You've Got This Collage

You've Got This is such a pretty set, but I haven't used it in a while. Since it is on the retiring list, I figured I would get it out and play. I only knew that I wanted to use a couple of my favorite colors that will be returning to the Stampin' Up! palette in the upcoming new catalog. Here's what I came up with.

I started by stamping the large peony onto Whisper White card stock using Black Archival Ink because I planned to watercolor the image. I masked the flower and used the large crosshatch background that is included in this set inked in So Saffron with a bit of Soft Suede on the edges. I stamped it over the flower not worrying about the leaves because I knew I was painting those using Mossy Meadow (a returning favorite) and the yellow would add a nice compliment to the green of the leaves. Using my Aqua Painter I painted the petals using my favorite returning color...Blackberry Bliss and with a bit of Fresh Fig as well.

Using the Timeless Textures and Butterfly Basics sets I added a collage look to my background with several of the stamps from these sets. The butterfly is from a really old retired set called Natural Beauty. I just kept adding elements until I was happy with it. When I was done stamping, I felt it still needed something so I used a Tim Holtz stencil and applied some Blackberry Bliss ink with a Sponge Dauber. I think this added the perfect touch!

Now that I had my stamped panel all water colored and stenciled it was time to finish the card. I used some retired Blackberry Bliss Stitched Satin Ribbon layered over some Lace Trim. I planned to make a bow, but didn't like the way that looked so after searching for some ribbon charms that I thought I still had in my stash and coming up empty handed, I decided to die cut and embellishment using the Flourish Thinlit Dies.

I cut out Blackberry Bliss and Gold Foil and finished it off with a pretty Gold Faceted Gem. This card was a series of trial and error, that I almost gave up on...but I love the way it turned out! I bet I probably couldn't duplicate it if I tried!

If you don't already have the You've Got This stamp set, be sure to order before the end of the month. As of yesterday, there are now many discounted items on the Retiring List as well...check them out!

Razzleberry You've Got This

When I get busy coloring I usually like to color several images using different color schemes, so the other day when playing with my new Watercolor Pencils and the You've Got This stamp set I also created this card.

I used my Aqua Painter to blend the colors together. It's fun and relaxing because you can basically just scribble on color and blend it out to look soft and pretty.

I used Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo & Pacific Point on the petals. Old Olive and Pacific Point on the leaves: and Daffodil Delight on the stammen. (I forgot to include that pencil in photo) I also sparingly used the Basic Black pencil for a little shading.

I masked the flower and stamped the crosshatch background inked in Pool Party and Tempting Turquoise. The birthday sentiment is from Avant Garden...one of the sets available as your free selection during Sale-A-Bration.

You've Got This Delicate Details

The other day I pulled out my You've Got This stamp set to use the great crosshatch background stamp, and I realized I hadn't used the set in a while. The beautiful peony image is perfect to use with my new watercolor pencils...so I got busy doing some coloring!

I stamped my image using SU! Basic Black Archival Ink onto Whisper White cardstock. I used the new Watercolor Pencils and my Aqua Painter to watercolor the flower.

I used these pencils: Calypso Coral for the petals. Old Olive for the leaves. Daffodil Delight for the stamen. For shading on both the petals and the leaves I used the Early Espresso pencil. The background was inked with So Saffron and Crumb Cake. I fussy cut the flower and popped it up with dimensionals.

I used the Sale-A-Brations stamp set, Delicate Details, to add the pretty lace border. It's stamped in VersaMark ink and embossed with White Embossing Powder.

Have you placed your Sale-A-Bration order yet? If not...what are you waiting for? You don't want to miss out on on the exclusive Sale-A-Bration merchandise such as this Delicate Details stamp set! Visit my SU! store to place your order today.

Lift Me Up Z Fold Birthday

Recently when showing my husband some of my creations using items from the new Occasions Catalog, he remarked on a card using the Lift me Up Bundle, saying he hoped I made him a card using the hot air balloons for his upcoming birthday. His birthday was on Monday, so I came up with an extra special card for him.

Above is how it looks coming out of the envelope...but when it unfolds it looks pretty special.

The base of the card is Pacific Point cut to 4-1/4 x 1" and scored at: 2-3/4" & 5-1/2" The Whisper White layer measures 4 x 10- 3/4" It is sponged to create the cloudy sky background. I used cloud shapes die cut from post-it notes using the Up & Away Framelits. These are used as masks before I started to sponge on various shades of blue ink. I also sponged some Old Olive along the bottom to create a hillside.

The die cut hillside was created using 10-3/4 x 2-1/4" Old Olive cardstock and a retired set of dies called Sleighride Edgelits. I then stamped it with the nice cross hatch background stamp included in the You've Got This stamp set. It is then scored at 5-1/4" & 8".

Here's another look at the card from another angle.

As you can see, I cut down the sponged background layer so that it just fit inside each scored section of the card so that it will fold open and closed easily.

We celebrated his birthday a day early, on Sunday, when our family could be here. Besides the birthday boy, we had another guest of honor who stole the spotlight the entire evening...

our 5 day old granddaughter! Isn't she adorable all dressed up in her party dress for her very first party? As you can see, Grandpa didn't mind a bit sharing the spotlight! Our little sweetheart made his special day all the sweeter.

Thanks for visiting today!

You've Got This Garden Collage

Happy (Flashback) Friday! Today I have a card to share which uses my all time favorite Sale-A-Bration set - Garden Collage. It was from way back in 2005, which also happens to be my very first SAB with Stampin' Up!

Actually it was called Sell-a-Bration back then and the rubber was manufactured in a special color just for SAB, so this set has mint colored rubber. With each $50 spent, there were six stamp sets to choose from. Just a little flashback trivia for you along with this card...

