Reason for the Season triple stamping

A while back I saw a demonstration on triple stamping so I thought I'd give it a go! Of course, I had a Christmas card in mind and I wanted to use the Reason for the Season stamp set that I got towards the end of 2015. It also comes with a Festive Flower Builder punch that you can use to punch out the poinsettia in any color you like. I was concentrating more on that, I made a wreath which I will post a little later, but I must say the punch makes the most beautiful flowers! But today, I finally got the stamp set out, and here is my card

On the smallest (the top) whisper white layer, after creating a mask for the sentiment, I embossed it in Gold. After layering the three white mats (using a little bit of snail on the back of each of the top two pieces to hold them together), I covered the sentiment with the mask and embossed the poinsettias using gold embossing powder. The stamp set is a triple stamp, so I stamped the second part of the flower (the petals) in Cherry Cobbler and the leaves in Garden Green. Now, when you've finished stamping, there are white spaces left within the flower and petals themselves and I didn't particularly like the look. I wanted the flower to be totally 'red'. So I took my Real Red Stampin' Write marker and filled in those white spaces and similarly using my Garden Green marker to fill in the leaves. I also used Crushed Curry to paint the middle of each flower. I was happy with the result, so now it was time to actually 'layer' the layers so to speak! The card base is Real Red and the Whisper White layers are matted with Gold foil. And for the final touch, I used my Wink of Stella pen to brush the flowers and petals! The picture doesn't do it justice, but then pictures rarely do! In person, I think it is a beautiful card! It does take a little while to make, but I think the end result was worth it, plus I really enjoyed 'painting' the flowers!

As always, if you would like to purchase any of the products that I have used here, there is a link to my Stampin' Up online store at the top right of this post. Or, if you would prefer, you can always send me an email, link also at the top right of this post. Thank you for visiting my blog today! 

Snow Place like the woods!

Well, I can't seem to stop making Christmas cards! It's such a beautiful season of the year, it makes my heart smile! The inspiration for this card came from a card that Tina Zinck created with the Merry Mice stamp set (one which hasn't reached my mailbox just yet!), it is so cute, take a hop over to her blog The Serene Stamper and take a peek! So anyway, I thought I'd put a snowman in the woods instead! Here's my card

The base of my card is Whisper White with a Pool Party Mat. The top layer began with Whisper White, I took the Woodland embossing folder and sponged Pool Party, Island Indigo and Marina Mist onto it and then stamped the Christmas tree from Lovely as a Tree onto the embossing folder over the blue inks. Once this was done I ran it through the Big Shot. I took a little Crumb Cake ink on a sponge and lightly brushed it over the birch trees to add a small amount of color to them. I then sponged the entire mat with Versamark and sprinkled Iridescent Ice embossing powder (retired from Stampin' Up) on top and heat set it, not sure if the picture is picking that up too well but it's a beautiful sparkly winter effect. I stamped the snowman from the Snow Place set, colored him with stamp 'n write markers and then fussy cut him. I used some burlap ribbon, frayed the edges and placed it along the bottom of the mat with a little vintage wooden snowflake and a snowflake sequin on top. The sentiment is a non-stampin' up image, but it was the one that I thought went best with this card. I really enjoyed making it and loved the way the Christmas trees appear to be behind the birch trees, so many things can be achieved using this embossing folder, images and ink! I hope you like my card, should you need any of the items I have listed, you can order them from my site which is listed at the top right of this post. I would really appreciate your business. Also, if you need a holiday or annual catalog, just drop me an email and I would be glad to send them to you.

