Farewell Enjoy The Little Things Part 2

Hello again all! Todays card is another one to send off Enjoy The Little Things.

My cards have been quite simple of late, but this easily takes the cake! Just the cardbase with a sentiment on a couple of layers of cardstock. That said, in my usual style I had to do it in a way that wasn't quick...

For the stamping on the card base I used the square of dots image and inked it up on an inkpad first then coloured the smaller dots with the Chocolate Chip marker. While some will think I am crazy for going with such a fiddly technique I would point out I wasn't crazy enough to ink all the dots individually with a marker :P (never say never though!)

140958 Enjoy The Little Things photopolymer stamp set, 121685 Crumb Cake A4 cardstock, 133686 Lost Lagoon A4 cardstock, 106549 Whisper White A4 cardstock, 133644 Lost Lagoon stamp pad, 126959 Wild Wasabi stamp pad, 131261 Neutrals markers, 104430 dimensionals

Farewell Enjoy The Little Things

Enjoy The Little Things is a set from the Occasions catalogue that won't be carrying over to the new Stampin' Up! catalogue. It coordinates with the Enjoy The Little Things Project Kit, but the set has some nice sentiments that work just as well for cards. For todays card I'm using a sentiment I've used before because I really love the font.

The long leafy image in the set reminded me of the Lost Lagoon paper in the English Garden DSP, so I came up with a design that worked in both. I deliberately stamped it so the image went off the edge both top and bottom and it would look a little more natural. After punching out the sentiment I edged the circle with a Basic Black marker to give the edge a bit more definition and make it pop out against the DSP behind it.

The Lost Lagoon cardstock, English Garden DSP, and the Enjoy The Little Things stamp set are all retiring and all still currently available.

140958 Enjoy The Little Things photopolymer stamp set, 133686 Lost Lagoon A4 cardstock, 124391 Pool Party A4 cardstock, 106577 Night Of Navy A4 cardstock, 138440 English Garden DSP, 126982 Pool Party stamp pad, 126970 Night Of Navy stamp pad, 100082 Basic Black marker, 133782 2" circle punch, 104430 dimensionals

Farewell Flowering Flourishes

The Flowering Flourishes stamp set has been a long favourite of mine. Swirly bits, flowers, even the shape of individual leaves... I love every bit of it. The way OnStage events run is that we received the new catalogue at the event and the retiring list was announced a few days later. When flicking through the new catalogue you will particuarly notice many new items, and it might not be until your third or fourth look through that you will notice things that aren't there. I noticed a few new stamp sets with a vaguely similar style when I flicked through the catalogue the first time, but it wasn't till later when I was having a slower more thorough look that I realised that Flowering Flourishes was absent. Even though there are some new leafy/flowery/swirly sets in the new catalogue I don't think I will ever let go of Flowering Flourishes.

For todays card I was still in the mood for something with a simple look. This is one of those cards that while simple in appearance, is not a quick one. I started with a Marina Mist watercolour wash on watercolour paper for my background. Before I could stamp on the watercolour paper the wash background needed to dry. You can speed this up with a heat gun, but I prefer the natural approach and let it air dry.

While it can take some time for a large washbackground to dry, a few things essentially cancelled this out. The first was that I made two cards at the same time. So while the background for this card was starting to dry, I was creating another. Also, doing the wash background was the first step I did in making the card, so I had other elements to work on while the backgrounds continued to dry. There was the card base to cut and fold, sentiment to stamp and punch out, ribbon and gold thread to measure (well, guess-timate) and cut, and stamps to prepare.

The floral background is made up of two stamps with the one at the top of the card a good deal larger than the other. Even if I have used a stamp before I like to give it a test stamp on scrap/grid paper before stamping it on my cardstock to check for any issues and get some ink on the rubber. The theory with the later is that by already having some ink on the rubber, when I go to stamp my image for real more of the ink will transfer to the cardstock. I've no idea if anyone has done a scientific study on this, but that's the notion I have had in my head for years. With the main image being so large, it takes a little while to ink up with markers, so after doing a test stamp and reinking the image and all those other things I did after making the backgrounds, the first background was dry and ready to stamp on - no time wasted!

