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 

Winter Joy--#tgifc296

This week's TGIF Challenges theme challenge is "Let It Snow".  Well, believe it or not, I only have two small snowflake images in my entire current Stampin' Up! stamp set collection.  One from Snowman Season (#150458) and one from Curvy Christmas (#155364, which is available only until January 4).  I decided to go with the small single snowflake image from Curvy Christmas and to celebrate the joy of a rare snowfall in the South for my card today:

The snowflake was stamped randomly over the Whisper White card front with VersaMark (#102283), then heat embossed in White Stampin' Emboss Powder (#109132) using the Heat Tool (#129053).  Next,  I used Stampin' Up!'s new Blending Brushes (#153611, available beginning January 5) to sponge on Seaside Spray, Misty Moonlight and Night of Navy inks.  I started blending each color from the bottom of the card stock, beginning with the lightest color.  Then I turned the card around so the lightest color was on the bottom of the card front.  After finishing the sponging, I rubbed off any color remaining on the snowflakes using a lint free rag.  This piece was layered on a piece of Balmy Blue glimmer paper (#153513) and then a Seaside Spray card stock base.

The greeting is from the Wrapped in Christmas stamp set (#153481).  I used my Stamparatus (#146276) and washi tape to omit the middle portion of the greeting and thus remove the reference to the holiday season (I want to use this card for a January birthday).  The greeting was stamped in Misty Moonlight on to Whisper White card stock and die cut using a die from Tasteful Labels dies (#152886).

A piece of Misty Moonlight/silver baker's twine (Flowers for Every Season ribbon combo pack, #153620) tied around the layers three times then tied in a bow completes the card.

Head over to the TGIF Challenges Blog here to see more odes to snow in paper crafting form:

We thought we might get snow here on Christmas day, but we only got below freezing temperatures.  Right now it is a balmy 65 degrees and I am headed out to do errands in my shirt sleeves.  Doesn't feel like January at all.

Wishing you a very happy New Year!

--Sara Nell

Creation Station September Blog Hop--Tool Time

 

Welcome to the September Creation Station Blog Hop!  Whether you've hopped in from Sara Levin's blog or are starting here, I'm so glad you've stopped by.  Our theme this month is "Tool Time" and we are highlighting some of Stampin' Up!'s amazing tools.  Be sure to click on the "Next" button at the end of each post to hop around for new inspiration for using your tools.  

Today, I am highlighting the Simply Scored® scoring tool (#122334):

This is my Simply Scored®

I love my Stampin' Up! Simply Scored® for several reasons:  it is large enough to fit a full 12" X 12" piece of card stock on the scoring board, it has scoring lines every 1/8" up to 12-3/8", it comes with its own stylus, it comes with three score line markers which come in handy when you are doing multiples of one project, and it has its own storage compartment at the top of the tool.  The scoring tool is great for creating boxes, fancy fold cards, and rosettes.  I love to use it to create texture on projects like I've made for you today:

To create my scored background, I turned my Crumb Cake card stock upside down and scored the left side with 7 lines 1/2" apart starting 1" from the left-hand edge.  Then I scored the right-hand side the same way, just scoring half way up from the bottom of the page.  I ran the stylus up and down the score lines several times to make sure the score lines stood out on the front of the page.

The following products were used on this page with photos taken by my daughter Katharine:  two patterns from In Good Taste designer series paper (#152494), one for the background and one for the banner flags; Well Said stamp set (#148796), snipping the letters needed for the pieced "secret" from words stamped in Early Espresso on to the background paper; Tailored Tag Punch (#145667) and Early Espresso card stock for the left-hand edging and the "secret" background; the flag die from Tasteful Labels dies (#152886) for the banner; Playful Alphabet dies (#152706), Foam Adhesive Sheets (#152815) and Just Jade card stock for the letters; Linen Thread (#104199); Acorn Trinkets (#153552); Beautiful Autumn stamp set (#153450), the oak leaf from the Autumn Punch Pack (#153609), and Shaded Spruce, Granny Apple Green and Just Jade card stock and ink for the leaves.

