Category: Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team

Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team

Thank You Zinnias

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Our monthly Luv 2 Stamp Team challenge is using our current designer series papers. If you struggle with this too, I encourage you to play along with us as we design cards that prominently feature some of our favorite designer series papers.

I just love the new Flowering Zinnias designer paper. For today’s card, I intentionally chose a pattern that would pair perfectly with the new glimmer specialty papers. What better way to have your designer paper shine than to mat it with gorgeous, sparkly paper!

We start with a base of Old Olive cardstock. The lovely zinnia patterned sheet is matted with Berry Burst glimmer paper. To create the perfect backdrop for the sentiment, I chose to mat the purple grid pattern from the Flowering Zinnias pack with a piece of Old Olive glimmer paper. The sentiment panel is white cardstock that has been diecut using the Autumn Leaves die. I used the expansion masking technique to make a longer shape from this die. The sentiment is from the Perennial Postage stamp set. To punch up the zinnia theme, I fussy cut a zinnia from the patterned sheet. Both the sentiment panel and zinnia element are popped up on dimensionals to ensure that they stand out against the beautifully busy background. The fine shimmer gems are placed so that the eye moves from corner to corner across the design.

The beauty of designer series paper is being able to share it with others. So let’s cut it up and make beautiful things to share!

Products used:
Basic White, Old Olive cardstock
Flowering Zinnias, glimmer DSP
Perennial Postage stamps
Autumn Leaves dies
Fine shimmer gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team

Flowering Thanks

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Our monthly Luv 2 Stamp Team challenge is to use our designer series papers. Do you ever find yourself just collecting pretty paper? Me too! But I’m getting much better about using all the pretty paper and you can too.

Today, I’m featuring the brand new Flowering Zinnias designer paper which is available as an Online Exclusive. I’ve selected 3 separate patterns from the pack for this card design. We begin with a base of Basic White cardstock, which really helps all of the busy patterns pop. I chose the pink zinnia sheet for the background panel and used two other patterns as the mat for the sentiment. To draw the eye to the center sentiment panel, I chose a strip of crinkled ribbon and natural wavy trim to serve as the center element. The sentiment is from the Softly Said stamp set. A combination of sequins and iridescent discs add a touch of sparkle and allow your eye to pass from corner to corner of the card.

Don’t be afraid to cut that beautiful cardstock! I find it much easier to do when I find great layouts to use for my card designs. Look for sketches or inspiration cards that have larger panels. That will get your creative juices flowing and make it easier to cut up that gorgeous paper!

Products used:
Basic White cardstock
Flowering Zinnias DSP
Softly Said stamps
Pool Party crinkle ribbon, natural wavy trim
Sequins trio, iridescent discs
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team

Field of Thanks

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Our monthly Luv 2 Stamp Team challenge is to use all of our beautiful DSP — love it, chop it! As soon as I saw the beautiful Perennial Lavender designer series paper in the current mini catalog, it went in my cart. It’s just stunning in every possible way. It works well standing alone and pairs stunningly with the other products in the Perennial Lavender Suite.

For today’s card design, I opted to let the beautiful Perennial Lavender designer paper stand on its own. And I borrowed the corner fold-down technique from upline Patty Bennett to add a little interest and allow both sides of this gorgeous paper be able to shine on one design. A sheet of Blackberry Bliss cardstock serves as the base for this lovely card. I chose to mat the sheet of designer paper with a sheet of Pretty Peacock soft shimmer paper for a little added sparkle, particularly in the exposed corner. I thought the exposed corner was the perfect place to feature a paper butterfly from the Perennial Lavender Suite and help tease forward the little butterflies from the designer paper. The sentiment is stamped on white cardstock to coordinate with the white paper butterfly and then diecut using the Thoughtful Expressions dies. The Pretty Peacock & gold metallic ribbon provides the perfect backdrop for the sentiment and, along with the fine shimmer gems, brings sparkle to the bottom of the design, allowing the eye to pass easily diagonally across the card.

