Visions of Santa - Fancy Moose

I thought the Visions of Santa stamp set was fun and playful when I first saw it in the Holiday catalog.  I was surprised to hear later on that some people thought it was weird and creepy.  So when I decided to use the set for a card swap I participated in, I opted to go with the moose and skip Santa to be sure no one's creep ed out with my card.

For something so simple, this actually took sometime because of a design flaw in my original layout. I wanted to do a no layer card with rounded corners like these two (you get to see one of the Santa after all!).

On both my sample cards, I distressed the edges with white craft ink that's why the cards appear lighter on the pictures.

Satisfied with the layout, I proceeded to cut the card stocks I need to make twenty three cards.  Then I applied the washi tapes and stamp the moose with tuxedo black memento ink.  I colored the moose with blendabilities - cherry cobbler, mocha, natural and smoky slate for the "shadow/puddle".  I was on my third card when I noticed that the ink was bleeding through the card stock and was showing on the inside of the card.  Big problem...... why didn't I notice this on my samples?

My solution was to cut all the cards I already prepped and turned them into panels and cut more card stocks for the base card.  My no layer card will now be layered to hide the "bleeding" and keep the inside of the card clean.  The irony was I wanted a no layer card to save time cutting card stocks and I ended up spending twice as much time fixing my boo boo..

On my swap cards, I sponged crumb cake ink on the edges of the panel to add dimension between the base and the panel without adding unnecessary bulk to the card.

Christmas is days away and I'm not even close to getting all my projects completed.  I'll try and share as much as I can in the coming weeks.

Until next time...........

Cheers!!!

irene

Many Merry Stars with Endless Wishes

A quick post to share with you one of the Christmas card design I'm sending out this year.  I cased one of my cards from 2012.

My card today is even quicker than my inspiration because there's no heat embossing involve.

I used crumb cake card stock for the card base.  I stamped the big stars from the Many Merry Stars stamp set with cherry cobbler, marina mist and old olive inks.  Then I stamped the snowflakes with white craft ink.  I tied the cherry cobbler seam binding ribbon to the side and added the rhinestones to the center of each star.

For the sentiment, I used Endless Wishes stamp set from the Holiday Catalog.  Photopolymer (clear) stamps make it so easy to have multi-color stamp images or sentiments..

I'm hang up on crumb cake lately so my next couple of posts are also made with crumb cake.

Thanks for stopping by.....

Cheers!!!


irene

Washi Taped Feathers

Another bundle that caught my eye in the Holiday catalog is the Four Feathers stamp set with the Feathers Framelits dies.  I also love the washi tapes Color Me Autumn.  Why not put them together?

Here's what I came up with.  Unfortunately, I can't quite capture blackberry bliss on my small camera.  The colors are a bit off.

The card base is blackberry bliss.  I stamped the feathers on the right side using blackberry bliss ink.  I covered a piece of card stock with washi tapes before die cutting the feathers.

The sentiment is the circle stamp from Let Your Hair Down.  I cut it up to fit my layout.  I love the idea of a burlap ribbon and I finally got to use it on a card.

After doing the feathers with washi tapes, I looked around my work area to see what else I can die cut with washi tape.  How about christmas trees?!!!  Well, this was not die cut but punched.  Same layout as this CARD.  The sentiment is from the Sassy Salutations stamp set.

Thanks for checking out my projects.  

Cheers!!!

irene

All supplies are available here.  

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Golden Trees

One of my favorite bundle from the holiday catalog is the Festival of Trees bundle.  You can surely get a stacked of Christmas cards done in no time with this set.  I had this layout in mind when I first saw this set and I'm glad I was able to execute it without a glitch.

The Gold Soiree specialty designer paper is perfect for what I had in mind.  The trees and the "ground" coordinate perfectly.  I love the metallic gold designs.

The card base is garden green cardstock.  I dry embossed the front with On Point textured impression embossing folder.  I punched the trees using the Tree punch.  The snowflakes are from the Frosted Sequins pack and I colored them with a gold sharpie.

The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and the gold metallic baker's twine ties it all together!

Is it just me or did 2014 really flew by quickly?  I can't believe I'm making Christmas cards already!

UPDATE:  to see another card sample, click HERE and scroll to the end of the post.

All supplies used are available HERE.

Cheers!!!

irene

Holiday Cards - Peace and Joy II

I just love this set of One Liners die collection from Papertrey Ink.  So much fun to play with and so easy to use.  Like my previous post, these cards are quick and easy.  You can make a stack of cards in no time.

So simple and clean!  The red glimmer paper really made the die cut pop.  I used the Pretty Print Textured Impressions Embossing Folder for the background.  Instead of ribbon, I thought one of the washi tape from the Season of Style Designer Washi Tape set was a great alternative.

On the second card, I used the Stylish Stripe embossing folder for the background.  The washi tape is from the Epic Day This and That set, one of my favorites.  Sadly, the more I look at this card the more I dislike the layout.  I was way off on this one but it's done so I'm moving on.

