Classic Christmas Greenery - Stampin' Up! Forever Fern

   It wasn't hard to play along with the TGIF Challenges this week which is Christmas.  It was hard to narrow down what sort of Christmas card I wanted to do though.  I decided to use some rustic wood DSP and do a more traditional greenery grouping with a bit of gold for some subtle shine.

  I started with a Mossy Meadow base and then added a layer of Merry Merlot.  I always like the Merry Merlot color but seldom reach for it for some reason.  It's a nice burgundy alternative to Cherry Cobbler and pairs well with Mossy Meadow.   On top of the Merry Merlot I used a piece of In Good Taste DSP in a nice rustic wood grain.

  I had a nice narrow strip of Brushed Gold Metallic cardstock so I used that and then layered my various stamped and cut sprigs on top and to the side.  I used some Pear Pizzazz cardstock and Mossy Meadow ink for 2 and then an all Mossy Meadow one.  The largest one in the back is cut from a piece of Heartwarming Hugs DSP for a bit of pattern.

  Next, the sentiment from Itty Bitty Christmas is stamped in Versamark and embossed in gold.  I used the fancy circle die from the Tasteful Label dies for some extra detail.  A burlap ribbon flag was added behind to keep with the slightly rustic feel of the card.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Forever Fern, Itty Bitty Christmas

Ink: Mossy Meadow, Versamark

Paper: Mossy Meadow, Merry Merlot, Pear Pizzazz, In Good Taste DSP, Heartwarming Hugs DSP, Brushed Metallic Gold cardstock

Accessories: Forever Flourishing dies, Tasteful Label dies, gold embossing powder, dimensionals, burlap ribbon (retired)

Non-Traditonal Snowflakes - Stampin' Up! Snowflake Wishes

   Pinning something on Pinterest can sometimes open up a whole rabbit hole of things you didn't know you needed.  I saw a cool color combination a while back that pulled colors from a plant; very cool. The next thing I knew my feed had tons of color combination arrays from plants, bedding, decorating and so after pinning probably 50 of them I got the colors for my card today.  And now that I have all of these new combos I think Stampin' Up! needs to give us at least 20 new colors right away so I can stamp with them all!

  My card today plays along with the Festive Friday Challenge.  I used purple, snowflakes and metallics.

  My card starts with a Sahara Sand card base with a little sprinkle of snowflakes from Snowflake Wishes stamped in Sahara Sand ink on opposite corners.

  I backed a Stitched Rectangle die cut of the Wonder of the Season Specialty DSP with Blackberry Bliss.  On top of that I added my 3 snowflake die cuts in Just Jade, Blackberry Bliss and Shaded Spruce.  Each snowflake is covered in clear Wink of Stella for extra shimmer.  They are "hung" with gold twine and tied with a bow.

  The sentiment from Itty Bitty Christmas is stamped in gold ink and cut with the Tasteful Labels die and popped with dimensionals.

  You could do a whole series of cards with this design and just change up the snowflake colors and the larger Stitched Rectangle die cut is a nice way to show off a larger piece of the awesome metallic Wonder of the Season DSP which I'm having a hard time using since I don't want to cover up any of it with other elements!  Stamping problems are real I tell you!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Itty Bitty Christmas, Snowflake Wishes

Ink: Sahara Sand, gold

Paper: Sahara Sand, Blackberry Bliss, Shaded Spruce, Just Jade, Wonder of the Season DSP

Accessories: Stitched Rectangle dies, So Many Snowflakes dies, Tasteful Labels dies, Wink of Stell, gold twine (retired), dimensionals

Bold Birthday Poppy - Stampin' Up! Quite Curvy

   I needed a few birthday card for early December birthdays and it was a good excuse to pull out some supplies that have been a bit neglected with all the autumn and Christmas stamping I've been doing. 

   I used the current challenge over at The Paper Players which is a fun tic-tac-toe board.  I chose the top across row; Patterned Paper, Die Cut and Embossing.  A quick and straightforward card.

