Best of 2017

It's a time of reflection...especially with below zero temperatures here in Wisconsin keeping us inside, and I decided to look back at my top ten Lily Ink Pad designs of the year.  I hope you enjoy looking back as much as I do. 

Pick #10 Neon Embossing Paste

I love color. This paste was so easy to use in this way with stunning results. 

Pick #9  Wild About a Little One

I love this little elephant and making this card was so much fun! Clean and simple.

Pick #8 Ghosting Glasses

This card is so bright and cheerful. I love that Glossy Paper is back and I loved trying a new technique. These glasses are so much fun. 

Pick #7 Colored Embossing Paste on Designer Series Paper

I love the Delightful Daisy stamp set and combining it with the Berry Burst colored Embossing Paste was a perfect combination. The card practically made itself. 

Pick #6 Color Drop

This one was so much fun to make. I went out of my comfort zone with the colors and messiness, but the end result is fun and eye-catching.

Pick 5: Flying Piggy

Who knew I would love a pink pig so much? Not me! The Stampin' Blends were easy to use on this piggy and I love the background I created along with my favorite saying, "She believed she could, so she did." 

Pick #4  A Shirt Pocket

I feel so smart about making the card. Such fun to create and I love the pocket!

Pick #3 Share the love

Pure Genius. That's my opinion of the artists at Stampin' Up! for designing such a lovely set for the Ronald McDonald House Charities Stamp Set. 

Pick #2 Love as Art

I love the saying, the heart, and especially the background. I impressed myself with this one!

Pick #1 Quilted Autumn

I love quilts. I love the colors of autumn. I love fun folds. I love sunflowers and acorns. 

Happy New Year!

Sara

The VERY FIRST My Inky Friends Design Challenge

How cool is that? My Inky Friends and I have started something new-- a monthly design challenge. On each fourth Friday of the month (this month is the exception) a new challenge will post on the My Inky Friends Blog and I will also post my creation here! You can play along at any time, but if you want to be in the contest, then you need to post your creation within two weeks. Our design team will vote and announce the next week! 

Between challenges, we will still have monthly blog hops on the second weekend for even more inspiration! 


Our inspiration always comes from Stampin' Up! As demonstrators, the best ideas, newest products, and trendy designs are accessible to us. But, they are also accessible to customers via the catalogs. So, our challenge gains inspiration from a page of a current catalog. Our first challenge comes from page 63 of the 2017-2018 Annual Catalog and is a sketch challenge. 

Great sketch and card, huh? Well, here's mine:

I chose to play with my new stuff that you can purchase from the 2018 Occasions catalog after it goes live 3rd. This stamp set and the glimmer paper is part of the Myths and Magic Suite. Magical Day includes a dragon, a unicorn, a wizard, a knight and this mermaid. I love this set and can't stop creating with it! 

That background is pretty cool, too! I used a new product called  Brusho Crystal Color. Its a fine powder that you can use to watercolor. I've just started exploring and it is quite fun! To color the Mermaid, I used Brusho, too. I just added layers of darker color using my aquapainter! I am in love. I also added a little extra glimmer with some Clear Wink of Stella. 

The ribbon is a Sale-a-bration item. In the Shimmer Ribbon Pack, you get 3 shimmery ribbon spools--a Basic Gray 1/4" wide, Bermuda Bay 1/8" wide, and Calypso Coral 3/8" wide-- all for FREE with a $50 purchase. It's a perfect way to add accents to your cards! 

For my layers, I used the light green Myths and Magic Glimmer Paper along with a piece of Glossy White. It's pretty cool to see in person. 

Here is the inside:

I added a strip of glimmer and some seahorses. I used my aquapainter to add a little blue to the horses.

If you want to purchase these products, you'll have to wait until January 3rd. Keep your wish list handy!

Happy Stamping!

Sara

A Scrappy Snow Chum

One of things I've been trying (and often failing) to do is use up scraps after designing. Each card usually has a few things here or there that were rejected and today's card features one of them.

Is that little snow guy cute? You'll notice he looks just like the previous card I posted. He, however, played hide and seek and stamped a new one. Once found, he made his way to this card. 

The element that was "left over" was a strip of the snowflakes out of red glimmer paper. I had tried red and black on this card, but went with gold instead. One of the snowflakes had an issue. Ok, I'll admit it, I ripped it in half accidentally, so I cut them off of the strip. I then thought of the black and white of the Merry Music Speciality Designer Paper and Voila'! a background. I used a Shimmery White piece for the snow hill and added my little long lost snowman. Quick, cute, and it looks like I planned it this way all along!

What have you created with your scraps? 

Happy Stamping!

Sara

Merry Christmas 2017

Today is Christmas Day. Kids are opening Santa presents. Families are eating feasts. Carolers are singing. Trees are being admired. Snowballs are flying. At least I hope these traditions are alive! 

Here is a card I designed using the Seasonal Chums Stamp Set. I adore these little snowpeople. 

With the seasonal chums stamp the coordinating Framelits, you get two images for the price of one! I simply drew a face on the second one! Cute and fun.

I used Whisper White Shimmer Paper for the snow, snowflakes and snowpeople. I also added a bit of Wink of Stella for added glamour to the Snowpeople. The banner was punched with the Duet Banner Punch out of Sahara Sand and I stamped the "Merry Christmas" in Night of Navy. The Softly Falling Embosisng Folder provided a textured background in Pool Party. The Stampin' Up! Blends add deep, rich colors.

