Posts Tagged With: Expressions Natural Elements

Stampin’ Up! Vivid Vases Thanks for the Happy Stampers Blog Hop

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Mornin’, y’all –  it’s Thursday and that means it’s Blog Hop Day!  If you’ve been here at our Blog Hops before – welcome back, and thank you!  If this is your first time with us, I think you’re in for a treat – we’ve got some really talented ladies in this group.  You’ll like what you see as you tour thru everyone’s blog, I promise!

I’m writing this post on Wednesday night, from the hotel in Salt Lake City!  Amy and I flew in today, had a little lunch and then wandered a bit thru the Tabernacle Gardens.  The flowers are spectacular – all over the downtown area, really, but especially in the garden…

SLC Flowers - Stamps-N-Lingers

A little later we hit the bus and were taken to the Home Office – which we spent a pleasant hour or so touring and talking to the great folks that work there and help us every day.  Here we are in front of the building entrance – where the Stampin’ Up! rock resides…

Amy and Me at the SU! Rock - Stamps-N-Lingers

So, tomorrow (well, today, when you read this!) is the start of OnStage – I’ll try to send an update with Friday’s card share!

And now – back to our regularly scheduled programming!  On with the Happy Stampers Blog Hop!

We had a challenging challenge today – this sketch was our starting point:

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For my share today, I played with an Annual Catalog stamp called Vivid Vases.  Kind of prophetic, really, considering the flowers we’re seeing here!  I added some Farmer’s Market DSP and some Burlap Ribbon and an Expressions Natural Elements sentiment.  Take a look-see:

Vivid Vase Thanks 4 - Stamps-N-Lingers
To begin with, I SNAILd a panel of Farmer’s Market DSP to a Blackberry Bliss card stock mat.  The two banners of the vertical element are more pieces of the Farmer’s Market DSP, trimmed with the Banner Triple Punch – I SNAILd them on a little offset, just cuz I could! 🙂

Vivid Vases Thanks 1 - Stamps-N-Lingers

For the Vivid Vases, I first stamped just four of the vases and flowers image onto a piece of Very Vanilla card stock, which I matted on Blackberry Bliss.  I colored the vases I wanted to stamp with my Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker – directly to the rubber – and then stamped it on the card stock.  Then I colored the flowers (from left to right) with Tangelo Twist, Blackberry Bliss/Rich Razzleberry, Blackberry Bliss and Hello Honey/Old Olive Stampin’ Write Markers.

Vivid Vases Thanks 2 - Stamps-N-Lingers

For the vases themselves – I stamped the image again a couple of times on a few of the more…decorative!…pieces of the Farmer’s Market DSP and then cut each vase out with my Paper Snips.  I liked how each one got a completely different pattern on it – they look like art glass, to me!  Then, because I knew I was going to pop them with Stampin’ Dimensionals – and needed them to have a little body – I used a little Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue to adhere them to a scrap of Very Vanilla card stock.  Then I fussy cut them again!  From there – it was downhill and easy peasy!  Not to say that any of this had been hard to this point.   Just kind of fussy.

See what I did there? 😉

Vivid Vases Thanks 3 - Stamps-N-Lingers
I SNAILd the vases-stamped Very Vanilla panel to the card front (remember I’d already matted it on Blackberry Bliss).  Then I SNAILd another design in the Farmer’s Market DSP on Blackberry Bliss and SNAILd that to the card front (it’s the piece under “Thanks”).

Over that, I used some more Liquid Glue to adhere a length of 1 1/4″ Burlap Ribbon.  That set me up for the fussy cut Vivid Vases. I cut small pieces of Stampin’ Dimensionals and used those to pop each vase over its counterpart (and a little of the Burlap Ribbon) on the Very Vanilla stamped image.  Finally, I wrapped a piece of Blackberry Bliss 5/8″ Striped Cotton Ribbon over the Burlap Ribbon – also covering the bottom edge of the vases – securing it in the back with scotch tape.

Vivid Vases Thanks 8 - Stamps-N-Lingers

I covered the vases on the Vivid Vases stamp with sticky notes, inked up just the sentiment in Mossy Meadow and stamped it on a strip of Very Vanilla.  I then used my Washi Label Punch to punch each end of the strip.  Since this punch is now not available – if you don’t have it already, you could easily do fussy cut banner ends instead!  Then I used a little Liquid Glue to adhere the sentiment to the ribbon.

Vivid Vases Thanks 1 - Stamps-N-Lingers

I decided to add the “Thanks” from the Expressions Natural Elements set (Annual Catalog), adhering it with lots of little dots of Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue!  A tiny bow – made with a length of Linen Thread and one of Gold Metallic Thread – glued onto the vase completed the card front. 🙂

Vivid Vase Thanks 4 - Stamps-N-Lingers

For the inside of the card, I used my Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker to ink up one vase and stamped it in the corner of a Very Vanilla panel.  Then I adhered a fussy cut vase over that with Liquid Glue, and colored the flower with my Hello Honey and Old Olive Stampin’ Write Markers.

Vivid Vases Thanks 5 - Stamps-N-Lingers

I SNAILd the panel to a Blackberry Bliss mat and then into my Mossy Meadow card base.   I also SNAILd the card front on and the card was done!

For the Crumb Cake Medium Envelope, I stamped a Basic Black Vivid Vase in the bottom front corner and colored the flowers and leaves….

Vivid Vases Thanks 6 - Stamps-N-Lingers
…and used another piece of the Farmer’s Market DSP to cut a liner with my Envelope Liner Framelits.

Vivid Vases Thanks 7 - Stamps-N-Lingers
Et Voila!  This card kind of developed as I went along – but the superb color coordination that Stampin’ Up! color suites and DSPs provide make it so easy!  I love this Vivid Vases stamp – it’s a great little a la carte wooden stamp that is just simple and beautiful!  Highly recommend it for your tool box! 🙂

Now that you’ve seen my card, please take a little time to visit all the Happy Stampers Team blogs today!

If you click on the Next Blog button, you’ll go right to Jari Francis’ page.  And you can just click on the names below to go direct to all the blogs!

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Sandi MacIver

Amy Koenders

Shelagh Freemantle

Mary Deatherage – YOU ARE HERE!

Jari Francis

Kristi Gray

Heather Wright-Porto

Have fun on the Hop!

Mary


Weekly Deals One Week Left
These are the last of the traditional Weekly Deals!  

WEEKLY DEALS FOR 12 Apr – 18 Apr 15!! Click here to see the Weekly Deals from Stampin’ Up! in my online store. The Weekly Deals are only while supplies last and only available at these great prices through 18 Apr!


HOST CODE FOR 1 Apr – 15 Apr 16: FJJRBUGX

HOST CODE FOR 16 Apr – 30 Apr 16: CAZKY77C

Use this host code when you order and receive a free gift from me! But, if your order is over $150, please don’t use this code (you’ll miss out on your own Stampin’ Rewards if you use it) but you’ll still get the free gift. The free gift is your choice of any item valued up to $8.00 in the brand new 2015-16 Annual Catalog or the 2015 Occasions Catalog.

STAMPIN’ UP PRODUCTS USED IN TODAY’S PROJECT: 

Washi Label Punch – not shown since it’s no longer available. 🙁

CARD CUTS USED IN TODAY’S PROJECT

Mossy Meadow Card Stock: 4 1/4 x 11″ (card base; scored and folded at 5 1/2″)

Blackberry Bliss Card Stock: 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″ (mats for card front and inner liner); 2 3/8″ square (mat for Vivid Vase art); 1 3/4″ x 2″ (mat for Farmer’s Market DSP square)

Very Vanilla Card Stock: 2 1/4″ square (Vivid Vases art); 4″ x 5 1/4″ (inner liner); 1/2″ x 3 1/8″ (sentiment banner)

Farmer’s Market DSP: 4″ x 5 1/4″ (card front); 1 5/8″ x 1 7/8″ (front square); 1″ x 2 3/4″ (Old Olive plaid banner strip); 3/4″ x 2 3/4″ (dotted Blackberry Bliss banner strip); Fussy Cut Vivid Vases; envelope liner


If you need any stamping supplies, I’d be very happy to be your Demonstrator. Just click on the Order Stampin’ Up! Online Now button on the right side of the screen to go directly to my online store or drop me an email if you have any questions. Happy Stamping!


