ConstantlyCreating.Me

“Cherish Every Moment” Card Using Stampin’ Up’s Forever Blossoms Stamp Set and Perennial Essence DSP and Vellum

Hello there! Welcome back to my blog. I made this card last week when I spotted my remaining scrap (less than a 6×6) of this pattern of floral-patterned paper in the Perennial Essence Designer Series Paper pack, #149100 (which is currently on the last-chance list for $8.09! Go get one!). My scrap was just so pretty that I had to use it up. I looked up the colors in the pack (Balmy Blue, Blackberry Bliss, Blueberry Bushel, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry, Flirty Flamingo, Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, Petal Pink, So Saffron, Whisper White) and picked Petal Pink for my card base. Then I reached for my matching vellum (Perennial Essence Vellum Cardstock, #149101) and picked the Old Olive color. (The vellum pack also has Petal Pink and So Saffron.)

To decide how much of the scrap I wanted to use and where to cut it, I first stamped my sentiment (from the Floral Blossoms stamp set, #151457, which is carrying over) in Old Olive ink, #146090, so that I could narrow down the dimensions and have more exact placement. I knew I wanted to mat the floral image to give it distinction from the Petal Pink card base, since there is so much Petal Pink in this particular scrap of DSP. (Isn’t it pretty? I always love a good watercolor image.)

After cutting the vellum, I then decided to emboss the Old Olive with the Subtle Embossing Folder, #151775, to have a small pattern that would complement rather than draw attention away from the flowers. When I flipped over the vellum to put some adhesive on the back that would be behind the flowers, that’s when things changed. I stopped mid-glue because I suddenly realized how cool the back side looked. The embossing—or, rather, the debossing—made the vellum turn kind of white with the creasing! Well, then I was torn; I liked both. I decided to take pictures of each side to show you and also to be able to make a decision—sometimes I see things differently when I view a photo I’ve taken, even if I’m the same distance from the image and looking at it in real life. I’m curious to see which side you like best. Leave me a comment and let me know which side—or which card—you would have gone with. 🙂

untitled design — Green debossed “whiter” side

by connie troyer constantlycreating.me — Green embossed vellum, colored side up

untitled design-1 — The way my original idea would have looked with the green vellum pointing up

I decided that I definitely liked the whiter side up and set about doing a double layer of matting to really hone in on the vellum (while still not taking away from the flowers). Pleased with my choice, I glued the now-white vellum to the larger unembossed Olive Olive vellum and the floral piece to the other smaller piece of Old Olive vellum, for two different mats. I think double matting just gives an elegant, intentional, thoughtful look to the thing being matted. I do this in my scrapbooking at times too, to help feature certain photos. When I look at the above picture now—the green-embossed side up, without the mats—it just feels so much plainer to me. (Of course, I would have added embellishments to it too.)

untitled design-2 — Interior of card (so far)

So there you have it, readers! Let me know what you think about this card and what you would have chosen. Clickable links for the products I’ve used are below.

If you don’t already have a demonstrator and would like to receive a free catalog from me, submit your name and address in my contact form and I’ll send one right out to you (remember, the catalog goes live on June 3!). I’m also working on my first product share offering and will post details about that soon in case anyone wants to buy in. (If you’re not familiar with a product share, it’s a sampling of new product from the new catalog—though I’ll probably also have an “old product” version too, in case some want everything. That way you get a little bit of all the fun DSP, embellishments, and ribbon without the gigantic cost of buying it all individually. So stay tuned for details on that!)

Thanks again for stopping by today. Let me know if I can help you!

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My host code from now until the the end of June is GCXZKQT9, which you can add to your order before you check out. As a reminder, if you order $250 worth before tax and shipping are added in, don’t add the host code since you’ll be prompted to put in your own rewards—your own little party! And anyone who orders $50 before tax and shipping gets a free gift of up to $8 from me, along with a reward point toward a free $40 order from me to you. When you collect 8 reward points, you’ll just need to tell me what you want and I’ll have it shipped out to you, as my thanks for being my customer. 🙂 Contact me if you have any questions!

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Product List

Masculine/Unisex Card with Stampin’ Up’s Come Sail Away Memories and More Card Pack for Stamp with Amy K’s Tuesday Blog Hop

Hello, and welcome back for my post joining Amy’s Inkin’ Krew Tuesday Blog Hop for May! This time we’re focusing on cards for the men or boys. I intended to make mine a masculine card (and it has been approved as such), but I’ve also been told by three women that it is “pretty.” So I guess it’s up to you as to how you feel about it. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know. 🙂 Maybe I’ve finally achieved a perfect unisex card! 🙂

I first got the idea by thumbing through the remaining double-sided cards in my Come Sail Away Memories and More Card Pack (#149552), which has been put on the retiring list (first come, first serve, and they won’t last long!). I really love this card pack and am sorry to see it go. Since I fulfill orders for a gift shop (with a second shop upcoming, after things finally return to some normalcy), I’m always looking for quick and easy cards I can make. Even though I love fussy details and spending agonizing amounts of time on card masterpieces 🙂 I do have to create some that are just simple and fast. So when I saw this 3″ x 4″ “Any Day with You Is the Best” Project Life–style card, it just worked. I quickly found a matching 4″ x 6″ background piece that matched it, and then it was just a matter of finishing with details.

