Encre, papier, ciseaux

Everything Old is New Again: Peace on Earth

Inspiration: Sample on page 33 of Stampin' Up!'s 2019 Holidays catalogue

I'm still going through the catalogue and putting together projects inspired by samples and recreated with supplies from years past. This time, it was the frame on page 33 that caught my attention. The scripty font that reads Peace on Earth reminded me of an older hostess set from many years ago that said the same thing. I also liked the idea of the foliage around the tag, which reminded me of the branches from the retired Pretty Pines dies. I did pair those old supplies with a few current items, namely the Stitched Nested Labels dies, the Noble Peacock Foil Sheets and the Bright Gleaming Specialty DSP.

I used the green foil to die-cut the foliage and added a few Old Olive branches in there for dimension. I placed the branches in an oval and added the tag on top to see how it looks. Once everything was arranged to my liking, I covered the back of the tag with sticky strip and glued it on the foliage. Initially, I had used the foiled side of the patterned paper (the copper swirls on the Pretty Peacock background) but the foil was taking center stage and was really distracting so as much as I love the paper, I had to flip it around and use the backside instead for the card to work.

I'm mentioning that part because initially. I had reached for the same jingle bells I used on my last project, but they are gold and the color just looked wrong with the copper background, which is how I got the idea of using some Mini pinecones embellishments instead, since they are copper (another retired embellishment). I used thin silver thread to knot the pinecones on the ribbon and then I tied my bow. I used glue dots to add the bow to the project and on a whim, I decided to use the bow die from the Pretty Pines set to add a cardstock bow on top of the ribbon bow. I topped it with an enamel dot for a bit of shine.

If you look closely at the sample, they used some pierced dies behind the sentiment to add detailing on the tag. I was initially planning on clear-embossing snowflakes to mirror that detail. But... I was working on my foliage, glued it in place and realized as I was doing so that it would be tricky to add the embossed snowflakes, which I should have done before gluing anything behind the tag. Fortunately, I spotted the hanging earth ornament from my hostess stamp set amd realized it would fit the empty space perfectly.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Paix sur la terre (Peaceful Season)
Cardstock: Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Noble Peacock Foil Sheets
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Brightly Gleaming
Ink: Pretty Peacock, Old Olive
Accessories: Mini Pinecones Embellishments, Regals Enamel Shapes,
Stitched Nested Labels Dies, Vanilla Medium Envelope, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Silver Thread, Mini Glue Dots

 

Everything Old is New Again: Row of Stockings Tag

The Wrapped in Plaid suite is so similar to the Warmth & Cheer DSP we had a few years ago, I kept on going with my samples copied from the current Holidays catalogue using this retired paper. On page 12, there's a sample of a Christmas tag with stockings on it. I pulled out the retired Christmas Stockings and Deco Labels dies, which are both very similar to the shapes of the tag shown in the catalogue, and I recreated my own version of it with what I had on hand. Instead of a stamped sentiment, I pulled out the Noel die from the same set. I initially stacked two of the stockings like in the sample, but it didn't look right to me, so I went back to having them all in a rowm hanging from the "mantel." I didn't want to punch a hole at the bottom, I preferred adding a gold gem for decoration instead. I replaced the die-cut star with a few star and snowflake sequins from the current Snowflake Sequin Assortment. This is a quick project that was put together in less than 15 minutes (the advantage of copying an existing project).

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Cardstock: Whisper White, Gold Foil Paper
Designer Series Paper Stack: Warmth & Cheer
Accessories: Snowflake Sequin Assortment, Deco Labels Dies,
Christmas Stockings Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals, Gold Faceted Gems,
Garden Green Baker's Twine, Stitched Rectangles Dies, Circle Punches

 

Everything Old is New Again: Christmas Trees

This card follows up on my previous post about drawing inspiration from new samples to use older supplies. The card I'm sharing was based on page 13 of the Stampin' Up! 2019 Holidays catalogue. I remember thinking on my very first viewing of the catalogue that this was very similar to the Holiday Collection dies and some of the Holiday plaid papers from years ago. Sure enough, if it, because look at how close my card is to the sample! The Holiday Collection dies did have a star die in it, but it would have been too big to make a row in the tree, so I went back to my die collection and found a more appropriately-sized star in the Quilt Builder dies from last year. Instead of using gold foil paper, I stuck with the same DSP pack and used one of the yellow papers.

For the background, I wanted to keep the idea of tone on tone, but instead of using cardstock, I picked another sheet of DSP with a Crumb Cake background and a very subtle argyke design. I used a sttiched rectangle die to cut it out. Here's the tea: Stampin' Up! now has sttiched rectangle dies, but they kind of joined the parade on the late side, so I already had a variety of stitched rectangle from other companies, which is why I never purchased theirs when they came out. For this card, I therefore used my Outside In Stitched Rectangles dies from Lawn Fawn, but I still would consider this card a SUO (Stampin' Up! only) card in the sense that you could totally reproduce this with Stampin' Up! products if you did use their Stitched Rectangles.

As for the jingle bell, I know for a fact I have their mini jingle bells somewhere. They came out with silver ones many moons ago and then again with an assorted pack of red and silver ones a few years later. I've purchased both (I was low on the silver ones so I stocked up when the second set came out) but for some reason, they are not stored with my other SU! embellishments and I couldn't find them tonight, so I simply went to a jar of larger fold jingle bells purchased from a craft store 20 years ago when I had just started crafting. Based on the picture of the sample in the catalogue, I would say the size is really similar (3/8") so again, not by Stampin' Up!, but kinda!

Next came the hunt for an appropriately-sized Christmas sentiment. I narrowed my options down to three but when I placed the stamps next to the project to make a choice, it was immediately clear that the one from Snowflake Sentiments had the perfect font and size to fit the feel of the card. I stamped it on Thick White cardstock with Garden Green ink (initially because I was expecting to add a red jingle bell to the tag!) and I notched the right side with my scissors. Now that I look back at the sample, I notice that on theirs, both sides are notched and mine aren't. That was not a conscious choice, just a detail I hadn't noticed, but had I noticed, I think I still would have gone with the straight edge. I pulled out my twines and couldn't find any linen thread (I'm sure I still have some, not sure where it went - looks like half of my stash grew legs tonight!) so I went with the now-retired heavier natural twine the company used to carry. I like it, I think it's stiffer and give the bow more weight.

I repeated a die-cut tree inside the card and on the matching Crumb Cake envelope. This is definitely a simpler look than the cards I usually design, but I really like how it turned out. And what a great way to use scraps - I didn't use a single full sheet, managed to get everything I needed out of scraps. (Which is why those patterned paper stacks last forever!)

Again, I extend the challenge to you to pick a sample you like­, whether in a catalogue, magazine or online, and to shop your stash to reproduce it with what you have on hand. It's a great way to rediscover older, neglected supplies but also to craft on those days where the inspiration might be running on low.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies (unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Souhaits en rafales (Snowflake Sentiments)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Thick Whisper White
Designer Series Paper Stack: Warmth & Cheer
Ink: Garden Green
Accessories: Quilt Builder Dies, Holiday Collection Dies, Natural Twine,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Crumb Cake Medium Envelope, Clear Wink of Stella Brush,
Outside In Stitched Rectangles Dies (Lawn Fawn)

 

Everything Old is New Again: Christmas Wreath

I've been purchasing stamps from Stampin' Up! for about 17 years now. Before long, I took notice that the company is very cyclical in its offering. It makes sense for new customers that are coming in and that might want a cowboy-themed set or a wreath set and weren't around to purchase the previous one offered, but if you are a long-time customer, you might think, "Hmm, that reminds me of something I purchased a few years ago." Based off of that, I was inspired to leaf through the 2019 Holidays catalogue and see if I could reproduce some of the new samples with older supplies from my stash. The first one that caught my attention was the middle sample on page 9, because of the wreath. A few years ago, we had the Wondrous Wreath with matching dies. I also knew I could easily find striped paper in my big pile of Designer Series Paper, so off I went to get what I needed.

