Encre, papier, ciseaux

O Christmas Tree

I am running out of time... and of Christmas cards! People started requesting them at the office and buying them four, even seven at a time, so I went through every single one that I had and only kept a couple aside that I knew I wanted to send myself to my family, but I am still short a few and Christmas is fast approaching so yesterday, I quickly put this one together before going to bed. I think it's cute considering how little time I spent on it. I didn't really CASE a specific card, but the button tree idea I remember seeing here and there a few times. I decorated the middle of each green button with a small pearl as "ornaments" and mounted them on Vanilla cardstock matted with an Olive scallop square mat.

The quilted background was done with squares punched out of my "Belles vacances" DSP pack. I made Christmas baskets for the office and after I was done, I only had a few scraps of paper left, which is why I had to pull out the quilted background look quite again. Worked out great since I was in a hurry, though.

I am also out of Cherry Cobbler seam binding and had to improvise, so I found this retired Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon which is a close enough match to work on this card. Finished it off with a sentiment half stamped, half hand-written on a jewelry tag hung with silver cord and voilà! All I need to do is write my message inside and this card is now ready to pop in the mail.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Voeux mignons
Cardstock: Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla
DSP: Belles vacances
Punches: 1-1/4 Square, Jewelry Tag
Accessories: Buttons, pearls, taffeta ribbon, silver cord, marker,
scallop square die, Vanilla envelope

 

Inkspirations Christmas Hop!

 

  

What an exciting way to end the Inkspirations year: the Inkspirations blog hop is here!! Lots of great Christmas gifts ideas coming your way... The previous stop on the blog tour was the very talented Renee, and you can simply click on the link at the bottom of my post to go to the next stop on the tour and keep going until you have seen all 28 projects. Are you ready? Here's my Christmas gift idea to you.

I have used card envelopes to create an accordeon mini-album about my family's Christmas traditions. When my sister's boyfriend started coming over for Christmas, he pointed out that there are some "classics" with the Major family, namely playing board games, making a puzzle, eating chocolate, etc., things that we inevitable do over and over again each and every year. I looked through my Christmas picture stash and, sure enough, managed to find some pictures that illustrate those traditions and put them together in a mini-album that I am sure will bring a smile on my parents' face.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Tip: Use an embossing folder directly on your picture.

  

Tip: Create a border with the Scallop Chain punch and add cross stitches on it with embroidery floss. Add small pearls in between stitches.

 

 

 

  

 

 

So now, I invite you to make an album or scrapbook page about your own Christmas traditions so that you can remember about it for years to come and let other people know what makes the Holidays special in your home.

And now, on to the fabulous Kirsty!!  Enjoy the tour and have a fabulous Holidays vacation, everyone!

xoxo

Because I Am Touched...

How about a break from Christmas cards and I share with you a card I've done this summer when I was Guest Soeaker at Marika Lemay's event? This is one of the card I stamped during my presentation and I guess I had forgotten to post it.

It was made with one of the Level 1 hostess set from the current cattie. Instead of watercoloring the big flower, I decided to white-emboss it on the Early Espresso card base to make it pop. I like how crisp the white embossing looks against the dark background.

The ribbon bow is one of those "faux bows" that you create by putting the ribbon in a loop and tying it in place with a button and linen thread. The card showcases a bunch of new colors (Early Espresso and three In Colors: Concord Crush, Poppy Parade and Pear Pizzazz), and the edge of the Pear Pizzazz has been punched with the Scallop Trim punch and decorated with rhinestones. The sentiment was inked with markers for a multicolored look, and I added the row of small flowers stamped at the bottom of the sentiment.

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Belles attentions
Cardstock: Early Espresso, Pear Pizzazz, Concord Crush, Poppy Parade
Inks: Versamark, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories: Scallop Trim punch, Rhinestones, White embossing powder,
Concord Crush ribbon, Button, Linen Thread, Envelope,
Markers (Concord Crush, Poppy Parade), Square punch

 

A Gift for Josée

If you are looking for this week's Inkspiration challenge, we are taking a week off and getting ready for our fabulous Holidays Blog Hop next week! Be back then to see the wonderful Christmas projects the team and I will be sharing with you.

 

 

Coming on December 17th! 

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The following card was a special request from a colleague. I needed an idea and I needed it fast, so I surfed a bit and came across THIS fabulous card from Vicki Webb, which totally inspired me.

My card is not a gift card holder, so it opens a little differently from Vicki's, and I have added a small folded card inside to allow for more room for people to sign since this is a group card. To spell the recipient's name, I used my beloved Broadsheet Alphabet.

The colleague was really happy with it, and I hope the person she's giving it too will be pleased as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Broadsheet Alphabet, Jolis mots, Every Little Bit
Cardstock: Whisper White, Cool Carribean
Patterned papers
Inks: Cherry Cobbler, Cool Carribean
Accessories: Pearl (Pretties kit), Small Oval and Large Oval punches, silk ribbon, button,
satin ribbon, Scallop Trim punch, blending pen, glimmer mist, square punch

 

Polar Cutie

I'm still cranking out the Christmas cards because I've had many requests at the office and I'm quickly running out of samples to sell! This card was born from the Mojo Monday sketch (#168).

Aren't those colors pretty together for a wintery card? They were inspired by a piece of patterned paper, and the felt mat idea was inspired by a card I have seen on SCS. The die cut through felt super easily, and I simply added some hand stitches with white floss around the felt after cutting it.

The polar bear was stamped on patterned paper and I did some paper piecing on its paws and nose. I added a bit of shading on him with markers and popped him up on the felt mat.

The sentiment comes from the Contempo Christmas set (which I have to admit I bought for the two sentiments even more than for the images, because the translation was awesome and I knew I'd get a lot of mileage out of them). I stamped the sentiment on silver cardstock and embossed it with white powder - I really like the result! Then I punched it out with the now retired key tag punch and added a rhinestone brad on it.

The background paper was dry-embossed with the new upcoming Tulip Frame embossing folder from SU! (a great one to add to your collection - totally different since it's a frame instead of a full image). I finished the card off with buttons accented with rhinestones, and then created a matching envelope out of the remaining patterned paper.

 

 

 

 
inspiration: Mojo Monday Sketch 168
Color Combo: Bashful Blue + Night of Navy + Rich Razzleberry + White

 

Supplies
Stamps: Noël contemporain (SU!), Bear stamp
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry, Silver (SU!)
Patterned papers
Inks: Basic Black, Versamark
Big Shot: Tulip Frame embossing folder (SU!), Icing die
Accessories: Night of Navy grosgrain ribbon (SU!), White embossing powder (SU!),
Rhinestone brad (SU!), Buttons, Rhinestones (SU!), markers,
Purple felt, White needlework floss,
Stampin' Dimensionals (SU!), Key Tag punch (SU!)

 

All I Want For Christmas is..

I made this card two weeks ago to showcase the products that were on promotion, but never got around to posting it for lack of time. The products may not be on sale anymore, but they are still available, so here it is.

The scallop square was die-cut out of Candy Cane Christmas fabric that was layered on a piece of sticky sheet prior to die-cutting. This made it really easy to cut my fabric to my card base, since all I had to do was peel off the red liner and glue the fabric to my card base (which had previously been wheeled with the Texture wheel). (FYI: The Candy Cane Christmas papers are now sold out, so the fabric are another option featuring the same colour and designs.)

The cute snowflake and gifts are both stamps from the Every Little Bit set, one of my recent acquisitions. I stamped the gift on Vanilla cardstock with Black ink three times, then watercolored the gifts with inks and a blending pen. I then cut them out and popped them up on a Vanilla circle that has been embossed with the Perfect Polka Dot embossing folder.

The sentiment comes from the Contempo Christmas set and was colored with markers so that each word could be a diferent colour. You might notice that I have layered a piece of vellum in the middle of my fabric scallop square, on which I have embossed snowflakes with Iridescent Ice powder and decorated with rhinestones. The corners were punched with the Ticket corner punch, to soften the edges.

I used a piece of Red striped grosgrain, which I tied with linen thread and on which I added a Big Designer button in which I added a red rhinestone brad. The brad prongs will slip right in the button holes, so you don't even have to cut them out, you just slip them through and then use a couple of glue dots to add the button in place on the ribbon. Totally changes the look of that button.

Here is the finished sample:

 

 

 

 
 

  

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Noël contemporain, Every Little Bit, Texture wheel
Cardstock: Garden Green, Very Vanilla, Baja Breeze, Vellum
Inks: Basic Black, Baja Breeze, Garden green
Accessories: Rhinestones, Ticket Corner punch, Iridescent Ice embossing powder,
Real Red and Garden Green markers, Scallop Circle punch, Circle punch,
Big Designer button, Rhinestone brad, Red striped grosgrain ribbon, Scallop Square die,
Candy Cane Christmas fabric, Sticky sheet, Linen thread, Perfect Polka Dot
embossing folder, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

 

Top note and Paper Scraps

While unpacking after a workshop, I found last year's paper sampler in one of the pockets of my bag. Since the papers are now retired, I no longer need it for workshops, so I left it on my desk, thinking I'd use the scraps on some sort of project when I had a minute.

