Encre, papier, ciseaux

Letters to Santa

Inspiration: July 2022 Card Maps Sketch

Here is one more card in my Holly Days collection and Card Maps sketches series. I had fussy cut the letterbox from the cut-apart sheet and I decided to place it on one of the tags from the cut-apart sheet to mirror the sketch. I wasn't sure how big my card would need to be to keep the proportions of the sketch, so I build my card from the center out and ended up with a 5" x 7" card (hence the handmade envelope to match).

I used the adorable Love Notes dies from Doodlebug Design to create the mini envelopes and decorate them. That mini stamp and that mini heart are beyond adorable! For the letter, I used red felt paper to die-cut the heart and I layered the XO from the same die set over it. I added pink washi tape between the two background papers, matted the piece in white cardstock and placed it on a red polka dot piece that was die-cut with the Scalloped Borders from Queen & Co. To embellish, I added a few sequins and seed beads, a stray button and enamel dots. This might be my favorite card from the Holly Days series so far.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Old Olive, Whisper White, Pool Party, Red Velvet Sheets (Stampin' Up!);
Cotton Candy (Bazzill)
Patterned Papers, Puffy Stickers, Sticker Book, Enamel Dots: Holly Days (Simple Stories)
Dies: Love Notes (Doodlebug Design); Scalloped Borders (Queen & Co)
Accessories: Envelope Punch Board, Stampin' Dimensionals, Pretty Peacock Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
Washi Tape (Unknown); Pastel Dreams Shaker Mix - Buttons and Sequins (Buttons Galore & More);
Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo)

 

Christmas Stocking Trio

Inspiration: October 2018 Card Maps Sketch

While looking through my tags and embellishment pile, I found this stocking trio tag I made a few years ago. I thought I could turn it into a card for the children's hospital, so I went back to the same patterned paper stack I had used for it and added a plaid paper to create the background. I included three white snowflakes underneath the tag to frame it, and gold photo corners on opposite sides. This came together really quickly since the main image was already completed. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Garden Green, Whisper White, Gold Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Paper Stack: Warmth & Cheer (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: ? , Decorative Labels (Stampin' Up!); Christmas Day Snow (Echo Park);
Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Square Punches, Snowflake Sequins, Gold Faceted Gems, Garden Green Baker's Twine,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Regals Candy Dots, Stocking Punch, White Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!)

 

Christmas Gift Reindeer

I based the design of this card on the previous card I had made with the polar bear Woodland Critter Hugger. I also had a little deer already done, so I picked Designer Series Paper - Warmth & Cheer - to match. To make life simple, I repeated the same design, adding snowflakes die-cut with the Christmas Day Snow dies and a French sentiment that reads "Merry Christmas", die-cut of gold kraft-stock, overlaid over vellum. While searching through my paper pads, I found the Botanical Gardens Designer Vellum pack and used it to make the word bubbles. This card will also be donated to the children's hospital.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Garden Green, Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette,
Basic Black, Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!); Metallic Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for idea-ology)
Designer Series Paper: Warmth & Cheer (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Vellum Stack: Botanical Gardens (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Mini Slimline Stackables, Woodland Critter Huggers, Woodland Critter Huggers Add-On (Lawn Fawn);
joyeux Noël / bonne année (Crealies); Christmas Day Snow (Echo Park)
Accessories: Slimline Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

Snow Day Cocoa

I found some cute Woodland Critter Huggers I had put together before and decided to turn them into Christmas cards for the children's hospital. I looked through my Lawn Fawn patterned papers to find something in matching colours and pulled out Knit Picky Fall. I used the Mini Slimline Stackables dies to die-cut a teal background and layer a green background. I used the pink knit pattern to die cut "merry Christmas" and the Pearlescent Vellum to die-cut the bubbles behind the words. I also die-cut white snowflakes using the Christmas Day Snow dies from Echo Park. This came together really quickly since the bear was already completely done. He looks so cute in his sparkly winter gear.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Berry Burst, Whisper White, Basic Black, Basic Grey, Pink Pirouette, Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!);
Pearlescent Vellum (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers: Knit Picky Fall (Lawn Fawn)
Dies: Mini Slimline Stackables, Woodland Critter Huggers, Woodland Critter Huggers Add-On (Lawn Fawn);
joyeux Noël / bonne année (Crealies); Christmas Day Snow (Echo Park)
Accessories: Slimline Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

Holiday Home

Inspiration: July 2022 Card Maps sketch

This is the second card I made with the Holly Days collection from Simple Stories based on the Card Maps sketches. The white cardstock was die-cut using the Dotted Rectangle Stackables dies and embossed with the Winter Snowflakes 3D embossing folder. The sentiment was created with Paper Rose's Falalalala Fine Script die, with Old Olive cardstock for the word and Pearlescent Vellum for the bubble.

This is another card I plan to give to the children's hospital.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Pearlescent Vellum (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Enamel Dots, Sticker Book: Holly Days (Simple Stories)
Dies: Falalalala Fine Script (Paper Rose); Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Cherry Cobbler Curly Trim, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
White Envelope (The Paper Cut); Winter Snowflakes 3D Embossing Folder (Sizzix)

 

Santa's Sack

Inspiration: July 2022 Card Maps sketch

The new Card Maps quarterly sketches just came out and I decided to draw inspiration from them to put together more Christmas cards for the children's hospital. I started looking through my Christmas collections and Holly Days quickly jumped out at me. I didn't have time to make a lot with it when it came out last year and I thought the colorful, whimsical designs would appeal to children.

I was particularly drawn to the sketch with a tag as I knew this collection had a sheet of cut-apart tags that I could use. I picked the Dec. 25 tag and the Santa image from the cardstock stickers. Then I looked through patterned papers to see what I could use to go with it. I selected the snowflakes pattern for the background and the Ho Ho Ho pattern for the center. I matted the center paper with Shaded Spruce cardstock using the Perfect Layers tool. I used the same cardstock to cut a little dimensional banner using the Fancy Folded Banners die and I glued the Ho Ho Ho puffy sticker over it. I added enamel dots on each side and threaded white, pink and red baker's twine on the tag.

I didn't like having the Santa float on the card, so adding the scalloped polka dot banner grounded the image. The card still felt a little bare, so I added the little tab and a gift from the sticker book, and another cardstock sticker gift popped up over the Santa. I used my mini stapler to add staples to each side of the polka dot border, which finished the card to my liking. I use additional stickers on the envelope to finish up the set. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Shaded Spruce (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Puffy Stickers, Enamel Dots, Cardstock Stickers, Sticker Book: Holly Days (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Baker's Twine, Fancy Folded Banners Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Square Card Blanks and Envelopes (Docrafts); Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Stapler (Stampin' Up!)

