Sometimes when you need inspiration, just look through your stamp sets and see what strikes your fancy for stamping. When I saw the For the Birds stamp set on my shelf I decided that would be a fun and easy stamp set to use, and I could also color in with my new Blendabilities Markers. I just wanted to make an easy card with some of the new designer series paper. For the card base, I chose one of the new In Colors, Tangelo Twist and decided that the Sweet Taffy Designer Series Paper would probably work with that paper. I stamped on Whisper White with the new Memento Ink and layered that on Hello Honey and then on Old Olive. At the end I added a little strip of Hello Honey accented with Brights Candy Dots.

The Blendabilities Markers are not available quite yet but they will be in just a few days!! Tuesday, July 1st is when Stampin’ Up! will make these products available to customers:

• Cherry Cobbler (item #130995)
• Coastal Cabana (item #131000)
• Daffodil Delight (item #130998)
• Old Olive (item #130999)
• Pumpkin Pie (item #130997)
• Rich Razzleberry (item #131003)
• Skin Tone Assortment (item #129370
• Memento Ink Pad  (item #132708)
• Memento Ink Refill (item #133456)
• Color Lifter (item #129369)

Remaining Blendabilities Colors will be available August 1.

Don’t forget about the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals which end on Monday, June 30.

Shop anytime at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!  Let me know if you have any questions or if you want me to put your order in for you!  I’m happy to do that.

For The Birds Clear Stamp Set

$24.95

Sweet Taffy Designer Series Paper

$10.95

Hello Honey 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock

$6.95

Old Olive 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

$6.95

Brights Candy Dots

$5.95

Whisper White 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

$8.50

Tangelo Twist 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock

$6.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

I was looking for stamps that were an outline image so I could practice with my Blendabilities markers, and I found the beautiful set Everything Eleanor that had some nice flowers I could color in. The flowers are stamped on Whisper White with Memento ink, which is recommended to use with the Blendabilities because they are alcohol markers. These flowers already had a lot of lines on them for shading so I only used two of the colors in the marker set, the medium and light shade. I cut each one out with my Paper Snips (a must have for cutting around images!) and popped up a few with Stampin’ Dimensionals. I also wanted to use the new In Colors so I stamped the swirl in Blackberry Bliss ink and the medallion with Hello Honey (stamped off once). The ribbon underneath is the Natural 5/8″ Chevron Ribbon. The greeting is stamped in Blackberry Bliss from the Fabulous Four Stamp Set.

Soon you will be able to play and color with the new Blendabilities Markers, too!  Stampin’ Up! says ordering will begin for customers on July 1st!  You won’t see them in the Online Store until July 1st.

In the meantime, you can check out all the Stampin’ Up! papercrafting products in my Online Store HERE.

Today is the first day of summer, the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. Well, it’s not really any “longer” than any other day of the year, but it is the day with the most hours of daylight. If you walk outside here in Houston you will know that it is the beginning of summer because it is very hot and humid outside! (But then I can say that for most days in Houston!)

I decided to make a “sunny” card for the first day of summer.  I used our new 2″ Circle Punch for the body of the sun, punched out of Brights Backgrounds Designer Series Paper Stack. Then I punched more of the same paper with the Banner Punch. The polka dots are actually the opposite side of the pattern I used for the sun! The word “Summer” is from the new Project Life stamp set Day to Day.  And just for a little something, I couldn’t resist using some Brights Candy Dots on the front of the card!

Go enjoy the first day of summer 2014! And when you’ve had enough of the sun and heat, come inside and stamp since you have those extra minutes of daylight today!

I saw an ad in the magazine the other day of a striped sofa in something close to these two colors, Melon Mambo and Tangerine Tango,  so I decided to use the Work of Art stamp set and the Hello stamp from the Hi There stamp set to make a card. The Work of Art stamps are so fun to play with – anything goes! You just feel free to create! I stamped the word “Hello” at the top and liked it so much I made another card, which you will be able to see later on my Facebook Page HERE. The flower is made with the new punch called Fun Flower Punch. Although the flower itself is only punched from card stock and not stamped first, I did stamp the flower image on the single wood stamp Bloom For You. twice, once in Melon Mambo and once in Tangerine Tango ink so I could punch out pieces for the center of the flower. I used the 1/2″ Circle Punch and the 7/8″ Scallop Circle Punch. Then I mounted those center pieces on the flower using Stampin’ Dimensionals to pop them up.

If you wonder where inspiration comes from, here is part of an ad I saw in a magazine of a striped sofa.  I think the one color was fuschia, but I used Melon Mambo. Just think of these three colors:  Whisper White, Melon Mambo, and Tangerine Tango. They are  a summery combination for sure! Make something with these three colors and brighten your day!

Get ready for summer! Stamp something bright and colorful!  You will find all the latest colors here at Stampin’ Up! in my Online Store!

This cute little 3″ x 3″ gift card or note card is made with the Banner Banter stamp set and the Banner Punch. It was fun and easy to make! Just stamp some banners in whatever colors you like (I used Melon Mambo, Pistachio Pudding and Bermuda Bay) and adhere to card.  I used Stampin’ Dimensionals to pop them all up.  You could adhere several straight to the card and pop one up, perhaps the one with the greeting. You could even stamp right on the Whisper White card layer. To make it look more like a hanging banner, I used Subtles Candy Dots. (LOVE those things!)

If you already own the Banner Punch that you might have gotten free during Sale-A-Bration, I would definitely encourage you to purchase this stamp set to use with your punch.  I would also suggest that you purchase the wood-mount version of the stamp set because the stamps are small, and I think having them already mounted on the wood makes them easier to use.  But to each their own! It’s whatever you prefer!

One more tip – to mount the greeting on the banner on a background layer of card stock, I trimmed that down a little so it would fit on the punched banner. Since it was such a small piece, I just did it with my Paper Snips, and although not perfect, it is fine!  We have to let go of the perfectionism sometimes. No one I give this to will say, “You know, there is  a slight angle to your cutting on this greeting on the banner. Please take it away and make me a new one!”

If you did not choose a free Banner Punch during Sale-A-Bration, you can purchase one in the Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE along with the Banner Banter stamp set. There is also another stamp set to use with this punch. It is called Itty Bitty Baby on page 81 of the Stampin’ Up! Catalog. It is absolutely adorable, but I had to pass it up (this time!).

Itty Bitty Baby Wood-Mount Stamp Set

$17.95

Banner Banter Wood-Mount Stamp Set

$17.95

Subtles Candy Dots

$5.95

Stampin’ Dimensionals

$3.95

Table by StampinBuddy. 

I had some time yesterday to play with my new stamp set Calling All Heroes and made this superheroes card with the photopolymer stamp set. Photopolymer stamps are completely clear so you can see exactly where you are stamping AND they are VERY STICKY! I was pretty klutzy with that aspect of these stamps yesterday, but I got better and better dealing with them as I went along. If you saw my Facebook post yesterday you will see that first I put the stamp face down on the clear block so that when I stamped with it I got a blob of the back of the stamp and then it tore my paper when I lifted it up! Now I know to make sure that I have the stamp image up on the clear block so it will stamp the image and not the backside! I also learned that on my messy table while I am stamping to not just set the clear blocks on top of the photopolymer stamps because the blocks will stick to the stamps!  They are sticky! And that’s a good thing when you are stamping to hold the stamp on the block well, but for me yesterday it was just one thing after the other!  By evening I had it all down pretty well as I made another card!

This stamp set also comes with an alphabet so it is really a double stamp set. You can line up the letters on your block to stamp words or phrases.

On this card, I just played with some of the masks and faces of the heroes (or are they villains?) and stamped the phrase, which also happens to be the name of the stamp set. I didn’t try to get it perfect (obviously) but it is nice to be able to stamp more than one letter at a time.  In cases where I needed the same letter twice, I could do one of two things. What I did do, was just place the letters C, A, and L on the block and then stamped the rest:  L, In, N, G to get “Calling”. The other thing I could have done was leave a space for the second “L” and then go back and stamp that in it’s proper place. Since you can see through the stamps, you can see pretty much where you are stamping. The stamps did stamp really well once I didn’t have them upside down on the block! They did clean up pretty well, too, although they are more prone to staining than our red rubber stamps. Even the Stazon ink cleaned off pretty well with Stampin’ Mist and a hard rub on the Stampin’ Scrub Pad.  And the ink that didn’t come off I sprayed the Stampin’ Mist right on the stamp and rubbed with a paper towel.

I think this will be a fun stamp set to play with.  I have a couple people in mind that I want to create cards for with this set!

Check out the brand new Calling All Heroes Stamp Set in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store under “New Arrivals”! You will only find it online, not in the catalog.

Calling All Heroes Photopolymer Stamp Set

$25.95

Table by StampinBuddy.