Sweet Cirtus

 For my Stamping Class this week, I chose to use the Sweet Citrus stamp set and die cuts.  I like how the stamped images can be used to make oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit and even coconuts!  

The fruits on my first card are supposed to look like Ruby Red grapefruits.  The tag is from Tailored Tags and to that I added the citrus images, some leaves and a few flowers.  

The photo looks a bit bleached out, but the card is really very colorful and bright.  Just so cute.  

Card #2 is an easy fancy fold card.  I started out with Lemon Lime cardstock and found some older gingham papers to match for the front of the card.

I used the Scalloped Contour dies for the focal point and then added some lime slices, leaves and flowers from the stamp set.  I stamped the saying, "Sending you a big squeeze" onto the white panel.

I like to embellish with rhinestones and for this card I found some old lemon lime flower accents that matched just perfectly with this card.  

It's another bright and easy card using the Sweet Citrus set.  :)

I got the idea for this Navy blue card from Yvonne Spikmans on Pinterest.  I love how different it is from what I usually tend to make!  I added a dry embossed piece of Navy blue cardstock to the front of the card and then white embossed the saying directly onto that.  Then I stamped and added more limes! Aren't they just so sweet?  (Get it - sweet?)   This time I stamped the little flowers in Navy blue and added the usual embellishments to complete the card. 

I love how it turned out.  The contrast of the Navy blue and the Lemon Lime colors really make the card pop.

 And last, but not least, I copied the coconut idea from Tami Hewlett from Pinterest.  First I embossed the white cardstock with the Citrus embossing folder and then sponged it with some teal ink.  I wanted it to have an ombre look to it, darker on one side and then getting lighter on the other.

For the white ribbon, I unraveled it a bit on the edges and then added the rinds of the citrus images.  I lightly painted the insides of the coconuts with a paintbrush.  I found that this technique worked better on glossy paper, so the fruit and flowers are stamped on that.

The green sprigs are from the Tropical Chic set that came out a few years ago.  

Are you loving the Sweet Citrus set after seeing my cards?  I loved using this set and thought that the images worked very well for my cards.  What do you think?  

To order the Sweet Citrus set, click here.  

Color & Contour

 For my cards this week, I chose the stamp set, Color & Contour.  I had seen some pretty samples using it, especially with black and white contrast.  I selected the new designer paper from Sale-a-Bration called Beautifully Penned to pair it with.

I also used the die cuts that coordinate with this stamp set, called Scalloped Contour Dies.  The flowers on the stem cut out well using the die, but the daisy-looking flower is hard to match up so I cut them out by hand.  

I copied the idea of using a jar to put the flowers in from Tammy Capone.  I think they look really sweet in the jar.  

For the two pink cards, I used the new color Polished Pink.  The pink card idea is from Stampin Pretty and the Happy for You card idea is from The Stamp Doc on Pinterest.  I especially like the cards with the gray papers on them the best.

I enjoyed using this set, and may have gotten a bit carried away.  I wanted to try the gray papers with some of the newer colors.  For these two cards, I used Soft Succulent as the main color.  I copied the two-panel card from Stampin Pretty.  

Next up are two cards using the Pale Papaya color in them.  The gingham paper is from the Pansy Petals paper collection.  

Here are the two cards using the Fresh Freesha color.  Which color scheme do you like the best?  

I had so much fun making these cards that I didn't want to stop.  There are so many pretty ways to use them with their coordinating dies.  Have you tried this set yet?

For my stamp class, I will let the ladies choose which 4 cards that they want to make.  I hope that goes well.  LOL