Encre, papier, ciseaux

Elf Christmas Tags

In general, I don't buy a lot of shaped dies that require assembly, but the little His and Hers elves from the recent Elizabeth Craft Designs dies did catch my eye and appeared fairly easy to put together. I was curious to see what they looked like assembled so I put the girl together with scraps from my scrap drawers. I went pretty classic since I didn't know what I would be using her on. (On a side note, they are easy to die-cut and put together, but the pieces are really small! Look at those little hands and cuffs...)

Right now, the next thing on my to-do list is wrapping my gifts, so I'm thinking about gift tags to match. I pulled out the new Woodgrain cardstock I got from the latest Lawn Fawn release to make a die with her. I shouldn't say new because Lawn Fawn came out with woodgrain cardstock a while back, but they were previously offering an assorted pack. This time, they separated their colours into individual packs offered in white, kraft and dark brown. That makes me very happy. Assorted packs are a great gateway into products, but afterwards, I like to be able to restock on favorite colours. I decided to go classic and use the white woodgrain for my tag. I pulled out additional red and olive cardstock and die-cut a pretty cool "Merry Christmas" French die I found at my local store while picking up the new Lawn Fawn release. Sentiment dies are hard to find in French and the fonts offered are not always that varied, so I found this one to be really cool and different (and reasonably priced). Since the elf had been put together previously, that tag came together in a matter of minutes and I do like the result. I didn't string ribbon on it just yet, I'll wait until I'm ready to add the tag to the actual package to see how I go about it and which ribbon I use.

The next day, I put together a similar tag using the little boy this time. I used the Gift Wrapped stamp set and got the idea to use the bow image as well. I had a leftover Old Olive ribbon piece on my desk from another project where it was not quite working, which I used along with the gold-embossed bow image. The sentiment reads, "A very merry Christmas" and was embossed in white powder. 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Enveloppé d'amour (Gift Wrapped - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: White Woodgrain (Lawn Fawn); Close to Cocoa, Early Espresso, Whisper White,
Real Red, Gold Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Paper: ? (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Holiday Elf - Hers (Elizabeth Craft Designs); Nested Tags (Scrapbook.com);
Joyeux Noël (Les ateliers de Karine)
Accessories: Gold Glitter Enamel Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Trimming the Town Ribbon Combo Pack (Stampin' Up!); White Gel Pen (Gelly Roll)

 

Oddball Nutcracker

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #550 + The Paper Players #520

Now that I am done with the cards I was gifting away, I am back to replenishing my own pile of Christmas cards to send to friends and family this year. One of the images I had stamped hoping to color soon is the adorable Oddball Nutcracker from Stamping Bella. I love the whole Oddball family, but this image is particularly adorable. I was really digging the blue coat from the packaging example, so I had that in the back of my mind when I looked through my 6" x 6" patterned paper pads trying to pick something. I landed on Echo Park's Deck the Halls (from 2016). I didn't really realize that the dates are added to the paper strips or paper pads until a crafter pointed that detail out in a video. I've been having fun paying attention to that detail now as it sometimes feel like I just bought a paper pad the year prior and then I realize it's been in my stash for way longer than that. It's giving me a better sense of chronology.

I based my design on the Mojo Monday sketch. I missed the deadline to submit, but Julee's sketches are my favorites and I keep a list of all of her sketches on my computer, and play catchup with older sketches when I have time as they are a great inspiration and guaranteed to turn up a great layout. I liked the idea of playing with the stars and as you can see, I added glittery stars on my mint circle as well, using the Hocus Pocus stencil from Tim Holtz and Golden Crystal glitter paste from Nuvo. I only have a bit of paste left in the jar and despite using Press 'N Seal on it, the paste is getting really crumbly and does not have the same smooth consistency it once had. I wasn't sure it would stay in place, but after moving it around the stencil for a little bit, I finally managed to get a respectable result. I need to restock on gold, though, as I might be able to get one more use of what is left in the jar and then I'll have to call it quits.

The red banner was a leftover piece from a previous project and it was the perfect layering piece on this layout, so I decided to use it to add my sentiment. I have a pile of Stampin' Up! holiday stamp sets that I've put together in my library and that I keep going through every time I make a card to find a sentiment that's the right size and format. The one I picked here reads, "May this Holiday season be full of joy." I embossed it in gold powder to fit with the other gold accents.

Speaking of which, most of my image was colored using Copic markers, but I did want a true gold on my hat and buttons, so I pulled out my Gansai Tambi Starry Colors watercolors. By the way, I was initially hesitant to get this one because I was thinking, How many shades of watercolor gold do I really need? The answer is, all of them. Okay, maybe not a true need, I'll admit, but I will say, I've really enjoyed being able to pick a shade of gold that really complements the project I am working on and to my surprise, I really have been using all of them.I thought I would always revert to Light Gold and Champagne Gold, which is what I usually gravitate towards, but I have actually used Blue Gold, Red Gold and Yellow Gold (used on this project) as well. The sixth shade is White gold, which I consider more of an opalescent shade that I use in a different capacity, more to add sheen to colors and images than as an actual gold shade. So all in all, this turned out to be a valuable purchase and it's going to last me a long time as the pans still look brand-new, even though I've got the projects to prove that they have been used!

To finish off the card, I went through my buttons and picked two to decorate the stars with, as they were a little too blah without nothing on them. I then pulled out a Nautical Blue linen envelope, which I decorated with matching paper and washi tape.

Let's hope I get good creative mojo this weekend and crank a few cards out. I felt a little wiped out creatively after finishing the batch of 50 and had to take a break as I couldn't come up with anything good anymore. I'm happy with how this one turns out so this gives me hope to get something going this weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Oddball Nutcracker (Stamping Bella); Ce que j'aime à Noël (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Mint Macaron, Gold Glimmer Paper, Red Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Deck the Halls (Echo Park)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark; Mint Macaron (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Wonky Stitched Rectangles Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
Circle Double Stitched (Art Impressions)
Accessories: Hocus Pocus Stencil (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous);
Golden Crystal Glitter Paste (Nuvo); Starry Colors Gansai Tambi Watercolors (Kuretake);
A2 Nautical Blue Linen Envelope (envelopes.com); Markers (Copic); Aqua Painter Brush,
Large and Small Star Punches, Stampin' Dimensionals, Designer Buttons, Washi Tape,
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder (Stampin' Up!); Red Button (Foof-a-La); Washi Tape (Recollections)

 

Carpool Karaoke

Inspiration: Lawn Fawnatics #89 (Happy Holiday Critters)

Now that I am back to making Christmas cards for my own use, I was happy to get back to my Lawn Fawn stamps, as I still have some sets from their latest release that have yet to see ink. In my holiday papers, I have leftover scraps from the beautiful Fa La La collection from Crate Paper (dating back to 2017) that I was itching to use. I paired them with the Car Critters and Car Critters Christmas Add-On sets. I couldn't find a current sketch challenge that was really working, so I went back to my Mojo Monday sketch archive to find something that worked and went all the way back to sketch #2! In the end, it ended up pretty layered as I decided to add the gold Snowflake border and a dangle I had on my desk that was in the right colours.

For the main scene, I started with a piece of white cardstock blended with Spun Sugar and Work Lipstick Distress Oxide ink. I speckled my background with Liquid Stardust. I die-cut the piece with a Stitched Shapes dies circle. I prepared a snow layer with the same stitched circle die and the Slimline Stitched Hilside Borders. Then I cut the Road Border and used the stitched circle on it again. I layered all three pieces to create my background. I colored and die-cut all of my images, then I added snow to the trees using a VersaMarker and the Textured White embossing powder from Lawn Fawn. I added one tree haing over the sde of my background and the other one at the bottom, over the sentiment frame. The car image was added with dimensional adhesive and I stamped little music notes around the car because everyone need music on a long road trip. I have gold enamel dots from Stampin' Up! that come in four different sizes in the package, so I was able to add the car lights in both sizes for additional shimmer.