I have three sets of retired or almost-retired “Cards and Envelopes” pack that are card bases and matching envelopes that I keep dipping into. For this card, because the shades in it are grey and black, a white card base and envelope from the retired Whisper White Large Memories and More Cards and Envelopes pack looked the best.

To add a layer before gluing everything together, I considered using Stampin’ Up’s retired Corrugated Cardstock between the two paper pieces, but it just didn’t look right, with stripes going both ways. I chose some lightweight mulberry paper I had in my stash, instead, tearing it to leave a border around the smaller card. And then I found my roll of retired Halloween Night Baker’s Twine, which is entwined Basic Grey and Basic Black colors, so I looped it around vertically twice and tied a bow. There still weren’t enough details to suit me and just a little more white space to play with, so I used my last remaining large adhesive heart sticker from the retiring Heart Epoxy Droplets (#148583) under the words on the front piece and then added four frosted gems from the Frosted & Clear Epoxy Droplets (#147801), which is carrying over to the new catalog (hooray!).

I haven’t decided what to put on the inside of this card yet, so it’s still blank for now. I’m open to suggestions if you have a fit of brilliance. 😉

Somehow I did manage to use both retiring and current products in my card, which is the theme of month for our team on our private Facebook page. 🙂 But this is a good example of why I keep or buy up retired products too, when I can get them. I literally use them for years on all kinds of projects. (And yes, the floor may fall through my craft room soon, as my husband fears. But then my craft room would be bigger! 😉 )

If you love a good sale like I do, please feel free to take advantage of the lower prices of the limited retiring stock (or carryover goodies) on Stampin’ Up’s website by shopping through my personal link at https://www.stampinup.com/ecweb/default.aspx. Supplies really are limited and things are already selling out. Use host code 6EFSC3TZ and get a free gift. (If your order is over $50 before tax and shipping, you can choose an item of up to $8 and I’ll ship it to you as my thanks, and you’ll earn one reward point toward a free $40 order. If your order is over $150 before tax and shipping, do not put in the host code because you’ll earn your own rewards before you confirm your order.)

And because my team is so awesomely creative, you’ll want to “hop” through the rest of the list to see what they’ve made for men or boys this month. (If you want to join my team and become a Independent Stampin’ Up Demonstrator like us, go here: https://ida.stampinup.com/en/?demoid=2202334.) Thanks for joining us today!

Press the Previous button to view Karen Finkle’s project or the Next button to see what Akiko created for us!

Mary Deatherage – https://wp.me/p5snyt-cPT
Karen Ksenzakovic – https://wp.me/paaNf4-2ap
Sue Prather – https://wp.me/p5yitZ-1Ua
Jaimie Babarczy – https://wp.me/p79UhD-3Rf
Leslie Larkin – https://leslielarkin.com/friend-like-you-bundle
Karen Finkle – https://karenscardkorner.blogspot.com/2020/05/stampin-up-tropical-oasis-masculine.html
Connie Troyer – You are here!
Akiko Sudano – https://wp.me/paOv8E-1bb
Julie Johnston – https://wp.me/p8SzmQ-2kc
Terry Lynn Bright – https://wp.me/p8fxPh-tt
Amy Koenders – https://wp.me/p2SFwf-juR

Throwback “You Send Me Soaring” Card (Stampin’ Up and DCWV)

I have another throwback card for you today from a few years ago. I’ve decided that I need to make another one! I used Stampin’ Up cardstock for the base and DCWV patterned paper for the background. I stamped the sentiment on a miscellaneous set of tags that I had to cut out, using the stamp set The Sky Is the Limit from Stampin’ Up. I used white Liquid Pearls in the plane’s trail so it would look like clouds. I edged the matched patterned paper with Baker’s twine for some dimension and definition. I finished off the card front with brads in the sentiment tag and die-cut gold corners from a Spellbinders die set. The inside of the card has more DCWV specialty paper, hand-punched holes in the borders, and the sentiment from The Sky Is the Limit set.

#thelittlewhatnotshop #constantlycreating #masculinecards #loveandromance #dcwvpaper #stampinup

View on Instagram https://instagr.am/p/B_kAbIiJyCB/

New Stampin’ Up Retiring Lists Just Announced!

