More Three by Threes

Fun with Three by Threes

My package of 30 3x3" textured Love Notes arrived today! These are the same Love Notes that will come free with every purchase of Stampin' Up!'s Three For You Punch Box kit during the month of August. The Love Notes include 10 each of Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranite, and So Saffron textured cards with Vanilla envelopes.

A nap was required after the happy dance I did when the mail lady handed me my package, but I awoke bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to roll up my sleeves and dig in. Here are some of my creations:

Playing with Pretties, First Attempt

To be honest, I'm not sure if I like this card or not. I'm definitely open to feedback on this one! Of course, I see all the flaws -- the Almost Amethyst cardstock doesn't seem to match the Almost Amethest Print Patterns designer paper, the design balance is off, and I'm not convinced YoYo Yellow and Almost Amethyst even go together. Argh!

On a positive note, I was impressed with how easy the flowers in the Pretties kit are to color. I simply used my Stampin' Write markers to put the color in the areas I wanted, then spritzed with Stampin' Mist to let the colors blend together. Way cool!

The quote is from the SU! set Friendship Flowers.

More Seasonal Whimsy

I'm really pleased with how these bright and cheery cards turned out!

Stampin' Up! stamps: Seasonal Whimsy, Happy Everything, French Flair background

Inks: Spectrum Kaleidacolor pad, VersaMark, and Craft White (which I've learned gives the crispest white-on-dark print of any of the white inks I've found)

Other: Paper piercing tool (on the green card), button brads (on the blue card)

Seasonal Whimsy - Holiday

I haven't decided whether I like this card. I think the main problem is that the balance is off.

Of the four similar cards I made, this is the one that turned out the best -- because I used Brilliance Moonlight White instead of the Stazon Cotton White I did on the others. Somehow I thought Stazon would give me a bolder white, but I was disappointed. I suspect that SU!'s Whisper White craft pad would give me an even bolder white than the Brilliance, but I'm saving that experiment for another project.

I pulled out my brand new Essential Glue Pad for the first time and used it to stamp the small snowflake over the snowflake in the larger image and then add Dazzling Diamonds glitter. Looks very cool in person, but (of course) the scan doesn't do it justice.

It sure would be nice if I had stamped the world "holidays" straight, wouldn't it?

Seasonal Whimsy - Autumn

I've been playing with the Seasonal Whimsy set (Stampin' Up!) and Kaleidacolor/Spectrum inkpads. Oooo! Ahhhh! In retrospect, I wish I had stamped the images on glossy white rather than regular Whisper White cardstock. But, there's always next time...

These are cards I put together today using the Autumn stamp from the set. Yes, those are non-SU! embellishments (*gasp!).

Cardstock: Really Rust, Pumpkin Pie (which is not as orange as the scan makes it look)

Ink: Cappuccino Delight Kaleidacolor

First Seasonal Whimsy Card

I just love the new Seasonal Whimsy set from Stampin' Up! It has a lot of potential... but I'm starting slowly. Here's a really simple monochromatic card using the Canvas background stamp and Wild Wasabi ink and cardstock. I did a little happy dance when I realized how perfect a button brad in the corner would be! (I think button brads are the best thing since sliced bread!)

Another Holiday Card

SU! stamps: Block Party, Square Peg Jumbo wheel

Ink: Purely Pomegranite

Cardstock: Purely Pomegranite, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White

Other: Gold cord (on spine)

First Christmas Cards of the Year

The "In Colors" Purely Pomegranite and Wild Wasabi together lend themselves perfectly to Christmas cards, so today I made the first of my holiday cards for 2007. They're simple, but still eye-pleasing, I think.

SU! stamps: Greetings Galore, Rough Texture Jumbo wheel
Ink: Pomegranite, Wasabi
Cardstock: Pomegranite, Wasabi, Vanilla
Other: Pomegranite double-stitched ribbon

Pomegranite and Wasabi? But it works!

I cracked open three new packs of paper this morning -- a full pack of Purely Pomegranite, a full Pack of Wild Wasabi, and an assortment pack of all of the new "In Colors." Here's the first card that I came up with...

SU! stamps: Doodle This, Doodle Jumbo wheel
Ink: Purely Pomegranite, Wild Wasabi
Cardstock: Pomegranite, Wasabi, Vanilla (looks better combined than it tastes!)
Other: Pomegranite and Wasabi double-stitched ribbon, foam dimensional for the flower on the right, blender pen for flower centers

(Not Just) Three for You Posie Punch Cards

Here are scans of each of style of the cards I've been working on. Stampin' Up! colors used for all but the last include Green Galore, YoYo Yellow, Real Red, Lavendar Lace, Ballet Blue, and Tempting Turquoise.


This one is my favorite. You can't see it very well, but I used the Canvas background stamp with Versamark on the green.













I Versamarked the Posies background stamp on this one. The scan looks rather flat, but in real life the card is gorgeous.



I strayed from the color palette I used for most of these cards on this one by pulling out some Certainly Celery, since I think it looks so elegant with the Lavendar Lace and the "pearl" flower centers.

Posies Everywhere!

I've been a busy little bee! I had a blast using my punched and Stickled posies to make a bazillion (okay, maybe 15-20) adorable cards. Here's a preview of what I came up with. Scans and details will be in the next post.