I stamped the burlap looking background from You've Got This in So Saffron and then watercolored the image using my Aqua Painter. The edges are sponged with Soft Suede and the butterfly and flowers have a little sparkle to them thanks to Wink of Stella.

Have a great weekend!

Wild About Flowers Trio

This set of cards created using the Wild About Flowers stamp set would be perfect for any occasion. I changed up the look simply by changing the background stamp and the color of the main panel.

The flowers and leaves on all three cards use the same color of inks: Tangerine Tango, Blackberry Bliss, Wild Wasabi and Mossy Meadow. I created the card in the center first and actually shared it a while back in this post. I used that card for my inspiration when I needed some cards with more of an autumn feel to them.

I swapped out the Hardwood background used on my first card and used the crosshatch texture stamp from the You've Got This stamp set inked in Sahara Sand in it's place.

I love Blackberry Bliss paired up with Sahara Sand. It also looks good here with Tangerine Tango.

Thanks for stopping by.

Pretty Pink Peony

I've been busy coloring these beautiful flower from the You've Got This set.

I masked the flower portion of this image before stamping the background in Crumb Cake ink. Since the Crumb Cake ink is fairly light, it blended fine with the Wild Wasabi ink I used to watercolor the stem & leaves. Sponging the Typeset Specialty Paper gives this card more of a vintage feel.

Have a great weekend!

Grandma's Elegant Peony

Peonies are one of my favorite flowers. I'm sure it's because during my childhood, every year when my Grandma would come to visit for my birthday, she would bring a huge bouquet of beautiful peonies for my Mom. She had many different colors growing in her garden and they bloomed during the beginning of June just in time for my birthday. My favorite color she grew were a deep raspberry red color...which was the inspiration for this card.

I used Rose Red along with a little bit of Blackberry Bliss for shading. I masked the blossom part of the flower (but didn't worry about the leaves) before stamping the crosshatch background inked in Crumb Cake. You can read more about my experimenting with this background and flower in this previous posting (or keep scrolling down).

The background panel uses a pattern from the Typeset DSP along with the Boho Chic Embossing Folder. I added a strip of Gold Satin Ribbon to finish it off..BUT after looking at my finished creation I wondered if it needed an extra little something. So I made a bow...

The center of the bow is gathered up with a strip of Basic Black Card stock secured with Glue Dots. Then I added some Basic Pearls. Which version do you prefer? I'm still undecided. I guess my decision will be made when I give it to the intended birthday person...if I see her in person I'll leave the bow, if I need to mail it, then the flatter version would be better.

Thanks for visiting today! Have a wonderful weekend!

You've Got This...

I've got this...we all have this! This stamp set just may be the most popular stamp set from the new catalog. It was available during the pre-order, and at the time I resisted. But...since I love flowers (especially peonies) and the large, cross hatch background that comes with it is so awesome...I knew I wouldn't be able to hold out for too long! Yes, I am weak!

So I sat down to play with it the other night looking for the easiest way to use the background behind the flower image. I experimented with a few different ways of doing this, and I thought I'd share because you might find it helpful.

On the left you see my first attempt...and the easiest. I stamped the cross hatch background in Crumb Cake ink - using the old style linen type ink pad, which later I found does make a difference. (more on that later) I then stamped the flower image in Black Stazon over the top of the background and water colored it using my Aqua Painter and Lost Lagoon, Certainly Celery & Wild Wasabi inks. As long as you use a light color that mixes well with the colors you intend to color the flower, this can work well.  Using Crumb Cake ink, the result is a nice, antiqued sort of look...but as you can see, its definitely darker than the other samples.

For the middle flower I did exactly as with the first one, only this time I stamped a second flower head, painted it with Lost Lagoon ink and my Aqua Painter, then I carefully cut it out.

For the third flower, I cut a mask by stamping the flower head on a post it note and carefully cutting just inside the outline of the flower. (I didn't bother to mask the stem & leaves) Hint: cut 2-3 layers of post it notes at the same time so you have more than one mask for future projects. I store mine in the stamp case so it's handy for next time. Now back to the stamping...I stamped the full flower image in Black Stazon. Then, placed the mask I created over the flower head and stamped the cross hatch background over the flower image. Since the back ground is so large and fairly solid, I found the easiest way to do this is to ink the stamp by laying it face up on my desk then laying my image on top of the stamp, cover with scrap paper and run my bone folder over the top to be sure the image gets uniformly inked.

Once the mask is cut, you can use it over and over so in my opinion that is probably the easiest way to get a good result in the truest colors using this stamp set. However, using a couple different colors in the new firm foam pads to ink the back ground had less than stellar results. Even after working the inks deep into the pad, some of the detail was filled in. That wasn't too much of a deal breaker, but I also had issues with large gaps of white space all around the image, even though I inked it in the same manner as I had with the old style Crumb Cake pad. I didn't take any photos of those results, but I'll try again next time I stamp using this set to see if I get a better result.

Obviously the steps taken to create the flower in the middle took the most time because it would have to be fussy cut each time, but since I did take the time to cut it out I figured I'd make a card with it before the flower got lost in my stamp room! lol

I popped it up on dimensionals. As you can see, the cross hatch background was also used on the Lost Lagoon background panel. The sentiment is from the Birthday Blossoms set...such a pretty font used with those sentiments. I'll have something more to share using that set very soon.

If you are looking for any retired stamp sets, you should check out my Retired Stamps for Sale page...I just updated it yesterday.

Have a wonderful and safe Fourth of July weekend! It's supposed to be beautiful!