Suzanne's Stamping Garden

  Last month, I celebrated my 5-year anniversary with Stampin' Up! Those years just flew by! I'm hoping for another five years so let me know if you would like a catalog or would like to place an order! Thank you! Suzanne

  Sometimes the card-making juju just hits at just the right time. You start making a card and everything seems to fall into place. I had one of those days while creating this card! Please click on the card to appreciate the details! All of the products I mention are Stampin' Up! You can find them on my website, the link is below. I chose a splotched background from the Dainty Flowers DSP that was a free option during SaleABration. My card layers include Crushed Curry 131199 and Mossy Meadow 133676. From the Queen Bee cling stamp set there is a stamp of word gibberish that I stamped onto the background using Crumb Cake ink 147116. The circle with the Bee Hive embossed was a retired embossing folder from Stampin' Up! Also from the Crushed Curry I used the dies that came with the set to add three hive outlines to the card front (the third one is layered onto the bee hive circle. Sentiments are stamped onto Very Vanilla cardstock 101650. with Black Momento ink 132708. Crown and he...

  Not too long ago, adult coloring books were all the rage. Most of the books are too large to color and use as card fronts, but if the designs are abstract enough, you could trim it up to make it work. Recently I ordered some magnetic sheets to fit my dies inside of their respective stamp set cases. They were ordered from Honey Bee Stamps. Inside my order was a 'thank you for your order' post card and I decided to color it. Below is the end result - using Stampin' Blends markers, it really brightened up the card! So on days when you aren't feeling particularly creative, try old-fashioned coloring instead. The results can be stunning! Happy Stamping, Suzanne

The few Valentine cards made this year went out the door early last week, as did the Cupid Care Packages I shipped my two daughters. I was inspired by an envelope Angie Pyjas created. Using some retired designer series paper, this envelope holds three Ghirardelli chocolates. I have to say I wasn't thrilled with the colors for the January Paper Pumpkin. Peach, purple and pink. UGH. So I didn't make any of the Valentines as designed and created some alternatives. (at least this month didn't have the usual treat bags for Valentine's day!) Hopefully your Valentine's Day went well! Corey and I celebrated Taco Tuesday at Cafe Corazon. Very delicious! Happy Stamping! Suzanne

  Change can be hard, especially the older we get. But I'm loving the new change with the January - April Mini Catalog. The nicest change at Stampin' Up! is that the dies now are named to match the stamp set it goes with! Prior to this, the dies may have had a similar name but it didn't match 100% as it is now. For instance, I just finished a large project and class using Two Toned Flora stamp set, with the Two Toned Flora matching dies. Because there are no words with that stamp set, I also used the Something Fancy stamp set and matching Something Fancy dies. And the matching DSP (designer series paper) is called Fancy Flora. Another nice change is allowing us to choose between cling or photopolymer stamps with several stamp sets in the January through April Mini Catalog. In the above example on page 18 of the Mini, if you zoom in on the pricing information at the bottom, you will notice that there are two numbers for the stamp set - C for Cling and P for Photopolymer. You...

  If you are like me, you save some of your bigger scraps of paper while making cards. I also save my strips of white and ivory papers in case I need to stamp a saying. There is a business size envelope on my craft desk and as I cut down my papers, I tuck the strips inside. Well! My envelope of strips is now overflowing, so I decided to use them as a background. I was inspired by HGTV - the trend of having shiplap decorative walls...so I have shiplap on my card background! You can glue or tape your strips any direction--let them overlap your base until you are done.  Once you are done, flip the base over so you can see the base and put it in your trimmer to trim the overlap around each of the four edges. In this example, I used the Fancy Flora stamp set (160844) to add some colorful flowers and leaves with a birthday sentiment.  https://www.stampinup.com/products/two-tone-flora-photopolymer-stamp-set?demoid=2187995 Come join me for a Fancy Flora class this weekend! We wi...

 The holiday decorations are put away (almost all of them!) and I needed six thank you cards so I could write out thank you notes for holiday gifts I received. So I pulled out an older technique--using reinkers and acetate. So first, pull out those old overhead projector sheets you have in the depths of your desk drawer! Alternatively, if you do not have any, they can be ordered on my website https://www.stampinup.com/products/window-sheets?demoid=2187995 For space purposes, I cut my sheet in half. To one side of one sheet, add drops of color from your favorite reinker bottles. I like to use an odd number and chose three colors.   Lay the other half of the acetate sheet on top of the sheet you just added ink to. Watch the magic happen! You can drag your finger across the dots to drag the ink into other open areas. Separate your two acetate sheets and then lay your paper on top. I had some white cardstock cut into 4X5 1/4" rectangles. Allow your inked cardstock time to tho...