Encre, papier, ciseaux

Snow Day

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #509 + MFT Color Challenge #172 + Global Design Project #307 (thanks merci danke)

I was in my craft room tonight, wanting to craft but waiting to find a thread of inspiration. I was pulling stuff out, trying to see what would tickle my fancy and I found the Winter Wonderland assortment of cards and envelopes from Doodlebug Design. I had never gotten one of those assortments before, but I found this one at almost half-price in a clearance section and because I had the matching papers, I thought it was worth a try. I had only looked at the image on the back of the packaging, but tonight, I actually opened it to have a look and I was pleasantly surprised with what I found. The cards all have different shapes in two tones with matching envelopes also in two tones. I went digging for the matching papers (which it turns out I had already used this summer to make cards for the children's hospital, so I've been making good grounds on getting this one used up.

Then I went looking to the weekly challenge for inspiration. I was looking for a sketch, but the MFT color challenge caught my eye because it included teal, purple, grey and a dash of cream. The papers combine those exact three colours (except the cream, but I made up for it by coloring the little girl's tuque in that shade). So I looked through my MFT stamps and very quickly made up my mind that I would be inking Snow Buddies, as it was in my pile of stamps I was hoping to ink up again soon.

For the sketch, I went to an older Mojo Monday sketch instead. Julee has unfortunately announced on her blog this summer that she is retiring the sketches for now again (gotta respect that, life gets hectic and you have to prioritize). Makes me sad, but she's shared 559 sketches over the year, so she has already been pretty generous with her creativity. I've played with over half of her sketches over the years, but I've made a list of her sketches I have not used up yet and where I need a little push to get started on a new card, I refer to my list. It came in handy here, and I picked sketch #509 as my starting point.

I picked a patterned paper that was as close to the challenge colours as possible and matted it in grey cardstock. I stamped the snowflakes from the MFT stamp set on my card base in Bermuda Bay ink. I added purple striped ribbon to the patterned paper and glued it on the card base. I decided I wanted rounded corners on the card, so I used my Corner Chomper to do that.

For the circle, I used a stitched circle die on the white and grey patterned paper. I then stamped my images in Tuxedo Black ink and colored them with my Copic markers. I used the matching dies to cut them out and I arranged my little scene, including a tree sticker from the Icons sticker sheet. The top was too empty, so I fished through my sequins and added Moonshine snowflakes and textured sequins, as well as white confetti. I repeated the same sequins in the corner of the card. I decided to test if a scalloped mat would look good and I looked through my Specialty papers for something to match - I picked the Snowdrop Meadow Specialty paper from Tonic. I have to say, I first saw that paper in a monthly kit and it took my breath away when I saw it used on projects. I started hunting for information about what that paper was and when I found out it could be purchased individually in a five-sheet pack from Tonic, I got really excited. I got the white one and the soft blue one and it seems I have used the blue more often so far, which I'm surprised by. Here, it adds the perfect amount of shine and texture without being distracting. I was also using a frame die, so I ended up with the center circle cut separately, which avoided waste and allowed me to have a leftover piece that was perfect to decorate the envelope.

I had matching enamel dots and hearts from the Doodlebug collection, so I added a heart on the tuque and a purple enamel circle on the patterned paper. I had also found some Say It In Crystals gems in a paper pack and I decided to return them to my main embellishment container as I felt they would be more useful there, and they happened to include teal gems, so I added a sparkly one to the ribbon. 

I went on to embevllish the envelope with matching elements and as I was working on it, I realized my card didn't have a sentiment. I thought for a moment about whether I wanted one or not. I went looking at my French sentiment dies to see what I would find there, and the word merci was a nice size. Also, when I had pulled out a few things earlier hoping to spark inspiration, I had put aside the Hello Winter chipboard accents and the banners at the bottom of the pack caught my eye, as one of them was grey with polka dots. I tested it on the card, loved the look and decided to add the die-cut sentiment over it. I tested out a few color options and finally pulled a sheet of purple glitter paper to use. I like that the chipboard banner reinforce the presence of grey a little on the card. Because the glitter paper was a little flimsy once cut, I backed it with two layers of regular cardstock to make the sentiment stand better as the edges are going over the banner (I did add a slim piece of dimensional adhesive under to support the word).