 

Merry Bear

Inspiration: July 2022 Card Maps Sketch

I kept going with the Card Maps sketches and the Holly Days collection from Simple Stories and this is the third card I put together. The bear image was fussy cut from a cut-apart sheet, and the gifts from a patterned paper. I cut a tag from the cut-apart sheet, shortened it and used the backside as a decorative strip on the bottom. I rounded the bottom corners. I arranged the gifts on it, adding the last one with Stampin' Dimensionals. I stamped the "Happy Holidays" sentiment in Real Red ink. I topped the tag with a decorative brad.

I wrapped Real Red ribbon around the card and added a pink button in the center of the bow. I popped the bear on Stampin' Dimensionals and added it to the card. I added a red button to his scarf, Stickles to its cheeks and hat and sequins to the gifts' bows.

Even though the card is A2, the button made it a tight squeeze in a regular envelope, so I found an old piece of Garden Green Designer Series Paper and used it to make an oversize envelope. I used another tag from the cut-apart sheet as my address block.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Pétales de poinsettia (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Real Red (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Decorative Brads, Sticker Book: Holly Days (Simple Stories)
Ink: Real Red (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Envelope Punch Board, Real Red Cotton Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals,
White Baker's Twine (Stampin' Up!); Diamond Stickles (Ranger);
Pastel Dreams and Deck the Halls Shaker Mixes (28 Lilac Lane / Buttons Galore & More)

 

Christmas Portraits

Inspiration: July 2022 Page Maps sketch + Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes)

As I was making cards with the Holly Days collection, I decided I should make at least one layout with it, especially if I was to use the chipboard frames. I picked one of the Page Maps sketches, and started layering papers. I used the File Folder Edges dies to create the tab on the polka dot paper. The word "Noel" was already in the die-cut pack, so that helped me create a quick title on the page. I used number stickers from the sticker book to add the date, on a tag die-cut from the Bits & Pieces pack.

Pretty much all of the embellishing was done with various elements from the collection - decorative brads, sticker book, chipboard stickers, chipboard frames, puffy stickers... I didn't have any Christmas pictures already printed, so I went looking through past Christmas pictures to find something that would work in the frame. The sketch called for a 4" x 6" picture, but I ended up using the frame with two apertures and printing my pictures to a smaller size to fit. I will have to make another layout showing the outtakes from those pictures, because it took a lot of work to get a couple of half-decent pictures. We were working with low lighting and a lot of the pictures unfortunately came out hazy. My young niece also got bored really quickly and peaced out, so I'm glad I have at least two good pictures that she appears in.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Pink (Bazzill)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Puffy Stickers, Sticker Book, Chipboard Stickers,
Chipboard Frames, Decorative Brads, Enamel Dots: Holly Days (Simple Stories)
Dies: File Folder Edges Die-namics (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: LePen pens (Marvy); Stampin' Dimensionals, Eyelet (Stampin' Up!)

 

Special Christmas Message

Inspiration: Making Envelopes out of Tags Tutorial 

I recently caught a video showing how to turn tags into envelopes and I thought it was a simple idea that produced a very neat result! I had been wanting to create a few Christmas cards here and there because my local craft store is once again gathering Christmas cards for kids who will unfortunately be spending the holidays at the hospital. I've given some cards last year and I would love to do it again this year, but since I've pretty much depleted my stash after sending my own holiday cards, I will need to get going on those early this year, to have some to give and some to send. Christmas is my favorite occasion to craft for so it does not take much to get me motivated, but I just try not to start too early, otherwise none of my Spring and Summer supplies get used.

After seeing the cute sample in the video where the crafter had put mini envelopes on a card, I went through my seasonal papers and I found leftover papers from a very old Bo Bunny collection from 2010 called Gift of Love - back when Bo Bunny was still doing cute, colorful papers. I've used these papers on many projects over the years and have loved the results, so it was fun to revisit it once again.

I used the neutral paper for the background, making sure to incorporate the snowflake part into my background. I added an embossed frame with an embossing folder. I created my envelopes using my Nested Tags and randomly picking various tag sizes. I knew I had the "Special Delivery" words in the Vintage Holiday stamp set, so I embossed it in Pale Gold Pearl embossing powder on a strip of patterned paper and then I stamped my French sentiment ("A very merry Christmas") in Elegant Eggplant ink on a green tag. I slid this one in an opened enveloped, and I tied baker's twine around the other two, adding a matching button on one of them.

I die-cut a snowflake out of Gold Rush cardstock and added it to the main envelope along with a purple pearl. I sprinkled matching sequins around the card. This is one of the cards that will be going to the hospital. Because they will be given to kids, I try to pick bright and colorful patterns as I know firsthand that kids are just not that into vintage designs, no matter how pretty the resulting cards are. This is the time to pull out all of those adorable Doodlebug collections!

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Enveloppé d'amour (Stampin' Up!); Vintage Holidays (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
Cardstock: Highland Heather (Stampin' Up!); Gold Rush (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers: Gift of Love (Bo Bunny)
Ink: Elegant Eggplant (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Nested Tags (Scrapbook.com); Layered Snowflakes (Pinkfresh);
Foundation 6 (Queen & Co); Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: Filigree Frame Embossing Folder, Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope
Punch Board, White Baker's Twine, Adhesive Sequins (Stampin' Up!); Sequins (Cartwright's);
Button (Buttons Galore & More); Amethyst Pearls (Studio Katia); Pale Gold Pearl Embossing Powder (Ranger)

 

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

At Christmas, my friend Anne-Marie sent me a beautiful picture of her and her little family. As I was putting my Christmas cards away, I kept this aside so that I could make a page with it and keep it in my scrapbook album. I was trying to decide which holiday collection to use and decided to go for Holiday Magic because I hadn't scrapbooked with it yet and also because I spotted a cut-apart that said "tree farm" on one of the pages, which fit nicely with the picture.

I sort of had a plan when I started this page, but it quickly went out the window as it was not coming out like I would have hoped. But I did keep the idea of using the big swirl background, cut along the colours so that I could distress the edges and curl them for dimension and adding matching stitching to each swirl. (As a side note, I lost a lot of time stitching parts of the paper that ended up being totally covered, but that's what happens when you are not really sure where you are going with a design.) 

I started placing various elements around the picture to create clusters, using cut-aparts, die-cuts, puffy stickers and chipboard stickers. I added matching enamel dots on each swirl. I added a bit of journaling at the bottom of the page.

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Chipboard Frames, Ephemera, Cardstock Stickers,
Puffy Stickers, Enamel Dots: Holiday Magic (Pinkfresh)
Accessories: 3D Foam (iCraft); Needlepoint Floss (DMC);
Distressing Tool (Stampin' Up!)

 

Gold Christmas Tree Trio

Inspiration: Global Design Project #323 (Celebration)

I wanted to use revisit the idea of the three tags on a card and pair it with the Trimmed Trees stencil from Clearly Besotted. I die-cut the tags out of the plaid paper from the Home for Christmas paper pad from Carta Bella and I stenciled a different tree on each one using White Gold Icing Paste from Finnabair. I threaded the tags with green and white baker's twine and I added snowflake stickers from the Sticker Book. I stamped the "Happy Holidays" sentiment from the Heartfelt Wishes stamp set (from Stampin' Up!'s current Holidays catalogue) and cut it out. I used the Everyday Sentiment Banners dies from Lawn Fawn to cut a banner to put behind the sentiment for better definition, which I popped up on dimensional adhesive.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Voeux sincères (Heartfelt Wishes - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Sticker Book: Home for Christmas (Carta Bella)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Dies: Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables, Say What? Gift Tags,
Everyday Sentiment Banners (Lawn Fawn); Labels Collection (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: A2 Midnight Black Envelope (Envelopes.com);
White Gold Icing Paste (Finnabair); Trimmed Trees Stencil (Clearly Besotted);
Garden Green/White Baker's Twine, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

Framed Tannenbaum

Inspiration: Little Red Wagon #632 (Do They Know It's Christmas)

I watched my local store's Facebook Live video today and kept myself busy doing some fussy cutting while watching. I had pulled out the Cosy Winter - Sugar and Spice creative pad from P13 and I ended up cutting out a big pile of images, not necessarily having a specific plan on how I would use them. Once I was done, I started playing with the shapes and I ended up with this layered card.

I used Pool Party Core'dinations cardstock for the background (because I thought I would use an embossing folder and sand the surface) with the Wonky Stitched Rectangles Die-namics and I added a piece of Pearlescent Vellum embossed with the Tufted 3D embossing folder in the center of my frame. The rest is pretty much just fussy cut images that I arranged around the card to make something pretty.

 

 

The second project that I made with the images I had fussy cut is an ATC. It wasn't necessarily planned that way, I just liked the look of the striped frame overlapping the scrap of pink paper and I started filling the frame with the candy images and I reused an organza bow that had not worked for a previous project and had been left on my desk. I then used Glossy Accents and added Frosted Sparkle glitter to parts of the images. I had initially planned to add this to a card, but the size reminded me of an ATC, so I pulled out my ruler tp check the size and sure enough, it is 2½" x 3½". My local store owner has encouraged her clients to make ATC and trade them in when they go to the store. This is a first for me, I have never made ATCs before in all of my years of crafting and stamping. While the idea of doing a series assembly-style is not appealing to me, the idea of making individual ones with available supplies as a way to give new life to scraps is more enticing. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Pool Party Core'dinations (Stampin' Up!);
Pearlescent Vellum (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers: Cosy Winter - Sugar and Spice Creative Pad (P13)
Accessories: Wonky Stitch Rectangle Stax Dies (My Favorite Things);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Tufted 3D Embossing Folder, Shimmery Crystal Effects,
White Medium Envelope, Magenta Madness Organza Ribbon (Stampin' Up!); 
Champagne Celebration Satin Baubles (Trinity Stamps); Bora Bora Pearls (Studio Katia);
Frosted Sparkle Glitterbitz (Cosmic Shimmer); Glossy Accents (Ranger)

 

Poinsettia Tag

Inspiration: In[k]spire Me #466 (Elegant Christmas Colours) + Just Add Ink #585 (Gift Packaging)

I am putting the finishing touches on Christmas gifts. My mom bought my sister's gift when she visited in October, had it gift-wrapped at the store and asked if she could leave it at my place rather rather than having to lug it back and forth twice, which I was totally fine with. I figured I'd add a gift tag on it just for fun. The store had wrapped the gift in gold paper with a red twill ribbon, so it gave a lot of creative freedom to do any kind of tag. I really wanted to use the Seasonal Sketch dies from Tim Holtz. I dug through my scrap drawers to find colours I liked and I added a bit of gold foil sheets to make the design stand out. I wanted a neutral background and I found a white polka dot kraft cardstock in my neutral scraps that is from an old Stampin' Up! paper collection. The tag die was pulled from a Planner Essentials die set from Elizabeth Craft Designs.

I added my sister's initial using the Tall Skinny Alphabet dies on Red Berries Specialty paper from Tonic. As I mentioned in a previous post, the texture unfortunately get squished during the die-cutting process, but the sheen remains, so the colour is not as flat as it would be with regular cardstock. I'll be adding Old Olive/Pretty Peacock reversible ribbon on the tag once I'm ready to tie it to the gift.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Various Scraps; Red Berries Specialty Paper (Tonic); Gold Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Speciality Designer Series Paper: (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Seasonal Sketch (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Tall Skinny Alphabet (Scrapbook.com);
Sidekick Essentials 11 Dies (Elizabeth Craft Designs)

 

And To All a Good Night

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Bling It On) + Hand Stamped Sentiments #379

I was happy to spot the Santa sleigh in the inspiration image as I was really looking forward to using the Dash Away All die from Tim Holtz. I have wanted a small to medium size Santa sleigh die for the longest time and the ones that I've seen in the past were not what I was hoping. I remember one in particular from a year or two ago where the deers' antlers were shooting straight up above their head and were not delicate at all. Good things come to those who wait and I love the look of this one. The delicate moon and star trail included in the die set are the cherry on top.

When I started the card, I had two ideas I wanted to implement: overstamp some kind of graphic text in the sky and use Chibitronics to light up the stars.

I started by inking a piece of Bristol with Milled Lavender, Seedless Preserves, Dusty Concord and Chipped Sapphire inks. I spritzed with water, then splattered with Liquid Stardust. I die-cut the sleigh out of Misty Moonlight cardstock, the moon out of gold glitter paper and I die-cut the star trail, which I backed with vellum to diffuse the light from the Chibitronics. I had not done a lighted card in a long time, so I went back to YouTube to find a video to refresh my memory and make sure I didn't mess up. I used white lights. In hindsight, I think I should have tried yellow lights (and three instead of two) to get a warm glow, but it still looked good enough to keep as is.

