A Tropical Thank You--#tgifc348

The TGIF Challenges team gave us a technique challenge this week:  Masking.  I haven't used masking in a while, so it was fun to get back to this simple but fun technique.  I am using a lot of thank you notes lately, so that is what I made using the Timeless Tropical stamp set (#151497).  Haven't used this stamp set in a while, either.

The large blossom was stamped in Saddle Brown StazOn ink onto a piece of Shimmery White card stock and again on a post-it note to create the mask.  The mask was fussy cut close to the edge of the image and laid over the big blossom.  Then the two smaller blossoms were stamped in Saddle Brown over a small portion of the mask.  The images were watercolored with Poppy Parade, Flirty Flamingo and Daffodil Delight inks.  After those images were dry, the background was watercolored with Pool Party ink.  The greeting was also stamped in Saddle Brown on a scrap of shimmery White card stock and die cut using the small label die from the Harvest Dies set (#156504).  

The watercolor piece was layered over a Basic White Thick card stock base which was covered with a piece of Cork specialty paper (#156393).   Pool Party sheer ribbon (#152462) and Coastal Cabana rhinestones from the Holiday Rhinestone Basic Jewels pack (#150457) complete the card.

Find some variations on this simple masking technique over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Wishing you joy in the New Year!

--Sara Nell

 

 

Rest & Relax--#tgifc325

This week's Inspiration Challenge from TGIF Challenges is "Vacation Vibes".  My "inspired" project today invokes my dream vacation scenario:  sitting by a mountain lake, resting, relaxing and taking in God's majesty:

The mountain lake view was created with the Mountain Air stamp set (#151610) and coordinating Majestic Mountain dies (#151608).  The background and each stamped element were created on Shimmery White card stock (#101910).  Colors used:  Gray Granite, Soft Succulent, Evening Evergreen, and watercolored Balmy Blue and Misty Moonlight.  Fresh Freesia shimmer vellum (#155616, 2021-2023 In Color Shimmer Vellum) was used to die cut the background mountain range.  

The frame was created with a Stitched Rectangles die out of Soft Suede card stock. It was embossed with the Timber 3D embossing folder (#156406, available beginning August 3 in the July-December 2021 Mini Catalog).  

The greeting is from the Timeless Tropical stamp set (#151497).  It was stamped in Gray Granite on a Shimmery White Stitched Rectangles die cut. 

Find your own inspired dream vacation scenario in this week's entries over at TGIF Challenges.

Have a restful and relaxing weekend!

--Sara Nell

Creation Station January Blog Hop: How to Design Your Own Stamp Set

 

Hello and welcome to the January 2021 Creation Station Blog Hop.  We are a group of Stampin' Up! Demonstrators from around the world who create themed inspiration for you each first Sunday of the Month.  This month our theme is "How to Design Your Own Stamp Set.  We are celebrating Stampin' Up!'s million dollar sales achievers, including our own team member Dena Rekow.   The outstanding achievement of Million Dollar Sales Achiever shared here is not representative of the typical Stampin’ Up! demonstrator.  These results require significant work and are accomplished by a substantially small percentage of Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators   

Rewards upon achieving a million dollars in sales include a visit to Stampin' Up!'s home office in Riverton, Utah, and working with a Stampin' Up! artist to create and inspire a stamp set for an upcoming catalog.  You can find these stamp sets in our catalogs by looking for the gold 1,000,000 icon next to the stamp set title.  There have been some great sets in our catalogs over the years, but I believe that Dena's stamp set is the first one to inspire the stamp set, a set of coordinating dies and coordinating designer series paper.  Dena's stamp set, Pretty Petals, and the coordinating Perennial Petals dies make their debut in the January to June 2021 Mini Catalog out on January 5.  The coordinating Paper Blooms designer series paper will be a FREE Sale-a-Bration product selection in the January-February 2021 Sale-a-Bration Brochure also out on January 5. (Tip: purchase the stamp set and die bundle, add in an additional $5 in product and choose the paper as your free product.  You'll be set for some pretty and fun stamping this year!).  So proud of and excited for Dena!

I am pretty sure you will be inspired by Dena's stamp set along the hop today, so I have decided to feature an oldie but goodie million dollar stamp set inspired by Connie Heisey:  Waterfront (#146386).  You'll find this one on page 129 of the current Annual Catalog.  It includes images to create both mountain lake and sunny beach scenes.  Since it is rainy and cold here, I decided to create with a beach theme:

There's nothing like a bit of rest and relaxation before taking on the challenges of a new year.  The greeting on my card is from Timeless Tropical stamp set (#151497).  It is stamped under the largest island on the card in Soft Suede.  The islands were stamped with Sahara Sand and Soft Suede stamped off once, the trees with Soft Suede and Old Olive and the little hut with Magenta Madness.

I used a new tool, Blending Brushes (#153611, available January 5), to create the ocean and sky on Shimmery White card stock.  I first brushed Soft Sea Foam under each island and then brushed on Pool Party all over to add depth to the ocean and a light sky.  The stamped piece was layered on a piece of Sahara Sand card stock embossed with the new Painted Texture 3D embossing folder (#154317, available January 5).  A bit of Braided Linen Trim (#147808) and a Magenta Madness card base complete the card.

The same colors and textures were used to decorate this fun little Mini Pizza Box (#144645) to go with the card.  The little scene was die cut using a circle die from the Stitched Shapes dies (#152323), then layered over a scalloped circle die cut using the Layering Circles dies (#151770).  "Friend" was stamped in Mossy Meadow ink. 

Now head on over to Andrea's blog to check out her project:

To Andrea Tracy-Tucker's Blog . . . 

Hope you've been inspired by my Waterfront projects!

--Sara Nell