Spring Time! March Blog Hop

It's spring time and time for the March blog hop by the NC Stampin' Up demonstrators. We do a blog hop on the last Sunday of each month.  Glad that you have joined us this month.  Now let's see what spring'y cards I have for you!

First is this cute Swirly Bird card!  I won't tell you how long it took me to get all those colors embedded behind the black swirl!  It's not hard - just time consuming to run all the different colors through the framelit.  But I think it was worth it!  The sentiment comes from Sunshine Sayings - a great stamp set for putting together sentiments.

What is spring without flying a kite?  How many years has it been since you have run with a kite coaxing it to stay up in the air?  I can't count the years! Plus I was never very good - or patient to fly a kite! I remember beach days when my kids were young and they would get their daddy to fly the kite with them - not me!!

This card also uses the Swirly Bird stamp and framelits as well as Layering Love.  I just love the font and the words in this set!  For a little sparkle, I adhered a few sequins.

Finally, I have a cute little box (that I CASE-d from a UK demonstrator) that I made using Sale-A-Bration products.  I made the box with the Inside the Line DSP and made a belly band around it using the Sale-A-Bration Glimmer Paper (Sweet Sugarplum.)  I die cut the bee from Mint Macaron Glimmer Paper also to coordinate with the little bee on the DSP.  The box was super easy to make and only takes a few minutes.  Here are the directions if you want to make one:  It should hold a few small chocolates for a sweet little treat.

Cut your DSP to 6" x 12" (so you can make 2 from one sheet of paper)
Score on the long side at - 2, 5, 7, and 10"
Score on the short side at - 2" and 4"

That's it!

I hope you have enjoyed my spring projects.  Hop along to see what Laurie has to share with you HERE!!

Here is the complete list of our blog hop participants:

Jo Anne Hewins
Michelle Irinyi
Tracie Evans Langley
Sharon Maranich (you are HERE)
Laurie Meier
Sue Root
Lisa Tedder
Frances Wagner

NC Demo Sale-a-Bration January Blog Hop

Creative minds have been at work here in North Carolina!  Welcome to our monthly Blog Hop. I hope you are getting lots of inspiration from the NC demos blog hop today.  Our theme this month is Sale-a-Bration, which means a FREE project for every $50 purchase from Stampin' Up.

I am sure as a paper crafter, you are probably aware of the popular new craze called adult coloring books.  The book publishing geniuses really hit the mark when they started offering coloring books for grown-ups.  A lot of us didn't even know how much we secretly missed them!   Not only is coloring super relaxing and fun, but it also takes us back to simpler times - when all we had to worry about was making sure we put our toys away.  As a child, coloring and paper dolls were my favorite things!  I didn't play with baby dolls or do sports, but give me a coloring book and I was happy.  It was so fun to get a new pack of crayons and try out all the colors - especially if you got the super big package!!  Fast forward to our new Sale-a-Bration catalog and guess what?!  Yes, a designer paper just begging to be colored.  It is Stampin' Up's! answer to this fun, out-of-the-blue craze.  The Inside the Lines Designer Series Paper leaves you with the opportunity to make the colors of each paper your own.  Think of all the ways you can use this paper!

I have chosen to highlight the Inside the Lines DSP for my projects.  There are so many choices when it comes to using this DSP.  Hopefully, you will enjoy what I have done with them.

I'm excited to share these cards with you.  Each card is colored using a different tool such as:  sponging, watercoloring, markers, and sponge daubers.  Each method provides a different look to the paper.  While the cards are different from each other, they are simple to make with only a few additional layers and embellishments.

For the first card, I cut a 3" x 5 1/4" strip of DSP and colored it using Stampin' Up markers.  I used the Swirly Scribbles Thinlits to cut the white card stock (4" x 5 1/4").  The middle piece was adhered on top of the DSP which was then adhered to my white card.  The two pieces on the left and right were popped up with dimensionals.  I stamped the sentiment from Thoughtful Banners and punched it out with the Duet Banner Punch.  The final step was to sprinkle silver sequins all over the card.

