Doodle Buds – Fusion Card Challenge 2nd Anniversary!

by Shannon Jaramillo // January 7, 2016 // 15 Comments

Hello and Happy New Year, wherever you are! I have had quite a long break, well, from everything really, and I’m ready to take on some challenges!! Today’s challenge is from the Fusion Card Challenge and has some awesome inspiration!! In addition, it’s the Fusion Card Challenge‘s 2nd Anniversary so we have even MORE inspiration for you!

First, here’s the challenge graphic:

The bright colors really make me wish for summer!! I was inspired by the colors, the white space, the flowers, and by the bold chevron pattern:

It was tough, but I decided to use up the last of my favorite paper for this card. I used it here and have been hoarding this last piece ever since 🙂 I also used one of my Christmas presents, the Stitched Mini Scallop Oval Dies by My Favorite Things Stamps…they are brand new and fabulous!! And then I spent a bit of time coloring my flowers, I quite pleased with how they came out 🙂 Here’s a closer look:

And you can finally see the Wink of Stella! Gotta have some sparkles! I thought it needed a bit more of the vibrant pink so I added a few sequins for an extra pop of color.

Since it is the Fusion Card Challenge‘s 2nd Anniversary, we decided to each invite a guest designer to play along with us and provide even more inspiration for you! My guest designer is Sandy Mathis.

She is an amazing card maker, posting one fresh and innovative card after another. I am so inspired by her work! And today’s card is another beauty!!

I adore the splashes of green alongside the bright and cheerful flowers. The flowers have been die cut for added visual interest and the addition of the soft blue color in the background really makes everything pop. And the coloring? Too cute! I will have to use her technique on my next flower card! Please hop on over to Stamp with Sandy to see all the details and to leave her some love 🙂 A big thank you to Sandy for sharing your art with us this week at the Fusion Card Challenge!

The rest of the team and their guest designers have created beautiful cards for your inspiration, I have provided links to make visiting them super easy. We would love to see your creations over in the gallery!!

The Fusion Card Challenge Design Team:

Thank you so much for visiting me today!

Products Used:

Cardstock: Stamper’s Select White by Papertrey Ink; Basic Black by Stampin’ Up!

Pattern Paper: Everyday by Avery Elle

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: Doodle Buds by Wplus9

Dies: Stitched Mini Scallop Oval Dies by MFT Stamps; Doodle Buds by Wplus9

Tools: ShinHan Touch Twin Brush Markers

Embellishments: Wink of Stella, various sequins

Season’s Greetings Fusion Card Challenge

by Shannon Jaramillo // December 10, 2015 // 5 Comments

Greetings!! It’s time for the last Fusion Card Challenge of 2015!! And as we ramp up for Christmas, here are some wonderful inspirations to get your inky fingers going!

I was immediately drawn to the bright reds of the holly berries and the lush greens of the evergreens in the inspiration photo. I thought I was going to go in a rustic Christmas direction, but as often happens, my card ideas turned on me as I went along!

This is one of my favorite cards this holiday season! The stamp set is Peaceful Wreath by Stampin’ Up! I love that it utilizes the Wonderful Wreath Framelits from last year’s holiday catalog, giving me more designing bang for my buck 🙂

I stamped the wreath image in Soft Suede ink and then used Old Olive, Real Red, and Soft Suede to color it in. You may notice that some of the green leaves are slightly darker than the others, I felt the wreath was too monotone once I was done coloring, so I went back and added another layer of Old Olive ink to some of the leaves. Here’s a close up of the wreath, hopefully you can see the shimmer that I added to the holly berries with Wink of Stella, it is so beautiful in person!

I die cut the bow twice in white cardstock and then once with DSP, layered the three together to create a dimensional bow. I also stamped the bow image on top of the die cut, it’s a subtle detail but adds to the overall design of the card.

Design Tip: Stampin’ Up! has always recommended die cutting the center of the wreath first, then stamping the wreath next, with the idea that you will be able to align the image perfectly. I can align the image fairly well, but the indentation left from the die cut makes the image stamp poorly. Well, I discovered a way around all of that!! First, I stamped and colored my wreath. Next I took a piece of tissue paper and die cut the center out of it using the Big Shot. I then laid the tissue paper over my stamped wreath, lined the die cut opening up perfectly with my stamped image and then used small bits of micropore tape to tack the tissue paper down. I laid the center die cut over tissue paper (it aligns easily because of the cut in the tissue paper) and ran the whole thing through the Big Shot! Voila!! Perfect alignment!! The outside edge of the wreath is much easier to line up because it’s an open die. Try this tip for a perfectly due cut wreath!

I used greetings from the retired stamp set More Merry Messages by Stampin’ Up! It’s always nice to have lots of options when designing a card! And as you can tell, the Merry Moments DSP is hands down my favorite paper this year, and really of all time!

Thank you so much for visiting today! I hope you have a moment to check out what the other Fusion Card Challenge design team members have dreamed up for your inspirational pleasure!

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season and we will see you in 2016 with a very special anniversary challenge!!

Products Used:

Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Mossy Meadow, Real Red by Stampin’ Up!

Pattern Paper: Merry Moments Designer Series Paper Pack

Ink: Real Red & Soft Suede by Stampin’ Up!; Old Olive, Real Red & Soft Suede Stampin’ Markers by Stampin’ Up!

Stamps: Peaceful Wreath and More Merry Messages (retired) by Stampin’ Up!

Dies: Wonderful Wreath and Envelope Liner Die by Stampin’ Up!; Stitched Mats: Rectangles by Lil ‘Inker.

Tools: MISTI

Embellishments: Wink of Stella

Blue Christmas Fusion Card Challenge

by Shannon Jaramillo // November 26, 2015 // 11 Comments

Welcome Fusion Card Challenge fans! We have another fun challenge for you!

