I seem to be on a blue thing this week. And I almost never use many blues. But to inspire me with a card design, I do what I always do and look at DSP until I get an idea. This tweedy textured design from In Good Taste DSP caught my eye right away. And I thought I spied a little bit of Seaside Spray blue in the background! My mind was made up! I had to do this!

The next issue was how to show off the paper. It needed something big and bold to make that background pop. Well, you can’t go bigger or bolder than this sunflower stamp. Stamping a navy sunflower on a Seaside Spray card stock will catch anyone’s eye. The biggest design inspiration came from this week’s Global Design Project Challenge #242 Sketch Challenge. The sketch really favors a big bold central design as well as an interesting background paper. To try the challenge yourself or to see other fabulous creations, please click through the image below and take a look!

The Celebrate Sunflowers is from the brand new Stampin’ Up! catalog that goes live on June 3rd. It was one of my must haves of the stamps that Demonstrators could buy early. I can’t wait to do some more traditional colors for summer and fall cards, but I also love how the Night of Navy and Seaside Spray version of a sunflower looks.

I also took the white ribbon from the Flowers for Every Season combo ribbon pack and used a Stampin’ Blend to give it a subtle shade of blue. Coloring white ribbon is one of my favorite stampin’ tricks and I love how it added an all blue hue to the card. The twine in the ribbon combo pack added some sparkle with it’s bit of silver thread in the twine. I gave the card a little more sparkle by adding a few of the Flowers for Every Season gems in the clear gem.

Overall, it was a fun and quick card to do. The sentiment was easy to crop using the new Lovely Labels Pick A Punch. This has got to be on everyone’s list next Wednesday! You will always have a way to “die cut” a sentiment with this punch. Not to mention labels for layering!

What I Used To Make This Card:

Sign Up For June’s Paper Pumpkin By June 10th!

The Wonderful New Catalog Goes Live June 3rd! Host a catalog party and earn free stuff!

Today’s card is all about using combinations to create fresh, new looks. The first combination is the layered labels. These were created using the fabulous new Love Labels Pick A Punch. This punch features a combination of 2 punch styles and 3 different widths for each. The image below shows you the detail of what the punch looks like and the different sized widths you can create. You will never go without a frame for your sentiments that are 1″ or less in height! You can layer the labels as I show on my card. Or you can use them alone. Its our choice! It’s one of my top picks for the best things in the new catalog!

The next “combination” is the Lovely You sentiments.  Most of the sentiments in this set feature a combination of cursive fonts and plain fonts. This combination of fonts create some really modern, fresh looks for your cards.

And the last combination is the In Good Taste Designer Series Paper. This DSP is sure to be on everyone’s list. The set is a combination of architectural elements combined with a neutral or soft color. I am using the Night of Navy “tile” design and combining that with come of the new Bumble Bee card stock from the upcoming 2020-2021 In Colors.

What I Used To Make This Card

On Wednesday’s blog post, I highlighted a departing In Color Blueberry Bushel, which you can see HERE!  Today’s card says goodbye to another In Color leaving us, Grapefruit Grove. If you love a soft, peachy color now might be a god time to grab some ink, paper and embellishments in this lovely color. Stampin’ Up’s! retirement list came out yesterday and features many wonderful and loved products making a final bow between now and June 2nd, or while supplies last.  Click on the icon below see some of the fabulous items retiring. And for some, there are great discounts! Retiring products is always a fun time.

In addition to the retiring Grapefruit Grove In Color, this card features a gorgeous retiring stamp, Beautiful Day. I have been focusing on cards that can be sent now and send some cheer to friends and families staying at home. So, this stamp set had a perfect sentiment as well as a big, bold stamp that would show off the color perfectly. So, this card showcases a retiring color and a retiring stamp set!

Yesterday, Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators got a sneak peek at the upcoming catalog. And I noticed a lot of simply stamped projects. I love the look and the fact you can create a card quickly. So, I went for a simply stamped look with a monochromatic color story. The bold image shows off the color well and the In Color Designer Series paper is perfect for creating monochromatic in different patterns.

If you want DSP that is on sale, the 2019-2021 In Color Paper is discounted 30%! I have included a link for it in the product list below. I have never seen such great discounts on so many retiring products. This is the year to shop the retiring list!  But don’t wait too long!  Discounted items tend to sell out fast!

You will see some things on the retiring list such as the Stampin’ Blends, that are NOT retiring. They are simply being reconfigured to sell as combos only. The retiring In Color Blends and single pack Stampin’ Blends are retiring. Some of the dies are also being reconfigured and will have a new style number. So, the dies in old packaging are being discontinued. Happy shopping!

What I Used To Make This Card AND The In Color DSP Currently Discounted: