So while mom was here on vacation, I did some work for her We finished up all the cards for the February Newsletter and the March Stamp Camp! We even got a few ideas going for April (shocking I know!).

First up is a card I made for the February Newsletter. This is a technique I’ve been wanting to show folks for awhile. When Stampin Up first came out with their “Patterns” DSP (the ones that are different patterns in one color), I wondered why they had plain solid color paper in the pack. Then I realized that (a) it is lighter weight than cardstock and thus better for layering; but more importantly (b) it is white-core paper! White-core paper is ideal for doing dry embossing because you can then sand the embossing and have the white core show. Fun technique!

Next up is a card for Stamp Camp. I’m not too fond of it…but it isn’t horrible. Mom brought me a sample of all the new Satin Ribbon – wonderful stuff! This card had a few requirements to meet – use the new glittery DSP, an epoxy brad, and the “With All My Heart” stamp set. I got all the required elements in and even tossed in a pleated ribbon border

Next, another camp card. I really like how this turned out. It is simple but pretty. We originally had thought we’d use the new Shades of Spring DSP but I couldn’t get it to work. So I switched things around and used Tea Time. Once I did that, the rest of the card fell in place.

I wasn’t overly fond of the “Whimsical Words” set until I started playing with it. There really are some great thoughts in that set. I made sure I got it with my next order!

Finally, another camp project. We normally do all cards when we have stamp camp and then every once in a while we’ll do a 3D camp where all the projects are non-cards. But this camp needed something fun, so mom decided to do a treat bag using the new glassine bags. A quick run through with an embossing folder and the bag is all spiffy! I decided to do a belly band instead of the traditional topper. I thought I was done but then went back and added the scallop border and it really finished it off!

This card was created for the Stampin’ Royalty challenge (#4 – sketch). I just got my box of new goodies from the new Stampin Up Occasions Mini and SAB catalogs. I love this bird & branch punch! I thought the tag would be a cute way to spotlight him. I also used paper from the stack available through SAB – a quick and easy way to make a “background”!

The bird is fuzzy because I used the “faux suede” technique to create it. Very simple – run cardstock through a crimper a bunch of times in different directions; this breaks the fibers up. Peel the paper apart to reveal the fuzzy insides.

And I did the inside too! Since the ribbon on the front shows on the inside, I used it as my anchor for the inside decorations. Just more of the same paper.

If you are on mom’s InkUp newsletter, act surprised when you see it later this month

I finished my June Camp assignment yesterday. June’s camp will be focusing on stamps that were not recently released. Mom and I have such different tastes in stamps that it is hard to find sets that we both have (so I can do development here in HI and she can host camp in VA). But we did find two sets that met all the criteria – Pick a Petal and Baroque Motifs.

First up is my Pick a Petal card. The white grommets are available in the Occasions mini catalog, so we definitely needed to use them in June. And I think this card suits the grommet perfectly. The grommets are a bit of a pain, but worth it! She doesn’t have Stem Sayings, but luckily, since I unmount, it will be easy to mail the set to her. I really love the color combo on this one too!

Next up is my Baroque Motifs card. Mom still has lots of Bella Rose DSP, and the damask print from that pack is a great choice to pair with the Baroque Motifs set. This is another color combo I love – Riding Hood Red and Always Artichoke.

My mom issued a challenge to her customers: Create a card to commiserate broken bones, a major operation, stubbed toe, hangnails, or the like. Under the weather cards do not count.

That is a challenge! I don’t have any SU stamps that would really work for that. Thankfully Pick a Petal is on my design todo list for June. Since I had it out, this concept sorta threw itself at me. It is for a broken heart.

I added some uplifting wording on the inside – though many many other options presented themselves too. I hope I never have to send such a card, but I do like how it turned out!

This is a card I created for Mom’s May stamp camp. Her requirements were to use Lovely as a Tree to make a masculine card. I also knew that a customer had requested a card using glossy paper. So I decided to add that in too. I really like how the reverse masking and resist turned out. The final touch was to add the sentiment.

I unmount my stamps. I love using my stamps unmounted. Early on I realized that it would be helpful to mark the backs with an arrow showing which way was up. So far, that hasn’t failed me, but today….it did. I had marked the “Happy” form Happy Everything upside down! That particular stamp drives me nuts and I really should have stamped it before I used it, but since the back was marked, I thought I was good to go.

Oh well, live and learn (and re-mark!).

This card is for an upcoming InkUp stamp camp. Mom wanted a kid card, so I made a Parade of Bugs waterfall card. I used the SCS Tutorial for the waterfall technique. I think this turned out cute – I love how you can see each of the buggys’ faces!