Once the lighting part was put in place on the bottom piece, I went back to my inked cardstock. I pulled out the Music & Advert background stamps from Tim Holtz and I was trying to decide which type of ink to use for it. I kept thinking it would look amazing in gold foil. A while back, when I started getting the supplies to try out foiling, I had purchased a bottle of toner from Heidi Swapp. I wasn't that keen on the stamp set idea, because you basically have to trash it out every time you use it and buy a refill pad. But during the pandemic, Tim paired with Heidi for a Instagram Live where he showed how he was using a brayer to apply ink to stamps instead. Heidi's mind was blown by this idea - and so was mine! I didn't want to work from memory and risk ruining any of my supplies, so I searched for the video and watched it again to be able to follow the steps. I have to admit that I'm not a messy crafter so any kind of mixed media that leaves your work space looking like a kindergarden kid went to town with craft supplies is not my fave, but this went surprisingly well and I was able to get everything cleaned up pretty quickly and easily. I have the travel-size media mat which worked perfectly for this. For foiling, I used Heidi Swapp's gold stars foil. The result is beautiful, but because this foil is holographic, the shine is a lot. I might have preferred straight-up gold, but considering that this was my first ever try at this technique, I'm still really pleased with the result.

I was loving how the top of the card was turning out, so now I was left with the dilemma of what to do with the bottom. I tested out creating snow banks out of glitter paper. I first tried with pure white glitter paper, but the result was too flat. I pulled out Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper and it was pairing with the purple sky much better. I had to find a way to let the recipient know where to push the activate the lights, so I used the Snowflake Embosslits on Purple Posy cardstock and I inked it with the ink pads I had used for the sky to give it dimension. I added a smaller punched snowflake in the center, and a Say It in Crystals gem. I punched a small tag from my leftover inked paper and handwrote "push here" in French. I pulled out my ribbon box and I liked how the Magenta Madness organza ribbon was pairing with the Seedless Preserves ink and the delicateness of it, so I added a bow.

The card is pretty thick due to the Chibitronics, so I made an oversize envelope for it. I repeated the sleigh die and snow banks on it, and I added my niece's name spelled with the Wonderland alphabet Bigz die. Megan just turned nine this fall and she has been spotting the cracks in the Santa Claus story for a few years now, but she's also smart enough to know that if she announces that Santa is not real, some of the things we do in his name might disappear as well, so I know she is keeping up the pretense (and for her younger sister's benefit as well). When she was explaining her Santa logic to me this fall, I asked her if she was still expecting to receive a card from Santa in my little Christmas mailbox and she said "Yes..." while cracking a knowing smile. So here we are and this Santa card will be waiting for her in my little Christmas mailbox on Christmas Eve.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Music & Advert (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
Cardstock: Bristol (Canson); Gold Glitter Paper (Unknown);
Misty Moonlight, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper, Purple Posy, Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Dusty Concord, Chipped Sapphire, Seedless Preserves, Milled Lavendar Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Dies: Dash Away All, Snowflake Impresslits (Tim Holtz for Sizzix);
Slimline Stitched Hillside Borders (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Brayer, Envelope Punch Board, Mini Tag Punch, Magenta Madness Organza Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
Toner, Gold Stars Reactive Foil (Heidi Swapp); Snowflake Punch (EK Success);
Pretty Pale Say It in Crystals (Prime Marketing); Blender Brushes (Taylored Expressions);
Liquid Stardust (Lawn Fawn); Spritzing Bottle (Tim Holtz for Ranger);
Lights, Battery, Copper Tape (Chibitronics)

 

Christmas Bench

Inspiration: October 2020 Card Maps Sketch + Little Red Wagon #632 (Christmas)

I'm trying to squeeze in some last-minute Christmas creations before the Holidays roll in. One of the collections I purchased this year was Home for Christmas from Carta Bella, including the sticker book and the chipboard pieces. I used the Say What? Gift Tags dies from Lawn Fawn to create the tags from the sketch, and I layered two chipboard pieces over them. The Falalalala Fine Script dies had been sitting on my desk for a while, waiting for the right project to be added on, and the size and length was perfect here. I used the Red Berries Speciality paper from Tonic. The texture got squished and lost during the die-cutting process, but I still have the nice sheen, which makes it stand out more than regular cardstock would have. I tested adding the shadow piece in vellum, but I didn't like the bulky result and stuck with the word only. I used a few stickers to decorate the envelope and quickly had a finished card.

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Sticker Book, Chipboard Accents (Carta Bella)
Specialty Paper: Red Berries (Tonic)
Dies: Falalalala Fine Script (Paper Rose);
Say What? Gift Tags, Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: A2 Avocado Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

 

Eat, Drink and Be Magical

Inspiration: Tuesday Morning Sketch #637

I've been working on my nieces' Christmas cards and this is the one that will be going to the youngest. They're both fascinated with interactive cards, so I picked the Magic Color Slider for this one. I pulled out the Home for the Holidays collection from Doodlebug (2013). I colored the image with Copic markers and I decided to add a holly leaf sticker to the stocking so that it looked a little embellished even when it's in black and white. The little frame was fussy cut from patterned paper. I made a matching envelope out of patterned paper, using a slightly larger format to accommodate the height of the card. I couldn't resist including my tinsel yarn on the card, which I've been adding to half of my creations this year.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Eat, Drink and Be Merry (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Going Grey, Whisper White, Window Sheet (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Home for the Holidays (Doodlebug Design)
Ink: Jet Black (StazOn); Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Dies: Simple Stripes Diagonal, Magic Color Slider (Lawn Fawn);
Wonky Stitched Rectangles Stax (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: Silver Stickers (Starform); Holly Berries Sprinkles Shapes (Doodlebug Design);
Christmas Fairy Crystals (Memory Box); Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!); Silver Tinsel Yarn (Craft Smart);
Markers (Copic)

Let It Snow

Inspiration: Festive Friday #98 (Sparkle + Emboss + Die-Cuts)

This card was born from a bunch of pieces left on my desk from past crafting sessions.

The sparkly white tree was me testing the Bottle Brush Trees dies. For the background, I had dry embossed a piece of cardstock and inked the tree branches with a brush, but I was not liking the result, so the cardstock had been left aside. I ended up stamping one of the the Perfect Plaids background stamp on the backside of the embossed cardstock and I liked the result much better, so this became my background piece. The blue cardstock with holographic foiled snowflakes was a leftover foiled piece from this previous card. I also had the washi tape from my most recent collection purchase, Feelin' Frosty. The colors were matching the pieces I was putting together, so I used it at the top of the card.

