In A Flurry

Hi there once again!  I have another Christmas card to share with you today (hope you aren't too tired of seeing these!).  I made this about a month ago for a swap, started the post but never finished it.  I think I was waiting for the Stylish Stripes embossing folder to use in lieu of the Lattice Square one, but I never updated the photos, so you get to see the original product.

The Festive Flurry snowflakes were stamped in Island Indigo, Smoky Slate and Bermuda Bay, cut out with the matching dies, and then popped up with dimensionals.

The sentiment from Petite Pairs was stamped in Coastal Cabana, which fit perfectly in a 1 1/4" scallop circle that was then attached to the card with some Silver 1/8" ribbon.   All in all, a quick, easy Christmas card, perfect for making multiples.

Thanks for taking a look!  I hope you have a great week ahead and Happy Thanksgiving!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Festive Flurry, Petite Pairs
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Island Indigo, Winter Frost designer paper
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, island Indigo, Smoky Slate, Coastal Cabana
Accessories:  Basic Rhinestones, Silver 1/8" ribbon, Festive Flurry framelits, I 1/4" Scallop circle punch, Lattice Square embossing folder

Merry Mojo

Welcome back once again!  I hope your weekend has been pleasant.  I went to see my 8-year old granddaughter's basketball game this morning.  At this age, of course, they are just learning the game, and it is hard for many of them to keep their mind on the game for the entire time but it was a lot of fun and the girls really had a sense of achievement when the ball actually went into the basket LOL!

After I returned home I found time to put a card together for this week's Mojo Monday sketch:

http://mojomonday.blogspot.com/

It is such a classic layout, it will get a star in my sketch book to reuse at a later time.  The rectangular shape of the focal point gave me the opportunity to use the leaf and berry image from Simply Sketched.

It was inked it up in Chocolate Chip, then stamped it off once before stamping on the card stock.  Don't you love the birch wood look of this retired paper?  I have used it sparingly the last two years and finally decided I need to just use it up.

Thanks so much for visiting today.  I hope the remainder of your weekend is fantastic!

Hugs,

Stef


Product Details:
Stamps:  Endless Wishes, Simply Sketched
Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler, Frostwood Lodge designer paper
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories:  Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon, Hemp Twine, Subtles Button

Christmas Wishes for the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge

Welcome back!  Sunday evening here with the laundry going and football on the TV...and a card to post.  This card took me for-evah to make, the story of which I will relate below.  The design is the current sketch for the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.

Using Festive Flurry and Endless Wishes stamps sets I created another addition to my growing supply of Christmas cards.

My original plan for the stamped panel was to have random snowflakes in the Stampin' Up Silver Glitter.  I have never been fond of using glitter due to the mess, and that has not changed, but I loved the Festive Flurry examples using glitter in the Holiday Catalogue, so I thought I would try it with some Stampin' Up Heat and Stick powder.  Well, I heated it but it didn't stick very well.  In fact, I ended up with only one glitter snowflake that was acceptable (to be included on a future card). I'm certain it's the end user that is the problem LOL, but since my stamping time is limited pretty much to the weekends, I will wait to devote more time for experimentation when I'm not pressed to get holiday cards made (between family and work, I will likely make close to 100 this year).  However, any hints or recommendations from successful glitter users would be greatly appreciated!  ;-)

Thus the panel ended up being stamped with two different size snowflakes in Pool Party and Coastal Cabana, and while it wasn't what I originally intended, I'm fine with how it turned out. The sentiment was stamped in Bermuda Bay over a snowflake of Pool Party that had been stamped off once, and the Silver Glimmer snowflake underneath added the sparkle I wanted to include.

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit!  I'd love to hear from you if you have a moment, and any glitter use hints would be especially appreciated!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Festive Flurry, Endless Wishes
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, Silver Glimmer paper, Winter Frost designer paper
Ink:  Coastal Cabana, Pool Party, Bermuda Bay
Accessories:  Festive Flurry and Circle Collection framelits, 1 3/4" Circle and Scallop border punch, Bermuda Bay 1/8" grosgrain ribbon, Delicate Designs embossing folder

A Coastal Bermuda Christmas Card

Happy Saturday!  I have a card to share that I made using the Mojo Monday sketch for this week.  Another great sketch, and I used it to make another Christmas card.

