A Flutter with Happiness

Hello stampers. Todays card is for the Color Challenge this week to use Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay and Dusty Durango. Dessert is to stamp on DSP.

I went through the UFO box and didn't see anything in there that would work. Soooo, I opened my stamp drawer and came out with all kinds of stamps.
First, I stamped 3 butterflies with the All a Flutter stamp. It's a single on the last page of the Summer Mini catalog. I used Black Stazon ink so it wouldn't smudge. Using a blender pen and ink pads, I colored each butterfly with a different color and added some contrast. They looked a little bland so I laid the VersaMark pad down on them and embossed with clear embossing powder. It made them so silky and pretty! They were also easier to cut out.

I found the DSP in the Welcome Neighbor DSP pad left over from the Sale A Bration. I stamped just the outline flower in Crushed Curry and used the Dusty Durango marker to dot the centers. A blender pen diffused the dots a bit.

I stamped the tips of the grass from the Inspired by Nature stamp in Crumb Cake. It's a new core color. (It's used to be called Kraft but as of tomorrow, it's Crumb Cake and you can get the ink in that color too.)

The sentiment is an old favorite from the Happy Harmony set. It was a Sale A Bration set about 3 years ago.

The DSP is adhered to a piece of Basic Black cut about 1/8" larger and all mounted on a Bermuda Bay card. The butterflies have adhesive just in the middle so the wings lift off the paper a bit.

I had so much fun doing this challenge. I really love the colors and today is their last day as current colors. Hopefully all of you have received your new catalog by now and see all the new colors and stamps and have a list as long as mine.

You can see that the All a Flutter didn't make it into the new catalog. You have until August 31 to order from the Summer Mini Catalog. If you don't have one, email me and I will be glad to send you one.

Card Receipe
Stamps: All a Flutter, Greenhouse Garden, Inspired by Nature, Happy Harmony
Paper: Bermuda Bay, Basic Black, Whisper White, DSP
Ink: Black Stazon, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Dusty Durango, Crumb Cake, Basic Black, VersaMark
Acc.: Clear Embossing Powder, Gray Marker

Hope you enjoy this card as much as I enjoyed making it.

Happy Stampin',
Bonnie

Wreath of Welcome

Hi fellow stampers. Have you ever had a card that just wouldn't go together to suit you? I doubt I'm the only one. Well this is one of them. I did this card for the CAS challenge this week to use Miss Boo's signature colors; Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery & Pumpkin Pie.

I went through that UFO box looking for something I could use for the challenge. I had done this wreath in Celery several years ago. I actually had 2 of them in there. It was made from an old Stampin' Up! set called All Season Wreath. It has a copyright date of 1997 so you can see how old it is. Just goes to show you how well these stamps hold up!

I used the Pumpkin Pie marker to color the berries on the wreath and painted the bow in Bashful Blue. I actually stamped another bow, cut it out and added it for a little dimension.

The Celery strips were embossed with the whacked Finial Press embossing folder. I love that little swirl strip. It adds a lot without being too fussy.

Card Recipe (card is 5 1/2" square)
Stamps: All Season Wreath
Paper: Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Acc.: Pumpkin Pie & Bashful Blue Markers, Big Shot, Finial Press Embossing Folder, Scallop Trim Border Punch

I'm not going to point out the flaws in this card to you. I think you will find them quite readily.

Using only pieces from the UFO box is a real challenge.

In fact the next post will be of a card that has all new parts. It was fun too!

You ought to see my stamp room. There are stamps and stuff all over the place. I guess I'd better go clean it up. Luke has discovered the room and so far the most interesting thing he found was a pencil. He left me a love note on my scratch paper. I'm trying to keep him from knowing about all the good stuff in there....at least for a couple of years.

Hope you had a wonderful day. I'll be back.
Bonnie

Bye Bye Little Bella

I was going to share a card for the CAS challenge today, but I really don't like the card I made and decided to work on it some more or throw it back into the UFO (UnFinished Objects) box.

Instead I'll show you a card I made a while back. The stamp set & the Pale Plum cardstock will be saying adieu in a couple of days.
This set, Bella's Bloom was a darling set and I really didn't show it enough love! I don't know why because this card was so simple. It took longer to figure out what to do with the image than to make the card! By the way, the image was inked with Perfect Plum & Mellow Moss SU Markers.