Exciting news today—Stampin’ Up just released the retiring lists for the current Annual and Mini catalogs! Supplies are only while supplies last through June 2, so don’t delay! Items like In Color products, inks, cardstock, dies, and more will go quickly. The individual lists are below for your use. 🙂

Last Chance (Retiring) Products_from Mini (US)_June 2020

Last Chance Products (Retiring) AC (US)_June 2020

If you wish to order, please feel free to use my monthly host code (PDPCRPUF) and let me know if you need something! I’m happy to help! The new Annual catalog begins on June 3. 🙂

Throwback Card—One of My First Designs! (for Elva)

I have a throwback card today from 2013 (I’m sorry that the edge is cut off—it wasn’t an Instagram-required square photo!). This was one of the first cards I ever made, and I created it for a friend who told me it would go into her keeper box. Since she has since passed away, I just may make another in her honor. I matted Creative Memories stickers and used Ranger’s Glossy Accents on certain spots on all three images to highlight them. And as it was one of my first cards and I had a lot to learn, I tried to put black flocking on the sentiment and also stamped it a wee bit crooked. Oh, the things I’ve learned since then! 🙂

View on Instagram https://instagr.am/p/B_N099NJcvh/

A “For the Ladies” (Friendship) Card Using Stampin’ Up’s Beautifully Braided and Path of Petals (Tuesday Blog Hop with Stamp with Amy K)

Missing friends lately? Here’s an easy card you can make to remind your special relationships that they’re not forgotten!

Welcome, welcome! Despite coronvirus and economic shutdown and crazy March/April weather nationwide, it is somehow once again time for the Tuesday Blog Hop hosted by Stamp with Amy K (Amy Koenders). I’m back today with a friendship card that’s perfect for reaching out during this very odd time in our lives. Today’s blog hop is “for the ladies,” so it was created with my best friends in mind, to celebrate those relationships we’re grateful for and miss having in person right now. Thanks for following along today and stopping in on my page.

I woke up with a layout idea in my head about corner designs that I’ve never really tried before, and I was determined to give it a go. I’ve been working on an editorial project this week, so I didn’t have a lot of extra time to play around with creativity. It was more like “I only have [this much time], so I need to come up with something doable the first time around, and I need to do it now.” No pressure, right? With the layout and only the sketchiest of ideas in mind, I set to finding things that fit. I knew I wanted flowers. I always go to flowers, especially for women. They just brighten up my whole day and make me smile, and who wouldn’t want to make their friends smile?

Side note: you know, it’s always interesting to think about the creative process. At which points do you make decisions and proceed with them regardless of what happens during the interim? When do you redirect and try a different idea, after the first one brings contention? That’s sort of what happened to me here. In my head, I saw a landscape card with the top left and bottom right holding the flowers with the sentiment piece in the middle of the front. I had different options I could use for the background, embossing folders and stamps alike. And though the creative soul in me wanted to try several of the options to see what I liked best, I just kind of had to start with something and go with it.

I tried the Birch background stamp in Sahara Sand first since flowers make me think of trees and the rest of nature. (And because the embossing folder I really wanted to use is no longer current.) Here’s where I had to decide whether to proceed or redirect. I just could not get that stamp to line up correctly to do two beside each other in a horizontal fashion—the pattern on birch trees go horizontally, but the stamp is a portrait. The stamp isn’t big enough to cover one horizontal card front. And it’s not a photopolymer stamp to be able to line it up correctly. I tried to stamp it freehanded. I tried to do it using the Stamparatus. I both eyeballed and measured and frowned when necessary. I came close—but not close enough. And I decided I was tired of ruining cardstock. So rather than waste more time, I picked the one that came out the best and decided it was time to head a different direction.

The cardstock happened to be Very Vanilla, so that determined which shade and style I was going to be using. I cut off the cardstock and glued it on top of a new portrait card base (because I’d gotten ink on the other side of the first card base, of all things). I was suddenly stumped about how to arrange the rest of this card. It shouldn’t have been that hard, but the layout flip was messing with me and I couldn’t agree with myself about what would look like my original idea or what to use. I didn’t like any of it. The size was wrong. There was too much white space behind where I imagined the flowers (that I couldn’t commit to). Or the flowers were warring with the Birch background. All I knew was that I wanted to visibly set off the corners and perhaps also see a smaller diagonal strip and edge border extending from them. So I redirected again.

I kept the card base portrait style but started looking for Designer Series Paper to cover up the corners instead. As a longtime scrapbooker, I tend to fall back on DSP. I grabbed my 6×6 paper shares of current DSP, looking for something that would provide balance and grounding behind flowers. I thought one of the designs in the Perennial Essence DSP—one of the ones that remind me of a galaxy—would work for that job. So I took my little 6×6 square and looked for two blue corners that didn’t include many flowers on it, lopped off a corner where it worked, and then measured that corner against the rest of the DSP square to mark off and cut another for the opposite side. I glued down the blue corners on top of the birch background and stared at it. And decided that I didn’t like the stark color difference of the light background and the very dark corners. Any flowers I tried on top just didn’t please me. Frustration was building once more.