Oh my goodness, I just LOVE the blue and sparkle! When I first saw the inspiration photo, I thought of Simon Says Stamp Audrey Blue ink and gold foil paper. Well, then I came across this pattern paper and went in a completely different direction!

I am SO pleased with how this card turned out! I love the combination of the blue and brown (which my mother says never goes together), with the shimmery die cut.

The die is by Papertrey Ink and is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, particularly when die cut with Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper by Stampin’ Up!. The white ribbon and the white paper of the sentiment balance each other well, while the blue of the sentiment and the paper is Sea Glass by Simon Says Stamp and is so soft and pretty! A few moonstone sequins and even more sparkle! A shout out to the very talented Michelle Short for showing me the trick of having a sequin peek out from behind a sentiment…so fun!

Design Tip: Sizzix Adhesive Sheets and the Precision Base Plate make cutting and layering intricate designs a snap! Just trim the size of adhesive sheet you need, add it to the top AND the bottom of the paper you are using and run through the Big Shot using the Precision Base Plate. The intricate die will cut perfectly, then just peel the adhesive backing and stick the layers together! If you use a gentle hand, you have some adjustment time with the adhesive to align the layers precisely.

And let’s not forget the inside of the card:

Simple and sweet. I’m really loving the trick of adding a background stamp to a sentiment, I think it adds a ton of interest 🙂

I am also playing along with The Challenge:

As well as the Global Design Project where the challenge is to CASE (Copy and Share Everything) my sweet friend Brian King‘s Christmas card!

I hope all of you in the US have a wonderful holiday, spending it however you choose, hopefully with people you love 🙂

Thank you for stopping by and, as always, I love to hear your thoughts!

Won’t you check out what the other Fusion Card Challenge design team members have created for you this week?

Products Used:

Cardstock: Stamper’s Select White by Papertrey Ink; Sea Glass by Simon Says Stamp

Pattern Paper: Cozy by Authentique

Specialty Paper: Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper by Stampin’ Up!

Ink: Sea Glass by Simon Says Stamp; Crumb Cake by Stampin’ Up!

Stamps: Christmas Cheer, Deck the Halls by Papertrey Ink; Beautiful Blizzard by Newton’s Nook

Dies: Christmas Cheer by Papertrey Ink; Stitched Borders 2 by Pretty Pink Posh; Stitched Mats: Rectangles by Lil ‘Inker; and Envelope Liner Die by Stampin’ Up!

Tools: MISTI

Embellishments: Moonstone Sequins by Simon Says Stamp; Retired Whisper White Ribbon by Stampin’ Up!

Bitty Bouquets – Warm Welcome Fusion Card Challenge

by Shannon Jaramillo // November 12, 2015 // 21 Comments

Welcome to another Fusion Card Challenge! This challenge is a fun one and leaves a ton of room for interpretation…

I was pretty liberal with my interpretation this week:

The sketch made me immediately think of this die set by MFT Stamps. Then I saw these beautiful papers and I was off to the races…

I have been a bit intimidated by the Bitty Bouquets stamp and die set by PTI…I shouldn’t have been, they came together in a snap! And the different sets of bouquets are so beautiful, this set is sure to become a go-to set! A simple sentiment by Wplus9 rounds the card off so prettily. I stamped the sentiment first in Soft Suede ink but it didn’t stand out well enough against the pattern paper so I switched it up to Early Expresso. Thank goodness for the MISTI, which made it so simple to re-stamp in the darker ink, no harm, no foul!

I used another of the patterns to add a bit of interest to the inside of the card, along with another pretty bouquet, stamped off once.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I love to hear your thoughts!

Please visit the other Fusion Card Challenge design team members, they have beautiful inspiration for you!

Products Used:

Cardstock: Stamper’s Select White by Papertrey Ink

Pattern Paper: Lost & Found – Breeze by My Mind’s Eye

Ink: Early Expresso, Old Olive, Pool Party by Stampin’ Up!

Stamps: Bitty Bouquets by Papertrey Ink; Strictly Sentiments 2 by Wplus9

Dies: Bitty Bouquets by Papertrey Ink; Ride the Wave by MFT Stamps; Stitched Mats: Rectangles by Lil ‘Inker;and Envelope Liner Die by Stampin’ Up!

Tools: MISTI (Most Incredible Stamp Tool Invented)

Embellishments: None

On Your Day – Fusion Card Challenge

by Shannon Jaramillo // October 29, 2015 // 16 Comments

Welcome to a new edition of the Fusion Card Challenge! Lesley has a fun color combination and cute sketch sure to inspire!

I have several poppy stamps but I chose to use just the sketch this week. The flourish reminded me of elegant, and elegant made me think of another challenge that I could play along with, so I found some stamps and went to work!

The last card I made had a circle element on it too and I had had the thought (after my card was done, of course) that I could have used patterned paper instead of just solid cardstock for the circle, so for this card, that’s just what I did! A few sparkles add just enough bling, I think 🙂

I have also incorporated the theme over at The Challenge into my card today:

I’m also playing along with the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where Anything Goes!

Thank you for stopping by today!

Products Used:

Cardstock: Stamper’s Select White by Papertrey Ink

Pattern Paper: Color Wash by Pink Paislee

Ink: Sweet Blush by Papertrey Ink; Fog by Simon Says Stamp; Memento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: On Your Day by Clearly Besotted Stamps

Dies: On Your Day by Clearly Besotted Stamps; Stitched Mats: Circles, Stitched Mats: Ovals, and Quilted Stitched Pattern Cover Up by Lil ‘Inker

Tools: MISTI (Most Incredible Stamp Tool Invented)

Embellishments: Assorted Moonshine Sequins by Simon Says Stamp