May 10, 2022

A Card a Day in May--Day 10!!

May 10, 2022/ Brenda Nelson

Hello everyone! Welcome back or thanks for stopping by if this is your first time! My card today featuring the Bokeh Technique that I recently shared as an Artisan Design Tip & Technique on the Stampin’ Up! Facebook page! If this technique inspires you I will take a look over there as I shared stamp by step instructions. Don’t be intimidated though! It is easier than it looks!

To create this fun technique you can use the Picture This Dies, Blending Brushes, a finger dauber, white craft ink and any other ink colors you choose. Alternately you can create a stencil using a window sheet and the Layering Circle dies.

For this sample I used Fresh Freesia as my card base and then I used the dies to add circles in the same ink color and Flirty Flamingo. I added smaller circles using the finger dauber. You just keep moving the die around to overlap circles and can fill in the empty spaces with the finger dauber. It is really easy to create the blur effect.

The sentiment is from the In Bloom stamp set and underneath is layered some White Frayed Ribbon and a couple of strips of DSP from the Sunshine & Rainbows paper (a recent Sale a bration item).

Remember to check out my full post of instructions on the Stampin’ Up! Facebook page!

You can find step by step instructions and photos to make this Bokeh Technique project over the Stampin’ Up! Facebook page at the start of March 2022!

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August 02, 2021

Color Fusers--August Blog Hop!

August 02, 2021/ Brenda Nelson

Hello friends and welcome to another fun hope featuring the Color Fusers Design team and this awesome color combo! I really love purples and Just Jade has been permanently living on my craft table lately so I was super excited to create something with these four colors!

This card is all about the layers beginning with a base of Basic Grey! I cut a base layer out of Basic Grey as well and stamped some little flowers from the In Bloom stamp set in Basic Grey ink. A great tip for background stamping is to add all of the images , in this case little bitty flowers, on the block at once! It is a great time saver!

This card is an eclectic mix of items from the Annual Catalogue, the July-January Holiday Catty and Sale-a-bration! I just couldn’t resist using a little bit of something from all three of our publications!

The next layer on top of the Basic Grey is some Just Jade DSP from the Penguin Playmates collection in the Sale a bration catalogue. Off set to that I added some Basic White card stock that I ran through the new Timber 3D Embossing Folder from the July-January Catty and lastly, the Highland Heather DSP print is from the Hand-Penned collection.

Have you ordered this new Highland Heather 1/2 Grosgrain Ribbon yet? If not add it to your cart now! I love the shimmer to this ribbon and its easy to fold and tie and was the perfect add on behind the sentiment “Congrats You’re so Fancy Now”.

I die cut flowers from the Pierced Blooms dies in Gorgeous Grape and Highland Heather. A few of the purple toned pearls from the Pastel Pearls were an awesome finishing touch!

I also die cut some leaves for a little more Just Jade using the In Symmetry DSP and the Pierced Blooms dies.

I hope this card inspires you to play around with this fun color combo. If you look through our many fantastic Designer Series Papers you will see how many awesome options you have to create with!

Up next on the Hop is Melanie! I love her style and am always inspired by her creations! You can visit her next by clicking on the button below!

If you are just joining in her too you can always go back and see what Bonnie has designed as well! Either way, make sure you go all the way around our Design Team!

March 01, 2021

Color Fusers-March 2021 Blog Hop

March 01, 2021/ Brenda Nelson

Welcome to the Color Fusers March Blog Hop! We have sort of a masculine color combo to work with this month but I put a bit of a girly spin on these colors—Seaside Spray, Grey Granite and Early Espresso!

I knew that I wanted to use Early Espresso as my base and to create some extra texture to the cards I decided to add some strips of Early Espresso card stock in 3/4 inch widths across the base of the cards. It almost looks like panelling! I have been watching a lot of HGTV lately so maybe that is what influenced me! ha ha ha!

I cut a Basic White Stitched Rectangle to use as my focal point on the card. Using my Blending Brush (new favorite tool alert!) I added a bit of Grey Granite to the base and flicked my Grey Granite Stampin’ Write Marker over top. I love the look of a good marker spray over your projects!

The In Bloom bundle was used to embellish the rest of this card. The dies are AAAMAZING! I haven’t even put them away since I got them! I cut a few flowers in Seaside Spray, the stitched detail in the flowers plays into the stitched rectangular layer which I really like.

I added a few small Early Espresso flowers with some Silver Metallic Pearls.

I stamped and hand trimmed a couple of flowers in Grey Granite ink. You might wonder why I didn’t use a die and that is because the stamped images in this set do not have dies. The dies are all independent stitched shapes that coordinate with the stamped images.

The sentiment is from the In Bloom stamp set and is stamped with Early Espresso ink on Grey Granite card stock. I added a strip of the Seaside Spray Metallic Ribbon (found in the annual catalogue) behind it and popped it up on Dimensionals for a little lift.

Whenever you use a dark card stock color as a base you need to add a lighter layer on the inside so you can write a message. I added in a Basic White base and of course had to do a little stamping. I stamped some little Grey Granite flowers and ‘You Mean so Much to Me’ in Seaside Spray. I added a few more teeny flowers in Early Espresso and a Silver Metallic Pearl to pull all of the outside elements of the card inside.

I can’t wait to see what the other members of the team have created with this color combo! I love to challenge myself with color combos and I hope this Hop inspires you as well!

The fantastic Melanie Hockin is up next so let’s see what she has designed!

If you are starting here you can always go back as well to see what Bonnie O’Neill has designed! I know you will find inspiration all through this hop!