CAS Christmas Cheer - Stampin' Up® Welcome Noel Dies

   Has everyone else spent today thinking it was Monday instead of Tuesday??  Happens to me every time  there is a 3 day weekend.  So not only being confused about what day it is I've spent the day trying to catch up as I had an uncharacteristically busy long weekend.  I was out of town in a different place each of the 3 days for most of the day doing fun stuff but also not spending any time in the stamp room so I'm glad I had a card already made to share today!  

  When I posted this card for the current CAS Colours & Sketches challenge I had said that I made two cards for it and would share the second one later well today is later!  I can't get away from focusing on Christmas cards at least a little bit these days so it's a clean and simple Christmas card using the Welcome Noel dies.

  I think the colors really steal the show on this card.  I had this combo marked down to try and it did not disappoint!  The trees are die cut from Pretty Peacock and Peaceful Pine, the house in Flirty Flamingo and the sentiment is stamped in Pretty Peacock on Pool Party cardstock.

  Each little snippet of the die cuts are popped on dimensionals.  I did have to trim some down to fit the smaller areas but it was well worth the extra few seconds.

  Each house and tree are covered with clear Wink of Stella for a beautiful subtle sparkle.  And since it is a festive occasion card I added a bit more sparkle with some retired Traditional Sparkling Sequins.

  Everything is mounted on Basic White with a Pretty Peacock mat layer and then a Basic White thick card base.  This is a great layout to use with scrap cardstock pieces because you don't need to cut the whole long die but just pick sections to cut.  

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Noel Tidings

Ink: Pretty Peacock

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, Pretty Peacock, Flirty Flamingo, Pool Party, Peaceful Pine

Accessories: Welcome Noel dies, Noel Tidings dies, dimensionals, Wink of Stella, Traditional Sparkling Sequins (retired)

Pastel Noel - Stampin' Up! Welcome Noel

   The Neutral Noel suite continues to offer a lot of fun possibilities for Christmas cards and I love the different looks you can get just by changing the color palette.  My card today shows off some pastel colors and some mixing and matching of the stamp sets and dies.

  The card base is Barely Blush, then another layer of the same embossed with The Swirls of Magic embossing folder.  Before adding the next layer I used the Barely Blush Shimmer pen to color some of the embossed pattern making them stand out a bit more.  The shimmer Brush makes them slightly darker and sparkly.

  Next is a Basic White Scalloped Christmas Cheer die cut which is the perfect size for creating these little building scenes.  I embossed a separate piece of Basic White with the Softly Woven embossing folder and cut it down to fit on the inside of the stitched detail of the scalloped rectangle.

The house has a Hydrangea Hue backing and a Barely Blush star on the peak.  The trees are Old Olive and are tucked just under the edge of the house. The first part of the sentiment from the Noel Tidings stamp set is stamped in Versmark, embossed in white and fussy cut as well and the second part is stamped in Hydrangea Hue and trimmed down to fit the space.

 I couldn't place any ribbon or embellishments to my liking so I left the only bit of sparkle on the star which is colored with Barely Blush Shimmer Brush.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Welcome Noel, Noel Tidings

Ink: Old Olive, Hydrangea Hue, Versamark

Paper: Barely Blush, Basic White, Hydrangea Hue

Accessories: Swirls of Magic embossing folder, Softly Woven embossing folder, Scalloped Christmas Cheer dies, Welcome Noel dies, dimensionals, white embossing powder, Barely Blush Shimmer Brush

Happy Work-i-Versary - Stampin' Up!® Reason to Celebrate

  One of the perks of being married to a card maker is having access to their card stash and/or the pull to ask for a custom card when needed.  Since my husband is so wonderful I'm always happy to make any card that he needs and honestly I never turn down an opportunity to have more stamping time lol!  My husband recently asked for a work-i-versary card for his administrative assistant and I was happy to see what I could come up with!

  After looking through my stash of current DSPs nothing really jumped out as right for the occasion so I dug into some retired papers and the leftover pieces from the Turtle-y Sweet scrapbooking kit seemed perfect.  The dotted pattern in the Turtle-y Sweet DSP was perfect for the background and I pulled the rest of the colors from there.

  A banner cut from Two-Toned Poppy Parade was stamped with the chair from the long retired Welcome to the Team stamp set and the I sanded the edges for a worn look.  A bit of Pool Party baker's twine was tied around it before adhering the banner with dimensionals. 

 Next I added another piece of Turtle-y Sweet DSP in a Crushed Curry pattern across the center of the banner and cut 2 wonky circles with the retired Around It All dies.  The Pool Party circle is also Two-Toned and is sanded along the edges.

  I used the Reason to Celebrate stamp set to stamp the sentiment and then fussy cut.  The chair from Welcome to the team is stamped again this time in Memento black.  It's colored then fussy cut.  Both the sentiment and chair are popped on dimensionals.

