Today's card is another one of my fabulous $2 cards! Somehow I used all the of pink and purple DSP from the Blooms and Bliss DSP pack, but left all the blue and green DSP. So I looked on Pinterest for some interest design ideas of a DSP focus and found a great idea using nested circles. I love the pattern play and coordination of this card. So cute!

Stamps: Dragonfly Dreams
Inks: Island Indigo
Cardstock: Blooms and Bliss DSP; Mint Macaron; Whisper White
Accessories:
Tools: Circle Framelits

Sweet Little Cupcake Girl

Today's challenge was to use something that isn't my first choice. Everyone who knows me, knows I'm not big on the more cutesy papers and stamp sets. I tend to lean towards the geometric or floral patterns. So the Birthday Memories DSP pack is not one of my go-tos. I had some leftover from my paper share, and I challenged myself to use it in some way. I came up with this sweet little cupcake girl card! The little girl framed by cupcakes just begged to be die cut using the Oval Framelits. After creating the focal point of the card, I turned to the fun new embossing paste. In fact, this was the first card I made using the new embossing paste. I added a bit of Blushing Bride ink to the paste to create a fun diamond textured background. After a bit of practice, I've really gotten the hang of the embossing paste. Such a fun new tool!

Stamps: Four You (retired)
Inks: Real Red; Blushing Bride
Cardstock: Real Red; Blushing Bride; Whisper White
Accessories:
Tools: Oval Framelits; Pattern Party Decorative Masks; Embossing Paste

Lift Me Up Peach

Somehow I have a ton of Carried Away DSP left over from Sale-a-Bration. And yet I love this paper! It's just so whimsical with the wonderful hot air balloon patterns. For today's card, I used my Playful Backgrounds Stamp Set to make my basic card base a bit more interesting.

Stamps: Playful Backgrounds; Happy Happenings
Inks: Peekaboo Peach; Watermelon Wonder
Cardstock: Carried Away DSP; Peekaboo Peach; Whisper White
Accessories: Peekaboo Peach Ribbon (retired)
Tools: Triple Banner Punch; Circle Framelits

Faux Patina

Today’s card challenge is a technique! I choose to attempt my hand at the faux patina technique. While this technique is more involved than some others, it's really not that hard to accomplish. I found a great tutorial here.

I ended up with a more colorful background than the card in the tutorial, but I love the peeks of color I get with this card. As I wanted the technique to be the focus of the card, I kept my embellishments to a minimum. I added a simple banner sentiment with coordinating cardstock banner put together with a brad. (Side note: Why did I stop using brads? I love how they look on cards. I need to make a mental note to use them more often...) I ended up sending this to my father-in-law for Father's Day last month. The ladies of stamp club made this in June and I loved seeing the varied results. Some chose a different metal (pewter, copper, or silver), some changed up the background color, and some changed the sentiment. I love when they made the cards their own!

Detail of the heat embossing

Stamps: Pieces and Patterns
Inks: Tranquil Tide; Crumb Cake; Early Espresso; Marina Mist; Wild Wasabi; Pumpkin Pie
Cardstock: Tranquil Tide; Very Vanilla; Kraft
Accessories: random brad
Tools: Hexagons Embossing Folder; Gold Embossing Powder

Work of Hearts

Another fun and simple $2 card for July's classes. I pulled out my much neglected Work of Art Stamp Set and created this two layer card featuring some retired colors. I loved the 2013-2015 In Colors and every once in a while I pull them out to use again!

Stamps: Work of Art; Four You (retired)
Inks: Sweet Sugarplum; Strawberry Slush (retired); Crisp Cantaloupe (retired); Pistachio Pudding (retired); Coastal Cabana (retired)
Cardstock: Strawberry Slush (retired); Whisper White
Accessories:
Tools:

PP352: A Purple Celebration

As part of my monthly challenge, I want to participate in other card challenges I find out in blogland. For today's card, I found this great color challenge at The Paper Players:

I started with this fun piece of ombre DSP out of the Color Theory Stack. I love this design! From there, I pulled out the Cool Treats Stamp Set to make a fun little ice cream cone and sentiment. After laying out my ice cream and sentiment banner, I needed some shine or shimmer. Metallic foil doilies to the rescue! The big gold doily was perfect to layer behind the sentiment banner. And yet, I was still missing something. I finished off my card with some gold enamel shapes. Perfect!

Stamps: Cool Treats
Inks: Sweet Sugarplum; Berry Burst; Rich Razzleberry; Crumb Cake
Cardstock: Color Theory DSP; Berry Burst; Whisper White
Accessories: Metallic Doilies; Metallic Enamel Shapes
Tools: Frozen Treats Framelits

Butterfly Birthday

Throughout the month of July, I'm featuring $2 cards! I have a mix of offerings with previously featured cards and some new cards. Today's card is one of the new examples. I have a few bits of this DSP laying around and found the perfect way to use it!

Stamps: Better Together
Inks: Bermuda Bay
Cardstock: Cupcakes and Carousels; Bermuda Bay; Daffodil Delight; Very Vanilla
Accessories:
Tools: BoldButterfly Thinlits

Feathers and Flowers

Today’s card challenge is to feature one of the great hostess stamps! Hostess stamp sets are those sets that can only be purchased with a $150 order and/or party. They are usually priced below the normal cost and are a great bargain if you love the sets. Here's the 6 stamp sets you can choose from:

Currently, I own two (Feathery Friends and In the City). For today's card, I focused on Feathery Friends. I love stamp sets that I can color, so of course, I had to get this set first! I made a simple grid background of stamped and colored flowers. I added the focal point image of a stamped and colored bird. The focal point really pops due to the stitching around the edge (yeah for the Stitched Shapes Framelits) and being physically popped out using dimensionals. From there I added a simple coordinating bow to tie everything together.

Stamps: Feathery Friends
Inks: Basic Gray; PowderPink; Tranquil Tide; Berry Burst; Lemon Lime Twist
Cardstock: Tranquil Tide; Whisper White
Accessories: Berry Burst Ribbon
Tools: Squares Framelits; Stitched Shapes Framelits

Currently

Reading: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. A friend loaned me this series and I finally started reading it. Definitely liking it more than the ones set in modern day.

Watching: We just finished watching the current season of Doctor Who. I really came to love Peter Capaldi's Doctor, but the writing just wasn't up to par this past season.

Listening: Catching up on some backlogged podcasts. Currently making my way through Best Friend Banter. I don't always agree with them, but they have some interesting discussions.

Making: I jumped onto the One Bad Mother #teamcake train and made Smitten Kitchen's Summer Strawberry Cake. Oh so good!

Feeling: Things are crazy around here and I'm feeling very stretched in multiple directions.

Planning: Attempting to finish the summer off right with some more bucket list items checked off. Just need to put them on the schedule.

Loving: I love falling asleep to slightly cool temperatures. Thankfully the days have been warm and the nights have been cool lately.

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