Last Day To Earn Bonus Days Coupons | Letter Die-Cutting Technique That's A Show-Off!

How was your weekend, my joyful friends?  Ours was not packed with events but it was full of relaxing activities, mostly due to the rainy and cloudy weather.  Don't you just love those kinds of weekends?  Lots of reading, lots of baking and cooking, then out for some excellent pizza with my parents.  My dad likes to pass along non-fiction books after he's finished with them and he had another great one for me - The Heirs of The Founders by H.W. Brands.  I just finished The Splendid and The Vile by Erik Larson and am currently on Churchill's Trials but Larry Arnd.  I did pick up a couple fictional novels to read in-between.  The non-fiction books can get intellectually heavy and so I like to mix it up with lighter fare every now and then.  I've parked myself on the couch with a book and read for 12 hours straight way too many times to count - bookworm would accurately describe me!

ON TO STAMPING!  My team leader recently mailed us a challenge packet that had some pieces of Designer Series Paper, ribbon, and gems.  We were to make a card from the packet pieces and post it to the team page.  I LOVE when she does this!  I made 3 cards total and I'm posting the supplies and measurements below each card, so read on!

I saw this idea from Elizabeth Price of Seeing InkSpots and had to do it!  You use the Playful Alphabet letter dies (page 178 of the Annual Catalog) to die-cut an embossed piece of Whisper White cardstock.  You then attach it on top of any Designer Series Paper and all that wonderful pattern shows through!  BUT, I don't have the Playful Alphabet letter dies.  I do, however, own the Little Letters dies from years ago and they are exactly the same size and Playful Alphabet and the font is very similar. 

Calypso Coral cardstock - 4-1/2"x11", scored and folded in half at 5-1/2"

Playing With Patterns Designer Series Paper - 5-3/8"x4-1/8"

Whisper White cardstock - 4-1/2"x3"

Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing Folder - emboss the Whisper White piece before die-cutting

Playful Alphabet dies - either this die set or the retired Little Letters dies will work fine.  Both alphabets are the same size and of a block font.

Bumblebee Ribbon

Gold Glimmer Paper - I thought this was still available but it retired with the last catalog!  Gold Foil paper would be a good substitute.

Balloon Bouquet Punch

 

Cinnamon Cider cardstock - 4-1/4"x11", scored and folded in half at 5-1/2"

Whisper White cardstock - 4-1/2"x3"

So Saffron cardstock - to punch flowers

Flowers For Every Season Designer Series Paper - 5-3/8"x4-1/8"

Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing Folder - emboss the Whisper White piece before die-cutting

Playful Alphabet dies - either this die set or the retired Little Letters dies will work fine.  Both alphabets are the same size and of a block font.

Cinnamon Cider Ribbon 

Small Bloom Punch - after you've glued on the flowers, scrunch them up with your fingernails.  It's okay if the paper splits!  All that texture will add so much to your card!

Gilded Gems

Misty Moonlight cardstock - 4-1/4"x11", scored and folded in half at 5-1/2"

Whisper White cardstock - 4-1/2"x3"

Night Of Navy cardstock - to punch flowers

Flowers For Every Season Designer Series Paper - 5-3/8"x4-1/8"

Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing Folder - emboss the Whisper White piece before die-cutting

Playful Alphabet dies - either this die set or the retired Little Letters dies will work fine.  Both alphabets are the same size and of a block font.

Flowers For Every Season Ribbon Combo Pack - separate the twine to get the Whisper White piece

Small Bloom Punch - after you've glued on the flowers, scrunch them up with your fingernails.  It's okay if the paper splits!  All that texture will add so much to your card!

Gilded Gems

***Just think of all the sentiments you could die-cut with this technique - Love You, For You, With Sympathy, Thanks, You Are My Joy, Gather - my head is spinning with all the possibilities!  And then when I think of all the beautiful Designer Series Paper Stampin' Up! has......I think I'll be stamping ALL DAY****

What greetings would you die-cut?  What Designer Series Paper would you use?  Let me know in the comments!💕

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Sophisticated Sympathy Card with Breathtaking Bouquet and Golden Honey DSP

Hello, stamping friends!   The weekend was pretty fantastic.  It rained ALL day Friday - which is my kind of day- and that night the Steele clan dashed through the drops to hit a local burger place.  Burger, fries, and a shake are a classic combination that can't be beat.  Saturday was a work day for me and that night we had pizza with my parents, then watched the final movie in The Maze Runner series (The Death Cure, which isn't the most uplifting of titles but it was a great movie).  One of my favorite things is when I'm having hearty, laugh-until-you-cry moments with my family and we had those this weekend!  I read a quote over the weekend about realizing you are living your "good 'ol days" and it struck me that I really am!

