Ho, Ho, Ho!

I really like the sketch at Retro Rubber Challenge this week.  I think that you can take it in so many directions and use it for just about any occasion.  Since I'm on a mission to work on Christmas cards, that's just what I did with this sketch.

I decided to go with these cute little stockings as I thought they would play on the horizontal element of the card when lined up 3 in a row.  I've seen a lot of bright red and green paired with white and black in Christmas decor lately and decided to follow that path as I thought it was fitting with these fun images.  Generally I tend to go with rich reds and dark greens so this was a fun departure for me.  As I pondered the 3 elements in the lower right corner of the sketch all I could think of was 3 and Ho, Ho, Ho came to mind.  I opted to use a little Ho to the 3rd power Sizzlits to cut out three of each character and glued them up for a little dimension.  I wanted to focus on 3's as the sketch has 3 elements in the lower right.  In addition to the 3 stockings, I used 3 in 3 additional ways to represent the 3 right hand elements; Ho, Ho, Ho, the characters H, O and 3, and of course the little number 3.  I can get a little crazy that way :).  The stockings needed a little something so I punched out the cuffs and added some Wink of Stella for a little shimmer.

Happy Stamping,

Dana

Card Making Weekend

I had a fabulous weekend and hope you did too!  I got together with 3 friends for a card making weekend.  Three of us loaded up our supplies (you'd think we were moving in) and headed to our hostess's place and had a blast! We shared tips, tools, supplies, great food and most of all laughs.  We get together twice a year and eagerly await the next session. I love seeing the difference in each of our styles and when seeing a card you think. . . Oh, that's a "Mary" card.

I worked on Christmas cards as time is running out and my stash is sadly underwhelming.  I didn't focus on challenges but did use a few for inspiration.  Today's card is based on the sketch at CAS Colours & Sketches.  I love the simplicity of the sketch and didn't stray much as I wanted to capture that clean look. Stamped and punched a couple of green trees and layered them on a white panel, one with dimensionals.  The sentiment was stamped in Rich Razzleberry, just for a hint of an unexpected twist.  The panel was added to a white card base.  Done!

Happy Stamping,
Dana

Embossed Trees

I am working on a batch of cards for the Hospice team that so kindly and generously cared for Glen's father (and the whole family) at the end of his life.  They send handmade cards to the families they have supported on the birthday of the deceased and the anniversary of their passing.  It is a very sweet way that they continue to support the families.  I am so happy to have the opportunity to give back to the Hospice team as well as support other families going through a challenging time.  I wanted to make a masculine card and the color challenge at Can You Case It? seemed like a perfect fit.

As I considered the elements I wanted to include on the card, I remembered a newly acquired Cuttlebug embossing folder (Forest).  I knew I wanted to make that the star of the show and I wanted to keep a lot of white space.  I thought of using a pale green color but quickly decided to go with my favorite green, Mossy Meadow.  I paired it with Baked Brown Sugar as I love the warm caramel color with the rich green.  I pulled together all of the elements and studied the card.  I so wanted to do something to all of that white space - move the sentiment to the bottom right, embossed it, sponge it, splatter it, just do something.  I resisted but it may continue to haunt me :). Actually this is just what I set out to do and it's growing on me.

Happy Stamping,

Dana

Oh My Stars

I had so much fun with the sketch challenge at Pals Paper Arts!  As I pondered my card, I thought of a recent comment from Geri, a lovely lady that frequently stops in and is most generous in her comments.  Geri commented that my sentiment was unexpected in an awesome way.  That really struck a chord with me.  I like unexpected and wanted to pursue that in a card.  I have a strange obsession with paisley paper, I see it and I need it.  Strange in that I'm not drawn to paisley in other areas of my life such as home decor or fashion.  Also strange in that I don't often use it on my projects, hoarding perhaps?  I recently purchased this paisley paper with glittered yellow stars.  Here is where the unexpected part begins to play, I don't expect stars to be combined with paisley.  So I decided to play that up in this card.  A few die cut stars, embossed sentiment, a few layers and a rhinestone were all that were needed to complete this card.

BTW, Geri is an amazingly talented paper crafter and I encourage you to visit her blog Manitoba Stamper.

Happy Stamping,
Dana

Richly Elegant???

The challenge this week at City Crafter Challenge is to "Paste It".  What a fun challenge!  I have wanted to play with embossing paste and this is the perfect opportunity.  I used Texture Rhapsody stencil by Memory box and applied silver embossing paste to black card stock.  I used the same stencil and sponged Cherry Cobbler ink on Cherry Cobbler card stock as my main panel.  I need a birthday card for my Aunt so I selected a birthday sentiment and heat embossed it in black on brushed silver card stock.  I scrunched up black card stock and die cut it with a lacy border and added it to the bottom of the sentiment.  A few flowers were stamped in Basic Gray on more Cherry Cobbler card stock and punched out.  A few rhinestones and layers of brushed silver and black were added to round out the card.

When the card was complete I just looked at it.  Hmm, it either reads richly elegant or bordello decor.  I'll have to ponder that for a while...

Week 283 ~ Paste It!

Happy Stamping,
Dana

Frosted Christmas

Today I'm playing along with the sketch challenge at Stamp, Ink, Paper Challenge and since I used a lot of glitter I'm also playing along with Addicted to CAS where the challenge is sparkle.

While I love the look of glitter on projects, I am not a fan of having glitter everywhere.  This technique is one of the messier glitter techniques but I think it's fantastic for a holiday card.  And it would be great as an insert in a snow globe image.  I'm not sure what it is called or where I picked it up but I have used it a few times.  I started by stamping the house image in Cherry Cobbler on Whisper White card stock.  I then used spray glue on a used dryer sheet and applied it over the top of the image and sprinkled with glitter.  I let it dry and cut it out in my Big Shot.  It was adhered to a wonderful pattered paper that also has a bit of glitter on the gold intersections.  It is a lovely Bravo Burgundy color with hints of Cherry Cobbler in real life and not as purple as the photos show.  The sentiment was heat embossed in white on Cherry Cobbler card stock and added with dimensionals.  The panel is then mounted to a Cherry Cobbler card base.

Here is a close up of the glitter.

Happy Stamping,
Dana

Little Pumpkin

Today I'm sharing a quick little enclosure card I plan to include in Halloween packages for my niece and nephew.  The Retro Rubber Challenge this week is to "get your spook on" and I thought these would fit the bill nicely.  The images are from a Stampin' Up wheel that must be 20 to 25 years old (WOW, how is that even possible???).  I ran the wheel over a Versamark pad and then heat embossed it in white on a scraps of black card stock.  I used a little bleach to the pumpkin image and then colored it in with markers.  Quick and cute.

Happy Stamping,
Dana

And the Birds Sing

Ahh, the sun is shining, the birds are singing and flowers are blooming.  No, it's not springtime here in Minnesota but I DID get to spend some time in my craft room and the world is right once again.  I don't know about you but I need time in my craft room.  It re-charges me and brings balance to my life.

Today I am sharing a card inspired by the sketch at Global Design Project.  I first saw the sketch on Brian King's blog and knew I wanted to play along.  I formulated my card in my mind and smiled when I looked at inspiration cards and card submissions for the sketch as I was not alone in my thought to use snowflakes.  When the time came to make the card I was on the hunt for my "Let it Snow" sentiment to use on the diagonal banner.  Either I dreamt that I had that sentiment or really, really wished I did.  I scoured my stamps to no avail.  I decided to go with this fun little "sparkle" sentiment which I heat embossed in silver.  I layered that on silver foil sheet and added a bit of silver thread.  I randomly stamped snowflakes on the card base in silver and added a dry embossed panel of snowflakes below the banner.  The large snowflake was also heat embossed in silver on silver glimmer paper then die cut.  It was layered on the card with dimensionals and topped with a snowflake embellishment.

Here's a close up of all the bling on the card.

This is such a fun sketch, why not play along?

Happy Stamping,

Dana

Flowers for Mom

I've been MIA again as I was in North Carolina for a business trip.  It was our annual team meeting and it was so great to connect with my co-workers.  Part of our time was spent at the Ronald McDonald house cleaning, baking cookies, making bag lunches and decorating the bags.  It is so rewarding to help in providing small comforts to families struggling with an ill child.  I plan to post more on this later.  Today I'm sharing a birthday ensemble for my mother.

The theme this week at Stamp, Ink Paper Challenge is floral and that was a perfect match to honor my mother's birthday.  I stamped the flower image from Stampin' Up's Butterfly Basics set 3 times on Very Vanilla card stock and water colored the images.  For the card I also stamped the birthday sentiment from the same set in Early Espresso.  Everything was layered on Early Espresso card stock and a bit of lace tucked under the sentiment.  The box is a recycled candy box.  I love to reuse these little boxes for gifts.  They are a lovely dark brown linen finish and perfect for a gift card or other small gift.  I bit of wide lace is secured around the lid and topped with another flower image.  Finally, a little card with the same image to hold the gift card.  I like to do something to dress up gift cards to personalize them a bit.

Here is a photo of just the card.  I lightly stamped the flourish from Stampin' Up's Everything Eleanor on the Pool Party panel, though it is hard to see in the pictures. It was the perfect light touch to add a little interest.

Happy Stamping,

Dana

I Hit the Brick Wall

When I saw the challenge at Stamp Ink Paper was Card Maker's Choice, I immediately knew I wanted to use my brick wall embossing folder.  I was so excited to get this as it was on back order for quite a while and I had visions of all the wonderful cards I could make with it.  I pulled it out and just stared at it, what happened to all of the fabulous ideas???  At one point I entertained the idea of a freight train blasting through the bricks with scattered brick debris and everything.  I thought it could be pretty cool if I could pull it off.  I stamped the train and the scale was all off, just one of these bricks would crush the train.

I imagined a new path where some of the bricks would appear to have fallen off the wall but the overall plan was still pretty sketchy.  I decided to just dive in with the coloring of the bricks.  I inked up the embossing folder with Sahara Sand and also used Sahara Sand card stock.  I sponged on a number of colors in an attempt to mimic a brick wall.  I cut away some of the bricks and mounted the embossed piece to some more Sahara Sand stamped with speckles to look like concrete.  I added a few brick pieces back in.  Now what?  I needed a masculine birthday card so I selected a birthday sentiment I thought was in keeping with the brick. I still needed some type of image or embellishment.  I looked through my stamp images of tools but nothing seemed right.  I did consider a hammer image as I thought it could be a bit like the old "Don't Break the Ice" game with the missing bricks.  Does anyone else remember that game?  Then I remembered a little die of a garden hand shovel and thought it looked a bit like some of Glen's concrete tools.  It was cut with some silver foil paper and a bit of Soft Suede for the handle.  Whew, finally done and the card is growing on me.

Happy Stamping,

Dana