 My next method of coloring was with Copic Alcohol Markers.  I cut a flower out of the DSP and used the Watercolor Pencils to color the flower.  I popped the flower up with dimensionals.  I used my Two Way Glue Pen on the flower and sprinkled it with Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.  The sentiments are all from Thoughtful Banners and each one is popped up.  Can't wait to send this to my daughter!

My next card is watercolored using the ink from the Peekaboo Peach and Wild Wasabi ink pads and my aqua pen.  As long as you don't get your aqua pen too wet, the paper won't buckle.  I did use a SU marker for the darker orange (Tangerine Tango).   The sentiment (from Layering Love) is stamped on a piece of Peekaboo Peach cut out with the Stitched Shapes Framelit.

For my next card, I only used a small strip of the DSP (2" x 4") which was colored with Copic markers.  I used a lot of glue dots to hold down the pleated Sweet Sugarplum ribbon.  (You can find this ribbon on page 21 of the Occasions catalog.  It is the Succulent Garden Combo Pack.)   The sentiment is from Heartfelt Sympathy (pg 51 of annual catalog.)

For this card, I used the wonderful Watercolor Pencils found in the Occasions Catalog.  Sales for these pencils have exceeded Stampin' Up's forecast and are continuing to sell strong.  Because of the cost incurred in back orders, Stampin' Up has made the decision to place the pencils in not-orderable status as of last Thursday (1/26).  The estimated availability for them is Feb. 13.

I scribbled the pencils on the paper and then used my Wink of Stella to blend the colors.  You could also use an aqua pen (but not real wet) or a blender pen.  I have tried all three but I think I prefer the Wink of Stella (clear)!

My final card is super simple.  I used a sponge dauber and just daubed the Sweet Sugarplum ink randomly on some of the flowers.  I colored the leaves with the Watercolor Pencil also, blending it with my blender pen.  The circle is die cut from Stitched Shapes framelit.  I also die cut the flower from the Sunshine Wishes framelits.  This is a great set of framelits to have - check it out on page 194 of the annual catalog.  Not only do you get this flower but also the little butterfly, a heart and four sentiments (hope, love, congrats and sunshine).

I hope you enjoyed my take on the Inside the Lines Designer Paper and you are inspired to create your own cards using this paper.

Hop on along now to the next stop on the Blog Hop -

Tamra Davis -

Jo Anne Hewins

Michelle Irinyl

Tracie Evans Langley

Sharon Maranich   (you are here)

Laurie Meier

Bless Your Heart!

I really like the Starburst Framelit.  I don't know what took me so long to order it but when I started seeing some cards others had made with it, I bought it.  So glad it carried over to the new annual catalog!

In this first card, I die cut the starburst in Real Red and put it on a black card base.  The DSP and ribbon sticking out of the sentiment circle are all retired and some I found in my (huge) stash of retired items!!  The sentiment is a new stamp set, Layering Love.  When I shared this with my Stamp Club gals, a couple of them commented that this card would look great in red, white and blue.  Hmmmm - maybe another idea to share!!  Stay tuned!

 This next one was an experiment using some retired Envelope Paper (Delightful Dijon).  I die cut the Starburst with Delightful Dijon as well as the Envelope Paper and put it on a background of Envelope Paper adhered to a white card.  I just turned the top layer of the Starburst image a light bit to the right so the Dijon cardstock showed on the side.  I fussy cut the Layering Love sentiment and adhered it on top of a Dapper Denim star.

This card is pretty much like the red and black card above.   I just added a little bling.  Don't you love that saying "Bless Your Heart"?   You can find it in the Jar of Love stamp set.  We had a discussion yesterday at Stamp Club about Southerners using that sentiment.  I am a Southerner but that is not something I say a lot.  One of the gals (who is from the north) said she had heard that was the Southern way to say "F U" .... what????  I don't believe that!  I tried to set them straight but since I was the only Southerner in the group, not sure if they bought it!  What do you think????  Comment below please!