Stampin' Up! Garden in Bloom Butterflies

Other projects have been demanding my free time lately (aka nap time), so to have a little stamping time I had to go downstairs once the kiddos were all in bed.....way past their bedtime and mine!  I do admit, I had a lot of fun creating with Stampin' Up!'s new Garden In Bloom set again. I would have stayed up a while longer to keep creating, but I realized that my cute little alarm clocks always come wake me up so there will be no catching up on lost sleep.  So, one card is all I made, and I'm okay with that. 

This card is for the Picture Inspiration Challenge over at Stampin' Royalty.  Immediately I was drawn to the fun colors, so I created this card with Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, and Pear Pizazz.  I stamped Coral butterflies on my Coral card base and white butterfly outlines on my Pear layer.  I added some Daffodil paper from the new Brights DSP stack and layered that onto some white card stock (the bottom edge is done with the tiny wave rotary blade for the Stampin' Trimmer).  For my main panel, I stamped the outlines in Basic Gray.  The "thank you" is from the Work of Art set.  Each new catalog I find some great new go-to sets, and this Garden In Bloom set is becoming a fast favorite!  I can't wait to use it more!

 

Stampin' Up! Coral Blue Watercolor Wings

This week I had a few minutes to try out more new stamps.  Today's card features the new Watercolor Wings photopolymer set along with the new Fluttering embossing folder.

This week's challenge at Stampin' Royalty is a color challenge (Lost Lagoon, Soft Sky, Crumb Cake, and Calypso Coral).  Sometimes I get stuck in a rut and stick with the same few colors, so it's fun to play along and try out some new color combos.  I used the four challenge colors along with some white card stock and ink and this is what I came up with.

I stamped the solid butterfly from the Watercolor Wings stamp set with my Whisper White craft ink to help the butterflies stand out a little on the Crumb Cake card stock.  For the blue butterflies, I stamped the inner layer with Soft Sky and the outline layer with Lost Lagoon.  For the coral butterfly, I stamped another inner layer as well as the outline layer in Calypso Coral.  For the greeting I stamped it in white first and then in Lost Lagoon (the white helps it stand out a bit).  I textured the Soft Sky card stock with the Fluttering embossing folder and added some Calypso Coral seam binding ribbon around it before mounting it onto the Crumb Cake card base.

 I know the Watercolor Wings set has a lot of potential and I can't wait to try it out some more.  Check back soon for more ideas :)


 

Stampin' Up! Garden in Bloom Box

Summer is here!  Last week my order of new stamps arrived but I didn't have much of a chance to play with it because of all the last week of school festivities.  Even though I didn't get to use my new stamps, I had a lot of fun reading to first graders, spending an afternoon in the sun helping with Field Day, and making last minute thank you gifts for teachers, staff, and administrators.  I can't believe that another school year has already come and gone!  Now we have 11 weeks of Summer until we're back in the school routine, I'm sure they'll fly by.

On Monday I was hoping to take advantage of some nap time stamping, but instead spent the time trying to help my older two establish some Summertime routines.  So, once everyone was in bed for the night (and unfortunately it was an hour or so later than their usual bedtime), I finally had the chance to use some new product.  I decided to start out by making a project for the challenge over at Stampin' Royalty.  This week's challenge is to make anything but a card, so I came up with a fun little box that features the new Garden in Bloom photopolymer stamp set.  I love this stamp set, it reminds me of so many fun 2-step stampin' sets that were around maybe 15 years ago (the type of sets that really made me fall in love with Stampin' Up!).  I almost felt like I was stamping with a long lost friend when I used them, and it felt good to be back together!

I started out by cutting a sheet of white and a sheet of Soft Sky card stock down to 6"x6".  For the bottom of the box, I scored the Soft Sky card stock 1-1/16" from each edge and then cut the corners and folded it into a box.  That way the width of the box was almost 4" square.  For the top of the box, I scored the white card stock at 1" from each side (that way it would be just a tiny bit bigger than the base and then it would fit over the base easily).  I wanted some of the color from the base to show, so after scoring, I trimmed 1/4" off each side.  In the past I've tried cutting the lid smaller to begin with, but I find it's easier to figure the math if I score first and then cut (and then I waste less paper from mistakes).  I stamped images from the Garden in Bloom all over the lid of my box before folding it.  I used Melon Mambo/Pink Pirouette, Crushed Curry/So Saffron, Pacific Point/Soft Sky, and Cucumber Crush/Cucumber Crush stamped off once. 

For the tag, I stamped the word "enjoy" from the Endless Birthday Wishes photopolymer stamp set in Melon Mambo and then stamped the small butterfly images from the Garden in Bloom set.  I punched that out with the oval punch, then layered it on some Pink Pirouette punched with the scalloped oval, and finally layered that onto some Soft Sky punched with the decorative label punch.  I punched a 1/8" hole into my tag so that I could tie some ribbon through it.  I used Melon Mambo cotton ribbon to tie my box closed, and instead of putting one end of the ribbon through my tag hole, I brought both sides up through it so that my bow would sit completely on top of the tag.  Have you used your stamps to make something besides a card lately?
 

Stampin' Up! Petite Petals Gift Packs

What was I up to last week?  It was the last week of school and I spent more time at the school than usual.  I was hoping to make a bunch of packs of cards (6 in each pack) to use as thank you gifts for teachers, staff, and school administrators.  The week flew by and Friday came and I still didn't have the packs made.  I looked thorough my stash of cards and realized that I didn't have enough cards so I thought that I'd have to just let it go this year.  Well, on Friday our whole family joined my daughter's school at the last day of school concert (an awesome concert in the park with a couple of real musicians).  After the concert, we came home and my little one took a nap.  I got this crazy idea that I could bust through a bunch of cards in the 2-3 hours until school was out.  So, I enlisted my preschooler's help and we went to work!

I decided on these "you made my day" cards that I had designed a few months ago, but I changed up the greeting and colors.  Instead of giving everyone an assorted pack, I chose to make each pack have just one main color.  Did you know that preschoolers are excellent punchers and they actually enjoy giving free labor?  My little guy punched out 72 flowers in no time and then he proceeded to peel of Stampin' Dimensionals so that I could adhere all of the colored flowers to my cards.  I honestly couldn't have finished these cards without him.

All of the cards have a white card base and then a Soft Sky background.  I stamped "you made my day" from the Best Day Ever Sale-a-Bration set.  I added some green stems from the Painted Petals stamp set and then punched that out with my 2-1/2" circle punch.  I added the flowers punched with the Petite Petals set and then added a little rhinestone jewel in each center.  On the Soft Sky background, I stamped the bokeh stamp from the Best Day Ever to fill it in a bit.  Then I tied some coordinating ribbon around the card stock before adhering it to my white card base.

I finished with a little time to spare, so I decided that my card packs needed some tags to go with them, so I made 3x3 cards using the Decorative Label Punch, the Painted Petals set, and the Petite Petals punch.  I'm glad I had a few spare hours so I could do a little something for those that do so much for the kids at the school.  Nothing like doing things at the last minute, but if it wasn't for the last minute, a lot of things wouldn't get done!

 

Stampin' Up! Father's Day Stars

I'm excited!  This month I have the privilege of being a Guest Designer for one of my favorite blog challenges Stampin' Royalty.  Today's challenge at Stampin' Royalty is to create a Masculine Project.  What perfect timing--just before Father's Day.  Go ahead and join us this week so you can get your Father's Day cards done before the last minute.  I admit, I struggle a bit with the masculine cards.  I guess I just love the bright and girly colors more and I love adding ribbon to my cards.  Well, I successfully created a card without flowers and frills (although I was very tempted to sneak in some ribbon, but I resisted).  My card even got my husband's seal of approval.

Speaking of my husband, he has been pretty supportive of my hobby (addiction?) for the past 13 years.  When my husband and I were dating, my sister strongly suggested that I not show him my craft room until after I had a ring, she thought I'd scare him off--and I thought I had a lot of craft stuff then.  When we were engaged, he took me out for my birthday and drove me 30 minutes in the opposite direction from our destination just so I could go get a new catalog to look at (my downline got hers that day and I couldn't wait to see it) and then put up with me scouring the catalog instead of paying a lot of attention to him the rest of the drive.  He's always thought that the Stampin' Up! colors have silly names and he likes to poke fun of them at times.  He never liked it when a color was called what it wasn't (Not Quite Navy, Almost Amethyst) because he said that they should call a color what it is instead of what it isn't.  When I told him I was making a masculine card for this blog challenge, he initially suggested that I use Gross Green and Beautiful Brown, but then changed his mind and thought of colors such as Gorgeous Green, Galactic Green, Burly Brown, or Righteous Red.  I laughed and quickly wrote his suggestions down because I knew they'd be great for a blog post :)  The funny thing is, sometimes he's actually pretty good at guessing the color names.  When we had been married for just two years, we were in Walt Disney World and he commented that one of the monorails looked like it was Luscious Lemon and Stampin' Up! used to have a color called Luscious Lime.

