Monthly Archives: May 2016

Pineapple Welcome Words

The two stamp sets, Pineapple and Welcome Words go together perfectly in my opinion, seeing as the pineapple is a symbol of welcome and hospitality. So I had to take the opportunity to pair them up before Welcome Words retires tonight. And since we keep adding people to our team at work, it won’t be long until I need a welcome card. This morning the set is still available for purchase.

Stampin' Up! Pineapple and Welcome Words

This card didn’t turn out exactly as I was planning but then, “sometimes things don’t always go as planned” according to a sign in a hotel which had the family in hysterics and Martin and Mum using “always” and “sometimes” in the same sentence for the rest of the holiday. Firstly, I just wasn’t getting good coverage on my stamp so I went to the basement and found some 220 grit sandpaper and roughed up the surface of the stamp. Then after using the (retiring) in colours mossy meadow and hello honey and a post-it note as a mask, the join between the colours wasn’t perfect. There is actually a VERY small space between the two parts of the pineapple. As I was looking at my very vanilla piece and wondering how to ensure success, I realised that a hello honey bow in last year’s ribbon would cover the gap perfectly. And actually it improved the card – that’s what I call a win-win! I’d initially intended on embossing the Welcome but with the addition of ribbon, the card didn’t need the upgrade. I was a little hesitant over ordering the pineapple – how many pineapple cards do I need? But I’m really glad that I did. I think I need more pineapple cards than I realised and I for one am not retiring Welcome Words from my stash. It’s also going to make a great card to welcome people to my Stampin’ Up! team or to my Paper Pumpkin team.

In case you’re wondering, the envelope liner is using Botanical Gardens DSP – a perfect match for the mossy meadow.

So tomorrow’s the big day –  the new catalog goes live which means that you only have today to order from last year’s and the Occasions catalog. Do make sure you have what you really want, items don’t necessarily make it to the clearance list. If you’re ordering, don’t forget to use my rewards code – AV9HEPXC – if you spend at least $45 you will receive this month’s free gift, half a roll of the dapper denim ruched ribbon, and be over 10% of the way to a free $40 spending spree. Check out the Customer Loyalty Program page for more details.

I’ll be ordering tomorrow morning so email me now if you want to get in on my product share.

See you tomorrow,

Liz

Happy Anniversary to me!

Firstly I’d like to say Thank You very much to the team at CAS on Sunday for picking my recent card (a Paper Pumpkin May 2016 alternate) as a favourite. It was wonderful to go to the site to see this week’s challenge to find that I’d been chosen. And on a special day for me…

Happy Anniversary to me – Stampin’ Up! anniversary that is. Two years ago today I signed up to be a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator and what a fun two years it’s been. As I’ve mentioned previously, my sister Caro is a demo in the UK (where we originate although I’m in NJ now) and she told me about Stampin’ Up! and how much fun it is. She further claimed that the colour coordination between paper and ink means that anyone can make cards. I insisted that this was not true and that I, having the creativity of a brick, would be unable to make any, so to prove this I bought a kit. After I’d made my six cards in one sitting (in between run to the computer to show her them on Skype) I signed up on the spot and had to wait, impatiently, for UPS to bring me my starter kit. Yesterday I made my 834th card, so I guess you can say, it’s working out for me! Yes, I number them. I don’t really know why except as a mathematician, I like data that has to do with numbers.

So, to celebrate my Happy Anniversary and to hopefully make it happy for someone else, I’m offering some blog candy. Although I’ve made 834 cards, I haven’t sent anywhere near that many (although I’m doing better than last year) so I’m offering a dozen of my handmade cards. All you have to do is to comment on this post before Saturday 4th  and to tell me why you like creating cards.

Here’s a photo of the blog candy. I’ve packaged cards like this before, click here to see the details.

Stampin' Up! Botanical Builder and Lots of Labels collection

Finally, welcome to my new email subscriber, I greatly appreciate that you like my blog enough to want my posts in your inbox.  Feel free to add a comment and introduce yourself.

I hope that everyone is having a great Memorial Day or Bank Holiday Monday.

See you tomorrow,

Liz

 

Paper Pumpkin May 2016 alternate 5

It’s time for another Paper Pumpkin May 2016 alternate! This time I decided to make my own “DSP” using many of the words in the Many Manly Occasions kit and since I happened to have three of my Stampin’ Write markers sitting together (dapper denim, emerald envy and real red) I had my colour scheme already decided!

Stampin' Up! Paper Pumpkin May 2016 and Hello You thinlits

I originally intended to have HAPPY and BIRTHDAY popping out of the background by stamping them in real red, but it seemed too one dimensional, so after stamping random words from the stamp set on the background in my three serendipitous colours, I decided that I needed some extra punch. I turned to my much used Hello You thinlits and cut out the happy in real red. I cut a whisper white banner just the size to cover three rows of words and stamped the BIRTHDAY in real red. Next I added the die cut word using my favourite 2 way glue pen. Since I was looking for extra dimension, I popped the white banner up using stampin’ dimensionals which give a peek at the stamped words underneath from the side.

I had a quick look through my filed DSP and found a piece of Merry Moments DSP which is retiring in a couple of days. I coloured in a few extra circles in real red, dapper denim and emerald envy to make it match the card better.  So that’s my fifth Paper Pumpkin May 2016 alternate – I still have to come up with an alternate for the triangle die cut card. I think I’ll play with that this afternoon.

See you tomorrow,

Liz

Swirly Scribbles Thinlits dies

I’m still playing with the Swirly Scribbles Thinlits dies and it’s still the swoosh. I did cut a number of the round scribbles out so I expect that they will make their way onto a card soon, but for today, it’s the swoosh.

Stampin' Up! Swirly Scribbles thinlits and All about Everything

I already had a real red swoosh cut because I’d used the insert pieces in my Mondrian inspired swoosh card, so really I’m just using up leftovers this morning! I like the way that the real red swoosh flows into the card base so that at first glance (unless you know what the swoosh looks like) it’s not obvious whether the swoosh has been added onto the card or whether I’ve cut out pieces of the very vanilla to reveal the real red below. I then cut out a few pieces in gold foil and glued them into place using my 2 way glue pen. I trimmed the overlapping edges of the swoosh easily with paper snips using the edge of the very vanilla as my guide. The sentiment comes from All About Everything, the bonus set that came with April’s Paper Pumpkin and is stamped in real red to match. Then I put the very vanilla onto a real red card base.

I didn’t have a real red envelope liner precut, but I did have this rather flashy gold one. It’s from last year’s holiday catalogue and unavailable these days. Envelope liners are a great way to use up leftover paper. I just checked the retiring list and I hope that if you wanted the envelope liner thinlits you have them because they are no longer available.

See you tomorrow,

Liz

Pineapple and the new in colours

Happy Friday! Today will be a good day – today I graduate after about three months physical therapy on my sprained ankle and other issues with that foot caused after the surgery last year. I’ll miss seeing the people at the facility but I won’t miss the 2 hour chunk of time it takes twice a week!

Stampin' Up! Pineapple and Watercolor Wishes

This is a sneak peek at one of the upcoming stamp sets in the new catalogue, appropriately named, Pineapple. I stamped my pineapple in emerald envy, one of the soon to be released 2016-2018 in colours. I played around with some of the pieces from Swirly Scribbles but in the end decided that I wanted my pineapple to really star, since this is the first time that I’ve used it. On a piece of whisper white scrap I stamped the sentiment from Watercolor Wishes in another of the new colours, sweet sugarplum. To add a little dimension to the card, after I’d glued the whisper white piece to an emerald envy card base, I popped up the sentiment with dimensionals. And that’s all there is to this – a very easy card to make multiples of.

There are just five days to go until the catalogue is released – let me know if you need a copy. Also don’t forget that I’m running a product share, email me at lizbaileycards@gmail.com to take part.

See you tomorrow,

Liz