New Years Celebration - Stampin' Up! Birthday Cheer - Fab Friday 153

  How can it be the end of 2018 already!?  It's flown by for sure and I always feel the same at the end of a year like how did that happen?  I think the saying that days go slow and years go fast is so true and it's never more apparent then when looking back at the last year and all that happened or didn't happen and trying to take stock of one's life.  I hope you all have a beautiful Christmas and a start to 2019 with family and friends.

  We are winding down 2018 with a final Fab Friday challenge of the year.  It's a super versatile sketch-- (do I say that every time??) so look ahead at your calendar and see what cards you'll be needing right after Christmas and at the beginning of January.  How about some thank yous for Christmas gifts?  January birthdays?  Happy New Year's cards?

  I went with the Happy New Years theme as I usually end up short on the number of Christmas cards I need vs. how many I've actually made.  I always plan for some New Years wishes to go out right after Christmas so I made a stack of this design.

  I tried to have my focal pieces offset like the sketch but I just couldn't do it; for some reason no matter what I tried it just made the card feel lopsided so I centered my pieces.  A sketch is an inspiration not a set in stone rule so I went with it!

  The card base is Whisper White thick, then a layer of Coastal Cabana.  Next is a piece of retired Springtime Foils Specialty paper from last year.  I had a bunch of this leftover so since I was making a stack of this design I decided to be frugal and use what I had on hand.  The copper is really a fun accent for a celebration card.

  The party hat from the NEW! Birthday Cheer stamp set was the perfect image to use.  I embossed it in copper and then fussy cut (not hard at all) it.  I colored the stripes with my Coastal Cabana and Flirty Flamingo markers.  I added some retired Fancy Frost sequins to the pompom for some added party sparkle.  The hat is popped on a Coastal Cabana Stitched Shape circle.

  The sentiment from Another Wonderful Year is stamped in Flirty Flamingo and then cut out with one of the NEW Stitched Rectangle dies.  I added a little Copper Glimmer paper flag behind it.

  Definitely check out the rest of the Fab Friday design team for more inspiration and then play along.  Looking forward to seeing your creation in the challenge gallery!

  Thanks for looking!  Did You Stamp Today?

Stamps: Birthday Cheer (Occasions), Another Wonderful Year

Ink: Versamark, Flirty Flamingo

Markers: Flirty Flamingo, Coastal Cabana

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Coastal Cabana, Springtime Foils DSP (retired), Copper Joyous Noel Glimmer paper

Accessories: copper embossing powder, Stitched Shapes framelits, Stitched Rectangle framelits (Occasions), Fancy Frost sequins (retired), dimensionals

Snowflakes Abound - Stampin' Up! Another Wonderful Year - Fab Friday 152

  Well here we are back again on a Friday!  And a Fab Friday challenge day no less!  Just in time for a possible snowy weekend of stamping here in the RVA!  I've got my supplies ready and the stamp room all cleaned up in case we are stuck at home!  And we have a great set of colors for you to inspire you to maybe finish up those Christmas cards.  If you're a Johnny on the spot and already have yours mailed out then you can use this color combo for many other occasions so hop to it.

  No your eyes aren't deceiving you!  There are 5 colors in this challenge.  But I know you can do it...that's why it's called a challenge!

  I fell back onto an often used trick to get a lot of colors on one card; Color Blocking.  I just used a one inch strip of each of the colors to create the background panel.

  I attached the strips to a piece of Whisper White and then ran the whole thing through the Big Shot using the Subtle embossing folder.  A nice *subtle* texture for my blizzard to be adhered to.

  The white velvet cardstock that was originally included in the Snowflake Showcase special offer sold out so fast I didn't get a chance to use it in class so I have a lot of it left.   I had fun cutting away and making a pile of snowflakes to use on this card.  It was a bit tedious with the fine tip glue pen but no big sticky accidents.

  The only stamping on this card is the sentiment from Another Wonderful Year stamped in Cherry Cobbler then cut out with the Stitched Shapes framelits.  It's popped on dimensionals above some silver/white baker's twine.  I added a rhinestone to each snowflake center because why not?

  I can't wait to see what you all come up with for all. these. colors.  Head over to the Fab Friday challenge site to see more inspiration and to upload your creation!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Another Wonderful Year

Ink: Cherry Cobbler

Paper: Shaded Spruce, Mossy Meadow, Soft Suede, Pool Party, Cherry Cobbler, White Velvet (retired)Whisper White

Accessories: Subtle embossing folder, Stitched Shapes framelits, Snowfall Thinlets (retired), rhinestones, silver/white bakers twine, dimensionals

Sweet Shimmery Gift - Stampin' Up! Nothing Sweeter

I think the theme this week for my posts will be shimmery!  If you can't get behind some shimmer and glitz at Christmas time I think your heart may be black and shriveled!

My stampers made this design last week to add to their Christmas card stashes.  And I apologize for the weird coloring of the photo...it was really cloudy and dark the day I took the pics and clearly the editing didn't straighten things out!

  Stampin' Up! has so many great greens right now since the color revamp over the summer that sometimes it's hard to decide what green to use for the tradition red/green Christmas combo.  For this one I decided to pair Call Me Clover and Soft Sea Foam with some Cherry Cobbler.

  The Sweetly Stitched dies incude this great zigzag/rickrack trim that doesn't cut but does the stitches so we used that then trimmed out the edge so it would be a nice zigzag look.  We backed it with a bit of the Cherry Cobbler Joyous Noel Glimmer paper.

  After stamping the gift and cutting it out we used the Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blends to color in the bow.  The darker color covers the Soft Sea Foam really well.  Then we used the clear Wink of Stella to add the shimmer factor to this card.

  And the snowflakes on the background are also highlighted with Wink of Stella but it doesn't show in the photo.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Nothing Sweeter

Ink: Soft Sea Foam, Call Me Clover

Blends: Cherry Cobbler

Paper: Whisper White, Soft Sea Foam, Call Me Clover, Joyous Noel Glimmer Paper

Accessories: Sweetly Stitched framelits, circle punch, Cherry Cobbler twine, dimensionals

Silvery Glistening Tree - Stampin' Up! Snow is Glistening

  I'm keep telling myself I need to count up how many Christmas cards I have already made and how many more I need to make but honestly I'm kind of scared to see how many it might be.  I'm beginning to feel a bit rushed with some of the things I need to do.  What I should do is stop poking around the internet and get some stuff done!

  We made this card last week at my stamp club.  And I love the red/aqua combination and probably do that combo every year but I can't resist.  And throwing some silver in makes my heart happy!

  The Galvanized Metallic paper looks even better when used to cut some snowflakes!  It has just the right amount of shine to go with the silver embossed Christmas tree.

  

  I love the little detail of a stamped off snowflake behind the Real Red "joy".  

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Snow is Glistening

Ink: Pool Party, Real Red, Versamark

Paper: Pool Party, Coastal Cabana, Whisper White, Galvanized Metallic

Accessories: silver embossing powder, Snowfall Thinlets, circle punch, dimensionals, Real Red satin ribbon, rhinestone