A friend asked if I could make some Christmas tags, so these are my first of the season. I like using punches for tags, because they’re so quick to make. The tree punch used here is retired, but SU has a really cute tree punch in the current catalog, the Pine Tree punch.
I cut white thick cardstock into 4.25 x 2 inch pieces, used the Delightful Tag Topper punch for the scalloped end. I glued a 2×2 inch piece of designer paper to the other end, and rounded those corners with the Detailed Trio punch. I cut thin strips of Glimmer Paper and green cardstock, ran a thin bead of glue along the top of the designer paper, and glued them down, trimming excess from the sides with scissors. I punch the tree from Glimmer Paper and popped it up with dimensional foam. I stamped a sentiment on a thin strip of white, and cut a cardstock mat slightly wider. After gluing that and trimming it, I folded a piece of ribbon in half, pushed the folded edge through the hole from front to back, and drew the cut ends up through the loop.
Tags make nice gifts for coworkers with a roll of coordinating wrapping paper. Give it a try!
Thanks for stopping by. If you need supplies, click the Visit My Site button.
I know, I know. We haven’t finished July yet! But I’ m dreaming of the possibility of resuming classes in the fall, and thought the Celebrate Sunflowers bundle would be perfect for that. This time I colored the sunflower stamps with Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers.
This sunflower was stamped on yellow cardstock with a light gray ink, then colored with the markers. When I finished, I decided to spritz the whole flower with an alcohol and Shimmer Paint mixture. It’s hard to capture in a photo, but it gave a pretty sheen, while letting the colors come through.
This sunflower was stamped with black Ink, colored with the alcohol markers, and topped with the sunflower die to soften it. Instead of ribbon, I chose a sprig diecut for under the sentiment. Both cards use embossing folders for the card front, Tasteful Textiles in the brown card, and Subtle in the black.
I hope this gave you some ideas for your own cardmaking. If so, post pictures in the comments!!!!
Most items used are linked below, if you are interested in the specifics. I appreciate your support, and will happily answer questions. Thanks for stopping by!
Michelle
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I first used a sponge dauber to completely cover a piece of white cardstock with small areas of Daffodil Delight, Terracotta Tile, and Highland Heather, without too much blending. Then I stamped the small rose from the Beautiful Friendship stamp set all over it using Versamark ink (don’t be like me and forget to use your embossing buddy first). A mostly solid stamp works best. I heat set clear embossing powder over that to “trap” the multicolored ink underneath. Then, I used my Night of Navy ink pad to directly ink ALL OVER the cardstock. After giving it a minute to dry, I used a microfiber cloth to rub vigorously over the heat embossed flowers to remove the Navy ink and let the other colors show through. I cut it down to 5.5 by3.5 inches, added Terracotta Tile ribbon, and butted it up against a strip of Terracotta Tile designer paper on a card base. The sentiment and tag are from the Best Dressed suite. Added some bling to finish it off.
Thanks for stopping by!
Michelle
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Hi, there! I’ve still been trying to make simple cards, but I just can’t seem to leave well enough alone!!! I made a couple of cards today that were just stamps, paper, and ink… and a marker, a stencil, a mask, glue, and dimensional foam. 🙂 At least I didn’t use any diecutting/ embossing tools!
The first is done on Crumb Cake cardstock, and I used a stencil on the front (this particular one is retired, but there are new ones in the 2020-21 Annual Catalog) and applied Crumb Cake ink to the stencil with a sponge brayer, going over the bottom area most, and tapering toward the top. I then stamped the image from the Ornate Style stamp set in Memento Tuxedo Black, as well as the sentiment from Timeless Tulips (there are a number of great sentiments in that set!). Finally, I took my Chalk Ink marker, and carefully colored in the lines, trying not to cover up the “shading” lines on the image. It was done in a jiffy.
