5/25/2020

Painted Pineapple #keepstamping

Hey all! I have FINALLY made it back to the stamp room. Crazy times for sure. Staying home except for work and one shopping trip per week. Enjoyed having both boys home for Mother's Day weekend (first time in a very long time!). We've also gotten the garden in and about half mulched with grass, flowers planted and #2 son graduated from College! Super proud of him, just wish things were open so he could find a plan for his next chapter and get started!

I spent this rainy weekend sorting the retiring items out of my collection to focus on the new catalog which starts very soon! Left them in sight so they can still be used though! Some will stay, some need to be parted with!!

OK, today's creation for one of the Stampin' Up! #keepstamping challenges. Use something from the retirement lists. How about a few "somethings"! Two versions below.



Using the retiring sets Painted Harvest and Colorful Seasons, and retiring In Colors Pineapple Punch, Call Me Clover and Lovely Lipstick. Not a new layout for me, but definitely a new color combo!


Same except for the leaf image used. Card base is Pineapple Punch, accent layer of Lovely Lipstick and background of Shimmery White. Stamped the flower "background" in Pineapple, top layer in Lipstick, center in Smoky Slate and leaf in Call Me Clover. Dots over the center of the flower and random accents are also Smoky Slate. Ribbon knotted around in Pineapple Punch.  Very bright and cheery, love how it came out!

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope to be back soon and more regular!


5/05/2020

Stylish Sunflower Antique

Hey all, Happy Tuesday! Hope your day was good! Work day for me and now trying to unwind! Looks pretty nice outside now, was super windy earlier. Probably should go cut some asparagus before I call it a day!

A quick note before fun. See that "Antique" in the title? That is your code that I'm digging out a retired set and featuring it. I'm not getting away from current or new stuff, just having some fun with this being at home lots of extra days. Also hoping I can inspire you to do the same and #keepstamping. For the most part here, I stick with current SU! stuff only. But, I do have a decent stash of retired stuff that I don't touch. Now seems to be the time to break that trend. I do want to see what you're stamping too, or at least hear from you that I'm inspiring something creative! Pull out an old favorite and give it a go!! This first set I picked inspired me to try several things I haven't done for years. A couple need revisited before they are shareable :) but I still had fun, and I'm stamping. Helps my sanity for sure in this crazy time! And stay tuned...I just placed a preorder from the upcoming NEW catalog. Guess what was tops on my list? Remember where you are..... a NEW Sunflower set!! 

Ok, this is an oldie but a goodie. I went through all my retired sets, well the ones in my cupboard that I keep, and pulled out the sunflower sets. I'm thinking there may have been more along the way then what currently reside here, but I found some good ones! First up is Stylish Sunflower. And, it's even more of a classic than I knew.

Date on it...1995. OMG, just realized my oldest son is that age! From the old catalogs I have, it appears it was a hostess set first, then joined the regular line for a few years. Here is the full set


I've always liked the look of it, but don't remember using it much. Maybe I'm just old, or maybe I never have much! First thing I thought of was marker to stamp to get multiple colors.


A word of warning, this technique is a little rough on your markers. **Stampin Write Markers by the way, NOT Blends or any Alcohol markers!! If you're picky about your brush tip, be extra gentle or skip this! It didn't used to be such a big deal when you could buy individual markers, but now you have to buy the whole family. To do this, take the brush tip and use the side to go over the areas of the stamp you want to ink. On this one, I used Crushed Curry on the petals, Soft Suede on the flower center, Garden Green on the stem and leaves. Give the stamp a good HUFF (breathe one it!) and then stamp it. **If you haven't used the stamp for a while, do one first on scratch paper to get the stamp to hold the ink! I almost always do one on scratch paper before stamping anything! The pot and butterfly were stamped using the Terracotta Tile ink pad. I also cheated and used my (retired) Stamp-a-ma-jig to place the pot where I wanted it. Sorry, I'm #oldschool. I also used the checkered image and went around the edge of the card. Lots of work, but looks kinda cool! Saying from a current set, Well Said on the Classic Label punch with an accent of Soft Suede and Linen Thread. Card base btw, is Terracotta Tile, accent of Soft Suede and Vanilla background. Saying attached with mini dimensionals.

Next up, daubers. Several of the samples in the old catties seemed to just use ink sponged over a dark color. So, here you go!