I learned my lesson the hard way when I tried to slide a bulky card into a regular A2-size envelope recently and because of the big jingle bell on it, it just wasn't fitting. With the bulky dangle, I went straight to an oversize envelope using the Envelope Punch Board and the one paper scrap I had that was large enough to make an envelope out of.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Car Critters, Car Critters Christmas Add-On (Lawn Fawn);
Accrochés avec soin (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Tranquil Tide, Whisper White, Basic Grey, Gold Foil Sheets,
Myths & Magic Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Fa La La (Crate Paper)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Just Jade Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!);
Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide Ink (Ranger)
Accessories: Envelope Punch Board, White Cotton Twine, Stitched Shapes Dies,
Stitched So Sweetly Dies, Ornate Frames Dies, Layering Circles Dies,
Gold Glitter Enamel Dots, Curvy Corner Trio Punch (Stampin' Up!);
Road Border Dies, Slimeline Stitched Hillside Borders Dies, Snowflake Border Dies,
Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies, Car Critters Dies,
Car Critters Christmas Add-On Dies, Textured White Embossing Powder (Lawn Fawn);
Dotted Scallop Rectangles Dies (Elizabeth Craft Designs); Markers (Copic);
Beads and Clasps (Bead Landing); Aquas Hero Hues Enamel Dots (Hero Arts)

 

Cuddling Under the Mistletoe

Inspiration: Global Design Project #269 + Freshly Made Sketch #464

I love everything cutesy, so the owl set from the August-December Mini-catalogue really appealed to me. I got the idea to add the Birch background stamp in Smoky Slate ink on a grey card base since the owls are on a branch, and to combine them with the classic colour combo from this week's Global Design Project challenge. I used my Buffalo Check background stamp on the Just Jade cardstock and die-cut it with the Stitched Shapes dies. It felt a little bare, so I added a scalloped square die-cut out of Garden Green cardstock underneath and it added just the right touch. I was hesitating between two ribbons, so I added the white polka dot tulle on the first card and the Mint Macaron basket weave ribbon on the second card. 

I stamped the owls in Tuxedo Black ink on white cardstock, colored them with the Stampin' Blends markers and die-cut the image using the matching dies. I then die-cut Real Red cardstock using the tags die from the same set, stamped the owls again in red ink so that I would have the background image, and I popped the colored images over it using Stampin' Dimensionals.

I stamped a sentiment from the set on a strip of white cardstock in green ink, cut the edge at an angle and I added a heart charm from the Playful Pets trinkets. Don't forget the little hearts can go on any project, even though they come from a pet-themed collection. I tied a piece of white twine on the trinket for added texture.

This is much simpler than my usual creations, but I love the result. There's an elegant simplicity to it. The Birch and Buffalo Check are is also two of my favorite backgrounds we've had in recent years. They are classic and very versatile.

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Chouettes pensées, Birch, Buffalo Check 
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Real Red, Just Jade, Garden Green
Inks: Real Red, Garden Green, Smoky Slate
Accessories: Stitched Shapes Dies, Peek-A-Hoot Dies, Playful Pets Trinkets,
White Baker's Twine, White Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon, White Medium Envelope,
Basket Weave and Metallic Ribbon Combo Pack, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Layering Square Dies, Stampin' Blends Markers

 

Fa. La. La.

Inspiration: Fusion challenge

The starting point of this card were the Oddball reindeers, which had been set aside to stamp and colour. I looked through patterned papers to see which colour scheme I would be using. I had in mind I wanted some more traditional papers to go with the reindeers and I landed on Mad 4 Plaid from Photoplay (2017 release). It so happened that one of the patterned paper has banners on it, which was reminiscent of the Fusion challenge. Initially, I had planned to make three penants and add either Ho Ho Ho or Fa La La on it, but I decided to use the patterned paper instead and add my sentiment elsewhere on the card.

I colored the reindeers with my Polychromos pencils and used the matching dies to cut them out. (Stamping Bella decided to discontinue their dies offering. This is too bad, as I found I was having more ease turning my Bella images into cards when they were die-cut. I did handcut my little nutcracker on the last card I made but it was not as precise as having the dies.) 

I went back to my idea of adding "Fa. La. La." as a sentiment. I really wanted to add the punctuation as well, as I felt it added a bit of irony to it that works well with the Oddballs' expression. I recently acquired the Tall Skinny Alphabet dies from Scrapbook.com. I was really excited about this die set as French words tend to be long and having a skinny alphabet makes it easier to fit something in on a card or page. The website was also offering a sale where the set was I believe 40% off, so considering you get the uppercase and lowercase alphabet, the price was quite competitive compared to other comparable die sets. I love how it turned out on the card. I used gold foil sheets and added gold faceted gems from Stampin' Up! for the dots.

I added a white border die-cut with the Lacy Borders dies from Lawn Fawn and used two pieces of cotton twine in Cherry Cobbler and Always Artichoke to tie a knot I added to the center of the banners, topped with another gold faceted gems as well.

I didn't know what size of card I would need to fit in the design I had in mind, so I worked backwards and prepared all of the pieces before figuring out the finished card size. It ended up being a 5½" square card. My Mad 4 Plaid paper came from a 6" x 6" paper pad, so to make a matching envelope, I looked at my 12" x 12" paper trying to find a plaid pattern that would work with my card. I found one in the Festive Farm Designer Series Paper pack.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Oddball Reindeer Set (Stamping Bella)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Whisper White, Gold Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Mad 4 Plaid (Photoplay); Festive Farm Designer Series Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Dies: Tall Skinny Alphabet (Scrapbook.com); Wonky Stitched Rectangle Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
Lacy Borders (Lawn Fawn); Oddball Reindeer Set (Stamping Bella)
Accessories: Polychromos Pencils (Fäber-Castell); Festive Farm Cotton Twine,
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Gold Faceted Gems, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!)

 

Christmas Tag

It's official: the 50 Christmas cards are finished and have been sent to my mom so they can be distributed at the seniors' centre at their Christmas party. Since I was sending a package home, I decided to include something for my parents as well, as it is unlikely we will spend the holidays together this year. I had done an adorable winter-themed mini-album this past Spring when we were in full lockdown, which I have yet to post as I need to edit the pictures first. I knew my parents would love it if it was filled with pictures of their kids and grandkids, so last weekend, I dug through my pictures to find ones that I could crop small enough to include in the album and finished it off. Then, I wrapped it with beautiful gold-foiled birch paper I found at Indigo a couple of years ago and then I decided it needed a tag to make sure my mom knew this was for her and dad and not for the seniors' centre. I looked at my paper collections and decided Christmas from Carta Bella would look nice with the Birch paper.  

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers: Christmas (Carta Bella)
Dies: Border Dies (Photoplay); Nested Tags (Scrapbook.com)
Accessories: Christmas Milk Caps (Tim Holtz for idea-ology);
Mini Jingle Bells, Gold Eyelet, Wonderful Gems, Silver Thread,
Cherry Cobbler Scalloped Tulle, Cherry Cobbler Curly Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
Gold Pen (Pica); White Roughly Sewn Rub-Ons (49 & Market);
Natural Trim (Recollections); Gold-Foil Birch Wrapping Paper (Indigo)

 

Getting Ready for December 25th

Inspiration: Card Maps January 2018 Sketch + The Paper Players #518 (Patterned Paper + Die-Cuts + Dry Embossing)

One of the older paper collection I pulled out again is Classic Christmas from Simple Stories. This one is SO gorgeous, I'm surprised I haven't used it more in the past. I found I had the Bits and Pieces that got with it, and that they are gold-foiled, just like the papers are. I started going through the die-cuts and it wasn't long before an idea was forming. This card came together really quickly and most of the embellishing was done with leftover pieces from previous projects left on my desk. I also pulled out the Deckle Trimmer again, both for my gold borders and for the outside edge. I LOVE the look it gives to the card. That tiny uneven brown border totally tied the design together and made such a huge difference in the final look. (By the way, I mentioned in my last post I was concerned that part of the blade is catching and is tearing the cardstock instead of cutting it. I investigated online and went to check out a couple of review videos and it wasn't long before I found somebody else who had the same comment about hers, so at least it confirms that I didn't get a bad trimmer and that exchanging it wouldn't solve the problem. I wonder if Tonic will do something about it.)

