Mums for Mom

by Shannon Jaramillo // April 28, 2015 // 7 Comments

Hello, friends! It’s Wednesday!! It’s been a bit of a rough week for me with the weather changes here and I have been down with a migraine on and off since last Thursday, so not much stamping time for me!! BUT…I made this card last week before I got sick, so I thought I would finally share it with you.

Mother’s Day is almost here in the States so I thought it was a great time to get these new stamp sets, mums2stamp and moremums2love from The Stamps of Life, inky. I just picked them up at my class two weekends ago. I’m loving the way the two sets coordinate and build on each other. I tried my darndest to use on of the sentiments from the set as well, but it just wasn’t working for me. Back to my stamps I went and came up with this lovely sentiment from WPlus9, Strictly Sentiments 4.

I had to laugh at myself a bit as the gingham paper in this card and last Sunday’s card is almost exactly the same!! I guess I’ve just been feeling soft and dainty lately!! I used a pattern paper with a bit of orange in it as well as an additional thin strip of orange (well, Tangerine Tango to be completely honest) to balance out the strong color of the mum. A little bit of twine also adds weight to the left side of the card as well as tying in with the ink color of the sentiment.

Unfortunately, I neglected to photograph the inside of the card, which is very prettily stamped with the mum outline and a sweet sentiment as well.

I hope you all have a fabulous end of the week!!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Products Used:

Cardstock: Vintage Cream by Papertrey Ink; Tangerine Tango by Stampin’ Up!

Pattern Paper: The Sweetest Thing – Tangerine by My Mind’s Eye

Ink: Tangerine Tango, Pistachio Pudding and Crumb Cake by Stampin’ Up!

Stamps: mums2stamp and moremums2love by The Stamps of Life; Strictly Sentiments 4 by WPlus9

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

Tools: MISTI by My Sweet Petunia

Embellishments: Jute Thread by May Arts

Chalk Sayings – SSSC265

by Shannon Jaramillo // April 22, 2015 // 4 Comments

Happy Hump Day!! I was able to do a bit of stamping this weekend and I thought that the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge would be a great way to showcase some new stamps I picked up on Saturday!

Aren’t they FUN?? I used a set from The Stamps of Life called morechalksayings2stamp. I chose this combination of sentiments so that this card would be able to cover a wide variety of situations…birthday of course, but also graduation, new job, making the team, passing the test, getting the promotion, LOTS of things, right? I used my MISTI to align the greeting up perfectly within my square, as well as the sentiment within the banner. Love that tool!

I also broke out some papers from The Stamps of Life April card kit. I love the cheerful squiggles and the green highlights them! I also used some of the twin from the card kit, I’m in love with the fact that it has THREE colors in it! Fun!!

I originally envisioned a clean white backdrop but ended up adding a few polka dots 🙂 They are actually a flower base stamp from a Simon Says Stamp set, but I really like the perfectly imperfect circles they create! I also added little confetti pops with a bit of sparkle in the center…such a happy card!

The Stamps of Life manufacturing facility is located relatively close to me, in Irvine, CA and several time a year they open their facility for a card class taught by the owner/designer Stephanie Bernard, as well opening a small shop located within their manufacturing facility. I was fortunate to attend both this weekend!! Here is a picture of the card class:

And here is a peek at their store and Stephanie mingling with the crowd:

It was quite crowded in there but I managed to acquire some fun new goodies to share with you, including the stamp set I used here today! I was also fortunate enough to be able to meet and chat with Stephanie one-on-one for a bit! She’s just as sweet in person as she is in her videos!

Thank you for stopping by!!

Wishing you joy and blessings!

Products Used:

Cardstock: Stamper’s Select White by Papertrey Ink

Pattern Paper: Wishes Collection by The Stamps of Life

Ink: Raspberry Fizz, Orange Zest, New Leaf, Harvest Gold, Blueberry Sky by Papertrey Ink

Stamps: morechalksayings2stamp by The Stamps of Life; Favorite Flowers by Simon Says Stamp

Dies: Banner Dies by The Stamps of Life

Tools: None

Embellishments: Baker’s Twine by The Stamps of Life and Wink of Stella

Happy Birthday Step-Up

by Shannon Jaramillo // April 18, 2015 // 3 Comments

A few weeks ago I posted a card using The Stamps of Life Happy Birthday Step Up Dies (here). I’m excited to share another card I made using the exact same die plus a few ‘extras’! I had so much fun playing with more exclusive Stephanie Bernard pattern paper! I know I went a little crazy with the pink but I love it!

I wanted to show the sentiment I added to the steps and all the fun flowers! And then…the cake!

So easy and fun to create birthday cards that can sit out and be a birthday party all by themselves!!

I’m excited because The Stamps of Life are made right here in Southern California and today they are having a ‘store’ day!! Lots of shopping and a class too!! I’ll be off early as it’s a bit of a drive for me and I want to do a ‘bit’ of shopping! (wink, wink)

I hope you have fun plans for your Saturday as well!! I will be posting a bit of my day over on Instagram and Facebook if you’d care to go with me!!

Wishing you joy and blessings!

