Blended Bloom meets "It's Wild" background stamp

Happy Monday, Everyone!

The new background stamp, It's Wild, caught my eye when I was looking through the new SU catalog.  I think I like it because it's unique -- different than anything we've had in my past 11+ years with SU.  I wanted to pair it with Blended Bloom -- one of my most favorite flowers to color.  I'm also loving the new Watermelon Wonder In Color -- a vibrant watermelon color that's not too pink, so I added that to my combo.  I kind of like how it turned out!  Wouldn't this be a cute card for a graduate or a good friend starting a new job?

Other products used: Whisper White, Basic Black, and Watermelon Wonder card stock, new Elegant Dots embossing folder -- for the leaves, Large oval punch, new lots of labels framelits, and the new white perfect accents.

Other ideas I have for this stamp, is to used it as a tone on tone -- like stamping it in the coordinating color of ink and card stock for a muted look.  For example, I think it would look lovely stamped in Smokey Slate ink on the same color card stock, or Blushing Bride ink on Blushing Bride card stock.  Can't wait to play with this stamp some more!

Brick wall embossing folder and Wild About Flowers

Another sweet card we made at my open house, was this little lovely.  I am officially in love with the new Brick Wall embossing folder.  It is 6x6 in size, so you can make the bricks work on either a vertical or horizontally oriented card, OR use it for a scrap book border, as it will emboss the whole length.

I used the Lots of Labels framelits again, and die cut an opening in the center of the panel before embossing it with the brick embossing folder.  I could then stamp the flowers on the base folded card, for them to show through the opening.  I used two of the label framelits layered together -- on some Marina Mist card stock -- ran that through my Big Shot to create a frame that went around the window.  To step this card up a notch, you could add dimensionals below the frame to make it stand out from the card a bit.

Another new product used on this card -- the new Washi Label punch.  It coordinates with the Word Window punch, and is so versatile and fun.

This stamp set, Wild About Flowers, was a must have for me, as it has California Poppies in it -- I love these flowers -- have a ton of them blooming in my front yard right now!  Another cool thing about this set, is that on the imaging sheet, it shows you with little tabs on the stamps, which flowers go with which stems, so it makes it really easy to figure out how to use the stamps.  Brilliant!

I sponged Early Espresso and Cajun Craze inks over the embossed bricks to make them look like a wall.  To make it easier for the class, I didn't mix the colors on the cards, but it looks even better to combine both Espresso and Cajun inks to really make it look like bricks.  I can see so many possibilites with this embossing folder -- imagine a super cute Christmas card using the bricks as a fireplace with stockings or the Wondrous Wreath set!  Would be so, so cute!

Another product in this catalog that I'm excited about, is the Heavy Weight Whisper White cardstock.  You can use this card stock for the base of your card, without it being too flimsy.  Truly a great addition to our card stock offerings!

Happy 4th of July!

Just a quick post to share this layout we made at my last scrap class.  I am (slightly) obsessed at the moment, with Ranger embossing paste.  It is absolutely the coolest stuff!  You spread it over a stencil, lift the stencil off, and you have this raised, textured pattern.  My mind automatically went to.... "how can I make it sparkly, too?" So, I put Irridescent Ice embossing powder over the paste while still wet -- then let the project sit aside and dry for a while.  Then, melt the embossing powder with the heat gun.  Note: if you use the heat gun before the paste has dried, then the paste will puff up -- giving you a different look, so that's why you let it dry for a while first.

SU has the stars and stripes masks (which are basically stencils) -- as well as several new ones right now, so I immediately thought of how I could show case my new obsession, embossing paste, with the SU stars and stripes mask -- on a Fourth of July layout.  I wanted to keep it simple, so this is what we made.

The 3" squares with the cute sparkly stars on them on the right hand page, are simply squares of red card stock that we added the stars to, so you can see how versatile this idea is -- add any sort of pattern you like to your project with a stencil and some paste!  AND, you don't have to get the fancy Ranger paste -- you can make the paste yourself with cornstarch, glue, and not sure what else -- just Google embossing paste recipes or look on Pinterest.  There are hundreds out there.

For the Navy striped square, we embossed a navy 3" square with the Stylish Stripes embossing folder, then used the white craft ink pad and just "drug" it across the embossed square to add that look to it.

Other products used on this layout: Larger than Life alphabet, retired Bright and Beautiful set, various star punches and Real Red, Night of Navy, DSP, Red and silver glimmer paper.

Have a safe July 4th, everyone!