Thank You

     Hello!  Today's card was inspired by mandypandy's Fresh Vintage CAS card over at SCS (here).  I loved everything about Mandy's card so to make it my own I substituted  Elements of Style for the main image and changed the colors.
     I absolutely love the new Framelits dies and was so excited to hear the Stampin' Up! will be adding to this collection in the future! 

Stamps: Elements of Style, Thank You Kindly
Ink: Old Olive, Regal Rose, StazOn Black
Paper: Whisper White, Rose Red
Tools & Accessories: Big Shot, Labels Collection Framelits dies, Beautiful Wings Embosslit die, Stampin' dimensionals, pearls

Bright Birthday Wishes

Hello!  Today's card was inspired by Debra Burgin's Sunny Birthday card over at her blog, Heartfelt Inkspiration.  Her use of vellum and the striking color combination caught my eye immediately.  To make this card more of my own I omitted the polka dotted label and scallop oval punch, opting for the modern label and large oval punches instead. 

    I stamped the main image with StazOn black and then used blender pens and ink to color in the flowers.  The white card stock was layered onto Basic Gray and vellum was adhered to the white.
     When using vellum it's important to remember that traditional adhesives, such as SNAIL, will show through on your project.  To avoid this faux pas I use vellum adhesive, a specially designed adhesive that is invisible under vellum.  You can find it in the adhesive section of your local craft store.

Stamps: Elements of Style, Bring on the Cake
Ink: StazOn Black, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive
Paper: Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Vellum

Tools & Accessories: Blender pen, pearls, oval extra-large & modern label punches, vellum adhesive (non-SU), dimensionals

Birthday Elements

      Hello!  Today's card is a CASE of a sympathy card I made earlier which was inspired by the many wonderful examples on SplitCoastStampers.

     I love the simplicity of black and white and I think the Real Red color just makes the card pop.  Although Stampin' Up! now carries Basic Pearls (pg 188, $4.95 for 150) the pearls on my card were purchased at Michael's and adhered with a dot of Tombow Multipurpose Glue (pg 197, $3.95).

Stamp Sets: Elements of Style, Well Scripted (retired)

Ink: StazOn black, Real Red & Certainly Celery Stampin' Write Markers
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black

Tools & Accessories: Stampin' dimensionals, peals (non-SU)

The Card That Took 2 Days to Make...

     ... and not because it's a technically difficult card but because I am so darn indecisive.  The finished product is nothing like my original idea.  In fact, the only element that is the same is the stamp set. 
     I began this card several days ago when I tried to use the Scallop Square Bigz die for something other than a rag quilt purse.  I had it all planned out: a 4 1/2"x 4 1/2" card using pinks and grays and blues.  I stamped the flower image and colored it in with a blender pen and added a sentiment when I decided it needed something a bit more.  Buttons, ribbon, pearls and crystals just didn't look right... hmmmm.  Why not try cracked glass?  So off to Michael's I go in search of Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (besides the UTEE I ended up coming home with 2 pairs of flip-flops, sponges, black embossing powder, and stickers).  But once I thought about it, I really didn't like the idea of the sentiment being under the UTEE and thought it would look better as a separate layer.  So back to the drawing board I went...  and this is what I came up with:  a traditional 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card in shades of purples and greens using the cracked glass technique.

     This was the first time I had attempted to use UTEE and I really liked it.  It's used the same way as traditional embossing powder (VersaMark, powder, heat tool) but you do 3-4 four layers instead of just one.  I found an awesome video tutorial on it by Beate over at Split Coast Stampers and it helped me a lot.  I wasn't quick enough to add the additional layer of UTEE after the heating so I ended up adding VersaMark between the layers.
     Making the glass "crack" made me a bit anxious.  After all, I had just spent a good hour or so deciding what I was going to make (for the second time) and painstakingly colored all the flowers and leaves with a blender pen.  It bent easily but didn't really crack like it was supposed to.  It's been quite humid in NH for the past week or so and I found that sticking the cardstock in the freezer for a few minutes made it easier to crack. 
     But I think the most exciting thing about this card was how I learned to use the "micro" button on my camera for close-ups!  It's been a year and I'm still figuring out how to use it.  Maybe I should actually read the owners manual... nah, it's more fun to find out as you go along.

Stamps: Elements of Style
Paper: Mellow Moss (retired), Perfect Plum, Very Vanilla
Ink: Mellow Moss, Perfect Plum, VersaMark
Tools & Accessories: Blender pen, ultra thick embossing enamel (not SU!), dimensionals, vanilla taffeta ribbon

Elements of Sympathy

     I love to stamp but the one card I hate to make is a sympathy card.  Unfortunately, I needed to make one recently for a co-worker of my mother's.
     This card was inspired by many cards on Split Coast Stampers that use the Elements of Style set and a similar layout.  The flower image was stamped in black Staz-On and colored in with a blending pen and Bravo Burgundy and Always Artichoke ink.  The front of the envelope was also stamped with the flower image and colored.

Stamps: Elements of Style, Thoughts & Prayers

Paper: Whisper White, Bravo Burgundy
Ink: Black Staz-On, Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke
Tools & Accessories: Dimensionals