Considering how simple the design of this card is - just artistically layering die-cuts, really - I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I think it's my favorite card I've done all week. I gotta say, Simple Stories rarely disappoint. I have been using a lot of their current and past collections in the past couple of months and it's all turning out really pretty. I love the variety they have as well. Since they added the Simple Vintage series, they do cover a nice range of looks and I find that I love my older collections as much as I love the latest ones. They are getting two very high thumbs up from me.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Gold Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Bits & Pieces: Classic Christmas (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Deckle Trimmer (Tim Holtz for Tonic); 
Very Vanilla Medium Envelopes, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Stapler (Stampin' UP!);
Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn); 
Star Trim Impresslits (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)

 

Santa and His Sleigh

Inspiration: January 2018 Card Maps Sketch + TGIF #292 (Christmas)

This is yet another card that was inspired by cute Simple Stories items. I picked the Santa chipboard sticker, layered him over a die-cut doily along with a sleigh sticker and I used another sticker for the sentiment block. Two different patterned papers were used to create banners in the back, and I stapled a piece of curly ribbon I had leftover on my desk, topped with a matching button. A second button was placed on Santa's bag, and I added Wonderful Gems on his coat and the top button. I added Stickles to the top of the sleigh for snow and highlights on Santa's fur and beard. I discovered I was out of neutral Stickles last time I tried to use it, so when I stopped by the scrapbook store, I made sure to pick up a new bottle. There were a few available options in neutral glitter and I ended up picking Frosted Lace. I'm really happy with how it looks. The glitter in it is white, so no orange, green or purple undertones, which I like, and it works especially well here on something that has muted colours and more of a vintage feel to it.

Another Santa sticker was added to a Very Vanilla envelope to finish off the set. 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Handsome Hunter (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Chipboard Stickers: Merry & Bright (Simple Stories)
Dies: Decorative Doily Duo Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Wonderful Gems, Stampin' Dimensionals, Cherry Cobbler Curly Ribbon,
Mini Stapler, Very Vanilla Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!); Buttons (Foof-A-La);
Frosted Lace Stickles (Ranger)

 

Snowflake Rosette

Inspiration: January 2018 Card Maps Sketch + Just Add Ink #533 (Just Add S - Santa)

This is an unexpected card as the result is quite different from what I was picturing in my head - and it turned out way better! I was liking the sketch I started with as I figured I could use the beautiful Layered Snowflakes dies from PinkFresh I acquired this fall. I found some leftover papers from an old Cosmo Cricket collection called Be Good, which dates back to 2007. I loved Cosmo Cricket - they had those gorgeous vintage/retro designs that I wasn't intimidated to use. I think the beauty of their lines come through on this card. I let myself be inspired by the papers, prepared my layered snowflake, making sure to include glitter paper in there, and then I die-cut a burgundy doily, stamped my sentiment in burgundy on a die-cut banner, added a stitched ric rac border and while the card was pretty, it felt very blah. So I added a bit of lace on the other border, matted my doily with a stitched circle and while that was already better, it still felt empty. I decided I had enough space on the card to turn the circle into a rosette, so I punched the edge of a strip of brown patterned paper and added a rosette underneath, which instantly added dimension and visual weight to the main element. I wanted to add bling to the center of my snowflake, so I went digging through my Christmas-themed embellishments and I found a couple fo other things I decided I wanted to use as well: wooden snowflakes and a roll of Christmas tickets which were in the perfect shades to match my papers. I then sprinkled a few beads, drops and sequins and I was pleased with the resulting card.

Because rosettes are bulky, I always prefer to make an oversized envelope to accommodate the height, and luckily, I had a few papers that were big enough to make an envelope out of. I repeated the stitched ric rac, ticket and wood snowflake on the envelope as well (and inside the card). This was fun, I enjoyed revisiting this old paper collection. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Six souhaits (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Merry Merlot, Champagne Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Be Good (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink: Merry Merlot (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Layered Snowflakes Dies (PinkFresh); Snowflake Wood Veneers (Studio Calico);
Colored Wood Snowflakes (Omer DeSerres); Circle Double Stitched Dies (Art Impressions;
Sequins, Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board, Stampin' Score Tool (Stampin' Up!);
Vintage Shimmer Pearls (Studio Katia); Getaway Dew Drops (The Robin's Nest);
Stitched Ric Rac, Wonky Stitched Rectangles and Decorative Doily Duo Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
Everyday Sentiment Banners Dies (Lawn Fawn); Merry Little Christmas Ticket Roll (Fancy Pants Designs)

 

Vintage Santa

Inspiration: Color Throwndown #621 

It was love at first sight when I caught a glimpse of the new Simple Vintage North Pole collection from Simple Stories. I love everything about it - the retro images, the colours, the fonts... I ended up buying a big chunk of the whole collection - and unfortunately left it all aside until today. I used one of the ephemera images from the Bits and Pieces pack. There are actually two bits Bits and Pieces pack, one called Santa and a regular one - this is from the latter. Because the image is already layered, I really did not need to add a whole lot for the card to feel complete. I did use a ticket sticker, pieces of washi from the collection and a white paper doily. I added a snowflake die cut out of silver glitter paper and I added one of the decorative brads in the center. At the top, I tied a bow made out of Pear Pizzazz seam binding and I tied a red button in the center with white twine. I used the little star from the collection's stamp set to add red stars on the striped paper. I included a border cut out of red foil paper using the Star Trim Embosslits. I added glitter accents and Crystal Drops. And then I decorated a white enveloppe with a border sticker from the paper pack.

Very simple process, but the resulting card just makes me smile.  

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps, Patterned Papers, Stickers, Decorative Brads, Bits & Pieces,
Washi Tape: Simple Vintage North Pole (Simple Stories)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Silver Glimmer Paper, Red Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Real Red (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Wonky Stitched Rectangle Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
White Baker's Twine, Pear Pizzazz Seam Binding, Stampin' Dimensionals, White Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!);
Star Trim Impresslits (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Silver Jubilee Glitter Accents,
Calming Aqua Crystal Drops, Pioneer Green Vintage Drops (Nuvo);
White Doily (Dollar Store); Button (Foof-a-La)

 

Scooter Santa

Inspiration: July 2019 Card Maps Sketch + Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes)

I went back to the Jingle All the Way collection from Simple Stories for this card. Inspired by the sketch, I thought I could pick a chipboard piece for the main image and frame my sentiment inside a Wonky Circle Frame die-cut. I initially thought I would do a ribbon bow but I decided to do a layered paper bow instead and I like how it came out. The gold-embossed sentiment felt a little lost in its circle frame, so I added a heart puffy sticker over it ot fill the space. I added washi tape and red curly ribbon for a little bit of texture between the two sections of the card. Simple but very sweet resulting card. Still very happy I went ahead and purchased this new collection.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Y'a d'la joie (Cheerful Christmas - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Mint Macaron (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Chipboard, Puffy Stickers and Cardstock Stickers: Jingle All the Way (Simple Stories)
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Curly Ribbon, Vanilla Medium Envelope,
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder (Stampin' Up!); Washi Tape (Unknown);
Outside In Stitched Rectangles Dies, Put a Bow on It Dies (Lawn Fawn)

 

Wood Frame and Postcard

Inspiration: CAS(E) This Sketch #399

I didn't think I could pull one more card out of my Wintergreen DSP and 'Tis the Season Ephemera packs, but I was wrong! I don't know if this card can really qualify as a Clean and Simple creation, but I do like where I ended up using the sketch and I'm quite happy I could get even more mileage out of my supplies. At this point, I really have to convince myself to call it quits and put the tiny scraps I have left into the bin and be thrilled that I finished a paper pack. I did go ahead and punched all of my scraps with my hexagon punch to create a background, though - not sure if I'll use it, but it's there.

For this card, I really let the remaining pieces be the inspiration. I initially thought I would use the wood die-cut to frame something, but based on the sketch, I realized that I could fill it with the lovely embossed paper I've been pairing with the Wintergreen DSP (even though it does not come from that pack) and lay my sentiment strip over it. I embossed the snetiment in deep green powder to make it stand out (had I planned this better, I should have avoided the side with darker green stripes, though). The top of the frame felt bare, so I decided to add a snowflake and remembered about the Layered Snowflakes dies from PinkFresh I bought this year. This die collection was on the expensive side, but I am quite pleased with how gorgeous the snowflakes are. They are delicate and really unique and they all come with a layering piece, which offers additional options (layering piece is shown used on the matching envelope). You can also layer some of them together for additional options. And I was very pleased to discover that the packaging is already lined with a hidden magnetic sheet, so I didn't have to provide one and they are easy to see against the printed background (instead of having them on the black magnet sheet).

