This month’s DIY calendar doesn’t feature hearts or Presidents or any other traditional February images. I was clearing the Snails off my desk (I’m afraid I got a little carried away) and underneath the heaps was the Touch of Ink stamp set with its beautiful line art. My first thought was that the images were too big, but when I looked again, I realized they were perfect:
Stamps: A Touch of Ink (Sale-a-bration 2021.1), Forever Fern
Color Palette: Memento Black, Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake, So Saffron, Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze
Accessories: Stampin Blends, Wink of Stella
This was so enjoyable! I dialed up an image of a Monarch Butterfly on Professor Google and started layering color. I’m not sure you would ever see this particular Monarch out in nature, but the way the colors worked together was very satisfying. I started light and worked my way through to the Light Cajun Craze – I didn’t use the dark version.
If you’d like to try your hand at this simple DIY calendar, I have the 2021 pdf available for $5. Just contact me with your email and your state of residence and I’ll get an invoice to you pronto.
Ready to shop? Visit the Online Store for Stampin’ Blends and Sale-a-bration rewards! These little calendars are so gratifying – easily an evening’s work, and a short evening at that! Thanks for stopping by today, and be sure to see what Cheryl and Crystal have done for February.
I hope there’s room for more Darling Donkeys in your heart. I’ve been working on Valentines, and what says I love you any better than a donkey with a rose in his teeth?
The technique is really simple. I used a heart shaped die placed overlapping the edge of the top panel on the card. The DSP just needs to be big enough to cover the opening, and once they’re secured I added a mat and adhered it to the card front. My donkey is fussy cut with snips and set up on mini-dimensionals, and I unraveled the grey twine to make it softer and less bulky.
I haven’t joined in for a challenge in ages. Mojo Monday popped up in my social media and I liked the layout and thought “why not?” Why not indeed? This was a great chance to celebrate the Snailed It snails!
Stamps: Snailed It, Itty Bitty Greetings, The Right Triangle, Stacked Stone
Color Palette: Basic White, Bermuda Bay, Granny Apple Green, Coastal Cabana, Pool Party
This card was all about texture. With all those layers, it required something too distinguish them! I used embossing folders, background stamps, sparkle and shine, dimensionals, and Designer Series Papers to create dimension on this project. The sentiment tab and the narrowest patterned paper were gently brushed with Blending Brushes and Pool Party ink to give them very soft color.
If you’ve missed The Right Triangle, check out all of the textures you can find in that stamp set!
I repeated my sparkly eyes trick, using Wink of Stella and the Fine Tip Glue pen to bring her eyes to life. I also did a little spattering with Stella on the Oh So Ombre DSP, and added some “dits” with a textural stamp from Right Triangle.
The sketch challenge really inspired me. I’d felt like I was in a rut, that everything I created had an element of sameness to me. Maybe it did, and maybe it didn’t, but working with a sketch helped me see paper and layers with fresh eyes, and I feel like my creative energy stores have been replenished.
Stampin’ Up! has set me up! What is with snails and donkeys? I didn’t anticipate falling for such off-my-radar critters, but here I am. After I finished the January DIY calendar, I was on a Donkey Bender – but I didn’t really want to cut him out. I mean, I’ll fussy cut with the best of them, but enough is enough.
Stamps: Darling Donkeys
Color Palette: Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Gray Granite, Daffodil Delight, Petal Pink
I’ve based this card on a design by Mary Knabe of Stampin’ Peace. I loved her concept and color palette, and reinterpreted them for this card. One of the delights of this design is that by using an opening on the front of the card, the image can be expanded when you open it:
The Blending Brushes are VERY easy to use, and in this case I didn’t even bother to mask off the donkey before I created that Daffodil Delight aura. (You know donkeys have auras, right??) I also added an additional message in the corner that isn’t visible from the front of the card. (I am quite proud of myself, as I normally struggle to use images AND sentiments from the same set, and on this one I have used 3 of the 4 sentiments!)
But wait, there’s more!
You could call this technique a card within a card. The card base is 11″ x 8 1/2″, scored at 5 1/2″. The white card inside is 10″ x 3 3/4″, scored at 5″, so it fits well within the first card. The bottom panel is completed adhered to the card base, much as a layer would be. That leaves a front for artwork to peep through the window, and an interior page for your message – or more artwork!
As you can see, I accidentally inked up this kick-up-your-heels donkey in Bermuda Bay instead of Memento Black, and had to be extra careful to avoid pulling in the Bermuda Bay ink when I colored with my Blends.