You might remember that last Spring, I had shared some 3x3 love notes created with a previous retired paper sampler. This time, I decided to use my square punch to create a patchwork and then run it through the Big Shot with the Top Note die. This is by no means a novel idea, I've seen it done by others many times before, but sometimes a reminder of how to use our paper scraps is welcome.

This also gave me to chance to ink my new stamp set, Every Little Bit. It's just so cute!! The images are small, though, so you have to figure out ways to include them on your projects without the image being lost amongst the other elements. Here, I framed the two stockings with some punched pieces (Decorative Label from current minicatalogue, Scallop Circle and 1-3/8 Circle). The circle was embossed with the Perfect Polka Dot embossing folder for a little bit of texture.

  

   

 

 

 

 

Inspiration: Mojo Monday Sketch 165

  

  

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Every Little Bit
Cardstock: Old Olive, Garden Green, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Designer papers: Merry Moments
Inks: Chocolate Chip, Garden Green, Real Red
Big Shot: Top Note die, Lattice die, Perfect Polka Dot embossing folder
Punches: 1-3/8 Circle, Scallop Circle, Decorative Label (mini)
Accessories: Pearls, ribbon, blending pen, Chocolate Chip marker, Stampin' Dimensionals

Too Funny!

I have this weird thing where I like to make a scrapbook page first when I open a new Simply Scrappin' kit or Designer paper pack. I think it's so that all of the 12 x 12 pages are intact and I can use any of them to fit my purpose on my page, and then whatever scrap I'm left with, those smaller pieces are easier to use on a card afterwards.

That being said, my latest acquisition if the beautiful Love Bird SS kit and I dove in this weekend with the page I'm sharing with you today. The pictures have been taken at Convention in 2008. One is showing the very funny shirt one team of demos was wearing that said something like, "Hotel fare - $200, Flight - $400, Being the first in the country to see the new SU! catalogue - Priceless!!!" And ain't that the truth! It cracked me up when I saw the girls wearing them. Of course, this is back in the days when SU! was unveiling the new catalogue at Convention.

The other pictures are of the "ads from sponsors" that SU! runs during their convention game show. Those are always hilarious. Among my favorites, there was the little boy with his peanut butter sandwich die-cut with the Big Shot, the rubber scissors trying to romance a demo and my all-time favorite, Convention Attendee Barbie and UPS Ken. There were so many details in that Barbie house, it was pretty amazing! She was even wearing an exact replica of the green shirt that was sold at Memento Mall that year. Unbelievable!

The chipboard circle and arrow are from the new chipboard kit sold in the catalogue. I covered the circle with patterned paper and sanded the edges, and I covered the arrow with Craft ink, then Heat & Stick and then pourred the glitter on it and heat set. You should definitely position yourself over some scrap paper or the waste basket before heat setting the glitter because let me tell ya, that glitter will fly everywhere once you blast the heat gun!!

Isn't the Penannt die a fun way to add a journaling block to your page? I have wanted this die ever since it came out and never splurged because I knew I wouldn't use it nearly enough to warrant getting it. Then I figured if I had been lusting after it for two years, maybe it was time to buy it afterwards. I've used it for the first time two weeks ago to make a Stampin' Up! banner for my table at a craft show, and now for a second time for this page. I used the smallest of the two pennants found on the die. I then added a ribbon bow on each end decorated with a sticky die-cut flower from the SS kit and a brad in the middle. Since the flower is so delicate, rather than trying to poke the brad through it, I cut the prongs off and adhered the brad head with a mini glue dot.

I used one of the sticky borders from the kit that says Love to create a "Love, love it!" tag at the right of one of my pictures. I also punched a heart and a flower out of the square stickers to get rid of the English words, and decorated them with a touch of clear chunky glitter.

The title was created with the Billboard die (which is currently on sale at 30% off, a great time to get it if you don't already have one) and the Go Go Boots alphabet. The Go Go Boots letters were cut out of Whisper White cardstock and then doodled with markers, a trick I learned from my very talented friend Brandi. (Doodling is king of her trademark, actually.) I also draw a polka dot background on my green oval and added doodling on my pink letters with a pink marker as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Cardstock: So Saffron, Whisper White
Simply Scrappin' Kit: Love Birds
Big Shot: Pennant die, Billboard die, Go Go Boots Alphabet die
Accessories: Early Espresso narrow taffeta ribbon, brads, fine glitter,
Heat 'n Stick, chipboard arrow and circle, markers, Small Oval punch

 

A Shameless CASE... and a Winner!

