Lily Impressions of Friendship--#tgifc252

This week TGIF Challenges is celebrating the two free-with-a qualifying-purchase designer series paper packs in the Sale-a-Bration Brochure:  Lily Impressions and Golden Honey Specialty.  They are both great papers as are the two new paper pack selections coming in the Sale-a-Bration second release on March 3--a foiled paper and embossed vellum.  Can't wait!

For this challenge I used two patterns in the Lily Impressions designer series paper pack (#152284) with two more free selections from the Sale-a-Bration Brochure:  Lovely Lily Pad stamp set (#152288) and Lily Pad dies (152315).  With a purchase of $200 in catalog product, you may chose all three of these coordinating Sale-a-Bration products FREE!

The background and foreground paper patterns are the two sides of one sheet of the Lily Impressions paper.  The solid Bermuda Bay paper covers the entire 5-1/2" X 4-1/4" card front.  The lily blossom pattern is 5" X 3-3/4" mounted on the same size Whisper White card stock to give it some body so I could pop it up with Stampin' Dimensionals.

I used the stamp set to stamp the lily blossom in Whisper White craft ink on Vellum and embossed it with White Stampin' Emboss Powder. I colored the blossom with the Flirty Flamingo Light Stampin' Blends marker.  The lily blossom, Garden Green leaf, and Blackberry Bliss edging were die cut with the die set.

The greeting is from the Peaceful Moments stamp set (#151595).  It was stamped in Bermuda Bay on Whisper White card stock and fussy cut. Three pearls were added to mimic the little white flowers in the paper.

You will be inspired by all of the projects created for this challenge.  Check them out at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Have an exceptional week!

--Sara Nell  

Easton's First Valentine--#tgifc251

The day this week's TGIF Challenges sketch challenge was announced, I received the sweetest photo of my grandson Easton checking out the Valentine card I sent him.  It was perfect for the sketch:

The base page is a 12" x 12" piece of Old Olive card stock.  I stamped the dinosaur track image from Dino Days stamp set (#149406) diagonally across the page in Old Olive ink.  The hearts were die cut out of Lovely Lipstick card stock using the  Stitched Be Mine dies(#146828).  The little dinos were fussy cut out of a pattern from the Dinoroar designer series paper pack (#149589).  The large dinosaur was die cut from another pattern from the paper pack using the Dino dies (#149636).  

Here is a photo of the card I sent him:

It has a flip feature and a heart with dino tracks inside:

Easton was so excited after Katharine read the card to him, that he ran around the living room waving it in the air, then set it on a table and then picked it up again and waved it some more (this is the only photo I received without a blurred image of Easton running!).  He'll be one next week, so I was thrilled that he actually loved getting the card.

There are some beautiful projects (cards and pages) using this sketch over at the TGIF Challenges blog.  You really need to check them all out!

Have a great week!

--Sara Nell 

Simply Love--#tgifc250

For this week's TGIF Challenges color challenge, I made a simple card for Valentine's Day. It was finished after several trials and errors.  I started out with some really ugly stamping yesterday, but this morning revisited the piles of pieces I had laying on my desk.  I picked out a Pool Party design from the Parisian Blossoms designer series paper (#151192) and a greeting from the Parisian Beauty stamp set (#151466) to pull together a card using a Smoky Slate card base, a layer of Melon Mambo and a die cut heart banner using Melon Mambo and the Be Mine Stitched dies (#148527).  Sleeping on a problem really helps! I love the simplicity of this card.

Not everyone had problems creating with this color combo of Smoky Slate, Melon Mambo and Pool Party.  You can see the beautiful results over at the TGIF Challenges blog:

Happy Valentine's Day!

--Sara Nell

A Valentine--#tgifc249

This week's TGIF Challenges theme challenge is Valentines.   I remember spending hours in the card shop looking for just the right cards to send to my Great Aunts Hattie and Lucile.  I always think of them as Valentine's Day approaches and wish they had lived long enough to get some of the Valentines I've made since joining Stampin' Up! In their honor, I have added a vintage touch to my Valentine with Pressed Petals specialty designer series paper (#149500).

The hearts were all die cut using the Stitched Be Mine dies (#148527) dies.  They are Pressed Petals paper, Rose Glimmer Paper (#146960), and Mossy Meadow and Rococo Rose card stock.  The large Mossy Meadow heart was embossed with the Coastal Weave 3D embossing folder (#151503).

The dotted background was stamped in second generation Mossy Meadow ink using a stamp from the Artisan Textures stamp set (#151278).  The greeting is from Parisian Beauty stamp set (#151466) and was stamped in Rococo Rose.  Sequins from the Woven Threads sequin Assortment (#149498) and a bow out Mossy Meadow twine from the Magnolia Lane ribbon combo pack (#149485) complete the card.

Card stock layers are Very Vanilla, Rococo Rose and Mossy Meadow.

For lots of great Valentine ideas, head over to the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day!

