Retiring

Blue Skies Friend

We’re closing out this week’s series of card designs using some of my favorite products from the Stampin’ Up! Last Chance list with this clean and simple design. We’re pairing up the Saying Hey stamp set with the Friends for Life dies to create this friendly hello.

We get started with a base of Azure Afternoon cardstock. The focal panel is a sheet of the Everyday Skies patterned paper matted with Pretty in Pink. A strip of Pretty in Pink bordered ribbon is tied around the bottom of the panel before it’s affixed to the card base. The sentiment panel is a piece of white cardstock punched with the Heartfelt Hexagon punch. The sentiment from Saying Hey is stamped in a combination of Balmy Blue and Blueberry Bushel so that there’s a small shadow effect. A combination of Everyday Skies and pastel ombre glimmer paper are cut with the Friends for Life dies to create the second portion of our Hey Friend sentiment. Dimensionals are used to give height and dimension to both portions of the sentiment so they stand proud above the ribbon. The dragonfly is cut from a combination of purple silver foil and pastel ombre glimmer paper and adhered with a dimensional above the sentiment panel. I love how the small dragonfly breaks up the sky and really draws the eye down to the sentiment. A scattering of pink sequins from the sequins trio give us some subtle twinkle across the clouds.

Last Chance items are quickly disappearing from the shelves. Did you see any sets this week that need to be in your stash? Don’t delay or you might miss them for good!

Next week, we’re going to be looking toward Easter with our card designs. I hope you’ll hop along!

Product List
Inspiration

Hey Friend

This week, we’re having fun with textures and sentiments. While we all love to reach for those gorgeous patterned papers, we can make equally as wonderful designs when our embossing tools take center stage. Today we’re combining a new Sale-a-Bration embossing folder called Starstruck with the Friends for Life bundle and a selection of In Colors to create a cheery design for a friend.

Our card design gets started with a base of Petunia Pop cardstock. Our background panel of Peach Pie is machine embossed with the SAB Starstruck embossing folder and oriented so that the negative side is facing up. I tied a strip of Summer Splash trim around the center of the embossed panel before adhering it to the base with dimensionals. The sentiment from Saying Hey is stamped in Petunia Pop ink before getting punch with the Heartfelt Hexagon punch and then adhered over the ribbon with dimensionals. I cut the word FRIEND from two different glimmer papers. The outline is from Summer Splash glimmer paper while the word FRIEND itself is from the pastel ombre glimmer paper. An extra layer of dimensionals helps FRIEND to stand out. A few purple sequins and some Sunny Days transparent dots bring the eye squarely to the party in the middle.

I just love how the embossed panel in this design almost looks to be a sheet of patterned paper, and it does make you think about how patterned papers ultimately get started. Sometimes the inspiration is literally a textured pattern.

Tune in tomorrow as things turn a bit more regal for some thankful thoughts.

Product List
Botanicals · Clean and Simple

Pots of Joy

This week, we’re exploring card designs that use botanical images. I love stamp sets that include flowers and greenery but then sometimes find myself stuck for ideas on how to use them. We’re so fortunate to have so many different inspiration forums, and in cases where I’m fresh out of ideas, that’s precisely where I turn.

Today’s card design was inspired by a Stampin’ Up! Artisan design. The inspiration card used the lovely argyle detail die from Everyday Details — a die that I have had a really hard time finding a use for — and the lovely Planted Paradise stamp set.

This card design is a built on a base of white cardstock. The focal image panel sits atop a Blueberry Bushel panel where each long edge has been diecut using the argyle die from Everyday Details. A strip of white cardstock serves as the focal image base in the center. The pots and greenery are stamped on separate sheet of white cardstock and then cut with paper snips before being mounted with dimensionals. The sentiment panel consists of the Heartfelt Hellos sentiment that is punched with the coordinating Heartfelt Hexagon punch. I also added an additional layer of dimensionals to the sentiment panel to ensure that it stood above the supporting images. I added Blooming Pearls on the pots and near the sentiment for added detail and to draw the eye across the focal panel.

Yesterday, I mentioned the TIP for stamping crisp images when your photopolymer stamps tend to pool ink and stamp blotchy images. When you’re going for a more vintagey feel, I would definitely allow the ink to pool on the stamps. But if you’re going for a clean look, you’ll definitely want to use that layer of Versamark first before applying your selected colored ink. Today, I elected to use both types of stamped images on my card design so that you could see the difference. Can you spot which stamped elements look more vintage than crisp?

