Cherry Blossom Merci--#tgifc256

It's inspiration challenge week over at TGIF Challenges and this week's inspiration is products suites in the Spring mini catalog.  My inspiration comes from the Parisian Blossoms suite and the Cherry Blossoms dies (#151456).  

I started my card with a piece of vellum card stock embossed with the Parisian Flourish 3D embossing folder (#151474).  This was layered over a patterned paper from the Parisian Blossoms specialty designer series paper pack (#151192) and then over a Petal Pink card base.

The blossoms were die cut out of Whisper White card stock and colored lightly with Petal Pink light and dark Stampin' Blends (#147272).  The smaller flowers were layered into the larger ones and then each was centered with a Champagne Rhinestone (#151193).  The flowers were arranged over a branch die cut out of Basic Gray card stock.

The greeting is from the Parisian Dies.  Three were die cut and layered together.  The three dots for over the "i" were lost in my hands, so I colored a Basic Pearl with the Light Basic Black Stampin' Blends for my dot.

You'll find lots of wonderful projects inspired by the Spring mini over at the TGIF Challenges blog here.

Hope you are all staying safe and creating a bunch of wonderful projects.

--Sara Nell 

Always Thinking of You--#tgifc255

Today I have used the Forever Blossoms stamp set (#151457) paired with a greeting from Very Versailles stamp set (#149275) to create a card with a floral background.  I've been wanting to make a background with a simple blossom and leaf design for a while and  this week's TGIF Challenges sketch was the right inspiration to get me started.  Thanks, gals!

The blossom and leaf were stamped in Jet Black StazOn ink, then watercolored with an Aqua Painter (#103954) and Old Olive and Petal Pink ink.  Once the inks were dry, the background was watercolored with Pool Party.  The left-hand border was created with a piece of Petal Pink metallic-edge ribbon (#151594) and a scalloped border punched out of Old Olive card stock with the Decorative Ribbon Border punch (#143721).   These were adhered to the stamped piece with Tear & Tape adhesive and the finished piece was adhered to the Basic Black card base with Multipurpose Liquid glue. 

The greeting was stamped in Versamark and embossed with White Stampin' Emboss Powder.  It was adhered to the card with Stampin' Dimensionals. 

Check out other projects created using this sketch over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Hope you are staying safe!

--Sara Nell

Simple Joy--#tgifc254

This morning I found joy in creating just a simple little 3" x 3" note for this week's TGIF Challenges color challenge. So, I added "joy" to my note.  It was a very nice way to start my day.

Thoughtful Blooms Sale-a-Bration stamp set (3152290, free with  $50 purchase), Sale-a-Bration Small Bloom Punch (#152316, free with $100 purchase), Make a Difference stamp set (#146676); Basic Pearls (#144219) colored with Basic Black Dark Stampin' Blends (#147941).


For beautiful inspiration from the stamping artists at TGIF Challenges (design team and challengers), head to the TGIF Challenges blog here.

Have a joy filled day!

--Sara Nell

Free as a Bird--#tgifc253

The TGIF Challenges product spotlight this week is Embossing Paste.  I love embossing paste, but haven't used it in awhile.  I'm happy this challenge got me to pull it out again!
I love the texture that embossing paste gives to a project:

For my project today, I pulled out the polka dot pattern from the Basic Patterns mask set (a carry-over from the Holiday Catalog, #150697) to create my background. I die cut a piece of Shimmery White card stock with the second largest die in the Stitched Nested Labels dies (#149638).  I did a light wash of color with Pool Party ink over the piece and placed the mask over it. I tinted my white Embossing Paste (#141979) with Pool Party ink and then spread it over the mask and onto the Shimmery White label using palette knives (#142808).  I layered this piece over a Pool Party label die cut with the largest die in the die set.

I stamped the bird image from Free as a Bird stamp set (#149468) with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and colored it with Petal Pink Combo, Smoky Slate Combo, Soft Suede Light, Old Olive Combo and Pool Party Combo Stampin' Blends. I fussy cut this image and the greeting (also from Free as a Bird and stamped in Memento ink) and adhered them to the embossed piece with Stampin' Dimensionals.  Both images were stamped on Shimmery White card stock.

A coordinating piece of Bird Ballad designer series paper (#149592) was adhered to a Whisper White thick card base. A double strand of Whisper White 1/4" crinkled seam binding (#151326)  was wrapped around the card base and tied in a bow on the front.

Be inspired by all the wonderful uses for Embossing Paste over at the TGIF Challenges blog here.

Have a happy week!

--Sara Nell