Honey Bee: Sweet friend

I am late in sharing this card with you; I intended to post it several weeks ago, after I showed you this card. I know it would be faster to walk next door to hand it to our neighbor, whose birthday is tomorrow, but instead I affixed the new, sparkly USPS Let’s Celebrate stamp and sent the card several counties over to be sorted and sent back here to be delivered, hopefully on time. Call me old fashioned, but I still love to find something personal in the mailbox!

Honey Bee | CASEd from Dena Renkow, the sponging on this Golden Honey DSP is the perfect touch for this sweet bee.  Please click to read more! | Stampin' Up! | HeartfeltInkspiration.com | Debra Burgin

I hope no stamp campers cringe when they see the sponges in the project box. I think sponging is an essential skill for a stamper — the best results are achieved with a patient, gentle application of ink. Don’t forget to use a tissue or cotton ball to rub the ink off embossed areas or, in this case, foil.

Honey Bee | CASEd from Dena Renkow, the sponging on this Golden Honey DSP is the perfect touch for this sweet bee.  Please click to read more! | Stampin' Up! | HeartfeltInkspiration.com | Debra Burgin

Part of the appeal on this card is the Golden Honey Specialty Designer Series Paper, with just that little touch of gold, and the Metallic Baker’s Twine & Sequins Combo Pack, also with a tiny bit of gold. Both were 2020 Sale-A-Bration offerings and did not last through the entire SAB season. The lesson to be learned is to carefully plan your SAB benefits so you are not disappointed if (when) they are depleted!

Thank you, Dena Renkow, for the inspiration for this card! I thought it was perfect!

Click the images below to add products for this card to your cart in my Stampin’ Up! online store. Disclosure: I get a commission for purchases made through these links, at no additional charge to you. Thank you!

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Honey Bee: All the best

I’m suspending my Challenge of the Day for a bit while I get caught up on some posts. This card, CASEd from Ruth Sollberger, was one of my favorite March camp cards. I’m usually in love with sets with bees, and Honey Bee was a bonus, with wonderful images and beautiful sentiments. Tomorrow I’ll share another card using that set.

Honey Bee | This card was CASEd from Ruth Sollberger.  It has two details I can't resist:  black and white stripes, and a bee.  Please click to read more! | Stampin' Up! | HeartfeltInkspiration.com | Debra Burgin

In addition to a bee, I’m can’t resist stripes, especially in black and white. I loved every pattern in this Sale-A-Bration pack!

Honey Bee | This card was CASEd from Ruth Sollberger.  It has two details I can't resist:  black and white stripes, and a bee.  Please click to read more! | Stampin' Up! | HeartfeltInkspiration.com | Debra Burgin

According to Stampin’ Up!, if all goes well we’ll have these Detailed Bee dies (and several other die sets) back in stock and available to order in the next week or two. I know many of you have been waiting and waiting and waiting, and there just hasn’t been anything we could do.

Click the images below to add products for this card to your cart in my Stampin’ Up! online store. Disclosure: I get a commission for purchases made through these links, at no additional charge to you. Thank you!

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C.O.D. #9

Wow, three weeks of challenges! Are you keeping up? Remember, there’s is no deadline for participation. Just complete the challenge, take a picture of the result (if possible), and post it as a comment on the appropriate C.O.D. challenge post on the HeartfeltInk Facebook page. Simple!

C.O.D. #9: Use a tag

I love using smaller elements on a card — less real estate to work with! So I can add things to a tag that would be cumbersome or challenging on a full card front. Here are just two examples of cards with tags: Happy Birthday Tag and Timeless Tropical: Hello.

Tag, you’re it!

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Forever Blossoms: Hello

Here’s another of the March stamp camp cards that few stampers got to make. Thank you again for purchasing the completed cards! Although I underestimated how long it would take me to complete the orders, I’m so happy to get them into your hands.

Forever Blossoms | I love the contrast between the playful embossed background and the stitched and scalloped panel.  This is a design element worth repeating!  Please click to read more! | Stampin' Up! | HeartfeltInkspiration.com | Debra Burgin

You can’t see it in this photo, but the single blossom image is repeated inside the card, and on the envelope, too.

Forever Blossoms | I love the contrast between the playful embossed background and the stitched and scalloped panel.  This is a design element worth repeating!  Please click to read more! | Stampin' Up! | HeartfeltInkspiration.com | Debra Burgin

Although the spray of cherry blossoms is dramatic in this coloring, I really love the contrast between the playful embossing and the scalloped and stitched panel behind the flowers. I’m going to use that design element again, soon!

Click the images below to add products for this card to your cart in my Stampin’ Up! online store. Disclosure: I get a commission for purchases made through these links, at no additional charge to you. Thank you!

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C.O.D. #7: Use blue and yellow

I finally got to create a card for this challenge this week:

Springtime Foils | I'd say this card (for C.O.D. #7) looks like springtime!  Please click to read more! | Stampin' Up! | HeartfeltInkspiration.com | Debra Burgin

As I was cleaning up my stamping things a couple weeks ago, I consolidated all the DSP I have. When I used to hold big Saturday events, participants would receive in their goody bag and assortment pack of sheets I cut into 6″ x 6″. This is one of the papers I saved for myself because it’s just so easy — and satisfying — to create with it.

