Blossoms in Bloom - a catalogue partial case

One of the new bundles in the new, now available 2020 -2021 Annual Catalogue, is the Blossoms in Bloom bundle.  On page 51 of the catalogue is a picture of a card made with this bundle. This is my take of that card:

For this card I used various shades of purple and I love the effect.
The bundle consists of a photopolymer stamp set, and coordinating layered blossom dies.  Using thick whisper white card stock, I die cut the two layers of the dies.
The 'thicker' layer was coloured using the following Stampin' Blends:  Purple Posy, Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grape, Rococco Rose, Old Olive

The thinner layer was coloured with the lighter of the shades, but the centers of the flowers were coloured darker.

When done the bottom layer was added to a Thick Whisper White card base using small dimensionals placed in the back of the flower centers.  Tombo was applied to the top layer using a sponge and it was added to the other layer matching the flowers and leaves.

The sentiment is from the stamp set.

Supplies Used:
Stamp:  Blossoms in Bloom
Inks:  Black Memento, Stampin' Blends (Purple Posy, Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grape, Rococco Rose, Old Olive)
Papers:  Thick Whisper White, Old Olive
Accessories:  Many Layered Blossoms Dies, Dimensionals

Welcome Easter meets Grace's Garden

These cards were made for my grandchildren.

Using the masking technique, the images from "Welcome Easter" were inserted into "Grace's Garden".

Each card is slightly different from the other - they are the same, yet different.  Each card features one of the characters from "Welcome Easter" and some of the images from Grace's garden.  All feature the fence, but the flowers differ as does the placement of the sentiment.

All are coloured using Stampin' Blends.

All are top folding A2 cards with a Thick Whisper White base.  Two of the focal piece were matted with Highland Heather card stock; the third with Daffodil Delight.

Below are the three cards.

Card #1   The Easter Bunny

This little bunny is so "hoppy", looking as if he just hopped through the gate.

Card #2   The Little Lamb

Notice the cotton fluff placed on his head giving him more of a woolly appearance.

Card #3  The Easter chick

 Did he hide the Easter eggs in the garden behind him?  Only the robin knows for sure.

Best Catch in a Diorama card

Diorama a noun that means . A three-dimensional display of a scenery, often having a painted background in front of which models are arranged, or a small scaled replica of a scene.

There are a plethora of tutorials for Diorama cards but the one I found most helpful was made by Amanda Fowler, an Australian Demonstrator.  You can find her video tutorial here

There are also various types of Diorama cards. Some have two layers; some are three. All have an aperture through which the scene is viewed.

My Diorama card has three layers, a front and middle piece through which an opening is die cut and a back piece upon which the scene is built.

Although it looks bulky, it lies flat for mailing. But because this makes it a larger size, an envelope was made using the Envelope Punch Board.

From front to back, the layers are as follows:

Front layer:  Crumb Cake
Middle Layer:  Old Olive
Back Layer:  Thick Whisper White 

Two different sizes of the Stitched Rectangle framelits were used to die cut the apertures in the front and middle layers - the smaller framelit for the middle layer.

On the back layer, a mountain and water scene was created providing a lovely back drop for the fisherman who was casting his fishing line in the water. The Waterfront stamp was used to create the mountains.

This is a view from the left side of the Diorama card. You can see the 3 layers as well as the embellishments on the outside.

The 3 small fish were held in a bunch with Old Olive linen thread , the fishing hook  looks like its holding them up.

Above is the left side, which displays the 3D look of the card.  The cluster of reeds and bull rushes, adhered to the top and middle layer help to create this 3D look.  The rainbow trout adhered to the top of the card looks like it has jumped out of the water

Before entering the water, the fisherman left an extra hat which I placed on one corner of the sentiment, which was also die cut with the Stitched Rectangle Framelit.  The basket is waiting for his catch.

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Best Catch, Waterfront
Inks:  Black Memento, Stampin' Blends, Basic Gray,  Balmy Blue, Pacific Point, Mossy Meadow, Soft Suede
Accessories:  Best Catch Framelit dies, Stitched Rectangle Framelit dies, Old Olive Linen Thread

Hey Love, Hey Valentine - an Occasions catalogue sneak peak

I know!  You don't have to take my temperature!  I am well aware that we are a week away from Christmas and here I am making a Valentine's Day card!

Frankly, it's not so crazy, as classes start early in the New Year and I am getting a head start on making class samples. Plus you're getting a sneak peak at one of the stamps in the Occasions catalogue, as well as some of the new DSP.