And then I saw it—paper that is so pretty, I almost want to weep. I’ve barely used it myself, other than cutting up some of the papers to give away at a party I demoed last fall. The Pressed Petals Specialty DSP has a paper in it with gorgeous blue flowers on burlap. Blue flowers that matched my Perennial Essence corners. …And then I realized that my last two little squares of that paper had flowers on them. Yes, I know I just said that. Light bulb moment—problem solved. No stamping needed! (This is why I love paper. 🙂 ) Rather than stamping and/or die-cutting flowers, I could merely cut out the ones in front of me and use those on the card, saving time and frustration! And so I did. I rough fussy-cut around one of the smaller blue flowers on my paper and one of large focal flower bunches. Usually I’m much more precise but the non-exactness went well with the rustic feel of the paper and I didn’t worry about it.

Then I had to finish the corners. With the blue galaxy already glued down, I did some mental aerobics and finally decided to offset the corners to show some of the blue and also work in the burlap. I took the square I’d cut into and sliced off the parts of the burlap paper left for the corners (which had a little bit of flowers too) by measuring it up against the corners already on the card. I then left a quarter of an inch margin showing when I glued them down. But that left a jagged edge on each side of the two corners, which felt odd. Here I went back to the layout in my head—I had already been thinking of using vellum to provide another smaller border coming out of the corner toward the center, along with some sort of decorative edge. But the elements were starting to fill up the card, and I wasn’t sure the sizing would work. Since I couldn’t quit looking at the jagged edges of both corners together, I decided to fill in those places with Petal Pink vellum from the Perennial Essence Vellum pack instead, so that’s why the corners are a little different. Accidentally on purpose, I guess. I also used that same vellum shade for the decorative border extending from the corners, and the die is from the Painted Labels dies.

After that it was just a matter of arranging where the bouquet and smaller flower went. I’m still not wild about my final placement of the large bouquet and my tags, but I love the location of the smaller flower next to the tag. In the end I saw that the large bouquet had a straight edge on it from where the paper was cut, so I just lined that up against my card edge, popped it up with 3D foam dots, and stuck it down, after figuring out the placement of the two tags from the Stitched So Sweetly dies with the smaller flowers. I should have brought the tags to the left a little more but I liked how the smaller flower sizes fit neatly into the corner and overlapped the tag. I did pop up the top layer of the tag with the sentiment. 🙂 I cut a piece of the Petal Pink vellum for the larger sentiment tag to give the Very Vanilla sentiment a bit of border and color as well.

I stamped the “Friendship refreshes the soul” sentiment from the Beautifully Braided stamp set in Sahara Sand ink as well as the inside sentiment (“Here’s to always finding joy in one another’s laughter, warmth in one another’s embrace, and love in one another’s love”) from the Path of Petals stamp set. I’ve used the inside sentiment for wedding cards before, but tonight, at least, I think it works for special friendships too. I “painted” the fussy-cut flowers with Clear Wink of Stella to give them some sparkle and added a little bow with our Linen Thread. And I used the Night of Navy Noble Peacock Rhinestones on the card front as well as little Gold Glitter Enamel Dots for the flower centers just for fun.

In the inside of the card, I used the Petal Pink vellum as a background for my sentiment. I just put a little bit of liquid glue underneath the words so that the glue wouldn’t show through. The glue on the back side of the Petal Pink, attaching it to the card base, doesn’t seem to be showing at all because of the layers. The inside sentiment is actually stamped in Blueberry Bushel ink on the tiny-flowered vellum and was heat-set on both sides briefly so that the vellum wouldn’t warp. And then I fussy-cut one last little flower and glued it with a Gold Glitter enamel off the side of the sentiment.

It was nice to feel that my forward progress and my redirections finally made something I actually liked to see. The card has a shabby chic sort of feel to it, which I haven’t made for a while. I may make more of these now that I’ve worked out all the kinks in placement logistics. Hope it inspires you to do one of your own (without all the creative grief!). You can find all the supplies I used on my card in my online store at https://www.stampinup.com/ecweb/default.aspx.

Please continue through the hop to see the awesome projects some of my teammates have made for you this week! It’s a very talented team. Pressing the “Previous” button will take you back to Karen, and “Next” will move you on to Mary. Thanks again for visiting!

https://wp.me/paaNf4-1V2 https://wp.me/p5snyt-cpO

Karen Ksenzakovic–https://wp.me/paaNf4-1V2
Connie Troyer–You Are Here!
Mary Deatherage–https://wp.me/p5snyt-cpO
Akiko Sudano–https://wp.me/paOv8E-13G
Leslie Larkin–https://leslielarkin.com/young-at-heart/
Karen Finkle–https://karenscardkorner.blogspot.com/2020/04/stampin-up-garden-lane-quilted-card-for.html
Julie Johnston–https://wp.me/p8SzmQ-2jk
Amy Koenders–https://wp.me/p2SFwf-j9H

Sale-a-Bration Reminders, New Product, and April Paper Pumpkin

Some Stampin’ Up “housekeeping” updates for my readers… Back with projects soon!