Shop the Clearance Rack here. Earn FREE Stampin’ Up! Products – Join my Punkin Head Peppermint Rewards – My online customer thank you program!


BACKORDER REPORTING

When you place an order thru my Online Store, you’ll get a message telling you a status of the item.

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If you want more information on a particular product – like when it’s expected back in stock – please give me a call or shoot me an e-mail and I’ll be glad to help! 🙂

Categories: Thank You Cards | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Stampin’ Up! First Sight Thanks Kindly

Well, it’s Wednesday again.  And I’m back with another card – blogging it while I watch the lightning flash outside and listen to the rumble of thunder.  And hope my sweet kitty Katy isn’t scared!

Oh.  Did I not tell you about Katy??  Well, she’s my little tuxedo girl…

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…she and her brother have lived with us since they were about 7 weeks old.  That’s when I scooped them up out of a rain drain – on the 4th of July in 2003.  Leo (her brother) was sitting with a couple of kids on the edge of the street.  I saw him as I drove by (I see them all – it’s kind of my curse) and worried about what those kids might do to him.  You know – kids.  4th of July.  Black kitten.

I went back to my apartment.  I paced.  I tried to talk myself out of it.  After all, I had my older kitty, Toe – and we were quite happy.  Me.  Wayne.  One cat.  Nice dynamic.

I picked up the cat carrier and a bag of Tender Vittles and returned to the scene.

45 minutes later – I’ve got Leo.  I’ve got Katy – she was way hidden – she’s always been the skittier of the two.  The kids think I’m a cat whisperer – cuz they hadn’t been able to catch either one of them!  I started to figure out how to find them a home.

So here we are thirteen years later. 😉

Katy hadn’t been doing well – so we finally pulled up our big girl panties (well, I did – Wayne….??) and managed to catch her and get her in the carrier and to the vet.  She needed teeth work.  Bad!

Today was the big day.  We went to pick her back up and discovered the extent of her surgery.  BIG.  Decided to leave her another night so they can manage her pain.  And give her another shot of antibiotic tomorrow.  Before we start with the twice daily pill routine.  Like that’ll ever work!

Hence – I’m worrying about her being by herself, not feeling good.  Scared of the the thunder. 🙁

So – I distracted myself by making a card – cuz sitting here worrying won’t help anyway – and she’s probably still pretty zorked (yes, that’s what the vet said!) by the anesthesia, so she’s probably sound asleep.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! 😉  I think she probably is, don’t you?

The card I made to distract myself uses the pretty Occasions stamp set called First Sight.  I combined some paper from Love Blossoms and a sentiment from One Big Meaning.  And I ended up with a card that’s sweet as a chocolatier’s confection.  Take a look-see:

First Sight Thanks Kindly 1 - Stamps-N-Lingers

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Categories: Thank You Cards | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Stampin’ Up! Watercolor Wishes Celebration….and a Black Lab…..

Last week, my friend Jan – Mom to the twins I carry on about all the time – told me she wanted to buy a birthday card for a friend of hers.  Her friend bought one of the female lab pups that Jan had bred several years ago.  Emma.  That’s the dog.  To be honest, I’m not sure of the human’s name – I know I’ve heard it, but….I’m a lot better at fur-people names, apparently!

So, I sent Jan a couple of pictures of cards I have in my stash – to see if any of them were what she was looking for.  This is the one she liked for her friend (click the picture if you want to see how to make to this version!):

Pink and Black Celebrate FMS 195 Outside 1 watemarked

But!  She wanted a dog instead of the flower (which, incidently, is fussy cut from the new Timeless Elegance DSP!).  Easy enough, I thought.  Except I didn’t have a dog stamp – well, I have a paw print stamp, which I ended up using.  But that wouldn’t do.  So, I went out to the keeper of all wisdom and knowledge in search of my quarry.  Google.  And found exactly what I needed!  How ’bout them apples?!?!

We decided to stick with the black and pink theme, and Jan tells me her friend is girly-girl-ish and bling’s the thing.  So that’s the direction I went!  Take a look-see:

Celebrate Lab Outside 1 watermarked

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Categories: Happy Birthday | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Stampin’ Up! Into the Woods, Lighthearted Vintage Leaves….Thanks!

