“A Good Man” Stamp Set with Seaside Spray In-Color for Stamp with Amy K’s Tuesday Blog Hop

A masculine card for use during Father’s Day (or any day!) for Stamp with Amy K’s Tuesday blog hop.

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Hello again and welcome back to my blog—or thanks for stopping by if you’re a new visitor! The theme for Stamp with Amy K’s current Tuesday blog hop is “masculine,” so I decided to create two “Father’s Day” type of cards that can be used at any time for the guys in our lives. Since they are going to my local gift shop for sale, I needed to create something that didn’t explicitly say “Happy Father’s Day” (best for a longer shelf life!).

I’ve used all current or upcoming products that are available on June 4, when Stampin’ Up customers can order from the new catalog. I was able to preorder some things because of my demonstrator status. So I’m using stamps from the new cling set “A Good Man” and one of our brand-new In-Colors, Seaside Spray (only available for purchase June 4, 2019 through May/June of 2021).

Seaside Spray is a gorgeous color that reminds me of a smoky blue. It’s one of the shades in my valances, actually, so I have a feeling I’ll be using this color for years to come even after it retires. 🙂 And “A Good Man” is one of those casual, contemporary sets that have a sketched look to the images, with some slight distressing on the sentiments.

I began each A2 card with a Seaside Spray card base, taking an 8.5×11 piece of cardstock and cutting it in half. I wanted to use two of the colorable images in the stamp set, one on each card, and quickly figured out which rectangles my chosen images would fit inside in my new Stitched Rectangles die set.

I stamped each colorable image in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and die-cut the first rectangles. Then I colored them with some of our Alcohol Blends: Dark Mango Melody, Dark Old Olive, Dark Smoky Slate, Dark and Light Basic Black, Ivory, Bronze, Dark and Light Shaded Spruce, Dark and Light Balmy Blue, and Dark and Light Real Red. (I need to get a dark blue yet, so I had to color all pants in various shades of black and gray.)

Seaside Spray isn’t one of the colors I own in the Blends yet either, so I used Light Balmy Blue for the sky and border, hoping it would look all right. Turns out it does sometimes…but not if there’s a lot of concentration. I filled in the background of one of the images but left the other white. I wasn’t sure which way to go. Tell me which one you like best. 🙂

Next I die-cut other various-sized rectangles from the Come Sail Away and Perennial Essence Designer Series Paper packs and and staggered them with the images and sentiment block.

I also carefully edged around the border of one of the die-cut, colored images with my Balmy Blue Blend. I wanted to do something in the corners the way I would dye ink, but I didn’t trust myself enough to try it with the Blend. I’ve had to redo enough this evening. I’m actually pretty pleased with how the edging turned out. It was easy and looks clean and simple. I liked it so well that I did it on the second card too, with a Night of Navy Stampin’ Write Marker (but it was much easier to accomplish with the Blend, at least tonight!).

After I placed the sentiment block and glued the rectangles for the first card, I added three Heart Epoxy Droplets to two corners to finish the card.

And here is where I have to confess something. Two things, really. I lost a stamp before I finished my cards or this blog post. Specifically, I lost the main sentiment for the front of the cards. I have torn this room apart, searching through my trash can, cleaning off my desk and the cart next to me, checking my clothes…. It still hasn’t turned up. (Please tell me I’m not the only one this has happened to!) I can attest that the new cling stickers are really sticky, because I had the stamp rubber-side down in the case with the sticker facing up so I could quickly grab it and stamp it after I was done with the inside pieces. I’m certain it’s stuck to *something*. 🤦‍♀️ So... Sigh. I handwrote the same sentiment in a similar kind of font and lightly stuck it to the card—for this blog’s purposes only—where the real sentiment will be stamped in Night of Navy ink on Seaside Spray cardstock. When I find it. Humor me, please. (If I can’t find the stamp eventually, I may just have to repurchase this set because that pair of sentiments is essential!)

This card has now also convinced me that I need to get the Subtle 3D embossing folder. The background still needs something. I thought of stamping too late, after I adhered the rectangles. I’ll pretend I’m going for “clean and simple.”

The first card.
Another angle, showing the hearts a little better.

