february swap cards

february swap cards

I LOVE getting HAPPY MAIL!
What is Happy Mail – for me it’s most anything sent by mail that is not advertising, junk or bills! When you get a hand written card in the mail doesn’t it bring you joy?
Demonstrator swaps are like that too! Every month I participate and cannot wait to get 10-20 cards in the mail from sister stampers that create some lovely cards for me to share with you all!

The first card is actually a late arrival from my January Swap that arrived in the mail after I posted my January Swap blog so this one features the most popular Sale-a-bration requested FREEBIE – the Bloom Impressions DSP. Carol S’s swap card uses that Sale-a-bration DSP paired with the Beautiful Butterflies dies and the Painted Plaster 3D embossing folder. For all of you that EARNED this gorgeous paper here is a lovely idea for how to use it on your own creations!

This Mediterranean Blooms DSP card from Lyn L shows an easy way to create a card using our gorgeous Designer Series papers as the main attraction! She used the coordinating bundle on top of the DSP.
Marie W’s swap card features the Linked Together bundle from the current January to April 2025 mini catalog products to create a lovely die cut creation full of colorful flowers and sentiment oval die set atop the neutral Country Woods DSP.
Judith P’s masculine swap card used the Terrific Toadstools bundle in neautral shades of Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla and Basic Black with splatters of Craft White ink over it to create a “magical” vibe!
Jeanna T’s swap card gives us an excellent peak at the newly released Online Exclusive suite Botanical Textures that features the Mini Corrugated 3D embossing folder, gorgeous masculine paper showing textured textiles in neutral shades and great dies and stamps to coordinate!
The Thankful Garden Bundle with it’s coordinating die, masks and stamp set is featured on Veronica S’s swap card in Bubble Bath and Lemon Lime Twist set on a background of contrasting black and white for a stunning thank you card! This is the first time I have seen the Starburst Sequins from the Lovely Garden Suite and they are stunning!
STARBURST SEQUINS #165539 $7.50
* 180 adhesive-backed pieces
* 5 mm, 6mm
* Crushed Curry, Fresh Freesia, white
This delightful swap Thankful Garden card is from Carol S. Using the sentiment from the Country Birdhouse stamp set and the flowers and foliage from the new Thankful Garden bundle with masks for easy coloring this cards focal pieces pop in Melon Mambo and Garden Green set on Black and White! The rectangular dies from the Textured Notes bundle set the tone on both the front and inside of the card.
Susan W’s swap card in beautiful green hues features the Layering Florals embossing folder, the Winter Meadow DSP, the Everyday Details stamp set and the coordinating (retired) Everyday Details dies and the Shaded Spruce ribbon all set on a Shaded Spruce card stock base.
Robin C’s swap card features the lovely Wildflower Birthday Suite of products including the Wildflower Specialty Designer Series Paper and die cut sheets, the Spotlight on Nature dies, and the eyelet embossing folder for a fun Gatefold Offset fun fold card with coordinating envelope flap with an additional piece of Designer Series paper!
This Tower card fun fold from Nancy F uses a fun stand alone display card featuring the Lovely Garden DSP and the sentiment from the Bright Borders stamp set and the coordinating To the Point Label punch for a very springtime card! She also decorated her envelope flap with DSP – clever!
Lori V’s swap card uses a belly band with a die cut from the Mixed Labels bundle to close around this gorgeous DSP from the Mixed Media Suite. But the best is the surprise inside with a pop up floral arrangement from the Mixed Florals bundle over the Painted Plaster 3D embossing folder panels!
The last card in my February Swap collection is from my upline Denise W and she made a Tri-fold Shutter card – fancy! I will be highlighting my own version on one of my upcoming blog posts and I will teach you have to make this fun card! Denise used Petunia Pop In Color for the base card and the Meant To Bee bundle with coordinating DSP to complete the look!
Hopefully we inspired you with all these fabulous swap ideas and now it is your turn to go and create some artwork of your very own – one stamp at a time!

Happy Stampin’
Natalie

more color mondays – flirty flamingo, daffodil delight and boho blue

more color mondays – flirty flamingo, daffodil delight and boho blue

Today’s More Color Mondays color challenge features a tri-fold fun fold card in hues of Flirty Flamingo, Daffodil Delight and Boho Blue.

