Sunset Coast

Sunny Skies

Happy Wednesday, friends, and welcome back as we pay homage to summer this week with all of our projects. There are so many goodies in the crafty stash that are perfect for celebrating summer. And today we’re giving the Sunset Coast stamp & die bundle a little more love.

We keep the backdrop a neutral white cardstock to allow the focal panel to really pop. Our focal panel is built on a quarter panel of white cardstock and starts with stamping the water in Lost Lagoon ink using the Sunset Coast stamps. I really wanted the water to sparkle, so I covered the stamped portion with blue shimmer vellum and I just love the effect it gives to this panel. The sky is filled in with blending brushes in a combination of yellow, orange, pink, and blue. The rock formation in the background is stamped in combination of browns. Our two sailboats are created with a combination of the stamps and dies from the Sunset Coast set. The larger boat is paper pieces, while the smaller boat is stamped and then diecut. Our sentiment comes from the Saying Something ephemera pack and is mounted over gold & white baker’s twine with dimensionals. We finish things off with some extra spots of twinkle with the shimmering dots.

Tomorrow we’re going to punch things up with a fun fold. I hope you’ll drop in and check it out!

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Splash & Relax

Happiness Floats

Howdy, friends, and happy Tuesday! Yesterday just completely got away from me, and by the time I got this card finished, it was well past time for me to be snoozing.

This week, our designs are going to be all about summer. There are so many great summery products in my crafty stash that need some love, so I’m looking forward to working with this week’s theme. Today we’re getting started with a super simple card using the new Splash & Relax stamps and dies. And I have to give credit for the layout to fellow demo and Luv 2 Stamp team member Patti Dolan.

We get started on today’s card with a base of Gray Granite cardstock. And then our focal panel is a quarter panel of Gray Granite that is torn to make a lazy river in the middle. Our lazy river is a sheet of the blue shimmer vellum that’s machine embossed with the Soft Waves embossing folder and mounted over another panel of vellum to give it a bit more structural integrity and depth of color. The panel is then adhered to the card front with dimensionals.

Next we work on our fun elements using the new Splash & Relax stamps and dies. The innertubes are all stamped first in a variety of happy colors — blue-greens, yellows, and pinky-oranges — and then diecut with the coordinating die and adhered over the lazy river with dimensionals. I needed a few more fun summer elements and decided to make some flip flips and sunglasses. The flip flops are a combination of Barely Blush and Melon Mambo papers with some small rhinestones as the decorative element. And the sunglasses combine Blackberry Bliss and textured silver metallic paper for the perfect mirrored shades.

The sentiment is from the Splash & Relax stamp set and is stamped in a combination of Lost Lagoon and Pretty Peacock onto a scrap of Pool Party cardstock and then cut into a banner shape with paper snips. We finish things off with a combination of white and blue shimmering dots.

When I chose the Gray Granite, I was going for the look of a pool deck, which I think it accomplishes, but it doesn’t give me that ahhhhh feeling I was going for. In hindsight, I might pick a different neutral next time — maybe Crumb Cake or something like it — to give a more beachy feel. And here’s a hot tip for you! It’s always better to decide where you want your sentiment before you adhere the piece you’ll be stamping on onto your card base. Otherwise, you may not get a clean image and then you’ll have to make a quick pivot to create a separate sentiment panel that fits in the tiny space you allotted. Ask me how I know this. Ooops!

Hope you’ll drop in tomorrow to see what’s next in our summer card series!

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Shop the catalog

Days Spent Together

Happy Monday, friends! I’m over here wishing it was Friday so I could recover from my weekend. It was a busy with one with a 10-hour vendor fair on Saturday. We had beautiful springlike temps running right up into the latter part of the week last week, but then in true Texas fashion, it went straight to summer flambé with temps in the 90s and humidity about the same on Saturday for the event! Needless to say, the crowd was a bit thinner than we had hoped.

So I’m skidding into this week without a single clue what direction we’re headed. All I know is I have a bunch of new goodies that I haven’t gotten to play with yet because I’ve been in vendor mode. So today we’re going to start with a fun piece of home decor I made for my booth using the new Silly Old Bear suite.

This cute framed piece is 6×6-inches in size. I typically buy my frames on Amazon in a bundle. We get started by cutting down the Pooh & friends sheet from the Silly Old Bear paper pack to serve as the backdrop for our framed piece. The sentiment from the Sweet Words & Labels stamp set is stamped on Very Vanilla in Early Espresso and then diecut with the coordinating frame die. The mat for the sentiment is cut from a piece of Gathering Together patterned paper. A piece of gold & white ribbon is wrapped around the background panel and tied in a knot to the side of the sentiment panel which is adhered over the ribbon with dimensionals. We finish things off with some gold adhesive hearts.

