Friday, January 31, 2014

Dancing in the Moonlight

 Hi Everyone...today I'm excited since I'm hosting my first challenge at the Friday Mashup!  I've created a sketch for you to use and a mashup to add to it.  This week they are...

Create a project with "Sketch."
Create a project using some "Sponging"
Or Mash it Up and create a project with "Sponging using the Sketch."

I'd love to have you play along with us HERE!  The designers have some great cards to inspire you too.  Give it a try if you have a bit of time.  I'd love to see what you create. :)  

Since sponging is one of my favorite techniques I really went all out with the sponging on this card.  I cut the tulips out after I stamped them with Black StazOn ink.  I cut the tulips from their stems too so I could sponge all around them, and put them on using dimensionals so they'd pop a little.  At first I was going to sponge daylight colors for the background, but didn't like how that looked, so I went with a twilight look.  I hope you enjoy what I've created.








Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Stamp Set:  Blessed Easter
Card Stock:  Strawberry Slush
Classic Stampin' Pads:  Strawberry Slush, So Saffron, 
Crisp Cantaloupe, Gumball Green, Night of Navy, 
Pacific Point, Island Indigo, Bermuda Bay,
Coastal Cabana &  Pool Party
Embossing Folder:  Framed Tulips
Punch:  1 3/8" Circle
Sponges & Patience!




Thursday, January 30, 2014

Fancy Festive Flurry

Anybody ready to see more Christmas cards?  I am, and the designers at 'Tis the Season did a great job with their cards using Marina Mist, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White.  The optional trimming is brads, but I put rhinestones in place of the jewels for this challenge.  Check out our challenge HERE, and play along so you can get a head start on your Christmas cards for 2014...especially if you're a procrastinator like me! lol  I also used this week's Less is More sketch challenge #11 for my design.  I have to say I managed to whip up this card pretty quickly. :)  Not sure if you can tell or not, but I used Heat & Stick Powder to put Dazzling Diamonds on my snowflake.  I have to say shimmery stuff is hard to capture just right with the camera!





Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Stamp Sets:  Festive Flurry & Teeny Tiny Wishes
Card Stock:  Chocolate Chip & Whisper White
Classic Stampin' Pads:  Marina Mist
VersaMark
Embossing Folders:  Northern Flurry & Delicate Designs
Framelits:  Festive Flurry
Heat & Stick Powder
Stampin' Glitter:  Dazzling Diamonds
Jewels:  Basic Rhinestones


Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Thinking of You

Wow, I had a hard time coming up with a card for this week's Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch challenge.  It really shouldn't be that hard, but between my new job, trying to prep for my stamp a stacks and keep up with all my sketch challenges I feel like I'm striking out!  Simple...I need to think clean and simple!  Not that this is bad, just not what I was thinking it was going to be.  I do love the colors together though. :)  


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Stamp Sets:  Happy Watercolor & Teeny Tiny Wishes
Card Stock:  Basic Black, Calypso Coral & Whisper White
Classic Stampin' Pad:  Calypso Coral
Stampin' Write Markers:  Calypso Coral & Basic Black
StazOn:  Black
Embossing Folder:  Fancy Fan
Punches:  Modern Label & Word Window
Smooch Spritz: Vanilla Shimmer




Monday, January 27, 2014

Love Banner

Today's card is brought to you by the Dynamic Duos color challenge.  I need a Valentine's card for this month's stamp a stack and liked the thought of using black and pink for the card.  I skipped the option of umbrellas for this sketch since it didn't go with my theme and I don't have one!  Of course I had to use a few new goodies from Sale-a-bration which starts soon!




Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Stamp Sets:  Banner Blast & Teeny Tiny Wishes
Card Stock:  Basic Black, Melon Mambo & Whisper White
Classic Stampin' Pads:  Melon Mambo; StazOn:  Black
Embossing Folder:  Decorative Dots
Punches:  Full Heart, Small Heart,
 Heart to Heart (retired) & Banner









Friday, January 24, 2014

Thank You Stars

It's time for another Friday Mashup challenge and this week challenge is from Lisa.  Her challenge for us is...


Create a project with "Stars."
Create a set of "Thank you Cards with Matching Envelopes". 
Or Mash it Up and create a set of "Thank you Cards & Envelopes using Stars."

