Christmas Card Stamp-a-Stack

The following cards are being offered as classes at the Norfolk, Nebraska Relay for Life Crop Day Saturday, November 1st. If you live in or around the area, join us for cropping from 8-8 at the Norfolk Middle School.

This first card is being offered at 11 am. Class participants will have the opportunity to make 10 cards of this design. It uses the Merry & Bright stamp set and Holidays & Wishes for the sentiment. The card base is Ruby Red, with a Basic Black mat, Whisper White and Always Artichoke designer series paper. The patterns for the cards will vary.

Supplies Used (All Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Merry & Bright, Holidays & Wishes
Cardstock: Ruby Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, Always Artichoke
Designer Series Paper: Always Artichoke
Ink: Basic Black, Ruby Red, Various Markers
Accessories: Basic Black Grosgrain Ribbon
Tools: 1 1/4, 1 3/8 & Scallop Circle Punches

The second card uses the new Season of Friendship stamp set from the Stampin' Up! Holiday mini catalog and the sentiment from To You & Yours from the Fall/Winter Stampin' Up! catalog. This card is being offered at 2 pm, and participants will also have the opportunity to make 10 of these cards to have ready for the holidays.

I have really enjoyed playing with this new set so far. In addition to the snowflakes, it also comes with a flower and leaves to allow you to create cards or scrapbook pages for all seasons.

Supplies Used (All Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Season of Friendship, To You & Yours
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Designer Series Paper: Real Red
Ink: Baja Breeze, Real Red, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Whisper White Grosgrain Ribbon
Tools: Scallop Edge Punch

Thanks for looking!

Blog Update

Since my posts have been pretty sporadic the last month or so, I just wanted to give you a quick update. I haven't stopped stamping all together and am not giving up on my blog. My reason for being MIA for awhile is actually a good one, no, I take that back, a great one. My husband and I are expecting our first! I can't even begin to tell you how excited we are!

So, for the last several weeks, I have been dealing with fatigue and nausea at various times of the day and night. Unfortunately, I haven't had the energy or motivation to do much stamping during that time. I'm a little behind now on Christmas cards and other holiday projects, but I'll sure I'll get caught up at some point!

I do have a few projects to share this week, so check back in the next day or so!

To You & Yours

In addition to Thanksgiving cards, I've been trying to decide on a design (or two) for our Christmas cards. I needed a fairly simple design this year, so I decided to go with the To You & Yours set from the Fall/Winter catalog. I thought the images could stand alone without a lot of additional detail added to them.

For both cards, I stamped the house image in Chocolate Chip and used my rectangle nestibilities to cut it out along with the scalloped mat. On the first card, I embossed pieces of both Riding Hood Red and Chocolate Chip with the Textile Embossing Folder and added a scalloped piece of Kraft layered with the new Alpine striped ribbon (from the Holiday mini) in the middle.

The tag is stamped with one of the sentiments from the set, "From Our House To Yours", and is attached with a piece of Linen Thread.

The second card uses most of the same elements, just a different layout and different ribbon. For this card, I used the Chocolate Chip felt ribbon that is also part of the Alpine Ribbon Originals in the Holiday mini. I love the texture of the ribbon, but I think it's probably a little too bulky to mail. If I end up using it on any of our cards, it will probably only be ones that can be hand-delivered. Otherwise, I could always use the taffeta ribbon with this layout.

I'm pretty sure I'll use the first one as one of our designs, but I'm not sure about the others yet. If you happen to have any suggestions for this set and these colors, I'd love to hear them!

Thanks for looking!

Recipe:
Stamps: To You & Yours
Cardstock: Kraft, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red
Accessories: Alpine Ribbon Originals, Linen Thread, Vintage Brads
Tools: Textile Embossing Folder, Rectangle and Scallop Rectange Nestibilities, Scallop Edge Punch

Season of Friendship

This card uses another set from the upcoming Holiday Mini - Season of Friendship. The set contains the tree image, leaves, snowflake, flower, bird, and sentiment that says "The season of friendship lasts forever." It also uses the Autumn Vine DSP available in the mini. The DSP has several patterns that incorporate More Mustard, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, and Sage Shadow.

The card itself is pretty simple, finished size is 5" square. The tree is stamped in Chocolate Chip, and the leaves are stamped in 1st and 2nd generation More Mustard and Really Rust. The edges of the Chocolate Chip and Really Rust mat layers were distressed before adhering. The sentiment is from Stem Silhouettes. (I used it because I am working on some possibilities for my Thanksgiving cards.) It is stamped in Really Rust, and the edges were also sponged in Really Rust. The buttons are from the Earth Elements collection and have linen thread tied through the holes.

Thanks for looking!

Recipe: (All supplies SU!)
Stamps: Season of Friendship, Stem Silhouettes
Cardstock: More Mustard, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
DSP: Autumn Vine
Ink: Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Really Rust
Accessories: Earth Elements Buttons, Linen Thread

Halloween Frights

Once again I have to apologize for the lack of posts over the last few weeks. Besides stamp club 2 weeks ago, I hadn't done any stamping until this weekend. I got my preorder from the Holiday Mini and some new things from the catalog and couldn't let them sit long before trying them out. Anyway, I have a few things to share this week.

The first is a layout I've had in my head since I saw the Halloween Frights set in the mini. Sorry for the less than perfect picture. I haven't quite figured out how to take a decent picture of a 12x12 layout yet. Anyway, the base of the layout is Basic Grey with a 10 1/2 x 8 1/2" square of Basic Black layered on top for the frame of the pictures. The white rectangles are just placeholders for now for 2 4x6 pictures. The other 2 are 4x4 squares.

To make the halloween scenes, I started with glossy paper and cut out a mask from a post-it note of the moon image (for the bottom one). I brayered both with Pumpkin Pie ink and then removed my mask before stamping the remainder of the images with Basic Black. I finished the squares with a few accents from the white gel pen.

The tree image in the top square is from Seasons of Friendship, and the wheel in the bottom square is called Frightful Fence. Otherwise, all of the other images are from Halloween Frights. All of these are available in the Holiday Mini starting on October 1st.

The tag in the upper right was stamped with October from the Full Calendar set in Pumpkin Pie and 31st from Short Order Numbers in Basic Grey. It is attached with a piece of silver elastic cord (also available in the mini). I bought mine for a project last year and didn't end up using it, so I was glad to see it back this year! The cord is held in place by a mini library clip clipped to the side of the Basic Black piece.

Finally, the bottom was created with strips from Ghostly Greetings DSP as well as strips of Basic Black and Pumpkin Pie stamped with the 2 sentiments from Halloween Frights.

Thanks for looking!

Recipe: (All Supplies SU!)
Stamps: Halloween Frights, Frightful Fence Jumbo Wheel, Season of Friendship, Full Calendar, Short Order Numbers
Cardstock: Basic Grey, Basic Black, Glossy White, Pumpkin Pie
DSP: Ghostly Greetings
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Whisper White, Basic Grey, Signo White Gel Pen
Accessories: Silver Elastic Cord, Mini Library Clip
Tools: Brayer

Celebrate

Sorry I haven't had anything to share lately. I just haven't felt very creative, so I decided to let myself take a little break. I needed a birthday card, so I did manage to at least finish this card. I debated about sharing it though because I don't think I like it very well. It looked so much better in my head than it does IRL. Oh well - I guess that happens sometimes!

I used the same layout as my Wild About You baby card. I also used lots of Crystal Effects on this card. All of the flowers, the butterfly, and the inside of the silver label holder are covered with Crystal Effects. I love that stuff, but I think I got a little carried away with it here!

Anyway, thanks for looking! Have a great weekend!

Recipe:
Stamps: Green Thumb & Little Lady (Papertrey)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, So Saffron
Ink: Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon, Stylized Silver Hodgepodge Hardward
Tools: Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, 1 3/8" Square Punch, Scallop Edge Punch
Other: Crystal Effects

I was also given an award that I haven't shared yet. Regina, from Stamping Heaven gave me the "I love your blog" award. Thanks Regina! Be sure to check out her blog too when you get a chance. She has some great projects!

Look Who's Turning 6!

This card is for my niece’s upcoming 6th birthday. I fell in love with this owl when I first saw it but waited awhile to get it. Even though I try not to buy too many non-SU! sets, I just couldn’t resist this one!

The layout for the card was inspired by this one on SCS. I stamped the owl, branch and party hat separately and cut them out before adhering them to the card. The eyes were stamped separately as well, cut out, and covered with Crystal Effects.

The rest of the card is fairly straightforward – the Pink Pirouette cardstock was embossed with the Cuttlebug Happy Birthday embossing folder, and the Riding Hood Red strip was wheeled in Versamark with the Take A Number wheel. The chipboard 6 was painted and then covered with Crystal Effects as well.

I love the way it turned out! Thanks for looking!

Recipe:
Stamps: u r a hoot (Cornish Heritage Farms), Take A Number Wheel
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Creamy Caramel, Brown (Archiver’s)
DP: Basic Grey Blush
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Versamark, Basic Black Marker
Other: Chipboard Number 6 (unknown maker)
Tools: Cuttlebug Happy Birthday Embossing Folder, Scallop Edge Punch, Crystal Effects

This second card was for my MIL whose birthday was Friday. In addition to the owl set, I also used the Lined Paper background from Cornish Heritage Farms. This card was a 5" square. The owl's eyes, circles and top of the party hat, and chipboard ? are all covered in Crystal Effects.

Recipe:
Stamps: u r a hoot & Lined Paper Background (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Cardstock: Rose Red, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Creamy Caramel, Brown (Archiver's)
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie & Basic Black Markers
Accessories: Pumpkin Pie Felt Fusion Flower, Brown Brad (Spare Parts)
Other: Chipboard ? (unknown maker)
Tools: Cuttlebug Textile Embossing Folder, Spiral Punch, Crystal Effects