Pretty Impressions Abloom Cards

Hello, my stamping friends!   It's still hot as can be around here.  It feels like I'm going to melt if I stand around outside for too long.  These temperatures in the high 90's are really taking a toll on us.  I guess that means we need to find more things to do inside the house rather than outdoors.  I made some simple cards the other day to send out to the shut-ins at church.  They turned out so pretty, I thought you'd like to see them and maybe try these quick cards for yourself.

These happen to be the only ones I have left.  When making them, I had actually used two other prints from the Floral Impressions Designer series paper along with this one to make a nice variety of cards.

For all of the different cards, I started with a Basic White Thick card base that measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2".  This is scored and folded in half to make a basic card.

For this card, I cut a piece of the Floral Impressions DSP that measures 3" x 4".  Watch the direction of the design so it is cut in the proper direction. The wider measurement is the width of the paper's design.  

A layer of Petunia Pop was also cut for these cards.  This measures 4 1/4" x 3 1/4".

Holding the DSP with the front facing you, rip approximately 1/2" from the bottom edge by pulling it towards you.  Take the top part of the paper and attach to the Petunia Pop layer.  Do not attach along the bottom edge.  With the strip of DSP that you ripped off, flip over so the back side shows and tuck the unripped edge underneath the 1st piece and attach to the Petunia Pop cardstock.   This will make both of the ripped white edges of the paper show when it's layered to the Petunia Pop.  After layering together, this was attached to the center of the folded Basic White Thick card base using adhesive.

There was a veritable garden of flowers stamped for accents on the cards.  For this one, the solid daisy type flower was stamped with Peach Pie ink that was off-stamped, then stamped on Basic White Cardstock.  Then the detail stamp was stamped with Peach Pie ink full strength over this.  The plummy flowers were stamped with the solid smallest flower with Petunia Pop ink that is off-stamped first.  Then the detail stamp with the same color was stamped over this.  All the flowers had centers stamped in using Gray Granite ink.  After stamping, all the flowers were die-cut with coordinating dies.  The extra detail dies fit into the outline dies on the flowers and gave the flowers lots of added detail.

Leaves were die-cut from both Old Olive and Garden Green cardstock pieces.  There were two different sizes cut also.  

The sentiment is from the Everyday Greetings stamp set.  It is stamped on a label that is cut with a die from the Greetings of the Season die set.  The sentiment for this card was stamped with Timid Tiger ink.  Other inks were used on the different cards depending on the colors in the DSP prints.

All three of the flowers are attached to the corner of the design using Dimensionals.  The sentiment label is tucked in partially under the flowers and attached flat with adhesive.  One of the larger leaves and two smaller leaves are tucked in around the flowers.  I used both greens on each card for added interest.

I had some retired sequins in a peachy tone that went nicely with this design.  On some of the other cards, different gems were used that matched the other DSP print colors better.

The ladies that have been joining me each month to put the cards together had no problems with the ripping and tucking on the DSP piece.  They were all impressed with how easy these cards were to put together and they looked so bright and cheerful.  Hope all the recipients of the cards will enjoy them too.

Hope you're inspired to get out some of those leftover pieces of DSP that you don't know what to do with.  Maybe this technique would be the perfect solution for using some of that DSP that you have sitting around.  I know I'll be considering this idea again when I'm looking through my stash of DSP.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

sharoncarr50@gmail.com

Easy Layout Two Ways

Hello people!  Hope you're having a good week.  We're back to rainy weather and it's definitely cooler.  You can really feel the difference in the temperature.  That 10 - 20 degree difference from a week or so ago really changes things.  That means autumn is here as far as I'm concerned, so all the pumpkins need to come out and the summer displays need to be packed away for another year.  I really love autumn when you have the crispness in the air and all those wonderful colors displayed on the trees.  Definitely God's handiwork!

When I was wandering around Pinterest, I came across a card sketch that really appealed to me.  (Yes, I spend way too much time there!)  I sat down and made one card from the sketch.  Then couldn't help myself, I made another one just changing the colors.  Basically, I used the Golden Greenery suite for both cards, and I think both of them are simply gorgeous!  You can only find this suite of products in the Online Exclusive area of the Stampin'Up! shop.  Make sure you check it out.

Neither of them shows up as gorgeous and bold as they do in person.  You'll have to take my word for it, or else make these two cards yourself.  You can stamp right along with me.

