Catching up! GDP#428 as inspiration

 

While I was out of town visiting my 92 (almost 93!) years young Grannie, I missed out on participating in the the #GDP428 Case the Designer challenge where they featured using circle/round objects as a trio focal point.  However, one of the participants, Yvonne Spikmans, made the perfect card for me to use as a CASE (copy and selectively edit) for a birthday card for my brother who is a DiscJockey on RadioFreePensacola and I made a second card from this inspiration using the Carnival Treats Doughnut set. Check out the Challenge and play along here http://www.global-design-project.com/.

So on this 1st card I was creating with my older Brother in mind to let him know how proud I am of him and his dedication to his passion and hobby of spinning vinyl.  His radio show will only use vinyl records and he typically showcases songs from the good ole days (ie, before the 90s). 

 For his birthday card (Feb birthday) I took a little artistic license. 

 I used the Doughnut stamp with momento black ink, rotated and stamped again for a solid black circle with the white center.  I then decided to add texture (hard to see in the photo) by using a stamp in the sweet songbird set and embossed in clear to create a grooved record effect.  The Rock&Roll DSP is from the January to April Stampin' Up! Catalogue and the matted layer I used the Merry Melody embossing folder to add the music element.  The stamped music notes are from the Sweet Songbirds, the Happy Birthday is from the Circle Sayings, and You're so Hip (inside joke, if you will) is from the Happiest Hippos, a SAB set from years back.

 Hopefully he will find this card a-Rockin'.

 

  Images are Copyright (c) Stampin' Up!

 

 

On this second card inspired by the challenge, I decided to use the doughnuts as they were intended!  The lighter than air DSP from the January to April catalogue set the mood for this card. I made 3 tasty treats, Chocolate blueberry, Lavender Vanilla, and Strawberry lemonade.... deprived of sugar as it is the 3rd week of diet January...  Anyway, for these  I stamped the doughnuts 1st in the cake colors, Crumb Cake, Flirty Flamingo and Pecan Pie.  I stamped a second time using the frosting flavors, Azure Afternoon, Fresh Freesia, and Lemon Lolly. I cut out the icing and punched out the centers of both and layered them with dimenionals.  I ran Wink of Stella over the icing and added Rainbow adhesive backed dots for pizzazz. I used a small piece of vellum to soften the area behind the sentiment and chose to keep this as an all occasion card.  It sure did make me smile!

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I hope you enjoy this simple in color, simple in stamping, but otherwise yummy card that is perfect for all occasions.

#GDP429 So Hot, So Cool (in Florida, in January, its 80!)

 Oh my! Where has the time gone, I blinked and most of January had flown by.   I was out of town and missed GDP challenge #428, but I made up for with 2 cards, stay tuned for those.  Today's card is for this week's challenge #GDP429 which is a color challenge using Poppy Parade, Gray Granite, and Lost Lagoon.

Florida had a see-saw flip-flop in weather this week, after 3 days below 45 we had dramatic increase to 3 days with highs in the 80s... in January!  I think this warm weather helped me decide which stamp set to feature for this week's challenge, the Carnival Treats in the January to April Mini catalogue, its a Host Set so it is hidden in the back. It reminds me of the old ICEE shop and shopping at our local "small" wal-mart as a kid with my grandma (before Super-Walmart came to town).

Check out the Challenge and play along here http://www.global-design-project.com/.

Here I used the gray granite card base with a lost lagoon off set layer.  I used the Stamp-n-Write Markers to color in on the slurpee stamp from the Carnival Treats stamp set in Poppy Parade and Lost Lagoon, with the bubble top in Gray Granite.  When I pulled my So Cool stampset out there were leftover pieces from a previous project that reminded me of the Rays of Light stamp set and it looked perfect for this set.  I used the Stamp-N-Write markers again to color in the rays in an alternating pattern.  I added adhesive backed sparkle gems and some wink of stella to the slurpee. mmm, yummy  Images are Copyright (c) Stampin' Up!

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I hope you enjoy this simple in color, simple in stamping, but otherwise refreshing card that is perfect for all ages.

#GDP427 Hearts of Love

Whew! I've had a successfully busy week making cards and sharing them on my facebook page to share products from the Sale-A-Bration.  However, I wasn't quite together enough to also post to my blog.

In keeping with my goal to participate in Blog Challenges I decided to jump in on the Global Design Project #427 for the theme of Hearts. Check out the Challenge and play along here http://www.global-design-project.com/.  Updated to add, I missed the deadline! I thought it was 6pm, but it is 2pm on Tuesdays.  Will try again next time!