Christmas Pines 'Tis the Season

Oh Boy, do I really really love this set - Christmas Pines! I made another card today using this stamp set and the framelits. For the first time I'm going to enter into a sketch contest! Each week Freshly Made Sketches has a new sketch (this week it's number 254) for you to enter if you choose, so I figured, why not, let's give it a go! This is the sketch

and this is my card

The card base is Cherry Cobbler with a Whisper White mat that has been embossed with the Softly Falling embossing folder. I stamped the pine leaves first in Garden Green and Old Olive and then cut some out using the framelits and attached them around the stamped images. I used the framelits again to cut out the three pine cones using the copper foil and Chocolate Chip paper. Under the pine cones I wrapped some copper metallic thread around the pine leaves to give it some added interest and then finished it off with a triple bow of linen thread. The sentiment is also from the same stamp set, Christmas Pines. I had fun making this card, I hope you like it! 

All of the items I used are from Stampin' Up, so if there are any items you would like to purchase, a link to my online store is at the top right of this post. I would truly appreciate your business!

Christmas again!

Well, I think I must be on a roll cause here I go again, this time with two Christmas cards! The first one is using the Christmas Pines set again and I was inspired by a card made by Shelly Godby, I followed her design but used copper paper to mold one of my pine cones. The card base is Garden Green, I coupled that with Mint Macaroon (the ferns, the DSP and the ribbon, which, by the way, is soft linen, so manageable and easy to make a bow). I first stamped the ferns on the card base and then kind of followed them on by two-tone stamping them on to the mat of Whisper White. I then die cut some more ferns and put them on top of the stamped images to give it more depth and dimension. The cones are both stamped, but the top piece of the larger one to the left is die cut with copper. As I have said before, Christmas Pines is a beautiful set and the possibilities for use are endless!

Now, on to my second card! This is using a new stamp set, Jar of Cheer, once again a beautiful Christmas set that you can find on page 25 of the new Holiday catalog! It coordinates with the Everyday Jar Framelits from the main catalog on page 192. It's a sliding pop-up card, when it's open it stands on it's own! For paper, I used Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla and DSP from the 'This Christmas' stack. I made a shaker with the jar, cutting all the pieces using the framelits, stamping the candle, coloring the image with my markers (So Saffron, Garden Green with a little Pumpkin Pie in the flame) and filling it with snowflakes. These snowflakes I have had for some time, I got them in a kit from Gina K. Designs last year I think. Making a shaker is now so easy as Stampin Up has come out with foam adhesive strips (page 182 of the main catalog) that you can actually stretch around your image, whatever shape it is! Awesome! Behind the jar is a tree from the stamp set Lovely as a Tree, one of the oldest stamp sets Stampin Up has, thank goodness, it's my favorite - LOL! I used the 'thumping' method to color the tree (thumping is using markers, minimum of 2, to color the tree then 'huff' and stamp). Behind the tree, so to speak, I stamped snowflakes, using Soft Sky, stamping off first, just to give a little added interest. I added Dazzling Diamonds to the tree (unfortunately retired from Stampin Up, but you could use Wink of Stella) to make a beautiful sparkle in the background. When it's 'popped-up' the sentiment shows at the bottom. Again, a wonderful stamp set that I can see myself using a lot this Christmas!  

I hope you like my two Christmas Cards, if you need any of the supplies used to make them there is a link at the top right of this post that will take you directly to my on-line store. I would really appreciate your business! Also, as an aside, I have instructions for making the pop-up card if you would like them, my email is on my on-line website, just shoot me a line and I'll be glad to send them to you.