Products used in today’s design:
Blueberry Bushel, Basic White cardstock
Planted Paradise, Heartfelt Hellos stamps
Heartfelt Hexagon bundle
Blooming pearls
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team · Terrific Tuesdays

Heartfelt Hexagon Sympathy

While masculine card designs can be, in and of themselves, quite challenging, designing sympathy cards for the guys in your life can seem daunting. In this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays, we made a sympathy card together. A friend recently lost his wife, and since I needed a more masculine sympathy card myself, I felt it would be a good opportunity to share my process for designing cards for those hard times.

Today’s card design began with a pattern idea and a color palette. As I was making a project to-do list for this week, I knew that I wanted to make patterned paper using the Heartfelt Hexagon stamps and was inspired by the Softly Sophisticated embossing folder in the newly-released Sale-a-Bration catalog. As I was thinking about a color palette for a sympathy card that would appropriately convey both comfort and hope, I was drawn to the combination of Basic Gray, Night of Navy, and Copper Clay. 

So today’s card is built on a base of Basic Gray cardstock, while Night of Navy and Copper Clay luster cardstock serve as the mats for the main image panel. The single-framed hexagon from Heartfelt Hexagon is stamped in Smoky Slate in a repeating pattern that mimics the pattern of the Softly Sophisticated embossing folder. I liked the look of the larger stamped pattern rather than the smaller pattern for this particular occasion. The sentiment from Heartfelt Hexagon is stamped in Night of Navy on Basic Gray and then punched with the coordinating hexagon punch. The Night of Navy and gold glittered ribbon — a carry-over from the Holiday Mini catalog — adds a soft touch and ties the blue elements together, while a few brushed metallic dots tie together the sheen of the luster paper and sparkle of the glitter ribbon and add an additional layer of warmth.

As we’re wrapping up our week of masculine card designs, I hope you’ve been inspired by all of the possibilities there are to make gorgeous masculine cards for any occasion. In case you missed this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays, you can still catch it over on YouTube to find even more inspiration.

Products used in today’s design:
Night of Navy, Basic Grey, Copper Clay luster cardstock
Heartfelt Sympathy stamps & punch
Night of Navy & gold glittered ribbon
Brushed metallic dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Terrific Tuesdays

Enjoy Your Day

While I don’t always find it easy to make masculine cards, sometimes you sketch a layout from an inspiration card and find that it’s absolutely perfect for all sorts of occasions. Such is the case with a card layout I sketched a long while back that calls for swapping out the corner of the background panel. As soon as I ran across the sketch, it immediately went in the to-do project list for this week’s masculine-themed card designs.

This card design begins with a base of one of my favorite colors right now — Pretty Peacock. The diamond patterned sheet is from the One Horse Open Sleigh paper pack and the corner piece is from Inked Botanicals. A thin border of Pretty Peacock is allowed to peek through in between the two patterned pieces. The sentiment is stamped in Pretty Peacock and is from the Heartfelt Hellos stamp set in the newly-released Sale-a-Bration catalog. The sentiment panel is punched using the coordinating Heartfelt Hexagon punch. A twist of iridescent ribbon helps draw the eye to the sentiment, along with the Pretty Peacock sequins.

There are a number of ways that you can use this sketch, but in this case I wanted to use two coordinating patterns of patterned paper for the two background panel elements. And one major take-away I have from designing cards for this week is to never count out an unlikely pack of paper for masculine designs because that’s where you’re likely to find a perfect fit for your project. Today’s card is a perfect example of that. Never in a million years did I think I would find a likely candidate in One Horse Open Sleigh or Inked Botanicals! So, in short, leave no stone unturned — and consider all of the options you have in your stash.

Interested in seeing what other masculine designs we were able to put together using the Heartfelt Hexagon bundle? Hop on over to YouTube and check out this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays!

