Berry Christmas Tree!

Here is another card that I made using the Berry Christmas set that is in the Stampin' Up Holiday Mini available tomorrow!

Now there isn't a tree in this set but I made one! I used the holly branch and inked it up with my Close to Cocoa marker leaving out the leaves. Then I used the round wreath stamp inked in Garden Green. The snowflake from this set fits perfectly inside of the wreath. I stamped the snowflake in Garden Green on Garden Green cardstock. I inked it up again and then stamped it on Whisper White and used my 3/4" circle punch to just punch out the center to layer it on top of the larger circle. The smaller circle is also popped up on a dimensional. Add a Real Red grosgrain knot to the tree trunk with a glue dot and ticket corner punch the top layer. All done! A super fast Christmas card or change the colors slightly for an everyday card.

Stamps: Berry Christmas

Ink: Garden Green, Close to Cocoa (marker)

Paper: Garden Green, Whisper White

Accessories: 3/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, dimensional, grosgrain ribbon, ticket corner punch

August Stamp Club Projects

This is the first of our projects this month. I've been wanting to try the Salted Background technique for a while and I thought that it would make a cool wave/ocean type background for this adorable little whale from the Animal Stories set. You can view the tutorial for the Salted Background technique here on Splitcoaststampers. Salt, reinkers, glossy cardstock and a heat gun---super easy!

In addition to the background technique the little whale is also embossed in black. Finish it off with some black gingham ribbon. I thought this would make a great little boy birthday card.

Stamps: Animal Stories

Ink: Bashful Blue (reinker), Tempting Turquoise (reinker), Bermuda Bay (reinker), versamark

Paper: Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Black, glossy white

Accessories: heat gun, kosher salt, aquapainter, black embossing power, gingham ribbon

This is the 2nd club project we did this month. It's a super simple card that looks awesome and always gets "ooohhhhs & aaaahhhhs". This is a smaller sized one that fits into an A2 size envelope. There are many great examples of the Popsicle card over on Splitcoaststampers. Thanks to all the ladies over there for their inspiration when I designed this card last summer.

I used the scallop circle punch for the bite mark. It's best if you punch each layer of the card separately as the scallop circle punch does not punch through 2 layers of cardstock--at least mine doesn't! I sponged around the edges of the popsicle to give it a bit more dimension. The small stick was purchased from Michael's and adhered with a bit of sticky strip--regular adhesive just isn't strong enough.

Stamps: Tart & Tangy

Ink: Gable Green

Paper: Gable Green, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White

Accessories: scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" & 1 1/4" circle punches, corner rounder, sponge, popsicle stick, sticky strip

This is the 3rd project we did at my August Stamp Club meeting. I designed this card back in the spring but had used last year's In Colors. I decided to use the new In Colors and highlight how versatile the Good Friend set it. You don't have to use the bird all the time. Though so you recognize the flower stems in the card?? Yup, the stems are the bird leg stamp flipped upside down! The grass is done with the scallop edge punch and then I used the paper snips to make little blades of grass. The tag was made using the small tag punch with smaller widths of cardstock to be able to thread the cardstock through the back to make a longer tag. The 2 pink flowers are popped on dimensionals.

Stamps: Good Friend

Ink: Old Olive, Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo

Paper: Whisper White, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo

Accessories: scallop edge punch, small tag punch, paper snips, grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals, 3/4" circle punch

Sunflowers Using a New Christmas Set!

I always love to be able to use my Christmas sets year round. The New Berry Christmas set which will be available on September 1st in the Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog fits the bill! At first I thought it was just another cute Christmas set that had a lot of images. Then I got it and started looking at the various stamps and thought, "Hey, some of these can be non-Christmas too!". Here is the first card I did with this set and it is no where near a Christmas card!

I used the stamp that is supposed to be a poinsettia and inked it up with Crushed Curry. Then some Soft Suede little "seeds"(holly berries!) in the centers. I punched out the sunflowers with my 1 3/8" circle punch and then layered them on my Old Olive scallop squares. This card needed a little more detail so I paper pierced above the layers and added the cute little bird in Soft Suede. And there you have it- a card using Christmas stamps that isn't Christmas. For those of you on the fence about this set I hope this gives you some more ideas to think about!

Stamps: Berry Christmas

Ink: Crushed Curry, Soft Suede

Paper: Crushed Curry, Soft Suede, Old Olive, Whisper White

Accessories: paper piercer, scallop square punch, 1 3/8" circle punch

Decor Elements Accent

I've had the Decor Elements Damask since I signed up as a demonstrator in February. (It has since retired but there is a stencil available that is very similar if you like the look of the Damask.) I couldn't decide where to put it that it wouldn't look out of place since that was the only one I had. I got this great old leaded glass windows years ago from eBay and it was hung up in what we call our bar room but is really the formal living room. We seldom go in there other than to grab a drink from the bar and leave. It's such a neat window that I thought we should move it into the front hall which I've been trying to make a little more welcoming bit by bit. I've added an old church pew (found on Craigslist) and some baskets (on sale at Target) to store hats, mittens and miscellaneous items that don't fit in the closet. The pillow is also from Target and has some of the same greens as a watercolor painting I have on the opposite wall. So now that I added some interest I had this big blank wall above the pew that was just crying for some attention. Add the leaded glass window and the Decor Elements applied on the wall behind it and VOILA! I really like how the Decor Element is subtle and is a nice little surprise when you look a little closer at the window.

