Simply Elegant suite

 Hi Stampers! 

I'm back today with another featured suite from the 2021-2022 Annual Catalog, the "Simply Elegant" suite. If you like metallic accents on your creations, don't miss this set of fabulous products featuring copper, gold and silver alone and together! Here's the card I made to play with this fun set:

My purpose for this card was to do a different fold as well as show off some beautiful Designer Series Paper, the "Elegantly Said" pack. I used this card for a recent class and I think everyone "ooohed and aaahed" when I showed them the gorgeous paper with all the metallic foil accents. What is really versatile is that many of these papers combine metals so you aren't restricted to only gold or silver or copper on your design but can actually combine them.  The card fold is super easy. You need a base of 4-1/4" x 8-1/2", scored at 5-1/2".  The top flap is shorter than the bottom so you can add something to peek out like I did. On my inside, half of the Basic White sheet was plain and half had some DSP adhered to it. I wanted to be sure there was a place to write a greeting! My extra piece adhered to the top flap is Basic White cardstock with a wonderful flourish stamp using Basic Grey. I grabbed some retired Copper metallic ink for my birthday greeting, framed it with Copper Foil paper and added some metallic gems, part of the July-Dec Mini Catalog products.  I don't want to forget to mention the unique punch which made the tag part of this card. It's part of the "Elegantly Said" bundle and is unlike any other punch we offer. It was easy to tie some copper ribbon around the top of it! This is a fun but very fancy card for your fanciest of friends!

I want to show you a picture of the bundle in its entirety because there are so many more sentiments and other stamps in this great set:

I think this bundle is especially handy for wedding and anniversary cards and so did the artist who created it! I would be remiss not to show you the Designer Series Paper as well!

It's beautiful isn't it! The foil accents are on one side of each paper and the other sides have gray/black/white/cream designs that you can use "as is" or add color to with a sponge, brayer or our blending brush. So many options!!

 Thanks for stopping by to take a peak at what I'm up to today. Designing cards is my favorite part of the process and it's even more fun to share my ideas! You can get any or all of these products by clicking on one of the pictures below which will take you to the online store.

Hope you are having a great week full of creative stamping therapy!

Happy Stampin'!

Sarah

More Beauty of Friendship

 Hi Stampers!

I can't get enough of this paper. I almost have to say it's my favorite of all time! It's the "Beauty of Friendship" Designer Series Paper and it has all my favorite colors in just the right tones!  Here's my beautiful fall-inspired card for you today:

In my opinion, the star of the show is the beautiful DSP on the background of the card but I also love this perfect tree die. It captures what trees are looking like around here, losing their leaves, more every day.  I added some cute red birds and ribbon to top off the card. When I was first designing this, I decided the dark brown tree got a little lost on top of the DSP so I added a subtle layer of our fabulous vellum just to tone it down a bit and give the tree some space. It created a great effect so don't forget to use vellum if your idea is just too busy!

I have lots more to show you with this fun bundle and will keep posting as I can. I hope you are finding time to create in the midst of your daily life. It feeds the soul and mind and heart!

Happy Stampin'!

Sarah

"Gorgeous Leaves" on full display

 Hi Stampers!

"Gorgeous Leaves" were indeed on full display in Montana until a couple days ago when we got our first snowstorm of the coming winter. The snow is melting and falling off the trees so I can see the pretty fall-colored leaves again, but for how long?  This is always a tricky time of year as winter is our predominant season and it loves to show up early, like an over eager guest haha!

I'm choosing to live in the moment of all and keep on stamping with autumn in mind. I grabbed my "Gorgeous Leaves" bundle the other day and made this beauty!

Do you recognize the "Beauty of the Earth" Designer Series Paper for the background? That DSP premiered in the Annual Catalog way back in May but is perfect for so many autumn-themed projects. Don't forget about it if you have some in your paper stash or you can still purchase it in the online store. Now, to the leaves! I rarely stamp directly on watercolor paper, but that's what I did in this case with my leaves. Our "Fluid 100" watercolor paper is amazing, so thirsty and able to absorb all the water you want to lay on it! I stamped the leaves using Merry Merlot, Mossy Meadow and Cajun Craze inks and then spritzed them heavily with water in a spritzer. I let that dry and then cut them out with the coordinating dies. The water spritzing really made the colors pop and bleed just enough to give it an interesting watercolor effect. Because I used watercolor paper, the leaves a little heavier than usual cardstock. The sentiment was from the Hostess Sale-A-Bration set which is no longer available but any sentiment will do with this design. I would recommending stamping your sentiment first, then you know where to place your leaves!

An easy card that packs a punch with the combination of ink and water and it's fun to make! If you love to make cards or would like to try to make a card, be sure to come to my upcoming Card Buffet, next weekend, October 22-23, 9:30 am to 1:30 p.m. both days, at my home. Contact me for specific details but all are welcome, including newbies to the card making/papercrafting world. It's an easy hobby to pick up and one that will give hours of therapeutic enjoyment and escape from the rest of life!

If you can't wait to make one of these, check out the supplies below and click on any of them to go directly to the store. I'm generally available for questions and love to help show others how to bring out the inner creative beast! Here's hoping you are surrounded by gorgeous leaves wherever you are today!

Happy Stampin'!

Sarah

Eden's Garden sneak peek - coming in November!

 Hey Stampers!

Guess what! We are getting dumped on with snow in Montana today, October 11th, so it's a perfect time to hit the stamp room and play with some of the latest products Mr. Brown (UPS) has been dropping off at my house the last few weeks! We played hard all summer but now it's back to my favorite indoor activities like stamping, knitting and quilting!

A great new collection is coming your way November 2nd! It's called "Eden's Garden" and it's lovely. The stars of the show are two of our newest In Colors, Evening Evergreen and Soft Succulent. The Designer Series paper is unbelievably gorgeous with those two colors and some gold accents thrown in. I made some cards with the products to show you, as well as an overview video which premiers the products and the paper. First the cards:

What do you think? The paper is so pretty and the stamps/dies are unique even though they are floral/leafy in theme. I hope my gold foil embossed flowers caught your eye! I used the "Art In Bloom" bundle with the floral die and Hybrid embossing folder. It's all demonstrated on the video so check it out! 

I'll post all the details after November 2nd when the products are available to purchase. For now, this is just to inspire you to get back to stamping if it's been awhile! I took much of August and September off while we were adventuring and guess what, I was able to jump right back in. You can too!  Here's the video introducing the Eden's Garden collection and more details about what products I used for these cards. 

Finally, take a quick peek at some of the ideas the artists at Stampin'Up! came up with!

 

I can't wait to play more and see what others come up with! Have fun and keep stamping!

Sarah

A Christmas to Remember - Christmas and Pinecones!

Hi Stampin' Friends!

Have you started to turn your crafty brain towards Christmas yet? I'm sure you've already seen some hints at store displays, Hallmark Christmas movie commercials and the like! It always comes up a little quicker than we anticipate and getting a headstart on some Christmas crafting is a great idea!

One of the bundles I purchased in August was the "Christmas to Remember" bundle. I love the sentiments and fonts of the fun set and also the pinecones and bough dies that coordinate with this set. I'll have lots to show you in the weeks ahead but here's a rather simple idea that I think fits some of the current Christmas decor vibe that I see in stores.

 What do you think? There are a couple of huge dies that cut a bough/pinecone themed background. It can be tricky to use large dies and my #1 tip is to use new or at least flat acrylic cutting plates when you attempt it. If you have old plates that are slightly warped, it doesn't go through the Stampin' Cut & Emboss machine evenly and you won't get a perfect cut, resulting in some frustration. That comes directly from my personal experience! I kept my design pretty simple by cutting the background die out of patterned Designer Series Paper from one of the Sale-A-Bration free product packs but your favorite shade of green cardstock would work too. This paper most closely matches Garden Green.  I then cut two pinecones, a large one and smaller one using Early Espresso cardstock for the base and Soft Suede cardstock for the upper detailed layer. I think you could reverse these for another option.  I love the black and white gingham ribbon that is EVERYWHERE in the home decor world. Stampin'Up! carries it as part of their Halloween lineup of products but I say it's perfect for that country Christmas look. I also kept my sentiment simple (one of the stamps in the featured set) and put it all on a Crumb Cake cardstock background to make it look a little more rustic.  

There are lots of Christmas styles featured in this years July-December Mini Catalog. Click on the picture to the right ====>>> and see if you can find "you" in any of these fun bundles and suites. There are classic, contemporary, whimsical, sacred, Santa and more featured in all the styles. It's a smorgasbord of Christmas with all the trimmings!

Let me know if you have any questions or you can check out the online store by clicking on any of the images below for more product information and ordering. Thanks for taking a quick peek to see what I'm up to. It's always fun to share what you love and I love stamping!

Happy Stampin'!

Sarah

A first look at the Blackberry Beauty Suite

 Hi Stampers!

Long time, no blogging! My husband and I did some crazy traveling and ended up being gone most of September, little bit of August and October! It was so fun as we journeyed through Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, more Idaho and Washington. I love where we live and love that we are relatively close to so many family, friends and amazing places to explore. I hope you've had some adventures too as summer has moved into autumn. Fall is our shortest season of the year in Montana. It can last a month, a couple of weeks or an afternoon, you just never know. So far, so good this year and I'm inspired to create with autumn in mind!

Our July-December Mini Catalog is brimming with ideas for all the upcoming holidays and they always love to feature leaves, pumpkins, Halloween, Thanksgiving and the rest.  One of the suites I had fun with yesterday is called "Blackberry Beauty". The color scheme and Designer Series Paper will draw you in as it is a bit unexpected for fall but rich and gorgeous. There are several components to the suite including stamps, coordinating dies, gold shimmer vellum paper, gold shimmer ribbon and a fun precut ephemera pack of leaves, sprigs, birds and frames for you to play with. 

I thought you'd like to see a couple of cards I made!

Both of these cards feature the wonderful "Blackberry Beauty" Designer Series Paper which features gold accents on one side of each double sided paper.  For the first card, I embossed the DSP with the "Timeworn Type" 3D embossing folder.  I added a sentiment from the "Banner Year" set which is in the Annual Catalog and some of the gold shimmer ribbon. The bottom card features die cuts from the ephemera pack and make creating a card quick and easy!

I plan to explore more of what this suite has to offer. You can get yours by clicking on any of the products pictured below, which will take you to the online store for easy ordering. 

The online store was updated today with a Clearance Rack refresh (always good deals on retired SU products) and a couple of Christmas kits have been added as well. Check them out here:

Kits Collection by Stampin'Up!

It was great to be traveling but it feels really great to be home and doing some of my favorite hobbies like stamping. I hope you're in the mood and check back often to see what I'm up to!

Happy Stampin'!

Sarah