Bold Noel - Stampin' Up! Christmas Pines

  It's getting cold here in Richmond and it actually feels like winter.  I don't think we'll see any snow like the northern parts of the country but cold at Christmas time is OK with me.  Now if only I could convince my husband to let me put the down comforter on the bed I'd be all set!

  Today's card is the 3rd project we made at my last stamp club.  I really enjoyed stamping with the Christmas Pines set this year.  I found that there were so many great images and paired with the Pretty Pines Thinlets you could make a ton of great cards.

  We have a Mint Macron base and then a layer of Whisper White embossed with the Pine Bough embossing folder.  Using a sponge dauber and Emerald Envy ink my stampers brushed the raised image to just highlight the branches.  The Noel is stamped in Real Red ink for a nice bold Christmas greeting.  Finally the corners are rounded.

  A narrow strip of Real Red Glimmer paper anchors the punched circles.  On top of the circles we die cut 2 pinecones.  The base of the pinecones is Crumb Cake cardstock and the delicate top layers are cut from Soft Suede.  Gold Wink of Stella colors those top layers for a bit of added sparkle.  A Red Red baker's twine bow finishes off this card.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Christmas Pines

Ink: Real Red, Emerald Envy

Paper: Mint Macaron, Whisper White, Emerald Envy, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Real Red Glimmer paper

Accessories: Pretty Pines Thinlets, circle punches, baker's twine, Wink of Stella, dimensionals, corner rounder, Pine Bough embossing folder

 

Moose Gift Card Holder - Stampin' Up! Jolly Friends

 I always need a lot of gift card holders during the Christmas season so I try to find a cool one to teach at my last class of the year and then I can make a bunch while all the supplies are out.  Everyone likes to have a fun way to present a gift card and all you need to do is change up the colors and stamps for any other occasion.  

  I came across this fun one that when you open the flap the gift card kind of pops up in the little folder inside.  It's much easier to make than it looks at first and some of my stampers were intimidated at the scoring but once they started putting the pieces together they said it wasn't hard at all!

  At my class we used the 12x12 kraft cardstock.  You can get 3 holders per sheet so it's super economical!  The Jolly Friends and Jolly Hat builder punch are what we used to decorate the outside of the gift card holder.  We stamped the moose in Early Espresso, colored his antlers with a Soft Suede marker.  We masked his face and stamped the scarf in Bermuda Bay.  The hat is stamped on Bermuda Bay cardstock with the same color ink and then punched out.  The pompom and brim are stamped in Cherry Cobbler ink on Cherry Cobbler cardstock.  We popped the hat on dimensionals.

   

  

  On the inside we stamped a large snowflake from the Holly Jolly Greetings stamp set.  This set was also used on the front for the sentiment (stamped in Early Espresso).

  One thing to remember when you start to put this gift card holder together is that you don't use any adhesive on the bottom flap.  The band that goes around holds it closed.  If you put adhesive on the edges the white insert won't slide out easily.  So put the adhesive on the back of the band, not on the inside of the flap.

  Here are the measurements and scoring instructions to make this holder.

Base:

  Start with an 11x4 piece of cardstock

 

 Score at 2", 7 1/4" and 7 3/8" (the 3/8" is the mark right next to 1/4")

 To make the tab for the closure:

  Line up the larger flap (the part that you'll stamp the moose on) at the 1" mark on the envelope punch board.  Punch.  Then turn the cardstock over and line up the side at the 1" mark again and punch.  

  Here is a sketch I drew for my stampers so they could visualize how to line up the cardstock.  If I was super organized and had waaaaayyy more time I would have done a photo tutorial but that's just not happening!  

Insert:

  Start with a 6 1/2" x 3 1/2" piece of cardstock

  Score at 1 3/4" and 6"

  Apply adhesive only on the the narrow flap (the part that touches the top flap of the base).  The wider flap when folded up becomes the slot where the gift card sits.

Band:

  Start with a 1" x 8 1/2" piece of cardstock

  Score at 2" and 6 1/8"

  When adhering the insert to the base pre-fold everything and slide the insert down into the base pocket.  Line it up evenly on both side so that it can slide in and out without catching on anything. Apply adhesive to the to the narrow flap (we used tear tape.) Close the top flap and burnish so that the  adhesive grabs.  Open it up and your insert should be attached to the inside of the top the flap.

  Add the band around the bottom pocket and decorate how ever you wish.  We used some Bermuda Bay ribbon, a little Cherry Cobbler twine and a mini jingle bell.

  Try the scores out on some scrap paper or just some plain whisper white and you can see how the pieces all fit together.  It really is easier than it sounds.  Also a little glue dot on the back of the gift card help keeps it from sliding around.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Jolly Friends, Holly Jolly Greetings

Ink: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Bermuda Bay

Paper: Kraft cardstock, Bermuda Bay, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White

Accessories: Simply Scored board, Envelope punch board, mini jingle bells, ribbon, baker's twine, Jolly Hat builder punch, dimensionals

Light of Heaven - Stampin' Up! Star of Light

 The days are getting away from me the closer we get to Christmas so I better get these Christmas cards shared before it's too late!  We made this one at my last stamp club of the year.  It has just enough detail to make you feel that you didn't rush through it but easy enough to mass produce if you need to make some more cards to send out.  I cut extra paper for my class on purpose so that I could make a few extras for my stash.  It was relaxing to color in the stars; kind of like those adult coloring book but without the full page commitment!