Believe it or not I hardly have any stamps with stars on them.  I had to dig through my sets and found one in a sale-a-bration set Banner Blast.  I've been seeing a lot of cards made using this set, but they all use the banner.  Not me since I'm all about stars today. lol  I decided to make 3x3 cards since I think they're so cute and if I don't use them myself I can give them away as a gift for someone else to use. :)  





Don't forget to check out what the other designers made HERE, and to play along if you get the chance!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Stamp Sets:  Banner Blast & Sassy Salutations
Card Stock:  Strawberry Slush, Pistachio Pudding,
Coastal Cabana,  Wisteria Wonder & Whisper White
Classic Stampin' Pads:  Strawberry Slush, Pistachio Pudding,
Coastal Cabana & Wisteria Wonder
Punch:  Star (retired)

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Pretty Petite Petals

It's Tuesday, so that means it's time for another sketch challenge from Try Stampin' on Tuesday.  It's a great sketch this week and the twist is "well worn".  Don't forget to check out what the other designers made this week HERE.  It's my in-law's anniversary later this week so I thought this would be a great sketch for an anniversary card.  



While working on this card I was hoping to stamp the piece under the flowers directly on the card stock so I wouldn't have to cut the shape out.  I'll do fussy cutting, but would rather skip it if I can! lol  As you can see I ended up cutting it out, but I also managed to get the "words" from the embossing folder onto the stamped image.  How did I do it?  It was actually on accident!


I embossed a scrap piece of paper to see if I could actually stamp over the embossed words.  As you can see in the pic below it didn't work out too well.  Only the cursive embossed letters got ink on them.  However when I turned my stamp over and looked at it this is what I saw.  I thought to myself, "Hmm...cool!  Let's see what it looks like after I stamp it again."  So I huffed on the stamp to get it damp again and stamped it... 


and this is the image I got. :)  I thought it was pretty cool and thought I'd share it with anyone who reads my blog.


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Stamp Sets:  Petite Petals, Everything Eleanor & Teeny Tiny Wishes
Card Stock:  Soft Suede, Crumb Cake & Very Vanilla
Classic Stampin' Pads:  Soft Suede
Embossing Folder:  Pretty Print (retired)
Punch:  Petite Petals
Jewels:  Basic Pearls
Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer
Sponges







Monday, January 20, 2014

Soft Serene Silhouettes

This is another fun sketch I had to work with from the Red Hot Stampers.  Not sure why I went with purples, but that's what popped into my mind when I saw the sketch. :)  I just might use this as one of my stamp a stack cards, but use sponges instead of the brayer for the background.  






Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Stamp Sets:  Serene Silhouettes & Express Yourself
Card Stock:  Perfect Plum, Wisteria Wonder & Whisper White
Classic Stampin' Pads:  Perfect Plum, Wisteria Wonder,
Pink Pirouette & Basic Black 
StazOn:  Black
Embossing Folder:  Fancy Fan
Punches:  Large Oval, 3/4" Circle & Scallop Edge Border
Brayer & Sponges

Friday, January 17, 2014

Love You

It's Friday Mashup time again and today's challenge is from Heidi.  What is the challenge?


Create a project using the Colors "Coastal Cabana, Real Red & Crumb Cake."
Create a project using "Hearts & Arrows. "
Or Mash it Up and create a project using "the above colors along with Hearts & Arrows."

This was a fun challenge to work with and I think my card turned out pretty cute...and it's pretty clean and simple.  Love that about it! :)  Too bad the words "love you" don't show up in the pic.  Not sure what happened there, but I can see it just fine when looking at the card. :)



Head on over to the Friday Mashup HERE and check out all the other cute Valentine's Day cards from the other designers.


I had to use the left over heart pieces and put them on the inside for a little more fun. :)


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Stamp Set:  Hardwood & Express Yourself 
Card Stock:  Real Red, Coastal Cabana & Crumb Cake
Classic Stampin' Pads:  Coastal Cabana & Crumb Cake
Punches:  Smalll Heart & Banner (Sale-a-bration 2014!)
Framelits:  Hearts Collection
Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer


Thursday, January 16, 2014

Walk in the Wild Christmas

Hi everyone...ready for another Christmas card?  I know, it's been a few weeks since Christmas, but here at Tis the Season we're creating Christmas cards all year long!  Today's challenge was a hard one for me!  I just wasn't sure what to make and finally decided the closest thing I had to a deer was a moose.  Now to make that into a Christmas card! lol  I decided to put the moose out by the moonlight and to be safely inside while looking at him through the window.  Not the perfect window, but I wanted to get the "wooden" look since that was a part of the Inspiration Photo Challenge.  It was definitely a good challenge and I love the way my card turned out.  Now I know the hunters in the family will be getting this card for Christmas, although it would make a great masculine birthday card too. :)





Now on to the inspiration photo challenge.  Don't forget to visit us HERE to play along and check out what the other designers created.  Lots of different great ideas. :)






Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Stamp Sets: Walk in the Wild, Hardwood & Teeny Tiny Wishes
Card Stock:  Island Indigo, Night of Navy  & Whisper White
Classic Stampin' Pads:  Pacific Point, Island Indigo,
 Night of Navy & Basic Black (to color in moose).
StazOn:  Black
Punches:  1 3/8" Square (retired), Decorative Label,
Modern Label, 1" Circle & Small Oval
Candy Dots:  Regals
Brayer

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Spiral Rose

It's time for another Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch.  This week I finally sat down and used the new Spiral Flower Originals Die.  I thought it was the perfect fit for the circle.  I ended up spritzing it with smooch spritz mixed with rubbing alcohol so I could scrunch it up really well to give it the wrinkled look.  I like how it turned out. :)  Don't forget to check out what the other designers made this week using the same sketch HERE.



Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Stamp Set:  Everything Eleanor & Express Yourself
Card Stock:  Perfect Plum & Very Vanilla
Classic Stampin' Pad:  Perfect Plum
Embossing Folder:  Beautifully Baroque
Punch:  Banner  
Spiral Flower Originals Die
Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer
Sponges




Sunday, January 12, 2014

More Pretty Pansies

~ Update ~

If you'd like to know how I created these pansies scroll down for a picture tutorial.

Ok, one last card with pansies, I promise.  I needed to make my third one for my upcoming class.  Thanks to Mojo Monday I was able to use another great sketch to help accomplish it.  Believe it or not there are pansies that look like this...ok, pretty close to this.  The orange isn't quite as a bright, but none of the other "oranges" were doing it for me.  And they don't have jewels in the middle, but hey it's a card and I like bling! :)






Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Stamp Set:  Teeny Tiny Wishes
Card Stock:  Rich Razzleberry, Gumball Green,
Pumpkin Pie & Whisper White
Classic Stampin' Pads:  Rich Razzleberry & Pumpkin Pie
Embossing Folders:
Perfect Polka Dots & Modern Mosaic 
Punch:  Pansy
Jewels:  Basic Rhinestones
Smooch Sprtiz:  Vanilla Shimmer

I've had a few people ask how to make these flowers, so I thought I would take some pics of the steps...enjoy!

Using the Pansy punch, punch out one pumpkin pie flower and one rich razzleberry flower.  Cut the petals apart, making sure to trim off the excess edges.  You don't want those on like I have on the two bottom orange petals.  For each finished flower you need three orange petals and two purple petals.  You can choose whatever colors you want.  I just looked at pics of real flowers and decided on my colors.


Sponge around the edges and tips of each petal.  I did it to the purple ones too, but it is a little hard to see.  



Spritz each petal with rubbing alcohol to make them wet.  I did it with rubbing alcohol mixed with a few drops of smooch spritz so my flowers would have a sparkle to them. :)  I use rubbing alcohol because it gets it wet so I can "bend" the petals, but then dries a lot faster than if I used water.



About a minute after you spritz them you'll want to put a bit of a curve or curl in them.  I just rubbed them on the Stampin' Up! spritzer because it was the perfect size of curve.  They need to still be damp when you do this or the card stock will bend, but you don't want to do it right after you spritz them or the card stock will start to rip and the layers rub off.  



Let the petals dry completely!  While you're waiting for them to dry you can start to put your card together and punch out a 3/4" circle to layer your petals on.



Once the petals are dry attach glue dots to the back of each tip.  Cut the bottom off your biggest orange petal so it's flat like in the pic below.  This is the last piece you'll be putting on the flower.



Attach the two purple pieces to the circle.  You'll want these to overlap a bit.



Attach the two orange pieces that don't have the flat tip.  They're pretty much right across from each other.



