Coming Home to a Happy New Year!

 2021!! It's a brand new year, and one that so many of us hope and pray will be so much better than the last one. So from my home to yours, I wish you a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

All supplies available from Stampin' Up!:

Stamp set: Coming Home (#153500)

Card stock: Whisper White Thick (#140272)

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black (#132708)

Accessories: Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine (#149653)

Home Together Dies (#153515)

Trimming the Town Designer Series Paper (#153491)

Tasteful Labels Dies (#152886)

Stampin' Blends Combo Packs: Real Red (#154899)

                                                    Old Olive (#154892)

                                                       Soft Suede (#154906)

Snowflake Sequins (#150443)

Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430)

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Kathryn

P.S. If you need anything from the August-December 2020 Mini Catalog, Monday, January 4th is the last day! Go to https://www.stampinup.com and place your order. (I would appreciate it if you listed me (Kathryn Whittaker) as your demonstrator too.) And the new January-June 2021 Mini Catalog goes live on January 5th, 2021, so stay posted for some fun new samples from that catalog! If you want a catalog, and don't already have a demonstrator, please let me know and I can get one to you.

Thanks!

Oops! A Birthday Jubilee card!

I made a card toward the very end of the 2019-2020 catalog sales period, and promptly forgot to post it!!! Now the stamp set (Birthday Jubilee) and die set (Jubilee Beauty) is retired and you can't get it anymore, but I want to share with you anyway, just in case you already have it! I love this set, and am so sad that it didn't carry over.

Here is my card:

All supplies available from Stampin' Up!:

Stamp set: Birthday Jubilee (retired)

Ink pads: Coastal Cabana (Item #147097)

Basic Gray (Item #149165)

Memento Tuxedo Black (Item #132708)

Card stock: Coastal Cabana (Item #131297)

Daffodil Delight (Item #119683)

Granny Apple Green (Item #146990)

Whisper White Thick (Item #140272)

Accessories: Jubilee Beauty Dies (retired)

Lovely Labels Pick-A-Punch (Item #152883)

Stampin' Blends: Flirty Flamingo Combo Pack (Item #154884)

Granny Apple Green Combo Pack (Item #154885)

Daffodil Delight Combo Pack (Item #154883)

Iridescent Sequin Assortment (retired)

Stampin' Dimensionals (Item #104430)

I love this die set. It cuts a couple detailed, delicate pieces that are like  "Papel Picado" banner pieces. I cut two of the same piece and placed them together underneath the birthday greeting. Then I colored the floral swag with my Stampin' Blends alcohol markers, and stamped the greeting with Basic Gray on the label that I had punched out with the brand-new "Lovely Labels Pick-A-Punch". It can cut 6 different tag ends (two designs in 3 different widths)! It is amazing!

Anyway, I hope you like my card...even though the stamps and dies are retired. It can still give you ideas to use with other stamps and dies.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I truly appreciate you visiting. Please leave a comment if there is something you would like to see me use.

Kathryn

Just a little prep for OnStage later on this week

Just thought I would show you a little of the prep work I have been doing for the Stampin' Up! local version of our convention called OnStage for this coming Saturday. I will be heading down to Las Vegas with many of my stampin' demonstrator friends and we will be having a stamping good time!

A bunch of us have got an Air-B-n-B that we will be staying in, and my roomies and I have made our own little door signs so that the other demonstrators know who is staying in our room. We are going to be having a party with a luau theme, so we thought that flip-flops would be appropriate for our door signs.

Here is my door sign:

All supplies are from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise specified:

Stamp sets: none

Ink Pads: none

Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, and Calypso Coral

Accessories: Petal Passion Designer Series Paper (retired), 

Stampin' Blends Alcohol Markers (assorted colors, light and dark),

Medium Daisy Punch,

Glimmer Brad (retired)

Foam Adhesive Strips

Super Sharpie (Black)

I hand-traced the flip-flop shape onto the back of the patterned paper, cut it out, and then colored it with my Stampin' Blends Alcohol Markers. Then I layered it onto some Basic Black cardstock and trimmed it out with a black edge. I made the little black strap across the "top", and cut out 3 of the medium daisy punch shapes. I attached them together with the glimmer brad and attached them to the black strap part. I hand-lettered my name in pencil and then traced over it with a black sharpie marker. I cut it out, and then layered it on some basic black cardstock and cut it out again. I then mounted it on to some Foam Adhesive Strips and attached it to the "flip flop".

