We have lots of pretty periwinkles blooming in our backyard right now as well as some cute, delicate little pink flowers, Gaura, back by the fence.

So if you ever wondered where we stampers get our inspiration and ideas sometimes, these pretty flowers made me think of making a card with little pink and white flowers. As I looked over my stamps ets, the Fabulous Florets stamp set seemed to be the winner! I stamped some stems (in different directions as much as I could), then I stamped a few of the small and large flowers right on the card.  I also stamped flowers on Whisper White scrap paper with Black Stazon, colored some of them pink with Primrose Petals and left some white. With my trusty Paper Snips (they make detailed cutting SO much easier!) I cut out several flowers and played around with them on my card front until I was settled on a design. Once they were glued down with Stampin' Dimensionals, I added a little glitter with Dazzling Details.

Here's a tip:  Glue down the card front to the card base BEFORE adding the Dazzling Details or you will forget about the wet Dazzling Details and press your hand right into your glitter!

And maybe here you can see some of the Dazzling Details glitter!

Look out in your yard and see what catches your eye (or maybe your neighbor's yard!) and see what card or scrapbook page comes from that inspiration!

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I think this Comfort Cafe Designer Series Paper looks beautiful with the Pool Party and Soft Suede card stock on this thank you card….if I do say so myself! The little flowers are made with the new 1 1/4" Scallop Circle Punch found on page 7 in the Stampin' Up! Holiday Catalog.  You have to put this punch on your next order!!

I intended to feature these cute little flowers in yesterday's post but some other card developed and didn't allow room for the flowers! But I love them on this card!  Actually I have them pretty flattened out as I will be mailing this card (gasp!) but I will tell the recipient she can "foof them up" when she gets the card.  However, I think the paper is so pretty that they look good even flattened out this way!

To make the flowers, just punch out three small scallops (or as many as you would like) for each flower.  I spritzed mine with a fine spray mist of water, then stacked them three in a pile and stuck in the Gold Metallic Brad after poking a hole with the Paper-Piercing Tool using the Stampin' Pierce Mat.  After you have them together, scrunch each layer up toward the center, even twisting each layer around a bit so they are offset.  So easy!  Let dry and apply to your project!

The greeting is from the Perfectly Penned stamp set on page 132 of the main Stampin' Up! Catalog.

If you need any stamping supplies, please visit my Stampin' Up! Online Store here.

The Olympics begin with the Opening Ceremony tonight! The city of London is hosting the 2012 Olympic games and they are finally going to get started! It seems like we have been looking forward to the Olympics for a long time and now it is finally here!

Here is the story behind the colored Olympic rings from the Olympic Museum Manual:

 "Pierre de Coubertin first proposed this symbol at the 1914 Olympic congress in Paris.

 The five rings on a white background form the Olympic flag, which was unveiled during the same congress. The flag flew for the first time in an Olympic stadium in 1920 during the Antwerp Games.

If the number of rings represents the continents, the colours (six of them, counting the white background) were chosen to ensure that every country would have at least one of the colours in its national flag included."

"The five rings that make up the Olympic symbol represent the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from all over the world during the Games. They symbolise the universality of the Olympic Movement."

To make this card:

Stamps:  Loving Thoughts Stamp Set

Ink:  Real Red Classic Ink

Paper:  Pacific Point, Real Red, Whisper White, Basic Black, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight

Accessories: 1" Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch

Note:  Punch the 1" circle first, the turn your 1 1/4" punch upside down, reinserting the punched piece so you can see the sides.  Once you have it lined up correctly, punch out the ring.  This is easier than punching the larger circle first and then trying to center the 1" circle.

Enjoy the games!

While cleaning up my scraps recently, I found I had a little stack of these Two Tags die cuts already cut out, so today I decided to use one somehow on this thank you card. This is also a sneak peek at the 1 1/4" Scallop Circle Punch coming in the Holiday Catalog August 1st.  So cute!!

Since I was making my scallop flower out of Daffodil Delight, I looked at my Color Coach for fun to see what colors they put with it.  One was Early Espresso so I used that for my card base. Of course the Daffodil Delight card stock layer needed a little something so I tried out my new Fancy Fan Embossing Folder #127751.  Love it!  I love this die cut from the Two Tags Die, so to jazz it up a bit I stamped with the small flower in Reason to Smile (the stamp set you can get during July for $5 with a $50 purchase). The greeting is from the Perfectly Penned stamp set (page 132), stamped in Early Espresso.

To make the scallop flower, I punched six scallops, then softened them up with my bone folder, crinkled them up, stacked them up, pierced the center, and inserted an Antique Brad #117273.  You could use other brads or a button (if you glued them together first). Then I squished each layer up around the brad to get some dimension and then let them lay back down gently!  The ribbon is our new 1/4" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon in Whisper White #126877.

Since the Early Espresso is such a dark color I added a piece of Whisper White to the inside of the card, with a few Daffodil Delight flowers stamped in the corner from Reason to Smile again.

Whew!  For such a simple thank you card I had a lot to say! I love how the new little Scallop Circle Punch flower fits so perfectly in that top of the Two Tags die….of course you also get another die on that same die so it is a great deal!

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Amazing what you can find in your card stock scraps!  I had already stamped some flowering branches from Elements of Style on pieces of Crumb Cake card stock but then didn't use them….they were stuck in my pile of scraps in the card stock package. I guess I stamped them one time and then it didn't work out. But today I thought I'd see what I could do with a piece.

All it took was a little coloring in by touching my Blender Pen to the ink pad to pick up ink. If you want to try to be artistic, you can follow the highlighting (the little lines) on the stamped images and apply a little darker ink in those areas.  Then come back in and either spread that out a little with your Blender Pen or use a lighter color.  This gives you a shaded look that will make people think you are a professional artist! Stamping can make anyone look good!

I thought one of the flowers from Everything Eleanor, a new stamp set I got free at Stampin' Up! Leadership in San Antonio last January, looked like it would match closely enough with the flowers on the branch, so I stamped that separately, twice, cut them both out and glued on the card, slightly offset.  And stamped the little bird from Everything Eleanor.  The greeting is from Elements of Style.  Such a beautiful set!

If you want any stamping sets or accessories, Stampin' Up! has them here!

Place an order of $50 and add on Reason to Smile for only $5!