IT'S A (ROCKIN') CHRISTMAS CARD

 

What do you do when new Christmas-themed products arrrive?  You make a Christmas card--even if it's a wee past the middle of July.  Can you tell from the photo above that the focal point is a round "ornament"?  

I used a circle die to cut the Sahara Sand cardstock base, which was folded in half and then embossed with Stampin' Up!'s brand new Merry Melody embossing folder.  The ornament was created by using a retired Circle punch to cut a piece of the gorgeous Tidings of Chistmas designer paper.  Both pieces of designer paper on the ornament are from that paper collection, and I 💗 the colors for Christmas . . . Cherry Cobbler, Evening Evergreen, Misty Moonlight, Sahara Sand, and Soft Succulent.  The greens are so pretty together!  To create the topper for the ornament, I used one of the dies from Perfect Plants to cut that shape from Silver Foil.  It's perfect, right?!?!  

The sentiment is from the Poinsettia Petals stamp set and was stamped with Evening Evergreen ink.  Notice the texture on the Soft Succulent trees?  I used the new Timber embossing folder for that.  I almost didn't purchase that folder, thinking that the Bark folder was all the wood texture I might need; however, I am loving that the Timber folder has a smaller "grain" which is quite perfect for my tiny trees.  This little rocking card was quite simple and quick to make, and I love that it's stylish and festive.  I have a feeling that I'll be making more ornaments--and rockers to display them.

"SWEET AS A PEACH" PURSE CARD W/MONEY POCKET

Sunday, July 4th, was my niece's birthday.  Being born on Independence Day--a day celebrated with fun family/friend gatherings, fireworks, and parades--is such a perfect day for Haley's birth.  She is such a sweet, bubbly, and funny young lady and brings joy to our family.  She loves big, and I hope she knows that she is very loved.  She is truly a ray of sunshine!  My sister and I always say (jokingly, of course) that Haley is our parents' favorite, but I've decided (shhhh . . . don't tell anyone) that it's okay if she is because I can see how she would be.  It's no surprise that they call her Precious.  And she really is--to all of us.  For her birthday, I created this sweet purse-shaped card featuring Stampin' Up!'s Sweet as a Peach stamp set, Peach dies, and You're a Peach designer paper:

It was perfect because it stood on its own when closed and folded flat for mailing.  BTW, I used Soft Sea Foam for the card base.

In the above photo, you can see that the card had a Velcro closure.  The top part of the card had a pocket (created with the striped designer paper) which was perfect for holding $$$.  Can you see that an envelope was tucked into the pocket? (Photo below)  The bottom panel, although sweetly decorated, had plenty of space for writing our birthday wishes.  Yes, that adorable tag was cut with one of the Tailor Made Tags dies.  💗 those dies!!!

Because the envelope blended in a little too well with the other designer paper on the top interior panel, I decided to add a Calypso Coral tab to the top left corner:

All of these peach products are sooooooooooo fun to work with, and I don't think it's possible to make anything ugly with them.  

One last photo of Haley's birthday card:

"MEASURE OF LOVE"

 

Today's post features one of Stampin' Up!'s new stamp sets, and it's such a fun one!  It was love at first sight for me, although I still gave a lot of thought before buying it.  Normally, I would jump right in with the purchase, but I wanted to make sure that I "thought" I could get a lot of use from it.  There is no buyer's remorse here!  Best of all, I've already had sweet comments from those who received the cards I'm sharing today.  It all started with this one:

I needed a thank you card for a customer/friend, and I really wanted to play with Measure of Love.  That's when I decided that someone who has placed a Stampin' Up! order probably wouldn't care that their thank you card was more of an inspiring sample.  What's not to love about that?  The card base is 4" square and, of course, the layers are tilted a bit and extend past the top of the card.  That's okay because the card still fit perfectly in an A2 envelope.  Stampin' Blends were used to color the scale, and have I mentioned lately how much I enjoy coloring with the Blends???  They are fantastic!  So once this card was complete, I decided to play around with other color combos.

The scale on the above card was colored with Soft Succulent.  A piece of paper from In Good Taste was used to mimic a table to ground the scale.

The card above features Soft Sea Foam and Highland Heather cardstock, and the scale was colored with Highland Heather.  You might have noticed that a rhinestone jewel was placed at the base of each stamped pointer doohickey, but first I colored the rhinestones with the coordinating Blends marker.  My last scale color was Granny Apple Green, and it turned out pretty, too!  

I don't normally like fussy-cutting, but I really enjoyed the stamping and cutting required for these cards--it wasn't at all difficult!  Fortunately, I didn't have to cut the pointer doohickeys for the scale faces, and it was quite nice that I could stamp them to coordinate with the color of the scale.  

Is this a simple card?  You bet!  But . . . each of these cards were VERY well-received, and THAT makes a stamp set a winner for me!  My great-aunt (Betty) was so happy with her card, and she said that she knew she must really be special.  She is really special, but it melted my heart a little to hear in her voice just how much she appreciated her card.  

