StampNation Beach Vacation – Coming Soon!

Save the date!  Starting Sunday, there’s a week-long Summer Beach Vacation planned at StampNation — July 20-26. Join the fun of daily beach-vacation themed prompts, inspiration from the StampNation Dream Team and Guests (I’m thrilled to be one of them), and prizes from Lawn Fawn, Ellen Hutson, and Pretty Pink Posh! This vacation kicks off on Sunday 9am EDT with a blog hop.

Not familiar with StampNation? It’s a wonderful online community of fellow stampers. Members have access to hundreds of video tutorials, a gallery, challenges, message boards and so much more. Check it out and be inspired!

Stamp Nation Challenge: Fruits and Veggies

The most recent challenge at Stamp Nation is to use Fruits and/or Veggies on a card in celebration of all summer has to offer! This challenge had me stumped for a while, until I noticed that I had more supplies that fit this theme than I realized!

Stamp Nation Challenge: Fruits and Veggies

I stamped the Lawn Fawn Make Lemonade set with Memento ink on Gina K cardstock and colored the images with Copics in blues and yellows. I discovered some Little Yellow Bicycle patterned paper in my stash that I’ve had for several years. The sentiment is from the Penny Black Friendship set.

The Cutting Edge Challenge #3

It’s time for the another Cutting Edge Challenge! Our inspiration this week is an amazing card created by Design Team member Lisa Addesa.

There’s so much about Lisa’s card that inspires me! Here’s my take.

Cutting Edge Challenge 3

I was drawn to Lisa’s card’s design, featuring an embossed card base and a card panel with negative die cut hearts in rainbow colors. I substituted the hearts with stars, and I made the panel black rather than white. The yellow, green and orange stars on my card are negative cuts – I ran the panel through the Big Shot with three different star dies. I then backed the panel with circles cut in those colors. The pink and blue stars are adhered to the top of the panel.

Supplies: Hero Arts Written in the Stars stamp set; Tim Holtz Starry Night embossing folder; MFT Blueprints 13; MFT Stax Stars; MFT Stacking Stars

Simon Says Stamp “This is the Life” Release

Today, I’m sharing two cards created with dies from the brand-new Simon Says Stamp “This is the Life” release – Frozen Treats and Ice Cream Cone Parade. Do you see a summer treat theme here? 🙂

Simon Says Stamp “This is the Life” Release 1

For my first card, I used the Frozen Treats die to cut a variety of cardstock colors. I then fussy cut the Popsicles along embossed lines and layered the pieces onto kraft cardstock bases. The turquoise card panel was embossed with the Tim Holtz Wave embossing folder. The sentiment is from the Simon Says Stripe Greetings stamp set.

On the second card, I used the inlay technique with the Ice Cream Cone Parade die.

Simon Says Stamp "This is the Life" Release

I cut a variety of cardstock colors from the Simon Says Spring Rainbow Pack with the Ice Cream Cone Parade die. I also cut the white card panel, onto which I stamped my sentiment from the Simon Says Stripe Greetings stamp set, with the die. I then began adhering the pieces into the panel. To finish off the card, I added a thin chocolate brown mat.

Enjoy Life

I’ve been playing with Taylored Expressions stamps and dies this month, and today, I’m sharing a card created with the Hangin’ Out – At the Beach stamp set. It’s hot here in the Pacific Northwest, unusually so for the region, and the beach sounds like the perfect place to be at the moment!

Enjoy LifeI colored the palm tree and the surfboard with Copics; I stamped both on Gina K layering weight cardstock. I used the coordinating die to cut the palm tree; I fussy cut the surfboard. I used the Mama Elephant die set to cut the sandy hill, placed in front of two lines of waves cut with the Taylored Expressions Wave Border.

Hope you’re staying cool wherever you are today!

Supplies: Taylored Expressions Hangin’ Out – At the Beach stamp set, Wave Border die, Palm Tree die; Stampin’ Up cardstock (waves); Mama Elephant Landscape Trio; MFT Blueprints 1; Memory Box Marshmallow Clouds