"COASTAL WEAVE" & "TIMELESS TROPICAL" THANK YOU

I love this card!  The colors, texture, bling . . . everything about it.

Doesn't the braided trim pair nicely with the Coastal Weave embossed texture?

The flowers were fussy cut from a piece of Tropical Oasis designer paper.  All of the papers in that collection are so pretty and, as you can see, the colors are vivid and gorgeous!  And yes, I used one of the Stitched So Sweetly dies to cut the sentiment layer.  Stampin' Up! products featured on this card include:

Cardstock:  Soft Sea Foam, Petal Pink, Whisper White, Vellum

Designer Paper:  Tropical Oasis

Stamp Set:  Timeless Tropical

Dies/Embossing Folders:  Coastal Weave embossing folder, Stitched So Sweetly dies, In the Tropics dies

Accessories:  Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Braided Burlap Trim, Stampin' Dimensionals

"TIMELESS TROPICAL" HELLO CARD

Links to learn more about (and/or purchase) the products featured in this post are highlighted in pink.  You're welcome.

TIMELESS TROPICAL BUNDLE

When I flipped through the January-June Mini Catalog last month, my first thought was that I would never purchase the tropical products because I had done that in the past and didn't plan to go that route again.  But . . . that pineapple.  There was just something about that pineapple that I couldn't resist.  I thought about it for days, weeks--a month, really.  I said, "Self! Stop obsessing!!!"  I continued to have visions of myself getting a lot of use from this fantastic bundle, so I finally (with the absence of shame) bought it.  I love the two dies that make up the pineapple, and I love the size of it!  There's even an entire suite of products to pair with my gorgeous pineapple.  

TROPICAL OASIS SUITE

Once my order arrived, I used a strip of fruity designer paper to create this cheery card to send to my niece and her family.  They moved to Michigan right after Christmas, and I thought they could use a little something tropical to make them feel warm and fuzzy (especially warm) . . . and oh, so loved and missed.  It was dark when I took the photo, so I apologize for the quality of it.  

Here's another look at the gorgeous Tropical Oasis designer paper:

TROPICAL OASIS DESIGNER PAPER

Other new products featured on my card include this embossing folder that will get a LOT of use:

COASTAL WEAVE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER

and this AWESOME set of dies:

STITCHED SO SWEETLY DIES

There's a coordinating stamp set for the dies, but I didn't want to break the bank.  Do yourself a favor and give the dies a really good look because this is a fantastic collection!  

One last reminder . . . SALE-A-BRATION began this month, so don't forget that you can earn a FREE Sale-a-Bration product with each $50 that you spend.  If you choose to make a purchase through my web site, I would appreciate it very much and will send you a handmade card!  I always appreciate when customers use my Hostess Code (on orders that are less than $150), and the current code can always be found in the top left sidebar on Ramsour's photo (my handsome Border Collie).  As of this writing, the January 2020 code is G J 2 2 H M 4 S.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

SHAKER CARD FOR BABY

One of my stampin' friends became a grandmother during the holidays.  Don't you know that was a special time?!?!  Well . . . that may be one of life's moments that you've experienced, but it's one that I've only known from the outside looking in.  Today I'm sharing a photo of the shaker card that I made for the occasion:

I used Stampin' Up!'s retired Something for Baby stamp set and coordinating dies for the onesie and bib.  I knew when I purchased this bundle that it would be a keeper, and it has come in handy a couple of times.  While this bundle has all of the baby-themed images that you could ask for, it doesn't have any sentiments.  Itty Bitty Greetings to the rescue with that perfect "sweet baby" sentiment inside the shaker window!  There wasn't anything difficult or unique in the making of this card, but I thought it was loaded with layers and texture--and just so sweet.  What do you think?

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!