Be Sassy with your Stampin' today: a time-saving Definitely Dahlia project and a money-saving special offer too!

Today I would like to share with you some quick and easy to make cards, that I designed recently for my card classes, using the gorgeous new background stamp called "Definitely Dahlia" and my all-time favourite, most-used sentiment stamp set "Sassy Salutations":

I wanted to use the brand new thick Whisper White cardstock for the card bases and I LOVE it - I knew I would when I first saw it in the new Stampin' Up! Catalogue, hurrah a sturdier white cardstock at last - thank you Stampin' Up!. I used the regular Whisper White cardstock for the top layer and as you can see, the two different weights of card are a perfect colour match with each other! 

I went slightly out of my comfort zone with the pale pastel colours for these cards, but I do like the washed out, subtle look of them. All three use the exact same layout - with just the addition of a butterfly cut out of Silver Foil Sheet, using the Butterflies Thinlits, for the Thinking Of You version:

The dahlia for this version was stamped in Soft Sky Ink and the words were stamped in Pool Party Ink on the banner of Soft Sky Cardstock. All it needed was a little bit of bling in the form of three rhinestone gems.

In the pink versions of the card, below, I used Pink Pirouette for the stamped dahlias and banners and Blushing Bride Ink for the sentiments. I decided that these ones needed some subtle pearl gemstones, rather than rhinestones, for their bling.  I think that the Congratulations card would be great for all sorts of occasions, but would make a super new baby girl, or even a Christening card, don't you? If the new baby was a boy, then you could easily swap to the blue colourway instead! I love how one card layout can be so versatile and can be used for so many different occasions. Very time-saving, don't you think?! I like to think of it as time-efficient, rather than lazy, when I recycle a card idea for a different purpose! Hehe!

I can't tell you how many times I've used the Sassy Salutations stamps on my cards and other paper projects. I love the size of the greetings and the bold, swirly font style. I think they are great for both feminine and masculine cards too and are my go-to set when I need a large sentiment on a card. Here are all the greetings for you to see: (Click here for more information on them).

Don't forget that you could get this, or any other two stamp sets of your choice, for FREE if you buy a starter kit and join my team - but hurry, this fantastic offer runs out tomorrow (Tuesday 30th June 2015). For a cost to you of only £99 (or 129€) you get to choose any products YOU WANT, up to the value of £130 ( or 175€),  PLUS you will get ANY TWO stamp sets of your choice FOR FREE too. I truly think that this is probably the best joining offer that Stampin' Up! have offered. Perfect for if you have a big wish list and want to save yourself some money, or, if you want to start your own crafting business with a little extra free help.

I would love to welcome you into my team! Click here or on the image below to get going!

That's it for today, until next time, happy stamping and come back soon!

Lucy x

Pinkies Blog Hop: Showcasing New Annual Catalogue projects!

 

  

Thank you for joining us on another Pinkies Blog Hop! We're showcasing lots of gorgeous projects using products from the new Stampin' Up! ® Annual Catalogue. Simply use the buttons at the end of each post to keep hopping!

 

Welcome if you have come from Nina's blog!

 

There are so many lovely new things in the new catalogue and I have found it really hard to narrow down my choice for today! I decided to keep it simple  and concentrate on the new In Color collection  for 2014-2016.



I have recently been experimenting with making my own backgrounds and the following projects all utilise one particular technique which I have developed: using scrunched up brown packing paper as a "stamp" which I have then tapped directly onto the ink pad to pick up some ink and then stamped all over a sheet of Whisper White cardstock. You can use a single colour or a mixture of 2 or 3 - just make sure you use a separate ball of scrunched-up paper for each individual colour.

This first project uses the lovely new In Colors Mossy Meadow (the green) and Hello Honey (the yellow) as well as a bit of Crumb Cake on the patterned background strip:

http://paperglassstitch.blogspot.co.uk  Lucy Tustian

 

I have glued the small strip of homemade background onto a Whisper White Notecard and stamped the "thanks" from the Hip Hip Hooray card kit stamps. The Elegant Butterfly punched shape is from the new Hello Honey cardstock and sits on a mini glue dot, with a strip of three pearl gems for the butterfly's body. A very simple, quick and easy card to make, don't you think?!

Here is another card which uses the same backround - this time I have used the background for the butterfly only, with a Mossy Meadow Elegant Butterfly beneath it. I used the brush stroke stamp from the new (and very versatile) stamp set: Work Of Art; with the Hello Honey stamped three times without re-inking it (the "stamping off" technique). The "Thinking of You" is from one of my go-to stamp sets: Sassy Salutations and is stamped using the Mossy Meadow ink for the words and the sponging around the oval punched shape:

http://paperglassstitch.blogspot.co.uk Lucy Tustian

 

 One of my favourite new In Colors is the lovely deep rich purple called Blackberry Bliss - the next couple of projects use this colour on its own for the handmade background for a very striking effect:

 

http://paperglassstitch.blogspot.co.uk Lucy Tustian

 

http://paperglassstitch.blogspot.co.uk Lucy Tustian



 Have you spied the lovely ribbon on the tag? It is the utterly gorgeous new 1cm (3/8") wide Stitched Satin Ribbon in the Blackberry Bliss - it is so nice - one of my all-time favourite Stampin' Up! ribbons I think! I have secured it with a little bit of Whisper White Bakers' Twine plus a tiny bit of the same white bakers' twine that I have hand-dyed using a few drops of Perfect Plum re-inker in a very small amount of water. I have also coloured in the rhinestone jewels with the brand new Stampin' Blendabilities alcohol markers in Rich Razzleberry (using all three shades of the colour).

 

 

The circle on the card is made using another stamping technique I have been experimenting with recently - reverse kissing. I'm hoping to blog a bit more about various kissing techniques (of the ink variety!) sometime soon, so do pop back again to see!

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to look at my part of the Pinkies Blog Hop. I would love to know your thoughts on the techniques and colour-combos that I have used today, so do please leave me a comment if you have time! Hope you enjoy the rest of the blog hopping: the lovely Sarah is next! :O)

 

 

Until next time, happy crafting everyone...

 

Lucy x