Friendship Preserves Label {Retiring Products}

I'm sad that Friendship Preserves is retiring, but honestly, I'm not surprised.  I was shocked when it carried over last year, so I guess I got a bonus year out of it.

I thought it would be fun to make a tag with this stamp set...one that could be added to a jar of jam and given as a gift.  I do a lot of canning, and really should give more of it at Christmastime.  I'll have to keep that in mind.

Tips & Tricks

• Did you know that the 2 1/2" Circle punch is the perfect size to fit the lid of a regular mouth canning jar?  I just chose a gingham print from the Gingham Garden Designer Series Paper and punched it out.  So simple!

• I used Island Indigo Baker's Twine to tie the tag on, because it perfectly matches the Island Indigo gingham paper.  If you love Island Indigo, be sure to grab the Baker's Twine, as it's retiring.

Supplies

Stamps:  Friendship Preserves
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz and Naturals White card stock, Gingham Garden DSP
Accessories:  Big Shot, Window Frames Framelits, Paper Piercing Tool and Mat, Festive Paper Piercing Pack, Heat Tool, Clear Embossing Powder

Banner Birthday Card

I have another birthday card today...I always think that January is a great time for birthday cards.  I've made a couple versions of this card in the past, which you can see here and here.  I've explained how to make this super-simple card in both those posts.  Obviously, I like this card layout, so I'm sure I'll have more versions in the future!

Simple Banner Card for Any Occasion

If this card looks familiar, it's because it is!  It's just a birthday version of this Christmas card.  I love this layout, as it's a great way to use up scraps of Designer Series Paper.  And if you are anything like me, you have a lot of that lying around!

Tips & Tricks

• Paper piercing is a breeze when you use the Festive Paper Piercing Pack.  The guide lines up to coordinate with the Window Frames Framelits, so there's no eye-balling your paper piercing. 

• Cut each banner the same length, then adhere them to your card front in whatever arrangement you prefer.  Then go through and trim the tops off the shorter banners...it's much easier that way!

Supplies

Stamps: Cheery Chat
Ink:  Whisper White
Paper:  Old Olive, Whisper White, and Tangerine Tango card stock, Floral District and Summer Smooches DSP
Accessories:  Big Shot, Window Frames Framelits, Festive Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercing Tool and Mat, Old Olive ribbon

How Not to Make a Card

I can't even believe I'm showing this card for the world to see.  At first glance, it looks OK, right?  Yeah, not so fast.  I made one huge mistake, so let's consider this post a public service announcement of sorts.  Don't use glue under taffeta ribbon.  If you didn't notice before, I'm sure that you can now see the line of glue under the ribbon on this card.  Um, whoops.  Here's the best part...the only reason I put the ribbon there was to cover up the tops of the striped banners that were sticking out from behind the green card stock. A mistake on top of a mistake.  Nice.

Speaking of green card stock, don't get too attached.  This card is full of retired product, including that Mellow Moss card stock and the Outlaw DSP.  It's time for me to start using up my stash, and this DSP seemed like a good choice for a masculine card that I needed in a hurry (which is also why I didn't fix the ribbon/glue fiasco.)

So there you go...not the world's most beautiful card, but a functional and easy layout that I hope you'll try on your own.  Just don't use glue and taffeta ribbon.

Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Outlaw DSP (retired), Mellow Moss (retired), Chocolate Chip, and Naturals Ivory card stock
Accessories:  Big Shot, Window Frames Framelits, Paper-Piercing tool, mat, and Festive Paper-Piercing Pack, Bitty Banners Framelits, taffeta ribbon :)

Old and New

This card has a combination of old and new products on it.  Since we'll soon be saying farewell to Riding Hood Red, I decided now was as good as anytime to break out some old Designer Series Paper. I've told myself that I will not be allowed to purchase any new DSP until I use up some of what I have.  I tend to hang onto my favorites and never use them, which is just plain silly.  I can enjoy it a lot more on a project than I can when it's hiding on a shelf!

So the DSP is the old...have you spotted the new?  If you noticed the flower, you're correct!  That lovely embellishment was created using two brand new products that will be in the 2013-2014 Annual Catalog, which comes out on June 1.  The first product is a squishy clay, similar to Crayola Model Magic, which can be dyed using our reinkers.  A word of warning, folks...I've seen multiple people post online to wear gloves when dying the clay.  The directions AND the catalog give the same advice.  But did I heed it?  Of course not.  I don't have gloves in my house, and there was no way I was going to wait to try this out.  Um, yeah, I've had red fingers for three days.  It does wash off, but it's still under my fingernails.  So when you get this fun new product, be sure to don some gloves before you play!

I tried to get a close up of the flower, which is made by pressing the clay into a little mold.  Two molds come together, and there is one with three different sized flowers, and another with three different sized buttons.  It is SO EASY to use, and so fun!  They take about 24 hours to dry, so I let it sit out overnight, and the next day spritzed it with some shimmer mist to give it a little bit of sparkle and shine.  This isn't the greatest picture of it, but you can see some of the sparkles on the flower.

