Happiness Blooms

Our local team of Stampin’ Up!® demonstrators meets each month to discuss business tips, Stampin’ Up!® news, and enjoy a make and take and yummy snacks. This month, our make & take hostess was Carol Forthman, an amazing crafter and all around awesome person. Carol’s creations are always so much fun and so pretty, and she’s an excellent teacher. Here’s our card from January’s meeting.

I love this card! It definitely qualifies for #simplestamping. Technically, “simple stamping” doesn’t use Designer Series Paper (DSP), but as we’ve seen from this card as well as my friend Susan’s blog this week, DSP can definitely make stamping simple! If a new stamper buys a stamp set and coordinating DSP and cardstock, and one or two ink pads, the results can be simply spectacular!

The Details

This card uses three elements from the Happiness Blooms Suite in the 2019 Stampin’ Up!® Occasions Catalog – the Bloom by Bloom Stamp Set, Happiness Blooms DSP, and Calypso Coral 3/8″ Satin Ribbon. It’s so gorgeous, don’t you think? Carol knocked it out of the park, as always.

First, stamp the flower and stem from the Bloom by Bloom Stamp Set, and sentiment (I didn’t pay attention to which set she used for this, but let’s go with Itty Bitty Greetings, because it’s a great set for alternate greetings) on a 2″ x 2-3/4″ piece of Whisper White Cardstock using Call Me Clover and Calypso Coral Classic Ink. I like to stamp the darker image (stem, in this case) first, because it’s easier for me to line up the lighter stamp to the darker image.

That’s really all there is to the card, except for layering. The 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ card base is Calypso Coral. Then there’s a 3-3/4″ x 5″ layer of Blushing Bride hiding under the DSP. The Happiness Blooms DSP is 3-5/8″ x 4-7/8″. I love this DSP, and have no idea why it wasn’t on my order last month. What in the world was I thinking?

There’s a 2-3/4″ x 3-1/2″ piece of Vellum Cardstock layered over the DSP, but you may not be able to see it in the photo. I obviously didn’t see it well in person either, because my next layers are not even close to being centered over it. But, seriously, it doesn’t have to be perfect, because no one is going to look at the card and say, “Oh, look! That vellum is really not centered under the rest of the elements on the card.” They’re going to think, “Wow, she did some really creative things there with the layering.” They’re just going to be so grateful for the time and thought you put into creating a card for them. So stop stressing about being perfect!

In my defense about the non-centered layers, I always position myself at the end of the make & take line, because I want to sample the snacks. I’ve always been a fan of food. What can I say? I grew up on a farm and we grew and raised food. When Mike and I got married, we often went to dinner at a restaurant our friend managed that offered steaks but also had a salad bar. You could order a salad bar only, or you could order a steak and get the salad bar free. I always ordered steak; Mike ordered the salad bar. When they brought the steak they always tried to place it before Mike, but he would shake his head and point at me. Yeah. Sad fact – I can still out-eat my husband of 36 years.

This month’s snacks were awesome. Three out of eight people brought fruit. (Well, of course, they did; we were still in the “keeping your New Year’s resolutions” phase!) There was regular fruit, strawberries and pineapple with coconut cream drizzled over it (can you say, “diet legal” Piña Colada? YUM!), and chocolate dipped strawberries surrounded by smaller berries in white chocolate cups (seriously yummy but I’m not sure it was “diet legal.” The demo who brought it left it at the office, so skinny Lisa, our Office Admin, and Mike finished it off the next day.). And the other snacks were amazing as well. I love January! And February’s meeting will be on Valentine’s Day, so I’m expecting a lot of chocolate. And everything will be green in March, of course.

Back to the card (sorry – snacks always get me sidetracked) – at OnStage in November, Dale from Canada demonstrated an alternate way to color with Stampin’ Blends. He has a condition that causes his hand to shake when he does detailed work like coloring, and the more he does it, the more his hand shakes. It was a good reminder to have alternate ways to use our products! Carol also has a physical condition that makes it hard for her to tie bows and knots (although she’s getting better), so this ribbon treatment with the Calypso Coral 3-/8″ Satin Ribbon is perfect! Simply add adhesive to the base (in this case, under the focal image), then loop the ribbon over it. Easy!

Finally layer the 2″ x 2-3/4″ stamped layer to a 2-1/4″ x 3″ Calypso Coral rectangle, then add both to the card over the ribbon with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

I love this card layout, and you’ll be seeing more of this from me. It’s so easy to use alternate colors, stamps, and DSP to create gorgeous cards for anyone.

Thanks for stopping by Stamping with Buffy. Have a lovely day!

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