Happy Stamping! Sara

An Elegant Christmas

Today is Bake-a-palooza for my sister, neice, mom, and I. We are attacking an enormous list of holiday goodies to blast them out of my tiny apartment kitchen in one day, So, it got me in the holiday mood, so I thought I'd write a post over my morning coffee. 

Here is an elegant card that was very popular at my last event:

I'm not a glitzy person, but there is something beautiful about black and gold. 

I used the Merry Music Speciality Designer Series Paper for the background on a Basic Black base. I stamped the Sentiment on Basic Black and embossed in Gold. I used the Stitched Oval Framelit on mine, so I had room to add some flair with the whisps. The snowflakes are from the Swirly Snowflakes Thinlits and are cut from the Gold Foil Paper. My ribbon accent is the Basic Black Shimmer Ribbon. 

Inside, I used the Gold Embossing Powder for a sentiment and some snowflakes from the Snowflake Sentiments Stamp Set. I gave mine away before I got a picture of it, sorry!

Happy Stamping!

Sara

A Quilted Christmas Tree

Sometimes, some stamps get neglected in a Stampin' Up! set. I mean, they are all amazing, but some draw a designer's eye more than others. Today's card features an image I wanted to use, but those quilt framelits called me first. 

The tree was very easy to stamp because of the Photopolymer Stamps. I found it easy to stamp the green and then the red to get both patterns in a full tree. I added a little Gold Enamel Star for the toppper. The Real Red background was embossed with the Quilt Top Textured Embossing Folder. 

The Quilted Christmas Stamp set and  Designer Series Paper are only available until the end of December and are a part of the Year End Sales Event and will not be available after January 2. 

I love this traditional Christmas Suite. 

Happy Stamping! Sara

Inky Friends Blog Hop: Blending a Year of Cheer

Welcome to the February stop of the Inky Friends Blog Hop called Blending a Year of Cheer. We are celebrating how AWESOME Stampin' Blends alcohol markers are for coloring any project you wish. 

You may have come from Sarah's January Projects or you could be traveling backwards from Staci's March Projects. Either way, keep clicking onward or backward in a big loop of blogs. We have a full year for you!

I decided to make some fun, nontraditional Valentine's first.

I just love that pig. I used the Pink Pirouette Light and Dark Blends. I outlined the image in the dark and then filled in with the light. I also added a little Light Crumb Cake on his rump. I also added some light Pool Party around the pig for depth and added Dark Old Olive and Dark Crumb Cake for the ground. Inside, I added a hand-drawn heart for fun.  I kept the background simple to accent the pig better. 

My next card is just as cute. 

Such a cute pig. I colored it the exact same way. I tried to leave light in patches. It's a skill I'm not great at, but practice makes perfect! This is practice, not perfection. I added some stamped lip prints in a diagonal to draw the eye and also added a border to my card inside of the same. I added the little burlap and enamel heart for some playfulness. 

On my next card, I tried a technique:

I used my markers to color a rough background. I spritzed a my Clear Block F with rubbing alcohol. I then pressed it on the colored cardstock, which allowed the colors to blend into the background and the strokes disappeared. Also, some light and dark patches appeared making the background watercolor-y. I fussy cut the pig and the clouds, and added them with dimensions. Inside, I finished the sentiment and added some fun clouds. 

My final project is a gift.

I used this wooden piece I bought at the craft store. I stamped directly on the wood and then colored. While the marker was wet, I could smear it, but once it was dry, it is permanent. To get multiple flowers, I used washi tape to cover the pig and then inked up the stamp. I removed the tape and then stamped. No other black ink appeared. I also added some pearls for some texture. The distressed part was already a part of the piece. How cute. 

Well, are you ready for more projects? Click Next to visit Staci's March projects or click Previous to see Sarah's January Projects. Happy viewing!

 

Happy Stamping!

Sara

Just Breathe ....

That's been my motto this school year. My students are challenging as usual, but I also know more than I did 19 years ago, so work harder to fix it. I also have a new 6th grade homeroom of go-gettters. They are so sweet and hard working. They took on the challenge of doing daily video announcements for the school. So, they do the research, the recording, and the producing and I do the editing. My perfectionism has contributed to hours of fun editing and creating graphics--things I love to do, but usually do with my stamping Hopefully by the end of January, they will edit, too, but until then I added to my work load. You can see their work at my MattsonMath you tube channel.  It's entertaining to say the least. 

In addition, I spent a lot of the annual Deer Season here in the woods. WOW. It did wonders for my soul. I did a bit of healing over the pain of the last few years since the fire, and just relaxed. I now have the energy to tackle December! Thanks to my dad and nephew for hunting with me. 

Ok, back to stamping and the real reason you are here. Check out this card:

The eclipse technique has been all the rage this fall, especially using a product I don't own-the large Letter Framelits. (I know, really, something I haven't bought?). I pictured this card in my head long before I designed it and I like it. I used the Seasonal Layers Thinlits for the Eclipsed leaves. I love the dimension. It made me think of being the woods when the leaves were falling. I used the rock and roll technique on the stamped leaves and I also sponged a little crumb cake in a diagonal from top left to bottom right--although it's hard to tell. It just added a little more dimension. I also wink of stella-ed the leaves for a more shine. 

An easy, yet very beautiful card! 

Oh, yeah. Stampin' Up! is having a sale. Since some items from the Holiday Catalog will no longer be available, they have put some on sale and some they are just letting you know. You can get the details here:

My favorites Smitten Mitten and the Quilt Bundle are on the list!

Also the Watercolor Christmas Kit is on sale! What a deal!

Happy Stamping!

Sara