Carousel Birthday

Hello all, this post will be about how I made this card using Carousel Birthday and the coordinating DSP Cupcakes and Carousels. 

When I look for inspiration to make a card it sometimes comes down to locating a stamp I haven't used that has a coordinating sentiment that would be fitting and in this occasion for birthday. I have owned the Cupcakes and Carousels designer series paper since it was available; it's now retired. I was part of a group on Facebook that would sell gently used retired Stampin'Up products and a lady had the Carousel Birthday set posted so I purchased it so that I would have a stamp to coordinate with the paper. 

Since buying it I haven't used the stamp and I had only used the designer series paper once prior for a welcome baby banner and that baby is now three :-) 

So, the creation of this card ... my birthday cards, that I send out monthly, are gender-neutral and unless there are multiple people within the same house, I send the same card to everyone I know that has a birthday in the coming month.  

The designer series paper originally came in a 6x6" pack. So when I was designing this card I wanted to utilize the remaining four sheets that I had and how to maximize that in the card. I first cut those four sheets and took two inches off of one edge. That then gave me a four by six inch piece. I cut that then to be three by four inches (tall) - keeping in mind the banners needed to continue to be vertical. 

Using basic layering techniques, the layer under in Bermuda Bay is 3 1/4 x 4 1/4". I had heard those two together and then adhered them to the card base directly.

The circles were cut using non-stampin up dies. The So Saffron layer is 3" and the Very Vanilla layer is 2 1/2". To stamp the horse I first inked up the stamp and then "stamped off" on a piece of paper. Without reinking I then stamped the very vanilla with the Bermuda Bay horse. This allows me then to stamp the birthday greeting in full strength of Bermuda Bay. 

Very Vanilla circle is directly mounted to the So Saffron which is on dimensionals. This was in place in the lower right corner of the previously layered designer series paper and Bermuda Bay card stock. 

The embellishments are from a retired product which is similar to having sequins on a string, it's called Sequin Trim, and I separated them to allow individual sequins to be placed using mini glue dots.

That's it! This card is a pretty basic and easy to produce card that I'm sure will be loved by the people who have birthdays for the month it was given for. 

If you have read this far I'm JustSaying thank you. I appreciate the time you have spent with me today. If you have any questions on the products or techniques that I've used please send me a message justsayingwithcards@gmail.com. I'm on Instagram as @justsayingwithcards or follow the #justsayingwithcards 

Lovely Lattice

Each month I make a dedicated set of cards for people who have birthdays. This month I have a husband/wife couple who both have birthdays in April. It's not like me to send the same card to the same household. So this is a one of a kind card for a very special friend. 

Let's see how well my memory works to describe how I made it. Card base is Whisper White, then 1/4" layers of Soft Sea Foam, Mango Melody and Whisper White for the focal image. 

To make the image(s) I made a mask using Lovely Lattice and background stamp Crackled. 

Bit of history in making the mask... I was going to make it set off the card front but I MESSED UP. It's not an image that works well for fussy cutting. But that "scrap" works perfectly for the mask. I stamped the image (Lovely Lattice), used the mask (temporarily adhered it on top), then stamped Crackled. 

If you look close you can see that Crackle is not behind Lovely Lattice. 

Colouring the image is done with Stampin Blends Mango Melody, Soft Sea Foam and Crumb Cake. The image was initially stamped in Soft Suede.

Crumb Cake was also used on the ribbon. I used a different technique for that too - bows are not a successful item for me. :) 

I do hope you enjoy reading the story behind Lovely Lattice. I'm Just Saying, thank you for reading this far. If you have any questions on techniques or products, send me a message. 

Christie

Party Panda

My March birthday cards have been received, I hope. So here's where I remember the creation details in the blog post. As I found it easiest for my February cards, I did them gender neutral and minimalist for March.

I hadn't used Party Panda, and I've had it for years. I thought this set fit the bill for March. 

So this one is focused on the pandas. I HAD to get the size of that layer just right. I layed out the pandas as I wanted them and took a quick measurement. To keep the scale of the layer in line, I decided to have the balloon pop over the edge. 

I lined the stamps (face down) on my grid mat and removed the middle guy. This allowed me to use the massive F block and have both stamps on one. I layed out the middle panda on an E block (my most used size). 

Having the 3 pandas on two blocks allowed me to "mass produce".  I stamped the 2 pandas on all the layers then came back and stamped the middle guy so I stayed in a rhythm. 

Once they were all stamped, I used a Bermuda Bay marker to fill in the balloon, even though I was going to cover it up. 

Now for that last bit to be explained. I wanted the balloons to be on a dimensional but didn't want it to be a solid colour. I took a scrap of Whisper White and using a Blender Brush added colour. It didn't have to be perfect and gave a touch of a translucent effect. 

Using a light grey stampin blends I filled in the "shadow" from the pandas, so they were grounded. 

See that I used a polkadot ribbon and a polkadot hat, didn't plan that but it totally worked. 

I'm going to show what the card assembly looks like. It's on layers of DSP and cardstock. Behind the focal image is a layer of basic black, dsp (2 variations) then on a black card base that was cut to be 4 1/4 scored at 5 1/2 (landscape). The inside has a white layer for writing the sentiment. 

As always, if you have questions on products or techniques, please let me know. I'm happy to answer. Just saying, if you've read this far, thank you. 

Christie

Baker's Dozen

I have decided to make a commitment to sending cards this year. So far I have only sent out January but to keep the ball rolling, I wanted to plan February. As soon as I did I needed to make them. I've held off, it's January 8 and I've made 13 cards for the 13 people I know who have birthdays in February. PS - I prewrite these :) 

As always, I find a stamp set (or inspiration). February's card was started with Stampin'Up!'s Sweet Cupcake (and coordinating dies). 

My thought is that I could make one card for women, men and children. In January I made 3 types and knew that was not sustainable for the year. 

I had already done up colour combinations for the "cake" and "icing". I've done Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Early Espresso for a chocolate cake. The icing was done in So Saffron, Daffodil Delight and Crushed Curry. 

Since I'd picked my ink colours I then needed to find a DSP that would coordinate. Birthday Bonanza is such a fun paper set. I needed a neutral backdrop and it has sprinkles! 

The layout of this card is: 

Early Espresso base 

8 1/2 x 11 cut at 5 1/2 scored at 4 1/4

Daffodil Delight 

3 1/4 x 4 1/2 

DSP 

3 x 4 1/4

Inside the card is a layer of Very Vanilla 

4 x 5 1/4 

The focals of the card are the cupcake that was stamped on Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla. 

The sentiment is stamped in Early Espresso using the Happy Birthday from the set. I stamped it on Very Vanilla that was a scrap which is about 1/2" and trimmed to have flags on each end. 

I did something different with the sentiment. The left is under the cake (flat) and the right is popped up on dimensiinals - so is the icing. 

After it was all put together, I felt it needed something more. I selected just the Daffodil Delight sequins. 

Hope you like the card. I'm happy to answer any questions on technique, products or just in general. 

JustSaying, thank you for your time to read all this way. 

Christie 

Painted Harvest

I have set a goal for myself. Follow along with me for a bit. A while back I pulled all the cardstock, inks, and coordinating products that Stampin'Up! had retired a few years back. I had intentions of selling them so they sat in a basket in my craft room - for over a year! 

My goal is to use up as much of that basket as possible.

One of the colours I have is Always Artichoke - it's a deep green that I used to avoid. Enter inspiration by Pinterest. I searched just the colour to find a stamp set that I have and could add more colours to. 

I came up with the stamp set Painted Harvest (retired). That is a multi step stamp set. Meaning, there are stamps which help build dimension in an image. 

Just a quick search of colour combinations returns my favorite... Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze and Chocolate Chip to make the sunflower. In total, I used 6 colours on this card. Here's how they look together. 

Let's take a look at a bit of the card. 

Starting with the base, I stamped some of the ferns on Always Artichoke in Always Artichoke ink. This gives a tone on tone effect. 

I used Crushed Curry as the first ink with Cajun Craze as the second ink. The centres of the sunflower is Chocolate Chip, stamped off. The dots are done in first, second and third generation stamping. The sunflower layer is 4" x 2". It's adhered on a Soft Suede piece that's 4 1/4" x 2 1/4". 

Helpful tip, before layering - take out any amounts of cardstock as you can first. I've done a quick tip video (on my Facebook page). I used the the sprig punch and was able to get 2 items from it. I then used those on the card. 

