Just Believe

I love the stamp set "Just Believe" but I've always wondered what to do with the stamp in it that says "Some things have to be believed to be seen".   Well this week I found a use for it.  My aunt, for the past number of years, has had severe back pain to such an extent that she's had surgery to try to correct the problem.  Even with that she was still having a lot of problems sitting, standing or walking and the pain was still very severe.  This week, thanks to her belief and faith in Jesus Christ and lots of prayer, she was miraculously healed!!!!!   She, obviously, is thrilled and we are rejoicing with her.  So when I sat down to create a card to send to her this saying leapt out at me.

Some things have to be believed!!!

Isn't it pretty?!  I used 3 of the new In-Colours from Stampin' Up!; Gumball Green, Primrose Petals and Raspberry Ripple.  I love how they work together.

Interior...rejoicing!

For the interior I selectively coloured (with my brand new Stampin' Write In-Colour markers) both the flowers and the sentiment.  The sentiment comes from a retired Christmas set called "Star Studded Season" and I thought was perfect for this occasion.

Here are all the details:

Stamp Sets:  Just Believe, Star Studded Season (retired)

Paper:  Whisper White, Gumball Green, Raspberry Ripple

Ink:  Gumball Green, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple

Other:  Tulips Textured Embossing Folder, Curly Label punch, sponges

Happy Stamping!

Introducing...

...the brand new 2012-2014 In Colours; Raspberry Ripple, Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green and Primrose Petals:

Aren't they pretty!?! 

This card was inspired by a card I saw in the new 2012-2013 Stampin' Up catalogue.  I very rarely do white cards but I thought that this would be the best background to showcase these new colours.  Not only does this card use new colours I got to use the brand new firm foam stamp pads.  I know I've said it before, but these are FANTASTIC!!!!  The coverage on the stamp is so much better than the "old" linen pads and with minimal effort!  I love them!!!! 

I can't wait to share these colours, new ink pads, new designer series paper and so much more in person at my Annual Catalogue Launch Party on June 5th. If you are in the K-W area and are looking for a night out I would love to see you (and a friend) at this event.  There will be door prizes and for every order over $50 I will throw in a brand new ink pad (your choice of colour) FREE!!!  RSVP through email please. Happy Stamping!

I'm ba-ack...

...for a short time at least.  I've just enjoyed 10 days away with my family, camping in Quebec.  What a fabulous province!  This is the second summer that we've spent vacationing there and we've loved both experiences.  The province itself is absolutely GORGEOUS and there is so much diversity in the landscape.  The people are friendly and the food amazing!  It was so nice to get out canoeing again this year.  It was my son's first time in a canoe and I have to admit, he did pretty well.  Our first outing was only about 1/2 hour but the second was 3 hours!  Not bad for a 2 year old....the key is to bring lots of snacks and a bag of rocks : )

We ended our trip at my sister-in-law's place for my father-in-law's 60th birthday.  We spent a lovely day canoeing the Saugeen River near Walkerton and then had a nice family dinner at a local restaurant.  All-in-all a great day for a great dad!

We began our trip at my cousin's wedding and I'd like to share the card that I made for her and her new husband.  I had a lot of fun with my new "Occasions Alphabet" stamp set for this one!



Summer Wedding

 
I chose to stick with a relatively simple colour palette that was similar to the bride's colours for the day; Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry and Very Vanilla.  I wanted to incorporate butterflies somehow and I really like how they look against the flowers from the "Just Believe" set.  The largest butterfly has had it's wings brushed with Rich Razzleberry to give them a little more depth (thanks to S.M. from TheMuseum for the idea!).

Monogram using Occasions Alphabet

For the monogram I simply coloured just the letter from the "Occasions Alphabet" stamp and framed it using one of the frames from "Four Frames".  The "bling" on the monogram and butterfly are rhinestones.

For the Newlyweds

 Finally, for the inside of the card, I wanted to say something about being "Newlywed".  I framed the sentiment again with a frame from "Four Frames"...the one with the bird, but coloured to omit the bird.

Fun with circles...