Hello there! I know I haven’t posted a lot recently, and I promise I’ll be sharing more soon. Thanks for keeping up with me in the meantime. I appreciate every one of my readers! For now, though, I wanted to give a quick reminder about Sale-a-Bration, show a new suite of products that you’ll be seeing more of soon, and let you know about April’s Paper Pumpkin details!

First, Sale-a-Bration (or SAB, as I often refer to it). News flash—it’s ending shortly! March 31 is the last day to order $50 or more in product (before tax and shipping) and receive a free something from Stampin’ Up in return. (There are items available for both “free with $50” and “free with $100” orders.) We have three free SAB products that have sold out already, since they are offered only as long as they last: 1) the Metallic Baker’s Twine and Sequins Combo Pack; 2) the Kerchief Card Kit; and 3) most recently, the Golden Honey Specialty Designer Series Paper. In addition, the Birthday Dies, which were with a Coordinating Product release, have also sold out.

Stampin’ Up did just release new SAB freebie products to choose from alongside the first batch, though, at the beginning of March. They are still available. And the Coordinating Product release that came between the first and second Sale-a-Bration freebie releases are products that (as you may have guessed) coordinate with something in the freebie brochures. So that I don’t slow down your internet that is increasingly important these days, I won’t attach the flyer pictures here. But here are links to access if you want to see the products in question (and I encourage you to do so!):

First and second SAB release brochure items: https://www.stampinup.com/ecweb/category/110100/sale-a-bration

Coordinating Products release items: https://www.stampinup.com/ecweb/products/111029/coordination-product-release

In addition, if you join up as a new demonstrator during Sale-a-Bration (through March 31, 2020), you get the brand-new mini guillotine trimmer, a free stamp set, and a 6×6 sampler pack of most of the DSP packs available in the current Mini catalog. Great deal! And I’d love to have team members! My join-me link is https://ida.stampinup.com/en/?demoid=2202334 if you’re interested!

Second on my updates list is “New Product.” That’s always fun, right? Stampin’ Up has just given demonstrators info about the new Ornate Garden Suite. It will be in the next Annual catalog and we are allowed to preorder items from it or the suite in its entirety for the rest of the month. And then it will be available for customers on April 1 as an early release!! I will add a flyer about that for you so you can see it and plan ahead. 🙂 There are two separate bundles in it along with separate embellishments, ribbon, Specialty DSP, and an embossing folder that can be purchased individually—or you can purchase the entire suite at once for $136.75! And let me tell you, I can’t wait to use those dies! Click on the link to see details about all the items and prices (really, do. I think the flyer is better than the image below!).

FLYER_ORNATE_GARDEN_PREORDER_US_3.20.20

My third update is about April’s Paper Pumpkin kit, available by subscription only. Here’s the news: it is a “fam-tastic” kit (focused on family: mom, dad, daughter, son, sister, and brother, or anyone who feels like family) and contains supplies for eight A2 cards (envelopes included). It uses the colors Crushed Curry, Early Espresso, Melon Mambo, Mint Macaron, Pear Pizzazz, Shaded Spruce, Soft Sea Foam, and the stamp set includes stamps for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day along with an “I’ll always be here for you” stamp too! (Based on the image below, I’ll bet it has something to do with a tree—and maybe a bird too!) Subscribe through me at https://www.paperpumpkin.com/en-us/sign-up/?demoid=2202334 for your own by April 10. Subscriptions are available in 1-, 3-, 6-, or 12-month subscriptions (you must call Stampin’ Up after your subscription ends or it—and the charges—will continue…though that’s more fun kits to play with…. 🙂 ). More good news is that the 3-, 6-, and 12-month subscriptions will earn you free Sale-a-Bration rewards (through March 31), and all will give you access to past kits and refills! Hooray! More free stuff! 😀

Okay, that’s it. I’m sure this has been long enough. Thanks for reading! Now go make some cards or play with other crafting! There can never be enough crafting—or kindhearted crafters—in this world. Go be a blessing! 🙂 ❤

To You and Yours Card Kit (Stampin’ Up Products)

I spent time last week working on finishing up a couple of Christmas card kits. Better late than never! #stampinup #toyouandyourscardkit #merrychristmas #handmadegreetingcardsforsale #constantlycreating #paperpumpkin

View on Instagram https://ift.tt/2OYOghz

Birthday/Celebration and Thinking of You Cards with the Sale-a-Bration Kerchief Card Kit for Stamp with Amy K’s Sunday Blog Hop

Birthday and Thinking of You cards made with the Kerchief Card Kit available for free only during Sale-a-Bration with Stampin’ Up!

