Friendly Hello

 Don't you love this cheery card?  I love the different images in the Friendly Hello Designer Series Paper.  Different versions of them also come in three different colors - Pool Party (which I used), Petal Pink and Fresh Freesia.

I love the little bluebird.  I'm starting to see them in my yard - almost spring time!!  He was stamped with Black Memento on white cardstock and then colored with my Stampin' Blends.  This Friendly Hello stamp set included a "speckles" stamp.   I think these speckles are just the finishing touch on this card. You can get the Friendly Hello stamp and DSP for free with a $100 order.

 For the sentiment, I stamped onto the DSP and cropped the die piece with one of my favorite sets, Tasteful Touches.  There are so many great dies in there.  I don't very often stamp my sentiment on designer paper - not because I don't like it, but because I don't remember that it looks so pretty!  

Hope this inspires you to pull out your designer paper and see what you can create!

 

Darling Donkeys + Easy Fun Fold

 Just a couple more days for Sale-a-Bration.  Make sure you have your order and your FREE items and are checked out by Sunday!  I love the Flower & Field Designer Paper that is in the Sale-a-Bration catalog (pg 10).  If you love it too, use my Hostess Code  and order it by Sunday, Feb. 28!

I made this fun fold using the Darling Donkeys which are also Sale-a-Bration items.  I love the florals and the more classic patterns on the flip side.  This is a great pack of paper to mix and match.  Don't you love the floral and the polka dots on this card?!

Here's how to make this card:

 1. Cut a 4" x 12 piece of DSP(designer series paper).   I chose to cut the DSP a little smaller than normal so I could get 3 card bases from one sheet of DSP.

2. Score at 3-1/4" and 8-3/4".  Make a pencil mark at 2" along the 4" side.  Make a diagonal cut from the 2" pencil mark to the edge of the fold.  Repeat on the other side and the other end.

3.  Fold on the score lines.  Apply a little adhesive to one of the points.  Fold and secure over the other end.  The point will overlap and lay flat.    I decorated the front of my card using one of the donkey's from Darling Donkeys that I colored with SU Blender pens.  He is mounted on one of the circles from Layered Circles.  

4. The inner card pieces measure 4" x a smidge less than 5-1/2" (Just Jade), 3-3/4" x 5-1/4"(Bumblebee) and 3-5/8" x 5-1/8" (Whisper White).  

I wish I had a wobble to put under the donkey to make him move.  I recently saw on Pinterest how to make your own wobble with thin wire.  Maybe tomorrow!!

Flowering Foil

Hello!  I am still following the Stay at Home order and working on a few swap cards.  Our NC Quarterly meeting will be held July 24-25 after being moved back from the early June.  So, Marianne and I hope to attend this gathering in the mountains of NC.  I have not attended a Quarterly in a couple of years.  There was a time I never missed one if I could help it so I am excited to go to this one.  The card swaps I signed up for (so far!) is Masculine card (done!), Fun Fold card (working on it), Anniversary/Wedding card (done!), and a General card.  We will also have a Shoebox card swap on Friday night and several card competitions that I'm not sure if I will enter yet.

Today I am patiently waiting for my Paper Pumpkin kit to arrive!  I have seen several people around the country announce that they have received theirs and have even made cards with the kit.  Hopefully, mine will be in the mailbox today!

I'm excited because tomorrow, we are driving up to Maryland to visit Ashley!  I haven't seen her since February and Sonny hasn't seen her since December.  Her county (Montgomery) is still on lock down as well as Ashley's military orders of no travel over 100 miles so we won't be going out to eat or doing any sight seeing!  I am hoping the weather will be nice and we can enjoy her back yard.  We do have plans to go to a cidery in Virginia.  We'll take our own chairs and sit outside hopefully in the sunshine and enjoy their delicious ciders.

Here is a box with cards that I have made recently.  I used the foil paper that was a free item during Sale-a-Bration.  It was fun to color this paper with my Blends.

This is the box.  I colored the flowers  with Balmy Blue and Daffodil Delight Blends.

This is the same paper as the card above.  I just made it brighter with Real Red, Granny Apple Green, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry and Night of Navy Blends.

Again - same paper, but very different look.  This time I went with pastel colors of light Blends and a few Copics to get the pale colors.

The flowers are in gold so I added a little edge of gold with the die from Stitched Be Mine.  I used the Highland Heather Blends to color the background of the piece along with the ribbon!

For this card, instead of coloring the background, I colored the flowers and leaves.

I colored the background on this card and layered it onto a piece of gold foil paper.  The sentiment is embossed in gold.

I had a small strip of this flower piece of DSP left so I colored it in blue and adhered it to the card.

My last card really pops, don't you think?!  You might need your shades for this one.  I colored again with Blends in Flirty Flamingo and Granny Apple Green.  I found a piece of pink glitter paper from another Sale-a-Bration so I die cut Happy Birthday and adhered it on the card.

for the Well Dressed Man!

I have been collecting stuff to send to Ashley.  I had several stamp sets that she had put on one of my recent orders that she was patiently waiting for.  So, yesterday I made a few cards with her stamps and then packed everything up and sent Sonny to UPS to get it all to her.  I used one of the Sale-a-Bration stamp sets that I didn't get (wishing I had now!)  I thought the cards I made turned out super.  I'm always needing masculine cards and this set did the trick.  It was in the second release of the Sale-a-Bration stamps and is called Well Dressed.

This card reminds me of my grandaddy.  He always wore a hat like this over his bald head.   I remember one time shortly after we got married that we went with my family to Myrtle Beach.  Grandaddy had property in Hallsboro, NC which is about an hour's drive from the beach.  Sonny and I drove him to Hallsboro to check on his property in our car which was a convertible.  Well for some reason Grandaddy didn't bring his hat and his head got sunburned!  He ended up tying a bandanna around his head to protect it!  He looked so funny.
The DSP on this card is from the Country Club suite.  I used my Stamparatus to evenly space out the hats.  I stamped the hats onto the Whisper White.  Then I stamped them onto the DSP and heat embossed them with black powder.  I glued them on top of the hats on the white cardstock.

I am trying to use up some of my In Colors who will be retired the end of May.  This one is Call Me Clover which I think I only used at Christmas.  It pairs nicely with the Crushed Curry though.  It features a fun fold.  I cut the Clover cardstock 5 1/2" x 7 1/2" and scored at 4 1/4".  I used the Subtles embossing folder for the front flap.  The Crushed Curry piece measures 2 1/2" x 4 1/4" and scored at 1/2"; cut the Whisper White measuring at 4 " x  5 1/4".    Attach the Crushed Curry piece to the back of the Whisper White piece making a flap.  This will be adhered to the inside of the card. The vellum circle is punched at 2".   I stamped the umbrellas with Call Me Clover - stamping one at full strength and the other one stamped off.

Inside of the Well Dressed card.

This is definitely a bright card!  Again I used the out-going In Colors - Pineapple Punch, Call Me Clover, Blueberry Bushel and Red which is not an In Color.  I hardly used the Pineapple Punch at all.  It is definitely a BRIGHT yellow!  The Stamparatus again came in handy for this card.

Recipe for the card:  Card base is 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored at 4 1/4", then trim  the folded card to 4 1/8" wide. 

Cut 1" strips of green, blue, and red and tape them together on the back and cut out with the largest Stitched Rectangle Die.

Whisper White front panel is 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" & cut out with the Stitched Rectangle Die.  

This will be perfect for my golfing addicted hubby!!  I love this DSP.  This is a very simple card.  I used Night of Navy, Crumb Cake and Real Red and cut the banners with the Banner Punch.

 I hope these cards give you some inspiration.

Stay safe!

Crazy Unsettling Times

If you had told me two months ago that we would be where we are now, I would have thought you were joking.  Back before everyone knew what the terms "social distancing" and "stay-at-home order" meant, we were just crafty gals stampin' and having workshops.  And now effective (yesterday,) Monday, March 30 through April 29, our state of NC is under a mandatory stay-at-home order meaning non-essential businesses must close to the public.  But what is considered an essential business has me stumped.  Yesterday, I drove to Mooresville (first time in 2 weeks) to pick up some groceries at Aldi's and tape refills for my tape gun at Hobby Lobby.  I was assuming that Hobby Lobby, Michael's and Jo Ann's would be closed when the stay-at-home order went into effect but no, they are considered essential!??  I'm sorry, I don't understand!  There was a note on the door that they are considered essential because they sell material (to make masks with) and also office supplies??!!  Our Hobby Lobby is right beside Lowe's Hardware.  There was hardly a parking spot left at Lowe's!  I'm sure there were more than 50 or 10 people (whatever the number is supposed to be) in that store and not keeping the 6 foot distance.  When I was at Aldi's there were a lot of people who were not being socially distancing.  I felt like I was in the minority there and had to keep going to another aisle while the aisle I wanted cleared out!   Ashley told me she went to the Dollar Store yesterday and had to ask the man standing behind her in line to move back.  She said he didn't seem to understand even though there were tape lines on the floor 6 feet apart.  What is it going to take for people to understand how serious this is!