I realized the only piece of patterned paper I had left for the background was not large enough to cut it to 4" x 5-1/4", so I went a size down, using my Dotted Rectangles dies, and I used my deckle trimmer to create a mat for it to fill the space on the card front better (I didn't like having the wide green border). I decorated an Avocado envelope with a matching snowflake and gem to finish the look. One more finished card to add to my pile for the seniors centre. I think I'm now at 46, out of 50 cards total.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Souhaits en rafales (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Shimmery White (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Paper: Wintergreen (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: 'Tis the Season Ephemera Pack (Cocoa Vanilla); A2 Avocado Envelope (envelopes.com);
Stampin' Dimensionals, 2019-2021 In Color Faceted Dots, Jumbo Rhinestone Basic Jewels (Stampin' Up!);
Deckle Trimmer (Tim Holtz for Tonic); Dotted Rectangles Dies (Lawn Fawn); 
Deep Green Embossing Powder (Top Boss)

 

Poinsettia Pocket

Inspiration: The Card Concept #144

The starting point of this card was Tim Holtz's latest Facebook Live where he showed how to make little inked squares that he assembled on a project. I really liked the overall looked and decided to recycle it on a card. Initially, I was planning to use the two glazed paper dolls I have left, but when I placed them on the card, I found they were hiding too much of the background so I switched gears. I had this poinsettia pocket that was done a couple of months ago when I sat and played with the August-December Minicatalogue products. Most of my other embellishments made it onto finished cards, but this pocket had remained on my desk, waiting to be finished into something. The colours were matching the idea-ology Christmas papers really nicely, so I decided to go with that. 

The pocket didn't have anything in it, so I made a tag insert. I used a tag die from Planner Essentials set 21, but I used my cutting plate only on the top portion so that I could make the tag longer. I used the embellishing die to add foil paper at the top, and I threaded some copper-sentiment vanilla ribbon and tied a green ribbon over it. Because the tag was roomy, I jumped at the chance to use a larger sentiment, which I rarely have room to accommodate on my cards. It reads, "May the magic of the season warm your heart." I embossed it in gold on Mossy Meadow cardstock and I used my brand-new deckle trimmer from Tim Holtz to cut both sides. First impression of the trimmer: I love the look of the deckle edge, but there is a certain spot on the blade that tears the paper instead of cutting it. I tested it with printing paper and with cardstock and I get the same issue with both, so I might have to go back to my store and see if we can test another one together as I know this will annoy me to no end. The trimmer I use for all of my crafting is the 12" guillotine trimmer from Tonic and the results are ultra precise, so I would expect the same from the deckle trimmer as well.

Despite my best efforts of using a ruler to center the sentiment on the cardstock before cutting it, the sentiment was still a hair off the right and it was too obvious to leave it like that, so I picked one of the patterned paper scraps on my desk and I stapled it to the left side, to add colour and help make the sentiment appear properly centered.

You can see in the Card Concept image that the plaid cushion has little buttons on it and I liked that detail, so I reproduced it on my card by adding three little green buttons on the background squares. To finish, I pulled out an Avocado envelope and repeated the punched and inked paper squares and metallic border on it to finish the set.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Noël au chaud (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Smoky Slate, Mossy Meadow (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Christmas (2018) (Tim Holtz for idea-ology); Brushed Metallic Cardstock,
Plush Poinsettia, Wonder of the Season Specialty Designer Series Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Black Soot Distress Oxide (Ranger); Mossy Meadow Classic Ink, VersaMark (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Circle Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Poinsettia Dies, Beaded Pearls, 1-1/4" Square Punch,
1/2" Classic Weave Ribbon, All the Trimmings Ribbon Combo Pack, Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder (Stampin' Up!); 
A2 Avocado Envelope (envelopes.com); Star Trim Impresslits (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Buttons (Foof-a-La);
Deckle Trimmer (Tim Holtz for Tonic); Planner Essentials Dies 21 (Elizabeth Craft Designs);
Blending Tool (Ranger)

 

Jolly Poinsettias

Inspiration: Card Maps July 2019 Sketch

I was still playing with the Jingle All the Way collection from Simple Stories and this time, I pulled out the Bits & Pieces to draw inspiration from. I picked the poinsettia cluster and layered it over one of the cut-aparts that also has poinsettias on them. I punched different patterns with my hexagon punch ans arranged all my pieces on the card. The stamped sentiment reads, "May this period overflow with happiness." I added a curly ribbon bow, a Perennial essence floral center to the poinsettia (got those on clearance and had not used them yet) and enamel dots from the old Home for Christmas collection. I also included a snowflake puffy sticker and a rhinestone border. I recently stopped by the dollar store to purchase stickers and fun stuff to include in my nieces' Advent calendars and I found those rhinestone borders. I thought they were individual stickers but I discovered they're border when I opened the pack. Fun way to jazz up projects.

The Bits and PIeces included a second poinsettia die-cut, which I added to a metallic Aquamarine envelope to match, and I repeated the punched hexagons and flower centers as well.

I'm well on my way to being finished with my 50 Christmas cards - I think this one makes 45. You know what I'll be doing all weekend...

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Père Noël s'amuse (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Garden Green (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Bits & PIeces, Puffy Stickers, Sticker Book: Jingle All the Way (Simple Stories)
Ink: Garden Green (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Stampin' DImensionals, Home for Christmas Enamel Dots, Cherry Cobbler Curly Ribbon,
Perennial Essence Floral Centers (Stampin' Up!); A2 Metallic Aquamarine Envelope (envelopes.com);
Dotted Rectangle Stackables Dies, Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Rhinestone Border Stickers (Dollar Store)

 

Country Christmas Meet City Christmas

Inspiration: Card Maps July 2018 Sketch + The Paper Players #517 (Hooray for the Holidays)

Last summer, my local store offered some interesting discounts on some of the supplies to make room for the new things that would be coming out in the fall and I was able to score some Christmas in the Country puffy stickers and chipboard stickers on sale. I don't have matching papers for that collection, but when I looked at the soft muted colours, they reminded me of my old City Sidewalks paper collection from Pink Paislee. I pulled it out and sure enough, they match beautifully. I have always loved working with those papers, everything made with this collection just turn out absolutely lovely. This card is no exception, the softness really appeals to me. I started with the Christmas parchment chipboard piece and decided to layer the vintage woman. I wrapped the parchment with Antique Gold metallic thread from Altenew (one of my favorite recent acquisitions, I'm adding it to everything!). I then layered a little 25 puffy sticker to the woman.

I picked the newspaper pattern for my background and die-cut it with the Wonky Stitched Rectangles Die-namics. I decided to add gold splatter for shine and interest, so I used the Light Gold watercolor from the Gansai Tambi Starry Colors collection. I also edged the sides of the paper with the gold watercolor and I ran the paintbrush around the woman's image to give it a gold edge as well. I then picked two matching patterned papers and rounded one corner on each, as per the sketch, and I added my sentiment ("happiness and health") to a piece of golden yellow paper. It already had a pinking edge from a previous die-cut I had done and I decided I liked it, so I kept it. I finished embellishing with another puffy sticker word, a couple of colored pearls and an Iridescent Bubble. 

The matching envelope is a A2 Metallic Blonde envelope and I used the same image as a puffy sticker layered on a punched piece to finish the matching set.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Six souhaits (Six Sayings - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: City Sidewalks (Pink Paislee)
Ink: Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Wonky Stitched Rectangles Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
Corner Rounder Chomper (We R Memory Makers); Starry Colors Gansai Tambi Watercolors (Kuretake);
Christmas in the Country Puffy Stickers and Chipboard Stickers (Prima Design);
Antique Gold Metallic Thread (Altenew); Iridescent Bubbles, Rose Pink Pearls,
Moss Green Pearls (Studio Katia); A2 Blonde Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com);
Curly Label Punch (Stampin' Up!)

 

Simple Vintage Eggnog

Inspiration: Sketch Saturday #636

This was a fun sketch to work with and I like how the card ended up looking. I picked the Simple Vintage Christmas paper pack from Simple Stories. This one also dates back to 2018, that year where there was too many good stuff coming up to have time to use it all. I felt that the vintage look would be well suited to the cards I am making for the seniors centre. I was leafing through the paper trying to decide what to focus on and one of the cut-aparts caught my eye, with its adorable eggnog sign on a doily. It was a 4" x 6" cut apart, but I took my 2½ circle punch and punched the image out, to use as the circle from the sketch. I had many fun patterns to choose from, but I went with the music sheet and plaid patterns for the two bows. The stitching on the sketch inspired me to pull out my black Roughly Sewn Rub-Ons from 49 & Market. Not only did I add the line of stitching at the bottom, but I also added circle stitching over the eggnog image for additional detail. 