The Mixed Media Suite Collection features gorgeous paper that is highlighted in this fun fun fold card.

Measurements:
BASE: Daffodil Delight CS: 4″ x 12″
scored at 4″ and 8″
Flirty Flamingo CS: scraps for 3 shaped dies
Boho Blue CS: scraps for 3 shaped dies
DSP: scraps for 3 shaped dies

I used three consecutive Everyday Arches dies for the focal points for the tri fold panels.

Adhere the medium sized Everyday Arches die of Boho Blue to the larger die of Flirty Flamingo.
Adhere the DSP Everyday Arches die cut to the Boho Blue die cut.
Use three different DSP designs – one for each of the tri-fold panels.
I used the floral DSP for the front panel.
When you adhere the die cuts to the tri-fold panels measure the height of the card to insure that the card measurements do not exceed
5 1/2″, so that the card will fit inside a standard envelope.
I used the B side of the floral DSP and stamped a sentiment on the Boho Blue surface. Adhere this sentiment piece to the middle tri-fold panel.
I used the black and white floral design for the last panel. Adhere to the final tri-fold panel.
Adhere Rhinestones Basic Jewels – two on the first panel and three in the flower centers on the third panel.

This tri-fold fun fold card is self standing and displays the Mixed Media DSP delightfully!

Try this fun fold soon with DSP you have in your stash! No go and create some artwork of your very own – one stamp at a time!

Happy Stampin’
Natalie

more color mondays – flirty flamingo, daffodil delight and balmy blue swap card

more color mondays – flirty flamingo, daffodil delight and balmy blue swap card

Today’s More Color Monday Color Challenge was all about my Fun Fold Swap for the SOLD OUT OnStage 2025 Stampin’ Up! Event starting this coming week in Raleigh, North Carolina. On March 13th lucky demonstrators that registered in the first 6 hours that the event registration was open will be gathering in Raleigh, Strasbourg, France and Brisbane, Australia. I sadly will not be among them this year as I got shut out but a friend and fellow demonstrator that is hosting a large scale swap allowed me to remain on the list so I will have some fun elite OnStage Swaps to share as soon as they return home and he mails them out – stay tuned!

This is the card I submitted to the Fun Fold card swap!

Measurements:
BASE #1: Basic Black CS: 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″
scored at 2 1/8″ and 4 1/4″
BASE #2: Basic Black CS: 3 1/2″ x 7″
scored at 3 1/2″ and 5 5/8″
scrap for die
Mixed Media DSP: (2) 1 7/8″ x 5 1/4″
Beautiful Bokeh DSP: 4″ x 5 1/4″
Basic White CS: 3 3/8″ x 3 3/8″
2″ x 3 3/8″
1″ x 3 3/8″
scrap for the sentiment die
4″ x 5 1/4″ for the Mixed Florals stamp/die cut
4″ x 5 1/4″ for the back-side of the card

Score the larger Basic Black BASE #1 at 2 1/2″ and 4 1/4″.
Adhere the 1 7/8″ strips of Mixed Media DSP to the first and second panels of BASE #1.
Adhere the 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Beautiful Bokeh DSP to the third panel of BASE #1.
Stamp the tulip image from the Mixed Florals stamp set on one of the 4″ x 5 1/4″ Basic White layers.
Color the smaller flower petals in Light Balmy Blue Stampin’ Blends markers.
Color the lower half of the smaller blooms in Dark Balmy Blue Stampin’ Blends and then go over the entire petal to blend the colors with the Light Marker one last time.
Color the tulip petals with the Light Flirty Flamingo Stampin’ Blends marker.
Color the lower half and the highlight marks of the tulip blooms with the Dark Flirty Flamingo marker and then color the entire tulip petal surface with the Light marker to blend the flower petal.
Color the leaves with Soft Sea Foam Light marker.
Highlight with the Dark marker and then blend with the Light marker to finish the leaves.
Die cut the floral image out with the corresponding die.
I cut the flower image in two pieces.
I initially took the first and third Basic White layers the 3 3/8″ square (1st panel) and the 1″ (for the third panel) and embossed them with the Beautiful Butterflies embossing folder I later decided to use the Distressed Tile 3D embossing folder – because I liked the smaller pattern for this card!
I stamped the inside sentiment onto the 2″ layer and adhered all three layers to the smaller Z fold BASE #2.
I die cut the rectangular die shape from the Mixed labels die set in Basic Black cardstock and adhered it to the lower portion of the first panel.
I stamped the outside sentiment and die cut from the Mixed Labels bundle and burnished the edges with Flirty Flamingo ink and adhered it above the black die on the first panel.
I folded the smaller z fold closed and added Stampin’ Seal + to the exposed edge of the back of the first panel and adhered it to the middle of the larger BASE #1 first panel.