Here's my interpretation:

I tried to put a circle behind the snowflakes to more closely emulate the sketch but it didn't leave enough room for the flags, so I just went with it as is!!  I love the cool temperature of this card with the predominate color of Smoky Slate in the designer paper, along with the Silver Glimmer snowflake.  And the green blues of Bermuda Bay and Coastal Cabana are yummy.

This is a card that will be easy to mass produce due to it's pretty straightforward design, but I think I would replace the embellie with a smaller snowflake.

Thanks for taking a look!  I hope the rest of your weekend is relaxing and enjoyable!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Festive Flurry, Petite Pairs
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, Silver Glimmer paper, Winter Frost designer paper
Ink:  Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay
Accessories:  Frosted Finishes Embellishments, Festive Flurry framelits, Basic Rhinestones, Stylish Stripes embossing folder.

Heartfelt

Hello once again.  I'm sharing a card that was made for a friend at work who recently lost his mother.  It was rather unexpected and we all felt so sad for him.

The card was made extra large so our entire group (about 40 of us) could sign it, but I kept it to 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 so I could use a piece of Print Poetry designer paper that seemed appropriate for a sympathy card to a male friend.

The stamp set used is the ever versatile Simply Sketched, which is a Hostess Set in the current catalogue.  The sprig stamp was inked up in Crumb Cake, then stamped off once before stamping on the card stock.  The sentiment from the same set was then stamped over a part of it using Midnight Muse ink.

The card with just the sentiment focal point seemed a bit bare, so Midnight Muse and Crumb Cake card stock were punched out with the retired Photo Corners punch to add to the upper left corner.  After putting a Metallic brad in the center, I popped the Midnight Muse corner up on a dimensional over the larger Crumb Cake piece.

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit me today!  I hope your upcoming weekend is filled with activities that make you happy (like stamping?)!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Simply Sketched
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Midnight Muse, Print Poetry designer paper
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Midnight Muse
Accessories:  Photo Corner punch, Metallic brad, Midnight Muse Stitched Satin ribbon, nested dies (non-SU).

Christmas Joy (a 2 for 1!)

Hello once again!  In between doing some laundry, some cleaning and grocery shopping, I made two very easy Christmas cards that will be great for mailing, while using up some older designer paper and stickers. In 2009 I purchased the Christmas Jingle Simply Scrappin' kit from Stampin' Up! and used a bit of it then and over the ensuing years, but a large amount remains unused.  I decided to pull some of it out today and remedy that situation LOL!!  I used this week's sketch challenge at Splitcoast Stampers for both cards.

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/

For my first card I used exactly zero stamps!  Wow, talk about easy peasy!  Instead I used one of the stickers that had a sweet sentiment.

The sentiment is backed with a scallop circle of Real Red card stock, as is the little Old Olive circle sporting holly leaves and a Real Red Candy Dot.  The strip across the card is also a sticker from the set.  Super easy with minimal embellishments and perfect for mailing.

For my second card I used a sentiment from Endless Wishes and the retired, but still handsome, Dasher.

I decided to make this a monochromatic card of Old Olive, with a little bit of gold added with Stampin' Up! Gold Embossing powder, the sentiment stamped in gold ink and the scallop circle of gold paper under the sentiment.  Retired Gold Elastic cord was wrapped across the middle of the card.  I wasn't surprised when Stampin' Up included the Dasher Image in the Best of Christmas set released a few weeks ago.  It is so festive with all the sparkles flying off his antlers, it's too bad the photo doesn't fully capture the lovely shine from the gold embossing powder.