I will post my swap cards after OnStage, so I hope you come back to see those later!

Thanks for stopping by,

Kathryn

Life is so Much Better!

Recently I finally broke out my "Petal Palette" stamp set. I know, I know. It seems like everyone has this stamp set and had stamped the living daylights out of it. And I have loved all the things that I have seen. But it seems that when there is a really popular stamp set and I own it also, I just have a harder time coming up with things to make using it. But I have finally put ink to rubber and made a card. And I must say that I love how it turned out!

Take a look:

 All supplies used are from Stampin' Up!:

Stamp Set: Petal Palette

Inks: Blushing Bride, Night of Navy, Emerald Envy (oops, this one is now retired), 

StaZon Jet Black Ink, Daffodil Delight

Card Stock: Blushing Bride, Night of Navy, Whisper White

Accessories: Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Blender Pens, 

Watercolor Pencils (Melon Mambo only), Whisper White & Silver Baker's Twine, 

Dimensionals

On the rose images I used a blender pen with the Blushing Bride ink. I then used the Melon Mambo Watercolor Pencil on the inner edge of the rose images. It gives the roses depth and shadow. You can see it better on the close-up image, I think. Aren't they pretty!!

I hope you know how much better life is with YOU in it! I appreciate you stopping by to visit my little blog, and I hope you come back again soon!

Thanks,

Kathryn

Coloring and Birthday Blooms

I know that I have mentioned this before, but...I LOVE to color! And I also love flowers, so naturally, the Birthday Blooms stamp set would be a natural choice for me to use when I wanted to do a bit of coloring with Stampin' Up!'s Watercolor Pencils. I thought it would be a good choice to show my process as well. Now, I do not have experience with making videos, so I just did a photo tutorial to share with you.

Here is my finished card, and the process photos will follow:

 All supplies are from Stampin' Up!:

Stamp Set: Birthday Blooms

Inks: StazOn Jet Black Ink

Card stock: Soft Sky, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, Vellum Card Stock

Accessories: Big Shot, Lots of Labels Framelits Dies, 

Springtime Foils Specialty Designer Series Paper (retired), 

Stampin' Up Watercolor Pencils, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Dimensionals

The first three colors that I used were: Calypso Coral, Real Red, and Rich Razzleberry, in that order. 

First, I colored the main flower completely with Calypso Coral (except for the little center parts of the flower).

 Then I used Real Red to start the shading process. I started at the bottom of each petal, and then colored going up the petal, but not going all the way to the top, trying to be the darkest at the bottom of the petal.

 In order to make the shadow part of the flower even darker, but not by using the black pencil, I decided to use the Rich Razzleberry pencil at the very base of the petals, and the centermost of the flower (except for the little center knobby parts that will be colored yellow). I followed this same process on the 3 smaller flower buds.

 There are three twigs that I colored with Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, and Old Olive. The stems I used the Early Espresso on, and the leaves I colored first with Daffodil Delight, then added some Old Olive to give them some more color and depth. (It is a little hard to see. Sorry!) I also colored the center, sticky part of the flower (the stigma) with the Daffodil Delight pencil. (I looked up the name.)

 The larger leaves I colored using the following colors: Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, and Early Espresso.

I followed the same pattern as with the flowers. Lighter overall color (Old Olive), followed by a darker layer at the base of the leaves to show shadow.

I used a darker layer of Old Olive, but also added a little bit of Pacific Point, and some Early Espresso to give depth. I also added a little bit of Daffodil Delight toward the ends of the leaves to give variety. I tried to blend the colors together really well so that they didn't look blotchy.

And there you have it...my finished coloring of the flower image. What do you think?  Leave me a comment if you have any tips for me.

 To finish off the card, I "fussy-cut" the image out, along with die-cutting the largest label from "Lots of Labels" framelits dies using my Big Shot. I stamped the birthday greeting using Staz-On ink because the label is cut out of the heavy vellum (a card stock vellum) and Stampin' Up!'s classic ink would not dry quite as fast... I also glued a little bit of Dazzling Diamonds to the stigma part of the flower to give it a little bit of sparkle.

I love how this card turned out! I hope you do too!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you again soon!

Kathryn

A Magical Day is One of a Kind

I have been wanting to make a card using the unicorn from the "Magical Day" set ever since I bought it. I happen to know some young people who love unicorns, and pegasus (or is it "pegasi"?), and I wanted to make something with them in mind. Plus, I got to do a little coloring on it. (I love to color!)