I saw them!  Really!  Leaves turning color.  I’m not delusional.  Our Dogwood Trees are starting to show some color!  That means there’s hope, folks.  The summer sauna WILL end!  And then I’ll be whining about being cold – just you wait and see.  And when I do, please feel free to direct my attention back to these posts where I whined and complained about the heat.  You have my permission to rub my virtual face in it! 🙂

I had a card all ready to go for today’s post, using the beautiful new Dove of Peace stamp that you can get your hot little hands on on 1 Sept.  But then, I made up a card for a CAS(e) This Sketch challenge, and I was so tickled with it that I switched up the batting order.  The Dove will debut on Saturday!

This is the sketch that inspired my design.  Those folks over at CTS are really talented and they give us such fun sketches for inspiration.  This is Sketch #137.  Be sure to go over and check them out, okay?

CTS 137 sketch

I went to a few obvious choices for this one.  Well, obvious for me, anyway.  Vintage Leaves.  Lighthearted Leaves.  Into the Woods DSP.  And – more of the wondrous Corrugated Paper!!  Love love LOVE this stuff!  Take a look-see:

Fall Thanks CTS 137 Outside 1 watermarked

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Categories: Thank You Cards | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Stampin’ Up! Happy Birthday with Color Me Irresistible and Timeless Elegance

Here’s a fact.  We love watching wrestling.  All sorts of wrestling.  Sumo.  Greco-Roman.  College.  Professional.  We especially love the pro wrestlers – with their graceful moves, skilled athleticism and flair for the dramatic.  We know that some folks think it’s fake, but we know the truth.  It’s completely real.  These guys are out for blood.  And we love.  Every.  Minute! 🙂

Wait.

What??

This is horse hockey.  Completely. Total baloney.  Which is why we were pretty surprised to receive an e-mail today from Comcast thanking us for purchasing WWE-something or other on Pay Per View.  I don’t even know what WWE stands for – I mean, I know that one or the other of the “W’s” must be for “Wrestling”, but that’s about it.  So, how (why?!?) would I have ordered it?  And – it appears that I ordered it ordered it 7 times.  In a row.  Every 2 minutes.  For a cool $12.95 per viewing.  Comcast was stumped.  Still is, apparently.  It’s a mystery (above and beyond the mystery of why anyone watches WWE in the first place – no flames, folks, if you watch WWE, it’s all good.  But – could you tell me what the other two letters stand for? 😉 ) and is likely to remain so.  But you can bet we’ll be keeping a CLOSE eye on the bill!!

All this excitement was taking place whilst I was building the card to share with you today.  I was working on my card and Wayne was on the phone for almost an hour.  He’s really good at dealing with the folks in customer service – he just doesn’t quit asking questions until he’s got every answer he wanted.  Me?  I usually take the first answer that sounds plausible and drive on!

My inspiration for the card came from the Freshly Made Sketches #197:

Pink and Black Celebrate FMS 195 Sketch

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Categories: Happy Birthday | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Stampin’ Up! Farmer’s Market Thanks! And Holiday Catalog Shares!!

Well, last night, we got home from having dinner with some friends.  It was 9pm and change, which is way WAY past my bedtime (or at least very VERY close to it!).  The heat outside was ridonkulous.  That’s several steps worse than ridiculous, just FYI.  So, we stepped into the kitchen, anticipating a quick shower and bed.  Pretty normal (even if we ARE still thinking Buck’s going to meet us at the door…. 🙁 ), right up until I got 2 feet inside and realized “It’s not cool in here!”.  Which I immediately pointed out to my husband, just in case he hadn’t noticed it – he had, but not for several nano-seconds after I did.  Men may just not be as finely attuned to the temperature as women.  Just sayin’.

Quick investigation showed that the air coming out of the vents was tepid.  At best.  The thermostat showed the inside temp to be at 77.  It was set at 73…..  you see the problem, yes?  So, we were up until midnight, with Wayne working on the AC (thankfully our neighbor friend who’s been doing HVAC for 40 years was still awake!), while I held very still inside and stayed awake (barely) in a wifely show of solidarity (and because no way could I have gone to bed with it that warm.  No.  Freakin’. Way).  Fortunately, he got it working and the house cooled down quickly enough for us to finally go to sleep – but it was a short night for us!