Are you making Christmas cards this year?  I always look forward to it and this year I feel like I've got a better start on the 75 or 80 I make every year than in previous years.  Next year I might have to join one of the weekly challenges and make Christmas cards all year in order to avoid the mass production crunch.  But I have to say it does get me in the spirit of the season.

Thanks for taking a look and I hope the remainder of your weekend is enjoyable!

Hugs,

Stef


Products details
Card #1:
Stamps:  None
Paper:  Real Red, textured Chocolate Chip, Christmas Jingle designer paper
Ink:  None
Accessories:  Christmas Jingle stickers, Very Vanilla Velvet ribbon, Real Red Candy Dot, 2 3/8" and 7/8" Scallop circle punches

Card #2:
Stamps:  Dasher, Endless Wishes
Paper:  Old Olive plain and textured card stock, Gold (LSS), Christmas Jingle designer paper
Ink:  Versamark, Colorbox Gold pigment ink
Accessories:  Stampin' Up! Gold embossing powder, Deco framelits, 1 1/4" and 7/8" Scallop circle punches, Gold Elastic cord

Grunge It Birthday

I'm back a bit sooner than I anticipated but I had the chance tonight to make a fun, quick and very CAS card, and thought I would share it.

Isn't this cute, cute, cute?  I FINALLY got smart and ordered Gorgeous Grunge and Tag It, two stamp sets I've been drooling over for months and had to use them on this great sketch for Freshly Made Sketches.

http://freshlymadesketches.blogspot.com/

I swear this must be one of the most CAS cards I have ever made and it was FUN!  It was quick, easy and fun to create.  Did I say fun (uh, yes, like 3 times already LOL!)  I also used this week's color challenge at ColorQ Tuesday.

http://colourq.blogspot.com/

My nephew has a birthday coming up in December and I think he will enjoy receiving this card, with that crazy lizard wishing him a Happy Birthday.

The main image was cut out with a Chalk Talk framelit.  The Pool Party piece underneath was made by tracing the outside of the same framelit and cut out with my paper snips.

As always, I appreciate your visit and hope you'll leave a comment if you have a moment.  I hope you have a great Friday and you find a chance to have fun creating in the upcoming weekend!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Tag It, Gorgeous Grunge
Paper:  Whisper White, Pool Party
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, So Saffron, Pool Party
Accessories:  Chalk Talk framelit

Simply Inspired for Mojo Monday and the SUO Challenge

Hi there and welcome back!  I have read many a post and seen plenty of challenges where inspiration came from various sources - nature, fabric, geometric designs.  Surely it is all around us every day.  Today the colors on the card I have to share came from what I consider an unlikely spot...my box of tissue!  The colors were so gorgeous that I knew I'd have to come up with something.  Take a look:

I also love the design, it reminds me of the Vines embossing folder Stampin' Up came out with during Sale-A-Bration earlier this year but I couldn't quite get that design incorporated into the card I wanted to make, so I focused on the colors and used this week's Mojo Monday sketch for my layout.

I went searching through my retired Stampin' Up card stock and was tickled to find some scraps of Orchid Opulence that matched the inspiration piece perfectly, as did Elegant Eggplant.  I started with a card base of Basic Gray, and then added a layer of the cool Window Sheet from the Quatrefancy specialty designer paper.  I hid my adhesive under the following layers, including the strategically placed butterfly.

The lovely Two Toned Gray ribbon provided a, um, "bountiful" bow, shall we say ;-), on top of the Eggplant tag that was cut out with a Chalk Talk framelit.  The sentiment was stamped on a piece of card stock cut with the Label 1 Sizzlit from Lots of Tags (retired).  I used my Stampamajig to make sure it was stamped straight.  I would be lost without that tool!

The current challenge at the SUO blog is to use your favorite sentiment.  Well, the Happy Birthday from Simply Sketched is near the top of my list because of the varied font size and style, but I also stamped the interior with my very favorite for birthdays from Bring On the Cake.