  Lastly, some Dots for Days in Crushed Curry are sprinkled on the banner.  This was a fun one to design and put together and of course it always feel nice to use some supplies that I've kept "just in case"!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Reason to Celebrate, Welcome to the Team (retired)

Ink: Poppy Parade, Memento Black

Blends: Pool Party light & dark, Basic Black light, Smoky Slate dark

Paper: Poppy Parade Two-Tone, Pool Party Two-Toned, Basic White, Turtle-y Sweet DSP (retired)

Accessories: Party Banner dies, dimensionals, Around It All dies (retired), Pool Party baker's twine (retired), Dots for Days

Scrapped Noel - Stampin' Up!® Welcome Noel Dies

   When a challenge says to use up scraps for a card you don't need to tell me twice!  The current Inspire. Create. challenge does just that and I'm all in!  I'm always looking for fun, creative ways to use up my cardstock scraps.  A simple background is always a good way to go!

I love all the catalog samples of the Stampin' Up!® Neutral Noel Suite but I also like to dabble in non-traditional or bright Christmas color combinations.  I thought a bright striped background for a little snowy scene using the Welcome Noel dies would fit not only the "scrap" element but would also give me a chance for a bold color palette.

  I started with a Coastal Cabana card base, then another slightly smaller layer of Coastal Cabana that I added differing widths of scraps in Flirty Flamingo, Granny Apple Green and Azure Afternoon.  I randomly spaced them out on the panel and then trimmed any edges that were overhanging.

  Next I cut 3 Basic White panels using the Welcome Noel dies, 2 with the trees and one with the houses.  I trimmed them down so they were spaced just so and then adhered them to the card front and each other with dimensionals.

  Then using more scraps I cut a few of the houses again in the different colors then trimmed them apart and adhered them to the Basic White house panel for a colorful wintery scene.

  I meant to stamp the sentiment before adhering everything and I knew if I tried to stamp it over the dimensionals it would have been a disaster so I stamped it instead on another scrap and added it to the bottom of the lower tree panel.

  A few retired Iridescent Adhesive-backed Discs are added to the sides of the sentiment for a bit of shine.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used on this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE. 

Stamps: Noel Tidings

Ink: Azure Afternoon

Paper: Basic White, Coastal Cabana, Flirty Flamingo, Granny Apple Green, Azure Afternoon

Accessories: Welcome Noel dies, dimensionals, Iridescent Adhesive-backed Discs (retired)

Hello x 4 - Stampin' Up!® Round About Messages

 Sometimes ideas for CAS cards are hard to come by and sometimes you have several ideas and aren't sure which is the better card to share!  The latter was my dilemma with this newest CAS Colours & Sketches challenge!  So I'm sharing one card today and I'll post the second in a few days and you all can decide which was the better way to use this sketch!

    As I'm in the first weeks of having both of my boys away at college I'm making an effort to create cards that might be well received by them (ie keeping the frills and fluff to a minimum lol!).  Clean and simple challenges are perfect for this focus and I am embracing it!  I used the just about to be released Round About Messages stamp set for this design.

  I constantly collect color combos and mark them down with swatches in a notebook so whenever I'm in need of one I can page through and see what jumps out at me.  This is one of those combos and I think it's a fun one for a masculine feel.

  The card base is Basic White thick, then a layer of Basic White is die cut with retired Textured Notes dies for a tiny bit of detail along the edges.

 Next I stamped the 'hello!' in Versamark on a 1 inch wide strip of each of the four colors then embossed them in white.  I trimmed the edges down to crisp angles and then popped them with dimensionals on the card front following the sketch.  

  A few retired Faux Glass Dots are a clean embellishment to help bring the eye down the card.

  I can't wait to see how you use this sketch!  Be sure to keep your design clean and simple with 'white' space and minimal layers and patterns.  Share in the challenge gallery so we can all oooohhh and aaaahhh!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.  Items marked with a * will be available starting September 1, 2026 in the Stampin' Up!® Sept.-Dec. catalog.

Stamps: Round About Messages*

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Basic White thick, Basic White, Golden Glow, Pumpkin Pie, Coastal Cabana, Pretty Peacock

Accessories: white embossing powder, dimensionals, Textured Notes dies (retired), Faux Glass Dots (retired)

Peaceful Noel - Stampin' Up!® Welcome Noel

   The Neutral Noel suite in the upcoming Stampin' Up!® Sept.-Dec. 2026 catalog is a beautiful set of products that have so much potential for holiday cards and I am excited to start exploring all the fun ways to use the two bundles in this suite.  My card today focuses on the Welcome Noel bundle with it's sweet scene building elements.

