Encre, papier, ciseaux

Let It Snow

Inspiration: Cut It Up Challenge #323 (This Makes Me Smile - Lawn Fawn does!)

I finally tested my coloring stencils from Lawn Fawn for the first time, using the Simply Celebrate Santa set. This was a very clever addition by Lawn Fawn to their product line, to offer a different and easy way to color their images. I've been using the little brushes from Spellbinders and I'm not sure how I feel about them, I might need to test other tools to see what I like better.

I looked in my Lawn Fawn paper pads and pulled out Let's Bokeh in the Snow to create my background. I picked the blue bokeh patterned for the bottom, and die-cut the Giant Let It Snow sentiment from Spellbinders' white sparkly foam. To fill the space underneath, I added a Aidan Snowflake die-cut, and I also created a border with the Scalloped Arches Border dies and red foil cardstock. I added sequins to fill in the space, and pulled a metallic green envelope to match.

This made for an interesting result. Not sure this is my favorite creation, but it did give me the chance to play with some supplies and test things out. I realize the coloring with the stencils is softer than when using alcohol markers, so the image does not stand out against patterned papers the same way. Something to keep in mind when deciding which medium to pick when coloring my images.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps, Stencils and Dies: Let's Celebrate Santa (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Basic White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Let's Bokeh in the Snow (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Dies: Giant Let It Snow, Cross-Stitched Rectangle Stackables, Scalloped Arches Border (Lawn Fawn);
Aidan Snowflake (Simon Says Stamp); Zig-Zag Stackers (Penny Black)
Accessories: Brushes (Spellbinders); Stampin' Dimensionals, Loose Silver Sequins (Stampin' Up!);
White Glitter Foam (Spellbinders); Snowflakes Glitter (Studio Katia); A2 Fairway Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

Love Notes Coin Pocket Album

Inspiration: Coin Pocket Album Tutorial from Pinkstrawberryz

Challenge: Alphabet Challenge (V is for Vintage)

I found this new tutorial from Michelle in my feed and it inspired me to pull out the Love Notes collection from Graphic 45, which has been sitting in my stash for too long. There are days when everything comes together easily, and this was one of those days. The only hiccup was when I started because Michelle did not mention anything about directional paper and I realized after cutting the corners off that my text would be upside down, and I knew it was going to bother me, so I switched paper and started from the beginning. You might want be careful with the scoring dimensions, as I think the way they are done in the video, you end up with the largest panel on right rather than the left, so I ran with it and glued my pocket on the left. I also used a circle die to make the rounded edge on the central pocket, as I did not trust myself to wing it and be happy with the result.

I have some leftover ribbon pieces from a crafting event that are cut very short, and I try to use them when I can on tags or other things that don't necessitate a long piece. I was planning to go for the lace, but I found this green seam binding that matched the greenery in the papers nicely, so I decided a departure from black, red and ivory would make the project pop a little more.

My favorite find was when I reached for the Notebook Photo Corners die set from Sunny Studio, planning to use one of the corner dies, but then I realized that the notebook die might fit in the front pocket - and what do you know, the width and height is perfect to the dot! Having this notebook edge really added something fun to the project.

The patterned papers included a lot of cut-apart images that ended up being the perfect size for the pockets, the panels and the front panel. Look at that violin image - perfectly sized for the front of the album! I'm really happy with the result. I had tried to work with this paper before and could never really find the right inspiration for it, so I'm glad I was finally able to put something together that does it justice!  

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers: Love Notes (Graphic 45)
Ink: Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Notebook Photo Corners (Sunny Studio); Tall Tag Duo (My Favorite Things);
Layering Circles (Tonic)
Accessories: Circle Punches, Black Thread, Pear PIzzazz Seam Binding (Stampin' Up!);
Jumbo Eyelets, Crop-A-Dile (We R Memory Makers); Mini Ink Blender Tool (Ranger)

 

Sunny Hugs & Kisses

Inspiration: Try a Sketch on Tuesday #663 + Simon Says Stamp Monday (Bright & Cheerful)

I've been working on finishing paper collections that are down to their last scraps, and when I saw the "bright and cheerful" theme, I knew that my Pebbles paper would work well. The Try a Sketch on Tuesday challenge was also perfect, because the design uses mostly strips, so I was able to stretch my leftover pieces. I was wondering if the largest piece of patterned paper I had could work for an envelope. It was not large enough to use with the Envelope Punch Board, but using the Mini Slimline Envelope dies from Simon Says Stamp was a good workaround since I can die-cut envelope in three pieces and assemble it. It was lucky that the leftover paper allowed me to die-cut all three pieces with the chevron pattern going the same way.

I colored the girl from the Hot & Sunny stamp set with Copic markers, and I embossed a sentiment from the Everyday Script set with Melon Mambo powder, to keep with the colorful theme. For embellishing, I went to my Queen & Co buttons, as they are usually too bright to match with my other papers, but the bright pink and purple was perfect here. I die-cut the background piece using the Foundation 17 dies from Queen & Co, to get a stitched edge around the paper.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Everyday Script, Hot & Sunny (The Greeting Farm)
  Cardstock: Solar White (Neenah); Tempting Turquoise (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Party with Amy Locurto (Pebbles)
Dies: Foundation 17 (Queen & Co); Scalloped Stitched Nesting Circles (Tutti Designs);
Mini Slimline Envelope (Simon Says Stamp)
Accessories: Buttons (Queen & Co)l Markers (Copic);
Melon Mambo Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

Mr. Sunshine

Inspiration: Sunday Stamps #353 + Festive Friday #177 (Gold + Sequins + Glimmer Paper)

The starting point of this card was my leftover patterned paper from the It's All Good collection from Dear Lizzy for American Crafts. I already had a stitched oval die-cut leftover, which reminded me of the Sunday Stamps sketch, so I decided to go for this design. I looked in my basket of scraps organized by colours and found a pink polka dot paper that was a perfect match to the colours, so this is what I used for the horizontal band.

The citrus-print paper made me think of summer, so I decided to paper piece Mr. Sun out of Daffodil Delight cardstock, Sherbet Lemon glitter paper and gold mirror cardstock. I added black cardstock for the mouth and the sunglasses. I had a ribbon scrap on my desk that was the exact colour of the background paper, so it inspired me to cut the ends at an angle and layer it behind the oval. 

For the sentiment, I reached out for the Simply Sentimental Hugs dies from Trinity Stamps. The Sherbet Lemon glitter cardstock layered on the gold shadow looks really good. Since I already had two of the elements from the Festive Friday challenge, I made sure to pick sequins as my embellishment, but I also added a few gems around the sentiment as well.

I used the remaining paper to make a matching envelope.

 

 

 

 

With the leftover pieces from my first sun, I assembled a second one, giving him a mustache this time. I was planning to use him on my envelope, but it was a little big and I realized I might prefer to make a bookmark with him since he is flat instead. I picked the Gift Tag dies from My Favorite Things to create the bookmark itself, using my leftover patterned paper. The arms were hanging over the edges , so I decided to keep only the legs. I added a little hole reinforcer, cut out of pink paper. This will be a fun one for my summer reading.

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers: It's All Good (Dear Lizzy for American Crafts)
Cardstock: Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Thick Basic White (Stampin' Up!);
Gold Opulent Specialty Paper Pack (Sizzix); Sherbet Lemon Glitter Cardstock (Tonic)
Dies: Mr. Sun, Stitched Rounded Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn);
Layering Ovals, Stitched Shapes (Stampin' Up!); Essential Stylish Ovals (Spellbinders);
Simply Sentimental Hugs (Trinity Stamps); Gift Tag (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: Old Olive Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!);
Lemon Sherbet Sequins (Little Things from Lucy's Cards); Pale Yellow Sequins (Cartwright's);
PIneapple Delight Crystals (Studio Katia)

 

Valentine's Day Candy

Inspiration: Color Throwdown #826 + Tic Tac Toe #263 (Hearts + Designer Paper + Love sentiment) + Just Us Girls challenge #761 (Heart Dies)

The inspiration image from Color Throwdown immediately made me think of the Chocolate Kiss collection from Mintay, so it gave me a good opportunity to pull it out. One of the cut-apart sheets (the one with the 3" x 4" cards) had this nice image of an envelope with candy, so I fussy cut it and started planning my design around this as the main image. I decided to cut a lacy heart out of two of the pink patterned papers to layer underneath the main image. I drew inspiration from an old Mojo Monday sketch for the placement of my various elements. One of the patterned paper had a LOVE banner that was the perfect size for the card and was also perfect for the Tic Tac Toe challenge.

I used the cool chocolate pattern for the card background, and I layered another piece of pink paper behind to tie everything together. I added pearls and sequins to finish embellishing, and I stapled the side of one of the papers for additional texture. I used the pink heart paper to make a matching envelope, with an address block die-cut out of pink paper.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Basic White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Chocolate Kiss (Mintay)
Dies: Lacy Heart Stackables, Dotted Rectangle Stackables, Cross-Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board, Mini Stapler,
Purple Adhesive-Backed Sequins, Antique Pearls, Resin Heart Embellishments (Stampin' Up!);
Glossy Blossom Pearl Mix (Little Things from Lucy's Cards)

 

Sweet Baby

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #128 + Little Red Wagon #793 

When I saw the teddy bear challenge, I jumped on the chance to pull out the Beary Cozy paper collection from Memory Place. I have also recently pulled some older embellishment packs that I would like to finish using, and one of those was an old baby-themed rub-on pack. I used one of the words I was not planning on using to check if they were still transferring properly, and they are so I kept "sweet baby" as my sentiment and transferred it to a piece of gingham paper.

I went to the paper with all of the images for fussy cutting and picked the teddy bear hiding his eyes as my main image. I also cut out a tag, a leaf, flowers and blanket to fill in the space around the card. I die-cut the orange paper with the Cross-Stitched Circle dies and layered a mini scalloped circle die-cut behind. The background was die-cut out of the sage knit pattern, and I layered one more strip of patterned paper as well.

I made a matching envelope out of patterned paper from the same pack and I layered some leftover pieces to match. I embellished the cards and envelopes with antique pearls and adhesive-backed sequins. The result is very sweet and also gender-neutral. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Basic White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Beary Cozy (Memory Place)
Dies: Scalloped Stitched Nesting Circles (Tutti Designs); Dotted Rectangle Stackables,
Cross-Stitched Circle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins, Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board,
Antique Pearls (Stampin' Up!); Baby Rub-Ons (Unknown Source)

 

Candy and Gingerbread House

Inspiration: Jingle Belles (Hard Candy Christmas) + 52 Christmas Cards (Fussy Cutting)

For hard candy and fussy cutting, there was a very clear item to pull from my stash: the Cosy Winter - Sugar and Spice Creative Pad from P13. This 12" x 12" paper pad is chock-full of pastel images ready to be fussy cut. I already had a large pile of images that had been cut ahead of time, so I started arranging what I had in piles to see what it would inspire me, and then I ended up picking a large gingerbread house and arranging foliage and candy around it. To create the background, I used the backside of one of the papers and die-cut it using the Stitched Rounded Rectangle Stackables dies from Lawn Fawn.

I stamped a sentiment that reads "A little something for you" in grey ink in the top left corner. I layered it using foam adhesive on a darker patterned paper also from the paper pad, and I mounted it on a white card base. I added a few gems and mini star confetti around the images, a mini heart button to the center of the gingerbread house, and Star Dust Stickles to the images. 

I picked a kraft envelope and I used some of the same images in a smaller scale to decorate the envelope, adding Stickles there as well. I also included a little gingerbread house inside the card.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Enveloppé d'amour (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Basic White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper and Images: Cosy Winter - Sugar and Spice Creative Pad (P13)
Ink: Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Stitched Rounded Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Star Dust Stickles (Ranger); Mini Button (Queen & Co);
Kraft Medium Envelope, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); 
Iridescent Mini Star Confetti (Pretty Pink Posh); Round Iridescent Gems (Studio Katia)

 

Lime Twist Card Duo

Inspiration: Hand Stamped Sentiments #455 

As I was going through scrap of patterned paper collections, I found Lime Twist from My Mind's Eye, which I had very little left of, since I had previously used the scraps to put together a set of embellishments. I looked for those embellishments, found them and they inspired me to put these two cards together.

The first one was designed around the Hand Stamped Sentiments sketch. Since the embellishments had two circles, it was very reminiscent of the sketch, and I had this little banner embellishment that could be used for the third element. This required a lot of room, but it happened to fill the front of a slimline card very nicely, so this is the format I went with. I had to shorten the card slightly to 8¼" x 3½" since my blue patterned paper was only 8" high. I created two borders out of the green paper using the #9 borders dies from Photoplay, and I added some sparkly border stickers to each side.

I used another one of the embellishments inside the card, and I made a matching envelope out of cardstock.

 

 

For the second card, I took apart one of the embellishments I did not really like in order to reuse the blue polka dot banner. I layered a layered tag that I did still like over it, and then a cute little ribbon banner layered embellishment. I didn't have any leftover patterned paper that could use for the background, so I used pink cardstock, which I embossed using the Origami Folds embossing folder from Spellbinders. I slipped a little leftover piece of paper underneath the blue banner to break up the design a little bit and mounted the card front on a white card base.

I used a heart embellishment I had also previously done to a bright pink A2 envelope. This embellishment is not flat, so if this was to be sent out in the mail, I would slip the envelope in a clear envelope to protect it. As long as you glue your postage stamp on the outside of the clear envelope so that it can be stamped, this will go through the mail with no problem.

 

Candy and Nutcracker

I kept going with my fussy cut images from the Cosy Winter - Sugar and Spice creative pad and I put this second card together. The images were quite large, so I ended up mounting everything on a 5¼" x 5¼" square card base. Both patterned papers came from the creative pad, and all I added was a few gems and some Star Dust Stickles on the images. I did stamp a "Merry Christmas" sentiment on the little banner hanging from the candy striped pole using a French Spellbinders stamp set.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Joyeux Noël (Spellbinders)
Card Base and Envelope: DoCrafts
Patterned Papers and Images: Cosy Winter - Sugar and Spice Creative Pad (P13)
Ink: Mint Macaron (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Round Iridescent Gems (Studio Katia); Star Dust Stickles (Ranger);
Iridescent Mini Star Confetti (Pretty Pink Posh); Paper Piercer,
Piercing Template, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

Colorful Hello

Inspiration: Create with Your Cardmaking Stash Summit Tutorial

I was inspired by the presentation from Marie Heiderscheit, where she showed how to use Pops of Color to artfully smear on a card to create a background. I pulled my Nuvo Drops and tried to reproduce the look. As enthoused as I was by the Nuvo Drops when they first came out, they quickly fell by the wayside because I discovered that they tend to become thicker over time and become harder to use to create even drops, but most importantly, they get squished even after drying when you store your cards, which makes me think that they most likely also get squished when sent through the mail, so I've reverted back to using enamel dots and gems instead. Having the option to use that product more like a texture paste is a great way to put them to good use, especially since those don't tend to dry out as fast as pastes do.

I added speckles with gold watercolour paint and I also added a few brushstrokes over the dried Nuvo Drops. It's nice to see that the two products will layer (it does not come off when you touch it). I also ran the brush against some of the edges.

I used the Fancy Hello dies from Simon Says Stamp to create the sentiment, and I pulled gems and pearls in matching colours to add around it. I added the card front to a white card base using foam adhesive.

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Basic White, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Fancy Hello (Simon Says Stamp)
Accessories: Calming Aqua, Ripened Pumpkin and Pale Gold Crystal Drops (Nuvo);
Bora Bora and Ripe Persimmon Pearls, Gold Sparkle and Pineapple Delight Crystals (Studio Katia);
Foam Adhesive Roll (Scrapbook.com)

 

You Make My Heart Soar

Inspiration: Lawn Fawnatics #189 (Lots of Heart) + Color Throwdown #825

I wanted to play with the Lawn Fawnatics heart-themed challenge, so I looked through my stamps and picked the All My Heart set. I thought the Color Throwdown combo could work well, so I picked a piece of blue patterned paper to make the background, die-cut it using the Stitched Rounded Rectangle Stackables dies and then I proceeded to stamp and color my images. The little mouse was feeling a little lost hanging alone on the background, so I reached for the Lacy Heart Stackables dies and added a heart cut out of Gold Rush cardstock. (By the way, I was trying to restock on this cardstock and realized that this is now discontinued, which makes me really sad because it was my favorite cardstock Lawn Fawn ever added to its line.) 

I created the sentiment by stamping "You make my" in blue ink and cutting it out with a sentiment Label die. Then I stamped heart in pink ink and die-cut it out. To make my last word, I wanted to use alphabet dies. I couldn't find my Lawn Fawn alphabet dies anywhere, so I used the Festive Alphabet set from scrapbook.com instead. I did not have Rococo Rose cardstock, so I used my Stampin' Blends markers on white cardstock to create an ombre look and that worked out quite nicely. 

It felt like the sky needed clouds, so I used the little cloud from the Foursquare Backdrop: Portrait set with Glacier glitter paper and I added them around my scene. Finally, I found some iridescent sequins that I glued around the scene as well, and I mounted the panel on a So Saffron card base. I thought there was too much yellow showing around it, so I cut the card base down to 4" x 5¼" to make the yellow less prevalent.

I picked a Metallic Blonde A2 envelope and added a few die-cut and images to it as well.

 

 

Supplies
Stamps and dies: All My Love (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: So Saffron (Stampin' Up!); Gold Rush (Lawn Fawn); Glacier Glitter (Pinkfresh Studio)
Patterned Papers: Beautiful Bokeh (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Raspberry Ripple, Boho Blue (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Foursquare Backdrop Portrait, Lacy Heart Stackables, Stitched Rounded Rectangles (Lawn Fawn);
Festive Alphabet (scrapbook.com); Sentiment Labels (Simon Says Stamp)
Accessories: Stampin' Blends Marker, Stampin' Dimensionals, Iridescent Adhesive-Back Sequins (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Metallic Blonde Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

Talking Over Coffee

Inspiration: Freshly Made Sketch #670

I went digging through my paper collections that are down to small scraps, and the Girl Squad collection from Pebbles inspired me to pull the Fresh Brewed Sidekick Side-Order set from Tim Holtz. 

It was fun to put together the adorable coffee cup using patterned paper from the collection. I used the embossing folder on Pear Pizzazz cardstock to create the main strip from the sketch, and I layered pink chevron paper underneath to create a border. I used the coffee cup paper for the background, die-cut with a dotted rectangle die. 

I had a leftover piece of black twine that i wrapped around the center piece, and I die-cut the sentiment "hello" from silver mirror cardstock.

I picked an Avocado A2 envelope and glued the bottom strip of the patterned paper on it (Pebbles prints a design matching the collection, full length, on the backside of the marketing strip, which is very cool.)

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Basic White (Stampin' Up!); Silver Opulent Cardstock Pack (Sizzix)
Patterned Papers: Girl Squad (Pebbles)
Dies: Fresh Brewed (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Small Hello (Simon Says Stamp)
Embossing Folder: (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Accessories: Black Twine (Recollections); A2 Avocado Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

Another Holly Days Gift Box

I had those red glittered gift boxes that date back to the very short time that we've had Target in Canada, quite a while ago. It was the perfect size for my niece's gift, but I wanted to zhuzh it up a bit, so I used the Holly days collection from Simple Stories again. I couldn't find large ribbon that matched, so since i was working with narrower ribbons, I decided to use two colours to add visual weight.

I tied a tag from the cut-apart sheet. Initially, it was all pink, but I had a tag topper leftover from fussy cutting an image for another project, so I glued the teal topper on it and added a little glitter strip sticker, plus a little holly leave from the sticker book. I added a puffy sticker to the gift and a few embellishments.

The box looked good, if maybe a little plain at the bottom, and then I spotted the leftover piece I had from the Page Pieces set. It was the large Holly jolly sentiment, which would have to be used on a scrapbook page given how bit it is, but i realized it would fit very nicely on the box, and it was just the right width to fit between the ribbons and the edge. I popped it up with dimensional adhesive, added two red sparkly pompoms to each side, and a little embellishment in matching colour on all letters. 

Cute packaging and finishing up supplies - win-win!

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Gift Box: Target
Patterned Papers, Page Pieces, Sticker Book, Puffy Stickers: Holly Jolly (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Shaded Spruce Ribbon, Old Olive Chevron Twill Ribbon, 1/8" White Taffeta Ribbon,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Blooming Pearls, Opal Rounds Assortment, Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins,
Real Red & White Adhesive-Backed Peppermints (Stampin' Up!); Border Stickers (Starform)

 

Holly Days Gift Box

I decided to make a box using the Holly Days collection to house the paper wallet I had made previously, so everything will match (and this helps me use up this collection as well. 

I was able to make the bottom and cover of the box with one sheet of 8½ x 11 Ballet Slipper cardstock. I used Glacier glitter paper and some patterned paper to create a layer on the top, then I wrapped red satin ribbon around to keep it in place.

I used one of the die-cut from the Bits and Bobs and using jump rings, I layered it with a star wire element and a rose gold jingle bell, to snap on the ribbon bow.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Ballet Slipper (Lawn Fawn); Glacier Glitter Paper (Pinkfresh Studio)
Patterned Papers, Bits & Pieces: Holly Days (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Real Red Satin Ribbon, Snowflakes & Stars Wire Elements (Stampin' Up!);
Rose Gold Jingles (Fun Stampers Journey); Jump rings and clip (Amazon)

 

Holly Days Paper Wallet

Inspiration: Tutorial from Pinkstrawberryz

Michelle shared another really fun tutorial this weekend and since I'm planning to give money to my niece for Christmas, I thought it would be a lovely way to package it. I pulled the Holly Days collection (2021) from Simple Stories for it.

I had to change how I did the center pocket in the wallet because I had used a piece of paper that had cut-apart on the backside and I realized as I was following Michelle's instructions that some partial images from the cut-aparts were showing and it did not look great, so I pulled a third piece of paper and did some piecing to get something that worked out better.

I was inspired by one of the little tickets from the Journal Bits & Pieces and I decided to make little tabs for each pocket. The others were made with paper scraps and I rounded the corners with a punch. I embellished to my heart's content, and this was a great way to make a dent in this collection. 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Puffy Stickers, Decorative Brads,
Enamel Dots, Sticker Book: Holly Days (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Velcro Dots (Amazon); Corner Rounder Punch (Stampin' Up!);
Twine (Lawn Fawn)

 

Seasonal Birdhouse

Inspiration: Cut It Up Challenges #319 (Use more than one die-cut) + Colour Inkspiration #179 

The Nordic Winter stencil set from Honey Bee was the starting point for this project. I used Balmy Blue and Shaded Spruce on white cardstock to create a background and I cut it to size using the Dotted Rectangle Stackables dies. 

Looking through my dies for inspiration, I spotted Build-A-Birdhouse and the Christmas Add-on as well as the Winter Wonderland Window dies. I started cutting the pieces to make a colorful little birdhouse, adding snow made out of glitter paper and little peppermints embellishment on the shutters. I thought the Pink Frosting glitter paper from Tonic might match the Flirty Flamingo cardsock nicely, so I used it to cut the snowflake frame. It was not quite working out like I wanted, even though the color was a good match. I got the idea to cut the frame again out of gold mirror cardstock, snip the snowflakes off and layering the frame over it and it already looked much better. To tone the stenciled background a bit without hiding it, I layered a piece of pearlescent vellum underneath.

At the top, I used the additional dies from the Build-A-Birdhouse Christmas Add-on set to add foliage and a little bow, topped with another peppermint. At the bottom, I used the last piece from a very old felt ornament set I had on my desk, topping it with a yellow button, a red twine bow and I added twine around the card front as well.

I mounted the card front on a Shaded Spruce card base using dimensional foam, and since the card was thick, I made an oversize envelope out of green gingham patterned paper. I used the snowflakes from the Winter Wonderland Window set and the Pink Frosting glitter paper to embellish the envelope and inside the card.

I'm pretty pleased with how that turned out, especially since I was not sure at first how I would like working with such bright colours for the holidays.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Shaded Spruce, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Balmy Breeze, Flirty Flamingo (Stampin' Up!);
Pearlescent Vellum (Lawn Fawn); Rich Gold Mirri (Hunkydory); Pink Frosting Glitter (Tonic);
Glacier Glitter (PinkFresh Studio)
Patterned Paper: Jingle All the Way (My Mind's Eye); Foiled Brown Paper (Unknown)
Ink: Shaded Spruce, Balmy Breeze (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Dotted Rectangle Stackables, Winter Wonderland Window, Build-A-Birdhouse,
Build-A-Birdhouse Christmas Add-On (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Blender Brushes (Waffle Flower); Midas Touch Aqua Shimmer Brush (Tonic);
Real Red & White Adhesive-Backed Peppermints, Envelope Punch Board, Felt Snowflake,
Designer Button, Thick Red Twine (Stampin' Up!)

 

Warm Wishes and Christmas Merri-mint

Inspiration: Lawn Fawnatics #186 (Coffee, Tea & Treats) + TGIF #502 (red, white and gold)

I looked through my Lawn Fawn sets and dies for the challenge and thought that the mint jar could fit the treats theme, which was perfect for seasonal creating. I realized that this could fit nicely with the TGIF challenge, as I could limit the colours I was using and make the mint red.

I did use grey Copic markers to add a bit of shading inside the mason jar, making sure to avoid touching the mints to avoid any ink bleed. I stamped the lid on gold paper, embossing it in gold powder, and I tied a red ribbon around the jar for a bit of texture.

I was looking for ideas on what to do for the background and decided to use the Layered Plaid dies from Tim Holtz. I did the thinner layer in gold and the larger layer in red. When I placed it over a white card base, I found the result to be too stark, so I decided to try grey cardstock to tone it down, and I have Fog from Lawn Fawn, which is a very soft grey. It made a huge difference and looked much softer, so I added a grey layer in the back, and used the white card base. But I had another surprise - I was not sure why there was such a large margin around the plaid. I would have expected the plaid to be either the exact size of an A2 card or just ¼" smaller, but the size is actually not proportional to a regular card front. Width-wise, it is 3/8" smaller, but height-wise, it is ½" smaller. Make that make sense... I ended up just cutting my card base to size, but I have to admit I was not impressed.

It took me a while to find inspiration for the sentiment. What sparked inspiration is that I spotted the foiled images I had done at Thanksgiving to demo my Glimmer machine to my mom and nieces. I had a few pieces left from that demo that I had slipped into a pocket, and the gold-foiled snowflakes looked perfect to decorate the card. As I was fishing them out, I spotted a metallic red die-cut sentiments that I had also slipped into this pocket after not using it on another project. Here, the size and color was working perfectly, so that solved my problem.

I added one more mint behind the jar and one in the front, popped up on dimensional adhesive, and I topped the snowflakes with ombre glitter drops. I used my remaining images on a red envelope to match.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: How You Bean?, How You Bean? Mint Add-On (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Basic White, Cherry Cobbler, Vellum (Stampin' Up!);
Fog (Lawn Fawn); Opulent Gold Specialty Paper Pack (Sizzix); Red Metallic (Hunkydory)
Ink: VersaMark, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!); Tuxedo BLack (Memento)
Dies: How You Bean?, How You Bean? Mint Add-On (Lawn Fawn);
Layered Plaid (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Outlined Christmas Sentiments, Glimmering Snowflakes (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals Red Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
Sparkle & Shine Ombré Glitter Drops (PinkFresh Studio); Rich Gold Embossing Powder (Wow!);
A2 Red Envelope (Envelopes.com); Markers (Copic)

 

Christmas Book Stack

Inspiration: Color Throwdown #822 

The Merry Bookmas die and stencil set is one of my latest acquisition. i was looking forward to using it and drew inspiration from the Color Throwdown color combo. I paired Lumberjack Plaid and Peeled Paint Distress Oxide and Altenew's Antique Gold inks to do the stenciling, and when using the center die, I used an embossing sandwich, as I did not want the details to be cut out.

I then used my heat tool on the lowest setting to set the ink and proceeded to add words to the books using the Elegant Christmas 2 stamp set. Most of the sentiments were too long so I masked off some words to keep only one and I embossed them with gold powder. This added a very elegant touch to the book stack. 

I wanted to add this to an embossed background and I wanted it to be elegant. I looked at options and immediately jumped on the Scripty 3D embossing folder. Before running it on the cardstock, I did die-cut it to size using the Stitched Rounded Rectangle dies from Lawn Fawn. I wrapped some seam binding at the bottom of the panel to ground the stack and I added some gold foil pearls and gold sparkle crystals around the books and on their spines. 

I created a card base out of Old Olive cardstock and hesitated between using plain cardstock or adding patterned paper. I did not want to make the card too intricate, but since I have so much patterned paper, I thought I'd at least audition something and I figured the Simple Vintage Yuletide collection might work nicely, as I remembered it includes olive green and warm white in it. Sure enough, it worked very well and I loved how the plaid paper looked so this was a no-brainer.

I then started playing with the Layered Books dies to decorate the inside of the card and the matching envelope. This requires a few steps for each book, but the results are quite cute. I am really excited about this bookish card turned out.

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Elegant Christmas 2 (Waffle Flower)
Cardstock: Old Olive, Real Red, Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!);
Opulent Gold Specialty Paper (Sizzix)
Patterned Papers: Simple Vintage Yuletide (Simple Stories)
Ink: Peeled Paint, Lumberjack Plaid Distress Oxide (Ranger); Antique Gold Pigment (Altenew); VersaMark
Dies: Layered Books, Merry Bookmas (Waffle Flower);
Small Stitched Rounded Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Merry Bookmas Stencils, Blender Brushes (Waffle Flower); Scripty 3D Embossing Folder,
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Seam Binding (Unknown); Rich Gold Embossing Powder (Wow!);
Gold Sparkle Crystals, Gold Foil Pearls (Studio Katia); Green Envelope (The Paper Cut)

 

Lovely Sweater Weather

Inspiration: Tuesday Morning Sketches #785 

After finishing my last layout, I wanted to make a card using the Acorn Lane collection from Simple Stories. I picked plaid for the background and layered a piece of blue bird patterned paper leftover from my layout, plus a thin strip of yellow gingham also left on my desk. I used the vanilla cotton thread I still had on my desk to tie a bow for a bit of texture.

For the circle, I used the Doily die set from Coco and Reno, with the pink polka dot paper. I stuck one of the flower images from the sticker book on a piece of scrap cardstock and fussy cut the image, then I layered it with the sweater image from the cardstock stickers. I looked through my sentiments and picked "have a lovely day" from the Everyday Script stamp set from The Greeting Farm. I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark ink and embossed it with Early Espresso embossing powder. I used the Everyday Sentiment Banners dies from Lawn Fawn to cut it out.

I popped everything up with foam adhesive, and I added an enamel dot to the flower's centre and a decorative brad in the upper right corner. I mounted the card front on In the Navy cardstock. I used a piece of patterned paper to make a matching envelope (slightly oversized since the leaves were hanging off the side of the card). 

 

 

While looking through the sticker book, I had seen a cute image with books, which made me think it would look lovely on a bookmark. One of my recent finds is the Tall Tag dies from My Favorite Things, which worked perfectly to create the bookmark itself. On the back, I used the circle sticker with the glasses. As always with bookmarks, I kept everything flat, and I decided not to add fiber or ribbon to the top of this one.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Everyday Script (The Greeting Farm)
Cardstock: Buckaroo Blue, Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!); In the Navy (Gina K Designs)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Sticker Book, Enamel Dots, Decorative Brads: Acorn Lane (Simple Stories)
Dies: Doily (Coco and Reno); Tall Tag (My Favorite Things); 
Dotted Rectangle Stackables, Everyday Sentiment Banners (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Early Espresso Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals, 
Very Vanilla Cotton Twine, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!)

 

Don't Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle

Inspiration: The Paper Players #718 (Be a Deer) and Tuesday Morning Sketches # 784

I had been wanting to use the Simple Vintage Holly Jolly collection and I was pretty sure it had some vintage deer images, so it was perfect for the Paper Players challenge. Because the Tuesday Morning sketch was using an angled paper, I thought if I cut the top and bottom off rather than just overlay a piece of paper on my card, I could make two cards at the same time, so that's the strategy I went with.

I added gold-rimmed red ribbon to the seams and I die-cut two doilies two place behind my main images, both of which I picked from the cardstock stickers sheet. It felt a little bare, so I looked in the collection for other elements I could overlay. I found some rectangle words in the sticker book, so I mounted them on cardstock and cut them out in order to be able to move them around the card and decide where to layer then. The little circles also came from the sticker book.

 

 

 

  

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Basics Kit, Sticker Book, Cardstock Stickers, Enamel Dots,
Bits & Pieces: Simple Vintage Holly Jolly (Simple Stories)
Dies: Decorative Doily Duo (My Favorite Things); Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: 1/8" Red Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Medium Vanilla Envelope (Stampin' Up!)

 

Hello Pumpkin

Inspiration: Freshly Made Sketch #659 + Just Add Ink #725 (Stenciling) + In[k]spire Me #545 (Halloween)

I'm trying to finish off the Bewitched collection from Echo Park and when I saw the Freshly Made sketch, I thought I could line up a few pumpkins to mimic the sketch. Since there was also a stenciling challenge going on, I decided to add details behind the pumpkins using Dune stencil butter and the Theater Night stencil from Finnabair. 

I wanted to add a sentiment that was versatile enough to not be limited to Halloween, so I decided on "Hello Pumpkin." I wanted to add Hello using the Inspired alphabet Thickers and I had a feeling I probably had something that said "pumpkin" somewhere in my stash and I found was I was looking for in the first kit I grabbed - Fall Farmhouse from Simple Stories. On the cardstock sticker sheet, there was "our little pumpkin," so I just cut the extra words off and the shade of orange of the sticker was a perfect match to the pumpkins I was using.  I used Sparkle & Shine ombré glitter drops from Pinkfresh Studio to finish the card off.

The card panel was mounted on Thick Very Vanilla cardstock and I used a medium Vanilla envelope to finish off the set, adding matching stickers and a few extra glitter drops as well.

The result feels oddly elegant. I'm loving the Dune stencil butter against the black night sky patterned paper.

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers: Bewitched (Echo Park)
Dies: Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Dune Stencil Butter (The Crafter's Workshop); Theater Night Stencil (Finnabair);
Inspired Alphabet Thickers (American Crafts); Sparkle & Shine Ombré Glitter Drops (Pinkfresh Studio);
Fall Farmhouse collection (Simple Stories)

 

Luna Tag Folder

After testing the Tag Folder dies with the 25 & Peppermint collection, I felt ready to make my tag for niece's birthday. I initially picked a fun and colorful Halloween collection from American Crafts called Happy Halloween, that has holographic foil on it. I started putting the tag together and I was not super enthused by the results, so I decided to pivot and pull out the Luna collection from Prima Marketing instead. I'm so glad that I did, because I'm much more pleased with the results obtained on this other tag. My only reticence comes from the fact that I remember making an interactive card for her two birthdays ago using Prima's 31 collection and the results are feeling very similar since Frank Garcia's Halloween collections are really all blending together, despite a few subtle colour differences here and there. Nonetheless, cute is cute, so I'm going to stick with this project. She asked to receive some cash for her birthday, so the pocket inside will be a good place to hide the money in. 

I made a fun dangle using ribbon scraps and one of the beautiful moon charms from the Luna collection. I used a clip at the top, so this can be unclipped and used elsewhere if wanted.

To embellish the front, I used some of the ephemera pieces and the pumpkin from the chipboard stickers. While I was looking through my ribbon scraps to make the dangle, I had found an old ribbon flower trim, so I snipped a single flower out and placed it under the pumpkin to add texture. The little stars were topped with opal rounds.

Inside the tag, I created the pocked with black mirror cardstock and overlayed a piece die-cut out of patterned paper, which I topped with a pumpkin puffy sticker. I fussy cut the witch tag from the cut-apart sheet and used the long tag die from the set to die-cut a sentiment from another cut-apart sheet. I wanted to add hole reinforcers on those, but I was not loving having gold foil paper on all three, so I used Burnished Rose mirror cardstock on one of them and Welsh Gold glitter cardstock on the other. I added black and grey baker's twine on the sentiment tag.

This is another paper collection that really comes to life when you see the gold foiling catching the light, which pictures don't necessarily reflect well. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Welsh Gold Glitter, Burnished Rose Mirror (Tonic);
Rich Gold Mirri (Hunkydory)
Patterned Papers, Ephemera Pack, Puffy Stickers, Enamel Charms: Luna (Prima Marketing)
Dies: Tag Folder, Planner Essentials 11 (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
Accessories: Black/Grey Baker's Twine, Pale Papaya Ribbon, Blushing Bride Ribbon, Opal Rounds,
Sparkly Black Organza Ribbon, Black Gingham Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Jump Rings, Clips (Amazon)

 

It's Witching Hour

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Spooky/Add Some Purple)

I had put aside some Halloween collections I am hoping to finish up, including Bewitched (2018) from Echo Park. It was perfect for the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge, and I decided to make a tag/bookmark using the Easy Layers tag dies from Avery Elle.

I used the night sky paper for the main layer and the purple bat paper for the base. I die-cut the clouds out of Glacier glitter paper from Pinkfresh Studio and a few extra stars from the same paper.

Because this is meant to be a bookmark, I made sure to glue the sentiment and witch stickers flat. If it had been for another project, I think the witch would have looked cute popped up on dimensional adhesive. 

At the top of the tag, I added a grey large eyelet and threaded some sparkly black ribbon, which I knotted in place. I've noticed that this way of adding ribbon is the least cumbersome on bookmarks.

 

 

Supplies
Glitter Paper: Glacier (Pinkfresh Studio)
Patterned Papers, Stickers: Bewitched (Echo Park)
Dies: Easy Layers Tag (Avery Elle)
Accessories: Grey Eyelet (We R Memory Makers); 3/8" Black Glittered Organdy Ribbon (Stampin' Up!)

 

31 Tag

Inspiration: Cut It Up Challenges #315 (Add Embellishments)

When I purchased my Sidekick, it came with a Tim Holtz starter set, including dies, an embossing folder and stamps. I was inspired to pair it with the Bewitched collection I'm trying to use up.

I die-cut the tag out of purple patterned paper, stamped the frame in Tuxedo Black ink and embossed the frame. I then went back and stamped the No. and flourish in VersaMark and embossed the images in Platinum powder from Ranger. I cut a hole reinforcer out of black mirror cardstock. I also used the dies from this set to die-cut "31" out of Champagne glitter paper.

As I was looking for something else in my stash, I found some Prima flowers I had found on clearance and I pulled them out to add to the tag. I don't particularly like the beads they used for the center of the orange flowers - they're way too colorful to work with most Halloween collections, so I tore the center out and layered the orange flower with a smaller black one in the center. I glued the die-cut numbers on the side of the flower, where it showed up more clearly than when it was placed flat on the tag. I placed a couple of stickers from the collection underneath the flower to layer - and I ended up with an adorable Halloween tag.

Not sure what I'll use it for - it will either get worked into a card design or tied on a cello bag filled with Halloween candy.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Champagne Essentials Glitter Paper (Pinkfresh Studio); Black Mirror Cardstock (Prism Studio)
Stamps, Dies and Embossing Folder: Sidekick Starter Kit (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers: Bewitched (Echo Park)
Accessories: Flowers - Halloween pack 650292  (Prima Marketing); Platinum Embossing Powder (Ranger)

 

Warm Hugs from Mr. Fox

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #230

I colored multiple images in shades that match the Sugar Plum collection earlier today, and I designed this one around the fox image and the sentiment embossed with Peeled Paint Distress glaze on vellum. I picked an old Mojo Monday sketch as inspiration, and I fussy cut a little poinsettia from the patterned paper to mimic the embellishment in the corner of the rectangle on the sketch. I added iridescent rhinestones to the center of the poinsettia and around the card.

The card base was cut out of rose gold shimmery cardstock. I used a sticker from the collection on my matching envelope.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps and Dies: Winter Wishes (Paper Smooches)
Cardstock: Rose Gold Opulent Cardstock (Sizzix); Solar White (Neenah); 
Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers and Stickers: Sugar Plum (My Mind's Eye)
Dies: Scalloped Borders (Queen & Co); Perennial Postage (Stampin' Up!);
Layering Circles (Tonic)
Accessories: Iridescent Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Stampin' Dimensionals, Washi Tape (Stampin' Up!);
Square White Envelope (Envelopes.com); Markers (Copic);
Peeled Paint Distress Embossing Glaze (TIm Holtz for Ranger)

 

Sweet Santa

Inspiration: Hand Stamped Sentiments #449

The starting point of this card was the cute little Santa, which I put together using and older Echo Park die set. I used the solid papers from the Christmas Time 6n x 6 Mega Pad, except for the face, which I cut out of Petal Pink cardstock. (The cheeks as well, and I colored them with a Copic marker.) 

One of the cut-apart image from the paper pad was perfect to frame my little Santa, which I used to hide the sentiment. I added another piece of paper from the snowflake pattern at an angle underneath and then I went to the Sticker Book to find the little elements to add at the top and bottom to mimic the sketch. 

I'm really liking this collection - the sage colour that's included in the classic red and green combo really softens the papers and adds a very nice touch.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Petal Pink, Basic White (Stampin' Up!)
 6 x 6 Mega Pad, Sticker Book, Adhesive Brads: Christmas Time (Echo Park)
Dies: Santa (Echo Park); Zig-Zag Stackers (Penny Black); Cross-Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Pink Marker (Copic);
A2 Metallic Jupiter Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

Peace on Earth

I have very little leftover pieces from the Hello Christmas collection from Carta Bella (2020), and the starting point for this card was one of the little labels I had created with the Christmas Labels bundle from Stampin' Up! I liked how I could place the chipboard truck image right underneath the last word of the sentiment, so I looked for a rectangle die that could create the base piece for this setup. I finally ended up using the Mini Slimline Stackables dies from Lawn Fawn and to fill in the space a little bit on the left side, I wrapped thick baker's twine around, tied in a bow and added a snowflake chipboard piece over it, topped with a little red snowflake chipboard piece. The little flourish is actually a negative piece from one of the tags from the Christmas Labels bundle, which I recycled here as an embellishment. I added a puffy sticker bough next to the sentiment and two more circle snowflake chipboard pieces in the right corner. 

I placed a piece of green cardstock on my white card base, and added another layer of patterned paper, also die-cut with the Mini Slimline Stackables dies. 

I used the Mini Slimline Envelope die from Simon Stamps Stamp to make my matching envelope. It was a tight squeeze, but thankfully, I had a couple of 12" x 12" patterned papers from this collection to make it work. I used a leftover die-cut piece as the journaling block and a couple more chipboard piece and puffy sticker to make the envelope match the card.

For something made out of scraps, this turned out pretty nice. I have recently sent in a box of cards to contribute to the Cards for the Cure fundraising, and I'd like to send Christmas cards before the holiday season rolls around, so this would make a great card for this cause. Since the cards are sold in Vancouver, this is giving me a nice opportunity to make English cards, which is a nice opportunity to use up stickers and stamps that I don't usually pull out when I make French projects.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Christmas Labels (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Mini Slimline Card Bases (Simon Says Stamp)
Patterned Papers, Puffy Stickers, Accent Chipboard: Hello Christmas (Carta Bella)
Dies: Christmas Labels, Stitched So Sweetly (Stampin' Up!); Mini Slimline Stackables (Lawn Fawn);
Mini Slimline Envelope (Simon Says Stamp)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Garden Green Thick Baker's Twine (Stampin' Up!);
Rich Gold Fine Embossing Powder (Wow!)

 

Winter Wishes

The starting point for this card was the second label I had stamped using the Christmas Label bundle from Stampin' Up! I was trying to work with current sketches I had found online but I'm down to paper scraps and could not quite make it work, so I let the die-cut pieces that I had dictate the design. I had a large reindeer image leftover from the Chipboard Accent set, so I place it at the bottom of the sentiment, and I added a fussy cut flower in the opposing corner. This is again another very simple design, but the elegant label elevates it nicely.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Christmas Labels (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Chipboard Accents: Hello Christmas (Carta Bella)
Ink: VersaMark
Dies: Zig-Zag Stackers (Penny Black); Wonky Stitched Squares Stax (My Favorite Things);
Christmas Labels (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Washi Tape (Unknown); Very Vanilla Medium Envelope, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Metallic Gold Rich Super Fine Powder (Wow!)

 

Celebrating The Holidays All the Ways

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Christmas/Winter) + Mojo Monday #335

I wanted to try out the Christmas Labels bundle from Stampin' Up!, so I die-cut the labels out of green and red Carta Bella paper and embossed sentiments in gold powder on each of them. For this card, I picked the "Celebrate the Holidays in all the ways" tag as my starting point. I layered the label over a mini scalloped square die-cut out of the tree patterned paper. I found some stockings image in the Chipboard Accents set, and I tucked a fussy cut flower underneath the sentiment block.

For the background, I combined a green polka dot paper and a red gingham piece, adding gold-foiled striped washi between the seam, and topping it with two chipboard pieces as well. I used the Zig-Zag Stackers dies to add stitching around the edges for added detailing. I mounted the card base on a piece of Thick Very Vanilla cardstock.

I repeated similar elements on a vanilla A2 envelope to make a matching set. This card is very simple, but I love how elegant the stamped label turned out.

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Christmas Labels (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Puffy Stickers, Chipboard Accents: Hello Christmas (Carta Bella)
Ink: VersaMark
Dies: Zig-Zag Stackers (Penny Black); Stitched Mini Scalloped Square Stax (My Favorite Things);
Christmas Labels (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Metallic Gold Rich Super Fine Powder (Wow!); Washi Tape (Unknown);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Very Vanilla Medium Envelope, Small Oval Punch (Stampin' Up!)

 

Elegant Birthday Wishes

Inspiration: Tuesday Morning Sketches #776 + Colour Inkspiration #175

I had not tested the larger die of the Sweetheart Borders set and was curious how it looked so I looked at current colour challenges for inspiration and landed on the monochromatic yellows of the Colour Inkspiration challenge. The flourishes border reminded me of the Tuesday Morning sketch, so I decided to use that as my guide for the design of the card.

I die-cut the flourishes out of Lemon Lolly cardstock first. (On a side note, I'm not really sure why So Saffron was retired and this was added to the SU! colour line. This colour reminds me of Post-It notes. I only have the sheets that came in the new colour introduction package, so at least I had the colour on hand for the challenge.) I added it to Crushed Curry textured cardstock and die-cut it to the right size using the Diagonal Stitched Rectangles from PinkFresh Studio. 

I cut a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock to fill in the rest of the space at the top. It felt a little plain, so I picked the Quilted 3D embossing folder from Tim Holtz for Sizzix and I ran the cardstock through the Big Shot for added texture. Despite my best efforts, every time I use this folder, I think the stitching is very hard to see, so I ended up using the backside, where I feel the stitching is more obvious, and I still get the fabric texture.

For the central block, I thought that a sentiment die with the shadow piece could replace the rectangle from the image. I cut the sentiment out of white cardstock and the shadow from vellum. The sentiment was getting a little lost of the lace background, so I ended up die-cutting a shadow out of Crumb Cake and adding it behind the vellum to give the sentiment more visual weight. The whole panel was mounted on a white card base.

Interestingly, I had a matching yellow envelope in the same Post-It shade I don't particularly like from an assorted envelope pack, and I remembered to pull it out to see if it matched the card - and it did.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Basic White, Vellum, Lemon Lolly, Crushed Curry, Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Diagonal Stitched Rectangles (PinkFresh Studio); Birthday Wishes (Simon Says Stamp);
Sweetheart Borders (Heartfelt Creations)
3D Embossing Folder: Quilted (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); A2 Yellow Envelope (The Paper Cut)