Holiday Preview: "Beautiful Blizzard", so many options!

If you know me, you know I don't sleep well.  So this morning in the wee hours, I got up and started to putter around in my craft room, putting way my new things from the Holiday catalog. 

I got to the Beautiful Blizzard bundle I got some ideas that I just had to try out with the Blizzard Thinlet!  Let me show you!

Alternative ways to use the die:

Looking at these two cards you can see that I used the positive and negative images. 

Card 1: On a 4 x 5 piece of card stock, which is the size of the Thinlet, I adhered a piece of our Adhesive Sheet to the whole piece of Shimmer cardstock. Then I ran it through the Big Shot.  I ran it through a couple time.  It was early so my brain was still in a bit of a fog.  It wouldn't cut through the backing of the Adhesive sheet.  Then the light bulb came on!  Duh! the adhesive was on the snowflakes, I didn't need to punch them out.   So I peeled them off and place them on the Balmy Blue cardstock in about the same place that they are on the die.  That card is on the left. I even used the little tiny dots that were left behind.  (Note to self, buy that new "Take Your Pick Tool", pg 30 in the Holiday Catalog!)
Card 2: I peeled off the Adhesive backing off the remaining negative 
sheet of Shimmer cardstock and placed in another piece of Balmy Blue.  Some of the snowflakes don't have centers so I placed rhinestones in the center of each snowflake.  Great way to get two cards out of one piece of cardstock.  I love saving paper, don't you!

Card 3:  I used the Blizzard Thinlet as an embossing die with the Embossing Mat (a new item in the annual catalog page 221, expanding your use of your Thinlits and Framelits) and a piece of silver foil. Don't you just love the beautiful embossed image!  I used a little retired ribbon and black for the card base.

Card 4: On a piece of Night of Navy, I used the Blizzard die and some of our White Shimmer Embossing Paste.  Smooth the embossing paste across the back with a pallet knife.  Gently lift the die off of the paper after applying the embossing paste and let it sit for 5-10 minutes to dry.

• Notes: 
• 1. Make sure you put the cutting side down when applying the embossing paste.
• 2. Make sure that the glue/tape residue is removed from the Thinlet, the sticky stuff that remains when you pull the die off the cardstock that it's attached to when you receive it.  I didn't and it ruined my first piece of cardstock.
• Clean your die immediately after applying the embossing paste.  I just ran it underneath a little warm water and then dried it off with soft towel.

And to think I bought this set because of all the beautiful snowflakes and it would cut bunches all at once!

I can't show you an image from the catalog until September 5, but I did take my own photos so I could upload it into my Evernote. These photos don't really do justice to the set. 



I love to hear how you like these ideas.  Which one do you like best? 

Thanks for stopping by!

Artwork: Stampin' Up!©

August Card #3 : Abstract Impressions - Thank You!

In a recent post I shared with you another card using the Abstract Impressions stamp set, which I CASE'd from the catalog  As I said then, I fell in love with this set! That also goes for the Designer Series Paper that coordinates with this bundle, Garden Impressions.

As you can see, this uses 3/4 of the paper for the card base as what we normally use.
I cut the paper to the normal size 8-1/2" x 5-1/2" and then cut 2 inches off the top flap.

It's a very simple card to make, and you could make several to give as a set.  One thing I would mention, when making the sentiment layer, stamp the sentiment first and the stamp the flowers around the sentiment.  A couple of people kinda ran out of room.  :-)

For the largest flower stamp, I stamped off once and then stamped in on the oval, then I did a 3rd generation stamp on the oval too.  I didn't see any right or wrong way for the second stamp with the darker highlights.  Usually there is an arrow on the stamp itself to show direction, but it wasn't really evident to me.

I cut a doily in half to layer behind the ovals. The one I used is retired, but you could use what you have on hand or cut a larger white oval and maybe emboss it. 

For the leaf I used a scrap of Pear Pizzaz.  To give it a little dimension, I took the handle end of my Paper Piercer and ran it down the center of the leaf, while laying on my Paper Pierce Mat. 

Hope you like this one!

Here are the supplies, which you can purchase here.

Abstract Impressions #147513	Garden Impressions DSP #146289
Layering Ovals #141706	Stitched Shapes #145372
Melon Mambo cardstock #115320	Whisper White cardstock #100730
Pear Pizzaz ink #147104	 Melon Mambo ink #147051
Snail #104332	Leaf Punch #144667

Images and Artwork: Stampin' Up!©

August Card #2: Hand Delivered - Happy Birthday!

For my classes I like to include at least one fun card and birthday's are always popular cards. 

This set is called "Hand Delivered" and is a host set that can be earned.  This stamp set looked so fun when I saw it in the catalog I new I had to have it. I have seen several cute cards with this set.  