  

  The patterned paper for the background and the leaves is the retired Peaceful Poppies DSP.  The die cuts are the scalloped rectangle from Stitched So Sweetly dies as well as the Poppy Moments dies for building the poppy and cutting the leaves. For the embossing part I did both dry embossing with then Old World Paper embossing folder and heat embossing for the sentiment.  The sentiment is from the new Quite Curvy set and after embossing it in black I hand trimmed the banner and popped it with dimensionals.  A few adhesive rhinestones just because for the finishing touch.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Quite Curvy

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Whisper White thick, Whisper White, Poppy Parade, Calypso Coral, Basic Black, Peaceful Poppies DSP (retired)

Accessories: Stitched So Sweetly dies, Poppy Moments dies, Old World Paper embossing folder, black embossing powder, rhinestones, dimensionals

Birthday Fishes - Stampin' Up! Whale Done

   Happy Monday everyone!  After an extra long "weekend" for Thanksgiving it's now time to get back in the swing of a regular week again.  I'm sharing a birthday card today even though I need to keep working on Christmas cards.  

  I made this one for my dad who loves to go fishing as much as possible.  The Whale Done stamp set and Whale of a Time DSP are more ocean fish and he does fresh water fishing but I figured it was close enough.

  I built the card up from the back because I loved this pattern of the fish swirling around.  I used the same colors for the stamping the little fish and bubbles on the Whisper White panel; Just Jade, Honeybee, Calypso Coral and Pacific Point stamped off once.

  On the edge of the Whisper White panel I added a narrow piece of the trimmed off DSP and topped it with a length of braided linen trim stretched and frayed a bit.

  The sentiment is stamped in black and then punched with the Tailored Tag punch.  I added a few white enamel dots from the retired stash and popped it up with dimensionals.

  To balance the card the turtle is fussy cut from another DSP piece and also popped on dimensionals.

 Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Whale Done

Ink: Just Jade, Honeybee, Calypso Coral, Pacific Point, Memento Black

Paper: Whale of a Time DSP, Whisper White, Just Jade

Accessories: Stitched Rectangle dies, Tailored Tag punch, Braided Linen Trim, dimensionals, enamel dots (retired)

Golden Snowflakes - Stampin' Up! Snowflake Wishes

   Hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings however you (safely) celebrated!  It was definitely a different kind of holiday than we are used to but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

  On to the stamping because now that we are have passed Thanksgiving it will be heavy on Christmas around these parts.  We already picked out our tree last week and will pick it up and decorate in the next week and the outside decorations have gone up since it was so warm and sunny last week.  It's much nicer to do that work when your fingers aren't freezing off.  So I better get my butt in gear to get finish up the cards!

  I did a fun gold and vanilla combo for this one.

 This one is pretty straightforward with a mix of gold embossing, gold foil and gold ink for the sentiment.  In an effort to not have every one of my cards perfectly centered I went for an off center placement and I kind of like it.  

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Snowflake Wishes, Curvy Christmas

Ink: Versamark, gold

Paper: Very Vanilla thick, Very Vanilla, Brushed Metallic - gold

Accessories: corner rounder, Stitched Shapes dies, So Many Snowflakes dies, gold embossing powder, dimensionals, gold metallic edged ribbon

Snowy Snowman - Stampin' Up! Snowman Season

   I know it's kind of a no brainer to have have snow and snowmen go together but this card was especially fun to put together because I used DSP from this year's mini catalog (Snowflake Splendor) along with a stamp set that was a carry over from last year (Snowman Season).  Sometimes I don't mix and match old and new products very well and just focus on the newest products but I was pleased that the fun layers of this card really lend themselves to multiple patterns which Snowflake Splendor has an abundance of.

  The layout is from the CAS(e) This Sketch challenge and even though there are multiple layers I still think the open space, limited color palette and the minimal embellishments work for a CAS card.

  This card starts with a soft pattern of large snowflakes and it's built up from there using Balmy Blue and Pool Party to carry through the rest of the card.

  The next layer of Snowflake Splendor paper has smaller flakes and is backed with a Whisper White border.  Next is a Balmy Blue Glimmer paper flag.

