BLUEBERRY SMILE

This card is another example of how easy it can be to make a quick card -- if you let the Designer Series Paper do most of the work for you.

The small swatch of DSP in the center of this card is just so lovely and fresh, 

I wanted it to be the star of the card.

Adding just a few touches, such as a bit of stamping, a baker's twine bow, 

a diecut sentiment and the matching rhinestone to dot the "i" was all it took.

There is not very much dimension to this card: just the bit the bow adds, the slight rise of the rhinestone and the Stampin' Dimensionals that raise the snippet of DSP, and the rest is flat as a pancake!

The stamps and Designer Series Paper are two of the freebie offerings that are part of Sale-A-Bration, which ends tomorrow, February 28! So HURRY!

Even though the card is fairly straightforward, following is a list of supplies and the directions.

SUPPLIES:

Pacific Point cardstock

White cardstock

Black cardstock

Berry Delightful Designer Series Paper (Page 14, Sale-A-Bration brochure)

Berry Blessings stamp set (Page 14, Sale-A-Bration brochure)

Black ink

Pacific Point ink

Die cutting/embossing machine

Smile die or another small sentiment that you have

Baker's Twine

Noble Peacock Rhinestone (or you can use a Stampin' Blend to color a Basic Rhinestone)

Stampin' Dimensionals

Mini Glue Dot

DIRECTIONS:

Fold a 4 1/4" x 11" piece of Pacific Point cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

Using the outline stamp of the blueberries, stamp these in black all around the edges of a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of white cardstock. Use the solid blueberry stamp, and matching it up to the black outlines, stamp the blueberries in Pacific Point ink.

Adhere this piece to the blue card base.

Cut a piece of the blueberry Designer Series Paper to 2 1/4" x 3 1/4". Adhere it with Stampin' Dimensionals to the center of the card.

With a small "smile" die, or sentiment of your choice, cut it from black cardstock.

Adhere the sentiment to the lower right corner of the DSP piece.

Dot the "i" with a Pacific Point rhinestone. If you don't have one, you can color a clear Basic Rhinestone with a Stampin' Blend to match your card.

Tie a striped piece of blue/white baker's twine in a small bow. Adhere it with a glue dot to the upper left corner of the DSP.

If you didn't get the chance to snap up this freebie during Sale-A-Bration, there are several stamp sets and Designer Series Papers in the Stampin' Up! catalogs that you can substitute to get the same look for a card.

Smiley

Smiles.

BEST DAYS

 Ah! This card. So much work. But I do love how it turned out.

Combining several Stampin' Up! products made the creation of this card possible. It's all in the unbeatable way that embossing folders, Designer Series Paper, stamps, ink colors, dies and embellishments work together. A perfect blend.

Another contributing factor to the charm of this card is that the card base itself is a little different, enabling a unique use of the beautiful Designer Series Paper.

The interplay between the elements on the main flap of the card overlapping the pretty DSP makes it even more delicate.

A view of the front flap of the card with the DSP portion not showing:

Following is a tutorial on how to recreate this card.

SUPPLIES:

Soft Seafoam cardstock

White cardstock

Forever Greenery Designer Series Paper

Beautiful Friendship stamp set (Page 115, Annual Catalog)

Forever Fern (Page 110, Annual Catalog)

Pretty Peacock ink

Pear Pizzazz ink

Die Cut/Embossing Machine

Forever Flourishing dies (Page 175, Annual Catalog)

Painted Labels dies (Page 177, Annual Catalog)

Greenery Embossing Folder (Page 184, Annual Catalog)

Metallic Pearls (Page 156, Annual Catalog)

Stampin' Dimensionals

DIRECTIONS:

Cut a piece of Soft Seafoam cardstock to 5 1/2" x 7". Score it at 4 1/4". Fold on the score line, creasing it well with a bone folder.

On the inner edge of the card, adhere a 1 1/2" x 5 1/4" strip of Forever Greenery Designer Series Paper, with even margins at the top, bottom and right side.

Cut a piece of Soft Seafoam cardstock to 2 1/2" x 5 1/4" and emboss it with the Greenery Embossing Folder. Adhere this to the flap on the front of the card.

Stamp desired leafy pieces in Pretty Peacock and Pear Pizzazz onto white cardstock. Cut them with the coordinating dies.

Cut a swirly circle using the die from the Painted Labels die set from Soft Seafoam cardstock. In the center of this circle, stamp the sentiment in Pretty Peacock.

Adhere as desired the two leafy pieces to the back side of the circle. Use Stampin' Dimensionals to attach it over the embossing so a bit of the swirls falls over the DSP.

Add three Metallic Pearls near the sentiment.

Forever

Smiles.

