• Center Stage Stamping

coffee, coffee, coffee

Are you a coffee lover? It took me awhile, but I can now say I am… kind of. Mochas. I like mochas. It has to have chocolate involved. I love the smell of coffee, but can not drink it black. But, I do love a good coffee themed stamp set. So, when I saw the Press On set in the new Stampin’ Up! mini catalog, I knew I had to have it. This set was designed by Million Sales Achiever Joyce Feraco. Thanks, Joyce!

For the background of my card, I went for various types of coffee lovers: those who take it black (Early Espresso), my beloved mocha(Soft Suede), and those who like a little coffee with their cream (Crumb Cake). Two coffee cups accented with a little red stand ready to share the coffee love.

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paper craft crew challenge #389

Wow, is it time for another Paper Craft Crew challenge already? That week flew by. Wait, I know why…We spent the week at a cabin in Northern Minnesota. It was very relaxing and good to get away for a bit.

It is good to get back in my studio though. And a PCC challenge is a great way to get the creative juices flowing again. This week’s challenge is a horizontal card sketch.

When I saw the three red strips, I knew I had to use sentiments from the new Trimming the Town Designer Series Paper in the 2020 Aug-Jan mini catalog. This paper is so much fun. I didn’t do any stamping on this card. The paper get the whole stage this time.

I fussy cut the house and tree out from one of the DSP prints and the sentiments from another. The sentiments are in several different languages. So much fun!

So, there it is. My first Christmas card of the season. I don’t even want to think about cold weather. I am definitely a summer girl.

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stamp review crew: celebrate sunflowers

Hello, my crafty friends! I’m so glad you are stopping by today. The Stamp Review Crew is back to shine a spotlight on one of my favorite new stamp sets: Celebrate Sunflowers!

I liked this set when I saw it in the new Stampin’ Up! catalog. Once I got it and started plying with it, it quickly became one of my favorites. the giant sunflower is so much fun to color in. But, it is also great if you just stamp the outline image. Or add a watercolor wash background. Or….well, there are SO many possibilities!

I have been on a watercolor kick lately. So both of my cards use some different watercolor techniques. For my first card, I spritzed a panel of watercolor paper with water. Then, I stamped the flower and leaves on watercolor paper in Bumblebee and Old Olive inks. This made the ink bleed out. before it was completely dry, I stamped the images again to get back some of the stamp detail.

I added the Early Espresso center with my water painter. I wish I would have gone a little lighter. Maybe I should have used Soft Suede. The layered panel is a piece of vellum that I embossed with the Tasteful Textile 3D embossing folder. I think the wood grain print from In Good Taste DSP pack is a perfect base for this lovely flower. I finished off with some Linen Thread and a few Cinnamon Cider enamel dots.

For my next card, I started with a watercolor wash of Blackberry Bliss, Magenta Madness, Melon Mambo and Bumblebee.

I added some black flecks with my Stampin’ Write marker and stamped the smaller sunflower in black. Don’t you just love that large sunflower die cut! I went back to the In Good Taste DSP pack for the lighter woodgrain base and added a couple of bits of Bumblebee DSP. A few rhinestone and some Magenta Madness and Embroidered ribbon finish it off.

Celebrate Sunflowers is definitely a set you need in your collection! I have so many more ideas I want to create with this. Make your way through the rest of the blog hop for some more amazing projects to inspire you! I’m going to send you over to Mike and his awesome creations, just click the NEXT button below. Or you can go back to Kelly and her fantastic projects by clicking the PREVIOUS button.

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osat blog hop: new beginnings

Welcome to August’s One Stamp At A Time blog hop! Our theme this month is new beginnings. This really covers a wide range of occasions! I think my projects would work for a lot of different ones. I have had this idea in my head for quite sometime. This theme seemed like a good time to try it out.

I love the Disney movie Up. Last year when I got the Sweet Silhouettes die set with the word “adventure” in it, I knew I would have to combine the two. The result is this fun card and mini Paper Pumpkin box. Perfect for anyone heading off on a new adventure!

I used the balloon punch to punch out a lot of balloons in various colors. Add in a cloud stencil and some white baker’s twine we have the bunch of balloons Carl used to lift his house. Of course, the sentiment for the card had to be “adventure is out there”.

The small banner is from the Smooth Sailing die set. I used the Make A Difference alphabet stamp set for the phrase.

On the box, I wrapped the strings around the edge of the box for a fun touch.

What do you think? Did my idea translate to my project? I like to think so. This one goes out to all of my Disney lovin’ friends. Adventure IS out there!

The OSAT Design Team has some amazing projects waiting for you. Make your way through the full blog hop. PLEASE CLICK THE BLUE BOX BELOW FOR A POP UP LIST OF THE DESIGN TEAM

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paper craft crew challenge #388

Boy, summer is just flying by. I kind of wish it would slow down. But, time marches on. And with another week, comes another Paper craft Crew challenge! We are stepping away from the card sketches this week and working with an inspiration photo.

