February Paper Pumpkin from SU!

Posted on February 28, 2020 by TL's Bright Spot

Extra short post today but I wanted to share with you my current creations with the February PP kit. PP is such a treat to receive with all the embellishments, glue dots, dimensionals, card stock AND directions. I usually create one or two per directions that come with the kit, but not always. Here’s what I’ve done thinking “outside the box” …

Questions about PP? Please contact me for more details… now is a great time to invest in this monthly subscription. If you are interested in the March subscription you may order until Mar 10. One of the ideas SU! is using is coordinating the PP with current stamp sets. WOW, does this make it even more valuable for future use.

For now – ta ta. Enjoy your day… make it better by creating and sharing what you love to do!

Bloom and Grow with coordinating Budding Blooms dies

Posted on February 26, 2020 by TL's Bright Spot

Oh my goodness… I think I have shared with you how much I enjoy coloring. If not, well now you know 😏 The weather here was gray, overcast and rainy – a bit on the dreary side to say the least. Hubby was home and wanted a fire in the fireplace so I brought my crafty stuff to that cozy spot and had a “jolly good” time.

The night before I had taught a class and demonstrated coloring with blends. I had stamped and cut some extra pieces so I could demo a different color than what we were making in class. I only did one the night of the class and this set was calling me to do more. With this delightful, cozy setting of the fireplace ablaze, our Springer Spaniel lying close to the fire and my hubby reading, I couldn’t resist staying close by.

Here are the cards… card 1 is the one created in class. The others are what I completed yesterday afternoon. n

Blends used varied with each card… the first is Poppy Parade and coordinating blends with Petal Pink both light and dark blends for the back ground; and Call Me Clover light and dark for the leaves, Poppy Parade dark for the berries. The next card shows Granny Apple Green light & dark blends for the back ground, Petal Pink light & dark for the flowers, Mint Macaron light & dark blends for the leaves, and light Flirty Flamingo for the berries. The next card was kept very simple – no card stock background and I love it! Highland Heather light & dark blends for the flowers, Granny Apple Green light & dark blends for the leaves, dark Flirty Flamingo for the berries and Soft Seafoam light and dark blends for the back ground. Card four: light Poppy Parade + dark Petal Pink for the flowers, Granny Apple Green light & dark blends for the leaves, soft Seafoam light and dark blends for the background and oh yes, dark Poppy Parade for the berries. Last but not least: the yellow card is affixed to Daffodil Delight card stock but is colored using both light and dark Mango Melody blends, Old Olive light and dark for the leaves and dark Flirty Flamingo for the berries, Mint Macaron light and dark blends for the back ground. Whew – a whole lot of fun!

Remember when using the blends, it’s better to start with the darker shade first and only do a small area then sweep in with the lighter blend to do what – blend together. 😁 The reason for doing small areas is to keep the blend moist so it easily “moves” for the blending process.

I hope you enjoyed todays post. Would you share with me which card you like the most… I’m leaning toward the Highland Heather but I also really like the yellow card. I also liked putting the card stock on an angle as opposed to straight on. Do you have thoughts on that?

When you shop with me and your purchase is over $50, please use my CURRENT HOST CODE – 2TMMA9HX to receive a free gift from me.

May you have a beautiful day – share what you love!

Happy Birthday To You!

Posted on February 25, 2020 by TL's Bright Spot

What fun it is to have birthdays! Just last week I celebrated a BIG ONE… but hey, it’s only numbers 😉 So today’s card is not a birthday, but an anniversary card using the Happy Birthday To You stamp set. Pretty cool, right? Gotcha!

Here’s the card…

Coloring is so relaxing for me. Have I said that before? Here it’s Petal Pink light and dark blends for the flowers and Mint Macaron light and dark blends for the leaves. I have found it helpful to do the dark first, just a small area at a time, then do the light to blend it in nicely.

The cake was stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Silver Embossing powder. I used the Smokey Slate blend to shade some of lines on the cake for emphasis. The cake stand was colored with the Petal Pink blends also. After cutting out with the matching Birthday dies I put dimensionals on the back and set it aside.

The Smokey Slate card stock piece was cut with the Stitched So Sweetly dies. I put dimensionals on the back of it as well.

Silver thread is a messy business for me – it’s thin and light and slippery as the dickens. However, I have learned to control it just a bit by wrapping it around my fingers, first a couple of times around two fingers then a couple of times around three fingers, then cut, twist and adhere to the back of the cake with glue dots. I did that twice. Adhere cake and Silver thread to the Smokey Slate piece.

The next layer is Petal Pink (2 1/2″ x 5 1/4″) that has been dry embossed with the Parisian Flourish 3D Embossing Folder. Pretty cool isn’t it? Remember to spritz it lightly with water prior to sending it through the die cutting/ embossing machine. This gives wonderfully deep impressions. Adhere the Petal Pink to a Thick Whisper White card base (4 1/4″ x 11″). Attach the Smokey Slate and you’re almost done with the front. The key here is the Rhinestone Basic Jewels – they add the crowing touch!

The inside… Stamp the sentiment of choice on a scrap of Whisper White. Here I used the happy from Happy Birthday To You stamp set and the anniversary from the Well Said stamp set. They were stamped in Versamark ink then heat embossed with Silver Embossing powder. I used the Stitched Rectangle dies to cut both a Whisper White and a Smokey Slate piece and adhered with liquid glue to a Whisper White (4″ x 5 1/4″). This was adhered with liquid glue to a Petal Pink (4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″) and all adhered to the card base with liquid glue. Inside… done!

