Merry & Bright

Hi there!  Tonight's card is one that I made for the sketch challenge over at Pals Paper Arts.  It was an opportunity to add to my Christmas card stash and to use my new Endless Wishes Photopolymer stamp set (loving this cute set!).

The stamp set is more cheery and cute than elegant, and so I thought it matched up well to the sweet images in the retired Snow Festival designer paper, of which I still have several pieces.  I ended up making two similar cards, mainly because I ran out of Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding ribbon!?!!  It's rare for me to run out of a ribbon so I was very surprised when I came to the end of that spool.  Fortunately I had some Lucky Limeade ribbon to use in its place on the second card.

Here's the fun sketch from PPA:

http://www.palspaperarts.com/

Thanks so much for dropping by and, as always, I would love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave a comment!  Have a great week!

Hugs,

Stef

Product Details:

Stamps:  Endless Wishes

Paper:  Lucky Limeade, Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler, Snow Festival dp

Ink:  Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler

Accessories:  Corner Rounder, Large Oval and Scallop Oval punches, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding ribbon, Lucky Limeade Stitched Satin ribbon, Hemp Twine, Regals Button, Springtime Vintage button, Basic Pearls, Snow Burst and Stylish Stripes embossing folders

Festive Wishes

Hi there again!  I'm back with a card that was made for the sketch challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.  I loved the panels and thought it would make a fun Christmas card.

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/

Wow, that's a blurry image.  I downloaded it from the SCS site, so I'm not sure why it's not a better picture, but you get the idea!

I've been seeing these lovely big ribbons all over the Internet and decided this layout would work great to try one out.  I tilted the center panel and moved the sentiment the from top to bottom.  The Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding ribbon was perfect to use for the ribbon, along with Linen Thread and a Crumb Cake button.

The designer paper is Snow Festival from last year's Holiday catalogue.  I bought it late in the season and then never used much of it.  If you've been following my blog you know this year I've been making several Christmas cards with the current Winter Frost.  I felt the need for a change up to something brighter and this paper and the Gumball Green card stock really fits that bill LOL!!

The snowflake and sentiment are from Endless Wishes, one of Stampin' Up's new Photopolymer stamp sets.  I have found that I prefer rubber to clear stamps because my experience has been that many clear stamps from other manufacturers produce muddy images. However, I was very pleased to find that was not the case with this set, that the stamps inked up well and produced very clear images.  I'm really enamored with the fonts in the set and the ability to mix and match different phrases.  It's a keeper for sure!

Well, that's it for now.  Thanks so much for taking a look and I'd love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave a comment!

Hugs,

Stef

Product detail:
Stamps:  Endless Wishes
Paper:  Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Snow Festival dp
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Baja Breeze
Accessories:  Springtime Vintage Designer Button, Stylish Stripes embossing folder, Corner Rounder and Scallop Oval punches, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding ribbon, Linen Thread.

Birthday Talk for Pals and Players

Hi there once again!  I am scooting in under the deadline for this week's sketch challenge at Pals Paper Arts.  I didn't think I'd have time to make the card this morning but it came together so quick using the challenge at Paper Players to make a CAS masculine card.

http://www.palspaperarts.com/

http://thepaperplayers.blogspot.com/

I used some Everyday This and That designer paper that I think is great for a masculine birthday because it already has rather a grungy feel to it without having to do any sponging or distressing.

The fabulous Chalk Talk image was stamped in Versamark and Calypso Coral and heat embossed with clear embossing powder, then cut out with the matching framelit.  It was popped up on dimensionals, a button and Hemp twine added, and voila, a super quick and easy masculine card.

Thanks so much for popping by today!  I hope your week ahead is enjoyable!

Hugs,

Stef

Product List:

Stamps:  Chalk Talk

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Everyday This and That dp

Ink:  Versamark, Calypso Coral

Accessories:  Clear embossing powder, Chalk Talk framelit, Bronze Button, Hemp Twine.

Frosty Flurry

Hi there and welcome back!  Freshly Made Sketches has a wonderful sketch this week that I decided to use to create another Christmas card with the Festive Flurry stamp set.

http://freshlymadesketches.blogspot.com/

I started with a base of Smoky Slate covered with a piece of Winter Frost designer paper.  Next a band of Silver Glimmer paper really added to the "frosty", sparkly appearance of the card. The Pool Party Core'dinations panel was run through the Big Shot with the Pretty Petals embossing folder and lightly sanded.  The panel was long enough that I decided not to add the two flags at the bottom as shown on the sketch. 

