Create with Connie and Mary--Glitz and Glam

Hello, welcome to the blog hop this week. Our theme is “Glitz and Glam” which can mean so many things! I associate it gold and lots of layers and interest!

I think the Expressions in Ink suite is pretty damn GLAM and its also super unique to Stampin’ Up! so I knew I wanted to do some creating with it. I designed 3 projects for my monthly Class to Go Kit which I will share in a a separate post. Here is a little teaser for you though!

I started with a Basic White card base and added a layer of this awesome gold strip paper from the Expressions in Ink Specialty DSP. I used the Layering Circles dies to cut a circle or window. In behind this I layered the fantastic floral die that is a party of the Artistic Dies.

The Artistic Dies also have this large leaf die that I cut out of Just Jade ink and trimmed and placed around the big Polished Pink stamped floral.

I used the coordinating Ephemera Package to add in some glitz with the gold leaves and sprig and the iridescent sequins scattered around.

I think this card definitely has a ‘glam’ feel to it, don’t you?

Let’s see what the other team members have created this week. You can go back to see Melissa or next to see Connie! And watch for another post with all of my Class to Go Details!

Around the World on Wednesday--Step it Up!

Welcome to another Around the World on Wednesday Blog Hop! This is literally the only way you can actually go ‘around the world’ in these fun and interesting times, hahaha! So I am happy to have you here!

I loved this months theme as its always a good challenge for me to try a fancier fold card style from time to time and that was how interpreted the theme of ‘step it up’! I can’t wait to see what all of the other gals from around the world design!

I wanted to play with the Sweet as a Peach stamp set as I haven’t had a chance to ink it up yet and I knew it would be a good option for the card style I had in mind. I had a request from a stamping friend to show her how to make a waterfall card and it worked out perfectly for this monthly challenge!

The Waterfall card style is an oldie but a goodie! And the best part is that is not complicated to make but look super fancy and is sure to get a ‘wow’ reaction from the recipient!

To create this style of card you need to choose a stamp set (or multiple sets) that has a lot of imagery and or sentiments for the 4 flip panels or the ‘waterfall’ aspect. I decided to use Sweet as a Peach because it has 12 words or sentiments in the stamp set and I wanted to layer up the peach and floral images with sentiments.

I decided to stick with the color palette of the You’re a Peach DSP therefore the base of my card is Crumb Cake with accents of Early Espresso.

To create the two tones of the peach I stamped it in Pale Papaya and then used my Blending Brush in Calypso Coral ink to add a deeper color straight to the stamp. Because these white squares are not that large, I used a couple of the leaves from the bottom of the big leaf stem on these peaches. The inside peach uses the larger leaf included in the set.

I also applied the same concept to stamp out the trio of flowers—stamping it in Pale Papaya first with the Calypso Coral added with a Blending Brush. I stamped all of the sentiments in Early Espresso ink.

On all 3 of the peaches I also added a bit of Wink of Stella for a little glimmer. Sadly it is really hard to photograph but looks really great IRL (in real life, yes I had to ask one of my kids once what that mean when they sent it in a text!!!).

I added the polka dot pattern from the You’re a Peach DSP straight to the card base and added a few Champagne Rhinestones to the peach images.

I punched a hole at the bottom of the waterfall piece to thread some of the new Pale Papaya & White ribbon through that I tied with a Linen Thread bow. This also helps the recipient know to pull on this piece when they receive their card.

And I also wanted to stamp the inside for a bit of extra fun!

I hope this waterfall card design sparks an interest for you to try your own! I have included the instructions below and trust me, its easy!

To Create a Waterfall card:

Cut standard card base @ 81⁄2’ x 51⁄2” and standard mat @ 51⁄2" x 41⁄4”. Cut one “Anchor Strip” out of cardstock @1” X 4.” Cut one “Movable Strip” out of cardstock @ 2” x 9.” Cut 4 dark squares @ 2” and 4 whisper white (light) squares @ 13⁄4”.

1. Lay the cardstock “Movable Strip” on scoreboard in landscape position and score this 4 times @ 2", 2 3⁄4", 3 1⁄2", and 4 1⁄4". Fold all score lines in the same direction and burnish with bone folder. 


2. Apply adhesive to both ends of the “Anchor Strip” - only 1⁄2” on each side leaving centre part free. Attach this to the mat piece. Then add the mat piece to the card base front.

3. Lay “Movable Strip” on card so that the folded parts are on top of the “Anchor Strip” and the unscored part is behind it. Adhere only the top end (1⁄2”) to the ‘Anchor Strip” This is so the parts can move freely. 


4. Stamp images onto small white squares. Colour stamped images. Adhere to the 2” dark squares. Attach squares to the “movable strip” starting with the bottom one. NOTE- use only thin strip of adhesive along the top of each square for the top 3 squares - they need to be able to flex - fully attach the bottom square at top and bottom.

5. Punch hole at bottom of under piece of the Movable Strip - then thread ribbon through and tie with a bow.

Thank you to my awesome friend Hetty for these directions! She is a library full of fun folds and is always willing to supply me with measurements when I need them! You can follow her on Instagram @stampin911hq!

Following me on the hop is Tricia Butts from the United States and if you didn’t know where in the world you are right now, I live in Edmonton, Alberta Canada! Please feel free to leave a comment and make sure to visit us again next month!