Products Used:

Cardstock: Raspberry Fizz, Lavender Moon and Stamper’s Select White by Papertrey Ink

Pattern Paper: Celebrate Collection by The Stamps of Life

Ink: Raspberry Fizz by Papertrey Ink

Stamps: morecandles2stamp and Birthday Cake by The Stamps of Life

Dies: Happy Birthday & Balloons Step-Ups; Mini Flower; and Birthday Cake by The Stamps of Life

Tools: None

Embellishments: Melon Mambo 1/4″ Cotton Ribbon and Basic Pearls by Stampin’ Up! and Wink of Stella

A Simple Hello – The Paper Players #240

by Shannon Jaramillo // April 12, 2015 // 14 Comments

Welcome to Sunday and a new edition of The Paper Players challenge! I truly enjoyed seeing all of your creations last week with dies, so many wonderful cards!! This week we are hosting a color challenge in true spring fashion!

I love these Stampin’ Up! in-colors and am so sad to have them retire in June. I’m so glad we are focusing on them now, both to get a change to play with them together, as well as an opportunity to remind you that if you haven’t picked them up yet, now would be a good time to do so. If you do have them, you might want to check you stash and replenish if necessary, before the retiring list comes out because they will sell out quickly!!

I was feeling clean and simple when I sat down to create my card. I love these colors and wanted them to take center stage so I pulled out the flowers2share stamp and die set by The Stamps of Life.

I stamped each flower in black and then pulled out my stamp pads and a blender pen to color them in. I intentionally went outside the lines to create a (I hope) soft watercolor effect. I then went back in with my Stampin’ Write Markers to create a bit of shadowing.

After die cutting the flowers out and moving them around on my card base I decided I needed to add a few details. Side note: I have noticed that the dies made by Sizzix (and all of The Stamps of Life dies are) really adhere well to the magnetic platform. They must have a bit more metal in them. I love it because it means they stay where I put them and I don’t have to use any micropore tape to keep them from moving!

I used a lovely scallop die to create a fun but subtle detail around the edge and the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set by Stampin’ Up! to add a bit of interest to the background. When using this stamp, I always stamp off before stamping onto my card stock, it gives a very subtle effect without detracting from the focal point.

I adhered my flowers directly to the card base. I thought popping them up with Dimensionals would be too busy (this time). I almost always pop things up with Dimensionals so I find it amusing that this time I didn’t 🙂

I wanted to add a bit more color to my background so I pulled out the Rustic Wreath stamp set by Papertrey Ink. This set includes my absolute FAVORITE go-to stamp. It’s a stamp that has three little dots in various sizes and is all of 1/4″ big, maybe. Bust SUCH a useful stamp!! Need a little something?? This fits the bill every single time!! So I added dots in all three colors, stamping off before stamping onto my card stock. Pretty!

Three sparkly sequins round out the design nicely!

Please visit the rest of the design team to get some great inspiration using these wonderful colors!!

The Paper Players Design Team

Wishing you joy and blessings!

Products Used:

Cardstock: Stamper’s Select White by Papertrey Ink

Pattern Paper: 2013-15 In Color Backgrounds Designer Series Paper Stack by Stampin’ Up!

Ink: Coastal Cabana, Pistachio Pudding and Strawberry Slush by Stampin’ Up!; Tuxedo Black by Memento Ink

Stamps: flowers2create by The Stamps of Life; Gorgeous Grunge by Stampin’ Up!; Rustic Wreath by Papertrey Ink

Dies: flowers2create by The STamps of Life; Femme Frames by Mama Elephant; and Envelope Liner Die by Stampin’ Up!

Tools: MISTI by My Sweet Petunia (for the sentiment); Stampin’ Write Markers by Stampin Up!; Blender Pen

Embellishments: Sequins

Birthday Step-Up for The Paper Players #239

by Shannon Jaramillo // April 5, 2015 // 19 Comments

I love Sundays for the simple joy of sharing another FUN challenge from The Paper Players with you!!

Wow. Use a die-cut? How wide open is THAT challenge?? I love it!! Here we go….

Call me an over achiever, but it turns out that all I ended up using on my card WAS dies!! I didn’t realize it until I was done and had to chuckle to myself!

Isn’t this die A-W-E-S-O-M-E??? I saw it at the Scrapbook Expo I attended a recently and I had to have it. It’s the Sizzix Happy Birthday Step-Ups Die Set, designed by Stephanie Bernard of The Stamps of Life. I’ve mentioned her before here on my blog. She is a local-to-me stamp designer who collaborates with Sizzix on many projects, but also has her own line of products as well.

She has also recently started a card kit club! By the time I learned she had started a card kit club, I had missed March’s shipment 🙁 BUT, she had some kits for sale at the Scrapbook Expo!! Yay! Check out the video of the card kit to see all the fun contents of the kit. And I’m so enamored with her new line of 6 x6 paper pads, the quality is the BEST, the colors too cute, and the patterns mimic many of her stamps. It can’t get much better than that!!

Okay, the card. I used supplies in the March Card Kit for my card and combined it with dies from the Happy Birthday Step-Up die set. It’s pretty straight forward with just a few twists of my own:

I pulled the die for the pattern paper panel from the Balloons Step-Up Die Set
I added a hand cut layer of card stock behind the patterned paper panel because I wanted that extra ‘pop’ of color
I hand cut the layers for the panels for the “birth” and “day” panels – note that the two are NOT the same size (if you decide to follow suit and hand cut those panels)

I LOVE the twine in the March card kit. They MUST have more colors of it. I insist. I loved it so much, I had to use three layers of it for my bow. And yes, one of my loops fell down during my photo shoot without me noticing…I apologize for that 🙂

I added some fun epoxy dots I found at the Expo as well and bought in every color. I really like the teeny tiny size. They are from Queen and Co., local out of San Diego I believe.

And there you have it! I would love to hear what you think about my card today and the products I used!