Using Orange and Olive

 Hey Everybody,

Our challenge was the letter O this week .This is part of the alphabet challenge where each week we have a new color to go with the letter. You can find the challenge here. 

 We were to use olive and/or orange. I used one of my favorite retired Stampin' Up sets called, Serene Sunflowers. It was a wood mount set. I removed all of my stamps  from the wood that I kept. It is so much easier to store stamps. Doesn't it take you back?  I remember when that's all we had, wood-mounted stamps.

When we got a stamp set, we had to cut out the stamps, then mount them. Then they cut the rubber so that all you had to do was stick it to the wood block and add the sticker.

I stamped the larger sunflower in mango melody then stamped the smaller flower on top in pumpkin pie. I added cherry cobbler to the centers full strength or stamped off once. I filled in with old olive leaves.

 I took white ribbon and colored it with an old olive marker and added it to my image panel. I stamped my sentiment and backed it with a larger punched shape. These were from my already punched stash. I added the sentiment with dimensionals. I colored the bees and added wink of stella to the bees and flower centers. The background of the card was embossed with the eyelet blooms die. I added my rubber mat to the stack and ran it through my machine. I pulled pumpkin pie across the surface so the pattern would be more pronounced. This will go on a patient dinner tray at a local hospital.

Keywords: ABC24O15 sunflowers

Stamps: Stampin' Up!-Serene Sunflowers, SU-Thinking of You

Paper: white, black, pumpkin pie, cherry cobbler

Ink: Versafine black, pumpkin pie, mango melody, cherry cobbler, old olive

Accessories: Stampin' Up!-Eyelet Blooms die, punches, white ribbon, olive copic marker, clear wink of stella

Techniques: two-step stamping, embossing, direct to paper

What would you do with the colors orange and olive? Many people have a difficult time using orange. If it's fall, it's easier to use. I'm not one of those people. I find I reach for pumpkin pie often. I think because it goes well with old olive. Old olive is a color we've had in the Stampin' Up! color collection for a long, long time. It's a green color that goes well with many colors.

Many times when I have to use a color that is a little more difficult for me to use, I look in my flowers section of my stamp sets. I have many, many flower stamp sets so it's usually easy to find something to use. LOL

You might be the same way. I think flowers are a large percentage of stamps sold by companies.

Well, I hope you give this challenge a try.

I've got to get back to cutting paper and die cutting for classes next week.

Blessings,

Sue

June 2026 Newsletter and Class Information

Hey Everybody,

It's June 2nd and there's lots going on at Stampin' Up!  More items have been added to the Last Chance List, there is a new product of the month, there are two new kits and a new Scenic Coast Craft Class offered by Stampin' Up!  Whew, that's a lot I know. Take you time to check out all of the new things.

June classes are next week. There are a few spots left if you want to make some amazing cards.

June Classes:

Monday June 8th at 10 full

Tuesday June 9th at 1  2 spots

Thursday June 11th at 10  4 spots

Friday June 19th at 7 p.m. full  *This date was changed due to a schedule conflict.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Blessings,

Sue                 

        

167821   SHADED PETALS KIT  $26.00 167823  WASHES OF GRATITUDE KIT   $19.00 171476  SCENIC COAST CRAFT CLASS    $30.00 Craft along with our Stampin’ Up! product experts during the Scenic Coast  Craft Class. They’ll use the Scenic Coast Suite Collection to create four  completely unique cards, exploring the versatility of suites with four  different paper crafting styles: shabby chic, artful, traditional, and modern.  By the end of the class you’ll have lots of tips, techniques, and inspiration  to continue crafting long after the class is over. After you’ve purchased the class, we’ll send you an email within  2–3 business days with a link to the exclusive Facebook group where  we’ll host the class. DETAILS- Access to 1 digital video class- Make 4 projects using the  Scenic Coast Suite Collection and other select products, all sold  separately- Available for streaming: June 18 at 2:00 p.m. (MT)-  Class available for purchase before and after June 18

Relaxing Waterside Color Challenge

Hey Everybody,

Karen's challenge today was to use the colors, petal pink, soft sea foam and pecan pie. Dessert is scallops. You can find the challenge here.

I stamped then die cut the bird and plants. I die cut the chair and the arms of the chair. I used a dauber to color the top of the grass with pecan pie. I used the blending brushes to color the sky with soft sea foam and the sand, pecan pie.

 The water was a piece of Waterside Retreat designer series paper. I masked off the water so I wouldn't ink that with anything but the plants that I wanted. I stamped the plants in the sand once then stamped them off once. The images were added to the card with dimensionals. The card base was dry embossed with the Stampin' Up!-Timber 3D embossing folder.

Keywords: CC1104 beach

Stamps: Relaxing Waterside

Paper: petal pink, white, soft sea foam, Stampin' Up!-Waterside Retreat designer series paper

Paper Size: A2

Ink: pecan pie, soft sea foam, old olive

Accessories: relaxing waterside dies, stamp, cut and emboss machine, copic Markers, blending brush, dimensionals, dauber, Stampin' UP!-Timber 3D embossing folder

Techniques: ink blending, stamping off/generational stamping, coloring

This was a fun card to make. It was made with the Relaxing Waterside stamps and dies.

I had to get the dies with this set because of the chairs. Did you know you can make two different chairs with this set of dies?

I like the die cut chairs a bit better than the stamped and die cut chair. I'm not sure why except that you can add the little arm covers on the die cut chair.

We are making a card with this stamp and die set in my classes next week.

Don't forget to sign up for a class. They are the week of June 8th.

Monday June 8th  10 a.m.  Full

Tuesday June 9th at 1  3 spots

Thursday June 11th at 10  4 spots

Friday June 19th*  at 7 p.m.  1 spot available   *This class is one week later due to a schedule conflict.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Blessings,

Sue

Clean and Simple Card-Things That Grow

Hey Everybody,

Our challenge is anything that grows. You can find it here.  This is a clean and simple challenge today, so not a lot of layers, or other things. This type of challenge is a little bit harder for me believe it or not. I'm one who likes to add layers and other things to my cards.

This is an older House Mouse stamp called, Poppy Cot. This little cutie is called Amanda. I stamped and colored her with Derwent watercolor pencils. I used a blender pen to blend the colors. I used a dauber to put ink around the frame of the image so I wouldn't have to add another layer since it's clean and simple. I added the designer paper to the pumpkin card base then stamped my greeting. I added the image with dimensionals. This will go on a dinner tray at a local hospital.

Keywords: CAS898 House Mouse

Stamps: House Mouse Poppy Cot, SU-hello

Paper: white, pumpkin, SU designer paper

Paper Size: A2

Ink: memento tuxedo black, pumpkin pie

Accessories: Derwent watercolor pencils, blender pen, dauber

Techniques: coloring

Our poppies are so much larger this year. Tim said he did something different for this year. He's been watching videos and reading about how to care for the many different flowers in our garden. His garden is just gorgeous! 

He had to put up a small fence to keep the rabbit out. Each evening a couple of raccoons traipse over the fence and into the garden looking for food. 

 

The other night one stood on two legs for a bit studying the chickadee feeder that has thistle seed in it. He gave up and went on his way.

Well, that's my card for today. Do you use colored pencils or watercolor pencils?

I really like watercolor pencils because I can use a water brush with them to get a softer look on my images or I can use the blender pen like I did for my card today.

Thanks for stopping by today.

God's Blessings to you.

Blessings,

Sue

Blossoms Abound A Favorite Oldie Stamp Set

Today's challenge is called Featured Stamper. Ardyth chose Barbara (bejoyce) as the featured stamper this week. You can find the challenge here. 

Here is the inspiration from Barbara's gallery for my card.

This is one if my all-time favorite stamp sets, so when I saw it in Barbara's gallery, I had to use it. The stamp set is called, Blossoms Abound.

I stamped the flowers with highland heather then gorgeous grape. I stamped the stem with garden green and the leaves with garden green stamped off once. The background looked so bright and white, so I added a background stamp, French Script stamped off once. I added linen thread to compliment the crumb cake background on the image panel. I stamped the sentiment directly on the image panel and added purple gems. The background panel was run through my embossing machine then I pulled garden green ink down the front, lightly. I liked getting a lighter and darker green on the same panel. The image panel was added with dimensionals. This will go on a dinner tray at a local hospital.

Keywords: FS1005 Lilacs ferns

Stamps: Stampin' Up!-Blossoms Abound, Rolling Waves, French Script

Paper: white, gorgeous grape

Paper Size: A2

Ink: crumb cake, highland heather, gorgeous grape, garden green

Accessories: Stampin' Up!-Linen thread, purple gems, Stampin' Up-Fern 3D embossing folder

Techniques: dry embossing, direct to paper, two-step stamping

Do you have a favorite stamp set or two? Have you ever looked at samples online to see what other people have made with your stamp set?

When you look at that sample, what can you change?  What can you do to make the card similar but your style?

If you look at my card and Barbara's card, you can see similarities but nothing but the stamp set is the same.

Same-stamp set

Different ink colors

                backgrounds-mine is dry embossed and inked

Different sentiment

Different my image panel has a background stamp lightly stamped before the lilacs.

