THE FISH ARE BLOWING BUBBLES

I had not used the Bubble Background Technique in a long time, so thought I would have  fun and blow some bubbles.

And what is the perfect environment for bubbles?  Water of course!  So I pulled out my Peaceful Pier Stamp set and went to work.

I love this cute little fisherman, but it looks like he needs to catch a bigger fish, so I decided to give him a couple to try to catch.

My two fish are swimming in water filled with bubbles.  Making this background is a lot of fun, but no two are going to turn out alike.

Have you ever tried the Bubble Background Technique.  If not, watch this video to see how it is done!

Ok, now you are ready to give it a try.  I hope you learned some tips and tricks in the video, but if you like to also have written instructions, use this link to download a FREE TUTORIAL.

My fisherman, Charlie, was stamped on Basic White and colored with Stampin' Blends.  So were the fish he is trying to catch.  The colors I used are all defined on the tutorial.

Since the Peaceful Pier stamp set does not have coordinating dies, I did have to fussy cut the fish, but it wasn't too bad.  Fussy cutting Charlie was going to be another story, so I cut him out with one of the Nested Essentials dies.  The water bubbles were die cut with the Stylish Shapes dies.

I was originally going to make the complete background be bubbles, but then I saw this layout in the current Annual catalog and thought it would be more interesting.  But I still wanted a "water-themed" background, so I grabbed my Soft Waves embossing folder to  create the Basic White background.

Because I made my Technique Sheet large enough for a full card front, I had plenty of leftovers after I die cut the circle "bubbles".  So I used the leftovers for the sentiment and a decorative strip for the inside of the card.

Since the card is a "Just Because" card, I didn't add a greeting on the inside, but I thought there should be a couple more fish swimming in the bubbles.

What do you think?  Do you have a fisherman in your life that would love to receive this card -- Just Because?

A list of the supplies I used is shown below.  Click on any of the images to learn more about that product or to make a purchase.

Product List

Peaceful Pier Cling Stamp Set (English) [165331]	Stylish Shapes Dies [159183]	Nested Essentials Dies [161597]	Summer Splash 8 1/2" X 11 Cardstock [163797]
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [166780]	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]	Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154881]	Lemon Lolly Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack [161673]
Peach Pie Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack [163827]	Summer Splash Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack [163826]	Pool Party Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154894]	Lemon Lime Twist Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack [161682]
Wild Wheat Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack [161661]	Summer Splash Classic Stampin’ Ink Refill [163818]	Soft Waves 3 D Embossing Folder [164695]	Frosted Iridescent Dots [165766]
Metallic Mesh Ribbon [153550]	Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [149653]	Small Blending Brushes [160518]

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ONE MORE YEAR OF CAKE!

This week I am sharing sneak peeks of cards made with the One More Year stamp set.  This stamp set will be available on January 7, 2025, when the January - May Spring Mini Catalog goes live.

I'm trying to choose a greater variety of stamp sets lately.  Like most stampers I tend to be drawn to the same type of sets, and I'm currently totally overrun with flowers.  This stamp set is great for birthdays.  The images are cute, but the greetings in the set make me laugh, and I hope they will make others laugh, too.  Most have "sassy" remarks about getting older.

For this card I did trim the "sass" off from the sentiment on the card front as the full sentiment says HAPPY BIRTHDAY - Another wrinkle wiser.

Am I the only one that sometimes struggles coming up with my first card with a new stamp set?  To get my mojo in gear this week, I decided to use one of the twenty-two sketches on page 12 of the new Mini Catalog.

I chose this sketch because I liked the combination of the different shapes.  It also let me use one of my favorite Designer Series Paper (DSP) Collections called Full of Life.  I love the colors and the variety of geometric shapes in this DSP, and I think it is perfect for gender neutral birthday cards!

A little strip of the DSP and one of the "sassy" sentiments finished off the inside of the card.

If your Mojo is missing, sketches are a great way to get started.  The current 24-25 Annual Catalog also includes several sketches.  These sketches are one of the new additions made to our catalogs that I love.  Be sure to check them out.

Don't have a catalog orStampin' Up! demonstrator?  Drop me an email, and I would be happy to send you a catalog and hopefully make you a happy customer!

Use this link to download a PDF Tutorial for today's card.

Do you need a "cute" stamp set?  The One More Year stamp set item # is 164777.

The other current products used in today's card are listed below.

Product List

Nested Essentials Dies [161597]	Deckled Circles Dies [162286]	Blueberry Bushel 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146968]	Full Of Life 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper [163357]
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [159276]	Blueberry Bushel Classic Stampin' Pad [147138]	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]	Balmy Blue Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154830]
Pecan Pie Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack [161674]	Blueberry Bushel Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack [161679]	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154883]	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897]
Baker's Twine Essentials Pack [155475]	So Swirly Embossing Folder [163791]	Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [149653]

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INK FLOATING PUMPKINS

No, the pumpkins aren't floating in ink, but I did float some ink on the heat embossed pumpkins to color them.

The image of the pumpkins and sunflowers, from Rustic Crate were colored using the Floating Ink Technique.  I showed how to do this a few weeks ago in a Learning with Friends video.  If you missed it you can watch the replay below.

The "bling" on today's card comes from the Oxidized Copper and Naturally Gilded Designer Series Paper (DSP).  And the "rustic" on the card comes from the Country Woods DSP.

Here is a close-up of the colored image.

This ink-floating technique provides nice shading of images.  It's great for those of us who aren't really artists and don't necessarily know how or where to put shading.   The floating ink does it for us -- but just remember -- the ink is floating on water, so you also don't have a lot of control over where the shading goes.

To create the hello sentiment I die cut the hello 4 times using an adhesive sheet on each die cut.  This made it super simple to adhere the pieces together as well as to adhere the sentiment assembly to the card front.

I like to pop-up my sentiments but doing that with a die cut script sentiment like this is difficult and impractical.  Creating multiple layers provides the thickness and appearance that you want without using dimensionals and is a much better solution.

No additional decoration is required for the inside of the card because the Naturally Gilded Specialty Paper, whose main purpose is to highlight the front of the card, does double duty when the card is opened.

Use this link to download a free tutorial for today's card.  The tutorial includes all cutting and scoring dimensions and simple step-by-step directions.

A list of products used is shown below.  Click on any image to learn more about that product or to purchase your favorites.

Product List

Rustic Crate Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [162265]	Rustic Crate Dies [162267]	Nested Essentials Dies [161597]	Early Espresso 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [119686]
Country Woods 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [163393]	Oxidized Copper 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [162190]	Naturally Gilded 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [161639]	Basic Beige 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [164511]
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [159276]	Adhesive Sheets [152334]	Versamark Pad [102283]	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin’ Ink Refill [105229]
Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [119672]	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [100531]	Basics Wow! Embossing Powder [165679]	Heat Tool (Us And Canada) [129053]
Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [149653]	Brushed Metallic Adhesive Backed Dots [156506]

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