There are three stamps in the  Flowering Flourishes set, and I couldn't let the third miss out on this card... so it is stamped on the inside.

Aside from the Flowering Flourishes stamp set, other retiring products used for this card are the sentiment (which comes from the Enjoy The Little Things set), the oval punch, Blackberry Bliss cardstock and marker and the Rich Razzleberry cotton ribbon.

Flowering Flourishes clear-mount stamp set 126367, Enjoy The Little Things photopolymer stamp set 140958, Blackberry Bliss A4 cardstock 133682, Watercolour paper 122959, Very Vanilla A4 cardstock 106550, Marina Mist stamp pad 126962, Blackberry Bliss stamp pad 133642, Black Berry Bliss marker from the 2014-2016 In Colors marker pack 133654, Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive markers from the Brights collection marker pack 131259 or Many Marvelous Markers pack 131264, aquapainter 103954, Rich Razzleberry cotton ribbon 134564, gold metallic thread 138401, Large Oval punch 119855, dimensionals 104430

Enjoy The Little Things Again

Yes, I'm combining the Enjoy The Little Things stamp set with the Botanical Gardens suite again, but I think you'll agree this card has a very different look to last weeks card!

The basic idea for this card stayed way back in November while I was at Melbourne airport waiting for my flight back to Newcastle. I spotted a ladies skirt with panels of a bold floral print on a black background mixed in with solid black panels and in between each panel was a little black glittery trim. Even though the style of floral was completely different, I straight away thought of this paper and knew I would be able to create a card with a similar look. Inspiration can strike any where! I made a conscious choice to jumble the patterned panels so the print didn't line up - it's a personal preferance I have that just so happened to match how the inspiring skirt was done.

The black glimmer sheets are of course from the Holiday catalogue, and were listed on the list of retiring products from that catalogue... and I am sorry to say they have actually sold out. You might think I am being a bit of a tease with this card, but if you did order the black glimmer paper before it was all gone, well here's some more inspiration for it's use!

If you look hard at the edge of the white circle you might notice some little dots of Mint Macaron. I had stamped the sentiment, then stamped the circle image from the You're So Lovely set around in before punching out... and deciding I didn't like how it looked with so much "white space" around it, so re-punched it with the smaller 2" circle punch... which all but removed any trace of the circle image! I contemplated stamping it a few more times with the circle off-set a little so more of it would show, but decided that was more fussing around than I was in the mood for. I've come to tell myself that those hints of dots work in well with the tiny flowers on the Designer Series Paper and I am content with the card ;)

Don't forget - the Holiday catalogue ends today, so you only have a few hours left to get in and snap up retiring product! And if you don't yet have a copy of the Occasions catalogue that starts tomorrow (or the Sale-a-bration catalogue that also starts tomorrow), email me or call 0422 936 139 and I can help you with that.

Today's colours are the same as the Botanical Garden's Designer Series Paper:

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Enjoy The Little Things

Here's another card with a sneak peek at products from the Botanical Gardens suite in the upcoming Occasions catalogue.

The sentiment on this card comes from the Enjoy The Little Things set that will also be launching in the Occasions catalogue. I love the font, let alone the words themselves! It was stamped in Mossy Meadow ink and punched out before I went around the edge with my Basic Black marker to give it a little more definition. Without a doubt the big thing about this card is the Botanical Gardens products. The designer series paper in the suite has a great mix of images, though this particular design is one of my favourites. Then there is the stamp set and coordinating dies - all of which of course you can get in a bundle for a 15% saving. It really is a fantastic bundle, I know I am going to have a lot of fun with this. For this card I kept the colours in line with the paper, with some Hello Honey and Watermelon Wonder for pop and some gold for a little glitz. The little Watermelon Wonder flower is from the 2015-2017 In Color Blossom Accent pack and is a nice accompaniment to this range, as is the Gold Glitz Dazzling Details I added to the flower center, hehehehe. For the green leaves, I stamped the vein image in Old Olive in on Old Olive cardstock, and once die cut I sponged two of them with more Old Olive ink to create the darker leaves. The Hello Honey flower also has some sponging in it's center, in Watermelon Wonder ink.

Here's my little graphic for today's colours:

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