Friday, June 7, 2024

CITY SIGHTS AND BEYOND

What do you do with those "scraps" that are left-over after you have made all your cards in the City Sights Kit?  

You now have 8 beautiful, completed City Sights cards, but you still have a Pebbled Path Ink Spot, a couple of stamps and some leftover pieces that surrounded the various elements that you punched out and used on the cards.   What are you going to do with those?

Let's grab a couple of Basic White Note Cards and Envelopes and see what we can make.


Here are two cards that I came up with.  Let's start with the clean and simple card on the right.


For this card, I used two of the leftover Basic Beige "scraps" that had surrounded the building elements that I punched out.  I trimmed them into a rectangle and then layered them together to provide a little more stiffness.  These were then popped-up over the building image that I stamped on some Basic White cardstock.  This gives a little bit of a shadow box appearance.

I embossed a layer of Basic Beige cardstock with the So Swirly embossing folder and added it to the front of my Note Card.   After adding a Basic Black mat behind the image I added it to the front of my Note Card.  

If you don't have a Stampin' Cut & Emboss machine, just skip the embossing step!  However, if you have been dreaming of getting this awesome machine, now is the time to do it!  Both the full size and the mini Stampin' Cut & Emboss machines are 10% off between June 5 - June 30.


For the inside of my Note Card, I stamped a portion of the image in the lower corner and matted it with Basic Black.  

Since Note Cards are smaller than a standard A2 card, using only a portion of the buildings provides a better size proportion.

Would you call yourself an Avid Stamper?  If so, try this second card.


It is also made using a Note Card.  But for this card I did a super fun technique called Watercoloring with Stampin' Write Markers.  You will need Stampin' Blends and Stampin' Write Markers for this card, but you certainly don't need to have the colors I used.  Use colors you have!

Several months ago I shared the Watercoloring with Stampin' Write Markers Technique on my Learning with Friends Video Series. Did you miss it?  You watch the replay below.  If you can scribble, you can do this technique.  And isn't the reflection of the buildings in the water pretty?


For this card I stamped the buildings twice on Basic White cardstock, colored them with Stampin' Blends and then fussy cut them both.


The background is made on Watercolor Paper.  And do you see the narrow corrugated strip of Boho Blue between the water and the buildings?  It's my "seawall"!  And it is a leftover scrap from the City Sights Kit.  Isn't it fun how we can stretch these kits by thinking a little outside of the box and using pieces that are really scraps?


Since I had used up all the sentiments in my Kit (well at least the English ones), I just grabbed sentiment stamps from my stash for both of these cards.

If you love kits and want to stretch them further, buy a pack of Note Cards and Envelopes and use your imagination!

You can use this link to download a PDF Tutorial for both of the cards I shared today.

I hope you have enjoyed the City Sights Kit this week and have learned some ways to stretch your favorite KIT beyond just the kit.  

Below is a list of products that were used in addition to the City Sights Kit to make both cards shared today.



Product List

Between June 5 - June 30, you can save 10% on Stamp & Die Bundles and the Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machines (Full Size & Mini).

Stamps & Punch Bundles are excluded.

Wednesday, June 5, 2024

CITY SIGHTS ALTERNATIVES

On Monday, June 3 I shared the two card designs from the City Sights Kit made exactly per the instructions that come with the kit.

Today, I used the same kit, but switched things up just a bit!


For the Portrait Card I switched out the Boho Blue corrugated element and the sentiment.  These were both used on the Landscape card on Monday.  I also eliminated the circular Basic Beige Element so that more of the skyline design (which I love) shows. 

I couldn't resist jazzing up the embellishments just a bit by adding a snippet of Copper Clay Ribbon and the brass birds from Dragonflies and Birds.   

For the Landscape card I wrapped it with some Boho Blue ribbon from my stash.  Then I switched out the long Boho Blue corrugated element with the flagged shape and the sentiment with the Happy Birthday greeting.

Before stamping the buildings on the Basic Beige die cut element, I gave it a light Copper Clay Color Wash with my Water Painter, and also added a little Wink of Stella to add some sparkle from the sun.  

I like that we can make these kits exactly like the designer intended, but we can also use basically all the same kit content and give them our own design twist.  Plus, if we have some additional supplies in our stash, we can step up the cards just a bit by adding some ribbon or different embellishments.


For the inside of the cards, I used the same execution as I used for Monday's cards--colored mats with Basic White panels for writing a message.  To tie the inside to the outside, I matched the colors of the mats with the colors of the ribbon on the card fronts.


Since these cards deviated a little from the instructions included in the kit, I did make a quick and simple tutorial that explains in more detail what I did for each card.  Use this link to download a copy.

Below is a list of supplies used for both cards.

Product List

Monday, June 3, 2024

CITY SIGHTS

Happy Monday Stamping Friends!  If you have followed me for a while, you know that each Monday I announce what Suite, Bundle or Stamp Set I'm going to feature for the week.  

This week I am going to do something a little different.  Rather than feature a specific Suite or Bundle of products, I am going to feature one of our card kits from the KITS COLLECTION.


I don't purchase many kits because I have so many supplies, that I feel like I should use those.  However, something about this City Sights All-Inclusive Card Kit spoke to me when it was released last month.  Maybe it was the colors, or the slightly abstract appearance of the skyline, but I really liked it and just HAD to have it.

This kit includes everything you need to make 8 cards, 4 each of two designs.

Today I am sharing the two designs made exactly per the easy included instructions.


The Thinking of you card has a Landscape orientation and the main colors are Boho Blue, Basic Beige and Pebbled Path with a hint of Copper Clay.

The second card design in the kit has a Portrait Orientation and uses the same colors but with a little more emphasis on the Copper Clay color.

You can see that each card has a corrugated darker Boho Blue accent strip, a pre-printed sentiment and Basic Beige elements that all you need to do is pop-out of their pre-cut sheets.




This City Sights Kit also includes two stamps and a Pebbled Path Stampin' Spot.  One stamp stamps the buildings and the other provides some speckled texture.  The included envelopes are also so pretty with their Basic Beige or Boho Blue Color Wash.

The kit also includes all the adhesives you need (dimensionals and tear & tape) to assemble the cards as well as plenty of Copper Colored Metallic Dots.

One thing that is not included in the kits is additional products to decorate the inside of the cards.  You can certainly leave them white.  Or if you are like me and feel strongly about leaving no "naked" insides, you can do what I did and add a colored mat from my stash with some Basic White cardstock for a hand written message.


I used Boho Blue on the Landscape card and Pebbled Path on the Portrait oriented card.

If you are someone who has limited space or time, but likes to craft, these ALL-INCLUSIVE KITS are for you.  These cards come together very quickly and are so easy!  And aren't they pretty?  If skylines and abstract images aren't your thing, there are many other options in our KITS COLLECTION.  Use this link to my Stampin' Up! store to see all the choices

The Product List below is probably the shortest list you will ever see from me because all you really need is the All Inclusive City Sights Kit.  The kit even includes directions, you so don't even need a tutorial from me!


Product List