I prepared quite a few of these for a virtual stamping event, and I wanted to be sure I had the ovals in the center every time. To simplify that task, I made templates to use with the BIG BOSS:
There’s a little math involved, so bear with me. I began by measuring the height and width of each die, then subtracting that number from the height and width of the card panel. For example, the plain oval is 2 1/4″ wide, and the card front is 4 1/4″ wide, so the difference is 2 inches. I divided that number by 2 and measured in that amount from each edge, drawing a line at 1 inch. That gives me the left-to-right guideline for placing my die.
I went through the same process with the height of each die, creating two panels that had a rectangle in the center of each one. I centered the appropriate die in each panel (note that I wrote which panel was which on the template, I am famous for mixing up things like this!) When I ran the centered die through my BIG BOSS I created a template that I could use repeatedly without having to mark each piece of paper.
Just place the template squarely on top of your card or panel, drop the die into the pre-cut opening, and crank ‘er through! When you have a bunch of cutting to do, this is a real time saver.
The only thing better than making cards is sending cards. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like getting a card in the mail, and I like to make cards! What a perfect match. The stars of my latest batch are the charming, bug-eyed snails from Snail Mail.
Stamps: Snailed It, Pretty Perennials
Color Palette: Whisper White, Basic Black, Purple Posy, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Stampin’ Blends, Wink of Stella, Fine Tip Glue Pen
This is a pretty simple card without a lot of embellishment. The snail has a little Stella in her eyes, and I used the Fine Tip Glue Pen to make those black eyeballs good and shiny. Other than that, there’s some coloring and some doodling. This is a relaxing and enjoyable project!
Can you see the sparkle and shine? The combination really works for these hilarious eyeballs. I considered adding some Stella to the doodles running around the edge of the card, but it seemed a little too, well, snaily.
I mean, the truth is that I’m a gardener and snails are my arch-enemy out there! The Stampin’ Up! concept artists did an amazing job making these little critters so appealing, because in person, I like them NOT SO MUCH. (Also, in Hawaii we have ginormous snails, and that’s even more gross.)
Once I got started I was on a roll. Coloring the snails is addicting. I’ve always loved to color, and Stampin’ Blends are such a satisfying coloring tool.
I chose Flirty Flamingo, Calypso Coral, and Just Jade for this version. I used the same treatment on those big eyes – don’t you love the lashes?? Seriously. It must be such fun to dream these things up. I would need someone else in the room to call over and affirm my creative genius! I think that’s one of the things I miss most as a result of the pandemic. It’s such fun to craft alongside someone else, and try as she might, the cat doesn’t cut it.
So what do you think? Are these colors too far from reality? (Of course they are, I would freak out if I saw snails in my garden that looked like this.) I’m trying to decide if I dare try one in shades of blue…
Snail Mail is available as a bundle with snaily dies, or as a suite that includes the bundle, Designer Series Paper, and two different embellishments. If you’re ready for some paper snails that won’t snack on your herb garden, shop HERE.
Here’s a challenge for you: create a card without using any stamps. Our Designer Series Papers are the key!
This design is a CASE of one featured on the Stampin’ Up! FaceBook page during the Designer Series paper sale last fall. I made a few but not many adjustments, but the overall concept is very similar. Here are the supplies I used:
Stamps: None! (I will add a stamped message inside when I’ve decided to send this)
Color Palette: Pool Party, Pretty Peacock, and all the colors in the DSP
Accessories: Paper snips, Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals, retired color dots
I created this card for a group, and I was able to get 24 very similar sets of supplies with one package of DSP. You might be able to get more, but 24 was what I needed so that’s where I stopped! The color dots that I used on this particular card are retired so that I could send my supply of current dots out to the group. I recommend the 2020-2022 In Color enamel dots, but there are loads of other options – I love the idea of using the Opal Rounds too.
The turtles were easy to trim from the DSP, and there are jellyfish and whales you could choose as well. I also trimmed the wave on the dsp, and I roughed some but not all of the paper edges.
I love the richness of these hues and the range of tones in this paper! The Whale of a Time DSP is 6×6, and there are many other beautiful papers I didn’t choose for this project!
The card dimensions are 3 1/2″ x 8 1/2″. I cut the following:
card base (Pool Party) 8 1/2 x 7 scored at 3 1/2
mat layer (Pretty Peacock) 8 1/4 x 3 1/4
construction base for the panel (White) 8 x 3
DSP panels were all 3 inches wide. The top panel is 3 x 3, and subsequent panels down the design range from 1″ to 1 1/2″ tall.
I hope you’ll do me the honor of CASE-ing this project! The hardest part is choosing the DSP, I promise. It goes together very easily.
Ready to shop? Find the DSP and so much more at the Online Store. Don’t forget to add your Sale-a-bration choice when you get to $50!
Welcome 2021! Last night at midnight we opened all the doors to the house – and a few windows for good measure – and said goodbye to 2020. It wasn’t a terrible year for us, but I don’t need to repeat it anytime soon. I learned a lot of things, and I’ll cherish those lessons. But let’s be honest: if you have to stay in one place, I’m in a pretty good spot for that!