If you love beautiful cardstock as much as I do and also have a hard time cutting it, try finding layouts that allow the designer paper to take center stage. It makes using it the highlight of your crafting time!

Products used:
Blackberry Bliss, Basic White cardstock
Perennial Lavender, Soft shimmer DSP
Botanical Leaves stamps
Thoughtful Expressions dies
Paper butterflies
Fine shimmer gems
Pretty Peacock & gold metallic ribbon
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team

Beautiful Thanks

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While I’ve been away tending to my family, I’ve had many hours to sit and gather inspiration for some of my newer stamp sets. The Hills of Tuscany set is one I was drawn to in the new mini catalog, but once I had it in hand, I felt stumped. Do you ever have stamp sets like that? You love them when you see them but then you find yourself a little intimidated by them once they’re in your stash? One of the things I love about our Stampin’ Up! crafting community is the number of forums from where we can draw inspiration. From Pinterest to Facebook to Instagram to Demonstrator Planning Place (if you’re a demo), there are so many incredibly talented stampers out there!

For today’s card design, I drew from several talented stampers who used the Hills of Tuscany stamp set to create beautiful watercolor-looking scenes. Here, I wanted to create a Tuscan sunset with a chateau in the distance. I used the larger and smaller hillside stamps to create the hill on which the chateau sits. To create the sunset, I used the cloud-looking stamp and covered it with a number of different color inks before stamping it. While not perfect, I do love the look that I was able to achieve here. I experimented with stamping it multiple times but found that using multiple colors and stamping once worked better. To pull the colors of sunset from the image panel, I matted it with rose gold and Moody Mauve luster paper. I used Pretty Peacock for the ribbon, blooming pearls, and sentiment to pull everything together with the Sweet Thoughts Memories & More card base.

Products used:
Basic White cardstock
Rose Gold, Moody Mauve SP
Sweet Thoughts Memories & More
Hills of Tuscany, Circle Sayings stamps
Deckled Rectangles, Thoughtful Expressions dies
Blooming pearls
Pretty Peacock & gold metallic ribbon, linen thread
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team

Can’t Thank You Enough

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Thank you so much for your patience as I have been navigating a family medical emergency. I have spent the last month between Alaska and Texas in various hospitals. While things are certainly heading in the right direction, we still have a very long way to go to have this medical crisis behind us. I hope to be able to post more regularly as I am home more in between several major surgeries. I’m also trying to figure out how to bring you Terrific Tuesdays content during this time period, but I think it will be another week before I’m able to do so.

I had so much content planned for the period of time that I’ve been away. I’m so sad that I missed the end of Sale-a-Bration! There’s SO much wonderful product in the (now retired) Sale-a-Bration catalog. I hope you were able to swipe some of your favorites. While it’s a little late, I’m still planning to share projects using some of my favorite SAB products. So be watching for those.

Today, I’m sharing a thank-you card design. Being gone from home for a month has required a lot of support from family and friends, as you can imagine. So needless to say, you’ll be seeing a lot of designs that are thank-you or gratitude in theme.

For today’s design, I wanted to keep things simple and play with a new stamp set from the current mini catalog. I used a card base from the Sweet Thoughts Memories & More pack as the base for this design. I built this hillside scene on a piece of white cardstock using the Hills of Tuscany stamp set. To help the focal panel pop, I used a piece of the Lost Lagoon Tartain Foil specialty paper and popped up the entire panel using dimensionals. I twisted some linen thread behind the panel to bring in a nice neutral. The blooming pearls on either side of the sentiment help draw the eye across and down.

Some stamp sets really lend themselves to simple yet beautiful designs. The Hills of Tuscany is certainly one of those. There aren’t many products in this design, yet it really stands out as an eye-catching design. Things don’t have to be complicated to be lovely!

Products used in today’s design:
White cardstock
Tartain Foil DSP
Sweet Thoughts Memories & More card base
Hills of Tuscany stamps
Linen thread
Blooming pearls
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team · Terrific Tuesdays

Jungle Hello

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The Jungle Pals set is so fun to work with when you’re looking to build a scene. And for today’s card, I’m turning to one of my favorite fun folds — the Center Step fun fold.