And now for my second confession. My roll of Night of Navy/Sahara Sand Baker’s Twine has gone AWOL as well. (I’m betting the cat did it. She’s been known to do so.) So I’m using most of the piece of twine that I snitched at OnStage for my Come Sail Away card I finished later at home. I also cut card #2’s heavy-striped piece of Night of Navy/Whisper White DSP the wrong size…and that was after I spilled ginger ale on four newly opened papers and cut out the wet sections. 🙄🤦‍♀️ Trust me, if I can make cards I’m proud of with all this chaos, anybody can!

So this is what I refigured for the second card, after some challenges (like the fact that I had to use the Color Lifter too, even before I cut the striped piece incorrectly). I used Linen Thread at the bottom of this one. I felt I needed to separate the Balmy Blue Blends background from the Seaside Spray cardstock because, for me, the color difference was too much to have them next to each other. My first thought was to have the striped paper cover the entire card front, but obviously that went awry. I decided that the mistake wasn’t so terrible as to have to redo that too (and I sort of hated to cover up all that beautiful new In-Color anyway), so I just went with it. I hate wasting paper. (My apologies again for the handwritten sentiment. It will look so much better with the real one….)

The gift shop card.

The insides of both cards are identical, and they went so much smoother than the rest. I was even watching a TV show while I stamped. (That does it—I should always watch TV while crafting. But not in the dim light, because I think that’s when I lost my stamp.)

So that’s it for me tonight. It’s time for bed. Thanks again for stopping by my blog! So sorry about all the mishaps. Some nights just go like that.

If you’re interested in receiving a catalog, I’d love to send you one. Just drop me an email with your info using my Contact Me form.

If you want to continue the hop to see what the rest of my fabulous team members made, click the Next button to see what our fearless leader, Amy Koenders, has made, and if you’d like to go backward instead, click the Previous button to visit Sue Prather’s blog.

  1. Karen Ksenzakovic – https://wp.me/paaNf4-Bn
  2. Terry Lynn Bright – https://wp.me/p8fxPh-80
  3. Jaimie Babarczy – https://wp.me/p79UhD-2Pa
  4. Mary Deatherage – https://wp.me/p5snyt-88U
  5. Karen Finkle – https://karenscardkorner.blogspot.com/2019/05/stampin-up-wood-textures-dsp-for-amys.html
  6. Akiko Sudano – https://stampininthemeadows.com/?p=462
  7. Shirley Gentry – https://stampinwithshirleyg.com/?p=5240
  8. Sue Prather – https://stampwithsueprather.com/?p=4744
  9. Connie Troyer – https://wp.me/p8xvI6-nm
  10. Amy Koenders – https://wp.me/p2SFwf-frW

A Masculine Card with the Come Sail Away Suite (2019-2010 Annual Catalog–Sailing Home stamps)

Let’s all say hooray that I can finally blog again! I started this masculine card while in Charlotte at OnStage with Stampin’ Up in mid-April but didn’t finish putting it together until the preordered corresponding dies arrived at my house after vacation and I had some time to do sit down with them. The Stampin’ Up team gave us precut pieces in a kit to use with supplies on the table, though we could change it any way we wanted to. I did end up varying my card a little from the picture they included with the kit.

This card features the Come Sail Away suite, which will be new in the 2019-2020 Annual Catalog (available to customers June 4). What I used from the suite is the Sailing Home Stamp Set, the Smooth Sailing Dies, some of the Come Sail Away DSP, the Sail Away Trinkets, and a bit of its Sahara Sand/Night of Navy Baker’s Twine. The suite itself also includes the Come Sail Away Memories and More Card Pack and the High Seas 3D Embossing Folder—and let me tell you, this suite is awesome. I will be making up some cards with the Come Sail Away Memories and More Card Pack soon as well (there are laser-cut specialty cards in the pack of 50 double-sided cards!).

New cling stamp set available June 4.
The stamps, dies, twine, trinkets, embossing folder, and Designer Series Paper. A must-have!
The cards in the Memories and More Card Pack…one of my all-time favorites! Look at those laser-cut designs!
These trinkets are flat enough to mail and lightweight!

So, for this A2 card, I glued some Come Sail Away DSP onto the card base first and then placed the smaller piece of DSP cockeyed at an angle for its position behind the focal piece. For that focal piece, I used Balmy Blue ink with an AquaPainter to create a light wash of blue sky in the background (technically I did that last, but it’s smarter to do it first).

I stamped the lighthouse onto the Whisper White focal piece with Night of Navy ink and then stamped the compass off to the right of it with Early Espresso ink the way the kit photo suggested. Then I stamped and fussy-cut another lighthouse on scrap Whisper White and placed it atop the first one with foam dots so it became 3D. (The kit also suggested we add a die-cut ship’s steering wheel here with the lighthouse/compass/sentiment area, but I moved my wheel to the inside of the card instead—and left plenty of room for an overdue message.)

I stamped three flying birds in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink in the sky and distressed the edges of the Whisper White piece with a distressing tool. Then I die-cut a piece of rope with some dark brown (Soft Suede?) cardstock to lay across the bottom under the lighthouse (it embosses while it cuts!), and I die-cut a sentiment spot out of Balmy Blue cardstock after that. The sentiment die has a wonderful dashed or stitched outside border that is pressed into the paper as it cuts the die-cut.

I then stamped the sentiment (“Let Hope Be Your Anchor Through the Storms of Life”) in Balmy Blue. Since this is a cling stamp set, it is much easier to line up visually, so the stamping went well the first time through, even if I probably should have used Night of Navy ink instead. 😉

To finish off the card, I tied a bit of the Baker’s Twine through one of the anchor trinkets (there are both anchor and ship’s wheel trinkets) and glued the ends of the twine up under the sentiment spot, as if it was dangling there or laying near the lighthouse.

Here are some snapshots I took at OnStage including the display boards of the Come Sail Away suite. Our presenter in Charlotte was the incomparable Mary Deatherage, who happens to be one of my team members! She created the samples on the display boards for this suite as well. It was so much fun (and a bit awe-inspiring) to see her demonstrating the products right up there live in front of us, and she did an amazing job.

Suffice it to say I will be using these again soon! I think the “Set Sail in the Direction of Your Dreams” sentiment is going to be great for masculine graduation cards this season. They hit a home run with this bundle.

Although the new catalog isn’t available to order from until June 4, I’m happy to send one your way once I get them. If you’d like a catalog, just email me! There are also still a lot of great things carrying over and retiring from the two current catalogs. If you need a demonstrator, you can use host code RRCMHZ4E when you shop with me (catch the direct store link in my sidebar at the right or click http://www.stampinup.com/ECWeb/default.aspx?dbwsdemoid=2202334!). I’m happy to answer any questions you may have. Thanks for stopping by! Let me know what you think of this product suite!

You Light Up My Life (Throwback Creation)

A throwback to a masculine lightbulb card I made previously.

Since I’m recovering from being sick and haven’t been in the craft room, I thought I’d take the next few posts to show cards I previously created and didn’t post to social media. Some of them were or are listed on my Etsy shop and some have sold privately. . . . I had fun creating this masculine card with retired materials from SU. I inked and distressed the edges and used Distress Stickles on the filament inside the light bulb. Thought I’d “grunge” it up a bit. . . . #thelittlewhatnotshop #constantlycreating #masculinecards #lightbulbs #youlightupmylife #summerstarfruit #sudsp

 

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

You’re Not Old…You’re Retro! (“Free Cake” Birthday Stamp Set from Stampin’ Up)

Hopping with Amy’s Inkin’ Krew for a Birthday Theme!

Hello again! It’s “birthday month” for Amy’s February blog hop! 🙂 I’ve made a card using the “Free Cake” stamp set to show you this time.

I all too often create on a quick timeline, but I had to fly at double speed that night so I could first listen in on our team meeting (while driving home…shh!) and then get my blog link up to the group before the deadline. And I had to create the card, or at least know where I was going with it, before I could do the link. What that means is that I made a REALLY SIMPLE CARD that any of you can recreate. 🙂 #simplestamping for the win.

I guess I have a wacky sense of humor. I like puns and sarcasm and slapping-my-knee funny and maybe slightly snarky stuff. I have several stamp sets in my possession that reflect this. And I recently acquired another one—the “Free Cake” set. It is current in the 2018-2019 Annual Stampin’ Up Catalog (page 70, to be precise). I was a little torn about which combination of stamps to use, so I just had to pick one and start. The good thing about owning the stamp set is that I can make the other card percolating in my brain at any time. 😉

I’m actually making this one for our team swap, which requires me to use current products in case the receiving demonstrator wants to use it on display. This is a big one for me to remember, because I have lots of retired products at my fingertips that I still love to use too. I use things up sparingly. 😉 And I confess that the one I’m sending for the swap is actually my second attempt. I didn’t like how I forgot to turn one of the radios when I was stamping, so I redid it since it may be used for demonstration. Not that it really matters. Either card is fine. I’m merely fighting my perfectionistic streak. 🙂 (And it was such a quick card that I had time to make a second!)

I’ve used the 2018-20 In-Colors (Lovely Lipstick, Grapefruit Grove, Pineapple Punch, Call Me Clover, and Blueberry Bushel) for inks, as well as our Archival Basic Black.  I’m just now realizing that the Archival pad retired. I should have used the Memento Tuxedo Black ink. Oops. 😦 I also used the fantastic Thick Whisper White cardstock for my card base.

I’m a child of the ’80s…mostly. So I remember the big boomboxes and all the other fun things we grew up with. It is unfathomable to me how I could be so OLD already—like, practically middle-aged. Ugh. I don’t even like typing that. But I do love the big transistor radio featured in the stamp set probably because of it. I stamped with the radio rather randomly (with a bit of placement 😉 ) in most of the In-Colors mentioned above. I saved the Pineapple Punch for the stars around the radios on the swap card (though the first card has both). If I make it again, I think I’ll stamp the stars while I’m stamping the radios. It was a bit tricky to place the stars afterward. Sometimes I wiped off part of the stamp so I could work around the radios and not be stamping so many stars at once. (You should see my inky fingers!) I did also use a bit of Lovely Lipstick Stampin’ Write Marker to one of the radios on the initial card when I didn’t get it inky enough the first time, though that card is pictured at the end.

I had already decided to split the matching sentiments between the front and the back, so I knew I was going to put “You’re not old…” on the front and “you’re RETRO!” on the inside. That meant I could keep the front simple and place the opening phrase underneath the featured black radio, which I then stamped on a separate piece of paper, matted with a scrap of Classic Garage Designer Series Paper (the oil/gas can sheet), and popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals. I chose this DSP because it reminded me of the ’80s stonewashed look up close and was also black, meaning I wasn’t featuring one color over another.

Before I glued the stamped black radio to the DSP, I distressed the white edges with my scissors first. I love the distressed look and don’t always remember to do it. But since this is a gender-neutral card and could go to men, it seemed appropriate. Truthfully, it was also because I need to change the blade on my trimmer, so I was either going to have to trim off the leftover fuzzies with my scissors or make them worse intentionally. 😂

Stampin’ Up has been asking us to create simple cards anyone can make with just a few supplies and to hashtag it with #simplestamping…so this is my first try at that. This month they, too, are focusing on birthday cards and suggested that we use only ink, paper, stamps, and some DSP…so I intentionally didn’t embellish the card further. The front was done.

For the inside, I had to add the “you’re RETRO” saying, but I didn’t want to put only the words, and I also wanted to vary how I do the insides of cards. I tend to default to a fancy-edged die-cut with the words inside and DSP scraps. To change it up a bit, I chose one of the IC inks, Lovely Lipstick, and stamped off on scrap paper first to lighten it up before stamping it straight onto the card (skewed). Then I used my stamping platform to line up the “retro” sentiment and added the “Happy Birthday” from the same set as well. I stamped the words in the Archival Basic Black again and then stamped two star bunches to frame the entirety. (For the inside of the first card, which was now being made simultaneously with the swap card, I used Grapefruit Grove ink without stamping off, and that actually turned out better because it’s a lighter color than the stamped-off Lovely Lipstick.)

I attempted to pretty up the blank envelopes as my team members do. The front turned out great with a Lovely Lipstick tilted radio and two bunches of stars near it, but the flaps–nothing but stars–gave me some trouble. They’ll pass, but I’d redo them if they were more important.

As far as that other card goes, it is not spoken for yet…though I’m tempted to give it to my also-aging brother when his day comes around. What are siblings for, right? 😂😜

The products I used for these cards will be at the bottom of the post. If I can help you order or if you need a Stampin’ Up demonstrator, please feel free to comment or email. I’d love to be of assistance. Sale-a-Bration is the best time of the year to shop because you earn free products with every $50 spent. New choices hit the website on February 15, too. 😁 You can shop with my direct store link in the sidebar.

Thanks for joining me on the blog hop today! To continue “hopping” with our birthday blog group, click the Previous button to go visit Karen Finkle…or click Next to see what Sue Prather created. Links are below as well. Happy crafting!

Previous

Next

  1. Karen Ksenzakovic – https://wp.me/paaNf4-nC
  2. Jaimie Babarczy – https://wp.me/p79UhD-2xd
  3. Karen Finkle – https://karenscardkorner.blogspot.com/2019/02/stampin-up-high-tide-for-amys-inkin.html
  4. Connie Troyer (you are here!) – https://wp.me/p8xvI6-gY
  5. Sue Prather – https://wp.me/p5yitZ-10K
  6. Mary Deatherage – https://wp.me/p5snyt-7lk
  7. Shirley Gentry – https://stampinwithshirleyg.com/?p=3927
  8. Amy Koenders – https://wp.me/p2SFwf-dpz

Product List

Cream-and-Green Sympathy with Delightfully Detailed Laser-Cut Specialty Paper

Thank you for joining me once again on my blog! I have another sympathy card to share today, but I do have other themes coming up soon. I just couldn’t wait to use Stampin’ Up’s Delightfully Detailed Laser-Cut Specialty Paper, and it was one of the first things I ordered from the annual catalog. I kept this sympathy card simple partially because it was for a masculine friend and also because I didn’t want to cover up the beautiful paper.

The Delightfully Detailed Laser-Cut Specialty Paper from Stampin’ Up has eight sheets in the pack, four each of two designs. One design is a full 12×12 of gorgeous delicate flowers, and the other design has several borders and six card fronts that can easily be cut apart. Some of the latter are backgrounds, like the one I used here, and others are shaped pieces like circles or an oval or borders. As a bonus, the papers are vanilla on one side and white on the other–perfect for any color scheme! I’m looking forward to playing with the rest of the patterns as well.

I first took a cream card base and covered the front with some retired Mellow Moss cardstock from Stampin’ Up. I love vintage, muted colors like this in general, and they are appropriate for a lot of what I create, like sympathy cards.

Then I simply cut apart one of the card front sections of the laser-cut paper and adhered it to the Mellow Moss cardstock with touches of Tombow Multi Glue, displaying the vanilla side. I chose the vines background on purpose because it was my friend’s grandfather who had passed and vines and trees always remind me of genealogy, another favorite hobby of mine.

While wrestling with what I wanted to create for this card, I saw a filigree Spellbinders tree on my die wall and thought it just might do the trick and bring the theme together. Plus the size worked well.

Because both the paper and the tree are delicate-looking, I needed a divider between the two so the tree didn’t visually disappear. The square 3×3 piece I used was from a scrap pack I bought years ago, but it was perfect. It’s slightly textured as well, which just adds to the look. And the tree fits just right on top. It’s not quite the same color as the specialty paper, but I deliberately used both cream and white throughout the card so it wouldn’t look odd.

We all get into little habits with what and how we craft, and I’m just now remembering that I had intended to put brads vertically in the corners of my cream diagonal piece. That idea left once I saw how far the tree extended – but now I see that I could have put them horizontally instead. However, it’s probably just as well that I didn’t fall into my same rut anyway. 🙂

Instead, to keep it simple, since it was a masculine card and all, I merely tied a knot in a piece of Very Vanilla/Copper 1/8″ ribbon from the Tea Room Ribbon Combo Pack from SU and stuck it onto the tree trunk with a tiny Bling Zot.

The scripture piece underneath the tree was cut from a storebought card that was sent through the mail–I reuse things like that sometimes if they seem appropriate and unique. And if I can cut them straight, it’s kind of like using a sticker anyway. 🙂 This one I popped up with foam dots and used as a bottom border.

I confess, I made this card over several weeks around other things calling my name, so by the time I got to the inside, it was easiest to scrounge around in my drawer of sentiments that I keep full for when I’m short on time or ideas. A generous crafty friend once die-cut a few of the “Thinking of You” pieces for me and I’d not yet used any. The green-and-white piece matched well enough to fit this card, so I was happy to finally use one. On the inside left I placed a scripture sticker written in silver. The inside overall is simpler than I like, but it was better to have it done and mailed than lingering. It left me space to write a heartfelt message anyway, and that’s really more important.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my little offering today and that it’s inspired you to create something lovely too. If I can help you order something from Stampin’ Up, feel free to contact me or look me up on the Stampin’ Up Demonstrator Directory. You can also search for my name and state (Ohio) under Find a Demonstrator. Thanks for being here!

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