Friday, February 20, 2015

Irresistibly Yours Lotus Blossom

Hi friends! Today's card is one we will be making this Saturday, for my monthly stamp camp. As you know, it's Sale-a-Bration time at Stampin' Up! I am showing you two of the products you can get FREE during this wonderful promotion.  Irresistibly Yours Specialty Designer Series Paper is a beautiful, 12 x 12 set of papers that has glossy white patterns that are revealed when you sponge, color, spritz, or brayer color onto it.  You get 12 sheets; 2 each of 6 designs. I adore this paper because it's like opening a present. You don't know what you're going to get until you finish opening up the box. I used this paper for the background behind the Lotus Blossom. The depth of coloring is up to you and for this card, I chose to have darker and lighter shades, using Wisteria Wonder sponging.
The Lotus Blossom Stamp Set is a 3 step stamp. There's a tab on each stamp, allowing you to match up your layers.  Some people prefer to use all one color and stamp full strength color for the first layer, then "stamp off" the other 2 layers to achieve the look.  I chose to use Perfect Plum for my first layer (darker shade) then Wisteria Wonder, stamped off once for the 2nd; then stamped off a 2nd time for the lightest shade. There's no right or wrong way; you can start with your lighter shade and go darker too. Either way, it's a great look, with a lot of options. The card is finished off with Wisteria Wonder seam binding and a few Candy Dots from the Subtles collection.
If you don't already have a demonstrator, please email me and I'll send you a catalog.  If you're local here in Arizona, please join me for our monthly stamp camps and earn free products.
Thanks for stopping by today! I love to read your comments, so let me know what you think.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Valentine Treat

Hello again and welcome!  I hope you're having a great day.  I realized it's going to be Valentine's Day in just a few days, so I thought I should share with you my version of a treat pouch that I saw on Brian King's blog.  You can see Brian's original post HERE:  http://stampwithbrian.com/2015/02/04/love-it-inking-royalty-blog-hop
Here's my version:
Made from a standard A2 envelope, this is one of the easiest and quickest projects I've made in a long time.  I whipped up 12 of these in less than 30 minutes.  They were a big hit when I met the girls for coffee last Sunday.  Filled with 2 Dove dark chocolate hearts, everyone was smiling.
Because I hate to throw anything away, I thought I had to do something with the left over pieces of scraps, so here's that version:
When I cut the full layers for the first photo, I took the scraps and adhered them together and added a large and some small hearts from Real Red card stock.
Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you have a great week and a Happy Valentine's Day.


Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Lotus Blossom Try Outs

Hi friends, and welcome to my blog today.  I hope you are having a great day.  As you know, it's that time of the year when Sale-a-bration gives us so many wonderful free choices. Any order of $ 50 allows us to pick something free from the Sale-a-bration catalog.  One of the most ordered and used sets is Lotus Blossom.  It's everywhere!  I was bound and determined to work on this little gem, until I got the knack of using 3 stamps, to create one look.  Two step stamping has always been a favorite of mine. So why not 3 step stamping? This set has a tab on each flower image, so that you can line them up to complete your flower.  Here's my card:

Another free item is the beautiful Irresistibly Yours Designer Series Paper.  This white paper has a glossy white pattern that's perfect for sponging, spritzing, brayering and coloring.  Once you color a section, the white embossed images are revealed.  I've used both products in this card today.
I love to sponge, so I haven't tried using a brayer, spritzer or coloring, but all the videos I've seen make it look really easy.  I started with Crisp Cantaloupe, Crushed Curry and a bit of Strawberry Slush.  I used Blackberry Bliss and Perfect Plum for my flower, stamping off once.  I'm still practicing that Lotus Blossom....maybe one day I'll get it just perfect! :-)