On the side strip, I layered red paper punched with a scallop trim edge, crochet trim and some rhinestone border I recently found at the Dollar store. I added green buttons to the center of the bows and a larger beige button at the bottom, trimmed with Always Artichoke cotton twine, and of course I couldn't help adding two mini jingle bells on it.

The bows added a lot of bulk to the card, so I made an oversize envelope (sized for a 4½" x 6" card) out of one of the patterned paper sheets. I found a milk cap in Tim Holtz's latest collection that says egg nog on it, so I added it to the envelope as a tie-in.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Handsome Hunter (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Simple Vintage Christmas (Simple Stories)
Dies: Put a Bow on It (Lawn Fawn); Wonky Stitched Rectangles (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: Christmas Milk Caps (Tim Holtz for idea-ology); 
Black Roughly Sewn Rub-Ons (49 & Market); Lace Border Punch, Mini Jingle Bells,
Envelope Punch Board, Victoria Crochet Trim (Stampin' Up!); Buttons (Foof-a-la);
Rhinestone Borders (Dollar Store)

 

 

I'll Be Home for Christmas... If Only In My Dreams

Inspiration: Card Maps July 2018 sketch + Festive Friday #72 (house + twine + cranberry - the color)

I wanted to use my Hello Christmas collection from Carta Bella. The chipboard Accents were what I was most drawn to, then I decided to get the puffy stickers and the 6" x 6" paper pad as well. I was surprised to discover that Carta Bella changed how they do their chipboard now. It used to be entirely die-cut and adhesive--backed. This new version is plain chipboard, just brown underside, no adhesive. The pieces also have those little tabs keeping the images in place in the packaging. I'm sure this was done so that all of the pieces stay in place through shipping and when they are displayed in stores, as some pieces used to pop out and fall to the bottom of the packaging before. That being said, I have always hated when die-cuts have tabs on them, as if leaves an uneven edge when you pop the piece out. I always go back with scisors to try and trim the prongs off and get an even finish, but it's not always easy, especially not with chipboard. If you look really closely at the top of the house and the bottom of it, you'll see what I am referring to. This was the first piece of the package I was using, so we'll see how I feel about it in the long run, but so far, not a positive change as far as I'm concerned.

The chipboard has a few house images - this one here and another one of a house in a glass dome. I love it, but the shape of the house was easier to work into the design I was using. I kept thinking I wanted to use "I'll be home for Christmas (if only in my dreams)" as my sentiment. We often see the first part used on cards, but adding the second part made it work with the current situation. Who knows this year how the holidays will be. My mom and I had a phone call last week and she said she didn't think my dad and her would be able to visit based on the current situation as it is. Sadly, she is probably right, so I'm mentally preparing for a different kind of holiday season. 

I paired the house pattern on top with the lovely green gingham at the bottom, die-cutting both with my largest Dotted Rectangle die from Lawn Fawn. I added a bit of die-cut lace in red in the middle and decided to do stenciling at the bottom. My latest find is Rose Quartz glitter paste in the sale bin. I love everything rose gold, so I was totally drawn to the colour and I don't own any texture paste in that colour, so at a third of the original price, I decided to give it a try. I'm liking it, it's a great texture and thick enough to get great details. The color looks lovely against the green. I used a mini stencil from set 38 from Tim Holtz.

For the sentiment, I wanted a typewriter font. I have the We R Memory Makers typewriter, but the font is fairly big, so the result would have been too large. I went to dafont.com and downloaded a couple of free typewriter fonts (everything is organized by theme or look, so you can really quickly find what you are looking for). I ended up using Typewriter Rustic and it's exactly the look I envisioned. I taped my 6" x 6" paper to a regular 8½ x 11" sheet of printing paper and ran it through the printer, then I die-cut the printed patterned paper with a die from the Everyday Sentiment Banners.

I added green thick twine and a couple of puffy stickers to finish the card, decorated the inside with a cut-apart image, and for the envelope, I used the same stencil and glitter paste then added a puffy sticker that reads "Home for the Holidays" as a tie-in.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Chipboard Accents, Puffy Stickers: Hello Christmas (Carta Bella)
Dies: Dotted Rectangle Stackables, Everyday Sentiment Banners (Lawn Fawn);
Final Touches Edgelits (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Pistachio Pudding, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Rose Quartz Glitter Paste (Martha Stewart); A2 Avocado Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Ho Ho Ho Tags

Inspiration: CAS(E) This Sketch #398

I am now back to recent supplies, as the next Christmas collection I turned to is Jingle All the Way from Simple Stories. I realized the Thickers include Ho Ho Ho, which is featured on this week's CAS(E) This Sketch challenge, so I decided to see what I could create with it. I initially planned on using the three words directly on the card, but I saw the patterned paper with tags and decided to layer three tags behind the words instead. Even with overlapping the tags, the card still ended up measuring 4" x 9" (which fits with the current slimline trend). I punched a hole in the tags and threaded cotton twine in matching colours, then I added the Santa from the Bits & Pieces pack. I added a few decorations from the Sticker Book and Puffy stickers and on a whim I decided to add a couple of dangles on the middle tag. 

An envelope was made out of cardstock. I discovered the envelope punch board doesn't include measurements for cards that are 9" high, so I took my best guess and it worked out. I used a cut-apart for the center, and decorated with a die-cut and a sticker. 

The resulting card is probably not what would qualify as a Clean and Simple card, but it was really easy to assemble and I'm loving the end result. I'm happy because this was one of the fall collection that I was on the fence about buying - so far, I've made two cards with it and I've loved the results for both, so I'm happy I purchased it.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Pool Party (Stampin' Up!); Jewel Tones (Recollections)
Patterned Papers, Sticker Book, Puffy Stickers, Foam Stickers: Jingle All the Way (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Festive Farm Cotton Twine, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board,
Ticket Corner Punch (Stampin' Up!); Tassel, Jump Rings (Bead Landing);
Gansai Tambi Starry Colors Watercolours (Kuretake)

 

Vanilla Poinsettias

Inspiration: Little Red Wagon #575 (Non-Traditional Christmas Colors)

I wanted to make pale poinsettias using the Poinsettias dies from the August-December Minicatalogue, and I found that it was a good occasion to pull out the Brightly Gleaming Specialty DSP, which came out last year but returned in this year's minicatalogue. I picked one of the Pretty Peacock patterns to make the flowers stand out and I stamped and embossed a larger sentiment in the center in copper powder. I thought when I picked the stamp set that it was still current, but I think it's a retired one, unfortunately. The sentiment reads, "Friendship brightens the Holidays." 

The flowers were die-cut out of Very Vanilla cardstock and I used my bone folder to give them shape. The leaves and centers were cut out of brushed metallic cardstock, also from the minicatalogue (p. 45). The result is so classic and elegant, I love it! Because I was not using the center on the smaller poinsettias, they looked a little bare, so I went through my embellishments and decided to add some iridescent pearls to them. 

The finished card measures 8" x 4", so I made a matching envelope out of patterned paper using the Envelope Punch Board. I used my last die-cut flower and an address block die-cut with the Stitched Nested Labels dies to tie in with the card.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Illuminez les Fêtes (Making Christmas Bright)
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Very Vanilla, Brushed Metallic Cardstock
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Brightly Gleaming
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder, Poinsettia Dies, Envelope Punch Board,
Iridescent Pearls, Stitched Nested Labels Dies

 

New Year Nutcracker

Inspiration: CAS Colours & Sketches #396 + ColourQ #62

Avery Elle came out with some pretty cute stamp sets this season, including the Holiday Circle Tags. The CAS Sketch was perfect to use this set, so I looked at past ColourQ challenges for colour inspiration and I picked #62, as I thought it would go great with the nutcracker image. I embossed it in gold on watercolor paper and used inks to colour the image. I punched the image with a 2" Circle punch and layered it over a Wonky Circle Frames die-cut cut out of Brushed Gold cardstock. I layered scraps of cardstock in matching colours as per the sketch, and I embossed a couple with the Subtle 3D embossing folder to give them texture. The white background was also embossed using the Holly embossing folder. 

I stamped my sentiment ("Happy New Year") on white cardstock and layered it over a yellow scrap on the card. I added candy dots and glitter enamel dots in matching hues on each cardstock strip.

