Control Freaks Sale-a-Bration/Occasions Blog Tour

Welcome to another Control Freaks blog tour!  There is so much to love in the Sale-a-Bration and Occasions catalogs, we are again focusing on them this month.  You've probably arrived here from Debbie Henderson's blog.  Her projects are always on point!

Last month I mentioned I challenged myself to make quite a few projects with Lift Me Up so I can "warm up" with the set and then pick one for the Control Freaks SAB/Occasions swap.  So without further ado, here's the swap card I settled on.

I used Freshly Made Sketches #267 for this card. I wanted a clean design, but I felt the need to fill the smooth blank background in some subtle way. So I used the Sunburst Thinlit to emboss the background.  I did this by putting the card stock on top (non-cutting side) of the Sunburst die, rather than underneath (cutting side) it; all other sandwich layers being the same.  I did put a piece of copy paper under the die to help protect the cutting edge a bit.

Stamps: Lift Me Up; Paper: Night of Navy, Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Carried Away DSP, Silver Glimmer Paper; Ink: Watermelon Wonder, Night of Navy; Accessories: Silver Metallic Thread, Up & Away Thinlits, Sunburst Thinlit, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Did you ever just have a play day with some stamping techniques, maybe to practice or learn something new?  I sat down with the artistic set Beautiful You to practice some no-line watercoloring on scraps.  It turned out pretty good, so I mounted it up on some spare pieces on my desk.

I stamped the outline in Sahara Sand, after stamping off once, and then watercolored from there.  This lovely lady in yellow needs some pearls, don't you think?

Stamps: Beautiful You; Paper: Whisper White, Playful Palette DSP, Watercolor Paper; Ink: Crushed Curry, Delightful Dijon, Emerald Envy, Sahara Sand, Tip Top Taupe, Tuxedo Black Memento; Accessories: White Baker's Twine, Aquapainter, Sewing Machine, Thread, Dimensionals.

Jump over to the fabulous Lyssa Zwolanek's blog to check out what inspiring ideas she has for us. 

Control Freaks Sale-a-Bration/Occasions Blog Tour

Welcome, welcome... time for another Control Freaks blog tour!  I wish I had more time to participate in these regularly, but heck, we are here now, so let's go!!  This month's theme is the upcoming Sale-a-Bration and Occasions catalogs.  I always love playing with fresh spring stuff just as winter is starting to settle in.  You've probably arrived here from Mary Brown's blog.  I love her clean style!

I've been thinking about my Control Freaks SAB/Occasions swap (to be unveiled next month), so I've had the Lift Me Up set on my desk.  I've challenged myself to make quite a few projects so I can "warm up" with the set and then pick my favorite... or one that I can make many multiples of.  Let's face it, patterned paper doesn't go on forever, so you gotta be smart with it.

I'm using the Sale-a-Bration patterned paper called Carried Away.  OMG FREE paper with a $50 order?  Yes please!!  I wish I had enough paper to make this card my swap.  This CAS speaks to me.  But, on the other hand, I get to share it immediately with you!  :)  

I used Freshly Made Sketches #266 for this card.

Stamps: Lift Me Up; Paper: Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Carried Away DSP, Silver Glimmer Paper; Ink: Watermelon Wonder, Night of Navy; Accessories: Silver Metallic Thread, Metallic Sequin Assortment, Up & Away Thinlits, Stitched Shaped Framelits, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Here's another play card that failed the potential swap criteria.

Lots of layers and patterns here, but Hubby says he likes this one best.

Stamps: Lift Me Up; Paper: Mint Macaron, Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Carried Away DSP, Silver Glimmer Paper; Ink: Mint Macaron, Night of Navy, Watermelon Wonder; Accessories: White Baker's Twine, Up & Away Thinlits, Outdoor Adventure Framelits, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Jump over to the amazing Dawn Olchefske's blog to check out what fabulous ideas she has for us. 

Control Freaks Happy Fall Y'All Blog Tour

Welcome... It's time to hop along with the fabulous Control Freaks!  This month we will be sharing Happy Fall Y'All projects.  With such back-to-school craziness, I am constantly telling myself to stop and enjoy September's indian summer before it is quickly gone.  Most likely it is quite warm where you are as well, but needless to say, it's time to get ready for crispy fall weather. 

You've probably arrived here from Amy Koenders's blog.  Her cards and style are just so yummy!

I had to get the Cookie Cutter Halloween set as soon as I saw it.  Such cute characters, and stamp-punch-done method is so easy-peasy!

Combining with Ghoulish Grunge (how fun is that background set??) and using Freshly Made Sketches #249, this was my first "play" card to get my feet wet.  I used clear heat embossing on the blood image to give the card a spooky effect.  With the Labeler Alphabet set, you basically can make any sentiment you want!

