(Edited on March 14th:  Still Addinktive is encouraging their readers to link up any projects that we have created using the Secret Garden stamp set.  They are accepting either old or new projects.  Some challenges call this a ‘Linky Party’ or a ‘Product Blog Hop’ but they call it – Spot that Stamp Set.  I am linking the card below to their site.)

Thank you for joining us for the March Pals Blog Hop! Today the Stampin’ Pretty Pals are excited to share new ideas and projects to get you ready for spring.  You should have just left Stop # 7 on the Hop:  Debbie Crowley at “expressively deb”.  If so, you are in the right spot.  If you get off track, the full blog lineup at the end of this post will help you move from blog to blog.

Harbingers of Spring

When I think of spring, I think of  the “Three B’s”… Butterflies, Blossoms and Birds.  So in keeping with the theme of today’s hop, I decided to include all three on this Spring card.  This card will be heading to a special couple in Chicago.  How will it get there unscathed, you wonder?  It will be tucked away safely in one of Stampin’ Up!’s Clear Mount Stamp Cases, which will be placed in a padded envelope.  I hope they like it…and I hope you do, too!

The Stampin’ Schach Design Tips
This finished card measures 4-1/4″ wide by 5-1/2″ long.

• Butterflies, blossoms, and birds!  The Blossom from Secret Garden was stamped multiple times and given extra dimension by snipping layers and popping them up on Stampin’ Dimensionals.  As for the Beautiful Wings Embosslit Butterflies, they too float above the surface on dimensionals and Glue Dots. The Leaves and Bird are courtesy of the Bird Builder Punch.  Of course, Basic Pearls are the “pearl-fect” fillers!

• Banners! Pool Party Card Stock banners are given texture by zipping them through the Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.  Snippets of Sale-A-Bration Pool Party Ribbon and Basic Pearls complete the look.

• Softly and sweetly! The background, which was randomly stamped with the Bordering on Romance Posies and heat embossed with Pool Party Stampin’ Emboss Powder, achieves a sweet softness when covered with Vellum.  It was adhered with SNAIL Adhesive in places out of view…under the banners, under the sentiment, and under the collage of flowers.

Blog Candy

You may have noticed the cute little egg graphic at the beginning of this post.  It means that I am a Hopper who is offering Blog Candy.  Because you and your comments mean a ton to me, and because I want to thank you a ton, I am offering the following:

• Oh, Whale Clear Stamp Set
• Happy Whale Clearlit
• 12 –  6″ x 6″  sheets of Sunshine and Sprinkles Designer Series Paper

If you are interested in winning this blog candy, please be sure to leave a comment on this post by 6 PM CST on Thursday, March 14th.  One winner will be randomly chosen from the comments received.  The winner will be announced on Friday, and will need to email me a mailing address within 24 hours.  Blog Candy can be shipped to US addresses only, due to Stampin’ Up!’s guidelines.

Won’t you please leave me a comment and let me know what you think of today’s card? Your comments are important to me, and I do read each and every one.  As always, if you ever have a question about the cards I create or the techniques that I use, I am only an email away.   The next stop is #9 – Katy McGloin at Just Fun Stamping.  Until next time…

1. Dawn Tidd at Tiddbits from Dawn
2. Mary Fish at Stampin’ Pretty
3. Nicole Picadura at Scraps and Stamps
4. Shannon Hokanson at Paper Works 
5. Debbie Mageed at Scrappin’ and Stampin’
6. Diane Roberts at Score at Four and a Quarter
7. Debbie Crowley at expressively deb
8. Ann Schach at The Stampin’ Schach
9. Katy McGloin at Just Fun Stamping
10. Nicole Watt at Impressions By Nicole
11. Kerry Willard Bray at stampgoodness
12. Brian King at Stamp with Brian
13. Maggie Mata at Maggie Made Cards
14. Jennifer Takacs at Stamped in Full 
15. Carmen Sublasky at The Creative Stamptuary
16. Debra Simonis at Deb’s Stampin’ Grounds
17. Linda Callahan at Stampin’ Seasons 
18. Kim Czenszak at Live Love Stamp
19. Susan Itell at Simple Stampin’
20. Julie Trevett-Smith at The Stampin’ Affair
21. Rae Harper at Wild West Paper Arts
22. Ginger Toivonen at Ginger Stamps
23. Amy Williams at Stampin’ on the Range
24. Shannon Jaramillo at ezpeasy cards
25. Amy L. Lazzell at Just A Thought…Cards by Amy
26. Penny Nichols at Sierra Stampin!
27. Sherrie Gross at Stampin’ Sunshine
28. Peggy Noe at Pretty Paper Cards
29. Maxine Conrad at Stamp to the Max

Stamp Set:  Secret Garden, Bordering on Romance, Sweet Essentials;  Ink:  Pool Party, Rose Red, VersaMark; Designer Series Paper:  Fan Fair, Floral District; Card Stock:  Whisper White, Pool Party, White Vellum; Tools:  Heat Tool, Pool Party Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Paper Snips, Bird Builder Punch, Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Glue Dots;  Glitz and Glam:  Pool Party Ribbon (Sale-A-Bration), Basic Pearls, Paper Doilies, Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons

It’s Sunday, and time to play with The Paper Players! This week, the talented Nance Leedy has a fun quartet of colors for us:  Regal Rose, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, and Early Espresso.  I thought these colors would be perfect for an Easter card, so I pulled out the Everybunny stamp set, and paper-pieced to my heart’s content! I hope you enjoy today’s Bunny in a Balloon card!

