MidSummer Night Thoughts and ZZZZ's

Okay.  We admit it.  Corny is our style.  What the heck?  When you live in Wisconsin  and August rolls around it is all about corn (Corn is, after all our State grain) . . . so why not get a little silly.  You will have to admit though, that our August creations for our always steadfast Second Thursday Stampers are something to crow about.  Get it? Corn ? Scarecrows? Only in Wisconsin!!!!  Have a peek and you will see what we are so giddy about.

We are taking advantage of the amazing ©Stampin’ Up! Limited Edition Thoughtful Branches Stampset to create two very different cards.  Versatility is the word with this set.  Our full card for the month is a really fun twist on the Z-Fold card--another versatile way to say whatever is on your mind!  We love this month's creations and we know our stampers will too!

 

Most papers, inks, and accessories used in our projects are from ©Stampin’ Up!

ZZ-Fold Card Pizzaz

Each month our Second Thursday Stampers are treated with a new fold or technique to create a unique full card to take home and covet, or share with someone they love.  We think our fancy little Double Z-Fold Card is one of the best ever!  It is so versatile and can be made for just about any occasion.  Thank you for the complete instructions to Beth Adams of Crafts by Beth and available on Pinterest.  Have a look!  Open or closed, you can't take your eyes off of this one!

 

 

Zzzzzzzzzz Fold Card

Don't let the numbers scare you.  There is, we admit, a lot of cutting and adhering of layers, but the guide available on Pinterest, and the happy experience of using the beautiful Playful Palatte Designer Series Paper make it an easy labor of love!  The colors we used for our base, Sweet Sugarplum Card Stock shown here, or Peekaboo Peach Card Stock coordinate beautifully with the DSP.  Each card will be a little different depending on the patterns our stampers choose.  We constructed our creations with little effort once the pieces were assembled.  The beauty of this card is that it can be anything you want.  Ours sports some birthday fun, with the greeting from Sunshine Sayings and a couple of Flower Shop blooms stamped in Sweet Sugarplum and Peekaboo Peach Ink and punched with our Pansy Punch.  A cute little bloom compliments of the new Blossom Punch and spiffed up with an In Color Enamel Dot adorns the Happy Birthday message.  We've got big plans for this style fold.

All papers, inks, and accessories used in this card are from ©Stampin’ Up!

 

Hydrangea Hysteria

 Impressive as it looks, the construction of this card is truly a "piece of cake!" We are using the beautiful Thoughtful Branches Stampset with the Beautiful Branches Thinlits.  (Get them while they last!)  We know our Marina Mist hydrangea is sure to be a hit with our Second Thursday Stampers. 


We stamped the flower image on Watercolor Paper which we spritzed liberally with water using our Stampin' Spritzer.  It looks like a blurry mess, but a beautiful thing happens when it is cut out with the Beautiful Branches Thinlits.

 Thoughtful Hydrangea Branch Card

To make this beauty happen, we cut two flower shapes with the Beautiful Branches Thinlits, one of the spritzed Marina Mist Inked water colored page, and one from Marina Mist Card Stock.  A little bit of adhesive and we have an amazing hydrangea bloom!  The leaves, also from our thinlits set and cut out in Pear Pizzazz, are spruced up with some Linen Thread.  Our "thoughtful" message stamped on Very Vanilla Card Stock is from Thoughtful Branches.  We embossed the stamped card stock with the Petal Burst Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, adhered it to some Pear Pizzazz over Marina Mist Card Stock, and topped it all off with our constructed hydrangea.  Pop with Dimensionals or not.  It's up to you.  Wow!  What more can we say?

All papers, inks, and accessories used in this card are from ©Stampin’ Up!

 

Some Hot Weather Holiday Cheer

When we found out what we could do with our brand new Thoughtful Branches stamps, we just had to take advantage of this limited edition set.  What better way to be Whisper White cool in the middle of a hot and humid Wisconsin summer than to fashion a fabulous Christmas card.

 Thoughtful Christmas Branches Card

Starting with an oval mask made from Layering Ovals Framelits held in place with removable tape, we stamped a forest of Soft Sky Ink pines from our Thoughtful Branches Set. This set is being offered by ©Stampin’ Up! in August, but only while supplies last.  It is a must have from our perspective.  You decide!  We used a sponge full of Soft Sky Ink to add some color to the oval, then removed the mask.  The rest was as easy as pie!!!  The two-step stamp method worked perfectly with Smoky Slate Ink to stamp our big pine in the foreground. We used the same color to stamp our message chosen from More Merry Messages.  We dug out this retired set for a message that seemed just right.  Running the stamped piece through our Cuttlebug sandwiched in the Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder gives our piece a big WOW!  Adhered to a piece of Soft Sky Card Stock, this creation could stand on its own, but some of us can't let anything go without some splash.  We let our stampers decide if they want to add some shine with Clear Wink of Stella--or add some wintry sparkle with Silver Stickles, lightly applied with a Q Tip (or a fingertip for our stampers who love a little creative messy.)  What a gorgeous card!  Who knew it could be so easy?

All papers, inks, and accessories used in this card are from ©Stampin’ Up!