I LOVE the card I have to share today.  REALLY love.  I have a tutorial for you to pin, save, or print at the end of this post. 

It is a sympathy card but it wasn't made for any particular person, fortunately.  I prefer to make these kinds of cards ahead of time.  

I had the idea to pair the Golden Honey DSP (a free Sale-A-Bration item) with just the largest flowers from Breathtaking Bouquet.  I thought the gold and black against the colored flowers would be striking.  It was!

The sentiment is from Itty Bitty Greetings, a fantastic set that has the cutest sized sayings for every occasion (32 to be exact).  I stamped it in Versamark, sprinkled with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, and melted the powder with a Heat Tool.  

Tip: to avoid stray powder on the cardstock rub the paper with an Embossing Buddy prior to stamping.  It removes any static that would cause the embossing powder to stick where you didn't stamp.

Those vibrant layers of color are from Stampin' Blends markers.  Alcohol ink is a dream to work with.  The color flows out smoothly, there are no marker lines, and it's possible to layer and mix colors seamlessly without contaminating your marker tips.  

Keep reading for this card's tutorial that you can pin, save, or print!

FREE with $50 order!

Find it on page 31 in the 2020 Mini Catalog
I colored and cut the four largest flowers in the middle.

See another idea to use Breathtaking Bouquet and Stampin' Blends

Pin, download and save, or print the tutorial for this card.

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Fresh New Color Combination with Breathtaking Bouquet and Blends

Hello, my stamping friends!  I've been doing something different on the weekends lately - watching movies!  Books, not movies, are my thing, but wow!  There have been some fantastic flicks released.  A couple weeks ago I saw Little Women and Spies In Disguise with my daughters and mom.  Then this past weekend, Brian and I viewed 1917.  Just a few hours later, Caitlin introduced us to The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials as we ate pizza.  All 5 of those movies were SO good!  I'm eager to see the third one (The Death Cure) in the series.  No one wanted to stay up until 2 AM watching it with me, so I reluctantly went to bed and will have to wait another day to see it.  What movies have you seen and loved lately?

Another thing I did over the weekend was to scout out stamping challenges.  Handstamped Sentiments is one I've played in before but it's been a long while.  I love this fresh color combination!  

Breathtaking Bouquet is a new background stamp in the Mini Catalog, on page 31 in the top right corner.  It's easy to miss, so keep your eyes open!  A background stamp means it's large enough to cover the entire card front.  This stamp has so many beautiful possibilities!  

 

I stamped Breathtaking Bouquet on 2 pieces of 4"x5-1/4" Thick Whisper White cardstock in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink.  Why 2 pieces?  Because I wanted to color and cut the largest flowers to layer on the originally stamped image.  Lifting them up with Stampin' Dimensionals adds so much interest and it's such a small thing to do.  

I used Stampin' Blends alcohol ink markers to color the image.  Stamping in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink means the image won't smear when using Blends. Stampin' Blends used:

• Light & Dark Flirty Flamingo 
• Light & Dark Mossy Meadow
• Light & Dark Pretty Peacock
• Light Old Olive
• Dark So Saffron

View a photo tutorial on using Stampin' Blends.

The sympathy sentiment is from Itty Bitty Greetings, a great set that has 32 little greetings to cover any occasion.  I used an Embossing Buddy to rub a 6"x5/8" strip of vellum cardstock, stamped the greeting in Versamark, then heat embossed with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder.  The vellum ends were wrapped around the card and adhered to the back with SNAIL.

Check this out!  I added epoxy droplets to the flowers!  These particular ones are retired (I didn't realize it when I used them) but there are other Epoxy Droplets on page 178 in the Annual Catalog that will work just as good.

This card did take more time because of the coloring and blending, but it was fun and I did it while chatting on the phone with Emma who is back at school.  She could hear the markers squeaking as I worked which made us laugh for some reason.  Do you ever laugh over things that aren't all that funny but they become even funnier the more you giggle over them?  I love those moments!

Shop my store to get the supplies for this card and many more - high quality crafting tools make stamping enjoyable so don't cheat yourself.  

Stampin' Blends

Breathtaking Bouquet - cling mount or wood mount

Itty Bitty Greetings

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad

Frosted & Clear Epoxy Droplets

Vellum cardstock

Thick Whisper White cardstock

Join me Tuesdays at 2 PM ET on The Joyful Stamper Facebook page for my weekly Facebook Live stamping class.  I demo 2 projects and post a project sheet so you can make them, too!