I made this card using a template on the Stamparatus enabling me to stamp this little Valentine's Day character in a circle. And let me say that the new cling stamps work just as marvellously with the Stamparatus as with the stampin' blocks.

After stamping the bird in a circle, I die cut the 4" square with a circle framelit and matted it with a Scallop circle in Lovely Lipstick card stock.  Each image was coloured with  a Stampin' Blend (Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, and Lovely Lipstick).  Some red glitter was added to each of the little hearts held in the little bird's beak.  Once the glitter was dry, I added the sentiment, which I flagged at both ends, in the circle center using dimensionals.  A small real red ribbon was adhered to the lower end.

The 5 by 5" Lovely Lipstick card base is matted with Whisper White, upon which I added a strip of "All My Love" DSP which has some Red Glimmer Glitter paper added to the op and bottom.

The art piece is added to the card front using dimensionals.

Supplies Used:

Stamp:  Hey Love

Inks:  Black Memento, Stampin' Blends

Papers:  Lovely Lipstick, Whisper White, All My Love DSP, Red Glitter 

Accessories:  Stamparatus, Circle framelits, Scallop Circle Framelits, Dimensionals, Red Glitter, 1/8" Real Red satin ribbon.

Santa Pop & Twist card

It's been a while since I made a Pop & Twist card.  Tonight I thought I'd make up for lost time.
Actually I didn't think I would have the energy to make anything tonight as I was absolutely exhausted from my trip to Toronto.
The traffic was heavy in both direction, compounded by heavy rain and fog.  The way home was absolutely horrendous because not only was it raining and foggy, I hit rush hour traffic.

But I surprised myself with a burst of creativity.

Here's what I came up with:

The card front features Santa making a list and he has placed his official seal on the transactions.  I rounded the art piece's corners and matted it with Cherry Cobbler card stock also with its corners rounded. It was adhered to the card front matted with Santa's Workshop DSP.  At the bottom is a 1" belly band which holds the card closed.

The card opens in a pop, twist manner ( thus the name for the technique) to reveal 4 panels in the middle, and an image at the top and a place to write a sentiment in the bottom.

This is a close up of the two panels on the left. All images were stamped using the stamparatus and coloured with Stampin' Up's new blends. The snowflakes were die cut using the Blizzard Thinlets.

This is a close up of the two right panels and below is a close  up of the top of the inside of the card.

Both the top and bottom of the card have the Santa's workshop DSP adhered to them.  On the top I used the stitched oval framelet to die cut the Santa in the chair image directly from the DSP, and then matted it with a slightly large Cherry Cobbler oval.

On the bottom I placed a blank oval for a sentiment.

Supplies Used:

Stamp:  Signs of Santa

Inks:  Black Memento, Blends 

Papers:  Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Santa's Workshop DSP, Glimmer paper, 

Accessories:  Blizzard Thinlets, Corner Rounded punch, Dazzling diamonds, Stitched Oval Framelits, Layering Oval Framelits, Stamparatus.

Thinking of You with Count Your Blessings - Try Stampin or Not on Tuesday #344

This week's theme with the sketch challenge with Try Stampin' or Not on Tuesday #344 is "Autumn".  Autumn cards make wonderful Sympathy or Thinking of You cards so for this sketch challenge I made a "Thinking of You" card.

The sketch this week is by Kaylin.

The Chocolate Chip card stock base is layered with a Very Vanilla layer with stamped images covering it.  The edges are also sponged with Crumb Cake ink.

Near the bottom I added a strip of  Painted Autumn DSP that has images  of acorns all over it - fitting in very nicely with the images on my art piece.

On top of that is an angled piece of the reverse side of the DSP, and the two art piece panels are added to that.

Inside the art piece panels I separated the image of the acorn from "Count Your Blessings" and coloured them with the new Stampin' Blends alcohol markers. To add some glitter I added Clear Wink of Stella to the images.

All edges are sponged with Crumb Cake ink.

The sentiment is from "Basket of Wishes", stamped in Chocolate Ink and added to the card front with dimensionals.

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Count Your Blessings, Basket of Wishes

Inks:  Black Memento, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Stampin' Blends (Old Olive, Crumb Cake)

Papers:  Chocolate chip, Very Vanilla, Painted Autumn DSP

Accessories:  Dimensionals, Clear Wink of Stella.