Such a happy card! Card base is Crushed Curry, accent of Early Espresso, Vanilla background. I stamped the images in Early Espresso, then used Sponge Daubers to apply colored ink, after letting the Espresso dry! Flower center is Crushed Curry, around the petals Daffodil Delight, stem/leaves Mossy Meadow, pot Crumb Cake and butterfly Flirty Flamingo. Saying from Peaceful Moments on a Stitched Rectangle die, daubered the edge with Crushed Curry and attached with mini dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by all! Work again tomorrow for me, then off Thursday but it's shopping day. That isn't always fun but unfortunately necessary. We'll see how the day goes, I may not be back for a while as oldest son is planning to join us for the weekend. Haven't seen him since early March so very looking forward to the weekend.

5/04/2020

Old to New: Calypso Butterfly

Hey all, morning! Looks like rain is headed our way, maybe a thunder storm or too as well. Not upset by that!! Starting the week with another Old to New, Calypso Butterfly. This one is very similar, except for the stamps. I liked the original, still maybe a little better than the remake! Here is the new


And the original, which was from one of the open houses I used to do. Detailed post here from the open. 


Card base is Calypso Coral, top layer also of Calypso. Edges of the top layer were scored to frame the image. The flower image was stamped on the top layer behind the butterfly, then again on scrap paper over the butterfly. Curl the butterfly slightly over a pencil or paper piercer, attach with dimensionals and add pearls. 4 more birthday cards done!! Better get to mailing some :)

Thanks for stopping by today! Plan to work around the house today and hopefully land back in the stamp room. There *MIGHT* be some retired sunflower stamps hanging around!

5/03/2020

April Pumpkin - My Wonderful Family

Hey all! Hope everyone is well and staying busy! Made it to the stamp room last night and worked on the April Paper Pumpkin. A little different, but fun cards!

Let's start with a peek at the stamp set, ink spot and accessory.


Then the kit packet and flyer (instructions are inside)


A closer look at the stamp set


And the contents spread out on my desk!

Both cards are below. This kit was 8 cards, 2 sets of four. They are both unique folds. This one opens right at the saying, the green is folded up from the bottom, white down from the top. You can see I crinkled it a bit on the scanner, it didn't want to lay flat! Should have put the saying just a tad lower!



This one is a tri fold, there is a fold you can't see. The saying will lift up/open to the left. 


On the top one, the tree was partially printed and I stamped over it twice with the tree image. Here is the before

There is a flower image in the stamp that lines up with the flowers preprinted in the image. Honestly, I couldn't see it perfectly but it worked pretty well. Two tree images to make the full tree. The trunk was punched out and attached with glue dots, birds attached with dimensionals and gold adhesive dots for accent.

The second is a printed saying, that was honestly a little hard to cover up! Here is the full printed verse


The leaf was punched out and attahced. Ribbon accent under the saying and a butterfly. Just realized I forgot the blue adhesive dots on these cards! Oops, guess I was getting tired! I will add them.

Thanks for stopping by! The next Paper Pumpkin is sold out, but if you're interested in trying a month or two, sign up here and you will start with the June mailing, just after the 10th of the month!

5/01/2020

Old to New: Sunflower

So love how these turned out! Heart that Sunflower background stamp! I really need to do this more often..... and actually an idea is running around in my head. Sunflowers are my thing, and I'm wondering how many different sets are in my "retired" stamp section? Might be time to take a look, and create with them!! Two versions of this card because of the variance in the DSP!



Loved this DSP! Botanical print, with some pictures. Really hoping I find some more hidden in my room somewhere :) This is an "Old to New" so below is the "Old". It was a "Poppin Pastels" technique. Versamark ink, and pastels (chalks) applied with a dauber. Details here on the original card. 


Probably about the same amount of work! On the "old" one, we inked the stamp with Versamark ink and then "dabbed" on Pastels (chalk). The Versamark works to catch and set the chalk. 

On the new ones, I inked the stamp using Sponge Daubers. Daffodil Delight for the petals, Crushed Curry around the outside edge, Chocolate Chip in the center, Early Espresso very center. It really went faster than what it sounds like it would! Chocolate Chip card base, accent layer of Daffodil Delight and background DSP. Ribbon also in Chocolate Chip. Sorry, so many retired items. But I hope I'm inspiring you to get out this "old" stamp or something similar and stamp! And, MAIL the cards you make!! Especially now in this trying time!! Saying on these new ones is from the Peaceful Moments set (in the Mini Catalog), stamped on a Very Vanilla Everyday Label, accented with a Chocolate Chip Everyday Label. *The Chocolate Chip one was cut in half with a paper cutter and attached to each end of the Very Vanilla. Attach with dimensionals over the ribbon. 

Skipping product details since so much is retired, but contact me if any questions!! Thanks for stopping by today, hoping to be back soon :) Happy Weekend!!