PATRIOTIC STARS

It's almost the Fourth of July, Independence Day, here in the United States. A huge patriotic celebration for the whole country -- as well as for me. 

You see, I was born on the Fifth of July, and, as a young girl, got called such endearing nicknames as "Burnt Out Firecracker".  When I was little, I ALWAYS thought the Fourth of July fireworks were for my birthday. We can be so naive as little kids, eh?

Oh my. That certainly was a deviation from the true meaning of the Fourth of July. Sorry!

Every once in awhile I am moved to create something patriotic, meaning something red, white and blue, and often involving stars.  

Before I get started on my patriotic project, 

this little darling wanted to send you happy greeting:

As you all know, I have an overabundance of scraps (and full sheets!) of Designer Series Paper. Years worth! And I have a set of star dies in a variety of sizes. Put those two components together, and what do you get? 3-D stars! Yay!

For each star, I die cut six of the stars. I started out creating one in each size in all of the colors, red, white and blue, using two "whites", two reds and two blues. All different color variations and designs. 

My second set of three stars was one white set in the smallest size, one blue star in the medium size, and a completely red large star. I used all different patterns, no two alike, to make them as diverse as possible.

The secret to a pretty good looking 3-D star is to be as careful and precise in these next steps as possible. 

 

First step: Fold each die cutstar in half, with the side of the DSP you want to show on the inside of the fold. Match up those edges axactly and use a bone folder to give a good crease.

Once they are all folded, put them in the order you would like them to appear in the star. Take the first star, folded, and add green glue to one side of the folded star. Pick up the next one in the pile, and add it to the first glue-y star, matching up the edges exactly. Give it a moment, rubbing over the glued star, before adding glue to the star you'd just added and, while matching the edges of the next star in the pile, glue that star in place, rubbing it a bit before continuing on. Go through all six stars in this same way. Then, being very careful with your matching again, bring the two ends of the glued stars together, rubbing for a good bond. Voila! You have a 3-D star. 

I chose to stand my stars. They could also be thrown in a bowl, or any other container. Other options would be to thread a hanger in the center before gluing them all together at the end. Or string them together for a garland. Lots of ideas!

Finding blue and red scraps was an easy matter. Searching for white was a bit more of a challenge, since so much of the Designer Series Paper is more color laden. I managed to find several scraps that were almost all white, with only a bit of neutral color showing. I actually really like the simple white stars.

For these photos, I had them standing on the table on our deck. Their permanent home -- at least, through the holiday -- is arrayed across my mantel. 

So much fun and so easy to make! Grab some star dies -- I'm sure you have some around! -- and scrounge through your DSP scraps and make some for yourself. 

In Christmas colors, wouldn't these be adorable for that time of the year? 

I hope you have a very safe -- and fun! -- Fourth of July. 

Patriotic

Smiles.

SUMMERY PAPER PUMPKIN

It is such a rare occurrence that I should not love a Paper Pumpkin kit. And the April kit was certainly no exception. 

The card bases themselves could have been used without any additions and thrilled any recipient. The rich resonant colors made them so precious to behold. In fact, I actually did simply stamp one of the cute sentiments inside a rainbow card to send to my granddaughter. As they say, cuteness overload.

I used four of the card bases to dress them up wih varying techniques (which you will see in a future blog post), the one I sent to Stella, and that left seven to play with.

The other day, I had a blast and did just that. I used, with few exceptions such as sequins, stamps and baker's twine, just the components in the kit.

Following are photos of the seven cards I had so much fun creating!

Thanks for following along on my Summery Paper Pumpkin journey. I hope you enjoyed this little taste of deliciousness!

Summery

Smiles.

GILDED LOVE

I really do enjoy the Gilded Leafing, found on page 143 of the Annual Catalog. It is such a cool product! So rich and Byzantine-looking.

Awhile ago I watched a video suggesting a new way of using it. To add the Gilded Leafing to any project, you need a sticky surface to which you can adhere it. Heat and Stick Powder has been suggested by Stampin' Up! for this. I've also used Tear and Tape, as in THIS CARD. 

And then the aforementioned video came along, suggesting that Gilded Leafing lovers use Adhesive Sheets (page 157) and your die cutting machine. Genius. Simply cut a piece of cardstock to a little larger than the die you want to use, as well as a piece of the Adhesive Sheet. Stick these two together and run it through your die cutting machine with the die. Peel off the backing paper, and YOU HAVE A STICKY SURFACE! 

From there, you carefully work at applying your Gilded Leafing. I used this technique on the card below. The leafed piece is the label behind the flower. This label was cut with one of the dies from the Stitched So Sweetly set (page 166).

My color scheme for this card is Rich Razzleberry and metallic gold. I love the richness of this combination. For the "love" and the gold against the card base, I used a matte gold cardstock I'd had for a long time. I'm glad I finally found such a good use for this hoarded product!