Stamps: Darling Donkeys (SAB 2021.1), Enjoy the Moment, Dragonfly Garden
Color Palette: Whisper White (retired!), Blushing Bride, Petal Pink, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Daffodil Delight, Flirty Flamingo
Accessories: Stampin’ Blends, Stampin’ Write markers, Paper Snips, Stampin’ Dimensionals
My donkey is kicking up her heels in anticipation of the New Year. She knows things could stay as they are for a while, but that they will eventually get better. She also believes in a positive attitude and a spirit of hope, and she embraces those things because she CAN. 2021 will be about the power of choice.
Hope – that’s her name – is colored with Crumb Cake and Soft Suede Stampin’ Blends. I fussy cut her with my paper snips. (Confession: I have a ridiculous number of snips. It’s my CHOICE.) I used the butterflies from Dragonfly Garden, and used the direct-to-stamp method with Stampin’ Write markers to color only a couple of the butterflies. I tried using the stamp as-is, but it felt overwhelming to have so many butterflies back there. And yes, I fussy cut one of the smallest butterflies, and one was enough, but clearly it was necessary.
About that Whisper White…Stampin’ Up! learned that the business producing our signature card stock was sadly a casualty of the pandemic. A new white card stock called Basic White has been sourced and is being produced, but it will be a couple of weeks before it’s available.
As you can see, my printer has attitude. I’ve tried all the DIY fixes, but I think this one is headed for recycling. It’s mildly annoying, but honestly, one of the gifts of 2020 is that I can say there are worse things than a printer with attitude!
Please hop over to see what Cheryl and Crystal are doing with their DIY calendars for January 2021. If you’re ready to shop, these products will all be available on January 5th right HERE. Well, unless you’re a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator – we’ve had them for a month or more. If you’re interested in joining, message me or check HERE for more information.
If you’d like the 2021 DIY Calendar pdf to print on your own printer it’s just $5. Send me your email address and I’ll send an invoice via Square.
And don’t forget there are just a few days left for the Year-End Closeout! There are still some great deals available, but you’ve only got a couple of days. Time to get shopping!
Let’s not have a review of 2020 The Year, okay? I don’t know about you, but much beyond early March the story is all the same. But there was a DIY Easel Calendar every month in 2020, and we can take a look through those! Click on the link for the details on each project.
Not my usual style, but really fun in this format. These petite easel calendars are really satisfying in that way – there’s just a little space to design, but plenty of room for creativity.
Oh, I was sad to see this stamp set and the beautiful accompanying dies hit the retiring list! It’s in my archive of favorites and I know I’ll use it again and again.
This is the smaller flower, and the way it fit made me think of sunflower fields. I colored the images with Stampin’ Blends, which are one of the most forgiving coloring tools I’ve ever used.
In August I featured Timeless Tropical, our new tropical set. While it doesn’t replace Tropical Chic, I am thrilled to have these palms in my creative stash:
A simple design for a simple setting – there’s an ocean out there somewhere! Check the original post if you’d like to see my first, more detailed version.
Stampin’ Up! has gifted us with a wonderful assortment of stitched dies, and these leaves really take it to the limit (one more tiiiiime….🎶) They’re gorgeous left plain, but they were a lot of fun to spritz and watch the color move where it wanted.
I didn’t buy pumpkins or make a jack-o-lantern this year since there wouldn’t be trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood. I just wasn’t feeling Halloween, so it was a forest instead.
For November I previewed Dragonfly Garden, a gorgeous stamp set with a coordinating punch:
This stamp set will be available on January 5, 2021 as part of an entire garden suite and I predict you will LOVE it!
Finally, the beginning of this month I featured my out-of-this-word Poinsettias:
I’ve loved looking at these all month and I’m going to really have to work at it to top this one! (Who am I kidding? It’s done already and you’ll see it tomorrow 🤓)
I hope you’ve enjoyed this little stroll through my 2020 DIY year. If you’d like to make your own DIY for 2021, there’s still plenty of time! Contact me and give me your email address and I’ll send you an invoice via Square. For just $5 you’ll have a pdf of the calendars plus a set of covers so you can gift them to the people you love best.
And if you need supplies for any of the above, SHOP HERE. I appreciate it!
Run don’t walk to the Online Store! Deals like this won’t last long!
There’s plenty of time to shop for Holiday 2020, or perhaps to stock up for (gasp) 2021! There are lots of products that span the seasons as well, but with discounts of up to 50% these deals will fly out of the warehouse. Shop HERE.
The Clearance Rack has been updated too – find those deals HERE.
The Maui Stamper 