Hi Everyone!

This blog post features the third of three cards inside the Smooches for Mom card box featured in this post.

Holy Cow! the weather is GORGEOUS here in East Central Florida!  A cold front came through over the weekend and the weather the last two days has been spectacular!  Bright blue skies, gentle breezes, temps in the low 70s.  The windows are open to suck in all the wonderful cool air.  Awesome! 

My newly planted flowers are just loving this weather and their bright colors make me grin every time I see them.  I was thinking of these flowers when I saw this card by Debbie McNeill in a tutorial she developed to teach a fun fold using the Big Shot, Labels Collection Framelits, and the Bright Blossoms stamp set.  Here's what I came up with.

(click on card to see larger image)

Because Debbie wrote a wonderful tutorial for creating the fun fold, I'll focus on the stamping and ask you to link here to find the tutorial.  I initially found the tutorial in a newsletter that I received from my Stampin' Up! upline, Catherine Harwood, as she uses Debbie's newsletter service.  You can sign up for the newsletter at Catherine's blog site by clicking on the newsletter link at the left sidebar of her blog page.  [And if you're a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, you may want to talk to Debbie about using her newsletter service.]

The Bright Blossoms stamp set is one of the new stamp sets that will debut in the 2012-2013 Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog beginning on June 1st.  However, Stampin' Up! is offering this stamp set and a few other related items in the Summer Smooches Product Suite as a Sneak Peak ONLY for the month of April.  You saw a piece of the Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper in my last post, so in this post I'm focusing on the stamp set (with another piece of the Designer Series Paper).  Isn't it adorable?  And the images you see here are only a few of the adorable stamps in this set. 

This card begins with a Tangerine Tango card base.  The card was folded and die cut using Debbie's great tutorial.  The top right and lower right corners of the inside sentiment area of the card were punched with the 3/16" corner rounder punch.  Then the edges of the card front (including the die cut area) and the inside sentiment area of the card were sponged with Tangerine Tango ink.  A piece of Tangerine Tango polka-dotted paper (from the Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper) was die cut using the Labels Collection Framelits, the edges of the paper sponged with Tangerine Tango ink, and the paper adhered to the die cut on the card front.

(click on photo to see larger image)

All the stamping on this card was accomplished with Stampin' Write Markers.  The Tempting Turqouise marker was used to ink the polka dot vase  and stamped on a piece of Whisper White cardstock.  The branch with small flower dots image was inked with Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, and Island Indigo markers and stamped at the top of the vase.  [Note:  when you're working with multiple colors on a single stamp image to "huff" on the inked image before stamping to ensure that all the ink is moist.]  The cardstock was die cut with the next smaller size Labels Collection Framelit in the Big Shot, the edges sponged with Tangerine Tango ink, and adhered, centered, to the Designer Series Paper.  The polka dot vase was inked again with the Tempting Turquoise marker and stamped on a scrap of Whisper White cardstock, cut out with Paper Snips, and adhered over the first polka dot vase using Stampin' Dimensionals.  Linen Thread was inserted into the button holes of a Daffodil Delight flower button and Rich Razzleberry  button and knotted on the front of each button.  The buttons were adhered to the Whisper White die cut using Mini Glue Dots.  The card front was finished with a piece of Tempting Turquoise 1/4" grosgrain ribbon wrapped around the die cut fold and knotted on the front.

(click on card to see larger image)

The inside sentiment area of the card was lined with a piece of Whisper White cardstock.  The top right and bottom right corners of the liner were punched with the 3/16" corner rounder punch and the edges of the liner sponged with Tangerine Tango ink.  The branch with small round flowers was inked with the Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, and Island Indigo markers and stamped at the top right and bottom right corners.  The dotted flower was inked with the Rich Razzleberry marker and stamped at the top of the longest branch. 

(click on envelope to see larger image)

The polka dot vase was inked with the Tempting Turquoise marker and stamped near the lower left front corner of the Medium Whisper White Envelope.  The stamp image was stamped again on a Post-It Note (ensuring that most of the vase image is stamped over the area where the repositionable adhesive is located on the reverse side of the Post-It Note) and cut out with Paper Snips.  The Post-It Note vase was placed over the vase stamped on the envelope.  The branch image was inked with Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, and Island Indigo markers and stamped at the top of the vase, then the Post-It Note was removed.  [Using the Post-It Note ensures that the bottom of the branch image doesn't stray onto the vase image.]  The dotted flower was inked with tje Rich Razzleberry marker and stamped at the top of the longest branch. 

There are only a few more days to take advantage of the Summer Smooches Sneak Peek.  To see all the products available during the Sneak Peek, be sure to visit my on-line store by clicking on the Order On-line button located near the top left corner of this blog page.  While you're there, be sure to check out all the items on the Retiring Stamp Set list, Retiring Accessories list, and the Definitely Decorative list.  You won't believe all the great items that will be going away.  Holy Cow!  Just remember that the Accessories and Definitely Decorative items are only available while supplies last.  So if you find one or more of your favorites on the lists, be sure to order right away so that you don't miss out.

Stamps:  Bright Blossoms; Stampin' Write Markers:  Daffodil Delight, Island Indigo, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Tempting Turquoise; Cardstock:  Tangerine Tango, Whisper White; Designer Series Paper:  Summer Smooches; Embellishments:  Linen Thread, Brights Designer Buttons, Tempting Turquoise 1/4" grosgrain ribbon; Adhesives:  SNAIL, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots; Tools:  Paper Cutter/Scorer, Paper Snips, Bone Folder, Sponge, Big Shot w/Standard Cutting Plates, Multi-Purpose Platform, Premium Crease Pad, Labels Collection Framelits; Other:  Medium Whisper White Envelope; Non-Stampin' Up!:  Post-It Note