Balloon Festoon meets Moonlit Flora

Busy card? Yes, maybe a bit….but I was trying a couple of fun techniques. For one of the balloons, I embossed onto two-tone Peaceful Pine cardstock then distressed with a sanding block (new ones available September 1). On the leaf image I used a blending brush to add Peaceful Pine ink over the black and white paper. Had this bit of Moonlit Flora patterned paper left over for the balloon and strip along the left side. The greeting is from Words & Wishes. Enjoy!

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Vellum Heat Embossing

Sneak peek at one of the four cards we’re making at Avid Stampers later this month. For this one, I used heat embossing and colouring on vellum cardstock. I learned something new! On the vellum cardstock I didn’t need to rush to add the powder on the versamark stamping before heat setting. You know what I mean, right? The scramble to get the powder on and over to the heat tool. There was time – yeah! Once heat set, I flipped the vellum over and coloured in the images within the lines set by the heat embossing using my Stampin’ Blends. Be patient and take multiple passes of the stampin’ blend to achieve deeper coloured results. Next step was to add adhesive sheet to a piece of cardstock (Crisp Cantaloupe) then affix the vellum piece to it. Tip: Use your bone folder to even out the vellum. Trim as needed and away you go! Love how it turned out.

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Sneak Peek at Painted Collage

 This month's Team Stampin' Social we met to make some of the projects shown at Creativity Now - a demo-only event where we got to play with the Painted Collage Suite Collection that will be available to purchase in November. So for my swap card, I chose the Painted Collage stamp set. I found this design in the Creativity Now private FB group to CASE. It spoke to me for its use of two colours (Smoky Slate and Hydrangea Hue) and smattering of images. Thought I'd add some vellum and silver foil for more dimension. The greeting couldn't have been more perfect for a team social card!

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Stunning Moonlit Flora Hello

These Everyday Arches dies are awesome for layering up a label and especially nice on this gatefold card by Wendy for our Team meeting swap this month. So much texture! And can we all agree that this Moonlit Flora paper is a keeper? The rich Golden Glow and Peaceful Pine colours are warm and inviting. Love how Wendy added the In Color Butterflies to finish it off. Enjoy!

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Beatiful and Anything but Ordinary

Back to team swaps with Dawn’s thank you card. Stampin’ Up! is so good at the matchy-matchy with multiple patterns in designer series paper packs, aligning colours on both sides of the paper so well. Dawn chose varying sizes of rectangles to show this off beautifully leaving a little space in between for the card base in Balmy Blue to shine through. One great way to use up small scraps of your patterned papers. I particularly like how there are a few cut from the Perennial Postage dies thrown in for accent. Enjoy!

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Birthday Balloon Festoon

Have you tried this? For today’s card, I flipped my embossing layer over to display the debossed side for a change. I think it works really well with the Swirls of Magic folder and definitely worth a try with other folders. Looks great, eh? I’d originally planned 5 or 6 balloons and a greeting, then landed on a heat embossed birthday greeting on the largest. Such a cheery card!

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Floral Vignette as a background stamp in Crisp Cantaloupe

Is this patterned paper on the card front? Nope! That’s the collage stamping using Crisp Cantaloupe ink on Crisp Cantaloupe cardstock. Results in a subtle design as a great background for the greeting. I used my cut-apart Floral Vignette single stamp. Yes you read that correctly! I cut the floral image out of the frame to expand its use. Fits right on the Clear Block E or your Stampin' Positioner. This is a layout to tuck away in your ideas folder for a quick card design. Enjoy!

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Two-Tone Cardstock versatility

Have you tried our Two-Tone cardstock yet? I was a little late to the party on this but since I started last month….I’m really enjoying the rustic look . Two-tone cardstock has a white core and each side is a slightly different tone of the same colour. Embossing breaks down the fibres then adding a wee bit of sanding really takes that to a new level. On this one I stamped one side of the Secret Sea two-tone paper with its coordinating ink, they embossed and sanded the other side. Give this idea a try!

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Front pop out fun fold with Sweet Bugs

Two pics today showing the front and the inside of this great fun fold card created by my daughter (and team member) Michelle for the August swap. What an amazing card for showing off coordinating patterned paper and displaying on a shelf. Must get all the measurements <wink> for the pop out feature. Love this!

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Preparing for Fun for Fall

A sneak peek of these cute square dies that are a great companion to the Spotlight on Nature dies with decorative edges. These are the Tile Garden Dies and it’s a whole set of 12 nesting squares. Get these on September 1st. Thanks to Jane for this stinkin’ cute card for our August social swap. So sweet and adorable – gettng ready to bring on Fall!

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Gears & Textures meets Echos of Detail

This is an absolutely gorgeous card in neutrals and metallics created by Stacey for our August meeting swap. Wow! I love all the texture from the embossing folder to the gold foil gears, heat embossing, collage stamping and finished off with the pentagon embellishments. Shows how products from various suites and bundles work beautifully in concert. Enjoy!

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All Aflutter around the Floral Vignette

Keeping it simple with a three-colour palette, Peaceful Pine, Barely Blush and Basic White, today’s card works on so many levels. First I stamped the white layer multiple times with the large flower from Floral Vignette, then added some Peaceful Pine butterflies from All Aflutter. The Peaceful Pine ribbon is a nice touch that adds a soft element to the project. Enjoy!

