Classic Stars - Stampin' Up! So Many Stars - Fab Friday 177

Whew!  We made it through another week!  At my house it was just barely but we made it!  It's definitely time for some stamping relaxation as far as I'm concerned.  Let's see what we've got in store for you from Fab Friday to start off this relaxation session!

  A wide open sketch this time!  When I sat down to create it was almost too much space!  I persevered because that's the kind of stamper I am.  My final result isn't exactly like the sketch but you can see the main elements I think!  Which basically boils down to the 2 narrow panels in the corner.

 

  I had a totally different idea at first that started with the fact that I wanted to use Pretty Peacock for a Christmas card (again!) so I checked Pinterest for some color combos that used Pretty Peacock and saw one that suggested Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive.  Well hello old friends.  Back in the day Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive were the royalty of Christmas card colors.  I think they've taken a backseat to some newer colors lately but I'm happy to say they are just a lovely now paired up with a new color as they were a few years ago.  So my original idea fell through but I loved these colors together so I stuck with it (perseverance right?).

  The base is Pretty Peacock, then a layer of Very Vanilla embossed with the Pinewood Planks embossing folder.  Then I used my handy dandy So Many Stars stamp set and coordinating Stitched Stars dies to stamp and cut a bunch of stars to emboss and layer and pop up.  And I reached into my bag of retired items and used some copper accents to give this card some sparkle.  The embossing and the shimmer paper are both copper and I thought they complimented these colors better than some other metallics I have on hand.  The sequin is from a mixed batched that I think contained Rose Gold so close enough to copper in my book.

  Anyhow, once I got my stars situated I did the 2 banner elements, the larger one with Copper Glimmer paper and the smaller one stamped with a greeting from Itty Bitty Christmas and embossed again with copper.  A little Cherry Cobbler baker's twine bow finishes this one off.

  I hope you'll find inspiration from this sketch as well as the other samples from the Fab Friday team.  I look forward to seeing your creation in the gallery.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: So Many Stars, Itty Bitty Christmas

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Pretty Peacock, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Copper Glimmer (retired), Come to Gather DSP

Accessories: Pinewood Planks e.f., Stitched Stars dies, adhesive pearl, copper embossing powder (retired), dimensionals, Cherry Cobbler baker's twine(retired), Rose gold sequin (retired)

Christmas Tree Tag - Stampin' Up! Itty Bitty Christmas

Just a quick post to share this super simple Christmas card today.  Just a fun way to use some punches!

 

    The card base is Cherry Cobbler, then a layer of the fabulous Wrapped in Plaid DSP.  I punched a label out of gold foil.  This label punch is retired but any of the current ones or any tag dies would easily work as well.

  After I punched the tag I punched the tree with the Pine Tree punch.  I added a Curly Ribbon (aka yarn) bow to the top.  The sentiment from Itty Bitty Christmas is stamped in Shaded Spruce on Very Vanilla and then punched out with a circle punch and is backed by a larger Cherry Cobbler circle.

  The tag/sentiment circle are all popped on dimensionals.  Easy peasy!  Go cut into that Wrapped in Plaid DSP and add all the fun gold foil elements!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Itty Bitty Christmas

Ink: Shaded Spruce

Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Gold foil, Wrapped in Plaid DSP

Accessories: tag punch (retired), circle punches, Curly ribbon, dimensionals

Dinos Love Snow! - Stampin' Up! Dino Days

 Sometimes you just need to use a non-holiday/Christmas set to make a holiday/Christmas card.  I wanted to make a winter card for a CAS(e) This Sketch Challenge but none of my Christmas sets really jumped out at me.  So I thought a dinosaur in snow would be fun.

  The sketch was fun with just the band across the bottom so the rest was wide open to work with.  The card base is Bermuda Bay embossed with Shimmer White embossing powder with the snowflake stamps from Snowman Season.

  I cut out some snowflakes with the Seasonal Layers dies out of Sparkle Glimmer Paper and added them to the background with a little Granny Apple Green rhinestone in the center of each.  Stampin' Blends are perfect for making coordinating accessories!

  The band across the bottom is Whisper White with a Gorgeous Grape accent cut with the Stitched Labels dies.  The sentiment was colored with a black marker to stamp the words twice so that it could be horizontal on the band.

  The sweet dino is stamped in Gorgeous Grape and his/her spikes are Granny Apple Green; both cut with the coordinating Dino dies.  The dino is popped on dimensionals.

