Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team

Thanks in the Air

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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Terrific Tuesdays

Can’t Thank You Enough

This week is all about the Perennial Postage bundle, which includes a set of sentiments and dies. I really love this bundle because it is so versatile, especially if you take a moment to think outside the box. Today’s card is a perfect example of taking a minute and realizing that those diecutting scraps on your craft table can make an awesome card!

This design began with the three narrow frames that were diecutting leftovers from other card designs. The combination of Mossy Meadow and Pebble Path are nice a neutral and allow you to go in just about any direction with the color palette. I decided to play up the neutrals and add an accent color with the pinky hues of copper and rose gold.

The base of this card is Early Espresso. The background paper is a sheet from the new Nature’s Sweetness paper pack, currently available in the new Winter Mini Catalog. This is the perfect backdrop because of its coordinating neutral color palette. The sentiment from the Perennial Postage stamp set is stamped in Versamark and then heat embossed using copper embossing powder. The sentiment panel is diecut using the coordinating Perennial Postage die. This panel is matted in Rose Gold specialty paper to accentuate the sentiment. A strip of Flirty Flamingo metallic ribbon behind the sentiment panel repeats the accent color and draws the eye to the sentiment. A scattering of copper brushed metallic dots finish things off perfectly.

Curious where the frames in today’s card design came from? Check out this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays and see if you can find them.

Products used in today’s featured design:
Early Espresso, Basic White cardstock
Rose Gold, One Horse Open Sleigh, Nature’s Sweetness DSP
Perennial Postage stamps & dies
Copper embossing powder
Flirty Flamingo metallic ribbon
Brushed metallic dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Terrific Tuesdays

Thank You Curtain Fold

Today we’re revisiting a relatively new-to-me fun fold. One of our Luv to 2 Stamp team members shared this Curtain Fold with the group during the holidays, and I wanted to give it another try. The beauty of this fun fold is that it shows off both sides of a sheet of designer series paper, and for today’s card, I chose a sheet with a foil side for a little extra pizzazz.

A sheet of Pretty Peacock cardstock serves as the base for this card. The backdrop for the beautiful pleated fold is a sheet of the Tartan Foil paper, which is still available in my online store as an Online Exclusive. I love the pairing of the Lost Lagoon Tartan Foil with the Pretty Peacock because the tartan pattern really shows through with this color palette. The pleated fold is made with a sheet of the Nature’s Sweetness designer series paper and was actually the other portion of the sheet that I used for one of the Terrific Tuesday designs. The sentiment from Perennial Postage is stamped in Pretty Peacock and diecut with the coordinating Perennial Postage die. The sentiment panel is matted with a Pretty Peacock banner that is diecut using the Nested Essentials die with the extension method. A twist of gold trim and a scattering of Pretty Peacock and gold sequins add a touch of sparkle to draw the eye to the center fold and sentiment.

Interested in seeing the other designs we made together during this week’s Terrific Tuesdays episode? You can tune in here to catch it all.

Products used in today’s featured design:
Pretty Peacock, Basic White cardstock
Tartan Foil, Nature’s Sweetness DSP
Perennial Postage stamps & dies
Nested Essentials dies
Gold trim
Neutrals sequins, sequins trio
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Terrific Tuesdays

Grateful Fun Fold

This week, we’ve been exploring all of the ways we can use our designer series papers to make holiday thank you cards. Today’s card design is introducing a new fun fold. I learned how to make the Center Step Fun Fold this week thanks to fellow Luv to Stamp team member Patti Dolan.

This card is built on a base of Night of Navy cardstock. I used two different patterns of the One Horse Open Sleigh designer series paper pack to complete the card front and inside panels. The trees and bear are cut from a sheet of A Walk in the Forest. The Merriest Trees die set coordinates perfectly with the trees and the Beary Cute punch easily punches the bear. The sentiment from the Charming Sentiments set is stamped on a shimmer white panel diecut using the Nested Essentials dies. Some iridescent discs add a little touch of sparkle and draw the eye across the card. You can find the instructions for this fun fold here.

I tried a portrait variation of this fun fold using Jackie Bolhaus’s design, but I definitely need to work on it as things didn’t exactly line up as they should have so it sits a little catterwompass. But it turned out really cute, so I’m going to show it to you anyway. Haha! I combined One Horse Open Sleigh with the Beary Cute Memories and More products.

You can see all of the other fun designs that we made together in this week’s Terrific Tuesdays video by clicking below for the full video.

Products used for today’s featured design:
Night of Navy, shimmer white cardstock
A Walk in the Forest (retired), One Horse Open Sleigh DSP
Nested Essentials, Merriest Trees dies
Beary Cute punch (retired)
Iridescent discs
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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