 
I find it's a fitting sentiment for all birthdays, but especially when one of my friends has reached a milestone birthday.  Getting older hasn't bothered me especially (except that time seems to be passing more quickly each year!) but others I've known have been, so I just like to remind them how awesome they are and continue to be!

You need to head over to the two blogs and enjoy all the wonderful inspiration from the design teams:

http://suochallenges.com/

http://mojomonday.blogspot.com/

Thanks for taking a look!  I'll be back this weekend with another post or two, so be sure to drop by for a peek!

Hugs,

Stef


Product detail:
Stamps:  Simply Sketched, Papillon Potpourri, Bring On the Cake
Paper:  Basic Gray, Elegant Eggplant, Orchid Opulence, Quatrefancy dsp
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant, Orchid Opulence (those retired Stampin' Spots sure come in handy!)
Accessories:  Lots of Tags Label 1 Sizzlit, Chalk Talk framelit, Polka Dot embossing folder, Two Tone Gray ribbon, Bitty Butterfly, Elegant Butterfly and Scallop Trim punches, Basic Rhinestones, Stampamajig

Thankful for Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge

Welcome back and happy Sunday!  Today I have another Thanksgiving card made with the wonderful Best of Autumn stamp set.  The sketch from the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge provided the layout.

My husband lightheartedly teases me about sending out Thanksgiving cards (only because when we were younger, nobody we knew sent cards at Thanksgiving.  Look what the explosion of paper crafting in the last decade has accomplished!!) but I think it's lovely to let those you love know you're thinking of them and thankful for them, especially when you can't be with them for the holiday.

The farm image from the Best of Autumn was watercolored with reinkers after stamping with Soft Suede and Versamark, then heat embossing with clear embossing powder. The barn was colored with the Chalk White marker from the Holiday catalogue.  It was made to use for the chalkboard technique, but it worked beautifully to subtly enhance the white color of the barn.

Here's the sketch:

http://kgiron.blogspot.com/

So glad you came by today!  I would really love to hear from you if you have time to leave a comment.

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Best of Autumn
Paper:  Soft Suede, More Mustard, Very Vanilla, Watercolor, Spice Cake designer paper
Ink:  Soft Suede, So Saffron, Baked Brown Sugar, Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, Pear Pizazz, Versamark
Accessories:  Aquapainter, Woodgrain embossing folder, Circle Collection framelit, 1 3/4" circle punch, Soft Suede Taffeta ribbon, More Mustard Grosgrain ribbon, Candy Dots
   

Cafe Birthday

Hello once again!  It's been a cold, showery day in Sherwood and I appropriately spent a large part of the day making cards.  ;-)

The card I'm sharing with you tonight is a birthday card with a Fall flavor to it.  I used more of the lovely Comfort Cafe designer papers.  The only colors in the designs I used were Cajun Craze and Soft Suede.  It really needed a pop of a third color, so a bit of Pool Party card stock to the rescue!

I used a sketch created by Jen Shults at Deconstructing Jen (http://deconstructingjen.com/). I love all the layers and felt the Burlap ribbon added some nice texture, along with the wood look button and the new Pretty Print embossing folder.

Yup, another big bow (having so much fun making these LOL!), this time out of Very Vanilla Seam Binding ribbon.  I finally broke down and recently ordered Gifts of Kindness, mainly because of the wonderful sentiments in beautiful fonts, which was used here.

Here's the sketch.  Be sure to go over to her blog (link above) and check out all the inspiration. Do the same at Seize the Birthday, where I'm also entering this in their "Anything Goes" challenge (http://seizethebirthday.blogspot.com/).



Thank so much for taking a look!  Enjoy the remainder of your weekend!

Hugs,

Stef



Products details:
Stamps:  Gifts of Kindness
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Pool Party, Comfort Cafe designer paper
Ink:  Baked Brown Sugar
Accessories:  Very Vanilla Seam Binding ribbon, Basic Button Natural, Hemp Twine, Burlap Ribbon, Bitty Banners and Deco Labels framelits, Pretty Print embossing folder, Basic Pearls.