Saturday, November 30, 2013

Christmas Chickadee

  Where has the time been going lately?  Almost everyday I have good intentions of sharing a project and the next thing I know it's 10pm and I'm ready for bed!  Well tonight I'm going to try to get it in before bedtime!

  I made this card weeks ago using Friday Mashup 134 challenge.  I must not have gotten it finished or photographed and edited in time to enter it.  Isn't this a sweet little bird?


  Not much stamping on this one but lots of Stampin' Up! supplies.  The bird is made using the bird punch and various extra layering and trimming.  Thanks to Ann Fitzgerald for her wonderful chickadee tutorial.  I did not do each step but it was a great help for me for figuring out how I needed to cut the layers.

  I used the branch portion of the bird punch for the green leaves which I was kind of wanting to look like mistletoe hence the little white berries I made using the smallest adhesive pearls.

  There are lots of layers on the banner shape along with some textures.  And a sweet fork bow made with Very Vanilla seam binding ribbon.  Click HERE for a fork bow tutorial.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: More Merry Messages

Ink: Soft Suede

Paper: Very Vanilla,  Wild Wasabi,  Garden Green, 1st Ed. Specialty paper, Smoky Slate, Basic Black

Accessories: Perfect Polka Dot e.f., Bird punch, seam binding ribbon, pearls, Finishing Touches Edgelits

Friday, November 29, 2013

Fab Little Santa - Fab Friday 32

Now that we've got Thanksgiving under out belts it's time to fully focus on Christmas....at least at my house!  I have to take one holiday at a time or I get too overwhelmed!  I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

  It's time for another Fab Friday challenge....and we've got some great Christmas colors to get you started (or finished) on your Christmas projects!  The colors can totally work for non-holiday projects too so I'm really excited to see what you all come up with!

  Check them out!



  I totally went with Christmas since that is what I need most this time of year.  Isn't that little Santa cute??


 I know my photo looks kind of funky but I can't seem to photograph the Real Red/Gumball Green combo very well...you get the idea though!

  Santa is stamped on Whisper White with black Stazon ink.  Then I used my Real Red, Pink Pirouette and Soft Suede markers to color him in.  He's mounted on a piece of Coastal Cabana with a little curly label tag sticking out from the bottom.  The "merry" is from the Pennant Parade set and fits perfectly with the little punch.  Santa also has an adhesive pearl as the ball on his cap.

  The base of the card is Gumball Green.  Then I cut a Real Red scallop strip with the Tasteful Trim die.  Then I embossed it with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder for a bit of texture.  A little baker's twine bow was added to the scallop trim before adhering it to the card base.  It's Cherry Cobble baker's twine but it matches pretty well.

  The Santa panel is popped up on dimensionals for added interest.

  I hope you'll join in on this fun color combination and share your project over at Fab Friday.  Check out all the other design team projects as well....they are Fab as usual!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Color Me Christmas, Pennant Parade

Ink: Stazon  Markers: Real Red, Pink Pirouette, Soft Suede

Paper: Gumball Green, Real Red, Coastal Cabana, Whisper White

Accessories: adhesive pearls, small curly label punch, baker's twine, Perfect Polka Dot e.f., Tasteful Trim die, dimensionals


Friday, November 15, 2013

Fab Birthday Toast

How did another Friday come around so quickly??  I haven't posted in a week!  I guess time really does fly when you're having fun!  Come have some fun with us at the Fab Friday challenge!  Remember it lasts for 2 weeks so you can have even more fun!

Check out this sketch that Mindy has for us this week!  That tag shape has lots of possibilities doesn't it??


 Don't forget to check out the Fab Friday challenge site to see the design team projects as well as the other participants cards!  Like I said, fun!!

  Here is my contribution to the samples...  It's a birthday card for my father in law.  There are always plenty of adult beverages when we get together so I thought that using the Happy Hour set would be appropriate.


  Masculine right?  I inked up the glasses with my Basic Gray marker and then cut them out.  Then I stamped the "wine" using So Saffron and Cherry Cobbler, cut them out and glued them to the inside of the glasses.  Then glued the glasses to my tag.

  The sentiment was also inked up using markers.  The white twine was leftover from a previous Paper Pumpkin kit I think...the eyelet was retired a few years back but I still love to use them when I can.  First, because I get to use my Crop-a-dile to set them but also because they are a pretty cool element for a masculine card.  The Basic Gray taffeta ribbon finishes off the details.

  I hope you'll play along with us at Fab Friday!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Happy Hour

Ink: Basic Gray, So Saffron, Cherry Cobbler

Paper: Basic Gray, Very Vanilla, Howlstooth & Scarringbone DSP (retired)

Accessories: bakers twine, large eyelet (retired), taffeta ribbon, dimensionals

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Stitched Rudolph

A super quick post today; I've got some paper to cut for a private stamp-a-stack tomorrow evening and I feel like I'm running behind!