The sprig is stamped with Chocolate Chip on Soft Suede. They are adhered with a glue dot under a leaf (stems are under the sentiment).

The sentiment layer is 2 1/4" x 1". Soft Suede is 2 1/2" x 1 1/4". 

I think I have done enough of a reading piece. Let's finish this off with photos. 

Just Saying, thank you for spending this time with me. As always, if you have questions on any of the products or techniques leave me a comment. 

Christie 

Great parents to Grandparents

I love getting asked to make a special card, with the added challenge of a custom sentiment. 

A friend of mine has friends who have recently become grandparents, to a baby boy. 

Stampin'Up products are so easy to work with. First up, the sentiment... The best parents get promoted to grandparents. 

Easy, really. The stamp set, Make a Difference allows to create your own verse. There's a few options for font too. 

I've recently featured this set in another blog post, so versatile. 

I'm going to TRY and show how TINY these letters are... They are about the size of your fingers pinching. 

My go to suite for babies is the stamp set Little Twinkle, with coordinating moon and stars punch.

The designer series paper is so gender neutral and is in pastel, it's perfect. 

Here's how all this works out to be a card, photo story. 

I love this card, such a quick one to "whip up". 

Just saying, thank you for reading this far. As always, any questions on products or techniques just ask. 

Christie 

welcome to your new home

I was asked by a friend to create a card so she could give one to a friend who had just purchased her first home. One request was to have dragonflies. 

I wanted to challenge myself - using a suite that I didn't love when I received it. 

I'll expand on that for a second. I recently attended Stampin Up's OnStage@Home. Typically that would have been an in person convention, but Covid-19. For the registration and pre-order of OnStage, we could purchase an unknown bundle. I took the chance since it was my first convention and wanted the full experience. We received Dragonfly Garden stamp set, Dandy Gardens DSP, a dual dragonfly punch, and so much more. Being honest, I didn't like the DSP. It's weeds and bees and I just wasn't happy. During OnStage we had many examples and "make and takes" where we participated in creating cards. My mind was changed. I'd had a better look at the paper and was able to see how I could use it. 

So let's use what we have, it's new, it's dragonflies, it's a challenge. 

I drew up my layout and got to work on figuring out my colours. Blackberry Bliss, Calypso Coral, Mossy Meadow and Whisper White. Pulling the colours from the Designer Series Paper. 

I had been asked to have a pretty specific sentiment. Welcome to your new home. I used Make a Difference which has teeny tiny letters to create a handwritten font. 

Side note - There are also stamps which help us to stay compliant with the Angel Policy, handy. 

I had stamped out the sentiment and wanted to add some variety. I looked at my other options for words that could be die cut. Welcome to the Well Said stamp set and its coordinating dies which includes the word Welcome. 

I used that rough copy to figure out what size frame I'd need to have it be an image. 

I used a die from Tasteful Touches. 

Here's how I kept myself straight while stamping the letters. Have a peek. 

I used a pencil line and ruler. Absolute must do is let the ink, completely, dry before erasing the pencil. 

Let's talk about that wee little welcome die. I've used it before and forgot to use the adhesive sheet, I remembered this time - which was such a time saver! 

There are so many components to this card. 

The large dragonfly was stamped in Calypso Coral then I use an aqua painter to blend out the ink a bit. Added a Wink of Stella for sparkle and little dabs of Mossy Meadow (see the tail and body). Set it aside to completely dry (use a heat tool if needed). I used the small punch to get a little dragonfly from a scrap of dsp, then trimmed it a bit between the body and the wings. 

I was ready for the assembly of the card but I needed embellishments. Braided Twine, Gold thread, mini pearls... And dimensionals. That's the outside covered. 

I have been working on decorating the inside of cards lately. This is no exception. BUT I didn't get photos. Using Whisper White (4" x 5 1/4") I stamped the tall floral image on the right and a strip of DSP cut at 1/2" x 5 1/4" along the bottom. 

Ok, you've read a lot, thank you. Here's the rest of the card in photo form. 

As always if you have any questions on the techniques, products or just in general, please comment or send me a message. 

Just Saying, thank you for spending this time with me. 

Christie