The Stampin’ Schach Design Tips:  Piecing
This finished card measures 5-1/2″ wide by 4-1/4″ long.

• Piece, baby! The Bunny in the Balloon image was stamped four times onto the following papers:  Whisper White card stock, Regal Rose Polka Dots from the Brights Designer Series Paper Stack, Lucky Limeade Pin Dots from the Sunshine and Sprinkles collection, and Early Espresso Newsprint from the Neutrals Designer Series Paper Stack.  I then used my trusty Paper Snips, and snipped away, using the Whisper White image as my base.  Multipurpose Liquid Glue was the perfect choice to adhere the smaller pieces.

• Buttons and banners! An Early Espresso button grounds the trio of banners and the sentiment.  In keeping with my campaign to “Stamp Out Naked Buttons”,  Lucky Limeade Baker’s Twine makes the perfect little bow.

• Pull it together! Look for a common design element and run with it.  For this card, it’s all about the circles:  Polka dotted paper in two hues, pearls, a button, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, circles on the balloon.  The result is “cohesiveness”, instead of  “non-cohesive mess”!

 

I want to share a sweet little picture I snapped while writing up this post.  Big brother Brody loves his little sister, Lexi.  Yes…he does have his “arm” around her.  I wished I could have moved their toy out of the way, but I didn’t want to wake them.  You know what they say about sleeping dogs…

I hope that you enjoyed today’s card and design tips.  I know that I have been missing in action this past week.  Of all the crazy things, I injured myself shoveling the wet, heavy snow we had here in southeast Iowa. Because I wanted to save the doctor’s fees for important things like stamps and dog toys, I self-diagnosed.  But now I am second-guessing that decision, and I may have to break down and visit the doctor on Monday.

As always, your comments are important to me, so won’t you let me know what you think of today’s card? And of course, if you have any questions about the cards I create or the techniques I use, I am only an email away.  Until next time…

Sandy Mathis

Stamp Set:  Everybunny (W 122705, C 122707); Ink:  Early Espresso (126974); Card Stock:  Whisper White (100730), Early Espresso (119686), Pool Party (122924);  Designer Series Paper:  Brights Designer Series Paper Stack (117155), Neutrals Designer Series Paper Stack (117157), 2011 – 2013 In Color Designer Series Paper Stack (122384), Sunshine and Sprinkles (126922); Tools:  Big Shot (113439), Ovals Collection Framelits (129381), Labels Collection Framelits (125598), Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (119976), Paper Snips (103579); Glitz and Glam:  Basic Pearls (119247), Lucky Limeade Baker’s Twine (125572), Neutrals Designer Buttons (119743)

After spending a few days off being a “dog mom” with Lexi in St. Louis, it’s a great feeling to be able to say “It’s Thursday, and time to play with the Pals at Pals Paper Arts!”  This week we have a color challenge for you:  Raspberry Ripple, Calypso Coral and Crumb Cake.  I decided to jump right in with my favorite Calypso Coral pattern from the Tea for Two Designer Series Paper collection.  I hope you enjoy today’s “Corsage Card”!

The Stampin’ Schach Design Tips:  The Method Behind the Madness
This finished card measures 4-1/4″ wide by 5-1/2″ long.

• Bringin’ it together!  To mute the Calypso Coral color and to unify the color scheme, the Stippled Flower from Stippled Blossoms was inked in Raspberry Ripple and stamped onto this pattern from the Tea for Two Designer Paper collection.  Because it has an open, airy appearance, this stamp is a perfect choice for muting color and providing a subtle image.

• On the edge! Tired of the same old border?  I left a Raspberry Ripple edge on one side of the card, and embossed it using the Needlepoint Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. Notice how this edge pulls together the Raspberry Ripple flower center and the Raspberry Ripple banners?

• Pop-Up Posies pack a powerful punch!  The Calypso Coral Pop-Up Posy petals were stamped with the Stippled Flower image which had been inked with Raspberry Ripple.  Crumb Cake was used to distress the edges.  Of course, how could I resist adding a few Basic Pearls to the center?

•  Beautiful banners! To add a little twist on the Raspberry Ripple Designer Paper banners, I extended a string of pearls over the end of each.

I was bound and determined to meet this color challenge head-on, and truly try to mix Raspberry Ripple with Calypso Coral.  Although this was not a color combination I would have ever thought of on my own, I loved the challenge of making it work.

Lexi Lou won her class all four days! For her reward, she got her “Big Girl” show lead.  She told me she wanted it to be “blingy” with pink, her favorite color. Yep…that is brown, burgundy, and pink kangaroo leather paired with Swarovski crystals!  There are three bead clusters.  Doesn’t she have great taste?

I hope you enjoyed today’s card. Won’t you let me know what you think in today’s comment?  Your comments are important to me, and I do read each and every one. Of course, if you have any questions about the cards I create or the techniques I use, I am only an email away! Until next time…

Stamp Set:  Stippled Blossoms (W 126745,  C 126747 ); Inks:  Raspberry Ripple (126859), Crumb Cake (126975); Designer Series Paper:  Tea for Two (129311), 2012 – 2014 In Color Designer Series Paper Stack (126910);  Card Stock:  Raspberry Ripple (126842); Tools: Bird Builder Punch (117191), Sponge Dauber (102892); Glitz and Glam:  Basic Pearls (119247), Very Vanilla Seam Binding (120999), Pop Up Posies (131395)