Playing with Patterns & Sunflowers

by Shannon Jaramillo // August 23, 2020 // 8 Comments

Hello there! I had SO much fun coloring this amazing sunflower stamp with my last post that I simply had to color another one before I put the Celebrate Sunflowers Bundle away! And it did not disappoint, I had JUST as much fun with this out-of-the box color combination for my sunflower!

Measurements:

Night of Navy Card Base 4 1/4″ x 11″ scored at 5 1/2″
Bumblebee Card Stock Layer: 4″ x 5 1/4″
Misty Moonlight Card Stock Layer: 3 3/4″ x 5″
Night of Navy Card Stock Layer: 3″ x 4 1/4″
Bumblebee Card Stock Layer: 2 3/4″ x 4″
Playing with Patterns DSP Layer: 5th Largest Stitched Rectangles Die

Details:

I had attempted to use pattern paper from the Playing with Patterns DSP for my last card and had it out on my work table when I was choosing a color for my next sunflower – this pattern just jumped up and down and cried “Choose Me!”, so I did!
I stamped the sunflower in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink (always use Memento Ink with Stampin’ Blends or the black ink will bleed) and colored it in with Seaside Spray and Night of Navy (both light and dark) for the flower petals. The flower center was colored with Dark So Saffron, ringed with Dark Daffodil Delight, and Dark Mango Melody in the very center. All three together work beautifully with the Bumblebee card stock!
I die cut the stitched rectangle from this beautiful DSP and then just kept adding layers! I also felt some texture was needed so I embossed the Misty Moonlight layer with the Old World Paper Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Embossing Folder which I felt added that little somethin’ somethin’.

I was thrilled to have the opportunity to pull out this 3/8″ Denim Ribbon for this card! The back story is that YEARS and YEARS ago, Stampin’ Up! carried this delightful ribbon in both Denim and Always Artichoke. I’m pretty sure I used the Always Artichoke ribbon a time or two, but never the denim. I SO wanted to use it so I held on to it and ‘lo and behold, last year they released it AGAIN!! Happy dance! Did I use it last year?? Well, no, but…I have FINALLY used it!! lol Doesn’t it add a wonderful texture to the mix?
It was at this point that I thought about a sentiment – nothing like waiting until the last minute! After lots of contemplation I pulled out this sweet sentiment from the Very Versailles stamp set – it fits perfectly and I know just who to send this card to now!!
Was that enough detail? Nope!! I’ve made a vow to myself to use more pieces of stamp and die sets before moving on to another set so I pulled out these leaf dies from the Celebrate Sunflowers bundle and die cut them in Bumblebee – oh my gosh! What a fantastic leaf die! I’m IN LOVE!!

After all that, I was worn out and decided to leave the card inside stamp free, but of course added a white panel cut with the 2nd largest Stitched Rectangles die and backed by Bumblebee card stock. I think with all of the texture and pattern going on on the card front, the interior is pretty enough, no need to add more!
Did you notice the scallop edge on the envelope flap? Yes, that’s another gorgeous die from the Envelopes Dies – another way to quickly and easily add a beautiful touch to your envelope!! I’m looking forward to experimenting with this die set to see how many unique touches I can add to envelopes – and looking forward to sharing them with you!

I’ve been busily creating in between unpacking boxes and hanging photos – my goal is to be completely settled by the end of August – we’ll see if I make it!

Thank you so much for stopping by to take a peek at today’s project and I hope to see you again soon!

Blessings to you!

Supplies:

Supplies (all Stampin’ Up! unless otherwise noted):

Card Stock: Night of Navy, Bumblebee, Misty Moonlight; Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White (80 lb)

DSP: Playing with Patterns 6″ x 6″

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: Celebrate Sunflowers, Very Versailles

Coloring Tools: Seaside Spray, Night of Navy (Light and Dark); Dark So Saffron, Dark Daffodil Delight, Dark Mango Melody

Dies: Sunflowers Dies, Stitched Rectangles; Envelopes

Tools: Big Shot

Embellishments: 3/8″ Denim Ribbon; Wink of Stella

Other: Whisper White Envelope

It’s Your Day! – Tic Tac Toe Challenge #68

by Shannon Jaramillo // June 11, 2020 // 8 Comments

Guess what day it is – it’s Thursday! and that means I’m back with a brand new Tic Tac Toe Challenge Board! Woot Woot! Today’s board was designed by challenge creator Felicita and has some fun options!

I went with the far right column Summer, Scene, and free (YAY for free!!):

Details:

I have a guilty secret – creating scenes scares me!! Anytime someones gives me a set of directions, I’m only good for about three, after that, forget it, I just can’t remember them all, the same principle applies when creating a scene. I’m only good for about three steps and then I lose sight of the vision. So when I saw that on the board – eek!!
Ditto goes for stamp sets that are multi-layer like the one I used here, Mountain Air. So I kept my scene simple with only two layers of scene. I used a sponge to add blue to the tree layer in the hopes that it would look like a lake, and backed everything with Seaside Spray card stock for the sky.

I framed my (summer) scene out with the Nested Labels dies and added my fly fisherman on top. I used a simple sentiment on the right to balance out the fisherman on the left and then offset the sentiment just to be quirky 🙂

I kept the interior blank so the card can be used for various occasions, probably a birthday or Father’s Day.
Did you see the fun flies I stamped on the envelope flap? Such a cute stamp!!

I hope you are feeling inspired by today’s Tic Tac Toe Challenge Board and that you will join in on the fun! Be sure to check out the rest of the Tic Tac Toe Challenge Design Team’s designs for lots more inspiration!

Supplies:

Supplies (all Stampin’ Up! unless otherwise noted):

Card Stock: Garden Green, Seaside Spray, Soft Suede; Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White (110 lb)

DSP: Country Club

Ink: Night of Navy, Old Olive & Memento Tuxedo Black & Versamark

Stamps: Best Catch, Mountain Air

Coloring Tools: None

Dies: Catch of the Day, Majestic Mountains, Layering Circles & Stitched Nested Labels

Tools: Embossing Buddy, Heat Tool, Big Shot

Embellishments: Black Embossing Powder

Other: Whisper White Envelope

Birthday Greetings – Tic Tac Toe Challenge #60

by Shannon Jaramillo // April 30, 2020 // 3 Comments

Hello there my crafty friends! It’s Thursday and that means it’s time for another Tic Tac Toe Challenge, this time Amy has created our super inspiring challenge board:

I chose to use the far right column, incorporating grass, a square (or two ;), and layers (I LOVE layers) to create a clean masculine birthday card:

Measurements:

Gray Granite Card Base 4 1/4″ x 11″ scored at 5 1/2″
Pretty Peacock Card Stock Layer: 3 7/8″ x 5 1/8″
Botanical Prints DSP Layer: 3 5/8″ x 4 3/4″

Details:

While browsing online for inspiration, I came across a card made with this jaw-dropingly gorgeous geometric pattern paper from the Botanical Prints product medley. I just KNEW I had to pull it out and create something with it myself! BTW, this amazing medley of products is on clearance right now, down from $70 to only $42 – isn’t that an AMAZING price for all of these goodies?!?

I began this project right after going through the retiring items list from Stampin’ Up!, and I had seen quite a few items retiring that I hadn’t even pulled out yet to use, so with that in mind I reached for the Animal Outing stamp set. Such a darling rhinoceros! (I never ever thought that I would use the word ‘darling’ to describe a rhinoceros, but here we are!)
I stamped him in with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and then quickly die cut him with the coordinating die; popped him up with Stampin’ Dimensionals onto a Pretty Peacock die-cut square, and then adhered both to a Gray Granite die-cut scalloped square.
I loved the sizing distance between the Pretty Peacock square and the Gray Granite scalloped square so I mimicked that in the sizing of my base layers, keeping a 3/8″ distance between the two. It leaves a nice glimpse of all of the colors.
I then tried really hard to add twine to my card, but just couldn’t quite pull that trigger – I was trying to use the center column of the challenge board (die-cut, twine, animals) but the twine just seemed to insubstantial next to all those thick layers. I then reached for this Pretty Peacock 1/2″ Scalloped Linen Ribbon which I to be honest, prior to now, hadn’t given much thought to but it was what I had in Pretty Peacock so I wrapped it around my layers and tied it into a knot, and – WOW! it is SO stunning! I will need to reach for it more often!

At this point I realized that I had not left space for a sentiment! (eek!), but after some pondering I found this darling sentiment in the Itty Bitty Greetings stamp set (it’s an awesome set!) and realized that I would be able to continue with the “square’ theme of my card! Perfect! I just stamped it in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink, die cut it with the smallest square in the Stitched Shapes die set and using Stampin’ Dimensionals, adhered it to my card at a fun angle!
By now I’ve realized that the twine just will not be making an appearance on this card (I had been holding out hope for it), so I had to go back to the challenge board and decided to move to the far right column and add some grass to my card. This image from the Animal Outings stamp set, stamped, die cut, trimmed down, and tucked behind the sentiment looks to me like tall African grasses!

