Monday, September 25, 2023

PETAL PARK CHEER - FOR SIMPLY MONDAY

Today's Simply Monday card was actually made for a challenge I participated in recently to create a card with the Petal Park bundle using only stamps, ink, and paper--plus we were allowed to use the punch that came in the bundle.  This is the card I submitted for the challenge.

But as soon as the challenge was over, and I submitted a photo of the card, I had to add a little bling.  So, I added Basic Rhinestones to the center of each flower.

Which version do you like best?  Bling or no bling?

Cards made with only stamps, ink, and paper cards are not really in my wheelhouse.  I like bling and embellishments!  And besides, how difficult is it to add some Rhinestones?  Not difficult at all.

Since the challenge required that I limit the design to stamps, ink, and paper, I needed to find another way to add interest.  So, I did that with lots of layers.  I used Lemon Lolly for my card base, and then added layers of Soft Sea Foam and Basic White.  I repeated the three layering colors again and popped that second layer up with dimensionals.  

Sometimes I have difficulty aligning two-step stamps, but the flowers and leaves stamps that come in the Petal Park stamp set are extremely easy to align, so that made me happy.  

The leaves were stamped with Mossy Meadow for the outline and Soft Sea Foam ink for the leaf centers.  The yellow flowers were stamped with Daffodil Delight outlines and Lemon Lolly centers, and for the Pool Party flowers, I stamped the outline image full-strength and for the flower centers I stamped off before stamping.  The flowers were then easily and quickly punched out with the coordinating Petal Park Builder Punch and placed randomly over the leaves.

If you love flowers and are a "Simple Stamping" stamper, you will love this bundle.

Since the stamp set does not include any sentiments, we were told to use the Happy Labels Stamp Set for our sentiments, so I added "Just a Note" from that set.

For the inside of the card, I stamped the flowers again, but this time did not add the extra Pool Party Flowers and I stamped the yellow flowers in the position where the stamp designer intended.  This is a fairly good-sized stamp, so it doesn't leave a lot of room to write a message on the inside of the card, but sometimes we just want to send someone a smile and a note to say hi!  I think the happy colors of this card would make someone smile, don't you?

If you would like a tutorial for this simple Stamps, Ink, and Paper card, use this link to download a FREE copy.

The products used were few, but I have listed them below for your reference.

The bling is obviously optional.  LOL

What gets your vote?  Bling or no bling?

Product List

Sunday, September 24, 2023

PETAL PARK BLEACHED IMAGES FOR SHARE IT SUNDAY

Welcome to Crafty Collaborations Share it Sunday Blog Hop!


Crafty Collaborations is a group of Stampin' Up! Demonstrators from around the world that love sharing our creativity with you.  There is not a theme for today, so we are sharing whatever is laying around in our workspace.

My featured bundle for this week is the Petal Park Bundle, so today I'm sharing a card that was made with the stamp set from that bundle that uses the Bleached Images Technique.


For the Bleached Image Technique there are a couple of ways to create your lined images.  You can stamp with a black pigment ink and then heat emboss with clear embossing powder or you can stamp with VersaMark Ink and then heat emboss with black embossing powder. 

For this card I used Black Pigment Ink and Clear Embossing Powder, but either method provides a similar result.   After the flowers and leaves images regular household bleach was then applied to each image with a small paint brush.  Once the bleach did its job and removed the color on the cardstock (it doesn't take long), the images where colored with Stampin' Write Markers.

If you are not familiar with the Bleached Images Technique here is a video that I shared recently on my YouTube Channel showing the process.  It provides some additional tips and tricks for Bleaching Images.


My first tip is DON'T SPILL THE BLEACH!

Crumb Cake cardstock bleaches very nicely but bleaching some cardstock colors may give you an unexpected result.  So, my second tip is to test the bleach on a small scrap.  You will see some of my surprising results in the video.


The Petal Park Stamp Set does not include sentiments, so for the card front I used a sentiment from Go to Greetings.  This is a great stamp set to have as a staple in your stamp set collection.

The layers on this card were die cut with Scalloped Contours Dies.

For the inside of the card, I used the two-step-stamp feature of this stamp set.  It makes creating pretty images so quick and easy.


This sentiment is one of my favorites from the Something Fancy stamp set.

If you would like a detailed tutorial with all dimensions and step-by-step directions, you can use this link to download a FREE copy.

Refer to the Product list at the end of the post to see all the items I used for today's card.  Click on any image to learn more about that product.

But now it is time to grab your favorite beverage and enjoy a trip through the rest of the hop.  As the beautiful projects are inspiring you, be sure to leave some love as you go!  Your comments encourage us and are much appreciated!

ENJOY YOUR HOP!


Product List

Friday, September 22, 2023

BRIGHT & BEAUTIFUL BLOOMS PIN WHEEL FUN FOLD

Today's card, made with the Vertical Blooms stamp set features a bright and happy Pin Wheel Fun Fold and Partial Embossing.

This happy designer series paper (DSP) is from the Bright and Beautiful Collection.  See the Product List below for more information and additional designs included in this DSP pack.

To learn how to make the fun Pin Wheel Fun Fold and the Partial Embossing Technique used on this card I thought a short video might be helpful to demonstrate how to do both.  Click on the photo to view the video in YouTube.


This pinwheel Fun Fold also has a surprise!  When you open (or unfold) the pinwheel, inside there is a place for a message!

Isn't that fun?  I'm just wondering if the recipient of the card will even look inside!  Would you?


The left portion of the card front (the part behind the pinwheel) is also embossed.  It doesn't show too well in the photo, but this is another simple technique to give your cards just a little bit of WOW.  I also demonstrated how to do partial embossing in the video, so I hope you will watch.

By only partially embossing the Basic White cardstock, a flat surface remains on the right where I could stamp the thank you sentiment from Vertical Blooms.  

I added a bit of retired Lemon Lime Twist Ribbon from my stash to the right of the pinwheel out of "necessity" not by design. Messy-me must have had ink on my fingers.  I got a smudge in that area, so I needed to cover it up!  That happens to us all, right?  What is your favorite way to hide a boo-boo?

If you don't "need" the ribbon, leave it off!  I'm still not sure if it was a "happy" mistake or not.  I think the card would look great without the ribbon.


If you watched the video, you saw that you end up with 4 little square scraps of DSP.  Well, I am not one to let perfectly good scraps go to waste, so I used 3 of mine to decorate the edge on the inside of the card.


If you like written tutorials, so you have all the cutting dimensions, you can use this link to download a copy.  The tutorial includes diagrams showing how to the cut and score the pinwheel.  

I hope you will give this Fun Fold Pin Wheel a try.  I first saw it done by Debbie Henderson and it looked like fun so wanted to try it.

A list of the Products I used is shown below.  Click on any image to learn more about that item.



Product List