I kept the Very Vanilla card base, chopped off 1" on the left side and I added a strip of striped paper from the Warmth & Cheer Designer Series Paper stack (6" x 6"), that is also a few years old. I then started working on the wreath. I stamped the full image in Pear Pizzazz and the layered leaves in Garden Green, to fit with the DSP. The berries were stamped in VersaMark so I could emboss them in Cherry Cobbler embossing powder (which I love because the berries show up much better with the embossing than they do when they are overstamped).

I also knew I already had a double-banner stamp in my stash, so I pulled out Birthday Banners and the matching dies for the center. I didn't want to do red cardstock like in the sample because I wanted something more neutral, so I went with the Cherry Cobbler embossing powder on Crumb Cake cardstock. (Side bar: my first stamped banner was perfect, but I had trouble with the embossing and I only found out when I was about to stamp the greeting that the powder was not melted all the way through so some of it fell off and I had to redo the banner. The second time around, the embossing was perfect, but when I tried to line up the die, I couldn't get it to fit correctly in the die. The stamp set is photopolymer and I think the image must have been slightly bent when I mounted it in the block. At that point, I didn't care enough to redo the whole thing, so the edge around the banner is not the same all the way through, but I can live with it.) So once I had the double-banner, the tricky part was finding a double sentiment in my photopolymer stamp sets that was the right size and length to bend and fit inside the banner. The set with the banner image is all about birthdays, so I had to hunt for something else. With the amount of stamps I own, especially Christmas-related, you would think that would have been a breeze, but it wasn't. I finally spotted an old Project Life stamp set that was not Christmas-related but that said "Great moments..." and I remembered I had seen "for your whole family" somewhere else so I decided I would pair those two. The fonts and sizes worked out great. I embossed the sentiments in gold to fit with the rest.

So, this is where if you want to draw inspiration from current projects using older supplies, you will sometimes have to be creative and find workarounds for differences. The main one for me was the scale. Old wreath = small. New wreath = bigger. Which meant that it was not covering as big of a space on the card and that it was getting a little lost behind the banner. I was also happy because I had found the Twig punch from last year's catalogue and thought I could use it to have the two twigs peeking from behind the bow. Again, wrong scale = way too big! After playing with the twigs a bit, I abandoned the idea. I kept thinking that I could use either a stencil or an embossing folder to add interest to the front of the card and not have the huge chunk of white space feel so bare. I added a panel embossed with the Scripty 3D embossing folder (this item is current) and it instantly made the card better. I then started looking for ribbon options. I pulled out the Old Olive chevron ribbon from last year and tied a cute red button in the center using some really old gold cording from more than a decade ago. Finally, because the sample had enamel dots, I looked at my embellishments and decided to add pearls for an elegant finishing touch.

For the envelope, I used a Crumb Cake medium envelope to match the banner on the card. I used the remaining striped paper to cover the back flap and I stamped the poinsettia from the wreath stamp set repeatedly on the front of the card. I am really happy with the result and it felt good to take older supplies out for a spin. Craft companies are pelting us with a huge new offering every season and with all of the new items we get excited about, the older supplies tend to get buried and forgotten. I hope this will inspire you to take on this challenge, of picking a sample in a magazine, catalogue, on Pinterest or on a blog and to reproduce it with what you have. I've CASEd projects before, but this exercise was different as the objective was not to use a color combo or layout I liked and make it my own. The challenge was to see how closely I could reproduce a project I liked with different supplies. I'm hoping doing this exercise a few times might train my brain to see that I don't need to have the newest wreath or cowboy-themed set...

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Banderoles de Fête, Coucou décembre 2016, Sapins de Noël, Magnifique couronne
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake
Designer Series Paper Stack: Warmth & Cheer
Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, VersaMark
Accessories: Scripty 3D Embossing Folder, Bunch of Banners Dies, Wonderful Wreath Dies,
Old Olive Mini-Chevron Ribbon, Gold Trim, Red Button, Stampin' Dimensionals, Pearl Basic Jewels,
Corner Rounder Punch, Crumb Cake Medium Envelope, Cherry Cobbler and Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder

 

Copper Ornaments

Inspiration: Try Stampin' on Tuesday #424

The Brightly Gleaming suite from the 2019 Holidays Catalogue immediately struck my fancy. It has everything I love: green paired with teal, copper, foil... It's so very elegant and I love that it's different from any other Holiday collection. This card is fairly simple but showcases the elements from the suite nicely: the stamp set, the papers, the punches, the Hammered Metal 3D embossing folder, the copper-printed ribbon, the star elements and the foil die-cut elements. The only thing I added from the regular annual catalogue was cardstock and the Copper Foil Sheets for the top of the ornaments.

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Fêtes étincelantes (Christmas Gleaming)
Cardstock: Old Olive, Thick Very Vanilla
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Brightly Gleaming
Ink: Old Olive
Accessories: Brightly Gleaming Foil Elements, Star Designer Elements, 2-1/2" Circle Punch,
Hammered Metal Embossing Folder, Stampin' Dimensionals, 1/2" Classic Weave Ribbon,
Very Vanilla Medium Envelope, Triple Banner Punch

 

Skate Season

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #522

I'm playing around with my new Holidays catalogue stuff. For this card, I paired the Free Skate bundle with the Feels like Frost Specialty paper. I was shocked to find out this was 6" x 6" paper when I opened my package. I'm sure it says so in the catalogue, but as you can see, I didn't read and just assumed it was 12" x 12". Makes sense, because the photorealistic paper will be easier to use in a smaller format. Every single backside is accented with silver foil and you have the photos on the front side. It'll be interesting to see how easily I manage to incorporate those in my designs. They are truly beautiful, but they probably lend themselves better to clean designs whereas I tend to layer a lot. We'll see. I think this first try turned out well. I used two foil sides and one photorealistic side, and I inked the snowflake paper with blue ink so that it would blend better.

That cute sentiment tag was made using the Ornate Frames dies. I fear those will fall by the wayside for most shoppers because they are in the Halloween section. If you disregard the stamp set it goes with, the set incorporates a generic mix of 11 gorgeous ornate frames which can be used for much more than Halloween, as evidenced on my card.

I was hesitant on whether to get the skate bundle or not because the stamp set has not been translated to French. But I thought the skate dies were beautiful and it was the bundle I was the most drawn to so I went for it. One of the items I love even more in person is the gorgeous metallic ribbon! I've already stated that Seaside is my new favorite blue so I was really happy to score some matching ribbon (not that the one from the catalogue is not pretty, but it's two-toned, so I prefer this monochromatic option, especially with the added sparkle!).