The Quiet Before the (Posie) Storm

Here's a close-up of my friend's birthday card. It's hard to see, but I versamarked a canvas background onto the lovely lilac cardstock. The greeting and the flowers are on vanilla cardstock.



This one falls into the Ugly Card category. I know I can do better!
SU! sets: Happy Everything, In the Spotlight
Cardstock: Baroque Burgundy, Vanilla
Ink: Encore Gold
Other: SU! scallop punch, gold Sharpie pen

Punched Posies - First Card

I found out recently that my friend and nurse's birthday is coming up on the 30th, so I thought I'd do something out of the ordinary and not wait until the last minute to make a card! I am SO pleased with how this turned out, I'm not sure how I can wait two weeks to give it to her.

SU! stamps: Happy Everything, Canvas background, Three For You punch box

Inside: "Hoping that happy days will come to you all year" by WhipperSnapper Designs, "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?" by Uptown Rubber Stamps

Cardstock: Lovely Lilac, Very Vanilla

Other: Purple grosgrain ribbon, Stickles

The posies were punched out of a scrap piece of stamped paper leftover from another project I did years and years ago. When I showed my friend all the posies I had punched and Stickled, her eyes were immediately drawn to the purple patterned ones, so I thought they'd be the perfect choice for a card for her.

I sure hope she likes it! Now I just have to remember to not give her this blog URL until after her birthday, LOL!

Punching Posies

I'll be honest. When I first got my grubby little hands on the Three For You punch kit from Stampin' Up!, I was underwhelmed. The stamps seemed "dumb" and the punch didn't seem to do what I thought it should do, so I set it aside in hopes of a better day.

Well, that better day has arrive, and I am enamoured with the kit now! I've found at least a dozen different ways to use the stamps together -- and then add in the punch, and the possibilities are aplenty!

I've been focusing my energy on the punch itself. My expectation was that it would punch out three flat little flowers, but instead it seemed like the punch was mangling them. The centers of the flowers are dented in and the edges curl upward. Hellooooo, Joyce, this is a GOOD thing. It gives the posies dimension!

To me, the punched posies alone seem a little naked, so I've been thinking about what to put in the centers. The first idea to pop into my head? Stickles!! (For the uninitiated, Stickles are a good brand of glitter glue.) Sooooo... I yanked out my box of glittery stuff, untouched in over a year, and spent an hour making sure all the glitter glues were working properly. Then I punched out a whole slew of flowers out of different colored cardstocks (oh, how pretty!), then put a dot of coordinating colored Stickles or Liquid Pearls in the center of each flower. Yes, people, I am the Queen of Putz! But I tell you, they are so much fun to look at, and I suspect will be even more fun to incorporate into cards.






Other things that can be used in the center of the punched flowers: brads, eyelets, half pearls, rhinestones, seed beads, larger beads, colored Crystal Effects (clear laquer), white gel pen, raised gel pen, paper pierced hole, hole made with 1/8 inch circle punch, single dot stamp included with kit

I have scads of other ideas floating through my head for how to use this kit, but I think the first thing I'll try is using the posies along with the Vases in Vogue hostess set. A look at ideas posted on the SplitCoastStampers site tells me the punched posies will also work well with the Garden Silhouettes and the Simply Said sets... but let's not get ahead of ourselves!

It's Here! It's Here!

The Super Duper Glorious Box o' Fun New Stampin' Up! Supplies



What have we here? A box of paper??



Noooo, there's the good stuff!



The packing list showing NOTHING on backorder -- hurrah!



Wild unpacking!



Bottom of the box!



Such bea-YOO-tiful cardstock and designer papers!



The "In Colors" stuff in Wild Wasabi and Purely Pomegranite... cardstock, inkpads, reinkers, and double-stitched ribbon. So pretty!



All the rubber in one spot. Drool!



There's more! Boxes inside the box... what could it be?



Ooooo, ahhhhh, the Pretties Kit!



And look, a punch box! Let's see what's in it!



The Three For You kit! with rubber stamp set, ink spots in Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranite, and Black, and -- of course -- the punch!



My five new background stamps take a pose, accompanied by the Doodles jumbo wheel.



Not to be outdone, so do the stamp sets.


It's hard to see everything in the pictures, I know, so here's a list of what came today along with the catalog page so you can get a good look:

Background Stamps - Happiness (p. 118), Tres Chic (p. 136), Aida Cloth (p. 136), Posy (p. 137), Paisley (p. 138)
Stamp Sets - In the Spotlight (p. 20), Block Party (p. 38), Seasonal Whimsy (p. 109), Happy Everything (p. 140)
Jumbo Wheel - Doodle (p. 99)

In Colors (p. 165) - I picked my two favorite colors, Wild Wasabi and Purely Pomegranite, and ordered the cardstock, inkpads, reinkers, and double-stitched ribbon for each.

Scallop Punch (p. 182)
Pretties Kit (p. 188)
Three for You Punch Box (p. 183)

Bold Brights Textured Cardstock (p. 166)
Soft Subtles Textured Cardstock (p. 167)

Prints Papers (p. 173) in Lilac, Amethyst, Turquoise, Brilliant Blue, and Rose Red

White Gel Pen (p. 186)
Pencil Sharpener - to sharpen my Pure Color Pencils from my last order (p. 186)
Almost Amethyst Classic pad - because I wore out my last one (p. 167)


So... think that will keep me busy for awhile?

Now, to clear off my bed so that I can take a much-needed nap after all this excitement!