Springtime Foils Specialty Designer Series Paper was a Sale-A-Bration product in 2018. It’s glossy paper, which means it’s an absolute delight to float Stampin’ Blends color on it and move it around. If Stampin’ Up! offers this type of card stock again, you must try this for yourself!

Click the images below to add products for this card to your cart in my Stampin’ Up! online store. Disclosure: I get a commission for purchases made through these links, at no additional charge to you. Thank you!

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C.O.D. #8

It seems like I should have nothing but time on my hands, but the truth is I’ve been stamping a lot in the last several days, trying to get a big project done. (And I had some family responsibilities and urgent gardening tasks in there, too!) Now I’m ready to resume an activity I started in mid-March, when being housebound sounded like heaven!

So today, the Challenge of the Day won’t necessarily produce a card or other project, but instead is something that supports your paper crafting:

C.O.D. #8: Organize one aspect of your craft space

What gets in the way of your creating? Do you need to change the way you store certain items? Would a different system fix something that annoys you? Choose one thing and fix it. I can hardly wait to see what you do — comment in the C.O.D. #8 post at the Heartfelt Inkspiration Facebook page

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C.O.D. #7

Last night I had to look up just when the Illinois stay-at-home order went into effect. Certainly seems like it’s been longer than two weeks, and it will be much longer. Must get my head together and keep stamping to stay focused! And so I offer you today’s challenge:

C.O.D. #7: Use blue and yellow

I’m far from being Swedish, but I have always loved blue and yellow together; it was the color scheme of the kitchen in our old house when we left. Since a kitchen remodel in this house has been pushed back several years, thanks to the sewer work, I’ll have to content myself with paper. Here’s what caught my eye when I was pulling out card stock for a project this weekend:

You can use any blue and yellow combination you wish, ya sure!

I’d love if you’d use Stampin’ Up! products, even if not current. Create your project, photograph it, then include it in a comment in the C.O.D. #7 post at the Heartfelt Inkspiration Facebook page

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The spring mantel

A couple of years ago we painted the unattractive brick fireplace and room-darkening paneling in our family room. It’s on the north side of the house and could get kind of gloomy in the winter. What a difference it made! Some time later we put up a simple, floating oak mantel. Hooray for more space to display seasonal collections!

Here’s what part of it looks like for the Easter/spring season:

Do you remember when Stampin’ Up! had a line of jewelry? There were pendants of different sizes (some with beveled glass) and charms of all sorts. I loved that mini catalog, from spring 2012, I believe. The pendants were hinged and double-sided so you could insert artwork. I still have these, including the one you can see on the dress form, above. I water colored that little bunny (from which set?), then added a narrow strip of DSP along the side, edged with a tiny line of glitter. I still love the way it looks:

On the mantel you can also see the HOME frame we made in a specialty class in October 2018. Along with a base of black, die-cut letters (H M E), we created eight different matted ovals with seasonal/holiday scenes to attach to the base in place of the missing O. I’m not sure who originated this concept (you see variations all over the web); my friend Jennifer Taylor and I collaborated on this class. I sometimes display it on a side table in the living room or hang it on the front door.

Even though no one is seeing this mantel IRL this year, it makes my heart happy!

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C.O.D. #6

This challenge is a bit of a change!

C.O.D. #6: Use a rabbit

That’s it! Find a rabbit image and create a card around it, or create a bunny with punches, or … whatever you wish!

I realized I was being unrealistic to set such short deadlines, so create when you can and post when you can. In fact, you won’t see my project (a throwback!) until Sunday.

The only rule is to use Stampin’ Up! products exclusively. Create your project, photograph it, then include it in a comment in the C.O.D. #6 post at the Heartfelt Inkspiration Facebook page

Need some ideas where you might find a bunny? Sets from the current annual catalog include Cuckoo for You (p. 29), Wildly Happy (p. 101), and Fable Friends (p. 102). In the January-June 2020 Mini Catalog, try Welcome Easter (p. 45). Look through your stash of retired sets, too, then let’s get hopping!

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Introducing the Ornate Garden Suite

Just when we need something fresh, Stampin’ Up! offers us this array of beautiful products! Check out this short SU! corporate video for a tour of the Ornate Garden Suite:

This is an early release from the upcoming 2020-2021 Annual Catalog and is available now through May 31.

  • There are eight coordinating pieces in this suite, which can be ordered under one item number. The Ornate Garden Suite is #154153.
  • There are two bundles (photopolymer stamp set and coordinating dies) in the suite that can be ordered at a 10% discount (the 10% discount for these bundles is also reflected in the price of the suite). The  Ornate Thanks Bundle is #154115. The Ornate Style Bundle is #154119.
  • See all the products and details on my Stampin’ Up! storefront HERE, or download the pdf flyer HERE. Thank you!
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