This is one of my favorite kinds of folds to use. It is called a Z-fold card. You fold it in half, just like you would a regular card, and then the front half you fold in half again, back on itself. If you look at it from the bottom cut end, it looks like a Z, but with a long foot on the bottom. Take a look:

All supplies are from Stampin' Up!:

Stamp set: Magical Day

Card stock: Pink Pirouette, Daffodil Delight, Lemon-Lime Twist, Whisper White

Inks: Archival Basic Black, Versamark

Accessories: Myths and Magic Specialty Designer Series Paper,

Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Magical Mates Framelits, Petal Pair Textured Impressions Embossing Folder,

Stampin' Write Markers: Berry Burst, Pink Pirouette, Daffodil Delight, Lemon-Lime Twist, 

Pool Party,

Iridescent Sequin Assortment, Fine-Tip Glue Pen, Stampin' Emboss Powder (White), Heat Gun, Wink of Stella (Clear), Dimensionals

I hope you all remember that YOU are one of a kind, and that I wouldn't be doing this little blog without all of you. I appreciate all of you so much, and hope you continue to visit me here. Have a wonderful day!

Thanks for stopping by,

Kathryn

You Are So Beautiful To Me (Just Add Text)

Being an adult is hard sometimes, when there are things you want to do other than be responsible. I mean, I would rather stay home and stamp instead of going to work all day. Do you feel that way too sometimes?

But I can still stamp and make things. It just takes me longer to get things finished. And if I am trying to participate in a blog challenge, well, it just doesn't alway happen on time. This is the case with this card. I finished it, but not in time to participate. But still, I got it done, and here it is!!

All supplies are from Stampin' Up!:

Stamp set: Just Add Text

Inks: Archival Basic Black

Card stock: Whisper White Thick, Pool Party, Blushing Bride, Vellum Card stock 

Accessories: Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies, Layering Ovals Framelits Dies, Leaf Punch, Springtime Foils Specialty DSP (retired), 3/8" Metallic-edge Ribbon: Silver, 

Stampin' Write Markers: Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride, Pool Party, Daffodil Delight,

Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Dimensionals

I was wanting to participate in the card challenge over on tgif challenges last week, but I just didn't get a chance to get my card done in time. I am going to try again this week...because, face it, something is better than nothing. Right?!

The challenge was to make a card with the theme of "Random Acts of Kindness", and I thought that this card was perfect for that. I mean, who wouldn't want to be told they are beautiful! And I think I have some people in mind to give these cards to. (I made 4 of them, so I can be scattering kindness all over the place!)

I hope you are all having a wonderful day, and thanks for stopping by!

Kathryn

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a birthday the other day, and in my husband's cute way, he said, "Do you have a birthday card that I could use?" Well, of course, I had many cards...some of them were even birthday cards! But I had an idea in my head that I wanted to make. And I get to keep this card, because my husband will write something lovely inside it that will be just for me. That is the best thing about making cards. Not the beautiful or funny images that might be on the front, but the love that is inside, that comes from the heart of the person that gives it.

That being said, here is MY birthday card:

 All supplies are from Stampin' Up!:

Stamp set: Hello Color

Card stock: Soft Sky, Wisteria Wonder, Thick Whisper White, Basic Black

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories: Big Shot, Happy Birthday Thinlits; Stitched Shapes Framelits; Stampin' Blends Alcohol Markers: Pool Party Light, Pool Party Dark, Old Olive Light, Crumb Cake Light; 

Iridescent Sequin Assortment; Dimensionals

Even though my birthday has come and gone, I can't wait to read what my husband writes in my card. It will be epic!

Thanks for stopping by,

Kathryn

Remarkable You Friendship card

I love to color. Whether it is with colored pencils, watercolors, or blender pens, just put a pen, pencil, or paintbrush in my hand and I am a happy camper! The card that I am showing you today, I used a blender pen and a puddle of ink in my inkpad lids to bring some lovely color to a beautiful Magnolia blossom. The stamp set that it comes from is called "Remarkable You" and it has some wonderful images for coloring. This one I used a kind of sketchy design to color it in, because my blender pen was not the most "moist". (It might be time to get some new ones! LOL!)

