Beautiful Bouquet Birthday

I haven't played with the Beautiful Bouquet bundle enough since I got it, so a friend's birthday was the perfect opportunity to show it some inky love! Because there are so many matching dies in the Bouquet Bunch Framelits, I didn't have to do any fussy-cutting to get this pretty 3-D effect.

I started with a Whisper White panel, cut 2-3/4" x 5-1/2". After stamping the stems in Pear Pizzazz and the tiny mass of flowers in Real Red, it was a simple matter to stamp the rest on scraps and die cut them. I also used scraps of Real Red, Crushed Curry, and Old Olive for the other die cuts.

After the bouquet was arranged, I adhered it to a 3-1/4" x 5-1/2" piece of Coffee Break DSP, and then to the card front. The Vertical Greetings "Happy Birthday" was stamped next, and then a few embellishments were added to complete the card. All in all, not too difficult, and I had a lot of fun "arranging" the bouquet! I hope she likes it!

Product List

Beautiful Bouquet Photopolymer Bundle

Vertical Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

Real Red 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

Crushed Curry 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

Old Olive 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

Coffee Break Designer Series Paper

Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad

Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad

Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad

Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad

Big Shot

Big Shot Magnetic Platform

Gold 1/8" Ribbon

Glitter Enamel Dots

Liquid Multipurpose Glue

Stampin' Dimensionals

Retired and Retiring

Mother's Day is fast approaching, and since my mom is about 1,900 miles away, I won't get to spend the day with her. *sniff* So I decided to make a little gift to send with her card this year. It was easy to make the gift box, which holds six cards with envelopes, with the envelope punch board. (**See measurements below.)

I used some now-retired Irresistably Yours DSP because it's a nice sturdy weight for a box. And guess what?! The new annual catalog will have an all new version called Color Me Irresistable! It includes some colors, as well as all white! Cannot wait until I can get my hands on it!

The Peony closure was a breeze with a couple of punches and Filter Paper! Using four layers of the rectangle paper, I punched twice with the Blossom Punch, which is retiring the end of this month, and three times with the Pansy Punch. I stacked them all together, poked a hole in the middle with the Paper Piercing Tool, and held them together with a Mini Brad. They were then scrunched and fluffed, the edges dipped on the retiring Strawberry Slush Stampin' Pad, and spritzed with Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz (also retiring).

The flower was adhered to a punched 2-3/8" scalloped circle of Strawberry Slush, then adhered to the box with Stampin' Dimensionals, leaving the top free to tuck the flap under. So, how did I mail it without crushing the flower? I made a little circle from Kraft Cardstock to protect the blossom and mailed it in a small flat rate Priority box!

** BOX (1" x 5" x 6") easily holds six embellished cards with envelopes.
Start with a 10" square of cardstock and punch/score at 4-5/8" and 6-1/8". Then use score lines to continue around the other three sides. There's a handy calculator HERE for other sizes!

STAMPS: Better Than E-Mail
CARDSTOCK: Irresistably Yours, White Filter Paper, Kraft Cardstock, Strawberry Slush
INK: Strawberry Slush, Rose Red, Wild Wasabi
ACCESSORIES: Envelope Punch Board, Blossom Punch, Pansy Punch, 2-3/8" Scallop Circle Punch, Handheld Stapler, Paper Piercing Tool, Stampin' Pierce Mat, Mini Brads, Stampin' Dimnesionals

Burlap and Blooms

Besides a passion for making cards, I've recently discovered I also love making home decor to match the seasons. Who knew? You may or may not have noticed the Simply Created Wreath Kit called Burlap and Blooms on page 21 of the 2014 Occasions Catalog.  (By the way, if you don't have a catalog, contact me and I'll send one right out to you!)

I must say, Stampin' Up! has made it so easy to make this Spring-theme wreath! The kit contains everything you need to create it, except the hot glue gun.  I timed myself to see how long it would take and, including the time it took to unwind and re-wind the burlap ribbon*, the wreath was done in about 3 1/2 hours.

The only thing I added that wasn't in the kit was a couple of Bermuda Bay rosettes, made with the Spiral Flower Originals Die.  Because of the colors in my living room, I thought the wreath needed a pop of deeper color.  (You can watch a YouTube video of this die in action HERE.)

So, there you have it....an easy way to brighten any room and chase away those winter blahs!

Stamps: None
Cardstock: Bermuda Bay (for rosettes)
Ink: None
Accessories: Burlap and Blooms Simply Created Wreath Kit, Big Shot, Spiral Flower Die, Bone Folder, Silicone Craft Sheet, hot glue gun (non-SU)

*  I overlapped the burlap ribbon too much and ran out of ribbon about 2" before the chipboard wreath form was completely covered. I found it was best to overlap the previous pass about halfway on the inner part of the wreath, and angle the ribbon over to overlap the outer part of the ribbon by about 1/4".

Notebook for Bea

Actually, the notebook is for Bea (my dentist's office manager) to give to someone special. Connie has been a blessing in Bea's life, so she wanted to give her something unique and asked me to make a notebook like the one I made for her mother.

I remembered having some angel charms stashed away, and the message on the back was just perfect for this gift!

I think both the gift giver and the recipient are going to be pleased.  I hope so, anyway!

Stamps: Lovely Letters Alphabet, Just Perfect Alphabet
Cardstock: So Saffron, So Saffron DSP, lightweight chipboard
Ink: So Saffron, Peach Parfait, Soft Suede
Accessories: Big Shot, Scallop Square Die, Fancy Flower Punch, Jewelry Tag Punch, Blossom Builder Punch, Paper Crimper, Victoria Crochet Trim, Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon, So Saffron Taffeta Ribbon, Antique Brads, Crop-O-Dile, 3/4"book ring, angel charm

SUOC45 - 3-D Flowers!

This week's challenge at SUO Challenges is to make a project using 3-D flowers. It can be flowers popping off a card, or a scrapbook page, or a whole bouquet of paper 3-D flowers (and I've seen some really lovely ones!).

I wanted to do a full bouquet, but unfortunately didn't have time due to my trip to Montana. So, this card with water-distressed flowers will have to do!  The flowers were made using the Boho Blossoms punch, with 3-4 layers each. Had a larger punch been used, I would have added more layers for fullness.

The Design Team has made some fabulous samples for this challenge. I hope you'll play along, too!

Stamps: Apothecary Art, Loving Thoughts
Cardstock: Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, Flirtatious DSP
Ink: Lucky Limeade, Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder, Basic Black
Accessories: Big Shot, Labels Framelits Collection, Perfect Polka-Dots embossing folder, Boho Blossoms Punch, Old Olive 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, Blender Pens, Stampin' Dimensionals

April Showers

Bring May flowers, right? Only here in sunny Southern California we have a pretty much year-round growing season, so there is always something in bloom. Which brings me to one of my favorite flowers, Forget-Me-Nots. I am besot by their beautiful blue blooms (like that alliteration, lol?), but for some reason, I've never grown them here. So I figured I could make my own.... et voila!

This was going to be the card for this week's challenge at SUO Challenges, until I read the guidelines for the theme more closely (always a good idea), and saw that we were to focus on the Occasions Mini.  Oops! There was some serious scrambling in the stamp cave to make up for my failure to pay attention. (Which seems to be happening a lot lately. Squirrel!)

Karen Barber's card on SCS was the inspiration - I thought the layers of embossing would really set off the blue flowers.


Stamp: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Cardstock: Whisper White, Tempting Turquiose, Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight
Ink: Basic Black, Pacific Point, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories: Big Shot (bet you didn't see that coming, did you? lol), Vintage Wallpaper and Square Lattice embossing folders, Little Leaves Sizzlits die, Blossom Petals Builder Punch,  Boho Blossoms Punch, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack, Scallop Trip Border Punch, Scallop Trim Corner Punch, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, 1/8" Circle Punch, Whisper White 5/8" Organza Ribbon, Pearls Basic Jewels, White Gel Pen, Stampin' Sponges, Multipurpose Liquid Glue, Stampin' Dimensionals