I loved the clean look of this card so decided to STOP and not add anything else. Tall order, but I did it! 🙂
For the last step, I added some fun elements to the inside of the card, as well as adding randomly places grasses to the envelope flap using the same stamp I used for the grass around the sentiment:

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s post, I had a blast creating this card and, as always, LOVE the mental stimulation of using a challenge board! We would LOVE to see what you’ve created using this week’s inspiration! Please pop on over to the Tic Tac Toe Challenge to see more inspiration from our talented design team!

Side note: I have been using this time of social isolation to sort through, organize, price and sell craft items from another crafter’s estate, as well as packing up my own house as I will be moving out of state in the next two months, so I want to share that I miss you, and miss my craft time, but will be posting more frequently toward the end of summer.

Take care of yourselves, stay healthy and safe, and make lots of pretty things!

Blessings!

Supplies:

Supplies (all Stampin’ Up! unless otherwise noted):

Card Stock: Gray Granite, Pretty Peacock; Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White (110 lb)

DSP: Botanical Prints

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: Animal Outing, Itty Bitty Birthdays

Coloring Tools: None

Dies: Animal Friends Dies, Stitched Shapes, Layering Squares

Tools: Big Shot

Embellishments: Pretty Peacock 1/2″ Scalloped Linen Ribbon

Other: Whisper White Envelope

A Walk in the Park – Tic Tac Toe Challenge #60

by Shannon Jaramillo // April 16, 2020 // 2 Comments

Hello there, my peeps! It’s Tic-Tac-Toe Thursday once again! Yay! This week’s challenge board was designed by yours truly, I hope you enjoy it as much as I have! I opted for the far right column this time – “Butterfly, Vintage, Button”. And here is my design!

Measurements:

Neenah Solar White Card Base 4 1/4″ x 11″ scored at 5 1/2″
Walk in the Park (Pink Pattern) DSP Layer 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″
Basic Gray DSP Largest Stitched Rectangles Die
Flowered Pattern DSP Layer Second Largest Stitched Rectangles Die

Details:

I combined four of the delightful patterns in Stampin’ Up’s 2009 Designer Series Paper “Walk in the Park” for today’s design. Here is a peek at all of the 12 designs in that DSP:

The butterfly I used is from the Butterfly Beauty Dies. The die cuts a pretty card front with a total of five butterflies, but I snipped off the four around the main butterfly to leave just the one large butterfly. It’s so exquisite!
I die cut the butterfly out of Basic Gray card stock and then inked up a tiny leaf flourish stamp from the A Little Lace stamp set with Versamark Ink and repeatedly stamped the image on the butterfly to create an abstract design on it.

I found this pretty lacy ribbon in my stash – I’m very pleased with the way it adds to the daintiness of the design, wrapped around the DSP and tied of in a simple knot.
The sentiment from the A Little Lace stamp set was inked up with Versamark Ink, stamped, and then heat embossed with white embossing powder onto Basic Gray card stock. I snipped the ends into a simple banner.

A simple (long retired) button in Blushing Bride completes my design!

As I write my post, the weather has morphed from a week of never-ending rain into beautiful blue skies and a soft afternoon breeze. It has lifted my spirits and is reflected in today’s design. Hope springs eternal that we will be soon on our way past the initial stages of the pandemic and moving into recovery stages. Though the recovery make take a long time and have setbacks along the way, I have faith that all things must end and have optimism and hope for this world of ours.

I hope you have enjoyed my Tic Tac Toe challenge board and that you are inspired to play along!

Blessings to you all…

Supplies:

Supplies (all Stampin’ Up! unless otherwise noted):

Card Stock: Basic Gray; Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White (110 lb)

DSP: Walk in the Park (retired)

Ink: Versamark

Stamps: A Little Lace

Coloring Tools: None

Dies: Butterfly Beauty; Stitched Rectangles

Tools: Big Shot; Heat Tool; Embossing Buddy; Whit eEmbossing Powder

Embellishments: Twitterpated Button in Blushing Bride, Wink of Stella, lace ribbon unknown