I started with the green and gold card first.  All the main parts of this card are the different prints of this DSP.  They all look so perfect together on this card.  The base of the card is Old Olive that measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2".  It's scored at 4 1/4" and folded in half.

Next is a beautiful layer of the Season of Green & Gold Designer Series Paper.  I love this green print with all the colors of green and sketched out with gold.  How elegant!

The green/gold print layer measures 5 1/4" x 4".  There are three strips of another green print with sketchy stripes next.  These are cut to measure 5 1/4" x 1/2".  These three strips are attached across the center of the card as shown using adhesive.   Then this layer is attached to the card front with adhesive.

A piece of Old Olive cardstock was cut next.  It measures 3" x 3".  To add to this layer, a piece of a 3rd print of the DSP was cut to measure 2 3/4" x 2 3/4" and is attached to the Old Olive layer with adhesive.  This print is a darker mottled two-tone green print that I thought worked well for the base of the "greenery".

Two greenery dies from the Golden Greenery Bundle were used here.  The larger round-leafed stem was cut from Gold Foil.  The smaller stem was cut from another print (4th) from the Season of Green & Gold DSP. There is a die that matches the print perfectly to make it easy. After cutting these, the gold stems were attached to the square layer using "green glue" on just the parts that will touch the square base.  The green stem was attached with several Mini Glue Dots under the leaves, but with "green glue" on the stem.

A small bow was made from the Gold & Silver Trim Combo in the Annual Catalog.  It was attached over the stems with a Mini Glue Dot.  Then the entire square was attached to the card front using Dimensionals.

The sentiment comes from Shepherd's Care stamp set.  It's stamped on a 1/2" strip of Basic White using Old Olive ink.  It's trimmed to fit under the leaves and attached with adhesive.  

There are three gold sequins scattered for some bling.  They are from the Neutrals Adhesive-backed Sequins.

That's the first card.  On to the elegant gold and vanilla card.

The first change is using Very Vanilla for the card base.  Next is a layer of another (5th) print from the Season of Green & Gold DSP.  This measures the same as the previous card.  There are the same three strips added across the card base this time in Gold Foil to accent.  

The Very Vanilla and Gold Foil squares are the same measurements as the first card.  The larger leafy stem is die-cut from Very Vanilla, and the smaller stem is cut from Gold Foil using a different die from the same set.  They are attached the same way.

The sentiment is from the Everyday Greetings set that is an Online Exclusive item.  The piece of Very Vanilla cardstock measures 7/8" x 2 3/4".  I used Pecan Pie to stamp the sentiment.

For this card I used three Adhesive-back Sparkle Gems as an accent.  The ribbon is a retired Vanilla & Gold Ribbon that I had on hand.  

This layout is really quite simple.  I have a notebook that I keep adding layouts that I like for future reference.  It comes in handy when I'm kind of stumped for an idea.  Hope this gives you some ideas and gets you stamping.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon 

My Changing Leaves Card Collection

Hello friends!  I've been a little fixated on using the Changing Leaves Bundle.  Guess I've been thinking about autumn and these items work so well for that.  I gave myself a challenge of only using three basic colors and seeing what I can come up with this Bundle.  I'm so pleased with the different looking cards that came from this challenge and I might try this on other stamp and die bundles.  Let's see what I made...

Here is the trio of cards I created for this challenge I gave myself.  I think they all turned out quite different even though the card layers are very similar.  It was interesting working with different styles on each of the cards.  The colors I chose to use on them all are Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, and Peach Pie.  We'll highlight the information on each card so you can see what was done.

The first card was the idea of a stamped background.  The card base is Very Vanilla that measured 8 1/2" x 5 1/2".  There is a layer of Old Olive cardstock that measured 5 1/4" x 4".  The stamped layer is Very Vanilla that measured 5" x 3 7/8".

The largest leaf clusters were stamped with Peach Pie ink on the vanilla layer.  The next largest leaf cluster was stamped with Old Olive that I stamped off to make a light shade of green.  Lastly, Pumpkin Pie ink was used to stamp the smaller skeleton leaf randomly to fill in open areas. 

An Old Olive Marker was flicked onto this layer to even out the design a bit.  When dry, the layer was attached to the Old Olive layer by using adhesive.  

The die used is from the Everyday Details Die Set and is cut from Very Vanilla cardstock.  The sentiment is from the Everyday Greetings stamp set and is stamped with Old Olive ink.  I thought the sentiment fit perfectly in this die-cut.   It needed some color behind it to make it stand out.  The Old Olive cardstock used measures 3 7/8" x 1 1/2".  They are attached together with adhesive.

