Uplifting Words – CASology 158

by Shannon Jaramillo // August 10, 2015 // 3 Comments

Hello and Happy Monday to you!! Here’s to a great week!

I had so much fun creating this weekend! One of the challenges I came across was this one from CASology:

CAS means Clean and Simple. They want LOTS of white space and I think clean and simple is a fun change of pace! The cue card is precious…hmmm…what’s precious to me?

Hope. Because without hope for the future, we would never move forward. I think it’s so important, that’s what I feel when I see this sentiment. And though the sentiment is from The Stamps of Life (upliftingwords2hear), the rainbow stamps are from a new set this year from Stampin’ Up! called Over the Rainbow. Aren’t they perfect for each other??

I used one stamp from the rainbow set and just inked it up in fun colors (Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Cucumber Crush, Pacific Point, and Perfect Plum) and then stamped the sentiment with Versamark Ink and heat embossed with black embossing powder. That’s it! Easy peasy! You can see the raised finish the sentiment has, it’s so pretty!

And then I found a sentiment for the inside that I think ties in very well:

Right?? We’ve all been there, and I think this card would be just wonderful to give to someone experiencing a rough patch.

And that’s it for today, thank you so much for stopping by! I’m in a rush to post cards before challenges close so I will be back again tomorrow! Until then…

Wishing you joy and blessings!

Products Used:

Cardstock: Stamper’s Select White by Papertrey Ink, Chocolate Chip by Stampin’ Up!

Pattern Paper: All About a Boy by Echo Park

Ink: Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Cucumber Crush, Pacific Point, Perfect Plum by Stampin’ Up!; Versamark

Stamps: upliftingwords2hear by The Stamps of Life; Over the Rainbow by Stampin’ Up!; Inside & Out: Healing Touch by Papertrey Ink

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

Tools: Heat Gun,Black Embossing Powder; Embossing Buddy by Stampin’ Up!

Embellishments: None

Painted Butterflies – Sunday Stamps 101

by Shannon Jaramillo // May 10, 2015 // 10 Comments

Hello there, my stamping friends! Welcome to my second post of the day, this one is a card I designed for the Sunday Stamps design team, which I am very excited to announce that I am now a member of!!

I’m looking forward to this next year’s journey with the Sunday Stamps Challenge Blog, they have wonderful challenges so I hope you will check them out and play along!

Today’s challenge is a color challenge! And just look at these fun colors!!:

I know, you totally want to play along, right?? I know I did! Here’s what I came up with:

I was in a butterfly mood and thought that these colors would work really well for this new (to me) stamp set called Painted Butterflies by Altenew. Aren’t they gorgeous?? Each butterfly has three stamps to be layered together to create the final image…thank heavens for the MISTI!! I’m not sure I would attempt so much layering without it!

Wouldn’t it be fun to make a whole bunch of these cards in different colors for gift sets? Just change out the sentiment…easy peasy!

And if you’re wondering where the grey color is…it’s in the ink splatters in the background! I used Stampin’ Up!’s Gorgeous Grunge stamp set for the ink splatters…it’s my go to stamp for that sort of thing. I also stamped off once before stamping onto my cardstock to create a soft splatter effect.

And there you have it! I used Mama Elephant’s Femme Frames to die cut the scallop layer as well as the interior rectangle, and then used the interior rectangle again to die cut my white cardstock and inlaid it to keep the layers minimal for mailing 🙂

I hope you will hop over and check out the inspiration from the rest of the Sunday Stamps design team and I hope to see you over there!!

Wishing you joy and blessings!

Products Used:

Cardstock: Vintage Cream by Papertrey Ink; Island Indigo by Stampin’ Up!

Pattern Paper: Lost & Found: Portabello Road by My Mind’s Eye

Ink: Tuxedo Black by Memento Ink; Basic Grey, Island Indigo and Pool Party by Stampin’ Up!

Stamps: Painted Butterflies by Altenew; Inside & Out: Well Wishes by Papertrey Ink

Dies: Femme Frames by Mama Elephant and Envelope Liner Die by Stampin’ Up!

Tools: MISTI by My Sweet Petunia

Embellishments: 4mm Marshmallow Sequins by Pretty Pink Posh

Up, Up & Away – Retro Sketches 156

by Shannon Jaramillo // March 10, 2015 // 6 Comments

Hello there, friends!! Today I’d like to share my take on the awesome sketch over at Retro Sketches:

Isn’t it fun?? I pondered it just for a few minutes before deciding that a stamp set that just arrived this week would be really fun with this sketch!! So, with that in mind I hopped on over to my pattern paper collection and pulled a set of papers together fairly quickly. I knew I wanted a soft and whimsical feel and this is how it turned out!