Thanks for joining me on my blog today! I have to start off with an apology and a correction; this blog post is for Amy’s Tuesday Blog Hop, not Sunday’s. I was thinking of the day I had to post the link! And now I can’t change it…. More proof that I’m not perfect, I suppose. 🙂

So, for the Tuesday Blog Hop, which is going with a birthday theme this month, I decided to make up the Kerchief Card Kit, which is available as a Sale-a-Bration reward for spending $50 before tax and shipping. It had been backordered, but I got it in on Saturday and sat right down to put them together. I’m still making cards for sale for my local gift shop in Amish Country, so this set is perfect to do up for them. I plan on ordering a second kit and selling them in sets of five and some singles, using our Acetate Boxes and some card jackets.

I decided to go with this kit for the birthday blog hop because of the included “Celebrate Today” sentiments, planned for the Coastal Cabana rose cards. (The Poppy Parade kerchief cards have “Thinking of You” sentiments.) I adore the blue cards (and its gold foil-dotted vellum!) because of the colors and style, and the red cards were simple and fun to put together as well (also with vellum, but plain). I also really liked the thicker twine included in the kit, and I hope I see more of it in the future. I was pleasantly surprised and pleased to note that there is no stamp or ink spot in the set; the sentiments are already printed and included as die-cuts, ready to be added to the cards. It made the work go much faster—and yet still allows me creativity to add whichever sentiments I see fit for the insides of the cards.

The picture above only shows four of the eight cards in the A2-sized kit because I made two of each of the cards shown. On the blue Coastal Cabana cards, I popped up the rose and sentiment on two of them and left the other two roses flat; I also put two bows up and away at the right and two at the lower left bottom, for variation.

I changed the placement of the gold leaves on the Poppy Parade cards, two being centered and two being placed at a diagonal the way the kit shows. I also changed the location of the bow, not placing them under the tag as in the instructions. I actually even put the bow on top of one of the tags, which is not reflected here.

I finished the cards by adding sequins from the retired Love Blossoms Kit, as I thought the gold, white, and Blushing Bride colors matched well.

When I considered sentiments for the insides of the cards and looked through my current stamp sets, I found four that will work nicely for wedding or anniversary, general celebrations, or celebrating a special person or a special day that may or may not be love-related. Though they’re not stamped on the cards yet, I plan on using “Be strong, be happy, be you” from Rooted in Nature; “Wishing you the best on your special day” from the Perennial Birthday set; “Hoping you experience love and joy today, tomorrow, and always” from the Last a Lifetime set in the Mini catalog; and “Here’s to always finding joy in one another’s laughter, warmth in one another’s embrace, and love in one another’s lives” from Path of Petals. I think the “celebrate today” cards could also be used as graduation, retirement or promotion, even the birth of a baby or baby shower, and more occasions as well, if you didn’t feel the need to use the standard icons of the event. They would work fine as blank cards too—celebrating life or spring or no reason whatsoever!

Free with your purchase, the kit is a good investment. Quick to make up and easy to have a few cards on hand or to give as gifts, it’s one that will appeal to many (if for convenience’s sake if nothing else!), and the cards are lovely to boot. They’re also very easy to adapt to other styles or make into alternate designs. The envelopes are all lined with either Balmy Blue or Petal Pink and make a nice “wow” moment when they’re opened as well.

I’ll leave you with a close-up of my favorite card in the stack. 🙂 Please be sure to scroll down and “hop” through the rest of our list of participants so you can see the special birthday cards they created. We have a fantastic, creative team! If you are needing Stampin’ Up supplies, catalogs, or a consultant, I’m happy to help you out with any. You can use host code WAA2PGYR until February 16 when you check out. Thanks again for stopping by!

Jaimie Babarczy – https://wp.me/p79UhD-3B4
Connie Troyer – You are here!
Akiko Sudano – https://wp.me/paOv8E-Qx
Mary Deatherage – https://wp.me/p5snyt-btg
Karen Ksenzakovic – https://wp.me/paaNf4-1DA
Leslie Larkin – https://leslielarkin.com/birthday-with-the-peaceful-moments-bundle/
Sue Prather – https://wp.me/p5yitZ-1KD
Julie Johnston – https://wp.me/p8SzmQ-2hu
Karen Finkle – https://karenscardkorner.blogspot.com/2020/02/stampin-up-young-at-heart-for-amys.html
Amy Koenders – https://wp.me/p2SFwf-iuS

Flowery Eiffel Tower Love Card with Stampin’ Up’s Forever Blossoms, Parisian Beauty, and Last a Lifetime for Stamp with Amy K’s Tuesday Blog Hop

Enjoy a bit of France and flowers as we gear up for all things “love-ly” for Valentine’s Day!

Whew! That’s a long blog title. (And I didn’t even add all the stamp sets!) Maybe you know by now that my preferred style is lots of details and fuss—complication is somehow my specialty. I’ve used all current Stampin’ Up products in my card today, and there are quite a few. Thank you so much for coming to my post! Thumbnails of the products I used will be at the end of post, and clicking them will take you to my online store for more details.