Products used in today’s design:
Pretty Peacock, Basic White cardstock
One Horse Open Sleigh, Inked Botanicals DSP
Heartfelt Hexagon stamps & punch
Heartfelt Hellos stamps
Iridescent ribbon (retired)
Sequins trio
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Terrific Tuesdays

You’re the Best

This week’s focus is all about masculine cards. I sometimes find it challenging to design masculine cards. And that often has to do with my mindset — particularly this idea that the theme has to be clear through the images and/or patterns I choose. But that’s how we end up boxing ourselves in creatively. Sometimes it’s all about reminding ourselves to trust the creative process as much when designing masculine cards as we do with any other occasion.

For today’s design, I wanted to create something that was warm and inviting. I was carrying that comfy old Victorian library feeling forward from another design. And that helped shape the patterned paper options I pulled for this card. I kept the card base light but warm by choosing Very Vanilla. All of the patterned papers are from the All About Autumn paper pack. To add extra emphasis to the sentiment panel, I used a mat of the foiled paper diecut using the Nested Essentials set. The sentiment from Heartfelt Hellos is stamped in Pretty Peacock on Very Vanilla and then punched with the coordinating hexagon punch. The Pecan Pie bordered ribbon adds another layer of emphasis to the sentiment panel, and the touch of sparkle from the copper sequins adds that “you’re special” feeling to the design.

So the next time you really like a layout but find it difficult to adapt to feeling more masculine, try picturing the feeling you’d like to evoke with your design and see how that influences your decisions on design elements. I think you’ll be surprised!

Curious what other masculine card designs we made during this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays? You can check it out on my YouTube channel!

Products used in today’s design:
Very Vanilla cardstock
All About Autumn (retired) DSP
Heartfelt Hexagon stamps & punch
Heartfelt Hellos stamps
Pecan Pie bordered ribbon
Neutrals sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Terrific Tuesdays

Trucking In a Heartfelt Hello

Just because we’re looking to create a more masculine design doesn’t mean we have to leave fun at the door! I don’t often make shaker cards and so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to stretch the ol’ creative wings. With the idea of making it fun, I decided a truck scene would be just the ticket.

This card is built on a base of Night of Navy to help the scene stand out in a dramatic way. I used two identical sheets of designer series paper from the One Horse Open Sleigh pack — one serves as the forefront, while the other gives the backdrop for the truck in the shaker window. I used a Deckled Rectangle die to cut the window out of the front panel for the truck, making sure that the window allowed just enough room for the truck to be visible and allow space for the shaker elements. A piece of acetate is adhered to the back of the window on the front panel and then the back edges of the window are lined with foam adhesive strips to create a box in which the shaker elements will be poured and then closed in with the back panel. The truck is punched from Lost Lagoon and black using the Trucking Along punch and adhered to the back panel with dimensionals. The sentiment from Heartfelt Hellos is stamped in Night of Navy on vellum and then punched with the coordinating hexagon punch. The vellum panel allows the scene to show through.

Interested in a few more conventional masculine card designs? Check out this week’s Terrific Tuesdays episode where we made 3 masculine cards together.

Products used in today’s design:
Night of Navy, vellum, acetate cardstock
One Horse Open Sleigh DSP
Heartfelt Hexagon stamps & punch
Heartfelt Hellos stamps
Sequins for Everything (retired)
Foam adhesive strips
Iridescent ribbon (retired)
Glue dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team · Terrific Tuesdays

Heartfelt Love You

This week’s project focus is masculine cards using the Heartfelt Hexagon bundle, including the fabulous coordinating Sale-a-Bration set called Heartfelt Hellos which will be available with qualifying orders beginning tomorrow. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I really struggle to make cute designs for the guys. So we’ll be exploring how we can look at our stash in new ways to make gorgeous projects with a more masculine feel.

For me, the hardest part of making more masculine feeling cards is finding a good color palette amongst my patterned paper stash. I absolutely fell in love with the Garden Walk designer series paper from the Holiday Mini Catalog. I was initially drawn to the beautiful mix of floral patterns in this paper pack, but as I was looking through my stash of DSP to design this card, I found so many lovely masculine options on the reverse sides of the florals in the Garden Walk pack. So my first tip for designing masculine cards is to never count out a pack of DSP simply because one side leans more to a more feminine feel — turn those pages over and look at the other side because you are bound to find some surprises!

So this fun fold design is all about showcasing beautiful patterned paper. We begin with a base of Lost Lagoon cut to standard size. It’s scored as usual but with an added 1-inch fold-back panel on the card front to reveal a section of the inside card base. I chose two separate patterns of Lost Lagoon and Pretty Peacock from the Garden Walk DSP pack and decided the striped pattern worked perfectly for the fold-back and peek-through sections of the design. The speckled pattern is adhered to both sides of the small panel on both the card front and inside panel.