I really love how versatile the Silly Old Bear suite is. It makes adorable cards, gifts, and home decor. And I’ve really only scratched the surface on what it can truly do. I’ll try to get my act together between now and tomorrow evening and see if we can get a design theme going for this week. If you have a suggestion, feel free to send it my way!

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Snowy Delights · Winter

Winter Wish

Welcome back, friends, for a bonus post on this snowy day in North Texas. Winter Storm Fern is living up to all the hype here for sure as temperatures are frigid and mixed precipitation continues to fall. The streets are covered and roads are slippery, so needless to say, we’re staying home where it’s safe & warm.

And that’s giving me the opportunity to make up for the crafting time I didn’t get earlier in the week. I thought it would be fun to have a few bonus posts that give an ode to the current weather here. So today I’m inking up a stamp set I’ve had for a while that has *eek* made its way to the Last Chance list — Snowy Delights. Time to get it inky! And it just so happens to pair up perfectly with the new Nature Walk paper.

We get started with a base of Night of Navy cardstock. The background pattern is from the Nature Walk paper pack and I machine embossed it with the Soft Waves embossing folder to give a snowdrift effect. The embossed panel is wrapped in a combination of Cloud Cover and Misty Moonlight & silver ribbons before it’s adhered to the card front. Our focal image from the Snowy Delights stamp set is stamped in Versamark and then heat embossed in silver before being diecut with the coordinating outline die. I added some of the white frosted iridescent dots to the center of the snowflake for some extra detail and a bit of sparkle. The snowflake is adhered over the ribbon with dimensionals. The sentiment from the Snowy Delights set is embossed on vellum in silver before being cut out with the banner die from the Stylish Shapes set. It’s adhered over the snowflake with glue dots so the adhesive isn’t visible. A few extra iridescent frosted dots finish things off.

What do you think of this super simple tribute to Winter Storm Fern? I think it’s pretty perfect. I hope you’re staying & safe and warm in your neck of the woods. It’s the perfect evening to curl up with some soup and a good movie and that’s just what we plan to do!

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January Mini Catalog · Prayers & Promises

Prayers for Loss

Happy Monday, friends! We were traveling over the weekend for a family memorial service, so the weekend went by quickly. It was a beautiful service and it was wonderful to see everyone.

And honestly, this weekend’s activities spurred the idea for this week’s design theme centering on the new Prayers & Promises stamp set. This beautiful sentiment set can be used for a whole variety of cards — from sympathy to encouragement to recovery. There are so many ways to lift someone up with this set. Today, we’re pairing it with a whole collection of new products, including the Pleasant Patterns foiled paper, the Lovely Blossoms paper, and new embellishments.

We get started with a base of Mossy Meadow cardstock, which pairs beautifully with the focal panel and gives grounding for the green accent color. The backdrop for our card front is the Peach Pie spotted sheet from the Pleasant Patterns paper pack. I loved the soft glimmer this panel provides and helps the focal panel pop. The focal panel itself is a combination of two of the ready-made elements from the Lovely Blossoms paper pack. I had the green panel left after removing a square from the center for another design and found that it made the perfect frame for the peachy floral & vine panel. A strip of the peachy eyelet-patterned paper from Lovely Blossoms gave the perfect eye relief in the background pattern, tying everything together. The sentiment panel is cut from the eyelet pattern using the Stylish Shapes dies and then the sentiment from the Prayers & Promises set is stamped in Secret Sea in the center and adhered in the corner with dimensionals. A bow of Old Olive rickrack adds a decorative touch of green and the white glossy dots give the perfect pop of shine to draw the eye across the full card front.

I hope you’ll drop in tomorrow as we pair this sentiment set with some of the newest SU! releases.

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Coming Soon · On Display

Swinging Smiles

Happy New Year, everyone! Did you stay up until midnight? These days, I don’t ever make it to the new year in my own time zone, but I always make it for Europe. *snicker* We enjoyed a day full of family fun yesterday and I was just plain tired. But it was a great day and the perfect way to finish off the year. We’ve done much the same today, so I would call that winning as far as a fresh start!

This week, we’re playing around with some new crafty goodies that arrived in my studio over the last couple of weeks that I hadn’t had time (or felt well enough) to play with. We’ve been taking a close look at the new On Display stamp & die set and today I’m starting a little mini series to show you how well this bundle pairs with the *brand new* Gliding Garden Swing stamp & die bundle. In fact, today’s card gives you a sneak peek at the new swing set, some new ribbon, and another new stamp set! All of these goodies will drop on January 6th!