What do you think?!?!? I just adore this card!!!! I used two pattern papers as the base for my card, dividing the two with a darker pattern, as per the sketch. The paper is called Paris & Co, which is perfect because it is so soft and yummy! And the hot air balloons?? Combined with the papers I think they are soft as a gentle spring breeze…

I used a new-to-me stamp and die set from Papertrey Ink called Up, Up and Away. It’s a huge stamp set with an optional add-on set to give you SO many options and combinations!! I die cut my clouds and then stamped them in Sahara Sand ink. The ink was the lightest I could find, but the coverage was still darker than I wanted so I used a microfiber cloth to dab away some of the ink after I inked the stamp up. The impromptu technique worked very well, AND had the added benefit of providing an interesting texture!

After stamping and die-cutting my balloons I arranged everything on a random bed of cream colored linen thread. There was no rhyme or reason to the thread placement other than a circular pattern. Since so much of the thread was exposed, I used a product called Aleen’s Tack-It Over & Over to adhere the thread. I squeezed out a small dab of the product onto my work surface (it looks like Elmer’s Glue) and the gently dabbed various areas of the thread into it, to pick up just a bit here and there, and then laid the whole thing onto my card base. I have a love-hate relationship with this product. I love it because it is so tacky, but I HATE it for the same reason! You have to be careful with it because it CAN create a mess. The reason I chose it is as the name says, you can tack it over and over. It never really dries, just stays tacky, so once I have something adhered, I can still (gently) move it to re-position it if necessary. And it is SO darn tacky, it never lets go of anything! I also used it to adhere the sequins for the same reasons.

I thought the interior of the card should be decorated as well, and decided to use the pattern paper again. I think it’s light enough to write over and it sure does dress up the inside of the card!! Isn’t the paper I used for the envelope liner lovely?? It was also the inspiration for my balloon ink color choices.

Well, there you have it! A fun, albeit girly, card that can be used for many occasions! I’m so grateful to the design team over at Retro Sketches for such an awesome sketch this week!

I spent a wonderfully lazy Sunday at home, working in my office and napping with all the windows open so we could all enjoy the out of season but thoroughly enjoyably warm day today! I hope your day was lovely as well!

Wishing you joy and blessings!

Products Used:

Cardstock: Rustic White by Papertrey Ink

Pattern Paper: Paris & Co by My Mind’s Eye

Ink: Sahara Sand by Stampin’ Up!; Ocean Tides, Ripe Avocado, and Spring Moss by Papertrey Ink and Cobblestone by Simon Says Stamp (for the sentiment)

Stamps: Up, Up & Away by Papertrey Ink

Dies: Up, Up & Away by Papertrey Ink and Envelope Liner Die by Stampin’ Up!

Tools: MISTI by My Sweet Petunia

Embellishments: Cream Linen Thread by Papertrey Ink (no longer Available) and misc gold sequins

Ladybug Hugs – Retro Sketches #154

by Shannon Jaramillo // February 23, 2015 // 12 Comments

Happy Monday Friends!! Since it’s Monday, I decided to send you all a ladybug hug, guaranteed to bring a smile 🙂

This fun little card was inspired by the sketch over at Retro Sketches this week:

I wanted to use some more stamps from The Stamps of Life and thought this little bug from the stamp set ladybugs2love would be perfect for the sketch.

I had a lot of fun with this one, starting with trying out a this stitched pattern die from from Lil ‘Inker called Circles & Diamonds. It is really beautiful! The ladybug was fun to stamp as it is a builder set. I stamped the bug, then the red on her wings, then the black spots, and finally her behind. I realized when I was done I could have skipped the red stamping on her wings and just colored them with my Blendabilities…next time!

After I had the ladybug, sentiment, banner and button all in place I thought she just needed a bit more. I found a teeny tiny ladybug stamp so I stamped, colored and fussy it cut two of them out to add to the card. Love!! But then I decided that if I were a lady bug, I would like to be sparkly so I used Wink of Stella to color all of their wings. Ca-yoot!!

I decided that since it’s such a fun card, sure to get a smile, that it should be a get well card. With some more lady bugs of course!!