I love this Festive Flurry set and matched with the Winter Frost dp, offers many color combination options for the snow flakes.  An easy and fun layout made it a pretty simple card to put together for mass production and is relatively flat for mailing - a win-win Christmas card in my book!

Thanks once again for taking a look, and as always, I'd love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave a comment.

Hugs,

Stef

Details:

Stamps:  Festive Flurry, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper:  Whisper White, Smoky Slate, Pool Party Core'dinations, Winter Frost dp, Silver Glimmer paper

Ink:  Pool Party, Smoky Slate

Accessories:  Word Window Punch, Festive Flurry framelits, Stampin' Sanding Block, Basic Rhinestones, Pretty Petals embossing folder  

Christmas Sparkle

Hi there!  I found time today to finish a card I'd been fussing with all week.  It's really a simple card, but I was trying to find a way to fit in the cross piece from the sketch...sigh...which I ended up not adding.

I am using this week's Mojo Monday sketch, squeaking in just before the deadline this evening!

Since my sentiment was already embossed at the bottom, there wasn't really anything logical to add across the top.  I hope my Frosted Finishes Embellishment is an adequate substitute! This is another card using the emboss resist technique.  I brayered Pool Party across the Glossy White paper after the snowflake and sentiment had been stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder.

As I said, a pretty simple card but one with lots of shimmer and sparkle.

Thanks for dropping by and taking a look!  I'd love to hear from you if you have time to leave a comment.  I hope you have a wonderful week!

Hugs,

Stef


All products from Stampin' Up:
Stamps:  Festive Flurry, Greetings of the Season
Paper:  Island Indigo, Glossy White, Silver Glimmer, Winter Frost designer paper
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories:  White embossing powder, Silver 1/8" ribbon, Frosted Finishes Embellishment,

Halloween Haunts

I know!  A second post!  This card is for the challenges at Paper Players and Crazy 4 Challenges to make a Halloween card.

http://crazy4challenges.blogspot.com/ 

http://thepaperplayers.blogspot.com/

Starting with a Basic Black card covered with my favorite piece of Wicked Fun designer paper, I then used some of the new washi tape in the Stampin' Up Holiday catalogue.  The vertical piece was made with a strip of Basic Black card stock covered with a piece of the same designer paper, then punched three times with a 1 1/4" circle punch.

I stamped the owl and cat images in Versamark, embossed them with black embossing powder and popped them out with a 1 3/8" circle punch.  The pumpkin image was stamped on the Glue Pad then on Basic Black card stock, and covered with Stampin' Up Orange Glitter.
Here's a close up:

Pretty cute, huh?  I love that little face!  However, it took several tries for this it to come out correctly.  I'm not a big user of glitter, so I think I need to find a better method to stick the glitter to the paper...someday when I decide to use it again LOL!  The sentiment is on a piece of Pumpkin Pie card stock that was cut out with an Apothecary Accent framelit then edged with a Basic Black marker.  Glittery green dots fit perfectly on each side of the sentiment.

The layout is #99 from Freshly Made Sketches (http://freshlymadesketches.blogspot.com/). While I didn't get to play along at the time, I kept it in mind to use at the right moment, which was last weekend for this card.

Well, time to make my lunch for work tomorrow and think about going to bed.  Thank you so much for taking a look and I'd love to hear from you if you have time to leave a comment!

Hugs,

Stef


Products:
Stamps:  House of Haunts, Halloween (Hero Arts)
Paper:  Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Wicked Fun designer paper
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories:  Black embossing powder, Orange Glitter, Witches Brew washi tape, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, glitter dots (Recollections), Apothecary Accents framelit

Autumn Birthday

Welcome back!  The card I have to share today was made for Friday Mashup to use fussy cutting (my 2nd entry) and the SUO Challenge to make something masculine.  A co-worker at work is having a birthday soon, so he will be receiving this card using autumn colors and images.