ENZO

I had alluded to the fact that I was making something for my grandson, Enzo's, fourth birthday besides his  dinosaur Birthday Card. While his (playable) gifts were delivered to his house in a bag and we watched him open them via FaceTime, I'd wanted to wait until we could see him in person to open this part of his gift.

Thursday night, Enzo's mom (our daughter) had to work late, which she does once a month, so his grandpa and I had to go and pick him up from daycare, which is at our local YMCA. 

I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to give it to him. All the grown ups are masked and socially distanced, and there would be a table where he could quickly unwrap it. And I could take photos of the unwrapping. (Just a note here: During the Pandemic, I literally go NOWHERE. While picking him up from daycare once a month is a real stretch to my "safe" feeling, I feel I need to grasp this opportunity to see him in person in a pretty OK environment. I feel like this integral personal connection with my little Enzo is worth the small risk now and then.)

Anyway, back to the great unveiling. It was much less spectacular (satisfying) than I'd imagined. I can be quite naive at times. I guess he thought it was going to actually be something FUN! Imagine a four-year-old boy's thoughts when he opened something TO HANG ON HIS WALL. I got the impression that he just couldn't believe it wasn't something he could play with, and started to pick at the dinosaur on the "e". 

We put a stop to that while I tried to explain that it said his name and that it was supposed to be hung on the wall of his bedroom.

Completely unimpressed.

A close-up of the letters sans frame:

When I first had the brainstorm to create this, I was sure I was going to sand and repaint the frame, paint the letters in complementary colors, etc. 

But when I laid everything out, I really liked the way the raw wood, the finished wood and the accompanying colors played off each other. 

The wooden letter all had loops at the top as part of the letters. To make them a part of the composition, I simply inserted brads in colors that matched the dinosaur that was gracing each particular letter.

The cute prehistoric looking leaves that I used for the background was also a piece in the pack of dinosaur DSP.

Even if Enzo's not all that crazy about it, I am completely satisfied with how it turned out.

Enzo at his daycare after opening his unexciting gift:

Have you ever spent loads of time making a gift for someone only to have it fall flat completely upon opening? Sniff.

Dino

Smiles.

POSITIVE THOUGHTS

I have been hankering to try a few new/old techniques lately. This one, a VersaMark Resist, I found in an old stamping techniques book I've had around forever.

Using Glossy Cardstock, it's lots of fun to do. It does take patience and elbow grease though.

The first step is to stamp an image a few times on -- in this case a piece of Glossy Cardstock that measures 3 3/4" x 5" -- your paper in VersaMark ink. After you have your image strategically stamped, go to the Heat Station, and hit the stamping with the Heat Tool for about 15 seconds to make sure it's completely dry. Be sure to keep the heat moving so the glossy paper doesn't scorch.

I forgot to mention that I used the fern image from the Positive Thoughts stamp set in the Annual Catalog. Isn't it lovely?

Next comes the elbow grease. I used one of Stampin' Up!'s new Blender Brushes for my card, and it worked wonderfully. Use whatever is your favorite method for sponging. 

I used Mossy Meadow ink for this part. Start sponging on the ink and continue to do so until you reach the desired darkness, so the stamped images pop off the paper and seem to magically appear. I darkened my ink in a few places because I always enjoy the variation of dark and light.

The next step is to take the same stamp and ink it up with a darker ink. I used Shaded Spruce. In some of the blank spots, fill in with the image, but this time in the darker ink. 

At this point, I really loved it, so I didn't want to cover up just too much of it with a sentiment. 

Thus, <found Fred> I opted to do my sentiment on vellum. 

I chose this beautiful sentiment from the Celebrate Sunflowers stamp set from the Annual Catalog. I wanted it to be embossed, but in a color that echoes the rest of the card. To do that, I first inked up the stamp with VersaMark ink, then followed it with a quick inking up of Shaded Spruce ink. 

After heating it up, I had a sentiment that was embossed, but also matched the color used elsewhere on the card.

To add the sentiment to the card, I carefully creased the vellum at the edges and wrapped the excess around to the back of the panel. Since I didn't want it to bow out from the front of the card, I added one mini glue dot under the "b" in celebrate to hold it in place.

The VersaMark Resist fern showed up not a pure white, so I opted to mount the inked piece to a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Very Vanilla, then onto a Shaded Spruce card base.

I have to admit here that it was difficult to finish this post. After I typed the word "Thus" a few paragraphs back, I got up to use the bathroom.

You see, my cat, Fred, had been having labored breathing issues, and my husband and I were going to take him to the Emergency Vet when Pat got home from work. Just as I typed that word, he came in the house, and I got up to get ready to go. 

Well, Fred saved us the trip. He was lying on the floor outside my bathroom, already gone. I am so so sad. He was my "best Fred" for 14 1/2 years. I will miss him always. 

This was just taken eight days ago.

Rest In Peace, my Fred.

Grieving 

Smiles.