This turned out so cute! It got me excited to use the other cards in the pack to see how they turn out.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Snow Buddies (My Favorite Things)
Cardstock: Smoky Slate, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Purple Glitter Paper (Unknown);
Snow Meadow (Tonic)
Patterned Papers, Icons Stickers, Cards & Envelopes Assortment: Winter Wonderland (Doodlebug Design)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Bermuda Bay (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Stamps: Snow Buddies (My Favorite Things); Bonne fete merci joyeux Noel (Simple à souhait);
Circle Double Stitched (Art Impressions); Stitched Scalloped Circle Frames (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Washi Tape, Winter Wonderland Glitter Sprinkles, Spring Assortment Sprinkles,
Winter Hugs Shape Sprinkles (Doodlebug Design); Markers (Copic);
Hello Winter Chipboard Accents (Echo Park);  White Confetti,
Moonshine Sequins, Moonshine Snowflake Sequins (Cartwright's); 
Stampin' Dimensionals, Highland Heather Mini Striped Ribbon (Stampin' Up!)

 

Smile

Inspiration: November 2019 Page Maps Sketch + Lasting Memories Layout Challenge #563 (polka dots)

As I finished making a card with the Hello Summer papers, I made some simple layered embellishments using the leftovers punched and fussy cut images I had. Then I thought they would look cute on a page, so I went to my trusty family calendars I've been pulling pictures from and found this adorable picture of my nieces in their summer outfits. I picked a sketch and started cutting papers and before I knew it, I was going on this new page.

To do my large scallop border, I cut a strip of patterned paper and made a line with a pencil at about ½" from one long edge. I then used my 2" circle punch to punch out circles. I should be noted I have recently marked the middle of my circle punches to help me line things up. Tip: To do so, you punch a circle with that punch, you fold the punched circle in half on one side and then in half again. You then place that punched circle back in the punch opening and you can use a Sharpie to add tick marks around your punch following the fold lines on the circle. Simple but useful! (Some punches already have those marks on them - not all of mine did.)

So I basically placed the half mark on my pencil mark and punched along my strip of paper. That then helped me glue the circles straight and evenly on the back of my polka dot paper. I didn't realize it when I did it, but this step was even more important due to the fact that I was using striped paper and it would have been very apparent if it had been glued crooked. I added doodling around the edge of the scallops with a black paint marker.

The sticker sheet included bold words in fun fonts, so that made it easy and fast to create my title. I knew I had to place something underneath the word otherwise it would get lost on the patterns, so I looked through my smaller paper scraps and found this interesting rectangle that looked like a Polaroid. I backed it with one of the floral cut-aparts and popped my title sticker on foam adhesive to make it stand out.

While looking for something else, I found my piercing templates and decided to add a pierced heart at the bottom. That led me to adding a die-cut heart, on which I layered a couple of stickers. One of the cut-aparts had an adorable flamingo on it, so I fussy cut the image and added it on foam adhesive in the corner.

On the left side, I added fussy cut flowers and my initial handmade embellishment. I added another strip of patterned paper to ground it better. I have recently rearranged my ribbons - I've grown quite the collection over the last two decades, so most of my spools are in an upcycled boot box under the bed, and I have a smaller show box that I keep on my desk with current ribbons plus a few favorites. I made a rotation and pulled colours that I might use for the Holidays or that I want to use more off, so I had this pink satin pleated ribbon, which made a nice border and the white pompom trim, which looked pretty slipped under the bottom edge of the picture. I was not liking the gap I was getting at the top of the page between the title Polaroid and the ribbon, so I backed a paper sticker with white cardstock, leaving a border, and I used a leftover die-cut tag from my desk to add a little banner sticker to and I threaded green organza ribbon in it. The sticker page had a cloud, so I decided to add it to the top of my page, with a second smaller cloud fussy cut from the patterned paper. When looking at ornaments, I found the Sunny Skies Cute Clips from Doodlebug and decided to slip a sun paperclip on the cloud. I added a rhinestone sticker on the smaller cloud. I added my last handmade embellishment to the right edge of the picture, with a sticker tab underneath.

I embellished my images a bit with enamel dots and pearls and then I remembered I wanted to add the year to my page. I looked through my alphabet stickers and I found the One Fine Day stickers from My Mind's Eye. Those were found in the clearance section and I wrongfully assumed they were white rectangles with black print. They are actually clear stickers, so their use is a little different. I decided to use them here and because the stickers are quite large, the date is pretty space out. I wasn't sure at first, but once all the numbers were in, I decided I liked it. You'll also notice the little smiley at the top of the page, also one of the stickers from this set.

I was about to be done with the page and put things away when I noticed the sketch had a border on the right edge of the paper that looked like stitching. I have some black stitching rub-ons from 49 & Market that I really, really love, so I pulled them out. I was just planning on doing that edge, but then I saw the heart rub-ons and I wondered how they would look added around my die-cut circle... This is where last-minute ideas are something tricky. The flamingo is on dimensional adhesive, so it was in the way, and preferably, I would have done the stitching and then added the word sticker over it. So I cut the top part of the heart off to work around the flamingo and in retrospect, I wish I had done the same around the words, but hey, I still very much like the result. I also got the idea to "stitch" my numbers in place and I love the result.

What started out as a simple page where I thought I would only use a few sheets of papers and stickers with my handmade embellishments turned into a pretty involved page in the end.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Stickers: Hello Summer (Simple Stories)
Punches: 2" Circle (Stampin' Up!)
Ribbons and Trims: Blushing Bride Satin Pleated, White Pompom, Lemon Lime Twist Organza (Stampin' Up!)
Alphabet Stickers: One Fine Day (My Mind's Eye)
Accessories: Exotic Onyx Pearls (Studio Katia); Sunny Skies Cute Clips (Doodlebug Design);
Enamel Dots (Studio Violet); Darcelle Say It In Crystals (Prima Marketing);
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Piercing Templates, Paper Piercer (Stampin' Up!);
Black Roughly Sewn Rub-Ons (49 & Market); All Occasions Enamel Dots (Pink & Main);
Bling Stickers (Recollections); Black Uni Posca Paint Marker

 

Merry Tree Trio

Inspiration: The Paper Players #555 + Time Out Challenge #193 (Colored Card Base)

I've been playing with the Jingle All the Way collection from Simple Stories all week and I decided to use the cute Christmas trees I had fussy cut from a cut-apart image. I also had leftover die-cut fine frames so I layered a polka dot Snap card, then a scrap of Very Vanilla cardstock embossed with the Christmas Tree Pattern 3D embossing folder and a Cherry Cobbler fine frame, varying the angles to get a funky look.

I found a cute sentiment in the chipboard stickers pack that was the perfect width, so I popped it up on dimensional adhesive, and I added a smaller sentiment strip from the sticker book (added to cardstock for stability) at the top, to mirror the sentiment. I slipped a snowflake element sticker underneath and then I added pearls, gems and star to the snowflake and trees to embellish them. I finished the card off with a few enamel dots.

I placed the last two cut trees I had inside the card, and found additional trees on another snap card to use on my envelope. I also added another sentiment sticker from the sticker book.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Merry Merlot, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Snap Cards, Sticker Book, Element Stickers: Jingle All the Way (Simple Stories)
3D Embossing Folder: Christmas Tree Pattern (Sizzix)
Dies: Fine Frame Cover (Altenew); Wonky Stitched Rectangle Stax (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: Round Iridescent Gems, Vintage Shimmer and Exotic Onyx Pearls (Studio Katia);
Glossy Black Gems (Pretty Pink Posh); Crystal Stars (Buttons Galore & More);
Very Vanilla Envelope, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

Oh Christmas Tree

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes)

This card was inspired by the Christmas Mice stamp set from Avery Elle. I thought it was SO cute when it first came out and kept going back and forth on it, but finally talked some sense into myself and passed up on it. Which is why I was SO happy to find both the stamps and dies in the Clearance section this year for a really good price! Jumped on it this time.

So I was looking forward to inking it up and I looked at older Christmas papers to pair up with it. I found Market Street from My Mind's Eye (2015). As I was looking through the papers, I remembered that I had also gotten the journaling cards that go with this collection, so I pulled them out and while sifting through. I found one with a Christmas tree on it that was the perfect size to go with my mice. The mice also have their hands up (to clink cups together, I think), but by giving them ornaments, they look like they are decorating the tree. Serendipity.

I also thought I could add pearls or gems or sequins over the ornament dots on the tree to give them shine and dimension. Again, the size worked perfectly with what I had on hand. The stamp set included little stockings, so I hung one on each side of the sentiment. Speaking of which, I had found the word Noel in gold foiling on a journaling card. I had handcut it and planned on adding it to my card as the sentiment, but once I started putting together, I found out the shape and scale was off, so I retired that idea and simple kept Oh Christmas Tree. I was planning on hiding the English words and adding something in French instead, but hey, when it works so well, why fight it! I thought the tree topper would hide the text, but because the star is holographic, you can still see the text through so it doesn't matter.

For the background, I layered a few papers. I dry-embossed the ombre paper with the Christmas Tree Pattern 3D embossing folder from Sizzix, which was the perfect complement to my main image. I created my card base with Evening Evergreen and did a layer of Soft Succulent on top. The cardstock seemed a little bare so I stenciled the Snow Magic design with a blender brush over it. The patterned paper ends up hiding most of it, but it still made a difference to have that little bit of inking on the edge. I added a piece of Evening Evergreen ribbon, and tied gold metallic thread and pink baker's twine over it for texture.

I reused additional journaling cards inside the card and on my handmade envelope. I had enough patterned paper left to make my own envelope, so I decided to go for it.  On a side note, I finally found some bins at the office supplies store (Staples) that are the perfect size to accommodate scrapbook paper. They are tall enough to be able to add the lid and they are stackable, although there is NO way I will be able to lift the bin once it's full of paper, as it weighs a ton. I've done my best to organize my patterned paper and while the system was getting better, I still had to have papers in various spots of my room so when I was looking for a specific collection, it was always turning into a wild goose chase. So now I have Christmas together, Halloween together, Summer together, Fall together and the rest is organized by company. I think this will follow my crafting logic better. I knew I had a lot of pattern papers (that's my biggest crafting weakness), but seeing it all together like that was still a shock to the system. So you'll probably see more matching envelopes in the future as I need to wittle my paper stash down.

This Christmas card just makes me smile. Don't the mice look so happy?

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Christmas Mice (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Evening Evergreen, Soft Succulent, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Journaling Cards: Market Street (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Evening Evergreen, Soft Succulent, Petal Pink (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Christmas Mice (Avery Elle); Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
3D Embossing Folder: Christmas Tree Pattern (Sizzix)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board, Baker's Twine (Stampin' Up!);
Snow Magic Stencil (Echo Park); Markers (Copic); Metallic Thread (Altenew);
Crystal Stars (Buttons Galore & More); Rose Pink and Moss Green Pearls,
Gold Sparkle Crystals (Studio Katia); Jewels - Ice Cube Mix (Little Things from Lucy's Cards);
Peony Sequins (Cartwright's); Midas Touch and Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brushes (Nuvo);
Blender Brushes (Taylored Expressions)

 

Snowglobe Shaker

Inspiration: Freshly Made Sketch #499 + Tic Tac Toe #127 (Red + FREE + globe)

So I was done crafting for the evening (or so I thought) but as I was putting things away, I spotted on the Tic Tac Toe grid that I could make a line using the supplies I had in my Jingle All the Way collection. So I pulled out the snowglobe chipboard piece and a tag, and left those aside for my next crafting session. But then I saw the Freshly Made sketch and realized that I had two leftover scraps already shaped like corners from cutting off the patterned paper for the cover and inside of my corner fold card. I was intrigued on what it would look like so I put them on vanilla cardstock and layered the tag with the snowglobe image and I was liking the look. I figured I could do embossing on my back piece, so I looked through my retired embossing folders and when I spotted the Softly Falling folder, I thought the falling snow would look lovely paired with the snowglobe image. I then got the idea of adding a tiny frame from the Fine Frame Cover die from Altenew as an overlay (initial idea was to make in narrower than the corner pieces). I was really planning to just pull out the tools I needed and lay them out so I'd have a quick starting point for my next crafting session, but at that point, I was curious to see how the pieces would look together and the ideas kept coming, so I decided to ride the inspiration wave to the end.

I'm glad I did. It turned out into one of those easy crafting sessions where the ideas come easily and everything you try out works on the first try. Even the sentiment tag, which I didn't center properly on the scrap I was using, turned out off-center on the die-cut piece was a blessing in disguise, as it allowed me to tie my twine in a bow and not hide the sentiment.

The tag was too blank and I needed to back the snowglobe image with something. I was planning to do a circle of patterned paper, but while looking through my circle dies, I found the Wonky Circle Frames dies from Avery Elle and decided a shaker would be even cooler. At the top of the tag, I ended up using my last piece of unraveled silver tinsel trim from Prima Marketing. (I shared in a previous post that you can unravel the tinsel trim, which is made out of five plies, to get strands that are not as thick and easier to embellish with.) I was also looking for something to line the corner pieces with so that it didn't feel so bare and I remembered I had peel-offs, so I added thin silver strips on each side and that finished it off nicely. For something that was done on the fly late in the evening, that turned out quite well! 

 

 

 

  

 

Supplies
Stamps: Étiquettes des Fêtes (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Silver Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Chipboard Stickers, Sticker Book: Jingle All the Way (Simple Stories)
Ink: VersaMark
Dies: Étiquettes de Noël (Stampin' Up!); Circle Double Stitched (Art Impressions);
Wonky Circle Frames (Avery Elle); Fine Frames Cover (Altenew)
Accessories: Iridescent Silver 8mm Sequins, Vanilla Cream Sequin Mix (Little Things from Lucy's Cards);
White, Moonshine Snowflake Sequins (Cartwright's); Always Artichoke, Pistachio Pudding
Thick Baker's Twine, Black Mini Sequin Trim, Stampin' Dimensionals, Window Sheets,
Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Emboss Powder Softly Falling Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!); 
Silver Peel-Offs (Starform); Christmas Sparkle Trims (Prima Marketing)

 

Vertical Merry Christmas

Inspiration: TGIF Challenge #330

I still have not ordered anything from Stampin' Up!'s holidays minicatalogue, but I liked the idea of picking a sample from the minicatalogue to draw inspiration from. The sample from page 20 with the vertical sentiment caught my eye. I've been working with Simple Stories' Jingle All the Way collection all week and I noticed that one of the cut-aparts had nice retro lettering on it that could easily be fussy cut so that became the starting point of the card. I cut out the letters, laid them over vellum to figure out how tall the word Merry would be and then I selected my card size based off of that (3½" x 7½").

I was originally planning to use the poinsettias from the foam stickers, but they would probably have overwhelmed the design, so I ended up using the two sprigs that were cut out of the same image, and a poinsettia image I had previously fussy cut from patterned paper and left on my desk. I matted the vellum with the soft aqua patterned paper and picked a nice polka dot dark green for the background. I looked for an English sentiment to stamp repeatedly on the background as in the sample and used Season's Greetings from Stylish Christmas, as it has a retro font that matched the handcut font nicely.

To complete the sentiment, I stamped the "merry Christmas y'all" sentiment from my Cozy with You stamp set and bubble cut the word Christmas to add with Mini Stampin' Dimensionals on my card. I filled in the empty space with enamel dots, pearls and crystals. I also added a linen thread bow as per the original sample. I was liking the result but finding the card a little bland still, so I ended up reaching for my Distress Mica flakes to add something in the corners, keeping with the retro look.

I made a matching envelope out of patterned paper to match the envelope size, using one of the tag cut-apart for the address block.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Stylish Christmas (Stampin' Up!); Cozy With You (The Greeting Farm)
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Sticker Book, Sticker Sheet: Jingle All the Way (Simple Stories)
Ink: Shaded Spruce, Merry Merlot (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Pearl - Glossy Berry Mix (Little Things from Lucy's Cards);
Gold Foil Pearls, Gold Sparkle Crystals (Studio Katia);
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Linen Thread, Home for Christmas Enamel Dots,
Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!); Distress Mica Flakes (Ranger)

 

Christmas Joy Snowman

Inspiration: In[k]spire Me #456 (sketch)

Here is one more card I created using my Jingle All the Way collection. I'm still shocked that I vacillated on buying this collection as I've been using it so many times and I love how projects made with it turn out. My starting point for this card was the In[k]spire Me sketch. Initially, I placed my elements as the sketch was showing, but then my die-cut snowman was facing off of the card and it didn't look right. I looked at cut-aparts and stickers, but the other snowmen I had were too small, so I decided to rotate the sketch to have the snowman in the bottom left corner instead and it looked much better. I found a row of Christmas light in the chipboard pack to embellish the top and I added a ribbon and mini black sequin trim to the bottom for added texture.

For the sentiment, I stamped a "Christmas Joy" banner and embossed it in Real Red glitter powder, then used the matching dies to cut it out. I added a dab of Glossy Accents on the eyes of the snowman and a few enamel dots to finish it off. I decorated a matching envelope using stickers and ephemera, as well as little snowflakes leftover from the snowflake border punch I used on my previous card. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Cousu avec joie (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Sticker Book, Chipboard Stickers: Jingle All the Way (Simple Stories)
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Real Red Glitter Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Black Mini Sequin Trim, Home for Christmas Enamel Dots, Mint Macaron Ribbon,
Bunch of Banners Dies, Doily Builder Dies, Rhinestones (Stampin' Up!);
Glossy Accents (Ranger); Vanilla Square Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Santa Flip Corner Card

Inspiration: Festive Friday #91 (fun fold + patterned paper + ribbon)

This is another card for my Jingle All the Way series. When I saw the fun fold element in the challenge list, I went to the Splitcoast Stampers website to have a look at their tutorials for inspiration. I had never seen a flip corner card before and it seemed simple so I decided to give it a try. It worked out really well with the elements I was designing with.

I ended up decorating the inside heavily to make it pretty and hide little bits of adhesive and ribbon that were peaking from underneath my turned corner. I wanted to use a tag from the cut-apart sheet for my message block and thought it would be fun to tuck it in a pocket instead of gluing it down. I had those triangles leftover from doing patterned paper on the folded corner side, so that was a perfect way to use my leftover pieces. I used another cut-apart tag on the envelope as well. I'm really pleased with the resulting card.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Merry Merlot, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Bits & Pieces, Sticker Book: Jingle All the Way (Simple Stories)
Dies: Layering Squares (Stampin' Up!); Wonky Stitch Rectangle Stax (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: Elegant Evergreen Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Rhinestones,
Home for Christmas Enamel Dots, Circle Punch (Stampin' Up!); Liquid Appliqué (Marvy);
A2 Envelope (envelopes.com);  Christmas Sparkle Trims (Prima Marketing);
Snowflake Edger Punch (EK Success)

 

Santa's List

Inspiration: MFT Sketch #555

About a month ago, I made a card set using a winter Doodlebug collection to donate for the Children's Hospital. The lady who's in charge of this is stopping by the local scrapbook store about once a month to pick up our donated cards until she has enough for all of the kids to get their own card. I'm hoping to have a few more to donate next time I stop by the store, so I figured I could pull out another Christmas collection and try to make a new series. This time, I pulled out Jingle All the Way from Simple Stories. This one was purchased last year and I let myself get enamored with it, so I have quite a few elements to work with. I've updated my weekly challenge sheet so that I have a starting point to put cards together.

This one was inspired by the MFT sketch. I found the little Santa on a journaling card, so I fussy cut him. I was planning on adding him to a die-cut circle, but then I spotted this cool hexagon shape on one of the cut-apart papers, so I decided to use this instead. I popped the Santa on dimensional adhesive and because his hand was uneven due to the fact that the image was going over the edge of the paper (and therefore the fingers were missing), I used a candy cane from the puffy stickers pack to hide that little problem.

I found a mailbox in the ephemera pack, so I decided to use that and I also spotted on another cut-apart sheet a special delivery square with a postage stamp, so I decided to tuck that somewhere on the card as well. Now that I knew which images I would be working with, I went through the patterned papers to select patterns that would complement them nicely. I decided to use the tree row for the middle strip and the candlelight on black for the background. Sitting on my desk was the Christmas Sparkle trim from Prima Design I recently acquired and I decided tinsel would be cool on this Christmas card. 

Let me share a tip I discovered about this tinsel. It's cute, but it's really thick. Not a problem on packaging or 3D projects, but somewhat tricky on cards. I found out it's made out of five strands that are woven together. So if you prefer, you can carefully untangle the strands and use them separately. Bonus: You will also stretch your trim on more projects if you use the strands apart. Here, I decided two strands was giving me enough fluff and coverage. The center cord on the silver tinsel is white, though, so it starts showing more when it's untangled and the tinsel is more sparse, but it depends on the look you are going for. You don't have to unweave the whole thing: here, I just cut the length I needed and use the tip of my paper piercer to unknot the trim.

I added a vanilla border punched out with an older border punch and I went back to the puffy stickers to embellish the mailbox. I pulled out the older Home for Christmas enamel dots to add a few to the cards. I added glitter to the cut-apart border and Santa's belt buckle using the Lemon Drizzle glitter marker from Nuvo.

My finished card measures 8½" x 4". I made a matching envelope out of cardstock, added patterned paper to the front and a Snap card for the address block. I repeated the tree row paper again. On the envelope flap, I used a paper scrap from my desk and a couple of stickers from the sticker book. I also used a sticker inside the card, as well as another hand-cut flower that hadn't made its way onto the card.

The last thing I did was add Liquid Appliqué to the fur trim on the Santa suit. I've had this product for years and in the past, I've always puffed it with my heat gun right away or after a couple of hours of letting it dry. This time, I followed the instructions more closely and let it dry overnight. I like the result so much better! The texture is just perfect and there's less "air" in it, so it's more compact and I expect  it won't get squished as much in the envelope. This really added the perfect finishing touch to the card. Word to the wise, though - puffy stickers can't withstand heat and the side of the candy cane melted just a tad, but thankfully, I saw that it was happening and moved the heat gun away quickly so I saved my sticker, but passing the wisdom along...

First one down... let's see how many I can get done before the end of this weekend.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Merry Merlot, Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Sticker Book, Bits & Pieces, Puffy Stickers: Jingle All the Way (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Lemon Drizzle Glitter Marker (Nuvo); Deco Scissors (Fiskars);
Home for Christmas Enamel Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board,
Scalloped Border Punch (Stampin' Up!); Liquid Appliqué (Marvy); 
Christmas Sparkle Trims (Prima Marketing)

 

I Need a Cocktail

Inspiration: Paper Craft Crew Card Sketch #440 

I keep coming back to this stamp set quite often because it's adorable, versatile and I love the little retro nod in its design. The sentiment reads, "Coffee, cocktail, cookies, and everything will be alright!" I dry embossed the blue and red panels to add texture. Pretty simple but fun to make!

 

 

You Are Amazing Project Kit

Today's cards were made with the You Are Amazing Project Kit. It was sold in last year's Stampin' Up! catalogue and I decided to buy one when the retirement list was published and this kit was offered at a significant rebate. I didn't get the matching stamp set, so I looked through my French stamps to see what I had that could be the right size to fit the labels.

 I assembled some of the cards close to the suggested designs and reworked some of the others. I added elements from my stash on almost all of them (dies, embossing folders, embellishments). What drew me to this kit was the colour combo and the fact that a lot of elements were foiled (in gold and in teal). Because I reworked the designs, I ended up spending part of an evening and part of an afternoon before all 16 cards were finished. I feel like I got more out of this kit than out of the ones that were issued as part of the new kit collection (on the Online Store). It all depends on whether you like fast and easy or you like your crafting sessions to be more involved. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Card Kit: You Are Amazing
Stamps: Douceurs glacées, Bien cravaté, Pétales de poinsettia, Encre d'artiste
Dies: Les bons mots
Embossing Folders: Wrapped in Texture (2), Bark
Inks: Pretty Peacock, Mango Melody, Flirty Flamingo, Bermuda Bay, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Gold Glitter Enamel Dots, Playing With Patterns Resin Dots,
Blue Adhesive Gems, Gold Cord, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Holiday Haul

Inspiration: Just Add Ink #566 (Just Add a Frame)

I snagged the Holiday Haul stamp on Clearance and has kept it on my desk, hoping to colour the image soon. I decided I was in the mood to watercolor tonight, so I stamped the image in Archival black ink on watercolor paper and used my Stampin' Up! inks with an Aqua Painter brush to color it. Before I committed to a colour scheme, I looked through past Designer Series Paper packs and found one in shades of turquoise, green and grey shades that I used as my inspiration. I snuck a touch of Polished Pink in there to make the image stand out a bit more.

Once I was done with my coloring, I started looking for ideas on how to design my card. I was inspired by the Just Add a Frame challenge and used my favorite Wonky Scalloped Frames dies from Avery Elle around the image. I picked up the Hail Storm Specialty paper from Tonic to add texture and shine. I was finding the frame a little big around my image, so I decided to try out a mat made out of patterned paper. It's a subtle difference, but it looks much better and it incorporates a bit more pattern as well.

For the sentiment, I hesitate between a script sentiment stamped directly at the top of the watercolor paper or a layered banner. I decided to stamp and die-cut the banner to see how I liked it, and I found the juxtaposition pleasing, so I kept it. The bottom was too empty, so I used the little bow from the same frame die set in Polished Pink to fill in the gap.

The stamp set I was using for the sentiment contained a bow image with a matching die, and I had tested it out to see which of the two bows worked better on the banner. I ended up picking the smaller one, but I decided I liked how the bigger one looked on the front of the car, popped up with Dimensionals. I remembered I had matching square gems, so I added those to the center of my bows.

I was wondering if a ribbon bow would also look nice at the bottom of the card. I tried out quite a few ribbons and was not liking the widths or colors, but I liked the Soft Sky classic weave ribbon, so this one stayed. I knew this would be a tight fit in a regular A2 envelope, so I used patterned paper from the pack (I have quite a bit left) to make an oversize envelope to accommodate the extra bulk.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Pleins feux sur Noël (Stampin' Up!); Holiday Haul (Stampendous)
Cardstock: Lost Lagoon, Polished Pink, Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper (Stampin' Up)
Designer Series Paper: ? (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Smoky Slate, Black Archive Ink, Mint Macaron, So Saffron, Lost Lagoon, 
Polished Pink, Soft Sky, Pear Pizzazz (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Wonky Scalloped Frames (Avery Elle); Christmas Lampost, Lots of Labels (Stampin' Up!);
Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Envelope Punch Board, 2020-2022 In Color Square Gems, Soft Sky Classic
Weave Ribbon, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Aqua Painter Brush (Stampin' Up!);
Deep Sea Baked Texture Embossing Powder (Emerald Creek)

 

Winter Shopping Spree

Inspiration: CAS Colours & Sketches #429

I got the adorable Shopping Spree Spellbinders dies at my local store recently and I paired them with the CAS Colours challenge to create a card. There was a lot of die-cutting involved to get all the colours and pieces I needed for my gifts and detailing. I didn't want to introduce other colours so I combined glitter paper in the same colour for the gifts to allow for a little bit of variety.

For the background, I reached for my Nuvo shimmer powders, which I hadn't used in a while. I combined Violet Brocade and Blue Blitz on watercolor paper. I found a new way to mix the colours on my paper: using my spritzer tool (that was sold many years ago by Stampin' Up! to get speckles from their markers). I got the idea from seeing people work with Tim Holtz's air tool when they work with alcohol inks. It's a great way to move the pigments around without keeping adding a bunch of water. Just make really sure all of your pigments are already wet, though, as the air tool will make them fly away on your desktop if they are still dry! Once I was done, I dried the paper with my heat tool and I dry embossed the background using the Winter Snowflakes 3D embossing folder. 

The leg section of the dies is made so that they can be turned into a kinetic card. The top has a little hole, so you can use dimensional adhesive in the center and the legs will swing from side to side on the card. I was curious to see it in action for myself, so I gave it a try. While it's fun, I will say the legs swinging from side to side don't make a lot of sense to me. It would make more sense if the top part wiggled, as if the person is struggling with the pile of gifts. Next time, I might see if I can pop the top part of the person on an action wobble.

I wanted to keep the card fairly simple, but add a sentiment, so I decided to pull out a retired tag stamp and die bundle from Stampin' Up! and stamp a Ho Ho Ho tag. I used my Stampin' Write markers to get the three colours on the stamp and my Tim Holtz stamping platform to stamp twice, as unfortunately the markers don't work as well on photopolymer stamps as it does on rubber. I layered the stamped tag over a handmade ribbon tassel. I finally was able to find a kit with the crimps in various widths and metal finishes so I can better adapt to the ribbons I'm using and my project. I also made a bead dangle in matching colours. I often need to insert a sead bead or sequin at the bottom of my straight pin so that the beads stay in place, so I used a clear snowflake sequin, and I added a few more sequins to the card itself while I had my sequins out. 

For the envelope, I didn't have any colour matching my blue or razzleberry, but metallic Sapphire looked really cool matched with the card. I added a blue tag for the address and used my remaining die-cut gifts to embellish the envelope and inside the card. Looks like the Holiday cards are starting to creep their way into my rotation. It will be more and more tempting as the Christmas releases start showing up. 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Étiquettes des Fêtes (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Balmy Blue, Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Balmy Blue Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Balmy Blue, Smoky Slate and Rich Razzleberry Stampin' Write Markers (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Étiquettes de Noël (Stampin' Up!); Wonky Stitched Rectangle Stax (My Favorite Things);
Happy Day Tags (Carta Bella)
Accessories: A2 Sapphire Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Violet Brocade and Blue Blitz Shimmer Powder (Nuvo);
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon, 1/8" Rich Razzleberry Grosgrain Ribbon, Spritzer Tool,
Seaside Spray Shimmer Ribbon, White Crinkled Ribbon, Silver Cord (Stampin' Up!); Markers (Copic);
Crimps, Clips (Amazon); Beads (Bead Landing); Winter Snowflakes 3D Embossing Folder (Sizzix);
Sequins (Cartwright's); Bluebell, Stormcloud and Amethyst Pearls (Studio Katia)

 

Welcome to Hogswart

Inspiration: Retro Rubber Challenge #164 (Anything Goes - stamps purchased over two years ago)

I have been wanting to make a box card pop-up with Harry Potter and his friends ever since I got the Trinity Stamps sets, so this has been a long time coming. Now that I also have the Build-a-Castle dies from Lawn Fawn, it was easier to add Hogswart to the background as well. 

What finally gave me the kick I needed to get this card done was the Witches and Wizards collection from Echo Park. I created my card base out of Basic Black cardstock and I used gold ink, a stencil brush and the Starry Sky stencil to add a pattern all over it. Then I used the stitched dies from the set to add patterned papers around the sides. 

I created the castle out of Tip Top Taupe cardstock, and inked in the same colour using the Brick stencil. I backed the main window with Gold Rush cardstock and added the window frame with Very Vanilla cardstock. I created a door in dark brown woodgrain cardstock and used regular cardstock in a matching colour for the details. I created four pennants in the house colours to add to the front of the castle.

Next, I used the Shadow Box Card Rainbow Add-on dies so that I would have the cloud inserts for my box card. I die-cut the clouds out of Very Vanilla cardstock and inked the edge with the same gold ink again.

Next, I stamped and colored a bunch of images from the three Trinity Stamps sets: Magical Wizards, Wizard Friends and Happee Birthdae. I die-cut the colored images and started arranging them in the box. I used acetate strips to have Fawkes and the feather floating up in the air. The remaining images were added to the side panels with dimensional adhesive to decorate.

On the back, I created a panel where a message could be written. The rectangle dies I have were not the right length, so I cut out the Zig Zag rectangle and the Dotted rectangle twice to shorten my pieces up. I used the banner and pennants from the Box Card Pop-up set to decorate the top of the panel.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Magical Wizards, Wizard Friends, Happee Birthdae (Trinity Stamps)
Cardstock: Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Tip Top Taupe,
Gold Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!); Gold Rush, Neutrals Woodgrain (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers: Witches & Wizards (Echo Park)
Ink: Tea Dye Distress Oxide (Ranger); Tuxedo Black (Memento);
Antique Gold (Altenew)
Dies: Magical Wizards, Wizard Friends (Trinity Stamps);
Build-a-Castle, Shadow Box Card Rainbow Add-On, Zig Zag Rectangle Stackables,
Dotted Rectangle Stackables, Scalloped Box Card Pop-Up (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Stencil Brush (Tim Holtz for Ranger); Markers (Copic);
Starry Sky and Brick Stencils (Lawn Fawn); Gold Posca Pen (Mitsubishi);
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Blender Brushes (Taylored Expressions)