And now I look forward to trying other color combos with Measure of Love.

"SWEET AS A PEACH" BOXED CARD SET

 

For one of my mother's birthday gifts, I created (what I consider to be) a FANTASTIC set of assorted cards featuring Stampin' Up!'s Sweet as a Peach product bundle.  These products are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G and oh so fun to use.  I'm sure you just want to see the cards, so let's get to it:

The above design features Soft Sea Foam and Calypso Coral cardstock.  Stitched So Sweetly and Peach dies were used for the die-cut shapes.

All of the die-cut shapes in the above card were cut with the Peach dies except for the tag, which was cut with one of the Tailor Made Tags dies.  That cute cloud?  It is from the Give It a Whirl dies.

Dies featured on the cards directly above and below are:  Give It a Whirl, Stitched So Sweetly, Tailor Made Tags, Peach, and Pierced Blooms.  Embossing Folders are:  Brick & Mortar and Bark.

All of the peaches were given a pretty shimmer with a Wink of Stella Glitter Brush.

The card below features You're a Peach designer paper and Checks & Dots embossing folder.  Those embossed checks are the perfect amount of texture for the background!  Do you love the Balmy Blue tag?  I'm telling you . . . those Tailor Made Tags dies are something every card-maker should have!

Just look at all of the texture and dimension on this card:

Below is another of the crisp and clean designs featuring Stitched So Sweetly, Pierced Blooms, and Peach dies.  The embossing folder featured on this card is Parisian Floral.  Yes, it's gorgeous!

It was completely unnecessary but, since I was playing with peaches, I couldn't resist using the peach image from the retired Fresh Fruit stamp set.  I still love this stamp set, and I loved having the perfect opportunity to use it again.

The card below just screamed for a die-cut tag, don't you think?

The Wink of Stella Glitter Brush brought to life all of the peaches in this card set.

Want to see inside the box?

On the left interior, I placed a small pocket to hold postage stamps.  The box on the right side held all of the cards.

One last look at the front, which features Artistry Blooms sequins.

I liked this set of cards so much that I need to make a set for myself.  You just can't go wrong with peaches, and the most important thing was that I gave my mother a gift that I was quite proud of.

UPDATE:  I appreciate all of the views, comments, and compliments that this post has received.  This was an interesting and fun project to work on; however, creating the box was a progressive task.  Measurements that I mapped out ended up having to be tweaked, and I do not have a tutorial or exact dimensions at this time.  If I ever re-visit this project, I will be sure to make note of exact measurements and add them to this blog post.  Your understanding is appreciated.

CHEERY "PIERCED BLOOMS" BIRTHDAY CARD

Tomorrow is my mother's birthday, and I used Stampin' Up!'s G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S Pierced Blooms dies to create this bright and cheery card for her.  Don't just look once . . . look again at the beauty of the die-cut flowers and leaves!  We've all seen die-cut flowers before, but there's just something about the piercing that elevates these dies into a league of their own.  Stunning!

As you can see, I pretty much left all of the WOW up to the flowers and leaves.  Having them arranged on the wood-like designer paper was a striking enhancement, as was the heart-shaped doily and hemp twine bow with its tails swirling in various directions.  It's unfortunate that it's difficult to see the beautiful small envelope that I created from a cut of Expressions in Ink designer paper.  My intention was to arrange the flowers as if they were bursting from the envelope--and they are--but they spilled over to cover it.  

Can you imagine opening such a colorful card to find a plain, boring inside?  Me, either.

I may have been a wee bit late in deciding to purchase yet another set of flower dies, but I am so in love with these and have zero regrets.  One thing that makes certain dies a smart investment is the way they can go to work and literally carry the design "burden".  If you don't own these gorgeous dies, I encourage you to take a look and consider purchasing them.  Just look at all of the dies you get:

"GARDEN BIRDHOUSES"

 

Do you need a sweet little card?  

If so, then Stampin' Up!'s Garden Birdhouses stamp set is a great choice!  

My first time using this adorable stamp set was when I set out to make this card.  Of course, I had no design idea, so I started by stamping some of the images onto white cardstock.  My card base is 4.25" square, and the Pale Papaya layer was intentionally cut taller so it would extend above the top of the card base.  I think little design choices like that add an extra level of interest to a card, don't you?

A Blender Pen was used to color the images, and that is probably the quickest/easiest way to color.  I even found a brand new pack of Blender Pens that I didn't know I had because they'd fallen (or maybe got shoved) to the back of the drawer.  The color combo wasn't planned, but I really love it!  The colors are Pale Papaya, Soft Succulent, and Balmy Blue.  Notice that gorgeous tag?  I used the Tailor Made Tags dies to cut it, and I think I'm obsessed with these tag dies!  The flowers on the bottom of the tag were colored with Pilot Color Eno pencils that my son gave me for Mother's Day (they show up beautifully on colored cardstock), and I used a Gelly Roll 10 white gel pen in the center of each tiny flower.  The sweet lady who received this card had sent me a fantastic Amazon package that included a pack of the #10 white gel pens, an adorable (and oh so useful) ladybug vacuum, and a pack of Frixion pens that I especially love to use with sewing projects.  Pause and imagine how exciting it is to receive an Amazon package full of goodies that you weren't expecting.  Uh huh.  That makes you want to sit down and make a special thank you card, doesn't it?

GATEFOLD GRADUATION CARD

 

My great-niece graduates high school today!!!  It's so hard to believe that the wee little girl who used to enjoy creating with stamps and ink (and had her own supplies in my stamp room) is old enough to be moving on to the next big phase in life.  I'm so proud of her!  Not only is she beautiful, she is very smart.  I swear, the girl can do anything that she sets out to accomplish--and she'll do it very well!  And isn’t she gorgeous?!?!

The card that I made for Malena was a gatefold with an added "diamond" that I decorated with a handmade tassel and brad.  As you can see from the first photo, the card folded flat for mailing.  Following is a photo of the card in the opening phase and, yes, I used colors that most closely matched her school colors (Evening Evergreen and Daffodil Delight).  The sentiment that I chose is from the Beautiful Friendship stamp set.  Gold Glimmer paper was used to die-cut "2021" using Stampin' Up!'s retired Large Numbers dies.

On the interior gate panels, I created small pockets using the leftover Daffodil Delight cardstock triangles and, of course, they were perfect for holding a little cash.  

Although it took a while to decide what kind of card to make, I had so much fun with this one once it got underway!  Malena appreciated it so much that she called the day it arrived.  It just so happened that she was busy making thank you cards at the time.  [heart melts a little]

"GIVE IT A WHIRL" BIRTHDAY CARD

 

My great-nephew celebrated his 12th birthday this week, and I'm sharing today the card that I made for him.  It features Stampin' Up!'s brand new Give It a Whirl dies and Way to Goat stamp set.  There wasn't a reason or any significance for making a card with goats . . . I just think they're cute.  This was my first time using the new dies, and I already look forward to using them again!  Years ago, in the card-making world, many stampers (including me) found this type of card (known as a Viewfinder back then) exciting--maybe more so if you were the recipient and not the creator.  Viewfinder cards weren't necessarily difficult; however, precision was paramount. But now the process is so much quicker and easier with the Give It a Whirl dies!  Just look at all the dies you get!

Not only do you get options for window shapes, there are shapes that can be used to decorate cards and also labels and tags.  I don't know about you, but those cute clouds really got my attention!  Honestly, this is a versatile set of dies that (in my humble opinion) should stay close to the die-cut machine because of how often they'll be used.  But . . . you're probably wanting to see the other two goats on my card:

All three goats were colored with Stampin' Blends.

I thought this one looked just a wee bit regretful about eating all of the cake--like he intended to leave a few bites but couldn't help himself (from helping himself).

Are you ready to make some cards like this?  The people on your mailing list are waiting to receive one!  Order your dies (and any other Stampin' Up! products) HERE.

CHIP BAGS

For the past couple of years, Mother's Day gifts (that I give to my mother and sister) seem to include something that I love and/or enjoy using.  This year, it was True Lemon packets.  These things get used a LOT in my house.  There's even a lime flavor that tastes DELICIOUS--especially in my chicken salad!  

Little packets of lemon-y crystals wouldn't be too exciting, though, so they needed a cute package.  Cue the little chip bag.

These bags are ridiculously simple to design on the computer.  I took information from the box, and below is a screenshot of my design:

The design was printed onto white cardstock.  Previously, I have used one full sheet of cardstock to make a chip bag but, since the lemon packets were so small, I was able to print two "bags" on one sheet.  Once the printed 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" cardstock was laid out, I placed adhesive on one short side and folded the other short side so that it rested on the adhesive.  I then used liquid adhesive to close one of the ends, fill the bag with the lemon packets, and then liquid adhesive was used to seal the top.  A crimper tool was used on the top and bottom to make the bag look authentic.  😉  

 

"HOME SWEET HOME" HOUSEWARMING GIFT

I needed a little housewarming gift recently, and I had a great idea . . . which turned into a gift that I could be proud of.

All I needed were the following Chalk Couture products:

House Cutouts (these are AWESOME)

Black Chalkable Chips

House Patterns transfer

Shimmer Silver Chalkology Paste

Shimmer Crimson Chalkology Paste

Shimmer Shadow Chalkology Paste

Small Squeegee

I love that the House Cutouts are free-standing!

And, of course, once the project was complete, it needed to be packaged.  I kept it really simple by wrapping the shaped house with glassine paper, and creating a decorative wax seal on the front.  Glassine paper is something I've never worked with before, but I love that it shows a hint of what's inside.

Pretty neat, huh?