Leaves Make Me Smile--#tgifc226

If you've been checking out my blog for any length of time, you already know that leaves make me smile.  I love when the weather cools and the leaves start falling.  I celebrate this with my stamping.  It is not yet officially Fall, but this week's TGIF technique challenge had me bringing out the leaf images in the Colorful Seasons stamp set.

This week's challenge is Splatter!  Immediately I thought of the color-splattered leaves that are already showing up in my yard (I'm kind of worried about my neighbors' maple tree, actually).  I started my splattering with Pigment Sprinkles, then added more splatters with my Aqua Painter and Early Espresso ink:

I used Mango Melody, Granny Apple Green and Daffodil Delight Pigment Sprinkles.  I sprinkled them on a piece of the new Fluid 100 Watercolor paper that had been brushed with water.  Then I spritzed the paper with water and used my Heat Tool to move around the pigment as it dried. I added more water and more sprinkles to get the look I wanted.  As I was in the final drying stage, I added a few more sprinkles and spritzed the paper lightly to keep the small splatter look on the paper. 

When the paper piece was completely dry, I used my bone folder to even out the warping in the paper (yea, I used a lot of water!).  Then I stamped the leaf image randomly over the paper with VersaMark and heat embossed it with Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder.  After the leaves were finished, I add the Early Espresso splatters with my Aqua Painter.

To complete my card, I added a copper-embossed greeting from the Colorful Seasons stamp set.  I stamped the greeting on a leftover piece of the watercolor paper and then die cut it using an oval in the Stitched Shapes die set. I mounted the greeting piece on an Early Espresso scalloped oval from the Layering Ovals die set.  The splattered piece is layered on Early Espresso card stock with a piece of Copper Trim wrapped around it and tied in a bow.  The card base is Granny Apple Green card stock.

Go find some inspiration for adding splatters to your cards over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Please let me know what you think in the comments below!

--Sara Nell 

  

Path of Petals Wishes--#tgifc225

We have a fun technique challenge this week from TGIF Challenges:  All on Black.  I don't use a lot of Basic Black card stock, so this challenge took a little thought.  I thought I would be embossing something in silver on black, but then I remembered the 2018-2020 Stampin' Emboss Powders.   I just checked and these are no longer in the catalog.  What!?!  I've already made my card and I think it is pretty, so I am posting it.  I still love these wonderful, brightly colored embossing powders.  Just note that they are no longer available; however, this card would be pretty in any of our metallics.  If I'd checked my catalog before I did the card, I think I would have used gold, copper and silver instead of the Call Me Clover, Pineapple Punch and Blueberry Bushel Stampin' Emboss Powders.

Don't you love these bright colors against the silver and black!  I used the Path of Petals stamp set for my images.  The greeting is embossed in silver to coordinate with the Silver Foil layer and the silver glitter in the black glittered organdy ribbon.  The bouquet is made with three different stamps, so it was easy to stamp, then emboss, then stamp the next image and emboss, etc., to get the three colors.  I used the leafy image to emboss the frame in black.  My layers and frame were made with the Rectangle Stitched Dies.   I added Silver Metallic Pearls to finish the card.

The TGIF Challenges design team projects for this challenge are really, really nice.  You can check them out together with some great entries at the TGIF Challenges Blog here. 

Thanks for stopping by today!--Sara Nell 

Always Finding Joy--#tgifc224

The Pressed Petals Suite is one of my favorites in the new Annual Catalog.  I've used the Pressed Petals designer series paper on several projects, but not the pretty floral images from the Path of Petals stamp set.  For this week's TGIF Challenges sketch challenge, I decided it was finally time to stamp those images:

I started with a Crumb Cake card stock base and covered it with a piece of what I call the meadow design from the Pressed Petals designer series paper pack.  I picked colors from the paper design for stamping the three images:  Mossy Meadow, Rococo Rose and Night of Navy.  I stamped these on Very Vanilla card stock and offset the image piece on a piece of Rococo Rose card stock.  I masked off a part of one of the greetings in the Path of Petals stamp set for my card sentiment (I have used various parts of the greetings in this set on other projects--love that I can do that). I added linen thread and gold metallic pearls to complete my card.