When all was said and done, I decided to make this a monochromatic backdrop rather than mixing in some patterned paper because, quite frankly, I didn’t find a small enough pattern that I liked well enough to pair up with the focal panel. That is, until I remembered the gorgeous new Beautiful Pattern embossing folder had just the pattern I had pictured and realized I could just make my own patterned paper by embossing!

So we get started with a base of Cloud Cover cardstock and emboss just the card front with the Beautiful Pattern embossing folder. To help the pattern pop a bit more, I went over it lightly with a blending brush and Cloud Cover ink to give the pattern a bit more definition. The focal panel background is also Cloud Cover cardstock and we start building our scene right on top. The tree trunk is cut from Country Woods woodgrain using the new Gliding Garden Swing dies and adhered to the focal panel with a glue pen. I cut it to size by removing the overlapping portions with my paper snips. The leaves are stamped in Garden Green on Garden Green cardstock and then cut with the coordinating Gliding Garden Swing die. I cut apart the larger foliage piece to allow layering that looked more realistic. Dimensionals are just the ticket to give good depth of scene. The bits of branches are filled in with a Light Crumb Cake Stampin’ Blend. The swing is stamped on Crumb Cake cardstock with Gray Granite ink and then filled in with a Light Crumb Cake blend. I also cut the coordinating swing from Country Woods and used the coordinating die for the swing seat for a more realistic look. The seat is adhered with a glue pen directly to the diecut swing. The pillows are cut from Peaceful Garden and adhered to the swing seat with dimensionals. The sweet grey kitty is stamped in Smoky Slate on Smoky Slate cardstock and then cut with the coordinating On Display die. The sentiment from the new Lovely Arrangements stamp set is stamped on vellum that has been cut with the Stylish Shapes banner die and adhered with glue dots so it looks like it’s just floating at the top of our scene. Our focal panel is then adhered to the card front with dimensionals and then we tie a beautiful twist of brand new Cloud Cover linen ribbon right over the far-left side. We finish off with a touch of sparkle using the Cloud Cover flat pearls.

Today’s card keeps the pairing uber simple with just a single image from On Display, but I’ll show you tomorrow how you can really put both sets together to build beautiful scenes. Because tomorrow we’re going to have some tea on Granny’s porch! I hope you’ll drop in and sit a spell.

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On Display

Display of Appreciation

Happy New Year’s Eve! It’s hard to believe that we are already looking at a new year. Time sure flies. We’ve enjoyed a fun day spending time together as a family and plan to close out this year with a movie in our pjs.

This week we’re exploring a few of the new Stampin’ Up! goodies that I got over the last week or so. And in particular, we’ve been taking a look at the new On Display stamp & die set. Today we’re taking a peek inside grandma’s curio cabinet as we put a whole bunch of the little images in this set on full display. The curio itself pretty much occupies the full front of an A2 card, so I had to get a little creative after I had my curio all put together.

I chose a base of Balmy Blue as the base for this card — mostly because I had intended to use a panel of the True Blue Florals paper as a backdrop and then decided against it. But I did mimic one of the patterns by creating a pattern down the side of the card with the Hues of Blue flowers. The curio cabinet itself is a combination of Crumb Cake and Early Espresso cardstocks. And then I worked to fill the cabinet with a bunch of things that you might find in your grandma’s cabinet. I tried to make all of the little images look realistic and was careful in choosing papers and textures to bring the images to life. To help the sentiment stand out in the scene, I decided to stamp it on vellum and adhere it atop a small twist of the new gold & white woven ribbon (releasing next week).

Isn’t this a fun little scene? I’m pretty stoked about the plan for tomorrow’s card. We’re going to be taking a sneak peek at a coordinating stamp & die set that releases next week. I hope you’ll drop in & see how it comes together!

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Clean and Simple · On Display

Just for You

Happy Tuesday, everybody. I still find it hard to figure out what day of the week it is after being home sick and just the holidays generally. Anybody else? Slowly but surely we’ll get back in the groove. But not before another holiday interrupts our week!

This week we’re playing with some of my new crafty goodies that arrived. And we’re keeping it simple again today with the new On Display stamp & die bundle. All of the little images in this set make it easy to make quick, clean & simple cards, which is super helpful when you’re short on time but don’t want your card to show short on thoughtfulness. Today we’re pairing up On Display with the current Product of the Month True Blue Florals paper to create this cutie.