  The color combo is a little non-traditional but I like to have a few designs that aren't the traditional red/green.  It keeps the long Christmas card making season from getting stale!

  The card base is Sweet Sugarplum (a fitting color for Christmas!).  I put 3 of the smaller stars from the Star of Light set onto one clear block and used it for the scattering of stars on the card base.  I used Sweet Sugarplum ink.

  The sentiment is stamped on a panel of Whisper White with Elegant Eggplant ink.  I backed this panel with 2 narrow strips of Silver Glimmer paper.  No need to use a whole panel...just 2 strips about a 1/2" wide are perfect.  Just be sure to attach them using tear tape so that it all stays put!

  To make the star I stamped the details star in Elegant Eggplant and then cut it out with the coordinating Starlight thinlet.  After coloring it with Elegant Eggplant, Rich Razzleberry and Sweet Sugarplum markers I mounted with it dimensionals slightly offset on another die cut star in Elegant Eggplant cardstock. A small rhinestone sets off the center.

  It's such a rainy day here in Richmond that I'm going to put on Netflix and get my Christmas cards written and addressed!  I might need to make another pot of coffee!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Star of Light

Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Sweet Sugarplum  Markers: Elegant Eggplant, Rich Razzleberry, Sweet Sugarplum

Paper: Sweet Sugarplum, Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant, Silver Glimmer Paper

Accessories: Starlight Thinlets, rhinestone, dimensionals

Classic Noel - Stampin' Up! Christmas Pines - Fab Friday 102

It's another Fab Friday challenge today!  The weeks just seem to be flying by and before we know we'll be saying Happy New Year!   But there's still time for a few more Christmas cards!

  Our challenge today really lends itself to a classic red and green Christmas card and since that is what I need right now I went with it!

  Check out these colors!

  A little stamping, a little embossing, a little sponging and this is what I came up with!

  I used Crumb Cake for the base and stamped Hardwood background in Crumb Cake on a slightly smaller layer.  After rounding the corners I sponged all around with white craft ink.  Then I went to the vault and pulled out an all time favorite Endless Christmas Wishes which is long retired but has such cute snowflakes and sentiments I haven't been able to give it up!  I stamped the smallest snowflake randomly in Versamark and then embossed with white embossing powder.

  I used the Emerald Envy and Pretty Pines thinlets for some die cut greenery.  A Real Red tag was the perfect backdrop for a white embossed Noel and an itty bitty sprig of holly.  I sponged the edges also with white craft ink.  After adding some Emerald Envy ruched ribbon tied with bakers twine I popped the tag up with dimensionals.

  The final details are a few little clusters of adhesive pearls on the greenery.  I have no idea if that is accurate or not but I went with it anyway!  A botanist I am not!  Or is it arborist??

  I hope you'll check out the rest of the Fab Friday Design Team samples and then join in the fun and add your card to our gallery!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Christmas Pines, Hardwood background, Endless Christmas Wishes (retired)

Ink: Crumb Cake, Versamark, White craft

Paper: Crumb Cake, Emerald Envy, Real Red

Accessories: corner rounder, Pretty Pines thinlets, dimensionals, adhesive pearls, Tag Topper punch, Emerald Envy ruched ribbon, white baker's twine,  white embossing powder

  

Birthday Moose - Stampin' Up! Jolly Friends - Fab Friday 101

 So how much turkey did you eat yesterday?  I hope you have some Thanksgiving leftovers so you don't have to cook today!    That way you can spend more time stamping!

  Let's start the weekend off with a fun Fab Friday challenge.  Maybe it will get you moving a bit and work off some of those goodies you ate yesterday.  It's a sketch challenge this time around.  I used our challenge for double duty again!  Design Team card and a birthday card all rolled into one!

  It was my dad's 70th birthday yesterday!  Yup, some years his birthday falls on Thanksgiving and I don't think you could ask for a better birthday feast than the spread our family puts out.  We had a lot of extended family gathered to celebrate the day and we ate really well all day!

 

  The sweet little moose doesn't have to only be used for Christmas or winter cards.  Here I left off a hat and instead gave him some balloons wrapped up in his antlers instead.

  I thought these colors worked well for a guy card.  Smoky Slate, Dapper Denim and Old Olive along with the browns for the moose.

  The greeting is from the Party with Cake set,  the balloons are from the Balloon Celebrations set and the '70' on the balloons is made with the Labeler Alphabet set.  It's fun to mix and match stamp sets to make a card for any occasion.

  On the inside of the card I stamped "make a wish" from Party with Cake and then I added "party animal!!" with the Labeler Alphabet.

  I hope this sketch will spark your creativity and you'll join us at Fab Friday by adding your creation to our gallery so we can all ooohhh and aaahhh over it!  For more great inspiration check out the rest of the Fab Friday Design Team.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Jolly Friends, Party with Cake, Balloon Celebrations, Labeler Alphabet

Ink: Black, Dapper Denim, Old Olive

Paper: Smoky Slate, Old Olive, Naturals white (retired), Adventure Bound DSP (retired)

Accessories: Layering Circles framelits, balloon punch, black bakers twine, dimensionals, Dapper Denim ruched ribbon, alcohol markers

O Christmas Tree - Stampin' Up! Totally Trees

    Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you have a whole lot of fun family time and good food on your agenda today!

 This was a happy accident kind of card and I am quite pleased how cute it turned out.  I designed this other Totally Cute Christmas Tree card way back in September and cut supplies to make 12 of them to pad my Christmas card stash.  When I had finished all 12 cards I ended up with one extra tree panel some how.  In my defense math was never my best subject!  So I grabbed a few supplies and turned the tree panel into a cute, clean and simple design.

  A simple Garden Green base, some gold enamel stars and bit of retired seam binding ribbon is all it took.

  I had a fork bow (tutorial here) in my ribbon scraps that was super easy to add to the corners and then pop the whole panel on dimensionals.  

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Totally Trees, Star of Light

Ink: Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler, gold

Paper: Garden Green, Whisper White

Accessories: gold enamel stars, seam binding ribbon (retired), dimensionals

This Christmas Pinecones - Stampin' Up! Christmas Pines

Today's card is another that we did at my October stamp club.  It's a quick layout and can look different depending on which DSP you choose.  There are so many great patterns in the This Christmas DSP collection that you could have tons of different looks.

  I really like the classic winter and Christmas images that the Christmas Pines set contains.  With pine branches, pine cones, mistletoe, different sized sentiments and smaller accent stamps there are so many mix and match possibilities.  Add in the coordinating Pretty Pines thinlets (comes in a bundle to save 10%!) the sky's the limit!

  The card base is Garden Green stamped with the little snowflake background also in Garden Green ink.  Then a layer of Cherry Cobbler, a slightly smaller piece of Very Vanilla and then the strips of This Christmas DSP.

  The sentiment is stamped in Cherry Cobbler with little branches in Garden Green.  The circle is popped up.  The pinecones are stamped in Early Espresso onto Crumb Cake and then cut out.  They are popped up and I added a little knot of gold natural trim.

  I really like the classic Christmas feel of this card and plan to make some more for my own card stash.

  Don't forget that  Stampin' Up! is having the Online Extravaganza sale right now.  Be sure to check out the list for some great deals!  Maybe you have some stampers on your gift list and you can get them crossed off!  Place an order online through my store.  Just click SHOP NOW!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Christmas Pines

Ink: Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso

Paper: Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, This Christmas DSP

Accessories: circle punch, Pretty Pines Thinlets, dimensionals, gold natural trim

Christmas Stars Double Z Fold - Stampin' Up! Star of Light

  I am way behind in sharing the projects we made at my stamp club last month!  So many picture to edit so little time lately!  Today's card was inspired by a fancy fold card my downline Julie taught us at a team get together.  It's the Double Z Fold card.  There are a lot of tutorials out there so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel but it is way easier than it look I promise!  Just search in Google or Pinterest.

  It's an easy card to make but not to photograph.  I did my best to show the different panels and I hope you can see how fun it is!

  The Star of Light is a great set to use for this fun card.  It has a lot of different stamps to use to mix and match for the different panels.  I used Island Indigo, Pool Party and copper accents for a fun combo.

  The stars border punch made the itty bitty stars that are scattered across the card.

  The large copper star is popped up on the front for more dimension.

  And here is the the view from above with the card opened.  Pretty neat huh?  And all it is is a bit of scoring!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Star of Light

Ink: Island Indigo, Pool Party

Paper: Island Indigo, Pool Party, Very Vanilla, This Christmas DSP, Copper Foil

Accessories: Starlight Thinlets, Simply Scored, dimensionals, star border punch

This Christmas Gift Stack - Stampin' Up! Tin of Tags

 Every year I always think I have enough Christmas cards but then I find myself a few short.  And as always it's a day that I'm short on time.  It's good to have a few card layouts that you can whip up without a lot of fuss but know they will still look great.  This is a layout I've used before and it's fantastic for using up some smaller scraps from a DSP pack.

 

  Just cut 3 different sizes of rectangles and/or squares and stack them up, tie them with a ribbon and add a tag.  Done and Done!  

  I added some embossing in the background with the Cable Knit embossing folder.  The Tags & Labels Framelits set paired with the Tin of Tags stamp set makes for a quick and cute tag.  I added a little bling with the silver enamel shape in the corner.  If you're more of a gold kinda person just switch the enamel shape to a gold one and use the gold Natural Trim instead of the silver.

  Speaking of being short on Christmas cards I better go count up how many I have and see how many more I need and then add like 20 onto that number just to be safe!  