Flowers of Friendship Artisan Design Team Project

Hello friends! Thank you so much for stopping by today! I really wanted to create a blog post to showcase these 2 projects I created for the Artisan Design Team for the month of May. Each month the whole team releases a bunch of projects to the Stampin’ Up! Facebook page and then over the course of a couple of weeks they are shared individually on Instagram—so today is my day! It never gets old seeing your creations being featured by Stampin’ Up! Its been truly a dream come true and awesome learning experience to be a part of the team for 2021 :)

My assignment was to create two projects with the Flowers of Friendship Bundle. I LOVE a fantastic punch like this one that creates flowers that look great stamped or on their own.

For my projects I wanted to share a different way to think about using your Flowers and Leaves Punch. I decided to create a stencil with one of our Window Sheets. Now I only wanted to highlight the flowers so I used a bit of tape to cover and block off the leaves.

I then placed my stencil over the card and scrapbook page Basic White layer and used the spatula and Embossing Paste to create a unique textured background.

To create a random placement of flowers you will need to allow some drying time in between applying each flower with the paste as you do not want to inadvertently cover or touch one that is already there and not dry as this will lead to smudging. So patience is your friend with this project but it is truly worth it in the end.

You will notice that my flowers have a soft feel to them and that is because they are stamped in Grey Granite ink. Black just felt like too harsh of an outline with the softer color pallette of this page. I colored my flowers in with the Stampin’ Blends in Pale Papaya and Fresh Freesia.

On the card I added the sentiment from the Flowers of Friendship stamp set in Grey Granite ink as well and looped some twine from the Baker’s Twine Essentials Pack behind along with an accent using the Loose Flower Flourishes (LOVE—in fact you should check out my Top Ten List for my new catty favorites).

I also incorporated the Tailored Made Tags dies into both of my projects and they have become a staple item these past few weeks! I can’t get enough of them as my have been noticing on some of my latest projects shared here on my blog or on my Instagram feed @stampwithbrenda.

I hope these projects inspire you to think outside the box when playing with this awesome bundle! If you do not have it already you can add it to your cart and shop with me by following this link!

Create with Connie and Mary--Textures and Ribbon!

Hi friends! I was really excited about this Design Team challenge and had an idea immediately. Sometimes I have to stew on things for a while but not this time! Textures and ribbon can add something really special to your projects which is why I almost always use ribbon and find a way to incorporate texture into all of my projects.

My favorite ribbon in the new catalogue at the moment is the Highland Heather Grosgrain Ribbon. It is a great width and has some built in sparkle to it which I love. I have also been playing and experimenting with the new Pastel Chalks so I wanted to find a way to incorporate those into my project as well.

Let’s talk about the texture created on the background first. I used one of the new masks from the Plenty of Patterns collection. I placed it on top of my Highland Heather card stock layer and just held it in place with my finger tips. I scraped some chalk onto a large block using my Take a Pick Tool spatula edge (spare those scissors, this tool works perfect) and once I had a little pile I used my Blending Brush to pick it up and brush it all over the stencil creating this awesome textured background!

Hot Tip: you will need to scrape off the film or layer that is on the chalks to actually get at the ‘chalk’ . I used the Take a Pick Tool for this as well. Then you can use a finger dauber or your blending brush to pick up some chalk.

The real highlight of this card for me though is the ribbon. I cut a rectangle from the Stitched Rectangle dies and covered it with a few strips of Stampin’ Seal+ (love it by the way). I then layered my ribbon over top to create this awesome ribbon panel. I did end up trimming away some of the die as I wanted the ribbon to be perfect. I then added some more Stampin’ Seal+ to the backside and stuck the edges down. I popped this panel up on Dimensionals.

I used the stamp set Biggest Wish as my feature set on this card. The ‘Birthday’ is stamped in Coastal Cabana and the ‘Happy’ is stamped in Polished Pink.

I hand trimmed out the word happy and added it with a couple mini dimensionals.

You may wonder where the little ribbon on the side is from and it’s a sneak peek of something coming in our holiday catty!

This little sentiment area was completed by adding a Polished PInk Loose Flower Flourish…love this new embellishment so much!

I am really happy with how this card turned out and am excited to try it with a variety of different ribbons! I can’t wait to see what the other Design Team members created this week! You can go BACK to see Melissa’s creation or NEXT to see what Connie has made. If you are inspired and need any of the products to make this at home please feel free to use my June Hostess Code (found along the right hand side of my blog!). And as always, comments are appreciated!

Dad--You're the Best Card

I don’t know about you but making masculine cards always feels a bit more tricky. I really do love how this one turned out especially as the Tailored Made Tags Dies did all the work to make it awesome!

I started with a base of Soft Suede and layered a large piece of the True Love DSP on top as my first layer. I always love a good black & white DSP and I will be sad when this one retires at the end of June. I then die cut 3 different sizes of tags from the Tailor Made Tags Dies in Misty Moonlight, Soft Suede and Smokey Slate.

The Playful Alphabet dies are a craft room must have in my opinion as they are the perfect size for card making and memory keeping. I added them to this project with the Foam Adhesive Sheets behind to give them a little pop off the base.

I added in You’re the Best on a piece of Basic Grey card stock for all the man colors on one project!

I decided to also do the inside of this card as well so I added another piece of DSP from the True Love paper this time in a stripe. I cut another tag in Misty Moonlight and stamped the sentiment from the Handsomely Suited stamp set. This is also where the “You’re the Best” on the card front came from.

Behind the sentiment I added a little bit of Misty Moonlight ribbon. Voila! A pretty eye catching yet simple Father’s Day card!