Apples for Favorite Teachers

Hi!  Glad you stopped by today.  Can you believe it's the end of another school year already?  Time seems to be just flying by and I'm still running to catch up with it!  Early tomorrow morning is the Awards Ceremony at our grandsons' school.  I made cards for them to give to their teachers to show their appreciation for a job well done in teaching the boys this year and helping them to acclimate here. There have been many changes with the move and new school, new ways of doing things, and new friends well-met too.  

To find something to make for both male and female teachers, I dug down deep into my retired stamps, punches, and papers to find the perfect items to put together.  Just look what I unearthed!  I  found the Harvest Hellos stamp set with the apples that I thought would be perfect for teachers.  It also had a wonderful sentiment that was just what I needed for these cards.

The base of the cards is Pear Pizzazz cardstock cut in half and then folded in half.  There is a layer of Real Red cardstock cut at 5 1/4" x 4".  On the first card, I didn't corner round this layer, only the crackle-look Designer Paper.  For the two women teachers, I corner rounded both layers.  For the ladies I also punched the fancy corner from the Detailed Trio Punch.  Just wanted to make the ladies cards a little bit fancier for them.  

After punching the Designer Paper, the seeds were stamped along the bottom edge with Early Espresso ink.  To color, I used a Light Soft Suede Stampin' Blends to look like apple seeds.  See, I had this thought of teaching as planting the 'seeds of the future' in our children.  

The apples were all stamped with Cherry Cobbler ink onto the Real Red cardstock and then punched out with the Apple Builder Punch.  The leaves were stamped with Mossy Meadow ink onto Old Olive cardstock and punched out also.  The stem was punched from Early Espresso cardstock.  These were arranged on the card front and one was attached with adhesive and the 2nd was up on Dimensionals.  

The smallest Stitched Rectangle Dies fit nicely around the sentiment so it was die-cut from Basic White cardstock.  For the Real Red layer, I used the 3rd smallest rectangle that just fit around the white layer, and then die-cut again on the end to make it smaller in width to fit.  The sentiment was stamped with Mossy Meadow ink.

The sentiments were each attached with Dimensionals to the card fronts.  For the man's card, I added a couple extra leaves to give it some extra interest.  But for the ladies, well, I thought they needed a little bling.  The three small Red Rhinestones were added to the sentiments on their cards.

The inside of each card has a layer of Basic White and a strip of the crackle DSP and a smaller strip of Real Red.  That left plenty of room for the boys to write their own notes to their teachers.  And that finished them!  Pretty quick to make up three of these this morning.  I love it when my family wants me to make some cards for them!

Hope you enjoyed a look to the past with retired Stampin'Up! stamps and accessories.  Just because they're retired doesn't mean they don't need some love and attention every once in awhile.  Some of my sets I'm just not ready to pass on to others yet.  Need to hold onto them for just a bit longer.  Never know when they'll be needed again.

If you're still thinking of ordering this month, please consider using the Host Code shown here.  It would be greatly appreciated.  

Thanks again for stopping by.  Be sure and leave a comment on what you think of my creations.  I love hearing from you and knowing you've been here. Keep making those cards and sharing with others.  It can really brightens someone's day to get one of your special creations in the mail.  It's so much nicer than bills!!

Blessings and hugs,

Sharon

Mash-Up Monday

Hi there!  I'll bet you want to know just what is a Mash-Up Monday is.  Well, it happens when I can't decide totally on what I want to make, keep changing my mind, use all kinds of products - current and retired, and it just all comes together.  And I'm happy with the results - that's the most important part of the idea.  I just couldn't get my act together today and started putzin' around with some old retired Designer Paper.   I'm not even sure of the name of it anymore - maybe Color Theory (?) something to do with the Colorful Seasons set we had a few years ago.  (but I won't bet on that!)  The paper is a pretty ombre blue that I thought would be pretty with a splash of white and yellow flowers.  This is what I came up with...

First I embossed this Designer Paper piece with the Painted Texture 3D Embossing Folder.  I loved how this really made the ombre colors become even more prominent.  This was attached to a folded Basic White card base using Tombow Multi-Adhesive Liquid Glue.  I find this glue really helps the embossed layers stay firmly attached to the card base.

Next come the flowers.  I am so enchanted with the Pierced Blooms Dies lately.  I keep going back to it repeatedly.  Then pairing it with blushes of color with the Blending Brushes and boy, I'm in stamp heaven!  This is a large die set and has 25 dies.  I only used 9 different dies from this set for this card.  Is it an awesome set?  You bet!  The largest flower was cut from Balmy Blue.  The 4 different leaves I used were all cut from Pear Pizzazz.   The 2 different flower centers were cut from So Saffron.  And the tiny flowers and sentiment layer were cut from Basic White.

I changed the pace a little when I decided I'd like a white daisy for one of the flowers.  I used the Medium Daisy Punch to cut 2 layers for the daisy.

Now for the magic.  I used the Blending Brushes to put a darker blush of Pear Pizzazz on each of the leaves at the base.  The two flower centers had a blush of Mango Melody added to them.  The Balmy Blue flower had some Balmy Blue added, but it was too faint so I went over it again with some Pacific Point.  The daisy had some So Saffron blushed in the center.  Now, no matter how I took the pictures of the card, take my word for it - the photos just do not do it justice!  

The flowers were attached using a Dimensional behind each.  The flower centers were attached with Mini Glue Dots.  The leaves have a bit of MonoAdhesive behind them  The tiny white flowers were shaped with the Take Your Pick Tool and attached with Mini Glue Dots.

The 'Smile' sentiment comes from the Daisy Lane stamp set.  It was stamped with Night of Navy ink.  Oh yeah, there was a tiny smudge on it after stamping this, so...  I found a bitty butterfly in the Nature's Thoughts Die set and die-cut it from Night of Navy ink to match.  It was attached to the label with a rolled up Mini Glue Dot.

For all the fits and starts with making this card, I'm happy with the end results.  Sometimes you just have to rummage through a bunch of stamps and dies to come up with exactly what you needed.  And my hubby always wants to know why I have so much "stuff"!!  Because I never know when I'll need it!  Right?

Hmmm, I just realized there is absolutely no bling on this card!  I'll have to think about this a bit longer to see if I want to add any or just let it be.  I think I'm leaning more to the plainer side so it doesn't compete with the pretty flowers.  What do you think?  Bling or no bling??  We'll see.

If you're still planning to place an order yet this month, please use the Host Code shown here.  My thanks to all who have already ordered this month.  I've been working on getting goodies ready to mail out to you.  *big grin*   Love you ladies!

Thanks so much for stopping by to see what I've been up to lately.  Please leave a comment so I know you've been here.  It warms my heart just reading your comments.  Thanks for taking the time!

Happy stamping and good luck with the creating!

Sharon

Delicious Paper Pumpkin Alternatives

 Hi!  glad you've stopped by today.  I've got lots of ideas to share with you that all involve the April Paper Pumpkin Kit.  This one was so much fun and was perfect for kids (of all ages!) to make themselves or give to friends.  In fact, the first card I'm sharing was made specifically for the birthday of one of my grandsons.  I mentioned before that both grandsons are very heavy into baseball, so all of their cards for the last bunch of years have all had a baseball theme.  Now that they've branched out into other sports, I feel it's time to break out of my own rut and make something totally different.  Hence, the use of April's Paper Pumpkin Kit.  Here's what I did...

I loved all of the components of this kit, but chose to use the rainbow for his card.  Instead of using this the way it was intended, I carefully cut away the backside of the shaped card and only kept the front.  Now it needed a card base to show off the rainbow.  

I chose to use Pool Party for the base on this and it was cut at  8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and scored and folded in half.  It seemed too bare to leave it plain, so I used the new Basic Borders Dies and cut a Thick White  piece of cardstock with the die that looks like a stitched bubble cloud.  This was used to make a bevy of clouds across the card front.  I used my trusty Blending Brushes and Pool Party ink to brush in some cloud layers.  It's funny how they show up much better in real life.

Now came the fun process of deciding which of the components of the kit I wanted to use for this card.  The banner was perfect for the birthday sentiment (which is included in this kit!) and it was stamped in Bermuda Bay ink.  The silver glitter rectangle attached behind the sentiment is also part of the kit.  But before adding this to the card, it needed just a little more interest.  There are two sheets of sticker die-cuts included in the kit as extras.  I thought a bright and happy sun peeking out behind the sentiment was a great addition.  After adding the sun, the sentiment was popped up with Dimensionals.  I tied a double bow with the Bumblebee twine which is also part of the kit.  This was added with a Mini Glue Dot.  Since the card was made for a boy, I added no more embellishments or bling.