The sentiment from Heartfelt Hellos is stamped in Pretty Peacock on white cardstock punched with the Heartfelt Hexagon punch. For some pop, the sentiment panel is mounted with dimensionals atop a banner diecut from Lost Lagoon soft shimmer paper using the Nested Essentials banner dies. I added a little silver trim underneath the sentiment panel and along the peek-through edge for some sparkle because even our guys deserve a little sparkle! A few Pretty Peacock sequins bring a little extra emphasis to the sentiment.

Don’t you just love how this turned out?! A lovely fun fold and some out-of-the-box thinking about patterned papers helped bring this lovely masculine design to life.

Interested in seeing some other ways to make masculine cards using your patterned paper stash? Check out this week’s Terrific Tuesdays episode for more design ideas!

Products used in today’s design:
Lost Lagoon, Basic White cardstock
Lost Lagoon soft shimmer, Garden Walk (retiring today!) DSP
Heartfelt Hexagons stamps & punch
Heartfelt Hellos stamps
Nested Essentials dies
Silver trim
Sequins trio
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Terrific Tuesdays

Tiled Winter Wishes

This week, we’re looking at all of the wonderful projects that we can make when we combine the Heartfelt Hexagon bundle and more masculine color palettes. Today’s card is a monochromatic design and I’m in love with how it turned out!

I’ve recently seen quite a few card designs that use this tiled layout with the Heartfelt Hexagon bundle, and I just knew I had to give it a try. I’ve seen it with designer paper, embossed cardstock, and all sorts of variations in between. I have a new pack of shimmer paper that I wanted to break open, and that’s where this design got started.

The base of this card is a sheet of Lost Lagoon cardstock. After cutting the card base, I halved the remaining portion to use in creating the hexagon pattern on the card front. I stamped the more decorative hexagon frame from the Heartfelt Hexagon set and the sentiment from the Magical Meadow set using Pretty Peacock ink to give a bit more contrast. The remainder of the panel was embossed with the Winter Snow embossing folder and then punched with the hexagon punch. I cut a strip of the Lost Lagoon shimmer paper and punched a few hexagons from that, as well. Because they’re just adding a little sparkle to the design, only a few will be needed.

To build the tiled background, I began by placing the sentiment panel first. To give it more prominence, I added dimensionals and then adhered into place on the card front. I filled in the sentiment row with embossed hexagons and then worked my way down and then up the card design from there. I laid out everything before adhering to get the placement just right. When cutting the portions that hang over the edges, be sure to retain those scraps as they’re used to fill in smaller gaps along the edges across the design.

While I’m not a huge fan of fussy cutting, this card came together quickly and easily with the scraps which meant no scraps leftover!

Would you like to see the projects featured in this week’s Terrific Tuesdays episode? Hop on over to my YouTube channel and check it out by clicking on the link below:

Products used in today’s design:
Lost Lagoon, soft shimmer cardstock
Heartfelt Hexagon stamps and punch
Winter Snow embossing folder (retired)
Magical Meadow stamps
Fine sparkle gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Custom Orders

Beyond Grateful

In the U.S., workers will celebrate Boss’s Day on October 16th. I love having the opportunity to help customers celebrate special days, so when a dear friend reached out about a design for Boss’s Day, I was all over it.

Much like the birthday designs you’ve seen over the last couple of days, I knew the intended recipient and could really tailor the end product to fit her style and personality. And I knew I wanted something classy, elegant, AND fun with elements of pink incorporated. The Simple Elegance designer paper is perfect with its rose gold, silver, and gold foiling of the delicate floral elements. Talk about classy! To help the rose gold really shine, the patterned paper is mounted on a sheet of Blushing Bride. The sentiment is heat embossed in copper atop a vellum backdrop, which allows the beautiful patterned paper below to peek through. The copper sequins add sparkle to the design.

I love the end result of this design so much that I’m considering a new line of cards. What do you think?

Products used:
Blushing Bride (retired), vellum cardstock
Simple Elegance DSP (retired)
Heartfelt Hexagon stamps & punch
Copper embossing powder
Adhesive-backed sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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