Petal Prints

Somehow my "free" evening ended up being tons of work! I finished weeding my strawberry bed, made dinner, went to the grocery store, and started some laundry. UGH! I did manage to squeeze in a little stamping. This is a thank you note to my Aunt for taking my boys to a movie and dinner Saturday night while we went to my HS reunion.

The technique to try on SCS this week is Wet Watercolor. Click here for more info on the challenge, and here for a tutorial by Beate. It's fun and easy! I'd seen it many times before, but never tried it 'til today. Love it and will be doing it more! One hint: stick with the Natural or Confetti cardstocks for this. The Whisper White & Very Vanilla don't work quite as well when water is involved!

The cardstock colors are So Saffron, Always Artichoke & Naturals White. I used the Fine Lace Background, the Thank You from Wonderful Words & Moss grosgrain ribbon. For the image I used markers, first on the solid image (with the water) in So Saffron, Summer Sun & Always Artichoke. Dry the cardstock and repeat the markers on the outline image. Love it!!!

Miss You

Great title for a retiring set. It isn't gone yet, but will be soon! This is another hostess set, the Level 2 Love It. I made this last summer for a preview/hostess set swap.

I used Wonderful Weaves (also retiring-I think) for the top background. The colors are Real Red, Night of Navy & Mellow Moss. For the bottom border I used the markers on the stamp with the 3 hearts. Accent ribbon & buttons finishes it off.

I really HOPE to stamp tomorrow night. I've been busy cleaning my house and getting flowers & the garden going outside. Tonight the boys had baseball, but tomorrow night is free. I may finally get to see some benefit to them being on the same team. YEAH-only two nights a week and Saturday am practice. The last few years we've done four nights plus practice. Maybe I'll get caught up with this house finally, and still get to stamp!

Thanks to all who've stopped by recently! I added several names to my RAK list over the weekend. The first couple went out Saturday, and I'll get more out soon!

Reason to Smile

This is a set that I will miss next year, and honestly I think, would have been a good seller. These 2 samples have always been popular with my fellow stampers. I created these last fall, but still like both! They are both pretty simple, but in a crazy world that sometimes is the best way to go!



This first one uses Rose Red & Certainly Celery. A popular pair of colors on this blog aren't they?!? The ribbon was the inspiration for this. I inked the butterfly with markers, doing the big flowers with Rose Red & the smaller ones with Certainly Celery. I've always thought the verse should be darker somehow on this, but never tried anything different.

The second uses Cool Caribbean & Tempting Turquoise. I used the Linen Background in Cool Caribbean on Cool Caribbean. One of my favorite backgrounds-it makes you want to touch it! The strip is Tempting Turquoise. For the Butterfly, I inked it with Cool Caribbean, then went over the large flowers with the Tempting Turquoise marker. As a last touch, I used my 2-way glue pen and dotted in the center of each large flower. I sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds glitter over white wet. You can't see the sparkle here, but it really adds a nice, finishing touch.

Cool Caribbean is a current "In Color" color that WILL NOT be available after June 30! Stock up NOW!!!!

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, and thank you to all who have stopped by. Having the boys out of school did not slow things down!

Have a safe and happy holiday weekend! Doubt that I'll have time to post again 'til maybe Monday.

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More Simply Said

This set was still sitting on my desk from the swap last week, and I have tons of scraps of the Palette O'Prints paper. I could only get one piece for the swap card out of each piece of 6x6, so I have oodles of strips this size. This flower print is my favorite, especially with this set!




I've always liked Brocade Blue & Rose Red together. So, I took a strip of the Rose Red paper, added it to Brocade Blue stamped with the flowers from the set in Craft White. Added Basic Black accent layers, Ticket corner punched all the corners (are you tired of me using this punch yet???), and added a hardware accent with ribbon. I sponged a little Brocade Blue around the Shimmery White layer, and a little Craft White around all the Brocade Blue base. I like it!

Happy Birthday Iris

Finally a new post from me! Hopefully things will slow down a little around here now as the boys are out of school. The year really flew by!

Anyway, this card was made for my Father-In-Law who's birthday was yesterday. The boys had baseball games so we are doing lunch with him today. He loves Iris so I pulled out my Kindess Is set from several years back. I stamped it on Shimmery White with Versamark and then used Detail Black Embossing Powder. You can't see the shimmer in person, but I colored with Twinkling H2O's (Wild Plum, Gold Dust & Moss Green). I have made a color chart of the Twinks so I can tell which SU! colors they go best with. The cardstock is Elegant Eggplant, and I was trying to match that, Apricot Appeal & Certainly Celery. I ended up doing the Basic Black mat though, instead of any Apricot or Celery. The Plum actually came out a little dark, but it's a pretty good match to the Eggplant. The background is stamped with Fine Lace, and the Happy Birthday is from the retired Birthday Greetings.

Thanks for stopping by!

Revised Swap

Here is the revised, and probably final version of my swap card, using the set I was waiting for to arrive-Simply Said. I love these little flowers!

This uses the Rose Red & Certainly Celery from the Palette O'Prints pad. I will have to vary those because of limited quantity, but the colors will remain the same. I also opted not to punch the inside corners on the Rose Red layer. It seemed to flow better that way. Hopefully I can crank out 21 of these fairly quickly! Wish me luck!

More Retiring

Here are two more of my favorites done with retiring sets. The first uses Best of Cluck. The colors are Really Rust, Night of Navy & Mellow Moss. A very rustic look with the Weathered background.


The second uses Petal Prints. For this one I used the Water Color Crayons directly on the stamp. For this technique, color directly on the stamp with your crayon. I used Summer Sun in the center, Tempting Turquoise in the middle, and Taken with Teal around the edge. Once colored, mist your stamp with a fine spray water bottle. Stamp onto your cardstock, in this case Shimmery White. The Crosshatch background used here is also retiring.