Here are a couple more ideas with a few changes using the rainbow card for the focal point.  On both of these cards, I used Bermuda Bay to brush on color to shape the clouds.  It shows up better in the picture, and really doesn't look too dark of a contrast on the cards.  These also have an added layer of cardstock so the rainbow looked like it was coming off the cards, so I angled them just a bit.  The top card uses Bermuda Bay for the back layer.

These both also have several rhinestones on them for bling that could look like raindrops. 

This one is so fun!  Don't you love the colors of the popsicle?! I used a base of Thick White cardstock and a layer of Pool Party.  Added some droplets of Pool Party to the layers to add more interest.  Again, the sentiment, silver glitter paper, Bumblebee twine and stamps are all from this April Paper Pumpkin Kit.  The only added items are the extra rhinestones that look like beads of moisture.

The kit also included three watermelon shaped cards,  For this card, I took one of the cards and cut the backing off.  Then a third of the watermelon was cut off to make two slices.  The color that matched the watermelon is Terracotta Tile that is the newly-retired In Color.  I used this for the card base and a layer of Basic White that was embossed with the new Bark Embossing Folder.  After embossing, I used the Blending Brush to swirl on Old Olive ink onto the raised design.  The sentiment is from the Sweet Ice Cream stamp set.  It was stamped with Old Olive ink onto a white scrap and fussy cut around it.  The ribbon is the Mossy Meadow Braided Ribbon that was wrapped around and attached in the back.  The bow was added with a Mini Glue Dot.  I couldn't resist adding one of my little Ladybug Trinkets to the watermelon even though it is retired.  Just too cute!

If you're planning on shopping in May, please use the Host Code to the left here.  I'll be sending out something to each customer after the end of May, because I love to share goodies with my favorite people - my customers!

That's it for today.  Hope you liked these extra ideas using the April Paper Pumpkin Kit.  You can get them delivered each month, or only once in awhile.  Which ever works for you.  Let me know if I can help you order a kit.  These really are fun, all-inclusive kits to make anytime, or take along on vacation, or even to have on hand so your kids or grandkids can play along with you.  It's never too early to get kids creating and they really seem to have a great time coming up with their own ideas too.  Unleash their creativity!  You never know, you might have another Monet or Rembrandt lurking in there.

Blessings and have fun stamping!

Sharon

Pretty Hand-Penned Petals

 I was having fun playing with the new Hand-Penned Petals bundle making cards for customers and friends.  I especially love working with the Hand-Penned Designer Series Paper that coordinates with this stamp set.  It is so pretty and I love each and every design both front and back.  And that just makes it more hard to decide which one to use first.  Soooo... I made 4 cards that are the same layout.  But each of the cards uses a different designer print so I could cover all the bases here!

I'm so happy with these cards!  Even though they are basically the same, they still look different because of the designer papers and using different colors of cardstock for the card bases.  There was an added layer of Vellum under the die-cut focal piece to breakup the many prints a little bit, and just because it was pretty.  *grin*

To make this card, start out with a piece of cardstock that is cut to 4 1/4" x 11".  This is scored at 5 1/2" to fold in half.  I measured in 3/4" an each side at the fold, marked it, then cut 3/4" off from the front flap on each side to make a skinnier front flap card.  Just a little different fun-fold to change things up a bit.

The Hand-Penned DSP was cut at 5 1/4" along the 12" paper, then trimmed first to 2 1/2" wide and then two 1/2" wide strips for the sides.  Each of these pieces was attached to the folded card base using adhesive.

The inside of each card has a layer of Basic White cardstock cut to 5 1/4" x 2 3/8" and attached using adhesive.  I've left them all blank so I have room to write my notes which I think is essential when I'm sending cards.

The next step was stamping the flower stem.  This was done on Basic White cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  The flowers and leaves were all colored with the fill-in stamps using a mixture of inks that coordinated with the DSP used for each card.  Because the stamps did all the work of coloring, the job went very fast getting them all finished.  They were all easily die-cut using the Penned Flowers Dies.

