March 25, 2020

Greetings all,

I hope this finds you and your family safe and healthy. What a whirlwind this has been. In the work world, I am a human resources professional. I've spend the past days talking with employees about work reductions, communicating benefits information and settling into my home office, aka my dining room. This is crazy stuff!

As the name of my blog suggests, I get my rest and relaxation from stamping. I have a quick share today of a CASE of a Mary Fish card. These were sent, and unfortunately I need to make more, to employees who were laid off from work. I figured they could use a bright spot in their day.


The Poppies suite did all the work for these cards, DSP, thinlits and sentiment, I was good to go. For the card bases I pulled coordinating cardstock colors that are listed on the DSP pack.

Hope you take a few moments to brighten someone's day by sending a hand crafted card. I know it would be appreciated.

Take care and stay well!

March 17, 2020

Scrap by Scrap, Bloom by Bloom

Greetings!

I hope this finds you and yours well. This certainly is a crazy time for our world. My son is coming home tonight for I don't know how long. He is a senior at UW Madison and his fridge is empty😋 I feel so bad for all that he is missing in the coming weeks. His time for "adulting" arrived a bit prematurely!

On Sunday, I was talking with Beth, my friend and fellow stamper. We each agreed that being confined to home and our "happy places", alias the craft space, wouldn't be such an awful way to spend time. We then got into a conversation about DSP. You know the one, hate to cut into it, have too much of it (is that possible?), just like to look at it. After we hung up, I was inspired to pull out a package of retired Happiness Blooms DSP odds and ends, the coordinating Bloom by Bloom stamp set and get to work.

I had one full sheet of dsp, so started with a purse.




I perused Pinterest for card ideas and layouts.









Note: same layout, different orientation



When working with smaller scraps, a great place for inspiration is One Sheet Wonders. There are lots of ideas on how to cut up one sheet of paper to use on multiple cards. You will use your dsp down to the last scrap!

I still have a way to go!



I'll share my filled purse and the rest of my cards when they're completed. 

I challenge you to get creative with your dsp - even the last scrap!

Have fun stamping and stay well!

March 10, 2020

Friend Like You

Greetings stampers!

I always ask my class participants for requests or ideas for projects they'd like to make. For class this week, Deb requested a project using Pigment Sprinkles or Brusho (the watercolor crystal product from the last annual catalog)

I found some wonderful ideas using the Friend Like You stamp set and coordinating Friendly Silhouettes Dies. I wanted the watercolor art to be the focal point and this set is perfect!

With any watercolor project, no two items will be the same. Because I was creating for a class, I needed to create a background that others could mimic.




The first background I made by giving my watercolor paper multiple spritzes of water to get it wet. My project uses the Brusho crystals. I added the colors one at a time starting with the lightest color, sprinkling the the colored crystals onto the damp watercolor paper. I used a Stamping Spritzer to disperse the color crystals and push them around the paper. I repeated the process with the second and third colors. It took some time for me to get enough red into my sunset. The spritzing water was hard to control! I also found that some of the crystals blew off of my work area and I had a bit of a mess by the time I was finished. I love the final project, but need something a bit cleaner for class!




My second card uses the same three colors, but instead of pushing the color with the spritzer, I used an aqua painter - much cleaner! I wet the watercolor paper, sprinkled the colored crystals onto the paper and moved them around with the aqua painter. The look is much more blended than the first project.

* I used Thick Whisper White for the base cut at 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and scored at 4 1/4"
* Basic Black is cut at 4 7/8" x 3 5/8"
* Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper is cut at 4 3/4" x 3 1/2"
* I used the Stamperatus for the sentiment. The Watercolor Paper is more textured than  
  the card stock and I wanted to assure a solid, bold impression.
* The Friendly Silhouette was cropped in Basic Black card stock

The colored crystals are fun to play with. I'm amazed at the variety of looks I could get using different tools and techniques. The Pigment Sprinkles come in Stampin' Up! colors and coordinate perfectly with other SU! products.

So, please leave a comment - which card do you prefer? The first or the second? I'd love to get your opinion!



March 4, 2020

Perrenial Essence

Greetings!

When looking for a simple WOW card, I often look for ways to use Stampin' Up designer series paper. The papers are so beautiful, they can easily take center stage. I also tend to be a bit of a dsp hoarder, so like to find layouts that use dsp and encourage me to take a trimmer to my paper!

I found a card by Jeanne Ciolli that I absolutely love! At first glance, I thought it would be a great card to create at one of my classes  - NOT! I am not a carpenter nor a mathemetician; it sometimes is trial and error until I get all the cuts correct. This one was a bit of a challenge for me, but well worth the effort.


Is that gorgeous or what!! 

I started with a 4 1/2" x 3 3/4" piece of Perrenial Essence dsp. On the 4 1/2" side cut at 3 3/4", 3", 1 3/4", 3/4".

Lay the pieces in order. I didn't trim the middle piece. Based on your dsp, trim a bit off the top and bottom of each of the pieces to create panels. The coordinating mats were cut 1/8" larger than the dsp.

I heat embossed the sentiment, first inking the stamp with Versamark, then Blackberry Bliss. A few pearl accents completed the project and off it went to my bestie!

Pull out your dsp and give a go!

Base: Petal Pink 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", score at 4 1/4", 5 1/2" x 4" - this piece I embossed with the Subtle 3D embossing folder
Mat: Blackberry Bliss
Stamp Set: Peaceful Moments