LOVING HEART

Have you placed your Sale-A-Bration order yet? No? There is still time! 

During Sale-A-Bration, January 5 through February 28, you can earn free product for every $50 or $100 you spend (before tax and shipping). 

For a $50 purchase, one of the freebies is a darling pack of Designer Series Paper called Flower and Field. For my card today, I used one of the sheets from this flowery set.

Seriously, the papers in this pack of DSP are a treasure trove of possibilities. I still have lots of ideas to use this paper, but here is one of them:

In combination with this DSP, I used a stamp from the January Paper Pumpkin set. The heart inside the circle is the stamp in question. Isn't it wonderful?

Those little flowers all concentrated on one sheet of 12X12 paper is sort of like standing in the middle of a field of flowers. They are all so tiny and precious. Irresistible.

Die cutting the word "love" using an old Stampin' Up! die set from white cardstock echoed the paper flowers, as well as the circle upon which the hearty heart was stamped.

I had some white paper flowers that I'd had in my stash for quite some time. After separating three of them from the bigger bunches and tied together with a piece of Cherry Cobbler baker's twine, it made a teeny bouquet that was reminiscent of the tiny flowers in the DSP.

While it's a fairly simple card to create, keep reading for a tutorial and list of materials to do so.

SUPPLIES:

Petal Pink cardstock

White cardstock

Flowers and Field Designer Series Paper (page 10, Sale-A-Bration brochure)

Stamp from January 2021 Paper Pumpkin kit

Cherry Cobbler ink

Die Cutting/Embossing Machine

Retired Love die

Stitched Shapes Dies (page 183, Annual Catalog)

Cherry Cobbler baker's twine

Stampin' Dimensionals

Glue Dots

INSTRUCTIONS:

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of Petal Pink cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

Add to this card base a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of the Flowers and Field Designer Series Paper.

Stamp the lovely heart from the January Paper Pumpkin kit onto a piece of white cardstock that measures about 3 1/2" square. If you are not a Paper Pumpkin subscriber, another heart image stamp can be used instead.

Cut out the heart with the large circle die from the Stitched Shapes dies set.

Adhere the heart to the DSP with Stampin' Dimensionals, so there are even borders at the top and sides.

From the retired Stampin' Up! die set, cut the word "love" from white cardstock. With small drops of glue, adhere this to the lower portion of the card, about 1/4" from the bottom of the DSP.

Tie three white paper flowers together with a piece of Cherry Cobbler baker's twine made into a bow. With a glue dot or two, add the flower "bouquet" above the love sentiment.

While this card is obviously ideal for use as a Valentine, it is suitable for other occasions as well. Think wedding, thinking of you, even sympathy. Any time you need to send a little love.

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Valentine

Smiles.

ENZO'S FOURTH

My husband and I have two precious grandchildren, Stella, who became a teenager right after Christmas, and Enzo, who turned FOUR today!

Enzo lives only about a mile from us, but, with the pandemic, we rarely see him in person, especially now that it's winter. It simply breaks my heart. I am so grateful for FaceTime. Through that medium, I am able to even read him books and "have lunch" with him.

Since he is a huge fan of dinosaurs -- actually, what little boy doesn't love dinosaurs?? -- I went with a dinosaur theme for his birthday card.

Awhile ago, I was fortunate to be able to nab the retired dinosaur Designer Series Paper at a great price on the Clearance Rack just for use with Enzo-related stuff. (If you do go to the link I provided for the Clearance Rack, it is pretty empty right now. But keep visiting -- they add lots of goodies at tremendous prices on a fairly regular basis!)

There were a few sheets of the DSP with nice-sized adorable dinosaurs. And, you'll be amazed to hear what I did with these sheets. JK. Yes, you are right: I fussy cut these dinosaurs. 

Before I made this card just the other day though, I had put together another part of his gift using four of the fussy cut creatures: a framed "Enzo" for on his wall. As soon as I get a good photo of that, I will write a post about it. So, stay tuned.

When I put this card front together, I was frustrated with the black gap between the pteradactyl and the brontosaurus. I kept coming back to that blank spot, wondering how I could fix it to my satisfaction.

Flipping through the other sheets of dinosaur DSP, trying to find a solution, I came across a piece that had a little dinosaur emerging from his shell. This was an uncut sheet, but, oh well, I saw it as the perfection solution, so I fussy cut that little guy. He filled in the gap just right!

I wanted another of my fussy cut dinosaurs to be "saying" Happy Birthday to Enzo inside  the card. So I die cut the sentiment with one of the old old word bubble dies. Then I encountered another problem. I couldn't put the white words onto the white background. Even if I would have used Stampin' Dimensionals to pop it up, it pretty much got lost.

To fix this situation, I cut another chunk of the DSP from the card front (did you notice all the dinosaurs all over it?) to 4" x 5 1/4" and added that as a base for the sentiment and the dinosaur. Yay!

In the photo above, notice the tiny bit of the dinosaur tail that sticks beyond the edge of the card. That little bit made it just a smidge too large for a standard A2 envelope.

So . . .

I grabbed my Envelope Punch Board (I adore that thing!) and made my own envelope to fit the card and tail perfectly.

Shown below is the card sitting atop the envelope I made. If you look close enough, you will notice just below the card the little dinosaur emerging from his egg. So, you see? I ended up not letting that precious piece of DSP go to waste after just cutting out a tiny chunk so I could fussy cut the new hatchling.

The "4" came from an ancient Paper Pumpkin kit. I stamped it in a coordinating color (Lovely Lipstick) inside a circle that was part of that old gumball machine stamp set. I then cut out the circle and added a black and white baker's twine bow to the bottom of it to give the impression of a festive balloon.

After dinner tonight, Enzo will be opening his gifts from us in "person" via FaceTime. I am anxious to see how he likes his dinosaur laden card.

A funny little side story: When I showed this card via FaceTime to Stella's parents, her dad (who is in his early 40s) asked if he could have a dinosaur card like this for his next birthday. !! Won't he be surprised when I actually present him with one! I actually thought it was an adorable response to seeing the card.

Dinosaur

Smiles.

By the way, here is a photo of Enzo on Halloween, dressed as a lion:

 

LOVE LOST

The January Paper Pumpkin kit, Sending Hearts, was perfect for me, in that it makes eight cards, just the right amount for me to mail out. The kit made four cards of each of two designs. 

Of course, I wasn't content to just follow the instructions and make the cards as they were meant to be. I had to make them my very own, but still using many of the components that came in the kit.

I have no idea whatsoever what happened to one of the "loves" that were meant to be used on one of the designs. So, with my "love lost", I needed to come up with an alternative plan for one of the cards. More on that later.

Another major change I made was with the hearty stamp that came in the kit to place in the center of the gold metallic heart on the preprinted component. With horrible arthritis in my hands, I do have a lot of trouble stamping certain images. These hearts were all solid, and I could not, with any consistency, get those hearts to look good. 

In lieu of the stamping, I grabbed an old retired die set, and cut three red hearts and one black heart. More on that later. 

I also gave the card a landscape orientation, rather than portrait, as per the instructions. Adding a strip of Poppy Parade cardstock from my extensive stash and using the black ribbon in a different manner, this is how my card turned out.

Now, for the moment you've been anxiously waiting for. The "lost love". As organized as my Creation Station is (hah!!), I can't understand where the fourth love would have gone. 

Without it, I was forced to find an alternative. 

I cut the word "love" (from the same die set as the heart) from red glimmer paper. Since the word was red, I did not think it would show up enough against the red hearts I'd made for the first three cards. Thus, I turned to a black heart. 

Oh no! Black Heart. That sounds like the name of a pirate or something! 

Following my plans for the first three cards, this is how the "lost love" card turned out. See? I FOUND love, just in a different color!

Just a little bit of a closeup on the black heart and the sparkly red love:

Now, if you'd like to see what the cards are SUPPOSED to look like, as per the kit instructions, the photo that came with the kit is shown below. The card I am referring to is the set of four on the left.

Do you make Valentine cards? Do you send them out or hand deliver them? With the pandemic raging, have you changed the way you normally handle Valentine's Day? How do you plan to celebrate this year?

Love 

Found

Smiles.

#dailycreating SEPTEMBER 2020

Here you have another monthly installment of my "best" drawings from my #dailycreating challenge hosted by artist Terry Runyan. As a member of this Facebook group, I am encouraged to do some sort of creating every day, and if I wish, to post it to the group. 

I very seldom miss a day of creating for this group, and if I do create something, I always post it. The group, which I almost view as family, is very gentle and encouraging. 

Each Sunday afternoon, Terry posts a week's worth of prompts, which are optional. She simply encourages us to create whatever moves us. I, in most cases, try to follow the prompts.

September 2020 must have been an especially difficult one for me as far as my drawing goes. While flipping through my sketchbook in search of a handful of drawings that I could include in this post, it was difficult to find even ten that were halfway decent. I include those ten here.

As always, I will put above each of the drawings what the prompt was for the day, as well as any other pertinent information I may have on the subject.

Off we go:

#garden party

#circus

#coconut

#kilt

#mushroom

amanita muscaria

#thing on thing

#apples to apples

#monochromatic

#thing on thing

#flannel

#thing on thing

And, there we have it. Watch for the next installment of #dailycreating in about a month.

Please respect that this is my personal art and not to be used for any reason without express permission from me. I would be glad to have Giclee prints made for anyone who would be interested in owning any of my artwork. Thanks!

#daily

Smiles.