Giving Something Sweet - Dragonfly Dreams Corporate Highlight

One of my favorite things to do (other than stamping, of course) is baking and sharing the goodies with my family and friends.  Stampin’ Up! makes the “giving” part even more enjoyable by providing various food safe products and so many sweet sentiments to go along with some baked goods.  For these treats I focused on two main products - the Dragonfly Dreams Bundle and the Succulent Garden Designer Series Paper.

Of course, I usually make a card to go along with the treat.  Here I created a simple card using the Dragonfly Dreams stamp set stamped with Mint Macaron and Tip Top Taupe.  The square was made with the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies.  For the sentiment banner, I took Sweet Sugarplum, added the dotted background and finished with the sentiment stamped in Rich Razzleberry.  The background is from the Succulent Garden Designer Series Paper finished off with Mint Macaron 3/8" Sheer Linen Ribbon.

For one of the banana breads that I made, I wanted to use one of the 6"x17" Gusseted Cellophane Bags.  These bags are amazing and have come in handy for many homemade breads and treats over the last few months.  The Tip Top Taupe tag was made with the Window Box Thinlits Dies.  I added a little extra hand-cut tag with the "thanks" sentiment tied with Whisper White Solid Baker's Twine.  I added some Sweet Sugarplum ribbon from the Succulent Garden 3/8" Ribbon Combo Pack to finish it off.

For the other loaf of banana bread, I wrapped the bread in the Sending Love Glassine Sheet and the same paper from the Succulent Garden DSP pack.  

The decorative tag was made with the same Mint Macaron ribbon and the reversible Lace Doilies.  I added a Sweet Sugarplum circle cut with the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies and stamped with Sweet Sugarplum.  The dragonfly is stamped with Soft Suede Ink and Sweet Sugarplum.  I cut an additional dragonfly out of Vellum Cardstock with the Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies.  I also added Clear Wink of Stella to the base dragonfly.

Lastly, I stamped the sentiment with the Versamark Pad and heat embossed the sentiment with White Stampin' Emboss Powder.

I hope that this post inspires you to bake something yummy for your friend and make your packaging look extra special!  

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Blessings,

Holly

**You can view this post on Stampin' Up!'s homepage too!**

High Tide Highlight

Hello there!  I'm so glad I get to post this morning a card that isn't for a blog hop or challenge - just me sharing a card I made this weekend!  It was nice to get some time to just stamp for fun. :)

This card was fairly quick to make.  The watercolor background was very simple and it was my first time trying it this way.  I saw a video on a demo-only site or I would link it here for you to see.  The lady was from outside of the US and I'm not sure the video was in English either, but it was easy to watch.  I've looked for her video too to no avail - so - THANK YOU for sharing this - whoever you are <3

Okay, so all you need is a ziplock bag, some markers, watercolor paper and an aqua painter.

Take the ziplock bag and lay it flat on your work area.  Using your Stampin' Write Markers, color and area on the bag large enough to cover a card layer (a little shy of 4' x 5.25").  Set that aside.  Now using your Aqua Painter, get your Watercolor Paper fairly wet - I did squeeze the AP as I "colored" the paper.  Once that's wet, flip it over and press it onto the ziplock bag.  Carefully pull it off and dry the paper with your Heat Tool.  I added a little more of the Pool Party and Mint Macaron ink on the bag and repeated the process.  I hope that makes sense.  (I really want to start taking videos soon so you can see me walk you through these kinds of techniques!)

I used Memento Black Ink for the lighthouse, birds and sentiment.  The sentiment is on circles made with the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies and the Layering Circles Framelits Dies.

A little Linen Thread and the card is complete.

If you have any questions about the technique, please don't hesitate to ask.

Have a wonderful Monday!

-Holly

A Succulent Pop & Twist Birthday for TGIFC96

Happy Friday everyone!  It's a beautiful, sunny (and COLD) day here in Minnesota.  I hope you're ready to play along with a new challenge at TGIF Challenges.  We had over 20 entries last week and they were all great to see!  This week we are honoring the lovely Bibi Cameron - she has recently left her job as a SU! demonstrator, but she is still worthy of admiration - she truly is gifted!

Bibi is one of the BEST at watercoloring flowers - or making floral cards in general.  Make sure to check out her website for inspiration!

Yesterday we celebrated my beautiful mother-in-law Linda.  She turned 60 so I knew I wanted to make a very special card.  I decided to (finally) try a Pop & Twist card.  I've seen so maybe over the past year but have yet to try one.  Linda likes fun folds and techniques so I needed to make it for her.