  I had fun putting together this card with lots of different products.  Don't be afraid to mix and match dies and stamps and other supplies to get the card you want to make.  You don't have to use only products from the same suite to create!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Dino Days, Snowman Season

Ink: Versamark, Gorgeous Grape, Granny Apple Green

Marker: Basic Black

Blends: Granny Apple Green - dark

Paper: Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Gorgeous Grape, Glimmer Paper Sparkle

Accessories: Seasonal Layers dies, Dino dies, Stitched Labels dies, dimensionals, rhinestones, Shimmer white embossing powder

Wrapped in Plaid - Stampin' Up! So Many Stars

  I hope you all had a lovely weekend!  We enjoyed some college football in the cold on Saturday and came away with a big win and Sunday was a pretty lazy day with some stamping and more football watching.  If we ever see the sun I'll get around to taking some photos of the weekend cards but for now I've got a class project to share.

  I combined products from two different suites when I designed this card for my last class.   I love the Wrapped in Plaid DSP and of course the So Many Stars bundle.  The patterns in the Wrapped in Plaid pack are all great so I wanted to design a card that could show off more than one and pull in some gold with the So Many Stars.  My stampers had to choose from all the patterns to put together their card.  It was hard! But so cool to see how everycard was different.

  The card base is Night of Navy and then the DSP panels.  A large gold foil star was die cut and then topped with a gold embossed die cut star.  I had choices for the star color too.  My stampers could choose between Night of Navy, Shaded Spruce and Cherry Cobbler.  So fun to mix and match these lovely rich Christmas colors.

  The star is popped up on dimensionals with a bit of Shaded Spruce/gold striped ribbon on one side. 

  If you have this paper don't let it sit uncut and unused.  Get it on a card so others can see how pretty it is.  And also because you know there will be more beautiful Christmas DSP next year so you don't need to hoard this years!

   Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: So Many Stars

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Night of Navy, Wrapped in Plaid DSP, Gold foil

Accessories: gold embossing powder, Stitched Stars dies, dimensionals, Shaded Spruce/gold ribbon

Another Sweet Snow Person - Stampin' Up! Snowman Season

  I'm slowly chipping away at the Christmas card list.  I have to remind myself that Christmas cards don't have to be complicated or have 17 layers for it to be worthy of being mailed out.  And as we get closer to the big day things will just get busier so I don't need to make more work for myself.  I can keep to sweet and simple; sometimes it's easier than others though.

  My card today came together really fast last week after I got a look at a color challenge site that used Old Olive, Lovely Lipstick, and Smoky Slate.  The challenge closed well before I photographed my card but it's still a good one to share and will maybe inspire you to a sweet and simple card that also uses up some of your stash.

  In my personal stamping there is an ongoing struggle between using all current products for samples and possible class projects and also trying to use up retired products.  I want my stampers to see all the possibilities with new products but my frugal side wants the satisfaction of using up that last piece of paper or that last bit of ribbon on a roll.  For my card today I mixed a current stamp set and some dies with the retired Lovely Lipstick foil paper and and some snowflake sequins that I don't know are how old.

  I have a bit more of this Lovely Lipstick foil paper so I might be making a few more of these if it gets down to crunch time and I need more Christmas cards.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Snowman Season, Itty Bitty Christmas

Ink: Smoky Slate

Markers: Lovely Lipstick, Old Olive, Grapefruit Grove

Paper: Smoky Slate, Old Olive, Whisper White, Lovely Lipstick foil (retired), Sparkle Glimmer paper

Accessories: Stitched Shapes dies, Seasonal Layers dies, snowflake sequins (retired), dimensionals

Vibrant Gathered Leaves - Stampin' Up! Gather Together

  Our local vibrant leaves might not be sticking around very long with the wet icky weather we're having today so we'll have to stick with paper leaves on cards!

  This is a card that my stampers made at my last class.  I wanted to show off the Heirloom frames dies and embossing folders that I hadn't used in a class yet as well as make one last fall card.  The texture on the die cuts and the gold sponging are the stars of this card.

  After watching some videos and tutorials on using the Heirloom frames/dies the easiest way is to cut the frame first and then emboss it.  I found Patty Bennett's video helpful and followed her tips and passed them along to my stampers. We cut ours out of Crumb Cake and my stampers had the choice between the rectangle and oval frames.  Once it was cut we sponged a bit of gold ink onto it to highlight the pattern.

  The large leaf is stamped in Soft Suede onto Very Vanilla and colored with a lot Stampin' Blends (listed below).  It's always fun to see how everyone colors when given the Blends and let loose on an image.