The same nutcracker image was then stamped and gold-embossed on a red metallic envelope to finish the set. This card could be simple enough to mass-produce and I love how bright and colorful the ginal result is.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Holiday Circle Tags (Avery Elle); Six souhaits (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Shimmery White, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise, 
Real Red, Emerald Envy, Brushed Gold (Stampin' Up!); Watercolor Paper (Fabriano)
Ink: VersaMark, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise, 
Real Red, Emerald Envy, Blush Blossom, Sahara Sand
Accessories: Glitter Enamel Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals, Candy Dots, Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder,
Subtle 3D Embossing Folder, Holly Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Jupital Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Vintage Tags and Milk Caps

Inspiration: Card Maps July 2018 Sketch + Hand Stamped Sentiments #351

I'm still working on my holiday cards that will be sent to a Seniors Center. I was going through my stash, having trouble to find an idea that led to something, and I finally caught a spark of inspiration when I pulled out Carta Bella's Christmas collection from 2018. I am not shying away from doing cutesy, but I do have an inkling that the vintage and retro images might appeal to the seniors, so I am trying to pull out my collections that have that vibe. I remember that two years ago, my local store was hit by a wave of gorgeous Christmas collections that I couldn't resist and I had so much new stuff that I struggled to use it all. This is unfortunately one of the collections that got neglected. I find it absolutely gorgeous, so I was happy to revisit it. I realized that the colors might suit Tim Holtz's Christmas milk caps, so I pulled them out and sure enough, it made for the perfect embellishment. I really loved the tag cut-apart sheet, so it became the starting point for this card.

I extended the tag by adding a piece of striped cardstock at the end, which I punched with a lacy border punch. I added vanilla lace trim between the two pieces. For the sentiment, I pulled a long narrow sentiment from the Merry Mistletoe stamp set. I have white embossing powder bought years ago that yellowed over time. While I was irked by it initially, it actually ended up working in my favour because look how great it works here with the vanilla-based papers! It fit perfectly. 

I added Cherry Cobbler cotton twine to the top of the tag and tied two Cherry Cobbler mini jingle bells with Altenew Antique Gold metallic thread (couldn't resist - I'm on a mini-jingle bells kick this year!). I added red pearls over the berries from the image, black sequins on my left-side tiny banners and Vanilla Cream sequins on the sentiment and bottom of the tag.

The sketch had stitching in the center, so I cracked into my Roughly Sewn rub-ons from 49 and Market. Playing with those reminded me I've missed rub-ons, especially stitching ones. Since craft is a cycle and everything circle back in, it's be nice to have those make a comeback in the near-future. Seems like the industry only has to give us time to miss something and when they're bringing it back, we're discovering it all over again.

For the envelope, I picked a black one, which I embellished with a strip of paper and another tag. If I was using the envelope to mail the card out, I would have needed to allow for more room, but because the cards will be hand-delivered, I had a little bit more leeway with my design. I also used another tag for my signature on the back of the card. Some of the tags on the paper are incomplete, so I used one of those and glued it straight on the edge of the card.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Sous le gui (Merry Mistletoe - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Christmas (Carta Bella)
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: White Roughly Sewn Rub-On (49 and Market);
Antique Gold Metallic Thread (Altenew); Glossy Berry Pearls (Studio Katia);
Vanilla Cream Sequins (Little Things from Lucy's Cards); 
Dotted Scalloped Rectangles Dies (Elizabeth Craft Designs); 
A2 Midnight Black Envelope (envelopes.com); Stampin' Dimensionals, Vanilla Lace Trim,
White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Lacy Border Punch, Peaceful Poppies Sequins,
Cherry Cobbler Festive Farm Cotton Twine, Mini Jingle Bells (Stampin' Up!);
Wonky Stitched Rectangles Die-namics (My Favorite Things); Christmas Milk Caps (Tim Holtz for idea-ology)

 

Mittens and Doilies

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #545

After finishing my last card, I wanted to keep going with the Hello Christmas collection, so I started playing with the chipboard pieces and layering paper elements to get something going. I've mentioned in my last post that Carta Bella has changed the way they do their chipboard elements: the pieces are not cut all the way around, they are now held in place with little tabs. This make it quite hard to get the images out without tearing anything. I find it even harder on the smaller pieces, like the mittens and the holly circle I used on this card. If you look at the right mitten, the top edge is slightly uneven because of how it broke from the packaging. I'm not super thrilled about this change. I wonder if this is permanent or just something the company was trying for this release.

This card is fairly simple, but features a whole lot of layering. I initially thought I would have to go oversize to accommodate the doily but I finally came back to a regular A2 size. I was finding the initial layout a little blah, but then I remembered this trick about using double-sided tape around a piece of paper to add fine glitter, so I pulled out my gold glitter and 1/8" score tape to create a sparkly border. This totally changed the whole card and gave life to the layout.

The sentiment was stamped on green patterned paper and as mentioned before, I capitalized on the fact that I have a container of white embossing powder that yellowed over time and now it look perfect when used with vanilla-based papers. For the second doily, I used the tree-pattern paper, which is why I also added the chipboard tree image. I added a few more chipboard pieces and puffy stickers, as well as pearls and sequins to finish off the layout. A black envelope was decorated to match.

I used to not want to use my chipboard pieces on cards. In my mind, they were more expensive embellishments that needed to be saved for layouts or more special projects. Thankfully, I am slowly moving past that mental block. In this collection, the chipboard pieces also happen to be smaller and the packs have way more of them, so maybe that is why I'm changing my tunes. I've also realized this year that the craft supplies have really started piling up over the years and now, I realize that there really is not point in hoarding. Just use it and enoy it - and make room for more, as the company never seem to run out of fun new stuff to offer and tempt us with! I also don't have infinite space, so I need to keep the supplies moving.

On a side note, I've used my Metallic Thread from Altenew on many of my latest creations. It took me a while to get my hands on it, as it kept selling out, but I am really loving the three beautiful colours included in the pack and the texture and shine it has. Be advised that the ends have a tendancy to split (it's a three-ply thread), but aside from that, I am thoroughly enjoying using this product.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Ce que j'aime à Noël (Greatest Part of Christmas - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Handsome Hunter (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Puffy Stickers and Chipboard Accents: Hello Christmas (Carta Bella)
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Doily Die (Recollections); Decorative Doily Duo Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
Mini Stapler, Gold FIne Glitter, Stampin' Dimensionals, White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Festive Farm Baker's Twine,
Distress Tool, Wonderful Gems (Stampin' Up!); Vintage Shimmer Pearls (Studio Katia);
A2 Midnight Black Envelope (envelopes.com); Vanilla Cream Sequin Mix (Little Things from Lucy's Cards);
Enchanted Gold Metallic Thread (Altenew)

 

Not a Creature Was Stirring (Except in the Kitchen)

Inspiration: Little Red Wagon #574 (Color Me Happy)

Finally had time to ink the adorable A Creature Was Stirring stamp set from Lawn Fawn's last release. I made an English card between the sentiment included in the set is very clever and makes me smile. I didn't know what I was planning to make when I pulled the stamp set out, I just wanted to do some coloring so I stamped all of the images, colored them in shades matching the Mistletoe Kisses papers, which were the last paper collection I had used and was still on my desk. 

Once all images were colored and die-cut, I realized I could make a slimline card and create a little kitchen scene. There's nothing really earth-shattering about this design, but it's just cute! I added a few gems and crystal stars, an enamel heart as well as Stickles on some of the images to jazz them up.

Then I made a matching envelope for my 8" x 4" card using cardstock and added one of the cut-aparts from the paper collection.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: A Creature Was Stirring (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Lucky Limeade (Stampin' Up!); Cotton Candy (Bazzill);
Playground (Recollections)
Patterned Papers: Mistletoe Kisses (Simple Stories)
Ink: Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: A Creature Was Stirring, Fancy Wavy Bannners (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Crystal Stars (Buttons Galore & More); Stickles (Ranger);
Envelope Punch Board, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Markers (Copic);
Winter Hugs Shape Sprinkles (Doodlebug Design)

 

Farmhouse Christmas Anya

Inspiration: Tuesday Morning Sketch #579

The Greeting Farm came out with some adorable new stamps this year, including this lovely Holiday Anya 8. I paired her with the Farmhouse Christmas papers from Carta Bella for a classic look.