The sentiment is one of my favorites. It is from the Bird on a Branch set.

Card Recipe
Stamps: Bella's Bloom, Bird on a Branch
Paper: Pale Plum Textured, Perfect Plum, Whisper White
Ink: Perfect Plum
Acc.: Perfect Plum & Mellow Moss Markers, Large Oval & Scallop Oval punches

I really appreciate all the visits and comments in the past week. Each one is like a hug.

Enjoy,
Bonnie

Yellow Bloom

Hello friends. Remember the Awash with Flowers set that was available a while back? Well it will be making a return in the new 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalog that will go live on July 1st. That's next week!

Although this stamp set uses a 2-step stamping technique, I just stamped the outline and colored with markers and a blender pen. I used the Crushed Curry which didn't make it into the new catalog, but the new Dafodil Delight will do as well. It is a beautiful shade of yellow!

Card Recipe
Stamps: Awash with flowers
Paper: Naturals White, Crushed Curry, Real Red, Basic Black
Ink: Crushed Curry, Garden Green
Acc.: Scallop Trim Border Punch, Big Shot, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, 1/4" Circle Punch


Hope you have a great weekend. It's gonna be a hot one! I'll be working on my UFO box.

Happy Stampin',
Bonnie

Emboss, Emboss

Hello Stampin' Friends. First off I want to share a blog with you today. A lovely stampin' friend from the UK has started her own blog. It's called Cards for all Reasons. She does the most beautiful cards and pretty much sticks to the CAS style. I will put her blog on the side bar so you can access her readily.

Today's Ways to Use It challenge was to use heat embossing.

Embossing has never been my favorite technique, probably because I've not done it much and hate to drag all that stuff out. Now I keep my heat tool handy and it's not so bad. I still make a mess with the powder and seem to have it all over my work table when I'm finished. I'll have to work on that.
First card here is from a piece from the UFO (UnFinished Objects) box. I did have to break bad and ink up a stamp to do the background and the sentiment.

The tree was stamped in Handsome Hunter and I had used the Chocolate Chip marker to color the trunk. I used the VersaMark Pen on the branches and sprinkled the white Embossing Powder, heat set and voila! I had a snowy tree! The tree is matted on Handsome Hunter. The punching is a little funky because I used the punch in the corners and didn't like it. I cut off the corner & outside scallop. It gives it a little different look and I liked it.

I created a snow storm on the card by inking the little snowflake from the Short & Sweet set with VersaMark and embossing all those snowflakes. I used the soon to retire, Sage Shadow, for the card base. The sentiment is part of a stamp from an old Christmas set, To You & Yours. Snowy trees always make me feel peaceful.

While I was working on the tree card, I kept thinking Emboss Resist. I had seen so many beautiful cards done with this technique and had always thought I would try it but didn't. I have a goal to only use stuff from the UFO box and I had these flowers stamped from the Eastern Blooms stamp set. Since I needed a card base for them, I figured it would be ok to ink up the branch from the same set and do an emboss resist with it. Boy am I glad I did. I really love how it turned out.

I inked the branch with VersaMark and stamped it randomly on a white card. I sprinkled a good coat of White Embossing Powder on the card (and on the table, oh my!) then heat set it. The hardest part of heat setting such a large area is to make sure all of it is set before you stop. I let it cool a bit then sponged Certainly Celery and Baja Breeze (new color) ink all over the card. When I was finished, I took a paper towel and wiped off the branches. The ink doesn't stick to the embossing!

I found this darling center for the big flower in my gem box. I have no idea where it came from. A big pearl would do too. By the way, the large flower is punched with the 5-Petal Flower Punch. I used textured Pacific Point (new color) & Certainly Celery behind the flowers. The sentiment is from the Level 1 Hostess gift I showed you a couple of posts back. It's called Because I Care.

I'm glad I tried this technique. It was really fun to see the colors emerging and I love the effect. I'll surely do it again.

Don't forget to check out Sally's blog.

Hugs to all,
Bonnie