  A few more leaves were cut out in Mango Melody, Blackberry Bliss and Cajun Craze and are attached to the frame opposite the colored one after sponging on a bit more gold ink.

  The sentiment is stamped on a smaller rectangle of Very Vanilla and adhered to the back side of the frame.  I found this way was easier to line up the sentiment to be centered and straight in the frame.  If it was stamped directly onto the card front 1) if it was a little crooked you couldn't fix it and 2) sometimes darker colors show through just a little on a Whisper White or Very Vanilla card base and I like to avoid that for a more finished look.

  After the frame was put together it's popped on the card front with dimensionals and a Very Vanilla baker's twine bow is added to the larger leaf.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Gather Together

Ink: Gold, Soft Suede

Blends: So Saffron, Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, Blackberry Bliss

Paper: Very Vanilla thick, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Mango Melody, Blackberry Bliss, Cajun Craze

Accessories: Heirloom frames dies/folders, Gathered Leaves dies, dimensionals, Very Vanilla baker's twine

 

Comfort & Joy CASE - Stampin' Up! Cup of Christmas

  A few weeks back I was on a roll stamping and had completed a few cards for some challenges and didn't have any left to start a card with so I turned to the Annual Catalog for some inspiration for a Christmas card.

  I landed on page 95 and kind of liked the looks of the the colors and layout of the Country Home sample so I ran with it using the Cup of Christmas stamp set.  I like how it turned out; not traditional Christmas colors but Christmas-y nonetheless!

  The card base is Soft Suede then a layer of vellum and over the op of that is a piece of Whisper White embossed with the Tin Tile embossing folder.

  I pulled some gold onto the card to make it a bit more festive for the season.  I die cut some little sprigs in gold foil and Soft Sea Foam using the Cup of Cheer dies.  I layered these behind the Terracotta Tile Stitched Label.  4 retired gold brads decorate the edges of the label.

  I stamped the cup onto Soft Sea Foam cardstock and embossed the sentiment in gold and cut it out with the matching die.  It's popped up on the label with dimensionals.  I lightly colored in the holly sprigs as well with the Soft Sea Foam and Terracotta Tile marker. 

  So the moral of this card is that you can find a card you like and make it your own for whatever season you want.  CASE stands for Copy And Selectively Edit.  And it's always good stamping etiquette to give credit if you are CASEing another stamper and include a link when sharing online.  So thanks to the Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog for this inspiration!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Cup of Christmas

Ink: Versamark, Soft Sea Foam

Paper: Soft Suede, vellum, Whisper White, Soft Sea Foam, Gold Foil, Terracotta Tile

Accessories: Cup of Cheer dies, Stitched Label dies, Tin Tile embossing folder, gold embossing powder, dimensionals, gold brads (retired)

Plaid Tree Trio - Stampin' Up! Perfectly Plaid - Fab Friday 176

We've made it through another week stampers!  Time to reward yourself for all your hard work through the week with some stamping!  Fab Friday Challenge has a beautiful color combo to get you started!

  When I first saw the graphic for this challenge I immediately thought about a fall card and was a bit "eh" over the prospect.  I've got all my Thanksgiving/fall cards finished (believe it or not!!) and I was ready for a full on push into Christmas and winter.  After a few minutes I decided to challenge myself for real and do a Christmas card with these colors.  If I failed miserably I could always go with fall to be safe.

  I think the Christmas card came out pretty well if I do say so myself.  And even though there isn't much Crushed Curry on my card it's there so challenge complete! Remember you don't have to use challenge colors in equal measure. 

  Even though I love the traditional reds, greens and blues of Christmas it's really nice to mix it up sometimes and pull together something a bit different.

  I used the Perfectly Plaid stamp set along with the Pine Tree punch for my trees.  The smallest star from the Stitched Stars dies made my Crushed Curry tree toppers which I also covered with a layer of Wink of Stella for some shine.  The Pretty Peacock tree is popped up with dimensionals.

  The punched trees are layered over a snowy hill made by cutting a stitched circle and adding a generous amount of glue and Ice Stampin' Glitter.  I adhered that partial circle over another stitched circle in Crumb Cake and popped that up with dimensionals also.

  The background layers start with a strip of Woven Threads DSP with a bit of scalloped linen ribbon in Terracotta Tile along one edge.  The next layer is a piece of Whisper White embossed with the Tin Tile embossing folder and backed with a slightly larger layer of Crumb Cake.  All of that is adhered to a Whisper White thick card base.