Stamps:  Just Thinking (129940)
Ink:  Riding Hood Red (119701) and Close to Cocoa (retired) Stampin' Write Markers
Paper:  Riding Hood Red (111348), Very Vanilla (101650), and Close to Cocoa card stock
Accessories:  Big Shot (113439), Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder (117335), Window Frames Collection Framelits (129021), Pearl Basic Jewels (119247), 5/8" Crochet Trim (118481)

So Sorry

Can you tell I'm really into making little 4"x4" cards lately?  For some reason, I'm enjoying the square card over rectangle.  Maybe later this week I'll have something other than a square card. :)

I recently got the So Sorry stamp set, and it's so beautiful.  I know that sounds weird, considering the set consists only of words.  But I love the scripted type style and think it's really pretty.  And with lots of options for finishing that thought, it's very versatile.  I chose just to stick with So Sorry, and I guess when I need to send this type of card, I'll finish the sentiment on the inside.  Hopefully I won't have a need to send this for a long time, though.

The butterflies from Papillion Potpourri coordinate perfectly with the two butterfly punches that Stampin' Up! carries.  I stamped them with Staz-On ink, then punched them out.  The punches work great even with watercolor paper.  I chose to watercolor after I punched, but you could easily do it before.  I'll admit that I may have ruined this card when I spritzed ink on the sentiment.  I was so upset, but after it dried, I decided to keep it.  I'm on the fence about how I feel about all that brown on there...it wasn't the look I was going for!  I highly recommend doing a test spray BEFORE spraying your project!  At least the speckling worked in the upper right hand corner of the card!

Stamps:  Papillion Potpourri (123757), So Sorry (126525)
Ink:  Jet Black Staz-On (101406), Early Espresso (126974), Tangerine Tango (126946), So Saffron (126957), Perfect Plum (126963), and Elegant Eggplant (126969) Classic Ink
Paper:  Crumb Cake (102953), Early Espresso (119686), and Naturals Ivory (101849) card stock, Watercolor Paper (122959)
Accessories:  Window Frames Framelits (129021), Big Shot (113439), 5/8" Crochet Trim (118481), Aquapainter (103954), Elegant Butterfly Punch (127526),  Bitty Butterfly Punch (129406), Festive Paper-Piercing Pack (127857), Paper-Piercing Mat (126199), Paper-Piercing Tool (126189)

Happy Day

Remember this Christmas card?  I mentioned in that post that it could be varied to make a card for just about anything.  Here's one of those variations!  This was the card I made for my husband for his birthday last week.  We both have December birthdays, and since his is so close to Christmas, I needed a simple card.  This one fit the bill.  I cut the banners at an angle this time, and pushed the sentiment pieces up to the top, cutting off part of it.  Oh, and those five banners?  They were skinny scraps I had left over from the original Christmas card!  Since the paper is two sided, I just used the other side, which had more masculine (and non-Christmasy) colors.  Just some simple changes to a very simple card!

Stamps:  Friendly Phrases

Ink:  Whisper White

Paper:  Festival of Prints DSP pack, Island Indigo, Crumb Cake, and Early Espresso card stock

Accessories:  Window Frames Framelits, 7/8" cotton ribbon

I just wanted to mention that I'll be taking a short blogging break.  We're making an unexpected trip out of state and I won't have a chance to do any stamping for a while.  I'll see you 2013!

Christmas Banners

This card is the last of the year's Christmas Stamp-a-Stack cards.  And this is the perfect card to make if you have lots of scraps left over from other projects. You could vary the size of the banners, if you have narrower strips of paper...you could even add a couple more.  The simplicity of this card is what makes me love it.  Two layers of card stock cut with the Window Frames have paper-piercing along the edges.  The guide in the Festive Paper-Piercing Pack makes that so simple!  The sentiment is embossed with Early Espresso embossing powder, and it's all topped off with a bit of ribbon, tied in a knot and adhered with a glue dot.  So simple!  This layout could be used for just about any type of card, depending on paper and sentiment choice.  I'll definitely be making more of these in the future!

Stamps:  Occasional Quotes (retired)

Ink: VersaMark

Paper:  Festival of Prints DSP pack. Very Vanilla, Lucky Limeade, and Crumb Cake card stock

Accessories:  paper snips, Festive Paper-Piercing Pack, mat, and tool, quilted satin ribbon (retired)...I also made some of these with seam binding ribbon, which is great for cards that are being mailed.

Thanks a Bunch

I have been so busy lately that I haven't had a lot of time to just stamp for fun.  I've been working on lots of projects, but I rarely have a chance to just sit down and stamp for the fun of stamping, with absolutely no specific end in mind.  I finally had a few minutes this afternoon and decided to use the Fab Friday sketch for this week.  I've never linked to a challenge before, but I'm hoping to do it a lot more in the future!

I used the cracked glass technique on the center image.  I'm sad that Stampin' Up! no longer sells the embossing powder needed for this technique. :(  Fortunately, I still have a little stash of it to pull out occasionally.  I really like this sentiment from the Friendship Preserves set, and I don't use it nearly enough.  Hopefully it will carry over to the main catalog!

Stamps:  Friendship Preserves

Ink:  Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke, More Mustard, and Early Espresso markers, VersaMark

Paper:  Early Espresso Core'dinations,  Naturals Ivory, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Very Vanilla card stock

Accessories:  Window Frames Framelits Collection, Big Shot, Festive Paper-Piercing Pack, Paper-Piercing Tool and Mat, Linen Thread, Always Artichoke Seam Binding Ribbon, Woodgrain embossing folder, Glassy Glaze embossing powder, heat tool

Tri-Fold Thanks

Happy Wednesday!  I just wanted to quickly show you this CASE of one of Shelli Gardner's cards.  I changed up the colors a bit, and the layering is just slightly different (I like Shelli's better, but I was too lazy to go back and change my card!), but other than that, it's pretty much exactly the same!  I just thought it was a really cool twist on a tri-fold card.

Stamps:  Friendship Preserves, Timber wheel

Ink:  Elegant Eggplant, Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake markers

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Elegant Eggplant, Always Artichoke, More Mustard, Very Vanilla card stock

Accessories:  Always Artichoke seam binding ribbon, Window Frames Framelits, Paper Piercing Tool and Piercing Pack, Square Lattice embossing folder

Christmas in July

I've been holding out on the Christmas cards, because I just can't bring myself to start thinking about winter just yet.  I have no problem making fall cards any time of the year, but Christmas...it's a bit of a stretch.  But I finally caved and made a couple of Christmas cards.  This one is very candy caney.  Not a word, I know.  But the red and white (well, vanilla, actually) and all the stripes scream candy canes.  Once again, I used retired product (shame on me!)  The striped paper is from last year's Christmas DSP, but it's so similar to one of the papers in the Be of Good Cheer DSP pack that's on it's way to my house right now.  I actually think the newer striped paper is going to look better, because there's a bit of green in it, and this card needs a third color.  I embossed the red in the background with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.  The ribbon is more of the 1/4" grosgrain from my vast stash. :)  The candy cane is from the Scentsational Season stamp set...it is ADORABLE!  And, much to my delight, it has a coordinating Framelits set!  I love my Framelits!  I embossed it with the new Peppermint Sticks scented embossing powder.  It's smells fantastic!  The piece of Naturals Ivory card stock behind it was cut out with the Window Frames Framelits and then embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder to give it some sparkle.  Fun!

Stamps:  Scentsational Season, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  VersaMark, Real Red Classic Ink, Whisper White Craft Ink

Paper:  Naturals Ivory, Very Vanilla, and Real Red card stock, Be of Good Cheer DSP (not shown, but it makes a great substitution!)

Accessories:  Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Window Frames Framelits, Holiday Collection Framelits, Bitty Banners Framelits, 1/4" grosgrain ribbon (Very Vanilla and Real Red, both retired)

Thanks a Bunch!

I've been having fun playing with all my new goodies this afternoon!  I used loads of new products on this one.  It's kind of hard to see in the picture, and actually, it's sort of hard to see in real life, but I used the new Timber wheel and VersaMark ink on the background piece of Early Espresso.  On top of that are two pieces of Orchard Harvest DSP.  I love every single piece of paper in that pack!  On top of that, the leaves are both embossed with embossing folders...Argyle and Square Lattice.  I'll confess, though...those leaves were cut out with the retired Leaves #2 die.  BUT, you can recreate this by using the new Autumn Accents Bigz Die that's in the Holiday Catalog.  The shapes are close, and I actually like the Autumn Accents better, but my wallet didn't let me get it.  Yet.

The Thanks a Bunch sentiment was stamped in VersaMark and embossed with white embossing powder on Raspberry Ripple card stock.  I cut it out using the Window Frames Framelits Collection.  Behind that is a piece of Sahara Sand that was cut out with the same set of Framelits, then pierced, using the new Paper-Piercing Pack as a guide.  The ribbon is the retired More Mustard 1/4" grosgrain ribbon.  How I wish that it was the Scalloped 1/2" ribbon instead, but I'm not letting myself buy much new ribbon until I use up what I have...which is a LOT of retired 1/4" grosgrain.  Expect to see more of that. :)

Stamps:  Friendship Preserves

Ink:  VersaMark

Paper:  Sahara Sand, Early Espresso, Raspberry Ripple, More Mustard, and Lucky Limeade card stock, Orchard Harvest DSP

Accessories:  Window Frames Framelits Collection, Festive Paper-Piercing Pack, Paper-Piercing Tool and mat, and Leaves #2 Die (but use the new Autumn Accents Die instead!)