I wanted to create a jungle scene with several of the adorable little jungle friends and especially wanted to have the sloth climbing between two trees on either side of the center section.

This fun fold design is built on a base of Pool party cardstock. I used the cloud pattern from the Sunny Days designer series paper pack to provide the background for the scene. I diecut two trees from Crumb Cake cardstock and placed them on either side of the pop up panel. This allows the space for the vines to run in the middle for the sloth. I used a combination of Shaded Spruce, Granny Apple Green, and Lemon Lime Twist for the greenery, vines, and leaves.

For a more realistic look for each of the animals within the scene, I diecut each of them from cardstock that would compliment their natural coloring. The sloth is stamped on Crumb Cake, the toucan on Basic White, and the lemur on Smoky Slate. Each one is colored with Stampin’ Blends to finish. The greeting from Heartfelt Hellos is stamped on Crumb Cake cardstock and diecut using the Autumn Leaves dies.

The inside of the card has its own adorable scene. I used the Sunny Days designer paper to provide a sky and used more of the leaves and vines to create a jungle scene. I tucked the alligator into the marshy weeds. He was stamped on Old Olive cardstock and then colored with Stampin’ Blends.

There are so many ways that you can use the Jungle Pals stamps and dies to create scenes. We’ll wrap up this week with another Jungle Pals scene building card tomorrow, so be sure you check back in!

Products used in today’s design:
Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Shaded Spruce, Granny Apple Green, Lemon Lime Twist, Smoky Slate, Early Espresso, Basic White cardstock
Sunny Days DSP
Jungle Pals, Heartfelt Hellos stamps
Jungle Pals, Autumn Leaves dies
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team · Terrific Tuesdays

Paint Brighter Skies

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Do you ever sit down with your stamps and try to look at each one a little differently? Think to yourself, now how can I use this stamp in a new or unexpected way.

Such is this case when I began designing this card. I wanted to use the paintbrush from the Trusty Tools stamp set to paint a rainbow across the sky. I remembered that the Hills of Tuscany stamp set has a watercolor look and included some scene building stamps that might help me with the rainbow shape. And voila, the design idea became a reality!

This card is made with a combination of cardstock and stamps. We start with a base of Coastal Cabana cardstock and the focal section is stamped on Pool Party. The Bright Skies stamp set helps build our scene with the rainy clouds and bit of sunshine. I used the small hillside builder stamp from the Hills of Tuscany stamp set to “paint the rainbow” by stamping the beams of color. The paintbrush is from Trusty Tools.

I just love how this idea came to life on paper. It always feels good when a plan comes together.

Check back tomorrow to see another fun Trusty Tools card design!

Products used in today’s design:
Pretty Peacock, Basic White cardstock
Softly Stippled, Soft Shimmer DSP
So Sincere stamps
Pretty Peacock & Gold metallic ribbon
Foiled gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team · Terrific Tuesdays

Thankful for You

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Although I have several packages of the Softly Stippled designer series paper, I’ve found myself at a loss for design ideas. As I sat down to map out the Terrific Tuesdays theme for this week, I thought there may be some of you who are similarly situated. So I chose a few paper packs that easily lend themselves to design ideas AND a few that I have found challenging. One thing I have discovered is that when I force myself to push forward designing with a “difficult” product or color, I often get on a roll once I just get started.

This design got rolling when I realized that there was a sheet of paper in the Softly Stippled paper pack that had a hint of Pretty Peacock in it. Pretty Peacock is one of my favorite colors in the current Stampin’ Up! line-up and I often have to make myself use the other colors. *grin* But for those tough ones, sometimes it’s good to start with things you love.

Here, we begin with a card base of Pretty Peacock cardstock. This is one of the ways to tease out the color in the sheet of selected designer series paper in the focal panel section. The sentiment panel is matted with soft shimmer paper in Pretty Peacock. The metallic ribbon and foiled gems draw the eye to the sentiment. Repeating the color here in the center with a touch of shimmer across all of the elements really draws the eye to the sentiment and also further highlights the color in the floral patterned piece. I’m just in love with how this turned out.

