Fresh As a Daisy Art Journal Cover

Welcome to the Creative Card-iology Team June 2023 Blog Hop! We’re celebrating Designer Series Paper (DSP) in this month's hop!  There is a 15% off sale on select Stampin' Up! DSP collections through June 30th, and I hope you'll get some creative inspiration from our projects this month.

I've had a project in mind that I wanted to experiment with for a while now, and this month's theme seemed the perfect opportunity to do so!  I've been wanting to make a mixed media art journal for a while now, and the beautiful paper collections offered great selections for my journal cover.  The only problem was which one to choose!

I finally decided on the Fresh As A Daisy collection, and the Crafting With You bundle was just the right set for embellishing my cover.  I'm not going to give step-by-step directions for this project as I'm experimenting along the way, but I will take you through some of my process for the cover.  The design on my journal cover would definitely make a great card as well as the journal cover and it really lets the gorgeous paper shine! 

I'm planning on using recycled/unused bill payment envelopes to create base pages for inside my journal, so I measured the envelope size.  I wanted to have the cover be larger than my envelopes so I added 1" to the size of the envelope to get my measurements for my front and back piece.  I used cardboard from a package of foil paper and cut a front piece, back piece and a spine, and then adhered my pieces to my DSP.  That process is a bit more complicated to explain than what I can go into here, so I'll just concentrate on the front embellishments.

I die cut my easel from Copper Clay cardstock, a stitched circle on Basic White using a die from the Stylish Shapes die collection, stamped the and brushes on Basic White with Copper Clay Ink.  I die cut the brushes and fussy cut around the sentiment, separating the sentiment so that it fit on the circle.  My "art journal" sentiment was typed and printed off with my computer/printer and ends punched with the Banners Pick A Punch.  I cut a second piece of the same DSP pattern, sized to fit on the easel over the same spot on the underlying paper on the cover.  I sponged around the circle, the easel and the "painting" with Copper Clay ink.  I also added a touch of blue to the ends of a couple of the brushes with Blends.  Everything was adhered with glue dots and Dimensionals.  I added a few Copper Clay Adhesive-Backed Solid Gems to the front and a couple on the spine.  

I hope to show you more of my journal in future posts or videos, and I hope it sparks your imagination on how you might be able to use the beautiful paper collections for cards and other projects!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Don’t forget to check out my teammates’ blogs by clicking on the links below.  We always appreciate your feedback - let us know you stopped by and leave a comment!

Bonnie's Blog

Diana's Blog

Jessica's Blog

Don't forget to check out the Designer Series Paper Sale and more at my website here.  The best deal you can get on Stampin' Up! projects is the Starter Kit, where this month you can choose $155 (USD) in product for only $99 (USD) plus tax.  That's $30 in product more than normal, through the end of June!  I hope you'll consider  joining our team - we always learn so much from each other and have a great time stamping together!  I'd love to help you get answers to any questions you might have regarding this opportunity, so please reach out and let me know how I can best assist you in your creative journey!

Product List

161289

$12.50

161226

$54.00

159183

$30.00

153608

$27.00

161721

$10.00

159276

$10.50

161647

$9.00

161659

$10.00

161300

$8.00

103579

$11.00

152392

$26.00

150673

$66.00

103683

$5.75

104430

$4.25

138995

$7.00

Favorite Returning Colors

 

Welcome to the May 2023 Creative Card-iology Team Blog Hop! We’re glad you've joined us to check out this month’s cardmaking inspiration featuring some of our favorite returning colors in Stampin’ Up!’s 2023 Color Refresh. 

One of the things I love about Stampin’ Up! is the color coordination among the products.  There's a main line of colors that is divided into smaller collections – Brights, Neutrals, Regals and Subtles, as well as the In Color collections that are available for two years.  The main line of colors is periodically updated to offer on-trend color coordinating products.  During this recent color refresh, some core colors retired, some colors returned and some new colors joined the core color line up.

One of my favorite colors returning to the core color line up is Lost Lagoon.  It’s in the Subtles collection and is a beautifully soft bluish green or greenish blue.  I think it will take the place of Soft Succulent, a recently retired In Color that I used often in my card making projects. 