As a last-minute addition, I put silver pearls on the skate, because I didn't like the look of the empty holes from the die-cut so much. The silver pearls remind me of the silver lace hooks on women skates, so I like it.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Free Skate, Fêtes étincelantes (Christmas Gleaming)
Cardstock: Seaside Spray, Shimmery White, Purple Posy, Night of Navy, Silver Foil Sheets
Specialty Designer Paper: Feels Like Frost
Ink: Night of Navy, Seaside Spray
Accessories: Ornate Frames Dies, Detailed Skate Dies, Seaside Spray Metallic Ribbon,
White Medium Envelope, Stampin' Dimensonals, Stipple Brush, Metallic Pearls

Row of Baubles

Inspiration: Fusion challenge

I wanted to use my new Holly Jolly papers from My Mind's Eye (it's really fun, with its candy colors and gold-foil details) and I thought the Fusion sketch would work well for that. As I was taking papers out of the stack I realized I could pick a mint paper and emboss it with my Brick Wall embossing folder to mimick the inspiration picture as well. I added striped paper at the bottom adn decided to use the Simply Celebrate Winter stamp set to add a long image in the middle mirroring the circles from the sketch. I picked the row of baubles. I stamped it in VersaMark on watercolor paper, embossed the image in gold and watercolored it with inks.

I was finding my card a little blah and then I realized I could draw further inspiration from the picture and add falling snowflakes on the left side. I used the Stitched Snowflakes and the Mini Snowflakes dies to die-cut snowflakes out of Gold glimmer paper and the card instantly became more interesting as soon as I glued the snowflakes in place. For the sentiment, I used "best wishes" in red cardstock, slightly offside to the right.

I gold-embossed the bauble image inside the card and on the Pink Quartz metallic envelope I picked to go with the card.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Simply Celebrate Winter (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Poppy Parade, Gold Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!); Hot-Pressed Watercolor Paper (Fabriano)
Patterned Paper: Holly Jolly (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, Aqua Painter Brush, Brick Wall Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Rose Quartz Envelope (envelopes.com); Simply Celebrate Winter Dies, Mini Snowflakes Dies,
Stitched Snowflakes Dies, Outside In Stitched Rectangles Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn); Meilleurs Voeux Dies (Dee's Distinctively)

 

Christmas Jar

Inspiration: Lawn Fawnatics #59 Something See Through) + The Paper Players #456

Still inspired by the new Lawn Fawn goodness that just came out. I am happy that they are revisiting their Snow Day papers. I simply pulled out my old 6" x 6" which I still have some of and it became the starting point of this fun card. That jar is cute, but I think I love it even better with all of the add-ons they've created for it. The christmas cookies were a nice fit for it, and I think it'll be fun to use the individual cookies on their own as well. Lots of coloring and embossing options to make them cute and fun.

I've been sort of lazy in a sense and instead of hunting down and low for some French sentiments that would work with the new images, I've gone straight to the English sentiments from the sets. I thought the "Peace Joy Love (and cookies!)" one was adorable and has a great font. I also added the Happy Holidays to the tag as well. I hesitated as I didn't want to hide the cute cookies, but the tag made the card look more complete so I finally just went for it.

I used the individual cookies embossed in brown and in white embossing powders to make the matching envelope.

 

 

  

 

Supplies
Stamps: How You Bean?, How You Bean? Christmas Cookie Add-On (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Snow Day (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Watermelon Wonder, Cucumber Crush Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: How You Bean? Dies, How You Bean? Christmas Coookie Add-On Dies,
Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn); 1/8" Early Espresso Grosgrain Ribbon,
Brights Enamel Shapes, Early Espresso and White Stampin' Emboss Powder,
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); A2 Lagoon Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Markers (Copic)

 

Llama Snow Globe

Inspiration: Lawn Fawnatics #59 + Little Red Wagon #511 (Tag It) + ColourQ #321

Another cutie from the new Lawn Fawn release is the Snow Globe Gift Tag. How adorable is it? And in true Lawn Fawn fashion, it's really easy to put together and be full of details since the die set includes the two little borders, the stitched frame, the tiny snowflakes and even the falling snow background. I couldn't help but wonder if the Dimensionals Domes released by Sizzix last year would fit in it. The short answer is, Yes they do. The reality of it is that it's not a perfect fit with the stitched frame. The dome is just a smidge smaller, so if you want to hide the seam, you will have to do a bit of creative layering to achieve the desired result.

For this reason, I pulled out the Tiny Snowglobes dies from Sizzix to have the correct size circle, I was surprised to find that it was a snug fit and that I had trouble layering the pieces flat, so out of frustration, I reached for a circle punch that was a smidge wider (the circle die is 1-1/4", and my circle punch is 1-3/8". I was much happier with the wider size and was then able to adhere everything flat.

So here are the various layers:

• the snowy background was die-cut in black and I layered white cardstock underneath.
• I punched a circle out of Kiwi Kiss cardstock and I used the full snowglobe die to die-cut a tag.
• I used the same full snowglobe die on kraft woodgrain cardstock and snipped the shape following the scored line beneath the globe, to keep only the bottom part. I layered over the Kiwi Kiss.
• I die-cut the two rounded borders out of Real Red cardstock and glued over the snowglobe base.
• I had the stitched border in black cardstock since I had done the snowy background. I glued it over the punched piece.
• I die-cut the top of the ornement out of Gold Foil paper and glued it on the ornement.
• I used a scrap of white patterned paper from my previous project and made the snowy background with it. I glued it at the bottom of the snowy scene.
• I stamped the llama on white cardstock, colored it with markers, die-cut it and glued it over the snowy scene. I stamped the fa-la-la-llama sentiment on Kiwi Kiss cardstock and found the perfect shape for it in the Stitched Hillside Backdrop Portrait dies (lucky find!).
• I die-cut the tiny snowflakes out of Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper and added a couple on the globe.
• To assemble the front of the tag, I placed a little bit of white fine glitter on my snowy backdrop, took off the liner of the dome and placed it over the scene. That's where another bit of improvising is required. The dome is circle. The snowy scene is flat at the bottom, so there was a gap where glitter would have escaped, so I had to add clear tape to cover the gap. I added liquid glue behind the Kiwi Kiss circle and glued over the dome.
• I die-cut the full snowglobe out of Real Red cardstock for the back of the tag. I remembered that the Diagonal Gift Card Pocket dies include the "To: [heart]:" text, so I die-cut the words out of the tag shape and I added a little piece of black cardstock behind the words. I glued the center of the O in place.
• I then glued the front and back of the tag together and I threaded red ribbon at the top.

Really cute, relatively fast but a lot of steps if you want to insert a dome. If you're doing a flat tag, which would still be totally adorable, assembly will be faster and easier. The dome was perfect for the "something see-through" challenge, though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Say What? Christmas Critters (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: basic Black, Real Red, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Gold Foil,
Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!);Woodgrain Cardstock in Neutrals (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Dimensional Domes (Sizzix); White Fine Glitter (Martha Stewart);
Real Red Cotton Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, 1-3/8" Circle Punch (Stampin' Up!); Diagonal Gift Card Pocket,
Stitched Hillside Backdrop Portrait, Say What? Christmas Critters Dies, Snow Globe Gift Tag Dies (Lawn Fawn)

 

Santa on Vacation

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #521

I'm still going through the pile of summer-themed papers I have put aside and I realized I could pair the So Santa stamp set wth them since the set includes an image of Santa on the beach. This stamp set came out last year, but the French version ended up in the Clearance Rack (very rare to see French sets, usually, it's just the English ones) so I decided to get one for myself. There's some fun and unique sentiments in the set that make a great addition to my collection. In this case, the sentiment reads, "Ho! Ho! Ho! Who needs snow?!"