Looking for ways to use some of the Sale-a-Bration papers? Check out this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays to see ideas for 4 of the 7 paper packs!

Products used in today’s design:
Pretty Peacock, Basic White cardstock
Softly Stippled, Soft Shimmer DSP
So Sincere stamps
Pretty Peacock & Gold metallic ribbon
Foiled gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team · Sale-a-Bration · Terrific Tuesdays

Sunny Roses

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This week, we’re diving into the FREE designer series paper packs that are available through the Stampin’ Up! Sale-a-Bration (SAB) catalog. Did you know that you earn 1 SAB credit for every $50 USD you spend on SU! products? And you instantly cash in your credits on the same order that you qualify for them!

For today’s bonus Luv 2 Stamp Group Artisan Crafter design post, we’re looking at the Sunny Days designer series paper. I really love the variety that this pack of paper has to offer. Not only does it pair beautifully with the Bright Skies stamps and dies, but it also lends itself to a whole host of different product pairings. For this card, we’re working with the Bold Bouquet bundle and Thoughtful Expressions dies.

I wanted to spotlight both sides of the beautiful sheet of Sunny Days paper, so I chose to use the DSP Center Folding Door fold, as I like to call it, that I learned from fellow demo Jackie Bolhuis. This fold uses a third-sheet of 12×12 paper.

Here, we start with a quarter-sheet base of Pool Party cardstock. The sheet of Sunny Days cardstock is scored evenly from both outside edges. A corner is cut from the top of each side of the patterned paper and then adhered to the bottom corners with the opposing pattern facing up before all score marks are folded. For the overlapping front panel, I chose the decorative shapes from Nested Essentials and diecut nesting shapes from vellum and white cardstock. I selected roses from the Bold Bouquet stamp and die set which are stamped on Real Red cardstock and then diecut. The leaves are all diecut from Shaded Spruce using the Thoughtful Expressions dies. And for a bit of sparkle, I also diecut a flower from More Dazzled designer paper using Nested Essentials. I added some Petal Pink foiled gems for a subtle pop of gold across the card front.

Catch some more DSP inspiration in this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays where we’re working with 4 different SAB paper packs!

Products used in this design:
Pool Party, Real Red, Shaded Spruce, Basic White cardstock
Sunny Days, More Dazzle DSP
Vellum
Bold Bouquet stamps
Bold Bouquet, Thoughtful Expressions dies
Petal Pink foiled gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team · Terrific Tuesdays

Brighten My Days

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The Bright Skies stamps and dies pair beautifully with so many of the current Stampin’ Up! lineup. Today, we’re pairing the bundle with Playing in the Rain. And I love how SU! has the coordinating Sunny Days designer series paper in the Sale-a-Bration catalog. Some paper, a stamp or two, and some dies and *VOILA* a cheery card!

Today’s card is built on a base of Basic Grey cardstock. The focal panel is comprised of two patterns of the Sunny Days designer paper matted with Lost Lagoon cardstock. I stamped the cloud and sun using the Bright Skies stamps and diecut them with the coordinating dies. The sentiment is stamped on white cardstock and diecut using the All That die. The adorable rabbit and rainy puddles are from the Playing in the Rain set, which also has the coordinating set of dies. I colored the rabbit’s raincoat with Stampin’ Blends to coordinate with the color palette of the card. The focal elements are all on dimensionals and the decorative dots and ribbon further help draw the eye diagonally across the design.

Missed this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays where we made 3 fun designs with the Bright Skies bundle? No problem, you can catch it here!

Products used in today’s design:
Basic Grey, Basic White, Crushed Curry cardstock
Sunny Days DSP
Bright Skies, Playing in the Rain stamps
Bright Skies, Playing in the Rain, All That dies
Pool Party crinkle ribbon
White baker’s twine
Decorative dots
Wink of Stella
Stampin’ Blends
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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