Now for the envelope.. First I stamped the sentiment from Happy Birthday To You in Smokey Slate. Next I dry emboseed a 2 1/4″ x 6″ Smokey Slate with the Parisian Flourish #D embossing folder and adhered that with liquid glue, did a neat trim and voila!

Triple Fold Card

Posted on September 2, 2019 by TL's Bright Spot

I have been lax in posting… my apologies! However, I have NOT been lying around :o) Making cards or perhaps I should say crafting with paper, are a bit of a passion and I get “lost” in my craft room. What that means is I lose track of time. Kind of crazy, right? Below are a few pictures of my recent creations. Note that not all these projects are cards. Over the course of the next several days, I will try to include directions for these various projects. If you have questions about any item in particular, please feel free to contact me. My email is tlsbrightspot@gmail.com or leave a message on my page.

The upper card is one we made in a card class. It was made with the Magnolia Lane stamp set and coordinating DSP (Designer Series Paper). This is such a fun fold and so easy to do that once I got everything cleaned up and put away from the attendees, I made the green card. This was made with the Wrapped in Plaid DSP (new in the Holiday Catalogue becoming available Sep 4) and Dashing Deer stamp set and that stunning little star from the new So Many Stars stamp set from the Holiday Catalogue.

Here’s another project from the class that I demo’d. It comes from the Magnolia Lane dies. There are three dies for the petals and two for the inner portion. Cut with Whisper White, I daubered with Petal Pink from the inside to the outside of each petal. The flower centers were cut in So Saffron and I sponge daubered the edges only. All pieces were adhered with glue dots. Tombow glue can be used as well, but I chose the glue dots for convenience. Here’s the picture of that sweet flower.

The little box was cut from the Magnolia DSP: 5″ square, scored at 1 1/4′ on all sides. The lid was cut from retired Kraft paper that I had lying around. The leaves were stamped, then colored with the Dk & Lt Old Olive Stampin’ blends., then cut with coordinating dies. The ribbon is from the Magnolia Lane Suite.

Here are a couple of other recent projects: this is also from class and using the Magnolia Lane stamp set. I stamped the gorgeous flower in versamark then embossed with gold. The flower was first inked in with Calypso Coral in the center, then working out used the DK Petal Pink and then Lt Petal Pink in Stampin’ blends. The leaves were inked with Dk and Lt Olive Stampin’ blends. Full details in a later post.

Two more teasers with full info in a future post.

Cute packaging using retired DSP

Posted on August 6, 2019 by TL's Bright Spot

Hi All – happy August! Today is a fun project using retired Designer Series Paper (or in the Stampin Up! World DSP) Of course, any paper can be used, but this is a fun way to make use of that retired product. I’ve used 6 x 6 cardstock and cut that down to size. Here is a picture of the finished product – five of them anyway – and so easy to do.

Here are the dimensions:

5″ wide scored at 1 1/8″, 2 1/4″, 3 3/8″ and 4 1/2″

4 3/4″ tall scored at 1″ at bottom. Burnish all score lines.

Look at the next picture to see how that was trimmed. Notice also the tear ‘n tape and where it is positioned. The first is the front side, the second is the inside of the package.

What’s fun then is to decorate! I used primarily the 1 3/8″ scalloped punch for the larger circle, and went from there, looking in my scrap bin for whatever I could find. On one of them are two sets of leaves from the leaf punch: one. In vellum, the other in Shaded Spruce to coordinate with the DSP. The spruce leaf is scored along each leaf and slightly curled to make it more three dimensional. The butterfly is reinforced on a piece of cardstock – cut from another retired DSP. The little dots are glitter dots – don’t you just love them? They bring the decoration to life. The sentiment is from Itty Bitty Greetings.

After puttting it together, I’ve pinched the top and punched a hole in which to thread the ribbon.

Questions? Feel free to ask! Let me know if I can help you create something fun. If you would like to place an order, please use my HOST CODE: 6YVUK6A9, which is good Aug 6-20, 2019. If you order is OVER $150, do not use the HOST CODE.

Thanks for stopping by today.

It’s Sailing Season – Here’s to Wind in Your Sails

Posted on May 14, 2019 by TL's Bright Spot

The theme for this month’s blog hop is to create a card that has a masculine theme and we just worked on our Bull’s Eye sailboat to prepare it for summer sailing ~ what fun timing. The Sailing Home stamp set from the new 2019-20 annual Stampin’ Up! catalogue seemed a perfect starting point for creating this card for my hubby’s June birthday.

Here are some details of this fun fold card:

Pacific Point card stock cut to 8 1/4″ x 4 1/4″ and scored at 2 3/4″
Whisper White card stock: 3 5/8″ x 7″ + a piece for the largest circle die in the Stitched Shape die set.
Garden Impressions DSSP (designer series paper) cut in 3 3/8 square + inside piece 1 1/2″ x 4 1/4″.
Come Sail Away DSP (from the 2019-20 SU! Annual catalogue) cut to 4 x 2 1/2″ x 4″ + a piece for the envelope flat 2 1/4″ x 6 (trim away excess after gluing to flap).
Other items needed: mini dimensionals, Night of Navy/ Sahara Sand twine (from the new catty), Sailing Home stamp set, Smooth sailing dies, Night of Navy and Pacific Point inks, glue dot to hold the twine in place.