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Tin of Tags

Ink: Garden Green

Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, This Christmas DSP

Accessories: Cable Knit embossing folder, silver natural trim, Tags & Labels framelits, metallic enamel shapes

Rose Garden Thinking of You - Stampin' Up! Rose Garden Thinlets

I was fully intending to share this card yesterday but I had 2 wisdom teeth taken out first thing in the morning and while I didn't have any pain the icing schedule didn't leave much time to do anything but watch Netflix!  That and the fact that my fingers were frozen from holding the ice packs to my face!  I ended up putting my mittens on every time I needed to ice!  I didn't have any swelling so I guess my diligence paid off!

I made this card on Sunday and Monday.  Yes it took 2 days for this one!  I started it on Sunday and then had to finish on Monday.  Some days I just don't have enough time to stamp as much as I'd like and have to grab a few minutes here and there!  I used the current CAS(e) This Sketch challenge as a starting point.

  I wanted to send a card to a friend and out of my giant box of cards there wasn't one with the right feel and sentiment so I set to work.  I've always like the Sahara Sand, Calypso Coral and Whisper White combo and I thought it would work well for a thinking of you card.

  The base is heavyweight Whisper White, another smaller layer of Whisper White is next.  Then a layer of Sahara Sand.  I cut out the large roses from the Rose Garden thinlets.  I trimmed the leaves and then adhered them to the top and bottom of the panel.  The fine-tip glue pen works really well for this die cut.  After the adhesive was dry I trimmed off the overhanging edges of the roses.

  I used the sentiment from Sheltering Tree stamp set and embossed it in white. For the ribbon treatment I punched 2 small holes on either side of the sentiment and then threaded the Calypso Coral ribbon through and adhered it to the back of the panel.  I used a bit more ribbon to tie a fork bow (tutorial here) and attached it with a glue dot.  

  Hopefully this card will make my friend smile.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Sheltering Tree

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Whisper White, Sahara Sand

Accessories: Rose Garden Thinlets, white embossing powder, Calypso Coral ribbon (retired- SAB)

Shimmery Trees - Stampin' Up! Totally Trees

  It was a cool 32 degrees this morning when I woke up and there was a decent layer of frost so I don't think it would be out of line to share a Christmas card this morning.  I actually wore my mittens on my walk this morning.  The boys and I looked quite the scene walking to school....me with my mittens and neck gaiter on and them wearing shorts.  I was able to talk them into a sweatshirt at least by mentioning I didn't think the teachers would let them go out to recess if they didn't have some of their body covered!  One of these days I'm expecting a call from Child Protective Services and the school counselor to check up on us!  I figure at some point you've got to let the kids figure it out for themselves and it's probably better for them to do it when they are 8 and 10 than when they are 18 and 20!

 

 So like my balloon card last week the sparkle on this card was hard to photograph!   Each of the tress is covered with Iridescent Ice.  Iridescent Ice is retired but any shimmery embossing powder would work.  But if you're like me you have a jar in your stash just begging to be used!  

  I'm not much of a pastel-y pink kind of girl but I like the soft non-traditional colors for this Christmas card.  I can't remember if this was for a challenge or not but it's fun to go a little different than the red/green Christmas combo sometimes.

The card base is Sweet Sugar Plum and then a strip of Perfect Plum and the trees are stamped on Whisper White.  The trees are inked in Sweet Sugarplum, Perfect Plum and Pink Pirouette.

  The sentiment is stamped in Perfect Plum ink and I added some of the Fancy Frost sequins across the card for even more sparkle.

  A change in sentiment would make this a great Happy New Years card.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Totally Trees, Christmas Pines

Ink: Sweet Sugarplum, Perfect Plum, Pink Pirouette, Versamark

Paper: Sweet Sugarplum, Perfect Plum, Whisper White

Accessories: Fancy Frost Sequins, Iridescent Ice (retired)

Elf Sized Treats - Stampin' Up! Jolly Friends - Fab Friday 100

 When time is running short it's always nice to be able to combine projects to serve more than one purpose!  That's what I did this time around for the latest Fab Friday challenge....which is number 100 by the way!!  That's quite a milestone in my book!  I needed a fun project for my team to make at our stamping get together last night and when I sat down to design it earlier in the week I already had our challenge colors out on my desk to spark some creativity.  Need + Need = 2 items checked off the to do list!

  Check out these fun Fab Friday challenge colors for the big 1-0-0!

  Cool right?  At first I was going to go with a fall card but then those little hats started calling to me along with a need to include some chocolates.  What's a stamper to do but to make a little treat tote with wrapped treats and a coordinating 3 x 3 card!

    So cute right?  The little tote is made with the envelope punch board.  After the scoring I ran it through the Big Shot with the Cable Knit embossing folder for some winter texture.  The tote holds 4 wrapped Hershey Nuggets (I couldn't get all 4 to stack up so you'll have to imagine the 4th!).  I wrapped them with 1 x 3.25" strips that are also embossed.

  The hats are popped up for dimensional and the brims (or are they cuffs?) and the pompoms are colored with clear Wink of Stella for a bit of sparkle.

  I used the "to you and yours" sentiment from the Christmas Pines stamp set as it was just the right size for my Elf Sized Treats.