Different she inked the border of her image panel

Different I added linen thread

Different embellishments hers are light colored and mine are dark

Different I added my image panel straight and hers is tilted to the right

Well, there you have it lots of ways to make a card yours.  Sometimes it's handy to write down ideas to use on cards. Some people keep a notebook of ideas. You could write some of these things to try.

    add ink to a dry embossed background

    dry emboss a background

    tilt your image panel

    use a background stamp on your card and stamp it lightly

    use a stencil on your card

    color with different things such as glitter pens, markers, alcohol markers, crayons, watercolors, colored pencils, chalk and even sprays

Have fun trying new things.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Blessings,

Sue

What Gives You Inspiration?

Hey Everybody,

Our challenge today is an inspiration challenge. The website was Ethan Allen. I chose the triangle hanging lights on the main page found here.

I put my white paper in the embossing folder on an angle. The embossing folder I used is a Stampin' Up! folder called, Forever Plaid 3D embossing folder. I used a yellow Copic Marker to draw the lines. I pulled the pecan pie ink pad across the debossed side of the card to get the brown color above the yellow lines.

I stamped the image and sentiment in Memento tuxedo black ink then colored the image with Copic Markers. The image doesn't have the little shirt, so I drew it on the little guy. The image is a stamp from Unity Stamps called, Thought of You Today. I fussy cut the image and sentiment with scissors. I added the image and sentiment with dimensionals. This will go on a dinner tray at a local hospital.

Additional Info

Keywords: IC1066 Winnie the Pooh

Stamps: Unity Stamps-Thought of You Today

Paper: white, pecan pie, Stampin' Up!-Beautiful Bokeh designer series paper

Paper Size: A2

Ink: memento tuxedo black, pecan pie

Accessories: Stampin' Up!-Forever Plaid 3D embossing folder, scissors, Copic Markers, Fine line black pen, dimensionals

Techniques: fussy cutting, coloring, direct to paper on debossed side, dry embossing

I think finding inspiration from websites is a different way of getting ideas for card making. I must admit, I don't do it except for this challenge, but I might start!  Sometimes it's overwhelming to see a website or Pinterest site of images. I get lost in looking, especially on Pinterest where they have little things for sale that are distracting and cute! LOL

Maybe it's easier to look around your house and find something that inspires you to make a card or scrapbook page. That's what I did when I made 6" x 6" pages of Mia Sunshine. I saw pictures of her hanging on the wall and thought I could make some cute pages that would record what she's doing at this time in her little life.

See what you think.

Well, now that I see these again, it reminds me that my little Silas was 5 months old the other day and I haven't done one page of a scrapbook for him! Yikes, I better get going or he'll be graduating before I know it!

Hey, the stamp I used for today's card would be great on a page for Silas! Woohoo, I've started it already! LOL

Thanks for stopping by today.

Blessings,

Sue

Text or Script Challenge and a Walk Down Memory Lane

 Hey Everybody,

I'm back with another challenge today.

Our challenge was to use text or script on our card. You can find the challenge here.  

I started looking through my book of dies to find something for this challenge. I found the baseball cap and that was the start. I knew I had a House Mouse bunny with a baseball that I could add. It is an older House Mouse stamp called, Great Catch.

 I needed something else to complete the image panel. So, I printed a small baseball diamond. 

The image was colored with Copic Markers. I fussy cut the bunny to add him in front of the hat. The hat was stamped with Memento tuxedo black ink.

I added the hat and image with dimensionals. This will go to a local nursing home to be used by residents.

Additional Info

Keywords: F4A846

Stamps: Birthday, House Mouse-Great Catch

Paper: white, real red, blueberry bushel, Stampin' Up!-Delightfully Eclectic designer series paper

Ink: memento tuxedo black

Accessories: baseball hat die, scissors, Copic Markers, dimensionals

Techniques: die cutting, fussy cutting, coloring

Think about it, what would you use. Here are some suggestions.

You might choose book paper, patterned paper with text, stamped script, embossing folders, or even your own handwritten words! 

I found it enjoyable to go through my designer series paper to see what I had that would fit the challenge. That's why I love these challenges. They get me going through my supplies and pulling out things I haven't used in a long time.

I can't remember when the last time was that I used the baseball cap die.

I hope you give this challenge a try. It doesn't matter if it comes out the way you want, but that you tried something out of the ordinary for your stamping. You will grow in your skills, little by little.

Check out some of my cards and 3D items from 20 years ago! Oh boy, stamping and I both have come a long way in 20 years.  We didn't have dies back then everything was cut with scissors.  Do you remember the 24 scissors that had different edges? They were so popular back then.

We stamped on tiles you'd find in building. My husband and I spent time on the floor at Home Depot making sure that my box of tiles didn't have any broken tiles in it before I purchased it.  We used the tiles as coasters and sold them in sets of 4 at our craft shows. We added cork to the bottom so they wouldn't scratch your table.

Thanks for the walk down memory lane with me.  Thank you for stopping by today.

Blessings,

Sue