Even though it may not always be straight or if I sometimes mess up, I always  write my journaling because my writing is also a part of family history.  I treasure letters from my father and recipes written out by hand by my mother on cookbook covers.  So I'll keep on hand writing my journaling.  Tip:  If you are going to write directly on a background paper like I did here, practice what you are going to say on a similarly sized sheet of paper.  It helps with spacing and you can edit when things don't fit.  And if you mess up on the final go, just cover it up with leaves!

Easton, like his mother before him, likes to put little "treasures" he finds in his pockets.  He needs a little treasure box, so I made one for him out of a Mini Pizza Box (#144645):

I used the scoring tool to score a "plaid" pattern in both the Crumb Cake background and the Just Jade layering piece.  I decorated the box with some of the same products used on the page.  

I'm pretty sure I'll be making a larger box when Easton is older but this mini one is perfect for the next time he and I head to our Secret Hideout.  It won't hold the bugs Easton is fond of, but he doesn't put those in his pockets--yet!

Next, hop on over to Vicki's blog for a look at one of her favorite tools.  I can't wait to see what she has to share with us!

To Vicki Boucher's Blog . . .

   

Good Things in Basic Black & Rococo Rose--#tgifc278

TGIF Challenges has an inspiration challenge for us this week.  Because I don't use this color combination very often, I pulled the pink and black from the inspiration photo to inspire my card:

My starting point was the gesso and pink paper pattern from the In Good Taste designer series paper pack (#152494).  I embossed this with the Old World Paper 3D embossing folder (#153200) to add some texture to the background.  The greeting from Tasteful Touches stamp set (#152562) was stamped in VersaMark on Basic Black card stock, embossed with White Stampin' Emboss Powder and then die cut with a frame die from Tasteful Labels Dies (#152886).

The inspiration photo had some foliage and flowers, so I added foliage die cut out of Basic Black, Rococo Rose and Silver Foil using dies from the Forever Flourishing Dies (#152714).  Rhinestone Basic Jewels, a layer of Basic Black and a card base of Rococo Rose complete the card.

It is fun to see the different inspiration each TGIF Challenges design team member and each challenger drew from this inspiration photo for their entries.  Check them all out at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Hope you have a great week!

--Sara Nell

  

To a Friend--#tgifc272

There's a fun sketch challenge this week over at TGIF Challenges.  I don't believe I've ever made a card with a feature like this one before.  I had fun with it and have a tip for you on how to use a Rectangle Stitched die (#151820) and a Tasteful Label die (#152886) together.

As I thought about my project, I kept going back to the idea of using the featured part of the sketch kind of like a wrap for flowers.  I wasn't "feeling" my floral stamp sets this morning.  So, instead, I made a bouquet of leaves using the Forever Fern stamp set (#152559) and the coordinating Forever Flourishing dies (#152714).  I flipped the sketch 90 degrees for my card:

I started with a background pattern from the In Good Taste designer series paper pack (#152494) which was layered on a piece of Soft Suede card stock.  Then I stamped leaf images in Shaded Spruce, Just Jade and Mint Macaron inks on Whisper White card stock.  These were die cut and other die images were die cut out of Crumb Cake card stock. These were all arranged on the background after I glued my wrap pieces on the card. 

My wrap was created with two different dies because I couldn't find another die that I liked for the wrap I was envisioning. I wanted a stitched edge wrap with a pointed end so I could punch a hole in each end and thread linen thread through each hole.  I found my pointed end in the Tasteful Labels die set and then found a stitched rectangle die with the same width.  I die cut two rectangles first and then placed my Tasteful Label die as shown in the photo on the rectangle.  I rolled the die sandwich into the die cutting machine just until I heard a click and backed it out of the machine:

It was very easy to find the right position for the second 

die because the two dies are the same width.

After deciding on how to position my pieces, I folded the ends around to  the back of my Soft Suede layer and adhered them to the back with Multipurpose Liquid Adhesive.  I used an 1/8" hole punch to create the hole to thread two pieces of linen thread through each end.

The greeting was stamped in Shaded Spruce and die cut using another Tasteful Label die.  Some gold metallic pearls and a Just Jade card base complete the card.  

You'll see some fun and beautiful projects using this challenge sketch over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Have a great week!  Hope you got your taxes filed--I nearly forgot!!!

--Sara Nell