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Row and Relax on a Waterside Retreat

Sharing a 2nd sample of stepping up your cards with a fun fold presented at the July Global Inspiration Stamp Team event. This time using the Waterside Retreat bundle. I really do like the first card with the boat bumpers or boat fenders hanging on the wall. In the back fold option, we’ve got extra matted layers and the stitched square backdrop for the chair. It sure looks relaxing!

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Distressing Embossed Layers are WOW with two-tone cardstock

Another play with two-tone cardstock, this time with Crushed Curry and the Sunflower 3D embossing folder. Used a lighter touch with the sandpaper focusing on the tips of the petals and leaves. Appreciate the soft yellow with black and white accents. Enjoy!

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Bringing Best Wishes with Balloon Festoon Dies

Welcome to Balloon Festoon fun. I may have made an error in judgment….Instead of ordering the Balloon Festoon bundle, I got just the dies. That led me to finding a way to use the largest balloon die as a card base and that’s how we landed on today’s project. Tips: With a folded cardbase, place the die down below the fold to have about a 1.5 inch flat edge for the fold. Cuts through both layers of cardstock like butter. Once cut, then emboss the front only. Cut another balloon for the inside. I went with the Words Wishes dies for the front.

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Artisan Sketched Vase

Sneak Peek at one of the August monthly card class projects with today’s project. Did you know the Artisan Sketched Garden is chock full of images you can colour in with watercolor pencils, markers, Stampin’ Blends and even use your blending brushes on for a soft look? Or keep to the black and white and add a ribbon and embellishments with Poppy Parade or Strawberry Slush. Loads of possibilities. Enjoy!

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For the love of Wild Bunch Critters

Oh, how we love our critter stamps! Today’s card was created by Stacey on our team for a recent swap. Beyond cute! This stamp set is called Wild Bunch and was our featured Product of the Month for June. The paper piecing technique used adds a whole different layer to the front of the card. Enjoy!

Measurements:

1. Cardbase 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"
2. Basic White layer 4 1/8" x 5 3/8"
3. DSP layers: 
• Left vertical: 2 1/2" x 2 1/4"
• Left horizontal: 2 1/2" x 1 1/4"
• Right horizontal: 2 1/4" x 1"
• Right vertial: 2 1/2" x 1" (cut two)

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Stunning Sunsets

My team member Dawn’s take on the Eclipse Card layout using just one of the pattern papers by alternating the raised and flat paper strips. Gosh this Scenic Coast patterned paper doesn’t disappoint with the many shades reds, yellows, golds for the sunset. It kind of has the feel of a “Group of Seven” paintings with the choppy water. Your history lesson for today: The Group of Seven was a famous collective of Canadian landscape painters including Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson, and J.E.H. MacDonald. Active from 1920 to 1933, they broke away from European styles to paint the wild beauty of Canada using bright colors and bold brushstrokes.

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Getting Wild with the Wild Bunch

Who wouldn’t want to receive this adorable card in the mail? Created by Holly for our recent team swap, this sweet snail looks amazing in Golden Glow, Lost Lagoon and Pretty Peacock. The paper blocking technique here using the same shades to meld with the colouring adds a lot to the card front. Thanks, Holly!

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Pretty Florals with Scalloped Blooms

Time for another round of Team Swap cards! Today’s creation by Jane building darling flowers from the Scalloped blooms dies. I love the soft colour palette and the tone on tone layering. Thanks, Jane!

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From Fab to Fabulous with Moonlit Flora and the new Hot Foil System

Here are some standard card and stepped up cards featured during my presentation at the July GlobalInspiration Stamp Team event. The standard card is beautiful all on its own with a floral focal point on a white circle. The stepped up version is a back fold fun fold layout using the new Hot Foil Dies (Butterfly Flight and Classic Greetings). What a delightful way to go from fab to fabulous! Enjoy!

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Two-Tone Cardstock for the win!

Happy Holiday Monday! Here in Ontario we celebrate it as a Civic Holiday. Locally, in Guelph, where I live, we call it John Galt Day in recognition of the founder of Guelph, ON.

I finally cracked open a package of two-tone cardstock to see what all the excitement is about and it’s real! One side of our two-tone is a light and the other a dark shade of the colour with a white inner core. This makes it perfect for sanding, embossing, and distressing on your cards and paper projects. That’s how I got the rustic look on today’s card: embossed with the Fern & Flora embossing folder and distressed with a piece of sandpaper. Enjoy!

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Cute Masculine Bicycle Card

Sneak Peek at one of three August Monthly card class projects. A sweet birthday card using the bicycle images from the Waterside Retreat patterned paper pack. To get some coordinating twine in Cajun Craze, I used my Cajun Craze Stampin' Blend to colour the regular linen thread using a gentle brushstroke. It dries quite quickly, but to be sure, let it sit a good hour then tie your bow. A quick and simple one!

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Splash & Relax Project Sampler

Sometimes you land on a suite of products that work beautifully together for cards and more. The Splash & Relax bundle was just that bundle. Pulling some seashells from a retired set, this is the happiest summer wall art project for an over the top "more" creation. With a finished size of 12" x 12" I have mine up on a wall in my office to enjoy through the summer months. It was super popular with the Elmira Community Living class where the 12 participants had a great time putting it all together. Enjoy!

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