FAREWELL TO "BRIGHTLY GLEAMING"

One of my favorite holiday bundles from Stampin' Up! this year was Brightly Gleaming.  The designer paper was gorgeous with its foil accents, the stamp set had a perfect mix of images and sentiments, and I LOVED the two coordinating punches!  Knowing that I always run out of time to get my cards made, I thought it would be oh so handy to be able to quickly punch my stamped images--and it was.  All of the stamped holly leaf images had to be hand-cut, but that was quicker than you might think.  And so . . . following are some of the cards that I created with this fun bundle:

I previously shared this FUN shaker card on my blog, but it's worth seeing again, right?

This card was a CASE by Narelle Farrugia.  Isn't it just so pretty?

Last, but not least, is this CASE from the Holiday Catalog.  When I first looked through the catalog, I loved this card so much and knew that I would make a set of them.  I may not have gotten around to making a whole set, but I did make a couple.  I still love this card--its slim size, the colors, the placement of images and sentiments and, of course, the ribbon and rhinestones.

I hope you and yours have had a very Merry Christmas and

that 2020 will be a year filled with many blessings.

BRING ME GRAY AND GLIMMER

Today's Christmas card was one of the leading contenders, and I really thought that I would make  many more of them.  I really liked the simplicity of the design, the stray from obvious and expected holiday colors, embossed texture, and just the right amount of glimmer.  I didn't find the time to make more of these--I didn't even get to keep a sample for myself, which is something that I normally like to do.  

It's just a sweet card, don't you think?

ADORABLE TURNTABLE/RECORD PLAYER CHRISTMAS CARDS

Another of my favorite Christmas cards was this fun record player:

Isn't it just the cutest???  I would love to take credit for using the die-cut pieces from My Favorite Things' Turntable dies to create this fun fold card--complete with a pocket/sleeve to hold a second "vinyl" record, but this project was CASE'd from Stephanie Klauck, whose tutorial can be viewed HERE.

I made several of these cards. They were all made pretty much the same with ever so slight changes to some.  There wasn't a good space for writing a message or signing the card, so I used the space on the back of the spare record (in the sleeve/pocket) for this purpose.

The outside of the card was kept very simple.  You can't tell from the photo, but a Wink of Stella clear glitter brush was used to outline the snowman and the snowy lines on the ground.

FOLDED DOILY TREE & FLANNEL CHRISTMAS CARDS

I finally got my Christmas cards completed and in the mail.  For a while, I started thinking that I'd have to send store-bought cards this year, but I treated myself to a "card day" over the weekend.  Actually, I purchased a box of cards, but they just didn't work for me.  Seeing that the cards were accordion-folded and had just the right amount of glitter and cut-outs is what caught my eye, but I missed the description about the size of the cards when opened.  Can you say "WOW!!!"?

I don't know anyone who would have enough space to display a card that--when open--is 5.5" tall x almost 33" wide!  It's a beautiful card, but . . . why so big???  I could have used two of the cards for festive window valances!  Needless to say, the box of cards got returned to the store.

And then I worked on a fun design that had assorted layers and textures, and I used two pieces of flannel fabric--some with haphazard stitching, some without:

I folded doilies to create the tree shapes and used torn vellum for the tree trunks.  Assorted glimmer paper was used for the punched star and twig embellishments and, of course, I added sequins to some of the cards.

All of the cards featured a dry-embossed layer, which added yet another texture.  These cards were among my favorites this year!

Stay tuned because I will be sharing photos of a couple more cards between now and Christmas.  😊

TWINKLE BUILDER PUNCH

Have you ever ordered a product and, in the time it takes to arrive, forget what you had planned to do with it?  That happened a few months ago when I ordered the Twinkle Builder punch.  Admittedly,  it was a snap decision to order it, but I'm sure I had a good reason.  The plans I had for that punch have never come back to me, but I put it to use on this Christmas card:

When I started designing cards for this month's stamp-a-stack, this was one of the (eventually rejected) designs.  I really like this card, but I decided that it may not be too much fun to place all of those little stars and circles.  What do you think about the color combo?  That was something else that I was wanting . . . non-traditional colors with just a touch of glimmer.

Stampin' Up! products featured on this card include:

Twinkle Builder punch

Merry Moose stamp set

Silver Glimmer paper

Basic Gray cardstock

Granny Apple Green cardstock

Bermuda Bay cardstock

Whisper White cardstock

Rhinestone Basic Jewels

Tufted embossing folder

Silver Metallic-Edge ribbon
Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad

Although I haven't tried it yet, I think a small handful of punched stars and circles would work great in a shaker card.  I hope to try that before too long!  

A SIMPLE MASCULINE SYMPATHY CARD

A masculine sympathy card was needed recently and, if you're a card maker, you know that masculine cards can be challenging.  But . . . I have found that a nature theme is always a perfect choice!  Actually, trees and leaves never disappoint--for men or women--although I tend to gravitate to flowers for the ladies.

The tree image that I used is from Stampin' Up!'s Snow Front stamp set, and that fun background is the retired Weathered stamp.  My sentiment and leafy stem are from Simon Says Stamp!'s Sketched Flowers set.  It's difficult to tell from the photo, but the Very Vanilla layer was embossed with the Pinewood Planks embossing folder.  When all was said and done, I really liked all of the texture created by the embossing and multiple layers in assorted shapes and sizes.

Want to see more sympathy cards that I've created?  Just type "sympathy" in the search box in the top left corner above my blog banner.  😊

"BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP" (AGAIN)

Soooooooooo . . . I 💗 the Beautiful Friendship stamp set!  The images in this set make it too easy to create something pretty--and colorful!  Today I'm sharing two cards that were stamped pretty much the same . . . one sympathy and one thank you. 

Of course, the beautiful images in this set really dress up an envelope.

I can't think of anything else that needs to be said about the gorgeous projects that can be made with Beautiful Friendship . . . except that your stamp room needs this set, and you can order it from me HERE!

CIRCLE SPINNER BIRTHDAY CARD

My great-nephew had a birthday last month, and I used Stampin' Up!'s retired Shining Star dies and Seaside Shore stamp set to create a fun and fishy spinner card for him.  

Obviously, the dies made the making of this card so easy.  And then I stamped a coordinating envelope.

"WE RISE BY LIFTING OTHERS"

That's one of my most favorite quotes and, when I saw this new Chalk Couture transfer, I knew that I had to have it.

I thought it would be the perfect decoration (on the small Chalk Couture Pennant Banner) for my cubicle at work.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a good adhesion of the transfer on the banner, and some of the ink seeped where I didn't want it.  That meant I would have to go to plan B.  I didn't exactly have a plan B, but I managed to whip up a new banner with a scrap of fabric.  I'm actually quite proud of my homemade banner, considering that I've only been sewing for a month.  

The second time around, I decided to use Chalk Paste instead of ink.  My colors were Tide and Sage, and don't they look great swirled and mixed?  To accomplish the mix, I spread Tide on the bottom half of the transfer, Sage was spread at the top, and then I used my finger to blend where the colors met and moved the paste around.

I know that my sewing is FAR from perfect (hence the green glitter strip across the top), but this turned out to be a great decoration!

Want to see another "We Rise" project?  The one below is on a Board & Pillar Stand:

The nice thing about the Board & Pillar Stand is that the framed chalkboard can be oriented in a vertical or horizontal position, AND the chalkboard itself can be washed and re-used.

PRESSED PETALS CONCERTINA POP-UP CARD

Aunt Betty has a birthday next week, and it's only natural that I wanted a special card to send to her.  While this concertina pop-up design packs a definite wow--and I'm pretty sure she'll like it, I felt just a smidge blase about the finished design.  For one thing, I was running out of time to come up with a plan for the birthday card because it needed to get in the mail, and that kind of pressure really squashes a creative muse.  But . . . it's a really fun card, right?  

Stampin' Up!'s Pressed Petals designer paper is simply gorgeous, and it works really hard to make a pretty card.  I mean . . . just look at it . . . the front of this card really didn't need very much because that paper deserves center stage.

The card folds flat, which is perfect for mailing (with extra postage if thick with embellishments and layers), and the inside is where the pop-up and WOW take place!  While there is a LOT of space for creativity with this type of card, I felt that I didn't utilize it to the best of my ability.  But then again . . . how could I possibly compete with that gorgeous paper?  I kept things simple by stamping images from the retired (and lovely) Pocket Silhouettes stamp set, and I pulled birthday sentiments from Perennial Birthday and that oh so FANTASTIC Beautiful Friendship set.  

I hope you get some inspiration from this card!  Have a stampin' good day!