April Stamp Club Cards

We had fun this week at Stamp Club.  I used some retiring items on the cards.

This card was the favorite by everyone.   Actually, most things on this card will be in the new catalog coming out in June .... except for Marina Mist ink that I used for the water in the Wetlands stamp and the Leaflets die which I will really miss.

We all need sympathy cards in our stash and hope we don't have to use them.  This card uses Heartfelt Sympathy and Work of Art (boo hoo) stamp set and Perfect Plum which are all retiring.   

Another retiring stamp set - Painters Palette and ink - Tempting Turquoise.  I love bright colors so this was a favorite card of mine and super easy.  I'll miss Tempting Turquoise ink.  It used to be "go to" ink but I don't think  I have used it much lately.

This retirement stamp set was a shocker to me.  It was so popular and only around for a year.  It's one I will hang onto because it makes such cute cards.  The happy birthday is embossed in white.  The black and white striped ribbon is on sale now for $2 in Clearance!!  The tiled floor is 1/2" white squares that are glued onto the black cardstock.

Don't forget to check out the Clearance section as well as the retiring items.  Just click above - Shop and Clearance to check out the deals.

Fun with Embossing Paste

When the Embossing Paste was first announced at Stampin' Up's On Stage, I didn't think I was interested.  But last month I decided to order it and see what the fuss was all about.  Well, now that I have used it, I am hooked!  It adds such a nice dimension to a card.  Here is my favorite card that I made using the paste.  I took a small bit of the paste out of the jar and put it on my Silicone Mat and mixed in 2-3 drops of Smoky Slate reinker.  Use the palette knife to get the color all mixed in and then using the Brick Wall mask (Pattern Party Decorative Mask - p. 201) smooth the paste onto the Smoky Slate card.  It doesn't take very long to dry.  For this card, I als used the Hearth and Home Thinlits to make the window.  I sponged a piece of white cardstock in Soft Sky and Tempting Turquoise.  Next I cut out this cute little bunny with the birthday cake from the Birthday Memories Designer Paper.  I had to cut this one out but a lot of the images in the DSP can be cut out with a framelit!  I glued the bunny down to the sponged background.  I adhered a piece of window sheet to the back of the window and put it all together using dimensionals.  This whole piece was adhered to a Basic Gray card.  (The red ribbon I used is retired.)

Check out this video from Stampin' Up for the "how to's" of using the paste.  Just a couple of tips that I'm not sure are mentioned in the video.  When you get your paste, the jar will only be half full.  That is the way it is supposed to be.  It settles in shipping.  Each jar has 4 fl. oz of volume.  It dries pretty fast so I would recommend keeping the lid on it as much as possible.  Also if you scrape it back into the jar after using, make sure you push it all down towards the bottom of the jar.  If you leave some on the rim, it will dry out.  There is also a picture of using the paste on page 176 of the catalog.

Here is another card I made with the paste.  

I used a piece of the glossy cardstock that I made last week with a reinker technique (see HERE) and another mask with the Embossing Paste and colored it with Marina Mist reinker.  The leaves are from Vintage Leaves which also have matching framelits.  To make the flowers multi colored, I did the Baby Wipe Technique.  I dropped a few drops of reinkers on to a baby wipe, thus making my own custom stamp pad.  The colors I used were Early Espresso, Lemon Lime Twist, Marina Mist and Soft Suede.

I had a little bit of the colored paste left over and instead of throwing it away, I added a little Lime Twist reinker to the blue and applied it to another piece of card stock that I had available.  I'll be using it later to make a card.

More Swaps!

I'm back with a few more card swaps from Quarterly.

This is the last one that I received for the sketch swap.  It is by Phyllis Thurston and uses the wonderful stamp set, Colorful Seasons.  This is such a versatile stamp set!  You can use it for all the seasons since it has snowflakes, beach chairs, fall leaves and spring flowers!

This card is just so cute!  Beth Queen combined This Little Piggy with the Birthday Delivery set!

This card, using Eastern Medallion, is by Connie Gentry.  I love the Lemon Lime with Black!  And check out below - there is a little surprise when you open up the card.

Another great card (by Lisa Pressley) using the Birthday Delivery set.  I'm telling you, you need to order this set!!  There is the stamp set, the Birthday Friends Framelits Dies AND the Birthday Memories DSP as part of the bundle.  The framelits not only fit the stamps, but also some of the images on the designer paper!!

This card uses the Daisy Delight stamp set and was made by Gayle Presnell.

This card was made by Robyn McClanahan and uses the Daisy Delight stamp set.  I love the new Pretty Label Punch!

Sketch Swaps #2

These are the remainder of the Sketch Swap from Quarterly.  Hope you enjoy them!

This card by Carol Snow uses the Eastern Elegance and the Daisy stamp setts.  The pretty DSP is Delightful Daisy.

No name on this card but I love the Pretty Label punch she used.  The daisy is made with Vellum that she colored yellow and card stock.

This card is by my downline and travel buddy, Debbie Michael.  She put a lot of time into this card, folks!  It is a shaker card!!

Love these primary colors that Lisa Pressley used.  This Birthday Delivery set has grown on me and is now in my list of things to order.