Hopefully I can get some stamping actually done sometime soon! Life is pretty busy this time of year! The boys are getting out of school next week, and starting baseball. And, there are tons of things outside that I should be doing. Not to mention cleaning inside! Stick with me and I will post and share when I can. Thanks to all of you who stop by!

Swap Attempt

I'm still thinking about and trying ideas for my "different folds" swap due later this month. The layout works for me, still working on colors and sets. Here is my attempt tonight.


The scanner did not do these colors well! It is Certainly Celery & Rose Red from the Pallette O' Prints. Black for the accent layers. Whisper White on top. Per Beate's suggestion to use something to "catch" the top fold, I used a clear button with paper behind it, ribbon tied thru. Does this work??? I actually have a different set in mind, but Mr. Brown has to bring it first. After clearing out my shelves the other day from the retired list, I don't have a whole lot left! I decided to splurge (like that's anything new?!?) and get a set I've had my eye on for a while. I'll let you know when it arrives later this week if it "works" like I'm hoping.

Monday is over, we all survived! Happy Tuesday. I have a 4 day work week this week, so only 2 more days to Friday! he he.

Spring Garden

More retiring samples from my basket. Both of these were also created for swaps. I did use the Blue one for several workshops too. I have to say though, I don't remember the last time I had this set out. I used it alot when it first came out, but not recently!

This one used Brilliant Blue & Very Vanilla. The tags were from a tag sheet. The flowers are Glorious Green & Yoyo Yellow. The edges are sponged: green by the stems, blue around the rest of the edge, yellow on the tag. I also added Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the flowers & butterflies, but it's hard to see on the scan.

This one is much prettier in real life, the pastel do not scan well. The colors are Sage Shadow, Lavender Lace, Barely Banana, Almost Amethyst & Rose Romance. The ribbon was the narrow organdy Orchid. I also added Dazzling Diamonds to the flowers and butterflies.

Hope you are all having a great weekend. We need it to STOP storming & raining here! We've had around 4 inches since last night, and more is on the way. I hear it rumbling! I'm off here to keep an eye on it, and try to get some sleep!

Flower Filled

This is one set I did not use enough! It is alot of fun and the possibilities are endless! Here are two swap samples I did do with it.

The first is a tad more simple than the second. The colors are Pixie Pink, Yoyo Yello & Green Galore. I stamped the vine image diagonally across the background and added the flowers. Stamped the boots in Pixie, added the stems & flowers, and added yellow eyelets to the center of the Pixie Flowers. Stamped "friend" from EFP on the boots. Added a strip of Apple Green grosgrain for an accent.

The second uses Cameo Coral, Certainly Celery, Almost Amethyst, Apricot Appeal & Whisper White. For the back layer, I randomly stamped the small flower image, up to 3 times without reinking for a varied image. The celery layer is stamped with Canvas. I added the line across the top and both across the bottom with the mat pack and paper piercer. Direct to paper on the edges. The vase is stamped & filled, edged with Cameo Coral and layered on Almost Amethyst. A very small piece of ribbon was tied around the vase. I only recommend this if you are a VERY patient person! Lastly, a small thanks from EFP was added as a tab.

I hope to actually stamp tomorrow night. I have all my prior year sets out & priced for a garage sale next Friday. I have yet to pull the sets on this year's list. I'll do that once I have these garage sale ones out of my room!

Happy Friday!

On Gossamer Wings

Well, so much for my hope in the last post that this set would stay. I didn't figure it would, but there's always hope right? I have decided that since time is pretty limited these days (end of the school year for my boys, warm weather, etc) that I will go through my card sample baskets and pull out and post some of my favorites on nights when I don't have time to create! I'm trying to sort through & price prior year retired images for a garage sale next weekend too!

First up for samples is On Gossamer Wings!

This first one uses the Spot on Glossy technique. I'm sure that isn't the "official" name, but it's what comes to me at this moment. Basically, you choose 3-4 spots, coordinating colors. Take the first and randomly press the spot onto glossy white cardstock. Wipe(smudge around) until dry with Kleenex or paper towel. Repeat with 2nd, 3rd & 4th colors. You should end with a collage of colors. Do NOT decide if you like it or not until you stamp an image (in Basic Black or Black Stazon) over the colors!!! I used Soft Subtles in this sample. If memory serves it was Mellow Moss, Bashful Blue, Apricot Appeal, and (maybe) Barely Banana. Canvas is used for the background, Bashful Blue & Basic Black CS accents. Gingham ribbon in Moss with Black knot. Don't forget the verse in Basic Black.




I did this one for a swap, probably New Catalog themed. The colors are the same as my last post, Elegant Eggplant, Certainly Celery & Apricot Appeal. I embossed the image & verse with Black Detail EP. The image is watercolored with the above colors. I went over the finished image with Future/Pearl Ex in Micro Pearl for shimmer. For those that don't know, Pearl Ex is a powder that gives a luster or shimmer. Micro Pearl is the neutral color, so applied over the watercolored image made it shimmery! The Future (in an Aqua Painter, applied by dipping the tip in the PE jar) sets the powder. Email me if this is clear as mud and I'll try to explain better! The background is the small rectangle image from this set, stamped multiple times, in rows. Cream grosgrain is the final accent along with sponged edged.

Retirement List

The List has been posted by SU!® Wow!! It's a big one! Choose a link below based on format:

Sorted by Set Name

Sorted by Page Number

I haven't taken time yet to go thru my sets, but it's going to be a big hit! Guess we can look forward to great new things in the NEW Idea Book and Catalog!!!