I’ve been tending to go for a similar layout on a lot of my recent card designs (mostly featuring square or rectangular matted layers), so decided to get out of my comfort zone and try something a bit different this time.  I went through a bit of experimenting and testing before arriving at my final design.

I used one of the Artistic Mix Decorative Masks, a blending brush and Lost Lagoon ink to create a background paper.  I think this is the first time I've used the decorative masks, but it won't be the last.  So many possibilities!   

To step outside my usual straight line design box, I initially cut a strip from the center of the 6” x 6” paper, lining up corner point to opposite corner point along my trimmer and cutting 1” on either side of the point.  However, I ended up using one of the leftover triangles instead.

 

Here are the cutting measurements and steps I followed to make this card:

Lost Lagoon Card Base – 5 1/2” x 8 1/2”, scored and folded at 4 1/4”

Pool Party Layer 1 – 3 ¾” x 5”

Inked Botanicals DSP Layer 2 – One triangle, line up opposite points at 1” mark along trimmer and cut on both sides of center points

Basic White Floral Die Cuts – 3” x 4”

Basic White Sentiment Label – 1” x 3”

Linen Thread – 15”-20” long

  - Stamp sentiment on Basic White in Lost Lagoon ink.

  - Punch right end of sentiment label with Happy Labels Pick A Punch.

  - Stamp floral image from the Dainty Delight stamp set twice on Basic White with Lost Lagoon ink.

  - Color floral images with Petal Pink and Pool Party Stampin’ Blends.

  - Die cut floral images with coordinating die from the Dainty Delight Dies collection.

  - Using Silicone Craft Sheet as a work surface, lay Artistic Mix mask at an angle over Pool Party Layer 1 and tape down with painter’s tape.

  - Using a blending brush, brush Lost Lagoon ink over masked Pool Party Layer 1, varying the depth of ink coverage in different areas.

  - Line up long edge of DSP triangle Layer 2 along left edge of Pool Party Layer 1 (ends of triangle piece will extend past ends of Layer 1.

 - When happy with placement, apply adhesive to back of DSP Layer 2 and adhere to Pool Party Layer 1. 

  - Trim DSP Layer 2 triangle ends even with top and bottom of Pool Party Layer 1.

  - Apply adhesive to back of Pool Party Layer 1 and adhere to card front.

  - Adhere sentiment label to card front approximately 1 ½” from bottom and left side of card front.

  - Arrange the two floral die cuts so that they offset each other a little, adhere one to the other with a few glue dots.

  - Loop Linen thread around fingers/hand so that there are several loops about 3.5-4” long.

  - Add adhesive to center back of the floral images and adhere looped linen thread to the back of these die cuts.

  - Place Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals along back of these die cuts and adhere to card front over left edge of sentiment label.

  - Place Tinsel Gem embellishments on sentiment label/card front as desired.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Don’t forget to check out my teammates’ blogs by clicking on the links below.  We always appreciate your feedback - let us know you stopped by and leave a comment!

Bonnie's Blog

Diana's Blog

Jessica's Blog 

I'm always inspired by the projects my teammates create, and I hope you are too!  We'd love to have  you join us on our stamping adventures by joining our team.  You can choose $125 in product for only $99 plus tax - and shipping on your starter kit is free!  And a Paper Pumpkin Kit will be included as well.  Visit my webstore here to join today!  I'd be glad to answer any questions you have as honestly as I can or help you through the process - just let me know how I can help!

All of the products used in my project above are in the Stampin' Up! 2023-2024 Annual Catalog and are linked below.  You can find these and many more great products on my webstore here.

Product List

161078

$25.00

160674

$36.00

159276

$10.50

161157

$12.50

133679

$10.00

122924

$10.00

161678

$9.00

154883

$10.00

154893

$10.00

154894

$10.00

104199

$5.00

161623

$8.00

159178

$10.00

153611

$13.00

160693

$27.00

150673

$66.00

103579

$11.00

152392

$26.00

144107

$11.00

103683

$5.75

144108

$4.25

110755

$5.50

152813

$8.00

147042

$8.50

Retiring Lighthouse Dies

 

Welcome to the April 2023 Creative Card-iology Team Blog Hop! We’re glad you've joined us to check out this month’s cardmaking inspiration featuring some of our favorite retiring products.  You can hop along with us by clicking on the links to my teammates’ blogs toward the bottom of this post.  We always appreciate your feedback, so please let us know you've stopped by and leave a comment.