My little scene was colored with Copic makers, die-cut with the Stitched Shapes Framelits and matted with a scalloped circle. I used a strip from the border paper to decorate a matching red metallic envelope.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Père Noël s'amuse (So Santa - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Lemon Lime Twist, Brilliant Blue, Whisper White, Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Beach Day (Carta Bella)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Blueberry Bushel Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Tropical Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals, Layering Circle Dies, Embossing Mats (Stampin' Up!);
Buttons (Autumn Leaves); Markers (Copic); Wonky Stitched Rectangle Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
Dotted Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn); A2 Jupiter Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Do Not Open Before Christmas

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Add a Die-Cut)

This card evolved in stages. I had pulled out my Gansai Tambi to make a watercolored background in various shades of green and use the Stitches plate from Ellen Hudson to add texture to it. Because I was working with greens, I decided, why not sneak a Christmas card in there. (I've said it in past posts, I'm trying really hard to make summer projects right now because once I go down the Christmas rabbit hole, I never come out and my summer-themed supplies get sadly neglected.)

As I was working on my background, I realized that the Jolly St. Nick from Tim Holtz would pop very nicely against my background. I hadn't used the dies yet and initially, I almost passed up on buying them because the assembly seemed so daunting! I'm happy to report that it turned out much simpler than I anticipated. I will not say it's quick, but it's not nearly as complicated as I had anticipated and here's why.

The colors are all written on the back of the metal dies so (contrary to the Hip Haunts dies, for example), you will only run the die once in your machine with that single color. Then my tip to you is to take the time to add adhesive sheet to the back of all of your cardstock pieces and this will make the assembly ten times faster than if you fiddle with glue on the small pieces. Then, last but not least, the bigger dies will add scored lines that show you exactly where to layer the other pieces. This part makes the layering so clear that I actually managed to assemble the guy without watching the video! The only place I messed up was putting down the grey piece before the black belt, so I had to lift it gently up and add the belt first, then the grey afterwards, but the rest was just instinctual.

Here's where's my creation took a turn. I glued the background on a regular A2 green card and tried adding the Santa and realize he's a tall fellow! (Note to everyone buying the dies - Santa doesn't fit on a regular 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" card, the hand and hat will overhang.) I could have left it and used a bigger envelope, but the resulting card wasn't showcasing the pretty Santa properly. I simply cut the card back and started looking at paper options to layer the Santa on something bigger. I pulled out the Christmas papers from Tim' last year's collection and picked the black paper with white type. I distressed the edges, used the back of a leftover piece to have a bit of plaid showing and die-cut three snowflakes out of white glitter paper. I then looked at sentiment options. I have this stamp that Stampin' Up! released last year where you have a bunch of tags that you can all cut at once with one die and some of those tags were perfect. I stamped the image on red cardstock, embossed it with gold powder, die-cut the pieces, tied some green and white baker's twine on them and tested them out. While I liked Ho Ho Ho and Naughty or Nice as sentiments, the shape of the "Do not open before Christmas" tag looked the best on the card, so I went with that option and recycled the two other tags on the envelope and inside the card.

The final card measures 5-1/4" x 6-3/4" – I used green cardstock and my envelope punch board to create an oversized envelope. I am so happy I cut my first card apart and made a bigger one. The new card looks a thousand times better.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Étiquettes des Fêtes (Tags & Tidings)
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Real Red, Whisper White, Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Shaded Spruce (Stampin' Up!);
Watercolor Paper (Fabriano)
Patterned Papers: Christmas (2018) (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology)
Ink: VersaMark
(Accessories: Gansai Tambi Watercolors (Kuretake); Garden Green Baker's Twine, Envelope Punch Board,
Distressing Tool, Gold Foil Paper, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper, Christmas Tags Thinlits Die,
Rhinestone Basic Jewels (Stampin' Up!); Christmas Day Snow Dies (Echo Park);
Jolly St. Nick Thinlits Dies (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Stitches Cover Plate (Essentials by Ellen)

 

A Long List...

Inspiration: Global Design Project #197 + Little Red Wagon #505

Oh, how I like that beautiful colour combo! I've been trying really hard to stay away from Christmas and focus on summery projects, but with the new Tim Holtz dies coming out, the Little Red Wagon challenge with the Christmas theme and the beautiful combo which was perfectly suited for the little elf... Not saying, They made me do it, but, hey, they made me do it! ;)

I also realized when I saw the colours together that I had the perfect opal polish to go with the Pear Pizzazz and create a shimmery background - and it turns out the opal sheen is the perfect blue to match the Seaside Spray cardstock. (I'm so in love with that In Color!) I decided to work tone on tone and blended some Blue Parakeet Opal Polish on Pear Pizzazz cardstock, through the Classy & Fabulous stencil from Carta Bella. This made for a fun wallpaper-looking background. I then went on to prepare the elf and packages. Those Tim Holtz dies are not for the faint of heart. The amount of die-cutting and teeny tiny pieces is pretty extraordinary, So is the result, though - you just have to arm yourself with patience. I initially thought it would take forever, but I had a show playing on my laptop (just discovered a new Bell app that lets you play what you have on your recorder directly on your computer - neat li'l gadget!) and I got in the groove using my Sidekick. For the bows, you layer two pieces, which is what gives the shadow and depth. I cold have done two colors, but that would have meant die-cutting twice, so instead, I got my daubers out and simply inked the bottom piece with the same color of ink, darkening the cardstock. That worked out really well. I think the worst part was adding the stripes to the candy canes! While I initially thought I could create a candy cane fence behind him, after putting one together, I quickly retired that idea.

Last, I went looking for a sentiment, and I found one that says "Wishing you everything on your list..." from last year's Signs of Santa set, which was just perfect. I stamped it with Basic Black Archival ink and quickly pourred some clear embossing powder on it to emboss it. It made the sentiment much darker and crisper so I'm glad to added that step.

I then looked through my envelopes and found that the Avocado one goes really well with the Pear Pizzazz cardstock. It's slightly darker, which was perfect to add die-cut gifts and have them stand out. The elf was die-cut out of black glimmer cardstock, which adds a little bit of pizzazz to the overall design.

I love that little dude. The silhouette is so cool. I'm thinking next time I die-cut him, I might try paper piecing to give him colored clothes and see how he looks.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Panneaux de Noël (Signs of Santa - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, terracotta Tile, Seaside Spray, Thick Whisper White, Black Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Basic BLack Archival, Terracotta Tile, Pear Pizzazz, Seaside Spray (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Santa's Helper Dies (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); C;assyc & Fabulous Stencil (Carta Bella);
Blue Parakeet Opal Polish (Cosmic Shimmer); Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder (Stampin' Up!);
Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn); A2 Avocado Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Ho Ho Ho

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Typography)

This is a little out of season, but I really wanted to use my new Ho Ho Ho die from My Favorite Things. My local store had a 12 Days of Christmas sale in December and if you weren't able to stop by the store, you could pay for an item over the phone and have it kept aside for you. That's what I did with this die and I've been to the store twice since and both times, forgot to ask for the die! It finally came back home with me and I was eager to see it used on a project. The typography challenge was just perfect as well.

I wanted something colorful and I found just what I was looking for in the Santa's Workshop paper pad from Carta Bella. There's this adorable checklist paper where a child can record his accomplishments and infractions throughout December (adorable!). It became a nice background for my sentiment. The paper is 6" wide and I didn't want to cut the header, so my card is actually 6" x 4-1/4". The sentiment die fills it out nicely, though. I added silver tinsel to stay with the retro vibe, and a button at the top to hide the hole in the paper. (Some 6" x 6" papers have a cut-off strip where the hole is, but this one had the pattern all to the way to the top, so in order to keep Santa's face and the full title, I had to work around the hole.) Because of the oversize format, I made a matching envelope out of red cardstock using the Envelope Punch Board.