For this card, I used Coastal Cabana and Pacific Point cardstock, and Pacific Point ink, using the Seaside Notions stamp set, and a sentiment from Butterfly Gala. I stamped the seahorse, shells and sand first. I then stamped the seahorse on copy paper, and cut close to the lines. I applied a thin layer of Multipurpose Glue, and let it dry for a bit- this turns it from a strong adhesive to a repositionable one. After it was dry (it will still be tacky), I quickly pressed it onto my jeans to make sure it wouldn’t stick too tightly. Then I placed it over the seahorse stamped on the cardstock, and stamped the coral branches over top of the mask. When the mask is removed, the illusion is that the coral is behind the seahorse. I stick my masks onto the inside of my stamp case, because they are reusable. Ordinarily, I would have run this layer through my embossing machine with the Subtle embossing folder (my favorite!), or the new Tasteful Textile 3D embossing folder, but because I didn’t want to use tools that a beginner wouldn’t have, I just matted it with the Pacific Point cardstock and attached it to the Coastal Cabana card base with dimensional foam dots (Stampin’ Dimensionals). I did, however, “color” the seahorse and shells with a Wink of Stella glitter pen. It very gently smudges the ink, so you get a sort of sparkly watercolor look. It’s hard to capture in a photograph! All the products mentioned are linked below.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope my cards give you some inspiration for your own, and that you spread some sunshine to others by sending them a card made by your very own hands. Check back to see what I’m up to next ( I feel a fun fold coming on!), but until then-
Happy stamping!
Michelle
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Hello! I hope this post finds you well. I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of not just showcasing fancy folds and techniques, but also showing new stampers without a lot of tools how to make beautiful cards. I had recently posted about a card with the Beautiful Friendship stamp set, but that was focused more on making two cards from one stamped sheet. This time, I want to talk a little about the steps I took when stamping the cards.
Beautiful Friendship
For this card, I started with the purple flowers- hydrangeas- and stamped the one on the left in a slightly lighter shade (Highland Heather) than the one to the right (Gorgeous Grape), and overlapped them. Then I stamped the larger roses, which are attached in the stamp, but instead of stamping the whole double- flower stamp onto the paper, I stamped the flower on the right of the stamp to the left of the paper, and the flower to the left on the right of the paper (Terracotta Tile). I then inked the rosebuds in the same color, but used the corner of a green stamp pad (Mossy Meadow) to ink the stems. The leaves were stamped in the same green, overlapping the flowers in a few spaces, and finally the small yellow flowers (Daffodil Delight) were used to fill in. I didn’t use any masking. The sentiment (retired- Petal Palette) was direct to the card front, which was cut to 4 by 5 and 1/4 inches, and after matting with a 4 and 1/8 by 5 and 3/8 inch piece of Highland Heather, attached to a card base folded to 4 and 1/4 by 5 and 1/2 inches.
The next card is a distressed/tea-stained look- not for everyone, but I like it.
Very Versailles
I used an off-white cardstock for this (Very Vanilla), and Crumb Cake ink for the card, with Soft Suede for the sentiment. All images are from the Very Versailles stamp set. I started with the script print, and stamped off once to give a light image. I then used the decorative elements, again stamped off once, and finally the leaf image, not stamped off. I squeezed the ink case to put a little ink on to the top of the inside lid, and used an Aquapainter to add water to the ink, and splatter it onto the card. I inked the edges of the card front with the same ink, double-matting it with Crumb Cake and Soft Suede cardstock. I stamped the sentiment in Soft Suede, and matted it with the same color cardstock, popped up with foam dimensionals.
Lastly, I stamped poppies from the Painted Poppies stamp set on white (Whisper White) cardstock.
Painted Poppies
I first stamped just the flower outlines in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink, and colored them in with light and dark Poppy Parade Stampin’ Blends (alcohol markers). I then used a fine-tip black marker and a straight-edge to draw the stems, and I also used the marker to draw hatch marks on the left of each, for shading. The leaves were added (again, with no masking needed), and all were colored with light and dark Granny Apple Green Stampin’ Blends. The sentiment is from the Celebrate Sunflowers stamp set, which actually says “let’s celebrate you”, but I put tape over the “let’s” before inking (don’t forget to remove the tape before you stamp!!!) and then stamped just the “celebrate you”.