After laying the flowers across each card, I felt it needed something as a buffer between all the different prints to make the focal flowers stand out more.  Using the Scalloped Contours Dies, I cut a piece of Vellum Cardstock.  This not only gave it a scalloped edge, but added stitching too.  Very nice, but subtle, addition to the card.  The Vellum is attached using adhesive underneath where the flowers and leaves will be attached.  The flowers were  attached with Dimensionals.

The last step was deciding on a sentiment.  I chose to use one of the sentiments in the Hand-Penned Petals stamp set.  Doesn't this font look perfect with the sketchiness of the flowers themselves?  

I stamped the 'thanks' using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on a scrap of Basic White cardstock.  These were easily 'fussy cut' to place onto the cards.  This time I used Mini Dimensionals to attach them because of the tiny size.

On some of the cards I added some linen thread wrapped twice and tied into a bow to accent, and some I used the Blushing Bride Baker's Twine that is retired but still was a perfect addition.  On one card there is a 6" Pale Papaya and White ribbon folded in half and attached under the flowers.  I tended to use whatever worked for each individual card.

Cardstock Used:  Evening Evergreen, Fresh Freesia, Pale Papaya, Mint Macaron, Basic White, and Vellum.

Ink Used:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Mint Macaron, Soft Succulent, Highland Heather, Blushing Bride, Pale Papaya, Daffodil Delight, and Pool Party.

Extras:  Cinnamon Cider Blends (on the Evening Evergreen card right over the ink)

That's it for today's ideas.  I really like how these cards turned out.  This fun-fold is very easy to do and adds just a bit more interest to your card.  And I actually have a few more versions that I made.  (Can you believe that?)  If you are one of the ladies that places an order in the month of May, one of these will be on the way to you after the end of the month.  Which version of this card will you receive?  Hopefully your favorite one!

If you are still thinking of ordering yet this month, please use this Host Code when you're ordering.  I do appreciate it so much.

Happy stamping and have fun with your creating!

Blessings and many hugs,

Sharon

 

Happy Friday To You!

 Yes, it's Friday already.  Just where has the entire week gone?  Seems like I'm always trying to play catch up with my days.  But, do you remember what I plan to do on certain Fridays?  Yes!  It's Friendship Friday today!  Woo Hoo!!  Since my birthday was the end of April and my good friends sent me so many lovely cards, I figured today would be the perfect day to share them with all of you.  I'll just be sharing pictures along with their creator and that's it.  Hope you enjoy the card parade.

created by Anita Wright

created by Jean Mazurek

created by Diane Wallace

created by Susan Fabris

created by Barb Eisenman

created by Kathy Hintz

created by Judy Bur

created by Shirley Krone

created by Jan Hollmann

This last card was created by my very sweet and talented sister, Connie Juengel

Aren't these cards great?  Hope you enjoyed all these lovely cards and maybe found and idea or two you might like to try making yourself.  I know these cards have been coming in since my birthday on the 28th, and I've loved opening the envelopes and enjoying the lovely work that all of you have invested into making these cards special.  And the notes written inside just warmed my heart and were the very best birthday present anyone could ever receive.  Much love and many thanks y'all!

Sharon

Petal Pink Cheer

 I have a friend that just had surgery so I needed to make a card to cheer her up.  I also thought this would be a great time to play with some new items I had gotten lately.  It's always fun to get out something new and figure out what to create with it for the very first time.

I chose to make a very sweet and simple card this time.  With the soft pinks and grays it's very feminine and soft.  It almost has a romantic look going on.  (Maybe it would be a really pretty wedding or anniversary card - just thinking here.)   It started out with a card base of Petal Pink cardstock, cut at 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and folded in half.  I still have some pretty Peony Garden Designer Paper that just retired and thought it would be a good subtle layer here.  Before attaching it to the card front, I punched the corners first with the Detailed Trio Punch.  I actually used two of the three punches to get the rounded corners and the little eyelet cutout.  This seemed like a nice touch for the look I wanted.  Then I wrapped some 1/4" White Grosgrain Ribbon around it, and attached it to the card base using MultiPurpose Liquid Glue.  I also made a small bow and set it aside for when I decided where to attach it.

The next step was deciding on the color of the stems I would be die-cutting with the Meadow Dies.  I just love these silhouette stems!  There are six different flower stems along with a butterfly and a couple different tags.   So sweet!   To keep the look really soft, I chose Gray Granite and more Petal Pink cardstock to cut with these dies.  I trimmed the ends just a little on them because I wanted them a little shorter.  