Christmas Pines

Well, I finally jumped on the 'Christmas in July' bandwagon, except that mine is in August! I just received my shipment of goodies from the new Holiday Catalog and the first set I wanted to play with was Christmas Pines along with the coordinating thinlets, Pretty Pines! This is a gorgeous set and you too will be able to order it in 10 days! If you have a catalog, it's on page 19 and if you don't, please let me know and I will be glad to send you one! It has 22 photopolymer stamps and 13 dies in the bundle and, I can tell you, I love it! I know I always say that, but it's true, and truly Stampin' Up outdoes themselves every time! So, on to my card. I used a sketch from a blog I follow, CARDTV  Mary doesn't stamp much, she uses her Cricut machine, but just recently she provided us, her followers, 14 sketches which I thought were awesome! I started with a card base of Very Vanilla, a mat of Cherry Cobbler (another No.1 color in my opinion!) and a top layer of This Christmas DSP. The three squares are cut in Very Vanilla with the Layering Squares Framelits. The two cones in the middle have a top layer (cut with the dies) of the new Copper paper - love it! The cones either side are embossed with the, also new, copper embossing powder. I colored two of the pearl basic jewels with a copper Sharpie pen and placed them at the top of the cones. The foliage beneath and around the cones I filled with cuts from the Pretty Pines thinlets, covering the 'mistletoe' also with pearls and wound around that is some of the (here we go again!) new copper metallic thread - awesomeness! The sentiment is also from the same stamp set.I hope you like it, I think I'm going to be using this set much more in the not too distant future!

Washi Tape!

Today I have a thank you card I made for a friend who very kindly make me some of her famous Zucchini Bread! I'm usually the one who bakes around here, so I was very pleasantly surprised to say the least! It was so good, very moist, I definitely couldn't have made it better! So, on with my card! It's taken me a while to 'latch on' to Washi Tape, but I'm so glad I got a pack of the new Floral Boutique Designer Washi Tape, it's awesome! Because I wanted to use all three of the Washi Tapes, I decided to make a monchromatic card, I've never done one before and I must say I'm very pleased with this one.  I used the Touches of Texture stamp set (page 141 of the new yearly catalog), it consists of 15 stamps in all, I love this set! I also used Vertical Greetings (page 109 of the catalog), this is a set of 9 stamps and a first for Stampin' Up in the vertical greetings category - love it! So my 'mono' color is Night of Navy, another of my very favorite colors from Stampin' Up. What's also great is the fact that there is a whole suite of products that match exactly to Night of Navy! You just can't go wrong. So to match my Night of Navy Card base I used ink, stamp and write marker, and Bakers Twine all in Night of Navy! I actually stamped, tone on tone, on the card base with another of the stamps from Touches of Texture, not sure if you can see that or not. To color the flower I used my marker to put some ink around the center and then used the Wink of Stella pen to blend it to the outer petals and I did this on the dragonfly as well. I'm not sure if you can see the beautiful shimmer it gives in the picture, but it's gorgeous in person, so to speak! To give the card a nice finishing touch I put a metal rimmed pearl in the center of the flower. I hope you like this card - and I hope my friend does too!

Heritage Day!

So today is Heritage Day at our local Gym! My daughter, Kara, attends a Zumba class about 4-5 times per week and all the Zumbarites (I made up that word!) were asked to wear something that denotes their heritage.  So, of course, Kara asked if I would make her a tee-shirt with both the flag of the UK and of the USA, (I am from the UK and my Husband is from the US). My Cricut Explore has been a little rusty lately as I have been concentrating on my rubber stamping world! So, out it came and I cut out the vinyl pieces necessary for this shirt. The red and white are glitter vinyl (not sure if that shows up in the pictures) and the blue is regular iron on vinyl, the blue is a little dark (navy), but we couldn't find any royal blue which, of course, would have been perfect! I think the navy looks good though! Here are pictures of my daughter displaying her shirt, which she loved! I really enjoyed making it and using my Cricut again!

(Please excuse my fridge in the background, as my Mother used to say, "You could have picked a better place to take the picture! The heart under my daughter's right arm my Jaden made for me on Valentines Day this year - oh I love him so much!) 

Wedding!

Nan to the rescue!  My eldest grandson, Bryan, and his girlfriend Kristy are going to Bryan's old boss Bobby's wedding this weekend and of course, they needed a card! Who am I to complain, it's not as if I don't really like making cards! LOL! So I just received one of my new Stampin' Up stamp sets, Floral Phrases and it also has dies to go with it, how fantastic! The first picture is the front of the card, the two pieces on the left and right are the Floral Phrases thinlets (dies) cut out using Dazzling Diamond glitter paper.  I tucked them and the ribbon around a whisper white mat that I attached to the card base. On this mat I stamped 'Congratulations' and embossed it in silver, unfortunately it's beneath the ribbon and you can't see it in this picture (just pretend, get a visual!) The inside mat is also embossed in silver with a stamp from the Floral Phrases set. Beneath the pictures are the products I used which are all Stampin' Up.

Stamp Sets:  Floral Phrases, First Sight (tiny branch on the inside mat)

Paper:  Whisper White, Dazzling Diamond glitter paper, Silver Foil

Accessories:   5/8" Organza Ribbon, Basic Rhinestones, Versamark, Silver embossing powder, Tombow glue, Skor tape

If you would like to purchase any of these items, please go to my website Here. I would really appreciate your business, thank you! That's it for today!

Baby Bear Pop-Up Card

Well the inspiration for this card came from a Stampin' Up demonstrator from the UK, Linda Parker who has recorded a You Tube video on how to make this really super sweet card, go here to Linda's video if you would like to see it.  I have changed the sizes of the paper for my card to US as Linda made her card using UK sizes. Don't you think it would make it a whole lot easier if the world had the same size paper! I'm sure Stampin' Up would be delighted! Anyway, the moment I saw this card, I knew I had to make it!  Of course I had to wait for the stamp set to be delivered, but finally it was here! Behind the baby bear is a Chest of Drawers, but in this picture you aren't able to tell that as the legs are hidden by the baby bear.  I hand stamped the chest with the little flowers and leaves from the Jar of Love stamp set and put the new enamel silver hearts on the 'drawers' to represent the knobs. The baby bear is a 3 set stamp to give that wonderful 'furry' effect, stamped in the three different colors of brown. I fussy cut her as this particular stamp set does not have dies, but she was easy to cut. Her bow has also been touched up with the Wink of Stella pen, it's very pretty and shiny in real life I promise! When you pull the card open, the baby bear is free standing with the Chest of Drawers behind her - really cool if I do say so myself, and of course my thanks to Linda Parker for doing her video!

Here is a complete list of the products I used, all Stampin' Up:

Stamp Sets: Baby Bear, Jar of Love

Paper: Blushing Bride for the card base, Whisper White for the mat and Chest of Drawers, DSP from the Subtles Designer Series paper stack and from the now retired Love Blossoms DSP

Ink: Blushing Bride, Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede 

Accessories: 1" circle punch, Modern Label punch (retired sadly) Skor Tape, Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue (my absolute favorite!), Silver enamel hearts, Wink of Stella

Customer Appreciation!

I don't have too many customers yet, it does take a little while to get going! One of my customers is my dear friend and I appreciate her business tremendously! So below are two boxes that hold gifts for her and a card to go with.  I got the inspiration for the rainbow look from Crafty Caroline who made something similar.  The main color is Melon Mambo (for the bottom of both boxes and the card base) and to go with that are the new Peekaboo Peach, Daffodil Delight, Cucumber Crush and Pacific Point.  I used two (well actually 3) stamp sets, Gorgeous Grunge, Papillion Potpourri and Mixed Borders for the sentiment. I also used the DSP that goes with the Melon Mambo as a mat for my card. I'm very thankful for my friend who was actually the one that got me started stamping.  That alone deserves my undying thanks!

If you would like to order any of the stamp sets or paper that I have used, you can do so by visiting my site
HERE I would really really appreciate your business!

Congratulations!

I moved into my current location 20 years ago, my house is located on a cul-de-sac and at that time there were only a total of 3 houses on the street! My eldest grandson, who was 4 at the time, lived with me (still does to this day!), and there was only one other child on the street in the house next to mine (at least a football field length away!), Daniel, who was 6. Bryan and Daniel became instant friends, they were never too far away from each other and consequently grew up like brothers! Daniel became my 'grandson' also and he grew up to be a wonderful, kind, thoughtful young man!  I know you're wondering where this is going!  Well, Daniel just got engaged to his fiancee, Miranda.  It still feels a little unreal to me yet, but I wanted to send them a card to celebrate this beautiful occasion!