The theme for Stamp with Amy K’s blog hop for this month is “love.” Well, I have a “love” for all things France, so when I was thinking about current Stampin’ Up product I already own that I could create with, of course I turned to the Eiffel Tower. And flowers. I love flowers too. They’re my go-to any time of year. I didn’t have anyone particularly in mind when I created this card; it will likely go to my local gift shop for sale soon. The idea of it came to me while I was driving the other day. The background has changed since, but ideas do that in this craft room. 🙂

I started with an A2 (4.5″ x 5.5″) Thick Whisper White card base and then eyeballed and cut a slightly smaller separate piece of regular Whisper White for a layer on the top. The margin difference is between 1/8″ and 1/16″ because one was too big and the other was too small. I dry-embossed this separate piece with the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder first in one direction, and then I flipped the paper and embossed it in the other direction, which gives it a crosshatched look. I tucked a piece of 1/4″ Petal Pink Metallic-Edge Ribbon around the edges slightly higher than the middle, gluing them on the back side, and then glued my embossed piece down to the card base. (Well, technically, I did a lot of the steps backward, including that part, but do as I say, not as I did!)

The focal part of my card front is the large flower stamp from the Forever Blossoms Cling Stamp Set, surrounded by an embossed die-cut made from the Heirloom Frames Dies and Heirloom Frames 3D Embossing Folders, with the Eiffel Tower stamp from the Parisian Beauty Cling Stamp Set and die-cut flowers from the Cherry Blossoms Dies offset to the side.

I knew I wanted to use Alcohol Blends on the flowers and leaves, but I don’t like coloring large sections with the Blends and making lines, so I felt like watercoloring the background would be best for me. I used the Balmy Blue watercolor pencil in the Assortment 2 pack and an Aqua Painter. (Truthfully, I forgot to color the background until after I’d already distractedly glued the piece to the back of the oval once my flowers were done, so don’t do that. Color it all first; then cut and glue.) Since we can use Memento Tuxedo Black to hold in the colors of the alcohol markers BUT Memento is water-based and will run when touched with water during watercoloring, I decided I’d better heat-emboss some embossing powder on the image after stamping with VersaMark so that I could do both techniques. I’d wanted to try out Stampin’ Up’s new Shimmer White and Shimmer Black Stampin’ Emboss Powders anyway.

I’m actually really impressed with those new embossing powders. I didn’t expect to see the holographic flecks in them, and that feature turns out some neat highlights. The Shimmer White is, of course, white when embossed, but there’s also a mix of silver and holographic flecks that don’t meld together when heated, unlike the white and black colors themselves. And the Shimmer Black includes flecks of silver, magenta, green, blue, and something yellowy that sit subtly on top of the black. The ones in the black are very hard to pick up in the lighting when showing a card, but they’re fun to see. After I heat-embossed the Eiffel Tower with the Shimmer Black, I think my jaw actually fell open—it looked like it was sparkling with diamonds!

When I was working on the oval, I had trouble getting the embossing perfectly centered in the die-cut, and that bothered me—and it also took up more of the card front that way, room I needed—so I trimmed off the excess around the crimped part. It lays flatter now anyway without the extra border edge. Once I had that done, I used it to figure out how I wanted to show my flowers inside it. They are stamped at an angle. I actually had a different angle chosen, but I didn’t glue it in the same way I had set it, so watch that if you do it. Mark a place at the top so you don’t twist it too far to the side. I cut a small section of Shimmery White Cardstock for the flowered piece, which you can see some of in the blue background in closeups. This card is quite shimmery everywhere you look!

To color the flowers, I used my Dark Petal Pink, Light Granny Apple Green, and Dark Granny Apple Green Alcohol Blends, as well as the Color Lifter. I tried to work with the Ivory too, but I had to lift the color right out of it because it felt too dark on the buds I colored. (I used to have a Light Petal Pink Blend and wanted to use it, but at the last show where I was a vendor, the cap didn’t get put back on correctly and I didn’t catch it until it had already dried out. So I have to order a new one.) When I colored the flowers, I went over the centers and extended the color some with the Dark Petal Pink first, then lightly went over everything with the same marker, and then took the Color Lifter to the outside edges of the flowers or buds. I would have also liked to have left some white on the flowers to look more like the DSP in the Parisian Blossoms Specialty Designer Series Paper, but it just didn’t work out that way. The embossing on the flowers and leaves is really where all the shading and shadowing is, so it felt more like reverse coloring as I worked with it. There’s not a lot of space in the flowers that isn’t embossed. I did color right over the embossing, and it does not rub off (though I did not intentionally test that when it was wet).

The Parisian Beauty stamp set is one I won with my Prize Patrol number at November’s OnStage conference, and I hadn’t ordered the matching Parisian Dies yet because I already have a Bigz Eiffel Tower die and several stamp sets having to do with France. In my mind, I saw the SU die-cut at the side of the card and thought I had bought the set until I went looking and remembered. Stampin’ Up’s die-cut is much prettier than the other die I have, so I will be ordering the Parisian Dies after all. For today’s card, though, I had to fussy-cut the stamped/embossed image.