Take a look at my card:

All supplies are from Stampin' Up!:

Stamp sets: Remarkable You, and Watercolor Wings (greeting)

Ink Pads: Powder Pink, Berry Burst, Early Espresso, Lemon-Lime Twist

Card stock: Powder Pink, Whisper White, Early Espresso

Accessories: Big Shot, Polka Dot Basics Embossing Folder, Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies, Flourish Thinlits Dies, Blender Pens, Classic Label Punch, Dimensionals

A close-up:

Do you like to color? Let me know. Maybe I can do more coloring and watercoloring to show here.

Thanks for stopping by,
Kathryn

Cookie Cutter Christmas Card with Tin of Tags

10 days and counting down! Christmas is getting closer and closer!

I love the Cookie Cutter Christmas stamp set! Santa, reindeer, gingerbread man, teddy bear, and this cute little guy, an eskimo! Isn't he adorable!? I also used the Tin of Tags stamp set that coordinates with the Tin of Tags Project Kit. The greeting and the big snowflake in the background are from it. I  used the Cookie Cutter Builder Punch to punch out the little eskimo. So EASY! Love it! And I colored it using a blender pen and my ink pads. That cute little red heart is one of the shapes punched out by the Cookie Cutter Builder Punch too.

 All supplies are available from Stampin' Up!:

Stamp sets: Cookie Cutter Christmas (#142043), Tin of Tags (#142180)

Inks: StazOn Jet Black (#101406), Real Red (#126949), Island Indigo (#126986),

Crumb Cake (#126975), Blushing Bride (#131172)

Card stock: Whisper White Thick (#140272), Real Red (#102482)

Accessories: Cookie Cutter Builder Punch (#140396), Rhinestone Basic Jewels (#119246), Dimensionals (#104430), Blender Pens (#102845)

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope everyone is about ready for Christmas, or whatever holiday you might be celebrating at this festive time of year!

See you soon,
Kathryn

Merry Mice are Decking the Halls

I love to color! Whether I am using an aqua brush and paints, or my blender pens, or my Prismacolor Pencils, I am one happy camper if I can be coloring an image. I have a few coloring books, but one of my favorite things to color are the images in my stamp sets. This set is called "Merry Mice" and it has 3 images that are just adorable and so fun to color. On these three little cuties, I used my blender pen and my ink pad lids with a little ink smooshed on to it to color them.

All supplies are from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise specified:

Stamp set: Merry Mice (#142145)

Inks: StazOn Jet Black (#101406), Dapper Denim (#141394), Cherry Cobbler (#1269660, Cucumber Crush (#138324), Crushed Curry (#131173), Crumb Cake (#126975), Blushing Bride (#131172), Smoky Slate (#131179)

Card stock: Crumb Cake (#120953), Whisper White Thick (#140272)

Accessories: Blender Pens (#102845), Warmth & Cheer Designer Series Paper Stack (#141991), 

Metallic Foil Doilies (#138392), 5/8" Burlap Ribbon (#141487), Dimensionals (#104430)

These little mice are so cute! When I saw this stamp set for the very first time, I just knew that I was going to be getting it! I hope you like it too!

Thanks for stopping by,

Kathryn

Basket of Wishes Thankful Card #GDP060

My husband needed a couple of thank you cards this week, so I gladly obliged him by making some for him with one of my newest stamp sets, Basket of Wishes, by Stampin' Up! I love this cute stamp set, full of fun, different types of baskets, and the fun stuff you could put in them. I love the different kinds of greetings you could add to them as well: birthday, thankful for you, and a couple of friendship-type greetings as well.

As you can see, I made these cards out to be thankful-for-you-type cards. I love coloring the images in this set. With it being Autumn, I decided to use the big sunflowers floral basket. I colored the image in using my Stampin' Up! blender pens, then cut out the basket image and popped it up with dimensionals. Love it!

All supplies are from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted:

Stamp Set: Basket of Wishes

Card Stock: Whisper White Thick, Crumb Cake

Inks: Jet Black StazOn, Crumb Cake, Delightful Dijon, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke, Smoky Slate

Accessories: Serene Scenery Designer Series Paper Stack, Blender Pens, Paper Snips, Dimensionals

As you can see, it was a pretty clean and layered card, which is what I was going for. Because this card was inspired by the amazing designer over on global-design-project.com , Brian King. Here is the challenge graphic:

I hope you go over and check out the other designer's cards, as well as those playing along in the challenge. Oh...and leave some comment love! We all love it, and hope you enjoy our efforts, as well!

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathryn