Encre, papier, ciseaux

Yeoman Warders

Inspiration: Page Maps August 2023 Sketch + Simon Says stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes) 

I revisited my London trip travel and paired them with the Travelogue collection from Photoplay. I love the colours from this collection. I picked a picture that was taken with Yeoman Warders while we were visiting the Tower of London. I was really impressed with their uniforms and by the fact that they were actually smiling (unlike a lot of guards when they are on duty). I also had a big flashback to the logo on the Beefeater gin bottles my parents used to mix drinks when we were entertaining company when I was younger. 

This page is quite simple. I replaced the second pictures from the sketch with a cut-apart card, on which I handwrote my journaling. I made my own ticket using the Travelogue cardstock pack and the Ticket Booth stamp set and dies from Tim Holtz. The title was created with two different puffy alphabet sets from PinkFresh (Happy Heart - gold - and the best day - navy). The picture was also matted with another cardstock from the Travelogue cardstock pack. (Word to the wise: those cardstock packs are not exact matches to the Photoplay paper, they are just selected My Colors cardstock that closely match the papers. I've stuck to the colors that matched the closest for this page, but I'm afraid that the golden yellow from the cardstock paper is going to look a little too bright next to the muted curry shade of the papers.)

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Ticket Booth (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous); Project Life Date Stamp (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock, Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers: Travelogue (Photoplay)
Ink: Sahara Sand, Misty Moonlight (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Cross-Stitched Circle Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Circle Layering Set (Tonic);
Ticket Booth (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Accessories: Happy Hearts and The Best Day Puffy Alphabet Stickers (PinkFresh Studio);
Enamel Dots (Unknown Source); Vintage Artistry Essential Hardware Epoxy Stickers (49 & Market);
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Mini Blender Tool (Studio Light);
Blue Black Hi-tecpoint Pen (Pilot)

 

Santa Sweater Vest

Inspiration: 52 Christmas Card Throwdown (Shaped Card)

I immediately knew that I wanted to pull out my Sweater Vest dies from Sunny Studio when I saw that this week's challenge was to make a shaped card. I love this die set and I've really enjoyed finding funky patterns to make vest out of. This time around, I picked the Santa pattern from Echo Park's Happy Holidays collection. I used the green retro star pattern from the edges and the red plaid for the argyle pattern. I used my etoile DMC thread to add stitching as well, with green sequins in the center for additional texture. 

I also changed the collar up and did the V neck, adding the polo collar and the red bowtie to go with it. The resulting card just makes me smile.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Basic White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers: Happy Holidays (Echo Park)
Dies: Sweater Vest (Sunny Studio)
Accessories: Desert Hike Sequin Mix (28 Lilac Lane - Buttons Galore & More); 
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Etoile Needlepoint Thread (DMC);
A2 Metallic Jupiter Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

Old or Vintage?

Inspiration: Global Design Project #421 + Freshly Made Sketch #613 + Just Add Ink #680 (Alcohol) + Tic Tac Toe #236 ( Coloring + Free + Gems)

The colour combo had a retro vibe to me, so I reached out for the You Rock stamp set from Avery Elle. I stamped the jukebox and marquee in black ink and colored them with alcohol markers, then used te matching dies to cut them out.

Following the sketch, I made a Pool Party card base and cut a layer out of Lemon Lime Twist cardstock. I stamped the two sides in matching ink with the checkboard pattern. I cut a strip of Poppy Parade cardstock, stamped some stars in matching ink, cut the ends in tail ends and I placed this strip like shown in the sketch. I cut a piece of Basic White cardstock for the center and I stamped records in Pool Party at the top, then added little stars in red and green around the scene. 

I wanted a French sentiment, so I went looking through my French sets and I lucked out by finding a sentiment that reads, "You are not old, you're vintage" in French that is exactly the right size and shape to fit in the marquee. I then mounted the two images on dimensional adhesive and added them to my card, and I finished it with three red gems to match.

I stamped the checkboard and the records on a white envelope to match.

 

 

 

       

Supplies
Stamps: You Rock (Avery Elle); Anniversaire (4 En Scrap)
Cardstock: Lemon Lime Twist, Poppy Parade, Pool Party, Basic White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Lemon Lime Twist, Poppy Parade, Pool Party (Stampin' Up!), Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: White Medium Envelope, Stampin' Dimensionals, Stampin' Blends Markers (Stampin' Up!);
Red Gems (Recollections); Crystal Glaze (Nuvo)

 

Christmas Programming

Inspiration: Time Out Challenge #252 (Winter/Holiday) + Mojo Monday sketch #115

When I purchased the Happy Holidays collection from Echo Park, I sat down for a whole evening and prepared die-cuts, sentiments and small embellishments ahead of time, planning to later sit down and do a crafting session, using the pieces I had prepared ahead of time. It took a while, but today, I was finally able to sit down and look through the trays of embellishments to find some inspiration.

The starting point was the large layered circle from Birch Press Design I had die-cut using the coordinating solids papers. I matted the circle with Sparkle Classic Kraft-stock in silver. I had die-cut the red TV image from the cut-apart sheet and it made a nice central image. Since the sentiment was on it, I was not sure how to use the long panel shown in the sketch, but I had selected some tickets from the 49 & Market Ticket Essentials boxes in colours to match the collection, so I layered a couple over a punch washi tape, stapled them together and I slid a little paperclip I had also die-cut over it. I added a green heart puffy sticker over it, and I slid a postage stamp image and a large tag I had die-cut out of Poppy Parade cardstock underneath to ground my TV image.

I added a die-cut banner in the opposite corner and added a navy button that was floating on my desk, threaded with white baker's twine. On the TV, I added three small enamel dots to the buttons and a die-cut green box to the antennae, topped with a little chipboard star.

I chose the stocking pattern for the background, and I matted it twice with navy paper and pink paper. I mounted this to one of my 5¼" x 5¼" cardbase, and I decorated the matching envelope with paper and cardstock stickers. I love the quality of Echo Park's sticker books. The stickers inside are made of cardstock which hold nicely wherever you want to add them to your project. They remind me of the cardstock stickers that Simple Stories include in their paper collection, and I wish Simple Stories did their own sticker books the same way. On the flip side, I wish Echo Park was still die-cutting their chipboard images all the way through the way they used to do it, rather than using the little holding tabs that they have now. I always find myself filling the sides to smooth them, and the result is never quite as smooth as if the images had been die-cut that way.

Now that I'm off and running, I hope to create a few more cards using my little embellishment trays.

 

 

 

   

 

Supplies
5¼" x 5¼" Card Base and Envelope: DoCraft 
Cardstock: Sparkle Classic Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology); Poppy Parade (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Sticker Book, Enamel Dots, Chipboard Accents, Puffy Stickers: Happy Holidays (Echo Park)
Dies: Prem Layer A, B and C (Birch Press Designs); Trombones Project Life (Stampin' Up!);
Tags (Echo Park); Bows (Coco and Reno)
Accessories: Buttons (Foof-a-La); White Baker's Twine, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Stapler,
Washi Tape Punch (Stampin' Up!); Gems (Recollections); Ticket Essentials (49 & Market)

 

Seasonal Tag

Inspiration: Colour Inkspiration #156 + Try Stampin’ on Tuesday #634

I wanted to make a card with the Simple Vintage 'Tis the Season collection from Simple Stories before putting it away, and I realized the colours from the Colour Inkspiration challenge were a good fit for this collection. For the design, I drew inspiration from the Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch.