Stamps: Cookie Cutter Halloween, Ghoulish Grunge, Labeler Alphabet; Paper: Smoky Slate, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Halloween Night DSP; Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Perfect Plum, Crushed Curry, Basic Gray, Basic Black; Accessories: Halloween Night Baker's Twine, Clear Embossing Powder, Cookie Cutter Builder Punch, Aquapainter, Dimensionals.

And I was pretty happy with my Control Freaks swap sample, which we also made at Stamp Club as well.

Again I paired this set with Ghoulish Grunge backgrounds - so versatile!  Isn't that peeking mummy adorable?

I used the house die from the Home Sweet Home thinlits to create the coffin, by cutting along the score lines and cutting the roof peak off to straight edge giving a 2-7/8" coffin height.

Stamps: Cookie Cutter Halloween, Sweet Home, Ghoulish Grunge; Paper: Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Vellum, Halloween Night DSP; Ink: Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Versamark; Accessories: Halloween Night Baker's Twine, White Embossing Powder, Cookie Cutter Builder Punch, Home Sweet Home Thinlits, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Of course how can it be fall without Halloween (or harvest) treats?

You could dress up a bunch of these for special trick-or-treater guests or coworkers.  Quick, easy, cute!  Natalie Kennedy got me going on these, and they sure are fun!  The wrap on the snack size Kit Kat bar is 2-5/8 x 4".

Stamps: Cookie Cutter Halloween, Sweet Home, Acorny Thank You; Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla, Halloween Night DSP; Ink: So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, Dapper Denim, Basic Black, Memento Tuxedo Black; Accessories: Halloween Night Baker's Twine, Cookie Cutter Builder Punch, Home Sweet Home Thinlits, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Jump over to LeeAnn Greff's blog to check out what fabulous ideas she has; they are always so creative!

Fun and Fancy Free Control Freaks Blog Tour

Welcome... It's time to hop along with the super fabulous Control Freaks group!  This month's theme is "Fun and Fancy Free", also known as "anything we are working on".  You've probably arrived here from Julie Davison's blog.  Her projects are always so lovely!

My focus today is on the stamp set Birthday Fiesta, which we used at Stamp Club.  OMGosh, this little guy is so cute!

The background circle uses the ink smash technique, to make it stand out a bit more while bringing in some of the suite colors.

After struggling a bit with the layout, I let it mellow on my desk a few days.  It's a take on Freshly Made Sketches #241.

Stamps: Birthday Fiesta; Paper: Crushed Curry, Wild Wasabi, Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo, Tip Top Taupe, Very Vanilla, Festive Birthday DSP, Watercolor Paper; Ink: Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Emerald Envy, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Melon Mambo Thick Baker's Twine, 2-1/2 Circle Punch, Water Spritzer, Fiesta Time framelits, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

I've been wanting to get this llama together with the fringe scissors.

I "fringed" strips of Chocolate Chip card stock and glued them to a base, and then I die-cut the llama shape.  He really is a profile or silhouette, as I am not sure how to add some face details to him.  Recognizable, none-the-less.

I again used the ink smash technique, along with some splattering, for the background.  Ink smash really is a great way to easily incorporate some watercolor quickly.  The layout is from Freshly Made Sketches #245.

Stamps: Birthday Fiesta, Thoughtful Banners; Paper: Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Festive Birthday DSP, Watercolor Paper; Ink: Crushed Curry, Hello Honey, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Rhinestone Jewels, Fringe Scissors, Water Spritzer, Watercolor Brush, Fiesta Time framelits, Big Shot, Sewing Machine, Thread.

Finally I wanted to share the card(s) I made for our Control Freaks New Catalog swap.  Lots of Birthday Fiesta Suite goodness.

I sewed the mini pompom trim on.  I know... crazy, huh?  The Watercolor Wash stamp works great as a subtle sky background.

Stamps: Birthday Fiesta, Watercolor Wash; Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Wild Wasabi, Melon Mambo, Tip Top Taupe, Whisper White, Festive Birthday DSP; Ink: Soft Sky, Crushed Curry, Emerald Envy, Melon Mambo, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Mini Pompom Trim, Fiesta Time framelits, Umbrella Weather framelits, Big Shot, Sewing Machine, Thread, Dimensionals.

Jump over to the amazing Connie Babbert's blog to check out what fabulous ideas she has for us. 

Control Freaks Something Old, Something New Blog Tour

Welcome... It's time to hop along with the super fabulous Control Freaks group!  This month's theme is "Something Old, Something New".  We have been very busy retiring a whole host of stamps & supplies while also getting ready for the new catalog in June.  You've probably arrived here from Mindy's blog.  Her projects are always so lovely!