The beautiful leaf from Best of Autumn was embossed with clear embossing powder on watercolor paper, colored with an Aquapainter and cut out with my Paper Snips.  It was mounted on a Cherry Cobbler flag stamped with the same image in Versamark and the sentiment from the Wetlands stamp set.

One of the more clean and simple cards I've made but I think it works best for a masculine card.

Below are the links to the challenges.  Please swing by and see the great DT examples and play along if you are able:

http://suochallenges.com/

http://www.fridaymashup.com/

Thanks so much for dropping by!  I'd love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave a message.  I hope the rest of your week is enjoyable!

Hugs,

Stef


All products from Stampin' Up:
Stamps:  Best of Autumn, Wetlands
Paper:  Soft Suede, More Mustard, Cherry Cobbler, Watercolor, Spice Cake dp
Ink:  More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Versamark
Accessories:  Clear embossing powder, Lattice Square embossing folder, Linen Thread, Naturals Basic button, Aquapainter, Paper Snips

Thankful for Lovely Gifts

Hi there once again!  It's been a beautiful fall day here in Sherwood, the leaves are changing color but we have been blessed with clear skies and warm weather for the last couple of days and I've loved every second of it.  It's puts me in the mood to color fall images, so of course I have a card share with leaves I have colored with SU Watercolor Crayons.

As with many people I've started my fall holiday card mode of making Thanksgiving and Christmas cards.  This card was made for Friday Mashup, where the challenge is to fussy cut.  I used this week's sketch at the Deconstructed Sketch challenge for the layout.

http://www.fridaymashup.com/

http://deconstructingjen.com/ds121/

The leaves were stamped on watercolor paper in Craft Early Espresso ink..I think!  I stamped them a while ago and frankly don't remember which ink I used.  I pulled out my Stampin' Up Watercolor Crayons, beginning with More Mustard, then layering a bit of Tangerine Tango, Cajun Craze and a tiny amount of Cherry Cobbler.  I then went over it again with additional More Mustard.

Coloring with crayons results in a much more subtle effect than with reinkers and a blender pen worked great.  When Stampin' Up retired the crayons in 2012, I decided to go ahead and buy them but they've remained relatively unused because I always seem to opt for reinkers when coloring.  But since they were so easy to use and control, I'm sure I will be reaching for them more often.

Well, that's it for today.  Thanks so much for taking a look and I'd love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave a comment.  I hope your week ahead is wonderful!

Hugs,

Stef


All products from Stampin' Up:
Stamps:  Lovely As a Tree, Gifts of the Earth, Thankful For...
Paper:  Pool Party, More Mustard, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Watercolor, Spice Cake designer paper
Ink:  Soft Suede, Crumb Cake
Accessories:  Window Frames & Circle Collections framelits, Woodgrain embossing folder, Paper Snips, Blender Pen, Watercolor Crayons, Pumpkin Pie Cordoroy button, Hemp Twine

Festive Greetings

Welcome back and happy almost Friday!  The card I have to share tonight was made for Freshly Made Sketches.  The sketch brought to mind many options but driving home from work on Wednesday, I used the time in bad traffic to think about how I wanted to use this sketch and I came up with this idea PLUS it made the drive home a much better trip!

http://freshlymadesketches.blogspot.com/

I pulled out some Glossy White paper and stamped the largest snowflake from the stamp set in Versamark ink, along with a sentiment along the bottom.  Both were then heat embossed with white embossing powder.

Bermuda Bay was brayered on the Glossy White panel, then wiped off with a piece of tissue.  A piece of Winter Frost designer paper was layered over Silver Glimmer Paper, placed across the main panel and wrapped with the new slim silver ribbon.

The gorgeous Frosted Finishes embellishment was the last and most gorgeous addition to the card.  My picture does not do justice to this embellishment...it is like icing on the cake!

I had fun making this card and I appreciate you dropping by to take a look.  If you have a moment to make a comment, I'd sure love to hear from you!  Otherwise I hope your Friday and the coming weekend bring you joy.

Hugs,

Stef

All products from Stampin' Up:

Stamps:  Festive Flurry, Greetings of the Season

Paper:  Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Glossy White, Silver Shimmer and Winter Frost designer paper.

Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Versamark
Accessories:  Frosted Finishes Embellishments, Silver 1/8" ribbon, White embossing powder, Brayer