The card base is Whisper White. The first layer is silver glimmer paper and the top layer is Whisper White. I embossed the stamp Flowering Flourishes in silver and cut out the little hearts in SU's silver glimmer paper.  I also embossed the sentiment in silver.  I thought is was a simple card but packed a WOW punch.  The picture doesn't really do it justice, I hope Daniel and Miranda liked it! Now I just have to wait for the announcement of the wedding!  Oh boy, am I getting old!!

My BFF!

I grew up with my bestie, Bernie, her name is actually Bernadette, but if you knew her, that name just doesn't go with her personality.  She is a tiny, and I mean tiny - roughly 4.10 in shoes, and she is just the bubbliest person you'll ever meet!  So you see, Bernadette is just too formal for her! Bernie lives in California and I live in Pennsylvania, we are both originally from the UK and we grew up together - to be exact, I met her in the early sixties!! That should give you a clue as to how 'aged' we both are, like good wine!  Anyway, I miss her very much, I don't get to see her too often now. So, I made her a card just to let her know how much I do miss her.  I saw this card originally on Ann's Happy Stampers, I just made a couple of changes, hers was just so beautiful, I had to CASE it. I hope you like my card, it's very special as she is to me!

The base card is Smokey Slate.  The layers are Smokey Slate DSP and a top layer of Whisper White. I embossed the flourish from the stamp set Timeless Textures in silver and then stamped the dot splatters around in Smokey Slate and the new in-color (my fave!) Sweet Sugarplum. I added some little flowers, also in Sweet Sugarplum and a couple of butterflies stamped on vellum with additional butterflies underneath punched out in the silver glimmer paper. The new in-colors will be available June 1st from the new catalogue which you can see also on 1st June  HERE in my Stampin Up store. If you would like a catalogue, please leave me a comment or request by email. I would really appreciate your business!  

Another Mother's Day Card!

My eldest grandson, Bryan, asked me if I could make a Mother's Day card for him.  This is what I made, my daughter LOVES bling!  So the blingier (is that a word!) it is, the more she likes it. I die cut the heart from the center of the card and embossed the blushing bride layer with the lovely lace embossing folder. The heart that I inserted into the space on the pink layer is cut from the blushing bride glimmer paper and the card base is rose red. The flowers that are added to the heart are die cut also from blushing bride and a small pink accent added to the middle. I added a rose red bow and some pink sequins to 'bling it up' a little more! Finally, I brushed the flowers with some Wink of Stella.I stamped the sentiment on vellum just to give the card a 'softer' look.  I loved the finished product and I hope you do too!

My grandson's birthdays!

Two of my grandsons who live close to me are celebrating (well one celebrated already on April 13!), they are 8 and 9 respectively.  They are two of the most kind, thoughtful and precious children a grandmother could have.  They are the light of my day and of my life! These are the two cards I made for them; the 8 year old is Rorey and the 9 year old is Jaden.  Rorey's birthday is coming up next week, 31st May.

I used the stamp set Number of Years and corresponding Framelits for both cards.  For Rorey's card I used the Owl Punch to create the Minion, and then I made a Minion out of one of the balloons.  Real Red, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point and Whisper White where the main paper and ink colors I used

Mother's Day Card Birthday Blooms

I was requested by one of my sons to make a Mother's Day card for my daughter-in-law and I thought the stamp set Birthday Blooms would be ideal!  I CASED the card from Pinterest, it was done by Kristi Gray another Stampin' Up demonstrator.  It was so pretty, I just had to make one!  I used my blender pen, Blushing Bride and Watermelon Wonder inks to color the flowers and Old Olive and Pear Pizazz to color the leaves. Unfortunately the picture doesn't show off the Wink of Stella I put on the flowers, but it does look beautiful in person (if I do say so myself!) For the sentiment I used a retired Stampin' Up set called Something to Celebrate and embossed it in gold on vellum. I just love the font on this one, so I just had to use it! Here is the card recipe:

Stamp Set: Birthday Blooms, Something to Celebrate (retired)
Inks: Blushing Bride, Old Olive, Pear Pizazz and Watermelon Wonder 
Paper: Birthday Bouquet DSP, Mint Macaron, Velum, Watermelon Wonder and Whisper White
Accessories: Basic Pearls, Gold Embossing Powder, Gold Star sequins, Lots of Labels Framelits, Softy Falling Embossing Folder, Watermelon Wonder Lace Ribbon, Wink of Stella

Now as my son and his wife live in California, I had to make a box to put the card in as there was quite a bit of embellishment on it and I didn't want it to get destroyed in the post.  I used two other stamps in the Birthday Blooms set and made my own DSP! Of course then I packed it all up in bubble wrap and sent it off in another box! My daughter-in-law is a beautiful person and a wonderful Mom so she absolutely deserves it! Without further ado, here is the card and it's box!

Birthday Blooms

Hi everyone!  Today I have a Pop Out Swing Card.  In essence this is a card that has a piece (in this case a square) cut out from the front of the card and when you pull on the square from the outside it opens up into a gatefold card.  I saw this technique demonstrated by Debbie Henderson from Debbie's Designs, she has a You Tube video HERE if you would like to see how to make it. It's really very easy but has a definite WOW factor! The pictures don't do it justice! Below are the products I used to create my card. 
SU Stamps: Birthday Blooms, A Whole Lot of Lovely
SU Ink: Archival Black
SU Paper: Pool Party, Whisper Whte
SU Accessories: White Perfect Accents, Silver Embossing Powder. Stamping Dimensionals, Wink of Stella
Copic Markers: R20, RV13, Y17, YG95, YG97

I stamped the rose images in Archival Black ink then colored them using Copics. I stamped the little dots around to give a little added interest to the focal image. For the sentiment, I embossed it in silver which really compliments the pool party paper! I really enjoyed making this card, I find coloring very therapeutic!  I hope you like it too!

If you would like to purchase any of these items, please visit my Stampin' Up shop HERE

Retiring List is here!

The time has come, the list of all the products that are retiring from the Stampin' Up 2015/2016 Annual Catalog and also the Spring Summer Catalog.  We all know that this is going to be a crazy mad dash to get all that we have wanted but not purchased! Try not to hang around and wait too long if you’ve had your eye on something. When they’re gone, they’re gone!  For your convenience I have links below to the lists, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.  The link for the retiring stamps will take you directly to my SU website.  I will be ordering the new 2016/2017 Annual Catalog soon, please contact me at suebee6491@gmail.com and it will be my pleasure to send you one.  Thank you so much!

Retiring Stamps

Retiring List PDF

My First Card.....

I am a new Stampin' Up Independent Demonstrator and this would be my first card as said Demonstrator! I saw a video a while ago of a corner flip fold card by Dawn Olchefske - Here her You Tube channel is Do Stampin with Dawn, so I decided to give it a try.  Dawn was right, it was very easy to make.  For the paper, I'm featuring the beautiful Blackberry Bliss, one of my favorites.  Unfortunately, it will be retired at the end of May, but I'm sure that there will be some equally as beautiful In-Colors coming to us from Stampin' Up in June.  Below are the Stampin' Up products I used to create this card:
Stamps:  Number of Years, Papillon Potpourri and Cottage Greetings
Paper: Blackberry Bliss, In-Color DSP, Vellum and Whisper White
Inks: Blackberry Bliss, Calypso Coral, Hello Honey and Old Olive 
Accessories: Basic Pearls, Bitty Butterfly punch, Large Number Framelits, Stamping Dimensionals, Wink of Stella, and, of course, the Stampin' Trimmer (a must have in my humble opinion!) 
If you would like any of these items, please visit my Stampin Up shop here