I feel sorry for all the small "mom and pop" restaurants that are suffering from this.  After I left the grocery, I stopped at a small mom and pop hoagie shop and took my sandwich home to eat.  I urge you to support your local small businesses now.  They have bills to pay and little to no cash flow makes that very difficult.  The big corporations will receive bail outs because they are deemed "too big to fail," but that is not true of the little guys.  Did you know that local small businesses make up about 49% of the economy?

It's human nature to feel stressed at this time, especially when our day-to-day lives don't look the same as they used to.  When things are more out of our control than usual, it's helpful to remember and focus on the things we do have control over.  By reducing or preventing stress, we're not only taking care of ourselves, we're able to be better caretakers for others.  Paying attention to and managing stress can help us stay on track with our overall health and wellness, develop new routines, and remember what's important to us.

We will get there even if we fail to develop a vaccine, discover new drugs, or eliminate the virus through public health action, though any of these are welcome because they would hasten the end of the crisis.  By staying home when we are sick, minimizing mass gatherings and reducing physical contact, we can dampen the epidemic, reducing the number of cases and the speed at which they occur.  We can get through this if we work together and remember there is SUNSHINE on the other end of this tunnel.

Check out the sentiment on this card - great for these crazy times.

Today is the last day to get Sale-a-Bration items!

I used some Sale-a-Bration items on this card - the vellum, the Lily Impressions DSP, and the Lovely Lily Pad stamp set.  I stamped the lily onto watercolor paper and heat embossed it with white embossing powder.  Then I used my Aqua Pen and a little Blackberry Bliss re-inker to color the lily.  Oops - just noticed I am missing a sequin!  I had 3 on the card so just imagine the third one right above the lily!

NC Demo's March Blog Hop - saying good bye to In Colors

Welcome to the NC Demo's March Blog Hop.  This month we were to use one of the out-going In Colors (Pineapple Punch, Call Me Clover, Blueberry Bushel, Lovely Lipstick, Grapefruit Grove.)  The card can ONLY use one of the retiring In Colors.  We can use Whisper White or Vanilla cardstock and black ink but all other ink and cardstock has to be the single retiring In Color.   I had to really put on my thinking cap for this one!  But then I remembered I still had my daughter's Sale-a-Bration stamp set, Rise and Shine!  The In Color I picked is actually one I hardly used - Call Me Clover.  I think I have only used it at Christmas time.  It was just a little too green for me!  But I like how it turned out on my tea mugs.  My favorite In Color in this set is actually Grapefruit Grove - I'm really going to miss that color!  

This stamp set is a Reversibles set, so some of the stamps are two-sided with an image on each side of the stamp for more creative options.  It can also be used for the tea drinker (me!) and the coffee drinker.  It's not too late for you to earn this Sale-a-Bration stamp set but you need to hurry.  Sale-a-Bration ends on March 31!!

I stamped the mugs in the background on Whisper White cardstock, stamping off on each of them so I would get a lighter color from the mug on the front.  I mounted that layer onto Call Me Clover which then was mounted onto Thick White Cardstock.  Next I layered a piece of vellum on top.  With black ink, I stamped the steam and the sentiment.  (I won't tell you how many times I had to stamp the vellum because I kept smearing the ink!  That happens with vellum.  So, on my third try, I decided to heat emboss the sentiment with clear powder!)  On scrap paper, I stamped the mug with the stars and heat embossed it with Clear Embossing Powder.  Next I fussy cut it out.  There are dies to match this stamp set but I don't have them.  It's not a big deal to cut the images out.  I made a tea bag tag and attached white twine from the bag to the cup.

How are you surviving the Coronavirus pandemic?  My daughter is an Infections Disease doctor so I was a little worried about her.  But she also works at the military medical school in Bethesda.  She is deemed to be an essential member of the university so will not be on the front line taking care of patients.  Instead she is having to find placements for around 400 students who were in other places around the globe and US doing field work or residencies.  Not to mention, the president of the university announced last week that they are going to graduate the 4th year students as of April 1.  Now what they will do with these graduates is another problem since they are not technically a doctor yet!   