None of these cards was hard to do, or took any particular skill- they just required a plan, and some careful placement so as not to overlap stamps. Sure, masking and overlap are wonderful, but I was focusing on simple but elegant!
The supply list is below- if you need anything and live in the US, you can shop by clicking Visit My Site above. I appreciate your support of my business. Thanks for stopping by, and if you decide to recreate one of the cards, I would love to see a picture in the comments! If you have any questions about the cards, the supplies, or joining my team as an independent Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, please feel free to contact me.
Happy stamping!
Michelle
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Hi, all! Thanks for stopping by. I had so much fun a couple of nights ago, when my bff and my baby sister came to visit! We had a little cardmaking session, and had Cosmos while we were crafting- so many laughs… Anyway, I decided I was going to use some pretty papers to make some simple cards. The first one made me think of a pair of bell-bottom pants I had back in the day. 🙂
To a white card base I added an Old Olive panel topped with the pretty paper from the Ornate Garden collection, then topped that with a small, embossed white cardstock piece at an angle, a “ribbon” of Bumblebee paper (embossed with my favorite embossing folder, the Subtle folder), and the I added the matted sentiment attached with dimensional foam. The sentiment was made by first stamping the daisy image, using the “stamping off” method. This means you ink up the stamp, lightly stamp it on some scrap paper, then stamp it on your card. It gives a softer effect. I then stamped the words over top, full strength with the same ink color. I used graduated circle dies to cut the sentiment and the green mat.
The second card was even simpler, and made with minimal supplies. To the Just Jade colored mat, I adhere two pieces of coordinating designer paper from the Flowers for every season collection, then I attached a length of the Bumblebee gingham ribbon along the join, and attached it to the back of the colored cardstock with glue dots. I made a “faux knot” by tying a short piece of ribbon around the longer one- it’s easier than trying to tie the ribbon around the whole piece). I stamped a sentiment on white and matted it with So Saffron, and adhered that with dimensional foam. Then, the whole shebang was adhered to a white card base! I often use a white or off-white base, because I prefer the heavy weight of the Whisper White and Very Vanilla Thick cardstock.
I hope you are inspired to do some stamping, (with or without cocktails!), and that you share your creations with me in the comments. If you need supplies (listed below) you can shop by clicking on visit my site above- I appreciate your support. Come back to see what else I’ve been up to! In the meanwhile-
Happy stamping!
Michelle
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Hello, again! Thanks for joining me. Today I made a video showing the new Ornate Garden Suite’s various stamps, dies, ribbons, and an embossing folder. I used some of these to make a few relatively simple cards if you have a die-cutting/embossing machine. If you don’t, you can still make beautiful cards with the stamp sets, designer paper and ribbon from the collection.
The Suite is new in the Annual Catalog that goes live June 3rd, but they released it early so it’s available now. The papers are lovely, a combination of foiled prints (you can color the white and gold ones!), small and large florals, and subtle backgrounds. There are two stamp sets, one with floral images, and the other with several thank you sentiments, but the additional sentiments can be used for a variety of occasions. Here are two of my cards:
The embossing folder (see the card on the left, is so sweet, and the frames and edge dies are amazing. There are two die sets in this suite:
The left die includes framed rectangles, and the one on the right shows edge dies and freestanding components. Both are used in the cards above. You don’t have to make them quite so girly, though. I used the rose border on this card in black and white:
These are the stamp sets- I tried to show some of the additional sentiments:
So, that’s been my day so far! If you want to watch the video, you can get a better look at the designer papers, and I talk more about how I put the cards together.
Thanks again for stopping by- I hope you enjoyed looking, and, as always but especially in these trying times of social distancing, I encourage you to make and send cards. If you don’t have a Stampin’Up! demonstrator, please check out my shop with the button above, and if you want to get my newsletter, sign up below! I appreciate your support.
Happy stamping!
Michelle
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Hello! Last time I talked about using designer papers to make quick cards, but as I was doing that, I thought that it is also a good way for beginning cardmakers to make pretty cards with few tools and stamps. The new year Stampin’ Up! catalog year starts June 4th, and while we have a great selection of new papers to look forward to using, those from the current catalog will not continue.