--Sara Nell

Creation Station February Blog Hop--The Full Monty

Welcome to the Creation Station February Blog Hop!  Whether you have hopped here from Kathy's blog or have started here, I'm glad you've arrived at my blog.  You are in for a lot of inspiration today.  We are sharing The Full Monty.  That means, we are picking a suite  of products and are using every product in the entire suite. 

The explanation of the theme given to the Creation Station design team was to create one project using everything in the suite.  Well, I could not do that.  I picked out my favorite suite in the Spring Mini--Peaceful Poppies.  It is what Stampin' Up! calls a super suite:  two stamp sets (Painted Poppies and Peaceful Moments), two coordinating die sets (Painted Labels and Poppy Moments), Peaceful Poppies designer series paper, Peaceful Poppies Sequins (to die for), Whisper White Crinkled Ribbon, and Peaceful Poppies elements. There is so much to use, that I chose to create five projects using several products in the suite plus a bonus one with a gold foil pizza box I had out on my desk and some paper I love but couldn't figure out how to use on the other projects.  Have fun checking out something from each of the products in the suite.   Note:  I am totally in love with the Peaceful Poppies Sequins--you'll see them featured on one project and used on all of them.

For this card, I picked out three paper patterns that included Blackberry Bliss, cut them in strips and placed them at slight angles on the Whisper White card stock.  I stamped the greeting from Peaceful Moments in Blackberry Bliss and adhered it to an open circle of Blackberry Bliss card stock die cut using a die from Painted Labels.  I used a Blackberry Bliss Dark Stampin' Blends to color the ribbon and then tied it in a double bow.  Gold sequins finish the card.

This card features the Peaceful Poppies sequins.  The colors are clear, black, gold and light and dark Poppy Parade. I used just the flat sequins on the card.  The sequins were layered over Blackberry Bliss card stock embossed with the Subtle 3D embossing folder.  I laid out my design with Tear & Tape adhesive, cut in half lengthwise, then added the sequins.   The design was inspired by the bare branches I walked into about 5 in the morning while walking Roxie.  Instead of being angry myself, I stepped back and noticed the shape of the branches backlit by a street lamp at the end of the block.  The shapes brought me joy in that moment, so I decided to make joyful branches on this card with sequins.    I added the perfect greeting from Peaceful Moments, stamped in Blackberry Bliss on a square created with the large rectangle die in Painted Labels (I put the Whisper White card stock and label die through the die cutting machine twice to create the square--the die is very easy to line up for the second cut).

This is my bonus project--a very simple one.  Since it is the last of my "Blackberry Bliss" projects, I put it here.  I am so happy that the gold Mini Pizza Boxes have carried over from the Holiday Catalog.  I fussy cut the watercolor style poppies from the paper. which is the reverse design on the Blackberry Bliss dotted paper.  I popped the smaller poppy up with dimensionals. I fussy cut the greeting from Peaceful Moments and popped it up, too.  Of course, I added sequins--gold to match the box.

Instead of using the big poppy and leaf dies in the Poppy Moments die set that I have seen on lots of beautiful cards, I used the openwork background die for this card.    I used the die twice to create the 5-1/4" x 2-1/4" Basic Black piece.  it is layered over the Pool Party with white stripe design from the Peaceful Poppies designer series paper pack. The greeting from Peaceful Moments was stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento ink on a Pool Party banner.  Whisper White crinkled ribbon and black poppy-shaped sequins finish the card.

This card uses the embossed watercolor paper poppy and leaf designs from the Peaceful Poppies elements.  I watercolored the leaves with Old Olive and the poppies with Poppy Parade and Blackberry Bliss.  The poppies dried to a Calypso Coral color, so I layered Calypso Coral under the Old Olive striped pattern from the Peaceful Poppies paper. The greeting was stamped in Mossy Meadow and then die cut using a label die from Painted Labels.  Gold poppy-shaped sequins finish the card. This is a 4-1/2" square card.

This final card uses two images from the Painted Poppies stamp set.  I stamped the poppies image twice in Old Olive ink, then used the Poppy Parade Combo, Calypso Coral Combo and Basic Black Dark Stampin' Blends to color them.  I used the large dotted filler image to create a Pool Party backdrop for the poppies, using second and third generation stamping.  For a fun touch, I added Poppy Parade light and dark and clear poppy-shaped sequins to the field of poppies.  The greeting is from the Peaceful Moments stamp set, stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento ink on Poppy Parade.  The Whisper White crinkled ribbon was colored black with the Basic Black Dark Stampin' Blends marker, then wrapped around the Poppy Parade 6" x 3" card base.  

Hope you've enjoyed my Peaceful Poppies projects.  Now it's time to see what Dena has in store for us today--it is sure to be wonderful!

to Dena's blog . .  .

   

Here's a little guessing game for you.  How many times did I type "poopy" instead of "poppy" while preparing my blog post today?  LOL--my typing skills are truly lacking.

Have a great February!  I hope you are always finding joy in the little things.

--Sara Nell

John 15:11