Love Gnomes Color Challenge

I'm the hostess this week at Splitcoaststampers Color Challenge.  I chose some classic Valentine's Day colors - Polished Pink, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz.

When I chose the colors I was thinking floral.  However, when I went to create the card I had just received my My Favorite Things order and in it were these stamps.

I could not resist using them.  Rarely do I purchase a stamp and use it within an hour of receiving it but that's what I did.  I fully admit to CASEing this card from their website/blog.  In fact, it was probably that card that convinced me to buy these stamps.  I'm sure no one else has that "should I get it, do I need it?" dialog in their head!  LOL!

I did change a few things for my card - mainly the color and I used different gnomes from the sets.

I hope you will find time to join us in the color challenge this week and share your Valentines!

Products used: My Favorite Things

• Stamps: Never Ending Love Background
• Stamps / dies: Love You Gnome Matter What, Love to my Gnomies
• Markers: Stampin' Blends Polished Pink Light & Dark, Poppy Parade Light & Dark; Copics RV02, R32,YG61, YG63, E02, E11, T0, T1

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A Celebration Card

This card is cause for celebration as I rarely get to create cards just because.  And this card is just because I wanted to enter some challenges.  As a bonus I can use this as a birthday card - the card I need most.

I love the Pierced Blooms dies from Stampin' Up! They are simple to use and make beautiful bold cards. As an added plus you can just use scraps which is what I did here.  I'm not even sure what colors  I used!  I just went into my scrap boxes and pulled out colors I liked.

The stamp set Create with Friends is a incredibly useful one that has large script words with smaller words that coordinate.

I'm entering this card into these challenges:

I was inspired by the colors and black stripes.  My card is clean and layered.

Also - Watercooler Wednesday's All Things Feminine:

and Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge:

Products used: All Stampin' Up!

• Dies: Pierced Blooms
• Stamps: Create with Friends
• Accessories: Stampin' Cut & Emboss
  

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CAS Love

Yesterday's post was rather lengthy so today's post will be short and sweet.  We have our first sketch of the year at CAS Colours & Sketches.  It lends itself to bold cards!

 

I really wanted to make a Valentine's Day card that said "love" in a bold font.  I don't have any that are bold so I made one instead using the Playful Alphabet dies. I cut three layers of each letter in black and one in red so I could have a nice stacked word with "shadow" underneath.

For my background I used a retired die from the die set Be Mine.  As demonstrators we're encouraged to show and use new products but I like to integrate old ones as well.  When I can use something I already own it makes me feel better about my purchases.  I get satisfaction knowing I'll get mileage from a product!   

I hope you'll find time to join us in the challenge this week!

Products used: All Stampin' Up! Right now is Sale-A-Bration.  Earn a FREE product with each $50 you spend!  Click the link for more details.

• Dies: Playful Alphabet, Be Mine (retired)
• Cardstock: Basic White thick, Basic Black, Real Red
• Accessories: Resin Hearts (retired), Stampin' Cut & Emboss
  

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Masculine Valentine's Card

Mary at Splitcoaststampers gave us an interesting color challenge this week, to make a masculine Valentine's Day card.  And the colors she chose - Rich Razzleberry, Pacific Point and Daffodil Delight - aren't exactly the colors of most Valentine cards.  I decided to use "For the Record" from Stampin' Up!'s new Spring Mini catalog to make an interactive card.  

This set is one of my favorites! It is great for a music lover of any gender or age.  And if you think the younger set won't understand records - my 28 year old daughter just bought a record player and is starting to rummage through thrift stores for classic rock albums (she knows she can't have mine - LOL!)

I started the card by making my own DSP using the Sweet Conversations stamp set.  This ensured that I was meeting my color challenge requirements!  I used three different outline conversation hearts and randomly stamped them in each of the colors.

I then went on to the create the record.

The record looks great when embossed in black on black cardstock but it did take a couple of tries.  First, make sure you have a nice, juicy Versamark pad for your impression.  I used my Stamparatus and needed to stamp the image three times to get enough ink.  I would recommend NOT using an embossing buddy on this image if you're doing black on black embossing.  I used one with my first try and just couldn't get rid of the "haze" from the powder.  And it's really not necessary since this image is not a finely detailed one.

I cut out the record and its center using the largest and smallest of the Layering Circles dies.  The smallest of the dies will cut out a middle hole slightly larger then the inner most circle of the stamp.  For my label I needed just the heart and not any of the record part of the stamp showing.  To do this I used a black marker, colored just the heart and stamped.  The heart is colored using the Daffodil Delight Dark Stampin' Blend.  I cut it out using a circle punch and glued it behind the record.

 Making the record move easily AND be raised off the card took a little engineering.  I created a washer from five circles of cardstock glued together and punched a hole through the center.  Then I punched a hole through the center of my record. Using a small brad I attached the the record to the washer.  You need to make sure not to attach the brad tightly or your record won't move easily.  I then used strong Tear Tape to attach the washer to the card front panel.  By not attaching the brad directly to the card front I could adjust the position of the record and I didn't have to worry about covering up a brad.  Raising the record allows for easier interaction!

I know this post is long but I wanted to provide some direction on how to create the card.  It looks fairly simple (and is) but does require a bit of planning.

Products used: All Stampin' Up!  Right now is Sale-A-Bration.  Earn a FREE product with each $50 you spend!  Click the link above for more details.

• Stamps: For the Record, Sweet Conversations
• Dies: Layering Circles
• Ink: Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Rich Razzleberry, Versamark 
• Cardstock: Basic White Thick, Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry
  
• Accessories: Playing with Patterns Resin Dots,  Round & Square Brads, Black Stampin' Write marker, Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blend marker,  Basics Embossing Powders, Stamparatus, Tear & Tape, Stampin' Cut & Emboss

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Yay for Love!

Happy New Year!  I took a bit of time off over the holidays to spend time with my family.  And the challenges I work with all took a break - so things worked out perfectly.  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Now on to the first CAS Colours & Sketches color challenge of 2022.  Joanne gave us some colors that I felt were perfect for Valentine's Day!  They totally reminded me of the candy conversation hearts from when I was little.  Stampin' Up! just released a stamp and die set featuring these hearts with some updated sayings.

 

I stamped the backgrounds with the solid hearts and then I used the Poppy Parade to stamp the sayings - like the candy.

The die set contains the cutest little envelope.  Just big enough to set a few hearts free!

The sentiment is also from a brand new stamp set - Happy & Heartfelt.  It features wonderful everyday sayings in a pretty contemporary script.

Well, that's my card for today.  My youngest daughter just left after being here for 10 days.  It was a great visit but it will be nice to get back to my normal routine!

Products used: All products Stampin' Up!  Right now is Sale-A-Bration.  Earn a free product with each $50 you spend!  Click the link for more details.

• Stamps: Happy & Heartfelt (2022 Spring Mini Catalog)
  
• Stamp / die Bundle: Sweet Conversations Bundle (2022 Spring Mini Catalog)
• Ink: Highland Heather, Petal Pink, Poppy Parade, Memento Black
• Paper: Basic White Thick, Poppy Parade
  

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