Here is the 2nd card we made at my regular stamp-a-stack last week.  How fun is this guy?  I love the fun bright Christmas colors on this one.  And who can resist a red glimmer paper nose on Rudolph?


  Some fun details to note on this card--

  …. the stitching on the Gumball Green strip is made with the chalk marker from the Holiday catalog and just free handed along the edges.  Doesn't it remind you of the wide stitched ribbon we had a long time ago?  I like the chalk marker because it seems a bit more reliable than the white gel pens…my gel pens always seem dried up or clogged whenever I go to use them!

  ….the Real Red panel (though hard to photograph) is embossed with the Chevron embossing folder…see how it mimics Rudolph's sweater??

  ….the glimmer paper nose…so cute I had to mention it twice!

  ….Rudolph is stamped on watercolor paper and colored with blender pens and ink pads.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Color Me Christmas

Ink: Stazon  For watercoloring: Baked Brown Sugar, Real Red, Gumball Green

Paper: Gumball Green, Real Red, watercolor paper, Soft Sky, Red Glimmer paper

Accessories: Chevron embossing folder, chalk marker, owl punch (for the nose), blender pens, dimensionals

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Traditional Winter Pine

  It's election day here in Virginia and I'll be happy when the political call stop!  The boys have off from school and we're trying to figure out what to do….I wasn't organized enough to set up playdates beforehand so we're thinking maybe the movies or science museum.

I had my Christmas stamp-a-stack last week so I have a few new Christmas designs to share.  The ladies all really liked this one and several even purchased the Gorgeous Grunge set so they could make more of these cards.

 
 Isn't that fun??  Using the small splatter stamp to make snow over the pine tree?  I find that I'm liking Gorgeous Grunge more and more.

 The card base is Garden Green, then a layer of Cherry Cobbler.  The pine from Lovely As A Tree is stamped onto Crumb Cake in Garden Green ink.  Then using white craft ink the splatter stamp from Gorgeous Grunge is randomly stamped over the Crumb Cake layer.

  A star punched out of Champagne shimmer paper tops our pretty tree and Cherry Cobbler chevron ribbon backs our Christmas sentiment from the More Merry Messages stamp set.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Lovely As A Tree, Gorgeous Grunge, More Merry Messages

Ink: Garden Green, Whisper White craft

Paper: Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Champagne Glimmer paper

Accessories: Cherry Cobbler chevron ribbon, oval punch, star punch,
 

 

Friday, November 1, 2013

Thanksgiving Leaves - Fab Friday 30

  Whew!  Halloween is over!  How did everyone fare last night?  Sugar hangover this morning?  Kids still hopped up on candy?  I really feel bad for the poor teachers the day after Halloween!

  Now that we've checked October off the calendar let's move on to November and Thanksgiving.  I try to send a few cards for Thanksgiving and I thought this week's Fab Friday challenge had great colors to get me started!  To see all the other Design Team projects head on over to the Fab Friday challenge and be inspired and play along!

  Here they are:



   These are good colors for guy cards as well if you have some fall birthdays that you need cards for!

  Here's what I did:


   I thought the little leaf from Betsy's Blossoms would be cute for a fall card with our challenge colors.  After I stamped them out they almost looked like feathers….what do you think?  And then after looking at them some more I kind of saw Indian corn too.  Maybe it's just the colors that made me think of Indian corn.  Anyway, I used the leaves/feathers/corn as accents to highlight my Thanksgiving sentiment, "So Grateful".

  The large Very Vanilla panel is stamped with the Gorgeous Grunge splatter stamp (I know I'm probably over-using this stamp but I love it for just so many things!), then I embossed it with the Woodgrain embossing folder.  Corners were rounded using the envelope punch board.

  A strip of the burlap ribbon (in the Holiday catalog) goes across the middle and I layered my leaves/feathers/corn onto a piece of Early Espresso Core'dinations cut with a Labels Collection framelit.   I sanded the label lightly then pierced the edge using the matching piercing guide.  My chalk marker was used for the faux stitching.

  The sentiment was stamped in Early Espresso and then the strip was pierced using the piercing guide. An adhesive pearl added to the leaves/feathers/corn is the last detail.

 I hope you'll play along with us at Fab Friday.  The entries have been awesome and it's so hard to pick favorites!  Throw your hat in join us!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Betsy's Blossoms, Apothecary Art, Gorgeous Grunge

Ink: Early Espresso, Old Olive, Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze

Paper: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Early Espresso Core'dinations

Accessories: burlap ribbon, Woodgrain e.f., adhesive pearls, Label Collection framelits, chalk marker, piercing tool & guides, corner rounder, dimensionals