  The base for the snowman panel is Pool Party cut with a Stitched Square die with has little snowflakes stamped in white craft ink.  I cut a few curvy pieces of Whisper White with the Curvy dies and layered them like snowbanks at the bottom of the square.  I edged the snow with Shimmery Crystal Effects and stamped the Itty Bitty Christmas sentiment in Balmy Blue.  Once it was dry I added my cute stamped and punched snowman with dimensionals.  He is stamped in Smoky Slate and then very lightly colored with Stampin' Blends for just a hint of color in his face and on his outline.  The hat is decorated with an itty bitty Balmy Blue snowflake from the Curvy Christmas stamp set and punched with a small circle punch.

  For a little bit of embellishment but not too much I dug in my retired bits and found some Pool Party sequins and add a few of them with a little rhinestone centers.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Snowman Season, Itty Bitty Christmas, Curvy Christmas

Ink: Smoky Slate, Balmy Blue, White craft

Blends: Pumpkin Pie dark, Flirty Flamingo light, Pool Party dark, Basic Black dark

Paper: Snowflake Splendor DSP, Whisper White, Pool Party, Balmy Blue Glimmer paper, Basic Black, Soft Suede

Accessories: Stitched Shapes dies, Curvy dies, Snowman Builder punch, circle punch, Shimmery Crystal Effects, dimensionals, rhinestones, sequins (retired)

Postage Reindeer - Stampin' Up! Festive Post

   I had quite a bit of stamping time on Saturday so I got some more Christmas cards made.  I bought entirely too much of the seasonal DSP from the mini catalog and my only excuse is when I bought it in August? September? I was hoping to be back doing classes again and would need a lot of paper.  Didn't happen, so I have A LOT of Christmas DSP to use or at least use enough of that I don't feel guilty.  I should probably use bigger pieces than I did on this card if I want to use it up in the next 20 years!  Oh well!

  This fun design was inspired by the Freshly Made Sketches challenge which closes shortly but will be one I go back to with different elements soon!

 The card base is Mossy Meadow then the next layer is a piece of Heartwarming Hugs DSP.  I embossed a piece of Whisper White with the Pinewood Planks embossing folder. 

  Using the Rectangular Postage punch I punched 2 other patterns from the same pack and layered them.  Over the top of those I added a Real Red sheer ribbon knot. The reindeer from Festive Post is stamped in Soft Suede and popped up with the dimensionals.  I added a Rudolph nose with a small Real Red gem.

  This is quick and cute card and would be easy to do for multiples.  I'm going to keep this one in my back pocket in case I need to make more at the last minute.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Festive Post

Ink: Soft Suede

Paper: Mossy Meadow, Heartwarming Hugs DSP, Whisper White

Accessories: Pinewood Planks embossing folder, Rectangular Postage punch, dimensionals, Real Red sheer ribbon, Real Reg adhesive gem

Golden Thanksgiving - Stampin' Up! Beautiful Autumn - Fab Friday 202

   Happy Friday!  We have a new challenge at Fab Friday today.  I think you'll like this color combination.  I needed another Thanksgiving card so I saw autumn but I think it's a great masculine birthday combo too.  I can't wait to see what you all come up with! 

 

  I think this will be my last fall card of the season before I hunker down to knock out all of my Christmas projects! 

   I decided to throw some gold in here too.  I've hoarded the Gilded Autumn paper since August and of course now I've decided it's time to use it!  Oh well!

  I started with a Mint Macaron base with some images stamped along the outside edge.  Then a layer of the Gilded Autumn DSP cut with the Curvy Dies.  The large label is cut with the Tasteful Labels dies and a piece of Brushed Gold cardstock.

  I stamped the sentiment in Mint Macaron on a strip of Very Vanilla and then layered that over the label and a piece of retired Mint Macaron ribbon.

  The acorns are stamped in varying strengths of Cinnamon Cider.  The oak leaves are stamped in Bumblebee with the outline in full strength and the centers stamped off once.  After punching them out I arranged them down one side of the label with dimensionals.

  Check out all the gorgeous designs from the Fab Friday Design Team and then share your own creation in our gallery!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Beautiful Autumn, Banner Year

Ink: Mint Macaron, Cinnamon Cider, Bumblebee

Paper: Mint Macaron, Very Vanilla, Brushed Gold foil, Gilded Autumn DSP

Accessories: Curvy dies, Tasteful Labels dies, autumn punch pack, dimensionals, Mint Macaron ribbon (retired)