Product Focus: Sequins

I love things that sparkle and shine.  And sometimes you just need a little bit of sparkle and shine for your card.  Sequins are great for this.  Coming on string in four colors as trim or in three shapes in the metallics and brights families, we have a sequin that will add that special touch to your project.  Here are two projects I made recently that use sequins. 

I used on of my favorite stamp sets from the Annual Catalog, Over the Rainbow.  Clearly I had to make a pot of gold with that perfect sentiment.  This card was fun to make!  Here is a supply list:

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I love how quickly this card came together.  I must be in a rainbow mood.  I love the Color Me Irresistible Paper because I can make it whatever color I want to, or in this case colors!  The sentiment is embossed on in black.  Here is a supply list:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

So here is a little secret.  These sequins were a real pain to adhere.  BUT something is coming in the new catalog that will make that SOOOOOOOOOOO much easier.  So stock up on these great embellishments now!  Check out the other ways to use sequins over at SSI.

Quick and Easy Welcome Baby Card

So I have quite the stash of tools, paper, stamps and accessories.  This means I struggle with simplicity.  I love layers and lots of extras on my projects.  But sometimes you don't need much for a cute card.  Here I created two cute cards, one for the arrival of a baby girl and the other for a baby boy.  One of my very good friends is expecting her first child and since they wanted to be surprised, I had to be prepared for both outcomes!  

I used the Something For Baby stamp set along with Happy Happenings and the Baby's First Framelits.  I love how these turned out!  Here is a close up of each:

I stamped the onesie and the sentiment in Marina Mist.  I sponged Soft Sky over the sentiment using a mask I made with the Label Bracket punch. And the hanger was stamped in Tip Top Taupe, which is quickly becoming a go to color for me.  Sorry Crumb Cake.  

Here is the little girl one.  I used Rose Red and Pink Pirouette.  

So there are two very simple, very cute cards.  Did you get a chance to check out the other creations over at SSI?   

No Bones About It

There are just so many must have stamps in the new Annual Catalog.  Today we are showcasing No Bones About It, a super cute kids stamp.  It is photopolymer stamp set which is great for two step stamping!  Here it is:

So fun, right?  I have a quick and easy card using this stamp set along with Circle Flip Card Framelit and the Go Wild DSP.  

I figure you could write a message on the back.  Thanks for checking out my creation today.  Be sure to look at all the other projects over at SSI!

Christmas in July

It is never too early to start thinking about Christmas!  Especially if you make your own Christmas cards.  Today is the first day of Convention for Stampin' Up! so we will be getting a look at the upcoming Holiday Catalog.  I can't wait to share it with you.  But until then I have some creations I made using the Holiday section of the Annual Catalog.  I was thrilled to see that they carried over some of my favorite sets from last year's amazing holiday catalog.  I am sharing cards made with a new set, Lots of Joy!  I created both of these cards to swap with other demos at Convention!  Check them out:

I just love the tree punch and having another stamp that goes with it is awesome!  The color scheme here is Real Red, Smoky Slate, Old Olive and Mossy Meadow.  And I had to add a tree punched from the Silver Glimmer paper.  I finished it off with some Real Red cotton ribbon.  

I love the rich colors here, I chose Mossy Meadow, Blackberry Bliss and Gold.  I embossed the ornaments and added a pearl to the center of each.  The Mossy Meadow stripe is a stamp from the set but the Blackberry Bliss is a piece of washi tape from the Bohemian Washi Tape set.  

I can't wait to show all the new stuff in the new catalog, I am sure it will be amazing.  But there are plenty of amazing things still in the Annual Catalog!  Check out the other projects over at SSI!

Watercolor Wishes

Stampin' Up! really knows how to make awesome kits!  I just love them all.  I have quite a few of them and I actually just followed the directions exactly, I might have to order some kits again and just play with them.  Today I am going to share the Watercolors Wishes kit.

The first thing you need to know about this kit is that you need it!  It is awesome.  The cards are cute and easy to make.  I did the whole kit one morning, not in my scrap room and with my kids running around.  It took me about 2 hours.  The kit comes with a block, two ink spots, a great stamp set with lots of sentiments and of course all the supplies to make great cards with envelopes.  There are even some extra accessories once you are done your card.  I am going to share my favorite three cards from the kits and then two cards I made with the extras.  

I love those sequins, they are so pretty!

The wood accents are awesome!  And you have quite a few leftover when you are done!

Aren't those flowers super cute?  

Here is a note card I made really quickly using the Watercolor Wishes stamp set along with the Work of Art set.

I made a quick 3 x 3 card that would be perfect tucked in my daughter's lunch.  I love love those wood accents.  

The kit is wonderful!  But let's be honest, all the Stampin' Up kits are awesome!  Check the other ones out over at SSI.  

Homemade Project Life Cards

I love Project Life style scrapbooking.  It makes it so easy. But I also love to make things more personal (and sometimes more complicated).  So I thought I would try my hand at making my own custom made project life cards.  I decided to use the From Land to Sea and By the Tide stamp sets for a beach/travel themed page.  Here is the page (sans pictures though):

And here is a close of of each card.  I used Mint Macaron, Tip Top Taupe and Night of Navy for a previous beachy card and loved the look so I decided to do that for my pages.

The Hello Life stamp set has some perfect Project Life card sentiments!  

I love using the white perfect accents as bubbles!

I just picked up the Ornate Tag Topper punch from a weekly deal  I can't wait to use it for cards as well!  

Here I covered the Night of Navy with the beachy script from By the Tide and then embossed the sentiment in white over it.  I love those big bold saying from Feels Good!

The Traveler and the Let's Get Away stamp sets came together to make this card!

Here I used Let's Get Away and From Land to Sea.  I love the tone on tone look of the ship's wheel. I finished it off with some Night of Navy seam binding!

Thanks for looking!  Now who is taking me to the beach so I can fill in the pictures?  Be sure to check out the other Project Life projects over at SSI!

Cotton Paper

So I always see fabulous creative people make these gorgeous paper flowers and I just wish I could do that.  Enter the new thin but durable Cotton Paper.  It comes in colors that match the Cherry on Top DSP, fun and bright!  With a few framelits and punches I was able to make some fun paper flowers.  Here are my projects using this cool new product!

Here is a close up of them individually:

Here is a quick tag I made with the Cherry on Top Washi Tape and You're So Sweet stamp set.  The flower was made from Crushed Curry cotton paper punched with all the scallop circles and stacked and stapled in the center.  So easy, right?  

This might be hard to see but I wanted to see if I could emboss the cotton paper.  I chose the Cucumber Crush paper and the Lovely Lace embossing folder.  Just a little DSP and a sentiment from Perfect Pennants and this card was done!  

And finally is my large flower adorning a Tag a Box filled with votive candles.  I used the Floral Frames framelits and cut the Watermelon Wonder cotton paper.  Just stack, staple, crumple and shape and you have a fun decoration for a gift!  

Thanks so much for looking.  Don't forget about all those fabulous specialty papers in the Stampin' Up Catalog!  Did you get a chance to see the other creations with the Cotton Paper over at SSI?