 

I focused mainly on the Oh So Succulent Photopolymer Bundle except for the front of the card's sentiment which is from the Milestone Moments.  The "sixtieth" fits perfectly in the banner framelit from the Large Number Framelits Dies.

The Succulent Garden DSP and Succulent Garden 3/8" Ribbon Combo Pack finish off the front.

If you are not familiar with the Pop & Twist card, here is the video I watched.  It was a lot less complicated than it looks!

I altered the sentiment a little since the front of the card had "happy birthday" on the front too.

Thank you so much for stopping by!  Please take a moment to play along this week at TGIF Challenges!

Blessings,

Holly

Gift Card Envelopes for the GUYS!

This week is super busy for me as I am still working on 175 wedding favors for Saturday.  I'm basically swamped.  But I did have a moment the other night to play with some new goodies that I received last week and I wanted to share with you what I made.  I don't know why I waited over a year to buy the Gift Card Envelope & Trim Thinlits.  They made these projects so simple and quick!   

You might not recognize this Designer Series Paper (DSP) either - this is a new paper stack coming out in the SU! Holiday Catalog called Warmth & Cheer DSP.  It was love at first sight!

I actually bought two packs.  One I plan on using for Christmas gift tags and the rest for masculine cards.  The colors and prints are so great - especially for guy cards!  So here I decided to pair the DSP up with two "guy" stamp sets - The Wilderness Awaits and Feather Together.

I used my blender pen to color the animals...

If you like this DSP you can order Sept 1st as a customer, or join my team today and order before the catalog goes live to the public!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

-Holly

Bless Your Heart - Jar of Love for TGIFC65

This week we have a fun (and easy) challenge over at TGIF Challenges!  Let's just say if you have a pair of scissors or a big shot - you should be playing along!

As Joey Gladstone would say - "Cut - it - out!"

Whether it's fussy cut, die cut, or heck - even a cake - we want to see some cut out images! :) 

Easy enough, right?

So for this challenge I chose the new Jar of Love bundle.  This was the first set that I wrote down on my wish list when the new catalog came out but it didn't quite fit in my budget.  I recently purchased it with some hostess money I earned and I'm so glad I got it! It's a must have!

I love the graphic look of stamping sentiments all over the background.  I have been doing it a lot lately - it helps fill in some white space.

This set comes with flowers and matching dies.  The smaller branch I did fussy cut.

  

I decided to add some Wink of Stella to the water.  Beautiful, right?

Hope you like it!  Please join us this week over at TGIF Challenges!

Blessings for a great weekend!

-Holly 

TGIFC53 - Casing April Favorites!

Wow!  What a great turn out we had last week for the two challenges over at TGIF Challenges!  We had such great cards for the "All About Mom" theme and you all did a great job helping us celebrate our first blog birthday!  We will announce who won the free stamp set soon :)

Usually at the end of the month we do our Remix challenge .. But things have changed and I'm excited to say we are now doing something different at the end of the month.  Now instead of mixing 2 or more of the monthly's challenges together, YOU get to pick your inspiration.

You could pick any card from April - a design team member, a challenger, a winner... YOU decide! 

So for today's card, I chose Krista Frattin's card.  I love her chic style and soft color choices.  She has been one of my favorite designers since I saw her at Convention a few years ago.  (Long story short, I actually thought she was Mindy from BadaBing Paper-Crafting.  I went up to her and told her I loved her blog and then said, you're Mindy Backes right?.... yeah... that was embarrasing.)  Fast forward a few years and I'm on a Design Team with her! Say whaaaaa? 

I really like the technique Krista used on her background.  She sponged the white cardstock with versamark ink and embossed it with silver.  However, mine didn't look as cute.  I decided to stamp the background with the Watercolor Wash stamp in So Saffron ink.  I used the Botanical Builder framelits and cut white and vellum flowers.

The strip of filter paper is actually a Honeycomb Embellishment that I stretched apart and flattened out.  I did not have any filter paper, but I'm loving the way this looks! Might have to try the other colors.

So this card is for my best friend.  Her and her husband adopted little E last September, so this will be her first Mother's Day.  They waited years to be placed with a child and I'm so happy for them. God is good! :) 

Hope to see you playing along this week!  You can head on over to TGIF Challenges for all the links for April's challenges.  Pick and choose something that inspires you and make it your own! 

Have a great weekend!

-Holly