I love lighthouses and have visited several lighthouses along the east coast on vacation.  My kitchen is full of lighthouse décor – towels and potholders, dishes and several paintings by my father and uncle.  So it’s no surprise that one of my favorite retiring products is the Lighthouse Dies collection.  The coordinating stamp set retired as well, but is now sold out and no longer available.

I used quite a few other retiring products in my card – the Gray Granite ¼” Shimmer Ribbon, the Sun Prints DSP, the Layering Circle Dies, and several of the ink pads.

During one of my online scrolling sessions, I saw a short video by another demonstrator demonstrating a technique for creating a blended ink framed in a circle that I’ve used in this project.  I thought I saved the video to go back and rewatch, but I couldn’t find it again and am unable to give credit to that demonstrator!

Here are the cutting measurements and steps I followed to make this card:

   Night of Navy Card Base – 5 1/2” x 8 1/2”, scored and folded at 4 1/4”

   Gray Granite Layer 1 – 3 7/8” x 5 1/8”

   Sun Prints DSP Layer 2 – 3 3/4” x 5”

   Gray Granite Square Layer 3 – 2 7/8” x 2 7/8”

   Basic White Square Layer 4 – 2 3/4” x 2 3/4”

   Night of Navy Square Layer 5 – 2 3/4” x 2 3/4”

   Basic White Die Cuts (Lighthouse and Sentiment Label) – 2” x 3”

   Small Pieces of Crushed Curry, Real Red and Basic Black for Lighthouse Pieces

   Gray Granite ¼” Shimmer Ribbon –  one 4 3/4” long and one 3 3/4” long

Die cut lighthouse pieces and sentiment label from Basic White, Basic Black, Crushed Curry and Real Red cardstock.

2.      Using a 2 1/2” circle die from the Layering Circles Dies collection, die cut a circle from the center of the Night of Navy Square Layer 5 and from the center of a 3”x3” sticky note. 

3.      Tear a second sticky note to form an uneven edge.

4.      Layer square sticky note with circle cut from center over the Basic White Square Layer 4.

5.      Beginning at bottom of circle, blend ink in layers along edge of torn sticky note using blending brushes in the following order: Gray Granite, Pool Party, Pacific Point, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry, So Saffron, Balmy Blue, Night of Navy.

6.      Stamp sentiment on die cut label in Night of Navy ink.

7.      Adhere DSP Layer 2 to Gray Granite Layer 1.

8.      Adhere the Night of Navy Square Layer 5 over the Basic White Square Layer 4, lining up the blended ink circle and the Night of Navy circle frame.

9.      Adhere this matted square to the Gray Granite Square Layer 3 and then adhere this square mat to the DSP matted layer centering top-to-bottom and side-to-side.

10.  Adhere one end of the Gray Granite ribbon to the back of the matted layers directly under the square framed layer, bring the other end around to and across the front, and adhere the end to the back of the matted layers.

11.  Adhere matted layers to card front.

12.  Adhere the lighthouse pieces with mini glue dots as shown.

13.  Place Stampin’ Dimensionals on the back of the right end of the sentiment label and one mini glue dot on the back of the left end of the sentiment label and adhere the sentiment label to the card front.

14.  Slide the remaining piece of ribbon underneath the left end of the ribbon already attached to the card front and tie a knot.  Trim as needed.

I hope you enjoyed this project!  There’s only a few more days to order retiring products.  The new catalog goes live on May 4^th!  You can check out the Last Chance products here.

Don’t forget to check out my teammates’ blogs by clicking on the links below!

Bonnie's Blog

Diana's Blog

Jessica's Blog

Product List

158906

$34.00

151770

$35.00

158790

$12.00

121045

$9.25

159276

$10.25

131199

$9.25

146983

$9.25

102482

$9.25

147105

$8.00

147101

$8.00

147087

$8.00

147118

$8.00

147110

$8.00

147098

$8.00

147107

$8.00

147109

$8.00

152463

$7.00

153611

$12.50

150673

$63.00

152392

$25.00

103683

$5.25

104430

$4.25

152813

$8.00