  I hope you'll join the Fab Friday team in celebrating our 100th challenge by playing along!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Jolly Friends, Christmas Pines

Ink: Delightful Dijon, Mint Macaron, Rich Razzleberry, black

Paper: Delightful Dijon, Mint Macaron, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White

Accessories: Envelope Punch Board, Cable Knit embossing folder, corner rounder,  Jolly Hat punch, dimensionals, Wink of Stella, Mint Macaron Sheer Linen

Sparkly Balloon Birthday - Stampin' Up! Balloon Celebration

 A few weeks ago we travelled to Pennsylvania to surprise my mother in law for her birthday.  Of course I had to make a fun birthday card using her favorite color and lots of sparkle!

  It was super hard to get a good photo.  This was the best that my meager photography skills could manage hence the weird fuzziness and some glare.  You get the idea right?

  I did a watercolored background using Perfect Plum ink on watercolor paper.  After it was dry I stamped both sizes of balloons overlapping.

  Next, using my Clear Wink of Stella I colored in all the balloons adding an extra layer each time a portion of a balloon overlapped with another.

  The final bit of sparkle comes in the way of some bits of extras from my Tin of Tags kit.  The kit comes with a generous amount of iridescent sequins and silver star confetti pieces so after completing my tags I had some fun stuff to add to other projects.  The perfect embellishments for these birthday balloons!

  Using the retired color spritzer tool and my Perfect Plum marker I spritzed a bit of splatter randomly around the card front.  I tied a black bakers twine bow to the side to wrap up this card.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Balloon Celebrations

Ink: Perfect Plum, Black Stazon

Paper: Perfect Plum, watercolor paper

Accessories: Wink of Stella, black baker's twine, sequins & star confetti (Tin of Tags kit), spritzer tool (retired)

Fresh Fall Leaves - Stampin' Up! Vintage Leaves

  I keep thinking that fall is finally here and then we have a day or 2 with the temps in the 70s or even hitting 80....like yesterday!  The leaves are changing but the weather is still up and down.  But I'm trying to get all my fall stamping in before it changes to cold for good.

  The project I'm sharing today is the design that my stampers made at my October Stamp club last week.  We mixed some fun clear block stamping with the elegant Copper embossing powder.

 I normally grab Pear Pizzazz for spring cards but I thought it was a nice pairing to put it with Cajun Craze and Tip Top Taupe.  Kind of gives it a bit of a fresh look for fall.

  The Pear Pizzazz was used to stamp the little square with an "A" block.  Next the small splatter stamp from Gorgeous Grunge was used with Tip Top Taupe.

  The leaves were embossed with Copper Embossing powder and cut out with the Leaflets framelits.  they are adhered with dimensionals over a narrow strip of Tip Top Taupe cardstock and tied with a linen thread bow.

  I gave my stampers lots of choices in their sentiments with the Sunshine Sayings stamp set which we stamped in Tip Top Taupe ink.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Vintage Leaves, Sunshine Sayings, Gorgeous Grunge

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Tip Top Taupe, Versamark

Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Tip Top Taupe, Cajun Craze, Whisper White

Accessories: Leaflets framelits, Copper embossing powder, linen thread, A block, dimensionals

Inspired Fall Leaves - Stampin' Up! Vintage Leaves

  So is your household in a candy coma like mine is?  Well my boys were slow moving this morning at least.  According to Alex the 8 year old, it was the "most successful Halloween yet".  A half a pillowcase full of candy is definitely successful by anyone's standards!  The costumes were decided upon the night before and thankfully were really easy to put together.

 Now onto the card for today!  I needed a thank you card for my brother in law and sister in law who hosted a birthday brunch for my mother in law last weekend.  They put on a huge spread for the family to celebrate her birthday and we ate and ate and ate so I couldn't let the occasion go by without a proper thank you card.  

  I got my inspiration from this duvet cover I saw in the Company Store catalog.  I made a bit of homemade DSP for the main element and then all the rest of the card parts came together.

  The card base is Tip Top Taupe and the leaves from Vintage Leaves are stamped in Tip Top Taupe, Dapper Denim, and Island Indigo.

  I wrapped a bit of retired Crumb Cake stitched satin ribbon that is a very close match to the Tip Top Taupe.

  I stamped off Tip Top Taupe once and then stamped the leaf again and embossed the thank you in Copper over the top of it.  After embossing I punched out a circle and popped it up to the side of the 

ribbon.

  The leaves are finally changing around me and it seems that it happened just over the weekend. Hopefully we'll get some sunshine this week to really enjoy the bright colors!  And maybe stamp a few more fall inspired cards!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Vintage Leaves, One Big Meaning

Ink: Tip Top Taupe, Dapper Denim, Island Indigo

Paper: Tip Top Taupe, Whisper White, Dapper Denim

Accessories: circle punch, copper embossing powder, Crumb Cake stitched satin ribbon (retired), dimensionals, corner rounder

Swirly Christmas Ornament - Stampin' Up! Swirly Bird - Fab Friday 99

  How lucky are we that it's another Fab Friday challenge week?  Such a versatile sketch this week.  I can't wait to see what every one decides to use for the star element.  I decided to go with another shape but I will probably end up making several more cards with this sketch and will have to try a star!

