The Stampin' Affair !

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

May 2013 Pals Blog Hop

Thank you for joining us for the May Pals Blog Hop and our annual retirement party! It's time to say goodbye to stamps and accessories that will not be available in the new 2013-2014 Stampin' Up! Catalog. Although it's always sad to see wonderful products retire, it is exciting to think about all of the new products that will soon be available. So enjoy the farewell tour for our favorite retiring products - and remember you have until June 3rd to order from the retiring product lists.

You should have just left stop #26 on the Pals Hop -Shannon Hokanson at Paper Works. Today I am featuring several of my favorite retiring products to create clean and simple cards that really shine. I've combined Patio Party DSP, Baja Breeze (*sniffle*), Word Play Stamp Set and the Bitty Buttons accessories.

As mentioned above, I'm a huge fan of the Patio Party DSP but I am a latecomer to the party. I've just recently been making cards using this DSP. This particular print baffled me until I paired it with some Baja Breeze and then on another card I laid a sheet of vellum over top to give it a bit of a softer look. The sentiment is one of my favorites for anniversaries and fitting for the retirement of these products.

This year is our 5th wedding anniversary & I thought a card made with lots of love & sweets would be completely appropriate. Of course it features another Patio Party pattern along with the amazing Baja Breeze ribbon and card stock.

The next stop is Shirley Sumption at look at my cute stuff, stop #28 on the Pals Blog Hop! Thanks for visiting – and I hope to see you next month! Enjoy the hop! ~Julie

Monday, April 29, 2013

Hello Hello, again!

Hello Hello, again! Today's card was made by my mom, Sandy, using the Hello Hello single stamp. I gave her this stamp when she came down to visit me last week as an Easter present. I must admit that it was a bit of a self-serving gift as you can see I made handy use of it in a card from an earlier post.

This was her version of the one-layer card challenge from The Paper Players last week. She used the Tulips Textured Embossing Folder to surround the sentiment and accented the flowers using the Elegant Eggplant marker.

The butterfly is from the Papillon Potpourri Stamp Set and was stamped in Soft Suede and then colored in using the watercolor pencils. A dab of Clear Dazzling Details finishes off the centers of the flowers and the wings of the butterfly.

Thanks for sharing, Mum! Enjoy! ~Julie
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Thursday, April 25, 2013

One-layer Card Challenge with Flowers & Butterflies

Hello! I created this card for the one-layer card challenge over at The Paper Players. This was a fun yet challenging task. After several failed attempts, I decided to go with the less is more approach.

I used the Flower Garden Textured Embossing Folder to dry emboss the flower design on Very Vanilla card stock.

I stamped the butterfly from the Papillon Potpourri Stamp Set & colored it using my watercolor pencils. The sentiment is from the Curly Cute Stamp Set.

Enjoy! ~Julie

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Spooktacular Gravestones

Happy Halloween!...just a tad bit early. I accidentally viewed the the Hearts a Flutter Stamp Set and Framelits from the Stampin' Up! Spring Catalog upside down & the flagging suddenly became great gravestones. When I saw the Mojo Monday Sketch and the Basic Gray and Basic Black color combo from the Dynamic Duos, a light bulb went off & here's the finished product.

The gravestones were cut out of Basic Gray using the Hearts a Flutter Framelits. To give these stones an older and spookier look, each side of the "stone" was randomly rubbed over my Basic Black stamp pad and then crumpled. This not only gave the stone an older look but it also allowed me to peel apart the front and back of the cut out to make two separate gravestones.

Behind the stones I heat embossed clouds from the Up, Up & Away Stamp Set using my VersaMark Stamp Pad and black embossing powder. The cute bat is from the Every Little Bit Stamp Set & has been stamped using White Craft Ink and cut out using my handy dandy Paper Snips.

The Basic Black 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon has been turned over to show the plain backside. I then layered Whisper White1/4" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon over it and to dingy it up a bit I spritzed it with my Color Spritzer and Basic Gray Marker. The Basics Glimmer Brads provide an excellent finishing touch.

I hope you try this technique at home & let me know how your project turns out! Enjoy! ~Julie

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Hello Hello!

Hello Hello! I paired this great stamp with the bold colors Lucky Limeade and Summer Starfruit. I love this combo! I'll be honest, Summer Starfruit in big doses confused me at first but the polka dot paper from the Patio Party DSP and the pops of white really help balance this color.

The lace ribbon tape makes a fine addition to the card and it was so quick and easy to apply!

As always, I was inspired by the design team and sketch challenge from Pals Paper Arts and fellow Pals member, Margaret Moody. The finishing butterfly touch was courtesy of inspiration from Flutter by Wednesday's.

I hope you enjoyed this new card! Cheers! ~Julie

Friday, March 29, 2013

Happy B-day!

Hello! I made a fun card using some of the 2013 SAB DSP and stamps to create the card below. I also used a fun past sketch from the Pals Paper Arts Challenge #153.

The cute sentiment is from the 2013 SAB Catalog and the new Petite Curly Label Punch.

Enjoy! ~Julie

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

March Pals Blog Hop!

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. The full blog lineup is listed below & will help you move along from blog to blog so you see all of the amazing creations.

Two years ago, my husband and I moved from Northern New York to Central Virginia. The one thing I still can't get over is the difference in weather! This time in NY it would be 20 below zero and down here spring has sprung. Daffodils are blooming and the hyacinths are just starting to bloom.

With all of the flowers popping up everywhere down here I decided to make a spring birthday card. I used this great DSP from Patio Party on top of Primrose Petals card stock embossed with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder. To soften the straight lines of the DSP, I adhered the new Delicate Details Lace Tape to the card stock. This tape is very easy to work with and I plan on using lots more of it in the future.

The "Happy Birthday" sentiment is from the Create A Cupcake Stamp Set with each word stamped separately to get the above look. The white scalloped circle is from the 1-1/4" scalloped circle punch & the Summer Starfruit card stock was punched from the 1-3/4" scalloped circle. I cut slits into every other scallop to make it look a bit more like a flower. The card layout is based on the sketch design from Mojo Monday.