Blackberry Greetings--#tgifc304

This week's inspiration challenge over at the TGIF Challenges Blog is Sale-a-Bration.  Since this is the last few days of our first Sale-a-Bration of the year, it's a great time to inspire you with some of the products you can earn free with a minimum $50 or $100 purchase.  For my card today, I chose my favorite Sale-a-Bration product:  the Berry Blessings stamp set and Berry Delightful designer series paper combo pack (#157613), free with a minimum $100 purchase.  This combo also coordinates with the Sweet Strawberry Bundle (Sweet Strawberry stamp set and Strawberry Builder Punch, #156214) in the 2021 January-June Mini Catalog.

Today, I used only the Berry Blessings stamp set (#155276) and created my own background paper with the large leaf and raspberry images:

The large open leaf image was stamped randomly over the Whisper White card stock layer using both Pear Pizzazz and Soft Sea Foam inks.  The open berry image was stamped in Blackberry Bliss and the solid image was stamped over this image with Rich Razzleberry ink.  The berry stem was stamped in Mossy Meadow.  This piece was layered over a piece of Blackberry Bliss card stock.

A piece of Blackberry Bliss striped ribbon (#154569) was wrapped around the layers and tied in a bow next to the greeting piece.  The greeting was stamped in Blackberry Bliss and die cut using a die from the Tasteful Labels dies (#152886).

Three Pearl Basic Jewels (#144219), colored with the Blackberry Bliss Dark Stampin' Blends (#154877) and a Pear Pizzazz card base complete this card.

For more Sale-a-Bration inspiration, head over to the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Don't forget: Sale-a-Bration ends on Sunday, February 28.

--Sara Nell 

A Birthday Book for Easton--#tgifc303

My grandson Easton's 2nd birthday is coming up next week and he loves dinosaurs.  It was his mama who started him in dinosaur outfits and now he goes to his dinosaur books and roars as he turns the pages and "reads". (And Grandma may have gotten him a stuffed dinosaur that he started hugging at Ikea a couple of weeks ago.)  Obviously, I had to make him a dinosaur card for his birthday!

I used this week's TGIF Challenges' sketch for my card front:

This card front has a secret message on a flip feature:

To create the flip feature, I started with a 4-1/8" X 1/2" strip of Whisper White card stock (which is discontinued--we now have Basic White card stock but I am using up my old stash).  I punched one end of the strip with the Banners Pick-a-Punch (#153608) and scored the other end at 3/4".  I masked off the bottom half of the greeting image and stamped the top half on the front of the strip in Soft Suede and then masked off the top half and stamped the bottom half on the back of the strip.  I folded the scored tab and adhered it to the back of the Mango Melody piece using Seal+ adhesive (#149699). 

Easton now calls all the cards I send him "books".  So, this time I made him a three page "book" instead of a regular card.  I cut two 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" card bases, one in Mango Melody and the other in Pool Party, then adhered them together with Seal+.  Here are pages 2 and 3:

I used the Dino Days stamp set (#149406) and coordinating Dino dies to create most of the images (#149636).  The letters for "Easton" were die cut using the Playful Alphabet dies (#152706).  "Happy Birthday" was die cut using dies from the Well-Written dies (#151816).  I die cut one of each word out of Mango Melody and two of each out of Soft Suede, then adhered them together with Multipurpose Liquid glue.  The greeting on the second page was die cut using the Tasteful Labels dies (#152886). 

The Mango Melody layer on the card front was embossed with the Painted Texture 3D embossing folder (#154317).  Linen Thread (#104199) and Pearl Basic Jewels (#144219) colored with an Old Olive Dark Stampin' Blends (#154892) complete the card front.  Holiday Rhinestone Basic Jewels (#150457) in Pumpkin Pie finish off pages 2 and 3 of the card book.

The TGIF Challenges sketch leaves lots of room for creativity.  Check all of the project entries over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Have a great weekend!

--Sara Nell

A Valentine Treat Box--#tgifc302

This week's color challenge over at TGIF Challenges is Real Red, Petal Pink and Smoky Slate.  I used these colors to create a Valentine using the Love You Always Treat Boxes (#154285):

The first step was to cover three sides of the sliding cover with pieces of Real Red card stock.  The top was cut at 4" x 2-5/8" and the two sides at 4" x 1-3/8".  The two ends of the box were each covered with Real Red card stock cut at 1-3/8" x 2-5/8".