  The sentiment banner is stamped in Pretty Peacock with one of the many awesome sentiments in the Itty Bitty Christmas set.  I added a few retired candy dots in Blushing Bride on the edges because I really need to use stuff up or someone will start to call me a hoarder.

  I hope you'll check out what the rest of the Fab Friday Design team has done with these colors and then play along!  Remember you have almost 2 weeks to share your project to the gallery!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Perfectly Plaid, Itty Bitty Christmas

Ink: Pretty Peacock, Terracotta Tile, Blushing Bride,

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Crushed Curry, Woven Threads DSP

Accessories: Tin Tile embossing folder, Stitched Shapes dies, Pine Tree Punch, Ice Stampin' Glitter, Scalloped Linen ribbon, Stitched Stars dies, dimensionals, Wink of Stella, candy dots (retired)

Snowy Day - Stampin' Up! Snowman Season

  While it's nowhere near snowman season for us here in Central Virginia I do know some places that had snow last week so it's definitely time to get prepared by making more snowmen cards for Christmas.  It's like stocking the pantry in case of power outages; it's stocking the Christmas card box for December!

 

  I made this one some time back for a color challenge I think?  Of course it didn't get photographed and edited in time to enter it but I really like this combo and it makes me think of a cold snowy day for sure.

  The card base is Whisper White thick,  then I layered Blueberry Bushel behind a stitched rectangle of Seaside Spray.

  On the Seaside Spray panel I embossed some snowflakes with the Shimmer White embossing powder.

  The sentiment is stamped in black.  The snowman is stamped in Smoky Slate and punched out along with his accessories in black.  The little snowflake on the hat is just stamped and embossed on Blueberry Bushel and punched out with a little circle punch. 

  The scarf is a piece of 1/8" Blueberry Bushel grosgrain ribbon.  The snowman is popped on dimensionals.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Snowman Season

Ink: Versamark, Smoky Slate, Memento Black

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Blueberry Bushel, Seaside Spray, Basic Black

Accessories: Stitched Rectangles dies, Snowman Builder punch, Shimmer White embossing powder, circle punch, dimensionals, 1/8" grosgrain ribbon

All Plaid Christmas - Stampin' Up! Wrapped in Plaid

For my card today I've used what feels like almost every Christmas product I purchased from the Holiday catalog!  And I've used an abundance of plaid as well.  And gold.  Really we have all the goodness of Christmas on this card!

  My card starts with a Very Vanilla base and then we dive right into the Wrapped in Plaid DSP for the background.  I pulled all the colors straight from this pack of paper. Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy, Shaded Spruce and gold.

  For the top square I cut a star in Night of Navy and then a layer in gold foil with the Stitched Stars dies. The star is adhered to the square with dimensionals.

  The middle square is a lovely poinsettia from the Cup of Christmas set embossed in gold.  the center is colored with the Shaded Spruce marker.  It is also popped on dimensionals.

  Finally at the bottom on the third square I simply punched out a tree from a nice green pattern of the Wrapped in Plaid DSP using the Pine Tree punch.  I topped that with a sentiment banner of Night of Navy embossed with gold.  The sentiment is from Itty Bitty Christmas.

  It goes without saying that I've been loving this plaid paper and all the gold! 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Itty Bitty Christmas, Cup of Christmas

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Very Vanilla thick, Very Vanilla, Night of Navy, Gold foil, Cherry Cobbler, Wrapped in Plaid DSP

Accessories: Stitched Stars dies, Cup of Cheer dies, Pine Tree punch, Stitched Shapes dies, gold embossing powder, dimensionals

Inspired Beautiful Frame - Stampin' Up! Beautiful Bouquet

  I recently received a thank you note that inspired today's card.  I loved the colors and the cute flowers on it so I wanted to see if I could translate it into a hand stamped card using Stampin' Up! products.

  Here is the original:

  And here is my stamped version:

  This was fun to put together and nice to use an older set that hasn't seen ink in a while.  I also got to play with the Heirloom Frames dies and embossing folders.

  The 'thanks' inside the frame is 3 layers of Very Vanilla cut with the Well Written die set and glued together for a sturdier element.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Beautiful Bouquet

Ink: Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay, Rococo Rose

Paper: Pretty Peacock, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Bouquet Bunch dies, Heirloom Frames dies & embossing folders, Well Written dies, dimensionals, Very Vanilla lace trim