I picked the Ho Ho Ho tag since this can work as a French or English card, and I placed it over a striped circle and a floral circle. I made sure to pick one of the paper that had black in it so that colour from the combo would be showing on the card. I used a polka dot branding strip for the strip at the bottom, and I recycled a little half-circle scrap I had on my desk to fill in the empty space at the top of the cardstock.

The background cardstock came from the pile of white cardstock I had embossed when I was going through my stash and deciding which embossing folders to keep or give away. I can't remember if that one stayed or went, but I was liking the brick wall look behind my papers. Having this embossed piece ready also sped up the creation process.

Once the pieces from the sketch were in place, I went through the Bits & Pieces images and I picked a green snowflake for the top of the card, and a black and white heart, a 25 cents image and a threaded button for a cluster at the bottom. I added enamel dots to the tag and heart and a decorative brad to make it an uneven number, and I stapled the little half-circle in place. I also added a green jumbo eyelet to the top of the tag.

I matted my card front with the Spruce paper from the Basics kit, which I mounted on a Thick Basic White card base. I picked a black envelope to match and added a cut-apart tag for the address block, and I used another branding strip at the bottom of the envelope for added colour. 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Basic White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Basics Kit, Enamel Dots, Decorative Brads, Bits & Pieces,
Cardstock Stickers: Simple Vintage 'Tis the Season (Simple Stories)
Dies: Cross-Stitched Circle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Jumbo Eyelets (We R Memory Makers); Mini Stapler, Stampin' Dimensionals, Circle Punch,
Brick Wall Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!); A2 Midnight Black Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

Santa Love

Inspiration: Retro Rubber challenge #220 (Die-cut or Punch + Patterned Paper + Embossing)
[Jolly Santa stamp set - 2021]

The main image from the Jolly Santa set called out my name tonight. I stamped him in Jet Black ink on watercolour paper and used an aquapainter brush and ink to watercolour the image, before fussy cutting out.

The Santa image is quite big and might have felt a little tightly squeezed on a regular A2 card, so I went up a size and made it 4½" x 6". I used an old paper pad called Snow Village from Pink Paislee (2013) for the background and the cut-apart piece with the sentiment.

Going back to the stamp set, I picked the "Christmas goods for the many" stamp and I embossed it in White Gold Brilliant Sparkle embossing powder from Cosmic Shimmer directly on the patterned paper. I also added a green stamp from a 49 & Market washi roll. I wrapped thick baker's twine from Spellbinders around the top of the card and I picked a decorative brad from the Simple Vintage Dear Santa collection to add to my sentiment block. 

The card front was mounted on a Pretty Peacock cardstock base and I glued the Santa image with foam adhesive to pop him up. I made a matching envelope out of green paper from my stash and I repeated the same sentiment in gold embossing to match the card. I also die-cut a journaling block with my Zig-Zag Stackers dies and stamped the 2 for 25 cents image in Soft Sky ink.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Jolly Santa (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
Cardstock: Pretty Peacock (Stampin' Up!); White Smoke (My Colors)
Patterned Papers: Snow Village (Pink Paislee)
Ink: Soft Sky, Flirty Flamingo, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, Sahara Sand, Blush Blossom (Stampin' Up!);
Jet Black (Lawn Fawn); VersaMark
Dies: Zig0Zag Stackers (Penny Black)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board, Aqua Painter Brush (Stampin' Up!);
Simple Vintage Dear Santa Decorative Brads (Simple Stories); Postage Stamp Washi Tape (49 & Market);
White Gold Brilliant Sparkle Embossing Powder (Cosmic Shimmer); Steel Blue Vivant Twine (Spellbinders)

 

Gingerbread Christmas Tags

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Tag It!)

Those Dancin' Gingerbread are arguable one of the cutest die set Spellbinders has ever designed. Their adorable smiley faces are just super sweet. I decided to make two Christmas tags with them, which I am planning to keep aside for my niece's gifts. I used the moving piece, so their little bodies are swinging back and forth, which I expect my niece to enjoy.

The gingerbread characters were quite easy to put together, even with the small icing details. I used white velvet paper for the white accents, which adds a nice texture to the finished pieces. I inked the edges of the Crumb Cake and Real Red cardstock pieces to give them dimension. Interestingly, the die set does not really provide specific pieces for the eyes and cheeks. I've seen companies (like Lawn Fawn) that include dies that help you fill in the space without having cardstock poking behind the other elements. This is not the case here, so you have to be strategic when you are filling in the cheeks, then the mouth and eyes. This time, I glued colored cardstock behind the face. Next time, I will try adding cardstock behind to fill the space behind the holes and then dropping the pieces in to paper piece the face to see which looks I like best.

I was watching a Tim Holtz Live while crafting and he was talking about dyeing clear pastes with reinkers, so it inspired me to tint his Icicle Crackle paste with red reinker. I was worried that using just a drop would result in pink paste, so I added a couple more drops. I got a really nice rich red, but I wonder if the glassy effect would have been more obvious if my paste has not been tinted as heavily. It still gives a nice shiny and raised texture to the words. I picked a plaid red patterned paper from my scrap bin for the tag background. The paper was so old that it was one-sided and it had company information printed on the back, so I made sure to back the paper with kraft cardstock before die-cutting the tag so that I have a neutral background to write on when I use the tags.

At the top, I added large white eyelets and threaded some clear tinsel trim and hemp cord. I added white and red sequins to fill in the space as well.  

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Petal Pink, White Velvet Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Unknown Source
Ink: Soft Suede (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Dancin' Gingerbread (Spellbinders); Easy Layers Tag (Avery Elle)
Accessories: Hemp Cord, Clear Tinsel Trim, Real Red Classic Reinker, 
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Icicle Crackle Paste (Tim Holtz for Ranger);
Christmas Stencils (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous); Sequins (Buttons Galore & More);
Small Blending Tool (Studio Light)

 

Tower of London

Inspiration: Jenny Heaslip (Celebr8) Tutorial - Scrapbooking Fun Summit + Lasting Memory Layout #675 (use at least three die-cuts or punched shapes)

One of the presentations from the Scrapbooking Fun Summit really caught my eye because it was showing how to make a double-page layout with opening panels, to create a layout that houses a large number of pictures. I had been trying to scrapbook my trip to London and was struggling with the amount of pictures from certain places, particularly the Tower of London, so it seemed like a good option to test out.

This double-page layout took way longer to complete than I anticipated, particularly since I had all of the cutting instructions. The cutting and assembling was not that time-consuming, but figuring out how to add my own pictures was. That is where I stopped following the instructions as is and simply worked out how to include the pictures that I had and the size I wanted to cut them to. Most of what I used came directly from the Safe Travels collection from Simple Stories (2021). It helped me use up quite a bit of the papers, stickers and ephemera pieces. One of the tricky parts is that you have to think of directional patterns when you prepare the pieces that will fold over. I redid one of the pieces once I realized the design would be upside down on the front page, but I did decide to live with one pattern that was upside down on the back and one that was sideways, knowing that most of it would be hidden once I added my pictures. 

The Sticker Book has three types of alphabet stickers, so I put that to good use to create my title. I didn't want two matchbook panels on the right page, so I only did the one, and I narrowed it a little bit to give more breathing room on the page, and I did a 4" x 4" cut-apart at the bottom instead to decorate. I will admit that about mid-way through the project, I was struggling to make all of the patterns come together and to figure out how to place my pictures and for a minute there, I wonder if this project had been a good idea. Putting it aside and coming back to it later helped me feel more creative when I revisited it and once I was able to find a pleasing arrangement on the first page, it gave me the second wind I needed to get going on the second page as well. Overall, I think it took three evenings to complete - this is almost a mini-album project, really! But I'm glad I found a way to document a big bunch of my pictures without having to make ten layouts about the Tower of London. The pictures speak for themselves, but there was not a whole bunch of journaling to go with it, aside than to say that I was surprised by how much I enjoyed our visit there and that it was my favorite historical place that we visited while in England.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Color Vibe Cardstock: Mustard, Navy, Peacock, Sky, Olive, Pumpkin, Apricot, Blush (Simple Stories)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Sticker Book, Bits & Pieces, Chipboard Stickers: Safe Travels (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Mini Clip, Stampin' Dimensionals, Ribbons (Stampin' Up!); Buttons (Foof-A-La)

 

Summer Faves

Inspiration: Lasting Memory Layout #669 (One-word title starting with F, M or S, and use at least three different patterned papers) + Simon Says Stamp (Food and/or Drink)

I looked through my paper collections and had a looked at the ones that had chipboard and foam stickers to see if I could find a large title starting with one of the letters of the challenge. I found the word Summer in the Retro Summer collection and since I had not had the chance to use that one yet, I dug out the picture of us eating frozen treats at Dairy Queen during a past summer trip. 

The title comes from the chipboard stickers, but for fun, I also picked other embellishments that started with S to keep with the theme: the Sno Cones cut-apart, the Sunshine and Strawberry word cardstock stickers, the So Hot brad, the So Much Fun chipboard banner, the Summer Faves marquee image that I fussy cut... The pink was fading in the background, so I looked at the die-cuts to see if I could layer and I found a yellow die-cut in the Journaling Bits that was perfect to make the marquee stand out more. I also used the Hot Days banner from the Journaling Bits underneath my Sno Cones image. 

The Sno Cone carts come from the cardstock stickers and the ice cream sandwich from the sticker book. I drew lines and handwrote my journaling using a Cinnamon Cider Stampin' Write marker. I added silver foil pearls to the marquee to look like little lights.

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Journaling Bits, Decorative Brads, Chipboard Stickers, Cardstock Stickers,
Sticker Book: Retro Summer (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Silver Foil Pearls (Studio Katia); Cinnamon Cider Stampin' Write Marker, 
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Star Dust Stickles (Ranger);
Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

 

Nine Light Years

Inspiration: May 2023 Page Maps Sketch + Lasting Memory Layout #671 (Color palette that represents a season - Fall) + Time Out #249 (Vintage)

This layout turned out into a way more involved project that I initially anticipated, but I like that I got to use a variety of techniques and supplies on it. The starting point was the Simple Vintage October 31st collection from Simple Stories. It had been on my mind to pull it out so I looked for pictures to go with it. I found pictures of my niece dressed as Princess Leia for her birthday party. I am not much of a Star Wars fan, so I had to dig deep to find inspiration for her gift packaging. I always do a little something hand-made and she always take notice, so I made the extra effort to find something that could tie in with the theme of her party. I found a simplified image of Grogu online, so I used punches and dies to paper piece him. I covered the bag with black cardstock and I stenciled gold stars on it. 

And then I got this idea to use Word to see if I could print text at an angle in yellow font, to mimic the iconic start of the trilogy movies. I lucked out, as there is a feature that lets you tilt a text box so I was able to get the right angle. I wrote something about a little girl celebrating her birthday in a galaxy far, far away... The bag was a big hit, with the party girl and the guests.

So back to the page, I used the cool double chipboard frame from the collection to frame my pictures and I got the idea to add Tim Holtz's Shattered Windows over the pictures. I flipped it to make sure the shattered part was not over her face, but the result is really cool! 

The other product I recently acquired and was eager to try is the Rosettes stencils and dies combo from PinkFresh Studio. I did the stenciling in orange and black and then used the dies. This is really quick and really easy to use - lining both images up is super simple and the result was perfect on the first try. I can't wait to try Christmas rosettes next...  So I had three sizes, and I topped the largest one with a large decorative brad from the collection, then I tucked the smallest two underneath the picture frame.

I got lucky as this paper collection had a long and narrow journaling block on one of the cut-apart pages, which fit the sketch perfectly. I matted it with black spiderweb paper, and I then I picked the stars on black paper for the background - figured that I should include stars to go with the Star Wars theme.

Speaking of which, I picked the lightest grey for the base paper and even though it has some nice tone-on-tone designs on it, I still added stenciled stars, using a very light touch to keep them subtle. As I was adding a black rub-on to the journaling block, I spotted the "For Skills and Amusement Only" sentiment and thought it could work well, but I didn't want black on the background, so I remembered I had this same sentiment as a stamp, so I pulled the Eccentric set out and stamped it in Basic Grey ink underneath the picture. 

Since I was pulling Tim Holtz elements out, I thought I could use this Candy Corn Confections on the little clipboard I had added to the picture frame. And as I was looking through my box of embellishments, I started pulling out other options that could pair well with the collection and I ended up grabbing quite a lot.

The first thing I realized was that the fringe came in both black (Halloween) and cream (Christmas) so I combined them together to create a really cute border underneath the doubly-matted picture frame. Then I pulled out a word band to add at the top of the pictures. It appears that my Distress crayons have grown legs and gone into hiding so after looking for a bit and not finding them, I switched gears: I grabbed the Marigold stencil butter, spread some over the word with a small palette knife and wiped the excess with a tissue. It worked really well. The other item I grabbed was the Ornate Gates. I placed them on both sides of the layout and I was really liking the look. You might notice I ended up using only one... That's because I inadvertently ended up shifting the papers to the right as I started gluing things in place and I could tell that I would not be able to lift the papers up without tearing the background, so I left things where they were and went for the one gate. Half the price and now I have a gate left for another future project.

I was wondering what to call my layout. While looking through stencils, I had seen the Freight stencil set and so I decided to do a big nine at the top. I was trying to decide what ink or paste to use and since I had Tim's Live on in the background while I was crafting, I got inspired by his demo of glitter and decided to use transparent gloss texture paste and cover it with Nightfall Distress glitter. Speaking of glitter, I also decided to add some to the candy corn, using glaze and fine clear glitter.

After the paste dried, I added the words "light years" using the Alphanumeric Cutout Lower dies and the Type Keys foam stickers from Simple Stories. (Love those!)

I looked through the Bits & Pieces set to fill in the space in the top right corner. I found a cute tag, which I topped with gingham ribbon and a chipboard pumpkin from the Chipboard Clusters kit. The top was too empty, so I cut a cardstock sentiment sticker in two, layered the words and I added a bat sticker as well. I also found a cute cat on pumpkins image that worked well placed over the metal gate on the opposite side of the page.

I created a date strip using my Dymo label maker and I placed it underneath the last word of the title. This was initially created to put over the pumpkin on the tag, but it was too large, so I found a new place for it instead.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Eccentric (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
Cardstock: Black Mirror (Tonic)
Patterned Papers, Chipboard Clusters, Cardstock Stickers, Decorative Brads,
Basics Kit: October 31st (Simple Stories)
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Smoky Slate, Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!); Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Stencils: Rosettes (PinkFresh Studio); Freight (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous);
Stars (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Rosettes (PinkFresh Studio); Alphanumeric Cutout Lower (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Accessories: Type Keys Foam Stickers (Simple Stories); Christmas and Halloween Fringe,
Ornate Gates, Eccentric Rub-Ons, Candy Corn Confections, Word Bands (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology);
Transparent Gloss Texture Paste (Ranger); Label Maker (Dymo); Black and White Gingham Ribbon,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Black/Grey Baker's Twine, Distressing Tool (Stampin' Up!); 
Nightfall Distress Glitter (Tim Holtz for Ranger); Blender Brushes (Waffle Flower);
Crystal Fine Glitter (Martha Stewart for EK Success); Black Floss (DMC);
Marigold Stencil Butter (The Crafter's Workshop)

 

Gold Bells

Inspiration: Tiffany Solorio's presentation at the Stress-Free Card Summit

This weekend, I watched the videos shared during the Stress Free Card Making Summit, and Tiffany Solorio made a project where she used her Distress watercolor pencils to color rubber stamps. I was curious to try it so I went to my stamp collection and pulled out two options: Perfect Plaid and Department Store (both from Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous).