The one piece I specifically created for this card was the sentiment. I found those Tim Holtz dies at a really good price in a clearance section and I was eager to try them, so I used dazzling diamond glimmer paper for the back and added Polished Pink for the words. I had a scrap of this color on my desk that had been stamped with the Knit Together background stamp and I loved the look, but the scrap was too small, so I stamped a new piece of cardstock with my stamp again to have the proper size. 

To finish off my card, I tied a piece of white baker's twine at the top and added pearls in matching colours to my tree. I created two more die-cut trees to embellish the inside of the card and the envelope. I'm very pleased with how cute this one turned out and that I cleaned up my desk a bit as well.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Perfect Plaids (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous); Knit Together (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Mint Macaron, Misty Moonlight, Polished Pink,
Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Mint Macaron, Polished Pink (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Bottle Brush Trees (Spellbinders); Festive Words (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Accessories: Feelin' Frosty Washi Tape, Frosty Snowflakes Stencil (Simple Stories);
Holographic Foil (Recollections); Transfer Gel Duo (Deco Foil);
White Baker's Twine, Stampin' Dimensionals, Wintry Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!);
San Marina, Hibiscus and Teal Ocean Pearls, Snowflakes Glitter (Studio Katia);
Coin Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

Comfort and Joy - Skate

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Cold as Ice) + October 2021 Card Maps Sketch

I kept going with the Comfort and Joy paper collection. I found the Detailed Skate dies and decided to use the skate as the central image for the snowflake sketch. I started getting my skate ready and picking patterned papers to layer and then I remembered I had this ephemera pack that I've barely used while making my cards this week, so I had a look in there - and I started getting layer happy! The finished card is definitely more full than the sketch, but you can see, the basic shapes are all there. I am pleased with the result I achieved on this one. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Pistachio Pudding, Shimmery White (Stampin' Up!); Holographic Paper (Recollections)
Patterned Papers, Ephemera: Comfort and Joy (My Mind's Eye)
Dies: Deco Labels, Detailed Skate (Stampin' Up!); Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Cable Knit 3D Embossing Folder, Stampin' Dimensionals,
White Baker's Twine, Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!)

 

Peas on Earth Snow Globe

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Cold as Ice) + Little Red Wagon #630 - Never Used Before Stuff (both the Peas on Earth and Ready, Set, Snow stamp sets had never been used, so I got a twofer by combining them on this card)

I combined the Peas on Earth set with the Ready, Set, Snow set from Lawn Fawn. I used the Shaker Add-On to make the snow globe 3D, but didn't fill it with any shaker bit, as I felt the scene already had a lot of details and I didn't want to distract from it. I wanted the plaque on the snow globe to be metallic, so I used gold foil sheets with gold embossing powder to make it. I also grabbed one of my gold seasonal seals and incorporated it in the design as well. I had been looking for pure white glitter paper (with no pink, green or orange colours showing when the glitter catches the light) and I finally found what I was looking for at Michaels about a month ago. I used it to make snow banks at the bottom of both embossed panels. The left panel was embossed with Sizzix's Christmas Tree Pattern 3D folder and the right panel was embossed with Stampin' Up!'s wintry 3D folder. 

The Bashful Blue background was created with the Stitched Snowflake backdrop die and the Perfect Plaids stamp from Stampers Anonymous, although you can barely tell once all of the other elements have been added over it. The tiny white snowflakes are snowflake glitter from Studio Katia. They have such a nice size (and again, pure white!) and I've been sprinkling them on all of my winter projects lately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Perfect Plaids (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous); Peas on Earth,
Ready Set Snow (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Brocade Blue, Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Lucky Limeade,
Night of Navy, Gold Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!); White Glitter Paper (Recollections)
Ink: Brocade Blue, Bashful Blue, Lucky Limeade, Night of Navy (Stampin' Up!);
Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Embossing Folders: Wintry (Stampin' Up!); Christmas Tree Pattern (Sizzix)
Dies: Ready Set Snow, Ready Set Snow Shaker Add-On, Peas on Earth,
Dotted Rectangle Stackables, Stitched Hillside Borders (Lawn Fawn); Seasonal Seals (Sizzix)
Accessories: Night of Navy Corduroy Ribbon, Night of Navy Baker's Twine,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Blue Adhesive-Backed Gems, Stampin' Blends Markers (Stampin' Up!);
Snowflake Glitter (Studio Katia); Dauber Brushes (iCrafter);
Markers (Copic); A2 Navy Linen Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

Christmas Den

Inspiration: CAS Colours & Sketches #449 + Retro Rubber Challenge #173 (Holiday Helpers stamp set, purchased two years ago)

For this card, I wanted to use the Shadow Box Card Fireplace Add-On dies from Lawn Fawn, which had been sitting in my stash since their release. I wasn't sure I wanted to make a shadow box card, though, so I tried making a fireplace I could use flat on a card. I picked colours based on the CAS Colours & Sketches challenge.

I stenciled a brick pattern on So Saffron and on Soft Suede cardstock, using Soft Suede ink. I die-cut the fireplace opening and I layered the two pieces of cardstock, adding the Santa legs and the fireplace elements. I die-cut embellishments for the mantel, using patterned paper for the stockings.

I then went hunting through my stamp sets to find what I wanted to build a scene with. I liked the idea of using the elves from Holiday Helpers, along with the box and toys. For the background, I used Gold Rush cardstock from Lawn Fawn (a personal favorite) and I embossed it with the Painted Texture embossing folder from Stampin' Up!, which looks like a stucco wall to me.

The card was still feeling a little bare, so I used the frame from Den Sweet Den. I added red mini pompoms to the elves' hats and I made a matching envelope out of patterned paper, topped with a tag. I need to sleep on this card and see how I feel about it once I've had time to step back. It's cute, but right now, if feels blah to me (maybe because the colours are quite muted).

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Den Sweet Den, Holiday Helpers (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: So Saffron, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Mint Macaron, Basic Black, Whisper White,
Copper Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!); Gold Rush (Lawn Fawn); White Glitter Paper (Recollections)
Designer Series Paper: Peaceful Prints (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Soft Suede (Stampin' Up!); Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Dies: Den Sweet Den, Holiday Helpers, Shadow Box Card Fireplace Add-On (Lawn Fawn);
Tailor Made Tags (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Painted Texture 3D Embossing Folder, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals,
Stampin' Blends, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!);
Red Mini Pompoms (Queen & Co); Satin Gold Pearls (Studio Katia)

 

Christmas Tree and Berries

Inspiration: Global Design Project #321 + SUO challenge #290 (Christmas)

I dug into the Peaceful Prints Designer Series paper to make more Christmas cards. I wanted to paper piece the skirt of my Delivering Cheer lady in plaid paper, and I colored the rest of the image using the Stampin' Blends markers. I used the Merriest Frames embossing folder and dies combo to create a layering piece out of Mint Macaron cardstock and I inked the raised portions with matching ink to make the details more apparent. I used another sheet of the DSP for the background, die-cut with a stitched rectangle die.

