CASEing Cathy

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to CASE a card from the wonderful Cathy Autrey. I chose to CASE this fun card from just a few weeks back. I love the look of quilted cards! I've been known to do them for Christmas cards. So I jumped at the chance to CASE Cathy's card using current products. I love the subtle patterns in the Tea Room DSP pack. I picked a few of the single color papers to use for my quilt squares. I love the repeating patterns! From there I added some coordinated ribbon and a simple sentiment. 

• Stamps: Abstract Impressions
• Inks: Rich Razzleberry; Daffodil Delight; Crushed Curry
• Cardstock: Tea Room DSP; Crushed Curry; Rich Razzleberry; Whisper White
• Accessories: Faceted Gems; Old Olive Sheer Ribbon
• Tools: Stitched Shapes Framelits

Varied Vase Trio

Today’s card was another great card featuring at June's stamp club. I wanted to play with the Varied Vases stamp set. I ended up creating this cute vase trio image as my main focal point. Once my focus was set, I dug through all my paper to find some great coordinating patterns and found these two patterns in the Nature's Poem pack. I decided the card needed a bit more bling and so added some Champagne Glimmer Paper and a few Mint Macaron Faceted Gems. 

• Stamps: Varied Vases
• Inks: Tranquil Tide; Mint Macaron; Rich Razzleberry; Blackberry Bliss; Grapefruit Grove; Soft Suede
• Cardstock: Nature's Poem; Tranquil Tide; Whisper White; Champagne Glimmer Paper
• Accessories: Faceted Gems
• Tools: Stitched Shapes Framelits

Floral Easel

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create an easel card. For some reason, I always thought that these cards were difficult to make. Not so!!! All you have to do is take a card base measuring 4 1/2" x 11" and score in half (5 1/2"). From there, score the base at 2 3/4" to create the easel fold. So incredibly easy!!!! From there, I decided on my DSP choice to create a base and then Accented Blooms for my stamped image. I had a ton of fun coloring my stamped image in coordinating colors. I finished off my card with some Old Olive Ribbon and Faceted Gems.

• Stamps: Accented Blooms
• Inks: Smoky Slate; Blackberry Bliss; Blushing Bride; Grapefruit Grove; Mint Macaron; Tranquil Tide; Old Olive; Pear Pizzazz; So Saffron; Rich Razzleberry
• Cardstock: Share What You Love DSP; Blackberry Bliss
• Accessories: Faceted Gems; Old Olive Sheer Ribbon
• Tools: Tailored Tag Punch

Annual Catalog Swaps 2018

Every new catalog, my demo group does a card swap featuring lots of new products. This year's crop of cards is just great! 

Christine Szekeres @ Artful Musings

Monica Van Tassel

Jennifer Stone

Carla Branton @ Copper Pony Stamper

Nicole Flournoy @ Inky Fingers Stamping

Tanya Cabral

Kathy Thisted

Sandra Vargas

Jennifer Blomquist @ Northwest Stamper

Susan Schultz

Tailored Garden

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create a card from in the garden. What better starting point than the Garden Impressions DSP? Seriously, this is some gorgeous paper. I love all the color combinations and patterns. For my card, I CASEd a design using the Tailored Tag Punch to create an interesting DSP background. I chose a few different paper patterns, punch out pieces, and glued them onto a piece of cardstock. I decided to keep the rest of the card simple with a punched sentiment and some coordinating ribbon.

• Stamps: Accented Blooms
• Inks: Melon Mambo, Calypso Coral, Shaded Spruce
• Cardstock: Garden Impressions DSP, Petal Pink
• Accessories: Metallic Ribbon Combo
• Tools: Tailored Tag Punch

Peekaboo Coffee Cups

Today’s card is my attempt at an unusual technique. I've often seen cards with color that comes peeking through. They remind me of those childhood activity pads where you scratch off of the black to find the picture below. And so I set out trying to recreate the idea in card form. For this specific technique, you start by adding ink to a piece of white cardstock covering the entire piece. From there, stamp am image using Versamark and cover with white embossing powder. After heating the powder, add black ink all over the top of the piece of cardstock. To reveal the color underneath, all you have to do is take a tissue to the Versamarked areas. I tried this using other colors and it turned out all muddled. It turns out that bright or pastel colors are the best to see. After creating my base piece, I added a stamp and cut coffee cup, some ribbon, and a pop of Lemon Lime Twist. 

• Stamps: Merry Cafe (retired)
• Inks: Bermuda Bay, Lemon Lime Twist, Melon Mambo
• Cardstock: Bermuda Bay, Lemon Lime Twist, Whisper White
• Accessories: Bermuda Bay Ribbon (retired), 
• Tools: Clear Embossing Powder; Stitched Shapes Framelits

Crafting Forever Sketch

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create a card using the sketch below.

I'm a huge fan of sketch challenges, and this one is no exception. For my card, I decided on a simple color palette of Lemon Lime Twist and Call Me Clover. From there, I picked a background stamp set to add some interest to the cardstock and then started building the rest of the card. I love the mix of patterns that resulted. As the last touch, I added some fun Lemon Lime Twist Ombre Ribbon.

• Stamps: Crafting Forever
• Inks: Call Me Clover; Lemon Lime Twist
• Cardstock: 2018-2020 In Color DSP; Call Me Clover; Lemon Lime Twist
• Accessories: Lemon Lime Twist Ombre Ribbon
• Tools: Stitched Shapes Framelits

Garden Love

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create using products from the new catalog. Once I was able to preorder some products, I knew the gorgeous Garden Impressions DSP stack had to be my number one purchase. The patterns are colorful and so versatile. I chose a piece of DSP and die cut this gorgeous floral corner piece as the focal point for my card. From there I simply added a couple pieces of ribbon, a simple sentiment (love this font!), and a few gems. Simple card, but I love it! I love it so much that I featured this at May's stamp club. The ladies picked different color combos and DSP patterns to put their own spin on my card. 

• Stamps: Abstract Impressions
• Inks: Night of Navy
• Cardstock: Garden Impressions DSP; So Saffron; Shaded Spruce
• Accessories: Faceted Gems; Metallic Ribbon Combo (Shaded Spruce used)
• Tools: Springtime Impressions Thinlits

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

Lots of Love to You

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!

The Lots of Love stamps has such a great large sentiment on which to base cards. For this one I started with my sentiment and layered on some DSP featuring the color Tranquil Tide. To finish off this simple card, I added a Tranquil Tide Bitty Bow and some White Accents.

Another fun card making use of a ton of DSP. I love doing DSP heavy cards. The pattern mixing is so much fun! After getting my paper set, I added a simple sentiment and some pretty shimmery ribbon to finish the card.

• Stamps: Lots of Love
• Inks: Tranquil Tide
• Cardstock: Whole Lot of Love DSP; Basic Black; Tranquil Tide
• Accessories: 2017-2019 Itty Bitty Bows; Blushing Bride Shimmer Ribbon; White Accents
• Tools: Layering Circles Dies