Flourishing Phrases

Sympathy with a Flourish – Freshly Made Sketches 242

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Sympathy with a Flourish - Freshly Made Sketches 242

I am practically bursting with excitement to share that the Freshly Made Sketches design team has invited me to be a guest designer for the next few months!!!! Today is my first week with the team and I thoroughly enjoyed working with this sweet sketch from Narelle:

FMS Final 242-001

As I sat down to create my project for this week, I learned of a friends’ loss and knew that I would be making a sympathy card. Not a fun thing to do, but the Moroccan Designer Series Paper provides a beautiful back drop for the amazing flourish die from Flourish Thinlits Die Set.

Sympathy with a Flourish - Freshly Made Sketches 242

The top panel is a cream card stock, backed by a thin panel of Basic Black. Those layers sit on top of a layer of the Moroccan DSP, I love the beautiful pattern in Basic Black, Basic Gray with just a hint of Delightful Dijon. That layer is again backed by a panel of Basic Black and all of them sit on top of a card base of cream card stock. The flourish is  die cut from Basic Black as well. I used the new Layering Ovals Framelits Dies to add the sentiment element to my project. They are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. A dream to work with and the tiny scallop peeking out is such a lovely detail!!

I added a strip of Delightful Dijon 5/8″ Mini Striped Ribbon as well as a small strip of the new 5/8″ Burlap Ribbon. I couldn’t seem to stop there so I also then added a few swirls of Gold Metallic Thread. The sentiment is attached with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Sympathy with a Flourish - Freshly Made Sketches 242

A beautiful sentiment from the Flourishing Phrases Stamp Set graces the inside of the card. I’m thrilled with how many inside sentiment options there are in this year’s catalog!

Thank you so much for stopping by! Please be sure to stop by Freshly Made Sketches and check out the inspiration from the rest of the design team!

Stampin’ Up!’s New Moroccan DSP is a Dream!

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Stampin' Up!'s New Moroccan DSP is a Dream!

The star of today’s card is definitely the amazing designer series paper. To be honest, this set of papers called “Moroccan” did not call to me at first. But when I opened the package and saw this print in a beautiful mix of Dapper Denim blues, I was sold! And when combined with a more muted pattern in Delightful Dijon and framed in Night of Navy card stock, it is just stunning!

Stampin' Up!'s New Moroccan DSP is a Dream!

Do you see the new Layering Squares Framelits? Ahhh…a very versatile set indeed. There are so many options to layer simple squares, frame the squares with scallops, or to create a simple frame which would be beautiful standing on it’s own or turned into a shaker. Hmmm…that gives me an idea for another project! These new framelits will be a staple in my craft room!

This beautiful sentiment from the “One Big Meaning” stamp set adds just a bit of whimsy to this otherwise very graphic card. I love the mixture of the two styles.

Stampin' Up!'s New Moroccan DSP is a Dream!

Adding to the whimsy is this leaf die cut from the “Flourish Thinlits” set. The Precision Base Plate makes cutting this intricate die a snap. The Foam Brush gently rolls over the die cut to gently pry the intricate details out, while the foam pad keeps all of those little guys corralled until you can get them to the trash can! Makes for a much neater work area!

Speaking of the Precision Base Plate, the Big Shot now has quite a few accessories to keep track of, and what is the difference between a thinlit and a framelit anyway?? This video by Stampin’ Up! covers all of that and more. I found it extremely helpful as I now know what the difference is between a thinlit and a framelit and why using the proper tool can make for lots of happy crafting but using the WRONG accessory could actual ruin your dies. Lots of good information!

I really wanted the die cut leaf popped up but how to do so presented quite a challenge!! In the end, I snipped off very thin stripes from a Stampin’ Dimensional and carefully applied them to the center vein of each leaf. It did take some doing, but I am pleased with the result.  And three of the new Enamel Shapes finish and balance the card quite nicely. The low profile of the new enamel shapes make for a subtle but definite impact!

My inspiration for this card came from this sketch from the Pals Paper Art design team:

PPA-304-June09

Stampin' Up!'s New Moroccan DSP is a Dream!

I took a small strip of Designer Series Paper and adhered it to the flap of a Very Vanilla envelope. Some simple snipping following the edge of the envelope trims off the excess and jazzes up the envelope!

Thank you for stopping by today!! Please let me know if I can answer any questions about today’s post!

Price: $110.00