Flourishing Leaves

The three leaf branches on this card are cut using Flourish Thinlit dies. Then it's just a matter of taping them down layering the pieces.

Heat Emboss with a Flourish

I used that same Flourish from Flourishing Phrases to make this card, stamping with VersaMark ink, heat embossing with white embossing powder. Then I used a sponge and Flirty Flamingo at the base of the card and Peek-a-boo Peach above that to give some color to the background and pop the embossed image. Then stamped some flowers and leaves from the same stamp set and fussy cut them and adhered them along with a small die cut flower from Flourish Thinlit dies to the corner of the card. Then added a small banner with my sentiment.

Some More Flourish Magic

This card uses the large Flourish stamp again stamping with black ink and then using markers (Watermelon Wonder, Tempting Turquoise and Cucumber Crush used here) to color the design. A great way to make your own designer background. The phrase comes from the same stamp set.
And since you have made your own design focus you can carry it through to the inside.

The expression in this set has a lot of general phrases that can be followed with more specific sentiments also included in the set. Everything from Congrats, Just a Note, Hello, Thanks to Sympathy. A really great assortment of stamps!

Flourish with White Gel Pen

For this card I used the stamp from the Flourishing Phrases stamp set and staz-on ink. Then I grabbed my white gel pen and filled in all the leaves and flowers. Add the two die cut flowers and some pearls, a sentiment if you want and you have a very classy card.

Flourish Bundle

I wanted to share my favorite new bundle in the Annual Stampin Up catalog. I call it the Flourish bundle because it's comprised of the Flourishing Phrases stamp set and the Flourish Thinlits die.
This card uses both the stamp set and the thinlits. This coordinating product is slightly different in that the thinlits to not match up to any of the stamps as framelits but they do share the design style.O I like the delicate look of the thinlits, and especially like the strip of white I cut with thinlit and layered under the banner sentiment.
 I was in need of a simple anniversary sentiment so that came from another stamp set. But this stamp set has some really great expressions, too. Check back this week to see more cards I've made using this bundle.

Vellum Spider Web

I used plain vellum and my spider web embossing folder to make this background. Then pulled some black and gray ribbon, layered the sponged and stamped image and it's done! You can't see it in this photo but I applied dabs of the Fine-Tip glue to the eyes. This is the replacement for Crystal Effects; it dries clear and is not tacky. But you do have to allow for dry time. I do that step last and then set the card far away from my work space so I don't disturb it for at least 30 minutes.

Pinterest Inpsired

There are so many cute cards on Pinterest. This card uses that retired Googly Ghouls set again but wouldn't it be fun to use the Cookie Cutter Halloween set in the new Holiday catalog!
I wound up making four card like this because cut 4x5-1/4 inch rectangles, embossed them and then cut them into 1 inch strips.

Boo!

Here's another quick layout that was easy to make with an alphabet die and my Big Shot. The stamps come from a retired set I have but the new Holiday catalog has lots of sets that you could substitute:  Spooky Fun and Sweet Home for example.

A Swirly Halloween

I used the stamps and coordinating thinlits in the Swirly Bird bundle to make this card. The bats and expression come from a couple of retired sets I have. Just a fun card I found on Pinterest.

It's October!

And that means time to share a few Halloween cards. Here's a punch art bat. I used the Owl punch for the body. The branch comes from the Bird Builder punch and the wings were made using oval punch and small circle punch. Then I added some googly eyes from the local craft store. It's Faboolous!

Sailing, Sailing...

 I saw this idea on Pinterest but it wasn't until i make one that I realized how clever this was. You just cut one of the triangles from the Paper Pumpkin kit with the little adhesive tab attached. Then cut off the tab and flip it over using the adhesive strip already on it to make the sailboat. Then cut the triangle down the middle. I did cut a little off one side to make the sails a different size., The largest sail was adhered using a dimesional . All sailboat pieces were adhered to a piece of sponged Marina Mist cardstock. I used a torn sheet of copy paper and repositioned it as I sponged for the wave effect. A little Marina Mist  enamel shape or candy dot was added to the boat.
My biggest challenge was picking the expression. I started with "get well sooner" from the Greatest Greetings, then saw the "Sending Smiles" also in that set.

 Then I spied the "Little Mr. Right" stamp and thought it would make a cute baby card. So, stamped one with it.

 And lastly pulled this retired stamp out to use.

For this card I used the retired tree punch and some gold foil sheet to make the center tree flanked by trees cut from the box paper (a little gold foil cut for tree trunks). The trees were adhered to a piece of white sponged (Emerald Envy and Soft Sky).
After all was done I decided I should have stamped the ground with snow. Oh well!