 And my interpretation of the sketch.....which isn't really interpreted at all since its exactly like the sketch!

 And if you thought that you've done all you could do with the Swirly Bird set and Swirly Scribbles thinlets well they work for Christmas too!  How fun is that ornament!?

  I had a hard time photographing this card to get the colors true to life as well as show off the gold accents.  The card base is Dapper Denim but comes across as more like Night of Navy.  The lighter blue is Soft Sky for the ornament but I goofed and didn't realize it until everything was adhered and finished....I used Pool Party cardstock for the layer under the Cable Knit embossed panel.  I'll just claim it as a "design decision"!

  I hope you'll be able to join us this go around!  We'd love to see your creation using our sketch.  Check out the rest of the Design Team projects at the Fab Friday blog.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Swirly Bird, Star of Light (sentiment)

Ink: Soft Sky, Versamark

Paper: Dapper Denim, Pool Party, Very Vanilla, Gold Glimmer paper

Accessories: Cable Knit embossing folder, gold embossing powder, Swirly Scribbles thinlets, gold baker's twine (trio pack), dimensionals

Christmas Greenery - Stampin' Up! Christmas Pines

 I'm continuing on my quest to make more Christmas cards so that I won't be in panic mode the day after Thanksgiving.  I started this card with a different idea in mind and while it veered away for the original idea I do like how this one turned out.

  I combined new products with some carry over ones from last year.  Stamps and tools generally don't have a shelf life in stamping but for demonstrators there is always a new catalog with new products on the horizon so a lot of the time we only get use products for a brief time.  I get excited when I see a product in the new annual catalog that was in the Holiday or Occasions catalog because that means I get more time to play with it and also see how it mixes and matches with new products.

  The Christmas Pines and Pretty Pine bundle are the new and the Holly Jolly Greetings stamp set and coordinating Christmas Greeting thinlets are the old on this card.

 The card base is Garden Green but all the fun happens on a piece of Whisper White.  I first stamped the pine branches using Garden Green ink and stamping off to get more depth.

  Next I die cut pine branches out of Garden Green cardstock and layered them over the stamped pine branches.  I did the pine cones next with Early Espresso for the top layer and Crumb Cake for the bottom layer.  I nestled them among the branches and finished it off with a die cut Cherry Cobbler bow.  The Pretty Pines thinlets set really has a lot of different shapes for so many choices when you're creating.

  For the sentiment I used the 'merry' from the Christmas Greeting thinlets and cut it out going across the corner of the Whisper White panel.  I cut out a second 'merry' in Cherry Cobbler and placed it back into the cut out for a nice inlaid look.  The fine tip glue pen is really handy for glueing thin pieces like this.  You can see the Garden Green card base peeking through the e and y.  Finally I stamped 'Christmas' in Garden Green to finish the sentiment.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Christmas Pines, Holly Jolly Greetings

Ink: Garden Green

Paper: Garden Green, Whisper White, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler

Accessories: Pretty Pines thinlets, Christmas Greeting thinlets

Soft Snow Flakes - Stampin' Up! Tin of Tags

  In a few weeks I'm doing a Tin of Tags kit class to start getting ready for Christmas.  When I got my kit and the coordinating stamp set to play around with it I realized the I had kind of overlooked the non-sentiment stamps that are in the set.  There is a string of stars, a single star, a Christmas light and a good sized snowflake.  I don't have a current snowflake set so I was pleased to have the Tin of Tags snowflake to use for Christmas and winter cards.

  The challenge is closed now but I used the color challenge that Global Design Project had last week.
Blushing Bride, Rich Razzleberry, Mint Macaron.

  I mixed and matched the snowflake with a few stamps from Christmas Pines stamp set for this soft snowflake card.

  The base is Mint Macaron and I stamped the little sprinkling of snow (from Christmas Pines) in Mint Macaron across the center where I knew I was going to put the sentiment.  I did the sentiment (from Christmas Pines) in white embossing powder.

  The top panel is Whisper White that I stamped the 3 snowflakes and then cut the bottom strip and adhered it to the card base with dimensionals.

  I had some iridescent sequins left over from my Tin of Tags kit so I adhered one to each snowflake center.  For even more shimmer and sparkle I added a few of the smallest rhinestones as well as clear Wink of Stella to highlight parts of the snowflakes.  You can't see the WoS in the photo but it adds a nice subtle touch.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Tin of Tags, Christmas Pines

Ink: Blushing Bride, Mint Macaron, Rich Razzleberry, Versamark

Paper: Mint Macaron, Whisper White

Accessories: rhinestones, sequins, white embossing powder, dimensionals

Sweet Skunk Hello - Stampin' Up! Foxy Friends - Fab Friday 98

Good morning!  TGIF right?  And it's a Fab Friday challenge day so that makes it double TGIF!