Then I closed the smaller Z fold and placed Stampin’ Seal + to the back of the third panel and closed the back side of the card over the tape securing the smaller Z fold to the larger z fold.

Adhere the smaller tulip stamped image to the third panel of the smaller z fold so that the leaf is sticking out at the top.
Place Stampin’ Dimensionals to the back of the large tulip piece and adhere to the left side of the first panels.
I decided I wanted one of the bloom to be Daffodil Delight as I did not have enough of this color on the card. So I redid the smaller bloom in Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Blends.
I added Adhesive-Backed Pearl trio embellishments to the card to finish off this fun swap card with some coordinating bling!

I love the way this turned out – how about you do you like the decisions I made during the creative process – changing the flower colors and the embossing folder? Let me know what you think and which way you preferred it!

Do not be shy to change your mind while creating – creative process is a fluid thing and be open to your creative instinct – try new things and do not be afraid to go in a different direction then you originally imagined – you might just like the outcome better than the original inspiration!

Now go and create some artwork of your very own – one stamp at a time!

Happy Stampin’
Natalie

Product List
more color mondays – calypso coral, boho blue and daffodil delight easy scrapbooking page

more color mondays – calypso coral, boho blue and daffodil delight easy scrapbooking page

I have always been drawn to our floral sets and this new Online Exclusives suite is no exception but what makes this even more exciting is that the Designer Series paper is fabulous and it comes with a coordinating set of Memories and More card pack that coordinates with the entire suite. Talk about super easy coordinating and card making and scrapbooking possibilities!
These Memories and More cards includes 50 double-sided printed cards for quick card fronts and pocket scrapbooks plus 4 sheets of stickers to embellish your projects.

* 50 total cards
* 3″ x 4″ (7.6 x 10.2 cm): 36 cards
* 4″ x 6″ (10.2 x 15.2 cm): 14 cards
* 4 sticker sheets: 2 each of 2 designs
* Acid free
* Lignin free

Product colors: Basic Black, Boho Blue, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Flirty Flamingo, Granny Apple Green, Mossy Meadow, Petal Pink, Poppy Parade, Shy Shamrock

Preserve memories and make even more with the Mixed Media Florals Memories & More Card Pack. With gorgeous garden floral designs in a mixed-media style, you’ll find it hard to run out of ways to use these creative cards and stickers!

Measurements:
BASE: Calypso Coral CS: 8 1/2″ x 11″
Basic White CS: (2) 4″ x 5 1/4″ for flower stamps
and dies
Memories and More cards (2) 3″ x 4″ and (1)
4″ x 6″

I sorted through all the gorgeous offerings in the Mixed Media Florals Memories and More cards and chose three coordinating cards for my scrapbook page welcoming our newest family member our new niece!
I placed the three cards on an 8 1/2″ x 11″ piece of Calypso Coral card stock and started arranging the pictures and cards I wanted to put into this page. I liked the framing details in the 4″ x 6″ card and grabbed a Calypso Coral Stampin’ Write marker and a ruler and added a hand drawn border to mimic the one in the card. I added an offset Basic Black Marker border around the Calypso Coral border. When I liked the layout I cut the photos down to size and started adhering the largest 4″ x 6″ Memories and More card to the top left-hand corner.
I wanted to add a couple of stamped and colored images to the middle of the page so I stamped the Tulip and Daisy stamps on the Basic WHite layers and colored with assorted Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers then die cut the images.
I tucked the stamped and die cut images under the central photo of the new baby and added journaling in a Boho Blue marker.
Easy scrapbooking pages are not the only uses for these great little cards but fast and easy card making also!
Here are some examples from the catalog and one card I made using the various coordinating Memories and More cards!
Grab a pack of these gorgeous cards and create some artwork of your very own – one stamp and one card at a time!

Happy Stampin’
Natalie