Cheerful Trees

The first card I didn't base off of anyone's card, although it's been done in this same fashion by almost everyone.  I am not sure that I like it - it seemed like a good idea at the time - silver embossed on silver - but seeing it, it seemed too plain.  I added the red pearls to give it some color, and I think that helped.

Supplies:

• Stamps: SU! Cheerful Christmas
• Paper: Silver
• Ink: Versamark
• Accessories: Silver embossing powder, heat tool, red pearls

 The second card is a departure from normal - I have to say I don't think I have ever made a black and gold Christmas card before, although I really like it - it's very elegant.  It's based off of scootsv's Gold Tree 2 card.  I am not sure I'm entirely happy with it (that happens a lot, I'm my own worst enemy).  Not to mention I somehow lost one of my tree stamps from Evergreen while making this...the case of the disappearing stamp.

Supplies:

• Stamps: SU! Evergreen, PTI Take a Bough
• Paper: Gold, Basic Black
• Ink: Versamark
• Accessories: Gold embossing powder, heat tool

Season's Greetings

The following card is based off of Ardyth Percy-Robb's FTL #184 card.  The hardest part was lining up the words, which I was mostly successful at.

Supplies:

• Stamps: PTI Keep It Simple: Season's Greetings
• Ink: PTI New Leaf, PTI Pure Poppy
• Paper: PTI Select White, PTI New Leaf
• Accessories: Stamp-a-majig, Queen & Co Pearls, SU! Tree Punch, MFT Banner Die

Happy Holly Days

I feel kind of meh about this card, but it is what it is.

I based this card on Debbie Crowley's Choose Happiness card.

Supplies:

• Paper: Whisper White, Glorious Green, Real Red
• Inks: Real Red, Glorious Green (inside)
• Stamps: Hero Arts Holly Jolly, PTI Season's Greetings
• Accessories: PTI Holly Jolly dies, Square Nestabilities, Queen & Co Classy Red pearls

Merry and Poinsettias

I have two cards today!

The first card is a CASE of I'm in Haven's Merry card.

I used PTI's Wonderful Words: Holiday dies, cut three times for each word and glued together to make the words stronger.  The words were then very carefully popped up with dimensionals.

Supplies:

• Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, Glorious Green
• Ink: None
• Stamps: None
• Accessories: PTI Wonderful Words: Holiday dies, dimensionals

The second card is a CASE of  Becky Jensen's Joyful Christmas in Gold and Vanilla card; I changed the colors and the sentiment.

Supplies:

• Paper: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler
• Ink: Cherry Cobbler
• Stamps: Joyful Christmas, Flourishes Trimmed with Love
• Accessories: Petals a Plenty EF, Cherry Cobbler EP, Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details

All Wrapped Up

I always love it when I think of an idea on my own - I'm sure the card below has been done a million times in a million different variations, but I didn't look at any of those before making the card below.

Supplies:

• Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, SU Real Red (in inside of card)
• Ink: Real Red
• Stamps: PTI Season's Greetings
• Accessories: Glue Dots, Real Red Satin Ribbon

Seeing Stars

I'm really not good at blog post titles.

Today's card is a CASE of Mel Sharp's Bright & Beautiful card.  I changed the color scheme and the sentiment.

I stamped the biggest star on the Night of Navy cardstock, along with my sentiment, then embossed them in white.  I stamped the second biggest star in Night of Navy, then stamped the second biggest star again on Night of Navy cardstock and embossed it in white.  The top star is popped up with dimensionals, and the center is a blue pearl.

If I could change one thing, it would be the middle star - I wish I had Navy Blue embossing powder, I don't like the stamped image in the middle of the embossed images.  I had to re-ink my ink pad as well, because it was turning out too light.  I'm also not sure of the blue pearl in the middle.

Supplies:

• Paper:  Night of Navy, Whisper White
• Ink: Versamark, Night of Navy
• Stamps: SU!  Bright & Beautiful, PTI Stylish Sentiments: Holiday
• Accessories: White embossing powder, dimensionals, heat tool, Queen & Co Brilliant Blue pearls.

Presents

Today's card is based on Cristina Kowalczyk's "Holiday Wishes Card" in Papercrafts "Holiday Cards & More" Volume 7.

I cut out the square with a square Nestability, turned it over and used glue dots to hold the ribbon strips (trying to get them straight), then glued the DSP on the back and used a glue dot to hold the ribbon on top.

Supplies:

• Paper: Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Winter Frost DSP
• Ink: Bermuda Bay
• Stamps: MFT Cheerful Christmas Greetings
• Accessories: SU! Silver Ribbon, Square Nestabilities, Glue Dots

Painful (I mean, Wondrous) Wreath

The stamp set is Wondrous Wreath....but at first I didn't think it was so wondrous!  It took me five or six tries to figure out how to get a good stamped image.   On the plus side, this was the first time I had used the photopolymer stamps, and I did like them.

Today's card was CASE'd from Teneale William's Creation Station {Wondrous Wreath}.  I changed the orientation of the card, the colors, and the sentiment.  The wreath on the outside was popped up with dimensionals, and the garland on the inside was made by cutting a wreath in half.

Outside:

 Inside:

Supplies:

• Paper: Garden Green, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White
• Ink: Garden Green, Wild Wasabi, Real Red
• Stamps: Wondrous Wreath, PTI Peaceful Poinsettia (sentiments)
• Accessories: Wondrous Wreath dies, Dimensionals

Snowflakes and Holly

I'm making good progress on my Christmas cards.  I'm still picking back issues of Holiday Cards & More and selecting a card from there to CASE. 

The first card is a CASE of Cristina Kowalczyk's "Merry Little Christmas" card, from Holiday Cards & More Vol. 6, p. 29. 

You can't really tell from the image, but the berries have crystal effects on them.  The card is not as dark in person.

Supplies:

• Paper: PTI Vintage Cream
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Cherry Cobbler
• Stamps: Naturally Merry (Flourishes)
• Accessories: Copics (leaves - YG63, YG67, BG99; berries - R39, R89; stem - E37); Crystal Effects

The next card is a CASE of Amy Wanford's "Wishing You Poinsettia" card in Holiday Cards & More Vol. 8, p.72.  The card is 4 1/4 x 5 1/2, with 4 3/4 x 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 x 3 1/4 layers; the 4 3/4" layer is popped up with dimensionals.

 Supplies:

• Paper: Night of Navy
• Ink: Versamark
• Stamps: Festive Flurries, PTI Snowflake Flurries (sentiment)
• Accessories: SU! White Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Powder Pal

3 down, ten million more to go.  I have to say that making cards is very interesting when you have a six month old kitten who wants to investigate everything....

Poinsettia Christmas

I have been thinking that I need to get started on my Christmas cards lately, so I have been spending my time looking at pictures of cards on Pinterest, Google, Splitcoaststampers, etc...but just looking at cards isn't doing me any good, so I pulled out a magazine and forced myself to create one tonight.

This is the first Christmas card I've made for 2014; it's based on Cristina Martinez Diez's "Elegant Poinsettia Card" in Papercrafts Holiday Cards & More, Volume 9. The only thing I'm not totally happy with is the sentiment, but it works. 

Supplies:

• Paper: Whisper White, Real Red
• Ink: Real Red, Versamark
• Stamps: PTI Year of Flowers: Poinsettia; PTI Season's Greetings
• Accessories: Black Embossing Powder, Heat Gun

Welcome Baby Boy!

A friend of mine from England and his wife had a baby last week, so I needed another baby card; I modeled this one after Minder's Baby Shower card.

I seem to be into quick and easy right now.

 Supplies:

• Paper: PTI Spring Rain, PTI Spring Moss Bitty Dots DSP
• Ink: PTI Spring Rain
• Stamps: Stampin Up! Something to Celebrate
• Accessories: Dimensionals, Rectangle Spellbinders, Stampin Up! Something for Baby framelits

Welcome Baby Girl!

I'm always glad to get a chance to use my baby stamps. My co-workers wife had a baby almost two weeks ago, and I wanted to make a card (my second card since last July!).

I CASE'd this card from My Paper Secret - unfortunately the pin I had did not go directly to the blog post and it is from two years ago. It was quick and simple - just cut the card base, layer, and bow, put everything together with dimensionals, placed a pearl on it, and voila!

Supplies:

• Paper: PTI Blushing Bride, Stampin Up! Whisper White 
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black Stamps: PTI Bitty Baby Blessings 
• Accessories: PTI Bells and Boughs dies, Stampin UP! dimensionals, Stamping Up! Large Basic Pearls

Happy Birthday!

This is the first card that I have made since last - oh, July?  My husband and I separated around October of last year, and I had no motivation to make cards for Christmas (my favorite card-making holiday) or anything since then.  I kept buying supplies...hoping it would prod me...but so far, nothing.

One of my co-workers told me her 60th birthday is Thursday, and I forced myself to sit down and make her a birthday card, and it felt great.  It was fun to stamp again, cutting, stamping, putting things together (lining up word stamps, not so much!). 

This is CASE'd from Miriam Prantner's Birthday Balloons card.  I couldn't remember my co-workers favorite color, so I just picked pink, because it's a happy color.  It's the thought that counts, right?  It was very easy - just started with the lightest color (Pink Pirouette) at the bottom, stamped randomly up to the top (Blushing Bride; Primrose Petals; Rose Red).

Supplies (All Stampin Up! unless otherwise noted):

• Paper: Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Rose Red
• Ink: Pink Pirouette, Blushing Bride, Primrose Petals, Rose Red, Memento Tuxedo Black
• Stamps:  Curly Cute, Hooray It's Your Day (Amuse Studio), Happiest Birthday Wishes

CASology 22: Sparkle

I'm posting this card for the CASology Week 22: Sparkle challenge.  I think this is particularly appropriate because my favorite phrase lately has been "Have a super sparkly day!" from the commercial on TV where they show the lady buying the princess castle.

I CASE'd Laura Bassen's Graphic Merry and Bright card from the Papercrafts Pinterest board -- I think it was in the latest issue of  Holiday Cards & More, but I can't find it.  I die-cut the words from Best Creations glitter paper using my Silhouette Cameo, the Glittered Cardstock setting (3/30/6, I believe), then ran them through my Xyron.  I was afraid the glitter paper would ruin my blade, but so far it seems okay.

I used the following cut files: the word bright was from "bright" by Kristen Magee (file #24115);  merry from "merry christmas" by Kristen Magee (file #24121) and finally the ampersand was from the "merry & bright" file by Silhouette (file #4619).

Stamps: None
Paper: PTI White, Best Creations Green Glitter Paper, Red Glitter Paper
Ink: None
Accessories: Silhouette Cameo, Cut Files, Xyron Creative Station

Thanks for looking!

CFC74 Heart for a Friend

I have a confession to make, I started this card a while ago (stamped the background, colored the heart, and put the ribbon on), but I wasn't inspired to finish it until I saw the CAS-ual Fridays CFC74 challenge, to  create a card with heart.  It is nice to be able to finish an UFO! (Unfinished Object).

I stamped the heart from the Flourishes Hearts & Flowers stamp set repeatedly to create the background; I then cut out a single heart and colored it with Copics (I don't remember which ones, I'm sorry!) and applied pearls.  The single heart is popped up with dimensionals.  I wrapped a piece of Wisteria Wonder ribbon around the background and glued it to the card base.  The bow was tied separately and glued on with a glue dot.  The sentiment is two separate stamps from Flourishes Strawberries, cut out with the large oval punch and layered onto the scalloped oval punch.

In the inside, I stamped a sentiment from Flourishes Heartlines: "Side by Side or miles apart dear friends are always close to the heart".

I know just the person to send it to!

Stamps: Flourishes Hearts & Flowers, Strawberries, Heartlines
Paper: SU! Whisper White, Wisteria Wonder
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: SU! Large Oval and Scalloped Oval punches; Wisteria Wonder ruffled ribbon; glue dots; Kaisercraft pearls; Copics

Pet Sympathy

I have to admit this is the hardest card I have ever had to make.  My friend's dog has inoperable cancer, and she is putting him down this week; I never met her dog, but I know how much he meant to her.  My dog is 12, so making this card also made me think of the fact that he, too, will someday pass.

I got a picture of her dog from her facebook page, and printed it on cardstock.  I typed up the Rainbow Bridge poem on the inside and printed it on cardstock, as well.

Pet Sympathy -- Front

Pet Sympathy -- Inside

Stamps:  SU Thoughts and Prayers, PTI With Sympathy: Loss of Pet
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Kraft, Whisper White
Accessories: Printer

RIP, Rocky.

Thanks to our Interns!

We had two fantastic summer interns that I wanted to make thank you cards for.

I based the first card on the SC04 sketch on www.splitcoaststampers.com.

Stamps:  PTI Counting My Blessings

Paper:  Sahara Sand, Night of Navy, Basic Grey Granola DSP

Ink: Night of Navy

Accessories:  PTI Counting My Blessings Dies, Night of Navy brads

I just kind of fiddled with things to make the second card.  I cut three of the Quatrefoil cover dies from PTI, one in Rich Razzleberry CS and two in Rich Razzleberry DSP.  I ran the Rich Razzleberry CS frame through my Xyron, and then I stuck it on the card base and pieced together the inside using the pieces from the other two die-cuts.  Time-consuming, but worth it, I think.

Paper:  Rich Razzleberry CS and DSP, Whisper White
Accessories:  PTI Quatrefoil Cover Die, Counting My Blessings Dies, Rich Razzleberry 5/8" Grosgrain

We are sending these to them with a couple company-themed gifts.  I hope they like them!

Rosh Hashanah

I have a dear friend (who hopefully doesn't read my blog) that is Jewish, and I wanted to try my hand at making her a card for Rosh Hashanah this week.  I did a very small amount of research and saw that a tradition is eating apples dipped in honey, and a lot of cards I found on the internet had apples on them.

I got the idea for the placement of the three apples from Susan Goetter's OLW-91 Thank You card.  I colored them with Copics (R14, R24, R29, R89, Y32 for the apples, YG97, YG99 and YG06 for the leaves).

Stamps:  PTI Mazel Tov, Flourishes Apple of My Eye
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories:  Copics (listed above)
Technique: Masking

I hope she likes it!!

Speedy Recovery

My boss had bypass surgery recently, and I wanted to make a card so he knows I'm thinking of him and hoping he comes back soon!!

I based this card on Louise Ryan's friendship card for Inkspirations 95. 

Paper: PTI Kraft, Basic Grey Granola DSP
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Stamps:  PTI On My Couch, On My Couch Additions
Accessories: SU! Rich Regals button, brads, Night of Navy grosgrain ribbon; PTI On My Couch Dies; Foam Tape; twine

Baby Shower Items

I made a number of items for my friend's Baby Shower at work today. 

Here were the favors for the shower, I made them using a template I bought from the Silhouette Online store and cut using my template.  The paper is October Afternoon Ducks in a Row, Splish-Splash and Peek-a-Boo; the ribbon is from Michaels. 

I have a ton of mailboxes from the Target dollar spot, so I used the same paper and the PTI Bitty Baby Blessings stamp set, as well as Pool Party ruffled ribbon from Stampin Up! and copics to color the duck, to cover the box and hold the gift card.  I used Emily Giovanni's tutorial.

 

 I made the gift card to put inside the mail box using Diana Carr's tutorial, using Pool Party cardstock, Postage Stamp punch, and 1 inch square punch from Stampin Up;!, as well as the PTI Bitty Baby Blessings stamp set and copics to color the duck image.

 The final piece (yes, there is an end!) is the card, which I made using Becky Jensen's tutorial.  I used the October Afternoon DSP, PTI Bitty Baby Blessings stamp set, Whisper White CS, and 1 3/4 inch circle and scalloped circle punches.

The party was a success!  Thanks for looking.