Snowflakes...Yes, in July!

 

  Are you ready for a little holiday inspiration?

I am happy to be participating with some
uber-talented designers for the . . .

with Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps !

I love this set called 'Snowflake Flourishes'

and think it's really fun to use it with 'non-traditional' colors.

Although not technically a Christmas card, it can definitely be

created for the holiday season.

I stamped the small snowflakes using shades of

pinks, blues & greens and then played off of those colors

for the rest of the card.

The snowflake is made from Bazzill cardstock

and was embossed with a Swiss Dot EF by Cuttlebug

and cut using Spellbinders dies.

and the pearl flourish is from Want2Scrap.

The 'wallpaper' is made from papers from

Dear Lizzy for American Crafts & Doodlebug Design.

Lots of great things are happening at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps during these pre-holiday festivities!  ALL Christmas clear stamps are 20% off through Wednesday, July 25.  Three new holiday sets are in stock early, for a fun pre-release, and they you can get them before they are released in September and October... if you buy them now, you can take advantage of the sale price!

Every order of $25 in Christmas clear stamps will receive Gingerbread Man, a darling new 2" x 2" mini clear set.  And as always, all clear stamp orders of $50 or more get this month's free w/ stamp set, Christmas Candle (while supplies last).

Ready to see what the Design Divas and a few special friends have been up to with their Christmas stamps?  Take a look (and be sure to read on, for information about how you can join in on this hop  and win some prizes):

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps blog

Kim Singdahlsen

Bridget Finlay

Jennifer Ingle

Taylor Usry

Monika Davis

Cathy McCauley

Mary Faus

Ceal Pritchett

Giovana Smith

Lee Murphy

Jennie Harper

Kim Schofield

Julie Ranae
Jessica Fick

Korin Sutherland 

And what's the best part about Christmas in July?  We want YOU to play along with us!  Just link up your Christmas project using Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps below and join in our Customer blog hop.  You have until Sunday, July 22 at 11:59 PM EST to play along.  One randomly selected participant will receive their choice of one Christmas clear stamp set!

  Thanks for stopping by The Open Window.

I hope you will take a moment to let me know you were

here by leaving a comment and I can't wait to see

what you create along with us !

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Bazzill

Patterned Paper: Neopolitan from Dear Lizzy by American Crafts

Sugar & Spice by Doodlebug Design

Stamps: Snowflake Flourish by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

Ink:  A Muse Studio

Embellishments: pearl flourish from Want2Scrap

Tools:  Snowflake die from Spellbinders

Swiss Dot EF from Cuttlebug

Apron Lace border punch from Fiskars

Floating Garden with Pearl-Ex Tutorial

I haven't had much of an opportunity to be creative this week 

in my art room.  I have been 'creatively' working on the

computer over at The Play Date Cafe because we have

a fabulous line-up of guests and sponsors that need

my attention over there.

So I thought I would share a tutorial with you that I

originally shared back in June of last year.

I hope you find it helpful.

WISHING YOU A BLESSED GOOD FRIDAY

FLOATING GARDEN with PEARL EX

This is a quick and easy technique for those of you who may not know exactly what to do with your Pearl Ex. It's one that we taught in my store and I know you are going to love the results!

The image used here is from Magenta, but you can use any big, bold image you have.

Here's what else you need to get started:

Embossing Ink in Black
Embossing Powder in Clear
Matte Cardstock in Black
Pearl Ex in your choice of colors
Dove Blender / Blender Refill Fluid
Squeeze & Flo Bottle w/Dove Blender Fluid in bottle
(these last two supplies are optional dependent on what you have)

Stamp and emboss your image on black cardstock. This effect will work on other dark cardstocks, but you will have to experiment on your scraps to
see what works.

This technique was done with a Squeeze & Flo bottle/paintbrush.
If you have a Dove Blender pen, you can do the same technique, and in fact,
you can squeeze into smaller 'nooks n crannies' with it.
Place 2 or 3 colors of PearlEx onto a small disposable plate and dip either the
tip of your Dove Blender Pen or the edge of the Squeeze & Flo brush into the
first color and begin to 'paint' or 'float the color' inside the lines of your image.
 
OPTIONAL METHOD:  Make a 'paint' out of Pearl-Ex and Dove Blender fluid
and use a paint brush to color in the lines.

It's as easy as that! It may take a bit of practice with the Squeeze & Flo
technique as you may find at first you have little pools inside your image.
Make sure you allow it a few minutes to dry and if you want to seal it, just
use a matte fixative or a shot of cheap hairspray. The expensive ones will
work too, but who can afford it?!

Hope you will try this technique.....

If you have, or a variation of it, please leave

a comment and let me know.  

It really can create beautiful results.

OH...if you are new to my blog,
I would love to know you stopped by.
Please leave a note or better yet,
follow along.  I'll come to see you, too!

Birthday Fun Part One...SHOPPING!

I had such a great time shopping with my ever-so-patient husband and now it's time to share my bounty with you! I hardly know where to start, so I decided to go with the papers I am most excited about. I love vintage...retro...nostalgia...call it what you want. When Paul spotted these great papers from Graphic45 on the rack, he knew it would be ok to have me "drop everything to check these out!" (I love that he knows me THAT well!) They are fabulous, 2-sided patterned papers that harken 'back to the day', that's for sure. I cannot wait to start designing with these and I am SURE they will show up soon in a Friday Night Series.

Next up, the spookier, more macabre Halloween...'intellectual' Halloween. These papers are from the Spider's Web Collection for My Mind's Eye. I've already begun designing a card that I hope to share with you tomorrow. I love these upscale colors, don't you...something different, I think.

Of course with the spooky comes the cute and colorful. I found some great new Heidi Grace and Doodlebug Design for Halloween and then some really cute prints from Bo-Bunny for the general fall season. Vibrant colors are always a nice option when it comes to fall-color alternatives.

I had really been looking forward to seeing the new Eskimo Kisses Collection from Basic Grey and along the way, I found some terrific 'stuff' from Bo-Bunny, My Mind's Eye and one of my favorite companies, Fancy Pants Designs. I was definitely NOT disappointed! There are so many beautiful shades to work with for the holiday season, I really won't know where to start!
I think all in all, I bought around 75 new sheets of patterned papers and a variety of chipboard, die-cut and sticker sheets. What a great way to keep the birthday party going, huh!

I saved the stamps and accessories for last! My ribbon collection just went through the roof here! I just couldn't pass up alot of it, especially the Martha Stewart sets, as they were on clearance for $1.99 a set and the paper ribbons were .97 a package....Yeah, I know! Have you started working with Flower Soft yet? I bought 3 color varieties and some wire stems to make bouquets. This stuff is HUGE in the UK and much of Europe. I bought the English Cottage Peel-offs with a specific project in mind using the Flower Soft, so I will let you know how that works out. A great stamp set from October Afternoon and some much needed mushroom stamps from Hero Arts. I have been wanting to do some '70's-themed' cards and those will be perfect. A few $1 stamps thrown in there and some odds and ends and that's about it!

I have a few more photos to share with you of some 'crafty' gifts I received and a GIANT cupcake! But those will have to wait until tomorrow. In the meantime, I would love to know if you have indeed worked with Flower Soft....if so, what did you make? If not, is it something new to you?
Leave me a comment and let me know.

One more thing.....I can't thank you enough for the lovely birthday wishes I received over the course of the past week. It is so wonderful to be able to celebrate with this new community of friends that you have become.....it truly made me smile!