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Call Me Clover (Stampin' Up!); Red Cardstock Stack (Craft Smith)
Patterned Papers: Santa's Workshop (Carta Bella)
Accessories: Silver Tinsel Trim, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Designer Buttons, Designer Washi Tape,
Faceted Vintage Buttons, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!); Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo);
Berry Mix Pearls (Little Things from Lucy's Cards)

Tree Farm Lot

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #501 + Simon Says Stamp Monday (Use Something New) + Global Design Project #171

I had a request for a New Year card, so I was looking at stamp options and I decided to ink my new Tree Farm stamp set from Essentials by Ellen. The hedgehog is holding a little sign and I figured I could probably stamp Happy New Year in it. I lucked out and found a sentiment that was exactly the right width to fit in there. The design is based off of the Mojo Monday sketch #501, but I did a mirror image because the trailer looked better placed on the left, with the hedgehog on the righté The design was feeling a little empty, so I grabbed the Christmas lights from the Light Parade stamp set and added this detail at the top of the panel. I also added washi to embellish a little. Initially, I had placed green washi on both sides of the back panel with the snowflakes, but it looked a little weird, so I gently lifted the bottom one off, tried it on the tree panel, liked the result, and when I layered the two panels, I decided I liked having one piece on the back panel and one piece of washi on the main panel - made the overall card design more dynamic that way.

I put a dab of Glossy Accent on the Christmas lights, and on the nose and eyes of the hedgehog, and added a few red pearls to the card as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Et bonne année (Making Spirits Bright - Stampin' Up!); Light Parade, Tree Farm (Essentials by Ellen)
Cardstock: Pistachio Pudding, Very Vanilla
Patterned Papers: Merry & Bright (Simple Stories)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Shaded Spruce, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up! Classic Ink)
Accessories: Dotted Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn); Light Parade Dies (Essentials by Ellen);
Markers (Copic); Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Designer Washi Tape. Crumb Cake Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!);
Glossy Accents (Ranger); Pearls - Glossy Berry Mix (Little Things from Lucy's Cards); Starry Watercolor (Gansai Tambi)

 

Star Light, Star Bright

Inspiration: Global Design Project #170 + SUO challenge #213

I wasn't sure how this card would turn out when I started shuffling supplies around, but I think the result is pretty cool. The beauty of this card is in the copper foil accents and the gorgeous shine it has in person. I started by embossing the Merry Merlot patterned paper (from the Joyous Noel Specialty Designer Series Paper pack) with the swirl and little stars from the Star of Light stamp set. I used the same stars with Tranquil Tide ink of matching cardstock to stamp a row, mimicking the sketch. I dried the ink with my heat tool before adding my sentiment in VersaMark and embossing it with Copper powder. The same stars were also stamped on Copper foil paper and die-cut so that I could pop them up on Mini Stampin' Dimensionals. The big intricate star was die-cut out of Copper foil paper as well and layered over Sahara Sand cardstock. I then looked for little embellishments to finish off the card and added pink Share What You Love Artisan Pearls and Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins. I stamped a matching envelope as well using the same stamp set.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Étoile lumineuse (Star of Light)
Cardstock: Tranquil Tide, Sahara Sand
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Joyous Noel
Ink: Tranquil Tide, Merry Merlot, Sahara Sand, VersaMark
Accessoires: Starlight Thinlits Dies, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals,
Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder, Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins, Ticket Corner Punch,
Share What You Love Artisan Pearls, White Medium Envelope

 

Christmas Packages

Inspiration: TGIF #191

I found this cool bark wrapping paper with gold foil on it at my local Indigo store and on sale, too, since it was the week before Christmas. I paired it with some red plaid metallic paper I already had and I pulled out the cookie tags I had done previously, to wrap my niece's gifts. Technically, I could have wrapped the gifts together, but because I know kids get a big kick out of unwrapping presents, I made sure to wrap everything separately. My oldest niece also thoroughly enjoys everything crafts-related, so I know she'll just love the beautiful packages.

I have to say, they look quite cool laid out underneath the Christmas tree.

 

 

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Trimmings

Inspiration: Little red Wagon #473 + Freshly Made #368

I had put the Christmas in the Making stamp set aside to use on something this season and when I found the Evergreen Fir specialty papers, I thought they would look great with the set. The Freshly Made sketch was perfect inspiration and I knew I wanted plaid paper to go with this, so I pulled out the Christmas stack from Tim Holtz for Idea-ology. The image was colored with alcohol markers and I added glitter gloss on the black bow to make it sparkly.

I was looking at holiday sets to find a French sentiment and the "Christmas joy" banner from Stitched with Cheer was perfect, but I didn't want to hide my colored image too much, so I embossed it with red glitter powder on vellum. The plaid rectangle seemed a little bare to me, so I added gold glitter paste with a zig zag stencil and a couple of red pearls. The left rectangle was embelilshed with red tinsel trim.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Cousu avec joie (Stitched with Cheer), Christmas in the Making (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Vellum
Patterned Papers: Christmas 2018 (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology); Evergreen Fir Specialty Paper (Tonic)
Ink: VersaMark, Tuxedo Black Memento
Accessories: Bunch of Banners Framelits, Red Tinsel Trim, Stampin' Blends Markers,
Palette Knife, Red Glitter Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Stitched Oval Stackables, Stitched Rectangle Stackables, Dotted Rectangke Stackables (Lawn Fawn);
A2 Jupiter Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Markers (Copic); Silver and Gold Gel Pens;
Golden Crystal Glimmer Paste (Nuvo); Zig Zag Dots Stencil (Simon Says Stamp);
Pearls - Glossy Berry Mix (Little Things by Lucy's Cards)

 

Peace on Earth Boxwood

Inspiration: Global Design Project #169 + Paper Craft Crew Sketch #319

The Feathers & Frost stamp set has definitely been my go-to set from the Holidays Catalogue this year. The set I use the most is not always the one I expect to from the start. This was one set that really appealed to me but that I almost talked myself out of buying when going through my wish list and putting together an actual order. I'm so grateful I bought it! I managed to make card that turned out pretty different but always really pretty. This time, I pulled it out because the color combo seemed perfect for watercoloring it and I figured the three stars from the sketch could be poinsettias. Because the flowers were colored red, I did white berries to balance the design out, and I did a Pool Party watercolor wash in the background to make the white berries stand out. The whole thing looks so crisp and pretty! I used Shimmery White cardstock to do my watercoloring on, with a blending pen for the small details and an Aqua Painter brush for the background.

I wanted an embossed background so I looked through my folders and decided to use Woodland, which I hadn't used in a long time. I made sure to stamp my sentiment before embossing, and I dabbed a bit of ink on the raised portions of the design to make it stand out more. The wreath was die-cut with the Layering Square dies and matted with Silver Foil Paper. A few basic adhesive sequins were added as well.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Plumes et givre (Feathers & Frost)
Cardstock: Shimmery White, Pear Pizzazz, Pool Party, Silver Foil
Ink: Basic Black Archival, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, Pool Party
Accessories: Layering Square Framelits, Stampin' Dimensionals, Woodland Embossing Folder,
basic Adhesive-backed Sequins; A2 Mirror Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Bright Holidays

Inspiration: Try Stampin' On Tuesday #387 + SUO challenge #213

I'm catching up on downline cards and using challenge sketches as inspiration. The simple TSOT sketch was perfect to go with the Making Christmas Bright stamp set. The sentiment reads, "May your Holidays be bright." I used some of my favorite Designer Series Paper, the All is Bright collection. I had previously embossed some red paper with the Curls & Twirls embossing folder, but had not used the pieces on my cards because the paper had cracked. For this design, I didn't mind the cracking too much and decided to reuse the leftover pieces. A lot of scraps were used for this project: I was able to get a lot of lightbulbs out of a strip of white cardstock, and also a strip of gold foil paper (the lightbulb tops and the thin strip at the bottom of the red paper).