The Anya image was paper pieced so that I could have a plaid dress on her. I've learned with practice that it's often better to have a second image stamped on white cardstock and added on top of the clothes in order to have her arms be over the clothes, instead of looking like they are indented in the dress. For this reason, I stamped and colored her legs, then I shaded the dress that was stamped on plaid patterned paper with Copic markers, handcut it and added it over the legs. I then colored the top portion of her, stamped separately, and fussy cut this part and added it on top of the dress. Because I didn't leave any white border on her, I used the black marker tip and went over the whole border with the tip of my marker to make sure no white was showing anymore. I kept the earrings blank as I knew I wanted to use a gold marker to fill them in and as I was doing that, I also added a dot in the center of the bow and decided to add a gold line in the plaid. I love how much life that detail added to her look.

I kept the gold touches by gold embossing for my sentiment ("happiness and health", which is a good one to use this year), a narrow gold ribbon and gold gems. For the envelope, I fussed around a bit but finally selected an Anthracite metallic envelope, added a dotted scalloped rectangle in the center and gold-striped washi on each side.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Holiday Anya 8 (The Greeting Farm); Six souhaits (Six Sayings - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Mellow Moss, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Farmhouse Christmas (Carta Bella)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), VersaMark
Accessories: A2 Anthracite Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); 
Dotted Scalloped Rectangles Dies (Elizabeth Craft Designs); Markers (Copic);
Washi Tape (?); Gold Pen (Posca); Snow Crystals Dies (KaiserCraft); White Gel Pen (GellyRoll);
Wonderful Gems, Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Outside In Stitched Rectangle Dies (Lawn Fawn); Christmas Day Snow Dies (Echo Park)

 

Sugar Plum Banner

Inspiration: Freshly Made Sketch #460

I love creating Christmas projects with sweet shades of pink, green and aqua. My inspiration for this one was the gorgeous Sugarplum collection from My Mind's Eye, which dates back a few years now. I stamped and colored my two characters from the Warm Wishes set from The Greeting Farm in shades matching the patterned papers. There was no die set to go with the stamps, so I fussy cut them out. Initially, I had placed both characters on each side of the banner and it was looking a little strange. I realized it looked much better when I was placing them side by side in the center of the card.

For the sentiment, I found something size-appropriate to fit in my banner that reads, "May this festive season be filled with big moments and fond memories". I wanted to add a holly image underneath, so I went digging through my Christmas embellishments and I found some cute Holly Berries Sprinkles Shapes from Doodlebug that worked perfectly.

The little embellishment in the bottom right corner is actually the leftover piece from the die-cut banner. The original piece was too long, so I run it again a second time to shorten it and the leftover piece had this cute shape, that I topped with a brad to add interest to the card. The designs from the pack were too busy for a sentiment, so I went looking through my Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper stacks and used a Certainly Celery scrap instead. Since it's double-sided, I used the backside for my embellishment piece.

An Aquamarine metallic envelope was decorated with a sticker from the paper pack to finish the look.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Ce que j'aime à Noël (Greatest Part of Christmas - Stampin' Up!); Warm Wishes (The Greeting Farm)
Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Sugar Plum (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Old Olive (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Holly Berries Sprinkles Shapes (Doodlebug Design);
Bundle of Joy Enamel Dots (Echo Park); Make It Merry Designer Brads (October Afternoon);
Banners Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Everyday Sentiment Banners,
Outside In Stitched Rectangle Dies (Lawn Fawn); Dotted Scalloped Rectangles (Elizabeth Craft Designs);
Markers (Copic); Border Dies (Photoplay); A2 Aquamarine Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Christmas Scooter

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #549

The Holly Jolly collection from Simple Stories came out either last year or two years ago and when my store got it in stock, I had a look and decided to pass on it. Then, when it came on sale, I thought about it again, and passed. Then it went on clearance, I leafed through the paper pad again, and decided to pass again. I must not have been the only crafter that did that because this collection stayed around for quite a while in my local store and online. The patterns are just really cute, but the colours feel somewhat off to me. That being said, I finally caved and decided to buy it and get it out of my system for good. It'll be interesting to see how I find working with the collection. I really love the cutesy patterns like the ones showcased on my card, but I'm not so sure about the ones that feel more vintage like the florals. I also got the ephemera pack, which made putting this cute card together fast and easy.

I used the adorable scooter as my main image and the Fa La La La die-cut as the sentiment. I tried out a few patterned paper circles but they were taking the focus away from the main image, so I finally used cardstock instead and embossed it with the beautiful Jeweled Snowflakes 3D embossing folder from Sizzix. I used my Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer brush to make the cardstock sparkly.

I kept the embellishing simple: I added a few enamal dots, including one of the front wheel of the scooter, and two little enamel hearts from Doodlebug to fill the space over the scooter. I used additional ephemera pieces to embellish the inside of the card and the front of the envelope.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Cotton Candy (Bazzill); Buckaroo Blue (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers and Bits & Pieces: Holly Jolly (Simple Stories)
Dies: Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn);
Postage Stamps (Hero Arts); Border Dies (Photoplay)
Accessories: Jeweled Snowflakes 3D Embossing Folder (Sizzix);
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); A2 Rose Quartz Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com);
Rainbow Hearts and Winter Hugs Shape Sprinkles (Doodlebug Design);
Oh, What Fun! Enamel Dots (PinkFresh) 

 

Retro Christmas

Inspiration: Page Maps June 2020

As I was working on Christmas cards using the Home for Christmas Designer Series Paper, I realized that it would pair great with pictures I took at Hollywood Studios in Walk Disney World on our last trip. We went the first week of January, so the Holidays festivities were over, but some of the Christmas decorations had not been put away just yet, particularly at Hollywood Studios. I will admit this specific park has always been my favorite of the four in Florida, and I think it's in big part due to the aesthetics of the architecture, which i sinspired by Art Deco and looks beautiful. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Christmas decorations are also vintage-inspired. (Which makes sense, knowing how much thought Disney World puts into everything they do.) I just had to take pictures of the adorable vintage bells and fawn images trimmed with tinsel.

This page is quite busy - I kept going back and forth between using the music sheet pattern or the ornements in the center panel. The ornaments fit the theme, but it does make for a busy background. I love the result nonetheless. I made sure to include a few handcut fawns, since they were what made me draw a link between the pictures and the papers in the first place. I also handcut a poinsettia to tuck under the corner of a picture. You'll notice I worked in threes: three fussy-cut vintage images, three buttons, three layered snowflakes. Those dies are brand-new. They caught my eye online and even though there weren't much images showing what they looked like, I took a gamble and I think it was a good call because they are gorgeous. I love that each one comes with a backing shape (which I didn't realize before playing with the set). That definitely helped here, as the snowflakes stand out better against the busy patterns with the vanilla cardstock on the back.

When looking at ribbons to trim the edge of the torn music strips, I found an old two-tone blue ribbon that matched the ornaments perfectly. I used it in the corner of my largest pictures and I love that it draws the eye to the ornament cluster. I wasn't aware it was showing when I took the picture of the street, but I realized when I started working on the page that it was highlighting the retro-inspired decorations I'm talking about on this layout. This detail becomes more evident with the use of the ribbon bow. I die-cut the second largest picture using the Stacked Deckle Rectangles, which I love to use to mimick old-time pictures. The pictures were not popping enough against the busy papers, so I made sure to mat both with Very Vanilla cardstock, inked with Antique Linen Distress ink, and I matted my two square pictures with red foil cardstock.

For the title, using the Deco Alphabet from Tim Holtz seemed like an obvious choice. I die-cut my letters out of chipboard first and then patterned paper. I was planning to just layer them for dimension, but I realized when they were placed askew on my table that it might look cool if I actually did a drop shadow by painting the chipboard another colour. I pulled out white acrylic paint, pourred Mossy Meadow reinker in it to die it (I don't own a lot of paint colours, but I have a rainbow of reinkers for my inkpads, so I make sure to always have white acrylic paint on hand and I make my own mixes. Works great!) and I colored my chipboard. It dried paler than the wet acrylic paint was showing, but it pairs very nicely with the aqua letters and it gives the title more presence on the layout. I needed "Christmas" for the first word. I had initially thought I'd use sticker letters, but I thought it would look better if I stamped a small word (which I knew I could easily find in any Christmas set I own). I found one that was on a banner in a sentiment, so I handcut it out and layered it over a punched snowflake. When I was looking through button options, I really liked the red one with its vintage look, but it wasn't working out on the green banner (the green threaded button was much better), so I decided to add it to the middle of the O in my title instead. I threaded it with clear tinsel to match. (In 15 years to buying trim from Stampin' Up!, this is my favorite of all times. The roll is dangerously low and I'm using it sparingly until I can find somewhere to buy more. I ordered the Sugar Cookie trim from the new Prima Christmas collection and I'm praying it is similar.)

Finally, I needed to fit my journaling somewhere, so I decided to do a vertical strip on the right edge, and I like how it looks. This is the first layout to make its way into my Disney album. I'm looking forward to scrapping my pictures from the trip. I had just started scrapbooking when my sister and I went together in our early twenties and I had the best time scrapbooking every single picture from the trip after we came back. Still one of my favorite albums to this day, so I hope I have as much fun with this one.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Joyeuse année (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Red Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!); Blue Obsidian Mirror Cardstock (Tonic)
Designer Series Paper: Home for Christmas (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Cherry Cobbler Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!); Antique Linen Distress Ink (Ranger)
Dies: Layered Snowflakes (PinkFresh); Reinforcer Variety Pack (Elizabeth Craft Designs);
Stacked Deckle Rectangles, Deco Alphabet Bigz (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Layering Circles (Tonic)
Accessories: White Acrylic Paint, Green Ribbon, Blue Ribbon, Chipboard (?);
Sponge Daubers, Stampin' Dimensionals,Wonderful Gems, Buttons, Clear Tinsel Trim (Stampin' Up!); 
Buttons (Foof-a-La); LePen Pen (Marvy); Vintage Shimmer Pearls (Studio Katia);
Snowflake Punch (EK Success)

Farmhouse Christmas Ornaments

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #544 + Festive Friday (patterned paper + pearls + die cut)

Today's creation was inspired by the gorgeous Farmhouse Christmas papers from Carta Bella. All of their Farmhouse collections are been absolutely stunning and this one is no exception. I grabbed the 6" x 6" paper pad at my local store and it was the inspiration for this card.

I liked the cut-apart sheet and decided to use of the sentiments for my card. Because it was taking up a lot of room, I wasn't sure what to fill the circle with. I kept thinking I could do a hanging ornament. I have a pair of punches from last year's Holidays catalogue, so I pulled them out and saw that I could actually fit the two pretty nicely. They were punched out of plaid and were fading against the background so I decided to add red metallic stitching around the shape. And to punch the top out of Copper foil paper. And to add something in the middle. I ended up using one of the patterns and cutting the little frames out to add to the ornaments. Finally, I found some red tinsel trim leftover on my desk and decided to hang my ornaments from it. As I was grabbing the tinsel, I also spotted some white lace and decided it might look nice with the farmhouse look of the paper. This filled the space nicely on the card and lightened it up a bit. Finally, I added moss green, berry and vintage pearls to the lace and card. The papers were added to a Crumb Cake card base and I inked the edges with Crumb Cake ink to better match the farmhouse feel of the papers.

I repeated one of the ornaments inside the card. For the envelope, I grabbed a Oak Woodgrain envelope, added green polka dot paper at the bottom and copper Merry Christmas washi tape (from Crate Paper's Snowflake collection). I layered two punched ornaments again.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Copper Foil Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Farmhouse Christmas (Carta Bella)
Ink: Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Lace Trim (Unknown); Red Metallic Floss (DMC); A2 Oak Woodgrain Envelope (envelopes.com);
Vintage Shimmer, Moss Green and Berry Mix Pearls (Studio Katia);
Snowflake Washi Tape (Crate Paper); Gleaming Ornaments Punches, Sponge Dauber (Stampin' Up!);
Dotted Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn); Circle Double Stitched Dies (Art Impressions)

 

Nordic Mittens

Inspiration: Card Maps October 2018 + Fusion

Today's card was really random. I had put aside the Many Mittens dies Stampin' Up! hoping to use them again this season and they were perfect for the Fusion inspiration picture. I went through my retired Holidays patterned papers from Stampin' Up! and when I spotted the Nordic Noel suite, I thought it might work well with the mittens.

I used a mix of old and new supplies on this creation. The Jeweled Snowflakes 3D embossing folder used in the background and the Studio Katia pearls are new from this year. The Hemlines stamps from Paper Salon date back to my early stamping days. The Nordic Noel papers are also quite old, as I remember using those in workshops back in the days. Speaking of which, I have a weird love-hate relationship with those papers. I always end up loving the final projects I made with them, and yet it's always a struggle to make the busy patterns work together. I feel like the best paper collections have small, medium and large papers and also have a few tone-on-tone motifs thrown in there. This is not the case with this collection: aside from the Pool Party paper with snowflakes, the patterns are quite loud. And yet... once again, though it is a busy card, I do like the result.

Because I had dry embossed my background, I knew I couldn't stamp a sentiment on it directly, like in the sketch, and luckily I found a very nice rectangle sentiment that was the right font and size in the Christmas Gleaming stamp set (which Stampin' Up! carried over in this year's minicatalogue, if you want to check it out). I stamped it in Calypso Coral ink and cut it out, then popped it up on Stampin' Dimensionals. 

I had a big enough piece of patterned paper to make a matching envelope out of, and I used the lighter snowflake pattern to make an address block, using the Deco Labels dies (another oldie).

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Fêtes étincelantes (Christmas Gleaming - Stampin' Up!); Hemlines (Paper Salon)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Shimmery White (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Paper: Nordic Noel (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Calypso Coral (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Deco Labels, Finishing Touches, Many Mittens (Stampin' Up!);
Wonky Stitch Rectangle Stax (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: Jeweled Snowflakes 3D Embossing Folder (Sizzix); 
Baker's Twine (Lawn Fawn); Café au lait, Rose Pink, Glossy Berry Pearls (Studio Katia);
Envelope Punch Board, Stampin' Dimensionals, Snowflake Sequins (Stampin' Up!)

 

Country Christmas Elf Boy

Inspiration: Card Maps Sketch October 2018

I found a really good Card Maps sketch to use my Oddball Boy Elf, which was part of my Stamping Bella placed earlier this year when they announced they'd retire dies altogether. I got the elf stamps and die at that time, but I wasn't in Christmas creation mood at that time, so this is the first time I'm using it. As you can see, I'm slowly starting to ease into Christmas projects. I had also purchased the Simply Vintage Country Christmas 6" x 8" paper pad very late into last year's Christmas season and it had remained untouched, so I decided to pair both together. I used to be very adamant about not buying new supplies and letting them sit untouched but in the last few years, things have gotten away from me a bit on that front, it seems. 

I really love the sketch's design and I was able to very clearly reproduce all of its elements with things that I had in my stash. I was particularly happy to bring out the Wonky Circle Frames from Avery Elle, which I love. I paired it with the Golden Satin specialty paper from Tonic. Its texture reminds of vintage Christmas cards, and so it was perfect with the Simple Vintage collection from Simple Stories.

I initially planned on doing a sentiment strip like the sketch, but I had already moved the bow to the bottom for better balance and when I found the Traditions de Noël stamp set, it seemed like a really good match to the card, so I switched gears and used this instead, which allowed me to fill in the empty space in the middle of the circle. I did add a little green polka dot banner underneath the punched sentiment.

My little elf boy was colored with Polychromos pencils. I added a smidge of Midas Touch Aqua Shimmer to the bell and buckle for glimmer. Red pearls and gold glitter enamel dots were added for embellishment. 

For the envelope, I needed to make my own since I had made my card (5½" x 5½") just a little too big for my existing square envelopes. I remembered I had another vintage Christmas collection from Simple Stories - Simple Vintage Christmas) - so I dug it out and used one 12" x 12" sheet to make an envelope. I used one of the paler sheets from the 6" x 8" paper pad to make my address  block, picking a die from the Planner Essentials 21 dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs. I am really getting a lot of use out of those planner dies for everything but planners!

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Oddball Boy Elf (Stamping Bella); Traditions de Noël (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla, Shaded Spruce (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Very Vintage Christmas, Very Vintage Country Christmas (Simple Stories);
Golden Satin Specialty Paper (Tonic)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Cherry Cobbler Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Planner Essentials 21 (Elizabeth Craft Designs);
Wonky Circle Frames (Avery Elle); Oddball Boy Elf (Stamping Bella)
Accessories: Gold Glitter Enamel Dots, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Garden Green/White Baker's Twine,
Designer Buttons, Real Red Baker's Twine, Envelope Punch Board, Tag Punch, Border Punch (Stampin' Up!);
Polychromos Pencils (Faber-Castell); Midas Touch Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo);
Pearls - Glossy Berry Mix (Little Things from Lucy's Cards)