I started with the plaid background. I colored one side of the stripes with Faded Jeans and the other stripes with Rustic Wilderness. The center squares were colored with Frayed Burlap. I stamped the image twice (coloring again in between) on Crumb Cake cardstock and the result was a pretty neat, worn-out look. I then proceeded to color the wreath from the second stamp set using Rustic Wilderness, Candied Apple and Frayed Burlap. I stamped it on Crumb Cake again and fussy cut the image. The result was pretty good, but it did not stand out enough against the background and was not really working out well. I was wondering if I should overstamp the image with Archival ink but was worried I'd lose the cool watercolored look, so I tested stamping the wreath with Vintage photo Archival ink on another piece of Crumb Cake cardstock. It looked pretty good and I decided to watercolor this one, using an aquapainter brush. Different result, also vintage looking, but still not a good match for the background.

At that point, I decided to focus on the background and keep the wreath for future projects instead. I overstamped the music notes in brown and the words in Night of Navy ink. I had recently acquired some White Gold sparkly embossing powder and I decided to test out embossing the bells from the stamp set on Crumb Cake cardstock. I liked the result, so I added a bit of shading using Soft Suede ink and moving it around with my aquapainter brush. I fussy cut the image and added ink blending around the edges as well using brown Distress ink.

I needed to bring the bells to the forefront more so I looked for something to back the bells with. I found some old (and I mean old) cut-aparts that I'm pretty sure date back to my very first online order when I had just discovered scrapbooking over 20 years ago. I used quite a few of the images on Christmas projects over the years, and then they fell to the bottom of the pile for years. When I destashed at the beginning of the summer, those went in the "maybe" pile - kept aside for a short while to decide if they could be used or had to go. Well, they caught my eye on my desk and I realized the burgundy went really well with my background and made the craft stand out nicely. I added a piece of navy velvet ribbon to bring texture and used dimensional adhesive to add the bells. To zhuzh them up, I tied two Tiny Bells together with baker's twine and glued it on top of the bells.

I inked up the edges of a Shaded Spruce mat and a Night of Navy card base and called it done. On a Crumb Cake envelope, I stamped the sheet music in Antique Linen ink and the bells in Vintage Photo ink. This is a departure from my usual style so I'm happy I managed to pull it together in the end. This would make a great masculine card.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Department Store, Perfect Plaids (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Night of Navy, Shaded Spruce (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Night of Navy, Soft Suede, VersaMark (Stampin' Up!); 
Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress (Ranger)
Dies: Cross-Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: BrilliantSparkle White Gold Embossing Powder (Cosmic Shimmer);
Crumb Cake Medium Envelope, Stampin' Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers,
Night of Navy Velvet Trim, Aquapainter Brush (Stampin' Up!); 
Tiny Bells (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology); Vivant Baker's Twine (Spellbinders);
Distress Watercolor Pencils (Tim Holtz for Ranger); Vintage Cut-Aparts (Unknown Source)

 

Five nutcrackers

Inspiration: Tic Tac Toe #229 (Holiday + Patterned Paper + Matching Envelope)

I am coming down to the last scraps of the Santa Squad collection. I had a 4" x 6" cut-apart image left of five nutcrackers. I cut the sentiment off at the bottom and replaced it with the Merry Christmas cut-apart sentiment strip instead, At the top, I used a leftover paper strip to fill the space and I matted the image with gold kraft-stock, then layered a piece of red polka dot paper underneath. I had bought some card bases and envelopes from Stampin' Up! that are specifically sized to go with their insert cards for pocket scrapbooking, with the goal to use them with cut-apart images from my patterned paper collection, so this came in handy here. It also provided me with the matching envelope as well since this finished card actually measures 4¼" x 6¼".

Since this was a pretty flat design, I used quite a few embellishments on the nutcracker to zhuzh them up, and I popped the gold panel up with foam tape, also adding a bit of teal twine at the top.

 

 

 

Supplies
Card Base and Envelope: Memories & More Cards and Envelopes (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Metallic kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology)
Patterned Papers: Santa Squad (Bella Blvd.)
Accessories: Twine (Lawn Fawn); Santa's Workshop Enamel Shapes, Resin Stars Embellishments,
All the Trimmings Embellishments, Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels (Stampin' Up!);
2" Foam Tape (Scrapbook.com) 

 

Lovely Yeti

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #242 + Tic Tac Toe #229 (Matching Envelope + Patterned Paper + Holiday)

This adorable yeti is the latest in the paper piecing series from Lawn Fawn and it sure is adorable. I drew inspiration for the colours scheme from pairing two paper set: Knit Picky Winter and Spiffier Speckles (from the new release). 

I used the green Knit Picky Winter paper for the scarf and Night of Navy cardstock for all of the outlines of the paper pieced images. I filled the yeti's body in with white velvet paper to add texture. I did his face out of Petal Pink cardstock and I used pink glimmer paper for the candy cane stripes. The rectangle behind the yeti was die-cut using the cross-stitched rectangle dies, and I also used those dies for the background piece. I have to say, the Spiffier Speckles paper is just gorgeous. The colour palette is beautiful and those gold-foiled speckles are subtle yet spectacular. 

I used the Mini Slimline Stackables dies to die-cut the green knit patterned paper, and I matted my background paper with Certainly Celery cardstock, to fill in the space more against the Night of Navy card base. I just purchased the Festival Postal Marks embossing folder from Lisa Horton Crafts and I was eager to see how it looked embossed when I got it home, so I had tested it on white cardstock and gold foil paper. I decided to cut a strip of the embossed white cardstock to use for the middle strip, and I added a strip die-cut out of the same pink glimmer paper I had used for the candy cane. I reused this glimmer paper for the sentiment as well, die-cutting the Fa La La La La Border from it, but cutting the last two words out to make it fit better.

The card still felt a little bare, so I cut Mini Snowflakes out of white glitter paper and I topped them with San Marino pearls from Studio Katia. I pulled a Sapphire metallic envelope to match, and used some the Knit Picky Winter paper on it, with some additional snowflakes as well.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Basic White, Night of Navy, Certainly Celery, Petal Pink, White Velvet Sheets,
Pink Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Knit Picky Winter, Spiffier Speckles Petite Prints (Lawn Fawn)
Dies: Fa La La La La Border, Cross-Stitched Rectangle Stackables, Winter Yeti, Mini Snowflakes (Lawn Fawn);
Borders (Photoplay)
Accessories: Festive Postal Marks Embossing Folder (Lisa Horton Crafts); 
Stampin' DImensionals (Stampin' Up!); A2 Sapphire Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com); 
San Marino Pearls (Studio Katia)

 

House on Gingerbread Lane

Inspiration: Just Add Ink #673 (Doors + Windows)

I decided I wanted to create a gingerbread house using the Build-a-House and its gingerbread house builder accompanying set. I picked candy colours and once I was done, I looked through the Knit Picky Winter Petite Print to find a background pattern. I really liked the soft green to complement the teals and pinks. I decided to stencil falling snow and I used the Transfer Gel Duo, thinking I could foil the snowflakes for a different look. A little while ago, I had purchased white foil from Wow! and it was my first time trying it. I let the gel dry overnight and I applied the foil using my laminator machine the next day.