During this pandemic, I have been busy in my craft room.  I have made a lot of cards in the past couple of weeks and predict that I will be making many more.  Luckily my Paper Pumpkin arrived about the time everything went crazy so I have made a lot of cards with the kit and put them in neighbors mailbox or paper tube to cheer them up. It was one of the best Paper Pumpkin kits we have had to date.  I've also been using Evernote to organize my stamps and dies.  It makes a searchable catalog and I can search my stamps and dies by using keywords. 

I hope you stay safe and healthy during this pandemic.  There will be a time after the pandemic when life returns to normal.    We can get through this if we work together and remember there is sunshine on the other end of this tunnel.

OK - enough depressing talk!!  I hope you will visit the rest of the demos and see what they came up with for the monochromatic masterpiece!

Amy Austin-KInler 
Jo Anne Hewins   
Tina Lesson
Ariel Matera - 
Tracy Marie Lewis
Libby Foreman 
Toni Campana
Frances Wagner
Tracie Evans Langley
Laurie Meier
Sue Root: 
Tamra Davis
Sharon Maranich - YOU ARE HERE
Sue Stapp - 
Nedine Depree

Stay safe!!

Another Day, Another Card!

I hope you are surviving this Coronavirus scare.  We live in a scary world, don't we?  I have only been out of the house a couple of times in over a week.  It doesn't bother me as much as it does Sonny.  He is going stir crazy although he shouldn't since he went golfing almost every day last week.  The rain yesterday and today have stopped him this week, but I'm guessing he'll be back on the course tomorrow.  He is using the hand sanitizer and driving his own golf cart as well as getting some fresh air and being out of my hair!!  I've been watching movies and I've made a ton of cards!  I've also been trying to get my stamp sets organized in Evernote.  Evernote is a great (free) program that you can list your stamps and key words so it is easy to do a search.  For instance, if I wanted a birthday stamp, I would just search and all the birthday stamps would come up.  I used this program several years ago and really like it but I've been lazy since then and not entered my new stamps in Evernote.  So, I'm trying to do 10-12 each day.  I've also been going through my Paper Pumpkin kits that I didn't finish and try to use up the extra bits and pieces.

Here are a few cards I've made recently:

This is a Sale-A-Bration set that is double sided called Rise and Shine.  I did not buy this set but Ashley did so I have been using it until I see her again.  What I like is that is has sentiments to use for tea drinkers and not just coffee drinkers!  I am a tea drinker!!

This card is similar to the smaller square card I posted yesterday using the Pleased As Punch DSP.

I made this card when I was at Ashley's last month.  It is really easy to duplicate!  The stamp set is Music from the Heart and is on page 57 of the Mini Catalog.  It is designed by on of Stampin' Up's million dollar achievers, Dawn Olchefske.

Another card using Music from the Heart - this one was made by Ashley!

Another Ashley original!  Don't you love the retro look??

Enjoy your day and stay safe!!

I'm back!! Stamp Class Cards for March

OK, OK, OK!!  I know it's been almost a month since posting and you're looking for some new ideas.  Let's see what I can do to help you out.  My stamp class was last week and as you imagine, I only had 2 brave souls who came to play.  I had hand sanitizer on the table along with anti-bacterial wipes and plenty of toilet paper in the bathroom!!  But we had a good visit and made some pretty cards.  Let's see if you agree.

I just love this pink and green combo!  I used Granny Apple Green and (retired) Powder Pink.  The sentiment is heat embossed with white powder.  I fussy cut the Meercats and used dimensionals to adhere them to the Stitched Shapes Circle.  I used the Stitched Rectangles for the pink, green and white cardstock.  Use the Blends to color the background items.

This beautiful paper is a Sale-A-Bration item - Golden Honey.  The flower is from Painted Poppies and I fussy cut it.  I have fallen in love with these dies - Stitched So Sweetly.  You can find them in the mini catalog on page 20.  Don't miss them like I did! 

Another Sale-a-Bration item is the So Very Vellum on this card.  The package comes in three colors - Purple Posy, Pool Party, and Soft Sea Foam.  The picture looks like it's green but it's not - I used Pool Party.  I'm loving those Stitched So Sweetly Dies again on this card.

Beautiful!

This Easter card uses everything retired (except the Granny Apple Green base card and the Blends. 

