big sale, as that usually happens around this time of year.  Keep your fingers crossed and keep your eye on my blog and on my Facebook page!

Have a lovely weekend!  Leave me a comment and tell me if you have any secrets to keep poinsettias alive!  All information is welcome!

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

Flower Patch Photopolymer Stamp Set [134207]	Flower Patch Photopolymer Bundle [136788]	Clear Block C [118486]	Good Greetings Wood-Mount Stamp Set [135014]	Smoky Slate 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [131202]
Old Olive 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [100702]	Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [100730]	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad [126966]	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad [131173]
Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [126953]	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad [131179]	Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents [119246]	Real Red 3/8" Satin Woven Ribbon [135840]	Flower Fair Framelits Die [133731]
Paper Snips [103579]	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine [113439]	Mini Glue Dots [103683]