Aug 25, 2017 | Gallery, Hand-Crafted Cards |
Clement C. Moore’s famous poem, “The Night Before Christmas,” has been illustrated by many artists in numerous books, and I have several on my bookshelf.
His famous last line, “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night,” still fills me with joy and childlike wonder. The feeling can be re-created with the Hearts Come Home stamp set.
Using the stamp with the silhouette of Santa and his reindeer was my first decision. I also wanted to incorporate two challenges:
Can you see the row I chose? Gold-Oval-Bling. The circle in the sketch became an oval, and the perfect shape for Santa and his reindeer. I used Garden Green ink for stamping, and Layering Oval dies for cutting. The Oh My Stars embossing folder and the green flecked Be Merry DSP simulated a starry sky. Both of these were backed with Gold Glimmer Paper, and this is “bling,” I promise.
But, in case you wanted more bling, the band across the bottom of the sketch is Gold Glitter Tape with a Natural Trim ribbon and bow. I adhered this to the Whisper White card base, and my project was complete.
But, what about the sentiment? Oops! I wanted to use “Merry Christmas” from Teeny Tiny Wishes, and I had to stamp it without messing up. The space was limited, and I held my breath as I stamped as carefully as I could. Whew! I avoided a “do-over,” and I’m sure some of you can relate.
Thank you Tic Tac Toe and CAS(E) this sketch for your inspiration. I’ve enjoyed creating my Stampin’ Up! impression of Santa flying through the sky.
Aug 24, 2017 | Gallery, Hand-Crafted Cards |
I do love the long, warm days of summer, but Christmas has to be my perfect card-making holiday. What a fun theme over at the Less is More card challenge!
Since I’m making Christmas cards, look what I found in the freezer! You don’t see any missing, do you?
The design for my card was inspired by Freshly Made Sketches, which was just three shapes, leaving lots of white space. The two challenges seemed to go perfectly together.
The Little Drummer Boy from the Musical Season stamp set was ready and willing to take part. He was stamped with Basic Black ink on the same Merry Music Designer Series Paper that I used to die cut the trees. The trees and the border die are from the Card Front Builder set, one of my favorites. And, the green flecked paper (Be Merry DSP) behind the trees was die cut with a Stitched Shape square. You can see the same paper showing through the cut-out, which I glued to the back.
The sentiment is from the Musical Season stamp set, and says just what I wanted to say. This may end up being the card I make in a large quantity to send to friends and family this year.
Thanks for visiting my blog! Help yourself to a cookie!
Aug 23, 2017 | Gallery, Hand-Crafted Cards |
When I was creating my turtle card yesterday, another sheet from the Just Add Color DSP spoke to me. I really liked the flowing pattern of these black and white whimsical leaves, and thought this would make a great background for pumpkins. The Pick a Pumpkin Bundle would be perfect for creating my idea.
I first stamped pumpkins, playing with ink colors of Pumpkin Pie (how could I go wrong?) and Cajun Craze. The cardstock colors I chose were Peekaboo Peach, So Saffron, Old Olive and Basic Black.
Once I settled on my four, favorite, stamped pumpkins, I die cut them. But, my favorite pumpkin of all is the largest, black pumpkin, a die cut outline. I bet you can imagine him in other colors too.
Next, I layered the background for my pumpkins on Basic Black, and a card base of Old Olive to match the die cut “doodads.” Aren’t they cute?
All I needed was a sentiment, and found “Happy Thanksgiving” in the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set. What a great bundle this is, and I only used 8 of the 14 dies!
The pumpkins asked to be jack-o-lanterns, but I said no, that was for Halloween, and would be saved for another day. You can see their cute, little faces in the picture above. Maybe I was wrong?
The challenge this week at Sisterhood of Crafters is “anything goes.” So, they won’t care if it’s for Halloween or Thanksgiving. Right?
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I love your comments!
Aug 22, 2017 | Gallery, Hand-Crafted Cards |
When I was a child, I spent hours coloring, and I know I’m not alone. The artwork was there, and we needed to “just add color.” That happens to be the name of a pack of Designer Specialty Paper in the current catalog. The challenge at Paper Players this week was to create a card requiring coloring, so I pulled a sheet from this pack I had set aside for a special purpose.
I began by fussy cutting the sea turtle from the 12″ X 12″ DSP, and coloring him in with Watercolor Pencils. My clean and simple card was almost complete. I thought the turtle would look nice on a card base of Mint Macaron, which I embossed with the Ruffled folder to look like ocean.
My sea turtle is swimming in the warm, ocean waters along the coast of Oahu. I know this, because my daughter, son-in-law, and grandson recently moved there. My son-in-law is in the Coast Guard, so they will enjoy this assignment for at least three years. They are taking advantage of all the opportunities that Hawaii offers, including snorkeling. No wonder my grandson has a fascination with sea turtles.
I love the play on words with the sentiment, “Seas the Day,” and I couldn’t resist using it. My daughter is home-schooling my grandson, so if he doesn’t know the meaning of “seize,” she will teach him. However, he’s very smart.
His birthday isn’t until March. Maybe I’ll send it sooner.
Aug 21, 2017 | Gallery, Hand-Crafted Cards |
I’ve only made one other shaker card, so you can imagine my surprise when this turned into one! I began with the colors in this week’s Global Design Project 101: Night of Navy, Bermuda Bay and Flirty Flamingo.
Since I couldn’t copy Brian King’s fabulous card from the Christmas Quilt Bundle, I decided on the Magical Mermaid set. Bermuda Bay would be the ocean, Night of Navy would be the mermaid and sentiment, and Flirty Flamingo would be the coral.
I was thinking “porthole,” and stamped the little mermaid in the middle of light, blue, watercolor DSP, and added motion to her undersea home by using the Ruffled embossing folder.
Remembering the Cupcakes and Carousels Paper Stack included the color Bermuda Bay, I thumbed through it, and look what I found! It’s perfect for a churning, ocean wave. I glued this to Whisper White cardstock for stability, since I had planned to raise it on Foam Adhesive Strips, and used a Layering Circles die to cut my porthole.
This was when I recognized, it had to be a shaker card, and found a Window Sheet to cover the hole, so the ocean wouldn’t pour out on my work table.
After attaching the Foam Adhesive Strips to the back, and tossing in some magical sequins, I adhered it to the Bermuda Bay card base. I thought this Flourish die looked like coral, and the little mermaid wished that I would tie it with a piece of ribbon, so I did.
I wish you could hear her giggle when I shake, shake, shake this card!
Aug 20, 2017 | Gallery, Hand-Crafted Cards |
I was excited to play with the new Christmas Quilt Bundle, and started exploring all of the stamps, dies and papers. This one set could keep me busy for weeks! I decided to focus on this week’s sketch at Fab Friday119, so I could narrow down the possibilities.
Sorry about the appearance of the cat. This card was supposed to be about pattern and patchwork quilts, but the cat punched himself from a red gingham print (Quilted Christmas DSP), and jumped on my card before I could stop him. He even grabbed a piece of black Vintage Crochet Trim for around his neck. This was really hard to believe, since most cats don’t like collars.
Prior to the cat, my project began with a Basic Black card base. I found a pretty, black and white pattern from the Merry Music Specialty Paper, not necessarily for Christmas. When playing with the Quilt Builder Framelits Dies, I discovered this star shape, and a plain square that enables you to cut a frame around it. I could see it in Basic Black against Whisper White. I had already used the Quilt Top Textured embossing folder on recent cards, and I thought it would be good for adding texture here.
The problem arose when I die cut the banner (Bunch of Banners Framelits Dies). I guess the cat thought this looked like the perfect place to perch while looking out what he thought was a window. I stamped the banner with “thinking of you” from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set, and let the cat stay.
The good news is, this card could have many different sentiments, and objects other than the cat. I love the versatility of this Christmas Quilt Bundle that will be great year-round.
Thank you Fab Friday designers for the inspiration, and I apologize for the cat.
