The Card Concept: Floral Valentine

There's a new inspiration challenge at The Card Concept: Floral Valentine. My Clean and Layered card was inspired by the colors and the three square black heart boxes along the bottom.

 

I created this for my newly-teenage niece.  I'm finding it a hard age for making cards. She's not into cutesy anymore but it can't be too "serious".  I liked the idea of the three black stamps along the bottom but wasn't sure it was teenage-girl enough.  I'm hoping the fun font and the dsp helps!  I also added three little gems because that's a requirement for my nieces. (You should see how depleted my gem stash is when they come to craft.)  I probably should have added more!

I hope to see you playing along with us at The Card Concept.

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Concord & 9th Sweet Sayings dies

Paper: Stampin' Up Flirty Flamingo and Parakeet Party, Taylored Expressions Cupcake, Honey Bee Stamps Hugs and Kisses 6x6 pad

Freshly Made Sketches: Iconic Hi

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Jen Mitchell and here’s what I did with it!

 

 

I started this one with the idea of a branch - then maybe birds, pretty leaves, bees or something. As I was browsing my stash with branches, I saw this retired set by Stampin' Up and realized that I had never used it! 

I thought about sponging an ombre background but quickly realized I had ombre Stampin' Up paper (also retired!) so I didn't have to get inky. Then finally for the stripe, I found more retired Stampin' Up paper!  I have new things I haven't even used but when all out on the retired products for this card!

My husband saw his on my desk and asked why they were saying "hi" since that bird was going to eat that bee!! Ugh...men!!!

I hope to see you playing along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Stampin' Up Iconic, Playful Alphabet

Paper: Stampin' Up Oh So Ombre, Brights 6x6 2020 DSP 

Other: Studio Katia Jade Crystals

Poppystamps: Birthday Floral Vase

I'm on the Poppystamps blog today with this amazing card using the Poppystamps Floral Vase Pop Up Easel.

Here's how it looks as a card.

And here's how it becomes an "easel" for display.

Isn't that just amazing?!  And the dies make it easy.  Check out the Poppystamps blog for pictures of each step and many more details.

I made this specifically for a friend and I wanted a fresh and cheerful look.  So I created a bold black and white vase using cardstock stripes and I picked bright colors for the flowers.  But this set can be used in so many ways.  Check out the samples on the Poppystamps store. They do amazing things with shading and with curling each petal for dimension.

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Poppystamps Birthday Blowout

Dies: Poppystamps Floral Vase Pop Up Easel

Paper: Memory Box Berry Red, Sunny Orange and Lush Green paper packs

Other: Poppystamps Pastel Jewels

Freshly Made Sketches: Just a Note

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Jen Timko and here’s what I did with it!

 

I picked the flower right away.  It's from the Memory Box Bouquet Blooms and Leaves set.  I love the detail and the layers. I knew it was pretty small to stand alone but I was hoping the uniqueness of it plus the colors would give it enough pop.  But at some point I decided that it was just too small for the card so I made my card smaller and square so the proportions seemed better. Problem solved!

The sentiment is also Memory Box.  I tend to stick within companies whenever possible because the look of their products is often the same.  In this case, I like the lightweight lines of the sentiment that work well with the flower.

I hope to see you playing along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Memory Box Just a Note Posh Script, Bouquet Blooms and Leaves

Other: Studio Katia Stormy Cloud Pearls

Freshly Made Sketches: Valentine Bookshelf

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Jacquie and here’s what I did with it!

 

I knew right away what I was doing with this sketch.  Papertrey Ink has an older series of "Storybook" stamps. I recently got all the holidays in the series as it became apparent that my two young nieces were taking their passion for reading into their teen years.  Not only do they love reading - but they love books!  Even old-fashioned me has moved to a Kindle.  Of course, it's mostly because it's lighter and easier to hold as I read - books are heavy!!  When I got the stamp sets, the "books" were bigger than I expected. Then I saw this sketch and knew that there was space for my Valentine bookshelf!

I hope to see you playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Storybook Love (and dies), Avery Elle Lots of Love (sentiment)

Dies: Trinity Stamps Modern Embossed Rectangle Stack

Paper: Stampin' Up Sweet Sorbet, Flirty Flamingo and Coastal Cabana, Taylored Expressions Cupcake, Papertrey Ink Aqua Mist, Memory Box Delicate Pastel Glitter

Ink: Stampin' Up Sweet Sorbet

Other: Sizzix Embossing Folder

The Card Concept: Winter Snow

There's a new inspiration challenge at The Card Concept. It's double challenge week and I am using the Winter Snow graphic.  My Clean and Layered card was inspired by the colors, the snowflakes and the pine boughs.

I almost exclusively use dies (except for sentiments).  I love the dimension and the crispness of dies plus I often get frustrated with ink and stamps especially for cards like this one with multiple images.  I hate getting to the last one and deciding it's not in the right place or it's the wrong green or it only partially stamps (not that I'm obsessive!)  Thank goodness for the Stampin' Up Stamparatus which I highly recommend because it has two hinged doors and they are removable so I set up the sentiment on one, then flipped it and lined up one tree, then a tree on each side of the other door - so four stamps lined up at one time! I could re-stamp if it wasn't good or I could move them slightly and start over. I had forgotten how much I liked this tool until I broke my wrist last fall and it became essential for any stamping.

This is going to go out to my oldest son. He lives in a fabulous town for outdoor activities. Funny story - during his tween and teen years, we still owned a small place in a mountain town but he just wasn't interested in joining us in hiking or snowshoeing or just enjoying nature. Now that he's a young adult, he finds he needs that time in nature to let go of stress and to refresh. It's been fun to watch because even though he grew up going to the mountains, it's like it's all new to him. He's so enthusiastic and tells us every detail of his adventures!  Although I don't love the look of this sentiment that came with the stamp set - it does say exactly what I what to remind him of. Nature is just outside his door and it's magical!!

I hope to see you playing along with us at The Card Concept.

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Forest Scenery

Dies: Hero Arts Wood Frames, Lawn Fawn Mini Snowflakes

Paper: Taylored Expressions Toffee, Memory Box Delicate Pastel Glitter pad

Ink: Taylored Expressions Sweet Basil and Granny Smith, Stampin' Up Old Olive

Poppystamps: Panda Love

 I'm on the Poppystamps blog today with the sweet Whittle Giant Panda along with a variety of brand new Valentines products!

I used the new Heartfelt Pinpoint Frame and layered two coral pink colors from the Memory Box Berry red pad (with the third coordinating color on the heart).  Then the older Double Diamond Lattice Plate works perfectly to showcase the hearts and the stitched accents. The panda was accented with the new Vintage Scalloped Heart which includes the ray pattern which really puts the focus on him.

There are many more pictures and details on the Poppystamps blog.

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Poppystamps Diamond Sentiments clear stamp set

Dies: Poppystamps Whittle Giant Panda, Vintage Scalloped Heart, Heartfelt Pinpoint Frame, Double Diamond Lattice Plate and Colwell Label Set

Paper: Memory Box Berry Red 6x6 pad