For the center rectangle, I used the stitched rectangle from the Merriest Frame set and DSP, and I added a mat cut out of green glimmer paper (sold in a past Holidays catalogue). I looked at ribbon options and I have only one Garden Green option, but the sides were Very Vanilla, which was clashing with the white from my papers and stamped image. So I cut the length of ribbon I needed and I used my Mint Macaron Stampin' Blends marker to change the color of the edges. I'm trying really hard to use the large collection of ribbon I've cumulated over the years and the alcohol-ink markers are a really effective, colorfast and fast-drying way to modify ribbon to what is required. (I've noticed it does a number on the marker nibs, though!) 

For the sentiment, I picked one from the Merriest Moments stamp set and bubble-cut it to add to the card. I still felt it needed something more, so I stamped the berries from the same set and cut them out with dies to fill in the foliage a bit. I also added a red candy dot that was sitting on my desk after coming off another project.

I used one of the sheets of DSP to make a matching envelope using the Envelope Punch Board, and I added a tag die-cut with the Tailor Made Tags dies for the address block.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Delivering Cheer, Joyeux moments (Merriest Frames)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Garden Green, Green Glimmer Paper
Designer Series Paper: Peaceful Prints
Ink: Mint Macaron, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green
Accessories: Merriest Frames Embossing Folder and Dies, Envelope Punch Board,
Stampin' Blends Markers, Tailor Made Tags Dies, Garden Green Ribbon,
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers, Stitched Rectangles Dies,
Regals Candy Dots

 

Merriest Christmas Frames

Inspiration: SUO Challenge #290 (Christmas) + ColourQ #102

This is my first time purchasing an hybrid embossing folder and I was really curious to see how it worked. I'm not sure if I did this right. I put the die in the folder matching the embossed detail and tried to find the right sandwich for the Big Shot. The first time didn't cut deep enough, the second try had a faded embossing, so I ended up die-cutting first and embossing second. I'll do more research to see if I can find a video showing it done with a Big Shot instead of the Stampin' Up! cutting machine, but in the meantime, I ended up with an okay result.

I stamped my card base with the Birch background stamp and layered my Mint Macaron die-cut piece. I inked the edges and detail to give it a bit of dimension. Then I die-cut the stitched rectangle out of Poppy Parade cardstock, stamped and embossed my sentiment in white and then I proceeded to stamp the images from the set in Basic Grey, Poppy Parade, Mint macaron and Wild Wasabi (I tried all of the current green and couldn't make a single one work with the colour combo, so wasabi was the colour that matched the best). I used the matching dies to die-cut the images and then I arranged them around the card.

This bundle is great to make relatively simple cards that look very layered and intricate. There is definitely less work involved on this card than the result would suggest.

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Joyeux Moments, Birch
Cardstock: Basic Grey, Poppy Parade, Mint Macaron, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Grey, Poppy Parade, Mint Macaron, Wild Wasabi
Accessories: Merriest Frames Dies and Embossing Folder, Stampin' Dimensionals,
White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Sponge Daubers

 

Comfort and Joy - Ornament

Inspiration: In[k]spire Me #464 + October 2021 Card Maps Sketch

I'm still riding the inspiration wave of the Card Maps sketches combined with the Comfort and Joy collection from My Mind's Eye (2016). The ornament sketch was clearly calling for the Stitched Ornaments dies from Lawn Fawn to be pulled out. I wasn't sure first how to embellish my bauble, but once I started trying out things with the dies, I got in the groove. My elements were feeling flat, so I decided to pull out the Antique Linen Distress ink to add to the edges and that gave it a fun vintage look that made the overall card more appealing. I embossed my sentiment in old white powder that has sort of yellowed over time, matching the vanilla tones of the papers nicely. For the ornament, I used Gold Rush cardstock from Lawn Fawn for the snowflake element and the top of the ornament. I borrowed a snowflake from the Stitched Snowflakes die set from Stampin' Up! to add a layer. I used the Genial Gems around the snowflake on the ornament for a bit of texture. I am truly loving those gems paired with this paper collection, the colour is truly perfect for it.

I repeated similar elements on the envelope to match and used a few leftover pieces to embellish the inside of the card.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Joyeuse année (Wonderful Year - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Evening Evergreen, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Pistachio Pudding (Stampin' Up!);
Gold Rush (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers: Comfort and Joy (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Antique Linen Distress (Ranger)
Dies: Stitched Snowflakes, Deco Labels (Stampin' Up!);
Stitched Ornaments (Lawn Fawn); Wonky Stitch Rectangle Stax (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: Genial Gems, Stampin' Dimensionals, White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Circle Punches (Stampin' Up!); 
Blending Tool (Ranger); A2 Metallic Anthracite Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

Christmas Sweater Trio

Inspiration: Inspired By #197 + Festive Friday #98 (jumper + jingle bells + red/green/gold)

I have wanted an ugly sweater stamp set for the longest time and I kept seeing some that were close but not quite what I wanted. When I saw the Ugly Sweater Party set from Photoplay, I decided this most closely resembled what I was hoping to find. I had been looking forward to pulling this set out, so the Festive Friday list was perfect timing with "jumper" being on it.

I stamped and colored my three sweaters with Copic markers, using colors that match the Ugly Christmas Sweater collection from Simple Stories. I cut a piece of heart-pattern paper for the card base using the Dotted Rectangle Stackables dies from Lawn Fawn. As I was looking through papers, I found a handmade envelope I had done a few weeks ago for another card and where I somehow had messed up the dimensions so the envelope was not the correct size for the card. I knew I could reuse it for another card, so I left it in my paper pack. I checked to see if it would work for this design and it seems like it would, so I made a 3¾" x 5¼" card base, added my patterned paper panel and then I was inspired to dig through my scraps to find my leftover gold frames from the Fine Frame cover die from Altenew.

I die-cut a cross stitched circle to mat one of the sweater, similar to the sketch and to break up the design a bit. I used a knit snowflake sticker for one of the smaller circles and the elf hat for the other smaller element and I added a sentiment banner at the top (that reads "our best wishes").