If you are someone that loves to color, this one is for you.  It's a very simple card that even a young child could make and uses just a few supplies.  

I tried coloring the balloons first with watercolor pencils and blender pen, but when I went to make the white curve on the balloons the gel pen that it didn't want to play well with the Blender pen finish. So I used my Stampin' Blends.  

On the legs and arms I used the  Pumpkin Pie Blender Pen and then used the Color Lifter, moving it across the Pumpkin Pie to make it lighter.  This makes the Stampin' Blends so much more versatile!  New colors were added in the new catalog!  Can't wait to get a few more! I also used one of the new In Colors for the pink balloons, Lovely Lipstick!

It's hard to tell but I used a Wink of Stella on the balloons to give them a little sparkle and who doesn't like a little sparkle!  Especially on a birthday card. 

The Washi tape is retired, but you could use whatever you have on hand. 

Here are the supplies, which you can purchase here.

Hand Delivered (Host Set) #146808	Pool Party #122924
Whisper White #100730	Memento Ink #132708
 Daffodil Delight - Light, Stampin' Blends #144586	Lovely Lipstick - Light, Stampin' Blends
Old Olive - Light, Stampin' Blends #144574	Pool Party - Light, Stampin' Blends #144595
Pumpkin Pie - Light, Stampin' Blends #144578	Color Lifter, Stampin' Blends #144608
Snail #104332	Wink of Stella #141897



Images: Stampin' Up! ©

August Cards #1: Love What You Do - Beautiful Day!

Welcome, thanks for stopping by today!

Classes for this month have wrapped up.  And like our card today, it is beautiful outside for Minnesota.  The skies are blue, the weather is humid free and the windows are open to let in the gentle breeze.

Our first card is a beautiful card to give someone, just because. 

The sentiment is from the Love What You Do, from our Share What You Love Suite.  It is paired with elements from another suite, Rooted in Nature.  The gorgeous Nature's Poem DSP and the leaves are from the Natures Roots Thinlits. 

The vellum in the background lends a little bit of sophistication to this card.  I love the muted colors of the Mint Macaron leaves in the DSP.  I toyed with the idea of also making the leaves with vellum but didn't have enough on hand for my class.  You could also use the embossing dies in the Framelits set to emboss the leaves.  Guess I was sleeping a little when I made this card!  :-)

Hope you enjoy this!

Here are the supplies, which can be purchase here.

Love What You Do #148042	Nature's Roots #146341
Stitched Shapes #	Nature's Roots Framelits #146341
Nature's Poem DSP #146338	Vellum #101856
Whisper White #100730	Crumb Cake #120953
Mint Macaron #138320	Linen Thread #104199
Mini Dimensionals #144108	Snail #104332
Big Shot #103954	Stampin' Pierce Mat #126199

Images: Stampin' Up!©

Abstract Impressions - Beautiful Birthday Card

When I first opened my new catalog, to page 129, I fell in love with the simplicity of this card and it's beautiful images.

I not only used the Springtime Impressions as a die cut.  I also used it as an embossing die with my Impressions pads, something also newly available in the 2018-2019 catalog. When using the Impressions pad you can emboss images onto paper, much like an embossing folder.  You can see the faint impression on the banner.

I CASE'D this card from the catalog and when I couldn't decide on the DSP for the banner I thought I would try out my new Impressions pad with this Framelit.

I also didn't use the whole die cut.  You can very easily trim off part of it with your paper snips to however much you want to use.

Do you love this new Balmy Blue color as much as I do?  I used it as a wash on the back layer.  The stamps are a two step for the flowers and leaves.  I used the Balmy Blue once again by stamping off for the main flowers and full strength for the highlights.  The leaves are stamped in Pear Pizzaz, stamping off once again for the larger group of leaves and full strength for the smaller grouping.

The sentiment is made with the Duet Banner punch and the Hand Delivered stamp set, which is a host set that can be earned.  For more details contact me on Host sets.

Click here to purchase the following supplies. Email me or comment to receive a PDF with the instructions.

Supplies:

Abstract Impressions Bundle #148348	Abstract Impressions Photopolymer #147513
Springtime Impressions Thinlets #146326	Balmy Blue cardstock #146982
Whisper White cardstock #100730	Pear Pizzaz stamp pad #147104
Balmy Blue stamp pad #147105	Balmy Blue ink refill #147168
Duet Banner Punch #141483 Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon Whisper White #146912	Hand Delivered Host Set #146808 Triple Banner Punch #138292
Big Shot #143623	Embossing Mats #146327
Big Shot Brush #144262	Magnetic Platform #130652
Paper Pierce Mat #126199	Paper Snips #103579
Aqua Painters #103954	Mini Glue Dots #103683
Snail #104332	Stampin' Dimensionals #104430

Art Images: Stampin' Up!©