Here's the scoop: I was very underwhelmed with how the while foil looks. It is very low-shine so it basically looks the same as if I had simply used white texture paste. Usually, foil is so shiny that it really looks very different from any texture paste that could have been used, but this is not the case here. It feels like a wasted purchase, but I am thinking if I'm using it over an inked background, this might be where I can get a very opaque look whereas using texture paste could suck the colour of the inks. Anyway, I ended up with a very boring background and the card did not feel complete, even with the addition of the sparkly snow at the bottom, the house and the little gingerbread men.

So I pulled out the Simple Puffy Cloud Frames and die-cut two out of white glimmer paper, then I also added the XOXOXO Line Border, cut from metallic kraft-stock in a soft champagne colour. This really helped make the card more finished.

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Coastal Cabana, Chocolate Chip, White Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!);
Cotton Candy (Bazzill); Blush Pink (Dress My Craft); Gold Rush (Lawn Fawn);
Metallic Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology)
Patterned Paper: Knit Picky Winter Petite Print (Lawn Fawn)
Dies: Slimline Stitched Hillside Borders, Build-a-House, Build-a-House Gingerbread Add-On,
XOXOXO Line Border, Simple Stitched Cloud Frames (Lawn Fawn);
Stitched Scallop Rectangles (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
Accessories: Snow Flakes Stencil (Marianne Design); Crystal Glaze (Nuvo);
White Foil (Wow!), Transfer Gel Duo (Deco Foil);
A2 Seafoam Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

Sweet Snowman

Inspiration: Tuesday Morning Sketches #727

I wanted to try out my Build-a-Snowman dies and I based the colours off of the Santa Squad collection in order to pair it with my leftover paper. I used white velvet paper to make the base of the snowman, so he has a nice fluffy body.

The Tuesday Morning sketch was perfect to use smaller paper pieces and I think the result is just darling. I used the bird from the die set for his left arm and I added a chipboard candy cane on his right arm. For the sentiment, I found the word "Noel" on the sticker sheet, which was perfect to make a French card. I added buttons in matching colours on the paper strips for added texture.

I decorated the envelope in a similar fashion using the leftover paper strips.

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Taken With Teal, White Velvet Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Ciao Chip, Cardstock Stickers: Santa Squad (Bella Blvd.)
Dies: Build-a-Snowman, Stitched Oval Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Zig-Zag Stackers (Penny Black)
Accessories: Buttons (Foof-A-La); Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Teal Envelope (Envelopes.com); Teal Baker's Twine (Lawn Fawn);
Love Filled (Fun Stampers Journey); Enamel Dots (Your Next Stamp)

 

Love You This Much

Inspiration: Lawn Fawnatics #158 (Make the sentiment the star) 

While working on my previous card, I had assembled the two snowmen from the Build-A-Snowman die set and I kept looking at the smaller one and thinking he looked like he was saying he loved someone "this much." I had been working with the Santa Squad collection for about a week now, trying to use up the last remaining pieces and since I didn't have many, I had taken the chipboard sheet apart to put the leftovers with the ephemera images. I had this big word "LOVE" that I was pretty convinced I couldn't work into a design due to the colours and size (and because it's in English). 

But then it suddenly hit me that the current Lawn Fawnatics challenge was to center a design around a large sentiment. So I laid out the chipboard word over patterned paper and added the snowman and I loved the result, so I went looking in my stash for stamps or stickers to create the rest of the sentiment. And then I found the Little Letters stickers from Queen & Co in three shades that were the perfect match for the collection. I also found two previously die-cut hearts in a matching red on my desk that I was able to add floating next to the snowman. This card was coming along way too easily...

I had a leftover bird from cutting the two colours for the opposite bird (red body, pink wing) on my previous card, so I balanced this bird on the L, and I added a red button to the heart on the O. Finally, I added a photo corner from the sticker sheet to the top left corner and a tiny heart from the cardstock stickers as well to finish the trio. 

The finished card measures 5¼" x 5¼". This might be one of my favorite cards I've done with this collection so far.

 

 

 

Supplies
Card Base and Envelopes: DoCrafts
Cardstock: White Velvet Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Ciao Chip: Santa Squad (Bella Blvd.)
Dies: Build-A-Snowman (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Button (Foof-A-La); Pink, Red and Teal Little Letters Stickers (Queen & Co)

 

Fun Christmas Gift

*Spoiler warning - don't scroll down if you do not want to see the content of the 12 Days of Stitchmas Advent Calendar from Spellbinders*

 

Inspiration: Global Design Project #414

I paired one of the dies from the Spellbinders 12 Days of Stitchmas Advent Calendar with the leftover pieces from the Santa Squad collection from Bella Blvd I am trying to finish using up. It made for a nice and colorful card. 

One of the pieces I had left from the chipboard stickers was the word "fun." Since the sketch I was drawing inspiration from had three lines, I thought I could use the chipboard word in the middle and complete the rest of the sentiment with stamping. I found "have yourself a" and "merry little Christmas" in the Say What? Christmas Critters stamp set from Lawn Fawn. I die-cut the pink gingham paper with the Sentiment Labels dies and then cut the strip to size after I was done stamping on it.

I cut the gift box out of aqua paper twice, once with the stitching holes and once without so I could back it. This is because the holes are quite big and you can see what is behind, including the dimensional adhesive if you are using it, so backing the piece makes for a nicer finish. I did my stitching with pink embroidery floss and I cut the box lid out of teal patterned paper. I decided to do the nice flowy bow out of Sherbet Lemon glitter cardstock from Tonic and I topped it with a little Queen & Co yellow embellishment.

For the background, I cut a zig-zag rectangle out of two patterned paper, I cut the edges off the Ho Ho Ho one so that the green gingham was peeking behind. I added two yellow corners from the cardstock sticker sheet and little oval stickers to embellish them. I also found a mini heart and star to add as well.

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Say What? Christmas Critters (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Carnation (Concord & 9th); Sherbet Lemon Glitter (Tonic)
Patterned Papers. Ciao Chip, Cardstock Stickers: Santa Squad (Bella Blvd.)
Ink: Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: 12 days of Stitchmas (Spellbinders); Cross-Stitched Circle Stackables (Lawn Fawn);
Zig-Zag Stackers (Penny Black); Sentiment Labels (Simon Says Stamp)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); A2 Green Envelope (The Paper Cut);
Embroidery Floss (DMC); Yellow Embellishments (Queen & Co)

 

Santa Squad Card Set

Inspiration: Stress Free Card Making Summit - Lauren Hinds presentation

One of the presentation during the card summit showed how to make five cards out of two 12" x 12" sheets of patterned paper and a pack of ephemera. It dawned on me that I still had chipboard and ephemera pieces left from Bella Blvd.'s Santa Squad collection, so I decided to give this tutorial a try to see if I could make a few more fun cards for the children's hospital.

I have those say, the resulting cards turned out way better than I anticipated. I didn't have a lot of full sheets left and the ones that I had didn't have backside that I could use, so I worked around the scraps that I had and cut them to size to loosely follow the directions given in the tutorial. Considering that I have already used this collection quite a bit last year and now have to work around what I have left, those cards still turned out pretty cute.

With the chipboard and layers, I was worried that the cards would not fit well in regular A2 envelopes, so I looked through the leftover papers and was lucky to find 5 sheets that were still large enough to make matching envelopes out of. When I destashed, I gave away the Project Life cards I had since I never use those, but I did keep a pile of white cards to use for journaling blocks, which I used here to make address blocks on the envelopes.

I stamped sentiments on some of the cards, using 4 en scrap stamps that matched the available space, and then I went through my embellishments to add cute touches to the cards.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Bonne fête Maman #2, Plaisir d'offrir #3 (4 En Scrap)
Cardstock: Thick Basic White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Ciao Chip, Ephemera Icons: Santa Squad, Fa La La (Bella Blvd.)
Ink: Real Red, Mossy Meadow (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Wonky Square Frames (Avery Elle)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Envelope Punch Board,
Wonderful Gems, Resin Star Embellishments, All the Trimmings Embellishments (Stampin' Up!);
Star Christmas Epoxy, Halloween Mix Matte Enamels (Bella Blvd.);
Love Filled (Fun Stampers Journey)

 

Stitched Sweater

Spoiler alert - don't scroll down if you don't want to see the dies from the 12 Days of Stitchmas Advent Calendar from Spellbinders

 

Inspiration: Just Us Girls #699 + MFT Color #220

I used a second die from the 12 Days of Stitchmas Advent Calendar from Spellbinders. Carol MC's card from the Just Us Girls design team made me think I could use my Stitched Domes dies from MFT to create a shaker card and then I could superpose the stitched sweater over it. I wanted fun, bright colours for the sweater so I drew inspiration from the MFT colour challenge, pairing Polished Pink, Orchid Oasis, Grey Granite and Bermuda Bay. 

I created the outline of the window by using the two larger dome dies together, and I embossed the front panel with the Ski Lodge embossing folder from Spellbinders. For the sentiment, I found a scrap of Knit Picky Winter patterned paper that matched the Orchid Oasis colour very nicely, so I embossed my sentiment in white powder to make it stand out and cut it out with a stitched circle die.

I didn't want to leave the back of the shaker window blank so I looked for snowflake stamps but while searching, I found Photoplay's Tulla & Norbert's Christmas Party Ugly Sweater Party stamp set, which was perfect to create my matching background with. I wrapped a piece of Bermuda Bay ribbon around the card to reintroduce this colour elsewhere on the card, and I used my remaining Polished Pink die-cut piece as the address block on my Sapphire metallic envelope, stamping a little sweater on it to match as well.

 

 

  

 

Supplies
Stamps: Ce que j'aime à Noël (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Polished Pink, Orchid Oasis, Grey Granite, Bermuda Bay (Stampin' Up!);
Acetate (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Paper: Knit Picky Winter (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: VersaMark, Grey Granite (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Stitched Domes (My Favorite Things); 12 Days of Stitchmas Advent Calendar (Spellbinders);
Stitched Circle Tags (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Sequins, Bermuda Bay Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Sapphire Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com); Sequins (Carwright's);
Dulce Say It with Crystals (Prima Marketing); White Embossing Powder (Wow!);
Pearls (Studio Katia); Ski Lodge Embossing Folder (Spellbinders)

 

Merry Christmas

Inspiration: Festive Friday #144 (Blue + Green + Sparkle)

This two cards were entirely made with remaining pieces from the Santa Squad collection. I was down to a limited number of chipboard pieces, so I took them out of the large 12" x 12" sheet to save on space, and I was curious to see how the word Christmas could fit on a card. It happened to be just the right width for a mini slimline card, so I used the card bases from Photoplay (size #6), laid some patterned papers and spelled the word with my chipboard pieces on two cards. I was also lucky to have the word Merry on two different cardstock sticker sheets (Fa La La and Santa Squad) so I was able to complete the sentiment with it.

I added scalloped borders from the cardstock sticker sheets at the bottom and layered a tree border on the first card, then a starform glittery border sticker on the second. I used little chipboard trees at the bottom of the cards to embellish, and I added enamel dots and resin stars to complete the cards.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Card Bases and Envelopes: #6 Cards and Envelopes (Photoplay)
Patterned Paper, Ciao Chip, Cardstock Stickers: Fa La La and Santa Squad (Bella Blvd.)
Accessories: Resin Star Embellishments (Stampin' Up!); Clear Border Stickers (Starform);
Enamel Dots (Spellbinders); Gumdrops (Your Next Stamp)

 

Christmas Postage

Inspiration: ColourQ #165 + 52 Christmas Card Throwdown (Stencil)

I was so happy to find the Postage Collage collection from Waffle Flower at my local store. I had seen someone do the Christmas postage stamps on YouTube and thought they were adorable. 

I looked at past ColourQ challenges for colour inspiration and I picked Distress Oxide pads based on it: Worn Lipstick, Candied Apple, Evergreen Bough and Salvaged Patina.

Funnily enough, I really went back and worth on whether to buy the Postage Collage stamp set. It has quite a few English words so I was not sure if I wanted it or not, but I realized that having the postage value numbers in the right size would probably be useful and let me tell you, I realized how incomplete the stamps looked when I did add the numbers on them. It instantly changed the look and made the panel feel more complete. 

I also really like that the Postage Collage Coloring Stencil set has the striped frame. This will be fun to incorporate to various card designs as well. Here, I picked red and green to really highlight the Christmas theme.

I did not necessarily want to do stenciling on the envelope so I pulled out the 49 & Market stamps inside and picked the closest colours I had to decorate the envelope and inside the card. This is another item that has came out this year that has made me really happy.

(Just a quick note about the dimensional foam tape that I used - it's the foam tape roll from Brutus Monroe and I do not recommend it, as it gums up scissors pretty badly, and the protective layer is incredibly hard to peel off. Nails are not enough, I need to use the tip of my paper piercer, which in turn get gummed up too. I've had this roll for many years and I am just trying to use it all up, but when comes time to restock, I will buy the Scrapbook Adhesives tape instead, which is much more pleasant to work with.)

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Postage Collage (Waffle Flower)
Cardstock: Thick Basic White (Stampin' Up!)
Inks: Worn Lipstick, Candied Apple, Evergreen Bough and Salvaged Patina Distress Oxide (Ranger);
Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Postage Collage (Waffle Flower)
Stencils: Postage Collage Coloring, Postage Collage Christmas (Waffle Flower)
Accessories: A2 Seafoam Envelope (Envelopes.com); 
Dimensional Foam (Brutus Monroe); Blender Brushes (Taylored Expressions);
Blossom and Sage Ticket Essentials (49 & Market)

 

Retro Noel

Spoiler alert - don't scroll down if you don't want to see the dies from the 12 Days of Stitchmas Advent Calendar from Spellbinders

 

Inspiration: The Card Concept #199

I lucked out and managed to see an unveiling video showing the content of the 2023 stitching Advent Calendar from Spellbinders before it sold out at my local store. (I got the very last one on their website after seeing the video.) I don't really like the gamble of buying sight-unseen, so I was happy to be able to judge if the content would suit my style enough to warrant the price. The amount of English words also impacts how much use I will get out of the dies, and in this instance, there was only two sentiments, but with one being Noel, it made it usable in French. 

It ended up being the first die I picked to try out. I crew colour inspiration from the Card Concept challenge, pairing Poppy Parade, Spruce Shadow, Crumb Cake and Basic Black with gold. I love how the colours fit the retro look of the large sentiment. This one had minimal stitching, with the star stitch in the middle of the ornament.

For the card background, I embossed a piece of Spruce Shadow with the Festive Postal Marks embossing folder and I rubbed White Gold wax on it to make the details stand out. I love how it turned out. The center panel was die-cut out of Tim Holtz's sparkle classic kraft-stock (a personal favorite). I used one of the cross-stitched rectangle stackables dies and the die was not filling the rectangle from top to bottom, so I added a bit of ribbon to fill the space, picking black and white gingham to bring black back into the design.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Poppy Parade, Spruce Shadow (Stampin' Up!);
Sparkle Classic Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology)
Dies: Cross-Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn);
2023 12 Day of Stitchmas Advent Calendar (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Festive Postal Marks Embossing Folder (Lisa Horton Crafts);
Candy Cane Lane Say It With Crystals (Prima Marketing); 
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Crumb Cake Medium Envelope, Gingham Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
White Gold Wax (Finnabair); Gold Thread (DMC)

 

Caroling Cuties

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #160 

I wanted to color images while watching a YouTube Live, so I selected the Here We Go A-Waddling stamp set from Lawn Fawn, and I picked colors that went with the Bundled Up paper collection from Carta Bella. Once the images were colored and die-cut, I looked at past Mojo Monday sketches for inspiration and started layering different patterns. I picked the polka dots for the first layer, to look like falling snow behind the penguins, and I repeated snowflakes on the background piece. To make the aqua layer stand out more, I pushed the edges of the paper in a Mysterious Mist ink pad to get better definition while still keeping a clean look (as ink blending would have looked more shabby). I added Aqua Shimmer to the light and I stamped my sentiment on white paper that was die-cut with the Simple Wavy Banners dies from Lawn Fawn. I added a mini white pompom to the red hat and snowflake sequins around the scene. The remaining images were used to embellish inside the card and on the envelope.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Here We Go A-Waddling (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Midnight Muse (Stampin' Up!); Solar White (Neenah); Metallic Kraft-Stock (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology)
Patterned Papers: Bundled Up (Carta Bella)
Ink: Mysterious Mist (Stampin' Up!); Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Dies: Simple Wavy Banners, Here We Go A-Waddling, Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn); 
Zig-Zag Stackers (Penny Black)
Accessories: Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, White Crinkled Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
Markers (Copic); Snowflake Sequins (Cartwright's); A2 Sapphire Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com);
Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo); Mini Black and White Pompoms (Queen & Co)

 

Dear Santa Triple Easel

Inspiration: Tutorial from Einat Kessler during the CMSS Holidays Event

I decided to try out this triple easel card, mostly because I was intrigued by it and wanted to test out for myself how it folded flat when it was not put up for display. It gave me the chance to use the brand-new Simple Vintage Dear Santa collection issued this year by Simple Stories.

I cut White Smoke cardstock from My Mind's Eye to cut my panels. As I looked through the patterned papers, I was able to find three different Santa images that were the size of each of my easel panels. I matted the two larger ones with gold kraft-stock before adding them to the easels. For the stopper, I picked the "dear santa" label from the cardstock stickers sheet and popped it on Dimensionals. I added some stickers to the larger Santa images as well.

I was looking at the card, trying to figure out where you are supposed to write your message on it. I finally decided to add patterned paper to the bottom of it and cut one of the journaling blocks to add to it. Because the card is bulky, I did not stick the journaling block to the card just yet. I am going to keep it with the card, but wait until I am ready to write my note on it before I glue it on.

The finished card measures 4" x 5" and will fit into a regular A2 envelope. I picked a metallic Anthracite envelope, on which I added one of the cut-apart tags and an additional sticker. I will probably revisit this tutorial again, as it was faster and simpler to put together than I would have imagined, and the result does stand out.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Smoky White (My Mind's Eye); Metallic Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers: Simple Vintage Dear Santa (Simple Stories) 
Accessories: A2 Anthracite Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com); Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

Forest Poinsettias

Inspiration: Tutorial from Card Maker Success Summit by Jen Schoolcraft

I've been watching the presentations from the Card Maler Success Summit and when Jen presented ideas on how she uses rub-ons to make cards, I realized this was an excellent opportunity to put my untouched Holiday rub-ons from 49 & Market to good use.

I followed Jen's lead and make a watercolour wash on Bristol paper. Once dry, I started building a scene, adding music notes, forest tree, a deer, a branch and little splatters. I added the poinsettia rub-on to another piece of cardstock and fussy cut the image so that I could create another layer. This also allowed me to tuck some teal baker's twine underneath the image for added texture. To embellish, I added Champagne satin pearls to the flowers and berries and champagne sequins around the sentiment.

When I auditioned card base colours, I realized my main panel would pop out more if I did layered matting. I started with Champagne Luxe Glitter cardstock, then Soft Suede and I made my card base with Soft Succulent. The card base needed something, though, so I added touches of stamping using the Music Notes background stamp from Heidi Swapp, bending it so I would only get small sections here and there. I also used a sponge dauber to ink the edges and the card base worked much better with the rest of the design.

Because of the extra matting, I ended up with a 4½" x 6" card, so I made my own envelope out of patterned paper using the Envelope Punch Board. I used additional rub-ons on the address block and the envelope itself, as well as inside the card. This card is a departure from my usual cutesy style and I'm quite pleased with the result. This is where those online events and tutorials inspire me to try something different from where my natural inspiration usually takes me, and I like it.

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Bristol (Canson); Soft Suede, Soft Succulent (Stampin' Up!); Luxe Glitter (Simon Says Stamp)
Ink: Soft Succulent (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Zig-Zag Stackers (Penny Black)
Accessories: Gansai Tambi Watercolours (Kuretake); Stampin' Dimensionals, Champagne Sequins, 
Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!); Vintage Artistry Peace and Joy Rub-On Transfers (49 & Market);
Champagne Celebration Embellishment Mix (Trinity Stamps); Baker's Twine (Vivant)

 

Grey Sweater

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #216

I have P13's Christmas Treats collection and I was not sure how to get started using it. I really liked the sweaters and hats page, so I decided to fussy cut some of the images, and they became the starting point of this card. I was watching crafting videos and one of the popular tip was to rub pastes over a dry-embossed image. I have done wax or polish many times, but I was curious to see how pastes would look, so I embossed a few pieces of cardstock and started testing different products I had in my stash. One of the pieces I made was a piece of Basic Grey cardstock embossed with the awesome Sweater embossing folder from Sizzix, and I used my finger to rub Pearl Gilding Polish from Cosmic Shimmer over the pattern. 

It turned out that the grey and white combo worked really well with the P13 papers, so it became my card's background. That helped with my design tremendously, as one of the challenges I find I am facing with this paper collection is that there is a lot of full-size images on the paper, which does not leave a lot of options for card design. Had I been using a collection from Simple Stories or Carta Bella, I would have done the three panels in different patterns but here, I decided to mirror the top and bottom by repeating the diagonal stripes paper. I matted them in Garden Green cardstock and I matted the center panel in silver foil paper. I stamped a Stampin' Up! sentiment that reads "May this Holiday season be filled with joy" in Garden Green ink.

I used a wooden snowflake on each of the striped panel, adding the winter hats over them, and I popped the grey sweater on Dimensionals over the center panel. The background pennant is matted with green mirri cardstock from Spellbinders. The satin silver pearls were perfect to finish it off, but I moved them around for quite a while, before deciding a cluster of three at the bottom was my best bet.

For the envelope, I used an A2 Anthracite metallic envelope and I added another fussy cut sweater on it.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Ce que j'aime à Noël (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Garden Green (Stampin' Up!); Green Mirri (Spellbinders)
Patterned Papers: Christmas Treats (P13)
Ink: Garden Green (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Wonky Stitched Rectangles (My Favorite Things); Stitched So Sweetly (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Wooden Snowflakes, Triple Banner Punch (Stampin' Up!);
Satin Silver Pearls (Studio Katia); Washi Tape (Recollections); Sweater Embossing Folder (Sizzix);
A2 Anthracite Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com); Pearl Gilding Polish (Cosmic Shimmer)

 

Are You Yeti for Christmas?

Inspiration: Mojo Monday Sketch #354

Yeti for Christmas was a free stamp set that I received with an order and had not used yet. Since I'm making Christmas cards to gift to the children's hospital, I thought the yeti might be a cute character to add to my creations. I stamped all of the images from the set and colored them with Copic markers, before fussy cutting them. For the yeti hiding behind the sentiment, I used a stitched circle die to cut him out and then I looked for a sketch that work with it.

I had based my coloring on the colours of the Bundled Up collection from Carta Bella (2014). I layered three different patterns as per the sketch and then I spotted the felt ornaments I've been trying to use up. I'm left with a few snowflakes, which are not easy to use because of their size. I was able to layer the snowflake above the sentiment and I added a button threaded with white baker's twine in its center. At the bottom, I tied some Cherry Cobbler trim from Stampin' Up! (now retired) and I added a couple of sequin snowflakes. I popped the tree on Dimensionals and placed it next to the yeti, adding Frosted Lace Stickles on the snow. I added two red gems at the top of the vertical panel.

I had originally thought I would make a series of cards using the others images and the same paper, but I decided instead to add one of the yeti inside the card and the other one on my Aquamarine metallic envelope. I used the Stitched Slimline Hillside Border dies to create a snowbank, and I slid the other tree behind behind it. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Yeti for Christmas (Simon Says Stamp)
Cardstock: Midnight Muse (Stampin' Up!); Solar White (Neenah)
Patterned Papers: Bundled Up (Carta Bella)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark
Dies: Zig-Zag Stackers (Penny Black); Stitched Slimline Hillside Borders,
Mini Slimline Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Felt Ornaments, Stampin' Dimensionals, Cherry Cobbler Trim, White Baker's Twine,
Wonderful Gems (Stampin' Up!); A2 Aquamarine Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com);
Frosted Lace Stickles (Ranger); Markers (Copic); Button (Foof-A-La);
Snowflake Sequins (Cartwright's)

 

Christmas Crew

Many, many years ago, I received some stamped images in a swap and this is one of the remaining images I still had left. The images were not stamped on cardstock that could withstand Copic coloring, so I had to make sure to use pencils. In this instance, I used my Polychromos set. I picked colours that would match the Merry & Bright paper pad from Carta Bella, which dates back to 2012 and I am trying to use up.

Once the image was colored, I die-cut it using the Stacked Deckle Rectangles from Sizzix and then I pulled out my Deckle trimmer to make the rectangle narrower. I blended Soft Sky ink around the edges and matted the image with a patterned paper of a similar colour. The image was quite big, so I decided to make my card 4½" x 6" to have room to embellish a bit. There was not room for much, so I laid down green paper on the card base, then the hanging ornament patterned paper. I added a strip of pink polka dot paper in the center and I used my Horizontal Slit punch on the main image to be able to slip my ribbon through it and knot a bow on the left side. I added a pinkish red button over it tied with white baker's twine. I also found some really old felt ornaments from Stampin' Up! and added my last holly leaves to the right edge.

I used a white oversize envelope I had and added a bit of patterned paper to make it match.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Unknown Name (Amy Bradley)
Cardstock: Thick Basic White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Merry & Bright (Carta Bella)
Ink: Soft Sky (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Stacked Deckle Rectangles (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Accessories: White Baker's Twine, Felt Embellishments, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Pretty Peacock Shimmery Ribbon (Stampin' Up!); Polychromos Pencils (Fäber-Castell);
Buttons (Foof-A-La); Envelope (Unknown); Deckle Trimmer (Tim Holtz for Tonic)

 

I Love Winter Sweaters

Inspiration: Mojo Monday sketch #321

I paired the Sweater Season dies from Elizabeth Crafts with the I Love Winter paper pad from Echo Park I had sitting on my desk. I used some of the patterned paper from the pack to create the sweater and I added white holographic paper underneath the flower panel to make the patterns stand out. I topped the flowers with Starry Sky ombré glitter drops.

For the card, I drew inspiration from an older Mojo Monday sketch and made a circle card. I matted the pieces with metallic cardstock for more definition, and I also used the silver metallic cardstock to make the hanger for the sweater. I added two buttons to stay with the garment theme. The sentiment, stamped in red, reads "Best Wishes."

I didn't have big enough square envelopes, so I dug out a piece of red patterned paper and used the Envelope Punch Board to make a matching envelope, using some of the patterned papers to tie it with the card.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Meilleurs voeux #2 (4 En Scrap)
Cardstock: Midnight Muse (Stampin' Up!); Silver and Mystical Opulent Cardstock Packs (Sizzix);
Red Foil (Prism Studio)
Patterned Papers: I Love Winter (Lori Whitlock for Echo Park); Unknown (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Real Red (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Layering Circles (Tonic); Sweater Season (Elizabeth Craft Designs);
Stitched Shapes (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Starry Sky Ombré Glitter Drops (PinkFresh Studio); 
Envelope Punch Board, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Buttons (Foof-a-La);
Washi Tape (Recollections)

 

Winter Mug

I wanted to use the Winter Mug dies from Pretty Pink Posh and thought they would pair well with the I Love Winter collection from Echo Park. I wanted to use the "Let It Snow" border from the cut-apart sheet and mount the mug over it, so I realized I would need a larger card if I wanted to do so. I used one of my 5¼" x 5¼" white square card and envelope to do so.

I used my favorite paper in the background, the little winter icons on the diagonal wood background. It was fading against the white card base, so I matted the paper in red. To save a bit of paper, I gutted the center of the red paper, and so I was able to reuse that square to make another layer in the center of the card, which helped fill in the empty space around the mug. The sentiment strip was also matted to add depth and I tied a soft blue ribbon around the card for texture.

The die set includes the piece that allow for the liquid to show inside the cup, but I went an extra step and cut the top of the cup again out of navy paper to be able to make the inside of the cup a different colour for added interest. I paper pieced the candy cane, added a little leave to it and put some sparkly marshmallow in there. The die set includes a small circle for the berries, but it would have been a lot of red on red, so I went for enamel dots instead to make it stand out. I added an aqua snowflake to the cup and dotted it with a navy button. I did buttons on the right side of the middle panel as well.

The little snowflake in the O of the sentiment begged to be adorned with something. I tried a red rhinestone first, but it was stealing the attention away from the cup, so I switched it to a Starry Sky ombré glitter drop instead, which worked way better.

The first cup I had die-cut was out of the plaid patterned paper and I was not liking the look, so I switched to a metallic red cup, but I did reuse the original die-cut piece to make my matching envelope.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Red Foil Paper (Prism Studio); Mystical Collection Opulent Cardstock Pack (Sizzix)
Patterned Papers: I Love Winter (Echo Park)
Dies: Winter Mug (Pretty Pink Posh); Stitched Shapes (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Soft Sky Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Wonderful Gems (Stampin' Up!);
Square Card Bases and Envelopes (DoCrafts); Starry Sky Ombré Glitter Drops (PinkFresh Studio);
Buttons (Foof-a-La); Simple Vintage Berry Fields Glossy Enamel Dots (Simple Stories)