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Illuminez les Fêtes (Making Christmas Bright)
Cardstock: Spruce Shadow, Call Me Clover, Whisper White, Gold Foil Paper
Designer Series Paper: All is Bright
Ink: Spruce Shadow, Call Me Clover, Real Red, VersaMark
Accessories: Christmas Bulb Builder Punch, Layering Circle Framelits Dies, Curls & Swirls Embossing Folder,
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, White Medium Envelope, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Simple Seasonal Joys

Inspiration: Inspired By challenge #50 + Fab Friday #152 + Freshly Made Sketch #367

I really loved the picture from the Inspired By challenge. The greenery and pinecones on the mailbox screamed of the Christmas Pines bundle. It came out last year and is still a personal favorite. I noticed that the Fab Friday colours were also perfect since they included a mix of greens and Soft Suede, for the pinecones. The Freshly Made sketch was also perfect since I wanted a greenery bow coming out of the right corner. 

I tried to pick a large sentiment to fill out the remaining space on the card. Using the frame from the same stamp set helped set it up so it wouldn't look too lost. I added two holly images on each side and added red rhinestones (they're on sale in the year-end sale, by the way). I stamped the lovely stars and dots image all around the frame and added basic adhesive-backed rhinestones to the card to make it more festive.

The Shaded Spruce piece is actually a rectangle frame, that I cut out with the Stampin' Paper Cutter. I used the matching Stampin' Write marker to add stitching around it.

 

 

   

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Sapins de Noël (Christmas Pines)
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Shaded Spruce, Pool Party, Soft Suede, Mossy Meadow
Ink: Soft Suede, Shaded Spruce, Mossy Meadow
Accessories: Pretty Pines Framelits, Red Basic Jewels Rhinestones, White Medium Envelope,
Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins, Shaded Spruce Stampin' Write Marker

 

Rainbow Snowmen

Inspiration: Lawn Fawnatics #42 + October 2018 Card Maps Sketch

I got the idea for this card when I spotted the Card Maps sketch with the row of snowmen. It was simply perfect to highlight the Simply Celebrate Winter stamp set from Lawn Fawn, so I got going on a design. I pulled out the Really Rainbow Christmas papers for a colorful look, and a touch of Perfectly Plaid Christmas paper for the center piece. The row of snowman was too small to fit the space properly, so I decided to use the row of trees behind them to fill out the space. For the peeking tab, I decided to use the Flirty Frames and I found a French sentiment that was the perfect size and fit in it in the Jingle All the Way stamp set from last year's Holidays catalogue.

The background seemed a little bare, so I pulled out the Mini Snowflakes dies and cut snowflakes out of glitter paper, which really made the whole card come to life. The center piece seemed a little bare as well, so I added scalloped edges using the Lacy Borders dies. Finally, the bow from the Mini Wreath dies was added at the top, and covered with Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer, which I also used on the end of the tree branches to make glistening snow.

The last touch was adding clear gems between the snowflakes and in the center of the tag.

 

  

 

Supplies
Stamps: Simply Celebrate Winter, Flirty Frames (Lawn Fawn); Ode à Noël (Jingle All the Way - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Highland Heather, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Perfectly Plaid Christmas, Really Rainbow, Really Rainbow Christmas (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Wisteria Wonder (Stampin' Up!); Tuxedo Black (Mememto)
Accessories: Simply Celebrate Winter, Dies Flirty Frames Dies, Lacy Borders, Mini Snowflakes, Mini Wreath (Lawn Fawn);
White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals, Corner Rounder Punch, White Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!);
Gems (Studio Katia); Markers (Copic)

 

'Tis the Season to be Jolly

Inspiration: Lasting Memory Layout challenge #425 (Wreaths) + Global Design Project #167

The starting point of this page was the gorgeous chipboard frames from the Simple Stories Simple Vintage Christmas collection I had bought earlier this fall. My initial idea was to frame pictures of me with my niece, add ribbon or twine and turn the frames into ornaments. Turn out they are way bigger than I had envisioned, but upon looking through Christmas pictures, I found one of me and my nioece that I love and decided to make a scrapbook page with it instead. My style is usual more cutesy than vintage, but I have to say that I really love this Simple Stories collection. The papers and elements are just gorgeous.

I pulled out a ton of older embellishments from my stash for this one: the beveled windows, the glimmer brads, the lace trim, the decorative brads and the felt accents. It just happens that one of those felt accents was a wreath and the colors worked nicely with the papers, so it was perfect for this week's Lasting Memory Layout challenge. The stickers from the collection even include little circle images that were the exact size to fit inside the wreath.

Another embellishment that had been sitting in my stash for a while was the scissors charm and green beads, Those were part of a Santa cross stitch kit, actually, but I didn't think they really fit the piece, so I had put the embellishments in my scrapbook stash instead, figuring I might be able to work them into a project at some point. Because of the vintage style, the little metal charm worked nicely, and I hung the scissors from the scripty work. The green beads were added with Multi Medium Matte adhesive to frame the sentiment.

This was quick to put together since the chipboard frame and stickers did most of the job for me, for a pretty result.

 

Supplies
Stamps: Type Strips Number (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Papers, Stickers and Chipboard Frames: Simple Vintage Christmas (Simple Stories)
Ink: Basic Black Archival Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Beads and Scissors Charm (Lizzie Kate); Type Strips Die (Papertrey Ink);
Lace Trim, Beveled Windowpanes, Decorative Brads, Felt Ornaments, Natural Trim Ribbon,
Brights Glimmer Brads, Vanilla Twine (Stampin' Up!); Cloud Decorative Scissors (Fiskar); Glossy Accents (Ranger)

 

Santa's Coming to Town

Inspiration: Stamp Ink Paper #179 (Holidays)

Earlier this Fall, I made some little 3" x 3" notecards for my sister to slip into my niece's lunchbox. It is my understanding that she reserves those notes for special occasions, so I figured I'd make one for Christmas. I found some old stamps from Doodlebug Design called Believe and paired them with some paper scraps from the Milk & Cookies collection. I used the Peek-a-Boo die from Pretty Pink Posh to create the burst in the paper, and I added a piece of brick paper in the background and green gems on the points. The ho ho ho tag comes from the same stamp set. The Santa image was colored with Polychromos pencils.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Believe (Doodlebug Design)
Cardstock: Green Galore, Whisper White
Patterned Papers: Milk & Cookies (Doodlebug Design)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Call Me Clover (Stampin' Up! Classic Ink)
Accessories: Peek-a-Boo Die (Pretty Pink Posh); Polychromos Pencils (Faber-Castell);
Eyelet, Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!); August Crystals (Studio Katia);
Pink Ribbon (unknown source); Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo)

 

Comfort & Joy Poinsettia

Inspiration: Hand Stamped Sentiments #304 + Colour Inkspiration #45

This colorful Holidays card came together really quickly. I used the Stylish Christmas stamp set from the poinsettia and flourish images, and drew from the Christmas Pines stamp set from the sentiment, since I wanted something in French. The Buffalo Check background stamp was used on the card base and I added a couple touches of Designer Series Paper to complete the card.