I decided to go along with his suggestions when picking the color scheme for this card, so I used Mossy Meadow and Crumb Cake.  Now don't those names just scream masculine, lol?  At least the actual colors do, they give me a National Park kind of feel.  I used the Pictogram Punches stamp set for the star and punched a few out with the star from the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack.  I absolutely love Stampin' Up!'s Textured Impressions Embossing Folders, so I used the Lucky Stars embossing folder on the white card stock.  I cut out the "happy" with the Hello You thinlits and stamped the "Father's Day" from the Crazy About You stamp set.  I'm so happy that the thinlits and stamp set both made it into the new Stampin' Up! Catalog.  I cut the banner by cutting a strip of card stock and then punched the end of it with the hexagon punch to give it the banner shape.  However, now they have a nifty new banner punch to make it even easier!  I just need to get my hands on one of those punches. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Come back and visit again!  And, Happy Father's Day in a few weeks to all of you fathers out there, especially to the father of my kids!

 

Fresh Dots and Petite Petals

Have you seen the new Stampin' Up! In Colors yet?  I've had a little bit of time to play around with them and I think my favorite (at least for now) is Watermelon Wonder.  I've loved Calypso Coral for a while and Watermelon Wonder seems to have the same vibrancy but just a bit more red in it.  Lately I'm finding that Soft Sky is becoming one of my go-to colors as well.  I have to be honest, I've had Soft Sky in my collection since it first debuted several years ago, then I dusted it off when it became a regular Stampin' Up! color, and I haven't used it much until the past few months.  Perhaps I was thinking it had to be used alongside pastel colors, but I'm quickly learning how great it goes with vibrant and bold colors as well!

I made this card to go with the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  I stamped the greeting with the Work of Art stamp set using Bermuda Bay ink.  I stamped flowers from Petite Petals in Crushed Curry and Watermelon Wonder and then punched them with the coordinating punch.  I added a little Bermuda Bay candy dot to the center of the middle flower.  To frame in my greeting, I layered it on Watermelon Wonder card stock and then onto some of the new Cherry On Top DSP.  I thought the colored dots were just so fun and summery (which was perfect for today's summery weather--the hottest day of the year so far)!  I textured the Soft Sky card stock with the Decorative Dots embossing folder and then layered everything onto a white card base.  I love this simple sketch because it focuses on the words but then adds a bit of pizazz around the greeting.

 

Bright and Bold Build a Birthday

I just typed out the title for this post "Bright and Bold Build a Birthday" and that's a lot of Bs!  I figured that was the best description of this bright summery card.  We've got one week left of school around here, but things are definitely winding down.  I'm not sure what we'll be doing all summer besides a lot of swimming.  Hopefully I can manage to do more stamping with all of the kiddos around.  Maybe we'll be stamping together during naptime.

This card features NEW STAMPS and NEW IN COLORS!!!  I used the Build a Birthday set that is in the new 2015-2016 Stampin' Up Catalog that starts next Monday.  Even after 17 years of being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator (yikes! has it been that long?), I still get excited for new catalogs!  I used the new In Colors Watermelon Wonder and Cucumber Crush along with some trusty old favorites--Daffodil Delight and Tempting Turquoise.  I stamped the "make a wish" from the Perfect Pennants stamp set.  The letter a is stamped and then punched out with the 1/2" circle punch.  I made the banner out of Watermelon Wonder card stock by punching a strip of paper on each side with the hexagon punch.  The candles are tied up with some Daffodil Delight cotton ribbon.  To mimic the cucumber and turquoise candles, I textured the turquoise background with the Decorative Dots embossing folder.

Today's card was inspired by the current challenge over at Stampin' Royalty.  The challenge is "what's old is new again" so I looked through my old cards for some inspiration.  I found this card that I made last year and used it as my "before" and my new card is the "after."  Hope you enjoy!

 

Bold Butterfly Birthday

Last weekend I was searching through photos on my computer, in hopes to find just the right photo for a Mother's Day project.  While I didn't find what I needed (so I did a little last minute photo shoot), I did find this card that I made for my Mom last fall.  I loved how it all came together so I photographed it with the intention of posting it on my blog.  Well, better late than never!

I chose the colors of Daffodil Delight, Coastal Cabana (I'm so sad to be saying goodbye to this color), and Bermuda Bay.  I stamped the butterflies from the Papillon Potpourri stamp set and the Happy Birthday from the Hey You stamp set.  I punched out my greeting with the wide oval punch and added a punched butterfly as well.  I tied up the layers with some Daffodil Delight seam binding ribbon and textured the background with the Lovely Lace embossing folder.

Amazing Hearts and Circles

I ran across a card a while back and can't remember how I stumbled upon it (I think on pinterest but I didn't pin it).  Anyway, I remembered seeing circles down the side of the card and loved the use of various patterned papers.  I decided to try the idea out for this week's challenge over at The Card Concept.  The patterns and the colors in the challenge photo inspired my use of multiple patterns and colors (Melon Mambo and Basic Gray).  I chose to go with a Clean and Graphic style where my text is the only actual stamping.  I used circle punches and the heart from the Itty Bitty Accents punch pack as my simple embellishments.

Stampin' Up! Butterfly Thoughts

Today's card inspiration is brought to you by the blog challenges over at Freshly Made Sketches and Stampin' Royalty.  It's fun to combine a sketch challenge and a color challenge and see what turns out.  I started this card with no set plan (except to incorporate the challenges) and I think it turned out nicely.  I grabbed the challenge colors (Pacific Point, Rich Razzleberry, Blackberry Bliss, and Smoky Slate) and then decided to turn the sketch sideways.

I started out by stamping the greeting (from the Perfect Pennants set) in Blackberry Bliss and then added the butterflies (from Papillon Potpourri) stamped in Rich Razzleberry, Smoky Slate, and Pacific Point.  I punched out the large blue butterfly---love those coordinating punches, and popped it up a bit with a Stampin' Dimensional.  The stamped panel is mounted on Pacific Point and Blackberry Bliss.  I added some texture to the Smoky Slate card base by using the chevron embossing folder and then added the polka dot stripes (Backgrounds DSP stack) along the side to complete the sketch. 

Double Pink Blossoms

I've been hooked on blog challenges lately, but I do stamp cards just for fun as well.  Today's post is one of those cards.  I pulled out my Mother's Love stamp set from the Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalog and created from scratch.  This is such a great set!  I love the two step stamps because it's so easy to add multiple colors (the outline and the inside) with very little effort.  I used Melon Mambo and Pink Pirouette for my color combo.  My card base is textured (surprise, surprise--can you tell I love the embossing folders?).  I used the Spring Flowers embossing folder.  I added some polka dot paper from the Brights Backgrounds DSP stack and tied some Pink Pirouette ribbon above it to divide it from my stamped panel.  I stamped the "for you" which is also from the Mother's Love stamp set and then punched it with the pansy punch. 

 

Soft Hello Stars

A few days got away from me, but I'm back with more card ideas.  There are a few challenges that I wanted to make sure to play along with, so to help catch up, I combined two challenges.  I made this card for a sketch challenge from Freshly Made Sketches and a photo inspiration challenge from Stampin' Royalty.  I chose the soft colors from the photo, so I decided to use Soft Sky and Crumb Cake to mimic those colors.  I also added the star elements because of the photo.  For the sketch, I wanted to think outside of the "box" a little, so instead of using an image or text box, my text (the hello from the hello you framelits) fills the space of the box.  I textured the white card stock with the Lucky Stars embossing folder (I just love those embossing folders).  I stamped stars from the Pictogram Punches stamp set on the Crumb Cake card stock and then added an additional Crumb Cake and Soft Sky star next to my text.  To tie everything together (literally), I used some soft Crumb Cake seam binding and then adhered everything to my Soft Sky card base.

 

Occasions Catalog Idea Trio

Nothing gets my creative juices flowing like a blog challenge.  I love how I can look at a sketch, grab a few specified colors, or look at an inspiration photo and then get stamping.  Our friends over at Stampin' Royalty are having a Guest Designer Open Call.  I love how so many blog challenge designers share their talent to help inspire others.  Today I'm sharing three cards that are my try-out to be a guest designer.

When creating this first card, I gave myself a color challenge.  I wanted a bright and fresh card that didn't use corals or pinks (which I tend to gravitate towards), so I chose Tempting Turquoise, Wild Wasabi, and Daffodil Delight.  I made a couple of cards with these colors and am sharing my favorite.  The combination of these colors seems very Springy or Summery, which is perfect to offset the weather for today (we're currently in the middle of a Winter-like snowstorm.....welcome to Spring in Utah)!  I'm trying to make a bunch of samples using sets from the Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalog for an upcoming class, so I used the Painted Petals stamp set.  I added a bit of the polka dot paper from the Backgrounds DSP stack (Brights) and layered that with my stamped panel onto some Daffodil Delight and then tied it up with some Daffodil Delight cotton ribbon.  I textured my card base with the Spring Flowers embossing folder and glued everything together.