The top piece was layered with a piece of Smoky Slate card stock die cut on top and bottom with the heart edge die from the Floral Heart Dies. (#154306).  The hearts, flowers and leaves were die cut out of Smoky Slate, Real Red and Petal Pink card stock using the same die set.  These were arranged over the piece of Petal Pink Organdy Striped ribbon (#149441) tied around the length of the box and into a bow.

The greeting is from the Meant to Be stamp set (#148626).  It was stamped three times in Smoky Slate using the Stamparatus (#146276).

This was a fun Valentine color combo.  See more over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Hope you have a great rest of your week.  I'm spending the rest of mine straightening up my stamping room after the tornado that is my 23-month-old grandson came to visit.  Let's just say he loves all of the colors and "treasures" he finds in here.  This visit he was a bit taller than last time and has learned to open drawers and doors . . . and sneak inside when temptation strikes and Grandma isn't watching.

--Sara Nell

Creation Station February Blog Hop--Cute Critters

 

Welcome to the Creation Station February Blog Hop!  Whether you've landed from Sara Levin's blog or have just started the hop, I'm glad you're here.  We are a group of Stampin' Up! Demonstrators from every part of our global community.  Every first Sunday of the month, we hope to inspire you with projects created on a theme.  Be sure and hit the next link at the end of each post to hop around and see all of our projects created for you.

Our theme this month is Cute Critters.  I couldn't find any cuter critters in my stamp stash than the sweet mother/baby images in the Wildly Happy stamp set (#149408).  I used each of the mother/baby images to create a set of monochromatic cards:

The cards were designed with the same layout, using different colors and greetings.  Each top layer became a wallpaper-like background for a greeting.  The layer was stamped randomly with one of the stamp set images and then embossed with the Subtle 3D embossing folder (#151775). The top layer was layered on a coordinating piece of colored card stock and then on a Whisper White Thick card base.

The panda card was created in Misty Moonlight.  The greeting is from the Wildly Happy stamp set.  It was stamped in VersaMark #102283), heat embossed with White Stampin' Emboss Powder (#109132) and die cut using a Stitched Rectangles die (#151820).  Misty Moonlight 1/4" ribbon (#153624) completes the card.

The foxes were stamped in Terracotta Tile.  The greeting is also from the Wildly Happy stamp set.  It was stamped on a piece of Whisper White card stock, die cut with the smallest circle in the Layering Circles dies (#151770), and layered over a circle die cut using a Tasteful Labels die (#152886).  The ribbon is from the Ornate Garden ribbon combo pack (#152479).

The elephants were done in Gray Granite.  The greeting was created using the Word Wishes dies (#149629).  Three of each word were die cut using Gray Granite card stock and one of each word using Silver Foil (#132178) embossed with the Tasteful Texture 3D embossing folder (#152718).  The words were stacked and glued together using Multipurpose Liquid Glue and then glued to the card front.  Gray Granite 1/4" shimmer ribbon (#152463) completes the card.

The bunnies were created in Blushing Bride.  The greeting was created from the Word Wishes dies just like the elephants' greeting but in Blushing Bride card stock and Blushing Bride Foil from the Love You Always Foil Sheets (#154286).  Blushing Bride 3/8" metallic ribbon (#154283) completes the card.

I hope you've been inspired to create a few simple, monochromatic cards today.  Now it's time to be inspired by my stampin' friend from Australia, Vicki Boucher.  Head on over to her blog by clicking on the link below:

To Vicki's blog . . .

Have a great Sunday!  We'll be watching the Super Bowl and cheering for the Kansas City Chiefs.

--Sara Nell 

 

Mad for Plaid Valentine--#tgifc301

It's designer take over week at TGIF Challenges.  Design Team member Stesha Bloodhart (a fabulous stamper, btw) has given us a theme:  "Mad for Plaid".  I pulled out the three plaid patterns in the Sale-a-Bration designer series paper, Berry Delightful (it is FREE with a minimum $100 purchase, as part of the Berry Blessings Bundle,#157613). I couldn't decide which plaid I liked best, so I used all three:

 

The three plaid hearts were die cut using the Stitched Be Mine dies (151814).  The hearts were layered on a piece of Whisper White card stock that was embossed with the new Painted Texture 3D embossing folder (#154317).  This piece was layered over a piece of Pacific Point card stock and a Poppy Parade card base.

The greeting is from the Always in My Heart stamp set (#154337).  It was stamped in Pacific Point on Whisper White card stock and die cut using the banner die from the Floral Heart dies (#156194).  Some Pearl Basic Jewels (#144219) colored with the Poppy Parade dark Stampin' Blends (#154958) complete the card. 

Check out all of the other plaid-themed entries over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Have a wonderful weekend.  Go Chiefs!

--Sara Nell