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Voeux sincères (Stampin' Up!); Ugly Sweater Party (Photoplay)
Cardstock: Garden Green, Very Vanilla, Gold Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Stickers: Ugly Christmas Sweater (Simple Stories)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Garden Green (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Fine Frame Cover Die (Altenew); Dotted Rectangle Stackables,
Cross Stitched Circle Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Ugly Sweater Party (Photoplay);
Tailor Made Tags (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Mini Jingle Bells, Stampin' Dimensionals, 
Envelope Punch Board  (Stampin' Up!); Markers (Copic);
Christmas Fairy Crystals (Memory Box)

 

Trimming the Tree

Inspiration: Lawn Fawnatics #113

My local scrapbook store owner offered a really nice sale on Black Friday, so I was able to put my hands on a few stamp sets from the Lawn Fawn fall release. I decided to pull out Merry Mice today. I didn't have much of a plan when I started, I just stamped all of the images, then I pulled out the Let It Shine Snowflakes 12" x 12" papers. I pulled my 6" x 6" Lawn Fawn papers to see which papers could make an interesting colour combo and I coloured my images accordingly. I die-cut the images and placed them on an oval die-cut out of the B side from the white snowflake paper.

The sketch was inspired by a Mojo Monday sketch I hadn't used yet. I used papers from Let's Bokeh in the Snow and Knit Picky. On the soft grey knit pattern, I stamped and embossed my sentiment in green embossing powder. I added mint lace and silver trim, then I created a bow out of the soft peach bokeh paper, topped with a snowflake sequin and fairy crystal. I still felt the card was too bare, so I reached for my beloved Stitched Snowflakes and Mini Snowflakes dies and filled in the space at left. I also added a piece of washi tape on top of the sentiment. I did a large stitched snowflake on my matching envelope as well.

 

 

 

  

 

Supplies
Stamps: Merry Mice (Lawn Fawn); Voeux sincères (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Petal Pink, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Let It Shine Snowflakes, Let's Bokeh in the Snow, Knit Picky (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark
Dies: Merry Mice, Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables, Stitched Oval Stackables,
Put a Bow on It, Mini Snowflakes, Stitched Snowflakes (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Christmas Fairy Crystals (Memory Box); Markers (Copic);
A2 Lagoon Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com); Gumball Green Stampin' Emboss Powder,
Washi Tape, Mint Macaron Lace Trim, Silver Trim, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Ice Ice Baby Gumdrops (Your Next Stamps); Aquas Hero Hues Enamel Dots (Hero Arts);
Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

 

Bringing the Christmas Tree Home

Inspiration: In[k]spire Me #463

I was inspired by the pretty colour combo from the challenge, so I pulled out cardstock pieces and started prepping different pieces with different embossing folders, background stamps and stencils. Then I looked for which stamps I would use and selected the Seasons of Fun hostess set from the current minicatalogue. I love when Stampin' Up! does characters, which is a nice break from flowers.

For the Misty Moonlight cardstock panel, I used the Frosty Snowflakes stencil on it and covered the images with Transfer Gel Duo. I left aside to dry and in the meantime, I used the Knit Together background stamp on the Polished Pink cardstock. (I love that realistic-looking knit pattern, I expect this one to remain a seasonal favorite for years to come.) Between the two panels, I added washi tape from the new Feelin' Frosty collection by Simple Stories, plus a strand of Silver tinsel yarn for texture. Once the gel was dry, I ran the panel through my laminating machine with a holographic foil sheet. The result is really pretty! I had purchased the gel duo because it can be used with a die-cutting machine to transfer foil, but I will say that the result if much more even using the laminating machine instead. (My current laminating machine is hit and miss, though. I've spent more time unclogging paper from it than anything else, so it hasn't always been a joy to work with, but when it does work, the results are a lot of fun.)

Because the colour combo includes Crumb Cake, I decided I wanted to get my colored pencils out to color the image. I used a white gel pen to add falling snow over the image, and glued on a couple of silver stars that I had on my desk (confetti from a card I received in a card exchange).

I was trying to use the sketch from the challenge as well to put the card together and I was struggling. I had also colored the little dog catching flakes and couldn't make it work in the design. I finally decided to keep the dog for the inside of the card and flipped the card to landscape mode instead of portrait and it immediately worked much better better.

Sitting on my desk were a few pieces die-cut with the awesome Seasonal Seals Switchlits from Sizzix, so I picked the silver snowflake seal and used it as the second piece from the sketch. I then looked for sentiment options and layered a die-cut "merry Christmas" over the seal. While going through dies, I spotted the Streetlights dies from MFT and decided to see if this would make a nice addition to the card. I masked some portions of the streetlight and made the colour darker with matching ink to give it a big of dimension. I dabbed So Saffron ink on Very Vanilla cardstock with a dauber and masked the inside the light with it. I added Midas Touch Aqua Shimmer to the light.

I used the dog image inside the card and repeated the same colors and elements on my matching card.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Seasons of Fun (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Misty Moonlight, Polished Pink, Mint Macaron, Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!);
Metallic Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for idea-ology)
Ink: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Misty Moonlight, Polished Pink, Mint Macaron (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Feelin' Frosty Washi Tape, Frosty Snowflakes Stencil (Simple Stories);
A2 Metallic Sapphire Envelope (Envelopes.com); Joyeux Dies (DIY & Cie);
Silver Tinsel Yarn (Craft Smart); Seasonal Seals Switchlits (Sizzix); 
Streelights Die-namics (My Favorite Things); Polychromos Pencils (Fäber-Castell);
Joyeux Noël Dies (Les ateliers de Karine); Stitched Oval Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn);
White Gel Pen (Gelly Roll); Holographic Foil Sheets (Recollections)

 

Christmas Shopping

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes)

I have been meaning to use the 3D Shopping Cart and matching Shopping Bags dies for a while and I finally got around to assembling them tonight. I wasn't sure what I would make exactly, but I ended up grabbing the Winter Farmhouse collection that was lying around nearby to make the shopping bags with and I kept going with the collection for embellish the card as well. I had a few silver snowflakes made with the Tim Holtz Impresslits lying on my desk and while I didn't want to do silver on silver, I got curious how it would look if I colored it with my Copic markers. I was happy with the result, so I tied ribbon around the cart and added the snowflake with a Stampin' Dimensionals, then I added a snowflake from the sticker book and a gem in the center. I used the tiny tag die from the die set to add to one of the bag, and the wording on it comes from the sticker book - I cut the sticker in half to fit it on the tag.