I am so honoured to be a guest designer again this week for A La Card Monkey.  I had a lot of fun with this week's sketch and I'm still coming up with ideas in my head for things I can do with it.  Here is the sketch:

A La Card Monkey Challenge #60 Sketch

So many possibilities!  I came up with 2 cards last night and will likely do more this week. Here's the first one:



Monkey Challenge #60

   I've been wanting to try a neat embossing/water colouring technique for a while now so I decided to take this opportunity to do it with the round stamp from the "Just Believe" set.  First, I stamped the image with my VersaMark and then heat-embossed it using white embossing powder.  Then, using my Blender Pens, I "water coloured" the flowers and leaves with Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Blushing Bride and Wild Wasabi inks.  There a couple of ways to do this; while your stamp pad is closed gently squeeze it and this will allow some ink to "bleed" onto the cover, then dip your Blender Pen in it and colour away; OR you can colour with your Stampin' Write markers onto a plate or acrylic block and then pick up the colour from there.  Both ways work equally well but I prefer to colour on a plate rather than have all those stamp pads out at once.  Here's more of a close up look:

Monkey Challenge 60 embossing detail

I then punched out the circles using a 1 1/4" circle punch and mounted them onto Wild Wasabi and Melon Mambo "blossoms" that I punched using the third setting on my "Blossom Bouquet" triple layer punch using Stampin' Dimensionals.

The really tricky part of this card was the strips of Melon Mambo and Wild Wasabi card stock that I punched using the Scallop Trim punch.  Taking a strip of card stock that's a little less than 1/2" inch thick I punched out on both side being careful to line up the scalloped edges.  It didn't work perfectly but it still has a nice effect.  If I had the Pearl stick ons I would have added them to these strips as well as to the centre of the flowers on the circles.

I had to use my "Beyond the Garden" DSP again!  I LOVE this paper!  I really like the versatility of colours that it provides.  For this particular pattern I used Blushing Bride card stock as a base.  The sentiment is stamped in Melon Mambo ink and mounted onto the same colour card stock that has been punch using the Modern Label punch.

I'm a Guest Designer

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm a guest designer for this week's Monkey Challenge over at A la Card Monkey!  I was really excited to be chosen as a runner up for last week's challenge and looking forward to designing an example to go with this week's sketch.  I have to admit, I was a little dismayed when I got the sketch (here it is):

Vintage!  Yikes!  I've never done vintage (really) and had to borrow some supplies from my good friend, and fellow demonstrator, Christy.  I did some research about what "vintage" cards might look like and here's what I came up with:

Vintage Card for A La Card Monkey

 Not too sure if it really fits the "vintage" mold, but I like it.  I decided right away to use one of my favourite sets, "Just Believe".  And thanks to some examples posted online (thanks to http://createdbyyou.blogspot.com/)  I was able to cobble together this card.  I really love the vintage brads and crochet trim ribbon and was glad to have a chance to use them (again, thanks to Christy for giving them to me).  I started with a base of Crumb Cake card stock and then did a series of layers; Very Vanilla (sent through the Big Shot in an embossing folder, I would use Vintage Wallpaper next time) and sponged with Crumb Cake ink, Early Espresso, Old Olive and, finally, Very Vanilla again, this time with the stamped image.  I inked the flower image with my Marina Mist, Pear Pizazz and Old Olive Stampin' Write Markers.  After it was stamped I went around the edges of the flowers with the fine tip of my Marina Mist marker to make the edges stand out a little more.  I sponged the edges with Old Olive ink.  I did more sponging here than I normally would, but when looking at examples of vintage greeting cards there seemed to be a trend towards soft edges.

Vintage card detail

For embellishments I used Early Espresso satin ribbon, crochet trim ribbon and Antique brads.  The sentiment, "Friends", comes from the "Just Believe" stamp set and I punched it out using my Decorative Label punch, small end to the top of the sentiment (check out my post "Thank Card for Stamping 411 challenge for more details).

I hope you like it and I'm looking forward to creating more Vintage cards in the future.  Thanks to Shirley and Terry for getting the creative juices flowing on this one.  I'm also looking forward to being a guest designer again for next week's challenge!