I used the Cherry Blossom dies for the flowers on top of the Eiffel Tower. The stamens and star center were cut out of Champagne Foil and the flowers themselves out of Petal Pink cardstock. I actually doubled the littlest blossom, sandwiching the foil in between to make sure it stayed where it was supposed to. I wanted the blossoms to curl up a bit and had to use the tip of my Tombow Mono Liquid Glue to get the curves I imagined, instead of my large ball tool that was “somewhere.” The dies emboss curving lines in the flowers when cut, as well.

I popped up the Eiffel Tower with Mini Dimensionals to help the height of the knot at the edge of the card, so some of the cherry blossoms on top of it are glued flat and some have been half glued flat and half popped up. The littlest blossom actually has two half Mini Dimensionals at the right and is glued on top of the others otherwise. I knotted a small bow with the 1/4″ Petal Pink Metallic-Edge Ribbon (the last of my sample from OnStage!) and used glue dots under it, on top of the ribbon that was wrapped around to the back, to keep it in place.

To finish the card front, I used the “Always thinking of you” sentiment from the Very Versailles Cling stamp set and stamped it in Jet Black Staz-On ink on a scrap of Thick Whisper White cardstock (with no embossing either way). The Staz-On ink seems darker than the Tuxedo Black Memento ink, and since I had such a dark Eiffel Tower, I didn’t want to go halfway on my ink. To my surprise and delight, my Simply Shammy removed the Staz-On ink from my stamp with just a little scrubbing. Now I don’t have to drag out the pungent Staz-On Cleaner and do the whole paper towel mess! Hooray!

I also used my new Paper Trimmer and even the new Mini Cutter to trim up the sentiment scrap and the first version of my Subtle-embossed piece. The Mini Cutter is only available to demonstrators and those who become demonstrators during Sale-a-Bration, so if you want one, you’ll need to sign up to get it and some other goodies (but I promise it’s worth it!).

The inside of the card is hiding an oops, but I got a lot more creative with what you see versus what I had, so I’m happy about that mistake. I used the largest of the Painted Labels Dies to cut my “label” for the sentiment out of Sahara Sand cardstock. I stamped the “Sending All My Love” sentiment from the Last a Lifetime Cling Stamp Set in Jet Black Staz-On, using my Stamparatus. And then I glued more Champagne Foil to three more blossoms of various sizes (star centers and stamens, both) to two corners of the label. I did not curve those blossoms. 🙂

All in all, I’m pretty happy with this card. I hope you like it too. Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think or what you would have done differently—or any questions you may have. Just for fun, I’ve included a picture of the “clean and simple” version of this card to show you what it would look like without the flowers. Somehow it’s a very different feel! Nothing was glued down yet when I took the photo.

We have a very talented team creating for you today, so please “hop” around to the others on this list to see what they made! If you hit the “Previous” button, you’ll go back to Mary Deatherage’s blog, or you can go “Next” to Akiko Sudano’s offering. Both women create amazing cards! Or you can skip around with the links below—you’ll find many you like. 🙂

Karen Ksenzakovic – https://wp.me/paaNf4-1uG
Shirley Gentry – https://stampinwithshirleyg.com/?p=10221
Mary Deatherage – https://wp.me/p5snyt-aZ2
Connie Troyer – You are here!
Akiko Sudano – https://wp.me/paOv8E-KT
Jaimie Babarczy – https://wp.me/p79UhD-3wt
Karen Finkle – https://karenscardkorner.blogspot.com/2020/01/stampin-up-parisian-beauty-for-amys.html
Sue Prather – https://wp.me/p5yitZ-1I8
Leslie Larkin – https://leslielarkin.com/heart-to-heart-bundle-for-amys-inkin-krew-team-blog-hop/
Amy Koenders – https://wp.me/p2SFwf-idu

And if you are interested in the products I used on this card, I’ve added them to the next list, and the thumbnails are direct links to my online store for more information or purchasing.

If you wish to purchase something from my online store, please use the host code WAA2PGYR during checkout. Orders of $50 before tax and shipping also gets you a free gift of your choice worth up to $8, from me to you as my thanks. 🙂 (You’ll also get a free Sale-a-Bration item from Stampin’ Up with every order of $50 before tax and shipping!) If you’re interested in becoming a demonstrator and want to sign up with a great time, I’d love to have you join mine—and Sale-a-Bration is the best time to do it! Recruits who join before March 31, 2020, will receive the brand-new (only available here) Mini Cutter (which is a guillotine-style trimmer), a 6″x6″ sampler pack of Designer Series Paper (48 sheets of most of the DSP from the Mini catalog), a free stamp set of their choice, $125 worth of items for $99, and more. I’ve never regretted it!