Let me start by thanking everyone who left comments on my 200,000 hits message. It was interesting to read about which of the projects I've shared have been your favorite. Quite a few of the people who have left comments have mentioned my scrapbook pages. Since the cards usually get more comments than the pages do, this came as a surprise.

And now for the winner... Big congratulations to Carol B. who won some brand-new rubber from me! Thanks again to everyone who took the time to leave a comment!

 

 

So... what do you do when you feel like stamping but are short on time? You pick up the SU! catalogue and CASE one of the fabulous samples inside! That's what I did this week and this is the card I ended up with. Can you spot the original in the cattie?

I changed to color scheme and I used patterned paper for the butterfly instead of stamping on it. The background was embellished with some Heat 'n Stick and black glitter. I added black glitter to some of the music notes and around the butterfly with my two-way glue pen.

With the dark card base, I had to change the sentiment and place it somewhere else so that it would be readable. The rest is pretty close to what the original card looked like, but I think it's a good reminder that the catalogue is called an Idea Book because it is there as a resource when you are ready to create. I have been collecting mine since the year I discovered the company and love to go back to leaf through them (and the minis as well). And if you don't have all the material used on the sample, don't be afraid to simply adapt it to what you do have!

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Motifs baroques (Baroque Motifs), Vagues d'émotion (Vogue Verses)
Cardstock: Basic Black, Very Vanilla
Designer Paper: Brights Collection (Melon Mambo), Newsprints
Inks: Versamark, Basic Black
Dies: Wonderful Wings Embosslits, Butterfly die
Accessories: Vanilla envelope, Black glitter, Heat 'n Stick, Vintage brad, Pearls,
Scallop Trim punch, lace trim, two-way glue pen, Circle punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Inkspirations #51 - Cute & Christmasy

  
  
 
 
 

The design of this card is pretty straightforward, and I concentrated most of my effort on coloring the main image, in hopes of improving on my coloring skills. I kept thinking the coloring was a little flat until I added a bit of doodling, white highlights and, most importantly, glitter! Can you see the glittered stripes on her scarf? Looks pretty cool!

The sentiment block is actually a die-cut that came from an Halloween set. There's a little bat at the top of the frame, but I bet if I hadn't pointed it out to you, you probably wouldn't have noticed. It is kind of hard to make out with the glitter around the frame (already there when I bought the die-cut). I stamped the sentiment from the Contempo Christmas set that reads, "Christmas is love..."

Aren't those patterned papers fun? I like how they inject a splash of colours for winter.

 

 

 
  
 
    

Here is the LINK to our new challenge blog, where you can share a link to your creation, and links to the other DT members' creations:

 

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Kirsty
Lee-Anne
Makeesha
Marisa
Renée

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Noël contempo (SU!), fairy stamp
Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Opulent Orchid, Whisper White (SU!)
Patterned papers
Inks: Basic Black
Accessories: Markers, Stampin' Dimensionals, Circle Nestabilities, eyelet, polka dot ribbon,
clear rhinestone brad, Glittered die-cut, glitter, white gel pen,
pumpkin rickrack, envelope template

  

Going Sliding

This card was done a few weeks ago using the Mojo Monday sketch 163, but I hadn't photographed it until now. It is using a bunch of retired stuff (Kiwi Kiss and Taken with Teal, Baja Breeze ribbon, Love Note die-cut, corduroy button), but also my brand-new Welcome Christmas and Curly Cute stamp sets, as well as the Serene Snowflakes set, the Mostly Vintage stencil (in the background), the Decorative Label punch and the pearls.

I sprayed the background with the Gold Smooch Spritz for a little bit of shimmer, and I grounded the kids by ripping a piece of paper to create a mask and lightly sponging some Baja Breeze ink underneath their feet. I am really liking the vintage feel of this set and how fast you can create a project with it since it includes full images.

 

 

 

 

Inspiration: Mojo Monday Sketch #163

 

 

Stampin' Up Supplies
Stamps: Vive Noël (Welcome Christmas), Jolies pensées (Curly Cute), Serene Snowflakes
Cardstock: Taken with Teal, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze
Inks: Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Taken with Teal
Accessories: Mostly Vintage stencil, pearls, Gold Smooch Spritz, Baja Breeze ribbon, Horizontal Slot punch,
Decorative Label punch, corduroy button, Love Note die-cut, sponge, needle, Stampin' Dimensionals