I wanted to make some more cards that leaned heavily on the designer paper, and only used a sentiment stamp. For this card, I used the Bird Ballad designer paper.
This card was made with two pieces of a reversible designer paper, adhered to white cardstock with a thin margin. Tip: the ribbon was actually two pieces, about 5 and 6 inches. The shorter was knotted around the longer, which was adhered to the back of the white card. The sentiment was stamped on coordinating cardstock, trimmed with scissors and glued down.
For this card, I cut a piece of the reversible designer paper into 4 by 5.25 inches, then cut that into two pieces that were 2 by 2 and 7/8 inches, and two that were 2 by 2 and 3/8 inches. I adhered the pieces with glue, starting with the pieces on the left, trying to keep margins even. I finished it with some coordinating ribbon and a sentiment which was punched with a 2-inch circle, and backed by card punched with the Starburst punch- I’m sad that it’s also being discontinued- I love this punch! The sentiment “stack” was raised with foam dimensional dots.
The next card used the paper from the Dressed to Impress suite. So girly!
This time I didn’t leave any margins- I cut all strips 5.5 inches wide, the floral strips are 1 inch and 1.25 inches, and the green is 2 inches high. They were butted against one another, and the sentiment is on white cardstock that was cut with a die, but could easily have been trimmed to a rectangle. I was tempted to add some other embellishments, but I resisted! The sentiment (stamped in the gorgeous Lovely Lipstick color, which is being retired) was again raised with dimensional dots. It isn’t necessary if you don’t have them, but gives a nice dimension to the card.
I hope you enjoy the cards, and as always, if you need supplies or want to browse, click the button above to visit my store. As mentioned, the designer papers some ink colors (the five 2018-2020 InColors), the Starburst punch, and many other items will be discontinued as of June 3rd, and are offered now while supplies last, so if you’ve had your eye on something, don’t wait. I had to stock up on a couple of my favorites! Thanks for stopping by, and happy stamping,
Michelle
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Sometimes, when I need a quick card, I let the paper do the hard work of design, as I did with the following cards. Every year, Stampin’ Up! introduces a wonderful selection of new designer series papers. The downside to that is that the papers from the current catalogs are discontinued, and that will happen on June 2 of this year. These cards were made with papers from the current catalogs.
This was one of the great papers from the See A Silhouette suite, which has such vibrant colors. I cut a 4 by 5.25 inch piece, and matted it on coordinating cardstock cut at 4 and 1/8 by 5 and 3/8 inch, These were adhered to a white card folded t0 4.25 by 5.5. I then used a 3/4 inch by 4 inch strip of the reverse side of the same paper, matted that on a one inch by 4 inch strip of white. The sentiment was stamped on white and punched out with a 2 inch punch, and behind that is the starburst punch (also retiring- nooooo!), all popped up with dimensional foam. Simple, but pretty, don’t you think?
Here’s another example where the paper makes a huge statement on the card, this time with a pretty diecut:
The paper is the Perennial Essence designer paper, cut to 4 by 5.5 inches and adhered to the folded card base all the way to the right, leaving a margin on the left. The green ribbon is wrapped all the way around the front of the card, and the Butterfly Beauty diecut is glued to the front. I heat embossed the sentiment, and popped it up with dimensional foam.
Finally, I used the paper from the Country Club suite. I love the argyle patterns! One of the papers in the suite has these cool line drawings, which would be perfect for coloring, but I liked the simplicity of the black-and-white. Both pieces and the sentiment were cut and matted, and the golf scene and sentiment were popped up with foam dimensionals.
Designer papers can be a small or a large part in card design, but when you are in a hurry, they can do the heavy lifting! The papers above are available, while supplies last, or until June 2nd. The good news is that June 3rd brings a whole new selection of gorgeous new designer papers! It only takes a few minutes to make a card that showcases pretty paper. So, no excuses- send cards to the people you care about, and to the people who are your heroes! Thanks for stopping by!
Ready, Ink, Go! 