I'm behind in posting but hopefully with the long weekend coming up I'll be able to catch up.  

Thanks for stopping by...... until next time.

Cheers!!!

Holiday Cards - Peace and Joy

I have a few new "toys" to play with this holiday season.  Since October, I knew what I wanted to make but somehow I just couldn't get started.  Last weekend, I finally sat down and made some simple, quick and easy cards.

 There is no stamping involve.....imagine that!  The colors are not traditional but the I really like how they turned out.  On the Joy, card I used bermuda bay and basic gray card stocks.  The silver glimmer paper set the holiday tone.  I used D'vine Swirl embossing folder and love how the swirls matched the font of the die cut sentiment.

On the second card, I used cherry cobbler and basic gray card stocks.  Again, the silver glimmer paper is the perfect accessory to this color combo.

I got the "new" thinlit dies from Papertrey Ink and the "old", at least seven years old, embossing folder is from Cuttlebug.  They compliment each other so well. With these tools holiday cardmaking just got so much easier!

Thanks for stopping by today.  Check in again soon to see other samples using my new favorite tools.

Cheers!!!

irene

Christmas Cards

A quick post to share with you the Christmas cards I personally sent out this year.  When I went back to review all the cards I made since October to select a card design to send out this season, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had so much to choose from.  I could not decide right away which one I would use.  I wanted something simple and easy because frankly, I'm running out of time.  I really like the red cardinals even though the card itself was more involved than I originally wanted.

I got them all done in one day and mailed with plenty of time to get to their destination before Christmas.  I wanted to do other colors but  in the end I stayed with just crumb cake and summer starfruit.

I have some extras so if you want one or two let me know.

Merry Christmas everyone!  Stay safe and be nice to your neighbors.

Until the next post............. Cheers!!!

Christmas/Holiday Cards Recap III

These are the available designs left  to choose from.

#1 

#2 

#3 

#4  

#5  

#6  

#7  

#8  

#9  

#10  

#11  

#12  

#13  

Stand Up Card

This is another card design/layout I wanted to try for a while now but never got around to it.  I have some flocked window sheets included with Stampin' Up's Candlelight Christmas Specialty DSP  pack that I wanted to use to make something other than a card.  The flocked sheets are so pretty I wanted them to stand out...... what better way to use them than a stand up card!

I didn't add a label to write on or a sentiment because I'm going to use this as a display "stand" for my handmade ornaments.  It folds flat so you can mail it or in my case, it will be easy to store away.

I've only seen a picture of this type of card so I had to come up with the measurements and construction.  It took a couple of tries, I kept cutting the wrong side, but I was able to put it together.  Hopefully, these pictures will give you an idea of how to create one if you want to try this type of card.  It has so much potential.

I used two 4.25” x 5.5” card stocks. Punch or cut an opening in the middle of the two pieces. On the 1^stpiece, cut a 1/4” slit on the top and bottom of the opening (inside).  I scored the middle of the card stock to make sure the slits are lined up.  On the 2nd piece, cut a  1/4” slit from the top (outside) and 2-3/4" slit from the bottom (outside).

The tricky part is sliding the 2nd piece into the 1st piece.  Gently guide the 2nd piece with the long slit into the opening of the 1st piece, you need to bend it but with a little patience it should fall into place.  You can use patterned paper instead of cardstock and add embellishments on all four sides.  TIP: try it on an old card stock or paper you're not too fond of so if you messed up the first try you don't waste your good supplies like I did!

Hope that gives you an idea on how to create this card.

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time............ Cheers!!!

All supplies used are from Stampin'Up.

Ornaments Keepsakes

I just had to include these cards featuring the Ornament Keepsakes in this series.  I won this bundle of stamp sets and coordinating dies from a raffle held at one of our stamping group meetings.

All the ornaments were heat embossed with white embossing powder on cherry cobbler card stocks.   I wanted to use the same elements and create three distinctly different cards.

The first card came together pretty quickly until I got to the sentiment.  I tried different placements and punches but ultimately decided to add another ornament with the "merry" adhered in the middle.

The next card layout came to me the first time I saw this particular stamp.   Somehow it reminded me of those sparkly bead "curtains" from the sixties.  I thought the embossed double lines added just the right touch of texture.  This is my favorite out of the three cards.

With the last card, I tried to create a non-holiday card using holiday elements.  I made a "flower" with the ornaments and used a vague sentiment.

Here's the side view.

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time .............. Cheers!!!

All supplies used were from Stampin' Up

Christmas/Holiday Cards Recap II

Updated Recap

-1-   posted HERE

-2-   posted HERE

-3-   posted HERE

-4-   posted HERE, see alternate design

-5-   posted HERE, see alternate design

-6-   posted HERE see alternate design

-7-   posted HERE

-8-   posted HERE

-9-   posted HERE


-10-   posted HERE

-11-   posted HERE

-12-   posted HERE

-13-   posted HERE

-14-   posted HERE

 inside, gift card holder

-15-   posted HERE

-16-    posted HERE

-17-   posted HERE

-18-   posted HERE

-19-   posted HERE