Jar of Sweets

Today’s card is another from the How Sweet it Is Suite! I just love the fun colors of the suite and wanted to make a few candy-filled cards. This particular design is a CASE from the demonstrator magazine Stampin’ Success. I loved the look of layered pieces and highlighted colors. I change the sentiment piece and added some glitter enamel dots (from the annual catalog), but kept the design the same!

• Stamps: Sweetest Thing

• Inks: Melon Mambo; Smoky Slate; Pineapple Punch; Granny Apple Green; Coastal Cabana; Bermuda Bay

• Cardstock: How Sweet It Is DSP; Coastal Cabana; Melon Mambo; Pineapple Punch; Whisper White

• Accessories: Glitter Enamel Dots; Coastal Cabana / Granny Apple Green 3/8” Reversible Ribbon

• Tools: Jar of Sweets Framelits Dies

Candy Canes and Holly

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create a card using your favorite Christmas DSP. I love the colors and patterns in the Santa’s Workshop DSP pack. I wanted to show off the beautiful paper, so I kept the sentiment and additions fairly simple.

• Stamps: Making Christmas Bright

• Inks: Garden Green; Poppy Parade

• Cardstock: Santa’s Workshop DSP; Garden Green; Poppy Parade; Basic Black; Whisper White

• Accessories: Santa’s Workshop Enamel Shapes

• Tools: Stitched Shapes Framelits; Candy Cane Builder Punch

Fun n' Crafty Blog Hop July 2018

Welcome to the Fun n’ Crafty Blog Hop for June. This month's blog hop is actually a swap. Various members of the Fun and Crafty Stampers made cards featuring new products from the Annual Catalog and swapped them in the mail. Such amazing cards! I love doing swaps and getting examples using products that I don't have or don't necessarily intend to buy. 

For my card, I wanted to feature my newest stamp set, Pop of Petals. I love a good floral image and this one is too cute! The set comes with multiple differently patterned flowers, but I just used one pattern for my card. I picked a few fun colors and coordinated them with a lighter or darker color. From there, I thought the flowers looked a little too plain so I added a background piece of stamped leaves. Much better! I finished the card off with a piece of Wood Texture DSP, a simple sentiment, and some fun Glitter Enamel Dots. 

• Stamps: Abstract Impressions; Pop of Petals
• Inks: Sea Foam Green; Call Me Clover; Bermuda Bay; Coastal Cabana; Highland Heather; Gorgeous Grape; Flirty Flamingo; Lovely Lipstick
• Cardstock: Wood Textures DSP; Whisper White
• Accessories: Glitter Enamel Dots
• Tools: Four-Petal Flower Punch

Fun & Crafty Blog Hop

Nicole -- Inky Fingers Stamping

Jennifer -- NW Stamper

Christine -- Artful Musings

Tobe -- The Craft Sea (you are here)

Under the Sea

It's officially May which means it's time to say goodbye to all the retiring stamp sets. In total, I'm losing 18 stamp sets from my collection (although a few of those will be kept because I love them so much). Many of these stamp sets are still available, but they are no longer guaranteed. If you want any of the sets featured, buy now before they are gone!

I wanted to make a masculine underwater card. After digging through my patterned paper stack, I landed on the True Gentleman DSP as the perfect compliment to the Seaside Shore fish and anchor. I love the use of the Embossing Folder as a background piece and the sparkly glitter enamel dots. 

For my second card, I wanted to use the Seaside Embossing Folder to create an underwater scene. I stamped on the seaweed and bubbles and then embossed my piece of Vanilla. From there I stamped and cut out the fish and sentiment. I layered those onto paper to create a ocean-like background and finished the card with some glitter enamel shapes and pearls.

• Stamps: Seaside Shore
• Inks: Night fo Navy; Dapper Denim; Emerald Envy; Calypso Coral; Soft Sky; Tranquil Tide
• Cardstock: True Gentleman DSP; Color Theory DSP; Very Vanilla; Night of Navy; Tranquil Tide; Dapper Denim
• Accessories: Pearls; Glitter Enamel Dots
• Tools: Seaside Embossing Folder

A Parade of Dinos

It's officially May which means it's time to say goodbye to all the retiring stamp sets. In total, I'm losing 18 stamp sets from my collection (although a few of those will be kept because I love them so much). Many of these stamp sets are still available, but they are no longer guaranteed. If you want any of the sets features, buy now before they are gone!

Today's card duo is just too fun! I knew I had to have the No Bones About It stamp set when it premiered and it hasn't failed me yet. I love making fun Dino birthday cards with this set. For this duo, I played with layering dinosaurs on top of some fun DSP from Naturally Eclectic. While the skeletons on top of solid Dinos are a lot of fun, I really love the simplicity of the second card. The tiny party hat gets me every time!

• Stamps: No Bones About It
• Inks: Emerald Envy, Night of Navy, Basic Gray, Lemon Lime Twist, Pool Party
• Cardstock: Naturally Eclectic DSP, Emerald Envy, Night of Navy, Whisper White
• Accessories: Metallic Enamel Shapes
• Tools: Ovals Framelits

Favorite Retiring Products

I'm always sad to see certain things get retired, so today is all about celebrating my Top 10 Favorite Retiring Products.

1. 5/8" Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon -- This gorgeous ribbon comes in Berry Burst (my favorite), Night of Navy, Emerald Envy, and Peekaboo Peach. I love the crinkly texture and ease at tying bows. Thankfully I have a good chunk of Night of Navy ribbon left in my stash.