On to the card….

When I first saw this sketch from Mojo Monday (#408, to be exact)…

Farmer's Market Thanks Mojo Monday 408 sketch

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Categories: Thank You Cards | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Expressions Natural Elements Puttin’ on the Glitz!

A hundred years ago or so, when I was in California…or, wait.  Maybe it was only a couple of months!  Time sure does fly by, yes?  Anyway, while I was in CA, I made a cool little flower embellishment (check out my Tutorials page to see how to make your own customized fancy flower! ), that I fully intended to use on whatever card I was making at the time.  Only, I couldn’t make it work on it for anything.  So, I stuck the little flower into my little bag o’ scraps (perhaps I’ve mentioned that I have both Scots AND pack-rat-itis in my blood?!?) to save for another card.

Fast forward to today.  When I saw the Mojo Monday sketch from which this card share is derived – I saw “flower”.  And then I thought – hey!  I can use the little CA flower.  Here’s the sketch:

Celebrate sketch Mojo Monday 405

I was also still playing with the challenge from our upline to use the color purple in our projects for the week.  And, on Pinterest, I saw a card that paired Wisteria Wonder with the new Mint Macaron, and I’d loved that combo.  So I combined the three ideas (if you’re counting that’s the Mojo Monday sketch, the purple challenge, and the Pinterest idea) and came up with this card.  Take a look-see:

Celebrate Card Purple Challenge watermarked

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Categories: Happy Birthday | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

One of Those Days….and a Thank You Card!

So – if you’ve been a follower of my blog for any time at all, you know that I very recently got home from 4 ridiculously long months in California.  In case you’re new here (welcome! 🙂 ) and let me just say that I wasn’t in the part of CA that you see Clint Eastwood talking about on TV.  No indeed.  But – I’m home now.  And I’ve been taking a couple of weeks of vacation.

We live very near Atlanta.  We have lots and lots of stuff to do here.

Six Flags over Georgia.

Water Parks.

Lake Alatoona, West Point Lake and Lake Lanier within an hour or two.  And a nice fishing boat in the garage.

Calloway Gardens just a couple of hours south of us.  And I hear the butterflies are hatching.  De-robing?  Un-cocooning?

Stone Mountain is close and apparently fun.  Nope – never been there.

One of the best aquariums in the country – just up the road.

The Coca-Cola plant and museum – just up the same road.  And it boasts the opportunity to try Coca-Cola products from all over the world.  Sorry, though – until they make Diet Mountain Dew….I’m a Pepsico girl.  And – other countries have some pretty……”hmm” ideas of what makes soda taste good.  Just sayin’.

Bottom line?  We gots lots and lots of cool, fun things to do – right here.  So – what do you think we did?

Yup – you guessed it.  We replaced the toilet in our master bathroom.  I believe the old one is as old as the house (and it’s no young-un!) and was really ready to be replaced.  Like coffee and toilet paper – there’s just some things that are life-critical.  Toilets that WORK are right up there on that list (maybe for DH the entire outdoors is a valid alternative, but….not for the DW (that’s me)!).  So it was necessary.  But, I must say – if asked to write a one page (single spaced) essay on “What I did on summer vacation” – this would be kind of pathetic!

To top it all off – it’s been “one of those days”.  You know the kind I mean?  I’ve been in a completely stinkin’ mood all day.  One might even say…..

bitchy day

No idea why or where-from the great B****-iness overcame me today – but it did.  Which I’m sure added to the overall pleasantness of replacing the toilet for my DH.  Oh!  Did you think I meant “WE” when I said “we”?  No – HE did the toilet while I supervised, read the directions (which he pretty much ignored), checked for leaks, etc.  The usual.

But – it’s done now.  Ready to roll.  Or flow.  Or….something.  And I’m sure tomorrow will be much better!  And hopefully the little bundle will be all gone.

Now – let’s get on with why you came here today, shall we?  My card today was one I did to thank my friend in CA for all the help he gave me on this last trip.  It uses the brand new Happy Birthday, Everyone stamp set, and is done in a few of the new 2015-2017 In Colors.  Take a look-see:

Len Thanks Outside 1 Watermarked

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Categories: Thank You Cards | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

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