This was a fun card to make.  It measures 4 1/4" square.  All the squares of DSP are from and the umbrella, heart, tulip and small flowers are all from the DSP too!  I used a retired Heart Die set to punch out the heart but the current Heart punch pack works good too.  The umbrellas are punched with the Umbrella Builder Punch and the tulip is  punched with the Tulip Builder Punch.  The small flowers can be punched with the Small Bloom punch but since I didn't have that punch, I found that my retired Petite Petals Punch worked fine.  I also don't have the tulip punch so I fussy cut it and the leaf.

I love this paper!  It does a lot of the work for you and it is so spring-y!!  If you are interested, (since it is not in any of the catalogs), the item # is 153558 and it costs $11.50 for 12 sheets of 12"x12" paper.

Happy Birthday To You!

Hope you had a nice weekend.  Mine was pretty quiet but I got a few things done that have been on my list for a while - like mopping the floor!  Ugh!  But it's got to be done.  Saturday I spent a lot of time in the kitchen.  I am trying to do a weekly meal plan so I'm not just rummaging in the fridge to find something for dinner every night.  I made a big pot of onion soup for dinner last night.  I have never made onion soup from scratch but it turned out really good.  I also made a chocolate fudge cheesecake .... well, it's really a fake cheesecake but it's good anyway.  It's really easy too.  If you want to give it a try, here's the recipe -

3 eggs
3 cups fat free plain yogurt
1 small box sugar free, fat free chocolate fudge pudding mix
1/2 Tbs vanilla
3 Tbs sugar substitute (I used Splenda)

Whisk eggs, vanilla, Spenda mixing well.  Add yogurt and pudding mix and mix all together.  Pour into lightly greased springform pan.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  (It will look jiggly but it sill set when chilled.)  Let cool for 15-20 minutes before covering it with plastic wrap and put in fridge.  Best chilled overnight.

Enjoy!

I have been binge watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.  I got an Amazon Fire Stick last week so I could get movies and other things on tv.  We have cable but I wanted to watch some of the Amazon Prime movies and enjoy the music I can get now.  So far, I'm loving it.  I finished the first season of Mrs. Maisel this afternoon.  I recommend it to you.  It's really funny.

Here is the card I am sharing with you today.  You can never have too many birthday cards!  I used Happy Birthday to You from the Sale-a-Bration catalog.  With a purchase of $50, you can get this stamp set for FREE!

For this card, I used a piece of Designer Series Paper on the background from Lily Impressions.  This DSP is in the Sale-a-Bration catalog and you can get it FREE with a $50 purchase.  I colored the cake and flowers with the SU Blends.  I put rhinestones in the centers of the flowers.

For this card, I used DSP from Best Dressed.  I embossed the cake and flowers with white embossing powder and used the Stitched Rectangle Dies on the white cardstock.  The card is from Lovely Lipstick and matted onto Petal Pink cardstock.

New Coordination Products Available Now!

Yay!!  I'm excited about the NEW Stampin' Up! Coordination products.  I love the dies for cutting out your images.  Not to mention the new Stampin' Up! Pleased As Punch 12x12 Designer Series Paper.  It coordinates with several of the new stamp sets and is perfect for spring projects!

These 5 coordinating dies -

• Nature's Thoughts Dies #153586 (coordinates with Positive Thoughts stamp set - page 23 of Mini Catalog)
• Special Day Dies #153587 (coordinates with Special Someone stamp set - pg 36 of Mini Catalog)
• Ladybugs Dies #153588 (coordinates with Little Ladybug Hostess stamp set - pg 17 of Sale-a-Bration Catalog)
• Sending Flowers Dies #153589 (coordinates with Sending You Thoughts on pg. 17 of Sale-a-Bration)
• Birthday Dies #153590 (coordinates with Happy Birthday To You on pg 8 of Sale-a-Bration)
• Pleased as Punch Designer Paper #153558 (coordinates with 3 of our new PUNCHES (Tulip, Umbrella and Small Bloom)

ARE AVAILABLE NOW!!

It's Almost Good Buy Time

It's almost good bye time.  You might feel like Sale-a-Bration just keeps going and going, but sadly it doesn't.  There are only five more days to enjoy all the amazing benefits that Sale-a-Bration offers - it ends on Sunday.  I don't want you to miss out on one bit of it.

Here are a few of the cards I have made using my FREE Sale-a-Bration stamps.