It's graduation season, and I've been wanting to make tassels out of the cotton paper in the annual catalog ever since it came out.  This is the perfect (or last) time to include this in this month's Stamp Club.

The tassels are created out of Cherry on Top Cotton Paper Assortment, using the fringe scissors.  Start with 2 x 6" strips of cotton paper, cut with fringe scissors 2/3 up (in the 2" direction), and roll.  I found rolling the strip around a wooden skewer to be helpful.

The mortar board shapes were traced with an image from the internet in the e-cutter software and cut out.  Much easier than having club members hand-cut.

The Bravo stamp set is perfect for all occasions, but especially for graduations.  The stamp set, Cherry on Top patterned paper and cotton paper are all retiring.  Don't forget to grab yours before they are gone!

Stamp: Bravo; Paper: Crushed Curry, Basic Black, Whisper White, Cherry on Top DSP, Cherry on Top Cotton Paper Assortment; Ink: Bermuda Bay, Cucumber Crush; Accessories: White baker's twine, Silver taffeta ribbon, Mini Stapler, Fringe Scissors, Balloon framelits, Big Shot, e-cutter.

Now on to something new...  My preorder has been sitting here, and I've been lovingly looking at it and petting it, but I hadn't yet actually made anything with it.  What's wrong with me (other than lack of time and mojo)?

For me to get the hang of new In Colors, I often go to watercoloring.  Here I combined the new In Color Sweet Sugarplum with the new set Swirly Bird and new thinlit dies Swirly Scribbles.

After I trimmed off the leaves on the middle-sized swirl die-cut, I outlined the die-cuts with a pencil and watercolored.  For the leaves, I stamped the branch image in the center to give them a bit more dimension.

My color combination is Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Basic Black, and Very Vanilla.

Stamps: Swirly Bird, Crazy About You; Paper: Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Watercolor Paper; Ink: Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Versamark; Accessories: Metallic Sequin Assortment, White Embossing Powder, Watercolor Brush, Swirly Scribbles thinlits, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Jump over to the amazing Stamp Doc, Melissa Stout, to check out what fabulous ideas she has for us. 

Control Freaks Sale-a-Bration Blog Tour

Welcome... It's time to hop along with the fabulous Control Freaks!  This month we will take a more in-depth look at the Sale-a-Bration offerings.  Remember, each of the Sale-a-Bration items are FREE with a $50 purchase, and they are irresistible!  If you are following the tour, you've probably arrived here from Mary Brown's blog.  I love her clean style!

Have you seen the three new Sale-a-Bration offerings, which just arrived on Tuesday?  One set is called Party Pants, and you're gonna need this one.  Why?  Because it is full of sentiments that fit perfectly in the Balloon Bouquet punch image (which also coordinates with Balloon Celebration & Balloon Builders sets).

This is my card for this week's Friday Mashup challenge, Birthdays & Stencils.  I used the circle (happy) stencil from Happy Patterns stencil pack and scribbled through the stencil with the fine tip of the Stampin' Write markers.

Check out the silver glittery balloon!  I taped down the new Sale-a-Bration Metallic Glitter Tape (another new offering) onto card stock and punched it out with the Balloon Bouquet punch.

Stamps: Party Pants; Paper: Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Cherry on Top DSP; Ink: Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Watermelon Wonder markers, Crushed Curry, Tip Top Taupe; Accessories: Metallic Glitter Tape, White baker's twine, Silver Metallic Thread, Mini Stapler, Balloon Bouquet punch, Banner punch, Happy Patterns stencil pack, Watercolor brush, Dimensionals.

After playing with the Flowering Fields stamp set earlier this week, I've been wanting to focus on the coordinating patterned paper offered in the Sale-a-Bration brochure, Wildflower Fields DSP, and on a project that would really let this paper shine.

This is a fun piece of paper art on a 2 x 4" plank that can be hung on the wall, important for one like me who is running out of table and shelf space.  I was able to squeeze 8 of the 12 patterns from the paper pack into this collage.

The background has a layer of gesso, to help it fade into the background, and I had fun with various shapes and embellishments to create the scene.  This project was inspired by Diane at My Art Journal.

Stamps: Papillon Potpourri, Silhouette & Script, Ray of Sunshine; Paper: Wildflower Fields DSP; Ink: Hello Honey, Old Olive, Blackberry Bliss, Chocolate Chip, Smoky Slate, Basic Black Archival; Accessories: Itty Bitty Accents Epoxy Stickers, White Perfect Accents, 2014-16 In Color Washi Tape, Basic Metal Button, White baker's twine, Venetian Crochet Trim, Silver mini brad, Dazzling Diamonds, 1-3/4" Circle punch, Elegant Butterfly punch, Tree Builder punch, Aquapainter, Sponges, Flower Fair framelits, Big Shot, Gesso, Acrylic paint, Wood block, Dimensionals.

