Textured Notes

I seem to get stuck on the same color combos … over and over again. I have really been trying to step outside of my “go to” color box and try some new things. Here is one of those attempts.

Azure Afternoon - I’m going to be honest. I have been VERY drawn to this color from the moment I first saw it, but I haven’t used it tons!

I started with a 3.75” x 5” piece of Basic White cardstock. I then used one of the images from Textured Notes to create a patterned piece of paper. Azure Afternoon ink stamped all around the edges of the cardstock.

The layer on top of that is made from one of the dies in the Textured Notes Dies. After cutting it out I then used one of the Glass and Garden Embossing folders on it. I also stamped the same image from the previous layer in Balmy Blue.

The little rattan circle image from the same stamp set is soooo pretty. I stamped it in Crumb Cake and then proceeded to tear around the edge of the image. I attached it to the cardstock and then tucked the little branch sprigs from the Mixed Labels Dies in and around it.

The image on the top is also from Textured Notes, stamped in Azure Afternoon. I fussy cut this one … no die for it and I actually LOVE to fussy cut! I little bit of ribbon, linen thread and a few little dots and I was done!

Stamps: Textured Notes

Paper: Basic White, Azure Afternoon, Pecan Pie, Crumb Cake

Ink: Azure Afternoon, Balmy Blue, Pecan Pie, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Textured Notes Dies, Mixed Labels Dies, Glass and Gardens Embossing Folder, Lined Thread, White 1/4” Diagonal Trim, Linen Thread, Pecan Pie Adhesive Backed Dots (retired)

What colors are YOUR favorites?? I am going to continue to try and give some love to some underused colors in my stash!

TGIF #532 - Color Challenge

It’s TGIF Challenge Time!

Bright and bold and beautiful! This week’s color challenge is all of those things! It has been a while since I’ve made something with so many bright colors together. It took my brain a while to wrap around what I wanted to do, but once I started it was kinda fun!

Check out the blog challenge here - TGIF Challenge Blog if you’d like to play along.

Cute! Cute! Cute! That’s what I think of these Darling Dinos. My goal was to try and do something a little different.

I started with the Perennial Postage Dies. I used one of the largest dies to create the Basic Black layers. I cut it out and then cut it in half and put it on either side of the card. I then layered some Coastal Cabana, Berry Burst and Pumpkin Pie cardstock. Only the Coastal Cabana layer was cut without using a die.

I also used the Turtle Textures Embossing Folder to add dimension to the Basic White card base and the Pumpkin Pie layers.

I colored the adorable little triceratops using Light and Dark Pool Pary Stampin’ Blends, as well as some Berry Burst and Pumpkin Pie Stampin’ Blends to color the accents on the dino and the balloons.

Basic White Baker’s Twine was used for the ballon strings and I accented the panels with a few Basic Black Adhesive Backed Sparkle Gems. 

Lastly, the sentiment panel was another one of the Perennial Postage Dies turned 90 degrees to make it a diamond instead of a square.

Stamps: Darling Dinos

Paper: Basic White, Coastal Cabana, Berry Burst, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black

Ink: Coastal Cabana, Berry Burst; Stampin’ Blends - Pool Party, Berry Burst, Pumpkin Pie

Accessories: Perennial Postage Dies Darling Dinos Dies, Turtle Textures Embossing Folder, Adhesive Backed Sparkle Gems

Happy 4th of July to my friends in the good old U S of A. Hope you spent it eating food, laughing with family and friends and watching some pretty fireworks!

We’d love to have you play along!! You can check us out our blog HERE and Instagram … lots of great inspiration from the rest of the TGIF Crew!

Monday Montage - Perfectly Pairs

It’s Monday so that can only mean one thing … Monday Montage! Once again, the girls are bringing the fire!!

Every. Single. Element. I mean it! Every single product in the Perfectly Pairs Suite is, well … PERFECT!

The DSP - Painterly Pears - is GORRRRRGEOUS!!! Each and every sheet is a work of art!

The dies are awesome (don’t ya love the little crosshatch bit??)! The embellishments are beautiful! The ribbon … which I didn’t end up using on this particular card … is beautiful!!