The "love" was adhered to a scrap of Rich Razzleberry cardstock. I then fussy cut around it, leaving a small border of the Rich Razzleberry.

The other touch of gold is the cord that I wrapped three times around the scalloped piece, and then popped the "love" over that with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Speaking of the scalloped piece, don't you just love it?? It is one of the dies from the Scalloped Contours set (page 158) that can be bought in a bundle with the Color and Contour stamp set, found on page 98. This is what I did because I loved it all!

The beautiful flower stamp is from the Quiet Meadow set (page 110). I stamped it onto white cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black, and then used Stampin' Blends in Light Rich Razzleberry, Light Cinnamon Cider and Dark Daffodil Delight, which I added over the Cinnamon Cider in the center of the flower. It was fussy cut and popped up onto the label covered with Gilded Leafing with a Stampin' Dimensional.

A close up of the focal point:

A few weeks ago, my husband and I celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary, and this is the card I created for him. I actually embossed "Happy Anniversary" inside the card in gold -- of course.

So, share with us: Have you gotten the Gilded Leafing in your hands yet? If so, have you used it? If you have already given it a try, what method did you use for applying it to a surface?

Gilded

Smiles.

RED BUTTERFLY

Butterflies and summer. Perfect, right? And a yellow, red and  black card honoring them is really nice. Right? 

A little bit of texture. A beautiful die cut.

If you adhere the diecut butterfly to its mount by only adding adhesive 

to the belly area, you can make him really POP!

Do you notice the lovely embossing on the red background?

Here is a tutorial on making a card like this:

SUPPLIES:

Bright yellow cardstock (a dear friend gifted this lovely yellow to me!)

Real Red cardstock

Black cardstock

Small sentiment

Black ink

Brilliant Wings dies (page 158, Annual Catalog)

Layering Circles dies (page 163, Annual Catalog)

Ornate Labels dies (page 164, Annual Catalog)

Die Cutting/Embossing Machine

Painted Textures embossing folder (page 155, Annual Catalog)

Stampin Dimensionals

Adhesive

INSTRUCTIONS:

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

Cut a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Real Red cardstock. Run it through the embossing machine inside the Painted Texture Embossing Folder. Don't you LOVE that texture?

From the circles dies, cut one circle from black cardstock that measures 3 1/4" in diameter, and one from yellow cardstock that measures 2 3/4" in diameter. Adhere these two circles together.

From Real Red cardstock, cut the large butterfly using the die. Adhere the butterfly to the circles by adding adhesive to only the center body strip. Gently bend the wings upwards without actually creasing them.

Adhere the circle portion to the card, leaving even margins at the top and the sides, with Stampin' Dimensionals.

In black ink, stamp a sentiment onto yellow cardstock. Cut the sentiment with one of the Ornate Frames dies.

Add the sentiment to the bottom of the card with a couple Stampin' Dimensionals.

Butterfly

Smiles.

SILHOUETTE FLOWER

As any of you Stampin' Up! fans know, their Designer Series Paper (DSP) is beautiful. Often it's so pretty that it can serve as the main portion of a card.

I decided to make this particular print the star of a card. I cut the square of DSP into fourths and topped it off with a black silhouette cut with one of the new dies from the Meadow dies.

Picking coordinating colors, adding a little embossing to the cardstock in the background, tossing in a simple sentiment, and voila!  You're done!

Follow along for a tutorial on how to create a card similar to this one.

SUPPLIES:

White cardstock

Black cardstock

Pool Party cardstock

Choice of Designer Series Paper

Black ink

Quiet Meadow stamp set (page 110, Annual Catalog)

Die cut/Embossing machine

Meadow Dies (page 160, Annual Catalog)

Tasteful Textile Embossing Folder (page 155, Annual Catalog)

Stampin' Sponge

1 1/4" Square Punch or dies of the same size

DIRECTIONS:

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

Emboss a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Pool Party cardstock with the Tasteful Textile embossing folder. Add this to the white card base.

Cut a piece of Pool Party cardstock to 3" square. From coordinating Designer Series Paper, punch four squares using the 1 1/4" square punch or a die of the same size. Keeping equal margins, adhere the four DSP squares within the 3" square space.

Adhere the square to a 3 1/4" square of black cardstock. Attach this onto the embossed layer, leaving equal margins at the top and sides.

From black cardstock, die cut one of the flowers from the Meadow dies. Glue this flat up the center of the piece with the squares. Be sure to add a little adhesive to the stem so it stays in place over the embossing.

Stamp in black your desired sentiment onto a 1/2" x 2" piece of white cardstock. The sentiment I used on my sample is from the Quiet Meadow stamp set.

Add the sentiment to the card about 1/4" from the bottom of the square so it overlaps the stem.

Silhouetted

Smiles.

BLUEBIRD TWO WAYS

Anyone who has been following my blog for any amount of time already knows that I love fussy cutting. That means that one of my favorite techniques to do is paper piecing.

If you don't know what paper piecing is, here goes: It's when you have a stamp that is outlined, like in a coloring book. You stamp the image first on a piece of white cardstock. Then you stamp the image again on a suitable piece of Designer Series Paper. "Suitable" is a design that isn't too overwhelming. Ideally the design isn't too large either. And light enough in color that you can see any details of the stamping on it.

For this first card sample, I did paper piecing. I stamped the darling old bluebird on white cardstock. Then, searching through my extensive stash of DSP scraps, I located designs and colors that I thought would work well. I then stamped the bird FOUR more times, once on each of the four pieces of DSP I'd chosen, the blue for the bird's back, the rusty for his belly, a woodgrain brown for the branch, even a gray for his beak and feet.

I then fussy cut the portions of the bird and branch that I'd stamped onto DSP. Next step was to carefully match these same pieces to the original version stamped on white cardstock, adhering them in place. I did leave the lower half of his belly the white of the cardstock. I suppose I could have found a white DSP with a small design. But I opted to keep it white.

After everything was in its place, I went to work fussy cutting the entire bird.

A close-up of the fussy cut bird:

The second version of the card incorporates a more traditional way of coloring the bird. I colored him in with Stampin' Blends in Light and Dark Seaside Spray, Light and Dark Soft Suede, Light Calypso Coral and Dark Smoky Slate.

Of course, once this little guy was colored, I fussy cut him too.

A close-up of  the colored version of the card:

Between the two cards, there are some similarities. The background paper I used on both cards was a black and white DSP design. I colored the large flowers the same for both cards, but changed up the blues to match more readily the variations between the colored and the paper pieced bird. 

The other similarity is the lovely white piece the bird rests upon with Stampin' Dimensionals. Before mounting the bluebird, I ran each of the labels through my embossing machine inside an embossing folder to give it a little bit of a foliage feel.

For the card bases, I mounted the Stampin' Blends bluebird onto Seaside Spray (a moment of silence for the retirement of this wondrous color), and the paper pieced guy went onto a piece of Just Jade cardstock.

Have you ever tried paper piecing? In reading my directions and the way I went about it, it probably seems to be quite a lot of work. It is a little bit, but I adore the looks of the technique.

Do you have a favorite between the two cards?

Bluebird

Smiles.

COOL BIRTHDAY

Where we live, here in central Wisconsin, summer has definitely arrived! Since the weekend, the rest of the week shows high 80s, low 90s every single day. Hot, humid, sticky. Perfect popcicle weather.

The cute popcicle stamp used in this card are from the April 2021 Paper Pumpkin kit. The entire kit is so summery and adorable. But, for some reason, I was drawn to the stamps. They can be colored any old way. I, of course, find that appealing.

To do the popcicle panel, I haphazardly -- and happily! -- spaced the three popcicles, then colored them in three different Stampin' Blends colors: Light Magenta Madness, Light Granny Apple Green and Light Pumpkin Pie.

After the popcicles were colored, they still seemed to be missing something. I dug through my stash and came across this mixture that I'd bought from Stampin' Up! a long time ago with the intent of using it in shaker cards. Not being very adept at making shaker cards, I had never used it. So I added the pieces as sprinkles on the tops of each of the popcicles.

Finishing off this happy seasonal card, I added a really old birthday sentiment -- in a word, because the lettering and spacing are happy too! A couple coordinating sequins finished off the bottom portion.

Even though the card could probably be made just by looking at it, I will provide a simple tutorial on how to create one. 

Not a Paper Pumpkin subscriber and missing out on the plethora of creations and goodies that come in your mailbox each month? You can subscribe to the fun RIGHT HERE or click on the Paper Pumpkin button on the right column of my blog. You will not regreat subscribing!

SUPPLIES:

White cardstock

Granny Apple Green cardstock

Magenta Madness cardstock

Popcicle stamp from April 2021 Paper Pumpkin kit

Retired happy birthday

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Stampin' Blends in: Light Magenta Madness, Light Granny Apple Green, Light Pumpkin Pie

Stampin' Dimensionals

Sequins and assorted gewgaws

INSTRUCTIONS:

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

Stamp three of the popcicles onto a 2 1/4" x 5" piece of white cardstock. Color them in as you wish or follow my recommendations. But be sure to use colors that will match the cardstock you have chosen for your card. 

Adhere the colored piece to a 2 1/2" x 5 1/4" piece of Granny Apple Green cardstock.

Using Stampin' Dimensionals, place this piece onto the pink card base, leaving approximate even edges on the top and sides.

In the open space at the bottom, stamp your sentiment of choice in black ink.

Scatter sequins around the sentiment..

Add Green Glue to the tops of the treats and stick small embellishments into the glue, being sure they are fastened in place securely.

Cool 

Smiles.

 

FOREVER

Unfortunately, a lot of the supplies used to create this card are now retired with the advent of the yummy new Annual Catalog. 

 

Even though, it is a good card to showcase one of the newer Stampin' Up! offerings, the Gilded Leafing. Gilded Leafing comes in a good sized jar, all ready to play with you. But beware, it actually GROWS. You won't be able to store it in the jar it comes in once it's opened. I moved mine to one of those plastic pencil boxes. I've seen other demonstrators store theirs in a plastic shoebox with a lid. 

So, there is lots more than originally meets the eye. It is definitely a good value.

I don't know if these photos do the Gilded Leafing area of the card any justice. 

I used it on the six stripes along the left edge.

Since I made this card, I've used the Gilded Leafing on two more projects. They turned out looking qutie classy.

So, even though it is a little bit of a challenge to work with -- don't blow on it! -- I know I will use it  on many creations to come. Just warning you . . .

Follow along to discover how to create a card like this. If you don't have any of these supplies on hand, you can always substitute other papers and sentiments.

SUPPLIES:

Pretty Peacock cardstock (retired -- BIG sob!)

White cardstock

Forever Greenery Designer Series Paper (retired, but maybe you still have some on hand??)

Shaded Spruce ink

Pretty Peacock ink (retired)

Forever Fern (page 71, Annual Catalog)

Beautiful Friendship (retired, but I will keep on using this FOREVER!)

Die cutting/embossing machine

Forever Flourishing dies (page 163, Annual Catalog)

Stitched So Sweetly dies (page 166, Annual Catalog)

Gilded Leafing (page 143, Annual Catalog)

Tear n Tape (page 167, Annual Catalog)

Gold Cord (page 140, Annual Catalog)

Stampin' Dimensionals

Gold sparkly embellishment (retired)

DIRECTIONS:
Fold a 4 1/4" x 11" piece of Pretty Peacock cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

To this card base, add a 4" x 5 1/4" piecce of the Forever Greenery Designer Series Paper.

Cut a strip of Pretty Peacock cardstock to 1 1/2" x 4".

Using Tear & Tape or any 1/4" two-sided adhesive you want, add six lines of this adhesive, evenly spaced along this strip. If you use an adhesive that has release paper, just remove one at a time while you work on that particular strip. Moosh (yes, a very technical term!) a bit of the Gilded Leafing to the exposed tape. Use a stiff brush to remove any excess leafing. The leafing doesn't end up being perfectly smooth,,so don't worry about that. Move on to the next strip of adhesive and continue this process until you have "leafed" all the tape strips.

On white cardstock, stamp in Pretty Peacock one of the plant stems from Forever Fern. Use the appropriate die to cut it out. Set aside for now.

Cut one of the labels from the Stitched So Sweetly dies and add desired sentiment in Shaded Spruce ink. Attach this label over the DSP with a couple of stampin' Dimensionals. Finish with a gold embellishment on the top of the label.

Use Stampin' Dimensionals to add the frond so it covers part of the leafed portion as well as the sentiment label.

Tie a bow from gold cord and add it to the stem of the foliage. I like to use a mini glue dot for this.

Did you purchase the Gilded Leafing? If so, have you used it yet, or are you hesitant to open the jar? Don't wait! Open that jar and create some classy stuff! JUST DON'T BLOW ON IT!

Leafed

Smiles.

#dailycreating JANUARY 2021

. 

A new month. A new installment of the saga of #dailycreating. The month in the spotlight is January 2021.

Looking through my sketchbook for January 2021, I felt that my muse must have been on vacation for much of the month. Because [s]he certainly wasn't with me most days.

As part of Terry Runyan's #dailycreating group, she encourages us to create something every day. Anything. Just to remain creative. Every Sunday afternoon, she posts a list of prompts for the coming week. The prompts are optional. Something to sort of kick start the ideas. 

Until recently, I was fairly faithful to following the prompts. During January yet, I did follow them for the most part. It's in the last few months that I have been deviating from the daily prompts more and more. 

As always, above each of my drawings, I will put the prompt as well as any other pertinent information I may have on the subject matter.

Here goes:

#snowflake

#off prompt

#dogurday

english boxer

#close up

peacock feather

#lift

(and separate)

#dummy

#trolley

#bird

military macaw

#thing on thing

toucan

#squirrel

#polka dots

#dogurday

dachshund

And there you have it. The halfway decent drawings from the month of January. 

I must note that most Saturdays have been designated either Dogurday or Caturday. Just an explanation of the two days designated #dogurday for prompts.

Please remember that these are my own original drawings and are not to be copied or used in any way without my express consent. Thank you for your respect in this regard.

#daily

Smiles.