Jump over to one of our newly-arrived Control Freaks, Melissa Stout. I'm so excited she has joined our group!

Love Is in the Air with the Control Freaks

Welcome... It's time to hop along with the super fabulous Control Freaks group!  This month's theme is "Love is in the Air".  I love making Valentine's projects to help get us through the doldrums of winter.  You've probably arrived here from Mindy's blog.  Her projects are always so lovely!

As soon as I saw Going Global in the Occasions catalog, I immediately thought of a masculine Valentine's day card.

I tried several different color combinations and papers for the "Love" banner and settled on watercoloring with Mossy Meadow ink.  I love the soft look of it.  I created this card a couple dozen more times for the Control Freaks swap.

For the background, I embossed with the World Traveler embossing folder, and then highlighted the texture by sponging.

Tip: Make a perfect diagonal cut on the Glimmer strip every time by placing it in the Triple Banner punch.  So easy!

Stamps: Going Global; Paper: Lost Lagoon, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Going Places DSP, Silver Glimmer; Ink: Lost Lagoon, Mossy Meadow, Basic Black Tuxedo; Accessories: Chevron ribbon, Mini Stapler, Triple Banner punch, 2" Circle punch, Confetti Heart punch, Aquapainter, Sponge, World Traveler EF, Big Shot.

Here's another masculine Valentine's card, this one for stamp club, combining the Sale-a-Bration set Sky Is the Limit and Occasions Going Global.

I tried several different ways to darken the water vs. continents on the World Traveler embossing folder and settled on brayering the folder (on the side with the Stampin' Up logo) with Versamark.  Brayering gives even folder coverage without too much inking on the recessed continents, although I did a quick wipe-down of the center of the continents with a paper towel before running it through the Big Shot.

Don't forget Sky Is the Limit is only available through February 15, so hurry to grab yours!

Stamps: Sky Is the Limit, Going Global; Paper: Delightful Dijon, Lost Lagoon, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Going Places DSP; Ink: Mossy Meadow, Smoky Slate, Basic Black Archival, Versamark; Accessories: Crystal Effects, Mini Stapler, White EP, Confetti Hearts border punch, Sweetheart punch, Aquapainter, Brayer, World Traveler EF, Big Shot.

Jump over to the amazing LeeAnn Greff's blog to check out what fabulous ideas she has for us. 

Control Freaks Occasions & Sale-a-Bration Blog Tour

Welcome... It's time to hop along with the fabulous Control Freaks!  This month we are focusing on sneak peeks of the Occasions and Sale-a-Bration catalogs!  If you are following the tour, you've probably arrived here from Lisa Martz's blog.  She does beautiful work!

Put Christmas preparations on pause... new catalog items are in da house!  I love new catty excitement... to sit down and play for no specific reason with new goodies is so fun.  Sometimes playing results in some decent stuff... sometimes.  Dina Kowal says, "You can make it perfect or you can make art."  No reason to stress about it.

I started by straddling the outgoing Holiday catalog and incoming Occasions catalog with this New Year's card.  You can't go wrong with gold!

I love, love the medium-sized balloons in the Balloon Celebration set, perfectly-sized for a balloon bouquet on a card front.  And the coordinating punch makes creating super easy and fast!

I stamped off the Delightful Dijon ink for the balloons and embossed the confetti with gold embossing powder.  The Winter Wonderland paper is still available in the Year-End Sale.  This card uses Retro Sketches #194.

Stamps: Balloon Celebration; Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Winter Wonderland DSP; Ink: Delightful Dijon, Basic Black Archival, Versamark; Accessories: Gold metallic thread, Gold sequin trim, Gold EP, Balloon Bouquet punch, Dimensionals.

I've got lots of ideas for the Going Global set. I figured joining in this hop would be a good way to warm up for a swap I need to pump out by mid-week.  So here's my first shot at it.

I watercolored in warm colors for the sun rays and stamped the globe in an opposite color on the color wheel for a dynamic pop.

Stamps: Going Global; Paper: Real Red, Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Watercolor Paper; Ink: Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie, Delightful Dijon, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Memento Tuxedo Black, Whisper White Craft, Versamark; Accessories: Rhinestone jewel, Itty Bitty Accents epoxy stickers, Silver metallic thread, Clear EP, 2" Circle punch, Itty Bitty Accents punch pack, Watercolor brush, Sponge, Sunburst thinlit, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Jump over to LeeAnn Greff's blog to check out what fabulously creative ideas she has.