Gems!

Here I used some of the gem stamps from the July Paper Pumpkin to create a background. I used another one of the tag fronts for the expression and this time added rhinestones to cover up the punched hole. I little of the thick baker's twine and two of the triangular shapes cut from the tag fronts to make the banner. A few more rhinestones scattered on the card and it's finished!

Your Day to Sparkle

Here I used some Elegant Eggplant and Emeral Envy card stock along with circles punched from the Paper Pumpkin box. The expression  and little gem were stamped with VersaMark ink and embossed with gold embossing paper.

Same Sketch, Two Cards

These two card are made using some of the supplies from the July 2016 What a Gem kit.
In the top card I used the prescored paper box paper to make the triangle side box. I just cut the box piece on the score lines. Then added stamped expression and some candy dots.
The bottom card is a layer of embossed white cardstock topped with one half of one of the tags from the kit. There was a prepunched hole in the upper left corner. So I added a gold metallic Enamel heart to cover the hole. Then I used some more of the box paper to punch squares for the gift bags and layered them over slightly larger gold foil squares. The thick baker's twine for the handles was also from the kit. And even the pool party tissue paper that is packaging from the kit was used in the bags.

Star of Light Sparkles

It is a little hard to see in this photo but I used the stardust swirl as a background for this birthday card. The circle image was cut and stamped from one of the tags in the July 2016 What a Gem Paper Pumpkin.
Sometimes Paper Pumpkin is 3-D projects as this Gem kit. The kit made little gem shaped boxes and had lots of tiny gem images and cute little expressions that wen along with those gems.
I stamped one of the tags in the kit and then punched with a circle punch, adhered with a dimensional and added a punched gold foil star.
Next week I'll showcase some more ways I used the kit to make cards as I decided I didn't need all the gem boxes.

It's Not Just for Christmas

Star of Light stamp set can also be sued to make generic cards. Here's a birthday card I made using the stars from that set.
And inside I continued with the slanted layout in my stamping.

Star of Wonder...

This card using the Star of Light bundle. The layered star was made using Red Glimmer paper for the solid star, then layered with filigree star cut out of gold foil sheet and lastly one of the small star framlets used to make the center with gold glimmer paper. I saw a similar card using red foil sheet, gold glimmer and then gold foil as the layering. So pretty either way you choose.
The little stars surrounding were stamped with gold Encore pad using the little triple star stamp from Star of Light bundle.

Star of Light with All Ye Faithful

One of the reasons I decided to order Star of Light stamp set is because I thought it would pair perfectly with last year's All Ye Faithful set. And here's one of the cards I made combining those two set.. The experssion from Star of Light pairs perfectly with the shepherd image from All Ye Faithful.

The second card I made using the two sets, both the card front and inside. I just love the expressions in Star of Light stamp set.

Star of Light Bundle

The last three cards from Judy's Open House use the Star of Light Bundle. This is the bundle I ordered with my bonus coupons on a preorder from the Holiday catalog. (One of the perks for being a demonstator.)
This first card using some of the silver Glitter Ribbon and a rectangular piece of the Fancy Frost Specialty Designer Series Paper. We lightly sponged that paper with Marina Mist ink. The stamped star and expression are from the Star of Light stamp set. This set has great sentiments!

Next up was this beautiful layered star card. The Starlight Thinlits Dies give you lots of options for creating beautiful cards. I've got a few ideas of my own and will be sharing them the rest of this week. For this star we used some Silver Foil paper to cut the solid thinlit. At the same time we ran a piece of Pool Party cardstock through with the largest filigree star thinlit and a piece of Bermuda Bay cardstock using the smallest filigree thinlit. Glue dots were used to attach the filigree stars and a dimensional to attach the foil star to the white cardstock. The expression was stamped using Dapper Denim ink (that's Dapper Denim cardstock for the base).
The little trio of stars were stamped using Pool Party ink. And the final touch a rhinestone in the center of the star. Gorgeous!

The third card we made that day using the Star of Light stamp set. This is so pretty in person, I wish you could see it with your human eyes and not the camera lens. First we stamped the expression just slightly to the left on the white cardstock using Night of Navy ink. Then we stamped the star in the upper left corner. The swirl of stardust was stamped last. It's a beautiful stamp; many were wishing it was sold as a single stamp.
Again some rhinestones were added; one in the center of the star and three scattered in the stardust swirl.