Swirly Bird - I think I'm in love!

Hello Stampers,

It's the last day of May and that means today is the last chance to purchase any retiring Stampin' Up products you've been longing for!  If there have been any bundles on your Wish List that you haven't purchased yet, you should know that even if the stamp set and die-cuts are carrying over to the new catalogue, they won't be available at a 15% discount any longer!  Just sayin'...

Here's the link to view the retiring list one last time...

Enough of that...here is the first card I've made using my shiny new stamps...ta-da!

I've been playing with the Swirly Bird bundle I got with my catalog pre-order and I think I'm in love!  I have so many ideas swirling through my head for this stamp set, no wonder it's called Swirly Bird!

The blues on my card are the brand-new Dapper Denim and the good old Soft Sky.  I really like those two together.  The waves are made from one of the die-cuts included in the bundle.  I wanted to capture the way sunlight sparkles on the waves on a bright day on Lake Erie, so I used the "dotty" stamp from the set to stamp in Versamark, then I used Heat & Stick powder with Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  The sweet little sailboat is actually 4 separate stamps and fussy-cut, which is much easier than it sounds!  The colors on it are Dapper Denim, Daffodil Delight (stamped off once on the solid sail) and Calypso Coral.  I stamped the swirly sun 3 times, using Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral, and Peekaboo Peach.  Each image was stamped off once.  The center of the sun is stamped in Daffodil Delight, full strength.  The sentiment I've used here is from another new stamp set called Love & Affection.

Are you curious how I made the clouds in the sky?  It's done simply by sponging Soft Sky ink around the edge of a cloud shape cut from thick Whisper White cardstock. I cut my cloud shape out freehand, but the Tree Builder Punch cloud shape would work great, also.

 I'm going to add a Happy Birthday sentiment to the inside of this card and give it to my husband for his birthday next week...shhhhh...

This year's new In-Colors are Dapper Denim, Emerald Envy, Flirty Flamingo, Peekaboo Peach and Sweet Sugarplum. Starting tomorrow, you can order them or anything else that strikes your fancy from the new catalog!  If you need a catalog, please leave me a message and I will get you one.

Thanks for stopping by,
Pat

Wondrous Wreath in Blues

Hi, Stampers!

I was so happy to see that one of my all-time favorite go-to stamp sets for Christmas is back in the new catalog - Wondrous Wreath (135047) and the matching Wonderful Wreath Framelits (135851)!

Every month on the 25th I have a Christmas Only class and this was one of the projects for this month's class:

I wanted to get away from always using red & green for every Christmas project.  These colors work wonderfully together, I'm just sorry that Lost Lagoon is retiring at the end of May.

This card is 5 1/4" square.  You should know, and if you were at class I forgot to mention this so take note, that square cards ALWAYS require extra postage.  The weight doesn't matter.  They require special handling at the post office due to the shape of the envelope so a square card, even if it is less than one ounce, requires a 21-cent "non-machinable surcharge".

Although I've used this stamp set & framelits many times, I've never used the "Noel" that comes with it.  I really like it!  I will be using it again, for sure.  The framelits also come with the word "Joy" to die-cut.




Here are the details for my card:

Card base, Lost Lagoon 10 1/2" x 5 1/4".  Score at 5 1/4".
Second layer, Pool Party 5" x 5".
Third layer, Smoky Slate 4" x 4".
Fourth layer, Whisper White 3 3/4" x 3 3/4".
The Pool Party layer is randomly stamped in Versamark and clear embossing powder then heat set.  I used the wreath image with fewer leaves on it for this step.
The wreath is stamped first in Pool Party, and the second layer of leaves is stamped in Lost Lagoon.
The berries are stamped in Versamark and silver embossing powder then heat set.  You can see the detail on the berries in this photo -

The "Noel" is cut from a Silver Foil Sheet (132178) and the bow is Pool Party Glitter ribbon (140561).  The ribbon is retiring along with Lost Lagoon, so don't miss your chance to stock up on these two!

Because our creations deserve No Naked Envelopes, I decorated the flap of mine like this:

Cute, right?  I simply stamped the bottom half of the wreath to make it look like garland and added a bow in the middle.  Colors are Pool Party and Lost Lagoon.

Here you can see another way to decorate your envelopes, but the garland on the flap is my favorite.









 Here are some other ways I've used the Wondrous Wreath - it's not just for Christmas!

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  Thanks for stopping by!

Pat

Pop-Up Gift Card Holder

Hi Stampers!

Today I want to share with you my version of the Pop-Up Gift Card Holder.  Mine is constructed most closely to Dawn Griffith's version on her You Tube video (I'll link to it at the end of this post). The difference in mine (besides the decorating) is that I used punched circles folded in half to secure the inner section that holds the gift card.  Most other versions use a strip of double-sided sticky tape to hold it together, but I found that no matter how close to the edge of the pocket I placed the tape, it still got in the way of the gift card and made the pocket too tight to function well.

This greeting is from Suite Sayings (140709), a stamp set which I've used over and over. I love the way this turned out - can't go wrong with gold embossing on black for a big impact!

 The cardstock colors are Hello Honey and Basic Black and the designer paper is called Going Places (140581).  The designer paper is retiring on May 31.

The designer paper on this one is called It's My Party (140552).  This paper comes in a 12 x 12 stack of 48 sheets with 4 each of 12 double-sided designs.   The colors on the balloons are Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry and Mint Macaron.  The greeting is another one from the Suite Sayings stamp set.  The Baker's Twine Combo Pack (140555) has 2 25-yard spools of two-tone twine in Basic Black with Melon Mambo and Mint Macaron.
The balloons were stamped using the Balloon Celebration (140675) stamp set.
The designer paper and Baker's Twine both retire on May 31.

The Envelope Punch Board is used to make the notches you see in this photo.  The tab that is formed between them tucks neatly into the bottom half of the card.

 In this photo you can see the folded circles that secure the inner section where the gift card is held.














Here is the link to Dawn Griffith's video that shows exactly how this card is constructed:

Thanks for looking!
Pat