My card also fits within the challenge of “Anything Goes” over at Can You Case It, so I think I’ll link up with them as well!

Thanks to the design team at Retro Sketches for inspiring me today!!

Wishing you joy and blessings!

Products Used:

Cardstock: Pure Poppy, True Black and Stamper’s Select White by Papertrey

Pattern Paper: The Story of Us by Simple Stories

Ink: Tuxedo Back by Memento; Cherry Cobbler by Stampin’ Up!

Stamps: ladybugs2love by The Stamps of Life; Inside & Out: Healing Touch by Papertrey Ink

Dies: Stitched Pattern Die – Circles & Diamonds by Lil ‘Inker and Envelope Liner Die by Stampin’ Up!

Tools: MISTI by My Sweet Petunia

Embellishments: Regal Collection Buttons by Stampin’ Up!

A Basket Full of Get Well Wishes – The Paper Players #231

by Shannon Jaramillo // February 8, 2015 // 14 Comments

Welcome to a new challenge from the talented crew at The Paper Players! Last week’s cards were so exciting and cute! This week, the theme is a color challenge from Nance:

This color combination is wayyyyy outside of my comfort zone, but then I saw the beautiful inspiration photo and I had hope for me 🙂 The colors are a bit scary for me, but the flowers, no problemo!! Which is funny because I raised two boys so I NEVER had flowers in my scrapbooks, maybe that’s why I like them so much now!!

And here is what the photo inspired me to create!

I woke up with the basic design in my head, I just needed to narrow down the details so I popped over to Pinterest and found this sketch. Inspiration doesn’t have to be current!

Believe it or not, this black and white polka dot paper is a scrap left over from this card, a Christmas card! Who would have thought? Anyway, the scrap was perfect for today’s project! It has a soft white in it so I paired it up with Rustic White card stock from Papertrey. It’s fast becoming a favorite of mine, all those lovely little specks and the softness of the color…yum!!

I want to show off my flowers a bit. Do you like them? I LOVE them because I colored them!! This may not seem like a big deal to some, but my hands shake and I have nerve damage in my thumbs that means at any time they can do something they are NOT supposed to do. But the Color Lifter Blendability Pen is a life saver, now that I know how to use it! I thought that it erased the color and was pretty mad when it didn’t do that. After watching a video, it turns out that it pushes the color, so I just pushed the ‘oopsies’ back into the flower and voila! Magic!! lol

I used my Calypso Coral Blendabilities for the flower petals, Daffodil Delight Blendabilities for the flower centers and Wild Wasbi Blendabilities for the leaves. And I had tons of fun coloring, so you may see more of it in the future!

I used lots of tools on this card such as the MFT Pierced Traditional Tags STAX, new to me and fast becoming a favorite; the Angled Tag Topper Punch from Stampin’ Up! (I know you can’t see the angled top on the Calypso Coral tag, but it’s there); and the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, also Stampin’ Up!, for the bit of Real Red peeking out on the right side of the tag. I love that you can use just the scalloped outside of that border punch to add a bit of detail!

Did you see the itty bitty pearl on the bow? SO cute!! And though it’s hard to see, my flower petals have been liberally coated with Wink of Stella so they sparkle so prettily!

Oh! And the inside!

Some fun color to border a sweet sentiment from Papertrey Ink 🙂

I had so much fun making this card…thank you for letting me share it with you and I truly hope you will visit the other very talented designers to see what they have created to inspire you this week!!

The Paper Players Design Team

Wishing you joy and blessings!

Products Used:

Cardstock: Rustic White by Papertrey Ink; Calypso Coral, Real Red, Basic Black by Stampin’ Up!

Pattern Paper: Peace Joy Love by Lawn Fawn

Ink: Calypso Coral, Real Red by Stampin’ Up!; Tuxedo Black by Memento

Stamps: A Basket Full & Say It in Style by Clearly Besotted Stamps; Inside & Out: Healing Touch by Papertrey Ink

Dies: A Basket Full by Clearly Besotted Stamps; Pierced Traditional Tags by My Favorite Things and Envelope Liner Die by Stampin’ Up!

Tools: MISTI by My Sweet Petunia; Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight & Wild Wasabi Blendabilities by Stampin’ Up!; Angled Tag Topper Punch by Stampin’ Up!

Embellishments: Pearl Basic Jewels and Real Red Ribbon (retired) by Stampin’ Up!; Wink of Stella