The sentiment is from the Lovely You stamp set which has lots of sentiments to choose from that fit so many different needs.  I tend to use them quite a bit myself.  The sentiment was stamped on Basic White cardstock using Gray Granite ink.  This was then die cut using the smallest circle from the Tasteful Labels Dies.  Love the cute little edging on this!  The other circle in the die set cut out the Petal Pink stitched circle to layer under the white.  Aren't they sweet together?   

I attached the two Gray Granite die-cut stems over the white ribbon using MultiPurpose Liquid Glue.  Then the Petal Pink stem was attached with Mini Dimensionals under each flower.  Next up was the layered sentiment which was attached with more Mini Dimensionals.  The Gray Granite butterfly was also attached with Mini Dimenisonals.

Last up was attaching the small bow of white ribbon.  This was attached to the side and over the ribbon using Mini Glue Dots to finish it all up.

That's all there was to it.  Nice and sweet and quick too!  I think it took longer to write this post than to make the card!  *huge grins*  Hope my friend likes the card and it cheers her up.  I think that's one of my favorite things to do now - walk to our mailbox to see if there are any cards there.  If it brightens my day, I'm sure others feel the same way.  So I've been going all out to make sure I send out cards to different people each week.  Some weeks it might only be a card or two, but other weeks I keep the mailman busy!  Why don't you share some love and also some of your talents by sending out cards to your friends?  It might surprise them, but I'm sure it will make their day!

Thanks to all of you that have ordered already this month.  I really appreciate you!  If you are planning on ordering this month, please use the Host Code for May if your order is under $150.  I thank you so much for this and will be sending out cards again at the beginning of next month.  Love you guys!

Stamping hugs and inky wishes,

Sharon

Happy Mother's Day!

 I hope all of you that are mothers out there are spending some time today with your families and enjoying the many benefits that motherhood can bring.  I know all of you aren't mothers, and that's all right.  You can still celebrate the memories and good times you've had with your own mother.  Today brings me lots of memories of my own mom and reminds me of what a loving and wonderful God-fearing woman she was.  I still am trying to live up to the legacy she left with us as a guide to how we should live too.  And that's the legacy I'd like to leave with my own grown-up kids someday.  (Hopefully just not too soon!)  Today's card is the one I made for my own daughter.  She's on a black & white kick lately, so I had to use that for a starting place.  Of course, you know me and pastels, so...

This is it.  I have to say, using the Blending Brushes and then die-cutting flowers and leaves with the Pierced Blooms Dies is totally addicting.  I had trouble stopping myself from making a bazillion flowers in multiple colors.  I ended up with two cards finished and enough layered flowers leftover for another 3-4 cards.  Like I said - truly addicting!

To make the flowers, just blend your favorite colors onto Basic White cardstock using a light touch with the Blending Brushes.  Love, love, love those Blending Brushes!  Make sure the colors touch each other and sometimes blend together to make even more soft colors.  I was using many of my smallish scraps of white to play around finding colors I liked and seeing how dark I wanted to make them.  Here's the list of ink colors I used:  Daffodil Delight, Pale Papaya, Polished Pink, Fresh Freesia, and Just Jade.

If you look closely you can see that many of the flowers are more than one color with the edges or even different petals a blended color.  This is really, really fun to do.  Even the leaves have some of the other colors blended on them, especially the pink and yellow.  

The card base is the Basic White with a smaller layer of Basic Black.  Then I added a triangle of white with black polka dots from the True Love Designer Series Paper.  Unfortunately, that has been retired now and makes me sad, but I will still be using this until I can find something to replace it!

The die-cut for the sentiment is also part of the Pierced Blooms Die set.  Isn't the shape pretty?  And I love the stitching accents too.  The sentiment comes from the Welcoming Window set.  It was just what was needed.  I stamped it using Memento Tuxedo Black ink to stay with the crisp black and white look.  This was attached to the card front using a few Dimensionals.