$8.00

• Berry Burst 144191
• Night of Navy 144189
• Peekaboo Peach 144192
• Emerald Envy 144190

2. Tutti Frutti DSP $10.00 145606-- Usually I'm okay with losing the current year's DSP. I love see the new designs and frankly after using the same patterns for an entire year, I am over them. The exception this year is the Tutti Frutti DSP. This 6x6" paper stack is just so much fun! One side had great fruit patterns while the opposite has great single color graphic patterns. 

3. Birthday Blooms Stamp Set $19.00 140658 (Clear Mount) -- Hands down the stamp set I will miss the most! This set had become my go-to set for fun techniques and great beautiful cards. I have used it so much in the past few years. Now I have to decided if I am going to keep it or sell it during my yard sale...

4. 2016-2018 In Colors (Ink Pad Collection $27.50 141818) -- This retiring In Color Collection has me more upset than usual. Included in this collection are two amazing colors that I keep going back to: Sweet Sugarplum and Emerald Envy. I'm so incredibly sad to be losing these. You know I will keeping both and using them on a variety of projects. At least we get to keep Flirty Flamingo as it is a part of the new Color Revamp. Good thing I stocked up on reinkers for this collection! And I have cardstock for all five of the colors. I should be okay for awhile...

5. Pieces and Patterns Stamp Set $19.00 143843 (Clear Mount) -- Such a cute stamp set! I love the different items and the little embellishment stamps. I think my favorite and most used piece is the little T-Rex. How cute is he? Perfect to make kids's birthday cards! 

6. Island Indigo (Ink Pad $6.50 126986) -- I'm going to miss this color the most. Island Indigo is my go-to blue if I want to something lighter than Navy. I love how rich the color is. It acts almost as a neutral when combine with other colors. I will miss you Island Indigo. We'll have to see if one of the new ink colors can take it's place...

7. Metallic Enamel Shapes $7.00 141678 -- These cute little silver and gold enamel shapes are one of my go-to embellishments. They add the perfect amount of shine to any card. And the fact that they are neutrals means they can go on almost any card. I'll be sad to lose these ones, but at least the faceted gems are carrying over. And we're getting some new pretty pearls and gems.

8. Magical Day Stamp Set $22.00 145857 (Clear Mount) -- I thought this set was cute when I first saw the Occasions catalog, but I didn't necessarily want it immediately. But then I started seeing cards being made with the set and knew I needed to buy it. I've been having so much fun making whimsical cards featuring these images. I think my favorite might be the mermaid. I'm sure another whimsical set is on the horizon, but I might just have to keep this set for awhile.

9. Brick Wall Embossing Folder $8.50 138288 -- I just bought this one in March and haven't used it that much, but know that it's a great texture. In the time that it took me to put together this post, the folder is completely sold out! 

10. Frozen Treats Dies $27.00 142756 -- And lastly, I love the Frozen Treats Dies. These are perfect for making cute ice cream cones, popsicles, and sundaes. I love the combinations you can make and just look at those texture pieces! I'll be sad to lose this one.

Bingo Thank You

Today’s cards were given to all the participants at my Spring Bingo event. I found the idea for this card from Stamp with Paper Panda. I modified her cards a bit to suit my own purposes, but kept the design the same. This was the perfect card to use some of the Color Theory DSP stack. 

Detail of the Berry Burst card:

• Stamps: Crafting Forever
• Inks: Basic Black; variety of SU Markers
• Cardstock: Color Theory DSP; Berry Burst; Dapper Denim; Crushed Curry; Kraft; Whisper White
• Accessories: Glitter Enamel Dots
• Tools: Stitched Shapes Framelits

Happy Easter

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create an Easter card. The Flying Home stamp set is the perfect choice to create a festive card. I stamped and colored this great floral and bird house image using my Stampin' Blends. I simply colored the image, no modifications made. From there, I layered the piece onto a die cut piece of Calypso Coral and added a simple sentiment. As I don't have a "Happy Easter" stamp, I used the labeler alphabet to create one. For the background, I embossed a piece of Color Theory DSP. I love the ombre effect in the background. For a finishing touch, I added some yellow Glitter Enamel Shapes. 

• Stamps: Flying Home, Labeler Alphabet
• Inks: Calypso Coral, Basic Black, Stampin' Blends
• Cardstock: Color Theory DSP, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, Crushed Curry
• Accessories: Glitter Enamel Shapes
• Tools: Basket Weave Embossing Folder, Stitched Shapes Framelits

Repeating Hearts

Today's card is another featured card at my Pattern Paper class. I love the idea of repeating shapes on a cards. For this one, I pulled a ton of coordinating purple papers and started punching out hearts. After adding those, I picked some coordinating ribbon and added a cute tag for a sentiment. 

• Stamps: Happy Happenings (retired)
• Inks: Rich Razzleberry
• Cardstock: 2016-2018 In Color DSP (retired); Petals and Paisleys DSP (retired); Pop of Pink DSP (retired); Rich Razzleberry; Whisper White; Random scraps
• Accessories: Glitter Enamel Shapes; Sweet Sugarplum Ribbon (retired); Blackberry Bliss Ribbon (retired)
• Tools: Sweetheart Punch; Scallop Tag Topper Punch; small heart punch

#17 Mint and Melon

Today's sketch comes from December 2016:

Here's what I originally did:

Can you tell I love polka dots? I really really do. Thankfully I found some great polka dot papers in my scrap box to use for today's card. I also rediscovered some glimmer paper in the bottom of the the box. Yeah for a super fun polka-dotted sparkly card!

• Stamps: random sentiment stamp
• Inks: Melon Mambo
• Cardstock: 2016-2018 In Color DSP (retired); Pop of Pink DSP (retired); Mint Macaron Glimmer Paper (retired); Emerald Envy; Whisper White
• Accessories: Metallic Enamel Shapes
• Tools: Circle Punch