To stamp the pears, I used Darling Duckling and Mellow Moss. I stamped first with the Darling Duckling and then used a sponge dauber tapped in Mellow Moss to add dimension. The leaves were colored with Mellow Moss Stampin’ Blends and Soft Suede.

I kinda like to layer … a LOT! I used the Forever Plaid 3D Embossing Folder for the Basic White layer. I also cut a frame using the Sentimental Framing Dies. 

I also put criss-cross strips of the lovely DSP behind the frame but on top of the Basic White layer. Sigh … I love these elements soooo much!

Stamps: Perfectly Pairs

Paper: Basic White, Darling Duckling, Painterly Pears DSP

Ink: Soft Sea, Darling Duckling, Mossy Meadow; Stampin’ Blends - Mossy Meadow, Soft Suede

Accessories: Perfectly Pairs Dies, Sentimental Framing Dies, Forever Plaid 3D Embossing Folder, Low Profile Sparkle Dots

This one was super fun to put together! What’s your new favorite product??

Our Monday Montage Hop has gone exclusively to Instagram! You can check it out by finding me @tinkermom85. From there you will be able to find all of my Monday Montage Friends, too!

TGIF Challenge #531 - Theme Challenge

Happy Friday! TGIF!!

This week’s challenge is a theme challenge. The photo to the left is from the Welcome Garden Kit. Isn’t it cute??? We were tasked with coming up something evoking a garden gate. Pretty fun, right??

Let’s get at it!

Check out the blog challenge here - TGIF Challenge Blog if you’d like to play along.

This card came about from an absolute mishmash of products! The little garden gate was created using dies from Notes & Totes and Everyday Arches. The leaves came from Mixed Labels Dies and the flowers came from Impressions Abloom Dies. I used the Eyelet 3D Embossing Folder for the “garden-y” background. And the sentiment came from the Arched Wishes stamp set.

The Mossy Meadow & Gold Trim as well as the Low Profile Sparkle Dots both came from the soon-to-be-released Painted Pears suite. So this card truly is a little of this and a little of that!

Stamps: Arched Wishes

Paper: Basic White, Soft Sea Foam, Highland Heather, Fresh Freesia, Gorgeous Grape, Mossy Meadow

Ink: Gorgeous Grape

Accessories: Notes and Totes Dies, Impressions Abloom Dies, Mixed Labels Dies, Eyelet 3D Embossing Folder, Low Profile Sparkle Dots, Mossy Meadow & Gold 1/4” Trim

Our family is heading up to Bear Lake for the weekend … one of our favorite summer getaways!

We’d love to have you play along!! You can check us out our blog HERE and Instagram … lots of great inspiration from the rest of the TGIF Crew!

Inspiring Imperfections - The Art of Kintsugi

I. Can’t. Even. This bundle is stunningly GORGEOUS!!!  It’s called Inspiring Imperfections and highlights the Japanese art of kintsugi. It is sooooo pretty! A definite new favorite for me!

The Everyday Arches Dies were the absolute perfect backdrop for this lovely vase and flowers.

I used a blending brush and some Pretty Peacock ink to add a soft background to the Basic White cardstock behind the vase. I also used my Stampin’ Blends (in Pretty Peacock and Petal Pink) to flick some speckles on the background as well.

The Petal Pink on the card’s base has distressed edges (compliments of the side of my snips blade) and is embossed using the Plaster Painting 3D Embossing Folder. I am OBSESSED with this color combo and this stamp/dies bundle!

The gold foil accents were made using a couple of the dies from Inspiring Imperfections. These dies are terrific - they can be either used as branches for the flowers or as cracks in the pottery. I love them!

Stamps: Inspiring Imperfections, Mixed Labels

Paper: Basic White, Pretty Peacock, Petal Pink, Gold Foil

Ink: Versamark, Pretty Peacock, Petal Pink

Accessories: Inspiring Imperfections Dies, Mixed Labels Dies, Everyday Arches Dies, Plaster Painting 3D Embossing Folder, Low Profile Sparkle Dots

My craft room is cleaner and more organized than it has been for the past several years (NOT exaggerating!). I have been creating sooo much the past few days! It’s amazing what having a larger-than-6” open space on my table to create in!!

Stampin’ Fancy Friday - Floral Delight

This month for the Stampin’ Fancy Friday Challenge we are highlighting all things floral with the “Floral Delight Challenge”. I mean, seriously??? We ALL love us some good floral images, right???

It’s official - the Impressions Abloom Dies are my absolute favorite! I started a piece of Woven Textures DSP as the background, used my Blending Brushes to do some tone-on-tone coloring to add dimension to the flowers - Flirty Flamingo, Peach Pie, and Petal Pink. 

Pecan Pie is the perfect complimentary color for these blooms, don’t you agree? I also love the new 2025-2027 In Color Flat Pearls … they go with more than just the new In Colors!

More Messages is also a new Online Exclusive and winner … sentiments with matching dies?? Yes, please!

Stamps: More Messages

Paper: Basic White, Flirty Flamingo, Peach Pie, Petal Pink, Soft Sea Foam, Pecan Pie, Woven Textures DSP

Ink: Pecan Pie, Flirty Flamingo, Peach Pie, Petal Pink

Accessories: Impressions Abloom Dies, More Messages Dies, 2025-2027 In Coloro Flat Pearls

Check out all the fun things created by the Stampin’ Fancy Friday Challenge Team on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/stampinfancyfriday/!!!

TGIF Challenge #530 - Inspiration Challenge

Happy Friday! TGIF!!

Isn’t this inspiration photo pretty?? The colors, the sea life, the use of light … all very nice!

I don’t have many current Stampin’ Up products that are sea-life related - EXCEPT “Along These Lines”! I’ve been wanting to make another card with this set, and this was the perfect opportunity to do so!

Check out the blog challenge here - TGIF Challenge Blog if you’d like to play along.

It took me a little while to figure out exactly HOW I was going to use these stamps and make them fit with the above inspiration photo. I stamped the dolphins using Secret Sea ink and then made little wavy cuts on either end of the stamped image to create “water” for the dolphins to swim in. Each dolphin was brushed with a little bit of Afternoon Azure, both a little underneath their bellies and sponged along the edges of the water.

I flicked some ink on the Plastered Paint embossed layer as well as on the layers of dolphins. 

I then added a few Adhesive-Backed Sparkle Gems to represent “bubbles” floating up toward the waters surface. I also painted a little bit of Wink of Stella along the waves edges. The Highland Heather layer behind the top layers was cut with a Textured Notes dies.

Stamps: Along These Lines, Mixed Labels (sentiment)

Paper: Basic White, Highland Heather

Ink: Azure Afternoon, Secret Sea, Highland Heather; Stampin’ Blends - Azure Afternoon, Highland Heather, Blueberry Bushel

Accessories: Textured Notes Dies, Plastered Paint 3D Embossing Folder, Adhesive-Backed Sparkle Gems

Have a lovely weekend. Take some “you” time and relax, craft, watch a movie or go for a hike!

We’d love to have you play along!! You can check us out our blog HERE and Instagram … lots of great inspiration from the rest of the TGIF Crew!

Tractor & Co.

I was thrilled when I saw this adorable Tractor & Co. on the preorder list … it’s so very fun!

I used a combo of lots of things on this one … DSP, stamped images, die cut images and some braided and knotted Baker’s twine.

This is my best attempt at a John Deere tractor! I stamped the tractor body and trailer in Garden Green ink. I then cute out the fenders, seat, hoot hardware, wheeled and hubcaps (not to mention the roof over the cab of the tractor). I used.a sponge to distress the edges of the fenders over each tire to give them a more rustic look.

I stamped the hay image using Crushed Curry ink onto some Crushed Curry cardstock, which I ten cut out with a die.

I couldn’t stop adding cute things to the trailer behind the tractor … Poppy Parade banners, Granny Apple Green cornstalks with ears of corn stamped in Daffodil. Delight on Daffodil Delight cardstock. I then stamped the darling little rooster in both Daffodil Delight and Poppy Parade ink on Basic White cardstock. I then did some fussy cutting to put the Poppy Parade head on the Daffodil Delight body. 