The different flower sizes were layered together using just a bit of MultiPurpose Liquid Glue.  It was fun playing around with all the different sizes,  shapes, and colors to get the look I wanted for each flower - that's why it makes sense to make a bazillion different flowers to choose from!  Don't you agree?   Some flowers are only two layers and the largest one on the card has three.  Just keep playing until you get the look you want.  After all the flowers were made, I arranged them on the card front then attached some with Dimensionals and some with MultiPurpose Liquid Glue.  I added just a few sequins from the Woven Threads collection.  Yes, they are retired, but just the right colors!

I hope you like this idea using the look of soft pastels to offset the bold black and white of the card.  And definitely give those Blending Brushes a try if you haven't already.  They are a definite must-have item in my stamping world!  Have fun making your world bloom in lovely flowers using these ideas.

If you are planning on ordering this month, please choose me as your demonstrator and use this Host Code for the month of May.  I really appreciate your order and love to send out little goodies as a thank you.  Will I be sending you something at the end of this month too?

Blessings to you and enjoy the day!

Sharon
  

Pretty in Polished Pink

Hi there!  So glad you've come by again.  Just want to say - the new 2021-2022 Annual Catalog is live and you can order just as soon as you'd like.  Woo Hoo!  If you don't have a catalog yet and would really like to have one in your hot little hands, get in touch with me and I'll send one out to you as soon as I can.   

For those of you who know my color preferences fairly well, it should come as no surprise that I'm not a 'hot pink' kinda gal.  So what is very surprising to me is that I've tumbled so hard for the new  2021-2023 In Color - Polished Pink.   Who would have guessed that I keep grabbing for that color?  So, I thought since I liked it so much, that it should be the first In Color I'd focus on here so you can love it too!  Got to say all the other colors are yummy too, but this is my favorite so far.  

Here you go - everything shiny and new as can be!  New stamps, new dies, new In Color ink and cardstock, new In Color Designer Series Paper, and even new jewels to boot!  So let's get to work and unpack all this new yummy goodness together.

First up is the new stamp and die bundle - Color and Contour found on page 98 in the new Annual Catalog.  The stamps are fun and loosely drawn, and the font for the sentiments is a combo of playful styles combined to make something wonderful.  And the dies - wow!  They are called Scalloped Contours Dies and have 5 different sized rectangle dies that all have different edges along with a scallop border and 2 flower dies.  So fun! 

For these cards, I started with a Basic White card of 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" folded in half.  The 1st layer is the Polished Pink cardstock - so warm and inviting.  This was attached with adhesive to keep it flat.  Next up is the Basic White layer that was die-cut with the largest of those rectangle dies.  Don't you love the lacy edgework on this one?   I did a little bit of stamping on this layer using the new Soft Succulent ink to stamp the sketchy leaf and also the speckle stamp in the opposite corners that was off-stamped to soften the look.  Using just a corner of the speckle stamp, I added just a few dots of the Polished Pink to the speckles to brighten them up.  Then it was attached to the card front using Dimensionals.  I liked how the shadowing under the lacework was even more pronounced this way.

Now we come to some of the differences in the 2 cards.  Did you notice them?  Both cards use a piece of the 2021-2023 In Color DSP for the small pink layer in the center, but they are different prints.  They were both die-cut with the 2nd smallest of the dies which has a scallop border and slits cut into the sides - so different! 

For this 1st card, I stamped the outline daisy flower with Basic Gray onto a scrap of Basic White cardstock, then stamped the solid layer with the Polished Pink ink.  I wasn't sure if I wanted the flower to be that dark, so I stamped another one.  This time I stamped the outline with the Polished Pink ink, then stamped the solid layer with an off-stamped Polish Pink.  Then they were both die-cut with the matching die.  They both looked nice so I figured I needed to make two cards here.

I chose which sentiment to use and also stamped it in Basic Gray onto another scrap of Basic White cardstock, but the 2nd one I off-stamped the gray ink to soften the color to better go with the softer flower.  Isn't it funny how you can change your mind about what you're making in mid-stream just because you can't decide which one to make, and it all still works out fine?

Here's a close up of the softer images card.  I still can't quite decide which I prefer.  How about you?  What do you think?  

On both cards, I decided to fussy cut around the sentiment instead of another die-cut rectangle.  The flowers and the sentiments were all attached with Dimensionals for a little dimension.  *grin*

The final decision was rhinestones or other embellishments or not.  After going through my stash, I liked the greenish gems in the new Genial Gems jewels.  They just seemed to bring out the bits of the Soft Succulent green on the card, but they weren't too big or overpowering.