  My layout today comes straight from the Paper Players Challenge.  They are celebrating their 800th challenge this week and Ann has chosen this throwback sketch from their very first challenge!  Congrats to them!!  I was lucky enough to be a guest designer with them back in 2021 and they are the nicest and most welcoming bunch of paper crafters and it is absolutely no surprise to me that they've reached this huge milestone, quality sticks around.  I hope you'll play along with them and make the 800th gallery huge!

  I started with a Mossy Meadow card base and used my Perennial Postage dies to cut a background panel from the Neutral Noel Specialty paper.  This paper is one sided and it's thicker than regular DSP. It has lovely gold accents and a beautiful neutral color palette.  I used a second piece in an all gold pattern for the band across the middle.  I added a Basic Beige ribbon knot around that layer before adhering.

 Next I stamped the building in Basic Beige, the tree in Mossy Meadow and the deer in Pecan Pie.  After they were die cut I clustered them to the side to follow the sketch.  The deer is popped on a dimensional.  I added a little die cut wreath decorated with a tiny red rhinestone and dabbed a tiny bit of Golden Glow Shimmer Brush on the tree.  

  After that I did what I should have done before I adhered all the other elements; stamped the greeting at the bottom.  I was nervous I was going to muck it up and have to start fresh lol!  So it's a do as I say, not as I do moment!! Stamp that sentiment first just in case!

  Thanks for looking! Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this project can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE. Items marked with a * will be available on September 1, 2026.

Stamps: Welcome Noel*, Noel Tidings*

Ink: Mossy Meadow, Basic Beige, Pecan Pie

Paper: Mossy Meadow, Basic White, Neutral Noel Specialty DSP*

Accessories: Welcome Noel dies*,  Perennial Postage dies, Golden Glow Shimmer Brush, dimensionals, Basic Beige Classic Ribbon (retired), red rhinestone (retired)

Back to School Owl - Stampin' Up!® Adorable Owls

   Even if my kids are now in college I'm still doing back to school cards for them!  I dug back into the archives for this cutie!  Adorable Owls was a Sale-a-Bration reward back in 2023 and I'm glad I hung onto it!

  I started with a Granny Apple Green card base, then a layer of Misty Moonlight and then a layer of Homemade Sweetness DSP in this fun notebook paper pattern.

  The retired Just A Note bundle is also one that I've kept because I just love the fun office stationery and the notebook paper dies.  They were a great pairing with the owl.  The Learn & Grow stamp set is a good current substitute if you're looking for a similar "school" type stamp set. I used the notebook paper die on a piece of Basic White to create a spot to add all of my other elements.  The Misty Moonlight banner embossed with the sentiment, the stars and glimmer paper heart paper clip as well as the owl.  

  I colored the owl with Blends and then fussy cut him.  He's popped on dimensionals.  I thought it ended up being a cute back to school card!

Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Adorable Owls (retired SAB), Just a Note (retired)

Ink: Versamark, Memento black

Blends: Pecan Pie light & dark, Ivory, Real Red light & dark, Daffodil Delight dark, Pumpkin Pie dark, Azure Afternoon dark

Paper: Granny Apple Green, Misty Moonlight, Basic White, Homemade Sweetness DSP, Daffodil Delight, Real Red Glimmer (retired)

Accessories: Stylish Shapes dies, dimensionals, Just A Note dies (retired)

Foiled Coastal Adventure - Stampin' Up!® Sunset Coast

   While we might be thinking ahead to fall and winter projects don't sleep on making a few more warm weather inspired cards!  The Sunset Coast bundle along with the Scenic Coast DSP are still hot products for gorgeous cards and scrapbook pages.  I combined these products with some foiling for another fun water sunset/sunrise scene!

  The card front is a piece of the lovely Scenic Coast DSP.  It's out of stock at the moment so be sure to put your email address in to be notified when it's back in stock!  I wrapped a bit of retired Iridescent ribbon around the layer before adhering. Next I used gold foil and the Flourish & Frames hot foil dies to make the frame shape.

  The Sunset Coast stamp set is then used to stamp the scene right onto the frame.  Two of the clouds as well as the sailboats were stamped on scrap cardstock then die cut and added to the scene with dimensionals for a nice layered effect.  The whole frame is then popped on the card front with dimensionals.

  The sentiment is stamped in Blueberry Bushel and then fussy cut and added to the edge of the frame.  I didn't want to cover too much of the foiling or scene!  The final touch are a few Sunset Sparkle Sequins added to opposite corners.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Sunset Coast

Ink: Balmy Blue, Timid Tiger, Blueberry Bushel, Crushed Curry, Strawberry Slush

Paper: Scenic Coast DSP, Basic White

Hot Foil: gold foil, Flourish & Frames Hot Foil Dies

Accessories: Sunset Sparkle Sequins, dimensionals, Iridescent ribbon (retired)