This second card would work well for a color challenge (Strawberry Slush, Wild Wasabi, and Basic Gray).  It would also work well as a sketch challenge.  I like using Basic Gray in place of Basic Black when I want to keep the lines softer and not so bold.  I used another set from the Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalog called Mother's Love.  It's a two step stamp set which makes adding color the images a breeze.  I again added a bit of polka dot paper from the Brights Patterns DSP stack and used the Spring Flowers embossing folder for the background.  Two of my top go-to products are embossing folders and DSP stacks.  I added a bit of Smoky Slate 1/8" taffeta ribbon to tie in the gray.  I stamped the "for you" and layered it on some circles thanks to the circle framelits.  Finally, I added a little flower punched from the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack (complete with rhinestone jewel in the center).

For my third and final card, I went with a card that is easy to duplicate.  I love having so many fun stamping supplies and I like to be able to use them.  I make a lot of cards for samples, and then find that I don't send enough.  This year I'm trying to send out more thank you notes, so I needed to create something that I can mass-produce to use for that purpose.  I also like to make a bunch of cards to give packs of 6 to teachers and school staff at the end of the year, so they can't be too time-consuming.

I used the Painted Petals stamp set again for this card.  I stamped the stems in Mossy Meadow and then used the Petite Petals punch for the flowers so that they'd extend past the 2-1/2" circle.  I added some rhinestone jewels to the flowers for their centers and adhered the flowers with Stampin' Dimensionals.  I stamped some flowers on the Soft Sky card stock in Soft Sky ink so that they would be subtle, but add a little something to the background.  I tied that layer up with some Blackberry Bliss ribbon and mounted it onto my white card base.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing 3 cards today instead of just 1.  Since I've been stamping so much lately, this is a good way to keep up on posting my ideas.  Enjoy!

Blackberry Mambo Flower

It's time for another color challenge.  This week over at Just Add Ink, the challenge is to use Melon Mambo, Blackberry Bliss, and Smoky Slate.  I don't think I'd have thought to put these together, but I think the combination is striking.

I love combining the chevron embossing folder with the chevron paper (from the Backgrounds DSP stacks).  I stamped a flower from the Petal Potpourri stamp set and then added a center by stamping a new pencil eraser with Melon Mambo ink.  I punched some Smoky Slate leaves with the Bird Builder Punch and punched the flower with the Flower Medallion punch.  I stamped the "thank you" from the Hey You stamp set.  This is a pretty simple card to put together, hope you enjoy!

 

Balloon Stars with Stripes

Today I'm playing along with a new (to me) blog challenge: Seize the Birthday.  Every time Stampin' Up! comes out with a new catalog, I always look for a new birthday set.  After being a demonstrator for 17 years (yikes, am I getting that old?), I have collected a lot of fun birthday sets.  Some years I find a set that it just okay, and some years I find something great.  Well, this year's Occasions Catalog has not just one, but two fun birthday sets.  My favorite is the Balloon Bash set which I used on this card.  The Balloon Bash set has some fun greetings that could be used as the focal point on the card, but I'm a huge fan of the three balloons in the set (as evidenced by how much I use them on birthday cards lately).

This week's challenge at Seize the Birthday is to make a Tall and Skinny card.  I generally make the standard card size (5-1/2"x4-1/4"), like I make that size 99% of the time, so it was fun to branch out a little and create something a bit different.  I decided that this would be a great size to put cash or a check in.  I stamped my balloons in Calypso Coral, Real Red, and Crisp Cantaloupe to match the striped paper from the Stacked with Love DSP.  The Crisp Cantaloupe layer at the bottom of the card actually has stars embossed on it (using the Lucky Stars embossing folder) but they don't show up well in this photo.  I stamped the Happy Birthday greeting from the Crazy About You stamp set in Calypso Coral and mounted that on a strip of Real Red.  To give it the pennant shape, I used my hexagon punch to punch each layer.  Everything is tied up with some Calypso Coral seam binding ribbon and layered on my Calypso Coral card base.