I wanted my sentiment to have dimension but since I don't own the In Color embossing powders, I used a stamping platform to stamp the sentiment in Blueberry Bushel ink first, cleaned the stamp in the platform and then stamped it again in VersaMark, then used clear embossing powder on top.

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Stylish Christmas, Buffalo Check, Sapins de Noël (Christmas Pines)
Casrdstock: Lovely Lipstick, Whisper White, Balmy Blue, Blueberry Bushel
Designer Series Paper Stacks: Brights, Subtles
Ink: Lovely Lipstick, Granny Apple Green, Blueberry Bushel, VersaMark
Accessories: White Medium Envelope, Pearl Basic Jewels, Circle Punch,
Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Gorgeous Grape Striped Ribbon

 

May Your Holidays Be Filled with Joy and Laughter

Inspiration: Festive Friday #22 (Christmas and Snowflakes) + Sunday Stamps #193

So a few years ago, the Clarity Stamps stipple brushes were the new "in" thing and when I was able to get them on sale (because they are really pricey), I purchased them and gave them a try. I remember being really underwhelmed with the result and thinking maybe I'd get more into them after using them more. That never happened as they remained on the back of my desk, forgotten, and I keep reaching for other tools whenever I am using stencils on projects.

Enter the Picket Fence Studios blender brushes. I saw those recently in craft videos on YouTube and my interest was piqued. The crafters were raving about them, but I could see in the video that the resulting blended ink was really smooth. Again, when a Black Friday sale come on, I decided to give them a try. And here's my take on it: they are an instant favorite!! They are really soft, so they can be used with delicate stencils (like the Knitted Sweater one from Echo Park I used here) and the blending is smooth and seamless. That ombre effect? Done with one colour of ink. I simply started blending at the top of the cardstock after tapping the brush on my ink pad and I went down the cardstock without reinking. And it took less than two minutes - the transfer was really fast as well. What also impressed me is that they can be used to ink edges as well (which is where they differ from the Clarity Stamps brushes). They come in a variety of sizes - I went for the 4-brush set. I cannot wait to test them out some more, but as of now, I am thrilled with them!

So basically, the starting point of this card was trying out the brushes. I looked for a stencil that I could easily work into a design after, which I why I picked the wool design, and I looked at online challenges to see if there was a combo I could use. The one from Sunday Stamps is gorgeous and was just calling out my name. After I was done playing with the brushes, I wasn't sure what to use the stenciled piece for. I rumaged through my things for a while and kept going back and forth between a few ideas - and finally went a whole other direction entirely. I spotted the Woodland Critter Huggers and since I've only used them for gift card pockets so far, I thought I would like to see one done on a card, and doing that allowed me to not cover the background too much (which the other ideas did, and I wanted the beautiful background to shine).

I dressed my deer up with the Woodland Critter Huggers Winter Add-On elements and instead of die-cutting the mittens, I used some felt ones I found in my stash recently. (Those were sold by Stampin' Up! many catalogues ago.) Die-cut snowflakes were added to fill out the space a bit and I added some to an envelope to match as well. Considering this started out as me playing with a new tool to test it out, I'm really happy with the end result.

 

 

   

Colour Combo: Raspberry Ripple + Mint Macaron + Powder Pink + Early Espresso

 

Supplies
Stamps: Parfum de Noël (Christmas Messages - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Powder Pink, Very Vanilla, Raspberry Ripple, Mint Macaron, Crumb Cake,
Early Espresso
Designer Series Paper Stack: Subtles
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Emboss Powder, Crumb Cake Medium Envelope, Glitter Dots,
Myths & Magic 6" x 6" Glimmer Paper, Felt Embellishments, Pinewoood Planks 3D Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!);
Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studios); Marisa Snowflake Die (Simon Says Stamp);
Woodland Critter Huggers Dies, Woodland Critter Huggers Winter Add-On Dies,
Dotted Rectangle Stackables, Stitched Rectangle Stackables,
Mini Snowflakes Dies (Lawn Fawn); Knitted Sweater Stencil (Echo Park)

 

Christmas Treats

Inspiration: Clean & Simple #99 + Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes) + Little Red Wagon #474 (Leftovers)

I would consider this card a "leftover" contender because it started with one of the images I had previously colored two weeks ago when my folks visited. It was lying on my desk, waiting to be turned into a finished project. The papers used on the card are paper scraps from a 6" x 6" pad

The "Happy Holidays" sentiment was embossed in Real Red glitter embossing powder. I handdrew stitching around the main image to fill out the space a bit, added Garden Green twine and black rhinestones and I was pretty much done. The main image was colored with Prismacolor pencils.

Those Littles images from Stamping Bella are adorable, and I like that they are smaller than the usual Bella images, making them faster to color.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Ensemble à Noël Hearts (Come Home - Stampin' Up!); The Littles Gingerbread Girl (Stamping Bella)
Cardstock: Resl Red, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Christmas Delivery (Carta Bella)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark
Accessories: Pencils (Prismacolor); White Coin Envelope (envelopes.com); Black Journaling Pen,
Black Rhinestones, Garden Green Baker's Twine, Stampin' Dimensionals, Project Life Corner Rounder Punch,
Real Red Glitter Embossing Powder (Stampin' Up!); Decorative Scissors

 

Joyful Wreath

Inspiration: The Paper Players #420 + SUO challenge #211 (Delightfully Die-Cut)

I was inspired to pull out my Holidays Catalogue supplies to make a card based on the Paper Players sketch. I figured I could use the long rectangle from the Stitched Labels Framelits to make one of the rectangles from the sketch, but when I pulled out the dies, I realized the rectangle was much smaller than from my memory! To solve my problem, I simply cut it twice to elongate it behind my main image.

I was going through stamp options for the main image and when I spotted Feathers & Frost, I decided I wanted to use the wreath again and that it would pair beautifully with the Joyous Noel Specialty Designer Series Paper. (This one already sold out, and I'm not surprised - it's so gorgeous and elegant!) I stamped and embossed the wreath on watercolor paper using Copper embossing powder and I colored the image using Tranquil Tide, Merry Merlot amd a soft wash of Sahara Sand in the background. I stamped "Joy" from the same stamp set in the center.

The green rectangle looked a little too solid on my card so on a whim, I reached out for the Curvy Corner Trio punch, and I was very happy with the result - and then remembered that this punch is long retired. Not a big deal, but I'll be sending this card to a downline member so I was trying to use current stuff. I wanted to have something poking out from behind the main image and I tried out the Sprig punch but I was not liking the result, so I tried out the Pretty Pines Framelits instead, which I liked better. (I did end up using the punched Sprigs as well, but I snipped them in two, to keep only one branch, which worked better.) Because the Pretty Pines Framelits were out, I thought I could top my image with a die-cut bow as well, and I was looking for something dimensional to put in the center of the bow. I finally found what I was looking for in the Faceted Dots embellishment pack - the dot is Blackberry Bliss, but it suits the Merry Merlot cardstock very nicely. By the way, I wanted the bow to be a little higher than my stamped piece but I didn't have the patience to trim little mini Dimensionals to this small of a size, so to make my life easier, I just die-cut three bows out of cardstock and stacked them with precision glue. This makes the bow stand out without having any Dimensionals showing.

This card is better enjoyed in person, as you can fully appreciate the gold accents on the paper and the watercolored piece. Very elegant!