We have a fun color challenge for you this time around!  Do you see Halloween colors or not?  I saw the Halloween in this group of colors but since I don't really send Halloween cards I opted to try for a non-Halloween card.

  My card came about as my pile of card parts got shifted on my stamping desk and this sweet skunk peeked his head out and whispered, "use me...please...I'm one of your challenge colors already!".  And how was I to ignore that plea?  Anyway this skunk got his wish and I built the rest of the card around him.  It seems cute little animals made with the Fox Builder punch keep making their way onto my Fab Friday cards!  See my Koala Bear from last challenge HERE.

 

  The little swirl flowers and leaves from Swirly Bird were just the right size to to stamp in the other challenge colors and layer around the skunk.  Some of the flowers are popped on dimensionals.

  The Whisper White panel is embossed with the Woodgrain embossing folder for more texture and interest.  I added a scalloped circle in Whisper White and then a regular Old Olive circle behind to be the base for the skunk and flowers.

  The circle is popped up with dimensionals, the sentiment from Thoughtful Banners is stamped in black and a black baker's twine bow finishes up the details.

  Check out the awesomeness that the rest of the Fab Friday Design Team is sharing and then create your own project to share in our gallery! 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Swirly Bird, Thoughtful Banners, Foxy Friends (face)

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Perfect Plum, black

Paper: Perfect Plum, Whisper White, Old Olive, Basic Black

Accessories: Fox Builder punch, Swirly Scribbles thinelets, Layering Circles framelits, Woodgrain e.f., dimensionals, black baker's twine

Totally Trees Treat - Stampin' Up! Totally Trees

  No time to chit chat this morning...lots of things to check off the to do list today and not a moment to lose!

  I'm taking a break from Christmas cards today to show a quick and easy treat project.  Wrapped Kitkat bars.  Yummy!  I may or may not have had to taste test some to make sure they were ok to put put in my stampers order bags last week!

 These were super easy to make and have a nice combo of fall colors I think!  The Floral Boutique DSP is cut and wrapped around the kitkat.  I used tear tape to adhere the DSP.

  Using the Totally Trees stamp set I stamped the tree trunk with Soft Suede.  The leaves are stamped once in Crushed Curry and then again in Cajun Craze with the stamp moved slightly to one side so both colors show.

  Hello from Thoughtful Banners is stamped in Night of Navy.  The tree circle and Crushed Curry scalloped circle are cut with the Layering Circles framelits.

  I punched a small hole and tied the tree tag to the candy bar with linen thread.

  A fun quick fall treat!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Totally Trees, Thoughtful Banners

Ink: Soft Suede, Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze, Night of Navy

Paper: Floral Boutique DSP, Crushed Curry, Whisper White

Accessories: Layering Circles framelits, hole punch, linen thread

 

Mistletoe Kisses - Stampin' Up! Foxy Friends

 There were mixed reviews of my non-traditional colored Christmas card from yesterday so I thought I would share a classic red and green card today.

  This card is a mishmash of several stamp sets and punches and die cuts.  It's fun to mix and match to  come up with new looks.

  The card base is Garden Green.  Next is a layer of Whisper White which has just the very bottom embossed with the Softly Falling embossing folder to be snow.  I stamped the little woodland creature in Crumb Cake.  The more I look at it I can't decide what it's supposed to be....a fox?  What do you think?  I think he's cute regardless!  His legs and face are stamped in Early Espresso.  The head is punched out with the Fox builder punch.

  I stamped the hat in red, and the pompom and trim in Early Espresso using the Jolly Friends stamp set and punched them out with the coordinating hat builder punch (told you there were a lot of supplies used on this card!).  The head and hat are popped on dimensionals.

  I wrapped a double length of red Candy Cane Lane baker's twine around the Whisper White panel and added some mistletoe branches cut with the Pretty Pines thinlets and tied the bunch with some more baker's twine.  I used some adhesive pearls to make the mistletoe berries.  The sentiment from the Tin of Tags stamp set is stamped in Early Espresso.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Foxy Friends, Jolly Friends, Tin of Tags

Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Real Red

Paper: Garden Green, Whisper White, Wild Wasabi

Accessories: Softly Falling e.f., Fox builder punch, Hat builder punch, Candy Cane Lane Baker's twine, dimensionals, Pretty Pines thinlets, adhesive pearls

Elegant Peace Star - Stampin' Up! Star of Light

 I got some stamping in over the weekend.  Especially on Saturday as it rained and rained and then rained some more here in Richmond.  I think we ended up with over 3 inches of rain.  I know not anywhere near what areas south of us received from hurricane Matthew and I'm thankful that's all the weather we ended up getting.  My thoughts and prayers to all those affected by Matthew.

 I'm trying my best to work on a lot of Christmas cards early on so I won't have that mad rush the first week of December.  I will try to have other themes in the coming weeks but I'm warning you now that it will be heavy on Christmas for a while around here!  I used the current CAS(e) this Sketch challenge for the layout.

  The Star of Light was the very first item on my "must have" list when I saw the Holiday catalog for the first time.  I love all the sentiments, the different sizes of stars and the coordinating Starlight thinlets.  I saw a brown and gold layout in a home decorating catalog and thought that it might make a nice Christmas card.  I'm not sure if I pulled it off since I keep thinking that brown isn't really a Christmas color but I went with it.

  I stamped various stars in Soft Suede ink onto Soft Suede cardstock.  Then over the top I added some other stars in gold ink.

  I used a scrap of Very Vanilla and wrapped a length of gold Natural Trim around it.  On top of that is my layered star.  The bottom layer is Soft Suede and I sponged some gold ink along the edges.  Then a detailed layer in Very Vanilla and finally a small star in Gold Glimmer popped up in the center.  

  Behind the large star I have some loops of gold thread before popping it all up on dimensionals.  I used Gold Glimmer paper and the Christmas Greetings thinlets to cut out my peace sentiment.

  Definitely start thinking about your Christmas cards now so you won't be caught rushing!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Star of Light

Ink: Soft Suede, Gold

Paper: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Gold Glimmer paper

Accessories: Starlight thinlets, Christmas Greetings thinlets, Natural trim-gold, gold thread, dimensionals, corner rounder

Welcome Jar of Flowers - Stampin' Up! Jar of Love

  I thought I would try to get this card posted before the challenge ends over at Freshly Made Sketches this afternoon.  I used their layout for this Welcome card I made for the newest member of my Stampin' Up! team.  It took me a week to get this card made but I got it finished and in the mail to Becky to welcome her to the Stampin' Up! demonstrator family.

 

  While the Jar of Love set has a lot of different sentiments included none of them were quite was I needed so I used the Barnyard Babies set and used my Basic Black marker just to ink up the "welcome" part of the "welcome, little lamb" stamp.  I didn't quite follow the sketch in regard to the sentiment placement but that's artistic license and all!  :)

  The Serene Scenery DSP stack has so many great patterns and this barn wood print seems like the perfect backdrop to my jar of flowers.

  The flowers are stamped off once in Delightful Dijon and then the centers are also stamped with full strength Delightful Dijon.  The leaf stems are Old Olive; some stamped off once, others full strength. Once I had everything cut out I layered the stems in the jar and then added the flowers adhered with dimensionals.

  To pull in some more of Crumb Cake color I stamped the "burlap" wrap and then hand cut it.  I added a Crushed Curry bakers twine bow...it's a really close match to the Delightful Dijon when it's stamped off.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Jar of Love, Barnyard Babies

Ink: Delightful Dijon, Old Olive, Smoky Slate, Pool Party, Crumb Cake  Marker: Basic Black

Paper: Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Serene Scenery DSP

Accessories: Everyday Jars framelits, dimensionals, baker's twine

  

Jolly Santa Tag - Stampin' Up! Jolly Friends

  I started to write this blog post on Wednesday morning and then when I went to add the photo I didn't actually have one for this project.  Duh!  And then yesterday I just didn't have time to blog in the morning before heading out of the house.  So finally here on Friday I've got the photo and the time to share this card!  My stampers made this card at my last class.  We did 2 fall inspired cards and one Christmas card just to whet the appetite but not make people panic!  I saw a graphic on Facebook that said something like only 11 more Mondays until Christmas.  I can't bring myself to count them up to see if its true or not but when it's put like that I feel like I better get my butt in gear and start tackling Christmas projects in earnest!

  Check out this cute and easy card!

  Fun right?  The Jolly Friends stamp set and coordinating Jolly Hat Builder punch are so cute!  Pair them up with the awesome Merry Medley Background stamp and we've got some Christmas cheer for sure!

  The card base is heavy Whisper White.  A layer of Basic Black stamped with Merry Medley in white craft ink gives us that chalkboard art trend thats really hot right now.  It's a nice dark background for showing off the fun Santa tag.

  The tag is punched with the scalloped tag topper punch.  Santa is stamped in black and then his face is lightly colored with Blushing Bride ink and a blender pen.  We added a little bit more ink on his cheeks for a nice rosy look.

  The hat is punched with the Jolly Hat builder out of Real Red Glimmer paper and Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper.  The little pompom on the end of the hat is popped with a tiny piece of dimensional.

  The "ho ho ho" sentiment is from the carryover set Oh, What Fun set and was fitting to use on this card.  It's stamped in black ink on a narrow strip of Real Red cardstock with the ends flagged. Long skinny sentiments are the perfect stamps to use on those 1/4" and 1/2" scraps of cardstock you've been holding onto!

  A little bow out of the red metallic Candy Cane Lane baker's twine adds the last bit of detail.  The whole tag is popped on the card front with dimensionals.

  I made sure to cut some extra card packets when I was prepping for class so I would be able to make a few cards to put in my slowly growing Christmas card stash.  I might make this same design with the other characters in the Jolly Friends stamp set and just change up the colors.  So easy to use one set to change up the look!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Jolly Friends, Merry Medley, Oh, What Fun

Ink: Black, Whisper White craft, Blushing Bride

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red Glimmer, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer, Real Red

Accessories: scalloped tag topper punch,  Jolly Hat builder, Candy Cane Lane baker's twine, dimensionals