Tag: diecuts

Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team

Thanks in the Air

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I’m thoroughly enjoying our Luv 2 Stamp Team Challenge this month to use all of that beautiful designer series paper we have in our stash. It’s really helped me look for unique pattern pairings and explore new layouts.

When I came across the most recent Freshly Made Sketches Insta post with this week’s layout, I wanted to give it a try with the Lighter Than Air designer paper. This card starts with a base of Balmy Blue. The sheet of balloons from the DSP pack serves as the star of the design. I chose two other coordinating designs from the paper pack for the bottom strip. I really liked having the bottom strip consist of two layers in order to tie together the colors in the balloon pattern. The sentiment from So Sincere is stamped on white cardstock and then diecut using the All That die. I used the iridescent foil gems to draw your eye across the card to the sentiment.

Sometimes your design inspiration starts with a sketch and others it starts with product. Either way, make something beautiful and share it with others! There’s just nothing like a handmade smile.

Products used:
Balmy Blue, Basic White cardstock
Lighter Than Air DSP
So Sincere stamps
Iridescent foil gems
Adhesives

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Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team

All About the Stripes

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Our monthly Luv 2 Stamp Team challenge is to use all of the designer series paper that we’re collecting … uh, storing. *wink wink* In all seriousness, I do sometimes find it hard to bring myself to cut into a sheet of designer paper, particularly when I’m down to the last sheet of a favorite pattern. But what better way to spread kindness than to share it with a beautiful card?!

I know I’ve said this several times this week, but I just love the new Flowering Zinnias designer paper. As I was strolling through this paper pack for other designs, I made note of all of the lovely neutral patterns on the backsides of the floral sheets. Several patterns caught my eye and really got the ol’ idea wheel turning. When I pulled the green cross-stripe pattern, I remembered a similar pattern in the Lighter Than Air paper pack and I just knew that I had to try the two patterns together.

This card begins with a base of Lemon Lolly cardstock, which does an excellent job of highlighting the narrow striping in the Flowering Zinnias sheet, as well as pairing beautifully with the pastels in the Lighter Than Air sheet. To give a little eye relief between the two striped patterns, I matted the Lighter Than Air sheet with white glimmer paper. While the Lemon Lime Twist ribbon coordinates perfectly with both striped pattern sheets, it also further adds to the pattern relief in between. I loved the look of dark contrast between the paler patterns and the shaped mat behind the sentiment. This mat is diecut from Pretty Peacock glimmer paper using the Thoughtful Expressions dies. The sentiment from Trusty Tools is stamped on Lemon Lolly and then diecut using the Autumn Leaves dies. Pretty Peacock sequins draw the eye across the card front and help unify the design.

I think my favorite thing about our group challenge this month is the simple reminder that our craft supplies are meant to be shared! So let’s find all the ways that we can showcase the products that we love and spread the love with our friends and family!

Products used:
Lemon Lolly cardstock
Flowering Zinnias, glimmer DSP
Trusty Tools stamps
Thoughtful Expressions, Autumn Leaves dies
Sequins trio
Lemon Lime Twist ribbon duo
Adhesives

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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

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

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

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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Terrific Tuesdays

You’re Amazing

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Today we’re continuing to look at the Jungle Pals stamps and dies, which are currently available in the Sale-a-Bration catalog through the end of February. I love all of the cute jungle critters in this set, but is there anything cuter than a sloth?!

For today’s card, I wanted to create a window design. When I noticed that the backside of a sheet of Softly Stippled designer paper had a jungle leaf pattern on the back, I knew I wanted to incorporate it as the background for my sloth scene in the window. I used Sketch 620 from Freshly Made Sketches for the layout.

We begin with a base of Pretty Peacock. The focal panel base is the Pool Party linen patterned sheet from the Softly Stippled paper pack. I began by choosing my window size and shape and diecutting it from the patterned paper. I chose the Everyday Essentials circle that cut both the larger and smaller portions at one time.

