Merry & Bright

I was a little sad to see Merry & Bright on Stampin' Up!'s retiring list. It's such a cute stamp set, and I have to say, I didn't use it nearly enough. Anyway, here is a quick card using the snowman and the snowflake from Season of Friendship. We've had a lot of snow here in Nebraska lately, so this card is definitely appropriate right now!

The card is a CASE of this card by Kharmagirl. I kept mine a little simpler. I stamped the snowflake in Versamark and then in Whisper White on each panel. I think the rest of the card is pretty self-explanatory, so I won't go into a lot of other detail.

Thanks for looking!

Supplies Used (All Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Merry & Bright, Season of Friendship
CS: Kraft, Whisper White, Night of Navy, Bashful Blue
Ink: Versamark, Whisper White, Night of Navy; also Night of Navy & Bashful Blue Markers
Accessories: Whisper White Taffeta
Tools: 1 1/4, 1 3/8 & Scallop Circle Punches

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!

Pocket Card Gift Card Holder

I've seen several different variations on gift card holders, so here is another one to add to the mix. I was trying to decide on a project for an upcoming workshop, and this is what popped into my head. I thought it would be nice to have a holiday card that had separate places for a note and a gift card.

The card is a 12x5 1/2" piece of Rose Red cardstock scored at 4" and 8". The panels were then folded in to basically make a tri-fold card. I folded the edge of the inner panel into a triangle, adhered it to the card, and added a piece of Rose Red Prints DSP onto the triangle. To make the gift card holder, I punched the Word Window in the center of the cardstock, pushed all the way in from the bottom. I then slid it over to the right and punched again and to the left and punched again - this makes the window almost the whole width of the panel. After punching, I added sticky strip to the left edge and bottom of that panel and adhered them to the inside of the card making a pocket. This creates a place for the note inside of the pocket and the gift card in the opening created by the Word Window punch.

For the front of the card, I combined ideas I got from a couple of different cards on SCS. I thought this was a really fun Merry & Bright card by JanTink, so I used the same colors and DSP that she did. I also liked the windows that markie's mom used on this card, so I incorporated that idea into my card as well.

For the top of the card, I used a piece of Bashful Blue cardstock stamped with the swirl from Priceless. Before adhering to the card, I punched a 1 1/2" circle in it. I added a 1 1/4" circle that had been stamped with the snowman from Merry & Bright inside the opening. The middle section is a piece of Whisper White cardstock. I used the Word Window punch on this piece and created an opening from the sentiment from Merry & Bright. I also added a piece of Bashful Blue taffeta threaded through the opening. The striped DSP is from Cutie Pie.

Recipe:
Stamps: Merry & Bright, Priceless
Paper: Rose Red, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Cutie Pie DSP, Rose Red Prints DSP
Ink: Bashful Blue, Basic Black
Accessories: Bashful Blue Taffeta Ribbon, Vintage Brads
Punches: 1 1/2" Circle, 1 1/4" Circle, Word Window, Tab

Stamp Club Scrapbook Page

What a crazy week last week! I didn't have a chance to stamp at all last week, so it was nice to be able to do a little bit this weekend. This layout is for my November stamp club.

The layout is created on a 12x12 piece of Old Olive cardstock. The designer paper at the bottom is a 3x12" piece from Dashing. I love this stripe! The line of snowmen was created with a 2 7/8x12" piece of Real Red cardstock. It was stamped with the snowflake stamp from Merry & Bright in Real Red. I then marked on the back every 1 1/2" and punched 7 squares with the 1 3/8" square punch. By pushing the punch all the way in and lining up my marks in the middle of the punch, I was able to keep them evenly spaced. After punching the cardstock, I adhered a piece of Very Vanilla behind it and stamped the snowman from Merry & Bright with Basic Grey in each square. The snowmen were colored with Real Red and Old Olive markers and a blender pen with River Rock ink.

The photos were cropped to approximately 5x3" and adhered to River Rock cardstock. The "notebook paper" was created on a piece of 5x4" Very Vanilla cardstock. I made horizontal lines on the cardstock with a Bashful Blue marker. I used a ruler and just eyeballed it to keep it as even as possible. I then used the Real Red marker for the vertical line. It was punched with the spiral punch on the left side and the corner rounder on the upper right corner. (I plan to add journaling on this piece later. I just haven't decided what I want to write yet!) I then stamped Christmas from the Merry Christmas stamp in Holidays & Wishes (inked with my Real Red marker) and 2006 with Short Order Numbers in River Rock. I haven't had much time to play with my spiral punch since I got it, but I really like how the notebook paper turned out! My DH commented that he thought it was real notebook paper. I'm sure I'll be using this technique quite a bit in my scrapbooks.

Recipe:
Stamps: Merry & Bright, Holidays & Wishes, Short Order Numbers
Paper: Old Olive, Real Red, River Rock, Very Vanilla, Dashing
Ink: Basic Grey, River Rock
Markers: Real Red, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Blender Pen
Punches: 1 3/8" Square, Spiral, Corner Rounder, Photo Corner

Side note: Sorry this isn't the greatest picture. I'm not really sure the best way to photograph 12x12 layouts, so if anyone has some tips for me I'd love to hear them.

Merry & Bright Thank Yous

I just got Merry & Bright yesterday, so of course I had to play! Those little images are just so cute! I went back and forth several times on whether to get this set, but I've seen so many cute samples that I finally caved. It's not like it's an expensive set, so I don't know why I waited so long. Anyway, I know I'll enjoy playing with it more in the next few days.

I didn't have anything specific in mind when I started on these, so as I was working on the first one I decided to do some holiday thank you cards. I know I'll need some in a few months.

I think these images lend themselves well to 4 1/4" square cards, so that is what all of these are. The stamping on them is pretty straightforward, so I won't go into a lot of detail on that. I'm not sure if you can really see it in the pictures or not, but I did do some paper piecing on the snowman's hat and scarf. I know it's small so it might not make a huge difference, but I think the pattern adds to it IRL. Individual pictures and basic recipes are included below.

Recipe:
Stamps: Merry & Bright, Much Appreciated
Cardstock: Blue Bayou, Chocolate Chip, River Rock, Whisper White (this week's color challenge colors)
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Other: Blue Bayou Double-Stitched Ribbon, Real Red Brad, Pastels
Tools: Corner Rounder, Scallop Punch, Circle Punch



Recipe:
Stamps: Merry & Bright, Much Appreciated
Cardstock: Rose Red, Basic Black, River Rock, Whisper White, Rose Red Prints DSP
Ink: Basic Black, Whisper White
Other: Basic Black Grosgrain, Twill
Tools: Scallop Punch, Circle Punches



Recipe:
Stamps: Merry & Bright, Priceless
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Certainly Celery Prints DSP, Real Red, Whisper White
Ink: Certainly Celery, Real Red
Other: Real Red Grosgrain, Silver Elastic Cord, Vintage Brad
Tools: Spiral Punch, Scallop Punch, Circle Punch