LOVELY LATTICE

HELLO CUPCAKE

HELLO CUPCAKE & SO HOPPY TOGETHER

COUNTRY FLORAL EMBOSSING FOLDER

SO HOPPY TOGETHER

COUNTRY FLORAL EMBOSSING FOLDER

Country Floral

I love to color!  As a child coloring and playing with paper dolls were my favorite things to do.  I have good memories of being at my grandmother's house every Sunday for family dinner.  While I was waiting for dinner to be served, my great aunt would cut out paper dolls for me from McCall's magazine.  Do you remember Betsy McCall paper dolls?  Oh, I just loved her!  Can you believe you can purchase these paper dolls on eBay?  I sure wish I'd saved my old paper dolls.  What fun to see them again!

Well, these next two cards were colored with Stampin' Up Blends.  So fun!  I ran a piece of Whisper White cardstock through the Big Shot with the Country Floral Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (what a mouthful!)  This embossing folder is a Sale-A-Bration item from the second release.  BUT .... Stampin' Up recently announced that it will carry over into the 2019 annual catalog along with the Tea Time Framelits Dies from the first Sale-A-Bration release.

These were such fun to color.  I tried to keep the sentiments and embellishments to a minimum to showcase the flowers.

I used some of the Gingham DSP on this card.  The scallop is a die Colorful Seasons.  I stamped the sentiment on a piece of white paper that was die cut using the Rectangles Stitched Framelits (my favorite!!)  I added a few Pear Pizazz leaf sprigs from the Sprig Punch.

February Stamp Club

Yesterday was my stamp club meeting.  I have decided to try something new this year.  Instead of the gals having to order $20 from Stampin' Up, they can either do that or just pay $20 for the class.  I have heard from several people who dropped out of Club that they just didn't need anymore stuff and found when they purchased stamps, etc. they just weren't using them at home.  But they were willing to pay for the class instead.  Works for me!

I also switched up how I did the class.  I couldn't decide which cards to offer for club, so I just put 8 cards out (in their basket with pieces precut) and told them they could make 4 cards - any ones they wanted.  It was funny - only 4 cards were picked.  One gal made 2 each of two birthday cards.  So I will be saving the other cards for next month.  I've got a couple move gals coming next week since they couldn't make it today.  We'll see if they pick anything different.

These are the four my friends picked to make today.

 

Amazing Life stamp set from Occasions Catalog (pg 28)  The happy, flowers and cake were colored with SU Blends.  I used the Rectangle Stitched Dies - my favorite thing in the catalog!!

So Hoppy Together - from Sale-a-Bration - is such a fun set.  Nancy had fun coloring Mr. Frog!

This humming bird is a big hit! This set is another one from Occasions Catalog - Humming Along.  I didn't purchase the framelits so the girls had some cutting to do but it wasn't difficult.  The bird was water colored with ink from the stamp pads.  The lesson I learned - don't color him with the Blends because they soak through the card stock and you can see it on the back. He was colored with Mint Macaron, So Saffron and Calypso Coral.

Another variation of the Amazing Life birthday cake.  A ink wash was put down first before stamping the cake.  Everything else was colored with the Blends.

This was the favorite!  I embossed the flower and humming bird in gold and it looks amazing!

Lasting Lily Sale-a-Bration stamp

I don't care for gardening, but I do love pretty flowers!  I don't have any of these lilies in my yard but I did when I lived in Washington state.  They are so pretty!  This is a Sale-a-Bration stamp that you can get for free with a $100 order.  Lasting Lily is a Distinktive stamp meaning there's lots of detail in the stamp; it does all the work for you.  I won't lie to you - I had a few challenges getting a good impression that showed the beauty of the stamp but I finally "got it."

TIPS:

• Lightly tap the ink to the stamp versus putting the stamp to the ink.
• OR apply the ink using a sponge dauber.
• The images will vary depending on the "jucieness" of your ink pad.
• I found that darker colors worked best on this stamp to show the detail.

Remember - in God's garden, no two flowers are alike - so make your garden your own!  

I stamped this lily with Coastal Cabana and the leaves with Granny Apple Green.  I took my colors directly from the ribbon that I wanted to use.  I love this Reversible Ribbon!  I embossed the Coastal Cabana piece with the Tufted embossing folder.

These lilies were stamped with Berry Burst.  After stamping the lilies and the stems (Pear Pizzaz), I took a pencil and lightly drew a rectangle.  I filled in the rectangle with my Black SU Marker.  The finishing touch is the silver edged ribbon adhered with a few glue dots.

This stamp set, Lasting Lily, can be found on the last page of the Sale-a-Bration catalog.  With the Sale-a-Bration Second Release of products, you can get the framelits that go with this stamp set.

Refer to an earlier post to see the items available for Sale-a-Bration.