It’s Sunday and time to play along with The Paper Players.  This week the talented Jaydee has prepared an awesome sketch for you.  So grab your stamps and inks and play along!  As for me, I decided to go vintage! I hope you enjoy today’s card, which features the Creative Elements and Established Elegance stamp sets.

 

• Mix and match! One of Stampin’ Up!’s strengths is how well everything coordinates with each other…even Designer Series Paper collections.  The Floral Flourish pattern is from the Mocha Morning Specialty collection.  The Petite Dots are from Beau Chateau.  The key to mixing and matching?  Stay within the same color family and mix large patterns with small patterns!

• Add dimension! The Flower from Creative Elements was inked in Crumb Cake and stamped once onto Very Vanilla Card Stock and twice onto a Pink Pirouette pattern from Beau Chateau.  They were then fussy cut, and stacked on each other using Stampin’ Dimensionals.

• Paper piece! The Dress Form from Established Elegance was paper pieced, once again using the same pattern from Beau Chateau.

• The unexpected! A Crumb Cake Scallop Circle was created using the Perfect Pennant Bigz Die. A snippet of Very Vanilla Seam Binding was laced through the openings.

• Pearls a-plenty! Basic Pearls adorn the Flourish paper, the Dress Form and the center of the Flower.

• Smooch it! Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz was sprayed over the paper to add a hint of sparkle.

• Top it with a bow!  Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon is so feminine, and the bow is the perfect finishing touch.

What do you think of today’s card?  Won’t you please let me know by leaving me a comment?  Your comments are important to me, and I do read each and every one of them.  Remember, if you have any questions about the cards that I create or the techniques that I use, I am only an email away! And for those of you affected by the hurricane and adverse weather out East, you are in my thoughts and prayers.  Please drop me an email, if you can, to let me know that you are safe.  Until next time…

Stamp Sets:  Creative Elements (W 122645, C 122647 ), Established Elegance (W 122530,  C 122532 );  Inks:  Crumb Cake (120030);  Designer Series Papers:  Beau Chateau (122357), Mocha Morning Specialty (122366);  Card Stock: Crumb Cake (120953), Very Vanilla (101650);  Tools:  Big Shot (113439), Perfect Pennants Bigz XL Die (123126), Paper Snips (103579), Sponge Daubers (102892), Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430); Glitz and Glam:  Victoria Crochet Trim (118480),  Very Vanilla Seam Binding (120999), Very Vanilla 5/8″ Satin Ribbon (117291), Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz (118772), Basic Pearls (119247)

August 31st marks the last day to order from the Summer Mini.  As always, I am sad to see my favorites leave.  The Open Sea is a classic with which I will not part, as is Sail Away.  I will definitely be saving these stamps for my own personal use, along with Strength and Hope.  My grandmother died of breast cancer, so this set supports a cause that is dear to my heart.  So please, enjoy this parade of cards from this year’s Summer Mini, in lieu of my usual Friday Buried Treasure.

On the Grow (W 123075, C 123077)

Strength and Hope  (W 118100, C 123660)

The Open Sea  (W 123030, C 123032)

Touch of Kindness  (W 123201, C 123203)

Proud Peacock (W 122020, C 122031)

Sunny Fun  (W 123040,  C 123042)

Sail Away (123013)

Remember,  the Summer Mini leaves us on August 31st, so do not hesitate to order those last few sets which you know you NEED! And to be perfectly honest, I am ordering a few more of the Sail Away stamps to give as gifts for some of my friends who are just starting out in stamping.  An inexpensive ($9.95) stamp, it is just perfect for a wide variety of occasions…especially those hard to design masculine cards.  Birthdays, Thank-Yous, Congrats, Thinking of You, and even Sympathy cards…this stamp fills the bill.  Keep it clean or dirty it up, whatever style strikes you at the moment!

Designer Paper Special

Don’t hesitate! Stampin’ Up!s “Buy Three…Get One Free” Designer Paper Special ends August 31st.  Now is the time to stock up!