I used the reverse side of the smaller circle with the jungle leaf pattern on it to serve as the base for the window portion. I diecut my tree and sloth from Crumb Cake cardstock using the Jungle Pals dies. The sloth is colored using Stampin’ Blends. The tree leaves are diecut from Shaded Spruce.

The sentiment panel is diecut from white cardstock using the Thoughtful Expressions dies and stamped the sentiment from Wonderful Thoughts in the center. The flowers are diecut from soft shimmer paper and More Dazzle paper using the Jungle Pals dies, which the stems behind are diecut from Shaded Spruce using the Thoughtful Expressions dies. Opaque faceted gems are placed so that your eye naturally flows diagonally across the card.

Products used in today’s design:
Pretty Peacock, Shaded Spruce, Basic White cardstock
Softly Stippled, Melon Mambo fine shimmer, Bubble Bath fine shimmer DSP
Jungle Pals, Wonderful Thoughts stamps
Jungle Pals, Everyday Essentials, Thoughtful Expressions dies
Opaque faceted gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team · Terrific Tuesdays

Jungle Hello

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

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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Terrific Tuesdays

You’ve Got a Friend

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

On our tour of two stamp sets this week, today we focus on the Jungle Pals stamps and dies. These are both available in the Sale-a-Bration catalog through the end of this month. And they are even more fun to work with than I first thought!

For today’s card design, I wanted to recreate a scene from The Lion King where Zazoo and Mufassa are having their morning report. So naturally, I turned to the tiger and toucan from this set.

We begin with a base of Shaded Spruce cardstock. The background and underlying scene-building elements are all taken from the Sunny Skies designer series paper pack. I fussy cut the clouds so that I could take advantage of the variety of patterns and sizes. To represent the sun, I diecut the sun pattern sheet using the Everyday Essentials dies. I wanted some happy butterflies flying about in this scene but chose to pull them in a little differently by diecutting the butterfly pattern with the Thoughtful Expressions die. Our two main characters are stamped with the Jungle Pals stamped on white cardstock, colored with Stampin’ Blends, and then diecut with the coordinating dies. They’re popping out of the grasslands, which also use the Jungle Pals dies. Dimensionals provide all of the nice layering that gives this card design its depth and dimension. So cute and fun to make!

Check back tomorrow as we look at how one of my favorite fun folds builds yet another fabulous scene!

Products used in today’s design:
Shaded Spruce, Melon Mambo, Basic White, vellum cardstock
Bright Skies DSP
Jungle Pals, Bright Skies stamps
Jungle Pals, Everyday Essentials, Thoughtful Expressions dies
Tinsel gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team · Terrific Tuesdays

Thankful for You

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

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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Sale-a-Bration · Terrific Tuesdays

In My Thoughts

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

From now through the end of February, Stampin’ Up! is hosting its semi-annual Sale-a-Bration (SAB) promotional. For every $50 USD you spend, you earn one SAB credit to redeem for a FREE product from the Sale-a-Bration catalog. This week, we’ve been taking a look at 4 of the 7 packs of SAB designer series paper packs available. Today’s card highlights the Softly Stippled designer paper.

The Softly Stippled paper pack offers a mix of floral and neutral designs. Here, I’ve mixed them to create this card. We start with a base of Pebbled Path cardstock. I used the sheet of Pebbled Path fabric pattern to serve as the backdrop for the focal panel of this card. The focal panel consists of a sheet of Pool Party linen pattern as the mat for the rose patterned sheet. The sentiment panel is matted with vellum and both are diecut using the Thoughtful Expressions dies. The sentiment is from the SAB stamp set called Softly Sophisticated. I used the Pool Party crinkle ribbon and opaque faceted gems to break up the neutrals, add pops of color, and draw the eye to the sentiment.

Check out this week’s Terrific Tuesdays episode to see how you can use 4 of the designer series paper packs to create awesome cards!

Products used in today’s featured design:
Pebbled Path, Basic White cardstock
Softly Stippled DSP
Vellum
Softly Sophisticated stamps
Thoughtful Expressions dies
Crinkle ribbon
Opaque faceted gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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