As for the application it was a little more difficult than I thought it would be. This particular DE has many smaller pieces that needed to be transferred to the sticky transfer sheet and they just wouldn't transfer and I ended up having to rub much harder on the backing than I though I would. My husband helped me peel the backing off as that seemed like a 2 man job though I'm sure the smaller DE's would be easier for one person to handle. And I have to take into account that I had left the DE in my stamp room semi-rolled up and it kind of sat in the sun since February so I don't know if that had anything to do with our difficulties.

I am definitely looking forward to ordering more Decor Elements and seeing what I can do with them around the house. To see or order from the Decor Elements catalog click here.

Delighful Decorations Christmas Set

Wow! This new set in the upcoming Holiday Mini Catalog is super cute and super easy to use to make fantastic projects. I decided to use Delightful Decorations and the coordinating ornament punch to make a Christmas set to sell at a holiday bazaar. The set includes 3 A2 sized cards, 4 3x3 giftcards, and 10 gift tags. I probably made all of these items in about an hour! Sorry the picture is a little funky....I couldn't get the larger cards to stand up without knocking everything else over! The inspiration for these came from several examples over on Splitcoaststampers. The ladies over there are so creative!

I used some dazzling diamonds to highlight various parts of the cards and tied the tops of the ornaments with some retired Stampin' Up silver cord. All of the punched out ornaments are popped up on dimensionals. By staying with just 2 colors and Whisper White it was easy to keep everything coordinated. I plan to use this stamp set to make a lot more sets to sell. Who doesn't need gift tags and cards at Christmas? And any I have left over from the bazaar I can use myself!

I can't wait until the Holiday Mini Catalog is out for everyone to see. There is such a great assortment of products I know everyone will find something they love. If I can ever get some time in my stamp room again (terrible time for my oldest to decide that he no longer needs a nap!!) I'll be playing with some more from the Holiday Mini and hope to be able to share it here.

Stamps: Delightful Decorations

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red

Paper: Whisper White, Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red

Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds, silver cord, corner rounder, dimensionals, ornament punch

Bermuda Bird Thanks

I just love this little bird from the Good Friend set. I needed to make a thank you card for our neighbors who invited us over for dinner last week. I already had the kraft cardstock cut for the base so I decided to start with that as well as some scraps of the retired Designer Series paper Manchester. My layout was from the Splitcoaststampers sketch challenge 236. I used the In Color Bermuda Bay for my bird and then Close to Cocoa for the beak and legs but I stamped off on scrap paper once since I thought that was a closer match to the kraft color. I used a sticky note to mask the bird body so I could get the beak and legs just where I wanted them. If you use the whole leg stamp it makes for a very tall bird and it wouldn't have fit for this sketch. A jeweled brad in the corner (which is a close enough match in my book) gives some interest to that side of the card and balances the scallop oval sentiment. The background is what I think of as the dandelion stamp and that is in Close to Cocoa and also stamped off once for each flower.

Stamps: Good Friend, Fundamental Phrases

Ink: Bermuda Bay, Close to Cocoa

Paper: kraft, Bermuda Bay, Very Vanilla, Manchester DSP (retired)

Accessories: jeweled brad, scallop oval punch, oval punch

Baja Birthday Fish

I've been trying to use up some of the retired In Colors as well as retired Designer Series Paper for some personal cards as well as stocking up for the holiday bazaar that I'm doing in November. This is a cute sketch challenge for the weekly Clean and Simple Challenge over on Splitcoaststampers. I used Sahara Sand ink for the fish and then colored in the spots with a Sage Shadow marker. One fish is cut out and popped up and I used some scraps of Manchester DSP and since the card was for a guy I used some brads instead of ribbon- very hard for me to resist putting ribbon on every card!

Stamps: Just Beachy, It's Your Birthday (retired)

Ink: Sahara Sand

Paper: Baja Breeze, Kraft, Whisper White, Manchester Designer Paper (retired)

Accessories: brads, dimensionals, Sage Shadow marker

Personalized Notecards and Matching Giftbox

This is the project that I made with my stamp club last month- 8 personalized notecards and a matching giftbox. Everyone in my group is a fairly accomplished stamper by now so I wanted to show them something extra instead of just making cards. We all need a cute little box to package a set of cards in or to use for a small gift. This is a really easy box to make to fit A2 sized cards. You can find the tutorial here on Splitcoaststampers- it's super easy. It was also a chance to show off the In Color markers that are now available since it's much easier to use a marker to ink the letters in the Defining Alphabet set than an ink pad if you just want one or the other of the letters.

Stamps: Circle Circus, Defining Alphabet

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede

Paper: Very Vanilla, Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede

Accessories: scallop edge punch, scallop circle punch, 13/8 in. circle punch, scoring blade, markers, taffeta ribbon