Today I took my inspiration from one of the 1st Quilts I ever made.  It is a Kwik Krazy Heart quilt featuring pinks and browns (think Chocolate covered cherries, yum!).  In the fabric world, it is very hard to find pinks and browns that coordinate together, I remember it took me quite a while to pull my color collection and visits to many quilt shops. I love pulling it out and featuring it on my sofa for Valentine's Day.  Luckily Stampin' Up! is an excellent provider of coordinating project supplies, so pulling this card together was much easier. 

 

 

Here I use the Online Exclusive Radiating Stitches Dies heart cutout.  Colors include Petal Pink, Copper Clay, and Rose Gold.  The Designer series paper for the background is the Petal Pink 6x6 InColor paper.  The polk-a-dot hearts are from paper in the Sale-A-Bration catalogue, Trusty Toolbox.  I believe it is intended to be a "corkboard" look, but it made the cutest hearts here.  I used a strip of Rose Gold specialty paper to off set the hearts.  The Sentiment is from the Super Cool stamp set.  The sentiment shape is retired, stitched shapes as is the Petal Pink cotton ribbon and the textured embossing folder.  I love a simple dry emboss texture to elevate a card layer.  I added an InColor dot to embellish the Petal Pink heart. Images are Copyright (c) Stampin' Up!

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I hope you enjoy this simple in color, simple in stamping, but otherwise gorgeous card inspired by the Hearts theme.

 

Happy New Year 2024!

 Have you heard the Buzz?   Stampin' Up! has released their January-April Mini Catalogue and it is Sale-A-Bration too!  This year they have the cutest Bee bundle that can be used for Valentine's Day and Spring time cards.  

I will spend some time this week featuring different sets from the new catalogue on my blog.  Most of the cards will be direct samples from the Catalogue with a few of my own twists sprinkled in.

Do you give out Valentines?  Sometimes I send one to my mom and my nieces.  I like to look through all of our available products to send "love you" cards to let them know I'm thinking about them.

Also, Easter is early this year!  March 31!  Lots of time still to order products now and get ahead for the Spring holidays.

Don't forget our Kits and Online Exclusives.  Stampin'Up! has released 2 new kits in December and 2 new kits just now as well.

And Paper Pumpkin is a great monthly subscription 

I forgot to add a photo and publish this post before.... Enjoy this photo of my secret retreat

#GDP426 Who is ready for a Picnic?

 What's better than a juicy watermelon over a red and white checkered table cloth to ring  in warmer weather and signs of summer.  When the days are longer than the nights and the heat and humidity are sinking in this juicy delight is sure to cheer up the day.

 I previously made myself a goal to attempt some Blog Challenges over the course of this Stampin' Up! year.  Since making this goal in October, this is only my 2nd entry. Today I am participating in the Global Design Project Challenge #426 which is a Sketch Challenge.  Check out the Challenge and play along here http://www.global-design-project.com/

 

Here I use the Stampin' Up! Sale-A-Bration set Watercolor Melon.  I recently watched an older video from Erica Cerwin using a bar stamp to create gingham/checkerboard and noticed that there is a similar stamp in the SAB Detailed Dogwood.  I used the black and white paper from the Zoo Crew dsp to accent the card.  I dry embossed the sweet sorbet layer with the RainDrops Embossing Folder following a tip from Michelle Litweiller, doesn't it look just like watermelon seeds?!  I stamped the watermelons in Old Olive on textered White Center Specialty Paper in Granny Apple Green and clear embossed on top. I love the texture the specialty paper adds to the watermelons.  Isn't it great they have added so many stamps that coordinate with the modern oval punch!

 

 

 

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I hope you enjoy this simple in color, simple in stamping, but otherwise gorgeous card inspired by this sketch challenge.  Excited to participate for the second time.

 

For the Love of Strawberries! SAB 2024

 I adore all things Strawberry!  I get my love of these sweet fruits from my Grandma.  She loved strawberries so much she even had a kitchen ceramic jar set shaped like strawberries that I have inherited.  We spent most afternoons after school at my Grandma's house and she would always be sure to have a snack available for my brothers and me.  She would take icebox cold strawberries and top them with a sprinkle of powdered sugar, they were juicy and sweet everytime!  Now I can't pass up anything to do with strawberries, Strawberry wine, Strawberry jewelry, Strawberry quilting cottons... I love them all!  So when I saw that Stampin' Up! had a DSP that included strawberries in the SAB catalogue, I had to include this on my order.

 

 

I decided to use the Sweetest Cherries Sentiments to accompany the adorable strawberry DSP from the SAB Sunny Days set.   I embossed the poppy parade card base with the Cane Weave 3D embossing folder from the annual catalogue and used the Countryside Corners dies for the background shape.

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