More for Christmas

I have some more Christmas cards that I thought I'd share today.  These cards are for this week's Merry Monday challenge.  Here's the sketch that Lesley gave us...

This is the first card I did.

I kept trying different panels and couldn't be satisfied so I decided to use the Stripe Embossing Folder instead.  I couldn't get a good picture of them, but hopefully you can see the stripes.

The stamp is a bargain from a local craft store.  I stamped it 3 times in Always Artichoke.  The white gel pen added some snow to the branches.

The sky is sponged with Bashful Blue and Not Quite Navy and the birds are from the Up, Up and Away set.  In this picture the snow looks gray.  It's quite shimmery IRL, painted with Frost White Shimmer paint.  It's mounted on Naturals White which has a snowy look.

I wasn't sure if this would be too far from the sketch so I did another and spent far too much time on it and created an awful mess of glitter and Dazzling Diamonds.  LOL!   I'll sparkle for months!

This is true to the sketch.  I just hope all that sparkle is still on the card at Christmas.  To achieve that sparkly effect, I patted the whole design area with VersaMark and sprinkled with Dazzling Diamonds.  I had seen a similar technique by Cristina of the My Paper Secret blog.  She has a wonderful clean and simple style that is never boring.  I love visiting her blog for inspiration.

I found out that VersaMark is not exactly a glue pad.  Think I need to visit a craft store again and get a real glue pad so the glitter will stay put better!

I punched some little snowflakes from each panel with an old EK Success punch.  Then I changed my mind and decided to put the snowflakes back but with dimensionals.  I used the Northern Frost Sizzlit Decorative Strip for the larger snowflakes and cut them from Shimmery White and Night of Navy.  The Navy helps to show the snowflake up better.

Now I don't know which one to enter.  I love the simplicity of the first one, but the second is closer to the sketch. Decisions decisions.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe (Card 1)

Stamps: Pines (Inkadinkadoo), Up, Up and Away

Ink:  Always Artichoke, Bashful Blue, Not Quite Navy, Early Espresso, Frost White Shimmer Paint

Paper:  Naturals White, Always Artichoke

Other:  Big Shot, Stripes EF, Always Artichoke Seam Binding

Card Recipe (Card 2)

Stamps:  Winter Post

Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, SU Markers (Not Quite Navy, Garden Green, Real Red)

Paper:  Night of Navy, Shimmery White, Naturals White

Other:  VersaMark, Dazzling Diamonds, Northern Frost Sizzlit Strip, Snowflake punch (EK Success),  Basic Rhinestones

I'm so glad you stopped by to visit.

Enjoy!

Merry Winter Post

I finally got to make a card for the Merry Monday 4 Challenge at Always Playing with Paper.

Here's the sketch Lesley gave us to work with.

There's still time to join in.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise stated

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Winter Post, Bells & Boughs

Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, SU Markers (Garden Green, Real Red, Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler)

Paper:  Whisper White, Night of Navy, Naturals White

Other:  Big Shot, Petals-a-Plenty EF, Lots of Tags Sizzlit, 2 1/2" Circle Punch, Nestie, White Gel Pen

It makes me happy that you stopped by.

Enjoy!

Stately Stag

The Less is More challenge on Saturday was at theme.....

Silhouettes

n. A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a basically featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black.

 

I need a Birthday card for a special brother-in-law.  I think this will do.

The frame is embossed using a small wood frame from the craft store.  By placing the cardstock in the embossing folder and adding the frame to the sandwich, it leaves the center unembossed. (Is that a word?)

I masked off the plain area with sticky notes. Then I inked the trees in Soft Suede, stamped off once on scrap and stamped.  Stamping the deer in Early Espresso took care of the silhouette that I needed for the challenge.  Sponge daubers and Stampin' Pastels finished the design off.  The silhouette is not black but I hope it's dark enough to be considered a silhouette.

Here's a closer look.

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Lovely as a Tree, Winter Post

Ink:  Soft Suede, Early Espresso

Paper:  Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip

Other:  Big Shot, Square Lattice EF

Most of the leaves are on the ground now so the ground is very colorful.  I love the way the fallen leaves smell and the 70 degree weather is pretty nice too.

I'm so glad you stopped by.

Enjoy!

 

Vintage Skaters

When I saw the ColorQ60 challenge this morning, with those beautiful handmade mittens, I knew I had to pull some stuff back out and do a card.

With Cherry Cobbler, More Mustard, Soft Suede, Early Espresso & Vanilla as the colors, this skating pair was perfect.  Usually, when I see a card this vividly in my head, it turns out to be a big disappointment.  But this time, everything went together just as I visualized.


I stamped the pair with Early Espresso on a scrap of Very Vanilla and painted using SU markers and a blender pen.  A scrap of Early Espresso cut 1/8" larger than the design piece made the mat.  I found this piece of Vanilla already embossed in my stash and thought it was perfect for the vintage feeling I was looking for.

I used Early Espresso & Cherry Cobbler markers to ink the sentiment then punched it out with the Wide Oval punch.  The oval mat for the sentiment is 2 ovals punched from Early Espresso and overlapped a bit.

All this is on a Cherry Cobbler card base.  A piece of Very Vanilla on the inside of the card, with the snowflake from this set inked with More Mustard, stamped off twice and stamped over the sentiment finishes it off.

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Winter Post, Bells & Boughs
Ink:  Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, More Mustard, Soft Suede & Early Espresso SU Markers
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories:  Big Shot, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Wide Oval Punch

I hope you like this card as much as I do.

My Dad has still not arrived.  He had a bit of a problem with getting lost yesterday.  He is determined to make it down here though.  Tonight he is safe in a motel and hopefully will make it the rest of the way tomorrow.   I think it's more nerve wracking for all of us than it is for him!  I guess it's probably his last great adventure and I can't begrudge him that!

Stay safe and I hope I will be able to post something tomorrow.  If not, I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving and time to truly count your blessings.

Enjoy,
Bonnie

Winter Post Skaters

Hello Stampin' Friends.  Today's card uses the sketch from Sketch Challenge 305 at Splitcoaststampers. It's another square card, which I don't normally think to do.  But they are so cute and Roxie has a put a link to her tutorial on adapting an A2 envelope for a square card.  No extra postage!

 

I stamped the skaters from Winter Post with Black StazOn then colored the pair with SU Markers, stamped the edge of the snowflake from that set in the corners, & used the Color Spritzer to speckle the background a bit.

The snowflakes, from the Northern Hearts set, are stamped in Whisper White and embossed with White.  I'm a real messy embosser.  I should have used the embossing buddy first, but I didn't so there are some renegade flakes floating around there!  Fortunately, with snow, it's not a big deal.  I also embossed one larger snowflake, added a bit of glue and sprinkled with Dazzling Diamonds, then cut it out.  A rhinestone in the center makes it sparkle a bit more.  I don't think the sparkle shows up well in the photo.  It sure shows up well on my stamping table!  LOL, I'll be sparkling for days!

The white background is Shimmery White, embossed with the Petals-A-Plenty embossing folder and adhered to a Night of Navy 4 1/4" x 4 1/4" card.

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Winter Post, Northern Hearts

Ink:  Black StazOn, Whisper White, Night of Navy

Paper:  Night of Navy, Shimmery White, Whisper White

Accessories:  SU Markers (Night of Navy, Garden Green, Real Red), Color Spritzer Tool, White Embossing Powder, Dazzling Diamonds, Basic Rhinestone, Big Shot, Petals-a-Plenty EF

Now I need to use the tutorial to do the envelope.

Thanks for the visit.  Hope you come back soon.

Enjoy,

Bonnie

Dancer & Prancer

I was experimenting with sponging and using the leftover piece from the Top Note cut with the Big Shot. Those jaunty little deer always make me smile. They look so proud of themselves. This is a one layer card with no embellishments. A good card to mail.

Card Recipe

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Winter Post, Many Merry Messages

Paper: Naturals White

Ink: Handsome Hunter, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Chocolate Chip Stampin' Marker, Big Shot, Top Note Die , sponge dauber,

Stampin' Pastels

Did you know that Stampin' Up! is going to offer clear-mount stamps in 2010? The stamps are still the high quality rubber but cling to an acrylic block so we can see exactly where we are stamping. They store in a flat container, about the size of a cd case so we can get more in less storage space. There is also a new design for punches that will store more compactly. I can't wait for you to see these products. They will be available starting January 5. Sale-A-Bration starts January 5th too. You should be getting your mini catalogs in the mail soon. If you don't let me know and I will mail you one. I can't wait for you to see the new products that are in these catalogs!

Enjoy,

Bonnie

You Go Rudolph!

The CAS challenge this week is to do a card with Brown & Red. I'm more partial to red so mine is more Red & Brown. I've been trying to clean up some of my "mistakes" and odd pieces that are laying around. It's nice when what is already stamped is the right colors.



The base card is Whisper White with a layer of Real Red just a touch smaller than the base card. I had run the red through the Big Shot with the Backgrounds 1 Texturz Plate.

Rudolf is stamped in Chocolate Chip and spritzed around him with the Color Spritzer Tool and a Close to Cocoa Stampin' Marker. He looks really proud of his red nose doesn't he? I punched him and the Chocolate Chip scrap with the Square Scallop Punch. Rudolf is popped out with dimensionals.

I glued a piece Chocolate Chip 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon across the front of the card leaving a glueless space to slip another piece through and loop. The loop is held with a 5/16" Jumbo White Brad.

Do Not Open was stamped with Real Red on Whisper White and punched with the Designer Label Punch.

This was a good challenge for me. I would never have thought of adding brown ribbon to a Christmas card. It's good to think out of the box sometimes. It keeps me on my toes!

Enjoy,

Bonnie

Skater's Waltz

As many of you know, I grew up in Vermont so this stamp brought back memories. Don't get me wrong, I don't remember anybody skating this beautifully. We loved to skate anywhere we could find some ice. My most memorable skating expeditions were at a tennis court that had been flooded. We would pick up our skates and walk the half mile from our house to join the fun. When we got there we were about frozen but eagerly anticipating how beautifully we would skate. After tying my skates with frozen fingers I got on the ice thinking I would glide in a lovely figure eight. Then reality hit! I'd be grabbed by the hand and become the last person on the whiplash! I'd last about 30 seconds, with my heart in my throat, and then be sent flying across the ice....on my bottom! It was fun but I would really rather remember skating like this.


I'm not good at figuring out folding. I do well to fold a regular size card! You can find the directions for folding here. I used Night of Navy Textured Card stock for the base. (You will need a 12" x 12" piece of card stock to do this.) I used the Winter Post Stamp set and stamped the skaters in Night of Navy on Whisper White card stock, then colored with my Stampin' Markers. I used Garden Green, Real Red and Brocade Blue. I stamped the end of the snowflake with Night of Navy in the corners and then used my Color Spritzer Tool to spritz Night of Navy over the whole thing.




I stamped the snowflake with Whisper White and embossed it with White Embossing Powder and added some Dazzling Diamonds for a bit of shimmer. When they were dry, I cut them out and added a Clear Rhinestone Brad to the center and stuck them on with dimensionals. Because I had made a mistake in the folding, and I needed to cover it up, I stamped the snowflakes with Brocade Blue on some Whisper White scraps then cut & adhered them to the inside pieces. That mistake worked out well!

I'll be sharing this folding technique in a class early next year, after I practice and perfect it!

Enjoy,
Bonnie