  

Purple Papillon Potpourri

We're in the middle of a war at our house--a war of fighting dandelions.  I've got the beginnings of some blisters on my hands from so much digging, but a bit of yard work is good for all of us, right?  The trouble is, I notice that my hand is sore when I'm stamping.  I guess I need to be more careful with my stamping hands :)  I won the battle in my front yard yesterday, and another battle in the backyard today, but I'm not certain that I'll win the war.  My husband looked out the window today and noticed that the neighbor's back lawn looks more yellow than green.  Yikes!  Oh well, at least the front looks pretty good (gotta keep up appearances).  In previous years I've offered my kids a penny for every yellow dandelion that they pick so that they don't go to seed, but for some reason they aren't as excited about it this year.  Too bad, they could earn some good money.  Today while digging dandelions, my husband pointed out a butterfly.  Well, it was actually a moth (he was corrected by a first grader), but it got me in a butterfly mood.

I love the Papillon Potpourri stamp set.  Those butterflies work for so many cards in so many colors.  Today I played along with Pals Paper Arts and their monochromatic color challenge.  It was fun to combine Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, and Blackberry Bliss (I admit that Perfect Plum and Elegant Eggplant have been collecting some dust lately, so it was fun to be encouraged to use them again).  I stamped the thanks from the Crazy About You set (definitely a favorite from the Occasions Catalog) and punched it with the oval punch, layered on the Scalloped Oval, and layered again on the Decorative Label punch.  I tied some Blackberry Bliss ribbon around the card between the Patterns DSP and the stamped panel.  I textured the white card base with the Spring Flowers embossing folder to complete the look.

  

Fresh Star Balloons

My kids love birthday balloons.  We have a tradition where one of the kids gets to go to the store to choose a mylar balloon for another on their birthday.  It's fun to see how long the mylar balloons last, some of them have lasted up to a month!  We also hang regular balloons from the ceiling fan in our kitchen.  Balloons just scream birthday to us.  

I love the balloon stamps in the Balloon Bash set that's in the Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalog, especially the star balloon.  I guess I have a thing for stars lately (star framelits, star embossing folder, star stamps).  The layout for this card is thanks to the fun sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  I stamped star balloons in Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush, and Daffodil Delight.  I stamped the #happybirthday in Strawberry Slush as well.  I know I'm not alone when I say that I am NOT ready to say goodbye to the retiring In Colors in a couple of months.  These colors feel so summery to me (and I have a summer birthday--maybe that's why I'm drawn to them).  I layered stamped panel on some Daffodil Delight card stock and then on some Strawberry Slush that I textured with the Lucky Stars embossing folder.  I added a Coastal Cabana chevron strip from the In Colors Backgrounds DSP stack and then tied all of the layers together with some Daffodil Delight cotton ribbon.  Finally, I mounted everything to a white card base.  Happy Birthday (or unBirthday) to all of you!
  

Amazing Blackberry Stars

I think the Lucky Stars embossing folder has got to be one of my favorite embossing folder.  I have almost all of the folders that Stampin' Up! has made (I just love the texture that they add to card), and I'm so glad that this one was carried over into the Occasions Catalog.  It's fun to combine the textured stars with the Stars Framelits (which are coincidentally on sale this week).

This week's challenge from The Paper Players is to use a die cut on a card.  I remember when Stampin' Up! first introduced the Big Shot and I didn't think I "needed" it.  Well, after a few months one of my customers ordered one and that got me thinking.  During Sale-a-Bration I decided that if she had one, I should have one too (and I've never looked back).  I found that I used it a lot of the time and that was before fun things like embossing folders and framelits (now I use it almost all of the time). I decided to use my Big Shot for both a die cut and an embossing folder on this card.  I stamped the "Amazing" greeting from the Painted Petals stamp set in Blackberry Bliss, cut it with the Stars Framelits, then layered it onto a Basic Gray star also cut with the Stars Framelits.  For the card base, I textured the Blackberry Bliss card stock with the Lucky Stars embossing folder, added a 1" strip of Blackberry Bliss polka dot Backgrounds DSP, then added a 1/2" strip of the silver glimmer paper.  I love how just 1/2" strip of glimmer paper adds so much to the card.  At first I had a hard time incorporating the glimmer paper onto my cards since it's around $2.50 per sheet, but then I realized that a little goes a long way, so you can actually make 50 cards like this with one sheet!  The star is layered onto the card base with a couple of Stampin' Dimensionals.  Stars are great since they can be used for so many types of cards (birthday, baby, congrats, graduation, all occasion, etc).  With the busy Spring season upon us, I thought this card would be very fitting for end of school year activities like graduations or end of year performances and concerts.   Have an amazing day!