If you missed my other Garden Elements cards I made with the Roof Garden Accents and Elements kit, make sure you check out part 1 and part 2.

First up is a simple card with lots of details. I wanted to use the great big flower from the Elements kit, but it was so big and plain. I decided to emboss the Kindred Spirits stamp set onto it. I liked it, but the shine wasn’t noticeable enough, so I sanded it down. I really liked those results! I added a Kiwi circle and a Navy button. I drew some dots on the button with a white gel pen. To finish the accent off I added some tiny satin ribbon .

The stitching around the DSP layer is faux stitching. Since sanding the EP off the flower made the flower edges distressed, I used the SU Cutter Kit to distress the edges of the DSP panel too.

This is the final card I want to show you. I was going for a mod graphic type design. I’m not sure what I ended up with, lol. I added the large leafy Element to the Kiwi cardstock. It needed something else so I outlined it with Not Quite Navy. It still didn’t seem right, so I overstamped the Element with the En Francais background stamp. I decided I wouldn’t do any more to that!

I love stripes, so the stripey paper from the Urban Garden DSP pack needed to be used and I thought it would go well with whatever it was I was doing on this card. The final step was to add the sentiment. I knew I wanted it to overlap the leafy Element, so I anchored it to the stripey strip with some brads.

Well, I hope you enjoyed these cards. I only used ONE THIRD of the contents of a kit – so they are definitely a value! Of course, there aren’t any other Accent and Element kits in the new catalog, bummer – but if you are like me, you have one in your stash

If you missed the first three cards I made with the Roof Garden Accents and Elements kit, make sure you check out yesterday’s post.

This first card was fun to make. I found some cool geometric paper within the Urban Garden DSP pack. I thought the wavy lines from the Elements kit worked well with that. I decided I wanted a big focal sentiment and created one using Elegant Greetings and Fundamental Phrases. I offset the sentiment and left room to add a leafy Element. I popped the leaves up and added a little detail with the white gel pen.

This is another of my favorites. When I saw the daisy paper from the Urban Garden DSP, I just knew I needed to use it. I’ve been ogling mom’s Top Note die cut so I grabbed that too. I used taffeta ribbon to hide the seem of the cardstock and pattern paper. Next time I will trim off the pointy parts from the die cut so the ribbon lays better. I popped a couple flowers over the ribbon.

So, using the daisy portion of the patten paper in the above card left some great wavy lines behind in the scrap pile. I thought they would make a cool border. Again I used dimensionals to pop the flowers up. For the sentiment, I used the corner rounder and tucked it under the border.

That is all for today. I have two more cards to post – some come back tomorrow to check them out. Thanks for stopping by!

Mom’s January stamping event was a new catalog party. One of the things she did was to give away a Roof Garden Accent and Elements kit. She asked me to make some samples using the tin so the person who won would have some ideas. I ended up making 8 cards! I’ll post a few today, a few tomorrow, and the last couple on Wednesday. The three I have today are all CASEd, but the posts for Tuesday and Wednesday will be mine.

The first card was cased from luv my dolly (SCS). I changed the elements and sentiment used, and added a rhinestone brad to the flower center. What I CASEd was the overall layout and colors – I really love the smaller panel with the scallop edge and the idea of layering a flower over a strip.

My next card is one of my favorites! It just feels so formal and crisp. I again cased the layout from luv my dolly (SCS). To do the ribbon, I punched a little slot in the focal panel and threaded the ribbon up and made my knot. Also, I didn’t want the leaf sticker to be flat, so I cut a dimensional up into pieces and placed a few under the leaves to give that piece some dimension.

 
 
The final card (for today) is cased from stampin mama (SCS). I used the layout, but changed up the colors and the elements used to decorate the sentiment. This isn’t the best picture, but it is the best I have – the ribbon is Kiwi.

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow to see three more cards made with the Roof Garden Accents and Elements kit!

I really love the Stampin’Up! St. Patty set – Pinch Proof. I made this card for one of mom’s upcoming stamp camps. We used this set last year, so I wanted to use the other images from the set. I also wanted the card to be useable even if the person didn’t want to send it for St. Patrick’s Day.

Many of the cards in the February camp use a square, so instead of making another, I turned it a bit and made it a diamond. After stamping, I added a rhinestone for a bit of fun. I popped it up on dimensionals so that the ribbon could be threaded behind the image. The clover in the background is stamped with Versamark – the Kiwi ink was too dark.