• Choose from a wide variety of designs and colors available in both the 2011 – 2012 and the Summer Mini!

• SPECIALTY Designer Series Paper and Hostess Designer Series Paper are not eligible for this promotion.
• There is no limit to the number of free packages you can earn.
• Hurry! The promotion ends August 31, at 11:50 PM Mountain Time.

Christmas Lodge Card Winner

Congrats to Pauline, as randomly selected through Random. org, who gave us comment #1:

Pauline said…

I hope you enjoyed today’s retrospective.  It’s like the Circle of Life…one Mini leaves us, but another arrives to capture our hearts and creative souls.  Stay tuned…because I will be presenting a list of my Top Ten Picks from the Holiday Mini! Until next time…

It’s Thursday and time to play at Pals Paper Arts! We hope you will join us in our “Clean and Simple Soften the Edges” challenge.  Yep…some days you just need to take the edge off.  Whether you are rounding, accessorizing or even smudging them, we are challenging you to “soften those edges”!  For my first card created with the Christmas Lodge stamp set, I wanted to design a “rustic” style card.  Although I may have “over-distressed” a wee bit, I hope that you still enjoy it.

The Stampin’ Schach Design Tips: Rustic Meets Distressing

• Prepare the Paper!  Frostwood Lodge Designer Series Paper is absolutely stunning.  The only fault I find is that it incorporates Whisper White into its patterns.  For something rustic, I prefer paper which coordinates with Very Vanilla.  So I lightly brayered it with Crumb Cake ink to take the edge off the white.
• Emboss! The Christmas Lodge stamp was inked with VersaMark, stamped onto Very Vanilla card stock and then heat embossed with Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Emboss Powder. What could be yummier!

• Stitch!  Small holes were punched around the perimeter of the image oval.  Hemp Twine was then whipstitched around the edge.  Don’t worry if your holes are not spaced evenly…you are trying to achieve a “rustic” look…not a “perfect” look!

• Hemp Twine was also used to cross-stitch on the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch.

• Improvise!  I created the elongated Decorative Label mat behind the sentiment simply by punching out the label and tracing the design at the ends of an appropriate length of Very Vanilla card stock.  I then cut it out with scissors and sanded the edges to remove any bumps.

• Distress! The Waterspot stamp from French Foliage was inked in Soft Suede and stamped off once.  It was used to randomly stamped the image and the sentiment, re-inking and stamping off as needed.  Soft Suede and a Sponge Dauber was used to soften all of the edges.  The Color Spritzer Tool and a Soft Suede Stampin’ Write Marker provides instant speckles.

I spent a long time debating what to do at the interface between the two patterns of paper.  Originally I had a snippet of the new Early Espresso Quilted Ribbon.  But you know what…it was just too formal for the look I was trying to achieve.  So I covered it up the ribbon with the cross-stitched border, and I am much happier with the look.  What do you think?

Your comments are important to me, and I enjoy our little chats! Of course, if you ever have any questions about the cards that I create or the techniques I use, I am only an email away! Until next time…

Coming Soon:  Good-by to the Summer Mini; My Picks from the Holiday Mini

Stamp Sets:  Christmas Lodge (W 123767, C 123769), French Foliage (W 120845,  C 121166); Inks: VersaMark (102283), Crumb Cake (121030), Soft Suede (115657), Soft Suede Stampin’ Write Marker (120973); Designer Series Paper:  Frostwood Lodge (124002);  Card Stock: Soft Suede (115318), Naturals Ivory (101849), Very Vanilla (101650), Cherry Cobbler (119685);  Tools:  Heat Tool (100005), Sponge Dauber (102892), Color Spritzer Tool (107066), Decorative Label Punch (120907), Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch (119275), Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Emboss Powder (122949), Big Shot (113439), Ovals Orginals Die (114525), Brayer (102395), Corner Rounder (119871), 1/16″ Circle Handheld Punch (101227);  Glitz and Glam:  Chantilly Crochet Trim (118480), Hemp Twine (100982), Vintage Trinkets (118764)