We get started with a base of Balmy Blue cardstock and we’re using the floral pattern (that reminds me of my grandmother’s wallpaper) from the True Blue Florals paper pack as our backdrop. I wrapped this panel with some Misty Moonlight linen thread to tie all of our hues of blue together. The focal panel is cut from white cardstock with the smallest die in the Branching Out set and then matted with Misty Moonlight glimmer paper from the Peaceful Garden glimmer pack that’s diecut with the next size up. I stamped the sentiment from the On Display set directly onto the focal panel in the top-right corner. Our potted plants are cut with the On Display dies with a combination of Cajun Craze, Mossy Meadow, Oxidized Copper, and Shaded Spruce. They’re adhered onto our focal panel with dimensionals and then the full panel is adhered to our card front with dimensionals, as well. We finish things off with some Misty Moonlight flowers from the Hues of Blue flower set, along with some Secret Sea charming shimmer dots.

Doesn’t this feel like a picture in a picture? I just love that effect. And I love how the backdrop feels calm and familiar, just like my Granny’s house. This card would be perfect to welcome someone into a new home or simply to just say hello.

Tune in tomorrow as we take a peek in Granny’s curio cabinet. It will be fun to see what we find!

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On Display · Product of the Month

You’re on my Mind

Happy Monday, everyone! Did anyone else feel weird going back to work? It was especially weird for me since I had basically been out for 2 weeks. But I always enjoy the week between Christmas and New Year’s because traffic is light and so my commute is much shorter.

I got some new stampin’ goodies while I was down the flu, and I’ve been thinking about getting into them the whole time I was recovering. So this week, we’re going to be getting a few new things inky. Today we’re pairing the Product of the Month paper called True Blue Florals with the new On Display stamp & die bundle. There are so many ways to use this super adorable bundle. And today we’re starting with a simple scene.

We get started with a base of Balmy Blue cardstock. I chose the leaf frond pattern from the True Blue Florals paper pack to serve as the backdrop for our focal panel. Our focal panel starts with a circle of white cardstock cut with the largest Spotlight on Nature die. I used the large rose pattern from True Blue Florals to break up the white space and serve as an anchor for our scene — specifically to form our area rug. I used the On Display dies to cut all of the scene elements, including the orange tabby cat, the plant and small decorative table, and the cage of red finches. The sentiment is also from the On Display set and is stamped on a banner of white cardstock cut with paper snips. Dimensionals help give layer and depth to our scene. The full panel sits atop a twist of the new Cloud Cover linen ribbon. And we flank our panel with some Cloud Cover flat pearls.

Is this just not the cutest little pick-me-up card? What scenes can you see yourself building with this stamp set?

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Peaceful Garden · Words of Beauty

Because You’re on my Mind

Howdy, friends. It’s another balmy day here in N. Texas. We’re so confused that we think we’re in the Southern Hemisphere about now! But winter is supposedly on the way as the next cold front is due to arrive sometime tomorrow. I really hope so because shorts in December is pretty crazy!

Today I’m bringing you another floral design in our ode to this Texas faux spring. And we’re pairing up the Words of Beauty stamps & die bundle with the oh-so lovely Peaceful Garden suite. And I’m giving you a little sneak peek of an upcoming release of the beautiful laser cut Covered in Flowers Accents.

This card comes together super quickly. We get started with a base of Secret Sea cardstock. Our background panel consists of the vine patterned sheet from the Peaceful Garden pack with the silver glimmer paper from the coordinating glimmer pack. Our focal panel consists of the sentiment and an overlapping image. We get started by cutting a circle from white cardstock with the middle size of Spotlight on Nature dies. I stamped a portion of the sentiment in Cloud Burst ink directly on this panel. The rose diecut is from the up-and-coming Covered in Flowers accents pack and overlaps the set of leaves from the Peaceful Garden sticker sheet. I covered the rose with Wink of Stella for some extra shimmer on our focal panel. The remainder of the sentiment is diecut from Secret Sea and Misty Moonlight glimmer paper from the Peaceful Garden glimmer pack using the Words of Beauty dies. This full panel is adhered to our card front on a single layer of dimensionals just above a bow of Misty Moonlight & silver edged ribbon. We finish things off with some Hues of Blue Flowers.

To me, this card feels like a warm hug and I know just who needs it right about now. This lovely will be headed out in the post next week to bring a little snail mail love to some family.

Next week, we’re going to be exploring two new sets and I can’t wait to show you how well they work together! I hope you’ll drop in.

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