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Plumes et givre (Feathers & Frost)
Cardstock: Tranquil Tide, Watercolor Paper
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Joyous Noel
Ink: VersaMark, Merry Merlot, Tranquil Tide, Sahara Sand
Accessories: Pretty Pines Framelits, Stitched Labels Framelits, Faceted Dots,
White Medium Envelope, Sprig Punch, Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder,
Aqua Painter Brush, Curvy Corner Trio Punch, Circle Punch

 

Let It Snow

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Baby It's Cold Outside) + Sketch Saturday #541

Black Friday 25% sale = new set of 36-color Gansai Tambi watercolor coming home with me. I really wanted to test them out, so I looked for something I could do watercolor with. The Cute Snowflakes stamp set from Simon Says Stamp had been set aside in the hope that it could be used for holiday stamping this year, and doing an emboss-resist technique seemed like an easy, fool-proof way to test the watercolors out. I was inspired to use snowflakes dies peeking out of the main panel to mimick the doily from the sketch, and I wanted my panel to have a central sentiment with snowflakes around it. I found a sentiment that comes from a Christmas song and that refers to the wind. Seemed appropriate to go with the snowflakes, so the sentiment was embossed in Platinum powder, and the snowflakes in clear powder on watercolor paper. I needed colour inspiration so I did my usual trick of picking from an old ColourQ combo. I mixed the watercolors on a plastic sheet to match the combo as closely as possible and I added touches of white gold for shimmer.

The snowflakes were die-cut out of Orchid glimmer paper that I've had for over a decade. I embossed the background with the Winter Snowflakes 3D embossing folder from Sizzix and matted my main panel with Certainly Celery cardstock. I was liking where the design was going but then I remembered that the sketch had three diagonal lines on it. I started playing with ribbons and fibers and found three in purple hues that matched the combo. I put them in place, glued the embossed cardstock on the card base and the panel with Dimensionals.

Then I looked at the result and I couldn't help but keep thinking the fibers were distracting and that I liked the card better before I had added them. After a bit of internal debating I decided I wanted a card I enjoyed, so I gently pulled the main panel up and ripped the fibers off of the card. I'm much happier now. Vintage Drops were added in a few spots and Fresh Snowfall Glitter Drops all around the embossed background like falling snow.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Parfum de Noël (Christmas Messages - Stampin' Up!); Cute Snowflakes (Simon Says Stamp)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Certainly Celery (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: VersaMark, Bermuda Bay, Pear Pizzazz, Highland Heather (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Snow Crystals Dies (KaiserCraft); Glimmer Cardstock (Unknown Source);
Winter Snowflakes 3D Embossing Folder (Sizzix); Bonnie Blue, Bohemian Teal, Pioneer Green Vintage Drops,
Fresh Snowfall Glitter Drops (Nuvo); Gansai Tambi Watercolors (Kuretake); Liquid Platinum Embossing Powder (Ranger);
Aqua Painter Brush, White Medium Envelope, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn)

 

Put a Bow on It

Inspiration: Just Us Girls #468 + Sunday Stamps #192 (sketch)

A little while ago, I figured out that the Picture Perfect Birthday stamp set had a bow image in it that could be used on Christmas projects to make a Christmas present bow. I got really excited about this idea, pulled out the stamp set from my stash - and realized that the bow image is quite small. Somehow, it was bigger in my mind, so the idea of doing a gift on a whole card front was not working because the scale was off. So I put this idea to the side and worked on other projects instead.

Enters this week's Just Us Girls challenge, with a little cart filled with present bows. When I saw the pile, I realized I could recycle my bow idea, but stamp a whole bunch instead of just one. That got the inspiration going again, so I pulled out the stamp set, paired it with the All is Bright Designer Series Paper and the Sunday Stamps sketch and in no time, I was going on my project. I need cards for my downline members, so I decided to make two of the same design at once.

For the sentiment strip, I was looking for a long sentiment to stamp on Crumb Cake cardstock, but then I spotted the brushstroke Noël in the Christmas Pines stamp set and I decided to stamp and handcut it, then layer over a strip embossed with my beloved Corrugated embossing folder. I initially planned on doing two sentiments differently, just because I sometimes like to test out two options when I do duplicate cards, but I really liked the handcut Noël so I stuck with that idea for both cards. The only difference is that I glued everything in place on the first card and realized I could have put something beside the word, so on the second card, I added a galvanized button on the strip before adding the word. I didn't have enough room on the first card, so I added a piece of plaid washi tape instead.

The main image was matted with green glimmer paper die-cut with a scallop square die, and I added red rhinestones between the bows to fill up the space and add a bit of pizzazz. The red strip of paper is embossed with the Swirls & Curls embossing folder (although it's hard to tell once everything else has been added on top) and I added a piece of white polka dot tulle ribbon as well (probably my favorite current ribbon - so delicate, goes with everything and ties very nicely).

I stamped the bow in a row in all three colours to decorate my envelope.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Anniversaire idéal (Picture Perfect Birthday)
Cardstock: Call Me Clover, Whisper White, Crumb Cake
Designer Series Paper: All is Bright
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Real Red, Shaded Spruce, Call Me Clover, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede
Accessories: Corrugated 3D Embossing Folder, Swirls & Curls Embossing Folder, White Medium Envelope,
Joyous Noel 6" x 6" Glimmer Paper, Layering Squares Framelits Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals, Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels,
White Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon, Galvanized Buttons, White Baker's Twine, Suite Season Specialty Washi Tape

 

Christmas Cookie Tags

Inspiration: Little Red Wagon #473 (No Cards Allowed) + Inspired By #47

This project started as a joke. My mom loves cooking now that she is retired, especially cookies and treats. She would love for me to share this interest, but I have zero interest in cooking of any type. She was hoping that I might pick it up so that I can bake cookies with my niece and she's even purchased a few things for me in the hope of sparking the interest, but to no avail. Because it's something that she's mentioned a few times, when I purchased the Fresh Baked #1 dies from Tim Holtz, I quickly put together a set of cookies one weekend my mom was visiting and put them on a little plate, on the table. When she came to the kitchen, I told her, "Since you were hoping I would make some cookies, I've made some for you." This cracked both of my parents up.

They've remained in the little plate on my counter, decorating since, but today I decided I would turn them into a project. I was hesitating between tags or cards, but tags won. I'd like to try selling some at the office for the first time, but I'm not sure what the interest will be. (My guess? People will think they are awfully cute, but will not want to necessary pay for them. We'll see.)

I think they turned out better than I initially envisioned. The list of supplies is quite long considering I've only made five tags, mainly because I looked through various stamp sets to find sentiments that fit the images and space available. Those would have taken forever to finish had I made the cookies today as well (they're adorable, but there's a lot of small details to die-cut and glue!), but since that part was taken care of previously, it seemed less daunting. That's the part that affects pricing, though: You can make those tags out of a few tiny scraps of cardstock, but assembling the die-cuts can easily take a couple of hours.

Fun detail: I used fun foam for the snowman, Santa's beard and hat trim and the mitten trim. It gives the images dimension and it looks just like fondant!

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Souhaits en rafale (Snowflake Sentiments), Sourire de fin d'année (Jolly Christmas),
Cousu avec joie (Stitched with Cheer), Coffret d'étiquettes (Tin of Tags),
Joyeuses petites étiquettes (Merry Little Labels - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up!), cardstock scraps (unknown source)
Ink: Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!); Walnut Stain, Ground Espresso (Distress Oxide - Ranger)
Accessories: Blending Tool (Ranger); White Fun Foam; Eyelets, White 1/8" Organza Ribbon,
Bigz Two Tags, Subtles Enamel Shapes (Stampin' Up!); Gansai Tambi Starry Colors (Kuretake);
Winter Snowflakes 3D Embossing Folder (Sizzix)