Attach the last orange piece with the flat tip.  It's cut so it doesn't show once the jewel is on. :)



Using the writing tip of the Rich Razzleberry marker draw lines on the flower petals.  I start in the center and sweep out.  Just a quick flip of your wrist to get them on.  They are on the purple petals too, it's just hard to see in this pic.



Attach the rhinestone to the center.



Using the same punch cut out three petals for leaves.  I usually attach my flower/s to the card first with dimensionals, then slip in each leaf where I think it looks just right on the card.  I attach them with glue dots like I did the flower petals.




Friday, January 10, 2014

Birthday Pansy

It's time for another Friday Mashup and Holly is bringing us this week's mash up challenge...

Create a project with "Twine."
Create a "Birthday Themed" project. 
Or Mash it Up and create a "Birthday Project with some Twine."

I managed to mash it up, but had to cheat a little to get it some twine on there.  I only have Early Espresso baker's twine, so I pulled the brown piece out so I could have just white.  Gotta do what ya need to do sometimes. lol  I also grabbed the birthday stamp from the set Blooming with Kindness to put up in the corner.  I'm working on more pansies and decided to use whisper white card stock and sponge the color on this flower instead of using a solid color.  Not sure what I think of it yet, so I'll be doing some more.  Never can have too many flowers. :)  


I can't forget to tell  you that I used the sketch from this week's Freshly Made Sketches #118.


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Stamp Set:  Blooming with Kindness
Card Stock:  Pacific Point & Whisper White
Classic Stampin' Pad:  Pacific Point 
Stampin' Write Marker:  Pacific Point 
Punch:  Pansy
Baker's Twine:  Early Espresso (minus the Early Espresso lol)
Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer
Jewel:  Basic Rhinestones
Brayer



Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Pretty Pansies

I have another flower card for you today...and what a bright card it is too! lol  I'm a part of the Red Hot Stampers group and we decided to have some challenges within our group and post them for the other group members to see.  As soon as I saw the sketch I knew exactly what I was going to do.  I have a flower making class coming up next week and need to start prepping for it.  So those of you that are coming, here is the first card.  

If you'd like to know how I made these pansies click HERE for a free picture tutorial.







Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

If you need anything to make these flowers or card you can purchase them through Stampin' Up!  I'd love to be your demonstrator if you don't have one!  Click HERE to order.  It will bring you right to my Stampin' Up! website.

Stamp Sets:
Wetlands ~ 126695  $21.95 or 126697  $16.95
Card Stock:  Elegant Eggplant, Garden Green,
Daffodil Delight & Whisper White
Classic Stampin' Pads:  Tangerine Tango
Stampin' Write Marker:  Elegant Eggplant
Embossing Folders:
Pretty Print (retired)
Modern Mosaic ~ 129984  $7.95
Punch:
Pansy ~ 130698 $15.95
Jewels:  Basic Rhinestones ~ 119246  $4.95
Smooch Sprtiz:  Vanilla Shimmer ~ 118772  $4.95


Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Happy Pink Poppies

Boy has it been snowy and cold in Michigan for the past couple of days.  I definitely wanted to make something with flowers for today's Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch challenge instead of  a wintery scene!  I love the new set Happy Watercolor, so I thought I would use the poppy along with the flower garden embossing folder.  Since there are pink poppies I thought I would make the card with pink instead of the more common poppy that is orange.  As I'm sitting here typing this I'm imagining that color would be pretty too.  Hmm...maybe a second card is in order.  We'll see...


Don't forget to check out what the other designers made HERE using this sketch.  Why not play along too if you get the chance. :)


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

You can order any of these supplies below through me.  I'd love to be your Stampin' Up! Demonstrator if you don't have one.  Click HERE to place an order.

Stamp Sets:
  Happy Watercolor ~ 133188 $29.95 or 133191 $21.95
 Teeny Tiny Wishes ~ 128748 $36.95 or 127802 $26.95
Card Stock:  Basic Black, Blushing Bride & Whisper White
Classic Stampin' Pads:  Blushing Bride
StazOn:  Black
Embossing Folders:  
Flower Garden ~ 123113 $7.95
  Decorative Dots (available during Sale-a-bration!)
Aqua Pen ~ 103954 2 for $16.95
 Blender Pen ~ 102845 3 for $9.95
Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer ~ 118772 $4.95