For the background, I stamped a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock in Sahara Sand ink using the Knit Together background stamp from Stampin' Up! I added floral paper on the left side and a piece of striped ribbon between the two blocks. I was initially going to keep only those two sections, but the plans changed when I started trying to work a sentiment in my design. I stamped and embossed a sentiment from the Merry Mistletoe set in Platinum embossing powder. I wanted to do a side banner layered over the cart, but it was not working well, so I decided instead to stamp the little banner image a couple of times on the edge of the knit pattern and add my sentiment strip vertically. The handle of the cart was going right over the sentiment, so placement was good, and I added another snowflake sticker at the top to fill in the space.

I rounded the corners of the background paper and added it to a Thick Very Vanilla card base. I have yet to make a matching envelope (which I usually do right after I finished my card), but with the dimensional cart, this card is quite thick, so I will need to be creative if I plan to send this card out by mail. 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Knit Together, Sous le gui (Merry Mistletoe - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla, Basic Grey, Basic Black, Silver Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper, Sticker Elements, Sticker Book: Winter Farmhouse (Simple Stories)
Ink: Sahara Sand, Evening Evergreen, VersaMark (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Corner Rounder Punch, Soft Succulent Open Weave Ribbon, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals,
Silver Elastic Cord, Genial Gems, Delightful Dijon Striped Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
Snowflake Impresslits (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Markers (Copic); Platinum Embossing Powder (Ranger);
Shopping Bags and 3D Shopping Cart Dies (Spellbinders)

 

Keeping Warm

Inspiration: July 2021 Card Maps Sketch + Lawn Fawnatics #113

After finishing a page with the Ugly Christmas Sweater collection from Simple Stories, I wanted to create a card as well, and it seemed like a good time to pull out the Say What? Holiday Critters set. Aren't those animals adorable in their Christmas attire? I liked that one of the sketches from the July Card Maps selection had three squares, which allowed me to fit all of the images from the set, and I was happy to do a mini slimline cards, as 3¼" x 6½" has been one of my favorite card size for many years. I created my background with two knitted patterns and I used a leftover scalloped edge I had not used on my scrapbook page (die-cut with the Stitched Scalloped Borders dies from Lawn Fawn). 

The scalloped squares were die-cut using Nestabilities dies, and I layered squares in the same Very Vanilla cardstock embossed with the Cable Knit embossing folder from Sunny Studio. At the bottom of the patterned paper, I added a piece of Cherry Cobbler curly ribbon for texture. In the now retired Cozy Christmas set, I found a sentiment that reads "Warm and Cozy Christmas" which fit the theme perfectly and fit nicely in the Everyday Sentiment Banners dies (although I did have to run it through a second time to shorten the banner a bit). To finish the card, I embellished the squares with a few silver gems.

I made a matching envelope out of patterned paper using the Envelope Punch Board and I used the Tailor Made Tags dies from Stampin' Up! to create an address block. I added a sweater sticker from the collection.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Say What? Holiday Critters (Lawn Fawn); Noël au chaud (Cozy Christmas - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla, Very Vanilla, Garden Green (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Stickers: Ugly Christmas Sweater (Simple Stories)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Stitched Scalloped Borders, Everyday Sentiment Banners (Lawn Fawn);
Tailor Made Tags (Stampin' Up!); Scalloped Squares Nestabilities (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Cable Knit Embossing Folder (Sunny Studio); Markers (Copic);
Cherry Cobbler Curly Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!);
Silver Crystals (Studio Katia)

 

Christmas ATC

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday

My local scrapbook store has been encouraging her clients to try out ATCs in the past year and she has set up an exchange box at the store, where you can come in with your creations and exchange them for other crafters' ATCs. When I saw the Simon Says Stamp challenge, I thought it would be a good time to finally bite the bullet and make at least one. What's mostly been holding me back is that I have a ton of Christmas crafting that I want to get done before the end of the year, so I am trying to prioritize that, but I had this leftover piece from a previous project that had not quite worked out to my liking that I figured make actually make a nice ATC background.

I had basically die-cut the hanging ornaments image from an Elizabeth Crafts Planner Essentials die set out of green glitter paper and glued it on a piece of paper from the Jingle All the Way collection (back when I was making a card series with that collection). It wasn't quite what I needed so it has remained in a scraps box since. I had also some embossed wax seals leftover from testing out a new Switchlits set, so after cutting my ATC to size, I added that to the empty spot. I wanted to add a little sentiment, so I went digging for my Jingle All the Way stickers and while I was looking at the content, I also found a foam sticker of holly leaves that I added to the wax seal. I then used various colours of Nuvo drops to fill in the elements of the die-cut. This made a huge difference on the finished result. Had I thought to do that on the original piece, I might have been more inspired to turn it into a card. I rounded the corners and inked the edges and here is my very first ATC card! Hoping to make more after the Holidays.

 

 

 

Supplies
Glimmer Paper: Dark Green (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Foam Stickers, Sticker Book: Jingle All the Way (Simple Stories)
Dies: Planner Essentials (Elizabeth Crafts Design); Wax Seals Switchlits (Sizzix)
Ink: Soft Sky (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Blending Daubers (i-Crafter); Distress Crayon (Tim Holtz for Ranger);
Crystal and Dream Drops (Nuvo); Corner Chomper (We R Memory Makers)

 

 

Ugly Christmas Sweater

Inspiration: October 2021 Page Maps Sketch

I was looking forward to scrapbooking this picture of my brother-in-law wearing his ugly Christmas vest, but I kept the picture aside after seeing a preview of the upcoming Ugly Christmas Sweater collection from Simple Stories, which was totally perfect for this picture. I made sure to purchase the Page Pieces as well, which made putting this page together really easy. I used one of the cut-aparts to add my handwritten journaling, and I fussy cut another image from a cut-apart, the "ugliest sweater ever" ribbon. The three sweaters, the title, the aqua tag, the knitted hearts and the "so ugly it's cute!" tag all come from the Page Pieces kit (and I've got a few leftovers for future projects). I borrowed a couple of brads and chipboard sticker from the Make It Merry decorative brads pack and I used a few stickers from the collection sticker sheet. This was a pretty fast and easy page for a fun Holidays memory.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Stickers, Page Pieces: Ugly Christmas Sweater (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Gold Sparkle Crystals (Studio Katia); Make It Merry Decorative Brads (Simple Stories)
Glossy Berry Mix Pearls (Little Things from Lucy's Cards); Green Velvet Ric Rac, Taupe Ribbon (American Crafts);
Aqua Enamel Dots (Hero Arts); Mini Hearts - Cotton Candy Gossies (Pure & Simple);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Cherry Cobbler Ribbon (Stampin' Up!)