Other: Whisper White Envelope

A Flowery Hello – Tic Tac Toe Challenge #58

by Shannon Jaramillo // April 2, 2020 // 1 Comment

Welcome! It’s Thursday and time for another Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge! I LOVE the design possibilities the challenge board offers and LOVE to see how YOU use it! This week Felicita is the featured designer – her board is SO awesome!! I went with a diagonal, from right to left: Layers, Ribbon, Stripes:

Measurements:

Coastal Cabana Card Base 4 1/4″ x 11″ scored at 5 1/2″
Pineapple Punch Card Stock Layer 3 5/8″ x 4 7/8″
DSP Layer 3 1/2″ x 4 3/4″
Call Me Clover Card Stock Layer 2 13/16″ x 4 1/8″
White Card Stock Layer 2 5/8″ x 3 3/4″

Details:

When I first looked at the challenge board, I was going to use the far left column: Vibrant, Circle, Stripes. With that in mind, I reached for this long retired DSP, Best Year Ever. I have always loved it, especially those big blue watercolored stripes! With “vibrant’ in mind, I looked online for color combinations. Ultimately I went with one I came up with myself: Coastal Cabana, Call Me Clover, Pineapple Punch and Lovely Lipstick. Something to keep in mind if you like these colors together – all of the colors I have used with the exception of Coastal Cabana will be retiring June 2nd, so grab some now while you can!

The vase image comes with both an outline/design image and a solid color image so I combined the two. I stamped the one in Memento Tuxedo Black and the other in Coastal Cabana. I didn’t ink up the solid image perfectly, but I love the varied shades of blue as the result, it’s lighter in the middle and I think that’s perfect! I then colored the leaves in the vase with Call Me Clover – SO pretty!!
The flowers image was colored in Pineapple Punch with Lovely Lipstick centers and a bit of Wink of Stella on the petals. I do want to mention that there is a stamp image that will color in all of the flowers, I just chose to color it this time instead.
I was having trouble lining up the vase image with the flowers image so I reached for the coordinating Vase Builder Punch and just punched that vase out! 🙂

I pulled the sentiment from the Varied Vases companion stamp set, Varied Vases, for a super simple design. And it works well for me as I have been sending cards out to family and friends, just to check in during these ‘social distancing’ times.
I played around with colors in my layers, ultimately settling on Call Me Clover and Pineapple Punch. But my finished card needed just a bit more Lovely Lipstick in it to balance everything out. Alas, I don’t have any Lovely Lipstick ribbon or Baker’s Twine, but…I DO have my Stampin’ Blends!! Stampin’ Blends to the rescue again!! I found this darling Whisper White Organza Ribbon in my retired stash – never even opened! I attached my itty bitty bow with a few glue dots.
As you can see, my completed card has NO circles on it – oh no!!! But after reviewing the board again I realized that I DID have all of the elements for the diagonal row Layered, Ribbon, Stripes – whew!! And that is what is so fun about the tic tac toe board – SO many options!!

I reached for more coordinating images from the Varied Vases stamp set for the interior of the card. Doesn’t it look sweet stamped in Pineapple Punch?
I have a confession to make. I always take, and share, a photo of the interior of the card because if I don’t, 90% of the time I won’t finish the interior! Eek! It’s true, I have a tendency to finish the front and want to call it ‘good’. And if I don’t finish the interior, then I won’t be bothered with stamping my ‘stamped by’ stamp on the back, and it will be anarchy in my stamp room!! Cards laying half finished everywhere!! I know, it’s a terrible thought, so this is my way of keeping order, lol 🙂

And that’s it folks!! I truly hope you have been inspired to pull out your inky tools, but for even MORE inspiration, be sure to check out the designs by the rest of the talented Tic Tac Toe Challenge design team! Thank you SO much for stopping by my blog today and I can’t wait to see YOUR creations in the gallery over at the Tic Tac Toe Challenge!!

Blessings to you!!

Supplies (all Stampin’ Up! unless otherwise noted):

Card Stock: Call Me Clover, Coastal Cabana and Pineapple Punch; Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White (80 lb)

DSP: Best Year Ever (retired)

Ink: Coastal Cabana, Pineapple Punch and Memento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: Vibrant Vases and Varied Vases

Coloring Tools: Stampin’ Blends – Light & Dark Call Me Clover, Light & Dark Lovely Lipstick and Light & Dark Pineapple Punch

Dies: Stitched Rectangle Dies

Tools: Big Shot; Vases Builder Punch

Embellishments: 1/4″ Whisper White Organza Ribbon, Wink of Stella

Other: Whisper White Envelope