The two tones of Timeless Plaid DSP worked as a perfect fun and farmy background. I just cut and ripped a strip of the Crumb Cake/Pecan Pie-colored paper to use as the “ground”.

The trim of Baker’s twine was braided and then knotted at short intervals. I love the texture. 

Stamps: Tractor & Co.

Paper: Basic White, Basic Black, Garden Green, Crushed Curry, Daffodil Delight, Timeless Plaid DSP

Ink: Garden Green, Crushed Curry, Daffodil Delight, Poppy Parade

Accessories: Tractor & Co. Dies, Stylish Shapes Dies, Muted Palette Dots, Linen Thread, White Baker’s Twine

I have several other new goodies to share, so stay tuned!!

Monday Montage - Turtle-y Awesome!

Monday Montage Time is here! YAY! I loved Mondays for this reason … always lots of beautiful things to see!

My first thoughts on the “Turtle-y Awesome” Suite was … “No thanks. I’ll pass.” Not because it’s not good, just because it didn’t feel very “me”. UNTIL I saw some of the absolutely ADORABLE samples shared at OnStage back in March while we were in Raleigh. The DSP just did me IN! It is sooooo stinkin’ CUTE!!

I don’t have the dies (yet!), so I had to do a little fussy cutting (which I don’t mind as I find it kinda relaxing!). I did a fold I haven’t done in a while known as the “joy fold”. It’s basically a card within a card.

When you “open” the front-right panel, this is what you see … 

And then when you open the front-left panel, you see this (who DOESN’T love a surprise piece of cake??) …

Here’s another peek so you can see how it all opens up! It’s basically a 5.5” x 4.25” card within the front panel cut in half … and then a smaller version of the card (approximately 4.75” x 3.5” when folder) placed the opposite direction (with the fold on the right instead of on the left).

I love the DSP so much! Every dang piece is cute! I cut the banjo-playing turtle and the piece of cake out of one of the pieces).

Stamps: Birthday Celebration (Sentiment)

Paper: Basic White, Basic Black, Garden Green, Turtle-y Awesome DSP

Ink: Versamark

Accessories: Cutest Sentimental Framing Dies, 2025-2027 In Color Flat Pearls, White Embossing Powder

Have a great week!

Our Monday Montage Hop has gone exclusively to Instagram! You can check it out by finding me @tinkermom85. From there you will be able to find all of my Monday Montage Friends, too!

TGIF #529 - Sketch Challenge

Happy Friday! TGIF!!

Sketches are the BEST kind of inspiration … I sometimes struggle to NOT use the same-old/same-old when it comes to layouts, so having a sketch to get me started is great! This week the TGIF Crew are using this sketch challenge to create!

Check out the blog challenge here - TGIF Challenge Blog if you’d like to play along.

The Storybook Moments Suite is PHE-NOM-E-NAL!! I have NO idea what took me soooo long to get on board with it. Sigh … it is now on “last chance” on Stampin’ Up’s website, so get on over there and get ALL of it!

I happened to have the white oval shape (from Impressions Abloom) still sitting on my table, so I decided to incorporate it. That girlie bunny and butterflies??? Tooo-too cute! They are all from the Storybook Moments DSP. They are on a sheet of cutouts … so no fussy cutting or stamping, just instant cuteness!! (And that little picket fence is to DIE for!!)

Up close you can see what I did with the background behind the bunny. I used an image from Elements of Text stamped in Pecan Pie ink. Prior to stamping the image I used a Blending Brush to add a little bit of Basic Beige to “age” the paper just a little!

And the gingham paper from the Timeless Plaid 6x6 DSP??? Perfection!! I distressed the edges with my snips to age that as well.

Stamps: Elements of Text

Paper: Basic White, Pecan Pie, Storybook Moments DSP, Timeless Plaid DSP

Ink: Pecan Pie, Basic Beige

Accessories: Impressions Abloom Dies, Muted Palette Dots, Crumb Cake Baker’s Twine

Family Reunion is happening for me tomorrow! It’s going to be a good time!

We’d love to have you play along!! You can check us out our blog HERE and Instagram … lots of great inspiration from the rest of the TGIF Crew!