Oh, I love the summer vibe of this photo. The bright colors are fantastic. So, obviously, I didn’t use any of that for my card. LOL! I really like the rule grouping of threes in this pic. Here’s how that played out in my card.

I sponged three columns of color on my stitched rectangle panel: So Saffron, Rococo Rose, and Blushing Bride. Then I stamped the diamond image from the Prized Peony set in those same colors. The peony images were stamped in Gray Granite and watercolored. Finished card size is 3.5″x5″

The PCC Design Team has some wonderful projects to share with you on the Paper Craft Crew blog. Head on over to check them out and play along!

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paper craft crew challenge #387

Hello friends! Are you ready for a challenge? A Paper Craft Crew Challenge that is! This PCC has a vertical card sketch to jump start your creativity.

For my card, I did try to work with triangles, but I really wasn’t happy with anything I came up with. So, I decided to go for something else. I die cut some flowers from the Poppy Moments die set from Petal Pink and Flirty Flamingo. Then I used Polka Dot stencil to create a fun background to show off the beautiful flowers. I love black and white polka dots!

I extended the strip across the full length of the card front. I felt it grounded the images more. and, I like the two rhinestone gems on the right. I think I need to make a bunch of these in different color combos!

Head over to the Paper Craft Crew blog to see all of the fabulous creations from the PCC Design Team. We’d love to have you play along!

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stamp review crew: beautiful world

Hello, friends! So excited to have you join me for another Stamp Review Crew blog hop! This is a great way to see a lot of inspiration around one specific stamp set. Today we are shining a spotlight on the new set Beautiful World. This set is part of the World of Good product suite and has some amazing coordinating products. As usual, I decided to break away from the suite and feature this stamp set in a new color scheme.

I really LOVE to play around with watercolor backgrounds. For both of today’s cards, I created my backgrounds by a “smooshin” technique – scribble my Stampin’ Write markers (Coastal Cabana, Granny Apple Green, and Shaded Spruce) on my silicone mat, spritz it with water, and “smoosh” my panel of watercolor paper onto it. Once dry, I cut it out with a Stitched Rectangle die and did the stamping. The middle Shaded Spruce strip is debossed with a die in the World Map die set. This die has map coordinates for the various Stampin’ Up! home offices around the world. How cool is that!

For the second card, I started by stamping the globe and base with VersMark ink on my die cut watercolor panel and embossed it with white embossing powder. Then, I did the watercolor “smooshing”

I am really liking this color combo! It is so bright and cheerful. This is a great stamp set. I will definitely be working with it again soon. Now, go check out Betty and her fantastic creations by clicking on the NEXT button below. Or go back to Charlet and her awesome projects by clicking the PREVIOUS button.

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paper craft crew challenge #386

Welcome friends! I am so glad you are here for another Paper Craft Crew Challenge. I am having a lot of fun with these challenges! They are great for sparking creativity. You should give it a try!

This week is another sketch challenge.

I have to admit, I stared at this one for quite awhile before I figured out what I wanted to do. Here is what I came up with:

I used Oh, Snap set from Concord & 9th. Isn’t that camera adorable! There is a bit of extra fun in this interactive card. You can’t have an instant camera with out an instant print!

Such a fun card with an unexpected element. Great to let a friend know how beautiful they are!

Head on over to the Paper Craft Crew page and play along!

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hello fern

I’m back with another card using the Forever Fern stamp set. When I get a stamp set that is part of a product suite, or has coordinating designer series paper, I make sure to create some projects without using the DSP or colors in that suite. It helps me find more potential in those sets.

Today’s card is one I created for a card swap with other Stampin’ Up! demonstrators.

I used some In Good Taste DSP. I absolutely LOVE woodgrain papers. I also added in the script stamp from Very Versailles. I decided to completely stay away from any green and instead used Terracotta Tile and Early Espresso.

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paper craft crew challenge #385

Hello crafty friends. Come play along with this week’s Paper Craft Crew Challenge. We are changing things up this week with a Tic Tac Toe challenge. Just pick a row and include those things in your creation.

I chose the center vertical row: Watercolor Background, Favorite Color and Anything but a Floral. But, my creation also fits the top horizontal row: Birthday Theme, Watercolor Background and Masculine. Double win!

I started with a card base from water color paper. Card size is 3.5″x5″. I did the watercolor background freehand using some of my favorite colors: Lemon Lime Twist, Coastal Cabana, and Grapefruit Grove. For the cake, I did some no line watercoloring.

Head over to the Paper Craft Crew page and play along!

Thanks for stopping by. Join me again to shine a spotlight on creativity!