Check out the TGIF Challenges Blog and be inspired by what the design team and challengers have done with this sketch:

Thanks for stopping by today. I'd love to hear what you think in the comments!--Sara Nell

Your Special Day--#tgifc223

The air conditioner for our house was out for 4 days.  Even though we've finally had a nice cool day,  I think my brain is still in melty mode.  I woke up this morning with a great idea for this week's TGIF Challenge.  Then I started looking closely at it and said to myself, "Self, this is a very bad idea."  So I moved on to trying out different background ideas.   Nope.  I then decided simple was the way to go.  

So here, at last, is my card for this week's color challenge:  Coastal Cabana, Gorgeous Grape and Melon Mambo.

I changed things up again as I worked on this idea.  (Like I said, I must still be in melty brain mode.)  Didn't like a white speckled background, my stamped Coastal Cabana background looked too busy, my Coastal Cabana card stock background looked too plain.  The only idea I didn't change was the top layer die cut with the largest Rectangle Stitched die to go with the stitching detail on the Stitched Label die cut.  But the Coastal Cabana Layers needed texture, so I embossed them with the Subtle 3D embossing folder.  It is amazing what that embossing folder does--it is my go to embossing folder these days!  A simple texture was all my background needed.

I stamped my sentiment from Stitched All Around stamp set in Gorgeous Grape.  When I laid it on my card, I knew it needed a little oomph.  So I tried a little trick I learned from Elizabeth Price:  I stamped the sentiment with Gorgeous Grape and then VersaMark (love my Stamparatus) and heat embossed it with a mix of Clear Stampin' Emboss Power and Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  What a cool effect!  I added Wink of Stella glitter to the center of my Melon Mambo heart (another die in the Stitched Labels die set) for another touch of sparkle. 

For a last touch of pizzazz, I tied on a bow of Whisper White polka dot tulle ribbon.  

I really wish you could see the glitter on this card.  So nice! 

There are some really, really nice cards with this color combo over at the TGIF Challenges Blog.  Be sure and check them out!

So happy you stopped by today!--Sara Nell 

     

Creation Station August Blog Hop--Stampers Gone Wild!

Welcome to the August Creation Station Blog Hop!  I'm so glad you have joined us for this fun hop--Stampers Gone Wild!  You are going to get plenty of inspiration for using some of the many animal and nature stamp sets in Stampin' Up!'s Annual Catalog.  Be sure and click the "Next" button at the end of each post to hop around and see all the fun projects this month.

I will confess that I may have wandered a bit off topic.  But dinosaurs are wild, aren't they?  I pulled out the Dino Days stamp set, the coordinating Dino Dies and the Dinoroar designer series paper to create a two-page scrapbook layout.  I could not resist.  My daughter sent me some of the cutest photos of my grandson with his big new dinosaur. I had so much fun creating these pages--I hope you like them:

This is the full page.  I combined two paper patterns from the Dinoroar designer series paper on Old Olive 12" x 12" card stock.  The dinosaurs were die cut from another of the paper designs.  I love it when Stampin' Up! creates paper patterns that work with the dies in the same suite of products.  It makes it so much faster to make a cute page.  The Denim ribbon is also a part of this Dinoroar Suite.  

This is a close-up showing the title piece stamped using the Dino days stamp set.  It was die cut using an oval from the Stitched Shapes die set and then matted on a scalloped oval from the Layering Oval die set.  The mattes for the photos and the title piece are all  Mossy Meadow card stock.  Did you notice the dinosaur tracks on the title piece and on the Old Olive page background?  At first I stamped them all over the background, but the tracks seemed so busy with the paper patterns.  So I decided just to stamp a few.  They are too fun not to use, right?

Katharine sent me so many cute photos, that I decided to use a pocket page to show off as many of the cute Easton photos as I could.  (Unfortunately, it is hard to take photos of the pocket page and had to do it on an angle to avoid glare.)

I used the same paper, similar dinosaur die cuts and stamped dinosaur tracks as on the full page so it would be a cohesive double-page layout.  I used the pocket page with two horizontal 4 x 6 slots on the top and bottom and then the 4 smaller pockets across the middle.  I sized my photos the same except for the bottom right photo. That way I could slip two photos or a photo and decorative piece in the larger pockets.  The bottom right photo was the same height but narrower so I could add journaling to the page.

A close-up of my favorite photo on the page!  Easton is so stinkin' cute! 

Now it's time to head over to Martin's blog to see how wild he's gotten this month.  I know he'll have some great inspiration for all of us!

To Martin's Blog . . .