That's it for today.  Hope you're interested in trying out this pretty  new In Color - Polished Pink.  It's a softer bright, warm pink.  That sounds like a contradiction, but that's the only way I can describe it.  Stay tuned for more cards with a focus on another of the new In Colors.  They really are great and I know you'll love working with them as much as I will!

Hope you don't get tired of me asking you to choose me for your demonstrator, but here I am asking again.  I thank you for your patience and also your loyalty.  Please use this Host Code for the month of May if you're ordering with me. I truly appreciate you!

Happy stamping and be sure to send out all those paper hugs that you've made to cheer up your friends.

Sharon

Hand-Penned Softness

Hi again!  So glad you stopped by.  It's so close to the new catalog going live that I just had to share another sneak peak.  So if you don't like sneak peaks, better leave now.  I've got a new stamp set, dies, inks and cardstock to share with you.  I do have a teensy retiring ladybug because I just couldn't help myself.  I have a few of these left and I'm sure they will land on a card every once in awhile.  ;)

Isn't this pretty?  And you can easily see why I titled it 'Softness".  These colors are sooooo me!  I love pastels in anything and everything.  Even though these colors are pastel, they still have an intensity to them so they won't get lost in the background.  They kind of say "Look At Me!  Aren't I just gorgeous?!"  Oh, I can't wait to have you play with these colors too!  OK, let's get to the nitty gritty so you know what all these lovely new things are...

The card starts with a base of the new Soft Succulent cardstock cut at 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" then folded in half.  Next there is a layer of the gorgeous new Hand-Penned Designer Series Paper.  Just love this soft pink print!  It's cut at 5 1/4" x 4".  I wrapped this a couple times with the retiring Snail Mail Twine in Blushing Bride.  Then tied it off with a little bow at the bottom of the card.  You could use white twine or even the Linen Thread, but I liked how this looked together.  This was all attached to the folded card base with Dimensionals.

Next up was the white layer.  I checked to see if the floral bouquet would fit into the Stitched So Sweetly Dies, and it did.  Perfectly fit in the 2nd to largest die.  I die-cut the Basic White cardstock first then stamped the floral image with Basic Gray ink.  Thought this would be a little softer looking that the crisp black ink.  

After stamping the image with gray ink, the fun really started.  This stamp set has coordinating images that will stamp the color inside the different flowers and leaves.  Oh, I do love 2-step stamping.  It makes it so quick and easy to finish a card when you only need to stamp the colors inside the outline!  For this set, the stamps are not a perfect fit, so it's just stamp and go!   The colors I chose to use are some new, some old.   The leaves are all Soft Succulent, 2 flowers are Blushing Bride, one Highland Heather, and the clusters of small flowers are Pale Papaya.  Don't all those colors looked wonderful together?   After this was completely stamped, it was attached to the card front with Dimensionals also.

The sentiment is from the same set and was stamped with Soft Succulent ink.  This was die-cut using a 'shutter' from the Window Flower Box Dies.  Yeah, I know, this is really not a shutter or any part of a window, but it fit and was fairly plain.  And that's exactly what I was looking for.  The rest of the card has lots of color, texture and shapes going on so I was looking for subtle and that's just what I got.  Don't be afraid to rummage through your dies to find just what you're looking for.  Sometimes it's amazing just what you'll find.  ;)  The sentiment was attached to the card with Dimensionals also.

Here's a final look at the colors used.  And a little look at the cute Ms. Ladybug.  She's attached with a Mini Glue Dot and she's so happy to hang out with these pretty flowers.  So sorry she's retiring, but there are some adorable little golden bees coming, so keep an eye out for those little guys showing up soon.

Thought this pretty field of flowers was the perfect look to go with this card and also to get you thinking of Mother's Day.  Can't believe it's almost here.  Need anything for her that I can get ordered for you?  If you're planning on placing an order this month, please consider choosing me for your demonstrator and using this host code for this month.  I appreciate all of your orders, and I'm already planning what I'll be sending as a thank you at the end of the month.   Have fun creating with all the new goodies Stampin' Up! has to offer.  If you haven't received you new catalog from me and would like one, please contact me and I'll be happy to send one out to you soon.

Love and inky hugs to you!

Sharon