The ribbon is an old Pumpkin Pie 1/4" ribbon that was part of a combo pack that's been retired over 5 years now.  Yeah, I know I keep everything, but it was the perfect addition to help balance the colors here.  It's wrapped around the two layers and attached in the back then added to the card base with Dimensionals.  After adding the sentiment with Dimensionals, the bow was attached with a Mini Glue Dot.  At this point, I added one of the skeleton leaves die-cut from Old Olive cardstock.  It's attached with a little adhesive where it tucks under the sentiment.

The bling added here comes from the Adhesive-backed Speckle Dots.  I love these more natural colors.  Three of the olive color gems were used.

The next card I made turned out so different from the first.  I started with a base of Pumpkin Pie.  A layer of Old Olive was cut that measures 5 1/4" x 4".  Then a layer of Very Vanilla was cut that measures 5" x 3 3/4".

The Very Vanilla layer was embossed with the Exposed Brick 3D Embossing Folder.  After embossing, I used a Blending Brush and Pecan Pie ink over it all to expose the design.  Then a Pecan Pie Marker was used to spatter ink over the background.  After drying, it was attached to the Old Olive layer with adhesive and to the card base using Dimensionals.

The large leaf cluster was inked by using Sponge Daubers starting with Pumkin Pie on the tips and Old Olive ink in the center.  This was off-stamped before stamping onto Very Vanilla cardstock.  It was die-cut with the matching die.  The same leaf cluster was die-cut from Old Olive cardstock also.  These two were attached but off-set a little to let the green stand out against the background.  

Then the smaller leaf cluster was stamped onto Very Vanilla using Pumpkin Pie ink and die-cut.  One of the skeleton leaves was die-cut from Old Olive cardstock as an accent.  And a berry branch was die-cut from Pecan Pie.

The sentiment is from the Changing Leaves set.  It's stamped onto a Very Vanilla scrap using Old Olive ink.  It's die-cut with one of the dies from the same bundle.

The large leaves are attached to the card front with adhesive along with the Pumpkin Pie leaves.  The berry branch and the olive skeleton leaf are attached with some rolled up Mini Glue Dots.

Natural Tones Linen Thead (Online Exclusive) was wrapped around my finger three times and attached to the back of the label.  Then the label was attached with Dimensionals.

Three Neutrals Adhesive-backed Sequins in the brownish color are attached to the card to finish.

The last card I made I wanted to be simpler in looks.  There is a Very Vanilla card base, then a layer of Old Olive that measures 5 1/4" x 4".  Next is another layer of Very Vanilla.

I die-cut a 1/4 size piece of computer paper with the 2nd largest circle die from the Stylish Shapes dies.  Using this as a mask, I used a Blending Brush to add Peach Pie ink to the center.

With the mask still in place, I stamped the largest leaf cluster with Pumpkin Pie ink with only the leaf tips showing.  After removing the mask, the Vanilla piece was embossed with the So Swirly Embossing Folder.  This reminded me of swirls of wind on an autumn day.   This was attached to the Old Olive layer with Tombow Liquid Glue, then using Dimensionals attached both pieces to the card base.

Only the three top leaves were stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock using Old Olive ink and were die-cut with the matching die.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set.  It's stamped with Pumpkin Pie ink onto a Very Vanilla strip, then it's die-cut with the matching die.  Just a small bit of Peach Pie ink was blended around the edges to enhance it.

Both the leaves and the sentiment are attached with Dimensionals.  A small Linen Thread bow was attached to the leaf stem using Mini Glue Dots.  

The bling for this card is the same Adhesive-back Speckle Dots in the olive color that were used on the first card.

WHEW!  That's a lot of stamping and a lot of typing too!  I hope these ideas spark your creativity.  Every time you sit down to stamp - even with the same stamp over and over - you always get something new and exciting.  I just love seeing how you get different looks with the same products.  Stamping is never boring!

I hope you've had a chance to redeem your Bonus Days coupons codes.  If not, please don't forget to get that done before the end of the month.  And don't forget about my own extra 50th Wedding Anniversary promotion.  If you spend $50 with me in the month of August, I'll send you a card and a package of embellishments as a way of celebrating with you.  Thank you so much for your patronage!!

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon